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 1392 - Abt 1454 (61 years)
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| Name |
Cressoner, William |
| Born |
25 Nov 1392 |
Of Sudbury, Suffolk, England  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Died |
Abt 1454 |
Sudbury, Suffolk, England |
| Person ID |
I08910 |
My Genealogy |
| Last Modified |
29 Apr 2015 |
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| Notes |
- GEN-Medieval:
Of the many sons-in-law of Ralph Nevill, 1st Earl of Westmorland, surely the most obscure (followed in a close second by Sir Gilbert Lancaster) is "William Cressoner of Sudbury, Suffolk" [CP, Vol. XI, pg. 543], the second husband of Margaret, widowed Lady Scrope of Bolton, sixth daughter of Earl Ralph by his 1st wife Margaret Stafford.
Margaret's first marriage in 1413 to the 19-year-old Richard, 3rd Lord Scrope of Bolton, was undoubtedly the result of her father's negotiations. Lord Scrope served with Henry V at Agincourt and on other French campaigns before his death in 1420, at the young age of 26. His lands were quickly granted in less than a month to Margaret's half-brother Richard Nevill (future Earl of Salisbury), during the minority of his young son Henry le Scrope, and Margaret gave a f1,000 recognizance 2 months later that she would keep Henry and his younger brother Richard le Scrope unmarried.
Luckily the huge sum of f1,000 did not apply to her staying nmarried, for on 5 Nov. 1427, she was pardoned f100 (or paid f100 for the pardon - it's not clear) for marrying William Cressoner. CP provides no biographical information on him beyond the fact that he died shortly before 16 May 1454, when writs were issued for IPMs regarding his lands in Norfolk, Essex, Hunts and Suffolk. Also that his son and heir Alexander was given seisin of his lands in Essex and Suffolk on 5 Nov. 1454.
Using the published Calendars of IPMs, plus the PRO website index, we can fill in some blanks regarding this obscure William Cressener.
Firstly, he was born on 25 Nov. 1392, and was the son and heir of Robert Cressener, whose 1410 IPMs for Essex, Huntingdon, and Suffolk survive. Robert died on 9 Sept. 1410, and the Suffolk IPM returned "William his son and heir will be 18 years of age on 25 Nov. next."
I get confused with regnal years, but believe this matches up with William's unpublished proof of age in the PRO:
C 138/10/49 Cressener, William. Proof of age.: Suff 2 Hen V
William's father Robert seemed to be of very limited means at his 1410 death. According to his IPMs, he held only scattered lands in Essex and Suffolk - valued in total at less than 50s. annually. He'd held the manor of Eynesbury in Huntingdon, and the manor of Preston called Mortimers and the manor of Netherhall in Otley, both in Suffolk, but "long before his death he granted [them] by charter." Perhaps this was a legal loophole, though, and Robert managed to retain the income from those manors.
At any rate, William Cressener was certainly not wealthy, and it's curious how this minor Suffolk gentryman managed to even cross the path of the Northern widow of the Lord Scrope of Bolton. Sudbury is a market town in Suffolk, and is not mentioned at all in his father's IPM, so it's hard to determine why CP has William seated there. Suffolk certainly seems to be the county Cressener was associated with. Aside from Margaret, Lady Scrope of Bolton, being buried in 1463/4 in the Austin Friars church in Clare, Suffolk, the Proof of Age shows William was born in that county.
It is certainly William who is mentioned in the following PRO document:
C 143/448/21 William Cressenere, Esq., Robert Cavendyssh, John Coo, Thomas Heygham, and Henry Trace to grant their manor in Stetchworth called Patemeres to the prior and convent of Ely, retaining land in Thriplow. Camb. 17 HENRY VI.
Margaret's two Scrope sons by her first husband went on to quite successful political careers, Henry as the 4th Lord Scrope of Bolton, and Richard as Bishop of Carlisle. CP does not mention if William's heir Alexander Cressener was his son by Margaret, or by a previous wife (William turned 35 in 1427, the year Margaret was pardoned for marrying him). We can only be sure that Alexander was at least age 21 in 1454 when he inherited William's lands. William's unpublished IPM would probably help determine if Margaret was Alexander's mother.
C 139/152/16 Cressener, William, esq: Hunts, Essex, Suff 32 Hen VI
Alexander, in turn, apparently left issue, though the inheritance seems vague:
C 1/490/25 Edward, son of Alexander Cressener. v. John Cressener, knight, cousin and heir of the said Alexander.: Annuity charged by the said Alexander on lands in Boxted called `Mores' and `Smokell,' to commence after the death of Raufe Cressener, his brother.: Suffolk.
Was Raufe Cressener the brother of Alexander and son of Margaret? Could he have been named for his grandfather Ralph Nevill, Earl of Westmorland?
The IPMs of Alexander Cressener and his kinsman and heir Sir John Cressener probably shed some light:
E 150/610/7 Cressener, Alexander: Suffolk 13 Henry VII
C 142/82/87 Cressener, John, knight: Essex 30 Hen. VIII.
At any rate, it's interesting to see how the blood of the Nevill Earls of Westmorland and Stafford Earls of Stafford could flow in two generations to a minor Suffolk gentry family.
The Cressenors were an ancient family in Norfolk and Essex, who had ennobled their blood by marriage with the Mortimers of Attleburgh and the Ferrers. Sir Alexander was the eldest son of William Cressenor of Hawkendon and his wife Margaret, daughter of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, and widow of Richard, Lord Scrope of Bolton. Sir Alexander was Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk during the reign of Edward IV, at whose coronation he was made a Knight of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath. The Cressenors bore on their coat armour six horse shoes, the original arms of Ferrers."
(She is called Cecily in two IPMs of Alexander. His 1498 IPMs and those of his daughter-in-law Anne Knevett, who died the year before him and was widow of his eldest son John, also reveal that John was killed at Bosworth.
I say "sister or perhaps half-sister" because Hampson says she is daughter of Sir John Radclyffe, KG (d. 1440) and his wife Katherine Burnell. This couple is identified in CP 5:484-5 as the parents of the younger Sir John who d. at Towton. But Hampson says Katherine Burnell was the 2nd wife of the earlier Sir John and the younger Sir John was son of the 1st wife Cecilia, one of the three daughters of Sir Thomas Mortimer of Attleburgh by his wife Mary Parke and widow of Sir John Herling of East Herling, Norfolk.
His mother Cecilia was also half-sister to "the great Sir John Falstolf" (of Shakespeare fame), through her mother's third marriage to John Fastolf of Caistor near Yarmouth (her third husband was cousin to her 2nd second husband).
CP does appear to support this adequately by citing in two footnotes the inquisitions post mortem of Katherine (p. 485, note a) and the younger John Radcliffe (note d). Both these identify the younger John as the son and heir of John and Katherine.
A more detailed account of this Cressener family and descendants is given in Morant's _History of Essex_ 2:266, which states that William Cressener (d. 1454) married Margaret Nevill (d. 1461) and that she was mother of his son and
heir Alexander, who was aged 23 at his father's death and became Knight of the Bath. The Visitation of Essex [HS 14] also states that Alexander is son of Margaret.
The extended ancestry [under the misreading Cressovere] is given in Pedigrees From the Plea Rolls, concerning the manor of Ikelyngham, Suffolk, from a fine levied 10 Edward II by William de la Cressovere of Ikelyngham and his wife Petronilla:
1. William = Petronilla
2. John
3. Walter
4. Robert
5. William
6. Alexander, the plaintiff, De Banco, Hillary 5 Edw. IV, m. 129.
I have Copinger's _The Manors of Suffolk_ vol. 1 here, and it says on p. 36, concerning the manor of Mores, in Boxtead,
"William Cressener...died in 1454 and was succeeded by his third son Ralph Cressener and he by Robert Cressener and he by Alexander Cressener the brother of Ralph. Alexander Cressener died in 1497 and was succeeded by his son and
heir John Cressener, who in 1542 sold the manor to Richard Poley."
Now Copinger comes a little closer to the PRO document in which Edward Cressener, son of Alexander brought suit against Sir John Cressener, heir of Alexander. But Sir John is described in it as "cousin", not "grandson", of Alexander. Was that a common substitute in the early 16th century?
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