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The Golden Falcon

Chapter XI/2 - Cavalier

The writer was probably wife of Compton Handford or Hansford of Woollas Hall in Eckington, Worcestershire and relative of Lady Mary Kemp, wife of Sir George Winter of Huddington who left her some of the vestments which his aunt Helen embroidered.  The church of Eckington has the tomb of John Hanford of Woollas Hall (d. 1616), his wife kneeling at a "prie-dieu" and thirteen children.  Woollas Hall was built in 1616 for the Hansfords in Cotswold stone and has a three storey porch, bay windows and pointed gables.

 

There was a brass to Adrian Fortescue, a Jesuit priest (d.1653) now at Huddington Court.

 

Sir William Winter's eldest son Edward Winter (1560-1619) when 17 years old on 10.12.1577 was listed as a scholar at Brasenose College, Oxford.  He received a BA in January 1579 and was admitted to the Middle Temple the same year.

 

He served as an apprentice on his father's ships to the west coast of Ireland in 1580 and in 1585 was admiral of the "Aid" during Drake's voyage to the Spanish Main.  When they called at Vigo for supplies, he wrote to Walsingham.  He took part in the capture of Cartagena de las Indias, Colombia, exchanging command of his ship to join a company of soldiers and plundered the coast of Florida.  He returned to England in July 1585 with booty worth £600,000.  He then went to the Netherlands and wrote to Walsingham from Bergen-op-Zoom in August for permission to leave: "Because I despair of any new putting against into the field this year, I resolved to repair with all speed to the King of Navarre (later Henry IV of Bourbon, king of France) who, as I hear, useth, such gentlemen as come unto him honourably.  I am resolved to live in the wars for a time or else to travel for a year or two."  He said his father was "most naturally affected towards me."

 

He returned to the Netherlands the following spring because of the threat of a Spanish invasion.  He took part in the battle against the Invincible Armada and dined on the 17th August 1588 with Lord Henry Seymour and Prince Maurice of Nassau.

 

He sent a letter to Walsingham the next week saying seamen from Dunkirk told him Alexander Farnese, duke of Parma (in command of the Spanish troops in the Netherlands preparing to invade England) fled to Brussels.  Farnese had his ships unloaded and there were rumours that the Armada was off the Orkneys.

 

Edward added he "resolved to follow the wars" and asked "to be remembered if there happen by occasion that forces, either of foot or horse would be employed." because he was frequently seasick.

 

He then went to France "to see the manner of service there" but "fell into the hands of the governor of Eu and Treport's wife who coming aboard in ye haven took me away into years of captivity".  Her husband sold him to Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador in France.

 

Winter wrote to Walsingham from Amiens in October 1589 that he had been well treated but urged that the Queen arrange his release in exchange for Don Pedro de Valdes who had surrendered his ship the "Rosario" during the Battle of the Armada.

 

Edward was sent to Antwerp castle in February 1590 but Parma would only exchange him for all Spanish prisoners in England and Holland.

 

Winter wrote to Walsingham that he was worried about his relatives and estates at home; someone had brought a lawsuit against him and one of his young brothers still needed supervision.  He begged Walsingham to investigate but the Secretary only received his letter shortly before he died.

 

He had a dispute with the tax commissioner for raising an assessment in 1593 ["Gloucestershire" 1590-1640", p.114/5 – Willcox] which may have been the result of the litigation referred to.

 

The negotiations for Winter's release dragged on for years but finally the Privy Council agreed to exchange Valdes for Winter by the summer of 1591.

 

Valdes and Winter had corresponded with each other and Valdes apologised to Mondragon, governor of Antwerp when Winter tried to escape, promising him he would not do it again and urged him not to punish his prisoner as he, Valdes would suffer.

 

The negotiations failed again despite Winter's desperate appeals to William Cecil, Lord Burghley in 1591 because the Queen decided Valdes, one of the principal Armada commanders, was too important to be exchanged for an unknown captain.

 

Richard Drake and some of Winter's friends persuaded him to pay for his own ransom and he was released in 1593.  Drake had also arranged for Winter to pay for Valdes's ransom - Valdes had been living in Drake's house and some of the ransom would go to the latter.  Sir Richard Drake, equerry to Elizabeth I, was Francis Drake's kinsman and accompanied him on his voyage of circumnavigation.  He lived at Esher Place, on the banks of the river Mole in Esher, Surrey where Valdes and other Spaniards captured during the battle of 1588 were put into his charge.  His tomb in Esher church shows him wearing armour, a ruff and sword.

 

Winter refused to pay, much to Cecil's and the Queen's annoyance and wrote to Cecil:

 

"Judge I beseech you, whether after almost four years of barbarous imprisonment after the racking me with infinite devices, to pay £4,500 for my ransom and other charges, after the spending the sweetest time of my youth in all melancholy (in all which Mr Drake hath been the principal meddler) if after all this, out of my justeth briefs I haved perchance breathed some words only of choler, which otherwise might have burst but more violently."

 

Probably through the influence of his father's friends, the Grenvilles, Edward Winter became MP for Newport juxta Launceston, Cornwall in 1586 and in December 1588 he was elected to one of the Gloucestershire seats.  In 1589 when he succeeded his father becoming Steward and Receiver of the Duchy of Lancaster lands in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire.  He was Justice of the Peace for Gloucestershire from 1592 and was knighted in 1595 becoming Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1598, Deputy Lieutenant in August 1601, Vice-Admiral of Somerset, Member of Council in Marches of Wales during the same year; Deputy Constable of the Forest of Dean and Constable of St. Briavels Castle in 1608.

 

He was protected by his father-in-law the earl of Worcester in a lawsuit against Lord Zouche.  ["Council in the Marches of Wales under Elizabeth", p.305 – Williams].

 

He stayed in London and Gloucestershire when not on active service.  In 1595 he was knighted [Glos RO, D.421/E.1] and became Warden of the Forest of Dean and Constable of St. Briavels (1601-8) [Glos. RO D.421/L.3 Hart's "Royal Forest" 86].

 

The same year he owned the manor of Tucknall [PRO C.142/248 No. 22, C5/295/10 abstract by Lydney in 1677] and in 1600 built an iron furnace at or near New Mill (D.421E.16) with a forge at Newerne stream which he dammed to create ponds [Glos. RO D. 2026 x7] as well as other forges and a slitting mill which he maintained with the help of his son Sir John.

 

On 11.8.1595 he married Anne Somerset, daughter of Edward, 4th earl of Worcester (1553-1628) by his wife Elizabeth Hastings, daughter of Francis Hastings, 2nd earl of Huntingdon (descended from the Duke of Clarence).

 

His son Sir John Winter could trace his descent from the Plantagenets via the Somersets, earls of Worcester and his son Charles from the Plantagents via the Howards, dukes of Norfolk:

Fig. 109 - Lancaster, Beaufort, Somerset & Winter.

 

Edward III = Philippa of Hainault > John Plantagent of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster by Katherine Roet, former wife of Hugh Swynford >:

(1) Henry Beaufort, Cardinal Beaufort

(2) Thomas Beaufort, duke of Exeter

(3) John Beaufort, duke of Somerset = Margaret Holland >:

     A. Joan Beaufort = Jame I of Scotland

     B. John Beaufort, duke of Somerset > Margaret Beaufort = Edmund Tudor >

         Henry VII

C. Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset killed 1455 at the battle of St. Albans

    during the Wars of the Roses >:

    1. Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset

    2. John Beaufort, killed at the battle of Tewkesbury during the Wars of the

        Roses

    3. Henry Beaufort, duke of Somerset (exec. Hexham 1464) had by Joan Hill

        or de la Montaigne > Charles Somerset (1460-1526) > Charles Somerset

        (1460-1526), 1st earl of Worcester = Elizabeth, d. of William Herbert, earl

        of Huntingdon, (formerly Pembroke) by Mary Woodville (sister of Queen

        Elizabeth Woodville) > Henry Somerset, 2nd earl (1496-1549) = Elizabeth,

        d. of Sir Anthony Browne (+) > William Somerset, 3rd earl (1527-1588) =

        Christian, d. of Lord North > Edward Somerset, 4th earl (1553-1628) =

        Elizabeth Hastings, d. of earl of Huntingdon > Anne Somerset = Sir

        Edward Winter > Sir John Winter = Anne or Mary Howard, d. of William

        Howard "Belted Will", earl of Carlisle, son of the 4th duke of Norfolk > Sir

        Charles Winter = Francis Napper or Napier

 

(+) Elizabeth Browne, wife of Henry Somerset, Nan Cobham and one Margaret were involved in bringing down Anne Boleyn.  Elizabeth was half-sister of Admiral William fitzWilliam.

 

One of Edward’s 3 daughters Elizabeth married Richard Monnington.  An engraving in Gloucester Cathedral of one son, name unreadable, shows Richard Monnington of Sarnsfield married as his second wife, Anne (Elizabeth?), daughter of Sir Edward Winter of Lydney and had 2 sons Edward Monnington (b.1622) who died without heirs and John Monnington.

 

Richard’s wife's Will shows she had three children Edward Monnington who died without heirs, Anne who proved her mother’s Will and was alive in 1683 and John Monnington who married Gaynor Roberts.  John had a son Thomas (d. 4.5.1709) who married Mary Tilden and two daughters, Elizabeth Monnington and Mary Monnington, wife of Thomas Berrington.

 

Thomas Monnington’s Will dated 8.5.1683 in his handwriting, refers to Thomas Monnington and Anne Monnington of the first part etc., William Whorewood and Charles Winter on the 6th part.  Thomas Brome Whorewood, as guardian of Charles Winter junior (said to be Sir Charles Winter's legitimate son), contested his father's Will in which he left everything to his wife Frances (nee Napper or Napier).

 

Thomas Monnington's son, also named Thomas Monnington, sent abroad because of his "intemperate habits", died unmarried in Flanders.

 

Edward Monnington, the second son, a merchant trading with Portugal, married Anne Steare of St. Andrews, Holborn as his first wife and secondly Bridget Webbe of St. George the Martyr, Queen's Street.  He died aged 49 in 1741 leaving two daughters, Anne Teresa Monnington and Bridget Monnington.  [Genealogist Magazine Vol. 12 New Series].

 

Sir Edward Winter’s daughter Anne married Benedict Hall (d. 1668) of the High Meadow estate, Newland, Gloucestershire, who with his brother-in-law Sir John Winter, were listed as Catholics.  Viscount Gage inherited the estate on marriage with Benedict Hall's grand daughter Maria Theresa Hall.

 

There is no further information about Sir Edward’s daughter Mary.

 

Of the 7 sons of Sir Edward Winter, two were named Edward, one of them died young and there is no trace of the other; James died without any heirs and William (d. 1666), believed to be of of Dymock, married Margaret, daughter of Sir William Farmer.

 

Robert according to some sources, was a Roundhead who died at Allastone Mesne (Alstone) in 1642-6 and was buried at Lydney.  Alternatively he was Captain Robert Winter (February 1661) who retired in 1676 as major in the Duke of Albermarle's Regiment of Foot, Coldstream Guards [Army List, Vol. I, pp. 8, 108 & 1590].

 

According to American sources, Robert and Henry (perhaps Henry Frederick) went in the ship “Ark” and the pinnace “Dove” to Maryland, the settlement of which began in 1632 when a charter was granted to Sir George Calvert, 1st Lord Baltimore.  After some delay the ships sailed from London in 1633.  The “Dove” ran into problems and had to return but met the “Ark” in Barbados and continued on in 1634 with 20 gentlemen settlers, their slaves, indentured servants, tradesmen, farmers and wives totalling about 320 people.  The gentlemen were Roman Catholic gentry and included Edward Wintour (son of Lady Anne Wintour) and Frederick (also one of her sons).  Robert was commander of the “Dove”.  Both Edward and Frederick received large grants of land, which they subsequently gave to the church and presumably returned to England.

 

The “Ark” and the “Dove” sailed to America during the early years of Charles I (who became king in 1625) when pioneers were establishing plantations in the USA.

 

Neither Bishop Laud nor Charles were happy about the rise and spread of Puritanism in America and considered a total prohibition of all further sailings.  America became a refuge for Puritans who were encouraged (particularly in the Caribbean) by the Providence Company - John Hampden was a shareholder and Oliver St. John, a leading Puritan barrister, was the company solicitor; its secretary was John Pym - all important future Roundheads.  The company founded the settlement of Providence, in the island of Santa Catalina and on 2 neighbouring islands, Association and Henrietta.  In 1635 the Spanish raided and totally destroyed the Association settlement.

 

In April 1638, 8 ships carrying emigrants to New England were forbidden to sail.  After a week’s delay and discussion, the King withdrew his ban for this particular fleet but soon afterwards proclaimed that all further sailings were to be by special licence only.  Sir Ferdinando Gorges, president of the New England Company, petitioned the king in protest.

 

The promoters of American settlements found some of their colonists among their relations, friends and neighbours whose descendants intermarried.

 

Lady Baltimore was the earl of Warwick’s second cousin, his mother’s first cousins were Thomas West, Lord de la Warr, Governor of Virginia (1617-19), his brother John West who settled and left descendants there and his sister Elizabeth Pelham whose sons went to New England.  Her second cousin was the earl of Lincoln, two of whose daughters Susan and Arbella went to New England with their husbands, John Humphreys (d. 1661), Deputy Governor of Massachusetts and Isaac Johnson; a third daughter married Sir Ferdinando Gorge’s son.  Sir Ferdinando Gorge’s great uncle Sir William Gorges, married Winifred Bucockside, Sir Walter Raleigh’s first cousin.

 

Sir Walter Raleigh and the Gilberts were half-brothers, Raleigh and the Winters of Huddington were related through the Throckmortons, the Gorges to the Winters of Dyrham, the Drakes and Winters of Dyrham and Clapton-in-Gordano were related through the Sydenhams and the Hawkins were kinsmen of the Trelawneys.  Judge Popham, Recorder of Bristol, who promoted colonisation, was related to the Winters of Dyrham and Clapton-in-Gordano, the Winters of Lydney and Sir Thomas Smythe, a fervent colonist, were related through Sir Andrew Judde, Mayor of London, Ferndinando Gorges to the Smythes and to Drake through the Champernownes.  Grace Winter of Clapton-in-Gordano married Edward Gorges of Wraxall, Somerset whose heir male was Ferdinando Gorges.

 

The genealogy of many early Maine settlers have been traced [Genealogical Dictionary of Maine & New Hampshire - C: Thornton Libby, S. Noyes & W: Godwin-Davis, 1928-38].  Most of the settlers of Maine and New Hampshire came from Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Gloucestershire.

 

In 1600 the English negotiated peace with Spain, stipulating recognition that only occupation could validate title to new lands - the rest were open and free.  On Elizabeth I’s death, peace was made without mentioning the issue and the English took this to mean that North America (unoccupied by Spain) was open to colonisation.

 

Two leading groups were actively engaged in promoting it - the London one led by Customer Smythe’s son Thomas (interested in the East Indies, the Levant and Russia) and the West Country one, chiefly concerned with the fur trade and fisheries, led by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, governor of Plymouth.  Virginia sprang for one group and New England from the other.  Gorge’s unceasing efforts led to colonists being sent in 1520 and New Plymouth being founded.

 

Maine was granted to Sir Ferdinando Gorges in 1639 and Maryland to Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore.

 

Gorges was patron of Bristol and Plymouth fishing interests so many of the settlers there were fishermen from Devon.  He lived in Plymouth and had a house in Bristol.  Grants were made to him from 1622 and finally the grant in 1639 of the province of Maine.

 

Lord Baltimore was a Roman Catholic and in his colony (alone in the British Empire) religious toleration existed so his colonists included Roman Catholics.

 

Due to Gorges’ efforts, colonists were sent out in 1619 to found New Plymouth, New England and the province of Maine [“Gorges of Plymouth Fort” - R. A: Preston, “Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine - J. F. Baxer quoted in “Expansion of Elizabethan England” - A. L. Rowse].

 

The permanent settlement of Virginia began with the Virginia Company’s Expedition, which founded Jamestown in 1607 was promoted by Sir Thomas Smythe.  Large areas called particular plantations were granted to syndicates in England to undertake their settlement.

 

The Trelawney Plantation at Richmond’s Islands, Maine was a typical early New England coastal fishing and trading post.  It was granted to Robert Trelawney and Moses Goodyear, merchants of Plymouth and on Goodyer’s death, Trelawney had sole possession in 1637 but he never came to America.  Gorge’s agent Richard Vines left its management of John Winter (21.7.1632-31.7.1632).  Winter’s brother Arthur also came out to Maine and the settlement became known as Winter’s Harbour.  After Trelawney’s death in 1644 and the Winter’s in 1645, Robert Jordan Winter’s son-in- law was given the estate in 1648 by the Lygonia General Assembly a security for a claim Winter’s estate had upon the proprietor.  [“The Trelawney Papers” - edit. J. P. Baxter, “Pioneers on Maine Rivers” - W. D. Spencer].  John and Arthur Winter may have been descendants of the Winters of Clapton-in-Gordano.

 

Sir Edward Winter retired to White Cross, Lydney to manage his estates and the iron furnaces of the Forest of Dean.  He remained on the Commission of the Peace but did not undertake local duties and asked to be excused from serving as Sheriff in 1595.  He went back to Court after his marriage, served as Knight of the Shire for Gloucestershire in 1601 and may have served on committees of the order of business (3.11.1670-1) and monopolies (23.11.1619).  He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich and served as a canopy bearer at her funeral.

 

He died 3.3.1619 [PRO. C. 142/370 No. 147] and was succeeded by his son John who fought in the Royalist army during the English Civil War (1641-71).

 

Sir John Winter (1600-1673?) was ward of the king between 1619 and 1623 [Calendar of State Papers Domestic 1619-23 p. 159].  He married Anne or Mary, daughter of William Howard, earl of Carlisle, third son of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk.  He must have been married fairly early while still a ward of the king as Lady Mary Wintour was at the Tilt and Fireworks of Prince Hnery’s creation in 1610.

 

William Howard, who bought the manor of Corby-Wetherall, Cumberland Ward in 1606, married Elizabeth, sister and coheiress of George, Lord Dacre who brought Naworth with her.  They had 6 sons and 2 daughters, Sir Philip Howard, ancestor of the present earl of Carlisle, Sir Charles Howard of Croghlin, Sir Francis Howard given Corby, Col. Thomas Howard slain at Piersbridge, York in 1643 fighting for Charles I, Sir William Howard, Robert Howard and a daughter who married Sir Thomas Cotton of Connington, Huntingdonshire.  Samuel Pepys in his Diary mentions Sir Philip Howard, the playwright Robert Howard and Captain Thomas Howard.

 

In June 1624 the government was informed of powder and ammunition stored at the earl of Worcester's Castle at Raglan by Sir John Winter and other Papists [Calendar of State Papers Domestic 1623-4, p. 288].

 

Sir John Winter was knighted on 7.8.1624 at Belvoir.  He was granted in fee the bulk of the royal demesne in the Forest of Dean [Glos. RO D.421/E.5, D. 421/19/15].  Sir John suppressed riots at Skimmington against the king's enclosure of the Forest of Dean in 1631 and was made Deputy Lieutenant of the county [Calendar of State Papers Domestic 1636-7, p.268].  In 1633 he became a shareholder and member of the Council of the Fishing Company.

 

The king ordered that no indictment be brought against Sir John Winter during the troubles in the Forest of Dean in 1637 or brought against him or his wife for recusancy.  On 21.3.1640 he was granted 180,000 acres of the Forest of Dean for £10,000 to be paid immediately and £16,000 annually for 6 years and a permanent fee farm rent of £1,590.12s.8d, received franchises in the Hundred of Bledisloe, including goods and chattels of felons, fugitives and outlaws, treasure trove, wreck and the right to all royal fish.  [Glos. RO D.421/M.7, M.31].  He was driven out of the Forest in 1645 [Biblio. Glos ii 39, 63-4, 66, 72, 95, 124, 133,l 137].

 

In March-June 1638 he was made Queen Henrietta Maria's Secretary and Master of Requests at £2,001 [Strafford Letters ii.166].

 

Being a Roman Catholic he was welcome to the Queen but there was criticism about the appointment and it was pointed out he was of the same family as the Gunpowder Plotters.  However the real reason for his appointment was not religion but money.  Sir John was one of the richest men in the country who had already made generous loans to Charles I who borrowed money from him during his 11-year rule without Parliament.  Sir John's lands in the Forest of Dean were rich in iron and coal.  He was nephew of Henry, 5th earl of Worcester and 1st Marquess of Worcester (1577-1646) and with his cousin Edward Somerset, Lord Herbert of Raglan (a pioneer in experimental engineering), had developed the iron mines leased from the king.  He also had interests coal mines in South Wales where Thomas Bushell had opened up a silver mine.

 

Sir John was also on the committee with other prominent Catholics and the Queen to collect money for the expenses of the Scottish war (1637-40) caused by imposition of the New Prayer Book.

 

Sir John was influenced by his cousin Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester, 6th Earl of Worcester and Glamorgan (1601-1667) called the "Wizard Earl", son of Sir Edward Winter's brother-in-law Henry Somerset, 5th earl of Worcester (1577-1646).

 

Edward Somerset was a Catholic and carried out mechanical experiments, a hobby, which Sir John shared.  Edward carried out expensive experiments at Vauxhall in South Lambeth, which belonged to Charles I where mechanics and engineers could find workshops and appliances for building models and trying out their theories.  The inventions of the Marquess are given in Dirck's "The Life, Times and Scientific Labours of the 2nd Marquess of Worcester" (Henry Dirck 1865) which has a reprint of "A Century of Inventions" written by Edward Somerset in 1655 which were varied and marvelous.

 

He invented a "water commanding engine", pocket engine for sailing ships, a floating garden, a combined hour-glass and fountain, a mechanical bird which flew, hovered and chirped, a chair which imprisoned the sitter, a "fire waterwork", an "untoothsome pear" which shot bolts when placed in the mouth and could only be unlocked with a key and a stone head garden ornament which opened its mouth and spoke in several languages.  He and his father suggested using submarine transport, pedometers and water power to help the king.

 

During the Civil War, his father let the Roundheads into Raglan Castle, then had a servant turn on one of his son's noisy hydraulic engines and had him announce that "the lions are all got loose" which frightened them into leaving.  Edward Somerset (when Lord Herbert) married first Elizabeth Dormer, sister of the earl of Caernarvon and secondly Lady Margaret O'Brien, daughter of the earl of Thomond.

 

In November 1640 Sir John Winter's relationship to the Gunpowder Plotters was published and he was accused of having written to the Pope for aid the previous August [Calendar of State Papers Domestic 1640-1 pp. 126-7, 1639-40 p.246].

 

The House of Commons required his attendance on 27.1.1641 to give an account of the money collected from Roman Catholics for the 1639 war [Commons Journals ii, 74] and on 16.3.1641 petitioned for his removal from Court.  Winter, Sir Kenelm Digby and Walter Montagu were known to be zealous Catholics and on 25.5.1641 a Committee of the Commons was appointed to administer Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to him [Journals ii 106, 158].

 

The House voted on 1.5.2.1642 for his removal from Court [Journals ii 433] and on 16.3.1642 declared him unfit by reason of his recusancy to hold his bargain in the Forest of Dean, appointed a committee to examine his accounts [Calendar of State Papers Domestic 1641-3, p.353] and on 22.7.1642 required his attendance at the Painted Chamber but he had joined Hertford and Sir Ralph Hopton in Somerset in the campaign in the west.  Winter, Hopton and Sir John Stawell were arrested at Falmouth and committed to the Tower.  ["The examination of Sir Ralph Hopton, Sir John Winter and Sir John Stowell" - London 1642 quarto].

 

One of the catalysts of the Civil War was the levying of ship-money.  In 1635 William Noy, a lawyer who was King Charles I's principal adviser, suggested re-imposing the Elizabethan ship-money tax which was a levy on the coastal counties and seaports of the realm for strengthening the Navy.  The razzias of Barbary corsairs on the south coast (who carried away more than 30 captives in 1637) and Dunkirk pirates in the Channel fully justified the tax.  The money was collected by the Justices of the Peace and delivered to the county sheriffs who paid it to the Admiralty.  The following year the tax was imposed on inland towns without consultation with Parliament.

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