Wikipedia

Richard Williams (alias Cromwell)

Sir Richard Williams (c. 1510 – 20 October 1544), also known as Sir Richard Cromwell, was a Welsh soldier and courtier in the reign of Henry VIII who knighted him on 2 May 1540.[1][a] He was a maternal nephew of Thomas Cromwell, profiting from the Dissolution of the Monasteries in which he took an active part. He was the patrilineal great-grandfather of Oliver Cromwell.

The Honourable Sir
Richard Williams
Portrait of a Man in Black,
perhaps Sir Richard Williams (alias Cromwell),
circa 1600, follower of Hans Holbein[1]
Member of Parliament
for Huntingdonshire
In office
1539–1540
In office
1542–1544
Personal details
Bornc. 1510[2]
Llanishen, Glamorganshire, Wales
Died20 October 1544(1544-00-00) (aged 33–34)
SpouseFrances Murfyn
Children
Parents
  • Morgan Williams
  • Katherine Cromwell

Early life

edit

Richard Williams was born about 1510[2] in the parish of Llanishen, Glamorganshire.[3][4] He was the eldest son of Morgan (ap William) Williams, an aspiring Welsh lawyer[5][6] (and a paternal descendant of Cadwgan ap Bleddyn, prince of Powys[7]), who was possibly the same Morgan Williams later recorded as a brewer at Putney, Greenwich and elsewhere.[1] He married Katherine Cromwell, the sister of Thomas Cromwell, long before the latter came to power under Henry VIII,[8] but Williams and his son would eventually benefit substantially from this relationship, receiving large amounts of land confiscated from the church.[9]

 
Arms of Sir Richard Williams alias Cromwell: Gules, three chevronels Argent, over all three lions rampant Or, armed and langued Azure.[10][11]

Protégé of Thomas Cromwell

edit

Richard was to enter the court of King Henry VIII thanks to his relationship to the powerful minister Thomas Cromwell, who rose from humble origins to become before his death Earl of Essex, Vicar-General, and Knight of the Garter.[12] At the time when Thomas Cromwell made his will in July 1529, his nephew's parents had died and the young man was in the service of the Marquess of Dorset (father of Henry Grey, and grandfather of Lady Jane Grey). [13] By the autumn of 1529, he had adopted the name Cromwell, and following Dorset's death in 1530, he was employed by Stephen Gardiner until early 1533, when he joined his uncle's household at Austin Friars and while in his service was introduced at court.[14] For the next ten years, as Richard Cromwell alias Williams, he was employed in both public and private matters and served as a channel of communication with the minister.[13] Closely involved with his uncle's work, he was in a position to benefit from the redistribution of property at his uncle's hands.[15] He was entrusted with considerable appointments at a young age, and apparently took an active part in suppressing the Pilgrimage of Grace insurrection.[16]

Dissolution of the Monasteries

edit
 
Hinchingbrooke House
 
Ramsey Abbey Gatehouse

During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Sir Richard was appointed one of the Visitors of the religious houses, and received an ample reward for this work, perhaps thanks to his uncle's influence.[17]

On 8 March 1537/8 he was granted the nunnery of Hinchingbrooke, in Huntingdonshire. The stated value of the property in the deed of grant was only £19. 9s. 2d., but this appears to have been a considerable under-rating, since it included land and premises not only in the parishes and hamlets of Hinchinbrooke, Huntingdon, Stewkley-Magna, Stewkley-Parva, Turkington, Houghton, Esington, Alconbury, Paxton-Magna, Paxton-Parva, Hail Weston, Waresley and Bawynhoo in Huntingdonshire, but also Eltisley, Bottisham and Boxworth in Cambridgeshire, Staplewe and Bewlow in Bedfordshire, Hamildon-Parva in Rutland, and Stoke Doyle and Oakley in Northamptonshire.[18] In that same year he also received a royal grant of the monastery of Sawtry-Judith, in the county of Huntingdon, which was valued at £199 11s. 1d.[19]

On 9 April 1539, for a fee of only £1 0s. 5d., he was granted property in Eynesbury, Eton, and Little Paxton in Huntingdonshire that had formerly belonged to the chantry of Swavesey in Cambridgeshire,[20] and he received Greyfriars Abbey in Great Yarmouth in Norfolk from the King that same year.[21] On 4 March 1540 he came into possession of the site of the rich Abbey of Ramsey in Huntingdonshire,[22] which included the various meres or lakes belonging to it.[23] The terms of this grant state that it was made in consideration of his good service, in return for a payment of £4,963 4s. 2d. to be held in capite by knights service.[24] This was a considerable sum of money at that time, but was dwarfed by the value of the abbey in question, which in addition returned an annual revenue of £1,987. 15s. 3d per year.[25] Although he had to purchase many of the other grants, the cost was probably relatively nominal, since many of the dissolved religious houses were sold off for almost nothing, and he was in favour with the King thanks to his role as Visitor and as the nephew of Thomas Cromwell. According to Mark Noble,[26] "all these grants passed to him by the names of Rich. Williams, otherwise Cromwell".

Member of Parliament and High Sheriff

edit

By 1539 he was a gentleman of the privy chamber, and in the same year was elected MP for the seat of Huntingdonshire.[13] In 1539, or early 1540, at the age of thirty, he may have been the subject of a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger.[1]

He was knighted on 2 May 1540 during a tournament at Westminster where he distinguished himself by his military skill and gallantry:[13][27]

 
Cromwell, perhaps Sir Richard Cromwell, 1793, engraved by Luigi Schiavonetti[1]
 
Palace of Westminster in the time of Henry VIII
 
Genealogy of the Williams alias Cromwells, from about 1066 to 1602

On May day was a great triumph of jousting at Westminster, which jousts had been proclaimed in France, Flanders, Scotland, and Spain, for all comers that would, against the challengers of England, which were Sir John Dudly, Sir T. Seymour, Sir T. Poynings, Sir George Carew, knights; Anthony Kingston, and Richard Cromwell, esquires; which said challengers came into the lists that day, richly apparelled, and their horses trapped all in white velvet, with certain knights, and gentlemen riding afore them, apparelled all with velvet and white sarsnet, and all their servants in white doublets, and hosen cut all in the Burgonion fashion, and there came to joust against them, the said day, of defendants 46, the earl of Surrey being the foremost; Lord Williame Howard, Lord Clinton, and Lord Cromwell, son and heir to T. Cromwell, earl of Essex, and chamberlain of England, with other, which were all richly apparelled: and that day sir John Dudley was overthrown in the field by mischance of his horse, by one Andrew Breme; nevertheless, he brake divers spears valiantly after that; and after the said jousts done, the said challengers rode to Durham-place, where they kept open household, and feasted the king and queen, with their ladies, and all the court. The 2nd of May, Anthony Kingstone, and Richard Cromwell, were made knights of the same place. The 3rd of May, the said challengers did Tourney on horseback, with swords; against them came 29 defendants: Sir John Dudley and the earl of Surrey running first, which the first course lost their gauntlets, and that day Sir Richard Cromwell overthrew M. Palmer in the field off his horse, to the great honour of the challengers. The 5th of May, the said challengers fought on foot, at the barriers, and against them came 30 defendants which fought valiantly, but Sir Richard Cromwell overthrew that day, at the barriers, M. Culpepper in the field; and the 6th of May the said challengers brake up their household. In the which time of their house-keeping, they had not only feasted the king, queen, ladies, and the whole court, as was aforesaid, but on the Tuesday in the rogation week, they feasted all the knights and burgesses of the common house in the parliament; and on the morrow after they had the mayor of London, the aldermen, and all their wives to dinner: and on the Friday they brake it up as is aforesaid.[28][29]

Sir Richard and the five other challengers were granted 100 marks annually as a reward for their valour and a house each from the estates of the monastery of the Friary of St Francis, in Stamford, which had been dissolved on 8 October 1538,[30] grants which were made possible by the fact that Sir William Weston, the last prior, who had an annuity out of the monastery, died two days after the jousts. According to an anecdote reported by Noble,[31] "when Henry saw Sir Richard's prowess he exclaimed, 'Formerly thou wast my Dick, but hereafter thou shalt be my diamond'; and dropped a diamond ring from his finger, which Sir Richard taking up, he presented it to him, bidding him afterwards bear such a one in the fore gamb of the demy lion in his crest".[32]

The fall and execution of Sir Richard's uncle Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, in July 1540,[33] apparently had no adverse effect on his social standing or private fortune.[13] He was appointed High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in 1541,[34] and was again returned as the Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire in the parliament which began 16 January 1542.[35] He received a grant from the King in 1542 of Huntingdon Priory and St Neots Priory,[36] with yearly revenues of £232 7s. and £256 1s. 3d. respectively.[37]

In addition he was at some unknown date[38] given the office of steward of the lordship of Archenfield, with the constableship of Goodrich Castle in the Welsh Marches, and the power of appointing the master serjeant and porter belonging to those offices during the minority of the Earl of Shrewsbury.[39] He also received the priory of St Helen Bishopsgate in London,[38] the castles, lordships, and manors of Manorbier and Penally, both in the county of Pembroke, valued at £100, to be held by knights' service,[39] and Neath Abbey in Glamorgan, which he chose to obtain by exchange for other lands, possibly because it was close to his birthplace.[38]

War in France

edit

When war broke out with France in 1543, he took part in the campaign as commander of the cavalry.[40] [b] A force of 6,000 men under Sir John Wallop crossed the Channel and marched out of Calais on 22 July to join the Emperor Charles V in his attempt to retake the city of Landrecies,[42] which had recently been captured by the French. King Francis I of France successfully resupplied the besieged city by appearing with a large army and making as if to give battle, which drew off the forces of the Emperor and his allies long enough for fresh troops, ammunition and provisions to reach the city, after which the main body of the French slipped away.[43] In response the allies attacked the rearguard under the command of the Dauphin, and were themselves ambushed by the retreating troops, with many of the English being taken prisoner, including Sir George Carew (admiral), Sir Thomas Palmer, and Sir Edward Bellingham. Nevertheless the English succeeded in killing or capturing great numbers of the French who fell behind as stragglers. Since there was no longer any prospect of recapturing Landrecies and the weather was too bad for a winter campaign, the Emperor disbanded his army in November and the English contingent were able to return home. [43]

During this campaign Sir Richard apparently saved the life of the commander,[1] Sir John Wallop, and in the following year was appointed constable of Berkeley Castle.[44]

Marriage and issue

edit

By 8 March 1534[13] Richard had married Frances (c. 1520–c. 1543),[1] daughter to Thomas Murfyn (d.1523), an alderman and a former Lord Mayor of London, and his second wife, Elizabeth Donne, daughter to Sir Angel Donne and Anne Hawardine.[1][45] Frances's stepfather, Sir Thomas Denys, whom her mother married in 1524, was a "great man of Devon" and friend of Thomas Cromwell.[1][46] The couple had two sons:[13]

  • Henry Williams, alias Cromwell (1537[1]–1604),[47] Richard's eldest son and heir, grandfather of Oliver Cromwell.
  • Francis Williams, alias Cromwell (c. 1541–1598),[48] who was one of the Knights of the Shire for the county of Huntingdon in 1572,[49] and later Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. According to Fuller,[50] he lived at Hinchingbrooke, but his usual place of residence was at Hemingford in Huntingdonshire. He married Margaret, the daughter of Henry Mannock of Hemingford Grey,[51] and died 4 August 1598. From the inquisitio post mortem taken at St Ives on 16 November, it appears that he left a son and heir, Henry Williams, alias Cromwell, aged 33. His possessions were recorded as the Fermerne, the former site of St Neots Priory, the manor of St Neots, which brought in an annual income of £14 and included 80 acres of pasture, called Little and Great-Dirty Wintringham, and also the manors of Grafham, valued at £9. per annum, and Hardwick, valued at £14. per annum and held of the king by knights' service.[52]

Death

edit

His wife was still living in June 1542,[1] but had died before her husband made his will, dated 20 June 1544,[1]before leaving for France as part of Henry VIII's large-scale invasion that summer. He died on 20 October 1544, possibly as a consequence of the campaign.[13]

In his will he styled himself as Sir Richard Williams, otherwise called Sir Richard Cromwell, knight, of his majesty's privy chamber. He gave orders that his body should be buried in whatever place he was located at the time of his death, and bequeathed his estates in the counties of Cambridge, Huntingdon, Lincoln, and Bedford to his eldest son Henry, with the sum of £500 to purchase him necessary furniture when he came of age. His estates in Glamorganshire were left to his son Francis, and £300 went to each of his nieces, Joan, and Ann, daughters of his brother, Walter Cromwell, with the proviso that if Thomas Wingfield, then Sir Richard's ward, should choose to marry either of them, he should have his wardship remitted to him. Otherwise the wardship was be sold. He also left three of his best great horses to the King, and one other great horse to his cousin, Gregory Cromwell, to be selected after the King had made his choice.

Other legacies were left to his kinsmen Sir John Williams and Sir Edward North, chancellor of the Court of Augmentations, as well as to several other people, presumably servants. Gabriel Donne, Andrew Judde, William Coke, Philip Lentall, and Richard Servington were appointed executors,[53] and instructed to use the income from the remainder of his property to repay £3,000 that he owed in debts.[13] His will was proved on 24 November 1546.[54][55]

This inheritance clearly amounted to an enormous fortune, given the various lucrative offices he held and the large-scale grants and purchases of church lands that had come into his possession thanks to the King's favour; the rent of his possessions in Huntingdonshire alone came to at least £3,000 a year. Noble stated in 1787 that the revenue brought in by those estates in and near Ramsey[c] and Huntingdon in his own day was equal to that of any peer at that time, and yet Sir Richard is known to have owned considerable property in several other counties as well.

Notes

edit
  1. ^ Noble 1787, pp. 11, 12 explains that the reason for Sir Richard Williams, the great grandfather of Oliver Cromwell, changing his name, from Williams to Cromwell. Henry VIII strongly recommended it to the Welsh (whom he incorporated with the English) to adopt the English practice in taking family names, instead of their manner of adding their father's, and perhaps grandfather's name to their own Christian one with 'nap' or 'ap', as Morgan ap William, or Rich, ap Morgan ap William; i.e. Rich, the son of Morgan the son of Will, and the king was the more anxious as it was found so inconvenient in identifying persons in judicial matters. For these reasons, the Welsh, about this time, dropped the 'ap' in many of their names; or, if it could be done with convenience as to pronunciation, left out the a, and joined the p to their father's Christian name (Camden's remains; from which it appears that many Christian names were appropriated to families; for the reasons above "we have the Williams's, Lewis's, Morgans, etc. etc. without number, and, by joining the p, the Pritchards, Powels, Parrys, i.e. ap Richard, ap Howell, ap Harry, etc. etc). Thus Mr Morgan ap William, Sir Richard's father, seems, from the pedigree, to have taken the family name of Williams; but, as the surname of Williams was of so late standing, his majesty recommended it to Sir Richard, to use that of Cromwell, in honour of his uncle Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, whose present greatness entirely obliterated his former meanness (Various lives of Oliver, lord protector, etc. as also miss Cromwell's pedigree); and it is observable, that Sir Richard's brothers also changed their name to Cromwell (Will of Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell, prerogative-office, London, Alen 20. Pedigree of the Williams's, alias Cromwells, Harl. M.S.S. vol. 1174, and Harl. M.S.S. vol. 4135). Thus did the Williams's take, or super-add the surname of Cromwell to that of Williams; and, in almost all their deeds and wills, they constantly wrote themselves Williams, alias Cromwell, down to the seventeenth century. Though the cause of this change is well known, the time is not: many writers pretend the name of Cromwell was not taken up until the time that Sir Richard, was knighted during a tournament; but this is certainly erroneous, as there are grants of ecclesiastical lands patted to him by his names of Williams, alias Cromwell, as early as 1538: these authors are equally mistaken in supposing that the king never knew Sir Richard until the tournament, which cannot be; because those very grants patted some time before these martial games. With the name of Cromwell, Sir Richard assumed the arms of that family; but Sir Henry, his son, and his descendants, retook the proper arms of the Williams's, and never used any other (if the augmentation of the crest is excepted).
  2. ^ Noble notes that in the expedition to France were the flower of the English chivalry: Sir John Wallop, governor of Guînes, commander in chief; Sir Thomas Seymour, marshal of the army; Sir Robert Bowes, treasurer; Sir George Carew, lieutenant to Sir Richard Cromwell; Sir Thomas Palmer, porter of Calais; Sir Thomas Rainsford, Sir John St John, and Sir John Gascoigne, captain of foot.[41]
  3. ^ Noble 1787, pp. 18, 19 notes:

    The abbey of Ramsey, i.e. the Ram's isle, was one of the richest foundations in the kingdom: the abbot was mitred, and sat in the house of lords as baron of Broughton; the abbey had 387 hides of land, 200 of which were in Huntingdonshire: the monks were not famed for their liberality, if we believe the following ancient lines:

    Crowland as courteous, as courteous as may bee,
    Thorney the bane of many a good Tree,
    Ramsey the rich, and Peterborough the proud,
    Sawtry by the way that poor abbay, Gave more almes than
    all they.

    Dugdale, and others, mistake when they say that Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell, had all the ecclesiastical lands belonging to the dissolved foundations in that country.

Citations

edit
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Fitzgerald 2020.
  2. ^ a b Robertson 1975, p. 474.
  3. ^ Leland 1906, p. 17.
  4. ^ Noble 1787, p. 5 cites: Leland's Itinerary, vide letter B in the proofs and illustrations.
  5. ^ Leithead 2009.
  6. ^ Gerhold 2017, pp. 3–4, 18, 26.
  7. ^ Burke 1884, p. 246.
  8. ^ Gerhold 2017, p. 26.
  9. ^ Morrill 2008.
  10. ^ Metcalfe 1885, p. 69.
  11. ^ Siddons 1993, pp. 602–603.
  12. ^ Noble 1787, p. 5.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hofmann 1982.
  14. ^ MacCulloch 2018, pp. 37–38, 46–47, 178.
  15. ^ DeWindt & DeWindt 2006, p. 126.
  16. ^ Noble 1787, p. 6 cites Vide letter E in the proofs, etc.
  17. ^ Noble 1787, p. 7 cites William Dugdale's History of Warwickshire.
  18. ^ Noble 1787, p. 7 cites: Grant in the possession of the Earl of Sandwich. Turkington, Bawynhoo, Elington, Staplewe, and Bewlow, are unknown, except Esington is put for Ellington, which is an adjoining parish to Alconbury.
  19. ^ Noble 1787, p. 7 cites: Thomas Tanner, Notitia monastica, The church of All Saints, at Fulbourn, in Cambridgeshire, passed by this grant as an appendant to Saltry. Mr Baker's M. S. S.
  20. ^ Noble 1787, p. 8 cites: Grant in the possession of the earl of Sandwich, whose ancestors purchased the manor of Eynsbury; Eton is supposed to be Eaton Socon, or Eton, in Bedfordshire, and is the adjoining parish to Eynesbury and Little Paxton, and where Lord Sandwich has a small parcel of land; probably the same that is mentioned above.
  21. ^ Noble 1787, p. 8 cites: Papers communicated by the Rev. Dr Lort.
  22. ^ Almond 1911 states: "The revenue, according to Dugdale, was £1716. 12s. 4d., but according to Speed, £983. 15s. 31⁄4 d." and cites Chronicon Abbatiæ Rameseiensis in Rolls Series (1886); Cartularium Monasterii de Ramsesia in Rolls Series (3 vols.); Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum, II (London, 1846); Reyner, Apostolatus Benedictinorum, 149; Wise, Ramsey Abbey, its rise and fall, (1881).
  23. ^ Noble 1787, p. 8 cites: The lakes belonging to the Abbey of Ramsey mentioned in the grant were, Huggemere (now Uggmeer) Browswage, Dawntiy (now Dantry) Longbeche, Pollingmere, Wickesmere, Rawingsmere, Baxtermere, Rowmere, and Worlinglowe. Noble gave them as they are written in his time; some of them are large waters, but they are inconsiderable places, many of them not having an house near them.
  24. ^ Noble 1787, p. 8 Notes that: Grant from a manuscript in Sir Rob. Cotton's own hand-writing, now the property of Lord Carysfort, communicated to me. Mr. Fuller in his church hist, has fallen into some mistakes relative to Ramsey; he says the money paid was £4,963 4s. 2d. and that there was a rent of £29. 16s. reserved, but this does not appear by the grant, any more than that Sir Richard had all the manors held of the abbey in Huntingdonshire; not one is mentioned: however, he must have another grant for that purpose; it is certain that all Ramsey, and very many manors in Huntingdonshire became his, which once belonged to this abbey.
  25. ^ Noble 1787, p. 9 The value of the ecclesiastical lands is entirely taken from Speed's maps, as he acknowledges, that he had the history of Huntingdonshire from a very learned and judicious friend of his, who was no other than Sir Robert Cotton, a gentleman every way qualified for such an undertaking. Hinchinbrooke is valued by Sir William Dugdale, at £17. 1s. od. and by Speed, in his Historie of Great Britaine, at £19. 9s. 2d. Sawtry, by them at £141 3s. 8d. and £199. 11s. 8d. and Ramsey, at £1,716 12s. 4d. and £1,983 15s. od. 3qr.
  26. ^ Noble 1787, p. 9 cites: Grants, and Thomas Tanner, Notitia monastica.
  27. ^ Holinshed 1808, pp. 815–816.
  28. ^ Noble 1787, p. 9–11.
  29. ^ Noble 1787, p. 9 Notes: John Stow's chronicle of the jousting, etc. is copied verbatim into Holinshed's chronicle and Hall gives the same relation in his, only much more concise.
  30. ^ Noble 1787, p. 11 cites: Fuller's hist, of the church, and M.S. in the possession of Dr Lort.
  31. ^ Noble 1787, p. 11.
  32. ^ Noble 1787, p. 11 cites: Fuller's church hist.—The more ancient way of bearing the crest was a javelin in the demy lion's gamb, the protector Oliver used it before his exaltation, but the stone ring after his assumption of sovereign power; Mr Peck not knowing the armorial bearing of the family, supposed it to represent, that he was married to the state: in one visitation of Huntingdonshire there is an ancient mace substituted for the gem ring; in another, a crescent.
  33. ^ Noble 1787, p. 14 Vide no; i. vol. ii. of the persons and families allied to, or descended from the prot. house of Cromwell; in which is some account of Thomas Earl of Essex, and his descendants.
  34. ^ Noble 1787, p. 14 cites: Nomina vice comitum, Harl. coll. no. 259.
  35. ^ Noble 1787, p. 15 cites Willis's Not. Parl.
  36. ^ Noble 1787, p. 15 cites Thomas Tanner, Notitia monastica.
  37. ^ Noble 1787, p. 15 cites Speed's maps. Dugdale values St Mary's at £187 13s. 8d. and Speed, in his history of Great Britain, at £232 7s. Dugdale and Sir Simon Degge, value St Neots at £241. 11s. 4d.—These grants passed to him, says Tanner, by the styles of Sir Richard Cromwell, alias Williams, and Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell.
  38. ^ a b c Noble 1787, p. 17 cites: M.S.S. lent to him by Dr Lort.
  39. ^ a b Noble 1787, p. 17 cites Harl. M.S.S. vol. 433.
  40. ^ Holinshed 1808, p. 832.
  41. ^ Noble 1787, p. 15 cites Holinshed's chronicle with those of Hall, Grafton, Cooper, Stow, and Martin.
  42. ^ Brenan & Statham 1907, p. 382.
  43. ^ a b Holinshed 1808, p. 833.
  44. ^ Noble 1787, p. 17 cites Dugdale's baronage—in 1544 the great seal was delivered to Thomas Lord Wriothesley, the deed being executed for that purpose, præsentibus tunc ibidem spectabilibus viris, amongst others, Ricardo Cromwell, milite. Rymer's fœdera.
  45. ^ Charles 1849, p. 80.
  46. ^ MacCulloch 2018, p. 114.
  47. ^ Fuidge 1981.
  48. ^ W.J.J. 1981.
  49. ^ Noble 1787, p. 20 cites: Willis's not. parl.
  50. ^ Noble 1787, p. 20 cites: Fuller's worthies, and nom. vicecomitum Harl. coll. no. 259, fay the 30th.
  51. ^ Charles 1849, p. 80.
  52. ^ Noble 1787, p. 20 cites T. Cole's coll. ex. Recor. Cur. Wardor. Harl. M.S.S. Noble also notes that there can be little doubt but the above estates were the property of Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell, knt. and it should be observed that the value of the lands mentioned in the inquisitions are usually about a 10th part of the annual value, and often not so much.
  53. ^ Noble 1787, p. 17.
  54. ^ Fitzgerald 2020, fn 26.
  55. ^ Noble 1787, p. 17 notes: Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell's will, is very long, covering four folio pages of parchment closely written (Prerogative Court of Canterbury: PCC 20 Alen). It is remarkable, that of the many wills of this family registered in the prerogative-office, there is not one that specifies any particular place for the interment of the testator.

Attribution

  •   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Noble, Mark (1787). Memoirs of the Protectorate-house of Cromwell: Deduced from an Early Period, and Continued Down to the Present Time,... Vol. 1 (3 ed.). London: C. G. J. and J. Robinson. pp. 5–20.

References

edit

Further reading

edit
edit
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richard Williams (alias Cromwell).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Williams_(alias_Cromwell)&oldid=1257979094"