John Musgrave

Born [date unknown] in England

Ancestors

Died before Oct 1515 in Cumberland, England

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Biography

Family

John was a younger son of Thomas Musgrave and Joan or Joanna Stapleton of Hartley Castle, Westmorland. and Edenhall, Cumberland.^[1][2][3][4]

According to most pedigrees,^[1][2][3] he married first Joan Crackenthorpe, daughter of John Crackenthorpe and had a son

• Lancelot (or Nicholas^[4] )

and second Margaret Dudley, daughter of Edmund Dudley or Sutton, by whom he had children

• Thomas
• Richard
• Oliver
• Margaret
• Anne

Offices Held

A John Musgrave was appointed a commissioner of the peace in Wiltshire on 5 December 1483, under King Richard III. He is apparently the same John Musgrave, "king's servant .. and esquire of the body," who was named constable of the castle of Old Sarum and given custody of the laundes [lawns or pastures] of Claryngton, Wiltshire on 9 August 1484. As "king's servant" he was named ranger of the king's forest of Grovell, Wiltshire, on 10 December 1484.^[5] John Musgrave was also a member of Parliament for Wiltshire in 1484, and the later authors of his biographical sketch presume that he is John Musgrave, later of Cumberland.^[6]

John Musgrave had apparently returned north and allied himself with King Henry VII by December 1485, when he and Richard Musgrave were granted the keeping of the lawn at Plumpton, in the forest of Inglewood in Cumberland. The same date, he and William Musgrave were also granted the keeping of the meadows called Weryholme or Holmewery in Cumberland.^[7] In June 1486 he was solely granted the keeping of the lawn of Plumpton.^[8]

John Musgrave was knighted on 16 June 1487, following the victory of King Henry at Stoke on Trent.^[9]

On 5 November 1489, as John Musgrave, knight, he was appointed sheriff of Cumberland, and he was again appointed from November 1493 to November 1494.^[7]

The keeping of the lawn of Plumpton was added to the office of constable of the castle of Bewcastle in Cumberland when it was granted with survivorship on 12 May 1493 to "the king's servant, John Musgrave, one of the knights for the king's body, and his son, Thomas Musgrave."^[8] The grant was renewed in February 1514.^[10]

Death

Sir John Musgrave was presumably dead by 28 October 1515, when the office of constable of Bewcastle was granted to his son Thomas Musgrave.^[11]

Musgraves of Penrith

Secondary sources have called him Sir John Musgrave of Musgrave Hall (in Penrith) or Fairbank (in Plumpton, near Penrith). None of the primary sources found identify him in that way. He did apparently have property in Penrith, as his widow filed a suit to obtain an inheritance there.^[12] Whether he lived at the house known as Musgrave Hall in Penrith is not known, and no primary reference has been found for the name Fairbank at that early date.

John's brother Richard was said by the well-known county historians Nicolson and Burn, as well as Jefferson, to be ancestor of the Edenhall main line of the Musgraves, whereas supposedly John was seated at Musgrave Hall and Fairbank in Cumberland.^[13][4] However, there are doubts about John's line.

Later generations of Musgraves at those places seem to be descended from Sir Richard, not John. For example F.B. Swift writes:^[14]

"Field, in his Armorial for Cumberland (197), says that the Musgraves of Fairbank were descended from Thomas, second son of Sir Simon Musgrave of Edenhall, and that "the heiress married Simpson". This was the marriage of Mary Musgrave to Lancelot Simpson and explains the reason for the sale of Orthwaite Hall and the removal to Fairbank."

George Watson, who Swift cites, was apparently not confident of Nicolson and Burn's proposal that John founded a lasting family based in Fair Bank. However he was still very open to the idea that, John, later replaced by a son Thomas, was at least Captain of Bewcastle 1514. Watson remarks, perhaps noncommittally, that the scattered records "fit in chronologically with John, son of Thomas Musgrave and Joan Stapleton, and Thomas, son of the said John".^[15] He gives the following and some extra ones will be added from other sources:

1492. (7th of Henry 7th). John Musgrave of Fairbank was Sheriff of Cumberland.

Graham (1929) adds:^[16] "in 1493, the king made a grant in survivorship to John Musgrave, one of the knights for the king's body, and to Thomas Musgrave, his son, of the office of constable, or keeper, of the castle of Bewcastle; and (for exercise of that office and repair of that castle) a like grant of all the lands in Bewcastle Dale late of John Middleton, knight (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 8 Henry VII, p. 429)".

1509. (1st Henry 8th). Nov. 29th. John Musgrave one of the witnesses to the oath taken by James 4th (Scotland) to the treaty of 1502, renewed by Henry 8th.

1509 & to. Sir John Musgrave placed on Commission of the Peace.

1511. June 10th and July 14th. The same on Commission of Array.

1512. Aug 6th. The same on Commission of Muster.

1514. Feb. 18th. (5th Henry 8th). Grant in survivorship for Sir John Musgrave, Knt. of the Body, and Thomas, his son, of the offices of Constable of Castle of Bewcastle and chief forester of Nicholforeste.

1514. Feb. 18th. (5th Henry 8th). Grant in survivorship for Sir John Musgrave, Knt. of the Body, and Thomas, his son, of the offices of Constable of Castle of Bewcastle and chief forester of Nicholforeste.

Graham (1929) adds that at the same time there was "a grant for the repair of the said castle, of certain lands in Bewcastle dale, lately belonging to Sir John Middelton,. and the park of Plumpton in Inglewood Forest, and an annuity of £40, payable as to one-half out of the manor of Sowerby and as to the other half out of the manors of Randollinton, Arthuret, and Liddel in Nicholforest".^[16]

...

1514. (6th Henry 8th). Sep. 16th. Grant for Thomas Musgrave, one of the King's spears in retinue at Calais, to be bailiff of town and lordship of Penrithe, Cumb., vice Richard Appilby deceased, as amply as the said Richard or William Lonkester enjoyed the same. Dated Farnam Castle.

1515. (7th of Henry 8th). Oct. 28th. Grant for Thomas Musgrave to be Constable of Bewcastle and chief forester of Nicholforest [his father Sir John probably deceased] .

1517. (9th Henry 8th). June 21st. DACRE TO WOLSEY. Is glad that the king is satisfied with his suggestions for fortifying the borders, re-building Wark, and removing Bewcastle. Desires some office to be provided for Thomas Musgrave that the fee which he now has amounting to £70 p. ann be employed in rebuilding the Castle in the King's lordship of of Arthurheath. Has informed Magnus how Musgrave may be made to comply if he prove restive.

1518. (10th Henry 8th). June 6th. Pardon for Thomas Musgrave of Bewcastle of all offences and trespass in or near the King's chamber, household, or palace. Dated Woodstock.

Graham also found (Calendar of State Paters, Henry VIII., vol. xiii., part ii., p. 553) the 1538 testimony of an aged tenant of Bewcastle explained what had happened back 60 years, into the 15th century after the time of Richard III:

James Noble of Kirkbeck-mouth, aged 80, therein states that sixty years by-past King Richard's commissioners let all the lands of Bewcastle to Cuthbert and John Routledge, Robert Elwald and Gerard Nixon, and before that the castle, and all the lands belonging to the same, of long time lay waste. The said four men paid no rent, but were to maintain the king's wars, and pertained to the captains of the castle under the king. Thomas Lord Dacre (see pedigree ad fin.) ,undertook to occupy under Sir John Musgrave captain there until the said Lord Dacre was troubled-at London, and did send unto William, now Lord Dacre, that he should give over his occupation to Thomas Musgrave, who had succeeded his father as captain. All the time that Thomas Lord Dacre ruled under the captain he caused the inhabitants to appear at his court of Askerton. John Musgrave received the farm, before the late commotion, to the use of Sir William Musgrave, now captain there. When deponent entered into the farm he paid gressome to Sir John Musgrave, aforesaid captain under the king that now is.^[17]

(Sir William was a member of the Edenhall branch of the family, which seems to have been seen as the senior Musgrave line in the area.)

Watson's article should be compared carefully to the pedigree shown in THB Graham's 1911 essays concerning Cumberland. And we should notice that not all these Musgraves were knighted, while John the son of Thomas and Joan supposedly was.^[17] The Border Manors article argues that some of the Musgraves involved in records concerning Bewcastle were actually in the main Edenhall line (and maybe some from other lines). But importantly Graham accepts that Sir John (son of Thomas and Joan) and his son Thomas were the captains of Bewcastle in the early 16th century - but not later.^[18] The records above show how Thomas eventually lost that position. What happened to him next is not clear from those records.

Apart from Thomas, neither Graham nor Watson mentions the list of the children of John which are found in old pedigrees like the one in the 1615 pedigree. (Graham mentions Anne, but without explaining why.) It seems likely that captaincy of Bewcastle moved from one family branch to another, and possibly was sometimes seen as a position where one Musgrave family was under a more senior branch.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Glover, Robert. Visitation of Yorkshire, Made in the Years 1584-5; to Which Is Added the Subsequent Visitation Made in 1612 by Richard St. George. Ed. by Joseph Foster (1875) pp. 142-3 HathiTrust
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Flowers, William. Visitation of Yorkshire in the Years 1563 and 1564. Edited by Charles Best Norcliffe (Publications of the Harleian Society, Vol. XVI (1881) p. 216 Note: Musgrave pedigree does not appear in the original 1563/4 pedigree by Flowers and was apparently added by Norcliffe Internet Archive
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Foster, Joseph, ed. Pedigrees Recorded at the Heralds' Visitations in the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland in 1615 and 1666 (1891). pp. 191-2 HathiTrust
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Jefferson, Samuel, History and Antiquities of Leath Ward: in the County of Cumberland (1840) p. 414 HathiTrust
5. ↑ Calendar of the Patent Rolls…Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III, A.D. 1476-1485 (1901) pp. 478, 507, 577 HathiTrust
6. ↑ Wedgwood, Josiah C. and Anne Holt, History of Parliament..1439-1509: Biographies of the Members of the Commons House (1936), p. 620 Internet Archive
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Calendar of the Fine Rolls...Vol. 22, Henry VII, AD 1485-1509 (1962), pp. 25, 132, 203, 214 HathiTrust
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Calendar of the Patent Rolls...Henry VII, Vol 1, AD 1485-1494 (1914), pp. 101, 335, 429 HathiTrust
9. ↑ Shaw, Wm A., Knights of England, Vol. 2 (1906), p. 24 Internet Archive
10. ↑ "Henry VIII: February 1514, 21-28," in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 1, 1509-1514, ed. J S Brewer (London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1920), 1163-1179. British History Online, accessed October 7, 2023, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol1/pp1163-1179.
11. ↑ "Henry VIII: October 1515, 16-31," in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 2, 1515-1518, ed. J S Brewer (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1864), 276-291. British History Online, accessed October 7, 2023, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol2/pp276-291.
12. ↑ National Archives (UK) Catalog Record . Reference: STAC 2/30/74 PLAINTIFF: Margaret, relict of Sir John Musgrave DEFENDANT: Thomas Musgrave, her son, Sir Edward Musgrave, and Sir William Musgrave PLACE OR SUBJECT: Inheritance of plaintiff's husband at Penrith (bill addressed to Sir T. More) COUNTY: Cumberland 22/04/1509-28/01/1547. ,https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3978344
13. ↑ Nicolson, Joseph and others, History and Antiquities of the Counties of Westmorland and Cumberland’' Vol. 1 (1777), p. 594 Google Books
14. ↑ Swift, F. B., Orthwaite Hall and the Simpson, Richmond and Browne families, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, n.s., Vol. 69 (1969), pp. 221-39. https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-2055-1/dissemination/pdf/Article_Level_Pdf/tcwaas/002/1969/vol69/tcwaas_002_1969_vol69_0013.pdf
15. ↑ Watson, George, Two Lintel Inscriptions. The Musgraves of Edenhall and Some of Their Descendants, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, Vol. 15 (1899), pp. 82-104.http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-2055-1/dissemination/pdf/Article_Level_Pdf/tcwaas/001/1899/vol15/tcwaas_001_1899_vol15_0010.pdf
16. ↑ ^{16.0 16.1} Graham (1929) The Lords of Bewcastle, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society 29 (series 2) , pp. 57-68 https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-2055-1/dissemination/pdf/Article_Level_Pdf/tcwaas/002/1929/vol29/tcwaas_002_1929_vol29_0006.pdf
17. ↑ ^{17.0 17.1} Graham (1911), Extinct Cumberland Castles (Part III.) Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society 11 (series 2). Vol 11, pp. 233-258. http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-2055-1/dissemination/pdf/Article_Level_Pdf/tcwaas/002/1911/vol11/tcwaas_002_1911_vol11_0020.pdf
18. ↑ Graham (1911) Border Manors, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, n.s., Vol. 11 (1911), pp. 38-54. http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-2055-1/dissemination/pdf/Article_Level_Pdf/tcwaas/002/1911/vol11/tcwaas_002_1911_vol11_0005.pdf