Elizabeth and ffrancis Trentham of Rocester Abbey
Part Three of the family history of Edward de Vere Earl of Oxford’s second wife and the strategic importance of the Trentham archive in the search for Oxford’s literary fragments.

Part 3 – Introduction
When the thirty-four year old Sir Thomas Trentham (1592-1628) inherited the manors of Rocester Abbey and Castle Hedingham upon the death of his father ffrancis in 1626, there seemed every likelihood that the fortunes of the Trentham family would continue to prosper. Their wealth and influence had grown with each succeeding generation and, being the first member of the family to be knighted (at the age of just twenty-four), Sir Thomas’ future and that of his family must have seemed very bright indeed as he stepped into his father’s shoes as lord of the manor.

How tragic, then, that Sir Thomas’ untimely death only two years after coming into his inheritance began a process of decline that would see the complete extinction of his family barely a generation later. The fall of the Trentham family was so sudden and complete that their very name has passed out of all knowledge among today’s inhabitants of the village of Rocester. Within thirty years of Sir Thomas’ death, the Trentham family residence of Rocester Abbey over the previous hundred and twenty years would be demolished with no vestige of it remaining today. And it’s particularly tragic that when the parish church was completely rebuilt in the early Victorian period, leaving only the tower, all of the many tombs of the Trentham family were destroyed.

From the perspective of this research – tracing the whereabouts of the papers and heirlooms of the Trentham family in the hope of discovering evidence of Edward de Vere’s literary activities – the task of charting the passage of the remaining heirs through the various houses in which they lived their brief lives is a convoluted business indeed. And, though this task has met with no success as yet in its primary aim, the lines of enquiry that have been pursued and continue to be pursued have shed important light in some unexpected places that will be of interest to Oxfordians.

Perhaps the most interesting area of research in this respect resulted from my discovery of two direct links between the Trenthams and the Cokaynes of Ashbourne which offered tantalising new clues to one of the most hotly contested icons in the intense struggle between Oxfordian and Stratfordian scholarship – the ‘Ashbourne’ portrait of ‘Shakespeare’ which most Oxfordians believe is the ‘lost’ portrait of Edward de Vere by Cornelius Ketel. This line of enquiry proved so fruitful that I invited fellow DVS member Dorna Bewley, who I knew to be interested in this portrait, to join forces with me in the research, the results of which have now been published in the Summer 2007 edition of the DVS newsletter.

The Rocester estate of the Trenthams achieved its greatest expansion under ffrancis – the years that follwed his death only saw the estate gradually diminish as it was broken up and sold off. But the waealth of this estate is a very important factor in understanding the events that follow, and so I have put together a downloadable four-page pictorial survey of the Rocester estate at the time of ffrancis Trentham’s death in 1626 – see top right.

Also published here (and for the first time ever) is one of the most valuable heirlooms of a Trentham heir – the exquisite portrait of Elizabeth Trentham, Lady Cullen, painted by the celebrated Restoration court painter, Sir Peter Lely.

Copyright 2007 Jeremy Crick.

Download this four-page pictorial survey of the Trentham's Staffordshire estate which includes a detailed map of the Rocester area.

(1,6MB pdf format)