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The
Cokaynes of Rushton Quite
how the prospective husband Bryen Cokayne came into the picture
history does not record, but in an extraordinary document dated
24 September 1653 when Elizabeth was just thirteen years old, it
is possible for the first time to assess the value of the estate
that her great-grandfather ffrancis Trentham had so adroitly accumulated
– and, to the everlasting gratitude of Oxfordians, had been
so willing to invest in securing the financial health of his noble
brother-in-law Edward de Vere in the final thirteen years of his
life. The document (see picture, right) is a prenuptial agreement
confirming that Elizabeth Trentham will settle her inheritance upon
the sons of her proposed marriage to Bryen Cokayne: “Know
all men by these present that we Charles Cokayne of Rushton in the
Countye of Northampton esq lately called Charles Viscount Cullen
of the Realme of Ireland and Bryen Cokayne sonne and heir apparent
of him the said Charles do stand and are firmely bounden and obliged
unto John Bowyer of Biddulph in the Countye of Stafford in the sume
of twentye thousand pounds of good and lawfull money of England
to be paid to the said John Bowyer ...” After referring to
a set of ‘articles’ bearing the date of 14 September,
the document then sets out “The Condition of the present obligation”
between the contracting parties, “that the true intent and
meaning of that covenant or article and of the parties thereunto
which concernes the present meanes of the said Bryen Cokaine for
life and of Elizabeth Trentham his intended wiffe for joynture ...
that in case the said Elizabeth shall within one yeare next after
shee shall accomplish her full age of one and twentye yeares settle
her estate in Rocester Alton Denston Quicksill and Combridge in
the Countye of Stafford and in Henningham and elsewhere in the Countye
of Essex upon all and everie the sonnes which shee shall have by
the said Bryen and the heires males of the bodies of such sonnes
respectively ... then immediately after such settlement the two
hundred and fiftye pounds [presumably mentioned in the ‘articles’
and to be paid annually by Charles Cokayne] ... for addition of
joynture and in full recompense of dower for the said Elizabeth
... is to be in addition for present maintenance of the said Bryen
and Elizabeth ...” There is a brutal finality to the way that the life’s work of nine generations of the Trentham family, as we have seen, came to John Bowyer in the form of a lump sum of £20,000 (worth around £3.5 million today), and of Bryen Cokayne who would soon become the Lord of Rocester and Hedingham simply by virtue of marrying his beautiful teenage bride – leaving the Trentham family effectively extinct. There
is evidence that, for Charles Cokayne, concluding this very expensive
deal was something of a gamble – the Cokaynes of Rushton were
a family that suffered substantial financial losses during the Civil
War. In
a Private Act of Parliament dated 29 November 1663, three years
after the accession of Charles II, Bryen Cokayne, 2nd Viscount Cullen,
seeking permission to sell the former de Vere estate of Elmsthorpe
in Leicester in order to raise urgently needed funds, explains,
“...and whereas Charles late Lord Viscount Cullen, father of
your suppliant, by reason of the unhappy troubles lost above the
value of £40,000 and was afterwards forced to pay £10,000
more for his composition and thereby involved his estate and died
before freeing it having first caused your suppliant to secure £4,000
to be paid to your suppliants sister Mary daughter of the said Charles
for her portion...”. And on it goes – as did the
Elmsthorpe estate itself, eventually, to none other than William
Sneyd of Keele Hall, grandson of the great Ralph Sneyd, and to a
certain Thomas Cokayne – the indenture being dated 24 November
1673. It
should be pointed out, however, that the Cokaynes of Rushton had
a well-deserved reputation for both high living and for profligacy.
And it is particularly notable that Elizabeth Trentham seemed bent,
if anything, on outdoing the Cokaynes in their excesses so much
did she revel in the life of a noted beauty at the glittering Court
of Charles II. And who can blame her really, with such wealth coming
to her at such a young age? The founder of the Rushton branch of the Cokayne family was Sir William Cokayne (d. 1626) one-time Lord Mayor of London. It was his son and heir Charles who was elevated to the peerage by Charles I right at the start of the Civil War, becoming the first in a line of Viscounts Cullen. The family seat of Rushton Hall in Northamptonshire, bought by Sir William, had been the possession of the Catholic Tresham family since the fifteenth century and it was Thomas Tresham who had built the extraordinary Triangular Lodge at Rushton in 1592 in a brief interlude in his adult life when he had not been holed up in Fleet prison for his indomitable work on behalf of the Catholic cause (such as harbouring the Jesuit Campion).
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Rushton
Hall, Northampton |
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Bryan
Cokayne, |
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The prnuptial agreement signed between the Cullens and John Bowyer, guardian of Elizabeth Trentham. (Cokayne
(Rushton) Papers, C 2897, Northampton Record Office) |
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The
extraordinary Triangular Lodge at Rushton Hall in Northampton |
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By
1660, Cromwell had died and a glittering new Royal Court was established
under Charles II. Just one year later, following the death of his
father, Bryen became 2nd Viscount Cullen while his wife Elizabeth
became a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Katherine. The Cullens
had already secured their succession with the future 3rd Viscount
Cullen being born on 15 November 1658. And the Rushton Parish Register,
on the occasion of the baptism of their second son, is one of the
more notable parish records that I have found: “Trentham the
son of Brien, Viscount Cullen and Elizabeth his wife was baptised
Nov 14 and borne Nov 5 a little after three of the clocke in the
morning being Wednesday 1663.” How loyal that Elizabeth should
choose her family name for her son’s Christian name, and how
unusual that not only the day but also the hour of the birth was
recorded. The
most notable pattern in the record of the Cullens over the coming
years is the mortgaging and selling of their estates in order to
fund their lavish lifestyle. The first Trentham estate to be sold
off for cash was Westwood Grange, on 28 February 1658, being sold
to the notable Leek family of the Jollifes of Botham Hall for £2,200
(The Jollifes and Botham Hall will feature in the ‘Ashbourne
Portrait’ essay that follows). Yet the most extraordinary document
that I have discovered in my search for the Trentham family papers
is an indenture, signed and sealed on the same day as the Elmsthorpe
indenture, the 24th November 1673, in which Bryen and Elizabeth
Cullen sell the manors of Rocester and Castle Hedingham to William
Sneyd of Keele (1612-1695) and Thomas Cokayne, identified as a London
merchant. This indenture (located amongst the Sneyd Papers at Keele
University) is a fascinating document in that it gives an extremely
detailed account of the extent of “the Honour mannor Castle
and Borough of Hedingham alias Henningham alias Hedingham at Castle”
as well as what remained of “the mannor of Rocester alias Roceter”. The following is a brief extract of an extremely detailed survey of the estate of Castle Hedingham: “And
alsoe all that Parke and ground called the Greate Parke to the said
Castle called Hedingham at Castle aforesaid belongings or appertaininge
conteining by estimation six hundred acres and all that Parke and
ground called the Castle Parke with one orchard the garden called
the Hopgarden with one dovehouse ... And also all that little parke
and ground with the meadow called Little Parke Meade and Constable
Meadowe to the said Castle of Hedingham ... And all and singular
those other lands tenements franchises libertyes profitts comodities
and hereditaments whatsoever scituate lieinge or beings in or within
the parishes of Hedingham at Castle and Hedingham Sybley in the
said County of Essex ... which late were the possession and inheritance
of Edward Earle of Oxenford. And also all those mannors messuages
lands tenements and rents called Grayes and Prayors alias Bowers
Hall pevers and peppers in Hedingham Sybley ... late parcell of
the possession and inheritance of the said Edward Earle of Oxenford
together with those rents called Bouchers alias Bouerchers rents
in Hedingham Sybley aforesaid And all other the lands tenements
ffranchises libertyes profitts ... within the Villages feilds parishes
or hambletts of Hedingham at Castle and Hedingham Sybley ... late
parcell of the possession and inheritance of the said Edward Earle
of Oxenford And alsoe all that ground scyte walke circuit and precinct
of all that howse and Pryorie of the blessed Mary of St James and
the holy crosse of Hedingham ad Castrum ... And all that the Church
Steeple and Churchyard of the same late Pryorie And also all those
messuages howses edifices barnes Granges dovehouses ... of the said
late Pryorie ... late the possession and inheritance of the said
Edward Earle of Oxenford And alsoe all those Rectories of the parish
Churches of Hedingham ad Castrum and Gosfield ... And those advowsons
and patronages of the Rectoryes and Viccaradges of Hedingham ad
Castrum and Gosfield ...” One
fascinating discovery for Oxfordians found within this indenture
is the fact that Thomas Cokayne who bought the manors of Rocester
and Castle Hedingham, along with William Sneyd, represented the
much older and senior branch of his family – the Cokaynes
of Ashbourne. It was this discovery that prompted me to begin a
separate line of research into the provenance of the so-called ‘Ashbourne’
portrait of Shakespeare – a portrait which is broadly
believed in Oxfordian circles to be the lost portrait of Edward
de Vere by Cornelius Ketel. This research, undertaken jointly with
fellow DVS member Dorna Bewley, has brought some significant new
evidence to light which has now been published by the De Vere Society. As
previously noted, on the same day that Bryen Cokayne Lord Viscount
Cullen and his wife Elizabeth sold the manors of Rocester and Castle
Hedingham to William Sneyd and Thomas Cokayne, they also sold the
manor of Elmsthorpe (formerly part of the inheritance of Edward
de Vere from his father, the 16th Earl of Oxford) to the same two
gentlemen. This second lengthy indenture among the Sneyd Papers
at Keele University can be read alongside a letter to William Sneyd
(dated 8 March 1676) in the same archive in which Bryen Cokayne
refers to the Act of Parliament already cited and adds, “By
this settlement mencioned in the Bill you and Mr Thomas Cokayne
have an interest in Elmsthorpe (which in this Bill I desire may
bee disengaged from the Entayle) and Rushton for 99 yeares to raise
porcions to be payd to them [his daughters] after my death if I
shall not dispose of them in Marriage in my lifetime.” And
so, within a mere twelve years of coming into her inheritance at
the age of twenty-one, Elizabeth Trentham and her husband Bryen
Cokayne had not only sold off the entire Rocester estate including
the manor of Rocester Abbey and the manor of Westwood Grange, but
also the manor of Castle Hedingham, the manor of Elmsthorpe and
had, furthermore, mortgaged the Cokayne family seat of Rushton Hall
as well. Maintaining one’s position as one whose “loveliness
was a theme for the gallants at Court” was clearly an expensive
business. Prior
to selling and mortgaging the manors described above, there is evidence
that Bryen Cokayne had already squeezed out of the estates as much
ready cash as he could raise. One of his first acts upon inheriting
from his father in 1661 was to travel up to Rocester where he appointed
Jonathan Woodnoth his land agent in order to manage the rents and
land sales from the 2,000 acre estate. He then gave instructions
for the old abbey buildings and the Elizabethan manor house within
the precinct of the former abbey to be demolished and the valuable
stone to be sold off. The Hearth Tax Returns of 1666 make interesting,
if not a little confusing, reading. “Rocester Hall” is
listed as being divided between two tenants, John Adams and Richard
Sale and they are taxed for fourteen and ten hearths repectively.
The odd thing about this list is that it describes the taxable hearths
as “in Rocester Hall which is clearly taken downe.” How
they counted twenty-four hearths in a demolished building complex
is uncertain. In
a letter dated 12 October 1663 to Walter Chetwynd, the Staffordshire
Sheriff who was organising a county muster, Jonathan Woodnoth explains
in vivid detail why “I have a particular order from his Lordship
[Lord Cullen] not to send in any” horses. He goes on to explain
that, although his master Lord Cullen is the lord of the Rocester
manor, “Mrs Bowyer [widow of Sir ffrancis Trentham who had
since married her second cousin John Bowyer] his Lady’s mother
hath a much greater revenue by dowry besides what she purchased
from my Lord and she never yet since the King came in contributed
one penny...” and that “My Lord Cullen hath sold eight
thousand pounds worth of land in this county to Mrs Bowyer and others.”
The
three corn mills and the fulling mill at Rocester were also sold
off. In leasehold deeds dating from 1669 it is clear that Nicholas
Mynors of Uttoxeter had taken possession of these from Thomas Henshawe
– a direct descendant of George Henshawe who was both
servant and signatory of the will of ffrancis Trentham, brother-in
law of Edward de Vere. Although
I have yet to discover any documentary evidence to support this
proposition, I have no qualms about advancing the notion that it
was Bryen Cokayne 2nd Viscount Cullen who ordered a similar act
of demolition of everything visible in Burghley’s 1592 survey
of the buildings at Castle Hedingham (see last issue) except for
the central keep, which he ordered upon the abbey and manor house
at Rocester – in the latter case leaving not a single
stone standing above the ground. The rate at which the Cullens divested
themselves of their joint inheritance, and the reckless destruction
they wrought for short-term profit is, quite simply, staggering.
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