Estate matters
Acting as Edward de Vere’s new financial adviser, accountant and broker, ffrancis spent hours going through Edward’s estate papers whether they were at Castle Hedingham, Stoke Newington or King’s Place. Trying to establish the identity of all the estates which Edward still held a proprietary claim to was a considerable task in itself. The next task was to unlock the complexity of the trusts that encumbered these estates and all debts accruing. Perhaps ffrancis and Edward worked together in the ‘proper lybrayre’ at King’s Place since Edward was probably spending a lot of time here himself when he wasn’t gardening.

It is surely very significant that the first property deal between Edward de Vere and ffrancis Trentham, in July 1591, concerned the extremely valuable Great Garden at Aldgate or, to give it its full title, the Covent Garden of Christ Church within the parish of St. Bartolph-without-Aldgate. As mentioned earlier, no record has ever been found of the date of Edward de Vere’s marriage to Elizabeth Trentham, though it is widely believed to have taken place in either November or December 1591. The temptation to push this date back to the summer is, I believe, made irresistable by ffrancis Trentham’s apparent purchase of the Great Garden in July.

The nature of the deal, as outlined by Nina Green in her extensive research into the de Vere estate, was such that “the profits from the garden property were to be used by ffrancis Trentham for the benefit of Oxford’s widow, Elizabeth Trentham, after Oxford’s death.” If they were not married in July when this deal was struck, then they were certainly engaged to be married. The deal also gives us a strong indication that, by July 1591, ffrancis had already completed his initial assessment of the de Vere estate and, having done so, he rightly judged that the Great Garden was the most promising piece of real-estate in Edward’s portfolio for development. It is recorded that some 130 houses were built on the site, described as not less than ten acres, during this period and the profits arising from the leaseholds and freeholds on these houses were considerable.

As to when the site was developed, a clue comes from the second Inquisition Post Mortem of 13 August 1608, following the death of Edward de Vere, which dealt solely with the Great Garden – the first IPM having missed it. Having stated that Edward was “siesed” of the property on his death (confirming ffrancis Trentham’s status as trustee as opposed to outright purchaser), the IPM mentions, “... the houses, messuages, tenements & buildings on the foresaid great garden newly constructed & built” (my italics). No doubt the profits were used to support the widowed Countess and her son Henry after Oxford’s death, but there can be little doubt that ffrancis intended to begin developing the site from the moment he signed the indenture, and that the profits arising from this investment were used by him to help refinance the rest of the de Vere estate.

Which brings into focus the £10,000 which, according to GE Cokayne’s note, ffrancis settled on Edward upon becoming brothers-in-law which is, I believe, the sum of money that ffrancis pledged to invest in the de Vere estate over the coming years to rescue it from ruin on behalf of his sister and any future male heir to the Earldom of Oxford. It also brings us to Castle Hedingham and the complex series of deals that would see the family seat of the Earls of Oxford pass right down the Trentham line – as will be seen later.

Since the first part of this article appeared, I have had some interesting correspondence with Nina Green and Christopher Paul regarding this apparent settlement. Nina points out that the Cokayne note makes the £10,000 conditional upon Oxford settling Castle Hedingham on ffrancis and his heirs in default of any male heir of Oxford, and “the difficulty is that Oxford could not have made this promise because by the time he married Elizabeth Trentham he had already sold Castle Hedingham to Lord Burghley in trust for his (Oxford's) three daughters.” Nina also points out that, on 3 July 1587, Oxford had granted Castle Hedingham to the Queen on condition that she regrant it to him and his heirs by his wife, Anne Cecil. Leaving aside the probability that Oxford and Elizabeth Trentham were married five months before the sale of Castle Hedingham to Burghley (in documents dated November and December 1591 and April 1592), the logic would indeed seem to argue against Cokayne’s interpretation.

However, Christopher Paul has discovered the apparent source from which GE Cokayne made his note – Philip Morant's ‘The History and Antiquities of the County of Essex (1763-68)’ – and there are subtle, but important, differences.

Here is a part of Morant’s note: “For, Edward, the 17th Earl of Oxford, having taken to his second wife Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Trentham ... her brother Francis Trentham Esq advanced ten thousand pounds to clear incumbrances on the Oxford estates.” In other words, the £10,000 appears not to be conditional upon the settlement of Castle Hedingham but, rather, acted like a bond which sealed the marriage. Even this interpretation, however, needs some qualification. I don’t believe for an instant that this £10,000 was offered as a lump sum – ffrancis Trentham may have been wealthy but he hardly had this much cash to spare. Yet when we add up all the Trentham investment in the de Vere estate over the coming years – particularly the repurchase of Castle Hedingham in 1609 – the total amount actually exceeds this £10,000. Of course, ffrancis was astute enough to make sure that all his investments in the de Vere estate contained detailed clauses that, should the male line of his sister’s marriage to Oxford fail, the estates in question would default to male heirs of the Trentham line.

The sale of Castle Hedingham to Burghley in December 1591, in trust for his three de Vere grandaughters, was surely intended as a short-term measure to streamline the near bankrupt estate and yet still keep the ancestral seat within the family, so that should Oxford have the great fortune to be blessed with a male heir and future Earl with Countess Elizabeth, the manorship could be repurchased when his estate was more profitable.

Morant continues by moving forward eighteen years to 8 July 1609 when, “...the three daughters of the said Earl Edward, by his first wife, with their husbands ... conveyed the Honour of Castle Hedingham to her [Elizabeth, Countess Dowager of Oxford] for life, remainder to her son Henry Earl of Oxford for his life, and to his sons in taile male ... remainder to Francis Trentham Esq brother of the said Countess, and his heirs for ever.” As Henry de Vere died without issue, the manor of Castle Hedingham did indeed default to ffrancis and his heirs - though not without being challenged.

In March 1592, a new trustee of the de Vere estate first appeared on the scene – Ralph Sneyd of Keele Hall, the uncle of Elizabeth and ffrancis Trentham. The estate in question was the Rectory of Walter Belchamp and, as Nina Green has established, the terms of this purchase were similar to the terms under which the Great Garden was purchased in that ffrancis and Ralph held the property as trustees for the use of the Earl and Countess of Oxford during their lives.

The overall management of the de Vere estate by ffrancis Trentham, with Ralph Sneyd acting as trustee, was so astute that by the time of Edward’s death in 1604, all his personal debts had been cleared and the estate itself was extremely valuable. And having suffered from Queen Elizabeth’s and Burghley’s rapacious interest in his estate for most of his life first as a Royal ward and then as Burghley’s son-in-law, Edward was determined that his son would be spared any further assaults on his lands. As Nina Green put it to me, “Oxford seems to have taken complicated legal steps to ensure that his properties were already in the hands of Francis Trentham and Ralph Sneyd at his death so as to mitigate the effects of wardship on his wife Elizabeth and son Henry.”

Copyright 2007 Jeremy Crick.