Catherine Curzon, wife of Nicholas Griffin

[Clagett, Brice]

Jeff Duvall says that Sir John Curzon ("of the white head") is "the better candidate . . . on chronological grounds" for the father of Catherine Curzon, wife of Nicholas Griffin; i.e. better than Richard Curzon who was her father according to CP 7:457. I don't follow Jeff's reasoning since he knows of "no other identifying information" for Richard.

In fact there was a Richard Curzon, living in 1432 and dead by 1451, who was esquire of the body to Henry VI; a retainer of and chamerlain to Richard Beauchamp, Earl, of Warwick; Captain of Sandgate Castle in 1432; John Talbot's Lieutenant of Chateau Gaillard, 1435, and of Rouen the next year, and the governor of Honfleur who surrendered it to Count Dunois in 1450. He married Isabel ____ and was rewarded for his services by the farm of all mines in Devon and Cornwall. See, e.g., CPR 1441-1446 pp. 178, 203, 351, 1446-1452 p. 501.

This Richard seems chronologically well suited to be the father-in-law of Nicholas Griffin (1426-1482).

Absent knowledge of where CP got the information that Catherine's father was named Richard, it also seems possible that Catherine was one of the many unnamed children of John "of the white head." Burke's presumably got this from J. Charles Cox's _Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire_ (1875-79) 3:179, where it is presented purely as a speculation.

[Jeffery A. Duvall]

Thanks for the information on this other Richard Curzon. My statement
regarding my belief that it made more sense, chronologically, to follow
Burke's identification of Catherine as a daughter of John "of the white
head" Curzon rather than CP's identification of her father as Richard Curzon
was if the Richard in question was the son of John "of the white head" --
which was what I was finding online. That's what didn't make sense to me
since it was clear from CP that she was married to Nicholas Griffin by 1450.

Do you happen to know if this other Richard Curzon (who was dead by 1451)
was a either a Curzon of Croxall or Kedleston, or neither?

While I've only just begun looking into the Curzons it seems to me that much
of what I've been finding (and granted my sources so far are pretty sad --
mostly what I've found online and in works such as Burke's Peerage, etc.) is
full of confusion. For instance, what is the relationship between John "of
the white head" Curzon who is said to have married Joan Bagot and the John
Curzon who married Margaret Montgomery? Burke's (and yes I know, it is
Burke's) identifies John "of the white head" as the son of John Curzon and
Margaret Montgomery and identifies them both as being of Kedleston. Rosie
Bevan pointed out that the manor of Kedleston was settled on John Curzon and
Margaret Montgomery upon their marriage in 1411 (see her post "Montgomery of
Cubley Part 2" to this group on 11/24/2002). Burke's, however, claims that
John "of the white head" was born ca. 1394 and died 1456. Then there's the
entry for a John Curzon (ca. 1395-1460) in Wedgwood's *History of
Parliament* (p. 245) in which he is described as being of both Croxall and
Kedleston and his only wife is listed as Sanchia Gresley...

I apologize if this doesn't make much sense, but if nothing else it's a fair
reflection of at least my confusion when it comes to the Curzons.

Jeff Duvall
jef...@iquest.net
and
jdu...@iupui.edu