C.P. Addition: More on Jane (or Joan), 2nd wife of Sir Edward Brooke, 6th Lord Cobham [died 1464]

[Douglas Richardson]

Dear Newsgroup ~

The authoritative Complete Peerage, 3 (1913): 346 (sub Cobham) has a
good account of the history of Sir Edward Brooke, 6th Lord Cobham, who
died in 1464. Regarding his marriage and death, the following
information is provided:

"He married Elizabeth, daughter of James (Tuchet), Lord Audley, by his
2nd wife, Eleanor, illegitimate daughter of Thomas (Holand), Earl of
Kent. He died 1464, before 8 Nov., when his widow, Joan (sic), had
pardon for having married without license Christopher Worsley, the
King's servant." END OF QUOTE.

For starters, Sir Edward Brooke, 6th Lord Cobham, actually married
(1st) on or before 2 Feb. 1436/7 Elizabeth Audley (or Tuchet),
daughter of James Tuchet (or Audley), Knt., 5th Lord Audley, by his
1st wife, Margaret, daughter of William Roos, K.G., 6th Lord Roos of
Helmsley. For further particulars, see Douglas Richardson, Royal
Ancestry, 5 (2013): 408-409, sources cited. By this marriage, Sir
Edward Brooke had one son, John, Knt. [7th Lord Cobham], born about
1450, and one daughter, Elizabeth (wife of Robert Tanfield, Esq., of
Gayton, Northamptonshire).

Sir Edward Brooke presented to the church of Lufton, Somerset in
1443. He was summoned to Parliament from 13 Jan. 1444/5 to 1463, by
writs directed Edwardo Broke de Cobham Chivaler. He was a staunch
Yorkist. He fought at the Battle of St. Albans 23 May 1455, and
commanded the left wing at the Battle of Northampton 10 July 1460.
His mansion at Olditch (in Thorncombe), Devon [now Dorset] was sacked
by James Butler, Earl of Ormond, a Lancastrian.

Following the death of his 1st wife, Elizabeth Audley, Sir Edward
Brooke married (2nd) Jane (or Joan) _____. Jane, 2nd wife of Sir
Edward Brooke, has been elsewhere identified in print as the
granddaughter and co-heiress of Thomas Montague, of Cathanger (in
Fivehead), Somerset. See the book, The Particular Description of the
County of Somerset (Somerset Rec. Soc. 15) (1900), edited by Bates,
page 63. This material may be found at the following weblink:

http://books.google.com/books?id=90kJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA63

However, based on information previously posted on the newsgroup by
John Higgins, I believe two different Brooke families have been
conflated and that Jane, 2nd wife of Sir Edward Brooke, was not an
heiress of the Montague family at all.

Sir Edward Brooke, 6th Lord Cobham, died testate shortly before 7 July
1464. Following his death, his widow, Jane (or Joan), married (2nd)
before 8 Nov. 1464 (date of pardon for marrying without license)
Christopher Worsley, Esq., king’s servant, Sheriff of cos. Somerset
and Dorset,
Sheriff of Wiltshire [Reference: Calendar of Patent Rolls]. Jane and
Christopher appear to have had one son, John Worsley, who was living
in 1473 [Reference: Lewis, Middle English Dictionary Pt. W.1 (1952):
85, weblink provided below].

In the period, 1465–1467, Christopher Worsley and his wife, Jane, sued
John Bettiscombe, as surviving feoffee, in Chancery to make an estate
in the manor of Loxton [?Lufton intended], Somerset according to will
of her late husband, Edward Brooke, Lord Cobham. This is indicated by
the following record found in the helpful online National Archives
Catalogue (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/search.asp):

"C 1/2/73: Christopher Worsley and Jane his wife v John Bettiscombe:
to compel defendant, as feoffee, to make an estate of manor of Loxton
in Somerset, to Jane, according to the will of her late husband,
Edward Brooke, Lord Cobham. Additional names: Thomas Philip, Thomas
Brooke, Lord Cobham, Reginald Brooke, John Wydeslade of London, and
Christopher Cook of London, gentlemen. Date: 1465-1467." END OF
QUOTE.

A reference to the same Chancery lawsuit may also be found in Cooper,
An Account of the Most Important Public Recs. of Great Britain 1
(1832): 382, which may be viewed at the following weblink:

http://books.google.com/books?id=IZkKAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA382

Christopher Worsley, Esq., died in 1471, either at the Battle of
Barnet 14 April 1471 or at the Battle of Tewkesbury 4 May 1471. His
widow, Jane, married (3rd) before 1473 Robert Palmer, Esq. [Reference:
Lewis, Middle English Dictionary Pt. W.1 (1952): 85]. The reference
to the work by Lewis may be found at the following weblink:

http://books.google.com/books?id=aDaxOiR3_cYC&pg=PA85

In Oct. 1479 there was a “great variance” between Robert Palmer, Esq.,
and his step-son, John Brooke, 7th Lord Cobham, regarding a group of
manors in the West Country; both parties were summoned before the king
and bound over in the sum of 50,000 marks to stand by the king’s award
[Reference: Ross, Edward IV (1974): 400, cf. Calendar of Close Rolls,
1476–1485 (1954): 221–222].

New recent research reveals that Robert Palmer, Esq., and his wife,
Jane (or Joan), were both living in Michaelmas term 1486, when they
joined with her son, Richard Brook alias Cobham, esquire, in a fine
involving lands in Essex published in Reaney and Fitch, Feet of Fines
for Essex, 4 (1964): 87. Below is a copy of that information:

Mich. term 1486. "Robert Palmer, esquire, and Joan his wife and
Richard Brook alias Cobham, esquire, her son, def. Hugh Bryce,
knight, alderman, citizen and goldsmith of London, and Elizabeth his
wife, def. 2 messuages in Berkyng. Def. quitclaimed to pl. and the
heirs of Joan. Warranty against John, abbot of Westminster, and his
successors. Consideration 20l." END OF QUOTE.

The above fine indicates that Joan Palmer had a hitherto unknown son,
Richard Brook alias Cobham, by her 1st marriage to Sir Edward Brooke,
Lord Cobham. As such, a new child, Richard, may now be added to the
known issue of Sir Edward Brooke, 6th Lord Cobham.

Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah

[John Higgins]

While DR has now discovered a new son for Sir Edward Brooke, 6th Lord
Cobham, and his 2nd wife Jane/Joan, he apparently is now backing off
from his statement of April 2008 that this couple also had a daughter
Jane who married John Walsh of Cathanger. See this thread, and note
the similarities and differences between the current post and the 1st
post in this 2008 thread:

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GEN-MEDIEVAL/2008-04/1208970241

I agree, as DR now believes, that Lord Cobham's 2nd wife Jane/Joan was
probably NOT a heiress of Thomas Montague. She appears to have been
confused with a different Jane Brooke who was a descendant of Thomas
Montague and did marry John Walsh. This latter Jane Brooke (sister of
Sir David, the judge and MP) was not of a different Brooke family, but
rather of a different branch of the same family - descended from a
younger brother of Edward Brooke, Lord Cobham. For details on this
connection, see the appropriate pedigrees the 1623 Visitation of
Somerset (HSP vol. 11) and the extensive article on the Brook [sic]
family in vol. 44 (1898) of the Proceedings of the Somersetshire
Archaeological and Natural History Society.

However, it's not clear how the first Jane's 3rd husband Robert Palmer
acquired an interest in the Cathanger property previously held by
Thomas Montague, which property was subsequently held by the second
Jane's husband John Walsh. This issue was mentioned in the 2008
thread cited above.