Richard Wrottesley/Dorothy Sutton Marriage
Brad Verity
Richard Wrottesley of Wrottesley, Warwickshire, and Dorothy Sutton,
said to be the daughter of Sir Edmund Sutton by his second wife Maud
Clifford (a descendant of Edward III). It was noted by me that Maud
Clifford's first husband Sir John Harington was killed at the battle
of Wakefield in 1460, and noted by Leo van de Pas that Edmund Sutton's
first wife Joyce Tiptoft gave birth to her younger son in 1461. Since
Sir Edmund Sutton and Maud Clifford cannot have been married before
1461, Dorothy Sutton, if she was his daughter by Maud, cannot have
been born earlier than 1462.
Douglas Richardson pointed out that Dorothy Sutton was married to
Richard Wrottesley in or before 1473, and Dave pointed out that
PLANTAGENET ANCESTRY 2 had Richard as Dorothy's second husband and
gave her a first husband of Sir John Musgrave.
John Higgins was very helpful in straigtening out the John
Musgrave/Dorothy Sutton marriage, and determined that it must've been
a separate Sutton sister (named either Margaret or Dorothy) who was
married to Sir John Musgrave of Fairbank, Cumberland.
Eliminating Sir John Musgrave as a husband, that just left the
question of Dorothy's maternity - could she have married in or before
1473 and still be Sir Edmund Sutton's daughter by his second wife,
which would mean a birthdate no earlier than 1462?
I finally had a chance to read through a source that John Higgins had
recommended: the 1903 book "History of the family of Wrottesley of
Wrottesley, co. Stafford" by George Wrottesley. The answer appears to
be that Dorothy can indeed have been the daughter of Sir Edmund
Sutton's second wife Maud Clifford (and thus a descendant of Edward
III) despite the 1473 marriage date.
Richard Wrottesley was the eldest son and heir of Sir Walter
Wrottesley (whom the book's author feels very strongly was a Knight of
the Garter - there being a gap in the Garter records for part of
Edward IV's reign). From Inquisitions we know that Richard was 16
when he succeeded Sir Walter, who died on 10 April 1473. Sir Walter
had joined the Lancastrian cause when Henry VI was reinstated as King,
and was imprisoned and attainted after the Lancastrian defeat in 1471.
Author George Wrottesley feels that the marriage of Sir Walter's son
Richard to Dorothy, the granddaughter of John, Lord Dudley, one of the
staunchest supporters of the Yorkist cause, had some influence in
saving Sir Walter's life in 1471.
In 1471, Dorothy Sutton cannot have been older than 9 years, while
Richard the groom was 14 or 15. They were definitely old enough for a
marriage contract but hardly for a consummation. There is some
corroborative evidence that they were not cohabiting in the mid-1470s.
Richard Wrottesley seems to have been brought up in the Priory of St.
Mary of Mount Carmel in Coventry, for a grant from Thomas the Prior to
Richard, guaranteeing the blessing of the Fraternity and prayers for
Richard during life and after death, was apparently handed to the
young man on his leaving the monastery. The grant is dated 1477, when
Richard would have been about 20. Also, Richard could not formally
enter into the family's Staffordshire estates until the death of his
grandmother Thomasine, which did not occur until Christmas Day 1480,
when Richard was 23.
The eldest son of Richard Wrottesley and Dorothy Sutton was Walter
Wrottesley, and he was married in 1501, according to the indenture
dated 12 March 1501, which states "Walter Wrottesley sonne and heir
apparent unto the said Richard shall by the grace of God, wedde and
take to wife Isabel Harcourt, doghter of John Harcourt, Esqr., on this
half the Feste of Seynt Michel the Archangell next ensuing the date of
this indenture." I wonder if the phrase "wedde and take to wife" is a
way of saying the couple would immediately consummate the marriage?
If so, Walter was at least 16 in 1501, but even if he was 20, that
still places his birth around 1480/1. Walter did not die until 1563,
so I would hesitate to assume he was much older than 20 at his
marriage.
The eldest daughter of Richard Wrottesley and Dorothy Sutton was
Eleanor Wrottesley. Unfortunately, we do not have a marriage date for
her, but we do know that her first husband Edmund Leversedge of Frome
Selwood, co. Somerset, died in 1508, and that Eleanor herself died in
1543. These dates are consistent with an assumed birthdate for
Eleanor in the early 1480s.
Wth the marriage dates of her eldest son and eldest daughter, it
appears likely that Dorothy Sutton Wrottesley did not start having
children until about 1480. If she was born in 1462, that would make
her 18. That chronology is not inconsistent with the Visitation
evidence that she was the daughter of Sir Edmund Sutton by his second
wife Maud Clifford, but she would most certainly had to have been one
of the first children born to the couple. If Edmund Sutton's daughter
Joyce by his first wife was already married or betrothed by 1471-73,
this could explain why the young Dorothy was made a bride so early.
The Wrottesley/Sutton match was very important to the families and
Dorothy was the eldest available daughter for it.
Finally, the epitaph on the tomb of Richard Wrottesley and Dorothy
Sutton provides definitive proof that Dorothy was not married to Sir
John Musgrave before Richard:
"Here lye closed in cley, the body of Richard Wrottesley,
"And also Dorothy, his wif, WHICH LIVED TOGEDDER ALL YIR LIFE.
"The year MCCCCCXVII of our Lord, Dorothy departed out of ye world,
"And after within short space, Richard was leyd in this place.
"Here now our bodies do ley, on our soules Jesu hafe mercy.
"We desire every Xtian mon, to prey for our soules that bin gon."
[Emphasis mine.]
If anyone knows who or when Joyce Sutton (Dorothy's elder half sister)
married, I'd appreciate it.
Best regards, ------Brad Verity