Sir Thomas TUNSTALL [6572] ¹⁵⁵⁵

   FamilySearch ID: G4M6-P9W.

  General Notes:

Thomas Tunstall I

Sir Thomas Tunstall, was the son of William Tunstall (ca 1320 to 1387) and Katherine[1] (maiden name unknown). Thomas was born about 1358 in Lancashire, place unknown but probably somewhere around Cantsfield.[2] Some sources say that he was with Henry V at Agincourt; however, it may be his son that is being referred to. He married twice\emdash (1) Isabel and (2) Joan.

Ca 1382: Married Isabel Harrington, daughter of Nicholas Harrington and Isabel English

6 Sept 1387: William de Tunstall died and Thomas and his mother Katherine were granted a licence for a chantry[3] in their manor of Thurland (11 Ric II)[4]

1 Dec 1397: Thomas and others are commissioned 'to arrest and bring before the king, John son of Thomas Middelton, and Richard brother of the said John, John Bland and William Bland'. On 30 June 1398, Thomas and others are still after the Bland brothers and others. And again, on 16 Nov 1398, the Blands and others are accused of unlawful assemblies in York and Westmorland and the lying in wait of Roger de Bland and Thomas Spicer to kill John Preston and his friends, 'causing homicides, insurrections, and riots'.[5]

10 Feb 1397: "Licence, for 20 marks paid in the hanaper [case or basket] by Thomas de Tunstall, for the alienation in mortmain by him of 9 marks of rent issuing yearly from his lands and tenements in Raron, Wynyngton, Burton in Lonesdale, Bentham, Cokschote and Holme in Kendale, not held in chief, to the abbot and convent of Cokyrsand and his successors for finding a chaplain to celebrate divine service daily in the church of Tunstall or in the manor of Thorisland [sic] for the good estate of the said Thomas and Isabel, his wife, and for their souls after death, and for the souls of William de Tunstall and Katharine, his wife, according to the ordinance of the said Thomas, his heirs or executors, with covenant for distress in case the rent is in arrear."[6]

10 Nov 1399: Commissioned to deliver all the 'fruits and profits pertaining to the alien priory of Lancastre with all goods and chattels in it or in any place pertaining to it to the abbot and convent of St. Mary, Cokirsand, co. Lancaster'.[7]

22 Jul 1400: Received fourth part of mesne lordship[8] of the manor of Kirkby Lonsdale. This remained in the Tunstall family until about 1605 when Francis Tunstall sold his Lancashire and Westmorland estates before leaving Thurland (Dodsworth's MS. 62, f. I.)

Aug 1402: Letters patent to Thomas and others (Sir Nicholas Haryngton, Sir Richard de Hoghton, Sir Ralph Radlif, Sir Thomas Gerard, Sir William Butler [Butiller] and sheriff and stewards of co. of Lancaster with the prince of Wales to join the king at Chester to go with him on the king's service in Wales ". . . to resist the malice of Owen Glyndourdy and other rebels, and to certify thereon to the king in person."[9]

In October of the same year, he was granted the king's licence to crenellate the manor of Thurland and enclose and impark 1,000 acres of meadow, &c., called Fairthwaite, in Lancaster.[10]

1 Apr 1404: "The King to Thomas Tunstall, knight: indenture: setting out the conditions of the retainer of the grantee's services in peace and war for life as from 1399 (23 Ric. II): the grantee to receive 50 marks a year, rents secured on lands at Hest, the mill of Lu." (National Archives, UK., Duchy of Lancaster Deeds, Series 1.]

Also in this year, a further release of Masongill was made to Sir Thomas, his son William and William's wife, Anne.[11]

Ca 1405: His wife Isabel died and by June 1407 he was married to Joan Gray née Mowbray.

Bef Jun 1407: Married Joan the widow of Sir Thomas Gray (d ca 1400)

8 Jun 1407: Writ issued commanding escheator of Northumberland to inquire into age of Johanna and Elizabeth, sisters and heirs of William, son and heir of the late Sir Henry of Heton knight … and to cite Sir Thomas of Tunstalle knight, and [Joan] his wife, executrix of the late Sir Thomas Gray of Heton, to appear in Chancery for their interest, Sir Thomas Grey and [Joan] having the ward of the late Sir Henry's lands. Westminster.[12]

1407: Thomas Tunstall, Knt., and his wife Joan, sued the abbot of Alnwick regarding cattle worth £100.[13]

24 Mar 1411: "Alice widow of Sir Thomas de Musgrave … Land … for her life on condition she enfeoff Sir Thomas de Tunstall and Richard de Musgrave for £20 rent."

9 Jul 1413: Thomas obtained the wardship of the heir of John de Parr of Kendall., a Thomas de Parr [born 1407], to whom he married his daughter Alice.[14]

1414: justice of the peace for Westmorland.

25 Oct 1415: Reportedly fought at the Battle of Agincourt

5 Nov 1415: At his death he was said to hold manors of Burrow and Leck of Thomas Lord Dacre by rent of a rose. He held the manor of Newton and Hubberthorn of John Duke of Bedford in 1416, rendering a pound of pepper.

"INQUISITION taken at Lancaster before Robert de Halsale Escheator on Saturday in the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul in the third year of Henry the fifth by the oath of Thomas de Dacre and others who say that Thomas Tunstall knight died seised in his domain as of the fee of the Manor of Tunstall and that He held of Thomas, Earl of Dorcester, as of his lordship of Horneby, in fealty, and by rendering: 111 s and 6 d yearly And that which is worth per annum 10 li beyond the requisitions. Also seised of the Manor of Burgh and Lekke and that he held of Thomas Lord de Dacre in socage and by the service of one rose which is worth per year 40 li beyond the requisitions Also seised of the manor of Cancefeld and held it of John lord of Haryngton in socage and rents: 40 d per annum And what is worth beyond the recapture of 10 marks Also seised of the manor of Newton and Hoburthornes which he held of John Duke of Bedford in socage and by rent: of one pound of pepper per annum which is worth one hundred shillings And that the same Thomas Tunstall died on Tuesday next before the feast of Saint Martin the Bishop last [5 November 1415] And that William Tunstall, son of the aforesaid Thomas, is his nearest heir, and of the age of 24 years and more." (Translated from the Latin by ND Whisenant, 7 November 2022)[15]

Thomas and Isabel had the following children: William (1382-1425) died without male issue, Thomas (1386-1431), Katherine (b ca 1388) m John Pennington (1393-1470), Isabel (b ca 1390) m Alexander Kirkby (1385-1409), John (1396-1470), Joan (b ca 1397) m Matthew Redman (1395-1419), Eleanor (b ca 1398), Elizabeth (b ca 1398) m Robert Bellingham (1400-1476), and Alice (b ca 1405) m Thomas Parr (1406-1464).
Sources:
[1] Flower's Visitation of Yorkshire 1563/64 says that William married Ales. The Peerage says he married Alice Lindsay, daughter of Philip (source Unknown author, Family Group Sheets, Family History Archives). Whitaker in his History of Richmondshire, pedigree sandwiched between pp 270-271, says he married Alice Lindsay, daughter of Philip (again no source, but then Whitaker is notoriously unreliable).

[2] Possibly at Thurland manor.

[3] An endowment for a priest or priests to celebrate masses for the founder's soul.

[4] Tunstall of Thurland Castle, p 264. Thurland was probably not a castle at this time. Thomas was not granted a licence to crenelate until 1402.

[5] CPR, Richard II, vol. 6: 1396-1399. (London, 1909), pp 310, 434, 503.

[6] CPR, Richard II, p 82. See also BHO, 'Townships: Cantsfield', A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8 (1914), pp. 232-237.

[7] CPR, Henry IV, vol. 2: 1401-1405. (London, 1905), p 123

[8] A feudal lord who holds land as tenant of a superior (such as a king) but who is lord to his own tenant

[9] CPR, Henry IV, vol. 2: 1401-1405. (London, 1905), pp 138.

[10] CPR, p 164 1402. Oct. 14. Westminster. "Licence for the king's knight Thomas Tunstall to crenellate his manor of Thorslond, CO. Lancaster, and to enclose and impark 1,000 acres of meadow, wood and moor of his soil called * Fairethwayt,' co. Lancaster." (https://archive.org/details/calendarpatentr00britgoog/page/164/mode/2up?view=theater&q=Tunstall)

[11] BHO, Township: Cantsfield, footnote 28: [In 1382 Thomas ] granted his manor of Masongill with the advowson of Thornton in Lonsdale to his son William, who had married Anne; Dods. MSS. lxii, fol. 1, no. 13. . . . Thomas, son of Sir Thomas received a fourth part of the lordship of Kirkby Lonsdale in 1400, while a further release of the manor of Masongill was in 1404 made to Sir Thomas Tunstall, William his son and Anne the wife of William; Dods. MSS. loc. cit. no. 11, 14. BHO

[12] Calendar of documents relating to Scotland preserved in Her Majesty's Public Record Office, London, Great Britain, Joseph Bain, General Register Office (Scotland), 1881, pp 151-2 Calendar of documents relating to Scotland preserved in Her Majesty's Public Record Office, London : Great Britain. Public Record Office : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

[13] Archaeologia aeliana, or, Miscellaneous tracts relating to antiquity, Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne. Annual report, 1822, volume 6, p 68 (https://archive.org/details/archaeologiaaeli06sociuoft/page/68/mode/2up) R. 584, m. 221 d. "Thomas Tunstall, chivaler, and Johanna, his wife, plaintiffs ; William, abbot of Alnwyk, defendant. Cattle value 100 li., which he unjustly detains."

[14] CPR, Henry V, vol. 1: 1413-1416. (London, 1910). (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000008749636&view=1up&seq=71)

[15] Abstracts of inquisitions post mortem, made by Christopher Towneley and Roger Dodsworth. Extracted from manuscripts at Towneley. Ed. by William Langton, printed for the Chetham society, volume 1, p 115 (https://archive.org/details/abstractsofinqui195manc/page/114/mode/2up)
Created by NDWhisenant10 October 20224 | Page

  Noted events in his life were:

1. He resided at Thurland Castle in Thurland Castle, Lancashire, England. ¹⁵⁵⁶

Thomas married Isabel HARINGTON [6573] [MRIN: 5413], daughter of Sir Nicholas HARINGTON of Farleton [6587] and Isabel ENGLISH [6588], about 1380 in Tunstall, Lancashire, England.¹⁵⁵⁶ (Isabel HARINGTON [6573] was born about 1369 in , , Westmorland, England ¹⁵⁵⁵ and died about 1415 in Tunstall, Lancashire, England ¹⁵⁵⁵.)

Thomas next married Joan MOWBRAY [6586] [MRIN: 5415], daughter of John DE MOWBRAY [6592] and Elizabeth DE SEGRAVE [6593], before June 1407.¹⁵⁵⁶ (Joan MOWBRAY [6586] was born on 25 March 1364 in Epworth, Lincolnshire, England ¹⁵⁵⁶ and died after 8 June 1407 in Lancaster, , Lancashire, England ¹⁵⁵⁶.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

1. They have conflicting marriage information of Bef June 1407. ¹⁵⁵⁷