At the head of the tomb, four small shields[10] on the cornice:--1.
_Sable, on a cross within a bordure both engrailed or, nine pellets of
the first_ (GREVILLE).--2. _Erminois, a fess checquy or and azure._ 3.
_Quarterly per fess dancette, 1 and 4 or, 2 and 3 azure, in the dexter
chief a crescent gules._--4. GREVILLE. Below them inscribed in the
centre,
=Arma Fulconis grevile militis & domini Elizabeth uxoris eius.=
under, a large escutcheon supported by nude alabaster figures of
boys,--_baron_, quarterly of four charged as the shields on the
cornice above, impaling _femme_, quarterly of twenty, eighteen of the
charges as on the large shield below the lady, and 19. _Gules, a fess
between six martlets or._--20. _Or, on a fess azure, three
fleurs-de-lys of the first._ Around the shield on a blue riband the
motto as under the knight.
[9] Gold is used throughout the heraldry on the monument to
represent either metal. The shields are here blazoned as they
actually appear.
[10] Commencing with these, the series of small shields round the
tomb, numbering twenty-four in all, follow the same sequence as
the corresponding number of quarterings on the escutcheon below
them.
At the foot of the tomb, four shields on the cornice:--1. _Or, a cross
moline gules._--2. _Or, three bars gules._--3. STAFFORD.--4. _Or, six
lioncels rampant gules, three and three._ Inscribed below them,
=Arma Richardi d'ni de bello Campo baronis de powick et
d'ni de Alcester.=
Underneath are two shields and a lozenge,--one above two. On the
first, quarterly of four, as under the knight; on the second,
quarterly of four as _baron_ at the head of the tomb, _in the fess
point a mullet for difference_. On the lozenge twenty quarterings as
_femme_,--as at the head of the tomb.
Twisted pillars occur at the corners of the tomb, and on each side of
the large escutcheons, and the whole composition is in a remarkably
good state of preservation.
Fulke, the eldest son of Lady Elizabeth, was a most accomplished man,
and the great friend and biographer of that "mirror of knighthood,"
Sir Philip Sidney. He married Ann, daughter of Ralph Nevill, fourth
Earl of Westmoreland who died in 1549. By her he left one son Fulke,
and one daughter Margaret, married to Sir Richard Verney of
Compton-Mordak, Warwickshire. Sir Fulke died in 1606.
Sir Fulke, the grandson of Lady Elizabeth, was really the heir through
her to the barony of Broke, but at that time, it did not appear to be
a point clear in law, that after an honour had been for some time in
abeyance in the female line, it could be afterward claimed by the
heir. He was greatly in favour at the Court of Elizabeth, who rewarded
him liberally, and he obtained from king James I., in the second year
of his reign, a grant of Warwick Castle and its dependencies, then in
a ruinous state, which he gradually re-edified and restored at great
cost, and, January 29, in the eighteenth year of the same reign was
advanced to the title of Baron Brooke, of Beauchamp's-Court, a dignity
further enhanced to an Earldom of the same name 7 July, 1746, followed
by that of the Earldom of Warwick 13 Nov., 1759. Sir Fulke, the first
Lord Brooke, was unfortunately murdered at his house in London, by one
Haywood his servant, who hearing Lord Brooke had not included him for
a legacy in his will, as he had his other servants, Lord Brooke not
considering him entitled to it, resented the omission, and after angry
expostulations, stabbed him in the back, in his bedchamber. The
assassin then rushed into another chamber, locked the door, and
destroyed himself. Lord Brooke lingered a few days, and expired 30
Sep., 1638.
It was to the descendants of Margaret Greville, sister to Sir Fulke
the first Lord Brooke, and grand-daughter of the Lady Elizabeth, that
the title of Willoughby de Broke, was destined to be restored. She
married Sir Richard Verney, of Compton-Murdack in Warwickshire, the
then representative of that very antient and distinguished family. Sir
Richard died 7 Aug., 1630, and Lady Margaret 26 March, 1631. They had
issue four sons and four daughters. Sir Greville ob: 1642, the eldest
son of Sir Richard, had also four sons,--Greville, the eldest; John,
who died young; Richard, of Belton; and George. This descent of
Greville (the eldest son of Sir Greville) became extinct on the death
of his son William in 1683, leaving no issue.
The succession was now vested in Richard of Belton in the county of
Rutland, third son of Sir Greville. He was a person of considerable
culture and influence, and Sheriff and Knight of the shire for
Warwick. As descendant through the heiress of Greville, from Robert
Willoughby, Baron of Broke, he laid claim to that title, which was
allowed him in Parliament 13 February, 1695,--8 William III., and on
the twenty-fifth of that month, had summons by writ to the house of
peers, and on the twenty-seventh took his seat accordingly as the
third Baron Willoughby de Broke,--the original title being granted 12
August, 1492,--7 Henry VII. He married two wives, lived to the great
age of ninety, and was buried at Compton-Verney, Warwickshire. The
title is still held by his descendants.
Here ends our direct genealogical and biographical details, and we
retrace our steps to the church of Beer-Ferrers, where the second Lord
Willoughby de Broke was buried. We have described such remembrances as
remain there to the families of Ferrers and Champernowne, and it now
becomes our province to make note of the memorials that exist to their
successors the Willoughbys.
The first traces that meet the eye are on the bosses of the roof of
the south porch--whereon are shields charged with the arms of Ferrers,
Cheney, Latimer, &c.; and a glance within the church shews us a
pleasing array of bench-ends, of well designed tracery and uniform
design, except the two easternmost, which are ornamented with shields
of arms, referable to their presumed donor. On one is the achievement
of Willoughby de Broke, similar to the escutcheon on the tomb at
Callington, on the other the _bend and horse-shoes_ of Ferrers, here
made _four_ in number, and saltierwise across them, are _five
rudders_,--that descended to and was adopted by Willoughby. Both porch
and bench-ends are of late fifteenth century work. We pass into the
north transept, and there on the north side of the position of the
antient altar once therein, and standing at right angles from the
wall, is a large high-tomb of Purbeck marble. The massive cover stone
is plain, but around its edge is a deeply sunk indent in which was
originally the inscription either on brass or painted within it. Below
in panels are shields with classic wreaths around them, boldly
sculptured,--there are no charges on the escutcheons, and they appear
to have been originally covered with brasses, on which the charges
were emblazoned.
The era may be referred to the first half of the sixteenth century,
and with great probability it may be considered to be the tomb of
Robert, the second Lord Willoughby de Broke, who died in 1522.
[Illustration: TOMB OF THE SECOND LORD WILLOUGHBY DE BROKE,
BEER-FERRERS.]
Before we leave the sacred edifice, a chastened thought creeps over
us, as we take a last look at the fine old glass in the east
window. Just seventy years a-past, a gifted student in the
pursuit we also at humbler distance love, made pilgrimage here, and
was engaged in making a drawing of its interesting painted story, when
death suddenly stayed the work of the artist, snapping the very pencil
in his fingers, and instantly translated him, from picturing the
earthly image of the Founder of these courts below, into his immortal
presence in the great temple above, and the company of all those who
"have died in His faith and fear." Gratefully we note, appreciative
minds have placed a small brass in the pavement, where, on the 28 May,
1821, Charles Alfred Stothard met with his sad, and to mortal sight,
untimely end. His cunning fingers are mouldering in the dust below,
and moss and decay are stealthily obliterating his record outside, but
the fidelity and truth of his works remain bright and undimmed,
forming his best and most enduring monument,--for
"It is the gods that die, not God; It is the arts that perish, not
Art; And beauties may disappear, but Beauty herself Is immortal."
[Illustration: BENCH-ENDS, BEER-FERRERS CHURCH, DEVON.]
The arms proper of Willoughby appear to be _Or, fretty azure_, and
with regard to the badge of _the rudder_, although it has been
questioned, still the evidence of investigation goes far to prove it
to be by ancestral descent, the peculiarity of this family. Leland
makes special note of their appearance at Broke-Hall, and also in
Westbury church. It first occurs in connection with Cheney on the tomb
at Edington, also with Willoughby at Callington, is well marked on the
bench-end at Beer-Ferrers, and again--out of compliment--appears in
similar situation in Landulph church, on the opposite side of the
river. It is found in Lychet-Matraver's church in east Dorset, on the
font and over the windows, accompanied by the golden _fret_ of
Matravers; here it follows Elizabeth, sister of Lord Willoughby de
Broke, who married William Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, Baron Matravers
of Lychet, and lord of the place, who died in 1543. The church was
evidently rebuilt about that time, and displays the characteristics of
late, almost debased Perpendicular.
Another memory concerning Willoughby de Broke yet remains for us to
chronicle, and we must spirit you away, gentle reader, from Tamar's
oozy marge to the dry undulating chalk hills of central Dorset, and
invite you to enter the well-cared-for little church of Hooke.
Descending to him through his grandmother Anne Cheney, as
representative of the families of Stafford and Matravers of Hooke,
Lord Willoughby de Broke held large properties in this and the
adjoining parishes, eleven manors (as enumerated by Hutchins), and
where also he had a seat, of which, says Coker, "Humphrey Stafford who
married Matraver's heir, was the great builder of it," then the
residence of the Marquis of Winchester, descendant of the
Willoughbies; "but his successors have not thought so well of it,
wherefore it is like to run to decay." On its site now stands a modern
mansion, with a few antient vestiges interwoven, and around it is a
fair-sized park. It was in Hooke church that the first Lord
Willoughby de Broke by will endowed the priest for twenty years to
pray for his soul; and within the edifice, on the south side, is a
small chantry, which opens to the church by an arch of late character,
richly decorated with a course of quatrefoil panels having in their
centres shields, and edged on each side with a string-course of
foliage. There are no bearings on the shields. Here, doubtless, the
masses _pro bono statu_ of the deceased nobleman's soul were regularly
sung and said for the time specified. No memorial to Willoughby is
visible in the chantry, excepting a small brass, that probably had its
original station within it, but is now affixed to the opposite wall,
which records the following,--
=Of yo^r charyte pray for the soule of Edmond Semar late se'v'nt
to Robt wylughby knyght late lord Broke whiche Edmond decessed
y^e xiii day of Ianuary the yer of o^r lord m v^e xxiii on whose
soule Ihu haue mercy amen=
William Willoughby succeeded to the Arch-Presbytery of Beer-Ferrers 21
April, 1533,--patron _Walter Seymour_, by virtue of grant from Lord de
Broke. He died 1565, and the Arch-Presbytery expired with him. Both
probably were members of the same family.
A review of the life of the first Lord Willoughby de Broke exhibits no
salient features, beyond those associated with the social distinctions
and worldly prosperity, usually conferred on and accompanying the
faithful subserviency, that follows in the wake of a conqueror. His
public functions scarcely reached in importance those exercised by his
companion at Court and in arms, and fellow west-countryman Giles, Lord
Daubeney; but in the main they were much alike; each served Henry as a
military commander, both on sea and land, abroad and at home, were the
envoys entrusted to negociate his crafty, vacillating, compromising
policy in missions to foreign potentates, and held respectively the
highest positions at his court, the one as Lord Chamberlain, and the
other as Lord Steward of his Household. Although the Edgcumbe episode
seems to pourtray him in his younger years as a daring and lawless
marauder on his neighbour's peace and possessions, large allowance
must be made for the disorganized state of society in that distracted
age, where every man essayed to be a law unto himself, and might
became right, in a very large sense of the word. In after years--like
Lord Daubeney--when Henry was firmly seated on the throne, and order
largely restored, Lord Willoughby de Broke was probably a careful and
cautious courtier, steering clear of the intrigues that stalked about
Henry's court (and infested the Tudor dynasty to its close), one who
studied the mercenary, selfish policy of his royal master, and made
himself generally useful as opportunity and circumstance occurred, and
in return was rewarded with honours, accompanied by grants of his
neighbour's confiscated lands, which cost the generous monarch he
served, nothing to bestow. His name, somewhat prominent from the
functions he exercised, helps to fill up the middle distance of the
picture, that environs the advent of the first Tudor king.
Concerning the history of the subsequent possession of the antient
home of the Willoughbies de Broke,--Charles Blount, the fifth Lord
Montjoy, who married Anne the daughter of Robert, the second Lord
Willoughby de Broke by his second marriage, had in her right, livery
of the manor, 31 Henry VIII., 1539. He was of eccentric turn, served
in the rear guard of the army sent to France in 1544, and by his will
made at that time, he ordered a stone to be set over his grave in case
he was there slain, with the following epitaph, as a memento to his
children, to keep themselves worthy of so much honour as to be called
forward to die in the cause of their king and country--
"Willingly have I sought
And willingly have I found,
The fatal end that wrought
Thither as dutie bound:
Discharged I am of that I ought
To my countrey by honest wound;
My soul departyd Christ hath bought;
The end of man is ground."
and further devised some extensive charitable bequests. He died in
1545, and was buried in the church of St. Mary Aldermary, London
(Weever)--his grandson Charles Blount, eighth baron (raised to the
dignity of Earl of Devonshire, and K.G. in 1603),--sold Broke Hall and
Manor to William Jones, of Edington, Wilts, gent, in 1599.
Yet one more remembrance of the Willoughbies and of the same house as
the Lords Willoughby de Broke, waits notice, and our little chronicle
concerning them is concluded. In Southleigh churchyard in east Devon,
close to the chancel end of the church is a high-tomb, erected
evidently to a person of some position; on the end panel is incised
the grand achievement of Willoughby de Eresby, as on the tomb at
Callington, and with the _crescent_ for difference, shewing that he
was of the same descent. The form of the letters in the inscription is
of an extraordinary uncouth kind, and tell us
HERE LIETH THE BODY OF HENRY WILLOUGHBY
WHO DYED THE 28 DAY OF SEPTR. 1616.
but we have been hitherto unable satisfactorily to place him in the
Willoughby pedigree; the following however may be added.
Sir William Willoughby, second son of Sir John Willoughby of Broke,
and brother to Robert, Lord Willoughby de Broke, was of Toners-Piddle
near Bere-Regis, Dorset, and by his will dated 28 November, 1512,
proved 13 February, 1512-13, ordered his body to be buried in the
church of St. John the Baptist at Bere-Regis. He endowed a Chantry at
Edington in Wilts, and gave to the Abbey of Milton in Dorset fifty
marks. Nicholas Willoughby his son was also of Toners-Piddle, where,
says Hutchins, "he held this manor and advowson, and four hundred
acres of (plough) land, two hundred of mead, three hundred of wood,
and two thousand of furze and heath, there and in Snelling and
Chilborough, of Lewis Mordant as of his manor of Duntish, in free
socage and by fealty." In 1546 Robina his widow instituted John
Brikill to the rectory. By his will dated 15 May, 1542, he ordered
his body to be buried in the church of Bere-Regis, as did also Leonard
Willoughby his son. "At the upper end of the north aisle," Hutchins
remarks, "are two altar tombs of grey marble, but the brass plates,
effigies, escutcheons, and inscriptions gone; perhaps they belong to
the family of the Willoughbies." In 1653 Sir Robert Willoughby and
Elizabeth his wife sold the capital mansion-house, farm, and advowson
of Toners-Piddle to Robert Lewen. Toners-Piddle church "was re-built
in 1759, the little aisle of the Willoughbies was not re-erected.
There were no inscriptions in it, that family generally burying at
Bere." Christopher Willoughby, another son of Sir William, married
Isabel daughter of Nicholas Weeks of Dodington, Gloucester, and he had
a son named _Henry_, who married Jane daughter of Dauntsey of
Lavington, Wilts.
Richard Willoughby, third son of Sir John Willoughby of Broke, was of
Silton, Dorset, having married Isabel daughter of John Bedyke of that
place, who brought the manor to her husband. He died 1523, she 1524,
and both by their wills ordered their bodies to be buried in the
church of St. Nicholas there. They left several descendants.
Henry Willoughby's tomb at Southleigh has been carefully and
substantially repaired by a representative of the family.
Back to Beer-Ferrers again our thoughts return, and recall the memory
of our last visit to the antient home, successively of Ferrers,
Champernowne, and Willoughby, names all now extinct, that had
relationship there. Evening is creeping on, as we leave the little
jetty and find ourselves afloat, slowly making way out into the Tamar
proper. How many a story speaks to us of the past, from its dim cliffy
banks, that history and tradition have preserved, how many more,
silent and forgotten, are lost for ever. Such the doom and fate of
human life, little episodes on the stream of time, successive and
evanescent as the wavelets that rise and die against the bosom of our
little craft. Of Willoughby de Broke, a larger remembrance remains,
but it only points in a fuller sense to an often recurring issue of
human life, graphically summed up concerning them by the quaint old
historian Westcote,--"but this family fading in his very blossom, soon
came to his period."