Revised Nov. 29, 2016
According to a “New York Times” article of 4 Dec 2008 by Nicholas Wade, DNA studies by Mark Jobling of the University of Leicester in England and Francesc Calafell of Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain have found that of the population of the Iberian Peninsula (which includes the countries of Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and the British dependency of Gibraltar), about 20% have Jewish ancestry and 11% have Moorish ancestry. Says Wade: “Spain and Portugal have a history of fervent Catholicism, but almost a third of the population have a non-Christian genetic heritage.”
This is the story of one such line, and its survival into the modern era.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Archaeologia Cambrensis The Journal Of The Cambrian Archaeological Association Fourth Series Vol. X No. 37 January 1879. London: J. Parker, 377, Strand, London.
A very useful resource for Welsh history and genealogy. pp. 71-72 mentions Lampeter in Cardiganshire in connection with a detailed account of the Griffith family of Wichenor in Staffordshire. Issues from 1846–1899 plus index may be read online at:
http://europeana-journals.llgc.org.uk/browse/listissues/llgc-id:2919943
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Boulger, Demetrius, ed. (1888). The Asiatic Quarterly Review Volume VI July–October 1888 July 1888. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 26 Paternoster Square.
Demetrius Charles Boulger (1853–1928) was a prolific British historian and a member of the Royal Asiatic Society. Available as free download from HathiTrust Digital Library. Search under “Demetrius Boulger.” Subject “Asia.” Death of Sir Henry Skipwith II: see pp. 391–393.
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Bridgeman, M.A., Rev. The Hon. George T.O. (1876). History Of The Princes Of South Wales. Millgate, Wigan.: Thomas Birch
Available as free download from Google Books. George Thomas Orlando Bridgeman (1823–1895), educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, was the 2nd son of the 2nd Earl of Bradford. He was a member of a family long associated with the Church of England, and became a prominent cleric in his own right.
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Burlington Fine Arts Club. (1916). Catalogue Of A Collection Of Objects Of British Heraldic Art To The End Of The Tudor Period. London: Chiswick Press Charles Whittingham And Co.
The Burlington Fine Arts Club of London (1866–1952) was a gentleman’s club of amateur art enthusiasts which held exhibitions in its clubhouse. See pp. 3–5 for Blount heraldry incorporating Ayala.
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Croke, Sir Alexander; of Studley Priory, Oxfordshire. (1823). The Genealogical History Of The Croke Family Originally Named Le Blount Vol. II. Oxford: W. Baxter for John Murray, Albemarle Street, London; and Joseph Parker, Oxford.
Available as free download from Internet Archive. Sir Alexander Croke graduated Doctor of Civil Law from Oriel College, Oxford. Chapter III of Vol. II contains extensive material on the family of Sancha de Ayala. It would be pointless to address the errors, chief among them the purported de Ayala descent from Urraca, daughter of “Alonso,” king of Leon. Ironically, the Croke family didn’t descend from the Blounts.
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Farmerie, Todd A.; Taylor, Nathaniel L. (1998). NOTES ON THE ANCESTRY OF SANCHA DE AYALA. Prepublication MS of article subsequently published (with minor emendations) in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register 103 (1998), 36–48.
Todd Alan Farmerie is co-owner of Internet message board “soc.genealogy.medieval.” Farmerie claims descent from Robert Abell, a descendant of Sancha de Ayala. Taylor, of Barrington, Rhode Island, holds a PhD in Medieval History from Harvard, and is a professional genealogist and Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists. Article is available on the Internet under the above title. Some references cited are in Spanish. The article refutes three claims of royal ancestry and two claims of descent from Muslim princesses. The article doesn’t present Sancha de Ayala’s actual ancestry, leaving the reader with the impression there’s little of interest in her pedigree. Farmerie and Taylor claim “Sancha is also an ancestress of Queen Elizabeth II,” without giving the descent; and acknowledge George Washington’s family as among Sancha’s descendants. Unfortunately, genealogy being the rather dry subject it often is, linking Medieval lines to more recent historical figures has become a shameless method of promoting the author’s work. Article can be viewed at:
http://nltaylor.net/pdfs/a_SanchaNotes.pdf
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Fletcher, Richard. (2006). Moorish Spain. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Richard Fletcher was Professor of Medieval History at University of York, UK.
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Fletcher, Richard. (1990). The Quest for El Cid. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Same author bio as above.
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G.E.C. (1900). Complete Baronetage Volume I 1611–1625. Exeter: William Pollard & Co., Ltd. 39 & 40 North Street.
Available as free download from Internet Archive. Series consists of 5 volumes with a 6th volume as an index. George Edward Cokayne was Clarenceux King of Arms Herald at the College of Arms, London.
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Goodman, Anthony. (1992). John of Gaunt The Exercise of Princely Power in Fourteenth-Century Europe. Burnt Mill, Harlow, Essex: Longman Group UK Limited.
Anthony Goodman is English Professor Emeritus of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of Edinburgh.
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Henze, Paul B. (2000). Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia. New York: Palgrave.
Paul B. Henze was a former CIA and National Security Council specialist. After leaving government service he became a consultant for the RAND Corp. Henze devotes little of his text to slavery, but notes it had ancient origins in Ethiopia, which he identifies as probably part of the Land of Punt.
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Hitchcock, Richard. (2008). Mozarabs in Medieval and Early Modern Spain Identities and Influences. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company.
Richard Hitchcock is Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK.
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Howard, L.L.D., F.S.A., Joseph Jackson; ed. (1868). Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica Vol. I. London: Hamilton, Adams, And Co.
Available as free download from Google Books. Joseph Jackson Howard (1827–1902), British attorney, started the periodical Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica in 1866 and was a founder of the Harleian Society. An extremely valuable resource for British genealogy.
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Keay, John. (1991). The Honourable Company A History of the English East India Company. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
John Keay is a British author specializing in Asia, exploration, and Scotland.
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Marotti, Arthur F. (1995). Manuscript, Print, and the English Renaissance Lyric. Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press.
Arthur F. Marotti is professor of English at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. pp. 41 & 196–199 discuss the poetry of William, Henry, and Thomas Skipwith.
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Netanyahu, B. (2001). The Origins Of The Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain Second Edition. New York: The New York Review of Books.
Benzion Netanyahu (1910–2012) was Professor Emeritus of History at Cornell University and the father of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This massive volume is considered authoritative on Jews and the Inquisition. Of interest is a discussion of the position of Jews under the Visigoths. The background on the massacre of Jews in Toledo in 1109 following the death of Alfonso VI and the attendant conversions is especially germane to the Sancha de Ayala case study.
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Pryce, Huw, ed.; Insley, Charles, asst. ed. (2005). The Acts Of Welsh Rulers 1120–1283 Published on behalf of the History and Law Committee of the University of Wales Board of Celtic Studies. Cardiff: University Of Wales Press.
Huw Pryce was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, and is Professor of Welsh History at Bangor University. Charles Insley is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at The University of Manchester. This volume is essential for genealogists working with Welsh royal lines. pp. 165–166 document use of the name “Lampeter” in the reign of King Henry I of England.
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Reinhardt, Nicole. (2016). Voices of Conscience Royal Confessors and Political Counsel in Seventeenth-Century Spain and France. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nicole Reinhardt is Director of Postgraduate Studies and Senior Lecturer Early Modern European History in the Department of History at Durham University, UK. pp. 12-13 discusses the mid-thirteenth-century Castilian law-code Siete Partidas (a seven-part legal code) which addresses the position of the royal chaplain, stressing the importance of employing a particularly sophisticated, learned, and loyal clergyman, possibly the most prestigious court prelate. Among the chaplain’s functions was to confess the king. There was an implication that politics were part of the confession.
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Richardson, Douglas; Everingham, Kimball G., ed. (2013). Royal Ancestry A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families Volume V. Salt Lake City, Utah: The Author.
Douglas Richardson was educated at University of California (Santa Barbara) and University of Wisconsin (Madison). Richardson is a professional genealogist and author based in Salt Lake City. His “Royal Ancestry Series”, though not without error, comprise the best books of their type. Volume V pp. 321–323 contains extensive notes on George Washington’s ancestors, including the descent from Constance Blount and the Lawrence Washington/Margaret Butler marriage.
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Roberts, Gary Boyd. (2012 reprint). Ancestors of American Presidents 2009 Edition compiled by Gary Boyd Roberts with charts prepared in part by Christopher Challendar Child from originals by Julie Helen Otto. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society.
Gary Boyd Roberts is Senior Research Scholar Emeritus at the New England Historic Genealogical Society. pp. 659-664 show descents from Sancha de Ayala for these Presidents of the United States: William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison, George Herbert Walker Bush, George Walker Bush, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, George Washington (two lines), Grover Cleveland, Herbert Clark Hoover, and Gerald Rudolph Ford. I’m not fond of omnibus volumes like this one. Anything here should be independently verified.
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Roth, Norman. (2002). Conversos, Inquisition, and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain With a new afterword. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.
Norman Roth is Professor Emeritus of Hebrew and Semitic Studies at University of Wisconsin–Madison.
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The Publications Of The Surtees Society Established In The Year M.DCCC.XXXIV Vol. XLV. For The Year M.DCCC.LXIV. (1865). Testamenta Eboracensia. A Selection Of Wills From The Registry At York. Vol. III. Durham: Andrews And Co.; etc.
The Surtees Society, founded in 1834, is dedicated to publishing manuscripts illustrative of the ancient kingdom of Northumbria. For the will of Sir Walter Griffith see pp. 269–270.
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Wrottesley, Major-General The Hon. G. (1905). Pedigrees From The Plea Rolls, Collected From The Pleadings In The Various Courts Of Law A.D. 1200 To 1500, From The Original Rolls In The Public Record Office. Pub: The Author.
Available as free download from Internet Archive and as reprint from Nabu. George Wrottesley (1827–1909), 3rd son of John Wrottesley, 2nd Baron Wrottesley, was a prominent English army officer and an avid genealogist specializing in Staffordshire. He was a founder of The William Salt Archaeological Society which was devoted to the history of Staffordshire. In 1936 the Society became the Staffordshire Record Society.
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LINE
1. Sancha de Ayala m. Sir Walter Blount 2. Anne Blount m. Thomas Griffith 3. Sir John Griffith m. Katherine Tyrwhit 4. Rhys (Richard) Griffith m. Margaret — 5. Joan (Jane) Griffith m. (his 1st) Sir Lionel Dymoke 6. Alice Dymoke m. (his 2nd) Sir William Skipwith 7. Henry Skipwith m. Jane Hall 8. Sir William Skipwith m. (1st) Margaret Cave 9. Sir Henry Skipwith, Bart. m. (1st) Amy (“Tresham”) Kempe 10. Diana Skipwith m. (his 2nd) Edward Dale 11. Elizabeth Dale m. (his 1st) William Rogers 12. Hannah (Rogers) Mitchell m. (2nd) Edward Blackmore 13. Joseph Blakemore m. Anne Sanders 14. Hannah Blakemore m. (1st) William Duncan 15. Joseph Duncan m. Elizabeth Peters 16. Minerva Jane Duncan m. Peyton Milton Wilcox 17. Nancy Theodocia Wilcox m. (2nd) Thomas Calvin McMillen 18. Nora Ann McMillen m. (1st) Eric Lyman Vaughan 19. Hillary Lillian Vaughan m. Jesse Otto Jeffery Scarff 20. Valerie Berniece Jeffery Scarff m. Ralph Vernon Chipman.
SKIPWITH EXCURSUS.
(G.E.C., pp. 214-215.)
Above: This pedigree from The Visitation of Herefordshire 1569 purports to show the descent of William Cecil Lord Burleigh, Queen Elizabeth I’s most trusted advisor, and brother to Margaret Cecil, from Turberville, Lord of Coytiffe and Kyrikvoell. The Tudor era saw the rise of families of Welsh descent. The accuracy of the earlier portions of the pedigree is questionable; having been raised to the dignity of a baron Cecil felt an ancient tree must grow within it.
The children of Sir Henry Skipwith, Bart., and wife Amy Kempe were, in order of birth: William (died before father); Henry, 2nd Bart.; Elizabeth; Thomas (evidently died before his brother Henry); Diana; Grey, 3rd Bart.; Anne.
Blandina Acton, 2nd wife of Sir Henry Skipwith, was the daughter of John Penvin of Badgworth, Somerset, and widow of John Acton, a prominent London goldsmith.
A Gentleman of the Privy Chamber attended to the king in the king’s private apartment within a royal residence. This office, dating to the reign of King Henry VII, was a plum as it gave the holder considerable influence with the king. This explains why Sir Henry Skipwith entertained King Charles I at Cotes, as the two were friends of some standing. However, when King Charles II ascended the throne, the Skipwith family was unable to recover any property sold to pay the fine imposed by Parliament during the interregnum. Most such transactions were left intact by the new king who didn’t wish to unnecessarily antagonize his former enemies. He contented himself with hunting down and executing those who played the most prominent roles in the beheading of his father. The Skipwith family’s loyalty to the elder Charles counted for little with the son—hardly a singular tale—proving politics can be as murderous as the block.
So Grey Skipwith and his sister Diana, lacking any prospects in post-Restoration Britain, remained in the wilderness of Virginia—which had become their home in the mid-17th century. The following, abstracted by Fleet from Lancaster Co., VA Record Book No. 2, 1654–1666, p. 345, testifies to that relationship. Though Diana Skipwith belonged to a prominent family, she wasn’t a prominent member of that family, but settling in early VA as a single woman showed no lack of courage.
Sir Henry Skipwith was a poet of some reputation who composed “An Elegie on the Death of my never enough Lamented Master King Charles the first”: “Weepe, weepe even mankinde weepe, soe much is dead,” etc. He should have wept over his lack of business acumen—after years of contracting debt, the Parliamentary fine was sufficient to push him into insolvency.
In remembrance of ancestors who were poets, I’m inspired to contribute these verses, entitled The State of the Cavalier:
The king has lost his head
And is consequently dead.
Happy cavaliers
Just pickin’ and grinnin’.
Virginny ain’t such a bad place to be
But you might get scalped when you go out to pee.
Happy cavaliers
Just pickin’ and grinnin’.
We’ll all wind up in an unmarked grave.
There’s nothing left to save.
Happy cavaliers
Just pickin’ and grinnin’.
This next item, from the records of the East India Company, illustrates the large sums Sir Henry Skipwith risked, using land as collateral. The Parliamentary fine of 1,114 pounds, stiff though it was, should not of its own bankrupted him.
Richardson reports Sir Henry Skipwith was buried on 7 Nov 1655 at Stapleford in Leicestershire (during the 2nd year of The Protectorate), the actual source being a parish register; presumably he means the old church of St. Mary Magdalen, which was rebuilt in 1783 and now only used for civic functions. It’s said most of the family memorials were moved to the new church, but I have found no reference to Sir Henry Skipwith, so perhaps his was not.
(Flag of East India Company. Founded under royal charter, the Company was also favored by Oliver Cromwell. Lost ships were part of the cost of doing business. The Company sought to discourage private trading, claiming its charter gave it exclusive right to trade between India and Great Britain.)
G.E.C.’s statement that Sir Henry Skipwith “d. about 1658” is due to confusing Sir Henry Skipwith, the 1st Baronet, with his son, the 2nd Baronet. The 2nd Baronet died unmarried in India ca. 1657, where he had traveled to repair the family fortune, but met a tragic end. See “The Asiatic Quarterly Review” of Jul 1888:
Sir Henry Skipwith II had friends at the East India Company. The next letter dated 27 Feb 1657/8 from the same issue of “The Asiatic Quarterly Review” proves he was indigent. He was deceased by the time the letter arrived. In the days of sailing ships the voyage from England to India via the Cape of Good Hope could take 6 months, not including overland travel. The cycle of writing a letter and receiving a reply might take 18 months.
The last record concerning Sir Henry Skipwith II is from a “soc.genealogy.medieval” thread containing remarks made by MichaelAnne Guido, which I’ll cite verbatim.
I cannot locate “The Wynter Family.” However, Masulipatim where Sir Henry Skipwith II died is in the lower 3rd of India on its east coast. It was a major trading hub. Sir Henry Skipwith II had ventured deep into Asia. Across the Bay of Bengal lay Burma and Thailand.
The Act of Administration record gives Sir Henry Skipwith II’s death as 1656. The “Cholmondely” letter places the death in the summer of 1657. In any event, due to the lag in communications with India, his estate wasn’t entered until much later.
At his death Henry was living with Edward Winter (b. ca. 1622, d. 2 Mar 1686). Winter’s ship “The Tiger” was evidently named for a semi-mythical contest between Winter and a tiger, in which he drowned the beast. In 1657, “The Tiger” was leaving Masulipatim for a trading voyage to Burma when she capsized, with a loss of all of her passengers and freight. The “Masulipatim Roads” means “shipping lanes.” The loss was valued at 20,000 pounds, a very large sum for the day. This gives an idea of the scale of investment in the India trade. It was a high-stakes game and Henry was in over his head. The name of the ship and the exact date it was lost doesn’t alter the fact that Henry couldn’t absorb the loss and died a pauper. The entry of his estate in England was a formality. There was nothing to distribute to anyone, regardless of where his relatives might be found. Had Henry merely wanted to escape Cromwell, Virginia was much closer than India, but Virginia was a step down in class for Henry and his friends. Henry wasn’t a 2nd or 3rd son.
What became of the remains of Sir Henry Skipwith II? It’s very unlikely the body was shipped back to England. The East India Company had religious facilities and cemeteries for Europeans. His remains could have been deposited in the Winter property or at Fort St. George at Madras. Regardless, the cemetery probably no longer exists, being a reminder of British colonialism.
There were 3 Skipwith baronetcies, that of Metheringham, extinct 4 Jun 1756, Newbold Hall, extinct 28 Jan 1790, and Prestwould, which has survived. Sir Thomas George Skipwith (ca. 1735–1790), 4th Baronet of Newbold Hall, having no children, left his estates to Sir Grey Skipwith, 8th Baronet of Prestwould. The present Baronet of Prestwould, 12th in succession, is Sir Patrick Alexander d’Estoteville Skipwith, a lineal descendant of Diana Skipwith’s brother Grey.
(For descendants see column “Family Of Hillary Lillian Vaughan.”)
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TO THE STORY PROPER: HAVING SEEN THE END WE INQUIRE AS TO THE BEGINNING.
Sancha de Ayala (ca. 1360–1418) m. Sir Walter4 Blount (John3, Walter2, William1), and is one of my ancestors through the Griffith family. She came to England in the household of Constance of Castile, 2nd wife of John of Gaunt. Sir Walter Blount was a close associate of Gaunt, and it was through Gaunt that he met Sancha. In 1381 Sir Walter Blount purchased the manor of Barton in Derbyshire, part of which was settled on Sancha as her dower lands.
Gaunt “had a soft spot for Sancha Garcia [de Ayala], who married his knight Walter Blount, and to whom he gave a New Year’s present in 1380.” Goodman (1992), pp. 135-136.
Sancha was a member of a highly evolved and sophisticated culture in Toledo, Spain. The area became part of the kingdom of Castile on 25 May 1085 when Alfonso VI, king of Castile and Leon, ejected the Moors. The Moors had ruled Toledo since the early 8th century.
The following charts are from an article published in 2000 (in Spanish) by Balbina M. Caviro (Balbina Caviro Martinez) of the Complutense University of Madrid illustrating some maternal and paternal ancestry of Sancha de Ayala. These form a general outline of her ancestry and don’t show all of her family connections. [See Todd A. Farmarie and Nathaniel L. Taylor (1998) for information on other families.] Sancha appears in the first chart as wife of “Guater Blont.” Even without knowledge of Spanish one can comprehend the relationships. In medieval Spain people might use the surname of either parent. In Sancha’s case, she used the surname of her mother’s family because it was more prominent than her father’s. “Arbol” is Spanish for “tree,” so the charts are “Genealogical tree of,” etc. Click on images to read them.
In the next chart, “Melendo aben Lampadero Abdelaziz b. Lampader” was Mozarab, which will be discussed at length below. The chart indicates Melendo’s grandson Pedro Suarez as “primero en usar el escudo del castillo,” which I loosely translate as “first to wear the coat of arms or shield of Castille,” indicating he was the first of his family to be armigerous. It marks the acceptance of the family by the Castilian authorities, and the point at which we can consider them assimilated. We are not given the name of the wife of Pedro Suarez, but his son Gomez Perez [I] de Toledo married Orabuena Gutierez, daughter of Gutierez Armildez. Among the children of this couple was Archbishop Gutierre Gomez.
How did Sancha come to the attention of Constance, a daughter of Pedro I “The Cruel”, king of Castile? The short version is Sancha’s sister Teresa was a mistress of Pedro I, and allegedly had a daughter by him, listed as “Maria de Ayala o Castilla” (Maria de Ayala of Castile) in the chart of Ines de Ayala.
Sancha left Castile, where her family had resided for many centuries, because her parents Diego and Inez, though they had powerful connections, were not wealthy or prominent enough to secure an advantageous marriage for her—or her sister Teresa, who drifted into an illicit affair with Pedro I. In that era it was the custom with high born women like Constance of Castile to take into their household women of good family to wait in attendance upon them (hence the term “lady in waiting”). We romanticize figures like Sancha de Ayala, and in her case it’s justified. She was an ordinary woman possessed of a fascinating gene pool who found herself at the crossroads of history.
(Constance of Castile, 2nd wife of John of Gaunt and a daughter of Pedro I “The Cruel,” king of Castile and Leon. John of Gaunt claimed the throne of Castile and Leon in right of Constance his wife, but was denied it. Constance was the daughter of Pedro I by Maria de Padilla, whom Pedro I had secretly married, but was forced to repudiate and retain as his mistress. Constance’s murky origin hampered Gaunt’s campaign.)
Pedro I’s chaotic personal life, and his failure to produce an acceptable heir, eventually led to his murder on 14 Mar 1369 at the hands of his illegitimate half-brother Henry of Trastamara. Henry exploited animosity toward the Jews to secure powerful allies against Pedro I. Henry said Pedro I was too pro-Jewish.
The struggle between Pedro I and Henry was the seed of the dreaded Spanish Inquisition. Henry was a usurper and weak, which suited the nobility who didn’t want a strong monarch. The Catholic church stepped in to fill the power vacuum. Anti-Jewish riots erupted. The Inquisition peaked during the reign of the “Catholic Monarchs” Ferdinand and Isabella—the Ferdinand and Isabella who financed Christopher Columbus.
Of Sir Walter Blount, grandfather of Walter Blount, 1st Lord Mountjoy, The Complete Peerage Vol. IX, sub Mountjoy, pp. 331–333, has this:
Sir Walter Blount is a character in Shakespeare’s “I Henry IV.” His mutterings are unremarkable. Nonetheless, in battle Blount pretends to be the king, and is slain. That earned him accolades for gallantry, but he was deaf in the grave.
Sancha de Ayala isn’t a genealogical curiosity. She has thousands of descendants—including George Washington—but has never received commensurate treatment. According to Sir Walter Blount’s biography in The History of Parliament online, the couple had 5 sons and 2 daughters.
To banish any doubt regarding the Blount family’s descent from Sancha de Ayala, Burlington Fine Arts Club (1916), pp. 3-5 lists 40 shields of arms for William Blount Lord Mountjoy (d. 1534). Ayala appears in numbers 19, 20, 21, 23, 28, 29, and 36.
George Washington’s lines from Sancha de Ayala [as reported by Roberts (2009)]:
LINE 1:
Sancha de Ayala m. Sir Walter Blount
Sir Thomas Blount m. Margaret Gresley
Sir Thomas Blount m. Catherine Clifton
Richard Blount m. Dorothy de la Ford
Elizabeth Blount m. Thomas Woodford
Ursula Woodford m. Thomas Light
Elizabeth Light m. Robert Washington
Lawrence Washington m. Margaret Butler
Lawrence Washington m. Amphylis Twigden
John Washington m. Anne Pope
Lawrence Washington m. Mildred Warner
Augustine Washington m. Mary Ball
George Washington
LINE 2:
Sancha de Ayala m. Sir Walter Blount
Constance Blount m. Sir John Sutton
John Sutton m. Elizabeth Berkeley
Sir Edmund Sutton m. Joyce Tiptoft
Sir John Sutton m. Anne Clarell
Margaret Sutton m. John Butler
William Butler m. Margaret Greeke
Margaret Butler m. Lawrence Washington
etc.
[see also Richardson (2013) pp. 321–323]
Croke, Vol. II (1823), p. 189, abstracts Sir Walter Blount’s will, and I think Croke may be trusted here:
“The will of Sir Walter Blount is dated at Lyverpole, the 16th of December, 1401. He directs his body to be buried in the church of Saint Mary of Newerk, at Leicester. He mentions his wife Sanchia as living, his sons John, Thomas, and James; his daughters Constantia, Baroness of Dudley, and Anna Griffith. The Executor is John Blount, his brother, and he appointed as Supervisors of his Will, his cousin, Thomas Foljambe, and Thomas Langley, Keeper of the King’s Privy Seal. It was proved the 1st of August, 1403.”
(Account of the children of Sir Walter Blount and Sancha de Ayala from Croke Vol. II, Book III, p. 196. John Sutton, husband of Constance Blount, wasn’t Baron Dudley; it was their son John Sutton who was the 1st Baron Dudley. Wychnor, or Wichenor, is in Staffordshire, not Shropshire.)
As The Complete Peerage notes, Sir Walter Blount and Sancha de Ayala were buried at St. Mary’s, the Newark, Leicester. Leicester is the county seat of Leicestershire. One of the more endearing customs of the English are place names of great antiquity which confuse those of us expecting street signs everywhere. According to an old history of Leicester, the liberty of the Newarke was a small rectangular distr
