Robert (Arden) de Arderne (abt. 1274 - aft. 1332)

Born about 1274 in Drayton, Oxfordshire, England

Ancestors

Descendants

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Biography

In a study of Arden heraldry, Douglas Arden makes a good summary about Robert, and includes a solution to the question of his parentage.^[1]

The third son of Sir Thomas de Arderne of Hanwell was Robert, whose blazon appears in the Parliamentary Roll of 1310-12 as 'Sire Rob't de Arderne' with arms 'de ermyne a une fess chekere de or e de azsure'. [43 Sir Francis Palgrave (ed.), Parliamentary Writs (London 1827), vol. 1, p. 418.]

No example of Robert's seal has been found, but Glover recorded those of his widow Nicholaa, and son Sir Giles, both with shields Ermin e a fess counter-compony , good evidence that Robert's fess was of that form, and not checky as suggested by the blazon in the roll. [44 Sketches of Nicholaa's triple seal are in BL Ms Egerton 3789, fo. 25v, and in Bod. Ms Dugdale 17, fo. 15, while Sir Giles's seal is in BL Ms Egerton 3789, fo. 29.]

There has been confusion as to Sir Robert's parentage, but Glover's record of his mother's settlements mentioned above, and the seals of his widow and son, identify him as a younger son of Sir Thomas de Arderne of Hanwell. [45 Robert's mother calls him 'my younger son' : BL Ms Egerton 3789, fo. 28.]

A soldier in his youth, and later a royal official, ambassador, and justice in eyre, Robert died in 1331. [46 Among other offices, he was a castellan, an ambassador to France, and a chief justice in eyre. According to T. C. Banks, Peerage (3 vols., London 1807-9), he was created Baron Arden in 1327, but no more is heard of this.]

His male line was extinguished on the death in 1377 of his son Sir Giles, whose own son Giles had predeceased him. [47. CFR vol. 4, p. 274; CCIR 1330-33 , p. 541.]

Robert de Arden was long known to be the son (or perhaps brother) of Thomas de Arden of Hanwell, because, like Thomas and Ralf the sons of Thomas of Hanwell, he received some of Thomas's lands after he died, including Drayton which was granted to him by Thomas of Hanwell's widow Rose in 1311.^[2] Robert also apparently became heir to Thomas's eldest son, Thomas, because Robert also became lord of Hanwell. His claim to the inheritance was confirmed in a later legal case which his descendants won.^[3] This happened even though Thomas also had another younger son Ralf, who would have been next in line before any uncle.

VCH Oxfordshire describes Robert de Arden (or Arderne) of Drayton as follows in its article for Drayton:^[4]

The relationship of this Sir Robert is by no means certain. He may possibly have been an elder brother of Sir Thomas of Hanwell. (68. Visit. Warws. 1619 (Harl. Soc. xii), 179, 182; cf. Dugdale, Warws. 676, where he is described as the younger brother. If he was one of the Ardens of Radbourn he cannot have been the eldest son, for William was holding Radbourn in 1316.)

He was in any case an important knight possessed of many manors in Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, and Sussex; he was on the king's side in the baronial wars and in 1322 Banbury Castle was in his keeping. (69. V.C.H. Sussex, vii. 203; Bridges, Northants. i. 211; C. Moor, Knights of Edw. I (Harl Soc. lxxx), 18.)

In 1329 he was licensed to crenellate his Drayton house. (70. Cal. Pat. 1327–30, 357. For grants of free warren at Drayton see ibid. 1300–26, 366; 1327–41, 25, 50, 91.)

He died in 1331 and his relict Nicole subsequently married Sir Thomas Wale who is found holding the family's Sussex property in 1332 and 1349. (71. V.C.H. Sussex, vii. 203; Cartwright's Topography of the Rape of Bamber, ii(2), 237. For Nicole see also N.R.A. Rep. Earl of Bradford (Staffs.), B/160.)

Robert was granted some of his main estates at Wickham, Banbury and Swalcliffe in Oxfordshire, and Sudborough in Northampton by the de Wykeham family, who were apparently facing financial trouble. Perhaps his wife was a member of that family. One of the first transfers, as explained by VCH Northampton under Suborough:^[5]

The third of Robert de Wykeham and Maud de Waterville was conveyed by Robert, their son, and his wife Elizabeth, in 1309–10 and 1311–12, to Robert de Ardern. (31. Feet of F. Northants. case 175, file 62, no. 50; file 64, no. 104.)

The wife of Robert de Ardern was Nichola, possibly the daugher or sister of Robert de Wykeham. (32. Wrottesley, Ped. from Plea R. 28.)

Ardern had grants of free warren in his lands at Sudborough in 1317, 1327 and 1328 and he was holding them in 1329–30. (33. Cal. Chart. R. 1300–26, p. 366; Chart. R. 1 Edw. III, m. 25, no. 45; 2 Edw. III, m. 10, no. 33.)

After his death Nichola his widow married Sir Thomas de Wake or Wade, (34. Wrottesley, loc. cit.) to whom this third of the manor passed.

In 1345 Sir Thomas Wake and Nichola conveyed their third to Simon de Drayton, (35. Feet of F. Northants. case 177, file 77, no. 298.)

VCH Oxfordshire in its article for Banbury, in the section concerning the manor of Wickham, explains as follows:^[6]

Possibly Sir Robert Wykeham granted half to the Ardens along with Swalcliffe manor in 1323, to solve his financial difficulties.

Sir Robert Arden was granted free warren in Wickham in 1327; on his death in 1331 the marriage of his son and heir Giles and the custody of his lands was granted to Nicole, his relict, who married Sir Thomas Wale. (127. Cal. Chart. R. 1327–41, 91; Cal. Pat. 1338–40, 242.)

Wickham then became the subject, along with Swalcliffe and other Arden lands, of a prolonged law-suit between the Wale family and Elizabeth Wykeham, relict of Sir Robert Wykeham, who attempted to recover her husband's property.

Banks wrote:^[7]

Robert de Arderne, in 1 Edw. III., had summons by a consimilar writ, with divers arls and barons, to attend at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, cum equis et armis, but it does not appear that the said writ had any words of summons for parliamentary legislation; nor does the name of Arderne have place in any subsequent writs of summons to parliament.

Robert and his wife Nichola are known to have had at least one son and one daughter:

• Sir Giles de Arden (Egidius) was the main heir.
• Nichola, married to Richard, son of Sir Ralph Basset of Weldon.

Research notes

William Dugdale, on the other hand, believed Robert was the brother of Thomas of Hanwell, but he also wasn't aware that Thomas had sons. ^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ Douglas Arden (2005 Autumn) "A gift from Robert Glover. BL Ms Egerton 3789, fos. 25r-32r" The Coat of Arms 3rd series 1(2) https://www.theheraldrysociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/CoA-210-Arden-paper.pdf
2. ↑ http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/fines/abstracts/CP_25_1_189_14.shtml
3. ↑ Wrottesley, George, 1827-1909; Great Britain. Public Record Office 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, p. 91, suit filed in 1368, https://archive.org/details/pedigreesfromple00wrotrich/page/90/mode/2up p. 178 has the same pedigree, suit was filed in 1390, Elizabeth with 2nd husband, https://archive.org/details/pedigreesfromple00wrotrich/page/178/mode/2up In 1458, Elizabeth's descendants sued over the Manor of Sprotton, p. 396 https://archive.org/details/pedigreesfromple00wrotrich/page/396/mode/2up
4. ↑ 'Parishes: Drayton', in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 9, Bloxham Hundred, ed. Mary D Lobel and Alan Crossley (London, 1969), pp. 103-112. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol9/pp103-112 [accessed 29 August 2022].
5. ↑ 'Parishes: Sudborough', in A History of the County of Northampton: Volume 3, ed. William Page (London, 1930), pp. 245-248. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/northants/vol3/pp245-248 [accessed 30 August 2022].
6. ↑ Christina Colvin, Janet Cooper, N H Cooper, P D A Harvey, Marjory Hollings, Judith Hook, Mary Jessup, Mary D Lobel, J F A Mason, B S Trinder and Hilary Turner, 'Banbury: Manors', in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 10, Banbury Hundred, ed. Alan Crossley (London, 1972), pp. 42-49. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol10/pp42-49 [accessed 30 August 2022].
7. ↑ T. C. Banks, The dormant and extinct baronage of England, p.144
8. ↑ W. Dugdale, Antiquities of Warwickshire, p.927 (p.677 in some editions).

See also:

• Shakspeareana Genealogica: (In Two Parts.) By George Russell French.
• Shakespeareana Genealogica: Part I. Identification of the Dramatis Personæ in Shakespeare's Historical Plays: from K. John to K. Henry VIII. Notes on Characters in Macbeth and Hamlet. Persons and Places Belonging to Warwickshire, Alluded to in Several Plays. Part II. The Shakespeare and Arden Families, and Their Connections: with Tables of Descent, Volume 1, by George Russell French, publ. 1869, pp. 445-6. Note: information has combined two different familes.