Lewis John MP (abt. 1380 - 1442)

Born about 1380 in Carmarthenshire, Wales [uncertain]

Husband of Alice de Vere — married Dec 1413 in Essex, England [uncertain]

Husband of Anne (Montagu) Hankford — married about 1433 in Essex, England [uncertain]

Descendants

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Darlene Athey-Hill [send private message] and Michael Lewis [send private message]

Biography

Lewis John, also known as Lodowick John, or John fitz Lewis, was a successful Welshman in city of London with Lancastrian connections. He became an MP, and eventually a soldier and knight. His family became part of the landed gentry of southeast England during the period of the War of the Roses. Their main manor was West Horndon (sometimes "Thorndon") in Essex.

John/Lodowick married at least twice. Remarkably, both his father-in-laws were earls. As explained by Elliot, "Sir Lewes John, in his Will, makes provision for the following children : Lewes, Henry, John, Philip, Edmond, Margaret, Elizabeth, Alice, and another Margaret."^[1] According to Elliot these were as follows:

• Alice de Vere, daughter of Aubrey de Vere, 10th Earl of Oxford. She had:
  • Lewes fitz Lewis, or Lewis John, had roughly the same wide variation of names as his father.
  • Henry fitz Lewes
  • Philip fitz Lewes
• Anne, widow of Sir Richard Hankford, and daughter of John Montacute, 3rd Earl of Salisbury.
  • Elizabeth, the wife of Sir John Wingfield.
  • Margaret, who married William Lucy, and a member of the Wake family.

Lewis John was made a Freeman of London before 1401.^[2] He was knighted in May 1439.

Lewis John died 27th October 1442, perhaps while overseas, leaving property in Essex, Hertford, Somerset and Dorset.^[1][3]

Research notes

Parentage

The old 1936 HOP 1439-1509 edition describes him as son and heir of Richard Fitz-Lewis, by Elizabeth le Ba (p.503). The 1993 article online describes him as a son of John, apparently based on interpreting his name as a patronymic.^[3]

A 28 Sep 2003 posting by Chris Pitt Lewis on SGM explains that Lewis John's parentage is unknown, but there are interesting conflicting clues. ^[4] - We can ignore the statement in the History of Parliament, apparently deriving from Morant's History of Essex, that he was son of a Richard FitzLewis and Elizabeth le Ba. This is part of a fictitious pedigree of the Mordaunt family, deriving him from an illegitimate son of the Dauphin Louis who invaded England in 1216.

In 1414 he had to petition Parliament for exemption from the penal laws which prevented Welshmen acquiring land in England. His petition says that he was a freeman of London and that both his parents had been Welsh (Rot Parl iv 44, quoted by Carr, BBCS). In the 1420s he received a number of testimonials from various officials in South west Wales, such as the Mayors of Carmarthen Pembroke and Cardigan, to counter allegations that he was not of free birth. The Mayor of Carmarthen said that he was "a gentleman of our country"; the Abbot of Whitland said that he was descended from the ancient lords of Wales (also quoted by Carr). These statements may of course be exaggerations, but it is possible that a careful search of Bartram's pedigrees might turn up something.

The other evidence is a pair of entries on the Patent Rolls (CPR 1401-5 p.69 and 1405-8 p.131) referring to Lewis John "administrator of the goods of Stephen John, citizen and vintner of London, who died intestate". Following this clue, I found the Will of Stephen John, citizen and vintner of London, dated 13 Oct 1393, proved in the Archdeaconry of London in 1394 (Register 1 fo.8 - Guildhall MS 9051/1). It names his son Lewis ("Lodewyco filio meo") and wife Julian. He appoints as executors John Marchal Esquire ("armiger") and Hugh Shore vintner. He was to be buried in St Mary Woolnoth.

It is not at all clear whether this Stephen is the same as the one mentioned in the patent roll entry, and if it is, whether his son Lewis is the Lewis John we are concerned with. It is not impossible to reconcile this with the statements about Lewis' Welsh parentage (Stephen could have come from Wales to London with an infant son). Nor is it unlikely that a Welsh family would wobble between an hereditary surname ("John") and a patronym ("(Fitz)Lewis") for a generation or two at this period. Lewis John's eldest son did precisely this. But it is worrying that we have a reference to Lewis John "goldsmith" in 1412 (CCR Henry IV vol 4 p 340) as well as the references to vintners, and more research is needed to be sure that we are not dealing with several different individuals of the same name in the years before 1413.

Note the normal abbreviations:

CPR = Calendar of the Patent rolls

CCR = Calendar of the Close Rolls

CFR = Calendar of the Fine Rolls

John Lewis Esquire, as he was known at the time, fought at Agincourt.^[5]

Spouses and Children

Sir Lewis is sometimes said to have had another wife, Elizabeth Neville, daughter of Robert Neville. She is not mentioned in his will. As pointed out by Elliot, accounts of this wife seem confused. She would be the grandniece of one of the known wives, Alice Monacute, who was the real mother of the daughter attributed to her.^[1]

From a 1 Oct 2003 posting of Brad Verity on SGM:^[6]: The HOP 1993 article on Sir Lewis John says: "Another son, Henry FitzLewis, married the youngest daughter of Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset, thus continuing his father's long association with the Beauforts. John's widow [Anne de Montagu] married John Holand, duke of Exeter. By the time of her death in 1457 the only children of her marriage to the Welshman left alive were Elizabeth, wife of Sir John Wingfield, and Margaret, wife of Sir William Lucy." The article doesn't state which wife of Sir Lewis John was the mother of Sir Henry FitzLewis, but if he was alive after 1457, then it had to have been Alice de Vere who was his mother. Conversely, if Anne de Montagu was his mother, then we know Sir Henry was dead, and his daughter Mary FitzLewis, Countess of Rivers, was born, prior to 1457."

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Rev. H.L. Elliot (1898) "Fitz Lewes, of West Horndon, and the brasses at Ingrave" Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society vol.4 New Series. https://archive.org/details/transactionsess04socigoog/page/n63
2. ↑ Rotulae Parliamentariae 1414, pp. 44/5
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} HoP 1993 article.
4. ↑ 28 Sep 2003 posting by Chris Pitt Lewis on SGM "MORDAUNT and FITZLEWIS - CP error?", https://groups.google.com/g/soc.genealogy.medieval/c/vgmn9SnRlow/m/gPNfU41PaqUJ
5. ↑ https://www.medievalsoldier.org/about/agincourt-600/the-english-army-in-1415/english-army-table/
6. ↑ 1 Oct 2003 posting of Brad Verity on SGM "MORDAUNT and FITZLEWIS - CP error?", https://groups.google.com/g/soc.genealogy.medieval/c/vgmn9SnRlow/m/9a31T9dwr_AJ

See also:

• Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. III. page 198.
• Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. IV, page 121.

Other websites:

• http://www.thepeerage.com/p3189.htm#i31886 ThePeerage.com, citing Burke's 2003.
• http://mauriceboddy.org.uk/FitzLew.htm