Agnes (Campe) Yelverton (abt. 1410 - 1489)

Biography

Agnes is known only from her will, made on 3 November 1489 and proved five weeks later.^[1] She named herself Dame Agnes Yelverton, and desired to be buried in the chancel of Rougham Church next to her husband Sir William. The other family members mentioned are her husband John Rands, who was buried at Berking (sic), Essex; her brother Richard Campe; and Johanne Rands, no relationship given but who was still young enough to be married.

Research Notes

The 1563 Visitation of Norfolk (mistakenly) shows that William, the second son of Sir William, married Katherine, "da. of .... Rands, of Essex".^[2] In a later version, which combined the Visitations of 1563, 1589 and 1613, below Katherine is an addition reading: "Arms: Sable, a chevron ermine between three cross-crosslets fitchée, argent." Although Rands was said to be of Essex, Rye^[3] included these arms being used in Norfolk by Rands prior to 1563 (but his only source seems to be Blomefield, following), and Blomefield reported that these arms appear in two churches in Norfolk:

At St. Margaret, Coxford-Priory Manor the arms "Hetherset, impaling Berningham, gules, a maunch, ermine;—Hetherset, impaling Rands, sable, a chevron, ermin, between three cross crosslets, fitchée, argent; and Peyvere, azure, a maunch, gules, in a bordure, argent."^[4]

At St. Mary, Westacre Priory Manor, "in the chancel east window is gules, a fess between six cross crosslets, or, Beauchamp; and on a canton, a maunch, gules, the arms of Tony, and anciently sable, a chevron, ermin, between three cross crosslets botony fitchè, and the Lord Scales."^[5]

Hetherset impaling Rands and Peyvere suggests a possible avenue of research.

These were the arms of Randes of Radwell, Beds.^[6] Edmund Randes came into possession of Radwell in 1445. He was "son of John, son of Margery, sister of the late John Radewell".^[7] (Note that the Visitations of Bedfordshire has Edmund as son of Margery.)

However, given the inaccuracies in the Visitations, it may well be that the writer assumed a connection between John Rands of Essex and the Randes of Bedfordshire and/or Norfolk where none existed. Additional work required.

The Evidence for John Rande in Essex

In 1450, one "John Rande, steward to the abbess of Berkyng" was a witness to a conveyance.^[8] Katherine de la Pole, who became abbess in 1433, was the daughter of Michael, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, which provides a connection to East Anglia and a possible Norfolk origin for John.

He had a son William (son of John Rande, gentleman, of Barking), who brought a case between 1475 and 1485 regarding "Messuages and land in Barking, West Ham, East Ham, Dagenham, Furrok, Reynham, Havering and Wolde."^[9] In the same period William was a defendant in a case regarding an inheritance dispute among members of the Sterlyng family.^[10]

John was alive in 1451 when he and others conveyed "a tenement with garden called 'le Christofer' in Brendewode ... upon condition that the said Robert and the others pay to the said John Rande 20l. in the parish church of St Margaret of Berkyng at certain dates".^[11] This was a reverse transaction to an earlier gift.^[12]

This is clearly John Rande, husband of Agnes. The Johanne mentioned in Agnes' will may have been a granddaughter, the daughter of William Rande.

The evidence for John Rande in Norfolk

Unfortunately no precise date is given, but sometime between 1386 and 1486 one John Rande was "lord of the town of Bodeneye" (now Bodney, about ten miles north of Thetford).^[13] Blomefield does not mention John in the section on Bodney^[14], but he does mention Ralph de Toenio or Tony, and the priory of Westacre, which may connect with the arms of Rands noted above. He does mention him in connection with Stanford's Manor: "3d Edward IV [1463] ... held it of John Rands, alias Reymes, Lord of Bodney"^[15], and with Bukenhan-Parva: "held here, and in Stanford, half a quarter of a fee of John Reymes, as of his manor of Bodney"^[16], both in the Hundred of Grimeshou.

The pedigree for Reymes in the 1563 Visitation of Norfolk gives their arms as:

1. Sa, a chevron ermine between 3 lions rampant argent

2. Reymes with a crescent for difference

3. Reymes with a mullet for difference

This raises the possibility that the Rands arms signify a cadet branch of the Reymes family, but a connection is yet to found. There is no matching John in the pedigree.

Robert Randes and Cecily his wife, of the one part, and Robert Herward, her son, of the other … the manors of Wykmer, Crowemer and Suffeld from Michaelmas next, which sometime were Clement Herward's, father to the said Robert; 1443^[17]

Sources

1. ↑ National Archives PROB 11/8/448
2. ↑ Blomefield shows that the wife of William was actually Katherine, daughter of Henry Spilman, Esq. of Stow Beccles. The Visitation seems to have split Agnes between Sir William's second wife and his daughter-in-law.
3. ↑ Rye, Walter. A list of coat armour used in Norfolk before the date of the first herald's visitation of 1563. Roberts & Co.: Norfolk, 1917 archive.org
4. ↑ Volume 8, pp 171-175
5. ↑ Volume 9, pp 176-183
6. ↑ "Parishes: Felmersham with Radwell." A History of the County of Bedford: Volume 3. Ed. William Page. London: Victoria County History, 1912. 59-63. British History Online. Web. 26 September 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/beds/vol3/pp59-63.
7. ↑ National Archives C 139/136/49
8. ↑ National Archives C 146/6539.
9. ↑ National Archives C 1/50/55
10. ↑ National Archives C 1/56/116
11. ↑ National Archives C 146/5220
12. ↑ National Archives C 146/5596
13. ↑ National Archives C 1/69/76
14. ↑ Volume 6, pp 15-19
15. ↑ Volume 2, pp 250-256
16. ↑ Volume 2, pp 266-271
17. ↑ National Archives E 40/12539

• Dashwood, George Henry, ed. The Visitation of Norfolk in the Year 1563 taken by William Harvey. Norwich, 1878
• Rye, Walter, ed. The Visitacion [sic] of Norfolk , made and taken by William Hervey, Clarencieux King of Arms, anno 1563, enlarged with another visitacion [sic] made by Clarenceux Cook : with many other descents, and also the vissitation [sic] made by John Raven, Richmond, anno 1613. London, 1891
• Blomefield, Francis. An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk. London: W Miller, 1808. British History Online, accessed September 26, 2019, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk