Edward Clere MP (1536 - 1606)

Born 15 Jun 1536 in Norfolk, England

Ancestors

Husband of Agnes (Crane) Clere — married 7 Sep 1580 (to 8 Jun 1606) in Blickling, Norfolk, England

Descendants

Died 8 Jun 1606 at age 69 in London, England

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Note: Edward Clere was featured in the October 2022 Magna Carta Project Newsletter.

Biography

Birth and Parents

Edward was the son of John Clere and Anne Tyrrell.^[1] He was born on 15 June 1536, possibly in Norfolk where many of his father's interests lay. He was his father's main heir.^[2][3]

Life

Edward studied at St John's College, Cambridge, matriculating in May 1553.^[2][3][4] He was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1555.^[4]

Edward was a Member of several Parliaments, representing Thetford, Norfolk in 1557-8 and 1562-3 and Grampound, Cornwall in 1571.^[2][3] He appears not to have been very eloquent when speaking in the House of Commons. A diarist commented that on one occasion he made "a staggering [stumbling] speech: his conclusion I did not conceive" and on another, "such was my ill hap I could not understand what reason he made." In 1572 he unsuccessfully sought election to represent the county of Norfolk.^[5]

Edward served as Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in 1567-8, and as Sheriff of Norfolk in 1580-1.^[2][3][6] In the latter capacity he wrote to Elizabeth I's Council on 29 November 1580 to say that "Many persons, committed for disobeying the Acts of Uniformity of Common Prayer, remain in improper custody. Proposes to keep them at his several houses."^[7] He presumably wanted to make their detention more comfortable - probably they were local gentry whom he knew.

The father of Edward's first wife was a servant of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk and this led to Edward being questioned in 1569 following the Duke's arrest. In 1571 Edward was ordered to take an inventory of some of the Duke's property.^[5][8]

In 1570 Edward was a collector in Norfolk of a forced loan to the government. There followed accusations of extortion and fraud.^[5] That he was unpopular with at least some of the Norfolk gentry is evidenced by a 1577 record in which Roger Wyndham of Norfolk petitioned Elizabeth I's Council "Touching the wreck of a Scottish vessel at Runton. Desires that the cause touching their goods saved may be heard by impartial judges, as Sir Edw. Clere was partial and unjust, and his mortal enemy."^[9]

In 1576, as "Kings chief swanner in Norfolk and Suffolk", Edward asked John Tirrell "to up all swans and cygnets in Felixstowe, Bawdsey, Alderton, Brightwell, Henley, Ramsholt, Shottisham and Sutton, and to mark all wild swans and all those lately belonging to suppressed religious houses or to persons attainted or convicted of treason, misprision of treason, praemunire, outlawry etc."^[10]

Edward was knighted at Norwich, Norfolk on 22 August 1578^[11] after he had entertained Elizabeth I at his homes in Blickling and Thetford, Norfolk.^[5][12]

In the 1580s Edward was involved in proceedings against recusants - those who maintained allegiance to the Roman Catholic church.^[13] He was one of those engaged in preparing Norfolk against the possibility of a Spanish invasion in 1587^[14] and 1588.^[15]

Lands

Edward inherited extensive lands in Norfolk. In 1558 he bought property at Wymondham, Norfolk. In 1561 he inherited Blickling, Norfolk following the death of his great-uncle James Boleyn, and this became his main residence. In 1567 Richard Fulmerston, father of Edward's first wife Frances, died and Edward and Frances came into possession of extensive properties in the area of Thetford, Norfolk. All this made Edward a substantial enough landowner for William Cecil, Lord Burghley, to include him in a 1588 list of those who might be able to support a peerage.^[5]

Elizabeth I granted him a manor at Tacolneston, Norfolk^[2][3] and, in 1594-5, lands at Ormesby, Norfolk.^[16] His will shows that, in addition to property in Norfolk, he held leases in Lincolnshire and Suffolk.^[17]

Marriages and Children

Edward married twice. His first wife was Frances Fulmerston, daughter of Richard Fulmerston^[1] and Alice Lonzam: their marriage settlement was dated 16 December 1554.^[2][3] They had eight children:

• Edward,^[1][2][3][4] named in his father's will^[17]
• Francis,^[1][2][3] named in his father's will^[17]
• Fulmerston,^[2][3] who died in childhood^[12]
• Charles,^[2][3] who died in childhood^[12]
• Anne,^[1] who married William Gilbert and Okeover Crompton^[2][3]
• Elizabeth,^[2][3] who died in childhood^[12]
• Temperance,^[1][2][3] who died in childhood^[12]
• another Elizabeth,^[2][3] who died in childhood^[12]

Frances Fulmerston was buried at Blickling, Norfolk on 20 March 1579/80.^[2][3]

On 7 September 1580 Edward married Agnes Crane, daughter of Robert Crane and Bridget Jermyn. He was her 4th husband: she was widow of John Smith of Halesworth in Suffolk, Francis Clopton of Melford in Suffolk, and Christopher Heydon of Baconsthorpe in Suffolk.^[2][3] They had one son:

• Robert,^[2][3] named in his father's will^[17]

In 1583 Edward and his second wife engaged in a lawsuit relating to legacies from her third husband Christopher Heydon.^[2][3]

Death and Burial

Edward died in London on 8 June 1606. He was buried at Blickling, Norfolk on 21 June 1606.^[2][3][18] The entry, in Latin, in the Blickling parish register can be translated:^[18]

"lord [of the manor of Blickling] Sir Edward Clere late lord of Blickling died in London on the 8th day of June and was buried at Blickling on the 21st day of the said month whose holy life was celebrated solemnly on 24 August 1606"

Will

Edward Clere's will was dated 4 April 1605 and proved on 2 August 1606.^{[2][3][5][17]} In it he left:^[17]

• to his widow Agnes during her lifetime, various lands and rents in Norfolk, and jewels and the contents of Blickling Hall with a wish that his son Robert live with her at Blickling Hall; Agnes's bequest to pass to his son Robert on her death
• to his grandson Henry Clere, the great chain of gold which Emperor Charles V had given his father John
• to his son Robert, his London house and goods, his possessions at Holloway (grandson Henry to have them if Robert was dead), and some lands in Norfolk
• to his son Edward, the manors of Thetford and Snareshill
• to his son Edward and Edward's son Henry, properties and rights at Elveden, Monkshall, Ruster's[?], Tacolneston, Williams and Rekilton[?] and possessions in Norfolk which he was granted by Elizabeth I and which had formerly belonged the nuns and canons of Thetford
• to his son Sir Francis, all his possessions in Suffolk and various properties in Norfolk
• to Edward Clere, son of Humphrey, an annuity of £20 secured on property at Blickling
• property at East Dereham to advance the marriage of his grandchild Clere Gilbert
• an interest in an annuity and a lease to advance the marriages of Katherine and Temperance Gilbert, daughters of his daughter Gilbert
• to his executors, a 15-year interest in properties at East Flegg, West Flegg and Hopping, these then passing to his grandson Henry
• his possessions in Lincolnshire to be used for the performance of his will over a 20-year period, and then for establishing a fellowship and scholarship at St John's College, Cambridge

The will also contained a reference to a gift he had made to his daughter-in-law Dame Agnes Finch.^[17]

The will was designed partly to keep much of his property out of the hands of his son Edward, who had Roman Catholic leanings.^[5]

He named as sole executor his wife Agnes, who is left £100 in recognition of this, with a request that any unjust demands from Sir John Parker and Fulmerstons be resisted. The supervisors of the will were to be Sir Drew Drury and Master Edward Wymark.^[17]

Research Notes

Death and Burial

The History of Parliament Online entry for Edward gives his death date as 3 June 1606,^[5] as does the commentary on his will on the Oxford Shakespeare website.^[17] The Blickling parish register has a date of 8 June,^[18] confirming the date given by Douglas Richardson.^[2][3]

FreeReg has a transcription which misinterprets the burial date as 14 August 1606.^[19] This is also the date given in Athenae Cantabrigienses^[12] and Alumni Cantabrigienses.^[4] This was the date of a memorial service, not his burial, as is clear from the Blickling parish register.^[18]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} Walter Rye (ed.). The Visitacion of Norfolk... Anno 1563... enlarged with another Visitacion... and also the Vissitation... Anno 1616, Harleian Society, 1891, p. 75, Internet Archive
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20} Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), Vol. I, p. 7, ALSOP 14, Google Books
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20} Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), Vol. I, pp. 116-117, ALSOP 15
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} J A Venn. Alumni Cantabrigienses from the earliest times to 1751, Vol. I, Cambridge University Press, 1922, p. 352, Internet Archive
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7} History of Parliament Online, entry for 'CLERE, Edward (1536-1606), of Blickling, Norf.'
6. ↑ List of Sheriffs for England and Wales, Public Records Office Lists and Indices, HMSO, 1898 (Kraus Reprint Corporation reprint, 1963), p. 88, Internet Archive
7. ↑ 'Queen Elizabeth - Volume 144: November 1580', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth, 1547-80, ed. Robert Lemon (London, 1856), pp. 685-689, British History Online, accessed 11 July 2022
8. ↑ 'Queen Elizabeth - Volume 81: September 1571', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth, 1547-80, ed. Robert Lemon (London, 1856), pp. 421-424, British History Online, entry for 30 September 1571, accessed 11 July 2022
9. ↑ 'Queen Elizabeth - Volume 120: Undated 1577', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth, 1547-80, ed. Robert Lemon (London, 1856), pp. 574-580, British History Online, entry 15, accessed 11 July 2022
10. ↑ National Archives Discovery Centre catalogue entry
11. ↑ W A Shaw. The Knights of England, Vol. II, Sherratt and Hughes, 1906, p. 78, Internet Archive
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6} Charles Henry Cooper and Thompson Cooper. Athenae Cantabrigienses, Vol. II, 1861, p. 440, Internet Archive
13. ↑ See for instance 'Queen Elizabeth - Volume 208: January 1588', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Elizabeth, 1581-90, ed. Robert Lemon (London, 1865), pp. 456-461, British History Online, entry for 22 January 1588, accessed 11 July 2022
14. ↑ 'Queen Elizabeth - Volume 204: October 1587', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Elizabeth, 1581-90, ed. Robert Lemon (London, 1865), pp. 428-434, British History Online, entry for 20 October 1587, accessed 11 July 2022
15. ↑ 'Queen Elizabeth - Volume 209: April 1588', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Elizabeth, 1581-90, ed. Robert Lemon (London, 1865), pp. 472-481, British History Online, entry for 30 April 1588, accessed 11 July 2022
16. ↑ The National Archives, ref. E 40/15022, Discovery Centre catalogue entry
17. ↑ ^{17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 17.6 17.7 17.8} Oxford Shakespeare website, transcript of Edward Clere's will, The National Archives, PROB 11/108/169, PDF, accessed 12 April 2020
18. ↑ ^{18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3} "England, Norfolk, Parish Registers (County Record Office), 1510-1997", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JDCH-XJN : 6 November 2020), Edwardus Clere, 1606 and linked image of parish register
19. ↑ Blickling : St Andrew : Extract of a Register : "Parish Register" database, FreeREG (https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/58187a1be93790ec7537cee7 : viewed 12 Apr 2020) burial Edward Clere 14 Aug 1606

Acknowledgements

Magna Carta Project

This profile was re-reviewed for the Magna Carta Project by Michael Cayley on 11 July 2022.

Edward Clere MP is in badged Richardson-documented trails from the Alsop Gateway Ancestors (Timothy, Elizabeth and George) to Magna Carta Surety Barons Roger le Bigod, Hugh le Bigod, Saher de Quincy and Robert de Vere. These trail are set out in the Magna Carta Trails section of Temperance Gilbert's profile.

See Base Camp for more information about identified Magna Carta trails and their status. See the project's glossary for project-specific terms, such as a "badged trail".