Kenn versus Beckwith

Date: 1564 [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: Kenn Beckwith

Kenne v Kenne (or Beckwith) Plaintiff Christopher Kenne; Defendant Elizabeth Beckwith Court of Chancery 1558-1579 National Archive ref C3/106/20 Transcript of Christopher Kenne’s Bill of Complaint and of the draft & full Answers of his wife Elizabeth Kenne formerly Beckwith

Christopher Kenne’s Bill of Complaint To the Right Honourable Sir Nichlas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England Humbly complaining showeth unto your good Lordship your daily Orator Christopher Kenne of Kenne in the County of Somerset Esquire That whereas Dame Elizabeth late the wife of Sir Leonard Beckwith Knight deceased and now the wife of your said Orator was in her pure widowhood after the death of the said Sir Leonard Beckwith and before intermarriage had between her and your said Orator lawfully seised of and in diverse manors lands tenements and hereditaments in the Counties of York Kent (Middlesex ??) (Surrey ??) and elsewhere in her demesne as of fee or feetayle and also of and in diverse other lands tenements and hereditaments in the said counties in her demesne as of freehold and was also lawfully possessed of and in diverse parcels of goods chattels plate and household stuff amounting to a good value. And the said Dame Elizabeth so being thereof seised and possessed about five years now last past married and took to husband your said Orator which marriage was then openly and lawfully soleminized according to the laws ecclesiastical in that behalf in the parish church of Saint Martyns within Ludgate in the City of London By force whereof your said Orator and the said Dame Elizabeth stood and were lawfully (seised omitted ??) of the said manors lands and tenements as in the right of the said Dame Elizabeth of such several estate as are aforesaid and your said Orator stood possessed of the said goods chattels plate and household stuff accordingly and the issues revenues and profits of the said manors lands tenements your said Orator as in the right of his said wife hath (ensythen = since ??) percieved and taken and the quiet and peaceable possession and occupation of the said goods chattels plate and household stuff your said Orator in like manner hath (ensithen = since ??) had and enjoyed accordingly without any manner of interruption until now of late. It is so right honourable (lord ommitted ??) to wit about one year and more now last past that the said Dame Elizabeth by the lewd wicked and ungodly …. persuasion and enticement of certain ungodly persons and forgetting her said vow and faith made and …..to your said Orator her husband wilfully without any just cause departed and went away from the same your Orator taking with her plate money and household stuff of the …. goods and chattels of your said Orator to the value of five hundred marks. And contrary to all duty godliness and good order hath (ensithen = since ??) separated refrayned and withdrawn herself in places of great and far distance from the company society and habitation of your said Orator attempting to violate break and profane the said holy and sacred bonds of matrimony lawfully and according to the ordinance of the holy church made and solemnized as is aforesaid. And thereupon for that purpose of late to wit in February now last past she the said Dame Elizabeth upon feigned and untrue information and suggestion your said Orator now being called to answer obtained a Writ of Injunction out of this Honourable Court which your said Orator received in March last past directed unto your said Orator whereby your said Orator was straightly enjoined and commanded under the pain of three thousand pounds immediately after the (receipt ??) of the said writ or after notice thereof to deliver or cause to be delivered unto Sir Thomas Gargrave knight Sir Henry Gates knight and John Vaughan Esquire or to any two of them all and singular the goods chattels writings evidence and muniments whatsoever then being in his possession which came to the hands of the said Elizabeth after the death of the said Sir Leonard Beckwith or by any other means by them the said Sir Thomas Gargrave, Sir Henry Gates and John Vaughan or two of them to be kept until further order taken by this Honourable Court in that behalf. And also by the same Injunction your said Orator was further enjoined and commanded under the pain aforesaid not to intermeddle either with the said Dame Elizabeth nor to use her company nor to intermeddle with the possession or occupation of the said manors lands tenements and hereditaments or any part or parcel thereof until the matter and (controversy ??) between your said Orator and the said Elizabeth should be fully discussed and determined in the spiritual court where it dependeth before certain commissioners in that behalf authorised or until other order should be therein taken by your Lordship and this Honourable Court as by the same Writ of Injunction appeareth which said writ your said Orator though very much to his trouble loss and hindrance hath as unto duty appertaineth obeyed and fully observed in very point and article thereof to his power and knowledge Upon (boldness ??) of which Injunction as well the servants of the said Elizabeth as well as also diverse other lewd wilful and disordered persons by her procurement have diverse and sundry times assaulted as well your said Orator as also his servants putting them diverse times in dread and danger of their lives. And for further trouble and vexation the said Elizabeth hath upon some feigned and untrue information and suggestion procured diverse servants of your said Orator without any manner of just cause to be arrested and bound to their good behaviour where in deed there is most just and apparent cause why the said Elizabeth and her accomplices should be so bound In tender consideration of which premises and (especially ??) for as much as the said Dame Elizabeth is the lawful wife of your said Orator as it is well known and by sufficient lawful authority and testimony to be proved for which cause as well all the said manors lands tenements and hereditaments as also the said goods chattels plate money and household stuff whereof the said Elizabeth was and is seised or possessed do by the laws appertain and belong unto your said Orator as is aforesaid. And also for that as well the said Sir Leonard Beckwith at the time of his decease as also the said Dame Elizabeth in her widowhood by her own act and acts stood and (became ??) indebted as well unto the Queen’s Majesty in her Court of Exchequer as unto to diverse other persons in diverse great sums of money amounting in the whole to the sum of (blank ??) a great part whereof your said Orator sithen (= since) the said intermarriage between him and the said Elizabeth hath already satisfied and paid with his own goods and a great part thereof due …. unto the Queen’s Majesty …. others remaining yet unpaid for the which he your said Orator became and standeth bounded in great sums of money at certain days mentioned in the said bonds which he must and is …. … … And for that also the said Elizabeth hath carried away and detaineth still in her possession the said goods chattels plate and household stuff of your said Orator amounting to the value of *** marks as is aforesaid contrary to all law….. equity and good conscience. And forasmuch also as the said lands and tenements goods and chattels are a great part of the living of your said Orator and therefore the forebearing of the same to … … .. .. for that your said Orator hath executed unto the said Dame Elizabeth an estate of and in lands and tenements of your said Orator to the yearly value of one hundred pounds over and above all charges for term of her life or in tayle which he cannot undue It may therefore please your good Lordship of your accustomed goodness to grant that the Writ of Injunction may be dissolved and your said Orator restored to the possession of all the said manors lands tenements goods chattels and household stuff and other the premises mentioned in the said Writ of Injunction and also to grant the Queen’s Majesty’s most gracious writ of subpoena to be directed to the said Dame Elizabeth commanding her thereby and at a certain day and under a certain pain therein by your Lordship to be limited and appointed personally… .. .. .. Queen’s Majesty in her High Court of Chancery then and there to answer unto the premises and further to abide and receive such order and direction as to your good Lordship and the …. .. Honourable Court shall seem best to accord with justice equity and good conscience. And your said Orator shall daily pray unto Almighty God for your good Lordship long to live with increase of honour.

E Beckwith’s full answer to C Kenn’s Bill of Complaint – Transcript The Defendant by protestation not knowledging or confessing to be true anything in the said Bill of Complaint material to be …. sayeth that the said Bill of Complaint is uncertain and insufficient in the law to be answered unto And containeth in itself much untruth vain and … … … … matters determinable at the common law and not in this Honourable Court whereunto she prayeth to be remitted the advantage of insufficiency whereof at all times to the …. … … the said Defendant foranswer sayeth that she the said Defendant in her widowhood was seized of and in diverse manors lands tenements and hereditaments on the Counties of York Kent … … … … … … as of fee or feetayle. And of diverse other manors lands tenements and hereditaments in the said Counties in her demesne as of freehold And was …. possessed of and in diverse parcels of goods chattels leases for term of years plate and household stuff amounting to the value of vii C (=700) pounds And the said Dame Elizabeth so being (seized ??) and possessed ….. five years last past not knowing but that the said Complainant was sole and unmarried did agree to take to her husband the said Complainant … whereas by matter …. .. known to the said Complainant he was before that time married unto one Elizabeth Stowell and then was husband to the said Elizabeth Stowell then and yet ….. And forasmuch as the said Defendant afterwards understanding that the said Complainant was married unto the said Elizabeth Stowell as is aforesaid by reason whereof the said pretensed marriage between the said Complainant and the said Defendant was utterly void. And fearing the displeasure of Almighty God if she should have accompanied and continued with him any longer after knowledge had that she should have lived in adultery by reason thereof she refrained and withdrew herself from his company and took with her such goods money plate and household stuff as amounted not above the sum of a hundred pounds which she thenketh she might lawfully do forasmuch as the said pretensed marriage was utterly void and the property thereof her own given unto her by the said Sir Leonard Beckwith her late husband. And forasmuch that the said Complainant in his ……hath (confessed ??) … taking the profits of the said Defendant’s lands contrary to the (tenor/tenure ??) of the ….. same by …. ….. NB these words struck through) without that that the said Defendant did attempt to violate break and profane pretended marriage between the said Plaintiff and Defendant or that the said marriage was lawfull and lawfully solemnized or that the said Plaintiff in right of the said Defendant was lawfully seized in his demesne as of fee of her lands tenements hereditaments or that the said Defendant made lawful matrimony according to the ordinance of the Holy Church made and ….. without just cause did depart and went away from the said Complainant or take with her the goods and chattels of the said Plaintiff to such value as in the said Bill of Complaint is (surmised ??) without that that the said Complainant did obey the Queen’s Majesty’s writ of … as in the said Bill is untruly alleged for the contrary thereof doth also appear in the said Bill of Complaint without that that the servants of the said Defendant or any other her complices or by her procurement have diverse and sundry times assaulted as well the said Complainant as also his servants putting them diverse times in dread and danger of their lives as in the said Bill of Complaint untruly is surmised without that the said Defendant upon some feigned information and suggestion procured diverse of the servants of the said Complainant without any just cause to be arrested and bound to their good behaviour as in the said Bill of Complaint is also untruly surmised without that the said Defendant is the lawful wife of the said Complainant as in the said Bill is also untruly alleged without that that all the said manors lands tenements and hereditaments as also the said goods chattels plate money and household stuff whereof the said Defendant was seised and possessed appertained and belonged unto the said Complainant but the said Defendant further sayeth that the said Complainant by colour of the said pretensed and void marriage did take and carry away from the said Defendant as well her own goods chattels leases for years plate … and household stuff money for woodsales rents of the lands of Ffrancis Beckwith her son and for his legacy as also the (parts ??) and portions of her children begotten of her body by the said Sir Leonard Beckwith amounting in all to the value of a thousand six hundred Pounds And the same doth wrongfully still detain withhold and keep from the said Defendant being executrix unto her said late husband And also the said Complainant hath by like wrong received perceived and taken the rents issues and profits of all the manors lands tenements and hereditaments of the said Defendant amounting to the sum of vi C (= 600)pounds ….the said pretensed and void marriage and converted the same to his own use without that that the said Complainant hath discharged and paid a great part of such bonds in the said Sir Leonard or the said Defendant did owe unto the Queen’s Majesty or to any other person with his own goods or that the said Complainant for the debts of the said Sir Leonard Beckwth or of the said Defendant standeth bounden for any sum of money due to the Queen’s Majesty as to others remaining yet unpaid as in the said Bill is untruly alleged And further the said Defendant sayeth that the said Complainant executed an estate of and in lands and tenements unto the said Defendant to the value of a hundred pounds for term of her life or intayle but she further sayeth that whereas the estate should have been executed in possession discharged of all encumbrances that one Margaret Kenn now wife of (blank) Payne Esquire mother unto the said Complainant had and hath an estate in a great part thereof for term of her life known before to the said Complainant ….fraudulently and contrary to the true meaning of such a … covenant as he the said Complainant had faithfully promised and made for the assurance of the jointure of the said Defendant without that that or any other thing or things in the said Bill of Complaint contained material or effectual to be answered unto and herein not sufficiently confessed denied avoided or ….. is true all which matters the said Defendant is ready to aver and prove as this Honourable Court shall award and prayeth to be dismissed with her costs for the wrongful vexation in this behalf And … the said Defendant sayeth that at the first time that this Defendant knew that the said Complainant had another wife alive and being greatly moved in her conscience to depart from the said Complainant with which person she lived in adultery he being at that time at his house in Somersetshire, she was enforced to take with her certain parcels of her own goods and chattels given unto her by the said Sir Leonard Beckwith being of no great value only to relieve herself with meat drink and apparel necessary & to keep a manservant & a maidservant & to pay them their wages the rather, for that the said Complainant was very extreme and cruel to this Defendant and would at no time after the said pretensed marriage nor since her departure from him suffer her to have anything to help herself or her children withal, but detaineth and keepeth all & singular her goods chattels and leases from her and the same converteth to his own use & profit, contrary to all right and good conscience wherefore the said Defendant prayeth that she may by this Honourable Court be allowed some part of her own goods towards the finding of her and her children and her servants And that the residue of her goods chattels and leases for years being as the said Complainant hath confessed are in his hands custody and possession since this Defendant departed from him and now of late by him by …. and fraud sold to his three brothers and only to defeat this Defendant may be delivered unto the hands of the Commissioners named in the … by them to be safely kept according to the tenor and effect of the same.

E Beckwith’s draft answer to C Kenn’s Bill of Complaint - Transcript The said Defendant not knowledging or confessing to be true anything in the said Bill of Complaint contained effectual or material … ….the said Defendant And saving the advantage of exception to … … of the said Bill of Complaint for declaration of the truth and for and now sayeth that she the said Defendant in this honourable court in the term of St Hillary last did exhibit her Bill of Complaint against the said now Complainant for the issues and profits of the selfsame lands and tenements now mentioned in this later but exhibited by the now Plaintiff unto which … Bill of Complaint exhibited by the said now Defendant the said now Complainant by frivolous and sinister practices and devices hath so … and … all that Hillary term and this Easter term also that (hitherto) he hath not made answer to the said Bill And upon the said (former ??) Bill of Complaint exhibited by the said now Defendant … ..out of this Honourable Court was awarded against the said now Complainant that he should deliver all the evidences writings and muniments touching the said lands and tenements and also all the goods (chattels ??) and leases whatsoever which by any means came to the hands of the said now Defendant after the death of the said Sir Leonard Beckwith knight her late husband unto the hands and custody of diverse (commissioners ??) in that behalf novated and appointed which …..the said now Complainant hath utterly disobeyed and …. the breach and contempt thereof as by evident matter appeareth And the said Defendant sayeth that for manifest cause appearing that the said now Complainant hath a wife yet living to whom he was according to the laws of the church married before this Defendant knew his matter of suit between him and the said now Defendant before special delegates in causes ecclesiastical assigned by the Queen’s Majesty is now depending which suit between him and the said now Defendant so far proceeded that sentence is in point ready to be given against the said now Complainant. And he the said now Complainant by absenting himself and making sundry other delays and shifts also in contempt of that Court was (excommunicated ??) And at this point doth stand and remain (excommunicated ??) And doth exhibit this present said Bill of purpose only to … the said sentence for all which causes the said now Defendant demanding judgement of the said … bill exhibited by the said now Complainant he standing excommunicated and contrary to all the contempts aforesaid she the said Defendant shall be compelled by this Honourable Court to make any further answer till the said Complainant be absolved and hath made direct answer to the said…. and … Bill of Complaint And prayeth to be dismissed with her costs in this behalf wrongfully sustained.

Transcribed DJY November 2017 (Note: none of these three documents in the case papers is dated. Christopher Kenne’s Bill of Complaint is addressed to Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England. Bacon served in that post from 1558 to 1579, hence the date range cited in the National Archives reference above. The Plaintiff in his Bill and Defendant in her Answer both refer to their marriage having taken place “about five years last past”. The parish records of St Martins Ludgate show that marriage took place on 19 April 1559. The pleadings in this case were thus taken about 1564)