Part 2 — FOOTNOTES.

It is remarkable, that although in Dugdale’s Baronage, vol. i. p. 280, it is stated that the battle was fought on the eve of St. Mary Magdalen (21st of July, 1403;) yet on p. 168 he states that it was fought on St. Mary Magdalen’s day (22nd of July). See also Rymer’s Fædera, tome viii fo. 320.

It is stated in Owen and Blakeway’s History of Shrewsbury, vol. i. p. 187, 188, for which Otterburne is cited as their authority, that a portion of Percy’s forces was posted behind a field of peas, which would naturally form some obstacle to the attack of the royal army—“Oportebat regis exercitum, si pugnare vellet, accedere super aream satam pisis adultis; quas pisas ita nexuerant et tricaverant ut impedimento forent accedentibus prætensi laquei eorundem.”

The Duke of York was the first nobleman in the kingdom, in point of family and power. His claim to the throne of England was grounded on his descent from Lionel, third son of King Edward III. Lionel’s first wife was Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of William de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, in Ireland, in whose right, he (Lionel) was created Earl of Ulster; and because he had with her the honour of Clare, in the county of Suffolk, as parcel of the inheritance of her grandmother (Elizabeth, coheir of the last Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford), he was in 1362, created Duke of Clarence, [23b] from which duchy the name of Clarencieux King of Arms, of the south parts of England, is derived. He had issue by Elizabeth his wife, one only daughter, Philippe, before mentioned, who married Edmund Mortimer, third Earl of March, grandfather of Anne Countess of Cambridge, who was the mother of Richard Duke of York, and grandmother of King Edward IV. and of King Richard III.

The Duke of York enjoyed vast possessions in England and Ireland, in right not only of his paternal line of the houses of York and Cambridge, but also of his descent from the great and powerful families of Mortimer (Earls of March), Clare (Earls of Gloucester and of Hertford), and de Burgh (Earls of Ulster). He was closely allied to the great and noble family of Neville, from having married Cecily, daughter of Ralph Neville Earl of Westmoreland, besides being connected with several other noble and powerful families.

The blade of the sword is 2 feet 10¾ inches long, and close to the hilt, it is about 1⅛ inch wide. The blade is fluted on both sides, and with one edge, to within 11 inches of the point, and from thence it has two edges, as if it had been calculated for thrusting and not for cutting. The pommel is ornamented with a ribbed sloping pattern, and the guard is also ornamented, and is 4½ inches in length. The whole is of steel or iron. The hilt is 5½ inches long, and 3 inches in circumference; and there is a substance resembling the hard shell-like skin or covering of some kind of fish remaining round the gripe of the hilt. The whole of the sword is tolerably perfect, except that for some inches from the point it is injured by rust.

I cannot possibly doubt the veracity of those who spoke to me respecting it, but they may have been misinformed as to its history. It certainly may have been found at Blore Heath, but does not bear any ancient marks upon it, and from its appearance, make, and state of preservation, I am disposed to think, that it is of a date considerably more modern, than that of the battle of Blore Heath.

The strange and mournful fatality which attended the principal members of fire generations of this nobleman’s powerful and eminent family, will be mentioned afterwards in this chapter.

“Edwarde wan the feelde, and Gray opteinid Antehille cum pertinentiis: and stil encreasing in favour with King Edwarde, was at the laste, made by hym Erle of Kente.”—Leland’s Itinerary, vol. i. fo. 120 [113].—Ampthill, in Bedfordshire, is the place meant as having belonged to Lord Fanhope.

Mary, the second daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, married Henry Earl of Derby, afterwards King Henry IV.; and it should be here observed, that the Duke of Buckingham was entitled, by descent from Eleanor, eldest daughter of the Earl of Hereford, to at least half of his great possessions. After the line of Henry IV. had become extinct, the other half was vested in Edward IV. and his heirs; but Buckingham considered himself entitled to it, as heir at law of Mary, the second daughter of the Earl of Hereford. Shakespeare seldom wrote without a meaning, and from what is above stated, his object in the drama of Richard III. will be at once apparent, in causing the Duke of Gloucester to offer the following inducement to the Duke of Buckingham to support his claim to the throne:—

“And look when I am King, claim thou of me The earldom of Hereford, and all the moveables Whereof the King, my brother, was possessed.”

Shakespeare’s King Richard III., act iii. scene 1.

It seems probable that in Shakespeare’s time the word “moveables” was not used in the same sense in which we now use it, for at present that word would be considered strangely inapplicable to lands, castles, manors, &c.

It is well worthy of notice, that in the year 1838, an interesting discovery took place at Salisbury. Under a brick floor, about eight inches below the surface, at the Saracen’s Head Inn, in that city, during some repairs then in progress, the remains of a man were discovered interred there; but the skull and the bones of the right arm were not with the rest of the skeleton. The bones had belonged to a man who appeared to have been decapitated, and were supposed to have been those of the Duke of Buckingham.—See the Liverpool Courier of the 12th of September, 1838, in which the above particulars appear copied from the Salopian Journal. There is nothing surprising in the fact of the bones of the arm, as well as the skull, being wanting, because formerly the different members and quarters, as well as the heads of persons executed, were not unfrequently severed from the bodies, and fixed up in conspicuous places. That was done even as recently as in the time of the wicked Judge Jeffreys, after the suppression of the Duke of Monmouth’s rebellion. In the case of the Duke of Buckingham, it was very probable, as he was beheaded in 1483 for high treason, in taking arms and making war against the King, that the duke’s right arm would also be fixed up wherever his head was placed.

But the account given by Sandford in his Genealogical History, page 313, differs in some respects from it. He states that Thomas Courtenay, seventh Earl of Devon, married Margaret, second daughter of John Earl of Somerset, and, siding with King Henry VI. against the Yorkists, was by King Edward IV. taken prisoner at the battle of Towton, and beheaded at York, the 3rd of April (an. 1 Edward IV.), in the year 1461; and that their children were, Thomas Earl of Devon, made prisoner at the same battle, and being attainted in a Parliament at Westminster, the 4th of November, an. 1 Edward IV., soon after lost his head; that Henry Courtenay, the second son, had his head cut off in the same quarrel at Salisbury; and that John Courtenay, the third son, fell in the battle of Tewkesbury. Dugdale, in his Baronage, vol. i. p. 641, however, states, that Thomas Earl of Devonshire was, for being at the battle of Towton with his father, attainted by the act of 1st Edward IV., but did not suffer death, as it seems, for it appears that he was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury, fighting on behalf of Henry VI., and there buried. Leland, in his Itinerary, vol. vi. fo. 93 [p. 82], also states that Thomas Earl of Devonshire was slain at Tewkesbury, and buried there. It is stated in Banks’ Dormant and Extinct Baronage, vol. iii, p. 249, that Thomas Earl of Devon, a firm Lancastrian, died just before the accession of Edward IV. to the throne, and had by his wife Margaret, daughter of John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, five daughters and three sons: Thomas, his successor; Henry, beheaded for his attachment to the House of Lancaster; and John, slain on the same side, at the battle of Tewkesbury. Is it not probable, that the personage who fought at Tewkesbury, called the Earl of Devonshire, was only the nominal earl of that title, and that he was the same person who, as Sir John Courteney, fought at Towton, and was attainted in the 1st of Edward IV., and who was afterwards called by the Lancastrians, the Earl of Devonshire?

“causid the body of his father Duke of York to be brought from Pontefract thither” [Fotheringay], “and to be layid on the north side of the Highe Altare, where is also buried, King Edward IV.’s mother, in a vaulte, over the which is a pratie chappelle.” [65b] The body of the young Earl of Rutland was also first interred at Pontefract, and afterwards at Fotheringay.—Sandford’s Genealogical History, pp. 374 and 375. Catalogue of the Nobility, &c., by Ralph Brooke, p. 189.

“Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, often called Jasper of Hatfield, from the place of his birth, was a nobleman celebrated for his descent, and for the royal and illustrious alliances of his family. He was one of the noble personages who lived and distinguished himself in the fifteenth century: a period memorable in the history of England, for foreign and domestic wars, and civil dissensions, and for the strange mutations of fortune, which its princes and nobles were doomed to experience; and perhaps we may search the pages of history, in fruitless endeavours to discover an instance of any nobleman, who experienced such abrupt and extraordinary vicissitudes, and such sudden and astonishing transitions, on several occasions, from power and wealth, to exile and poverty, and again from the miseries of a poor outlaw and fugitive, to rank, possessions, and honours, as fell to the lot of Jasper Earl of Pembroke.

“It matters now little to us, whether in the wars of York and Lancaster, and the violence and exasperation of the contending factions, the one party or the other was in the right; but under every possible circumstance, whether the cause which he espoused was successful or unfortunate, he uniformly supported the Lancastrian interest; and when we consider how many personages of high rank fought during those lamentable conflicts, sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other, and joined the winning party, as seemed best to suit their own interests, we must at least give him credit for consistency, and perhaps for sincerity. One reason of some moment, may, however, be found for his strenuous and consistent support of the Lancastrian party. He was half-brother of King Henry VI., being the son of Sir Owen Tudor, who was descended from persons of the first consideration, and of a family of great antiquity in Wales, by his wife Queen Katherine, daughter of Charles VI. King of France, and widow of Henry V. King of England, and had by Queen Katherine, two sons, the oldest of whom was Edmund Earl of Richmond, usually denominated Edmund of Hadham, who married Margaret, daughter of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, son of John Earl of Somerset, a son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, fourth son of Edward III., by whom he had a son, Henry Earl of Richmond, who was afterwards King Henry VII.; and the second son of Sir Owen Tudor was Jasper Tutor, who was, in consequence of his father’s marriage with Queen Katherine, uncle of King Henry VII. King Henry VI. created Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke; and in consequence of his recovering the castle of Denbigh, and other strongholds in Wales, out of the hands of the adversaries of Henry, he obtained a grant of 1000 marks, payable out of the lordships of Denbigh and Radnor.

“The Earl of Pembroke appeared in 1460–1, in arms, with James Butler, Earl of Wiltshire, and a considerable army, as supporters of Henry VI.; and on the 2nd of February, in that year, fought at the battle of Mortimer’s Cross, against the Yorkists, under the command of Edward Earl of March, afterwards King Edward IV.; but the Lancastrian army was completely defeated, and the two earls were compelled to escape by flight. It may be fairly presumed, that he was not present at the battle of Towton in 1461, as he was not included in the list of those persons who were attainted by the act of Parliament of 1st Edward IV. (1461), Rot. Parl. vol. v. fo. 477, for taking a part in that battle; yet he seems nevertheless to have been exerting himself in arms for Henry VI. about that time, because in a subsequent part of the same act of Parliament, he was attainted for having with others, as alleged, at different times since the 4th of March in that year, incited the enemies of King Edward IV. to enter the realm and to commence hostilities against him; and also for having made war against the King ‘at a place called Tutehill, besid’ the Toune of Carnarvan, in Wales, on Friday next after the Fest of Translacion of Seint Edward last past, rered werre ayenst the same our Soverayne Lord, purposying then and there to have proceeded to his destruction, of fals and cruell violence ayenst their feith and Liegeaunce.’ From that passage it can scarcely be doubted, that an engagement between some forces of the hostile factions, took place near Carnarvon, in 1461, but I am not aware that any historian has handed down to us, any account of it, or even noticed it: an additional proof, if any were wanting, that much more bloodshed and misery were experienced in this country, during the Wars of the Roses, than our old annalists and chroniclers have recorded. The Earl of Pembroke lost his rank, his possessions, and, in a word, his all, by the attainder, for all that he had was confiscated. His earldom was conferred upon William Herbert of Ragland; and Jasper Tudor became an outlaw and a fugitive, and, as is very forcibly expressed by Baker, in his Chronicles, ‘The Earl of Pembroke went from country to country, little better than a vagabond.’

“Again the scene suddenly changed. In 1470, William Herbert, the rival Earl of Pembroke, was captured by the Lancastrians at the battle of Edgecott, in Northamptonshire (usually called the battle of Banbury, from its contiguity to that town), and was beheaded. Jasper Tudor, who still claimed the title of Earl of Pembroke, landed in the west with George Duke of Clarence (who then sided with the Earl of Warwick in the Lancastrian interest), and King Edward was driven from his throne and kingdom by the Earl of Warwick. Jasper Tudor was shortly afterwards restored to his rank and title, and a second time became Earl of Pembroke, resumed his possessions in Wales; and finding his nephew, Henry Earl of Richmond, then scarcely ten years of age, in the care of the widow of his deceased rival, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, he removed him from her superintendence, took him and presented him to Henry VI., who, on seeing him, is said (with what truth may well be doubted) to have made a speech almost prophetic of Richmond’s future fortunes.

“Another sudden and startling change occurred in this strange and wonderful drama. Edward IV. returned to England in 1471, and obtained a decisive victory over the Earl of Warwick, at Barnet. Queen Margaret landed at Weymouth; the Lancastrians once more took up arms, and Pembroke proceeded to raise forces in Pembrokeshire, with the intention of succouring her. The disastrous battle of Tewkesbury, and the consequent utter ruin of the Lancastrian party, compelled him to retire to Chepstow, and to disband his forces. He then had a very narrow escape with his life. Edward IV. sent Roger Vaughan, a valiant person, to surprise Pembroke there; but he captured Vaughan, beheaded him, and proceeded from thence to the town of Pembroke. Still he was in imminent danger. Morgan ap Thomas pursued him, and commenced the siege of that town; but David ap Thomas, who was the brother of Morgan ap Thomas, although of the opposite party, came to his assistance, and succeeded in raising the siege, and Pembroke got from thence in eight days, and sailed with his nephew, the young Earl of Richmond, from Tenby, intending to proceed to France. His ill fortune still prevailed: the winds drove them upon the coast of Brittany; they were forced to put into a port of that country, and could not be well excused from paying their respects to the Duke of Brittany; but when they would have taken their departure, they were given to understand, that they were not at liberty to proceed. The Duke of Brittany considering, that these two noblemen might be of some advantage to him, assigned to them the town of Vannes for their residence. They were outwardly treated with all respect due to their birth and rank, but were narrowly watched. Pembroke’s exile was a protracted one, and he remained abroad, an outlaw, a fugitive, and in poverty, during several years, most of which he passed in Brittany, but a short time was spent in France, just before his return to England as after mentioned. His earldom was conferred by Edward IV. upon his son, Prince Edward, and was afterwards held by Richard III. At length, in consequence of the death of Edward, the odium and unpopularity in which Richard was held by many, and the English nation being at last weary of civil war, violence, and bloodshed, the prospect was opened, of his return to England, and of the accession to the throne of his nephew, Henry Earl of Richmond.

“In October, 1483, an attempt was made, to effect a hostile landing in England, by the Earl of Richmond, with some forces, which were intended to have been supported by the rising of Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, and others. That expedition was an utter and disastrous failure. Richmond’s fleet was dispersed by a storm; and although the ship in which he sailed appeared off Poole, in Dorsetshire, he found it dangerous, as well as useless, to attempt to land, and was compelled to return to Brittany. The insurrection was suppressed, the duke was executed, and Jasper Tudor, with the bitterness of disappointed hopes, was doomed for some time longer, to remain in banishment. The old historians do not expressly mention his having been with Richmond, in that expedition; but it seems quite impossible, to doubt the fact, of his having accompanied him.

“Once more the scene changed in this most strange and eventful drama. In 1485, the Earl of Richmond, with Jasper Tudor and some few troops from France, landed at Milford, in South Wales, and having been joined by their friends and supporters, the battle of Bosworth (at which the latter had a principal command) placed Richmond on the throne of England, by the title of Henry VII.

“By that event Jasper Tudor found himself for the third time, Earl of Pembroke. He was restored to his honours and possessions, created Duke of Bedford, made one of the Privy Council, and one of the Commissioners for executing the office of High Steward of England, on the occasion of the ceremony of the coronation of Henry; also Justice of South Wales, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; and had besides considerable and valuable possessions, lands, and offices, conferred upon him.

“In 1487, he was joint general, with John De Vere, Earl of Oxford, at the battle of Stoke, where the Earl of Lincoln was defeated. He was afterwards again appointed joint general with the Earl of Oxford, of the army sent into Flanders, in aid of the Emperor Maximilian, against the French. He married Katharine, sixth daughter of Richard Widevile or Wodevile, Earl of Rivers, sister of Elizabeth, Queen of Edward IV., and widow of Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, who was executed, as before mentioned, in 1483.

“He continued to enjoy his titles, ranks, and great possessions, until his death, which took place on the 21st of December, 1495. He did not leave any issue, and was interred in the Abbey of Keynsham. Is it possible to find, in the whole history of the English peerage, a nobleman who experienced more strange and astonishing vicissitudes of fortune? Well may it be said that truth is stranger than fiction!”

“Owen Meridik, corruptly cawlled Owen Thider, Father to Edmund Erle of Richemount, and Graund Fathar to Kynge Henry the Seventhe, buried in the Grey Freres, in the Northe Syde of the Body of the Churche in a Chapell.”—Leland’s Itinerary, vol. viii. fo. 76 b [35].

There is also a small bridge called Kettleman’s Bridge, near Tadcaster, at the confluence of the rivers Cock and Wharf. It is not very long since an attempt was made, to show that it was a Roman bridge. I examined it carefully in August 1853, and, so far from considering it Roman, I do not even believe it to be a very old one. Similar bridges are not uncommon in some parts of Yorkshire. There is one which I have often seen, over the brook called Hock Beck, on the right side of and very near the road leading from Harrogate to Fewstone, which, though considerably narrower, resembles it very much. There was also another, very recently, which is now destroyed, over the same brook, at a place called Knox Mill, near Harrogate, on the right side of the road leading from Harrogate to Killingwell and Ripley; and I am informed that there is now another of the same kind at Fewstone.

I have also to thank the Rev. Dr. Carter, of Saxton Parsonage, for his kindness and attention, in giving me some useful information, and for taking the trouble of reading over the part of this paper, which related to Saxton Church and Churchyard.

Thomas Blunte made Lord Montejoy William Hastinges made Lorde Hastinges.

“‘Edward at his coronation creatid his brother George Duke of Clarence; and Richard the younger, Duke of Gloucester; the Lord Montacute, the Erle of Warwike’s brother, the Erle of Northumbreland; William Stafford Esquier, Lord Staford of Southwike; Syr [William] Herbart, Lord Herbart; and after Erle of Pembroke; and the saide Lord Staford Erle of Devonshire; the Lord Gray of Ruthine, Erle of Kent; the Lord Bourchier Erle of Essex; the Lord John of Bokingham, [323] Erle of Wyltshire; Syr Thomas Blunt Knight, the Lord Montjoye; Syr John Haward, Lord Haward; William Hastinges, Lord Hastinges and Greate Chambrelayn; and the Lorde Ryvers; Denham Esquyer, Lord Deneham; and worthy as is afore shewid.’—Lel. Collect., vol. ii. p. 715, 716 [449].”

“It is of course admitted, that Edward at his coronation ennobled his brothers the Duke of Clarence and Duke of Gloucester; but Leland appears to have expressed himself either not clearly, or not with his usual accuracy, with respect to the dates of the conferring of the titles upon several of the other personages, before mentioned, as may be easily ascertained by a reference to the works of Ralph Brooke, or Dugdale; from which it plainly appears, that although Edward did not forget eventually to reward many of his supporters and adherents with rank and titles, yet in some instances several years elapsed, after his coronation, before they were ennobled, or, as the case might be, were advanced in the peerage.”

“In the Chyrch Yard were many of the Bones of men that were killid at Palmesunday feld buried.

“They lay afore in 5 Pittes, yet appering half a mile of by North in Saxton Feldes.”

HIC JACET RANULPHUS DNS. DE DACRE ET GREYSTOCKE, HEROS, MILES STRENUUS QUI OBIIT IN BELLO PRO REGE SUO HENRICO SEXTO ANNO MCCCCLXI, VIDELICET DOMINICA PALMARUM CUJUS ANIME P’PITIETUR DEUS. AMEN.

Dr. Whitaker also states his conviction that the word “heros” is a mistake for “verus,” and that “strenuus,” for which there has been no room in the line, has been another guess for the former epithet, “a true knight,” being the genuine language of chivalry.—Ibid., p. 156.

The date of the 4th of May appeared upon the tomb of Sir John Delves, who was slain in the battle, and his body and that of his son are said to have been first interred at Tewkesbury, and afterwards at Wybonbury, in Cheshire.—Pennant’s Journey from Chester to London, pp. 37 and 38; Lysons’ Mag. Brit. Cheshire, p. 828; Ormerod’s Cheshire, vol. iii. pp. 255, 267, 268.

At present there is not any monument to the memory of the Duke of Clarence or his wife, nor did I hear that any was known to have ever been there.

HIC JACET JOHANNES DELVES, MILES, ET ELENA UXOR EJUS, NEC NON JOHANNES DELVES ARMIGER FILIUS ET HERES PREDICTI JOHIS QUI QUIDEM JOHANNES MILES OBIIT QUARTO DIE MAII ANNO DNI. MCCCCLXXI. QUORUM ANIMABUS PROPITIETUR DEUS. AMEN.

“There hath beene yn tyme of mynd sum Partes of the Castel stonding now sum ruines of the Botoms of Waulles appere. Now it is caullid Holme Hylle. George Duke of Clarence, Brother to King Edward, had thought to have brought Avon aboute the Towne and to have enlarged the Town.” [149d]

In strict order of dates, the account of the Field of the Battle of Barnet, ought to have preceded that of the Field of the Battle of Tewkesbury; but that could not be done without inconvenience, because the manuscript of the other parts of the work had been written, and the arrangements had been made for printing them, before the author had visited the place where the battle of Barnet was fought, or had written an account of it.

An interesting proof of the use of cannon and other engines by the French during the siege of a fortress in the fourteenth century, is given in the Rotuli Parliamentorum of the 1st Richard II. (1377). A parliamentary proceeding, in the nature of an impeachment, was instituted against William de Weston, an English commander, who had been intrusted by King Edward III. (“jadys Roy d’Engl.’ aiel ñre Sr le Roy q’ore est”) with the custody of the castle of Outhrewyk, and who was charged with having improperly surrendered it to the enemy; “en temps de mesme nr̃e Sr̃ le Roy q’ore est, verray heir au dit aiel.” In the answer of William de Weston, which is given at length, it is stated, that he had not sufficient forces to defend the castle; and also that the enemy, in besieging it, had “IX grosses canons, un grant engyn, et un trebuchet,” * * * “Et deins brief temps apres, ils comenceront a traire & getter de lour canons & engyns & ensi continneront de jonr en autre lour assalt” * * * “les murs en plusours lieux feurent enfebles par lour mervaillouses ordinances” * * * “Item mesme celui nuyt les enemys firont attrere toutes lours ordinances des engins, trebuchett, et canons.” [216b]

There is not any evidence of the period when the invention of gunpowder took place; but the general opinion of antiquaries appears to be, that it was a discovery of very remote antiquity; that its use may be dated back centuries before its first application to the purposes of war; and that for a very long period of time after its invention, it was merely used (more particularly in Asia) for recreative fireworks, and brilliant spectacles. Whilst on the subject of fireworks, it may be advisable to mention here, that they were in common use in Europe in the fifteenth century. Fireworks are mentioned by Philip de Commines, [216c] as having been thrown for amusement into the air, and afterwards running flaming on the ground, at Estampes, after the battle of Montl’hery, in 1465. We also learn from the same authority, an instance in 1494, of fireworks having been exhibited at Venice, from the steeples of the city, and pieces of artillery having been discharged. [216d]

There is an interesting and valuable paper, which was written by the Rev. Joseph Hunter, F.S.A., and published in the Archæologia, vol. xxxii. p. 379, which contains many proofs of the use of gunpowder and cannons in the time of Edward III.; but, although it must be admitted that the evidence which he adduces is quite sufficient to show that they were then in use for the purpose of besieging towns and fortresses, he does not bring forward any proofs, or even any strong reason, for our supposing that they were ever used in the open field, during the reign of Edward III.

It may be well to mention here, with reference to the family of Wyche, or De la Wyche, that Richard Wyche, of Davenham, had a son, Richard. The latter was a merchant in London, married the daughter of Sir Richard Saltingstall, Knt., the Lord Major, and died in 1621, leaving twelve sons and six daughters, of whom the Right Hon. Sir Peter Wyche, Knt., was the sixth son. Sir Peter was gentleman of the privy chamber to Charles I., for twelve years ambassador at Constantinople, and afterwards comptroller of the household, and a privy councillor. He died in 1643, leaving two sons and a daughter, of whom the elder son, Sir Peter Wyche, was envoy to the court of Muscovy, in 1669. The younger, Sir Cyrill Wyche, Knt. (named after his godfather, the Patriarch of Constantinople), established the Norfolk branch of the family, sat for many years in Parliament, was secretary to the lieutenancy in Ireland, and one of the lords justices there. The second Sir Peter Wyche had four sons, of whom John was envoy extraordinary at Hamburgh; Barnard, from whom a branch of the family in Leicestershire descended, and Peter and George, died unmarried. Sir Cyrill Wyche, the son of John, was appointed by Queen Anne to be resident at Hamburgh, when only nineteen years of age; and in the reign of George I., he was minister and envoy extraordinary to the circle of Lower Saxony, also envoy extraordinary to the court of Russia; and was created a Baronet whilst at the Hans Towns, December 20th, 1729, but dying without surviving male issue, in 1756, the baronetcy became extinct.—Burke’s Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, title “Wyche.”

“who departed this life, September 28th, 1760, aged 77. He served 50 years in his Majestie’s regiment of Carbineers, and carried and brought off, with honour, the standard, at the memorable battle of Malplaquet. His gallant behaviour as a soldier, and his private virtue as a member of society, gained him the esteem of every brave and honest man.”