Elizabeth Tylor

Contents

Personal and Family Information
Pedigree Chart
Events
Notes

Personal and Family Information

Elizabeth was born about 1440, the daughter of UNKNOWN Tylor but her mother is unknown. The place is not known.

She died in 1501. The place is not known.

Her husband was Thomas Hill. They were married, but the date and place have not been found. Their eight known children were William (<1463->1501), Richard (c1467-1500), Agnes (c1469-?), Alice (c1477-c1494), Robert (c1478-c1535), Elizabeth (c1479-?), Edward (c1480-?) and Joan (c1481-c1498).

Pedigree Chart (3 generations)

	Elizabeth Tylor (c1440-1501)		UNKNOWN Tylor (c1415-?)

Events

Event

Date

Details

Source

Multimedia

Notes

Birth

ABT 1440

Death

1501

Notes

Note 1

!Source: England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858 for Thoma Hille, PROB 11: Will Registers 1384-1566 Piece 07: Logge [1479-1486]

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/5111/records/877576?tid=&pid=&queryId=406b9e5e-397c-4099-82da-a1d347c0b422&_phsrc=Xle404&_phstart=successSource

[Image Copyright requests no publication of the images, but they can be seen at thancestry.com address].

Lord Mayor of London 1484/5

Will of Thomas Hille, Grocer [PCC 17 Logge, f. …]

Page 3.

,…, Item I bequeath to the god daughter of Elizabeth my wiff

the daughter of a family the which go[od] daughter is befited with [only] the paltry 20s...,

Item I bequeath to my First Honey Ely which late was myn

app'wife X£ vs. Item I bequeath to Elizabeth now married late my First and

then called Elizabeth Tylor XXs…,

I make and ordeyn myid executor Elizabeth my wiff, Rauf Tilmoy, Richard Walker grocer,

William Doughory, gentleman and my cosyn John Hille grocer,…

!Source: Dame Elisabeth Hylle, in the England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/5111/records/887246?tid=&pid=&queryId=8cca907b-412f-46e9-a979-161f7c7b3fb7&_phsrc=Xle409&_phstart=successSource

Name Dame Elisabeth Hylle

Residence London

Probate Date 2 Jul 1501

Death Year Abt 1501

Image: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/5111/records/887246?tid=&pid=&queryId=8cca907b-412f-46e9-a979-161f7c7b3fb7&_phsrc=Xle409&_phstart=successSource

Transcription:

In Dei Nomine Amen, the vi day of the month of march in the yer of our lorde god m v [i]n] the

X[V] yere of the regne of the Kyng Henry the vij - I Dame Elisabeth Hylle of London, widow : late the

wife of Sir Thomas Hill Knight and late Maier of the same Citie beying in my good heath and

in mynde sa[u]nd & pasing be befor almightie god make & ordeyn this my last testament and

for I will in man[ner] and fourme ensuryng that is to sey ffirste I geb and recoment my soule

to almightie god my maker & redemer to o[ur] blessed ladie the virgyn Marie and to all t-

he company of syan[t]es’ - My bodie to be buried near the body of the bodie of the church of

San Thomas of Acrei of London where as the bodies of the same Sir Thomas Hill late my husband

lies burried - and after my bodi's so buried then I will that all such duties & somms of money

as we to any p[er]sonne or p[er]sonnes of right or consciens be simple & factual truly contented and

fair & [sou]nd after that done. I geve and bequeath unto the high ruler of the p[ar]ish church of

S[t] blas Lane & Colchurch of Cowdry where I am p[ar]ishner for my tithes forgotten or nechgently

with[held] in discharge of soule XLs. Item I geb & bequeath to the fraternyte of Saynt Kathyn

w[ith]in same church to the entent they may praie for my soule XIYs iiijd.

Item I gebe to the Alter of our blessed ladie w[i]thin the said church of Saynt Thomas XXs. Item I geve to

my c[o]usin Fr William Hill now master of the same church to the entent he may p[ra]y for

my sole in money XLs and to any brothers of the same place to the same entent XXs.

Item I [giv]e & bequeath to my Sonne Robert Hill X£ XX shilings. Item I geve & bequeath to my son

Edward and my truste[d] friend John Transen y [1] of my grete galon potts [of] silver & gilt to either

of them. Item I geve & bequeath to my right welbeloved son Edward Hill a catell plot &

graze plot fil[led] by bullics gel[ded] with & cowes with catt[l]e in the bottom ranges. Item I geve and

bequeath either of the same Edward and John Transen in money XX£ - and to either

of them grete disshes of silver such as I am want a few helpyngs in, and to the

same I transfer vi collic milk cow gilse that goe daily abrod - Item to the same Edward

three fether beddes with all th[e] apparell belonging & neccessarie for my beddes to take thym

ether [tho]s in my place at london or in maple end - and my best grene cunterpayne [bedcover]

n brac-in-Brac pannes & garnesshe of pewter withall my ssette in Bell candelstiks of

Laton [b]asyng disthe of Laton & pece of grene say & my pairs of shets. Item to my trusty

friend John Transem a fetherbed worth like to my last sonn Edward hathe & I gav'

with of all. Item I geve & bequeath to my daughter Elizabeth Lathom X£ Sterlynge /

a round wrap fringed at sleeves and gilt with the ¢[clasp] on my ¢[clasp] duples : my sedd

girdell ho[o]ped with silver & gilt, & chafyng disshs of silver [with] no cheynes, my skarlet

gown fur-[ly]n[ed] & my fine kerchiffe - Item to my godson her [Elizabeth Lathom’s] son [o]n[e] of my gobletts of & #[several]

pic[k]wick[s &] dossen of spouns with pynacles. Item to Rauf Lathom, my sonne in law,

a ryng of the price XLs. Item to my sister Tilney in money VI£ XIYs iiyd, my

violet gown lined with sarrynet js & litle cramp synge of gold upon my fyngar.

Item to my [coz?] shaa, my flat hoope of gold that I weare. Item I geve & bequeath to

my sist-h[usb]and to pay - Raynold Tilney XXs, a towell & a pece of brabant cloth.

Notes:

1. There is a deep crease near the left side of the page which may lose about a character or so

from the first word or so of any line.

2. England was still on the Julian calendar and the Lady Day, 25 March, new year system in 1500.

So the Julian year 1500 ran 25 March 1500 to 24 March 1501.

That means her “vi day of March 1500” in the will is 6 March 1500 Julian, which falls before 25 March, so under the old reckoning it’s still 1500.

But by Gregorian/modern reckoning, with the new year on 1 January, that same day is 6 March 1501.

3. “bell candlesticks of laton” = Candlesticks made of a fine brass or bronze alloy used for household metalwork.

4. The "¢" looks to me like a pictograph for a clasp, as for women's clothing and jewelry.

5. Duple likely refers to a toggle clasp.

6. pickwick n a tool for raising the short wick of an oil lamp

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

7. Sarrynet” - also spelled sarsenet, sarcenet, sarcenette - is a fine, soft silk fabric, lightweight and tightly woven, often with a subtle sheen.

It was used for linings, veils, and delicate garments — essentially a luxury inner fabric.

8. brabant cloth - In the 1500s, Brabant cloth was a significant export from the Duchy of Brabant, a territory in the modern-day Low Countries

[Belgium and the Netherlands. It primarily referred to a high-quality linen known for its durability and was sold in various qualities and weights,

from "light Brabant cloth" to more expensive fabrics.

9. Only one page was available at this site. There shoud be at least a probate statement on a following page.

People Mentioned:

1. testatrix, Dame Elizabeth Hill

2. husband, the late Sir Thomas Hill

3. cousin, Fr. William Hill, master of St Thomas of Acre, apparently there is no list of masters this 10 years.

4. son, Robert Hill

5. son Edward Hill

6. trusted friend, John Transen

7. daughter, Elizabeth Lathom

8. son of Elizabeth

9. son-in-law, Rauf Lathom

10. sister, Tilney, used as a married name

11. [cozen?, Ed?] Shaa

11. brother-in-law, Raynold Tilney

!Source: THE RICARDIAN JOURNAL OF THE RICHARD III SOCIETY, ISSN 0048 8267 VOLUME XXXIII, 2023, YORKIST PEOPLE: Essays in Memory of Anne F. Sutton, Published by the Richard III Society, Edited by Caroline M. Barron and Christian Steer, Index by Heather Falvey, Published by the Richard III Society, © 2023 Richard III Society

https://www.academia.edu/106963908/Wardship_Wealth_and_Widows_in_Late_Fifteenth_Century_London?auto=download

Elizabeth Hille and Agnes Forster: the Long Widowhood

Elizabeth and Agnes chose widowhood over remarriage. Both were married only

once, both reached the heights of lady mayoress and both lived many years after their

husband’s death, but the way in which they chose to manage widowhood and their

children’s inheritance is notably different.

Elizabeth Hille provides a good example of a widow who used legal systems and

civic procedure to protect, and influence the direction of, a substantial patrimony in

the face of changing circumstances over sixteen years of wardship. She was widowed

during the sweating sickness outbreak; her husband, Sir Thomas, was in office as

mayor of London when he died suddenly on 23 September 1485.60 Elizabeth, as the

incumbent mayor’s wife with eight children [six in minority], a substantial household

[befitting her husband’s civic position], the disruption of an abrupt termination to her

position as lady mayoress and her husband’s business, estates and considerable wealth to

manage, must have had quite a crisis to deal with in the aftermath of his sudden death.

57 Cal. Letter Bk, L, p. 267.

58 Sutton, ‘Agnes Don-Breton’, p. 191.

59 See especially the controlment roll for January to August 1490: TNA, E122/78/8 and The

London Customs Accounts. Part IV: The Tudor Dynasty [1485-1553]. Number 1. 3 Henry VII

[1487/88] – 5 Henry VII [1489/90], ed. S. Jenks, Lübeck 2016, pp. 171–208.

60 PCC Logge, ii, no. 225. Hille died on 23 September 1485. Sir William Stokker [brother of

John Stokker, third husband of Elizabeth Nayler, who died days before Hille] took his place as

mayor but he also died of the sweat just two days later: The Great Chronicle of London, pp. 239,

438 [at note],

THE RICARDIAN VOLUME XXXIII, 2023

136

Elizabeth’s widowhood is more traceable than that of many of her contemporaries.

Thomas Hille gained the freedom of the city as a grocer in 1448. Elizabeth was the

daughter of Thomas Garnon of Gloucestershire but had good mercantile connections <<< This is at odds with Sir Thomas Hill’s will naming her Tylor and thus most likely false.

in the city which would have been useful to Thomas, himself a first-generation

Londoner.61 She was a cousin of the established and wealthy London goldsmith, Sir

Edmund Shaa.62 Her sister, Joan, married Ralph Tilney of Hertfordshire who had

come to London as apprentice to Thomas Hille and who gained the freedom of the

city in 1464.63 Elizabeth’s family certainly seemed to be useful to Thomas Hille. Tilney

and Shaa often appear in property transactions alongside him, and Shaa was entrusted

by Thomas to oversee the execution of his will. Neither Elizabeth nor Thomas

had been married before and the nature of the surviving documentation suggests a

successful marriage, underpinned by a solid working partnership in life and a strong

bond of trust in death. Thomas evidently understood and valued his wife’s capability

and trusted her competence: he made her the principal executrix and administrator

of his substantial moveable estate, and his property.64 But Elizabeth must have had a

good working knowledge of her husband’s affairs during his life. Although his death

was a sudden one, Thomas had organised his financial affairs to the extent that he had

made a record of personal debts owed, listed and prioritised in his own hand. Within

three weeks of his death, Elizabeth is recorded as having acted on this: on 18 October

a William Langford acknowledged receipt of £50 from Elizabeth in final payment

of £266 13s. 4d. for properties Thomas had purchased in St Pancras in 1484.65 The

efficiency of this transaction, despite the upheaval she must have been facing, set the

tone for her widowhood and the wardship of her children’s inheritance.

Thomas’s trust in Elizabeth extended to the fact that he laid no requirement on her

to use the civic fiduciary process for his children’s moveable patrimony, nor made any

caveat around her potential remarriage.66 With a moveable dower and guardianship

of an orphans’ portion worth a combined £3,700, as well as her civic experience as an

61 He was from Kent: Thrupp, Merchant Class, p. 350.

62 Edmund Shaa named Elizabethe Hille as his cousin in his will of 1488: TNA, PROB 11/8/187.

63 Thrupp, Merchant Class, p. 370. In her will of 1501, Elizabeth appointed ‘her brother, Ralph

Tylney’ as her overseer. He was in fact her brother-in-law: TNA, PROB 11/12/397; CCR 1500-09,

p. 25 and CPR 1485-94, p. 221.

64 The document enrolled in the Logge register for Thomas Hille is a testament only, dealing

with the disposal of his moveable goods. His will, devising property and landed estates in

Cambridgeshire and Essex, does not survive, but is referred to in property deeds in London.

Historical Gazetteer of London Before the Great Fire Cheapside; Parishes of All Hallows Honey Lane, St

Martin Pomary, St Mary Le Bow, St Mary Colechurch and St Pancras Soper Lane, eds D. Keene and

V. Harding, London, 1987, pp. 294–8.

65 CCR 1485-1500, p. 13; Keene and Harding, Gazetteer, pp. 782–90.

66 Thomas’s testament is relatively sparse in detail concerning his family. He portions his

moveable estate into thirds but does not mention any of his children by name, nor leave any

material bequests to them. He was seemingly content to leave all such personal division of goods

to Elizabeth: PCC Logge ii, no. 225.

Wardship, Wealth and Widows in Late Fifteenth Century London

137

alderman’s wife and a lady mayoress, Elizabeth Hille would have been a very attractive

prospect on the London marriage market. Rather, she chose to remain in widowhood

for the sixteen years of life remaining to her and she took it upon herself to manage her

family’s affairs. As well as actively taking the lead in the execution of her husband’s civic

legacy [the establishment of a new conduit in Gracechurch Street and contributions

to the building of kitchens in the new Guildhall], Elizabeth is personally named in

notable transactions involving the moveable wealth and property left to Thomas’s

heirs, suggesting that she was directly involved in the management of the children’s

inheritance until their coming of age.67

Elizabeth and Thomas Hille had eight surviving children. The eldest, William,

was born before 1463 and at least seven others followed: sons Richard, Robert and

Edward, and four daughters; Elizabeth, Alice, Agnes and Joan. At the time of their

father’s death in 1485, all eight were alive with seven of them under-age.68 By the time

Thomas’s estate was settled in 1488, the children’s portion amounted to a combined

£1,885 12s. 4d. Elizabeth chose to pass the capital worth of the estate through the

civic trust process, but have it loaned back out to her. Like Elizabeth Denys before

her, this meant that it was she who was bound under a legal recognisance and financial

bond to return the sum of £1,885 12s. 4d. to her children upon their coming of age/

marriage with appropriately accrued interest. Her guarantors were family: her brother-

in-law, Ralph Tilney, now an alderman, her husband’s nephew and former apprentice,

John Hille, and her two eldest sons, William and Richard Hille, now both grocers.69

There is nothing in the civic records to suggest that Elizabeth defaulted in any way on

the loan. Two daughters, Alice and Joan, had died while still underage and Elizabeth

oversaw the division of their portions [£300 each] amongst their surviving siblings

as well as paying out due money to the husbands of her two surviving daughters:

Agnes married John Croke, a draper, in 1490 and Elizabeth married Ralph Latham, a

goldsmith related to the Shaa family, in 1498.70

This personal approach is further reinforced by Elizabeth’s name appearing

specifically in property and land transactions concerning a feckless eldest son for

over a decade. William Hille was his father’s heir and inherited Thomas’s lands in

67 Cal. Letter Bk, L, p. 280; The Great Chronicle, p. 320. For Elizabeth Hill and the Guildhall

legacy, see C.M. Barron, The Medieval Guildhall of London, London 1974, p. 120.

68 Richard had come of age by 1488 but Robert was only seven when his father died in 1485 and

Edward was younger. Of the girls, Alice and Joan were alive in 1485 but they had died in minority

by 1494 and 1498. Agnes and Elizabeth married, but not until 1490 and 1498 respectively.

Richard died in 1500 and his will refers to deceased brothers as well as his two sisters: Cal. Letter

Bk, L, p. 249; CIPM Henry VII, ii, p. 299; CCR 1500-09, p. 24.

69 Cal. Letter Bk, L, pp. 234, 237, 249.

70 Cal. Letter Bk, L, p. 249. It has been suggested that Agnes Hille was the widow of a William

Chester when she married John Croke. It is probable, however, that John had a first wife, also

named Agnes, who was Chester’s widow. Croke claimed Agnes Hille’s patrimony from Elizabeth

in 1490, upon their marriage. Had she been a widow this would have been claimed by her first

husband. See K. Lacey, ‘Margaret Croke [d.1491]’ in Medieval London Widows, pp. 143–64.

THE RICARDIAN VOLUME XXXIII, 2023

138

Huntingdon and Essex, as well as numerous London properties.71 William, however,

appears to have been somewhat inept at managing his affairs. In 1487, he gave up the

rights of ownership of six of the properties in St Pancras, left to him in his father’s

will, ‘to Elizabeth’s use, for £300 paid by her’.72 This was probably driven by a need

to find ready cash. Elizabeth seems to have given William the money although he did

not transfer the messuages into her name. Four years later, those same properties had

to be recovered by means of a court transaction by Edward Underwood, a clerk, who

was acting on behalf of Elizabeth Hille. William had got into financial trouble. Earlier

in the same year, in February 1491, a legal memorandum written in the Close Rolls,

recorded that William owed his mother and brother, Richard, £880 for ‘ready money’

delivered to him by them at various times. He entered into a recognisance to pay the

sum back and, in part payment, signed over all the merchandise held in the shops and

cellars his mother was allowing him to occupy and assigned her all debts due to him

in business transactions.73 In 1494, at Elizabeth’s request, he was made to give up the

properties in St Pancras once more, this time under a guarantee that he would do as

he was asked.74

To safeguard the other children’s inheritances, Elizabeth stripped William of any

property-holding and wrote him out of any further inheritance by a series of recorded

deeds. In the same year that she recovered the London properties from William, her

clerk, Edward Underwood, had recovered on her behalf, property in Gloucester and

Oxford that had descended to her upon the deaths of her brothers and brothers’

heirs. The 1494 transaction records that the property was to pass, after her death,

to Elizabeth’s sons, Richard, Robert, Edward and William successively – William

being placed last after his three younger brothers.75 At the same time, probably as part

of the debt owed, the land in Huntingdon and Essex which William had inherited

from his father was transferred out of William’s hands to Richard. When Richard

died in 1500, he devised his father’s lands to his widow for life, with remainder to

his brothers Robert and Edward: William, although still alive, was not mentioned

at all in Richard’s will.76 At Elizabeth’s own death in 1501, her third son, Robert, is

named as heir to the Gloucester property [as laid down in the deed of 1494] and, in

Elizabeth’s will, she devised all the family’s London properties to her youngest son,

Edward. William is mentioned with a minor bequest but comes at the end of a long

list, behind children, grandchildren, godchildren, friends, priests and even a member

of Elizabeth’s household.77

71 CIPM Henry VII, i, p. 120; Keene and Harding, Gazetteer, pp. 294–8, 782–90.

72 Keene and Harding, Gazetteer, pp. 782–90.

73 CCR 1485-1500, p. 152.

74 Keene and Harding, Gazetteer, pp. 782–90.

75 The inheritance was originally recorded in 1488, but it was not until 1494 that Elizabeth,

acting through Underwood, secured it: CPR 1485-94, p. 221; CCR, 1485-1500, p. 217.

76 CCR 1500-09, p. 45.

77 CIPM Hen VII, ii, p. 487; TNA, PROB 11/12/397; CCR 1500-09, p. 24.

Wardship, Wealth and Widows in Late Fifteenth Century London

139

All the widows examined above are visible by the traces their decisions left behind in

civic and central court records. But for thousands of other London medieval widows,

the decision to carry out the execution of a husband’s wishes without recourse to any

civic support has consigned them to obscurity. While they are greater in numbers

statistically, they are naturally fewer in terms of traceable case studies. Just occasionally

however, one of these widows left evidence of their efforts elsewhere….

!Source: Dame Margery Astry, by CLAIRE A. MARTIN

https://richardiii.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/14-Dame-Margery-Astry.pdf

Image included of Figure 2 The Family of Sir Thomas Hill.

Note that Claire seems to have really looked into Sir Thomas Hills family and has developed many sources and a lot of good information, but she also jumps to conclusions occassionally and also pushes the concept that his family was a long line of London Grocers, which is rather unlikely. This is OCR text and it may sometimes glitche a bit on copying.

Origins and Natal Family: The Hills of Hitchin

Margery's father was a John Hill, grocer, of whom very little is known.z His

home and Margery’s birthplace is likely to have been Hillend, the Hertford-

shirehome of the Hill family.3 Situated near Langley, five miles south of

Hitchin, it overlooked the chapel of Minsden which Margery remembered in

her will. She bequeathed ‘unto out lady chapel of mynneston nygh hichyn in

the countie of hertfordwhere Iwas borne, a chalis wifln a patent of silver all

gilt whiche is occuupied in my chapell'.4 The family included several grocers of

London and was presumably prosperousand comfortable. Certainly, he: fam-

ily were in a position to provide the financial backing for her to marry well.

This was vital in securing a daughter’s future and many of London’s great wid-

ows would have benefited fromsuch financial assistance.s Margery's will also

records the existence of a brother named Stephen, 2. grocer of London, who

had died by 1523leaving a widow and two sons, Robert and Thomas, both still

young enough for Margery to leave money for their schooling. Stephen must

have been either considerably younger than his sister Margery or fathered chil-

dren late in life because by 1523, Margery’s own children were grown and ma:-

ried themselves. This is essentially all that can be ascertained of Margery’s im-

mediate family but other relatives are plentiful and throughout her life Margery

seemsto have mainmined close contactwith her extended family. Of twenty-

two family members remembered in Margery’s will, ten can be identified as the

married siblings of he: ‘cosynRichaxd Hill’, including her ‘cosyn Lane and his

wife’, ‘Nicolas Cosyn and his wife’ and Agnes Gascoyne.‘ This sugests strong

links with this side of the family although the precise relationship remains un-

certam.

Richard Hill left his markon history by the survival of his commonplace

book, now in the library of Balliol College, Oxford.7 It contains a varied collec-

1 TI): Vidtation of the Cauny of Huntingdambin,ed. by Sir H. Ellis, Camden Society

1849, pp. 98-99. H.C. Andrews, ‘The Hill and Astry families of Langley and Hitchin',

Emt Hem Arr/Jaealog'mlSat-icy Tramam'am',vol. 12 , pp. 32-39. R.E. Chester

Waters, Gmmlog'mlMemoir: q“ the Famifi'e: of Clutter and of Any, London 1881. W.P.

Hills, 'Richard Hill of Hillend and Balliol MS. 354’, Note: andQum'eI, vol. 177 ,

pp. 452-56.

3Andrews, p. 38. The site is now occupied by Langley End, dating from c.1900.

4'The National Archive , Prerogative Court of Canterbury, PROB

11/21, ff. 198-99v.

5 Despite the legend of her rise from poverty, Thomasine Percyvale’s family was well

connected and her brother becamemayor of Launcestonin 1512, Davies, p. 187.

° John Lane, the husbandof Margery’s cousinElizabeth, is also a witness to her will.

7 Songs, Comb and other Mimi/anew: Pam: fmm the Bafial MS. 354 Rirhzmd Hill's

CommonplawBook, ed. by R. Dyboski, Early English Text Society, ES vol. 101, 1908;

repr. 1937.

tion of poems, songs and ballads as well useful information such as advice on

the breaking of horses, medicinal recipes and commercial rules and references.

The manuscript also summarises some of the main events in the life of the

owner and details the godparents of his children. Richard statesthat he was

'bome on hillend / in langley in the parishe of huchy[n] in the shire of

hartfford’ and it was here that his first child John was bornin 1518. By 1520he

had moved to London and his secondchild Thomas was bornat Freshe Wharf

in the parish of St Botolph. By 1522he had settled in the London parish of St

Andrew Undershaft, where his last fourchildren were born. Among the god-

parents of his offspring occur some familiar names. John Lane and Nicholas

Cosyn his bromets-in-law appear as godfathers and his sisters Margaret Pre-

ston, Elizabeth Lane and Eme Cosyn as godmothers. Elze Astry, the wife of

Margery’s son Henry Astry, whom Richard refers to as cousin, also becomesa

godmother as does her sister Mary.

Richard had been apprenticed to John Wyngax, grocer, alderman and

mayor, and must have completed this by at least 1508 because in that year he

was made free among the merchant adventurers of England, although it was

not until 1511that he was swornat Grocets’ Hall.8 This means Richardmust

have been bornaround1482 and if Margery lived to be around sixty she would

have been bornaround 1463, making a difference of at least nineteen years in

their ages.9 The existence of a significant variation in ages is supported by the

fact that Margery had her children in the 1480s and early 14905 while Richard

Hill had his children, mostly in the 15205.10

' Songs Cami: etc,pp. xii-xv.

9 If Richard completed a ten year apprenticeship by 1508at the latest, he would have

started in 1498. An average of age of sixteen for commencementof the indenture

producesa birth date of c.1482.The average life expectancy of a sample of 47 London

merchantswas 58 and there were contemporary complaints that old age began around

fifty. Caxton was just pastfifty when he wrote ‘age crepeth on me dayly’, S.L. Thrupp,

The Meir/Jam Class of Medieval London, Michigan 1948; repr. 1996, p. 195. Rosenthal’s

analysis of peers born in the 14th and 15th centuries show that most lived into their

fifties but living to sixty or more was not uncommon, ].T. Rosenthal, Old Age in Late

MedievalEngland, Philadelphia 1996, pp. 123-24.

'° Margery's first son Thomas Edward was still underage when her secondhusband

made his will in 1490 and he must havebeen born between approximately 1480 and the

death of William Edward in 1487.Margery would have been about 18 in 1481and he is

unlikely to have been born before that. Fleming estimatesthe average age at marriage to

be between seventeen and twenty-four, P. Fleming, Family Md Housebokl in Medieval

England Basingstoke 2001, p. 22. Thrupp highlights forty-one caseswhere the wife’s age

at marriage is known, producing a median age of seventeen,Thrupp, p. 196. Margery's

last son Henry Astry has to have been born between 1492 and 1494. The will of Robert

Revell was proved in March 1491 and Ralph Astry died on the 18 November 1494.This

makes it highly unlikely that Andrews is correct in his suggestion that John Hill,

The other Hill family with possible connections to Margery is the family of

Sir Thomas Hill, grocer, alderman and mayor, but the relationship does not

appear to have been close. In her will Margery mentions a William ‘Hilles’,

priest, and although she does not specify a relationship, this was probably the

William ‘Hille’ termed cousin in the will of Sir Thomas Hill and one of the

brethren of the house of St Thomas of Acre. By 1500, when Sir Thomas’s

widow Dame Elizabeth made her will, he had become the master of St Tho- <<<<

mas of Acre.u There is also a Robert Hill named in the will of Ralph Astry in

1494 as his apprentice who could possibly be the son of Sir Thomas.12 When

Elizabeth Hill died in 1501 there was an inquisition in which Robert Hill aged <<<<

twenty-three and more was named as her heir.13 This would make him fifteen

in 1494, the age when he is most likely to be apprenticed. Dame Margery Astry

and Dame Elizabeth Hill also appeax together in the Great Chronicle of London <<<<

as donors of £10 each to the building of the kitchens at Guildhall." The likely

author of the chronicle, Fabian, was a drape: who became a sheriff for London

in 1493 and an alderman for Farringdon Without in 1494. This ward had pre-

viously been held by Margery’s secondhusband Robert Revel] and between

1493 and 1494 her third husband Ralph Astry was mayor. Fabian certainly

knew Ralph and Margery and probably knew Dame Elizabeth Hill. The fact <<<<

that only these two are named, among the ‘sundtywidows’ who donated to the

kitchen project, sugests that they were linked in Fabian’s mind. When we

Margery's father, may have been a brother to Richard Hill, Andrews, p. 33. It is far

more likely that Richard Hill’s father Thomas was of the samegeneration as Margery's

father John, maybe a brother, and Richard and his siblings would literally have been

Margery’s first cousins.This seemsrealistic as Richard was similar in age to Margery's

younger brother Stephen and they had their children aroundthe sametime.

" Sir Thomas Hill, TNA, Prerogative Court of Canterbury, PROB 11/7, ff. 13lV-33.

Dame Elizabeth Hill, TNA, Prerogative Court of Canterbury, PROB 11/12, f. 186. <<<<

'2 The Robert Hill, son of Stephen Hill and the Robert HilL son of Richard Hill are

both far too young. Three of Sir Thomas’sfour sonscan be identified as grocers. In

1488, Dame Elizabeth Hill appears before the mayor's court and enters into a bond of <<<<

£1,885 12: 4d for payment of patrimony to the younger children of Sir Thomas.Among

her supportersare William, Richard and John Hill, grocers. John Hill was the son of Sir

Thomas’sbrother John, and an ext-apprenticeof the mayor. William and Richard were

Sir Thomas'seldest two sons.Calendarqetter Book: of the Ciy of London:Letter Book L,

ed. by R.R. Sharpe,London 1912, p. 249. Edward Hill appears in the records of the

court of Chanceryfor refusing to repay money lent to him and is identified as a grocer,

TNA, C1/ 186/98. Robert, however, remains uncertain and could have become a

fishmonger.

" Cabndar of Int'n'am PoItMmtem Hang VII, 3 vols, London 1898, vol. 1, p. 299.

" The Grant Clmmirk of Inndon, ed. by AH. Thomas and ID. Thornley; repr.

Gloucester1983, p. 320.