The Coat of Arms

I must have been lost in music whilst at school in the sixties. It was indeed a time to enjoy musical evolution but being in the chapel choir... well mine was a different kind of music. And glorious it was too - choral music appreciation became a very important part of my school-life.

I thus attended chapel nearly every day...but did I look around me? Did I ask myself the relevance of the ten family names and coat of arms emblazoned in the glass windows therein? No, of course not. And did I ever stop to look at the coat of arms in the school's reception area and wonder what comprised it? No. Like most of us I suspect, I was highly uninquisitive!!

If only I had investigated at the time. So much history snapping at my ankles yet stubbornly being ignored. Yes… we sang about Sackville and Dacre, but, of course, without a clue as to who they were ... or their level of significance to us now attending the school nearly four hundred years later.

By the time Anne Fiennes (Lady Dacre) decided to leave part of her wealth in her will (written 1594) to lay the foundation of our school much water had flown under many bridges. The riches of twelve families had been accumulated into becoming Anne Fiennes’ wealth over a period of four hundred years through strategic, or perhaps sometimes even romantic marriages involving eleven highly wealthy heiresses.

It's difficult to be precise of course but the early high status of some of "our" families (those shown within the coat of arms) would have derived from the events of 1066 when William the Conqueror re-distributed the wealth of 2,000 English families to just 180 Norman, Breton and French families who had assisted in the invasion.

And then there was a second wave of wealth re-distribution post the closure of the Abbies (1536-1540) when a lot of priestly wealth found its way to the monarchy and aristocracy. Many of the transactions were "mysterious" in this period but a number of already well-to-do families benefitted when The Court of Augmentations found in their favour and luxury mansions or fixable abandoned Abbies "worked" their way into their portfolios often at below market value.

In whatever manner the wealth was bequeathed to the Fiennes family of the 1570s it was quite a tidy package by the time of our founder's passing in 1596. I calculate she herself left, in today’s terms, over two million pounds to her family and friends, not including a valuation for any of the (at least) 25 mansions/manor houses owned by her up and down the country.

The will of Anne Dacre can be seen here:-
Will of Lady Anne Dacre, w. of Gregory, [10th] Lord Dacre. | The National Archives

THE COAT OF ARMS
There are twelve families on the CoA but I regret I cannot define any reasoning to the order in which they are displayed. Perhaps it was Gregory Fiennes’ perceived personal order of importance.

I’ve chosen to present them in this article in the date order of the eleven heiresses’ marriages and after having listed these marriages I’ve written a short paragraph per family. The history of each of the families doubtless deserves to be studied in far greater depth.

Please Note:
The position of each family on the shield is denoted by Top 1-4, Middle 1-4 and Foot 1-4 (See Coat of Arms above and at the foot of this article.)

There are eleven marriages of heiresses over 340 years (1215 to 1558) that "contribute" towards the creation of the wealth of Gregory Fiennes, 10th Baron Dacre. I suppose inclusion of their coat of arms within his own is a big nod in their direction... a thank you for the donation to family resources!

Gregory Fiennes was appointed 10th Baron Dacre in 1558 when the property of his arraigned father (executed, possibly in error, for murder of a farmworker in 1541) was returned to him by Queen Elizabeth 1 in 1558...her first year on the throne.

The first Baron Dacre was created in 1321, but the start of the wealth of the family can be traced to heiress Alice de STAVELEY (Middle 3 within the Gregory Fiennes’ coat of arms) when in 1215 she married Randolph Fitzhenry.

The second marriage of importance was of heiress Ada de MORVILLE (Middle 1) to Thomas de Moulton in 1218 and the third followed in 1220 of heiress Amice JERNEGAN-FITZHUGH (Foot 4) to Robert de Marmion whose family name we will come across again later in this listing.

Next we have the marriage of heiress Maude de VAUX (Top 4) in 1250 to a later Thomas de Moulton followed by yet another Moulton, this time heiress Margaret MOULTON (Top 3), to Ranulph de Dacre ...hurray...in 1315...the first Baron Dacre.

Sixth in the eleven marriages is heiress Joanne de FOURNEAUX (Middle 4) marriage to Henry Fitzhugh in 1320, the first of the three forays into the Fitzhugh family tree.

And then the de MARMION (Foot 2) family comes back into play with heiress Amice marrying Sir John Grey in 1340.

Our eighth heiress Lora de ST. QUINTIN (Foot 3), probably the most important in Emanuel's history...defined why later... married Sir Robert Grey in 1351 and their heiress offspring Elizabeth GREY (Foot 1) wed another Henry Fitzhugh in 1390.

And look what that lead to in 1450, our 10th heiress Joan de DACRE (Top 2) marrying Sir Richard Fiennes thus handing over her title (for that is what happened upon marriage) for Sir Richard to become the 7th Baron Dacre.

Are you keeping up?

Heiress Alice FITZHUGH (Middle 2) married Sir John Fiennes in 1466 and their wealth was eventually handed down to Gregory FIENNES, 10th Baron Dacre (Top 1...or indeed all the 12 coat of arms) who had the good fortune to wed our founder, Anne Sackville who upon marriage became Lady Dacre.

Lady Mary Neville and son Gregory Fiennes by Hans Eworth.

As he pre-deceased her by a few months much of his wealth seemed to be accounted  for in her will (although it's not that easy to tell when some of the descriptors are simply shown as "other properties in Wiltshire, Kent, Sussex and Dorset")  I calculate in today's terms her will was valued at least at £2 million plus a mere 25 manors accumulated over the preceding centuries up and down the country!! The most important of these had not reached her portfolio via her husband but her mother...Sir Thomas More's confiscated Chelsea Mansion where Gregory and Anne resided in their final years. They were only 55 and 53 respectively when they died. The Sackvilles did not get a look-in on the Gregory Dacre's Coat of arms.

What snippets can I tell you about the above characters and families?

The de STAVELEY family was of Anglo-Saxon origin who, like many, married into the Norman families post 1066 ... and they belonged to the complex dynasty of Northumbrian Earls that then owned properties in Yorkshire and Cumbria. Alice de STAVELEY inherited land in Thoresby, Caperby and six other locations up north from her father Adam de Staveley. Her inheritance passed to the Fitzhughs of Ravensworth in 1250 she having married Randolph of that family in 1215.

The de MORVILLE family was also of Anglo-Norman origin and was one of the most eminent in Scotland even though the surname comes from the village of the same name in Picardy. The first de Morville on record came from Burgh on the Sands in Cumberland in 1100.  Ada de MORVILLE was the heiress daughter of Hugh de Morville, of Burgh and Knarseborough, and her second marriage was into the de MOULTON family in 1218. She was sister to another Hugh de Morville, one of Thomas Becket's assassins.

Amice JERNEGAN was a minor heiress, if you can have such a thing, with lands in Yorkshire, and was the daughter of Jernegan Fitzhugh of West Tanfield, Ripon. St. Nichalas's Church in Ripon appears to display a number of effigies to commemorate this family. She married a Robert de Marmion but 120 years later a de MARMION heiress married back into what was to become part of the Fiennes family.

The de VAUX family were also from the north and Maud is the second heiress in our gathering to have married, in 1250, another and thus later Thomas de Moulton. Let's hope they were very happy! They resided in Gilsland, Cumberland but the name is very Norman in origin deriving from many places in northern France called Vaux, (the then French plural of val) meaning valleys.

Now it's time for a female de MOULTON to rise to the top of the family tree and become a family's heiress. This time it's heiress Margaret marrying Ranulph de Dacre in 1315. If you're passing Mulgrave Castle, Yorkshire...that's where she was born. de MOULTON is a very Anglo-Saxon name with quite a few villages/towns named thus across England.

And each time an entry is made here, remember it relates to a chunk of money and estates that will eventually find its way into the Fiennes estate. Also, it's interesting to remember too that each of the names I have selected in this article has its very own stained-glass window in the Emanuel School chapel.

Next on the list we have Joanne de FOURNEAUX who also married a Fitzhugh (another Henry)...a name we've seen a few times before... in 1320. She was the heiress of Sir Richard de FOURNEAUX and was born in Nottinghamshire, so we are moving south at last. Ah...but she died in Ravensworth and is buried, along with other Fitzhugh family members, in one of the most beautiful spots in England at Jervaulx Abbey. In my opinion, the ruins are spectacular. Fourneaux, of course, is very French in origin. In later years descendants seemed to be very much involved in the production of Champagne…Taittinger in particular.

The de MARMION name appears again and this time its heiress Amice marrying Sir John Grey in 1340. She lives in Ripon to start but her death occurs in Witney, Oxfordshire. This chap happens to be a descendent of the Magna Carta Surety Baron, Robert Fitzwater. There are a few Greys that enter the Fiennes chart after this as you will see. The Marmions were Lords of Fontenay le Marmion in Normandy pre-invasion. Post invasion they were important within the history of Tamworth Castle.

First of the Greys mentioned above is Sir Robert Grey who weds heiress Lora de St. QUINTIN in 1351. I mentioned previously that this one was important. In her will Lady Anne Dacre chose the annual rent of £100 (for 100 years) emanating from the bequeathed St. Quintin property at Brandesburton, close to Beverley in North Yorkshire, to fund Emanuel Hospital some 250 years later. She died at the tender age of 27, by far the youngest of our heiresses.

Her daughter though, Elizabeth GREY, was also an heiress and she married yet another Henry Fitzhugh in 1390, just to keep it all in the family! She had ten children just in case you were worried the Fitzhugh name was set to disappear. Her will spoke of her holding lands in Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Sussex and Yorkshire...quite similar therefore to our foundress. Perhaps they were the same properties? The Greys were an important family in British history with many upstanding and highly regarded individuals amongst them …but also the most unfortunate woman of history (in my opinion), Lady Jane Grey, the Queen of thirteen days (yes 13!)

Which brings us to heiress Joan de DACRE marrying Sir Richard Fiennes who thus became 7th Baron Dacre in 1450, around 100 years before our own Baroness Dacre. I feel we should all stand up here and start singing the School Song, but please contain your enthusiasm. I can't find reference to it now but I'm sure I have read that Sir Richard kidnapped Joan through his love for her before their marriage... and that they did indeed live happily together thereafter. I do so hope that's true!!
They were up north again...in Gilsland

Before reaching the pinnacle... in 1466 heiress Alice FITZHUGH (can you just imagine her wealth given all the entries above!!) married Sir John Fiennes of Herstmonceux. So wealthy already yet marrying so much wealth too. The FITZHUGH name goes back to the beginning of records originating in Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire. Given I'm writing this in a village in Bedfordshire where I live and am just six miles from the Northamptonshire border perhaps serendipity is in play here!

The PINNACLE: Gregory FIENNES marries Anne SACKVILLE in 1574. They have one daughter but regrettably she dies in childhood. Gregory dies in 1594 and Ann writes her will late in the same year...the famous will that leads to the founding of Emanuel Hospital, subsequently School. She dies just a few months later...and the rest is history.

Finally for completeness, I must mention the other elements of the Coat of Arms.
The Coat of Arms itself is adorned …all Coats of Arms are… by many features.
Its Crest... is a red eagle head… which signifies a person of noble nature, strength, bravery and alertness.
The Shield supporters… are on the left a Grey Wolf Dog (Fiennes family)…. A noble and courageous animal. And on the right by a red Bull (Dacre family) indicating valour, magnanimity, bravery and generosity.
And importantly at the foot…the Motto, ”Pour Bien Desirer”…To Do Well

I know that this motto and that of my house, “Nil Desperandum” have guided me well through life! I hope this complex article will prove to be of some interest to OEs and perhaps lay the base for others to investigate even further into the historic families of Emanuel even.

AFBryce
September 2023
Marlborough 1963-70

PS: All I can say is that I am glad I'm not summarising the below…the Coat of Arms of what must be the most complex of families!! Thank you for reading. George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham with 719 quarterings, 1753-1813