Sir Richard of Cornwall

Arms of de Cornwall: Argent, a lion rampant gules ducally crowned or a bordure engrailed sable bezantee, being the arms of Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall (1209-1272) with difference a bordure engrailed^[1]

Sir Richard of Cornwall (died 1296) was an illegitimate son of Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall (1209-1272) (the second son of King John (1199-1216)) by his mistress Joan de Valletort.

Origins

Father

He was the second illegitimate son of Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall (1209-1272), the second son of King John (1199-1216).

Mother

His mother was Richard's mistress Joan, of unknown origins.^[2] She married twice:

• Firstly to Ralph de Valletort (d.1267),^[3] feudal baron of Harberton,^[4] Devon, and feudal baron of Trematon, Cornwall. He died before 1267 leaving a son who was a minor. As lady of the manor of Holne, Joan de Valletort, Sir Ralph’s widow, made a grant to Henry, Abbot of Buckfast Abbey, of her dower lands at Holne.^[5] She left progeny Reginald de Valletort, who granted the manor of Trematon to Earl Richard.
• Secondly to Alexander Okeston, of Okeston (alias Oxton), Devon,^[6] who was granted by Sir Roger de Valletort, Joan's former brother-in-law, the manors of Modbury^[7] and Bridford.^[8] By Okeston she had progeny Sir James Okeston, who died without progeny, and Joan de Okeston, wife of Richard Champernowne of Clyst Champernowne.^[9] Her son Sir Richard Champernowne inherited Bridforde and Modbury by command of King Edward II (1307-1327)^[10] who in 1314^[11] compelled Sir James Okeston to convey the former Valletort lands to his nephew Sir Richard Champernowne.^[12] The Champernown family was thenceforth seated at Modbury.

Career

Sir Richard of Cornwall received a grant from his half-brother Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall (d.1300) in which he was called "brother".

Marriage & progeny

He married Joan FitzAlan, daughter of John FitzAlan, 6th Earl of Arundel, and by her had three sons and a daughter, including:

• Joan of Cornwall, wife of Sir John Howard, from whom the Howard family, Dukes of Norfolk, are descended.^[13]
• Edmund de Cornwall of Thonock and Kinlet,^[14] ancestor of the Shropshire Cornwall's, including John Cornwall (c.1366-1414).
• Geoffrey Cornwall, first of the line of Barons of Burford,^[15] including Thomas Cornwall.

Armorials

Heraldic escutcheon from mural monument in Branscombe Church, Devon, to Joan Tregarthin (died 1583). The arms are Wadham (9 quarters), impaling Tregarthin (6 quarters). The 4th quarter of the latter is:A lion rampant in chief a label of three points a bordure engrailed bezantee

He adopted the arms of his father with difference a bordure engrailed. These arms were later used by the following families which claimed descent from him:

• Cornewall Baronets, which family claimed descent from a younger branch of the de Cornewall family, Barons of Burford, lineally descended from Sir Richard of Cornwall (d.1296).^[16]
• Tregarthin family of Cornwall, with addition of a label. The arms on the monument in Branscombe Church in Devon to Joan Tregarthin (died 1583), wife of John Wadham (died 1578), quarter de Cornwall. The ancestry of Joan Tregarthin, was set out by Davies in his "Parochial History of Cornwall", concerning the parish of Goran, as follows:^[17]

"At Tregarden lived John de Tregarthyn, temp Edward I, how long before I know not, after which his posterity in this place married with the great inheritrixes of Pever, Chamberlayne and Hendower, of Court, in Branell, by which last, by the Cornwalls of that place, they were lineally descended from Richard, Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, by his concubine Joan de Valletort, widow of Sir Alexander Oakeston".

Death

He was slain by an arrow at the Siege of Berwick in 1296.

References

1. ↑ Courthope, William (ed.), Debrett's Baronetage of England, 7th Edition, London, 1835, p.185
2. ↑ No reliable source confirms her as, or suggests she was, a member of the de Bath family of Colebrooke, Devon. For example, John Prince (biographer) in his "Worthies of Devon" biography of Sir Henry Bath (d.1261), Justice of the King's Bench, makes no mention of such connection
3. ↑ Samuel Lysons, Magna Britannia, Vol.3, : Cornwall, pp. 118-174
4. ↑ Pole, p.21
5. ↑ Hamilton, Dom. Adam, OSB, History of St Mary's Abbey of Buckfast, 1906, p.92
6. ↑ "Oxton manor house on the road between Chudleigh and Exeter", per Hamilton, 1906, p.92
7. ↑ Pole, p.309
8. ↑ Pole, p.248
9. ↑ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.160, pedigree of Champernowne
10. ↑ Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.187
11. ↑ Risdon, p.129, regnal year "8 Edward son of Edward"
12. ↑ Risdon, p.129
13. ↑ Richardson I 2011, pp. 574–5; Richardson II 2011, p. 265
14. ↑ Foljambe, Cecil G. S.; Reade, Compton (1908). The House of Cornewall. Hereford: Jakeman and Carver. p. 54ff. Retrieved 6 July 2016.  at Internet Archive.
15. ↑ Marshall, George William (1879). The Barons of Burford. The Genealogist. 3. London: George Hill. p. 225–230. Retrieved 6 July 2016.  at Internet Archive.
16. ↑ Courthope, William (ed.), Debrett's Baronetage of England, 7th Edition, London, 1835, p.185
17. ↑ Gilbert, Davies, (ed.), The Parochial History of Cornwall: Founded on the Manuscripts...,Volume 2, pp.109-110, adding ref to his articles on "St Stephens in Branell"and "St Stephens in Saltash"