I know who William is. He is my 16 Great Grand Uncle. He died in 1521 and had married Elizabeth Broughton, daughter of Sir Thomas Broughton. He, William Thornborough was a knight.
After failing to take an oath of allegiance to King Henry VII he was arrested. A month later he was pardonded. Less then a year later King Henry VII named him Gentlemen Usher of the King's Chamber. This status is that of a glorified Butler for the King.
Patton was a Parish in the county of Westmoreland, England. It was considered an ecclesiastical parish. It is a medieval term and means that a portion of the annual income or produce was paid by the inhabitants to support the church. Parish is a township or cluster of townships having their own church. The church had its own priest, or clergy which were paid ecclesiastical (tithes relating to the church) dues.
In medieval times a "quit rent" was set up and it was to be used instead of a usual tithe or tax, which could be crops or military service and was paid to the landowner. In this case the land owner was William Thornborough, my uncle. It is called quit rent because it acquits the tenant of all obligations, crops or military service to the land owner.
The rose is given as a symbol of quit rent. So every year Uncle Willie would receive a single red rose from the Parish of Patton in exchange for rent.
Quit rent symbols can be anything. In London at The Forge the quit rent was 6 horseshoes and 61 horseshoe nails. The Moors are paid with one dull knife and one sharp knife.
I found a quit rent of "one sparrow hawk yearly" between two gentlemen.
But that is not all that I discovered about Uncle Willie. He is also the 14th Great Grand Father to Lady Diana the mother of Prince William and Prince Henry. Let me back that up one more generation to make it a little more clear. Uncle Willie's father, who is also a William is my 17th great grand father which makes him Lady Diana's 15th great grand father and 18th great grand father to my children and my brother's children
Here is another tidbit I found. My 19th great grand uncle Robert de Thornborough held the cornage of Warcop. A cornage is land where the tennant is obliged to give notice of an invasion by blowing a horn. Cornage comes from an old French word that means to blow a horn, it was also a tax placed on horned cattle. Warcop is a parsh in the Eden district of Cumbria, England. Cousin Robert had married the lovely Isabel de Warcop.
My 17th Great Grand Uncle Roland de Thornborough who was a member of parliment in 1403; and anxious to make powerful friends, placed his services at the disposal of the Under Sheriff of Westmoreland. Later in the year 1403, the Under Sheriff asked Uncle Roland to abduct the daughter and heiress of Robert Sanford, Margaret. She was 9 years old. The Under Sheriff's intenstion was to marry her to his young son and by that have control of her fortune.
What will I discover next week?
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