Sir Andrew BAYNTUN

Born: 1515

Died: 21 Feb 1564

Father: Edward BAYNTUN (Sir) (See his Biography)

Mother: Elizabeth SULYARD

Married 1: Phillipa BRULET (dau. of Gwylliam Brulet, Embroider to King Henry VIII)

Married 2: Frances LEE

Children:

1. Anne BAYNTUN (b. 1552)

I want to thanks the Bayntun history page for the information about the Tudor Bayntun´s.

Born in 1515, however it is not certain where, as the Bayntun family had been settled in Faulston House. But when John Bayntun (his grandfather) moved from there to old Bromham Hall in 1508, the family occupied the various properties inherited from the Beauchamp family. So it is possible that John's eldest son, Sir Edward Bayntun, may have remained at Faulston and if that were the case, Andrew Bayntun would most likely have been born there.

Andrew was the eldest son and heir, and inherited the title Lord of the Manor of Bromham, upon the death of his father, Sir Edward Bayntun, in 1544. Like his father, Andrew became one of Wiltshire's leading landowners and also a Member of Parliament.

He studied French under John Palsgrave, the Court Tutor, and wrote a preface to the latter's book Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse (1530), written to instruct the English in the rules of French grammar - the first bilingual dictionary of the two languages. John Palsgrave was educated at Oxford and at the University of Paris and was also tutor to King Henry VIII's daughter, Mary, and later Queen of England.

A deed dated 11 Nov 1538 by Sir Edward Bayntun, gave to Andrew Bayntun, his eldest son and heir apparent, all his estate, term, title, and interest in the Manor of Bromham Battle, with the advowson of the Church of Bromham, and the Manor of Clench, as leased to him by the Abbot and Convent.

In 1545, a year after his father's death, Andrew conveyed the Manor of Godswell and the Manor of Heywood to his brother, Sir Edward Bayntun.

In 1547 he sold the Manor of Chelworth to Nicholas Snell. Chelworth was inherited by his grandfather, John Bayntun, in 1508 when it descended to him, along with the Manor of Bromham Roches.

Between the years 1545 and 1549, Sir Andrew Bayntun made an agreement with Thomas, Lord Seymour of Sudeley, whereby the two men conveyed various estates to each other. Lord Seymour was then married to Catherine Parr, the widow and sixth wife of Henry VIII. Seymour had a reputation for the ladies, having made advances to the Princess Elizabeth, while he was married to Catherine.

As part of the agreement, Seymour's estates were transferred to Bayntun in fee tail, with remainder to the right heirs of Seymour, whereas Bayntun's estates (including Bromham) were conveyed to Seymour in fee simple. Each of the parties had bound himself to the performance of the bargain by a surety of £4,000.

However Seymour was beheaded for treason on the 10 Mar 1549 and his estates forfeited to the Crown as did the manors and lands of Andrew Bayntun, and all estates that Seymour ever had therein, to the grave disinheritance of Andrew Bayntun. But in 1554 Andrew petitioned for the recovery of his lands, alleging that though he himself had kept the agreement, Seymour had never fulfilled his part of it, nor forfeited the £4,000 bond. The petition was granted and Andrew Bayntun was in possession of Bromham Manor when he died.

Sir Andrew Bayntun was married twice – first to Phillipa Brulet, the daughter of Gwylliam Brulet, of France who was an Embroider to Henry VIII and secondly to Frances Lee, with whom he had a daughter, Anne. He was M.P. for Horsham Boro in 1547, Westbury in 1553, Marlborough in 1555 and Calne in 1558-1559.

Andrew, probably by way of security, obtained a further grant from Queen Mary on her ascension in 1553, of the two manors of Bromham Bayntun and Bromham Battle. The same year he sold the Manor of Chelworth to William Snell.

In 1555 Andrew renewed the lease of the Manor of Clench to William Wyatt, Joan his wife and Geoffrey his son. Also in 1555, Andrew Bayntun endowed St. John the Baptist's Chapel with two houses called Church House and Priest's House and two parcels of land called Chapel Hay and Butt Hay. Also in that year he sold the Manor of Chisenbury or Chisenbury de la Folly to Nicholas Snell and the Manor of Whaddon with its Fulling Mill to Thomas Long of Trowbridge, the brother of Henry Long – a clothier and a very wealthy man at the time.

Some time before 1556, Andrew sold Nebels Farm, another of the many de la Mare properties, to Sir Henry Long and in 1557 he sold the Manor of Shaw in the parish of Melksham to John Gerrish of Seend and in 1562 he sold a Manor in Bulkington, which was part of Keevie parish to Roger Earth of Salisbury.

In a deed dated 3 Elizabeth (1560) – quite possibly his will – Andrew Bayntun entailed the Manor of Bromham on his next brother, Edward.

On 16 Nov 1563 Sir Andrew inherited his aunt Margery's estate after her death. Margery Bayntun was the sister of Andrew's father, Sir Edward Bayntun and he received, among other lands, the Rectory of the Church of All Saints, Hereford and the Manor of Brickindon and the Manor of Waltham All Saints, Essex. About this time he sold the Manor of Chilton Candover to John Fisher which had been in the family since 1372.

However on 21 Feb 1564 Andrew Bayntun died before his aunt's affairs were finalised and her inheritance was passed onto his only daughter, Anne, being his next of kin, who was aged 12 at the time. Sir Andrew had no son as heir and the Bayntun estate was subsequently passed onto his brother Edward Bayntun and in accordance with the abovementioned deed of 1560, administration of his goods, etc, was committed to his successor, Edward Bayntun.

Sir Andrew Bayntun was buried in St. Andrew's Church, Chippenham where his badly preserved tomb is in the south chancel chapel, rebuilt as chantry to the Virgin Mary, now known as The Lady Chapel (see photo below). It is not clear why he, or his family, chose St. Andrew's Church as his final resting place and not the Beauchamp Chapel in the Church of St. Nicholas at Bromham

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