Sir Edward BAYNTUN

Born: 1480, Bromham, Wiltshire, England

Died: 27 Nov 1544, France

Mother: Joan DIGGES

Children:

1. Bridget BAYNTUN (b. ABT 1505 - d. 1545) (m. James Stumpe)

2. Andrew BAYNTUN (See his Biography)

3. Edward BAYNTUN (See his Biography)

4. Henry BAYNTUN (b. ABT 1520) (m. Dorothy Mantell)

5. Anne BAYNTUN

6. Jane BAYNTUN

7. Ursula BAYNTUN

Married 2: Isabel LEIGH (b. ABT 1510 - d. 16 Feb 1572/3) (dau. of Ralph Leigh and Joyce Culpepper) (m.2 of James Stumpe - m.3 Thomas Stafford) ABT 18 Jan 1531/2

8. Henry BAYNTUN (b. ABT 1536, Chelsea, Middlesex, England) (m. Anne Cavendish)

9. Francis BAYNTUN (b. 1537)

10. Anne BAYNTUN (d. young)

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

At the age of 36, he inherited the Manor of Bromham and the Manor of Faulston after the death of his father, John Bayntun, in 1516. He was a courtier and a soldier, and like his ancestors, a prominent figure in his native county of Wiltshire and was a Member for Parliament for Wiltshire County in 1529.

Stood high in favour with King Henry VIII, where he enjoyed considerable influence and was Vice-Chamberlain to five of his Queens (Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr). He seems to have been a Queen's Household man and although it is doubtful if Catalina of Aragon had a Vice-Chamberlain before she became Queen, as she was virtually living on charity, it is believed she and Sir Edward were friends and was a frequent visitor to his house. The archway, or gatehouse to Sir Edward's house was reconstructed after the demolition of Stanley Abbey in Wiltshire, on the instructions of Queen Catalina of Aragon as a gift and expression of gratitude to her friend for some time, Sir Edward. It still bears the royal arms of the Tudors beneath the oriel window in the upper storey.

In 1536 he was entrusted with obtaining confessions from men accused of having had treasonable relations with Queen Anne Boleyn.

By King Henry VIII, Sir Edward was deputed to use his private friendship with Cardinal Pole, his cousin, to bring over the prelate to his Majesty's views, but all his endeavors proved unavailing. These were turbulent times and the King had severed relations with Rome and he was confiscating property on a large scale from the monks and friars before selling it off to courtiers, landed gentry and public servants.

At the time of the Suppression of the Monasteries, Sir Edward used his influence and accumulated an enormous amount of property and land while at the Court of King Henry VIII which saw him become one of Wiltshire's greatest landowners.

There are many documents concerning Sir Edward Bayntun and his second wife, Isabel Leigh and their association with King Henry VIII and his Court. She was the half-sister of Queen Catherine Howard.

In early Jun 1535, King Henry VIII, Queen Anne Boleyn and the rest of his court, left Greenwich Palace for some months and embarked on a route through Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. Local gentlemen who favoured reform, like Sir Edward Bayntun, were singled out for a Royal visit. Thomas Cromwell, the Chancellor, later caught up with the travelling party on 23 Jul, when they were guests at Sir Edward's mansion – Bromham House – for more than a week.

Sir Edward was Queen Anne's Vice-Chamberlain – replacing Sir Thomas Bryan after he was appointed the Queen's Chancellor. He is said to have shared some of Anne's religious stance, but was a career courtier, hence serving the remainder of Henry's wives in the same capacity.

While in Bromham, Queen Anne gave money to "an earnest and zealous embracer of God's word", who had fallen on hard times. The next home that the King visited on his way back to his Palace at Greenwich was Wulf Hall, Wiltshire, on the edge of the Savernake Forest where he stayed three nights. This was the home of Sir John Seymour, a favourite of Henry, and his daughter Jane, who was to become Henry's next Queen, 12 months later on 30 Jul 1536.

The King visited Bromham House again, at the invitation of Sir Edward, on 30 Sep 1535, from where he is said to have dated a letter.

In 1522 Sir Edward leased the Manor of Lavington Bayntun to William Dauntsey, a merchant of the Staple for a term of years. Lavington had descended to him from the de la Mare's. In 1540-41 Dauntsey assigned the lease to Richard Blake. Richard died c. 1550, devising the remainder of the lease to a son Robert. However Robert's occupation was contested by Isabel Bayntun, the second wife and widow of Sir Edward Bayntun, and he was forcibly ejected.

Sir Edward was appointed Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1522 and Steward of Devizes and Rowde, Paler of Devizes Castle and Keeper of Devizes Park in or before 1526. He received an annuity of £10 from land in Rowde and elsewhere.

Sir Edward Bayntun was appointed Warden of the Royal Forests in March 1534 for which he received an annual fee of £17 13s 7d. Records show he was also Deputy Warden in 1538.

Sir Edward and his eldest son Andrew, were Chief Stewards of the Abbey of Lacock – the House of the Augustinian Canonesses, which dates back to 1226. Sir Edward was appointed on 24 Aug 1531 and his yearly fee was £2 - 13s - 4d. His sister Elizabeth was a nun there and in 1539 his first cousin, Joan Temmes was the last Abbess of Lacock Abbey. She had been Abbess from 1516 to 1539 and her mother – Jane Bayntun – was Sir Edward's aunt. During this period of history, when the nuns and monks saw that the end was near, they often distributed monastic property to their friends and relations. The Abbess at the time gave jobs and lands to her brothers Christopher and Thomas and her brother-in-law Robert Bath got a 99 year lease in the Isle of Wight. However a report commissioned by the King at the time, reported the Abbey being healthy with 15 nuns and three novices there and on 30 Jan 1537, Lacock was granted licence to continue. But the Abbey was eventually surrendered on 21 Jan 1539 and handed over to William Sharington, the prospective purchaser on 20 Jul 1540. Sir Edward Bayntun and his son, Andrew, however were continued in the office of Chief Steward at the former fee, as were Christopher and Thomas Temmes.

Sir Edward was also Steward of Bradenstoke and Malmesbury and of the estates of the Duchy of Lancaster in Wiltshire.

Before the marriage of Henry and Anne of Cleves, in early Jan 1540, Sir Edward Bayntun was restored to the office of Vice-Chamberlain as the Queen's household was ready and waiting for her arrival at Greenwich. However six months later, Henry divorced Anne, on 28 Jul, and Sir Edward was again appointed Vice-Chamberlain to the new Queen – Catherine Howard.

In Nov 1541 when Queen Catherine Howard was banished by Henry from Hampton Court to Syon Abbey, she took only four ladies-in-waiting – one of whom was Lady Isabel Bayntun, Sir Edward's second wife. Catherine was held there before her execution on 13 Feb 1542.

Sir Edward was the Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1542 and also a Member for Parliament. Sir Edward and Isabel were present at the marriage of King Henry and Catherine Parr at Hampton Court on 12 Jul 1543.

Sir Edward's daughter, Bridget, married James Stumpe of Malmesbury, but she died in 1545 (a year after her father). James Stumpe re-married Sir Edward's widow, Isabel, shortly afterwards and in 1554 she was patron of the living of Fovant.

In 1545, a Commission was appointed by the Crown to enquire into the revenues, etc., belonging to Chantries, Colleges, Guilds, and Fraternities, and by statute 1 Edward VI (1546-7) all Chantries were suppressed - their lands and property being conferred on the King, under cover of providing for the poor, augmenting the incomes of vicarages, paying the salaries of preachers, and endowing free schools for the diffusion of learning. In Mar 1548, Commissioners were again appointed in every Shire to take a further survey of the whole of these foundations within compass of the Act of Parliament. In one of the returns of the earlier Commissioners is the following entry relating to the Delamere (de la Mare) Chantry at Market Lavington - the revenues which, amounting yearly to £6 - 2s - 4d, were then (in 1545) in the hands of Lady Isabel Bayntun, widow of Sir Edward Bayntun.

In 1548-49, she obtained, jointly with Sir Edward Hastings, a lease from the Crown of the site of the dissolved Monastery at Edington, where she was apparently living in 1554. She must have been a tenant at Edington under Sir William Paulet – the owner of the monastic property by a second grant from the Crown after the attainer of Thomas, Lord Seymour of Sudeley in 1549.

Before Isabel's death, an interest in the Manor of Faulston was presented to her, but it was passed onto her son Henry when she died in 1573.

He attended this Royal Master in his expeditions and is supposed to have died on 27 Nov 1544 in France, during the ill-considered invasion in 1544. Was succeeded by his eldest son and heir Sir Andrew Bayntun.

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