Nicholas Haute

Sir Nicholas Haute (20 September 1357–c.1415), of Wadden Hall (Wadenhall) in Petham and Waltham, with manors extending into Lower Hardres, Elmsted and Bishopsbourne, in the county of Kent, was an English knight, landowner and politician.[1][2]

Haute of Wadenhall

The de Haute family were established at Wadenhall from the 13th century, when Sir William de Haute (died c. 1302) held office as lay steward to Christchurch Priory, Canterbury. He was perhaps briefly succeeded by his son Henry de Haute, who married Margery, an heiress of the de Marinis (Marignes) family, and then by Henry's son Sir Henry de Haute (c.1300-1370),[3] who succeeded to Wadenhale in 1321, after a period of wardship in his minority superintended by his uncle Richard de Haute. Henry de Haute the younger soon married Annabel atte Halle, of a Dover family to whose lands she became heir. Sir Henry had seisin of his share of the de Marinis patrimony, partible by gavelkind, in 1349.[4] He had one son, (Sir) Edmund (before 1329-c.1360), who married Benedicta Shelving in around 1357 and was the father of Nicholas Haute.[5]

The de Haut pedigree in the 1619 Visitation of Kent by the herald John Philipot, Rouge Dragon,[6] and much of the research into the family's descent since that time, were dependent upon materials collected by Sir Edward Dering (1598–1644). Dering, long suspected of having "improved" his own ancestral claims (which passed into the de Haute family) by "creative" genealogy,[7] is now shown to have falsified them by the actual forgery of documents and monuments.[8][9] Important documents for the de Haute descent are included among the Harleian collections and charters at the British Library, and it is known that Sir Robert Harley acquired substantial amounts from Dering's collections.[10] The path through the sources for this family therefore has to be trodden very cautiously.

Young life

Tomb of Sir Thomas Cawne, father-in-law of Sir Nicholas Haute, at St Peter's church, Ightham[11]

Nicholas Haute was the elder of two sons (the younger was Edward) of Sir Edmund de Haute and his wife Benedicta Shelving. Benedicta's father John de Shelving[12] had died by 1331, when his inquisition[13] showed that the manor of Bishopsbourne (Bourne Archiepiscopi), Kent, had come to him through the inheritance of his wife Benedicta.[14] By Edmund's marriage Bishopsbourne passed to the Haute family and was sometimes known as Hautesbourne.[15][16]

In 1358, in which year he had witnessed a charter on behalf of Christ Church Priory, Canterbury,[17] an order was given for Sir Edmund Haute to be brought to the king's court to answer a charge.[18] After this no more is heard of him, and Benedicta remarried (as his fourth wife) to the MP Sir Thomas Uvedale, of Titsey in Surrey,[19] who died in 1367.[20] Nicholas's grandfather Sir Henry de Haute was still living, but so weak that he had been granted special exemption from the king's commissions.[21] Sir Henry had held Wadenhall of the archbishopric of Canterbury, and at his death in 1370 it was taken into the king's hands and granted in wardship to the archbishop during the minority of Nicholas Haute, then aged 13.[22] Benedicta however maintained control of Wadenhall and Henry's other lands in Kent[23] until Nicholas was of age in 1379, when he received knighthood and (having paid homage to the king) was granted seisin of his grandfather's lands.[24] Bishopsbourne remained in Benedicta's right until her death.[25]

Marriages

Ightham Mote, much developed by Richard Haute in the 15th century

The first wife of Nicholas was Alice Cawne, the widow of Richard Charlys (Charles) and daughter of Sir Thomas Cawne (or Couen), M.P. (d. 1374),[26][27] and his wife Lora, daughter of Sir Thomas Moraunt of Chevening.[28] Following the death of Alice's father Lora remarried to James de Pecham or Peckham of Yaldham manor, Wrotham,[29] who took care to safeguard Alice's later affairs, especially her interests arising from her first marriage.[30] By the marriage of Nicholas to Alice, Cawne's property of Ightham Mote, near Sevenoaks, Kent, passed into the Haute family.[31][32] The descent of Alice, with many details of her family relationships, is shown in a suit of 1418 relating to the advowson of Warehorne church in Kent.[33] Alice died on 11 March 1400,[34] at which point her manor of Palster, "the denne of Palster" in Wittersham, Kent, representing one knight's fee held half from the king's castle of Leeds, Kent, and the other half from the archbishop of Canterbury by knight-service, passed by reversion to William Sneyth.[35][36]

Nicholas married secondly Eleanor Flambard (d. 29 March 1422),[37] daughter and heir of Edmund Flambard of Shepreth, Cambridgeshire, and widow of Walter Tyrrell,[38] by whom she was the mother of Sir John Tyrrell, Speaker of the House of Commons.

Service

The lands granted jointly by Nicholas and Edmund Haute to William Elys in March 1384/5 by indenture, reserving powers of entry for arrears of rent, in "Northynton", refer to an estate in Nackington, Lower Hardres, south of Canterbury.[39] These were among the Haute hereditary lands.[40] A writ of protection survives showing that Nicholas Haute was one of at least six knights who intended to travel on campaign in the baronial retinue of Richard Poynings, 3rd Baron Poynings, going to Spain in 1386.[41] In 1395 Nicholas served as Member of Parliament for Kent, and in November 1395 received the King's appointment as High Sheriff of Kent and Keeper of Canterbury Castle,[42] keeping his shrievalty at his manor and mansion of Wadenhall in Waltham.[43] In 1396 he witnessed John de Cobham's grant of the charter of Cowling Castle and many other Kentish manors, including lands in Lower Hardres.[44]

Haute received Commissions of array in Kent through the reign of Henry IV, commencing with the orders for December 1399-January 1400.[45] He was a tax collector for Kent from 1404.[46] He had a notable Commission of array in July 1405, "for the resistance of the king's enemies in France and others, at present assembled with no small force in the parts of Picardy, who propose to besiege and destroy the king's castles and towns in those parts and harm the king's lieges and to go to Wales to strengthen the rebels there."[47] Again in May 1406 he was called upon to muster a force "for defence against the king's enemies of France and others, who intend shortly to invade the realm."[48] His brother Edmund Haute served as Sheriff of Kent and Keeper of Canterbury Castle in 1408,[49] but died in office in October 1408 and was replaced by William Sneyth.[50]

Nicholas's benefactions include a grant to the church of the Domus Dei at Dover in July 1410, for a lamp burning daily before the high altar there.[51] On 9 December of that year an important ceremony took place at Hoath in Kent, a dependency of Reculver. As it was inconvenient to carry bodies for burial to Reculver, Archbishop Thomas Arundel dedicated a chapel to the Virgin Mary and consecrated a churchyard at Hoath for the purpose, and immediately after the ceremony the inhabitants of Hoath, led by Sir Nicholas Haute, Peter Halle Esquire, and 'Dominus' Richard Hauk, chaplain of the chantry there, promised to fulfil the ordinances.[52] The parish of Hoath includes Shelvingford and the site of Ford Palace, where this event was recorded on 20 January 1411. In November 1411 Haute, with others, who had acquired from the estate of Edmund Cokyn a garden adjacent to St Margaret's Canterbury, granted it to the master of the Hospital of Poor Chaplains at Canterbury (to which that church was annexed), for the enlargement of their burial-ground.[53]

In 1415 Nicholas Haute and his son and heir William took part in Henry V's campaign in France. Nicholas was in the company of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (the king's brother) with three men-at-arms and nine archers.[54] He may have died during the campaign or after his return, perhaps from wounds, but at any rate was no longer alive in April 1417 when William Haute inherited the family lands.[55]

Family

Sir Nicholas and Dame Alice had four sons:[56]

• William Haute, son and heir (c. 1390–1462), of Bishopsbourne, Member of Parliament.
• Thomas Haute
• Edmund Haute
• Nicholas Haute (born by 1395)

References

1. P.W. Fleming, 'Haute family (per. 1350–1530), gentry', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004). Online edition (subscription required).
2. L.S. Woodger, 'Haute, Sir Nicholas (1357-c.1415), of Wadden Hall in Waltham, Kent', in J.S. Roskell, L. Clark and C. Rawcliffe (eds), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386–1421 (Boydell & Brewer, 1993) History of Parliament online.
3. Henry is explicitly identified as Sir William's grandson in the case of Walton v. Hoath in F.W. Maitland, L.W.V. Harcourt and W.C. Bolland (eds), Year Books of Edward II. The Eyre of Kent, 6 & 7 Edward II, AD 1313–1314, Part III, Selden Society XXIX, Year Books Series Vol. VIII (1913), pp. 79-83, 221-22, etc.
4. Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward III, Vol. IX: 1349–1354 (1906), pp. 121, 160.
5. W.G. Davis, The Ancestry of Mary Isaac, c. 1549–1613 (Author, Portland, Maine 1955), pp. 97-193 at pp. 128-30.
6. 'De Haut', in R. Hovenden (ed.), The Visitation of Kent, Taken in the Years 1619–1621 by John Philipot, Rouge Dragon, Marshal and Deputy to William Camden, Clarenceux, Harleian Society XLII, (London 1898), pp. 212-14. (Sources cited, British Library: Harleian MS 6138, fol. 128; Additional MS 5526, fol. 123.)
7. J.H. Round, Peerage and Pedigree: Studies in Peerage Law and Family History, 2 vols (James Nisbet & Co., Ltd./The St. Catherine Press, London 1910), II, pp. 52-55 and pp. 110-117 (Hathi Trust).
8. O.D. Harris, 'Lines of Descent: Appropriations of Ancestry in Stone and Parchment', in T. Rist and A. Gordon (eds), The arts of remembrance in early modern England: memorial cultures of the post-Reformation (Routledge, London 2016), pp. 85-104.
9. R.H. D’Elboux, 'The Dering Brasses,' The Antiquaries Journal XXVII (1947), 11–23.
10. Davis, The Ancestry of Mary Isaac, p. 100.
11. See also detail photographs by Stiffleaf at ipernity.com.
12. For whom see W.S. Ellis, 'Early Kentish Armory (notes on the family of Shelving)', Archaeologia Cantiana XV (1883), pp. 1-30, at pp. 27-30.
13. Inquisition post mortem of John de Shelvyngge (writ dated 6 February 4 Edward III), in J.E.E.S. Sharp and A.E. Stamp, Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem Edward III Vol. 7 (London 1909), File 22 pp. 209-22, No. 292, (File 22 (5)) (British History Online, accessed 10 November 2017).
14. Davis, The Ancestry of Mary Isaac, pp. 130-33, gives a searching account, but see 'Inquisition of John de Woldeham', Cal. Inquisitions post mortem Edward III Vol. 7, File 31 pp 301-12, No. 438, (File 31 (36)) (British History Online, accessed 10 November 2017).
15. E. Hasted, 'Parishes: Bishopsborne', in The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent Vol. 9 (Canterbury, 1800), pp. 328-37 (British History Online, accessed 24 September 2017).
16. A.L. Noel, 'The History and Pedigree of the family of Aucher, A.D. 853-1726', in W. Paley Baildon (ed.), The Home Counties Magazine Vol. XI (George Bell & Sons, London 1909), pp. 222-235, at p. 228.
17. The National Archives (UK) Discovery Catalogue, ref. CCA-DCc-ChAnt/W/19 (Canterbury Cathedral Archives).
18. Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward III, Vol. X: 1354–1360 (HMSO 1908), p. 524 (Internet Archive).
19. Visitation of Kent, pp. 212-14.
20. Will of Sir Thomas de Uvedale, Knt. (abstract), in N.H. Nicolas, Testamenta Vetusta: Illustrations from wills of manners, customs, etc, I (Nichols & Son, London 1826), p. 70.
21. Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward III, Vol. IX: 1349–1354 (HMSO 1906), p. 121 (Internet Archive).
22. Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward III, Vol. XIII: 1369–1374 (HMSO 1911), p. 165 (Internet Archive). 'Inquisition post mortem of Henry de Haut' (writ dated 12 June 44 Edward III), in A.E. Stamp, J.B.W. Chapman, M.C.B. Dawes and D.B. Wardle, Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem Edward III Volume 13 (London 1954), File 216 pp. 17-31, No. 33, (File 216 (14)) (British History Online, accessed 10 November 2017). The age given in the inquisition is 13.
23. Calendar of Fine Rolls, Edward III, Vol. VIII: 1368–1377 (HMSO 1924), pp. 89, 96-97 (Hathi Trust).
24. Calendar of Close Rolls, Richard II, Vol. I: 1377–1381 (HMSO 1914), p. 276 (Internet Archive).
25. Woodger, 'Haute, Sir Nicholas', History of Parliament Online. Woodger depends upon G.L. Gower, 'Notices of the Family of Uvedale of Titsey, Surrey and Wickham, Hants.', in Surrey Archaeological Collections III (1865), at pp. 78-82, 150-52, 185 (Society pdf), (see reprint London 1865) (Hathi Trust). Davis, The Ancestry of Mary Isaac, positively dismisses Benedicta's supposed fourth marriage to her steward John fitzWilliam as a misreading of her tomb inscription, and generally avoids Gower's interpretations.
26. 'The Cawnes – our earliest known owners', The National Trust, Ightham Mote webpage.
27. (L.J. Larking), 'Will of Sir Thomas Cawne, Kt.', in Miscellanea, Archaeologia Cantiana IV (1861), at pp. 221-25. This is from a Surrenden MS.
28. L.J. Larking, 'Additional note on the window in Ightham church', in Miscellanea, Archaeologia Cantiana V (1863), at p. 324.
29. N.H. Nicolas, De Controversia in Curia Militari inter Ricardum Le Scrope et Robertum Grosvenor milites, 2 vols (Privately printed, 1832), II, pp. 435-36 (Internet Archive).
30. L.S. Woodger, 'Peckham, James (d.1400), of Yaldham in Wrotham and Hadlow, Kent', in J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe (eds), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386–1421 (from Boydell and Brewer, 1993), History of Parliament Online.
31. C.E. Woodruff, 'Notes on former owners of Ightham Mote House', Archaeologia Cantiana XXIV (1900), pp. 195-200.
32. 'The Hautes of Ightham Mote – a family with influence', The National Trust, Ightham Mote webpage.
33. Davis, The Ancestry of Mary Isaac, pp. 137-141, citing PRO De Banco rolls, 17 Easter 5 Henry V (1418), membranes 306-06a. View original at AALT, images fronts, 0620-21, dorses, 1500-01, fronts, 0622 (AALT).
34. 'Inquisition post mortem for Alice, widow [sic] of Nicholas Haut, Knight (Kent)', The National Archives (UK) Discovery Catalogue, ref. C 137/1/8. See J.L. Kirby, Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem: Volume 18, Henry IV (London 1987), pp. 1-20, No. 12 (British History Online, accessed 11 November 2017).
35. Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry IV, Vol. I: 1399–1401 (HMSO 1903), p. 259 (Hathi Trust).
36. In describing the descent of this manor Hasted gives a different account of Alice's identity. E. Hasted, 'Parishes: Wittersham', in The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, Vol. 8 (Canterbury, 1799), pp. 486-93 (British History Online, accessed 9 November 2017).
37. 'Inquisition post mortem: Haute, Eleanor, who was wife of Nicholas Haute, Knight (Hants)', The National Archives (UK) Discovery Catalogue, ref. C 138/63/29a. Calendar of Fine Rolls, Henry V, Vol. XIV: 1413–1422 (HMSO 1934), p. 434.
38. Woodger, 'Haute, Sir Nicholas', History of Parliament online.
39. Calendar of Close Rolls, Richard II, Vol. II: 1381–1385 (HMSO 1920), p. 624; Woodger, History of Parliament Online.
40. The National Archives (UK) Discovery Catalogue, ref. CCA-DCc-ChAnt/N/59 and CCA-DCc-ChAnt/N/60 (Quitclaims, 1383) (Canterbury Cathedral Archives).
41. K.E. Fildes, The Baronage in the Reign of Richard II, 1377–1399, Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of History, University of Sheffield (March 2009), pp. 242-43 (Google), citing The National Archives (UK) Discovery Catalogue C 76/70, Rotuli Francie 1385–1386, nos. 3, 7, 8, 13, 17.
42. Calendar of Fine Rolls, Richard II, Vol. XI: 1391–1399 (HMSO 1929), p. 166.
43. E. Hasted, 'Parishes: Waltham', in The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, 9, pp. 319-28 (British History Online, accessed 23 September 2017].
44. Calendar of Close Rolls, Richard II, Vol. V: 1392–1396 (HMSO 1925), pp. 498-99.
45. Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry IV, Vol. I: 1399–1401 (HMSO 1903), p. 211 (Internet Archive).
46. Woodger, 'Haute, Sir Nicholas', History of Parliament online.
47. Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry IV, Vol. III: 1405–1408 (HMSO 1907), p. 61 (Hathi Trust).
48. Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry IV, Vol. III: 1405–1408, p. 231 (Hathi Trust).
49. The National Archives (UK) Discovery Catalogue, refs: C 131/56/6 and C 131/222/6.
50. Calendar of Fine Rolls, Henry IV, Vol. XIII: 1405–1413 (HMSO 1933), pp. 87, 126 (Internet Archive).
51. Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry IV, Vol. IV: 1408–1413 (HMSO 1909), p. 212 (Hathi Trust). See also The National Archives (UK) Discovery Catalogue, ref. C 143/441/8.
52. The National Archives (UK) Discovery Catalogue, ref. CCA-DCc-ChAnt/R/21 (Canterbury Cathedral Archives).
53. Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry IV, Vol. IV: 1408–1413, p. 322 (Hathi Trust). See also The National Archives (UK) Discovery Catalogue, ref. CCA-DCc-ChAnt/C/881 (Canterbury Cathedral Archives).
54. J.-P. Genet, 'La Normandie vue par les historiens et les politiques Anglais au XVme siècle', in P. Bouet & V. Gazeau (eds), La Normandie et l'Angleterre au moyen âge: Colloque de Cerisy-la-Salle, 4-7 octobre 2001 (CRAHM 2003), pp. 277-306, at p. 297 No. 66.
55. Woodger, 'Haute, Sir Nicholas', History of Parliament online.
56. Davis, Ancestry of Mary Isaac, p. 141.