SCUDAMORE family, of Herefordshire.
Originally one of the lesser families of the March, having been settled in Ewias since the early 12th century, two branches in particular, those of Holm Lacy and Kentchurch, in time emerged as leading gentry in the modern history of the county of Hereford. At one period the Kentchurch branch also became intimately linked with events in Wales. In the 13th century they acquired property within the lordship of Abergavenny by the marriage of Sir ALAN SCUDAMORE with the daughter and sole heiress of the lord of Troy, not far from Monmouth. Four generations later Sir Alan's great-grandson married ALICE, one of the daughters of Owain Glyn Dwr.
Sir JOHN SCUDAMORE I, Owain's son-in-law, was at the outset of the rebellion in royal service, and in 1403 was actually the custodian on the king's behalf of Carreg Cennen castle where for a time he withstood Owain's onslaughts. Whatever Scudamore's subsequent attitude was to the Welsh leader, a member of his family, PHILIP SCUDAMORE, of Troy, laid down his life for Owain; and there is a strong tradition, the most credible perhaps among those which relate to Owain's later years, that Owain ended his days on one of Scudamore's estates, Monnington Straddel in the Golden Valley.
His son and heir, Sir JOHN SCUDAMORE II, has earned a reputation on his own account as one of the most stalwart and consistent supporters of the Lancastrian cause in Wales during the Wars of the Roses. He was with Jasper Tudor at Mortimer's Cross in 1461, and though he himself managed to escape to hold Pembroke castle for a while on Jasper's behalf, several close relatives, including his eldest son, HENRY, were among those beheaded after the battle. He was among those who with Jasper were excluded from the general pardon offered by Edward IV, and though he had been promised that he would not be deprived of his property when he ceded the castle of Pembroke, his estates were eventually forfeited. He married Joan, daughter of John Parry of Poston in Ewias, and their son James married Maud, daughter of Gruffudd ap Nicolas of Newton, Dynevor. The Kentchurch and other properties were subsequently restored to their issue.
Author
- Professor Thomas Jones Pierce, (1905 - 1964)
- Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, iv, 928
- J. E. Lloyd, Owen Glendower / Owen Glyn Dwr (1931)
- Howell T. Evans, Wales and the Wars of the Roses (Cambridge 1915)
- Archaeologia Cambrensis, V, xvii, 157
- Duncomb 's, The Heraldry of Herefordshire being a collection of the armorial bearings of families which have been seated in the county at various periods down to the present time
- Heraldic Visitations of Wales and Part of the Marches between the years 1586 and 1613, under the authority of Clarencieux and Norroy, two kings at arms (Llandovery 1846)
Sources
- Wikidata: Q20804773
Additional Links
Published date: 1959
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
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