The Grigsbys Part Four - John's Burial

To know where John was buried you need to understand funeral and burial customs of the time.  John, so they say, committed suicide by drowning, which, much like today, is looked upon with shame.  You don't get buried in a church by committing suicide, you might not even get buried in a churchyard.

One thing you'll notice is that Christian churches tend to orient their altars to face east.  This actually started as a pagan tradition by the early sun worshippers.  Along the same lines, the dead are buried with their head in the west, and their feet facing east.  The important people and martyrs were buried inside the church, and everyone else in the church graveyard.

People were buried as close to each other as possible, all facing east.  But you'll notice that the graveyard around a church will be full of stones on the south, east, and west sides, but few on the north side.  For here is where the outcasts were buried - criminals and suicides.

"In order to understand the matter we must know that the north or left-hand side of the altar which is, of course, in the chancel at the east end of the church, is known as the Gospel side, whilst the right or south side of the altar is called the Epistle side. In the Roman Catholic church the Epistle is read on the south or Epistle side of the altar, and the Gospel at the north or Gospel side.

Before the Reformation, this country necessarily conformed to this Catholic practice. The underlying idea of this is that the Gospel was preached to "call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Hence the side from which the Gospel is read was delegated to those who, having committed crimes, were in greater need of salvation, and those so buried were said to be "out of sanctuary."

If it is thought that this treatment of the social outcast was too severe, what will be said of the earlier custom which denied him even so favoured a position? The body of the suicide has in all times been subject to some sort of penal measures."

In 1582 the Kirk Sessions of Perth refused to allow the corpse of a man who had committed suicide by drowning to be "brought through the town in daylight, neither yet to be buried among the Faithful"--"but in the little inch (island) within the water." To trace the matter still further, we find it laid down by the canons under Egbert, Of A.D. 740, that Christian burial was to be denied to those who laid violent hands upon themselves, and who thus act by any fault, so excluding those who may commit the deed in a state of frenzy. Not unfrequently the suicide was buried in the spirit of charity, without ceremony in the unconsecrated ground in the churchyard as we have seen, but the earlier practice was to take the body away from human habitation and bury it where four roads met.
Various reasons for this strange custom have been given; knowing as we do, that one of the prominent features of the treatment of the dead is the terror which all ages and all peoples have shown at the possibility of the return of a revengeful spirit, we are justified in thinking that the real object was to confuse the mind of the departed as to the direction of his former home, and the fact that it was a common practice to anchor the body down by driving a wooden stake through the heart tends to support this theory. We see the same attempt to "maze" the dead in a sense of direction in another custom, for it was once considered necessary for the funeral procession to return from the graveside a different way to that by which the corpse had been carried, in order to render it more difficult for the departed shade to return if it had any intention of haunting the relatives.

A stake through the heart?  Crossroads?  Can you say vampire?  How about the Crossroads Demon (okay, you have to watch Supernatural to get that one).  

So we don't know where John was buried.  If he was buried in a churchyard, it would probably be in Mersham Churchyard, now known as St John the Baptist Churchyard.  There is no stone that survived, if ever he was privileged to have one, and being a suicide, he would be buried on the north side of the church itself.



Next up, we'll see what happened to John and Margaret's oldest son, Alexander.

The Grigsbys Part Three - Tragedy Strikes

John Grigsby married well by all accounts.  Margaret was an heiress and a woman of means.  So he was surely handsome and charming.  And he was no slacker either, having worked for both Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, queens of England.

So why on earth would he kill himself?  According to official records, that's exactly what he did.

From the Public Record Office, Chancery Lane, London, there is a document written in Latin.

INQUISITION POST MORTEM
15 June 1550
KENT: INQUISITION indented taken at Ayssshetisford [Ashford] in the county aforesaid the fifth day of the month of June in the fourth year of the reign of our sovereign Lord Edward the Sixth [15 June 1550] by the grace of God of England France and Ireland King defender of the faith and on earth supreme head of the church in England and Ireland.

Before John Toke Esq escheator of the said lord the king in the county aforesaid by virtue of the office of Escheator aforesaid upon the oath of John Taylor of Shadockesherst, Laurence Colman, Nicholas Hawke, Simon Fagg, Thomas Marshall, Robert Gransden, Thomas Hall of Wye, William Igulden, Stephen Affryth, John Ayssherst of Bever, Robert Cavell, and John Smert, good and lawful men of the county aforesaid. Who say upon their oathes that a certain John Grygby of Mersham in the county aforesaid, GENTLEMAN who on the nineteenth day of the month of January in the 3rd year of the reign of the said Lord King [19 January 1550] at Wyllesberough in the county aforesaid, voluntarily and feloniously committed suicide by drowning himself on the said nineteenth day of January possessed as of his proper goods of and in diverse goods and catties and other utensils written below to the value of sixty pounds and more. That is to say, of four quarters of wheat, ten quarters of barley, seven carucates of hay, one horse, two geldings, eight heifers, twelve cows, one bull, twenty and four draught animals  and bullocks, ten calves, nineteen lambs, eight pigs and ten piglets and four beds with their appurtenances. But of what other further cattle or utensils the said John had at the time of his drowning the jurors aforesaid are ignorant. In testimony of which thing to one part of this present inquisition indented remaining in the possession of the aforesaid escheator, the aforesaid jurors have put their seals to the other proper part to the same indented inquisition remaining with the aforesaid John Taylor, first juror, the aforesaid escheator has placed his seal, the day, place and year abovesaid.

Signatures: John Taylor, Robert Gransdyn, Thomas Hall, William Igulden,
various marks — [seals removed] 

All property was confiscated by the Crown if one committed suicide, hence the inventory of his property, valued at 60 pounds or more.  Luckily, Margaret's inheritance was not considered part of his goods, so she was able to live on in comfort for another 10 years or so.  We know that Margaret was buried under the chancel of the church in Loose, which was an honor reserved for important people.  So where was her husband John buried?

More in Part Four!

The Grigsbys Part Two - Margaret

Leeds Castle has always been a haven. The Queens of Henry VIII came to escape the Plague and pestilence in London. With an outbreak of the 'sweating sickness, Cardinal Wolsey moved to the safety of the Castle.

Leeds Castle and park passed from Royal ownership in 1552, when the Royal treasury was depleted.

This fairystyle castle, dating from the 9th century, is built upon two small islands in a serene lake. Today it is open to the public to see the beautiful setting of a castle surrounded by water with the park, woods and pastures in the background. You may walk through the richly furnished apartments which include medieval tapestries and paintings and see the splendor once enjoyed by Royalty. There are adjoining aviaries, a duckery, grotto, maze, golf course and a small vineyard. You can view the "SEMINAR ROOM" where my ancestor, John Grigby, served the Queens as "Clerk of her Council and Registrar of her Chancery."

Let's pick up where we left off - when John married Margaret Sharp in 1525 in All Saints Church in Loose, Kent.

Margaret was an heiress to all the properties of her father, Alexander Sharpe, gentleman. Those lands were located in the Parishes of LOOSE, FRITTENDEN, FARLEY, BIDDENDEN, CRANBROOK, and BENNENDEN.  What exactly is a "gentleman", and why is it important?  A gentleman was the lowest rank of the English gentry, below an esquire, but above a yeoman.  Because of that, stuff was written about them!  Otherwise, this family history would have been impossible to trace back this far.

Margaret was also the sole heir from her mother, Johanna Brode whose grandfather, John Brode, Senior, gentleman, was of Smeath, Brabome and Mersham Parishes, Kent. He held the positions of Coroner and Under-sheriff of Kent County. This title and position was an appointment from the Crown.

Their home in Maidstone was evidently the property inherited from Margaret's grandparents, John Brode, gentleman, and his wife, Joanne. It is described as "a messuage (house), garden and orchard in the towne of Maydston."

The family was living here in 1542, which date covers the time period their six children were bom about 1527-1538. Soon afterwards, they moved to Mersham Parish.

Margaret inherited an estate in that Parish from her BRODE ANCESTORS, which lands extended into Brabome Parish. The Manor House was called "BOWE." She was living here when she made her will dated: 7 MAY 1560, and it was given to her son, Alexander Grygsby, as recorded in her will.

You will note that she gave equally to her four daughters, lands and estates, as well as her two sons. She was fair and generous when the law in England at this time recognized that the oldest son have all the inheritance. My 11th great-grandmother believed in women's rights!  Margaret, along with her daughter Catherine, are buried in All Saints Church in Loose, under the chancel (right in front of the altar).  According to the church's website, evidence still exists in the stone.

37. Chancel, under the E window, just north of centre. Ledger stone, head towards the west: [Catherine] LAMB wyf Xpo[pher LAMB] Gent a dafter of [Marga]ret GRIGSBY died [......] of Decembar 1590.

Important people and martyrs were buried inside the church, so Margaret was well respected (or filthy rich).  

 

So whatever happened to John?  We'll find out in Part Three!

The Grigsbys Part One

So let me tell you a story.  A story about real people.  My ancestors; the Grigsby line.

I could start with the Vikings from Denmark invading the British Isles since there is a general belief that's where we came from.  "Bye" means closed settlement in Danish, where people usually lived that were related to each other.  What we spell Grigsby now was spelled in many different ways back then; Grigsbye, Greagsby, Greaby, Grigby, Grebby.

The use of surnames is relatively new, and they certainly weren't in use when the Vikings invaded Lincolnshire, but there were many settlements in that area with variations on the Grigsby name, so it appears likely that the surname was chosen to indicate a place.

Henry VIII was the first to order that "marital births be recorded under the name of the father" in the mid 1500's, which is when we meet our first ancestor, John Grigby (1495-1550).  John was in London when retained by Queen Catherine of Aragon (Henry VIII) "as clerk of her Council and Registrar of her Chancery." John was paid 5 pounds for his duties in 1529.

"King Henry VIII, with an entourage of many persons, set out from Greenwich Palace
near London on his way to a meeting called the FIELD of the CLOTH of GOLD-20 May
1520, reaching Leeds Castle the 22nd."  Leeds Castle was one of the King's many "Summer Palaces", and I continue to use that name to reference my little camper in Detroit Lakes, MN.

In 1521, the Queen occupied her suite in Leeds Castle, located five miles southeast of Maidstone in Kent.

For all you history buffs or historical romance readers, Catherine of Aragon was Henry VIII's first wife.  The daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand, yep, that Isabella and Ferdinand from your history books.
 
And when Henry divorced Catherine and married Anne Boleyn, John went to work for her as well.  In 1534 he again earned 5 pounds.  John worked for Queen Anne until her death in 1536 (she was executed).

Maidstone is about 5 miles from Leeds Castle.  Here he met and married Margaret Sharp about 1525. Margaret was from Loose, about 3 miles from Maidstone.

Maidstone, Loose, and Leeds Castle

More to come in Part Two!

Sad Dream

Early this morning I dreamed that I had just come back from long travels and was now in a temporary place waiting to go home.  I didn't have a home, so I was going to move in with Mom until my home could be built.

I felt the deep contentment of where I'd been, and the sweet anticipation of just going home again to rest somewhere where I  could be quiet and know I was loved.

At the end of the dream, I remember that Mom was dead and I didn't have anywhere to go.  I was alone.  What woke me up was 4 knocks somewhere in the house, and a female voice saying something to me that I didn't understand.  Grace (my cat) heard it too, or she reacted to me thinking I heard it.  Of course there was no one there at 0630.

I know that my dreams are an attempt to reconcile the deep feelings that I have about leaving Texas and moving closer to family.  My Mom used to ask almost every phone call "when are you coming home", meaning "when are you going to give up this silly dream of living away from North Dakota and move back in with me?".  She gradually gave up the notion and celebrated every success that I had, and kept every postcard from exotic places I sent her.

So where am I in moving?  We continue to take delays - insurance okayed a new roof, siding fix, and even some fence repair, but it has yet to be done.  The siding has been discontinued, so we're fighting the insurance company to replace all of it so that the color matches.

And the sliding glass door hasn't been installed yet.  My handyman got cold feet on me and confessed he wasn't sure he could do it.  Then he thought that maybe he could, but got an emergency plumbing call.  So hopefully today?

Here's some progress pics - sometimes I feel like I've done nothing and have to look at them to understand.