Henry Heydon

Henry Heydon
Died	1504 Baconsthorpe, Norfolk
Buried	Norwich Cathedral
Spouse(s)	Anne Boleyn
Issue	John Heydon Henry Heydon William Heydon Dorothy Heydon Bridget Heydon Anne Heydon Elizabeth Heydon Amy Heydon
Father	John Heydon
Mother	Eleanor Winter

Sir Henry Heydon (died 1504) was an English lawyer and knight as well as a royal official.

Career

St John the Baptist church in West Wickham, rebuilt by Henry Heydon

Henry Heydon was the son of John Heydon (d. 1479) of Baconsthorpe, Norfolk, and Eleanor Winter, the daughter of Edmund Winter (d. 1448) of Barningham, Norfolk. ^[1] Trained as a lawyer, he frequently advised other Norfolk landowners. He served as a justice of the peace in Norfolk from 1473, and on various commissions in that county and elsewhere. ^[1]

Heydon's inheritance from his father included at least sixteen manors, and he added to his holdings through the purchase of lands in both Norfolk and Kent. One of his purchases in Kent was West Wickham, where he built Wickham Court, and after establishing himself in Kent, he served as justice of the peace there in the late 1480s and in the 1490s. Heydon acted as steward in Norfolk to Katherine Woodville, the widow of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, in the 1490s. He was a supervisor of the will of Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, and served as steward of her household and chief bailiff on one of her estates. ^[1]

Heydon was knighted at the coronation of Henry VII, and attended the arrival of Catherine of Aragon in England in 1501, but mostly he was "primarily a local servant of the crown rather than a courtier". ^[1]

Some of Heydon's wealth, as a sheep farmer was expended in building projects. He completed the castle at Baconsthorpe, restored the church at Kelling, and built a new church at Salthouse, and constructed a causeway between Thursford and Walsingham. In Kent he rebuilt the church at West Wickham, and built a fortified manor house. ^[1]

Heydon died at Baconsthorpe between 20 February and 22 May 1504, and was in Norwich Cathedral in a now-vanished family chapel. A memorial window, said to be his, in the church at West Wickham depicts a kneeling human skeleton, with the Heydon arms. ^[1]

Marriage and issue

Heydon married, likely after 1463, Anne Boleyn, ^[2] second daughter of Geoffrey Boleyn, Lord Mayor of London, by whom he had three sons and five daughters: ^[1]

• John Heydon, eldest son and heir, a leading member of the Norfolk gentry during the reign of Henry VIII, who married Katherine Willoughby, the daughter of Christopher Willoughby of Parham, Suffolk, and Margaret Jenny. ^{[3] [4]}
• Henry Heydon, who married Anne, the daughter of John Armstrong.
• William Heydon, slain during Kett's Rebellion, and buried in the church of St Peter Mancroft, Norwich. ^[5]
• Dorothy Heydon, who married, as his first wife, Thomas Brooke, 8th Baron Cobham and secondly Edward Warner. ^{[6] [7] [8]}
• Bridget Heydon, who married William Paston, son of John Paston ^{[1] [9] [8]}
• Anne Heydon (died c. 1521), who married firstly William Gurney of Instead, Norfolk, and secondly Lionel Dymoke of Ashby, Lincolnshire. ^{[10] [8]}
• Elizabeth Heydon, who married Walter Hobart of Hales Hall ^[8]
• Amy Heydon who married Roger L'Estrange of Hunstanton, Norfolk ^[8]

Notes

1. Moreton 2008.
2. She is referred to in some sources as Elizabeth, rather than Anne.
3. Richardson IV 2011, p. 339.
4. Gurney 1848, p. 412.
5. Mason 1885, p. 117.
6. McKeen 1986, p. 17.
7. Richardson IV 2011, pp. 381–382.
8. Gurney 1848, pp. 411–412.
9. Davis 1971, p. lxiv.
10. Richardson I 2011, p. 247.

References

• Davis, Norman, ed. (1971). The Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century, Part I. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN   9780197224212 . Retrieved 2 October 2013.
• Gurney, Daniel (1848). The Record of the House of Gournay. London: John Bowyer Nicholas. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
• McKeen, David (1986). A Memory of Honour: The Life of William Brooke, Lord Cobham. Vol. I. Salzbury: Universitat Salzbury.
• Mason, Robert Hindry (1885). The History of Norfolk, Part V, Acle to Barford. London: Wertheimer Lea and Co. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
• Moreton, C.E. (2008). "Heydon, Sir Henry (d. 1504)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13167.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. I (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN   978-1449966379.
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. IV (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN   978-1460992708.
• Richmond, Colin (2004). "Paston family (per. c.1420–1504)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/52791.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

External links

• Baconsthorpe Retrieved 3 October 2013
• The Heydons of Baconsthorpe Who Built Salthouse Church Retrieved 3 October 2013