I checked to see how many Blake marriages there were in the OPC Cornwall records up to 1575 and I found seven marriages (all from Phillimore's Marriages but a couple from parish registers as well).
Thomas Blake married Elizabeth (surname blank) September 1551 at Landulph
Robtus Blake married Johana German 14 (month missing) 1561 at St Breward
Robertus Blake married Marina Shorte 8 (month missing) 1563 at St Breward
Patrik Blake married Sedwell Truskot 15 Oct 1570 at Botus Fleming
Robert Blake married Joanna (surname blank) 12 Nov 1571 at Lanteglos by Camelford
Thomas Blake married Elnor Hama 8 Jul 1571 at St Columb Minor (parish register)\
Thomas Blake married Elnor Hama 8 Jul 1571 at St Breock (Phillimore)
Thomas Blake married Elnor Haman 8 Jul 1571 at St Columb Minor (Phillimore)
William Blake married Johan Luter 4 Feb 1575 at St Minver (parish register, Phillimore)
Looking at Bodmin with respect to the mentioned parishes:
Landulph is 23 miles from Bodmin
St Breward is 6 miles from Bodmin
Botus Fleming is 21 miles from Bodmin
Lanteglos by Camelford is 10 miles from Bodmin
St Columb Minor is 15 miles from Bodmin
St Minver is 10 miles from Bodmin
The forenames for these men include Thomas, Robert, Patrick and William.
There were also six baptisms found for Blake up to 1575 (parish registers unless otherwise noted):
William Blake son of John baptized 1540 at Illogan (Bawden's Transcripts)
Joachim Blake son of James baptized 13 Jul 1546 at St Just in Roseland
John Blake son of James resident at Maker and baptized 21 Aug 1556 at Menheniot
William Blake son of John baptized 29 Jul 1565 at Bodmin
Humfricus Blake son of Robti baptized 23 Mar 1568 at St Breward
Nicolas Blake son of Patrik baptized 4 Jan 1571 at Botus Fleming
Looking at Bodmin with respect to the mentioned parishes:
Illogan is 25 miles from Bodmin
St Just in Roseland is 25 miles from Bodmin
Menheniot is 14 miles from Bodmin
St Breward is 6 miles from Bodmin
Botus Fleming is 21 miles from Bodmin
There were sixteen burials up to 1575 (parish registers unless otherwise noted):
John Blake son of John buried 12 May 1545 at St Just in Roseland
Joane Blake buried 15 Aug 1553 at St Just in Roseland
Richard Blake buried 28 Oct 1558 at Marhamchurch (Furze Transcripts)
Thomas Blake son of William buried 15 Sep 1559 at St Minver
John Blake buried 24 Feb 1561 at St Breock (unknown source)
Alson Blake wife of John buried 17 Feb 1561 at St Breock (unknown source)
Thomasine Blake wife of Robert buried 26 Mar 1561 at St Breward
Constance Blake daughter of John buried 25 Oct 1562 at St Breock (unknown source)
Jane Blake wife of Thomas buried 11 Dec 1562 at St Breock (unknown source)
Johanna Blake daughter of Robert buried 4 May 1563 at St Breward
John Blake son of Robert buried Jan 1563 at St Breock (unknown source)
Margerye Blake buried 4 Mar 1564 at St Breock (unknown source)
William Blake son of Roger buried 16 Apr 1570 at St Ewe
Robert Blake buried 23 Apr 1572 at St Breock (unknown source)
Richard Blake son of Davy buried 1 Jul 1575 at Sheviock
Looking at Bodmin with respect to the mentioned parishes:
St Just in Roseland is 25 miles from Bodmin
Marhamchurch is 25 miles from Bodmin
St Minver is 10 miles from Bodmin
St Breock is 7 miles from Bodmin
St Breward is 6 miles from Bodmin
St Ewe is 14 miles from Bodmin
Sheviock is 20 miles from Bodmin
Looking at the distances are there two distinct Blake families or a family that is quite mobile? After all John Blake came from Breton before 16 Feb 1525 in the England's Immigrant Database. His entire record reads:
Person ID 64393
Page Number rot.1
Forename John
Surname Blake
Origin nationality standard Breton
Origin region Brittany
Origin region standard Brittany
Origin region modern France
Gender Male
DOB type Exact
DOD type Exact
Wealth type Wages
Wealth total s 20
Wealth payable d 8
Residence County Cornwall
Residence Town Trigg hundred
Residence Ward Bodmin
Document - ID Document 2645
Archive TNA
Reference E 179/87/131
Document Type Tax assessment
Document Start Date 1525 02 16
Document Start Date Type Before
Document End Date Type Exact
Content Start Date Type Exact
Content End Date Type Exact
Document Notes Assessment for Trigg hundred, Cornwall
Interesting that his wealth is 20 shillings (or 240 pence) and his tax payable is 8 s or 3% of his worth. 3% taxes is not too bad actually.
Interesting thoughts from this exercise would be that John as a forename still existed in the mid 1500s and were they descendant of the John Blake who came from Brittany? Were all these Blakes related mentioned above? Could a family in two generations move that far from their base at Bodmin (if that was their base)? I descend from Blake on my paternal side and they never moved more than 2 km from Andover in nearly 500 years (at least the mid 1400s to the early 1900s) and my Pincombe on my maternal side were found in South Molton area or within 5 km from 1485 to the mid 1800s although prior to that they may have come from Herefordshire to North Molton (a distance of 232 kilometres) in 1485.
Do records exist from this early time frame that can be examined? The Cornwall OPC site has a number of extra items so checked out the 1569 Muster Rolls:
1569 Trigg Hundred St Minver Willm Blake a b bill
1569 Lesnewth Hundred Lanteglos by Camelford Thomas Blake alm rivet bill
1569 Lesnewth Hundred Lanteglos by Camelford Robert Blake a b bill
1569 Lesnewth Hundred Poundstock John Blake a b bow, 2 arr
1569 Lesnewth Hundred Advent John Blake bill pr splints
1569 East Hundred St Germans Ric Blake a b bill
1569 East Hundred Sheviock Davy Blake a b bill
1569 Powder Hundred St Stephen in Brannel John Blake a b bill
1569 Powder Hundred St Ewe Richarde Blake a b
1569 Pydar Hundred St Breock John Blake a h bill harq
1569 Pydar Hundred St Breock Thomas Blake a b alm rivet fur
1569 Pydar Hundred St Breock Willm Blake a b
1569 Pydar Hundred St Columb Major Ric Blake a ar bill pr splints 12 arrows
1569 Pydar Hundred Padstow John Blake a ar bow 4 arr
1569 Pydar Hundred St Eval Michell Blake a b bill
1569 Penwith Hundred Illogan Willm Blake a b bill
1569 West Hundred Lanreath Thomas Blake a b bill
I found this list to be rather rewarding and breaking it down into parishes:
St Minver (10 miles) Willm Blake
Lanteglos by Camelford (10 miles) Thomas Blake, Robert Blake
Poundstock (22 miles) John Blake
Advent (9 miles) John Blake
St Germans (19 miles) Ric Blake
Sheviock (20 miles) Davy Blake
St Stephen in Brannel (13 miles) John Blake
St Ewe (15 miles) Richarde Blake
St Breock (7 miles) John Blake, Thomas Blake, Willm Blake
St Columb Major (11 miles) Ric Blake
Padstow (12 miles) John Blake
St Eval (13 miles) Michell Blake
Illogan (29 miles) Willm Blake
Lanreath (10 miles) Thomas Blake
A total of 5 with forename John, 3 with forename William, 3 with forename Thomas, 3 with forename Ric/Richarde, 1 with forename Robert, 1 with forename Davy and 1 with forename Michell. A total of 17 males and where there are multiple names at a parish they are father and sons perhaps or brothers possibly. Interesting to find 5 with the forename John. I have gone back in and added in the distance from Bodmin and note that not one is listed as Bodmin in this Muster Roll. The furthest away is 29 miles or 46 kilometres.
Are these men all descendants of John Blake from Breton? There are 14 distinct groups and they could be sons/grandsons/great grandsons of John. This list could include teenage boys as well who could be serving apprenticeships in different parishes. So I am led to the thought that I could be looking at the spread of a family over time especially given that England in this time period was recovering from massive losses of people due to the Bubonic Plague in 1348 (estimated that half of the population died). The plague returned in 1361-62 and it is estimated that 20% of the population perished (these figures from Wikipedia and there is an impressive list of references: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death_in_England ). There would not be a reason even as late as the 1500s to limit family sizes as England's population did not recover until on into the 17th and 18th centuries.
Does this Muster Roll cover all of Cornwall? The information was taken from this website: http://www.icmacentre.ac.uk/soldier/database/ and is titled the soldier in later Mediaeval England. The records are taken from muster rolls housed at The National Archives (UK) for the years 1369 - 1453 (Blakes listed in this database and mentioned in an earlier blog http://kippeeb.blogspot.ca/2013/03/mediaeval-soldiers-database-muster-roll.html). I note that there was a group serving with Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, at Harfleur Normandy which included: Hugo Blake, John Blake, Thomas Blake, Henry Blake and John Blake. However no home location is given for these men. There is so much data on Blake though in this early time period that it makes sense to postulate that Blake is a characteristic surname and we can expect to find a number of founders. Did it become an exclusive surname though by this time period in that no one would have taken it on by the 1200s unless it was actually their surname? It does appear to have French/Dutch/Flemish origins in this very early time period but also the Irish Blake who came to Salisbury but was he simply a Blake who had gone from England at an earlier time period and then returned in the next generation of his family? All interesting thoughts as I learn more about the early history of the Blake family.
I think perhaps the Muster Rolls that I found are from somewhere else. I did locate the page in this website:
http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/extra-searches/muster-rolls/muster-rolls-background/
The muster included all able men between the ages of 16 and 60 with a couple of exclusions. Most of the men in this list were actually able bodied as the hundreds of Powder, Pydar, West and East limited themselves to able bodied males only.
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