Why my view changed from total acceptance of the Blake Pedigree Chart to one of questioning

As I mentioned in the review of the Blake Pedigree Chart on Tuesday, I listened to a comment that I heard at "Who Do You Think You Are?  in London, UK in 2013 and started to rethink my thoughts on the Blake Pedigree Chart of which I had photos from the Swindon and Wiltshire Record Office. There was a question about one of the children of Roger Blake and Mary (Baynard) Blake listed on the chart. The Visitation of Wiltshire listed what looked like all the children (minus the one I was querying) but the parents, in their wills, did not list all the children.  The Visitations of Wiltshire listed all but the one William (d 1582). The date for his death was the same as a William Blake who lived at Eastontown and who, in his will, named his siblings none of whom corresponded with the children of Robert and Mary (Baynard) Blake. I had reviewed the Lay Subsidies and any other sort of document that might aid me in my quest of finding two Williams who died in the same year but had been up to that point unsuccessful. From that point onward I decided to prove all the steps in the Pedigree Chart and started at the top where there was a huge error actually. 

The text reads from left to right: 

Richard Blague als Blaake of W[il]tshire Esquire tempo Ed[ward] I et Ed[ward] II

Anne daughter of William Cole.

R. Blake gave certain Lands in Essex to the Knights Templar in the Regis of King Edw. I which may be seen by the Records in the Tower of London _ilt: Esc[h]aeti: 31 Ed I no. 77 .

C 143/4/23 and in the margin 31 Edward I No. 77 (I have a copy of the original document). The summary reads as follows: Roger le Blake of Madebrook to grant land in Eastwood to the master and Brethren of the Knights Templars in England, retaining a cottage and land in Thundersley and Eastwood. Essex. 

The date in the original document is 11 March 1301/2. I am in the process of translating the entire document.

Roger le Blake lived in Shropshire (Madebrook appears to be the name of his estate) near Madeley. This Roger le Blake is unknown to me actually and thus far no on in the Blake study has traced themselves back to him but he is living in a county beside Wales.  At this point in time I will not pursue any other information on him. I wonder if he was interesting because he had the forename Roger. I did a map a few years ago that showed the number of items in the Calendar of Patent Rolls in each county in England. One can see a 1 in Shropshire. . Interestingly the overall percentage of Blake in English counties hasn't changed a great deal although probably a much larger percentage in London itself now. So an interesting day working on the Latin document and doing a couple of hours of Latin (new lessons and reviews). I am surprised sometimes at how much I can read now. But I have a long way to go to be fast at it.

 

 

I will continue discussing the Pedigree Chart over the next few days. I have decided that there will be a chapter on Le Blak because it does appear that they are known to the Blake family in Andover prior to their living in Wiltshire (whether the John Blake I found in the Manor Books in the early 1300s married into the family, I have no idea but the wills of family members who lived at Speen, Berkshire in the 1500s talked about their "friends" and I will review the wording once again but they certainly had land dealings which is reminiscent of being distant relatives (I did learn when I was in England that one only tends to think of one's first cousins as close kin)). Of course, that is based on the idea that the Richard le Blak found in Berkshire is the Blake family found later in Calne. Not that much later but one can already in the Pipe Rolls see that they have moved from Wargrave, Berkshire and it appears into Wiltshire. This proof would be most exciting for one group of people in the yDNA study for Blake.

 

The one entry for Shropshire did deal with Roger le Blake and others but was different from the document that transferred the property from Roger le Blake to the Knights Templar.:

1303 20 Apr Beverley (membrane 26)

Licence, in consideration of a fine made before Philip de Wylughby,

supplying the place of the treasurer, and the barons, of the Exchequer, by

the master of the Knights' Templars in England, for the alienation in

mortmain to the said master and brethren by Roger le Blake of Madebrok

of a toft and two acres of land in Estwode, by Robert le Dorturer of a

messuage in the street (vico) of la Cherryngg, in the parish of St. Martin's in

the Fields, by Robert de Gunwardeby of a messuage and 12 1/2 acres in

Little Stocton, by William de Wengrave of a messuage and 10 1/2 acres of

land there, by Hugh de Stocton of 2 acres of land there and in Stepyngle,

and by Robert de Carleton of Cranewell of a messuage and two bovates of

land in Cranewell

31 Edward I, volume 4, page 134

On to teatime and Latin lessons. One quarter of the way through March already and the sight out of my windows is one I have never seen here before - snow almost all melted!