Family > Dingley > Hampshire > Ancestors of Margaret COMYN
This page is work-in-progress. Last changed October 2003.
Ancestors of Margaret COMYN
There are lots of John COMYNs in Margaret's ancestors. I have tried to make them distinguishable.
1. John COMYN (-1369) of Kynsale
Margaret COMYN's father was John COMYN who died in 1369. He owned the manor of Kynsale, co. Dublin and property in Worcestershire (Morton Underhill) and Warwickshire (Newbold Comyn). Kynsale is just north of Dublin.
| 10 May 1371. Whereas the manor of Kynsale, co. Dublin, held by John COMYN, was taken into, and is still in, the King's hand because John did not come in person or send men to Ireland in accordance with the late ordinance of the great council made for the defence of that land; the King - for good service rendered by John in his lifetime in the King's wars in Ireland and elsewhere, and because he granted him a licence to absent himself from that land from Easter to Martinmas in the forty-third year, taking for that time the profits of his lands there to relieve himself of the losses which he sustained in the service of the King and Lionel, late duke of Clarence, when he was with the latter in the parts of Lombardy, and John died before Martinmas, at which time he had ordered and arrayed himself to come to Ireland, - has pardoned the said forfeiture and granted the manor to Margaret, Milicent, Joan and Ellen, daughters and heirs of the said John together with the issues from the said Easter; saving to Anabella, late the wife of John, as much of the manor as she would have had for her dower if the manor had not been forfeited. [CPR] |
The families of his daughters are described in Families of the Comyn sisters.
Annabel, his widow, married again:
| c.1383. Fines paid to the Duke for writs. ... Annabel widow of John COMYN of Neubold, and John DE HAYDOK. [Dep. Keeper Rep 32] |
Earlier records relating to John COMYN include:
| 26 Jul 1358. John COMYN, staying in England, has letters nominating John DE TROYE, clerk, and Robert DE PRESTON as his attorneys in Ireland for one year. [CPR] |
| 3Jul 1359. John COMYN, staying in England, has letters nominating Robert DE PRESTON and Peter DE WAKFELD as his attorneys in Ireland for one year. [CPR] |
| 10 Jun 1360. Exemption for life, at the request of the king's clerk John DE WYNNEWYK and for good service done in the war of France, of John COMYN of Neubold COMYN from being put on assizes, juries or recognitions, and from appointment as mayor, sheriff, escheator, coroner, taxer or collector of tenth, fifteenth or other quota granted to the king by the commonality of England, or other bailiff or minister of the king, against his will. [CPR] |
2. John COMYN (-1340), tax collector
His father was probably the John COMYN of Newbold Comyn who was removed from the office of collector in 1340 as unable to work and died before 1341 [VCH Warks].
He was probably the same John who presented to the chapel of Morton (Morton Underhill, Worcs.) in 1338 but died before 1346, when Philip IRREYS held the manor. Philip was perhaps the second husband of Joan COMYN, for she as Joan COMYN presented to the chapel in 1349. The manor of Morton Underhill had been sold in 1334-5 to John COMYN and Joan his wife. [VCH Worcs]
3. John COMYN, ward of Malmesbury
His father was probably John COMYN, who, when young, had been a ward of the Abbot of Malmesbury. His mother Mabel had disputed his wardship with the Abbot of Malmesbury. The decision, given in 1285, was in favour of the abbot, who in 1288 sold to Mabel the right of bestowing her son in marriage. [VCH Warks]
This dispute ran for several years and is well documented in Registrum Malmesburiense; this source provides the basis for information on earlier generations. Here is a flavour of it..
| Et Amabilia venit et defendit, etc., et dicit quod praedictam custodiam ei reddere non potest, nec aliquid clamare in eadem. Dicit enim quod praedictus Johannes, pater praedicti Johannis, tenuit quoddam tenementum in Hybernia, de prior Sanctae Trinitatis de Dyuelyn. per servicium militare, de quibus antecessores sui prius feoffati fuerunt de praedecessoribus praedicti prioris, tenendum sibi et heredibus suis per idem servicium, ante quam aliquid habuerunt in praedicta terra de Walecote; et quod prior praedicta tenementa de ipso tenta in curia domini regis, coram de H. et sociis suis etc., per judicium ejusdem curiae recuperavit, tenendum usque ad ejusdem Johannis plenam aetatem... |
4. John COMYN (-1277) and his wife Mabel (Amabilla)
His father was John COMYN who died in about 1277. In the above dispute he is described as lord of Walecote (in Wiltshire near Malmesbury) and Newbold. He is also said to have held tenements in Ireland of the prior of Holy Trinity, Dublin, by military service, and which were held by his ancestors before they held anything in Walecote - this was one of the arguments Mabel was using against the Abbot of Malmesbury.
John COMYN was killed by William Unred, a lay brother of St. Mary's Abbey, co. Dublin and others. John's widow, Mabel, brought a charge against the killers:
| ... a charge which Amabilla COMYN brought before the Chief Justiciary in the year 1277 against William UNRED, a lay-brother of the order and seven others, who had taken sanctuary in the church of St. Mary's Abbey, after having, as she alleged, killed her husband, John COMYN, near the grange of Portmarnock, in the county of Dublin. COMYN was lord of Kinsaly in the same county, and it would appear that disputes had previously prevailed in connexion with land that his family held at Portmarnock, contiguous to that of St. Mary's Abbey. UNRED and another, convicted of the murder, were, on the demand of the Abbott, committed to his custody, to be dealt with according to the statutes of the Cistercian Order. Fourteen years subsequently, it was stated before the Justiciary, that, in accordance with the law, UNRED had been detained, in the prison of the Abbey till his death. [Chartularies of St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin] |
Mabel also claimed that the Irish property should not have gone into the "king's hand" on her husband's death:
| 21 Oct 1279 Writ of certiorari to Robert DE UFFORD, justiciary of Ireland, on the complaint of Mabel, late the wife of the said John, that the escheator had taken into the King's hand the wardship of his lands and heir, which pertains to her as next (friend) to the heir, because the lands are held in socage, asserting that it pertained to the King by reason of the priory of the Holy Trinity, Dublin, and the archbishopric of that place being vacant and in the King's hand. [CIPM] |
5. John COMYN, son of Elyas
His father was John who inherited Newbold Comyn. John inherited from his nephew, John who died young having been the son of Nicholas COMYN i.e. Elyas had two sons, Nicholas and John; Nicholas had a son John who died young. [VCH Warks] & [Registrum Malmesburiense].
6. Elyas COMYN
Nicholas and John's father was Elyas COMYN. Elyas wife was Joan who had for fourteen years been a ward of the Abbot of Malmesbury after her father died when she was young. The Abbot then granted Joan's wardship, together with her inheritance, to Elyas who married her. Her inheritance included Newbold and Walecote. [VCH Warks] & [Registrum Malmesburiense].
7. Ancestors of Joan
Joan, wife of Elyas, was the daughter and heir of Antelin the son of Wybert the son of Ralph. Ralph, a sheriff, was granted land at Newbold and Walecote by the Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey to hold by homage, fealty, suit of court, and a rent of 40s. to the chamberlain of the monastery. [VCH Warks] & [Registrum Malmesburiense].
8. COMYN connections
I have not found further connections for Elyas COMYN. The COMYN's ownership of the manor of Kynsale suggests a possible connection with the COMYNs who had interests in Ireland. For example, the archbishop of Dublin from c. 1181 to 1212 was a John COMYN an Englishman and a monk of Evesham. He is said to have been of Scotch extraction, though born in England. [The Conquest of Ireland, Giraldus Cambrensis]