MANATON

The Manaton marriages in the early Stuart period reflect the continued influences of the rise of the families of the Armada captains, affinities to the nobles of Devon and Cornwall and remote connections to the bloodlines of the English Queens of Henry VIII. 

The eldest son of Peter Manaton, lord of Manaton, was Sampson Manaton who married Mary, the daughter of Tristram Gorges of Budeuxshed providing another connection between the Manaton family and the armada captains. One other armada connection being that of Peter’s younger brother, Sampson Manaton who married Judith, the daughter of Richard Hawkins. William Gorges (d. 1584) was Vice Admiral of the Fleet in 1580 and his son Tristram Gorges, father-in-law to Sampson Manaton (d. 1642), had been entrusted by Sir Francis Drake with the custody of Don Pedro de Valdez, taken prisoner during the naval battle. Her sisters Ferdinanda Gorges and Douglas Gorges married Edward Trelawney and Sir Jonathan Trelawney, 1st Baronet, respectively. Another sister to Mary, wife of Sampson, was Elizabeth Gorges (1578-1649) who married her second cousin, Sir Ferdinando Gorges (d.1647), the “father of American colonialization” and holder of the charter to Maine.

 

Peter’s eldest nephew, Sampson, married, in 1614, Margery Buller, a descendant from one of the co-heiresses of the last Courtenay Earl of Devon. Margery was the daughter of Francis Buller of Shillingham and Thomasine, the daughter of Thomas “Speaker” Williams of Stowford. Francis Buller was the son of Margaret Tretherffe, one of the co-heiresses to the Earl of Devon. She was also a widow of Edward Courtenay of Landrake, the family Courtenay having held the Ealrdom. Margaret Tretherffe had been the circles of affines of Sampson Manaton (d. 1571) by his first marriage to Isabell Boscawen.

 

Then there is the curious connection to the Queens of Henry VIII. Tristram Gorges, father to Mary, son of Sampson Manaton was also the great-grandson of Lady Anne Howard (1446-1474) the daughter of John, 1st Duke of Norfolk (1425-1485). The families of both wives of Ambrose Manaton (d. 1651) also shared in descent from the Howards and the Tudor Queens of England. Ambrose Manaton (d. 1651) was married first to Anne Edgecumbe, the widow of Richard Trefusis. She was the daughter of Peter/Piers Edgecumbe (d. 1607) and his wife Margaret Luttrell. Margaret Luttrell, the mother of Anne, 1st wife of Ambrose, was also descendant of Lady Anne Howard. Ambrose Manaton (d. 1651) married secondly to Jane Mapowder (b. 1617) who also had affinities to the Luttrells. Katherin Mapowder (b. 1623), Jane’s sister, married Francis Luttrell. Francis’ father John Luttrell (1584-1616/7) was also a descendant of Lady Margaret Howard, sister to Lady Anne. Lady Margaret and Lady Anne were the aunts of Elizabeth Howard, wife to Sir Thomas Boleyn (1477—1539)and mother to Anne Bolyen (d. 1536), Queen of England, wife of King Henry VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I.

 

And there was yet one more connection to a Tudor Queen. Pierce Manaton, the son of Sampson Manaton and Margery Buller married Mary Knightley. Elizabeth Seymour (1547-1602), the daughter of Edward Seymour (1500-1522), 1st Duke of Somerset married Sir Richard Knightley, MP (1532-1615). It was their great-granddaughter, Mary Knightley, who married Pierce. The sister of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, was Jane Seymour (1508-1537), Queen of England, 3rd wife to King Henry VIII and mother of King Edward IV. Lord Edward Seymour, the 2nd son of Edward Seymour (1500-1522), 1st Duke of Somerset had received the feudal barony of Berry Pomeroy in Devon in 1553. 

 

So, in each of these marriages and affinities we see the remote connections to the bloodlines of the English Queens of Henry VIII: the Gorges and Luttrell families were descendants of the Howards while the Knightleys were descendants of the Seymours. Had Henry VIII’s line survived, these all would have been cousins to the Royals.