John Spelman (judge)

English judge

Sir John Spelman (died 1546) was an English judge from Norfolk, noted for his composition of law reports.[1][2]

## Origins

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Born about 1480, he was the fourth son and youngest child of Henry Spelman (died 1496), of Bekerton in Stow Bedon, a lawyer and judge who was a Reader of Gray's Inn and Recorder of Norwich, and his second wife Ela, widow of Thomas Shouldham (died 1472), of Marham, and daughter and coheiress of William Narborough, of Narborough.[1]

His Spelman ancestors originated in Hampshire, where before 1272 they held the manor of Brockenhurst,[2] but by 1369 had moved to Norfolk where they had lands in and later acquired the manor of Bekerton.[3]

## Career

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About 1500, he followed his father to study law at Gray's Inn, where he served as Reader three times, and in 1521 was created a serjeant, followed next year by gaining his father's old post of Recorder of Norwich. In 1526 he was promoted to King's Serjeant and in 1531 was appointed a Justice of the King's Bench, being sworn in by the Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas More. Knighted in 1532, he went as a justice of assize on the Northern Circuit, changing to the Home Circuit in 1537. From 1540 he stopped going on circuit and sat at Westminster Hall.[1]

in 1521 he bought from Sir Edmund Knyvett and his wife Anne the portion of the manor of Bydon in Stow Bedon that he did not already own.[3] After the death of his half-brother Thomas Shouldham, he obtained the estate of Narborough and built his family home of Narborough Hall, where his descendants lived until 1773. It contains a stone tablet with his coat of arms that he put up in 1528.[1] In 1537 he was granted the manor of Gracys in Narborough, belonging to the suppressed Pentney Priory.[2]

He died in office on 26 January 1546 and was buried at Narborough, where his memorial brass can be seen.[1][4]

Memorial to Sir John Spelman and his wife in Narborough church

## Law reports

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His fame comes from his compilation of law reports, starting not only with cases he attended in court but also with lectures and seminars held at Gray's Inn. From 1521 he mainly covered common pleas and after 1531 King's Bench cases. He also summarised practitioners' discussions on points of law and judges' conferences.[1] Among significant processes he recorded were the proceedings against Cardinal Wolsey in 1530, the trials of Bishop John Fisher and Sir Thomas More in 1535, the trial and execution of Queen Anne Boleyn in 1536, and Lord Dacre's case in 1541.[1]

## Family

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He married Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of Sir Henry Frowick (died 1527), of South Mimms,[5] and niece of Sir Thomas Frowick, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.[2] Her mother was Sir Henry's first wife Anne, daughter and coheiress of Robert Knollys, of North Mimms, and his wife Elizabeth Troutbeck (died 1458).

They had thirteen sons and seven daughters, including:

* John Spelman, eldest son, who married Margaret daughter of Sir Thomas Blenerhassett, and had John Spelman who married firstly Judith, daughter of Sir Clement Higham of Narborow, and secondly Katherine Saunders,[6][7] the sister of Frances, below
* Henry Spelman (died 1581),[2] second son, who married first Anne, the widow of Thomas Thursby (d.1543) of Ashwicken, the son of Thomas Thursby (d.1510), Merchant, thrice Mayor of King's Lynn and the founder and benefactor of Thoresby College, daughter of Sir Thomas Knyvett and his wife Muriel, widow of John Grey, 2nd Viscount Lisle, and daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk and Elizabeth Tilney. Anne Knyvett was through her mother a first cousin of both Queens Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard,[8][9][10][11][12][13] and a half-sister of Elizabeth Grey, 3rd Viscountess Lisle and 5th Baroness Lisle (1505–1519), one time betrothed of Charles Brandon and the wife of Henry Courtenay. His second wife was Frances (died 1622), daughter of William Saunders, of Ewell, and his first wife Joan Marston, the mother of Nicholas Mynne. With Frances, his children included the antiquary Sir Henry Spelman and Erasmus Spelman, whose son Henry went to Virginia.

The widowed Elizabeth married secondly John Coningsby, of North Mimms,[5] son of the judge Sir Humphrey Coningsby, and became the mother of Sir Henry Coningsby. After her second husband's death in 1547, she married William Dodd and died on 5 November 1556, being buried at North Mimms.

## References

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* Frederick Bernays Wiener, "New Light on Law in Henry VIII's Time" (1979) 65 ABA Journal 1340 et seq. JSTOR

1. ^ a b c d e f g Baker, J. H. (2008). "Spelman, Sir John (c.1480–1546)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/26105. Retrieved 21 October 2017. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. ^ a b c d e Carr, William, "Spelman, John (1495?-1544)", Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, vol. 53, retrieved 21 October 2017
3. ^ a b Blomefield, Rev'd Francis (1805), "Hundred of Wayland: Stow", An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk, vol. 2, London, pp. 277–281, retrieved 21 October 2017277-281&rft.date=1805&rft.aulast=Blomefield&rft.aufirst=Rev'd+Francis&rft_id=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol2/pp277-281&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:John+Spelman+(judge)" class="Z3988">
4. ^ His will is in the National Archives under TNA PRO PROB 11/31 and his inquisition post mortem under TNA PRO C 142/95/14
5. ^ a b Lee, Sidney, "Coningsby, Harry", Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 12, retrieved 21 October 2017
6. ^ Rye, Walter; Hervey, William; Cooke, Clarenceux; Raven, John. The visitacion [i.e., visitation] of Norfolk, made and taken by William Hervey, Clarencieux King of Arms, anno 1563, enlarged with another visitacion [sic] made by Clarenceux Cook : with many other descents, and also the vissitation [sic] made. Family History Library. p. 265.
7. ^ "Freebridge Hundred: Wigenhale St. Mary's | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2025. "Thomas, his eldest, William his second, and Edmund the third, who married Catharine, daughter of William Saunders, Esq. she married to her second husband, John Spelman, Esq. of Narburgh, and to her third. Miles Corbet, Esq."
8. ^ "K". A Who’s Who of Tudor Women. 17 November 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2020. "In the covenant for a marriage settlement dated May 31, 1527, Anne was described as "one of the queen's gentlewomen and one of the daughters of Sir Thomas Knyvett deceased." She was to marry Thomas Thuresby or Thoresby of Asshewykyne."
9. ^ "Norfolk Record Office - NROCAT: on-line catalogue". nrocat.norfolk.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 October 2020. "CatalogueRef: BL/O/X/12. Title: Copy of covenant for a marriage settlement on Ann Knyvett, one of the Queen's gentlewomen and one of the daughters of Sir Thomas Knyvett deceased, and Thomas Thuresby [Thoresby] of Asshewykyne, esq., for conveyance by said Thomas Thuresby to Sir Robert Dymook [the King's champion], chancellor to Queen Katherine, Sir Philip Tylney, Gryffyth Richards, Christopher Jenny, John Scott, Charles Bulkley, Sir John Cressener, William Conningesby, Thomas Guybon senior, Francis Mounfforde, John Fyncham of Fyncham, esq., and Thomas Guybon, son and heir of above Thomas, of manors of Rustons and Redehall, moiety of manor of Bawdsey and all possessions in Gayton, Gaytonthorpe, Congham, Rydon, Bawsey, Walton and Rysing. Date: 31 May 1527. Level: Piece. Repository: Norfolk Record Office. Extent: 1 roll"
10. ^ "CatalogueRef: NCC will register Attmere 338. Title: Aylemer (Aylmere), Cecily, dowghter of Rycharde Aylmere, citizen and alderman of Norwich. Date: 1541. Description: Will. Made of Myntlynge. Level: Item, Repository: Norfolk Record Office". nrocat.norfolk.gov.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2020. "These be the wittenes Anne Thorysby Elyn Grenall Thomas Buttler"
11. ^ Dashwood, G.H. (ed.). The Visitation of Norfolk in the year 1563, taken by William Harvey, Clarenceux King of Arms: Volume 1 (PDF). Norwich. p. 253.
12. ^ Thoresby, Ralph (1715). Ducatus Leodiensis, Or, The Topography of the Ancient and Populous Town and Parish of Leedes, and Parts Adjacent in the West-Riding of the County of York: With the Pedigrees of Many of the Nobility and Gentry, and Other Matters Relating to Those Parts. Maurice Atkins, and sold. "Wocken in Norfolk, p. 575\. is more truely written Ash-Wicken-Thoresby, by that learned Antiquary Sir Henry Spelman (in his Icenia, p. 144.) whose Father married Anne the Widow of Thomas Thoresby of Ash-Wicken Thoresby Esq; she was descended from the first Thomas Duke of Norfolk who by his former Wife Elizabeth Daughter and Heir of Sir Frederick Tylney, and Relict of Humfrey Bourchier Lord Berners, had Issue Thomas Duke of Norfolk, Elizabeth (who married Thomas Bullen Viscount Rochford, by whom she had Issue Queen Anne Bullen the Mother of Queen Elizabeth) and Muriel, who married first John Grey Viscount Lisle, and 2dly, Sir Thomas Knevet, by whom she had Issue the said Anne, the Wife of Thomas Thoresby, and Henry Spelman Esquires, as my kind Friend John Hare Esq; Richmond Herald, shewed me in some valuable Manuscripts in the College of Arms, London."
13. ^ Harleian Society (1886). The Publications of the Harleian Society. Robarts - University of Toronto. London : The Society. "1543-4 [...] Jan. 26 Henry Spylman & Anne Thursby, of diocese of Norwich."

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