Thomas Thursby (1487–1543) of Ashwicken was a notorious land encloser in Norfolk in the 1510's–1540's.

Life

He was the son of Thomas Thursby (d.1510^[1]), merchant, three times Mayor of King's Lynn and the founder and benefactor of Thoresby College.^[2][3][4]

The great wealth inherited to him by his father enabled him to amass large tracts of arable land, which he then enclosed, turning out the landless peasants who had hereto lived there. It also meant a serious threat against their livelihood, the common ground previously having been available to grazing for the livestock of everyone. ^[2][4] The Norfolk Heritage writes about one of these villages, Holt:

This is the site of the medieval village of Holt, which disappeared when the landlord, the notorious Thomas Thursby, enclosed the land and converted it to pasture for his sheep. Holt was the only Norfolk village recorded in the Commission of Inquiry in 1517 as being totally depopulated in this way.^[5]

All Saints Church, Ashwicken, Leziate & Bawsey in the Diocese of Norwich, concurs:

There are two hamlets within the parish and they are Leziate and Ashwicken, both these settlements are described as "a shrunken village". During the medieval period the village of Leziate was much larger, but the village had shrunk sufficiently by the late 15th century for the parish of Leziate to be united with Ashwicken. The name Leziate comes from the Old English meaning meadow gate, while the name Ashwicken is also derived from Old English and means either place at the dwellings or buildings or place at the ash trees. During the medieval period there was another settlement within the parish. It was called Holt. The village was demolished when the landlord, the notorious Thomas Thursby, enclosed the land and converted it to pasture for his sheep. Holt was the only Norfolk village recorded in the Commission of Inquiry in 1517 as being totally depopulated in this way. And so each village, especially Ashwicken, is much smaller than previously and the Church at Ashwicken stands alone in the landscape. It is known as "Our Church in the Fields". The Church of Leziate has disappeared and Bawsey remains a ruin along with Mintlyn.^[6]

His dealings were part of an inquest which took place in 1517,^[7] he was sued in the Court of Requests by the inhabitants of Middleton in 1540,^[8] and a case was made against him in 1549, years after was he was long dead, for enclosing the salt fen that had always been common to Middleton, but also used by Runcton, West Winch, Setchey and Hardwick.^[2]

K.J. Allison writes in The Sheep-Corn Husbandry of Norfolk in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries that the Norfolk landlords committed manifold abuses of the foldcourse system. And that those abuses were frequently accompanied by the acquisition of houses, landholdings, and commons, and how 'large estates were built up, and villages were depopulated.' K.J. Allison notes that, 'There is a considerable body of evidence to support the poor petitioners' allegations'. K.J. Allison makes a special note of 'the tenants of the notorious Thomas Thursby' and describes how he had converted their holdings to sheep pasture, evicted them from their dwellings, deprived them of their commons, and pulled down their houses in numerous villages, and also mentions the lost villages, 'including four that are now deserted.'^[9]

Ashwicken

Before 31 May 1527 Thomas Thursby bought the manor of Ashwicken from John Jenkins.^[10][11] Ashwicken had previously belonged to another branch of the Thursby family, the grandson of his uncle Robert Thursby, his cousin also named Thomas Thursby (1498–bef.1538).^[4]

Marriage

He married Anne^[4] Knyvett, lady in waiting to Queen Katherine of Aragon.^[11] Marriage preparations were under way 31 May 1527. Anne Knyvett was the 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.^[12][13] Anne Thorysby is one of the witnesses of Cecily Aylmer's will in 1541.^[14] After Thomas Thursby's death in 1543, Anne Knyvett remarried by license dated 26 January 1543/4 to Henry Spelman,^[15] the son of Sir John Spelman (d.1546) and the father of Sir Henry Spelman^[12] and of Erasmus Spelman, whose son Henry went to Virginia.^[16]

Children

Children of Thomas Thursby:

• 

  Edmund (d.1547^[17]), m. Ursula,^[18] daughter of Sir Edward Beynton of the Vyse in Wiltshire, Knight,^[19] who remarried to Erasmus Spelman,^[18] and had John Spilman, Henry Spelman, Thomas Spelman, Bridget, Ele, Alice and Dorothy.^[19] Children of Edmund Thursby and Ursula Beynton:^[18]
  • Thomas Thursby, of age c.1565, still living in 1579^[18]
• Francis Thursby^[4] of Congham,^[20][21] under 20 in 1543,^[4] mentioned in his brother Edmund's will dated 20 December 1547^[22], the third husband of Mary Neville Fiennes, Lady Dacre, with whom he had six children.^{[20][21][23][24][25]} This Thursby family owned property in Congham.^[26] Mary Neville Fiennes, Lady Dacre is the sitter in two famous portraits, one by Hans Eworth, misidentified as Frances Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, for centuries, the other as her daughter Lady Jane Grey.^{[20][21][27][28]} Her portrait still hangs in Parliament.^[29]
• Mary, married Geoffrey Cobbs^[4] (d.1544^[30]), the son of William Cobb of Gayton, the grandson of William Cobb of Sandringham and the daughter and heiress of Ralph Gayton, and the great grandson of William Cobb of Sandringham in Norfolk, and Margaret, the daughter of Sir John le Buttler, knight,^[4][31] and had: Thomas Cobbs (b.1539^[30]), eldest son and heir, William Cobbs, Ann and Dowsabell^[30]

References