Sir Ellis Hicks, Knight

“Sir Ellis Hicks was knighted by Edward, the black Prince on the battlefield of Potiers, September 19th, 1356.”

However

"Ellis Hicks was evidently an imaginary character."

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The mixup

From https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hicks-443

Dobson's 1795 Historical anecdotes of heraldy and chivalry... and Rudge’s 1803 History of Gloucester (as well as a host of later genealogies) appear to be the earliest claims that Sir Ellis Hicks was instead a 14th century knight who fought with the Black Prince during the reign of King Edward III.[16][17] Some later versions specify the Battle of Poitiers, while others say Crecy.[18] These earliest forms of the legend merely say that Sir Ellis/Elias was an ancestor of John Hicks of Tetworth, but some later commentators asserted, against all chronological sense, that he was the father of John Hicks.
The earliest known Hicks genealogy, the 1623 Visitation of Gloucester, only goes back to John Hicks, failing to mention any such descent from Sir Ellis/Elias Hicks. And this pedigree has a dotted line between Robert and his father/ancestor Thomas, suggesting either multiple generations or even questionable relatedness.[19]
Presumably, the story placing Sir Ellis Hicks in the 14th century arose after Hicks' lifetime. It may have been partly inspired by Hicks' portrait, which has hung in the Hicks' family seat at Witcombe since at least the 19th century. Although it does not appear that Hicks had any direct descendants, the fact that his portrait was passed down to this particular Hicks family suggests that he must have been a relative of theirs, and it is possible that the reimagining of Sir Ellis' role in the family history comes out of an attempt to place him in the family tree generations after his real identity had been forgotten. The style and subject of the portrait clearly belong to the 17th century, and Sir Ellis' apparent age, perhaps in his 50s or 60s, would agree with a mid-century date. This curious fact was observed by several genealogical authors who seem to have assumed that this strange anachronism was the choice of some late artist who modeled it on a 17th century example. The possibility that it is in a 17th century style because it is a 17th century life portrait does not seem to have been considered.
It seems possible that some form of the 14th century story must have predated Sir Ellis' involvement though. A particular detail that may be telling is that the story explains the inclusion of fleurs de lis in the family arms as being a grant from Edward III in recognition of taking French banners. This clearly could not have occurred in the 17th century, as the Hicks family would not have inherited from Sir Ellis, so the story might well predate him and indeed some of it might even be true. As with Ellis' gradual promotion from distant ancestor to father of John Hicks, the family tradition may have started out with an unnamed ancestor taking the French banners. If the detail regarding his dubbing as a knight banneret is accurate, this could quite easily have happened without generating much in the way of contemporary records, since the banneret rank was largely honorary. By the middle of the 18th century, Sir Ellis had been gone for several generations, so perhaps the Hicks of that time began to confuse the two tales of military valor, and eventually started attaching Ellis' name and portrait to even more dimly remembered events from 300 years before his time. At any rate, it seems fairly certain that the real Sir Ellis/Elias Hicks of the 17th century is depicted in the portrait and was some reasonably close relation to the Hicks family that purchased Witcombe during his lifetime.

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Family Sheet

HUSBAND

Name: Ellis Hicks Sir KnightMale [1] Note Born: 13151315-1-1 at EnglandEngland Married: Died: Abt 14051405-1-1

WIFE

        Name: 

Born:
Died:
Father:
Mother:
CHILDREN

Name: John Hicks Of Totsworth

        Born: 1440 at Fortesset, Gloucester, England

Died: 1492 at , Gloucester, England
Wife: Margaret Atwood
Name: Thomas Hicks

        Born: Abt 1445 at England

Died: at Y
Name: John Hicks

        Born: 

Died:
SOURCES

1). Pedigree Resource File CD 1

NOTES

1). Research mytree.FTW Sir Ellis Born 1315, knighted by Edward the Black Prince on the Battle field of Poiters, France 1356.

Ellis Hicks Knighted on the field of Poite rs Sep 9 1356 by the Black Prince for bravery in capturing a set of colors from the French. Note Source Broderbund WFT Vol. 21 Tree 139.

Sir Ellis Hicks was knighted by Edward, the black Prince on the battlefield of Potiers, September 19th, 1356. Sir Ellis Hicks was knighted by Edward, the black Prince on the battlefield of Potiers, September 19th, 1356. The above notation was found at this website posted by Janet Dobbs janet@pressroom.com http worldconnect.rootsweb.com cgi bin igm.cgi?op GET&dbc artsort&id I0977 mytree.FTW This information was downloaded from RootsWeb WorldConnect Project. It was submited by Irene Mast. If you have any questions or corrections please e mail me at dmast@mediaone.net.

It is important to understand: This is SPECULATIVE DATA. Most of it is unverified. Use it for hints and pointers, but DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH!

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Hicks have learned to know to be Sir Ellis, who foughtlong ago under the Black Prince's banner on the sloping land in Ponthieu, with the windmill on the hill behindhim and the French host in front. From the vantage ground between the windmill walls the English king watched the battle and his son's hard passage of Arms serenely, for he could see that all went well. Perhaps he could see quite plainly, too, Ellis Hicks' great deed and the desperation of the " energy " which made him possessor of French banners. We are to believe that when the battle was over Ellis Hicks was knightedthere and then, kneeling on the ground in the shade of the windmill sails

http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/susan-emily-christian-hicks-b...

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Ellis Hicks was born in 1315 in England. Nothing is currently known about his childhood. Sir Knight Ellis Hicks was knighted on the battlefield of Poiters, France on 9-9-1356 by Edward the Black Prince for bravery in capturing a set of colors from the French. He died in 1390 when he was 75 years old.