Sir Thomas le Strange, of Hunstanton

Sir Thomas Le Strange of Hunstanton inherited the Norfolk estates of his nephew, John who died without issue aged 13 in 1514. His career was influenced by his father, Robert, of Elsing manor, who had died 3 years prior, and whom had arranged for his children to marry well. Indeed Sir Thomas and his siblings did, and his early arranged marriage to Anne Vaux, in 1501, who was 5th in descent from John of Gaunt, enriched his life by bringing them 16 children.

First, in 1517 the age of reform began. Abroad in Germany Lutherism had awoken Protestantism, when Martin Luther nailed his thesis to the door of a church. Christians attacked his views on papacy, and his followers were dubbed 'the Protestants'. Three years later, the Pope excommunicated Luther. In the same year, 1520, Sir Thomas assumed his role as the Esquire of the Body to Henry VIII, and accompanied the King to the most prestigious event in history, The Field of the Cloth of Gold. Together with the rest of his entourage they set off for France where they met Francois I at the field to negotiate their existing conflicts. It was a lavish ceremony where the official banquet was held under a woven gold tent. Jousting tournaments and other games provided much entertainment for which Henry VIII had ordered a fashionable suit of armour to wear. But months later war ensued as they had failed to instill the peace between the two countries.

Sir Thomas concentrated on his business in around the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk where his tenants and farmlands were based. In the 1520's his royal commissions were also local to the Thetford assizes and other quarter sessions, which he attended as J.P. (Justice of the Peace), and in 1529, by now a father, he was Knighted. The following year he became Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk though being a loyal friend of the King's he was later granted a royal pardon from this undesirable job involving the collection of taxes, and also from the juries in 1531.

In 1533 he attended the wedding of the year, of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn, and would pay them social and business visits from time to time thereafter. Society was threatened by Henry VIII's dissolution of the monastries and an unheaval political and religious unrest ensued in 1534. Sir Thomas's role in this as local commissioner for the Valor Ecclesiasticus incorporated the survey and valuation of taxes, which were transferred to the Crown instead of the Pope.

During this change, in Aug 1536, Robert Aske, a lawyer wrote to Henry VIII about the religious movements for The Pilgrimage of Grace;

• "In all parts of the realm men's hearts much grudged with the suppression of abbeys, and the first fruits, by reason the same would be the destruction of the whole religion in England. And their especial great grudge is against the lord Crumwell"

Finally, Sir Thomas actively tried to suppress those who supported the movement locally, in Walsingham, and was appointed as guardian to Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, son of the Duke of Norfolk. While Norfolk and the Earl of Shrewsbury negotiated with Aske in their attempt to quash it they began to realize that until the ring-leader had been convicted of treason and executed, the rebellion would not be crushed, which the course of events led up to.

By Aug 1538 the King's new policies meant that the English translation of the Bible would replace the tradition Latin version much the disappointment and inconvenience to many illiterate people. It meant that Sir Thomas's recent acquisition of the 'byble xijs' (Latin Bible) would have to go. From about this period on, the Le Stranges converted their faith as Protestants adopting Luther's teachings, though perhaps this did not mark a prominent change in the personal life of Sir Thomas whom remained faithful to his upbringing, by commemorating Christs resurrection each year at easter with Christs image lit by a candle known as the sepulcher light.

At home, he also enjoyed delicacies fished from the sea and on one occasion, a sent the King a porpoise that he had fished fresh the Wash. Another event that remains a mystery to the modern family involved a baby being left outside the gates of the estate, where until the property was sold in 1949, his portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger had hung since 1536. His wife was aged 33 yrs, when she was painted depicted with 6 fingers on her left hand, which Alice Stubbes, the wife of his grand-grand-grandson, Sir Hamon Le Strange (b. ABT 1584 - d. 1654), would later tease her husband about.

His professional recognition by the villagers was gained by bringing them prosperity in utilizing efficient up to date farming methods with the introduction of cattle, and weekly markets on his home farm. With this, any produce that went unsold he offered good prices for, adding to his good reputation.

His health begun deteriorating at Christmas time 1540, with kidney stones and made him bedridden for weeks. His doctor who Anne paid for "castyng of my husbonds water & for his counsell", treated him again at Christmas 1543. Anne took some wine to her husband "Whan yow War sykke on the collyke & ston" but a recurrence two years later, in 1545 ended his life suddenly. Aged about 51, his will was still incomplete and his natural heir, Sir Nicholas, succeeded him and executed his grants to his brothers in 1547, one of whom was Richard who founded the Irish Moystown Branch.

From http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/ThomasStrangeHunstanton.htm

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• Thomas Le STRANGE of Hunstanton (Sir Knight)
• Born: 1493, Hunstanton, Norfolk, England
• Died: 16 Jan 1544/45, Hunstanton, Norfolk, England
• Notes: See his Biography.
• Father: Robert Le STRANGE of Elsing (Sir Knight)
• Mother: Margaret Le STRANGE
• Married: Anne VAUX 21 May 1513
• Children:
  • 1. Son Le STRANGE
  • 2. Nicholas Le STRANGE of Hunstanton (Sir)
  • 3. Richard Le STRANGE of Moystown
  • 4. Anne Le STRANGE
  • 5. Thomas Le STRANGE
  • 6. Elizabeth Le STRANGE
  • 7. Anne Le STRANGE
  • 8. Catherine Le STRANGE
  • 9. Alice Le STRANGE
  • 10. William Le STRANGE The Elder
  • 11. Hamon Le STRANGE
  • 12. Henry Le STRANGE
  • 13. Roger Le STRANGE
  • 14. Mary Le STRANGE
  • 15. Robert Le STRANGE
  • 16. Edmund Le STRANGE
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/STRANGE.htm#Thomas Le STRANGE of Hunstanton (Sir Knight)1 ___________________
• Sir Thomas Strange1,2
• M, #15331
• Father Robert Strange b. c 1513
• Mother Jane Basset b. c 1500
• Sir Thomas Strange was born at of Chesterton in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England.2 He married Anne Vaux, daughter of Sir Nicholas Vaux, 1st Lord Vaux, Sheriff of Northamptonshire, Constable of Rockingham Castle and Elizabeth FitzHugh, circa 1512.3
• Family Anne Vaux b. c 1491
• Child
  • Elizabeth Strange+4,2 b. c 1523, d. a 15 May 1579
• Citations
• 1.[S4087] Unknown author, The Complete Peerage, by Cokayne, Vol. IV, p. 159; Some Descendants of Charlemagne by von Redlich, p. 161; Plantagenet Ancestry of 17th Century Colonists, by David Faris, p. 143.
• 2.[S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. IV, p. 323-324.
• 3.[S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 561-562.
• 4.[S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 404.
• From: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p510.htm#i... _____________
• Sir Thomas Strange1
• M, #472006
• Last Edited=16 Jun 2011
• Sir Thomas Strange married Anne Vaux, daughter of Nicholas Vaux, 1st Lord Vaux of Harrowden and Elizabeth FitzHugh.1
• Citations
• 1.[S79] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry (Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004), page 562. Hereinafter cited as Plantagenet Ancestry.
• From: http://www.thepeerage.com/p47201.htm#i472006 _____________________
• LESTRANGE (STRANGE), Sir Nicholas (1511/13-80), of Hunstanton, Norf.
• b. 1511/13, 1st s. of Sir Thomas Lestrange of Hunstanton by Anne, da. of Sir Nicholas Vaux, 1st Baron Vaux, of Great Harrowden, Northants.; bro. of Richard†. m. (1) Ellen, da. of Sir William Fitzwilliam of Milton, Northants., 3s. 2da.; (2) lic. 7 Mar. 1547, Catherine da. of John Hyde of Hyde, Dorset, wid. of Nicholas Mynn of Great Fransham, Norf. suc. fa. 16 Jan. 1545. Kntd. 28 Sept. 1547.1
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/le... ___________________
• NOTE THAT THE LINK TO NICHOLAS, 1ST BARON VAUX AT THIS SITE IS LINKED WRONGLY TO ANOTHER (SEE ABOVE) BIO OF NICHOLAS LESTRANGE
• LESTRANGE (STRANGE), Sir Nicholas (by 1517-80), of Hunstanton, Norf.
• b. by 1517, 1st s. of Sir Thomas Lestrange of Hunstanton by Anne, da. of Nicholas†, 1st Baron Vaux; bro. of Richard. m. (1) Ellen, da. of Sir William Fitzwilliam of Milton, Northants., 3s. 2da.; (2) 1547, Catherine, da. of John Hyde of Hyde, Dorset, wid. of Nicholas Mynn of Fransham, Norf., ?s.p. suc. fa. 1545. Kntd. 28 Sept. 1547.1
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/le... _________________________
• LESTRANGE (STRANGE), Richard (b. by 1526), of Hunstanton and King's Lynn, Norf.; later of Kilkenny, Ireland.
• b. by 1526, 2nd s. of Sir Thomas Lestrange and bro. of Sir Nicholas. m. Dorothy Astley, 1s.
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/le... _______________________
• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 33
• Le Strange, Thomas by Hamon le Strange
• LE STRANGE, Sir THOMAS (1494–1545), of Hunstanton, Norfolk, born in 1494, son of Robert le Strange (d. 1511), sixth in descent from Hamo le Strange, brother of John le Strange, sixth baron of Knockyn [see under Le Strange, John, d. 1260], was esquire of the body to Henry VIII, and attended the king when he went to the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520; he was knighted by Henry at Whitehall in 1529, and served as high sheriff of Norfolk in 1532. Extracts from the ‘Household Accounts’ kept at Hunstanton in the time of Sir Thomas and his successor, from 1519 to 1578, were published in the ‘Archæologia’ for 1833. Sir Thomas was in attendance on Anne Boleyn at her coronation in 1533, her father, Sir Thomas Boleyn, being a Norfolk neighbour, who is mentioned repeatedly in the above accounts as a visitor at Hunstanton. In 1536 Sir T. le Strange was appointed to attend on the king's person during the Pilgrimage of Grace, and to bring fifty men with him; in July of that year he was placed on the commission to inquire into the revenues of the wealthy abbey of Walsingham, near his own Norfolk estate. It is to his credit that, though a personal friend of the king, and employed on business connected with the dissolution of the monasteries, Sir Thomas does not appear to have used his influence at court to secure for himself any church lands whatever. His picture, by Holbein, hangs at Hunstanton Hall, and a pencil sketch of him is among the Holbein drawings at Windsor; both these were exhibited at the Tudor Exhibition in 1890. He married Anne, daughter of Nicholas, lord Vaux; died 16 Jan. 1545, and was buried at Hunstanton.
• The son, Sir Nicholas le Strange (1515-1580), became steward for life of the manors of Mary, duchess of Richmond (25 Jan. 1547); was knighted by Protector Somerset while serving with him in Scotland in 1547 (Metcalfe, Knights, p. 96); was elected M.P. for Norfolk (November 1547), for King's Lynn (1555), for Castle Rising (1571); and was sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in 1548. On 15 Sept. 1549 he wrote to William Cecil, the king's attorney, denying any sympathy with Kett's rebellion (State Papers, Dom. Edw. VI, viii. No. 60). In 1559 he was a member of the household of Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, went with the duke to Scotland, and in February 1560 carried messages from him to the privy council. On 4 Oct. 1571 Le Strange denied, when examined by the council, all knowledge of the duke's treasonable negotiations with Mary Queen of Scots (Hatfield MSS. i. 533). He married, first, Ellen, daughter of Sir William Fitzwilliam of Milton, Northamptonshire; and secondly, Katharine, daughter of Sir John Hide of Aidborough. By his first wife he had three sons and two daughters (Inq. post mort. in Public Record Office; Chanc. Inq. 24 Eliz. pt.i.p.20).
• [Le Strange Household Accounts, Archæologia, xxv. 411-569; Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of Henry VIII; State Papers of Henry VIII, xi, 73.]
• From: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Le_Strange,_Thomas_(DNB00) _____________________
• The Visitation of Norfolk in the Year 1563, Volume 1
• http://archive.org/details/visitationnorfo00dashgoog
• http://archive.org/stream/visitationnorfo00dashgoog#page/n74/mode/1up
• Pg. 64
  • Chart - Le Strange Pg. 61-67
• Robert le Strange, 2 son, ob. 3 II. 8. = Margaret (Anne) da. & coh. of Thomas le Strange, of Walton, in co. Warwick, Esq. She md. 2ly Edward Knevett, Esq.; ch: Sir Thomas (m. Anne Vaux), Katherine (m. Sir Hugh Hastings), Elizabeth (m. Johannis Wotton & Thomas Gawdey) Strange.
• Sir Thomas Strange occurs 1531 = Anne, da. of Nicholas, Lord Vaux.; ch: sir Nicholas (m. Ellin FitzWilliam & Katherine Hide), Richard (m. Dorothy Astley), William, John, Roger, Henry (m. Katherine Laurence), Thomas (m. Anne wid. of Sir Francis Shane), William, Anne (m. Anth. Southwell), Elizabeth (m. John Cressoner), Mary (m. Tho. Prentiss), Alice (m. Thomas Calthorp), Katherine (m. Sir Rowland Clarke) Strange. _______________________
• Links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_L%27Estrange
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_L%27Estrange
• http://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-1/myheritage-family-t...

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• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jul 19 2016, 21:32:11 UTC