Alice de Bures, Baroness of Walwyns

Alice de Bures

Andrew de Bures and great granddaughter of Sir Knight Robert de Bures, also buried in this church. Married Guy de Bryan. Parents of 2 children:

F, #179929, b. circa 1360, d. 1435

Alice de Bures was born circa 1360.2 She was the daughter of Sir Robert de Bures.2 She married Sir Guy de Bryan, son of Guy de Bryan, 1st and last Baron Bryan and Lady Elizabeth Montagu, circa 1375.1,2 She died in 1435.2 Children of Alice de Bures and Sir Guy de Bryan

Philippe de Bryan3 b. c 1378, d. c 1407

Elizabeth de Bryan+3 b. c 1380

Alice de Bryene or Alice Brian (born 14th century; died 1413 or after) was an English noblewoman who owned estates in Suffolk and was present at the court of Richard II (reigned 1377–1399). She was the wife of Guy Brian the younger, daughter-in-law of Guy Brian the elder,[1] and granddaughter of Alice de Bures.

Alice de Bryene is frequently cited in social history texts because two of her household documents happen to survive. They give important insights on the activities of a noble family in the late 14th century. These documents are: a single leaf from a letter-book, containing copies of eight letters received in Alice de Bryene's household in the 1390s; and a household book giving details of food and drink consumed in the household between October 1412 and September 1413.

The leaf from the letter-book (PRO SC 1/51/24) was published by Edith Rickert in 1927. According to Rickert, "six of the letters can be dated ca. 1393-96, one may be earlier, and one (the first) bears no marks of date".[2] The letters are written in Anglo-Norman, and it is assumed that they were copied into the letter-book by Alice de Bryene's secretary. Letter no. 4 is from King Richard II to Alice. Letter no. 3 is from Sir John Devereux (died 1394), who refers to Alice as ma tres-chere soer, "my very dear sister" because his son John had married her daughter Philippa. Letter no. 6 is from the younger John Devereux to Philippa; letter no. 8 is from him to his mother-in-law Alice. Both of these letters were written at Calais around 31 October 1396 at the marriage of Richard II to Isabella of Valois. Letter no. 7 is from Alice's other son-in-law Robert Lovell.

The household book, written in Latin, was published by M. K. Dale and V. B. Redstone in 1931, and was used by Evelyn Myatt-Price and Ernest Rubin for statistical studies of food and drink, notably the brewing and consumption of ale in 15th century England. In the period studied, ale was brewed in the household about every six days, and average consumption was approximately one gallon per person per day.[3]

Source - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_de_Bryene

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Dame Alice de Bryene:

Alice de Bryene was Sir Robert's great granddaughter. She belonged to a very rich and privileged section of society, and was probably frequently present in the royal court of London, but it was not a life of peace and order. The year of her birth 1361 saw the second outbreak of the Plague, or Black Death, in England. In 1381 the Peasant's Revolt was crushed by the military power of the King of North Walsham.

The brass of Dame Alice is of interest and perhaps what is more interesting is Day Book (or Household Account Book) of the expenses of Dame Alice's household during the year ending 28th September 1413. This is now amongst the Chancery Miscellanea at the Public Records Office in Bury St Edmunds. The accounts show the whole management of the household of a great Suffolk lady in the time of Agincourt. It gives details of the numbers fed at her table and what they ate, down to the last pigeon or herring."

From her article in DNB:

"A fine monumental brass, showing her in widow's robes, survives in Acton church. Its inscription (now lost, but recorded in 1593) named her as ‘Alice de Bures, daughter and heir of Sir Robert de Bures who was the wife of Sir Guy de Bryan’, even though she had not chosen to be buried beside her husband..."

From DNB: "Alice Bryene died on 11 January 1435."

"Alice de Bures, Alice de Bryan was born about 1360 and died in 1435, she married Guy de Bryan, grandson of the lord Bryan, with whom she had 2 daughters. Her household accounts survive from 1412 to 1413 and give insight to lower nobility family life. "

SOURCE: - The Medieval Combat Society, Acton, All Saints

Citations

[S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 362. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.

[S5927] Ffiona Swabey, Medieval Gentlewoman: Life on a Widow's Household in the Later Middle Ages (Thrupp, UK: Sutton Publishing, 1999), page 1. Hereinafter cited as Medieval Gentlewoman. [S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume II, page 361.

The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom : extant, extinct, or dormant. by Cokayne, George E. Vol 2, page 361-2. “BRYAN or BRIENE.” < Archive.Org > On his death any Barony that may be held to have been cr. by the writ of 1350, fell (according to modern doctrine) into abeyance between his two granddaughters and coheirs, children of his ist s. and h. ap., Sir Guy de Bryan, junior, by his wife Elizabeth afsd. h) These were, in 1390, Philippe, aged 12, and Elizabeth, aged 10. The said Philippe m.,fistly, John de Ros, and 2ndly, Sir Henry le Scrope, but d. s.p., 8 Hen. IV; Elizabeth became the wife of Sir Robert Lovell, by whom she had a da. and sole h., Maud, who m., istly, John, Earl of Arundel, ….

Alice de Bures de Bryan In Find A Grave - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60162042/alice-de_bryan

^ See "Brian, Guy, Baron Brian (c. 1310-1390)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Reginald Brian, bishop of Worcester, was therefore her husband's brother.

^ Rickert (1927) p. 249.

^ Myatt-Price (1960) p. 65.

Bibliography

Dale, M. K. & Redstone, V. B. (eds.) (1931) The Household Book of Dame Alice de Bryene, 1412-1413. Ipswich: Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and Natural History

Myatt-Price, Evelyn M. (1960) "A Tally of Ale" in Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (General) vol. 123 (1960) pp. 62–67

Rickert, Edith (1927) "A Leaf from a Fourteenth-Century Letter Book" in Modern Philology vol. 25 (1927) pp. 249–255

Rubin, Ernest (1972) "Statistical Exploration of a Medieval Household Book" in The American Statistician vol. 26 no. 5 (December 1972) pp. 37–39

Swabey, ffiona (1999) Medieval Gentlewoman: life in a gentry household in the later Middle Ages. New York: Routledge