John Danvers

John Danvers

Born: abt 1295, Ipswell, [parish], Oxfordshire, England. Died: abt 1347

Simon Danvers was followed by his eldest son, John, who is mentioned in the fine of the year 1319. John was at the time married, and can therefore scarcely have been born later than 1295. He succeeded to a very much reduced inheritance, owing in part to the provision which his father had made for his daughters, and in part, we suspect, to alienation by sale of some of his property. John Danvers was no longer John of Bourton, the title which his ancestors had borne since the period of the Conquest; he is now John of Eppewell, the manor which, together with land in Napton, his father given to him on his marriage with Isabel de La Lee. Eppewell seems to have become the property of the family in the time of John’s grandfather Robert and with the family it remained till, on the death of another Robert Danvers in the year 1407, it went to one of his heiresses.
In the fine which has just been mentioned, the name of John's wife is given as Elizabeth, but she is called lsabel in the charter which we shall quote immediately, and Vincent also states that her maiden name was Isabel de La Lee. There is, however, no real discrepancy here, for Elizabeth was the English equivalent of the Latin word Isabella. The fine is in Latin; the only English word in it is Elizabeth, which the clerk who wrote the fine used as a translation of Isabella. Wright, in his ‘Court-hand Restored,' gives as the English of Isabella-Isabel, Elizabeth.
The charter just mentioned is preserved but, unfortunately, the year has been omitted by the copyist. The charter is clearly a deed of settlement made at the time of the marriage of John Danvers and Isabel de La Lee, and may be translated as follows:
'Know all men that I, Simon Danvers, of bru .. .' (the wording is obliterated) 'have given to John Danvers my son, and to Isabel, daughter of William de La Lee, his wife, all the lands and tenements which I have in the village and fields (villa et in campis) of Epewelle, in county Oxon, and in the village and fields of Napton, in county Warwick, to have and hold. Witnesses, John of Oxham, Richard of Hawedene, Thomas of Sybford, Richard de Aula, Epewelle , William Halthem of the same, Richard Gallyn of the same, Thomas Sandford of Banbury, John Astrop, Richard le pordonor de Brodicotte, et aliis.'
The name of John Danvers is found in two other well authenticated documents. The first of these is a Parliamentary writ of 15 Edward II in which he is associated with his neighbour, Nicholas Trymonel, of Prostcote, in a matter or military service. The other document is the Lay subsidy of Oxon of 22 Edward III.
The family of de La Lee, to which John Danvers' wife belonged, derived their name from La Lee, a hamlet in the parish of Swalecliffe. We learn from the Roll of the Hundreds (a census taken in the late 1300s), that Sir William de La Lee had land in the hamlet, and from the same source that the Vicar of the Mother Church was in the habit of celebrating Mass at the chapel in La Lee three times weekly. Sir William’s wife's name was Agnes, and they were buried in the church of Chacombe Priory.
In the year 1316 William de La Lee is summoned as one of the lords of La Lee and Shutford, and in the year 1347 he appears in the subsidy roll in Swalecliffe. This William appears to have been the son of William and Agnes, of the Roll of the Hundreds.
At the same time as the marriage of John Danvers, his family were living at Swalecliffe and the neighbouring village of Shutford, and doubtless the marriage was celebrated at one or the other place. Both villages are near to Ipswell, which was to be the future home of the married couple, and was for many generations to designate their descendants.
Ipswell lies in a hilly district, about seven miles to the north-west of Banbury. The road to the village, passing through Shutford, with it’s Norman church and picturesque manor-house. The road gradually mounts to where Ipswell Church, at an elevation of five hundred and eighty feet, stands at the highest point of the village. The village may be described as ' many hilled’and to the north-east lie hills rising to a height of about seven hundred feet, and to the west of the village is another elevated ridge. To the east of the church is the village green, and to the east of this ogo.in is the manor-house. Below and on the north side of the church is the village well or spring, rising from beneath the edge of a huge flat boulder. The apl'ing is a copious one,and it’s water, as the villagers attest, is excellent. From it, no doubt, the village takes it’s name, ' Eppon-Wylle,' the well of a Saxon named Eppa, becoming Eppowelle, and then Epswell or lpswell.

From Memoirs of the Danvers Family: https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=NkAIAwAAQBAJ&pg=GBS.PA71&hl=en