Sir Walter Pye, Kt., MP

Sir Walter Pye (1571 – 26 December 1635) of The Mynde, Herefordshire was an English barrister, courtier, administrator and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 and 1629.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Pye_(lawyer)_

Family

“PYE, Walter I (1571-1635), of The Mynde, Much Dewchurch, Herefs. and Greyfriars, Christchurch, London.”

bap. 1 Oct. 1571, 1st s. of Roger Pye of the Mynde, and Bridget, da. of Thomas Kirll of Walford, Herefs.; bro. of Robert*.1 educ. M. Temple 1590, called 1597.2 m. (1) 22 July 1602 (with £300), Joan (bur. 10 Sept. 1625), da. of William Rudhale of Rudhall, Herefs., 7s. (3 d.v.p.) 8da. (1 d.v.p.); (2) 31 Oct. 1628, Hester (d. c.1643), da. of John Ireland, Salter, of London, wid. of Ellis Crisp (d. 1625), alderman of London, s.p. suc. fa. 1591;3 kntd. by 27 Feb. 1621.4 d. 25 Dec. 1635.5 sig. Wal[ter] Pye.

---

Pye’s ancestors, of Welsh extraction, were in possession of property in Herefordshire by 1433. Although heir to the family estate at The Mynde, seven miles south of Hereford, Pye became a practising barrister.

---

Notes

“ SIR WALTER PYE OF THE MYNDE, KNT.”

Sir Walter married on July 22nd 1602, Joane (Joanna, Johanna or Joan), daughter of William Rudhall of Rudhall Court (who died 10th September 1625) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir James Croft of Croft Castle and his wife Alice. William Rudhall was the son of John Rudhall of Rudhall and his wife Mary, nee Phetyplace. Sir Walter and Joane had a son also called Walter. Joane died on September 10, 1625, and Sir Walter then married Hester Crispe, daughter of John Ireland, alderman and Sheriff of London, and widow of Ellis Crispe of London, who died in 1643. Sir Walter was buried in the Parish Church of St. Davids, Much Dewchurch, in 1636.

---

The sculptor of the famous monument to Shakespeare at Stratford-on-Avon was Gerard Janssen and it was his eldest brother Nicholas Janssens the Younger, the most famous monumental sculptor in England at the time, who was chosen to sculpt the tomb of Sir Walter Pye and his first wife Lady Joan Pye. It is a “richly carved alabster monument showing Sir Walter and Lady Joan in the costume of the period kneeling opposite to each other separated by a black marble slab, on which their memorial text is carved in Latin”. The translation is:

“Walter Pye, Knight, Attorney General of our Lord James, late King of England, and of our Lord Charles, now King of England, of the Court of Wards and Liveries, and Chief Justice of Great Session of the Counties of Glamorgan, Brecon and Radnor, son and heir of Roger Pye of the Mynde, esquire, son and heir of Walter Pye of the Mynde, esquire, son and heir of John Pye of the Mynde, esquire, son and heir of John Pye of the Mynde, esquire, and of Agnes his wife, daughter and heir of Roger Andrew of the Mynde, esquire. On the 22nd day of July in the year of Our Lord 1602 and in the 44th year of the reign of our lady Elizabeth, formerly Queen of England, he took to wife Joan Rudhale, daughter of William Rudhale of Rudhale in the county of Hereford, esquire; by whom he had seven sons and eight daughters. And the aforesaid Joan died 10 September in the year of Our Lord 1625 and in the first year of the reign of our lord Charles the King, and lies buried under this marble.”

---

“PYE, Walter I (1571-1635), of The Mynde, Much Dewchurch, Herefs. and Greyfriars, Christchurch, London.”

After his death Pye was described as ‘the devil’s Christmas Pye’, and his corruption was long remembered.70 (Sir) Richard Hutton* paid tribute to his ingenuity, ability and learning, but condemned his greed and corruption, which seems to have been extraordinary even by the standards of his age.71 Pye was remembered more fondly by his nephew, the natural philosopher John Beale, who wrote that he ‘was famous for his memory. His lectures were in great estimation, and attended with great resorts. Besides his great skill in the confused mass of our voluminous and cobweb laws, ... he could name every English gentleman, (yeoman too would some say) his ancestors, pedigree, coat of arms, their chief mansions and other revenues’.72

References

• https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/1493870/person/-19...
• Ancestry.com. Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-22 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. AncestryImage Name: Sir Walter Pye Birth Date: 1571 Death Date: 1635
• Pye in Barnes, Robert. MORE ON EDWARD PYE, in The Archivist's Bulldog Vol. 11 No. 17, Newsletter of the Maryland State Archives, September 22, 1997. link The Pyes were an armigerous family of Herefordshire, England. Their estate was called The Mynde. In heraldic terms, their arms were described as: Ermine (white with black spots), a bend lozengy (a diagonal strip of diamonds) Gules (red); Crest: on a wreath, a cross-crosslet fitchee gules between two wings erect argent white or silver). Edward Pye's father, John Pye, son of Sir Walter and Joane (Rudhall) Pye, was baptized on 17 Dec 1620. He married Blanche, sister of Sir Henry Lingen of Stoke Edith. John and Blanche were the parents of "twenty-three children, and Blanche was 30 before she was married." One of these twenty-three was Edward.
• https://pyefamilyhistory.wordpress.com/sir-walter-pye-of-the-mynde-...
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pye-292 cites

1. The Four Visitations of Berkshire......... Page 270: Pye of Faringdon
2. Visitation of Middlesex Page 43: Pye of the Charterhouse
3. Baptismal record Much Dewchurch (1 October 1571 Walter Phe son of Roger Phe) Viewed at Ancestry. Text only
4. The visitation of Herefordshire made by Robert Cooke, Clarencieux, in 1569 Page 92: Pye
5. History of Parliament online: PYE, Walter I (1571-1635), of The Mynde, Much Dewchurch, Herefs. and Greyfriars, Christchurch, London
6. Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 47 Pye, Robert by Charles Harding Firth
7. The visitation of Herefordshire made by Robert Cooke, Clarencieux, in 1569 Page 93: Rudhall Does not state her given name
8. Marriage record St Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, London (31 October 1628 Walter Py married Hester Crispe) Viewed at Ancestry. Text only

• The Herald and Genealogist, Volume 5. Page 133. GoogleBooks