Marmaduke Constable

For others named Marmaduke Constable, see Constable Baronets.

Sir Marmaduke Constable, "the little" (c.1458 – 20 November 1518) was an English soldier descended from the Hereditary Constables of Chester, hence the surname of the family. He descended from Robert FitzJohn (son of John) or le Constable (-c.1216), Lord of Flamborough, who was the brother of Roger FitzJohn (aka Roger de Lacy).

Life and family

Marmaduke was the eldest son and heir of Sir Robert Constable (died 23 May 1488, Flamborough, Yorkshire) and his wife Agnes Wentworth (died 20 April 1498, Flamborough) who had married on 2 January 1458. He was in France with Edward IV in 1475 and with Henry VII in 1492, in spite of the fact that he fought for Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. He was High Sheriff of Staffordshire and Yorkshire (1488 and 1493), was in high favour with Henry VII of England and Henry VIII, and led his kinsmen (including his four sons) and retainers to the Battle of Flodden Field in 1513. In Flamborough church one may still read a rhyming epitaph describing Constable's life and prowess.

He was twice married. Firstly to Margery FitzHugh, sister to Alice and Elizabeth FitzHugh. The marriage produced no issue.

He married secondly to Joyce Stafford and by her left several children when he died on 20 November 1518.^[1]

Children of Constable and Joyce Stafford:

• Sir Robert Constable (c.1478-1537), knighted at Blackheath, and executed for treason for taking part in the Pilgrimage of Grace.
• Sir Marmaduke Constable (c.1480-1545), of Everingham, was knighted after the battle of Flodden, and was at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. He was a knight of the shire for Yorkshire and then for Warwickshire, and was a member of the Council of the North from 1537 until his death.
• Eleanor Constable (c.1485-1527), married 1st John Ingleby of Ripley, Yorkshire and had a son William Ingleby^[2]. She married second Sir Thomas Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley (1472-1533) and had 2 sons and 2 daughters. Their daughter Muriel Berkeley married Sir Robert Throckmorton.
• Sir John Constable of Kinalton, knighted at Flodden
• Sir William Constable of Hatfield, knighted at Flodden

Another noteworthy member of this family was Sir William Constable (died 1655) who was a signatory to the death warrant of Charles I of England.

Ancestry

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.  (This article is reproduced here: [1])

1. ^ Richardson, Douglas & Everingham, Kimball G. Plantagenet ancestry; a study in colonial and medieval families (2004), pg 225.
2. ^ Harris, D., Plantagenet ancestry of seventeenth-century colonists
3. ^ Born Easter Day 1423, died 23 May 1488 - History of Parliament, a biographical dictionary of Members of the House of Commons
4. ^ Will proved 16 June 1441, a minor at the time of his father's death in 1404
5. ^ Will proved 5 Aug 1404. Old enough to inherit when his father died in 1401, therefore at least 21.
6. ^ ^{a b c} Fitz = son of
7. ^ Slain at Tyre in 1190 whilst on a Crusade to the Holy Land.
8. ^ Filia = daughter of
9. ^ One document mentions him together with his father in 1208, and another document of 1267 states that his wife Dame Juliana Deyvil is a widow.
10. ^ A grant is given to Dame Agnes the wife of "Sir Robert de Flaynburge the Constable".
11. ^ ^{a b} Burke, J., A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland
12. ^ Involved in a law suit of 1298. Made a gift of land to the Abbey of St. Germanus at Selby on behalf of his ancestors Adam Tison, William Tison, William le Constable his grandfather and Robert le Constable his father.
13. ^ Last appears in historical records in 1339 when he bought a mill and pasture in Flamborough.
14. ^ Will proved 17 June 1378
15. ^ Will proved 8 Jan 1401. Unmarried at the time of his father Sir Marmaduke Constable's death in 1378.
16. ^ Will proved 5 Feb 1466
17. ^ He died in 10 Henry VIII (1518) and is buried at Flamborough. Described as aged 31 and more at his father's death in May 1488, which would give a birth date of 1456 or 1457. This fits the circumstances of his career better than the claim in his epitaph in Flamborough church that he was aged seventy when he fought at Flodden in 1513.
18. ^ History of Parliament, a biographical dictionary of Members of the House of Commons