marks for his burial within Saint Thomas chancel within the Parish Church of Saint Michael the Archangel, of Tettenhale, and eight marks "to have a pryst to synge a whole rere for my solle, and my wyffys soll, and for our fadurs sollys and our modur's sollys and for all Chrystun sollys."

To his son George, whose name is spelt Jorge in the will, he bequeathed £20, and "my best gylte gobbelett and my gowne that ys lynyd with sawsenett, and my coyt of tawny chamlett and dubbelett of tawny satten, and vi sylvur sponys, ij of the best and iiii of the seconde sworde, and xl schype and iiii oxsun and iiii kyyn and my bedde thatt I ly yn with the hangyng ovur, and the lyttull coveryng that ys lynyd with canvas and i pere of schetes and bolster and a pelo, and my blacke nagge and also my cheyst that stands att my beddys seyd in my chambur."

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To his daughter Margaret he bequeathed £20 and "hur modurs best fruntelette and hur best cappe, and my grette cuppe of sylvur with the covur and vi sylvur sponys and a fetur bed and the seconde covůrryng and a bolster and ii pere of small schetes, and i pere of gretur schetes and a borde cloyth of dyapur and anodur of playne and ii brasun potts a more and a las and ii panys a more and a las and vi chargars and vi potyngars and a ryng of golde with a ruby and my black cofer in the newe chambur, and all these goodys for to be presyd by indyfferent men and for to be sett upon hur mareg money.

Similar bequests in the same unique orthography were made to his son Jamys Lewsun (James Leveson), and to his sons Thomas, Harry, Walter and John, and to his "doyrthtur" Anne, his daughter Elsabeth, his daughter Jane, his daughter Ysabell, lyttull John Wrottysley (his grandson), to whom he bequeathed "an ambelyng foyll," Dorethe his son Walter's doythtur," his daughter Alys, his daughter Marget, his daughter Elnar, his son Thomas Lewsun; and to St. Thomas awter he bequeathed "a cowe and a pere of vestments" and a sum of 26s. 8d. "for to ley the stone upon me and my wyyffe."1

Chapel at It consists of a man

This stone still exists in the Wrottesley Tettenhall, and is shewn in the plate annexed. of a slab of alabaster, with the portraitures in armour, and his wife, drawn in black lines. The armour is of the reign of Edward IV. At their feet are shewn effigies of sixteen children, and on either side, near the

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Contemporary copy of will formerly at Wrottesley. The original will does

not exist.

upper part of the stone, are shields bearing the arms of Wrottesley and Dudley. Round the rim of the stone is engraved the following rhyming epitaph in Gothic characters. Here lye closed in cley, the body of Richard rottesley, And also Dorothy, his wif, which lived togedder all yir lif. The year M.CCCCCXDEX of our Lord, Dorothy departed out of pe world,

And after within short space, Richard was leyd in this place. Here now our bodies do ley, on our soules Jesu hafe mercy. le desire every Xtian mon, to prey for our soules that bin gon.

These verses are doubtless the composition of Richard himself, for in his will he speaks of the stone as already in existence but not laid down.

He left at his death five sons and seven daughters. Of these Walter, the eldest son, succeeded him at Wrottesley. Of the second son, George, nothing is known, and he probably died shortly after his father.

Thomas married and had a son, George, who is styled George Wrottesley, of Chelmarsh, co. Salop, in a deed amongst the Ashmolean MSS. dated 1597. An account of this George, who was subsequently knighted, will be given in a future page.

John, the fourth son, is mentioned in the will of Dr. Richard Dudley, Chancellor of Salisbury, his uncle, which was proved in 1536, and is printed at length in Mr. Sydney Grazebrook's "History of the Dudleys" in vol. ix of Staffordshire Collections.

Harry, the next son, occurs also in the same will as Henry Wrottesley, and as one of the executors of it. The will also names the wife of Henry and his son Richard, who was the testator's godson.

Of the seven daughters of Richard Wrottesley, Elinor, the eldest, married, for a first husband, Edmund Leversedge, of Frome Selwood, co. Somerset, and for a second husband Sir Henry Long, of Wraxall and Draycot, co. Wilts. Sir Henry was a distinguished soldier of the reign of Henry VIII, and one of the Knights of the King's Household; by him she had a numerous family, two of whom, Richard and Thomasine, are mentioned in the will of Richard Dudley, as his godchildren. Elinor, Lady Long, died in 1543.1

Anne married Thomas Leveson, of Wolverhampton and

1 "Visitation of Wilts, 1623," and Pedigree of Long, in Howard's "Miscellanea Genealogica." Sir Henry was Sheriff of co. Wilts in the years 1512, 1526, 1537 and 1542. He died in 1556.

Incised Slab, Tettenhall Church.

Richard Mrottesley Armiger and Dorothy Dudley his wife.

A.D.. 1521.

Willenhall, and another daughter, Marjory or Margaret, married James Leveson, of Perton, a rich merchant of the Staple, and ancestor of the Dukes of Sutherland.

According to the pedigree of Onslow in the Visitation. of Shropshire of 1623, as printed by the Harleian Society, Margaret, the daughter of Richard Wrottesley, married Humphrey Onslow, of Onslow, co. Salop, but whether this is the same Margaret who married James Leveson, or there were two daughters named respectively Margaret and Marjory, I am unable to say.

Richard Wrottesley had two younger brothers who have been mentioned in the account of his father, Sir Walter Wrottesley. The elder of these, William, inherited a large portion of the Baron estates, and was the founder of a younger branch of the family which lasted for some generations. He appears to have been placed into the household of the new King, Henry VII, at the accession of that monarch, for the Wardrobe Accounts of 4 Henry VII, shew that he was one of the Esquires of the Body, receiving gifts of clothing from the King; and in the first year of the same reign, he obtained by grant from the King the Keepership of the Park of Raskyll, co. York. At the latter date he could not have been more than twenty-five years of age. His will, in which he is styled William Wrottesley, of Redynge, in the co. of Berks, is dated 26th December 1512, and was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, on the 4th February 1513. In this will he desires to be buried within the Parish Church of Saint Olaf in Silverstrete, London, "before the image of our Blessed Lady stondynge at the High Awter of the said Church." He names his daughter Elizabeth, his daughter Custance (Constance), his son Robert, his son-in-law Escue, "my lady Sturton (his sister), my lorde her husband, my lorde Sowche (de la Zouche), John Wraxley Wraxley (probably nephew John Wrottesley), my lady Scrope (his sister), and Dame Parnell beynge within the nonry of Dertforde, in co. of Kent (another sister), my eldest brother, and his sons Walter and Thomas, and my sonne Edward.” To his son Robert he left all his lands and tenements lying within the town of Reading to him and his heirs for ever, ten shillings out of them to be paid yearly to the Churchwardens of the Parish Church of Our Lady of Redynge. Robert, his son, and Constance, his daughter, to be his executors. In the proof of the will both Robert and Constance were stated to be under age.

his

1 Materials for the History of King Henry VII" (printed in Rolls Series). On the Patent Roll of 1 Henry VII, part ii, there is a pardon for George Neville late of Raskell, co. York.

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