John Amyas-13th Great Grandfather

Family History Research
Repinski Family Tree
Dietz Family Line
Brown-Smith-Dexter-Field-Amyas Branches
John Amyas, Esquire-13th Great Grandfather
Seargent At Arms to King Henry VIII

In my research into my family history I have discovered so many things that have made my mind spin out of control. 

Thoughts of "how could this be possible" is one of the biggest questions my brain has asked time and time again.

Today while doing research I discovered a 13th great grandfather that was the "Sergeant At Arms" of King Henry VIII of England. During the research into my ancestry to him and his ancestry, I also discovered that one of his ancestral great grandmothers was the aunt of Elizabeth Grey Woodville York, Queen of England and wife of Edward IV York, King of England.

Who was this ancestor of mine and what exactly was a "Seargent At Arms"???

Meet my 13th Great Grandfather, John Amyas, Esquire

My Lineage to John Amyas, Esquire

1. John is the son of Marlene Grace (Dietz) Repinski [& Maurice Repinski] 

2. Marlene is the daughter of Raymond Harold Dietz [& Modesta Kosmeider] 

3. Raymond is the son of Henry Chester Dietz [& Grace Pope] 

4. Henry is the son of Eleanor May (Brown) Dietz [& Henry Dietz] 

5. Eleanor is the daughter of Mary E (Smith) Brown [& Chester Brown] 

6. Mary is the daughter of Mary Elizabeth Smith [& Martin Smith] 

7. Mary is the daughter of Ziba Smith [& Lydia Waterman] 

8. Ziba is the son of Simon Smith [& Elizabeth Sayles] 

9. Simon is the son of Lydia (Dexter) Smith [& Joseph Smith] 

10. Lydia is the daughter of Mary (Field) Dexter [& John Dexter Sr.] 

11. Mary is the daughter of Thomas Field [& Martha Harris] 

12. Thomas is the son of Thomas Field & Unknown Mother] 

13. Thomas is the son of William Field [& Jane Sotwell]

14. William is the son of Jane (Amyas) Field [& John Field Sr.]

15. Jane is the daughter of John Amyas Esq. [& Ann Stace]

This makes John the 13th great grandfather of John.

Brief Biography of John Amyas, Esquire 

13th Great Grandfather

Coat of Arms of Amyas Family

My 13th Great Grandfather, John Amyas, was born in the year 1505 in Kent, Warwickshire, England.

 He was married to Anne Stace in the year 1527 at Ardsley, Yorkshire, England, when he was 22 years old.

John and Anne had the following Children:

*Jane Amyas  1528-1609 (My 12th Great Grandmother)

Matilda Amyas  1537-1557

Magdalen Amyas  1538-1597

Clement Amyas  1540-?

John's Ancestry 

John was the son of Robert Amyas and Agnes (Unknown)

Robert was the son of Walter Amyas and Unknown mother

My 13th Great Grandmother (John's wife), Anne Stace was born about 1510 in Kent, England.

*My 13th Great Grandmother Anne's pedigree goes back to the Woodville family of England, which Queen Elizabeth Woodville (wife of King Edward IV) was a part of.

Going back a few generations from Anne:

*13th GGM Anne was the daughter of John and Jane (unknown) Stace

 *14th GGF John was the son of Richard Stace & Alice Tourney

*15th GGF Richard was the son of John Stacey & Alice Pashley

 (Alice Tourney was the daughter of of Sir Thomas Dinley Tourney, Knight and Lady Alice Brockhall. )

Continuing down Anne's Pashley line....

*16th GGM Alice Pashley was the daughter of Sir John Pashley, Knight and Elizabeth Woodville

*17th GGM Elizabeth Woodville was the daughter of 18th GGF Richard Woodville and 18th GGM Joan Bedelgate

*17th GGM Elizabeth was also the sister of Sir Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and was the aunt of Elizabeth Grey Woodville York.

*Elizabeth Grey Woodville York was the Queen of England and the wife of Edward IV York, King of England and my 1st cousin 18 times removed in this line. 

Queen Elizabeth and King Edward would also end up being my 18th Great Grandparents in another line through their daughter Elizabeth York Tudor, Princess and Queen of England.

(Pretty cool ha? I'll save the details of that for another post)

Loyal Servant Of A King 

Life In A Royal Palace

Henry VIII

John Amyas was the Sergeant-at-Arms to King Henry VIII at his palace of Placentia in Greenwich. 

King Henry VIII was one of the most famous English monarchs and much more is written about him than any other king in English history. 

To know that my ancestral great grandfather was this close to this grand king is a bit mind boggling. Perhaps more so than my ancestry from other lines because this line, though the progenitor was not world famous, his life was most likely a pretty good one

Greenwich Palace

The Palace of Placentia (Greenwich Palace)

The place that these ancestral great grandparents lived and where they bore their four children was called Greenwich Palace (Sometimes referred to as The Palace of Placentia), an English Royal Palace in Greenwich, on the banks of the River Thames, downstream from London. 

A short history on Greenwich Palace:

Greenwich has long held an important significance for the monarchy. Originally occupied by Bella Court, a manor house built in the 1420s by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, it was later acquired by Queen Margaret of Anjou, who extended it to create the Palace of Pleasaunce or Placentia.

After being rebuilt by Henry VII as Greenwich Palace in the late 1490s, the site developed into a favourite royal residence of the Tudors and was the birthplace of Henry VIII, Mary I and Elizabeth I.

Greenwich Palace was one of Henry VIII's favourite palaces. He often held jousts here, and took frequent trips to nearby docks at Woolwich and Deptford, where his favourite warships the Great Harry and Mary Rose were moored. 

Anne Boelyn, one of Henry VIII's ill-fated wives, was arrested here before being taken to the Tower of London; Anne of Cleves also briefly visited during her doomed marriage to Henry.

Queen Elizabeth, too, frequented the palace, and was known for hearing choral music in the Chapel Royal - the progenitor of the Chapel of Saints Peter and Paul on the site of today.

During the English Civil War, however, the palace fell into disrepair, and most of the buildings were subsequently demolished by Charles II in 1600 to make was for his new palace. That new palace was never built and nearly 40 years later the Greenwich Hospital was built on the site.

Today only the foundations of this once grand palace exist, buried beneath what is now The Old Royal Naval College on Grand Square.

Entering The King's Service

In February of 1520, the King bestowed the following grant to John: 

Grant of 12d. a day from the issues of Wigmoresland, marches of Wales. Greenwich, 14 Feb. ll Hen.VIII. Del. Westm., 16 Feb--P.S. Pat. p.2, m.31...as quoted from "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII" by Great Britain Public Record Office, John Sherren Brewer, Robert Henry. 

John Amyas, and Thomas his son. Office of a serjeant-at-arms, in survivorship, with 12d. a day out of the issues of the manor of Wigmore, alias Wigmoreslande, marches of Wales, late of the earl of March; on surrender of patent 16 Feb. 14 Hen. VIII. by the said John. Richmond, 29 March 14 Hen. VIII. Del. Hampton Court, 12 Apr.—P.S. Pat. p. 2, m. 22. [4]

His family was well connected and from very old noble lines which brought John many opportunities during his life. 

He and Anne and their children lived in the palace along with the king and his family.

 I can just imagine my 12th great grandmother, Jane, frolicking and running down the massive hallways of the palace and picnicking on the banks of the River Thames and the family rowing a boat in front of that glorious royal palace.

A picnic on the Thames circa 1500

My 13th Great Grandfather, John Amyas, passed away in 1553 at Greenwich Palace at the age of 48.

My 13th Great Grandmother, Anne, also passed away in 1553 at Greenwich Palace at the age of 41.

When I noticed that the year of both of their deaths was the same, I wondered what could have happened that might have caused this....

I did some research and found that during the late 1400s into the mid 1500s, there was an illness called "The Sweating Sickness"  that caused many deaths among Londoners. 

I have a feeling that this may have been the cause of both of my 13th great grandparent's deaths.

Read about "The Sweating Sickness" here:

The Probable Cause of John and Anne's Death

 

"The Searjeant At Arms Of The King"

A serjeant-at-arms, or sergeant-at-arms is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word "serjeant" is derived from the Latin serviens, which means "servant". 

Historically, serjeants-at-arms were armed men retained by English lords and monarchs, and the ceremonial maces with which they are associated were in origin a type of weapon.

The "Mace"

The office originated in medieval England to serve the sovereign in a police role, much like a bailiff in more recent times. Indeed, the sergeants-at-arms constitute the oldest royal bodyguard in England, dating from the time of King Richard I (around 1189) as a formed body. 

The title "sergeant-at-arms" appears during the crusades during the reign of King Philip II of France in 1192.

The sergeant-at-arms was a personal attendant upon the king, specially charged with arresting those suspected of treason. Richard I had 24 with him on the Crusades. They were formed into a twenty-strong Corps of Sergeants-at-Arms by King Edward I in 1278, as a mounted close escort.

 In 1399 King Richard II limited the corps to thirty sergeants, and King Charles II had sixteen. The number was reduced to eight in 1685 and since then it has gradually declined.

The original responsibilities of the sergeant-at-arms included "collecting loans and, impressing men and ships, serving on local administration and in all sorts of ways interfering with local administration and justice."

 Around 1415, the British House of Commons received its first sergeant-at-arms.

From that time onwards the sergeant has been a royal appointment, the sergeant being one of the sovereign's sergeants-at-arms. The House of Lords has a similar officer.

The formal role of a sergeant-at-arms in modern legislative bodies is to keep order during meetings, and, if necessary, forcibly remove any members or guests who are overly rowdy or disruptive. A sergeant-at-arms may thus be a retired soldier, police officer, or other official with experience in law enforcement and security. The Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons has general charge of certain administrative and custodial functions, as well as security within the chamber of the House.

Seargents At Arms 

"John's Descendants Were Many"

There are many mentions of John and his descendants in the plethora of Family Trees I have found on line.

 One tree in particular that was created by Tim Dowling that I came upon a few days ago while doing my research gives ancestors of mine from numerous family lines from both my maternal great grandparents, Henry Dietz and Ruth Pope that descended from both John and Anne. 

So many ancestors and related lines that I got dizzy going down the lines and seeing at least 25 of my ancestral great grandparents and their connecting lines to North America coming from his origins including these family line branches:

Mathewson

Angell

Brown

Smith

Harris

Ruggles

Whipple

Sayles

Olney

Vrooman

My dad will be excited to know of a "collateral discovery" while researching John's line as well. It seems another descendent of John and Anne was a man by the name of "John Deere".

John Deere was born in Rutland County Vermont, which is the same area as my 5th great grandparents Mitchel and Ruth Pope. 

John would go on to found the biggest tractor company on Earth in Molene Ill.

Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the U.S. would also be one of my 13th great grandparent's descendants.

The Founder of the Mormon faith, Brigham Young, would also be another cousin descended from John and Anne.

There are too many other names to mention but suffice to say that this man and his wife who lived in the early to middle years of the 16th century, has quite a few (many thousands) descendants.
The link below will take one to John's descendant tree created by Mr. Dowling.
Tim Dowling's Tree of descendants of John Amyas

So another 13th great grandfather who's life is remembered. I can't thank my mother enough for all the wonderful people she has brought to life for me and my family.

Rest in peace John and Anne Amyas for you are not forgotten.

Sources for this story:

http://appalachianaristocracy.com/getperson.php?personID=I35996&tree=01

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Woodville-13

https://www.geni.com/people/John-Amyas-Esq/6000000006863716295

https://www.genealogieonline.nl/en/lortz-family-tree/P8588.php

New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation, Volume 2, William Richard Cutter http://books.google.com/books?id=ofcsAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA719&lpg=PA719&dq=Zachariah+Field+1596&source=bl&ots=0xEZ1j-qIQ&sig=HBUIY5uEbZIl3aWbSohKzWiciKg&hl=en&ei=8ARLTceFFpDksQOcoZycCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CDwQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Zachariah%20Field%201596&f=false

http://www.geni.com/people/John-Amyas/6000000006863716295 Note: Geni.com lists birth date as 1485, before the birth date of his mother 1489.

↑ https://www.wingfieldfamilysociety.org/Charts/WFS-o/p2688.htm citing S169] World Family Tree, WFT Vol. 2, Ed. 1, Tree #0083

↑ Our Royal, Titled, Noble, and Commoner Ancestors & Cousins (over 183,000 names) Compiler: Mr. Marlyn Lewis, Portland, OR. http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p2268.htm#i68186

↑ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol3/pp206-217

↑ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol3/pp1250-1265

↑ Index to Kent wills to year 1650 http://vulpeculox.net/history/WILLS.TXT

Acknowledgements

Amyas-10 created through the import of Putnam2-1_2010-01-02_2011-02-16_2011-10-11.ged on Oct 12, 2011 by John Putnam.

and David Land, Saturday, May 17, 2014.