YAJ
VOL. XI.
pps. .246 - 279
NICHOLAS TEMPEST,
A SUFFERER IN THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE.
With some Account of his Descendants.
By Mrs. ARTHUR CECIL TEMPEST.
Among the names of Yorkshire gentlemen who suffered
death in 1537 for their participation in the rising known as
the Pilgrimage of Grace, occurs that of Nicholas Tempest.
Of him we now propose to give some account.
Certain genealogists have represented him as son of Sir
Richard Tempest by his wife Rosamund Boiling, and de-
scribed him as " of Bracewell," whereas he was a younger
brother of this Sir Richard, being the third son of Nicholas
Tempest, who was the third son of Sir John Tempest of
Bracewell and Waddington, co. York, and of Belraper, in
Gosberton, co. Lincoln ; the mother of the Nicholas Tempest
of whom we treat, being described in Tonge's Visitation of
Yorkshire in 1530 as "daughter of John Pilkington,*' ^ but
of what family it is not yet clear. Nicholas Tempest (the
father) and his wife are named in the will of Sir John
Pilkington, of Pilkington Hall near Wakefield, dated at
Skipton, 28th June, 1478, but unfortunately there is nothing
to explain in what relationship they stood to the testator.
The legend " Orate pro aiabz Nicholai Tempest et Margarete
uxoris sue" noted by Dodsworth in March, 1645,^ as re-
maining in one of the windows in BracewellChurch,
doubtless refers to Nicholas (the father) and his Pilkington
spouse.
Dodsworth, in one of his pedigrees of the Tempest famil}^
states that Nicholas Tempest, the husband of Margaret
Pilkington, died at Bracewell in 1483,* in which case his
three sons Richard (born 1480^), Thomas and Nicholas,
1 Foster's W. R. York pedigrees sub ^ Dodsworth MSS. vol. Ixxxviii, fo. 31.
Tempest and York Record Series, vol. ill. * Ibid. vol. vi. fo. 54 and vol. Ixxiz.
p. 72, note. to. 106.
2 Tonge's Visit, of Yorks. vol. xlL * Chancery Inq. p. m. 23 Hen. 7, No.
Surtees Soc. p. 84. 6 of Sir Thomas Tempest.
were probably left to the guardianship of their uncle, Sir
Thomas Tempest of Bracewell, and when the eldest of these
boys arrived at a marriageable age, a suitable wife was found
for him in the person of Rosamund, the only daughter and
legitimate heir of Tristram Boiling, of Boiling (or Bowling)
near Bradford ; Sir Thomas by deed dated 13th July, 1497
(12 Hen. 7), settling his estates on the three nephews,
Richard, Thomas, and Nicholas Tempest successively in tail
male.^ Young Nicholas Tempest, who would be about
twenty years of age, being appointed, in conjunction with
his brother Richard, executor to the will of Tristram Boiling
in April, 1502.^
In the will of Sir Thomas Tempest, dated the 4th
October, 1506, Nicholas is remembered by his uncle in these
words : — " To Thomas and Nicholas Tempest all my shapyng
close in Bealraper and owder of them iij^* vj' viij*^ yerly
duryng thayr lyffes ; the wych my broder thair fader had."
Nicholas Tempest appears to have speculated in wardships
if we may judge from various entries found amongst the
Public Records relating to wards and escheats : —
Item. — Nicholas Tempest, Robert Worsley, ^
James Grenehalgh and Balph Ascue
er bounden in iiij oblig : to pay xli,
at Candett : next commynge and f xj die Nov. a® vi
xx/i. marc at Halotide after Duringe I hlu^
iiij yeares for the warde of Banastre. ^
sot. xU. primo die Feb. :
a® ij — sot. xxvj7i. x». iiij</.
The Banaster for whose wardship the fifty pounds was
paid was undoubtedly Nicholas the son and heir of Richard
Banaster of Altham, born at that place 28th February,
1500-1.^° Nicholas Tempest marrying Elizabeth or Isabel,
the widow of this Richard Banaster after his death in 1510.
In February, 1511-12, Nicholas Tempest prosecuted Gilbert
Southworth of Houghton, and others, for trespass in certain
closes at Altham, and for removing therefrom two bullocks
and two cows worth four marks/^ a proceeding he may have
taken either in right of his guardianship or of his marriage,
as his wife held dower in Altham by virtue of a grant dated
• Inq. p. m. in Virtute OflBcii Hen. 8, *® Duchy of Lane. Proof of age, Inq.
Pt 1, No. 77, Sir Thomas Tempest vol. v. No. 47.
7 Testa Ebor. vol. iv. p. 204. >» Lane. Plea Roll, No. 113, Assiimp.
« Ibid. p. 251. Ro. 14.
» Chapter Ho. Book A. {^ p. 667.
16th June, 1509, when Richard Banaster enfeoffed John
Nowell, Thomas Grimshagh of Clayton, John Sellars, Vicar
of Wliallej, and Robert Boiling, Chaplain of three mes-
suages in Altham, which they, on the 12th of the same
mouth, granted to Isabel, the wife of Richard Banaster, for
her life, with remainder to Nicholas, Richard s son and heirJ*
In July, 1515, Nicholas Tempest, with Laurence Starkie,
purchased the wardship of those lands in Little Mitton,
Clitheroe, and elsewhere in the county of Lancaster, which
had been in the King's hands since the death of Roger
Nowell (the brother to Tempest's wife), to hold during the
minority of NowelFs two daughters and heirs, Grace and
Anne, with their marriage,*^ they being of the tender age of
six and four years respectively when their father died in
September, 1507.^*
Again at Trinity Term, 1516, Tempest and Starkie pur-
chased another wardship, being bound in an obligation to
pay at Pentecost ensuing (28th April, 1517) sixty-six
shillings and eight-pence for the wardship of Dorothy
Nevell.^^
In 1515 Nicholas Tempest was, with Nicholas Ellis,
Richard Banaster, and Sir Richard Tempest, Knt., a defen-
dant in a suit brought by Roger Tempest, of Broughton-in-
Craven, Esq., to recover damages for tlie removal of Ihirty
oxen, and twenty-five cows from a field of his called " East
fieM," in Broughton, on Monday after St. Michael's Day,
1514. The defence which Nicholas Tempest and his col-
leagues offered was that they acted in the matter as bailiffs
to Thomas Tempest, who. in right of his wife Margaret,
claimed a rent of forty shillings a year from Roger Tempest
for half of his manor of Broughton, which moiety had been
granted by Sir Richard Tempest, the great-grandfather to
Sir Thomas Tempest, whose sole heir Margaret was, to his
son Roger Tempest, the great-grandfather of the plaintiff
Roger, and by which rent the half of the manor was held,
though Roger had omitted to pay it since Sir Thomas's
death, seven years previous. Nicholas Tempest was also
summoned in another suit as to caption of cattle from
^ Ducbj of Lane. Inq. p. m. vol. viii. " Duchy of Lane. Inq. p. m. vol. iiu
No. SI of NichoUa Banaster. No. 22.
» Z9Hk Report Dep. Keeper Public ,s r,u ^ « « t. * ^ «^«
Eeoorda, p. 667. Chapter Houao Booki A. j^ p. 693.
Broughton, acting for his brother, Sir Richard, in tlie Hilary
term preceding.^^ At the end of May, 1523, he, with
Laurence Starkie (the under sheriff of Lancashire and
receiver of the Duchy of Lancaster), was employed by Lord
Darcy on behalf of the Crown to take charge of the
escheated estates of Lord Mouteagle, whose son and heir
was a minor. Starkie, in a letter dated from HornbyCastle,
2nd June, 1523, to Lord Darcy, thus explains Tempest's
position in the matter : — ** * * * * by^ ii^^^ master Robert
Chaloner on Monday next after came thider and in your
lordship's name he shewed amonges the householde that
your pleasure and commandment is that Nicholas Tempest
and Richard Banke shall have the charge of the house at
Horneby and receyve and take in to their handes all my
seid lorde's goodes that were seised and sequestered for the
Kinge. And also the Revenuez of my said late lorde's
landes." ^^ This appointment by Lord Darcy (whose wife
Doucebella was cousin to Nicholas) was doubtless profitable,
and one to which certain perquisites were attached.
By the marriage covenants of his nephew, Henry Tempest
(youngest son of Sir Richard), with Ellen Mirfield, dated
20th March, 18th Henry 8th (1526-7), it was agreed that
he as '* Nicholas Tempest the elder Esqr.," should be one of
the feoffees of the Mirfield's manor of Tong, &c., for the
use of the young couple.^®
In 1529 Nicholas Tempest, with Sir John Townley and
Richard Banaster, acted as commissioner for enclosing the
town fields of Padiham, near Whalley ;^^ and in 1533 he
arbitrated, with others, in a matter concerning the Abbot of
Whalley. An indenture made the 13th December, 25th
Henry 8th, ''upon dissension and controversy of divers
covenants bargains &c. j-et depending'' between John
abbot of Whalley of the one party, and John Deyne of
Tonworth of the other party, shows that the disputants
agreed to submit their differences to the award and judg-
ment of " us Nicolesse Tempest, Charles Townley squyers,
Ranulph Lyney monk proctor of Blackborne and Nicholasse
18 De Banco Rolls, Trinity Term, 7 H. ^^ Original deed penes Sir R. Tempest
8, m. 314, and Hil. Term, 6 H. 8, m. 649, Tempest, Bart, of Tong 1890.
and Michs. Term, 6 H. 8, m. 412. »» Whitaker's Hist, of Whalley, Ist Ed.
*' Cal.State Papers, Hen. 8, vol. iii. p. 254.
No. 3070.
Talbot gentylman;" upon which the arbitrators decided
that this John Deyne was entitled to a pension of twenty-
three shillings and fourpence a year, which the Abbot was
forthwith to settle, which sum he received until the 11th
November, 1536,^^ when the Monastery was dissolved, and
Deyne, losing his annuity, petitioned the Crown for its con-
tinuance, thus giving us this passing notice of our subject.
About this date Nicholas Tempest was granted by the
Exchequer, a lease of the Cloth Seal for Yorkshire, by which
as King's Aulnager he received a small fee for every piece of
cloth he passed and set his seal to, which in the great
Yorkshire markets must have produced considerable sums.
The lease has not j'et been discovered in the Patent Itolls
and it is only through the petition of Robert Fourness,
servant to Sir Henry Savile, begging for the remainder of the
lease of sixteen years, of which he says six have expired,^*
after Tempest's attainder in 1537 that we are able to trace
the appointment.
The next notice we have of Nicholas is in connection
with the "Pilgrimage of Grace " and we think we cannot do
better than quote his statement, when possible, in giving the
account of the transactions which led him to his death.
"Nicholas Tempest of Craven, gentleman, sworne and
examined (on the 23rd April, 29tli Henry 8th) by the right
worshipful Mr. Doctor Layton, Mr. Doctor Tregonwell, Mr.
Doctor Legh and Mi\ Doctor Peter in the presence of Mr.
John Aprice saith that upon a Saturday next after saint
Luke's day last passed (21st October, 1536), John Catherall,
Anthony Talbot, Richard Hamerton, John .... men and
divers others of the Commons amounting to the nombre of
M* men came to this examinate's house of B[ashall] in
Bolland, he being [absent] and there spoyled this examinates
goods to the value of C'^ which ho never had agen. And
took a Sonne of his called John with theym and sware hym
forthwith and bade hym that he should send worde to this
examinate his father that he shulde come in to theym within
jj houres after or els they wolde strike oflF the said John's
hedde. Whereupon this examinate havyng the same worde
brought hym from theym, came in the same night and when
* Augmentation Miscell. Took P. R. ^^ Cal.State Papers, Hen. 8, vol.
0. No. 287, foL 3. xii., No. 1228.
there, John Catherall toke this examinate by the hande and
toke promise of hym to be trewe to the commons. And
on the morrowe by appoyntment this examinate was
with theym at Manabent where Syr Stephyn Hamurton
was" . . . .^
- Sir Stephen Hamerton, whose statement we will next
follow, narrates how he was at " Manybent " or " Manabent"
— called Monubent on the Ordnance maps of to-day and lying
about 9 miles N.E. from Bashall — " environed by about 300
persons who took him and by some of them he was sworne
and then sent with others to the lord Cumberland who bade
them go home. Than they saide ^ nai my lord but this will
not serve us.' Than said he, • I defye you, and do your
worste for I will not meddle with you.' And when ther
messingers retorned to Manybent the place appointed, they,
the commons were not there but were gone to take Nicholas
Tempest, and as this examinate harde say, they toke of the
same Nycholas's goodes till they had taken hym. And as
they were cummyng from thence this examinate and the
said messingers mett them betwixt Bolton (in BoUand) and
Sallay. And there they reaported what aunswere they had
of my lorde of Cumberland. And they heryng that, sayde
they wolde have hym or els they wolde die for yt, and there
they shewed this examinate that they had taken Nicholas
Tempest. On the morowe they mett all at Manybent and
so went home.'' ^
From Tempest's narrative it is evident that the approach
of the commons filled him with apprehension and drove him
from his home as it did lord Scrope of Bolton, who wrote on
the 12th October that hearing they (the commons) would
be at his house at Bolton " this day either to sware him or
to take him" left his wife and house that day and went
abroad " till he knew what their purpose was ; " ^^ tactics
which Tempest pursued though their threats towards his son
John soon explained to him their "purpose." By these and
many other letters and depositions proof is afforded that
however greatly the gentry of Yorkshire disapproved of the
King's measures with regard to the dissolution of the
^ Tempest's Statement. State Papers, Chapter House Books, A -^ pp. 55 & 27.
"owAVT^ nnrro£i.u T. '* Cal. State Papers, Hen. 8, voL ii.
P. R. 0. Dom. 29 H. 8, first box—' ^^ ggy ^ *
-' Sir Steph. Hamerton's Statement,
Monasteries, they did not willingly join in rebellion. The
tenets held by the commons were intolerant to their superiors
for we find that it was agreed that " all the commons in
every township should rise on pain of death and take all
lords and gentlemen and make them swear If any
lord or gentleman do deny to take this oath, then put them
to death and put the next of his blood in his place. And if
he deny, put him to death in Uke sort, so one after another
until one of the blood take the oath." ^
Nicholas Tempest in his deposition declares that when the
commons were assembled at Manybent they — "there by
counsail determyned that the same Sir Stephen (Hamerton)
shulde go to Colne and Burneley and this examinate to
Whalley in Lancashire to fetch the commons therein to theym
and to sweare theym. And on Monedaye following (23rd
October) this examinate with thre or foure hundreth men
went to Whalley abbey where being kept out upon ij houres,
at the last were lett in for feare of burnyng their barnes and
corne, and there this examinate sware the Abbot and upon
(upwards of) an eight of his brethern according to Aske's
othe. And Sir Stephyn went to thother two places (Colne
and Burnley) and sware theym there and in their roo[m]
mett together bothe the same Monedaye in the evening and
[related] either to the other what they had done." ^^ Sir
Stephen makes no reference to his visit to Colne and
Burnley.
Before these events had taken place in Craven, an order
had been issued by Aske, while the commons or pilgrims
were in York (viz. 16th or I7th October) for the restitution of
monasteries to their abbots and monks, the decree being
affixed to the Minster doors, and within the following week
the King's tenants of Church lands were universally expelled,
at least in such cases as the monks or nuns appeared to
claim their own, as happened at Salley abbey, which lord
Darcy had purchased the previous May.
On the return of the exiled Cistercians to their deserted
convent they found themselves destitute of the necessaries of
life, and were absolutely dependent for food on the bounty
of their neighbours amongst whom they counted Nicholas
^ Qaaquet's Henry 8, and Engliah original.
Manaataiiety toL IL p. 105, note quoting ^ Tempest's Statement.
Tempest whose family had ever been their benefactora. He
thus describes what he did in the matter. "And examined
touching the suppUcation sent from the abbote of Salley to
Sir Thomas Percy, saith upon his othe and allegiance tliat lie
nether was privey to the sending foorthe or devysing of tli^
same supplication nor to th' answere brought again of tlie
same, but he saithe that when the commons had putt in
the Abbote and monks at Sallay this exarainate gave them
a fat oxe, one mutton, and ij or iij ghees, as other of his
ney hours did, and more ayde, comfort nor counsaill by word
or deed or writin^x he never gave them otherwise than
is above deposed." ^^
This "supplication '' sent from Salley to Sir Thomas Percy
on which so much stress was laid both in Sir Thomas's caso