Robert Nichols of Lillington, aged 67 years, knew the plaintiff, the defendants, and the tenement, and “that it abuts itself against the High Street.” He had heard by credible report that John Mayowe did sometime dwell there. He had also heard that Richard was seised in the demesne as of fee of inheritance; that William was the son of Richard, that Roger was the son of William, and Thomas was son of Roger.
Thomas Lyncycome of Yardeley in the county of Worcester, tilemaker, 58 years of age, only knew that Thomas was eldest son and heir of Roger.
The depositions were signed by Fulke Greville and Humphrey Peto. Rather an unsatisfactory plea against possession for nigh eighty years! Doubtless the two deeds were in court—the grant of William Mayowe to John, son of Richard; and the sale by John Mayowe to Thomas Arden.
Then follow “Interrogatories to be ministered on the part and behalf of Edward Cornell, Robert Webbe, Edmund Lambert, and Joane his wife.” These also must be contracted, How many tenements are there in controversy? How many inhabited them? How long have you known them? Whose inheritance was it accounted? Was it the inheritance of Arden? What was the name of Arden? Have you ever known the ancestors of Mayowe occupy the premises? How long since they did so? Do you know if Robert Arderne of Wilmecote was seised in fee simple of said premises? Do you know if said Robert made any conveyance, and to what uses? Do you know if the persons to whom the grant was made peaceably succeeded on his death? Did Agnes Arderne, wife of the said Robert, occupy the premises or receive rent for it? The replies were clear.
1. Adam Palmer of Aston Cantlow, yeoman, of the age of 60 or thereabout, said that he knew both plaintiff and defendant, that he has known the messuage in controversy forty years and upwards, and that he was one of the feoffees about thirty-six years ago. He knew one Richard Shaxpere did occupy the same messuage as tenant to Robert Arderne als Arden, and also Saunder Webbe and his wife, one Cornwell, and now Robert Webbe, son to Saunder. He hath known the said messuage and land to have been in the quiet possession of Robert Arden and his wife Agnes, as his own inheritance, and after his decease, of Saunder Webbe, who married the daughter of Arden, and now of Robert Webbe, who is in possession as heir to Saunder Webbe. He never knew any of the ancestors of the complainant dwell in the premises. Robert Arden was seised in fee simple, and did in his lifetime make a conveyance to Joan Lambert, Katherine Edkins, and Joyce Edkins, his daughters and coheirs by the feoffment. The wife of Robert Arderne quietly enjoyed the premises till of late, within this two or three years, this complainant did make some title thereto. To his remembrance Robert Arderne died twenty-eight years since or thereabout. He knew that Agnes, the wife of Robert Ardern, received the rents and profits of the said messuage, 40s. by the yeare, and since it hath been improved to £4 by the year, and that she died about two years since.
2. The next witness called was John Henley of Snitterfield, husbandman, of the age of eighty years or thereabout. He knew both complainant and defendant, had known the messuage for about sixty-six years, that it had been in the quiet possession of Thomas Arderne alias Arden, father to Robert Arderne; and concerning Robert Arden, he said all that Adam Palmer said. He knew the inheritance to be in the possession of Thomas Arderne, and afterward of Robert Arden; he was witness to the possession-taking, but cannot remember the time of the death of Arden.
3. Next was called John Wager of Snitterfield, husbandman, of the age of 60 or thereabout. He knew both complainant, defendants, and property. He knew one Rushby and one Richard Shaxpere, one Alexander Webbe and his wife, Cornwell and his wife, and Robert Webbe, son to Alexander, to occupy the property. He hath known it to be in the Ardens for fifty years, and that Robert was seised in fee simple. He said the same as Adam Palmer, though he was neither a feoffee nor was at the delivery of seisin.
I had hoped to be able to turn the page and read details of John Shakespeare’s age and status, and what he had to say concerning Arden’s inheritance and his father’s tenure. But the paper abruptly ends, without further witness, and without signatures. No decree or order has been preserved. Either the Court considered the Ardens’ case too strong to need further proof, or John too interested for a witness, or the page was lost that bore his testimony, as so much is lost concerning his family. The evidence of continued possession shows what the decision of the Court was.
There is only one perplexing statement of Adam Palmer’s further to note. We have the deeds, and we know that this, formerly Mayowe’s property, when in the tenure of Richard Shakespeare was settled by Robert Arden on his daughters Agnes Stringer, Joane Lambert, and Katherine Edkins; while Palmer names them as Joan Lambert, Katherine Edkins, and Joyce Edkins. It was easy at the end of thirty-six years to forget which of the daughters had her share in this messuage, seeing they all really treated their shares, not as the third part of one, but as the sixth part of the two properties. Agnes Stringer had died long before, and her family lived in Shropshire.
But it is more puzzling to hear Palmer name “Joyce Edkins,” as it seems to imply that Joyce, as well as Katharine, had married an Edkins. I have made careful researches in every possible direction, but have been unable to trace a Joyce Edkins, except the sister of William Hill. I am inclined, therefore, to think that either Adam Palmer or the clerk slipped in giving the name of Edkins to Joyce, as well as to Katharine. She should have been Joyce Arden with her share in the other property. The fate of Joyce has yet to be discovered, if she was not buried, as I suggested was possible, in Pedmore, in 1557 (see my “Shakespeare’s Family,” p. 181).