After Stephens purchased those lands of Godolphin from Arundell, and came possessed thereof, his only daughter and heir was married to Ralph Knava, or Nava, of ——; which name or word is of quite another signification in the British tongue than what it signifies in the English; for knava, nava, nawe, naue, signifies the same as servus, servulus, famulus, minister, administer, ministrator, in Latin; hence it is that in Trevisa’s and Tyndale’s translation of the Bible into English, the word is used in this sense by them; Titus
i, v. 1, “Paul a knava of Jesus Christ;” and the like, 2nd Timothy, chap. i. v. 1, “Paul a nava of Jesus Christ;” which words, in the translation of the Bible in James I.’s time, the translators have rightly rendered into new English, by the names of “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ;” and “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ;” that is, a messenger, an ambassador, or servant, sent, as apostolus; in the original Greek δουλος (doulos), servus και et αποστολος (apostolus); and in all other places in the Old and New Testament, where they met with the Greek words doulos and apostolus, they are by them so rendered.
From the British names nave, nava, nawe, knawe, the old name or distinction of this tribe or family may be plainly inferred, for that the first ancestor or progenitor thereof was of a mere British extraction; a servant, steward, ambassador, minister, or messenger of God, Christ, his king, prince, or other master, (for those words are all synonymous, only by the dialect varied with the transposing of a vowel,) and is a name of office of one that is a substitute or vicegerent, and acts under another.
But more certain I am that John Knava, of Godolphin, Esq. was struck Sheriff of Cornwall by King Henry VII., 1504, who declared his great liking of that gentleman in all circumstances for the said office, but discovered as much dislike of his name after the English, not understanding the import thereof in Cornish, and so further said, that, as he was pater patriæ, he would transnominate him to Godolphin, whereof he was lord; and accordingly caused or ordered that in his letters patent under the broad seal of England, for being Sheriff of Cornwall, he should be styled or named John Godolphin, of Godolphin, Esq. and by that name he accounted at the year’s end with that king for his office in the Exchequer, and had his acquittance from thence, as appears from the record in the Pipe Office there.
Since which time his posterity have (ever since) made Godolphin the hereditary name of their family. His son, William Godolphin, Esq. was Sheriff of Cornwall 21 Henry VIII.; William Godolphin, Knight, was Sheriff of Cornwall 29 Henry VIII.; William Godolphin, Knight, was Sheriff of Cornwall, 3 Edward VI.; William Godolphin, Knight, was Sheriff of Cornwall 12 Elizabeth; Francis Godolphin, Esq. afterwards Sir Francis, was Sheriff of Cornwall 21 Elizabeth; Francis Godolphin, Knight, was Sheriff of Cornwall 2nd James I.; Francis Godolphin, Esq. afterwards Knight, was Sheriff of Cornwall 13 Charles I., whose son, Sir William Godolphin, was by Charles II. created the five hundred and fifty-second Baronet of England 29th April 1661. His younger brother, Sidney Godolphin, Esq. Member of Parliament for Helston, one of the Commissioners of the Treasury, who had been sent several embassies to foreign princes, was by King Charles II. by letters patent bearing date 8th Sept. 1684, created Lord Godolphin and Baron of Rialton.
Certes, from the time that this family was seised of Godolphin, such a race of famous, flourishing, learned, valiant, prudent men have served their prince and country in the several capacities of members of Parliament, justices of the peace, deputy lieutenants, sheriffs, colonels, captains, majors, and other officers, both military and civil, as scarce any other family this country hath afforded, which I do not mention (for that my great-grandmother on the one side, the wife of Sir John Arundell, of Tolverne, Knight, was daughter of the aforesaid Sir Francis Godolphin, Knight, Sheriff of Cornwall 21 Elizabeth,) but as their just character and merit; and I challenge the envious justly to detract from the same.
This Right Honourable Sidney Lord Godolphin aforesaid, was a commissioner for the Treasury about twenty years, which trust and office he discharged with
unquestionable justice, fame, and reputation, during the reigns of King Charles the Second, King James the Second, and till the latter end of the reign of King William the Third, when he voluntarily resigned his office. After that King’s death he was by Queen Anne made sole Lord High Treasurer of England, 1701, in which station he continued with unblamable conduct till the year 1710, the time of his death, (having been before, by that Queen, created Earl Godolphin,) a place of such import, trust, grandeur, and honour, as no Cornishman before him ever arrived to, except the Lord Benham, (or rather their name of old Cardinham,) temp. Henry VII. Two such persons perhaps for their skill in accounts, rents, revenues of the crown, and other matters pertaining to the exchequer, equal to, if not superior to, any Lord Treasurer of England before them.
The paternal coat-armour of this noble family are, Gules, an imperial eagle with two necks between three fleurs-de-lis argent.
Pen-gar-wick in this parish, also Pen-gars-wick, id est, the head word, or command, fenced or fortified place; so called from the command or authority of the lord thereof heretofore in these parts, and the strength of the house and the tower thereof, otherwise Pen-gweras-ike, i. e. the creek, cove, or bosom of waters, head help, as situate upon the sea, or waters of the British Channel. This barton and manor, in the latter end of the reign of Henry VIII., was purchased by one Mr. Milliton, a gentleman of the county of —— where having wilfully or accidentally committed murder, or slain a man, in order to shun or avoid justice he privately made the purchase aforesaid in the name of his son, and so immured himself in a private chamber of the tower of Pengarwick, that he was not seen of any person but his trusty friends, so that he finished the natural course of his life without detection of his person, or punishment for the crime aforesaid; but, alas! notwithstanding his concealment,