Post by Derek HowardPost by Sergei OudmanWe may be on less secure grounds with a Geoffrey Chamber, lord of the manor of Great
Stanmore, Middlesex in 1544 mentioned in the VCH <http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=26908>
but nevertheless potentially the same man, minor
gentry, the sort who may have done the grand tour early in life and borne a coat of arms.
In 1541 and 1542 this Geoffrey Chamber seems to have been the overseer
and receiver general of the King's purchased lands - a suitable
position for him to have held if he were making expensive gifts to the
King. (Did he get the job before or after the gift giving?). Four years
later he died, his goods inventoried, his widow Alice was involved in a
court case over his lands at St. Sepulchre's without Newgate, in London
and lands formerly his at Great Stanmore, Middlesex were later surveyed
as can be seen from the following A2A and National Archives catalogue
<snip>
Post by Derek HowardI wonder whether there are any visitation records for him and whether
there were any armorial monument at St Sepulchre's or Great Stanmore.
Anybody know?
The notes on the emblazoned shield no. 104, in the reference given at
the head of the thread to Stephenson and Griffin's article in
'Archaeologia, v 69, 1917-18', 1920, p 76, "A roll of arms
belonging to the Society of Antiquaries temp Henry VIII, c 1540",
continue by referring to the confirmation of arms in 1528 as being
Harleian ms. 4900, fol. 20b. [Foster's "Grantees of Arms ... to the
end of the seventeenth century", 1916, referring to the confirmation
of 26 Aug 1528 by Wriothesley and Benolte mentions in addition to this
copy a further two copies in Stowe ms 671, fol 75b, and Harleian ms
5887, fol.1]. Stephenson and Griffin further note that "the petition
proves that in 1528 he [Geoffrey Chamber] was of Stanmore,
Middlesex".
So, my earlier hypothesis that this man - the overseer and receiver
general of the King's purchased lands, who died 38 Henry VIII - was the
same Geoffrey Chamber who was in Italy in 1517 and was the grantee in
1518 looks correct. We can start to build a picture of the grantee. He
was a royal official in later life and it is by no means uncertain that
he was not employed by the King from a much earlier period. Thinking
more about the reasons he may have had for being in Italy, I am far
from convinced that in the early 16th century the Grand Tour would be
the most likely explanation, this is more probable at the end of the
century. I tend to think that in 1517-8 the more probable explanation
would be that he was in some way involved in the negotiations for the
Treaty of Universal Peace otherwise known as the Treaty of London, the
first international peace treaty to develop the concept of collective
security. This would ahve involved English diplomats in Italy. Italian
states such as the Papacy, Venice and Urbino were amongst the over
twenty parties including England, France, the Emperor, Spain, Denmark,
Portugal, the Swiss, Guelders, etc., and, as its name suggests, it was
eventually signed in London - on 2 October 1518 [J J Scarisbrick, Henry
VIII, 1968, p 102 et seq.; J D MacKie, The Earlier Tudors, 1952, 308].
This would certainly be a good reason for diplomatic grants of arms
during negotiations in Italy. But this also brings up the intriguing
possibility that the grant just may have taken place in England - if
Riario had travelled as one of the diplomatic corps with Cardinal
Campeggio, the Papal legate a latere (and was using the latter's
authority). This is a possibility worth exploring. Perhaps something
will turn up in Letters and Papers.
Sims' index of pedigrees contained in the heralds' visitations in
the British Museum shows an entry for Chamber under Middlesex and
refers to Harleian ms. 890, fol. 30b. However, Harl. 890 is a copy of
the visitations for Huntingdon and Northampton of 1564. The former
appears to be unpublished but the latter is published at "The
Visitations of Northamptonshire, 1564 and 1618-9; with Northamptonshire
pedigrees from various Harleian MSS", ed. W C Metcalfe, 1877. This
should be checked for a possible Chamber entry.
That Geoffrey Chamber of Stanmore had descendants bearing the 1518 arms
appears probable. Berry's Encyclopaedia Heraldica, v 3 includes an
entry for Chambre [sic] Or a cross Ermine between four martlets Azure
on a chief of the last a serpent between two roses of the first, Crest:
a cock Gules holding three ears of wheat Or. This is borne it is said
"by the late Sir Allan Chambre, Knt. Of Lincoln's Inn Fields,
London, formerly one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, who
died 1823". It is not identical to Chamber of Stanmore but close
enough for it to be but artistic difference over two centuries and not
a similar grant (of which none is recorded in Berry or Edmondson nor
anything obvious in Grantees of Arms).
Other variant but unattributed entries for Chamber include Or a cross
between four martlets Vert; and for Chambers Sable a cross coupled
Ermine between four martlets rising Or (with crest of a demi-eagle
displayed Gules wings Or on a ducal coronet) - though most Chambers
have variants, irrelevant here, of ermine and chevrons, several with
punning gun barrels.
Derek Howard