Isabel, called Elizabeth in the Ellerker
visitation pedigrees, daughter of John Hotham V (died 1419), married John
Ellerker, of Risby, Yorkshire, serjeant-at-law (“the judge”) [1].
Saltmarshe says that she was a daughter of Sir John Hotham VII (died 1461) and
his wife Elizabeth Eure, but this is chronologically and genealogically
impossible [2].
If she was a daughter of Elizabeth Eure, then her grandson, John Ellerker
married a daughter of her brother Ralph Eure. It is much more likely that she
was a daughter of John Hotham V.
On 20 June 1414, John Ellerker
was one of the feoffees of John Hotham VI, esquire, for his properties in
Westmorland and Lancashire [3].
On 15 June 1423, John Ellerker was appointed steward of the lordship of
Holderness, of the honour of Aumale and of the manor of Burstwick, with the
members, in the counties of York and Lincoln, late of Thomas late duke of
Clarence [4].
John Ellerker was appointed as
one of the king’s sergeants-at-law on 28 November 1424 [5].
On 15 December 1425 and 20 January 1426, John Ellerker was one of the feoffees
of John de Hotham knight, son of John de Hotham, knight in the presentation of
priests to a chantry in the church of Lowthorpe [6].
On 6 June 1428, John Ellerker of Risby and Isabel, his wife bought land in
South Cave, Swanland, Kirk Ella, and Bagfleet, from Edmund Lund and Elizabeth
his wife [7].
In 1429, John Ellerker was holding the lands of his nephew, John Hotham VII, in
Kendale, Westmorland which John Hotham V had inherited from Thomas de Thwenge [8].
In 1432, John Ellerker of Risby, Yorkshire, servant of the king at law, was
seised of a manor in Halton on Humber (East Halton, Lincolnshire) for ¼ knight's
fee [9].
John Ellerker, ‘senior’, died
before 24 March 1439, when his will was proved at York. Raine says that this
John Ellerker was the father of the judge, but he was was almost certainly the
serjeant-at-law, because there are no references in other documents to him as a
justice after 1439. In his will he leaves £40 to celebrate masses for the souls
of, amongst others, Thomas Duke of Clarence, Sir John Hotham knight, senior and
Sir John Hotham, knight, junior. These can only be John Hotham VI, who died in
1414, and John Hotham VI, who died in 1419 as John Hotham VII was not knighted
until about 1440, after the date of the will. These two John Hothams were his
wife’s father and brother. He leaves the residue of his goods to Isabel his
wife and to John and William his sons [10].
[1] W. Hylton Dyer Longstaffe, ed.,
Heraldic Visitation of the Northern Counties in 1530, by Thomas Tonge,
Norroy King of Arms, Surtees Society 41, 1863, 71.
[2] Saltmarshe, History of the
Hothams, 81.
[3] Farrer and Curwen, Records
Relating to the Barony of Kendale, Vol. 1, 317–42.
[4] Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. 15, Henry
VI: 1422-1430 (1935), 48.
[5] Calendar of Close Rolls, Henry VI, vol.
1: 1422-1429 (1933), 163.
[6] Joan Kirby, The York Sede
Vacante Register 1423-1426: A Calendar (York: Borthwick Institute, 2009),
86, 88.
[7] Feet of Fines, CP 25/1/280/155, number
54.
[8] H. C. Maxwell Lyte, ed., Inquisitions
and Assessments Relating to Feudal Aids, vol. 5 (London, 1908), 198.
[9] H. C. Maxwell Lyte, ed., Inquisitions
and Assessments Relating to Feudal Aids, vol. 3 (London, 1904), 343.
[10] J. Raine, ed., Testamenta
Eboracensia: A Selection of Wills from the Registry at York, Part II,
Surtees Society 30, 1855, 69.
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