Tudor Kings & Queens
1405 – 1603
‘The Golden Age’
Introduction
Following the Black Death and the agricultural depression of the late 15th century, the English population began to increase.
The export of woollen products resulted in an economic upturn with products exported to mainland Europe. The high wages and abundance of available land seen in the late 15th century and early 16th century were replaced with low wages and a land shortage. Various inflationary pressures, perhaps due to an influx of New World gold and a rising population, set the stage for social upheaval with the gap between the rich and poor widening.
This was a period of significant change for most of the rural population, with manorial lords beginning the process of enclosure of land boundaries. Land disputes were settled in court cases.
Data Sources
The Court of the Star Chamber
The Star Chamber was an English court of law which sat at the royal Palace of Westminster, from the late 15th century to the mid-17th century, and was composed of Privy Councillors and common-law judges, to supplement the judicial activities of the common-law and equity courts in civil and criminal matters.
The Court of Chancery
The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid the slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including trusts, land law, the estates of lunatics and the guardianship of infants.
Quarter Sessions
The courts of quarter session were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England (including Wales) from 1388 until 1707, then in 18th-century Great Britain, in the later United Kingdom, and in other dominions of the British Empire.
Prerogative Courts of Canterbury & York
The term applied to the English provincial courts of Canterbury and York having jurisdiction over the estates of deceased persons. They had jurisdiction to grant probate or administration where the diocesan courts could not entertain the case owing to the deceased having died possessed of goods above a set value in each of two or more dioceses.
Exchequer, The Kings Remembrancer
Records of the King's Remembrancer (or Queen's Remembrancer), one of the two major Exchequer officials concerned with the accounting and audit procedures and also in the wider administrative functions of the Court of Exchequer from the twelfth century to the nineteenth. The records are therefore extensive and diverse.
Court of Augmentations
The Court of Augmentations was one of a number of financial courts established during Henry's reign. It was founded in 1536 to administer monastic properties and revenues confiscated by the crown at the dissolution of the monasteries. The court had its own chancellor, treasurer, lawyers, receivers and auditors.
Henry VII (1485-1509)
Henry attained the throne when his forces defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the culmination of the Wars of the Roses. He was the last king of England to win his throne on the field of battle. He cemented his claim by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV and niece of Richard III. Henry was successful in restoring the power and stability of the English monarchy after the civil war.
Henry VIII (1509-1547)
Henry is best known for his six marriages, in particular his efforts to have his first marriage, to Catherine of Aragon, annulled. His disagreement with the Pope on the question of such an annulment led Henry to initiate the English Reformation, separating the Church of England from papal authority. He appointed himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England and dissolved convents and monasteries, for which he was excommunicated. Henry is also known as "the father of the Royal Navy"; he invested heavily in the Navy, increasing its size greatly from a few to more than 50 ships.
Domestically, Henry is known for his radical changes to the English Constitution, ushering into England the theory of the divine right of kings. Besides asserting the sovereign's supremacy over the Church of England, he greatly expanded royal power during his reign. Charges of treason and heresy were commonly used to quell dissent, and those accused were often executed without a formal trial.
1519 – William Cokson or Cockson, register of Will, Canterbury + Indian sub continent
1538 – Coxon v Parke. Court case1539 – Isabella Cockeson, Baptism, Halifax, York
1541 – Elizabeth Cockson, Baptism, St Peter, Mancroft, Norwich, Norfolk
1544 – Wylliam Cokson, Baptism, Rye, Sussex
1544 – Cuthbert Cockson, Alderman of Doncaster, Yorkshire, Site of house of Carmelite friars.
1544 – Robert Cockson, a mercer, defendant with others, Sudbury, Court of Chancery.
1545 – Robert Cockson (Coxson) Mayor of Wallingford
1546 – Rye Cockson, Baptism, All Saints, Dewsbury, Yorkshire
Edward VI (1547-1553)
During his reign, the realm was governed by a regency council because he never reached his majority. The council was first led by his uncle Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1547–1549), and then by John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick (1550–1553), who from 1551 was Duke of Northumberland.
Edward's reign was marked by economic problems and social unrest that in 1549 erupted into riot and rebellion. An expensive war with Scotland, at first successful, ended with military withdrawal from Scotland and Boulogne-sur-Mer in exchange for peace. The transformation of the Church of England into a recognisably Protestant body also occurred under Edward, who took great interest in religious matters.
1550 – John Cockson, husbandman of Boston, Lincolnshire, Plaintiff. Recovery of certain obligations. Court of Chancery.
1550 – Elizabeth Cockson, tenement and land in Thurston, Derbyshire. Court of Augmentations.
1551 – Alice Coxen baptism, Wootton Glanville, Dorset1552 – Joan Coxon received a calf (value 6s 8d) in the will of John Nettlyton of Sudbourne, Suffolk.
1552 – Nycholas Kockson, Baptism, St John the Baptist, Croydon, Surrey.
1552 – John. Kockson, Baptism, St John the Baptist, Croydon, Surrey.
1553 – Anna Cockeson, Baptism, St John the Baptist, Croydon, Surrey.
Mary I (1553-1558)
Mary I, also known as Mary Tudor, is best known for her aggressive attempt to reverse the English Reformation, which had begun during the reign of her father, Henry VIII.
The executions that marked her pursuit of the restoration of Roman Catholicism in England and Ireland led to her denunciation as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents.
During her five-year reign, Mary had over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian persecutions.
1554 – John Cockson, St. Johns College, Cambridge University, BA degree
1555 – John Coxon, Baptism, Christ Church, Greyfriars, London
1556 – Robert Cockson (or Cokson or Coxon), University of Oxford, BA degree
1556 – Margaret Coxon, Baptism, Christ Church, Greyfriars, London
1556 – William Cockson, draper of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. Plaintiff. Refusal to complete a lease. Court of Chancery.
1557 – Katherine Cockson married James Ducket, Doncaster, Yorkshire.
1557 – Nycholas Coxson baptism, St. Benet, Fink, London
Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
The reign of Queen Elizabeth I is often depicted by historians as the golden age in English history. This “golden age” was the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of poetry, music and literature. The era is most famous for theatre, as William Shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke free of England’s past style of theatre.
It was also an age of exploration and expansion abroad, while back at home, the Protestant Reformation became more acceptable to the people, most certainly after the Spanish Armada was repulsed.
1558 – John Coxon, Defendant, Court of Star Chamber, Forgery of demise in Hertfordshire.
1558 – Awgustyn Coxson baptism , St. Benet, Fink, London
1558 – Johan. Coxson baptism , Rotherham, York
1558 – Broughton v Nicholas Coxsone alias Coxen, Court of Chancery.
1561 – Lawrence Coxon, Baptism,Christ Church, Greyfriars, London
1562 – Robertus Cockson, Baptism, Houghton-in-the-Hole, Norfolk
1564 – Dorothea Coxen, Baptism, Handsworth St Mary, Staffordshire
1568 – Thomas Cockson married Ann Patricke, Doncaster, Yorkshire
1576 – John Cockson, Baptised Wadworth, Yorkshire
1572 – Margeria Coxson married Willelmus Croft, Ashbourne, Derbyshire
1579 – Martha Coxon, Baptism, Washington, Durham
1580 – Jane Cockson, Died Wadworth, Yorkshire
1585 – last will of Nycholas Cocksonn, parish of Pitting-ton, England
1585 – Last will of John Coxon, Died Wainfleet (or Winthorpe), Lincolnshire
1588 – Anna Coxson married Thomas Shirle, Ashbourne, Derbyshire
1589 – Thomas ye son of Briane Cockson, Baptised Pontefract, Yorkshire
1596 – Edward Snawsell married Barbara Cockson, Snath, Snaith, Yorkshire
1598 – John Coxen referred to in Robert Heyricke family papers at Oxford University