Thomas Thursby

Thomas Thursby (died 9 August 1510 in turn the son of John Thursby, Mayor of Lynn Regis 1425 and Deputy-Mayor 1435. ) Mayor of Norwich.

Elizabeth is not the daughter of John Burgoyne who in the Visitations of Cambridgeshire marries 'Thomas Thorseby of Norfolk', as that Elizabeth is still alive and apparently a wife in 1528, when she receives an inheritance from her mother Margaret. Elizabeth Burgoyne is probably the Isabel, late the wife of Thomas Thursby, who is involved in a suit in 1532–38. Isabel and Elizabeth were considered the same name in the period.

It is probably this couple, her husband's grand-nephew and his wife, Elizabeth refers to in her will, in which she gives Thomas Thursby a silver and gilt Agnus Dei with holy wax therein, and to his wife a silver and gilt image of our lady. He had two daughters named Elizabeth, one from each of his two first wives. The youngest is likely the one who also died in 1518, while in the household of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, as the Duke refers to her as 'my cousin'. The two were related through her mother, Lady Joan Stafford. Sir William was known to show favouritism towards the children of his second marriage at the expense of those of his first.

Francis Blomefield saw a north isle window in St. Laurence's Church, Norwich, commemorating Elizabeth's three husbands, bearing the inscription: ).

Controversy The confusion between which Thomas Thursby is which attains some degree of seriousness because one of them was a rather sinister character.

The Lowestoft Archaeological and Local History Society sums it up thus:Farming practices. Partly as a result of falls in population and partly in response to the demand for wool, there was a change from the traditional three-field system, which required a lot of labour, to grazing sheep. Richard gave several examples of “flockmasters”. These were men who bought up land that had once been open arable fields and converted it into enclosed sheep pasture. Thomas Thursby (1450-1510) was one of the most well documented as he was mayor of King's Lynn several times, also Lord of the Manor of Gayton and an ancestor of Prince William through the Spencer family. Others were Henry Fermur in Thorpland, William Day in Alethorpe, Edmund Jermyn in Sturston, and William Fermur (son of Sir Henry) in Pudding Norton. The behaviour of these, and others like them, towards the landless peasants was often very poor and one of the main causes leading to Robert Kett's rebellion in 1549. This same person was responsible for the disappearance of the medieval villages of Holt and Cecily Aylmer's Myntlynge, Mintlyn. The landlord Thomas Thursby was accused of appropriating most of the common land for himself, by enclosing it and converting it to pasture for his sheep, and of evicting tenants from their homes before demolishing them.

Many sources, like the above one does, today identify him with the Thomas Thursby who was Mayor of King's Lynn in 1502 and died in 1510.

M.J. Medlar, however, in The Gaywood River Valley in the Post-Medieval Period writes:Nationally, especially in the Midlands, there was a trend for large landowners of small communities to depopulate the villages and convert the arable to enclosed pasture for large flocks of sheep. Sheep farming, relying on only a few shepherds, was much cheaper to operate than arable farming, and the late fifteenth century was a prosperous time for the wool and cloth trade of England. Norfolk landowners also followed this pattern - the most famous being the Townshends of Raynham and the Fermors of East Barsham, who owned huge flocks in the Fakenham area. In an inquiry of 1517, Thomas Thursby, lord of the manor of Gayton, was accused of enclosing arable lands in Ashwicken, Leizate and Bawsey, as well as depopulating the hamlet of Holt in the parish of Mintlyn. Frequently, only one farm in a parish survived this type of enclosure, and this appears to be what happened in Bawsey, Ashwicken and Leizate. A map of about 1690 shows there were still approximately ten houses in Mintlyn, and even the modern Ordnance Survey maps record Mintlyn Farm close to the ruined church, and White House Farm near a moated site in the south-east of the parish Since this inquest took place in 1517, they would have had some difficulty in summoning the Thomas Thursby who died in 1510. As for the encloser, there is some definite proof as to who this character was:Thoresby, dead by the time the complaint was made, had enclosed eight years before, that is in 1540, a year after Lynn Priory was dissolved. Depositions were taken on 25 April 1549 before Sir Nicholas Lestrange, Sir Thomas Hollys, Edward Beawpre and John Dethyk. This points to his son, Thomas Thursby, who died in 1543, and variously inherited, owned and bought the above-mentioned properties which were raized.

Last will and testament The will of Thomas Thursby, Burgess and Merchant of Lynn Bishop, Norfolk, was dated 3 May 1510, sealed 2 June 1510 and proven 23 October 1510. ), m. Anne Anne Knyvett was the daughter of Sir Thomas Knyvett and his wife Muriel, widow of John Grey, 2nd Viscount Lisle, and daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. Anne Knyvett remarried to Henry Spelman, the son of Sir John Spelman Margery, married name Gryndell, who had the son John Gryndell (b.bef.1510 ) Elizabeth, married before 1510 Elyn Beatrice, who married firstly William Trew (d. 1510/12) of Lynn and secondly William Coningsby (by 1483–1540) of the Inner Temple, London and Lynn, Norfolk Margaret, the wife of Francis Mountford (1474/76–1536) of the Inner Temple, London and Feltwell, Norfolk. According to Miscellanea genealogica Thomas Thursby was married several times, so there is some uncertainty as to who the mother of his children was. They had two sons, Thomas Thursby (1498 ) and Henry. ), who at his death left behind a small son called Edward.

The Thomas Thursby his widow Elizabeth leaves a silver and gilt Agnus Dei with holy wax therein, and to his wife a silver and gilt image of our lady in 1518, was probably his great-grandnephew Thomas Thursby (1498–1532) and his wife Elizabeth Burgoyne. The two were married by 1509.