Author: lanyongenealogy

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Princess Joan of Kent

We learn about the next generation of the Lanyon family from a legal dispute of 1386 with Princess Joan of Kent, the widow of Edward the Black Prince, who fought at Crecy. She would have been queen but her husband died before his father, Edward III, and the throne passed to her son, Richard II.

Edward III and the Black Prince

The legal dispute between Princess Joan and the Tregamynyans and Lanyons had rumbled on for many years and was only settled after Joan’s death in 1385.

Joan of Kent from illustrated manuscript, Cotton MS Nero D VII, folio 7v, aka: The Benefactors’ Book of St Albans Abbey (‘the Golden Book of St Albans’)

When James Tregamynyan died without heirs the estate passed to his aunt Sibyl Lanyeyn and her sister Isabel. Isabel was married to John Robyn. Sibyl, Isabel and John Robyn granted the lands to John Lanyeyn but he was ousted by James Park (Keeper of the Fees for Princess Joan of Kent) who claimed that Robyn was a villein of the princess. Consequently when the pincess died the land passed to the king who granted it to a man named Langueth. Raphe Lanyeyn, John and Sibyl’s son, requested that this should be repealed.

The judgement favoured Raphe Lanyeyn but Alexander Langueth was later allowed a rent free life interest in Isabel & John Robyn’s portion.

Richard II – Westminster Abbey, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

“To John Aston Escheator in Cornwall. Order to remove the King’s hand and meddle no further with a moiety of the lands of Joceus de Tregemyngnoun, delivering to Ralph son of John Lanyeyn any issues thereof taken; as the king. Has learned by inquisition, taken by the Escheator that the said Joceus was seized of 12 messuages, 3 carucates of land and 20s of rent in Tregemynyan, Trenwen, Croghton, Tregessyelle, Keguyn and Bossnyoun, that he had a son named Richard and two daughters Sibyl & Isabel and died, that Richard his son & heir had a son named James. And died, that the said James died without issue, that Sibyl the said first daughter married John Lanyeyn, that they had a son named Ralph and the said John died, that Isabel his second daughter married John Robyn, a villein of the princess as of her dower in Cornwall, that the said Sibyl and John Robyn with Isabel his wife were seized of all the premises and granted the same to the said Ralph and the heirs of his body, that he was seized thereof by virtue of that grant, taking all the profits, until be reason of John Robyn’s neifty (servitude, bondage, or villeinage) James Park, Keeper of the fees of the Princess of Cornwall seized all the premises, thrusting out the said Ralph and that for that cause the same are in the king’s hand by the death of the princess; and now at suit of the said Ralph, after deliberation in chancery with the justices, the king reckons the seizure insufficient in regard to one moiety of the premises being aware that his other’s feodary seized that moiety without process of law.”

Source: Calendar Curia Rolls 9 Richard II Vol 3 (1386)

Calendar of Close Rolls, Ric II, vol. III, 1385-1389, (Public Record Office, 1921), p.71 (1386 order to remove King’s hand from moiety of lands of Joyce de Tregemyngnoun, delivering petitioner any issues taken thereof)

Calendar of Patent Rolls, Ric II, vol. III, 1385-1389, (Public Record Office, 1900), p.304 (1387 grant for life to petitioner of all lands and tenements late of James Tregamynyon).

Legal Dispute with Princess Joan – SC 8/305/15206 National Archives
The Tregamynyan family tree

Lanyons of Lanyon Madron Cornwall 1929 – John & Sibyl by JVMDownload
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David de Kylminawis

David was born about 1280 and died after 1341. David may have been the brother of Sarah Lynyen. It’s not possible to say with any certainty but they were both living at the same time. The tree below shows the possible relationship.

Kylminawis – Kyl may be the equivalent to the Scottish Kil meaning church so Kylminawis possibly refers to St Minver in North East Cornwall.

A Cornish language expert has also suggested that the name Kylminawis is near identical to the earliest recorded spellings of Kilminorth, Talland on Cornwall’s southeast coast. Those spellings are ‘Kilminawyd’ and ‘Kylmynawyd’ 1284, It’s thought to contain the words ‘kyl’ meaning ‘nook, back, ridge’ and ‘menowes’ meaning ‘awl, or a hill, stone or piece of land shaped like an awl.’ I haven’t been able to find any connection to this area and the 1341 charter mentions David’s bake house in Portzwyhan which is now Port Quin which is on the north coast near St Minver. There are also family connections to St Ervan, St Merryn, Padstow and Harlyn.

In the Fine Rolls there is a mention of a David de Kilminand in Cornwall, is this David the father of David de Kilminawis?

1272 Fine Roll Henry III – David de Kilminand – Cornwall – gives half a mark for having a pone order to the Sheriff of Cornwall.

In the context of medieval English Fine Rolls (records of payments to the King for favours and legal concessions), a pone refers to a legal writ used to remove a case from a lower court (such as a county court) to a higher court, specifically the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster. 

In 1341 there is a charter which mentions David de Kylminawis and his son John who married Sibyl de Tregamynyan.

St Enodoc’s Church at St Minver by Peter Skynner,


Edward III – Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

“David De Kylmynawis to John his firstborn son & heir, and to the heirs of his body by Sibyl daughter of Joceli de Tregaminion his wife, with remainder to the grantor and his heirs. Charter with warranty of all his messuages, lands etc. In Kylmynawis, namely yards, gardens, woods, meadows, moors, turbaries, launds an pastures, and his corn mill there with multiple, waters and watercourses or beads, his bake house with garden in the town of Portzwyhan, the rent and service of John de Landewarnek and his heirs for lands held of the grantor in Kylcoys, of Simon de Kylcoys there, of Paternus and Robert brothers of the grantor for lands of him held for their lives in Kylcoys, of Margery his sister likewise in Araweyte, and the reversion of all lands of the said John, Simon, Paternus, Robert and Margery which they claim to hold for life of the grantor and his heirs when it shall fall in.”

Dated Kylminawis, Friday before St Barnabas 15 Edward III

Source: CCR Calendar Curia Rolls, Henry IV, Vol.4, 1441-47, (Public Records Office, London, 1937), 452/3.

Portzwyhan is Port Quin today.

Port Quin and St Minver in North Cornwall.

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Lanyon Quoit

Lanyon Quoit is a dolmen about 2 miles south of Morvah in Cornwall. It is one of a number of neolithic monuments and cromlechs in West Penwith.

In 1815 the dolmen collapsed during a storm and was rebuilt and its appearance today is very different to the original dolmen.

Lyn Harper / Lanyon Quoit and the Ding Dong mine

William Borlase drew the original dolmen before its collapse.

William Borlase (1695-1772) .
Wikipedia – Stone Age Cornwall
Reproduced with kind permission of the artist- Jo Witherington https://www.jowitherington.co.uk
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The Manor House at Lanyon

The Manor House at Lanyon was just west of Penzance at Madron. Originally these were turf houses which were extensively rebuilt each generation. In the mid 13th century they were replaced by a long house with thick granite walls, a turf roof and a central hearth. The hall would have been very smoky and smelly from animals in the barn and house. 

In 1390 the Bishop of Exeter licensed the Vicar of Madron to hold services in the Chapel of the Blessed Mary of Lanyen which is next to the present farm and suggests that the main house was at this location in 1390.

The site of Old Lanyon was scheduled under the Monuments Act of 1957 and in 1964 an archeological excavation of the mediaeval settlement took place. It found that Old Lanyon was a series of superimposed buildings dating from c1050 to the 16th century.

Source: 1. Beresford G 1994 – Old Lanyon Madron – A Deserted Medieval Settlement.

Source: 2. Minter EM 1965 – Lanyon in Madron – Interim Report on the Society’s 1964 Excavation.

Click here for Historic England search records.
Click here for EM Minter’s report on the excavation.

The last Lanyon to live at the old manor house was John Lanyon, who died in 1784 aged 92, after that the old house was taken down and the current farm house was built. It’s still possible to see some parts of the old manor.

Bob Jones / Mounting steps at Lanyon Farm

The remains of the old manor house at Madron – from ‘These Were Our People’ by Ruth Lanyon

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Roger de Linyeine – The First Lanyon

The earliest Lanyon is Roger De Linyeine/Leniein who died before 1215. He was married to Agnes Beauchamp (Bello Campo) and after his death she pleaded for a third part of two acres which she claimed as her dowry on Hugh de Bello Campo. She was successful and passed her land to her son/stepson John de Linyeine. (A Cornish Acre is apparently approx 300 acres but the size varied over time.)

How big is a Cornish Acre?

Lanyon was subject to the Domesday Manor of Binnerton held by Hugh de Bello Campo. Agnes may have been the daughter of Stephen de Beauchamp and Stephen was the son of Hugh.

“Cornub Agnes que fuit uxor Rogeri de Leniein optulit se quarto die versus Hugonem de Bello Campo de placito tercie partis duarum acrarum terre cum pertinentiis in Leniein, quam ipsa clamat in dotem versus eum: et Hugo non venit etc. Et summonito etc. Judicum. Tercia pars capitur in manum…”

CRR Curia Regis Rolls, John 15-16, C.T.Fowler (Ed.), (Public Records Office, 1971),p.193.

King John signs Magna Carta 1215

The next time we see the name Lanyon is in 1244 in the Cornwall Feet of Fines. Roger’s son John receives two small parcels of land from Stephen de Bello Campo, one at Little Bosullow and one in Lower Drift in Sancreed. John guarantees no interference to the water supply to the mill.

Henry I – Matthew Paris (Historia Anglorum), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

One of the few ways to find families at this time is through property transactions and legal disputes. A charter of 1284 gives us the name of John de Leynen’s son, David and his wife Marina.

Edward I

“At Lanzaveton (Launceston) 1 month from Easter day, in the 28th year of King Henry (1 May 1244). Before Henry de Tracy, Gilbert de Preston and Robert de Haya, justices itinerant, and other liegemen of our lord the King then there present. Between John de Linyeine (Lanyon in Madron), plaintiff, and Hugh de Bello Campo (Beauchamp) [tenant] whom Stephen de Bello Campo vouched to warranty, & who warranted to him 3 ferlings of land in Botuolo bichan (Little Bosullow in Madron) & 1 ferling of land in Drek bichan. John acknowledged the whole of the said land to be the right of Hugh. For this Hugh granted to John the 3 Ferlings in Botuolo bichan, to have and to hold to John and his heirs of Stephen and his heirs for ever, rendering therefor 40 1/2 (?) at the four terms of St Andrew (30 Nov.), Mid Lent, the Nativity of St John the Baptist (24 June), & St Michael (29 Sept.) for all services & demand. Moreover John granted for himself & his heirs that the water which runs from Retsic (Rissick) to Netcurran shall be a free stream by the land of the said John in Retsic as far as the mill of the said Stephen at Netcuran, as in contained in a charter made between Roger father of the said John and Hugh de Bello Campo, without hindrance from John or his heirs for ever.”

Cornwall Feet of Fines, Volume 1, Joseph Hambley Rowe (Ed), (Devon & Cornwall Record Society, Exeter, 1914), pp.39/40.

Charter of 1284 confirms that David, husband of Marina was the son of John de Leynen. The charter also mentions the properties obtained by John de Leynen in 1244.

“John de Leynen to David his son and William de Trenyer chaplain and to the heirs of the body of the said David by Marina his wife. Charter with warranty of all his lands and messuages in the towns of Lennyen, Resik, Bossewolonwyan, Polgon, Hendrenythyn, Boswolnel and Trengwenton, with two mills corn and fulling in Lenyen, and the rent, service and homage of Ralph de Pendyn and his heirs for land there, and of Michael Pennek, Sara his wife and their heirs for land in Trethyn by Treudreuen.”

Dated Lanyen Friday before St Peter’s Chains 12 Edward I

English Groat – Edward I – PHGCOM, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Fine Rolls mention a few of the medieval Lanyons but it is impossible to say where they fit on the tree.

1272 Fine Roll 56 – Henry III Cornwall – Simon de Lenyeyn gave a mark for a writ ad term.

1291 Fine Roll 19 Edward I – John de Lynyen gave half a mark for a pone.

1293 Fine Roll 21 Edward I – John de Lynyen gave half a mark for a pone.

In the context of medieval English Fine Rolls (records of payments to the King for favours and legal concessions), a pone refers to a legal writ used to remove a case from a lower court (such as a county court) to a higher court, specifically the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster. 

Zoom in and out to see Madron and surrounding areas in Cornwall.
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A Pardon from King Edward III

John de Lynyen was born about 1310 in Cornwall the son of David de Kylminawis. John died before 1386. He lived at Bosollow, Madron near Penzance. John married a neighbour Sibyl de Tregamynyan the daughter of Joscelin de Tregamynyan and his wife Joan of Tregamynyan Manor in Morvah.

Joan died in 1344 and Sibyl returned to Tregamynyan. When she went back to her home at Madron she brought her mother’s (possibly step-mother’s) jewels and other goods with her. Perhaps she felt they were rightly hers. Evidently her family thought otherwise and this led to her being charged with the theft. Her husband John was charged as an accessory to a felony as he permitted her to come home with the goods. If found guilty he would have faced being outlawed and his lands forfeit.

Having been charged, John appealed to a higher court and then left home to join the Earl of Derby’s army who were going to France.

French army besieging the citadel of Auberoche, catapaulting an English messenger over the walls- Jean de Wavrin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The 100 Years’ War started in 1337 and continued until 1453. In 1345 Edward III decided to send an army to France lead by Henry, Earl of Derby, his cousin.

A patent Roll of 24 Edward III (24th year of Edward III’s reign) explicitly states that John was charged before the Earl’s expedition of 1345. The Patent Roll does not disclose what John de Lynyen did in France but on their return The Earl of Derby (now also the Earl of Lancaster) gave personal testimony at Westminster on 3 June 1350 to John’s ‘good service in Gascony’ which obtained a royal pardon for him. John was able to return to Cornwall a free man.

Goran tek-en, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons –
Map of the Gascon Campaign

Whilst we don’t know what John did in Gascony it seems possible that he fought at the Battle of Auberoche.

The Earl of Derby gave personal testimony at Westminster on 3 June 1350 to John’s ‘good service in Gascony’ which obtained a royal pardon for him.

The National Archives at Kew Ref: SC 8/254/12666 & 12667
Old Cornwall Journal “The Lanions of Lanion, Madron, Cornwall: An Incident in the Family History” 1964
Edward III-AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Two Incidents in the family The Lanions of Lanion by JVM 1929Download

Lanyon Coat of Arms

Family Motto

“Vive Ut Vivas”

Live and Let Live

Another tradition, repeated by Bottrell, of Bosawa in St Buryan, (a house owned by the Lanyons), says ‘In the hall of this house there hung suspended on the wall a coat of mail, a buff jacket and a huge pair of jackboots of Cordovan leather, the monster spurs still buckled on them which once belonged to some renowned Lanyon: over the stone cut Lanyon arms an old rusty sword.‘

Could these boots have been John de Lynyens?

“Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall” by William Bottrell.