The Court of Chivalry 1634-1640.
This free content was Born digital. CC-NC-BY.
Richard Cust, Andrew Hopper, '125 Cooke v Bagge', in The Court of Chivalry 1634-1640, ed. Richard Cust, Andrew Hopper, British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/court-of-chivalry/125-cooke-bagge [accessed 31 October 2024].
Richard Cust, Andrew Hopper, '125 Cooke v Bagge', in The Court of Chivalry 1634-1640. Edited by Richard Cust, Andrew Hopper, British History Online, accessed October 31, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/court-of-chivalry/125-cooke-bagge.
Richard Cust, Andrew Hopper. "125 Cooke v Bagge". The Court of Chivalry 1634-1640. Ed. Richard Cust, Andrew Hopper, British History Online. Web. 31 October 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/court-of-chivalry/125-cooke-bagge.
In this section
125 COOKE V BAGGE
William Cooke of Thorne, Ottery St Mary, co. Devon, esq v John Bagg of Ottery St Mary, co. Devon, miller
October 1639
Ottery St Mary, with the parish church of St Mary in the foreground. It was at a public meeting in the town in 1639 that William Cooke claimed that he had been assaulted by John Bagg (Photograph: Richard Cust)
Abstract
Cooke petitioned that he had been assaulted by Bagg at a public meeting at Ottery, Devon, where Bagg called him 'a base knave and a base gent'. Upon being questioned by some gentlemen present, Bagg replied 'I cannot make him baser than he is.' Cooke maintained that he was a trained band captain and that his family had been gentry for 300 years, whereas Bagg was merely a yeoman. No further proceedings survive.
Initial proceedings
6/102, Petition
'About the 25th day of June last, your petitioner being at Awtry in the county aforesaid, in the company of divers gent. and others at a publique meeting, was there assaulted by one John Bagg of Awtry, yeoman, who (without any provocation given him) told your petitioner that he was a base knave and a base gent, and being reproved for such his speeches by some gent. then present Bagg replyed that he could not make your petitioner baser then he was.'
Petitioned that Bagg be brought to answer.
Maltravers granted process, no date.
17/5i, Libel
The defendant was described as a miller.
1. Cooke's family had been gentry for up to 300 years and Cooke was a captain of a trained band.
2. Between May and July 1639, Bagge said: 'That I was a base knave and a base gentleman, and being questioned by some there present for speaking such words he replied, I cannot make him baser than he is.'
3. These contemptuous words were provocative of a duel.
No date but filed under 12 October 1639.
Signed by Joseph Martyn.
Notes
William Cooke was the second son of John Cooke of Thorne, gent, and Margaret, daughter of Richard Sherman of Ottery St Mary.
F. T. Colby (ed.), The Visitation of the County of Devon in the year 1620 (Publications of the Harleian Society, 6, 1872), p. 69.
Documents
- Initial proceedings
- Petition: 6/102 (no date)
- Libel: 17/5i (12 Oct 1639)
People mentioned in the case
- Bagg, John, miller and yeoman
- Cooke, John, gent
- Cooke, Margaret
- Cooke, William, esq
- Howard, Henry, baron Maltravers
- Martyn, Joseph, lawyer (also Martin)
- Sherman, Margaret
- Sherman, Richard
Places mentioned in the case
- Devon
- Thorne
- Ottery St Mary
Topics of the case
- assault
- denial of gentility
- military officer
- provocative of a duel
- trained band