62 Brabant v Vincent

This free content was Born digital. CC-NC-BY.

Citation:

Richard Cust, Andrew Hopper, '62 Brabant v Vincent', 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/62-brabant-vincent [accessed 25 November 2024].

Francis Brabant of Penhale, co. Cornwall and the Inner Temple, London, gent v Henry Vincent of St Clement, co. Cornwall

February 1637 - February 1638

**Figure 62:**
The Stannaries court house in Lostwithiel, Cornwall, where Henry Vincent's witnesses were due to be examined in January 1638 (Photograph: Richard Cust)

Abstract

Brabant claimed that Vincent had called him 'a base fellowe, and a base knave' and had said 'that I had betrayed my master Sir Richard Greenvill and that I was Iscariot'. Brabant further claimed that Vincent, on being warned that he might be questioned in the Court of Chivalry, 'sayd that I was a base fellowe and that he did not care for any that should question him for the premises before my Lord Marshall.' Proceedings were under way by February 1637 and commissioners to examine Brabant's witnesses were ordered to meet at St Minver, Cornwall, 29-31 March 1637, headed by Nicholas Borlase, esq, and Humphrey Lower, gent. By October 1637 Dr Eden was preparing material for Vincent's defence and a commission to examine his witnesses was directed to sit in the court house at Lostwithiel, Cornwall, 23-25 January 1638, headed by Thomas Herle, esq, and Nicholas Gilbert, esq. The cause was still depending in February 1638, but no further proceedings survive.

Initial proceedings

Acta (5), fo. 45, Libel [damaged]

Brabant's family had been gentry for up to 200 years. Vincent gave him the lye and said that: 'I was a base fellowe, and a base knave and that I had betrayed my master Sir Richard Greenvill and that I was Iscariot, and being told he might be questioned by me before my Lord Marshall for the premises sayd that I was a base fellowe and that he did not care for any that should question him for the premises before my Lord Marshall.'

No date.

Signed by Arthur Duck.

Plaintiff's case

Acta (5), fo. 44, Letters commissory for the plaintiff [damaged]

Humphrey Lower, gent, Giles Hambly, gent, Christopher Potter and Ambrose Potter, gents, and also Nicholas Borlase, esq, John Davy, clerk, John Smith and James Bonython, gents, to meet from 29 to 31 March 1637 at the house of Philip Webber, in St Minver, co. Cornwall.

Dated 11 February 1637

Signed by Gilbert Dethick.

Summary of proceedings

Dr Duck and Dr Talbot acted as counsel for Brabant, and Dr Eden for Vincent. On 11 February 1637 Vincent was warned to appear the following week to hear the libel, which Dr Duck eventually gave on 21 February. To take the testimony of the plaintiff's witnesses, the commissioners Humphrey Lower, gent, Giles Hambly, gent, Christopher Potter and Ambrose Potter, gents, and also Nicholas Borlase, esq, John Davy, clerk, John Smith and James Bonython, gents, were to meet in the house of Philip Webber, gent, in St Minver, co. Cornwall from 29 to 31 March 1637. On 14 October, Dr Eden was directed to prepare his material for Vincent's defence. On 28 November it was declared that witnesses for Vincent were to be heard before Thomas Herle, esq, Nicholas Kendall, esq, Nicholas Gilbert, esq, and Francis Tregose, gent, nominated by Dr Eden and George Mahon, clerk, John Black, esq, John Gendall, gent, and ?Paschoe? Johns, gent, nominated by Dr Duck. The commission was to sit in the court house in Lostwithiel, co. Cornwall from 23 to 25 January 1638. The cause was still depending on 12 February 1638.

Notes

Neither Brabant or Vincent were mentioned in the 1620 Visitation of Cornwall, or the 1633-5 and 1664 visitation of London. St Clement's parish lies two miles east of Truro, while Penhale is between Newquay and Perranporth on Cornwall's north coast.

Francis Brabant of Penhale, co. Cornwall, second son of the late William Brabant, was admitted to the Inner Temple in November 1634.

W. H. Cooke (ed.), Students admitted to the Inner Temple, 1547-1660 (London, 1877), p. 282.

Documents

Initial proceedings
- Libel: Acta (5), fo. 45 (no date)
Plaintiff's case
- Letters commissory for the plaintiff: Acta (5), fo. 44 (11 Feb 1637)
Proceedings
- Proceedings: College of Arms MS. 'Court of Chivalry' (act book, 1636-8) [pressmark R.R. 68C], (hereafter 68C), fos. 23r-36v (11 Feb 1637)
- Proceedings: 68C, fos. 1r-11r (16 Feb 1637)
- Proceedings before Marten: 68C, fos. 11r-12v (24 Feb 1637)
- Proceedings: 68C, fos. 37r-41v (29 Apr 1637)
- Proceedings before Arundel: 8/26 (14 Oct 1637)
- Proceedings before Maltravers: 8/27 (14 Oct 1637)
- Proceedings before Maltravers: 8/28 (31 Oct 1637)
- Proceedings before Marten: 7/20 (7 Nov 1637)
- Proceedings before Maltravers: 8/29 (18 Nov 1637)
- Proceedings before Maltravers: 8/30 (28 Nov 1637)
- Proceedings before Arundel: 1/5, fos. 23-35 (3 Feb 1638)
- Proceedings before Arundel: 1/5, fos. 38-56 (12 Feb 1638)

People mentioned in the case

Black, John, esq
Bonython, James, gent
Borlase, Nicholas, esq
Brabant, Francis, gent (also Braban, Brabon)
Brabant, William (also Braban, Brabon)
Davy, John, clerk
Dethick, Gilbert, registrar
Duck, Arthur, lawyer
Eden, Thomas, lawyer
Gendall, John, gent
Gilbert, Nicholas, esq
Grenville, Richard, knight (also Greenvill)
Hambly, Giles, gent
Herle, Thomas, esq
Iscariot, Judas
Johns, Paschoe, gent
Howard, Henry, baron Maltravers
Howard, Thomas, earl of Arundel and Surrey
Kendall, Nicholas, esq
Mahon, George, clerk
Marten, Henry, knight
Lower, Humphrey, gent
Talbot, Clere, lawyer
Tregose, Francis, gent
Potter, Ambrose, gent
Potter, Christopher, gent
Smith, John, gent
Vincent, Henry
Webber, Philip, gent

Places mentioned in the case

Cornwall
- Lostwithiel
- Newquay
- Penhale
- Perranporth
- St Clement's
- St Minver
London
- Inner Temple

Topics of the case

denial of gentility
inns of court
nicknaming