This article shows how an ancient record of a dispute arising from a young man's indifference toward…

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This article shows how an ancient record of a dispute arising from a young man's indifference toward his wife resolves the confusion as to
the parentage of Margaret Radcliffe, who married Nicholas Rishton. Margaret and Nicholas are ancestors of Peter Worden I of Massachusetts
through the marriage of their daughter Agnes Rishton to Richard Worthington of Blainscough, Lancashire after 1504.
Philip M. Worthington, The Worthington Families of Medieval England," (1985) p. 118-119, 132.

In 1876, fifty years after the death of Thomas Dunham Whittaker, the compiler of An History of the Original Parish of Whalley, his successors published the fourth edition of this work, revised and enlarged. In volume 2, p. 292a, a pedigree of th e Radclyffe family said to have been compiled by William Radclyffe, Rouge Croix Pursuivant, an official of the College of Arms early in the 19th Century, identifies the wife of Nicholas Rishton as the daughter of James and Joan (Tempest) Radclyffe . On p. 298, however, the pedigree of Rishton of Dunkenhalgh says that Nicholas was born after 1454 and that he married "Margaret, dau. of John Radcliffe, Esq., of the Tower, mar. deed 20 June 1471."

The Victoria History of the County of Lancaster, edited by William Farrer and J. Brownbill, (1911), hereafter cited as VCH Lancaster 6, p.
240, agrees with the latter, stating that in 1471 Nicholas married "Margaret daughter of John Radcliffe of Peasfurlong." The article cites a document in the Towneley collection as its authority on this point. Peasfurlong, which consisted of a quar ter part of the township of Culcheth in Lancashire, was one of the estates held by the family of Radcliffe of Radcliffe, sometimes referred to as "of the Tower."
VCH Lancaster 4, pp. 156-160; and 6, pp. 58-59.

Despite these authorities, the respected antiquarian Charles P. Hampson, in his The Book of the Radclyffes (1940), p. 28, says that Margaret, the younger daughter of James Radcliffe and Joan, daughter of Sir John Tempest, married Nicholas Rushto n [Rishton]. On pp. 27-28, Hampson observes that this Margaret's eldest brother, Richard Radcliffe, was born in 1379 and that Elizabeth, her eldest sister, died in 1442. Had Hampson consulted the Victoria History or Whittaker's Whalley, both of wh ich were available to him, he would have realized that chronology prevented the Margaret Radclyffe, who was the subject of a 1471 contract to marry Nicholas Rishton who was born after 1454, from being the sister of a man born in 1379 or of a woma n who died in 1442.

I (author of this article) have not gained access to the Towneley Collection of manuscripts, some of which are now held in the British Library and others areincluded in the library of the Chetham Society. Fortunately, there isa document preserve d among those of the Rishton family, that presentsclear proof that VCH Lancaster 6 was correct in identifying Nicholas Rishton's wife Margaret as the daughter of John Radcliffe of Peasfurlong. This document, as abstracted in an article edited by G .A. Stocks and James Tait, "Dunkenhalgh Deeds," in Remains
Historical and Literary Lancaster and Chester, published by the Chetham Society, vol. 80 (new series 1921), p. 39, follows:

14 March, 17 Edward IV. 1477

Indenture between John Ratcliff and Henry Rissheton. The parties have sworn upon the Holy Evangelists to fulfil the dome of us, John Ormeston Hugh Adlyngton, John, son of Richard Radcliff, and James Whitacre. We find that more largely trespass ha s been done to Henry (in the matter of
recovery of lands and tenements in Rishton by Henry, against Thomas Talbot, Esquire, and trespasses of the said John Radcliffe in Oswaldtwistle) than to John, who is to pay 14 marks to Henry. The latter to cause Nicholl his son, to come to the pla ce of John called Pyforthlang [Peasfurlong] in the Wapentake of [West] Derby, and there to receive Margaret, John's daughter, "as a man ought to do his wife and her to entrete as a man ought to do," before 29 March next.

This abstract illustrates the use of a medieval non-judicial proceeding in the nature of an arbitration to resolve a dispute. The word "dome" as used in the document is pronounced "doom," and means a judgment or award as determined by the domesme n whose names are listed. The immediate cause of the dispute was a series of mutual trespasses committed by Henry in his effort to recover lands and tenements located in Rishton held by Thomas Talbot, apparentlly an ally of Radcliffe, and by Joh n Radcliffe against Henry's holdings in Oswaldtwistle.

The domesmen regarded both Henry and John as culpable, but ordered Radcliffe to pay Rishton 14 marks on the ground that the latter was the
greater victim. The award recognized that the heart of what ended up as a dispute over trespasses to property was a serious personal problem
arising from Nicholas Rishton's failure to consummate a marriage contracted several years earlier in 1471. Accordingly, the domesmen directed Nicholas to go to his father-in-law's place called Peasfurlong and to there receive and treat Margaret, h is wife, as a man should.

According to the inquisition post mortem following the death of John Radcliffe in 1485, he at that time held the manors of Radcliffe, Oswaldtwistle, and a quarter part of Culcheth [Peasfurlong]. William Langton, ed., "Abstracts of Inquisitions Pos t Mortem," printed by the Chetham Society in its Remains Historical and Literary Lancaster and Chester, vol. 91 (1876) pp. 120-122.
Peasfurlong had descended regularly to John through generations of his ancestors.
VCH Lancaster 4, pp. 159-160.

From the context of the document abstracted above as well as chronology, it is clear that the 1471 marriage of Margaret and Nicholas was between youngsters--a common practice among landed families. Following medieval canon law, boys and girls wh o were below the age of 7 were regarded as infants and were generally prohibited from marrying. At the age of 7, both boys and girls were recognized as children until
the boys attained adulthood at age 14 and the girls at age 12.

Children, as so defined, were frequently married and, if the girl had reached 12 and the boy 14, a marriage between them was regarded as a
marriage of adults, not of children.
See John McLauglin, PhD, "Medieval Child Marriage: Abuse of Wardship?" (1997)

Little is known of Nicholas's birth year, although, as noted above, the Rishton pedigree in Whitaker's Whalley, states that he was born after 1454. Margaret's birth year can be estimated based upon the year of birth of her eldest son, Richard Rish ton. The same Rishton pedigree says that he was born in 1484, but VCH Lancaster 6, p. 347. based upon an inquisition post mortem, says that Richard was over the age of 46 when his mother Margaret died in 1528. This would give Richard a birth yea r no later than 1482. Considering that 15 was probably the most common age of first marriage for women, I estimate that Margaret was no more than 20 when her first son was born, giving her a birth year of about 1462. This would mean that she was a bout 9 in 1471 and in 1477, she was about 15, an age by which the families would no doubt have become concerned if Margaret was still living with her parents instead of her husband.

A birth year of about 1462 places Margaret within the same age group as John Radcliffe's other children. According to the inquisition post mortem cited above, on John's death in 1485, Richard, the son an heir, was age 31 and more, giving him a bir th year of 1454. John, the third son and ultimate heir, was born about 1460, having been 42 years of age at the date of his brother Richard's death in 1502. VCH Lancaster 5, p. 59. There were two more younger brothers, sons of John, Sr., who wer e presumably born from about 1462 to 1466.

It seems that Margaret was not the only daughter in this family who had problems implementing her marriage contract. VCH Lancaster 6, p. 406, refers to an unpublished 1482 deed in the Dunkenhalgh collection under which the child marriage of Hugh , son of Thomas Baron of Church, with Ellen, daughter of John Radcliffe of Radcliffe, was annulled as the parties had come of age, had never cohabited, and desired to be released.

One can only speculate as to the nature of Nicholas's and Margaret's marriage following the 1477 decision by the domesmen. Contemporary records reflect the fact that their marriage held together. Margaret survived Nicholas's death in 1502 and live d until 1528. According to the Rishton pedigree referred to above, Nicholas and Margaret were the parents of three sons and three daughters, including Agnes (Rishton) Worthington, an ancestor of Peter Worden I.

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