EARLY BELKNAPS: HISTORIES and DOCUMENTS
Eleanor or Elizabeth Belknap (1452-1517): married Philip Cooke (1454-1497)
Gathered here is the most comprehensive public repository of materials on the Cooke family into which a branch of the Belknap family married.
Click on the links below to access biographical and historical information about this family:
Date(s) Item/Image Link
Chancery Records (UK National Archives)
Chancery pleadings addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury as Lord Chancellor [John Morton 1486-1493 or William Warham 1504-1515
▪ John, son and heir of Philip Cooke, knight, son of Thomas Cooke, knight. v. Alice Trewthale, prioress of Great St. Helens.: Refusal to grant a new lease of houses in place of an old one surrendered by the said Philip.: London. 1486-1493, or 1504-1515 C 1/126/7
Chancery: Six Clerks Office: Early Proceedings, Richard II to Philip and Mary
▪ Philip Coke, esquire, son and heir of Sir Thomas Coke, knight. v. Thomas Fulsnap, of Hadley, clothman.: A bond entered into by the late Sir Thomas, now in possession of Sir Robert Bradow, chaplain.: Suffolk. 1465-1471, or perhaps 1480-1483 C 1/37/19
▪ Philip Cook, son of Thomas Cook, knight, and Elizabeth, his wife. v. George, son of Thomas, brother of Sir Ralph Joslen, knight, deceased.: Manor of Chaldwell, and houses and land in London and Southwark, late of Philip Malpas, of London, merchant.: Essex, London, Surrey. 1475-1480, or 1483-1485 C 1/58/111
▪ Philip Coke, son, heir and executor of Sir Thomas Coke, late of London, knight, customer at Southampton. v. Sir John Asteley, knight: Action brought by the said Sir John Asteley for arrears of an annuity granted to him by Henry VI. out of the customs of Southampton.: Hants. 1475-1485 C 1/60/88
▪ John Foster, esquire v. Philip Coke, esquire, son and executor of Thomas Coke, knight.: Money matters. 1486 C 1/80/33
▪ Beatrice Corneburgh, widow. v. Philip Coke: Plaint of debt by defendant in the court of Romford.: Essex. 1486-1493 C 1/87/50
▪ Edward WOTON, knight, Mary DANETT and Anthony COKE, esquire, son and heir of John Coke, v. John BRUGGE and Alice his wife, late the wife of Edward Belknap, knight.: Portions of the manor of Dorset (i.e. Burton or Avon Dassett) not bequeathed to the said Alice.: WARWICK. 1538-1544 C 1/1087/51
▪ Edward WOTON, knight, Mary DANETT and Anthony COKE, esquire, son and heir of John Coke, v. John BRUGGE and Alice his wife, late the wife of Edward Belknap, knight.: Manor of Weston-under-Weatherley, late of the said Sir Edward Belknap, brother of the said Mary and uncle of the said Sir Edward Woton and John Coke.: WARWICK. 1538-1544 1/1087/49-50
Lincolnshire Archives
▪ Manuscripts of the Earl of Ancaster [2ANC]: FILE - Counterpart indenture of bargain and sale.
Contents: Chas., Duke of Suffolk, to Sir Edward Wotton, Mary Danett, widow of Gerard Danett esq., and Anthony Cooke, esq.
Property: manor of Stockingford, co. Warwick and the parsonages and advowsons of Dorsett Magna and Weston Underwetheley, parcel of the late monastery of Erbury. Consideration: £1050 10s. Signatures and seals of purchasers (Mrs Danett by attorney).		 14 Dec 1542 2ANC3/B/20
Visitation Records
▪ The Visitations of Essex by Hawley, 1552; Hervey, 1558; Cooke, 1570; Raven, 1612; and Owen and Lilly, 1634. To Which are Added Miscellaneous Essex Pedigrees from Various Harleian Manuscripts: and an Appendix Containing Berry's Essex Pedigrees, part I, pp. 39-40 http://www.belnapfamily.org/Visitations_of_Essex_pI.pdf
▪ The Visitations of Essex by Hawley, 1552; Hervey, 1558; Cooke, 1570; Raven, 1612; and Owen and Lilly, 1634. To Which are Added Miscellaneous Essex Pedigrees from Various Harleian Manuscripts: and an Appendix Containing Berry's Essex Pedigrees, part II, pp. 563-65. "Cooke" http://www.belnapfamily.org/Visitations_of_Essex_pII.pdf
▪ Metcalfe, Walter C., ed. The Visitations of Northamptonshire Made in 1564 and 1618-19 (1887), p. 79. "Cecil, Earl of Exeter" http://www.belnapfamily.org/Visitations_of_Northamptonshire_1564_1618-19.pdf
▪ Metcalfe, Walter C., ed. The Visitations of Northamptonshire Made in 1564 and 1618-19 (1887), p. 88. "FitzWilliam of Clapthorne" http://www.belnapfamily.org/Visitations_of_Northamptonshire_1564_1618-19.pdf
Land Holdings/Other
▪ "Romford," The Environs of London: volume 4: Counties of Herts, Essex & Kent (1796), pp. 183-203 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=45473
▪ "Parish: Burton Dassett," A History of the County of Warwick, Victoria County History, vol 5: Kington hundred (1949), pp. 69-77 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=57043
▪ "Parish: Weston-under-Wetherley," A History of the County of Warwick, Victoria County History, vol. 6, pp. 251-55 (1951) http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=57140
▪ "Parish: Bubbenhall," A History of the County of Warwick, Victoria County History, vol. 6, pp. 46-48 (1951) http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=57094
▪ "Parish: Nursling," A History of the County of Hampshire, Victoria County History, vol. 3 (1908), pp. 433-439 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42022
▪ "Borough of Nuneaton," A History of the County of Warwick, Victoria County History, vol. 4: Hemlingford Hundred (1947), pp. 165-73 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=42674
Web Links
▪ Stirnet: Cooke http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/cc4aq/cooke02.htm
▪ Tudor Place: Cooke http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/COOKE.htm
Parents
▪ Sir Henry Belknap (about 1420-1488)
▪ Margaret Knollys (1432-1488)
Photographs and Images
▪ Cooke Family
Last update: 26 Oct 2007
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Thomas Cooke Sir Thomas Cooke (died 1478) was an English merchant and Lord Mayor of London.[1] He was born the son of Robert Cooke of Lavenham in Suffolk and moved to London to become a draper. He was made Sheriff of London for 1453–54, an alderman from 1456 and Member of Parliament for the City of London in 1460 and 1470. He was elected Lord Mayor of London for 1462–63 and knighted in 1465.[2] In 1467 he began to build a mansion called Gidea Hall, near Romford in Essex, which was only completed by his descendant, Sir Anthony Cooke. In 1467 he was charged with high treason for lending money to Margaret, the queen of the deposed Lancastrian King Henry VI, on the strength of a confession of a statement obtained under torture from one Hawkins. Chief Justice Markham directed the jury to find it only misprision of treason, whereby Cooke's lands and life were saved, though he was heavily fined and long imprisoned. While awaiting his trial in the Tower his effects, both at his town house and at Gidea Hall, were seized by Lord Rivers, then treasurer of England, and his wife was committed to the custody of the mayor. On his acquittal he was sent to the Bread Street compter, and afterwards to the king's bench, and was kept there until he paid eight thousand pounds to the king and eight hundred pounds to the queen. Lord Rivers and his wife, the Duchess of Bedford, also obtained the dismissal of Markham from his office for having determined that Cooke was not guilty of treason. He died in 1478 and was buried in the church of the Augustine friars, within the ward of Broad Street in London. He had married Elizabeth, the daughter and coheiress of Alderman Philip Malpas, one of the leaders of the Lancastrian party within the city. They had one daughter and four sons, the eldest of whom was Philip, who was afterwards knighted. Thomas Cooke's will stated that he owned at least four brewhouses, taverns, and beerhouses, besides fishing-weirs on the Colne, a large farm at Gidea Hall, and numerous properties and manors in London, Surrey, Essex, and Kent. Please check back more information coming soon!
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