Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys (c. 1351 – 28 March 1421),[1]KG, of
Trotton in
Sussex, was an English
peer who commanded the left wing of the English army at the
Battle of Agincourt in 1415.
From 20 August 1383 to 26 February 1421 he was
summoned several times to Parliament by
writ, by which he is held to have become
1st Baron Camoys, of the second creation. The first creation of that title had expired on the death of his uncle
Thomas de Camoys, 2nd Baron Camoys (d. 11 April 1372), to whom he was heir.[4]
According to
Leland (d.1552), Camoys benefited little under King
Richard II (1377-1399), and after Richard's deposition in 1399 he attended the first Parliament of the new king,
Henry IV (1399-1413). His son, Sir Richard Camoys, was knighted by King Henry IV at his coronation, and Camoys himself escorted Henry's new queen,
Joan of Navarre, to England in February 1403.[7] His loyalty to Henry IV brought him several grants.
Prior to the embarkation for France by King
Henry V (1413-1422), Camoys was present at a meeting of the King's Council held for the purpose of planning the invasion, and was appointed on 31 July 1415 to the commission which condemned to death
Richard, Earl of Cambridge, and
Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham, for their part in the
Southampton Plot. At the
Battle of Agincourt in 1415, Camoys commanded the rearguard on the left of the English line, and in recognition of his service was made a
Knight of the Garter on 23 April 1416.[7]
Marriages and children
Camoys married twice:
Firstly to Elizabeth Louches, daughter and heiress of William Louches of Great Milton and Chiselhampton in Oxfordshire,[8] by whom he had children:
Sir Richard Camoys, son and
heir apparent, who predeceased his father,[9] having left children:
Camoys died on 28 March 1421[17] although as pointed out by
Leland (d.1552), and still apparent today, the year of his death is wrongly given as 1419 (M CCCC XIX) on his brass in
St. George's Church, Trotton.[18] He was succeeded in the barony by his grandson,
Hugh de Camoys, 2nd Baron Camoys. From a court record in 1422, it would appear that he died intestate, with his estate being administered by Geoffrey Colet and William Estfeld[19] His monument survives in
St George's Church, Trotton in the form of a 9-foot (2.7 m)
chest tomb in the middle of the
chancel on the
ledger stone on top of which is a
monumental brass depicting himself and his second wife Elizabeth Mortimer. The sides of the chest-tomb are decorated with sculpted
quatrefoils and
escutcheons. The brass is unusually large, the couple being depicted only slightly smaller than life-size and holding hands.[20] The monument was described by
Ian Nairn and
Nikolaus Pevsner as "one of the biggest, most ornate and best preserved brasses in England".[20] It is inscribed at the bottom in Latin as follows:
"Orate pro a(n)i(ma)bus Thom(a)e Camoys et Elizabeth(ae) eius consortis, qui quond(am) erat d(omi)n(u)s de Camoys baro et prude(n)s Consul Regis et regni Angli(a)e et strenuus Miles de Gartero suu(m) fine com(m)endavit Xpo xxviii die mens(is) Marcii A(nno) D(omi)ni Mo CCCCo XIXo (sic) quor(um) a(n)i(m)a(bus)[bz] p(ro)piciet(ur) Deus, Am(e)n.[21] ("Pray ye all for the souls of Thomas Camoys and of Elizabeth his consort, who once was Lord of Camoys, a baron and a wise counsellor of the king and of the kingdom of England and a vigorous Knight of the Garter. He commended his end to Christ (ΧΡo, Christo,
Chi Rho symbol) on the 28th day of the month of March in the year of our Lord 1419 (sic). On the souls of whom may God be favourably inclined, Amen").
A reproduction of the brass was published in Dallaway's Rape of Chichester, p. 224.
^D. Richardson, ed. K.G. Everingham, Plantagenet Ancestry, A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd Edition (D Richardson, Salt Lake City 2011), I,
p. 471 (Google).
^C. Clark and W. Finnelly, Reports of Cases Heard and Decided in the House of Lords on Appeals and Writs of Error, and Claims of Peerage: During the Sessions 1831[-1846], Vol. 6, 1838 & 1839 (V & R Stevens and G.S. Norton, London 1842), pp. 789–867,
at pp. 865–67.
Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. I (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.
ISBN978-1449966379.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. II (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.
ISBN978-1449966386.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)