Sir John the younger

Sadly, we have so little to go on with the younger John Clay, we know that he was considered a good catch, see Paston Letters in the History of Sir John and we know that he was born c1445 but we dont know whether he was born in England or Normandy. Were the family with Sir John in Rouen? He certainly spent 30 years in Normandy, so the answer might well be, yes.

As he was 18 in c1463, he may well have participated in the battles and skirmishes  in the north of England  after 1461 and even before in the  Wars of the Roses but again we have no reference to him.

We have reference to him in his  fathers will 1464 and debts outstanding to him and his mother, 1470/1, see page on Joan Clay and then we have nothing else until 1471 and possibly 1480. But we will persevere.

In 1464 Edward IV secretly married Elizabeth Woodville,  did the old Sir John knew of this intrigue given his place at Edwards court? When Warwick found out about the marriage he was enraged because he  had been negotiating to find a bride for Edward.

 The marriage led to conflict with his chief advisor, and in 1470, this led to a revolt led by Warwick and Edward's brother George, Duke of Clarence, culminating in the battle of Edgecote Moor.  Edward lost the battle and was captured and held in Middleham castle. Henry was  briefly reinstalled, Edward, who was a popular King was soon released, after which he fled to Flanders.  He invaded England in March 1471, landing at Hull and making for York and then turning to London, increasing the size of his army as he went. London welcomed Edward and the unfortunate Henry VI was imprisoned again, he was probably getting used to it by then. Edward then turned his attentions north and to the Nevilles.

On Easter day, the 14th of April, 1471, at Barnet in Hertfordshire, just north of London, Edward IV led the Yorkists against Warwick who was now leading the Lancastrians.

The army of Edward IV was smaller than Warwick's so Edward planned a surprise early attack. The battle was fought in thick fog and it ebbed and flowed between the two sides but in the confusion the Lancastrians started to send volleys of arrows  at each other. Cries of treason went up and the Lancastrian line broke. In the rout that followed Warwick and his brother were killed.

Did Sir John participate in this battle? Sadly he does not appear in any documents of this time, perhaps he did not have the relationship his father had with Edward, Cecily and York.

The Battle of Tewkesbury

After the Battle of Barnet, Margaret of Anjou, the wife of Henry VI, landed in the west of England with a small army, hoping to gain recruits for her army from the Welsh marches, instead of marching on London, she headed north to meet up with the Tudors.

Edward intercepted her at Tewkesbury and as dawn broke on the 4th of May 1471, Edward faced the Lancastrians with his slightly smaller army.

The ground in front of the Lancastrian positions made it difficult for Edwards army to attack in any semblance of order, so the Yorkist archers and artillery showered the Lancastrians with a hail of arrows and shot.

The Duke of Somerset, one of the three Lancastrian leaders at the battle led his men in a surprise attack but Edward anticipated this move and at the right moment some 200 men hidden in the woods attacked Somerset's men. The attack turned into a rout and once more the Lancastrians ran down a " bloody meadow " to escape the victorious Yorkists, many of them drowning in the river Severn. Among those killed on the day was Edward Prince of Wales, the son and heir of Henry VI. Somerset was later dragged out of the sanctuary of Tewkesbury abbey and executed.

Aftermath

Despite his victory Edward was still not free from trouble, the Tudors were still creating problems for him in Wales and there was a rising in the north. To counter these threats Edward moved his men to the midlands, to recuperate and to plan his next move.

A force, commanded by the Bastard of Fauconberg landed in Kent and rapidly recruited a Lancastrian force. Altogether, with exiled Lancastrians desperate for a last roll of the dice, this force may have numbered some 16,000 men.

They marched on London and the danger here was that, Edwards family were there and so was the  Royal prisoner, Henry.

On the 14th of May, Fauconberg attacked London from the south. Despite his men reaching and burning parts of Southwark, they were beaten back  at London bridge. Following this they attacked from the east and again were repulsed. Edwards forces were now approaching London and presumably the news from Tewkesbury had reached Fauconberg, he retreated back to Kent and later surrendered.

After the battle

We do know that Sir John the Younger, was knighted on the battle field at Tewkesbury as amongst many other sources we can find it in the Paston Letters, Volume 5, page 105

 The prior of Saint-Jean, six knights and seven squires. They were taken from the sanctuary by a group of armed men. Among Paston's correspondence is an article referring to the Battle of Tewkesbury. He first gives a list of those who died on the ground:

Edward who was called Prince, Lord John of Somerset, the Earl of Devonshire, Lord Wenlock, Sir William Vaux, Sir Edmund Hampden, Sir John Seymour, Sir William Barmouth, Walter Barrow, Mr. William Hanmer, [Sir William] Fielding, [Sir Nicholas] Hervy, Recorder of Bristol, Sir Robert Whittingham, Knoyll [Knowle). Next comes a list of those of the Lancastrian party who have been beheaded: the Duke of Somerset, [Sir John Lonstruther, Prior] Lord of St. John's, Sir Jervis Clifton, Humphrey Audley, Lowes [Lewis] Miles, Forey of France, Sir John Delves, Lord Foscew [Fortescue?] on leave [lyffe?], Sir William Carr, Sir Hugh Courtenay, Sir Thomas and Sir Henry Tresham, Sir William Newbury, Mr. Gower, [Sir Humphrey] Audley, Robert's clerk, Lechefeld, mason, of Westminster, and Sir William Grimsby "still in lyffe". And thirdly, we find the names of knights including Edward IV. facts on the ground: Lord Cobham, Sir George Neville, Sir Philip Courtenay, Sir Henry Bernard, Sir Maurice de Berkeley, Sir Richard Hastings, Sir Robert Harrington, Sir James Tyrrell [cousin of Sir William who fell at Barnet], Sir John and Sir Harry Feres, Sir Harry Pierrepont, Sir John Parr, Sir John Down, Sir Roger Kingston, Sir Richard Croft, Sir John Pilkington, Sir John Brigham, Sir John Harley, Sir John Boteler, Sir Christopher Moresby, Sir John Clay, Sir Robert Willoughby , Sir Robert Green, Sir Roger Ree [Ray], Sir John Saundes [Probes], Sir Thomas Strickland, Sir George Brown, Sir William Motton, Sir John Croker, Sir-Skerne, Sir James Crowmer, Sir William Sandall, Sir John Deverys , Sir Harry Gray, Sir Edward Wodehouse, Sir Tery Robsart, Sir Thomas Cromwell, Sir Robert Corbet, Sir Nicholas Langford, Sir John Seyntlour [St. Lo], and Sir William Brandon,

His brother in law , Robert Greene was also knighted.

After Tewkesbury we dont have any reference, as to the whereabouts of Sir John the Younger or his death, we have found no will as yet.

But there is a reference, again to a Sir John Clay and again it mentions the camera Diane and this is from Notes and Queries, Vol 10, Issue 138, 10th August 1906, page 122

 In 1480 another mission was entrusted to the Dean and Chapter of Saint-Paul at (See Richard Licchefeld, Residential Canon and stagiary of this church, of an annual rent of eight marks, arising from a messuage with an adjoining garden, called "Camera Diane", formerly inhabited by John Bourghchier Lord Berners, and now leased to Sir John Clay, knight, but owned in his own right by Richard Licchefeld,

Is this dated correctly? Was Sir John still alive in 1480, if so why did he not feature in his mothers will? A little information on the Camera Diane from

We have found another reference to a Sir John Clay and Camera Dianae in 1503.

History of the Bye family, Bye, 1956, page 8

Sadly this is not referenced and we are searching old volumes to find it.

London or Interesting Memorials, Joseph C. Robinson, page 17

Of the TEMPLES of the Romans, no specimen exists today. In Norden's Middlesex, it is said, there was one near Tilt Yard; and Bagford has no doubt of the existence of a temple of Diana on the south side of St. Paul. The ruins of a building, called Camera Diane, situated on the eminence of St. Paul's Wharf, existed in the time of How, who wrote a sequel to Stowe, and the buildings which have since been erected on its site are still designated in the leases of they do integral part of the old Camera Diana. However, from the accounts given about this structure, it does not appear to have the nature of a temple at all. The Camera Diana was a vaulted labyrinth, similar in plan to the famous Rosamond's Bower at Woodstock, and was employed by Henry II, of loving memory, for the same purpose. 

Rosamund or Fair Rosamund, refers to the lover of Henry II and here we have another reference from

The London that was Rome, Michael Harrison

The tradition that a temple of Diana stood where St. Paul's Cathedral stands today is said to have originated in the reign of Henry III, the last king to be elected by open acclamation of the citizens and sheriffs of London. I think the tradition must be much older, but let us note here that, in the archives of the Cathedral, under the date 1220, a message on the south side of the Cathedral is described as domum qui flee Diane, "a building which formerly was Diana's. This 'domum' was in fact a number of buildings on Paul's Wharf, next to Doctors' Commons, and were known collectively as camera Dianae, 'Diane's Vault'. There is something strange, almost disturbing, about this vault which so brazenly bore the name of a pagan goddess. In the archives of St. Paul's it is described as an inn belonging to the dean and chapter, called "Camera Dianae". alias Segrave in the parish of St Benedict (i.e. St Benet's) v Paul's Wharf. Strype says that communicated by an underground passage with Baynard Castle. This reference, in the official description, to the name of the camera or safe as "Diana's or Segrave" is confusing if we accept “Segrave” a  of an old English family. However, if we remember that segregavi in ​​Latin means "I set apart", the alternative name becomes easy to understand. But perhaps the most curious aspect of this survival of the name Diana in the era of monopoly Christianity is this strange ritual, persisting until the middle of the 18th century, in which the deanand the Chapter of Saint-Paul, dressed in vestments embroidered with antlers, moved in procession through the cathedral, carrying on their heads the skulls of antlered deer, the sacred animal of Diana.

The site of Camera Dianae was very close to where Baynard castle stood, it was the  headquarters of the House of  York and from where Edward IV was proclaimed King on the 3rd of March 1461. So the house, if there was one and the gardens had some significance to the Clays.

We also know that Baynard's Castle was home to Cecily Neville, Duchess of York.

Cecily, Duchess of York, J.L. Laynesmith

Baynard's Castle to examine the will of Edward IV.76 Despite Richard's regular use of the property that summer, it was still considered "the habitual residence of the splendid and most illustrious Lady, Lady Cecily, Duchess of York"

And we have reference to Joan Clay, living with Cecily in the page on Joan Clay,

But that does not bring us back to Sir John the younger, we can only speculate that, he passed away before 1477, was he wounded at Tewkesbury and did he die of those wounds or maybe  he went to live in France.

What we do know is that ultimately, if he was still a committed Yorkist, after 1485 and the defeat of Richard III at Bosworth, he would have been on the losing side and he would no longer be in favour as the Tudor star of Henry VII rose.

1472, The possible End

In 1472 in response to Charles of Burgundy's attempted invasion of France, Louis XI attacked Brittany. Brittany appealed for help to Edward IV, who sent a force under Earl Rivers and Edward Woodville, the French army was defeated and they retreated back into France, following this success, Edward IV planned an invasion of France but Burgundy and Louis signed peace treaties and he withdrew his plan

In March 1472 Duke François II of Brittany asked Edward for 6,000 archers, and he sent 1,000 with Earl Rivers and Edward Woodville. Fearing an alliance between Brittany and Burgundy,Louis XI attacked the former. The English aid helped the Bretons fight off the invasion, and the French withdrew in early August. Edward sent 2,000 more archers who got to Brittany in September. Rivers negotiated an alliance with Brittany for an attack on France, and they signed the Treaty of Chateaugiron on September 11. Edward told Parliament he intended to invade France in October; but by the time the Commons granted war taxation on November 30, Brittany withdrew from the alliance. Edward sent envoys to meet with Duke Charles of Burgundy at Ghent in January, 1473, but they made little progress. So on March 22 Edward agreed to a truce with Louis until April 1474. 

Edward IV, Charles Ross

Did Sir John leave for Brittany under Rivers and Woodville and did he die there in 1472 as it would appear his brother in law Sir Robert Grene did. (see Cecily Clay) But if he did, who were the Sir John Clays mentioned in 1480 and 1503?