William Rosewell (gentleman)

William Rosewell was able to achieve a significant improvement in his social status from that of his father, Richard Rowswell tenant of Bradford, to that of Yeoman at Loxton in 1544[12] and to Gentleman in 1569. The title of Gentleman would have come from a recognition and general acceptance that he was a member of the landed gentry. He sub-leased land at Loxton from Thomas and John Payne whose lease was granted by Lord John Mordaunt (d. 1562).[7][13] In 1544 he held copyhold land at Compton Bishop[7][12] and with his son had bought the Manor of Yarlington in 1566.

His brother, William of Dunkerton, had also joined the landed gentry by 1544. After the dissolution of the monasteries he acquired assets of Keynsham Abbey: for example, in 1544 a grant in fee of lands in Compton Dando, including chief messuage and Grange, and High Littleton[14] rectory and advowson with all lands, glebes, tithes, etc. With John Hippisley (d. 1558),[15] gentleman, he bought Ston Easton Manor c. 1545 for £457-3s-4d; with son, Thomas, Stanton Prior Manor and advowson in 1553 and Farrington Gurney Manor in 1558.[11]

Whilst it is clear that the dissolution of the monasteries provided an increase in the availability of new land and the opportunity for lease or purchase, it is not clear how the Rosewell family gained the financial means to do so.

The father, Richard, was apparently a husbandman with no indication of his wealth. There was no mention in the abstract of his will[16] of any free land or property although this is not unusual in such wills at that time,[17] unlike his cousin in Hillfarrance, William Rousewill (d. 1522), who left free land and a flock of sheep at Otterford to his youngest son.[18] There is no information available on how much land or other sources of wealth was held by Richard. Although he had been promised money by his wife's father, William Seeley, on their marriage, he had not received any or all of it by 1529.[19]

Richard's parents were John (Jenkyn) (d. 1499) and Anastasia Rowswell of Bradford. In his will, John made small bequests of just £2 to each of his children. However, the family had previously received substantial fines for supporting the 1497 rebellion against Henry VII[11] (John £20, Anastasia £6 and Richard 10 marks) indicating that they did have some assets. At the same time William Seeley of North Curry was fined £6.

Richard Rowswell must have prospered to have the means to establish his sons on leases at Bradford, Dunkerton and Loxton respectively. This may have been in the same way as John Hippisley, of Ston Easton, who advanced from the son of a husbandman in 1528 to gentleman and Lord of the manor in 1545. His prosperity is attributed to an increase in food prices around the turn of the century.[15] The Tudor period generally has been identified as a time when farming was for profit rather than for survival.[20] Those with the drive to succeed could do so.

The Rosewell family appear to have had the drive and ambition to succeed and they valued education as a means to achieve both careers for their sons and a higher social position. The improvements were incremental with each generation's successes creating opportunities and connections for the next to exploit.[17]

William Rosewell's Uncle, Thomas Rowsewell, attended Oxford University and was the incumbent of Bradford church from 1517 to 1558. His fees at Oxford were a bequest in the 1509 will of Thomas Austell, Treasurer of Exeter Cathedral.[11] His brother, Adam, and two cousins from Hillfarrance also graduated from Oxford with one of the latter graduating D.C.L. in 1528.[18] William of Loxton sent his son to be educated at Middle Temple leading to a career in law. His descendants, ending with Sir Henry Rosewell, also followed this path. The descendants of William of Dunkerton created an ecclesiastic dynasty including notable clerics such as Thomas Rosewell, Samuel Rosewell and Walter Rosewell. Whilst it later became common for the landed gentry to send their children to be educated at University or Inns of Court,[21] the Rosewell tenants of Bradford appear to have been early adopters of this practice as a means of improving their position.

There were other changes taking place throughout the fifteenth century which would have influenced this family. The Black Death of 1348, and recurrences of plague later in the century, greatly reduced the population and led to competition for labour between manors with a consequent weakening of the lord's hold over his tenants. By the fifteenth century many manorial landlords derived their entire income from rents rather than from the sale of produce provided by tenant labour; but even rent income was threatened by the frequent unwillingness of tenants to take anything but the best land.[22] The late fifteenth and early sixteenth century was a time of increasing confidence and assertiveness of the tenants as illustrated by the following case in the Court of Requests published by the Selden Society.[23]

William's father, Richard Rowswell, died in Bradford on Tone in March or April 1543. At the next Bradford manor court, held in May 1543, his mother, Alice, tried to be registered as heir for her lifetime, but the lords refused to accept her for one of the holdings, and demanded a larger fine (inheritance tax) for the other, than the tenants regarded as normal. Two tenants (Thomas Foreacre and Richard Person) sued the lords (William Frauncys and Richard Warre) over this and other similar cases. Thomas Foreacre was William’s brother-in-law.

'The land held by a Richard Rowswell in 1543 as copyhold was the house he lived in plus two holdings of farmland called Parkes and Furlonges, respectively, perhaps totaling about 7 or 8 acres. He may have had other land but these two holdings were chosen as one of the test cases brought by the tenants against their lords. Both holdings were copyhold, but the manor contained two types of copyhold, ordinary customary land and 'overland', and these holdings were one of each. Both sides produced evidence as to what the manor's local laws were.[nb 5] In the end the lords won on most points, because they looked through the old manorial records and found examples of previous inheritances which proved their case'.[24]

Like many other tenants, the Rosewell family became increasingly independent of their own manor and looked elsewhere for land to purchase or lease.

According to their wills, William Rosewell and his son were friends of Humphrey Colles[25] of Barton Grange, Corfe and Pitminster,[26] Somerset, who had ‘made his mark and fortune as an agent in the buying of ex-monastic land’ following the dissolution of the monasteries between 1536 and 1541. This friendship, together with his son's position as Solicitor-General, would have made William Rosewell's family well placed to take advantage of the increased availability of land and to firmly establish themselves as landed gentry.