Year of birth a guesstimate Inq 14 Oct 1528 Treago & the Mynors Family: H.C.B.Mynors revised edition 1998 Extract from Chapter 4: RICHARD succeeded his father: and if of age in 1461 he must have been born c. 1440. He played a prominent part in the administration of South Wales which is set out, with full reference to the original sources, in Ralph Griffiths: The Principality of Wales in the Later Middle Ages (Cardiff 1972). The quotations and most of the facts set out here are taken from Griffiths: but it remains to be discovered how he came under the notice of the Prince of Wales. Richard first occurs in 1466-67 acting as deputy Chamberlain of South Wales under William Herbert, First Earl of Pembroke. In 1472-78 he was escheator of Carmarthen and Cardigan. By 22 April 1474 he had become a gentleman usher of the Prince's chamber, in which capacity he received cash brought from South Wales to the Prince's coffers in 1475. "His public enhancement under the Yorkists owed a great deal to the Prince's patronage." In April 1474 he was granted the office of master of the serjeanty of the lordship of Archenfield during the minority of George Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, of Goodrich Castle. His father the 6th Earl, had been joint administrator and guardian to the Prince of Wales for a short period before his death on 28 June 1473 (CPR). On 11 Aug 1474 the castle, lordship and manor of Goodrich and Archenfield were committed to Richard by the Crown during the same minority. This grant was revoked on 5 Dec 1475 in favour of the dowager Countess because he had not agreed the farm of the castle etc, with the Treasurer (Fine Roll). In 1476-77 Richard was acting as deputy to William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, as Chamberlain of South Wales. William Herbert II had succeeded to all his father's public offices in South Wales in August 1471; but he was replaced as Chamberlain by Richard on 17 Apr 1479, with Hugh Hunteley acting as his deputy in 1479-81. In parallel, Hugh Hunteley was appointed Justiciar of South Wales on 16 Apr 1479, with Richard as one of his deputies. Richard was one of the Prince's commissioners presiding at Carmarthen and Cardigan great sessions in the following June. From 4 Mar 1479 he was Steward of Cardigan, succeeding William Herbert II. This office and that of Steward of Cantrefmawr (one of the divisions of the old Principality, roughly north of Carmarthen and east of Cardigan) in which he succeeded Hugh Hunteley (appointed 16 Apr 1479) were confirmed to him for life on 8 Nov 1484 (CPR). Richard was also Receiver (27 May 1477) of the lordship of Haverfordwest: Treasurer of the lordship of Pembroke between 1480 and 1482: a commissioner in Kidwelly with Hugh Hunteley in Feb 1482. On 9 May 1483 he and others were authorised to facilitate the transfer of Pembroke Castle to Richard Newton. On 12 Mar 1484 he was granted a general pardon, and by the following November was a King's servant and usher of Richard Ill's own chamber. "The accession of the Tudors seems to have been a hiatus in Mynors' career, although at the turn of the century he attained public office once more". In Nov 1500 he was appointed Sheriff of Hereford, and in June 1502 and Feb 1503 a Justice of the Peace. He was probably treasurer of the household to Edward, Duke of Buckingham in 1503-04. On 27 July 1507 he was one of the justices appointed to hold sessions in eyre in the lordships of Usk, Caerleon and Trelech (CPR). He was a Commissioner of Wards in Hereford and the Marches (8 July 1519) and a Commissioner for the Subsidy in Hereford in 1523 and 1524, but not in 1525. By a deed calendared only as "fifteenth century" Richard had leased from the canons of Hereford Cathedral the tithe corn and hay of the chapels Llangarren, St. Weonards and Hentland (Hentelan) and also of Little Dewchurch and Ballingham, at an annual rent of £20. This lease was renewed to his son Sir Roger for a further 29 years on 24 June 1531 at the rent of £24 (Chapter). In 1504-05 Richard was acting as chief steward of the Knights Templar in Hereford and Wales: and he (and his son Roger after him) leased various lands from the Priory at Garway. As well as farming contributions to the Knights for confraternity in the deaneries of Chepstow, Usk and Abergavenny. Richard married JOAN, dau of WILLIAM ap THOMAS ap LLEWELYN ap HOWELL of Gillow in Hentland (Llyfr Baglan) and had issue three sons and five daughters, who are the subject of the next chapter. He later married SYBIL dau of Sir JAMES BASKERVILLE of Eardisley (by his wife Catherine dau of Sir Walter Devereux Lord Ferrers) and widow of WATKIN VAUGHAN of Hergest, Radnorshire. A papal dispensation had been granted 18 Mar 1479 for Sybil to marry Watkin Vaughan although she was cousin in the third degree to his former wife Elizabeth (Reg. Bishop Thomas Myllyng). Her first husband had "maintained the tradition which made Hergest a resort for the greatest Welsh bards of the fifteenth century. For three generations Welsh culture found a home at Hergest.... The bards were extravagant in their eulogies of him" (Diet Welsh Biog). Although there is evidence of a jointure being settled on Sybil in 1514-15, they were probably married earlier because on 10 May 1511 licence was granted for the marriage at St. Weonards of John Scudamore, gentleman usher to Henry VIII and son of William Scudamore of Holm Lacy and Sybil dau of Watkin Vaughan and stepdau of Richard. From Richard's Inq.p.m. (C 142/80/166, E 150/428/2) taken 14 Oct 1528, we learn that he died in March 1528, holding Treago of George Earl of Shrewsbury by socage, its annual value being £20: and also land at Burghill of John Hackluyt of an annual value of 23s. 4d. Sybil survived him for ten years or more. Richard left a long and detailed will (PCC 3 Jankyn) dated 24 Jan 1526, from which we must necessarily be selective. He left instructions that he was to be buried in the chancel at St. Weonards, with the ample sum of £20 for his funeral expenses. Round his body at the funeral were to be 24 torches carried by 24 poor people, each of whom was to receive a black cloak and a groat for his pains. After the burial St. Weonards was to retain 2 torches at least, and the rest were to be distributed among the churches in Archenfield. His anniversary was to be kept in the parish church by 12 priests, each to receive 5 silver pence. His executors were to see to this, and when they were dead, his heirs. With the religious and family upsets shortly to occur, this may not have lasted very long. The principal beneficiaries include his wife and his stepdaughter Sybil Scudamore (above) but only three of his children, Roger, Thomas and Alice. Bequests include 18 oxen, 48 cows and 300 sheep, as well as 6s. 8d. or a bullock or heifer of equivalent value to each of the servants: but these figures must be related to the land rented at Garway and elsewhere, if in hand, as well as to Treago. A silk cloak was to be made into chasubles, one for the chapel of St. Michael and All Angels at Trevranon and the other for the chapel of St. David at Penrose. He left £20 for the completion of the bell tower at St. Weonards and its bells. His "manor of Treyago otherwise Jamystowe" he left to his son Roger, with remainder to Thomas in default of male issue. Provision is made for prayers "for the welfare of my soul and the souls of Philip Meynours and A lice his wife my parents and also of Henry Deane Archbishop of Canterbury William Herbert sometime Earl of Pembroke John Meynours and all my benefactors and all the faithful departed". This confirms Richard's parentage; but what of the others? The background of Henry Deane is obscure; but by 1457 he was a canon of the Augustinian Priory of Llanthony by Gloucester, and Prior from 1467 to 1501. He restored the finances and buildings of the Priory, and merged with its endowments those of Llanthony Prima. Chaplain to the King in 1477, he became Bishop of Bangor in 1494, was translated to Salisbury in 1499 and to Canterbury in 1501. His main service to the Crown was not in Wales but in Ireland, where Llanthony had large estates; as Chancellor 1494-96, as Deputy Governor and Justiciar in 1496. He succeeded Archbishop Morton as Keeper of the Great Seal 13 Oct 1500 (DNB: A.B. Emden). It may be recalled that the Church at Burghill had been given to Llanthony by- Miles of Gloucester; and that another local connection is perpetuated in the names of Monkton in Llanwarne and Prior's Wood in St. Weonards. These are not enough to account for any link between Richard Mynors and Henry Deane: yet there was a link. The Close Roll for 17 Hen VII preserves a memorandum describing Deane's resignation of the Great Seal on 27 July 1502. At about 10 a.m. he openly displayed it in a certain low chamber next the parlour near the garden in the manor of Lambeth: and then put it in a little bag, sealed the bag with his archiepiscopal seal, and sent it to the King at Woodstock. The memorandum lists some of those present, including Edmund Prior of Llanthony and Richard Mynors esquire. What was Richard doing at Lambeth when he found himself by accident in a footnote to history? Henry Deane died at Lambeth 15 Feb 1503. William Herbert first Earl of Pembroke, of Raglan Castle, married Anne, sister of Walter Devereux Lord Ferrers, and thereby a greataunt of the second wife of Richard Mynors. He is to be found in the history books as a leading Yorkist, particularly important in the Southern March and South Wales. In 1461, after the accession of Edward IV, he became a Privy Councillor and Chief Justice and Chamberlain of S. Wales. He was made Baron Herbert in Nov 1461, a Knight of the Garter in Apr 1462: Chief Justice of North Wales for life and Constable of the castles of Carmarthen and Cardigan in 1467: Earl of Pembroke in Sept 1468. But he incurred the enmity of Warwick the Kingmaker: and on being taken prisoner at Sedgcote near Banbury on 26 July 1469 he was beheaded at Northampton two days later (DNB). The eldest son, William Herbert II, succeeded; but relinquished the earldom of Pembroke to the Crown and was created Earl of Huntingdon. He died without male issue in July 1491. Griffiths sums him up as follows:- "The son and heir of Earl William Herbert I and Anne Devereux, he displayed none of the ability, energy and resolution which had characterised his father. The younger Herbert was inept and uninterested in his duties, and was soon excluded from important public office by Edward IV. The King preferred to rely on the prince's councillors or on experienced administrators like HughHunteley and Richard Mynors. " Richard worked with both Herberts: but we may safely take his will to refer to the first Earl, whose lasting memorial is Raglan Castle. Richard may be summed up, then, as "an experienced administrator", who undoubtedly bettered both his status and his resources in the process. At home he appears to have consolidated his position by the leasing of additional land, and by a well-connected second marriage. He was also a builder. With his wife Sybil he built the north aisle of St. Weonards church, and filled its east window with stained glass, the inscription asking for prayers for the whole state of Richard and Sybil, "founders of this chapel 1521", and for the soul of his first wife Joan. That the arms of Baskerville and Devereux appear in the tracery can be explained by Sybil's parentage. The firm who "restored" the glass in 1875 removed to Treago the arms of Richard III, a good recipe for losing them. Richard's relationship to Treago must remain unproven: but expert opinion on the age of the house tallies with the dating of his career in South Wales. This might well have provided both the incentive and the means. He must be regarded as a strong candidate for having built the shell of the house as we know it. When A.J. Taylor, Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments, visited Treago in 1975 he observed that some of the mason's marks at Treago were also to be found on the work of William Herbert, first Earl of Pembroke, at Raglan Castle.

Year of birth is a guesstimate Her father came from Gillow in Hentland according to the Llyfr Baglan.