One of the medieval knights who lived to be a centenarian….

  We are inclined to think people in the medieval period didn’t live very long compared with this present age. Well, perhaps the very poor died younger, but those from the higher echelons were as likely as us to live on I to very old age. Proof of this can be found in the records… Continue reading One of the medieval knights who lived to be a centenarian….

The Champernownes of Devon

The Champernownes (above), a Norman line whose alternative spellings include Chapman and Chamberlain, are surely Devon’s second family after the Courtenays of Powderham Castle, who hold the Earldom. From 1162, their (Domesday Book-cited) home was at Chambercombe Manor near Ilfracombe (middle right) but, by the early sixteenth century, this had passed to Henry Grey, Duke of… Continue reading The Champernownes of Devon