Catalogue description ALICE HOTHAM'S LANDS

None of the principals of the charter occur later in the muniments. Littleport (Cambs.) was one of the bishop of Ely's manors,[VCH Cambs. iv. 97-9.] so Alice Hotham of Littleport may have been related to John Hotham, bishop of Ely (d. 1337). The bishop acquired manors and lands in Sheldon and Solihull (Warws.), which passed to his great-nephew Sir John Hotham (d. 1351).[VCH Warws. iv. 201-2, 218-19. He was also of Collyweston (Northants.), Bonby (Lincs.) and Hotham (Yorks.): Hist. of Parl. 1386-1421, iv. 666.] Sir John's daughter and heir Alice (d. 1379) married first Hugh Despenser, a younger brother of Edward Lord Despenser, and secondly, by Nov. 1374, Sir John Trussell (d. 1424). Hugh, her son by Despenser, died without issue in 1401 holding Sheldon and Solihull in jointure with his wife Sibyl (d. 1415),[He also held Bonby (Lincs.), Collyweston (Northants.), Hotham (Yorks.), and holdings in Rothley (Leics.) and Cooksland and Seighford (Staffs.): CIPM xviii, nos. 601-6.] Hugh's sister and heir Anne married Edward Butler (d. 1412) but died in 1408 without issue, when the heir was her Despenser cousin Richard, then a minor and still suffering under the attainder of his father Thomas in 1400.[Edward Lord Despenser (d. 1375) was succeeded by his son Thomas, who was attainted in 1400, leaving his son Richard, who died in 1414 aged eighteen, and a daughter Isabel who was the heir.] The Hotham manors in Sheldon and Solihull were settled in 1542 by George Throckmorton on his son Robert and his second wife, and they passed to Thomas, Robert's son by his first wife, Muriel, daughter of Thomas Lord Berkeley.[VCH Warws. iv. 203, 219.] It is possible that the connection explains why the charter remains in the Castle, although it is not clear that Alice Hotham of Littleport was the daughter and heir of Sir John (d. 1351).[There are other possible connections with inheritances recorded above. The surname Dorsington (Dersingtone) and the mention of Stratford upon Avon and Tachbrook suggest a link with Anne Cranford, who inherited the manor of Dorsington, and her second husband Thomas Hall: above, BCM/G/2, BCM/G/4/8 and 10. (Dorsington is 6 miles south-west and Tachbrook Mallory and Bishop's Tachbrook are 8 miles north-east of Stratford.) Ralph Basset held two manors in Sheldon, which he tried to settle on his nephew Hugh Shirley but which eventually passed to the Staffords: above, BCM/G/1.]