General Notes

[New Cunard.ged]

John Steele Gordon, citing Brice M. Clagett, "Seven Centuries" and Royal Descen t of 500 Colonists, pp. 429-430:

Sir James Fiennes 1st Baron Saye and Sele w as born
about 1395. He died in 1450. Sir James Fiennes rose to prominence unde r King
Henry V in the French wars and was granted much property in France as a result.
In 1419 he was made Governor of Arques. In 1430 he accompanied Henry VI to
France for his coronation in Paris and was created Sheriff of Kent in 14 37 and
Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex two years later.

In 1440 he was an esq uire to the body of the King and received a grant of 100
pounds per annum. He received further grants and on Feb 24 1447 he and his heirs
male were made Con stable of Dover and Warden of the Cinque Ports, which were
highly remunerative posts. In 1449 he relinquished them to the Duke of
Buckingham. In March 1447 he was created Baron Say and Sele and summoned
to Parliament being held at Bur y St. Edmunds.

As an adherent of the Duke of Suffolk, Lord Say was becoming very unpopular
and it is altogether likely that the charges of extortion and maladministration of
which he was accused were not without merit. He was a spe cific target during
Cade's rebellion, and Henry VI sent him to the Tower. But Lord Scales, who was
in charge of the Tower, handed him over to Cade, who had him arraigned by the
Lord Mayor and judges. Lord Say demanded a trial by his p eers, but Cade took
him to the Standard in Cheap and there had him beheaded, h anged, drawn and
quartered. His body was dragged behind a horse and his head, along with that of
his son-in-law William Cromer, were carried on poles throug h the City
of London.

Lord Say is a minor character in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part II (Act 4, Scene 7),
where his last moments are depicted. Shakespear e anacronistically credits him with
introducing printing to England. Among his descendants was Edward Gibbon, the
18th century historian of the fall of Rome . He was married.