General Notes

Edward Strode was born in Shepton Mallet in 1515, married Alice Whiting of the same town about 1535 and sired eight children by her before his death at about age 40 in 1555. Alice died in October 1593 at 66 years of age and her will was probated in Shepton Mallet, their home for their entire lives. Whereas his family originally came from France, she apparently was of Old English descent as the name "Hwiting" was common in the land prior to the coming of the Normans. Little else is known of Edward and Alice. They lived during the royal tenure of one of England's most colorful and self-indulgent kings, Henry VIII, about whom the history books bulge with information. His tumultuous marriages to six wives and their ultimate disposition are unique in English history: two divorced, two beheaded, one died after childbirth, and one survived him. Henry's first divorce brought excommunication from the Catholic Church, whereupon he established the Church of England with himself as its head. In this role, he was not supported to his liking by Oliver Cromwell and Sir Thomas More and had both executed. He also confiscated the vast properties that had long been held by the church. During the tangle of royal affairs after Henry's death: his ten-year-old son by Jan Seymour, Edward VI became king for six years until his death; the seventeen-year-old Lady Jane Grey served as queen for nine days, then was beheaded for refusing to give up her Protestant beliefs; Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, succeeded to the throne and brought back Catholicism (with a toll of 300 Protestants burned at the stake); finally, Elizabeth, daughter of Ann Boleyn, became queen, repealed the Catholic legislation and served for 45 years. At her accession to the throne, she became the fourth monarch in a period of eleven years. This bloody period for the monarchy may have had little effect on the Strodes and their fellow citizens except in religious practices, but it must have been the subject of a lot of conversation over a pint in the alehouses. (Taken from: A Family History, by Donovan Faust)