Nicholas De Ludlow ^1,13,14

  General Notes:

There is a great deal known about Nicholas de Ludlow because he was wool merchant to Edward I but it is not clear whether he was married twice or whether there were two Nicholas de Ludlow at the same time. The evidence is as follows:

The Close Rolls, 18 Aug 1286 show the abbot of Bruern owing Laurence de Ludelawe, John de Ludelawe and Thomas de Ludelawe, sons of Nicholas de Ludelawe, deceased, begotten on the body of Marjery, late the wife of Nicholas 2,178 marks. Does "late the wife of" imply that she died as his wife. If she had survived him she would have been called his relict or widow.

The other piece of evidence is that the Patent Rolls 20 Aug 1279 refer to Lawrence de Ludlow as the son of Nicholas de Ludlow, sometime burgess of Shrewsbury, deceased, and executor of Nicholas' will. The entry goes on to refer to other children of the deceased and of Idonia his relict. Some of the property covered by the will is being held in Ypres, so the deceased must have been a merchant.

The entry gows on to say that the king will cause whatever is done by the same Laurence de Ludlowe will be ratified as well by the said children as by Idonia.

The king's involvement would be perfectly understandable if it was Nicholas the king's merchant but seems a little unlikely with a lesser mortal.

On balance, it seems likely that Marjery was Nicholas' first wife and mother to Laurence, John and Thomas but that she died and he later married Idonia and had other children with her. These "other children" and Idonia were negotiating with Laurence when the king steps in and says, I'll back Laurence.

The other possibility is that Marjery had two names and one of these was Idonia.

Given the uncertainty, I have created a second Nicholas de Ludlow (RIN 8083) with a wife Idonia and son Laurence. We can merge the two individuals if evidence for that increases.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation: Wool merchant for Edward son of Henry III. ¹ Very well documented in Open and Close Rolls

• Occupation: Burguess of Shrewsbury, 1265, Shrewsbury. ¹

• Licence: to trade wool, 22 Jun 1272, Reading. ¹⁵

• Licence: to trade wool, 25 Jul 1272, Waltham. ¹⁶

• Licence: to trade wool, 17 May 1273, London. ¹⁷

• Licence: to trade wool, 6 Aug 1273, London. ¹⁸

• Licence: to trade in wool and other goods, 30 May 1274, Westminster. ¹⁹

• Court: Order to the Sherrif of Salop, 1275, Salop. ²⁰

• Court: Appointed as special proctor for the king, 1276. ²¹

• Mandate: to receive a payment, 26 Jan 1277, Worrcester. ²²

• Licence, 30 May 1277, Windsor. ²³

• Court: Executing his duty as special proctor for the king, 28 Nov 1277, Montgomery, Wales. ²⁴

• Licence: for Nicholas to receive payment, Feb 1278. ²⁵

Nicholas married Marjery.