Sir Richard Empson ( – 17 August 1510), minister of Henry VII, was a son of Peter Empson. Educated as a lawyer, he soon attained considerable success in his profession, and in 1491 was a Knight of the shire for Northamptonshire in Parliament, and Speaker of the House of Commons.
Career
Richard Empson, born about 1450, was the son of Peter Empson (d. 1473) and Elizabeth (Joseph) Empson.
John Stow claimed that his father was a sieve maker, but there is no evidence of this. His father, Peter Empson, held property at
Towcester and
Easton Neston in
Northamptonshire.
Early in the reign of Henry VII he became associated with Edmund Dudley in carrying out the King's rigorous and arbitrary system of taxation, and in consequence he became very unpopular. Retaining the royal favour, however, he was knighted at the creation of the future Henry VIII as Prince of Wales on 18 February 1504, and was soon High Steward of the University of Cambridge,
Thrown into prison by order of the new King, Henry VIII, he was charged, like Dudley, with the crime of constructive treason, and was convicted at Northampton in October 1509. His attainder by Parliament followed,[According to Hargrave's note in 1 State Trials No. 26, there was no act of attainder, but only an act to prevent the forfeiture of some property held by Empson and Dudley in trust.] and he was beheaded on 17 August 1510. In 1512, his elder son, Thomas, was "restored in blood", meaning that his father's attainder was reversed so far as it affected him, by Act of Parliament.
Marriage and issue
Empson married Lady Jane R. Empson (née Hill)
, by whom he had 10 children, including:
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Thomas Empson, eldest son and heir, who married Audrey or Etheldreda, one of the daughters of Sir Guy Wolston.
[ C 1/306/20, manors settled in remainder on Audrey Wolston at her marriage to Thomas Empson, National Archives Retrieved 27 November 2013.]
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John Empson, who married Agnes Lovell, daughter of Henry Lovell and Constance Hussey,
[Constance Hussey was the sister of Katherine Hussey, wife of Reginald Bray.] and a ward of Edmund Dudley.[ 'Harting', A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 4: The Rape of Chichester (1953), pp. 10–21 Retrieved 27 November 2013.]
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Elizabeth Empson,
[Flower, Cyril, M. C. B. Dawes, and A. C. Wood. "Inquisitions Post Mortem, Henry VII, Entries 51-100." Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem: Series 2, Volume 3, Henry VII. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1955. 33-56. British History Online Retrieved 19 March 2019. .] who married firstly George Catesby, son of William Catesby, counsellor to Richard III, and secondly, in August 1509, Thomas Lucy, with grandson, Thomas Lucy.
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Joan Empson, who married firstly Henry Sothill, esquire, of Stockerston, Leicestershire, Attorney General to Henry VII, by whom she had twin daughters, Joan Sothill (b. 1505), who married Sir John Constable (son of Sir Marmaduke Constable),
[* Constable, Sir John (d. 1554-6), History of Parliament Retrieved 26 November 2013.] and Elizabeth Sothill, (1505–1575) who married Sir William Drury, M.P., P.C., (c.1500–1558), a son of Sir Richard Empson's successor as Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Robert Drury of Hawstead, Suffolk. She married secondly Sir William Pierrepont of Holme Pierrepont, Nottinghamshire.
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Anne Empson, who married firstly Robert Ingleton (d.1503), a ward of her father, by whom she had a daughter who married Humphrey Tyrrell. She married secondly John Higford, probably under duress, as in 1504 he was pardoned for her rape as well as burglary, and other offences.
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Mary Empson, who married Edward Bulstrode, son of Richard Bulstrode.
Notes
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"The Visitation of Warwickshire 1619", London, 1877, p. 284.
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"The Extinct & Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland, and Scotland" by Messrs, John and John Bernard Burke, 2nd edition, London, 1841, p. 498.
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"History of Henry VII", by Francis Bacon, edited by Joseph Rawson Lumby (Cambridge, 1881).
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"The Reign of Henry VIII" by J.S.Brewer, edited by James Gairdner (London, 1884).
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"The Knights of England" by William A. Shaw, Litt.D.,&c., London, 1906, volume II, p. 34.
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"Plantagenet Ancestry" by Douglas Richardson, Baltimore, Md., 2004, p. 276. Extremely well sourced.
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"Magna Carta Ancestry" by Douglas Richardson, Baltimore, Md., 2005, p. 668.
- Attribution
