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Who is this
gallant knight in shining armour? His name is John de Braose of Wiston,
usually known as Sir John Brewes. Steyning Museum has a full size brass
rubbing from his magnificent tomb at Wiston Church. He died in 1426.
Sadly, there was
one lady who didn't think he was so gallant. She was Margery de
Nerford, an orphaned heiress who became a ward of Peter de Braose,
John's
father. He betrothed Margery to John when they were
still children. Just as his father was about
to die and leave an inheritance which included the Wiston Estate, John
discovered that his wife and her valuable lands were slipping away from
him. Margery had not been a willing bride. She sought refuge with her
grandmother and appealed to the Pope to annul her marriage. John
abducted Margery with the help of an accomplice, Sir Robert Howard, who
imprisoned her
in a London house. Then Margery was taken up the Thames to Chelsea from
where they carried her from one county to another, keeping her in
secret places. Her outraged grandmother petitioned the King and
Parliament. In 1378, Howard was ordered to go to the Tower of London
for
his crime. Remarkably, the likelihood that Sir John Brewes would
continue his pursuit of Margery was recognised in court protection
orders for her over the next two years. But was he driven by love or by
greed? The marriage, if it had been a marriage at all, came to an end
and John found another wife named Margaret Poynings. Margery de Nerford
took a vow of chastity and remained single.
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