Giles Daubeney, 6th Baron Daubeney

The undifferenced arms of Daubeney which appears on the effigy of Sir Giles Daubeney.[1]

Giles Daubeney, 6th Baron Daubeney [2] (1393–1445/46) was an English knight, and a county sheriff. His effigy can be seen today in South Petherton, Somerset, England.

Life

Daubeney was the second son of Sir Giles Daubeney and Margaret (who was the daughter of Sir John Beauchamp 1349-1408). He was born in Kempston, Bedfordshire, Bedfordshire; and was baptised there on 25 October 1395.[1] He inherited his title in 1409 on the death of John Daubeney, the fifth Baron.[2]

During the years between 1418–1421 he served in the French wars. He was a Knight of the Shire for Somerset in 1424/25 and 1429; and was also High Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset from January 1425 to December 1426 and was High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire in 1431/32.[1]

Daubeney's first wife was Joan, third daughter of Sir Philip Darcy, Lord Darcy (in Knaith, Lincolnshire). Following her death, Daubeney married, sometime before 18 May 1436, Mary, eldest daughter and co-heir of Simon Lake of Cotham, Nottinghamshire. Mary died on 17 February 1442/1443 and was buried in South Petherton, Somerset. Daubeney then took for his third wife a woman named Alice. On 11 January 1445/46, at the age of 50, he died at Barrington, Somerset. His wife remarried after his death; and died on 26 or 27 March 1455.[3]

Monument at South Petherton

Drawing of monumental brasses of Sir Giles Daubeney and his first wife, South Petherton Church, Somerset

The monumental brass effigies of Daubeney and his first wife Joan survive in the Church of St Peter and St Paul, in South Petherton, Somerset,[1] and include two inscribed plates and four heraldic shields. The effigy of Daubeney measures 123.8 centimetres (48.7 in) high; that of Joan measures 120.7 cm (47.5 in) high. The inscriptions are on two plates under the feet of the figures; the first measuring 40.6 cm (16.0 in) x 7 cm (2.8 in); the second measuring 54.3 cm (21.4 in) x 7 cm (2.8 in). Each heraldic shield is 12.7 cm (5.0 in) x 15.5 cm (6.1 in).[1]

Heraldry

The four heraldic shields, all but one of which are heavily restored, display coats of arms and are located on either side of the figures, which latter are shown under Gothic arched canopies. The shields show the following arms:[1]

Inscription

The monument includes a verse epitaph in Latin, of the so-called Quisquis variety,[4] (i.e. "Whoever...") consisting of four lines, two lines on each plate. It developed from the mediaeval legend of the Three Living and the Three Dead. The same inscription is said by the Devon historian John Prince[5] (d.1723) to have been engraved on the ledger-stone of one of the early Bishops of Crediton (he suggested possibly Bishop "Eadulph" (died 932/4)) in Crediton Church. It also appears on the brass of Thomas Heywood (d.1492), Dean of Lincoln,(sic) in Lincoln Cathedral[6] and on the brass of John Booth (d.1478), (alias Bowthe), Bishop of Exeter, on his monument[7] at East Horsley, Surrey.[8]

The rhyming[9] inscription and a literal translation is as follows:[1]

Sis testis Xpe,[10] q(uo)d non jacet (hic) lapis iste
Corpus ut ornetur, sed spiritus (ut) memoretur
Quisquis eris, qui transieris, sta perlege plora
Sum q(uo)d eris, fueramq(ue) q(uo)d es, pro me p(re)cor ora

Translated literally line by line as:

"Be a witness, O Christ, that this stone does not lie here
To adorn the body, but that it might commemorate the soul.
Whoever thou art who will pass by, stand, read, weep:
I am what you will be, I was what you are. I beseech you, pray for me!"

Prince made a verse translation thus:[11]

"Christ! bear me witness, that this stone is not
Put here t'adorn a body, that must rot;
But keep a name, that it mayn't be forgot.
Whoso doth pass, stay, read, bewail, I am
What thou must be; was what thou art the same;
Then pray for me, e're you go whence ye came"

Issue

Sir Giles Daubeney and Joan Darcy

Ancestors

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "South Petherton, Somerset" (PDF). Hamline University. Retrieved October 21, 2009.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages – Peerages beginning with "D" (part 1)
  3. ↑ Cokayne 1910, pp. 100–101.
  4. ↑ Sherlock, Peter, Monuments and Memory in Early Modern England, pp.79-80
  5. ↑ Prince, John, (1643–1723) The Worthies of Devon, 1810 edition, p.343, apparently relying on A View of Devonshire by Thomas Westcote (1567?–1637?)
  6. ↑ He appears to have been Dean of Lichfield
  7. ↑ (Victoria County History: Surrey, Vol.3; Parishes: East Horsley', A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3 (1911), pp. 349-352. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42982): "There are several interesting brasses, the most important being a small one on the north wall of the chancel, on which is represented a kneeling bishop in mass vestments and with a mitre and his pastoral staff. On a shield opposite him are the arms of Booth—Three boars' heads razed with a label. Below is an inscription: 'Quisquis eris qui transieris sta p[er]lege plora. | Sum qd eris fuerā q[uia] qd es: pro me precor ora. | Hic jacet Johēs Bowthe quōdā E[pus] Exoni[ensis] qui | Obiit vo; die me[nsi] Aprelis Ao d[omini] mocccco lxxviii.'
  8. ↑ Sherlock, Peter, Monuments and Memory in Early Modern England, pp.79-80
  9. ↑ The rhyme within the first line is on Xpe (pronounced Christe) with iste; the second line ornetur with memoretur; the last two lines rhyme internally with eris, transieris and eris, es and also in their endings: sta perlege plora with pro me precor ora
  10. ↑ Xpe, abbreviation of Greek form, pronounced here as in Latin Christe
  11. ↑ Prince, Worthies of Devon, 1810 edition, p.343, "Eadulph, Bishop of Devon"
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Cokayne 1910, pp. 96–97.

References

External links

Peerage of England
Preceded by
Giles Daubeney		 Baron Daubeney Succeeded by
William Daubeney