Paul and Katherine Dernford circa 1490-1538 of Framlingham, Suffolk, England

PAUL DERNFORD circa 1490-1538 son of William and Isabella

Paul Dernford would be the first of Danforth Family to be born in what became the modern world. Paul was born during the reign of King Henry VII who founded the Tudor Dynasty and was a youth when King Henry VIII ascended the throne of England in 1509. His birth also coincided with the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of ages of the Renaissance, Exploration and Reformation.

LAND OWNERS

The Dernford family were landowners of either the Gentry or Yeoman classes. The Gentry did not have to work but relied on income from property while the Yeoman Class were farmers who owned and worked their own lands. What ever their positions were in 16th Century England, they were becoming more educated mainly so that their children could read the bible that was being printed in English and become less depended on Priests to be arbitrators of Christian theology.

WORLD EVENTS

When Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, it ushered in a period of new learning in England as thousands of Byzantine Scholars fled to Western Europe with their knowledge of math and science knowledge which had been saved from the Classical Era of the Ancient world. This was the basis of the Renaissance. Paul was alive during the time of Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Rafael. The Sistine Chapel, the Mona Lisa, the statue of David were all created during his life time.

In 1492 Columbus began to explore the New World opening the 16th Century for Spain to become a super power. Also during Paul’s life time Mexico and Peru were conquered by Spanish Conquistadors from where New World gold flowed to Spain is galleons laden with treasure, Spain was the most powerful nation in Europe during Paul's lifetime and would try to conquer England in his grandson's lifetime.

More than the Renaissance and the Age of Exploration Paul's life and the lives of his descendants were affected by 16th century church reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin. They and others began the Protestant Revolution that destroyed the unity of Medieval Christendom and promoted the modern concept of freedom of conscience. A concept that would send his descendants to the New World in search of that freedom.

  

All these movements helped change Paul Derneford's England to a slightly more humanistic country that was emerging from feudalism and long held superstitions of the Middle Ages.

In the 1490’s when Paul was an infant, Thomas Linacre Oxford professor, and the personal physician to Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII, decided to learn Greek. After reading the Gospels in Greek, and comparing it to the Latin Vulgate, he wrote in his diary, “Either this (the original Greek) is not the Gospel… or we are not Christians.” He realized that the Latin had become so corrupt that it no longer even preserved the message of the Gospel yet the Catholic Church still threatened to burn anyone who read the scripture in any language other than Latin.

By the end of Paul's life, Reformer scholar Myles Coverdale finished the work that William Tyndale had started translating the Old Testament and New Testaments into English. On 4 Oct 1535 he printed the first complete Bible in the English language, known as the Coverdale Bible, a few years before Paul's death.

MARRIAGE and FAMILY 

Paul’s father William de Derneford died in 1512 when Paul was about 20 years old and had enough prestige in Framlingham to be buried in the churchyard of St. Michael. The will of his father’s stated that Paul was younger than 24 years old at the time making his will but when he turned 24 he was to inherit certain properties- “Powle [Paul] my son at age of 24 to have my said tenement called Lyncolnes.” Paul de Derneford was most likely the surviving eldest son of William and Isabella de Dernford as he is listed first among male heirs. It is also likely that he is under the age of majority [21 years] or he would have been appointed an executor along with his mother of his father’s will instead of John Ederych. If this is the case Paul de Dernford would have been born closer to 1492 than 1488.

Within a few years of his father’s death, Paul Derneford married Katherine, family unknown. No doubt she would have been of the same social status and her father probably was a yeoman farmer also. She would have been young certainly under 20 years old and more likely closer to 15 years old.

Paul and Katherine Derneford had at least eight children with their eldest son being named Nicholas perhaps either after Katherine’s father or Paul's grandfather. The span of having eight children, if two years is the general accepted spacing between births, then Paul and Katherine had their children over the span of sixteen to twenty years. If they were married circa 1515, the couple was married for about 23 years before he died.

FRAMLINGHAM

Paul Derneford was raised in the town of Framlingham which was dominated by the formidable Castle Framlingham home of the powerful Howard Family, the Dukes of Norfolk. One of the most spectacular event that occurred in Paul de Derneford's lifetime, and probably witnessed by him, was the grand funeral of Thomas Howard the 2nd Duke of Norfolk. The 2nd Duke of Norfolk was also the grandfather of two of Henry VIII future wives Anne Bolyn and Katherine Howard, both whom met their fate at the edge of an axe.

By the spring of 1522, the Duke of Norfolk was almost 80 years of age and in failing health. He withdrew from court that year, resigned as Lord Treasurer in favor of his son Thomas, and after attending the opening of Parliament in April 1523, he retired to his castle at Framlingham in Suffolk and died.  The Duke died on 21 May 1524 and his funeral and burial on 22 June were said to have been 'spectacular and enormously expensive, costing over £1300. The procession from Framlingham to Thetford Priory 35 miles away in Norfolk County contained 400 hooded men bearing torches and an elaborate bier surmounted with 100 wax effigies and 700 candles', befitting the richest and most powerful peer in England.

Thetford Priory was the ancestral burial site of the Howards but less than 16 years after the 2nd Duke of Norfolk was buried, he and other relatives were removed to Framlingham when Henry VIII took away all Catholic Church properties and sold them to his protestant supporters. A bit of Trivia is that American Patriot Thomas Paine was born in Thetford.

THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION

The most dramatic changes for England's future came in 1533 five years before the time of Paul’s death in 1538. Paul de Dernford spent the remainder of his life under the turbulent rule of King Henry VIII of England who because of his desire to have a male heir, broke off from the Catholic Church and claimed for himself the position of head of the Church of England and not the Pope at Rome.

The break away from Catholicism in 1533 was due primarily to the King’s obsession with having a son to continue his dynasty. The break with the Catholic Church, after it had been the faith of England for a thousand years, was not an easy adaptation for the English people, the nobility as well as commoners. However the Church of England remained Catholic in all but name throughout most of Henry VIII reign.

THE WIVES of KING HENRY VIII

When his wife Queen Catherine of Aragon could not provide him an heir, Henry VIII was eager to divorce her so he could marry Anne Boleyn, the niece of Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk. However the Pope being a relative of Catherine of Aragon refused an annulment especially since Princess Mary was proof of their conjugal relations.

On 23 May 1533, Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury ruled King Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon null and void and on 28 May 1533, he pronounced the king was legally married to Anne Boleyn. This immediately led to Henry’s excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church and to the establishment of the Church of England.

The news of the king’s remarriage astounded England and no more so than in the town of Framlingham where Thomas Howard the 3rd Duke of Norfolk resided at the Castle. Thomas Howard was now the uncle of the new Queen. It is possible even, that Paul Dernford may have witnessed royals and noble processions in the streets of Framlingham with the coming and goings between royal families.

At first the break with the Roman Catholic Church only meant that King Henry VIII was the secular head of the church and not the Pope of Rome . However eventually reformers studying under Martin Luther in Germany and John Calvin in Geneva Switzerland shifted the Anglican Church from Catholic theology towards more Protestant thinking where the Bible became the primal authority not church clerics.

Anne Boleyn was crowned Queen Consort of England on 1 June 1533 and she gave birth 7 September 1533 to Henry's second daughter, Elizabeth. When Anne failed to quickly produce a male heir, her only son being stillborn, the King grew tired of her and a plot was hatched by Thomas Cromwell to execute her.

Although the evidence against her was unconvincing, Anne was beheaded on charges of adultery, incest, and high treason on 19 May 1536. Within days of Anne’s execution Henry VIII remarried Jane Seymour, Anne’s former lady in waiting as his third wife. The daughter of a knight, she was of lower birth than most of Henry's wives.

In October 1537 Queen Jane gave birth to a healthy, legitimate male heir, named Edward, but she died twelve days later on 24 October. She was the only wife of Henry to receive a proper Queen's burial and when the King died himself in 1547, he was buried next to her.

King Henry VIII was a widower when Paul Derneford died in 1538. Paul Derneford lived through reigns of two kings, three Queens, and the birth of three future monarchs, Mary, Elizabeth, and Edwards.

THE LAST WILL and TESTAMENT

At about the age of 48 years old Paul Dernford made out his will on 13 November 1538 and it was proved five days later 18 November 1538 which indicated that he was quite ill at the time of his death in  November 1538. "I Paul Derneford of Framlingham. To be buried in church yard of Framlingham. Katheryne my wife to have tenement called Lyncolnes in Framlingham until Nicholas my son be 21, & then he shall pay her 40 shillings yearly & hold it to him according to the will of William Derneford, my father. If he die Thomas my son to have the said tenement. My close called Beetis to be in occupation of my said wife until said Thomas be 21; if he die the same go to Robert my son & his heirs; if he die, to Richard my son & his heirs. He mentions land called Battoftes, meadow called Brodewater & Metpetmedowe. Daughters Isabell, Margaret, Agnes & Olive. Executors Wife Katherine & brother James Derneford. Witnesses: John Lewoode, Wm. Nuttell, John Hoberd.

Proved 18 Nov 1538 Ipswich Wills. Arch. Suffolk Book 13, folio 259

The tenement he inherited from his father called Lincolnes was still in his family but he had acquired tenements or enclosures called Beetis, Battofles, and a meadow called Broadwater and Metpet Meadow either from purchases or from a dowery of his wife.

The order in which his male children and female children are listed do not necessarily indicate a birth order except within the sexes. His sons were Nicholas, Thomas, Robert, and Richard. His daughters were Isabell, Margaret, Agnes, and Olive. Paul and Kathryn may have had more children as no offspring was named William, Paul, or Katherine which would have been very unusual not to have a son named for the father or grandfather. If infant mortality was as high as 30 percent it is likely they had at least three more children who died before the will was made.

Paul named as an  heir his son Nicholas to whom he left the property that was left to him by his father. It is not clear from the will if Nicholas was the first born but he was at least the eldest surviving male child and born after 1517.

Paul Dernford mentioned that two of his sons, Nicholas and Thomas were under the age of 21 which meant that they were born after 1517. However none of his daughter’s ages can be determined from the will except the will indicates that they were unmarried and Isabell being named for Paul's mother may have been one of the eldest.

The identity of Katherine family is harder to surmise than Paul’s mother. The executor of the will was Katherine and Paul Dernford’s brother James. However witnesses of a will are often relatives or in-laws of the testator. The witnesses to Paul’s will were John Lewoode, William Nuttell, and John Hoberd. Who these men were is speculative at best perhaps brothers-in law of Paul’s sisters or members of Kathryn’s family.

He was buried in the church yard of St. Michael the Archangel close to his father. Any tombstone for either men have long since weathered away or fallen to earth.

PAUL DERNEFORD

Born: After 1488, Framlingham, England
Died: November 1538, Framlingham, Suffolk, England
Married circa 1515 Framlingham, Suffolk, England

KATHERINE

Born circa 1500 Suffolk, England
Died after 1538 Suffolk England

Children
ISABELL DERNEFORD
Born unknown circa 1516 Framlingham, Suffolk, England
Died unknown after 1638

NICHOLAS DERNEFORD
Born circa 1520 Framlingham, Suffolk, England
Died circa January 1586 Framlingham Suffolk, England
Married Alice Jordan circa 1655

THOMAS DERNFORD
Born unknown circa 1522 Framlingham, Suffolk, England
Died unknown after 1565 Framlingham, Suffolk, England
married Joan [Jane]
1. Frances Daneford buried 18 July 1561
2. Olive Danforth baptized 10 March 1565 [1566] married 24 June 1588 Robert Woodcoke [Woodcock]

ROBERT DERNEFORD
Born unknown circa 1524 Framlingham, Suffolk, England
Died unknown after 1585 Framlingham, Suffolk, England

RICHARD DANFORDE
Born unknown circa 1526 Framlingham, Suffolk, England
Died circa May 1572 Framlingham, Suffolk, England
Married Ann Driver who was a widow
will proved 11 June 1572.
On the 14 August 1570 “Twelfth Year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth”, Richard “Danforde” made out his last will and testament. In it he listed his residence and occupation as "of Framlingham at Castle, Husbandman". This meant that he had a position at the Castle taking care of the livestock including horses. Richard named, in his will his wife, Ann Danforde, her son “William Smith”, and "my four daughters" Isabel Danforde, Anne Danforde, Frances Danforde, and Katherine Danforde, and Richard Danforde also mentioned a brother-in-law John Driver. He requested that his "wife to be executor of his estate and brother Nicholas Danforde to be Supervisor of the will." Evidently he had no male heirs, just his step son William Smith and his four daughters, three of which were named for female relatives, his grandmother Isabella [Ederych], his mother, Katherine, and after his wife Anne Driver. Frances may have been a mother in law.
1. Isabella Danforth baptized 21 September 1562
2. Anne Danforth baptized 17 September1564
3. Frances Danforth
4. Katherine Danforth baptized 30 April 1570 burial 23 September 1571

MARGARET DERNEFORD
Born unknown circa 1528 Framlingham, Suffolk, England
Died unknown after 1538 Framlingham, Suffolk, England

AGNES DERNEFORD
Born unknown circa 1530 Framlingham, Suffolk, England
Died unknown after 1538 Framlingham, Suffolk, England

OLIVE DERNEFORD
Born unknown circa 1532 Framlingham, Suffolk, England
Died unknown after 1538 Framlingham, Suffolk, England