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William Capel

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Arms of Capell: Gules, a lion rampant between three cross-crosslets fitchée or
Hadham Hall in the parish of Little Hadham, Hertfordshire, purchased by Sir William Capel

Sir William Capel (c. 1446-1515) of Capel Court[1] in the parish of St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange in the City of London and of Hadham Hall in the parish of Little Hadham, Hertfordshire, served as Lord Mayor of London and as a Member of Parliament for the City of London.

Origins

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He was the son of John Capell (1398–1449) of Stoke-by-Nayland in Suffolk, a member of the Suffolk gentry,[2] whose family had been seated at Capel St. Mary[3] in Suffolk since the 12th century.[4]

Career

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William Capel was a member of the Worshipful Company of Drapers, who served as Sheriff of the City of London for 1496, and was twice elected Lord Mayor of London, in 1503 and 1510. He was elected as a Member of Parliament for the City of London from 1511 to 1515.[4]

His London mansion stood in the vicinity of the present London Stock Exchange and of Capel Court (named after him, now a short sidestreet or walkway) in the City of London.[1] He added a south chapel to his parish church of St Bartholomew-the-Less in the City. He purchased the estate of Hadham Hall in the parish of Little Hadham, Hertfordshire, which remained in the Capell family from many generations. A new house was later built there, whether on the site of the old hall or on a new site is uncertain, which became the seat of his Capell descendants from the 1570s onwards.

Capel loaned money on the security of jewellery. In April 1489, he lent money to a goldsmith Symond Garardson on the security of a group of diamond and ruby rings.[5] Capel lent £100 to Elizabeth of York in 1502.[6][7] As mayor of London, he had some dealings with two officers of Henry VII, Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley, and was censured in a legal court in 1504. He had to pay for pardons for himself and his son Giles Capel.[8] In 1507, William Capel was imprisoned for not acting against the circulation of counterfeit money, by a jury said to have been influenced by Dudley and Empson.[9]

Marriage and issue

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Canting arms of Arundell: Sable, six martlets argent (hirondelle (French), martlet)

He married Margaret Arundell, a daughter of Sir John Arundell (1421–1473) of Lanherne in Cornwall, by his second wife Katherine Chideocke, by whom he had issue including a son and two daughters:

Will of Margaret Capel

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Margaret Capel made her will in 1516 and died in 1522.[14][15] She made a number of bequests of rich fabrics to churches, some of which she had embroidered herself, especially for the family's chantry chapel at St Bartholomew-the-Less.[16] She also bequeathed a chain of her late husband's, which had belonged to the "yonge kyng" Edward V, to her son Sir Giles Capel.[17][18] Giles was also given a best bed with curtains embroidered with the badge of an anchor and the motto used by his father.[19] The anchor badge was carved in the doorways at Rayne Hall.[20]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Capel Court, EC2R". The Underground Map. 28 April 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  2. ^ HOP: "born into an armigerous family"; family is not listed in the heraldic visitations of Suffolk, not listed in index[1]
  3. ^ a b "CAPELL, Sir Gamaliel (1561-1613), of Rookwood Hall, Abbess Roding, Essex". Historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  4. ^ a b "CAPELL, Sir William (by 1448-1515), of London". Historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  5. ^ HMC Report on manuscripts in various collections, 7 (London, 1914), p. 335
  6. ^ Nicholas Harris Nicholas, Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York (London: William Pickering, 1830), pp. 12, 183.
  7. ^ Tudor Chamber Books: May 1502, the Queen's book
  8. ^ Nicholas Harris Nicholas, Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York (London: William Pickering, 1830), pp. 12, 183 citing British Library Harley MS 1877.
  9. ^ Julia Boffey, Henry VII's London in the Great Chronicle (Teams, 2019), p. 126.
  10. ^ Calendar Patent Rolls, Henry VII, 2 (London, 1914), p. 414.
  11. ^ William Minet, "Capells at Rayne", Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society, 9:4 (Colchester, 1904), p. 246–247.
  12. ^ Barbara J. Harris, English Aristocratic Women, 1450–1550: Marriage and Family, Property and Careers (Oxford, 2002), p. 216.
  13. ^ Book inscribed by Mary, Dame Capel: YCBA
  14. ^ William Minet, "Capells at Rayne", Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society, 9:4 (Colchester, 1904), p. 243
  15. ^ Tim Thornton, "Sir William Capell and A Royal Chain: The Afterlives (and Death) of King Edward V", History: The Journal of the Historical Association, 109:308 (2024), pp. 445–480. doi:10.1111/1468-229X.13430
  16. ^ Barbara J. Harris, English Aristocratic Women and the Fabric of Piety (Amsterdam University Press, 2018), pp. 60, 67, 99
  17. ^ Susan E. James, Women's Voices in Tudor Wills, 1485–1603: Authority, Influence and Material (Ashgate, 2015), p. 88: Nicholas Harris Nicolas, Vestusta Testamenta, 2 (London, 1826), p. 595.
  18. ^ Extraordinary new clue about the Princes in the Tower found at The National Archives, The National Archives, 2024, accessed 2 December 2024
  19. ^ William Minet, "Capells at Rayne", Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society, 9:4 (Colchester, 1904), pp. 243, 246.
  20. ^ Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Essex (London: HMSO, 1916), p. 219
Civic offices
Preceded by Lord Mayor of London
1503-1504
Succeeded by
Preceded by Lord Mayor of London
1510
Succeeded by