Crimson’s Creative Challenge
When, circa 1260, Walter Jernegan married Isabel FitzOsbert he could not have known that her brother would die without heirs. And that the line of Isabel’s cousin John de Nougon would also fail, this at his grandson.
Thus it mattered not a wit how the FitzOsbert estate was divided at Lady Katherine’s death in 1338, for it all landed square in the hands of Walter’s grandson John.
With his marriage to Isabel, Walter Jernegan provided his family with a ‘cheat’, a fast doubling of land and step up the Ladder. Tenant-in-chief, a baron eligible for summons to parliament; it meant his heirs could now look to other barons for wives. It meant larger dowries. Alas, it meant larger dowers too.
But without that marriage the Jernegans, notable amongst them, Elizabeth, Sir Richard, Sir Edward and Sir Henry, would not have become figures at the Tudor courts
The pictured gate belongs to Somerleyton Hall, just north of Lowestoft, which the Jernegans inherited from the FitzOsbert estate.
The notable Jernegans are… (note the change in spelling during Henry VIII’s reign)
Elizabeth Jernegan: Mistress of the Nursery to Prince Henry (Henry VIII), later governess to Princess Mary (Queen Mary I)
Sir Richard Jerningham: Deputy and Treasurer of the City and Marches of Tournay, Knight of the Body and later ambassador to the French King.
Sir Edward Jerningham: Chief Cup Bearer of the Queen’s Chamber at the coronation of Henry VIII.
Sir Henry Jerningham: Master of Horse for Princess Mary, and subsequently Steward to the household of Princess Mary, Gentleman Pensioner at the court of Henry VIII, Vice Chamberlain of the Household, Captain of the Guard and Master of the Horse (to list but a few of his positions).
Although Sir Henry Jerningham spent his child years at Somerleyton, he was later granted the massive estate that then was Cossey, in Norfolk… where centuries later I was born.
crispina kemp 
Nice little history lesson!
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Aye, but I cheated to get it all in 🙂
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Only by, what? 300 words? Just kidding. I didn’t count. 😉
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Well… on this occasion. 🙂
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So you cheated on your own prompt??? What is this world coming to? I guess you will have to be excused.
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I thank you. And I only did it from neccessity.
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Really interesting!
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Thank you. Susan. I confess, it’s old research rehashed. I was just delighted to finally see the place.
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Wow, That family had quite the history of service to Royalty. Seems it would be a great novel. With some romance thrown in. 🙂
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There was plenty of romance.
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Aha! Hmmm
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Indeed
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Might revise my story just a little. Word count lol
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Ok
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😊
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I really enjoy this historian side of you Crispina! Thanks for the history lesson! 😀 ❤
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Thank you. I used to write a history blog, but it’s so time-consuming. Mainly cos I insisted on sourcing the closest to original material, available on internet, and then to link it, so everything was verifiable. But I got kinda sidetracked into family histories… such as this one.
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As I read this, I thought, well this is interesting, until I read the last line. Then I started over and paid more attention. Truly interesting. You’re a celebrity, what fun.
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Nah, nah, don’t get carried away. I was born there, nothing more. Yet it’s what gave me the interest, without it I doubt I’d even know the family existed,
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Ha. Ha. So you’re not royalty, it’s still fun and interesting.
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Though it is said, those Brits of 3 or more generations are, by statistics alone, related to royalty.
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I knew it! ;0)
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Yea. Right. 🙂
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;0)
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According to a highly questionable genealogy, my English family could trace back to Alfred the Great. Of course, the same tree also said we were descended from Odin.
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But of course if you traced to Alfred you’d also trace to Odin cos the Wessex dynasty itself traced descent to Odin/Woden despite the names of earlier kings are… British, like Welsh-British. Odd that, don’t you think.
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Also apparently Charlemagne is descended from Odin. I think Odin must have been some sort of early EU official from Denmark.
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I blame the Christian priests. All those begettings in the Bible. So along came the priests and chanted the tree, now the soon-to-be converts, to outdo the white-robed ones, formed trees of their own.
On the other hand, if you could trace your descent unbroken from a divine, Odin or Thor or Tuwaz, then it proved your right to rule. And as soon as you settled in a new land, you planted your godly forefather’s name in the ground. Hence the names of the gods mark our towns.
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Well, my alleged descent from Odin went through one of Charlemagne’s concubines, so I guess my right to rule only extends to the wrong side of the tracks.
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Wrong side of the tracks? Or the sheets?
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(chuckle) Yes.
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🙂
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What a fabulous history lesson, I loved the last line especially.
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I was only born there. I’m not part of the family! 🙂
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Here’s my Tale
https://jengoldie493473930.wordpress.com/2019/10/25/ill-return-j-e-goldie-crimson-creative-challenge-50-october-24-2019/
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Much liked 🙂
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Thank you Crispina 🙂
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🙂
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Pingback: “I’ll Return” ©J.E.Goldie Crimson Creative Challenge #50 October 24, 2019 | Jen Goldie – A little this, a little that, some real and some imaginings.
Interesting way to use the gate in a story.
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A gate can be many things. barrier, or a connection. A break, or a joining.
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The gates look like they contain many interesting stories, including the history you’ve just told!
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I didn’t follow the family after Henry set up at Cossey. That was my interest, that’s where I was born. I do know the Somerleyton family run out of male heirs, so the estate went to a Wentworth… and on
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