The Hollyman English Ancestry Quest 2019, Part 8

by Glenn N. Holliman

Our 6th Stop

St. Peter and St. Paul, Church Hanborough
May 19, 2019

Rubbing the sleep from our eyes, we boarded our bus again at Moreton in Marsh, and in 30 minutes made our first stop on the outskirts of Woodstock, just north of Oxford in a community not far both the birthplace and grave of Winston S. Churchill, the great World War II prime minister of the United Kingdom.

In the village of Church Hanborough and the parish of St. Peter and St. Paul lay the remains of The Rt. Rev. John Holyman, 1495-1558.  And there we visited the grave of a great uncle who lived and participated in the turbulent time of four Tudor monarchs!

Hanborough is listed in the 1086 Doomsday Book and church is it self at least a thousand years old.  Here from St. Peter and St. Paul, Brother John Holyman preached for twenty years after 1534.  That year John had proclaimed at St. Paul's Cross in London that Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn was invalid, that the King was still married to Queen Catherine, his first of six wives.

His reward was a bit of an exile to Church Hanborough, which must have not been too laborious as he lived near Oxford, his college, and Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, his birthplace.

I have written John's amazing story in early blogs.  Go to the left column, look at the names and click on Bishop John Holyman's name.

His father was either John Holyman, died 1521 or John Holyman, died 1533.  We do not know which, but John is a great uncle of the Hollymans of Haddenham and Cuddington. Or to put it another way, one of our great uncles.

Bishop of Bristol during the Counter Reformation of Queen Mary I, John died in 1558 and requested in his will to be buried in the chancel of St. Peter and St. Paul.  Recently genealogist Anne Holmes found in the Oxford register of St. John's College, 1555-1660, that one Dr. Alexander Belsyre (Belcher) requested at his death to be buried next to Bishop Holliman!

Now we could find the final resting place of Bishop Holyman (even though I had been to the parish twice before, I knew not where the grave was).  Anne told us to look for a black memorial to Belsyre on the north wall of the cancel and there below this tomb or behind it would lie Bishop Holyman.

So as if on a treasure hunt, we cousins began searching the church.

Above, Kimberly Holliman, left, one of the younger cousins, found the memorial and Marcia Holliman, right, began an etching. Below is the front of Belsyre's grave.  Note the macabre skeleton, typical of the era.  The plaque is dated 1567.  Our John Holyman may be buried either further in the wall or in the floor below.

Further information on Bishop Holyman, career, and the church can be found in several works at www.bholliman.com.  Go to Research page, and in the search box, type in Anne Holmes and find popping up "Anne-Holmes-2019-Hollyman-Ancestry-Quest-Packet" or just the name John Holyman.  His 1558 will is 'translated'.  Also one can google "Bishop John Holyman' and find several articles about him, including in Wikipedia.

 Above the chancery of St. Peters and St. Paul in Church Hanborough. 

 The crucifix is somewhat unusual in an Anglican Church (Episcopal in the USA) and perhaps reflects the strong Anglo-Catholic tradition that prevails in many English Anglican churches.  Roman Catholic Bishop John Holyman would be pleased.

QUICK REMINDER FAMILY TREE BOX

John Holyman, d 1521 of Cuddington begat

John Holyman, d 1533 of Cuddington who begat

Thomas Holyman, d 1558 of Cuddington who

with Dorothy Clark begat

Christopher Holyman, d 1589 of Sherington who

with Margaret Lee begat

Thomas Hollyman, d ca. 1650 of Bedford who

with Helena Poynard begat

Christopher Hollyman, 1618-1691 of Bedford

and Virginia who begat four sons and two daughters

Next, we traveled to Cuddington, some 15 or so miles away, the birthplace of Bishop John Holyman and a number of our great grand fathers from the 15th and 16th centuries.