Roger de Lee, of Berrington & Coton

Roger was styling himself "Roger Lee of Coton" (variously spelled, uniform spelling wasn't A Thing yet) from about 1404 if not earlier.

Roger was an Escheator from about 1374, which means he MUST have been born a minimum of 21 years earlier - allowing a little margin for error, "c. 1350" works pretty well.

Married Margaret Astley, daughter and eventual sole heir of Thomas Astley of Nordley, before 12 June 1376. She was noted as 22 years old at that time.

One known son, John, who married Jocosa (Joyce) Packington.

Extensive primary documentation of his career (see Nicholls, A.J., Lee Families of Virginia, pp. 10-13; privately printed, 2011).

Last public notice 18 Dec 1417; Margaret cited as his widow Feb 18, 1420 (Julian or Gregorian?).

William Dugdale, Norroy King-of-Arms, certified the pedigree of this family through the testimony of Sir Humphrey Lee of Langley in 1623 and Thomas Lee of Coton in 1663. Their testimony traces the family back to Hugo de Lega, a contemporary of Reyner de Lea, whose son Reginald de la Lee received a grant of land from William, son of William FitzAlan, ad petitionem Fuconis fillii Warini [by petition of Fulk, the son of Warine, or Fulk FitzWarine]. What follows is the lineage certified in the College of Arms.

• Hugo de Lega received land grants from William, son of William FitzAlan, that established this family as landed gentry. William FitzAlan was given the shrievalty of Shropshire by King Henry in c.1160, which gives us a baseline for the lives of Hugo and Reginald. Hugo would have lived in the latter half of the 12th century and Reginalds lifespan would have extended into first half of the 13th century. Hugo was succeeded by his son Reginald.
• Reginald de la Lee had a son Sir John de la Lee who was known to be living in 1298, when he received a land grant from Hugo de Hinton. Sir John was succeeded by his son Thomas.
• Sir Thomas de la Lee married Petronilla, the daughter of Sir Thomas Corbet. He gave the estate known as Lee Pevenhull to his eldest son Reginald, his successor. Sir Thomas had a younger son, as well, Thomas de la Lee.
• Sir Reginald de la Lee was succeeded by his son John.
• Sir John de la Lee, Knight (i), Lord of Roden, married (1) Alicia and (2) Matilda, the daughter of Henry de Erdington. He was survived by his son John.
• Sir John de la Lee, Knight (ii), was succeeded by his son Robert.
• Robert de la Lee, who lived in the time of King Richard II, married Margaret, the sister and heir of Thomas Astley of Nordley. Through this marriage, the de la Lees came into ownership of Coton Hall. The Astley family was also ancient, with records back to 1100. According to the pedigree, there were two sons of this marriage, Roger and John.
• Roger de la Lee married Joan, the daughter and heiress of Edward Burnell of Langley, bringing that estate into the de la Lee lands. He was survived by his son Robert.
• Robert de la Lee married Petronilla.

Since the time this pedigree was certified by the College of Arms, some of the statements have been disputed. Sir William Hardy, Keeper of the Records in the Duchy of Lancaster, (1807-1887) devoted much time to the history of Shropshire and the Lees. It was his finding that Margaret Astley's husband Robert was NOT the son of Sir John de la Lee, but the son of his brother, Sir Thomas de Lee of Okehirst, and that his name was ROGER, not Robert. He is referred to in documents during the time of Henry V as Roger Lee of Coton, Gentleman, and Roger is referred to as the second son of Sir Thomas Lee, Knight.

It has become certain that Roger, the husband of Joan Burnell, was not the son of Robert, and that Petronilla was the daughter, and not the daughter-in-law of Roger Lee and Joan Burnell. Petronilla married her kinsman, Robert de Lee of Rodene, who was survived by his son, Ralph de Lee of Lea Hall.

Source: A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, 8th ed. , by Sir Bernard Burke ; Edited by his sons. Published 1894 by Harrison in London. [available as free e-Book]

NB: Burke wasn't entirely correct either, as he trusted the Visitations of Shropshire too much. There were THREE consecutive John de la Lees, not just two. Eyton, Antiquities, vol. 9, p. 295; Nicholls, A.J., "Collections for the Ancestry of Colonel Ricnard Lee, Virginia Emigrant" (privately printed, 2010),

General:

LEE Family Lineage according to Burke's Peerage:

   The Lee Family of Stanton, Roden and afterwards of Langley and Coton Hall, Shropshire, is stated in Burke's Baronetcies to be one of the oldest in England. Eyton's treating of Reyner de la Lee about 1195 gives also an unbroken descent through the Stantons, of Stanton Hineheath from 1086 to 1173-4. Begins with HUGO DE LEGA, 1100, whose son; Reginald de la Lee is identified with the above. He was Sheriff 1201 and one of the knights known as REINER DE LEGA at the assizes October 1203. He received a grant of land from William, son of William FitzAlan and according to the pedigree had a son; Sir John de la Lee, but evidence produced by Eyton and Sir William Hardy, late Keeper of the Records in the Duchy of     Lancaster, shows that Reyner's son was really,… Sir Thomas de la Lee, given as his grandson in the pedigree. He married Petronilla, daughter of Sir Thomas Corbet (Sheriff) in time of King Henry 3rd of England, king  from 1266-1272.

Sir Thomas de la Lee had THREE sons:

   a. Sir John de la Lee;

   b. Reyner or Reginald de la Lee, to whom he gave the V. of Lee, Pevenhull 7c, and

   c. Thomas de la Lee, this latter married Petronilla de Stanton about 14(?) and had a SON: SIR JOHN DE LA LEE , (stated as being a nephew of a Sir John de la Lee of Stanton, & Roden), married Matilda de Erdington and had (with a daughter, Matilda), two (2) sons:

   (a) Sir John de la Lee, succeeded by his son John, (immediately below) and 

   (b) Thomas de la Lee of Okehurst.

Sir John de Lee, who is shown by Eyton to have been succeeded by HIS son,

   Sir John de Lee, who was succeeded by HIS son, Sir Robert de Lee * of

   Roden (b. 1392).

   Robert Lee (b. 1392)married Petronilla, a daughter of Roger Lee of

   Pimhill, by his wife, Joan, daughter of and heir of Edward Burnell of

   Aston Burnell, and Langley and was succeeded by HIS son: Sir Ralph de Lee

   of Lee Hall, Langley Aston, Burnell, 1447. He married first Isabella, and

   second Isabella, a daughter of James Ridley, and died December 14, 1479.

   Sir Ralph was succeeded by HIS son: Sir Richard de Lee of Langley and

   married Margaret, daughter and heiress of Sir Fulke Sprenchose and had

   five sons and two daughters. He was succeeded by HIS 2 sons: Sir Fulke

   Lee** of Langley; married Alice, daughter of Sir Richard Cromwell, and

   secondly Elizabeth, daughter of John Leighton. He was succeeded by HIS

   son ** [Thomas was Fulke's brother, not his son, Burke is in error here]

   and heir: Sir Thomas Lee of Langley and he married Jane, daughter of Sir

   RobertMorton and had five sons and seven daughters. He, Sir Richard Lee,

   died in 1591 and was succeeded by HIS oldest son: Sir Richard Lee of

   Langley, who married Eleanor, daughter of Walter Wrottesley and had four

   sons and six daughters. He, Sir Richard Lee, died in 1591 and was

   succeeded by his oldest son.

   Our Lee Lineage ends with one of his daughters, Dorothy Lee who married

   Thomas Mackworth.

   ================================================

   Return, please, to (b) THOMAS DE LA LEE of Okehurst. Records of the

   second visitation make him the father of: Roger Lee, who had a son; Roger

   Lee who married Margaret, sister and heiress of Thomas Astley of Nordley,

   whose descent is given by Eyton from the time of King Henry First of

   England (b. 1068-1135) king from 1100-1135, the youngest and only

   "ENGLISH-BORN SON OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR according to tradition, at

   Selby, Yorkshire. The first visitation shows that Roger Lee, Margaret's

   husband, was of the Second House, and it is probable that he was a son,

   and not a grandson, to THOMAS LEE OF OKEHURST, who died about 1419 and

   was succeeded by HIS son: John Lee. *Robert Lee (b. 1392) was another

   son.

   Robert Lee (b. 1392) married Petronilla, a daughter of Roger Lee of

   Pimhill, by his wife, Joan, daughter of and heir of Edward Burnell of

   Aston Burnell, and Langley and was succeeded by HIS son: 

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• Lee of Virginia, 1642-1892: Biographical and Genealogical Sketches of the ... By Edmund Jennings Lee
• Lee of Virginia, 1642-1892: Biographical and Genealogical Sketches of the ... By Edmund Jennings Lee
• Pg. 28
• . . the first Sir Thomas married to Petronilla Corbet; two of his sons, John and Thomas, married to Petronilla de Drayton and Petronilla de Stanton; and each of his three sons, Sir John, Sir Thomas, and Reyner, having a son John, two of these last three Johns being knighted. The one who married Matilda de Erdington seems to have been son of Thomas and of course nephew to Reyner, not son, as given in the pedigree. He again had an eldest son John, who was knighted, and a daughter Matilda, besides a second son, Sir Thomas de Lee of Okehirst, married (according to Hardy) to Sibilla. This last Sir John is shown in the pedigree as having a son Robert who married Margaret Astley, the heiress of another very ancient family (showing an unbroken descent from 1100-1135) and was the first Lee of Coton. It is quite certain from documentary evidence, including the Inquisition Post Mortem of Margaret herself, that her husband's name was Roger, not Robert, and Sir W. Hardy thought it most probable that he was younger son of Sir John Lee's brother, Sir Thomas of Okehirst, whose eldest son was according to
• Pg. 29
• Hardy, Sir Thomas Lee, Sheriff in 1395. One of the Harleian MSS. of about 1593 supports this view as follows: "Sir Thomas Lee Knight, temp. E. 3, had issue Roger Lee, Esq., a secound sonne whoe mar. Margaret daughter and heir of Thomas Aveley (Astley) sonne to Roger sonne to John (J'n the 2 had another John to his sone) and had issue John Lee, Esq., whoe mar. J . . . so . . . e (Jacosa or Joyce) Packington, etc., etc., etc." (MS. Harl. 2163 fo. 40 B.) . . . .
• . . Roger Lee's descent is established by the Herald's allowance of arms at the first Visitation and their confirmation of the same at subsequent ones. Whether he was son, nephew, or cousin to Sir John Lee is not of vital importance. The statement in the Harl. MS. that he was son of Sir Thomas, though probable enough, is not supported by direct evidence, and the registered statement as to his immediate parentage is good evidence till disproved. There is indirect evidence showing that he was probably (as stated in the Harl. MS.) a younger son in any case; certainly he must have been so if he was son of Sir John.
• We now come to a point where two important errors occur in the pedigree. The first Lee of Coton is there shown as having two sons by Margaret Astley, Roger the elder married to Joanna, heiress of Edward Burnell (of Acton Burnell and Langley), and John, the younger of Nordley Regis (and Coton). It is certain, from documentary evidence (including the Inq. P. M. on the death of Margaret and livery of lands to John Lee), that the latter was son and heir to Roger and Margaret; while the evidence adduced by Eyton and Hardy shows that the first Lee of Langley was Roger, son of John de Lee of Pimhill and Lea Hall, descended from Reyner, younger son of Sir Thomas de Lee and Petronilla Corbert. Further, in the pedigree, Robert de Lee of Roden, married to Petronilla, is given as son of the above Roger and his wife Johanna Burnell, whereas the documentary evidence shows that Petronilla was daughter and heir to Roger and Johanna, while her husband, Robert, was son of John de Lee of Roden, Stanton, etc.
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• The Magna Charta sureties, 1215: the barons named in the Magna Charta, 1215 ... By Frederick Lewis Weis, Walter Lee Sheppard, William
• The Magna Charta sureties, 1215: the barons named in the Magna Charta, 1215 ... By Frederick Lewis Weis, Walter Lee Sheppard, William
• Pg. 164
• 9. ELIZABETH de HARCOURT; m. Sir Thomas de Astley, Knt., d. 1362, of Astley of Patshull, co. Salob (2nd son of Thomas, Lord Astley, of Astley, and his wife Elizabeth, dau. of GUY de BEAUCHAMP (g5-5), and a descendant of Sir Thomas Astley, slain oat Evesham, 4 Aug. 1265). (Generations 9 to 17: G.H. Thompson, The King's Ley, Pedigree of Lee; Harl Soc. Publ., vols. XIII and XIV: Visitations of Essex, I 128; II 542).
  • 10. MARGARET de ASTLEY, d. 1423 (heir to her brother Thomas Astley, of Nordley Regis, co. Salop): m. Roger de Lee (Alias Robert de Lee), son of John de Lee of Roden and Stanton; inherited Coton and Nordley Regis, 1376. (The Astley identification is questionable.)
    • Pg. 165
    • 11. JOHN de LEE, b. 1398, resided at Coton, 1405, fl. 1424; m. Jacosa, dau. of Sir John Packington.
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