Sir Henry Bedingfeld, who was born in the year 1509, was the grandson of Sir Edmund Bedingfeld, the favourite of three successive kings, Edward iv., Richard iii., and Henry vii.  This same Sir Edmund had served in the Wars of the Roses, and Edward iv., by letters patent of the twenty-second year of his reign, granted to him, “for his faithful service, licence to build towers, walls, and such other fortifications as he pleased in his manors of Oxburgh, together with a market there weekly, and a court of pye-powder.”  He also bestowed on him his own royal badge the Falcon and Fetterlock.  Richard iii. made him a Knight of the Bath, and Henry vii. visited him at Oxburgh.  In the third year of his reign this king granted three manors in Yorkshire, Wold, Newton, and Gaynton to him and his heirs male for ever, in return for his help in crushing the rebellion in the north, which patent was renewed and confirmed by Henry VIII.  Sir Edmund died in 1496, and was succeeded by his only son, another Edmund, who attended Henry VIII. in his foreign wars, and was knighted for valour by Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, on the battle-field, after the taking of Montdidier in 1523.  The king appointed him steward to Katharine of Arragon at Kimbolton.  He married Grace, daughter of Henry, Lord Marny, and by her had four sons, Henry, Edmund, Anthony, and Humphrey.  Henry, who succeeded him in 1533, was the famous Lieutenant of the Tower, and the “jailor” of the Princess Elizabeth.  Henry’s wife was Katharine, daughter of Sir Roger Townshend, one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas, and ancestor of the present Marquis Townshend.  Sir Henry Bedingfeld kept up some state at Oxburgh, having twenty servants in livery, besides those employed in husbandry.  When he was away on the queen’s business, the management of his estate devolved on Dame Katharine, and a letter from this lady addressed “To the right worshipful, my very good husband,” and dated Oxburgh, October 1554, is a compte rendu of all she had done for his property during his absence.  This document which has had a chequered career, has lately, with some others, found its way back to the Oxburgh archives.  Another, the draft of which has lately been discovered among the muniments of this venerable old house, strikes a more pathetic note, and testifies, to the affectionate dependence with which Lady Bedingfeld leaned on her lord.

“Lady Bedingfeld to the lords of the Council, praying to have her husband with her during her confinement:—­

My Lords,—­Being very near the time of my being brought to bed, and Sir Henry Bedingfeld in the country, who is very tender in giving any offence to the Queen’s Majesty, this is humbly to beg your Lordships will be pleased to confirm the order as he may have leave to be with me till the time of my approaching danger be over, and I shall acknowledge it as a very great favour done to your Lordships’ most humble servant.”