#cobhams

I've collected some records relating to the case:

From the Select Cases in the Chancery, A.D. 1364 to 1371, ed. William Pailey Baildon (Selden Society, 1896):

63. A tres reuerent Piere en Dieu et tres noble seignur, l'Euesque d'Excestre, Chuunceller d'Engleterre Supplie tres humblement Margarete Grymmesby de Straesburgh en Duchelond qe come Reignold Cobham, esquier, le xiiij iour d'Octobre darrein passe, prist a femme la dite Margarete affirmaunt q'il n'auoit autre femme ; lui quel Reignold soi auaunta q'il estoit le fitz de Seignur de Cobeham et coment il auoit tres graund enheritaunce en Engleterre, et issint par ses fraudes paroles il auoit la dite Margarete et ses biens al value de ce liures ouesque lui hors du dite ville de Straesburgh tanque al ville de Tilleburi en le Countee d'Essex, et illoesqes demurreit ouesque la dite Margarete tanque al xx inur de Nouembre darrein passe, a quel iour le dit Reignold toutz les ditz biens du dite Margarete al value de ce liures illoesqes troues prist et ouesque lui apporta, disaunt q'il auoit autre femme allostielle:* Plese a vostre tres noble seignurie graunter comission a vn sergeaunt d'armes pur prendre et amesner le corps de dit Reignold deuaunt vous a respoundre a iceste cas, en oeuere de charite. * Al hostiel. 63. To the most reverend Father in God and most noble Lord, the Bishop of Exeter, Chancellor of England Beseecheth most humbly Margaret Grimsby, of Strasburg in Germany, that whereas Reginald Cobham, esquire, on October 14th last past took to wife the said Margaret, affirming that he had no other wife; which Reginald boasted himself to be the son of the Lord of Cobham and how he had very great inheritance in England,* and so by his fraudulent words he got the said Margaret and her goods to the value of £200 with him out of the said town of Strasburg unto the town of Tilbury in the County of Essex, and there he dwelt with the said Margaret until the 20th day of November last past, on which day the said Reginald took all the said goods of the said Margaret there found to the value of £200, and carried them away with him, saying that he had another wife at home : May it please your most noble Lordship to grant a commission to a Serjeant at arms to take and bring the body of the said Reginald before you to answer in this case ; In way of charity.** * Lord Cobham of Sterborough at this period had a son Reginald. ** No reason appears why the plaintiff should apply to the Clmiicellor, unless the fact that the plaintiff is an alien supplies one.

From Calendar of Patent Rolls, Vol. VI: Richard II: A.D. 1396-1399 (1909):

1397. Nov. 26. Westminster. Commission to John Brook, escheator in Surrey and Sussex, Robert Saperton, the king's serjeant-at-arms, Ralph Amotsam, Thomas Grene and John Merlawe to arrest and bring before the king and council Reginald Cobeham, esquire, and also to arrest and safely keep until further order all the goods and chattels of the said Reginald and those of Margaret Grymesby of Strauseburgh, removed by him.

Reginald was a common name in the Cobham family and as Saul says, it's not clear which Reginald Cobham deceived Margaret Grimsby into marrying him. It seems unlikely the the perpetrator gave "Reginald Cobham" as a false name to Margaret Grimbsy, since the orders for his arrest refer to him by that name. However, it seems possible that the story he told Margaret - the claim he was the son of the "Lord of Cobham" and had a "very great inheritance" - was false, designed to deceive and entice Margaret into marrying him. The fact he stole Margaret's goods might suggest that he had little wealth of his own and that his claim of a great inheritance was a lie. However, it is likely that his claim to be already married was true since presumably Margaret would have had recourse to the ecclesiastical courts should it be untrue.

On the face of it, it seems Reginald Cobham, 3rd Baron Cobham of Sterborough is the obvious fit. His father died in 1403 which means in the final years of Richard II's reign, Reginald was "the son of the Lord of the Cobham" and would expect to inherit his father's titles and lands, as the Reginald Cobham in the Grimsby case claimed. Reginald likely did hold the rank of esquire in 1397 (he was not knighted until 1426) and Sterborough was near the eastern border of Surrey so if he was the Reginald in the Grimsby case, the escheator in Surrey and Sussex would have likely been the appropriate person to arrest him.

Though, as I said above, the Reginald in the Grimbsy case may have lied about being the son and heir of Lord Cobham in which case these similarities may mean nothing. For all we know, this Reginald may have even posed as the future third Baron Cobham of Sterborough to deliberately deceive Margaret. We know little about the Grimsby case and little about Reginald, 3rd Baron Cobham of Sterborough's life.

A case in point in his marriage to his first wife, Eleanor Culpepper. It isn't known when they married or when their children were born or in what order. Their daughter, Eleanor Cobham, is given a birthdate of c. 1400 in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Assuming Eleanor was the eldest child and born shortly after her parents' wedding, this would suggest they were married in the late 1390s or early 1400s. However, this is relies on a lot of supposition and it's possible that Eleanor was not the eldest, that her parents had married some time before children were born from it. There is more I could say about Reginald's children and their dates of birth but this isn't the space for it.

In relation to the Grimsby case, it is possible Reginald was married before the case was being heard but since we lack a more specific date for Reginald's marriage as well as information about when Margaret married Reginald Cobham, it's impossible to know whether this tells anything about who the Reginald at the centre of the case really was.

The final point Saul raises is how exactly Reginald Cobham (whoever he was) came in contact with Margaret Grimsby. As far as I've found, there's no evidence the third Baron Cobham of Sterborough left England prior to the Agincourt campaign (1415) and as the records relating to the Grimsby case make clear, Margaret had met and married Reginald in Strasbourg and then moved to England with him. It has to be said that there is little information about the 3rd Baron Cobham of Sterborough's life, particularly before his father's death, and it's possible that he may have gone overseas as a young man in the 1390s for whatever reason.

In short, it's impossible to know whether Reginald, 3rd Baron Cobham of Sterborough was the same Reginald Cobham in the Grimsby case. The information we have about both him and the case is so limited that it's impossible to match up all the details perfectly. As the son and heir of the second Baron Cobham of Sterborough, he seems the best match for "the son of the Lord of Cobham" who had a "very great inheritance in England". But this requires us to take the claims of the Reginald in the Grimsby case at face value and we know he deliberately deceived Margaret on his life. It is not impossible that he similarly lied about his identity. It may also be that where petition to the chancellor spoke of Reginald's "fraudulent words", it meant not only his claim to be unmarried but also his claims to his identity.