Note on the so-called Tomb of the Countess of Athol in the Cathedral Church of Canterbury

THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OE CANTERBURY. 211 Other legacies follow, which do not concern us now. The will was proved 17th December 1433. Who Elizabeth Tryvet was is somewhat uncertain, beyond the fact that she was the wife of Sir Thomas Tryvet, a knight who owned property in Somerset, Kent, and other counties, and was appointed in or about 1386 the King's Admiral in the South and West; he died in 1388. According to Beltz "the Lady de Trivet" was one of the ladies who were decorated with robes of the Order of the Garter in 1390, notwithstanding that her husband was not a knight of the Order;* aud she was again provided with robes of the Order in 1399.f She must therefore have been in high favour at Court during the reign of Eichard II. Beltz also states that she " was daughter and heir of sir Philip Timbury, and been first married to Thomas Swinbourne, esq."J Who Sir Philip Timbury was I have not yet made out, but the Rev. F. W. Weaver informs me that there was a family of Tymbury resident in Somerset, who seem to have been yeomen or small gentry. Mr. Weaver also points out that Thomas Swynborne, knight, and Elizabeth Tryvet his wife presented to the living of Otterhampton,§ Somerset, in 1406, and the latter again presented to it in 1431, when she is called relicta Thome Trevet militis. Swynborne was therefore her second husband, and not the first, as stated by Beltz. Sir Thomas Swynborne probably belonged to the Northumbrian and Durham family of that name, who bore : Per fess gules and silver, three cinquefoils, the one of the other; and these are no doubt the arms formerly on the Canterbury tomb. Elizabeth Tryvet survived her second husband until 1433, when she died seized of lands in Somerset and Kent, including * G. E. Beltz, Memorials of the Order of the O-arter (London, 1841), 252. t Ibid. 255. j Ibid. 252, note 2. § The manor of Otterhampton, with the advowson of the church, was one of the properties of Sir Thomas Tryvet (Inq. p.m. 12 Riobard II. No. 52), which passed to his wife Elizabeth on his death, and of which she was possessed at the date of her own death (Inq. p.m. 12 Henry VI. No. 35). She was then desoribed as " Elizabetha que fuit uxor Thome Tryvet militis defuucti." v 2