STEMMA ANTIQUAE/THE FAMILY TREE OF THE CAREW FAMILY OF BEDDINGTON PARK, A RARE ILLUMINATED GENEALOGICAL RECORD OF THE NOTED CAREW FAMILY FROM 1199 - 1627, OIL ON CANVAS, DATED 1627Charting the family’s remarkable lineage as Knights, Ambassadors and Kinsmen to the English Crown, ‘A Distinguished Branch of The Great House of Carew’, set around a central male portrait with multiple coats of arms and inscribed cartouches, extensively inscribed in Latin and French, in a hand carved 17th Century gilded frame.(sight 73cm x 91cm, frame 89.5cm x 109cm)
N.B. this genealogy was taken from the genealogy of George Carew, Knight, who was a legate ordinary of King James in France. The sitter in this remarkable work is Sir Francis Carew, 1602 - 1649, and may have been created when Sir Francis, already in dispute with his father in law Sir Nicholas Throckmorton-Carew, had fled to France to avoid debtors when his first parliamentary career failed. This painted family tree seeks to set Francis in a new legitimate context alongside his distinguished ancestors. With lands originally gifted by King John, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, the Carew family progressed through the reigns of King Edward The First, King Edward The Second, King Richard 1st and Henry VIII.
Among the notable ancestors cited in this work are Sir George Carew C1504 - 1545, a cousin to Anne Boleyn, Commander of the Mary Rose, and close friend of Henry VIII. Following allegations of his improper relationship with Catherine of Aragon and the theft of some of her jewels, together with his spurious association with the “Exeter Conspiracy”, Sir George was despatched to the Tower of London where he was executed. The involvement of Thomas Cromwell in the prosecution sealed his fate and the family seat, Beddington Park, was promptly seized by Henry to expand his Deer Park.
Beddington Park, now in the London Borough of Sutton, was recovered by the Carew family under Queen Mary. However the Carew family fell spectacularly out of favour under Queen Elizabeth 1st, when her favourite, Sir Walter Raleigh, married Elizabeth 'Bess’ Throckmorton, a member of the Carew family without the Queen's permission. It is believed that after his execution on the orders of James I, Raleigh’s head was kept in a velvet bag at Beddington by his widow, until it was reunited 29 years later with his body in St Margaret’s, Westminster.
The Beddington Estate was finally lost in the 19th Century when Charles Hallowell Carew, the last descendant of Sir Francis, was bankrupted for gaming debts.
Further mentioned within the text are references to the Manor of Moulsford, Berkshire, Principal seat of the Carew family until 1497 and Carew Castle, Pembrokeshire.
For a full transcription of the work, prepared by Dr Llewelyn Morgan, Brasenose College, Oxford, Please look at 263A