'Bryan1'Index links to: Lead / Letter
Families covered: Bryan of Cheddington, Bryan in Claire, Bryan (or Brian) of Laugharne Castle, Bryan (or Brian) of Tor Brian, Bryan (or Brian or Brien) of Walwyn's Castle
[Much of the top part of this page was originally uploaded as 'BZmisc06' on 06.11.03. It was moved here to facilitate expansion.]

                               
There are doubts concerning the early generations of this family. There were several successive heads of the family called Guy. Some web sites show just 5 generations, with the first being Guy 'Adomarus' (a 1219). Some of those sites show him to be a son of Alphonse de Brienne, Count d'Eu, but no evidence to support this has been seen. Not least because TCP (Bryan) identifies the father of Lord Bryan as "of Tor Brian, Devon", we provisionally follow those sites (including some providing advice about Laugharne Castle) and, according to a contributor (CH, 11.04.04) who kindly brought this to our attention, a guide book about Laugharne Castle, which report that there were 7 successive Guy de Brians with the first being ...
Guy de Brian or Bryan of Torbryan or Tor Brian (a mid-12th century) (I)
1. Guy de Brian or Bryan (II)
  The first mentioned by many sites is the following Guy who is reported as having first appeared in South Wales in about 1219.
  A. Guy de Brian or Bryan ('Adomarus') (b c1202) (III)
  m. Jane de la Pole named in some web sites
  i. Guy de Brian or Bryan of Walwyn's Castle (b 1228, d c1268) (IV)
  BE1883, which starts with this Guy, clearly reports that he had 2 wives, Eve (mother of Maud only) and the unidentified mother of the next Guy. On the grounds that, for these early years, information about a widow is often more clearly recorded than information about earlier wives, we presume that Eve was Guy's second wife.
  m1. ??
a. Sir Guy de Brian of Walwyn's Castle, Laugharne Castle, and Tor Brian (b c1254, d 1307) (V)
  m. Sibil de Sully (dau of Walter de Sully) named in some web sites
  (1) Sir Guy de Brian or Brien of Walwyn's Castle, Laugharne Castle, and Tor Brian (d by 1349) (VI)
There is some confusion as to the identity of the wives of this and the next Guy. TCP (FitzPayn) reports that the first wife of Lord Briene was Joan, "da. (it is said) of Sir John de Carreu, of Carew" but TCP (Bryan) reports that Lord Briene "appears to have [married] .... Ann, or Alice, da .and h. of William Holway ....., but she possibly was his father's wife." As TCP (Bryan) reports that a "Guy de Brian ... and Alice his wife, were living 27 Jan 1343/4" and as Lord Briene is known to have married his second wife by July 1350, we suspect that Ann/Alice Holway was second wife of this Guy. Various web sites identify his 1st wife as Wenthlian (dau of Sir Griffith Lloyd of Anglesea) but, provisionally (!), we presume that she was Sir Griffith's daughter who, according to Griffith's Pedigrees, was named ...
  m1. Krisli (Cicely) Lloyd (dau of Sir Griffith Lloyd of Tregarnedd & Dinorwic)
  (A) Guy de Brian or Briene or Bryan, Lord Bryan or Briene (d 17.08.1390) (VII)
  As mentioned above, TCP (FitzPayn) identifies Lord Briene's first wife and mother of Elizabeth as Joan (Carrew) but, strangely, she is not mentioned in TCP (Bryan). Many web sites suggest that Elizabeth's mother was Anne Holway but, as reported above, we suspect that she was this Guy's step-mother.
  m1. Joan Carew (probably dau of Sir John Carew of Carew)
  (i) Elizabeth de Brien
m. (before 10.1354) Robert de Grey, later FitzPayn of Cherlton-Grey (d 21.05.1393)
  m2. (before 10.07.1350) Elizabeth Montacute (d 31.05.1359, dau of William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury)
  (ii) Sir Guy de Briene (dvp 1386)
  m. Alice de Bures (a 01.1393, dau of Sir Robert de Bures of Bures St. Mary)
  (a) Philippe or Alice de Briene (b c1378, dsp 1407/8)
  m1. John Devereux, 2nd Lord (or John de Ros)
  m2. Sir Henry le Scrope
  (b) Elizabeth de Briene (b c1380)
  m. Sir Robert Lovel
  (iii) Sir William de Briene (dsp 22.09.1395)
  m. Joan
  TCP and BE1883 both report that, apart from Guy who dvp, the sons of Lord Bryan died without issue. However, several web sites show this William as father, by Joan FitzAlan, of Thomas Bryan (see below), ancestor of the Bryans of Cheddington. As some of those web sites give dates for that Thomas's father as 1349-1413, and noting that TCP reports that the above William died in 1395, it is suggested that those web sites have identified the wrong William.
  (iv) Philip de Briene (dsp before 14.02.1388)
  (v) Margaret de Briene
  m. Hugh de Courtenay (dsp 20.02.1373/4)
  (vi) Philippe de Briene (a 10.1406)
  m1. Edward Bohun (dvpsp 01.1361/2, of Midhurst family)
  m2. Sir John Chandos of Snodhill, 3rd Lord (dsp 16.12.1428)
BE1883 (Bryan) shows two Philippes: one, aunt of this one, being the one who married Sir John Chandos. However, TCP (Chaundos) reports that Philippe, daughter of Lord Briene, was widow of Edward Bohun when she married John Chandos.
  m2. (before 1343/4) Ann or Alice Holway (a 1343/4, dau of William Holway of Holway)
  b. Ela de Briene or Bryan (d 16.02.1355/6)
  This connection is not fully secure. It is thought that Sir Guy had a daughter by his first wife but her identity is unclear. TCP, in its articles on Marshal and FitzPayne, suggests that the parentage of their wife Ela was not known. BE1883 (Marshal) does not name John Marshal's wife but BE1883 FitzPayne) shows Ela as daughter "and co-heir of Guy de Bryan". The dates suggest that she was of this or the next generation.
  m1. John Marshal, 2nd Lord (b 01.08.1292, dsp 12.08.1316)
  m2. Robert FitzPayn, 2nd Lord (d 30.11.1354)
  m2. Eve (dau of Henry de Traci of Barnstaple)
  c. Maud de Briene (d 1279)
  m1. Nicholas Martin of Kemes (b c1236, dvp c1260)
  m2. Geoffrey de Canville or Camville, 1st Lord (d before 21.09.1308)

 

 

Thomas Bryan of Cheddington (b 1358, d 1444)
Various web sites show Thomas as son of William Bryan, son of Guy, Lord Bryan, but we doubt that he was because:
(1) some of them, which show Thomas's dates as above, show that William's dates as 1349-1444, suggesting that William fathered Thomas when he was 8 years old.
(2) as mentioned above, we doubt that that William was son of Lord Bryan.
m. Margaret Echyngham
1. Edmund Bryan of Cheddington (b 1412)
  m. Alice Bures
  A. Thomas Bryan of Cheddington (b 1438, d 1500, chief justice)
  m. (1463) Margaret Bowsey
  i. Sir Thomas Bryan of Cheddington and Ashridge (b 1464, d 1517)
  m. Margaret Bourchier (d 1468, d 1551, dau of Sir Humphrey Bourchier)
  a. Sir Francis Bryan (d 02.02.1549/50, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland)
  m. (1548) Joan Fitzgerald (dau of James FitzThomas or Fitzgerald, 10th Earl of Desmond)
  (1) Sir Francis Bryan in Claire (b 1549)
  m. Ann Smith (dau of William Smith)
(A) William Smith Bryan in Claire (d 1667, to Virginia, USA)
  m. Catherine Morgan
  (i) Francis Bryan (b 1630, d 1693/4, to Ireland)
  m. Sarah Brinker (from Denmark)
  (a) William Bryan (b 1685, d 1789, to Virginia, USA) had issue
  m. Margaret
  (b) Morgan Bryan (to Virginia, USA) had issue
  m. Martha Strode
  (c) Cornelius Bryan (b 1693/4, d 1751, to Virginia, USA) had issue
  m. Rebecca
  ii. Elizabeth Bryan identified by a contributor (DS, 21.07.07) as of this family, of this generation
  m. Sir Nicholas Carew of Beddington

Main source(s):
(1) For upper section : TCP (Bryan), BE1883 (Bryan)
(2) For lower section : various web sites
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