Augustine Steward (1491 – 1571), of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, was an English politician.

Career

Steward was a mercer and an

armiger In heraldry, an armiger is a (natural or juridical) person entitled to use a heraldic achievement (e.g., bear arms, an "armour-bearer") either by hereditary right, grant, matriculation, or assumption of arms. Such a person is said to be armig ...

. He was admitted a freeman of the city of Norwich on 12 March, 1516 and after serving for some years on the common council was elected an alderman in 1526, a position he was to retain until his death. He became the government’s leading supporter in Norwich, and his "good services" to the king earned him the praise of the Duke of Norfolk and of Roger Townshend who commended him to

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; – 28 July 1540) was an English statesman and lawyer who served as List of English chief ministers, chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false cha ...

. Steward’s standing with these magnates made him a valuable agent in the city’s efforts to benefit from the Reformation. Steward was mayor of Norwich in 1534-35, 1546-47 and 1556-57. It was during his first mayoralty that negotiations were begun between the corporation and the cathedral authorities for a revision of Wolsey’s settlement of a longstanding dispute between them. Steward continued to pursue the matter, approaching Cromwell in May 1537 for his favour and later asking the minister to reverse Wolsey’s judgment placing the cathedral outside the city’s jurisdiction. Early in 1539 he was one of the attorneys appointed to argue the case before the king, and on 6 April

Letters Patent Letters patent (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...

were granted in the city’s favour. In the meantime he had also become the moving spirit in the attempt to anticipate the dissolution of the house of the Black Friars by acquiring it for the city. In 1538 he and his kinsman Edward Rede, after consultation with the Duke, asked Cromwell for his assistance to this end, and when the house was suppressed it was granted to the city on 1 June 1540, Steward himself paying the £81 required. During

Kett's rebellion Kett's Rebellion was a revolt in the English county of Norfolk during the reign of Edward VI, largely in response to the enclosure of land. It began at Wymondham on 8 July 1549 with a group of rebels destroying fences that had been put up by wealt ...

Steward was made acting mayor after the insurgents had taken the mayor prisoner. As one of the richest citizens he had much at stake and it must have been with relief that on the

Marquess of Northampton Marquess of Northampton is a title that has been created twice, firstly in the Peerage of England (1547), then secondly in the Peerage of the United Kingdom (1812). The current holder of this title is Spencer Compton, 7th Marquess of Northampton ...

’s arrival he presented the city’s sword and entertained the marquess to dinner. But Northampton quickly withdrew, and when the rebels entered Norwich they forced their way into his house, "took him, plucked his gown beside his back, called him a traitor and threatened to kill him", and then ransacked the house. On the approach of the

Earl of Warwick Earl of Warwick is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom which has been created four times in English history. The name refers to Warwick Castle and the town of Warwick. Overview The first creation came in 1088, and the title was held b ...

the rebels sent Steward and Robert Rugge to negotiate on their behalf, but on being taken to Warwick the two revealed to him how his troops could retake the city. Despite his harrowing experience and a rebuke from Warwick for pusillanimity, Steward retained his standing in Norwich and was regularly in office for a further fifteen years. He attended his last meeting of the Norwich assembly early in 1571, but he was replaced as one of the aldermen in April of that year. Steward was a Member of Parliament (MP) for

in 1539 and 1547. Little has come to light about the commercial activity which yielded Steward his considerable wealth, but there is a reference to a venture of about 1530 in which, with his father-in-law Reginald Lytilprowe and others, he had a factor at Danzig to freight a ship to a value of 800 marks for a voyage to

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

. Part of his profits went into Norfolk land: in 1530 he bought the manor of Welborne, and in 1548 the manor of Barton Buryhall, which 12 years later he settled on his son-in-law Robert Wood.

House

Steward lived in a house on Tombland, opposite

Norwich Cathedral Norwich Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Norwich, Norfolk, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Norwich and the mother church of the dioc ...

Death

Steward died in 1571 and was buried with his two wives within St. Peter's Church, Hungate, Norwich. His will was proved in November.

Family

Steward was born and baptised in the parish of St. George’s Tombland, Norwich, the son of Jeffrey Steward (d.1504), an Alderman of Norwich and his wife Cecily, daughter of Augustine Boys, an

. Steward married twice: *(1) before 1548, Alice, daughter of Henry Repps, Esq., of Heveningham. They had a son and two daughters: Edward, Faythe, and Elizabeth. *(2) Elizabeth, daughter of William Rede, Esq., of Beccles Manor, Suffolk (he died 1552), they had six daughters and two sons:Lauder-Frost, Gregory, F.S.A.Scot., "East Anglian Stewarts" ''The Scottish Genealogist'', Dec. 2004, vol. LI, no.4., pps:151-161. ISSN 0300-337X William, Thomas, Elizabeth, Cycelle, Anne, Barbara, and Katherine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steward, Augustine 1491 births 1571 deaths Members of the Parliament of England for Norwich Mayors of Norwich English MPs 1539–1540 English MPs 1547–1552