..... on his death, in 1339, to left his only son, Sir John, his successor.

He married Joan, daughter and co-heiress of John Gernon, of the family of Stansted Montfitchet, whose only daughter was named after her mother; she was a very rich heiress, conveying the large possessions of the Botetourts and Gernons to her husband, Sir Robert Swynborne, of Little Horksley.

Son of Sir John Gernon, Sr. and Alice de Gernon
Husband of Isabel Gernon
Father of Elizabeth Rycote (Gernon) and Joan Gernon

Daughter of Sir John Gernon, Kt. and Isabel Gernon
Sister of Elizabeth Rycote (Gernon)

Joan, daughter and heiress of John Gernon, married John Botetourt and had by him a daughter,
Joan, who married Robert Swynburne, Knight.[2][1]

Parents: John Gernon,[2] Knight, of East Thorpe, Essex and Alice ____[1]
Husband: John Botetourt of Belchamp Otton, Belchamp Walter, Gosfield, Gestingthorpe, and Ovington, Essex, son and heir of John Botetourt, K.B.[1] (d 1339) of Gestingthorp and Belchamp Otto, Essex by his wife Margaret.[2] John Botetourt was born about 1330 (aged 9 in 1339).[1]

Daughter: Joan Botetourt, daughter and heiress, was born about 1353 (23 in 1376).
She married Robert Swynborne, Knight, as his second wife before 13 November 1371 (date of presentment).
He was born about 1327.[1]
Died: Joan (Gernon) Botetourt died before 1384. Her husband died before 1376.[1]

Stansted Mountfitchet is an English village and civil parish in Uttlesford district, Essex, near the Hertfordshire border, 35 miles (56 km) north of London. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 5,533, increasing to 6,011 at the 2011 census.

In 1220, Sir Ralph Gernon decided that the hamlet of Leez, in a dip by the banks of the River Ter, would provide the perfect location on which to found a house of Augustinian canons. The priory of St. Mary and St. John the Evangelist thrived for over 300 years. King Henry VIII sent Sir Richard Rich to dismiss the monastery, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536-1541). When Sir Richard Rich, 3rd Baron Rich became the Earl of Warwick, he built his own great house on the site that is now known as Leez Priory. The remains of the Augustinian Priory are very much in evidence within the grounds to the south of the existing buildings, including extensive underground drainage conduits. Known as "Delicious Leez", both the site and the rose-brick buildings are breathtaking, with old garden walls and fish ponds indicative of life and times past.

William GERNON, oundee de long d'argent et de goules--Roll, temp. HEN. III.
Sire William GERNOUN, d'argent a iij peus[=pales] undes de gulys--Roll, temp. ED. II.

In 1305 the king granted to Hugh Gernon a weekly market and an annual fair at his manor of Theydon Garnon. (Cal. Chart. R. 1300-26, 62)

The priory stood rather more than a mile north from the church, at the extremity of the parish adjoining to Felsted; it was founded in the reign of King Henry the Third, about the year 1230, by Sir Ralph Gernon, Knt., for Augustine canons, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist.

The buildings were extensive and magnificent, and there was a spacious park and pleasant gardens. The advowson and patronage remained in the heirs of the founder till the suppression of monasteries, when it was of the annual value of £114 . Os . 4d . according to Dugdale. The founder died in the thirty - second of Henry the Third.

William was his son and heir; and Sir John Gernon, the last male of this family of the direct line, died in the seventh of Richard the Second, leaving only two daughters: Joan the wife of John, son and heir of John, Lord Botetourt; and Margaret, the wife of Sir John de Peyton.

Joan had by Botetourt a daughter called Joan, married to Sir Robert Swinborne, one of whose daughters and co-heiresses was married to John Helion, and had by him, John, who married Editha, daughter and heiress of Thomas Rolf, Esq. of Gosfield Hall, and died the twenty - eighth of Henry the Sixth, possessed of the manor of Gerners, so called from a branch of the Gernon family seated in Warmingford, to which manor the advowson of the priory and church of Lees belonged, being holden of the king, in capite , of his duchy of Lancaster . Editha surviving him , was again married , and enjoyed these estates till her death in 1498. By Helion she had Philippa and Isabella.

Isabella was married to Humphrey Tyrell, Esq., of Warley, by whom she had Anne, married to Sir Roger Wentworth, of Cobham Hall; and he, in her right, presented to this abbey and church ; before her decease , this house was dissolved , and in the king's hands. On this event the king granted this priory, with the manors of Little Lees, Camsey , Berns and Herons , in Great and Little Lees , and an annual pension of five marks issuing out of the rectory and church of Great Birch , to Sir Richard Rich, chancellor of the court of augmentation, an eminent lawyer, whose talents rendered him a very useful assistant in the suppression of religious houses. On gaining possession of the priory, Sir Richard made great alterations in the buildings, which he enlarged, and formed into a magnificent dwelling, the capital seat for himself and family. It was built of brick, and consisted of two quadrangles , surrounding an outer and inner court, the latter of which was faced with free-stone and hard mortar . There was also a spacious banqueting house, and the gardens were laid out with taste and elegance . The oldest records give an account of a park here, and that which surrounded the priory consisted of four hundred acres : to this Sir Richard added two other parks of nearly equal extent ; and other improvements were made by his successors , by which it became so attractive in its appearance , that on the death of Charles Rich, earl of Warwick , in 1673 , Dr. Walker , in his funeral sermon, speaks of it as "a secular elysium ; a worldly paradise; a heaven upon earth." The Princess Elizabeth was confined here during some part of the reign of her sister Mary. The family of which Sir Rich family. Richard was the progenitor, and which was seated here in great splendour upwards of a century, were originally from Hampshire, where John le Rich flourished at Rich's Place , about the time of Edward the Second . His great grandson, Richard Rich, Esq., was of London ; he died in 1414 , and was buried in St. Lawrence's church in Ivy Lane , leaving his son Richard Rich , a mercer , sheriff of London in 1441 , who acquired great riches ; he died in 1469 , leaving two sons : John , from whom descended the Riches of Southweald, and Horndon , in Essex , of which branch of the family was Sir Robert Rich, master in chancery in 1620 ; and Thomas, who married Meyne of London, by whom he had Richard , who married Joan , daughter of Dingley , and had by her several sons ; of which Richard studied the law in the Middle Temple , and by becoming the obsequious tool of that tyran- nical prince , Henry the Eighth , raised himself to the most profitable employments , and to the honour of a baron of the realm . * In 1529 he was chosen autumn reader of the Middle Temple ; in 1532 appointed , by the king , attorney general in Wales and its marches , for life ; the following year he became solicitor - general to his majesty ; and two years afterwards had granted him the profitable office of chiro- grapher of the king's bench . On the dissolution of monasteries he was appointed chancellor of the court of augmentation , which gave him an opportunity , not only of getting this priory but of greatly enriching himself otherwise with the spoils of the religious houses . In 1544 , he was treasurer of the king's wars both in France and Scotland . Two years afterwards king Henry , in his will made him one of the assistants to his executors . King Edward the Sixth , in 1546 , created him Baron Rich of Leex , and , the following year , made him lord chancellor of England . But endeavouring privately to serve the duke of Somerset during his troubles , and being discovered , he was forced to resign the seal , in 1551 ; on which he retired to his seat at Lees , where he employed himself in charitable works , founding a free school , and an almshouse , at Felsted . He died at his house at Rochford , and was buried at Felsted . He continued a papist , though he was very instrumental in sup- pressing the monasteries , for the sake undoubtedly of sharing their plunder . From the inquisition taken after his decease , it appears that he was possessed of immense estates in different parts of the county . Lord Rich married Elizabeth , daughter of Thomas Jenks , of London , by whom he had Robert , his heir , and three other sons , and nine daughters; he had also , of illegitimate offspring , a son and three daughters