Welsh Journals

Chrimes implied, citing the Lleweni papers as evidence for her description of Veleville as Henry VII's illegitimate son, but as the source of her reference to Veleville's grant of appointment as constable of Beaumaris castle. Although this document (which, as Professor Chrimes showed, was in fact issued in 1 Henry VIII) is regrettably now lost, its terms are recorded in the accounts of the chamberlain of north Wales and, in conformity with normal practice, these make no reference to the grantee's parentage.4 Veleville's parentage is, however, alluded to in another document among the Lleweni papers which Angharad Llwyd and Professor Chrimes also discussed. This is a letter written in 1636 or 1637 by John Salusbury (d. 1685) of Bachegraig; in it he referred to the father of his aunt, Katheryn of Berain (d. 1591), as having married Veleville's daughter 'and whose reputed sone Veleville was, I doupt not you have heard'.5 Angharad Llwyd noted that in this extract Salusbury 'could only hint at Sir Roland's demi-royal birth',6 whereas Professor Chrimes noted that there is nothing here to justify the assertion that Veleville's father was Henry VII. This comment is understandable in view of Professor Chrimes's assumption that Angharad Llwyd's work was the source of the claims concerning Veleville's Tudor parentage; but John Salusbury's remark is of greater interest than Professor Chrimes acknowledged. It indicates that a century after Veleville's death, a tradition regarding the identity of his father was still current, and such a tradition was unlikely to have been kept alive unless the importance of Veleville's putative father had been readily recognized by his descendants.7 Both Salusbury's comment and Pennant's description may be attributable to a tradition regarding Veleville's parentage that had survived among some north Wales gentry since his lifetime, for he was referred to as a 'man of a kingly line' 4 Public Record Office (hereafter PRO), SC6/Henry VIII/5418, fees section. 5 National Library of Wales (hereafter NLW), Lleweni Papers 124, calendared in W. J. Smith (ed.), Calendar of Salusbury Correspondence 1553-circa 1700 (Cardiff, 1954), no. 186. John Salusbury (d. 1685) was the son of Roger Salusbury (d. 1623) of Bachegraig (ibid., Table III), whose brother, John Salusbury (d. 1566), married Katheryn of Berain (ibid., Table I, Sheet B). For Katheryn of Berain, the daughter of Veleville's daughter, Jane, and Thomas ap Robert of Berain, see The Dictionary of Welsh Biography down to 1940 (London, 1959), p. 531. Chrimes's article cited, p. 288, incorrectly stated that her first husband was Sir Thomas Salusbury; no knight of that name was living in her lifetime. 6 A. Llwyd, op. cit., p. 132, note. Professor Chrimes's article does not mention this reference, which gives a somewhat inaccurate quotation from the letter under discussion, including a reference, attributed to the writer, to Sir Thomas Salusbury (d. c. 1506) as 'my grandfather', a phrase which does not appear in the MS. 7 It is interesting to note that an illegitimate son of Sir John Salusbury (d. 1612) of Lleweni, a son of Katheryn of Berain by her first marriage, was named Velivel Salusbury (Smith, Calendar of Salusbury Correspondence, Table I, Sheet B).