The Ancestors and Descendants of Sir Robert Belknap (about 1330-1401)

Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas of England from 1374 to 1388

Gathered here is the most comprehensive repository of primary source materials, web links, and other information on the early Belknap family of England, with particular emphasis on Sir Robert Belknap (about 1330-1401), who served as Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas of England commencing in 1374 until his banishment to Ireland in 1388 by King Richard II.

“The Accolade” by Edmund Blair Leighton

Court of Common Pleas at Westminster Hall, about 1460; Justices clothed in red

The recorded history of the Belknap family commences with John Belknap, father of Sir Robert Belknap.  It continues through Robert’s son, Sir Hamon Belknap (about 1380-1429), to Hamon’s son, Sir Henry Belknap (about 1420-1488), to Henry’s son, Sir Edward Belknap (about 1471-1521).

The surname Belknap, as carried through descendants of Sir Robert Belknap, appears to have died out with Sir Robert’s great grandson, Sir Edward.  However, several other males surnamed Belknap, whose connections to Sir Robert are at present unknown, were contemporaries of Sir Robert’s family during the 15th and 16th Centuries. The Belknap surname may have continued through one of these other contemporaneous Belknaps through the Beltoft family of Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire (“Beltoft” appears to be an Anglo-Saxon etymological derivative of the Norman surname “Belknap”), who assumed or resumed using the surname Belknap in the 1500s, not long before Abraham Belknap (formerly known as Beltoft) emigrated to Massachusetts in the 1630s. For more information on the origin of the surname Belknap or Belnap, click here.

(Adaline Knight, first wife of Utah Pioneer Gilbert Belnap (5th great grandson of Abraham Belknap), is perhaps a direct descendant of Sir Robert Belknap through several lineages:  through her paternal great grandfather, Samuel Knight, whose Hutchens ancestry ties to Sir Robert via the Whitney-Baskerville-Devereaux-Ferrers lines; and through her paternal grandmother, Rizpah Lee, whose Lee ancestry on both sides of her family ties to Sir Robert via the Hungerford and Shelley lines.)

The early Belknaps married into a number of notable English families, including, among others, the families of Darset, Phelipp, Stonor, Hampden, Boteler, Beauchamp, Sudeley, Avenel, Kymbell, Knollys, Ferrers, Finche, Cooke, Hende, Wotton, Danett, Shelley, Carryll, Scott, and Bishop. Other direct descendants of Sir Robert Belknap include the surnames of Wynchingham, Arden, Putnam, Arundell, Devereaux, Hungerford, Southwell, Fortescue, Jenney, Playters, Wentworth, Le Strange, Shakespeare, Lee, L’Isle, Wriothesley, Clopton, Clifford, Stanhope, Clifton, Warwick, Sydney, Spencer, Savile, Winthrop, St. Leger, Bagot, Russell, Worsley, Sutton, Cavendish, etc. 

During the Protestant Reformation, some of Sir Robert’s descendants, including Sir Edward Belknap, supported King Henry VIII.  Others remained loyal to the Catholic faith.  One, Father Robert Southwell, is officially venerated as a “saint.”  Another married Sir Adrian Fortescue, a martyr, who was later beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1895.  Still others affiliated with Puritanism and emigrated to America.

Sir Robert Belknap’s direct descendants include many notable persons, including William Shakespeare, Lady Jane Grey, Sir Francis Bacon, Prime Minister Winston Churchill (through 2 known lines), Princess Diana (through 3 known lines), and England’s current reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II (through 7 known lines).

Early Noble Belknaps: Genealogical Resources

Early Noble Belknaps: Individual Pages (Belknap males; links to Belknap females are under married family surname)

Early Noble Belknaps: Related Families

  • Darset Family–through Juliana Darset, wife of Robert Belknap
  • Phelipp Family–through Elizabeth Phelipp, mother-in-law of Robert Belknap
  • Stonor Family–through Joan of Joanna Belknap, daughter of Robert Belknap and wife of first husband Ralph de Stonor
  • Hampden Family–through Joan or Joanna Belknap, daughter of Robert Belknap and wife of second husband Edmund Hampden
  • Boteler Family–through Joan Boteler, wife of Hamon Belknap
  • Beauchamp Family–through Alice Beauchamp, mother-in-law of Hamon Belknap
  • Sudeley Family–through Joan de Sudeley, grandmother-in-law of Hamon Belknap
  • Avenel Family–through Juliana Belknap, daughter of Robert Belknap and wife of first husband Robert de Avenel
  • Kymbell Family–through Juliana Belknap, daughter of Robert Belknap and wife of second husband Nicholas Kymbell
  • Knollys Family–through wife of Henry Belknap, Margaret Knollys
  • Ferrers Family–through Elizabeth Belknap, daughter of Hamon Belknap and wife of William de Ferrers
  • Finche Family–through Alice Belknap, daughter of Philip Belknap and wife of Henry Finche
  • Hende Family–through Griselda Belknap, daughter of Hamon Belknap and wife of John Hende “the Older”
  • Cooke Family–through Eleanor or Elizabeth Belknap, daughter of Henry Belknap and wife of Philip Cooke
  • Wotton Family–through Anne Belknap, daughter of Henry Belknap and wife of Robert Wotton
  • Danett Family–through Mary Belknap, daughter of Henry Belknap and wife of Gerard Danett
  • Shelley Family–through Alice Belknap, daughter of Henry Belknap and wife of William Shelley
  • Carryll Family–through Griselda Belknap, daughter of Henry Belknap and wife of John Caryll
  • Boteler Family (2)–through Margaret Belknap, daughter of Henry Belknap and wife of John Boteler
  • Scott Family–through Elizabeth Belknap, daughter of Edward Belknap and wife of first husband Walter Scott
  • Bishopp Family–through Elizabeth Belknap, daughter of Edward Belknap and wife of second husband Thomas Bishopp
  • Saye Family–through Amy (possibly de Saye), first wife of Robert Belknap
  • Segrave Family–through Alice (possibly de Segrave), wife of John Belknap

Miscellaneous Belknaps (relationship to Sir Robert Belknap uncertain at present)

Later English Belknaps (for whom the connection to early English/noble Belknaps or the “New World” Belknap family through Abraham Belknap is presently unknown)

Early Beltofts (not thought to have any connection to the Beltofts/Belknaps of Sawbridgeworth)

Belknap/Beltoft Family of Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England

Last update:  3 Aug 2023