Brantingham family

The Brantinghams (or, formerly, the de Brantinghams or de Brantynghams) are an old noble family from North East England, originally from Brantingham in Yorkshire.

Coat of arms

An early Brantingham coat of arms may be preserved in one of two seals attached to document WYL639/191 of the West Yorkshire Archive Services. The document is a grant of land, dated 18 September 1369, by Nicholas de Brantingham and Richard Bonefaunt to Robert Bonefaunt, vicar of Otley, and Nicholas, vicar of Weston. Two seals in red wax attached to the grant are (i) a design of five burs, with no legend, and (ii) a bird, with an indistinct legend. However, in the absence of distinct legends, it remains uncertain whether either of the seals belongs to Nicholas de Brantingham.

Later in the same century, Thomas de Brantingham, bishop of Exeter and Lord Treasurer, bore arms sable, a fess crenelle, between three Catherine wheels, or.

Political influence

During the fourteenth century, and in particular during the reign of Edward III, several de Brantinghams held great offices of the state, including Ralph de Brantingham, King's Chamberlain to Edward III from 1349, and Thomas de Brantingham (died 1394), Lord Treasurer from 1369 to 1371 and Bishop of Exeter from 1370 until his death.

The Brantinghams had close relationships with many of the leading families of the North East. Ralph de Brantingham was granted two shops in Penrith, Cumbria, by Ralph de Neville, second Baron Neville de Raby, and his daughter, Thomasina, married Thomas de Salcock of a noble family from Sawcock. Anne Fletame of Stockton, an ancestor of Sir Samuel Garth, in her will of 24 April 1562, bequeathed a linen kerchief, an apron and a pair of hose to Jane Brantingham.