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The name dimmick has
been spelt in many different ways: |
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The Dimmick (Dymokes) Story |
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| The story of the Dymokes is
largely that of the Championship fo England, the story of an office and
ceremony centred upon the sovereign's coronation, and it is with pride
that we of the village of Dymock can say that for nearly 600 years the
title of King's Champion has been carried by one bearing our name.
The first King's Champion in England came from the powerful Norman family of Marmion. They were blood relations of the Dukes of Normandy, and lived at Fontenay-le-Marmion between Caen and Falaise. Amongst other high honours the Marmions enjoyed the peculiar privilege of acting as Champions to the Dukes of Normandy, and they held their land on feudal tenure by Knight Serjeanty subject to the performance of this particular service. Duke William's Champion, Sir Robert Marmion, accompanied his lord and master to England in 1066. The Lord of Fontenay was rewarded with grants of land in the counties of Lincoln, Gloucester, Hereford and Warwick and with the governorship of Tamworth Castle. Amongst the many manors given to Robert was Scrivelsby in Lincolnshire, which was assigned to him under the same tenure as that by which his Norman estates were held, i.e., to act as Champion to King William. Six Marmions lived at Scrivelsby and held the title of Champion. The last of these was Sir Philip de Marmion, a leading statesman and warrior in the stormy days of King Henry III. On his death, without male issue, in 1292, his vast estates were divided amongst his four daughters. Margaret, the second, after the death of the eldest, inherited Tamworth Castle and the Warwickshire estates. She married a Ralph Crombwell or Cromwell. Their daughter, Jane, married an Alexander Freville, and was the ancestress of Sir Baldwin Freville. The youngest daughter of Sir Philip Marmion, Jane or Joan, received Scrivelsby and the Lincolnshire estates. She married Sir Thomas Ludlow, and their grand-daughter, Margaret, married a Sir John Dymoke of Gloucestershire. There was rivalry between the families of these two descendants of Sir Philip Marmion as to which should exercise the right of Champion at the Coronation of Richard II. Sir Baldwin Freville, who was the undoubted representative of the eldest daughter of Sir Philip Marmion, based his claim on priority of birth and ownership of Tamworth Castle and the manor portions of the Marmion estates. Sir John Dymoke based his claim on the fact that the office of Champion was inalienably attached to the manor of Scrivelsby which was given and held by reason of this service. At the Court of Claims, and by the judgment of the Constable and Marshal of England, Sir John's right to act as Champion on his wife's behalf was confirmed, and from that date (1377) a Dymoke has held this high office. Coronation pageantry today is a mere phantom of the pomp and ceremonial of Norman and Mediaeval times. Old customs have lapsed old practices have ceased, and old offices have shrunk to a shadow of their former splendour and importance. The hereditary office of King's Champion has in this process lost much of its original importance and most of its spectacular appeal. |
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