Richard, the
servant of Robert le Spondon, plaintiff against John Shakespere for
assault. John proves himself in the right, and receives damages, October
21, 1360.

The first appearance yet found of the name in Warwickshire is in 1359,
when Thomas Sheppey and Henry Dilcock, Bailiffs of Coventry, account for
the property of Thomas Shakespere,[18] felon, who had left his goods and
fled.

Halliwell-Phillipps[19] notes as his earliest entry of the name a Thomas
Shakespere, of Youghal, 49 Edward III. (1375). A writer in _Notes and
Queries_[20] gives a date two years later when "Thomas Shakespere and
Richard Portingale" were appointed Comptrollers of the Customs in
Youghal, 51 Edward III. (1377). This would imply that he was a highly
trustworthy man. Yet, by some turn of fortune's wheel, he may have been
the same man as the felon.

In Controlment Rolls, 2 Richard II. (June, 1377, to June, 1379), there
is an entry of "Walter Shakespere, formerly in gaol in Colchester
Castle."[21] John Shakespeare was imprisoned in Colchester gaol as a
perturbator of the King's peace, March 3rd, 4 Richard II., 1381.[22] At
Pontefract, Robert Schaksper, Couper, and Emma his wife are mentioned as
paying poll-tax, 2 Rich. II.[23]

The Rev. Mr. Norris,[24] working from original documents, notes that on
November 24 (13 Richard II.), 1389, Adam Shakespere, who is described as
son and heir of Adam of Oldediche, held lands within the manor of
Baddesley Clinton by military service, and probably had only just then
obtained them. Oldediche, or Woldich, now commonly called Old Ditch
Lane, lies within the parish of Temple Balsall, not far from the manor
of Baddesley.

This closes the notices of the family that I have collected during the
fourteenth century. The above-noted Adam Shakespere, the younger, died
in 1414, leaving a widow, Alice, and a son and heir, John, then under
age, who held lands until 20 Henry VI., 1441. It is not clear who
succeeded him, but probably two brothers, Ralph and Richard, who held
lands in Baddesley, called Great Chedwyns, adjoining Wroxall. Mr. Norris
says that no further mention of the name appears in Baddesley, but one
notice of the property is given later. Ralph and Joanna, his wife, had
two daughters--Elizabeth, married to Robert Huddespit, and Isolda,
married to Robert Kakley. Elizabeth Huddespit, a widow, in 1506 held the
lands which Adam Shakespeare held in 1389.

The family of Shakespeare appears in the "Registe