Gott(e)s in this period
We have several records of Gottses in this period, though the name then is usually spelled ‘Gottes’.
Apart from the parish records from 1538 (though not many survive until 1600) , the records tend to be where money was passing hands, so wills, manorial documents, some of which are in Latin, so it becomes difficult to understand the content and there are fewer clues on the family connections.
The majority are in Norfolk, though in late 1500s and 1600s there are some in London, Suffolk and Essex. How they are connected still remains to be discovered.
How many Gottses were there?
In the census, we find there are about 25 Gottses/million people. Assuming the same ratio applies, we get:
So not many people to find, in theory. In practice it is about what they did. Most would have been farm labourers and illiterate, but one or two families were educated. There are records of priests around Walsingham, Kings Lynn, and we also have the Lt Ryburgh family (#036) who made it big and even obtained the Coat of Arms.
This part of the website is to record their lives as we find them.
What was life like for them?
Maybe they dressed like these Tudor farmers and farm labourers as depicted in the BBC’s Tudor Farm series.
Many things we take for granted were happening through this period:
- 1536-1541: Dissolution of the monasteries
- 1538: Tyndale’s Bible available in English
- 1549: Kett’s rebellion at Norwich against the enclosure of lands
- 1557: Invention of the equals sign (=)
- 1579: One of a series of plagues killed a third of Norwich
- 1630s:Draining the Fens
- 1642 English Civil War
