Sir Nicholas Latimer (c.1432 – 1505), sometimes styled le Latimer, was my double 15th-great-grandfather, being the father of Edith Latimer with his first wife Joan, daughter of John Hody. He was the son of John Latimer (✝ 1460-01-11) and Catherine Pipard. His will was dated 1505-02-05 and was proved 1505-04-17, so he died in the months between. He was for a time the male-line heir general of the Latimer family, by his descent from his great-great-great-grandfather William Latimer, the 1st Baron Latimer. It did not follow him, as Edith was their only child to survive to adulthood.
He had a second wife named Margaret, of who almost nothing is known.
Nicholas was attainted once in 1461 due to his involvement in a rebellion, but the attainder was reversed in 1468. There may have been a second attainder and reversal. Historian Rosemary Horrox says that Nicholas “may have been something of a political misfit”.ref
Several sources refer to Nicholas as the heir male of the body of William Latimer himselfref, or at least of William’s son Johnref. There appears to be consensus that the male line through the baron’s first son became extinct with the death of the 4th Baron Latimer in 1381, so that it continued with John’s descendants, John being his second surviving son.
Thus the line may be preliminarily reconstructed as follows:
| as of | heir | relation to last | relation to me |
|---|---|---|---|
| (1299) | William Latimer, 1st Baron Latimer | double 20th ggf. | |
| 1304 | William Latimer, 2nd Baron Latimer | son | double 20th great-uncle |
| 1327 | William Latimer, 3rd Baron Latimer | son | double 1st c. 20× r. |
| 1335 | William Latimer, 4th Baron Latimer | son | double 2nd c. 19× r. |
| 1381 | Robert Latimer | 2nd c. | double 17th ggf. |
| <1443 | John Latimer | son | double 16th ggf. |
| 1460 | Nicholas Latimer | son | double 15th ggf. |
| 1505 | Henry Latimer | brother | double 16th great-uncle |
| ? | Robert Latimer | son | double 1st c. 16× r. |
| 1548 | ? |
It is only a guess that Nicholas predeceased his younger brother; if not, then Henry, whose death date I have not found, is skipped. There may even be other brothers in the line, but that is chronologically unlikely.
I can find no information about who would continue the Latimer line after Robert’s death in 1548, as he is the last male-line descendant of John, son of the 1st Baron.ref It may be extinct under the 1st Baron, unlikely though that may seem, and it could be extinct even under his brother John, with the death of his great-grandson Edward le Latimer in 1411. There may not be documentation allowing us to go further.
The barony, it was decided, was inherited through the 4th Baron’s daughter, rather than as above.
The surname Latimer is still found today, centuries later, and some of its bearers may be in this line, and indeed there is likely a living unaware heir general.
This continues this part of Nicholas’s ancestry, which I don’t cover elsewhere. Katharine Keats-Rohan has proposed theories about the most distant Alfred de Lincoln’s ancestry, including that he may be the maternal grandson of William Malet (✝1071), companion of William the Conqueror. So far as I know, these theories have not gained wide acceptance.