Thomas Luttrell (died 1571)
Thomas Luttrell (died 1571), of Dunster Castle in Somerset, feudal baron of Dunster, was a Member of Parliament for his family's newly enfranchised pocket borough of Minehead (two miles north-east of Dunster Castle), from 1563 to 1567 . He was Sheriff of Somerset in 1570–1. Origins. He was the second son and eventual heir of Sir Andrew Luttrell (1484–1538), feudal baron of Dunster, Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset in 1528, whose monument exists in East Quantoxhead Church, by his wife Margaret Wyndham (d.1580), a daughter of Sir Thomas Wyndham (d.1521) of Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk . Thomas inherited the family estates on the death of his elder brother Sir John Luttrell (d.1551), a soldier who died without male progeny. Career. He sold the Devon and Somerset estates, excepting Dunster Castle, apparently to meet debts. These were however "amply replaced" by the large estate inherited from his wife. Marriage. He married Margaret Hadley, daughter and eventual sole heiress of Christopher Hadley (1517-1540), lord of the manor of Withycombe Hadley in Somerset. The former manor house of the Hadleys survives as Court Place in the village of Withycombe. Thomas Luttrell and Margaret Hadley were related spiritually as  well as by blood, as Margaret was the god-daughter of Thomas's mother, making them in the eyes of the church spiritually related as brother and sister; and both were descended from Elizabeth Courtenay (d.1493), daughter of Sir Philip Courtenay (1404–1463) of Powderham. Margaret's great-grandfather Richard Hadley had married Philippa Audley, a daughter of Sir Humphrey Audley ("alias" Touchet) (c.1434-1471) (a younger son of James Tuchet, 5th Baron Audley, 2nd Baron Tuchet (c. 1398–1459)), by his wife Elizabeth Courtenay (d.1493), who was the widow of Sir James Luttrell (d.1461), the great-grandfather of Thomas Luttrell. In  consequence of this consanguinity in 1557 a papal bull was procured from Pope Paul V to sanction the marriage. The legal difficulties encountered by the marriage are related by Maxwell-Lyte as follows: It was probably the last instance in England of the remarriage of two persons who had been divorced on the score of a spiritual relationship. Progeny. By his wife he had 3 sons and 4 daughters, including: Monument. Thomas Luttrell's impressive monument with effigies, erected by his son George in 1621, survives in Dunster Church, inscribed as follows: The heraldry is as follows: top left, Luttrell ; top right (arms of George's son, Thomas), Luttrell impaling "Argent, on a chief gules two stag's heads cabossed or" (Popham), also visible in Marshwood House, Blue Anchor; centre (arms of George Luttrell), Luttrell quartering: quarterly of four, 1&4: "Gules, on a chevron or three cross crosslets sable"(Hadley), 2&3: "Or, on a bend cotised sable three horse's heads and necks argent bridled or" (Durborough of Withycombe).