Sir Thomas Griffin (1323–1360)


Sir Thomas Griffin, Knight was a Knight of Weston Favell Manor and the Manor of Braybrooke, Northamptonshire, England. Thomas Griffin was the son of John Griffin and Elizabeth Favell Married 1316.

Life

There appears to be no record of the life of Sir Thomas Griffin, however he inspired the character played by Christopher Bond in the Lion Rampant Medieval Display Society. This includes an accurate reconstruction of the armour that Sir Thomas would have used prior to his death in 1360

Heraldry

Armour reconstruction

The reconstruction of Sir Thomas Griffin's armour circa 1360, is based research on evidence from the Battle of Visby in 1361, English effigies and monumental brass of the period.
It consists of the following elements:
Klappvisier bascinet with mail aventail, quilted arming cap, gambeson, mail shirt, coat of plates based on the Visby No.1 coat of plates, simple jointed arm harness,
hour glass gauntlet, linen hose, pair of greaves, pair of sollerets, pair of knee cops or poleyn, padded chausses, mail chausses or with splint armour reinforcement consisting of thick leather and steel splints.
The reconstruction, including weapons has a combined weight of 105 lbs and was researched and constructed by Christopher Bond

Family

Marriage

Sir Thomas was married to Elizabeth Latimer, daughter of Sir Warine Latimer, in 1349 and subsequently inherited his father-in-law's title of Lord Braybrooke upon the latter's death in the same year.

Children

Thomas and Elizabeth had a total of 11 children as follows :
The surname Griffin is thought to have derived from the Welsh Griffith. The first traceable recorded Griffin was Ralph Griffin and the lineage is as follows:
Their descendants include Baron Braybrooke