Edward Hall

Edward Hall (c. 1496 – c. May 1547) was an English lawyer and historian, best known for his The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre and Yorke—commonly known as Hall's Chronicle—first published in 1548. He was also several times a member of the Parliament of England. Edward Hall, born in 1497, was the son of John Hall (died 22 February 1528) of Northall in Kynnersley, Shropshire, a London grocer and Merchant of the Staple who resided in the parish of St Mildred in the Poultry. The surname Hall appears in the records of the Worshipful Company of Grocers for several generations prior to Hall's birth, suggesting that members of the family had been London merchants for some time. Hall's father served as Warden of the Grocers in 1512. According to some sources, Hall's mother, Katherine Geddyng, was the daughter and coheir of Thomas Geddyng of Norfolk, while according to others she was the daughter of John Geddyng, great-grandson of William Geddyng of Lackford, Suffolk, and Mirabel Aspale, daughter and heiress of Sir John de Aspale. Katherine (née Geddying) Hall's burial on 19 June 1557 in the church of St Benet Sherehog was recorded by the diarist Henry Machyn. She appointed as executor of her will Sir William Garrard, and as supervisor Dame Joan Warren, the second wife of Sir Ralph Warren, Lord Mayor of London. According to some sources, Katherine was the 'Mistress Hall' who in 1555 was imprisoned in Newgate for her faith under Queen Mary Tudor, and with whom the religious reformer John Bradford corresponded. Hall had a brother, William, who survived him, but no other known brothers or sisters.