Gamaliell Pye

In the beginning

Little is known of Gamaliell’s early life but the heralds’ visitations show that he was born of yeoman stock in Blyth, Nottinghamshire, the son of Edmund Pye, and may have claimed descent from the Pye gentry family of The Mynde in Much Dewchurch, Herefordshire.   Gamaliell, literally meaning ‘goodness of God’ in Hebrew, was a very unusual name in the early 16th century, and it is possible that he was born on the feast day of St Gamaliel which was celebrated on the 4th August in Canterbury calendars.