Sir Sigismund Zinzan alias Sir Sigismund Alexander was an equerry to Queen Elizabeth I and a champion in the tiltyard who participated in tournaments during the latter years of Queen Elizabeth's reign and throughout the reign of King James. He was the stepfather of Sir Matthew Brend, owner of the Globe Theatre, and during the years 1624-7 was himself the effective owner of the Globe.
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Family
The Zinzan family is said to have come to England from Italy or Albania. They may have been Muslims. Hannibal Zinzan was a master farrier for Henry VIII in 1547. Alexander Zinzan, possibly his brother, was a rider in the royal stables, recorded in 1547 and 1558. He and his wife and sons gave New Year's Day gifts to Mary I of England. Alexander had three sons, Alexander, Robert, and Andrew. Robert Zinzan (c.1547–1607) started his career as one of the "riding children" in 1558, and was an equerry in the royal stables of Elizabeth I by 1574. Beginning with Robert, members of the family frequently used the surname 'Alexander'.
In June 1585 the Queen sent Robert Zinzan with Edward Wotton to the court of King James VI in Scotland with a diplomatic gift of four horses and a pack of sixteen hounds. James VI was delighted. Between the years 1565 and 1591, Robert was a regular participant in tournaments at court. On 3 July 1593 he asked Lord Burghley to make him surveyor of the refiners of sugar, in accordance with similar grants made to others such as that to Dr Lopez for aniseed; some months later, in April 1594, Zinzan and a fellow equerry, Richard Mompesson, were granted a monopoly to import anise seeds and sumac for twenty years.
Robert Zinzan was knighted by James VI and I (as 'Robert Alexander') at Whitehall on 23 July 1603. In 1603, his brother or son, Alexander (also known as Andrew) was a rider of coursers. Sir Robert Zinzan died in 1607, at which time his son, Henry, succeeded him in his office of brigandery (supplier of body armour).
Sigismund Zinzan was a younger son of Robert Zinzan. According to Robert's will, the first name of Sigismund Zinzan's mother was Margaret, and her father, whose surname was Westcote, was an esquire, and resided at Handsacre Hall in Staffordshire.
Zinzan had two brothers, Robert Zinzan, who died without issue, and Henry Zinzan alias Alexander, and three sisters, Mary, Dulcibella, and another sister who first name is unknown.
Career
Like his father, Sigismund Zinzan was an equerry to Queen Elizabeth I, and both he and his brother Henry participated in tournaments at court during the final years of the Queen's reign. On 27 June 1603 George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, put on an entertainment for the new King, James I, at Grafton Regis, in which the two Zinzan brothers ran at tilt, as recorded by Clifford's daughter, Lady Anne Clifford:
From thence (Hatton Fermor's) the court removed, and was banqueted with great royalty by my father at Grafton, where the King and Queen were entertained with speeches and delicate presents, at which time my Lord and the Alexanders did run a course at the field, where he hurt Henry Alexander very dangerously.
The Zinzan brothers participated regularly in tournaments throughout King James's reign, and were tilting partners of the King's sons, Henry and Charles. During the years 1608-1624 they received £100 from the Exchequer for each tournament in which they participated; a warrant of 7 March 1619, for example, awarded them £100 'for their charges of their running at tilt' on the King's Accession Day, 24 March. Young speculates that these payments may have been granted them because they played a role in organizing the tilts. Henry Zinzan took part in tournaments over a period of twenty-seven years; he eventually petitioned the Crown for financial relief, citing as a reason his 'long service' and the 'extreme hurts he has received by Prince Henry and His Majesty'.
In the fall of 1609 Sigismund Zinzan was fined £500 in the Court of Star Chamber for causes which are not now known.
On 4 June 1610, King James' had his fifteen-year-old son and heir, Henry, created Prince of Wales 'with extraordinary pomp and solemnity'. The next day Ben Jonson's Masque of Oberon was performed, and on 6 June there was a tournament in which the Zinzan brothers were among the tilters:
The third and last day did not give place unto any of the former, either in stateliness of shew or sumptuousness in performance. The names of the tilters were these: the Duke of Lennox, the Earls of Arundel, Pembroke, Dorset and Montgomery; the Lords Walden, Compton, Norris, North, Hay and Dingwell; Sir Thomas Somerset, Sir Thomas Howard, Sir Henry Carey, Sir Sigismond Alexander and Mr Henry Alexander.
Marriage and issue
About 1605 Zinzan married Margaret Strelley, widow of Nicholas Brend, and daughter of Sir Philip Sterley alias Strelley of Nottinghamshire, by whom he had five sons and three daughters:
Henry Zinzan, who married Jacoba, one of the daughters of Sir Peter Vanlore of Tilehurst, Berkshire.
Sigismund Zinzan.
Robert Zinzan.
Charles Zinzan, who married firstly Elizabeth Plume of Essex, secondly Elizabeth Stanton, and thirdly a daughter of one Hogg of Scotland, 'where he lives'.
John Zinzan.
Margaret Zinzan.
Elizabeth Zinzan.
Letitia Zinzan.
By his wife's previous marriage to Nicholas Brend, Zinzan had two stepsons and three stepdaughters, all minors at their father's death:
Sir Matthew Brend, eldest son and heir, less than two years old at his father's death, who married Frances Smith, the daughter of Sir William Smith (d. 12 December 1626) of Theydon Mount, Essex, heir of Sir Thomas Smith.
John Brend.
Jane Brend (born c.1595).
Mercy Brend (born 1597), who married Robert Meese.
Frances Brend (born 1598).