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Pacr Hisroricat Memoranda of Wigmore Castle, Herefordshire, by Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, Ki BANU Snip Ke, Cg ROU Ay tbs NE AUER Skee 3 On the Natural History of the Nightingale, ( Philomela luscinia,—Swain- son), by Edward Blyth, Esq., Tooting, Surrey ............0....0ccc.00 ss 28 On the Effects of certain Mental and Bodily States upon the Imagina- tion, by Langston Parker, Bisqy. icine ay yesbies cos vedo ese pecas 46 The Mammals of Britain systematically arranged ..............000....00000 67 Organte' Chemistry. 053.25. i ed Sls APY eh Gon Sooke ab asp dee eee 73 An Elucidation of the Three British Treelings, ( Silvia PP ARS eas eee ed te 718 Roman Antiquities discovered in Worcestershire ...........2......c00..s00e0 85 Vicinity of Congerstone, in Leicestershire, 1835—6; with prefatory remarks on the advantages of cultivating the Study of Natural History. cease Ga bd aaleh da sas SAlodinde ee Dads pe heehee? PAPO) Sey > 91 Sketches of European Ornithology. ).......2. 02005 .ccesceeesecsscseeecceseteetedese 97 COEVPSPOM RENCE 6 200.5 595.) sca apes s Mledeseancagddeedma upton Dubus acer vgs cs Shee ss (105 Proceedings of Provincial Societies ..0...........c.ccceelessbe tee geceseseneceeesees 12} Birmingham Royal School of Medicine—Birmingham Philosophi- eal Institution—Birmingham Mechanics’ Institution—Chester Me- chanics’ Institution—Macclesfield Mechanics’ Institution—Man- chester Athenzeeum—Manchester Mechanics’ Institution—W orces- ter Literary and Scientitic Institution. Critical Notices of New Publications .............. PP AL Ae Miteetide orice eit 146 Bakewell’s Natural Evidence of a Future Life—toswell’s Life of Johnson—The Principles of Descriptive and Physiological Botany, by the Rev. J. Henslow ; The'New Botanist’s Guide to the Locali- - ties of the Rarer Plants of Britain ; Remarks on the Geographical Distribution of British Plants, by H. C. Watson—M. 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CURRY, Joy. & CO., DUBLIN; BARLOW, BIRMINGHAM. 1836. THE ANALYST. HISTORICAL MEMORANDA OF WIGMORE CASTLE, HEREFORDSHIRE. By Srr Samvreu Rusu Meyrick, K. H. Tuar a place which has had for its owners persons of such im- portance in the history of this country as Wigmore, should never have engaged the pen of any antiquary, seems truly astonishing ; especially as materials are not wanting, though scattered far and wide, for this purpose. Hoping that some one more competent will throw additional light on this interesting subject, I shall endeavour, through the medium of your useful periodical, to con- centrate the glimmerings that are to be met with in ancient docu- ments. Its original name we find to have been Wiginga-mere. Blount says,* “ This seems to be Saxon, in which language Wiggen, or Wiggend, signifies warrior, ga, or gen, lo go, an mere, a pool, or great water ; for it is supposed that rich ground bvlow the town, now called Wigmore, was heretofore held to bc undrainable.” There is no necessity for such far-fetched etymology: Wicenga sig- nifies znhabilants, * especially,” says Somner, “ those of towns and villages,” which renders it synonimous with its Domesday appella- tion, Marestune, 7. ¢. the town near the marsh. The earliest information respecting it is, according to Camden, its being repaired by Edward the elder. This will be better com- prehended by reflecting on the state of the country, which that king found on succeeding to the throne of his justly celebrated father * MSS. in British Museum. a2 4 HISTORICAL MEMORANDA OF Alfred the Great. That prince had been elected in preference to his brother’s children ; and as they were likewise passed over by the Wittena at his death, whose choice was fixed on Edward, one of them, named Ethelwold, attempted to seize the crown for him- self. He not only raised an army, but allied himself with the Anglo-Danes, and defied his cousin’s power. In 905, he ravaged Mercia, which comprehended that part of Herefordshire in which Wigmore is situate: but he ultimately fell in a contest in Kent. In 910, Edward, with the Mercians and West Saxons, marched into Northumbria, destroying and plundering the Anglo-Danish possessions. The following year, the northerns repaid this devas- tation by an irruption into Mercia: nor was the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon king, over his dangerous neighbours, fully established till the battle of Wodensfield. He now pursued the plans of pro- tection which his father had devised, and determined to defend the frontiers of his dominions by a line of fortresses. In Mercia and Wessex, he built castles which he filled with soldiers, who were ordered, without waiting for the king or earls of the counties, to join the provincials in repelling invaders. Upon the western limits he appointed their erection at Wigmore in Herefordshire, Bridg- north and Cherbury in Shropshire, Edesbury in Cheshire, and Stafford and Wedesborough in Staffordshire, which seem to have been chosen with great judgment. Thus the foundation of Wig- more castle is fixed to the year 912, or soon after.* The military policy of Edward was proved by its issue. Two Danish earls led a hostile fleet round Cornwall into the Severn, de. barked, and plundered in Herefordshire, taking the bishop of Arch- enfield prisoner. The men of Hereford, Gloucester, and the nearest burghs, as the fortified places were called, defeated them, with the loss of one of their chiefs, and the brother of the other. The next occurrence may probably be assigned to the year 1068. William the Conqueror had returned to Normandy, three months after his coronation, leaving the care of England to his favourite William Fitz Osborne, who, according to Malmsbury, first incited him to invade this country, and to Odo, his half-brother, bishop of Bayeux. The exactions of the Normans augmented the despera- tion of the Anglo-Saxons, until the latter broke out into revolt. He returned ; but his mistrust of his new subjects calling forth his “ Inthis year, says the Saxon Chronicle, died Athelred, alderman (i. ¢. the ruling person) of Mercia; Ethelfleda, his widow, in 920, when Edward in- corporated that kingdom with Wessex. WIGMORE CASTLE, HEREFORDSHIRE. 5 ill-humour, they formed alliances with the Welsh, the Scotch, and the Danes. It was, probably, on this occasion, that ‘‘ Ralph, or Ranulph de Mortimer, who came over with the Conqueror, was sent into the marches of Wales, to encounter with Edrich, Earl of Shrewsbury, who was also Lord of Wigmore and Melenithe,* in regard he would not submit to the Norman yoke, whom after great toi] and a long siege in Wigmore castle, he at length subdued and delivered captive to the king.”t This Edrich was the son of Alfricke, Earl of Mercia, who, having induced Bleddyn and Rhywallon, princes of Wales, to assist him with their forces, had ravaged the country as far as the bridge of Hereford. England being completely subdued, in about three years from this time, William proceeded to distribute the spoils among his adherents. To William Fitz Osborne, he gave the county of Here- ford, with instructions to watch and repress the Welsh ;{ and Dug- dale says, “‘ he built the castle of Estbrighoyel,|| in Gloucestershire, and the castles of Clifford, Wigmore, and Ewias in Herefordshire ; but in regard he died before the general survey, there is no memo- rial at all left of him.’”§ The Rev. Mr. Duncumb, though it does not appear on what authority, asserts that those in Herefordshire he only repaired. This heroic warrior was slain by Robert de Frison, whilst fight- ing in support of the claims of Ernulph, Earl of Hainhalt, to the earldom of Flanders. He had, during his lifetime, been a steadfast adherent to the Conqueror, to whom, indeed, he was nearly related, and, possessing great merit, amply justified his appointments of regius vicarius, Normanniz dapifer et magister militum bellicosus.** He was of the king’s council, governor of the Isle of Wight and Winchester Castle, and chief administrator of justice throughout the North of England.tt He married Adeline, daughter of Roger de 'Toney, a powerful baron, and had by her three sons and three daughters. To William, the eldest, he left his ample possessions in Normandy ; Ralph, the second, entered the Abbey of Cormeiles, and was shorn a monk; and Roger, the youngest, named De Bre- * Maelenyth was on the western side of Wigmore, being part of Radnor- shire. + Dugdale’s Baronage, vol. i., p. 139. + Orderic Vit., 521. || Now called Strigul castle, not in Gloucestershire, but Monmouthshire, Coxe, however, declares it to be Chepstow. § Baron., vol. i. p. 67. ** Ord. Vit., 536. ++ Harl. MS., 4046. 6 HISTORICAL MEMORANDA OF teuil, succeeded him in the earldom of Hereford.* This young man, forgetful of his father’s attachment to the king, had the im- prudence, as well as ingratitude, to join Ralph de Gwader, Earl of Norfolk, in 1078, because he did not consent to the marriage of his sister with that nobleman. They raised a large army, in order to depose him, but, being defeated, Roger’s property was confiscated, and his person confined. While in this situation, William, nobly contemning his many contumelious expressions, made offers towards a reconciliation, but his proud spirit rejected them with disdain. This conduct so exasperated the king, that he was detained in con- finement until his death, and the title withheld from his sons. On this occasion, Wigmore Castle and its lordship was bestowed on its former conqueror, Ralph de Mortimer. “It is held,” says Blourt, “to be one of the ancientest honours in England, and has twenty-one townships, or manors, that owe suit to the honor court ; and all the land wherein these manors lie is called Wigmore land, which has two high constables, and gives name to the whole hundred.” Dugdale, in his Monasticon, says “that Ralph built the Castle of Wigmore ;” and yet, not only at page 67 of the first volume of his Baronage asserts, as before observed, that it was erected by William Fitz-Osborne, but again, at page 139, restates this in a more particular manner. He tells us, that that nobleman constructed it “upon a piece of waste ground, called Merestune” (Marshtown), and quotes Domesday to shew ae Ralph de Morti- mer was seized of it at his death. — When we reflect upon the charge given to Fitz-Osborne, to repel the Welsh, and his “ very large possessions by the conqueror’s gift,” it seems most likely that_he removed the ruins of the Saxon fortress, and erected the present castle on a new site; for the cha- racter of its remains prove it to be of the close of the eleventh cen- tury. The waste land called Meriston, is a high hill, lying be- tween the town of Wigmore and the Welsh, on the summit of which stands this noble piece of masonry. This was the keep. A little below it are other castellated apartments of later date; and the exterior wall, which goes round the bottom of the hill, and is strengthened by a wet ditch,f is of the time of Henry III. The * Having the power of making laws for his own district, William Fitz- Osborne ordained that, within the county of Hereford, no knight or soldier should, for any offence, be fined above seven shillings, the general average being twenty or twenty-five; thus encouraging a military spirit, which was essential to the maintenance of a border territory. + This is what Leland calls “a brocket sometime almost dry.” ‘Vol. vii., p- 32. WIGMORE CASTLE, HEREFORDSHIRE. 7 entrance tower, which is in this wall, is of a square form, the other two, seen at the same time, are one square and the other round.* Ralph left two sons, Hugh, married to Matilda, daughter of William Longespee, who became second baron of Wigmore, and William, by the gift of his brother, Lord of Netherley. On the accession of Henry II., it appeared politic to destroy various castles throughout his dominions, as the contest between his mother and king Stephen had shewn how much they might aid the cause of disaffection. This measure was strongly opposed by Hugh Mortimer, and Milo, son of Roger, Earl of Gloucester ; but, on the approach of Henry, with an army, they were obliged to sub- mit. Consequently, in the year 1158, Hugh delivered up to the king the castles of Wigmore and Brugge, but the position of the former on the Welsh frontier, prevented its destruction. Dugdale, in his Monasticon, relates the following particulars :— “Hugh Mortimer, a noble and great man in the reign of king Stephen, made Oliver de Merlimond his seneschal, or steward, and gave him the town of Scobbedon, and to his son Eudo, the parson- age of the church of Aylmondestree. There was then no church at Scobbedon, but only a chapel of St. Juliana, but Oliver built one there, and dedicated it te St. John Evangelist. Afterwards, the said Oliver went on a pilgrimage to St. James the Apostle, at Com- postela, in Spain ; and having been most charitably entertained, on his return, by the canons of St. Victor, at Paris, when he had caused his church at Scobbedon to be consecrated by Robert Betun, Bishop of Hereford,t and obtained of him the church of Rugeley, he sent to the abbot of St. Victor and obtained of him two of his canons, to whom he gave the said two churches and his lands of Ledecote, providing them a decent house, with barns and store of corn. ‘Some time after, Hugh Mortimer and Oliver Merlimond disagree- ing, the latter went away in the service of Milo, Earl of Hereford, and Hugh re-assumed all he had before given him and what Oliver had granted to the canons, who were thereby reduced to such straits, * «Yt is impossible,” says Mr. Gough, in his additions to Camden, “ to con- template the massive ruins of Wigmore Castle, situate on a hill in an amphi- theatre of mountains, whence its owner could survey his vast estates from his square palace, with four corner towers on a keep at the south-east corner of his double-trenched outworks, without reflecting on the instability of the grandeur of a family, whose ambition and py: ape made more than one English monarch uneasy on his throne.” + He was bishop from the year 1131 to 1148. 8 HISTORICAL MEMORANDA OF that they designed to have left the place; but, the quarrel being ,made up, Hugh restored to Oliver all his lands, and theirs to the canons, adding, moreover, of his own, to the latter, the church of Wigmore, advancing the prior to the title of an abbot. Notwith- standing all. which, he again took from the canons the town of Scobbedon, but sometime after restored ii. “There being want of water in Scobbedon, the canons moved their habitation to a place called Eye, near the river Lugg, where they had not been long before they again removed to Wigmore, and from thence to Beodune, where they built a monastery, and had a church dedicated to St. James by Robert Foliott, Bishop of Hereford, Hugh Mortimer bestowing on the canons several posses- sions and much plate for the altar. The church of Wigmore given by Hugh Mortimer was the present parish church* which, though mostly of the time of Edward I., exhibits parts much anterior, especially the north wall of the nave, as it is built in what is termed herring-bone fashion. That erected at a place called Beo- dune was the abbey church, which, together with the monastery, was, according to the same authority, founded by Hugh Lord Mor- timer in 1179. It must have been completed and consecrated within six years, as he was buried within it in 1185; and in the following year Bishop Foliott died.” Leland says, “ the abbey of Wigmore is a mile beyond Wigmore town ; a great abbey of white chanons, within a mile of Wigmore town and castle, in the marche ground towards Shrewsberyshire.”¢ In the church of the abbey were buried the greater part of the Mortimer family, the founder and two of his descendants of the same name, Ralph, Geoffry, and John, three Rogers, and two Ed- monds; all whose monuments were destroyed at the dissolution, with the church that contained them, except its walls.{ In what is now termed the abbey grange, remained, in Mr. Blount’s time, some ancient rooms, as the abbott’s council chamber, and one which had a canopy of wainscot, under which the abbot sat ; and a stack of chimneys with the arms of Mortimer thereon. A contiguous alehouse was asserted to have been the abbey prison. This abbey * This seems to have been ornamented by the munificence of Edward IV. as the reading desk of a line of stalls still remains, carved at that period ; and, in Mr. Blount’s time, were, in the windows, the arms of Mortimer, Bohun, Montacute, and Badlesmere, in painted glass. + Vol. v., p. 10, and iv., p. 176. } Gough’s Additions to Camden. WIGMORE CASTLE, HEREFORDSHIRE. 9 of Augustines was valued, at the dissolution, at £267. 2s. 10d. per annum.~ Hugh Mortimer left issue four sons, Roger, Baron Wigmore, Hugh, Lord of Chalmarsh, who married Felicia De St. Sydon, but became defunct without issue, Ralph, and Sir William de Morti- mer, knight, who died unmarried, a captive abroad. Roger is said, on Dugdale’s authority, to have oppressed the canons so grievously that most of them were forced to retire to Scobbedon; but the ground of complaint was, at last, adjusted by king Henry; and Roger, before his death, confirmed his father’s grants to them, and added others of his own. Roger was twice married. He espoused first, Milisent, daughter of the Earl of Derby, and by her he had a son named Hugh, who succeeded his father in the lordship of Wigmore, but expired with- out issue, in the year 1227; secondly, Isabella, daughter of Henry de Newburgh, Earl of Warwick, and relict of William Ferrars, Lord of Wokeham, in the county of Rutland, by whom he had three Sons, Ralph, Robert, and Philip. © Roger Mortimer died in the year 1215, the year before king John, and, as is above stated, was succeeded in his lordship of Wig- more by his eldest son Hugh, who held it till 1227. when his bro- ther Ralph came into that possession. It was, therefore, to Roger, rather than to Ralph, that we are to attribute what Dugdalet assigns to the latter. Mutato nomine, then, the account runs thus. King John sent this warrior into Normandyt for its defence, as it had been invaded by Philippe Auguste, king of France, John having refused to do him homage for the same. The lord of Wig- more was taken prisoner, and, during his absence, the Welsh, making an irruption into Herefordshire, plundered and burnt down the monastery of Wigmore, leaving only the church standing. Now, as the pedigree in the herald’s college terms Roger fundator abbatie de Wigmore, and his father primus fundator, and as Dug- dale says that, before his death, Roger confirmed his father’s grants and added others of his own, it appears a just inference that he repaired the ravages committed at the abbey, and bestowed on it a further endowment. His widow Isabella, imitating the piety of * 'Yanner’s Not. Mon., 174. Monasticon. + John eventually lost this and Guienne, whence he acquired the soubri- quet of Lackland. 10 HISTORIGAL MEMORANDA OF her late husband, built a religious house at Lechlade, and bestowed on it lands, for the good of his soul. Hugh de Mortimer, on the accession of Henry ITI., adhered to that monarch, as afterwards did his brother Ralph, during his short survi- vorship. This Ralph espoused Gwladys,* the daughter of Llewelyn ab Ierwerth, Prince of Wales, and Isabella his wife, daughter of King John, married in 1203. By her he had four sons—Roger, fifth Lord of Wigmore, called, by the Welsh, Roger cwta, i. e short Roger ; Peter; John, who became a friar, at Coventry, of the order of Friars minor; and Hugh, Lord of Chalmarsh, near Wigmore. Dugdale observest—* In the seventeenth of Henry III. the king requiring hostages of the barons marchers for their fidelity (the times being then troublesome), this Ralph delivered unto him Henry, the son and heir of Brian de Brampton, who was, therefore, committed to the custody of William de Stutevil.” Roger was born in the year 1231, and, as Dugdale observes, was firmly attached to Henry III., in opposition to his rebellious barons, being a great instrument in their subjection and establishing him upon the throne. It was, probably, he who raised the exterior wall, or, at any rate, made some of the additions to the castle of Wigmore ; for having rescued Prince Edward from his imprison- ment in Hereford castle, to which he had been consigned by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, commander-in-chief of the barons, after his surrender at the battle of Lewes in 1264, he was conveyed for safety to that fortress. The plan of his escape was well con- trived. It is said that the prince was desired to request the indul- gence of horse-exercise, and that, on one occasion, outstripping his attendants, he was met by one of the Croft family, from Croft cas. tle, near Wigmore, who held a fresh horse, by previous arrange- ment, which, Edward mounting, galloped off to the strong-hold of Roger Mortimer. The prince’s gratitude was evinced after his accession, as, by a statute passed in the 18th year of his reign, he granted, to Wigmore lordship, privileges which almost amounted to jura regalia, the power of life and death being included ; and tra- dition asserts that to the arms of the Croft family he added one of the lions of England, in commemoration of the event, which is still borne by the descendants. - * This young lady could not have been above twelve years old when Henry III. succeeded to the throne, and twenty-six at her marriage. + Baron., vol. i., p. 140, c 2. WIGMORE CASTLE, HEREFORDSHIRE. ll This induced the Earl of Leicester to take advantage of his in- fluence with Llewelyn ab Grufydd, Prince of Wales, and induce him to commence his attacks on all who were in opposition to the rebellious barons, with an army amounting, according to Hume, to the number of 20,000 men ; and thus, in 1263, he ravaged with fire and sword, among others, the possessions of Roger Mortimer. The efforts of this nobleman alone, though made with much judg- ment and gallantry, were insufficient to repel him, and it was not until reinforcements arrived under Prince Edward, that the Welsh were driven back to their fastnesses. Llewelyn, however, renewed his attacks in the following year, not only instigated by, but assist- ed with English forces under Simon and Henry de Montford ; and it was not until the battle of Evesham, in 1265, that a decisive victory put an end to such devastations. Roger Mortimer married Matilda, eldest daughter of William de Braiose by Eva, fifth daughter and heiress of William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, and by her had five sons and one daughter. Sir Ralph, his eldest, died during the lifetime of his father ; Edmund, who became Lord of Wigmore ; Roger, Lord of Chirk, who married Lucy, daughter and heiress of Sir William Le Wafre, knight ; Sir William de Mortimer, knight, afterwards Canon of Wigmore, from whom, according to one account, are descended the barons of Rich- ard’s castle, he having received several estates, according to the cus- tom of arms, from his mother ;* Sir Geoffry, who died before his father ; and Margaret, the wife of Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford. Richard's castle came into possession of a branch of the Mortimer family, from a marriage with the heiress of Hugh, and the surviv- ing sister of Elias de Say, and her husband was Robert de Morti- mer, who held twenty-three knights’ fees from the honor of the eastle of Ewias. He was the son of Robert, second son of Hugh, Lord Mortimer, and, therefore, cousin of Roger, whose history has just been given.t * Pedigree in the College of Arms. This does not, however, appear quite _ eorrect. + Sir H. Nicolas, in his notes to The Siege of Caerlaverock, gives a diffe- rent descent. He says, “In the reign of Henry II., Robert de Mortimer, younger son of Hugh, second Baron Mortimer, by the tenure of Wigmore eastle, acquired Richard’s castle, in Shropshire, by marrying Margery, the daughter and heiress of Hugh de Say. His grandson, Robert de Mortimer, b¥ Joyce, the daughter and heiress of William le Zouche, had issue Hugh, his son and heir, who succeeded his father in his lands in 1287 ;” and “with whom the male line failed,” one of his daughters and coheiresses marrying Sir Richard Talbot, in which family Richard’s castle was vested. I have preferred the pedigree in the College of Arms. 12 HISTORICAL MEMORANDA OF The Mortimers were among the Lords Marchers, who claimed the right of finding spears of silver to support the queen’s canopy on all coronations ; and they exercised this privilege when Eleanor, the queen of Henry III. was crowned. | Edmund Mortimer, Baron of Wigmore, succeeded his father, Roger, and was present at the decisive battle near Built, in the year 1282, the 10th of Edward I., at which Llewelyn ab Grufydd, the Prince of Wales, was slain, but not by him, as the Rev. J. Duncumb, in his History of Herefordshire, asserts—but by Sir Adam de Francton, an English knight.* On the contrary, Ed- mund was severely wounded in that encounter ; and being convey- ed to the castle of Wigmore, there died. At this period, according to Dugdale, he was seven-and-twenty years of age. He married Margaret, daughter of the Lord William de Fendles, in Spain, cousin of Eleanor, queen of King Edward I. By her he had seven chil- dren, who, being minors, appear to have been under the guardian- ship of their uncle Roger,t as he was called upon to perform the military services immediately after the death of his brother. Their names were, Roger; Matilda, married to Theobald de Verdun, lord of a moiety of Ludlow ; Johanna, a nun of the Priory of Ling- broke ; John, killed in a tournament at Worcester, and there buried in the Cathedral; Hugh, rector of Old Radnor ; Walter, rector of Kingsland, in the Vale of Wigmore ; and Edmund, rector of Hod- net, and treasurer of the cathedral church of York: Sir Harris Nicolas has been so indefatigable in his researches re- specting the uncle Roger, in his notes to the siege of Caerlaverock, that I shall not hesitate to avail myself of their ample results. In March, 1283, he was summoned to attend, with horse and arms, against the Welsh. Three years after, he obtained a charter of free warren in his lordships of Sawarden, Winterton, Hampton, and others, in Herefordshire and Shropshire ; he was, also, possessed of the lordship of Chirk, in Denbighshire, the castle of which, accord- ing to Camden, he erected, and of which, from its importance, says Sir Harris Nicolas, he was generally described. That territory is said to have fallen into his hands in no very creditable manner, for * Hen. De Knyghton, p. 2464. + Edward Rowe More, in his enumeration of the knights who fought un- der Edward I., mentions this Roger de Mortymer:—“les armes de Mortymer en le escuchon un lion de pourpre; Sir John de M., les armes de Mortymer, en le escuchon un santour de goules. Sir Henri de Mortymer, barre de or e de goules, le chef palee les armes geronne a un escuchon d’argent ; which last are those on the seal of Edmund de Mortimer.”—See Vet. Mon., vol. i., pL xxx. WIGMURE CASTLE, HEREFORDSHIRE. 13 the wardship of Llewelyn, younger son of Grufydd ab Madoc, lord of Powys, to whom the lordships of Chirk and Nantheudwy be- longed, having’ been entrusted to this baron,” his ward suddenly disappeared in the night, and Mortimer obtained a grant of the lands. On the 16th of July, fifteenth of Edward I., 1287, he was directed to raise four hundred foot-soldiers to march against Rhys ab Maredydd, a South Wales chieftain: and on the 14th of No- vember, was enjoined to reside on his demesnes until the rebellion of that individual was quelled Three years after, Mortimer was commanded to answer relative to jurisdiction in the barony of Ha- verford West, and in 1292 he accordingly appeared. He held cer- tain lands of the Earl of Hereford. The year after, he was in the expedition into France, when he was appointed governor of Burgh sur mer, anciently called Mont-Auban, in that kingdom. He was summoned, on the 14th of June, 1294, to be at Portsmouth on the Ist of the ensuing September, there to join the expedition into France; and he received letters of protection that year, in conse- quence of being in the king’s service in Gascony ; and, for the same cause, he and his tenants were exempted from the payment of any part of the tenth then granted to the crown. He was again in Gascony to the 26th of September, 1297, and, in 1298, commanded to be at Carlisle at Easter, with horse and arms, in the record of which he is styled a baron. In the same year he was a commis-. sioner of array in Landecho, Moghelan, and La Pole.t In the twenty-seventh of Edward I. he was summoned to Parliament, and in 1299 was again ordered to be at Carlisle, to serve against the Scots. The heraldic poem informs us that he was at the siege of Caerlaverock, in June, 1300. Epnis Rogier de Mortimer And then Roger de Mortimer Ki desa mer et de la mer Who, on both sides the sea, A porte quel part ke ait ale Has borne, wherever he went, _ L’eseu barree au chief pale A shield barry with a chief paly, E les cornieres gironnees And its corners gyronny, De or et de azur enlumines Emblazoned with gold and blue, O le escucheon vuidie de ermine = With the escutcheon voided of ermine. - Ovec les autres se achemine He proceeded with the others, * See Yorke’s Royal Tribes of Wales for a full account of this affair, p. 62, 63. The Earl of Warren, to whom Llewelyn’s brother was placed in wardship, by king Edward, equally made away with that youth, and shared his possessions with the king. Tradition says, they were both drowned, at night-time, in the Dee. + Query—Llandeilo, Machynllaeth, and Welsh Pool ? 14 HISTORICAL MEMORANDA OF ar il et li devant nomes For he and the before-named Au fils le roy furent comes Were appointed the king’s son De son frein guiour et gardein. To conduct and to guard. At this time he must have been about forty years of age, and the poem confirms Dugdale’s statement that he was then in the retinue of the Prince of Wales. It is recorded, in the wardrobe accounts, that he received his winter’s fee of £6. 13s. 4d. in the same year, and they give the following particulars :— Domino Rogero de Mortuo Mari, baneretto pro vadiis suis, duo. rum militum et xiiii scutiferorum suorum xxviii die Julii, quo die equi sui fuerunt appreciati, usque xxix diem Augusti, utroque com- putato per xxxiii dies, xxxvi.£i. vis. Eidem pro expensis Oris sui et unius militis sui, a ix die Julii, quo die venit ad curiam apud Karlaverok, usque xxviii diem ejusdem mensis, quo die equi sui fuerunt appreciati, primo die computato et non ultimo per xix dies, per quos fuit in cur et extra rotulum hospicii, precipienti per diem vj-s. per statutum factum apud Sanctum Albanum de hospicio £yv. xiv.s. per compotum factum cum eodem apud Lincoln’ xx die Feb’ anno xxix. Summa xlii.£i.* In the baron’s letter to the pope, dated Lincoln, 29th of Febru- ary, 1301, Roger Mortimer is styled lord of Penketlyn, one of the manors which he held of Humphrey de Boun, Earl of Hereford, which, probably, is Pengethly, in that county. He was summoned to the Scottish wars in 130] and 1302, and was present in the par- liament held at Carlisle, in January, 1304; on the 5th of April in which year, he was ordered tv attend at Westminster, to determine upon the aid to be granted to king Edward, on knighting his eldest son.t Soon after this time, Mortimer wwebie from the fidelity which had hitherto marked his conduct, as, in the thirty-fifth, that is, the last year of the reign of Edward I., he and some other peers were accused of having quitted the king’s service in Scotland, and gone beyond the sea ; in. consequence of which, orders were issued to the escheator of the crown.on each side of the Trent, dated 15th of November, 1306, directing them to seize their lands and chattels. * These accounts notice Hugh de |Mortymer, banneret:of Richard’s castle, and Dominus Willielmus de, Mortymer, brother of Robert. The arms of Hugh de Mortymer were gules two bars vaire. + Ashmole, History of the Order.of theGarter, ‘says that Roger de Morti- mer and Roger his son (probably Roger his nephew), were knighted in the thirty-fourth of Edward TI. WIGMORE CASTLE, HEREFORDSHIRE. 15 But, upon the accession of Edward II., he was restored to favour, and constituted the king’s lieutenant and justice of Wales, having all the castles of the principality committed to his charge. In the second year of Edward IJ. he was made governor of Beaumaris castle, in the isle of Anglesey, and two years after, of Blaynleveng* and Dinas. In 1308 and 1310 he was again in the wars of Scot- land, and in 1314 he petitioned that he might be allowed the ex- penses he incurred, when justice of Wales, in raising a force to repel the attack which Sir Griffith de la Pole made on the castle of Pole, on which occasion he had expended altogether £332. 19s. 2d. In the same year he set forth that he held the land of Grufydd, son of Madoc ab Grufydd, and prayed to be allowed to retain the same during his minority. Early in the ninth of Edward II., he was one of the manucap- tors for Hugh le Despenser, who was accused of having assaulted and drawn blood from Sir John de Roos, in the cathedral court of York, in the presence of the king and parliament. In the tenth of Edward II., Mortimer was constituted justice of North Wales, and in the following year was ordered to provide one hundred men out of his lordships of Blaynleyeng and Talgarth, in Brecknockshire, and two hundred out of his territory of Lanledu,t for the wars of Scotland. He was again in arms against the Scots in the twelfth and thirteenth, and £100 were assigned for his services therein ; and he had been appointed governor of the castle of Buelt, in Brecknockshire. On the 28th of March, 1321, he was commanded to attend at Gloucester, to devise how the insurrection in Wales might be suppressed, and he was, consequently, again made justice of Wales. Having taken an active part against the Despensers, the fayo- rites of the young monarch, he exposed himself to Edward’s enmi- ty ; and two records are extant which, though from immediately opposite parties, tend equally to prove the unenviable situation in which he was placed. In this very year, he and his nephew joined the Earl of Hereford against the Spencers, and, having entered and burnt the town of Bridgnorth, in Shropshire, his Majesty declared them and other barons to have forfeited their lands. About the same time, the commonalty of North and South Wales, petitioned the crown, praying that, as Mons. Roger de Mortimer the nephew, and Mons. Roger de Mortimer the uncle, who had the custody of * Blaenllyvni, in Brecknockshire. + Query—the proper name? 16 HISTORICAL MEMORANDA OF Wales, had risen against the king and seized his castles, they might not be pardoned for their offences ; which apparent act of loyalty was, in all probability, dictated by a hope of revenge. He was never summoned to parliament after this period, though, in the first vear of Edward III., he and his nephew had restored to them all their forfeited lands: all the proceedings in the sixteenth of Edward II. were reversed. In the fourth year of Edward III. he is styled, in a writ from the king, ‘‘his justice of Wales, or his lieutenant and chamberlain in the parts of North Wales ;” by which titles he had been described two years before. ‘ Hence,” observes Sir Harris Nicolas, “the assertion of Leland, that he died in the tower of London, to which his nephew, the lord of Mortimer, and himself were committed, by Edward II., is proved to be erroneous ; nor is the statement of other writers, that he died there on the 3rd of August, 1336, much more probable, as it is evident he continued to hold his Welsh offices until 1330. He may have fallen into dis- grace at that time, when all authentic accounts of him cease, and perhaps died in the Tower a few years after, but it is positive that he was living in 1336, when he was nearly eighty.”* The pedigree in the College of Arms says, as has been observed, that he married Lucy, daughter and heiress of Sir William le Wafre, knight, and does not mark any issue; Sir Harris Nicolas, on the contrary, as- serts that she was “ daughter and heiress of Sir Robert de Wasse, knight, by whom he is said to have had issue Roger, who left a son, John de Mortimer ; but neither of them ranked as barons of the realm.” The earliest period at which Roger Lord Mortimer, of Wigmore, makes his appearance on the page of history, is when he was ap- pointed to treat with the Earl of Lancaster, relative to the political dissensions which then agitated the realm ;f the next, when he joined the barons agaiust the king’s favorites, the Despensers. In the year 1323, these noblemen, in their violent proceedings against those who had become their enemies, confiscated the property of Adam de Orleton, bishop of Hereford, as an alleged supporter of Mortimer, and he, being described as a man of great worldly saga- city, endeavoured to revive the party of the barons. ‘They found the royal favour still unattainable, except through these favorites, _ * [have given this biography, with very little alteration, on the authority of Sir Harris Nicolas, of whom it is but justice to remark that, in genealogi- cal research, no man has shewn more assiduity, accuracy, and Glectiaenetm, as all his publications testify. + Nicolas’s Siege of Caerlaverock, note, p. 263: WIGMORE CASTLE, HEREFORDSHIRE. 17 so that it was remarked that England had three kings, instead of one.* The favourites ventured to abrilge the luxuries of the queen, and, finding the king’s preference given to them, she at once felt hatred and contempt for her husband, as well as for them. She was advised, by Orleton, to seek occasion of going to France, and plan the destruction of the Despensers. In 1325 Mortimer escaped from the Tower, according to Henry de Blandford,t in the following manner. In the middle of a stormy night, having lulled his keepers by a banquet in which a soporific was administered, finding the chamber door secured by many fastenings, he broke through the wall into the kitchen; he got out at the top of that, and, by cords, so arranged as to answer the purpose of a ladder, previously provided by his friends, he descended, reached the Thames, obtained a boat, and, sailing boldly out to sea, landed on the continent. Having proceeded to the queen in France, he joined her councils, and so ingratiated himself as to be suspected of an im- proper intimacy. Be that as it may, for the future one destiny seemed to guide both. She levied an army of Hainaulters and Germans, placing the count of Hainault and Lord Mortimer at their head, and, sailing adventurously to England, she landed, about Michaelmas, at Orwell, in Suffolk. The clergy and the barons eagerly joined her forces in all parts, and followed the retreating ministers. The elder Despenser flew to Bristol Castle, and the younger took Edward with him to Chepstow and thence embarked, in the hopes of reaching Lundy isle. But adverse winds drove the latter to the coast of Glamorganshire, and they were forced to take shelter in the Abbey of Neath. The queen’s pursuit was uninter- rupted. She advanced to Gloucester, and thence to Bristol, where the elder Despenser surrendered on her summons. He was first tortured,—such was the barbarity of the age,—and then put to death. Thence she marched to Hereford. For better security, the king and his favourite had quitted the doubtful sanctuary of Neath Abbey for the strength afforded by Llanstephan Castle, at the mouth of the Towy, in Caermarthenshire. She despatched the Earl of Leicester, some Welsh nobles, and a body of marchers, in pursuit of them. Here they were taken, and conveyed to Here- ford,{ where the younger Despenser was executed “‘ with the loath- some ceremonies,” says Mr. Turner, “which then accompanied * Moor, 597. + p. 84, $ So Duncumb, Hist. Hereford, p. 83; but Sharon Turner, in his His¢. of England, vol. ii., p. 122, says at Neath Abbey. VOL. IV.——NO. XV. B 18 HISTORICAL MEMORANDA OF treason.” The king was conveyed to Ledbury, and thence to Ke- nilworth Castle ; he was made to resign his crown to his son, and committed to the care of the Earl of Leicester. He was afterwards delivered to two knights, who conveyed him first to Corfe Castle, and then to Bristol. Some disposition to liberate him occasioned his removal, in the night-time, to Berkeley Castle, where he was ultimately cruelly put to death. A council of regency, composed of twelve distinguished persons, was assembled, to conduct the affairs of state ; but the queen and Mortimer struggled to monopolize the chief power of the adminis- tration. One of the first acts of the government was to confer on Lord Mortimer the title of the Earl of March. He had chosen this, in consequence of its having once been in his wife’s family ; for he had married Johanna, one of the daughters and heiresses of Sir Peter Genevill, knight, son of Geoffry de Genevill, lord of Vaucolaur, of Tryon, and many other places, and of Johanna, his wife, Countess de la March.* The magnificent and ostentatious disposition of this nobleman contributed to give the young king a love of chivalry and romantic praise that made it fashionable among his subjects. A desire of emulating the fame of the renowned Ar- thur, incited him to keep a round table of knights and hold a tour- nament, at his castle of Wigmore, in imitation of this favourite hero of romance.t He became “ proude beyonde measur.” Even “ Gef. frey Mortimer, the (third) sunne, let caul his father, for pride, King of Foly.”{ Indeed, the conduct of the Earl of March and the queen caused so much discontent, that an attempt was made to overawe it, by the arrest of Edmund, Earl of Kent, the king’s uncle, who was accused, on a fabricated charge of treason, con- demned, and executed. The king’s visible dissatisfaction embold- ened some to inform him that the Earl of March was implicated in his father’s murder. He was now eighteen, the age at which the royal minority terminates. The queen and Mortimer were in the castle of Nottingham, guarded by their military friends ; Ed- ward, by connivance of the governor, was admitted secretly at night with a few determined followers, led by Sir William Montacute, through a subterraneous passage. Sir Hugh Trumpington was on guard, and being, as Leland says, “‘ redy to resiste the taking of Mortimer, was slayne and braynid with a mace, by one of Mon. * Pedigree in the College of Arms. + Leland’s Collectanea, vol, ii., p. 476. Avesbury, p. 7. + Leland’s Collect., vol. ii., p. 476. WIGMORE CASTLE, HEREFORDSHIRE. 19 tacute’s company.” He was, nevertheless, seized in his bed-room and secured, notwithstanding “he had ix score knightes at his re- tinew,” and sent, with Sir Simon Bereford, to the tower.* It was in the year 1330 that he was arraigned before the peers in parlia- ment, convicted, and executed. The Earl of March had issue by his Countess four sons and sever: daughters, viz.: Edmund, who succceded to his titles of Earls of March and Lord of Wigmore; Sir Roger de Mortimer, knight ; Geffry, Earl of Jubinensis or Juyllenensis and Lord of Cowyke, bestowed on him by Joan, wife of Peter de Geneville, daughter and heiress of the Count de la March; John, killed in a tournament at Shrewsbury ; Margaret, wife of Thomas Fitzmaurice, Lord of Berkeley ; Catherine,t wife of Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of War- wick; Johanna, married to the Lord James de Audeley ; Agnes, who espoused Laurence (or John){ de Hastings, Earl of Pembroke; Matilda, wife of John, son and heir of John de Charleton, lord of Pool, or Powys, Castle ; Blanch, the spouse of the Lord Peter de Grandison ; and Beatrice, the wife of Edward, son and heir of Thomas de Brotherton, Earl Marshall, and, after his death, of the Lord Thomas de Breose. On the claim of Edward III. to the crown of France, the Earl of March obtained a reversal of the sentence against his father, and was one of the nobles who attended immediately on the person of the king at the memorable battle of Crecy, in 1346. He died at’ Rover, in Burgundy, in the year 1359. By his wife Elizabeth, one of the daughters and heiresses of Bartholemew, Lord De Bad- lesmere, the rich lord of Leeds and other lordships, he had Roger de Mortimer, third Earl of March, K. G., and John, who died in’ his childhood. This Roger espoused Philippa, daughter of William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, K.G. She died in the year 1381. By her will, dated 21st of November, three years antecedent, she’ bequeaths to the Abbey of Wigmore’ her best vestment with three’ copes, which belonged to her chapel; and to her son Edmond a * Thid, p. 477. + She died in the year 1369. + So says the pedigree in the College of Arms, but most authorities pre- fer Laurence. He died in 1348, and soon after she married John de Hak- clut, a Herefordshire gentleman, who, in the twenty-ninth of Edward IIL., obtained from the king a grant of the custody of the town and castle of Pem- broke and other lands, to himself and his wife Agnes, during the minority of John de Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, her son by her first husband. She died 25th of July, 1368..—Dugdale, vol. i., ps 577. B2 20 HISTORICAL MEMORANDA OF bed and a gold ring, with a piece of the true cross with this legend —In nomine Patris et Filio et Spiritiis Sancti: Amen ; and “ which I charge him, on my blessing, to keep.” Likewise, a cup of silver with an escutcheon of the arms of Mortimer.* , Roger left a son, Edmond, who became fourth Earl of March, and, having married Philippa, the only daughter and heiress of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, third son of king Edward HI., became, in her right, Earl of Ulster. He was born on Candlemas eve, February Ist, 1351, and was much distinguished in his time. In the third year of Richard II., A. D. 1380, he was appointed the king’s lieutenant in Ireland, but died, at Cork, on Friday, the feast of St. John the Evangelist, on the 27th of December, in the fol- lowing year.t The introduction of some portion of his will may be allowed, on account of its historical tendency. «Edmond, Earl of March and Ulster, Lord of Wigmore, at Denbigh, May 1, 1380. My body to be buried with the body of my wife,—on whom God have mercy !—in the church of the abbey of Wigmore, on the left of the high altar ; and we charge our exe- cutors that they allow no excessive expense at our funeral, but only five tapers of wax, which, after our funeral, we will, be distributed to the parish churches in the neighbourhood of the said abbey, for the use of the Holy Sacrament. We will, after the payment of our debts, first, that Roger, son of John de Mortimer, be paid £500, for which we are bound by Statute Merchant. To the church of the abbey of Wigmore £1000, to be employed according to the direc. tions of my most honoured lady and mother, and of my executors, and under the superintendence of the Bishop of Hereford for the time being, and of Sir John de Byshopeston, Mons. Peter de la Mars, Sir William Ford, Sir Walter de Colmpton, and Hugh de Boraston. To the said abbey of Wigmore, a large cross of gold set with stones, with a relique of the cross of our Lord, a bone of St. Richard the Confessor, bishop of Chichester,{ and the finger of St. Thomas de Cantelowe,§ bishop of Hereford, and the reliques of St. Thomas, bishop of Canterbury.|| To our most honoured lady and mother To Roger, our son and heir, the cup of gold, with a cover called bénesonne, and our sword garnished with gold, * Testamenta Vetusta, vol. i. + Dugdale, vol. i., p. 149. t Richard de la Wich, bishop of Chichester from 1245 to 1253, and was canonized. § Cantelupe, bishop of Hereford from 1275 to 1282, afterwards canonized. || St. ‘Thomas 4 Becket ; murdered in the time of Henry IT. WIGMORE CASTLE, HEREFORDSHIRE. 2) which belonged to the good king Edward, with God’s blessing and ours ; and we will, that after the decease of our said son, the afore- said cup, sword, and a large horn of gold, remain to his next heir, and after him to his heirs for ever. Also, our large bed of black satin, embroidered with white lions and gold roses, with escutcheons of the arms of Mortimer and Ulster ; also, a silver salt-cellar, in the shape of a dog, and our best gold horn, with the belt ; and if our said son die before he is of full age, and without heirs of his body, then we will, that the said things remain to our son Edmond, with the like conditions. 'To our said son Edmond, three hundred marks of land. To our daughter Elizabeth, a salt-cellar, in the shape of a dog, a gold cup, and two hundred pearls. To our daughter Philippa, a coronet of gold, with stones, and two hundred pearls,” &c. The issue of Edmond was, Roger, fifth Earl of March and second Earl of Ulster ; Sir Edmond de Mortimer ; Elizabeth, wife of Henry, eldest son and heir of Henry de Percy, Earl of Nor- thumberland ; and Philippa, married first to John de Hastings, Earl of Pembroke ; next, to Richard, Earl of Arundel ; and thirdly, to the Lord John de St. John ; all of whom are spoken of in his will. Of this Roger, an historian attached to the family has furnished some particulars in a MS. entitled Prioratiis de Wygmore funda- tionis et fundatorum historia.* He was born at Usk, in Mon- mouthshire, 11th of April, 1374, and baptised, on the following Sunday, by William Courtney, Bishop of Hereford ; his sponsors being Roger Cradock, Bishop of Llandaff, Thomas Horton, Abbot of Gloucester, and the Prioress of Usk. His father dying at Cork, during his government of Ireland, in 1381, left him a minor, under the legal guardianship of Richard II. The minions of the court immediately applied to be admitted into the profits of his estates during his minority, and the king too readily consented to the request, and angrily dismissed his honest chancellor, Sir Richard Scroope, who had opposed them.t The trust was afterwards, for a pecuniary consideration, vested in more responsible persons ;{ and those into whose hands it fell do not appear to have abused it. When Roger Mortimer came of age, he found that his rights had been duly respected, according to the provisions of the * Quoted by Dugdale in his Monasticon, vol. i., p. 228. + Walsingham. — + The joint farmers who held his estates were, the Earls of Arundel, Warwick, and Northumberland.—Cot. Lib., MS. Titus, B. xi., ft 7. 22 HISTORICAL MEMORANDA OF great charter of the land ; his castles and mansions were in good repair ; his manors and farms were well stocked with cattle and all the requisites of husbandry, and he had 20,000 marks in his trea~ sury. Such was his hereditary rank and consequence that, in case Richard should die without issue, he was nearest to the throne ; and, in provision for an occurrence of that nature, the parliament of 1385 nominated him heir presumptive to the crown.* Six months after his father’s decease, fifth of Richard II., he was ap- pointed lieutenant of Ireland. He had been originally betrothed to the daughter of the Earl of Arundel, but the king, at the inter- position of his own mother, the princess Joan,t set aside the match in favour of her grand-daughter Eleanor, daughter of Thomas Holand, Earl of Kent. The character of Roger Mortimer, as given by the aforesaid historian, forms an ample comment upon the epi- thet “ courtois,” applied to him, in the French metrical poem, by Creton, respecting the deposition of Richard Il.t ‘ He was dis- tinguished for the qualities held in estimation at that time—a stout tourneyer, a famous speaker, a costly feaster, a bounteous giver, in conversation affable and jocose, in beauty and form surpassing his fellows.” His splendid mode of living, his liberal and cheerful dis- position, were sure passports to the regard of his sovereign, and had been, probably, modelled from his own example. In the seven- teenth of Richard II. Mortimer, then in his twentieth year, accom- panied the first expedition into Ireland, having in his retinue one hundred men at arms, of which two were bannerets and eight knights, two hundred archers on horseback, and four hundred archers on foot. Richard, hastily returning to England, left the inexperienced youth to govern that turbulent island. He had, however, competent advisers under him, if he would have listened to their councils—as Lord Lovel, Sir John Stanley, Sir John Sandes, Sir Ralph Cheyney, and others. In the nineteenth of Richard II., he had an especial commission and lieutenancy for the province of Ulster, Connaught, and Meath: and, in the next year, he was instituted, once more, lieutenant of that whole realm. He was summoned to attend the parliament at Shrewsbury, at which he appeared at the head of a crowd of retainers, clad chiefly, at his own expense, in white and crimson, with great pomp and pagean- * Leland, Collect., vol. ii., p. 481. + Called the fair maid of Kent. t See a translation of this, with most learned notes, by my worthy friend the Rev. John Webb, of Tretire, one of which is copied verbatim in the text above.—Archeol,, vol. xx. WIGMORE CASTLE, HEREFORDSHIRE. 23 try.* He had a cause, at that time, pending with the Earl of Sa- lisbury, respecting the right to the town and castle of Denbigh ; and when he had succeeded in his suit he returned to his govern- ment. It was a post of as much trouble as dignity, and demanded a steadier hand. ‘ For,” adds the same chronicler, “ Roger, war- like and renowned as he was, and fortunate in his undertakings, and fair, was yet most dissolute and remiss in matters of religion.” Like his sovereign, he neglected the prudential representations of older persons ; and his rash and resolute spirit brought him to an untimely end. In a conflict, at Kinles, with the sept of O’Brien, his ungovernable impetuosity hurried him foremost upon the ene- my ; and, as he had advanced beyond the succour of his own sol- diers, and was disguised in the habit of an Irish horseman, he was slain and torn in pieces by the savage natives, whose behaviour ‘towards a fallen enemy, says Froissart,t was excessively ferocious. Leland} says—“ and ther, at a castel of his, he lay at that tyme, and there cam on hym a greate multitude of wild Irisch men, to assault hym ; and he, issuyng out, fought manfully, and ther was hewen to peaces.” The disguise before-mentioned would but ill accord with the sally thus described, but rather with Otterbourne’s account,|| that he was riding unarmed and unattended. Yet to that we can scarce give credence. Perhaps the truth lies in the account of another MS.,§ which affirms that he went to therescue of some lands that had been left to him by his mother, which his father had been obliged to reconquer before. The Irish costume might be deemed useful on such an occasion, and it is much more likely that the ravages of the natives would be directed against un- protected lands than a fortified castle. His limbs were gathered together, sent to Wales, and thence earried to his castle of Wigmore, whence they were taken to the abbey founded by his ancestors, and, with due solemnity, interred. This Earl of March married, as has been said, Eleanor, eldest daughter and heiress of Thomas de Holand, Earl of Kent, and his wife Philippa, daughter of Richard, Earl of Arundel, who after. * This is one proof, among several, that the colours of the livery were not always those of the blazon in the armorial bearings, as generally imagined. + xi, c. 24, and the Vita Regis Ricardi, ii., p. _ f Collect voli it, p. 481. {| p- 197. § In the library of the Society of Antiquarians, 87—21. See also Dug- dale’s Baronage, p. 149. The MS. Titus xi., f 5—6, in the Cotton Library at the British Museum. 24 HISTORICAL MEMORANDA OF wards espoused Edward Charlton, Earl of Powys. By her he had two sons and two daughters :—Edmund, sixth Earl of March and third of Ulster, who died without issue, but had married Anne, daughter of the Earl of Stafford, by his wife, the daughter of Thomas de Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester ; and Roger, who died without issue ; Ann, who became the heiress of her brother Ed- mond ; and Eleanor, the wife of Hugh, eldest son of Hugh de Courtney, Earl of Devon, and who likewise expired without de- scendants. In 1399, the year in which Richard II. was deposed, Edmund Earl of March, was but seven years of age, and Henry of Lancas- ter, who became king, as he was next heir to the throne, kept him and his brother out of the way of public transactions. He placed them in the castle of Windsor after his accession, and gave them in ward to his son Henry, Prince of Wales.* In 1402, the formidable insurrection of Owain Glyndwrt took place. That valiant chieftain committed devastation promiscuously, in order to distract attention, and, among the rest, ravaged the estate of the young Earl of March. Sir Edmund Mortimer, his uncle, led out the retainers of the family, and gave the Welsh troops battle; but he was defeated, and himself made prisoner. Walsingham, Hall, Stowe, Dugdale, Rapin, Hume, and others, have uniformly asserted that it was Edmond, Earl of March, who was captured. Pennant, Coxe, Malone, and Ellis, have all noticed this as an error; but the historian of Herefordshire} says, not only that the uncle was taken, but “ the earl himself, who had been al- lowed to retire to his castle of Wigmore, and who, although a mere boy, took the field with his followers, fell into Glyndwr’s hands, and was carried into Wales, where Henry, who equally hated and dreaded all the family of March, permitted him to remain in cap- tivity.” He adds, “every circumstance seems to shew that this conflict took place in the neighbourhood of Wigmore ;” and, ac- cording to Dugdale,§ it was fought on a mountain called Brynglas, * Dugdale’s Baronage, i., 151. ‘+ Dugdale says, ibid, p. 7416, that he had been esquire to the Earl of Arundel. He held, however, this office to Richard II. and, Pennant says was knighted by him before his deposition.— Tour in Wales, p. 304. Gwilym ab Tudyr was another esquire retained by Richard, at a pension of £10.— Calend. Rol. Pat., p. 234. He and his brother Rhys Ddu became generals under Owain. Heit + Duncomb, vol. i., p. 86. § Bar.,i,p.150. WIGMORE CASTLE, HEREFORDSHIRE. 25 near Knighton, in Maelienydd, about eight miles off, on the 12th of June, in this year. Whilst in confinement, Sir Edmond found that the king took no measures for his enlargement ; and, indignant at this neglect, he was easily prevailed on to join in a league with Owain. It seems probable that the Earl of March had fallen into Glyndwr’s hands, as he tempted Mortimer with dethroning Henry, and giving to his nephew the crown; which might have endangered his life if still in the king’s custody. —forms the type of the new genus Collurio, as constituted by Mr. Vigors, under the title of C. excubttor. ‘The principal ground of separation consists in the rounded figure of the wing, which, in the Lanii, is more pointed ; in the lengthened and graduated tail, and in the general superiority of size, of the species composing the ge- nus Collurio. Other ornithologists, among whom is our Derbyshire Correspondent, retain the ‘“ Gray Shrike” in the Lanius—, and transfer its two British congeners to the Co/lurio, genus. Piatt XV.—The Pomarine Gull,—Lestris pomarinus, of Tem- minck,—-Cataractes pomarinus, Stephens,—Le Stercoraire rayé, Brisson,—Pomarin, Temminck,—Felsen Meve, G. This fine, powerful, and courageous bird, the Pomarine Skua, of modern wri- ters, and belonging to the Family of the Laridx, was formerly in- cluded in the Gull genus. Two other European species, the Com- mon and Arctic Skua, now compose, with it, the genus Lestris or Cataractes. They are described, by Bewick, in a distinct Section , under the title of the “ Predatorv Gulls.’ The Pomarine Skua inhabits the northern regions of both continents; and visits, only, however, in its immature state, the coasts of Britain. In this con- dition it closely resembles the Black-toed Gull, with which it has evidently been confounded by Bewick ; but it may be distinguished from the latter by its greater size, the more robust figure of the bill, and its longer and more roughly reticulated tarsus. The principal distinguishing character of the Lestris genus is the elongation of the two middle feathers of the tail ; and, in our present species; these feathers are rounded at the extremity. It subsists upon fishes, and articles of food which, by pursuing and fiercely attacking the Gulls, it compels them to disgorge. Mr. Gould’s figures of the young and the adult bird, are boldly and finely executed. Pirate XVI~Of this, the Golden Oriole,—Oriolus galbula;— Le Loriot, Fr.,—Rigogole commune, It...-Gelbe Rache, Gelber Pirol, G.,—constitutes the subject. The figures of the male and female of this rare and beautiful visitant of the British islands are exquisitely drawn and coloured: The only European species of the 104 SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. genus, it closely resembles the Thrushes in its structure and habits ; and, consequently, belongs to the modern Family of the Merulide.. Pxatre XVII.—Still more admirably executed are the two figures representing, in its summer- and winter-plumage, the Little Grebe or Dab-chick,—Podiceps minor,—Grébe Castagneux, F7..—Colimbo minore o Juffetto rosso, Jt.,—Kleiner Steissfuss, G. Five Euro- pean and British species compose the genus Podiceps, as at present constituted. ‘The subject before us is, as the specific designation indicates, the smallest ; but size obviously affords a very crazy foundation whereon to establish a specific character. It would re- quire more time and reflection than we can, at present, bestow on the subject, to select, or fabricate, an accurately characteristic term, The epithet fluviatilis, adopted by the Derbyshire reformer, is, in our opinion, little less vague and objectionable than minor. Mela- nogenius would constitute a trivial term sufficiently precise and ex- pressive ; but the black chin, unfortunately,—a distinguishing cha- racter only of the species when dressed in its summer plumage,—is inconstant, and therefore unavailable. Puate XVIII—A correct and striking representation of the Pied Wagtail,—Motacilla alba,—la Lavandiere, Buffon,—Berge- ronette grise, Temminck,—Gutrettola cenerea, Jt..—Weisse Bach- stelze, G.,—it has never yet been our lot to meet with. The at- tempts of Bewick, Werner, and Selby also, if we recollect right, to delineate this sprightly and most elegant bird, are perfect failures ; and even in the figures of Mr. Gould, we are woefully disappointed. These figures represent the bird in its summer- and winter-plumage. In the former state, a large black patch covers the whole throat : in the latter, a slender gorget only of that colour is left. Why a really black and white bird should be designated white in Latin and German, and grey in French and Italian, it would wellnigh puzzle a special pleader satisfactorily to explain. Surely the specific term, melanoleuca, or nigralba, would more correctly designate the Pied Wagtail than the alba or the maculosa, hitherto employed. Pirate XIX.—A most masterly delineation of the Herring Gull, —Larus argentatus,—Goéland a Manteau bleu, Fr.,—Gabiano reale, Jt.,—Weissgraue Meve, G.,—both in the young and the adult state. This bird is the Silvery Gull, of Pennant,—Larus marinus, Latham,—in immature age, le Goéland a Manteau gris et blanc, of Buffon,—in its summer-plumage, the Larus glaucus, of Benicken, and Goéland a manteau gris ou cendré, of the more eloquent than accurate French Naturalist. It breeds along the rocky parts of the British coast. Piare XX.—Two admirably drawn and highly-finished figures CORRESPONDENCE. 105 of the Rock Thrush,—Petrocincla saxatilis, Vigors,—Le Merle de Roche, Fr.,—Tordo sassatile, Jt.,—Steindrossel, G.,—terminate the Second Part of Mr. Gould’s invaluable work. This beautiful bird, of which the male and female are here represented, although be- longing to the Family of the Merulide, differs from the Thrushes, in frequenting the rugged de-zlivities of rocks and mountains; and hence seems to constitute a connecting link between them and the Saxicole. It is the Turdus saxatilis, of Linneus; was first re- moved, with 7". cyanus, into a separate Section, entitled Sazicoles, by Temminck ; and, at length, elevated, by Vigors, to the dignity of forming a distinct genus, the Petrocincla. It inhabits the central and eastern parts of Europe; but has never yet been known to visit the British islands. Recapitulation—The twenty Plates of Part 2, exhibit thirty-five figures, and twenty-one species of birds, belonging to twenty dis- tinct genera. Five of these plates contain one figure, only, of the adult bird: the remaining fifteen, two figures, each. Of these fif- teen plates, one represents two distinct species; and the other four- teen display the peculiarities of plumage dependent on age, sex, or season, in two figures of one and the same species. Five of the species figured, have never yet been known to visit these islands: the remaining sixteen are British birds. Birmingham, March 9, 1836. RP. Note.—F or the epithet, European, in line 3, page 272, of the last volume the reader will please to substitute British. CORRESPONDENCE. To the Editor of The Analyst. Sir, Wuite perusing Mr. Carey’s paper,* I was induced to make several marginal remarks of dissent from the opinions he offers on one or two points connected with art and literature, and my small arguments being in defence of a great authority, I beg to lay them before the readers of The Analyst. * «