Full text of "The Ancestor; a quarterly review of county and family history, heraldry and antiquities"

QUEEN MARY.

THE ANCESTOR

A Quarterly Review of County and

Family History, Heraldry

and Antiquities

EDITED BY

OSWALD BARRON F.S.A

ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO LTD

2 WHITEHALL GARDENS

WESTMINSTER S.W

THE pages of THE ANCESTOR will be open
to correspondence dealing with matters
within the scope of the review.

Questions will be answered, and advice
will be given, as far as may be possible,
upon all points relating to the subjects
with which THE ANCESTOR is concerned.

While the greatest ca^e will be taken
of any MSS. which may be submitted for
publication, the Editor cannot make him-
self responsible for their accidental loss.

All literary communications should be
addressed to

THE EDITOR OF THE ANCESTOR
2 WHITEHALL GARDENS

^WESTMINSTER S.W

1130184

CONTENTS

FAGK

THE BRAYS OF SHERE i

BUXTON OF SHADWELL COURT WALTER RYE u

SOME CHESHIRE DEEDS. H. FARNHAM BURKE, C.V.O., F.S.A.

Somerset Herald ; Annotations by W. H. B. BIRD 19

NOTES ON THE MONTAGU MONUMENT IN SALIS-
BURY CATHEDRAL THE REV. E. E. DORLING 46

THE FOUR WEDDERBURNS OF DUNDEE 49

THE VALUE OF WELSH PEDIGREES. II. H. J. T. WOOD 61

TWO ANCIENT PETITIONS FROM THE PUBLIC RE-
CORD OFFICE. . . THE REV. CHARLES SWYNNERTON, F.S.A. 66

CASTLE-GUARD J. HORACE ROUND 72

SOME PORTRAITS AT THE SOCIETY OF ANTIOJJARIES

MRS. G. E. NATHAN 79

SIR ANTHONY JACKSON, KNIGHT. WILLIAM JACKSON PIGOTT 89

FAMILY HISTORY FROM PRIVATE MANUSCRIPTS

By permission of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office 92

A PAROCHIAL CHARTULARY OF THE FOURTEENTH

CENTURY. . . THE REV. J. CHARLES Cox, LL.D., F.S.A. 103

THE PURSE OF THE GREAT SEAL IN 1578

JULIA G. LONGE 119

SOME EXTINCT CUMBERLAND FAMILIES :

IV. THE GREYSTOKES. . . THE REV. JAMES WILSON, M.A. 121

ENGLISH FORCES IN THE NETHERLANDS, A.D. 1396

H. G. A. OBREEN 135

GIFFARD OF FONTHILL GIFFARD. . . J. HORACE ROUND 137
WHAT IS BELIEVED . 148

THE GENUINELY ARMIGEROUS PERSON

OSWALD BARRON, F.S.A. 155

THE VALUE OF ANCIENT DEEDS. . .J. HORACE ROUND 175

THE BARONS' LETTER TO THE POPE

J. HORACE ROUND, SIR H. MAXWELL-LYTE, K.C.B., W. H. ST.

JOHN HOPE and the EDITOR 185

OUR OLDEST FAMILIES : No. VII. THE NEVILLS

OSWALD BARRON, F.S.A. 197

WILTSHIRE NOTES AND QUERIES 203

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 206

EDITORIAL NOTES 209

The Copyright of all the Articles and Illustration*
in this Review is strictly reserved

[For want of space the instalments of the Genealogist's Calendar of Chancery Suits and the
Fifteenth Century Book of Arms and several articles and reviews are held over.]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

QUEEN MARY Frontispiece

THE MANOR HOUSE AT SHERE op. i

JOHN LORD BRAY 1

JOHN LORD BRAY / "

MARGARET ROPER 4

MARY ANNE CATHARINE MATTHEWS "|
REGINALD BRAY OF SHERE . . . /

WILLIAM BRAY 8

REGINALD MORE BRAY OF SHERE 10

THE ARMS OF * LE SENESCHAL BUXTON ' 12

Two VIEWS OF THE MONTAGU TOMB IN SALISBURY CATHEDRAL 46

ARMS FROM THE MONTAGU TOMB 48

ALEXANDER WEDDERBURN OF KINGENNIE 50

ROBERT WEDDERBURN OF PEARSIE 52

NOTARIAL SYMBOL OF ALEXANDER WEDDERBURN 55

NOTARIAL SYMBOL OF ROBERT WEDDERBURN 56

CARVED STONE WITH ARMS OF ALEXANDER WEDDERBURN AND HELEN

RAMSAY HIS WIFE 57

TOMBSTONE OF JAMES ANDERSON AND HIS WIFE GRISELL

WEDDERBURN op. 58

PEWTER Box WITH ARMS OF WEDDERBURN AND DUNCAN .... 6r

FERDINAND THE CATHOLIC, KING OF SPAIN op. 80

FRANCIS I. OF FRANCE 82

FREDERICK I., KING OF DENMARK 84

CHARLEMAGNE 86

SR. DE NASSAU 88

SEALS OF THE BARONS' LETTER. IA, IB 186

HA, HB 1 88

IIlA, Ills, IV A , IVs . . . 190

V, VIA, VlB, VII, VIII, IX 192

XA, XB 194

XI A , XlB, XII, XIII, XIV A ,

XIVB 196

o o

THE BRAYS OF SHERE

THE home counties, the counties which lie round about
London, are not rich in families of ancient settlement.
One reason for this is not far to seek. The great city lying
within a day or two days' journey of the squire's ambling nag
was a golden net spread for that prodigal who perches sooner
or later in every man's family tree. In far. Cumberland or
Somerset the prodigal might drink and drink again, race his
horses, and be a scandal to the villages round for his loose
living, but after him the estate came to the heir little the worse
for the violent follies which at the worst had vatted an out-
lying farm into strong ale, or changed a mill into portions for
half a dozen misbegotten kinsmen. But in the London court
and the London taverns the knight and the squire from Surrey,
Berkshire or Essex, moved amongst imminent dangers. The
reckoning for a Cheapside tavern supper might be set against
forty bouts in the alehouse up the lane, and where sixpence
at home fell to a stroke at shovel-board a manor might go
with a cast of cogged London dice. Here were tailors
tempting the countryman with peacock splendours, jewellers
beside whose wares the squire's silver chain seemed a mean
thing to clasp about a gentleman's neck, and ladies whose
favour's price was more than the bunch of ribbons which was
enough to turn a country girl's head. Therefore, in our own
day, Cornwall and Cheshire, Yorkshire and Shropshire have
many old families still at home on their acres ; but few Essex
families can show a pedigree to the Restoration, Berkshire has
but one squire's family of any antiquity, and in Surrey the
Brays and the Evelyns are almost alone amongst the old
houses of untitled gentry, which have maintained a long con-
nection with the county.

The old English houses rose for the most part in crops
forced up by times of change. The conquest of England was
such a time, although the conquest year was not as fruitful in
ancestors as the peerages of a past generation would have us
believe. The black death which left so many gaps in hall and
stall made room for the founding of many new houses, and the

2 THE ANCESTOR

rise of the woolmen in the fifteenth century created a new
group of rich gentry. The Wars of the Roses and the coming
of the Welshman to the throne made a more famous mark in
our family history, and with the Tudors rose the founder of
the house of Bray of Shere.

When the fortunes of Sir Reynold Bray had grown to a
spreading tree which sheltered a court of clerks and laymen,
clients of his favour, all students of Tudor genealogy will
believe that it was not long before Sir Reynold's pedigree grew
up beside them. His pedigree is carried to a companion of
the Conqueror, William Sieur de Bray, an ancestor for whom a
reference to Wardour Street's eldest child, the Battle Abbey
roll, must stand for all proof of existence. True it is that the
Sieur de Bray is sometime styled Jocelyn or Jenkin Bray and
sometimes Robert, but these diversities are common amongst
the Conqueror's companions. An early Northamptonshire family
of the name of Bray is pressed to follow this conquering fore-
father as his descendants, and Sir Reynold's own pedigree is
drawn from a branch said to have settled in Bedfordshire, a
county where Brays were certainly to be found in the thirteenth
century. But the early history of this family is most obscure,
depending for the most part upon sixteenth century pedigrees,
which are little more than a string of names with few evidences
to join generation to generation. If it be true that some lands
in Harleston in Northamptonshire descended from a remote
ancestor to Sir Reynold Bray, the pedigree is worthy of investi-
gation. But as Sir Reynold was a younger son of a cadet
branch, according to the pedigrees, it is difficult to find a reason
for this inheritance. With Richard Bray, Sir Reynold's father,
at least we are on sure ground. He was a Worcester man,
the great Reynold, his second son, being born in the parish of
St. John Bedwardine near Worcester. Leland reports that
he was a physician, king's physician according to some legends,
privy councillor according to others. We have him to all
certainty in an entry in a Patent Roll of 1463,* at which date
Richard Bray of Worcester, gentleman alias surgeon, has a
pardon of outlawry which he had incurred in the late reign
by not appearing to answer a plea of the executors of William
Wetenhale, a citizen and grocer of London. Richard Bray is
without doubt a man of means and substance, although a

1 Pat. Roll, 3 Edw. IV. pt. i. m. 21.

JOHN LORD BRAY.

THE BRAYS OF SHERE 3

surgeon's trade in his times did not as a rule point to those
good gifts. He may indeed have prospered in the early pros-
perity of his son ; in any case we find that he was buried in a
tomb in the north aisle of Worcester Cathedral, the which is
no poor man's burying ground. Thomas' survey of the
cathedral in the early nineteenth century speaks of the grave-
stone as though it were then still in its place, but quotes -no
inscription thereon. One wife and five children were com-
memorated with him on this monument. The five children
agree with the story of the pedigree which, however, gives him
two wives. By Margaret, the first wife, daughter of a Sandys
of Furness Fell in Lancashire, he had, according to most of
the pedigrees, an only son John, whose daughter and heir
became wife to the Lord Sandys of the Vine. The second
wife is styled Joan Troughton, and by her Richard Bray had
issue Reynold, 1 and another son christened after an old time
custom also by the name of John and called John the younger.
Two daughters, Lucy and Joan, make up the tale or the five
children on the monument, which was probably a brass, and
as we have said lost its inscription at some early date. The
lack of this inscription encouraged many of the earlier pedigree
makers to make Sir Richard Bray, knight, of Richard Bray the
surgeon.

The great maker of the Bray fortunes rose by service. With
high scorn writes a seventeenth century satirist 2 : * To serve
noblemen in most unnoble offices, to pull off their boots, brush
their cloathes, wait at table with a trencher in their hand, ride
with a cloak-bag behinde them, dine and sup with footmen
and groomes, is the ordinary course of gentlemen in England,
wilst in other countreys they goe to the warres and scorne to
sitt in a shop or wate upon any one.' But by service rose
many a man in those days of change, and Reynold Bray rose
by holding to the skirts of a great lady, Margaret of Rich-
mond, wife, by her second marriage, of Sir Henry Stafford.
Sir Henry Stafford made Reynold Bray his receiver general

That the mother of Sir Reynold Bray was named Joan cannot be ques-
tioned, for by his will he gives two hundred pounds to the friars of Guildford,
where she was buried, for masses and prayers for the souls of her and of Richard
her husband. Her burial elsewhere than at Worcester may account for the
fact that only one wife is represented upon the monument.

3 England dispraised (by Henry Belasyse, 1657) : Report of the Historical
Manuscripts Commission ; Various Collections, 1903, ii. 204.

4 THE ANCESTOR

and household master, and at Stafford's death (in 1481-2) his
servant remained with the widowed Lady Margaret. When
in 1472 she had a licence 1 to enfeoff certain trustees of her
manors in Somerset and Devon to the use of her will, the
last of eleven feoffees, whose names begin with Thomas, Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, is Reynold Bray, gentleman. In such
service at such a time a man must sink or swim. Margaret
was daughter of a Beaufort. Her first husband, Edmund
Tudor, made her mother of the first Tudor king, her second
was a Stafford of the Buckingham house, and her third was
the Lord Stanley, Earl of Derby, whose politic changing of
sides at Bosworth allowed him and his brother William to pick
the crown of England out of the hawthorn bush and set it on
Henry's head.

Reynold Bray kept his wise head upon his shoulders
and swam safely in these troubled waters. At the accession
of Richard III. he had a general pardon, 2 which allowed
him to live in peace through another troublesome reign
and to meddle with a great matter nothing less than the
marriage of the white rose of York with the Earl of Rich-
mond, the only child of his mistress. Morton, the Bishop of
Ely, who planned the marriage with his gaoler the Duke of
Buckingham, at Brecknock in Wales, pressed for Bray's em-
ployment in the plot. Bray was the bishop's old friend ; he
was sober, discreet and well witted, a man whose prudent
policy had compassed matters of great importance, and he was
in the service of the Lady Margaret, mother of the chosen
bridegroom. The prudent and politic Bray became a strong
plotter for Richmond's cause, and through him many great
gentlemen were brought to the side of Henry Tudor on Bos-
worth Field.

When Bosworth was fought out Reynold Bray rose with
the new dynasty, and his boasted discretion kept him secure
in his seat and in the enjoyment of the Tudor favour, so
lightly to be forfeited. His honours came fast upon him.
Knight of the Bath at the king's crowning, and soon after-
wards Knight of the Garter, privy councillor, constable of
Oakham Castle, high treasurer and chancellor of the Duchy
of Lancaster, he gathered places, dignities, manors and pen-
sions. His indenture of war in 1492 engaged himself to

1 Pat. Roll, 12 Edw. IV. pt. i. m. 10.
3 Ibid. I Ric. III. pt. iii. m. 18.

MARGARET ROPER

Daughter of Sir Thomas More.

THE BRAYS OF SHERE 5

serve beyond sea with eleven men at arms beside himself,
each of the twelve having his coistrel and his page, with
twenty-four demi-lances, with seventy-seven mounted archers,
and with 231 archers and two dozen of billmen on foot. Such
a gallant train must needs follow the surgeon's discreet son
when he rode to the wars.

Five years later he saw war near at home, being at Black-
heath when Lord Audley's Cornish rebels came up within
sight of London. Thereby came more honours and lands.
Holinshed says that he was made a knight banneret after
the battle, but this he was already.

The simple gentleman who had been a trustee of the
Lady Margaret in 1472 was now trustee for the dower of
Catherine of Aragon, as he had already been made trustee for
the fulfilling of the king's own will.

Having thus lived in high fortune and honour Sir Reynold
Bray made ready for death, the death which the great lords
of his day seem to have regarded as the occasion for the
last pageant of their many pageants. He was a benefactor
to many churches, but more especially was he patron of the
work of St. George's in Windsor, where he made ready a
chapel in which he might lie not far from the stall wherein
he had sat as a knight of the garter. Here he was buried,
where no monument of him stands, but his arms of Bray,
and his wife's arms of Hussey, and his famous badge of
the hemp-bray remain for a memorial in the stonework
about the place where the tomb was.

Malvern Church keeps his picture in glass, kneeling at a
prayer-desk in armour covered with a tabard of his arms,
and St. Mary's Church in Oxford had once a window with
the like figure of Sir Reynold kneeling beside his lady. He
died in 1503, six years before his master the king, whom,
as the awe-stricken chroniclers have it, he was wont to chide
for any kingly offence against good law or equity, giving him
* good advertissement how to reform that offence and to be
more circumspect in another like case.' The wisdom of Sir
Reynold is apparent even in his choice of the time for death,
for a king was coming to whom ministers who would die
comfortably in their velvet-curtained beds would refrain from
offering such 4 good advertissement.'

By his wife Catherine Hussey, who survived him, he left no
children, and the representation of the male line of Bray passed

6 THE ANCESTOR

to his nephew Edmund Bray, the son of his brother John the
younger. Much of the estates of Sir Reynold came to the
hands of the Lord Sandys his nephew by marriage, but
Edmund Bray's share must have been a lordly portion, for in
1529 he was summoned to parliament as a baron.

Like his uncle, Edmund Bray was knight of the garter,
and he was one of those nobles who with their pawned manors
glistening on their backs followed King Henry to the field of
the golden folly. He married a Devonshire woman, Jane,
daughter of Richard Halwell or Halliwell, a squire whom
the pedigrees of Bray style a knight, one of a batch of such
knights made by the ingenious pedigree-makers within the
space of three generations of the Bray history. He died in
1539 and was buried at Chelsea near his father John Bray.

John his only son, second and last of the Lords Bray of
Eaton, succeeded him. He followed the wars, having a com-
mand under the Earl of Hertford in France, and fighting in
Norfolk against Ket's Norfolk rebels. His portrait shows him
as a handsome and well-knit man, and after the Norfolk cam-
paign he was given the leading of the king's own guard of
gentlemen pensioners.

Few houses of statesmen held safely with the house of
Tudor to a third generation. In 1556 John Lord Bray saw the
inside of the Fleet prison for a while and exchanged that
retreat for the Tower. His wife, a daughter of the Earl of
Shrewsbury, strove hard in his cause, and a pardon came the
next year, from which pardon we learn the nature of his
offence. In the parish of St. Andrew in London, the Lord
Bray had most falsely, mendaciously and contemptuously said
of his queen that if ' his neighbour of Hatfield,' meaning
the Lady Elizabeth, might once reign, he should have his lands
and debts given him again, * which he both wished and trusted
to see.' Under Henry VIII. fewer words than these would
have cost the baron his head, but under Queen Mary they
might be wiped out, and the pardoned Lord Bray was hurried
over sea to redeem his character at the siege of Guines. But
all the campaign could give him was a low fever, with which he
came back to die at his house in the Blackfriars a year too soon
to see fulfilled his good wishes for his neighbour of Hatfield.
He was buried by his father and grandfather in the old church
of Chelsea, Chelsea having been one of the many manors of
the great Sir Reynold. Brasses and inscriptions having been

MARY ANNE CAIHERINE MATTHEWS.

Wift of Edward Bray, and sister of the author of the " Essay on Population,

REGINALD BRAY OF SHKRK, i797-' 8 79-

From a portrait by John l.inntll.

THE BRAYS OF SHERE 7

wantonly torn away from the tomb, the present head of the
house of Bray of Shere has renewed the memorial of the two
lords.

Of the funeral of John Lord Bray at Chelsea the heralds
who marshalled it have preserved one of the most characteristic
accounts of these black velvet splendours.

We begin with the Lord Bray's death in the Blackfriars on
a Thursday, the eighteenth of November, at three o'clock in
the afternoon.

When the body was cold it is bowelled, cered and coffined,
and brought into the great chamber where it lies under a table
covered with a large pall of black unwatered camlet with a
white cross along it. This pall has six scutcheons of his arms
and his wife's arms wrought on buckram. A cross and tapers
stand upon the pall, and the tapers burn there in the sight of
those who watch before them until the Tuesday morning fol-
lowing. Early in the morning of that day John Lord Bray
sets out for his manor of Chelsea, and a great company with him.

First comes the cross with thirty-four priests and clerks
following it. Then comes one hooded, who bears the dead
lord's standard, his long tailed flag embroidered or painted
* with his crest of the lyon between two wyngs powdered with
the dunne croppe eared connye and the brake and his woorde
sera comme a Dieu plaira', the price of that standard being
thirty-three shillings and fourpence, as appears by the bill
annexed. Chaplains in their gowns and tippets go before
Thomas Udall with the Bray banner and Rouge Dragon the
pursuivant with the crested helm in his hands, Richmond
herald with the coat of arms, and Garter King of Arms shep-
herding his tabarded flock. My lord in his coffin comes
next borne by six of his men and beside him walk two more
hooded gentlemen who carry the banners of the Trinity and
St. George (at 2OJ. apiece). Eighteen poor men carry eighteen
torches before the chief mourner Sir George Broke, Knight
of the Garter, Lord Cobham, and many more mourners and
friends.

In this order they go to the Blackfriars bridge and there
take water upon two great barges covered with black, and gar-
nished with scutcheons, in which they row solemnly to Chelsea,
the barge with the lord's body going first.

At Chelsea church the body is borne into the choir and set
upon trestles within a chancel hung with blacks, amongst stools

8 THE ANCESTOR

and cushions for mourners also covered with black. High
candles burn at the barriers about the coffin, each with scutch-
eons of the Bray arms.

Richmond herald bids the prayer for the soul of the right
honourable Sir John Bray, knight, late Lord Bray, asking a pater-
noster for charity. Then is dirige sung, and mass of requiem,
and divers masses at the side altar. At magnificat and benedictus,
after the gospel and at libera me the corpse is censed. At the
offering Master Garter and his fellows with the seven
mourners go up to the altar and a golden piece is offered for
mass penny. The coat of arms, the target, the sword and the
helm and crest are each severally offered and set upon the altar
by the heralds who take them from the priests' hands. The
mourners make their own offering, and Father Peryn, a black
friar, begins his sermon on Scio quia resurget in resurrectione in
novissimo die. Lazarus and his raising from the dead is ex-
pounded, and Father Peryn or the good herald who reports
him says that Lazarus was a gentleman given to chivalry for
the wealth of his country. Application even so was that
noble man who lies here dead. At St. John's gospel standard
and banner are offered, and the body is lowered to the grave.
The mourners and heralds get them back to their boats and
go back to their dinner in the dead lord's house at Blackfriars
on the hall table where the black pall was.

John, Lord Bray, left no issue ; his coheirs were found
amongst his many sisters and their children. Of ten daughters
of his father and mother six had married, one of them four
times. The strange interpretation of the doctrine of abeyance
which prevailed with the early Victorian peerage lawyer chose
out from amongst the many descendants of these sisters of the
last Lord Bray, Mrs. Sarah Otway-Cave, in whose person the
barony was revived in 1839. Her last surviving child, Henri-
etta, wife of the Rev. Edgell Wyatt-Edgell, carried the barony
to her husband's family, and her son, who has exchanged his
father's surname for that of Verney-Cave, is now Lord Braye of
Eaton Braye, adding a final * e ' to a surname which the male
descendants of Richard Bray are curiously insistent upon
spelling with four letters.

The male line of Bray was carried on by the descendants of
the brothers of the first Lord Bray, Sir Edward Bray and
Reynold Bray. Reynold the younger of these married a Mon-
ington of Barrington and his line held Barrington until 1734.

WILLIAM BRAY, THE HISTORIAN OF SURREY, IN HIS 97 YEAR.

From a portrait by yoHn Linncll.

THE BRAYS OF SHERE 9

Sir Edward the elder was of the Vachery in Surrey. He
married three times and his son and heir another Sir Edward
four times, one of the four wives being daughter of William
Roper by Margaret More, the daughter of the great Thomas.
His son Reynold was born of this Bray and Roper marriage.
For this descent, on which doubt has been carelessly thrown,
we have the assurance of his christening entry in the parish
register of Shere, and his recognition in his father's will.
The second of these Sir Edwards, who dwelt at Wrotham in
Kent, had been styled of Shere, a style which has followed
the family ever since. The manors of Gumshall Tower
Hill, Gumshall Netley, and Shere Vachery and Cranley,
have stayed in the name of Bray since the days of Sir
Reynold.

The next famous Bray was a great repairer of the for-
tunes of the house. William Bray, who bought back the
Brays' manor of Shere Eborum which had been sold in 1 609,
was born in 1 736. The fourth and youngest son of an Edward
Bray of Shere, he was bred an attorney, but a place being
found for him in the Board of Green Cloth, he left the Guild-
ford attorney's office and held his post at the board for fifty
years. He became heir to his elder brothers, married and had
children, of whom one son only grew up, the grandfather of
the present Bray of Shere. The labours of the Board of
Green Cloth were not of such a nature as to claim the undi-
vided attention of those who sat at it, and William Bray
became an antiquary and a famous one. A fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries in 1771, he was its treasurer in
1803 and died at Shere at the patriarch's age of ninety-six.
Through him will the name of Bray be evermore linked with
that of his county of Surrey. When the Reverend Owen Man-
ning died in 1801 leaving collections for the history of Surrey,
William Bray took charge of the manuscript, and after visiting
every parish of the county in the course of his task issued the
first volume in 1 804 of a history which ranks amongst the
greater county history books of the days before Eyton and
his school. Two more volumes appeared in 1809 and 1814.
Besides this great work, William Bray brought before the
public the neglected work of a famous neighbour of the Brays,
John Evelyn of Wotton, of whose writings he put forth an
edition in 1818, since which date the famous diary has reached
all the bookshelves of the world.

THE ANCESTOR

[Among the family pictures which, by the courtesy of
the >; present master of Shere, we are able to illustrate this
article, will be found prints of the two portraits of the last
Lord Bray. These portraits, despite the inscription in the
corner of one of them, have been ascribed to his father,
Edmund Lord Bray, but the evidence, on the whole, points
to John Lord Bray as their subject.]

REGINALD MORE BRAY OF SHERE.
1903.

BUXTON OF SHADWELL COURT

IN the last Report of Historical MSS. Commission just issued,
which treats (*'..) of the MSS. of Miss Buxton, Canqn
Jessopp remarks (p. xix.) that

The earliest progenitor of the ancient family of Buxton of Shadwell Court
. . . of whom we have any certain knowledge was Peter de Bukton knight,
steward of the household of Henry, Earl of Derby, afterwards King Henry IV.
whom he accompanied on his travels in the years 13901 and 13923 with
his son Robert de Bukton serving him as his squire. Ten years later he ap-
pears in the Gascon Rolls as Mayor of Bourdeaux, a lucrative office, one of
great importance, and which probably was the foundation of that wealth
which his immediate descendants appear to have acquired when they settled
at Tibenham in Norfolk, etc.

With all respect to Dr. Jessopp's opinion I venture to say
that nothing is less certain than the origin he ascribes to the
Tibenham Buxton, and that the alleged descent from Sir Peter
de Bukton is absolutely without foundation for the reasons I
will now give.

All we know with certainty of the ancestors of the
founder of this family, one Robert Buxton of Tibenham in
Norfolk who was * the closely trusted friend and counsellor
of the fourth Duke of Norfolk and his son the Earl of
Arundel,' who leased the site of Rushford College to him in
1580, may be told shortly thus:

John Buxton =

I 2

Robert Buxton = Christian = Agnei
d. 1528 I [Glemham?]

John Buxton of Tibenham = Margaret Warner of Winfarthing,
d. 5 April, 1572, aet. 84. I widow of Matthew Halliot

Robert, grantee = Joan dau. and co-h. Margt. = Francis Buxton Eliz. Anne

of Rushford in
1580, d. 1609

of Robert Heron, or her of Dickleburgh

Herne of Tibenham sister
a barrister (?)

John son and heir. In 1589
used the two bars with a
canton granted in 1574 to
his father

12 THE ANCESTOR

Burke refers to one John Buxton as having given the
fourth bell to Tibenham Church in 1478, and a cope of purple
velvet in 1497, and says that he was the son of another John
Buxton.

Prince F. Duleep Singh's copy of the 1589 Visitation
refers to the family as coming from Dickleburgh where the
Duke of Norfolk had possessions.

At the Visitation of 1589 the arms passed to Robert
Buxton were

Quarterly i & 4 sa. two bars arg. on a canton of the
second a buck trippant of the first attired or, 2 & 3 az. three
herons or, the crest a pelican vulning itself.

Now quartering of the Heron coat was absolutely unjusti-
fiable, for the Hernes (afterwards translated into descendants
of the ancient Northumberland family of Heron of Chipchase,
but really small local people, tanners in fact) were not armi-
gerous at all.

So here in 1 589 we get the first symptom of bogus grafting
on to the pedigree.

Soon after, at a date which I shall show hereafter must
have been between 1589 and 1613, the achievement which
was the cause of this paper, and of which a facsimile faces it,
came into the possession of the family and caused them to
exchange the coat, which was granted or possibly confirmed to
them in 1574, for the lion shown on such achievement.

This very interesting picture, still in the possession of the
family, was, it is said, and I have no reason to doubt it, found
at Bungay Nunnery by the Duke of Norfolk (the patron and
employer of the Buxtons) when it was granted to him in
29 Henry VIII. (1537-8).

Whether he gave it at once to the Buxtons does not
appear, but I should think not, otherwise why should they
thirty-seven years later take a grant of a totally different coat ;
and it was not till the Visitation of 1613 that the family, with
the assistance of the heralds of the period, threw over the
granted coat and went, not only for the lion of the achieve-
ment, but its impaled coat of two bucks, which by some
strange confusion of mind they have treated as another Buxton
coat !

One thing is abundantly clear, viz. that the monument,
purporting to be erected on the death of John Buxton in 1572
and bearing a lion rampant quartering two bucks couchant

THE ARMS OF " LE SENESCHAL BUXTON."

BUXTON OF SHADWELL COURT 13

impaling or a bend engrailed between six roses gules, could
not have been erected till long after its nominal date, for
the two bars and a canton were granted two years later
than 1572, and were used in 1589 seventeen years
later. 1

This monument therefore is valueless as evidence, and I
may also point out that the coat which purports to be impaled
on it for Warner of Norfolk, is utterly unjustifiable, for Mary
Warner of Winfarthing was not entitled to arms at all, and
the coat itself is that granted to Warner of Essex in 1 609
which further narrows the date of the concoction to 160913.

Of later years the family have run the gamut on all three
coats, the two bars, the lion rampant 2 and the two bucks
couchant, according to Burke, using them all three. Lady
Buxton is now using the lion coat in the first quarter, with
the bars, etc. in the second.

Now the cause of this sudden change or rechange from
the two bars to the lion and the bucks was of course the
acquisition by a family of the very interesting picture, before
referred to, of one * Seneschal Buxton,' s which bears the arms
argent a lion rampant or, impaling, or two bucks couchant.

That the impaled coat of the two bucks could have
nothing to do with the paternal coat of the Seneschal, but must
have been his wife's coat, does not appear to have struck the
family, but the achievement or picture has ever since had an
honoured place on the family walls, though with an honesty
very rarely to be found in such cases, they admit that the
tradition is that it was given to their ancestor after the Disso-
lution.

If the achievement be genuine (and I am bound to say
that, after the examination kindly afforded me by Mrs. Buxton,
I think it is, a view supported by such authority as Mr.
Seymour Lucas, R.A., F.S.A., and others) it proves nothing
except that an English man-at-arms bore a lion rampant and

1 There seems to have been another brass to him in which he is described
as * Johannes de Buxton,' which is suspicious and looks like a later monument,
and I greatly doubt if either monument is contemporary.

2 Round, for once in a way, trips when in his Peerage Studies (p. 318) he
speaks of the family * most properly ' bearing the lion rampant coat.

3 I am not quite clear as to the force of the expression * Seneschal.' I
see * Seneschl de Brediston,' a Norfolk locality, occurs in the Liber Rubeus,

1212, p. 476.

i 4 THE ANCESTOR

married, apparently, a foreigner who bore two bucks couchant. 1
But if it be a concoction of two or three hundred years ago, 2
and my antiquarian knowledge fails me to say definitely that
it is not, it may be that, after the 1589 Visitation, the
Tibenham Buxtons right to the two bars may have been
challenged, and that seeking about for a new coat they went
to Buxton in Norfolk, and finding there the lion rampant, the
coat of the Morleys, lords of that place, quietly appropriated
it and concocted the achievement which has now a very
respectable antiquity.

Or it may be that the achievement was a genuine one be-
longing to the Morleys, lords of Buxton. We know that
Thomas, Lord Morley, who was lord of Buxton, and who died
at Calais in 1416, distinguished himself in the French wars,
and at his death was Captain General of the Forces there.
(His grandson Thomas, Lord Morley, was also fighting in
France). We also know that his first wife was Joan (whose
surname and arms are unknown, but for whom the impaled
coat may be meant), and that he certainly bore a lion ram-
pant, sometimes crowned and sometimes uncrowned, and he
sealed an Indenture of War in 1420 with a lion not crowned
(Blomefield's Norfolk, ii. 441). Still I cannot trace that the
Morleys had anything to do with Bungay.

For many years the family have assumed that the ( Seneschal
Buxton ' of the achievement was the Sir Peter de Buckton of
Yorkshire, who served in the wars against the Scots and
French, 3 1350 and 1412 (Scrope and Grosvenor Roll y ii. 466),
attended a great council in 1405, and whose name frequently
occurs in Expeditions to Prussia and the Holy Land made by
Henry Earl of Derby in 13903 (Cam. Soc.). In 13934 he
was party to a Yorkshire fine (Genealogist i. 96). He was
Escheator for York in 1397 and in 1411 was Mayor of
Bordeaux (Rymer's Feeder^ and may have been the f Bukton '
to whom Chaucer addresses an envoy.

He was dead by 1423 (Pat. Roll, 1423, m. 7 ; Calr.

P- 59)-

1 I cannot trace this coat in any English ordinary.

3 It must not be forgotten that one of the Buxtons (ancestor of the pre-
sent family) married an Anne Steward, and we all know how bold and unscru-
pulous were the Steward-Styward concoctions at just about this period.

3 Another of the Yorkshire family, Sir William Buckton, was going to the
French wars in 1427 (Pat. Roll Calr. p. 404).

BUXTON OF SHAD WELL COURT 15

Dr. Jessopp points out that he had some slight connection
with Norfolk and Norfolk men, having been one of the feof-
fees of a manor in Rockland Tofts in 1393 and a comrade of
Sir. Thomas Erpingham about the same time.

But Sir Peter de Buckton the warrior cannot have been
the man whose arms were found at Bungay, for when he was
at the siege of Rouen in 1419 the roll of arms there shows
that he bore * quarterly ar. and gu. on the gules quarters three
goats passant 2 & I of the first horned or.' The goat in
fact belonged to the north county Buckton or Buxton (see Brit.
Mus. Seals, 7907 ; and * Visitation of Northumberland,' Geneal.
ii. 225). The Jenyns roll too (ante 1480) has a John de
Buckton bearing argent a goat saliant sable with head and
beard of the field and horns vert.

So much for proof that the Buxtons of Tibenham have no
right either to the lion coat or the two bucks coat, and that
they can have had nothing to do with Sir Peter de Buckton of
Yorkshire.

Now I think I shall be able to show that their real descent
is in all probability from a very old and an armigerous family
taking its name from the village of Buxton near Norwich.

From an invaluable collection of notes of early charters,
made about 1740, by Antony Norris, Esq., of Barton Turf
(certainly the chief and most industrious genealogist we have
ever had in Norfolk), and which is in my library, I am able to
construct the rough pedigree set out at the end of this paper,
which shows that for many hundred years there was a family
of Buxtons settled at Oulton and Irmingland, both near
Buxton itself, who in 1402 bore three bars gemelles, on a can
ton a crescent a coat remarkably like that granted or confirmed
to the Buxtons of Tibenham in 1574.

This coat appears on a deed, now Harl. Charter Brit. Mus.
[53, 35], which shows that Robert Bucton was in 1402 a
trustee of land in Newton 1 [Newton St. Faiths near Horsham
and Buxton], his co-trustees being Sir Thomas de Morley,
Lord Morley (the lord of Buxton) and John Glembam.

Now the Tibenham Buxtons early held Glembam manor
in Tibenham, and Dr. Jessopp astutely suggests that the
Christiana Buxton, who occurs on a brass at Tibenham as

1 Mr. Walter de Gray Birch, in his Brit. Mus. Seals, has incorrectly identified
this with * Newenton ' of Suffolk, and thrown every one off the scent for a
long while.

1 6 THE ANCESTOR

wife of Robert Buxton before 1528, was the Christiana
Glemham, heiress of the manor, who brought it into the
family the coincidence of the two surnames and the two
coats seems to me to make out a primd facie case. This
Robert may have been the Robert Bucton who married the
daughter and heiress of Sir John Braham of Capell, Suffolk,
who died 49 Edward III. 1376 (Suff. Soc. 'Trans, viii. 138)
or the Robert Bukton who was apparently a feoffee of land in
Gorleston Bradwell and Yarmouth parva (Feet of Fines, Suffolk,
6 Hen. IV. 1404, No. 17).

A Robert Buckton who Sir Richard Gipps in his 'Ancient
Families of Suffolk' (Suff. 'Trans, viii. 141) says came of a
family which were settled at Brome by marriage with Brampton
and continued there till Robert Buckton left two daughters
and heiresses, Philippa who married John Cornwallis of
London, merchant, and Ann married [ ]

bore three bars gemelles arg. on a canton party per pale arg.
and or a crescent, and were probably akin to the Tibenham
family.

Of course, however, the Suffolk Buxtons may have sepa-
rated from the Norfolk family at a far earlier date, for I
have notes of them in Suffolk.

It will be noticed that the old Norfolk Buxtons the
Oulton family had to do with Ormesby and the Fleggs,
and it is curious to note that a family called Buckskyn or
Buskin were people of considerable importance in the neigh-
bourhood from 1272 till about 1400; and still more curious
that almost contemporary with the Sir Peter de Buckton,
the Yorkshire fighting knight, to whom the achievement
was wrongly attributed, there was a Peter Buckskyn lord of
Fishley, etc. He bore (P.R.O. Ancient Deeds A.S. 275, 102)
quite another coat two bucks running ; and another of the
family bore three bucks' heads (seals at Stow Bardolph), but
that the two names had nothing to do with one another
is clear from a fact that Peter Buckskyn in 1346 served on
the same jury as John de Buxton.

As to the ridiculousness of the College of Arms giving
the new family of Buxton of Essex the adopted lion of the
Shadwells, differenced by two mullets, one cannot but agree
with Mr. Round. But the acme of absurdity has been still
later reached by the sign of the village inn at Buxton in Nor-
folk, which no doubt once bore the lion rampant of the

BUXTON OF SHAD WELL COURT r/

Morleys, lords of the place for centuries, and which now
shows the new coat of the rampant lion between the two
mullets, whether from the fact that one of the Essex family
lives in the neighbourhood, or from the house possibly
selling the beer of Messrs. Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co.,
I know not.

It should not be forgotten that there were others of the
name who may have been the ancestors of the Tibenham
family e.g. Richard Buxton of East Rudham c baxter,' whose
will is dated 1464 and who mentions his son Robert, to
whom he leaves his 'jack, salett and pair of gauntlets.' In
these troublous times able fighting men rose from the ranks
very suddenly. Again there was a William Buxton of Forn-
cett, whose will is dated 1509, and who left a wife Margaret.
His will is witnessed by a John Buxton, who may be the
John Buxton of Forncett the first.

WALTER RYE.

William de Buketon. In 1234 called to warrant in a fine of
land in Swannington and Buxston

Elfridus (mentioned as \ All mentioned in undated charters

his ancestor by Ralph
de Bukeston)

Nichs. de Bukeston =

Henry de Bukeston
(heir to Nicholas) =
(? see Ancient Peti-
tions,' Nos. 1799, 1 800)

Ralph de Bukeston,

relating to land in Ormesby, which
had to do with St. Paul's Hospital,
Norwich. This hospital was founded
with the consent of Richard de
Beaufoy, and Bishop William de
Beaufoy gave land to it, which
Alan de Beaufoy confirmed (BL
\ Norf. iv. 429)' Now Buxton
I manor at the Conquest belonged
to Ralph de Beaufoy, and passed
through Hubert de Rye to his
descendants the Morleys as of their
barony of Hingham. These Bux-
tons therefore, who also had to do
with St. Paul's Hospital, were
probably undertenants and took

probably the same as ' their names from the place
Ralph de Bukeston =

of Oulton Charters, A 1 1 2 B ; no date)

Clarice, ux. 1289 John held in Irmingland. (Norris \ probably John de Buxton =

/ same as

John de Buxton held in Irmingland =
before 1290 (A 1130) ; do. in Oulton I
1306 (A 1130) ; do. do. 1310-1 I
(A 5 ic)

THE ANCESTOR

Maude in 1317
held in Irming-
land (A 1130)

John de Buxton in 1316
held in Irmingland
(A 1 1 33)

John de Buxton, jun.,
probably the same as John
de Buxton, in 1344 trus-
tee of the manor of
Hevingham, and in 1346
party to a fine in do.,
Buxton, etc. ; probably
the John de B. who in
1350 gave land to his
sisters Joan and Ivette

Andrew de 1 Buxton =
'son of John B. of
Oulton 'in 1316
(Aii3n). In 1347
granted land in
Irmingland abut-
ting on land of
heirs of John de
Buxton ; had grant
of land in Irming-
land same year

= Avice

Maude Alice, living 1361-2
land in Oulton

Geoffrey de Buxton = Maude, held land in Oulton, 1361

John de Buxton, clerk, of Oulton. Will, 1377 (Reg.
Heydon, fo. 1413)

Robert Bucton, a trustee in 1402 of land in Newton St.
Faith's near Buxton ; bore 3 bars gemelles with a quarter
charged with a crescent (Harl. Charter, Brit. Mus. 53, E 35)

Blomefield, in his History of Norfolk, vi. 446, also refer* to a Bertram de Buxton, lord ol a
manor in Buxton, succeeded by Geoffrey de Buxton, and his brother Richard states that in
1355 Thomas de Buxton, rector of Bintre, settled his estate in Buxton on Jordan Wyche and
his wife Beatrix and his sister Alice who seem to have been his sisters and heirs on the
tabular pedigree. Forncett is very close to Tibenham, the place whence the family sprang.

Then again there were Robert and John Buxton, websters and weavers, freemen 6f Norwich
in 1379 and 1439. But on the whole I am inclined to think the family sprang from the
Buxtons of Oulton, who bore arms in 1402 as shown above.

SOME CHESHIRE DEEDS

GROSVENOR. TOFT

These two deeds should have found a place among those abstracted in The
Ancestor, ii. 129-47, and are numbered accordingly.

xxxvi. bis. 14.24.

Roger le Venables, parson of Rouestorne, and John Chardero chaplain, to
Thomas le Grosuenor knight. Indenture granting all their messuages, lands,
etc., in Bancroft, which they have of the feoffment of Hugh de Davenport son
of Thomas de Davenport of Hendebury, with warrant. Witnesses : Edward
de Weuere knight, Randle le Maynwarynge, Richard de Bulkyley, Robert de
Wynnynton, Henry de Byrtheles, Robert de Nedham. Dated Bancroft,
Saturday before St. German Bp. 1424. Two seals.

XL. bis. 1333

Roger lord of Tofft of the one part, and Roger son of Adam son of Henry
de Tofft of the other. Indenture of grant of a piece of waste in the territory
of Tofft, by the field formerly of Adam son of Henry de Tofft, to hold of the
chief lord with commons and turbary in Tofft moss for two hearths (astro}
which are upon the land late of said Adam, with warrant : for which grant
Roger son of Adam quitclaimed to the lord of Tofft and his heirs a piece of
waste between the Gorsticroft and the bounds of Holoreton. Witnesses :
John de Carynton, John son of Hugh de Legh, Roger de Legcestre, William
de Tabbelegh, Thomas de Tofft, William de Glasebrok, W. the clerk. Dated
Tofft, tuesday before St. Barnabas, 1333. Seal.

MOBBERLEY

For the connection of the Grosvenors with Mobberley see The Ancestor,
i. 171, 182; ii. 155.

xcvn. [Before 1296]

Robert de Dounes, with consent of Margery his wife, to Maud his
daughter. Grant of all the land held of him by Richard Blagge in the
town of Cherlegh, by Robert de Scharsale in Scharsale, and by Roger
Ruffus in the town of Cherlegh, and the rent paid by Henry de Cherlegh
and Richard son of Richard lords of Mottrum, to hold of grantor and his
heirs to said Maud and the heirs of her body at a yearly rent of one clove at
all saints for all demands saving foreign service to the lord of the land, with
warrant. Witnesses : sir Reynold de Gray justice of Chester, sir Geoffrey
de Chedle, sir Edmund Phyton knights, Thomas the clerk bailiff of Macles-
feld, Richard de Bromale, John de Corona, Henry de Honford, John de Mot-
trum, Jordan de Tyderinton, John de Sutton, Jordan de Bredbury, Adam
Byran, Wivian de Foxwist. Undated. Seals of Dounes and wife attached
with silken cords: (i) a buck tripping, s' ROBE . TI DE DOVN . . (2) a
figure of a lady holding a lily, s' MARG'IE DE DOVN . .

20 THE ANCESTOR

These lands were granted to Downes and his wife in frank marriage by sir
Edmund Phyton her brother (Ormerod ii. 600). Chorley is in Pownall,
Scharsale perhaps Harehill in Alderley, and Mottrum is Mottram Andrew.
Maud married William de Modburlegh, and a share of her lands came to
Grosvenor. The date of this charter shows that the place assigned her in
Mr. Helsby's pedigree of Downes cannot be correct.

xcvni. [circa 1360]

Petition of John de Leycestre to the prince, stating that he was in posses-
sion of the manor of Modburlegh by assignment of sir Ralph de Modburlegh
his uncle, and left a servant to keep the same, but Hugh de Chaterton and
others of the county of Lancaster came and ousted him by force, while
petitioner was out of the country, and still hold the manor without regard for
the commandments of the prince, or of John Delues lieutenant of his justice of
Chester, and praying in consideration of his costs both at Caleys and in Lon-
don to re-enter and have again his inheritance. Undated. (French.)

xcix. [1361]

Declaration of John de Wynkefeld knight, in a suit between John de
Leicestre and Hugh de Chaderton and Margaret his wife (said to be daughter
and heir of sir Ralph de Modburle knight), concerning the manor of Mod-
burle and other the lands of sir Ralph in co. Chester, that sir Ralph came to
him before Reynes, at the beginning of the sickness whereof he died, and said
that before his journey to Gascony he enfeoffed certain chaplains, John Spend-
loue and others, of said manor and lands upon certain conditions dependant
on his will, and said that his heritage should not be dismembred, but should he
die said chaplains were to enfeofF John de Leicester his nephew of the whole,
to him and his heirs, but that this was private, because his wife had a daughter,
which he did not hold for his, and she should never inherit, nor any other but
said John ; and again a little before his death prayed him to aid his said
nephew, as he has testified before the prince and others. Dated London,
ii June 35 Edward III. (1361).

NEWBOLD

Pulford came to the Grosvenors of Holme by marriage with the heiress,
and these deeds are therefore placed in this order (see Ormerod, ii. 854;
iii. 148 ; Genealogist, new ser. xvi. 21). But at the partition of the Grosvenor
estates, Pulford went to the Winningtons ; and of them was acquired by the
Bulkleys, who much earlier had land at Church-on-Heath. Compare the
Edgerley group. Both probably formed part of the Bulkley collection.

c. [1268]

Richard de Brueria to dame Emme de Pulford. Bond that he will never
alien his land at Heath, or any part thereof, from Ralph his son and his heirs
by Margaret daughter of the late Robert de Pulford, under a pain of loo/.,
binding himself and all his goods to the jurisdiction of the justice of Chester
to enforce this agreement, and renouncing all appeal, exception, prohibition
of the king, privilege of crusaders, prohibition of the lord of Cheshire and his
justices, or remedy of the common or civil law. Witnesses : Richard parson

SOME CHESHIRE DEEDS 21

of Pulford, John de Marcinton, Hugh de Pulford, William de Brex', Hugh
de Hatton, Robert Jay (?), John the clerk. Dated at Heath, the ascension
(pd aseenc'om d'ni) 1268. Seal, s' RIC . . . BRVER . . . Endorsed, Heth.

The genuineness of this deed is not beyond suspicion. The script is ex-
tremely bad ; and several letters look like clumsy efforts at archaism. The
date is added in fainter ink. The seal, of a common type, is impressed
upon the back.

ci. [1270-96]

John de Mersinton and Sibil his wife to John de la Holt son of sir Richard
de la Holt. Grant of all their land in the town of Neubold, in frank marriage
with Emme daughter of Simon de Hatton, and all right in the town aforesaid,
to hold of grantors and their heirs to said John and Emme and the heirs of
their bodies, remainder to grantors, with warrant. Witnesses : sir Reginald
de Grey justice of Chester, Robert de Huxeleg 5 constable of Chester castle,
William de Bonebury, William de Spurstou clerk, William Bernard, Richard
Munxhul, Robert de Thicknis, Richard de Bostoc, Stephen the clerk. Un-
dated. Two seals: (i) a lion: s' IOH : DE : MARCHINTOVN. (2) a bird: s' SIBILIE
DE WAVRTO'.

Sir Richard del Holt is said to have been grandson of Simon de Newton
of No. cxii. (Ormerod, iii. 209).

en. [circa 1280]

Hugh de Hatton to Agnes de Bostok and the heirs of her body. Grant
and confirmation of all the lands, culturas, possessions, liberties and commons
which John de Mersinton and Sybil his wife gave by charter to said Agnes
and the heirs of her body. Witnesses : William de Haurthin sheriff of
Cheshire, Griffin de Waran', Th[omas] de Bella aqua, Th[omas] de Hertul,
William de Huxley, John of the same. Undated. Seal, a lion and (dragon?).
S'HVGONIS .....

CHI.

Robert de Pulford to Philip ' my brother ' for life. Grant indented of
his land and tenement (with dowers, if they fall in) with messuages, meadows,
etc., in Neubold by Buyrton, to hold of grantor and his heirs to grantee and
his assigns (saving the chief lords and men of religion) at a rent of one rose,
with warrant. Witnesses : John de Leg'e, William de Mulnet[on], John de
Golburn, Robert de Belewe, David de Barton, Robert de Codinton. Un-
dated. Fragment of seal.

PICKMERE : TABLEY

These two places are in the Lostock neighbourhood ; but the following
deeds do not disclose any relation to the rest of the series.

civ. 1351

John Spendeloue chaplain to Ellen daughter of Walter de le More.
Grant of all his lands and tenements in Sondisfordelegh in Kyltinggusfeld, with
turbary pertaining thereto in the town of Overtabbelegh, and liberties and
easements in the town of Nethertabbelegh, to hold the said tenements of

22 THE ANCESTOR

grantor and his heirs, and the commons and easements aforesaid of the chief
lords, to Ellen her heirs and assigns, with warrant. Witnesses : Adam de
Tabbelegh, Thomas Dayneres, Hugh de Tofte, Hugh de Pekemere, Thomas
de Tofte. Dated Overtabbelegh, monday after St. John Baptist, 1351.
Seal gone.

cv. [1369]

Hugh del Holes de Pykemere to Margaret late wife of Hugh le Bruyn.
Grant of io/. yearly rent issuing from a moiety of the lands late of Hugh de
Pykemere her father, to hold for life of grantor and his heirs. Dated Pykemere,
Sunday after St. Helen 43 Edward III. (1369). Seal gone.

cvi. [1369]

Hugh del Holes and Margaret late wife of Hugh le Bruyn. Indenture,
being a defeasance of grant of I o/. rent of the moiety of lands late of Hugh de
Pykemere father of Margaret, provided that she be not ousted from the term
she has in the moiety of all lands that were her said father's at the time of her
marriage. Dated Pykemere, Sunday after St. Elena 43 Edward III. (1369).
Seal gone. (French).

DIEULACRESSE CHARTERS

This abbey, which was first founded at Poulton in Cheshire, near Pulford
and Eaton on the Dee, was removed to Leek in Staffordshire early in the
reign of Henry III. Byley and other lands were acquired by the Shakerleys
after the dissolution.

cvi i. [circa 1230 ?]

Emme daughter of Warin de Byuel* to the abbot and convent of Deula-
cresse. Grant of all the land which her father conferred upon her in marriage
in ByueP and Rauenescroft, to hold of her and her heirs at a yearly rent ot
id. at Michaelmas, in consideration of 3 marks, with warrant. Witnesses :
Joceram de Hellesby, Richard de Kyngeslegh, Warin parson of Middlewych,
Simon de Neuton, John de Haccoluest'. Undated. Seal gone.

Byley and Ravenscroft near Middlewich.

CVIII.

Henry de Hulmo to the abbot and convent of Deulacres. Quitclaim ot
his manor of Upper Hulme and a portion of the land called Peselondes lying
by the Roches (juxta Rupem), with warrant, in consideration of 27 marks for
gersom. Witnesses : William Wyther, Robert de Chetelton knights, Richard
de Rodeyerd, Henry le Couderey, William de Waterfall, Nicholas de Clyfton.
Undated. Seal gone.

These places are in the parish of Leek, co. Stafford.

cix. [1369]

Edward Prince of Aquitaine and Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Chester,
to the Abbot and Convent of Dieulencresce. Letters patent granting all the
lands and tenements which they and their tenants have held enclosed upon the
moor of Rudheth by the town of Bilegh, which are 187^ acres and 7 perches,
to hold at a rent of sixpence an acre payable to the exchequer of Chester.

SOME CHESHIRE DEEDS 23

Dated at Chester, 30 May 43 Edw. III. (1369). Seal of arms a shield of

England with a label SIGILL' EDWARDI FIL' REGIS ANGL' * COMITIS
CESTR*

ex. 1651

John Whittingham of the Cittie of Chester gentleman to John Amson of
Leighes yeoman. Paper writing indented, being a release and quitclaim of
one meadow closse pasture and parcell of land in Sproston, comonly called
the great meadow, lying beyond the river of Dane neare adioyninge to the said
John Amson's tenement within Leighes, which grantor doth clayme by assur-
ance to him made by John Trevett of Sproston yeoman, for a terme unex-
pired. Dated 12 Aprill 1651. (S d -) John Whittingham. Witnesses: John
Amson, William Woodcocke, Hugh Whishall. Plain seal.

One of the Shakerleys married John Amson's daughter.

BULKLEY DEEDS

The connection of the different branches of Bulkley is thus given by Mr.
Helsby (Ormerod, iii. 269) :

William de Bulkilegh of Bulkley

William de Bulkilegh Felice=Robert de Bulkiiegh of Eyton=Agnes

of Bulkley

and Alstanton

Robert de Bulkilegh Richard de Bulkilegh Roger

of Eyton and Alstanton of Cheadle, jure uxorit

John de Bulkilegh
of Eyton

Robert de Bulkilegh
of Alstanton

The pedigree will illustrate the following deeds, which support it, so far as
they go.

MIDDLEWICH, ETC.

The plumbum, lead, or phat was the vessel in which salt was crystallized by
boiling the brine. The sa/ina, or salt work, was the establishment where this
process took place ; a burgage tenement, carrying with it the right to a supply
of brine from the wich, or saltpit, in proportion to the number of its phats.
See the account of Droitwich in Nash's Worcestershire and the documents
there printed.

cxi. [before 1232]

P[eter] clerk of the earl of Chester to Thomas de Croxston. Grant, for
his homage and service, of half a salt work of the fee of Roger de Meinwar',

24 THE ANCESTOR

and half another salt work of the fee of Ralph de Brerton, which were given
to grantor by Gilbert the chaplain of Middlewich ; and of all the land which
Hernisius the chaplain held between that which was of William Brun and the
water course by the earl's bakehouse, to hold of the grantor and his heirs at a
yearly rent of 14*., charged also with js. 8^. to the house of the hospital of
Jerusalem, with warrant. Witnesses : Lidulf the sheriff, Richard his son,
Richard Lokeharm, Richard de Cliue, Henry de Weueria, John de Aculues-
ton, Stephen son of Edrihc, Hingulf son of Machtild, Hugh the smith (fabri),
Richard the clerk. Undated. Seal. . . . M : PETRI CLERICI

CXH. [circa 1230 ?]

Simon de Neuton to Richard de Wibbinbury. Grant, for his homage and
service, of all the land held of grantor by Henry son of Wlfrich in Wichefeld,
which is of grantor's demesne, to hold of grantor and his heirs, with common
and other easements pertaining to the townofSutton and Wichefeld, at a yearly
rent of iz</., with warrant. Witnesses : Augustin dean of Middlewich, Th.
de Warihul, William de Weuere, Henry his brother, Warin de Croxton, John
de Aculuist', Henry de Hatishale, Peter de Becheton, Richard Bernard, Henry
the clerk of Mottrum. Undated. Seal. . . . SIMONIS DE NEV . . .

CXIII.

Richard, son of Hugh Bossel, to Christian his daughter. Grant of a saltwork
in Middlewich, being that which the Abbot and convent of Basingwerk gave
to Hugh Boschel father of the said Richard, lying broadways between the
saltwork of Richard son of Bate and that formerly of Matthew de Craunach,
and longways between the highway and the land of the abbot of Deulacrees.
Witnesses : Sir Hugh de Venables and Sir William de Brerton knights, Alex-
ander de Bonevile, Robert de Bolkyleg', Thomas Craket, Robert Saney and
William son of Simon the clerk. Undated. Seal.

cxiv. [1305]

Richard son of Hugh Boschel of Middlewich to Robert de Bolkylewe, his
heirs or assigns. Grant and quitclaim of a salt work of 4 leads in Middle-
wich, between land late of Richard Payn and land of Thomas Malbol, in con-
sideration of ioj. to grantor ' in his need.' Witnesses : Richard de Rauenes-
croft, Henry de Swetenham, Simon son of Yngulf, William son of Simon the
clerk (clerici), Hugh son of Emmot. Dated Middlewich, Wednesday the vigil
of St. Mary Magdalen 33 Edward [I.] (1305). Fragment of seal.

cxv. [1307]

Thomas son of Richard de Cleyteford to Robert de Bulkylegh and Felice
his wife. Grant of a salt work in Middlewich, between that of the abbot of
Deulacres and that which Richard Golde held broadways, and longways from
the highway to the way leading towards Lonset, and warrant thereof with its
appurtenances of 6 leads. Witnesses : Richard de Fouleshurst sheriff of
Cheshire, Alexander de Baunuile, John de Coton, Gilbert Dodefin, Hugh
Raher, Hugh son of Emmot, Richard de Rauenescroft, Thomas son of Pimcoc.
Dated Middlewich, friday after St. John ante portam latinam 35 Edward [I.]
(1307). Seal : s' THOME DE CLAIT . . .

SOME CHESHIRE DEEDS 25

cxvi. [1308]

Christian daughter of Richard Bussel of Middlewich to Robert de Bulki-
legh and Felice his wife, daughter of Henry le Barbour, and Richard son of
the said Robert and Felice and to the heirs of the said Richard. Grant of a
saltwbrk of eight leads in the town of Middlewich, which the said Christian
had of the gift of Richard her father, lying broadways between the saltwork of
Margery formerly wife of Richard Finchet and that of Richard son of Bate,
and longways between the high way and the saltwork of the Abbot ofDeulacres.
Witnesses : Richard de Fouleshurst then sheriff of Chester, John de Coton,
Gilbert Dodefin, Stephen Dandi, Henry de Swetenham, Thomas son of
Pimcoc, Adam the clerk. Dated at Middlewich, Thursday after St. Gregory
I Edw. II. (1308). Seal, a peacock: LEEL svi.

cxvn.

Martin son of Gerveys of Middlewich to Robert de Bulkelegh and Felice
his wife and Richard their son. Grant of a saltwork in Middlewich lying long-
ways between the highway and the Wichbrok and broadways between the
house of William son of Thomas son of Walter and the saltwork of Richard
Ruskin, with a rent of one barbed arrow out of a saltwork which was formerly
of Matthew de Craunache in Middlewich by Neweset, to hold to the said
Robert and Felice and Richard and the heirs and assigns of the said Richard.
Witnesses : Richard de Fouleshurst, sheriff of Chester, Adam del Schagh,
William son of John de Coton, Thomas son of Amice, Ralph Selisoule, Thomas
Hullesone, Thomas Caus, Richard de Warihull, Thomas Doot. Undated.
Seal gone.

CXVIII.

William son of William son of Hugh of Middlewich to Robert de Bulki-
legh. Grant of a saltwork with gardens and curtilages in Middlewich, as the
ancestors of the grantor held the same, paying two shillings yearly to the lord
of the Holt. Witnesses : John de Coton, Adam del Schagh, Thomas de
Sladehurst, Thomas son of Amice, Thomas Doot, Richard de Warihull. Un-
dated. Seal with a device of a fleur-de-lys. s' IOHIS DE [MAVNWRVNC ?].

CXIX.

William son of William son of Hugh of Middlewich and Christian daugh-
ter of Richard Busschel of the same place" to Robert de Bulkilegh and Richard
his son and the heirs and assigns of the said Richard the son. Quitclaim of
those lands and tenements which the said Robert and Richard had of the
gift of the said Richard Busschel and the said Christian and Adam del Schawe
of Middlewich. Witnesses : Peter de Calvilegh, Richard del Schawe, Richard
de Warihull, John de Boyliston, Thomas Caus. Undated. Two seals.

cxx. 1314

Robert de Mohaut steward of Chester to Richard son of Robert de Bulke-
legh, his heirs and assigns. Grant and sale of all the crop of the wood of
Netherepeuere, as enclosed, to lop, leaving on every root a trunk, and to lop all
the boughs at the fork a man's foot from the trunk, and the top of the trunk
where it forks also, and if the crop of any oak be dead he may lop that one

26 THE ANCESTOR

foot below the dead wood, for the space of six years, from St. Michael in monte
Tumba until 15 days of april be past, with warrant. Dated Middlewich,
Wednesday after St. Luke Ev. 8 Edward II., 1314. (French.) Seal with
arms : a lion rampant s' ROBERT: DE MOVHAVT :

The purpose of this and the two deeds next following was probably to
procure fuel for boiling the brine.

cxxi. [1316]

Robert de Mohaut steward of Chester to Richard son of Robert de
Bulkelegh, his heirs and assigns. Grant and sale of all his trees of his wood of
Nethyr Peuere great and small, green and dry, standing upon the circuit of the
palisade or within it, to cut, lop, sell and carry, or to burn, within the next
8 years at any time of the year, with warrant. Dated Boselegh, Sunday before
the conversion of St. Paul 9 Edward II. (1316). (French.) Seal with arms
(as the last).

cxxn. 1316

John de Wetenale to Richard son of Robert de Bulkilegh, his heirs and
assigns. Sale of all oaks within the hedge of his hey of Sparwegreue and upon
the dykes and hedges thereof, with two oaks between said hey and the hall of
Sparwegreue, to fall from the beginning of winter to the middle of april, and
to work, etc., at all times of the year until christmas 1318, with warrant.
Dated Sparwegreue, tuesday after the assumption 1316. Seal : a bird.

cxxin. 1317

Richard Ruskyn of Middlewich to John his son and Rose daughter of
William son of Thomas Malbul. Grant in frank marriage of a salt work with
8 leads in Middlewich from that of Martin son of Gervase longways to the
leat, and broadways from that of Robert de Bolkylegh to the Mulneweye, to
hold of grantor his heirs or assigns to said John and Rose and the heirs be-
tween them begotten, with warrant, remainder to the next heirs of the blood,
in consideration of 3 marks. Witnesses : Richard de Foulushurst sheriff ot
Chester, Robert de Bolkylegh, Adam de le Schawe, Adam de Bostoc, John
Roer. Dated Middlewich, sunday St. Philip and St. James 1317. Seal gone.

cxxiv. 1318

Robert son of William de Bulkylegh to sir Robert Towchet rector of
Middlewich. Grant of all his lands tenements rents etc. in co. Chester,
namely in Eyton, Cliue, Codynton, Middlewich, Sutton, Neuton, Hulm and
Alsacher, for life, with all his goods, remainder as to lands in Eyton, Alsacher
and Codynton to grantor's heirs, as to lands in Middlewich, Sutton, Neu-
ton and Hulm to Richard, grantor's son, and his heirs, with warrant.
Witnesses : John de Sapy justice of Cheshire, Richard de Fouleshurst sheriff,
Adam de Bostoc, Robert de Croxton, Roger de Toft, John Raher, Adam del
Schawe. Dated Middlewich, Sunday before St. Bartholomew 1318. Seal.

This charter shows the connection between the Cheadle and Eyton Bulk-
leys. Sutton and Newton are on the outskirts of Middlewich ; Hulm appar-
ently is Church Hulme, or Holmes Chapel. Eyton is Eaton near Davenham.

SOME CHESHIRE DEEDS 27

cxxv. 1321

Robert son of Martin son 01 Gerveys of Middlewich to Robert de Bulky -
legh and Felice his wife and Richard their son. Grant of a piece of land in
Middlewich, together with a salt work in Middlewich, which salt work lies
longways between the land of Richard Ruskyn and the high way, and broad-
ways between the land of Robert de Bulkylegh and the road towards Kynder-
ton, to hold to them and to the heirs of the body of the said Richard for a
term of 24 years from the feast of the Annunciation 1321 at a rent of one
rose, and after that term at a rent of 40^. if they wish to hold the pre-
mises. Witnesses : Adum de Bostok, John de Coton, John Roer, Thomas
Dodefym, Richard de Schagh. Dated at Middlewich, Friday after St. Chad,
1320. Seal. Endorsed: Rob' Martinessone.

cxxvi. [circa 1321]

Thomas son of Hugh son of Pymme of Middlewich to Robert de Bulky-
legh and Felice his wife and Roger their son. Grant of half a salt work, lying
broadways between the salt pan of Hugh de Venables and the salt pan of Henry
de Swetenham, and longways between the highway and a piece of land held
by Robert de Bulkylegh, to hold for a term of eighteen years from the
feast of the Annunciation 1321, at a rent of sixpence yearly. Witnesses :
John de Cotun, Nicholas son of Simon, William son of Nicholas, Richard son
of Geoffrey, William the clerk. Undated. Seal with a shield [? quarterly
indented], s' WILLI FIL WARINI.

cxxvn. 1321

Thomas son of Hugh son of Pymme of Middlewich to Robert de Bulky-
legh and Felice his wife and Richard their son. Grant of the fourth part of
a messuage in the town of Middlewich, lying between the messuage of Hugh
de Venables, which Thomas son of Thomas son of Randal holds to farm, and
the messuage of the said Thomas the grantor, and between the highway and
the garden of Thomas the reeve, together with the fourth part of a salt work
lying in Wolreuepol, and the fourth part of a meadow between the leat of
Middlewich and the land of Margery wife of Richard, 6d. rent out of the
messuage of William Tappetrassche, the grantor's share of the same messuage
with its curtilage, and of a curtilage which Robert son of Nicholas formerly
held to farm : to hold to the said Robert, Felice and Richard and to the heirs
of the body of the said Richard, or to the right heirs of the said Richard.
Witnesses : Adam de Bostok, John de Coton, John Roer, Henry de
Ravenescroft, Richard de Schagh. Dated at Middlewich, Friday in Easter
week, 1321. Seal injured. Endorsed : Thomas Hullessone Pimmessone.

cxxvni. [1330]

John Ruskyn of Middlewich to Richard son of Robert de Bulkilegh and
Agnes his wife. Grant of a saltwork with curtilage in Middlewich, between
that of Richard de Bulkilegh and the Wichbrok, and between that which
William Marchis holds of said Richard and a way leading to the Wichbrok,
to hold to Richard and Agnes and the heirs of Richard for ever, with warrant.
Witnesses : Robert de Bulkilegh, Richard del Schagh, Richard de Warihull,
Nicholas son of Simon, John de Boileston, William son of Michael. Dated

28 THE ANCESTOR

Middlewich, tuesday after the annunciation 4 Edward III. (1330). Seal.

. . IOHIS

cxxix. [1330]

Thomas son of Hugh Pymmesone of Middlewich to Robert de Bulkilegh
and Richard his son and the heirs of the said Richard. Quitclaim of the
moiety of a saltwork in Middlewich which the said Thomas granted to Robert
de Bulkilegh and to Felice his wife and Richard their son. Witnesses :
John de Coton, Robert de Croxton, John de Lughteburgh, Richard del
Schagh, Richard de Warihull, Nicholas son of Simon. Dated at Middlewich,
Monday the eve of SS. Philip and James 4 Edw. III. (1330). Seal with a
device of a man's head (?). s' IOHIS . . .

cxxx. [1331]

Robert le Fogheler of Middlewich to Richard son of Robert de Bulkilegh
and to Agnes his wife. Grant of a salt work with a messuage and a curtilage
and the appurtenances in Middlewich, longways between the garden of
Richard Batesone and the highway, and broadways between the salt work of
Robert del Wodehouses and the garden of Richard son of Michael, to hold to
Richard and Agnes and to the heirs of Richard, with warrant. Witnesses :
Robert de Bulkilegh, Richard de Warihull, Nicholas son of Simon, Richard
del Schagh, William son of Michael, John de Boyleston. Dated Middlewich,
tuesday before St. Boniface 5 Edward III. (1331). Seal, with device of a
lion rampant, s' RICARDI DE WARIHVL.

cxxxi. [1341]

Richard son of Robert de Bulkilegh to John son of Hugh de Cholmundelegh
and to Felice his wife. Counterpart indenture of grant of a saltwork of eight
leads in Middlewich, formerly of John de Lughteburgh, which the grantor
held by the grant of the said Felice, and of a curtilage in the same town,
lying between the lane which leads over against the Holt and the Wichbrok,
and between the lands of Robert the chaplain and Robert Kel, to hold for the
life of the said Felice. Witnesses : Adam de Bostok, Richard de Croxton,
Richard del Schagh, William Swan, Thomas de Sladehurst. Dated at
Middlewich, Tuesday after St. Matthias 15 Edw. III. (1341). Two seals
with devices.

This Felice is not the widow of Robert de Bulkilegh, for he left a widow
named Agnes. See No. cxlvi.

cxxxn. 1349

Richard de Okelegh, chaplain, to William son of William Druri of Middle-
wich and Margery his wife. Grant of that messuage and two curtilages with
a saltwork in Middlewich which the said Richard had of the gift of the said
William son of William, to hold to the said William and Margery and to the
heirs of their bodies, with remainder to the right heirs of the said William son
of William. Witnesses : Richard de Bulkylegh, Richard del Shawe, William
de Haregreve. Dated at Middlewich, Tuesday after St. John before the Latin
gate 1349. Seal -

SOME CHESHIRE DEEDS 29

cxxxni. [1375]

William de Bulkylegh of Chedle to William Prydyn chaplain, Robert de
Elmeshale, Richard de Pollesworth and Jevan Artiduwell. Grant of a salt
work in Middlewich. Dated at the castle of Chester, Monday after St. Giles,
49 Edw. III. (1375). Sealed with a round seal of the virgin and child. AVE
MARIA GR'A PL ...

OCCLESTONE

Near Middlewich : in Domesday Aculvestune. The earlier form of the
name is found among the witnesses in Nos. cvii. cxi. cxii.

cxxxiv.

John lord of Ocliston to William son of Thomas son of Emme de Oclis-
ton. Grant of all the land and tenement which Thomas son of Emme, father
of said William, and Ellen mother of said William, held in the town of Oclis-
ton with appurtenances, viz. a messuage with curtilage and croft as enclosed by
metes and bounds, one selion by the Chircheway, one called the Brodelond
between the garden and the high way, 5 butts in the Mulnecroft, one selion
called the Brodelond with the Reue in the Mulecroft (sic), with one volatus
in the same town together with an addition (aumento) of one selion before his
house door, to hold of grantor his heirs and assigns with housbold haybold
quittance of pannage in all groves of Ocliston etc., at a yearly rent of \d. at
midsummer and two hens at christmas, with warrant. Witnesses : John de le
Holt, Richard lord of Croxton, Richard son of Robert of the same, Hugh de
Tyuwe, Thomas de Weuere, William de Bostoc, Gilbert Dodefyn, Hugh Raer,
William de Wauerton, William the clerk. Undated. Seal broken.

cxxxv. [1318]

John son of William son of Thomas de Ocleston to Margery late the wife
of William son of Thomas de Ocleston. Grant of two thirds of the messuage
late of said William, grantor's father, in Ocleston, and two selions of land
therein, one by the Grenelondes, the other in the Bruggefeld, to hold for her
life of grantor and his heirs, remainder to grantor, with warrant. Witnesses :
Robert de Bulkilegh, John de Colon, William de Ocleston, Randle de
Wauerton, John del Brook. Dated Ocleston, tuesday after the nativity of
St. John Bapt. II Edward II. (1318). Seal.

cxxxvi. [13 . . ]

John de Ocleston to Hamon son of [John ?] Dobbesone. Grant of the
manor of Ocleston with lands, rents, royalties, etc., and with all his rents and
services in the town of Middlewich ; also a piece of turbary in Litulstang
... in Dudfynesmosse, with warrant. Witnesses : William del Holt, William
de Bulkyley, Warin de Croxton, Richard Brotheresone, Richard de Cleyte-
ford. Dated Ocleston, tuesday St. Lawrence' day, . . Edward III. Seal.
S. Petri . . steping. (Defective.)

cxxxvii. [1345]

William son of John de Ocleston to Richard son of Robert de Bulkilegh
the elder and Agnes his wife and the heirs of their bodies. Quitclaim of all

3 o THE ANCESTOR

the land and water they have of the grant of William ' my son * and Christian
his wife in exchange for other lands in Ocleston, with warrant. Witnesses :
Richard de Somerford, Richard de Croxton, Hugh de Tofte, William de
Wauerton. Dated Ocleston, friday after St. Peter in cathedra 19 Edward HI.

0345)-

EDGE RLE Y, ETC.

See the title Newbold, above.

CXXXVIII.

Ketel son of Gilbert de la More to Robert de la More his lord. Grant
that he nor his heirs will not give pledge nor sell the bovate of Eggersley
which he holds of said Robert, save to Robert or his heirs, on any necessity.
Witnesses : Walkelin de Arderne, William de Boydel, Walter de Arderne,
Robert de Pulfort, Ralph son of Richard, John de Lauerket' (Larkton ?),
Robert de Belleue, William the clerk. Undated. (No seal.)

CXXXIX.

Robert son of Walter del Heth to Nicholas son of Richard de Troghford.
Grant of all his lands etc. within all the bounds of Eggerley at the date of
this charter, with warrant. Witnesses : William de Golburne, David de
Malpas, William de Broxun. Undated. Seal with arms : a bend between
three crescents, with three charges on the bend, s' G[A]UTERI DE [F]ENTONE.

CXL.

Nicholas son of Richard de Troghford to Robert son of Walter del Heth
and Auilia his wife and the heirs of their bodies. Grant of all the lands etc.
which he had by feoffment of said Robert in Eggerley, remainder to the right
heirs of said Robert. Witnesses : William de Golborne, David de Malpas,
Ralph lord of Pleymundestowe, William de Broxon, Robert le Bor. Undated.
Seal gone.

CXLI.

Robert del Hett to John son of Robert de Berton. Letter of attorney to
deliver seisin of all his lands in Mukul Aldreshay to Nicholas son of Richard
de Trogford. Undated. Seal with arms, as No. cxxxix.

CXLII. [1425]

Award indented of William of Bulkeley, in a dispute betwe n Henry of
Spurstowe John Williamson of the Heth and Hugh of Cheswys (?) on the one
part, and Robert of Bulkeley of the Bryon on the other, for lands in Chestre,
Chirchumheth, Mekull Aldreshey and Eggerley, and for goods and chattels
that were to John the Tanner of Chester and to ' the saide William' ; 1 namely
that said Robert shall release the lands to said Hugh in fee simple without war-
rant, and said Hugh shall let those in Mecull Aldresheye to said Robert for life
at a peppercorn rent, said Robert delivering up all deeds etc. ; said Henry and
John to retain the above mentioned goods and chattels received of Ithell
Granore, executor to William of the Heth, or Jonet his wife and executrice,
and said John to sue the executors for goods undelivered, said Robert aiding
in the recovery thereof. Dated 12 June 3 Henry VI. (1425). Seal gone.

1 William of the Heth father of John is meant, as appears later.

SOME CHESHIRE DEEDS 31

CXLIII. [1426]

Writ addressed to the sheriff of Cheshire, to command John del Heth
(son of William del Heth) and Margaret his wife, Henry de Spurstowe and
Hugh Cheswys (?) to render to Thomas de Brundelegh of Wystanston 5 messu-
ages, i oo acres of land, I o acres of meadow, I o acres of pasture and I o acres of
wood in Chirchenheth, Eggerley, Aldresay and Chirton, whereof Hormus del
Heth (son of Roger del Heth, and cousin of Thomas de Brundelegh, who is
his heir) was seised on the day of his death. Tested at Chester, 27 december
5 Henry [VI.] (1426).

Endorsed by Richard de Werburton, the sheriff, with the name of John
de Sonde, surety for plaintiff, and two summoners.

CXLIV. [1454]

Margaret formerly wife of John son of William del Heth to Thomas son
of Arthur de Troghford, John his brother, and Robert Spenser clerk. Grant
of all her lands, rents, etc., in the towns of Chirchanheth, Great Aldersay,
Eggerley, Chirton, Aldefort and in the city of Chester, with warrant. Wit-
nesses : Robert Spender of Qwechirche, Henry Coke of Hoton, Thomas
Pycton of Troghford, Richard Fecher of Chirchenhethe, Nicholas Johnson of
Chirchenhethe. Dated Chirchenhethe, friday before michaelmas 3 3 Henry VI.
(1454). Seal.

BRIDGEMERE, ETC.

CXLV. [1312]

Henry son of Henry de Briddesmere to William son of Hugh de Gresti,
his heirs and assigns. Grant of a piece of his land called Heyne Rudyng in
the town of Briddesmere, with the reversion of the dower when it shall fall in,
and pasture for all his beasts upon grantor's waste near and far in the town of
Briddesmere, so that grantor his heirs and assigns may not enclose, nor William
and his heirs have a moiety of any enclosure, rendering services to the chief
lord, with warrant. Witnesses : Henry de Thickenes, William the physician,
William de Birchor', Richard his brother, Richard the smith. Dated Briddes-
mere, Saturday after the translation of St. Thomas 6 Edward II. (1312).
Seal gone.

Alice widow of Henry de Briddesmere was suing for dower in 2 Edw. II.
(Plea Rolls).

CXLVI. [1347]

Geoffrey de Denston chaplain to Robert de Bulkylegh of Alstanston the
elder. Copy indenture of grant of the manor of Eyton by Daueneham, all
his messuages and lands in Briddesmere and Herteforde, and the reversion of
all messuages and lands which Agnes late wife of Robert son of William de
Bulkylegh holds in dower in the towns of Alsacher Herteford and Codynton
of grantor's inheritance and of her said husband's gift with remainder to grantor,
to hold to said Robert the elder and the heirs of his body of the chief lords,
remainder to his right heirs, with warrant. Witnesses : Philip de Eggerton,
Henry de Motelowe, Richard de Hunsterton, William de Northbury, Randle
le Bruyn. Dated Eggerton, friday after St. Hilary 20 Edward III. (1347).

32 THE ANCESTOR

HOOLE

Hoole, Newton, the three Troffords, and Dunham on the Hill, or Stony
Dunham, are a group of villages lying near Chester on the north and east.
They are therefore grouped together. There is nothing to connect these
deeds either with the Grosvenor or the Bulkley series, though the Winningtons
(who were co-heirs of Grosvenor of Holme) appear to have had some interest
in Newton.

CXLVII. [1333 ?]

Philip de Hole to David de Hadelegh, citizen of Chester. Grant of two
pieces of land in Hole, which John de Ines and John del ... ston l of Chester
formerly held for a term of years, one by the road from Chester to Troghford,
the other by land formerly of Robert de Maclesfeld and extending to Wyr-
haleswey, also common of pasture and turbary, housbote and haybote, etc.,
with warrant. Witnesses : David de Eggerton sheriff of Cheshire, Robert de
Huxlegh, William de Coton, William de Hadelegh, James de Coughhull, Philip
de Prestelond, Robert de Sutton, Henry the clerk. Undated. Defective.
Seal gone.

A Philip de Hole occurs 33 Edw. I.; but David de Eggerton was sheriff
(according to the list in Helsby's Ormerod) in 1333. Henry the clerk occurs
in 1335, James de Coghull 1345. Nos. cliii-v.

1 ? Crokeston. Only the bottom of five letters remains.

CXLVIII. 1369

Thomas Taylour and Alane de Hadelegh his wife to Sir Hugh de
Hibernia, chaplain of the parish church of Tatenale, and sir Richard le
Roter, chaplain of the parish church of Codynton. Quitclaim of land in the
town of Hole (which Thomas Palmer and Maude his wife had of their feoff-
ment) for a sum of money paid, with warrant. Witnesses : David de Beeston,
William de Cholmundelegh, Richard de Spurstowe, John Rathebon, Ken' de
Cholmundelegh. Dated Malpas, thursday before St. Alban M. 1369. Seal
(? armorial).

CXLIX. [1372]

Hugh de Hibernia, formerly chaplain of Tatenhale, to John de Neubold
chaplain, and Simon formerly priest of Hanlegh. Grant of 4 acres of land in
Hole called Haddeleyslond, with warrant. Witnesses : Richard de Huxlegh,
John de Rosumgreue, Richard de Herthull. Dated Chester, Sunday before St.
Alban 46 Edward III. (1372). Seal gone.

el- [1373]

John de Newbold and Simon de Yoksale chaplains to Alexander le Belle-
yotter citizen of Chester. Grant of the moiety of a field in Hole called Hadelegh-
feld, with warrant. Witnesses : Lawrence de Dutton knight sheriff of
Cheshire, John de Scolehall escheator of Cheshire, William de Troghford,
John Adamson citizen of Chester, John de Hole. Dated Hole, the vigil of
the assumption 47 Edward III. (1373). Two seals.

SOME CHESHIRE DEEDS 33

NEWTON NEAR CHESTER

CLJ. I 244

Philip son of Hamund son of With de Neuton to William son of Cecily
* my wife.' Grant made in the abbot of Chester's court of a moiety of his
land in the field of Neuton, with his hall etc., with toft and croft and orchard
etc., to hold to him and his heirs only during grantor's life, and afterwards to
whomsoever he will give or sell it, at a yearly rent of zs. to grantor and his
heirs, with warrant. Witnesses : sir Nicholas de Winleie constable of Chester,
Adam the vintner and Richard Bovnz sheriffs of Chester, Richard de Kynges-
leie, Adam de Heselbi (sic), William son of Kenwreich de Neuton, Hugh de
Hool. Dated 1 244, tuesday before Easter, at Chester. Seal. (Beautifully
written.)

CCII.

William son of Philip son of Hamon de Neuton to Robert his brother.
Grant of a moiety of his land in the town and territory of Neuton, to hold of
said William and his heirs, with a moiety of the messuage etc., at a yearly
rent of one pair of white gloves at midsummer and yd. at the same term, and
9^. at martinmas to the chief lord, in consideration of half a mark, with war-
rant. Witnesses : Hugh de Hola, Robert de Trohford, Gilbert de Neuton,
William le Brun, Walter de Piketon, John de Sutton, Elyas the chaplain.
Undated. Seal gone.

CLIII. [1335]

Robert son of Robert de Neuton to John de Snelowe, citizen of Chester.
Indenture of grant of 7 selions of land in the field of Chester, 5 between
lands of St. Werburgh's abbey and William de Shauynton broadways, and
between lands of said abbey longways, and two between lands of said abbey
broadways, and longways between lands of said abbey and Flokesbrok, to
hold of grantor and his heirs for 24 years at a yearly rent of one rose at mid-
summer, afterwards at a yearly rent of ioos., with warrant. Witnesses :
Richard Erneys, Warin le Blound, Hugh de Brichull, John Dunfoull, John
de Brichull, Henry the clerk. Dated Chester, thursday after michaelmas
9 Edward III. (1335). Seal, a fleur de lys.

CLIV. [circa 1335]

John de Snelowe to Robert de Neuton. Indenture demising to farm 7
selions of land in the field of Chester, which he had by grant of said Robert,
to hold of grantor and his heirs to Robert his wife and children for 24 years
from 12 October 9 Edward III. (1335) at a yearly rent of 13*. 4</., with war-
rant. Witnesses : Richard Erneys, William de Shauynton, Hugh de Brichull,
Warin le Blound, Richard Reymund, Henry the clerk. Undated. Seal.

CLV. [1345]

Robert de Neuton to Robert * my son ' and Isabel his wife, daughter of
Richard son of Thomas de Salghton. Indenture of grant of a grange and
the third part of an orchard and curtilage, with 13^ selions of land in Neuton
by Chester, to hold to Robert the son and Isabel and the heirs of their
bodies of grantor and his heirs by the service of one rose, doing the services

34 THE ANCESTOR

due to the chief lords, with warrant. Witnesses : James de Coghull, Roger
his son, William Toront, John de Wyruyn, William de Picton, John his
brother, Richard Corbyn of Sutton. Dated Neuton, friday the morrow of
St. Tyburtius and St. Valerianus M., 19 Edward III. (1345). Seal.

CLVI. [1345]

Robert de Neuton to Robert son of William de Picton. Grant of all his
lands in Neuton by Chester, with warrant. Witnesses : James de Coghull,
Roger his son, William Toront, John de Wyruyn, William de Picton, John
his brother, Richard Corbyn of Sutton. Dated Neuton, monday after
St. Tyburtius and St. Valerianus M., 19 Edward III. (1345). Seal.

CLVII. [1345]

Robert son of William de Picton to Robert de Neuton. Grant indented
of all the lands in Neuton by Chester which he had of the feoffment of
grantee in his charter contained, to hold for life of the chief lords, remainder
to Robert son of said Robert de Neuton and his heirs by Isabel his wife,
daughter of Richard son of Thomas de Salghton, remainder to the right heirs
of said Robert de Neuton. Witnesses : James de Coghull, Roger his son,
William Toront, John de Wyruyn, William de Picton, John his brother,
Richard Corbyn of Sutton. Dated Neuton, monday St. Mark Ev. 19
Edward III. (1345). Seal.

CLVIII. [1352]

Robert de Neuton to William son of William son of Nichole de Salgh-
ton. Grant of all his messuages, lands, etc., in Neuton by Vpton, with
warrant. Witnesses : William de Golburne, Edmund de Coton, Roger son
of Roger de Coghull, Philip de Prestelond, William Toront. Dated Neuton,
Wednesday St. Peter in cathedra, 26 Edward III. (1352). Seal gone.

CLIX. 1398.

Robert son of Robert de Newton and William Brown of Newton. In-
denture whereby said Robert to farm lets to William and his wife, their heirs
and assigns, one messuage two bovates and two selions of land in the town
and territory of Newton, for 10 years from martinmas 1398, at a yearly rent of
42.;., with warrant. Witnesses : Richard de Manlegh, John le Venables of
Sutton, Randle de Cotgreue, John le Massy of Kelshale, Robert de Prestlond.
Dated Newton, the vigil of all saints, 1398. Seal.

STONY DUNHAM

CLX. [1240-1]

Secilia daughter of Adam de Donam and William son of Richard de
Troghforde. Final concord made 25 Henry III. in the county court of
Chester, before John Estraneus justice of Chester, Roger de Borewardeleye
constable of Chester castle, Roger de Mohaut steward of Chester, Warin de
Vernon, William de Vernon, Hamon de Mascy, William de Malpas, Walkelin
de Ardern, etc. ; whereby Secilia quitclaimed to William all land she had or
might have of her inheritance in the town and territory of Donam, whereof
she was impleaded by him; and said William his heirs and assigns shall do ser-

SOME CHESHIRE DEEDS 35

vice to sir John Fitzalan : consideration one mark. Witnesses : sir Randle de
Thornton, Richard de Kingesl[egh], Richard le Brun, Adam de Hellisbi, John
de Hauekistan, Hugh de Hole, Nicholas Serjeant of Troghford, Thomas the
clerk writer hereof. Seal, s' SISELLIE FIL' ADE.

CLXI. [1260-80]

William called the Reeve of Donam to William son of Richard le Brwne,
for his homage and service. Grant of 9^ arable lands (lanJas terre) in Donam,
namely one long one by the Huttegrewe, one called the Walleslond, half a one
called Woaslond, a butt called the Cubutte in Wycharishulle, half a lond
which is pikealland extending to the Brokefeld, one by Barwelydeyate, one by
the cross, and one headland next land of Roger de Barwe, the moiety of one
in Mutforlong, that next the land of John son of Lawrence, the moiety of one in
Cullegrewe, the costa (bank ?) towards the Sondeway, half a one in a croft by
the land of Roger de Barwe, half a one in the Brodelondes next the land of
Randle Wade, half a one in the Quitefeld next the land of Ralph son of
Hugh, half a one by the Londing, a great butt in Grenewaygrewis, with all
buildings lying in the town of Donam between land of Hugh son of Philip
lord of Apisfort and of Roger de Parva Barwe, and a barn between land of
said Roger and of Robert and Adam sons of Adam son of Robert, to hold of
grantor and his heirs, at a yearly rent of 8</. to Richard son of sir John
Fitzalan for all service saving that pertaining to the lord's court, namely suit
(sequelam) of court of the said town of Donam, with warrant. Witnesses :
Peter le Roter lord of Thorneton, Robert lord of Troffort, Robert de
Mottrom, Richard le Roter of Thorneton, Robert de Apisfort, Robert the
clerk of Frodesham. Undated. Seal, s' WILL'I [FIL* ?] R' D' DONU'.

CLXII. [After 1 300 ?]

John de Pilkinton and Agnes daughter of Richard de Hole his wife to
William son of Richard le Brun of Stony Donam. Grant of the third part
of a curtilage in Stony Donam, late of Richard son of Richard de Hole, and
2 1 selions of arable land there, one in Muclefurlong between land of
Alexander son of Randle and of Randle son of Alexander, half a selion
between land of Thomas son of Richard de Aston and of John the carpenter,
half a head selion upon the Wohutlond late of Richard son of Richard de
Hole, and half a selion between land of William le Brun and of John son of
Hugh, with warrant. Witnesses : Peter de Thornton, William de Hellesby,
Robert le Brun of Stapelford, Robert de Elton, Richard le Brun de Trofford,
John de Hole. Undated. Two seals, one small shield shaped ; the other
s.' ANGNETIS FIL' RIG, but indistinct.

CLXIII. [After 1 300 ?]

Alan son of Randle de Donham to William son of Richard le Bruyn of
Donham his heirs and assigns. Grant of a messuage and \\ selions of land
with the meadow thereto pertaining in Donham, whereof one selion called
the Mypartilond lies in the Brocfeld between land of John the carpenter and
John son of William, another abuts upon the heath, one lies upon Mukel-
furlong between land of William le Bruyn and Adam son of Filota, half a
selion lies upon Hongerhull, half a selion at the Haspenegrene, half a selion

36 THE ANCESTOR

upon Grathannesfeld, a piece of land called a ' ferthing ' in the croft abutting
upon the said messuage, and one called half a ' ferthing ' by land of William
le Bruyn in the Brocfeld, with warrant, in consideration of 5/. Witnesses :
John de Legh, Peter de Thornton, Robert le Bruyn of Stapilford, Henry
Doun, William de Hellisby, Richard le Bruyn of Trofford, William the clerk.
Undated. Seal, s' ALANI : FIL' RANULFI.

CLXIV.

Robert son of Richard de Hapisford and Alice his wife to William son ot
Richard le Bruyn of Donham his heirs and assigns. Grant of all their lands
and tenements in Donham, with warrant : consideration 46.;. Witnesses :
William de Venablis, Richard le Roter, William de Trofford, Henry Doun,
William de Hellesby, John son of Walter de Frodesham, Robert de Elton,
Robert de Manlegh, William the clerk. Undated. Both seals gone.

CLXV. 1324

Agnes late the wife of John de Pilkynton to William le Brun of Donham
and Alice his wife. Grant of if selions with her share of Manmeduwe and
Louelake meduwe in Donham, whereof one selion lies upon the rake called the
Sondiwey, half a selion abuts upon the Dichelewes, and a quarter of a selion
lies upon Hongrel, to hold to William and Alice and the heirs of their bodies,
remainder to the right heirs of said William, with warrant. Witnesses : Peter
de Thorinton, Roger le Brun of Stapelford, Robert son of Thomas de Elton,
Richard Doun of Crouton, Peter de Wetenale clerk. Dated Chester,
St. Gregory's day, 1324. Seal gone.

CLXVI. [1399]

David le Bruyn of Stony Dunham to Robert Bythewall of the same and
Beatrice his wife and the children of their bodies. Grant to farm indented
of all his lands and tenements in Stony Dunham by Happesford for term of
their lives, at a yearly rent of yj., with warrant. Witnesses : Richard de
Manley, William le Venables of Trofford, Richard le Boore, William de
Froddesham, John de Lee. Dated Stony Dunham, St. Philip and St. James'
day 22 Richard II. (1399). Seal.

TROFFORD

There are several villages of this name, Mickle Trafford, Wimbolds Traf-
ford and Bridge Trafford, lying between Hoole and Dunham on the Hill.
The last was the seat of a family named Troghford or Trafford (not to be
confused with the Lancashire Traffords), for whom see Edgerley and Dunham.

CLXVII. [1261-7]

John de Flury lord of Clafford to Hugh de Flury his son. Grant in-
dented of all his land in the vill of Trofford which he had in frank marriage
with Joan his wife, to hold of grantor, his heirs and assigns, to said Hugh and
his heirs by his now wife, at a yearly rent of one pair of white gloves value \d.
at midsummer, remainder to his next brother, with warrant. Witnesses : sir
Roger Dunuile, sir Patrick de Haselwal knights, William de Cyfton (?), Hugh
de Hole, William de Goldburn, Richard the clerk mayor of Chester, Richard

SOME CHESHIRE DEEDS 37

Payn, Adam Godewayt. Undated. Seal, an engraved gem, with lion, tied
with silk.

CLXVIII. [Before 1289]

. Giles son and heir of John de Flury to William de Tytneleye. Grant of
all the land which said John the father had, in the town of Trochford or with-
out, in frank marriage with Joan grantor's mother, to hold of grantor and his
heirs at the yearly rent of one rose at midsummer, with warrant. Witnesses :
Robert de Hoxleye, Hugh de Hatton, John de Mersinton, Hugh de Puleford,
William de Golburne, Thomas de Aldelime, Richard de Pyuelesdune, Henry
de Schauinton, Richard de Hatton. Undated. Fragment of seal.

Titley is in the extreme south of Cheshire, beyond Audlem, and near
Shavington in Shropshire.

CLXIX. (Before 1289]

Giles son and heir of John de Flury to William de Tyttelegh. Grant
for his service of all the land which grantor's said father had in frank marriage
with Joan his mother within the town of Trochford and without, to hold of
grantor and his heirs at a yearly rent of one rose at midsummer, and three
halfpence or one pair of spurs to the chief lords, with warrant. Witnesses :
Robert de Hoxleye, Hugh de Hatton, John de Mersinton, Hugh de Pulford,
William de Golborne, Thomas de Aldelime, Richard de Pimeldone, Henry de
Schaynton. Undated. Seal wrapped.

CLXX. [circa 1320]

Sir Thomas de Tytneleye and Hugh son of Hugh de Sutton. Indenture
of lease of ... mes' and 4 bovates of land with meadow adjoining in Mickle
Trofforde for 20 years beginning at michaelmas 14 Edward II. (1320) at a
yearly rent of 2 marks to sir Thomas his heirs and assigns, and the services
due to the chief lords ; and whenever sir Thomas or his heirs come thither
the said Hugh shall find housing, firing, litter, hay ... for 6 horses (half a
strike daily for each), with covenant for forfeiture upon default, and warrant
clause. Witnesses : sir Robert de Holondo, justice of Chester, William de
Mobberlegh, sheriff, John de Legh, Matthew de Hulgreue, William de
[Coton ?], clerk. Undated. Seal with arms : a chief. SIGILLVM SECRETI.
(Defective.)

TILSTON: GARDEN

CLXXI.

Thomas de Caurthin to Hugh his son for his homage and service. Grant
of all his share (viz. one half) of the town of Tillistan with liberties etc.,
saving to grantor three half lands (lanef) therein, in the field called Polfurlong
between land late of William de Strete on either side, with the patronage of a
moiety of the church, to hold of grantor etc., to Hugh his heirs and assigns,
with liberties in mills, pleas, reliefs, etc., at a yearly rent of one pair of white
gloves and \d. at midsummer, with warrant. Witnesses : Robert de Bulkileg',
Robert de Cholmundeleg', Thomas de Herthul, William de Brex', Hugh de
Bikertun, David de Egertun, Philip de Sokeleche, Henry de Brueria, Richard
son of Thomas de Kaurthin, David and Thomas his brothers, David son of
Peter de Tillistan, Hugh the miller. Undated. (No seal.)

38 THE ANCESTOR

CLXXII.

William son of Thomas de Caworthin to Hugh de Caworthin his brother,
his heirs and assigns. Quitclaim of all lands lordship etc., within the town
of Tillistan or without, which Thomas his father granted to said Hugh by
charter, saving a tenement there which said Hugh in consideration hereof has
granted and quitclaimed to said William and his heirs, viz. his share of a
croft called Polfurlong with three messuages thereto belonging, one late of
Hugh de Graftun, another of Kenewrek the miller, the third of Hova son of
Wronu, with a moiety of the old mill and one-fourth of the middle mill, hous-
bold, haybold of timber and earth in the waste of Tillistan outside the hedges,
and quittance of pannage in the wood for the inhabitants thereof. Witnesses :
Robert le Brun of Stapelford, William de Brexis, Hugh de Bikertun, Patrick
de Bartun, Richard de Caworthin, Philip his brother, David de Caworthin,
David son of Peter de Tillistan. Undated. (No seal.)

CLXXIII.

William son of Thomas de Caworthin to Hugh de Caworthin his brother,
his heirs and assigns. Grant and quitclaim of a seylion in the town field of Tilli-
stan called Bradelond with the patronage of a moiety of the church, to hold of
the chief lords of the town by the same service as said Hugh holds his other
land therein, with warrant, in consideration of the grant of a croft in said
town called Polfurlong with half the old mill and a quarter of the middle
mill to said William and his heirs. Witnesses : Robert le Brun of Stapleford,
William de Brex', Hugh de Bikertun, Patrick de Bartun, Richard de Caworthin,
Philip his brother, David de Caworthin, David son of Peter de Tillistan.
Undated. Seal, with device of a cross formy fitchy (not upon a shield),
s' WIL' DE KAVR*.

CLXXIV.

Hugh son of Thomas de Cawyrthyn to Thomas his son. Grant of the
land which David son of Ythenard formerly held of the said Hugh in the town
of Tilstan, with the cottages upon the said land, at a rent of one pair of white
gloves and one penny. Witnesses : Robert le Brun, William de Brex' and
Robert his son, Patrick de Barton, Richard de Cawyrthyn and Philip and
David and Thomas his brothers, Philip son of David son of Peter de Tilstan,
Hugh the miller of Tilstan, Hugh the clerk. Undated. Seal of a griffon.

S* HVGONIS : FIL : THOME.

CLXXV.

Thomas son of Hugh de Glutton to Thomas his son. Grant of the land
and tenement which David son of Hugh the miller formerly held of him in
Tylston, with quittance of pannage and stallage for him and his tenants, hous-
bolt heybolt and fire bote (focali) in the groves of Tylston, as freely as grantor's
father gave it by charter, to hold of the chief lords, the reversion to grantor
if said Thomas die without lawful heirs, with warrant. Witnesses : David de
Barton, William de Mulneton, Richard de Caurthyn, Robert clerk of Codin-
ton, Thomas son of Richard de Caurthyn, Hugh the clerk. Undated. Seal.

SOME CHESHIRE DEEDS 39

CLXXVI. [1465]

Thomas Smyth parson of Tilston and Randle de Caurthyn to John le
Rede. Grant of a messuage and lands adjacent, which they had by feoffment
of David son of Thomas le Rede in Over Caurthyn, with warrant. Witnesses :
John Leche, . . . . de Caurthyn, Hugh de Wauerton, John Brid, William
Brid. Dated Over Caurthyn, thursday after St. Thomas M. 5 Edward IV.
(1465). One seal with bird : the other gone.

TARPORLEY

CLXXVII. [1291]

Reynold de Grey to Walter de Thorperlegh clerk, for his service. Grant
of 10 acres of land in the territory of Thorperlegh, in a place called the
Netherwode which grantor formerly held imparked, between land of Nicholas
the clerk and of Robert the cook, to hold of grantor and his heirs, with liberty
to assart cultivate etc., at a yearly rent of 8/. \d. y with warrant. Witnesses :
sir Ralph de Vernun, sir Hamon de Mascy, sir Richard de Mascy knights,
William de Preers sheriff of Cheshire, William de Bunnebury, Robert le
Grosvenur, Matthew de Alpram, Nicholas the clerk. Dated Chester, Saturday
after the translation of St. Thomas M. 19 E[dward I.] (1291). Seal, with
shield : arms indistinct. Finely engrossed.

CLXXVIII. [1304]

William son of Walter de Torporlegh to Henry son ot Matthew de
Hulgreve. Grant of ten acres of land in Torporlegh in a piece of land called
the Netherwode, at a yearly rent of 8/. \d. to be paid to Reynold de Grey.
Witnesses : William Trussel justice of Chester, Robert de Brescy sheriff,
Hugh de Calvilegh, Roger de Spurstow and William of the same, Richard
Doun, Richard Darnal of Torporlegh. Dated at Torporlegh, monday before
St. Barnabas, 32 Edw. I. (1304). Seal gone.

GODLEY

CLXXIX. [1325]

Joan late wife of Robert de Godelegh, son of Henry de Godelegh, in
her widowhood, to sir William de Baggelegh knight and his heirs. Quit-
claim of all lands and tenements, and of all places which pertain to the town
of Godelegh ; also of IOJ. yearly rent for which he was bound to her.
Witnesses : Richard del Brom, William de Tatton, Richard de Tatton,
Thomas de Baggelegh, Richard de Rigewaye, William son of Roger de
Bredburi. Dated Baggelegh, monday after St. Peter ad vincula 1 9 Edward II.
(1325). Seal.

CLXXX. [1408]

Richard de Mascy of Sale. Inquisition post mortem taken at Macclesfeld
on monday after the exaltation of holy cross 9 Henry IV., finding that he
died seised of no lands in co. Chester, and held nothing of the earl or any
other, for that Roger son of Robert de Mascy, long before his death, entered
the lands which were of the said Richard in Godley, claiming them as his
inheritance ; which lands are held of John Lovell knight, as of his manor of

40 THE ANCESTOR

Tyngetwesull, by knight service, yearly value lo/. Richard died on Sunday
before St. James Ap. last : Ellen, Joan and Margaret are his daughters and
heirs, Joan aged 24, Ellen 30, Margaret 20. See Ches. Inq. 9 Hen. IV. No. 1 6.

CLXXXI. [1419]

Robert de Dauenporte of Bromall to Robert Starlyng of Chedle and
Alena his wife, their heirs and assigns. Quitclaim of a moiety of the lands
and tenements which were late of Robert le Massy father of Alena in Chedle,
with warrant, provided that such warrant shall not bind Daueneporte or his
heirs upon voucher or in action of warantia carte y but only bar him and his
heirs from the said lands. Dated Sunday after St. Mary Magdalen 7 Henry V.
(1419). Seal : a sheaf.

MISCELLANEOUS : CHESHIRE

Worfleston, Shavington, Leighton and Buerton, to which the next four
charters refer, are in the southern part of the county, near Nantwich and
Bridgemere (see Nos. cxlv., cxlvi.). Lawton is not far distant. Mollington
is near Chester ; Tattenhall on the other side, towards Tarporley ; Manley
and Mouldsworth to the north-east, in the direction of Stony Dunham.
There is nothing ostensible to account for the presence of these deeds in the
collection.

CLXXXII. [circa 1260?]

Hugh de Langeford (by assent of Maud de Worfleston his wife) to Hugh
de Hunkelawe and his heirs. Grant, for his homage and service, of two bovates
of land in Worfleston which Robert de Lockendale held, to hold of grantor
and his heirs at a yearly rent of 4*. and one pig for all save foreign service,
with warrant. Witnesses : sir William the chaplain of Wich, sir Robert de
Praeris, sir Michael (sic) de Langeford, Peter de Stapell', William de Wista-
neston, Philip the clerk, Robert de Bebinton, Richard de Berdirton, John de
Langeford, Henry de Mere, * and moreover all my court of Worfleston, and
others.' Undated. Seal gone.

The lady of Worleston's first husband was a Coudray, and had interests in
Newton near Chester. Compare No. cxcv.

CLXXXIII. [1310]

Thomas son of Peter de Buyrton to Joan daughter of Henry de Stapelegh.
Grant of a bovate of land in Schauyngton which grantor had of his said
father's gift, with warrant. Witnesses : William de Praers, William Chany,
William de Wystaneston, Richard de Rop, Hamon de Wystaneston, Richard
de Bosco, Richard the clerk. Dated Schauyngton, friday before all saints
4 Edward II. (1310). Seal gone.

CLXXXIV. 1319

Thomas son of Thomas del Broc to Thomas his son and Katherine
daughter of Hugh de Erdeswyk. Grant of all land, buildings, rents, etc., of
the gift of his father in the town of Leghton, as by metes and bounds, to
hold to Thomas and Katherine and the heirs of their bodies, remainder to
grantor and his right heirs, with warrant. Witnesses : William de Mobbur-
legh sheriff of Cheshire, Thomas de Erdeswyk, Richard de Munschull, Richard

SOME CHESHIRE DEEDS 41

del Broc, Randle de Leghton. Dated Leghton, sunday after the nativity of
St. John Bapt. 1319. Seal gone.

This charter makes havoc of Mr. Helsby's attempts at the pedigree of
Brooke of Leighton. See Ormerod, iii. 454.

CLXXXV. 1373

Elizabeth late the wife of Adam de Buyrton, in her widowhood, to Richard
del Hogh and Joan his wife. Grant of all her lands which she had at the
date hereof in the town of Buyrton, and which formerly were of Nichole
daughter of Philip de Wouere (sic), with warrant. Witnesses : Lawrence de
Dutton knight sheriff of Cheshire, William de Praers, Robert de Fouleshurst,
Randle de Leghe, William del Hogh. Dated Buyrton, sunday after St. James
Ap. 1373- Seal : a Catherine wheel.

This is the southern Buerton, near Audlem, not near Aldford. Ormerod
erroneously reads 'Nicholas son of Philip' (iii. 473).

CLXXXVI.

Roger son of Roger de Moldeword to Stephen son of Richard of the mill.
Grant in frank marriage with Alice his daughter ot all the land which grantor
held of Roger de Manlegh and his heirs in ' the same town,' to hold of grantor
and his heirs to Stephen and Alice and their heirs of the body of Alice, with
all easements to the said town of Manlegh belonging, hosebote and haybote
in the wood of Manlegh, and quittance of pannage, at a yearly rent of i<,
remainder to grantor and his heirs. Warrant of said land and rights of way.
Witnesses : Roger son of Ralph de Kelsal, Adam procurator of Teruen, Hugh
son of Adam of Great Barewe, William son of Robert de Ascheton, Richard
son of Adam de Kelsal, William de Barewe, clerk. Undated. Seal gone.

Compare No. cxcii. below. Great Mouldsworth and Manley are adjoin-
ing townships.

CLXXXVII. [1297 ? or 1351 ?]

Sibil formerly wife of John de Thurlewode to Thomas her brother.
(Copy) deed of gift of all her goods, etc., for 5*. paid. Dated monday before
the nativity of St. John Bapt. at Lautun, 25 Edward.

CLXXXVIII. [1361]

Sir John Tuchet knight, lord of Tatenale, and Philip son of William
Filkyn. Indenture witnessing that the said John has given and granted to
the said Philip and the heirs of his body six acres of land, whereof five
acres lie in Russhaleheye and one acre in the Sonderuddyng in the town
of Tatenale, at a rent of eighteen pence. For this grant the said Philip has
given and granted to the said John and to his heirs and assigns, in exchange,
six acres of land and meadow lying upon Russhalesfeld, Brokforlong, Holmes
Hull, Mydelforlong, Crowenest, Byrches, Sydenale, Sortecroft and Bruches in
the said town of Tatenale. Witnesses : Henry de Buyston (sic), David de
Eggerton, John de Belegreve, Robert Godemon. Dated at Tatenale, Thursday
after St. Andrew 35 Edw. III. (1361). Seal with arms an ermine shield
with a cheveron S'IOHANNIS . . . HET.

42 THE ANCESTOR

CLXXX1X. 1369

Robert bishop ot Coventry and Lichfield to the deans of Middlewich,
Wich Malbank and Newcastle. Mandate to admonish in every church of
their deaneries, wherein they shall be required so to do on behalf of Beatrice
wife of William called de Lauton Maresshall, upon three Sundays or feast days,
all who are detaining or concealing charters letters and muniments concerning
the right and inheritance of said Beatrice in the town and territory of Lauton,
or fabricating charters indentures instruments or muniments to the detriment
of her right, (provided their names be unknown to said William and Beatrice)
to disclose the same and cease trom such fabrication within 15 days, upon
pain of excommunication. Dated Heywode 3 id. julii 1369. Seal gone.

See the Plea Roll of 51 Edw. III. m. 16.

cxc. [1397]

Randle de Merbury of Overwalton v. Geoffrey Huchunsone de Werburton.
Writ, tested at Chester 10 April 20 [Richard II.] by Thomas Earl Marshal and
of Notyngham justice of Chester, directing an inquisition to be taken upon
the plaint of said Randle that he has been disseised by the defendant of his
common of pasture and of fishery pertaining to 3 messuages one carucate and
1 5 acres of land and 4 acres of meadow in Netherwalton, whereof he recovered
seisin by judgment of the court of Chester. Endorsed with the inquisition
thereupon taken before Robert de Legh knight sheriff of Cheshire, and Peter
de Whytelegh coroner of the hundred of Buclowe, by Robert de Mascy of
Preston, John son of William de Tatton, Richard le Cokker, Thomas de Sale,
Henry de Moston, William de Kenworthey, Thomas Tochet, Hugh Scot,
William de Lyueresegge, Matthew de Legh, Thomas Starky of Stretton and
Hamon de Asshelegh, who find that defendant did not disseise plaintiff as
alleged.

cxci. [1406]

William Venables of Kynderton and John Doune of Utkynton to John
son of William Chayne knight (militis) of the county of Caumbrug' and
Nicholas Parys. Grant of all their lands, rents and services in the town of
Molynton Terrent, co. Cheshire, formerly of William Torront, with warrant.
Witnesses : John de Knyghteley lieutenant of Cheshire, John de Pulle knight,
Thomas del Hogh, Hamon Mascy of Podynton, John de Capenhurst. Dated
Molynton Torront, St. Scolastica V. 7 Henry IV. (1406). Seal.

cxcu. [1530]

William Manley of Manley esquire to Richard Sneyde esquire. Grant
for 50 marks of two messuages with appurtenances in Great Mold worth co.
Chester, and all the lands, moors, woods, marshes, etc., to the same belonging,
in the several tenures of Roger Sarrott, Thomas Sarrott and Thomas Both,
with warrant ; appointing William Molyneux and William Sarrott attorneys
to deliver seisin. Dated 24 april 22 Henry VIII. (1530). (3 d1 ) W. M.
Seal. w. Compare No. clxxxvi. above.

cxcin. [1589]

Thomas Tettnall of the Inner Temple near London gentleman to John
Mere of Mere co. Chester esquire. Counterpart of a deed, reciting a grant

SOME CHESHIRE DEEDS 43

in fee farm by the crown to William and Thomas Kerkham of Greisem
gentlemen, by patent of I 5 June 29 Eliz., of all lands concealed, encroached,
or enclosed upon the queen's wastes or commons in co. Chester, and a bargain
and sale thereof by them to said Thomas, dated 23 May 30 Eliz. ; and
assigning over certain parcels thereof, viz. those called the intacks upon Rud-
heath, Winkell, Wartons, Boeth, Overs, Dauenham, Newton, Randmoer,
Haughton, Hawksmoer, Vtkinton, Clotton, Helsbie, Manley, Norley, Ashe-
ton, Aston, Aughton, Moldsworth, Kingsley, Doddon, Kelshew, Tarvyn,
Shotwycke, Caponhurst, Willesson, Littell Coddington, Budworth, Hardinge,
Warlsson, Chomson, Stoke, Moseley, Wardell, Wymbesley, Croton, Plomley,
Lostocke, Howse, Fevers, Tableys, Marpowle, Maxfild, Nantwych, Pott,
Disley, Holford, Wettnall, Sale, Crossestrete, Fradsham and Eaton, and lands
belonging to the chantries and chapels of Bartamley, Haslington, Nantwych,
Mydleswych, Newton, Prestbery, Chederycke, Maxfild, Pott, or to superstitious
uses, subject to the fee farm rent. Dated 13 august 31 Elizabeth (1589).
(S d ') John Mere. Seal, with an antique gem.

cxciv. [1617]

John Eaton gentleman. Inquisition post mortem taken at Middlewich
3 Oct. [15 and] 51 James before Hugh Maynwaring esq. deputy escheator, by
virtue of a writ of mandamus, finding that said John was seised of ... lands
in Great Budworth co. Chester, 7 messuages, one cottage and lands in
Comberbach, and a messuage and land in Over Walton, and reciting an
indenture dated I Sept. 3 James I. between said John and George Rutter of
Kingesley gentleman, whereby in consideration of a marriage to be had be-
tween Richard, his son and heir apparent, and Elizabeth Rutter, one ol the
daughters of said George, and of 1407. (which marriage was solemnized),
said John covenanted to enfeofF Thomas Rutter of Clotton and John Nuttall
of Cattenhall gentlemen, to uses, which he afterwards did : that the lands in
Budworth and Comberbach are held in chief by the service of the fortieth
part of a knight's fee and a rent of js. 1 1<, value . 3/. I is. io</., those in
Over Walton of John Danyell, service unknown, value St. 8</. ; and that Richard
Percyvall has taken the profits until now ; that said John died 4 July . .
James I., and John son of said Richard Eaton is his grandson and heir, and

aged 4 years and 27 days ; and that Jane wife of said John is yet

living. (Defective.) See Cheshire Inq. 1 5 James I. No. 4.

OTHER COUNTIES
cxcv.

Randle de Wirale to Benedict de Coudray and his heirs. Confirmation
ot the grant made by Randle de Coudray, father of Randle, to Richard
de Coudray and his heirs of one bovate of land in the town of Hulm which
said Benedict holds ; and further grant of that bovate in the same town which

William Witnesses : William de Hippestan,

William de Chetelton, Randle de Langesdon, Richard de Bradezah, Henry de
Forde, Henry de Tetisworth, Adam de Ruston, Randle de Hulm, Walter
Coudray, Hugh the chaplain. Undated. Seal gone. (Defective.)

This charter is attached to several Allostock deeds ; but the place to which
it refers would appear to be in Staffordshire. Compare the Dieulacresse

44 THE ANCESTOR

charter, No. cviii. The first husband of Maud de Worpleston of 1318, No.
clxxxii., was a Coudray.

cxcvi. [1291 ?]

Henry de Tildesley to Adam his son and his heirs. Grant [and attornment
of Henry the mason (cementarius)~\, formerly grantor's tenant, and the service of
him and his heirs, and a [rent of I ^d. contained] in a feofFment (herein re-
cited) made by grantor to Henry le Mascun of formerly held

of him [by Adam Clerk and William] his son, bounded by a dyke on the

south in the town of Tildesley at the rent aforesaid, witnessed

by William de Adhirton, Richard de Urmeston, Richard de Bra

[Gili]brond. Witnesses : Alan le Norrays, Gilbert de Halsal, Robert de

Eccleston, Ni master Richard de Redinalis. Dated Leythe

church, Sunday Bp and M. . . 91. Seal gone.

Defective. Attached is the fragment of a translation, from which the
words in square brackets are supplied.

Tyldesley is near Leigh (still pronounced Leith) co. Lancaster.

cxcvn. [1345]

Robert de Stokport, son of Nicholas de Eton knight, to John son of John de
Dauenport knight, his heirs and assigns. Grant of the reversions of the lands,
tenements and rents of neifs with their suits and all that goes with them and
of free tenants in Lopinthorp and Swafeld co. Lincoln, which master William
de Eton * my uncle ' holds for life of the demise of Nicholas de Eton * my
grandfather ', to hold of the chief lord, with warrant. Witnesses : Richard
de Swafeld, John Hyngham, Munde de Corby, Roger Bryan, Thomas the
chaplain. Dated Lopinthorp, Wednesday before St. Gregory P. 19 Edward III.
(1345). (No seal.)

Sir Nicholas de Eton the younger married the heiress of Stockport (Orme-
rod, iii. 795).

cxcvin. [1496]

Jasper Kynaston (son of Peter Kynaston) to Ralph Brereton (brother ot
Randle Brereton of Malpas esquire) and Richard Lye of Lye. Grant of all
his lands etc. in the towns and fields of Orton Foren and Penley within the
lordship of Maillors co. Flint, and of Hampton is wode co. Salop, with
warrant. Witnesses : Richard Hanmer esquire, Edward Hanmer of Halton,
Gruffith Hanmer of Fennes, John Hanmer of Bettisfeld, Randle ap Edo.
Dated Orton Foren, 7 december 12 Henry VII. (1496). Seal gone.

cxcix. [1366]

William cardinal priest of St. Laurence in Lucina to Adam dil Smalwod
his wife and children. Licence to choose a confessor. Dated 6 id. sept.
4 Urban V. Seal gone.

For cardinal Guillermus or Willelmus Bragose see Ciaconius, Hierarchia
Catholica (Rome, 1667), ii. 543. Smallwood is in Cheshire, near Moreton,
Alsager and Lawton.

SOME CHESHIRE DEEDS 45

cc. 1474

The chamberlain warden and procurator ol the hospital of holy trinity
and St. Thomas the martyr in the city of Rome to Thomas Waltton Alice
his wife and their children. Indulgence (by authority of pope Sixtus IV.,
declared 5 kd.julii 1474). Dated London, 10 december 1474. Endorsed
with absolution. Seal gone.

cci. 1487

Brother George Sutton knight and master of Burton St. Lazarus of Jeru-
salem in England. General declaration of indulgence to benefactors, dated
Burton, 5 february 1486. Absolution endorsed. Fragments of a seal.

46 THE ANCESTOR

THE years have dealt it cruel blows and the restorer has
played with it at his fantastic will, but in spite of neglect
and hard treatment the tomb of Sir John Montagu is still one
of the most interesting and important of the monuments in
Salisbury Cathedral.

Once ablaze with gold and colour this stately memorial
stood for close on four centuries in the Lady Chapel, but
during the disastrous period when the cathedral was handed
over to the tender mercies of Wyatt it was moved to its present
position in the nave, on the stone bench under the second arch
east of the north door of the church.

It consists of the effigy of a harnessed knight on a tomb of
decorated work, the surface of which is divided into six panels
enclosing shields and separated from one another by canopied
niches which have long lost any figures they may once have
contained. The present back or north side of the tomb does
not belong to it.

It stood formerly close against a north wall, as appears
from the fact that the left side of the effigy is less carefully
wrought than the rest of the memorial. The original back of
the tomb being either of uncarved stone, or more probably the
wall of the chapel itself, it commended itself to the judgment
of the wiseacres of that day that a new one should be provided
when the tomb is so placed as to be visible from all points.

The ingenious Mr. Wyatt triumphantly accomplished this
architectural feat by causing three of the sculptured Purbeck
marble panels of the Beauchamp chapel, recently demolished by
his orders, to be hacked into the size and shape required to fit
the space.

The impious removal of this tomb was only one of the
many outrages that Wyatt perpetrated at Salisbury. But the
absurd and clumsy piece of patchwork which was the outcome
of it has at least this value, that it proves the armorial ornament
of the monument to have been confined to the effigy and the
two ends and south side of the base on which it rests.

Two VIEWS 01- TIIK MONTAGU TOMB IN SALISBURY CATHEDRAL.

THE MONTAGU MONUMENT 47

Sir John Montagu, whose resting-place was thus honoured
by his own generation and violated with the connivance of the
modern guardians of his remains, was the second son of William,
first Earl of Salisbury of the 1337 creation, and Katherine
Graunson. While still a youth under age he served in the
retinue of his brother Earl William throughout the Norman
expedition of 1 346, and was present at Cre9y and at the seige ot
Calais. Knighted before Whitsuntide, 1347, he returned to
England with the king in the autumn of that year, and in two
years more took to wife Margaret Monthermer. He was
summoned to parliament, not in her barony, but by his own
name, and sat as a peer till his death in February, 1390.

His effigy represents him in complete armour. His head
covered by a bascinet rests on a great crowned helm sur-
mounted by the griffon's head and wings, which form the crest
of his house. On crown and crest a very little dark blue
colouring remains, but this is no doubt only the ground for
the original red and silver of these ornaments. The mantle is
quite short, reaching only to the lower edge of the helm, not
disposed in folds, but lying smoothly with edges slightly jagged,
and it appears to have been painted red. Of his sword, which
hung from a richly jewelled belt, only the hilt remains with
the end of the sword-belt wrapped about it.

The knight's figure was as completely painted and gilt as
the rest of the monument and what little of this decoration
survives shows plainly that the surcoat was golden and charged
with the green eagle of Monthermer.

The chief interest however of the monument for the
student of mediaeval armory lies in the series of armorial shields
on the tomb itself, which with one exception are all carved in
low relief and painted, and afford important examples of late
fourteenth century methods of marking cadency.

That at the head or western end of the tomb displays a
quartered coat, the arms of the lordship of Man quarterly with
the well known Montagu armorials, silver a fess gules indented
of three fusils, and not as is more usual the Montagu fusils
quartering the legs of Man. This is of course the escutcheon
of the head of the house, William the second earl, elder brother
of Sir John Montagu.

The westernmost shield on the south side is charged with
Sir John's own arms Montagu with a border sable impaling
Monthermer.

48 THE ANCESTOR

The next is unfinished. This also is an impaled shield
bearing the Montagu fess of three fusils within a plain black
border on the dexter side, but with the woman's half of it un-
touched. It may have been designed to refer to another John
Montagu, Sir John's son and heir, with space left for the
insertion of the arms of his wife, the thrice married Maud
Francis. If this supposition is correct it would indicate that
at Sir John's death his son assumed the plain border as head
of the junior branch of the family.

It will be noticed that in both these examples of impaled
shields the whole of the narrow border is shown plain proof
that the practice of omitting that part of the border which
touches the line of impalement did not invariably obtain in
Sir John's days.

It is certain that during his father's lifetime the younger
John employed a different border as his own mark of cadency.
The next shield carved with Montagu in a border sable
engrailed quartering Monthermer clearly belongs to him.

The bearer of this interesting quartered coat succeeded to
his father's barony in 1390, becoming Lord Monthermer
when his mother died a few years afterwards, and third Earl
of Salisbury at his uncle William's death in 1397.

The fourth shield on the south side is also unfinished. It
is in fact absolutely untouched except for a fine line carefully
engraved from chief to foot as if preparation had been made
for the carving of a third impaled shield of arms.

At the eastern end of the monument appear the arms of
Montagu differenced with the plain black border, and this
doubtless is a second allusion to Sir John.

It is a little surprising that no Graunson coat appears any-
where on this noble tomb. Perhaps it may have been intended
to commemorate the parents of the dead knight by means of
the last escutcheon on the south side, but this was never
actually done.

E. E. DORLING.

MONTAGU.

MAN AND MONTAGU.

MONTAGU. MONTAGU AND M.ONTHEKMEK.

SHIELDS FROM THE PANELS OF THE MONTAGU TOMB.

THE FOUR WEDDERBURNS OF
DUNDEE l

IN the last volume of 'The Ancestor we gave an account ot
Mr. Alexander Wedderburn's enquiry into the early history
of his name. In the making of his two volumes Mr. Wed-
derburn has left little to do for any Wedderburn genealogist
who shall come after him, so carefully, so thoroughly and so
accurately have the Scottish records been sifted by him for
Wedderburn evidences.

Yet the Wedderburn book from its note of the firstjap-
pearance of the name in the Ragman Roll of 1296 to: its
account of the rise of the Wedderburns of Dundee at the
end of the fifteenth century can but confirm the more fortu-
nate southern genealogist in the belief that his northern
brother unless descended of the main line of a great his-
toric house must begin his tale with a web spun from unsup-
ported tradition or with few and scattered notes of records
which no honest ingenuity can link into a connected story.

The history of the Wedderburns begins upon a sure
foundation with the four Wedderburn householders in Dun-
dee James, Walter, David and Robert. Their kinship is
unknown but undoubted. David is named as early as 1464,
and must have been born about 1440. The other three must
have been born near the middle of the century, so that by
reckoning of years they might all have been one man's sons,
and their children are spoken of as kinsmen. As each of the
four was a man of substance and standing in Dundee, we may
infer that their common ancestor, father or grandfather, was
also settled in the burgh, so that the family was no new one
in the neighbourhood.

Each of these four householders founded a family of
Wedderburns. The thread of the families descended from
James and Walter is lost, David's line ended before 1600,
whilst from Robert came the Wedderburns of Kingennie,

1 The Wedderburn Book : a History of the Wedderburni in the Counties oj
Berwick and Forfar, 12961896, by Alexander Wedderburn ; 2 vols. (Printed
for private circulation.)

50 THE ANCESTOR

Easter Powrie, Wedderburn, Blackness, Balindean and Gos-
ford, the Wedderburn baronets and a Wedderburn peer.

It is by reason of their ancestral calling, that of clerks and
notaries, that so much of the Wedderburn history is made
clear to us. They were town clerks of Dundee from 1557 to
1717 and notaries up to the time of Robert Wedderburn of
Pearsie, who died in 1786. Such an industry should make
for the ordered life and moderate prosperity of a family
which makes little history on its way. But the history of
Scotland is full of stirring and striving ; the Wedderburns
have their part in it, and their lives as recorded by their
descendant are full of interest for all who love bygone days.

James Wedderburn of Dundee, the first of the four
Wedderburns of the burgh, was a merchant in West Kirk
Style and father of five sons and a daughter. With these
children comes the first quickening of the dry bones of their
pedigree. Of the younger sons Henry is born, weds and
dies, and that is for all history of him ; but Gilbert is a
burgess of fiercer mettle, one more after the mind of
Sir Walter. His spiritual difficulties lead in 1538 to his
conviction for heresy and the temporary escheating of his
goods; but it would seem that his anxieties for the faith
do not keep him apart from the vigorous town life of Dundee,
for the next time his goods are escheated it is for killing his
fellow-burgess David Rollok. That a certain ill-feeling or
unneighbourliness existed between him and the Rollok family
may be gathered from the fact that, the year following the
killing of David, Master Wedderburn needed remission and
pardon for his share in the slaughter of George Rollok of
Dundee. His later years were spent in Leith undisturbed by
the vengeance of surviving Rolloks, and Under a safe conduct
from the Earl of Arran he once came with merchandise up
the Thames to London.

The three elder brothers of Gilbert enjoyed a fame beyond
the limits of Dundee or Leith. James the eldest had l a
good gift of poesie.' He made comedies and tragedies in the
broad Scots tongue, plays which { nipped the abuses and
superstition of the time.' In a tragedy of the beheading of
St. John Baptist, played at the West Port of Dundee, he
' carped roughley the abusses and corruptiouns of the Papists,'
and in the Historic of Dyonisius the Tyranne the Papists
were nipped again. After so much literature with a purpose

ALEXANDER WEDDERBURN OF KINGENNIE.
1561-1626.

THE WEDDERBURNS 51

it is some wonder that the dramatist died in his bed, but that
bed was made at Dieppe in France, to which kingdom he had
judged it wise to ' depart secreetlie.' The second brother,
John Wedderburn, a priest and a reformer, had an even
greater share of the 'good gift of poesie.' Either he or his
brother Robert was the Dundee priest who drew a good bow
before the Lord William Howard, the English ambassador,
when three Scottish landed men and three yeomen shot against
six Englishmen, winning a hundred crowns and a tun or wine
and making their native prince very merry for their victory.
Yet this John Wedderburn's fame rests not on shooting with
the bow but on his share in the book of Gude and Godlie
Ballates. The drum of the Salvation Army banged to the
carnal melodies of the music-hall was anticipated by the
brothers James, John and Robert Wedderburn, who * turned
manie bawdie songs and rymes in godlie rymes.' The title
page of the 1578 edition is worth our quoting.

* Ane compendious bulk of godlie Psalmes and spiritual} Sangis
collectit furthe of sindrie partis of the Scripture, with diverts otberis
Ballattis cbangeit out of propbane Sangis in godlie Sangis for
auoyding of sin and barlatrie. y

Of the hundred and twelve songs or psalms the merit is
unequal. A Christmas hymn to the tune of ' Balulalow ' is good
and free.

O my deir hart, young Jesus sweit,

Prepair thy creddill in my spent,

And I sail rocke the in my hart,

And neuer mair fra the depart.

But the sinful song of Jobne, cum kis me halts dismally in its
gude and godly paraphrase, as

The Lord thy God I am,

That Johne dois the call,
Johne representit man,

Be grace celestiall.

It may be that controversy and the nipping of Papists
were nigher to a Wedderburn's hand than mere expository
theology, for the air of * The Hunt is up ' goes gallantly and
heartily to a godly song of the hunting of * ane cursit fox.'

The hunter is Christ, that huntis in haist,

The houndis are Peter and Paul,
The Paip is the foxe, Rome is the rox,

That nubbis us on the gall.

52 THE ANCESTOR

There was a spirit abroad in Scotland which made it im-
possible to punish such bold heretics too harshly, but John
Wedderburn could hardly come free away from such work as
this. He was exiled to England and no more is known of
him.

Robert Wedderburn, the last of these three strange harps
of the north, was vicar of Dundee. He is reckoned, and
upon good ground, author of the Complaynt of Scotland, one of
the early classics of his country. A merry priest who had
seen Paris and the world, he seems in odd company with
those earnest reformers James and John Wedderburn. It is
impossible to refuse him credit for the song of { Welcum for-
toun ! welcum agane ! ' a passable love song of a priest to his
mistress. That mistress was Isobel Lovell, who bore to the
parson of Dundee two sons for whom letters of legitimation
were obtained within a year of their father's death. The
legitimated family flourishes for three generations as merchant
burgesses, but ends in 1639, leaving a son Francis for whom
no letters of legitimation can be had. He may have been
the Commander Francis Weatherbourne whose man of war,
Charity, was captured at Campeachy in the days of Charles II.

Fourth in descent from James of the Gude and Godlie
Ballattis we find two interesting brothers named John and
James, after a persistent Wedderburn custom very confusing
to their historian. John, born about 1583, wandered abroad
very early, and in 1609 his countryman, William Lithgow,
the Lithgow whom the Inquisition caught and tortured, found
him in Padua, a learned mathematician and one kind to
another Scottish wanderer. Now and again he came back to
Dundee, to which town he gave the 4 Sang Scooll ' in 1637.
In 1628 he was in Moravia, where he is styled protomedicus ;
and the doctor's sons were Moravians after him, one of them
being returned as f oy and air ' to his grandfather, old John
Wedderburn of the Flukergait in far away Dundee. To
Dundee the doctor's descendants never come back, and as
high and well born Wetterborns they are said to have existed
in Moravia as late as 1 8 1 6. James, the younger brother of
the Moravian doctor, left Dundee also, and in England was
tutor to the children of the famous Isaac Casaubon. His
fortunes carried him backward and forward. He was minister
at Harstone in Ely diocese, and professor at St. Andrews
College, rector of Compton in Winchester diocese and Canon

KOBERT WEUDKKBURN OF PKARSIK.
1708-1786.

THE WEDDERBURNS 53

of Ely. The Ely canonry he surrendered on receiving an
uneasier honour, for in 1636 he was consecrated Bishop of
Dunblane by the favour of Archbishop Laud. As may be
imagined there was no rest in Scotland of 1636 for those
who brought the Babylonish garment of prelacy within
her borders. By December of 1638 he was declared excom-
municate by the General Assembly at Glasgow for his share
in introducing ' the new liturgy and popish ceremonies.' The
fury of the pamphleteers broke over his head, and the
Arminian errors which he had * stuffed ' to the young students
of St. Andrews were fiercely preached down. Wedderburn
bent to the storm and turned south again to find a quiet
grave in Canterbury Cathedral in 1639.

Of the four Wedderburn patriarchs in Dundee we come
to Walter Wedderburn styled ' in the Welgait.' His line
begins with burgesses of Dundee and ends, so far as the quest
of the genealogist may follow it, with ministers of the kirk,
one a covenanter, whose opinions take him before my Lords
of the Privy Council. He escapes with a month in the Tol-
booth, being as it seems a lukewarm * testifier.' Another
minister, Alexander Wedderburn of Forgan, was a 'very
eminent, great and learned man,' or, according to another
authority, c a crazy Presbyterian fanatic.' Neither qualifica-
tion has carried his fame to posterity, and were it not for the
labours of Mr. Alexander Wedderburn he would be little
more than a name in a pedigree, and misplaced at that. When
the Highland Host went jinking through Kilmarnock in 1678,
being then minister in the town, he stood forward to rebuke

* the heinousness and barbarity of their ravages.' Such a
rebuke, doubtless in the best manner of old Mause Headrigg
( c bastards o' the hure o' Babylon were the best words in her
wame '), brought a Highland musket butt against his breast,
and from that blow he sickened and died. Mr. Alexander
Wedderburn's precise statement of this martyr's ancestry and
career are in amusing contrast with the dashing style of his
grandfather's little history of the Wedderburns, written in
1824. In this work it is said of Alexander of Forgan that

* his birth is uncertain and was very probably illegitimate.'
But * J. W.' of this earlier Wedderburn book will not how-
ever bring himself to lop the minister of Forgan from the
family tree, comforting himself with the douce saying, * It is
puir clan that has neither whores nor rogues among it.'

54 THE ANCESTOR

The third of the four householders in Dundee was David
Wedderburn in the Murrygait, a town councillor of Dundee.
He left two sons, one whom carried on his line. This son,
David Wedderburn the second, is party to a bargain in 1527
recorded in the Dundee Protocol Books. Alexander Blak sells
him for the sum of twenty pounds his maritagium or right to
marry, and agrees to take any wife David may find for him.
David's choice is left untrammeled, for Alexander avers that he
will take the bride to his arms even if she be ugly or halting.
He will take her even if ailing and diseased, if he may be allowed
to bar two diseases only. Mr. Alexander Wedderburn is of
opinion that this was only David's elaborate method of ex-
tinguishing the gallant Blak's rivalry in a certain quarter,
and points to the fact that David is soon after found to be
married to one Christine Jameson, but the guess seems to
have little to recommend it. Surely Mr. Wedderburn is
aware that a maritagium was in 1527 as saleable an article as
a quarter of oats. This David the younger is a substantial
citizen as is shown by the offices he holds in the burgh, and
by the fact that in his house the council hide the church plate
and jewels during war time. The cares of office however did
not keep him from entering heartily into the Wedderburn feud
with the family of Rollok, and in 1 543 he was one of those
who were fugitive from law for the killing of David Rollok.

John Wedderburn of Craigie, great grandson of old David
of the Murraygait, was bred to the law, whose grave service
he left for more stirring employment under David, Earl of
Crawford. His career is pleasantly variegated with woundings
and murders, and here it may be noted that we have many
Wedderburns who slay their man in chance medley or lurking
ambush, but never a Wedderburn neck which stretches a rope
therefor. It would seem that the hempen cord which was so
ready to jerk the meddler in politics off his legs spared the
mere slayer in a burgh brabble or family quarrel. The
merchant burgher who has dirked his neighbour in the street
is put to the horn and outlawed, but is soon at home again
in his counting-house never a penny the worse.

This John Wedderburn comes into our English State
Papers c disguised in mariner's apparel and that of the meaner
sort,' in which costume Lord Eure arrests him in 1597 and
sends word thereof to Burghley. Lord Eure's description of
his capture certainly justifies the arrest, and provides us with

THE WEDDERBURNS

a pleasing picture of an ancestral Wedderburn. Master John
speaks French reasonably well, has been in the King of
France's service, and has been honourably employed by the
Lord Bothwell in compassing the death of Sir Robert Kerr
by blowing up his castle at Halleden. His carriage is wise,
and his birth and manner of disguising yield apparent sus-
picion of more devilish practices than he revealeth in a
word, a First Murderer. He is * of reasonable stature, verie
square bodyed, bigg legged, one or two scarres on the hight
or his foreheade, faire complexioned, yellowe berded, the
haire of his heade like to white amber.' He is cunning in
State matters, and is an engineer c preferring to make petares

fDwK&^s

NOTARIAL SYMBOL OF ALEXANDER WEDDERBURN, TOWN CLERK OF DUNDEE,

14 OCT. 1575.

and garnettes, ingynes of war.' With his own petard the
engineer is presumably hoist, for his wife is soon afterwards a
widow, and the male line of the third house of the Dundee
Wedderburn ends handsomely.

The last of our four Dundee householders is Robert
Wedderburn, who was probably born about 1460. Like the
three other ancestral figures his contemporaries he is a man
of substance and credit, being a * bailie of Dundee.' He
married with Janet Froster, who survived him, by whom he
had five sons and a daughter. From the second son of this
marriage descend the Wedderburns of Kingennie, Easter
Powrie, and that ilk, Blackness, Balindean and Gosford, in

THE ANCESTOR

fact all the greater landed families of the name, and from this
second son Robert descends also Mr. Alexander Wedderburn,
historiographer to all the Wedderburns that have been.

This Robert, son of Robert, is a notary in Dundee. His
eldest son Alexander is town clerk of Dundee, the second son
Peter is a merchant who sails to Norway and buys bowstrings
there, and the third son Robert follows his father's calling.
Therefore after this generation the family business is with the
clerkly quill, and we have pages covered with facsimiles of the
curious symbols and flourishes in which the old world notaries

NOTARIAL SYMBOL OF ROBERT WEDDERBURN OF DUNDEE, 1582.

delighted, symbols of which we reproduce two for examples,
noting at the same time that, curious as they may be, they
cannot compare with the yet more intricately beautiful flour-
ishes of notaries of the south.

Alexander the first of the town clerks is allowed by the
town to hand on his office to another Alexander, his son and
heir. His arms with the arms of Helen Ramsay his wife are
carved upon a stone of which we are allowed to reproduce an
engraving. Of his prosperity we have a material sign in his
purchases of the lands of Wester Gourdie and Kingennie, the

THE WEDDERBURNS

latter estate being bought from a Guthrie in 1 600, from which
date Alexander bears the territorial style of ( Kingennie.'
Both estates are still, after three hundred years, in the hands
of the descendants of Alexander.

The last male Wedderburn of Kingennie, seventh of
that style, fifth of Powrie and third of Wedderburn, is David
Wedderburn, whose father had obtained the creation in 1708
of the lands of Easter Powrie into a free barony, to be called
the barony of Wedderburn, to the enhancement of the pride
of his house and to the confusion of genealogists who may
be persuaded thereby that the Wedderburns came again at the
last into possession of their original stammhaus. The last

CARVED STONE FROM A FIREPLACE IN THE OLD TOWN HOUSE OF THE WEDDER-
BURNS IN THE NETHERGAIT OF DUNDEE, WITH THE ARMS OF ALEXANDER WKDDER-
BURN AND HELEN RAMSAY HIS WIFE, 15901600.

Wedderburn of Kingennie is a sickly child whose ' health
may not readily allow him to goe class to a publick schoole,'
but grows up a hard-drinking, fox-hunting laird, the very
man to end a long pedigree. A family manuscript tells of a
characteristic Scots Saturday night's revel in which Kingennie
and his friends plan to drink with the minister of Strath-
martine to keep him from the morrow's pulpit. But Kin-
gennie's head is weaker than the Reverend Mr. Maxwell's,
who drinks the party out and lays them upon feather beds
round the dining table before he goes back to his manse and

58 THE ANCESTOR

his sermon making. He dies in 1761 and Kingennie goes
at last to the Scrymgeours, whose heir succeeding must bear
the shield of Wedderburn of that ilk and use the name of Wed-
derburn only.

The average Englishman peers at the history of Scotland
through one window only the novels of Sir Walter Scott.
In the history of a Scottish family he will ask what the
ancestors were doing in the time of Queen Mary, and whether
any of them rode with, or were ridden down by, the Lord
Viscount Dundee. But most of all he will ask for their
doings in the '15 and the '45, and Whig or Radical as he may
be at home in the south he will be impatient of any cowardly
reluctance on the part of eighteenth century Scotsmen to
follow the young Adventurer.

Out of such inquiry the Wedderburns come well. A
race of town clerks and notaries they were yet men of their
hands, as the Rolloks and other unsympathetic families often
found to their cost on the plainstones of Dundee. That
these Wedderburns were * well affected ' is shown by the
record of Sir John Wedderburn the physician to King Charles
the First and the Second, being knighted for his share in the
plotting for the Blessed Restoration. Not only is he knighted,
but a pension of 2,000 yearly is assigned to him, and with
a fortune rare amongst the old royalist friends of the merry
Charles he secures the payment of that pension wherewith
Sir Alexander his nephew is aided to buy Blackness, and
another nephew, Sir Peter, to buy Gosford in East Lothian.
This Peter is a lord of Session by the tide of Lord Gos-
ford. From his elder surviving son came the Wedderburn
baronets of Gosford, who took the name of Halkett on
marriage with an heir of that name, and from the younger
Wedderburn peer, Alexander, Lord Chancellor, and first and
last Earl of Rosslyn of the Wedderburn name.

More than one Wedderburn meddled with the rising of
1715, but their Jacobite adventures in 1745 are writ large.
Sir John Wedderburn, fifth baron of Blackness, was out in
the '45 and in arms at Gladsmuir. With a white cockade
in his hat, and a sword at his side, he collected excise for the
prince in Perth by beat of drum from November of that year
to the next February, when he joined the lost army as it fell
back from Derby. After Culloden we find him a prisoner
and a doomed man from his taking. He was, as he said,

TONfBSTONE IN THE HOWFF OF DUNDEE OF JAMES ANDERSON
(1511-84) AND HIS WIFR GRISRLL WKDDKRBURN (1518-72).

THE WEDDERBURNS 59

* among the elect and not to be parted with,' and he put aside
the suggestion of a petticoated prison-breaking, after the
manner of the Lord Nithsdale, with the remark that he might
as well die then as twenty years hence, and that he would not
risk disturbance and ill usage on the night before his death.
He went to the scaffold with the wonted dignity of the Briton
taken in rebellion, that dignity which, as ambassadors' letters
have told us, was the envy of the peoples of the continent.
The gallows on Kennington Common was the place of his
death, and where that gallows was is now the altar of Kenning-
ton Church. His letters before his death are the calm writings
of one at ease in his mind, and he could find the heart at the
moment when he learned that twenty-four hours measured his
span of life remaining to write one letter to his son John,
remonstrating with him for parting too early with his money,
and another to a friend regretting that his son John had * not
the true value for a shilling which is a very bad sign of thriv-
ing in one of his age.' John had served with his father and
carried a pair of colours in Lord Ogilvy's regiment, and his
doomed father feared that this ' last hair year's employment '
would unsettle his mind for business matters. Evidently
more than a little of the clerks of Dundee clung to their
descendant the Culloden rebel. It is good to learn that
master John, who fled abroad, grew to be a rich man in
Jamaica, despite his careful father's auguries. His grandson
is now Sir William Wedderburn of Balindean, whose elder
brother, with his young wife and child, were amongst the first
victims of the mutiny of 1857.

The baronet of Blackness found many kinsfolk risking
their necks on the desperate emprise. His two brothers were
amongst them. The elder, Robert Wedderburn, who was ' of
Pearsie ' in right of his wife Isobel Edward of Pearsie, raised
recruits for the Glen Proason company, whose colours were
carried by young John who had not the ' true value for a
shilling.' The Lord Ogilvy, colonel of the regiment, was
mounted by him after Culloden and helped out of the king-
dom. Pearsie himself took to the hills, from which he
descended with a protection from the Lord Justice Clerk, and
boldly attended a county meeting at Forfar. Through all
these troubles he clung to his office of Sheriff" Clerk of Angus,
and died in his own bed at Pearsie in 1786, his portrait
showing him for a fine old Scots gentleman to crack with

60 THE ANCESTOR

whom would have been meat and drink to Sir Walter.
Thomas Wedderburn was the third of these craigs in peril.
He was at Culloden with Sir John his brother, but came safely
away, and to our astonishment as we read, went on with his
daily work as collector of excise. His son followed his first
cousin to Jamaica, and like him came by a fortune there.
Fourth in descent from this Jamaica planter is Mr. Alexander
Wedderburn, the historian of the family.

We have already spoken of the infinite labour which
Mr. Wedderburn has bestowed on this history. For this
labour a survey of his two volumes should repay him. He
has put on record for his family a multitude of accurately
transcribed and judiciously edited muniments of the most
varied kinds, and to the English speaking public he has given
a book which will always remain a storehouse of curious
knowledge of Scottish life for the last five centuries. The
family letters alone go far to this end. Let us close our
appreciation with a transcript of one which comes nearer to
literature than to history Thomas Wedderburn's letter
written to his wife Katherine Dunbar as he lay in his Inverness
quarters before Culloden.

MY DEAR,

I am just now come to my Quarters, its about Eleven at night. There
is nothing in my mind, but God and you. I cannot go to Bed until I tell
you, that I never think myself entire but when I am with you. I would be
very happy if 1 could now Lye Down in your Arms. I shall Lye down with
regret : With no more Comfort, than my Conscience can affoord. I Bless
God for the peace of mind I have. And for the gracious assistance he has
given me by you. Our engagements are such, that we must be Happy, or
not, in Excess ; I do think that Indifferency, if ever w allow it to
Enter our Minds, would soon turn to Hate. You do give me, and can con-
tinue to me, all the pleasure that a Wife I Love can give ; you affoord me all
the Happiness that a Virtuous Companion can produce in a mind already
full of you. It is in your power, to make me more miserable than I can
tell you. It is beyond Expression, it is more than possible you can Imagine.
I am satisfied of the Truth and Strength of our Affection, and hope it shall
end only with Life itself. In the strictest Truth of my Heart, I assure you,
I am wholly yours.

Now I am just going to Bed. I know not if ever I shall Sleep ; or if I
do Sleep, I know not if I shall ever Awake, it may be the Sleep of Death. I
thank God for his past Mercies. I beg a Continuance of them. I cannot
Breath, once, without them. This is a serious Subject, but it is what one
will reflect upon, if we Die as we would wish, not a sudden Death. From
which Good Lord deliver us.

God Bless you and our Dear Boy. I am

Your affectionate and faithfull Husband

THO S WEDDERBURN.

THE WEDDERBURNS

More than a century and a half since Thomas Wedderburn
sat down to write this letter in his Inverness quarters, but
nevertheless one feels an indiscreet peeper as one reads it.
In a line here and there, in the phrase of the ' Virtuous Com-
panion,' there is a flavour of the eighteenth century, the
eighteenth century of hairpowder and of Samuel Richardson,
but the rest is a true lover's letter, purely and simply pathetic.
If a Wedderburn had to suffer on Kennington Common, one
is glad that brave Sir John, the last steadfast thoughts of
whose blunt mind were bent upon rebuking his boy's lavish-
ness with his pocket money, was the Wedderburn chosen, and
that Thomas Wedderburn gat him safe home again after Cullo-
den to the arms of Katharine Dunbar.

PEWTER Box DATED 1600 WHICH BELONGED TO CATHERINE WEDDERBURN
WITH THE ARMS OF WEDDERBURN AND DuNCAN. SHE WAS WIFE OF WlLLIAM
DUNCAN, SURGEON, OF DUNDEE.

62 THE ANCESTOR

THE VALUE OF WELSH PEDIGREES

BEFORE further developing my views on this subject it
seems advisable to make some answer to the criticisms
which have been made on my previous article by Mr. Edward
Owen in the April number or Archteologia Cambrensis and by
Mr. Round in the last volume of 'The Ancestor, though by so
doing I shall have to anticipate the future course of my
argument.

Mr. Owen appears to suggest that a critical knowledge of
Welsh is a necessary qualification for a student of Welsh
pedigrees. So far as I am aware, with the exception of the
chronicles and similar works (some of which have been trans-
lated), there are no f records,' properly so called, written in
Welsh. It is easy to learn enough of the language to under-
stand the pedigrees themselves, and I trust that no one who is
sufficiently interested in the subject to test them by evidence of
record, by which means alone it is possible to arrive at a true
conclusion as to their value, will be discouraged from so doing
by Mr. Owen's remarks.

The principal points I desired to prove were : Firstly,
that the provisions of the Welsh laws practically necessitated
that pedigrees should be officially kept ; and, secondly, that
there were certain persons whose duty it was to keep those
pedigrees. The anomalous laws which I quoted in favour of
the second point are no doubt forgeries, in so far as they are
not the work of Dyfnal Moelmud ; taking them at their
worst they are a collection of legal maxims made at the be-
ginning of the seventeenth century, and therefore they seem
to be a sufficiently good authority as to the state of matters
in the middle of the sixteenth century when the Welsh laws
and customs were with certain exceptions abolished. It
therefore appears that a system of pedigree keeping by { the
Bards ' was at that period in full working order, and such
system being rendered necessary by the laws of Howell dha,
and the Bardic order being independent of such laws, it seems
a reasonable conclusion that pedigrees had been systematically

THE VALUE OF WELSH PEDIGREES 63

kept during the continuance of the laws. There is however
other evidence that can be adduced on this point if necessary.

Let me assure Mr. Round that I had no intention of * re-
buking' him for seeking contemporary evidence ; the more
Welsh pedigrees are tested the better, whether they be proved
or disproved. As an important critical principle is involved
it is well to be quite clear. Mr. Round says : x ' . . . We come
to Gerald de Windsor. . . . Gerald " Cambrensis " styles him
on one occasion " Geraldus de Windesora." This appears to be
the only ground for making him a son of Walter Fitz Other.'

This Mr. Round proceeds to do, but surely not only on the
ground last mentioned. I am unwilling to believe that such a
casual allusion would by itself have satisfied so exacting a critic,
had he not, perhaps unconsciously, been influenced by the
received pedigrees. As confirmatory evidence of them, the
allusion has possibly a certain weight. We have however two
independent pedigrees in the Harleian Roll and 'The Golden
Grove from two independent sources ; adding to this the
evidence of Giraldus' allusion it seems permissible to hold that
the three separate links form a sufficiently strong chain to
stand the requisite test.

Mr. Round styles Dr. Gwenogvryn Evans a ( Welsh expert,'
and seems to place great reliance on his opinion on the value of
Welsh pedigrees, which opinion appears in the introduction to
his admirable report on the Peniarth MSS., and does not seem
to have been founded on any evidence but that afforded by the
pedigrees themselves. Mr. Owen on the other hand has stated
that * an enquiry ' (into the historical accuracy of Welsh pedi-
grees in general) * is urgently needed in view of the uncritical
remarks of the Historical Manuscripts Commissioner in the
preface to his report upon the Peniarth MSS.' Let Dr. Evans
speak for himself. c When a pedigree reaches back beyond the
third generation of the time in which it was originally drawn
up, unless supported by independent documentary evidence, the
work of even the most honest man cannot be trusted. Take
for instance the vellum roll (some seven yards long) of pedi-
grees at Mostyn Hall in the hand of Guttyn, a man thoroughly
trustworthy as to matters of his own time, and yet in that roll
certain pedigrees are traced back to Adam son of God without
any conscious sense of the incongruous.' The first part of

1 Ancestor, ii. 94, 95.

64 THE ANCESTOR

this certainly needs modification, for before surnames became
fixed in Wales a Welshman as a rule carried in his name at
least three generations, so that on the ordinary assumption that
a man knows his grandfather, an individual's statement may
be relied on for at least five generations.

Dr. Evans further appears to assume that a pedigree must
be accepted as a whole or not at all, and that the extravagances
which are introduced into pedigrees of the class of which he
gives an example render the rest utterly untrustworthy. With
this I cannot agree. Taking a point rather lower down, * Brutus
ap Silvius as Geoffrey of Monmouth, first monarch of Britain,'
who frequently heads these family pedigrees, it will be found that
there are very few lines brought down from him, and that his
legendary descendants (say about the fifth century A.D.) are by
no means numerous the inference being that the traditional
chieftains of that period had ancestors tacked on to them for
the purpose of making them of equal genealogical importance.
In these legendary pedigrees the curious will find many scraps
of strange lore which may prove of interest to mythologists.
But if I am right in concluding that the laws of Howell dha
necessitated the keeping of pedigrees it follows that a line may
be drawn about the middle of the tenth century above which
tradition and legend must be allowed free play, while below it
another state of things may be expected. I have pointed out
that there is now in existence a contemporary collection of
pedigrees of the tenth century, others of the fourteenth,
several of the fifteenth and sixteenth, and any number of
later ones, so that it appears a fair conclusion that the process
of compilation has been going on continuously from very early
times, and that each fresh writer has added to the material he
found to hand matters within his own knowledge. That there
are forgeries is probable, that there are mistakes in compilation
is only to be expected, and that there are conflicting author-
ities on some points is certain.

The allowances I say must be made for these pedigrees are
no doubt serious the omissions of generations and affiliations
to step-parents and parents-in-law in particular. 1 These may
be to some extent discounted by a collation of the various col-
lections of pedigrees. I cannot agree with Mr. Round that
the removal of dates and facts does away with what is * virtu-

1 My second ' axiom ' should have read, * An individual is occasionally
affiliated to ... one of his wife's parents and one of his own.

THE VALUE OF WELSH PEDIGREES 65

ally the sole test that we can apply to the value of these
pedigrees.' I believe that in their original state they consisted
merely of a string of names, and that the dates and facts were
later additions ; in many cases they are correct, but it seems
better to make a clean sweep and put in the true details afresh.
Mr. Round is unlucky in the illustration he adduces in sup-
port of his views, for, doubtless most unfortunately for him-
self, Cynfyn, Lord of Powys and Earl of Chester, 1 instead of
living somewhere about the beginning of the twelfth century,
as Mr. Round says he must have done, died before 1070 (the
date at which the first real Earl of Chester known to G.E.C.
became so), unless he managed to survive marriage with a
widow fifty years.

Here I must now stop ; on another occasion I hope to
show how a Welsh pedigree may be tested : firstly by com-
paring the different collections, and secondly by the application
of record evidence, for so far am I from undervaluing records,
that I fully recognize that by this latter test must Welsh pedi-
grees ultimately stand or fall.

H. J. T. WOOD.

1 This is of course merely a translation of 'Arglwydd Powys a larll
Caerleon.'

66 THE ANCESTOR

TWO ANCIENT PETITIONS FROM THE
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

ANOSTRE seygnur le Rey, vous monstre . . . s vostre
surizian, cum il feust lautre jour a son peyse vostre
conge, vindrent genz de pays a ly, e se pleindrerent de
. . . liour de dyme dener, scet a dire monsire Roger de Swy-
nerton, ke il aveit pris autrement ke il ne deveit fere, ceo est a
dire en chesconne vile marchaunde, C. souz, ou plus, e sur
chescune autre vile petyte, solum ceo ke la vyle feust riche.
E, outre ceo, il aveit fest crier grosse monee, e peisa lour mone
encontre cele grosse monee, ke touz jors aveit il de deinz vint
souz deus souz, ke bien amounte a cente liveres, e saunz
ceo il est coronner de payse. E pris ke il ad este en le office
ad il pris C. mars ou plus, a ceo ke gentz du payse dient.

Sire, fetes enquere vostre dreit par leaus justices, e vous
troveret ke ceo est en la manere cum ieo vous ai fet entendaunt,
eel meymes chivaler ki vynt ove vous en Gales saunz armure
ove ki vous futes courtuce.

[Endorsed'}

Tradatur peticio baronibus scaccarii, et fiat ibi execucio in
debita forma pro statu regis bono processu. 1

TRANSLATION. To our lord the King Your * surizian '
. . . shows you that when he was the other day at his coun-
try, (by) your leave, the people of the country came to him
and complained of (? the collector) of the tenth penny, that is
to say, of Sir Roger de Swynerton, that he had taken other-
wise than he ought to have done, that is to say, in each
merchant town one hundred sous or more and in each other
little town according as the town was rich. And besides this
(that) he had caused gross money to be proclaimed, and taken
their money against that gross money, and that thus he always
gained two sous in twenty sous, which easily amounted to one
hundred pounds ; and this without his being coroner of the

1 Ancient Petitions, No. E. 25, Record Office.

TWO ANCIENT PETITIONS 67

country, and that since he has been in the office, he has taken
100 marcs or more, according to what people of the country
say.

Sire, make enquiry into your rights by loyal justices, and
you will find that this is so, as I have given you to under-
stand. That same knight who came to you into Wales with-
out armour, to whom you were courteous.

NOTE. This curious complaint, addressed to the king himself, cannot
be said to be strictly anonymous, for in his last sentence the writer reveals his
identity in a clue which, though it may have been inscrutable to private
secretaries, would be clear enough to the king. 'That knight who came to
you into Wales without armour, and to whom you were courteous.' There
was an expedition into Wales in the spring of 1295, and to that expedition the
knight probably refers. What is certain is that the events complained of
occurred in the year in which King Edward I. was levying a tenth penny on
all his liege subjects, for it was in connection with the collection of that tenth
penny that the trouble arose. Furthermore, the collector whose exactions are
challenged was Roger de Swynnerton. And thus it comes that the following
information taken from the Patent Rolls and the Parliamentary Writs helps us
to the exact date of the petition :

In 1294, ROGER DE SWYNNERTON, Knight, is appointed assessor and
collector in the county of Stafford of the TENTH granted in Parliament at
Westminster on the morrow of St. Martin, 1 2th November, his com-
mission being tested the same day. 1

It is not likely that Roger de Swynnerton accompanied the army into
Wales in the ensuing spring, as he was then busy in the king's service in the
county. The petition intimates that he was also made king's coroner while in
the discharge of those duties, and that was probably so, because at the time of
his death, early in 1298, on 8 February, the king's close writ is issued
to the sheriff to cause another coroner to be elected in his stead. 2 A.D. 1 295
therefore would be the date of the armourless knight's petition of complaint.

Who was the ' knight without armour ' who made it his business to inform
thus against one of his neighbours ? His actual name is not disclosed, but it
is possible to solve his secret all the same. He calls himself the king's surizian
by which I understand that he was a king's suzerain, that is, a tenant of
the king holding land of him directly in chief. He seems to have got leave, a
few days before, to visit his own county, which was certainly the county of
Stafford. He was also apparently a man of some local importance, for the
people came and complained to him that Sir Roger de Swynnerton had
oppressed them, exacting more from them than was due all through the
county, 100 sous or more from large towns and proportionately from small,
and:above all weighing their light money, their dipped and sweated coins,
against * gross money,' thus clearing 10 per cent for himself or fully 100.

1 Rot. Pat. 22 Edw. I. m. 2 ; Parliamentary Writs, i. 27.
2 Rot. Glaus. 26 Edw. I.

68 THE ANCESTOR

All this, say they, he did before he was even appointed coroner, while after
his appointment he took for himself loo marcs or more.

And then our knight sauns armure closes his anonymous report thus :
* Sire, enquire into your rights by lawful justices and you will find that all
this is just as I have said. The same knight who came to you into Wales without
armour, and to whom you were courteous'

The necessary conditions we find fulfilled in the person of a certain knight
named Sir Robert de Standon who was an enemy of the king's coroner Roger
de Swynnerton, whose manor of Standon adjoined the manor of Swynnerton,
and who, in addition to his other lands held of the barony of Stafford, held
also three virgates of land in Fenton directly of the king himself, which his
father Vivian de Standon had inherited as heir of his kinswoman Philippe de
Fenton in 25 Henry III.

Between the two families, the Swynnertons and the Standons, existed a
long and a bitter feud of which the Plea Rolls of the time afford ample
evidence. As early as 1 247 they were at law with each other respecting
their respective rights to common of pasture on Swynnerton Heath. A
final concord was made at Lichfield on 3 February, 1248, by which the
Standons were to have reasonable common of pasture for all kinds of cattle,
and their villeins for all kinds except swine, while the Swynnertons were to be
at liberty to break up and cultivate the half of the heath towards the north,
the Standons agreeing to pay the Swynnertons for pasture a rent of 4? . yearly
at Swynnerton. 1

The dispute came before the courts again in I276, 2 and in the next reign
in the year 1322, when other causes had conspired to embitter the feud, we
have the evidence of a curious endenture in Norman French, still existing, to
prove the existence of long-standing injuries inflicted admittedly by the
Standons upon the Swynnertons. The indenture bears testimony that Vivian
de Standon (the son of Robert above-named) with certain of his friends had
bound themselves in a sum of 500 marcs to Roger de Swynnerton by a recog-
nizance made in the Chancellery of the Lord the King, Edward the son of
Edward, the second day of May in the year of his reign the fifteenth, of
which 500 marcs Roger de Swynnerton had received and acknowledged the
sum of 330 marcs, and it goes on to say that the said Roger grants for himself,
his heirs, etc., that if the said Vivian de Standon will conduct himself to him
well and decently as one neighbour should do to another in word and
deed and do him no damage in goods, or any other manner of wrong, 3
that then the said recognizance of 500 marcs shall be of no force for ever, and
that Vivian de Standon for his part grants for himself, his heirs, etc., that if it
can be lawfully shown that he injures Roger de Swynnerton in any way
against the form aforesaid that then the recognizance as regards the balance
unpaid, namely 160 marcs of the 500 marcs, shall stand, in whatsoever hands
it may be found. The principal witness to this remarkable instrument is
* Monsire James de Audeley,' afterwards to be so famous as the hero of Poictiers.

1 Rot. Pat. 22 Edw. I. m. 2 ; Parliamentary Writs, i. 27.

2 Rot. Clam. 26 Edw. I.

3 Qe si il soy porte bien a ly et convenablement come veysin fera a
autre en dit et en fait et ne soydoyne centre lui en meyntenaunce a null ou
en autre maner a tort qe le dit reconisaunce, etc.

TWO ANCIENT PETITIONS 69

The date-clause runs as follows : ' Escrit a Swynnerton le lundy procheyne
apres la feste de la Translation de Seynt Thomas le Martir 1'an de Nostre
Seygnour mil trescents vynt 2 ime (1322).

On the whole, therefore, it will be seen that there are cogent reasons
for supposing that the knight who laid anonymous charges with King
Edward I. against Sir Roger de Swynnerton the elder, the collector of the
tenth in the county of Stafford, was Sir Robert de Standon, one of the
king's suzerains, and that he was the cbivaler sans armure in the expedition
into Wales of 1295.!

A gardeyne Dengleterre et au consail nostre seigneur le Roi
mostre Roger de Swynnerton que come nostre seigneur le Roi
li avoit graunte un oier et terminer a monsire Johan de Somery
et monsire Rauf Basset en le Conte de Stafford vers Willam
de Chetelton et autres pluseur trespaseurs de ceo qil debruser-
ent les portes de ces maners et les entrerent en divers leus, et
ses gentz illeqes trovez baterent, et asquines enpristrent et
amnerent et emprisonerent, et ces biens et chateux a graunt
sume pristrent et emporterunt par divers feetz, et estre ceo un
Alisaundre son baillif tuerent et un Richard son frere mahem-
erent et nafrerent taunqz ala mort, et qaunt le dit Roger pa li et
les seons vodraient le dit briefes et ses autres besoignes en le
pais seure le dit Willam od graunt multitude des mesfisours,
armes a chyval et a pe vount de iour et nuit gaitant le dit
Roger et les seons qil ne se osent mostrer nule part, et mettont
le peeple de celes parties en tiel effrai que nul nose venir par
sumonnse ne par attachement devaunt les Ministres de Roi a
conustre ne iurer de chose que les touche tauntz remedie seit
mis et mesqz nostre seigneur le Roi maunda a viscounte par son
brief qil feit defendre tieux chivauchez et effraiz et nomement
devers de dit Roger et les seons, et qil feit attacher les tres-
pasours si nuls fussent trouer le dit Willam ouesque les tres-
passeurs avaunt ditz nount cesse pr le defens le dit Viscounte,
ne il nest de poer de les attacher ne arester. Parquei il prie
qe tiel remedie seit ordene que la pees seit meintennez et que
le peeple purra illeges dreit et lei avoir. 2

NOTE. The former petition belonged to the settled reign of Edward I.
This pictures the civil disorders of the reign of his son. The petitioner i*
Roger the son and successor of the Roger de Swynnerton already spoken of,
and the subject of his complaint in the obstruction and the violence which he

1 Standon Deeds, No. 6, in original at the Stafford Library.
2 Record Office, No. 7812.

70 THE ANCESTOR

encountered in the discharge of his office as conservator of the peace for the
county of Stafford. Associated with him for the hearing and determining of
cases were John de Somery and Ralf Basset, while one of the chiefs of the
party hostile to them and the king was William lord of Chetelton.

The date of the petition, in this case also, can be fixed exactly. It was
presented in 13 Edward II. 1319 20, which belonged to a period of great
disturbance, when Staffordshire, and probably other counties as well, were
practically under martial law. Roger de Swynnerton, then governor of the
king's town of Stafford, had been entrusted with the superior custody of the
peace throughout the county, to do and to exercise those things which should
tend to the fullest preservation of the same peace, as well for the king's honour
and advantage as for the tranquillity of the people of those parts. 1

The petition translates thus :

To the guardian of England and to the council of our
Lord the King Roger de Swynnerton showeth, that, inasmuch
as he has granted to him an oyer and terminer (as well as) to
Sir John de Somery and to Sir Raufe Basset in the county of
Stafford against William de Chetelton and several other
offenders who had broken down the gates of his manors and
entered them in divers places and his people there found they
had beaten and some of them they had seized and led away
and imprisoned, and his goods and chattels to a great sum they
had carried off by divers deeds, and besides this one Alexander
his bailiff they had slain, and one Richard his brother they
had maimed and beaten almost to death, and when the said
Roger and his people wanted to serve his briefs and do his
other business in the country in peace, the said William, with a
great multitude of armed malefactors, on horse and on foot,
came day and night, lying in wait for the said Roger and his
people, so that they dared not show themselves anywhere,
and they put the people of those parts in such fear that none
dare come for summons or for attachments before the officers
of the king to make known or to swear anything that touches
them unless a remedy be found, and although our lord the
king ordered the sheriff by his brief that he should forbid
such raids and such outrages and especially against the said
Roger and his people aforesaid, yet they have not at the inter-
diction of the said sheriff desisted, nor has he any power to
attach or to arrest them. He therefore prays that such remedy
be ordered that the peace may be kept, and the people there
have their right and their law.

Such was the knight's petition. The date of it can be

1 Patent Rotlt, 1 2 Edw. II. m. 1 7.

TWO ANCIENT PETITIONS 71

fixed within a month. It will be observed that it is addressed
to the Guardian, that is the Regent of England, and to the
king's council. That necessarily means that it was presented
at a time when the king was absent from the realm, and the
particular occasion implied in this document must have been
the short period of his absence in the summer of 1320, when
he crossed the Channel to do homage to Philip V. for his pos-
sessions in France, leaving Aymer de Valance regent of the
kingdom. He was only absent a little over a month, for he
sailed on 19 June and returned on 22 July. 1 The petition
was sent in during that short interval, namely between 1 9 June
and 22 July, 1320, and the corroborative evidence that this
must have been the case is found in the following extracts from
the Rolls.

(1) At an assize held in 17 Edw. II. 1323-4, the Hundred of Offelow
presented that James son of William de Stafford and John his brother, on the
occasion of the contention between James de Stafford and the Swynnertons,
had assembled a great number of armed men, both horse and foot, in the \^th year
of the present reign (1318-9) and had attacked and ill-treated RICHARD de
SWYNNERTON at Ecckshall ; that they were at Burton and Boroughbridge assist-
ing the Earl of Lancaster ; and that WILLIAM, LORD OF CHETELTON, Nicholas
de Langfbrd, knight, and John de Twyfbrd, knight, are common malefactors
and disturbers of the peace, and that they were with arms and horses in the society
of the said James and John de Stafford?

(2) The king, at the intercession of Nicolas de Verdon, subsequently
(October 27, 1322) pardoned James and John de Stafford, the sons of William
de Stafford, junior, for certain of these crimes, and especially for the death of
Alexander [the bailiff ] of Swynnerton by them slain, and also for the outlawry
pronounced against them. 3

A comparison of these various evidences, therefore, clearly
shows that the { petition * in point must have been forwarded
after 12 Edw. II. 1318-9. And the fact that it was pre-
sented to the regent and not to the king himself fixes its date
between the narrow limits of 19 June, 1320, the date of the
king's departure for France, and 22 July of the same year,
the date of his return.

CHARLES SWYNNERTON.

1 Feed. ii. 428 ; Parl Writs, II. ii. 146.

3 Staff. Coll. vii. pt. 2, 23.

3 Pat. Rolls, 14 Edw. II. m. 19. Dated at York, 27 Oct.

72 THE ANCESTOR

CASTLE-GUARD

IN a paper entitled ' Castle-guard,' which I read before the
Royal Archaeological Institute some time ago, 1 I advanced
the suggestion { that if we find castle-guard commuted at the
rate of eightpence a day, we may fairly infer that this com-
mutation was effected at a time when eightpence a day was the
recognized value of the service, that is, under Henry II.'
Since the appearance of this paper the Catalogue of Ancient Deeds y
issued by the Public Record Office, has brought to light the
record of an actual case of commutation, and this transaction
can be shown to belong to the reign of Henry II. The
English abstract given in the Catalogue faithfully reproduces
the terms, but the document is of such exceptional importance
that I shall here give the actual text :

Notum sit tarn presentibus quam futuris quod ego Man' Arsic clamo
quietum Gill[ebertu]m filium Johannis Marescall . . . et heredes suos de me
et de heredibus meis de Warda sua de Doura pro x s[olidis] quos mihi debet
reddere singulis annis proxima die dominica post clausum Pasche vel ballivo
meo apud Cogas' T[estibus] Marg[areta] uxore mea ; Alberico Arsic patruo
meo ; Willelmo Arsic fratre meo ; Unfrido de Bertona . . . Et ex parte Gill-
[eberti] Ade (sic) de Pirit ' (and 8 others ending with 'Thoma de Piritona').

With the genealogical value of this document I have dealt
in another place ; what we have here to deal with is its
evidence on castle-guard. And, first, as to its date. Gilbert
was the son of that John the Marshal who played so prominent
a part as a supporter of the empress under Stephen, and who
seems to have died in the year 1165. Gilbert is returned in
the carte of 1166 as holding a knight's fee under the Bishop
of Exeter, a another under Richard de Chandos, 3 and one under
Manasser Arsic, in which he had succeeded his father John. 4
But on the Pipe Roll of October in that year, although he is
charged with 100 for his share of his father's lands, a note
adds that he is dead (p. 95). Thus, as he held under Arsic in
succession to his father, the date of this charter is narrowed
down to n65-6. 5

1 It was subsequently published in the A rchteokgical Journal (June, 1902).

2 Red Book of the Exchequer, p. 250. 3 Ibid. p. 284. 4 Ibid. p. 304.
6 In his edition of Fhistoire de Guillaume le Marechal (1901) M. Meyer

CASTLE-GUARD 73

Coggs (Oxon) was the head of the Arsic barony (held in
1165-6 by Manasser Arsic), and the holding to which the
charter relates is identified by the endorsement * Swindon.'
Mr. Maskelyne, the editor, who, like myself, has not enjoyed
the advantage of ' Advanced Historical Teaching,' has no hesita-
tion in making this to be f Swindon, co. Wilts.' 1 But if he had
consulted the index to the Red Book of the Exchequer (p. 1322)
he would have learnt that the * Suindone ' which owed ward
to Dover (as part of the Arsic barony) was Sevington (in
Kent) ! He would have learnt also from the same work
that, of the other fees in this barony, * Ramesham ' is Faver-
sham in Kent, that * Karsintone ' may be Keston in Kent, that
* Baselcote ' also is in Kent, and that c Bartone ' is there also.
The odd thing, however, is that these places are respectively
Rampisham in Dorset ; Cassington, Oxon ; Balscote, Oxon ;
and Barton Ede, Oxon ; Coggs, the head of the barony, being
also in co. Oxon. These identities are certain, being proved,
strangely enough, by the very test which Mr. Hall alleges
himself to have applied ; for they had all alike been held by
Wadard, the Domesday predecessor of the Arsics. We read,
for instance, in the Red Book preface :

The place-names in this Index have in fact been subjected in turn to a
three-fold scrutiny. In the first place the apparent form was ascertained by
means of topographical indexes and maps ; secondly, these selected forms were
checked by reference to printed records and county histories ; finally, they
were subjected to a new and independent scrutiny by ascertaining whether
the tenants or proprietors mentioned in the text agreed with those recorded
in Domesday Book, etc., etc.

It has taken many months to identify, even partially, the Kentish place-
names alone, for three separate lists occur of the ward-fees of Dover castle in
which the several place-names often bear neither the faintest resemblance to
one another nor to the modern forms, which, moreover, do not always exist
(pp. ccclxxix., ccclxxxii.).

Just so. If in defiance of county histories, of Domesday
Book, and of feudal evidence, you persist in trying to dis-
cover in Kent places which belong to other counties, you will
naturally find that the modern forms upon which you pitch
for the purpose will be sometimes destitute of * the faintest

observes that * M. Round a etabli dans une lettre publiee par le journal
The Academy (9 Juillet, 1892) que Jean le Marechal etait mort dSs 1165 et
qu'il avait Iaiss6 ses biens a ses fils Gilbert et Jean ' (iii. 2).

1 Two of the witnesses are named from the neighbouring village of
Purton, the * Piritone ' of Domesday. Thomas de * Peritone ' held one fee
under Arsic in 1 1 66.

74 THE ANCESTOR

resemblance ' to the names of which you are in search. And
you are likely to expend ' many months ' on your curiously
wrong-headed labour.

Since I called public attention to the strange results of this
delusion and to the havoc it made of local history, one of
Mr. Hall's ablest colleagues has been led, we have seen, like
myself, to identify Swindon with Swindon and not with Sev-
ington in Kent. It will be seen, therefore, that when my
criticism is actually put to the test, its justice is recognized
from within the walls of the Public Record Office itself. It
has also, as I write, been recognized even more emphatically
from within those of the British Museum. In his eagerness
to vindicate Swereford's knowledge of all Exchequer matters
Mr. Hall devoted a part of his preface to the official edition
of the Liber Rubeus to an ex pane attempt to dispute my views
on the antiquity of scutage. 1 Admitting that it * really matters
very little except for clearing Swereford's reputation,' 3 he
endeavoured to discredit my own evidence, and insisted that
even if genuine, it pointed to a levy which 'was no real
scutage in the sense of so much per fee of every knight . . .
but was a lump sum levied as a " common assize " from all
the military tenants of a single barony ' (p. clvi.). I replied
to this by a paper on c The antiquity of scutage,' 3 in which
I printed additional evidence including, as * the most con-
clusive document,' the British Museum charter, Cotton MS.
Nero, C. iii. fo. 228, which cannot be later than 1149, m
which I italicized the words :

excepto scutagio quod quando evenerit unum militem dare xx solidos tune
ilia det ii solidos. Si miles unus i marcam, ilia xvi denarios

as proving ' that scutage was so established an institution in the
days of Stephen that it was levied at either a marc or a pound
on the knight's fee, just as it would be under Henry II. ; the
system, in short, was fully developed.'* Mr. Hall, in the coun-

1 Red Book of the Exchequer, pp. cli.-clvi.

3 This is the wrong-headed view that Mr. Hall persisted in taking, speak-
ing for instance of it as * one of the heaviest charges under which Swereford
. . . lies at present undefended.' There is of course no charge whatever
against Swereford's * reputation ' or veracity. He merely confessed his ignor-
ance of any evidence on the subject, which evidence has now been brought to
light and which Mr. Hall has attempted in vain to discredit and stifle, in the
interest, one must presume, of * Advanced Historical Teaching.'

3 Studies on the Red Book of the Exchequer, pp. 1-16. 4 Ibid. p. 8.

CASTLE-GUARD 75

terblast he issued privately, replied that it was ' curious to find '
me seriously citing ' forgeries,' the evidence of which he ridi-
culed, without deigning to discuss them. 1

But what is the official verdict of the British Museum
authorities ? Selecting the above charter for special exhibition
they drew particular attention to its important mention of
scutage (see the official guide to the MSS. p. 40) ; and now
they have selected it for inclusion in their noble volume of
Facsimiles of Royal and other Charters in the British Museum (vol.
i.), as among those as to which * there is no question as to
the genuineness/ Moreover in their comments on this
charter, the official editors observe that

The institution of scutage has generally been attributed to Henry II. in
or about 1 156 ; but it is here found in force in Stephen's reign, probably at
least ten years earlier. Reading Abbey was in fact exempted from it by a
charter of Henry I. (Round, Feudal England, p. 268) ; and it is also men-
tioned in an interesting series of charters of Newhouse Abbey, co. Line.,
circ. 1150-5.*

The genuineness of my evidence and the justice of my conclu-
sion is thus triumphantly vindicated, and it follows, to quote
Mr. Hall's words, that the c familiar view of the institution of
scutage in the reign of Henry II. must be henceforth for ever
abandoned.' 3

Here then we see Mr. Hall endeavouring in vain to throw
doubt on evidence distasteful to himself, which enables us to
make an important advance in our knowledge of institutional
history. In the same work, when editing the documents
which I had shown to belong to the great Inquest of Sheriffs
(i 170), although it had been supposed that no such documents
existed, he similarly endeavoured to reject my discovery and
brought forward a hopelessly wrong alternative view of his
own. 4 Here again historians appear to accept, without ques-
tion, my own identification of these interesting records. 5 One
has surely a right to protest when an editor, who thus betrays
his incorrigible wrongheadedness and his inability to interpret
rightly the documents with which he has to deal, comes for-
ward to teach us how documents should be edited and to insist

1 The Commune of London and other Studies, p. xvi.
3 Notes to charter 1 7.

3 Red Book of the Exchequer, p. clii.

4 See The Commune of London, pp. 125-36.

5 See, for instance, Sir James Ramsay's The Angevin Empire (1903), p. 1 1 8.

76 THE ANCESTOR

upon our need in the matter for ' advanced historical teaching ' !
' Diplomatics ' is a beautiful word, but it does not and it cannot
act as a substitute for logic and for common sense. It is not a
personal but a public matter when the public is asked to sub-
scribe in the name of historical teaching to the propagation of
such editing as that of the Liber Rubeus.

So far back as 1895 there appeared in the Transactions of
the Royal Historical Society a paper on * The progress of His-
torical Research * written, one presumes, by its Director in
which it was pointed out that ' it is useless to spend hundreds
and thousands of pounds (as we have done, and in some cases
are still doing) on the publication of historical texts ' by un-
qualified editors, the results being seen inter alia in many topo-
graphical and philological absurdities ' (p. 274). So far as
topographical absurdities are concerned, I think we may fairly
concur in this expression of opinion when we examine the Dover
ward lists in the Red Book of the Exchequer. It was also urged,
with good reason, that { the editor must interpret the cipher
(sic) of the scribe by means of the most approved methods of
historical, genealogical, topographical and philological learn-
ing.' * And the attention of the Fellows was called to the
subject as c one which will inevitably attract much notice during
the next few years.' The prophecy fulfilled itself. In the 1902
volume a part of the Presidential address is devoted to that ful-
filment. 2 The President referred to the above paper as having
brought forward * the importance of encouraging the higher
and more professional study of history, of establishing courses
for the scientific training of students,' explained how * the
Council of the Society took the matter up,' and insisted
that 'the connection of the Royal Historical Society with
the movement has been in reality close throughout.' The
result of much anxious work and of collecting subscriptions
for the end in view was the establishment of * a lectureship
in Palaeography, Diplomatics and Historical Sources,' to
which one may add the information, which is not there
found, that the lecturer appointed was the society's own
Director and Hon. Sec., Mr. Hubert Hall.

If it should be said that by this appointment the society
has signified its approval of the editing of the Liber Rubeus

1 Compare here Ancestor, i. 193 note.

2 'Transactions, vol. xvi. pp. xviii-xxiii.

CASTLE-GUARD 77

one can only emphatically say 'so much the worse for the
society.' But the qualification exacted of its Fellows is hardly
such as would entitle them to express an opinion in the
matter.

To return to Castle-guard. The paper I contributed on
the subject to the Archaeological Journal had for its main
object demonstration of the value for county history of pay-
ments for castle-guard, which often enable us, when in doubt,
to identify a manor and to trace its feudal descent. Recently,
for instance, I have noted a payment to the castle-guard of
Lancaster from Nether Broughton, Leicestershire. This place
was not originally connected with Lancaster or its Honour,
but, through its grant by Henry I. to Stephen, Count of
Mortain, became so connected and is found about the mid-
dle of the twelfth century in the hands of the Bussel family,
barons of Penwortham, Lanes. That this place should owe
guard to a castle so far distant is a further reminder of the
folly of trying to locate in Kent places which happened to
owe castle-guard to Dover. But indeed the adjacent county
of Northampton supplies a striking instance in point.
For Hartwell in that county provided two knights towards
the guard of the no less distant fortress of Dover. 1 Need
one add that the editor of the Red Book of the Exchequer
places it without hesitation in Kent, although he can find in that
county no place of the name ? This, however, is no obstacle,
for he would doubtless claim it as one of those names which, as he
somewhat obscurely observes, * do not always exist.' 3 In vain
does Domesday enable us to explain the connection between
Hartwell and Dover ; in vain did the historian of Northamp-
tonshire, in the eighteenth century, record that Hartwell owed
this service 3 ; c Advanced Historical Teaching ' has altered
all that.

In the name of those topographical studies with which the
Ancestor concerns itself, I again call on the responsible authori-
ties to withdraw promptly from circulation their edition of a
work which the county historian is bound continually to use,
and of which that edition, if he trusts it, will lead him into
wanton error.

1 See the Victoria History of Northamptonshire, i. 295.

a See p. 73 above.

3 Bridges' Northamptonshire, i. 303.

78 THE ANCESTOR

APPENDIX

For the convenience of those who may have occasion to use the Red Book
of the Exchequer in their historical work, I append a list of the principal criti-
cisms and corrections I have as yet published on the official edition.

' The surrender of the Isle of Wight ' (Geneakgical Magazine, i. I et
seq.)

* The Antiquity of Scutage ' (Studies on the Red Book of the Exchequer, pp.
1-16)

' The Red Book of the Exchequer ' [general criticism] (ibid. pp. 1 7-
66)

'Alexander Swereford' [his authority] (ibid. pp. 67-91)

* The Red Book of the Exchequer ' [genealogical criticism] (Genea&giit
[N.S.], xiv. 1-9)

'The Inquest of Sheriffs' (Commune of London, pp. 12536)

'The Coronation of Richard I.' (ibid. pp. 2016)

'The great inquest of service ' [1212] (ibid. pp. 26177)

' Castle-ward and cornage' (ibid. pp. 27888)

' Family history from the public records ' (Ancestor, i, 251-2)

'Castle-guard' (Archaol. Journal, lix. 154-9)

For a summary of the result of my criticisms see Mr. Poole's article in
English Historical Review, xiv. 148-50, where will be found the words : ' The
charges are very sweeping, but in my opinion they are made out.'

J. HORACE ROUND.

SOME PORTRAITS AT THE SOCIETY OF
ANTIQUARIES

QUEEN MARY (No. XXXVII)

THE well known portrait of Queen Mary by Lucas de
Here, which forms the frontispiece to this number of
the Ancestor, is probably the largest signed work extant by
this artist. It is a fine example of his painting, and, with the
exception of an ill restored finger on one hand, is in perfect
preservation. The colour scheme is gold, brown and rose.
The dress, which has a large pattern painted in encrusted
style, is of brown and gold brocade, while the rich fur on the
sleeves is brown, and the background is of rose coloured
velvet, showing the marks of folding. The face, small in
proportion to the hands, is delicately treated, painted simply,
with light shadows, the expression grave but not ungracious,
an epitome of restrained power. Masterly too is the treat-
ment of the hands, again painted in light tones, but expres-
sive of nervous strength to an unusual degree. Queen Mary
wore much jewellery ; on her fingers are no less than six rings,
all set with black stones similar to those which ornament her
dress. Two pendants also grace her gown ; on the side of
one are traceable the words, * Dieu et mon droit,' and the
other has the long pearl which is so frequently seen in her
portraits fastened to it. In the left hand corner of the picture
is de Here's signature, t J 4 . The Rev. Thomas Kerrich be-
queathed it to the society in 1828, and there is an entry by
Sir Frederick Madden in his Privy Purse Expences of the
Princess Mary, p. clxxvi., which mentions it, and adds it was
* bought by Mr. K. in 1800 from the collection of Mr.
Smith of Boston, co. Lincoln. Reported to have been once
at Kensington Palace.'

Seventeen portraits of Mary, including the subject of this
note, were shown at the Tudor exhibition in the New Gallery,
three being by Lucas de Here and four (one a miniature) by
Sir Antonio More. The large de Here was the well known
'Hungad Petition,' and in it Mary wears what Mr. Scharf

8o THE ANCESTOR

(who analyzed all her portraits carefully) calls the Spanish
costume with fur trimmings. The other, which is only 8 in. by
6J in. large, is the original of the full length portrait by
Richard Burchett in the Princes' Chamber, House of Lords.
A paper, delivered by Mr. Scharf at the Society of Antiquaries
in 1876, describes the portrait of Princess Mary at the age
of twenty-eight, now in the National Portrait Gallery, but
formerly in the possession of the Brocas family of Beaure-
paire, Hants.

FERDINAND THE CATHOLIC, KING OF SPAIN (No. XXVII).

The five portraits here reproduced belong to an interesting
series of pictures bequeathed to the Society of Antiquaries by
the Rev. Thomas Kerrich in 1828. It is not known how
they came into his possession, beyond the date (1787) when
he acquired them, but they are evidently all by one artist,
painted for a specific purpose, and are practically unrestored.
They are executed on oak panels of one piece with the frames,
and these are identical throughout ; the pictures vary in size
from about 12 in. by 7 in. to 14 in. by 8 Jin. ; gilding is freely
used on the dresses ; the patterns on the gilding are similar
in style and the treatment of the hands is identical. Three
of the five here shown, Francis L, Frederick of Denmark and
the Sr. de Nassau, are probably contemporary portraits ;
Charlemagne is evidently painted from life from a person
supposed to resemble the Carlovingian hero, while Ferdinand
the Catholic of Arragon is the only weak drawing of the set
and therefore probably an imaginary portrait. On a com-
parison of dates, and assuming the surmise concerning
Ferdinand to be true, the artist must have painted these
portraits after the year 1515 and before 1538. The reason
for this conclusion is obvious. Francis I. did not ascend the
throne until 1515, Frederick I. of Denmark did not reign in
that kingdom until 1523, and the Sr. de Nassau did not re-
ceive the order of the Golden Fleece until 1 505 and died in
1538. Against the theory that Ferdinand's portrait too was a
contemporary work we would place the fact that he died in
1516 and is here represented as a very young man, and
therefore to execute it from life the artist must have had an
extremely long career, painting it possibly in 1462, when

FERDINAND THE CATHOLIC, KING OK SPAIN.

SOME PORTRAITS 81

Ferdinand was twenty years of age, and the King of Denmark
in 1523, at the instant when he ascended the throne, making
an interval of sixty-one years between the two portraits.
There is yet another reason founded on internal evidence
alone. It is impossible to conceive that Ferdinand of Spain
he who first united the crowns of Arragon and Castile ; in
whose reign America was discovered, the Inquisition estab-
lished and the Jews expelled ; he who conquered the Moors
and drove them out of Spain, who was a friend to France
and a traitor to Naples ; he who overran Navarre and was
grandfather to Charles V. could have been this soft featured
youth, with rounded cheek and gentle chin. The painting
too, as we have said above, is inferior, and were it not for its
association with an excellent series, its similarity of size and
material, and the words tfernanfcus btepante rcj on the frame, it
would, as a work of art, pass unnoticed.

82 THE ANCESTOR

FRANCIS I. OF FRANCE (No. XXIX)

This well painted portrait of the poet-king is remarkable
in that it represents him as a youth with longish brown hair
and beardless, instead of in the fashion he adopted later. His
complexion is clear and bright, and, in spite of the abnormally-
large nose, the effect on the spectator is of an engaging, hand-
some man. His sister, Princess Margaret, wrote of his ap-
pearance :

De sa beautd, il est blanc et vermeil,

Les cheveux bruns, de grande et belle Taille,

En Terre il est comme au ciel le soleil.

It is not difficult to understand that he was fascinating,
and that he was able to select his c petite bande des dames de la
cour ' c des plus belles parmi les plus belles.' The colours in
this portrait are rich ; the blacks are fine in tone and the green
background is dark yet brilliant. The crimson mantle partly
conceals an underdress of gold, which again only partially hides
a shirt bordered with gold. There is a gold fleur de lis en-
riched with gems, and a golden cross attached to a golden collar
which is formed of circlets and double fleur de lis. On the frame
is written in a careless manner : FRAMCICVS I REX FRAMCORX.

FRANCIS I. OF FRANCE.

84 THE ANCESTOR

FREDERICK I. KING OF DENMARK. (No. XXX)

By the deposition of Christian II. the wars between
Denmark and Sweden ceased, the Union of Calmar was dis-
solved and Frederick, Duke of Schleswig Holstein, became
King of Denmark, while the Swedes elected as their king
Gustavus I., afterwards called the Great. Perhaps it is owing
to the more predominating personality of his rival on the
Scandinavian peninsula that little is recorded of Frederick I.
of Denmark, and that his influence on the history of Europe
was slight. During his reign the Lutheran leaven was working
upheaval among the northern nations, and only three years
after his death the Reformed Faith was established in his
whilom kingdom. His appearance as shown in this picture
was curious. He wore his red hair long and a remarkable line
of hair under his cheek and chin. He had only faint sugges-
tions of a moustache, his complexion was clear and eyes brown.
He wears a golden mantle covered with a crimson pattern, and
the whole is placed against a background of emerald green, evi-
dently a favourite colour with the painter of this series. The
frame is inscribed in black letters :

# LE * ROY * DE * DENEMARSVE

In consequence of the absence of any Christian name the
subject of this portrait has been open to doubt, and Mr. Way
calls it Christian III., who reigned from 1536 till 1559. Mr.
Scharf however has removed all uncertainties concerning it,
and has also conclusively proved another portrait (formerly in
the Bernal collection) reputed to be Edward IV., to be also a
portrait of Frederick of Denmark. This other picture is now
at Clumber.

FREDERICK I., KING OF DENMARK.

86 THE ANCESTOR

CHARLEMAGNE (No. XXXI)

It is a curious speculation to wonder why this ugly grotesque
though virile portrait became sanctified by the addition of a
halo and dubbed the Great Emperor. Was this the ideal
warrior of the sixteenth century ? It is unlike the wonderful
epic Charlemagne of Dtirer, nor does it resemble the Charle-
magne of the Lateran Mosaic, where St. Peter is handing him
the banner of the city of Rome. Is it possible that the artist
knew that seal of Charles the Great, where too he is represented
ungainly with a large hook nose, and which might distantly
recall this picture ? It is more likely that the painter, essaying
to represent the hardy soldier type, held too closely to the living
model before him, which, idealized, might have served for an
image of the Great Sovereign, but when too truthfully copied
became merely the remarkably lifelike portrait before us. The
addition of a halo and the words

CHARLEAAINGNE

on the frame were enough to give it an honoured position
among the royal portraits in this series.

Mr. Scharf in his catalogue raisonnt says : 'This picture
affords a valuable illustration of a curious entry in the cata-
logue of pictures belonging to Charles I., taken probably in
1635, published by Bathoe, from a transcript by Vertue, 1757.
It runs thus : " No. 52. Item, a white hall piece. The
twentieth being Carolus Magnus, in a furred cap, with a glory
about his head." '

CHARLEMAGNE.

SR. DE NASSAU (No. XXXII)

This picture has again the bright green background which
characterizes the portraits of Charlemagne and Frederick of
Denmark. It is not in such a good state of preservation as
these two ; there are small fissures observable on the face,
which is as usual painted simply and in a light key. There
was some difficulty in identifying the subject of this portrait,
but Mr. Scharf follows the opinion of Mr. Way in deciding
that it most probably represents Henry, Count of Nassau,
Governor of Brabant and General of the Imperial forces, who
was born in 1483 and created Knight of the Golden Fleece in
1 505. In the picture the badge is suspended from the upper
edge of the brown dress. He lived both under Maximilian
and Charles V., and died in 1534. On the frame is written

MONSOVR DE NASSAV.

ESTELLE NATHAN.

SR. DE NASSAU.

SIR ANTHONY JACKSON, KNIGHT
A HERALD OF THE CIVIL WAR

THIS Yorkshire knight, or should we rather say this knight
of Breda in Holland, as it was there he had the honour
conferred on him by Charles II. while in exile, was the only
son of Richard Jackson of Killingwoldgraves and Eske, in the
parish of Bishop Burton, co. York, and Ursula, daughter of
Richard Hildyard of Routh. Richard Jackson was son of
Anthony Jackson by Margaret sister of Sir Martin Frobisher,
one of Queen Elizabeth's celebrated admirals.

He was born at Killingwoldgraves in the year 1599, or
according to the inquest after his father's death was * aged ten
years and eight months on the 3rd May James I. (1610).'
According to Le Neve he was admitted to the Inner Temple
in 1616 and knighted at Breda in 1650. He was called to the
Bar 1635, anc ^ was a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to
Charles I., by whom he was promised the place of Prothono-
tary of the Common Pleas at Oxford in the year 1646.

Sir Anthony Jackson appears to have acted as Herald in
proclaiming Charles II. King of England on his entering Eng-
land from Scotland in 1651, or more probably at his coronation
at Scone. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Worcester,
and, having escaped with other prisoners, was retaken and
committed a close prisoner to the Tower under an order of
the Council of State dated I November, 1651. In the order
he is described as Anthony Jackson alias Sir Anthony Jackson,
and when ten days afterwards his wife obtained permission to
visit him in the Tower, she is spoken of as Mrs. Jackson.

He was kept at first a close prisoner, being accused of high
treason for invading the nation with Charles Stuart, and for
proclaiming him King of England, but he afterwards got the
liberty of the Tower.

He petitioned the Protector for release on giving security
not to act prejudicially, stating that he was a servant only to
the late king, but never in arms, and had only charity to sub-
sist on. His petition, which bears the indorsement * Herald
that proclaimed C[harles] Sftuart],' was referred to the Council

90 THE ANCESTOR

to take fit security on 22 February, 1653-4. He was kept
however a prisoner for a couple of years longer in the Tower,
and on 5 February, 16556, he again petitioned the Protector
for release on security for good conduct, alleging that other-
wise he must perish for want, as his friends could no longer
supply him. The certificate of the Lieutenant of the Tower
accompanying the petition states that he has demeaned himself
civilly, is retired and studious and very poor and fit to be re-
leased.

Other entries in the state papers remove any doubts there
may exist as to Sir Anthony Jackson being one of the Jacksons
of Killingwoldgraves. From Richard St. George's pedigree of
the family it appears that William Jackson (an uncle of An-
thony and aged 14 in 1613) married Martha, daughter of Frances
Teringham of Weston. In the Calendar of the Committee for
Compounding, pt. iii. p. 93, there is under the date 24 October,
1 645, a reference to the case of Will Tyringham of Bucks (or
Yorks), in which he states he had only jioo a year and that
the evidences relating to the property out of which this issued
were some in the custody of Stanley, one of the County Com-
mittee at Windsor, and others with Anthony Jackson of the
Inner Temple. In the State Papers of the Commonwealth
period there are two entries relating to permission being given
to Anthony Jackson to be taken from the Tower to Westmin-
ster Hall to appear as a witness on a trial between Sir Gerard
Fleetwood and William Terringham.

The petition of Sir Anthony Jackson to the Protector to be
released from the Tower and the statement that ' he must
perish for want ' if not set at large show that his property had
been dissipated in the cause of the Stuarts. Killingwoldgraves,
Eske and other lands in the county of York were either con-
fiscated or sold. In a petition to Charles II. he stated

that he was Servant to the late King Charles I. that in the beginning of the
wars he undertook and to his very great expense and daily hazard of his life,
the transmission of intelligence and for the same in the year 1645 being betrayed
by one Moore with great hardships got to Oxford where his Majesty was
gracially pleased in signall of his favour for the services done to confer the place
of a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber in Ordinary and soon after of a Prothono-
tary that according to order he attended on his Majesty's person during his
restraint under the Scottish Army at Newcastle when being none beside the
petitioner but Mr. Lovett whom his Majesty would confide in very great
charges was committed to him all of which as in his letters to the Queen (to
whom upon the Scots delivering him to the English the petitioner was with

SIR ANTHONY JACKSON, KNIGHT 91

private instructions sent) he was pleased to signify petitioner in the exact
Loyalty and diligence performed Since when petitioner attended your Majesty
till being taken at Worcester he was committed to the Tower a close prisoner
until 1658 and afterwards a prisoner on Baile All the time whereof he was
under the menace of Capetation, of suffering death being charged with High
Treason for proclaiming your Majesty King and his acting the office of one of
the Masters of Requests at his examination which service before recited and
the plunderings and imprisonments, suffered further having so utterly wasted
his fortunes as he hath not wherewith to maintain either liberty or substance
and he prays to be restored to these offices afforesaid.

For years of anxiety and suffering and for his loyalty to his
king the only return Sir Anthony Jackson received after his
petition was an order from Charles II. on the Treasury to give
him the paltry sum of 50; and the closing scene of a chequered
career takes place when he is laid to rest in the old Temple
Church of London on 14 October, 1666.

According to Richard St. George's Visitation, Sir Anthony
Jackson had three sisters, Frances, Elizabeth and Jane, but we
know little or nothing of his domestic life, nor have we any
knowledge of his wife's name or family, the date of her death
or whether they left any children to perpetuate their name.
As the family of Greer who are connected by marriage with
the Irish Quaker families of Jackson claim descent from the
Killingwoldgraves Jacksons and Hildyards it would be inter-
esting to know authentically if this Yorkshire knight left any
male issue. 1

The arms as given in the Visitation and confirmed 1 6 June,
1613, to Richard Jackson were gules two dances ermine and a
chief ermine with three golden suns thereon.

Sir Martin Frobisher in his will dated c Fowreth daye of
Auguste in the sixe and thirtie yeare of the raygne of our
Soveraigne Ladie queene Elizabethe,' makes mention of the
relationship existing between the families of Frobisher and
Jackson.

WILLIAM JACKSON PIGOTT.

1 In the Modern Visitation of Ireland, edited by the late Dr. Joseph Jackson
Howard and Mr. F. A. Crisp (i. 9), the Greer claim to this descent is thus
shown : Thomas Greer married in 1787 ' Elizabeth, dau. of William Jackson
of Edenderry, King's County, lineal descendant of Richard Jackson of Kil-
lingwold Grove, co. York.'

92 THE ANCESTOR

FAMILY HISTORY FROM PRIVATE
MANUSCRIPTS

IN the first number of the Ancestor was given an instalment
of extracts from the Appendices to the Reports of the
Royal Commission on Historical MSS. Those which follow
will further illustrate the value of the information they con-
tain on family history, often supplying, as they do, missing
dates of marriage or of death, and supplementing these at
times with a wealth of illustrative anecdote and gossip. Even
those who are but slightly interested in genealogical study
can hardly fail to appreciate the vivid and contemporary
glimpses we are thus enabled to obtain of the social life of
our forefathers.

J. H. R.

MSS. OF S. H. LE FLEMING, ESQ., OF RYDAL HALL 1

[NEWSLETTER GOSSIP]

i666[~7], 29 Jan. This morning the Earl of Rochester was
married to Mrs. Mallet, Lord Hawley's grandchild, to whom Lord
John Butler had for some time made his addresses. 2

16667, 7 March. Lord Vaughan, eldest son of the Earl of
Carbery, is dead without issue. 3

1666-7, J 6 March. Lady Honora O'Brien, relict of Sir Francis
Inglefield, has petitioned the King for relief from the ill usage of her
husband, Sir Robert Howard, son of the Earl of Berkshire. i8th,
The Duke of Richmond is to marry Mrs. Stewart after Easter. The
King has given him leave to enlarge his lodging upon the water side
in the Bowling Green in Whitehall.

1667, 2 April. Mrs. Stewart, now the Duchess of Richmond,
continued at Whitehall till yesterday morning, when the King first
learned that she was married, and then she immediately returned to
Somerset House. The Duke is at Dover Castle. In his absence she
refuses all visits, and seeks to make her peace at Court.

1 From the jih Appendix to the I zth Report.

a The actual date of this marriage appears to have been hitherto un-
known. The earl's attempt to carry off this heiress by force and his committal
to the Tower made a great sensation.

3 Date not in Complete Peerage.

FAMILY HISTORY 93

1667, 3 April. The Marquess of Worcester died suddenly last
night at Worcester House.

1667, 22 April. Last night is memorable for the Duchess of
Newcastle's first appearance at Court. She came in the evening at-
tended with three coaches, the first of her gentlemen, of two horses,
the second her own, of six, and the third that of her women, of four.
Her train was carried by a young lady in white satin. Her first visit
was to the King, who sent the Lord Chamberlain to conduct her to
the Queen, where his Majesty came to her. This visit is thought
extraordinary.

1667, 25 April. Last night the Duchess of Newcastle visited
the Duchess of York in the same equipage in which she visited the
Queen.

" 1667, 24 May. Tuesday next is appointed for the marriage of
Lady Isabella Keith and Sir Edward Turner's son.

1667, 28 May, London. William Dugdale, Norroy, to D.
Fleming. I have resolved to perfect my collection of materials for an
historical work on the Baronagium Anglite, being every day at the
Tower little less than twelve hours for that purpose. I pray you to
help me to what you can in reference to the Barons of Egremont, or
others in those northern parts, within a year or two, but what you do
therein must be from the authority of old manuscripts and original
charters which I may vouch, for I resolve to quote authority for what-
soever I say therein ... I lodge at Mr. Ashmole's chamber in the
Middle Temple, and am like to do so until our office is rebuilt. The
Duke of York's younger son, called Earl 1 of Kendal, died on Wednesday
last. The Lord Treasurer's funeral will be about a month hence.
His body is to be carried to Titchfield near Southampton. The Earl
of Lincoln died last week at his house, not far from Charing Cross.

1667, 27 June. The marriage of Lady Isabella Keith and Sir
Edward Turner's son was consummated last night.

1667, 23 July. The Earls of Mulgrave 2 and Rochester, 3 though
under age, are to be called into the House of Peers this session.

1667, 2 Aug. Yesterday the Earl of Manchester and the Countess
of Carlisle were privately married. 4 It is owned by them to-day.

1667, 9 Aug. The Countess of Clarendon died last night at St,
James's. I2th, Sir H. Bellasis died of his wounds yesterday morning.
Mr. T. Porter has fled. I3th, It was found on examination that the
sword had never pierced the body of Sir H. Bellasis.

1667, 15 Aug. Lady Anne Knollys, daughter of the Earl of
Banbury, is missing from her grandmother's, the Countess of Portland

1 * Duke ' according to the Complete Peerage.
3 He was not yet 20 years old.
3 He also appears to have been only 19.
* Date not in the Complete Peerage.

94 THE ANCESTOR

at Newport House, having, it is believed, been conveyed thence by a
young gentleman of Dorsetshire named Fry. lyth, The young
gentleman who carried away Lady Anne Knollys was lately page to
the Duke of Buckingham. I9th, Lady Anne Knollys was immedi-
ately married to Mr. Fry at Knightsbridge.

1667, 29 Aug. To-day or to-morrow Sir Greville Verney will
marry Lady Diana Russell.

1667, 12 Oct. The Governor and Council of Virginia have
made complaint of Lord Baltimore, as usurping the title of an absolute
sovereign.

1667, 12 Dec. The Earl of Burlington in marrying his second
daughter to the second son of the Lord Chancellor [Clarendon], had
Clarendon House tied to him for 14,0007. in lieu of a jointure for the
young lady. This not having been paid he has taken possession of the
house.

1 667 [8], 7 Feb. A committee is appointed by the King to con-
sider the ways of preventing the frequent mischiefs of duelling.

i667[-8], 17 March. The Earl of Shrewsbury died yesterday at
Arundel House, where he has remained all this while [since his duel].

1668, 4 June. Lord Brudenel's marriage with Lady [Frances]
Savile, eldest sister of the Earl of Sussex, was perfected last week, 1
but it will not be consummated for five months for particular reasons.

1668, 1 8 Aug. Mr. Henry Howard, nephew to the Earl of
Carlisle, was lately killed in a duel by Mr. Curwen, a gentleman of
the North.

i668[~9], 5 March. The Duchess Dudley, who lately died aged
almost an hundred years, has, to crown all the charities of her life,
given great legacies to pious uses. Her body is exposed in state at her
house in St. Giles in the Fields.

1 668 [-9], 1 1 March. On Tuesday night there was a quarrel be-
tween the Duke of Richmond and Mr. James Hamilton, after they
had well dined at the Tower with Sir Henry Savile. They had
chosen their seconds, but the Lord General sent for the principals,
and put them on their honours not to prosecute it. The Earl of
Rochester was one of the party, who, upon his disgrace at Court,
intends to go to France for some time. i6th, The corpse of the late
Duchess Dudley was this morning carried out of town in a stately
hearse attended with a numerous train of coaches.

1669, 7 June. It is now become a less secret that Colonel Talbot,
of the Duke of York's Bedchamber, is married to Mrs. Boynton, one
of her Majesty's Maids of Honour.

1669, 9 June. Some days since, the Countess of Portland, for-
merly Countess of Newport, died in town, 2 and her house, called New-

1 No date is given for this marriage in the Compkte Peerage.

2 Her death is given as about 1 669 ' in the Compkte Peerage.

FAMILY HISTORY 95

port House, was immediately seized by Mr. Fry who had married
Lady Anne Knollys. Her body was privately buried at Somerset
House.

1 669, 7 Sept. Sir Edward Bathurst and Sir William Drax, two
famous aldermen, died last night.

1669, 1 6 Sept. The bodies of Sir Edward Filmer and Lady
Lexington, 1 who died lately at Paris, having been embalmed, are being
brought over for burial.

i669[-7o], 4 Jan. The marriage between Lord Torrington, son
of the Duke of Albemarle, and the daughter of Lord Ogle, was on
Thursday solemnized in the Cock-pit, but the joy thereof was much
lessened by the illness of the General.

i669[~7o], 25 Jan. On Saturday last Lord Dunkellin, eldest
son of the Earl of Clanricarde, was privately married to the Court
beauty, the youngest daughter of Mr. Bagnall. 2 It has abundantly
furnished the Court and city with discourse, but has not at all pleased
their Majesties, who have suspended both the Bagnalls, father and
son, from their attendance at Court.

1669^70], 14 March. Lord Ros, eldest son of the Earl of Rut-
land, presses for a divorce and for liberty to remarry, 3 urging the
precedent of the Marquess of Northampton in the time of Edward VI.
All the Bishops oppose his liberty, except the Bishop of Durham.

1670, 26 Nov. London. William Dugdale to [D. F.] * Being
very desirous that you should see a specimen of my historicall worke
of the Baronage I have herewith sent you what I have done cheifly
from our publique Records for the family of Clifford, whereby you
will descerne what course I take in all others ; which is to represent
the matter of fact as briefly and plainly as well may be. Something
also I shall add in the latter part thereof but for breif send you this,
to the end I may have your judgment thereof, and that you may shew
it to the noble lady at Appleby, and from her collections impart to me
what more may be usefull for the farther illustration of the story of
her noble ancestours, intreating you to present my most humble duty
and service to her.'

1670, 20 Dec. 1 6th, On Wednesday the body of Mr. Stanley
late Cornet of the Guards was accompanied out of Town, for inter-
ment at Lathom in Lancashire, by several Brigades and Companies of
Horse and Foot Guards, and a numerous train of coaches of the
Nobility. There has been a report that Mr. Loveing has been lost
at sea on his way to Denmark. A duel between two of the Prince
of Orange's train has taken place in Tothill Fields. I7th, Last night
Lady Halifax died in her house in Lincoln's Inn Fields.

1 No date is given for her death in the Complete Peerage.

2 No date is given for this marriage in the Complete Peerage.

3 Compare Complete Peerage, vi. 467.

96 THE ANCESTOR

1671, 23 March. The Proclamation intended to issue for the
apprehension of those who stole away Mrs. Darcy, a young gentle-
woman of a great estate, but deaf and dumb, is to be stopped, she
having been found yesterday, but married.

1671, 8 April. We hear from Florence of the sudden death of
Mr. Thomas Clifford, son of Sir Thomas, Treasurer of the Household.

1671, 5 June. From Leghorn we hear that Mr. Clifford's corpse
was met by all the English living in the factory, twelve miles out of
town, and accompanied from Florence by Sir John Fruer, Sir Bernard
Gascoigne, 1 and divers others, and passed directly through the city to
the water side in due order becoming the occasion, 35 great boats at-
tending them to the Centurion, where the great cabin was hung with
black. The English ships in the port fired at least 300 great guns.

1671, 14 July. London. W. Dugdale to [D. F.]

I thank you for the papers, especially for the passages of the later
times wherein I was very deficient. Had looked only superficially
over the epitome written by the Lord Chief Baron Hales, and shown
to me by Lord Hutton who had borrowed it for the purpose of the
Lady at Thanet House, because it gives in many places no authorities.
My own information about the Viponts is much fuller than that in
the said document. ' I wish I could see some authority for what he
mentions of that grant of the younger daughter and her husband
Leiburns of the Shireevewick of Westmorland unto Robert de
Clifford the heire of the elder daughter by the King's licence as he
says. Out of that copy of the life of Henry, Lord Clifford who was
constrayned to live under the disguise of a shepherd, as also from that
of George Earl of Cumberland, and the noble Lady now living, I
have extracted what I thought fittest, and have cast it into my own
mould ; for I intend my whole worke shall be all of one web.'

1671, 30 Sept. Last week Mr. Overton who some time since
stole away Mrs. Ann Darcy, the deaf and dumb lady, came with four
companions to the house of Mr. Barnes who married her sister, and
with whom she had been staying for some time, and sought to force
his way in. He was resisted and was followed by Mr. Barnes and
some friends towards Warwick, arrested and brought before the magis-
trates there, and committed to prison.

i672[~3], 23 March. Sir W. Dugdale to D. Fleming.

'As to his other question, grounded upon one of his ancestours
sitting in Parliament, it is soon answered ; viz. that there is no hopes
of any advantage to him thereby, had it been upon a reall summons.
At that time when this letter was sent to the Pope declaring King
Edward I. right to the superiority of dominion in the realme of Scot-

1 This was the knight of that name who was condemned to die by
Fairfax's court-martial on the surrender of Colchester (1648), but reprieved
at the last moment.

FAMILY HISTORY 97

land, 1 and before ; those who were tenants to the King by military
service, and then called Barones minores, did come to Parliament. But
after that none but those as were summoned by speciall writt. Nor
of those who were so summoned by writt did, or could their posterity
for some ages, clayme by right to sitt there, if the King did decline
to summon them.

Sir, I humbly crave your pardon for this my boldnesse with you.
My necessary being in London at some times doth much retard that
publique worke of the Baronage wherewith I am in hand ; yet I hope
in Trinity Terme next to be ready for the presse with my first volume,
which as I have intimated to you will consist of those who had
their rise by tenure ; those by summons beginning in King Edward's
time.'

J 673, 25 March. A duel between the Earl of Rochester and
Lord Dunbar has been prevented by the timely intervention of the
Earl Marshal.

I ^73 3 J u ty' Yesterday morning was the trial at the King's
Bench Bar of Mr. Ayne of the Guards, for having killed the Countess
of Shrewsbury's coachman in an accidental quarrel near the Court
gate. The Duke of Ormond, as steward of the House, sat as judge, 3
assisted by Judge Littleton. 2 The jury acquitted him.

1674-5, 9 Feb. 8th, His Majesty has granted the dignity of a
Baronet of England, and a coat of arms, to Cornelius Martinus Tromp,
Lieutenant Admiral of Holland, and to the heirs male of his body,
failing such, to his brother, Harper Martin Trompe, Burgomaster of
Delft, and his heirs male, and after that to his brother Adrian Martir
Tromp, Captain in the Prince of Orange's regiment, and his heirs male.

1675, 31 Aug. On Saturday last a quarrel upon some light
occasion arose at the Duke's play-house between Sir Thomas Armstrong
and one Mr. Scroope. They both drew and the latter was killed upon
the place. All excuse Sir Thomas, as Mr. Scroope gave the provoca-
tion and drew first.

1675, 14 Dec. The King has in Council ordered that the young
Lord Courcy, 3 hitherto brought up in the Romish religion, should be
demanded of Sir Edward Scot, and sent to the Dean of Christ Church,
Oxford, to be educated.

1 675 [-6], 23 Feb. Richard Duckett to D. F. Your cousin
Jane Crossland is married to Sir Walter Vavasour's eldest son, 4 the best
Catholic match in Yorkshire.

This is the baron's letter to the Pope, which is illustrated in the present
number.

3 Compare the Introduction (pp. xii., xv.) to The Household Book, by W. A.
Lindsay, K.C. (Windsor Herald).

3 Almeric (sue. 1 669), generally known afterwards as Lord Kingsale.

1 This is a somewhat puzzling statement, as in the Complete Baronetage

98 THE ANCESTOR

1676, 20 Nov. Lord Mohun, second to Lord Cavendish, in a
duel with Lord Power, has been mortally wounded.

[i6]8o, 12 and 19 May D. Fleming to Lady Middleton, at
Leighton. Advising her, as he has already advised another rich widow,
his cousin Curwen of Workington, to marry a Protestant who will
protect and convert her. Copy.

1680, 3 Aug. Leighton. Anne, Lady Middleton, to D. F. I
am much troubled at my sister marrying Mr. George Leyborne. I do
not like her example so well that I shall follow it. I think that in
that particular you speak out of drollery.

1682, 3 June. Heralds' College, London. Sir William Dugdale
to Sir D. F. There is no memorial in the office of Sir John Ballantine's
knighthood. He is one among others, whose names are on a list,
* who assume that title, but never received that honour from this king.
We have also a note of a greater number which do take upon them
the title of Baronets, who had warrants from the late King to pass
patents for that title, but did not proceed any farther therein.' Knights
made by a Commissioner are of the same standing as those made by
the King himself.

1682, 17 Nov. London. Sir William Dugdale to Sir D. F.
We have no record particularly of Knights Banneret. * They have
been very ancient, as is to be seen in the Rolls of the Tower here and
there upon occasion, and as to the Knights of the Bath you must
know that all who were made knights were antiently bathed. But I
presume you meant such as have been made at the Coronations of
Kings or creating of the Prince of Wales. I think it were not amiss
that a catalogue of such and of other knights were printed, but my
fellows in this office do utterly oppose it. Had it not been for me the
catalogue of Baronets would not have been printed, which I was con-
strayned to press, in regard that divers persons who never passed
patents for that honour, did assume the title of Baronet.'

1682, 1 6 Dec. Sir Christopher Musgrave to Sir D. F. My
father did wisely in declining a warrant for a Barony. Acceptance
would have ruined the family. I have not so vain a thought about me.

1687, 28 July. Hutton. Henry Fletcher to Sir D. F. Lord
Coleraine has got a good woman l and a good fortune for his son,
which I heard him say would be worth to him 30,ooo/. Her father's
name is Carleton, a merchant in London, that my father has bound
my brother Thomas to for eight years. My brother is gone to Ham-
burgh, and is to stay there most of his time. My father gives with
him 3OO/.

this * eldest son ' is described as * only surviving son and heir of his father Sir
Walter, when he succeeded him in 1 670 ? ' No date is there given for his
marriage to Jane Crosland (whose mother was a Fleming).
1 Lydia, daughter of Mathew Carlton.

FAMILY HISTORY 99

MSS. OF THE MARQUIS OF AILESBURY 1

[MARRIAGE OF THE FIRST DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE TO THE DUKE OF
ORMONDE'S DAUGHTER]

COLONEL EDWARD COOKE TO [LORD BRUCE]

1662, 13 Sept. Dublin. My Lord Francis arrived here last Sun-
day and is well but thin ; Lord Ossory as worthy an honest general
as lives, and my Lord John comes on apace, very diligent at the head
of his company, and Lady Mary improves strangely in stature and
beauty. Really my Lord Cavendish enjoys his share also in sobriety,
and I do absolutely believe there is true love on both sides. We shall
ere long go into the country on purpose to marry privately, which
upon very good grounds I have hastened on as quickly as I can.

COLONEL E[DWARD] C[OOKE] TO THE COUNTESS DOWAGER OF

DEVONSHIRE

1662, 26 Oct. Dunmore. A short letter on a wedding day, from
a person of consequence for carrying on the duties of the day may well
be owned for a great obligation. In the marriage itself we anticipated
the intended spectators by despatching it before their appearance, but
soon after the inundation broke in upon us ; and as much as hath yet
passed in all my experience of all English weddings, I never saw parts
so universally well acted. My Lord Cavendish indeed hath not his
new wardrobe yet come (though we hear it is landed), but his extra-
ordinary personage and behaviour did so set of his but ordinary apparel,
that he made a complete bridegroom for the occasion. My Lord Duke
hath from first to last evidenced a great deal of satisfaction in this day's
work, and let down himself from his Lord-Lieutenancy, to be only
the bride's father and to direct obligations and welcomes to all the
guests. And then for the incomparable creature, my Lady Mary, she
is a mere little bundle of great goodness, sweetness, and modesty, and
really that your Ladyship may partake with me in my abundant satis-
faction in my Lord Cavendish this day's behaviour was not only his
master-piece, but might be a pattern to all great bridegrooms in the
world.

[COLONEL EDWARD COOKE TO LORD BRUCE]

1662, 12 Nov. 'On Monday was the wedding day, which was
kept with all the jollity such an occasion was capable of, and all cere-
monies due to it. I was removed from the lower to the upper end of
the table as representing the bridegroom's relations ; whilst he hand-
somely and confidently waited. Really he acquitted himself admirably
well in all circumstances, and she with the greatest goodness and
modesty, that everybody was almost the bridegroom's rival, not

1 From the yth Appendix to the 15th Report.

100

THE ANCESTOR

forbearing to be in love with his bride. The whole day was danced
away and the night too, till the bride was in and her groom ready to
go into bed, which done in all due decorum, and the door shut, (the
company much exceeding the bedroom) dice boxes and cards walked
below, whilst my Lord and all us of the soberer sort walked up to bed.
Now I have given your Lordship an account of the goodness of the
country and the activity of its governor who was always first out
and last in, and rode as hard as the hardest, I must complain of the
bad inhabitants of this good country. A generation of people scarce
one remove from savages, if not in the same form of brutality, their
houses are like hog-styes, and so they are where the absolute . . .
and they themselves swine-like in all things but shape, their habits are
swine-like, all live and lie together without any distinction of ages or
sex, their houses are not to be gone but grope into, they making their
doors as low and little as they can, and their ceilings thatch as low as
a man's head.'

SALE OF SIR PETER LELY'S PICTURES, 18 APRIL, 1682

Master's Name

Name of Picture

Measures

Purchasers

Price

High

Broad

VanDycki

The Family of Endymion
Porter

ft. in.

3 7
3 7
6 i

4 4
7 o

7 3
7 2
4 4
4 3

3 5
3 5
3 5
3 5
3 5
4 S

2 6

ft. in.
5 3
5 3
5 3

4 ii
4 3

4 4
4 4
3 5
3 8

2 9
2 9
2 9
2 9
z 9
3 8

2 ol

i 6

Earl of Mulgrave .

* d.

155 o o
no o o
8100

96 o o

80 o o

6100
26 o o
47 o o
33 o o

83 o o
41 o o
40 o o
27 o o
20 10 o

22 O O
22 O O

34 o o
20 10 o
400
18 10 o

10 IO O

17 10 o

Another Family of Seven

The Earl of Strafford and
Two Sisters ....
Lady Thimbleby and Sis-
ter with a Cupid
Mrs. Kirk, a whole length
Duchess of Richmond, a
whole length
The Countess of Middle-
sex, a whole length .
The Countess of Carlisle
and a Child ....
The Countess of Sunder-
land

Tho. Killegrew with a
Mastiff ....

Lord Newport .

Mr. Mallory ....
Sir Walter Pye ...
The Lady Pye ....
Mr. Taverner ....
The Countess of Carnarvon
The Countess of Newport
Sir Arthur Hopkins in an
Oval

Jac. Van Hornbecke

Lady Hopton ....
Lady Tufton ....
Countess of Newport . .
King Charles the First .
Marquis of Huntley . .

2 4
z 4
* 5*
i 8

* Si

in
in

2 I

* 7
i ni

FAMILY HISTORY 101

THE COUNTESS DOWAGER OF DEVONSHIRE TO [LORD BRUCE]

1663, 21 Aug. Roehampton. * We have a report here Mr.
Montague shall marry my Lady Anne Digby. I conceive it proceeds
from the entire friendship betwixt my Lady Anne Digby and my
Lady Harvey. Mr. Griffin is a very earnest suitor to Mrs. Steward.
I do not hear she is inclined to marry. My Lord Duke of Bucking-
ham, who is her very great friend, dissuades her from any fortune that
is not very great.'

LORD BRUCE TO THE EARL OF AILESBURY

I7O4[-O5], 6 March. London. There is a thing I am now at
liberty to acquaint you with, which for some reasons was not allowed
me till now, by the post. It is a treaty of marriage with my Lady
Ann Saville which is so far advanced that everything is agreed upon,
and my Lord Nottingham did me the honour to carry me on Sunday
to wait on the old Lady Halifax, and yesterday to the young Lady
Halifax, his daughter, and my Lady Ann Saville who lives with her.
This matter being now so near a conclusion I hope it may appear to
your Lordship a proper time for my sister's coming over since I shall
now be in a condition to receive her.

MSS. OF SIR T. H. G. PULESTON 1

173031, 15 Jan. Dublin. I can send you nothing from this
place but a long train of unlucky disasters which have lately happened
in the provinces. The only brother of Sir Laurence Esmond had
married by stealth a daughter of Colonel Butcher of Killcash. Father
and son had only just been reconciled, when the lady's brother, visit-
ing her and fiddling with a gun in the parlour, by accident shot
Mr. Esmond in the leg, and no surgeon being near the wound morti-
fied and he died. About the same time two young ladies, Miss
Hawley and Miss Burford, while taking the air in a four-wheeled
chaise, the driver having got down to fasten the lintspin of a wheel,
the horses took head and ran into the river, overturned the chaise and
both ladies were drowned. This happened in the county of Kilkenny
near Lord Hoath's 2 hunting seat. Miss Burford lived in his family
and the other lady was there on a visit. Lord Hoath married the
daughter of General [G(e)orges], his only brother Harry St. Laurence
spending his Christmas at Killbrew, Mr. Georges' seat in the county
of Meath, when the account came of this disaster, Mr. Hamilton
Georges, brother of the gentleman of the house, said he heartily
pitied his sister Lady Hoath who had lost so amiable a companion
as Miss Burford, he knew not what she would do for company
having nobody but that silly Miss Rice. St. Laurence, who was

1 From the 7th Appendix to the I5th Report. 2 Howth.

102 THE ANCESTOR

uncle to this young lady and excessively fond of her, resented her
being called silly ; whereupon a quarrel ensued and after they had
gone to bed Mr. Georges went to St. Laurence's chamber to ask his
pardon when St. Laurence bounced out of bed and went to his pistols
and bid Georges to take one, which he declined, and declared if they
must fight, it were better in the morning but St. Laurence swore if
he hesitated any longer he would shoot him through the head. Georges
took a pistol and fired both balls hitting St. Laurence who lived a few
days after, happily for Georges, as there was no third person in the
room. The Lord Chief Justice has given Georges bail.

1743, 6 Dec. Near Charleville. A nephew of Col. Massey's
has carried off Miss Ingoldsby, a lady of i,20O//. a year, and gone
with her to France. A reward of 3OO//. a piece for taking of him
and his associates is offered by the Government.

MEMORIAL OF EDMUND SPENCER TO THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH

[1748, Nov.]. That the memorialist is great-grandson of Edmund
Spenser, the poet, 1 to whom Queen Elizabeth for his writings and ser-
vices granted certain lands in Ireland. That William III. granted
other lands in Ireland to William Spencer, memorialist's grandfather,
for services to the Crown, particularly at the battle of Aghrim. That
the said lands descended to Nathaniel Spencer, memorialist's father,
who mortgaged them for large sums, and soon after died, leaving
memorialist, an infant of tender years, to the care of a guardian, who
converted the income of the lands to his own use, and died insolvent
in memorialist's minority. That memorialist's estates have been since
told for payment of his father's debts, and the memorialist is reduced
so very low circumstances. Copy.

1 A generation is obviously omitted here. William Spencer was the
poet's grandson, being the son of Sylvanus Spencer.

\The above extracts have been made with the permission accorded to the
ANCESTOR by the Controller of His Majesty's Stationery Office.]

A PAROCHIAL CHARTULARY OF THE
FOURTEENTH CENTURY

AMONG the Harley MSS. of the British Museum
(No. 3669) is a remarkably interesting chartulary per-
taining to the chantries of the parish church of Crich, Derby-
shire. It affords by far the fullest particulars of any mere
parochial chantries now extant, and is in other ways of ex-
ceptional character, particularly in the information it affords
of the once famous Derbyshire family of Wakebridge. It has
not hitherto attracted the attention it deserves. 1

This register or chartulary consists of 106 folios, and was evi-
dently purchased for use at the time of the foundation of the first
chantry, circa 1350. When the inventories of the two chantries
were taken in 1368 this book is entered as pertaining to the
first chantry Registrum cantarie. From its contents it is ob-
vious that it remained in the custody of the chantry priest of
St. Nicholas and St. Katharine until the days of Edward VI.
Nor was the book treated merely as a register wherein to
transcribe copies of the endowment charters of the first and
second chantries, for it was also used as a convenient place
wherein to record parochial agreements relative to the church
made a century before the founding of the first chantry, as
well as various other matters relative to the chantries and the
parish of much later date.

As a varied local record of this description is almost
unique, it may be of some value to chronicle the general con-
tents of this register, and in certain parts to cite largely from
its pages, more especially as it throws considerable light on the
social and religious condition of our ancestors in a retired
Derbyshire village immediately after the awful visitation of the
Black Death.

The register opens with the writs and inquisitions of
Edward III. relative to the first chantry done into English by

1 A fairly long account of a good deal of its contents was given in my
Churches of Derbyshire, iii. 35-46 (1879). Certain parts of this chartulary
were transcribed by Adam Wolley, the Matlock antiquary, and are to be
found in Add. MSS. 6669, ff. i-i I.

103

104 THE ANCESTOR

a later hand, whereby the king was satisfied that Sir William
Wakebridge had freehold land in Crich to the annual value of
10 over and above that which he proposed in each instance
to alienate * unto a chapelayne to singe for the sowles of his
predecessors at Chriche.' The messuages, lands, cottages and
rents appropriated to the chantries were situated at Crich and
its hamlets of Wakebridge, Wheatcroft, Plaistow, Fritchley,
Tansley and Holloway ; at the adjacent hamlets of Dethick,
Lea, Alveley and Harston ; at Hassop in Bakewell parish, and
at Teversall in Nottinghamshire.

To obtain the royal sanction for the alienation of all this
property the founder made two separate applications in 1350.
The writ for the first half was addressed to John Waleys,
escheator for Derbyshire, on 20 April, and the licence was
obtained on 3 July. In the following month, namely on
10 August, a further writ ad quod damnum was issued to
Walter Montgomery, who was then the county escheator, as
to the alienation of the remainder of the foundation property,
and licence was granted on 3 December.

Various reservations or rent charges were retained on the
chantry property. They were quaintly enumerated as follows
in the English version :

Imprimis one halpenye was reserved to the Heyeres of Hugh Gurneye for
the mansion in Chriche as hit dothe appeare by the dede. Item one halfepenye
was reserved to the heyres of Heugh de Londeforth for the same as hit doth
appere bye the deede, w ch rent is not nowe to be payed for that, neyther of
the grauntours hathe anye Heyres. Lykewyse fyve shyllinges are to be payed
to the prior of Felley for the tenement w c h was Thomas Eyres of Chriche,
and thre shyllinges and fowre pence are dewe to the same prior for the tene-
ment w ch the sayde Thomas dyd hold in furtesleye and six pence are dewe to
the chyrch of Chriche for the tenements in Chriche by the graunt of Adam
Eyre. Lykewise one penye -is dewe to the Heyres of Wylliam Kenerdsaye
lord of the Lee for one tenement w c he is in the handes of Simon Whetcrofte.
Lykewyse one halfepenye is dew to the light in the Church of Chriche for all
other tenements in Whetcrofte w ch were Alexander Lees. Lykewyse a payre
of gylden spores or six pence in moneye are dew to the lord of Chriche for to
plow lande at Stricthorne, wyche were Henrye Codinton. Lykewyse one apte
is dewe to Richard Clarcke for one mesuage and toe acres of lande the w ch Ihon
of Chestershire dyd purchase of Alexander de Lee. Lykewise one halfepenye
is dewe to W m of Kenardsaye for three acres of land the w che the sayde Ihon of
Chestershire dyd purchase of Thomas de Ferarius. And one halfepenye is to
be payed to the light of Sainct lohn of Dethecke for one plot of land in the
Lee w c h is called Hannefelde. Lykewise one pounde of cumine is dew to the
lord of Chriche and grindinge of a eleven busshelles of corne is dew to the
chapellaynes in the Lee for that halfe part of the milne w ch were Thomas

A PAROCHIAL CHARTULARY 105

Ferrars. Lykewyse to shyllinges are dewe to the heyres of Alexander Lee
except a releas may be had, and that is to be sought of lohn of Dethecke and
the grinding of an eleven bushell is dew to the chappelaynes of the Lee for that
halfe of the milnes w ch were Alexander Lees, and one penye halfepenye is dew
to the lord of Tutburye, for the enlarginge of the damme of the lower Mylne
of the Lee. Lykewyse six shillinges are to be payed to the prior of Felleye for
one plowe land in Clattercotes. Lykewyse one halfepenye is dew to Richard
Clarke for all the tenementes the wych Peter of Wakebrugge the father of the
founder dyd purchase of Godfraye Holewayes chapelayne in Alveleye, and the
w ch the same Godfraye dyd purchase of Alexander Lee.

To this early sixteenth century English succeeds, after a
calendar that covers six folios, the chartulary proper, wherein
are set forth at length transcripts of the various Latin docu-
ments pertaining to the endowment, and the establishment of
the chantry. It was dedicated conjointly to Sts. Nicholas,
Katharine, Margaret and Mary Magdalene, though usually
known by only the first two of these names. It was ordained
that there should be daily mass for the souls of the founder
and his two wives, Joan who died in 1 349, and Elizabeth whom
he married in 1350, and who survived him ; for his grand-
father, Nicholas de Wakebridge, and his wife Julia, their son
Nicholas and their daughters Sarah, Joan and Amy, uncle and
aunts of the founder ; for his father and mother, Peter and
Joan de Wakebridge, and their children, Robert, Nicholas,
Peter, John (chaplain), Matilda, Joan and Margaret, the
brothers and sisters of the founder, who all died childless ; for
William Cosyne and Eleanor his wife, and their children, John,
Cecilia and Alice ; for the founder's surviving sister Cecilia,
and her husband John de la Pole ; for Henry de Codington,
Margaret his wife, and their parents ; for Roger de Chesterfield,
clerk ; for Henry, Nicholas and Geoffrey de Chaddesden, and
Nicholas de Tissington ; for William de Balidon, vicar of Crich ;
for Sir Roger Beler, lord of Crich, Margaret his wife, and
Alice Beler, daughter of Thomas Beler, their niece ; for Cecily
Wyn ; and for Ralph Frecheville and his heirs. The chaplain
was to assist the vicar on double festivals, on Sundays, and
on the feasts of Sts. Katharine and Margaret. He was to
provide a wax taper for use in the chancel ; to say full ser-
vice for the departed on St. Katharine's day, and to offer $d.
on the morrow ; and to distribute IQS. or its value to the
poor of Crich on the same feast.

The right of presentation to the chantry was to be vested
for life in the founder, and then, in default of heirs male, in

io6 THE ANCESTOR

his sister Cecily and her heirs. After a month's vacancy, if
no presentation had been made, the advowson was to pass to
the abbot of Darley, to whom the rectory of Crich had been
for long appropriated ; and after a further lapse of fifteen days,
to the bishop. Within fifteen days of his presentation, the
chaplain, in the presence of the lord of Wakebridge and the
vicar of Crich, and of two other honest parishioners, was to
make an inventory of the goods of the chantry, which were
to be left at his departure in as good or better condition. On
the anniversary of the death of the founder, two wax tapers
were to burn at his sepulchre in the chapel of Sts. Nicholas
and Katharine, as well as on the vigil and morrow. The
chaplain had to say daily full service for the departed and the
commendation of souls, save on double festivals.

The chartulary next sets forth at length the respective formal
sanction given to the alienation of the chantry possessions in
which they were immediately or mediately interested, by Sir
Roger Beler, and Roger his son ; by Geoffrey Dethick, and John
his son ; by William de Kynardsye ; by Richard le Clerk ;
and by Roger de Wynfeld.

For some untold reason a delay of several years, involving
some rearrangement of the complex endowment, took place
before this chantry was duly enrolled. At length, on 4 June,
1356, Richard Davy, chaplain of Stony Stanton, was instituted
to the chantry of Sts. Nicholas and Katharine, de novo fundata,
by the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, on the presentation
of William Wakebridge. A few days later he was inducted
at Crich, by the Archdeacon of Derby, as the first chaplain.

The founder's revised ordinance is recited at length in
Bishop Norbury's register (Lichfield Epis. Reg. iii. ff. 48-
51) ; it differs somewhat from the earlier one cited in the
chartulary. From it we gather that the altar of this chantry
stood at the east end of the north aisle of the parish church ;
that that aisle had been entirely rebuilt by Sir William Wake-
bridge ; and that its altar had previously been simply dedi-
cated to St. Nicholas. The order for the observance of St.
Katharine's day is given in greater detail ; Henry de Coding-
ton and his wife, together with the relatives and friends of the
founder, were enjoined to be present at mass on that day, and
on the vigil of the feast to offer two wax tapers at the founder's
tomb in the chantry, together with five pence in honour of the
Five Wounds of Christ and the Five Joys of the Blessed Virgin.

A PAROCHIAL CHARTULARY 107

On a latter page of the chartulary occurs the following
curious entry, parts of which are illegible, relative to the
distribution of the los. to the poor on St. Katharine's day :

Neghbo r I let you understand y* as y te day as you k[now] of old custom y
chantre prest of Sanct Nycholas and . . . Kathrin ys bond to dystribute
x d in penys [or] penywurthe so y 4 eny persons . . . coming have j d in sylver
of sylver wherfor I desyre when masse ys done to tary and receve yo r dole
and to praye for y e founder Wyliam Wake' ... I desyre your yonge folkes
and al other to tary w'in y e churche and you shal all be fynde Gyff you
do nott.

I desyre you to hold me excusyd for [? or] forsothe you shall go w 1 out any
dole.

There was a chantry house pertaining to this chantry,
which the chaplain was bound to keep in repair ; he had also
to maintain the fabrics of the several cottages on the property.
On the resignation of Henry Coke, the third chaplain, in 1429,
a detailed list of dilapidations was entered in the chartulary.
The expenses incurred in putting the chantry house in repair
amounted to 365. lid. A shilling was paid to John Mader
propter sbapillyng lapidum a quaint instance of the Anglicizing
used in low Latin. Several of the tenements were out of re-
pair ; as to that at Plaistow it was reported non est cooportum
nee muratum nee bostiatum.

In the year 1368 William de Wakebridge obtained the
licence of Bishop Stretton to found a chantry at the altar of
the Blessed Virgin within the parish church of Crich, in bonore
Domini nostri Jhesu Cbristi et beatissime Virginis Marie matris sue
et omnium sanctorum. This chantry was usually known as the
.chantry of Our Lady ; its altar was in the rebuilt south aisle,
and had formerly been dedicated to St. Stephen. The com-
position deed, after reciting that the due assent of the abbot
,and convent of Darley, of William de Weston, vicar of Crich,
.and of the parishioners had been obtained, nominated Richard
Whiteman as the first perpetual chaplain of the chantry, to
which he was shortly afterwards duly instituted by the bishop.
The endowment consisted of 6 of rents to be paid annually
by the prior of Thurgarton, and of certain lands and tene-
ments specified in a deed held by the chaplain. It was ordained
that the chaplain was always to be a secular priest ; that he
should daily celebrate solemn Lady Mass, using as second
collect one for the good estate of the founder during his life-
lime and for his soul after his death ; that the chaplain clad in

io8 THE ANCESTOR

surplice, on double feasts, on Sundays, and on the festivals of
Sts. Nicholas, Katharine, Margaret and Mary Magdalene,
should assist the vicar at mattins, mass and evensong ; that he
should daily, in conjunction with the chantry chaplain of St.
Katharine, say his service and the office for the dead in the
church or (in the chapel in the) churchyard ; that in the mass
he should always mention by name the founder, his wife
Elizabeth, Roger de Chesterfield, clerk, John de la Pole and
Cecily his wife whilst they lived, and pray for their souls after
death, as well as for the souls of Nicholas de Wakebridge and
Julia his wife ; of Peter de Wakebridge and Joan his wife, to-
gether with their sons Robert, Nicholas and Peter ; of Joan
wife of William de Wakebridge ; and of Joan and Margaret
daughters of Peter de Wakebridge ; that he should daily offer
a requiem mass ; that he should daily, save on greater and
double festivals, say the full service of the dead and commen-
dation of souls ; and that on all Wednesdays and Fridays he
should say the seven penitential psalms with the litany, save
in the weeks of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. Moreover
each successive chaplain, on admission to the chantry, was to
take an oath of continuous residence, and of wearing the can-
onical dress and tonsure. It was also ordained that, whenever
the chaplain said or sung mass (sine nota vet cum nota\ save on
double festivals, in the Introit before the mass began, those
present should recite devoutly and publicly an Our Father and
a Hail Mary ; that he should daily after mattins and each of
the other hours say the psalm Deprofundis, with the customary
versicles, in the hearing of those present (in audiencia astancium) ;
that at the conclusion of the versicles he should say Anima
Willelmi et anime omnium fidelium defunctorum per Dei misereicor-
diam in pace requiescant ; that the same words should be used by
him after mass and compline, and after grace at table ; that
mass should be said at a convenient hour, so that parishioners
and others might be present ; that a bell should be rung to
give warning of the service ; that the chaplain should not
hold any other benefice, nor undertake any other regular duty ;
that on the death, resignation, or removal of the chaplain, the
chantry chaplain of Sts. Nicholas and Katharine should receive
the profits and fulfil the duties of Our Lady's chantry and re-
turn full accounts thereof to the new chaplain immediately on
his appointment ; that no woman, de qua suspicio aliqua possit
oriri, should live in the chantry house ; that on the anniversary

A PAROCHIAL CHARTULARY 109

of the founder's death a requiem mass for his soul should be
said, together with the usual office for the departed ; that each
chaplain, within five days of his obtaining possession of the
chantry, should draw up, in the presence of the chaplain of
Sts. Nicholas and Katharine and the vicar, an inventory of the
number, condition, and value of the books, chalices, jewels,
vestments, ornaments, utensils, and all other goods pertaining
to the chantry, which were to be kept in as good or better
condition than he found them ; that three copies were to be
taken of such inventory, one to be kept by the chaplain of
Our Lady's chantry, one by the other chantry chaplain, and
the third by the vicar ; that each chaplain should leave for his
successor 405. in money, that sum having been handed to the
first chaplain by the founder ; and that no chaplain should
appropriate to his own use or leave by will any of the books,
jewels, chalices, vestments or other goods pertaining to the
chantry. It was further determined that each chaplain, im-
mediately on his appointment, shall swear on the gospels to
look diligently after the best interests of the chantry ; that he
shall be instituted and inducted personally and not by proxy ;
that on the vigil of the Annunciation, in conjunction with the
chaplain of Sts. Nicholas and Katharine, he should sing placebo
et dirige for the souls of Roger Beler senior and Alice his wife,
for Roger Beler junior and Margaret and Elizabeth his wives,
for Reynold de Greye of Shirland and Matilda his wife, and
for the souls of all their ancestors and heirs ; that on the next
day a requiem mass should be sung at the high altar for the
souls of the aforesaid ; that, in conjunction with the other
chantry chaplain, placebo et dirige should be sung on the Satur-
day before the nativity of St. John Baptist, and on the morrow
a requiem mass at the high altar for the souls of Roger de
Chesterfield and Richard his brother, and for Henry de Chad-
desden, Nicholas de Chaddesden, Geoffrey de Chaddesden,
Richard de Tissington, Robert de Derby and John Nyk-
brother of Eyam, the most special and confidential friends
of the founder ; that the same service should be sung at the
high altar by the two chaplains, on the vigil and feast of St.
Michael, for the souls of William de Weston, vicar of Crich,
of William de Balliden the former vicar, of Richard Davy and
Richard Whitman the two chantry chaplains, and of all the
parishioners of Crich who were then dead, or who should here-
afterwards die ; that all the aforesaid services and prayers

no THE ANCESTOR

should also be for the souls of John de Annesley and Anne his
wife, of Robert de Annesley rector of Ruddington (Notts),
of John Belewe and Isabel his wife, of John Belewe his son
and Alice his wife, and of Cecily Wyn and Robert Attehall,
servants of the founder ; and that these names, with those
mentioned above, should be placed on tablets above the altar,
so that they should for ever face the celebrant and be by him
recited. It was further determined that on a vacancy in the
chantry, through death or other causes, William the founder
should present during his lifetime, and after his death his
legitimate heirs ; that in default of heirs the advowson of the
chantry should pass to his sister Cecily and her heirs male,
and in default to the abbot and convent of Dale ; and that, if the
founder and his heirs should neglect to appoint, and also the
abbot and convent of Dale after five days' notice, the patronage
for that turn should go to the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield.
It was in conclusion ordered that this ordination of the chantry,
lest the foundation of it should in course of time be forgotten,
should be read distinctly in the vulgar tongue in the church or
churchyard of Crich before the duly assembled parishioners,
year by year by the chaplain, on the Sunday next before the
feast of the Assumption before the beginning of high mass.
The ordinance was executed in triplicate, one copy to be kept
by the chaplain, a second by the lord of the manor of Wake-
bridge, and a third by the abbot of Dale. The ordinance was
sealed by William de Wakebridge on the Monday after the
feast of St. Michael, 1368 ; by the Bishop of Coventry and
Lichfield at Heywood, on 30 October ; by the abbot and convent
of Dale in their chapter house, on 6 November ; and by
William de Weston, vicar of Crich, on 1 1 November of the
same year.

The composition of the chantry of Our Lady at Annesley,
Nottinghamshire, is next transcribed in the register. It is of
almost equal length and similar form to that of Our Lady at
Crich. This chantry was founded in 1363 conjointly by
William de Wakebridge and Robert de Annesley, rector of
the church of Ruddington (Rotyntone), with the consent of
the prior and convent of Felley as patrons of the church of
Annesley. The chantry chaplain was daily to assist the
parochial chaplain at mattins, mass and evensong.

A copy of an encyclical letter of Simon Islip, Archbishop of
Canterbury, dated 14 December, 1362, addressed to all the

A PAROCHIAL CHARTULARY in

bishops of his province, relative to the observance of holy days,
follows in the register. It was probably ordered to be read in
all parish churches. The archbishop therein complains, in the
usual extravagant Latin of the times, that not only was the
custom prevalent of transacting ordinary business on Sundays
and holy days, but also of indulging in blasphemous and illicit
practices, so that the very times intended for devotion were
given up to dissoluteness, the tavern frequented rather than
the church, and drunkenness and quarrelling abounded instead
of prayers and meditations ; in short the whole purport of
God in hallowing the Sabbath, and of the Church in setting
apart other days for pious observances, had been by the multi-
tude perverted to evil uses. The archbishop therefore en-
joined that there should be abstinence from even useful work
on all Sundays (beginning to observe it from the vesper hour
of Saturday), and on the festivals of St. Stephen, St. John,
Holy Innocents, St. Thomas of Canterbury, the Circumcision,
the Epiphany, the Purification, St. Matthias, the Annunciation,
Good Friday, Easter with the three following days, St. Mark,
Sts. Philip and James, the Invention of the Holy Cross, the
Ascension, Whitsuntide with three following days, Corpus
Christi, the Nativity of St. John Baptist, Sts. Peter and
Paul, Translation of St. Thomas of Canterbury, St. Mary
Magdalen, St. James, the Assumption of B.V.M., St. Bartho-
lomew, St. Laurence, the Nativity of B.V.M., Exaltation of
the Cross, St. Matthew, St. Michael, St. Luke, Sts. Simon
and Jude, All Saints, St. Andrew, St. Nicholas, the Concep-
tion of B.V.M., St. Thomas, the dedication of the particular
parish church and of the saint in whose honour the church was
dedicated. The archbishop enjoined upon his suffragans to
see that all and singular their flocks, both lay and clerical,
should know his will in this matter, and should admonish and
effectually induce them to pay due honour and reverence to
all these days, devoutly attending not only mass but the full
complement of divine services at their parish church, praying
with earnestness for the living and the dead. It was further
ordered that the relics of the saints might be carried, according
to custom, at certain festivals, ad opera ruralia et licita.

To this succeeds a memorandum concerning a thirteenth
century dispute that arose between the parishioners of Crich
and the abbot of Darley as their rector. It was brought to
the attention of that strict disciplinarian, Archbishop Peckham,

ii2 THE ANCESTOR

during the time of his visitation of the diocese of Coventry
and Lichfield. Peckham began this visitation at Coventry on
Quinquagesima Sunday, 1280 ; his decision in the Crich case
was dated from Lichfield on the last Thursday in July of the
same year. In March, as we know from his letters, the primate
was at Repton, Darley and Ashbourne, Derbyshire, and later
in the year at various places in Staffordshire, Shropshire and
Warwickshire, making Eccleshall or Lichfield his usual head-
quarters. There seems no reason to doubt, as is implied in
the memorandum, that this stern friar-prelate personally visited
Crich. He appointed Simon de Balliden, vicar-general of the
diocese, and R. de Suham, both canons of Lichfield, to act as
his commissioners in this disagreement. The complaint of the
parishioners was thus redressed. The abbot and convent of Dar-
ley were henceforth to find some one to serve as bellringer for
the parish church, whose duty it should also be to carry water and
fire there as often as required ; to provide ropes for the bells ;
to relieve the necessitous and indigent of the parish ; and to
provide for the serving of the chantry within the chapel of
St. Thomas of Canterbury, situated in the churchyard at
Crich, on three days of the week, until the heir of Anker de
Frecheville came of age.

A further agreement is next entered between the parish-
ioners and the abbey, dated 28 March, 1281, whereby it was
covenanted in the presence of the archbishop's commissaries
that the abbey was to find the (patronal) image of Our Lady
for the chancel of the church and all other necessaries for the
chancel, both in books and ornaments, save the missal and
chalice, which were to be furnished by the parishioners ; and
further that the abbey was also to pay their due share of the
blessed bread, and of the expenses incurred for the maintenance
and repair of the nave, in accordance with the lands, posses-
sions and houses that they held in the parish.

The parishioners of Crich maintained a light to burn per-
petually before the image of Our Lady in the chancel of their
parish church. For this purpose, as stated in detail in the
register, they agreed to set apart 5 acres 3^ roods of arable
land in the township of Tansley for which a rental of 4^. an
acre was paid. Several private benefactions for like purposes
are also recorded, including a bequest in 1311 of a halfpenny
a year to the light of St. Mary and another halfpenny to the
light of St. John, chargeable on a meadow at Tansley.

A PAROCHIAL CHARTULARY 113

An indenture, dated on the Sunday after the feast of
Michaelmas, 1368, between Roger Beler, William de Wake-
bridge, Henry de Codington, and many other parishioners of
Crich resident in the various hamlets on the one part, and
William Weston, the vicar of Crich, on the other, provides
that all the ornaments, vestments and books that have been
provided individually and collectively for the use of the clergy,
chaplains and other ministers between the years 1349 and
1368 shall be placed in the charge of the vicar and his suc-
cessors, to be held by them for the use of the parish, and not
to be privately appropriated or sold by them or by the abbots
of Darley. The draft of this agreement in the chartulary does
not give any full inventory of the chalices, books, vestments,
copes, surplices and ornaments, but specifies a few of the
special gifts, including a vestment de viridi Camace, with two
tunicles and a cope of the same, of the then great value of
jio ; a cope worth 10 marks, which was the gift of Roger
Chesterfield to William Wakebridge and the rest of the
parishioners ; a chalice worth 8 marks ; a missal valued at
100 shillings ; an antiphonar worth 60 shillings ; and one great
psalter left to the parish by William de Baliden, the former
vicar.

On the following day of this same year indentures were
drawn up between Sir William Wakebridge, the founder, and
Richard Davy and Richard Whiteman, the respective chaplains
of the two chantries, whereby it becomes clear that the goods
named in the parochial inventory were not inclusive of those
pertaining to the chantries. There are but few chantry in-
ventories of fourteenth century date, and as they always possess
some points of interest to the ecclesiologist and philologist
they are here reproduced verbatim.

The goods of the first chantry were :

j super altare, j haire, j altar clothe, et ij manutergia curta ad pendendum
ante altare, Et j manutergia cum frontello super altare, et aliud manutergium
debile cum frontello et frontellum novum, ij corporales cum casis Et j missale,
j calicem, Et j vestimentum pro dupplicibus festis, Et j vestimentum pro
dominicis et j vestimentum debile et vetus pro ferialibus diebus, Et j alter-
clothe de syndone ad pendendum ante altare, Et j portiforium, Et ij
manutergia vetera pro lavatore, Et j tabula depicta super altare, ij pax bred,
ij fiola, Et j registrum cantarie ad sibi (sic), Et j vestimentum integrum de
blewsamite cum ij tuniculis et j capa ejusdem sortis.

The chantry of the second foundation had a briefer in-
ventory :

ii4 THE ANCESTOR

j super altare, et j haire, Et iij alterclothes et ij frontelles, et iiij manu-
tergia, Et iij tapetas ad pendendum ante altare, Et j corporale, Et j novum
casum pro corporali, Et j missale bonum, Et j calicem, Et j vestimentum
novum, pro duplicibus festis, Et j vestimentum pro dominicis, Et j vesti-
mentum pro feriis, Et j pax brede, Et ij fiolas.

The use of a portable (consecrated) slab as a super-altar on
each of these chantry altars shows that no bishop had conse-
crated the actual altars ; in fact such consecration of side
altars in an ordinary parochial church seems to have been the
exception and not the rule. The { haire ' of each altar means
the haircloth undercovering of the altar. The Norwich account
rolls for 1400 mention bayre pro altaribus, and the Durham
rolls twice name cilicium for the like purpose.

Towards the end of the register is another yearly calendar,
and this is of much more interest, as there are a variety of in-
terpolations, chiefly of the obits of the founder's family. These
obits are entered under sixteen different days, and run as fol-
lows :

Jan. 24. Obit' Johanne de Wak.' a dni millimo cccxliiij.

March 19. Obitus Willi de Wak.' a dni millimo ccclxix.

April 22. Obit' Juliane de Wak. a dni millimo cccxviij.

May 1 8. Obit' Nichi filii Pet. de Wak' a dni millimo cccxlix.

June 27. Obit' Elizabet de Aslacton soror' ux' Willi de Wak.' Anno

dni millimo cccxlix.

July 1 6. Obit' Robti filii Pet. de Wak' quondam vicar' de Cruch. Anno
dni millimo cccxlix.

22. Obit' Willi de Sybthorp. Anno dni millimo cccxlix.
August 5. Obit' Pet. de Wak' et Johanne filie sue. Anno dni millimo
cccxlix.

10. Obit' Johanne ux' Willi Willi (sic) de Wak' et Margarete soror'
dicti Willi anno dni millimo cccxlix.

15. Obit' Johis de Wak' capellani anno dni millimo cccxlix.
Sept. 7. Obit' Nichi filii Nichi de Wak' a dni millimo ccc.

20. Obit' Pet. filii Pet. de Wak' a dni millimo cccxlvij.
Oct. 17. Obit' Matild' de Wak' a dni millimo cccxliij.

20. Obit' Nichi de Wak' a dni millimo cccxv.
Nov. 4. Obit' dni Rogi de Chestrefeld a dni millimo ccclxvij.

9. Obit' Cecilie Wyn. a dni millimo ccclxviij.

The striking feature about these obits is the number of
deaths in that awful fateful year, 1349. At that time England
was being devastated by the Black Death. This great pestilence
crossed over the seas from Europe in August, 1348, first
appearing in the seaports of Dorsetshire, and thence slowly
making its way eastward and northward fed by fresh channels

A PAROCHIAL CHARTULARY 115

of infection from other ports. During the winter months it
was comparatively dormant ; but by May, 1 349, it had reached
Derbyshire in the very centre of the kingdom, and raged with
fury throughout England for the next four months. The
episcopal registers of Lichfield afford undeniable evidence of
the overwhelming character of the visitation. The total num-
ber of Derbyshire benefices at that time subject to episcopal
institution was 108, with an average for the century of seven
yearly vacancies through death or resignation. In 1346 the
vacancies numbered four, in 1347 two, and in 1348 eight ;
but in 1349 the number leapt up to sixty-three, and in the
following year (many of the vacant benefices being not filled
up till then) they numbered forty-one. Seventy-seven bene-
ficed priests of Derbyshire died in that one dread period, and
twenty-two more resigned. In eight parishes the rectory or
vicarage was twice emptied, whilst Pentrich, on the opposite
side of the valley to Crich, lost three successive vicars in the
fatal year. Nor were the regular clergy more fortunate, for
out of the small number of religious houses in the county,
the abbeys of Beauchief, Dale and Darley, and the priories of
Gresley, St. James Derby, and Kingsmead all lost their
superiors, so we can judge how the ordinary canons, monks,
friars or nuns fared. In short, so far as episcopal registers
bear testimony, Derbyshire was pre-eminent among all English
counties in the horrors of the pestilence ; for the county
actually lost more than two-thirds of its clergy within a
twelvemonth.

In Derbyshire no class of the community seems to have been
spared, and no place was too remote or admirably situated to
escape desolation. The Wakebridges were among the most
wealthy of the county families, whilst the family mansion was
commodious and placed on high ground in as breezy a district
as any that Derbyshire affords. Within three months Sir
William de Wakebridge lost his father, his wife, three brothers,
two sisters, and a sister-in-law. Sir William as a younger son
had gained no small repute amid the stormy wars with France,
but, on thus unexpectedly succeeding to the family estates,
he seems to have abandoned the pursuit of arms, and to
have devoted no small share of his wealth to the service of
religion. * The Great Plague,' as has been remarked, * had
the effect of thoroughly unstringing the consciences of many
of the survivors, and a lamentable outbreak of profligacy

n6 THE ANCESTOR

was the result. But the dire judgments of God had a con-
trary effect on many others, who were led by His grace to
a newness of life ; and hence, as a practical outcome of
their change of habit, we find about this period a marked
revival in the works of His Church, such as the rebuilding of
fabrics and the ordination of chantries.'

Sir William's earnestness led him not only to found these
two chantries in his parish church and to become the co-
founder of another in Nottinghamshire, but also to build a
large chapel for his family and retainers at Wakebridge. This
chapel he furnished on a generous scale ; an inventory of its
goods for the year 1368 is inserted in the chartulary. The
most interesting items are that it included a portifer or breviary
for the lord of Wakebridge's use, and a manual de usu Lincolnie.
In Wyrley's copy of the visitation of 1569 (Harl. MS. 6592,
f. 88) it is stated that Sir William 'builded a fine chapell at
Wakeburg, furnishing with orgayne and other costly devises.'

The considerable remains of this chapel were cleared away
in the f forties ' of the last century, when the east window was
moved into the grounds of Mr. Nightingale at Lea Hurst,
which was long the residence of Florence Nightingale of im-
mortal memory.

Others besides Sir William de Wakebridge were moved to
liberally endow Derbyshire chantries about the same period.
Prominent among these benefactors were Roger and Richard
de Chesterfield, and Henry, Geoffrey and Nicholas de Chad-
desden, who were generous to the churches of the places
whose name they bore. This chartulary shows that they
were among the special friends of the benefactor of Crich.
Sir William several times served as knight of the shire for the
counties of Derbyshire and Nottingham in parliaments held
between 1352 and 1362 ; he died in 1369.

His effigy still remains beneath an ogee-shaped sepulchral
recess in the north wall of the north aisle. He is represented
in a long gown, closely buttoned from neck to waist, bare-
headed, with long beard and hair, the hands joined over the
breast, and the feet resting on a dog. Two small angels have
supported the head, but that on the left is broken off ; the
one on the right holds a Katharine wheel to the ear of the
effigy ; in all probability the other, when perfect, held some
emblem of St. Nicholas. A foolish attempt was made by
representatives of the Bellairs family, about thirty years ago,

A PAROCHIAL CHARTULARY 117

to claim this as the effigy of Sir Roger Beler, lord of the
manor of Crich, and an itinerant justice ; but every sound
argument is in favour of it being that of the notable founder
of the two chantries.

On the death of Sir William, his sister and heiress Cecily
brought Wakebridge to Sir John de la Pole. Their second
son, Ralph, inherited this estate, the eldest son settling at
Radburne.

Up to the time of a most disastrous restoration of Crich
church in 1861, the quartered arms of Pole and Wakebridge
remained in old glass in several of the windows. The Wake-
bridge arms were azure a fesse gules between six lozenges
sable, and are instanced by Wyrley in his 'True Use of Arms
(1592) as an honourable example of colour upon colour borne
by that 'valiant knight Sir William Wakbirge of Wakbirge
in Derbyshire.' 1

It only remains to notice the curious and superstitious
notes as to lucky and unlucky days for the letting of blood
or for the use or abstinence from specific articles of diet
with which the calendar at the end of the register has been
interlarded. They have apparently been entered by the same
hand that inserted the reminder of the Wakebridge obits.
There are ten of these entries, one for each month save
January and November ; they are here reproduced verbatim :

February. Potagium de malua vocatum hok' non comedatur quia vene-
nosa est, sunt confrag' manus in vena de pollice imminuere sanguinem vj et
viij dies sunt periculosi et calidis cibis utandum est.

March. Ficis et racemis et aliis dulcibus potibus et cibis utendum est,
sanguinem minnuere non est bonum, minuere sanguinem xvij die in dextero
brachio pro qualiter febr' anni.

April. Si quis minuerit sanguinem xj die Aprilis in sinistro brachio
illo anno visum occulorum non perdet, iij die bonum est minuere sanguinem
ob visum occulorum. Si quis minuerit sanguinem tercio die Aprilis illo
a extasim Anglice Swymes nee dolore capitis habebit, carnes recentes com-
mede et calidis vescere cibis.

May. Qui in fine Maij iiij vel v to die de quolibet brachio sanguinem
minuerit nunquam habebit Febrem In mense Maij mane surgere et mane
commede et calidis cibis et potibus vescere capud et pedes alicujus animalis
non commedas, iiij sunt dies periculosi, vij. xv. xvi. et xx.

June. Qualiter die jejunans mane bibe unum haustum aque omne cibum
et potum in mensura sume et commede, salgiam et lectucam, pro magna

1 A plaster cast of a fourteenth century seal of William de Wakebrugge is
in the British Museum collection [xc. 99]. It bears the charges as related
above.

n8 THE ANCESTOR

necessitate minuere sanguinem septima die periculosum est minuere sangui-
nem.

July. Abstinete a luxuria quia contra cerebrum colligit humores, sangui-
nem minuere noli duo sunt periculosi dies xv et xix. Julio et August caven-
dum est minuere sanguinem viij die Kal' Augusti nam tercia die mors sequitur.

August. Olera de malues nee de caulis commedere noli cibum calidum
ne commedas, potum veterem nee bibas, sanguinem minuere noli, sunt peri-
culosi, xix et xx.

September. Omnes fructus maturos commede sanguinem minuere bonum.
Si quis minuerit sanguinem xvij die Septembris a paralisi ydropici franesi et
morbo caduco non habebit timorem hoc anno.

October. Justum bonum est bibere et sanguinem minuere si necessitas
cogat, unus dies periculosus est.

December. Tres dies pre aliis servandi sunt ne aliquis sanguinem minuerit,
videlicet, vij Kalen' Aprilis, viij Kalen. Augusti, viij Decembr, quare qui in
istis diebus hominem vel pecudem percutit tercia die moriatur et hoc proba-
tum est.

The same hand also supplies, at the end of the calendar,
the. following prescription :

For y e stone strangury and colyke.

Take malues, violet, mercury, meke of yche j handfulle percele, meydon
here, tho this tyll of yche half a handfulle, of lyquerice j quartron, seth all yis
in iiij quartes of ale tyl y e half be consumet. Yen streyn hit thore a clothe
and gyf hym vj sponfulle of y 4 licor to dry nek in y e morowe cold and at
nyght lew warme w* half a sponfull of y e powd r y l folows,

Take careaway, fenelsede, spyknard, anneys cinamon, galyngale of yche
di unce, gromelsede j unce lycorys j unce cene (sic) y e wyeght of alle.

J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A.

THE PURSE OF THE GREAT SEAL

IN 1578

THIS interesting relic of Elizabethan days is also a very
excellent specimen of needlework, the silks of which are
scarcely faded, though, as the date, 1578, on a label beneath
the coat-of-arms tells us, it has been in existence nearly three
hundred and twenty-five years, and the pile of the velvet on
which it is mounted is almost entirely gone. Few of these
purses are now in existence, although one was anciently deliv-
ered each year to the Lord Keeper, and in the eighteenth
century the wife of a Lord Keeper long in office made the
curtains of her state bed of these strange perquisites. Many
such purses must have fallen to the Bacons, a score of them to
the old Lord Keeper, whose great son Francis also held the seal.
The history since the death of the old Sir Nicholas Bacon, its
original possessor, is shown by the pedigree of the Bacons of
Shrubland, the descendants of his third son.

The seal bag was probably the last which Sir Nicholas
was to handle, for he died 20 February, 157!, and the bag must
have passed to Edward Bacon his third son, who had made an
estate for himself by wedding the heiress of Shrubland Hall
in Suffolk, an estate which stayed with the Bacons for six
generations.

The Rev. Nicholas Bacon, the last of his line, was the third
son of the fourth Nicholas Bacon of Shrubland, and of Dorothy
Temple, granddaughter of Sir William and Lady Temple. 1
At the time of his succession to the Shrubland estates, he held
three of the family livings, viz. Coddenham-cum-Crowfield,
Barham, and Bramford, in Suffolk. He had built the present
vicarage house at Coddenham, and he elected to spend the rest
of his days there, instead of returning to the great rambling
old Hall, which had been the home of his youth. He put
Bramford in charge of his friend John Longe, one of the
Longes of Reymerston and Spixworth in Norfolk, whose

1 N.B. Lady Temple was the celebrated Dorothy Osborne ; see Letters of
Dorothy Osborne, edited by his Honour Judge Parry.

119

120 THE ANCESTOR

great grandmother had been a Bacon (a daughter of Sir Francis
Bacon, Judge of the King's Bench). He looked upon him
with great affection, and also, no doubt, in the light of a
distant kinsman of his own.

The two friends further cemented their bond by marrying
sisters and co-heiresses, Maria and Charlotte Browne ; and
when Nicholas died, in 1796, he left all his personal property,
advowsons and lands in Coddenham and Barham and Hem-
mingstone to this same John Longe, who came into possession
in 1797, and died at Coddenham Vicarage in 1834. He was
succeeded there by his second surviving son Robert, who was
for fifty-six years vicar of the parish, and who died in 1890,
in his ninetieth year, and thus the purse of the Great Seal
passed, with other things, into the possession of his eldest
son, Robert Bacon Longe, now of Spixworth Park.

JULIA G. LONGE.

nii BACON I'UKSK
1578.

SOME EXTINCT CUMBERLAND FAMILIES
IV. THE GREYSTOKES

IT is difficult to treat of an illustrious family like that of
Greystoke within the limits of a short article, or to confine
it to one county, when we know that its distinguished place
among great feudal houses more properly belongs to all
northern England. Possessed of large estates in York-
shire, Durham, Northumberland and Westmorland, as well as
in Cumberland, and allied by marriage with many of the
principal families of these counties, the Greystokes of Grey-
stoke exerted a powerful influence in northern affairs and
occupied a conspicuous position in the political and military
administration of the Border. But as the family took its name
from a Cumberland lordship, long reputed as a barony, and
had been for centuries identified with that district, it may be
permissible to trace the baronial descent as it affected the
county in which the chief residence of the family was situated.
There is no intention to follow the offshoots of this family or
of any other family discussed or to be discussed in these
papers. The object of the present article is simply to pursue
the main line and to authenticate as far as possible the suc-
cessive links in the pedigree. Few northern houses have
attracted more pens to delineate their descent than the house of
Greystoke, and though we are unable to agree with the con-
clusions of many of the genealogists, we venture to claim the
reader's indulgence on those points on which we have been
obliged to dissent from the traditional interpretation.

The origin of the family in Cumberland cannot be set
further back with any show of authority than to Forne son of
Siolf, to whom Henry I. granted the barony of Greystoke
when he took into his own hand the lordship of the land of
Carlisle after the departure of Ranulf Meschin, its first Norman
ruler, about H2O. 1 But it is fashionable to set up Siolf the

1 Dugdale did not carry the pedigree higher than Ranulf son of Walter,
who paid ' 300 marks and one palfrey in 1210 for the wardship and marriage
of the heir of Walter de Carro' (Baronage, i. 739). Charles Brooke, Somerset
Herald, has traced from ' Forne son of Siulf or Liulph to whom Ranulf de
Meschines, lord of Cumberland of the gift of William the Conqueror, con-

122 THE ANCESTOR

father as an earlier owner and to make him c the Saxon pos-
sessor of Greystoke.' * Forne's father is usually identified with
Liolf, Liulf or Lyulph son of Edulf, the great Northumbrian
thane, who was known as Liulf or Ligulf of Bebbanburch or
Bamborough. A sober writer like the late Mr. Hodgson
Hinde boldly suggested a mistake in the text when he
found Symeon of Durham 2 alluding to Forne as the son of
Sig', and to explain that * this should be Lig* and not Sig'.
Forno the son of Ligulf, Liolf or Lyulf was the grantee of the
barony of Greystok in Cumberland.' In this interpretation of
Symeon's text Hinde has had many imitators. Indeed so
flamboyant is the antiquarian imagination at times that the
father of Forne has played the part alternately of Ulf, or
L'Ulf, the wolf, who is said to have given his name to the
neighbouring lake of Ulleswater, and of Liulf the unfortu-
nate minister of Walcher, the famous Bishop of Durham.
When the Earl of Surrey built a summer house in the eigh-
teenth century within the park of Greystoke on the shore of the
lake, * as a retreat from the noise and bustle of state to the
enjoyments of rural ease and peace,' as the local chronicler 3 of
the period described it, he was but following the genealogical
conceptions of his time when he called it * Lyulph's Tower ' in
commemoration of his first ancestor in possession of the
barony. It would not be consistent with the scope of this
article to enter into competition with any of these theories on
the identity of Forne's father, 4 but it is desirable as a preliminary

ceded the barony of Creystoc ' (Archteologia, vi. 41). John Den ton, who was
the source of the early pedigrees in the standard county histories of Cumber-
land, stated that ' the barony [of Greystoke] the earl Randulph Meschiens gave
to one Lyolf or Lyulphe, and King Henry I. confirmed the same to Phorne
the son of the Lyolph or Lyulph, whose posterity took the name of the place
and were called de Graystok ' (Cumberland, p. 1 1 2). Lord William Howard,
the famous * Belted Will ' of Border History, writing in 1605, stated that ' the
first possessors of that inheritance, which now we tearme the Greistockes
possessions, mentioned in recordes, wear Sigulfus lord of Greistock and Ulfo
of Grimthorpe, whose great-great-grandchilde, called Raph the sonne of
William, about A 1 2 Hen. III. marryed Johan, the daughter of Thomas of
Greistock, whoe [was] lineally descended from the sayd Sigulfus ' (Household
Books of Lord W. Howard, p. 391, ed. Ornsby).

1 Memorials of the Howard Family, app. xi. E, ed. Henry Howard.

2 Opera, i. 1 1 6, Surtees Society.

3 Clarke, Survey of the Lakes, p. 27, ed. 1789.

4 If we assume that Siolf, father of Forne, is the same person as Liulf of
Bamborough, a very interesting sequence of family history arises therefrom.

EXTINCT CUMBERLAND FAMILIES 123

to pin genealogists down to the form of the name as it is found
in documents of unimpeachable authority. There is no
trustworthy evidence of any kind that Siolf or Sigulf was ever
the owner of Greystoke. It was Forne himself and not Siolf
who was enfeofFed by Henry I. The jurors of the inquest of
1 2 12 did not attempt to trace the baronial descent from an
earlier source. Though it was not Ranulf Meschin who
created the barony, as it is often assumed, there is no question
that Forne was known to that distinguished personage while he
held Carlisle, for as Forne son of Sigulf he attested the charter
which Ranulf gave in foundation or the priory of Wetheral. 1
Forne son of Sig' was present at Durham in 1 121 with a great
concourse of the principal men, like Robert de Brys, Alan de
Percy, Walter Espec, and Odard sheriff of Northumberland,
and other great men of the northern counties, who had
assembled there by chance at that time on certain business. 2
He was also in attendance on the court at Nottingham and as
Forne son of Sigulf witnessed the charter whereby Henry I.
enfeofFed William son of Ulf, ancestor of the house of Grim-
thorp, with Thorpe and other possessions in Yorkshire. 3 Forne
must have died in 1 1 29 or 1 1 30, for in the latter year Ives (Ivo)

In the first place Forne of Greystoke would be a brother of Odard, sheriff of
Northumberland, who was a son of Liulph de Bebbanburch or Liulf son of
Edulf (Raine, North Durham, app. nos. iv. xii. xiii). On the further assump-
tion that Mr. Horace Round's theory is well grounded that Odard of Carlisle
and Odard of Bamborough are identical, LiulPs family must have occupied
a position of commanding importance in Cumberland at this early period.
There is this to be said in favour of Mr. Round's identification that a certain
Odard son of Liolfe is reputed on fairly respectable evidence to have been
enfeoffed by Waldeve son of Earl Gospatric I. of a great lordship alongside
that of Greystoke, and that Adam son of Liolfe was likewise put in possession
of another tract of territory in the same neighbourhood by the same grantor.
On the supposition that Liolfe in these instances was the magnate of Bam-
borough, his three sons had a large slice of central Cumberland in their pos-
session. The conspicuous influence of Odard of Carlisle in early Cumbrian
transactions would be accounted for in some measure by these family connec-
tions. But in no original document have we found Liulf of Bamborough re-
corded as Siolf or Siulf, and, v ice vetsa, we have failed to meet with Siolf, father
of Forne, in authentic evidences under the name of Liolf or Liulf.

1 Reg. of Wetherhal, p. 5,ed. J. E. Prescott.

8 Symeon of Durham, i. 116, ed. H. Hinde.

3 The original of this charter with the royal seal appendant was in
existence, according to Brooke, in the time of O,ueen Elizabeth among the
evidences of the Lords Dacre of the North, and a copy, which he printed in
1782, was in the College of Arms (Archtsokga, vi. 49).

124 THE ANCESTOR

his son had seizin of his father's lands. 1 John of Hexham
relates that both Forne and Ives were among the early bene-
factors of that monastery. 2

Ives or Yves son of Forne, the second lord of Greystoke,
with Agnes his wife and Walter her father made a grant of
two homesteads (mansiones) in perpetual alms to the priory of
Carlisle, which was afterwards confirmed by Ranulf son of
Walter his grandson. 3 He witnessed the charter whereby
Chetell son of Eldred conferred the three churches of Mor-
land, Bromfield and Workington on the abbey of St. Mary,
York.* Ives was still living in 1 1 6 1 , when he was credited with
a remission of two marks by the sheriff of Northumberland
by order of the Chancellor. 5 He had a sister Eda or Edith
about whose fair name a romance, not to say a scandal, has
been woven by the historians. Leland stated that Edith Forne
was a woman of fame and highly esteemed by Henry I., by
whose procuration Robert d'Oilli wedded her, 6 but Dugdale
more bluntly described her as a beautiful woman and a royal
concubine. 7 John of Hexham 8 seems to favour the untoward
inference of the later writers. At all events by her subsequent
conduct Edith endeavoured to atone for her early indiscretions. 9

Ives son of Forne had four sons, Walter, Robert, Adam
and William, neither of whom do we find from the local
evidences in connection with the Cumberland barony. But it

1 Forne appears to have held 3^ knights' fees in Yorkshire (Liber Rubeus,
i. 434, ed. H. Hall ; Liber Niger, i. 326, ed. Hearne), and Ives his son paid
loos, to the sheriff of that county in 1 130 for livery of his father's land (Pipe
Roll, p. 25, ed. Hunter). The earliest mention we have of Forne is when he
witnessed King Alexander's foundation charter of the monastery of Scone in
1 1 1 4 or 1115 in company with Gospatric brother of Dolfin and William the
Aetheling of England (Liber de Scon, pp. 1-2, Bannatype Club ; Dalrymple,
Scottish Collections, 371-3).

3 The Priory of Hexham, i. 59, Surtees Society.

3 Monasticon, vi. 144.

* Register of St. Bees (Harleian MS. 434), f. 102^.

5 This statement is made on the authority of Hodgson Hinde, who was
of opinion that Hugh son of Orn in the Pipe Roll of 7 Henry II. was a mis-
nomer for Yves son of Forne (History of Northumberland, iii. pt. iii. 5, i. 281).
But see Pipe Roll (Yorkshire), 9 Henry II., where the sheriff renders account
of ten marks for Hugh son of Od'en.

6 Itinerary, ii. 17 ; Monasticon, vi. 251.

7 Baronage, i. 460 ; Lappenberg, Norman Kings, p. 348, ed. Thorpe.

8 The Priory of Hexham, i. 138.

9 Monasticon, v. 404, vi. 251.

EXTINCT CUMBERLAND FAMILIES 125

is probable that Walter was in possession for a few years, 1 as
he is said to have held the Yorkshire estates of the family from
1162 to 1165. Beatrice de Folketon, his wife, was a bene-
factress of the abbey of Rievaulx in Yorkshire, 2 to the endow-
ment of which several of the family afterwards contributed.
In 1165 Ranulf son of Walter was assessed to a ' donum ' in
the Pipe Roll of Northumberland. In the ( barons' certificates '
of 1 1 66 it is declared that Ranulf s ancestors held their fees
from Henry I., and that Ranulf himself held 3! knights' fees,
of which Ernald de Mondevill did the service of one knight. 3
As Greystoke was held by cornage, the barony was not
included in that return. Portions of the Cumberland barony
were in litigation amongst Ives' immediate descendants while
Ranulf son of Walter was in possession. A double suit lay
in the king's court between members of this family in 1 1 8 1 .
Henry son of Robert son of Ives obtained a writ against
Ranulf son of Walter for certain woodland in dispute, and
Robert son of Adam son of Ives was successful in a recogni-
tion of Hutton and its appurtenances against William son
of William son of Ives.* In 1185 the family troubles were
not over, for Henry son of Robert was again in the king's
court against Ranulf son of Walter about the advowson of
the church of Dacre. 5 It was this Ranulf son of Walter
who gave a carucate of land in Stainton to the priory
of Carlisle 6 and lands in Yorkshire to the abbey of Rievaulx. 7
William son of Ranulf was in possession in 1203 and paid
5 to the scutage of that year. 8 He was returned in one
of the inquisitions entered in the Red Book of the Exchequer as

1 Mr. Henry Howard has printed abstracts of the charters of enfeoffment
both of Ives son of Forne and Walter son of Ives by Henry I., taken from
copies in the College of Arms made by St. George (Memorials of the Howards,
app. v. E). Walter son of Ives paid one mark for scutage in 1162 to the
sheriff of Northumberland (Pipe Roll, 8 Henry II.).

8 Chartulary of Rievaulx, p. 117, ed. J. C. Atkinson.

3 Liber Rubeus, i. 434 ; Liber Niger, i. 326.

* Pipe Roll (Cumberland), 27 Henry II. 5 Ibid. 31 Henry II.

6 Monasticon, vi. 144.

7 According to Dodsworth, the name of RanulPs wife was Amabel (Char-
tulary of Rievaulx, p. 49, ed. Atkinson). This agrees with the abstracts of St.
George's MS. quoted by Mr. Howard, where it is stated that Ranulf son of
Walter received Conniscliffe in dowry with Amabel, and that he gave Mikelton
in free marriage with Alice his daughter (Memorials of the Howards, app. v. E).

8 Pipe Roll, 5 John.

126 THE ANCESTOR

holding two vills in demesne and two in homage at the
annual cornage rent of 4, but he must have died in 1209,
for Robert de (Veteri Ponte) Vipont [owed] 500 marks and
5 palfreys in 1 1 John for having custody of the land and heirs
of William son of Ranulf until the said heirs were of age and
for the marriage of the heirs, and also for the marriage of
Helewise de Stutevill, widow of the said William, the first
payment being due at Easter in the eleventh year. 1 The
cornage rent of 4 remained the traditional tenure of the
barony. In the roll of dames, girls and valets in the king's
ward made in the early years of Henry III., the land of
Helewise de Stutevill was valued at 30 a year. She had
made fine with King John that she might marry whom she
pleased. 2

Thomas son of William son of Ranulf was still a minor
in 12 12, as he was then in ward of Robert de Vipont, 3
whose daughter Mary he is said to have married, but he was
in possession of c Crestoc * in 1229.* William son of Ranulf
and Thomas son of William often appear as witnesses in local
deeds in connection with the monastic houses of Carlisle,
Lanercost and Wetheral. In 1 244 Thomas son of William
obtained a grant of a weekly market and a yearly fair at his
manor Greystoke ; in the charter for the market he is called
Thomas son of William de Craystok, the first mention of the
territorial name that has come to notice. Thomas son of
William seems to have been the first of the family to adopt
it. 5

Robert de Greystoke succeeded his father, Thomas son of
William, and did homage in 1247 for all the lands and tene-

1 Liber Rubeus, ii. 493. The entry in the Pipe Roll (Cumberland), 1 1
John, has an important bearing on the date of this inquest. If the Cum-
berland inquest took place at any time between 1210 and 1212 according to
Mr. Hall, or in June, 1212, according to Mr. Round, how comes it that the
name of William son of Ranulf appears in it as holding Greystoke ? This
point needs exposition. In the great inquest of 1 2 1 2, known as Knights' Fees
i, m. 2, of whose date there is no doubt, Robert de Vipont had custody of
the land and heir of William son of Ranulf.

a Victoria History of Cumberland, i. 334, 420.

3 Knights' Fees , m. 2, in Victoria History of Cumberland, i. 421.

4 Pat. Roll, 1 3 Henry III. m. ^d.

6 Charter Roll, 29 Henry III. pt. i. m. I ; Placita de <j>uo Warranto, p.
119, Record Commission. As Thomas son of William de Graistoc he wit-
nessed a deed in the Register ofWetherhal, p. 238, ed. J. E. Prescott.

EXTINCT CUMBERLAND FAMILIES 127

ments held in chief. 1 At the same time his father's executors
had permission to make a free administration of his goods
and chattels. Robert died in 1264 and Elene his widow paid
a fine of 20 for liberty of marrying where she pleased within
the kingdom. 3 A schedule of his possessions in Cumberland
and Yorkshire, including the advowson of the church of Grey-
stoke, is set out in the usual inquisition after death. 3

William de Greystoke, brother and heir of the afore-
named Robert, did homage in 1264 for his brother's lands.*
With Mary his wife, sometimes called Margery or Margaret,
eldest daughter and co-heir of Roger de Merlay, who was
born 8 about 1242, he obtained large possessions in North-
umberland, including a moiety of the barony of Morpeth. At
the assizes 6 held in Newcastle in 1256, William impleaded
Hugh de Bolebec for dowry settled upon Mary his wife on
6 February, 1253, at the door of the church of Morpeth, by
her first husband, Walter de Bolebec, Hugh's son and heir.
As the contracting parties had been under age at the time of
Mary's first marriage, an agreement was effected out of court.
In 1268 William did homage 7 for his wife's possessions as the
sister and co-heir of Alice de Merlay, lately deceased. With
the moiety of the Merlay lands came several suits at law. 8
William de Greystoke was summoned to perform military
service 9 against the Welsh in 1277 when he was represented

1 Fine Rolls, ii. 14, ed. Roberts.

8 Ibid. ii. 1 86 ; Originalia, i. 13^, Record Commission.

3 Inq. p.m. 38 Henry III. No. 42.

4 Originafia, i. 14/7.

5 Calendarium Genealogicum, i. 132.

8 Assize Rolls of Northumberland, pp. 14, 556, ed. W. Page.

7 Fine Rolls, ii. 464, 467.

8 Assize Rolls of Northumberland, pp. 165-6 ; Pat, Roll, 3 Edw. I. m. 25 ;
Abbrev. Placit. pp. 2220, 279, Record Commission.

9 Parliamentary Writs, i. 649, ed. Sir F. Palgrave. Into the vexed questions
whether the owners of Greystoke were barons by tenure or by writ, and what
was the origin of the distinction, the writer has no qualifications to enter. The
whole subject has been discussed in the Lords' Third Report on the Dignity of a
Peer, ii. 2303, to which the reader may be referred. The earliest date in
which we have found the dignity of baron applied to this family is the year
1275, when William de Greystoke is spoken of by a Yorkshire jury as baron
of Greystoke (Rotuli Hundre Jorum, i. 104, Record Commission). It may be
mentioned here that when the Index Summonitionum is quoted in this article,
the alphabetical digest in the appendices of the Reports from the Lords Com-
mittees touching the Dignity of a Peer of the Realm, published in 1829, is meant.

128 THE ANCESTOR

by two knights for his own inheritance and two knights for
that of his wife. In 1282 he was summoned to serve in
person, and in 1289 he departed this life. 1

John de Greystoke, son and heir of William son of Thomas,
deceased, did homage in 1289 at the age of twenty-five for all
the lands his father held in chief on the day he died. This
owner of the barony, who has been described as vir strenuus sed
corpulentus? appears among the nobles on the roll of Humfrey
de Bohun, Earl of Essex and Constable of England, containing
offers of service made at the muster of Carlisle on the eve of
St. John the Baptist, 1300, for the army against Scotland. 3
Lord John offered service due from two and a half knights'
fees by Henry Redman, Adam de Colewell, Thomas le Tayllur,
John le Mareschal, and Robert de Joneby with five horses
fully equipped. In 1297 Dame Isabel his wife, from whom
he had been separated, sued him for alimony in the ecclesiasti-
cal court of Carlisle, but as Lord John offered to restore her
to his marital affection and society, her suit was unsuccessful. 4
From 1291 till his death he served his country both in the
council and in the camp, having been frequently summoned to
parliament and to military service against the Scots during
that period. 5 The jurors of the inquisition taken after his
death 6 in 1306 declared that he had granted a reversion of his
lands to Ralf son of William his kinsman. He had a brother
William, who died without issue, and a sister Margaret de la
Vale. 7

On the death of John de Greystoke without issue, the
representatives in blood of that family came to an end in the
male line. The barony passed to the son of Joan de Grey-
stoke, wife of William fitz Ralf, lord of Grimthorp. 8 This
was done by settlement in 1297 before the death of Lord John,
who bequeathed his possessions ultra hereditatem to Ralf fitz

1 Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. I. No. 15 ; Origittalia, i. 6ia, 6ib.

2 Newminster Ckartulary, p. 282, ed. Fowler.

3 Documents and Records, pp. 209, 229, ed. Palgrave.

4 Carlisle Epls. Re&sters, MS. i. 126.

5 Parliamentary Writs, i. 648 ; Index Summonitionum.

6 Inq. p.m. 34 Edw. I. No. 40.

7 Pat. Roll. 32 Edw. I. m. 25. Lord William Howard adds Thomas and
John as his uncles. This Thomas de Greystoke married Agnes, daughter of
John de Lungevilers and widow of Thomas de Pennington (Furness Coucher
Book, pp. 487-8, Chetham Society).

8 Inq. p.m. 34 Edw. I. No. 40 ; 35 Edw. I. No. 157.

EXTINCT CUMBERLAND FAMILIES 129

William, his kinsman. 1 Certain portions of the estates were
reserved to the heirs, if any, of his brother William, and
failing these they were to revert to the heirs of his sister
Margaret de la Vale. Before his succession to the Greystoke
lands, Ralf fitz William had a distinguished career, many
particulars of which are inscribed on the rolls of parliament. 2
In 1282 he married Margery widow of Nicholas Corbet and
eldest daughter and co-heir of Hugh, baron of Bolebec, 3 by
whom he had two sons, William and Robert. He was present
at the siege of Carlaverock in 1300 when he made a fine appear-
ance in his surcoat of arms, the three chaplets of red roses
becoming him marvellously. 4 About the feast of All Saints,
1316, he died at a great age, and was buried at Nesham, 5 his
eldest son William having predeceased him.

Robert son of Ralf son of William succeeded his father,
but did not long survive him, for he died in the following
year. By the inquisition taken after his death, the jury re-
turned that the barony of Greystoke having been much wasted
by the Scots, had fallen in value from 200 marks to 62. To
Elizabeth his wife was assigned a widow's dowry and Ralf
their son was declared to be the real heir and nineteen years of
age. 6 Robert de Greystoke was buried at Butterwick, 7 but
Elizabeth survived till 1346."

Ralf, lord of Greystoke, was a minor at his father's death,
and did not receive livery of his lands till 1321, in which year
he was summoned to parliament as Ralf de Craystok. 9 He
married Alice, daughter of Sir Hugh de Audley, and became
one of the followers of the younger Sir Hugh in the * pursuit '
of the Despensers. The king was afraid of his coming under
the influence of the Earl of Lancaster, and warned him against

1 Pat. Roll y 25 Edw. I. pt. ii. m. 8 ; Netominster Cbartulary, pp
286-91.

3 Rotuli Parliamentorum, i. 216, 288, 304, etc. ; ParL Writs, i. 615, 616.

3 Fine Roll, 10 Edw. I. m. 17.

* Roll of Carlaverock, p. 8, ed. T. Wright.

5 His monumental effigy is described by Surtees in History of Durham, iii.
260.

6 Inq.p.m. 10 Edw. II. No. 66 ; Close Roll, 17 Edw. II. m. 35.

7 Netvminster Cbartulary, p. 294.

8 Inq.p.m. 20 Edw. III. ist nos. No. 52.

9 Index Summonitionum. Ralf appears to have been the first member of
the Grimthorp line to assume the name of Greystoke. Though he changed
his territorial name, he did not adopt the arms of the Greystoke house.

1 3 o THE ANCESTOR

attending the meeting of 'good peers' at Doncaster in 1321.
He was present at the battle of Borroughbridge where Lan-
caster was overthrown. His armorial bearings were inscribed
on the roll 1 of that battle as 'burule dazur et dargent ove
iii chapeletz de gul.' During his short life he was often
summoned to parliament and to military service. At the
siege of Mitford Castle in 1323 which Gilbert de Middleton
was holding against the king, he was treacherously poisoned
and buried before the high altar in the abbey of Newminster. 2
His widow was afterwards married to Ralf, Lord Neville of
Raby.

The barony was placed in the custody of Thomas de
Burgh by Edward II. and of Sir Hugh de Audley by Edward
III., till William, the heir, a child of three years, came of age, 3
which happened in 1342 when he had livery of his lands.
Lord William was first married to Lucy daughter of the Lord
Lucy of Cockermouth, whom he 'deservedly repudiated.'*
On the death of his divorced wife he married Joan, daughter
of Henry fitz Hugh, lord of Ravensworth, by whom he had
three sons, Ralf, William and Robert, and one daughter, Alice,
who became the wife of Robert de Haryngton. He was a
great favourite with the monks of Newminster, who described
him as glorious in person and victorious in war. In 1354 he
had licence to rebuild and crenellate his manor house of Grey-
stoke and to surround it with a stone wall. 5 About the same
time he also built the tower of Morpeth. He died at Brance-
path, 6 the house of his mother, and was buried with great
pomp and solemnity in Greystoke church in August, 1359.
His obsequies were celebrated by Bishop Welton in person in
presence of a large assemblage of local magnates, lay and
ecclesiastical, including Ralf, Lord Nevill of Brancepath ; Thomas,
Lord Lucy of Cockermouth ; Roger, Lord Clifford of Appleby ;
Sir Henry Lescropp and Sir Thomas de Musgrave, senior,
knights ; John, prior of Carlisle ; Robert, abbot of Holmcultram ;

1 Parliamentary Writs, ii. 957, etc. ed. Palgrave.

a Newminster Cbartulary, p. 294.

3 Originalia, i. 2 j %b, ii. ijb, Record Commission ; Close Roll, 16 Edw.
III. pt. i. m. 21 ; Baronage, i. 741.

* Hie primo duxit in uxorem Luciam filiam domini de Lucy, quae dignc
ab eo spreta et mortua apud Nesham sepulta est ( Newminster Cbartulary, p.
294).

5 B.M. Lansdowne Charter, No. 122 ; Pat. Roll, 27 Edw. III. pt. ii. m. 8.

6 Newminster Chartulary, pp. 2946.

EXTINCT CUMBERLAND FAMILIES 131

Lambert, abbot of Shap ; William de Rothbury, archdeacon of
Carlisle ; Thomas de Salkeld, rector of Clifton, and Richard de
Aslacby, vicar of Stanwix. During the celebration of mass, at
the time of the oblations, as the custom was, two helmets, two
swords, two shields, two lances, two horses and two men fully
accoutred, one for peace and one for war, together with a sum
of money, were offered by the deceased baron's executors and
received by the bishop. On the conclusion of the service, the
venerable prelate reminded the nobles present that all the
oblations were his by right and custom by reason of his
personal celebration of the obsequies, but that he delivered
them of his own free will to Joan, widow of the said Lord
William, with the exception of the money which he distributed
among the clerks of his chapel. 1 He is commemorated in
Greystoke church by a blue marble tombstone with a brass
plate and four shields on which he is described in French as
the good baron of Greystoke, the most valiant, noble, and
chivalrous knight of the country in his time. 2

Ralf, Lord William's eldest son, a lad of six years, was
committed to the custody of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March,
till he came of age. 3 He married Catherine, daughter of his
neighbour Roger, Lord Clifford of Appleby Castle, 4 and was
a prominent figure in Border affairs, serving as warden of the
West Marches and constable of Lochmaban, having been ap-
pointed to the latter post by Edward III. While he was on
his way to take over the ward of Roxburgh Castle in 1382 he
was made prisoner by the Scots and put to heavy ransom. 6
Ralf, Baron Greystoke, was summoned to parliament from
49 Edward III. to 5 Henry V., in which latter year he died,
his wife having predeceased him in 1413.*

1 Carlisle Efts. Reg. MS. ii. 57.

2 It is little wonder that the clergy of Greystoke should have their muni-
ficent patron commemorated in grand style, for it was Lord William who first
set on foot the scheme for transforming the parish church into a college, con-
sisting of a master and six chaplains. Bishop Welton gave his consent, but
the scheme was not completed owing to the death of the patron. It was
revived however in 1377 by Ralf, Lord Greystoke ; and after much negotiation
and controversy the college was formally founded in 1382 on the lines origin-
ally adumbrated by Lord William in 1358 (Pat. Roll, I Ric. II. pt. ii. m. 10 ;
Carlisle Efts. Reg. MS. ii. 342-3).

8 Inq. p.m. 32 Edw. III. No. 43 ; Baronage, i. 741.
* Netvminster Cbartulary, p. 296.

5 Pat. Roll, 6 Ric. II. pt. i. m. ii ; Ancient Petitions, No. 4221.

6 Netvminster Chartulary, p. 302 ; Index Summonitionum.

132 THE ANCESTOR

John, Baron Greystoke, succeeded his father in 1417. He
was constituted warden of Roxburgh Castle from 22 March,
1420-1, for four years, at an annual fee of 1,000 in time of
peace and 2,000 in time of war, 1 and was thenceforth mixed
up in international treaties with Scotland. From 7 Henry V.
to 13 Henry VI. he had summons to parliament. 2 His will,
dated 10 July and proved 27 August, 1436, is still preserved
in the Probate Registry of York. He bequeathed his body to
be buried in the collegiate church of Greystoke, with his best
horse, his habiliments of war, such as coat armour, pennons,
gyron, etc., for the mortuary. Various bequests were made to
Elizabeth his wife, who was a daughter of Sir Robert Ferrers
and co-heiress of the barony of Wemme, and also to Thomas,
Richard and William, his sons, to every gentleman, yeoman
and groom in his service, to the repair of the abbey of New-
minster and the church of Greystoke. 3 Ralf, his eldest son
and heir, was made the executor of his will. According to
the menology of Newminster, John, Baron Greystoke, of pious
memory, died on 8 August, 1436, and was buried at Grey-
stoke, his wife having been buried in the church of the Friars
Preachers at York. 4

Ralf succeeded his father in 1436, and being of full age
had livery of his lands in the same year. For his marriage
in 1435 w i tn hi s kinswoman Elizabeth, daughter of William,
Lord fitz Hugh of Ravensworth, he had a special dispensation.
The licence shows the affinity of the contracting parties. 5 His
eldest son Robert married Elizabeth daughter of Edmund
Grey, afterwards Earl of Kent, both of whom died during the
lifetime of Baron Ralf; Elizabeth on 18 July, 1472, and
Robert on 17 June, 1483. Elizabeth, the only child of this
marriage, became sole heiress to the Greystoke estates, and

1 Close Roll, 9 Hen. V. m. 19.

a Index Summonitionum.

8 Testamenta Vetusta, pp. 2301, ed. H. Nicolas.

4 Newminster Chartulary, p. 303 ; Monasticon, v. 401.

5 The depositions made on 22 November, 1434, show that Sir Henry
Fitzhugh was the father of Henry and Joan Fitzhugh ; Henry was the father
of another Henry, and the grandfather of William, then Lord Fitzhugh, the
father of Elizabeth one of the petitioners. On the other side it was shown
that Joan daughter of Sir Henry Fitzhugh married William, Baron of Grey-
stoke, the father of Ralf, the father of John, the father of Ralf the petitioner.
On these depositions Pope Eugenius IV. granted the marriage licence on
i July, 1435 (Testamenta Eborocensia, iii. 327-8, ed. J. Raine).

Forne son of Siolf

Ives son of Forne = Agnes daughti
aliveinii6i I of Walter

Walter son of Ives, died= Beatrice de Robert

probably in 1165 I Folketon

Ranulf son of=Amabel Henry

Walter

I J

William son of Ranulf=Helewise de Alice

died in 1209 I Stutevill

Thomas son of William de=Mary daughter of
Greystoke, died in 1247 I Robert de Vipont

Robert de Greystoke,= Elene William de Greystoke, = Mary daughter and co-heir of Roger [

died without issue in died in 1289

1264

de Merlay and widow of Walter de
Bolebec

John de Greystoke, died = Isabel William de Greystoke,

without issue in 1306 died without issue

William son of Ralf, died before
his father without issue

Ralf de Greystoke succeeded in
died in 1323 ; buried at Newm

Lucy daughter of the Lord Lucy = William de Greystoki
of Cockermouth, divorced in 1342, diedjn 1350

Ralf de Greystoke, = Catherine daughter of Roger, Lord William de

died in 1416 I Clifford of Appleby, died in 1413

John de Greystoke, succeeded in 141 7,= Elizabeth daughter of Robert Ferrers
died in 1436, buried at Greystoke I of Wemme, died in 1434

. .

Elizabeth daughter of William, Lord Fitzhugh=Ralf de Greystoke, succeeded in i436,= Beatrice Hal
of Ravensworth, died in 1468 I died in 1487, buried at Kirkham

Robert de Greystoke,=Elizabeth daughter of Edmund Grey, afterwards John de Grey stoke, = Cecil)

died in June, 1483 I Earl of Kent, died in July, 1472 married in 1484-5 Earl c

Thomas de Dacre, Lord of= Elizabeth de Greystoke,
Dacre and Gillesland I died in 1516

(1) Dacres of Gillesland and Greystoke

(2) Howards of Naworth, Greystoke and Corby

ilf, died in 1 1 29-30

Eda or Edith wife of
Robert Doilli

Robert

William

lughter of John de John

is de Greystoke= Agnes daughter of John

Lungvillers and widow of
Thomas de Pennington]

William son of=Joan de Greystoke

Ralf lord of

Grimthorpe

ret de la Vale

Ralf son of William, died in= Margery daughter of Hugh de Bolebec
1316, buried at Nesham I and widow of Nicholas Corbet

Robert son of Ralf, died in i3i7=Elizabeth [daughter of Ralf, Lord
and was buried at Butterwick I Nevill], died in Nov. 1346

and=Alice daughter of Sir Hugh
I de Audley, died in 1374

good baron, succeeded=Joan daughter of Henry fitz Hugh,
ied at Greystoke I lord of Ravensworth

Robert de

Greystoke

toke

Robert de Greystoke

Alice de Greystoke wife of
Robert de Haverington

Thomas de Greystoke

lich

Richard de Greystoke

William de Greystoke

Joan de Greystoke=John Darcy son of Sir John
Darcy, knight

Elizabeth de Greystoke, died in
1440, wife of Roger Thornton

bter of William Herbert, Richard de Greystoke, Ann de Greystoke, married in 1432-3 to Ralf

ibroke, died in 1499 a P r ' est

on of Sir John Bigod, knight, of Setterington,
died in 1476

[ To follow pagt 1 32

EXTINCT CUMBERLAND FAMILIES 133

was committed to the ward of Maud, Countess of Northum-
berland. John, one of his sons, made a splendid alliance with
Cicely, daughter of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, 1 and
another son, Richard, took holy orders and became a prebend-
ary of Lincoln and succentor of York. The position of this
great northern baron at the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses
was both delicate and critical. William of Worcester tells us that
he and Lord Fitzhugh were suspected of treachery to the Lan-
castrian cause and suffered many indignities on that account,
but that they succeeded in clearing themselves. 2 After the
battle of Towton however there was no doubt about the
political sentiments of the Baron of Greystoke, for in Novem-
ber, 1461, Edward IV. nominated him on the commissions
for Cumberland, Westmorland, Northumberland and York-
shire, to array all the good men of these counties for defence
against the king's enemies of Scotland, and Henry VI. and
Margaret his wife and their adherents. 3 He was frequently called
to parliament, and was often employed in Scottish transactions.
By his will, dated 27 May and proved on 30 July, 1487, he
expressed a wish to be buried before the altar in the church of
Kirkham, the patronage of which had been granted to him in
1468 by Edward IV. 4 The chaplets of Greystoke still sur-
mount the beautiful gateway of that priory. Beatrice Hat-
cliffe, his widow, married Robert Constable, sergeant-at-law,
in 1490, but, again left a widow, she took the veil of chastity
in 15012, and made her will in 1505.

On the death of Ralf, Lord Greystoke, in 1487, the direct
line of the house of Grimthorp came to an end, and the
barony descended to his grand-daughter, Elizabeth de Grey-
stoke, a girl of thirteen years. In true Border fashion the
heiress was gallantly carried off in the night from Brougham
Castle by Sir Thomas Dacre, the heir of a great northern
house, as his ancestor, Ranulf de Dacre, had stolen Margaret

1 Testamenta Eboracensia, iii. 349.

3 Wilhelmi Worcester Annales Rerum AngRc. pp. 486, 498, ed. Hearne.

3 Pat. Roll, i Edw. IV. pt. ii. m. \zd. The commission for West-
morland included such men as Sir Thomas Parr and Sir Richard Mus-
grave with Thomas Middleton, William Parr, John Parr, and Richard Mus-
grave, while that for Cumberland included Sir John Hudleston, Thomas
Lamplugh, Richard Salkeld, John Denton, John Skelton, Roland Vaux, and
a Morisby.

4 Ibid. 8 Edw. IV. pt. ii. m. 16.

5 Testamenta Eboracensia, iv. 201, 195-7, 236-9 ; iii. 355, 363.

i 3 4 THE ANCESTOR

de Multon, the heiress of Gillesland, from Warwick Castle in
1317. As the family had acquired the extensive barony of
Gillesland by the first elopement, Sir Thomas succeeded in
joining the baronies of Gillesland and Greystoke by his mar-
riage with the Lady Elizabeth. With no more valiant race
and with no better blood could the heiress of Greystoke be
united. The wild slogan of this warlike house, c A Dacre !
A Dacre ! A rede bull ! A rede bull ! ' was the trumpet call
to victory on many a hard fought field. After a few descents
the family of the Lady Elizabeth was destined to end in co-
heiresses. Lord Thomas Dacre had left three daughters ; the
Duke of Norfolk, when he married the widow, had three sons.
There was a family arrangement. Then it was that the
Howards, splendid in their family alliances, as a writer in the
Quarterly Review once described them, had gained a territorial
settlement in Cumberland. The barony of Greystoke went
with the Lady Ann Dacre to the Earl of Arundel and Surrey,
from whom its present owner, Mr. Henry C. Howard, the
popular chairman of the county council of Cumberland, is
descended, and the barony of Gillesland was the portion of
the Lady Elizabeth, who married Lord William Howard, the
duke's third son, the hero of Border minstrelsy, whose noble
descendant, the Earl of Carlisle, occupies the ancient seat of
the Dacres at Naworth Castle, where the c towers, unmodern-
ized by tasteless art, remain still unsubdued by time.'

JAMES WILSON.

ENGLISH FORCES IN THE NETHER-
LANDS, A.D. 1396

In the summer of the year 1396, Duke Albrecht of
Bavaria, at that time Count of Haynaut, Holland and Zee-
land, prepared a great expedition against the Frisians, a race in
those days practically independent of the counts of Holland,
notwithstanding that these bore the title of Lord ( c Heer ') of
Friesland.

This expedition was the first of a long series that would be
undertaken in the following ten years by the duke, and after
him by his son and successor Count William VI., and which
were destined to be once more taken in hand and finally
brought to a successful close by the generals of Emperor
Charles V.

The accounts of this undertaking of the year 1396 are of
importance even with regard to English history, because of the
auxiliary forces that were sent to the duke at his request by
the King of England.

Two writers give particulars of the English troops and
their leaders.

The first is Froissart ; in the thirteenth book of his famous
Chronicle we find the following lines :

* Le roy Richart, pour 1'onneur de ses cousins de Haynnau avanchier,
envoia aucuns hommes d'armes accompaignids de deux cens archiers Anglois, et
en estoient chiefs et cappitaines trois chevalliers d'Angleterre, nommds Tun
Cornuaille, le second Colleville, et du tiers n'ay-je pu savoir le nom, mais bien
ay este infourm6 qu'il estoit vaillant homme de son corps et bien us d'armes,
de guerres et de batailles et avoit eu son menton coup6 en une rese (i.e.
querelle) ou il avait ung petit par avant est, et luy avoit depuis este fait ung
menton d'argent qui luy tenoit a une cordelette de soye par a 1'entour de la
teste.'

The Dutch chronicler Heda mentions them in a passage which
I here translate from the Dutch :

' And (had as auxiliary forces) from England the Count of Staelgis and
Monsier Corgewale, Monsier Collewile, Monsier Bitterlye and Monsier
Moerleye, knights, with many men of noble birth and about five hundred
archers.'

136 THE ANCESTOR

The Latin edition of Heda's book mentions only : c ex
Anglis comes de Stalgies et praefectus Cornugaliae.'

Now there is a manuscript belonging to the same period
in a Dutch private collection in which we find the coats of arms
of some 150 Dutch, Belgian, French, German and English
noblemen, who joined in this expedition, which, as we shall see
presently, is also of great historic importance.

First of all let us examine the three ' chiefs et cappitaines.'
The * chevalier Cornuaille,' * Corgewale ' or * praefectus
Cornugaliae ' appears in the Armorial as c Tan Cornuaelye,'
bearing ermine a lion gules crowned gold with a border
of sable bezanty, and therefore belongs to the Cornewall
family. ' Colleville ' or ( Collewile ' is not mentioned in the
Armorial, but I fancy we may conjecture that he was one ot
the Colvil family bearing * silver a mill-rind cross of sable.'
The third, whose name is unknown to Froissart, is perhaps
the same as the Count of Staelgies, whom we find in the
MS. as * Sir Jehan de Scaelyon ' bearing silver with a green
lion. The family is unknown to me.

' Monsier Moerleye ' is named ' Morley * in the MS.,
and his arms are silver a lion sable crowned gold with a label
of gules, showing him to be a son of the great house of the
Lords Morley.

* Monsier Bitterlye ' is not mentioned in the MS.

As to the archers we find some of their names in the old
' rekeningen ' (accounts) of the county of Holland.

I give the following passages translated from the Dutch :

two archers named Heynri Haf and John of Gywoert,

An English archer named ' Jan die Leedse/

paid to Jan Parfay,

four archers named William Parkyer, Jan Sadelare, Ritzaert Ton and Nyclaes

Herbot,

paid Robbert Holt for 1 9 archers,
paid Jan Parfay aforesaid for 1 8 archers,
paid to the following Englishmen : Talboom, the wild knight, Goedsken,

Jan Cong, Ridsiaert Hampton and Williaem Halseldey.

That is all we know of their names.

It may be mentioned here that while the army was at
Enkhuizen, from where they crossed the Zuiderzee to Fries-
land, a quarrel broke out between the English and the other
soldiers, which resulted in the death of almost the whole force
sent by King Richard before the war had practically begun.

H. G. A. OBREEN.

GIFFARD OF FONTHILL GIFFARD

WITH General Wrottesley's monograph on the ancient
house of Giffard the Ancestor has already dealt. 1 The
interest, however, attaching to the origin of the Giffards of
Chillington as a house which is still seated on the lands that
its founder held by knight-service in the days of Henry II.
is so exceptional that I propose to consider further, in the
present paper, the theory that it sprang from the Giffards,
lords, indeed barons, of Fonthill Giffard in Domesday.
General Wrottesley, himself, one may mention, a Giffard of
Chillington on the mother's side, has adopted this theory of
their origin, and has established, on record evidence, a strong
presumption of its truth.

There is, however, I venture to think, a point on which he
has gone astray, and on which the correction of his miscon-
ception will enable us to throw some fresh light on Wiltshire
county history.

General Wrottesley has shown that Fonthill or rather
Fonthill Giffard, chiefly known as the site, subsequently, of
Beckford's famous palace was the caput of a little * barony '
for a * barony' it was, as being held in chief, though the service
which it owed the Crown was only that of a single knight
and that this barony, after the death of Robert Giffard in the
days of John, was divided among four (eventually three) co-
heirs, of whom Robert de Mandeville was the eldest. He
further observes (p. 10) that 'the Wilts Pipe Roll of n John
(1209) states that Robert de Mandeville then owed 50 marks 2
for the lands of which Robert Giffard had been seised when he
died,' and that

the Oxfordshire Pipe Roll of the same date states that Robert Mauduit owed
20 marks for his purparty of the lands which formerly belonged to Robert,
to be held of Robert Mandeville as the eldest co-heir.

These statements are obviously taken from the Red Book

1 Ancestor, iii. 223-8.

3 This should be 60 marks (i.e. 40). This sum was wandering about
(peregrinabantur) on the rolls till 18 Hen. III., when it was charged under
Dorset and Somerset, where Robert's own barony lay (Red Book of the Ex-
chequer , pp. 76970).

137

138 THE ANCESTOR

of the Exchequer (pp. 769-71), in which are found some stray
extracts from the Pipe Rolls relating to this barony. But
General Wrottesley has been careful to assign them their
right date, the editorial dates of Mr. Hubert Hall in the
Red Book margin being a year wrong owing to the editor's
confusion of the regnal with the financial year (pp. 768-7 1). 1

The four co-heirs in John's reign were Robert de Mande-
ville, 2 Robert Mauduit, William Cumin and Robert de
Fontibus, but the last of these is not heard of again. 3 I can-
not quite agree with General Wrottesley that ' the division of
Gerard's lands among so many co-heirs extinguished the
barony, and it disappears altogether from the records after
the death of Robert Giffard in the reign of King John '
(p. 12). For Robert de Mandeville is returned as holding
*j feodum in Funtel ' in 1212,* that is to say, the whole
barony of Fonthill, and in the roll of the thirteenth year of
John (1211) the three co-heirs account jointly 'de feodo j
militis quod (fuit) Gerardi Giffard,' 6 the whole two marcs
due being remitted to the eldest, Robert de Mandeville.
Again, in I232(?) we find the two junior co-heirs charged
respectively for one third of a knight's fee each to the scutage
of Elvain, with the significant addition

Sed Robertas de Mandeville debet eos acquietare, quia Robertas Maudut
debet tenere feodum illud de eodem Roberto de Mandeville, sicut continetur
in rotulo xj Regis Johannis in Oxonefordsira. Et Willelmus Comin debet
tenere feodum illud de eodem Roberto de Mandeville, sicut continetur in
rotulo xiij Regis Johannis in Wiltesira. 6

The former of the two entries referred to is given on the
opposite page, where we read :

Robertus Mauduit xx m. pro habenda parte sua de terris et tenementis
quae fuerunt Roberti Giffard tenenda de Roberto de Mandeville tanquam de
prlmogenito participe suo, salva eldem Roberto esnecia sua.

1 It has been recently pointed out by Miss Norgate, independently, in her
John Lackland (p. 1 2 3), that ' the marginal dates added in that edition are
wrong throughout John's reign,' so that all his scutages are misdated. Such
is the result of what is now termed * Advanced Historical Teaching.'

2 He can be identified as Mandeville of Marshwood (Dorset).

3 I refer to the records here dealt with, but an important entry in the
Testa (p. 152) records that * Johannes de Cantilupo heres Roberti Maudut et
heres Willelmi de Fontibus tenent feodum unius militis in Funtel de Galfrido
de Mandeville et ipse de domino Rege.'

4 Red Book of the Exchequer, p. 481.

* Ibid. pp. 153, 770. fl Ibid. p. 770.

GIFFARD OF FONTHILL GIFFARD 139

I have dwelt on this in some detail because it brings us
face to face with an interesting point in feudal law, namely
that doctrine of esnecia (ainesse) which was raised so recently
as last year when it formed the foundation of Lord Ancaster's
claim, as the senior co-heir, to be solely entitled to the dignity
of Lord Great Chamberlain. Among the statements in sup-
port of its validity made in his printed Case we find Glanvill
cited as stating that ( If a fief fell to daughters, homage was
done by the husband of the eldest daughter only ' (p. 1 3).

I had, however, in a Memorandum which I was asked to
prepare upon the point, to call attention to the fact that the
law was even then uncertain, or, rather, undergoing change.
In their sections on c Co-heirs and parage * and * Fluctuations
in the law as to parage,' Messrs. Pollock and Maitland dis-
cuss the subject in some detail 1 :

But though the division among the co-heiresses was in general a strictly
equal division, we see the eldest daughter or her husband standing out as the
representative of the whole inheritance for certain purposes.

Robert de Mandeville did so, we have seen, in the case of
the Fonthill barony. After explaining this ' old theory ' as

* the Norman tenure in parage,' by which the eldest sister
holds as the ( only tenant ' . . . ' the whole inheritance ' . . .

* while her sisters hold their shares of her,' the learned authors
pass to the time when

the law is beginning to fluctuate. In 1236 the English in Ireland sent to
Westminster for an exposition of the law. Of whom do the younger sisters hold ?
The answering writ, which has sometimes been dignified by the title Statutum
Hiberniee de Coheredibus, said that if the dead man held in chief of the king
then all the co-heirs hold in chief of the king and must do him homage. If
the lands were held of a mesne lord, then that lord has the marriages and ward-
ships of all the parceners, but only the eldest is to do homage, and her younger
sisters are to do their services through her hands. The eldest daughter, the
writ says, is not to have the marriage and wardships of her sisters, for this
would be to commit the lambs to the wolf.

It is interesting to remark that although the king, the
authors observe, had habitually taken the homage of all the
parceners for some time before 1236, yet the younger co-heirs
of the Fonthill barony were still holding of the eldest about
this time. But even the tenants-in-chief, we read, ' followed
the king's example and exacted homage from all the sisters,'
so that * very soon, if we are not mistaken, the old law of
parage began to fall into utter oblivion.' a The Committee for
1 History of English Law, ii. 274-6. 2 Ibid. p. 276.

1 4 o THE ANCESTOR

Privileges of the House of Lords soon dismissed the doctrine
of esnecia, as obsolete from an early date, in Lord Ancaster's
case. 1

We will now consider another and a more interesting
term in feudal phraseology. A vavassoria was the holding,
one may presume, of a vavassor. But what was a vavassor ?
General Wrottesley writes thus :

The Close Roll of 4 Hen. III. [1220] has the following writ * Whereas
Andrew Giffard, who held the Barony of Fontil by hereditary right, was dead,
and had resigned the Barony temp. King John, with the King's assent, to
Robert de Mandeville, Robert Mauduit, William Cumin, and William de
Fontibus, as right heirs of the Barony, retaining in his own hands the vavas-
soria of the Barony, and (sic) which were held of the Honor of Clare, the
said vavassoria were now to be delivered to Robert de Mandeville and the
other heirs above named.'

The vavassoria were the tenures by Castle Guard at the Earl's castle of
Chepstow or Strigul (p. 10).

*******

It will be remembered that part of the Fonthill fief consisted of vavassoria
or tenures by castle guard at the Castle of Strigul (now Chepstow), the caput
of the Barony of Clare.

The service of castle guard was usually performed by the younger sons of
the military tenants of the barony. It was an honourable office, which could
be filled without the great outlay in arms and horses entailed by the service
of a knight. It requires therefore no great stretch of imagination to conceive
Peter GifFard, 2 a cadet of the house of Fonthill, performing this service at
Strigul, and in this way becoming enlisted in the expedition which sailed from
that point to Ireland . . . in 1 170 (p. 85).

There has been expended on the word vavasor a fair
amount of learning, but neither in the glossary of Ducange,
nor in Godefroy's valuable work, nor in any other book
known to me, is there anything to support the view that it
denoted castle-guard. General Wrottesley, I believe, relies on
an early return of the services due to the see of Bayeux 3 ; but,
although the word vavassorias occurs once in this, there is
nothing to throw any light at all on its meaning. Moreover
it is immediately preceded by the return of the knights of
Normandy, under Henry II.,* in which there is frequent
mention of castle-guard, but always as performed by knights

1 Compare the Ancestor, i. 252-3 for the application of this doctrine to
serjeanty.

2 Founder of the house of Chillington.

3 See Red Book of the Exchequer, pp. 645-7, and other versions.

4 Ibid. pp. 624-45.

GIFFARD OF FONTHILL GIFFARD 141

(milites}. 1 Conversely, there is in this list mention of vavas-
sores, but not as owing castle-guard. 2 The true meaning of
the .word vavassor must be sought, I think, from those to
whom it had recently had a living meaning. Thus in a
French glossary about a century old we find { Vavasseur '
defined as * Arriere-vassal . . . ne possdant qu'un fief, . . .
qui relevoit d'un autre fief and 'Vavassorie' as 'Arriere
fief.' 3 And rare although the word is in our own records, I
have never doubted that its real meaning was that iof f under-
tenant.' The vavassores of the Archbishop of York and of
Robert Fossard are mentioned, under Yorkshire, on the Pipe
Roll of 1 1 30 ; but the best illustration of its use is found in
the writ of Henry I. regarding the local courts, a document
familiar to students of our institutional history. In it we
read

Et si amodo exurgat placitum de divisione terrarum vel de occupatione, si
est inter dominicos barones * meos, tractetur placitum in curia mea. Et si est
inter vavasores alicujus baronis mei honoris, tractetur placitum in curia domini
eorum. Et si est inter vavawres duorum dominorum tractetur in comitatu.

It is clear that, in this document, barones are the tenants-in-chief
and vavasores their under-tenants, who are more frequently
termed mi/ites (as in the * Cartae baronum ' of 1 1 66). Under-
tenants had often, of course, to take their turn of guard at
their lord's castle, but the word vavassor in itself has no more
than miles has to do with castle-guard.

My friend Professor Adams of Yale, who has recently dis-
cussed the above document, 6 cites in illustration ' the Constitu-
tion of Conrad II. of 1037,' in which we read : ' Hoc autem
de majoribus walvassoribus observetur. De minoribus vero in
regno aut ante seniores aut ante nostrum missum eorum causa
finiatur.' This extract may serve to remind us that, exactly as

1 For instance : * xvj milites de honore de Vernone ad custodiam castri de
Vernone ' (ibid. p. 630) ; * iiij partes militis ad custodiam castri de Gaurei,'
. . . *j militem ad custodiam ejusdem castri,' . . . ' quartam partem ad custo-
diam ejusdem castri,' etc., etc. (p. 634). So too, in England, * Hii omnes
praedicti faciunt gardam castelli de Hastinges in quolibet mense per xv mili-
tes' (p. 623).

3 Castle-guard may have been performed by ' vavassores ' as well as by
' milites,' but my point is that vavassoria does not mean ' tenure by castle-
guard.'

3 Glossaire de la langue Romane, ii. 690.

* The italics are mine.

5 American Historical Review, April, 1903. I have followed his text.

1 42 THE ANCESTOR

with' baro y vavassor could be loosely used in more senses than
one. As the tenant-in-chief, if a great lord, sometimes spoke
even of his under-tenants as * barones,' so might even tenants-
in-chief be spoken of as * majores vavassores ' in relation to
their sovereign lord. In short, a vavassor was a vassal, either
great or small, but, in a specialized sense, the vassal of a tenant-
in-chief. 1

Let us now apply my conclusion to the case of the Giffards
of Fonthill, and of their * vavassoria ' held of * the Honour of
Clare.' My contention is that

(1) Vavassoria does not mean * tenure by castle-guard.'

(2) Even if it did, that guard could not be due c at the

castle of Strigul (now Chepstow) the caput of the
Barony of Clare,' because that castle had nothing to
do with c the Honour of Clare,' of which the caput
was the mighty moated mound of that name on the
border of Essex and Suffolk.

(3) The c vavassoria ' held of c the Honour of Clare ' can

be identified, and can be shown to have been held by
the 'Andrew Giffard ' of the Close Roll.
That Gerard Giffard, the baron of Fonthill, was an under-
tenant of the Honour of Clare in 1166 is proved by the
carta of the earl, under Suffolk, in the Red Book of the Exchequer
(p. 404), where we read : ' Gerardus Giffard I militem.' But
as this important entry is omitted in the index to that unfortu-
nate work, it might well be overlooked. We have now to
discover the whereabouts of this knight's fee, which was clearly
of the old feoffment. Where, as in the case of the Giffards
and the Clares, two of the most illustrious houses of the old
Norman nobility, 2 the pedigree goes back to the Conquest, one
naturally turns to Domesday to see if one can find Giffard of
Fonthill holding anywhere under Clare. The surname of an
under-tenant is rarely entered in the Survey, but, luckily for us
the Christian name of Berenger is, in it, a rare one. And we
find a * Berenger ' holding of the then lord of Clare a manor

1 Compare the learned and interesting note on vavassor in Pollock and
Maitland's History of English Law (1895), i. 532, where the denotation and
etymology of the word are left somewhat uncertain. Genealogists will not
need to be reminded of the surname Vavasour, originating probably in a nick-
name, the existence of which tends to confirm the rarity of the word, as the
name of a class, in England.

2 See Feudal England, p. 469, and add : * et quocunque nobilium conventus
se ageret illorum pompa terribili multitudine ferebatur.'

GIFFARD OF FONTHILL GIFFARD 143

of * Sutton ' in Wilts. Now in Wilts there are two Buttons,
which lie, as the crow flies, some thirty miles apart, one in the
north-west, and the other in the south-west of the county ;
the former is Sutton Benger, the latter Sutton Mandeville. As
Mr. Jones observed, in his work on the Wiltshire Domesday,
it would, at first sight, be supposed that the former preserved
the name of * Berenger,' the Domesday under-tenant, and yet
it was the latter Sutton which is found, in after times, held of
the Honour of Clare. And indeed we find it so held by a
Geoffrey de Mandeville in the Testa. Now Sutton Mandeville
lies close to Fonthill Giffard ; the two villages are less than
four miles apart. It is common enough to find, in Domesday,
two neighbouring estates held by the same man, the one as an
under-tenant, the other as a tenant-in-chief. 1

But we have yet to connect the GifFards with Sutton Mande-
ville. This Sutton can be shown to have been held by the
Mandevilles of Marshwood, who, as we have seen, were the
senior co-heirs of GifFard of Fonthill. 2 The evidence cited
in Dugdale's Baronage (i. 206) shows them in possession,
Geoffrey, who had held it, we saw, of the Clares, selling it
* unto Dru de Barentine, to acquit him of his debts to the Jews.'
But the newest and most interesting evidence is that which
shows us Andrew Giffard making a grant out of Sutton.
This consists of Ancient Deed A. 8529.

Grant in pure alms by Andrew GifFard, with his body, to the church of St.
Mary of Stanley and the monks there, of the land with a messuage in Sutton,
which William Blund held of him . . . also grant to the same monks that they
may have for ever six oxen and three cows, quit of herbage, in his pasture, to-
gether with his demesne oxen, etc. etc.

Witnesses : Hugh de Temple, canon of Salisbury, Stephen, parson of the
church of Tysseb[eri], Thomas de Sutton, Thomas de Dunton, chaplains, John
the deacon, Master Thomas of Salisbury, William de Haselden, Peter Giffard,
etc. etc. 3

Mr. Maskelyne, the editor of the Calendar, who has a
great mastery of topography, and of Wiltshire topography in
particular, does not venture to tell us to which of the Suttons

1 See, for instance, Feudal England, p. 222.

2 See p. 122 above. General Wrottesley asserts (The Gtffards, p. 202, note)
that ' the younger branch of the Mandevilles (the Barons Fitz John), who
represented the Giffards of Fonthill, bore the ancient arms of Mandeville ' (of
Essex). But this is a misconception. The representatives of the Fonthill
GifFards were the totally distinct line of Mandeville of Dorset.

^Catalogue of Ancient Deeds, i. 322.

i 4 4 THE ANCESTOR

this document belongs ; but the fact that Tisbury, the parson
of which appears as the second witness, is the parish adjoin-
ing Fonthill Giffard and Sutton Mandeville, and that William
de Haselden derived his name, doubtless, from Hazleton in
Tisbury, practically settles the matter, while the genealogical
argument above removes all question.

Let me now briefly recapitulate the results at which we have
arrived. We have seen that the Wiltshire Sutton held by the
Clares in Domesday was clearly Sutton Mandeville ; that
* Berenger,' its under-tenant, was Berenger Giffard of Fonthill
(Giffard) ; that it continued to be held of the Clares by his de-
scendants down to the time of Andrew ; and that on Andrew's
death, under Henry III., it passed to the Mandevilles of
Marshwood, as senior co-heirs of the Giffards, and derived
from them its name of Sutton Mandeville. 1

I italicized the name of Peter Giffard among those of the
witnesses to Andrew's charter because he would probably be
claimed as Peter the second of Chillington, in which case his
appearance in the deed would be further and important evidence
of a connection between the Chillington house and the Giffards
of Fonthill Giffard. 2 Independent evidence in its favour has
been found by General Wrottesley in the well-known ( stirrups '
coat of the Chillington house, which distinctive bearing, he
suggests, may be derived from f the Scudamores of Upton and
Fifield, co. Wilts ' (p. 85). If we would follow up this clue,
we must ascertain the position of the Scudamores in that county.
General Wrottesley proceeds to state that

The feodary of 1 1 66, which is known as the ' Liber Niger,' 3 records under
Wiltshire that Godfrey de Scudamore held at that date four knights' fees, and
that one of these was held by Walter Giffard * of old feoffment.' ... I think
it probable that Peter Giffard was either son or brother of this Walter (p. 85).

Walter's name is given (whether rightly or wrongly) in the

1 By a fine of Easter, 4. Edw. I. John de Mandeville, son of John de Mande-
ville, granted to Simon de Monte alto and Clemencia his wife a rent * in the
manor of Merswode in co. Dorset,' and the manor and advowson of ' Sutton
Mandeville, co. Wilts' (Somerset Fines, ed. Somerset Record Society, p. 388).

2 The date of the Sutton charter would be 1 20920. General Wrottesley
has printed (The Giffards, p. 214) the charter by which Richard, Bishop of
Coventry, confirms the grant of Chillington to Peter Giffard the first, and to
which ' Andreas Giffard clericus ' is a witness. But this was a good deal earlier
in date (1175-81).

3 This is a misapprehension.

GIFFARD OF FONTHILL GIFFARD 145

Red Book of the Exchequer (p. 245) as ' Waleram ' ; but the
point I desire to bring out is the peculiar status of the Scuda-
more fees. Under Wiltshire Godfrey de Scudamore is returned
as holding of Robert * de Weias ' four fees * of the old feoff-
ment ' and one * of the new ' ;* and one of the former fees is
held of him by 'Waleram ' (not Walter) Gifrard. But a note
is added showing that the fees had been the subject of a suit. 8
Under Herefordshire Godfrey * Escudor ' is entered as holding
of Robert de * Eweias ' four fees * of the old feoffment ' only. 3
Some light is thrown on the matter by the entry, under Wilt-
shire, on the Pipe Roll of 1 168, recording Godfrey's payment
for five fees.

Godefridus de Scudemor reddit compotum de v marcis de eodem auxilio
pro v militibus, quae ideo redduntur quia Robertus Dewias nondum voluit
recipere homagium suum ' (p. 160).

The fifth fee (of the new feoffment) cannot be traced in
the carta of Robert of Ewyas (Harold) unless it is that of
Godfrey de * Tifente.' But the Scudamores seem to have had
nothing to do with TefFont (Ewias) ; their fees were in Upton
Scudamore and Norton Scudamore (now Norton Bavant) with
a fifth in Fifield-Bavant. In any case, the evidence for con-
necting the Giffards of Chillington's stirrups with the Scuda-
more coat appears to me slender. 4

One does not like to criticize the merry and ingenious
Planche, who held that the motto of the Giffards of Chilling-
ton, ' Prenez haleine et tirez fort,' addressed to an archer,
connects their stirrups with the cross-bow or arbalest, ' which
had what is called a stirrup at the end of the stock, into
which the foot was put in stretching it ' ; but the interesting
'standard ' which General Wrottesley has elsewhere repro-

1 Liber Rubeus, p. 245.

2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. p. 286.

* Both the name and the coat of Scudamore require investigation. In the
Duchess of Cleveland's Battle Abbey Roll we read of the name's ' sacred signifi-
cance as a contraction of Escu d' Amour, the shield of Divine Love,' represented
on their arms originally by a ' cross pate fitch^e, or.' Guillym has some en-
gaging nonsense on the subject, but the stirrups of Scudamore can be traced
back, at any rate, to the days of Edward I. One cannot, however, detect in
them a ' canting ' device of any kind upon the name, and indeed it is difficult
to say how the name arose. It occurs as * de Escudemore ' on the Roll of the
Norman Exchequer in 1 1 80, but the * de * is often omitted and soon drops
out, nor has any place of the name hitherto, I believe, been identified.

146 THE ANCESTOR

duced, 1 proves that their archer used the long-bow, not the
cross-bow. General Wrottesley is now disposed to connect
this device, subsequently used by the family as a second crest,
with the prowess of Sir John Giffard, the grantee of the
standard,' as an archer. 2

While on the subject of Giffard heraldry one should say
something of the coat borne by Lord Gifford : * Azure, a
chevron between 3 stirrups with leathers, or, within a bordure
engrailed argent, semee of pellets.' This it will be seen is the
Chillington coat differenced by the bordure and the chevron
in the usual modern style. General Wrottesley observes of
it (under Giffard of East Ginge, Dorset, and Burton, Wilts)
that

When Robert Giffbrd of Exeter was created Baron Gifford of St. Leonard's,
co. Devon, in 1824, he claimed to descend from this family, and the Heralds
granted him their arms ; but the descent has not been proved, and ... it
is far more likely that they descend from the Giffards of Halsbury or the
Giffards of Yeo (p. 78).

No coats or crests could be more radically different than
those of the Devon and of the Staffordshire Giffards. So the
plea that the new peer's coat was merely based on that of his
4 name ' will not here avail. By granting him the Chillington
coat differenced and the Chillington crest of the panther's
head slightly differenced, the Heralds obviously recorded their
belief that he sprang not from the Devonshire, but from the
Staffordshire house. 3 And what grounds had they for that
belief?

As Lord Halsbury's pedigree in Burke 's Peerage is still
headed by the statement that the name of Giffard * signifies
The Liberal] it may be well to set beyond doubt its real mean-
ing. In Godefroy's great Dictionnaire de Fancierine langue
Franfaise (1885) we read that * Gifart,' 'Gifard,' or * Giffard,'

1 In vol. iii. of the William Salt Arch. Soc.'s Collections.

2 See Genealogist (new ser.) xix. 7-8. I feel, however, some difficulty in
accepting this view, for the ' standard ' was assigned to him by the Heralds,
12 July, 1523, as representing the 'devises et cognoyssances ' of his 'pred6-
cesseurs.'

3 Nothing can alter the fact that the 'stirrups' were the old and distinctive
bearing of the Giffards of Chillington, who were, naturally, by no means
pleased at the coat assigned to Lord Gifford. The family from which he
claimed to descend had, it is true, been assigned that coat, 'differenced with a
border,' at the Wiltshire visitation of 1565, according to General Wrottesley,
but, apparently, by no right of descent.

GIFFARD OF FONTHILL GIFFARD 147

means * joufflu,' that * Gifarde ' is ' servante de cuisine joufflue,*
while as * Giffard ' it was * nom d'une famille celebre de Nor-
mandie.' 'Joufflu ' is defined in Littre's Dictionary as describ-
ing a man who has big or fat cheeks (' qui a de grosses joues ').
The expression * ce petit joufflu-la,' cited by Littre, shows how
easily the peculiarity might give rise to a nickname. This, of
course, is nothing new ; in her work on The Battle Abbey Roll
(1889), the Duchess of Cleveland collected the evidence of
Metivier's Dictionnaire Franco-Normand, Ducange's work, and
Roquefort's Dictionnaire de la langue Romane, who agree that
* Giffarde ' meant the * fat-cheeked ' scullery wench. The
thought of such a derivation shocked her, indeed, to incre-
dulity, because she forgot, or did not know, how deplorably
rude the Normans were, in the matter of surnames, to one
another. But she admitted that * the reading of Liberal or
Free-Giver seems merely to rest on an atrocious mis-spelling
of Giffard, and is inadmissible from its being English a
tongue wholly unknown to the Normans.'

J. HORACE ROUND.

148 THE ANCESTOR

WHAT IS BELIEVED

Under this beading the Ancestor will call the attention of press
and public to much curious lore concerning genealogy, heraldry
and the like with which our magazines , our reviews and news-
papers from time to time delight us. It is a sign of awaken-
ing interest in such matters that the subjects with which the
Ancestor sets itself to deal are becoming less and less the sealed
garden of a few workers. But upon what strange food the
growing appetite for popular archeology must feed will be
shown in the columns before us. Our press, the best-informed
and the most widely sympathetic in the world, which watches
its record of science, art and literature with a jealous eye, still
permits itself, in this little corner of things, to be victimized by
the most recklessly furnished information, and it would seem
that no story is too wildly improbable to find the widest cur-
rency. It is no criticism for attacking s sake that we shall
offer, and we have but to beg the distinguished journals from
which we shall draw our texts for comment to take in good
part what is offered in good faith and good humour.

THE practised interviewer who would invade the domestic
quiet of a Celebrity at Home does not seek the Celebrity
under his fig-tree or his vine. In nine cases out of ten the
Celebrity is sought and found in his favourite seat under the
spreading boughs of his family tree ; and in a remarkable
number of instances the first vedette of questions brings back
information concerning the * Norman ' or * Saxon ' descent of
the Celebrity at Home.

Sir Oswald Mosley, a Celebrity lately found at Home at
Rolleston Hall, represents a family practically founded by a
Nicholas Mosley, who became Lord Mayor of London in
1599. A pedigree even of this length is one which, as things
go, many, perhaps most, baronets might have cause to envy.
But for a c Celebrity at Home ' it is impossibly short. Accord-
ingly in a recent article on Rolleston and its owner we find
the pedigree carried back to a * Saxon ' distinguished from the
rest of his race by a most un-Saxon name.

WHAT IS BELIEVED 149

About four miles from Wolverhampton lies the secluded hamlet of Mose-
ley . . . Its name is found in Domesday as * Moleslei ' . . . Previous to
the reign of King John the manor had fallen into the hands of one Ernald, a
Saxon (sic), who lived at Moseley, and, according to the custom of the time,
derived his surname from his place of residence. He had two sons, the elder
of whom died without male issue. . . . The second son of Ernald de Mose-
ley, named Oswald or (sic) Osbert, left several children, who migrated into
the counties of York and Lancaster, Richard de Moseley being governor of
the castles of Wakefield Sandal and Conisborough in the reign of Edward the
Second, and for the next two centuries the Moseleys occupied a prominent
position in the North of England, one of them purchasing a place called
Hough End, near Manchester, which is still in existence. Here three or four
generations continued to live, and the fortunes of the family may be said to
have been established when Nicholas and Antony, the younger sons of Edward
Moseley, of Hough End, entered the woollen trade.

Now only last year as it happens there was printed for the
Chetham Society a complete and accurate account of the
Mosley family, an account of considerable genealogical and
heraldic interest. From this we learn that * the Mosleys of
Manchester,' Sir Oswald's ancestors, were 'according to
family tradition descended from the Moseleys of Moseley in
Staffordshire ' ; but that ' this descent has never been proved
and is probably unprovable.' The earliest known ancestors
of the family are Jenkin and James Mosley, living at Hough
End towards the close of the fifteenth century ; and even the
existence of Jenkin and James is known to us only from
their mention in a ' confirmation ' of arms to Sir N icholas, the
London Alderman, in 1592. The one thing certain about
them is that { they were not owners of Hough.'

* * *

The first documentary evidence, however, we learn begins
only with Edward Mosley, who appears on a Manchester
subsidy roll of 1541, and whose son and heir, Oswald, did
suit and service in the Court Leet of Manchester for a tene-
ment in 1571. In Burke s Peerage the pedigree begins with
this Edward, though he is there alleged to have descended
per saltum * from Oswald 2nd son of Ernald de Moseley, Lord
of Moseley, co. Stafford, temp. King John.' The actual de-
scent of the present line is through Edward's son Anthony, a
Manchester clothier, who died in 1 607, and who c was not the
owner of Ancoats as he is said in most of the pedigrees to

have been.'

* * *

The most significant part of the story has yet to be told.

150 THE ANCESTOR

We learn from the same excellent treatise that the arms f con-
firmed' to Sir Nicholas Moseley in 1592 were * sables a
cheveron between three battle-axes silver.' Without doubt
these arms are founded upon those borne by the Moseleys of
Staffordshire (from whom, to repeat our antiquary's words, a
descent has never been proved and is probably unprovable) ;
for Moseley of Staffordshire bore the like with silver mill-
picks for silver battleaxes. Official armory has seized upon a
further occasion for asserting its famous principle that a shield
is not so much a belonging of a single family as of the sound
represented by its surname. By this rule Mosley of Lancashire
has indeed a right to a version of the arms of Moseley of
Staffordshire, but the right of other houses must be respected,
and the shield of Mawdsley of Mawdsley, * an old family of
minor gentry' in Lancashire, also carries cheveron and pick-
axes, because the Lancashire village of Mawdsley sounds
rather like the Staffordshire village of Moseley. When we
regard these things we see that, had the heralds of the six-
teenth century but started untrammeled by what one of
their champions styles in magnificent contempt the 'mere
archaic survivals ' of the middle ages, we should doubtless
enjoy a simplified armory with one shield of arms to be shared
amongst all families whose names begin with an M. For the
beginning with an M and the ending with a Y is surely all
that Moseley of Staffordshire and Mawdsley and Mosley of

Lancashire can have in common.

* * *

The London sale-rooms have lately been enlivened by a
piece of household furniture which surely deserves a place in
this column as well as ever a conquest legend or novelist's
fancy. We quote from the Collector s Circular , a newly-born
weekly journal, affording its readers news of the famous
antiquities which find their way to the market-place. A
simple farmer at Driffield in Yorkshire discovered a corner
cupboard * covered with dirt.' Pitying the forlorn corner
cupboard our farmer tended it and cleaned it thoroughly.
His reward soon shone out through the dirt. A carved name
appeared and a carved date. The date was 1603, and one
need hardly add that the name was William Shakespeare.
4 The piece,' says the Collector s Circular^ f is considerably over
two hundred years old,' and in face of the date the statement
shows that the Collector s Circular is a cautious and trustworthy

WHAT IS BELIEVED 151

organ. It is decorated with carved panels * of battle axes and
other old-time implements,' which, says the Collector s Circular,
are * probably the work of Shakespeare himself.' On this point
however we would not wish to commit ourselves, as we under-
stand that Mrs. Gallup has not yet examined the old-time

implements.

* * #

Preceding Mrs. Gallup we have ourselves visited the relic,
and found it standing humbly upon the floor, making a little
Stratford-upon-Avon of a corner of a King Street sale-room.
The sale catalogue describes it as Elizabethan, and the date of
1 603 would just allow of the attribution, if the Elizabethans had
not perversely regarded the year as beginning on 25 March.
By the history books Queen Elizabeth died on 24 March, 1603,
but the custom of the time regarded that date as 24 March,
1602. The corner cupboard itself is a plain one, which with-
out its carvings might have stayed in remote Driffield with-
out hope of fame and the sale-rooms. The curious will only
remark of it that the bard, solacing his Stratford hours with
the pleasant art of wood-carving, chose for his subject a corner
cupboard of a type familiar enough in the early eighteenth
century. He was however not for an age but for all time,
and it is unseemly that we should limit his activities with pen
or chisel to his own circumscribed period. His signature is
what takes the eye. Carved not in bold capitals, as is the
wont of names upon ancient furniture, but in a handwriting
which strengthens the authenticity of the already known
signatures of Shakespeare, this name throws more light for
Shakespeare students upon the signatures themselves. Many
who are unfamiliar with letters of Elizabethan script have
professed themselves unable to decipher letter by letter the
Shakespearian signatures. The name upon the door shows
Shakespeare himself in the same difficulty. Forced by his
task to carve letters of greater distinctness than paper or
parchment demands, Master William Shakespeare exhibits a
lamentable inability to understand or to form the written
letters of his period. Beautiful as the cupboard may be with
its battleaxes and * other old time implements,' he would have
been well advised to allow it to anticipate the fate of his mul-
berry tree. With the corner cupboard once safe in Boston,
New England, the Baconian position will be mightily strength-
ened against our illiterate old household god.

1 52 THE ANCESTOR

The snipping reviewers have given us appetizing extracts
from British Family Names ; their origin and meaning^ by the
Rev. Henry Barber, M.D. and F.S.A., a book whose value has
brought it to a second edition. As a rare mine of examples
of what is believed concerning surnames its popularity should
not cease with two editions. Dr. Barber's learned care seems
to have been devoted to explaining that in the matter of
names things are not what they seem. Barber as a surname
must be given a possible origin in a Norman town, and Baker,
Butcher, Carter and Tanner must have their natural jealousy
appeased by the suggestion of other remote and gentlemanly
possibilities applicable to their cases.

If, as the reviewer hints, Dr. Barber is prepared to suggest
a common origin for the names Clothier, Lowther, Lothaire
and Luther, his book may certainly be { warmly recommended
to the student of genealogy ' who desires to free his study
from hampering fact. What Dr. Barber at his best can do
for a family is shown by his magnificent effort for Waring,
a name which old-fashioned Warings were content to derive
from Warin, once a frequent personal name, but which Dr.
Barber will take, if you will, from the Veringen, the tribe
after whom the Varanger fiord is named, who formed the
famous Varangian Guard of the Byzantine emperors ! Against
the Varangian Guard of Warings we can make no effectual
stand, but when Walker is explained for us as a * strange sol-
dier,' we are constrained to defend ourselves against the
* strange soldier ' by crying his name aloud, using it in its
other old English sense of an interjection implying doubt or

disbelief.

* * *

Mr. G. K. Chesterton's new Life of Robert Browning is
responsible for the following assertion

It is a great deal easier to hunt a family from tomb-stone to tomb-stone
back to the time of Henry II., than to catch and realize and put upon paper
that most nameless and elusive of all things social tone.

We feel sure that Mr. Chesterton does not speak idly. He
himself or some one he knows must have followed the chase
of an ancestor, vaulting one by one the two and twenty tomb-
stones which must lie between us and the days of our first
Angevin King to discover the family patriarch's name written
large upon the last. But Mr. Chesterton is critic rather than

WHAT IS BELIEVED 153

genealogist, and he should be told, despite the modesty with
which he deprecates the feat, that he alone has been favoured
with a sight of seven hundred years and more of intact
tombstones of one family. For us others the family tomb-
stones may aid in the disentangling of an eighteenth century
pedigree, may even with good luck at our backs help us through
seventeenth or even sixteenth century difficulties, but after
hearing of the long unbroken line of Mr. Chesterton's tomb-
stones, the antiquarian mouth waters, and we insist upon
having news of this family. It must be one of the score
or so of English families which can be traced to the twelfth
century, and it is certainly not that of Browning. Our own
information fails : rather than follow vainly on such a quest
we would in our despair essay to catch and realize and put
upon paper the most nameless and elusive of things.

With each birthday of Lord Kingsale the legend of the
Hat keeps festival in print, and Lord Kingsale's * right ' to stand
covered before his sovereign is traced to its fabulous origin in
the story of the mythical house-ancestor John de Courcy,
' Earl or Ulster,' whose grim face and big sword so frightened
a French champion that he bolted under the ropes of the
ring and never stayed his flight until safe upon the Kingstown
packet. The insistence of the legend upon the 'Earl of
Ulster's ' scowling brows lends colour to the story that King
John hastily accorded the privilege of pulling a hat-brim
down over their terrors ; but the fact that King John's day
was unacquainted with the courtesy of hat-doffing balances
that probability, even as the undoubted existence of King
John is counterbalanced as a point of evidence by the equally
undoubted non-existence of John de Courcy as ' Earl of
Ulster,' heavy weight champion of Ireland, and ancestor of
the Kingsales, the John de Courcy upon whose history the
tale is based dying without an earldom or legitimate issue.
The Lords Kingsale seem to have become aware of this an-
cestral right to play the boor at court about the time of
William of Orange, since which time they have more than
once asserted their privilege, rousing to emulation the Lords
Forester who now claim a similar right upon better evidence.
Lord Forester, whose right is yearly recognized by the King-
sale paragrapher, is descended from an ancestor who, suf-

154 THE ANCESTOR

fering from ringworm or some other scalp disease, was
allowed by Henry VIII. to cover his woes with a cap or
bonnet when he was in attendance at court. From this basis
to the story of a right of each succeeding heir of Forester
to put his hat on when he sees his sovereign approaching
him is a light task for the brewer of family legends and the
editor of peerages.

* * *

A late alliance of the house of Hastings with the house of
Bass has set in motion an industrious paragraph which appears
and reappears in the society journals. The Hastings family,
with its all but certain pedigree to the Hastings who had
Ashill in Norfolk under Henry I. might be spared the tag
which affirms it to be c among the few who literally landed
with William the Conqueror.' But the house claims a rarer
distinction than descent from one of those many companions
of the Conqueror who have been selected as ancestral figures
by respectable English families.

Everyone may not be aware that all the Hastings family have a right to a
quaint adjunct to their servants' liveries in the shape of a maunche or hanging
sleeve of black velvet, given to a Hastings of olden days as a mark of gratitude
for services rendered to his Sovereign.

A base of sound fact is afforded to all of such statements
by the openings * it is not generally known ' or l everyone may
not be aware.' So far, as a rule, we are with the paragrapher.
Students of armory are familiar with the white shield of
Hastings and its black sleeve borne thereon for arms. At
what date a Huntingdon was seized with the curious fancy for
commemorating his ancient arms in a servant's sleeve, which
must be nervous wear when soup-plates are being handed and
removed, we cannot guess. But the idea that some ancient
sovereign of these realms rewarded Hastings's fidelity by
designing new liveries for his footmen or parlourmaids is not
one which we should accept without questioning. George IV.,
before whom troopers of the Tenth stood in full uniform
whilst the king with royal fingers pinched and demonstrated
to an attendant tailor and cutter that pantaloons and coatee
already at bursting point might be drawn still tighter, suggests
himself as the Sovereign of the paragraph, but the days of his
reign are hardly matured to the point of permitting themselves
to be described as 4 olden days.'

THE GENUINELY ARMIGEROUS PERSON

THOSE of us who keep our reminiscences of the last
century will remember the famous newspaper season of
the Armorial Gent. It began with a series of articles
in a weekly review in which a minor prophet, to whom reck-
lessness of grammar and construction lent a pretty air of
earnestness, spoke and indeed screamed to the people that it
should turn from its armorial sins.

With cruel hand our country's shame was uncovered.

* Arms and the Snob,' * Some Snobbish Peers,' * Snobs on the
Judicial Bench ' these and other attractive tides bore the
strings of our scourge. Our eyes being opened we knew
that judges, bishops and peers, famous soldiers and sailors,
statesmen honoured on the front bench and squires yet more
honoured in their own county towns, were snobs, lawbreaking
snobs, snobs who * broke every law in existence ' with their

* rotten ideas ' of gentility, snobs who sought in vain to cover
their armorial nakedness with coats of arms which did not
belong to them.

The land aroused and anxious demanded where armorial
salvation might be sought. The answer was thrust at them.
Hard by, in Queen Victoria Street, the cleansing Jordan flowed ;
a single plunge, a substantial fee to the bath attendant, and the
< snob ' might return to his own, a shining one, a true gentle-
man, and in the beautiful phrase of the nineties a genuinely
armigerous person.' The rescued snob was even besought to
mount at once to his nursery, to take its little tenants upon his
knees, and explain to them the nature of the miracle which
had turned them into veritable little gentlemen and genuine
little ladies for whom association with non-armigerous nurseries
next door would be pollution. The word gentleman was
taken severely in hand, and its definition by Chaucer and the
customary use of it by people of breeding and education had
to be abandoned by us with many other * rotten ideas,' which we
had nourished in our * snobbery, rank, utter and absolute.'

* Nothing,' it appeared, 'that a man can do or say (alas ! poor

155

156 THE ANCESTOR

Chaucer) can make him a gentleman . . . without a grant of
arms ! '

The English people being thus forewarned our prophet
announced that he would endeavour in his own person to put
a stop to what in his quaint and excited English he called * the
degradation of an abominable abuse.' In this good cause a
dictionary and register of Armorial Gents was therefore
printed and published, in which register the genuinely armi-
gerous ones were herded with lawbreakers to the perpetual shame
of the latter. Here one might read of the Armorial Gent, his
name and address, his arms and crest, his clubs, his armorial
children, c gentleman ' being solemnly attached even to the name
of the last arrived suckling. Fascinating details were added of
the colour of the footman's undress and full dress breeches, and
the whole paragraph set in Roman type. Side by side we
had the crawling lawbreaker, the sickening plebeian. His
name and address we had, his clubs, his illegal arms and
crest, the names of his lowborn brats and the nature of his
footman's unauthorized livery. But all this in italics, and in
italics to remain year by year until the plebeian vanity be
broken and until outsiders such as Squire Barnardiston of the
Ryes be persuaded to draw the cheque for the parchment and
seals which shall raise them to the rank legally enjoyed, as we
understand, from Mr. Phillimore's Pamphlet by the late Mr.
Barney Barnato.

That admission to the ranks of the genuinely armigerous
class was connected with a money payment was an awkward fact
which needed all the prophet's bluster. A bold attempt was
made to enforce that favourite fallacy of the heralds in their
prosperous Tudor days, that a grant of arms was a patent of
nobility, and that the new gentleman, * being made,' as old
Harrison hath it, * so good cheap,' held by his patent a lesser but
a like honour to the one which a peer of the realm enjoyed by
his own patent or writ. A gentleman was a noble, a noble was
one who bore arms, and so in the last years of Victoria the false
antiquarianisms were revived, the mouldy fancies stirred, of
those old heralds who to press their venal case had not stayed to
pronounce, with crazy blasphemies, that the Lord Jesus Him-
self was a genuinely armigerous person in right of His mother.

Aided by the clamours and denunciations of the prophet
a boom in coats of arms followed. The faded splendours of
armory cry out against the phrase, but a boom it was. One re-

THE ARMIGEROUS PERSON 157

calls, amongst the many amazing developments of that day, that
a London club was planned within whose swing doors armiger-
ous gents should mingle with none of lower degree. The
scheme withered away on the hint from a friendly herald that
many of the newly received minor nobility and of the gentle-
men of coat armour were not gentlemen in that narrow sense
demanded by the rules of a London club. The button makers
and book-plate engravers however began to talk hopefully of
* the modern revival of English heraldry,' but the English pub-
lic is fickle in its eagerness. Had the boom lasted the College
of Arms of London might have rivalled the First Church ot
Christian Science of Boston, N.E., in material prosperity, but
the boom failed suddenly. The prophet's articles ceased to
please. More phrases after the fashion of the precious one
in which he made known his pride in * that corner of West-
minster where cluster together our national Valhalla' might
have saved his popularity with the cynical few who besought
him to show them a Valhallum and explain its clustering
habits, but the many were undeniably bored and the Armi-
gerous Gent slept the deep sleep of the forgotten boom. He
was dead as the Missing Word.

To meet him again by daylight in his quaint Victorian
dress is something of a shock. But Mr. W. P. W. Philli-
more has him by the hand and is thrusting him upon our
notice. 1

Inasmuch as Mr. Phillimore is known for an antiquary
interested in certain sides of genealogy, one to whom we owe
more than one useful handbook and the beginning of a most
useful series of indices to probate and other records, and as
he chooses moreover to address us in his character of a lawyer,
we cannot refuse attention to his pamphlet, whose argument
indeed challenges the whole position which the Ancestor has
taken up in regard to the study of armory.

According to our lights let us examine Mr. Phillimore's
position with all the care we may, and see what new thing
he has to tell us which will excuse the re-opening of the
whole controversy concerning the right to bear arms in
England.

Mr. Phillimore as may be expected speaks with a voice

1 Heralds' College and Coats of Arms regarded from a legal aspect, second
edition, revised, by W. P. W. Phillimore, M.A., B.C.L. (London :
Phillimore & Co., 124, Chancery Lane, 1903).

158 THE ANCESTOR

which does not bring back the shrill squall of the prophet of
authorized armory. The folly of the ( gentleman ' he drops
in so many words. The denying of the style of gentleman
to men in high places because they possess no coats of arms
he denounces roundly for ( a pedantic impertinence.' Those
who disagree with Mr. Phillimore are, as might be expected,
spared the epithets of ( silly fools ' and { rotten ' idiots, and no
clustering Valhalla are twined round Mr. Phillimore's rather
bleak prose.

But if the voice be the voice of Mr. Phillimore the hand is
the hand of { Mr. X.' We turn a page and the old legend
greets us. Again we are to be persuaded that the orders of
nobility run from King and Peer, to Baronet, Knight and
Genuinely Armigerous Person. Throughout the pamphlet
this important question is begged. We are told that * with
grants of hereditary coats of arms ' the officers of arms * create
nobiles minores* 'So long, however, as the Sovereign grants
titles, honours and arms, there must be some rules prescribing
the mode by which they are to be granted and used.' Again
and again is the false analogy forced upon us, the analogy of
the grant of arms and the grant of a title of honour.

That Mr. Phillimore is uncomfortably conscious of the
fact that no such analogy exists is shown by his harking back
to the weak link which makes all his argument futile. Mr.
Phillimore and the prophet call their gods to witness that a
grant of arms is a patent of nobility, an honour from the
hand of the sovereign, even so much as is the patent of a
peerage. So be it. Let Mr. Phillimore choose his candidate
for, leaving peerages alone, the modest honours of a knight-
hood, or of the fifth class of the Victorian Order. Let us on
our side choose a candidate for the honour of a grant of arms,
and let the relative success of our candidates demonstrate the
vital difference between a grant of arms and honours which
are in the sovereign's gift, whose distribution is within the
sovereign's knowledge. The difference lies in the fact that
the one is obtainable on a money payment by a suitable candi-
date whilst the other is not. The quibble that a peer pays fees
for the expenses of his patent is an unworthy one which Mr.
Phillimore as a lawyer has not deigned to borrow from his
forerunner who used it shamelessly. Those fees it need not
be said are not the purchase money of the peer's title, but that
the fees for a grant of arms are in effect such purchase money

THE ARMIGEROUS PERSON 159

has ever been held in common belief and speech since the
College of Arms was first incorporated. Here we have Mr.
Phillimore's last word for his case.

Often it is alleged that a Heralds' College patent of arms is a grant
which may be obtained by anyone on payment of certain specified fees, the
suggestion implied being that modern grants are worthless, as being readily
purchasable by the man in the street for filthy lucre. Such, to those who
know the practice of the College, is notoriously not the case, though there is
no precisely denned rule as to whom arms may be granted or refused. The
issue of a warrant by the Earl Marshal is purely a matter of grace, and each
application is judged upon its merits. To persons in certain ranks of society
arms will be granted at once without question, to others with equal certainty
they will be denied. It is no use complaining that there is no hard and fast
rule when we are dealing with what is a matter of grace. We might just as
well grumble at the haphazard creation of peers, baronets and knights.

We might indeed if we were given to understand that the
haphazard creation of peers, baronets and knights is based
upon a selection, upon an unknown principle, from a number
of individuals who had proffered in exchange for those digni-
ties a fee of an amount specified in an official tariff. The
mystery surrounding the selection of the favoured ones by
the Earl Marshal is probably no deep one. Mr. Phillimore
does not tell us that high character, honourable extraction, or
good service to the State are demanded of postulants for the
honour of minor nobility. And the quarrels of dead and
gone heralds make known to us many of the instances in the
past where armorial ensigns have been assigned to most un-
worthy names. We hear indeed some gossip of rules which
would exclude a man engaged in retail trade from ennoble-
ment by grant, but this can hardly be the case, for more than
one tradesman figures in roman type in the register of the
armigerous. In any case such a distinction is a mean and
unworthy one. The tradesman was in the past one of the
best and most profitable customers of the heralds, and it were
hard to shut him out at a time which has come to see the
countess in her bonnet shop and the peer of the realm on his
milk walk.

This tale of the exclusion of the unworthy will hardly help
Mr. Phillimore in his uphill task of proving that an honour
obtained after taking a fee to the proper quarter is comparable
with an honour given of his own motion by the sovereign. If,
as we move meekly to the third class end of our railway train,

160 THE ANCESTOR

a first class passenger taunts us with the honour which he has
been granted by the directors of the South-Eastern Railway
Company, such honour being a ticket permitting him to travel
in a first class saloon upon blue cushioned seats, we may justly
reply that the honour which he boasts is no honour to our
mind, for any one may purchase it with a first class fare. If
Mr. Phillimore were by he would assure us that we misappre-
hended the honour conveyed by the ticket. Money, he would
say, has passed at the ticket office, but we ought to know
that money passes when a peer is created. The honour is
* purely a matter of grace, for first class tickets are not issued
by a hard and fast rule. They are denied to sweeps, to
butchers in their butchering gear, to private soldiers on the
Aldershot line.' ( To persons in certain classes of society
tickets will be granted at once without question, to others
with equal certainty they will be denied. It is no use com-
plaining.'

The main contention of Mr. Phillimore's tract is easily
put aside. He himself, knowing the impossibility of sustain-
ing it, has preferred to talk round his subject without ven-
turing aught in the form of a syllogism. For the rest we
turn to the pamphlet to find that Mr. Phillimore, having said
his word for the Armigerous Gent, leaves that interesting
client behind him, whilst the rest of the pamphlet is given up
to Mr. Phillimore's title subjects of Heralds' College and
Coats of Arms. Of Heralds' College he may speak from
some experience, although his knowledge of the historical
practice of that corporation seems curiously superficial ; but
when Mr. Phillimore comes to deal with coats of arms he
wanders in a field unfamiliar to him. His first words are
enough to convince us that Mr. Phillimore will be happier
with his parish registers and his indices than with a subject
concerning which his investigations have not yet qualified him
to dispute. A knowledge of armory however has never been
reckoned a necessary detail of the equipment of those who
would write about it. Yet Mr. Phillimore may be easily ex-
cused. His pamphlet has but four and twenty pages, and
folios and quartos on matters armorial have flowed from
writers whose studies have been no less elementary.

* It will be worth while,' says Mr. Phillimore, { to consider
the origin of coat armour, and the right to bear it,' and we
begin considering it hastily and after this wise :

THE ARMIGEROUS PERSON 161

Armorial bearings, or coats of arms, in their origin are clearly of a mili-
tary character, but for many centuries past they have been distinctly a civilian
honour. Great uncertainty attaches to the early beginnings of heraldry ; it
cannot even be regarded as a settled point whether arms could be assumed by
soldiers in the king's army without any specific authorization, or whether the
king's own approval, exercised directly or through his officers of arms, was
requisite. Certain it is, however, that the regulation of such matters was
very early taken to be a matter of honour, and therefore to be dealt with by
the royal prerogative, as the well-known case of Scrope v. Grosvenor, settled
by King Richard II. in person over 500 years ago, amply proves.

For us such a paragraph would in itself dispose of the
possibility of continuing in argument with the writer concern-
ing the ancient practice of armory. * Great uncertainty ' in-
deed attaches to the early beginning of armory, but no
uncertainty whatever exists as to the probability in those dark
times of the king authorizing arms by direct approval or
through his officers of arms. We say without hesitation that
a writer whose view of the middle ages allows him in comfort
to read into the days, let us say of Richard Cceur de Lion,
the Genuinely Armigerous Person, or even the 'officer of
arms,' might have seen Garrick play Macbeth in the dress of
a colonel of the foot guards, with a periwig and basket sword,
without being troubled by any historical incongruity. The
case of Scrope v. Grosvenor is an unfortunate one for Mr.
Phillimore as a lawyer to put in. If Mr. Phillimore had read
the case he cites he would see that it alone is enough to dis-
pose of his officers of arms and royal authorizations far back
in the beginnings of armory.

In Scrope v. Grosvenor we have two knights claiming the
same blue shield with a golden bend. Each, lying like a
Dethick or a Writhe, puts forward an account of his right to
the shield. As neither is hampered by the slightest regard
for fact in the opening flourishes of his story, and each is
aided by clerical advice, we should look, were there any shadow
of foundation for Mr. Phillimore's belated guesses, for sworn
evidence that King William the Conqueror or King Arthur
of Little Britain had authorized a Scrope to take to himself
such a shield, or at the least that White Horse Herald,
attendant upon King Hengist, had been paid seventy-six
pieces of red gold and ten of the white silver for a grant to a
Grosvenor on his retiring from retail trade in battleaxes. But
nothing of the kind is hinted or guessed at. A question of
property in the shield is raised, and complainant and defendant

1 62 THE ANCESTOR

desire to prove nothing more than user, each protesting that
his ancestor was the first to run the yellow band across the
blue.

Mr. Phillimore follows his hazardous suggestion of a
leading case with these words :

The absence of any definite code or set of rules in early times respecting
armory is a clear indication that the law on the subject is wholly analogous to
the common law, i.e. it rests, not on statute, but on very ancient and long
usage, continued down to the present time without, as far as we know, any
break or interruption whatever.

From Mr. Phillimore the lawyer, writing on the legal
aspects of armory, we need ask nothing more. When Mr.
Phillimore the antiquary has assimilated the fact that his one
case of Scrope v. Grosvenor shows that a coat is not held from
the Crown, but is a piece of personal property, the right to
which depends simply upon user and the right as against
others upon prior assumption, Mr. Phillimore the lawyer will
doubtless abandon his whole argument for the right to bear
arms resting necessarily upon official recognition or grant from
an officer of arms.

As it is an established fact amongst antiquaries that arms
were assumed in the beginnings of armory even as Scrope
and Grosvenor pleaded that their ancestors had assumed their
shields, so also it is admitted by Mr. Phillimore that no legis-
lation has come between Englishmen and this right to bear
arms. The fabulous Law of Agincourt now no longer takes
the field. For many generations it was held as of faith by
antiquaries and others that King Harry the Fifth set a law
upon the statute book that none who had not borne arms
with him on Agincourt field should assume them in future
without the royal licence through its officers of arms. In
our days the law has been hunted for in vain, and the genesis
of the myth has been discovered in writs issued by Henry V.
to the sheriffs of four counties forbidding the assumption of
arms by those men who were going with him on a certain
* viage ' into France, the king having doubtless seen enough
brawling over the ownership of hastily assumed coats of arms
amongst camp swaggerers who wore their embroidered honours
flanked with supporters of sword and dagger. The heralds'
authority for their visitations, as is well known, depended
upon writs whose validity ended with the visitation. There-
fore it would seem that Mr. Phillimore agrees with us that

THE ARMIGEROUS PERSON 163

the * lawbreaker * who bears arms without official authoriza-
tion, breaks no specific law of the land, but only the laws
laid down in the Handbooks of Heraldry, which have as yet
no statutory value.

It is painful to trace from page to page the increasing
difficulty experienced by a writer skilled in the law in seeking
to avoid the obvious. The question is most manfully begged.
In the middle ages, as Mr. Phillimore allows himself to
admit, freemen assumed to themselves coat armour, but such
assumption he labels * irregular,' and declares that no heredi-
tary estate could be created in such arms. Here Mr. Philli-
more is in awkward case. Here is reasoning which makes
Scrope, St. John, Berkeley and Nevill use throughout the
middle age ' irregular ' arms in which no property could exist,
and which gives Sir Thomas Lipton's new shield an authority
which the King Maker's lacked.

Caught in such a net Mr. Phillimore is helpless. He
meets facts with feeble banter. There can be no right to use
arms without official authority, for * obviously, if such be the
case, since now we are all free, there is clearly no obstacle to
a crossing sweeper taking to himself such a coat as Gules a
pair of brooms covered with mud proper.' We can only say
that if the crossing sweeper, before such assumption, will con-
sult Mr. Phillimore the solicitor concerning the legality of
his action, refusing interference in the consultation by Mr.
Phillimore the antiquary, he will probably learn that there
is no obstacle whatever to his foolish design, and that a pay-
ment of one guinea yearly to the inland revenue authorities will
* authorize ' him * to wear and use Armorial Bearings.' l Our
lawyer's last word as a lawyer is as follows :

Put briefly, the position is this : Would the High Court of Justice issue a
mandamus to Heralds' College compelling the officers of arms to accept and
record armorial bearings the claim to which is based on mere prescriptive
usage ? If not, then, cadit questio.

But the position is not thus but otherwise. We should
rather put it briefly in this manner. One who claims armorial
bearings upon prescriptive usage will hardly seek to force
these arms into those books of the officers of arms in which
are registered arms which have been granted after payment
of fees. Let Mr. Phillimore ask himself a question more to

1 We quote the terms of the Inland Revenue licence.

1 64 THE ANCESTOR

the point. Would the High Court of Justice issue a manda-
mus on the request of the officers of arms compelling one who
bears arms upon mere prescriptive usage to relinquish such
arms ? If not, the question of illegality falls to the ground.

The legal argument being weak, Mr. Phillimore turns
to railing against the bearer of * unauthorized ' arms. In
this matter his natural kindliness and courtesy hamper him,
and his performance is one which will not fail to draw upon
him the contempt of his great forerunner.

Put plainly, and treating it from a practical common-sense point of view,
the use of a coat of arms is an implied intimation to the world at large that it
is borne lawfully, and the uninitiated conclude that it is from Heralds'
College. Therefore, if it be not borne by right, its use is then, to all intent,
a mere fraud on the world at large. The fraud may be, and often doubtless
is, perpetrated in genuine ignorance, but all the same it remains a deceit. Of
course it would be another matter if the user boldly proclaimed that he or
his grandfather invented the arms, and made it clear that they were not de-
rived from the Sovereign, directly or indirectly through the College of Arms.
But such candour is unknown.

Mr. Phillimore surely jests with us. The very last im-
pression which your new man desires, to create by his crested
notepaper is that his crest is * from Heralds' College.' If he
be a parvenu does he desire his gallery of new found an-
cestors to proclaim to his guests their late arrival from the
hands of the Bond Street dealer and expert ? But what fraud,
what deceit does the ordinary man perpetrate upon his
fellows by the use of a coat of arms ? According to Mr.
Phillimore such arms are the distinguishing mark of a
' minor noble.' Without inquiry in the mystery of the
position of a c minor noble,' we may take it that some social
rank is indicated by the term. Now a man either enjoys that
social rank or is without it. If he possesses it, what addition
does the official registration of his arms make to the rank
which he admittedly has already. If he does not possess it,
what possible alteration can a grant of arms make in his
standing amongst his fellows. The prophet C X,' indeed,
hinted that advancement in society followed the grant of a
patent of arms, but he gave no details, and the society spoken
of remains as vaguely placed as that society in which, teste
Mr. Anstey, one dresses every evening for high tea. We
feel sure that logic will persuade Mr. Phillimore that fraud
and deceit are unjust words to apply to a e minor noble ' whose

THE ARMIGEROUS PERSON 165

use of arms can mean no more to the world at large than a
proclamation of his minor nobility.

It is not by our desire that the position of the College of
Arms and its records are dragged into this dispute by Mr.
Phillimore. The College of Arms is one of the few venerable
relics of the past which remain to the City of London and
to the country. A corporation with a history of four centuries
at its back, still pursuing its high office, the guardians of
royal pageantry, with their blazoned registers of the descents
and alliances of the old English gentry, now so nearly perished
away ; such a body is not one which an Englishman, rever-
ence for antiquity in his blood, desires to see hustled in the
quarrels of our market place. That the mud of the street
has splashed its old velvets is deplorable and deplored.

The College of Arms has been wounded in the house of
its friends, friends whose friendship, could such an aged in-
stitution find strong voice, it would disclaim with anger and
disdain. The grief and annoyance which the * X ' articles
caused inside the old red walls of the college may be guessed
by those who contrast the quiet of that haunt of ancient peace
with the clamour and bluster which made the natural atmos-
phere of this self-chosen trumpeter, whose charivari under the
college windows must have been unwelcome music.

The difficulty in which the corporation was placed by one
who set himself to beat up business for the college by a cam-
paign of insult against those who abstain from applying to it
will be understood, and the college as a body remained silent.
But more than one officer of arms made the world aware of
his indignation. An article in the Saturday Review, which
bore throughout the stamp of an official's authority, contained
this with other harsh and just criticism of the { revival of
heraldry * :

Those who decline to take steps which involve the payment of fees to
professional men . . . are periodically to be described by implication as im-
postors. This, if done at all, should be done officially. In an amateur it is
meddling ; it is a kind of scandalmongering.

The Ancestor has no quarrel with those who allege the
manifest convenience of a central registry in which arms may
be put upon record by their bearers. If such a registry is to
exist, tradition and sentiment demand that it should exist in
the ancient office of arms and under the direction of the Earl

1 66 THE ANCESTOR

Marshal and his officers, although upon the ground rather of
its appropriateness than upon the plenary authority with
which persistent assertion would clothe it. The right of the
college to grant arms to those applying for such distinctions
is not disputed by us.

None the less the whole policy of those who support the
Ancestor finds itself continually at variance with the new
claims which are rashly pressed by the clamorous champions
without the college, and also with much of the practices and
many of the traditions within it, the practices and traditions
which, handed down from its most evil days, are suffered to
hamper and maim its efforts in our own time. Our own
pages, as we acknowledge with gratitude, show that some,
and those not the least distinguished of the present officers
of arms, are in sympathy with modern enquiry into the archae-
ology of genealogy and armory, and when we reluctantly
accept Mr. Phillimore's challenge to treat the college as ' a
public institution which must expect public criticism,' and
the c honest comment' of which no one should be afraid,
we are delivering no veiled attack upon a body of officers
of the Crown, with the friendship of many of whom we are
honoured.

After the wonted manner of the militant supporters of
official heraldry Mr. Phillimore parades each of the unanswer-
able difficulties into which the college is thrown by the
assertion of the extravagant claims made for it. One of
these is the difficulty of reconciling the claim of the college
to jurisdiction over English armory with the fact that its
existence dates only from the end of the great period of armory.
This is faced by the usual begging of the question. Heralds
have existed before the college had its charter, a fact un-
doubted by every schoolboy who remembers the herald of the
Latins, * who stood in Rome's eastern gate,' and did his office
in the forum.

But when from these premises Mr. Phillimore proceeds
to reason that the heralds before their incorporation claimed
and exercised those ample rights which their post-medieval
members claimed and half succeeded in exercising, he is be-
yond the mark. That the officers of arms have been * the
authority for armory without intermission for a far longer
period [than I Ric. III.], a period whereof the memory of
man runneth not to the contrary,' is a proposition which

THE ARMIGEROUS PERSON 167

Mr. Phillimore will find easier to assert than to back. Mr.
Phillimore's vision of the kings of arms plucking down this
shield and setting up the other in the earlier medieval
period is as fantastic a vision to a medievalist as could be
the suggestion that the herald of the Latins, doing his graceful
office with a sceptre in his hand, was also equipped with a
modern king's at arms crown of gilded oakleaves surmounted
with the Miserere mei deus which round the forehead of a
Dethick or Cooke would have had so poignant a significance.
If Mr. Phillimore will examine the few early instances of
grants of arms, he will find that they are in no case creations
of new coats by the purchased favour of a herald or even of a
king, but grants of the whole or some portion of a coat of
which the property was vested, by right of user, in the
grantor.

A second difficulty, and it is a serious one, is aired by Mr.
Phillimore when he asserts the authority as records of coat
armour of the collections in the custody of the college. Now
if the college be in a position to assure us that it has preserved
a complete register of arms granted by it, a complete register
of the families and arms recorded by them in their visitations,
and a complete register of ancient arms recognized by it from
time to time as borne of ancient right, it would as an institu-
tion speak to us with far more assurance than it can at
present.

But how does Mr. Phillimore answer those who, with former
officers of the college amongst them, have stoutly asserted that
the registers are imperfect, that their fellows have gone a
visiting in the shires and brought no record back, that gaps
in the history of some records vitiate their authority. Such
allegations being made, how does Mr. Phillimore meet the
difficulty ? He does it by an airy suggestion of bad faith on
the part of those who make these charges.

If it be pointed out that the arms cannot be found at Heralds' College the
rejoinder usually is an allegation that the college records are imperfect, or that
the officials have carelessly omitted to record the coat. Yet nothing in the shape
of evidence is ever adduced in support of the statement. (The italics are ours).

For such an offence as is contained in this sentence we
have appropriate punishment for Mr. Phillimore. He shall
be Hansarded, as the House of Commons hath it. Mr.
W. P. W. Phillimore of < Heralds' College and Coats of Arms '

1 68 THE ANCESTOR

shall be shackled to Mr. W. P. W. Phillimore of How to
write the History of a Family,' from the preface to which
standard work we extract the following (it will be under-
stood that the Heralds' Visitations are being spoken of) :

Political feeling prevented some from obeying the Herald's summons, and
the social position of a few of the Heralds [alas ! poor Kings] estranged others.
Whatever the reason may have been the later visitations show that a large
number of those summoned entirely ignored the call, so that the visitations are
more remarkable for the pedigrees omitted than for those included, while
among the disclaimers may not unfrequently be found the names of families
who were certainly of visitation rank.

We will not therefore return to the validity and complete-
ness of the Heralds' Visitation records until the two Mr.
Phillimores, the scoffer and the convert, have settled their
differences.

Mr. Phillimore then hurries to the front the most serious
scandal which has dogged the footsteps of official heraldry.

Without doubt the first need that an official registry and
the official assignation of arms to postulants should meet would
be the protection of the owner, once on record, in his un-
challenged possession of a coat of arms.

Let us quote Mr. Phillimore :

It is worth while to realize that a certain analogy may be observed between
the use of registered trade-marks and authorized coats-of-arms. The Registrar
of Trade-marks will, for a trifling sum, record any device submitted to him,
provided it complies with certain definite rules, one of which is that it must
not be the same as a trade-mark already on the register, or a colourable imi-
tation thereof. Once registered it becomes the absolute property of the appli-
cant, and may be assigned to others as he may think fit. And anyone infring-
ing this mark, or using a colourable imitation thereof, may be restrained by
an injunction in Chancery. This may, in theory, be an infringement of the
liberty of the subject, but in practice no harm results therefrom.

In the case of arms, there is not the same liberty for every one to adopt
and register his home-made coat-of-arms, for coats-of-arms are not granted
(whatever the popular idea may be) to all and sundry who apply for them,
whilst their devolution is usually limited to the grantee's descendants according
to certain prescribed rules, and, unlike trade-marks, they are not assignable.
Moreover, the arms granted must, like trade-marks, be absolutely distinct from
any other coat-of-arms already recorded. Having regard to the nature of
arms and their object, that of providing a distinctive symbol or family mark
or emblem, it can only be regarded as a scandal that they should be openly
pirated by persons having no better title to them than a similarity of surname,
or, as often happens, not even possessing that very shadowy right. It is surely
not too much to suggest that the legal owners of a coat-of-arms or, so to say,
an hereditary family mark, should have the right of restraining by injunction

THE ARMIGEROUS PERSON 169

in the Court of Chancery, or in the Court of Chivalry, those who infringe
their privileges and their rights, for which they, or their ancestors, have paid
certain fees to the national revenue, as well as to the College.

With regard to trademarks we would that the analogy
were more perfect. True it is that the Registrar of Trade-
marks will record any device submitted to him, provided that
it is not the same as a trademark already on the register or a
colourable imitation thereof. Unhappily the reverse has long
been the case with coats of arms. According to an evil tradi-
tion the first care of the officer of arms has been ever to pro-
vide his client with a * colourable imitation ' of the arms of
the greatest of the families whose surname the client may
bear. The nearest peerage and baronetage, the dictionary of
Armorial Gents will demonstrate this beyond need of words.
When Lord Russell of Killowen, an Irishman born, without
even a tradition of English ancestry, came to the official
fountain head for new arms, what arms were assigned to him
but a colourable imitation of the arms of the greatest Russell
in the three kingdoms, upon the strength of the common
epithet surname of Russell, a surname which would allow a
distinct family of Russell to descend from any and every red-
headed man living at the springing up of surnames. Lord
Russell was granted the whole arms and crest of the Russell
dukes of Bedford, with the inconsiderable difference of a green
border. * The head of the Irish Bedford Russells ' would be
the commentary of any guileless armorial student who saw
that amazing shield, and remembered that the one armorial
difference ever adjudicated upon by the sovereign in person
was the border, a difference declared to be an unmeet distinc-
tion for any one not very nigh in blood to the bearer of the
undifferenced shield. With the like armorial scandals we
might fill our Ancestor quarter by quarter, but they are known
to all students of such matters, excepting Mr. Phillimore only.
Let Mr. Phillimore open his peerage at hazard and study for
a while in silence. Let him take such an instance as the very
striking arms granted, as we believe, under Henry VIII. to
George Rolle of Devonshire. Let him follow George Rolle's
pedigree and discover for himself that George's male issue is
extinct and that the right to the shield is vested in the family
of the Lords Clinton. With the Rolle arms and crest in mind
let him turn to the arms and crest officially assigned to the
family of Rolls, Lords Llangattock, a family founded in modern

170 THE ANCESTOR

times by a fortunate dairy farmer. Now supposing that the
arms of Rolle had, instead of being the badge of an ancient
Devonshire family, been the trademark of a Swiss milk tin,
does Mr. Phillimore believe that the new arms of Rolls
would have been allowed by the Registrar of Trademarks
to a rival firm of Swiss milkmen ? Such is our opinion of
the watchfulness of the trademark department that we believe
the latter shield and crest would have been rejected forth-
with as a ' colourable imitation.' Lord Tennyson's arms, a
colourable imitation of the arms used by a family of Tenny-
son with whom no relationship could be shown, are avowedly
based upon the impudent piracy by the latter of the shield
of a knightly family called Denys, and with these three shields
may be compared the official quartering of the arms of yet
another * Tenison ' family borne by their descendant Lord
Kingston.

Strange it is that in every point of traditional armory
Mr. Phillimore, who would instruct us, stumbles as he goes.
The main difference between a coat of arms and a trademark
is that the coat is not assignable. Now Mr. Phillimore has
been at pains to show us, as a lawyer, that the law of arms
is based upon ancient custom. So far from coats of arms
being by ancient custom unassignable, our early documents
concerning them teem with instances of the unchallenged
practice of owners of shields assigning at will their property
in them to others by simple deed of conveyance. Needless to
say we find ourselves most heartily in agreement with Mr.
Phillimore as to the scandal caused by the open assumption of
arms by persons with no better title than a similarity of sur-
name. Such an instance he will find in an article in the current
number of the Ancestor concerning the official allowance to the
Wiltshire family of Kaynell of Bridstone of the ancient arms of
Cayvill of Cayvill in Yorkshire, Such an instance, let us sug-
gest, he will find in the modern grant to each of two different
families named Phillimore of clumsily differenced versions of
the arms and crest of the Filmers> baronets in Kent. Mr.
Phillimore's suggestion that the grief caused by the piracy of
one's ancient arms springs from the fact that one's ancestors
may have spent good money in acquiring those distinctions
does not move us to the same degree.
Let us go back to our quotations :
Another complaint frequently made is that the arms granted in recent

THE ARMIGEROUS PERSON 171

years are usually irretrievably bad in their design, and that they betray un-
mistakably their modern origin.

*******

The one great merit of Victorian heraldry is the ease with which, as a
rule, it is possible for an expert to date it.

It is something to learn that Victorian heraldry possesses a
merit, however modest, in the eyes of at least one observer.
But it is a qualified merit. Armory is after all only valuable
as a distinction because it speaks of the past. The Mr. Jackson
of yesterday is become Lord Allerton. The new honour
gives him no licence to array the Yorkshiremen of his barony
under the square banner of his newly authorized arms, but it
is an honour because in some sort it carries with it the subtle
flavour of the middle ages. If any one doubt this, and protest
that the honour is all modern and lies in the elevation to the
Second Chamber, we will but ask who would accept a barony
of Clapham Junction or the earldom of the Tottenham Court
Road, tides which would have great merit to Mr. Phillimore's
mind in the ease with which they might be dated. A crest
and coat of arms are in like manner valuable because they call
back pleasantly the idea that they are, in name at least, to be
borne on a steel helm and over a mail hawberk. Let us
imagine that with the right to bear arms came the right in
some high ceremony to bear them in the old manner. New
armour would have to be hammered for the new squires and
knights. According to Mr. Phillimore the charm of such
armour would lie in its being forged to shapes indicating in
steel the tall hat, the morning coat, and the neat but un-
romantic trouserings of Piccadilly. But the new man who
appeared in a coronation pageant in armour recalling the
fifteenth century would be cheered by the crowd, although
Mr. Phillimore would blame him for *a sham antique,' a
* fraudulent ' masquer, and if we know aught of human nature
those apparelled by the direction of Mr. Phillimore and the
honest officers of arms would never show their shining skirts
in public.

And armory, besides being a recollection of the middle
ages, is based upon the simple balance of design. It is not
pretended that the Victorian mannerisms which so take
Mr. Phillimore are aught more than the inept failures of bad
taste or bad design. Mr. Phillimore in defence of his principle
should hurry the heralds and their designers. They are not

172 THE ANCESTOR

modern enough. They are still of the period of the horsehair
sofa. We should by this time be able to recognize a twentieth
century grant of arms by its absorption of the true modern art,
the modern art of the New Gallery table with legs in the air
to balance those on the ground, of the New Art clock which
amidst its writhing curves conceals the time of day as though
it were a guilty and inartistic secret.

Back again to our quotations. When Mr. Phillimore
has learned more of the practice of heraldry he will shudder at
some of them.

It may be worth while, therefore, to examine some of the complaints which
have of late years been put forward with much persistence. One complaint,
that the heralds grant to new men the arms of ancient feudal families, must be
met by a simple negation. It is not done.

Mr. Phillimore will forgive our persistence, and will allow
us to put aside his simple negation : in the face of notorious
fact it is amazing in its simplicity. What the officers of arms
are doing at this passing moment we will not presume to
say, and Mr. Phillimore in using the word c grant ' has doubt-
less no intention of quibbling with us over a word, he being
aware that an unwarranted grant of an ancient shield to a
new pretender would in the nature of things be more grace-
fully styled an 'allowance' or 'confirmation.' On this point
we will ask Mr. Phillimore three questions or four.

In putting this disclaimer upon paper, was he aware that
the undifFerenced arms of the royal house of Stewart have
been allowed to a Norfolk family of somewhat similar name
but with no drop of the blood of the illustrious house which
bore those arms, and that those arms remain still on record,
and are still borne by official authority ?

Was he aware that the undifFerenced arms of the Howard
ancestors of the dukes of Norfolk have been officially assigned
to the descendants of a Dublin doctor who put forward no
claim to them but the possession of one of the commonest of
English surnames ?

Does he know that the Irish family of Morres bear with
official sanction the arms and name of the proudest house of
Christendom, of the house of Montmorency, and this on the
authority of a childish fable served up in the nineteenth
century ?

Are these examples enough, or must we remind him that
in an earlier number of the Ancestor he will find the Lyon

THE ARMIGEROUS PERSON 173

Office also joining the sport and lightheartedly granting the
undifferenced arms of Colt, baronet of Essex, to the banker
Coulthart, whose preposterous pedigree, derived by genea-
logical ingenuity from Coulthartus of the Grampian Hills, a
lieutenant of Agricola, has no explanation for this armorial
mystery ?

These and a thousand cases like them are the common-
places of the story of official armory in these islands and may
explain in some measure to Mr. Phillimore why antiquaries
and historians, and other lawless ones, are inclined to look
curiously at the hall-marks of those authorized arms which he
quaintly styles * personal distinctions from the recognized
sources of honour.'

Throughout his pamphlet we are made to feel that
Mr. Phillimore's heart is not with the patient antiquary. For
the grubbers in the dust-heaps of the past he keeps a lightly
veiled contempt. His last word is so remarkable, so charac-
teristic of the whole of that school of which to our surprise,
and can we say to our pity, he has chosen to be the mouthpiece
and legal adviser.

Hear then Mr. Phillimore for himself and his clients :

Heraldry is a living science, and far more concerned with the twentieth
century than with the archaic survivals of the fifteenth.

Alas for the indiscretion of Mr. Phillimore. In an un-
watched moment, in a hastily written line, he has spoken that
truth which his new friends have concealed so long. Each
and all of the writers of the manifestoes of the * legal school of
heraldry ' has made, in his first paragraph at least, an unwilling
genuflection to the ages of the tournaments, to the ages of
Carlaverock and Cressy, of Falkirk and Agincourt. Each
scheme for the * revival of heraldry ' has invited those middle
ages to lend their name to the first board meeting. The days
of chivalry must for decency's sake be invoked even in the
prospectus to a new edition of Armorial Gents or 'The Right to
buy Anns. Mr. Phillimore alone has the courage of his heart's
belief. For him the splendours of the tournament crests and
trappers, the many-coloured pomp which made a stately
pageant of every medley of stabbers, are trumpery for the
antiquary, * archaic survivals ' which do but hamper the * living
science ' of the makers of bookplates and livery breeches, of
the compilers of dictionaries of genuinely armigerous persons.
The ancient shield with its knightly memories is pushed

i 7 4 THE ANCESTOR

aside as though in fear lest its associations should in popular
estimation injure the attractions of the brand new shield which
can be furnished forth to the aspirant for * minor nobility.'

Not in the name of our review alone, but as we believe in
the name of every antiquary or scholar who has given his time
to the study of old English armory we protest against this
button-makers' gospel.

Armory is not a living science. Armory was stricken
when the medieval period had its death wound, and as a living
thing it cannot be said to have survived our last civil war.
The ingenuities of the official guardians of heraldry have re-
duced the arms of our English families to a welter of contra-
dictions and misapprehensions. We wear no coats of arms on
our backs, we carry neither shields on our arms nor crests on our
heads. When the streets of London were full of bunting for
the crowning of the king, no single citizen displayed his banner
or flew his pennon. As if to mark the end of English armory
our king himself gave way to the pleadings of those house-
holders who had purchased ' royal standards ' and allowed
every house on his procession way to display, if it would, that
banner of the royal arms which, had armory been a living thing,
would have meant the presence of the king under it.

What is this living science for which Mr. Phillimore is
concerned ? The * crests ' on our spoons and notepaper, the
arms which the coachpainter sets on a carriage panel, the
pretty trivialities of the stationer's bookplate, are these the
weighty matters to which we must give our attention to the
neglect of ' archaic survivals ' ? We say deliberately that for
us and for a school which, though small compared with the
greater public of Mr. Phillimore and Mr. X, must yet be
reckoned with, there is nothing in the modern practice of
armory which should appeal to any soul with wits above the
level of a postage stamp collector's.

For us at least the study of the use of arms in its native
age, an age which has passed utterly away, is all that remains
for the student of armory. By such study we shall add in
some humble measure to the knowledge of the history of our
land, and looking away from a grey and ordered time we shall
delight our eyes with the fantastic beauty of that true armory,
chief tirewoman to those dead years which once went in
scarlet with ornaments of gold on their apparel.

OSWALD BARRON.

THE VALUE OF ANCIENT DEEDS 1

OF the great series of medieval Calendars now being issued
by the Public Record Office none, probably, will be more
welcome to the student of county history, indeed to all gene-
alogists and topographers, than the Catalogue of Ancient Deeds.
The salient feature of this Catalogue is the novelty of the
information to be found within its pages. For while the
various * rolls ' in our priceless national collection have long
been familiar to antiquaries, who have made copious use of
them, the deeds here calendared have remained for practical
purposes unsorted and all unknown. The two officers to
whom we are indebted for this valuable volume are Mr. J. M.
Thompson and Mr. A. Story Maskelyne, the latter having
prepared the really notable indexes nearly four hundred
columns in length.

Whether we consider the scholarly care with which the
abstracts of the deeds have been made, or the vast labour
bestowed on identifying the places named in them, we have
equal cause for gratitude to those who have given us this
book. It is particularly satisfactory to find that the existence
of seals is always noted ; 2 and, although the description of
arms is not within the compass of the Catalogue, the deeds
can always be examined by those in search of such details as
they are in public custody. Another merit of this volume is
the care with which endorsements are recorded, for contem-
porary endorsements often throw a further light on a person
or place mentioned in the body of a deed. Thus, for instance,
the endorsement of A. 7358 identifies as * Oggerum dapi-
ferum ' the * Ogerus de Cabulian ' who receives a grant, in
this early undated deed, from Holy Trinity Priory, London,
and who, it should be noted, has a * clerk,' Edward. Now
* Oger Dapifer ' (a name, by the way, omitted in the Index)
was a man of some importance in the days of Henry II., one
of that king's typical officers. With the assistance of A. 1878,
1978 in this series, which relate to his son and namesake, we

1 Catalogue of Ancient Deeds, vol. iv. (Stationery Office).
J For instance, we have Thomas Poynings, ' lord St. John/ using the arms
of St. John in 1398 at an interesting period in the descent of the barony.

176 THE ANCESTOR

can now connect him with the Cornish { Cabulian,' an impor-
tant manor in Cardinham and Warleggon, of which the name
is still preserved in Cabilla. His heirs appear to have held
there by the serjeanty of presenting a cape of ( gresenges '
when the king came into Cornwall. It would take us too far
afield to trace Oger in Norfolk and in Suffolk, in London
and in Kent, as in Devon and in Cornwall ; but one may note
that, although Mr. Maskelyne has made a special study of
names, he is surely mistaken in giving cross references under
* Orgar ' and ' Oger,' for the former was as distinctly a native
as c Oger ' was a Breton name.

Among the families on which this volume is peculiarly rich
in deeds are the Catesbys of Northamptonshire, famous in
connection with ' Gunpowder Plot,' and the Cleres of Ormsby,
Norfolk. From the twelfth century to the sixteenth, from
barons of the realm to humble folk, these deeds lightly range.
In 1310 we have the settlement on the marriage of John de
St. Amand, of a race of barons, to Margaret daughter of c Sir
Hugh le Despenser the father, 1 including manors in Ireland,
Devon, Gloucestershire and Berks. In 1589 we find our-
selves in Warwickshire, among yeomen and butchers, with a
deed bearing the grantor's mark, which gives us this pedi-
gree :

John Suffblk=Alice living
of Nuneaton I 1589

. (> (2)

Henry=Frances=Thomas Ford
living 1589

Edward under
age 1589

Or again a few early deeds provide this descent :-

Reiner

Henry Fitz=Joan dau. of
Reiner I Geoffrey Blund

M fe)

Saer Fitz Henry=Mary= William

living 1 22 1 de Ores 2

John=Jean

de Salerne
living 1273

1 This supplies an important correction, under ' St. Amand,' to The Com-
plete Peerage.

2 But this name is read as ' Cre' on p. 15, and indexed accordingly.

THE VALUE OF ANCIENT DEEDS 177

The deeds which give us this pedigree relate to the manor
of Shenley, Herts, which passed from the above John to
Adam de Stratton, and, on Adam's forfeiture, to the Crown.

One of the discoveries resulting from the publication ofr
this volume is the origin of the famous (or infamous) Adam
de Stratton. More than twenty pages of the preface to the
Red Book of the Exchequer are devoted to the crimes and the
career of this * notorious ' person, of whom we read in lurid
words, more suggestive of the * penny dreadful ' than of the
Master of the Rolls' Series, that c behind this impenetrable
mask there lurked a demon's strength of passion, an insensi-
bility for human suffering, and a total disregard of every
moral tie.' * The eventual forfeiture of all the possessions he
had indefatigably acquired brought to the Crown a great mass
of the title-deeds relating to them, of which a goodly number
are found in the present volume. In spite of the elaborate
treatment which he receives in the above preface, it is there
confessed that 'of his parentage and education we know
nothing, except that he was a clerk,' and that he * was probably
a native of the village of Stratton in Wilts.' 2 The first dis-
covery that we make from these pages is that in the numerous
deeds relating to his acquisition of lands he is styled indiffer-
ently Adam c de Stratton ' or * de Argoges ' ; the second is
that he appears in one of them as * Adam the clerk son of
Thomas de Argwillis of Stratton.' As it is evidently in the
later deeds, that is, in those subsequent to the death of
Henry III., that he is chiefly styled ' de Stratton,' we may
fairly infer that when he began by buying land down in his
native Stratton and the neighbourhood he was known by the
name of his family, but that, up in London, rising to a position
of official eminence, he was known by the name of the village
from which he came. All such indications of the practice of
the time in the matter of surnames are of distinct interest
and value. The next point is the name of his father. Mr.
Maskelyne boldly treats * Argoges ' and * Argwillis ' as identi-
cal. Hazardous as this might seem, it is possible to establish
the fact that the family were indifferently called by either
name. 3 In 1166 Adam de Port returned among his knights
Roger the son of Ralf and { Odo de Arguges.' A deed of

1 Red Book of the Exchequer, p. cccxxv.

2 Ibid. pp. cccxv. cccxvi.

3 Etymologically, however, the names, of course, are distinct.

i/8 THE ANCESTOR

Adam de Port calendared in this volume confirms * grants
made by Roger son of Ralph his knight,' and its first witnesses
are * Odo de Arguill[is] ' and Ralf his son ; other witnesses
are clergy from Stratton itself and the neighbouring parishes
of Stanton Fitzwarren and Rodbourne Cheney. Again, in
1 2 1 2 Ralf * de Arguilla ' (sic) holds ' Strattone per dimidium
feodum, de eschaeta Adae de Port, in Kintone * ; and Ralf J de
Aigville ' (who is indexed as a separate person by the editor)
is entered as holding f dimidium militem in Strattone ' of the
' Honor de Kingtone quod fuit Adae de Port. 2 We see then
that Adam de Stratton was a member of a family which had
held by knight-service, for some generations, at Stratton
St. Margaret's, and had been known indifferently as ' de
Arguges' (or 'Argoges') and c de Argwillis.' Argouges, one
may add, is on the Breton border in the south-west corner of
Normandy, while Argueil (if that is represented by Arguillis)
lies in its extreme east.

To the genealogist the indentures of marriage will doubt-
less prove the most attractive documents in this great collection.
A deed of 16 December, 1438, shows us an agreement made at
Lanhadron, Cornwall, between ' Rauf Reskymer, squyer,' and
Thomas Arundel, knight, by which Ralf s son William is to
marry * Felyp ' daughter of Sir Thomas and Lady Elizabeth
his wife. Sir Thomas is to have the c kepyng and the gov-
ernance ' of them * tille that thei kune rewele ham by reson
and discrecion,' and if f Felyp ' dies before the marriage
William is to marry her sister Elizabeth, so that we seem to
be dealing with a case of child-marriage. ( Dame Johaan the
wif of Thomas Carmynou squyer' is also mentioned in the
document as living, and Sir Thomas buys the marriage for his
daughter for 66 135. ^.d. plus a promise to prosecute a suit
in Ralf s name for the manor of * Cabilye,' which if recovered
is to be settled on the young couple after the knight has
recovered his costs out of it ; 3 a truly businesslike arrange-

1 Ibid. p. 489. I have been able to show elsewhere (Genealogist [N.S.],
xvi. 10, 12) that the place in question is Kington, Herefordshire, though in
one place it is identified by Mr. Hubert Hall as ' Kington, co. Dorset ' and
in another as somewhere or other in ' co. Wilts ' (Red Book of the Exchequer,
p. 1224). Such is* Advanced Historical Teaching* !

2 Ibid. p. 600.

3 The estate seems to have been still in dispute in 1 490, according to A.
10181, in which the place occurs as 'Cabyle.' Mr. Maskelyne, I see, makes it
* Carbilly ' so it cannot be the * Cabilla ' of which I have already spoken.

THE VALUE OF ANCIENT DEEDS 179

ment, it must be admitted. A deed of about a month later
(A. 10331) records that Ralf has duly handed over his son
to Sir Thomas to be married to his daughter Elizabeth (not
* Felyp ') and had settled on them lands worth 10 a year *yn
the manerys of Trelewyth bysydes Redruth and Hellugan ' and
in other places. Another marriage indenture relating to the
same family is that of 13 December, 1498, * made at Tre-
therff wythyn the Counte of Cornwall,' by which John
Reskymer, Esquire, undertakes to marry Katharine daughter of
John Tretherff the elder, Esquire, who is bound down to settle
on them lands to the amount of 4 (!) a year, to pay his son-
in-law 40 on the marriage, and to c bere the hole charge off
mete and dryng at the day of maryage.' A further illustration
of the businesslike aspect in which marriage was regarded by
our forefathers is afforded by the deed of the same family some
two centuries earlier, when Richard de Reskemer sells to
Alice widow of Randulf de Tynten, in full county court at
Lostwithiel ( 1 2 8 8), f the marriage and wardship of the body of
Joan daughter and heir of John son of William Durant '
for 6 13*. $d.

The earliest of the marriage agreements in this volume,
it would seem, is that of 1240, by which William de Trom-
pinton and Amicia his wife undertake to marry honourably
Maud daughter of Christian de Drayton within two years,
unless by her own fault (nisi per earn steterit\ or, in default,
would give her 2 virgates in Drayton, claimed by their daughter
Parnell. With another thirteenth century indenture we return
to Cornwall, for this document recites that Thomas de Tre-
lanvighan has married his daughter Nichole (Nicbolaa) to
Paschasius de Treredenec, whose Christian name suggests the
Cornish * Pascoe.' If the said parties were unwilling or un-
able to live together at Tredinnick as stipulated, then Master
Ralf de Treredenec was to give them certain crops and beasts
and * half the household implements, except copper and brass
vessels, silver and china cups and spoons, books, money and
jewels ; so that they could set up house where they pleased.'
The articles mentioned are almost startling, considering the
position of the parties, at so early a date as 1295. An inter-
esting example of the ancient practice of assigning dower at
the church door is afforded by A. 9846, an indenture of 1437,
in which William Pollard assigns to * Elizabeth doghtyr of
Hewe Lamplew at the tyme of esposelys halowyd and made

i8o THE ANCESTOR

be twyx me and byre at the kyrke dore of Seynt Olave be syde
the Abbey of Seynt Maryis of York ' certain tenements for her
life * in the name of all hyre dower.'

An agreement of 1420 is found both in French (A. 8470)
and in Latin (A. 10408) with slight variations. Attention
may be directed to it, because in the English version the latter
Richard Ryvell, the prospective bridegroom, is described as
' son-in-law ' of William Attilbrough, the mayor of Coventry ;
the abstract of the French one (to which we are referred) styles
him * stepson ' (fitz en ley}. This is obviously a point of some
importance to genealogists, and we think that c stepson ' would
be right in both cases, for Richard is expressly referred to as
son of Joan, William's wife. One more of these indentures
may be mentioned because of its importance for county his-
tory. In June, 1401, Nicholas c Benton,' ancestor of the
Wiltshire house of Baynton, makes a settlement on the
marriage of his son Nicholas with Joan daughter of Sir John
Roches, knight, and * Willeame ' his wife. This marriage had
a great effect on the fortunes of his family, and the indenture
affects manors in four counties, one of which (in Sussex) is
ingeniously identified by Mr. Maskelyne.

The most remarkable of the earliest deeds dealt with in
this volume are those relating to the Priory of Holy Trinity,
London, of which the Record Office possesses an extraordinary
number belonging to the twelfth century, but there is one
document belonging to a house in the neighbourhood of what
is now familiar as Charing Cross. This is a grant by 'Turold
warden of the leprous maidens (infirmarum puellarum) of the
hospital of St. James by Charing (Cherringam) and the breth-
ren and sisters of the same place.' It is apparently of the
reign of Richard I., and the first witness is * Henry son of
Ail win, mayor of London,' whose name occurs several times in
this volume. One of the Holy Trinity deeds illustrates the
origin of the name f Soper,' for in it * Richard de Essex le
Soper (soparius) ' bestows upon that house a rent from his two
shops (sopis} in Cheap. We are not, however, quite satisfied
that the Latin should be rendered * le Soper,' as it also is in
A. 7296. But names with Mr. Maskelyne are clearly a
favourite hobby, and the long section of his index of subjects
which he devotes to their origin from occupations or other
sources will be found of much interest. One may call atten-
tion, by the way, to the name of c Peticru, Petticrue, Petecru,

THE VALUE OF ANCIENT DEEDS 181

Petigrewe, Pedecru, Petycru, Pedycru ' (as the variants are
arranged by Mr. Maskelyne), because its origin is surely to be
found in that ' crane's foot,' which from its shape, as I have
elsewhere explained, gave name to the * pedigree ' which, at
first, resembled it in form. A confirmation by Alan de Bloyou,
lord of Treyndwal, of a release made by Sir Ralf Bloyou his
father to Robert de Brevannek, son of Clarice, in frankmarriage
with Rose, Ralfs niece, brings before us a curious name, which
can be traced back in Cornwall to the Conqueror's day.

As examples of the little pedigrees supplied by some of
these deeds, the following, perhaps, may be acceptable.

Nicholas de=Katherine
Craunford

William Henry Robert = Margaret Juliana

dau. of Edmund
de Watford. She
mar. 2nd Simon
de Cresholm

John son of=Emma=John
William de I Catesby

Swyneford

William

Henry Richard Bracebridge

Job

Richard Bartholomew John William Harwell

Martin I I

T h o m a s = Juliane Symond = Elizabeth

In the case of this last pedigree the deed (Mich. 1493)
informs us that John Bracebridge, Esquire, settles lands in War-
wickshire on his son and undertakes to provide him with * all
maner apparell of the array ' for his wedding day, while the
bride's father makes himself responsible for * all maner coste
of metes and drynkes ' on the same occasion. t Two early
Dover deeds supply a pedigree of three generations :

William the clerk
of St. Margaret'*

Ralf Thomas =Eilewiie

Richi

Thomas Richard Susan

1 82 THE ANCESTOR

Still earlier is the Arsic descent supplied by A. 6495, a document
discussed elsewhere in these pages under the head of * Castle-
Guard.' ' Manser Arsic ' was the baron of that name living
under Henry II.

Ariic Aubrey Anic

Margret= Manser Anic William Artie

The name Aubrey suggests a connection with the family of
De Vere ; and it is observable that a Geoffrey Arsic held of Earl
Aubrey in 1166 two knights' fees, 1 while a Guy de Vere was
then holding, in succession to his father, of Roger Arsic under
Manser Arsic.

Mr. Maskelyne's < Index of subjects ' enables us to dis-
cover the many points which his deeds help to illustrate. The
most notable, perhaps, of these, is the constitution of a knight's
fee in Winterbourne Basset, Wilts. Walter de Dunstanville
grants in fee to Reginald de Daivill, in Winterbourne Basset,
Wilts, * 80 acres in one field and 82 acres in the other' (referring
to cultivation on * the two-field system '), provided for Reginald
from his demesne, ( and delivered for 100 shillings' worth of
land by the lawful oath of the men of that town, with pasture
for the oxen of two ploughs, in common with his own oxen, and
pasture for 200 sheep with his own sheep, to hold by the service
of half a knight.' Further, Reginald is to do { the full service
of one knight, when, as he has promised, he shall have pro-
vided the said Reginald other hundred shillings' worth of land.'
Here we have apparently in the reign of Richard I. the
actual creation, in instalments, of a knight's fee. Its value, it
will be observed, is only 10 a year, and its area singularly
small. The land was clearly lord's demesne which had lain
scattered, in acre strips, about the open * fields,' and, to judge
from the mention of the oxen, this land must have been
reckoned as two ploughlands of some 80 acres each. With
this deed may well be compared one of rather later date by
which William Marshal, the great Earl of Pembroke, enfeoffs
one of his household, Thomas Basset, 2 in 10 worth of land in

1 Compare Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 190.

8 He is mentioned as an English knight in Fbistoire de Guillaume le
Marechal.

THE VALUE OF ANCIENT DEEDS 183

his manor of Speen, Berks, * together with a whole yoke (cat uca)
of six oxen and two horses appraised at 60 shillings and 100
sheep appraised at 30 shillings ' ; the whole to be held by the
service of * one fourth of a knight.' Here we have an annual
value of 10 pounds represented by the service, not of one
knight (as in the previous document) but of one quarter of
that service. We also note, as still in use, the great Domesday
plough-team of eight beasts ; and lastly we glance at the
witnesses to this deed and recognize in the first Henry Fitz
Gerold, a faithful knight of the great earl, who was present
with him at his death, 1 and in the third John de Erley (as Mr.
Maskelyne renders * Erlega '), the now famous * Jean d'Erle,'
as he is styled in the poem with which he was so closely con-
nected, 8 who was, with Henry FitzGerold, one of the earl's
executors, and who derived his name from Early in another
part of Berks. 3

Some disappointment has been expressed at the large
number of undated deeds, of which the editors have not
attempted to determine, from internal evidence, the date. But
those who have most experience of such documents must be
well aware of the confusion that may spring from an erroneous
date and of the time and labour too often required to deter-
mine the right one. The rapid yet accurate cataloguing of so
vast a collection of deeds must be the first consideration and
this would be seriously hampered by the task of ascertaining
their dates.* Among the thousands of names in these pages an
occasional slip is inevitable ; but the only really serious error
is the strange * Gilbert son of Peter, earl of Essex,' who
so appears in text and index ; for ' Geoffrey Fitz Piers ' (as he
is usually called) is a well-known man. 8 As there is no mark of
extension, one is led to expect a scribal error, but this is not so ;
the document, we find, only gives the initial * G.' The opening
entry of the * Index of subjects' ('Albemarle, inheritance of
earls of, bought by Crown ') also requires correction, for the
inheritance was that of the Redvers family, Earls of Devon. 6

1 He is mentioned some half a dozen times in the French poem.

8 See fhistoire de Guillaume le Marshal (ed. Meyer), vol. iii. pp. xiv-xix.

3 Testa de Nevill.

* The Calendar of documents preserved in France, vol. i. was greatly retarded
by the heavy labour of ascertaining date-limits from internal evidence.

6 See Dictionary of National Biography, xix. 192-4.

8 See Genealogical Magazine, i. i et seq.

1 84 THE ANCESTOR

In place-names, 'Diideno' and 'la Lee' might have been identi-
fied, occurring as they do in connection with Elmdon ; * Bur-
nam * also is unidentified, but Mr. Maskelyne may have reasons
for rejecting its identity with Westbourne (Burna). 1 These, it
will be seen, are trifling emendations in a work of such dimen-
sions as this. If we were to venture a suggestion it would be
that the names of all the witnesses should be printed, but this
has doubtless been duly considered and sufficient reasons given
for the course adopted.

J. HORACE ROUND.

1 See my Henry I. at " Burne " ' (Eng. Hitt. Rev. x. 536).

THE BARONS' LETTER TO THE POPE

IN the " Lords' Reports on the Dignity of a Peer " consider-
able attention was devoted to the document which forms
the subject of this article. For Cruise, in the first edition
(1810) of his well known treatise on dignities, had asserted
that * the most ancient proof of a sitting in Parliament is the
letter written by the Nobles in Parliament in 29 Edw. I. to
the Pope, respecting the sovereignty of Scotland,' although in
his second edition (1823) he considerably modified this asser-
tion, stating that c the letter to the Pope is not now held to be
authentic.' The Lords' Committee took every pains to secure
exactness of text in the version they printed, and, while dis-
posed to treat the document as a copy rather than an original, 1
they went so far as to record this guarded conclusion :

Attempts have been also made to use these Instruments for a further pur-
pose, namely to prove a sitting in Parliament under a Writ. Perhaps they
might be used for this purpose where the issue of the Writ itself can be shown;
but the Committee apprehend that these Instruments under the circumstances
stated, cannot properly be used both to prove the issue of a Writ, which does
not otherwise appear, and also a sitting under such Writ. If the Instrument
could be so used the heirs of Walter Beauchamp, styled Dominus de Alcester,
whose name does not appear on the Roll of Writs for this Parliament, or for
any prior or subsequent Parliament, till his descendant was created, by Patent,
Baron Beauchamp of Powyk, might claim by descent a personal dignity of
the 28th of Edward the First, insisting on these Instruments as proving both
his Writ and his Sitting in Parliament.

This objection would apply also to ' Nicholas de Carru,
dominus de Muleford,' whose appearance among the * barons '
of the letter was mentioned in the last number of the Ancestor
and to at least four others, Richard Talbot, John de Hodeles-
ton, John le Breton and John de Kingeston. Moreover there
were eight more of the * barons ' who had not, at the date of
this letter, ever been summoned to Parliament, and seven-
teen at the least who had not been summoned to that Lin-
coln parliament to which the letter is assigned. Thus there

1 It is not generally known that there are, as explained below, two MSS.
of this letter, both with seals of their own and both formerly preserved in
the chapter-house at Westminster.

185

1 86 THE ANCESTOR

were fully thirty-one of the c barons ' whose names were
affixed, for whom we shall look in vain among those sum-
moned to the parliament in which their presence is supposed
to be proved by the appearance of their names in this letter.

There would seem to have been an idea, at one time, of
utilizing this document in support of the doctrine of barony
by tenure owing to the curious territorial additions to the
barons' names ; but these are now recognized to be arbitrary
and of no importance. 1 It was not, indeed, till the present
year that the admissibility of the Barons' letter in evidence, as
proof of sitting, came definitely at last before the House of
Lords. In the claim to the baronies of Fauconberg, Darcy
(de Knayth) and Meinill, it was one of the two proofs of
sitting relied on for the original Lords Fauconberg, and such
was the importance attached to it that, in their * Supplemen-
tary Case,' the claimants reprinted in full the lengthy obser-
vations on the subject by Sir Harris Nicolas, their counsel
adding an elaborate argument to prove what no one, I believe,
denies that neither the letter nor the seals are a forger's
work.

The real point at issue was not that of genuineness, but
that of admissibility. Although Nicolas is styled in the * Case '
* one of the most eminent of the authorities who have written
upon Peerage Law,' it must be remembered that he was him-
self actively engaged in Peerage cases and that his whole argu-
ment on the letter is an obviously partisan one. In the pre-
face to his work will be found a passage which is not cited in
the ' Case,' and which runs as follows :

references will be found to the proofs which the printed Rolls of Parlia-
ment afford of the Sittings in Parliament of Barons of the Realm an object
of considerable importance to a work of this kind, because, without such proof,
no title which originated in a Writ of Summons can be successfully claimed,
or, in other words, can now be deemed to exist. 2 Under the same head some
observations are submitted tending to establish that the Letter written by the
Barons who were assembled in the Parliament which met at Lincoln in Feb-
ruary, 13001, anno 29 Edw. I. should also be received as an undoubted
proof of Sitting in Parliament ; and the very material circumstance that the

1 They may perhaps be compared with the pseudo-titles of some earls
derived, not from their county, but from their chief seat, as in the well
known instance of ' Strigul ' (Chepstow) being used as his title by the Earl of
Pembroke.

3 This doctrine, though well established, was challenged by the claimant!
in the above case.

THE BARONS' LETTER 187

admission of that Letter would establish the existence of many Baronies which
must otherwise be considered to be extinct, will, it is expected, be thought a
sufficient excuse for the space which has been devoted to it.

The significance of the closing sentence will not be over-
looked.

When Nicolas' work was edited anew, as The Historic
Peerage (1856), by Courthope, he pointedly observed in his
preface that he had omitted

the observations upon the Barons' Letter to the Pope . . . the Editor being
of opinion that the absence of all proof of its having been forwarded to its
destination, and of its connexion (except as to date) with the Parliament then
sitting at Lincoln, must render it incapable of ever being received as a Proof
of Sitting in Parliament on the part of those individuals whose names are
thereto attached (p. vi.).

There the matter appears to have rested until the question,
as explained above, was definitely raised in the present year.

As it was one of considerable importance, the Attorney-
General addressed to the Committee for Privileges some
observations on the admissibility of the letter as proof of
sitting in Parliament, calling attention inter alia to the facts
that it was not strictly a ' record of Parliament ' and that its
date, 12 February (1301), was nearly a fortnight subsequent
to the close of the Parliament ; for, in the words of Dr. Stubbs,
* on the 3Oth of January the knights of the shire were allowed
their expenses and suffered to go home.' * In connection with
this latter point he laid stress upon the word c nuper ' applied
to the Parliament in the letter.

Meanwhile the letter itself was duly ' put in,' being pro-
duced by Sir Henry Maxwell Lyte, with all its interesting
seals, and examined by the members of the Committee with
great interest.

Here it may, perhaps, be convenient to quote from
Dr. Stubbs' work his paraphrase of its contents and his account
of the circumstances in which it came to be written :

The Pope had now claimed Scotland as a fief of Rome and forbidden
Edward to molest the Scots. This extraordinary assumption, made in a bull
dated at Anagni, June 27, 1299, Edward determined to resist with the united
voice of the nation. He had received the bull from Winchelsey at Sweetheart
Abbey in Galloway on the 27th of August, 1300, and, in acknowledging the
receipt, had re-asserted the principle already laid down in the writ of 1295,

1 Const. Hist. (1875), ii. 151.

1 88 THE ANCESTOR

' it is the custom of the realm of England that in all things touching the state
of the same realm there should be asked the counsel of all whom the matter
concerns.' He laid the bull therefore before the parliament at Lincoln,
explaining that the pope had ordered him to send agents to Rome to prove
his title to the lordship of Scotland ; and thereon he requested the barons to
take the matter into their own hands. The barons complied, and a letter
was written, briefly stating the grounds of the English claim and affirming
that the kings of England never have answered or ought to have answered
touching this or any of their temporal rights before any judge ecclesiastical
or secular, by the free preeminence of the state of their royal dignity and by
custom irrefragably preserved at all times ; l therefore after discussion and dili-
gent deliberation the common concordant and unanimous consent of all and
singular has been and is and shall be, by favour of God, unalterably fixed for
the future that the king shall not answer before the pope or undergo judg-
ment touching the rights of the kingdom of Scotland or any other temporal
rights : he shall not allow his rights to be brought into question or send
agents ; the barons are bound by oath to maintain the rights of the crown,
and they will not suffer him to comply with the mandate even were he to
wish it. This answer is given by seven earls and ninety-seven barons for
themselves and for the whole community of the land, and is dated on the
1 2th of February. 2

From this paraphrase is omitted the history which the
king and his advisers, doubtless, had put in the barons*
mouths, namely that the kings of England, since England
was a realm, had, in the time of the Britons as of the English,
been direct overlords of Scotland ; also the humble supplica-
tion to his Holiness that he would ' kindly permit ' a king
devoted to the Roman church to enjoy his rights in peace.

It is not known if this letter was ever actually despatched,
but a new and a startling light has been thrown upon the
character of the document by a discovery made, singularly
enough, while its value as evidence is in question before the
Committee for Privileges.

When consulted on the subject I invited attention to the
fact that the Parliament had broken up nearly a fortnight
before its date ; but I did not venture to hazard the sugges-
tion that some at least of the barons might have appended
their seals elsewhere than at Lincoln, because, though they
might conceivably have done so, there was no evidence what-
ever for so bold an hypothesis. But such evidence has since
been discovered by Major Poynton, 1 believe and we owe

1 But compare with this bold assertion my Appendix on * The Appeal to.
Rome in 1 136 ' in Geoffrey de Mandeville (pp. 25061).

2 Const. Hist. ii. 152-3.

llB

THE BARONS' LETTER 189

our knowledge of the fact to Sir Henry Maxwell Lyte, who
has been good enough to send it specially to the Ancestor for
publication.

It will be observed that the last and most important of the
three entries below is dated so late as 13 March, a full month
later than the date given on the letter, and that only after the
letter had been written and its despatch decided on were
steps being taken to obtain the actual consent of some at least
of the barons by getting them to append their seals. 1 This
new evidence may be claimed as proof positive, at any rate,
that the appearance of a baron's seal at the foot of this docu-
ment is not evidence that the baron affixed that seal at
Lincoln. We may go further and say that the letter now
ceases to be evidence that any baron whose name appears on
it was really present at Lincoln on 12 February, although it
undoubtedly purports to assert that he was. The value of its
evidence as proof of Sitting is thereby gravely affected.

The whole story of this Parliament needs also to be told
anew, for Nicholas is shown by his own evidence to be wholly
wrong in his conclusion, and even Stubbs, by a rare slip,
seems to have gone astray. But this is rather a question of
constitutional history, with which it will be more fitting to deal
in another place.

J. HORACE ROUND.

The following entries concerning the barons' letter are
from a contemporary wardrobe account now in the British
Museum.

f. 32^. Laquei de serico et cera empt*. Domino Johanni de Wyntonia
clerico pro laqueis de serico [et] cera viridi emptis per eundem pro quodam
scripto sigillis magnatum Anglic signando et deinde ex parte regis et eorundem
magnatum summo pontifici mittendo pro quibusdam negociis regnum Scocie
contingentibus per manus proprias ibidem eodem die, xv/. vjV. et per manus
Johannis de Flete ibidem xx die Februarii, ijj. Summa xvij/. vjV.

f. 37. Petro de Colingeburn pro uno equo badio empto de eodem et
liberate domino Alexandra le Convers eunti versus partes Wallie ad dominum
Edwardum filium regis principem Wallie et ad alios diversos magnates in
March' Wallie pro quibusdam scriptis juxta ordinationem regis et ejus consilii
ad Curiam Romanam mittendis et sigillis corundum magnatum signandis, per
manus ejusdem Alexandri apud Frome I/.

Domino Radulfo de Mauton pro uno somero nigro empto de eodem et

1 I am prepared to show that other evidence confirms the existence of
this practice, strange as it may seem to our minds.

1 9 o THE ANCESTOR

liberate Alexandra le Convers misso per regem ad diversos magnates Anglic
cum quibusdam scriptis regnum Scocie tangentibus summo pontifici per ipsum
regem mittendis pro sigillis eorundem magnatum imponendis, per manus
proprias apud Westmonasterium xiijo. die Marcii vj. marcas.

H. MAXWELL LYTE.

THE SEALS OF THE BARONS' LETTER

[Two copies of the barons' letter are now in existence, both of them being
in the custody of the Master of the Rolls. They were formerly in the
chapter house of Westminster. When no note to the contrary has been
made, it will be understood that the seal described is to be found upon
the silken strings of both copies, which are referred to for convenience
as A and B.]

JOHN DE WARENNE, EARL OF SURREY, whose name

stands first in the famous letter, was a child when, in 1240,

he followed his father in the earldom. In 1247 ne was

married to Alice de Lusignan, the king's half sister. This

alliance made him the king's follower in his first struggles

with the baronage, but under the influence of Simon de

Montfort he wavered this way and that, fighting in the

barons' army in 1263 against the Bishop of Hereford and

ratting back with Henry of Cornwall before the year's end.

In 1264 he held Rochester keep against Simon himself, and

was with the right wing of the king's host in the battle

fought hard by his own castle of Lewes. When the king was

taken, Warenne, after fighting with the barons in the street of

Lewes, fled to Pevensey Castle and from Pevensey to France,

blamed by all the chroniclers as the man who deserted the

Lord Edward in his need. He was back again in 1265, and

was at Evesham when Earl Simon was broken by Edward.

In 1268 he took the cross, but it is not certain whether he

bore it over sea. The next year he had a suit in Westminster

Hall with Alan la Zouche, and without waiting for the law to

make an end of the quarrel, set upon his adversary with his

followers and wounded him so that he died two months later.

There was a line past which even this violent earl might not

step, and Warenne rode hard for the shelter of Reigate Castle,

pursued by the angry prince, who took him thence as a

prisoner. But the Crown itself was not strong enough to

take due amends from the Earl of Surrey, who came away

THE BARONS' LETTER 191

from Westminster Hall under sentence to pay a fine of 10,000
marks, a fine which was met so leisurely that the greater part
was unpaid at his death.

This earl is remembered in the histories by his braggart
answer to Edward I.'s commissioners who questioned his
warranties under the writs of quo warranto y when Warenne
showed them for warranty the ancient and rusty sword of his
ancestors who had conquered the lands with it.

He was with Edward in his Welsh wars, adding to his
great possessions lands which made him a lord of the Welsh
marches, where he built the castle of Dinas Bran. In Scot-
land he took Dunbar for King Edward, and was warden of
the kingdom in 1296. But he was lingering in England
while Wallace was gathering force in Scotland, and when at
last Wallace and he met before Stirling he cast away his van-
guard in one blundering movement, and in the rout of his
army rode away to Berwick in the same haste with which he
had ridden away from Lewes. So great a lord must needs
have another command, and he came back to Scotland to lead
the rearward battle at Falkirk. He died at Kennington in
Surrey on 27 September, 1304, and was buried in the church
of St. Pancras at Lewes. His only son William had been
killed in a Croydon tournament in 1286, and John his only
grandson succeeded him. Of his daughters one was mother
to the first Lord Percy of Alnwick and the other wife to John
Baliol, King of Scots.

SEAL. The earl sword in hand on a galloping horse with trappers of his
arms checkered (gold and azure). The same arms are on his shield. He
wears a long surcoat girdled at the waist, complete mail with a barrel
helm and prick spurs. S' lOH'IS DE WARENNIA COMI[TIS]
DE SVRREIA. 1

COUNTERSEAL. A shield of the arms. SIGILLVM IOHANNI[S CjOMITIS
DE WARENNIA. The earl is often styled Earl Warenne by the
writers of his time.

II.

THOMAS OF LANCASTER, EARL OF LANCASTER AND OF
LEICESTER, and High Steward of England, was born about
1278, and in 1296 followed his father, Edmund Crouchback,
in his two earldoms. On this seal he is styled Earl of Ferrers,

1 The old fashion of this seal should be noted and contrasted with the
newer fashions of the succeeding seals. It is the same with which the earl
sealed in 1254.

1 92 THE ANCESTOR

for the reason that he inherited from his father the forfeited
estates of Robert Ferrers, Earl of Derby. He fought in the
Scots wars and bore the sword Curtana at the crowning of
King Edward II. He married in 1294 a girl of eleven years
of age, Alice de Lacy, the surviving daughter and heir of
Henry, Earl of Lincoln, by Margaret his wife, Countess of
Salisbury in her own right, and for the lands of these two
earldoms Thomas did homage in 1312. The story of the
life of this lord with five earldoms is the story of his
stubborn malice against his king. The accomplished knight
from Gascony whom the king had made Earl of Cornwall
had once worsted the Earl of Lancaster at a Wallingford
tournament, and poor Gaveston's tournament gallantries were
remembered by the sour and revengeful Lancaster until the
day when he carried Sir Piers to Blacklow Hill, and there
on his own lands had his head struck off. But Sir Piers'
king kept a long memory under his follies, and in 1322
Thomas of Lancaster, a surrendered traitor, was led outside
Pontefract and there beheaded with as short a shrift as had
Gaveston. After his death the common people's fancy made
a saint of this man who had served neither king nor country.
More strangely still King Edward III., son of the man whom
Thomas had made his life's enemy, asked thrice his canoniza-
tion of the pope, but in spite of the three demands Thomas
of Lancaster's name is not yet in the calendar.

SEAL. The earl sword in hand upon a galloping horse with trappers of his
arms the arms of England with a label of France. His helm pointed at the
top has an open-winged wyvern for crest above a flowing mantle.
The same crest is upon the horse's head. S' THOME [COMIT]IS
LAN[CASTR]IE LEYCESTRIE -ET FERRARIIS.

COUNTERSEAL. A shield of the arms hanging from an oak bough and set be-
tween two wingless wyverns with tails sprouted with trefoils and ending
each in a ball. [S'] THOME COMITIS LANCAS[TRIE LEY
CE]STRIE E[T FERR]ARIIS

III.

RALPH DE MONTHERMER, EARL OF GLOUCESTER AND
HERTFORD, in right of his wife Joan, Countess of Gloucester
and Hertford, was a squire of the household to Gilbert of
Clare, the Red Earl of Gloucester and Hertford who took the
king prisoner at Lewes. The earl's widow was a great lady
by birth, being Joan of Acre, third daughter of Edward I.
The earl died in December of 1295, within five years of his

VIA

VI B

VII

THE BARONS' LETTER 193

marriage, and the Countess Joan married the handsome squire
in secret, and had the king's pardon therefor. She died in
1307, and Ralph made a second clandestine marriage with a
second highborn widow, Isabel le Despenser, the Earl of
Winchester's daughter and the widow of John of Hastings.
After the death of his first wife he is summoned to parliament
only as a baron. He died in or before 1325.

SEAL. The earl sword in hand upon a galloping horse with his arms upon
shield and trappers (golf) with an eagle (verf). His eagle crest is shown
upon the horse's head and was doubtless upon his helm, the point of

which is now broken off RTFORD KILKENI & D'NI

GLA

COUNTERSEAL. A shield of the arms between two wyverns M

GLOV'NIE HERT[FOR]D

IV.
HuMFREY DK BoHUN, EARL OF HEREFORD AND OF ESSEX

AND CONSTABLE OF ENGLAND, was born about 1276. The
year after he set his seal to the barons' letter he married
Elizabeth, daughter of Edward I. and widow of John, Count
of Holland and Zeeland. He was one of those lords who
led Piers Gaveston to Blacklow Hill, and was prisoner to
the Scots after Bannockburn, so great a prize that King
Robert's captive wife was changed for him. As he had stood
against Gaveston so the earl stood against the Despensers and
so came by his end, being killed in arms against the king at
the battle of Boroughbridge in 1322.

SEAL. The earl upon a galloping horse, sword in hand. The shield and
horse-trappers bear the arms of Bohun, which are (azure) with a bend of
(silver) and cotises oj (gold) between six (golden) lioncels. The helm has a fan-
crest, and a like crest is upon the horse's head. S' H DE BOHVN
COMITIS . . . . ET 9STABVLAR' ANGU.

COUNTERSEAL. A shield of the arms of Bohun, hung by a strap from the back
of the Bohun swan. On either side is a shield with the quarterly shield
of the old earls of Essex, with a trefoil above each shield. S' HVMFRIDI

DE BOHV[N COM]ITIS HEREFORDIE ET ESSEXIE.

ROGER BIGOD, EARL OF NORFOLK. AND MARSHAL OF
ENGLAND, was born in 1240. This earl, with Humphrey,
Earl of Hereford, led the baronage in its long struggle with
the Crown. He is remembered for his rough refusal to
serve beyond sea out of the company of the king. * By
God, earl,' said the king, * you shall either go or hang.'
* By God, king,' answered the earl stoutly, * I will neither go

194 THE ANCESTOR

nor hang.' In 1301 he made the king his heir, for reasons
which have never been explained, but which some would
explain by assigning to the earl an important but unrecognized
place in the royal pedigree. He died in 1306 without issue,
although he was twice married.

SEAL. A shield of the arms party (gold} and (vert) with a lion (gules).
SIGILLVM ROGERI BIGOD.

VI.

GUY DE BEAUCHAMP, EARL OF WARWICK, so christened in
remembrance of Guy of Warwick, the fabled forefather of the
earls, was born in 1278. He gained great honour at Falkirk
in 1298, for which he had lands in Scotland. In 1310 he was
one of the lords ordainers, and in 1312 he was one of those
five who seized Gaveston and took him the first stage of that
journey to Blacklow Hill. Gaveston in years gone by had
called him the black cur of Arden,' an epithet which with
the black cur's teeth in him the unhappy Piers doubtless called
to mind. In 1318 he died at his castle in Warwick by poison,
as it was said.

SEAL. The earl sword in hand upon a galloping horse. On the shield and

horse-trappers are the arms of Beauchamp (gules) a fesse and six crosslets

(gold} . GW[I]DON' DE BELLOCAM ....
COUNTERSEAL. A shield of the arms of the old Earls of Warwick checkered

(gold and azure] with a cheveron ermine hanging between two leopards.

AMPO COM' WARREWYK . .

VII.

RICHARD FITZ ALAN, EARL OF ARUNDEL, was born in
1267, and was summoned in 1291-2 as Earl of Arundel.
He was in the Welsh and French wars, and was at the seige
of Caerlaverock in 1300, where the poet saw him, c beau
chivalier e bien ame,' richly armed in red with a lion rampant of
gold. He died in 1302 in his thirty-sixth year.

SEAL. The earl on a galloping horse, sword in hand. Upon the shield and
horse-trappers the arms of Fitzalan (gules) a lion (gold). SIGILLVM
RICARDI COMITIS DE ARONDEL.

VIII.

AYMER DE VALENCE, EARL OF PEMBROKE, Lord of Wex-
ford, of Valence and Montignac, son of King Henry III.'s
half brother William de Valence, was born between 1260 and
1265. He was at Caerlaverock with his 'fair banner' of
silver and azure burelly with the red martlets in its border.
He was guardian and lieutenant of Scotland in 1307 and 1314

THE BARONS' LETTER 195

and guardian of England in 1320 when the king was over-
sea. He died without issue in 1324 and was buried under
the beautiful tomb which remains in Westminster Abbey.

SEAL. A shield of the arms of Valence burelly (silver) and (azure) witb~an
orle of martlets of (gules'). Amongst the sprigs at the sides are two martlets.
SIGILL ADEMARI DE VALENCE.

This seal has been smashed in the B copy of the letter.

IX.

HENRY OF LANCASTER, LORD OF MONMOUTH, and after-
wards Earl of Lancaster and Leicester, was born about 1281,
and was next brother and heir to Thomas, Earl of Lancaster,
whose seal is the second to this letter. He was one of those
barons who stood in the field against Edward II., who was
sometime his prisoner. He died in 1345, having been long
blind.

SEAL. A shield of his arms of Lancaster, which are those of England with a
baston (of azure). The helm has a little mantle and a crest of a winged
wyvern or dragon, and two like monsters are displayed at the side in
guise of supporters. S' HENRICI DE LANCASTIR DOMIN[I D]E
MONEMVTA.

JOHN OF HASTINGS, LORD OF BERGAVENNY, was born
in 1262, son and heir of one of the barons of Montfort's
parliament. On the death of his uncle George de Caunte-
low the great lordship of Bergavenny came to him by in-
heritance, and he was summoned as a baron in 1295. He
was seneschal of Aquitaine in 1309. He died in 1313 and
his second wife, a Despenser, who survived him, married
Ralph Monthermer, the third sealer of the letter.

SEAL.' A shield of arms a cross between four fleurs de lys with five fleurs de
lys upon the cross.

COUNTERSEAL. A shield of arms a cross with five fleurs de lys thereon [as on
the obverse] between a leopard in the first and fourth quarters and a lion
in the second and third quarters. The shield is set between two dragon-
like monsters.

HENRY DE PERCY, LORD OF TOPCLIFF in Yorkshire, was
third son of Henry de Percy, and was heir to his elder brother
John in 1283-4. He was of full age and had livery of his
brother's lands in 1293-4. He fought in the Scots wars and

1 A note upon this curious seal and an attempt to elucidate its bearings
and inscriptions will appear in a later issue of the Ancestor.

196 THE ANCESTOR

was at the battle of Dunbar. In 1 309 he bought of Anthony
Bek, the Bishop of Durham, the castle of Alnwick, which was to
be so long in the hands of his descendants. He died in 1315.

SEAL. The baron upon a galloping horse, sword in hand. His shield and
horse-trappers bear the arms of Percy the shield which they took on
abandoning their more ancient one of the indented fesse (go/d) with a
lion (of azure) SIGILLVM HE[NR]IC[I D]E PERCI.

COUNTERSEAL. A shield of the arms. SIGILLVM HE[NRIC]I DE PERCI.

This seal remains only to the A copy of the letter.

XII.

EDMUND DE MORTIMER, LORD OF WIGMORE in 'Here-
fordshire, succeeded his father in 1282 when he was of full age.
He fought in the Welsh wars, where he got his death at the
battle of Builth in 1304.

SEAL. A shield of the arms of Mortimer, which arms are blazoned in the
roll of arms generally called the Parliamentary Roll as barre de or e de
azure od le chef pake les corners geronne a tin escucbon de argent.
S' EDMVNDI DE MORTVO MARI.

XIII.

ROBERT FITZ WALTER, LORD OF WOODHAM in Essex, suc-
ceeded his father in 1257, being then aged ten years. He was
grandson of Robert fitz Walter, the first of the Magna
Carta barons. He was a distinguished soldier in France, in
Wales and in England, and was summoned as a baron in
1295. -^ e died m J 3 2 5-

SEAL. A shield of the arms of fitz Walter, which are (gold') with a fesse
and two cheverons of (gules). The seal bears no legend.

XIV.

JOHN ST. JOHN, LORD OF HALNAKER in Sussex and of
Basing in Hampshire, was the heir of Hugh de Port who held
Basing and fifty-four other lordships in Hampshire at the
general survey. He was lieutenant of Aquitaine and fought
in the wars in Gascony, being sometime a prisoner in Paris.
He died in 1301, soon after the sealing of the letter.

SEAL. The knight sword in hand upon a galloping horse with the arms of
St. John (silver} a chief (gules) with two pierced molets of (gold), upon
shield and horse-trappers. The helm has a crest of a leopard standing
between two palm-branches, which is set upon the horse's head also.
S' IOHANNIS ' DE S'C'O IOHANNE D'NI [DE HANJNAK.

COUNTERSEAL. A shield of the arms between two wyverns S' lOH'IS DE
S'C'O IOHANNE.

(To be continued.)

XI A

^&f<&

i i A

XIV

XI B

XIII

XII

OUR OLDEST FAMILIES

THE NEVILLS

iF the great English houses which
'warring with our ancient kings, broke
themselves against the sovereign power,
Nevill alone stays in the saddle in an ac-
knowledged line, with an old barony to
which has been tagged a Georgian earldom
and viscounty and a new Victorian mar-
quessate. To these, were it not for the
rising in the north country in 1569 and the consequent
attainder of Charles Nevill, the sixth earl, might have been
added the earldom of Westmorland, an historic title dating
from the fourteenth century.

Nevill bears one of those oversea surnames which per-
suaded Defoe that our boasted English nobility sprang from
foreign mercenaries. But not the least interesting side of the
great story of Nevill is shown us when we see that this French
surname covers a race English bred and born.

The forefather of Nevill was Uchtred, whose name we
have and nothing more of him. Dolfin son of Uchtred we
know. He had Staindropshire from the prior of Durham in
1131,* King Henry I. then reigning in England. When he
did his homage to the prior of Durham for Staindrop he re-
served the homage which he owed to the kings of England
and Scotland and to the Bishop of Durham. Therefore
Dolfin son of Uchtred and forefather of Nevill was a great
man and doubtless a highborn Northumbrian. More than
this we cannot say, although other genealogists have been less
timid. For Dugdale as for Mr. Evelyn Shirley, Dolfin son of
Uchtred was Dolfin son of Earl Gospatric ; but such guesses
are based upon the ancient and approved methods of the
genealogists, whose rule that bearers of the same name might
be treated as one and the same person carried them on to
genealogical successes which we may envy.

1 Feodary of the priory of Durham (see Feudal England").

198 THE ANCESTOR

Dolfin's grandson, Robert son of Maldred, makes the
match which gives the Nevills their name, mating with Isabel
de Nevill, daughter of Geoffrey de Nevill by the heir of
Bertram de Bulmer, 1 and sister and heir of Henry de Nevill.
Henry had been in arms with the barons against King John,
but had made his peace, giving hostages for his good faith.
It has been denied that the name of Nevill occurs in Domes-
day Book. Ralph de Nevill is however found therein amongst
the Lincolnshire clamores. Thereafter we find many Nevills,
and from these the older genealogists have chosen for them-
selves fitting ancestors for Westmorland and Warwick.
Gilbert de Nevill has been elected patriarch 'Gilbert de
Nevill who came into England with William the Conqueror,
being at that time his admiral, as some of our genealogists
have noted, though there be no mention of him nor any of
that name in the great survey made by that king.' Thus
Dugdale in his Baronage. The last part of the statement we
have contradicted above, and the story of the admiral merits
little consideration. Its origin is not far to seek. When in
the middle ages the industrious shield painters began to
imagine and set forth shields for Hector of Troy, Judas
Maccabaeus and King Lud, they did not forget the heroes of
the great foray which King William made in England.
Gilbert de Nevill, by that time made ancestor of the northern
lords, has a shield of arms found for him, a shield bearing a
ship, a nef y for a play upon his name. Doubtless the very
men who had conceived the shield in their own wits were
ready to deduce from it the tale that Gilbert, who would have
borne such a shield had shields of arms been known in his
time, was admiral of the ships of 1066. No such shield was
borne by Isabel de Nevill's descendants, who made a red
banner with a silver saltire the gathering sign of northern war.
It may be hazarded that the dun bull of Westmorland, that
sacred totem whose figure modern taste has taken from the
walls of Raby to decorate a stable gateway, was borne for a
memorial of the line of Bulmer.

Once founded at Raby the house grew in fame and power.
Nevill became their name for ever, Isabel's son Geoffrey
taking it to himself, the first surname which his line had

1 Swereford's extracts from the pipe roll show Geoffrey de Nevill as heir
in 2 Ric. I. of Bertram of Bolemer (probably in right of his wife). Henry
de Nevill was Bertram's heir in 1 2 John.

OUR OLDEST FAMILIES 199

borne. Under Henry III. the Nevill was out against the
king, but his pardon was easily gained. The rough north
country was a breeding ground or captains, and the Nevills
saw Scottish war and war with France, John de Nevill being
Richard II. 's lieutenant of Aquitaine, and boasting that in that
post he had won and rendered to the king eighty-three walled
towns and castles. This John's wife was a Percy of Alnwick,
and from this marriage onward the house of Nevill began to
throw out its famous branches of cadet lines, in one of which
its highest honour was to rise and fall. John de Nevill's
second son was Lord Furnival in right of his wife, the heir
of Furnival. A second wife of John de Neville was heir to
Latimer and his son by her Lord Latimer, a title which
afterwards came to a third son of the first earl. In Ralph
Nevill, Lord Furnival's elder brother, the house was exalted.
Richard II. made him Earl of Westmorland and Richard's
supplanter Earl Marshal of England. He grasped many
offices in his hands, and died a rich earl with a patriarchal
family of at least two and twenty children, by whom the
Nevills might ever after call cousins with all the great English
barons. His first wife's children were married with Holand,
Ferrers, Mauley, Grey, Lancaster, Dacre, Scrope and Umfravile.
Then the earl for a second wife took Joan, John of Gaunt's
daughter by Dame Katharine, and had a second family, which was
to fly higher than the falcons of Raby. The sons or this second
family matched with Montague, Fauconberg, Beauchamp of
Warwick and Beauchamp of Abergavenny, the daughters with
the Dukes of Buckingham and Norfolk, the Despensers,
Mount] oy and Riverses, and with the blood royal also when
Cecily Nevill married Richard, Duke of York.

After this the story of the main line must be shortly told.
The first earl was followed by his grandson Ralph, who
married with Hotspur's daughter. Charles the sixth earl
ended the line. He left no son by his Howard wife, and the
rising of 1569 broke his fortunes.

Now spread thine ancient, Westmorland ;
Thy dun bull fain would we espy,

pleads the ballad singer, but before the Tudor power revolt
withered away. The reins of the country were in strong
hands at London. The dun bull standard was raised, but at
the coming of Sussex with the forces of the Crown it fled

200 THE ANCESTOR

over the border, and the great Earl of Westmorland must
needs skulk for his life like any wandering cateran. The
Spaniards in the Netherlands received honourably this plotter
against the island sorceress, but Charles Nevill, his earldom
taken from him by attainder, never saw the Westmorland fells
again, and died an old and unregarded man, c meanly and
miserably.' With what feeling can this old man amongst the
Spaniards have learned from them that the great Armada,
which would without doubt have set him again in his seat,
had been scattered under the English cliffs.

It is telling an old tale, and that tale the history of our
land of England, to rehearse the doings of the Nevills in
those furious years of the fifteenth century, which saw the
bloody end of our old nobility. Chief amongst those nobles
was a Nevill. Richard Nevill, the eldest born of Earl Ralph's
second marriage bed, a grandson of John of Gaunt and Earl
of Salisbury in his wife's right, begot another Richard Nevill,
Earl of Salisbury by birth, Earl of Warwick by marriage.
A chronicler soon after his day called this Richard regum
creator^ and the King Maker he has been to us ever since.
Hume styled him c last of the barons,' and by this name too
we remember him, thanks to Lord Lytton's faded novel
whose title remains although the dull wool-work of its romance
is not saved from the limbo of dead books even by the ridicu-
lous imaginations of a writer who peopled England of the
fifteenth century with ( Normans ' and l Saxons.'

A king maker he was, for it was the great Nevill power,
with its wide kinship of earls and barons and the spears fol-
lowing it from uncounted lordships and lands, which plucked
down Henry and set Edward in his place, which drove Edward
abroad and thrust the sceptre again into Henry's feeble fingers.
But in Edward of York Warwick had summoned up a spirit
which he might not lay. Warwick's fame is the fame of a
captain, and although nothing of a statesman he was an able
minister of the old school, apt to set his enemies by the ears
and to play one feud against another. Yet even in that mo-
ment when Edward lay between the paws of the bear, an un-
crowned king, Warwick's fate was upon him. For that subtle
mind outmatched the Nevill at every point, and when on the
Easter morning of 1471 the king's army found Warwick on
the Barnet field, the prancing and thrusting tactics of the
middle ages were in vain against the generalship of a king

OUR OLDEST FAMILIES 201

who moved his host as men move pieces at the chess play.
The chronicles and ballads have the tale to tell. In the white
mist which the wizard had summoned up Warwick's brother
died in the sword play, and the King Maker took horse and
fled before the king he had made. Commines tells us that
the great earl never loved to venture on foot amongst the
spears, but would ever have his horse by him to avoid in
time ill fortune of war. But Barnet was his last throw
against a master of the dice, and no horse might save him.
He rode so far as the nearest cover of woodland, but there
he was caught up with and butchered under the boughs with
the few who followed him.

After this the ragged staff was broken. Warwick's own
line was crushed out. Of his daughters Isabel had married
Clarence, who went childless to the malmsey butt. Anne her
sister, married in the cockpit of our history to Edward, Prince
of Wales, took for a second husband Richard of Gloucester,
whose dagger had widowed her, and bore to him an Edward,
Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, who died before Bos-
worth could take those dangerous titles from him. So scat-
tered were the vast possessions of the younger house of
Nevill that George, Duke of Bedford, Warwick's nephew,
was degraded from all his honours by a parliament which de-
clared that dukedoms and marquessates were no trinkets for
a landless man without a penny to chink against another.

One line only of the descendants of the first Earl of
Westmorland remains to be reckoned with. His descend-
ants in the female line by his two-and-twenty children must
count amongst themselves every Englishman with a drop of
gentle blood in his veins. Like Edward I. he is the father of
all of us, an ancestor to hall and cottage. But the Nevill
name goes on through his fourth son by John of Gaunt's
daughter. For Edward Nevill a wife was found, a Beauchamp
with the barony of Bergavenny for her portion. This
Edward fought beside Warwick at Northampton for Edward
of March, but Edward once crowned kept Edward Nevill's
allegiance to the end, and the Lord Bergavenny arrayed the
men of Kent against Richard, Earl of Warwick. The Nevill
strength was too unwieldy to remain whole.

His son George, knighted at Tewkesbury, was a fortunate
soul or a politic one. He steered his bark safely through the
chopping waters of the war, attended Richard's crowning and

202 THE ANCESTOR

held a military command in the army which Henry Tudor
sent to Calais.

The third Lord Bergavenny was a Knight of the Bath
when Richard was crowned, but he too saved himself alive
under the new dynasty. He was a soldier at Boulogne and
in the field of the spurs, and died in his bed although twice
in prison upon suspicion of treason. He handed down his
lands to his son although he had been amongst the wasteful
lords who followed Henry to the Field of Cloth of Gold. The
fourth lord saw prison walls once for striking the Earl of
Oxford in the presence chamber of Edward VI., but he helped
rout Wyatt's rebels for Queen Mary and died in the peace
of Queen Elizabeth. His only daughter Mary would have
carried the Bergavenny barony to the Fanes, but it was ad-
judged to the heir male, one Edward Nevill, son of a Sir
Edward, whose fortune had not carried him through the
perilous Tudor times with his head safely on his shoulders.

History here takes leave of the Nevills, but genealogy
carries them to our own day. They breed no more plotters
or partisans. The thirteenth Lord Abergavenny dies com-
modore of a squadron on the Virginia station, the fourteenth
is master of the jewel office. The fifteenth lord is created in
1784 Viscount Nevill and Earl of Abergavenny.

The fifth Earl of Abergavenny is to-day Marquess of
Abergavenny and Earl of Lewes in the United Kingdom, Lord
Lieutenant of Sussex and Knight of the Garter. He is de-
scendant in the male line of Dolfin of Staindropshire, the son
of Uchtred, and that line runs through an uncle of the King
Maker. With such a pedigree no other in the peerage books
may be matched.

O.B.

WILTSHIRE NOTES AND QUERIES 1

THE last few years have seen the beginning and ending of
many magazines and reviews dealing with the archaeology
of single counties of England. That the counties for the
most part should give them lukewarm greeting is not to be
wondered at. The country itself hardly affects an interest in
its own past history, and the county Notes and Queries, or
Archaeological Magazine, supported as it is by the enthusiasm
of some single antiquary without following or support, soon
withers away.

Such a provincial magazine has the choice of two fates.
It may live by the work of its own editor, as did the Hert-
fordshire Genealogist^ whose three volumes represent years of
skilled record work by Mr. William Brigg. Mr. Brigg was
reckless of the delicate digestion of c the general reader.' He
filled his useful pages with the strong meat of accurate record
abstracts, gave Hertfordshire a well indexed and accessible body
of information concerning its ancient family history, and left
the county before many of its amateurs of archaeology had
become aware of the existence of his work. As Mr. Brigg
was in his own person the Hertfordshire genealogist, the
journal of that name ended with his removal to Yorkshire,
and the work has never been taken up by others.

A lingering end has taken other journals which have
not wanted for contributors. A certain space has to be filled
month by month or quarter by quarter, and there have been
editors who have counted it discourteous to refuse asylum to
any screed which a respectable dullard may have inked out upon
paper. Threadbare commonplaces from Chambers' Book of Days
or Brand's Popular Antiquities have stood for folk-lore ; mis-
understood scraps from the county history for genealogy ;
tombstone doggerel and the familiar sillinesses concerning the
origin of the signs of the * Goat and Compasses ' and the ' Swan
with Two Necks ' for original researches. Books for review have

1 Wiltshire Notes and Queries : An Illustrated Quarterly Antiquarian and
Genealogical Magazine (George Simpson, publisher, Devizes).

903

204 THE ANCESTOR

been received with grateful surprise. A Yorkshire editor re-
viewed a quack medicine pamphlet at some length as a work
commendable to Yorkshire antiquaries for its science and its
morals, and the older series of the Reliquary marked its decay-
ing days by its enthusiastic criticisms of the specimen Christ-
mas cards sent its editor by a London fancy stationer, illus-
trations being afforded of the more striking examples. We
have known an archaeological journal made the means whereby
a local rector might make known to his friends and neighbours
his satisfaction with the Holy Land which he had surveyed,
auspice Cook, in his vacation holiday, and such a journal may
form an invaluable receptacle for those views upon Mosaic
geology or the measurements of the great pyramid which most
editors are in conspiracy to suppress.

Wiltshire is amongst those counties which have succeeded
in nourishing for several years past a healthy and promising
journal for its topographers. This is indeed as it should be,
for Wiltshire to the antiquary is one of the inner sanctuaries
of England. Under the editorship of Mr. Arthur Schomberg,
the main lines upon which the work has been schemed are
the only ones upon which a local antiquarian journal can
hope to do good work. The articles and notes collected
by him deal with Wiltshire to the exclusion of outlying
parts of the wide world. Hashes of well known and accessible
work have been refused, the door has been shut to the long-
winded crank of the provinces, and books received for review
have received critical notices.

On the other side much useful work has been done.
Progress has been made with a calendar of Wiltshire feet of
fines, with calendars of Wiltshire Quaker records, and with
detailed pedigrees of local families. Many topographical notes are
recorded, and some most valuable collections for the early history
of Wiltshire parishes are appearing from time to time. An
article on the Goodenoughs of Sherston gives some delightful
entries from the account book kept by Francis Goodenough,
an attorney, brother and companion of one whom the Diction-
ary of National Biography describes as 'Goodenough, Richard,
flourished 1686, conspirator and attorney of bad repute, who
contrived nevertheless to obtain the under-sheriffdom of Lon-
don.' The two Goodenoughs were rioters, jury-packers and
plotters. The breaking of the Rye House Plot, that ' horrid
conspiracy,' drove Richard abroad ; but Francis, who had shared

WILTSHIRE NOTES AND QUERIES 205

his dangers, is found living in Sherston from 1710 to 1725, sit-
ting peacefully under his own fig-tree and quarrelling with his
gardeners. The entries are frank and full of rustic colouring.

* Lazy Roger Wicks ' is paid 8j. for * I week's sawing and
loitering.' William Wimbow is paid, having finished the
kitchen loft * after a cobbling manner.' The same Wimbow
makes a cupboard over the passage door, and leaving his work

* goes away like a K.' Four days afterwards he is back
at his job, only to go away again, and when he would have
made a new beginning Mr. Goodenough f would not let him
have his tools.' A day's work by David Rice is thus summed
up by his employer : * he digged some stones out of the bowl-
ing green garden, gathered some kidney beans and threw a
little earth into the Quar and watered the horse twice.' A
second Wicks shows himself true brother to lazy Roger by
counting three hours to his dinner hour. * He saies there is
\\d. yet due to him.' Mr. Goodenough adds, * I say not.'

In turning the pages which deal with the medieval history
of Wiltshire we are struck again and again by the curious
welter of Latin and English which our English antiquaries
employ in dealing with personal names. We have in a Latin
indenture Robertas Baynard and Jocosa Baynard his wife. Upon
what principle must Robertus be translated into English Robert,
whilst Jocosa remains Latin Jocosa instead of accompanying
him as English Joyce. Robert, John, William, all these be-
come English, but Joan, Margaret, Isabel and the like remain
clad in the Latin of the scriveners. This is most apparent in
the notes upon the prioresses of Amesbury, where some Joans
are Joans, and others Johannas. For such a name as Sibilla
de Montacute there can be no excuse. Sibilla is Sibyl, even
as she appears three lines lower down, and Montacute is
neither Latin nor English, but a guesswork translation of de
Monte Acuto, which is in English Montagu.

To these notes upon Mr. Schomberg's work for Wiltshire
we have but to add that all is made useful to the genealogist
by the adding of a good and complete index of names, which
should be for an example to other editors of such journals.

206 THE ANCESTOR

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

THE TILLIOLS

In his instructive article on this family 1 Mr. Wilson
observes (p. 94) that * A large property in Yorkshire came to
the family by Robert's marriage with Maud second daughter
and co-heiress of Roger and Isabel de Lauceles of EUerton in
that county,' citing * Close Rolls, 16 Edw. II. m. 23; 17
Edw. II. m. 33.' It may not be amiss to correct the slight
slip here involved, for its cause is a snare against which
genealogists have to be always on their guard.

The marriage in question is correctly given in a pedigree
of Hilton of Swine in Poulson's Holderness (ii. 197) as below.

Sir William Hilton, kt.=Maud dau. and co-h. of=Sir Robert de Tilliol, kt.

Lord of Swine, circ.
1290

Sir Roger de Lascels

Sir Robert Hilton, kt. Sir Peter de Tilliol, kt.
of Swine

Further particulars will be found in The Topographer and
Genealogist^ i. 217-9. There will there be found a deed of
Maud, as widow of Sir Robert de Tilliol, kt., dated 1324,
with an illustration of its interesting seal, showing three
shields meeting in base ; the coats are Lascelles (afterwards
adopted by her heirs, the Hiltons), Hilton and Tilliol. As
the Tilliols were only descended from her second husband,
they could not share in the Lascelles inheritance, which com-
prised Escrick, Kirby-under-Knoll and Scruton.

J. HORACE ROUND.

DURHAM FAMILIES
SIR,

The c Notes on some Durham Families ' published in the
last number of the Ancestor has induced me to point out an

1 Ancestor, iv. 88-100.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 207

error in one of the pedigrees in Mr. Surtees' History of
Durham, which may be of interest to G. B.

In Mr. Surtees' pedigree of the Pembertons of Aislaby it
is stated that Sarah, daughter of William Pemberton of
Darlington, married George Pinckney, and that they died s.p.
This is quite wrong, for they had six children, three sons and
three daughters.

The three sons died under age and unmarried, and of the
three daughters two died unmarried and one, Anne (event-
ually heir), married Thomas Simpson of Richmond, many of
whose descendants are now living.

The probate copy of the will of George Pinckney, together
with the releases to the trustees on the death of his sons, is in
possession of Messrs. Lucas, Hutchinson & Co., solicitors,
Darlington, and from these I have made some extracts.

The same error occurs in Mr. Longstaffe's History of
Darlington, and as it is there stated that the pedigree was
supplied by the late Mr. Robert Henry Allan (a descendant
of Elizabeth Pemberton, Sarah's sister) it may be that the
mistake was his, as he seems to have supplied Mr. Surtees
with much county of Durham information.

Should G.B. be interested in the matter I shall be pleased
to give him any further information I may be possessed of.
I am, sir,

Yours very truly,

C. E. PINCKNEY SIMPSON,

KlRBY MOORSIDE, YoRKS, Lr.-COL.

2 May, 1903.

THE O'BRIENS IN HOLLAND

DEAR SIR,

Though living abroad, I am a regular reader of your very
interesting periodical, and as such I take the liberty of applying
to you for a small space, in which to ask a question, trusting
that either you or one of your readers may be willing and able
to oblige me with the answer.

According to an old tradition handed down from father
to son in my family, one of our ancestors, one Daniel Obrien,
was an officer or possibly only a common soldier with the
forces sent across by Queen Elizabeth in the year 1585 to
assist the Dutch in their struggle against the Spaniards.

208 THE ANCESTOR

Up to the present day our coat of arms is the identical
one borne by the Irish O'Briens. I have taken great pains
to discover, over here in my native country, who may have
been the father of the aforesaid Daniel, but although these
investigations have brought to my knowledge a good many
minor details, hitherto unknown to me, I was not successful
in solving the principal mystery.

It strikes me that some extensive family history of the
Irish O'Brien family might perhaps contain an allusion to, or
possibly even some more definite information concerning a
son who crossed over to Holland in 1585.

I should be very much obliged if you would kindly bring
this case under the observation of English genealogists by
publishing my letter in your much read periodical, and I offer
you my sincere thanks in anticipation.

I am, dear Sir,
Faithfully yours,

H. G. A. OBREEN.
2, BREESTRAAT,

LEIDEN, HOLLAND.

EDITORIAL NOTES

MANY letters have reached us demanding an index ot
names occurring in the Ancestor. That index has been
prepared some months ago, and a word of explanation con-
cerning it may be needful. The Ancestor is sent out in bound
numbers, and an index of names at the end of each number
would delay its issue and create too many indices. Therefore
it was decided to have one index only for the year, but this
could not be made up until volume iv. had appeared. Rather
than bind it out of its place at the end of vol. v. we have
issued it separately in a stiff paper cover of the Ancestor s
colours, and a single copy of it may be had for the asking by
all who possess the first four numbers of our review.

* * *

So far as the limitations of our leisure will allow we are
glad to assist our readers in questions concerning the subjects
dealt with by the Ancestor. But to one class of questioning
letters it is all but impossible that we can reply in detail.
We speak of the letter which, written by one who is neither
reader of nor subscriber to the Ancestor, demands an answer to
the question whether the writer's pedigree has yet appeared
in our columns. As though the Ancestor had set itself the
task of compiling and printing the pedigrees of all English,
Scottish and Irish families, and should by this time, having
been founded in the spring of last year, have gone half way
on its journey down the genealogical alphabet.

# * *

To our pride be it said, the Ancestor is read in the Shan
States, in Buluwayo and in the Andaman Islands. It is ever
our anxiety to spread our word by sea and land, but, never-
theless, we have been compelled to refuse a contribution which
would have driven upward by leaps and bounds the respect-
able circulation which we enjoy in Seattle, Wash., U.S.A. A cor-
respondent from that town asks us three questions : First, after a
formula we are now accustomed to, have we published pedigrees

(a) of his father's family, () of his grandmother's ? Secondly,

209

210 THE ANCESTOR

he would put it to us that he, being aged 63^, a Harvard
A.M. and a member of the U.S. Supreme Court Bar, and
* active in many ways,' has, following no doubt established
custom in Seattle, Wash., had his * biographical sketch' written.
Would this biographical sketch attract the Ancestor to publish
it in whole or part ?

* * *

It is pleasant to know that in Seattle, Wash., the appear-
ance of a biography in the Ancestor would be held a sufficient
introduction to English fame, for our correspondent's third
question asks us c what biographical dictionaries or cyclopedias
are now in preparation ? ' and how is he to obtain * due
mention therein ' ? Our contemporary The Times can and
will gladly tell our correspondent more than we can about
cyclopedias and handsome revolving bookcases, but about
biographical dictionaries we can enlighten him. A harsh con-
dition is as a rule exacted by the makers of these diction-
aries, a condition which in Seattle, Wash., will be blamed as
effete. It is that the candidate for c due mention therein '
should be dead. Therefore we cannot act as agent for
the making universal of our correspondent's fame until we
hear from his executors that he has duly fulfilled this pre-
liminary condition. Then, as a Harvard A.M. and a member
of the U.S. bar who has reached the age of 63^ the English
speaking world shall ring with due mention of him.

* * *

The Scottish heralds made a brave show on the coming ot
King Edward to his castle of Edinburgh. The Lyon King
and his officers, Ross, Albany and Rothesay, Unicorn, March
and Carrick paraded before the castle gates, and at the approach
of the royal carriage summoned the castle with high ceremony,
March Pursuivant (Captain Swinton) smiting upon the castle
gate with his staff the first blow, it may be, which the gate
has suffered since the wild highlander who followed at the tail
of a flying dragoon of King George, drove his dirk into the wood.

* * *

The Ex Libris Jow nal, the organ in this country of those
who collect book-plates, in an article which says many kind
things of the Ancestor, comes back again to the controversy of
the shield and the coat of arms. We quote the whole para-
graph dealing with this matter.

EDITORIAL NOTES 211

The editor of the Ancestor has not succeeded in showing, if the arms were
first borne upon a shield only, as he contends, how the knight would have
been recognised by those who happened to behold him from other points of
view than upon his left front, when he was bearing his shield on his left
arm, during his military engagements. If then, his surcoat did not also bear
his armorial achievements, he would have been unrecognisable by friend or
foe, and when his shield happened to be laid aside, who could have recognised
him then ? The opinion of all the most reflective writers is, that surcoats were
adopted chiefly in order to distinguish between the knights engaged in the
Crusades. It therefore would follow that the shield was only copied from the
coat, and indeed the shield is sometimes found to reproduce only a portion of
the bearings of the larger surcoat. (See the effigy of Septvans, which shows
more * vans ' upon the coat than upon the shield.)

We agree with our critic that a knight bearing a shield of
arms and having no vesture of arms upon his body would be
recognized with difficulty by those upon his right front. But
the critic's question which raises this difficulty is really, our
critic will observe, addressed rather to the primitive knight than
to the editor of the Ancestor. Our own position is merely one of
observation. We can produce a number of examples of very
early shields of arms. For those who contend that the coat is
more ancient than the shield it is needful that they should array
for us as many examples of armorial coats of even earlier date.
This Mr. W. Cecil Wade, we submit, has failed to do, and
every one who has read his letter in the fifth number of the
Ancestor will recognize that Mr. Wade has given time and
enthusiasm to his search. If we are forced to answer and say
in what manner the knight could have been recognized without
his shield if he bore no coat of arms, we may reply that in such
case he was perhaps unrecognizable and yet remain unmoved
in our position. A sergeant in our own day bears three cheve-
rons upon his right arm only. When his left side is turned to
us he may be corporal or private for all our eyes can tell, but
that the sergeant's tunic is and has been so charged is matter
of history and fact. The * reflective writer ' who would con-
tend that the first of all sergeant's tunics bore cheverons at
front and back and on left and right sleeves must, to convince,
find us the picture of that tunic in the book of military

antiquities.

* * *

Some of those who have seen the earlier volumes of
Messrs. Wedderburn and Cook's definitive edition of the
works of Ruskin may have wondered at the armorial display
upon its handsome covers. The design is, we believe, from the

212 THE ANCESTOR

hand of the master, who had a pretty taste for armory, and
showed, in a famous disquisition on that subject, that it is
unnecessary for a preacher to understand his text. The arms
upon this Ruskin shield are, as we are told by one of the
editors, taken from a grant of arms to Mr. Ruskin's father in
1845 or thereabouts. The shield bears a cheveron between
six spearheads, an odd and unusual arrangement, with three
crosslets of uncertain form upon the cheveron.

Something in the appearance of this shield suggests that
the elder Ruskin had been made, after the approved fashion
of official armory, a cadet of some older family than his own.
As the family of Mr. Ruskin begins with his grandfather, a
calico merchant in Edinburgh, it is at least instructive to note
the pedigree upon which it was officially decided to graft him.
In Leicestershire, which is quite a long way from Edinburgh,
and in the fifteenth century, which is a long way from 1845,
there dwelt one William Ruskin. He was of Melton Mow-
bray and was husband of Elizabeth Beler, heir of her brother
John Beler in 1475. They had a son Jasper, and Jasper had
daughters, one of whom carried the Ruskin arms as a quar-
tering to the Lacys of Halifax. Those arms were the cheveron
and six spearheads, and this was the shield which, with the
difference of three charges on the cheveron, as for a younger
branch, was assigned to a Scots wine merchant in 1845.
But official heraldry, as Mr. W. P. W. Phillimore comes to
remind us, is * a living science, and far more concerned with
the twentieth century than with the archaic survivals of the
fifteenth.'

Sir Conan Doyle and Sir Nigel Loring have not yet led
their White Company out of danger. Sir Ralph Payne-
Gallwey, archer and antiquary, is making a mark of their
bowmen. To him, as an expert, the shooting match between
Aylward and the crossbowman is * simply amazing in its de-
tails ' ; and Aylward's final shot of 600 yards is marked by
Sir Ralph with a bold note of exclamation. Eight White
Company archers cut in eight shots the hempen cable of a
large vessel at her moorings, the eight shots striking each
within a quarter inch of one another, and that at 200 paces.

EDITORIAL NOTES 213

Of Aylward we may truly say

Such archers as he and his men
Shall England never see again.

And Sir Ralph does not disguise his belief that England has
never at any time rejoiced in the sight of such archers as were
Aylward and his friends by their own report. But when Sir
Ralph goes on to hint that Sir Conan does not understand
how to wind up his crossbow, and that bolt shooting cross-
bows do not need the double string with which Sir Conan fits
them, we recall some earlier criticism of the White Company's
equipment, which criticism was blamed as * niggling.'

Butler and Tanner The Selwood Printing Works Frome and London

THE PASTON LETTERS

Edited by JAMES GAIRDNER

Of the Public Record Office
4 vo/s. } 2 is. net

THE FOURTH VOLUME CONTAINING THE INTRODUCTION AND
SUPPLEMENT MAY BE PURCHASED SEPARATELY

Price 105. 6d. net

These Letters are the genuine correspondence of a family in
Norfolk during the Wars of the Roses. As such they are altogether
unique in character ; yet the language is not so antiquated as to present
any serious difficulty to the modern reader. The topics of the letters
relate partly to the private affairs of the family, and partly to the
stirring events of the time ; and the correspondence includes State
papers, love-letters, bailiffs' accounts, sentimental poems, jocular epistles,
etc.

Besides the public news of the day, such as the loss of Normandy
by the English ; the indictment and subsequent murder at sea of the
Duke of Suffolk ; and all the fluctuations of the great struggle of York
and Lancaster ; we have the story of John Paston's first introduction
to his wife ; incidental notices of severe domestic discipline, in which
his sister frequently had her head broken ; letters from Dame Elizabeth
Brews, a match-making mamma, who reminds the youngest John
Paston that Friday is 4 St. Valentine's Day,' and invites him to come
and visit her family from the Thursday evening till the Monday, etc.,
etc.

Every letter has been exhaustively annotated ; and a Chronological
Table, with most copious Indices, conclude the Work.

HENRT HALLAM, Introduction to the Literature of Europe, i. 228. Ed. 1837 : ' The
Paston Letters are an important testimony to the progressive condition of Society, and come in
as a precious link in the chain of moral history of England which they alone in this period
supply. They stand, indeed, singly, as far as I know, in Europe ; for though it is highly
probable that in the archives of Italian families, if not in France or Germany, a series of
merely private letters equally ancient may be concealed ; I do not recollect that any have
been published. They are all written in the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV., except a
few that extend as far as Henry VII., by different members of a wealthy and respectable, but
not noble, family ; and are, therefore, pictures of the life of the English gentry of that age.'

THE MORNING POST : * A reprint of Mr. James Gairdner's edition of The Patton
Letters with some fresh matter, including a new introduction. Originally published in
1872-75, it was reprinted in 1895, and is now again reproduced. The introductions have
been reset in larger type, and joined together in one, conveniently broken here and there by
fresh headings. The preface is practically a new one. ... It is highly satisfactory for
readers who care about history, social or political, to have this well-printed and admirably
introduced and annotated edition of these famous letters.'

MANCHESTER GUARDIAN : *Onc of the monuments of English historical scholar-
ship that needs no commendation.'

ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE &f CO LTD
2 WHITEHALL GARDENS WESTMINSTER

The Stall Plates of the Knights of
the Order of the Garter 1 348-1485

Consisting of a Series of 9 1 Full-sized Coloured Facsimiles
with Descriptive Notes and Historical Introductions by

W. H. ST. JOHN HOPE, M.A., F.S.A.

Dedicated by gracious privilege during her lifetime to HER
LATE MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA, SOVEREIGN OF THE
MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER.

The edition is strictly limited and only 500 copies of the work
have been printed.

The object of the work is to illustrate the whole or the
earlier Stall Plates, being the remaining memorials of the four-
teenth and fifteenth century of Knights elected under the
Plantagenet Sovereigns from Edward the Third, Founder of
the Order, to Richard the Third, inclusive, together with three
palimpsest plates and one of later date.

The Stall Plates are represented full-size and in colours on
Japan vellum, in exact facsimile of the originals, in the highest
style of chromolithography, from photographs of the plates
themselves.

Each plate is accompanied by descriptive and explanatory
notes, and the original and general characteristics of the Stall
Plates are fully dealt with in an historical introduction.

There are also included numerous seals of the Knights, repro-
duced by photography from casts specially taken for this work.

The work may be obtained bound in half leather, gilt,
price 6 net ; or the plates and sheets loose in a portfolio,
5 IO5. net ; or without binding or portfolio, 5 net.

ATHENJEUM : * It is pleasant to welcome the first part of a long
promised and most important heraldic work, and to find nothing to say of it
which is not commendatory. The present part contains ten coloured facsimiles
out of the ninety plates which the work will include when completed. They
reflect the greatest credit on all concerned in their production.'

MORNING POST : * There is a fine field for antiquarian research in the
splendid collection of heraldic plates attached to the stalls in the choir of St.
George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, and it will be a matter of satisfaction to all
who are interested in old memorials that Mr. W. H. St. John Hope has given
close examination to these ancient insignia and now presents the results of his
investigations, with many reproductions.'

ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE fcf CO LTD
2 WHITEHALL GARDENS WESTMINSTER

ENGLISH CORONATION
RECORDS

Edited by

LEOPOLD G. WICKHAM LEGG, B.A.
NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD

Imperial 8vo

Edition limited to 500 copies of which only a few remain
Price 3U. 6d. net

This work is an attempt to illustrate the history of the
coronation of the Sovereigns of England from the earliest
times to the present. Twenty-nine documents have been
collected; and, so far as possible, the transcripts have been
made from contemporary manuscripts.

A translation has been added to the Latin and Anglo-
French documents.

Mr. W. H. St. John Hope has written a note on the
* Cap of Maintenance,' in which he has described the history
and manner of the investiture of peers.

The whole work constitutes a full collection of coronation
precedents.

The illustrations include a reproduction in colours of the
picture of an English coronation at Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge, and a photogravure of the coronation of St.
Edmund in a manuscript belonging to Captain Holford; and
also reproductions in collotype from the manuscript life of
St. Edward in the University Library at Cambridge. The
Crown of Queen Edith, which is represented from a portrait
of Queen Henrietta Maria in the National Portrait Gallery,
has not, it is thought, been noticed before. A feature of the
illustrations will be the coronation chair which has been taken
from the block cut for the late Sir Gilbert Scott's Gleanings
from Westminster Abbey ; and there are also three plates show-
ing the coronation robes of Queen Victoria.

ATHENJEUM : 'Among the minor compensations for the prolonged delay incident to
a modern act of crowning is the time that it affords for the production of such an important
historical treatise as that which has just been produced by Mr. Wickham Legg. In this hand-
some volume we find brought together every historical document of importance that bears on
the question of English coronations from that of Aidan in the sixth century to that of Victoria
thirteen centuries later.'

ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE 6? CO LTD

2 WHITEHALL GARDENS WESTMINSTER

THE

HOUSE OF PERCY

BY GERALD BRENAN

With numerous Illustrations, and an Introduc-
tion by THE EDITOR

Dedicated by Permission to
His GRACE THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND

2 vols. large 8vo, price i is. net

EDITION DE LUXE

Also a Large Paper Edition limited to 150 copies
3 3 s - net

The following is a list of some of the Illustrations included in
* The House of Percy ' :

Alnwick Castle, Bamborough Castle, from drawing by-
Herbert Railton. Portrait of Henry Percy, ist Earl of
Northumberland the ' Earl Percie ' of Chevy Chase (repro-
duced in colours from a contemporary MS.). Portrait of
Henry, 7th Earl of Northumberland. The Village of Perci in
Normandy : the cradle of the race. Syon House, Northum-
berland House, from drawings by Herbert Railton. The full
armorial bearings of the present Duke of Northumberland in
colours. Various shields, signatures, and facsimile letters.

NEWCASTLE LEADER : The history is admirably illustrated
with clever drawings by Herbert Railton, elaborate reproductions of
the arms, crests, escutcheons, and pedigrees of the Percy family and
its branches. Of course Alnwick Castle comes in for special treat-
ment, and Mr. Railton is at his best in his sketches of that famous
fortress-residence.'

ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE fcf CO LTD
2 WHITEHALL GARDENS WESTMINSTER

THE

HOUSE OF DOUGLAS

By the Right Hon.
SIR HERBERT MAXWELL, BART.

2 vols. large 8vo, price i is. net

EDITION DE LUXE

Also a Large Paper Edition limited to 150 copies
3 3 s - net

The following is a list of some of the Illustrations in ( The
House of Douglas ' :

FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS Tomb of Sir James Douglas
in St. Bride's. Arms of Douglas and Moray from Bothwell
Castle. Tomb of Margaret, Countess of Douglas, in
Lincluden. Arms of the Douglas Family in Lincluden
College. Tomb of James * the Gross,' yth Earl of Douglas,
in St. Bride's (two plates). Tantallon Castle. Morton Castle.
Thrieve Castle. Tomb of the i st Earl and Countess of Morton
in Dalkeith Church. Portrait of the 6th Earl of Angus, from
the Tudor Portraits in Westminster Palace, painted from a
picture in Windsor Castle. Portrait of the I3th Earl of
Home, photo from portrait. Portrait of Lady Margaret
Douglas. Hermitage Castle. James, Earl of Morton (litho-
graphed from an original drawing).
Also various Coats of Arms in colours, and numerous Seals and Signatures.

THE TIMES : * No more suitable beginning for the series could
have been found. ... A valuable and important contribution to
Scottish History. Brightly written . . . judgments wise and sane
. . . narrative smooth and vigorous . . . powers of description un-
questionable. A real addition to an important and interesting subject.'

ATHENAEUM : 'The author has executed his task clearly and
well. . . . Numerous and well-executed shields of arms, etc. A
valuable work of reference, well printed. The author has the gift of
an easy narrative style.*

ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO LTD
z WHITEHALL GARDENS WESTMINSTER

'The first English Translation of Chateaubriand's Famous
Autobiography ' Les Memoirs a' outre Tombe '

THE

POSTHUMOUS MEMOIRS
OF FRANCOIS RENE

Vicomte de Chateaubriand

Sometime Ambassador

to England

Translated by ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS

Illustrated with Contemporary Portraits. In 6 vols.
Purple cloth, gilt top, price 4 IQJ. net

Portrait of Fra^ois Ren, Vicomte de Chateaubriand
(frontispiece). The Chateau de Combourg. Chateaubriand's
birthplace, at St. Malo. Portraits of Louis XVIII. ; Marie
Antoinette ; Malsherbes ; Mirabeau ; General Washington ;
Madame de Chateaubriand, wife of the Author ; the Baron de
Breteuil ; the Comte de Rivarol ; Frederic William II. ; Pel-
tier, Editor of Les Actes des Apttres ; Napoleon Buonaparte ;
the Comte de Montlosier ; the Abbe Delille ; L. M. de
Fontanes ; Burke ; Pitt ; and George III.

This noblest of nineteenth-century biographies covers the whole eighty
years of the distinguished author's life, his career at the court of Louis XVI.,
his emigration to America upon the outbreak of the Revolution, wander-
ings among the North- American Indians, return to France, service in the
Royalist Army, days of poverty in London, literary and diplomatic career
under Napoleon I., resignation of the Valais Legation upon the murder of
Due d'Enghien, journey in the East, attacks upon Napoleon, the history
of the First Restoration, of Chateaubriand's Embassy to Sweden, of the
Hundred Days which Chateaubriand spent with Louis XVIII. at Ghent.

The Second Restoration is fully described, and Chateaubriand writes of
his peerage, of the assassination of the Due de Berry, of his Embassy to
Berlin and life in that capital, of his Embassy to London, of his relations
with George IV. and his Ministers, of English Society at that period, of
the suicide of Lord Londonderry, of the death of Louis XVIII. and acces-
sion of Charles X., of his conduct in opposition, as Minister of Foreign
Affairs, and as Ambassador to Rome, of Roman Society, ancient and modern ;
of his interviews with Popes Leo XII. and Pius VIII., of the Papal Con-
claves. He writes in full detail of the fall of the Polignac Ministry, the
Revolution of July, and the usurpation of Louis-Philippe.

ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO LTD
2 WHITEHALL GARDENS WESTMINSTER

cs
uo

no. 6

The Ancestor

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY