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COLLECMEA ARCH^OLOGICA: 

COMMUNICATIONS 



MADE TO THE 



htiUil^ ^vcftHtdlositnl 9[Sfioctat(on. 



LONDON: 
LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, AND ROBEETS. 



' -■■' i Digilizod by Google 




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PREFACE. 



Is putting forth to the public in general, and to the Members of the British Archeeoli^cal 
Assodatioa in particular, a volame of Transactions, in addition to the Quarterly Journal which from 
the commencement of the Association, in 1843, has been legnlarly issued, it appears essential to say 
a few words as to the causes which have thus added another to the already numerous pnblicatioDB 
in promotion of archieological knowledge ; and it will, doubtless, be a matter of congratulation to the 
Members of the Association to find that, &om the gradual and continued progress of their labours, 
the Society has after eighteen years duration found it imperatively necessary, &om the accumulation 
of papers on various archaeological, antiquarian, and historical subjects, to institute a work in addi- 
tion to that which records the details of their ordinary proceedings. 

Seventeen volumes of the Journal, with numerous illustrations, have been published since its 
establishment, and it cannot be n^arded as an undue assumption of praise to take credit for the 
difPdsion of a body of antiquarian information which is now repeatedly referred to by all who labour 
in this field of inquiry. The number of Jonmals issued by various Archieological Societies, all more 
or less springing up &om, and owing in a great measure their existence to, the spirit of research 
which has been thus so universally excited, are productive of information of a varied and very 
miscellaneous character, amidst which subjects of much importance and bearing interest for future 
reaearchea are, it must be admitted, too frequently lost The holding of an Annual Congress, fixed 
at a locality where subjects of the deepest arclueological interest present themselves, has hitherto 
been found productive of communications to a far greater extent than could be given in the 
Quarterly Journal ; hence papers have occasionally been necessarily subjected to an abridgement for 
insertion in the Jottmal, or to being altogether exduded from its pages, a severe disappointment not 
only to those to whom the Association has been indebted for their communications, but also to the 
Members at large, who have thus been deprived of information they heartily desired to hold in their 
session, 
l^e Council of the British Arclueological Association now venture to entertain the hope that by 



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PREFACE. 

the establishmeiit of a new recipient for these more lengthened papers, for the pressure of Oongresis 
commimications, and for those, also, which require extensive ilinstrationa, they shall at the same time 
that they obviate fdtnre regrets, by giving greater probability ofpermanance to these papers, be enabled 
to improTe their ordinary Joomal by still further increasing the variety of its contents, and giving 
an earlier publication of the proceedings of the Association 

The two parte composing this first entire volume of the Collectanea Arctueologica, embrace 
several papers, the product of Congresses held in Shropshire and in Devonshire, the former under the 
presidency of Beriah Botfield, Esq., M.P., F.RS., F.S.A., and the latter under Sir Stafford H. 
Northcote, Bart., M.F., C.B., M.A. Much material in relation to both these counties still remains 
unpublished. It will appear in successive parts, bnt with the means possessed by the Association, 
and having due regard to the publication of no matter not possessing any special interest in its pages, 
it is thought not possible to put forth beyond one part in each year, so that the two annual volumes 
of the Quarterly Journal added to the two parts composing one volume of the CoUectanea Arck- 
aologica, will present the result of two Congresses held by the Assodation. 

It would be ungrateful to omit embracing this opportnui^ of returning thanks to many dis- 
tinguished donors to the funds of Uie Association, by which the Council have been enabled to effect 
so madi, and to state that their highly respected names will be found duly recorded in the Annual 
Statements laid before the Members at the General Meetings, and printed in the Journal. The 
Council earnestly solicit a continuance of this generous support firom all interested in archseological 
researches, and can confidently promise an activity on their part proportionate to the assistance they 



ERRATA. 
Page 16,liDe6, forpAiMread/wiu. 
„ 99, „ 7note, omitpuittj and iuMTt full (top after eAureA. 
„ 107, „ 18, tta Plate viii read Plate ix. 
„ 108, ,,24,) 

„ 110, ,,11,1 for Plate II read Plate Tin. 
„ 111, „ 4,) 



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CONTENTS. 



I. — Shsopshibe, its HiaroEY and Aktiquitibs, 1^ Bbkiih Botpibld, Esq., M.P., F,R,S., 

F.S.A., Presideiit of the Britisli Aichnological Association - . - . 1 33 

n. — Th8 Caotlbb of Shbopsbibe AifD ITS BoBSEBs, by the Eev. RoBEBrr William Bctos, 

MX, F.S.A. 34—49 

HL— On the Local Legbuds op Shbopshibe, by Thomah Wbioht, Esq., M.A., F.S.A, - 50—66 

IV.— On the Norman Eaelb op Shebwbbuet, by Jakes EoBisaoN Plasche', Esq., Bonge- 

Croii, Hon. Secretary -.---.... 67 — 78 

v.— The Peinceb op TJppeb Powrs, by the Hon. and Her. Geoeoe Thomas Oelanm 

Bbidoehas, M.A, -..-...., 79 — 89 

VI. — SmppNAL Chiibch, by the Rev. John Loma Petit, M.A., F.S.A. • - - 90 — 98 

VH. — Bdildwas Abbey, by Gobdon M, Hills, Esq. -...-. 99 — 1J2 

VM. — ^An Itineeaet op Edward the Second, compiled by the Bev. Chables Henrt 

Habtshobne, U-A. ---...... 113 — 144 

IX. — ^Wbnlock Peiobt, by Edward Bobebts, Esq., F.S.A. . . - . . 145 — 162 

X. — Oh a Sxpulchbal Slab in the Abbet Ohttbch, Shbbwsbubt, by T. J. Pettiobew, 
Esq., F.B.S. F.S.A., Vice-Preddent and TreaBnrer of the British Archeologicsl 
Association .....---,- 163—170 

XI. — On thb Sealb op Biohabd, Duxb op Oloucbstbr, and other Admirals op Enolahd, 

by the same - • , - - - - - - . - 171 — 181 

Xn.— On the Princes op TTppeb Powts, by the Hot. and Eev. G. T. O. Bbidobman, M.A. 182—231 
Xm. — Os THE Pkblaieb OF THB CouBTBKAT Fahtlt, by Fbabcis Josbpb Baiobnt, Bbq. - 232 — 262 
XIV. — Ox THE Eablb of Devon, by Jamks Bobinson Planohe, Esq., Bonge-Croix, Hon. Sec. 263 — 284 

XV.— On the Priori op Monmouth, hy Thomas Wakeman, Esq. .... 285—294 
Index 295—299 



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ILLUSTRATIONS. 



VlOKBITE OF ShIFFNAL ChUKCH ..----.-90 

l.^ViEw OP Shitttial Chtjkch LoOKrao N.E. ...... 91 

H.— View fbom thb Navb of Shiftnal Church, lookisg S.W. - - - - ib, 

Oround Pus op Shippnal CHintcH ....... n>, 

m. — Chahcel Abch of Shiffnal GnnBCH, uiOKiNa EList ■ - - . . 92 

Window, Extebiob, North side op Chaucbl ...... ib. 

Window, Inbide, West Wall of Sodth Tranbept ----- t6. 

IV. — Elevation op East End of Shiffnal Chobch - , - - - - - 97 

V. — Side of Chancel op Shiptoal Church, with Tomb ..... 98 

Norman Capitals in Sooth Wall of Shippnal CHtitCB . - . - 16. 

VI.— Plan op Buildwas Abbey and the Subroundinq Grohnd .... lOl 

Vn. — Ground Plan of Buildwas Abbey ....... 103 

VnL — Thb Abbot's liODoiNO, BmLDWAS Abbey ....... 104 

Abcees in North Court, Buildwas Abbbt ...... H). 

IX — Intebiob op Buildwas Abbey, Chapter House, and North Sidb of the Church - 111 

X. — Ground Plan op Wenlook Priory ....... 152 

XI. — Boom otbr South Aisle of tee Nave op Wenlook Priory . - - . ib. 

XII. — Section throdoh Chapiir House, Wedlock Pbioby ..... 156 

Aill. — Window, and Water Drain in Abbot's Bepbctobt ..... 159 

DouBLB Cupboard in Abbot's Parlour ....... ib. 

Paying Tile and Incised Stone is Peioet Buinb '- - - - - (6. 

XIV.— Sbpclchbal Slab in the Abbey Church, Shrewsbury ..... 163 

XV.— Seals of Bichard, Duke of Gloucester, and other High Admirals of Enolahd . 171 

Wood-cut of Ancient MS. belomoino to the City op Southampton • - - 180 

XVI. — Seals of Prelates of the Courtenay Family -...-. 236 

Wood-cut op Addition to Lady Chapel, Winchester Cathedral - - • 248 

XVII. — Tiles from the Amcibbt Priori of Uonhouth --..-- 293 



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ColUmma 9rt$afologira. 



SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 

AN ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH ABCH.£OLOOICAL ASSOCIATION ASSEMBLED IN 
CONGRESS AT SHREWSBURY, AUGUST 6tH, I860. 



THE PEESIDBNT, 
BERIAH BOTFIELD, Ebq., M.P., M.A., F.K.S., F.S.A., etc. 



IAPfEAR before you on this occasion in a double character, one as the elected 
President of "the British Archaeological Association, established in 1843 for the 
encouragement and prosecution of researches into the arts and monuments of the early 
and middle ages;" the other, as a native of Shropshire welcoming that Association to this 
town and county, and offering to them some remarks on the chief objects of interest 
which they propose to visit during their present Congress. First, then, let me offer to 
you some general remarks on those antiquarian studies in the pursuit of which we are 
now assembled, some, it may be, for amusement, as the pastime of an idle hour, some as 
a gratification to their taste or imagination, some in the philosophical spirit of inquiry for 
the ascertainment of important truth. Secondly, I would direct your attention to the 
vestiges of antiquity in Shropshire as connected with its history during the Celtic, the 
Roman, and the Saxon periods, and icom the Norman invasion down to a comparatively 
recent time. This Association may be regarded as a kind of itinerant university, just 
anchored to one spot, but riding &ee on the tides of life, and on the currents of thought. 
The feeling generated by the pursuit of a common object passes with electrical rapidity 
from man to man. We are sU the communicants and recipients of unconscious 
influence, whether for good or evil Association in itself suggests and supphes the 
means by which great and definite objects may be most effectually promoted and 
attained. Let us take for our motto the last words of the Boman Emperor Severus, 
who on his death bed at York exclaimed ; " Laboremus." Let us labour, we say; let us 
convert that which was a curse into a blessing ; let us show that the spade can earn its 



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2 SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 

laurels as well as the Bword ; let all societies formed for the promotion of archaeology 
keep that end steadily in view, and directing all their enei^es to that object, let them 
banish for ever all unseemly dissensions, as the first Christian emperors expelled daemons, 
and dedicated their temples to the living God. 

" One of the main practical benefits to be derived from Archaeology at the present 
day is the intelligent and reasonable preservation of ancient buildings, both as recoids 
of ancient art and proofe of national history. Another tendency oi this study is the 
improvement and advancement of architectural science by a scientific and systematic 
study of existing monuments. Archfeology, as the handmaid of histoiy, is a science 
inseparable from, if not identical with it, and it requires to be treated with all the 
learning, all the reasoning, all the argumentative discrimination which the study of 
Mstory imperatively demands. It should be remembered that archBeology is a science, a 
science in the same sense as history, whether ethnological, political, or social The 
past is the pedestal of the future, and progress, like the old poetic oak, needs to strike its 
roots as fer downwards as it rears its head upwards. If you want a people really to 
cherish the love of their native place, and to improve and to adorn it at some cost to 
themselves, fill their minds with the grandeur of its past history, let them be made 
conscious of their identification with the centuries that are past, and then demand of 
their sjrmpathies a future worthy of their ancestora."-^ 

The histOTy of a nation has to do with things which books wm never supply; the 
manner of the people, their modes of life, action, and thought We know more of the 
daily life and habits of the Bomana from a visit to Pompeii and Herculaneum, than from 
any narrative, however vivid, of its annals. " Man in all countries has a resemblance to 
himself and there is a stiU closer affinity between the manners and customs of nations 
derived from a common stock. In this way it is that what seems a riddle in one 
countiy finds its solution in another ; and a fragment of truth, unintelligible in the 
district in which it is met with, is seen to correspond or harmonise with some other fact 
discovered elsewhere, so that both are found to explain and illustrate each other."* 
Things that appear strange and unusual to us on a first sight are found to be common 
and intelligible when we enlarge the sphere of our observation. The antiquities of any 
one country cannot be well understood without knowing those of many others. The 
antiquities of Mexico, the discoveries at Nineveh, and the monuments of Egypt, have all 
contributed to our knowledge of the early history of mankind, by the comparative view 
which we have there been enabled to take of the state of the arts and of civilization at 
that remote period. 

' Professor Earle, in Arch. Cami., S. iii, vol. lii, p. 199. 

' AddresB 1^ the Hon. Lord Neavea to the Society of Antiqnariea of Scotluid, 1859, p. 11. 



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SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES, 3 

Add to which that the antiquities of one coimtiy nearly always lUastrate and explfun 
those of Miother ; at all events, in those portionB of the globe inhabited by related 
divisions of our common race ; and that as the histoiy of any single countiy cannot be well 
undeistood without some knowledge being acquired of that of neighbouiing states, so 
-die accomplished antiquary must not expect to make up his budget of knowledge 
without collecting many of its stores &om the treasury of other nations. His task is 
indeed laborious, and time and leisure sufficient for its performance are rarely accorded 
to any one; still every man is bound to labour in his own little way, each for the same 
end, and could we make our individual efforts profitaUe to the common cause, we should 
associate ourselves tt^ether, allot our particular labours to each other, according to our 
several inclinations and capacities, and, as industrious bees, bring home tiie sweets of 
our operations and of our excursions to be elaborated and distributed for the good of 
the community.^ 

" Architecture," it has been well said, " forms a perpetual commentary upon the 
P^es of the historian, who can ill dispense with the aid which the imagination tiius 
receives." If intellectual impressions are strengthened by visible objects, and if history 
be " Philosophy teaching by example," it is surely the reverse of wisdom wantonly to 
demolish the monuments of antiquity, when neither utility nor convenience demand 
their destruction. The histoiy of every nation may be said to be written on tablets of 
stcme, and to be inscribed on the walls of their dweUinga Such ia the tmchanging 
character of the architecture of each nation that their works are readily distinguished 
wherever they are found. We realise the temples of Greece on the shores of Asia 
Mincur, and in the island of Sidly. The Boman practice of building was as unchan^g 
as the Chinese; the same principles of construction were observed on the banks of the 
Severn and the Thames, as on those of the Tiber or the Po. The Norman castles of 
England had the same distinctive features as those of Fiance, and these again resembled 
t^ose Id Sicily and Apulia, being all the work of the same people. 

" I may venture to suggest the importance of some knowledge of Heraldry to the 
student of historical antiquities. For the correct understanding of &mily history, of 
topographical and territorial learning of ecclesiology, and of architecture, it is indis- 
pensable. Heraldic blazoning is mixed up with almost all the fine arts of the middle 
ages. In architecture it soon took a prominent place among what may be called 
anrface ornament, not affecting the shape and frame, the type and style of building, but 
furnishing in infinite variety subjects of embellishment, mixed with much of persomd 
interest If the shield of rich blazoning, or the cognizance of some old name, covered 

' " On the Stadjr and Freseiratum of Natacmal Antiqnidea," by tlie editor of tisoArchaologia Cam- 
hrentit. YoL i, j^ 6, 7. 

b2 



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4 SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 

with dust or dirt, still creates an interest on the wall of a ruined church, or aa part of 
the tracery of a monumental tomb, we may imagine what effect was produced by the 
brilliant colours of the old herald's ' tinctures ' adorning not only the walls, but repeated 
in the tiles of the pavement, and glowing in the gorgeous colouring of the windows; 
when each bearing and difference, the square banner of the knight and the squire's 
pennon, told a universally understood history of the founders and benefactors of the 
chuzch, and perhaps called up some memory of battle or siege, and of honour won in the 
field or toumey-yard."^ 

When history affords no clue, and tradition sheds but an imperfect light on 
remarkable places, their names frequently illustrate the subject, especially when viewed 
with relation to the similarity of position occupied by places which bear synonymous 
appellations. The application of etymology to elucidate obscure points of archaeology is 
obviously suggested by the consideration that names endure much longer than the 
things they designate. The rivers, mountains, and forts frequently retain their earliest 
appellations, in which we recognise the Celtic tongue. "When we meet with names of 
places composed of street, or cheater, we feel certain that a Roman thoroughfare ran 
through the former, and that a Roman camp or station existed at the latter. The marks 
of Anglo-Saxon colonisation may be discerned in the termination of by, ham, ley, wick, 
and toorth, which prevail throughout the island, more particularly the second of these, 
on the eastern side, where the Saxons first landed.^ 

" It is not the least remarkable feature in the dialect of Shropshire, that it should 
have borrowed scarcely any words directly from the contiguous territory of Wales, and 
Mr. Hartfihome thinks this fact may serve to prove that the English language as spoken 
by Salopians in an agricultural district, is marked by extreme accuracy and purity. 
Wales seems to have presented an insurmountable barrier. Totally dissimilar in all ita 
forms of speech and in its terminations, the Welsh has never incorporated itself in the 
least degree with our provincialisms. Even in that part of the country round Oswestry, 
where an intercourse with the principality is the greatest, and there is no natural line of 
demarcation to cut off the admixture of the two languages, they have in no way merged 
into or corrupted each other. There is nothing like a Cambro-British patois, or an 
Anglo-Welsh idiom observable. The English here is quite as free from Welsh 
expressions as it is in iJie centre of the kingdom." There is, however, a Welsh accent 
peculiar to the Borders of Wales, the further diflnsion of which was probably checked by 
the Severn. So great were the diversities in pronunciation in Shropshire, that Mr. 

' Scollwnd in the Middle Age». Sketches of Early Scotch Sietort/ and Social Progress, by Cosmo Innea. 
Edinb. 1860. 8to. 

' Saiopia Antigua, hj Rev. C. H. Hartaboroe. Xiond. 1841. 8vo. pp. 237-9. 



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SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 5 

Hartshome has enumerated no leas titan five dialects as spoken on the Engliah side of 
the same river.^ 

A similar peculiarity may be remarked in Pembrokeshire, that " little England 
beyond Wales," aa its maritime district is frequently termed. Speaking generally, 
a line drawn through the centre fkim east to west would divide the county into 
two districts. To the north of this line we encounter a people speaking the Welsh 
language, and having the well defined features of the Celtic race. On the south of the 
same Line there is a sensible difference. The inhabitants use the Engliah language 
alone, whilst their physiognomy, wholly distinct from their neighbours of the hill 
country, proclaim them to be of a different race ; descendants, in fact, of the Flemish 
colonists, who occupied the rich country between Milford and Tenby in the time of 
Henty I. Professor Earle has remarked how purely and grammatically the English 
language is spoken along the eastern side of Kadnorshire, and on the western side of 
Herefordshire, very much better than in those parts where the English has been longer 
planted. A parallel case is found in Cornwall, the pure un-Celtic English of which 
county has created some little wonder.^ 

" Britain was noted for the fertihty of her soil and the industry of her population 
many ages before the landing of Julius Cresar, and the character she bore was that of 
an agricultural and trading community. It was &om hence that Gaul derived her 
BuppUes which enabled her to contend against the l^ons of Rome, and the assistance 
thus afforded formed the leading motive for the invasion. Her intermd resources could 
only be inferred from this circumstance, and Csesar was utterly at a loss to ascertain the 
most favourable point of attack, under the strict r^ulations adopted by her Druidical 
rulers, which forbade any, except privileged merchants, from approaching her porta and 
estuaries, and that only under fixed limitations. Implements of huabandiy and wheel 
carriages, water, wind, and fulling mills, were found in the rural districts, which were 
divided into farms, regularly arranged into arable, meadow, pasture, and woodlands, 
under limited and definite boundaries, possessing all the requisites for employing the 
industry of the occupants. The social system which then prevailed combined the 
influence of religion with the cultivation of the soil, whose surplus productions soon 
became articles of extensive exportation, imd of exchange for other commodities with the 
continental tribes. No doubt can exist but that the commercial state of Britain had 
attained a considerable degree of eminence before the Koman standard was planted on 
her soil, and that there were numerous cities and towns in the interior and on the banks 
of the principal rivers, busily engaged in the various transactions and trades necessary 
for a commiinity in which the mechanical arts were in a flourishing state of improvement 

' SoZopia AtilK[ua, pp. ziz-xxi. ' Arch. Camh., S. iiJ, v. iii, p. 208. 



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6 SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 

VeHpasian acquired no Hmall renown by die conquest of twenty towns on the banks of 
the Avon and the Thames so early as A.D. 45. London, when first mentioned in history, 
appears as a town of great importance. The invigorating climate of Britain, always 
favourable to the inventive faculties, the existence of a religious order endowed with 
great privileges and authority, who made the principles of natural philosophy and the 
laws of motion their chief study, alike c<mtributed to the advancement of agriculture 
and the employment of productive labour. The flourishing state of British agriculture is 
sufficiently attested by die fact that she soon became one of the western granaries of the 
Roman empire, and very soon after the conquest Venta Belgarum became the emporium 
for supplying the imperial wardrobe and the army clothing, and the looms of the district 
were placed under special superintendence.^ When we consider the dominion of 
Bome, and the long period during which it extended over our island, we are not 
surprised to find so many points of resemblance between the modes of thought and 
the manners of the Bomans and our own. When we speak of our municipal insti- 
tutions, we use a word and describe an object which we derive from a Boman source. 
We are justly proud of our administration of justice, founded on the noble principles of 
Boman law, whereby the accuser and the accused are brought " &jce to face," and 
the latter have free " license to answer for themselves concerning the crimes laid 
t^;ainst them." "The l^islation of Justinian, in its origin and its permanence, is the 
most speaking of all witnesses to the eternity of Borne; of that Bome whose still abiding 
life forms the only key to the real history of a thousand years."^ The influence which 
the writers of Rome exercise over the human mind is closely connected with its early 
education, and finds its highest development in the glory, the liber^, and the happiness 
of mankind. 

The military roads, radiating from the Forum at Rome, traversing more than forty 
thousand miles and extending to the utmost limits of the empire, enabled the Bomans to 
maintain the connection between all their cities and stations, and thus afforded the most 
obvious means of extending their dominion over the countries their amis had subdued. 
In this country the great Romanised capital of the British tribe of the Comavii, Uriconium, 
was the centre to which all the roads converged. It was approached from London by the 
Watling-street, which entering Shropshire at Weston, passed by the station of Uxacona, 
or Oaken Gates, and traversing the city, crossed the Severn, proceeding to Braviniiun 
or Brandon Camp, and Magna^ now Eenchester, to Isca or Caerleon, and Glevum or 
Gloucester. Another road led from Wroxeter into Wales, passing Rutunium or Rowton, 
and taking the Bea valley, passes the large camp at Gaer Flos, near Montgomery, 

' A^ricuUurg and ihs Artt in Britain wider the Drwdtcai Byiiem, ^rj the Bev. John Jones. IBdO. 
* BenUey's Quarterhf Beviea, i, 291 et eeq. 



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SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. ?■ 

traTersea the Severn vallej hy Glan Hafiren to PeiiBtrowed, thence bj Maesmawr to 
CaeiBws, the Mediolanum of the KomaoB,^ thence by Maglona, /lear Machynlledi, and 
Heriii Mens, near Dolgellau, to Segontium or CaeniM^on. Branching off from these 
main roads were others leading from different stations to those places, where, as on 
the Stiperstones and Uanymynech, mining operations were carried on. When we 
consider the means at the disposal of the Komans, the mode in which iron and lead 
were worked by them in this country, and the uses to which they were applied, it may 
well excite oar admiration. 

In surveying iJie varied outline of the Shropshire hills, we need not stop to inquire 
whether the rude stones found on the Titterstone and the Brown Clee hills were 
connected with the religious ceremonies of the Druids, or with the sepulchral rites of 
the Britons. We take a livelier interest in these aninences when we look upon them 
as the scenes of the final struggle between British Uberty and Homan power. The 
nulitaiy stations, with their connecting roads, formed by the great nations of antiquity, 
^ew tis. that though tactics may vary, the great principles of strategy axe always the 
same. No one can visit the Roman stations at Norton, Brandon, and Gaer Flos, without 
admitting the military talents of Ostorius, or trace the line of British camps from Croft 
Ambrey and Wapley on the south, to HSn Dinas, or old Oswestry, on the north, in- 
cluding Bury Ditches and the Caradoc, the Wrekin and the Bteidden, without a feeling 
of admiration at the resources of Caractacus. 

The site of the last battle of Caractacus has been frequently discussed by many 
able men. A writer in the Archceologia Camhrenm places the scene of conflict on the 
Severn, below the Breidden hiU -^ while others contend for Caer Caradoc, a hill between 
foiighton and Clun ; and others again for Coxall Knoll, near Leintwardine, on the 
Teme, as the scene of that memorable event 

In tradng the history of an inland county it is not necessary to enter into the 
interesting controversy reacting the localities of the earliest invadon of Britain by 
the Bomans. more especially as tiiat subject has been so ably illustrated by Professor 
Aiiy in his account of the sacceasAil invasion of Britain by Hautius. The Astronomer 
Royal thus describes "Colchester, the Roman Camulodunum, the seat of provincial 
government under Claudius and his immediate successors, piurtially fortified, perhaps, 
by Claudius, and completely by Nero. The plan of t^e streets of Colchester presenting 
exactly the ichnography of a Roman camp ; the plan of its waUs, a parallelogram with 
rounded angles, exactly that of the early imperial fortresses ; the general strength of its 
position; the care which has been taken to strengthen the south side, weaker in 

* See David Davies' Paper and Map in Arch. Comb., S. iii, v. iii, p. 168. 
» Arek. Oamb., S. ii, v. ii, pp. 122-148 ; jii, 208. 



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8 SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 

position than tlie others, by scarping and reveting the ground ; all present the noblest 
example of a Eoman fortreas, and the best study of a Eoman city that exists."^ 
Bremenium, Uie most northerly walled station occupied by the Romans in Britain, has 
been carefully investigated by direction of the Duke of Northumberland. Its situation 
at High Eochester, in Redesdale, on the line of the lower Eoman wall, renders such an 
account highly interesting.^ 

Shropshire nevertheless may well be proud of its own Uriconium, as one of the 
principal cities of Boman Britain, whose still existing remains attest its former state and 
importance. The Roman buildings were so massive, that it is probable those parts only 
which were constructed of wood were destroyed when they were first overthrown. We 
may reasonably conjecture that the houses bmlt by the Romans endured through the 
succeeding periods of British anarchy, Saxon conquest, and Danish spoliation. " When 
the Saxon power was in its zenith, massive buildings of Roman days, yet standing in the 
chief towns of England, were significantly distinguished, in the Saxon dialect, from 
constructions of a later date ; as the quarter called Aldewark, at York ; and the suburb 
called the Southwark, in London."' I need not dwell upon the interesting and 
important results of the recent excavations at Wroxeter, because they will be fully 
explained to you by Mr. Thomas Wright, whose papMs in tie Archaologia Cambrensis* 
and the JouriMd of the BritiA ArcfuBological Association^ are but the preludes to a 
more enduring work. 

Such, it may be added, was the extraordinary fertility of the soil at Wroxeter, 
that a single hide of land waa actually cultivated by twelve and a half ox teams, 
whereas the average requirements of a hide of land at the time of the Domesday survey 
were no more than two and a half ox teams. The black ground at Wroxeter is still of 
surpassing richness, deriving and retaining this character from the conflagration which 
destroyed the town. It is, therefore, with some surprise that we learn that the earUest 
discovery of its remains was made in 1701, when some labourers, digging to discover 
the cause of the unfrmtfiilness of the land, came upon a small square room, walled about 
and floored under and over. This discovery has been recorded by Mr. John Lyster 
in his description of a Roman sudatory, or hypocaustum, at Wroxeter, in Shropshire, 
1701, in the PhUosophical Transactions, xxv, p. 2226. In June 1788, some further 
discoveries were made of the remains of a bath, which were described by the Rev. Francis 
Leighton, and accompanied by a ground plan and sections drawn by Mr. Telford, in 

* See ProfesBor Airy'a Papers in the AtheiuBum, 1859-1860. 

' See an article on the Roman Wall, in Quarterli/ Revieia, No. 213. 1860. 
' Domettie Arehilectare tn 'Englamd, by T. Hndfion Tomer, p. vi. 

• Arek. Comb., S. iii, vol. v, p. 207. 

' VoIb. it, pp. 205, 311 J ivi, pp. 158, 205. 



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SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 9 

the ninth volume of the AnAcBohgia for 1789, volume ix, page 323. At Tarious 
times, besides tessellated payements, a bronze strigil, used in tha baths, an iron Teasel 
for scattering perfumes, a bronze balance, a lamp of terra cotta* a stone patera, a vessel 
of black and red pottery, a sacrificial knife of iron, a green glaas vessel containing 
bones, a vase of red Samian ware, iron spurs, glass beads, carved ivory pins, iron keys, 
and numerous Soman coins, have been found in the ground covered by the ancient city. 

Some account of Boman sculptures found at Wroxeter has been given by Mr. Boach 
Smith, in Ms CoU&^nea Antigua, voL iii, pp. 29, 32, plates vii, viil He visited the 
spot in 1851. The !Rev. H. M. Scarth read a paper on the Boman vestiges at Wrozeter, 
at the meeting of the Archseolc^cal Institute, at Shrewsbury, in August 1855, having on 
the previous day conducted some of its members over the site of the ancient city. 
The Hev. C. H. Hartshome has given an account of Wroxeter, with a view of the old 
vail as it appeared in 1838, when he visited it, and copies of several inscriptions found 
on the spot, in his Sahpia Antigua, pp. 115, 133. Horsley seems to have examined 
Wroxeter with some care, aa appears &om his comment on the second Iter of Antoninus, 
in the Britannia Romano, 1732, p. 419. In 1829, Mr. Dukes presented to the 
Society of Antiquaries a MS. account of Wrozeter, containing a list of coins found there 
at different times. Tennant notices three sepulchral stones found at Wroxeter, now 
depowted in the school library, which have been described by Dr. Ward in the 
Philoao^ical Transactions, voL tUt, pt i, p. 196. 

On the decline of the Koman empire, the Britons held this country, with its capital, 
Fengwem, now Shrewsbury, and contested its posaesson with the Saxons, who in- 
corporated it with the province of Mercia, which extended from the banks of the Wye to 
tiie ClwyddJan hills. The limit of Saxon dominion is distinctly marked by the dyke 
which 0£la constructed about the year 784, extending from the estuary of the Severn to 
that of the Dee. This remarkable earthwork enters Shropshire from Knighton, and is 
very well preserved on my property at Mainstone, on Edenhope bill, soon after its 
entrance into this county, across which it runs over moor and mountain, regardless 
of natural impediments, by Llanymynech and Oswestry, being traceable for twenty 
miles, tOI it leaves it at Bron y Gartb, and enters Denbighshire.^ The incursions 
of the Danes extended into the kuigdom of Mercia in 893. The tenth century was 
occupied with the conflicts between the Danes and the Saxons, who, in 941, agreed to 
make the Watling-street tiieir boundary. But the former were ultimately expelled ; and 
Sciropesberie, in which we at once recognise the present Shrewsbury, was esteemed by 
the great Alfred one of his chief citiea 

The great change introduced in England by the Norman Conquest was shown and 

' See Arch. Comb., Series iii, vol. ii, p. ? ; Series iii, v. iii, 196. 



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10 SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 

soon felt in this counly. the greater part of wMch was granted to the Saxon Earl df 
ShrewBbuiy, who was 'subdned by Roger de Montgomery, a kinsman of William the 
Ctmqueror. It is probable that Pengwem, or the hill of alders, was first covered with the 
rnde dwellings of the Britons some time after the Saxon invasion ; and that it formed 
tlieir place of refuge after tiie destruction of Wrozeter, &om the natural defence afforded by 
its situation on the bend of the Severn. But if they fomid it a hill of alders, they left it 
nearly in the same condition, as the Sazom termed it Scrobbes-byrig, meaning thereby 
a bury or general eminence, overgrown with scrubs or shrubs. The place increased so 
much in importance that Athelstan established a mint there, which was continued by bis 
successors. The piety of the Saxons founded the churches of St Ceadda, or Chad, in 
780 ; St Julian's at an early period ; St Alkmund's in 900 ; and St Mary's in 980 ; of 
these, the former three having become dilapidated, have been taken down and replaced 
by debased structures of the last century. St Mary's alone remains, an interesting 
example of Gothic architecture, restored in the best taste of the present day, and adorned 
with a stone pulpit, and stained glass of foreign manufacture. The Normans erected 
their churches of stone on the sites which the Saxons had consecrated for their fanes 
of wood. 

" Freedom was the gerdus of the Saxon constitution. That people brought it with 
them from their Grerman forests, and maintained it among themselves, in their new 
settlements, to the utmost extent which was conedstent with a state of social order; 
But it is certain that Domesday presents us, in innumerable places, with villeius, slaves, 
labourers, and, in some towns, burgesses, confined to the soil, unable to quit their tene- 
ments without the permisEdon of their superior lords, and transmitting hereditary servitude 
to tiidr unfortunate descendants. Hence it has been conceived that the whole of the 
native inhabitants of England did not fly before the Scandinavian invaders into Wales, 
Cornwall, and Armories, but that a numerous body remamed to occupy the towns, and to 
till the lands, und^ the control of their ferocious conquerors ; and it is to these that the 
slavish part of tie Saxon polity has been thought to apply. The state of society at that 
time was not sufi&ciently matured to allow the operations of husbandry to be safely 
conducted at any distance from fenced towns. K a precarious harvest were sometimes 
snatched from the adjoining country, it was all stacked and thra^ed within the town, 
and at the time of which we are treating much com was probably grown on spots now 
occupied by streets and alleys, and gardens ; and we may believe that each of the Saxon 
burgesses bad, as is stall the case in some states of Germany, his little acre, or field of 
arable land, for the supply of the immediate wants of his fenuly, contiguous to the 
bu^;age in which he dwelt" ^ The position of Shropshire, as a border county, naturally 
' Owen and Blakeway's Slaeunhwry, i, 29-31. 



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SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. Jl 

produced considetable inseeorily of life and property in early times. The Lords Marchers 
must have had a troubleBome tome of it in their endeavours to keep the peace of the 
borders. The rude inhabitants of remote districta like those touching on the forests of 
dun. Mochtre, and Eadnor, wheu making forays on their neighbours, could seek refuge 
in the principality, which thus became involved in the outrages of English subjects ; and 
in like manner lawless Welshmea often found an asylum on the soil of England. 

The Marches of Wales were the boundaries between that country and England. 
Hie kings of England found it easier to incite their nobles to occupy this territory as its 
lords, and to retain in unquestioned possession all the lands they could win from the WelsL 
Thus Boger de Montgomery, Earl of Arundel and Salop, acquired Fowysland, as his 
elder son did Cardigan, and his younger, Amulph, Pembroke. The Anglo-Norman 
nobility who thus became possesaed of lands held of the crown by military service, were 
Ktz-Alan for dun and Oswestry, Fulke Fitz-Warin for "Whittington and Alberbury, 
'Roger le Strange for EUesmore and Enockin, and Peter Corbet for Caus Castle. The 
government of the Marches of Wales continued in the hands of their respective lords 
Umg after the necessity or policy in which it had originated had ceased to exist; but this 
anomalous and exceptional jurisdiction was abolished by Henry YIII, and the vast 
powers hitherto exercised by the Lords Marchers restored to the crown, leaving them 
tittle more power than that of the lords of manors in England. The district of the 
Border was generally called Waleheria, and being governed and protected by local 
chieftains, was amenable to peculiar laws and customs difTering from the English, 
insomuch that there was an Englecheria also appurtenant to many manors of the 
Border, such for example as Cans, Oswestry, Enockin, dim, and Wigmore, and the term 
was subsequently applied to the state of those who lived within such jurisdiction. 

" It is well known how Henry I endeavoured to strengthen his hold on a sceptre, to 
which his tatie was doubtful His imifoim policy was to create a new aristocracy, 
micoimected with that older one with which Domesday acquaints us. This policy had a 
doable result It secured to himself, and his daughter after him, the steadfast loyalty of 
a small but able band of chieftains ; but it atienated the affections of the nobility created 
by his father, which underrated the new favourites, and in the sequel adhered generally 
to the usurper Stephen. Further, it is not probable, nay in some instances we know 
the contrary, that Henry selected his favourites &om among the Normans. Foreigners, 
or men whose origin was unknown or problematical, were preferred ; such in Shropshire 
were Warin de Met^ a Lorrainer, the three Peverels, and, greatest of all. Alan, son of 
Flaald."^ In his reign many immigrants from Brittany and Maine may be presumed to 
have come to England, and among them several members of the &mily of De Gorram, 

' Ejton, Antiquitiei of ShropihiTe, vii, 21!'. 

C2 



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12 SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 

preTiously settled at La Tanoniere, in Maine, obtained grants of land at Chetton and 
Berwick, in ShropBhire. Heniy I re-arranged the hundreds of Shropshire, changing their 
bonndaries and names. The Hundred Eoll of 1255 measures Shropshire manors after 
the manner of Domesday, by the hide, which, aa regards that county, probably equalled 
Bomel^ing more than two hundred and forty statute aores. In many cases the 
manors are found to have retained their reputed hidage. In many, the Domesday 
measurement had been from obvious causes depreciated, and where it had increased, the 
(diange was probably more apparent than real The original Saxon hundred probably 
consisted of one hundred hides, but districts of one half or one quarter came to be called 
by that name, and, in and after the thirteenth century, single manors having a hundredal 
franchise were often called hundreds. 

The corporate towns of the thirteenth century were of three prindpal classes : — 
1. Those which were held by royal charter; 2. Those which had arisen under the 
sufferance of some feudal chief ; and 3. Those which were of the patronage of the church, 
that is, incorporated by the lords of a spiritual fief Shropshire affords instances of each 
class. Shrewsbiuy, Bridgnorth, and Kewport were of the first ; Oswestry, Cleobury 
Mortimer, and Ludlow, of the second ; Wenlock, Bishop's Castle, and the Abbey 
Foregate of Shrewsbury belonged to the third. The town of Ellesmere appears to have 
grown up partly under royal partly under feudal protection : Wellington can trace its 
origin from Saxon times. Wcm was part of the laige possessions of WUliam Pantulph, 
one of William's Norman follow^s ; so also was Market Drayton ; and so also was 
Whitchurch, deriving its name from the white monastery long established there. 
Ideshall, now called ShMftial, appears to have existed before the conquest 

" There is no institution in which the patrician genius of the Norman is so contrasted 
with the utilitarianism of the Anglo-Saxons as that of the shrievalty. The Norman 
vicomtes were provincial ministers, nobly commissioned, highly trusted, and munificently 
rewarded. Their office was the subject of no periodical appointment It was not even 
limited to the life of an individual, but 'with all its contingencies of wealth and power, it 
descended to his heirs. Such was the shrievalty which Roger de Montgomery, first 
Korman Staxi of Shrewsbury, designed to found in Shropshire, and he accordingly 
endowed it with a fief which stamped its possessor at once as second only to himself — 
the genuine Vice-Comes, or Prime-Minister of the Comes."^ Warin, sumamed the Bal«i 
was the first Norman sheriff of Shropshire ;^ he was succeeded by Bainald, whose 
successor was perhaps Hugh de Warin, who was succeeded by Alan Fitz-FIaald. Alan, 

' Eyton's Antiquitiee of SkTOpshire, vol. vii, p. 203, 

' See notice of the bxnUj of Fitz-Warin, by Mr. Joseph tSariiB, in Arch. Cami., Series ii, vol. iii, 
p. 282. 



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SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTKIUITIES. 13 

the son of Flaald, or Fleance, the progenitor of the great house of Fitz-Alan, and also of 
the royal family of the Stuarts, has found in Mr. E3rton his most able biographer.^ 

Bobert de Belesme, so called &om his ancestral poBsessions in Normandy, was the 
eldest son of Boger de Montgomery, whom he succeeded in the earldom of Shrewsbury 
in 1093-4. Upon the accession of Henry I to the crown this e^l broke out into open 
rebellion, and fortified his castles of Shrewsbury, Bruges, and Arundel, which declared 
against the tdng, but were subsequently reduced. Having thus espoused the cause of 
Bobert Duke of Nonuandy, the possessions of Robert de Belesme were forfeited to the 
crown, thereby occasioning Uie greatest change in the landed property of Shropshire 
mnce the conquest Henry I gave the earldom of Shrewsbury to his queen for life, and the 
only existing memorial of the last Norman Earl of Shrewsbury is the gateway of the castle 
tdiich his father built; and out of which, in 1102, he last went forth to exile and to 
deatL^ 

During the turbulent reign of Stephen, Shrewsbury, whose sheriff, Alan Fitz-Alan, 
had espoused the cause of the Empress Maud, endured a siege by that monarch in 
person and was taken. But on the accesBion of Henry II the good town received a 
confirmation of " the liberties, firee customs, and quittances," which it had enjoyed under 
his great grandfather, Henry I, To Bichard Coeur de Lion Shrewsbury owes its first 
extant charter, and three others were granted by King John. Two great lords of 
Shropshire, John Fitz-Alan and Fulke Fitz-Warin, joined with the other nobles to obtain 
" the great charter" from King John. The barons thus assembled at Bury, in seeking 
to vindicate the privileges of their own order, unconsciously laid the comer-stone of the 
beautiful &bric of English liberty. In this leign Llewellyn, the ^atest of the Princes 
.of Wales, captured the town of Shrewsbury, four hundred and fifty years after it had 
been wrested from his ancestora The triumph of the Welsh was of short diiration, for 
in the following year we find King John again at Shrewsbury. Th€ reign of Henry III 
was greatly occupied with Border warfare, and as Shropshire generally espoused the 
cause of the monarchy, that county was grievously infested by the incursions of the Welsh. 
Shrewsbury became the scene of negotiations between Engljmd and Wales, which were 
protracted to a late period in the reign of this monarch. Shrewsbury fell at this time 
under the power of Simon de Montfort, who had made the king his prisoner at the 
battle of Lewes, but the battle of Evesham, which was gained by Prince Edward in 
1265, having restored the royal authority, its first exercise gave him the appointment 
' of governor of its castle and town. The death of Henry III opened the way to a scene 
of greater enei^ and decision, under the reign of a king whose grand object was to unite 

' AntiqtUtlea of SknpthtTe, vol. vii, pp. 211-223. 

* See Eagrming in Owen and Blakeway's Shvasbury, i, 58. 



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14 BHROPSHIKE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 

the whole island under one head. He Bought alao, and in a great degree he acomiplished 
it, to establish the supremacy of law over all classes of the communitj. By the wiles of 
his diplomacy, and by the vigour of his arms, Edward overcame Llewellyn, the last Prince 
of Wales, who had espoused the daughter of bis rebelliouB vassal, Simon de Montfort, and 
perished nobly on the field near Builth. From this time, 1282, throughout the ancient 
principality of Wales, the supremae^ of England was never again questioned. It is the 
peculiar glory of Shropshire that it witnessed the assembling, at Acton Bumel, in the 
autumn of 1283, by adjournment from Shrewsbury, of the first Parliament in which the 
Commons had any share by legal authority. In this assembly we find the earliest 
legitimate traces of that popxdar representatioQ in the constitution, to which, under God, 
Englishmen have been indebted for all their subsequent prosperity and all their energies; 
for that noble independence, and that rational attachment to freedom, which have, ever 
since, formed their distinguishing characteristics.^ 

Shropshire enjoyed comparative tranquillity after the conquest of Wales, broken only 
by the incursions of Madoc, the hero of Soathey's epic Beligious houses had already 
exerted a salutary infiuaiGe in improving the agriculture of their vast estates. A better 
idea of the general security for life and property prevailing at the commencement of the 
fourteenth century may be gained from the fact that some amaU lire stock was g^ierally 
kept During the reign of Edward II the monarch frequentiy visited his loyal town of 
Shrewsbury. The long and glorious reign of Edward III presents no local features of 
interest^ except that, in 1341, the bm^eases of Shrewsbury obtained from the king a 
new charter. This reign was afflicted with two pestilences, which sorely ravaged the 
population, but drew forth in all instances the Christain assiduity of the English clergy. 
" This pestilence formed a remarkable sera in the history of our langut^ Before that 
time, ever ednce the conquest, the nobility and gentry of this country affected to converse 
in French ; children even construed their lessons at school into that language. So 
Higden tells in bis Potychronicon. But frtim the time of 'the first moreyn' — 1349 — as 
Treviaa^ his translator, terms it, this 'manor' was ' somdel ychaungida' A schoolmaster 
named Cornwall was the first that introduced English into the instruction of his pupils ; 
and this example was so eagerly followed, that by the year 1385, when Trevisa wrote^ it 
wa£ become nearly general The clergy, in all Oiristian countries, are the chief persons 
by whom the education of youth is conducted ; and it is probable that the dreadful 
scourge of which we have been treating, by canying ofi" many of those ancient instructor^ 
enabled Mr. Cornwall to work a change in the mode of teaching, which, but for that 
event, he would never have been able to effect, and which has operated so mighty a 
revolution in our national literature."^ 

' Owen and Blakeway's 8hreu>»bwy, i, 147. * Ibid, i, 167. 



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SHKOPSHIEE, ITS HISTOKY AND ANTIftUITlES. Ifj 

Kichaid 11 Tisited Shrenrabmy on his progress to the Marcbefi of Wales in 1387, 
and assigning his affection for Shropshire as the reason, held his parliament at Shrewsbury 
in 1398. But l^e execution of their favourite, Richard Fitz-Alan, Eari of Arundel, had 
alienated the attachment, and the popular manners of the Duke of Hereford had 
conciliated the esteem of the Shropshire lieges, so that the latter, as Heniy IV, was well 
received in the town and county. Henry was himself a distinguished warrior. In earlier 
life he had, in company with his princely uncle the Duke of Gloucester, travelled into 
die nort^ of Eiirope. in quest of martial glory, and, under the banner of the renowned 
Teutonic order, had made a glorious campaign against the pagans of Lithuania. The 
predatory warfere carried on by Owen Glendower on the Welsh border, and the open 
rebellion of the Percies of Northumberland, both of whom were seeking to unite their 
forces against the royal authority, led Henry by hasty marches to Shrewsbury. The 
king arrived just in time to save the town ; he entered only a few hours before Hotspur, 
who reached the Castie Foregate on the evening of Friday, July 19th, 1403, and the 
king's forces could not have advanced from Lichfield before the morning of that day. 
Percy, learning from the royal banner which waved on the walls that the king was 
in poesession of the town, retired to the £ull Field, an extensive common on the banks 
of the Sevran, affording a ready communication by the ford of Shelton with the expected 
fcH'ce of Glendower. Here he passed the night in council His army comdsted of 
fourteen thousand chosen men, chiefiy &om Cheshire, then eminent for its skill in 
archery. But, if Hall is correct, the royal army was nearly double that number ; for he 
writes that above forty thousand men were assembled on both parts, and every circum- 
stance of the battie proves that the king was at the head of a very superior force. His 
sitaation was, however, by no means devoid of anxiety. He must have been conscious 
how slender the title was which he possessed to the throne, and how ill-disposed the 
peen^e of his realm were to maintain him upon it From the caatie he might view, as 
thd idawn arose, the plain which stretched to tJie north gUttering with hostile arms, while 
the dreaded' Glendower was believed to be in full march from Oswestry to join the 
nbels with his Welsh forces. But the difficulties of the crisis only sufficed to call forth 
his energies and to display his talents. He was an adversary every way worthy of the 
gallant Percy, whom he determined to force to ui engagement before he could receive 
his reinforcements from Wales or from the north. 

By break of day therefore he dispatched, it is probable, a strong force under the 
young prince, the future hero of Agincourt, but tiien a youth of fourteen years, to come 
up with Hotspur at Berwick if possible. He himself with the main body, appears to 
have manned out on the Hodnall road, ready to proceed as occasion might demand, 
either to the north of Cross Hill and Almond Fool, and close the rebels between his 



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16 SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 

two divisioiis; or else to advance further upon that road, where it branchea off to 
Shrewsbury, with the view of cutting off their retreat, if Hotspor, aware of hia deeigni 
Bhoiild attempt to march to the east It happened as the king anticipated. Hotepor, 
on his advance, broke up in some disorder, and marched by Harlescot and Albright 
Hussey to Hateley Field, which stretches from thence eastwarda Here, however, 
finding it impossible to avoid an engagement, he made his stand behind a field of pease, 
then nearly ripe, and offering some obstacle to an advancing foe. He then harangued his - 
soldiers, and sent a formal defiance to King Henry, in the field, which still bears the 
name of the King's Croft. Here Henry marshalled bis forces, dividing them into 
columns, one of which he commanded himself and entrusted the other to his son. 
While the hostile armies confronted each other in mute expectation of the signal for 
combat, Thomas Prestbury, lord abbot of Salop, and clerk of the Privy Seal, advanced 
from the royal army with overtures of peace to that of Percy. Hotspur requested his 
uncle of "Worcester to meet this holy man, and they returned together to the royal 
presence ; but this last effort at conciliation having &iled, both parties flew to arms, and 
the battJe was set. 

The day was far spent when tie fight began by volleys of arrows from Percy's 
archers, which the king's bowmen were not slow to return, and the air rang with the 
war cries of " St. George" on the one side, and "Eaperance Percy" on the other. Hotspur, 
with his associate Douglas, bent on the king's destruction, pierced through the hostile 
ranks to the spot where he stood, making a great alley through the stoutest of the king's 
guards. Honstrelet says, Heniy was thrice unhorsed by the Scottish earl, and would 
have been taken or slain, had he not been defended and rescued by his own men. And 
the fortune of the day would have been forthwith decided, had not the Scottish Earl of 
March withdrawn him from the danger; for the reyal standard bearer was slain, his 
banner beaten down, and many of the chosen band appointed to guard it, among whom 
were the Earl of Stafford and Sir Walter Blount, were slain by their desperate assailants, 
while the young Prince of Wales was womided in the face by an arrow. The rebel 
army, imagining from the overthrow of his standard that the king himself had fallen, 
animated each odier to renewed exertions with shouts of " Henry Percy king." At this 
critical moment the gallant Perey fell by an unknown hand, alone, hemmed in by foea. 
The king, perceiving this, exclaimed loud enough to be heard by both armies, " Henry 
PcK^ is dead." His troops thus dismayed fled in every direction, and the flower of 
Cheshire fell in the impetuous pursuit of the royal forees.^ 

The battie was one of the severest ever fought, and the loss in both armies 
proportionably great The slain were honed on the field where they fell, and over 
* Owen and Blaikeney's Shreuahury, vol. i, pp. 184-194. 



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SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 17 

their remains the church of BattlefieJd was afterwards erected. The beautiful fabric then 
constructed stiQ affords a most instructive example of the architecture of the period; and 
is most interesting to the architect, because its date has been so precisely recorded. It is 
gratifying to know that a church so interesting &om its historical associations, and 
hitherto so sadly neglected, will shortly be restored in exact accordance with its 
original design. 
' As we descend to a period comparatively settled and civilised, the materials of 
general history, interwoven with local details, become more scanty ; a proof that law, 
though still for several centuries deformed by frequent examples of tyranny, was 
beginning to exercise her sovereignty over every department of the state. Men enjoy 
most when they have least to tell, and the brevity of the chronicle bears witness to the 
general tranquillity of the nation. As we approach the time of the greatest moral 
revolution which mankind haa witnessed since the estahlidmient of Christianity in the 
world, we find from the records of the corporation a royal commission sent to the bailiffs 
of Shrewsbuiy " touching the books of Martda Luther."^ Neither Fox nor Burnet, the 
annalists of the Beformation, mention any act of the English f;ovemment in that matter 
in so early a year as this — 1527-28. No record has preserved the manner in which that 
act of the Parliament which met April 28th, 1539, and by which '* all monasteries, 
abbathies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hospitals, and houses of friars" were given to the 
king, was received by the Salopians of that day. None is required to assure us that it 
was received with very opposite sentiments by the professors of the old faith and of the 
new. Few could behold with indifference the subversion of establishments, which for so 
many successive generations had furnished themselves wid their forefethers with employ- 
ment, had educated their youth, and relieved their poor. And to the credit of our 
ancestors it is recorded that they petitioned the king " for the creation of the house of 
the late monastery of Salop into a college or free school." The rojral reformer is said to 
have intended Shrewsbury for the seat of a bishop, who was to have been endowed with 
the revenues of the abbey, and it is much to be regretted that so noble a foundation 
should not have been appropriated to aa object still so much required. The free school 
of Shrewsbuiy thus prayed for was founded by Edward VI, and further endowed by 
Elizabeth ; the present chapel, tower, and library having been erected in 1595, and the 
schoolroom in 1 630. It numbers amongst its scholars Sir FhUip Sidney, and his friend 
Lord Brooke, Judge Jefferies, and other persons of note. Camden, in his Britannia, 
notices this school in 1586 as one of the lai^est in England. History is but an 
exercise of memory unless it enables us to iinprove our condition by experience, or 
tp appreciate it by comparison. In the age of Elizabeth we find a growing respect 

' Owen and Blakeway's ShreKsbury, i, 309-10. 



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18 SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 

for law and order, a Bteady diffusion of the reformed religion, a growing power in 
the commonalty of the realm. The first heraldic visitation of Shropshire occurred in 
this reign, and wheeled vehicles were used for conveyance. After one hundred and 
sixty years of internal quiet, Shropshire was again startled by war's alarms. On the 
breaking out of the great civil war, Shrewsbury was garrisoned for the king, who visited 
it in 1643, and received substantial proof in contributions of plate and money of the 
loyalty of the Salopians. A mint waa established and a printing press was set up in 
Shrewsbury, which became a place of refuge to many of the neighbouring gentry, driven 
from their seats by the ravages of the contending forces. 

Wem w£is the first town in Shropshire which declared for the Parliament, and in 1645 
was garrisoned by Richard Baxter. It was attacked by the king's forces, whose repulse 
was popularly celebrated by the following couplet ; — 

" The women of Wem, and a few mnaketoers, 
Beat the Lord Capel, and all his cavaliers."' 

The general population of the country appears to have been on the side of the Parlia- 
ment, for Colonel Mytton was enabled to take Shrewsbury so completely by surprise, 
that the governor, and many of the chief persons, were taken in their beds on the night 
of the 26th of February, 1644. Baxter, in his Life, says that he was "especially pleased 
with the surprise of Shrewsbury, both because it was done without loss of blood, and 
because my &ther and many of my dear fiieuds were thereby redeemed." Shropshire 
appears to have experienced no advantage from the substitution of the ascendancy of 
Parliament for the authority of the king : Sir William Waller, in his vindication of 
himself says, that " all the difference that can be discerned between our former and 
present estate is but this, that before time, under the complaint of slavery, we lived 
like freemen ; and now, under the notion of a freedom, we live like slaves." But the 
time was fast approaching when, after a popular revolution terminating in a military 
despotism, a constitutional monarch was to reign over a free people. Modem times 
afford few incidents for the local historian, and neither civil warfare nor foreign invasion 
interrupt the repose of our provincial towns. Historians have not failed to notice that 
the Romans had no hospitals, or any similar institutions, for the relief of suffering 
humanity. It may be recorded that Shrewsbury was second oidy to Winchester in the 
establishment of an infirmary for the county and neighbourhood in 1737. 

Shropshire, in its extent, fertility, and resources, yields only to Wiltshire in the 
former, and is second to none of the inland counties in the two latter respects. Inhabited 
by a hardy, intelligent^ and enterprising people, early habituated to the iise of arms, and 

' Hnlbert'B Uvtory of Salop. 1837. 4to. P. 127. 



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SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 19 

latterly addicted to the putsuits of commerce, it had enjoyed the advantages of both* in the 
achievements of ti»e past and the prosperity of the present Shropshire embraces a large 
part of that Silurian region of modem geologists, vhich exhibits " a complete saccession 
of foBsiliferouB strata, interpolated between the old red sandstone and the oldest slaty 
rocks."^ The same expansive force which elevated the coal fields of Shropshire appears 
to have elevated the Sdurian rocks ; for these strata present, in their numberless 
dislocations, the clearest evidence of volcanic agency. The flora of Shropshire is 
unusually copious and attractive, from the varied nature of its soil and surface.^ The 
mineralogy of the district is peculiarly interesting from the varied oatore of its prodncta 
The lead mines of Shelve were worked by the Romans, as many pigs of lead bearing 
the imperial stamp sufficiently attest Henry II probably employed the lead which he 
obtained from these mines upon the roof of the conventual church attached to the abbey 
of Amesbuiy. 

By the term forest is t» be understood not merely an extensive wood, but any 
territory which was subject to a certain jurisdiction, having for its object the preservation 
of game and the maintenance of woodland. " The royal forests of Shropshire originated 
in one or other of two natural conditions of the soiL The spontaneous and undisturbed 
growth of timber over a large area suggested the afforestation of the forests of Morf and 
Wyre. The existence of large districts so mountainous and sterile as to be imavtulable 
for agriculture, formed a nucleus for such forests as Shirlot the Clee, the Stiperstones, 
the Wrekin, and the Long Forest. The framework, as it may be termed, of the Long 
Forest b^ its readiest exponent in a modem map. The chief constituents were several 
series of mountains or hills. From Halford, on the south-west to Much Wenlock, on 
the north-east, there extends a continuous ridge or terrace, now known throughout its 
length of fifteen miles as Wenlock Edge. This was the primary feature of the forest 
so aptly termed Long. The valley or basin which flanks this terrace on the north-west 
is again bounded by a parallel but more broken and unequal chain of hills. The 
Stretton, Caradoc, Lawley, Frode^ey, and Acton BumeU Hills form this series. Again, 
crossing an interval of country to the north-west of this series, we have the range 
of the Long Mynd, five miles in extent on the one hand, and the isolated Lytib Hill on 
the other. Another step to the north-west of the Long Mynd and we reach the high 
grounds about Linley. Beyond this again we meet with the Stiperstones Forest, a chase 
and jurisdiction annexed from time immemorial to the barony of Caus."^ The Forest 
of Mount Gilberl^ as the Wrekm was then called, embraced the whole of that celebrated 

' MarchiBoii, SUwrian System, etc. 1639. 4to. 
* Leighton, Flora of Shropahire, etc. 1840. 8vo. 
' Eyion, Antiq. of Shropshire, ri, 335-6. 



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20 SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 

hni, and its jurisdiction pervaded the Domesday hundred of Secordine, and extended 
into those of Alliodeatreu, Patinton, and Baschurch, and into tie very liberties of 
Shre^rebury ; its eastern boundary was Sheriff Hales, in Staffordshire. The Haye of 
Wellington was the only royal preserve within its precincts. In the days of Henry III 
there was a " hermit of Mount Gilbert," of sufficient sanctity to attract that monarch's 
notice and to receive his alms. Kicholas de Denton was the hermit's name.' 

The forests, which once covered so great an extent of ancient Shropshire, afford the 
surest evidence of its advancing civilisation. The first inroads upon them were produced 
by the devotion of the Saxons to agriculture, and their subsequent curtailmeDt is due to 
the requirements of an advancing population. Mr. Eyton has traced with his usual 
fidelity the process by which this change was brought about. " Where now the counties 
of Shropshire, Staffordshire, and Worcestershire convei^e, there was once a vast region of 
forest, not confined to one bank of a succession of lakes and marshes, which we now 
know as the valley of the Severn, but stretching away for miles eastward and westward. 
The Severn itself was in one place a land-locked and sluggish stream ; in another, a 
series of rivulets struggling on, with no concentrated force, amidst the various impedi- 
ments which uncontrolled nature had crowded on its course. Its fits of wintry and 
swollen fury, like human passions, reacted upon themselves ; for the giant oak, which 
to-day was torn from its banks and plunged in the torrent, lay on the morrow athwart 
the subsiding stream, an additional element of its future bondage. The region whose 
chief features I thus imagine, seems to have been known to the Britons as coed oi/ored, 
— the forest, that is, par excellence, of this part of England. When we read of the 
forests of Mort Kinver, and Wyre, we get notions of extent which must be added 
one to the other before we can realise any idea of the more ancient Coed ; for the 
Coed was the parent of the other three, and they, perhaps, not its only constituents. 
In the earliest stage of its self-existence Morf Forest can be ascertained to have been 
at least eight miles in length, while its greatest width was about six. Its known, 
because afterwards maintained boundary, rested upon the Worf, for some miles before its 
- junction with the Severn. The south-eastern extremity is determined by its name, 
taken from the Staffordshire village of Mort where commenced that interval which gradual 
change had interposed between the forests of Morf and Kinver. By still further 
compression of its southern boundaries, and by large clearances within its area, Morf 
Forest had, at the Norman conquest^ been altered both in extent and character. But the 
forest ground, though alternated with cornfields and villages, was still very great, and 
very great it remained for two centuries afterwank, during which time it became a 
favourite chase of the English kings. It is remarkable that, in contemplating the district 

' Eyton, jirUiq. of SAn>p«iire, ix, 143-150. 



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SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 21 

which is generally recognised as Morf Forest, we shall meet with some mementos of 
every nation which has figured in English history — British, Eoman, Saxon, Dane, and 
Norman — for each people there is some monument or association, some word, some fact^ 
or some idea to connect it with the district We have the British Coed, represented by 
the Saxon form Quat, and applied on the one hand to a village within the forest, and on 
another to a ford on its outskirts. On the tableland of Morf there were in the last 
century several tumuli, now levelled by the plough, but held by good authority' to have 
been BritisL If the walls at Chesterton were originaUy a British work, the very name of 
Chesterton impUes a Roman occupation, and Stratford Brook tiiereby owes its name to a 
Roman road, or stratum, which crossed it. Morf Forest^ too, was visited by the Danes ; 
not when Mercia was generally their conquest, but in later times, when, outmancBuvred 
by Alfred on the Thames, and deprived of their fleet, they sought refuge for their army 
in this wilderness, looking doubtless to the great river and the primseval forest as 
probable means of regaining their more natural home, the sea. At Burf Caatle, eastwaxd of 
Quatford, the Danes lay intrenched for one winter. Unfed by the forest, their frequent 
raids westward across the Severn are imaged by simple reason rather than by conjectural 
feney. , What wonder, then, if the affrighted Saxon of the district noted well the point of 
the northmen's passage, and spoke of it afterwards to his children as ' the Danes' ford.' 

" This was at the close of the ninth century, but before the middle of the eleventh 
the agricultural Saxons had made great inroads on the forest Eight settlements at 
least had sprung up within the more ancient limits of MorC and four of these were held 
in demesne, if not originated by the Saxon Earls of Mercia. Roger de Monl^mery, the 
first Korman Earl of Shropshire, evinced a decided predilection for Morf Forest and for 
Quatford, where he died. The site of his castle on the Severn is still apparent ; the very 
stones of his collegiate church point not only to its Norman founder, but tell how 
vainly in this region had nature been contending against civilization, for the river by 
which those stones came to Quatford had become a high road of commerce thence 
downwards to the Bristol Channel So then in Morf Forest the dynasty of nature gave 
way to the dynasty of man, and when man had the upper hand, still there was change 
marked even within the forest by the conflict of races — patriotism, civilization, military 
science, patient industry, adventurous barbarism, superstition, chivalry, and religion — all 
t^ese played their parts in Morf Forest, and the ultimate ascendency was with the 
Normans. As it was in the forest so is it in the world and with individuals, that nation 
or man who can sustain, really or affectedly, the greatest number of these parts together, 
shall ever have a temporal pre-eminence. "^ 

' Hartahome, Salopia Aniiqua, pp. 99-101. 
' Eyton, Jniij., iii, 212-214. 



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22 SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTiaOITIES. 

The royal Forest of Brewood oceapied many acres of ground on the borders of 
Staffordshire and Shropshire. Ita extent may be clearly ascertained. Weston and 
Bishop's Wood mark its northern boundary, Brewood and Chillington its eastero. 
Albrighton, Donnington, and Tong complete the circle to the south and west. We find 
no mention of Brewood as a royal forest before or after the reign of John.' The 
ancient jurisdiction of Shirlot forest pervaded a territory which cannot be described by 
boundaries either natural or conventional, neither by mountains, nor streams, nor yet by 
hundreds. The bulk of the district, however, lay within an arc of the Severn, if we take 
the course of that river from Buildwas Abbey to the Knowle Sands. The extreme 
length of the district, measured between Shiueton and Aston Botterell, cannot be less 
than twdve miles ; its greatest width, taken between Acton Round and Severn Hall, is at 
least five milea.^ 

It may not be irrelevant to notice some of the relics of the primaeval forests, single 
trees, which have been preserved to our own times. " In primitive states of society, or 
where institutions have been fluctuating or unsettled, trees have often served as places 
of dwelling or resort. A tree on the plain of Mamre was the guest chamber of tJie 
patriarch Abraham. Abraham's oratory at Beersheba was a tree or grove planted hy 
himself Deborah's Hall of Judgment was a palm tree in Mount Ephraim. A tree in 
Ramah was one of the hypEethral palaces of king Saul,"' The wide-spread oak tree gave 
appropriate and natural shelter to the votaries of a simple but as yet unotganised 
rehgioa Christ's Oak, which once stood at Cressage, recals the period when C3hristian 
missionaries first taught the gospel to heathen Saxons. The Lady Oak, which still exists 
at the same place, was clearly so called in honour of the Virgin Mother. The ancient 
and gigantic lime l^ee which adorns the precinct of Pitchford Hall, has been known 
for centuries as " the Tree with a house in it."* 

Owen Glyndwr's Oak, whence that Welsh chieftain is said to have witnessed the 
discomfiture of his English allies at the battle of Shrewsbury, on the eve of Saint 
Magdalene, the 22nd of July, 1 403, still stands at Shelton, in a garden on the right of 
the road from ShrcTrebury to Oswestry, where the Welsh army ky.* Another oak, 
commonly called the Royal Oak, grows near the house at Boscobel, on the borders of 

' Eyton, AntiqwUiei of Shropthire, vol. iii, pp. 135-7. 

• Ibid., vol. iii, pp. 288-9. 

' Ibid., vol. vi, p. 309. 

' The engraving of the tree, widumt the honse, whicJi nererthelesB eziats, ia given in Eyton, 
Aniiq., vi, 234. 

' The Welsh chieftain was probably in a remote put of Wales at the time of the battle, and unable 
to BQCConr his allies, or to reach " Bsd Salopia's plain," where, " reft of his aid, the Percy fell." See 
Tyler's Henry Y, and the Arch. Oa/mbrensie, Series ii, vol. ii, pp. 38 and 117. 



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SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 23 

Shropshire, and is said to hare sheltered an English king, though Charles himself describes 
that aa a pollaxd, vhich the present is not. Evelyn, in his Sylva, says that in his time 
the wood was so highly valued as to have caused the tree itself to he reduced to a 
stump, the victim of its own loyalty. 

The great feature of Shropshire is its famous river, which cuts the county from 
west to south-east, flowing from the Welsh motmtains into the estuary, to which it gives 
its name. The British rivCT Hafren separated the dwellers on the plains from the natives 
of the hills, the Eoman Sabrina divided the Comavii from the Ordovices and the Siloree, 
as in succeeding times the Severn separated the Saxons from the Britons, or, as in later 
days, the English from the Welsh. Its character, as a most uncertain stream, constantly 
overflowing its banks, and ever liable to floods, is still the same as when, on the eve of 
8t John the Baptist in 1258, i2 Henry III, it destroyed crosses, cattle, men and 
children, in ita coarse between Salop and Bristol : spanned by few bridges and 
traversed by many fords, the great stream has remained unchanged, and still rolls 
OD, the emblem of eternity, in its devious passage to the sea. Its surface still bears the 
ancient coracle, thus described by Lucan : — 

" Primam cana saliz madefacto Timme parvam 
Texitur in puppim, ceecoqae indnta jnvenco — ' 
Sic Venetns etagnante Pado, fiisoqne BritaimaB 
Navigat Oceano." 

The custody of the Severn, the care of its navigation, and the preservation of its fish, 
attracted the attention of the early kings, and are now consigned to the justices of the 
peace who dwell in the contiguous counties. 

During the Saxon dominion in England, until the time of Ofia, the Severn was 
considered the boundary between Wales and England ; what was conquered by that 
monarch on the western side of the Severn was annexed by him to his kingdom of 
Mercia, and came into possession of Alfred the Great as part of the kingdom of England. 
When Alfred afterwards divided England into shires, he made part of the country west 
of the Severn a county by itself, under the name of Hereford ; and the residue he added 
to the district on its eastern side, and divided the same into the counties of Salop, 
Worcester, and Gloucester. 

The permanent fixture of a Norman name on an English locality is so rare, that 
I must not omit to notice iiie two instances which occur to me. The first being that of 
Montgomery, where the Norman earl affixed his own name to a Border castle of his 
building. The second is that of Soger Fitz-Corbet, who built a castle at Alretone, and 
called it, from his own Pays de Caux in Nonnauy, Caux. These Border castles, for two 
centuries after Domesday, served the continuous purposes of aggression or defence. 



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24 SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 

" From the ruins of Caus Castle we obtain no evidence as to its date, and but a shadowy 
idea of the arrangement of its parta The masonry which remains, massive though it be, 
is nothing but the rubble or filling in of walls, whose facings have long since been 
jemoved. We trace the site of a massive keep, and the situation of an enormous well, 
two prime necessities, the last perhaps less obvious than the first, but in cases of the 
sudden irruption of the Welsh, the inhabitants of the districts, men, women, and children, 
were wont to seek refuge in these castles. There are reasons for thinking that the very 
cattle were not excluded. Imagine a fortress, thus crowded, and in a state of siege, and 
what word of terror can have equalled that which sometimes announced the castle well 
to be dry? The site of Caus Castle seems to have been well selected for its object. The 
inherent strength of the position, the large building area, the wide command of prospect, 
especially of that important pass which we may call the Valley of the Eea, — ^these are 
features which tell of dangers and designs too manifold for the page of history, and too 
complex for the tongue of tradition. Exposed to all the turmoil of a hostile frontier, 
here dwelt the eldest of the two sons of Corbet the Norman. On the right hand were the 
mountain fastnesses of Powisland, on three other sides Roger Fitz-Corbet's position was 
immediately or remotely backed by the strongholds and manors of his own English 
vassals, or of his brother the lord of Longden. Further off in front, looking over Minsterley 
and "VVorthin, and across the Valley of the Rea, the eye rested on the Forest of the 
Stiperstones, once a chase of Saxon kings, but appropriated with all its rights as a 
royal forest by the barons of Caus."^ 

** As regards scale, and when compared with Caus, Wattlesborough must be placed 
in the second class of feudal residences. In respect, however, of hereditary associa- 
tions, the stronghold of the vassal surpasses the castle of the baron, for Wattles- 
borough is one of those few Shropshire estates which have never been bartered for gold 
since they were first occupied by Normans. The remains too of Wattlesborough Castle, 
though confined to a single tower and its northern wing, exhibit several architectural 
features of interest. One feature, the fiat buttress of the Normans, bespeaks for the relic a 
high antiquity. Tradition tells of the existence of a much larger building than the present, 
and of the removal of its materials for the purpose of building the Loton chapel in 
Alberbuiy church. It is to be regretted that the original Nonnem roof of the tower has 
been removed, though there remain sufficient indications whereby a skilful architect 
might attempt its restoration. Wattlesborough Castle descended from the Corbets to 
the Mouthes, from them to the Buighs, and from them to the Leightons. It was 
maintained as a residence by these successive femilies till the year 1712. It is now 
inhabited as a farmhouse on the Loton estate. The ancient moat may still be partially 
' Eyton, Antiq., viii, 6-8. 



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SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 23 

traced, and some grassy mounds indicate the place 'where once a garden smiled.' Amid 
all the changes of Border topography, the mind rests with satisfaction upon an object so 
tangible as this. Wattlesborough Castle symbolizes certain broad features of a remote 
sera, and serves to attest the permanency of landed property in. successive generations. 
It reminds us that 'ancient dignity was terhtorial rather than personal, the whole 
system was rooted in the land, and it has carried along with it some of that sentiment 
attached to the lordship of it, as surely as its earth has the fresh smell which it gives 
when upturned by the huabandman.'"^ 

Ludlow is the noblest of the Border castles. It is said to have been founded by 
Boger de Montgomery, but the building was probably done by Walter de Lacy, and it 
was enlaiged by Joce de Dinan, who built the circular chapeL The castle was l^e 
stronghold of the barons Mortimer, who added to its buildings, but it received its 
principal embellishment &om Sir Henry Sidney. Here it was that the young Princes 
of Wales of the Tudor line dwelt in regal state, here the Lords Presidents of the 
Marches held their court, here Milton's Comus was first acted, and here also Butler 
wrote a part of Hvdihras. Its picturesque situation, its massive architecture, and its 
intereating associationa, lend a charm to Ludlow which no other castle in Shropshire 
can boast. The noble church of St. Lawrence, whose stately tower was built after 
the battle of Towton, is the finest ecclesiastical building in Shropshire, and richly 
deserves the careful restoration so happily completed on the 3rd of August last. 
Bobert de Belesme, Earl of Shrewabuiy, the eldest son of Koger de Montgomery, erected 
the castle of Bridgnorth, which, on his rebellion, was forfeited to the crown. It was 
held by succeaaive sovereigns, and for the king in the Civil War, when it was 
reduced to the leaning tower which forms so conspicuous an object in every view of tiie 
town. 

The ruined castle of Whittington stUl bears the shield of l^e great house of Fitz- 
Warin, and Clun Castle, built l^ William Fitz-Alau, confers the dignity of baron on his 
descendant the Duke of Norfolk. Acton BumeU Castle remains to attest the holding of 
a parliament in Shropshire. Of all the embattled residences which adorn this county, 
Stokesay, which Lawrence de Ludlow obtained leave to crenellate in 1291, retains most 
of its original character. Moreton Corbet is still stately in ruins, but many mansions 
retaining their ancient names have been replaced by modem structures. Some fine old 
half-timbered houses, of which Park and Pitchford are good examples, remain in the 
original state. Mr. Francis Smith, of Warwick, who flourished during the Oeoigian sera, 
erected some brick mansions, of which Cound, Mawley, Buntingsdale, Davenport, and 
Kinlet are tie chiefl Many Italian edifices, such as Willey, Hawketone, and Longford, 
' Quarterly Bwiew, Janniuy 1858, p. 31. 



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26 SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIftUITIES. 

&s well as Gothic buildings, such as Apley Park, Lilleshall, Otely, and Sundome, sxe seen 
amid their tall ancestral trees all o'er the pleasant land. 

Wenlock was the oldest and most privileged, perhaps the wealthiest ^id most 
magnificent^ of the religious houses of Shtopshire. William of Malmesbiuy tells us that 
Stunt Milbuig, the granddaughter of Fenda, king of Mercia, lived in a nunnery at 
Wenlock, and was buried there ; others add that she founded the church, and became 
the first abbess of h.&: own foundation. The destruction of this church is attributed to 
the Danes, on their conquest of Mercia in 874. Whatever was the nature of this first 
foundation at Wenlock, the lapse of two centuries left little of it remaining beyond the 
sanctity of St Milbui^s name, the veneration attaching to her place of burial, and, it 
may be, some tradition as to the identity of such Ituids as she had devoted to her holy 
purposea^ It was the sanctity of this spot which probably determined Leo&ic, Earl of 
Mercia, to rebmld the church, and to appropriate it to a college of secular clergy, 
combining more or less of the monastic element, between the years 1017 and 1035. 

This monument of the pious munificence of Leofiic, Earl of Mercia* hardly endured 
for sisty years. It was the wise policy of the Normans in dealing with the Saxon 
colleges, not to confiscate their possessions, but to divert them to ecclesiastical purposes, 
more or less cognate with the original design. Accordii^ly we find in 1080 that the 
first Norman Efurl of Shrewsbury restored the church of St Milbuig, and endowed the 
new abbey with the possessions of the old college. The new foundation was appro- 
priated to the order of Clugny, a branch of the Benedictines, whose black habit ita 
members retained. The translation of the relics of St. MUbui^ in 1101, threw a &eah 
odour of sanctity on the place of her interment ; and the extraordinary franchises which 
the prior of Wenlock enjoyed, rendered each tenant of his house a privileged man, each 
acre of his domain acquired a two-fold value. Wenlock became in 1291 a richer 
foundation than Shrewsbury, and its steady and quiet ag^;randisement was perhaps in 
some degree attributable to the sobriety and prudence which, Qiraldus tells us, were 
characteristic of the Clugniac order. 

The Benedictine abbey of Sirewsbuiy was founded by Rt^er de Montgomery, first 
Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, in 1083, on a spot where, in the olden times, a Sazon 
church had previously stood. The new chtureh, like the old, was dedicated to St Peter 
and St Paul, and in the adjacent monastery the earl himself assumed the habit of a 
monk. The establishment thus founded soon received lai^ acceaedons of proper^, and 
in the reign of Stephen acquired additional sanctity from the body of Saint Winefred, 
which was translated to this church from the place of her interment, Gwytherin, in 
Denbighshiie. 

' See The Legends of Saint MUbttrga, iu Ejrton's Antiq., iv, 6. 



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SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANnftUITIES. 27 

The Benedietinea, in common with the other monastic orders, delighted in the 
sequestered gloom of low verdant meadows, adjacent to running streams, " under the 
shade of melancholy boughs," and, provided the soil was fertile, preferred such to more 
IU17 and cheerful, though not always more beautiful situations. On such a site as this, 
at Uie confluence of the Severn and the Bea, the great mass of irr^ular but stately con- 
ventual buildings, with their embattled walls and turreted gates, dominated by the abbey 
church, resembling in form, but surpassmg in size, many of our cathedrals, must have 
presented a majestic group of ardiitectttre to the traveller as he approached the ancient 
capital of Shropshire. The abbey must have had an equally fine effect when viewed from 
the south-eastern ramparts of the adjacent town ; for then the whole of the noMe church 
would be seen almost from ite base, crowned with its two towers, and presenting almost 
as varied an outline to the sky. Great must have been the dismay of the inhabitants 
of the Abbey Foregate when, on tlie 24th of January, 1539-40, the rojral commissioners 
arrived at the abbey and demanded its surrender. The abbot and his monks, entering 
their chapter house for the last time, in ob^ance to the stem mandate, would then have 
seen the seal of their house broken, as usual in such cases, and heard the conmiissioners 
declare the convent dissolved, almost four centuries and a half after its foundation. The 
site of the abbey, comprising about ten acres, now displays a confused mixture of the 
ancient walls, patched with almost eveiy style that succeeded its dissolution, scattra^ 
about in irregular masses of ruin, relieved only by the reader's pulpit of Hie refectory, the 
sole memorial of its ancient state. The western tower of the abbey church, retaining only 
its nave, side aisles and porch, which have been adapted to the oses of the parochial 
church of the Holy Cross, still adorns the eastern suburb which retains its name. The 
gardens of the monastery, which lay on the banks of the river, are now traveised by the 
Shrewsbory and Hereford Hailway, thereby affording the passing traveller a good view of 
all that remains of the abbey church. 

Haughmond Abbey, originally a priory, was founded by the first William Fitz-Alan 
between 1130 and 1138. It became an abbey in or before 1155, its benefactors being 
the Empress Matilda, king Henry II, Walchelin Maminot, William Peverel of Dover, 
Rcmulph de Gemons, Earl of Chester, Walter Durdent, Bishop of Chester, and several 
of the founder's tenants. The foundation of Haughmond was therefore associated 
with a distinct political creed, for those whom I have named espoused the cause of 
legitimacy, which was at issue during the twenty years that followed the death of 
Henry I. Thus, out of calamities such as Shropshire has never since experienced, were 
ehcited two boieficial results, the increase of its religious establishments and the triumph 
of heredituy right.^ Of the Augustine abbey of Haughmond, the church, dedicated to 
' Eyton's Anti^uitiea of Bhroptlun, toL tu, pp. 262-303. 

e2 



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28 SHROPSHIRE. ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 

St John, is in ruins, but the chapter-house is entire. Its ruins now serve to embellish 
the gronnds of Sundome, at the foot of the hill which beais its name. 

Buildwas Abbey was founded by Roger de Clinton, Bishop of Cheater, in 1135, and, 
enriched by subsequent endowments, was enltu^ed about the year 1220. It was one of 
the earUest foundations of the Cistercian order, a branch of the Benedictine, which first 
arose in 1098, when its first house was founded at Citeaux, in Bui^ndy. It adopted 
a white habit, in contradistinction to the dress of the original Benedictines. It affected 
other reforms of usage, chiefly revivals of a more ancient rule. Buildwas was affiliated to 
the Norman house of Savigny, as the Welsh Abbey of Baaingwerk, and the Irish Abbey 
of St. Mary, Dublin, were to Buildwas. The Cistercians particularly ejected solitary 
and wild valleys, selected with due regard to beautiful scenery, and other local and more 
substantial advantages. Such a site they found at Buildwas, where still the ruined 
monaateiy stands by " Sabrina's silver flood." 

The history of Buildwas Abbey involves little more than an account of its various 
dependencies, tad of its tranquil enjoyment of those privileges which were moat 
congenial to the peaceful and even indolent genius of the Cistercians. This explains the 
c<nnpaiative obscurity in which the internal affairs of Buildwas Abbey are buried. It 
met its fete in the seventh year of Heniy VIII, 1535-6, and its extensive ruins exhibit 
in the older portions a good example of the architecture of the sera of its foundation. 
Here, if anywhere, we may be permitted to indulge the feeling which regards such 
shrines as sacred — sacred to departed genius and taste, sacred to the ever-living beauly 
of grandeur and repose, sacred, indeed, to yet higher and holier aasociations, of which 
nothing but a too narrow sectariaoism would forbid the indulgence.^ 

Lilleshall Abbey was erected in honour of the Holy Virgin in the wood of Lilleshall, 
by Kichard de Bebneis, Bishop of London, between the years 1144 and 1148.^ It 
was founded for Arroasian canons, who removed thither &om Dorchester, having 
previously occupied houses at Donnington Weald and at Lizard Grange. These Regular 
canons were a branch of the great Augustine ord^, which professed an improvement on 
its fundamental ordinances, and derived their name &om the city of Arras, near which 
their first house, dedicated to St Nicholas, was situated. The charter of Lilleshall, 
granted by Ring Stephen, was confirmed by the Empress Matilda, and the foundation 
continued to increase in wealth and influence till its surrender in 1538. The ruins of 
the noble church present fine examples of Norman architecture, and its precinct is still 
surrounded by the fine woods which adorn the adjacent seat of the Duke of Sutherland. 

" If there be a place in Shropshire calculated alike to impress the moralist, instruct 
the antiquary, and interest the historian, that place is Tong. It was for centuries the 
' Byton'a AvUguiiiea of Shroptliire, vi, 317-335. * Ibid., viii, 210-227. 



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SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. gg 

alxtde, or the heritage, of men, great either for their wisdom or their virtue, eminent 
either &om their station or their miafortones. The retrospect of tJieir annak alternates 
between the palace and the feudal castle ; between the halls of Westminster and the 
council chamber of princes ; between the battlefield, the dungeon, and the grave. The 
history of the lords of the manor is in fact the biography of princes and prelates, earls 
and barons, statesmen, generals, and jurists. These are the great names and reminiscences 
with which the place is associated — the Saxon Earls of Mercia, brave, patient, and most 
unfortunate ; victims of inexorable prc^;reas : then their three Norman successors, one 
wise and politic, another chivalrous and benevolent, the last madly ambitious and 
monstroudy cruel : then the majesty of England, represented by Henry the First, a 
prince, who, in ability for ruling, almost equalled lua father, and has been surpassed by 
none of his successors : then the sumptuous and vice-regal pride of De Belmeis, bishop, 
general, statesman, and withal very priest ; hia collateral heirs, with their various and 
wide spread interests, dim in the distance of time, but traceable to a common origin ; the 
adventurous genius and loyal &ith of Brittany represented in La Zouche ; tales of t^e 
oscillating favouritism and murderous treachery of King John ; overweening ambitioo, 
and saddest misfortune, chronicled in the name of De Braose ; a Harcourt miscalciilating 
the signs of his time, and ruined by the error ; a race of Fembniges, whose rapid 
succession teUs of youth, and h<^ and the early grave ; then the open-handed and 
magnificent Yemons ; lastly, Stanley, a name truly English, and ever honourable in 
English eaiB, yet for one^ of whom it was fated to add a last flower to their chaplet of 
ancestral memories, to cut short the associationB which five centuries had grouped round 
their fidr inheritance.'^ 

Among other objects of interest may be noticed the rained convent of Cistercian 
nuns, whose house, dedicated to St Leonard, and still known as the White Liidies, was 
formerly within the boundary of the ancient Forest of Brewood. The chapel still 
retains some vestiges of its ancient state. It is parochially and manorially independent 
Its mined walls and consecrated precinct are still protected and venerated by members of 
the faith under which it was founded. Its history, like its^, consists but of fr^ments ; 
for, however interesting to the antiquary, no chartulaiy of the house is known to exist ; 
we have not even a definite legend as to its origin, no seal, nor earlier charter than that 
of king John.^ The Norman style of the building may refer it to the latter half of the 
twelfth century. It derives much of its present interest &om its having been the burial 
place of her " whom the king called Dame Joane," the protectress of the afterwards 

■ Sir Edward Stanley, fiatber of the beantdfol Yenetda Lady Digby. 

* Eyton's Anti^Uiet of Shropghire, vol. ii, pp. 191-2. 

• Ibid., vol. ii, p. 187-92. . 



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30 SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 

Meiiy Monarch in his sylvan retreat of Boscobel, whose headstone, suffered to perish, 
has been recently restored with the original inscription.^ 

The monumental remains of Shropshire naturally connect themselves with its 
ecclesiastical structures. The most interesting, perhaps, is the monumental effigy in 
alabaster of John Talbot, the first Earl of Shrewsbury, in the church of WhitchurcL 
The tombs of Sir Fulk Pembruge and Sir Richard Vernon may be remarked as the chief 
ornaments of the church at Tong ; the tomb of Sir Richard de Leighton still exists at 
Leighton, and that of Sir Ralph de Fitchford may atiU be seen in Pitchford church ; tJiat 
of Thomas Forster, prior of Wombridge, will be found in the chancel of Shi&al 
church. 

No account of Shropshire can be deemed complete without some notice of its 
eminent men. The first Earl of Shrewsbury, the Talbot of Shakespeare, who was bo 
remarkable for his prowess as to be called the English Achilles, was Marshal of France 
in the reign of Henry VI. Sir PhiHp Sidney received his education at the Grammar 
School of ^irewsbury. Thomas Churchyard, the Elizabethan poet, was a native of that 
town ; but his fame is eclipsed by that of Admiral Benbow, who was bom on Coton 
HHl, in its suburbs, in 1650. This gallant seaman, the Nelson of the seventeenth 
century, equally remarkable for skill and daring, still enjoys great popularity in 
the British Navy. In the peaceful walks of literature Shrewsbury is justly proud of 
Dr. John Taylor, the eminent scholar, who is principally remembered as the editor of 
Demosthenes, and of Job Orton, the well-known author of the Life of Doddridge, — ^not 
to mention other men of less celebrity but equal worth. 

Few counties can boast of so many ancient famihes as Shropshire. Pre-eminent 
among the ancient aristocracy of Shropshire is the house of Corbet, descended from 
" Roger, son of Corbet," so called in the Domesday Survey. In Dod of Cloverley we 
recognise the descendant of a Saxon thane. In Gatacre, a family established at Gatacre 
by a grant from Edward the Confessor, and still resident there. Toret was a Shropshire 
landowner in the reign of Edward the Confeasor and WilUam the Conqueror, and his 
lineal descendant is at this day lord of Moreton Corbet The Leightons, seated in 
this county prior to the Conquest, have continued to reside there ever since, deriving 
their origin from the Saxon Lewi, owner both of Leighton and Eyton, in both of 
which manors the Leightons were subsequently interested. Soon after the Conquest 
came the Sandfords, still denizens of the same spot The Kynastons are the lineal 
descendants of the British Princes of Powya. The once powerful families of Cornwall, 
for so many ages Barons of Burford and of Harley, ennobled as Earls of Oxford, have 
existing representatives in Shropshire. Iddon, — son of Rys Sais, a powerfid British 
' Dodd'a Boscobd. 



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SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 31 

eMeftain in the ^iropshire Marches at the period of the Norman Conquest, is the 
ancestor of the family of Edwardes. Forester was chief forester of ^iropahire in the 
reign of Stephen. It would be tedious to ewunerate other families, snch as Eyton of 
Eyton. Flowden of Flowden, Oakley of Oakley, who have held and retained their 
patrimonial estates from the times of Henry I, Bichard I, and Henry III.^ 

The name of Olive, the hero of Plaasey, will ever be memorable in the annals of 
Shropshire as the founder of the British empire in India. By his indomitable courage 
and intuitive sagacity he first established the prestige of the English name, and laid the 
foundation of that supremacy of the British crown which has been so recently and so 
successfully asserted. Time has set his seal on what was good and what was great in 
the character of CUve, and a grateful p(»terity has erected, in the chief town of his 
native county, a suitable and enduring memorial of one of England's greatest sons. So 
long as the profession of anns continues to be honoured amongst ua, the services of Hill 
must ever be freshly remembered. Ever ready at the call of duty, always foremost in 
the post of danger, Wellington's gallant comrade EUid most trusted friend, has fotmd a 
fitti]ig monument in the noble column which adorns the best approach to Shrewsbury. 

Of materials which exist for a history of Shropshire it may suf&ce to indicate the 
Diocesan Registers of Lichfield, commencing in 1296, and of Hereford, beginning in 
1275 ; extracts from both will be found in the Rev. J, B. Blakeway's Shropshire 
C<^lections, in the Bodleian Libtaiy. Of monastic chartularies, the only four known to 
exist are those of Shrewsbury, Hanghmond, Lilleshall Abb^s, imd of Wombridge Priory. 
The first may be consulted in the Bodleian Library, the second is in the collection of Sir 
Thomas Fhillipps, Bart, at Middle HOI ; that of Haughmond belongs to Lady Brinckman, 
the proprietor ; and the Lilleshall, to its owner, the Duke of Sutherland. The Register 
of Wenlock Priory is in the possession of Lord Forester, at Willey. Visitations of 
Shropshire will be found at the College of Arms, and in the British Museum, and in the 
Shrewsbury School Library. The pedigrees of the Shropshire &milies, compiled by the 
lamented Mr. Joseph Morris, with a diligence only equalled by that of his late 
brother George, wHl, I trust, be preserved in the British Museum, or in some other 
trustworthy repository where their merits and laborious accuracy may be rendered 
subservient to the researches of future genealogists. 

The A/aiquittes of Shrop^ire, from an old manuscript of Edward Lloyd, Esq., 
of Drenewydd, revised and enlarged from private and other manuscript^ was published, 
with illustrationB, by Mr. Thomas Farmer Dukes, of Shrewsbury, in 1844. It contains 
a list of things relating to Shropshire, and of the portraits of its distuiguiahed persons. 
The Roll of the Sheriffs of Shropshire, from the conquest to 1 830, with notices of their 
■ 8m Mr. E. P. Shirley's Nobh and GenUe Mm of England. 1869. 4to. 



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32 SHROPSHIRE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 

families, compiled, and left unfinished, l^ the Rev. John Brickdale Blakeway, was posthu- 
monaly published in 1831. Mr. Hulbert publiahed a History ofSahp/m quarto, in 1837. 
The Antiquities of Shropshire, illustrating its history from the Norman Conquest to the 
death of Henry the Third, a period involving two centuries of years, a succession of 
eight kings, and the lives of six generations of princes of the Norman dynaaty, was 
commenced by the Rer. Bobert William Eyton in 1853, and has recently been completed 
in twelve octavo volumes, forming the most valuable and important work which has 
hitherto appeared on the history of Shropshire. 

The civil and ecclesiastical history of Shrewsbury, compiled from authentic docu- 
ments by the Venerable Archdeacon Hugh Owen, and the Kev. J. B. Blakeway, in 
1825-6, may justly be considered as a model for this species of composition. It had 
been preceded by OUver Matthews' Account of Shrewsbury in 1616, and by Thomas 
PhiUipa' History of Shrewsbury in 1779. The Hon. Robert Henry Clive edited some 
documents relating to the Lords Marchers, and connected with the History qfl/udhw, in 
1841. The Hi^ory of Ludlow and its neighbourhood has been given by Thomas Wright, 
in 1841-2. The History of 0swe8tr§, by Pennant^ was edited by Edwards in 1819, 
and the Hi^ory of Wem was published by the Rev. Samuel Garbett, in 1818, octavo. 
He AntiguUies of Bridgnorth, with some historical notice of the town and casde, 
have been illustratod by the Bev. G^eorge BeUett, and published in that town in 1856, 
12mo. The Eev. Charles Henry HartBhome published his inquiry, from personal survey, 
into the druidical, inilitaiy, and other early remains in Shropshire and the north Welsh 
borders, with a Glossary of words used in the comity of Salop, under the title of 
Stdopia Antigua, in 1841. The Bev. W. Nightingale compiled a descriptdon of the 
county of Salop, which forms part of the series known as the Beauties of England and 
Wales ; and Mr. Fidgeon has recently published an historical and illustrated handbook 
for the town of Shrewsbury. 

The picturesque views in Shropshire have been frequently delineated, more par- 
ticularly by Pearson in his Antiquities, and more recently by Calvert, as well as in other 
unfinished works and separate engravings. In Buck's Views, Lilleshall Abbey is 
represented with its second tower remaining ; and Tong Castle is shown in its ancient 
state. The value of records of this class is fairly tested by such examples as these 
engravings present. Let no archseologist be without Ins pencil, and the ability to use it 
The most valuable collection of drawings of Shropshire churches, now in the British 
Museum, derives great importance from the fact that many of the ecclesiastical structures 
have been subsequently taken down and i-eplaced by other, and oftentimes fatter, 
iabrics. 

It may well be that one of the happiest results of the present Congress will be to 



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SHROPSHISE, ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 33 

Bupplement and enlai^ our knowledge of a county, for wMch the materials of history 
are so abundant, and which have not yet, so far as r^ards modem times, been turned 
to practical account The best acknowledgments of this Association are due to those 
who, from far and near, whether connected with this locality or otherwise, have promoted 
this moat desirable object by their contributions of papers. These valuable commu- 
nications are sufficiently numerous and extensive to form a separate volume, and will 
tend to elucidate the history and antiquities of Shropshire. They may excite the 
emulation of some local antiquary to continue and complete the work which Mr. Eyton 
has BO well b^un; and t^ey will, at all events, form a permanent record of the anti- 
quarian zeal and the literary taste of the CongresB now assembled, where fiair Shrewsbury 
" Byes her bright form in Severn's ambient iniTe."' 



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THE CASTLES OF SHROPSHIRE AND ITS BORDERS. 



THE REV. ROBERT WILLIAM EYTON, M.A., F.S.A. 



CONSIDERED aa architectural monumente, the feudal castlea of England hare 
nearly vanished. The ruins which remain are few in number, and more or less 
fragmentary in character. But, as historical monuments, castles, whose former e^tence 
is only known by tradition, or whose sites can only be determined by the excavator, are 
just as available to the theorist, as they were when every tower and buttress maintained 
its place. In the review now to be taken, a level piece of pasture land at Church 
Stretton, a terraced plantation at Caus, some bits of mimic antiquity at Shrewsbury, and 
the genuine and extensive remains at Ludlow, will stand side by side as things of no 
such differential aspect. We shall consider them, not as so many material objects in 
their respective landscapes, but as all connected with great historical vicissitudes, — 
vicissitudes which now at length have their full devdopment and result in the establish- 
ment of the fairest commonwealth upon earth. 

Castle-building, it should be first observed, cannot properly be said to have belonged 
to the genius of the Normans, or of any other people. We talk indeed of Feudal castles; 
but castles were accidental, not essential, to the Feudal ^tem. The multiplication of 
castles at any particular period was the result of an international or a political state of 
things, a symptom rather of social weakness than of dynastic energy, of internal 
dissension rather than of uniform action. 

Not attempting any survey of the numerous camps and fortifications which existed 
in Shropshire during the Roman and British periods, we come to the eera of the Saxona 
Chronicles have recorded for this county but one Saxon fortress. It was the work of 
Ethelfleda, Queen of Mercia, and was built in the year 913. Ethelfleda's castles were 
not mere military foundations. They were usually associated, each with some adjacent 
borough, and their object was to defend the said boroughs against those Danish 
marauders who then threatened every part of the island. The site of Ethelfleda's 
Shropshire castle is still to be discerned. A mound of large area and very regular shape, 
which stands about two hundred yards south of the Castle-hill at Bridgnorth, is doubtless 
the locality in question. This mound, though so close to Bridgnorth, is in the parish of 
Oldbury. Oldbury, or Old Borough, is therefore the town, which, according to all 
aixslogy, we must associate with Ethelfleda's castle. It is further remarkable that, as in 



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THE CASTLES OF SHROPSfflRE AND ITS BORDERS. 35 

the eleventh century, Ethelfleda'a boroagh was called Oldbnry ; so, in the thirteenth 
century, the site of Ethelfleda's caatle waa called "the Old Castle." The borough had 
become a mere hamlet, and the castle a mere name, but the sometime existence of both 
waa preserved in the nomenclature of the district The wonder is that the proximity of 
Bridgnorth had not utterly effaced every vestige of the older foundation. 

In the year 917, Ethelfleda ia said to have completed a town at a place called 
Cyricbyrig. It ia probable that Chirbuiy, in Shropshire, was the locality ; but, aa no 
caatle waa asaociated with the foundation, it does not fall within our present scope. 

When Domesday was compiled, the Norman ascendency had been established in 
Shropahire more than twelve yeara ; nevertheless there were as yet only four Norman 
caatles in the county. Of two of these, namely, Montgomery and Oaweatry, aa being 
Border castles, we will speak in the sequel. Earl Eoger de Montgomery had himself 
founded a third caatle at Shrewsbury. The only feature of this foundation, recorded in 
Domesday, is that fif^-one Saxon Burgages were swept away to make room for it. The 
fourth Domesday Caatle waa that of Stanton, founded by Helgot, one of Eari Roger's 
barons, and afterwarda called Caatle Holgate with reference to its founder. Quatford, it 
laay be observed, ia not to be reckoned among t^e Domesday Caatles of Shiopahire, 
aimply because that record describes it only as a new reaidence (nova domusj con- 
structed by Earl Soger. There ia, however, some probabiHty that, within ten years after 
Domesday, this hunting-lodge of the earl assumed somewhat more of a castdlated 
character. 

The reign of William Kufus found a great Shropshire baron twice in rebdlion. 
This was Boger de Lacy of Ludlow ; and Ludlow Castle was probably built by him 
while meditating one or other of his conspiracies. 

The accesaioQ of Henry I provoked the treason of Bobert de Belesme, the last 
Norman 'Eaxl of Shrewsbury. The first symptom of the earl's designs was the hurried 
constmction of two caatles, one at Bridgnorth, the other at Carrechova, on the Welsh 
Border. The earl'a defeat and forfeiture in 1102 did not cause the destruction of these 
two casUea Both were thenceforth garrisoned for the crown as holding the palatinate 
of Shropahire by escheat ; and the cuatody of Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth Castles was 
ever afterwards, except on some particular emergency, assigned to the Sheriff of Shrop- 
shire, as representing the king. 

Still keeping aloof &om the border, we now come to a question aa to when 
certain inland caatlea were founded by the aeveral barons of Shropshire. The doubt 
hes between the reigns of Henry I and of Ste^^en, but analogy suggeeta that the 
latter reign, as being most disturbed, was moat likely to be prolific of such founda- 
tions. In (me or other of these reigns Cleobury Castle waa founded by the Mortimers, 



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36 THE CASTLES OF SHROPSHIRE AND ITS BORDERS. 

Castle Pnlverbatch by the descendants of Roger Venator, and Wem Castle by 
one of the Fantid&. Among king Henry H's earliest exploits, was a succeasfiil 
siege of Bridgnorth Castle and the destruction of that of Cleobury. To the reign of 
Heniy 11 and to his connexion with the family of Clifford, we may further ascribe the 
foundation of Corfham Castle by the fether of Fair Rosamond. After this it does not 
seem probable that the castles of Shropshire were increased in number till the reign 
of Henry III. Then Henry de Audley, a staunch and active servant of the crown^ 
dispensing with the prestige of a Domesday descent, and overcoming the prejudices and 
disqualifications which attax^ed to a new man, purchased the manor of Weston with the 
Kcense of the crown, and founded thereon the fortress afterwards known as Red Castle.- 
The reign of Edward I presented a still newer feature in the history of castle boilding^ 
Castle Holgate, then in the hands of the Chancellor Bumell, was suffered to go to ruin, 
and in lieu thereof we find the chancellor inaugurating a castellated mansion in his own 
native village of Acton Bumell. Cedant arma togcs was the principle of the age, and an 
English parliament held its session in the recently built halls of Acton BumeLL The 
same reign shows a third influence coming into operation, an influence which in after 
times was to affect the destinies of England more powerfully than either the toga or the 
sword. Hie moated manor-house, now known as Stokesay Castle, was founded in the 
year 1291, and represents the advance of mercantile genius. Its founder, Lawrence de 
Ludlow, had made a fortime by successful trading in the town from which he took his 
name, and had purchased Stokesay manor from its former lords. The character of King 
Edward II for fiivouritiBm has its reflex in the next phase of our subject Charlton 
Castle, built in 1316, was the work of the first Lord Charlton of Powys, a man of humble 
origin, but who owed his great advancement to an early friendship with the weakest, 
though not the most fickle, of the Plantagenets. Nor was the femily thus favoured by 
his father afterwards neglected by King Edward III. One of the earliest records of that 
king's reign is a license to Alan de Cherlton to crendlate or embatUe the two manor- 
houses of Apley (now Apley Castle) and Withyford. 

Besides the castles and mansions above noticed, there were some others whose 
pretensions were small, and some whose sera is very uneertBin. The Fitz-Alana had 
a castle at Wroxeter, the Stranges had one at Cheswardine. Moreton Toret, or {as it 
is now called) Moreton Corbet, had a castle as early as the year 1215, when, in con- 
sequence of Bertram Toret'a disloyalty, the said castle had been seized upon by King 
John, and consigned to the keeping of Tliomas de Erdinton. In the following year, the 
king appoints Eugeram de Pratellis to a like trust. Tirley castle was founded by 
Ralph le Botyler, Baron of Wem, but was left incomplete at his death in 1281. Longnor- 
under-Caradoc was a mansion of some strength in the time of Heniy III, and a dilapidated 



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THE CASTLES OF SHROPSHIRE AND ITS BORDERS. 37 

tower at Brace Meole, sometime a residence of t^e CantUupes, waa etanding in 
Edward I's reign. 

On the whole, we may observe that the period which gave birth to the above-named 
castles, was the period when the contest for power lay chiefly between the crown and 
the laistocracy. The people only appeared upon the stage in the shape of a few fortunate 
indiTidualfi, who attained a position by great diplomatic talents, or by mercantile success, 
and who devoted part of their wealth to the purchase of aristocratic privileges. Also, we 
may remark, that it was the obvious policy of the crown to suppress any multiplication 
of castles, except on a hostile frontier, and to keep the stronger ones in its own hands. 
This policy was neglected in very few instances, viz., at periods when turbulent nobles 
were too numerous or too powerful to be controlled, or when it was a matter of policy 
to strengthen the local influence of a trusted royalist 

We now turn to those border castles which guarded the western frontier of Shropshire 
against the inroads of the Welsh, or which secured faciHties for initiatory or retaliative 
hostilities on the part of the English. These castles may be classified in a kind of 
double seriea The outer, and more westemly chain, commenced with Overton at the 
north, and was made up of such lints as Chirk, Whittington, Oswestry, Knockyn, 
Kinnerley, Carrechova, Alberbury, Wattlesborough, Caua, Montgomery, Snead, Bishop's 
Castle, Clun, Knighton, Norton, and Stapleton-in-Leghamess. The inner, or eastern, 
chain, consisted of the castles of Whitchurch, Ellesmere, Middle, Ruyton, Shrawardine, 
Stretton, and firampton Bryan. 

Of the twenly-four castles, which we thus classify as border-castles, only two 
existed at Domesday. One of these, Montgomery, had been built by Earl Roger himself. 
The other, called " Castle Luure" in the Record, had been built, in the manor of Maesbury, 
by Rainald, the second Norman sheriff of Shropshire. It is probable that Maesbuiy 
Manor involved at that period the site of Oswestiy, and Oswestry castle was in all 
essoitial particulars the after-representative of " Castle Luure." 

The castles of Overton, Chirk, Whittington, Carrechova, Cans, Bishop's Castle, Clun, 
^Vhitchurch, Ellesmere, Shrawardine, and Stretton, are, with more or less certainty, 
deemed to be as old as the reign of Henry I. The rest are probably later, but little can 
be said about their respective seras, except that Knockyn was founded by Guy le Strange 
in Henry ll's reign, and that none of them, except, perhaps, Middle, can be supposed to 
have been built after the conquest of Wales by Edward I. 

Having now taken a synoptical view of the seras and circumstances which gave birth 
to each class of Shropshire castles, it remains that we add such further particulars about 
some of them as have reached us and seem wordiy of recital 

Shrewsbdey Castle, built by Earl Roger de Montgomery, about 1080, was 



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38 THE CASTLES OF SHROPSHIRE AND ITS BORDERS. 

fortified by Earl Eobert against the crown in 1102, but was surrendered to Henry I 
in the same year. In 1138 it was held for a time agaiuBt the arms of Stephen, by 
William Fitz-Alan, a supporter of the empress Maud, and at that time eheriff of 
Shropshire. Stephen eventually took it by assault, tuid put Fitz-Alan's Castellan and 
relation, Amulf de Hesding, to death. The Welsh, under Llewellyn the Great, marched 
upon and took the town of Shrewsbury in 1215. TTiere is no evidence that they gained 
possession of the castle. For the next three reigns (being the limit of these remarks) 
Shrewsbury Castle was continuously held for the crown by the contemporary sheriflFs of 
Shropshire. Part of its garrison was permanent, and was provided for out of the 
revenues which passed through the sheriff's hands. Except the manor of Leaton, no 
other estate in Shropshire owed service of castle-guard at Shrewsbury. In great 
emeigencies a full garrison was provided by special direction of the crown. 

Bridgnoeth Castle, built by Earl Eobert de Belesme, in 1100-1, was surrendered 
to the arms of Henry I in 1102. Hugh de Mortimer, probably relying on some 
antiquated title which he had to the seneaehalqr of Shropshire, held Bridgnorth Castle 
against the crown in 1155, but soon surrendered it It was forthwith garrisoned by 
Henry II, and was held by the contemporary sheiifis, in the same manner, and for the 
same period, as have been indicated under Shrewsbury. Occasionally, however, a special 
constable, other than the sheriff, was appointed by the crown to the custody of Bridgnorth 
Caatle. The Lord of Quat Jarvia and the tenants of Worfield, so long as Worfield 
was a royal manor, were liable to do ward at Bridgnorth Castle ; but this provision only 
extended to a time of war, and was far {rom being equivalent to a full garrison. 
Bridgnorth Castle was frequently visited by its royal owners in person, but rather as 
a halting-place than a residence. 

Castlb Holgate, the foundation of which has been spoken of above, was visited hy 
King Henry I in 1109; and his viceroy, Richard de Belmeis, held a great court there 
about six years later. In the reign of Kichard I it passed to the Mauduits of War- 
minster, as collateral heirs of Helgot's barony. The Mauduits sold it in Henry Ill's 
time to the king's brother, Richard Plantagenet, titular king of the Romans. Under him 
the Knights Templars held it for a season, but the said Richard at length conveyed it to 
Robert Bumell, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and Chancellor of England. It continued to 
be the nominal Caput of Bumell's barony, till that dignity fell into abeyance. 

QtJATFORD Castle, at first a mere hunting-lodge, would seem, from the present 
appearance of its site, to have been considerably strengthened during the latter part of 
its brief existence. It was probably never used as a feudal residence after the foundation 
of Bridgnorth by Earl Eobert de Belesme. 

Ludlow Castle has been already concluded to have been built and forfeited by 



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THE CASTLES OF SHROPSHIRE AND ITS BORDERS. 39 

Roger de Lacy in the reign of William Rufua. Hugh de Lacy, brother of Roger, 
obtained general livery of his estates; but a second escheat of the barony of Lacy took 
place, from unknown causes, in the reign of Henry L Ludlow was then given to Pain 
Fitz-John, sheriff of Shropshire. Pain Fita-John was alain in a Welsh foray in 1136, the 
first year of Stephen's usurpation. It was probably Stephen who conferred Ludlow on 
Joceas de Djman; but, if bo, the latter soon rebelled against his benefactor. In 1139 
Stephen made an unsuccessful attack on Ludlow Castle, and Joceas de DynMi seems to 
have held it on behalf of tiie empress during the whole period of the usiupation. On 
Heniy H's accession Ludlow was undoubtedly restored to Gilbert, the right heir of the 
Lacys. In 1264 Ludlow was in the hands of Geoffrey de Genevill as husband of 
Matilda, the eldest co-heir of the Lacys. Genevill was a royalist, and Ludlow Castle is 
said to have been taken by the Earl of Leicester. This was late in the year 1264, or 
early in the year 1265 ; but the fortress was recovered by the royalists soon after Prince 
Edward's escape from Hereford and before the battle of Evesham. The heiress of the 
Qenevills carried Ludlow to her husband, Roger de Mortimer, Earl of March. Ludlow 
Castle soon eclipsed Wigmore as the caput of Mortimer's fief, and became still more 
famous in its later day as the place where the Lords of the Marches held the court of 
their pecnliar jurisdiction. 

OvEETON Castlb, HOW in Flintshire, was anciently deemed to be in the Walcheria of 
Shropshire. It was one of the four castles which William Peverel of Dover armed against 
the Usurper Stephen, in the year 1138. William Peverel probably inherited it from one 
of his uncles, both of whom had been high in the favour and confidence of Henry I. The 
original nature of Peverel's title to the estate it is vain to conjecture. 

In 1160 Overton Castle was garrisoned by King Henry II, its castellan being Rc^r 
de Powis, a person of Welsh extraction, but who was probably akin to the Peverels, and 
who certainly was in the continuous service and pay of Henry II. In Richard I's time 
Overton was held, perhaps under the English crown, by Owen son of Griffin de Bromfield ; 
but Wyon, a nephew of Roger de Powis, seems to have had a claim, antagonistic or 
concurrent, to the niMior. Both Wyon de Powis and Owen ap GrifBn made grants 
therein to Combermere Abbey. In the year 1200, King John confirmed Overton to 
Wrannoch and Wenimwin, two grandsons of Roger de Powis, but the grant seems to 
have been ineffectuaL Overton apparently remained with the" Princes of Powis Vadoc, 
but whether these princes were assumed to hold it under the English crown, or in right 
of conquest, there is no evidence. 

Chirk Castle, now in Denbighshire, was sometime in the hands of King Henry II. 
The sheriff of Shropshire, in the years 1165 and 1166, charges the king with sundry 
expenses connected with the custody thereof Again, in the reign of John and the year 



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40 THE CASTLES OF SHROPSHIRE AND ITS BORDERS. 

1212, the sheriff had expended one hundred shillings in adding a wooden tower to the 
castle of " Cherich." During the next reign we find no proof of this castle being in 
English hands, though poasibly the princes of Powis Vadoc owned the king of England as 
their suzerain in respect of Chirk and other estatea In Edward I's reign Roger de 
Mortimer, a younger son of Roger de Mortimer of Wigmore, obtained the guardianship of 
Lewelin, a yoimger son of GriflSth ap Madoc, last Prince of Powis Vadoc. Chirk was 
part of Lewelin's heritage, but, by some contrivance or other, his guardian obtained 
absolute possession of his estates, and transmitted them to two descendantB of the House 
of Mortimer of Chirk. The castle and lordship were ultimately sold by John de Mortimer 
to Richard, Earl of AnmdeL 

Whittington Castle. — This, like Overtcm, was one of the castles which in the year 
1138 were fortified by William Peverel of Dover on behalf of the empress. Whatever 
may have been the nature of William Peverel's tenure, Henry II, on ascending the 
throne, did not allow Whittington to pass to either of the said William's sisters and 
coheirs, but resumed it into the rc^al demesne. It was next given to Geoffrey de Vere, 
but evidently with some limitation as to title. At that baron's death in 1170, the king 
seized upon Whittington, but afterwards gave it to that Roger de Powis of whom we 
were lately speaking. In Richard I's reign Meurich, son of Roger de Powis, was Lord of 
Whittington, but there was a counterKJaimant in the person of Fulk Pitz Warin (II) of 
Alberbury. We have no direct and reliable evidence as to the nature of Fitz Warin's 
claim, but probably it rested on some feoflFment given to his father or grandfather by tie 
Peverela It was eventually recognized by King John in the person of the third Fulk 
fitz Warin (son of the previous claimant), who established his right in the year 1204, 
against Wrenoch, the grandson of Roger de Poyis. This was after Fitz Warin had been 
in rebellion, and under sentence of outlawry for a too pertinacious prosecution of his 



In the year 1223, Whittington Castle was besieged by Lewellyn the Great, but was 
successfully defended, not apparently by its owner, but by the officers of Henry III. Fitz 
Warin's loyalty was matter of some suspicion at the time, but Whittington Castle was 
restored to hi iri in all its integrity during the autumn following the ^ege, and remained 
for ages with his descendants. 

Oswestry Castle, as we have abeady presumed, was identical with the Castle 
Luure of Domesday, and, if so, was the work of Rainald de Bailleul, second Norman 
sheriff of Shropshire. Certamly the town of Oswestry, as a Norman settlement, existed 
at the date of Domesday, though the name of Oswestry does not occur in that Survey, 
This was because Maesbury had been, and still was reputed to be, the caput of the manor 
in which Oswestry stood. The Welsh chronicle asserta that Oswestry Castie was built by 



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THE CASTLES OF SHROPSHIRE AND ITS BORDERS. 41 

Madoc ap Meredyth towards the close of the year 1118; and indeed it is very probable 
that at that period the Welsh had gained a great ascendancy on the Border. But the 
Welsh occupation of Oswestry must have been at most ephemera]. Certainly William 
fitz Alan, who died in 1160, was in full possession of Oswestry, both castle, town, and 
lordship ; and all three remained continuously with his descendants till a comparatively 
late period of history. In August 1216, the rebellion of the first John fitz Alan provoked 
an attack upon Oswestry by King John. The town was reduced to ashes, but we do not 
hear that the castle was surrendered. 

As regards its garrison in time of war, Oswestry was far better provided for than 
any other castle of Shropshire. The fief of Fitz Alan, technically known as die Barony 
of BloTicmijtster, was enormous ; and nearly every tenant tiierein owed some quota of 
service to Oswestry Casde. 

Knockyn Castle, founded by Guy le Strange of Weston and Alveley, in the reign 
of Henry II, passed on that baron's death in 1 1 79 to his son KalpK The latter died 
without issue in 1195, and leaving ihree sisters as his co-heirs. These ladies and their 
husbands conciured in transferring the manor and castle of Knockyn to their cousin, John 
le Strange (II) of Ness and Cheswardine. A border castle and estate was no fit matter 
for female coparcenary. 

Knockyn was the scene of a signal defeat, sufifered by the fifth John le Strange in 
the year 1295, when Madoc, the alleged son of Lewellyn ap Gruffyth, rebelled against 
King Edward, and was so far succes^ul in the outset as to have meditated a march 
upon Shrewsbury. 

KiNNERLEY Castle existed in the year 1223, when it was taken by Lewellyn the 
Great It is uncertain who was its founder or who its occupant at the time of its capture. 
Baldwin de Hodnet, so far as he was concerned in its defence, seems to have acted 
merely as lieutenant for the king. The right lord of the manor of Einnerley was Madoc 
ap Griffin of Sutton. He was the king's IcUimer or interpreter, in Welsh negotiations, 
and being of Welsh origin, was perhaps too far compromised by his Wekh connections to 
allow of his being intrusted with his own castle. It seems that Lewellyn's capture of 
Kinnerley Castle was in effect its destruction, for we hear nothing further of it. We know 
that twice more, during the reign of Henry III, the Welsh occupied the district about 
Kinnerley, but it transpires incidentally that, on the last occasion, they found only a few 
buildings to destroy. 

Carrechova Castle was, as we have seen, built by Earl Robert de Belesme in 
1101-2. The Shropshire Pipe-RoUs, fix»m 1159 to 1163, show it to have been then 
garrisoned by King Henry II, In the latter year, according to the Welsh accounts, it 
was captured and dismantled by Owen Cyvelioc, Prince of Higher Powis, acting in con- 



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42 THE CASTLES OF SHROPSHIRE AND ITS BORDERS. 

cert with Owen Vachan, a younger son of Madoc ap Meredyth, the late Prince of Lower 
Powia. In 1 1 65 Carrechova Castle was again in the hands of Heniy II. In 1187 Owen 
Vachan, above mentioned, was murdered at Carrechova by Gwenwynwyn, Prince of 
Higher Powia, and his Illegitimate brother Cadwalhon. In l^e years 1194-5 Carrechova 
was strongly garrisoned by direction of King Eichard I, whose Viceroy, Archbishop 
Hubert, was conducting a mining experiment in the neighbourhood. John and Kalph le 
Strange were castellans of the fortress, and it is quite clear that the latter died while thus 
employed. The silver mines of Carrechova appear to have cost King Richard much more 
than they produced, and the project of workir^ them was abandoned. In 1212 Robert 
de Vipont was acting for King John as constable of the foor castles of Oswestry, Chirk, 
Carrechova, and E^elawe. The next year the king appointed John le Strange to the 
custody of Carrechova, and this is the latest notice of the castle which we are able to 
cite. 

Albebbubt Castle was the stronghold of the Pitz-Warins before they obtained 
Whittington- They held it under the Barons of Cans. In the reign of Henry III, Thomas 
Corbet of Cans, taking advantage of a hasty expression of the Fulk Fitz-Warin of that 
day, and interpreting it as a renunciation of fealty, ejected him fi»m the manor and 
lands of Alberbmy ; but it is curious that Fitz-Warin was strong enough to retain the 
castle in defiance of his suzerain, and that he also recovered the manor by process of 
law. Towards the close of Henry Ill's reign, Alberbury Castle passed to a younger 
branch of the Fitz-Warins. 

Wattlesbobouoh Castle was the Border residence of a branch of the Corbets of 
Caus, tmder whom the manor was held. From the Corbets it descended through the 
Mouthes and the Burghs to the Leightons. It was maintained as a residence by these 
successive families till the beginning of the last century. The single remaining tower of 
this castle is now inhabited as a farm-house. 

Caus Castle seems to have been a fortress of uncommon strength and extent It 
was probably founded by Roger Fitz-Corbet, the Domesday Baron ; but in that record no 
caatle is mentioned, and the estate afterwards attached to Caus Castle is described as 
AJretone. 

The early descent of the Barons Corbet of Caus is quite firagmentary. We know not 
what brought their castle into the hands of Pain Fitz-John, the SherifF of Shropshire, in 
the year 1134 ; but while in his custody we are told by Ordericus that it was taken and 
burnt by the Welsh. Again, in 1165, Chaus Castle, as it is writtai, was garrisoned by 
King Henry II. This was probably because of the minority or other disqualification of 
the representative of the Corbets. In 1217 Caus Castle was again in royal custody. 
This was owing to the recent rebellion of Thomas Corbet, the eldest son and apparent heir 



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THE CASTLES OF SHROPSHIRE AND ITS BORDERS. 43 

of Bobert Corbel^ the existing baron. The Earl of Chester was ordered to restore it to 
itfl owner by a writ royal of November 13, 1217. When, in the fourteenth century, the 
estates of the Corbels were divided amongst their co-heirs, Cans Castle, being of the emecy 
of the elder sister, passed to the Barons Stafford. 

Montgomery Castle. — The castle which Earl Roger founded, Euid to which he gave 
his own name, was taken by the Welsh about the year 1095, being then garrisoned by 
Hugh, Earl Shrewsbury. William RnfiiB, in the same year, attempting to revenge this 
insult by an invasion of Wales, met with nothing but loss and disappointment On the 
forfeiture of Earl Robert in 1102. Henry I gave the caatle and honour of Montgomery to 
Baldwin de Boilers, whose wife, Sibil de Faleise, is said to have been the king's niece. It 
was with reference to the said Baldwin's tenure of Montgomery, that the Welsh called the 
place Tri Valdwyn. The male line of De Boilers expired with a second Baldwin in the 
year 1207. His heir-general was William de Courtenay, who in turn died without issue 
after seven years enjoyment of the barony. At first King John recognized Thomas de 
Erdinton as heir of Montgomery, but afterwards the claim of William de Cantilupe pre- 
vailed. It does not appear, indeed, diat either King John or King Henry III allowed 
these clidms in all their weight, or in respect of the castle and chatellany of Montgomery. 
Erdinton had for a time custody of the fortress, but he was afterwards reimbursed for his 
expenses. Cantilupe, on the other hand, never had the castle at all, but only certain 
estates, more or less distant, which were often spoken of as constituting the " Barony of 
Montgomery". The caatle and chatellany were, &om the time of Henry Ill's accession, if 
not earlier, deemed to have escheated to the Crown. From the seventh to the tenth year 
of his reign we find that prince busy in erecting a new castie at Montgomery, at an enor- 
mous outlay. The work was hardly complete when the whole chatellany of Montgomery, 
including both caatle and borough, was given to Hubert de Burgh, the reigning favourite. 
To enable the Earl of Kent to maintain his position on the Border, all the military ser- 
vices, which had heretofore been returnable at Shrawardine, were made returnable at 
Montgomery. In May 1231, the garrison of Montgomery intercepted a party of Welsh 
plunderers, and all the prisoners were, by De Burgh's order, put to death. Lewellyn soon 
had his revenge, in the shape of an ambuscade, into which Walter de Godarvill, Con- 
stable of Montgomery, and the whole garrison, were betrayed. The fall of De Buigh in 
1232 again threw Montgomery Castle into the king's hands. It so remained till 1254, 
when both castle and chatellany formed part of the provision which the WJTig made for his 
son Edward. During Montfort's rebellion, and while the king was a captive, we have a 
curious episode about this casde. Adam de Montgomery, the castellan of Prince Edward, 
refused to surrender his tfust to a nominee of Montfort's, though the king himself was 
obliged to back tiie demands of his gaoler. It seems that Prince Edward's order, 

a2 



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44 THE CASTLES OF SHROPSHIRE AND ITS BORDERS. 

which was what the castellan required, was at length obtained, and the castle was 
given up. 

In September, 1267, the treaty of Montgomery was concluded between Henry III 
and Lewellyn, who were both present in person. It was the last of those empty formali- 
ties which characterized the diplomacy of England and Wales. When Edward became 
ting, he exercised his suzerainty at Montgomery through the medium of a custoa or 
fermor, who paid a certain rent to the crown for the profits of his post* and discharged 
the duties of constable of the castle. 

The :&mily of De Hodnet were hereditary seneschals of Montgomery, and had a 
residence within the castla Their heir^general carried the office into the hands of the 
Ludlows of Hodnet and Stokesay, 

Snead Castle is perhaps a creature of the imagination. The only evidence of its 
existence is that a writ-royal of July 11, 1233, deputes one William de Boeles to the 
custody of " the castles of Montgomery and Sneth." A writ of the previous month 
speaks of the " Castle of Montgomery and Sneth" as if there was only one castle, which, 
if only one, was of course situate at Montgomery. 

Bishop's Castle was built within seventy years after Domesday by one of the Bishops 
of Hereford. Its object was clearly to guard the great Episcopal Manor of Lydbury 
North from Welsh a^iresaion. In the twelfth century it was always called Lydbury 
Castle, Every bishop of Hereford necessarily incurred the military duties of a lord 
marcher by virtue of this tenure. At the time of Henry II's accession, Lydhuiy Castie 
was in the hands of Hugh de Mortimer of Wigmore, who seems to have obtained pos- 
session of it from the mild and pacific Eobert de Betun, the late bishop. Gilbert Foliot, 
Betun's successor, was a prelate of a different stamp, and undoubtedly recovered the castle 
from Mortimer. 

In April, 1263, we find Prince Edward, as a lord marcher, ui^g his father to insist 
on Bishop Aqua-blanca's personal residence at Lydbury Castle, for the better defence and 
security of those parts. In July following the castle was stormed, and the constable slain 
by John Fitz-Alan and his followers. The cumulatiTe damages resulting from this out- 
rage were estimated at more than one thousand merks ; but Fitz-Alan's death, in 1267, 
probably prevented any legal or regular reckoning. 

In May, 1290, we have some account of a four days' visit paid by Bishop Swinfield 
to this his baronial residence. Whoso would learn how a bishop and his suite fed in those 
days, will find full particulars in Swinfield's Household Roll, but no facts of any topo- 
graphical interest 

Bishop's Castie, it should be observed, was very efficienUy garrisoned from local 
resources. In time of war, nearly all the episcopal tenants throughout the enormous 
manor of Lydbury owed service of castie-guard at this fortress. 



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THE CASTLES OP SHROPSHIRE AND ITS BORDERS. , 45 

Clun Castle was probably built by Picot, the Domesday lord of the manor. 
Picof B real name was Robert de Say, and Ficot was merely an agnomen. This branch 
of the Says meiged in an heir female, namely, Isabel, daughter of Hellas, and probably 
great grandchild of Robert, de Say. She became, at the very beginning of Henry II's 
reign, the wife of William Fitz-Alan of Oswestry, and ancestress by him of the English 
house of Fitz-Alan. After William Fitz-Alan's death she remarried, first with Geoffrey 
de Vere, and afterwards with William Boterell. It was about 1195-6, and while Boterell 
was holding the barony of dun, that the castle was Btormed and burnt by Rese, a Prince 
of South Wales. The third William Fitz-Alan died at Clun Castle, about Easter 1215. 
John, his brother and heir, was at once in rebellion gainst T^irig John, and it was owing 
to this that the king made an attack upon Clun Castle in August 1216. The particulars 
of what happened on this occasion have not transpired. The king's march was too rapid 
to make it probable that anything more than a surprise was intended. 

In 1233 there were again some suspicions as to the loyalty of John Fitz-Alan, and 
we find that Clun Castle was in custody of the crown. An inquest of the year 1272 
describes Clun Castle as small but strongly built Some additions projected by the third 
John Fitz-Alan had apparently been interrupted by his recent decease. 

Clun Castle was garrisoned in war-time by the military tenants of the barony. 
Nine out of the ten knights'-fees which composed the said barony owed this kind of 
service to the Lord of Clun. 

Kmighton Castle is .first heard of in the year 1190. Both it and the Castle of 
Norton were in the hands of lUchard I by the escheat of Roger de Chandos. Walter de 
CUfibrd (11), Hugh de Say of Richards Castle, and William de Braose, acted for the king 
in several matters pertaining to the custody of these two castles. In 1207 King John 
bestowed Knighton and Norton on Thomas de Erdlnton. The latter, about l^e time of 
Heniy Ill's accession, gave up both manors to Hugh de Mortimer, of Wigmore, in 
exchange for a goodly estate in Hampshire. The Mortimers contrived to attract 
Knighton and Norton into their feuichise of Wigmore, so that, before the end of the 
thirteenth century, both places ceased to be accounted as members of Shropshire. 

The Castle of STAPLBTON-iN-LBOHARNEsa was probably founded in the twelfth 
century. The barons of Richards Castle had considerable estates hereabouts, and one of 
them must be accepted as the founder. In 1207 we hear of Stapleton Castle being in 
the custody of Eling John. This was owing to the minority and widowhood of Margaret 
de Say, the heir of the said barons. 

From the few notices which we have of Stapleton Castle, we may condude it to 
have been a fortress of very inconsiderable pretentions. 

WHiTcmjECH Castle. William de Warren, the Domesday lord of Weston (aa 



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46 THE CASTLES OF SHROPSHIRE AND ITS BORDERS. 

WMtcburch was t^en called), married a step-daughter of William the Conqueror, and 
was created Earl of Surrey by WUliam Rufus. He, perhaps, was founder of Whitchurch 
Castle. In the reign of Stephen or of Henry H, Whitchurch passed to a younger branch 
of the Warrena One of this younger branch, William Fitz-Eanuli was possessed thereof 
in 1199, when the chief justice of England ordered the sheriff of Shropshire to give him 
ten merks towards the repairs of his Castle of Album Monasterium. In 1240, though 
general livery of his deceased father's estates was allowed to William, son of William de 
Warren of WTiitchurch, the castie was retained by the crown for a time, probably because 
of the youth of the heir, and its importance as a Border fortress. William de Warren, 
thus succeeding, left, at his decease in 1260, none but female issue. Whitchurch Castle 
was again for a time in custody of the crown, probably owing to the circumstance that 
the eldest co-heiress was imbecile. It at length passed to the second sister, namely, 
Alianore, wife, first of Robert le Strange, and secondly of Bevis de Knovill The Castle 
of Whitchurch, or, as it was afterwards called, the Castle of Blackmere, remained with 
the descendants of Robert le Strange ; in short, its possession gave to that great 
baronial house the distinctive name of "Strange of Blackm^e." 

Ellesmere Castle, bmlt before the end of Henry I's reign, was one of the Border 
fortresses which that monarch entrusted or gave to William Peverel of Dover. It was 
also one of the castles which William Peverell the younger, nephew and heir of the 
original grantee, fortified f^ainst Stephen in 1138. King Henry II, on his accession to 
the throne, recalled Ellesmere into the royal demesne. This was in 1154-5, and in 1177 
the king gave it to David ap Owen, who had mairied his illegitimate sister, Emma. 
David enjoyed the estate tail he became the prisoner of his nephew Lewellyn in 1198. 
His wife then held it for a time ; but King John, succeeding to the throne in 1199, 
never allowed the claim of David, or of his son Owen, to this estate, except that he gave 
the latter an equivalent elsewhere. John gave Ellesmere in 1205 to Lewellyn ap 
Jorworth, now his son-in-law ; and Thomas de Erdinton, custos of the castie, was ordered 
by a writ of March 23rd to smrender it to the Welsh Prince. Lewellyn's subsequent 
rebellion against his father-in-law of course involved the forfeiture of his English estates. 
In December 1208 we find the king addressing Bartholomew Turot (or Toret, as I 
suppose l^e name should have been written) as Castellan of Ellesmere. William, Earl of 
Salisbury, the king's half-brother, Robert Level, Thomas de Erdinton, and John Marescall, 
successively appear in the same trust. One of Henry IH's earliest negotiations with 
Lewellyn restored to the latter his Ellesmere possessions ; but the year 1231 and the 
campaign of Elvein closed all further pretensions of the Welsh Prince to anything which 
involved an English fealty. Thenceforth, till July 1253, Ellesmere Castle and manor 
were in custody of the contemporary sheriffe of Shropshira John de Gray became 



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THE CASTLES OP SHROPSHIRE AND ITS BORDERS. 4? 

Fennor of EUeamere in 1253, but lost the post in October 1256, when tie manor was 
granted to Prince Edward for a term of ten years, and for a fee-farm rent of £30 per 
annum. The castle was at the same time put into a state of repair at the king's expense. 

It was probably the Mad Parliament of 1258 that thrust Peter de Montfort into the 
office of governor of Ellesmera Presuming on the permanence of his office, he purchased 
adjacent estates, which he was fain to sell to Hamo le Strange, when the latter was 
rewarded for his loyal services by a grant of Ellesmere for a term of seventeen years. 
This was in 1263 ; but what happened at Ellesmere during the rebellion of 1264-5 we 
are not told, Simon de Montfort appears, indeed, as offering it to Lewellyn ap Uriffyth, 
as part of a great bribe wherewith that unscrupulous diplomatist endeavoured to hound on 
the Welshman against the Boyalists of the Marchea It would seem, however, that 
Hamo le Strange either kept possession of Ellesmere, or was reinstated therein, as soon 
as tht &U of Montfort at Evesham had restored the king to his prerogatives. In 
February 1267 Hamo le Strange's tenure of Ellesmere was still further secured and 
enlaced. The king gave him the manor, castle, and hundred of Ellesmere, with only 
one qualification of a grant in fee, namely, that the whole might at any time be resumed 
by the crown on providing the grantee or his heirs with dn. equivalent elsewhere. Hamo 
le Strange, before he left England for the Crusade of 1270, enfeoffed his brother Boger in 
Ellesmere. He himself died in Palestine, leaving no issue, and being probably unmarried. 
On hearing of his death, the fiscal officers of Uie crown seized Ellesmere as an escheat 
and disregarded Koger le Strange's title thereto ; but, in 1276, King Edward restored it 
to the sadd Roger for his life. On Roger le Strange's death in 131 1 Ellesmere once more 
reverted to the crown, and was &nned by divers persons till 1330, when Edward III 
gave it to Eubolo le Strange and his wife Alice de Lacy, with remainder to the heirs of 
the latter. Both Eubolo and Alice eventually died without issue, but the entail which 
took effect seems to have been one on the heirs of the fcormer ; for Soger le Strange, son and 
heir of John le Strange {VI) of Knockyn, dder brother of the said Eubulo, became Lord 
of Ellesmere, and transmitted it to his descendants. 

Middle Castle was a mansion of the Stranges of Ness, who held the manor under 
Fitz-Alan. It was first crenellated or embattled, by the fifth John le Strange, in t&e year 
1308, 

KnVTON Castle existed in the year 1313. The manor had been previously held 
under Fitz-Alan by the Stranges of Ness, but about the year 1300 John le Strange (V) 
had sold or surrendered his tenancy to Edmund, Earl of Arundel Half the manor of 
Great Withyford, held by Fitz-Aer under Le Strange and by Le Strange under Fitz-Alan, 
owed suit and service to Ruyton Castle. 

Shbawabdine Castle stood on an estate of the Fitz-Alans, but was probably built 



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48 THE CASTLES OP SHROPSHIRE AND ITS BORDEES. 

by orvltT of Kiog Heniy L It was repaired and garrisoned by the crown for about a 
ceutur)- ; and there were at least a dozen estates in Shropshire and Staffordshire which 
were hi'Id imnieiUately of the crown, by the seijeantry or service of doing certain quotas 
of casUe-guard at Shrawardine. These estates were chiefly such as had accrued to the 
crown by Post-Domesday Escheats, and particularly by the Escheat of Gerard de Tomai. 
From ft n>cord of the year 1221, it appears that Shrawardine Castle had been razed by 
the Welsh. This was probably an aflfair of some standing ; likely enough to have taken 
place in the year 1215, when Lewellyn the Great had made a determined and a successful 
inroad, not merely across the Border, but aa far as Shrewsbory, which was taken by 
surprise and occupied by the Welsh, 

Shrawardine Caatle was rebuilt before the year 1240 by the first John Fit/- A Ian, the 
husband of Isabel d'Albini, who was, in her issue, a co-heiress of the Earls of ArundeL 
It may have been with reference to this alliance that the refounded Castle of Shrawardine 
was called " Castle Isabel" 

Shrawardine, thus rebuilt and garrisoned by its hereditary lords, lost those feudal 
accessories which had belonged to it as a royal caslle. All the services, anciently due at 
Shrawardine, were forthwith made returnable at Montgomery. 

In 1272, Shrawardine was allotted as part of the dower of Isabel de Mortimer, 
widow of the third John Fitz-Alan ; and it is quite possible that this was the way in 
which the fortress acquired the name of Castle Isabel The estate remained with the 
Earls of Arundel till the reign of Elizabeth. 

Tradition tells of a young Fitz-Alan, who, dirough the carelessness of his nurse or 
his own temerity, fell from the battlements of Shrawardine Castle, and so perished. 

Chuech-Stretton Castle will have been a royal foundation, but its era is unknown. 
It was standing at the accession of King Henry II, and was in custody of Engelard de 
Pitchford for more than twenty years of that reign ; hence tJie said Engelard was usually 
called "Engelard de Stratton." He was succeeded by other castellans, nominated by 
the crown. From the year 1197 to 1208, the castellan of Stretton was a Welshman, 
namely, Cadwalhon, an illegitimate son of Owen Cyveliok, Prince of Higher Powis. In 
1215, John Fitz-Alan was in rebellious occupation of Stretton Castle, the king's nominee 
to that custody being Hugh de Nevill In 1226, the famous Hubert de Burgh became 
castellan of Stretton and fermor of the manor at an annual rent of £2i. In 1228 and 
1229, Stretton was being farmed by Richard de Minton, a neighbouring landholder. On 
October 18, 1229, King Henry III gave Stretton to Hubert de Bui^h and his heirs, but, 
on the earl's forfeiture in 1232, Stretton Castle and Manor escheated to the crown. In 
1238, the king assigned Stretton and other manors to Henry de Hastings and his wife 
Ada, in lieu of the said Ada's purparty of the county and earldom of Chester. This was 



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THE CASTLES OF SHROPSHIRE AND ITS BORDERS. 49 

only a temporary arrangement, for in 1245 we find Stretton once more in the king's 
banda The sherilfe of Shropshire and other Fermois continued to account for the 
revenues of Stretton till the year 1258, when it appears that the freeholders of the manor 
were farming the same on their own account and as a corporate body. But here our 
proper subject vanishes ; for, previous to the last date, Stretton Castle had gone to ruin, 
and was never, that we know o£, rebuilt 

Bbampton Beyan Castl^ with which our survey doses, was a fortress of third- 
rate importance being, in feet, held by the Bromptona under Mortimer of Wigmore. 
Brampton Bryan was absorbed in the thirteenth century by the fi^nchise of Wigmore, 
and thus became for ever separated &om its previous connexion with Shropshire. On 
the death of Brian de Brompton (IV), in 1295, his manorial residence is merely described 
as " a tower." His service of castle-guard, being returnable at Wigmore, shows that 
Brampton Bryan itself had none of those feudal accessories which should distinguish the 
castle firom the fortified manor-house. 



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ON THE LOCAL LEGENDS OF SHROPSHIRE. 

THOMAS WRIGHT, ESQ., F.S.A. 



MANY persons — possibly some of my hearers — ^would be at first surprised to be told 
that the sort of legends and traditions with which I am going for a short while to 
occupy your attention, deserve any notice from the historian or from the antiquary. In 
fact, historians and antiquaries themselves have been in the habit of treating them with 
neglect till a comparatively recent period, when more enlarged views on arehEeological 
and ethnological science have taught us that even these hitherto despised stories are far 
fkim unimportant materials for the history of the peoples who have passed over, or 
remained on, the surface of the earth. It is a fit occasion, when we are here assembled 
in one of the border counties, where such legends are still to be gathered in some abund- 
ance, to give you a slight sketch of their history and meaning — slight, because the subject 
is a very wide one, and it would be quite impossible, within the limits to which I must 
restrict myself, to enter into it to any extent. So closely are all these legends connected 
with the history of race, that to understand them we must begin by taking our forefethers 
at a period before they had become Christians, or had even set their feet on the shores of 
tiie land of which they made us their inheritors. 

People in the condition in which they then were, possess two things which belong 
to the natural poetry of the human mind — a popular religious faith, and a mythic history, 
both more or less peculiar to the race. The former of these, among our Anglo-Saxon 
ancestors, appears to have consisted chiefly in the belief that all nature was filled with 
spiritual beings — beneficent nymphs in those features of the landscape which presented a 
more cheerful appearance, the pleasant woods and fields, the rivers which ran t^miugh 
them, and especially the spring heads from which they rose, while the wHd and barren 
mountains and moors, and the treacherous morasses, were peopled with beings of a more 
hateful character, who were invariably hostile to the prosperity and happiness of man- 
kind. 

In all the different branches and sub-divisions of the Teutonic race, there were royal 
or heroic families, who traced their descent direct from the deity, their god Woden, the 
genealogical link between the god and the first individual who had any historical exist- 
ence, consisting of a series of personages of a purely mythic character. The story of 
these forms the mythic history of the race, and they are represented as continually 



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on THE LOCAL LEGENDS OF SHROPSHIRE. 51 

engaged in performing extraordinaiy exploits against supernatural enemies of different 
descriptions. As we approach nearer to the soiirce, there is more of what our pagan 
forefathers looked upon as godliness in their character, and their enemies are vaster tuid 
more powerful Thus Thor, one of the immediate offspring of the supreme God, was 
perpetually engaged in hostility against the giants, who were the enemies of the universe 
itself. As we descend in the genealogical scale, we find these heroes engaged in similar 
exploits against monsters of a less divine character, like Beowulf one of the personages 
of the mythic genealc^ of our own race, with his grendels and dragons. These exploits 
were told in the primeval poetry of the people, and thus lived in their memories, and 
formed, on one hand, their literature. After the introduction of Christianity, the real 
import of this literature became forgotten, and it passed through a variety of modifies^ 
tions and changes, in the course of which it was constantly more and more debased. In 
their first changes of form these mjrthic pagan legends gave birth to the medieval 
tomauces, and formed the most important and the most national pari) of the literature of 
Western Europe in the middle ages. In their latest and moat debased form, they were 
turned into the nursery tales which have been the deUght of our childhood. There can 
be no doubt that t^e exploits of that popular hero. Jack the Giant-killer, as well as of 
some other Jacks of the same description, really represent the adventures of the god Thor 
in his expeditions against the giants of Eotenheim. 

fiut these mythic legends were all this while going through another series of modi- 
fications, which are no less remarkable and interesting than their literary history. The 
minstrels, who recited their national poems, and the chieftains, who listened to them in 
their halls, understood these stories as belonging to their race, regarded tlieir heroes as 
real personages, and looked upon them as less ancient than they were; but the people, 
more limited in their knowledge, could only understand them by connecting them with 
visible objects; hence arose a constant practice of localizing the national legends. As 
different tribes migrated from one land to another, they thus localized anew the various 
legends which, intimately bound up with the history and creed of their race, had con- 
stantly travelled along with them. As the old pagan belief gradually melted away under 
the inffuence of Christianity, these legends, now made local, lost tbeir original character 
almost entirely, and became mere tales connected with the locaUty; but when we collect 
them, and compare them with one another, not only in our county, but all over the 
kingdom, and proceed to do the same thing for other countries, for Germany, for Scan- 
dinavia, for the East; and when we find the same or similar legends constantly recur- 
ring; we then arrive at important knowledge as to what they represent, and whence they 
came. It is this which constitutes the ethnological value of our local legends. By the 
similarity of their legends, we are enabled to establish the relationship between nations 

h2 



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52 ON THE LOCAL LEGENDS OF SHR0P3HIRE. 

and tribes where it is otherwise obscure, and we can by these local stories trace their 
primeval migrations &om one part of the world to another, during ages of which we have 
nu historical record. Moreover, through this same process of collecting and comparing, 
we are enabled sometimes, and in some degree, to reconstruct the primitive mythology 
and faith of races when the other memorials of them have perished. 

Such is the origin of the local legends which form the subject I venture on the pre- 
sent occasion to bring before our meeting. Shropshire, like all border counties, where 
the old traditions are preserved much more tenaciously than in other parts, has been, and 
is still, rich in such legends, and I have succeeded in gathering a few which wUl enable 
me to illustrate the remarks I have jast offered to you. 

When any branch of the race to which we belong — I shall confine myself to Teutonic 
traditions, because they are more especially ours, and more has been done towards tracing 
them — when such race settled in a new country, the people began soon to explain to 
themselves the remarkable objects which they did not understand, and they did this 
almost invariably by referring to their legends and traditions. To express their opinion 
of the great magnitude or wonderful character of monuments of the origin of which they 
were ignorant, they often ascribed them to their own gods and heroes, and named them 
accordingly. Thus, one of the most extraordinary entrenchments in the south of England 
was called Woden's Dyke, &om the great Teutonic god; its name is now contracted into 
Wansdyke. Again, one of the principal Eoman roads which crossed our county fixim east 
to west, and another Roman road running through Shropshire from north to south, both 
bear the name of the Watling-street The name, in its Anglo-Saxon form, Wfetlii^a- 
stnet, can only have one meaning — the street or road of the sons of Wsetla, or of the 
family of Wsetla, and accordingly one of the early chroniclers informs us that this road 
was so called because it was made by the sons of king Weetla, but he does not tell us who 
king Wretla was. However, we have another glimpse of light thrown on the matter by 
the circumstance that the Anglo-Saxons gave this same name of Wsetlinga-street, of 
course with the same meaning, to the milky way in the heavens, and we can, therefore, 
hardly doubt that this king Wsetla was one of the heroes of the Anglo-Saxon mythic 
history, and that there formerly existed some legend connecting bim or his sons with the 
terrestrial and the celestial Watling-atrcets. The people of the Teutonic race were not 
accustomed to paved roads, and they had no name for them in their language, for their 
word strtBt was merely the Roman name stratum, and the Roman roads were, therefore, 
always objects of wonder to them. In Wales there are still legends attached to the 
Roman roads, and perhaps road-legends may stUl be met with in some comers of 
England. I am told that it is a matter of belief in the neighbourhood that the road from 
the Craven Arms to Bishop's Castle ia on the line of the first road that was ever made 
in England, and that it "was made very long ago to go across from sea to sea." 



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ON THE LOCAL LEGENDS OF SHROPSHIRE. 53 

But our ancestors, when they aettLed in new lands, were, perhaps, more inclined to 
give t^e names of their gods and heroes to natural objects than to the works of man's 
hand, which they found either perfect or in a state of ruin. In those primitive ages 
every race, and almost every nation, looked upon every other race or nation as their 
"natural enemies," and they generally ascribed monuments and works, of whatever 
description, which were not those of their race, to the enemies of their gods rather than 
to their gods themselves — they were the works of the Eotena or giants. This notion is 
one of the most remote antiquity aonong the Teutonic race, and, in accordance with it, 
our Anglo-Saxon foreftithere were accustomed to speak of the ruined buildings of former 
ages which they found in their island as enta geweorc, the work of the giants. In a 
curious poem preserved in the valuable collection of Anglo-Saxon poetry known as the 
Exeter Book, p. 291, which has been entitled 7%e Wanderer, the author, speaking of a 
scene of desolation in which everything was left in ruin, says : — 

eald euta geweorc The old works of gianta 

idln stodon. stood desolate. 

In another beautiful poem, in the same collection, p. 476, which has been entitled 
The Ruin, but which, unfortunately, is only a fragment, the poet, describing a ruined 
town, such as our Wroxeter no doubt was at that period, exclaims: — 

Wnetlic is ]>eB weal-stan, Wondrous is this wall-stone, 

wyrde gebnecon, the &tes have broken it, 

bujg-stede borston ; have burst the bnigh-place ; 

brosna^ enta geweorc. the work of giants ia perishing. 

The giants are frequently associated with mma and ancient reUcs in the legends of 
this country. In the history of the Fitz-Warines we are given to understand that the 
ruined Eoman city of Uriconium, which we are now exploring at Wroxeter, had been 
taken possession of by the giants. Sometimes, in these legends, the very names of the 
Teutonic mythic personages are preserved. Thus a legend in Berkshire, which was 
brought before the Associarion in its meeting at Newbury last year, has preserved the 
name of the Northern and Teutonic smith-hero, Weland, the representative of the clas- 
sical Vulcan. The name of Weland's father. Wade, is preserved in the legend of 
Mulgrave Castle, in Yorkshire, which is pretended to have been built by a giant of that 
name. A Boman road, which pa^es by it, is called Wade's Causeway, and a large 
tumulus, or cairn of stones, in the vicinity, is popularly called Wade's Grave. According 
to the legend, while the giant Wade was building his castle, he and his wife lived upon 
tiie milk of an enormous cow, which she was obliged to leave at pasture on the distant 
moors. Wade made the causeway for her convenience, and she assisted him in building 



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64 ON THE LOCAL LEGENDS OF SHROPSHIRE. 

the caatJe by bringing him quantities of large stones in her apron. One day, aa she 
was carrj-ing her burden of stones, her apron-string broke, and they all fell to the 
-ground, a great heap of about twenty cart-loads, and there they still remain as a memo- 
rial of her industry. Another castle in Yorkshire, occupying an early site, was said, 
according to a legend mentioned by Leland in the sixteenth century, to have been built 
by a giant named Ettin. It is hardly necessary to remark that this is a mere corruption 
of the name of the eotenas, or giants of Teutonic mythology. 

These giants have left their traces in our county of Salop. A mass of large stones, 
or rather of rocks, on the summit of the Titterstone Clee Hill, overlooking the vale of 
Ludlow, is called the Giant's Chair ; and there may probably still ezist a popular legend 
in explanation of the nama A somewhat similar heap on the highest point of the 
mountain range of the Stiperstones probably had formeriy the same name, though it is 
now called the Devil's Chair, and it has a legend attached to it not unlike that of Wade's 
Grave, in Yorkshire. According to this story, the demon, having to carry a great 
quantity of stones over the mountain to some locality, which I at least have forgotten, 
trussed them up in a leathern apron, and proceeded sturdily on his way. As he 
approached the top of the hill one comer of the apron slipped out of his hand, and a few 
of the stones fell and formed a small heap ; a little further on he dropped a few more ; 
and at last, when he had reached the top, he stumbled and let go two comers of the 
apron at once, in consequence of which the whole mass of stones fell to the ground. 
The evil one cursed them, and vanished ; and the three heaps of stones, the largest of 
which is that called the Devil's Chair, have remained there ever since. A lai^ stone on 
the side of the principal branch of the Brown Clee Hill (Abdon Burf), belonging 
apparently to the class of monuments commonly called druidical, is called the Giant's 
Shaft — shaft, of couxee, signifying an arrow. 

I have heard related, in regard to the orig^ of our celebrated mountain, the 
Wrekin, a still more eurious legend of this kind, the authenticity of which I have no 
reason to doubt. There was once, it is said, a great giant in North Wales, who was such 
a gormandizer that he had soon cleared off the whole produce of the country around 
him, including, I believe, man, woman, and child, and he then cast longing eyes on t^e 
fertile districts on the Border. Thus impelled by hunger aa well as by the innate love of 
evil, the giant despatched a messenger to the people of Shrewsbury to require that they 
should immediately send him a considerable supply, either of cattle, or of "Proud 
Salopians," or perhaps of fair maidens, for these giants of the olden time had a particular 
taste for this latter class of food. The people of Shrewsbury refused to comply with 
this demand, and the giant, in his anger, threatened to destroy both the town and its 
inhabitants. Now, according to the legend, there lived at this time, somewhere, I 



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ON THE LOCAL LEGENDS OF SHROPSHIRE. 55 

believe, in the neighbourhood of Wellington, a wonderful cobler, ■who was so akilful in 
his art that he monopolised the mending of shoes of the inhabitants of Shrewsbury, and 
he Qsed to come at certain times with socks to carry home with him the shoes which 
were in need of his handy-work. Well, the giant set out on his journey, carrying an 
immense spadeful of earth which he intended to throw over the devoted town, and bury 
all its inhabitants alive ; but it happened that he had never seen Shrewsbury, and was 
not well informed as to the road, and he had arrived near Wellington, when whom 
should he overtake but the clever cobler labouring along under die burthen of two great 
sacks full of worn shoes he was carrying home. The giant entered into conversation 
with him, told him where he was going, and let out rather indiscreetly the object of his 
joiimey, but confessed bis ignorance of the road and the distance. The cobler had a 
natuiBl ^mpathy with the town of Shrewsbury, first, because he was on good terms 
with the inhabitants, and, secondly, because if the town were destroyed, his own 
occupation woiild be ruined; so he resolved to out-wit the giant He told him, tiierefore, 
that he knew Shrewsbury very weU, in fact that he was then returning from it, and that 
he, the giant, was in the right track, but added, with a look of discouragement, that it 
was very far off. The giant, who had already had a long walk, and imagined he must 
have reached the object of hia search, inquired with some surprise how many days more 
it wotdd take to walk thither. The cobler said he had not counted the da.j^ but, 
emptying his two sacks on the ground, declared that he had worn out all liiose shoes on 
the journey ; upon which the giants with a movement of disappointment and disgust, 
threw the eart;h fix)m his spade on the spot where it now forms the Wrekin ; and seeing 
that some mold still adhered to the spade, he pushed it off with his foot, and it formed 
Ercall-hill, which still adjoins its loftier neighbour. If this be really an old legend-^ 
and, as I have said, I have no reason for doubting it, except that I have not the same 
direct knowledge of its being current among the peasantry as in the case of the others 
— it affords another illustration of the manner in which the crafty god Thor became 
degraded, in the popular imagination, after the passage of iiie legend through so many 
ages, into so vulgar a person^e as a country cobler. 

It will be right to mention here a circumstance which had from an early period a 
considerable influence in thus debasing the popular legends. The Christian missionaries, 
and the mass of the clergy of the middle ages, did not disbelieve in the existence of the 
various beings included in the ancient pagan and then popular creed, but they taught 
that they were all evil and dangerous spirits — in fact, devife — and they preached this 
doctrine with so much effect that even the beautiful and harmless fairies escaped with 
difficulty from a similar metamorphosis. We have, perhaps, an instance of this in the 
story of the devil's chair on the Stiperstones, where the demon has probably usurped the 



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56 ON THE LOCAL LEGENDS OF SHROPSHIRE. 

place of an earlier giant The Anglo-Saxon population, taught alwajrs to look upon the 
giant race with abhorrence and fear, were more eaaily induced to regfird them as devils 
than any others of the various personages of lieir ancient faith. It is to this trans- 
formation that we owe so many devil's bridges, and other places named after the evU 
one. A glance at the Ordnance-aurvey map of Shropshire will show you, besides the 
devil's chair on the Stiperstones, a devil's mouth, on the eastern side of the Longmynd 
mountain; a devil's causeway (no doubt a Roman road) in the country between the 
Stretton and Wenlock ranges ; a devil's dingle, in the neighbourhood of Bmldwas ; and 
perhaps several other names of the same description, to all which doubtless curious 
legends were once attached. It must be borne in mind that in these legends the 
prominent actor is not the devil, but merely a devil, or in other words a wicked spirit or 
hobgoblin. These devil's chairs, and giant's chairs, appear to have been intimately 
connected with the superstitions of the surrounding districts. It is, I understand, still 
believed in that neighbourhood that, every year on the longest night, all the ghosts 
(including, I suppose, spiritual beings of all kinds, and perhaps witches) of Shropdiire 
" and the counties beyond," assemble round the highest of the Stiperstones to choose 
their king. This is another form of the German legend of the Blocksberg mountain, 
which Gothe has introduced with so much effect in his Faust. 

Next after the giants, the monsters of the old pagan creed, who seized most eagerly 
upon the ruined monuments of the more ancient occupants of the land, were especially 
dragons, who showed a preference for the tumuli, or other burial-places, where, having a 
singular love for riches, they watched with the greatest vigilance over the treasures which 
were supposed to be concealed there. This was an especial attribute of the dragons or 
serpents (for the word was synonymous) of the Teutonic mjrthology, and the great 
mythic heroes were frequently engaged in desperate encounters with these monsters wilii 
an eye quite as much to the acquisition of the wealth of which they were the guardians, 
as to the protection of the people of the country they infested. It was in an exploit of 
this description that the Anglo-Saxon hero Beowulf met his deatL A serious old English 
chronicler, Thomas of Walsingham, relates an event as having occurred on tlie borders 
of Wales in the year 1344, which bears some curious points of resemblance to this part 
of the stoiy of Beowulf. It is stated by the chronicler that, in the year just mentioned, 
a certain Saracen physician (which simply means a magician) went to the Earl of Warren 
to obtain his penmssion to kill a serpent or dragon, which was troublesome in his posses- 
sions, at Bromfield, on the Welsh marches. The dragon was overcome by the incantations 
of the Saracen ; but some words dropped by the latter led to the suspicion that great 
treasures lay hid in the serpent's den. The men of Herefordshire, taking the hint, went 
l^ night, at the instigation of a Lombard, named Peter Pikaid, to dig for the treasure; 



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ON THE LOCAL LEGENDS OF SHROPSHIRE. 37 

and they had just reached it, when the retainers of the Earl of Warren, informed of 
what was going on, fell suddenly upon them and threw them into piison. The earl, it 
is added, made considerable profit by this afiJEur. The Earl of Warren was lord of the 
district of Bromfield in Denbighshire, which Walsingham probably supposed to be the 
scene of this legend ; but the part acted in it by the men of Herefordshire leads me to 
believe that the true locality of the legend was the village of Bromfield near Ludlow, and 
I am not sure that the real serpent's den was not one of the tumuH on the Old Field. 
An event of the same character is recorded by an old monkish chronicler of Worcester, 
to have occuired at Wroxeter in the year 1 287, when an " enchanter," or magician, forced 
the fiend who guarded a biiried treasure to give up the object of his solicitude. In these 
l^nds the magician or enchanter had taken the place of the mythic hero of Teutonic 
stoiy. Treasure legends have been and are very common, because they became located 
at every discovery of buried money, or indeed of any antiquities found in digging 
the ground. One of the most curious of the Shropshire treasure legends which I have 
heard belongs to the neighbourhood of Bishop's Castle. It appears that in that district 
there is a spot of ground, in which, as it is believed, if money be buried for a certain 
length of time, it will be found doubled. I have heard that, within a few years, there 
was in the neighbouriiood a miserly old man, who had saved, for him, the considerable 
sum of £40. and who had a great desire to purchase a small plot of land ; but on inquiry 
the price demanded for it turned out to be more than double the money he had been able 
to save. He was returning home, in a sorrowful mood, when he met an acquaintance, 
who, to console him, told him that a similar thing had happened to himself^ but that he 
had sought and found relief in this plot of ground where the number of coins buried was 
doubled. The miser fell into the snare, and buried carefully in the ground his forty 
sovereigns, with all the formalities required by the legend. At the same minute of the 
following month, which was the time specified by the legend, the miser went to dig up 
his money, and he certainly found it doubled in number of pieces, for instead of forty 
sovereigns of gold, there lay eighty brass buttons. His treacherous friend had disap- 
peared, and his only consolation was the assertion of his other acquaintances, who main- 
tained that his loss was a judgment upon him for making use of "witchcraft." But to 
MB this stoiy is curious, as showing the influence which these old traditions of race still 
exercise upon our peasantry, with whom chiefly the last traces of them are preserved. 

I have spoken of Beowull's encotmter with the dragon ; but the destruction of two 
other monsters forms the most important episode of the history of this hero of Anglo- 
Saxon romance. These were the Grendel and his mother. We have no very clear 
description of these beings ; but their residence was at no great distance from Hrothgar's 



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58 ON THE LOGAL LEGENDS OF BHROPSHIRE. 

residence, at the bottom of a gloomy lake, where they had a palace filled with treaBUieB. 
The locality is described in the following expressive language : — 

Hte djgel loud They that secret land 

warigea^ wulf-hle<5%u, inhabit, the wolTs retreats, 

wiiidige ncesaas, windy promontories, 

frecne fen-gel^, the perilona fen-path, 



where the mountain stream 

nnder nxssa genipu tmder the mists of the promontoriea 

nifier gewitelS, flows downwards, 

fl6d under foldan. the flood tmder the eortL 

Nis faat feor heonon It is not far hence 

mil gemearces, a mile's distance, 

J:iBt se mere standees, that the mere stands, 

ofer jixm hongia% over which hang 

hrinde-bearwas ; barky groves ; 

wudn wyrtum ^st a wood fast by its roots 

wieter oferhelmaS ; the water overshadows ; 

Jioer mceg nihta gehwsem there every night may 

nfi^-wtmdor ee^n, a dire miracle be seen, 

fyr on fl6de. fire in the flood. 

if 6 ^tea finSd leofa^ No one so wise lives 

gnmena beama of the children of men 

j:[et )one grund wite. who the bottom knows. 

These primeval stories of the beings which lived under the water were no doubt the 
origin of a host of mediffival legends relating to lakes and rivers. No one of these is 
more common than that of villages or towns which have been, for some cause or other, 
sunk under the water. Kot far hence, in the parish of Condover, there is a large piece 
of water, or mere (as such small lakes are still called in this county), called Bomere. As 
in the description of the lake of the Grendels in Beowulf it is said that the bottom of this 
pool has never been found. According to the legend, its site was once occupied by a 
village, which was submerged suddenly under a lake of water, as a punishment, accord- 
ing to some versions of the story which I have heard, for the iireligion of the principal 
fanner, who persisted in cutting his grain on a Sunday. This is, no doubt, a Christian 
addition to the original story. It is said that, at intervals, people have obtained glimjMcs 
of buildings and of the woodwork of houses in the depths of the water, and that some 
people have heard children crying below ; and especially, that the church beUs of the 
submerged village are sometimes heard to ring on a Sunday morning. There is also a 
monster in this " mere," in the shape of a gigantic fish, who wears a sword by his mde, 
and employs himsdf, from time to time, in ringing a beU, which is heard more frequentiy 
than the bells of the church. Once upon a time, it was determined to catch this fish, and 



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ON THE LOCAL LEGENDS OF SHROPSHIRE. 59 

a veiy large net was employed, but the fiBhers no sooner began to drag him towards the 
shore than he drew his sword, cut it to pieces, and made his escape. They next employed & 
net of iron, on which the weapon had no efiFect, and they thus succeeded in bringing him 
to land ; but he escaped them again, and probably he frightened them too, for nobody seema 
ever to have repeated the attempt to catch him. This fish is, no doubt, the representar 
tive, in a debased form, of some monsters of the same class as Beowulf s Grendel and his 
dame ; and it may be added that the hero found in their dwelling at the bottom of the 
lake stores of swords and other weapons. I have heard, further, that an attempt was 
once made to empty the lake by draining off the water through a channel, but that this 
attempt was defeated through some imknown agency, which filled up every night as 
much of the channel as had been dug during the previous day. 

Among the more curious of these legends, always Teutonic, or, which is the same 
thing a little modified by date, Anglo-Saxon, are those relating to the rude monuments 
in stone, which are commonly called cromlechs, druidical circles, ete., though their real 
character is still very doubtful, except that there can now be no doubt that they were 
sepulchral The primitive Teutonic legends seem to have been located on these monu- 
ments in a variety of different forms. We had an opportunity last year of considering 
an example in which a cromlech, with its circle, had, by Anglo-Saxon tradition, been 
metamorphosed into the smithy of the mythic smith Weland. The more common legend 
looked upon these monuments aa so many individuals changed, under different circum- 
stances, into stonea I will not occupy your time at present in enumerating the nume- 
rous examples of this legend which are found in England and Wales. There is, however, 
a curious legend of this class within our own county. On high ground at the foot of the 
mountain of Comdon, and in view of Shelve-hill, the site of the Roman lead mines, there 
is an interesting monument of the class which are commonly, though without any reason, 
called druidical circles, which is popularly named Mitchel's Fold, and sometimes Madge's 
Fold. The peasajitry of the neighbourhood tell us that this district, without being more 
fertile, was once more populous than it is at present, and that the population was kept 
from starvation by a benevolent being which came nightly, ia the shape of a white cow, 
and abundantly supplied the inhabitants with milk. A condition, however, was attached 
to the comparative happiness of this people ; and this was, that if the cow were milked 
dry, which, it appears, could not happen so long as each person took only a pailful at a 
time, she would disappear for ever, and the people would be reduced to extreme misery. 
Now, there lived at the same time a malevolent old witeh, who was envious of the 
flouridiing condition of the people of this neighbourhood, and meditated continually on 
■the means of overthrowing it. Her name was MitcheL One night she went with the 
others, apparently one of the peasantry of the neighbourhood, but carried a pail with a 

12 



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60 ON THE LOCAL LEGENDS OP SHROPSHIRE. 

sieve for tie bottom. The milk, of course, passed through this, and the cow, who always 
allowed herself to be milked by each person until the pail waa full, let Mitchel go on 
milking until at last she became dry. The condition was immediately fulfilled, and the 
population of this now sohtary difltrict all died miserably for the want of their usual food ; 
but Divine vengeance fell upon the wicked hag, who waa turned to a stone on this 
lofty hill, and the circle of stones was raised to imprison her. Hence it is called Mitch^s 
Fold. I asked a woman of the locality, who had just given me a rather imperfect version 
of the legend, if she knew what ultimately became of the cow, and she replied, " Why, 
yes, sir ; I have heard that it was turned into a dun cow, and that it went away a 
great distance from hence to the Earl of Warwick." So that here, in this retired district, 
we find a legend in which allusion is made to the popular mediaeval romance of Guy of 
Warwick and the dun cow of Dunsmore. The cow, it may be remarked, acts a consider- 
able part in the mythology of difierent races and peoples. 

In an adjoining parish, that of Hyssington, a bull appears as the hero of a very 
extraordinary legend, which is coimected with the church. It must be remarked that 
breaches or cracks appear at some period to have been made in the walls of Hyssington 
ChurcL The origin of the bull is told difierently. According to some, the animal was a calf, 
which went on growing larger and larger, imtil its owner was obliged to abandon it, because 
he had neither food enough to satisfy its hunger nor a stable lai^e enough to hold it. 
According to another accoimt^ and this I believe is tiie one generally received, the buE 
was a wicked squire, who lived at Bagley, and who treated his people very tyrannically, 
keeping them to work over-hours, swearing violently at them, and giving them nothing 
to drink. At length one of them, in a fit of anger, wished his master were turned into a 
bull, and a biill he immediately became; but Uie change was by no means beneficial to 
the neighbourhood, for the animal, having soon attained to an enormous magnitude, did 
more mischief among the people tian a dozen wicked squires. Now all this happened 
before there were churches or parsons in this part of the country, so that it was left 
entirely at the mercy of the monstrous bull ; until, after some time, a church waa built 
at Hyssington. and the people thought that if they could get the parson to talk to the 
bull, perhaps the latter might be tendered harmless. Accordingly, they assembled all 
round him for miles, and drew closer and closer till they brought him up towards the church, 
the parson all the while reading texts to him ; and as the bull heard them, he shrank and 
shrank and became smaller and smaller. In this manner, towards evening, he became 
so small and tame that they drove him into the church, and the parson went into the 
pulpit and began reading his sermon, and as he read on. the beast became smaller aad. 
smaller. But now night approached, and, unfortunately, only a small bit of candle could be 
found, and. although the parson read as fast as he could, itwas burnt out before he could get 



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ON THE LOCAL LEGENDS OF SHROPSHIRE. 61 

to the end of his sermon. No sooner was the parson thus obliged to stop leading, than 
the buU, which had been by this time reduced to the size of a dog, began to grow again 
so rapidly that in a very short time he was bigger than ever, so much so indeed that the 
church would not hold him without the walls cracking, and that was the cause of all the 
cracks which axe stall visible in the walla of Hyssington Church. As the bull, however, 
could not now escape by the door, he stuck fast in the church, and remained there all 
night. But nezt morning the parson came again, and went through the same process of 
reading and with the same effect, and, as the people had taken care by this time to 
procure candles enough, the bull had no chance of escape ; but towards midnight he had 
become small enough to be safely stowed away, and, as there was some difficiilty in 
finding a receptacle for him, one of the bystanders was obliged to give up his boot, in 
which the terrible buU was bound up and buried deep tmder the door-stone, where he 
lies to this day : and there are people who still believe that if anyone were to loosen the 
stone, the monster would come forth bigger and fiercer than ever, and that he could 
never be laid a^mn. Bidiculous as this story may appear in its present form, it is very 
probable that it represents some ancient mythic legend of our primeval forefathers, in 
whose popular mythology the incident of a small and apparently contemptible animal 
growing with great rapidity into an enormous and destructive monster is not of unfre- 
quent occurrence. We have an example of it in the Durham legend of the " laidly 
worm" of Lambton. 

Besides the direct localizing of the primeval legends of which I have hitherto been 
^leaking, there was at the same time an indirect process which has had partially the 
same result The primitive l^uds became associated in the popular mind with persons 
as well as places, either dirough mere confounding of namee^ or, which was the more 
uBual case, because the popular mind was in the habit of manifesting its estimate of the 
individual by applying to him old stories which seemed characteristic of him, and these 
stories have been too often blindly accepted by the histraian as authentic anecdotes. In 
this manner, in our own early history, a legendary Offa has been confounded with the 
real King Ofia. So in the medieval biographies of such men as the Saxon Heieward, the 
tarue history of the man is mixed up with a large mass of legendary matter taken from 
popular mythology and romance. This is also, no doubt, the case with the curious 
histoiy of the family of the Fitz-Warines, which contains a certain quantity of real 
historical matter, but modified and greatly enlarged by stories which had been told before 
of almost every man in similar circumstances, and by legends taken from the medieval 
romancea These personal legends thus became family legends, and as family legends 
they quickly became local legends. The history of the Fitz-Warinea may thus be 
considered as a collection of l^ends of Ludlow, of Whittington, and of otJier places on 



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62 ON THE LOCAL LEGENDS OP SHROPSHIRE. 

the border which that great family occupied. ThiiB, too, the story of the wild adventures 
of Humphrey Kjniaston, another of our Salopian hero^ ia, properly speaking, a l^end 
of Kescli£f, and in tracing it we have an example how such legends become magnified as 
well as preserved in the popular imagination. One of Kynaaton's great feats is said to 
have been, one day when hotly pursued by his enemies, to clear the Severn at a leap on 
his favourite horse, where the river is forty feet wide ; the marks of his horse's hoofe are 
shown in a stone at the spot, which is still called Kynaston's Leap. But I myself heard 
an old man who showed the cave at NesclifF state that his hero had leaped at once on 
horeeback from the entrance at the cave across the vale to Loton — a distance, I beUeve, 
of at least five miles in a direct line t To this class of legends belong those of Robin 
Hood, which, I hardly need tell you, have become localized in all parts of our island, and 
which have been spread almost as extensively as the legends of our primeval mythology. 
One of the tumuli on the Old Field, near Ludlow, is called Robin Hood's Butt ; and the 
tradition is that Robin Hood himself stood on the top of it and took aim at the weather- 
cock on Ludlow church steeple, a distance of nearly two miles, but the arrow fell short a 
few feet and stuck on the ridge of the roof of a northern chancel of the church, where it 
still remains. The arrow is, unfortunately, made of iron, and was never intended to be 
shot from a bow, but it was placed in its present position to show that this was the 
Fletchers' Chancel. I believe that Robin Hood's Butts occur again in at least one 
locality in Shropshire, — the name is given to some tumuli on the Longmynd mountains. 
It is surprising how much of this class of legendary matter has crept into history itselt 
and how difficult a task it is to eradicate it. I may mention, as a well known example, 
the story of the chieftain who, to discover the designs of his enemy, went into the hostile 
camp in the disguise of a harper, which was apphed popularly to many chiefs and royal 
personages in difierent ages by way of marking their reputation for boldness mixed with 
craft The stratagem is ascribed to King Alfred, and to his grandson. King Athelstan, 
and probably it is true of neither of them. Again, the exploit of the man who was 
compelled to shoot an apple oflf the head of his child became a sort of symbol of extreme 
skill in the use of the bow ; it is told in northern legend of one of the primitive heroes 
of the Scandinavian and Teutonic mythology, and has since been repeated of various 
personages belonging to different periods. There are strong reasons for beheving that, 
as told of the Swiss hero, WLUiam Tell, it is a mere popular legend. The popular mind 
had, at an early period, sought to explain the difficulty of taking the fortified Roman 
towns except through stratagem, by a story how they were overcome by letting loose an 
immense maltitude of sparrows with wildfire attached to their feet, which fled over the 
walls, settled on the roofs, which are assumed to have been all thatched, and thus caused 
a general conflagration, in the confusion attendant on which the town was taken and 



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ON THE LOCAL LEGENDS OF SHROPSHIRE. 63 

destroyed. This etory was told, I think, of Cirencester, at aa early period ; it k now told 
among the peasantry of Sildiester, in Hampshire, and it is similarly told of our own 
Wroxeter. There is another example of this repetition of the same story, which at the 
same time shows us how curiously these legends were modified in their descent and debase- 
ment, and how they often creep into comers where we should hardly expect to find them. 
Everybody will remember the story of the building of Carthage, how the founders coidd 
only obtain as much land as they codd encircle in a bull's hide, and how they craftily 
cut it into slender thongs, and thus contrived to encircle as much land as was sufficient to 
build a town. Geofltey of Monmouth tells tie story of Hengest, who, by the same 
stratagem, obtidned from the Britons land enough to build a castle, to whidi, in memory 
of this transaction, the Saxons gave the name of Thancaster. There are several places in 
England to which this legend is attached, and among them Tong, in Shropshire. 
This same story has taken a very curious form in a legend preserved in the parish of 
Bremfield, in our county, where they tell of a young lady, whose father would not permit 
her to marry a gallant knight, because the latter was only a younger brother, and imable 
to offer a sufficient marri^ settlement The young lady, however, persisted in her 
resolution to many the knight ; and at last one day she informed her father that the 
ceremony was to be performed the next morning at Bromfield church. The angry parent 
told his daughter she might follow her will, but of all his great estates, she should receive 
for her portion no more land tlian she could crawl over before morning. She went from 
his sight, apparently unaffected by this threat, but next day she appeared at the breakfast 
table covered with mud, and announced that she had secured a tract of meadow reaching 
about half-way to Downton, round which she had crawled on her hands and knees during 
the long winter night. The father was so pleased with the spirit displayed by his daughter 
that he m^de her the heiress of all his estates, and they remained in the possession of her 
descendants many years. This ground is still called Crawl Meadows. 

It is curious that this practice of localising legends seems so inseparable from the 
popular mind, that we actually find it going on at the present day ; and it is quite 
remarkable how rapidly a legend is sometimes formed. I can give yon a curious 
example furnished by the town in which we are assembled, and of the truth of which I 
have been firmly assured. That pleasant promenade, which is well known as the Quarry, 
was, till the earlier part of the last century, but an unsightly adjunct to the town ; but 
there lived at that time a man whose name was Thomas Wright, and whose profession 
was that of a niirseryman, then a new and profitable trade, by which he amassed a good 
fortune. It was to this man's liberality and exertions that Shrewsbury owes the planting 
of the Quarry. There was prevalent an old story, which I believe must be looked on 
partly aa a legend, that, in his desire to improve and beautify the town, Wright asked 



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61 ON THE LOCAL LEGENDS OP SHROPSHIRE. 

leave of the corporation to lay out and plant this ground at hia own expense ; but the 
mayor not approving of the project, hia proposal was rejected. Thereupon, without 
further negotiation, the nurseiyinan took two of his most active men at nightfall, and, 
by dint of hard work, they had completed the plantation before daylight When the 
mayor rose, and looked at the trees, he at once acknowledged that they were an improve- 
ment, and allowed them to stand. Such is t^e legend in its simpler form. But it 
appears to have made a considerable step in advance, for I have heard that it has been 
seriously stated that the Quarry was planted by a great magician all in one night I may 
add that Uus incident of great undertakings performed in one night by demons and 
"magicians is a legend of frequent occurrenca 

There is another legend connected with Shrewsbury, intended to explain the cause 
of the extinction of the trade in Welsh flannel, and it is certainly a curions illustration of 
the history of the more miscellaneous class of local legends. It is said that the Welshmen 
took the precaution of measuring their " pieces" of flannel before th^ left their homes, 
but the purchasers in the Shrewsbury market, who bought by the yard, invented a 
method of measuring which pleased by its quickness and ingenuity, under cover of which 
was practised a rather ridiculous deception. They made a round barrel or frame, exactly 
one yard in circumference, on which the parties concerned placed one end of the piece, 
and went on rolling it until the whole piece was wound up, each revolution counting for 
a yard. For very obvious reasons, the Welsh seller always found his piece shorter at 
Shrewsbury than at home, until, having at last discovered the trick, the Welshmen 
refused to attend the Shrewsbury market any longer. 

I feel that I have already trespassed too &r on your patience on this occasion, or I 
might proceed to some other classes of local legends, especially to those of fsdries and 
witches, both of which are immediately derived from the popular feith of our pagan fore- 
fathers. There are remote districts in our coimty where the more ignorant part of the 
population stLU put their faith iu witchcraft ; and the fairies are still believed to hold 
their assemblies at the Beacon ring on the Long Mountain, and to keep possession of 
the deserted mines of the Romans in the lull of Llanymynecb, frt>m which latter place 
the benighted miner sometimes imagines that he sees them coming forth to perform their 
gambols on the grassy slopes of the mountain. The feiries are the representatives of 
those numerous classes of nymphs who, in the old pagan creed, haunted the fields, and 
the woods, and the watera These had various spots to which they were especially 
attached, and where they resented strongly any attempt of man to trespass upon their 
privacy. Sometimes people, unknowingly, attempted to build on a spot cherished by 
the nymphs, l^e consequence of which usufdly was, that next morning they found 
their foundations and materials quietly removed to some other place, and any attempt to 



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ON THE LOCAL LEGENDS OF SHROPSHIRE. 65 

return to the old spot proved totally unsucceasful. Tias notion was the foundation of a 
hoet of mediseval legends, chiefly connected with churches, which are often found built 
in unpleasant or inconvenient situations, to which they are supposed to have been con- 
demned by the fairies. It would not be difficult to make a long list of such legends of 
churches still preserved in various parts of England. The church of Broughton, in 
Shropshire, stands in a hoUow ; but this, they tell us, was not the site originally chosen 
for it, as tlie foimdations were laid on the top of the bank ; but, during the night, two 
white oxen carried away the foundations and as much of the wall as had been raised, and 
placed them in their present position below. Next day, the builders returned to the spot 
they had chosen on the bank, but the two white oxen came again in the night and again 
carried the walls and foundations into the hollow, and this was repeated, night after 
night, until the builders were compelled to abandon their first design, and the church 
was built where it stood till recently. (I believe that this church has been recently 
removed.) Sometimes, in these legends, the fsuries have yielded to an influence which 
has been alluded to in an earlier part of this paper, and have been transformed into 
demons. There is a legend of this class in a parish a short distance beyond the southern 
boundary of our county, in that of Hereford, which furnishes an apt illustration of these 
remarks. In the days when all the people in these parts were stiU heathens, a good 
Christian man came from iar off and taught them a better creed, and after a while he set 
them to bmld a church at the village of Leinthall ; but one morning, immediately after 
the work was begun, all the materials were found carefully laid down in a field about 
three miles off, fEir from any house. They were immediately carried back, with much 
ceremony, and the building was commenced again in the old spot^ but again they were 
removed ; and the devil continued so obstinate in his resolution to prevent the erection 
of the church in a spot where it cotdd be conveniently attended by the villagers, that, 
after repeated attempts, the good preacher was obliged to give in, and the church was 
built in the lonely place where it now stands, and where few of the people of Leinthall 
could go to it 

However, I will leave the fairies and the witches of Shropshire to some other occar 
siou, when I hope to become better acquainted with them. I have endeavoured to bring 
together a few of our legendary stories in order to explain to you their true nature and 
the real importance to which they have a claim, and I shall rejoice if I have contributed 
in any degree to the preservation from oblivion of such as still exist in our county. The 
study of them is of much greater interest than has generally been supposed. They are a 
slender but stiU perceptible link between us and that remote past, a direct view of which 
is concealed from our eyes by the collective obscurity of so many ages. In them we have 
some traces of the pt^ular feelings of our primeval forefathers, while by thus tracing and 



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66 ON THE LOCAL LEGENDS OF SHROPSHIRE. 

comparing them, we leaxn how totally unhiatoric their character is, and how dangerous 
it would be to adopt them, as some inquirers have done, as records of historical events, 
or aa evidence for any historical appropriation of the objects to which they are attached. 
I am satisfied, from my own observations, and from the information of others, that our 
county of Salop still ofFers a far richer harvest of such legends than anybody has supposed, 
and, in conclusion, I will only express the hope that such of my hearers as enjoy the 
opportunity of collecting them, wiil not allow any of them to perish, for all such legends 
are now rapidly disappearing. 



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ON THE NORMAN EARLS OF SHREWSBURY. 



J. R. PLANCHE, ESQ., ROUGE CROIX, HON. SEC. 



AMONGST the old Norman earls of England, those of the beautiful county in which we 
have now the pleasure of being assembled occupy the foremoBt rank, and Shrewsbury 
has still the honour of giving title to the premier earl of the kingdom Roger de Mont- 
gomeiy, the first who possessed the earldom, was Viscount of the Oximin (Ezmes or 
Hiemois), the intimate &iend and counsellor of the Conqueror, furnished a noble contin* 
gent to his fleet, ajid was rewarded for his great services with the earldom of Arundel aa 
well as of Shrewsbury, and lai^e grants of lands in other counties. 

His sayings and doings occupy many pages in the early annals of this country : 
Odelirius, the fiither of Ordericus VitaUa, one of our most instructive and valuable 
historians, accompanied him to England, and was a member of his household. Ordericus, 
bom at Atcham, and educated in this city, has minutely chronicled his marriages, his 
children, his deeds of valour and of piety, his death find burial ; and yet such is the mist 
that hangs over the genealt^eal history of our ancient nobility, that the father of this 
great and powerful earl has only been recently identified, and of his mother we absolutely 
know nothing. Brooke, in his Catalogue, declared him to be the son of Hugh Mont- 
gomery and of Sibell his wife, fifth daughter of Herfastus the Dane, brother of Gunnora* 
wife to Richard I, Duke of Normandy. Vincent triimiphantly quotes Guillaume de Jumi^ges 
in contradiction of this assertion, and insists that he was the son of Hugh Montgomery 
by Jocellina his wife, daughter of Turolf de Pontaudemer, by Weeva, sister of Gunnora, 
Duchess of Normandy,^ and so he continued to be considered, notwithstanding that many 
passages in Ordericus show tTik to be a mistake, until the French editors of the latter 
historian, and the late Mr. Stapleton, in his illustrations of the Norman Rolls of the 
Exchequer, clearly proved that the first earl of Shrewsbury was not the son of a Hugh de 
Montgomery by either lady, but of another Roger de Montgomery living in the time of 
Richard HI, and his brother Robert, Dukes of Normandy 1026-1035, and who, in an 
early deed, describes himself, " I^ Rogerius quem dicunt Montgomeri." His son Roger, 
our Earl of ^irewsbury, in the act of foundation for the abbey of Troam in the Oximin, 
acknowledges and distinguishes his father in tiie following words : ** Ego Rogerius 

' Bat the words of Qemetecensis are only " Ipse aatem Bogerios natns est ex quffidam neptiimi 
Chmnoris comitisaa." tab. viii, cap. 35. 



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68 ON THE NORMAN EARLS OF SHREWSBURY. 

ex NonnamiU Normannus, magni autem Rogerii filius." " The old chronicler Robert du 
Mont had heard," observes Mr. Stapleton, " of the reputed descent from a niece of the 
Duchess Gimnora, wife of Richard I, Duke of Normandy, but the genealogy given is 
certainly erroneous in making her, as wife to Hugh de Montgomery, the immediate pro- 
genitrix of Roger the Viscount of the Oximin or Hiemois." So far we are indebted to 
the researches of Mr. Stapleton and the observations of the French editors of Ordericus, 
and great is our obligation to them, as it saves us from a false start in the firat instance, 
and throws open a new field for further exploration. 

To any one unaccustomed to the examination of such subjects, it would appear 
strange that modem historians and genealogists could have overlooked the obvious 
inference to be drawn from the very circumstantial account given of the assassination of 
Osbem, seneschal of Normandy, by Guillaume de Jumifeges himself who, in the second 
chapter of his seventh book, informs us that Osbem, the son of Herfast,^ brother of the 
Duchess Gunnora> had his throat cut by William, son of Roger de Montgomery, one night 
while sleeping in the duke's chamber at Vaudreuille ; that Roger for his perfidy was 
exiled to Paris ; and that five of his sons, Hugh, Robert, Roger, WiUiam, and Gilbert, 
continued their wicked careers in Normandy. Surely no statement can be much clearer 
than this, that there was a R(^er de Montgomery living during the minority of Duke 
WiHiam, who had five sons,^ the third being named after him, and who, it is evident from 
subsequent passages in the same and other histories, was the Roger de Montgomery who 
ultimately became Earl of Shrewsbury. For of these five sons we can trace the destinies. 
Hugh, Robert and William, were slain ; the latter by Bamo de Glotis, a servant of Osbem 
Fitz Herfast, in revenge for the murder of his master. Roger was Viscount of the 
Oximin ; and Gilbert, the fifth son, was unintentionally poisoned by his sister-in-law, as 
I ^all presently have occasion to relate to you. Yet notwithstanding this evidence, 
Messrs. Owen and Blakeway, in their History of Shrewsbury, 4to., London, 1825, 
confound the earl with his father, and speak of William and Gilbert as his sons instead of 
his brothers, voL i, pp. 47-49 ; while in the pedigree they have given, vol. i, p. 64, they 
m^e them his uncles ! 

The deeds and charters quoted by Mr. Stapleton corroborate the most important 
parts of this genealogy. Of the five sons of Roger the first de Montgomery, Hugh was 

' We mnst be careM not to oonfonnd this Osbem or Oebome, the son of Her&at the Dane, brother of 
the DncheBB Ommorft, with another "Osborne, the bod of Herfast, a native of the district of Canz," who 
was made Abbot of St. Evranlt, and of whom ttiere is a long account in Ordericns's Eeeleeiaeiieal Sigtory. 

' And probably a danghter, who was the mother of Ameria, niece to Roger Earl of Shrewsbury, 
Hnd bestowed in marriage by him on Warin the Bald, kb Viscount or Sherrif of Shrewsbury. Ameria 
may, however, have been the child of one of the earl's brotliers, as it is scarcely probable that all four 
died nnmarried or without isene. 



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ON THE NORMAN EARLS OF SHREWSBURY. 69 

apparently the eldest, as at the foot of one of his charters in the time of Duke Bobert is 
" signum Hugonis filii ejus," and it is therefore highly probable that the father of the first 
Koger might have been named Hugh, and the husband of one of the nieces of Gunnora, 
and the confusion have arisen &om that circumstance. The atoiy told by Guillaume 
de Jumi^ges, though clear enough as regards the &mily of Montgomery, is obscure in 
other respects. William de Montgomery is named as the murderer of Osbem the son of 
Herfest, who, if there be any foundation for the statement of Brooke, must have been his 
near kinsman ; and Roger de Montgomery, tiie father of the criminal, is banished appa- 
rently for the crime, which would seem to imply that it was committed at his instigation. 
However this may be, it appears to have been the result of a peraonal, if not a family 
quarrel ; and it is remarkable that no mention is made of the murder by Ordericus, whose 
fcither, as a member of Earl Roger's household, could scarcely have been ignorant of the 
fact He nevertheless records that Osborne, the steward of Normandy, and William and 
Hugh, the two sons of Roger de Montgomery, and many other powerful knights, made 
war on each other in turn, causing great distress and confusion in the country, which was 
now (i. e., during the minority of Duke William) deprived of its natural protectors,^ 
having in a previous chapter simply mentioned Oabome as one of the many nobles who 
feU in these mutual quarrels.^ 

Let us now test the probability of the descent from a niece of Gunnora to which 
Mr. Stapleton alludea The genealogy of the dukes of Normandy from Rollo is in all the 
collateral portions exceedingly confused, and the chronology of the duchy itself beset with 
difficulties. Next to Charlemagne, the Duchesa Gunnora appears to have been the 
favourite starting point for our Norman genealogists. If there is any insuperable 
obstacle in the way of hooking their line on to the Emperor of the West, they eagerly 
hitch it up, no matter how, to some loose end of the family of that fortunate fair one, for 
whose romantic history we are indebted to the pages of Guillaume de Jumi^ea As 
it is short as well as romantic, and so very old that it may be quite new to many 
present, I will venture to tell it in the fewest words possible. One of the foresters of 
Richard I, Duke of Normandy, was blest with a most beautiful wife, of Danish blood as 
it would appear, named Sanfrie, the report of whose charms inqiired the duke with a 
vehement desire to ascertain the truth of it by personal observation. He, therefore, had 
a hunting party in that direction, and stopped, as a matter of course, at the house of the 
forester for rest and refreshment The beautiful Sanfrie received her sovereign as was 
her daty, and the duke was so captivated that be commanded her husband to resign her 
to hinx Afl resistance could avail nothing, the lady, who had aa much wit as beauty, 
contrived to substitute her sister for herself, and the duke, luckily for all parties, was not 
' Ord, TU., book v, ch. ix. ' Ibid., book i, chap. zzst. 



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70 ON THE NORMAN EARLS OF SHREWSBURY. 

only well pleased with the exchange, but piously rejoiced that he had escaped a mote 
flagrant breach of the Decalogue. The fair substitute was named Gonnor or Gonnora, 
and on the death of Richaxd's first wife became Duchess of Normandy and mother of 
Richard II, Duke of Normandy, called after her Gonorides. Such is the story, and at 
least there is no doubt respecting the marriage, which had the natural consequence of 
elevating the other members of the duchess's family. Besides SauMe, the wife of the 
forester, Gunnora had another sister named Eva or Weeva, and a third named Avelina, 
and a brother called Herfaat the Dane. Weeva is said to have married Turolf de Pont- 
audemer, and to have borne him a daughter, named Jocellina, who, according to one 
manuscript of Guillaume de Jumifeges, married a Hugh de Montgomery ; while others, as 
I have stated, contend that this same Hugh de Montgomery married a daughter of 
Herfast the Dane, the brother, and not of Weeva, the sister of Gunnora, and that the 
lady's name was Sibil or Sibilla. In either case she was a niece of that duchess, and there 
may be some truth in both statements. We have no information respecting the wife ci 
the elder Roger de Montgomery. JoceUina de Pontaudemer would have been first cousin 
of Sibilla, daughter of Herfaat: the former might have been the mother of Uiat Roger de 
Montgomery, and the latter, fifth daughter, as we are told, of Herfast, young enough 
to have been his wife ; and there is a similar £ftct to support the tradition of a descent 
from SibiUa, to the one I have adduced in favour of the existence of an earlier Hugh de 
Montgomeri, namely, the recurrence of the name of Sibilla in the pedigree of Earl Roger. 
His fourth daughter, married to Robert Fitz Hamon, was named SibillA, and the question 
naturally arises after whom 1 

You will probably be surprised tJiat I should take you as hi south as Essex to obtain 
a glimmering of light on this subject ; but in the list of benefactors to the Knights Hospi- 
tallers of St. John, London, printed in Dugdale's MoTiasticon,^ is the following entry : — 
" Sibilla de Reynes filia, Rogeri comitis de Montgomerico dedit Hospitalariis Preceptoriam 
de Shengey cum pertinentiis, m.cxl." Now who was Sibilla de Reynes, daughter of Roger 
Count de Montgomery 1 (Not Earl of Shrewsbury, you observe.) Camden says she was 
the fourth daughter of Roger Earl of Shrewsbury, first married to Robert FitzHamon, 
and secondly to John de Reynes ; but I have yet to be satisfied of that fact. Her being 
called Sibilla de Reynes does not positively prove that she was the wife ot widow of one 
of that great and I may say mysterious family, Ramis, Raimes or Raines, of Essex. Myste- 
rious, because, dig almost where you will among the roota of our Ai^lo-Nonnan nobility, you 
are pretty sore to strike upon some relic of a race which is alluded to in a way that impresses 
one with an idea of its great importance, and yet no genealogist, not even Mr. Btapleton, 
has, to my knowledge, laid clear its origin, or miited its strag^ing ramificatioDS. That 
' Vol. ii, p. 546. 



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ON THE NORMAN EARLS OF SHREWSBURY. 71 

almost mythic pereonage, Edward of Salisbury, the great ancestor of the first Earls of 
Wiltshire and Sarum, had a daughter called Leonia de Eeynea, because she was " of the 
pn^ny of Raines ,•" but what were her claims to that distinction has still eluded my 
researches,^ aod we have evidence here of a similar connexion between the families of 
RainesandHontgomery which leaves usjust as much in the dark as to its particular nature. 
But for the date (1140), which after all may be an error of the transcriber or printer, I 
should be strongly inclined to believe that she was the daughter of the elder Roger de 
Montgomery, by Sibilla, daughter of Herfest, who might himself have married one of the 
family of Raines, which, at the time of the compilation of Domesday, held large estates 
in Essex, both in capite and also under the Bigots and de Veres, ancestors of the Earls of 
Norfolk and Oxford of those names. Alberic de Vere had Hingham or Hedingham, 
county of Essex, in the time of William the Conqueror, and the castle there built by him 
or one of his succesors was called Hedingham Sibil, " from what woman named Sibil," 
Morant remarks, " is unknown." Beatrix, the wife of Alberic de Vere, was daughter of 
Sibilla, the daughter and heir of Manasses, Count de Guines, and the castle may have 
been named after her ; but we find also in Domesday Uiat Hedingham was included in 
the lands of Roger de Ramis, and was held of him by a mesne tenant named Oarangerus ; 
and until we have satirfactorily identified Sibilla de Reynes, the daughter of Roger Count 
de Montgomery, we must reserve our opinion as to the rights of Sibilla de Guinea 
Shengy is in Camlnidgeshire, and the tithes of it were given to the abbey of St Evrault 
by Roger Earl oi Shrewsbury, and confirmed to them by the charter of William the 
Conqueror as early as 1081. It is therefore clear that SibUla de Reynes must have either 
inherited the Preceptory of Shengey from Roger de Montgomery, who was her father, or 
acquired it in right of descent from the family of Reynes, whose connexion with that of 
Montgomery must, in that case, have been at an earlier period. 

To leave speculations, and deal with &cts. We now know that a Norman, named 
Roger de Montgomery, who, in 1022, settled twelve canons at Troam, had five sons, one 
of whom, for the order of birth is not certain, was named after him, and married, before 
1050, Mabel, or Mabira, daughter of William Talvas, son of William the first de Belesme, 
and sister and heir of Arnold de Belesme, in whose right her husband, then Viscount Of 
the Oximin, became Comte de Belesme and AIen9on. The date of the death of the elder 
Roger de Montgomery is not yet known, but he was banished from Normandy on the 
assassination of Osborne, the seneschal, by his son, WUliam de Montgomery, during the 
minority of Duke William {circa 1040), and was probably dead in 1050, when his son. 
Count Roger, expelled the twelve canons from Troam, and granted the church of St. 
iUartin there to Gislebert, abbot of ChatUlon, and his monks, who had recently established 
' There was also an Alicia de Tanei, " de progenie Hogeri de ReimeB." 



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72 ON THE NORMAN EARLS OF SHREWSBURY. 

themselves at Norre.^ In 1065. we find Roger the Becond amongst the truBty friends and 
counciUoM of William Duke of Nonnandy, when, on the death of Edward the Confeasor, 
the invasion of England was projected. Master Wace, in his rhyming account of that great 
event, states that Eoger de Montgomery accompanied the expedition, and held tm impor- 
tant command at the battle of Senlac, or Hastings ; but Ordericus as positively asserts 
that he was left by Wilham in charge of the Duchy of Normandy, and did not set foot 
in England till William returned to it in 1067. The authority of Wace, who wrote from 
hearsay, in the reign of Henry the First, cannot weigh against that of Ordericus, whose 
father was in Earl Roger's household, and appears to have come to this country with 
him on that occasion ; and the silence of Guillaume de Foictou, who does not name him 
among the leaders he enumerates, supports the assertion of Ordericus.'' I£ however, a 
Roger de Montgomery did actually fight at Hastings, it is probable he was the third son 
of Count Roger, called afterwards of Poictou, of whom more anon. In the ancient and 
curious list of ships furnished to Duke William by his Norman nobility, Roger de Mont- 
gomery figures for the large contribution of sixty ; and whatever may have been actually 
the number, his contingent to the forces of the Conqueror was unquestionably important ; 
and if not in command himself, it was most probably entrusted to one or more of his 
sons. At all events, in 1067, we find him landing with King William in England ; and 
shortly afterwards (1070), receiving fiwm him the earldom of Chichester, or Arundel, 
and Salopshire, or Shrewsbury, with the honour of Eye in Suffolk, and various estates in 
the counties of Cambridge, Warwick, etc., etc. The time and space allotted to papers of 
this description compel me to make them simply genealogical, and to introduce only 
such portions of the biography of my earls as are positively essential to the verification 
of dates, or the correction of erroneous assertions or deductions. I must therefore refer 
you to the ancient chronicler or the modem historian for the life, character, and behaviour 
of the great Norman warriors who have won the coronet of this county. 

" Of battaile and of cheraLrie, 
Of ladies' love and dmerie." 

Alas ! it is not mine to tell. My story must be made of sterner (that is, drier) stuff ; 
and, therefore, the shorter I can make it the better. Some of the dark deeds, however, 
of Mabel, the first Countess of Shrewsbury, and her tragical end, come legitimately 
within my province, as their record is indiq>ensable to the completeness of the pedigree, 
and I shall therefore briefly relate them, as nearly as possible, in the words of Ordericus 

' MeBBTB. Owen and Blakeway, hy their coninsion of the fatlieF with the son, have sadly poxsled 
themselves respecting the age of the latter, and are thereby led into various erroneous inferences. 
Vol. i, p. 47. 

' The Kev. Mr. Tiemey, in hiB Svtory of Anmdd, appears to quote WiUiam of Poifou in fevonr of 
the tradition of Roger de Uontgomeri's presence in the action ; bat if so, be is oertunly in error. 



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ON THE NORMAN EARLS OF SHREWSBURY. 73 

himself. In the year 1063, Arnold d'EBchaffour, son of William de Giroie, returning 
ftom Apulia, presented himself at the court of Duke William ; and offering him a mag- 
nificent mantle, humbly entreated that his estates in Normandy, which he had forfeited 
by previous misconduct^ might be restored to him. The Duke, who at that time needed 
his services, held out hopes to him, and, in the meanwhile, gave him liberty to pass and 
repass through his teiritories. Eschaffour being at that period in the possession of the 
Montgomeries, the Countess Mabel, fearing to lose it, poisoned the refreshments which 
she ordered to be set before Arnold on his return &om the Duke's court A friend gave 
h im timely warning of the treachery, and he persisted in declining all die pressing invi- 
tations of the Countess ; but Gislebert,^ the only surviving brother of Count Eoger de 
Montgomery, who was in Arnold's company, and quite unconscious of his sister-in-law's 
murderous design, hastily took a cup of the poisoned wine without alighting fr^mi his 
horse, and died in consequence the third day afterwards at Bomolard " Th\!s," observes 
Ordericua, "this perfidious woman, attempting to destroy her husband's rival, caused the 
death of Ids only brother, who was in the flower of his youth, and much distinguished 
for his chivalrous gallantry." Not deterred by this dreadful event, she made a second 
attempt, which was more successful She bribed Gulafre, the chamberlain of Arnold, to 
present his master with some drink, which she had poisoned, and the unsuspecting knight, 
after languishing a few days, died at Coun'ille, and his estates remained in the possession 
of Eoger de Montgomery, now Lord of Eschafibur and Montreuil as well as Count of 
Alenfon and Belesme and Viscount of the Oximin. As long as his wife Mabel lived, he 
appears to have been, at her instigation, a very troublesome and dangerous neighbour. 
" At last," says Ordericus, ■* the righteous Judge occasioned that cruel woman, who had 
caused so many great lords to beg their bread in foreign knd^ to fall herself by the hand 
of Hugh d'lge,^ a knight from whom she had unlawfully wrested Ms castle of La Roche 
d'Ige, in Belesme, his patrimonial inheritance." With the assistance of his three brothers, 
he forced an entrance into the chamber of the Countess at Bures on the Dive, and severed 
her head fit)m her body as she was reposing after a batL Her son, Hugh de Montgomery, 
who was then at Bures with sixteen knights or men at arms, hearing of his mother's 
murder, instantly pursued the assassins but was unable to come up with them, it being in the 
month of December, the night dark, the streams flooded, and the bridges broken down by the 
fugitives to facUitate their escape out of Normandy. The Countess Mabel was buried in 
the abbey of Troam, December 5, 1082, and a long epitaph in Latin verse was inscribed on 

' In ihe pedigree in Owen and Blakevay's Hutory of ShrewibuTy (vol. i, p. 74), this brother is nailed 
Ooia&id, I.e., Geofirey. There is no mention of a Oeofirey de Montgomery either by Ordericus or 
GemetdcenuB, 

* Not " Jalgey," aa in Owen and Blakeway, 



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74 ON THE NORMAN EARLS OF SHREWSBURY. 

her tomb, which those who Ust may find duly quoted by Ordericus ; but as it affords us 
no further information concerning her than that she was slender in person though great 
in mind, there is no reason for my inflicting its recital upon you. 

After the murder of Mabel, Earl Eoger married a second wife, Adeliza, daughter of 
Everard de Puiset, one of the highest of the French nobility,^ and surviving the Conqueror 
six years, died July 27tli, 1094, and was buried with great honour in the abbey here, 
which he had founded (and which Ordericus calls the New church), between the two 
altars. By his first wife he left five sons and four daughters. His eldest son, Bobert, 
called "de Belesme," inherited all his fiefe in Normandy ; his second son, Hugh de Mont- 
gomery, succeeded to the English earldoms. The third, Koger, married Almodis, 
Countess of March, and obtained the name of Pictavensis or of Poitou, from the large 
possessions she brought him in that province. His estates in Lancashire were also so 
extensive that he is sometimes but inaccurately called Earl of that county. Philip, the 
fourth son, was sumamed the Grammarian, and died at the siege of Antioch in the first 
crusade.^ ITie name or family of his wife has not been recorded ; but he is said to have 
left a daughter, named Matilda, who succeeded her aunt Emma as abbess of Almenesches.^ 
Amulph, the fifth son, was made keeper of Pembroke castle, and, like his brother Koger, 
is sometimes called an earl, though it does not appear that he was ever really entitled to 
such a dignity. He married, however, Uie daughter of an Irish king, and may have had 
some titular honour in that country. The four daughters of the Earl of Shrewsbury 
by the Countess Mabel, were : 1. Emma, abbess of Almenesches, who died 4th of March, 
1113 ; 2. Matilda, married to Robert Count de Mortagne, half-brother of the Conqueror ; 
3. Mabel, wife to Hugh, Seigneur de Ohateatmeu^ Uving in 1131 ; and 4. Sybil, or 
SibiUa, wife of Robert Fitz-Hamon, Lord of Creuilly ia Normandy and of Tewkesbury 
in England, and who, if she be identical with SibiUa de Beynes, was living in 1140. By 
his second wife, Adeliza, the earl had but one child, a son, named Everard after his 
maternal grandfather, who entered the church, and officiated in the Chapel Royal in the 
reign of King Henry L* 

Hugh de Montgomery, second son of Koger and second Earl of Shrewsbury, called by 
the Welsh Groch or the Red, fix)m his complexion, did not long enjoy his elevation, for in 
1098, Magnus the Third, King of Norway, making a descent on the Isle of Anglesey, the 
Earl of Shrewsbury, having hastily summoned his vassals to oppose the landing of the 

' Ord. ra. 

* William of Malmsbury ea^B he made a good end in Jems^em, whicli would placfl liis death in or 
after 1099, the year in which it was taken by the ChriBtians. 

' Ord. Vil. aays Matilda was the danghter of Robert Fitz-Hamon, by Sibilla. 

* Ordericus, book viii — " In capella Henrici Regis clericali officio inter mediocrea fonctna." 



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ON THE NORMAN EARLS OF SHEEWSBUEY. 75 

invaclerB, waB shot In the eye by an arrow, from the bow of Magnus himself according to 
the Saga, and fell dead from his horse into the sea. The Norse poet tells ub that the brave 
Hugh was so entirely enveloped in armour,^ tJiat nothing could be seen of his person but 
one e^e. " King Magnus let fly an arrow at him, as also did an Heligoland man who stood 
beside the king. They both shot at once. The one shaft struck the nose guard of the 
helmet,^ and bent it on one side, and the other ftrrow hit the earl in the eye and passed 
through his head, and this arrow was found to be the king's." Giraldus Cambrensis gives 
a similar account, with the addition of a few particulars. " Pirates from the OrkneyB," he 
says, " had come into the island's sound in long ships, and the earl, hearing that they were 
near the shore, ventured too rashly into the sea on a strong horse to encounter them. 
Then the commander of the fleet, whose name was Magnus, and who was standing on the 
prow of his ship, shot an arrow at him, and although the earl was in armour of iron which 
entirely protected his person from head to foot except his eyes, the arrow pierced his 
light ^e, and penetrating the brain, he fell dead into the sea. The victor seeing him fall, 
is stud to have shouted from his lofry station in the Danish language, * Leit loupe I' which 
in English means ' let him depart.' " Thus Giraldus ; but it is believed that the words 
used, " Leit loupe," in modem Danish-Norwe^an, " Lade liebe," signified " let him leap," 
and were used derisively on seeing the earl spring up and fiaU suddenly from his hoise. 
It may, perhaps, be a slight relief to the dryness of my narrative, to describe die 
sort of armour which Earl Hugh wore on this &tal occasion, and e^lain to you how 
he was protected by it all but the eyes. The Bayeux tapestry and other contomporaneous 
works of pictorial art present us with hosts of examples of the defensive armour of the 
Anglo-Normans, which consisted of a hauberk or coat of mail, formed of flat rings sown 
upon leather or doth, with a cowl or hood to it, over which was worn a conical helmet, 
with a nasal or nose-guard, to which in some instances we see that part of t^e hood or of 
the collar of the hauberk which covered the chin hooked up, so that the face is entirely 
concealed with the exception of the eyes, and of course ia profile but one eye would be 
visible. There is an engraving in the History of Ski'ewsbury of an impression of the 
seal of this earl, and although it is much dilapidated, the form of the figure on horseback 
is sufficiently defined to enable us to comparo it with examples of the same period. The 
extravagantly long tunic worn in the reigns of Bufus and Heniy I under the hauberk is 
distinctly visible. The conical helmet with its nasal is unfortunately obliterated, but the 
long Norman shield has upon it the ordinary ornamental clamp or strengthening, in the 
shape of what is now called by heralds an escarboucle, showing that as lato as 1098 no 
heraldic lion was borne by the earls of Shrewsbury. 

" The Normans and English," says Ordericus, " searched a long time for the body of 
' Al&nfnjathta' is the word used by the writer. * " Neffaioi^ hlalinBiiis." 

L2 



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76 ON THE NORMAN EARLS OF SHREWSBURY. 

Hugh, and did not recover it until the ebbing of tiie tide left the strand dry. Seventeen 
days after his death, they brought it to Shrewsbury, and buried it in the abbey there with 
deep mourning. He was the only one of Mabel's sons who was courteous and amiable ; 
and having conducted himself with great moderation during the four years he held the 
family honours and domains, to which he succeeded on the death of his father Roger, he 
fell about the dose of the month of July." 

Earl Hugh appears to have died unmarried, or at any rate without issue, for on his 
decease, his elder brother, Robert de Beleame, who had previously succeeded to the 
Norman fiefs of his father, presented himself to King William II, and offered him £3000 
for his brother Hugh's earldoms of Arundel and Shrewsbury. He also laid claim to the 
lands of Blythe in right of his cousin, Rog^ de BusU or Butlei, and obtained a grant of 
them from the king for a latge sum of money. Possessed of enormous wealth, he still 
thirsted for more, and running a short career of cruelty and rapacity, forfeited all hifi honours 
and estates in England by rebellion against Heniy I, who, after taking his castles of 
Arundel, Bythe, and Bridgenorth, laid siege to him in Shrewsbury, advancing on the town 
by Wenlock Edge, called by Ordericus the Evil Edge, or the Bad Street ; not improperly 
so, if we may trust his description of it^ for he tells us that for a thousand paces it was 
full of holes, the surface rough with large stones, and so narrow, that two men on horse- 
back could scarcely pass each other. It was overshadowed on each side by a thick wood, 
in which bowmen were placed in ambush to harass the troops on their march, but the 
king, having more than sixty thousand infantry in the expedition, gave orders that they 
should clear a broad track with their axes, so that a road might be formed for his own 
passage, and a public highway for ever after. Earl Robert, in despair at the pass to which 
his evil ways in every sense of the word had brought him, after consulting with his 
friends, came out to meet the king, and confessing his treason, laid the keys of Shrewsbury 
at his feet Henry permitted him to retire unmolested with his horses and arms, and 
Robert crossed over to Normandy boiling with rage, which he vented on that unfortunate 
province, in which he had no less than thirty-four strong castles. On the 4th of 
November, 1112-13, he was arrested at Bonnaville-sur-Tocque, on new charges of treason 
and contumacy, and taken first to Cherbourg, and then to Wareham, co. Norfolk, where 
he ended his days in prison, according to some authorities, starving himself to death. 
" Christian history," says Ordericus, " does not exhibit his equal in wickednesa" 

Robert de Belesme. last Earl of Arundel and Shrewsbury of the family of Montgo- 
mery, married Agnes, only daughter and heiress of Guy, Count of Ponthieu. by whom he 
had, according to some authorities, William the second, called Talvas, Count of Ponthieu 
and Alenjon ; but MUles asserts that he died without issue, though he gives him for a 
second wife a daughter of Robert Fitzhamon, who must have been his own niece if she 



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ON THE NORMAN EARLS OF SHREWSBURY. 77 

were the child of Sybil de Montgomery, wife of Robert FitzhamoiL I have no belief in 
this second marriage, which is unsupported by any oihex authority. 

Of Robert's brothers, Amulph de Montgomery and Roger of Poitou, who took part 
with him in his rebellion, the lives were romantic, their ends rather obscure. Amulph 
married Lafracoth, daughter of Morrough, or Munchardus, King of Leinster,' in whose 
right be raised pretensions to the kingdom of Lcinst«r in 1103. She was subsequently 
carried off &om him by her father, and married to one of her cousins. 

Nearly twenty years afterwards, in his old age, we are told that, " being reconciled, 
at least outwardly, with King Henry First, Amulph married a second time, and on the 
morrow of his nuptials, fell asleep after a banquet, and, shortly expiring, left the guests to 
listen to funeral dirges instead of an epithalamium."^ 

Roger of Poiton, or the Poitevin, disgusted with the conduct of his brother Robert, 
withdrew &om his support, and retired to the castle of Chatroux, which he possessed in 
right of his wife, the Countess Almodis, where he lived to an advanced age, engaged in 
constant hostilities with Hugh, second Comte de Lusignan, sumamed " the Devil," who 
disputed with him the county of La Marche. " He left," says Ordericus, " brave sons who 
were his hciis." To the eldest, Albert III, he bequeathed the war, who in turn left it to 
his son Albert IV. • 

With Robert de Belesme, ended the short line of Norman Counts Palatine of Salop- 
shire, for Bueh was undoubtedly their dignity ; and I have only to add a few words 
respecting the efBgies and arms which have been attributed to t^em. Milles, in his 
Catalogue of Honour, says that " Roger, first Earl of Shrewsbury, was buried in a chapel 
dedicated to our Lady, upon whose sepulchre (as I have heard) lay an image of stone, 
cross-legged, and on his shield his armes of azure with a lyon rampant of gold with a 
border," and that " Hugh, his son, was buried in the monastery whidi his father founded, 
and the like monument laid over him, with cross leggs, as was made for his father." In 
1623, during an heraldic visitation of this county, an effigy, supposed to be that of Earl 
Roger, from the place of its discovery, was dug up, and is still preserved in the abbey 
churclL It was engraved for Messrs. Owen and Blakeway's History of Shrewsbury 
(vol i, p. 45), and it is therein properly snggested, that, if it had indeed been sculptured 
to represent that personage, it must have been executed many years after his death, as 
the armour is of the time of King John, the close of the twelfth, instead of the eleventh 
century. In addition I must observe that Milles tells us that the effigies of Roger, Earl 
of Shrewsbury, and of his son Hugh, were both cross-le^ed. Now, although the figure at 
the abbey is much mutilated and the feet gone altogether, it is still perfectly clear &om 
the position of the legs that they were not crossed, and therefore if Milles' informant was 
• Dr. Powell. " Ord, Vit. Book », o. viij. 



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78 ON THE NORMAN EARLS OF SHREWSBURY. 

to be relied on, the effigy diacovered in 1623 is not that which commemorated Roger de 
Montgomery. Also if the effigies were cross-legged, that fact would be &tal to their 
being contemporary memorials, and if we add to that, the existence of a shield painted 
" asMre, a lyon rampant or, within a bordure," there can be no doubt that the period 
of their workmanship must have been as late as the thirteenth century, and therefore 
tie one now in the abbey would be earlier in date though not sufficiently early to be 
coeval. For the arms attributed to the Montgomeries there is no authority whatever. 
Robert de Belesme, the last Earl of Shrewsbury of that race, died before the introduction 
of hereditary coat armoiir. The seal of his brother, Hugh Earl of Shrewsbury, exhibits, 
as I have already mentioned, the common device or ornament of an escarboude. If the 
effigies mentioned by Milles displayed on their shields " azure, a lyon or, within a bord^," 
that bearing was most probably invented for them at the period of their fabrication, 
which could not have been earlier than the reign of Henry III, when we find William 
Longespee the husband of Ela, Countess of Salisbury, who was a lineal descendant 
firom Robert Earl of Shrewsbury, bearing in right of his wife, " azure, six lions rampant 
or. p.ow much have we lost by the destruction, mutilation, transposition, and removal 
of these sepulchral memorials of the mighty dead. How few that have been preserved 
have escaped being tampered with. The identification of any one of the nameless knights 
and ladies to be found in almost every parish church in England is a real bene£ictioD to 
the historian and genealogist, although the poet may only regard them as 

" Benm&ntB of tliingB that hare passed away. 
Fragments of stone reared by creatures of clay." 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWTS. 



Hon. add Ret. OEOROB THOMAS ORLAJ^DO BRIDOEMAN, M.A. 



THE history of the Welsh Princefl, though they have never wanted bards or chtoniclers 
to recount their martial deeds, is too often but a tissue of &iniily feuds and acts of 
mutual recrimination and plunder. The fiital law of gafel, under which each of the sons 
claimed a share of his fether'a inheritance, by dividing their interests, so reduced their 
strength as to render them at length a prey to their common enemy, the Normans. But 
their history is by no means wanting in deeds of valour or individual gallantry ; and 
the protracted resistance which they offered to the repeated aggressions of their powerful 
neighbours, is a sufficient proof of their courage and martial spirit. They fell at length a 
prey rather to their own internal dissensions than to the force of the English arms. 

In the time of Eoderic the Great, anno 850, the whole of Wales was united under 
one rule ; but at his death, anno 877, it was divided between his sons into three princi- 
palities, best known as North Wales, South Wales, and Powys, over each of which the 
Princes of Gwyneth, or North Wales, claimed a sort of supremacy. 

The principality of Powys, or the country above the Wye, which fell to Mervyn, the 
third son, comprehended Montgomeryshire, parts of Shropshire, and Merionethshire, and 
parts of the present counties of Brecknock, Denbigh, and Eadnor. 

This principality was held, in 1064, by Blethin ap Conv3m ap Gweryatan, known as 
the founder of the third royal tribe of Wales, who also assumed the sovereignty of North 
and South Wales, to the exclusion of their lawftd princes, and thus again united the 
dominions of his maternal ancestor, Koderic 

His title to Powys was derived in female succession &om his great grandmother 
Augharad, who was the granddaughter and representative of Mervyn ap Rodri Mawr. 

At Elethin's death, anno 1073, the kingdoms of North and South Wales re^ctively 
reverted, after a short interval, to the rightful heirs ; and Powys was divided, according 
to the gavelling system so fatal to the independence of Wales, between the sons of 
Blethin ; but the greater portiou of it was eventually reunited in Meredith, his eldest son. 

Meredith ap Blethin, Prince of Powys, died in 1129,^ and his dominions were, for 
' Brut-y-Tywyaogion. 



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80 THE PRINCES OF UPPER P0WY8. 

the most part, divided between his two elder sons, or rather between Madoc, his eldest 
son. and Owen Cjreilioc, his grandson, the son of Gii£&th, his second son. 

In this partition, Madoc had the portion, from him called Powys Fadog, Owen the 
upper moiety, which, from his son Gwenwynwyn, ot Wenwynwyn, was afterwards called 
Powys Wenwjmwyn.^ Powys Wenwynwyn, or the Higher Powys, contained five cantreds 
or hundreds — viz. 1. Y Fymwy (the River) ; 2. Cynan ; 3. Llyswynaf (the Palatinate) ; 
4. Ystlyg (the Curve) ; and 5. ArwystU (the possessionB of Arustel ap Cynedda) ; 
though this last was also claimed by the princes of North Wales as a part of their territoiy, 
and reckoned to Merioneth in the survey made by Llewelyn ap Griffith, the last Prince 
of North Wales. 

Y Fymwy contained three commots — viz., Mochnant uch Ehaiader (the Promon- 
tory above the cataract) ; Mechain lacoed (the little commot underwood) ; and 
Llannerch-hudoL 

Cynan contained two commots, Mawddwy alias Mouths (the troubled water) ; and 
Cyfeiliog. 

Llyswynaf contained two commots, Caereinion ; and Mechain uch. Coed (the little 
commot overwood.) 

Ystlyg contained three commots, Dcuddwr alias Deythur (the two rivers) ; Corddwr 
or Gothwr Isaf (the approaching river or isthmus) ; and Ystrad Marchell (the causeway 
of Marcellus). 

Arwyatli, or Arustli, also contained three commots, Uchcoed (overwood) ; Iscoed 
(underwood) ; and Gwrthrynion (opposite the hills).^ 

These commots, or lordships, are all situated in the present county of Montgomery, 
with the exception of Mowddwy, which is in the county of Merioneth, and Gwrthrynion, 
which is in the county of Badnor ; and these formed the eventual territories of t^ Lords 
or Princes of Upper Powys, although they were not all acquired at one time. 

The cantred of Arustli was at this time held by tlie descendants of Athelstan 
Giodiyth ; and some of the commots above mentioned would seem to have been with- 
held from the sons of Giifiith ap Meredith by their uncle Madoc of Meredith, Prince of 
Powis Fadoc. 

Griffith ap Meredith, the second son of Meredith ap Bletbin. frxim whom this 
line of princes sprung, died in the lifetime of his father, anno 1125.^ All we hear of 
him is that, in the year 1113, in conjunction with his cousin, Einion ap Cadwgan, he 

' Torke'e Soytd Trihea. 

* The cantred of Kedewen was also locally mtnated in Powys Wen wynwyn , and reckoned as a part 
of it at the snrvey made by Llewelyn ap Griffith, Prince of Wales, bat never formed a portion of the 
dominions of the Princes of Powys Wenw y n wyn . 

• Brut-y-Tywysogion. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER P0WY8. 81 

attacked the castle of Uchtryd ap Edwin at Cyminer in Merioneth, jmd took from fiim 
the districta of Merioneth, Cyveilioc, and Penllyn, which the conquerors divided between 
them.* Merioneth and CyveiHoc had been given to Uchtryd ap Edwin by Cadwgan ap 
Blethin, brother of Meredith and at that time the most powerful of the Lords of Powys, 
on condition of his rendering feithful service to him and his family, which Uchtiyd had 
repaid with enmily. 

In the partition of the conquered territory, CyveUioc, Mawddwy, and the half of 
Penllyn fell to GrifSth ap Meredith ; and Merioneth,^ with the other half of Penllyn, to 
the sons of Cadwgan ap Blethin.* 

The sons of Griffith ap Meredith were minors at the time of their father's death, and 
fell under the guardianship' of their uncle Madoc after the death of their grand&ther 
MereditL 

They had attained their majority before the year 1148 ; and " about the dose of 
that year," the Welsh chronicle informs us," " Madog, son of Maredudd, gave Cyveiliog to 
hia nephews, Owain and Mewrag, the sora of Gruffud, son of Mareddud." 

Of Meuric I learn nothing but that he escaped from his prison in 1155.' 

Hia brother Owen was destined to become a busier actor in the events of tiiat rest- 
less time. On September 29, 1158, he was in the king's pay ; and by the name of Owen, 
son of Griffin, receives five marks of silver from the king's treasury.' 

Again, on September 29, 1160, a similar entry occurs in the Pipe Rolls of a gift 
of forty shillings from the king to Owen, son of GriffijL^ 

It would seem that his lands, or a part of them, were at this time withheld from him 
by Owen Gwyneth, Prince of North Wales ; for the chronide' informs us that, in 1161, 
Howel ap Jevaf got possession of the castle of Tafolwem in C^eilioc through treacheiy, 
and that this was a cause of great grief to Owen Gwyneth, who retaliated by invading 
Aiustli, the territory of Howel, which he spoiled, and after rebuilt his castle (of Tafol- 
wem). If the Prince of North Wales had thus held the lands of Owen Cyveilioc, it is pro- 
bable that the latter had had them restored to him before the year 1165,-'' at which time 
we find him, in concert with Owen Gwyneth, and the rest of his countiymen, resisting 

' Bmt-y-TywyBo^on. 

■ Griffith ap Meredith is said to hare sabmitted witli hia &ther to Henry I, and to have been called 
by him to his baronial parliaments (Torke's Soyal Tribea, Pennant's Tour), bnt this is donbtinl. 

' This second moiety is also said to have been Bubaeqaently taken by Meredith ap Bletbin, bnt it does 
not appear to have been retained by his descendante. 

* Topke's JSo^oi Tribes. * Brtit-y-Tywysogion. * Bruty-Tywysogion. 
' Hot. P. 4 Hen. IT, p. 170 (ex inf. Bev. R. Eyton). 

* Hot. P. 6 Hen. U. » Brut-y-Tywysogion. 

* Brnt-y-TywjBogion ; Lyttelton's Eitt. Sen. H; Yorke'a Boytd Trihei, 



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82 THE PRINCES OP UPPER POWYS. 

the invaBion of King Heniy, and bearing an honourable share in the battle of Crogen, 
whence the king was forced to retreat with considerable loss and personal danger. 
Jorwerl^ Goch, son of Meredith ap Blethin, Lord of Mochnant. who had in this war acted 
with the other Welsh princes against the king,^ having soon after been won to the 
English, was driven from his Welsh territory by his nephews, Owen Cyveilioc, and Owen 
Vachan son of Madoc ap Meredith, who divided his lands between them. In this parti- 
tion Mochnant is Khaiader fell to Owen VachaD, and Mochnant uch Bhaiader to Owen 
Cyveilioc. 

The latter must himself have entered into the king's interest in the ensuing year, for 
in the Pipe Rolls of September 29, 1166, is the following entry : — "Et nuntiis Oeni de 
Chiviliac lOOs. precepto Justiciarii."2 It was, we may suppose, in consequence of this 
alliance that Owen Gwyneth and Cadwalader, the sons of Griffith ap Cynan, Lords 
of Gwyneth, and Rhys ap Griffith, Lord of South Wales, united their forces against him, 
and took from him Caereinion, which they gave to his cousin Owen Vachan ; from thence 
they won Tafolwem, which was given to the Lord fihys ap Griffith, aa it was said to have 
formerly appertained to his dominions ; but with better fortune than his uncle Jorwerth 
ap Meredith, he returned with English assistance and speedily recovered the castle of 
Caereinion with a portion at least of his lost territoiy.^ 

From this time he probably remained firm to his English alliance, and suffered in 
consequence the enmity of the Lord Bhys ap Griffith, who assembled an army against 
him in 1171, and compelled him to submit, and to give hostages for his future conduct* 

In 1177, he attended the summons of Henry II to a parliament held at Osford 
about the first of May in that year, to confer with him on the affairs of Wales.^ 

After this, we hear no more of Owen Op'cilioc until the time of his death in the year 
1197. He died at a very advanced age, after putting on the habit of religion at Tstrad 
Marchell, the monastery which he himself had founded.^ His designation of Cyveilioc, 
or Kevelioc, as it was usually written by the English, was taken from the commot or 
lordship of that name, in the south-western part of the present county of Montgomery, 
which contains the parishes of Darowen, Kemmes, Llaobrinmare, Llanwrin, Machynlleth, 
and Penegoes.' The ruins of his castle are still to be seen at Tafolwem in Cyveilioa^ 
Owen was a distinguished bard, and lived in the Augustan age of Welsh poetry. His 
poem called " Hirlas Owain " affords a specimen of his martial spirit. 

GiralduB Cambrensis informs us that he was the most eloquent of the Welsh princes 

' Brut-y-Tywysogion. * Hot. P. 12 Hen. 11 (ei inf. E«t. R. Eyton). 

* Brnt-y-Tywysogion. ' Brut-y-Tywysogion. 
' Warrington's SUt. Waiei, from Hoveden, Holinshead, etc. 

• Brut-y-TywyBOgion. ' Willis' Survey. ' Yorke'a BoijeX Trihet. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER P0WY8. 83 

and coDBpicaouB for the good management of his territory. Having generally favoured 
the Koyal cause, he had contracted a great familiarity wit^ King Henry IL Being with 
the king at table at Shrewabury, Henty, as a mark of peculiar honoor and regard, sent 
him one of his own loaves. He immediately brake it into small pieces, like bread given 
away in charity ; and having, like an almoner, placed them at a distance &om him, he 
took them up, one by one, and ate them. The king requiring an explanation of this 
proceeding, Owen, with a smile, replied, " I thus follow the example of my lord," keenly 
alluding to the avaricious disposition of the king, who was accustomed to retain for a 
long time in his own hands the vacant ecclesiastical benefices.^ 

Owen Cyveilioc is said to have married Gwenthlian,^ the daughter of Prince Owen 
Gwyneth, by whom he had one son, Wenwynwyn, who inherited his patrimony entire,' 
except the commot of Llannerchhndol, and the lordship of Bronjarth, which were 
bestowed by Owen upon his natural son, Caswalhon Maeleri, for life, and afterwards 
reverted to "Wenwynwyn, or his son. 

Wenwynwyn de Keveliok, the son of Owen, early took his part in the desultory 
wai&re that devastated his unhappy country. 

" . . . . OwerMm/nm/n, sangnmis herea, 
enie obitiun patria, totam snbjecit Amstli ; 
inde Pols castnun, quod yi posaederai Anglos, 
Conditdone pan, qna perdidit ante, reoepit.'" 

In the lifetime of his father, he conquered the cantred of Amstli,'^ probably irom 
the Princes of South Wales, to whom it had been given by Heniy II in 1171 ;' and he 
recovered his castle of Pole, or Powis Castle, from Archbishop Hubert, the King's Justi- 
ciary, by whom it had been previously taken in September 1196.' The recapture of the 
castle is placed by Hoveden and Stowe in 1197. 

His first exploit had been of a less worthy character. In conjunction with his base 
brother Caswalhon, in 1186, he had treacherously attacked and slain his father's cousin, 
Owen Vachan ap Madoc at the castle of Carreg-hova, near Oswestry. 

' Hoare's Oiraldug, toI. il, p. 174-5. 

* Id the Wel^h OhrotUde Owen Cymlioo ia called tiie aoD-in-lav of tiie Lord Bihfa ap Qriffith of 
Bootli Wales (Brat-y-Tywysogion), whoae daughter he may have married for hie aecond wife ; or ahe 
m&j possibly have been the mother of hia illegitimate aon, Gaawalhon. Thia Caswalhon waa in the king's 
service in 1196, and in the following year received from the crown the onatody of Stretton Castle, eac- 
ceediDg the sheriff of Shropshire in that office. (Ex inf. Bev. R. Eyton.) 

' Powel'a OhronicU; Torke's Boyal Tribes. * Torke's Eoyai Tribea (from Pevioirchia). 

* We may anppoae iliat he reoovered Walvem at the same time, which had been taken from Owen 
Cyveilioc in 1166. 

* Brat-y-Tywysogion, ' Eyton's AtUiq. ShropiMre, vol. x, p. 358. 

M 2 



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84 THE PRINCE8 OF UPPER P0WY8. 

In 1197, Wenwynwyn succeeded to the territory of his father, which waa henceforth 
called Powys Wenwynwyn, and at this time probably consisted of the five cantreda above 
mentioned ; ^ though the commot of Gwrthrynion or Warthrynion (if it were ever in his 
possession) must have fidlen shortly afterwards into the hands of die Kngliah, and was 
henceforward held by the fiamily of Mortimer. 

In the following year, 1198,^ prompted at once by a pardonable ambition and 
revenge for the cruel murder of his kinsman, Trahaiam Vachan, at the hands of the English, 
Wenwynwyn conceived a great design, no less than the restoration of the Welsh to their 
ancient rights and liberties, and the extension of his country to its ancient Umits. With 
views so popular, he speedily raised a lai^e army, and bang joined by the otter Welsh 
princes and chieftains, he proceeded to attack William de Braose, the instigator of 
Trahaiam's murder, at Pain's Castle in Eadnor. The Lords Marcher, being imable to 
relieve the place, released theii prisoner Griffith, Lord of South Wales, who had pre- 
viously been given up to them by Wenwynwyn. Griffith collected his followers and 
joined his forces to the English, who then attacked Wenwynwyn in the open plain near 
the castle. In this action the latter was defeated, and the allies remained masters 
of the field. The active spirit of Wenwynwyn, however, was yet unsubdued, and 
from this time forward we find him constantly engaged in the petty warfare of his 
country. 

It would have been about this time that Llewelyn ap Jerwerth, the reigning Prince 
of North Wales, reasserted the obsolete claims of his ancestors to a supremacy over all 
the Welsh princes. These pretensions were indignantly rejected by Wenwynwyn, who 
held him at defiance, and continued to maintain his own independence. 

In the year 1199, King Bichard was slajn at the siege of Chalons, and John assumed 
the English crown.^ It would have been the manifest policy of this prince to strengthen 
his doubtful title to the throne by conciliating all those who could aid or impede his 
cause ; and the warlike Lord of Powis is not overlooked. In the first year of the reign 
of King John, he has a grant in fee ferm &om the king of the manor of Ashford in Derby- 
shire, parcel of the ancient demesne of the crown ; and a charter for &ee warren there ; * 
as also a grant or confirmation from the king of " all the lands he has taken or shall take 
from the king's enemies in North Wales." ^ 

' Perhaps the oominot of Mechaia Iscoed should sot be indnded in the territoiy of Wenwynwyn, 
thongli it ail«rwarrda came to his deHCendants. At this period, however, uid for some tune aAer, it seems 
to hare been held by tlie sons of Owen Yochan ap Madoo. 

' Torke's Moycd 'Drihea. 

' Chart. Bot. 1 Johis. (quoted in Lyaona'a DerhyBhire and Glover's Barhythire). 

* Cal. Hot. Chart. 1 Johie., p. 2, nnmb. 15. 

* Cal. Bot. GlLKrt. ex lacerata parte chartamm Johis. I. 



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THE PRINCES OP UPPER POWTS. 95 

In the year 1201, by the name of Wenynwyn, boh of Owen Kyfeiliog, he gives to 
God, the gloriouB Virgin Mother, and the monka of Strath Marehel, for the repose of his 
aool, all the pasturage in the whole prOTince of Kyfeiliog.^ In the following year, 1202, 
we find him reconciled to die Prince of North Wales, through the mediation^ of the other 
Welsh princes whom Llewelyn had summoned to his assistance, with the view of bringiog 
Wenwynwyn to his subjection, and taking forcible possession of his country ; and the 
Lord of Fowls is now induced to take the same oaths of allegiance to Llewelyn as he 
had before done to the King of England, from which last he had been discharged by a 
dispensation &om Rome. 

A letter from King John, dated August 10, 1204, informs Wenunwin de Kevelloc 
that the king has appointed Hugh Fantulf and Bobert Corbet to ensure a safe conduct to 
Wenunwin if he comes to a court shortJy to be held at Woodstock. Whether the king's 
overtures were accepted does not appear.^ 

The Shropshire historian informs us diat there was, in the appointment of these 
CommiBsioners, a ^cial propriety, which we ascertain from other records. Wenunwin's 
wife was Bobert Corbet's daughter, and Hugh Pantulf was probably the lady's maternal 
relative. Robert Corbet and Hugh Pantulf with William Fitzalan, were witnesses to 
a convention, dated at Shrewsbury on October 7, 1208, between King John and 
Wenhunwin, which is mentioned hereafter ; and Corbet seems to have acted in some 
measure as surety for the Welsh prince on this occasion. 

In the year 1207, having again quarrelled with Iiewelyn, Wenwynwyn fell into tfae 
hands of the king, who, after having insidiously invited him to Shrewsbury to confer 
with his council, threw him into prison in order to win the favour of Llewelyn. Kor 
was the captive prince released imtil he had consented to certain hard articles of accom- 
modation.* By this cpnvention, before alluded to, which is dated on the eve of St Denis, 
ia the tenth year of John's reign (October 7, 1208), the king being then at Shrewsbury, 
the prince, who is therein called Wennuen ap Owen Keveliac, covenants to serve the king 
" de se et de terr& su& in perpetuum," and bonds himself to find twenty hostages as his 
security. If he does not procure twelve of them in die course of a week, he ia to remain 
as a forfeited captive, and he shall abide for the eight others ; but after sJl the hostages 
are anived, then Wennuen himself shall be set free." 

' Pennant's Touitt. A copy of Wen wjuwyu 'fl charter to tlie Cisterciaii Abbey of Strath Marehel, is 
giren in the appendix to Pennant's Tours in WaUt. The Abbey of Ystrad Harchel, Strata Marcella, 
Alba domue de Ui^cella, Tail. Crads, or Pola, trhich was situated between the town of Pool and Oileafield, 
was foonded by Owen Cyveilioo in tlie year 1170. (Tanner.) 

* Bmt-y-Tywysogion. ' Eyton'a HUi. Bhropthire, vol. vii, p. 15 (from Bol. Pat., p. 45). 

* Sist. BhrewibKry, Owen and BUkeway, vol. i, p. 90. 
' Bym. ^fed., vol. i, p. 101. Beoord Edition. 



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86 THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 

During the period of his captivity, his lands, which had been nominally taken into 
the king's custody, were seized and devastated by Llewelyn, as is asserted by the Welsh 
chronider,^ and corroborated by Rymer ; for therein we learn that, on the 26th of 
December, 1208, the king, being then at Bristol, remits to his beloved Leulin (who had 
married his natural daughter Joanna) his ill feeling, which he had conceived against him 
for occupying the lands and castle of Wennnwen, and for the other injuries done to the 
same Wennuweu " whilst he was in oiu: custody," and promises hereafter to treat him aa 
a beloved som^ But if we may believe an old chronicle of the Fitzwarins {written when 
Ludlow belonged to the Iiacys, and, consequently, not later than 1240),' the perfidious 
monarch was amply repaid for his treachery towards the Prince of Powis, for the latter 
soon after united his forces with the Lord of Whittington (Fulke Fitzwarin), and defeated 
the king with immense loss, obliging bim to retire with disgrace from the country. 

It was with English assistance, however, that be recovered his lands of Powis ; and, 
in conjunction with other of the Welsh princes, he seems to have taken part with King 
John in his campaign against Llewelyn in 1211,* the result of which was the temporajy 
pacification of Wales, and the submission of all the Welsh princes. 

This peace, however, was of short duration ; for, in the foUowing year (1212), the 
Welsh, encouraged by the Pope, again rose in arms against the king, and took from him 
certcun of his castles in North Wales." 

In this war Wenwynwyn threw off his forced allegiance and oath of fidelity to the 
kin^ from which he had once more been absolved by t^e Boman pontifi', and recovered 
the castle of Mathraval in Powis, which had been rtused by Bobert Vipont, and garrisoned 
for the king.* 

The revolt of the English Barons in 1214 afforded him another pretext for hosti- 
lities, and as Fulke Fitzwarin was one of the first to rise on this occasion, it may 
perhaps have been at this time that these worthies accomplished their joint raid against 
the king as recorded in the Fitzwarin chronicle. 

This was the period of Wales's greatest triumph, when the Welsh recovered a great 
portion of their ancient possessions, and even Shrewsbury was for a year or more in the 
hands of Llewelyn. It was captured in 1215 by Llewelyn with the assistance of 
Wenwynwyn and others ; and as it was in early rimes the capital of Powialand, it is by 
no means improbable that the Lord of Powis may have expected to have it given up to 

^ Bmt-y-TywjBogion. * Bym. Fted., toL i, p. 102. 

* Inter MSS. Dngdale, vol. Trr^iT in i/biaeo Aahmol., Oxon. (qnotod in Owen and Blakeway'B Sitt. 
Shrewgbury, vol. i, p. 90.) 

* Bmt-y-TywyHOgion. » Hitt. Shrewthury ; Brat-y-l^wyBOgion. 

* Bmt-y-Tywysogion. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER P0WY8. 87 

him, as the conquests in South Wales had been relinquished to the hereditary princes of 
tie house of Dynevor. 

However this may be, it is certain that, in 1216, "Wenwynwyn receded from his Welsh 
alliance and made his peace with the king, to the great indignation of lilewelyn,^ who 
used every means in his power to dissuade him, but without effect He was now hunted 
from his dominions, and driven into the county of Chester by Llewelyn, who seized upon 
his whole territory. 

In the August of the same year, the king came into the Marches of Wales to the 
support of his newly-returned vassal, but was forced to retire without putting him in 
possession of his lands, and Wenwynwyn died soon after, without having recovered his 
inheritance. 

He was dead in 1218, and his lands were conceded to the custody of Llewelyn 
during the minority of his heirs.^ By a treaty, held at Worcester in the second year of 
Ejng Henry III (1218), the Prince of North Wales agrees to surrender the castles of 
Caermarthen and Cardigan, and engages not to receive any of the king's enemies ; and on 
the part of the king, it is engaged that the prince shall have the custody of all the land 
which belonged to Wenhunwen in Wales and Mungumer, of which he was disseised on 
account of the wars between King John and his barons, to hold to the full age of the 
heirs of Wenhunwen ; IJewel)^! contracting, on his part, to provide reasonable suste- 
nance for the said heirs, wbeth^ they be educated in Engluid or Wales, and to pay the 
dower of M. widow of Wenhunwen.' 

Margaret, the widow of Wenwynwyn was, as has been already stated, the daughter of 
Robert Lord Corbet of Cans. The Welsh genealogists assert that the wife of Wenw3Ti- 
wjm was Margaret, daughter of the Lord Rhys of South Wales, in which they have been 
followed by Powell, Yorke, and others ; but it is notorious that the Welsh genealogists had 
such an antipathy to English names and English alliances that they would never willingly 
admit them into their pedigrees ; and the alliances of this family have never been correctly 
given. That she was the daughter of Robert Corbet is incidentally proved hj an inquest 
with respect to the liability of certain of Thomas Corbet's manors to the payment of toll, 
or as to their being within the limits of the king's forest The writ which orders the 
inquest was issued May 7, 1246. The jurors found that "the men of Robert Corbet 
(father of Thomas) of the Welsh tongue were quit of toll at Salop and Montgomery 
before that the said Robert married his daughter to Wenhunwyne ; but afterwards, 
through the strife and war which arose between them, the said men had paid toll till 
the present day."* 

' Bmt-y-TywjBogion. ' fftrf. Shretinbury, vol. i, p. 96. 

* Eym. Faed., vol. i, p. 150. * Anliq. Shropahire, vol. vii, pp. 22, 23. 



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88 THE PRINCES OF UPPER P0WY8. 

On August 2, 1220, Margaret Corbet namea Nicholas "Walsh as her attorney in a 
plea of land Tvhich she had against Llewelyn.^ This was doubtleBs the widow of 
Wenwynwyn. 

On August 29, 1226, Maigaret, the widow of Wenuweu, had two parts of the manor 
of Ashford {county Derby) confirmed to her, by a grant dated at Shrewsbuiy, to hold 
during the king's pleasure.'' 

On March 27, 1227, there is a " Quittance of Tallage of Irds of Asseford," which the 
king had given in ferm to Margaret, widow of Wenhunwen.' On November 23, 1228, 
she had a further confirmation of her two parts of the manor of Ashford, to hold from 
the feast of St Michael 1229, on payment of £20 into the king's treasury, to 
be paid at the terms of Easter and Michaelmas ; and the king pardoned her a hundred 
shillings arreaiB of rent for the same.* In rcTiewing the character of Wenwynwyn, we 
must take into consideration the peculiar eircmnstances of the times in which he lived, when 
the independence of Wales was fiist dwindling away before the success of the English 
arms, aided by the internal jealousies of its petty sovereigns ; and if we condemn his 
versatifity in so frequently changing sides, and acting at one time with Llewelyn, at 
another with the English king, we must remember that he received great provocations 
from both, and it is somewhat doubtful to whom his allegiance was rightly due ; for 
while, on the one hand, by the ancient laws of Roderic Mawr and Howel Dha, a certain 
feudal supremacy had been assigned to the Prince of Nortii Wales over those of South 
Wales and Powis, which had lately been reasserted by Llewelyn ap Jorwerth, the reigning 
Prince of North Wales, and which Wenwywyn waa at one period constrained to acknow- 
ledge ; on the other hand, his ancestors had been more tiian once compelled to submit 
themselves to the kings of England, and do homage to them for their lands. His natural 
feelings would have prompted him to take part with his feUow-countryman Llew&lyn, 
while his own inta^sts, his English connexions, and his treatment at the hands of 
Llewelyn, would have influenced him in seeking an Wngliali alliance. Moreover, the 
situation of his teiritoiy, which lay between the English dominions and those of the 
Prince of North Wales, and open to the ravages of either, would have compelled him to 
temporise with the dominant party. Had his patriotdsm been more consistent, and his 
talents more constantiy employed in the defence of his native country, we should have 
admired him for his chivalrous bravery and skill as a general ; as it is, we can only 
say of him that he was a man of great ^irit in the field. We have seen too, that in 
a rdigious sense, he improved his Other's foondation of Ystrad MarcheL 

' AnHquUiee of ShrGpthire, vol. vii, p. 17. 

» Bot. Fin^ 10 Hen. Ill (ex inf. Bar. K. Eyton). ' Claua. ii, 178 (« inf. Eev. R. Byton). 

* Sot. Fin. 13 Hen. m, memb. 12 (ex inf. Rev. R. Eyton). 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 89 

Besides his bod Griffith, who succeeded as Prince of Povis, Wenwynwyn had a 
son Darned Owen, and another named Madoc. 

On January 1225, Henry III orders his treasurers to pay Owen, son of Wenwynwyn, 
two merks to buy himself a hack, " runcinum." ^ Maddok, son of Wennunwen, in 1245, 
is one of the Barons of North Wales who were summoned to answer for their depre- 
dations and injuries done in the king's dominions against the king's peace.^ And in 
1258, as " Madant filius Wenwynwyn," he is party, with Llewelyn ap Griffith, Prince of 
North Wales, and others, to a treaty between the magnatea of Scotland and Wales, 
whereby they severally bind themselves not to make peace with the king except by 
mutual consent^ 

He had the commot of Mowdduy settled bpon him for life, to be held of his brother 
Griffith ; * and is said to have left a daughter and heiress, Efa, married to Jewerth ap 
OwcD Brogytyn, from whom the family of Hughes of Gwerclas, Barons of Kymmer in 
EdeimioD, derived their descent. 

* Boi. lAl. Olawt., vol. ii, p. 13 (ex inf. Rev. R. Eyton). » Rymer's Fad., anno 29 Hen. III. 

» Rym. Fad., anno 42 Hen. III. • Deed p«Berved in Hengwrt MSS., No. 119. 



(To he amtinued.) 



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SHIFFNAL CHURCH. 



THE REV. JOHN LOUIS PETIT, M.A., F.S.A. 



I HAVE been requested to read at the present meeting^ an architectural notice of the 
parish church of Shiffnal, or, as it waa formerly called, Idsall; the spot on which the 
church stands being separated from the town by a small brook, which formed a boundary 
between two contiguous districts having those respective names.^ As, however, the 
church is the only one belonging to the inhabitants of Shiffnal, and as the majority of 
the parishioners re^de oo the Shiffnal side of the said brook, we may be content to call 
it by the name under which it is usually known, namely, Shiffnal church, notwith- 
standing its detached position as regards the town. This detached position affords us 
unusual facilities of obtaining a good view of the edifice from every quarter ; in fact, I 
know of no church which the sketcher can command from a greater variety of points. 
The sketches and photographs* I now lay before you will,- I trust, give a tolerably 

' CongreBB held at Shrewsbnry, August 1860. 

* This is Mr. Eyton'B eaggestion, in his Antiqitiiiet of SJavpehire, and he also abeerres that he first 
notices the name of ShiSiial to occor in a deed bearing date 1320, vol. ii, p. 265. 

' Some of these have been, I^ the kindness and Uberalitjr of Mr. Petit, emplt^ed to illustrate bis paper. 



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Djgilizcd by 



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SHIFFNAL CHURCH. 91 

correct idea of its general aspect From its solidity, massivenesa, and simple grandeur 
of form, you would at first sight be inclined to pronounce it to be a conventual 
church but little altered from its original plan.^ Indeed, I have lately visited a small 
conventual church in Gloucestershire, Stanley St Leonard, which in its general character 
had BO mudi resemblance to the subject of our present notice, that I sketched it from 
a particular point of view for the sake of making the comparison. However, Shiffnal 
chiuxh does not appear to have been conventual or collegiate, and, as we shall presently 
see, it has undergone considerable changes since its first erection. As it appears at 
present' it is a cruciform structure, with a plain and massive central tower, nave 
with aisles, north and south transept, chancel, to which is attached a large southern 
chapel, and a large porch with a parvise or room above it, on the south side of the 
nave. 

Before I proceed to the details, or the characteristics of style, I would remark that 
the church is valuable, as having been very little subjected to the modem process called 
restoration. Something has been done within the last few years, but very carefully, and 
without either disturbing old work of any value, or materially aflfecting the outline. 
Some very late window^ almost too late to be called Perpendicular, and in a state 
of decay, in the south aisle, have been replaced by late Perpendicular windows, and the 
parapet of the south transept has been a little raised, for the sake of accommodating a 
roof covering the tower arch, part of which had been previously cut off by a lower roof, 
and merely screened by a partition from the outer air. This alteration has slightly 
affected a particular view of the church I had always admired, but still on the whole it 
has done no material harm to the general outline ; and, as a rule, it is no fault to give 
rather a large expanse of wall and parapet above pointed arches, which always look mean 
and poor when brought too near the upper termination of the building. I am very glad 
that the horizontal parapets of the transepts have been suffered to remain, and have not 
been replaced, according to the fashion of the day, with gables corresponding to the 
weather mouldings of the tower. One great property of Gothic is its power of developing 
accidental beauties, such as arise either from parts being left unfinished by the architect, 
or altered and carried on in later phases of the style. It is not alwajrs judicious for the 
architect of the present day to carry out what he conceives to be tJie original architect's 
design, or to restore a building, as he supposes, to its original condition, thereby obUterat- 
ing a large body of architectural history. In the case before us, great picturesqueness of 
composition results from tho contrast between the horizontal termination of the transepts, 
and the pointed termination of the other roofe, the gables of which seem to have pre- 
served their original pitch, and I think, actual coping. Their elevations are well worth 

■ See Fl&te I. ■ See Plate II for plan and interior. 

n2 



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92 SHIFFNAL CHURCH. 

Studying, as being peculiarly beautiful The square form of the tranBept gives also great 
dignity to the massive central tower, wiaaii would be much diminished by the restoration 
of the original roof But though as architects we shall generally take the safest course if 
we leave an old church very nearly aa we find it, stiU as antiquaries we may inquire into 
its primitive plan and form, and by comparing that with its present, endeavour to worit 
out its architectural history. Now let us examine where the different styles of medieeval 
architecture appear, beginning with the Norman. In the south transept, though Perpen- 
dicular windows are inserted, and an embattled parapet added, we find the flat buttress 
that we know to be used in the twelfth century. In the masonry of the wall, we find 
fragments of a decidedly Norman doorway,^ which evidently are in situ, and must have 
belonged to a very fine door occupying the centre of the transept front. And from the- 
interior of the south aisle, which clearly replaces one of much smaller dimensions, we 
notice, in the west wall of the transept, a good late Norman arch,' that must have been no 
other than a window when the wall was an external one. On the south side of the 
chancel all earlier features have been swept away by the introduction of the chapel of 
which I have spoken, which is known by the name of the Moreton chapel, but on the 
north side are two round-headed windows of a peculiar character, since they are shafted, 
and the abacus of the capital, contrary to the usual practice in Norman work, is round 
instead of square.' This, with others indications, lead us to assign a late period in the 
twelfth century as the date of these windows, and of the wall in which they occur. But 
the Norman, or Transitional work, whichever we may like to call it, did not extend the 
whole length of the present chancel. A break in the masonry leads us to infer that the 
termination of the choir was but little to the eastward of these windows, the last bay of 
the chancel being added long after the establishment of the Pointed style. Such a length 
of chancel is more in accordance with the proportions usually observed in cross churches 
of the twelfth century; the chancel, or choir, or presbytery, being frequently much 
lengthened by the architects of the early English or later styles. Many of our cathedrals 
and larger abbeys and collegiate churches, show instances of this addition to the earlier 
work. In fact, in most cases, the choir or eastern limb was whoUy rebuilt, on a scale of 
greater magnificence, as at Pievaulx, Southwell, St Alban's, Bo:^^ve, the cathedrals of 
Ely, Carlisle, and others. A long chancel was, however, sometimes built during the 
Norman period, as in the very curious and interesting church of Stow in Lincolnshire, to 
which we shall have occasion to refer again during the course of our remarks. Still the 
abbey church of Buildwas presents the most regular type of Norman proportion, in which 
fie eastern limb does not very greatiy exceed in length either of the transepts. 

The most remarkable relic of the early style in Shifinal church is the chancel 
' See Plate V. » See Plato HI. ' See Plate IH. 



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SHIJFKAL CHURCH, SHBOPSBIIIE. 



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SHIFFNAL CHURCH. 93 

arch,^ which does not support the east wall of the tower, but stands nearly in contact 
with the eastern one of the four arehes on which the present tower is raised. This 
chancel arch is semicircolar, and of a transitional character ; having Norman features in 
the impost, an early English ornament, namely, that which is known as the dog's-tooth, 
on the western face, and mouldings which can neither be called early English nor Norman, 
but partake of the manner of both. On the west side, over the crown of the arch, is a 
curious piece of* sculpture, whether coeval or inserted, which my friend Mr. Brooke has 
drawn carefully, and had engraved, as well as the mouldings of the arch, for Mr. 
Eyton'fl work.^ 

Though this chancel arch is not one of the tower arches at present, it corresponds 
with the transepts, which are consequently wider than the tower, and show that the ori- 
^al central tower, supposing one to have existed at all, was even wider and more 
massive than that we now see. The outline, therefore, of the church must in this respect 
also, as well aa in the shortness of the chancel, have borne a considerable resemblance to 
that of Buildwas abbey, the wide central tower of which, though only the lower part of it 
remains, gives that ruin a very grand and venerable appearance. 

The insertion of a central tower in the area intended for a laiger one, is a feature 
not confined to Shiifnal church. I have already named the church of Stow, in Lincoln- 
shire, as having a Norman chancel of greater length tJian those usually belonging to that 
period. This church has also a central tower on Gothic piers and pointed arches, 
standing within the area formed by four round arches or piers of a very early character, 
which still remain, and are considered to date farther back than the Conquest. The old 
tower must have been extremely wide and massive, as the inserted one is by no means 
deficient in this respect. At Bishop's Cannings, in Wiltshire, a fine church, principally 
Early English, has a chancel arch contiguous to the eastern arch of the tower, instead 
of identical with it. Here, however, the tower does not seem to have been contracted 
in its dimensions. There is a curious httle church in Gloucestershire (Sevenhampton), 
which has a central tower that does not correspond with its transepts, but has detached 
western piers strengthened by internal flying buttresses springing from the angles of the 
nave and transepts. This arrangement belongs to the late Perpendicular period, iixe 
transept being Early EnglisL 

In Normiuidy I have noticed some curious adaptations of the central tower to an 
area wider than itself; one, for instance, at the beautiful church of FiervUle, in the 
neighbourhood of Caen, where the tower piers are connected with the angles of the 
■ Plate m. 

* See Eyton's AniiquUiet of Shropshire, vol. ii, p. 838. The drawing was made from a tracing of a 
nketch since made by Mr. Brooke, at tiie time the belfty floor was raised, wlien he waa able hy means of the 
scaffolding to obtain a nearer view. 



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94 8HIFFNAL CHURCH. 

tranflepts by open arches. In many instances ■where the nave is without aisles, the 
tower corresponds with the eastern limb and the transepts, but is very much narrower 
than the nave. This is a common arrangement in Komanesque churches in many parts 
of France.^ One of the most curious outlines I have seen, resulting from a change of 
design regarding the central tower, is in another church near Caen (Rouvres), where the 
old one is left standing a little eastward of the later one, which is wide and massive, 
corresponding to a new nave and transepts ; but at a still later period the eastern 
one was carried up to a greater height, and finished with a spire. The whole 
building (as far as we are concerned with it) belongs to the thirteenth and fourteenth 
centuries. 

To return to the matter in hand. The east wall of the south transept remains, and 
presents a large semicircular arch, indicating a chapel, perhaps apsidal, attached to that 
part of the building. Such chapels remain still in some of our larger churches of the 
Norman period. Tewkesbury has one. Romsey has one on the east side of each of its 
transepts, besides one terminating each aisle of the choir. These latter are internally 
semicircular, externally square. And in many cases the arch remains when the chapel 
itself has been destroyed. At BuUdwas and Kirkstall we have square chapels on the 
eastern sides of the transepts, one to each bay. I dare say it might be discovered 
without difficulty, whether this kind of chapel existed at Shi£&ial, and of what shape, 
though it would not be worth the trouble unless it were wanted for the establishment of 
some important point In many parts of the Continent, such features may be pronounced 
imiversal in churches earUer tiian the thirteenth century. 

So far then we have grounds on which we might form a reasonable conjecture as to 
the aspect of Shifinal church at the end of the twelfth century. A very wide, and 
probably not very lofty central tower and transepts, the southern one having a large and 
rich doorway in its front, forming one of the principal entrances of the church; an 
eastern apse or chapel attached, in all likelihood, to each of the transepts; and a choir or 
chancel not quite so long as the present. Though it is possible this may have had a 
semicircular termination, yet as the flat east end is very common in English buildings of 
that date, we have no reason for pronouncing the apsidal form to be the most probable 
one in the case before us. But westward of the tower we look in vain for any decided 
architectural features that may be referred to Norman or twelfth century work. We 
have neither {to the best of my knowledge) windows, arches, buttresses, or mouldings, of 

' Mr. Petit here exLibited a drawing of a cbnrch (Blaozac) in the south of France, in which the 
central tower riaeB from the ground independently of the nave, choir, and transepts, being pierced with e. 
narrow point«d arch in each face. In this oaae Kr. Petit beliered the tower to be the oli^st part of the 
chnrch. 



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8HIFFNAL CHUKCH. 95 

any sort to direct ub. If there were heavy Norman piers, as at Buildwas, they hare 
been pulled down and replaced by the present lighter ones, which are more appropriate 
in a parochial church. The western part may not have been carried on till the Gothic 
style was pretty well established, as we find it in the parts connected with the southern 
porch, and in the buttresses at the western angles of the aislea Perhaps, indeed, the 
flat buttresses which we notice at the west end, may be the old Norman ones. If so, the 
original length of the nave is another point established; and as the length of the nave 
gives ua a very pleasing proportion, it is very likely to be the same designed by the 
architect of the twelfth century, — a time when, I would especially beg you to remark, the 
proportions and outlines of churches were finer, although often simpler, than at any other 
epoch of Gothic architecture. Wherever you meet with a church of a genuine Norman 
outline (there are but few such in England, but many in France), depend upon it you 
ought to study it attentively; not so much on account of details, which, however curious, 
are of little practical use to the architect, as for its general design and composition, which 
almost always exhibit a beauty and grandeur that may be transferred to styles much 
more refined in the conception and workmanship of their ornamental portions. The 
wall of the north aisle, and also of the south, from the western angle to the porch, may 
contain old work, or at least be in their original position. I infer the church to have 
been originally built with aisles, from the circumstance that the aisles are very narrow; 
thus agreeing with the proportions usually found in Norman work; and if they had been 
added for the purpose of obtaining room, they would have been made much larger, — the 
very thing which, as we shall see, was done with part of the south aisle at a late period. 
Nor would a nave without division have occupied a space equal to that now comprised 
within the aisle walls. Such an arrangement will not easily be found in English churches 
of the twelfth century, though it would not surprise us in the central or southern 
provinces of France. I believe also that English churches of that date usually had a 
range of clerestory windows when they had aisles ; at least I cannot at present recollect 
an instance to the contrary, though its omission is extremely common in continental 
Bomanesque. This may have raised the roof of the nave to a higher level than the 
chancel, and thus given the structure less of that conventual aspect which now 
characterizes it. I need not say that all this is purely conjectural Many types of 
Norman chniches are doubtless altogether lost to us; and some specimens which strike 
us as unique, may in reality prove to be the remains of numerous claasea But it is no 
unprofitable amusement to form conjectures as to the primitive aspect of a building, 
provided we are prepared to receive with candour facta which militate against om: 
theory, and modify, or give it up, when it is no longer tenable. And, as I have remarked, 
while we speculate upon what may have been the former condition of a building, we 



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96 SHIFFNAL CHURCH. 

should be in no huny to turn our speculations to account by actual restoration to what 
we suppose its original state. Many an old church has been utterly deprived of its 
antiquarian value and interest by such a process. 

We have now, I think, exhausted the Norman elements of Shiffnal church, and must 
pass on to those of a more developed Gothic; and we shall find at least five different 
architectural phases. First, the south porch and portion of the structure connected widi 
it; may be set down as belonging rather to Early English than any other style. Secondly, 
the eastern addition to the chancel, — a somewhat early and extremely curious example 
of Decorated. Thirdly, the Moreton chapel on the south side of the chancel, — a later 
kind of Decorated. The tower and nave are worked so plainly, that it is difficult to 
assign a date to them. I should be inclined to place it in the first half, or even the first 
quarter, of the fourteenth century. Fourthly, the windows and other Perpendicular 
additions to the transepta. The northern one presents no other style to the eye. And 
fifthly, the very late south aisle, the windows of which have been lately restored, and 
which must have been an addition of the sixteenth century. 

The south porch is a very curious one in many respects. Externally its front 
presents a fine door with a trefoiled head, above which is a window that has rather a 
domestic than an ecclesiastical character. Such, however, would not be altogether out of 
place in a habitable room over a porch. This window has two lancet lights divided by a 
plain transom (a feature which, in this form, occurs at a very early period) and a 
quatrefoil, the lower lobe of which is more depressed than the upper. The whole 
comprised in a pointed arch. The moulding of this window is almost what wc should 
expect to see in one built after the close of the Gothic period ; still from the air of the 
whole composition, as contrasted with the adjacent late work, I can have little doubt 
that it is a genuine production of tlie thirteenth century.^ The gable of the porch is 
lower (&om being narrower) than that of the west end, and the staircase, usually 
enclosed in a turret, is here indicated by a smaller gable or dormer, forming altogether 
an extremely picturesque outline. The porch is vaulted, as well as the compartment of 
the aisle into which it opens, and which is considerably lower than the other pier arches, the 
ribs of the vault being segmented. The arrangement was doubtless made for the purpose 
of giving more room to the chamber above the pordi, without stopping the passage along 
the aisle. I am inclined to think that the work here belongs to the original fabric, and 
did not replace any previous structure ; for the building of tlie nave might not have 

' I may obaeire th&t -windovs of a similar composition oocnr in tlie chuTCh of Bolton Abbey, in 
Yorkshire. At the examination of Shiffiial yesterday it waa remarked, that the transom of this window is a 
modem insertion ; if this be the case, I cannot help thinking ^lat it occnpies the place of a genuine 



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aairrxAL CBvaca, sbbofiribi. 



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SHIFFNAL CHURCH. 97 

commenced, or at least been brought to a completiozi, for some time after the cousecratjon 
of the chutch. 

The central tower has but little in its architectural features from which to assign it 
a date. The arches supporting it are pointed, of three plain chamfered orders without 
capitals ; such as we might find anywhere, and of any date, through a course of two or 
three centuries. The whole tower is also very simple and massive. The bel&y windows 
are of a single pointed light in each face, without either tracery or foliation ; that is, in 
their present state, for a curious break in the continuity of their jambs seems to indicate 
that some pattern may have occupied the head. The moulding under the parapet is 
remarkably bold and effective, though simple, and the thickness of the lower stage of the 
tower adds to its dignity. I should therefore assign rather an early date to this part of 
the building, perhaps, as I said, the beginning of the fourteenth century. 

K the present tracery of the west window represents the original, that part will be 
carried back to the time of geometrical tracery, that is, to the thirteenth century ; and 
the decorated bay added to the chancel evidently belongs to a very early period 
in the style. The east window^ I believe to be almost unique. There is, if I 
remember, a three-light window in Wenlock church of much the same composition, but 
I am not clear if it is precisely the same, and I certainly cannot call to mind another 
example. The tracery consists of pointed arches springing from the points of those 
below. The arches only have foliations, not the lower part of the openings (except the 
imperfect tracery lights which join the main arch of the window. Had the arches been 
ogee, instead of merely pointed, the common reticulated window, so prevalent in 
Northamptonshire, would have been the result, the tracery lights being filled with a 
quatrefoiL And we often find the tracery lights, or larger portions of the head of the 
window, in early Decorated examples, in the form of what is generally, though not quite 
correctly, called a spherical triangle ; that is, having the arch, with the addition of a 
curved bar of stone at the bottom, the whole foliated, and leaving subordinate openings 
of a triangular form. This east window is of great value, and does not appear to have 
been ever restored; I trust it will long be found unnecessary to meddle with it. The side 
windows are also of a remarkable type, consisting of three lights with a quatrefoil in the 
head, bo placed that a circumscribing square would have its sides in a vertical and 
horizontal position, instead of its diagonals, according to the more usual arrangement.^ 
This also is an indication of early date, and marks the transition from the purely 
geometrical tracery of the thirteenth century, to the flowing tracery of the middle of the 

' See Plate tr. 

* By the circuascribing eqnare is meuit the emaUeat in which the fi^are can foe inctoBed; it is plain, 
a larger one can abo be drawn ronnd it. 



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98 SHIFFNAL CHURCH. 

fourteenth, of which the Moreton chapel shews so good an example. Standing at the 
south-east angle we see the two kinds of tiacety at a single glance, and at once perceive 
the difference. A tomb on the outside, and the sedilia in the interior of this part of the 
chancel, deserve notice.' 

The Perpendicular windows and other insertions in the transepts do not appetv to 
be very early, but are of good character, and cany out the principles of the style. In 
this style, however, you have seen a very perfect and beautiful specimen in the church of 
Tong. The south aisle, between the porch and the transept, was probaUy rebuilt on a 
larger scale in the sixteenth century, and though the latest part of the church, yet &om the 
badness of the stone selected, or &om the manner in which it was worked, it was in the 
worst condition of any a few years ago, when it was restored very judiciously, the new 
windows being an improvement on those they replaced, while at t^e same time they 
preserve their character. The windows through the rest of the aisles are evidently very 
modem insertions, made, probably, in consequence of the small quantity of light afforded 
by their predecessors. Though poor, they are no disfigurement to the building, and I 
confess I am by no means anxious to see new ones, which might deceive the antiquary, 
substituted in their place. The uncovering of the fine timber roof over the nave, and 
the opening of the upper part of the tower arches, which had been cut off by a belfry 
fioor, now raised above their points, enable us to form a better judgment of the interior 
of this fine churoh than was possible a few years ago, and, as I have already lemarked, its 
freedom from unnecessary restorations makes it a valuable study to the antiquary, the 
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BHIfFKAL CHUBCH, BHSOPBBtBE. 



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BUILDWAS ABBEY. 

GORDON M. HILLS, ESQ. 



THE charteis and other documents which bear upon the history of this monasteiy 
have been bo often displayed and digested, that it would be unprofitable to enter 
upon any reconsideration or repetition of them.^ For the latest additions to these 
authorities we are indebted to the researches of the well-known Shropshire historian and 
antiquaiy, the Rev. R W. Eyton, of Ryton ; it is not probable that any important light 
has escaped his glance, and yet the sum of all the information afibrded &om these 
sources amounta only to an imperfect account of the endowments of the abbey, a 
memoir of the names of seventeen of its abbots (theic acta and character being left in 
obscurity), and a record that some portions of the buildings were in progress in the early 
part of the thirteenUi century. 

In the architectural essays, attention has been directed chiefly and almost solely 
to the abbey church, omitting &om consideration the conventual buildings, which, though 

* For origmal aaUioritiBa see Dugd&le's Monattieott, Tanner's Notitia, Stevena'a 3Ut. of Monasteries, 
F. Dnkea's AntiqwiUg of Shnptkire, and Bjton's Anti^ilue of Shropthire. For digests and views see Bnck't; 
AtUiqitUiea, view dated 1731. Groee'a AtdiquUies, view dated 1772. ViiivotCi Mvsoum, view of the interior 
of tbe cbnrch bj Paul Sandby, 1778. Moore's Monas^ S,emaifu, S.W. view taken in 1789. Pearson's 
8deet Viewt of the Anliqvitiei of Shropihire, 1807: two spirited etchings, bnt architecturally inaocoiate. 
Beatities of England and Wtdet, 1813, a N.W. view by P. S. Hnnn. Britton's AyUiquiUsi, S.W. view by 
Mnnn. Plan, by E. A'TH", architect, and plates of parts of the ohapter-hoose and church point. Coney's 
If.W. view, dat«d 1823, in the MonastUon of 1825. Joseph Potter, an architeot of Lichfield, conunenced 
a work intended to illustrate remains of ancient monastic architecture, it proceeded no fbrtber than 
Bnildwaa and Tintem, and comprises a most complete series of plans, sections, and details of them. The 
Buildwaa drawings were made in 1844. The Jownal of the Archmologioal Institute for 18&8 contains 
Mr. Eyton's accoimt (omitting his list of abbots), transferred from his great historical work, together with 
an excellent Architectural Essay from the pen of the Rev. Mr. Petit, accompanied by woodcots. Tiews 
by W. Williams in 1777, and by Mayor, 1771-9, 1 hare not met with ; they are mentioned in 7. Dnkes* 
work, as well as nearly all the other views mentioned above, but he mnltiplies them in his catalogue by 
repeating some under the names of the engravers as well as of the artists. 

With the exception as to WiUiasos's and Mayor's views, I have had the advantage of consulting the 
whole of the books and Olnstrstions above enumerated. It would be tedious to point out every ease in 
which I have found it necessury to differ from previous accounts and descriptions. It will sq£Soe to say 
that I have personally very caiefoUy examined and measured the whole of the buildings, and th^ti of late 
every yew has added important knowledge to the means at huid for fijrming a correct judgment as to 
their purposes. 

02 



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100 BUILD WAS ABBEY. 

far from perfect, are extensive and possessed of interesting features. It i3 here proposed 
in a more general surrey to point out the age of the existing buildings and the use 
of the different parts, to make some suggestions as to the position and extent of the 
buildings which have disappeared, and, in connexion with the survey, to notice the habits 
and mode of living of the Cistercian order of monks, of which this abbey was a member. 

Passing along the yet unfinished railway embankment which severa the abbey 
buildings and courts from the upland woods and meadows, it will not be amiss, before 
we reach tlie western part of the grounds, to take some notice of the Savigniac order, to 
which Bmldwas for its first twelve or thirteen years belonged. This will save interruption 
hereafter, when at every step of our survey we shall find the arrangements as purely 
Cistercian as if it owed its foundation directly to that order. Vital de Mortain, first 
a,bbot of Savigny and founder of the order, died at a ripe old age in 1122. St. Bernard, 
that mighty pUlar of the Cistercian order, about eight years previously, at the youthful 
age of twenty-two, had founded Clairvaux. An intimacy subsisted between these two 
men, and the reverence which their characters inspired in others appears to have been 
fervently felt and reciprocated in themselves. The energies of both being directed to a 
reformation of the Benedictine order, their views were so nearly allied, that Vital de 
Mortain established in his monastery the Benedictine rule : " Cui modemas institutiones 
in aliquibus similes Cisterciensibus adjunxit."^ When Savigny was founded in 1112 the 
Cistercian rule, although originated in 1098, was yet incomplete, and its ordinances were 
not fully settled till the first Chapter General, held at Citeauz in 1119, at which St 
Bernard, as abbot of Clairvaux, was present In 1147, Clairvaux being still under the 
government of St Bernard and having acquired an extraordinary importance, the respect 
of the first abbot of Savigny for its head and the institutions under which he ministered, 
had ripened in the fourth abbot of Savigny into a desire for a complete union with and 
assimilation to the Cistercian order. Thus during 1147 and 1148 Savigny, with upwards 
of thirty dependant abbej^ among which was Buildwas, became subject to Clairvaux. 

Buildwas was founded in 1135, only twelve years before the union of the two orders 
just narrated, and from the course of the narrative we should be prepared to discover 
in our survey Cistercian arrangements; but there is yet another and stronger reason for 
this expectation. The foundation of an abbey by no means implies the foundation of its 
buildings.^ Byland, in Yorkshire, another Savigniac house, though, as to its com- 

* See QaiUa Ohrietiama, vol. ii, p. MH ; and P. Le Nain, vol. t, p. 390. It hafi been Baid by Mr. Eyton 
and others, that Savigny waa first Cistercian, then independent, and finally Cistercian again. This, if 
intended only se a view of the condnct of its first four abbots, is not incorrect; but the only formal 
adhesion to the Cistercian rule was itA submission to Clairvanz nnder the fonrth abbot. 

* The contrary is ar|pied in the article on Buildwas in Britton's Antiquities, but without citing any 
examples. 



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BUILD WAS ABBEY. 101 

mrniity, founded in 1134, was not settled at Byland till 1143, and was not built till 
1177, and this is ftirther attested to this day by its beautiful remains of the moat perfect 
period of First Pointed work. Ford, in Devonshire, another bouse of this order, was 
founded in 1136, and its buildings commenced in 1141. At Savigny itself the church was 
consecrated in the twelfth year from the foundation. So with other Savigniae houses in 
France. S. Andr^ de Gouffem, founded in 1130, had its church dedicated in 1143. 
Aunay, founded in 1131, achieved the same point in 1190. Breuil Benoiat, founded in 
1137, waited for this event till 1224. La Trappe, founded in 1130, had its church 
consecrated in 1214. Barbery, founded in 1140, was unfinished in 1181 ; and lastly, 
the most rapid progress is found at Le Tr&or, which, founded in 1228, had advanced to 
the consecration of its church in 1232, The facility with which in their infency the 
communities abandoned one site and adopted another, of which amongst the preceding, 
Byland, Ford, and Aunay are instances, and the long series of years occupied by others 
in their construction, shew that usually they waited, according to the dictates of 
prudence, for an accumulation of wealth. This course of proceeding would accord, too, 
with the rules which the Cistercian order laid down on this very subject, which required 
that tcmporaiy buildings should be provided for the first accommodation of the brother- 
hood, and instances occur in which the original temporary oratory has been reverently 
preserved when a m^nificient church has risen by its side. 

No spot could more fuUy realize the conditions for a settiement which the Cistercians 
dictated, than the site selected by the monks of Buildwas. A vast forest extended over 
tiie whole country to the south-east, terminating in Buildwas wood, at the very spot 
where the abbey walls were to rise. The reclamation of the forest and cultivation of the 
land was to be the occupation of the abbey inmates. The forest has well nigh 
disappeared, but even now a wood stretching away &om the buildings to the south crowns 
the hill which encloses and shades the park-like ground to the south, which the railway 
has cut off. The mill stream, which determined the position of the buildings, still holds 
its coiirse. The monks, who were the great ^ricultuiists of their day, no doubt applied 
it to the utmost to the purposes of irrigation; and although no mill has stood upon it for 
a long time, it has never ceased to dispense the fertilizing powers they first drew from it 
Hie two streams which are shewn at the extreme west of our plan^ proceed from one 
current, which divides about two hundred yards higher up. This division is artificial, 
and the efTect is to raise the western branch so that the two parts pass through the 
railway embankment at a considerable difference of elevation. At the point a is a fall, 
also of artificial construction, of seven or eight feet, and thence by an underground 
channel so much of the water as is not diverted for the use of the land down the 
' See No. 1, Plate VI. 



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102 BUILDWAS ABBEY. 

course b, reunites with the other branch at c, and both go together to the Severn. The 
culvert from a to c, though not new, and with no marks of modem disturbance in the 
meadow it passes through, is of brick, and not old enough to be called ancient work ; and 
BO of the other contriTances ; doubtlesB the arrangement is due to the monks, and is 
now in an imperfect state, but so much m suited modem requirements has been maia- 
tained hy renewal. 

The fore court of the abbey contained the mills, workshops, stabling, and audi 
adjuncts. The situation of these buildings is marked by mounds, sometimes difficult to 
distinguish from lesser banks which are modem works for ixrigation. Of the wall which 
enclosed this court a maissive piece remains at d d, and the hedge eastward occupies the 
site of the wall for the remainder of the aouth side. The western boundary seems to 
have been at e e, with an iimer division marked by the mound^ It is probable that 
between the two lines e e and //"the mills and workshops were situated. Here were 
exercised the handicrafts necessary to furnish clothing to the inmates of the monastery, 
to build and repair their habitations, and to supply the various demands upon artificers 
which their property tind pursuits would occasion. Each branch of work was directed 
by its own foreman, and the whole superintended by monks appointed to the duty. The 
stream of water would be diverted into the workshops, whether to afford motive power 
to nulls or machinery, or to provide water supply for such purposes as the tanner's or 
similar demands might occasion. The entrance to this courtyard and to the monastery 
seems to have been through these buildings at g. South of it and along the south side 
of the court would be stabling and sheds. The north side of the court was occupied hy 
£ah ponds, hhh,of which the high banks yet remain with great distinctness. Their 
water supply must have passed through the workshops, and we shall presently be able to 
point out the channel which has lately been discovered, by which the superfluous water 
was carried off. For the diet of the monks tliese fishponds formed an important 
resource, and the "cultivation" of fish was necessarily an object of much attention. 
Immediately outside of the fishponds was the north boundary wall of the court, but the 
masonry of it has whoUy disappeared here, and in every part except the piece at d d. 
Another pond is to be found outside the enclosure at I. All the ponds are now dry. At 
the gateway presided a discreet monk as port^, to regulate the admission of persons to 
the pi^cinctsof the convenl^ and to receive guests seeking its hospitality : here also were 
distributed alms to the poor. The arrival of guests was immediately notified to the 
abbot, who quitted his occupations at once to perform the duty of hospitality enjoined, 
and having conducted the strangers to a chapel or oratory placed close to the gate for 
appropriate devotions, he handed them over to the care of the monk who held the office 
of hospitaller. However insignificant may appear the mounds and hollows which have so 



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BUILD WAS ABBEY. 103 

&E occupied our notice, and impatient as we may well be to approach the stately gronp 
of ruins beyond, it must interest us to remember that this was the industrial court, in 
which was developed that great branch of the Cistercian rule which, improving on the 
mere bodily labour of agriculture imposed by the Benedictmes, enlisted in the same 
cause systematic industry and skill, and called for the practical appUcation of the science 
of those days. Not only are we apt to underrate the available scientific knowledge of 
the period, which was almost wholly in the keeping of the monasteries, but we are so 
accustomed to regard the monastic system in the state of decay, relaxation, and 
corruption which followed on the completion of its work, and its access of superfluous 
wealth, that we overlook the work accomplished, and foi^t that it mast have been a 
great want practacaDy felt and acknowledged by men of the world, which brought into 
existence, within one hundred years &om the foundation of the Cistercian order, upwards 
of two thousand monasteries under its rule. 

We have not yet quite done with mounds and banks ; for, unfortunately, the first of 
the purely abbatial buildings which should come in o\ir way has disappeared, leaving but 
a few traces, which, however, just suffice to determine its position and dimensions. It is 
marked m on the plan to which we have been referring, but will be found at A A on Plan, 
Plate VII, on which we shall now continue to mark our course. A part of the foundation 
of its western wall has been dug out near the north end of the west side, and the bare 
commencement of its south end wall remains attached to the buttress at I on the west 
end of the church, the traces exhibit the jamb and sill of a window close to the church, 
and the commencement of an arch beneath. Through this building, it may have been 
through this arch, or at another part presently to be pointed out, was the way leading to 
the interior of the convent ; in one part was tlie hospitium or guest house, and probably 
also in the early period of the abbey the residence of the abbot, who presided in the guest 
hall, and took his meals with the strangers who were not admitted further. In the 
largest abbeys the hospitium formed a separate building near the outer gate, but such a 
plan was not adopted in the smaller class to which Buildwas belongs. In another part 
of the building, A A, were store halls on the ground floor, and dormitories over for the 
lay brethren or convert brothers, as they were called. These persona were such as 
desired to partake of the advantages of monastic life without being subject to its more 
solemn vows, and were the biuliffe of the farms and foremen of the artizans of the 
monastery. It is probable that an excavation of the ground in the area of this range 
would bring to light a central row of columns, which carried a vault and floor. The 
altitude and general character of the building will be more apparent after our con- 
sideration of those on the opposite side of the great cloister court The entrance to the 



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]04 BUILDWAS ABBEY. 

great cloister was by an elaborately wrought archway,' which was blown down in a Btorm 
in 1 823, the only pieces of it now to be found are two carved capitals built into tbe garden 
waU on the south side of the church. It was a pointed archway with chevron ornaments; 
the entrance through the building may have been at 2 2, opposite this archway. Between 
the archway and the building A A waa an open passage^ by which the lay brethren and 
gueste entered the church, or communication was afforded for them with the kitchen and 
domestic offices of the convent. Passing over the site of the great cloister, of which 
scarcely a trace exists, we enter the church by its nordi side ; the outer wall of the aisle 
has whoUy disappeared on both sides of the church, so that we have at once a view of the 
massive arcades which enclose the nave and carry the clerestory, still in a nearly perfect 
condition.^ We may now decide upon the date of the buildings &om a consideration 
of their architectural featurea The massive proportions of the arcades, and the scalloped 
ornament of tl^elr capitals, indicate the prevalence of the Norman style of architecture ; 
whilst the pointed form of the arches shews an approach towards the style which early in 
the thirteenth century superseded the Norman, forming the transition style which began 
about H50. To the examples ah:eady adduced as to date it will be only necessary to 
add Boyle* and Dunbrodie Abbeys, both in Ireland. The first, because in the plan and 
proportions of ita church it is almost identical with Buildwas ; and the last, because it 
happens to have been one of the three abbejB which sprung from Buildwas, and therefore 
of course, like Boyle, belonged to the Cistercian order. At Boyle the east and west 
windows are pointed, and there is a general tendency in its character to a more decided 
adherence to the pointed style than at Buildwas. The monks who settled at Boyle in 
1161 bad formed a community since 1148. Boyle Abbey church was not consecrated 
till 1218. Dunbrodie is of purely pointed architecture ; it waa founded, perhaps, a little 
before 1178, the church was consecrated in 1216. Analogy seems to point to about the 
year 1155 for the commencement of the chief part of the buildings at Buildwas. and to 
their completion before so great an advance was made as we find at Boyle, perhaps about 
1165. 

Buildwas Abbey church is rather remarkable for the absence of a western door. The 

' For reliable mformation reepecting the poaitioii of Haa archway, and ^e date of its fall, as well as 
for other ready aid in furtherance of the archsological inquiry, I am indebted to the kindnese of the 
proprietor, Walter Aloseley, Esq. The plan drawn by Aikin in Britten's AnHgidties, when tasted by its 
scale, is inaccurate. It is vfrong, in the dimensions of tibe cloister (and conseqaently in the position of the 
archway), and in this respect does not ^ree with the description which accompanies it, which was 
drawn up by W. M. Moseley, Esq., the grandfather of the present proprietor. The dimensions of the 
cloister given in the Monaaiicon Etre wrong. They appear to have been taken by scale &om Aikin's plan. 

' This arrangement is foond at Fontigny, Clairvanz, and Citeanz. See YioUet le Doc. 

» See Plato Vin. 

* Boyle. See Ecckdohgist, 18S9, p. 217. Plan, etc 



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DiveBted o£ modern TOndows ani dnBtnicB 



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BUILDWAS ABBEY. 105 

conyert brothers and lay dependents must have entered by a door close to the west end of 
the north aisle at 3, Plate vii. The two western arches of the great arcades are made a few 
indies wider than the others, perhaps to facilitate the ingress of the laity, who occupied 
this end of the church, as well as for the conTenience of processions. The clerestory has 
round arched windows throughout. Between the nave columns are indications of a atone 
screen, which shut off the aisles, leaving them as mere passages, and at the end of the 
fifth arch from the west the choir, or portion devoted to the monks themselves, com- 
menced. The bases of the columns here and eastwards are raised, shewing the choir floor 
to have been about two feet higher than that of the nave. The stone screens which 
formed the back of the stalls were raised to the same extent. The stalls extended quite 
up to the transepts, the space would be sufficient for about thirty-four monks. The 
number originally on the foundation is not known, but at the suppression it was only 
eight or nine, with thirty-six servants. The lay inmates, it may here be remarked, 
were usually not less than five times as numerous as the monks. At the intersection of 
the transepts stands the tower, which, as the rule of the order restricted the height of 
the bel&y, r<»e but little above the roof. The tower is carried by four pointed arches, 
and of the two which face east and west the shafts are not brought down to the floor, but 
supported high up on corbels, so as to afford the fullest possible view of the east end and 
of the transept chapels. 

At the east end, over the high altar, were originally two rows of three round headed 
windows. By the removal of the heads of the lower and sills of the upper, they were 
converted into three long windows as they now exist. The stonework very distinctly 
shews the original arrangement This alteration, greatly to the advantage of the 
architectural effect, was probably executed whilst the building was in progress. The 
window on the south side of the chancel corresponded originally with the top row in the 
east wall, hut was opened downwards to the new length at the same time. I believe 
there is no example in England of a Cistercian chiirch wiUi an apsidal east end ; in this 
particular our chancels agree with the mother church at Citeaux, but the majority of its 
continental brethren had apses with numerous radiating chapels. The original Cistercian 
chancels were always short, as at Buildwas ; frequently, as at Boyle, so short as not to 
admit of side windows, but in the thirteenth century many of the chMicels were rebuilt 
of greatly increased dimensions. The chancel at Buildwas was vaulted with stone in 
two baya The corbels and springers of the ribs remain, and the mark of the vault may be 
traced against the tower wall. The position of the vaulting, however, is peculiar, being 
so high up that the timber roof outside must have been constructed without tie beams, 
the crown of the vault rising half way or more within the slope of the rafters. This 
pecoUarity has suggested a doubt whether the vaulting was ever completed^ the 



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106 BUILDWA8 ABBEY. 

supposition being that after tiie springers were inserted the des^ of vaulting was 
abandoned. Bixt, on the other hand, externally the chancel was the same height as the 
nave, it is not likely that it was ever designed to be higher ; there is no external mark of 
a change of design ; moreover, in the neighbouring church of Wenlock Priory, erected 
sixty or seventy years later, the vaulting was beyond all possibility of question carried 
up into the roof in the same manner. 

On the south side of the chancel are remains of the original credence and piscina, 
destroyed by the lengthening of the south window ; and seven feet further west a triple 
sedilia, elaborately moiilded and ornamented with the dog tooth and other carvings ; 
this was inserted about 1220. 

The transepts have each two chapels on the east side. The ehapels are all precisely 
Mmilar, opening to the transepts by pointed arches of three orders, which, as is the case 
with the whole of the arcades, are without any moulding except the ordinary Norman 
chamfered label The chapels are all vaulted, and each has a credence and piscina; the latter 
projected from the south wall, but the projection has in each case been broken off, leaving 
only the water hole in the back part of the stone, which might be overlooked without a 
close examinatioa The dedication of the altars which occupied these chapels has not 
been recorded ; that next the chancel on the south, no doubt, was appropriated to the 
Virgin Mary, and it is probable the corresponding one on the north was dedicated to the 
Holy Sacrament In some instances these two chapels are treated with more enrichment 
than the others ; it is so at Boyle. Each chapel was lighted by a single round-headed 
window over the altar. Except the chapels and chancel, no part of the church was 
vaulted. 

The transepts are much ruined as to the upper partB, so that no windows remain. A 
door at the south end gave communication with the church from the gardens of the 
monastery, which lay to the east. At the north end a door commumcates by a descent 
of several steps with the sacristy, and another door, which is ndsed some feet from the 
transept floor, was reached by a flight of steps in the transept, and opened into the 
dormitory of the monks for the admission of those engaged in the night services of the 
church. 

In strict accordance with the institutes of the order, a severe simplicity of style is 
observed throughout the church. Rich stained glass, sculpture, and carving, so profusely 
used by their rivals the Clugniac monks, were forbidden. Encroachments on these regula- 
tions soon crept into the Cistercian abbeys. Boyle, being a little later, as we have seen, than 
Buildwas, has capitals and other parts where sculpture of Scripture and other subjects is 
very freely used. The abbot of Pontigny, in France, was reprimanded at the chapter 
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BUILDWA8 ABBEY. 107 

Leaving the church by the east end of the north aisle, where the aisle wall abutted 
on the transept, is seen part of the jamb of the door which formed the entrance for the 
monks from the great cloister (see 4 on Plate vii). There waa a descent from the church 
into the cloister of four or 6ve feet. On entering the doister a door on the right opens to 
a descent through the tramept wall at 5, this leads to a narrow crypt extending under the 
north end of the transept and its north chapeL The crypt is lighted by a small window 
in the east end, and another close to that end on the north side ; opposite the last 
is a credence and piscina, and under the east window there was an altar ; the crypt was 
used for the reception of the dead until the last ceremony of interment. 

From the north transept is continued a long range of building forming the eastern 
side of the great cloister. Immediately outside of the transept is the sacristy, which, 
besides the door from the church already mentioned, has also an entrance from the 
cloister. Two large recesses in the north side of the sacristy were for the reception of 
vessels and instrmnenta of the church services ; the east end, where the window must 
have been, has been opened out, forming an archway, by which the sacristy is converted 
into a mere passage leading from the cloister to the gardens. Next to the sacristy is the 
dmpter house, opening to the cloister by an archway and two windows, exhibited in 
Plate vin. The introduction upon the jambs and arches of the windows of a chevron 
ornament is a slight departure from the severe simplicity of the church. There was a 
descent of three or four steps through the archway into the chapter house. The archway 
and windows formed a mere open screen, as there never was a door hung to the 
entrance, nor were the two windows closed by glass or any other means. The roof of 
the chapter house is vaulted, and the vault is supported by four slender columns. Three 
windows to the east, and one north and south, light the apartment It had not stone 
benches, and of the wood fittings there is no trace. Here the monks, clad in the white 
dress of their rule, were assembled to consult on the affairs of their order and convent, 
the directions of the abbot were published, delinquaita heard, and punishments awarded. 
In many of the affairs of the chapter the convert brethren were privileged to join. 
Beneath the floor of this part^ according to Cistercian custom, as well as in the cloister 
walk leading from it to the church, repose, probably, most of the abbots. No sepulchral 
monuments, however, are to be seen, except a few fragments of stone, parts of two coped 
slabs, collected from outside and now deposited wilMn the chapter house ; they are by 
their workmanship of the early part of the thirteenth century, and one of them bears 
part of an inscription, which reads — ;HnE:LE:Fiz:s Benefactors and ecclesiastics of the 
highest rank were interred before the high altar in the diancel, or before the altar of the 
Vir^ ; but necessarily in later times, the most venerated spots being already crowded, 
the practice of interments in these respects was departed from. The monks found their 

P2 



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108 BUILDWAS ABBEY, 

resting place within the cloister garth, or in a general cemetery on the south side of the 
church. 

On the north aide of the chapter house is a vaulted passage, the original communication 
between the cloister and the convent gardens lying to the east; the east doorway was 
stopped when the walls marked D D, Plate vn, whose b^ is doubtful, were erected. 

Returning to the cloister, at three feet eight inches north from the passage door is 
the commencement of the wall (6 on Plate vir), which extended westwards and formed the 
back of the cloister on the north side. This wall, standing in 1731, was removed before 
the end of the century. Not a stone remains of the front or screen wall of the cloister. 
Very few Norman cloisters have been preserved, and we have here to regret the total loss 
of this very interesting and picturesque part of the buildings. Not only, too, is the wall 
to the north destroyed, but every trace of the important buildings placed on that side is 
obliterated, and the space has long been occupied by the farm homestead. In the centre 
and presenting its end to the court (if the Cistercian custom was as dosely followed as 
in the buildings already examined) was a long and lofty hall or refectory, in which the 
monks and convert brothers took their meals. West of tlie refectory, and filling up the 
space on that side, would probably be the kitchen, with a court and offices of its own ; in 
the rear, and east of the refectory, the chauffiair, an apartment warmed for the comfort 
of the monks who had attended the night services and were preparing to go to their daily 
avocations. Here, too, must have been a stair leading to the dormitory of the monks, 
which extended over the chapter house up to the church. 

The last building which we have to notice as still remaining in continuation of the 
chapter house range is an ambulatory. The east side, formed by three transitional Norman 
arches, is given in Plate ix; the western wall has disappeared. The marks io the other 
walls shew that the space was vaidted in a ponderous style, the vault carried by two 
columns in the centre, this being in all probability ^e nature of the construction spoken of 
when the building at A A, Plate vii, was under consideration. This ambulatory formed 
a vestibule to the lodging of the novices, and to the bmldings devoted to the students 
and the infirmary. In it we may expect the parloiir to have been, perhaps screened off. 
Such an apartment was appointed for tlie conversation of monks on necessiuy business, 
the strictest silence bemg enjoined elsewhere. This completes our survey of the cloister 
court, in which, devoted as it was to the solemnities of a religious life, was comprised the 
chief dignity and splendour of the monastic buildings. 

From the ambulatory the building stretched far to the north, where its termination 
outside the present homestead may yet be seen in llie mounds and banks of earth, but of 
the Micient waUa of this part no portion can be discovered above ground. At the 
extreme end were certain necessary offices. Towards the ambulatory it contained 



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BUILDWA8 ABBEY. 109 

accommodation fc^ the novices, and probably cells for copyists, illuminators, and stndents 
engaged in the preparation and preservation of books for the library, many of the 
Cistercian monasterieB being rich with the most valued learning of the time. The door 
which led &om the ambulatory into this department remains (see 7 on Plate vn). The 
ambulatory had a lean-to root on the east side of the arched wall of which the weather- 
moulding remains, and over the south of the three arches abutted a gabled roof^ which 
extended eastwards and covered the infirmary chapel, B B, Plate vn. The small quadrangle 
or court, which has the chapel on its south side, was probably completed at the erection 
of the abbey by ib.e infirmary buildings, then most likely small in extent and accom- 
modation. The east and north sides, however, gave place in the thirteenth century to 
new and more extensive buildings ; of these the north part has been destroyed except 
one range of arches, and the remainder converted into a manor house. The description 
of the chapel will therefore complete our account of the buildings belonging to the 
twelfth century. 

The chapel has until now escaped reci^nition in its true character. Of its original 
parts only the east and the south walls remain. The north and west walls are constructed of 
material in which many of the ornamental stones taken from the north side of this court 
are built in. It has, in fact, been in part reconstructed as a store for the malthouse built 
adjoining, and being concealed on the south and east outside with modem buildings, a 
close inspection inside could alone discover its real nature. In the east end there is a 
triplet of Korman windows walled up, and in the south wall a beautiful piscina in its 
original state (at 8 on Plate vii), its semicircular tympanum enriched with Norman 
carving. At 9 on Plate Tii, a small window is blocked up by the building outside of it The 
door close by in the same wall is a modem insertion, in which ancient material has been 
used. Of course the floor, which now divides the height into two stories, and the existing 
roof are modem. The side waUs, which, continued up to the ambulatory, are broken 
down, but their ends remain at 10 and 11, Plate vn. The south side of the chapel was 
at first open to the gardens, though closed up by buildings at a later period. 

It remains only to speak of the north and east sides of the small court. Their 
features are entirely of the First Pointed or Early English character, which prevailed in 
tiie first part of the thirteenth century ; to tliis period belongs the only historical 
reference to the abbey buildings which has been discovered. Mr. Eyton finds that about 
1220, or a little later, the monks of Buildwas had a grant from Philip de Brosely, to 
quarry stone throughout his wood of Brosely towards the construction of their buildings; 
and in 1235, from a survey of the Forest of Shirlot, he shews that the monks had been 
supplied with timber by order of the king for the repair of their buildings, aa we may 
gather from the tenor of the survey, to a considerable amount The architecture of the 



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110 BUILD WAS ABBEY. 

parts now under conBideratiou points them out as the buildings fot which these sappHes 
were procured. 

On the north side is a row of five pointed arches ; the columns which support them 
are buried to a depth of several feet by the accumulation of soil, and the levelling of the 
surface for the homestead. The arches formed the south side of a hall, having a lean-to 
roof outside, corresponding with that of tie ambulatory to the west The building on 
the east side, with a wing stretching still forther eastward, is now occupied as a 
farmhouse ; great alterations have been made to adapt it to this purpose, so that in the 
interior, concealed as the parts are by modem fittings, it is scarcely possible to identify 
the ancient features. The design of the eastern wing may, however, be discovered 
outside with but little difficulty, and is shewn in Plate ix divested of its modem wooden 
windows, which have been so numerously inserted that none of the ancient openings are 
now in use, and most of them are mutilated. This wing formed the abbot's dwelling. In 
the largest Cistercian houses this dignitary, from the foundation of the order, had a 
separate dwelling near the entrance gateway, but it was a mark of relaxation in the 
role when he assumed the state of a separate establishment and withdrew into a private 
residence. The example at Buildwaa affords an extremely interesting specimen of 
domestic architecture of the thirteenth century. The treatment of the five windows linked 
together by the label moulding is pleasing and imcommon. Each window has a square 
formed light, four feet one inch high and two feet wide, with a bold bead worked on the 
jambs and head ; and in the tympanum above a trefoU is pierced and chamfered round, 
the base being kept straight Measured along the base the trefoil is six inches wider 
than the opening below. The rear of the abbot's house forming the east side of the small 
court, retains but few of its proper architectural features ; but the remains of an arch at 
12. and its connection with the abbot's house on the south and the large haU on the 
north, shew that it is of the same date. The openings towards the court appear to be all 
of them modem insertions, though old stones, apparently from the ruin of the hall, have 
been applied On this side was a lean-to root corresponding with that on the north and 
east sides of the court. The wall which now closes the end at 13, 13, Plate vii, as well as the 
pier in the centre, bmlt to cany fireplaces on the npper floor, belong to the period of its 
conversion into a manor house. The appearance of the ground shews that the building 
extended on the north to a line parallel with the north end of the chapter-house range. 
This portion, marked e on Plate vii, housed the abbot's personal retinue, and probably 
also contained the infirmary, in which not only the members of the brotherhood suffering 
from temporary sickness found reli^ but the aged and infirm, who were too enfeebled to 
take part in the avocations of the monastery, enjoyed repose and exemption from some 
part of its discipline. The hall, p f, must have been designed for scholastic purposes, the 



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BUILD WAS ABBEY. Ill 

custom having obtained of aseembling the learned of difTerent monasteries for purposes 
of diacuBsion and disputation. It seems to hare been a dignified apartment, and orna- 
mented with canopied niches upon the in^de of the columns. A glimpse of the arches 
is obtained behind those of the ambulatory in the view given in Plate ix In the court 
which lay to the rear or north of tUs hall, at the point marked 14, Plate vii, was discovered, 
hy an excavation made during the past enimmer, a subterraneous passage, which served to 
confirm the local belief in an imdei^romid passage leading from Buildwaa to Wenlock 
Priory. It waa entered for a distance of some few yards, and is described as varying 
considerably in its dimensions ; in some parts being narrowed to a width of three or four 
feet and not much more in height, whilst at other parts it may be ten feet wide and 
twelve or fourteen in height It is suf&dently obvious that it was the sewer of ihe 
monaateiy. It probably commences with an overflow &om the fishponds to the west of 
the kitchen courts and passing through that part of the offices and under the ends of the 
library and infirmary wings, dischaiged into the Severn to the eastward. At the present 
day much of the apace between the abbey and the Severn is flooded in winter, and in 
former days was constantly under frater, so that the abbey was on the edge of the 
river. All along the north side of the abbey ia now a considerable terrace. Its original 
elevation waa leas, as we see by the manner in which the colunma of the haJl, ff, 
Plate viT, are now buried in their lower part 

With the small court devoted to intellectual pursuits and physical repose, we close 
our review of monastic life at Buildwaa For a time the devout zeal which inspired the 
founders followed their successors and supported their popularity. Benefactors con- 
tinued to add to the domains of the abbey, and well directed industry to improve the 
gifts and increase the returns. The period and circumstances to which their nicely 
balanced laws were suited passed away. The wide wastes were now fruitful fields, and 
the wealth poured in at their gates made the anxious activity of the past to appear 
superfluous. Devotion rapidly cooled ; in slothfulness were neglected, and in selfishness 
■were squandered, the reaourcea of the monastery, till, after an existence of four hundred 
and three years, the impoverished brotherhood, reduced to eight or nine monks, was 
extinguished, and its members driven fix>m the home their degeneracy dishonoured 

It is to be feared that tiie loss we witness in the extent of the buildings is not 
whoUy attributable to the period since the suppression. In the work which exists no 
mark is presented of any extension or renovation after the thirteenth century. Whilst 
to antiquaries the consequent purity of the architecture is interesting and valuable, it 
■would nevertheless have been gratiiying to discover in the later history of the monastery 
something of the excellent spirit which incited the founders to provide with such 
admirable durability for the wants and dignity of their successors. Seeing the final 



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112 BUILDWAS ABBEY. 

poverty of the hoiue and the diminished number of the inmates, we can hardly believe 
that the buildings had not already suffered considerable declension before active 
spoliation commenced. 

Immediately after its suppression in 1538 it became the property of Edward Grey 
Lord Fowls. In 1617 it was purchased by Thomas Lord EUesmere, and in 1648 his son 
John Earl of Bridgewater sold it to a younger member of the Shropshire family of Acton, 
and in the reign of Charles II, by marriage with a lady of that family, it became the 
property of Walter MoBeley, Esq., of the Mere, in the county of Stafford, by a descendant 
of whom, Walter Moaeley, Esq., it is at present enjoyed. By one of the possessors in the 
seventeenth century the late abbot's residence was fitted up as a manor house. The 
ground floor ceiling at the eastern part is elaborately decorated with panels, containing 
coats of arms executed in plaster, which would, if examined, determine the personage by 
whom this was done. To the work of that time is probably to be attributed the erection 
of the pigeon house tower at o, Plate vii, out of the ruins at P F, as well as the building 
B B already noticed, similarly constructed, and perhaps the erection of the building D D. 
Distinctly, however, as we see, by the absence of all bond to the older work, that this 
last is an extraneous buUding, the want of any features in it whose previous place can 
be distinctly pointed out, or which possess any very marked character in their present 
position, makes its age doubtful. It is yet certain that in very early times the position 
of the passage door at 15, Plate vii, was reversed and new dressings inserted, making the 
inside of the door to the east instead of to the west This must have been done with the 
view of roofing over the nook formed by the projection of the chapter house, and 
again the intention of that alteration is obscured by the removal of stonework and 
erection of brickwork, which has occurred within a few years. 



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AN ITINBRiRT OF EDWABD THE SECOND. 

DDKPILXD BT 

THE REV. CHARLES HENRY HARTSHORNE, M.A. 









ABBBEVIATIONS AND AUTHORITIES. 




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AN ITINERARY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 



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AN ITINERARY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 



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AN mNESARY OF EDWAED THE SECOND. 



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- Pat 


90 Weatminatfl 


r, Merton . - Vaso, Pat 


26 Westminster 


. M.E.6B0. 




- PaT 


Mot. 




88,99 Uortlaka . 


- Pat 


1.9 Wasbninster 


. F<Ed.67. 


24,36 Keaington- 


. F»d.76. 




. F<Ed.6B. 




- Pat 


4 WastminBter 


- M.E.608,P.W.ll4, 


97 Kenington- 


. F<Bd.76. 


6 WsBtminster 


. Tsso. 




- Pat 




- Pat 


80 Kenington 


- M. E.60a. 


7,8 Liagley - 


- Pat 


June 




Langley - 


. Boot 


1 Shene 


■ Cloee 


10 Langley - 


- M.W.880. 


9 Shane 


- Pat 


11 L«ngley - 


- Pat 


a Shane 


- Soot 


12 Strilford - 


- Pat 


4 Shene 


. Pat 


13 Stratford - 


- TaBo. 




r - F«d.76. 


14 Stratford - 


- Pat 




r . . - Close, Pat 


16 Ungley, Stratford - 


■ Scot Pat 


11 Weatminste 


r - - - P.Vr37. 


18 Lwiglej . 


■ F<ed.70. 




r . - - Itoe. 


17,ia Laogley - 


• Pat. 


18 Langley 


- Pat 


19 Langley - 


. Close. 


14 Langley - 


. Fmd.78. 


20 LanileJ - 


- Pat. 


16 Langley 


- Vase. 


91,83 Langley - 


. aoM. 


e I^|l<^ 


- M.E. 592. 


93.38 iMgley • 


- Pat 


7 Langley 


. K.E.618. 


a; Lanll^ . 


- Close 


8 U^l4 


. Pat 


98 Langley - 


• Pat 


Langley 


- Fi»d.7e. 


89 Langley - 


- F<Bd.70. 


90 Stony StraL 


ford. Denahugre - M.W.3B0,F.S 


Apr. 




81 Daventry 


- Close. 


1 I^gley - 


■ Pat 


82 Laogley 


■ Vase. 


8 LanileJ - 


■ Taso. 


98 Daventry.C 




8 l*n^e} - 


■ F<Bd.TO. 


26 Heywodeu 


d litohfleld - - PaL 


4 Langley - 


- Pat 


96 Coveatrj 


. Uh. 


6 llniU^ - 


. Close. 


«7 Chester 


■ Close. 


e I^lley - - 


- Vase. 


28-30 Chester 


. Pat 




S EDWj 


i.RD II. 




I Chester - 




10 Windsor 


. fine. 


- Pat 


11 Walthem 




8 Wi2.Haiiban(Nant«ich) 


. Pat. 


18 Hattefeld 


- Pat 


4 Heywood - 


. F(Ed.77. 


14 Langley 


- Pat 


6 Litohfleld ■ 


- Pat. 


10,16 Langley 


- F<ed.77. 


e MeriTaU ■ 


- P.S. 


17,18 Langley 


- PaL 


7 Coventry - 


- P.S. 


19 Langley 


. P.S. 


e,B Tonceater - 


■ Pat. 


90 Luigley 


. Pat 



y Google 



AN ITINERARY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 



Dunstable . 


Pat. 


23 


Turk 


- Soot 


WobuTD - 


VasB. 


93 


York 


. M.W.801. 


Newenbam 


Pat. 


H 


York 


. FtBd. 96. 


Higham Femra • 


F.S. 


30 


York 


■ Vaso. 


SUmrotd ' 


Fine. 


20 


York 


. P.W. 40 


Stamford - 


Pat. 


27 


York 


. H.W. 363. 




Feed. 78. 


*9 


Sibbeatan and Km 




Stuuford ■ 


M. w. seL 


90 


Bifabestan 


- Soot 






31 


Bibbestan 


- P.S. 


Slamford - 


Vaao. 


Nov. 






Stamford - 


Soot. 


1 




- Vaw). 


SUmford . 


FoBd.T9. 


a 


Bybbestau 


- S«ot 


Stunford ■ 


SooL 


i-e 


Bybbestan 


- Pat 


Stanford ■ . ■ 


U. W. 363 


7 


Skyrkinbek 


. Pat 


Stamford and Thoip Waterrille 


Feed. M, Vaeo. 


s 


Brastwick 


- Close. 


Thorp WaUrriUo • 


Vase 





Bnistwiok 


- Soot 


Thorp Waterrille - 


Close. 


ID 


Brustwjok 


. Pat 


Tbon. WaterrilB - 

AMfabf Da*7, Tboipa Waterrille 


P.S. 


11 




. M.W.398. 


M. W. 886, Pat 


12 


Brostwick 


- Vaso. 


LeighioD Bouard 


Fine. 


It 


Burton Episcopi 


■ Pat 


LaDgU; . 


P.S. 


IS 


Shirbnm k Elmet 


ork . - Find. 98, Fine. 


L»D|leJ - 


FaBd.W. 


IB 


. Pat 


Laaglay - 


Pat. 


17 


Pontefnwt 


- Pat 


I-nBley - 


Close. 


19 


Kenington, Bentley 


. FoBd.99,Kne. 


Langley - 


FtBd. 95. 


si.as 


Nottingham 


. Pat 


relief . 


Pit. 


24. 


Langley - 


- P.S. 


L«B|l/r - 


Vaao. 


an 


Harebergh 


. P.S. 


Langley - 


Fine. 


ae 


Langley, Qaenlon 


. Close. 


WeBtmingter 


P. W. 88. 


28-30 


LaGrore - 


- Pat 


WeBtmiuatar 


M. W. 386. 


Dee. 








F<Bd. 87. 


1-3 


La OroTe • 


- Pat 




Pat 


1-a 


La Grove - 


- Lib. 

- Pat. 


Langlej - 


F«d. 87. 


10 




. P.W. 41. 


LaolleJ . 


FcBd. 88. 


a 




- Pat 


■Weatmimtor 


Vaao. 


12 


Westminster 


- P.W. 41. 




Pat 


13 


Westminster 


• Close. 


Wmtminsier 


M. W. 388. 


11 


Westminster 


- Fffid. 91. 




M. W. S87. 


10 


Westminster 


- M.W. S98. 




Pat. 


16 




- F<Dd.l01. 




Fmd. 88. 


IT 




- Pat 


■Westmiostei 


M. W. 389. 


18, IB 




. F<Bd.lOL 


Laugley - 


Vaso. 


ao 


Westminster 


. Pat 


Luigley - 


FtBd. 9a. 


aa 


Ls Gro™ 


- Pat 


I^gley ■ 


Vase. 


33 


La Grove 


. Close. 




Feed. 90. 92. 


aft-aa 


St. Albans 


. Pat 


LanglBj - - - 


Vbs«. 


31 


St. Albans 


- Pat 


Laugley . 


Pat 








Langley . 


Fmd. 92. 






1310. 


L«,|ler - 


Fffid. 93. 


Jan. 






Lanil^ - 


Soot 


1 


St Albaaa 


- riBd.ioL 


L»niW - 


Pat 


a 


St. Albans 


. P.S. 


Windsor . 


M. W. 38B. 


3 


« Grove 


- Fine. 


Windaot - 


Fffld. 83. 


4 


« Grove 


- P.S. 


Windsor • 


Close. 


8-8 


A Grove 


- Pat. 






B, 10 


.a Grove 


- Close. 


Windsor . 


Fmd.94. 


11 


La Grove 


- Pat. 


Windsor - 


Soot 


12 


La Grove 


. P.W. 43. 


langley - 


FcBd.94. 


13 


Iji Grove 


- Pat 


ADgley - 


Pat 


11 


La Grove 


. Faed. 102, 


Langley - 


Close. 


10 


La Grove 


- Pat 


La Orote - 


Feed. 94, SB. 


16 


La Grove 


- Close. 


LaGroTa • 


M. W. 890 


17 


La Grove 


• Fine. 


La OroTo . 


P.S. 


18 


La Grove 


- Cloia. 


Stony Stratford - 


Scot 


19 


Sbene 


. Pat 


Snleby - 


Pat 


20 


La Grove - 


- Close. 


Enffbrd - 


P.S. 


22 


Shene 


- Pat 


BIythe, Bnfford - 


ClOM. 


33 


Sheen 


. Fffld.lOa. 


BIjtha - 


P.S. 


ai 




- Vase. 


BeoUey • 


Pat 


35.36 




. Pat 


York 


Scot 


27,38 


Hertford - 


. Pat 


Tork 


Ftad. 9a. 


29 


Waltham and Her 


tford - - Pat 



y Google 



AM ITINERAEY OF EDWAED THE BECONS. 



S0.31 Walthun 








P.S. 


18 Windsor . 


■ Fced.lOe. 


r»b. 


17 Windsor . 


- P.S. 


1 WrithMU - . . . P.S. 


30 Windsor . 


■ FcBd.107. 


2 W»lth»m - 






Chart 


al,aa Windsor . 


- Pat 


3 Walth»m - 






Pu. 


33 Wiodsor - 


■ Cloie. 








Fmd.103. 


34 Windaor ■ 


■ Taso. 


Wettminster 






Close. 


as Windsor . 


. Pat 








PaL 


as Windsor - 


- P.S. 








Feed. ina. 


ao Woodstock 


- P.S. 


e-11 Wwmiiwtor 






p«. 


30 Woodstook 


■ Pat 


12 WMimiDSter 






Soot 


Jlfay. 




13 WoslminiUr 






F<Bd. 103. 


\» Woodstock 


- Pat. 








Fat. 


3 Woodstook 


■ F<Bd.l07. 


15 WestmitiBiOT 






Toso. 


4 Woodstock 


. Scot 


le WeMmineter 






Fmd.101. 




- Vaso. 








Pat 


6,7 Woodstock 


. Soot 








Scot 


8 Woodstook 


- Vaso. 


an-as WMtmiMto 






Pat 


Woodstock 


- Pat 


at WratmiDBtw 






Scot 


10 Woodstock 


- Scot. 


26-39 WeBtmiiutm 






Pat 


11 Woodstock 


■ Tasc 


Mar. 








la Woodstook 


■ Pat 


I Westminster 






FomI. 104. 


13 Woodstock 


- Cloae. 








Pat 


14 Woodstook 


- Soot 








Fad. 104. 


lS,lfl Woodstock 


- Pat 


i^ WMUninBt«r 






Pit 


17 Windsor - 


- Lib. 


6,7 WwtniiDswr 






Vase. 


18 Eennington 


- Cloae. 


8 WeatmiDitBr 






F<Ed. 104. 


IS Kennington 


- Pat 


9 WMtminBter 






Vaso. 


ao Eenningun 


• Vase. 


10,11 WaBtniDBter 






Pat. 




■ Pat 


la Waetminster 






Food. lOS. 




■ Scot, Pat 








Vaso. 




- Pat 








Pat. 


27,38 Windsor . 


. Pat 








Soot 


2S Windaor ■ 


- Scot 


16 WeBtmioBtet 






Feed. lOB. 


30 Windsor - 


- Pat 


17 WeBtmiaBter 






Close. 


31 WindBor - 


- Scot 


18 WsatmiiiBler 






Vaso. 


JUM. 




IQ-aS WeatmiDBlBr 






Pat. 


1 Reigato . 


. Fmd. 107. 


a WeBtmiDBtei 






Close. 


a Windsor - 


. Lib. 








Pat 




• M.W.3e4, 








Close 


4,0 Windsor - 


. Pat 








Pat. 


6 Windsor - 


. P.S. 








Fad. 108. 


7 Windsor - 


- Close. 








Pat. 


8 Windsor - 


- Pat 


AfT. 








e Eennington 


■ Chart 


1 Weatminater 






P. W. 12. 


10 Waatminater 


- Fat 


3 WestmiDater 






Close. 


13 Westminster 


■ F<ed.lOe. 








Close. 




■ Pat 








Ub. 




- Scot 


S,7 Windsor - 






Pat 




- Foed.lOe. 


8 Windsor 








Soot 




. Vase 


g Windsor 








Close. 


17 Wesiminster 


. Scot 


10 Windsor 








FoBd. 106. 


18 Westminalor 


- M.W.3Be. 


11,13 Windsor 








Soot 




. Pat 


13 Windaor 








P.S. 


33 Canterbury 


- Scot 


14,16 Windsor .... Close. 


34,aO Canterbury 


- Fat 


4 EDW 


MID II. 




Juto. 




■ Pat 


1 Weatminster . - - Cloas. 


16 Westminster 


- M.W.S0B. 


a Westminster 






Pat 




- Pat 


3 WeBtminster 






Soot 




- Fosd.111. 








M. W. 397. 


30-33 Westminster 


. Pat 








Pat 


as Windsor ■ 


. Pat 








M.E.67IJB.W.3Br. 


ao StAlban'H 


- Pat 


7 WeBlininsWr 






Lib. 




- P.S. 


8 Woatminsier 






Soot 




■ Pat 


9 Waatminstor 






FiBd.110. 


30 Northampton 


. P.S. 


10 Windaor - 






Fine. 


81 Northamptoa 


- Pat 








P.S. 


Jtw- 




13 Weatminstl 


ur 






M. w. 3ae. 




. F(ed.lia. 



y Google 



AN ITINERART OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 





M. W. 899. 


16 Aberleved; 






- Pat 


8 Snlbj 


M. W. 41)0. 


IS-ai Berwiek - 






- Pat 




P«t. 


32 Berwiok - 






F<Bd.II8. 




M.W.401. 








- Pat 


NouiDgham, and Bnghfoid 


Feed. 116. 








Pat 


7 Bljthe - 


PM. 


Dm. 








8 Bentlej - 


Fine. 


1 Berwiok - 






- Soot 


» Ponufrmrt 


Cloee. 


9-6 Berwiok - 






Pat 


10 Shirbum in Elmet, loA • 


Pet 


7,» Berwiek - 






Pat 


U Shirbum iD Elmet 


Close. 


8 Berwick - 






F(ad.l90. 


13 HelMbp^k 


P. S. 


10,11 Berwick - 






Pit 


14 York 


Pit. 


13 Berwiek - 






F(Bd.iao. 


IB Twk 


P. 8. 


13 Berwiok ■ 






Rot Pari. 164 


19 York 


Pet 








Pit 


17 York, Skjrpenbek 


Pst 


16,ie Berwiok - 






Fmd.iaa. 


18 Wjgbloo - 


Fad. 116. 


17 Berwick - 






Pet 


IB BeTGrlej - 


Pat 


18 Berwiek - 






P. W. 49. 


31.22 BworlBj . 


Pat 


19,90 Berwick - 






Feed. 198. 


88 BsTOTley - 


P. 8. 


as-97 Berwick - 






Pit 




Pat, Fine. 


38 Berwick - 






Close. 


Sfi Sledmers ■ 


Fine. 


99,30 Berwick - 






F(&d.l94. 


36 Bererlej, Y»k, Md lUlton 


Fffld. 115, Pat 




27 MewBoro 


Pat 




88 ThrtHk - 


Pit 






Close. 


1311. 


S*P^ B«»erf«J 




Jan. 


1 Nawautle on Tyn* 


Feed. 118. 


I Berwiok .... F(ed.ia6. 


a AnUand - - 


S«ot 








Pit 


< En'>«T l^nrkun - 


P. S. 


8 Berwiok ■ 






P.S. 




H. W. 101. 








Fa>d.l9e. 


7 N«w Cutlfl oo Tyna 


Pit 


6 Berwiok - 






Fced.iao. 


a-n New Minster 


Pit 


7,6 Berwiok - 






Pat 


la Felton - 


Pit 








Close. 


18 Bolton mpez Uonun 


Soot 


10-13 Berwick - 






Pit 


16 Werk 


Soot 


13 Benriek - 






P.S. 


10 Boxbnrgh 


Pat 


14 Berwick - 






Pit 


IT Boibnrgb 


Close. 


18 Berwiok - 






FcBd.l9S. 


16 Boibnrgh 


Pit 








Pat 


19 BoxbnrBh 


Soot 


17 Berwiok - 






Fine. 


80 Bosbnrgh 


Feed. lie. 


IB Berwiok . 






Fad. 198. 




Pit 


19,20 Berwiok - 






Pat 


99 LMMdewio 


Scot 








GloM. 


23 Selkirk - 


Pit 








Pat. 


94 Tresqiwir- 


Fine. 


23 Berwick . 






aose. 


ao Sslkirk - 


Pit 


34.26 Berwick . 






Pat 


96,37 Boibnrgh - 


Pat 


97 Berwiok - 






Scot 


98 Selkirk - 


Pit 


98 Berwiok - 






Pat 


29.80 Bjgez - 


P. 8. 


SB Berwick - 






Vise. 


Oct. 




30 Berwiok . 






Pit 


I Bjger - 


F(ed.ll6. 








P.S. 


a Boibnrgh - 


Close. 


Feb. 








6 Bjger - 


P.S. 








Feed. 198. 


« Brgor - 


Bot PirL 184. 


3-a Berwiek - 






Pat 


e Bfger - 


Lib. 


6 Berwiok . 






Feed. 126. 


ID BTgerandCuinU 


Pit, Fine. 








Fit 


12 Ltouk - 


Lib. 


10 Berwiok - 






Find. 127. 


13 LlaliEooD - 


FflBd.117. 


11 Berwiek ■ 






Soot 


1* Unuk ■ 


Pat 


19 Berwiek - 






Pit 


1S,1» Benftew and Lenuk 


Pat and Close. 


13 Berwiok - 






P.S. 


17 Bonfrew - 


P.S. 


10 Berwick - 






F<Bd.l97. 


IB Byger - 


Close. 


ie-18 Berwiek - 






Feed. 136. 


aO Byger - 


Fine. 


19 Berwick - 






P.S. 


81 Gtremor - 


Pit 


30 Berwiok - 






Pit 


93 LioUsooa - 


Feed. lie. 


31 Berwick - 






Fine. 


94 LtDliscon • 


Pat 


24 Berwick - 






Pat 


S(t Liolisan ■ 


CloM. 


90 Berwiok - 






Tase. 


96-38 linliMO - 


Pat 


98 Berwick - 






Pit 


Soc. 










Fine. 


1.8 Berwick - 


Pit 


28 Berwick - 






F(ad.l99. 




FiBd.118. 


Mar. 










Pit 


Ifi Berwick - 






Pit 


13 Berwiok - 


Close. 


3,4 Bsrwick - 






F«d.l99. 



y Google 



AN ITINERARY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 



6 Benriok 








Fine. 




. CloK. 


e-8 Berwick 








P»t. 


80 Berwick - 


• FomLISS. 


9,10 Banrick 








PiBd.130. 


Mag. 




ia,13 Berwick 








Pet. 


1 Benrick - 


- P.W.48. 


U Berwick 








F<Bd.ial. 


2-8 Berwick - 


. Pat 


IB Barwiek 








Pat. 


7 Berwick . 


. Feed. 134. 


16 Berwick 








P. 8. 


8 Berwick - 


- Pat. 


IT Berwick 








Pat. 


10-12 Berwick - 


. Pat 


18 Berwick 








F.Bd.181. 


13 Berwick - 


. Scot. 


19 B«nri(ik 








Pat. 


14.16 Berwick - 


. Fat. 


ao Berwick 








F<Bd.l31. 




- Scot. 


31-23 Berwick 








Pal. 


18 Berwick - 


- Pat. 


31 Berwick 








Pine. 


20 Berwick - 


• P.W.48. 


as Benriok 








Fat. 


21-28 Berwick - 


. Bat 


SB Berwick 








FiBd.l3L 




- Pat. Fine. 


37 Berwick 








Fme. 


38 Berwick - 


- M.W.44. 


38^B Berwick 








PbL 


29-SI Berwick . 


• Pat 


ao Berwick 








Close. 


June. 




Apr. 










1 Berwick . 


- K.W.414. 


1^ Berwick 








Pat. 


S-4 Berwiok . 


- Pat 


3 Berwick 








P. a. 


6 Benrick - 


- F(Bd.l86. 


4 Berwick 








M. W. 408. 


6 Berwick, . 


. Pat 


6 Berwick 








FiBd.l32. 


7 Berwick - 


- Fo»d.l8a. 










PhL 


8 Berwick - 


. Pat 


8 Berwick 








Close. 


Benrick . 


. Scot 


8 Berwick 








Ene. 


. 10-19 Berwick - 


. Pat 


10 Berwick 








P«L 


14 Berwiok - 


- M.W.41S. 


11 Berwick 








ClOMI. 


18 Benriok - 


- F>Bd.l87. 


12,19 Berwick 








Pat. 


16 Berwick . 


- P.W. 44. 


14 Berwick 








F<Bd.l32. 


n Berwiok - 


. Pat 


ia-18 Berwick 








Fat. 




- M.W.413. 


la Berwick 








Close. 


19 Berwick - 


Vtao. 


20 Berwick 








Feed. 132. 


20 Berwick ■ 


- Feed. 197. 


21 Berwick 








lib. 


22 Berwiok - 


- Soot 


23 Berwick 








Pat. 


23 Berwick - 


- P. 8. 


33 Berwi^ 








ClOM. 




- Pat 


24-3T Berwick 








Pat. 




. Pat 


28 Berwick .... FtEd.iaa. 




5 EDWARD II. 




July. 


3 Darlington 


- Pat 


1 Berwick 






- Teed. IBS. 


8 Borobridgo 


. Pat 










Pat. 


4 FoDtefraot 


- Fat 


8 Berwick 








Close. 


6 NottiDgbam 


- dose. 


4 Berwick 








Pat. 




- Pat 


6 Berwick 








M. W. 414. 




- Vase. 


6 Berwick 








F(ed.l38. 


9 Nottingham 


. Close. 


7^ Berwick 








Fat. 






8 Berwick 












- Pat 


10 Berwick 








Lib. 


13 St. Albans 


- Scot 


11 Berwick 








VtM. 


18,14 Weatminstor 


- Pat 


13,13 Berwick 








Pat. 


IB WeatmiDBter 


- Closa. 


14 Benriok 








M. W. 416. 


16 Wealminster 


- F«LU]. 


IQ Berwick 








Vase. 


18 London - 


- F<Bd.l41. 


16 Berwick 








Close. 


30 London - 


- F<Bd. 141. 


IT Berwick 








Pat. 


31-23 London - 


- Pat 


18 Berwick 








Vase. 


24,35 London - 


- F<Bd.l42. 


10 Benrick 








P. 3. 


36 London - 


- Pat 


90 Benrick 








P.W.M. 


37-28 London . 


- Food. 143, 143 


21 Berwick 








Close. 


20 London - 


- Pat 


Sa Berwick 








Faed.140. 


30 London . 


■ Close. 


28 Berwick 








Close. 


Stpt. 












Fted.141. 


l.a London - 


- Pat 


20 Berwick 








Pat 


3 London . 


- Tbm. 


3S Berwick, B 


amboro 






P. W. 66, Pit 


A London • 


. Pat 


37 Alnwick 








V«M. 


6 Hadley - 


. Pat 


28 Berwick 








M. W. 416. 


6 Hadlej - 


. P.S. 


39,30 Bentick 








Pat. 


7,8 Hadlej - 


- Pat 


Aug. 


10 London - 


. Pat 


1 Durham 








U.E.6T6. 


11 Hsdler - 


. Pat 



y Google 



AN ITINEILAfiY OF EDWAUD THE SECOND. 



13 Hadl«T 








- P.W.M. 








- Close. 


13 Rmilej 








ClOM. 






- Pal. 


14 Hadloj 








Pat 






Close. 


IS Hftdltv 








P. 3. 








VSHC 


10,17 HwUe* 








PaL 








Fad. lOS. 


18 H.dle> 








Clo«e. 


17 WeMninsur 






CIos«. 


30 BlUuB 








OOM 








P.W. 67, 70. 


21 Eltham 








Pkt 








Pat 


33 ElilMm 








CloM. 








Cloee. 


98 ElOxm 








P.S. 


33-30 Wesuninstw 






ClOM. 


ai,2a Elduun 








Fit. 


36 WestmiDslar 






F(Bd.lOS. 


30 LoDdon 








Fine. 


87 Westminstar 








37 London 








Prt. 


08 Weatminttei 






Pat 


88 tondon 








Tmo. 


39 Weatminater 






Fwd. 103. 


39,S0 Loadon 








P«. 


31 Windsor - 






La.. 


OtL 












1,3 Lciadon 








P«t 


1312. 


4 London 








PU. 


D Londoa 








BotPail.38«. 


Jm. 


6,7 Londoa 








Pat. 








Fat 


S LoDdon 








P. W. 67. 


11 Knareaboro 






P.S. 


& London 








P.W.M, M.W.116. 


18 York 








Feed. 168. 


10 London 








F<nd.l4Si. 


SO York 








P, W. 70. 


11 London 








P.W.M. 


31 York 








Fad. 104. 


13 London 








FwLlM. 


Sa York 








PaL 


18 LoDdon 








Fine. 


33,34 York 








F«d.lM. 


10 Windwr 








Pot. 


36 York 








Pat 


le London 








TSM. 


86 York 








F<£d.l64. 


IT Windaor 








F(Bd.l«. 


37 York 








Pat 


18 Windsor 








Pftt 


38 Yoi4 








P. W. 70. 


SO;ll Lu>gl«j 








PM. 


89-31 York 








Pat 


33 Langle; 








Vim. 


Feb. 










33 Luigler 








Pst. 


1 York 








Vase. 


34 Eltham, l4 


tngle; 






P.W.M,P»L 


8 York 








Pat 


3S Eltham 








PU. 


4 York 








M. E. 003. 


36 ElthUD 








F<»d.UT. 


0.6 York 








Pat 


37 WindKT 








FU. 


7 York 








Bna. 


ae Windsw 








P.B. 


8 York 








Find. ISO. 


30 Windsor 








Pat. 


10 York 








Fad. 106. 


»0 Windsor 








Fhie. 


13,18 Yoric 










11 Wtodsor 








Pat. 


14 York 








Foed.106. 


Sov. 










10 YoA 








P. W. 70. 


8,8 Windsor 








PM. 


16 York 








Fmd. 107. 


4 Windsor 








Fc»d.l4B. 


17 York 








Fat 


B WindMT 








GlOM. 


18 YoA 








F<»d.ieT. 


e Sbaoe 








Pat. 


19 York 








Pat 








Close. 


30 York 








Vaio. 








Feed. 140. 


31 York 








ClOM. 








PM. 


93 York 








Pat 


13 WaalnmBrtar 






Tim. 


38,34 York 








Ftad. 167. 


19 WeabsiniiUr 






PaL 


20 York 








Pat 


14 WsstminsUr 






F<Bd.l4e. 


30 Malton 








Pat 








Taao. 


97 Msltoo 








ClOM. 








F<mL149. 


38 York 








If. E. 786. 








Pat 


Jtfar. 










19 WeetmiBstai 






dOM. 


3 York 








Pat 








Pat 


8 York 








M. E. 086. 


33,38 WeauninMer 






Pat 


4,6 York 








Pat 








Pad. 149, 160. 


6,7 York 








Vase 








Pat. 


8 York 








1LE.066,P.W.T 








Tbm. 


g-Il York 








Pat. 








P.W. 


13 York 
















Feed. 101. 


13,14 York 








Pat 


Jke. 








13 York 
















Pat 


ie-9t) York 








Pat 


8,1 Weitminster 






Taw. 


81,83 York 








F(Bd. 160. 








Pat 


33 York 








Clow. 








TaM. 


34 York 








F«iiao. 


7 Westminster 






P.W.M. 


36 York 








Pat 








Vast 


86 York 








QMS. 








Ftad. 103. 


3T York 








Pat 


10 Westminih 


w 






VaM. 


38 York 








Fad. lOL 



y Google 



AN ITINERABY OP EDWARD THE SECOND. 



Tori 
York 
York 
ToA 
York 

NorthaUartoi), Yoi^ JeBorobridge 
Yoi^ and Northallerton - 
NorthkUertoD and Darlington 
Dniham • 
Neweutle - 
NeoMStlo gn True 
Kewoastle • 
Hewoaatle on TfDa 
Newoaatls 
NewcMtle 
Newcastle 
Newaaatle 
Newcastle 
Newcastle 
NewoSBtle 
NsiTcastle 
Neweaitle 
Newcastle 
I Newcastle 



York 

GUmfordbrigg and Sudl - 

Bolynglon and Sixil 

Kirkstead 

FreBloo and Swioeshead - 

Swjneshead 



Spalding - 
nuTDegere 




Fold. lea. 
Taao. 
Fad. 163. 
Vaae. 



M. E. 573. 
Fosd. 164. 
P. W. 71. 
Feed. 166. 



H.E.703. 

Foed.173. 

F«il72. 

Pat. 

Ftvd. 173. 

Fosd. 176. 

M.W. 

F<Bd.l74. 
Pat. 

F<Ed, 175. 
Fmd. 175. 
Close. 
Fold. 176. 
Cloes. 
Pat. 
Pat 











Close. 


U HoYeden - 






Fad. 170. 


16 York 








Pat. 


IT York 








M. E. 681, 5B0. 


18 York 








Clow. 


SO York 








Pat. 


SI loA 








Fine. 


22-35 York 








Pat. 


36 York 








FoBd-lTO. 


87 York 








Clou. 


ae.S9 York 








Pat 


80 York 








M. B. SH. 


81 York 








Pat. 


JWM 










1,3 York 








Fat. 


S York 








P. W. 78. 


4 York 








M. E. 617. 


6 Kirketead 








Feed. 171. 


8 York 








Gloae. 


7 York 








PaL 


9,11 Howden 








Pat. 


13 Howdeo 








H. E. 004. 


14 KingtOD opoD Hull 




Pat 


16 Kingston upon Hnll 




Close. 






Pat 


20 Braslwiok 






H. E. 690. 


24 York 






M.W. 417. 


98-36 York 






Pat 


39 York - - . . Fine. 


EID II. 


19 London, Eltham - - • P.W.Te,F(Bd.l7T 


30 Eltham • 






Pat. 


33 Westminster 






M.W. 418. 


33-34 WeatmioWet 






Fad. 177, 178. 








Pat 


36 Westminster 






Soot. 








Pat 


Sept. 














Pat 








Fod.l7e. 


4,5 WesttaioBter 






Pat 


6 Westminster 






Fad.m. 


7-9 Westminster 






Pat 








M. W. 419. 


11-13 Westminster 






Pat 








Fad. ITS, 179, 180. 








Pat 


IS Windsor - 






Close. 


30 Windsor 








Pat 


34 Windsor 








Pat 


28 Windsor 








Close. 


S7 Windsor 








Pat 


88 Wentminsti 








Fad. 180. 


S9 Windsor 








Close. 


30 Windsor 








H. W. 419. 


Oct. 










1 Windsor 








Soot 


S-4 Windsor 








Pat 


6 Windsor 








Feed. 181. 


6 Windsor 








Soot 


7 Windsor 








Pat 


e Windsor 








Fed. 189. 


Windsor 








M. E. 753. 


10 Windsor 








Soot 


11 Windsor 








Pat 


12,18 Windsor 








Fmd. 183. 


14-16 Windsor 








Pat 


30 Windsor 








Fad. 184. 


31-34 Windsor 








Pat 



y Google 



AH ITINEEARY OF IDWAED THE SECOND. 



37 WestaDiQBtei 






FoBd-aOO. 








M. W. 419. 


39 WeitminsUt 






Floe. 


30,31 irmdur ■ 






Fu. 


Vm. 








1 Windsor . 






F<jsd.i8a. 


8 Shene 








Feed. 188. 


8 Wmiaot 








PsL 


i Windeor 








F»d.l8fl. 


ft Windsor 








Pat. 


9 Windsor 








Fad. 187. 


7 Windsor 








Est. 


8 Windsor 








M. E. 71 e. 


Windsor 








Lib. 


10,11 Shene 








Pst 


13 Windsor 








F(Bd. 187. 


18 Windsor 








Kne. 


14-le Windsor 








Pat. 


IT Windsor 








Fine. 


18 Windsor 








Pat. 


1» Windsor 








Fold. 187. 


20 Windsor 








FcBd. 188. 


31 Wmdsor 








P«L 


M,a5 WindMr 








Pat. 


2S Windsor 








F<Bd. lee. 


27 Windsor 








Feed. 189. 


88 Windsor 








M. E. 71T. 


IS Windsor 








Pat 


80 Windsor 








Fc»d. 189. 


Dee. 










I, a Windsor 








Pat. 


3 Windsor 








F<Bd. ISB. 


4 Windsor 








FoBd. 190. 


WJ Windsor 








Pat. 


10 Windsor 








Feed. 19». 








Close. 


13 Shene 






Close. 








PaL 








Fted. 190. 


16 WestminBtor 






P.W.7fl,Bot.Pa» 


18 Windsor - 






Pet. [311. 


IB Windsor - 






Fasd. 191. 


20 Windsor . 






Pat. 


23 Windsor - 






F(Bd. 183. 


33 Windsor . 






Pat. 








Pak 


35-38 Windsor • 






Pat 


30 Windsor - 






F(Bd.l93. 


31 Windsor . 


. Pst. 


ISIS 




/on. 




1 Windsor . 


- Fcsd.198. 


3 Windsor - 






Pat. 


3 Windsor - 






Vaao. 


4-8 Windsor . 






Pat. 


7 Windsor - 






Feed. 181. 


8 Windsor - 






P. W. 80. 


9 Windsor - 






Close. 


10 Windsor . 






Pal. 


12 Windsor - 






Pal. 


13 Windsor - 






Feed. 190. 


U Windsor - 






Fine. 


1ft Windsor - 






Pat. 


18.17 Windsor . 






Feed. 199. 


1S,1S Windsor - 






Pat. 


30 Windsor - 






P. W. 91. 


81 Windsor • 






Pat. 


32 Sbene • 






Pat 


38 Windsor - 






Peed. 187. 


31,36 Windsor - 






Pat 




<T,y!iBi 


tor 




Close. 



Windsor 




Pat 


Windsor - 


dose. 


Shene 


Pat. 


Westnunster 


Pat 


Westminster 


F<Bd. 198. 




Foftd. 198. 




Pat 




F(Bd. lee. 




F<sd. 199. 


Windsor . 


Pat 


Windsor 




Food. 301. 


Windsor 




Pat 


Windsor 




F(Ed. 201. 


Windsor 




Fffld.301. 


Windsor 




Feed. aoa. 




F<Bd.a03. 


Bistlesham and Windsor - 


Pat 


Westminster 


Pat 


Wostminster 


P. W. 91. 


Windsor - 


Pat 


Windsor 




Feed. 303. 


Windsor 




Fine. 


Windsor 




Pat 


Windsor 




Close. 


Windsor 




Find. aOO. 


Windsor 




Pat. 


Windsor 




Pat. 


Windsor 




Foed. 300. 


Windsor 




Pet. 


Langley MsiTBis - 


Cloae. 


Langlay Mareis . 


Close. 


Windsor ■ 


Pat 


Windsor - 


Fosd.306. 


Windsor - 


Chart. 


Sbene 


Pat 


Langlej Hareis . 


Feed, 308. 


Windsor and Shene 


Pat 


Langlej - 


F(Bd.2D«. 


Shene 


Fine. 


Shene 


Pat 


Shene and Westminster - 


Pat. 


Shene 


Pat 


Weatminstor 


Kne. 




Feed. 807. 




Pat 


Shene 


Close. 


Windsor - 


Find. 207. 




M.W.120 




Feed. 208. 


Westminster 


Pat 


Sbene - 


Pat 


Westminster, Wmdsor, and Shene 


Pat 


Sbene and Cbratsej 


Pat 


Shene • 


Close. 


Shene 




fine. 


Windsor 




Cloae. 


Sbene 




Pat 


Windsor 




Pat 


Windsor 




Foed.808. 


Windsor 




F<Bd.a09. 


Windsor 




Pat 


Windsor 




Close. 


Shene 




Pat 


Westminster 


Pat 


Westminster 


Frnd. ao9. 


Westminster 


Pat. 


Windsor - 


Feed. 309. 


WestminsU 




FiBd.2iO. 



y Google 



in ITINEBAEY OF EDWABD THS 8B00ND. 



3 




4 


WiiidN)r - 


6 


WindBor . 


e 


Windsor - 


7 


Shnie mod Windaor 


8 


SheoB 


S 


Windaor ■ 


10 


Windsor - 


12 


Windwr - 


19 


Windsor - 


14 


Windw* - 


IB 


Windsor . 


ie,i7 


WestminBtOT 


ao-ai 


Canterbni? 


3) 


Dorar 


33 


Dorer 


"*. 


PnnteiM - 


3-6 


Pnntedne ■ 






8 


Ybo-rillere - 





BelTWom - 


10 


Pisseyum - 


18 


BonlogDe . 


IT 


Sandwich" 


IB 


Stnreye - 


IB 


Snrye 


80 




ai 




33 




34 


WastminiWr 


3S 


Westminster 


3C 


Westminstar 


3T 


Wegtminster 


3Q 


WindsOT - 


80 


WindsOT - 


AU9- 




1,3 


Windjior - 


3 


Bistleshim 


4 


BUtleshnn 





BiHtleshun 


6^ 


Windsor - 


a 


WrndstH- ■ 


10 


Windsor ■ 


1343 


Windsor ■ 


15 


Windsor . 


le 


Windsor - 


IT 


Windsor - 


in 


Windsor - 


10 


Windsor - 


ao 


Windsor ■ 


SI 


Windsor - 


33 


Windsor - 


33 


Windsor - 


34 


Windsor - 


35 


Windsor - 


se 


WindsM - 


38 


Windsor - 


3B 


Windsor - 


30 


Windsor - 


Stpt. 




1-B 


Windsor - 


6 


Windsto- - 


8 


Windsor - 



F. w. as. 

Fad. 318. 
F<»LS14. 
P.S. 



P. W.8B. 
Fad. 314. 
Fasd.310. 
Fine. 
Pat. 

Fmd.315. 
fmd. 3ie. 
Fad.31B. 
P. W. 03. 



34 Dover 


■ Fat. 


38 Bologne - 




"l LussrchM. 


- P.S. 


PontissBram 


■ FaL 


in F0l]Dt«Be - 


. Pat. 


11 Poilllt«rM - 


. P.S. 




- Fafc 


U PoBtOM . 


- Fad. 318. 


IB Punteis. - 


■ Fod.3ia. 


28 Ponntoj* ■ 


• Vbms. 


24 PounteM - 


. Pat 


30 ponUflUun 




U8 PonnlaM - 


■ Pak 


SB Pnotese - 


■ Fold. 130. 


30 Ponntiaut 


- Pat. 



7 EDWABD II. 



F<Bd.33U. 

F(Bd. 331. 

Vssc 

Feed. 323. 

P.S. 

P.S. 

Pat. 



D Porta da Budwiixi 



"r^SJjSd." 



Windsor - 

10 Windsor . 

11 Windsor - 
13,13 Windsor - 

le Windscv - 

17,18 Chertsey - 

20 WesUninster 

31 Windsor - 

23,38 WestmioMar 

34 Windsor, WestiiiiDst«r 



27,38 



1-0 


Shene - 


e-ii 


Wastminster 


19 


Wesuuinater 


18 


WeatmlnsMr 


14, lA 




Ifl 




17-18 




ao-27 




38-30 


Westminstar 


Hov. 




1-4 


WMtminster 


6 




8,7 




8 









10 


Westminster 


11 




19,13 


Westminster 


14 


Weauninstei 


IB 


Westminster 


IS 




IT 


Shene 


18 




IB 


WesuniostM 


30,31 




83 


Westminttot 


23,3B 


Westminster 


36 


Westmioster 


31 




28 




3a,3ii 




Dec. 




1 




3 


Westminster 


8 


Westminster 


A 




e 




7-8 


Hinster in Thanet 



F.W.103,F(Bda3e. 



F<Bd.339. 

ClOM. 

Feed. 383. 

PaL 

P. W. 116. 

Chart. 

Fnd.33*. 



y Google 



AN ITINEKAKY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 



11 Dorar 






Pat. 


4 Cambridge 


dose. 




la Dover 






Close. 


8-a Ely 


Fat 




13 Doret 






Pal. 


B Ely 


Close. 




10 Dover 






P. W. 116. 


10-19 Ramesey - 


Pat 




16 MostrmU - 






Pftt. 


13 Petorboroogli . 


M. W. 429. 




23 WeBtminster 






M. W. 431. 


14 Pslerboro, Thomey 


Pat 




35,28 WeBlminrter 






Pat. 


IS Croyland - 


Pat 




28-30 Westmingter 






Pat. 


16 Crojlimd ■ 


Rne. 






17 Spalding and IJDO. 


Fat 




1314. 


18 Lincoln and Croyland ■ 


Fat. 




Jan. 


19 Eirlcstead 


ClOM. 




1 Windsor .... rend. 239. 


30 Lincoln - 


H. W. 136. 




3,4 Windsor - 






Pat 


31 Lincoln - 


Fat 




i Windsor - 






Close. 


23 Lincoln and TorliBey 


Pat. 




8 Windwr - 






F(Ed.94(J. 


23 Torksey and Lincoln 


Va>i.U7. 




7,8 Wvad«a . 






Pat 


34 Tnrksey and Lincoln 


Pat 




10 Windsor - 






P. 8. 


35 lorkaey . 


Fine. 




11,13 Windsor - 






Fat 


38-37 Beverley - 


Fat 




13 Sfaen« - 






Fat 


2S Beverley and HoU 


Pat 




11 WestmiDster 






Fmd.240. 


39,30 Beverley - 


Pat 










Pm. 


May 












Close. 


• Fat 




17 Eltham . 






VaacL 


a York 


. Pat 




18,19 Eltham - 






Pat 


3 Tork 


. Close. 






Vindso 




Fat 


4 York 


. P.S. 










Close. 


York 


- Close. 




93 Windsor . 






Close. 


6.9 York 


Pat 


ffi 


33-36 Wind«or - 






Pat 


10 Tort and Oijngwold 


. P. W. 118 


27 Windsor - 






F<Di.SA.O. 


11 Darlington 


- P.S. 




28 Windsor - 






Pat 


13 York 


■ Pat 




2S Windsor . 






F<Bd.241, 


13 Thresk 


■ Pat 




30 Windsor - 






Pat. 


IS Durham - 


- ClOM. 




Ftb. 








16 Durham - 


- Pat 




1-4 WindMT - 






Pat 


17,18 Auckland - 


- Fat 




5 Eltham - 






Fat 


ao York 


. Lib. 




6-8 Eltham - 






Find. 343. 


31 Dnrham ■ 


- Chart 




10 Eltham ■ 






P.S. 


33 Durham - 


Pat 




11 Eltham 






Pal. 


93 NewCasUe 


Fat 




15 Eltham - 






Fat 


36 Durhftm - 


. Pat. 










Pat 


20 Durham - 


Feed. 947. 


[247 


18 Caoterbniy 






Close. 


27 Kovnm Monasteriom, Dnrham 


- M. W. 427 


i«i 


30 Cantarbnrj 






P. w. iia. 


38 AnUand • 


. Pat. 




21,33 CinterboTj 






F<Bd.943. 




- P. W. 126, Pat. 


33,94 CanterbniT 






Fat 


30 Mew Minster 


■ Soot 




26 Hadlej • 






Fied.344. 


31 NewHinster 


- Pat 




Hot. 








JUM 






1 Hadlev . 






FtBd. 844. 


1 NewcasUe. New MiMt«r . 


Pat 




a Hadlej - 






P.S. 


3 New Minster 


. Pat 




3-6 Hadlej - 






Pat 


8 New Minster 


- Close. 










Pat 


4,6 New Minster 


Pat. 




11 WCTtminrter 






Chart 


6 Fellon 


- Pat 




19 Wostminsler 






Feed. 344. 


7 New Minster 


Fat 










Pat. 




Pat 










F(Bd.246. 


S Fenham-Werk • 


Close. 










Pm. 


10 NewMinator 


Pat 










P. w. lai. 


11 Berwick - 


P.S. 




18 Westminster 






Pat 




Food. 249. 




20 Westminster 






Pat 


13,14 Berwick ■ 


Pat 




31 Westminster 






F<Bd.340. 


IS Berwick . 


Fine. 




33 Westminster 






H. W. 423. 


17 Berwick . 


Soot 










Pat. [424 


18 Berwick - 


Pat 










P. W. 131, M.W. 


20,21 Berwick . 


Fat 










Pat 


24 Berwick - 


P. W. 134. 




96 Westminster 






M. W. 49S. 


3S Berwiok - 


Pat 




97 Westminster 






F.w.m. 


96 Berwick • 


Close. 




28 Westminster 






M. W. 425. 


37 Berwick - 


Feed. 349. 




3D Westminstar 






Pat 


38 Berwick - 


P. W. 136. 




31 StAIbane 






Cloae. 




F(ed.24e. 




^P\- „ .,^ 








30 Berwick ■ 


M. W. 49T. 





y Google 



AN ITINERARY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 
8 EDWARD 



2 


Berwick . 


F«d.360. 


3-S 


Berwick . 


Pat. 




Berwick - 


Feed. 291. 


T 


Berwick - 


P. S. 


a-10 


Berwick - 


Pat. 


13 




Pat. 


13 


HertUpol - 


PaU 


14 


BBrwiok - 


Pat 


le 


Berwick . 


Feed. 381. 


n 


York - - . 


Pat 


18 


York - - . 


Feed. 361. 


10,38 


York . - . 


PaL 


29 


York 


P. W. 138. 


SO 


York 


Pat. 


31 


York 


P. 8. 


Aug. 






1-8 


York 


Pat. 




KiDgstoD upoa HoU 


Pat. 


s,g 


York 


Fine. 


10 


York 


M. W. 431. 


11 


York 


Pat. 


13 


York 


H. W. 433. 


19,17 


York 


PW. 


IB 


YoA . - - 


F<Ed.aa8. 


30 


York - - - 


Tine. 


38 


Leoton 


P.S. 


24 


Lenton 


Pat 


30 


Lentim • 


Tasc 


26,37 




PaL 


SepL 








York - - - 


Pat. 




YMk . - . 


P. W. 138. 




York . - - 


Pat. 




YoA - - - 


Cloae. 




York - - . 


PaL 




WolBUm ■ 


P. W. 180. 


S 


York uid Waliton - 


PaL 


10,11 


York - - - 


Pat. 


ia,i8 


YoA - - . 


P. W. 188. 


14,17 


York - - - 


Pat 


le 


York - - - 


F.Bd.364. 


30-24 


York . - . 


Pat. 


SB 


York 


FmLSM. 


36.37 


York 


Pat 


38 


York 


P. W. 133. 


29,30 


York 


PaL 


Oct. 






1 


York . . - 


Bot.Parl.2B7. 


2 


YoA 


F(Bd.a38. 


a-s 


York 


PaL 





YoA 


FcBd.356. 


7^ 


York 


Pat. 





York 


U. W. 433. 


10 


York 


P. W. 138. 


13 


GMiiBboro- 


Close. 


14 


LineolD 


Floe. 


16 


Lincoln 


F<Bd.306. 


17 




PaL 


20 


Spalding - 


Clote. 


21 


Boston - 


PaL [Pari. 343 


94 


Spidding . 


P. W. 138, Bot 


2; 


OotbelakcBland ■ 


Pat 


38 


Thomay - 


P. 3. 


29 


Ihomey - 


Pat 


30 


Peterboni uii] Bamse; 


PaL 


31 


Rameey - 


dose. 


Nov. 






1,3 


Biunecy - 


Pat. 



II. 










Aflsebeth, Ely - - M. W. 433, F«d. 


Ely . 






PaL [357 


Benewyk - 






Pat 


Ely 






Ctoae. 


Dytton 






PaL 








Fine. 


Afisebeth - 






P. 3. 








Pat 


Northampton 






H.W.433. 


Northampton 






F<Bd.3S7. 


Northampton 






H.W.434. 


Northampton 






Feed. 268. 








Close. 








Pat. 








Vase. 








Pat 








M.W.434. 


Northampton 






PaL 


Leghton ■ 






P.S. 


BerkhampBtead 






F<Bd. 3B8. 








Gloae 








Pat 


Langley - 






Clo». 


Winlair 








Fineu 


Langley 








Pat 


Windaor 








Koe. 


Langley 








F(Bd.388. 


Northampton 






F<Bd.3Sa. 


Langley 








Pat 










F<Bd.259. 










Pat 


Windsor 








Feed. 389. 


Windsor 








P.S. 


Wiadeor 








fine. 


Windsor 








F<ed.35ll. 


mndsor 








ClOBC, 


Windsor 






Pat 


1315 




Langley - 


■ Pat 


Langley 








P. W. 139. 


Laolley 








PaL 


Langley 








H.W.43e. 


I^glay 








Pat 


Langley 








P.S. 


Langley 








M. W. 438. 


Langley 








Scot 


Langley 








Faed.3ai. 


L^^Iey 








Close. 


UnileJ 








Lib. 


Langley 








P. W. 140. 


Langley 








M. W. 438. 


Langley 








Close. 








Pat 








Close. 








Fine. 








Fmd.261. 


Westminster 






Pat 


Wettminetar 






Pat 


Weatminaler 






Ub. 








Pat 


Sbene 






PaL 








Close. 


WestmiiiBter 






Pat 


Weatmineter 






Fine. 


WestminBter 






Pat 


Wesuninstf 


r 






M. W. 437. 



y Google 



AN ITINERARY OP EDWARD THE SECOND. 









Bat Pul. 307. 






as WaitminstM 






Fine. 


P.W.lBl,M.W.44a. 


Mar. 










Fine. 








¥me. 




Bot. Pari. 890 








M. W. 437. 


4,3 Westminster 


M. W. 448. 








M. w. *3a. 


6 Westminster 


M. W. 449. 








P. W. 149. 


7 Westminster 


Close. 








Fu«d.3fla. 


8 Westminster 


PM. 








PaC 


10 Thnnderslj 


M. W. 449. 








Fme. 


11 TbDuderlj 


Close. 


13,14 WMtmiDsMr 






M.W.439.BDt.Parl. 


IS Thnnderlr 


IJb. 


IB WeBtminstor 






U. W. 43», [2e& 


13 Thanderly 


Close. 


10 WestminstM 






Close. 


14 Thunderly 


M.W.4S0,RotParl. 








Pat. 


16 Thanderly 


Kne. [335. 








Kno. 


IT. 18 Thnnderlj 


U. W. 490. 


ID WtudsoT ■ 






Close. 


18 Thnnderly 


Close. 


30 Windsor 








Bine. 


30 Tbunderly 


M. W. 450. 


31 Windtor 








PM. 


81,33 Thtmderly 


Close. 


88 Windsor 








M.W.M1. 


23,34 Thnnderly 


Fine. 


34 Windwr 








Close. 


36 Thnnderly 


Close. 


as Windsor 








Vssc. 




Fine. 


28 Windsor 








M. W. «1. 


38 WestmiDSter 


M. W.4B0. 


27 Westminste 


T 






FoBd. 206. 


89 Westminster 


M.W.401. 


36 Windsor 








Fine. 


30 Westminster 


Rot Pari. 334. 


30 Windsor 








Close. 


31 Westminster 


Pat. 


30.31 Windsor 








P.S. 


Jiau 




Apr. 










1 Westminster 


FcBd.a68. 


1 Wind*)! 








H.EJ!61^.W,443. 




F<Bd.a»9. 


3A Windsor 








Kne. 




M.W.461,RoLpsrl 


Windsor 








Close. 




F<nd. 300. [347 


6 Windsor 








Lib. 


3 Tbnnderiy 


Lib. 


7 Windsor 








Pat. 


6,7 Thonderiy 


Pat. 


a WindKir 








M. W. 443- 


8 Thnnderly 


M.W.4S3. 


» Windsor 








Fioe. 


10 Favershun 


Close. 


10 Windsor 








Feed. 360. 


11 Ctnterbnrj 


M. W. 103. 


11 Windsor 








Fine. 


13 Craterbniy 


Close. 


13 Windsor 








M. W. 443. 


13 Ashford - 


Fine. 


13-14 Windsor 








M. W. 413. 


14 Thnnderly 


Close. 


13 Windsor 








Fine. 


IB Thuadetlj 


Lib. 








M. W. 444. 


IT Csnterbniy 


Fine. 








Fosd.a6fl. 


18 Ssltwood - 


M.W.433JtoLPMl 








H.W.441. 


10 Sftltwood - 


Close. [337 


31 WeBtroinsWr 






Scot. 


30 Sandwich uid CanteTbnrj 


M. W. 433, PaL 








M. W. 44S. 




Close. 


33 Wastminstar 






Close. 


83 Tbunderly 


Fine. 


34, 3S Westmisster 






M.w.«e. 


SB Thnnderly 


M. W. 433. 


36 Westminslar 






Soot. 


36 Thnnderly 


Veeo. 


37 Westminster 






Close. 


30 Ssltwood . 


Close. 








M. W. 447 


30 Westminster' - 


M. W. 454. 










Close. 







9 EDWABD II. 



/Ufa 

1 Westminster 

3 Weetminsler 

3 Westminster 

4 Westminsta 
3, S Westminster 

7 Westminster 

S,9 Westminster 

10 Westminster 

11-19 Westminster 

14 Westminster 

15 Langley 

16 Westminster 
IT luiglsy - 
18 langley - 
80 Langley - 

93-30 Imgley - 

37 Langley - 



Close. 
Feed. 371. 
H.W. 454. 

Close. 



I-O I^ngley 

6 I^ngley 

7 Langley 

8 LengltT 

10 Langley 

11 St Albans 

12 lADgley 

14 Wobnm 

15 Newport Pagnel 

16 Newport Pagnel 
]7,1B NoruLsntpton 

19 Northampton 

80 Nortbampton 
■ Job* 3a Bsrwlck upon Tw 



y Google 



AN ITINEEABY OF EDWAED THE SBCOND. 





P.S. 


38 Clipstone 








F<Bd.a80. 


■22 Bookingham 


Pat. 


35,38 Clipstone - 






Pat 


23 Market O«rton - 


Pat. 


37 Kottingham 






Vaso. 




Pat 


38 Clipstone ■ 






Pat 


30 Soraarton - 


Pat. 


30 Clipstone ■ 






P.S. 


a8,SU Lineoln - 


Pat. 


Dtc. 








80 IJDOoln - 


M. W. 467. 


1 King'a CUpatone 






M. E. 490. 


31 Linooln - 


Pat. 


8-i CUpstone - 






Pat 


Stpu 




6 Clipstone - 






Fad. 981. 


1 linooln - 


M. W. 408. 


e.lO Clipstone - 






Pat 


3 lincoln ■ 


Pat. 


13 Clipatono - 






Pat 




Vaso. 


13 Doneaater 






Pat 


& Stikeswold 


Pat. 








Close. 


e Lermitoire 


P.S. 


in Don caster 






P. W. 151. 


7 Lermibuie tnd Spalding ■ 


Pat., Close. 


1748 DoncBster 






M. W. 460. 




Pat. 


10,ao Doncasler, CUpstone 




F<Bd. 3Sa, Pat 


10 Bnuine - 


Fine. 


21 Wjraop - 






P.S. 


14 Thomer ■ 


Pat. 


23 Wirksop - 






Chart 




Pat. 


33-aO Clipstone - 






Pat 


Ifl BamBST - 


Pmd. 377. 


37 Clipatone - 






P. W. 160. 


le Dittoo . 


M. E. 117. 


28 Clipatone - 






Pat 


19 Ditton - 


Pat. 








H. E. 519, Close. 


20 Ditton 


Cloae. 


30 Clipatone - 






F«d.28a. 


91 DitUm . 


Pat. 


31 Clipatone - 






Close. 


23 Ditton 


Close. 






21 Ditton 


M. E. 668. 


1316 




29 BamuveU • 


Pat. 


Jm. 




ae York 


M. E. 572. 


1-4 Clipetone . 


- Pat 


a7,a8 Ditton 


Pat. 


Clipstone 








Fine. 


29.30 Ditton . 


Close. 


e-8 Clipstone 








Pat 


Oct. 




9 Clipstone 








lib. 


1,2 Ditton 


PaL 


10 Clipatone 








Fine. 




Pal. 


11-13 Clipstone 








Pat 


4 Ditton 


Pat. 


14 Clipstone 








P. W. 156. 


6 York 


F<Dd. 279. 


15,16 Clipstone 








Pat 


6 WaJsingham 


Pat. 


17 CUpatone 








P. W. 168. 


7 Walsingham 


Cloae. 


18 CUpatone 








Pat 


8 Leon 


P. W. 162. 


30 Clipstone 








Cloae. 


» DittoQ 


PaL 


92.35 Clipstone 








Pat 


10 Ditton 


Chart. 


2e Unskham 








Close. 


U Ditton 


Close. 


97-30 Lincoln 








Pat. 


13 Ditton 


Pat. 


31 Linooln 








Cloaa. 


IS Ditton 


M. E. 403. 


Ftb. 












Pai. 


1-0 lineoln 








Pat 


IB Ditton and CBmbndgo - 


Close. 


8 Lincoln 








M. E. 500. 


le Empington 


P. W. 153. 


7 Linooln 








M.W. 461. 


IT Impington and ConrngtOD 


Close. 


8 Lincoln 








F(Bd. ass. 


18 Huntingdon 


Pat 


a Linooln 








Pat 


10,30 Sautre 


Pat 


10 Lincoln 








H. w. 4«n. 


31 Ditton 


Soot. 


11,12 Lincoln 








M. W. 161. 




Pat 


13 Lincoln 








Feed. 288. 




Pat 


14 LlDCOlD 








M. E. 481. 




Scot 










Pat. 


ao,a7 stwoford . 


Pat 


16 Lincoln 








P. W. 168. 




Pat. 


17 Lincoln 








Close. 


29 ClipBtona - 


Cloae. 


18 Lincoln 








Pat 


30 Newate&d in Shirwood 


Close. 


19 Lincoln 








Close. 


31 ClipBtone ■ 


Pat 


30 Lincoln 








P. W. 157. 


Nov. 




91 Lincoln 








Pat. 


1 Eing'8 ClipBtone - 


M. W. 450. 


22 Lincoln 








F(Ed.3«e. 


3 King's Clipatone - 


H. E. Bie. 


23 Lincoln 








P. W. IBS. 


a Clipatone - 


Pat. 


94 Lincoln 








Pat. 


4 Clipstone - 


F(Bd. 280. 


26 Lincoln 








Close. 


5.7 Clipstone - 


Pat 


2fl Linooln 








M. W. 464. 


8 King's Clipatone - 


Pat 


87 Clipstone 








Pat 


9 Clipstone - 


Fad. 280. 






M. W. 464, Pat. 


10 King's Clipstone - 


M. E. 010. 


Mar. 






11 ClipstoDe - 


Close. 


1-3 Clipstone - 




Pat 


13 King's Clipstone - 


M. E. 617. 


4 Clipstone 








Close. 


13-18 Clipstone - 


Pat 


6,6 CUpatone 








Firm. Bnr. 0, 9B, 


19 Clipstone - 


Close. 


7 Clipstone 








Pat 


20 CUpatoue - 


Fat 


8 Clipstone 








P. W. IBO. 



y Google 



AN ITINEBABY OF EDWAED THE SECOND. 



Oiiitm. . 


. BoLP. 866. 


Mat, 










- Pat. 


l-e WesUninstM . - - Pat 


CtipstoDe ■ 


- Fat. 


7 Wettmiasier 




- M.E.6ie. 


0^Z» - 


- Cl0S«L 


8-11 Westminster 




- Pat 


CUpstoM ■ 


- P.W. 188. 


13 Wemminster 




- M.W.4e6. 




P»t., CI0S8. 


18,11 Westminster 




Pat. 


OtbsIOD - 


Feed. 988. 






- Fad. 890. 


HamaUp - 


Pst. 






- Pat 


HaiDB]»p - 


P. 3. 


20 WalLhun - 




P. W. 168. 


Leighton Bozud ■ 


F.Bd.38e. 






Close. 


Luigloj - 


PU. 


23 Walodoa - 




Pat 


LiSlaJ . 


P. S. 


21 Wastminster and Waledon 




Pat. 


L..I1.J . 


Closa. 


86 Thele 




Fat 


L.»gl.j - 


M. W. MS. 


86 Westminster 




Pat 


Lmcte; . 


Pat. 






M. W. 468. 


L««lW ■ 


P.S. 






Pat 
P.W.16]. 


I^ngley - 


Pat. 






M. W. 470. 


taito; . 


Cloao. 








Wl^ ■ 


Pat. 


1 Westminster 




Pet 


L«ii.; - 


FilH. 


2 Weatminsler 




Close. 


^SlS : ; : 


Pat. 


8 Hadlej - 




Pat 


Pat 


6 Thnndeilej', Hwlle; 




Fat 


Windsor, Langle; - 


Feed. see. 


7 Hndlej - 




Close. 


Wmtminttei, L« N«jte - 


FatiClote. 


n Thandedej 




P. W. 164. 




Pat. 






Fat 




Close. 






M. W. 470. 


We«tam8ter 


Fat. 


16-80 WesiminBter 




Pat 


WMlmiiiater 


H. E. US. 


8] HortlakB - 




Hot. P. 36S. 


WeBtminBter 


Fmd. 


33 Wertminater 




M. E. 081. 


WesUniniter 


M. E. 013. 






Pat. 


WB8tlQUl»t«r 


Close. 


20 Westminster 




P. W. 198. 




Fad. 888. 


96 Westminster 




M. W. 469. 




Pal. 






P. W. 161. 




PaL 






M.W.471. 










10 EDW 


ARD II. 

e Unooln ... - F. W.ie7. 


WestnunstM 


Pat 


B Ibcoln 






Pat 


Windsor - 


Pat 


10-12 Sorobj 






Pat 


WMtminrter, Winder - 


H. W. 471, PaL 


16,17 York 






Pat. 


Windsor - 


Pat. 


le York 






Fine. 




Pat. 


10 York 






Dngd. V. iU. 


Windsor - 


Fioa. 


80 York 






M. W. 476. 


Windsor • 


SooL 


31-88 York 






Pat. 


Windsor - 


Pat. 


•U York 






Fold. 386. 


Windsor ■ 


M. K. 618. 


36 York 






U. W. 4TB. 


Windsor, Wastminster 


Fioa. 


20-38 Yco'k 






Pat 




Pat. 


89 Woaingtoa 




Pat 


Wsstminster 


F<Bd.3a9. 


80 Tadeaater 




Pat 


Wsstminater 


Pat. 


81 York 




Close. 


WestmiDsWr 


F(ad.3aS. 


Btpt. 








Fat. 


1 ToA - 




Pat 




Pat 


2^ York 






M.W.480. 




Pat 


4 Yorii 






M. W. 481. 


Elthun • 


Pat 


6 York 






Close. 


Wostmiiwter 


Pat. 


6 BB»eriej 






P.S. 


Elthu) ■ 


Pat 


7 Beyerlej 






U. W.4S1. 


WestminMer 


Pat 


S Bererle; 






Pat 


Thundring 


Pat 


e Be*erle7 






Fmd. 396. 


Cljve 


Hue. 


10 Bererlejr 






Pat 


Melohebnm 


Pat 


13 BBTerler 
14,16 Bererl^ 






Fat 

M. W. 433. 




CloM. 


16 York 






FtDd.397. 


Strelton - 


Pat 


18,19 York 






Pat 


Strettoo,WjLeleBfori - 


ClOMk 


30 Yoii 






M. W. 489. 


Lincoln - 


M.W.4T8. [473 
P. W. 167, 1£ W. 


31.94 York 






Pat 


Ijncoln - 


86 York 






P. W. 170. 


Linooln . 


H.W.470. 


36 Yorii 






F<Bd.3e7. 


linooln ■ 


Pat 


37,98 York 






Pat 



y Google 



AN ITINERARY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 



York 




York 




York 




York 




York 




York 




York 




York 




York,OirartOD,JtCUno 


York 






Crerko - 


Crejko 




Creke 




Ctajke 




Crajke 




Nawboro 






Newbnrgh 


Newboro - 


Newborongh 


Newborongh 


York and N«wboro 


Aldewerk - 


York 




York 




York 




York 




York 




York 




York 




York 




York 




Cawood 




York 




Snroby 




Sarobj 








Scrobj 




Scroby 




Scrobj 




Scrobj 




Scroby 




ClipBtone 




Saroby 








Clipstone a 


nd Scroby 


ClipBtone 




Oipstono 




Clipitone 




ClipBtone 




Clipsuae 




CUpatone 




ClipBtone 




Nottingham 






Not^ghara 


Nottingbac 





Jon ^^^^■ 

1-3 GlipBtoD • 

i CLpatone and Notlinghi 

6 ClipBtone - 

e-8 ClipBtone - 

I) Clipatone - 



10 


Clipatone 




- Find. 311. 


11 


Clipstono 




- P. 8. 


12 


Clipatone 




- F(Bd.311. 


13 


Clipatone 




- Pat. 


11 


Clipatone 




- Fine. 


16 


Clipatone 




- Pat. 


IS 


Clipatone 




- F<Bd.3ia. 


17 


Nottingham 


- Pat. 


18 




- Find. 313. 


19 




erwortb - Feed. 318. 


80 


Daventry and Lag 


tboro - Ffled.ai3,Pat. 


81 


Daventr? - 


- Kne. 


as 


Dayentry - 


- Pat 


23 


Canon ABhby 


- Pal. 


2i 


BraokUy and Woo( 


laUwk - - Pat. 


2S 


Ardele 


- PaL 


88,27 


Woodatock 


- Pat. 






Dgdon - • Pat. 


89 


Wallingford 


- PftL 


30 


Crokeham 


- M.E.737. 


31 


Andeuro - 


- F<Bd.313. 


Feb. 








Andover and Glue 


odon - - Cloce, Pat. 


S-4 


Clarendon 


- Pal. 


B 


Clarendon 


- Close. 


fl 


Clarendon 


. P.3. 


7-11 


Clarendon 


- Pat. 


13 


Clarendon* 


- Feed. 314. 


13 


IJnooln and Clare 


kdoD - - F(Bd.3l4,Pat. 


14-18 


Clarendon 


- Pal. 


17 


Clarendon 


- F(»d.31&. 


18.10 


Clarendon 


- Pat 


20 


Clarendon 


- Fffld.315. 


SI 


aarendon 


- P. 8. 


38 


Clarendon 


. Pat 


3S 


Clarendon 


- F<Ed.316. 


34-88 


Clarendon 


- Pat 


Jlfar. 






1-3 


Clarendon 


- Pat. 


&,s 




- Pat 


7 


Clarendon 


- Dngd.».v.405 


8-11 


aarendon 


- Pat 


12 


Clarendon and Wi 


obealar - F»d.316,Pat 


13 


Winchester 


- Pat 


u,ia 


Winton - 


- Pat 


la 


Clarendon A Hotte 




17 


Clarendon 


- Fine. 


18-84 


Clarendon 


- Pat 


sa 


Clarendon 


- Fffld.318. 


28 


Clarendon 


- Pat 


87 


Clarendon 


- F09d.319. 


88 


Clarendont 


- F(Bd.318. 


SB 


Clarendon 


- Pat 


30 


London, Clarendon 


- F<Bd.321,Pat 


91 


Clarendon 


- Pat 


Apr. 






1 


Clarendon 


- Pat 


3 


Clarendon 


- Close. 


3 


Clarendon 


- Fine. 


4 


Clarendon 


- Fffid.884. 


0,B 


Clarendon 


- Pat 


7 


Clarendon 


- Fc6d.38S. 


8-13 


Clarendon 


- Pat 


18 


Crokbam - 


- Pat 


14 


Windaor and Grok 


am - - Pat. 


lfi,16 


Westminatar 


- Pat 


17 


Windsor - 


- Pat 


18-8S 




. Pat 


83 




- Fwd.3S7. 


94 


Westminetet 


- Pat 



. " DUoni" apod ClinadWL 



y Google 



AN ITINERAKY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 



as Wmdgor 






Close. 


37 Westminster 


M. E. 673. 


SO mndsor - 




Pat. 


36 Westminsler 


FtBd.3S3. 






Fted. 337, Pat 




Pat 


S8 Windsor - 




V<Bi.m. 




M. E. 08S. 


3g Windsor . 




Rne. 


31 WeBlmbster 


Fat 


SO WindBOr - 




Pat. 


Jims 




May 






1 Westminster 


M.E. 190-108? 


1.6 WindBor - 




Pat 


3-7 Westminster 


Pat 


6 WindsOT - 




Fc9d. 338. 


8 Westminster 


F(Bd.333. 


7 Windsor - 




Pat. 


9,10 Westminster 


Pat. 


8 WiDdtror - 




F<Bd. sag. 




Feed. 333. 


Windsor ■ 




Pat. 




Fied. 333. 


10 Windsor - 




Ffed. aas. 




F<Bd.331. 


ll-ia Windsor - 




Pat 


14. le Westminster 


Pat 


le Windsor - 




Close. 


17 WestmioRter 


Feed. 334. 


IT Westminster and Islswortl 


h 


Pat. 


18 Paddington and Westminster 


M. E. 686. Pat 


18,19 WeBtminstar 




Pat. 




Fmd. 333, Pat 


90 WestminMar 




Feed. 830. 


ai Aylesbtwy - 


Fine. 






Pat. 


aa,a3 Thame . 


Pat 






FiBd.330. 


ae,ae Woodstock 


Pat 






Pat. 


37 Woodstock 


Fine. 


ac WMtminster - - Fted. 831. 


28.30 Woodstock 


Pat. 


11 EDWARD II. 




July 


aa.aa York 


Pat. 


1 Braokle;, Woodstock - - Pat., Ftsd. 334. 


34 York 


Frad.313. 


a Breoldey - 




P. S. 


35 York 


Pat 






Foed. 338. 


aa York 


FoBd.843. 






Pat. 


a7.30 York 


Pat 


6 Nortbampton 




FcBd. 3311. 


Oct. 




T NorthBinpton 




P. 3. 


1 Cwsthorp and Tadeaster - 


Pat 


8 Buikebj - 




Pat 


3 Doocaster and Tjkbnll ■ 


Pat 


9 Snllebj - 




Close. 


i Tykhnll - 


Pat 


10 Wiijngston 




Vaso. 


B Bettord - 


Pat 


11, la Leicester - 




Pat 


a SaMon in ihe C^jr, Sntton upoi 




13 Leicester - 




FfEd,33T. 


Trent, Newark - 


Fmd. 343, Pat. 


U Laioester Md Longhhoro 




Pat. 


7 Newark and Orantham - 


Pat 


16 Kegirorth . 




Pat 


8 Corbj and SUtmford 


F(Bd. 344, Pat 






Feed. 837. 


11 Somerton - 


Pat 


17,18 Mottingham 




Pat 


la Mollesworth 


Fine. 






Pat 




Pat. 


30-28 Nottinghua 




tiEd. 838. . 


16 Walibam - 


Food. 344. 


ag,30 Nottingbam 




Pat 


16,17 Westminster 


Pat 


J«j. 








Feed. 344. 






Pat 




Pat 






Feed. 339. 


31 Weatminster 


Close. 






Pat 




Pat. 






Fted. 339. 




F<Bd.844. 


8 8heIford - 




Pat 


39-31 Westminster 


Pst 


9 Hewarli 




Fat 


Nob. 




10-12 Somerton - 




Pat 


1 Westminster 


Pat. 


IS Somerton - 




Chart. 


3,3 Westminster 


F<Bd.34&. 






Pat 




Fted. 346, 347. 


IB IJncoln . 




Close. 


6 Windsor . 


Pat. 


ao Lincoln - 




Pat 


7 Westminster 


Pat 


31 lineoln - 




F<Ed.3«). 


8 Windsor . 


P(Gd. 347. 


2S*) Linooln - 




Pat 


9,10 Windsor - 


Pat. 


31 Cammeringbam ■ 




P. 3. 


11 Windsor - 


Fted. 348. 


Ssft. 






13-14 WindBor - 


Pat. 


I Uneoln - 




Close. 


19 Windsor . 


Find. 348. 


a Barton npoD Hnrnber 




Pat. 




Pat. 


i-O York 




Pat 




Fad. 318. 


10 York 






F(Bd.MO. 




Pat 


11,13 York 






Pat. 


32 Westminster 


F(Bd. 340. 


13 York 






F<Bd.343. 


93 WiodBor . 


Fmd. 349. 


14,16 York 






Pat 


34 Windsor - 


Pat. 


16 York 






F<ed.313. 


as Windsor - 


Vase. 


17 York 






Close. 


30-30 Windsor - 


Pat 


IB, 18 York 






Pat 


Dee. 




20 York 






F(Bd.R4a. 


1 Windsor - 


Feed. 360. 


ai York 






Fine. 


a-D Windsor - 


Pat. 



y Google 



AN ITINERAEY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 



e Whubor 






■ Tasd.dOO. 


23 Hadler - 


- Pat. 


T-0 Windaor 






■ PM. 


24 H»dlej - 


Close. 


10 WiDdsor 






- F(ed.860. 


35 CIsre 


Close. 


11-16 WiDdsor 






. Pat. 


26 Clara 


Pat 


IS-aO WindsOT 






. PaL 


97,aB Hadlej - 


P»t 


21 Windwr 






- Close. 


ao Hadlej - 


Hne. 


39 WindBor 






- Feed. 302. 


30 Hadler and Clare, Tbonderly 


Fmd.SaB- 


88 WindEor 






- P.B. 


31 Hsdlej - 


Pat 






• Pat. 


Apr. 




27 WMUBiutar 




F<Bd. 3E>2. 


1 Hadlar - 


Pat 






- Close. 




- Pat 


30 WindMir - 




■ dOM. 


4 Westminster and Hortlake 


PaL 






6 Mortlake - 


P. 8. 


131S 




e MortUke - 


Pat 


Jan. 


. 


7,8 Mortlake - 


Feed. 889. 


1,8 Windsor - 


- Feed. 368. 


a Mortlake - 


F<Bd.3«0. 


4.6 Windsor - 




■ Pat 


10 Shene »od Mortlake 


Pat 


6,7 Weatttintter 




. PaL 


11 Byfleet and Shene 


Pat 






. Feed. 354. 


12 Mortlake - 


P*t 






- Close. 


13 Mortlake - 


Feed. 360. 


10 Wbd»or - 




- F(Bd.SU. 


14 Windsor - 


CloM. 


12-IT Windsor 






PaL 


15-17 Windsor - 


Fat 


18 Windsor 






Close. 


18 Windsor - 


Feed. 360. 


SO Windur 






Pat. 


19,30 Windsor - 


PaL 


21 Windsor 






Feed. 364. 


21 Windsor . 


Close. 


82,23 Windsor 






- Pat. 


82 Windsor - 


Tauj. 






Pat. 


33-26 WallinKrord 


Pat 


Ua Windsor - 




Feed. 355. 


27 Wallingford 


Feed. 360. 


29 WMtminster 




Fine. 


28 Windsor - 


Feed. 380. 






Fat. 


80 Wallingford 


Close. 


F»b. 






Jfa« 

1 Wallingford and WMtohoroh 








Pat. 


Pat. 


3,3 Windsor 






Fat. 


8.4 Whitohnroh 


Pat 


4 Windsor 






F<ed.86e. 


e.ia Windsor - 


Pat 


B Windsor 






Pat. 


13 Windsor - 


dose. 


6 Windsor 






F(Bd.3U. 




PaL 


7 Windsor 






Pat. 


15-17 Weslminster 


Fat 


a Windsor 






F<Bd.3ae. 


18 Westminster 


F(Bd.3e8. 


9.14 Windsor 






Fat. 


19-39 Westminster 


Pat 


15 SbMn 






PaL 


30 Westminster 


Fad. 363. 


le Sheen 






Fmd. BSe. 




P.S. 


IT-IB Shene 






Fat. 


JOM 




20 Sheen and irudtor 




PaL 


1 Westminster 


Fmd.364. 


31 Sennington 




Cloa«. 


2-4 Westminster 


PaL 


22 Windsor - 




PaL 




F(ed.9e4. 


23,24 Kenningtoo 




PftL 




PsL 


30 Bjfleto ■ 




FsL 




Fcad.364. 


Se Windsor and Sheon 




PaL 




F<Bd.365. 






PbL 




PaL 


Mar. 








M.E.STa. 


1 Westminster 




Find. 367. 


11,13 Westminster 


Fat 


8,3 Westminster 




PaL 




Pat 


4 Westmintter 




Feed. 357. 




Fmd. 365, 366. 






PaL 


17 Fnlmere - 


P.S. 






PaL 




Pat 


8 Bjfleet - 




F»L 


30 Fnlmers ■ 


PaL 


11 Byfleet 




Closfc 




PaL 


12 WeMiniiwter 




PaL 


32 Woodstock 


F«4.8ae. 


13 Westminster 




Qoae. 


33 Woodstotk 


PaL 






PaL 


94 Woodstook 


Feed. 308. 






F<nd.308. 


85,86 Woodstook 


Pat 






PaL 


28 Woodstock 


PaL 




89 Branklejr - 


Pat 


18 EDW 


ARD II. 




JbV 


11 Northampton 


Fad. 367. 




la Northampton 


Taso. 






F<Bd.3«7. 




Feed. 367. 


S,6 Northampton 




PaL 


14 NorthEunpton 


Taso. 


T NorthKinplOD 




P.S. 




Fmd.368. 


6-10 NorthKDplo 


o 




Pit 


17^8 Korthuaplon 


Fat 



y Google 



AN ITINERARY OF EDWAKD THE SECOND. 



19 


Northwnptoa 


SO 


North unpton 


ai 


Northampton 


sa 


NorthamptOD 
WoodskKk 


93 


24-38 


Woodstock 


S7 


Woodsboclc 


as 




30 


NorthHoptoo 


30.31 


NorthEUBpton 


dug. 




1,2 


NorthuLptoD 


3 


NortfaamptoQ 


6 


Leicester - 







7 




8 


Leek 


D 


Leek 


10 


Leek : 


11 




U 




13 


Nottinglum 


U,I5 


NottiDgham 


1«,1T 


Nottmgham 


19 


ClipBtone - 


ao 


Clipstone - 


82,23 


Nottingham 


04-26 




a7,s« 


ClipttoDA - 


20 


CUpHtone ■ 


apt 




1-6 


Glipatone - 


7 


CUutoae . 


8 


Clipstone . 





Clipstone - 


10 


Clipstone - 


11 


Clipstone - 


18 


Clipstone - 


13 


Clipstone . 


U.1B 


Clipstone - 


16 


Bljth 


20 


York 


21 


York 


2a, 23 


Yotk 


24,25 


York 


86-29 


York 


29 


York 


SO 


York 


Oct. 




1 


York 


a-4 


York 


s 


York 


6 


York 


7 


York 


8,8 


York 


10 


Brastwiok 


11 


WjDsete ■ 


13 


Brastwiok ■ 


14 


BniEtiriok ■ 


15 


Brastwiok ■ 


16 




17 




IS 


York 


10 


SutdfaaUe ■ 


30 


York 


29 


York 


23 


York 


24^23 


York 


2tt 


York 


87 


York 


38-31 


York 



Chart. 


Nov. 




F(Bd.aee. 


1 


York 


Close. 


2 


York 


Pat. 


3 


York 


Close. 




York 


Pal. 


6-10 


York 


Vmb. 


11,13 


York 


Vaso. 


13, U 


York 


F<Bd. 369. 


15 


York 


Pat. 


le 


York 




17 


York 


PaL 


18 


York 


F<Ed. 389. 


19 


YoA 


Pat. 


ao 


York 


Vase. 


21 


York 


Pal. 


32.24 


York 


VaM. 


25 


York 


Pat. 


26 


York 


Vaao. 


27 


York 


VftSO. 


88,29 


York 


F<Bd.3T0. 


SO 


York 


Va»o. 


Die. 




Pat 


1 


York 


Vase. 


2 


York 


F<Ed. 871. 


3 


York 


Vase. 




York 


Pat. 


5 


York 


F»d. 371.872, 873. 


8 


York 


Pat. 


7 


YoA 


Close. 


8 


York 




9 


York 


Pat. 


10 


York 


Close. 


11 


York 


Pat 


19 


York 


Close. 


13 


York 


FcBd.3T3. 


14 


York 


Pine. 


19 


York 


Pat. 


16 


York 


Close. 


17 


York 


Pat. 


18,19 


York 


Pat 


30 


York 


Pat 


21 


York 


V«io. 


94 


Beverley 


Pat 


2B 


Beverlej 


Vbbc. 


28 


Beierlejr 


Pat 


29 


Beverley 


Close. 
Pat 


30,31 


Baveiley 


Vase 


Jan. 




Pat' 


1 


Bevwley 


Fad. 374. 


9 


Bevfriey 


Vaso. 


8 


Beverley 


Pal. 


4 


Beverley 


Close. 


8 


Beverley 


Pat 


8 




Pat 




Beverley 


Close. 


9 


York 


H.E.(iSO. 


10,11 


York 


Vaap. 


la 


York 


Pat 


13 


York 


Close. 


14 


York 


Close. 


16 


York 


Rne. 


16 


York 


Pat 


17 


York 


F<Bd. 874. 


18 


York 


Tasc 


80 


York 


Pat 


31 


York 


Fted. 375. 


83 


York 


Vase. 


93 


York 


Pat 


94 


York 




25 


York 



FtBd.380. 
M. E, S63. 
Taso. 
Fffid.880. 



Vaso. 
Taso. 
Close. 



F<£d.385. 

Vase. 

Tase. 

Pat 

Vase. 

Fine. 

Close. 

Feed. 385. 



y Google 



AN ITINERARY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 



2fl 


York 


87 


York 


28 


York 


Ftb. 




1 


York 


a^ 


York 


4,6 


York 


8,7 


York 


e 


York 


B,10 


York 


n 


York 


12-U 


YoA 


10 


York 


IS 


Yoric 


i7je 


Ywk 


20 


York 


22-21 


York 


36 


York 


27 


YoA 


28 


York 


Mar. 




1 


York 


8.8 


York 


4-R 


YoA 


8 


York 


W 


YoA 


n 


York 


19 


York 


13 


YoA 


U 


York 


16 


York 


18,1' 


York 


18 


York 


19 


York 


SO 


York 


22 


YoA 


93,24 


York 


96,90 


YoA 




YoA 




York 


99-31 


YoA 


Apr. 






York 




YoA 




York 




York 




YoA 




Eirkham ■ 




Kirkham 


8 


KiikhMii 


"\ 


YoA 


2-4 


York 


6 


York 


e 


York 


6-10 


York 


11 


York 


19 


York 


13,U 


York 


]e,i7 


York 


18 


York 


19.91 


York 


21 


York 


97 


Durhuu 


. 28 


Durham 


99,30 


Dmrhim 


31 


ChMler 


A«g. 




, 


DdAud 


' 


NewCutle 



Vaso. 
Close. 
F<sd.SS8. 



Close. 
F(Ed. 3S9. 
Vaso. 



Fad 
Fine 
Feed 
Fat. 


389,300 
300. 


Fad 
Kne 


390. 


Pit. 

FtBd 


390. 



95,23 
28-30 
JUay 



Eirkham 

ITirhliatn 

Eirkbam 

YoA 

York 

York 

York 

York 

YoA 

York 

York 

York 

York 

YoA 

YoA 
York 
York 
York 
YoA 
York 
York 
YoA 
York 
York 
York 
York 
York 
York 
YoA 

YoA 

York 

York 

YoA 

York 

York 

YoA 

York 

YoA 

Bnifigeford and 1 

BMomaner 

York 

Briffurord 

York 

York 

York 

York 

YoA 



EDWARD II. 

I „ I Darham - 

"1 NawCasUeonT. . 



* 


Gosford and Not CaiUe ■ 


- Pat. 


a 


aoBford and NoweasUe - 


. Pat. 


6 


Gosford - 


■ Close. 


7 


Gorford, York . 


■ B.S.,Ck)M 


8 


Oorford - 


■ Pat. 





Ooaford - 


- P.S. 


10,13 


Gosford - 


- Pat. 


14 


Hertford Brigge and AnebeU 


• Pat. 


16 


Gosford and Newbiggins ■ 


- Pat 


16 


Newbigging 


- Pat. 


17 


Aoebell and Hewbigffiiig - 


. Pat 


18 




- Pat 


91,92 


Fonham . 


- Pat 


34,96 


Fenham - 


■ Pat. 


26 


Fenham . 


■ ClOM. 



• Jaiu H. 1 Pifm Birg. inataad or 



y Google 



AN ITINERARY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 



KTnbrighun in SootlkjBozbargb 
In obEridione Tills Berewim lapi 

IVedBin - 
Id obsessione BereTid 
Id obBawione tUIk Boreiriri 

Twedftin 
In obsessioae villo 



D Berewidi 






Belford 
Belford 

KewMSlle on T. 
Newcaslla tm T. 
Newoutle on I. 
NewcMtle on T. 
NewcMtle on T. 
DurhuD ■ 

York 

Newboro 

York 

YoA 

York 

YoA 
' York 
I York 
: York 
i York 
■ York 
I York 
I York 

York 

i York 
I York 

York 

York 
I GMQsboro 
I York 

Sbelford 
I YcffkandE 
: Newark 
' VemA 
' York 
: Newark 

Nawuk 
I York 

I YoA 

, YoA 

I York 

York 

I York 

I Bnutw7k - 

I BroBtwyk - 

I firvstwjk ■ 

Bmstink - 

I York 

. York 

I York 

' York 

L YoA 



1-4 YoA 

6 York 

6-12 York 

13 KniTMboro 



IB 




Pat 


le 


KnMesboro «id York 


Pat. 


19 


York 


Close. 


ao.80 


York 


Pat. 


Ftb. 






1 


Bljthe and Clipatone 


Pat 


3,3 


CUpatone - 


Pat 


5 


Nottiogham 


Clow. 







Chart. 


T 


Uioester . 


P.S. 


11 


Thame - 


Chart 


la 


MiasiDgden 


Pat 


14 


I*Dgloy . 


Close. ~ 


16 


-Westminater 


Pat 


IS 


Weslminstar 


M. E. 673. 


19,30 


WostminBtar 


Pat 


31 




P.S. 


aa-aa 




Pat 


as 


Eltbam 


Pat 


Uar. 






1 


Northfleet 


Pat 


s 


ElttaiD • 


P.S. 


8.4 


Oapring - 


Close. 





Caotarbarr 


Chart 


6-3 


Caoterborr 


Pat 


B 


Starry 


Pat. 


10 


Stnrry 


P.S. 


11 


Wingham - 


Pat 


13-16 




Pat 


16 


Stnrrj 


Close. 


IS 


StnrrJ - 


Close. 


■ 18 


Stony 


P.S. 


20 


Stnny - 


Pat 


21 


Boeheater 


Pat. 


33-29 


Elthun - 


Pat 


31 


Elibam ■ 


Close. 


.ipr. 






1 


Eltbam ■ 


Pat. 


2 


Eltbam - 


Close. 


4 


Eltham - 


Pat 





Eltbam - 


lib- 


6,7 


Eltbam - 


Pat 


e-ia 


Westminster 


Pat. 


14 


Lambeth < 


Pat. 


15 


WestmiDtler 


Pat 


10-16 


LambeUk ■ 


Fat. 


10 


Sheen 


Pat 


20 




Pat 


31 




Fine. 


3a 




Pat., Close 


28-28 


Westminster 


Pat 


Langley and Sheen 


Pat 


3-6 


langley - 


Fat 


e 


Folmere and Langley . 


Pat 


7 


Langley - - - 


lib. 


8 


Langlej - 


Pat 


9-11 


Fulmere - 


Pat 


13 




Pat 


13 


Windsor - 


Close. 


18,10 


Beading ■ 


Pat. 


20 


Odibam - 


Pat. 


21 


Odibam ■ 


Close. 


33-34 


Odiham - 


Pat 


36 


Odiham - 


Vaso. 


ae 


Odiham . 


Fine. 


37 


Odiham - 


Lib. 


as 


Odiham and Reading 


Pat. 


98 


Pirbright - 


Vase. 


31 


Cherlaey - 


Pat 



1 Westminster 



y Google 



3-6 




Pftt. 




Totenhun . 


Pat 




Danton. Walthiin 


PbL,C1om. 




UaTeriiig at Bowu 


Clow. 




DontoD 


Close. 


10 


Thnodwley, Wjkfa 


Pat., Clote 


11 


nmnderley 


Close. 


12 


WindMT ~ 


Pat 



AN ITINERARY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 



13 Canlarbory 

14 CanterbuiT 
1&,16 StaiTj 

17 Canterbur;, Wiugbam 

18 Dover* 

19 Dover 

20 Whitaand ■ 
84 CreUn 



14 EDWARD 11. 



AbbsTille - 
Bonlo^e t 

Dorer and Biahopebotm 

Stuny 

Hadley - 

Badler 

Thondmle; 

HaveriDH at Bower 

Havering at Bower 

SiratTord ■ 

WestmiDBter 

WeatmiiiBlei 

WesCmiDsler 

Slmtford ftt Bow 

StratTord at Bow 

Langle; - 

Laogley 

Langlpf 

LangUy - 

langle; - 

Langley 

Fulmere 

Wiodaor - 
I Wiodsor - 
. WioJgor . 
. Yeshtunpatead 

Windsor . 

Odibam 

Odihain 

Odihun • , 
< FolbMopton 

Crobam 
) Crook ham 



Biahopsclare 

BerghloD - 

Clare odon 

Cloreodoa 

ClareDdoa 

ClareDdon 

Clarendon 

Clarendon 

Clarendon 

Rokeboum 

Clarendon 
I Corf 
I Binindon and Corf 
I Stonrmioeter 



Taec. 
Close. 

ClOM. 



Close. 
Close. 
Cloee. 



vntftvUTlt Bn ti pi 



Canford 

CbriBloharob and Twjnham 
St. Dennis, near Soathamptoa 
St DeooiB, near Southampton 
Dorebrd - 



St Dennie^ new SontbamptoD, • 
Oodalning 

Woking ■ 

Sheen 

Weatmineter 
Weatmioster 
WesUQiDsler 

Westminster 
Weslminster 
WesUninater 
Wefltminster 
Weetminater 
Weatminnter 
Weatminster 
Westminster 
Weatminster, Tower of London 

Westminater 
Wcslminster 
Weatmioster 
Weatminster 
Westminster 



31 



Weatminster 
Westminater 
WeatmioMer 
Wastminster 
Westminsler 
Westminslei' 
Westminster 

Shene 

Talwonb - 

Sbeen 

Sbeen and Taloworth 

Sheen 
Sheen 
Windsor ■ 
Odibam 
Marlboro - 
Marlboro - 
Marlboro - 
Marlboro • 



Jan. ^^^^' 

1-3 Marlboro - 

4 La Faateme 

6,0 Marlboro - 

T Marlboro and CbilioD 



10 Ci 



Hampstead Marebil 



Ironki 






y Google 



AK ITINEKABY OF EDWAED THE SECOND. 



11 

ia,is 


Huibora ■ 


14 


WmiMot - 


17 


ThUlelirorUi 


18 




18-81 




29 




33 3S 


■Westminater 


96 




37 


WeMminelAr 


3a 


WMtmiiMter 


SS-Sl 




Ftb. 




1 




2 


Falhun - 


B,« 




7 


WaitmiDBter 


8 


Westmirntar 


0-13 


BkTsring Bt Bower 


18 


HaTaring M Bower 


15^0 


Westminster, Stratford al 


17 




18 




10 


Westminstar 


30 




31.36 


'WeatmiDstar 


36 


WBaUnmftBT 


37.28 




Mot. 




1 




3 




8 


ShwD 


i 


ShaeD 


fi,e 


Windsor - 


7 


Fnlmara - 


8 


WindBor - 


& 


Windsor . 


10 


Windsor, Fnttneie 


11 


Fnlmere - 


19 


Henley . 


13 


WJiingfoid 


U 


WtUingford 


1ft 


Wallingford 


10 


WaUingford. Abinsdon 


33 


Br7miDesaeld 


ae 


OloaBOBtar, Cbirohesdon 


9T,3S 




30 




30.31 


aioQoertar 



Taso. 
P. 3. 
Vuo. 



Pat. 

Fat. 

P. 3. 

Clow. 

Pat., Hne. 

Fina. 

Tasc, Fioa. 

Vaao. 

Pat. 

Pat. 



1 Glonoeatar 



l-IO WeatmioBter 

11 London 

13-18 WastininitOT 

90 WestmioMer 

91 Waatminslar 
39-80 WestmiDBlai 

81 



1-8 Westminater 

9 WeBtininBt«r 

10- li WestmiDSIer 

IB Tower of London 

IB- 18 Wsstaiinfltar 

90 WestminBter 

31,39 Wutminster 

S4-3S Weatminster 

as Wsatmioner 



3 


GloneeH(«r 


Pat. 


S 


St. BriBTeli 


Tasc 


I 


Si. BriaTsU 


Fat. 


8.9 




Pat. 


10 


Glouoealer 




11 


Oloneester 


Pat. 


19 


GlonoBBtor 


Vaao. 


18,11 


Gloncastar 


Pat 


16,10 


aionoeaUr 


Vaao. 


17 


WjBhangre 


Pat. 


19-93 


BriRlol - 


PaL 


3(t 




Fat. 


3S 


Devises - 


Pat. 


37 


Maiiboro - 


Cloae. 


98 


Marlboro - 


Pat. 


9S 


Lamboum - 


PaL 


30 


WalUngford 


Fat. 




Pat 


8 




Taae- 






PaU 


e 




Fine. 


8 




Pat. 


0,10 


WeBlminBtar 




11 


Westminstar 


Fat. 


13 




Yasa. 


13-18 




PaL 


90-93 




PaL 


9i 




Taso. 


36 




Pat. 


eo 






37,38 


Westminster 


PaL 


30,31 


WaaBninstar 


PaL 


June 






1-3 


Westminster 


PaL 


4,6 


Hadlej . 


PaL 


8,9 




PaL 


11-13 


Starry 


PaL 


W 


Minst«r in Thanat 


Cloae. 


16 


Minstar io Thwiel 


PaL 


16 


DoTer, Sandwich - 


PaL 


17 


QoTor 


F.S. 


18 


DoTar 


Fine. 


10 


Dover, Sandwiob - 


Vase 


90 


Dover 


PaL 


a-i 


Dover 


Close. 


93 


Dover 


Pat. 


»i 


Dover 


Pat- 


37 


Westminster 


Close. 


98-30 

RD 


II. 


PaL 


80 


Westminster 


PaL 


SI 


Sheppay - 


PaL 


Sheppey - 


PaL 


3 


Stuny 


Close. 


3,4 


Slurry 


PaL 


6 


Minslw in Tbanet 


Pbl 





Sandwich - 


PaL 




Hineter in Thanet 


PaL 


8 


Sandwich • 


Close. 


9 


Minster in Thaoet 


Fine. 


11 


Hadley - 


Close. 


IS 


Harwieh - 


PaL 


18 


Shotwie . 


PaL 


U-IT 


Harwioh - 


Pat 


18 


Harwich - 


Cloaa. 


10 


Harwioh - 


Chart. 


21 


Hadley • 


Cloae. 



y Google 



AN irraERARY OP EDWARD THE SECOND. 



33 Hadlej 




ROID. 


2fi Sbrewebnrj, Stratton 


P*t.,TiD«. 


as H»dler 


Fine. 


2fl Lndlow - 


F.S. 




PaL 


37 Ludlow - 


Pat 


a»,30 Toirei 


Pat 


38 Leominster, Hereford . 


Pat. 


Oct. 




29 Hereford - 


Fine. 


I Tower 


Pat 


30 Hereford - 


Pat 


2,fl Sbeen 


Pat. 


31 Hereford - 


Cloee. 


ShMD 


CtOM. 


Ftb. 






Fat. 


1 Hereford - 


Mne. 


8 PorcheBler 


M. E. S73. 


4 Hersford • 


Pat 


10,11 Porohwlw 


Close. 


Wolmhop - 


Fine. 


la Porehester 


Pat. 


6 Newent . 


Fat 


15 Toirer 


Close. 


7-18 Glonoeatar 


Pat 


le Toirer 




M. E. 094. 


19 Chaltenbam 


Pat 


17.10 TOWBF 




Pat 


30,ai Temple Goyting - 
33-25 Weston under Edge 


Pat 


30 Elthun 




M. E, 820. 


Fat 


SI Eltfaam 




Pat. 


86,27 Warwick - 


Pat 


82 KocbesWr 




P. S. 




Pat 


33 Bocheater 




Pat. 


Mar. 




81,as Boilej 




Pat. 


1 Corentry . 


Pat 


28, MT Ledes 




Pat. 


2 Weston - 


Pat 


28 Ledes 




Cloae. 


3,4 Mereval Abbey - 


Pat. 


29 LedeB 




PM. 


Drayton Bassett . 


Close. 


31 Ledes 




Fat. 


fi Elletord . 


Pat 


Nov. 






8,9 Caldwell - 


Pat 


2,3 Ledeg 




PaL 


11,12 TutbuiT . 


Pat 


i Ledoa 




Fine. 


13,11 Derby 


Pat 


fi MilliDg, Toobridge 


Pat 


15 Codnor, Derby ■ 


Fat 


e,7 Tonbridge 


Pat 


18 Worksop - 


Pat 


Eltham . 


Fat 


17 Bljtb. Worksop . 


Pat 




Pat 




Pat 




M.E.370. 


10 Doncasier 


Pat. 




Pat. 


20 PontelVaet 


Fine. 


17 Stratford »tte Borgh 


M. E. 348. 


31-38 PonteOaot 


Fat. 


18 Onger, Rnmford . 


Pat 


20 Ponte&aot 


Close. 


19.30 Onger . 


Pat 




Pat 


22 Onger 


Fat 


81 Altoftas . 


Fat 


33 Haveiitis - 


F.S. 


Apr. 




SU Ha»ering M Bower 


Pat 


1-8 Altoftas . 


Pat 


35,26 Dford 


Pftt 


7 Altofles - 


Close. 


37 Stratford al Bow, Ponteftict o 




e Altofles ■ 


Pat 


Tbamea 


Cloae. 


0,10 PoDlefract 


Pat 


38-SO PoDtelVaot on Thames 


Pat 


11 Poniefract 


Fine. 


Dee. 






Fat 


1-4 Iiiewortb - 


Pat. 


18-20 Bothewell 


Pat 




Pat. 


21 Solhewell 


Fine. 


9 Istewortb ■ 


Pat. 


33-88 Rothewell 


Pat. 


10 LiDglaj Marajs, Reading 


M. E. 270, Pat. 


38,29 York 


Pat 


11 Reading - 


Rom. 


30 York 


Close. 




Pat 


May 




13 Reading, Nawbnry 


Fat. 


1-21 York 


Fat 


15 Cbilton - 


Pat 


33.33 York 


Close. 


17 Okaboom 


Pat 


34 Hajwra . 


Pat 


18 Cricklade 


Pat 


25 Haywot - 


Fine. 


le Cricklade 


Fine. 


36-28 Haywra - 


Fat 




Pat 


20 York 


F.S. 


21 Cricklado 


Close. 


30..11 BotbeweU 


Pat 


33,38 Cirenoeeter 


Pat 


JUM 




34 CirancoHtar 


Close. 


1-8 RoUiewell 


Fm. 


26,28 CirenoaBter 


Pat 


7 Rotbewell 


Clos^ 


37 Cirencester, Winuhooinbe 


Pat. 


8 Hathelw. BotbeweU - 


Pat 




Fine. 


9 Hathelsay 


Close. 


30 Pershore 


Fine. 


10,11 Hathelaay 


Pat 






13 Bishops Thorp - 


Pat 


1322. 




13-18 Hathelsay 


Pat 


Jan. 




19 Halhelsay 


Close. 




Pat 


30 Bishopa Tborp - 


Pat 


DoderbuU 


Pat. 


31 York, Bishops Thorp 


Fat 


10 Kings Swintord - 


Pat 


22 Bishops Thorp . 


Pat. 


11 Woreester 


Pat. 


23 York, BUbops Tborp 


Pat 


12,13 Newport - 


Fat 


auie Yofk 


Pat 


14-24 Shrewtbni; 




Pat. 


30 York 


Fat 



y Google 



AN ITINERARY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 



16 EDWARD II. 



Jab 

1-e York 

7 York 

8-ia Yorit 

19 York 

14-39 York 

23 York, OTeiton 

34 Aldeverk - 

33,36 Tbreik 

37 BerlingtoD 

Stt,29 finrtiHn - 

30 New Cutle on Tjne 

31 Chesler Bcd Durham 



1-5 



Newoanle on Tjne 
I PeltOD, Gosford 
' Feltoii, Nenminnlfr 
I FsItoD 
I Alnwick 
I Kew CuUe od Tjne 

DdMn, Bonllon 
1 Alnwick - 
, Alnwiok - 
I Alnwick 
' LjBedewine 

I Alnwick - 
I Alnwick - 
I Mennn 

Edanbaro, Heurna 

Leith and H euros 
' Henroi, Leitb 

Mintlebnrgh 

Eldetraw in Sooilaod 

: Fenliun - 
Anecroft • 
Fenhun ■ 
SUujnrord 
Newbif^DS 
Bamards Castle ■ 
Newoaitle on Tf na 
Newcastle on Tyae 
Dnrham - 
BaraardB Caslla 

Bimarda Cwtle 
Bamards Castle, il 
Barnards Caslle 
Baroarda CaslU, I 
Yaram, Forget 

' Janim, Yanun 
liridlin^n 



Hol.l«r: 



Sattoni 
York 
Cawood 
York 

YoA 

Hathelaar- 
Csntula - 

Conningsbon 
YanuD, Ekjngton 
I Tutbnry 
Tntbnrjr 
Tntbnrj 
Tntboi7 



Close. 
Pat., Close. 

Pat., Ctogg. 



Close. 
P. S. 
aoae. 



3 Thorn 

I Yorii 

J York 

) York 

J York 

i York 

) York, Selby 

) Hatbetssj 

t Hatbelsa; 

I Hathelur 

1 Hathelsajt 

t Hatbetaa; 

I Hathalsar 

' Hatheliiaj 

I Halhelsay 

) Hatbeluj 

I HitheUay 

I HatheUa; 

I York 

York 

I York 

York 



Hathelsar 
I Newark 
York 

i Cowyk 

Cowyk 
I Hatheiss; 
I Stowpark - 
; Cowjk 

Cowfk 
I Cowjk 

Cowjk 
I Slowpark - 
: Ntwark 

StawpsA - 
■ Newark 

Newark 

Stowpark . 

Newark 
I Newark 

Newark 

Nortbwell 

Wellebagb 

Welhagb - 

Doneasier 

Pontefraat 

Newark - 

Ponlefract 

Fontefrect, Aberfbrd 

Koareaboro 

EnaresboKi 

Snaresboro 
Knaresboro 
KnaiMboro 
PontslrBOt, Aberford 
Doncaater, Bljlh ■ 

Leo ton 
Leicester . 



Close. 
Fine. 
Close. 



y Google 



AN ITINERARY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 



as Solbr 








P«L 


U,12 Cowyk 




Pat 


U Horton - 






Cloie. 


18 Rothewell 


Pat 


as DODiilable 






P.S. 


Ifi Bothewelt 


Close. 


28 Luigle, - 






Pat. 


18 18 EoiheweU 


Pat 








P.S. 


aO York 


Pat 


28 Longlay - 






Cloie. 


21 Bothewell 


Pat 


30 Langlej - 






Pat. 


22 BoUiewell 


Cloae. 


1-S WartminsWr 










Pat, Close 






Pat. 




Close. 


e Tower 






Pet. 




Pat 








Pat. 




aoie. 


e To«w 






Pat. 


28 Biibopslhorp 


Pat 








Close. 


30,31 Biahopetbori) 


Pat 


12 14 Tower 






FaL 


Jufu 




15 Tower - 






Cloie. 




Pat 


10 Tower - 






PaL 


e-m Cowyk 


Pat 








Pat 


11 Cowyk 




Close. 


20-21 Luigley - 






Pat. 


12 Cowyk 




Pat 






Pat. 


13 Cowyk 




Close. 






Pat. 


14 Cowyk 




Pat 


27 Thjngden- 




Fine. 


10 Cowyk 




Cloce. 


2fi Oolihain, Bocldughun 




Pat. 


18-18 Cowyk 




Pat 


89 Newark, OiJkhun - 




Pat. 


19-21 Hathelsay 


Pat 


30 Newirk - 




Fat. 


22 Hathelsay 


Close. 


JfaV 






23 Hsttaelsay 


Pat 


1-7 York 




Pat 


24 Cowyk 


Pat 


8 Cowjk 




Pat 




Pat 


» Cowjk 




Close. 


2(1-89 YoA - - - 


Pat 




Pat 


80 Cowyk - 


Pat 


17 EDWARD II. 




/Lip 


90 Eirkby Heleserd - 


M. B. 686. 


1-4, York - - - - pBt. 


31 Kirkby Halsart . 


Close. 


e KiDgBton npoD Hnll, Fuflete 


Pat 


22 Kirkby Malesart - 


Pat 


7 Fufiete 








P.S. 




Pat, Close. 


8,9 Fuflete 








Pat 


Pat 


lu FuBete 








M. E. 726. 


2S,2B Haywn - 


Pat 


11 Faiflete 








Close. 


27 Skervill, HaywiB - 


H. E. 681. 


12-in BruHtwjk 








Pat. 


29 Skipton in Crawn 


Ckise. 


17 FMflete 








Pat. 


30 Skipton in Craveii 


Pat 


IB-ai Brastwjk 








Pat 


Oct. 




28 Cowyk 








Pat 


1,2 Skipton in CraTeD 


Pat 


as Fufleie 








Pat 


» Cotme 


P.S. 


aj.31 Cowfk 








Pat. 


4,9 Heghtenhnll 


Pat 


Aug. 










8 HegbteahuU 


P.S. 


1 FickeriDg 








Fine. 


7,8 Igblenhnll 


Pat 


3 Cow;k 








Pat 


g Ightanhull 


Close. 


3 Cowjk 








CIOBB. 




Fine. 


4,6 Eioriok 








Pat 


11,12 Blackboum 


Pat 


a KirkhMo 








Pat 


13 Heytenhnil 


Clo«^ 


7,8 Rekering 








Pat. 


16 HoUnd - 


Pat 


e Pickering 








Close. 


17 Holand 


Close. 


10.21' PicheriDg 








Pat 


18-22 Holand - 


Pat 


22 Pickering, 


Eggeio 






"Pat 


34 LiTSipool - 


Pat 


23 Piekering 








Pat 


26 Holand - 


PaL 


24 Eggeltts 








Cloae. 


ae liTorpool - 


Pat 


2S-27 Daneby 








Pat. 


98 Boland. LWerpool 


Close. 


28 Greenhow 








Pat 


SO iDse(lDee) 


Pat 


29 Greeohow 








Close. 


«or. 




30 Greenbowe 






Pat 


1 Hallen - 


Close. 






Pat, Close. 


2 Balton 


Pat 


Stpt. 






3 Balton 


P.S. 


1 Luctlea, Oreenhow 




Pat, M. E. 426. 


4 Ifise(lDee) 


dose. 


9 Orenhov . 




Pat 


6,8 Inse 


Kne. 


Q 6 Banianla Outle 






Pat 
Pat 
Close. 


7 Ungtari - 


K 


'7 BBrnuds Cutle 






9 Dale, NoUbghim - 


Pat 


8 Bamanls Cutle 






P.S. 


10-12 NoUiogbam 


Pat 


a-32 Bamarda CasUe 






Pat 


19 Nottingham 


doaa. 


le BamardB Cutle 






Pat 




Pat 


IB Bichmond - 






Pat 




Close. 


IT JeroraU,0 


»TMU 






Pat 


30-33 Notdngham 


Pat 



y Google 



AN ITINERARY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 







Pat 


as.ae iu«nad^B 




Pit. 






FbL 


3(1 BaTeasdklB 




Clow. 


Dee. 






1 Bs«en<d>le 




FU. 






P«L 






Pat. 






Ptl. 






Pet 


10-18 RiTensdUe 




Pat 


U Bsvensdmlo 




Close. 


IS BaienBdale 




Pat 


le lUvenadkle 




Clo««^ 


17 Tatbnij - 




Fine. 


18 Rnenidale 




Close. 


18 TutbQiy . 




P. 8. 






Fine. 


as Kenilworth 




Cloaa. 






Pat 


26 Kenilirartll 




Fins. 


aa-28 Kenitirorth 




Pat 






Pat 


1324. 


/<■«. 


1-3 Kenilworth - - P«L 


1 Henle - 




Close. 


5,8 Henlej - 




Pat 


1 FMkeDhim. Henle 




Pat 


B HecU, Worce>ter 




Pat 


10 WorcesWr 




Pat 


11 WoreeBUr 




GOBO. 


12 WorceBter 




Pat 






Pat 






Close. 


18-82 Gloooesler 




Pat 


2H Olonoeiiter, Bwkelt7 




Pat 


U Oloueester 




Pat 


3S OloQOCBtei 




C1o«e. 


36 Urlitol • 




Pat 


27-39 IroD Acton 




Pat 






Close. 


«1 iK-n Acton 




Fat 


Ftb. 






\ BriBtol . 




Pat 


8 BatkBler - 




Close. 


i,S Berkeley - 




Pat 


6 IronActoD 




Pat 


B Bristol • 




Pat 


9 Berfctle; ■ 




P.S. 


10 Iron Acton 




Pat 


11 IronAotoD - Fine. 


J'«Jyl*L>Biyh.le,Bei(Mte - P«t. 




Pat 


3 FBlmerae - 


Pat 


4 Laghton, Arundel 




Pat 


fi-L>Bvb*» 




Cloae. 


e Arandel - 






Pat 


8 PomheBtor 






Lib. 








Pat 


30 PorohMter 














Fine. 


2a-9T Porehester 






Pat 


38 Derford - 






Pat 


90^0 Wbitley - 






Pat 


31 Ouildford - 






Pat 



• Is Jolj D(Uitar«r ( 
IMnla. ud then bi Re v 

to PonbvBtar. Od tht STlb of AuniC ID 
SBd wiDL br RabvubridB*. Bitila, Pncni 
Bhtplar, CbMVQTtb, Oiertold, and Fnwo 
rind DD th) Tih or HUi of S«ptambar. 



«^°'^'L™"i 





ia 


Iron Acton, Berkeley 


- Pat 




18 


Odibam, Nevboir 


- Fat 




39 




- Fine. 




23 


Fnlhain - 


■ Pat 




28 




■ Pat 




a7,ss 


Wentminaler 


- Pat 




39 


Westminsler 


- Close. 




liar. 








1-8 


WeBtDiinn«r 


- Pat 




9 




- Cloae. 




10-16 




- Pat 




17 




- CIOM. 




18-31 




■ Pat 




WeBtfflinslM 


- Pat 




i. 


Fnlmere - 


- Pat 




B-ll 


Fnlmere - 


- Fat 




13 


Fnlmera - 


- Cloae. 




13 


Laogley - 


- Close. 




14-30 


L«.kW - 


. Pat 




81,23 


Langlej - 


- aoee. 




sa 


Lanliey . 


- P.S. 




21 


Luiglcy - 


- Pat 




26 


L«>|]ej - 


- Pat 




27-39 


Folmere - 


- Pat 




80 


Fulmere - 


- Cloae. 




"\ 








Fnlmero - 


. Pat 




2 


Sbeen 


- Pat 




8-8 




. Pat 




8 




- Cloae. 




10 


TowsT and Westminater 


- Pat 




11.12 


WestmiDBter 


- Pat 




UM 


Tower 


. Close. 




1M6 


Tower 


- Pat 




18 


WestiniosteF 


- Pat 




19 




. Cloaft. 




20 28 




- Pat 




S9 




. Fin* 




30,31 


Weetminster 


- Pat 




/»» 








1 


WratminBter 


. Pat 




2 




■ Pine. 




3-14 


WettminBter 


■ Pat 




15-18 


Tower 


- Pat 




19 


Tonbridge 


- Pat 




31 


Hadley - 


- Pat 




23 


KortbSete 


. Close. 




23 


Toabrtdge 


- Fme. 




24 


Tnnbridge 


- CloBfc 




3S.38 


Tollbridge 


- Pat 


99,30 


LaBaybale,TonbT>d8e 


- Pat 


18 EDWARD 


II. 






T« 


Onildrord - 


- Pat 






Henley 


- Close. 




8 


Henley - 


. Pat 




9 


Henley - 


- Close. 




10 


Henlej, Plrbright, YeBfaan 


pstead Pat 




11 


Henley - 


- Vaso. 




13 


Windsor A Islewotth, Chij 


ipenham Pat 




14 


Sheen 


- Close. 




15 


Isleworth - 


■ Cloae. 




16-31 




■ Pat 




3S 




■ Cloae. 




33,31 


Tonbridge 


- Pat 




3D 


Befteham • 


• Close. 




36 


Tonbridge 


- Pat 






mTonbridgeto 
r, ud Araodil 


27 




. Pat 


38.89 


Ballle - 


- Pat 




30 


Pevensey - 


. Fat 


■btntao ar- 


SI 




un - Pat, I 



y Google 



AN ITINERAKY OF EDWABD THE SECOND. 



1 


FeveaM; - 


PM. 


3 


BTBmber - 


Pat. 


4 




Prt. 





Che»worth 


Pat 


e 


Overfold - 


Pm. 


7 


pBhrorth - 


Pal. 


MO 


Porobeeier 


Pat. 


Oct. 






1 


PoroheBUr 


Pat 


9 




FiiM. 


3.B 




Pat 


6 




Goee. 


7 


Woolmer - 


P.S. 


8 


Woolmer, Gnildtori 


Pftt 


9. 


Gnildford - 


Pat 


11.3 


Bjfleet ■ 


Cloee. 


3 


Shaeo 


Ctoee. 


i 


Sheen, S;flaet 


P«t 


S 


Braeet 


Pat 


ie-18 


Tower . 


Pat 


19 


Tower 


Fine. 


20-a» 


Tower 


Pat 


34 




Pat 


35 


Tower . 


Pat 


se 




PU. 


87.88 


Towfr 


Pftt 


3e,3U 




Pat 


itfof. 






1 




Pat 


3-4 


MortUke - 


Pat 


B-IS 


WeMmiDMBT 


Pat. 


17 


Tower 


Pat 


18 




Pat 


19-a3 


Tower 


Pat 


34 


Pobmoh, Chsahnnt 


Pat 


26.98 




Pat 


38 




Pat. 


30 


Sautre 


Fine. 


80 


WMer, Newton • 


Pat 


D«. 






3 


Wiseeoden 


P.S. 


5 


NouiDBbftiD 


Fine. 


e 


NotUDgham . . 


Pat 


7 




Fine. 


8 




Pat 


a 


NottJDghun 


Fin?. 


lo-ie 




Pat 


SQ-aH 


NotUnghEm 


Pat 


9fi 




aoM, 


30,31 


Notlinghwn 

1325. 


Pat 


Jan.1 


RBTentdale 


Ctoae. 


9 


HBtenBdalB 


Vase. 


3 


BiTensdsle 


Pat 


4 


Taiboi7 - 


Pat 


5 


lUTBDWlBle 


Vbk. 


fi 




Pat 


7 




Close. 


8 


BAtenidtle 


Pat 


9 


BBTensdale 


Fine. 


10 


BaYeoidale 


Pat 


11 


Tntbuiy, Derbj - 


Pat 


19 


Uelbum ■ 


Pat 


13 


Wlitwjk - 


Pat 


14 


Whitwjk - 


Fine. 


IS 




Pat 


le 


B«g-ortb. Nortbbar«h - 


Pat. 


17 


Bnokby - 


Pat 


18 


lUTenidde 


Close. 


30 


HunsUpe - 


P.S. 


39,33 


Uoglej - 


Pat 


34 


L«.gley . 


Dngd. 


30-81 


I-nglej - 


Pat. 



1 


Mortlake - 


P*t. 


3-8 


Westminster 


Pat. 




Weatminater 


Close. 


10 




Pat 


11 




Close. 


13-18 




Pat 


19 




Pat 


30 




Pat 


91-93 


Tower 


Pat 


S4 


Weguninstar 


Pat 


aa 


Wealminatar 


Cloia. 


ae.se 


WostmiMter 


Pat 


Mar. 






1 




Pat 


9 


Tower 


Pat 


8 




Pat 


4 


Tower 


Pat 


S 


Tower 


Close. 


S-19 




Pat 


13 


Tower 


TaMj. 


U 




Pat 


16,16 


Tower 


Pat 


17 


Tower 


Close. 


18 


Towar - 


Pat 


10 




Taso. 


ao 


Sheen, Walton - 


Pat 


91-33 


Henle - 


Pat 


94 


Henle - 


Vaao. 


31 


HenlB - 


Pat. 


30 


Henle - 


Fine. 


87 


Henlej - 




38 


Henle - 


Vaaa. 


39 


Froill 


Cloee. 


Apr. 






i.a 


Herewell - 


Pat 


a 


Sionebam ■ 


Cloae. 


4 




Pat 


6,8 


Beanlien Bepi ■ 


Pat 


T 


Beanliea Begia - 


Fine. 


8 


Beanliao Begia - 


Pat 


9 


Beanliea B^ - 


Close. 


10-16 


Beaolien BegU - 


Pat 


10 


Beanlieu Begia ■ 


Cloae. 


17,18 


Beanlien B^ - 


Pat 


19 


Beanbea Begia - 


Close. 


ao 


Beatdien BegU - 


Pat 


91 


Beanlien Begia - 


Close. 


32-34 


Beaulieu Begia . 


Pat 


36,38 


Beanlien Begia - 


Cloae. 


37,38 


Beanlien Begia - 


Pat 


39,80 


Winobaaler 


Pat 


'i-s 




Pat 


0-17 




Pat 


18 


Poroheater and Badiiampton 


Pat 


19 


Darford - 


Pat 


SO 


ffaTsrley - 


■Fat 


ai 


Darford - 


Pat 


33 


Henle . 


Fine. 


aa 


Heole 


Cloae. 


34 


Henle 


Pat 


36 


Wavarl^ - 


Close. 


3S.31 


Cherts^ . 


Pat 


Jiuw 






1 


Chippenfaaoi, Cbertsey 


Cloae, Pat 


3-4 


Cbippenbam 


Pat 


e,7 


ecr : 


Pat. 


e-10 


Pat 


11 




Close. 


13 




Close. 


13-16 




Pat 


is-ae 


Eltham . 


Pat 


37,38 


Wesltoinattr 


Pat 


38,30 


Waatminaier 


fine. 



y Google 



AN ITINERARY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 
19 EDWARD II. 



July 




Woo. 


1,3 WatUninBter 


Pat. 


1,3 ChinMnham 




M. E. B73. 


8 Chippenham 




Pat. 






Pat. 




14-80 Tower 


Pat. 




a-J-M H.d1<y - 


Pal. 




as Thnnderley 


Fine. 




36 R>dl(>7 - 


Pat. 


13,14 Windsor Park 


9T WHttle, Badoir ■ 


Pat. 


10 Windsor PbA 


28,39 Wrinle - 


Pat 


10 Chippenham 


an Timej 


Pat. 


17 Istewortb - - . - 


9L PleM7 


Cloae. 


13-88 Westminater 


Auf. 




30,30 Westminsler 


1 Ple«r - 


Pat. 


Dtt. 


a, 3 Doomow . 


Pal. 


l.e Westminster 


4 TbidutMd 


Pat. 


e Tower - - . . 


5 HuAeld ■ 


Pat. 






Pat., Close. 


8-14 Tourer . . . - 


8 Havering • 


Pat 


16 Havering at Bower, PonleftM>t 


9 Hitering - 


M. E. 680. 


jaita London - 




Pat 


ie,'17 Havering at Bower 




Pal. 


U Hwering . 


Close. 




lS,ia Ponlefmcl 00 Thunw - 


Pat 




IT Pouteftvct OD Tbunea ■ 


P.S. 




19 Stany 


Fine. 


98 Bnry 8t Edmonds 


80 SlnriT 


Cloae. 


30 Hanle . . . - 


31 Stnnr and Wingbam 
sa WinghBtn ■ 


Pat 


81 Hanle . . . . 


aoM. 




a:|.31 Luigdon ■ 


Pat 


1326. 


Stpt. 




Jan. 


I Langdon - 


Pat 


1 anle and Bory St E. ■ 


3,3 I*ngdon,Do»w 


Pat 


3 anle - 


4 LaoSdon - 


Pat. 


3 BDle and Lopham 


0,0 Dowr 


Fat 


4 anle ■ 


7 DoTor 


Cloae. 


3 Hanle . . . . 


8 Dover 


Pal. 


6 Lopham - - - . 


10-13 Dorer 


Pat 


9fi Hoine . . . . 


18 DoTfir 


Cloae. 


10-14 SonthElmtaam . 


U Leda and Wje . 


Pat 


lit Brooke, Bei^h - 


IB Ledea, Leoham ■ 


Pat 


IT Langlty Abbey ■ 


18,17 Ledea 


Pat 


18 Norwich - 


18 Ledea - 


Cloae. 


10 Norwich . 


30 Ledea* - 


Cloae. 




81 Wilhjham 


Close. 


86 Norwich, Heningham 


83 ManBeld . 


Pat 


37 Bonrgh - - - . 


33 Harshfleld, TonbridsB - 


Pat 


as Norwiob - - . - 


■li.36 Manhfield 


Pat 


SO Bonrgh - . . . 


39 Mareifleld 


Closa. 


30,81 Bonrgh - 


30 Marahfleld 


Pat 


Fa. 


OtU 




lA Walsingbam 


1 Maresfisld. Ghidngle 


Pat 


0,6 Walxingbam 


3 Maieafleld 


Close. 


7 Oaywood - - - - 


3 Uanhfleld 


Pat 


8-10 Ovood . - - - 




Pat 


11 WestDerham 


Bletohingljr, Orinaiead 


Close. 




Pat 


18 West Darbam, MildenhaU 




Close. 


14 Eining . . . . 


Banatead . 


Pat 


15,18 Baniwell - - - . 




Pat 


17 BamweU . . - . 


14.18 Sheen 


Pat 


18-80 BamweU - - . - 


10 Chippenham 


Fine. 


33 EjnebantoD, St Neota 


30-33 Chippeoham 


Pat 


93 Kynebanton 


93 Cbippenham 


Close. 


94 Bolkewell . - - . 


34,35 ChippeDfaam 


Pat 


86 Laogaton . . . - 


36,37 Chippenham 


Close. 


36 Langeton - - . - 




Pat 




30 Chippenham 


Chart 


Mar. 

9 Meiahlon - - . . 
Sibbeadon 
10 MirevaU . . . . 


__ • On B.pL Utb, laoil, b> lift L«d. OuU«, wn 


tbyWlthjtauauiiu«*- 




rliHUid ud b>D>taHl lo 


LoDdoD. r.PiwnlBollL ^' 




11 MiravaU 



y Google 



AN ITINERARY OF EDWARD THE SECOND. 



ia,i3 


Tamworth - 




14 


Litchfield 


16 


Litchfield, Freford 


iB-ie 


IJlohfield 


19.80 




Apr. 




1^ 









26 


Kenilwonb 


27 


Kenil worth 


88.29 


Kenilworth 


30 


Stratford npon Atod, Kenilworth 


IfaV 




1 


Kenilworth 


a 


HlflBB . - . . 


s 




b 


Pinion 


1 


Marlboro . . - - 


8 


M«lbo«, Piriton 


9 




10.13 


GloDoestar, Cirencesler - 


11 


Oloncester 


15 




16 


fiowQ Atupnej 


IT 


Okebonrti . - . . 


J»^l^ Westminster 


8 


Westnuiieter,She«D 




1 
fi 
6 
7 


Bffleet 

Sheen 




8.1(1 
11 


Bjfieat, HealB - 
Henle 




la 


Wiodior Park . 




18 


Henle, Chertser - 




14 






iB-as 






34,29 


Sheen 




36 


Eenle 




37 


B^fieet 




as 


WaatBDinMer, Henle 




ag 


Binatead . 




30 


Binstead • 




A^ig. 






1.5 


Porobealer 




6 

e 


PorohestBt 
Porchester, Waltham 
Asble7 




9.18 


Ctarendon 




14 


Clarendon 




16-17 






18 


Clarendon 




19-33 


Clarendon 




33 






34-38 


Clarendon 




39 


Fontelje ■ 




30 






31 






Snt. 






1-13 






14 


Porehertet 




10,16 


Porehrater 






Porcheater 




19 


Gaildford - 




90 


Gnildfort - 




31 


Sheen 




33-34 






36.38 


Tower 




80 


Towar 







18,19 


Marlboro - 


Pat 




SO 


Crookham 


Clone. 




31 




P.S. 




33 




Fine. 




23 


Sltene 


ClOM. 




34 


Crojdon ■ 


Cloee. 




as 


Crojdon . 


Pat. 




89,37 




Pat. 




38 


Charing - 


Pat. 




29 


Cbartbam - 


Pat. 




30 




Pat 




31 


Saltwood - 


Clow. 




Jxme 








i-a 


Saltwood - 


■Pat 




8-10 


Stnny 


Pat. 




13 


Stnir; 


Pat. 




13 


Bokton enbins Le Bleen - 


Pat. 




1*.1S 


Lede. 


Cloae. 




16 


KlthaiB . 


Pat 




IT 


Rochester - 


Pat 




18-38 


Towar 


Pat. 




87 


Tower, WeatminBtar 


Pat. 




93 




Pat 




39 




Cloae. 




30 




Pat 


EDWARD 


II. 




3 


Weatminster 


Pat 




8,1 


Aotoa 


Pat. 




5 


Wjeombe . 


P.S. 




e 


WeatbQiy, Faringdon 


Close, Fine 




7 




Pat 




10.13 


Olonceater 


Pat 




13 


Weathury - 


Pat 




14,16 


Tinlern - 


Pat. 




16-18 


Slrogoil . 


Pal. 




30,31 


SlroBOil . 
Cardiff 


Pat 




3B 


Fine. 




87,33 


Cardiff ■ 


Pat 




39,30 


Caerflll; - 


Pat 




31 


Caerfill; • 


Fine. 




Woe. 






«, Pat. 


2 


CaertUj - 


Pat. 




8,4 


Mo^an . 


Pat 




6.7 


Neath 


Pat 




10 


Neath . - 


Pat 




88 


Ledbnry - 


Pat 




30 


Ledbnrr, CirenceUer 


Pat, Clow. 




Ledbuty - 


Pat 








Fine. 




fl-10 




Pat. 




11 




aosa. 




13-16 


Kenilwotth 


Pat 




IB 


Kenilworth 


Close. 




17-30 


Kenilworth 


Pat 




34-88 


Kenilworth 


Pat 




30 


Kenilworth 


Cloae. 




30 


Kenilworth 

1827. 


Pat 




Ja». 








1-8 


Kenilworth 


Clwe. 




4 


KenUworUi 


Pat 




fi 


Kenilworth 


Pat 




7 




CloM. 




8 




Pat 




10.12 


Kenilworth 


Pat 




13 


Kenilworth 


Cloae. 




14,15 


Kenilworth 


Pat 




16 


Kenilworth 


ClOM. 




18-80 


KenUwortb 


Pat. 




ai 


Keiulworth 


Fine,Iib. 



y Google 



"WENLOOK PRIORY. SALOP, 

EDWARD ROBERTS, Esa., F.8.A., F.I.B.A., xto. 



NOTWITHSTANDING the diflferenceswiiich occur in the several histories oSlim Prioiy, 
brief as they are, the authors seem yet to agiee in accepting as accurate, and as the 
groundwork of their deacriptions, WOliam of Mahnesbury's^ account of it^ together with 
the assumption that it was originally founded by Saint Milburga A.D. 680.^ In a diligent 
search into the writings on the subject, I have, however, failed to discover that it has been 
ao assumed and stated earlier than the fourteenth century : Bede, a contemporary, does 
not refer to it ; William of Malmesbuiy, who wrote nearly four hundred and fifty years 
after the supposed foundation, and must have taken his information firom manuscripts 
now lost to us, or have acquired it by tradition, does not name any year, nor further than 
that St Milburg lived and died there; Dugdale says she erected a Nunnery there,' giving 
Mabnesbury as his authority, who in fact says nothing of the kind :* and another account 
is that she procured the foimdation," She appears to have become its abbess' and to 
have been such at the time of her death, which happened on or about February 20tii,' or 
23rd,^ 722,^ according to some later writers, and she was buried there. 

The place is said to have been anciently called Wimnicas,^** that being the Saxon 
name, but it became known only as " Moche Wenlocke"; the Latin names being Wenloch- 
ium, Winlocium, orVentolochium;^^ the British, Uan Meilien, or Saint Milburg's Church ; 
and undoubtedly there was in veiy early times some kind of religious house here, and 
the probability is that Saint Milbuiga in some way added to its wealth, or assisted in the 
rebuilding^^ or increasing some portion of the structure ; and this, together with her royal 
descent, would have induced her election to the o£&ce of abbess. It is worth remember- 

' Do gatia Utgum^ lib. ii, cap. 13. De getUt ' Brit. Scmct., i, 124. 

Pimt^oaim, fo. 164. ' Aeia Sonet., m, S88, et seq. 

' DagdtJe'B Monattiam, y, 72, '16. * lb. 

* UaLmeBbniy'a words are, " MiUmrga apud Weiu " Moiuuticon, v, 73. Tanner's NoHtia Monaatiea, 
locft regweedt, olim, ab aecalU nota aed poat adventum p, 444. * 
Normiatmorvm dwn hmcUiut looue Sepvickri," etc. " Acta Sand., vol. ill, 388. On tlie seals it is 
Tanner repeats Dngdale's error. written Wenlok. 

* Brit. Baneia, i, 129. " " Her father (Merewald) and her uncle (Wnl- 

* Tanner's Notitia Monattiea, p. 444 (quoting phere) htwrally oontribated." Brit. Sonet., i, p. 129. 
Capgrave). Leland. OdOeet., vol. iii, p. 170. Edit. 1774. 

AA 



y Google 



J 46 WENLOCK PRIORY. 

ing that at the time when she lived tliere were few places of the kind, and the noble 
daugbtcre of our land were sent abroad for their education. The references to the 
position and acts of Milburga would incline me to think that she really added the nun's 
department to the already existing monastery. 

Connected with these subjects is the interesting inquiry into the motives of 
bene&ctors ; for in the majority, if not in all cases, of retirement to the cloister and grants 
to the Church, the occurrence of a crime, then too frequent, or an event having influence 
on the passions, was the immediate cause. I think I have sufficient grounds for stating 
that murder was the occasion of the taking of the first steps towards the advancement of 
that church and abbey which eventually became the most beautiful, most powerful, and 
the wealthiest in Shropshire. 

Except by comparing writers, it would be difficult to ascertain, even approximately, 
the d^rees of relationship of the several personages (not historically of much importance) 
named as being connected with Milbuiga, and this arises as much from the habitual caxe- 
lesaness of the mediseval scribes, as from ignorance of the exact consanguinity and the 
indiscriminate use of similar terms for various degrees. It is, however, necessary, in order 
to assign a motive for Milburga's pious acts, that I should endeavour to state some of her 
family ties and the deeds antecedent to her retirement from the world. Her parents 
were Merewald (brother of Wulphere King of Mercia, who commenced his reign about 
A.D. 657) and Ennenburga^ (daughter of Enneurod and niece of Earconbert £ing of 
Kent, who began his reign a.d. 640), Her sisters were Mildritha and Milgitha.* 

Egbert was son of Earconbert, and succeeded him as King of Kent a.d. 664. Within 
a year^ after the commencement of his reign he was accessory to the murder of his two 
infent nephews, Elbert and E^elbright,* uncles to Milburga. I^bert is said to have re- 
pented of the murder; and m the only modes of exhibiting contrition were by gifts for 
holy purposes or by entering the Church, he acted in accordance with the custom of the 
age and granted as compensation a part of the Isle of Thanet at Minster, for the purpose 
of building a monastery, and Milburga's mother founded a monastery there. Mildred 
dedicated herself to celibacy and became abbess of that Nunnery* — for the name of 
Monastety was applied to houses for both sexes ; and although we get no direct statement, 

' Also called Donmera, or Dompnera. BoUandns falls into an error in saying " Maier ^us Hon 8. 
BrTitenburga ted Dtmaievii." Acta Bcmct., iii, 388. 

■ Brit. 8tma., i, pp. 121, 129. De Gtitu Begvm, lib. i, cap. i. 

' Roger de WendoTBr. Flor. Hut., p. 150. 

* Probably prior to 669, when Egbert " gave Becnlver to Bass, the masa-prieat, that he might build 
a minster there." Bede, AngJo-Saas. Ckron. Almost all the medinval writers mention this mnrder with 
more or less minnteness. 

' Brit. Sonet., i, 124. 



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WENLOCK PRIORY. 147 

nothing ia more likely than that iha same circumBtance, bo &nitfal to ihe Chuxch, should 
inflaence Milbuiga, and that she ehould perform some deTOtioual act ; whilst her 
relatioDBhip to the royal family of Mercia would lead her to do bo at her adopted abode 
at Wenlock, and also enable her to procnre Bome endowment. The foundation was at 
that time probably the usnal secular college of Sazon times, then convrai^ partly to a 
nonneiy ; and to those who hare seen the ruins, it is needless to say tjrnt nothing whatever 
of the buildings of that date is now in existence. It may be considered as having been 
of timber, as was almost nniTersal prior to that time, and was by no means unuBual both 
here and on the continent for centuries a^r, and it is not surprising t^at, as a consequence, 
we read of their being frequently destroyed by fire. Monsatic bnildings, even at that 
eariy period of Christianity in this island, were of enormous magnitude, and more 
particularly in this part of England. Bede refers to one at Banchorium (fiangor), which 
at the beginning of the seventh centmy, was inhabited by upwards of two thousand 
monks at the same time,^ and we shall find that this of Wenlock, though then com- 
paratively insignificant, became the largest in the county of Shropshire. 

We are not informed of the time during which Saint Milbuiga presided ovet the 
nunnery, nor the exact time of her death, which was not earlier than A.D. 694.' We 
leam simpfy tiiat she became beatified, and that on her death she was buried at 
Wenlock. 

It does not seem to have escaped from repeated calamities, mostly arising from 
warfare, of which, from its great richness of soil and general wealth, as well as from its 
laige population and other circun^tances, this part of England was the constant theatre ; 
but &e period of four centuries from the time of its earliest foundation to that of its 
being surrendered to King WUliam the First by the Earla Morcar and Edwin, the grand- 
BODB of Leofric Earl of Mercia, in 1071, is one which, as regards this priory, is a period of 
almost utter darkness, — a darkness which even the searching eye of the Bev. Mr. Eyton has 
not penetrated. It is vaguely stated that it was twice destroyed by the Danes ; and if so 
it must have been restored in the interim and have become again a place of defence or 
worthy of plunder. The entire obliteration of the previous buildings leaves us no means 
of judging either of the probable dates or extent of the works. It is farther stated, with 
somewhat more precision, that Leofric, Earl of Meircia, and Godiva his wife, shortly after 
1017, and in the reign of Edward the Confessor, refounded the Abbey. There is nothing 
singular, as has been supposed, in the selection of the spot for the re-establishing of the 
church and monastery ; it was a constant practice to retain sacred sites for like purposes. 

iibmmoruuterivmdivitiim,mdla?iarumport(omtmuk«cerUothomAnM^^ Bede. £cel». iTuf. lib. ii, o. 2. 

* BollandnB says a.d. 722. Act. Band. See ante, p. 14S. I^eluid BajB A.i>. 716. GoU. in, 169. 

AA2 



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148 WENLOCK PRIORY. 

It was again deeerted after this refonnding and surrendered to the crown in 1071, as 
before stated. 

We now come to a period when a little more certainty prevails, and when abbeys 
sprung up in the laud with marvellous rapidity and vigour. .Whether of Saxon or 
Norman origin, they equally partook of the benefits of property, seriously interfered with 
in our own day by the Statute of Mortinmn, which followed the suppressions, and was a 
necessary step in addition to those acts of spoliation. 

With reference to the hitherto reputed Sason architecture in this building, and to 
Saxon and Norman architecture generally, it may be proper to explain that after the loss 
of the arts by the ovemmning of the Roman provinces by the Gotha, there arose in the 
course of time an architecture more or less beautifiil according to the greater or less 
rudeness of the country in which it was practised, and which may be considered as one 
great school prevalent for six or seven centuries — the longest period of existence in any 
style without material alteration in so many countries subject to different rulers. 
Originating either in the indiscriminate appUcation of materials taken &om Boman 
temples and houses^ or in a rude imitation of them, we obtain various specimens of one 
universal type. Familiar as the English must have been with pure Boman works and a 
high state of civilisation in common with all countries where Romans domiciled, it is re- 
markable that, so far as we are able to judge from Saxon remains, the worst type appeared 
here — not very different from the Nonnan in its elements, but differing most materially 
in the magnitude and the taste of the works. There was, besides, on the part of the 
Normans an unaccountable jealousy of or dislike towards the Saxon buildings ; and 
altbough we can point to a score or two of works, either in part or wholly ante-Norman, 
yet they are very few as compared with the vast number of remains comparatively perfect 
to this day of what is confessedly only a century or so of later date ; and yet, except 
some of the sacred edifices of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the majority are of 
Saxon origin. This we have seen was the case with Wenlock Prioiy. 

At the time of the compilation of Domesday Book, the whole of the lands of this 
church were in the hands of Roger de Montgomery, the first Earl of Arundel and 
Shrewsbury, to whom they had been granted by the king. From him they passed again 
almost entire, in the reign of King William II, who consented to the Earl's Charter, to the 
new order of Benedictine monks of Cluguy as a dependency to that order, and from tiat 
act the fortunes of the house of Wenlock may be said to date. Thus were the revenues 
and the establishment alienated, as it wiU appear to our eyes, but attached and secured, as 
it wiU have seemed from tbe Norman's view. 

This affiliation continued for three centuries, not however directly to Clugny, for 

' This Ib risible to titis day in exisdug edifices in Soabhem and Central Italy. 



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WENLOCK PBIORY. I49 

the actual ownership was in the priory of La, Cariti sur Loire, which was again subject 
to Clugny. 

Thetrilmte payable to Xa Cari^ was fixed by Earl Eoger at 100 shillings per annum; 
but the occupants and priors were chiefly Normans, so that, in feet, tiiey possessed the 
whole of die income. The magnitude of the power of the chief house may be gathered 
from the fact that at one time the Abbot of Clugny received £2000 a year &om the 
aflSliated monasteries in England.^ 

The priory now was fairly started in its career of acquisitions and its magnificence 
of construction. The few remains of Norman or early transitional works which there are 
here, are of Earl Boger's commencing, but not finishing, for he died in 1094.^ 

It is stated in Domesday-book, that the Earl had made the Church of Saint Milburg 
an Abbey, by which it must be understood, if it means more than a general term, that it 
was entitled, by its affiliation, to be so considered ; for it never was really an abbey, 
being presided over by a Prior who was himself subject, to the Abbot of Clugny, and after 
its naturalization, al^ough it was looked upon as an abbey, it was never legally made one. 
It is certain, &om the entry in Domesday-book that the Saxon Church was actually in 
existence, though, as before stated, now quite obHterated. WiUiam of Malmesbury, writing 
about A.D. 1125 or 1130, says, "lately, however, a convent of Ciugniac monks were 
established there while a new church was erecting." In the course of the re-erection it could 
not have happened otherwise than that Saint MUburgh's body should be discovered :^ 
whether really so, or only a monkish deception, it was treated thenceforth as a miracle, 
and has been gravely handed down to us as such, with the additional information that 
the body was not only found in a perfect state, but emitted the most balsamic of odours, 
which pervaded the building. 

The reputation and the profits of the monastery were enhanced by this discovery 
for several centuries. Her body was re-interred in firont of the high altar, on May 26th, 
1101. 

The priory, as an alien, in common wiUi others of that class, was treated with much 
severity in after times, and suffered exactions and confiscations repeatedly, until its 
naturalization, in the 18th of Bichard II. During the wars with France, its revenues 
and patronage were asaomed by the English king^ and we find its rights exercised by 
them repeatedly. It nevertheless grew in wealth and importance ; its precincts extended 
over liiirty acres ; other priories were affiliated to it, and although it did not escape the 
imposition of taxes (sometimes levied in the name of gifts, although tiiere was nothing 
voluntary in the transactions, unless it might be in obtaining some quid pro quo, in the 

' Eyton, Aniiq. of Bhropt., iii, 230. ' See Plaudit's Norman Earlt of Bhreui$bury, p. 74, anle. 

* In 1101. Wm. of Malmesbory. 



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J50 WENLOCK PRIORT. 

shape of immunities &om feudal serrices and payments), yet its wealth increased in greater 
proportion, and enabled it to hold its way above all othera The benefactors were numerooa, 
and some of them were exceedingly liberal. Of these, Isabel de Say, Lady of Qun, was, 
after Earl Roger, the greatest ; she, in her own right, as Baroness of Qun, at the end of 
tie twelfth centniy, endowed the prioiy with large and valuable patronage. 

We have also some evidence of actual erections in prepress, in one of these 
donations, namely, a bequest of two merks by Dame Agnes, wife of the second Walter de 
Clifford, in 1221,^ towards "the fabric of the Church of Wenloc." The monks began to 
live better too. In 1252 it is found that the prior owes £6 for the king's wine, which he 
had purchased — probably the remainder of that which the king had sent there for his 
own use. We find that King Henry III repeatedly took up his abode at Wenlock 
Priory in the course of his journeys, and employed its priors in diplomatic services. 
These are evidences of the favour in which it was held by royalty ; but it, neverthdess, 
did not free it from pecuniary exactions. Its history is a series of struggles with neigh- 
bouring owners for rights and immunities, and of payments, bequests, grants, and charters. 

In 1333 its wealth was so increased, that in a contribution on the marriage of 
Edward Ill's sister, it stood tenth in importance ui the kingdom. 

In 1337 the first blow was struck at its liberty, and attacks were repeated until 
they reached their climax two centuries after. In January in that year, Edward III 
prohibited this, and all alien priories, &om transmitting taibute to France ; and although 
this was simply intercepting the supplies of the enemy, a course still followed in case of 
war, the appropriation of the revenues of private estates can hardly be looked upon 
otherwise than as an arbitrary act of spoliation : the annual hundred diillingB, payable 
to La Cariti, being shortly converted into two hxmdred for the king's us& In 1361, 
however, on the conclusion of peace, it was restored to ia CariU, to be again escheated 
on the resumption of the war; this Idme the commutation being taken at £50 per 
annum. Nine years later the total value of the temporalities was given at £237 4^. 2^. 
In 12dl it had been £l44. 

These repeated exactions eventually led to the naturalization of the priory, which 
happened on February 20th, 1395, for which six hundred merks were paid to the king, 
who continued also to receive the one hundred shillings per annum. This airangement 
seems to have been made by the prior without reference to his superiors, who were opposed 
to this deprivation, and did not acknowledge it for upwards of a century, when a BuU of 
Alexander VI annulled the nominal state of dependoice so long, in fact, abandoned. 

The prioiy was never exalted into an abbey ;^ but remained, ^SXiex its separation, a 
prioiy, which reaUy differed but in name. 

' Ejton, iii, 288. * Eyton, iij, 248. 



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WENLOCK PRIORY. 161 

The surrender occorred January 26di, 1542, when the value had been much reduced, 
and waa returned gross at £481 I65. 3d, en- about £449 net, and the prior, John Baylie. 
received a pension of £80 ; the sub-prior £6 IZs. Ad. ; seven priests £6 each ; and four 
others £5 6a. Sd. eacL Thus, in Ueu of their lai^ revenues, these thirteen moi received 
£100 amoikgst them.' We have no information of the manner of the reduction of the 
numbers of monks frcnn about forty to these thirteen ; but it may be safely assumed that 
it spread over some years. These institutions had served their purpose, and we should 
be ungrateful did we not acknowledge our lasting obligations to them for the preservation 
of whatever there was of art, science, and lit^^ture in the mediseval ages : their destruc- 
tion waa now to be — the instrument was at hand, and tiiis was long before felt to be ao. 
Probably as the vacancies occurred, they were left unfiUed and there was less violence in 
the revolution than may now to us seem to have been the case. The state of luzuiy and 
lazily into which they had fallen, constituted but one of the causes. The times 
demanded the revolution, and it came, as it sooner or later will come in other countries 
when like circumstances shall prevail 

It is necessary only to add, as regards the Clugniac order, that it was a reformed 
branch of the Benedictines, whose black robes were retained, whose rules were more 
rigid, and their food and dottung more scant They were not precluded, at all events, at 
a later period, from the enjoyment of luxurious abodes, as were the Cistercians ; and we 
see in this priory a display of constructive and decorative works of the highest order. 
The reform was complete in A.D. 912, when the branch was called after Abbot Odo of 
CJluni,^ who perfected it ; soon after which numbers of priories were attached to it, the 
parent abbey selecting the priors, and even sending the monks, who were consequentiy, in 
the case of our priory, almost all from France. There were stringent and peculiar regu- 
lations in regard to silence, which was one of the most distinguishing marks of the order. 
Most of the branches in England were naturalized early in the reign of Edward IIL 
Wenlock was not so until upwards of sixty years later. 

In describing the buildings, it will be convenient for cleMness, to consider that we 
are now perambulating the ruins, commencing with the church ; contdnumg with the 
conventual buildings of the earlier period ; and finiwHiTig with those of the later date ; 
premising that the buildings and courts alone must have covered upwards of an acre. 
We will therefore begin at the west end. 

Entering the place, where formerly was the great west door, we come upon one of 

the grandest architectural effects in the county. We at once see that the church is 

cruciform, with aisles to the nave and choir, but only one aisle to the transepts, except as 

hereafter mentioned The Lady Chapel has no aisle. The entire length internally, is 

' MoiuutUon, V, 80. ' Tanner's NotMa. Pre&ce, ziv. 



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152 WENLOCK PRIORY. 

three hundred and thirty-two feet,^ and the breadth, including the aisles, varies from 
61 feet 3 inches in the nave to 62 feet 4 inches at the east end of the Choir. On the 
left there are the ruined bases of seven hu^e pillars (forming eight bays) between the west 
wall with its respond and the great Tower-pier, one only rising some few feet higher than 
the others. These partake very much of the character of the great abbeys of Yorkshire, 
particularly of Roche Jervauli and Guisborough. On the right we have, out of the seven 
correspouding piers, three in a state of nearly perfect preservation ; these carry arches and 
tiers of other pillars and arches to nearly the fiiU height of the former structure and we 
can form a veiy correct notion of the perfection and richness to which the biulding was 
brought. This portion, which is of massive Early English Architecture, is of the age of 
King John or the early part of Henry III, and probably in the priorship of Joybertus, who 
was a Norman abbot, presiding from about 1198 to 1216. The first three bays on the 
right hand (marked a on the plan Plate x) are arcaded in a different manner from the 
other parts, having inner arches, so as to ^ve space for a room over the aisle and beneath 
the roof of the triforium. 

These shafts^ are short and the aisle is vaulted, and constitute the only part of the 
■vaulting remaining, except a small piece in the cloisters. The room above is shown in 
the view (Plate xi) and is one of exceeding beauty. The entrance was at the south-east 
comer, and there was a way out on the opposite side by a few steps into the gallery along 
tie nave walls. The use of this room is doubtful.' There are indications of places 
where prases were fixed, and of the position of stone benches, and I can arrive at no 
other conclusion than that it was a vestry, of which there were frequently several, this 
one being accessible from the dormitories ; and that this was in use for the early morn- 
ing services, the processions for which were to enter the south aisle. It may, however, 
have been the monks' parlour, as there was a distinct stair from the cloister, and stone 
seats. 

The strength of the construction of this part has secured its preservation to our day, 
while nearly all the other portions have been swept away. On the left hand, that is, the 
north side, of the nave, there is just enough visible of the foundation of a north porch 
(d, Plate x), to make us sure that there was such a feature at the fourth bay, b^ond 
which the old aisle wall is in existence for a few feet above ibs present surface, which it 
may be proper to remark is not by any means so much raised above the former level as 

' Dngdale and hie folbwen Bay 401 foot, irhich, allowing for walls mdaded, is too much by forty 
feet 

' Ur. Blakeway and Mr. Owen, who wrote the account for Britton, erroneonBly state tlus to have 
been filled in Babseqnently. Britten's Aretiiteet. Atttiq., iv, 59. 

* Ur. Kackenide Walcot calls it a dormitory for the amvem. Bwiding Navx, yi, p. 954. 



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GROUND PLAK OF WENLOCK PRIORY, SHROPSHIRE. 



D gazed by VjOO*^ie 



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E.Koterta,F.S.A.ci6l. 

"WES LOCK PRIORY SHROPSHIRK . 

View of Boom over South Aisle of U Ewe. 

{ Looking Wealward ) 



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,t,l 



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WENLOCK PRIOR r. 163 

we are in the habit of finding.^ In several places the turf haB been turned back for me and 
at a depth of about one foot in almost every part plain tile paving, tolerably perfect, is 
found ; the tiles are very much burnt in t^e places which I saw, namely, in the nave, the 
choir, the north transept, and in the greater and small cloist^ ; in the last of which, how- 
ever, the accumulation is much the greatest, and has evidently been filled in with rubbish 
&om other parts now to some extent lowered. We must not take it for granted that the 
level of the surface was always as it now is; for, on reference to a view in the Mona^icon 
(v, 73), and Philhps's select views, as well as Grose's Antiquities (voL iii), we find the 
plates show the ruins buried several feet deeper than they are at present. The nave and 
aisles were 61 feet 3 inches wide, but the nave proper was 117 feet long in the clear, 28 
feet wide and about 60 feet to the apex of the vaulting which enclosed it Dugdale, 
Britten, Phillips, and indeed all who have written, have evidently copied &om one original, 
and given wrong dimensions. The error has apparently arisen from the tower space 
having been added to, instead of being deducted from, the separate lengths. 

Those now given are taken from actual measurements on the spot. The central tower, 
which is not exactly equal sided, is the next point whence we obtain an entirely fresh 
view : we will firsts however, remark that of this tower but a few feet of one pier remain, 
and three rough mounds to show the position of the othera It was, including its walls, 
about 48 feet by 46 feet I have carefully examined the piers and obtained drawings of 
tiie plinths and mouldings. I cannot find any evidence of any other towers, so that the 
usual position of Saint Michael's chapel in a western tower of Clugniac monasteries was 
wanting in this priory. It is just witJiin the range of possibility that the chamber over the 
aide was a chapel of Saint Michael, but the marks of benches and presses, and the nature 
of the constnictioD, are against that supposition. The transepts in the clear are together 
144 feet from north to south. The north transept has part of two walls lemaining and the 
fotmdations of other parta It is worthy of attention from its having two aisles (few 
abbeys having more than one) one of which at least, that on the west side, was entirely 
dosed in. 

The lowest part was a vaulted ciypt, now merely bare walls not rising above the sur- 
face. The arch would bring the floor several steps above the floor of the transept, from 
which there was a doorway into the room over the crypt Hie window sills belonging to 
the crypt shew that it was dimly lighted. There is a felse back to the end of the vault, 
which would incline one to suppose it might have been intended as a place for the con- 
cealment of treasure in time of danger, as well as for the temporary deposit of the dead. 
In t^e north west angle of the transept was a doorway to a staircase. (Plate z, e.) 

1 The view of the weet end, drawn in 1771, and given by Onwe, shows the groond covering the 
nave piers as high as the capitals of the inner iffcade. 

BB 



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154 WENLOCK PBIORY. 

The Bouth transept is in some respects peculiar ; up to this part we may consider we 
have been examining the works of, within a veiy short hmit, one period, though there are 
indications of slight variation of date here and there, just enough to show that the works 
which were begun to the east were continued westward, and in accordance with the cha- 
racteristic principles of the age, carried with it what was att^e time, perhaps with justice, 
thought to be progress and improvement in art ; we may therefore justly reverence those 
who have shewn their appreciation of the beautifol works of the preceding age, and who 
by their arrangements endeavoured to preserve that of the ornamental chapter house 
adjoining and continued it in their works. The arcading of the transept encroached on 
the chapter house; and to preserve the uniformity of these arches, and at the same time 
not destroy the chapter house, they have recessed the old wall, the arch and pier of the 
new work being actually within the wall (w), necessitating ingenious arrangements and 
mouldings. In like manner, the arcading at the south end is carried on piers built into the 
old wall, and it will be found that the wall is really thicker in the aisle than in the main 
transept. This transept has but one aisle on the east side, the other is occupied by a 
triple vaulted-recess open, to the cloister (b) for what purpose is not absolutely 
known. We shall however revert to this pieseutly. The only instance I am acquainted 
with of any arrangement at all approaching thi^ is the south transept of Westminster 
Abbey, where the cloister runs under the lower part of the west aisle of the south tran- 
sept. Returning to the transept, we find, on the west side next the nave-aisle, a triple 
Mcade with the mouldings in tiie head of the centre arch, cut away for the reception of 
the bead of a former statue, and in the two outer compartments, are small brackets, so 
that this formed a group about a shrine. There is a drain &om the centre compartment, 
hy which we infer that there was a piscina. Adjoining this was a newel staircase, part of 
which now esists. 

On the opposite side, in t^e aisle, were some chapels to the east, divided by wooden 
screens. The mortices for a paiclose are still visible in the shafts ; and a piscina (o) of 
later construction is in &ir preservation, in the lower part is built a Norman capital : 
here was at least one altar, probably two or three ; the base of one is distinctly marked. 

Retracing our steps to the great craitral tower we turn again eastward, and are merely 
able to point out the position of the piers of the once choir. There were seven bays. 
It is curious, however, to observe that the eastern is within a few inches the same length 
as the western limb; one is divided into seven bays hy six pUlars, the other, as already 
stated, is divided into eight bays by seven pillars. 

In the choir, also, the few remnants of the bases are circular, while those in the nave 
ate elaboratly indented into shafts ; and although those in the choir are slightiy smaller 
in diameter, to l^e ^ht tiiey are practically larger, and I feel no hesitation in attributing 



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WENLOCK PRIORY. I55 

to an earlier age the construction of the choir than to the nave and tower. This indeed 
is the part which would be of Earl Roger's conBtructihg. The south wall haa the evidence 
of a doorway, probably the abbot's private door, and at the east end of ^e south aisle was 
a window corFesponding apparently with that at the extreme west end of the same aisle 
with an altar beneath it (c). The choir was a few inches wider than the nave and with 
equally wide aisles ; the arcading was of wider opening than in the nave, and was 
probably of semi-circular arches. 

The Lady chapel, still farther to the east, is just indicated by the foundation : it was 
about 41 feet long by 25 feet wide^ and without aisles. Of its ehaiacter and height we 
can form no conjecture, except by comparison with the parts immediately adjoining ; but 
the buttresses shew that it could not have been earUer than the middle of the twelfth 
century. We shall complete our examination of the church 1^ taking notice of the exterior 
before proceeding to the domestic departments. 

The west end exhibits su£Bcient to enable us to as clearly define its former appearance 
as the interior of the nave. There was a central door with a large western window over 
it and a small window lighting the south aisle, whether a similar window was in the north 
aisle it is impossible now to say, but as there was nothing similar in the internal airaage- 
ments, with the common disregard for balancing an elevation, a different window may 
have been placed in the north aisle. The side of the great west window partly remains, 
with the blanlc arcading on the face of the wall beside it The north &ont has nothing 
beyond a few portions of nearly bare wall, with the masonry of the same age as the 
internal parts, that is, of Early English construction, uid with the shallow projections 
which was the first form of buttresses, and supplied the place of the previously thicker 
walls to re^t the thrust of the groined vatdting or roof trusses. 

Of the eastern end nothing remains, nor indeed any thing to note, until we reach the 
south transept^ upon which we must bestow our chief attention to arrive at any conduaioa 
Here it is made evident that the nave and transepts were of equal height and form : the 
string course under the clerestory windows still exists, under which commenced the roof 
over the tiiforiiun. These clerestory windows arc single lights with a continuous label 
The south window of the transept is a triple window with a single narrow light over it in 
the gable, the latter lighting the space between the vaulting and the roof The remaining 
square-headed openings below these ranges of windo^ra communicate between the 
trifbrimu and a gall^ which ran all round the building, and was the place whence 
the draperies were hung on such festivals as required those decorations ; and formed 
also the means of communication with other parts of the buildings. . 

The conventual buildings are on the south side of the church. Making our way to 
' Forty &et wide. Mtmcutieon, t, 75. 

BB2 



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156 "WENLOCK PRIORY. 

those of the earlier buildings, we begin with the beautiful chapter house with its interlaced 
wall decorations tier above tier (Plate xii). Until recently, it has always been called a 
chapel, and had rubbish within it to the depth of several feet This is the only portion 
remaining of the structures commenced by Boger de Montgomeiy but not completed by 
him, for the date of its erection is certainly not within sixty years of his rebuilding. It is 
a beautiful specimen of the semi-Norman, or transitional period, which prevailed only 
during the reign of Henry the Second ; before which time Earl Roger had long been dead.* 
There is no record yet discovered by which we can ascertain the designer of this or indeed 
of any other part of the priory. It must have been in the abbacy of Humbald or that of 
Peter de Leja, the latter of whom was promoted to Saint David's in 1176. The walling 
is very elaborately ornamented with the interlaced arcading which has by some been 
supposed to have given rise to the invention of the pointed arch. There are innumerable 
examples of interlacing, but none so elaborate and beauti&l as this. It is divided l^igth- 
wise into three bays by blocks of six shafts, these bays ^ain being subdivided each into 
five spaces, by columns fiwm which spring the arches in three tiers intersecting each other 
in every tier. Almost every shaft lias a differently-carved capital Each bay has 
been vaulted and groined with six roll-ribs, which may have been later than the waUs. 
The diagonal masonry which fills the arch above the arcading is curious, and I should 
think of a date subsequent to the lower part-. 

The clear size is 51 feet by 28 feet 6 incites. Dugdale gives it as 66 feet by 31 feet 
and Britton 60 feet by 30 feet. 

The entrance from the cloister to t^e chapter house is through a recessed circular 
headed doorway, which may have been without doors, perhaps with a metal work gate, 
as the capitals run through to the inside. There is no way of ascertaining if the two side 
arches, which are rather narrower, were glazed, because the inner portions are broken away; 
it may, however, be assumed that they were not glazed. In the spandrils were formerly 
the figures of Saint Peter and Samt Paul, to whom the church was dedicated when 
rebuilt. That of Saint Paul is entirely gone ; but Saint Peter can be identified by his 
key, which is still to be made out It does not appear to be so early as the chapter house 
hy a century. 

The east end has been partly reconstructed, and there is part of a shaft remaining in 
the upper part which would lead to the notion that a window had been there in such a 
position as that it would light above the vaulting. In that case there may have been, as 
was most probable, a dormitoiy or library above the chapter house which was lifted by 
this window. Iliere is a string course alcmg the south end of the transept, from which a 
roof would lean, meetii^ the gutter of a roof over this chamber, and to which access 
> Vide p. 149 anU. 



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«3? 

S it 



•5 1 



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WENLOCK PRIORY. 157 

vould be obtained througli the triforiiim galleiy where two openings show that they were 
for ingress ; on the south side the lowest tier of arches have balls in the hollow of the 
archivolt similar to the ballflower in application. In two of the bays also, aa well as one 
on the north side, the columns instead of being of three shafts are of one column with 
reveals carved into lozenges with a raised quatrefoil flower in each lozenge ; these are con- 
tinued round the head. 

There is likewise on the south side a fireplace insetted, and there has been a door- 
way, the shafts haying been cut away for the purpose ; the former would appear to have 
been done not very long after tJie oiiginal construction. 

It may be well here to allude to an error of importance fallen into by Mr. Britton^ 
and others in reference to the string courses from which the columns spring. This has 
been repeatedly described as a seat, for which purpose it is much too narrow, and being 
also seven or eight feet from the floor, it is obvious that it was altogether above the 
monks' stalls, lliere may have been hangings or coats of arms in the recesses, as the 
mortices seem to show. 

The origin of the assertion seems to have been derived from the author of the letter- 
press of the Beauties of England and Wales,^ and repeated by Brittonin his later works 
— he probably never saw it, or he would at once have discovered that five feet of earth 
removed would alter the relative levels so much as to render impossible such a supposition. 
The view in the BeatUies of England and Wales,^ shows the entrance buried to within a 
diameter of the level of the capitals of the shafts. 

The great cloister exhibits only bare walls. The string courses show the position of 
the former roo^ hy whidi we see that it was not vaulted; they further show the width of 
the ambulatory. The outer wall nert the garth is entirely destroyed. There were the 
usual two doorways into the nave, one of which is no longer in existence ; the other, 
which opens under the lower part of the aisle at the western end is tolerably perfect. 
The cloister curiously diminishes in width toward the west It is remarkable, that in the 
abbey of Cluhy this part of the bmldiogs has a sinular departure from the rectangular plan. 

We now proceed to the conventual buildings of the Early 'BngHnh period. Nortihward 
of the chapter hoiise in the cloister is the triple groined recess before noticed (b on the 
plan). It is four feet eight inches in dear depth with the three front openings about eight 
feet three inches wide, with corresponding recesses at the back. These last ezaetly match 
those in the chamber above the crypt of the north transept. I am disposed to regard the 
arrangement as purely accidental, arising horn the increase of the size of the chturdi and 
tiie desire to preserve the chapter house, the line of which had to be continued to the former; 
and with the usual ingenuity of tiie age to which it belongs, the accident was turned to 
' Architeetvrai Aniiq., W, p. 63. * VoL xiii, p. 200. ' lb., p. 196. 



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138 WENLOCK PRIORY. 

account and Bomething useful -and beautiful at once produced. It was not the usual po- 
sition for a lavatory, although, from the absence of any indication of it anywhere else it 
may have been one; but its most probable UBe was that of a cupboard where the every- 
day books were kept, this being the exact position one would point to as complying with 
the descriptions of Dogdale^ and YioUet le Duc,^ I therefore am inclined to consider it the 
" Petite Bibliothk[ue". It has, in almost all parts, what are technically termed straigU- 
joints, which show that all but the main walls was built subsequently to the other parta 

The masonty and the doorways which now partly fill up the original azchways are 
modem, the dressed stones having been re-applied from some other part ai the building. 

Facing the chapter house was the dormitory, now altogether swept away. The 
guest house was further to tjie west ; nothing remains of it From the north end rose 
the stair which led to the upper floora containing t^e dormitories and the chamber over 
tlie aisle, as well as to the gallery in the triforium, which, as there was no upper floor to 
the ambulatory of the cloister, will have been used as passage rooms, and the gallery as a 
means of communication. On tiie south side of the cloister was the refectory, two walls 
of which are yet tolerably perfect It was a lofty room, too lofty, apparently, to have had 
any room over it, and it was groined in eight bays ; it was thirty-two feet wide, by 
eighty-five feet long. A noble room it must have appeared with its lightly moulded ribs 
springing &om carved corbels, while its lower part was hung, probably, with tapestries, or 
its walls covered with frescoes. The kitchen, probably, was at b, Plate x. 

, Amongst the more distant buildings is one that can have been none other than the 
infirmary. It is at present used as a cow-house I There has been an entrance beside it 
The piece of wall shewn at h on the plan is modem, and built of old worked stonea Of 
the other buildings there are several rooms adjoining the abbot's lodg^, and on the north 
side of the smaller cloister (i, K, and l) ; these were for offices, and are of early date.' 

The tower at t^e present entrance has been always called a gate-tower ; it is 
necessary, however, first to prove that the entrance was there. Of this I am not at all 
certain. There are no evidences of any gateway adjoining it and it may just as likely 
have been a dove-cot 

Some of the old walls of the groimds to the sout^ are curiously loopholed at q in 
the plan. The dotted lines at p indicate the position of former walls. These are likely 
to have been the various workshops. 

At H at the end of the wall in the rear of the abbot's lodging, is an ancient 
gardei-obe. 

' MmicuUam, t, p. vi of introdactioii. * DtetUmnaire Baimnnh de VArchUeci. Fran^aisa, i, 258. 

* Since the Congress, Bome of tha focdng hu hetm removed, and very eariy doorways hxn been 
diBcorered. 



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FiJ 1 




r,6 3 

[ 

InuiGiid Knving Tile. One Un.d real m.e 


Window in Albolii Kol'pclonv 


Inriiioil Slone One eigbth real Biie 


— 
Waljir-driun in AbbotB Rereclorj- 




rig, 5. 

^: - ■■:. I 

I)(uiblfi Cupboard m Abbots Paj-lour 

J 


y„l(ob<'ilt,l S.A del. 







WENLOCK FRiOKY. SHHOl'Bll I R E . 



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WENLOCK PRIORY. 139 

The abbol^a house, allowing for alteratioi^ is the most perfect part of these lemains, 
and is still habitable ; its date, however, is more than two caituries latet. It is Tudor — 
far &om being of the best Hnd — and is diminished in extent 

The upper floor still showa the abbot's refectory or hall, and the withdrawing room 
or parlour beyond. There are indications of a gallery at one end of the former. Both 
these rooms have large corbelled pedestals in all the window-jambs, which were intended 
for service, or side tables to fill the recesses ; they do not touch the floor by upwards of an 
inch. A view of one of these windows, with its pedestals and the original oak shutters, is 
shown in Fig. 1, Plate zin. 

The refectory (Fig. 2) has a water drain and sink. There is also a double cupboard 
in the divisional wall, with ledges for shelves to be fitted in as 'mentioned for the 
windows (Fig. 5). These rooms are accessible &om a newel staircase, as well as from the 
open corridor. On tlie north side of the hall were the sleeping apartments. 

On the lovrer story are several rooms thoroughly modernized and the antique 
appearance obhterated. 

The chapel is in better preservation, and retains the stone altar (f, Plate x) and the 
worn steps which have the marks of the former railing. A stone reading desk was dog 
out of the ruins some few years ago ; it is of Wenlock marble, Bculptured with late 
Nomum sculpture ; there is only one other known. Parker figures this altar and 
lectern in his glossary.* 

There is here a small sitting statue of a saint, crosa-l^ged, with a crown on her head, 
and holding either a closed book or a bag. This may be meant to represent St. Milburg, 
but it is a carving made long after the church was dedicated to St Peter and St Paul, 
and is therefore hardly probable. It may have been intended for Isabel de Sai, Lady of 
Clnn. This carving, which is of the end of the thirteenth century, would be more 
consistent with that view than the other. Mr. Planch^, at our Congress at Kewbuiy in 
1860, informed us that, in his opinion, the representation of cross-le^ed figures was 
indicative of the person represented having feudal jurisdiction, and that this power, and 
this manner of representing it wctc not restricted to men. There is a garderobe on the 
ground floor (o on the plan) which is covered by a stone slab of earlier date, with carved 
panelling on the underside. 

Parker' gives a tolerably accurate description of the abbofs lodging, though I 
cannot subscribe to all his su^estions or conclusions. His plans are not quite accurate. 
Several writers mention a former painting on the walls of the abbot's parlour ; one is 
described to be a representation of St. George and the Dragon. 

^ Yol. ii, plate 2. At page 1? it is described as of Early English workmanship, hat he corrects 
iioB in his Someitie Arehiteetitre, ' Domutic ArehHe^mre, m, 336. 



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160 WENLOCK PRIORY. 

The front of the lodging consists of a wide two-storied corridor, extending the whole 
length, with continuous ranges of windows, which have been glazed on both stories. 
They are divided into bays of four windows by buttresses ; the sub-divisions are made by 
smaller intermediate piers and buttresses. The roof, which commences from the eaves of 
the corridor, is enormously high. From the lower corridor there are some unusual and 
curiously splayed "squints" into the house; these are lai^c enough to have been used for 
the passing of small parcels, but are more likely to have been used simply for looking 
trom the inside to the outside.^ 

Of the seals of the priory few have been noticed. One is said to have been found at 
Clun Church in 1760, of which no particulars are given. Willis^ mentions one of Arms 
az. 3 garbs, or, in pale a erozier, arg. Another mentioned by Dugdale^ is a coarse repre- 
sentation of St. Milburga, sitting in a homely dress, with an instrument like a two- pronged 
fork on her right shoulder. A later one is a fuU length, with a book in the left hand and 
a bunch of flowers in tiie right A fourth is a seal to a deed in the Harleian Collection 
(83 D, 3) 30° Heniy VIII. It is oval, a Virgin and Child. Beneatii, in two niches, are 
an armed figure, probably St. George with the dragon below, and a female figure. The 
reverse is a female half figure with a erozier. The inscriptions are "siqill' bccl' 

VAUS . MONACHORVM . d' WENLOK " and " 8A2ICTA . MILBVRGA." * 

One not hitherto mentioned I have been &.voured with by the present possessor, the 
rev. T. F. More, of Linley HalL It is a brass matrix 'coated with gold, and was found at 
Hopton Caatie by Colonel L. More, in whose family it has been since retained. It con- 
sists of a representation of St George and the dragon, within a vesica jnscis, two inches 
and a half long and one inch and a half broad. The figure is beneath a trefoiled canopy, 
which is supported on two slender columns ; the wings and head of St Geoi^e fill the 
tie-foils. It appears to be of the thirteenth century. The l^end roimd is " s' ecclie ; 
coNCENTUALis : DE WENLOK : AD CAVHAS : TANTUM." The connection of this seal with 
the alleged painting on the wall and the previously named seal ia obvious. 

In the late Mr. Caley's collection of Hewlett's drawings of ancient seals there were — - 

1. The common seal of Wenlock Priory, from a deed of the xii scbc. 

2. The seal of Prior Humbert ni scbc. 

3. Seal and counterseal of the Priory, from conventual lease, 28th Henry VIII, in the 
Augmentation ofice. 

^ Parker, in his account, altogether avoids mentioniiig these, althoogh he shows them in his plan. 
The scale of my plan is too small to show them. The &ont of the Bablake College, Corentrf , has a veiy 
BiinilH,r two-storied corridor, with a similarly disproportioned roof. This is fig^ured in the sixteenth part 
of DoUman and Jobbins's Analygu of Ancient DometHc Archiiecture. 

' Mitred Abbeys, ii, 192. ' MonmiKon, v, 74. * lb. 



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WENLOCK PRIORY. 161 

4. From an early charter s. d. in the Chapter House, Westminster. 

5. Seal of Prior John Stratton, from a charter of the date of 1468 in the Aug- 
mentation office.^ 

The ruins have been subjected to very rude treatment Mr. Moore, writing in 1787, 
says that, many years before, great part of the abbey was pulled down to rebuild some 
houses, and only four years prior one of the clustered pillars of the church was nearly 
levelled and a cart was waiting to take it away. To the credit of the late Sir Watkin 
Williams Wynn it should be observed that he, as well as the subsequent owners, put a 
stop to further depredations. 

In the grounds on the east of the church I observed a heap of worked stones gathered 
from the ruins, and on looking over these I discovered one which had been part of a base 
(Tig. 4, Plate xin); on the upper surface were some very beautiftdly incised lines of Early 
English mouldings, which illustrate the subject of ancient architectural drawing ; the 
lines show that they were cut as moulds, and not for the purpose of the stone itself ; 
indeed tiey extend beyond the points where they could have been available, and there 
are other mouldings neither connected nor applicable. I believe this to be the only 
instance of the kind yet discovered 

There, also, I found a comparatively rare example of paving tile, a small portion of 
simply incised pottery, for a drawing of which, as restored, see fig. 3, Plate XUL There 
are many pieces of tiles scattered about the ruins, bearing representations of shields, 
animals, and various emblems ; one, two inches and three quarters square, has a repre- 
sentation of the moon's face in incised lines ; the tile is red. 

There are no fish-ponds to be seen, indeed they seem to have been long destroyed, 
but there arc appearances of some to the east of the abbotfs lodging. Leland, in his 
Itinerary, fo. 182, relates that there was formerly a little brooklet running west from the 
hills through the town, and called Rke, which ran into the Severn two miles distant. 

Of the Priors of Wenlock the following is a list compiled from the most perfect as 
given by the Rev. Mr. Eyton : — E-ymce. of 

Commenoed. Tenore oocur. Tenniiuted. 

Peter — . . 1120 . . — 

^'^'^ - • ■ Imsl • • - 

TT V u w t u am\ . . 1169, seceded to 

Hmnbald,orW3mebald . . . . _ . , j^^^^J ^^^^^ 

(Interregnum.) 
1 The drawings, upon the death of Mr. Caley, were pnrcliased by Mr. Thorpe, bookseller, in 
Piccadilly, and by him dispersed to Tarions pnrchaeers. 
< Paisley was one of the priories affiliated to Weulocfe. 



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162 



WENLOCK PEIOEY. 



Commenoed. 

Peter de Leja — 

Hemy — 

Robert — 

Joybert — 

Humbert, or Imbert — 

A]nno de Montibus 1261 

John de Tycford, or Thifford . . 1272 

Hemy de Bonville 1285 

Hemy — 

Gwycard de Cato Loco .... 1320 

Humbert — 

Hemy de Myonna, or de Chay . . — 

Otto de Floriaco — 

William de Pontefract .... — 

Eoger Wyvill — 

Jolm Stafford 1397 

William Brugge — 

Eoger Barry 1438 

Eoger Wenlock 1462 

John Sttatton 1468 

John Shrewsbury 1471 

Thomas Sutbuiy 1482 

Eichaid Syngar, alias Wenloke . . 1485 

Boland Gossenell 1521 

John Bayly 1S27 



Tenure ocoor. 




. . — . 


(1176, promoted to St 
• 1 David's. 


JH92J 
■ ■ U191) • 






(1200) 


. 1216, died. 


. . 1221 . 


. 1260, died. 


. . 1263 . 


. 1272, died. 


(1292) 
■ • 1306) ■ 


. 1319-20. 


. . 1344 . 


. — 


. . 1348 . 


. — 


(1360) 




■ ■ 11362) ■ 




. . 1371 . 


. — 


. . 1379 . 


. — 


. . 1395 . 


. 1397 


. . 1422 . 


, — 


. . 1436 . 


. 1437, resigned. 


: : I : 


. 1462, died. 


; ; I : 


. 1482, resigned 


. . I486 . 


— 


. . 1489 . 


1521 supeiseded. 


. . 1526 . 


— 


. . — . 


. 1640, surrendered. 



Christmas Day, 1553, died 



The Mte, says Mr, Blaxeway, was granted to one AuousTiias, whose name bespeaks 
him a foreigner. He was, periiaps, one of the king's physicians. He sold it in 1545 to 
Thomas Lawlet, whose descendants ^ain diiqposed of it to the family of Gaoe, &om 
whom it pasaed to Sie J. Wtnk. It is now owned by J. M. Graakdl, Esq., M.P. 



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BKl'ULCHBAI. fi.LAB IK THE ABBEY CHURCH , SHRf;W8HURY. 



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ON A SEPULCHRAL SLAB IN THE ABBEY OHUKOH, 
SHREWSBURY. 

THOMAS J. PETTIGREW, ESQ., F.R.S., F.8.A., V.P. AND TREASURER. 



"fXTITHIN the range of subjectB embraced by the antiquary, there are few which in 
* * interest can be found to Tie with monumental tombs, crosses, sepulchral slabs and 
effigies, pointing out to us the last resting place of man, and offering to our notice the 
position maintained by the individual during life, his habits, connexions, etc. Some time 
has now elapsed since my Mend, Mr. Edward FaJkener, obligingly favoured me witii the 
drawing of a monumental cross depicted on the cover of a tomb in the south aisle of the 
Abbey Church of Shrewsbury, in which we are now assembled,^ and I therefore embrace 
the opportunity of directing your attention to a most interesting specimen of this 
description, appertaining to monumental art (See Plate xiv.) 

It is an example of a very rare kind, if, indeed, it be not unique. It is a slab of the 
shape known as dot d'dne, placed over the tomb of a clerk m minor orders. Its appearance, 
general character, and treatment, would appear to justify its being referred to the 
thirteenth century. Below a richly floriated cross in high relief, on the left hand 
division of the tomb, lies the effigy of the deceased, also in high relief, his hands joined 
in prayer. He is vested simply in an albe ; and on the right (his left) there are four 



1. A bell, in outline, close to the left side of his head. 

2. What seems to be a chalice in outline, conjectured also to be a holy water vat ; 

it is, however, a cup, and contains the holy wafer. 

3. A book, or missal, in outline. 

4. A lighted taper in a candlestick, also in outline. 

According to the ancient English Ritual, the albe was a portion of dress worn by all 
clerks whose duty was to minister at the altar, and is so worn in France to this day, 
tJiough in those countries where the Roman Ritual is followed, the surplice has taken 
its place. The albe was, indeed, the origin of the surplice, and is a long white linen 
garment, though it has occasionally been made of a coloured material and ornamented 
with figures. It reaches from the neck to the heels, and is sometimes folded round the 

' Bead at the Shrawsbni; GongreHs, 1860. 

CC2 



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164 ON A SEPULCBKAL SLAB 

loins by a girdle. It m worn very generally by ecclesiastics in the Roman Church, from 
bishops to choristers. 

There are in the Roman Catholic Church seven orders, viz., those of Ostlaby, 
Lector, Exobcist, Acolyte, Sdb-Deacon, Deacon, and Priest, the first four being 
called MINOR, the last three holy orders. The collation of each of these orders is 
accompanied by the tradition of the instruments proper to the office to be exercised.' 

' The precise appropriation of the emblems to the different orders in tiie clmrch, is most Batis&ctorily 
shewn in the following jodgment and sentence of deprivation, delivered at a Convocation of the Prelates 
and Chnrch of the province of Canterbory, in St. Paul's Cathedral, upon WiUiam Sawtre, alias Cb&trye, 
for heretical opinionB, Jannary 26, 1400 : — 

" In nomine Patris, Filii, et Spiritns Sanctis. Amen. INos Thomas, permissions divina Cant. 
archiepiscopQS, totias Anglisa primae, et apostolicte sedis legatns, te Willelm. Sawtre, alias Chatrys, 
oapellannm pnetensam in habita et apparatn sacerdotaU indatam, hiereticnm et in heresin relapsnm, per 
nostram Bcnteiitiain definitivam condemnatam de consilici, assenso, et auctoritate, ao conclnaione etiam 
omniom confratrom nostromm cnpiBCopornm, et pnelatomm, ac totina cleri concilii nostri provindalia, ab 
ordine sacerdotali degradamns et deponimuB ; et in signnm degradationis et actnalis depositionig ab ordine 
laeerdoUUi propter incorrigibilitatem tn&m, tibi palenam. et caiie&m anferimns, ac omni pot«Btate missam 
celebrandi t« privamns ; necnon te casola exoimns veatemque tacerdotalem anferimns, ac te omni et 
omnimodo honore sacerdotal) privamns. 

" Item, nos Thomas archiepiscopns antedictns, anctoritate, consilio, et assensn, qaibns snpra, te 
WUIelmnm antedictnm, diaconom pnetenanm, in habitu et apparatn diaconali indntnm, libmm evange- 
lionun habentem in manibos, htereticnm et relapsnm per sententiam, nt presfertur, coudemnatnm, ab 
ordine dicuxmrdi degradamns et deponimns : et in signnm degradationiB et actnalis depositionis hnjngmodi, 
Vhrum evangelionan et gtolam tibi aoferimna, ac te poteetate legendi evangelinm, ac omni et omnimodo 
honore diaconali privamns. 

" Item, nos Thomas archiepiscopns prffldictns, anctoritate, consilio, et assensn, qnibns snpra, te Will, 
pnsfatnm, snbdiaconnm prstensnni, in habita et vestimento snbdiaconali indntnm, hesreticnm et relapsnm 
per sent«ntiam, nt pramittitnr, condemnatam, ab ordine STibdimxmnii degradamns et deponimns : et in 
mgnnm degradationis et actnalis depositionis, tibi aUioTn el manipuhim. anferimns, ac te omni et omnimodo 
honore snbdiaconali privamns. 

" Item, noa Thonus archiepiscopns antedictos, anctoritate, consilio, et assensn, qoibos sapra, te Will, 
pnedictnm, acolitnm prntensnm, in habitn acotitatns indntnm, htereticnm et relapsnm per sententiam 
nostram, nt pnemittitnr, condemnatam, ab ordine aeolUatug degradamns et deponimns : et in signnm 
degradationis et actnalis depositionis, tibi ceroferarivm et •urceoliem aoferimas, ac te omni et omnimodo 
bonore acolitatns privamos. 

" Item, noB Thomas archiepiscopns pnedictns, anctoritate, consilio, et assensn, qnibos snpra te Will 
predictom, exorcistam praetensnm, in habitn exorcistcs indntom, hiereticnm et relapsnm per nostram 
sententiam, nt prsmittitnr, condemnatam, ab ordine eaorcuta degradamns et deponimns : et in signnm 
degradationis et actnalis depositionis hnjnsmodi, tibi lihrwn exorewmorum anferimns, ac te omni et omoi- 
modo honore exordsln privamos. 

" Item, nos Thomas archiepiscopns predictiiB, anctoritate, consflio, et asBensn, qnibns sapra, te Will, 
antedictnm, lectorem pnetensnm, in habitn lectoris indatam, fatereticom et relapsam per nostrun 
sententiam, nt pnsmittitnr, condemnatnm, ab ordine lecUtris degradamns et deponimns : et in signnm 
degradationis et actnalis depositionig hojosmodi, tibi codicam divinantm leotumum anferimns, ac te omni et 
omnimodo honore lectoris privamns. 



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IN THE ABBEY CHURCH, SHREWSBURY. 165 

Thus the clerk who is to be ordained Ostiaey or doorkeeper, as his duty is to opea and 
close the church, and to ring the bells for divine service, has at his ordination the keys of 
the church delivered to him, and is then conducted by the archdeacon to the doors of the . 
church, which he opens and shuts, and is then made to toll the bell. 

The Lectob, whose especial duty is to read the lessons during the divine office, has 
delivered to him at his ordination a book containing the said lessons. 

The ExoECiST, whose office is to exorcise, to separate the non-communicants from 
the communicants, and to minister water for the sacrifice, has a missal deUvered to hi m. 

The Acolyte, who has to serve at mass and to light the candles, has a candle and 
an empty cruet delivered to him. 

This delivering of the instruments, as practised at the present day in the Koman 
Catholic Church, was the same in the English branch thereof in old times, although the 
form of words with which it was accompanied differed slightly from those of the Roman 
pontifical From this it appears that the proper emblems of tliese four minor orders 
would be a key, a book of lessons, a missal, and a candle. On this tomb, however, we 
find different instruments. 

I. For the key we have tibe bell, which, equally with the key, symbolizes the 
office of Ostiary ; and it is easy to account for its being preferred here, since the 
key is so commonly employed on tombstones as a secular emblem, denoting, as 
has been satisfactorily proved, the mistress of a household. The key occurs on 
various slabs and brasses. It appears upon a double incised slab in the chancel 
of Ayeliffe church, in the county of Durham, figured by Dr. Edward Charlton,^ and 
by him and some others, has been regarded as an appropriate emblem of the 
female 9ex, denoting a sedulous and careM matron. Dr. Charlton has also^ instanced, 
by a rubbing from a stone in a church in the neighbourhood of Darlington, a 

" Item, nos Thomas arch Sep iscopaa prtedictuB, aactoritate, cousilio, et assensn, qnibns Bnpra, te Will. 
Sawire antedictoia, ostUrmm prffitensnm, in habitn ustiarii et enperpelliceo indutom, hereticnin et 
relapBnm per nOBtram sententiam, definitivani, at pnenuttitnr, condemnatum, ab ordine ogtiarii degra* 
damos et deponimna ; et in signnm de^adatloius et eictualis depoBitioniB hnjosmodi, ex cansis prffimiBsis 
tibiclace* ecciesiffiet sMjiwyeUiceMmaTiferiinua, acomnietonmiinodohoiiore et commodo ostiarii fe privamus: 
nee non te Will. Sawtre, alias dictum Chatiys, anctoritate Dei omnipotentiB Paferia, et Filii, et SpirituB S. 
ac nostra et aactoritate, cousilio, et aesenau totius concilii nostri provincialis Biipraecripti, ab ordinibns, 
benefidis, et privilegiis, et babita et foro eccIeBiaaticis propter tuam pertinaciam et incorrig^bilitatem, 
curia secolart conatabolarii et marescalli regni Anglise coram nobis hie perBonaliter prteBente, degradamiis 
et deponimns, ac omnibuB et BuiguliB honoribos et inaigniis clericalibns qoibnscumqne exnimns et priTamns 
in hiia scriptia. Necnon in signam degradatioms et depOBitionia actnaliam, aoronam et teneu,ram. deriaalem 
in nostra pnesentia fecimos abradi, et ad instar laici eecnlariB peritns deleri, ac capiti ejmdem Willelmi, 
tonqnam laici secnlaris, capitinm Btragolatnm apponi ; rogantea eandem curiam, qoatemns &yorabiliter 
ipemn WiUelmnm velit habere recommisanm." — WilkinB, Concilia Uagn. Brit, et Hib., tont. iii, pp. 259-60. 

' Archaohgical Jtmmai, vol. v, fig. 7, p. 257. ' Ibid., fig. 8. 



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166 ON A SEPULCHRAL SLAB 

double example, having on one aide a Bword, and on the other the shears and two 
keys ;^ a coffin slab at Bakewell, Derbyshire, presents a key and a pair of shears f there 
is another at Newbigging on the Sea, Northumberland ; one at the same place has two 
keys and a pair of sheats ; and at Bamburgh, in Northumberland, there is also a further 
example of the key and shears. The key, in combination with a fish, occurs on a slab at 
St Mary, Gateshead, Durham,^ and it appears alone on a slab at Bakewell.* The key 
may be looked upon as the emblem of some magisterial or other official position. It is 
the known distinction of a chamberlain. It may also represent a locksmith. 

II. The book is the emblem of a lector or reader. 

III. But what is the instrument which stands above it 1 It looks like a chalice, bat 
this it ought not to be, for the person represented on this tomb could not have been even 
a sub-deacon. The sole dress of the albe, the absence of the maniple and tunicle, is 
sufficient to shew this, and no one below the order of sub-deacon is permitted to touch 
the chalice. This symbol then should be intended for something else. It has been 
su^ested by a high authority, who, however, has not made personal inspection of the 
tomb, that it may offer the representation of a holy water vat. This would very fitly 
symbolize the order of exorcist, one of whose duties is to bless holy water, and would be 
chosen for that purpose in preference to the book, which ia equally the symbol of the order 
of lectors; but I cannot subscribe to this interpretation. The vessel is, however, unques- 
tionably in the form of the chalice, and it has the four essentifd parts : the foot, the stem, 
the knop, and the bowl. Chalices employed in the holy communion have the cross, the 
emblem of crucifixion, or the initials I.H.S., engraved in one of the divisions of the foot. 
Here, however, the vessel is merely represented in outline. The object figured on this 
tomb appearing within the cup or chalice cannot be other than the holy wafer. The pyx, 
signifying literally a box, is employed in connexion with ecclesiastical offices, as of any 
vessel holding the holy Eucharist, or even as reliquaries containing the remains of holy 
peraons. Altar breads are usually held in them. We know, however, that pyxes have 
assumed a variety of forms, and been composed of various materials. Thus we have seen 
them in the figure of a dove, also of a globe surrounded by a cross ; in which case, as we 
learn from the late Mr. Pugin, Mons. Didron, and others, they are usually of copper gilt 
and enamelled. They have also been made of beryl, of ivory, etc. When the pyx is 
transparent it is called a monstrance. The chalice is also formed of various substances : 
of copper gilt, of silver, of tin, of pewter, and Mr. Albert Way" enumerates glass, horn, 
cocoa nut, and wood. Glass was forbidden by the Council of Eheims, a.d. 226, and horn, 
as being formed of blood, in the reign of Egbert Dr. Charlton, in his examination of 

' Arch. Joum., fig. 8. • Ji. iv, p. 49. * lb. v, fig. 11. 

' n. iv, p. 48. ' Ib.m, 183. 



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IN THE ABBEY CHURCH, SHREWSBURY. 16? 

tlie sepulchral slabs of the counties of Northumberland and Durham,^ rarely found the 
chalice and book together. 

rv. The candle and candlestick fonn a symbol of the order of acolyte. The altar 
candlestick consists of five parts, namely, the foot, the stem, a kuop about the centre 
to lift it by, a bowl to receive the droppings of the wax, and the pricket or point 
terminating the stem and upon which the taper is fixed. On the candlestick upon the 
tomb the knop appears to have been omitted. 

The four minor orders are generally conferred on the same day, and the tomb now 
before us may be regarded as having belonged to one who had duly received them, and is 
therefore represented with their accompanying symbols. The tombs of ecclesiastics 
below the order of the priesthood are exceedingly rare. Of deacons, a very learned 
member of the Roman Catholic priesthood, and a most excellent antiqiiaiy, acquaints me 
that he knows only of one at Eyton, in the county of Durham; one at Bippingale, in 
Lincolnshire ; one at Lichfield, on the exterior of the transept and choir ; and besides 
these there are some curioiis monuments within the cathedral, representing, as it were, 
the body buried in the wall, of which portions are removed to show the head and feet, 
and three of these may be tombe of deacons. I am not aware that there is more than 
one brass of a deacon known, and that is what is termed a palimpsest Of sub-deacons 
there is also one with which we are acquainted, and that memorial is at Wootton, in the 
north of Lincolnshire, a mutilated slab, outside the churchyard gate, with a cruet on each 
side the shaft of the cross. Of those below the order of sub-deacon, the subject of the 
present notice is, perhaps, the only one that has hitherto been met with. This circum- 
stance has induced me to enter so much into detail respecting it. 

The following extracts ofier authorities for the statements made as to the application 
of the several instiruments as emblems of the minor orders of the Boman Cathohc 
priesthood '^ 

In the Pontifical of Ecgbehrt, archbishop of York in the early Anglo-Saxon times, 
the original of which is now in the National Library of Paris, we read as follows : 

" OsTiAErns cum ordinatur — ^tradat ei ep's (episcopus) claves de altari dicens, Ac. 
(foL 19, b.) 

" Lectoe cum ordinatur — tradat (episcopus) ei codicem de quo lecturus est, dicens, 
Ac. {fo. 21, b.) 

** ExoBCiSTA cum ordinatur accipiat de manu episcopi libellum in quo scripti sunt 
exorcismi, Ac. (foL 22.) 

"AccoLiTDB cum ordinatur — ab archidiacono accipiat ceroferarium cum cera, 
Ac. (fo. 23.)" 

' Arehaohgicai Jownal, v, p. 253. * See also note, p. 164 ante. 



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168 ON A SEPULCHRAL SLAB 

Thus far among the ADglo-Sazons, now for the English usage. A Pontifical, which 
once belonged to Lacy, bishop of Exeter, A.D. 1452, has been lately printed, and in 
it we have : 

" OsTiABiuu oportet percutere cymbalam, kc, et (episcopue) tradet eis (oBtiariis) 
claves {p. 79.) 

" Lbctorem oportet legere, Ac. Tunc episcopus tradat illis lectionarium, &c. (p. 80.) 

"ExoECTSTE competit abjicere demones, &c Tunc epiacopua tradat illis librum 
ezorcismorum, &c. (p. 81.) 

"AcoLiTDM oportet ceroferarium ferre et luminaria ecdeaise accendere, Ac. Et 
tradat illis episcopus ceroferarium cum cereo, kc. (p. 81.)" 

The differences between the old English and Anglo-Saxon fonns, compared with 
those in the present Roman Pontifical for bestowing minor orders, were very slight and 
immaterial : in the tradition of instruments there was no difference at all 

We come now to an interesting part of our inquiry, as to the occupant of the tomb. 
Along the edge, on the right of the extended figure, are the following letters, in characteis 
belonging to the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries : — T :^ m : o ; E : E : u :^ F. The first 
five are perfectly distinct ; concerning tie latter two a difference of opinion may be 
entertained. They have been read u A and ah. To the present time T. M. o. k. s. it. A 
has been the most commonly received signification, and explained as meaning Thomas 
More, vicarius abbatise. It is recorded that this monument was brought from St. Giles's 
church ;^ and in the parish book of the Holy Cross and St. Giles, as I am informed by 
the Rev. PhUip Whitcombe, under the date of 1616, is the following entry : "Sir Thomas 

' This ia & compound letter, as I diatmoUy perceive from a robbing most carefbUy taken for me by 
Mr. Hillary Davies. It is Th. 

' This may probably alao be a doable letter Ui (Vi). 

* Mr. Henry Pidgeon, chamberlain of the corporation of Sbrewsbory and die author of a most 
excellent guide to the town and ite antiqnitiea, haa acquainted me that the stone stood originally on the 
floor of the chancel of St. Giles's choroh, and waa removed te 1^ abbey abont the year 1824, when it was 
elevated on a bsBement. Nearly adjoining it in St. Oilea's, outside the ohancel arch, Mr. Pidgeon farther 
states were three other flat stones, ornamented with rode crosses in relief and of difierent forms, bnt 
without inscriptions. These are aow covered by the pews, bat Mr. Pidgeon made a slight sketch of them 
in 1826. This gentleman, whilst disposed to admit the antiquity of the slab to be of a time anterior to 
tbat in which Thomas More flourished, thinks the characters of the letters to be in agreement with tiie 
period of his incumbency, and that his decease having occurred some years after his resignation, farther 
notice of his occupancy of the hving was rendered nnnecessary beyond that of Di. v., which he reads 
Vicarnu Foricta. Mr. Pidgeon was, I believe, the first to suggest the letter formerly regarded as a to be 
an F. iSr. Pidgeon iurther soggeste the probability of Sir Thomafl Mare dying at his vicarage of Wrock- 
vrardine, his remaias should have been removed to St. Qiles for interment, and placed beneatfi the 
ancient monumental slab. An example of this practice is ofiered at St. Mary's, Shrewabniy, where, in 
1403, the Earl of Worcester was buried beneath an altar tomb of the Leyboome family belonging to tlie 
thirteenth century. 



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IN THE ABBEY CHURCH, SHREWSBURY. 169 

More was vicar of the Holy Cross from 1402 to Majch 16, 1425-6." Of Sir Thomas 
More I have been unable to learn any particulars. More is a common name in Shrop- 
shire, and the title " sir" we know was very commonly applied to die clergy in early 
times. The reading noff proposed is, T. More, Vicarius Forriete, vicar of the Foregate, 
i.e., of the Abbey Foregate. 

The vicarage of the Holy Croea; or as styled in the episcopal registers of Lichfield, 
" The vicarage of the Altar of the Holy Cross within the monastery of Salop," and in one 
entry in the episcopal registers of Hereford, sub anno 1400: "Vicaria Altaris Sancte 
Crucis, Ecclesia Parochiafis de Foriete Monachorum." In another deed in the parish 
chest, of the date of 29" Henry VI, The'. Hochekys and Will. Nesse are styled " Wardens 
of the church of the Holy Cross and of the chapel of St Giles in Monks Foriete."^ This 
is now generally called the Abbey Parish. 

The churches of Holy Cross and St Giles had a common seal It is given in Owen 
and Blakeway's History of Shrewsbui'y (ii, 143), and ita legend reads : s'.commtke. db. 
PPOEYATB. MONACHOB. There was a vicar as early as the middle of the thirteenth 
century, and the agreement relating to the revenues of the vicarage are still extant. It 
is entitled " A Composition bytwene the Abbott and the Vicar of the Foryatt." The 
Holy Cross, alias Abby Foryate, in Shrewsbury, has been repeatedly met with. Among 
the vicars enumerated is the following : 

" 1402, Sept 8. Sir Thomas More, chaplain. He was instituted to the vicarage of 
Wrockwardine, March 16, 1425-6, and thereupon resigned the Holy Crosa" The 
presentations to the vicarage prior to the Dissolution were by the Abbot and Convent, 
afterwards by the Crown, and in 1797 an Act of Parliament waa^)assed by which the 
advowson was granted to Thomas Noel, Lord Berwick, in exchange for advowsona of the 
chorches of lUsby and Fomham St. Genoveve, in the county of Suffolk, for this, which in 
die act is denomiuated the Abbey Church, otherwise Holy Cross with St Giles annexed. 
The present register commences Sept 22, 1541. The churchwarden's accoimts are from 
1565. The vicarage of Holy Cross and of St Giles are now distinct; the former being 
at this time held by the Eev. PhUip Whitcombe, the latter by the Eev. R. L. Burton. 

From the preceding remarks, then, it will appear that the tomb in the Abbey Church 
of Shrewsbury was removed from the church of the Holy Crtss and St Giles. Such has 
ever been the received opinion. 

Its composition and character, as especially deduced from its shape, and the design 
of the floriated crosa, would induce a belief of its belonging to the thirteenth century. 

The emblems upon it are those belonging to a clerk in minor orders. 

But if the interpretation of the letters Th. M. o. R. e. xjl f. are to be admitted as 

' Owen and Blakeway'e Hietory of Shrewiinnry, toL ii, p. 142. 

DD 



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170 ON A SEPULCHRAL SLAB IN THE ABBEY CHURCH, SHREWSBURY. 

dgnifying Thomas More, vicar of the Foregate, and the entry in the parish book referred 
to regarded as having reference to this individual, the monument mxwt thereby be 
assigned to the fifteenth century. There is nothing to justify the suspicion that the 
letters have been sculptured subsequently to the compoaition of the monument, and 
there are no documents, as far as my inquiries have enabled me to ascertain, giving 
particulars which bear upon the removal or the erection of the tomb. I have placed the 
subject, I hope, fully and fairly before the Association, and I leave to the members to 
draw their own conclusions upon it 



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SKA-1.S OF HIGH ADMIRALS OF ENGLAND. 
Fi^.Z. Fi8.3. 



Fig. 4. 



D.snzcdbyVjUUl^lC 



ON THE SEALS OF EICHARD DUKE OF GLOUCESTER 
AND OTHER ADMIRALS OF ENGLAND. 

THOMAS J. PETTIQREW, ESQ., F.R.S., F.S.A., V.P. AND TREASUREE. 



rpHE intereet attaching to a seal of which impressions have been repeatedly circulated 
■ and presented to the Association, does not appear hitherto to have been sufficient 
to give rise either to any particular description of it, or to a nainute examination of 
the o£Bce with which it ib associated. This induces me to lay before the society the 
following remarks. The seal (see Plate sv, fig. 1), it must be premised, is that of 
Kchard III when Duke of Gloucester, and, aa we leam from the legend. Admiral of 
England and Earl of Dorset and Somerset. It gives the representation of a fine vessel, 
having, as common at that time, only one mast, which is surmounted by a cross. The 
ship has a forecastle and an aftcastle, embattled and adorned 'with. Jleur-de4j/s, together 
with a large or mainsail filled by the wind, and on which are emblazoned quarterly the 
arms of England and France, with a label of three points, ermine, each chained with a 
canton, giUes, a distinction borne by Richard as a younger brodier of the Plantagenet 
family. The aftcastle carries the admiral's flag, on which are depicted his armorial 
bearings, and is supported by what appears to me to be a greyhound In the forecastle 
is a cresset or hollow pan for holding a light or carrying combustibles. An anchor hangs 
over one side of the bow, and there is a rudder at the other end of the vessel. Around, 
the legend reads : s' Eici : Dtjc" glodc* : admiralli : ajtgl : et : com ; dors.' soms.' 
SigiUum Ricardi Duds GhmcestncB Admiralli Anglus et Comitis Dorset et Somerset. 
A circle of rosettes surrouncb the whole, and similar objects ornament the two castles. 
The execution of this seal, the original matrix of which is of brass, corresponds with the 
period and may be placed, as I shall presently shew, between the years 1471 and 1475. 
This seal gives rise to many reflections, and a consideration of these cannot be 
uninteresting, being connected with the history and progress of the royal navy of 
England, the character of which has been so well and so quaintly stated by Lord Coke, 
in the fourth of his Institutes. He there says : " The Kings Navy exceeds all others in 
the vorld for 3 things, viz.. Beauty, Strength, and Safety. For beauty they are so many 
Royal Palaces ; for strength, so many moving castles and barbicans ; and for safety they 
are the most defensive walls of the realm. Amongst the Ships of other nations they are 

dd2 



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172 ON THE SEALS OF RICHARD DUKE OF GLOUCESTER 

like lions amongst silly beasta, or falcons amongst fearful fowle." The early liistory 
of the navy haa not received the attention it deservedly merits. Until the appearance 
of Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas's work in 1847, in two vols., 8vo, entitled, A History of 
the Royal Navy, from the Earliest Times to Oie Wars of the French Revolution, we 
possess no distinct publication on the subject. This work, however, unfortunately 
proceeds no further than to the reign of Henry V, much to be regretted as regards the 
seal now before us ; for we have evidence that the author was acquainted with it, and 
must have thought much of it, for he has given a wood-cut of it on the title page of each 
of his volumes, and has surmounted it by a royal crown, adding also, very unnecessarily, 
a circle of foliage and other ornamentation. No description of it, or even allusion to it 
occurs in Sir Harris Nicolas's work, which, it is deeply to be lamented, this learned 
author and excellent antiquary did not Uve to complete.^ 

Sir Harris Nicolas is the only author who has made any intimate examination 
into the public records of the kingdom for historical parideulais connected with the Royal 
Navy. This is a reproach to the service, for thereby still remains a desideratum which, 
it is to be hoped, some one competent will speedily supply. 

The origin of the term admiral is even uncertain. Spelman^ derives it from the 
Arabic amir or emir, a chief ; to which, however, it is necessary to add S\un from the ^ 
Greek, signifying marine ; whence he deduces admiralius or amiralius, the marine 
chief. Al miro, it should also be stated, in Arabic means the chief captain. The term 
as applied to the chief officer of the navy is comparatively modem, for in early times 
those who filled this high position were denominated ""leaders," or " governors," or 
"justices," or "leaders and constables of fleets."* From the reign of Henry III to that 
of Edward I. they were generally styled " keepers of the sea coast," or " captains and 
keepers of the sea." The word admiral does not appear in any record in this country 

' Since drawing np the account of tLis seal, I have discovered that an impresaion of it was eihilnted 
by the Eev, Dr. Milles, Dean of Gloncester and Preaident of the Society of Antiquaries, to that sociefy, 
April 5, 1781. The seventh volnme of the Anhaologia has an engraving of it, bat not altogether 
satiBfactoiy. Some foliage behind the dog is made to represent the wings of a dragon, and the animal is 
described as anch. The matrix of the seal ie now in the posBession of the Rev. James Parkia, of Oakfield, 
near Bampton, Devon, who has obligingly tninaniitt«d it to me, and from him I learn that it descended to 
Iiim from his father, who had it from the Rev. Kchard Haydon, his nncle, rector of Oakfield. Its history 
can, however, be traced farther &om the accoont given by the Dean of Oloocester, who states that it 
was the property of Mr. Joseph Hankey, an attorney at St. Colnmb, Cornwall, who pnrcbaaed it in a lot 
of old brass and iron amongat the household goods of one "Hit. Jackson, an innkeeper of that town. How 
he came by it does not appear. He waa a native oi Cumberland, whence he removed to Holdaworthy, 
afterwards to Crediton, in Devonshire, and thence to St. Colnmb, where he died. Upon the dealii of Mr. 
Hanlcey in 1782 it became the property of Mr. Dennis, an attorney in Peniance. 

' Ghsaarium Arckaiologieum. Jjoad. 1687. Folio. ' See Kioolas's Hiat. i, 39L 



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AND OTHER ADMIRALS OP ENGLAND. 173 

prior to the year 1300, but it had some time previotisly been employed in France. 
Spelman uistaDces a French Admiral De Coucy, circtter 1280. The earliest application 
we have of it is probably in the commisaion of Sir William Leyboume, dated March 8th, 
1297, at Bruges, in which he is designated " Admiral of England." The first commission 
to an admiral in this country. Sir Harris Nicolas thinks, was to Gervase Alard, a natdve 
of Winchelsea, dated February 1303, by king Edward L The pay at this time was 
2s. p^ diem. The commission is to be found in the Rot. Pateid., 34' Edward I, and in 
it Alard is named " Captain and Admiral of his Fleet of Ships of his Cinque Ports," etc 
Doubt also exists as to the period of the first formation of a Court of Admiralty or 
Supreme Court for the trial of maritime causes. It has been generally assigned to the 
reign of Edward III, but Lord Coke and Prynne consider it to have been in existence 
prior to that time. Sir Harris Nicholas looks npon king John as the actual founder of 
the Royal Navy of England.^ A right of sovereignty of the seas was then asserted for 
England. 

From the reign of Edward I. naval oflacers were admirals and captains, masters or 
commanders, constables and comitrea There were also a clerk and a carpenter. Twenty- 
one persons are recorded as admirals in the reign of Edward II. Little is known 
respecting them, but Sir Harris Nicolas has, with his known diligence, collected some 
particulars regarding them, for which I refer you to his History. No less than forty 
persooB received the commission of admiral in the reign of Edward III, who was himself 
denominated " Our lord king of the sea." 

It is worthy of remark, that the earliest minutes of the king's council are those 
which relate to the navy, and the first refers to Sir John Koos, one of the admirals of the 
fleet in 1337.'' Among these minutes is the following : "That the Earl of Arundell be 
made admiral, for no one can chastise or rule them unless he be a great man." " The 
king has sent after him." 

It was not until Edward III had personally assumed the title and arms of the king 
of France in 1340 ^t, having resolved to maintain his right by forae of arms, members 
of the nobility were promoted to the post of admiral. Thus we have in this year 
appointed for the safety of the sea the Earl of Arundel to the Western Ports, whibt those 
of the Cinque Ports were assigned to the Earl of Huntingdon. In 1351, Henry Duke of 
Lancaster, captain and admiral of the western, and the earl of Northampton of the 
northern fleet In 1375 the Earl of Suffolk was admiral of the northern, and the Earl 
of Salisbury of the western fleet Thus the navy was principally divided into two fleets; 
but there were also sometimes a southern and likewise detached fleets sent on special 
purposes. A southern, in 1360, was under the command of Sir John Beauchamp. He 
' HUt. i, 127. ' Ibid., a, 188. 



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174 ON THE SEALS OF RICHARD DUKE OF GLOUCESTER 

was also admiral of the northern and weatem fleets ; therefore of all England. Sir John 
Beauchamp was succeeded in 1361 by Sir Robert Herle, who retired in 1364 upon the 
appointment of Sir Ralph SpigumelL Sir Henry Spelman. in a long and learned artide 
on the term admiral,^ has given a well arranged and copious list of the appointments to 
the different divisions, northern, western, southern, and also to Ireland, from the eighth 
year of the reign of Henry III to the sixteenth of James I ; the earUest entry being that 
of " Richardus de Lucy dicitur habere marUimam, AnglicB. Patentt. An. 8. Hen. 3. 
Membr. 4. 29 August "^ 

Having already made mention of the chief admirals in the reign of Edward III, it 
may not be without interest to specify the most eminent of some preceding and other 
Bucceeding reigns. 

In liie 22° of Edward I, John de Botetort was admiral of the northern fleet, and 
William De Leibume of the southern. And in tiie 34° same reign, Edward Charles of 
the northern and Gervase Allard of the western. 

The reign of Edward II, a". 8°, also presents John de Botetort for the northern and 
William Cranis for the western, who were succeeded, a". 10, by Johannes Perbnm or 
Perbum, and Sir Robert Leibume, Perbrun was reappointed in the 1' of Edward IIL 
The preparations making by the Scots for the invasion of England at this time occasioned 
an order for vessels for the king's service to proceed to Yarmouth, and they were placed 
under tiie authority and direction of this officer, then admiral of the fleet north of the 
Thamea At this time also (1327) Waresius de Valoignes was appointed " captain and 
admiral of tJie king's fleet," which consisted of ships belonging to the Cinque Ports and 
other places westward of the Thames. The titles "captain" and "admiral" appear at tins 
period to have been employed in a conjoined manner. In 1333, when Perbrun was 
acting in these capacities, another of the like denomination was created in the pc^rson of 
Henry Randolf, of Great Yarmouth, and he was vested with similar powers. They 
probaUy commanded different squadrons, but that circumstance is not recorded. In 
1333 another ofQcer of the same description was made, Sir William Clinton for the 
Cinque Ports, and other places from the Thames westward. Many were made captain 
and admiral subsequently. 

In the reign of Richard II, I find Richard Earl of Arundel, Sir John Roches, Edward 
Earl of Rutland, afterwards Duke of Albemarle and York, eldest son of the Duke of 
York and grandson of Edward III ; and John, Marquis of Dorset, who is the first whose 
appointment is made for life, and he was also commiaaioned for hfe for the Irish fleet 
In the reign of Henry IV there are Thomas Earl of Worcester; Sir Thomas of Lancaster, 
the second son of the king, afterwards Duke of Clarence, who, it appears,' was appointed 

' Qloiiarium, Archawlogicum, pp. 11-18. ' Ibid., p. 14. ' Bymer's Foadera, viii, 389. 



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AND OTHER ADMIRALS OF ENGLAND. 175 

admiral of England ; John Earl of Somerset ; Edmund Earl of Kent ; Sir Thomas 
Beaufort to the northern and western fleets for life in 1408, and again in the yeaf 
following " Admiral of England, Ireland, Aquitaine, and Picardy for life." He waa 
created Earl of Dorset in 1411. In the reign of the king Henry V, who added more 
vesBels to the navy than any other sovereign, the Earl of Dorset was reappointed in 
1413. His title appears to me to be equivalent to that of lord high admiral, as is 
evident from what occurred in 1421, the year in which Henry espoused the Princess 
Katherine of France and arrived with his queen at Dover, February 1. On the 2nd of 
March following Sir W. Bardolf was appointed admiral of the fleet about to proceed to 
sea, and his commission contained a clause that it should not prejudice the rights of the 
Duke of Exeter (created in 1416), and appointed in 1419 admiral of England.' In this 
reign were also admirals of the fleet Thomas Lord Morley in 1416, and Sir Walter 
Hungerford in the same year. 

Under the reign of Henry VI occur the Duke of Bedford and John Holland Duke 
of Exeter, who was appointed, together with his son, admiral of England, Ireland, and 
Aquitaine for life ; and in the 25" same reign the Earl of Suffolk (William de la Poole) 
was appointed to act during the minority of Henry Duke of Exeter, " qui per regium 
diploma hoc cum patre munus adeptus est ad terminum vitss eorum," etc Having 
arrived at faU age he was with his father again commissioned in llie 28° Henry YI. 

The reign of Edward IV brings us to the period to which the seal of Richard Duke 
of Gloucester under consideration belongs. In the 1° d Edward IV the appointment of 
Sir Kichard Nevill, Earl of Warwick and Salisbury, was made ; and in the 2° William 
Nevill, Eari of Kent and " Bichardus Dux Glouceatrise, frater regis, constitut. adm. 
Angl Hibem et Aquitanis, 12 Octob." The return of Henry VI, a" 49, occasioned the 
cancelling of this appointment, and Sir Bichard Neville was again promoted ; but the 
defeat of the king caused, in the 11° Edward IV, Richard Duke of Gloucester to be 
reappointed. Upon his accession to the throne John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, held the 
appointment, and tliis is the only commission of this rank made by Richard III during 
his eventful reign. In that of Henry VII one appointment only was made, in the person 
of John de Vere, Earl of Oxford. 

We now arrive at the time of Henry VIII, during which several appointments were 
made, among which may be enumerated those of Sir Edward Howard, Lord Thomas Howard, 
Henry (the illegitimate son of the king) Duke of Richmond and Somerset and Earl of 
Nottingham, who was in office from July 1 6 to July 22. His death occurred July 28. In 
this reign were also William FitzWilliam Earl of Southampton,^ Lord Russell, and Sir John 

' See Rymer'fl FcBdera, x, 68. 

* In the HonBeliold and Privy Purse Accounts of the Lestrauges of Hnnstanton, from a.d. 1519 to 



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176 ON THE SEALS OF RICHARD DUKE OF GLOUCESTER 

Dudley. In the reign of Edward VT Thomas Seymour, brother of the Duke of SomerBct, 
John Dudley Earl of Warwick, and Sir Edward Qinton, who also held appointment 
under Mary, as did Lord Howard of Effingham. It is unnecessary to carry these 
notices further. Let me, therefore, before concluding this paper, draw yo\ir attention to 
two or three matters of interest. 

According to Sandford,^ in a Parliament held 1° Edward IV, Richard was created 
Duke of Gloucester, and therefore constituted Lord Admiral of England. This is a very 
loose and inconsequential mode of recording such an appointment, yet there appears to 
be no reason for questioning its validity. By a patent bearing date August 12, 1462, 
the king granted to Eichard large posseasious for l^e support of his state and dignity, 
and styles him, " Maris Admirallum ;" he hereby also holds the castle of Gloucester, the 
office of constable of Corfe Castle, the manor of Kingston Lacy, in the county of 
Dorset, and the earldom of Eichmond, in Yorkshire, and also vast possessions in Esses, 
Cambridgeshire, Middlesex, and in several other counties, of John de Vere, Earl of 
Oxford, who had lately been attainted of treason. This grant is among the Patent Rolls 
of 2° Edward IV, part 2, m. 5, and printed in the RoUa of Farliament, vi, 227. Milles" 
says the Duke of Gloucester continued in the office of admiral till the year 1470, when 
Henry VI having re-ascended the throne, and the Yorkists being driven from power, 
Richard Nevill, the Earl of Warwick Mid Salisbury, was made admiral of England. This 
accords with the authority of Spelman. whose dates of the two appointments of 
Richard of Gloucester, 2° and 11° Edward IV, I have already given. We must have in 
recollection that after the battles of Bamet uid Tewkesbury, which proved fatal to 
Henry VI, Edward IV again assumed the tirone, and thereby Richard of Gloucester 
was restored to his office, and appears to have remained in that position until he himself 
became monarcL During his Protectorship in the reign of Edward V, in a letter printed 
by Buck, and to be found in Kennett's Collections of Historians, in his Complete History 
ofEnglaTid (i, 522), he styles himself " Richard Duke of Gloucester, Brother and Unde 
of Einges, Protectour and Defensour, Great Chambreleyn, Constable and Admiral of 
England." This letter is dated May 19, 1° Edward V, and is printed from the original 
Journal Book. 

The earldoms of Dorset and Somerset are not clearly developed by historians. The 

A.D. 1578, by Daniel Qumey, F.S.A., printed in the Ardueologia, toI. txt, p. 510, occurs the following: — 
" Item. P'^ the same tyme to him (Lady Lestraoge to her husband) for a p'sent that yow dyd gyff to my 
lord Amher&ll, zB." In a note to t^'il^ entry, it is said that " the office of Lord Admiral of England is of a 
date at least as early as king Richard II. If the account here given is of 28° Henry YIII, which we 
suppose, the Lord Admiral here mentioned was William FitzwiDiam, Earl of Southampton." The present 
allnded to may, perhaps, be regarded as a fee of cnstomary payment to his office. 

Qenealngictd Eithry, p. 430. ' Archteolo^, vol. tuL 



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AND OTHER ADMIRALS OF ENGLAND. 177 

tattle of Tewksbmy was on the 4th of May, 1471, and at thia time Edmund Beaufort 
waa Earl of Dorset and Somerset. He eapoaaed the aide of Henry VI whilst Eichard 
Duke of Gloucester led the vanguard of the army of Edward IV. By a feint practised 
by Kchard the Duke of Somerset was taken prisoner, and afterwards beheaded at 
Shrewsbury. The titles thus, it may readily be presumed, became extinct, and Kiehard 
seems to have been rewarded with them for his gallant exploits. Thia would bring the 
execution of the seal to this time, and it was not until 1475 that Edward IV made 
Thomas Grey, the half-brother of the Queen, Marquis of Dorset, in whose family it con- 
tinued till the accession of Mary. The title of Somerset was not granted to anyone after 
Eichard, until 1495, when Henry VII created Edward, his third son, Duke of Somerset 
By these dates, we bring the seal between 1471 and 1475, between tiie eleventh and 
fifteenth years of the reign of Edward IV. 

The seals of other Admirals of. England of which I can obtain tiny notice, may be 
thus stated : 

In the fourteenth volume of the Arckaologia (p. 278), "Wm. Stevenson, Esq., 
RS.A.i exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries, the brass matrix of a seal of Thomas 
Duke of Exeter, and in the minute attached to the report of it, he is mentioned 
as High Admiral in the time of Henry VI. This is an error ; it is the seal of Thomas 
Beaufort, an illegitimate son of John of Gaunt, who was created Earl of Dorset and Duke 
of Exeter, in 9° Henry IV. He died without issue in 1427. He was Admiral of England,' 
Aquitaine, and Ireland, and the date of his commission, according to Spelman, is "5° of 
that reign. The seal (see pL xv, fig. 2), is engraved from the Ardueohgict, and- the legend 
reads ; S. Thome Duo Exon. Comit : Does : Admieall : Angl : Acq : et Hib'n. 

The Gentleman's Magazine, for July 1797, pL ii, p. 549, gives the representation of- 
the seal of John Earl of Huntingdon, Lieut-General of John Duke of Bedford, Admiral of 
England, Ireland, and Aquitaine, 1414. It waa discovered among some old brass and 
iron purchased by a blacksmith, at Dartmouth {see pi, xv, fig. 3). The legend reads : 
S. JOHia COMinS HUNHNGIWN LOCALENna genbal johis dtjcis bedj admirall akgl. 

HIBN. BT AOQUi TAN (contained in the pennant of the vessel). The Duke of 

Bedford commanded the English fleet, -3° Henry V (1416). Spelman makes no mention 
of an appointment as admiral in the reign of Henry V. 

In St. Katherine's Church, near the Tower, waa formerly to be seen the monumMit 
of John Holland, Duke of Exeter. It was engraved by J. Carter, and also by Goagh in 
his Sepulchral Monuments (ii, p. 155, pi. 54). He was Admiral of England, his appoint- 
ment, according to Spelman, dating 14° Henry VI, a.d. 1435, and his seal (see plate xv, 
fig. 4), as such, whilst Earl of Huntingdon, has been copied iiom Dr. Ducarel's History of 



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178 ON THE SEALS OF RICHARD DUKE OF OLODCESTER 

St. Katherin^s, engraved from the matiiz in possession of Jolin Topbam, F.RS., F.SA, 
and is given in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1825 (Pt 1, p. 209, pL ii, fig. 7). 

A diixd seal of the same is engraved in the ArckcBologia (18, 434). It was 
exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries, in December 1614, by Mr. Samud Ityaons, and 
the matrix was stated to be in the possession of Ebenezer Ludlow, of Bristol It was 
found on clearing out a moat at the manor house of Ken, in Somersetahire, and the 
inscription reads ; a johis comix" hd'ty'gdon dn"! db ivory & admiralli ahql' 
hibm'b et acquitahb (see plate xv, fig. 5). He was appointed admiral 14* Henry VI, 
created Duke of Exeter 21° same reign. The seal is, therefore, to be referred to the 
interval between these periods. The form of the ship, Mr. Lysons remarks, differs 
materially from that of Thomas Duke of Exeter, a predecessor of the Earl of Huntingdon 
in the office of Admiral of England, before referred to. The seal is tiiere charged with 
tjl^ duke's family arms (those of Beaufort) as in the present instance it is with the Earl 
of Huntingdon, those of the family of Holland, 

In the seventh volume of the ArchcBologia, a seal of the son of the preceding 
admiral, Henry Duke of Exeter, Lord High Admiral in 1451, is stated to have been 
represented by Dr. Eawlinson, in 1751.^ 

The Gentleman's Magazine for 1825, already referred to, contains the notice of 
another seal of an admiral in the county of Ttark. The impression was unfortunately 
broken, and it could not be satisfactorily appropriated. A note, in which this seal is 
mentioned, with the initials J. G. N. (John Gough Nichols), observes that it is copied 
from ancient models ; but conceives, from the arms of Scotland being quartered on the 
sail, that it is of the period of the house of Stuart On a flag held by a dog are, what 
Mr. N. conjectures, the arms of Vera The inscription, as ^ as he can read it, is s' JO 

h'fo OEAY ADMiBALLi ANOL* IK COM. EBOE. It is engraved on plate u, fig. 2, Gent's 

Mag. for December 1825, p. 497. The arms on the flag are likewise indistinct Hie dog 
is a greyhound. 

One of the most important subjects, and probably of the greatest consequence in 
relation to the history of the navy, is to be found in what is commonly known as the 
Laws of Olbbon,* the history of which is still somewhat obscure. In the Appendix to 
the History of the Royal Navy, Sir Hams Nicolas gives a document headed " The Black 
Book of the Admiralty." This is a MS. relating to the ancient ordinances and laws of the 

■ This seal, of which I have not been able to see an impresBion, is referred to as bein^ engravad in die 
ArehcBohgia (vol. vii). This, however, is not the case, aa the seal there represented is that of Richard 
Duke of Gloucester. 

' The laws of Oleron are fireqaently reported as having been established by Richard I. upon his retnm 
from the Holy Land. The highest aathoritiee on the subject, inclading Coke, Selden, Hale, PrTnne, 
Godolphin, Exton, Sir Leoliue Jenkins, and Sir William Blackstone, have all laboured to perpetoate this 



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AND OTHER ADMIRALS OF ENGLAND. 179 

nayj, the original of which was diacovered by Mr. Alexander Luders* among Selden's 
MSS. in the Bodleian Library. Selden must have borrowed the book from the Admiralty 
Oonrtk and it was, upon hia decease, sent by hie executors, along with other MSS., to the 
Bodleian Library. It is a thin quarto. No. 3341. Selden describes it in his VtTidicia 
Maris Clauai.^ The MS. bears the signature of Lord Clinton. It has no title, and was 
therefore not described in the catalogue sufficiently to be known or rec<^nified as to its 
nature without partdcular examination of its contents. Selden himself refers to it as 
"Commentarius de Bcbua Admiralitatis"; and calls it "the jewel of the Admiralty 
Records." It is written in old French, and supposed to be of the time of Edward III ; 
Bome of the writing is of that period, but some parts cannot possibly be of so early a date. 
Then is an official copy at the Admiralty, and one in the library of Lincoln's Inn among 

«rror. Henry the historiaD is, I believe, tbe fiiat to qneetion the aconrapy rf tlus opinion, as be oonld find 
no anthority for tibe etatement, rendered the more remai^ble as there are few points of early history 
better known tiian tboee which relate to the return of Richard from bis cmsade. 

The only ground for giving oonntenanoe to tbe opinion, however, rests tipon what Coke calli 
" a notable Record," which be had seen in tbe arehiree of the tower of London, of ,a transaction which bs 
supposes to have happened abont the 22o Edward I, De Superioriiale Maris, etc., to which is annexed tbe 
Boll of 12" Edward III, written In Latin. Mr. Lnders (TVocfs, p. 432 et seq.) made examination of this 
record and confirms iha Lord Chief Justice's statement; be observes that the doctunent does not deserve the 
name of a record, nor entitled to be at all r^^arded as " notable," and enters into an examination of it to 
prove that it is quite untenable in regard to date, tbe earliest mention of Hie laws occurring not less than 
one bundred and fifly yean subsequent to tbe reign of Richard 1. It is indeed only a small manuscript, 
consistiTig of a few mem1»anes on maritime or mereantdle afibiis of different reigns, tacked togeth^ 
without ordOT or title. It bears neitber dat« nor description, nor anything to give it the appearance of a 
judicial act. Mr. Lnders snggests that it may have been only a clerk's memorandum of the particular 
tnnsactioD. It is, notwithstanding, a veiy ancient document. One of the membranes is of the year 1266. 
In tbe reign of Kobard I. all ordinances are known to have been written in Latin among people of the 
Latin Church, and Mr. Luders remarks that " if the Laws of Oleron were enacted in French in that reign, 
it is tbe earliest example we have in En^and or France of legislation in the French tongue ;" a drcnm- 
Bbuice, it may be added, totally unknown and unrecognized by all writers upon tbe antiquities of the 
Frfmoh language. 

Tbe Laws of Oleion relate to mercantile transactions, tbe rights and duties of ship owners, mariners, 
and their employers, involving tJie nature of pilotage, contracts, customs, etc. They are of a veiy 
Bummiary character, and institute some barbarous punishments. The articles relate more to a state of 
peace than war, and u« associated witb tbe mannas of the times subsequent to tbe t;welfth oentoiy. They 
bew no form or style common to royal ordinances either of France or England, uid give no evidence of 
■atbority as to the sources whence they are derived. AiW minute examination of tbeir contents Mr. 
Lnders arrives at tbe following conclusions, namely, that tbere is "sufficient anthority for believing that 
tbe laws in question did originate in ihs Isle of Oleron ; and were a collection of a^jadged cases upon the 
maritime law, received and respected in England before t^ middle of the fourteenth century, and perhaps 
in France ; and established almost a century before, if credit is to be given to the fbrm of attestation by 
the corporate seal : and that they proceeded not &om any royal ordinance." 

> 8ee Luders' Tracla, No. 7, note p. 64. Bath. 1810. 

■ Workt, vol ii, p. 1419 ; and Mare Clauaum, lib. ii. c. 6 ; A. p. 1389. 

EB2 



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180 



ON THE SEALS OF RICHARD DUKE OF GLOUCESTER 



Sir Matthew Hale'e MSS., catalog;ued No. 5621. There is another in the Lanfidowne 
MSS., British Museum, No. 318, which had belonged to Mr^ Powle, but not correct, and 
in Hai^;rave's MSS., in the same repository. No. 185. The late John Wilson Croker, of 
the Admiralty, had also a copy, which he lent to Sir H. Nicolas for his notice regarding 
it. In addition to these containing the Laws of Oleron, it is worthy of record that upon 
occasion of our Congress, held in 1845 at Winchester, in a paper then read "On the 
Municipal Archives of Winchester and Southampton," by Thomas Wright, Esq., he 
especially notices that, in his examination of the documents belonging to the latter town, 
he met with a complete code of naval legislation, written in Norman French, on vellum, 
in a hand apparently of the earlier half of tiie fourteenth century.^ Mr. Wright has given 
two extracts to a£Ford some notion of the character of these naval laws, which it is un- 
necessary here to transcribe, as they do not relate to our present subject ; but they were 
sufficient to assure Sir Harris Nicolas that another copy of "The Black Book of the 
Admiralty " was to be found among the municipal records of Southampton. The MS. it 
is well to observe, is bound up in a volume which contains also tiie code of early laws 
which governed the guilds of the town. It is preserved in its primitive binding, formed 
of two oaks boards, about half-an-inch thick, one of them longer than the other, which 
latter has a square hole in the lower part exhibiting a contrivance for its preservation 
when in use, as it could then be held up with the hand put through it while citing the 
laws in the local court. On the larger board is what may be regarded the mark of the 
merchant guild of the town. It was deemed worthy of being figured for the Trajisactions, 
of the Winchester Congress ; and as that volume is now out of print, is here reproduced. 




' See TrantaciwKi at the Winchester CongreBS, p. 37. 



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AND OTHER ADMIRALS OF ENGLAND. 181 

The ordinances to which I have referred speeiiy the duties of an admiral, and make 
frequent mention of an officer similar to that of high admiral, who had vested in him the 
command of all the fleeta This is Sir John de Beauchamp of Warwick, already referred 
t(^ whose commission is dated July 1360.^ 

Distinctive marks of the sovereign and t^e admirals, when at sea, were created by 
the king having three great lanthoms, one higher than the other two, which were placed 
on a level. He was permitted, however, to carry more if considered necessary. An 
admiral carried two great lanthoms in the two parts of the mast head of the ship; whilst 
a vice-admiral carried only one lanthom, and that was placed at the top of the mast 

The castles of ships were only used for war, and were affixed to merchant vessels 
when destined to be fighting ^ips. They had particular artificers for their conformation, 
who were called castiewrights, hurdigers,^ deUverers, shipwrights, and carpenters. There 
were three kinds of castles — the ofcastle (aitcastle), topcastle, and forecastle. The seals of 
many of the seaports represent the casties, and they are seen upon that of Richard 
Duke of Gloucester. 

In the fourteenth century a variety of colours were borne by ships. The national 
banner of St George, and the banner of the king's arms, which, a£tei 1340, consisted of 
three lions of England, quartered with the arms of France azure semie of gold, fleurs-de- 
lys. There were also pennocels with the arms of St George, and two streamers with the 
image of the saint aft£r whom she was called, but other charges when she had not a 
Christian name. The standards of St George had sometimes a leoptu^i, i. e., the lion of 
England, in chief 

' Printed in Sir H. Nicoks's Sietory, p. 208, and is in the Fadera, iii, 505. 
' From hurduxt, hurdles, Bcaffolda, rampftrte, fortifications, etc. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWTS. 

BT 

THE HON. AND REV. GEORGE THOMAS ORLANDO BRIDGEMAH, JLA. 
{Continued /rom page 89.) 



/^N the death of Wenwynwyn, about the year 1218, we have seen that his son, GrifSn, 
^-^ the young lord of Powis Wenwynwyu, was a minor, and that his territory was in 
the custody of Llewelyn ap Jerwerth, Prince of North Wales. 

On Jan. 28, 1224, the king orders half a merk to be paid to Griffin, "filio 
Wenhunweni infirmo."^ 

On Sept 29, 1229, the sheriff of Shropshire has paid Griffin, son of Waiunwen, five 
merks for sustenance of him and his men. 

On June 9, 1232, the king informs his bailifis of Pecco (the Peak) that he has 
restored to Griffin, son of Wenuwen, his vassal (valecto),'' the land which was Wenuwen's 
in Ashford (co. Derby) saving to Margaret, widow of Wenuwen, and mother of GrifBn, 
her dower therein.' 

And on Sept. 23, 1233, by writ dated at Evesham, the king's mandate is issued to 
B, de Ver, Constable of dune, ordering him to receive Griffin, son of Wenuwen, and his 
people (gentem) into the town of Clune whenever it should be necessary. The same 
mandate is issued to Hubert de Haes, constable of Albo Monasterio (Oswestry), and to 
William de Becles, constable of Montgomery.* 

During this time his lands in Wales were retained by the Prince of North Wales and 
his sons, between whom they became a bone of contention ; for we are informed" that 
in 1238, after the Welsh lords had been summoned by Llewelyn to take an oath of 
all^iance to David, his son by the lady Joan, his wife (who was the illegitiniate daughter 
of king John), prince David at once proceeded to take from his brother Griffin the 
lands of Arwystli, Ceri, Cyveilioc, Mawddwy, Mochnant, and Caereinion, leaving to him 
nothing but the cantref Lleyn (in Caernarvonshire). 

Li 1240, Llewelyn ap Jerwerth, the aged prince of North Wales, died, and was 

' Boi. Ut. Claue., toI. i, p. 583. 

* The origmal meamng of the word valeehu vas a yoimg TBsaal ; it was used at first in an honourable 
Bense for the son of a nobleman, aftenrarda for an armiger or military attendant, and at last for an inferior 
seirant. (Eennett's Parochial AnttquOiee.') 

' Sot. Lit. Clam., 16 Hen. HI, m. 9. * lb., 17 Hen. m, m. 2. ' JBrut^-Tywytogum. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER P0WY8. 183 

sooceeded by bis son David. In the following year, we £nd Giiffin ap Wenwyuwyu, 
with other leading men of Wales, petdtioiiing the king for the release of prince Griffin, the 
elder son of Llewelyn, who had been impriaoned by his brother David.^ 

David was subsequently compelled to make terms with the king; and, amongst 
other conditiona, it was stipulated that he should restore to the king's subjects all the 
lands which had been taken &om them since the commencement of ihs wars between 
king J<^ and his father, Llewelyn, and that he should give up to the kmg all the 
homages which king John had received, or ought to have received, especially from the 
noblemen of Walea.^ 

Fowisland was now made over to its rightful prince ; and about t^e month o^ 
August of the same year, 1241, Griffin, son of Wennuwen, fined three hundred merks for 
seisin of all his father's lands, saving the right of any other ; and the king took his 
homage. On£6n. on his part, promised iaithful service for himself and his heirs, and in 
de&ult, that his lands should be forfeited ; for which he gave hostages.^ 

In the next year we find him' married to Hawise, daughter of John le Strange, 
of Knockin, and by the king's Hcense assigning her dower in the manor of Ashfbrd, co. 
Derby.* 

In 1244, whoi David ap Llewelyn rose in arms against the king^ Griffin, mindM 

' Povrel'a Ohromcle, p. 216,17. ' Bym. Feed. * Sot. Fin., 25 Hen. HI, mem. 4. 

• Bot. Cart^ 26 Hen. HI, pt. 1, mem. 7. The village of Ashfard in tie Water, the Aisaefijrd of 
Domesday, is aitnutod in a fertile valley on the banks of the Wye. The manor, which indnded the chapel- 
lies or townships of Qreat Longstone witli Holme, and several other townships in the parish of Bakewell, 
was parcel of the ancient demesnes of tlie crown. It was granted by king John in the first year of his reign, 
to Wenwynwyn, father of Griffin (Glover's Berbyghin; Lysons's Mayiia Britanma); by whom it was 
forfeited in 1214 On Ja&oaiy 31, 1215, it was granted to B. de Insula, to hold dnring the king's 
pleasnre {Bat. JjU. CUtus., vol. i, p. 185-6). Nor do I find that it was ever restored to Wenwynwyn. Bat 
by writ of Henry m, dat«d on Febmaiy 6, 1223, the sheriff of Derby hag orders to go, in company with 
the king's constable of the Peak, to the manor of Aiaford, which Wennnwenns de Blevelioo had held by 
gift of the late King John, and to cause Kargaret, Wenonwen's widow, to have seisin of the third part of 
the said manor, which the king had assigned to her in dower. (Bot Lit. Olave., vol. i, p. 532). Brian de 
InsnlS) the t«inporary holder of Ashford, is also commanded, by writ dated at Salop on March 7 of the 
same year, to give seisin to the same Margaret of a third part of the hamlet of Holm, with its appur- 
tenances, which Wennnwen had formerly held, and which the king had assigned to ber in dower as well as 
the third part of the manor of Aisford (ibid., p. 536). Griffin, son of Wenwynwyn, foonded a chantry at 
Ashford in the year 1257. Extracts from Lichfield Begisten. Harl MS., 4799). The hamlet or viUage 
of Sheldon, in the parish of Bakewell, formed part, from a very early period, of the manor (^ Ashford: 
Griffin, son of Wennnwen, alienated it, in the reign of Henry HI, to Geo&ey de Pickeford ; though it was 
snbeeqnently reonited to Ashford (Lysons's Mag. Brit., from the Hundred Bolls). Hawise, the lady wife 
of Griffin, had her dower assigned to her in Ashford : bat the heirs of Griffin had no farther interest 
there after her death. The manor was granted by Eing Edward H, in 1319, to his brother, Edmnnd 
Plantogene^ Earl of Kent, with whose heirs it remained until it was sold by Henry Neville, Earl of Weat- 
moreland, in 1108, to Sir William Cavendish, ancestor of the Duke of Devonshire, the present p 



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184 THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYB. 

of beaefits he had reoeiTed, remained true to his English allegiance, being almost the 
only one of his covmtrymeu who refused to join David ; for which cause he suffered many 
losses at the hands of that prince. 

In the spring of the following year, 1245, by virtue of the king's writ directed to 
the barons of the eschequer, Grif&n, son of Wenunwen, had respite, until the quinzaine 
of St. Michael, for £lOO out of a fine of £200 which he had made to the king for his 
land in Wales.-* In Trinity Term of the same year he had a writ to be discharged of 
tallage demanded of him for his manor of Ashford.^ 

On Nov. 6, 1245, the king, by a patent dated at Lilleshall, orders Fulk Fitzwarin, 
John le Strange, and Henry de Audley to put an end to a dispute about land in 
Dendover, between GrifSn ap Madoc, GrifBn ap Wenhunwen, and Roger de Montalt' 
It appears from the patent rolls of Nov. 8,* when the two Griffins were ordered to submit 
themselves to the arbitration of the king's commissioners above mentioned, that Griffin ap 
Madoc had held these lands until the time of the last war which the king had raised 
against David ap Llewelyn {1244 ?) During the continuance of that war, David had 
superseded Griffin in the occupation of the said lands ; and afterwards Griffin ap 
Wennunwen, who claimed a right thereia, had taken and held them, in turn, from the 
said David. What may have been the immediate result of the arbitration, I am unable 
to say; but certainly the commot of Dendor was afterwards held by Griffin ap Weawyn- 
wyn and his descendants. 

The services and fidelity of Griffin at tMs trying period were not unacknowledged by 
the crown; for on March 4, 1251, he had a grant of free warren, to him and his heirs, 
in all his demesne lands of his manor of Eschford in the county of Derby.^ A patent of 
May 15, 1251, ordered that " Roger Sprenghose and Richard de Stretton should not be 
put on any assize, etc., so long as they should adhere to the crown and be in the service 
or following (obsequio) of Griffin ap Wenunewen."* And, further, on April 11, 1252, 
tiie king had pardoned Griffin an amercement of twenty marks, ^nd his men a smaller 
sum, to which they had been severally amerced before Magr' Simon de Wautton in a suit 
of novel disseisin which had been preferred against them by William Gemon for a 
tenement in Bankewell {Bakewell, co. Derby).^ 

It was about this time, probably in this same year, that a breach of the peace 
commenced between the lord of Powis and Thomas Corbet of Cans, which continued 
many years. On May 9, 1255, justices were appointed to try an action of novel disseizin 

' Madox* JT«(. of ihe Exchequer, vol. ii, p. 215. * Ibid., p. 222. 

' Eyton'B Hist. Shropshire, vol. vii, p. 78, • Bol. Pat., 30 Hen. IH, m. 10, 

• Sot. ChaH., 35 Hen. HI, No. 11. ' flfei. Bhropshire, vol. vi, p. 56, 
. ' Bot. Fm., 36 Hen. in, mem. 15. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 185 

preferred by Thomas Corbet againflt Griffin ap Wenunwin for a tenranent in Caua^ On 
July S, 1255, another patent appointed three justicsB to settle the wrongs and strifes 
which subeisted between these two personB," Bat their differences were not so easily 
adjusted, for on July 29, 1259, Roger de Montalt and Gilbert Talbot were appointed to 
settle certain breach^ of truce between Griffin ap Wenunwen and Thomas Corbet From 
the evidence given before the Idng's commissioners at Chester, in January 1231,^ with 
respect to the usual method of administering justice in Wales, it appears that the dispute 
had reference to the land of Gordeber or Gorthowr. It is difficult to define the limits of 
this much disputed territory, which seems to have been reputed by the barons of Caus as 
their Walcheria^ though clumed by the lords of Fowls as Uieir right of ancient inheritance. 
The British word Gorthowr, Mr. Eyton informs us,* signifies " upper country." It seems 
that all the western part of the parish of Alberbury was within the land of Gordowr. 
There is an award by Eichard, bishop of Hereford, dated July 26, 1289, which well 
illustrates the topography of this much-changed district It is a decision concerning the 
tithes of fourteen vills in the parts of Gordowr (Hereford diocese), which tithes were 
claimed by brother Peter de Corcellis, corrector or prior of the religious house of tie 
Grandimontane order at Alberbuiy, on the one part; and by John, son of the lord Grif&n, 
late lord of La Pole, rector of the church of La Pole, and Griffin Pitz Edenwerth, vicar of 
the same church, on the other part The vills enumerated are Balislee (Bausley), 
Bragynton (Bragginton), Berlee, Bromrochpol, Bromrochpol Secunda, Wonyrtone (Win- 
nington), Wichfeld, Perendon, Haregreue (Hargrave), Trifiiant (Trefiiant), Inf-Bercoed, 
Hochelpreue, Krigion (Criggion), and Orleton.*' 

The six identified viUs wiU adumbrate, says the Shropshire historian, tiie district 
which centred the eight others. It must not, however, be understood that the land of 
Gordowr was confined to this district It extended far up the Severn to the south-west, 
induding Buttingtou, Hope, Leighton, and Wolston Mynd. At the assizes of 1292, the 
Ford jurors alleged that the vills of Trevenant, Haregreve, Wonneton, Wytfeld, Varegrek* 
half Pemdon, Bromrotepol, and Berieye, had done suit to the dieriff's-toum till forty years 
wnce, when Griffin Wenhunwyn appropriated them to his Walcheria.' This would imply 
that Griffin had entered upon them and taken possession in the year 1252. 

The differences between Griffin and the English lord of Caus were never feirly 
adjusted ; and it is not too much to presume that it was owing to the partiality of the 
English justices in this matter, as well as to the repeated overtures of liewelyn, that 
Griffin was drawn from his English allegiance, to which up to this time he had so steadily 

> SUt. Shropshire, vol. vii, p. 25. • Ibid. ' HengwrtMS., No. 119. 

* Hi»l. Shropshire, vol. vii, p. 44. ' Ibid,, fivm Begistor Swinfield, fol. 61 a> 

• Ibid., vol. vii, p. 34, note. 



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186 THE PRINCES OP UPPER POWYS. 

adhered. In the civil wars which ensued, he sided with de Montfort and the rebellioTiB 
baionfi ; and dmii^ this period he held this tract of land known as the Gordowr, which 
had anciently belonged to Fowis, and to which he had never relinquished hia claim. 

In the meantime, however, on August 1, 1 260, Griffin ap Wenunwen was summoned, 
together with Roger de Somery, Walter de Clifford, Thomas Corbet, and other of the 
lords marcher, to appear at Shrewsbury on September 8, with hotsea, and arms, and the 
usual complement of military service, in order to resist the ^croachments of Uewelyn ap 
Griffin,^ who had succeeded his uncle David as Prince of North Walea These prepara- 
tions were followed by a truce, terminable on the 24th of June, 1262.^ In July 1262, 
Griffin ap Wenunwen was one of those to whom the king had written to desire, in case 
the rumour of Llewelyn's death should prove true, that he would take counsel with his 
fiiends and " co-maichiones" for the purpose of preventing David, the younger Inother of 
Llewelyn, bora assuming the sceptre of Wales.^ But the reign of Llewelyn had not yet 
come to an end. Moreover, the war betwe^ the king and his barons afforded the Welsh 
prince an opportunity of reasserting the independence of his country, of which he was 
not slow to avail Tijuiaplf On the king's return from France, on the 20th of December of 
this year, he was informed at Canterbury that Llewelyn and his accompUces, unmindful 
of the fealty they had pledged to him, and in violation of the truce (which truce, however, 
would seem to have terminated on the 24th of June), had hoatilely seized certain castles 
of his liege subjects. In consequence of this, the king summoned Ralph Basset of 
Drayton to be at Hereford on the third day after this instant Epiphany (Jan. 9, 1263) ; 
and subsequentiy called upon Griffin ap Wennewin, with Roger and Hugh de Mortimer, 
John Fitz Alan, both the John le Stranges, Hamo le Strange, Thomas Corbet^ Fulke Fitz 
Warin, Ralph le Botiler, and Walter de Dunstanville to meet James de Audithle at 
Ludlow on the octaves of the purification (Feb. 9).* So furious was this invasion, that it 
was found necessary to recall prince Edward 'from the continent He returned imme- 
diately ; and in the same month in which his father summoned his army to Hereford, we 
find the prince writing to Griffin ap Wenunwen, enjoining him to assemMe his forces and 
attack Llewelyn.^ This was in the spring of the year 1263 ; but before the close of that 
year Llewelyn h^ succeeded in severing the lord of Fowia from his English connection. 
From the following document it is evident that his territory had already fallen into t^e 
hands of Llewelyn, from whom he now received it as a fief to be held of that prince.^ 

' Bym. Feed. ' Eitt. Shropiiire, vol. vil, p. 26. * Bym. Feed. 

* Eitt. Skreaibwy, vol. i, p. 125. * Tbid. 

* It ia stated, in the BnO-y-Tywysogian, that LlewelTii ap Griffin, Meredith ap Rhys Grig, and 
Meredith ap Owen, with manj other nobles, entered the territoiy of Griffin ap Wenwynwyn in 1256, and 
snbdoed the whole except the oaatle of Trallwng (i.e., the oafitle of La Pole, or Fowia Castle), a part of 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYB. 187 

On the vigil of St Lucy the vii^ (Dec. 12), 1263, at Esconn, a final concord was 
made between the lord Ueweliu. son of Griffin, prince of Wales, on the one part and the 
lord Oriffin, son of Wenwynwyn, on the ol^er part ■} the Bubstance of which waa, that 
Griffin should do homage to Llewelin for his territory, and Llewelin conceded to faim all 
his lands and possessions, namely, Keveliawc and Mawdwe to their full extent, Arwystl 

and Modmant wch laeder to thdr fiiU extent, Ebereroyth, with its 

appurtenances and limits, the whole land of . . . with the vill of Llanwyde^ 
(Llanidloes), to he held of Llewelin. In the event of Griffin losing any of his lands, it 
was stipulated that, if Llewelin should be in fiill possession of his own lands, the said 
liewelin should make good his loss. If Griffin should conquer any lands " ultra metas 
Boas Akeyminardo inferius tcibub Slosub," the said Griffin and his heirs should hold and 
enjoy their conquests; but "Akeyminand inferius vel superius" should remain, as 
conquered land, to Llewelin and his heirs. If die land of Griffin should be invaded by an 
army, and none should be molesting Llewelin at that time, Llewelin was engaged to 
come to the succour of Griffin before all others, if be should have the greater necessity. 
And if Griffin should lose his castle of Pole by war, Llewelin undertook to provide him 
with another castle where he might safely keep his goods and his &mily until he should 
have recovered his own castle (of Pole). With respect to the lands and possessions 
disposed of by Llewel}^ in the territory of Griffin, it should be at the discretion of the 
latter either to take them away, or concede them to, the present holders ; excepting that 
Madoc, the son of Wenwynwyn, should hold the commot of Maudwy, for the term of his 
life, in ca/pite, of the said Griffin and bis heirs. On the part of Griffin it was stipulated 
that he should join the army of Llewelin as often as he should be required, unless a hostile 
invasion of his own lands should be manifestly impending. And both the lords Llewelin 
and Griffin bound themselves to hold together in peace and in war, and to confederate with 
no one without the sanction of the other. The lord of Powis was now &irly enlisted in the 
Welsh cause ; and we find him proving his sincerity to Llewelyn immediately by destroying 
the castle of Gwyddgrugg^ (Montaltua or Mold). We have an incidental notice of the 
manner in which he was occupied at the commencement of the following year in the 
singular attestation of a grant of certain lands by £obert Pigot, son of William Pygot, to 
" the house of AlbCTburi," i. e., Alberbuiy Priory, now preserved in the Archives of All 
Souls College, Oxford. This deed is witnessed by Robert Corbeth, as yet not a knight,' 
Roger de Meise, and others, and is dated a.d. 1263, in the Purification of the Virg^ 

tlie vale of Severn, and a little of Caereinion. And agsin, imder the year 1259, it is stated Hiat Griffin 
was driven from his territory (by Llewelyn). 

' Hen^wrt MS., No, 119. ' Brui^-Tywygogum. 

* This Robert Corbet, not yet a knight, vras Sir Robert Corbet of WattleBbnrgb and Moreton Corbet. 

PF2 



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188 THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 

(February 2), the biaaextdle approaching, Henry, son of king John, reigning^ and Uewelin, 
aon of GriSSn, being with Griffin son of Wenhunwen, with no small army, to destroy the 
March, and particularly Boger de Mortimer. Feb. 2, 1263 means 1263-4, for the year 
did not commence till Easter, or the 25th of MarcL Moreover, in 1263, Griffin ap 
Wenwywyn was in alliance with prince £dward, and summoned by him to attack 
Uewelyn. But what sets the matter beyond a doubt ia the fact that 1264, not 1263, 
was bissextile or leap year. The bissexto mentioned above means the sixth calends of 
March, i.e., the 24th of February, which was repeated in the leap years, and gave name 
to the term bissextile.^ 

Mr. Eyton, in speaking of the lost vill of Pemdon in the Gordowr, says ■? " We 
have heard of Griffith ap Wenhunwen's feud with Thomas Corbet of Caus. We Jmow 
that it was burning in 1255 and 1259, and that the prince of Fowia so far prevailed as 
to occupy the tract of country known as the Gordwr. We know that Griffith's feud with 
the English baron ripened into rebellion against the English king, and that in February 
1264 Griffith was pr^iaring, in conjimction with Llewelyn, to devastate the marches, 
and iJiat this alliance between the prince of Wales and the prince of Powis lasted till the 
year 1275. An inquest held in September 1280^ illustrates all this. The jurors stated 
that ' Griffin ap Wenhunwin ajid Owen his son, during the time of civil war, occupied 
half the vill of Pemedon to the exclusion of Roger de Marahe, the owner thereof. After- 
WBrds, when there was dissension between Llewelyn and king Edward I, Llewelyn 
occupied the said half of Pemdon together with the other lands of Griffin ap Wen- 
hunwen and his aon Owen.'" 

Another inquest, given by Mr. Eyton in the Antiquities of Shrop^ire (under 
Bauseley),* furnishes us with a history of some of Griffin's doings at this period. The 
inquest, whidi was held in February 127? at Shrewsbury, states that "Fulk Fitzwarin" 
(who came into possession about 1252 and perished at Lewes in 1264) "held the whole 
tenement of Ballesley- as his right Afterwards there was strife between Thomas Corbet 
and Griffin ap Wenhunwin. Griffin occupied all the land of the Gordwr, together with 
the land of Ballisley, and held Ballisley till Fulcho, son of Fulcho Fitzwarin now living, 
married Griffin's daughter. Then Griffin restored Ballisley, and his right therein, to his 
son-Jn-Iaw. Fulk held it till there was strife between Llewelyn Prince of Wales and 
Griffin ap WenhimwirL Then the prince occupied Griffin's lands, and the Gordowr, and 
Ballisley, and held them all till the Earl of Lincoln and other magnates of the Marches 
drove back the men of the prince. Then Peter Corbet (of Caua) seized upon Ballisley, 
r as his right tiiat it was within the limits of his land of G^rdwr."'^ By the 

' Hist, ShrewUmry by Blaikeway and Owen, vol. i, p. 126, ' Bist. Shrop., vol. vii, p. 128. 

' Inq. 8 Edw. I, No. 60. * Sisl. of Shropshire, v. to. p. 98. ' Inq. 5 Edw. I, No. 67. 



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THE PRINCES OP UPPER POWYS. 189 

king's mandate Baiisley was seized into the king's Lands and restored to Mtzwaiin, who 
made it over to Corbet of Wattlesbm^h ; and by a singular coincidence it eventually 
passed, through the heiress of Corbet, to John de la Pole, lord of Mowthej, the heir male 
of Gii£5n ap Wenwynwyn. 

The rupture between Llewelyn and Griffin, and the aeisure by Llewelyn of Griffin's 
lands, alluded to in these inquests, will be recited in their proper place. 

In the year 1267 a peace was effected between the king and Llewelyn, wherein the 
king conceded to Llewelyn and his heirs that they shoidd be styled princes of Wales, and 
that they should have, moreover, the fealty and homage of all the barons of Wales (with 
one single exception, which was subsequently cancelled). It was then agreed that if 
Griffin, the son of Wenonwen, held any land whilst he was with the king before he had 
come to the fealty and alliance of Llewelyn, he should not be required to restore it, 
though justice should be administered according to the customs hitherto observed in the 
Marches, to any who claimed a right of ownership therein. GrifBn, son of Wenonwen, 
was at the same time appointed as joint conumssioner with Griffin, son of Madoc (Lord 
of &x)nifield), and three others, to arbitrate between Llewelyn Prince of Wales and his 
brother David concerning the restitution of the said David's lands.^ 

We have seen that the Lord of Powis commenced his early life under the protection 
of king Henry III and in his service, his Welsh barony being in the hands of Llewelyn 
ap Jerwerth, Prince of North Wales, from whose son David it was recovered to him in 
1241. We have seen that he remained true to his English allegiance for many years; 
and that his loyalty survived the first outburst of Welsh glory and success. It was not 
until his country had been conquered by Llewelyn and lost to the English beyond all 
reasonable hope of recoveiy, and his claims upon that more English portion of his ancient 
territory lying east of the Severn had been practically repudiated in favour of the lord 
of Cans; that at length he joined the standard of his native conntry, entered into 
an alliance offensive and defensive with Llewelyn, and received back &om him his 
territory to be held of the Prince of Wales. We have seen also that this state of things 
was subsequently recognized by the king of England by his acknowledgement of the 
title assumed by Llewelyn and his consent to his receiving the fealty and homage of all 
the barons of Wales. So that Powisland was thus once more annexed to the princi- 
pality of Wales, and bo continued for a period of about twelve years. 

We now come to the history of the rupture, before spoken o^ between Llewelyn 

and the lord of Powis in the year 1275, by which the territory of the latter came to 

be placed again under English protection. From this time forward the principality of 

Vpp&c Powis may be regarded as an EngUsh barony, held under the crown of England 

' Bym. Faed. 



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190 THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 

like any other lordship marcher. The account of the mpture, after makiiig all due 
allowance for its having reached ub through the partiBanB of llewelyn, is by no means 
creditable to Griffin. We may infer that the storm had been brewing for some time, for 
we are informed by the Welsh Chronicle' that, in 1274, " about Low Easter, Uywelyn, 
Bon of Gru£Fadd, visited the castle of Dolvorwyu. And he summoned to him Gruffadd, 
son of Gwenwynwyn, whom he upbraided for the deceit and disloyalty he had 
experienced from him ; and he took from him Arwystli, and thirteen townships of 
Cyveiliog, which are on the further side of the Dyvi, in Rhiw Helyg, and took Owjun, 
his eldest son, and carried him along with him to Gwynedd." It appears that Owen was 
subsequently induced to join in a conflpiracy with David, the brother of Uewdyn, for 
the purpose of deposing the latter and placmg David on the throne of Wales. By the 
terms of this conspiracy it was agreed that Owen should take to wife the eldest daughter 
of David, and receive for his share of the spoil the land of Kedewen and Kery, which 
then pertained to the patrimony of the prince. The conspirators determined to dispose 
of Llewelyn before their design should be rumoured abroad. For tiiifl purpose it was 
agreed between them that David and his followers should remain in the company of the 
prince until the Feast of the Purification (Feb. 2), when Owen was to lead to the hall 
of the prince by night a band of armed knights, who, through the means of David, 
should obtain admittance to the prince's chamber, and there attack him and put him to 
death. Happily their plot was frustrated by tiie inclemency of the weather. For owmg 
to the storms and tempests, the great inundations, and the rains which prevailed at that 
time, Owen and his company were unable to keep their appointment. The conspiracy 
was now discovered to Llewelyn by his friends : and David, who had taken his departure 
as soon as he found himself thwarted in his intentions, was summoned to appear before 
the prince to answer to the charge of conspiracy. But instead of appearing at the appointed 
time he transferred himself to his brother's enemies and devastated the prince's lands. 
Owen, being afterwards in the prince's company, and fearing that the charge of 
conspiracy would be proved against him, acknowledged its truth in tiie presence of the 
lord bishop of Bangor and many others, confessing that the terms of the conspiracy, 
reduced to writing and signed with the seal of the conspirators, were in his mother's 
custody in a certain chest at the castle of Pole (Powis Castle). Upon which the prince 
sent five noblemen, as his messengers, to Griffin, who should lay these matters before 
him, and endeavour to persuade him amicably to come and reconcile himself to tiie 
prince, eitiiei by dealing hinaelf of his own participation in the conspiracy, or by 
obtaining his pardon if he should have been a party to the transaction. Griffin received 
the measengers in a friendly manner and pressed them to pass the night at his castle of 

' Brut-j/'Tyuyiogioa. 



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THE PRINCES OP UPPER POWYS, 191 

Pol^ with the onderatanding that he would, on the morrow, certainly accompany them 
to Llewelyn, who was then engaged in a distant part of Wales, when he wonld clear 
himself entirely of the diaige. But when the morrow came, instead of falfiUing his 
engagements, he shut up the messengers in prison ; he fortified his castle with more 
thfm a hundred men and arms, laying in provisions and all other tJiiings requisite for the 
si^ and defence of a castle, and having raised the standard of war on the greater tower, 
and burned the houses outside, as was the custom in time of war, he himself, together 
with his wife taid childien and tJie rest of the &mily, went over to the prince's 
enemies, and committed all kinds of depredations in his lands. It is Luther laid to 
his chaige that he refused to listen to the abbot and prior of the Cistercian order at 
Kemer (Cymmer), who came to him, in the prince's name, to offer pardon for the past if 
he would reconcile himself to the prince ; and that he joined David at Shrewsbury to 
enter with him into fresh conspiracies.^ 

Such are the charges laid agfunst Griffin, and apparently not without reason, though 
we have only the statement of his enemies for them ; and, in extenuation of his conduct, 
we must remember that be had been despoiled by liewdyn of the cantred Arustli 
and oth^ lands of his inheritance. We have an incidental notice of his visit to 
Shrewsbury at that time <m the roU of accounts still prraerved by the corporation. The 
winter of 1275-6, says the writer of the History of Shrewsbury, was distinguished by 
the arrival of several great personages in this town. It was the custom for the bailiSs of 
those days to present such persons with a gratuity, then called a courtesy, upon their 
arriTaL On the roll of accounts of 3 Edward I. is an item, " In curialitibus (courtesies) 
&ctb dominis Johanni de Somery, Fagano Tipetot, Jcdianni de Charleton, Fultoni 
eztraneo, Alano la Zouche, Petro Corbet et Qriffi-no de kt Pole xxrvi«. zd," and in. the 
margin is an entry " Facta fuit hsec curialitaa die Jovis ante circumsissionem Domini 
anno quMto," i.e., new year's day, 1275-6." 

It must have been at this time that Llewelyn entered upon the lands of Griffin in 
Powis and the borders. His son, Owen ap GrifBn, had probably been detained as 
Llewelyn's prisoner from the time of the conspira(^, since in the ratification of the 
articles of peace between the king and Llewelyn, dated at Aberconwey, on Tuesday next 
before th^ Feast of St Martin (November 1277),' vrfiercby Llewelyn places himself at 
the king's mercy and relinquishes tdl his late conquests, among other things it was 
stipulated that he should set unconditionally free Owen son of Griffin, son of Wenunwen; 
who wa£ accordingly released about the feast- of St. Andrew (Nov. 30) of the same 
year.* 

' 'S.jm, Fad. * Sigt, Shreietburg, v. i, p. 138. 

* Bym. Feed., 5 Edw. I. Bntt-y'^S/wj/sogion. 



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192 THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 

It is probable tliat Griffin now re-entered upon his territory; for on June 4 of the 
following year, 1278, the king had received a letter from Llewelyn, complaining that he 
had been unlawfully cited to go so far as to Montgomery to give and receive justice with 
respect to certain Idnds in the occupation of which he had been superseded, and in which 
he claimed a right. Hie k i n g wrote to inform him that he had deputed certain wise and 
prudent men, to whom he had given orders by word of mouth that they rfiould proceed 
to the parts where the disputed lands lay ; and that there, at a fitting time and place to 
be notified to Llewelyn, they should listen to his complaints with respect to the lands of 
which he made mention in his letter, and not omit to cause' due and speedy justice to be 
done to him. As to the depredations also and the spoliations he had suffered from the 
men of Grifiin ap Weuuuwen since the last peace concluded between the king and 
LleweljTi ; and likewise as to the men of whom Llewelyn complained that they had 
withdrawn from him their due and customary service for the lands which they held of 
him, on the pretext of their holding lands under the crown of England ; the king 
informed him that he had ordered the said justices to summon the said Gri£Sn and the 
aforesaid men before them, in Llewelyn's presence, if he should wish to be present, and, 
after hearing all the aiguments which they had to adduce on either side, to cause sudi 
speedy reparation to be made as should remove all ground of complaint from eitiier of 
them.^ 

It is not improbable that this dispute may have arisMi concerning the cantred or 
hundred of Arustiy which Llewelyn claimed as a part of the territory of North Wales, 
and which he reckoned as such in his survey of Wales.^ We shall see that Griffin, by a 
deed which must have passed aboat this time, assigned this whole caatred to his eldest 
son .Owen, as a portion of his hereditary possessions, in the will or deed of assignment 
whereby he disposed of all his lands amongst his sons. But it is observable that there is 
no mention made of Arustly, among the lands of which he died seized, in tiie inquest 
taken after his death in 1285-6. Moreover, it is expressly stated in an inquest held at 
Bala in 1427, nearly two centuries after these transactions had occiirred, that Llewelyn 
ap GrifBn, Prince of Wales, had died seized of this cantred ; and that Owen ap Griffin 
ap Wenwynwyn, then lord of Powys, had entered upon it after Llewelyn's death.' 

The will of Griffin, whidi is preserved in the Welsh Roll of tiie year 6 Edward L 
(1277-8), suggests the idea of a compromise between the old Welsh custom of gavelkind 

' This plea between Llewelyn ap Griffin, Prince of Wales, and Griffin ap Wenwynwyn, was still 
pending on Jone 6th, 1281 (Rymera' Fadera). If it were concerning the cantred of AruBtly it probably 
temunated in &ao\a of Uewelyn. 

' Hengwrt MS., No. 119. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER P0WY8. 193 

and the Norman law of primogeniture. The deed, which is royal in its language, runs as 
follows : "Be it known to all men, present and future, that we, GrifSn son of Wennonwen, 
of OUT free and spontaneoua will, with tiie aeaent and consent of Llewelin, John, William, 
David, and GrifiBn, our Bons, have given, conceded, and assigned, and by this out present 
deed have confirmed, unto Owin our eldest son, HiG brother of our aforesaid sons, all 
our land of SorlanhertMudol (Llannerch hudol), together with all rights, liberties, and 
customs, fields, pastures, roads, paths, pools, fisheries, banks, waters, mills, woods, issues, 
incomings, homages, services, escheats, leliefe, heriots, aids, and all the other appur- 
tenances which belong to our said land of Sorlanherthhudol. We have also given and 
conceded to the same Owyn our son all our land of Soyrstradmaighel (Ystrad Marchell 
or Strata Marcelli), together with all rights, hberties, customs, etc., and all l^e other 
appurtenances which belong to the said land of Stroyrstrad marghel, excepting the viU 
called Hergyngroyk, which we have assigned and given over to Hawys our wife to have 
and to hold for the whole term of her life, so that after the decease of the same Hawys 
the aforesaid vill of Hei^yngroyk, with all its rights, liberties, and other appurtenances, 
should revert to our said son Owyn and his heirs without any participation, contradiction, 
or impediment on the part of any of his aforesaid brothers or their heirs. Also we have 
given and conceded, and by this our present deed have confirmed, unto the aforesaid 
Owyn our son, all our land of Keveliot (Offeilioc), together with all rights, liberties, 
customs, eta, and all ot^er the appurtenances which belong to our said land of Kevehot, 
excepting a certain pasture called Cumcamethapseysil, which we have given and 
conceded to the said Hawys our wife for the term of her life, so that after the death of 
the same Hawys the whole of the said pasture, with all its rights and appurtenances, 
should entirely revert to the aforesaid Owyn our son and his heiis for ever. Also we 
have given and conceded, and by this our present deed have confirmed, unto the aforesaid 
Owyn our son, our whole cantred called Aroystly, tt^ether with all rights, liberties, 
customs, etc., and all other the appurtenances which belong to our said cantred. Also 
we have given and conceded, and by this our present deed have confirmed, unto the 
aforesaid Owyn our son, all our land of Reyrhyngnon (Caereinion), witli all rights, 
hberties, customs, etc., and all other the appurtenances which belong to our said land of 
Reyrhyngnon, excepting three villfl, namely, Lanurvil, Lifrin, RerewiUth, together with a 
certain pasture called Renendrun, which we have given to the said Hawys our wife, to 
have and to hold for the term of her life, so that after her decease the aforesaid three 
vills, with all their rights and appurtenances, should revert to our son, Llewelin, and the 
heirs of his body lawfully begotten. And if the said IJewelin our son should happen to 
die without issue lawfully begotten, we will and concede that the said three vills, with 
all their rights and appurtenances, should entirely revert to our aforesaid son Owin, 

OG 



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194 THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 

without participation, contradiction, or impediment on the part of his Baid brothers or 
their heira. Also we will and concede that our vills of Botingtou (Buttington), Olpeton 
(Uppingtou), and Hop (Hope), and Hkewise all our lands of Dendwr (Deythur), with all 
Tills, liberties, rights, and with all other its appurtenances, which we have assigned unto 
the aforesaid Hawya our wife, to have and to hold for the whole period of her life, as 
freely and quietlj as we have ever had them or could have had them, or as we have ever 
most fully held t^em ourselves, without contradiction or impediment from any of our 
sons or their heirs, should revert, after the death of the said Hawys, to our aforesaid son 
Lewelin and his issue lawl^y begotten. And if the said Lewelin should happen to 
depart without an heir of his body lawfully begotten, then we will and concede that all 
the said lands, together with the aforesaid vills and all other their appurtenances, should 
revert to our said son Owin, without participation, contradiction, or impediment on the 
part of his said brothers or their heirs. We will also and concede that those our four 
vills which we have assigned to our son John in the aforesaid land of Creyngnon, namely, 
Lestinwennau, Blante, Coytalank, ' liai^adevan, to have and to hold for the whole time 
of his life, should revert, after the decease of the same John, to our said son Owyn and 
his heirs, without participation, contradiction, or impediment on the part of hia said 
brothers or their heirs. Also we will and concede that the four vdls, namely, Fentyrigh, 
Kertlicassan, Pennai-t, and Riwarth, which we have assigned to our son David and the heirs 
of his body lawfully begotten, should entirely revert to our aforesaid son Owin, with all 
their appurtenances, if our said son David should happen to die without issue lawfiiUy 
batten, without participation, contradiction, or impediment on the part of his said 
brothers or their heirs. Also we will and concede as to our whole land of Mauto 
(Mawddwy), with all its rights, liberties, and all other appurtenances, which we have 
assigned to our son William and the heirs of his body lawfully begotten, excepting a 
certain vill called Landeboe, which we have conceded and given to the aforesaid Hawys 
our wife, to have and^to hold for the whole time of her life ; so that after the death of 
the same Hawys the said vill of Landeboe shoiild revert to the aforesaid William our son 
and the heirs of his body lawfully begotten, — that the whole of our said land of Mautt^ 
together with the aforesaid viU of Landeboe, with all their rights and Uberties, and all 
other their appurtenances, should revert to the aforesaid Owin our son and to his heirs, 
without participation, contradiction, or impediment on the part of his said brothers or 
their heirs, if our said son William should depart without lawful issue. Also we will and 
concede that our whole land of Mochnand (Mochnant), with all its rights and liberties, 
and with all other appurtenances, which we have assigned to our son Griffin and the 
heirs of his body lawfully begotten, should entirely revert to the aforesaid Owin our son 
and to his heirs, without participation, contradiction, or impediment on the part of his 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 195 

said brothers or their heiis, if our said son Griffin should happen to depart without lairful 
isaue. Also we have given, conceded, and by this our present deed have confirmed to 
the aforesaid Owin our son and his heirs, all l^e advowsons of the churches in. all the 
lands which we have bestowed upon the same Owin for ever ; and also all the advowsons 
of the churches in all the lands which we have bestowed upon our other sons if they 
should happen to die without lawful issue. Also we will and concede that each of our 
sons abovenamed should hold all the lands and possesBiona which we have specially 
assigned to them, together with their appurtenances and all their rights, in ccupUe, of our 
said son Owin, in fee and by right of inheritance, as is before specified, for ever, and 
tliat they should do homage to the same Owin and his heirs. We wiU also and concede 
to our said son Owin and his heirs, that if they should happen to build or restore any 
castle, and the community of the SMne Owin or his heirs should be called together for 
this purpose, the whole community belonging to the lands of our said sons should take 
their part in this common aid, according to that which the said Owin's tenants should do 
or should be bound to do, free &om all contradiction or impediment &om his said 
brothers or their heirs. Also if the aforesaid Owin our son or his heirs should chance 
to go to war, or make any common gathering, or pursue any conmion business, to 
which the community of the aforesaid Owin or his heirs should have to come, we will 
and concede that the whole community of the lands of his said brothers should come to 
the said war or gathering, free from all contradiction or impediment on their part. Also 
if any strife or contention should chance to arise between the said brothers, we will and 
concede that the said strife and contention should be heard and determined in the court 
of the said Owin. Also if any strife or contention should chance to arise between the 
tenants of the said brothers, which they should be unable to determine in their own 
courts,, we will and concede that the same should be finally determined in the court of 
the said Owin : so that the amercements of tran^ressors, due to the lords or lord, should 
remain to them or him, without contradiction or impediment from the said Owin or his 
heirs. Also in the event of any common tallage being levied upon all oiu* lands, we will 
and concede that all the tenants of the said brothers, as weU those of the said Owin as 
those of the others, should be equally assessed according to their number, and that all the 
said tallage diould be fuUy delivered to the same Owin and his heirs, as to their chief 
lord, without any diminution. Also we will and concede that our said son Owin and his 
heirs, as chief lord of the whole fee, should render all due and customary services to the 
lord king of England. To have and to hold to the said Owin, as our lawful son and heir, 
and to his heirs, all the said lands, with all Iheir appurtenances before named, freely, 
quietly, well, securely, entirely, and by hereditary right for ever, as freely and folly as we 
have ever had or held them ourselves. And in order that this donation, concession, 

og2 



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196 THK PRINCKS OF UPPER POWYS. 

assignation, aad the confirmation thereof by this our present charter, should remain firm, 
stable, and unshaken for ever, we have ratified our present charter with the security of 
our seal To these are witnesses the lords, Heynon, Bishop of St. Asaph ; James, Abbot 
of La Pole ; GrifBn, Archdeacon of St. Asaph ; Koger de Mortimer; Roger de Clifibrd; 
Roger Springhose; GrifSn Appewen; Yervoth Appewroon; Tudor Appewrounch; and 
many others.^ 

On April 26th, 1279, Griffin ap Wenunwen had a charter, dated at Westminster, to 
hold a weekly market every Monday at hia manor of Trevenant in Powia, and two fairs 
yearly of three days duration, namely, on the eve, the day, and the morrow of St Barnabas 
(June 10, 11, and 12), and on ihe eve, the day, and the morrow of St Leonard the 
Abbot {probably Nov. 5, 6, and 7).^* This charter was intended to recompense him for 
the loss sustained by the removal of his market and &irs irom Welshpool, which had 
been supposed to damage the king's markets at Montgomery. For on June 11, 1282, by 
charter dated at Chester, the king recites that his beloved and faithful Griffin ap 
Wenunwen had formerly held a weekly market on Monday at his manor of La Pole, Mid 
a yearly fair of three days duration on the eve, the day, and the morrow of the Ascension, 
as also on the eve, the day, and the morrow of St Edward king and confessor, by grant 
from his progenitors, kings of England, until he, the said king, having heard that those 
market and fairs were injurious to his own market and fairs at Montgomery, had removed 
them from La Pole, and conceded to the said Griffin and his heirs that instead thereof 
th^ should hold a weekly market and two annual fairs at his manor of Trevenant in the 
Marches. But now having learnt irom his beloved and faithful Roger de Mortimer, Bogo 
de Knovill, and other creditable persons, that the aforesaid market and fairs were not 
injurious to the market or fairs at Mont^meiy, the king once more removes the market 
and fairs from Trevenant and concedes to Griffin that he and his heirs for ever should 
hold a weekly market on every Monday at La Pole, and also three annual fairs of three 
days duration, namely, on the eve, the day, and the morrow of St. Augustine the apoatie 
of England (May 25, 26, 27), on the eve, the day, and the morrow of the Decollation of 
St John the Baptist (August 28, 29, 30), and on the eve, the day, and the morrow of 
St Leonard the abbot (probably Nov. 5, 6, 7).' 

This is the last we hear of Griffin de la Pole, the son of Wenunwen, who probably 
died soon after ; for we are informed that his son Owen did homage to the king for his 
lands in the parliament held at Shrewsbury (i.e., in 1283). But the inquest taken after 
his death, which was preserved tunong the records of 14 Edward L (1285-6), is unfor^ 
tunately missing from the Record Office. It is marked as wanting in the calendar 

' Bot. WaU., 6, 7, 8, 9 Bdw. I, m. 11 d. (de a', P.) ' Bot. Chari., 7 Edw. I, No. 32. 

» Bot. Chart., 10 Edw. I, No. 1. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. I97 

printed for the Becord Commission ; but the estates of which he died seized are given, 
from the earlier manuscript cfdendar of inquisitiona, as follows : ** De k. Pole caatr' extent' 
cum villis. Southstradmarhull maner* cum villa de Guldesfeld, Dendoure maner' extent, 
Mehhein uhcoit maner', Trefderif, Kereynon extent', Mauthon extent', Keveylok extent', 
La Pole villa mercator' extent', Botiton extent', Thlanarvnell extent', Naumehhent extent'." 

Griffin ended his life, as he had begun it, a subject of the English king, and 
transmitted his lands to his heirs to be held as an English barony. 

By bis wife Hawise, the daughter of John le Strange, of Nesae and Cheswardiue, he 
had six Bona, and a daughter Margaret, wife of Fulk Fitzwarine of Whittington ; which 
Ma^aret was living in 1330, and then holding a third part of Whytyngton in dower, 
when her son made forfeit of his lands for taking part with Edmund Earl of Kent, the 
king's uncle.^ Mr. Eyton says that her name was Mable, but she ia certainly named 
Matgaret in the inquest above quoted, where she is also called mother of the Lord Fulk 
Fitzwaryn. 

Hawise, the widow of Griffin, survived her husband many years. During hia 
lifetime ahe had acquired the royal manor of Church Stretton by the gift of her brother, 
Hamo le Strange.^ Hamo was one of those who accompanied Prince Edward to the 
Crusade of 1270. Before he went he made over his estates at Ellesmere and Stretton to 
his brother Koger and his sister Hawise respectively. Mr. Eyton supposes the foUowing 
deed to have paased on the eve of his departure for Palestine. " Hawise de la Pole, with 
the assent of Sir GrifSn her husband, promises that whenever her brother. Sir Hamo, may 
return &om the Holy Land, it shall be lawful to him to enter the manor of Strattone, in 
the county of Salop. Witneasea, Sir Koger le Strange, Robert his brother, and Odo de 
Hodnet" We learn from the same authority* that Hamo le Strange's death had been 
heard of in England in 1273, when '* it was enjoined on the sheriff of Shropshire that 
he should seize into the king's hand, and keep safely, the manor of Strattondale, which 
Hamo le Strange held of the king in capite, and which was of the ancient demesne of tiie 
crown, and which the said Hamo had alienated witbout Ucence." Although the king 
retained Stretton in his own hands, he allowed Hawise to receive the whole income 
derived from it, which amounted to £26 7«. 2d. By a patent of January 11, 1278, king 
Eldward recites that he had already committed to his beloved Hawiae, wife of his faithful 
and beloved Griffin Fitzwenunwin, hia (the king's) manor of Strattondale, to be held by 
her at the king'a wilL The king now further concedes that, if at any time he should 
wish to resume the said manor, he would first as^gn to Hawise, for her life, twenty 
librates of land in some competent place : but such assignment was to revert to the king 
or hifl heirs immediately after Hawiae's death. Moreover, if it ahould happen that Hawise 

' Inq. ad q. d., i Edw. m, 2nd n"., No. 47. ' ffiri. SArty., vol. xii, p. 25. ' Ibid. 



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198 THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 

should erect any new houses at Strattoudale, the king would be answerable to her for the 
reasonable costs thereof. iN'otwitlistanding this deed, the king, or his lavyers, actually 
sued Hawise, widow of Griffin de la Pole, in November 1292, under a writ of right, for 
the manor of Stretton in Strettonesdale. The production of the above patent of courae 
silenced the prosecution.^ In the mean time, by writ dated from Gloucester on July 16, 
1287, JBbiwise de la Pole, wife of Griffin ap Wenunwyn, received orders to provide her 
quota of one hundred foot soldiers from the land of Strattonesdale to join the king's 
army at Lampadervaur", in tbe expedition against Res ap Meredith and the other 
Welsh rebela^ An extent of Sixetton, taken many years later, in 1309, gives a 
gross valuation of £20 33. Ad. for the manor. The king had then conceded it to 
Edmund Earl of Arundel if he shoidd outlive the said Hawise de la Pole, the then life 
tenant.^ 

We have seen that the manor of Buttington, in the Gordowr, was assigned to Hawise 
as part of her dower. It was during her tenure that the question was settled as to which 
diocese the Gordowr belonged. On Nov. 27, 1288, Bishop Swinfield {of Hereford) 
visited Shrawardine church and returned back to Alberbury. There, in the choir of the 
conventual church, " the principal chaplain of Hawyse, Lady of La Pole," attended, " and, 
for himself and the other chaplains celebrating at Botynton, swore canonical obedience 
to the bishop."* 

In 1294-5, Hawise, widow of Griffin de la Pole, had the custody assigned to her of 
the castle of La Pole, and all the lands which had belonged to her son Owen de la 
Pole, deceased, which he had held of the king in capite, and which were in the king's 
hands by reason of the minority of his heir. She was to hold them during the king's 
pleasure. But by a subsequent grant of the same year, the king, wishing, as he said, to 
show her more abundant favour in this matter, was pleased to commit to her the said 
custody until the full age of the said Owen's heirs. Notwithstanding the words of this 
grant this custody was afterwards transferred to her son. Griffin de la Pole, by king 
Edward II, in the first year of his reign (1307-8) ; although Hawise was still living. She 
died about November 1310.* The inquest after her death was taken at Westbury, on 
January 10, 1311. No mention is made there of the manor of Stretton; but the jurors 
stated that she held, in the name of dower, after the death of Griffin, her late husband, 
who had held the barony of La Pole of the king, the undermentioned lands, namely, 
the viUs (or townships) of Argingeroyd, Launrevel, Kenywyd, Lessin, Naumeyghand, 
Kekydena, Buthegedyn, Trenedrit and Brenannyarth, which said vills were held of the long 
in capite by barony, as part of the said barony of La Pole. She held also, in the name of 

' fltri. 8hra^., vol. lii, pp. 25, 26. ' Bym. Fad. ' Hut. Shrop., vol. xii, p. 27. 

* Eiat. Shrvp., vol. xi, p. 177. * Ibid., vol. xii, p. 27. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER P0WY8. 199 

dower, the manor of Botynton, with its members of Trewem and Hop, \mder the barony 
of Cawes, which Griffin, her late husband, had held of Peter Corbet for a knight's fee. 
Her granddaughter Hawiae, sister of Griffin son of Owen de la Pole, was her heir, and 
already married to John de Cherleton ; and the said Hawyse was nineteen years of age 
on the feast of St Margaret the Virpn laat past (July 20, 1310).^ 

There is a seal of the Lady Hawise, wife of Griffin, now in existence, which was 
lately in the possession of the Rev. T. R Lyon, rector of Pulford, near Chester. It was 
found in digging a foundation at Oswestry. The matrix is of silver, and bears the 
impression of a female standing clothed in the kirtle, the long mantle, the. round low- 
crowned reticuled cap, and the gorget of the period, and holding a shield in either hand. 
That on the dexter side is charged with the arms of her husband, a Uon rampant, and 
that on the sinister side with the arms of Le Strange (her paternal coat), two lions 
passant.^ The l^end round the seal is "S' Hawise Dfle de Keveolog" — the seal of 
Hawise Lady of Keveoloc (Cyfeilioc). This sea! has been erroneously attributed to her 
granddaughter, Hawise Gadam. There is an engraving of it given in the Ar<Ateological 
Jourrud, where it is attributed to the right person. 

Owen de la Pole (better known as Owen of Arusdi), the eldest sou of Griffin ap 
Wenwynwyn. appears to have held the cantred of Arustli during his fether's lifetime. 
For in the 8th of Edward I. (1279-80) he had a charter for a weekly market on Saturday 
at his town of TUanidleys (Llanidloes, in the cantred of Amsth), as also for two annual 
fairs there to be held, respectively, on the eve and the day of St Mai^aret the Vii^n 
(July 19, 20), and on the eve and the day of St Luke the Evangelist (October 17, 18).' 
His father had probably made over to him his interest in this disputed territory, which 
appears to have subsequently fallen into the hands of Prince Llewelyn ap Griffin. On 
the death of the latter, however, which occurred on December 11,1 282, it waa reoccupied 
by Owen,* whose right was doubtless acknowledged by the crown, for he afterwards 
obtained a renewal of his charter for a market and fairs at Thlanidleys. 

At the parliament held at Shrewsbury (in the autumn of the year 1283) he sur- 
rendered to king Edward all his lands, and received them back ^ain under the name 
and tenure of free baron^e of England, on resigning to the king and his heirs and to the 
crown of England the name and crown of a prince (nomen et circulum principatus).^ 

On April 27, 1286, he had a charter, as above mentioned, for a weekly market on 
Saturday at his town of Thlanidleys in Wales, as also for two annual iairs there of three 
days duration, namely, on the eve, the day, and the morrow of the Translation of 3. 

' Inq., 4 Edw. n, No. 39.- ' Arehao. Journal, vol. x. 

» Bol. OhxH., 8 Edw. I, No. 1. * Inq. ftpad Bala, temp. Hen. VI (Hengwrt MS., No. 119). 

' Nichols's GoUeetamea Ttrpog. et Qenealog., vol. yiii, p. 183. 



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200 THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 

Thomas the martyr (July 6, 7, 8), and on the eve, the day, and the morrow of liie 
festival of S. Luke the Evangelist.^ 

On November 14, 1287, Owen de la Pole was one of those magnates of the Marches 
to whom the king wrote, on occasion of the rebellion of Res ap Meredeth, ordering him 
to remain in his manors and lands adjacent to the parts where the insurrection had been 
made, and manfully to withstand the said Res and hia accomplicea He was to pursue 
them by night and by day, and when he had taken them captive he was to keep them in 
hia safe custody until further orders.^ 

In May, 1290, certain final concords were made between him and his brothers, by 
which he assigned certain lands to each of them ; and they quit-claimed to him and his 
heirs all right of participation in the remainder of their father's lands.^ From these 
several documents it appears, that between Owen and his brothers Llewelyn and William 
there had never been any contention. With the others, however, and especially with 
Griflfin, disputes had arisen which were thus amicably settled. 

According to these final concords Llewelyn was to have Mochnant wch, Rhaiader, 
and Mechain Wchcoed, together with the viUs of Naumethad, Lanhurvyl, Leshyn, and 
Kennuwyd, and the pasture and chace of Kenevedron. John was to have, for term of 
life, the following five viUs in Oaereinion, namely, Brynwayen, Lestynwormau, LaDga- 
devan, Blante, and Coythalant; and, if he should survive his mother, Hawyse, he waa also 
to have the half of Mechain Iscoed, which Griffin, their brother, then held. 

William was to have the whole land of Maudoe, or Mawddwy. 

David, for term of life only, was to have two vills in Oaereinion, namely, Pennarth 
and Rewhyreth; and, after hia mother's death, the other half of Mechain Iscoed, which 
their brother Griffin then held. 

And Griffin was to have Mechain Iscoed, which he then held, as long as the Lady 
Hawyse, his mother, should Uve, after which it waa to revert to Owen and his heirs; and 
Dendour, which the Lady Hawyse then held in dower, was to descend, after her decease, 
to Gri£&n and his heirs. 

The abovementioned lands were all to be held of Owen and his heirs by service in 
the WelA wars, and in the biiilding and reparation of castles, and a liability to common 
tallage. The portions of John and David were to revert, after their respective deaths, to 
Owen and his heirs; and likewise those of the other brothers, in case of the failure of 
their lawful issue. 

On December 28, 1291, the king, by his charter, conceded and confirmed to his 
beloved and faithful "Audoenus de la Pole," that he and his heirs for ever should have a 

• Bat. Ohart., 14 Edw. I, No. 25. ' Rym. Fted. 

' Bot. WaM, 14-23 Edw. I, m. 7 d. (de a.'. 18°.) 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPEE POWYS. 201 

weekly market, on Wednesday, at Maghentiileyth {Machynlleth) in Wales, in the commot 
of Keveyllok; and two annual fairs there, of three days duration, namely, on the eve, the 
day, and the morrow, of the apostles Peter and Paid (June 28, 29, 30); and on the eve, 
the day, and the morrow, of Sl Edmund the archbishop (in November).^ 

Joanna, the wife of Owen, is said to have been the daughter of Sir Robert Corbet of 
Wattlesbuigh, and Moreton Corbet, by his first wife, Catherine {Ida ?), daughter of John 
le Strange,^ who would thus have been his first cousin. Owen de la Pole died before 
Oct 15, 1293, leaving two infant children of about two or three years of age. The 
inquest, jjos* mortem, was ordered Oct 15, 1293,' and held at La Pole on the Tuesday, 
Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday before, and on (Sunday) the feast of St. Nicholas 
(Dec. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6), 1293.* The jury reported that he died seized of the following 
manors and estates, namely, the manor of Mathrawel in Kareynon, Soetlanverwodel with 
the adjacent hamlets, the town of La Pole, the manor of Walweme in Keveylok, the 
town of Mathenii in Cavelok, the town of Lanlidelas in Arwystly, the manor of Penpres 
in Iscoet (or Penprea in Arwystly) with the adjacent handcts, the manor of Talgart in 
Arwystli with certain hamlets adjacent, and the town of Langerik, — all of which were 
held by the service of the barony of La Pole. Griffin, hia son and heir, was of the age of 
two years on the Palm Sunday last past 

In the same year Malcolm de Harley had orders to take in hand the lands and 
tenements which were of Owen de la Pole deceased.^ 

In 1294, Joanna, the widow of Owen de la Pole, had her dower assigned to her in 
Walwem Keveyllock, and MathraveL' 

In the following year she had the custody assigned to her of two parts of the lands 
and tenements in Powys, which were of Ludowicus (Llewelyn) de la Pole, which the said 
Ludowicus had held of the king in ca/pite, and which were in the king's hands by reason 
of the minority of his heir.' 

She was afterwards remarried to Koger Trumwyn, of Cannock in the county of 
Staflford, who was sheriff of Staffordshire and Shropshire in 1308, and again in 1317. In 
1319, Sir Roger Tromwyne was admitted a buigess of Shrewsbury; and, from many 
circumstances, appears to have been frequently resident there and in its neighbourhood. 
We learn from the Parliament Rolls of the 1st of Edward II, says Blakeway,^ that he 
held, in right of the dower of Johanna hia wife, certain lands in the parts of Powys in 
Wales, the reversion whereof pertained to Griffin ap Oweyn de la Pole. 

Johanna survived her second husband also, and had her dower in Herdwicke-juxta- 

' Bat. Chart., 20 Edw. I, No. 67. * Mr. J. Morris's MSS. ' Ex inf. Rev. E. Byton. 

' luq., 21 Edw. r, No. 22. • Bot, 21 Edw. I, No. 22 (ex inf. Rev. B. Eyton). 

' Bot. Orig. Abhrev., 22 Edw. I, No. 4. ' Bot. Orig. Abhrev., No. 12. ' Sheriffi of Shrops., p. 48. 



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202 THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 

Sardon. In 1333, as "Johanna de la Poole, quondam uxor Kogeii Tromwyne militiB," 
she gave to her son, Robert Tromwyne, clerk, all her lands in Le Herdwyke, within the 
inanor of Sardon.^ But the wardship of her children by Owen de la Pole had been first 
committed to their grandmother, Hawyse; and afterwards, in X307-8, to their unde. 
Griffin de la Pole. 

The younger Griffin de la Pole, the son of Owen, died under age in June 1309; and 
in the same year Walter de Gloucester, the king's escheator, had orders to take in hand 
the lands and tenements which were of Griffin, sou and heir of Owen de la Pole deceased.^ 
The inquest was held at La Pole on tiie Wednesday before the feast of St. Lawrence, in 
the third year of Edward II (Aug. 10, 1309). The jury found that he had held of the 
king, by barony and for his homage and feally, the castle of La Pole in the county of 
Powys, with two parts of the vill of La Pole, and the other tenements below mentioned, 
namely, the Till of Disserth, as a member of La Pole ; LlanerUiudel, the vills of Treve- 
nant and Castel, certain tenements at Selveyn, the viUs of Tidinprid, Trallungolleyn, and 
Gaer, with rents from Bruchtur, Estradelvedan, etc He had held also, in the country rf" 
Mecheyn, the vill of Garthg...., and lands in demesne; with rents and profits arising 
from Finnoun Arthur, Gwinna, and Wodwach; lands in demesne and rents at Glas- 
meynoc; and the viU of Lanvethling. He had held also in the county of Mothnant the 
Till of Maeseleyn, and rents and profits arising from Kem[yn]cogh, Garthgelennyn, 
[Nanjthfellaw, Kalennok, and [Kumyjnon. He had held also the manor of CaJgarth in 
Arwystly, where there were a capital messuage and other buildings, with lands in 
demesne, and mills, and certain rents from Calgarth and from Langbiys; as also from 
Brenogadys and Waven. He had held also the manor of Penbrys, where there were a 
capital messuage, and lands in demesne, and rents; and rents also from Lanygelays. 
The whole was held of the king by the service beforementioned ; and the profits arising 
from the whole amounted in all to £l90 6s. lld.^ Hawyse was his sister and nearest 
heir, and she was eighteen years of a^e on the feast of St. James the Apostle last past 
(i.e. July 25, 1309).* From a subsequent inquest held at Shrewsbury on the Wednesday 

' Erdeswick'a Staffordshire, Harewood's Ed., p. 200, 

• Mot., 2 Edw. n, No. 1?. » Inq., 2 Edw. II, No. 79. 

* There is some miB-Btatemenfc with respect to the date of the birth of the children of Owen de la Pole. 
At &e inqaest taken after his death on the feast of St. Nicholas, 22 Edw. I. (Deo. 6, 1293), OrifGn, the 
young heir, ib stated to have been two years of age on the Palm Snnday laet past; bo that, if the jnry were 
rightly informed, he wonld have been bom in the Bpring of 1291, According to the inqnest after tha 
death of the said GrifBn, hia sister, Hawyse, would have been bom on Jnly 25, 1291. And according to 
the inquest taken after the death of her grandmother, in the following year, she wonld have been bom on 
July 20, 1291, which is sufficiently near to corroborate the previons statement of her birth; ho that it is 
more likely that the age of Griffin was slightly imderstatod at the former inquest ; and we nmy suppose 
him to have been about nineteen years of age at the time of his death. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 203 

next after the feast of St. Valentine, 3 Edward II (Feb. 18, 1310), we leam that the king 
had committed to the said Griffin (then under age, and a ward of the ctown), to hold in 
fee-ferm, until he should have attained his majority, the vills of Rewyriarth, Pentirth, 
Bolertheth, PennarUi, LaDgenan, Thleswyan, Blante, Bringwaydan, the market town of 
Maghentlejrt in Keveylok, two parts of La Grenehalle, and four librates of annual rent, 
together with (the lands and tenements of which he is above stated to have died seized, 
namely) the castle of Pole in the country of Powys, the vills of La Pole, Disserth Liber, 
Lannerthudol Liber, Trevenant Liber, Castel Libe, Selveyn Libe, Tidinprid IJber, TraUun- 
gelleyn Liber, Gaer Nativi, Bruchtur Nativi, Tidinprid Nativi, Caatraveldan, Castel 
Nativi, the country of Metheleyn, Fumongarthur Liber, Metheleyn Guynna, Glasmenoe 
Liber, Metheleyn, the country of Mochnant, Maesseleyn, Kenyncoch, Grarthe Lonynnaur, 
Nantfellaun, Kellemok, Kumynon, Arwistli Usthecoyt, Langerig, Bronogadeyr, Wanan, 
and Lanyzdoys; and that the said Griffin had demised to the Lady Joan, his mother, 
within a year of his death, the said villa of Keuwhiriarth, Pentirth, Dolereth, Pennarth, 
Langadevan, Lestynwynnan, Blante, and Bringwardan.^ Griffin de la Pole was dead 
before June 25, 1309 -^ and his sister being yet under age, his lands and barony remained 
in the king's custody. 

Hawise, the daughter of Owen de la Pole (better known as Hawyse Gadam, or "the 
hardy"), who thus became heiress of Powys, was bom in July 1291, and was found to be 
eighteen years of age at the time of her brother's death. The king gave her in marriage 
shortly after to John de Cherlton, who, on August 26 of the same year (1309), had 
lively of the barony of La Pole, saving the dower of Ela, widow of the deceased 
Griffin." 

There is an old tradition, which seems to have originated with Br. Powel, that this 
lady's uncles, Llewelyn, John, Griffin Yaughan, and David, upon the death of theix 
nephew Griffin, laid claim to their brother's lands, alleging for a cloak to their usurpation, 
that, by the gafel, she could not, as a female, inherit her father's lands. But her cause 
was taken up by the king, who gave her in mairiage to ^ John de Cherlton, a gentieman 
of his beddiamber, and ordered Bc^r de Mortimer to go to her rescue. By Mortimer's 
assistance their machinations were not only defeated, but, if we give credit to the 
tradition, they further resulted in a decision from the crown to tie following effect, 
namely, that Hawyse should retain possession of her lands, with remainder to her heirs 
general for ever; and that her four uncles who litigated should peaceably enjoy their 
respective estates, with remainder to their heirs male; but that, on the failure of such 
issue, their lands should also accumulate ' to Hawyse and her heirs. Whether this 
tradition had any foimdation whatever, as regards the above decision, I cannot determine; 

• Inq., 3 Edw. II, No. 50. » Eiat. Shropshire, t. ix, p. 23. * Ibid. 



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204 THE PRINCES OP UPPER POWYS. 

but it is certain that Llewelyn, one of her uncles, was then dead, and probably her uncle 
John also; and if I am right in supposing David to have beeu a priest, the decision (if 
Buch an one were ever pronounced) could have affected none but Griffin. It is neverthe- 
less true that the lands of all her uncles, with the exception of William de la Pole, the 
lord of Mawddwy, did eventually revert to the heirs of Hawyse. " Johes de Charlton et 
Hawisia uxor ejus diserunt quod ipsi 'tenent terram de Powys ut jus et hereditatem 
ipsius Hawifflse et quod ipai habent in tenia illia omnem regalem libertatem.' "^ 

Mr. Eyton has plainly shewn that John de Cherlton, who married the heiress of 
Powys, was the elder (and not, as has been assumed by some, the younger) brother of 
Alan Cherlton of Apley. He held Cherleton, in the parish of Wrockwardine, co. Salop, 
under Shrewsbury Abbey, as his ancestors had held it before h im ; and this before his 
marriage with Ha wise Gadam. On November 17, 1316, he was empowered by pat«it 
to crenellate, or embattle, and to surround with a stone wall his mansion at Charlton. 
On Sept 14, 1325, another patent enables him to fortify his house at Shrewsbury wilh 
battlements and a wall of stone.^ This hostel, or town house of the lords of Powys, at 
Shrewsbury, afterwards known as Charlton Hall, stood on the site now occupied by the 
theatre. 

Sir John de Cherlton, lord of Powys, was high in the king's esteem, and constantly 
employed by him in matters of great trust and importance. He died in 1353, at the 
advanced age of eighty-five, having been summoned to Parliament &om Jtdy 26, 1313, 
to July 25, 1353, as " Johanni de Cherleton"; and from Aug. 25, 1338, to July 30, 1346, 
witii the addition of "seniori."^ Mr. Yorke* says of his wife Hawise de la Pole that she 
" died some time before him ; and, as I learn from Dugdale and John Salisbury of Krbistocl^ 
she lies buried in the dissolved house of the Grey Friars, of her own foundation, at 
Shrewsbury." Leland was told by " Lord Powis" (by whom must be meant Edward 
Grey, the last lord), " that Hawis, wife to Chorleton, lorde of Powis, was the causer that 
the gray Frieres College, in Shiobbesbyri, was buildid; where she lyith buried under a 
flate marble, by Chorleton's tumbe."'' Mr. Blakeway, however, informs us that "this 
house of religion did not owe its original foundation to her, for she was not bom till 
1291; and there is pretty good authority for saying that her grandfether, Griffith ap 
Gwennynwyn, as weU as his son, Owen de la Pole, this lady's father, both received inter- 
ment in this church Lady Powis, however, may have been a great benefactress, and 

second foundress of this Friary, and may have built its church; and it has even been 
conjectured that the fine glass at St. Mary^s, which commemorates so many of her 

' OoBectanea Top. et Qenteral., vol. viii, p. 185 (from JSiri. Pari.) ' fltri. Shrop., ix, p. 83. 

' Nicolaa'a Synopsis of the Peerage. * Boyal Tribee of WaleM, 

* Leland's Itin., quoted in the Svt. Bhrewalmry, voL ii, p. 460. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER P0WY3. 205 

descendanta, was origmaJly set up in the church which she built here."^ This window 
was brought from St Chad's church, in Shrewsbmy, in 1791. Dugdde visited the church 
of St Chad's in 1663, and he gives a description of this window as it then appeared : 
" In the east window," says he, " consisting of seaven faire lights, is represented the stock 
of Jesse ; and in the middlemost pane, at the bottom, is the picture of our blessed ladye. 
In the three panes towards the south are the figures of three men kneeling unto her, ill 
their surcotes of armes, and bearing banners. On the surcote and banner of the first the 
arms are, or, a lyon rampant giAes; the surcote and banner of the second is the same 
armes with a label of three points vert, each point diardged with a spread eagle <yr; the 
third hath also the same spread eagle and banner, but on the shoulder of the lyon is a 
lozenge v&rt chained with a spread eagle <». In the other three panra are three women, 
whose figures are kneeling, and like unto the men, saving that the two outmost have no 
armes in their mantles, their mantles being gold, and sleeves red." Under the three 
middle panes in. the said windows is this inscription, " Fries p' Mons^ Johan de Charleton' 
q' fist faire casta verrura et p' Dame hawis sa companion"; i.e., pray for Monsieur John 
de Charleton, who caused this glazing to be made ; and for Dame Hawis his companion. 
The use of the word com^agne for wife, says the author of the History of Shrew^ry, 
savours of royalty, to which tlie Lady Hawis had pretensions as representative of the 
ancient kings and princes of Fowis.^ He supposes the first figure to represent Sir John 
de Charleton, lord of Fowis; and the next, with tlie label, his eldest son John; and the 
third, another son Owen, lord of Lydham, who died without issua The eldest son, John 
de Cherleton, inherited the barony of Powys, and died in 1360. But the history of the 
subsequent lords of PowyB belongs to the baronage of England. 

It remains to say what is known of the younger sons of Griffin ap Wenwynwyn, 
Prince of Powys. Llewelyn de ia Pole, the second son, should have had, by his father's 
settlement of 1277-8, the reversion, after his mother's death, of three villa or townships 
in Caereinion, namely, Lanurvil, Lifrin, and Kerewiltb, with a certain pasture called 
Kenundmn, which had been assigned to his moth^, Hawise, in dower ; as also the 
reversion of the vills of Buttington, Uppington, and Hope, and the whole commot of 
Dendowr, which had likewise been assigned to his mother in dower. 

By deed of May, 1290, however, Owen de la Pole confirms to his brother, Lewelin 
son of Griffin, and the heiis of his body lawfully begotten, all his lands and tenements of 
Mothnant Huthraydre with all their appurtenances, and all his lands and tenements of 

' SM. Skrewthwry. The author of the Evtory of Shrewsbury qiiat«B &gm noteB of a record in the 
Tower of London, from a copy of Lloyd's antiqoities of Shropshire, among Gvngh's MS8. in the Bodleian 
Library. 

* Hiet. Shrews., voL ii, p. 817, 



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206 THE PRINCES OF UPPEK POWYS. 

Methea Huthkoyt with aU their appurtenances, tx^ther with the vills of Naumethad, 
Laohurvyl, Leshyn, and Kennuwyd, and the pasture and chase of Kenevedron, with all 
their appurtenances, for his homage and service ; to have and to hold, to Llewelyn and 
the heirs of his body lawfully begotten, of the said Owen and his heirs, as fully and freely 
as their father Griffin had held them, by the service of attending Owen and his heirs, in 
the Welsh wars, with his men of the said lands. But if Llewelyn should happen to be 
absent from those parts, or to be in the following of any other lord, from whose service 
he cotdd not conveniently recede without offence or loss of service and benefaction, tien 
Llewelyn should send his said men to join the army of Owen or his heirs. He was 
farther bound to assist with his said men in the building and reparation of castles ; and 
all the men of the said land were to be assessed to a common tallage with the men of 
Owen. Lewelyn, by his charter of the same date, remits and quitclaims, to his brother 
Owen and his heirs, all right which he may have to any of the lands and tenements 
which were of Griffin their fether, saving the lands and tenements above mraitioned, 
which he has of the gift and feoffment of his brother Owen,^ 

On December 7, 1293, by the name of Lodowycus de la Pole, he had a charter for 
a weekly market on Saturday at his manor of Lanvetlin (LUmvyUin) in Wales, in the 
Gommot of Meghen Ughcoyt, and two annual fairs there of three days duration, to be 
held, respectively, on the eve, the day, and the morrow, of tiie Apostles SS. Phihp and 
James (April 30, May 1, 2), and on the eve, Uie day, and the moirow, of the Apostles 
SS. Simon mid Jude (Oct 27, 28, 29).^ And in the same regnal year (22 Edw. L) he 
had a charter for free warren there.' 

A charter of inspexvmiia in the time of Queen Elizabeth recites a former charter of 
" that noble-man, Llewelyn, sonne of Griffith, sonne of Gwenwynwyn, Lord of Mechen 
Ushcoed and Mochnant Unrhaidr," to his "tmstie and wellbdoved burgesses of the 
towne of LlanvyUing."* 

Llewelyn was dead in June 1295. The inquest ^st mortem, taken at La Pole, 
on Tuesday, the eve of SS. Peter and Paul. 23 Edw. I, (June 29, 1295), states that 
Lodewycus, son of Griffin de la Pole at the time of his marriage with Sibill his wife, gave 
to the said Sibill, with the consent of his brother, " Audoenu^" and in lus presence, the 
manor of Gerzgenneu and all the land of Meyhen Uszcoyt, with their appurtenances, at 
the door of the church, to have in dower, instead of all the other lands and tenements of 
which the said Lodewycus might die seized. And on the same day in which the sud 
I^odewycus had married SibiUa, the said SibiUa ordered Philip Skyret, her attorney, 
to take seizin of the said lands and tenements in her name, which he accordingly 

' Bol. WaU., 14^23 Edw. I, m. 7, d. ' Boi. Chart., 22 Edw. I, memb. 13. 

■ CtU. Ohart., 22 Edw. I, No. 34 * Ex inf. Mr. Jos. Uorris, of Shnwabru?. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 207 

did, and she had peaceably held them jointly with her husband until the day of his 
death.^ 

"We have seen that two-thirds of Llewelyn's lands in Powys were given, in this same 
year, to Johanna, wid6w of Owen de la Pole, to hold until the full age of his son and 
heir.^ The king's grant recites that the said Ludowicus held his lands of the king in 
capite, and that his said lands were then in the king's hands by reason of the minority of 
his heir. This wardship had feUen to the crown in consequence of the minority of Griffin 
ap Owen de la Pole, the chief lord of the fee. It is probable that Llewelin's heir never 
reached maturity, for we hear no more of him, and we know that his lands reverted to 
the heirs of Owen.' 

John de ia Pole, the third son of Griffin ap Wenwynwyn, was in holy orders and 
rector of the church of La Pole on July 26, 1289.* 

The final concord between him and hia brother Owen, with respect to the portion 
of lands which he should hold, bears date on May 16, 1290." The deed sets forth that 
there had been a contention between the Lord Owen, son of Griffin ab Wenonwyn, on the 
one part, and his brother John, son of Griffin, on the other, by reason of Owen having 
deforced his brother John of the portion of lands and tenements which were of Griffin hia 
father, and which the said Griffin had specially assigned to him with the consent of king 
Edward : and declares that the contention was at length amicably settled by the 
concession on the part of Owen of five towns in Caereinion, with the reversion of half 
" Methen Hjscot" after the death of his mother, all of which John was to hold of Owen 
and his heirs for term of Ufe, with remainder to the said Owen and his heirs, by the 
same service as tiat due from his other brothers. 

If this John, the son of Griffin ap Wen wynwyn , were the same with John de la 
Pole, who held the prebend of Hampton episcopi in the diocese of Hereford, he died 
possessed of that stall in 1303 f when his portion of Caereinion would have reverted to 
his nephew. Griffin ap Owen de la Pole, whose lands were then in the custody of his 
grandmother, Hawyse de Keveoloc, widow of Griffin ap Wenwynwyn. 

Griffin de la Pole, otherwise called Griffin Vachan, the fifth son of Griffin ap Wen- 
wynwyn, was a man of some eminence. The first we hear of him is in the autumn of 
1 287, when we have notice of a plea concluded between him and his elder brother Owen, 

I Inq. p. m., 23 Edw. I, No. 86. ' Hot. Orig., 23 Edw. I, No. 12. 

' The Welflh heralds have aasigned to IJlewelyii ap Griff, ap Wenwynwyn a danghter. Era, by 
Marged, danghter of Ueredith ap Jerwerth Yychan ap Jerwerth Oocli ap Ueredith ap Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, 
which Eva is said to have married Madoc ap David, baron of Hendwr. If he had Bach a daughter she 
TOost have been illegitimate, or she woold have inherited her father's lands. 

* Eist. Skrop., vol. vii, p. 44. ' Bot. WaU., 14-23 Edw. I, m. 7 d. (de a" 18"). 

' Le Neve's Fast. End. Angl. 



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208 THE PRINCES OF UPPER P0WY8. 

at WestmiBster, which ia recorded in the following terms ■} " In the fifteenth year (of 
Edward I), in the yigU of Ail Saints (Oct 31, 1287), it was thus agreed between the 
Lord Owyn, son of Griffin ap Wenonwen, on the one part, and GrrifSn, his brother, on the 
other, when Grifiin had sought against Owyn the land of Me^cheyn Hulquoat and 
Moychnand Hutraydir. Litigation (between them) was at length terminated (in the 
foUowiQg manner). Griflm remitted his right in all the tenements of Griffin his father. 
Owen conceded that Griffin should hold his present land of Meycheyn Isquoeyt during 
the life of their mother Hawyae. After the death of Hawyse it should be in remainder 
to Owen. He further conceded that the whole manor of Botintone, with the towns of 
Trewem and Hop, which Hawyse then held in the name of dower, and which after her 
death ought to revert to Owen, should be in remainder to Griffin and the heirs of his 
body, to be held of Owen and his heirs by service to Owen in the Welsh wars. Dated 
in the presence of the lords Koger I'EstraQge, Justice of the Forest, Peter Corbet, 
(and) Hugh de Turbevile, (before) the Justices at Westminster in the year and day 
above said." 

Their litigation, however, was not yet finally closed, for on May 17, 1290, we have 
another final concord between the brothers, whicJi declares that when contention had 
arisen between them, by reason of Owen having deforced his brother. Griffin, of certain 
lands and tenements which had belonged to Griffin their father, tmd which their Baid 
father had specially assigned to his son GrifSn by the king's consent, the contention was 
at length amicably concluded in the following manner. Owen conceded that Griffin 
should hold of him and his heirs, for as long as the Lady Hawyse, t^eir mother, should 
live, the whole land of Metheyn Iscoyt, which was held by Gri ffi n at the time when this 
concord was made. He further conceded that the whole land of Dendowr, which the 
said Hawyse then held in the name of dower, and which ought to revert at her death to 
the said Owen and his heirs, should be in remainder to his brother Griffin and the heirs of 
his body lawfully begotten, to have and to hold, as fully and fireely as their father had ever 
held it, by the service, for the said land of Metheyn Iscoyt during his mother's life, of 
attending Owen or his heirs in the Welsh wars with his men of the said laud- But i^ 
when Owen or his heirs should go to war. Griffin should happen to be absent from 
those pariB, or to be in the following of any other lord, from whose service he could not 
conveniently recede without offence or the loss of his service and benefaction, then Griffin 
or his heirs should send his said men to join the army of Owen or his heirs. And for 
the land of Dendowr, after the death of Hawyse, he was to render the same service, as 
also to aid with his said men in the building and reparation of castles; and his men were 

' Abb. Floe., 15 and 16 Edw. I, m. 33, dono (ex inf. Ber. B. Eyton, and not liiUy printed in the 
publiahed Abb. Floe.) 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 209 

to be liable to a common tallage with the men of Owen and his heirs. Owen contracted 
to warrant to GrifSii and the heirs of Ida body the said land of Dendour for ever, and 
likewise the said land of Metheyn Iscoyt during the lifetime of Hawyse. But the said 
land of Metheyn Iscoyt was to revert to Owen and his heirs after the death of Hawyse. 
And if Griffin should happen to die without lawful issue, then the said land of Dendour 
was also to revert to Owen and his heirs. By this final concord all previous writings, 
contracts, and obligations, between them were to be nullified. And " ex habnndanti" 
Griffin remitted and quitclaimed to Owen and his heirs all his right in all other lands of 
their father.* To this deed, which is dated at Westminster, on May 17, 18 Edward I, is 
appended a memorandum to the effect that the said brothers, Owen and Griffin, came to 
the king's Court of Chancery at Westminster, on Thursday next before the feast of 
Pentecost, and recognized the above writing and all contained therein, as did also their 
mother ECawyse, who then held the said land of Dendour in dower. So that by this last 
agreement the cwnmot of Dendour or Deythur was settled upon Griffin instead of the 
manor of Buttington etc., which latter may perhaps have been identical with the commot 
of Gorthowr Isav or Nether Gordiowr. 

In the first year of Edward II (1307-8) the king commits to GrifiQn de la Pole the 
custody of Pole Castle, and of aU the lands late Owen de la Pole's ; which custody had 
been previously committed to his mother, Hawyse de Keveoloc He was to hold these 
lands xmtil Griffin ap Owen, the young lord of Powys, came of age."* 

By inquest taken at Abertanat, on the Tuesday next after the translation of St. 
Thomas the Martyr, in the 3rd of Edward II (July 8, 1309), the jurors found that it 
would not be to the king's damage, nor to l^at of any one else, if the king should concede 
to Griffin de la Pole and his heirs for ever that they should have, at his manor of 
Landrunion in Dendour, a weekly market on Thursday, and two annual fairs of three 
days duration, to be held respectively on the eve, the day, and the morrow, of SS. Peter 
and Paul (June 28, 29, 30), and on the eve, the day, and the morrow, of the eleven 
thousand virgins (Oct. 20, 21, 22).^ 

We have seen that his nephew. Griffin ap Owen de la Pole, was now dead, and 
Hawyse, his sister and heiress, was married within a few months after to John de 
Cheriet»n, who had livery of the bwony of la Pole on Aug. 26, 1309. So that Griffin's 
custody of his brother's lands would have ceased with his niece's marriage. " However," 
says Mr. Eyton,* " his interest in Powysland continued very great, for a writ of Edward 
the Second's, dated June 18, 1310, not only makes him a commissioner to levy forces in 
Wales for the then proposed invasion of Scotland, but definitely names him and John de 

• Bot. Wail., 14-23 Edw. 1, m. 7, d. (de a" 18"). » Abhvo. Bot. Orig., 1 Edw. H, No. 14. 

' Inq. ad q. d., 2 Edw. 11, No. 9. ' But, Bhrop., vol. vi, p. 02. 



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210 THF PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 

Clierltou aa the persons who, it waa expected, would allow a coutiugeut of four hundred 
men to be enlisted in their land of Powys." 

It was at this period that GnfSn de la Pole succeeded Eoger Sprenghose in the 
manor of Longnor, co. Salop, with other lands at Condover, Lidley, and Leie (probably 
Lee Botwood ?), but whether by inheritance, by gift, by bequest, by exchange, or by sale, 
is all uncertain. If there was any relationship between them, it is more probable that 
the person related to Sprenghose was the wife of GrifiSn than Griffin himself. 

The remainder of GriflSn's iustory is taken from the accurate work of Mr. Eyton, 
from whose pages I have already so largely quoted. The Shropshire historian gives the 
following deeds to prove that his succession to tiie manor of Longnor occurred at this 
period.^ 

" 1. On December 13, 1310, Griffin de 1& Pole, Lord of Longenorle, grants to William de Acton 
Bnmel, clerk, and hie heirs of his body, a messnage and half virgate in the vill of Longenorle, which WiUiam 
de Brenstere had previoofily held of the grantor. He grants also iho assart called the If eostokkynge and 
six acres now to be assarted, and a place in Hethei whereon to bnHd, and honsebote, heybote, firewood, 
and pann^e for swine, free of all chu'ge. The reaerved rent is a pair of gUt spurs, and the deed is dated 
at Longenorle, and attested by Boger de Smefhcote, Bichard de Eton, John de Biriton, Walter de Borton, 
Bichard Clerk, and William Beadle of Longenorle. The seal is a lion rampant, the well known bearing of 
the princes of Fowys, and it has this legend.- s' obipfihi fil' gbiffihi se powes.' 

" 2. On December 19, 1310, the same grantor expedites another deed qnit^claiming the saine 
premises to the grantee, but reserving the rent of gilt spars. This qnit-claim is sealed and attested as the 
lost deed. 

" 3. On February 20, 1311, the same grantor again qnit-claims the premises, but in this deed, which 
has the same testing danse, he tiirther remits and qnit-olBims the previously reserved rent. 

" It wonld seem that Qriffin de la Pole's title to Longnor had not as yet been formally acknowledged 
by the seignenral lord, bat — 

" 4. On March 3, 1312, Edmund, Earl of Arnndel, certifies, by writ dated at Clnn, that he has 
received the homage of Griffin de la Pole for his (Griffin's) manor of Longenolre, which is held of the eari 
in capite, for which homage the earl and his heirs will warrant the said manor to Griffin and his beirs. 
Witnesses, Folk le Strange, Peter Corbet, Bichard Corbet, Folk FitiWarin, WiUiam de Lodelowe, knights, 
and others. To this deed is attached a small seal of the earl's arms, viz., a lion rampant. 

" 5. Ten days after this, viz., on Man:h 11, 1312, Griffin de la Pole grants and concedes to 8ir Fnlk, 
son of Bobert le Strange, all his manor of Longenolre, with all its appurtenances, as in homages, rents, 
services both of free-men and vilhuns, houses, gardens, meadows, boscs, feedings, pastures, moors, marahes, 
stanks, vivaries, waters, mills, escheats, and reversions. He also grants all his lands taid tenements, which 
he had in Gonedoure, LidleJe, and Leie (perhaps Lee Botwood), to have and to hold to the said Fnlk, his 
heirs and assigns, of the chief lords of the fee, by performance of all services doe. Witnesses, Sir William 
le Botiler, Sir Boger Corbet, Sb Kchard de Harlde, Sir William de Lodelowe, Sir Bobert de Stepleton, 

' Sitt. Shropekire, vol. vi, p. 62 et geq. 

* An illnstration of this seal is given in the Siatory of Shropshire. A ring, at the top of, utd outside, 
the shield, is presumed by Hr. Eyton to be the mark of cadency assumed by >iiTn at that time. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWTS. 211 

Sir Bicliard de Lechtoiii Roger de Smethcote, and BIchaFd de Eton. This deed passed at Salop, evidently 
in a full county court. It has the grantor's seal attached, viz., a lion rampant within a border 
engraUed.' 

" 6. Bj a second deed of the same day, gimilarly sealed, bnt dated at Longnor, Oriffin de la Pole gives 
to Sir Fnlk le Strange, for a snm of mon^ now paid, all his goods and chattels foond in the manor of 
Longenolre, both moveable and immoveable. 

" This transfer of his Shropshire lands and effects by Oriffin de la Pole was, I think, a mere sale, 
soggested or necessitated by his circumstances at the moment. I wonld point oat by the way that the 
purchaser of Longnor, etc., was the vendor's first cousin, that is, son cf Robert le Strange, brother of 
Hawise le Strai^, Griffin's motlier. Oriffin de la Pole had children of his own, and was living long after 
this transaction, I will briefly state what is farther known of him. In the very year in which he disposed 
of Longnor he asserted a ciaam to Pole Castle, and raiaiiig a great power of the Welsh, actually laid siege 
to that fortrera. It was defended by his niece, who, with her hnsband, John de Gherlton, happened to be 
resicUng there. Though Hawyse obtained the sobriquet of Gadam, or the Hardy, for her conduct on this 
occasion, her uncle's schemes were only defeated by the energy of Roger de Mortimer, of Wigmore, whom 
Edward 11 instructed to suppcn^ Hawyse and her hnsband.' Bnt thongh humbled for a season, Griffin 
de la Pole is recorded in the end of the year to have been in wrongful occupation of the territory of 
Mereheyn Iscoit,* 

" A writclose of King Edward II assumes Hecheyn Iscoit to belong to the Lady of Powys, and orders 
the sheriff of Shropshire to summon the said Griffin before the king, on Feb. 3, 1313.' On the I6th Oct. 
in that same year, Griff^ de la Pole is included in the pardon granted to the adherents of the Earl of 
loncaster, who had participated in the death of Piers Gaveeton. And again, a writ of November 1, 1318, 
names Griffin de la Pole as one of the adherents of Thomas Earl of Laneaster, who were pardoned for all 
felonies and trespasses up to the ?tb of Angust preceding." 

Previoiisly to this, on November 6, 1313, an order in council had been issued to the 
effect that " MonBieur Griffith de la Pole, Monsire Fouk Lestraunge," and their allies, 
were not to be apprehended or molested for the part which they had taken in the siege 

* The clumge in the mark of cadency in tiiis sa^ is observable, a border instead of a ring. 

* Dominos Rex per Johannem de Cestr* apponit se, Ac. versus Griffinum de la Pole Owen de Monte- 
gomeiy David Avagnon' et Rogemm de Caombray pro obsidione Johannis de Charleton et Hawisie uxoris 
^jns in caetro sno de 1& Pole, Ac. Et fw tetam ballivam suam prodamari faciat ne quis sub foris&ctura 
vito et membrornm et omnium bonomm snorum que Regi forisfaoere poterit viotualia seu alia necessaria 
dictis Griffino et sliis imale&ctoribus predictis predictos Johannem et Hawisiam sic obsidentibus ducat vel 
mittat dam vel palam sen eis consilium vel auzilinm prestet quoviamodo, &o. (Flac. coruu Duo Rege 
ttp^ Westm' de term' see Trinit' anno regni Reg' Ed. fil' Reg' Ed. quinto. Rot. 14.) 

' It is observable that this land of Mecbeyn Iscoit had at one time been also in the hands of Roger 
Sprengehose. It does not ^pear, however, that Griffin's title thereto arose in the same way as his title to 
Longnor. 

* Clau. 6, Edw. II, m. 18. This writ is misrepresented by Dugdale, who makes it an order for 
Griffin's arrest. It bears date Deo. SO, I3I2 ; and redtes the final concord, between him and his brother 
Owen, of May 1?, 1290. The cause of Edward H's present writ was a complaint by John and Hawyse de 
Charleton, viz., that though Griffin had had Dendor on his mother's death, he still detained Mereheyn 
Iscoit. 

Il2 



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212 THE PRINCES OF UPPER P0WY8. 

of Pole Castle, nor for the depredations which they had committed in the lands of Powys, 
Euid La Pole, and elsewhere in that neighbourhood.^ 

" On Febrnary 5, 1S21, GrifBn de la Pole, styling himself son of Griffin ap Gaenonwen, and being 
titeu at WMtehorch, (Album MonAstoriom), releases and qnit-olaims to Sir Fulk le Straonge, Lord of 
Whitchttrcli, Ms heirs and assigns, all right in the manor of Longenolre. Witnesses, Sir Roger Corbet, 
John de Leybome, Thomas de Boshale, William de Sauford, knighte ; John de Oitarenne, Richard Ford, 
and John de Lee. This deed is sealed with the arms of Oriffin de la Pole as in 1310.' 

It does not appear that Griffin de la Pole had other than female issue; of whom one 
is said to have been married to Sir Boger Chamber, and the other to Hugh Mont^meiy. 
But his lands eventually reverted to the heirs of his niece, Hawyae de Cherleton. 

David, the sixth and youngest son of GrifiEn ap Wenwynwyn, though not in holy 
orders at the time of his father's settlement, in 1277-8, had probably received ordination 
before the year 1290, since his lands were then confirmed to him to be held for the 
term of his natural life. The final concord between him and his brother Owen bears 
date on May 16, 1290.^ Like that between Owen and his brother John, it sets forth that 
there had been a contention between them by reason of Owen having deforced his brother 
David of the portion, of lands which had been assigned to him by their fiather GrifBn. 

The contention was amicably settled by the following concession on the part of 
Owen, namely, that David should hold, for life, of Owen and his heirs, two towns in 
Caereinion, with the reveruon of half Metheyn Iscoit after thdr mother's death : all of 
which were to revert to Owen or his heirs upon the death of David. For this coucesdon 
David remits and quit-claims to Owen and Ins heirs all right in their father's landa 
I suppose that he was dead before February, 1313, when the whole of Metheyn Iscoit 
was assumed to belong to Hawyse de Cherleton, his brother's daughter and heiress. 

We have now only to speak of William de la Pole, the fourth son of GiifiSn ap 
Wenwynwyn, by whom the male line of the ftinces of Powys was carried on. By the 
following deed of May 16, 1290, the said William relinquishes to his brother Owen all 
right of participation in the lands of their father : 

'■ William, son of Qriffln, son of Wennnwyn, to all the fiuthM in Christ who shall see or hear of this 
present writing, greeting. Enow that I have remitted and altogether qnit-claimed, for myself and my 
heirs for ever, to my ddeet brother, Owen, all right and claim which I have had, or oonld ever in anyway 
have, to all the luida and tenements whioh were of the aforesaid Griffin our father, as well in Sngland as 
in Wales, as also to ereiytliing which might accme to me or to my heirs by reason of any assignment of 
portion or by right of inheritance, so that neither I nor my heiis, nor any one acting for ns or in onrname, 

' Rym. Faed. 

* Hvtory of Shmpthwe, vol. vi, p. 65. Charter at Longnor. This resumption of a seal, older than the 
one used by the same person in 1312, is very cnrions. The incident happens, too, at a period when the 
engraver's art was making a rapid progress, both in execntion and in taste. 

• Bot. WaU., 14.23 Edw. I, m. ?, d. (de a" 18°). 



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THE PKINCE8 OF UPPER POWYS. 213 

CBS ever in fiitore demimd or aasert any right or clum to the Kforesaid tenements. And for tias remisBion 
and qnit-cloim Uie aforesftid Owen my brother has granted to me tlie whole land of Uandoe, to have and 
to hold to me and the heirs of my body lawAiIly begotten by heredituy right for ever. In testimony 
whereof I h&re set my seal to this present writing. Witnesses, the lords Bobert, by the graoe of God 
Bkhop of Bath and Wells, Hnm&ey de Bonn Earl of Hereford, Edmund de Mortimer, Petor Corbet, 
Bobert Tibetot, Boger I'Estrannge, Walter de Hopton, and others. Dated at Westminster on May 16, in 
the ei^teenth year of the reign of king Edward. 

" By a deed of &b same date, and similarly attested, Owen confirms to him the said land of Mandoe 
(Mawddwy), as fbUowa; 

" Be it known to all men present and fatore that I, Owen, son of GrifSn, son of Wennawyn, Lord of 
La Pole, have g^ren and conceded, and by this my present charter have confirmed to William de la Pole 
my brother, t^ the land of Mandoe in all its best limits, and appnrtenances, cbaces, woods, roads, and 
paths, for his homage and serrice, to have and to hold of me and my heirs, to the said WiUiam and the 
heirs of his body lawfiiUy begotten, in fee and inheritance I7 hereditary right for ever, as fnlly as my fiither 
ever moet Ailly held it, three things excepted, namely, military serrice, common talls^, and aid in castle 
h nilrting (eniedicione commnni tallagio et opOTScaone castri), which the said William and his tenants are 
bound to do for me in the aame way that my brothers, Lewelin and Griffin, and their tenante do, and are 
bound to do, fbr me, for alt serrioes, exactions, and demands. And if the said William shall happen to die 
without an heir of his body begotten, then the whole of the said land with all ite apportenanoes' shall 
entirely revert to me and to my heirs &ee of all contradiction. Andl, the afbreaud Owen and my heirs, for 
tLe aforeBaictBerrices, wiD warrant, acquit, and defend against all men and women, all the said land with 
all its appurtenances, as is aforesaid, to the said William and the heirs of his body lawtnlly begotten, and 
to their heirs for erer. In testimony whereof I have notified this present charter with the impression of 
my seaL (WitneBses as before.) And be it remembered that the aforesaid Owen came to the Coort of 
Ghaooery on the day and year abovementianed, and acknowledged the aforesaid writing and all contained 
therein in the aforesaid form." 

The lordship of Maudoe (Mawddwy or Mouthey), which was thus made over to 
William de la Pole, included the parish of Mowddwy, and seven out of the eight townships 
comprised in the neighbouring parish of MaJlwyd. Dinas Mowddwy, the capital of the 
lordship, is now but a small village of mud cottages, but it was formerly a fortified town 
and endowed with considerable privilege. It yet retains the insignia of power, the maces, 
standard measure, stocks, whipping posl^ and the fag-fawr or great fetter : and its humble 
mayor and aldermen are stiU justices of the peace for the extent of their little region,^ 

In the 28th of Edward I. (1299-1300), at the perambulation of the king's forests of 
Cannock and Einver, in the county of Stafford, the manor of Sardon Magua^ was found 
to be held by WilL de la Pole and Gladowsa his wife.^ 

* Bea/uHeg ofEngUmd and Wa^. Peimant't Toun. 

* This manor of Great Sardon had formerly been held by Griffin ap Madoe, Lord of Bromfield and 
Emma his wife, who was daughter of Henry de Andley. In the Testa de Hevill (circa 1284) Emma de 
Beninfield (Bromfield) is scud to hold Berre Sarden for one knight's fee of Nic de Andley, and Nic. of 
Bob. de Stondon, and the same Bob. of Nic, &o. Whether it oame to William de la Pole by gift, 
pnrohase, or otherwise, I have not discovered. If it were not of the inheritance of Gladusa, it must have 
been settled upon her jointly witih her husband, for she continued to hold it after his death. 

* Huntbache MS., vol. ii 



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214 THE PRINCES OF UPPER P0WY8. 

The editor of Lewis Dwn's Heraldic Visitations of Wales states that " William or 
Wilcock de la Pole was dead in the 9th of Edward 11" (1315-16), and that "his only son 
(John) was at that time a minor."^ He does not give his authority for this statement 
(which was probably a Hengwrt MS.), but as the word " John" is bracketed, I take it to 
be an insertion of the editor.. The son and heir of Wm. de la Pole was not John, but 
Griffin, who succeeded him at Mouthey, and eventually at Sardon also. 

William de la Pole was, in fact, dead at least as early as the autumn of 1311; for in 
that year a complaint had been made by Gladusa, who had been the wife of William de ia 
Pole, that she was impeded by the king's servants of the Forest of Cannock, so that she 
could not cause to be tilled foriy and fifty acres and one rood of waste, in a certiun place 
called Calewehet, in the said forest. The result of tins complaint was an inquest held at 
Pencrych^ on the Wednesday next after the feast of St Leonard, in the fifth year of 
king Edward, son of king Edward (Oct. or Nov., 1311), before Hugh Despenser, the 
justice of the king's forests on this side the Trent The jury found that she was impeded 
in the whole waste which she took in Calewehet by John de Swynneiton, seneschal of 
the forest of Cannock, who had observed a frequent access of the king's wild beasts, 
namely, stags and hinds, at that place. They also stated that if the said waste were to 
be anentated and appropriated, there would then be no such access or " repeyrium" of 
the B^d beasts. 

In au authentic document of 9 Edw. II (1316) Wladouaa de la Pole is named Lady 
of Sardon Magna, in the hundred of Cuthdeston, co. Stafford.^ And again in 13 Edw. H 
(1319-20), Wladis, Gladis, or Gladusa de la Pole was certified, pursuant to writ tested at 
Clipston on March 5, as holding the township of Great Sarsdon, etc., in the county of 
Stafibrd.* 

Griffin, eon and heir of William de la Pole, made proof of his age in 1319. The 
inquest was " taken at Matheloyt, before the escheator of the lord [king], on Wednesday 
in the week of Pentecost, [in the] 12th year of the reign of king Edward, son of king 
Edward." The jury reported that the said Griffin was of the age of xxix years on 
Sunday, the feast of iiie Annunciation of the Blessed Mary, in March last past (March 25, 
1319), having been bom at Matheloyt and baptized in the church of the said town.^ 
This proving was made and taken in the presence of the Lord John de Cherletone's 
bailiff who were appointed to hear the same, proving by the said Lord John, in whose 
hands the lands and tenements of the inheritance of the said Griffin, son of William de la 
Pole, were in keeping by grant of the lord king until the lawful age of the said heir, and 

' Her. VU. of WaUt. Ed. b; Sir Samuel Mejrick. Vol. ii, p. 4^ note. 

• Inq. ad q. d. 5 Edw. II, No, 26. ' Nomina Tillarnm, 9 Edw. II. 

* ForZiomentory WriU. ' Inq. 12 Edw. H, Nov. 56. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWyS. 215 

of which Lord John the said lands and tenements ought to be held in capite ; which 
bailiffi shewed nothing, nor did they know of anything to eay why the said lands and 
tenements should not be given up to the said GrifBn as to one of full age.^ 

There can be no doubt that this inquest relates to the son and heir of William de la 
Pole ap Griffin ap Wenwynwyn, for Matheloyt, or Mallwyd, the place of his birth and 
baptism, is within the lordship of Mouthey ; and one of the witnesses states that he had 
been bailiff of William de la Pole, father of the said Griffin, in the land of " Mauthou," 
which we know to have been held in capite of John de Cherleton and the heirs of Owen 
ap GrifBn ap Wenwynwjm. 

In 4 Edw. Ill (1330) tie king committed to Griffin, son of William de la Pole, the 
office of sheriff of Merioneth with its appurtenances,^ m which office he was succeeded 
by Richard de Holond in the following year. By this time he had, perhaps, 
succeeded to his mother's interest at Great Sardon, and was doubtless an occasional 
resident there ; for between the years 1331-1342 he not unfrequentJy occurs by the 
name of GrifBn de la Pole of Sardon, and Griffin Lord of Sardon Magna, aa witness to 
various deeds of his neighbours at Shareahull, Little Sardon, and Stretton. 

In 18 Edward III we find Griffin, son of William de la Pole, opposing the claim of 
John de Cherleton to settle other Welsh estates and Dendor commot^ 

By deed of December 2, 1353, Griffin de la Pole made over to John Muaard all his 
interest in the manor of Great Sardon. The deed of sale runs as foUows : " Be it known 
to all men present and future that I, Griffin de la Pole, have given, conceded, and by 
this my present charter have confirmed unto John Musard, my manor of Great Saredon, 

' From this inqoeet it would ftppear that Gnffin was born on Marob 25, 1290. It is liard to assign a 
oaose for this u&nsnal delay in proving the age of an heir. The age of zzix is oartainly given by 
the scribe who wrote the deed, and the same nnmerala are repeated after the evidence of each socoessive 
witness. But if the assertion of Sir Samnel Meyriok, that the only son and heir of Wm. de la Pole was 
a minor in 9 Edw. 11 (1315-16), were derived &om an aathentio sonrce, it wonld disprove the tact of bis 
btang 29 in 1319. And the inquest itself seems to bear internal evidence of some error in the Roman 
nnmerals. Perhaps we shonld read xxiv, or possibly 21, instead of 29. For one of the witneases, named 
William ab Allow, who gives bis age as XLvi, states in his evidence that he was baLliff to William de la 
Pole, in the land of Manthon, at the time of Griffin's birth, when, if he were bom in 1290, the witness 
wonld have been bat 17. David f^ Ivor, another of the witnesses, who gives his age Sinn, states that he 
gave to Griffin an ox at the time of his birth, by which he knows that he is of snob an age. Rn^^ 
Coleman, a third witness, who gives bis own age rb xliii, states that his wife produced a danghter on the 
Easter Day of the same year in which Griffin was bom, when, supposing the year to have been 1290, he 
would have been bnt 13 years of age when his child was bom. Uoreover it is observable that two of the 
witnesses are said to be xlz years of age, which is an nnnsnal way of writing 50. Peihaps these fignies 
might be intended to stand for 45, and this wonld give a colour to the aapposition that the nnmerals which 
represent the age of the heir shonld be rendered xxiv. 

' Abbrev. Bot. Orig., p. 39. ' Rev. R. Byton, MSS. 



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216 THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 

with all its appurtenances, together with the milla, stanks, fisheries, fields, and pastures, 
homages, services, rents, villeinages, and all other liberties and profits pertaining oi 
belonging to the said manor, to have and to hold to the said John, his heirs and assigns, 
for ever, of the chief lord of the fee, by performing the due and customary services. And 
I, the said GrifGn and my heirs, will Terily warrant against all persons the aforesaid 
manor with its appurtenances, together with all its abovementioned appendages, to ihe 
said John and his heirs and assigns for ever. In witness whereof I have placed my seal 
to this present charter. Witnesses, John de Swinuerton of Hulton, John Giffard of 
Chilinton, William de Perton, William le Champion of Little Saredon, and Robert Coatey 
of Shareshnll Dated at Great Saredon, on Sunday next after the feast of St Andrew 
the Apostle, in the following year of the reign of the Lord Edward, king of England and 
France, namely, of England the 26th, and of France the 13th."^ The seal bears the 
impression of a lion rampant, the well known arms of the Princes of Upper Powis. 

On that day three weeks, viz., on the Sunday next before Chiistmas, 26 Edward III 
(December 23), the said John Musard reconveys the manor of Great Saredon to Sir 
William Shareshnll, knight, and Dionisia. his wife ; to whom it was confirmed by William, 
son of Griffin de la Pole, in the course of the following year. The deed of confirmation 
runs as follows : ** William, son of Griffin de la Pole, to all the faithful in Christ to whom 
this present writing may come, greeting in the Lord. Know tiiat I have remitted and 
quit-dmmed to William de Shareshull, knight, and Dionisia, his wife, and the heirs of the 
same William, all right which I have or could have in the manor of Great Saredon and 
t^e appurtenances thereof ; which said manor, with its appiirtenances, the same William 
de ShareshiiU and Dionisia have of the gift and feofi&nent of John Musard, whom the said 
Griffin my &ther had previously enfeoffed in the said manor and appurtenances. So that 
I, the said WUliam, son of Griffin, cannot demand or bring forward any right or claim in 
the said manor and appurtenances ; but I and my heirs will warrant that manor with the 
appurtenances to the said William de Shareshnll and Dionisia, and the heirs and assigns 
of William, against all men for ever. In testimony whereof I have placed my seal to this 
present writing. Dated at Fattishull, on the Simday next before the feast of St. Gregory 
the Pope, in the following year of the reign of the Lord Edward, king of EngUmd and 
France, namely, the 27th of England and the 1 4th of France."^ 

I know not whether we may infer &om this release of William de la Pole that his 
&ther was then dead. But I learn nothing further of Griffin de la Pole aft» the date of 
his sale of Saredon, in Dec. 1352 ; nor can I adduce any evidence to prove who was his 
wife. If I were to hazard a conjecture, there are some circumstances which would 
induce me to think she might have been Maigaret, the daughter of Sir Howel y Pedolan, 
' Hontbache MS., vol. ii * Hantbadhe KS., vol. ii 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER P0WY8. 217 

who, in contradiction to all dates, is given by the WeMi heralds and genealogists as wife 
of Griffin ap Wenwynwyn. 

I have Uttle doubt that the wife of William, son of Griffin de la Pole, was Margaret 
(otherwise called Elianor), the daughter and coheir of Thomas ap Llewelyn ap Owen ap 
Meredith ap Owen ap Griffin ap Lord Kes of South Wales ; which Thomas ap Llewelyn, 
who was the lineal representative of the ancient princes of South Wales, was lord of 
Iscoed Uchirwern and a portion of Gwynnionyth, in the comity of Cardigan, and of 
Tre%am Owen, in the county of Pembroke. After the death of her first husband, 
William, Lord of Mowthe, she is said to have remarried to Sir Tudor ap Grouo, of 
Paimynydd, knt (who died in 1367), by whom she had, with other issue, a younger son, 
Meredith, whose son, Owen Tudor (beheaded in 1461) was the paternal grandfather of 
king Henry VII. The other daughter and coheir of" Thomas ap Llewelyn married Griffin 
Vaughan of Glendourdy, and became the mother of the celebrated Owen Glendower, who 
is said to have been bom at Tre^arn, on May 28, 1359 ; at whose rebellion in the time 
of Henry IV the manor of Iscoed and his portion of Gwynnionyth, in South Wales, were 
forfeited to the crowiL^ 

The fruit of the marriage between William de la Pole and the daughter of Thomas 
ap Llewelyn was John de la Pole, lord of Mowthe, who inherited, from his mother, the 
lordship of Tre^am Owen, and a small portion of the manor of Gwynnionyth, which long 
remained in the posseasion of his descendants. 

We find John de la Pole acting as justice to t^e lord prince {i. e. to the king 
himself) in the county of Merioneth in the sixth year of Richard II (1382-3). A few 
years later wc find him married to a great Shropshire heiress, Elizabeth, the daughter of 
Sir Fidk Corbet, of Wattlesburgh and Morton Corbet, knight, who proved her age at 
Salop on the Sunday next after the Feast of St Peter in Cathedra {i e. on Feb. 26, 
1390), as Elizabeth, wife of John de Mowthe. The jtuy reported that she was bom on 
May 7, 1375, and baptized in the church of St Peter at Alberbury, and that she was 
fourteen and a half years of age at the time of the inquest Bichard de Leighton, one of 
the jurors, stated that he remembered the date of her birth, because the Earl of Staffiird 
made a great feast on that day at his castle of Caus, where he (witness) was present at 
dinner, when the birth of the said Elizabeth was announced. John Corbet another juror, 
stated that he was, at that time, in the service of Sir Fulk Corbet and that he was on 
that very Monday with the said Fulk at Morton Corbet when the birth of his daughter 

' The manora and lordships of Glendoordj m Edemyon, Sawarth in Kentlith, in North Wales, 
Hiscote and Gnyyoneth, in South Wales, were granted by king Henry IV in liis second year (Nov, 8, 
1400) to his brother John, Earl of San.erBet (ancestor of the Dnkes of Beaufort), by the names of aU the 
manors, lands, and tenements, which were of Owyn de Glyndordy in North and South. Wales, and which 
were forfeited to the king by the high treason of the said Owen, {Hist. Shrewtbury, toL i, p. 179.) 

KK 



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218 THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 

was aimomiced to him. The jury further reported that the said John Mowthe and 
Elizabeth his wife had as yet no isaue between them.^ 

The subsequent fruit of this union was a son Fulk and an only daughter Elizabeth, 
eventually heir to her brother. 

By this marriage John de la Pole became possessed of most of the ancient Corbet 
estates which had hitherto descended to the heirs mate of that family. 

As John de Mowethe he was appointed sheriff of Shropshire on Nov. 18, 1387 ; in 
which office he was succeeded by Robert de Lodelowe in the December of the following 
year.^ 

A few years later, as John, lord of Mowthoy, he gives and confirms by charter to 
his beloved and faithful David Holbarch, Matthew ap Jevan ap Jorwerth, and others, 
that they, and their heirs and successors, should be free burgesses, and that they should 
have a fi.'ee borough in his town of Dynas Mowthoy, with the usual rights and liberties 
attached to a free borougL This charter is dated at Dynas Mowthoy on Febraary 20, 
17 Ric. II {1394).3 

His lordship of Mouthe was utterly devastated by the Welsh rebels in the subsequent 
wars, from which we may infer that he did not take part with his cousin, Owen Glendower. 

John Mouthe, alias de la Pole, died Nov. 3, 1403. The inquest taken at Here- 
ford {i e. Haverford West) on the Saturday next after the Feast of the Conception, 
7 Hen. IV (Dec. 12, 1405), states that he held on the day of his death the manor of 
Trevegar" with the appurtenances witbin the marches of Wales in West Wales (Pem- 
brokeshire), which was of the annual value of twenty merks, but of whom the said manor 
was held or by what service the jury were altogether ignorant* The Shropshire inquest 
taken at Salop on the Tuesday next after the Feast of St Lucy the Vii^n, 5 Hen. IV 
(Dec. 1 8, 1 403), states that he held, for term of life by the law of England, as of the inheri- 
tance of Elizabeth, formerly his wife, the manors of Yokulton, Shevle, and Wentenore, with 
their appurtenances, togeliier with a fourth part of the forest of Cawes, in the county of 
Salop, the revetsion whereof belonged to Fulk son of the said John and Elizabeth, as sou 
and heir of Elizabeth. The said manors, etc., were held of the king in ccepite by military 
service, and their annual value was about £30 and not more, because they lay on the 
confines of the county beyond the limits and boundaries of the Welsh marches, and were 
devastated from day to day and partly burned by the Welsh rebels. He held also the 
manor of Watelesburgh', with the appurtenances, for term of life as before, of the earl of 
Stafibrd (now under age and in tiie king's custody) as of his castle of Cawes by military 
service ; which said manor was of the annual value of £10 at the present time, and not 

' Inq., 13 Ric. 11, No. 174. * Blakeway's Shenffa of Shropdiire. 

' Hengwrt MSS., No. 119. * Inq., 5 Hen. IV, Ho. 34. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 219 

more, because it lay on the confines of the aforesaid county over the limits and boundaries 
of the Welsh marches, and the tenants of iixe s^d manor had retreated for fear of the 
malice of the Welah rebels. He hdd also the manor of Hemme in the same county, for 
tenn of life as before, of the lord king in capite, at an annual rent of 3s. payable to the 
sheriff of the county for the time being ; which manor was of the annual value of about 
40s., and not more. He held also the hamlet of Bradeshull with the appnrteuancea, for 
term of life as before, of a certain John de Eyton, at an annual rent of 10s., which 
hamlet was of the annual value of about 20s., and not more. He held also in demesne 
as of fee the lordship of Mouthe with the appurtenances, in the marches of Wales adjacent 
to the said county, which was held of Edward Lord Powys by military service as of his 
castle of Pole ; which said lordship was as yet of no annual value, because it had been 
wholly devastated by the aforesaid rebel Welshmen. The jury further reported that the 
said John Mouthe, a long time before his death, gave and conceded to Thomas Lee, 
WiUiain Lee, and GrifSn Mouthe, their heirs and assigns, a certain rent of £40 issuing 
from his said lordship of Mouthe, with powers of distraint, of which annual rent they had 
been peaceably seised by virtue of the said donation and concession until the said lordship 
had been devastated in the manner aforesaid. The said John Mouthe died on Saturday 
the morrow of All Souls last past ; and Fulk, son of the late John and Elizabeth, late his 
wife, was heir to both Ms father and mother. The said Fulk was fourteen years of age 
and more at the time of his fathei^s death, having been bom at Watelesburgh' in the 
aforesaid coimty of Salop, on the Monday next after the Feast of St. Bartholomew the 
Apostle, 12 Eic. II, and baptized in the parish church of Alberbury.^ But from what 
follows it would seem that the jury were not rightly informed as to the age of the heir. 

The writ ordering the inquest at which Fulk had to prove his age was issued on 
Sept. 26, 1412 ; and held at Salop on Thursday before All Saints {i e. Oct. 27) of the 
same year.^ It was there proved that he was bom at Wattelesburg on the Thursday 
after St Matthew, 14 Eic. II, {(' e. Sept. 22, 1390), and baptized in the church of 
Alberbury. He was therefore twenty-one years of age and more. The evidence was 
given by various persons of the femiUea of Corbet, Lingen, etc. 

Fulke de Mowethe, who thus proved his age in 1412, died without issue about two 
years afterwards, seised of the manors of Shelve, Wentnor, Yokelton, the hamlet of 
Stretton, the fourth part of the forest of Cawes, rents in Kynarton, Heye manor, Car- 
deston manor and advowson of the chapel, the manors of Lughton (Loton) and Highton, 
the manor of Haburley and advowson of the church, the manor of Wattlesburgh, the 
msmor of Hemme, Hynyton hamlet parcel of the manor of Hemme held of the manor of 
Ideshale, and divers lands and tenements in Lighe subtus Broekhurst, all in Shropshire 

' Inq., 5 Hen. TV, No. 34. ' Inq., 13 Hen. IV, No. 50 (ei inf. Hev. R. Eyton). 



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220 THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 

and the marches of Walea.^ He left a widow Isabella, who re-married to Richard de 
Feshale, and an only sister and heiress Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth de Mowethe (alias de la Pole) married Hugh Buigh, esq., and in the third 
of Henry V, the said Hugh Burgh and Elizabeth lus wife, held the manors of Shelve, 
Yockleton, and Wentnor of the king in capite? and two thirds of all the lands which 
had been held by Fulke de Mowetha The other third was held in dower by Isabella the 
widow of Fulk. 

In the same year a final concord was made at the session of Stephen lord biahop of 
St. David's, on the Thiirsday next before the Feast of St Lawrence the Martyr, 
(3 Hen. V) before Thomas Touher, deputy for John Merbery, seneschal of the lands of 
the bishoprick of St. David's, Sir John Wogan, knight, Mid other lieges of the said lord 
Stephen ; between John Biriton, Philip Lloyd, and John Lloyd, clerks, complainants, and 
Hugh Buigh and Elizabeth his wife, defendants, of lands in Gilbergh. The demandants 
acknowledged them to be the right of Elizabeth, and for this rec(^:nition the said Hugh 
and Elizabeth granted that the third part thereof, which Bichard Peshale and Isabella his 
wife, late wife of Fulco de Moutho, brother of the said Elizabeth, then held as of the 
dower of the same Isabella, should remain to the demandants.* 

In the 6th of Hen. V (1418-19) Hugh Burgh and EUzabeth his wife appointed 
attorneys to receive seisin of various manors and lands, namely, West Trauger*, Lamb- 
ston apud montem jux: le. dale, Dale and Walton in Roos, Gylbergh, Guyon Iskerdyn, 
Dyhewidd, etc., of the dower of Isabel, late wife of Fulco de Moutho.* 

In the 9th of Hen. V, Bichard de Peshale acknowledges to have received from Hugh 
Burgh 14 merks Gs. 8d. of a rent of 29 merks for the third part of all the lands which 
were of Fulco de Mouthe, late husbfmd of Isabella, now his wife, in the counties of Pem- 
broke and Cardigan, and the lordship of Har'ford (Haverford West), and Seynt David in 
South Wales and the lordship of North Wales.^ 

Elizabeth Burgh was living in 13 Hen. Y, and holding jointly with her husband a 
fourth part of the barony of Caux, viz., a moiety of the manor of Worthyn, the manors 
of Oveigorther and Baghaltre, which had been the purparty of Edmund de Cornwall.' 
But she was dead before Oct 26, 1430, when the inquest was held after the death of 
Isabella, the widow of Fulk de Mouthe. The said Isabella died without issue, Oct. 5, 
8 Hen. VI (1 429), and John Burgh son of the said Elizabeth was found to be her heir in 
respect of the lands she held in dower as above-mentioned; which John was sixteen years 
of age on June 12, 1430.^ The jury further reported that Hugh Burgh, esq., had 

' Doke's Ant. of Shropehire, and Cal. Inq. p. m. ' Dnke'a Ant. of Shropikire. 

' Newport Evidences, inter MSS. Blakeway, apod fiibl. Bodleian. * Ibid. 

* Ibid. ' Dnke'a Ant. of Shwp., p. 102. ' Inq., 9 Hen. VI, No. 32. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER P0WY8. 221 

occupied the said liiird part of the lands of the said Fulk from the time of the said 
Isabella's d^tb, by virtae of the king's letters patent, and that he had received the 
profits thereof. 

Hugh Bm^h died within a year after the death of his sister-in-law, viz., on Aug. 18, 
1430. The inquest after his death was held at Salop at the same time as the former inquest, 
namely, Oct 26, 1430, and the same jury reported that he had held, for term of life by the 
law of England, after the death of Elizabeth late his wife, of the inheritance of John Buigh. 
son and heir of the same Elizabeth, two parts of the manors of Shelve, Wentenore, Yokelton, 
and the hamlet of Stretton. as a member of the same manor of Yokelton, and two parts 
of l^e fourth part of the forest of Cawes, and two parts of 40^. annual rent, and of a rent 
of 3 dwts. of gold, with the appurtenances in Kynwarton and Strycheley in the same 
county, which said manors, etc, are held of the king in capite by miUtaty service, and 
their annnal value is as follows, namely, the said two parts of the manor of Shelve 128., 
and the said two parts of the manor of Wentenor 18^., and the said two parts of the 
manor of Yokelton and the hamlet with appurtenances d2s., and the said two parts of the 
fourth part of the aforesaid forest 10^., and the said two parts of the rent of the weight 
of gold 25., and not more, because the same manors, hamlet, fourth part, and rents afore- 
said, are on the confines of the aforesaid county adjacent to the marches of Wales, and 
they were laid waste in the time of the wars of the rebel Welshmen, and are now for the 
most part waste on account of pestilence and the robberies prevailing there in the 
marches. They further rep(»rted that the said Hugh had held for term of life, by the law 
of England as before stated, two parts of the manors of Heye, Haburley, Lughton, 
Cardeston and Watlesburgh with the appurtenances, and two parts of the advowson of 
the church of Haburley and the chapel of Cardeston in the same county, which said 
manors and advowsons are held of the earl of Stafford as of his castle of Cawes by 
military service, and their annual value is as follows, namely, the said two parts of the 
manor of Heye 28^., and the said two parts of the manor of Haburley 23s., and the said 
two parts of the manor of Lughton 165., and the said two parts of the manor of Car- 
deston 26a., and the sfdd two parts of the manor of Watlesbui^h 26s. 6d. and not 
more, for the reason above given. 

The said Hugh had held also, for term of life by the law of England as before 
stated, a pasture called Bradeshull, containing 62 acres, which same pasture is held of 
John Eyton, by what service the jurors were ignorant, and its annual value is 6^. They 
also reported that the said Hugh had held, for term of life by the law of England, in the 
manner and form above stated, two parts of the manor of Hemme and the hamlet of 
Hynyton, as a member of the same manor of Hemme in the same county, which said 
manor and hamlet are held of John Talbot and Hugh Cokesey, knights, as of their manor 



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222 THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 

of Idesdale, bat by what service they knew not, and their annual value is as follows : 
namely, the two parts of the same manor and hamlet, 30s. The said Hugh had held 
also for term of life by the law of England, as before stated, two messuages, with ihe 
appurtenances, in Halughton juxta Haghmon, in the said county, which were held of the 
Abbot of Haghmon, at an annual rent of 5s., and their annual value is 10s. He had 
held, also, for term of life by the law of England, as before stated, 20s. of annual rent 
issuing &om various lands and tenements in Leighe subt' Brokhurst in the same county. 
He held also in the same manner the moiety of two nulls at Brocton in the same county, 
which mills are held of the king in capite by military service, and the annual value of 
the said moiety is 5s. He had held also in the same manner for term of life by the law 
of England, two parts of the lordship of Mouthe, with the appurtenances, in the marches 
of "Wales, in the land of Fowls, adjacent to the said county, which lordship, with the 
appurtenances, is held of the lord of Powys, as of his Castle of Pole, by the service of an 
annual rent of 13s. id. in the name of aid in castle-building ; and the annual value of 
the said two parts of the said lordship is 8 meiks, and not more, by reason of their hav- 
ing been wholly destroyed by the rebel Welshmen in the time of the wars. The rever- 
sion of all the aforesaid lands and tenements belonged to John Burgh, as son and heir 
of the said Elizabeth. They further reported that the said Hugh Burgh had held no 
other lands of the Mng, or of any one else, either by the law of England for term of life, 
or in fee in the said county of Salop, or in the Marches of Wales adjacent thereto. The 
said John Buigh was heir of Hugh, as well as of Elizabeth his wife.^ 

Hugh Burgh, who married the heiress of John de Mouthfe, is derived in a pedigree 
in the visitation of Shropshire, 1564 (preserved in the Harleian MSS. 1241), from the 
femUy of Borough, or Burgh, afterwards Barons Burgh of Gainsborough, in tiie county of 
Lincoln, descended, as it is said, from the distinguished Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent 
Their arms are certainly similar, but I am not aware of any other evidence of the descent^ 
which must, therefore be received with caution. A document preserved amongst the 
Halflton Papers proves him, says Blakeway,^ to have been of the county of Westmoreland. 
It is a pardon to Hugh Burgh, of the county of We^moTdand, of all rebeUions, etc etc. ; 
and its being preserved amongst the family papers at Halston must evidently lead, to the 
conclusion that it was the same Hugh Buigh. It ruiu as follows : Henricus del gratiA 
Rex Anglie et Prancie, Dominus Hibemie omnibus balUvis, etc. . . . et insuper pro eo 
quod idem Hugo in cancellaria nostra sub suo periculo informavit quod omnia et singula 
terre tenementa et reversiones que fuerunt ipaus Hugonis tempore foris&cture' sue eiga 
nos inter dictum primum diem Mail etprimimi Aug. incurse, ad nos occasione hnjus modi 
forisfacture pertinentem valorem v marcarum per annum, and all his goods and chattels 

' Inq., 9 Hen. VI, No. 47. * Bl^ceway'fl Shmgt of ahm^hire, p. 66. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 223 

valorem viij' non excedunt. The king grants them to him : but there is a proviso that if 
they shall be found to exceed those sums, thia grant shall be void. Teste me ipso apud 
Westm' : 24 die. Nov. anno r^;m mei vij . . . Per ipsum Eegem et consilium. Biakeway 
supposes the king to have been Henry IV. 

Hugh Burgh, assuredly the same with him who married the heiress of the Mouthfes, 
says the same author, in the 12th of Henry IV, was attorney of Griffin de Hynton, to 
deliver seisin of certain manors in Yorkshire to Maud, wife of John Talbot, lord of Fur- 
nyval, afterwards the celebrated Earl of Shrewsbury ; and he was probably promoted by 
the interest of that great nobleman, if he be the same Hugh Burgh who appears on a 
patent of 1 Hen. V as Treasurer of Ireland.^ He was, moreover, justice of the peace 
for Shropshire, an office in that age confined to so smaU a number of persons (not 
more than ten or twelve), that it was esteemed an high honour, and greatly coveted : 
and in the year 1430, the 8th of Henry VI, he was Sheriff of that county.^ 

According to the Harleian MS. above quoted, be was the brother of John Buj^ 
(who married a daughter of . . . Warde of the county of Westmoreland, and left iBSue)> 
son of Sir Hugh Bui^h, Knt, son and heir of Sir Hugh Burgh of Middleton, Knt 
(brother of Guy Burgh, who sold the barony of Burgh to the Lord Darcy, and) son of Sir 
Hugh Bui^h, Lord of Burgh upon Sands, who married a daughter of the Lord Mowbray. 

John Burgh, Lord of Mowthey (son of Hugh and Elizabeth), proved his age at 
Shrewsbury on June 28, 1435, before Humfpey Cotes, the king's escheator in the county 
of Salop. He was twenty-one years of age on the 12th of June last past, having been 
bom at Wattlesbuigh and baptized in the church of the same town {i. e. Alberbury 
church). The evidence was given by Griffin Kynaston, William Poynour, Philip Otteley, 
John Onneslowe, John PMys, Guttjoi ap Jevan ap Kent, Roger Cleoton, Ralph Husee, 
WiDiam Spenser, John Husee of Balderton, Robert Rodyngton of Upton, and Roger 
Forster of Welyngton. One of his sponsors was John Lord Talbot (his fether's early 
patron), who gave to him, on his baptismal day, a cup of silver-gilt with a cover. 
Lawrence Merbury was the other godfather, and the Lady Joan Prayres was his 
godmother. Roger Forater, one of the witnesses, who was then sixty years of age, stated 
in evidence that he had a fall from hia horse near the said church, on the same day in 
which tie said John Burgh was baptizeJ, and broke his right leg, by which he well 
remembers that he is of the age above stated.^ 

' Hngli Borgli was party, with others, to a recognizance under stat. mere, in the exchequer of Salop 
in the 2nd of Hen. V (1414-15) : again, four years later, by the name of Hngh Borghe : and in another 
recognizance, in 1426, he is described as a Hngh Burgh, esqnire. (Ex inf. Mr. J. Morris, of Shrewsbury). 
Mr. Morris snppoBea him to have been the son of John de Burgh, who was one of the witnesses at the 
celebrated Scrope and Grosvenor controversy in 1386, but, as I think, witlioat suffloient evidence. 

' Sheriffs of Bhropahire, p. Q6. > Inq., 13 Hen. VT, No. 43. 



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224 THE PRINCES OF UPPER P0WY8. 

This John Bm|;h was a peiBon of great magnificence, and living at the time when 
Heniy VI exercised a precarious authoritj over France, he, in common with other 
eminent Englishmen, entitled himself after a seigniory in Normandy. His seal is 
circnmscribed S. I. Burgh, S' d. Olonde ps. le Chastel de Chirbourgh : The seal of John 
Burgh Lord of Olonde, near the Castle of Chirboui^h.^ His seal, appended to a deed 
relating to the priory of Alberbury, dated March 21, 1461, has thereon a lion rampant ia 
a border indented, with the legend " S. Johannis Burgh." These were the arms of bis 
mother. The Burgh arms, as they have always been quartered by his descendants, are 
azure, a chevron between three fleur de lys ermine. 

Sir John Burgh was four times sheriff of Shropshire, namely, in the year 1442, 
being then not a knight, again in 1449, when he was appointed as Sir John Burgh, 
Knight, and afterwards in 1453, and in 1463-4, being the last time in offiee for two 
years.^ 

I have seen an autograph letter of Sir John Burgh to his son-in-law William 
Newport, of which unfortunately I have only retained the following imperfect copy :' 
"To my Right entirely welbeloved Son WilUam Newporte .... Right entirely welbeloved 
son I recomaund me to you .... I have received your lett' & . . . . where ye desyre I 
shulde apoynt a place where my cosyn John Harcourt might .... with you me and other 
of yom- friends .... suche .... betwene my cosyn S' Robert Harecourt and you as for a 
marriage betwene my son John and his daughter to the whyche end suche .... as may 
be to God's pleasyre and the worship of both your friends I wolde be right glade to do 
y' lieth in me ... . and your place be ap03Tited within any place in this eountrey apoynt 
ye the day and the place and I will kepe it upon two days waroyng without fayle, and 
if ye tarie to my comyng into Shropshire I will come to ... . place y' is most to your 
ease but .... but my son Lehton .... me y' ye shulde .... myn apoyntement by hym 
and thynk it is for ... . uokindeness for in goode fayth I think no suche tiling .... God's 
blessing and myne in hast at Eodebroke on Wednesday in the passion weke. — John 
Burgh, K'." 

I suppose this letter relates to a projected marriage between the daughter of Sir 
Robert Harecourt and John the son and heir of William Newport of Ercall, Esq., and 
grandson of Sir John Burgh by hia eldest daughter Elizabeth ; though I do not find that 
such a marriage ever took place. 

Sir John increased his great estates by marrying Joane, the younger daughter and 
coheir of Sir William Clopton of Radbroke, knt., whereby he acquired the manors of 

' Blakewa^'s Sheriffs of Shropshire, p. 70. ' Sheriffa of Shropihire, p. 70. 

' This letter was in the hands of Mr. Thorpe, the bookseller, in 1848, whose manuscripts were aAer- 
wards sold and dispersed, and 1 hare never been able to hear of it agaio. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 225 

Badbroke and Clopton in the county of Gloucester, and divers other lands and 
mauora in the counties of Warwick and Worcester. This lady predeceased him, 
and he afterwards married another wife of the name of Joane, but had no issue by 
her. He died in 1271, and as he left no male issue his ample inheritance descended to 
his {oar daughters or theii issue, of whom Eli2abeth, the eldest, married William Newport, 
of High ErcaU in the county of Salop, esq., and died before her fether ; Ankaret, the 
second, married John Leighton, of Leighton in the same county, esq. ; Isabella, the 
thurd, married Sir John Lingen, of Lingen in the county o£ Hereford, knt ; and the 
youngest daughter, also named Elizabeth, married Thomas Mytton, esq., of Shrewsbury : 
the three last of which families are still existing in the male line, and all tUl within a few 
yeare since in poaseasion of certain estates which descended to them from Sir John 
BurgL The Salop inquest stated that Sir John died on Saturday. the eve of Pentecost 
(1471), and that John Newport, son and heir of Elizabeth, one of his daughters and heirs, 
was of the full age of twenty-one years and more at the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary 
last past ; Thomas Leighton, son and heir of John Leighton and Ankaret late his wife, 
another of his daughters and heirs, was of the age of eighteen years and no more at the 
Feast of the Nativity of our Lord last past ; Isabella, wife of John Lyngen, knt, third of 
the daughters and heirs of the aforesaid John Burgh, was of the age of thirty years and 
more ; and Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Matton, the fourth daughter and heir, was of the 
age of twenty-six years.* 

In the 14th of Edward IV (1474-5) Sir John Lyngien, knt, William Newport, 
John Leighton, Thomas Mytton, esquires, and others, released and confirmed to Joanna, 
relict of Sir John Burgh, the manors of Wattlesbuigh, Heye, Loughton, Cardiston, 
Yokelton and Stretton, and seventy-two acres of pasture in BradeshuU for term of life.^ 

The estates of Sir John fiui^h were not divided between his coheirs until some 
years after his deatk' Among the Loton Papers is preserved a singular letter on the 
subject of the partition, from Sir John Lyngen to Sir Thomas Leighton, written in 
1 6 Hen. VII. " To my ryght worshipfull cosen Sir Thomas Leghton [be] this delivered 
in all hast Eight worshipfull Syr, I recomaunde me imto you desyring to here of yo' 
prosperitie, whiche Jh'u p'serve, Amen. Lettyng you to underston, that my brother 
Mytton and my nevow John Newporte hath wryttyn unto me to have partycon of all the 
londfl that wher my fader in law Sir John Bourgh's, and my lady ys wyflF : and I have 

* Loton MSS. ' Dnkes' Ant. of Shvpthire, p. 109. 

* On March 3, 15 Hen. VIl, John Newporte, Esq., demisee to William Grey, Teoman of the crown, a 
pasture called Clopton, in the coonty of Glonceater, for twen^-one yean ; rent £7 10*. Fine at, incoming, 
408. If Newport go to partition before Bcven years, he ehall repay Grey the 40*. ; and if Clopton &11 to 
him hy partition, Grey shall have it afore any man, doyng aa another wiU do. (Newport Evidences inter 
U8S. BUkeway apad BibL Bodl.) 



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226 THE PRINCES OF UPPER P0WY8. 

wryttyu unto them under this form ; that we ahold have a mettyng, and there to have a 
comjnjcac'on for the partyc'on of said londs, and to put the 4 partyse of the louds 
equally devydyd in waze, and so to take the parte therof as fortune comythe : yf so be 
that they fynde eny defaute in the mackyng of the hooks of partyc'on lett them amend 
hytt. Also I have poynted the plase of mettyng at Lodlow, the 7th day of the raonythe 
of May, and yf bo be that ye wylle be greable therto, praying yow to aende me in 
wryttyng under yo' scale whethr ye wylle be greable or no, by my serv', the whyche shalle 
bring yow aonswere betwixte this and Estyr, as avoute the maryage betwixte my cosyn 
Acton and my dortyre Jane. No more unto yow at this tyme, but Jh'u p'serve, Amen. 
Yor lovyng wncull, John Lyngen, knyght." 

The proposition contained in Sir John Lyngen's letter was apparently well received. 
The meeting doubtless took place at the time appointed and resulted in the following 
deed: — 

" This indenture qnadiipartite, made the 12th day of May, in the sixteenth yeare of the raigne of king 
Heniy the Seventh [1501}, betweene John Lingen, knight, and Isabel his wif, one of the danghtera and 
heires, as well of John Bnrghe, knight, as of Jane his vif, one of the daughters and heires of WiUiun 
Clopton, knight, oa that one parte, and Thomas Leighton, knight, sonne and heire of Ankerete, 
on other of y* daughters and heires of the saide John Bnrghe and Jane his wif on y* second parte, and 
John Newport, esq., sonne and heire of Elizabeth, the third daughter and one of the heires of the same 
John Bnrghe and Jane his wif on the third parte, and Thomas Uytton, Esq., late hnsband of Elizabeth, 
the fowerth daughter and one of the heires of the s* John Bnrghe and Jane his wif, and William Mitton, 
Bonne and heire of the s'' Thomas Mytton and heire of the same Elizabeth his wif on the fonrth parte, 
Witnesseth that portic'on and seyerance is made, concluded, fiilly and determinatlye agreede, betweene the 
said parties, and by their comon assent w*** the grace of Ood perpetually to endnre betweene them and 
their heires for ever, for, ot, and npon all snoh lordshippes, manors, lands, meadowes, pastures, woods, rente, 
oomons, patronages, advowsons, liberties, fipanchises, and hereditamente, whatsoever they be w<* after the 
decesse of the said John Burgh and Jane his wif and either of them, discended, remayned, or in any wise 
henne oomon to the hands of the s^ parties in demeane, possession, service, nse, or profitte, as well in 
England as in Wales, as by these present indentures appeareth : that is to say, the lordshippes and manors 
of Yocelton and 8tretton, w*** the myll and the parke parte of the fforest of Cawes, Kynn'ton, Stnrchley, 
Wentnor w" the advowson of the churche, Gravenor, Overs, Shelve, and the fonrtb parte of Walton, 
w^'^n the conntie of Salop, lands and hereditaments in Tockleten, Stretton, Cawes, Eynn'ton, Stnrchley, 
Wentnor, Oravenor, Overs, Shelve, and the fourth parte of the lands and tenements in Walton, wi*'' the 
appurtenances in the sayd conntie, been allotted, assigned, and appoynted to the said Sir John Lingen and 
and Isabell his wif, to have, possede, and enjoy, to them and to the heires of the said leabell as her parte for 
her advanncement of the inheritance to them belonginge after the death of the sayd 8' John fioigh ; the 
lordshipps and manors of Bodbroke, Qretston, Wykelfford, Upton Haselor, Eiall, Binton, Barton, Betford, 
Benhall,aind Uykleton, wt^in the conntie of Warr', luids and hereditaments in Bodbroke, Oretston, 
Wikelford, Upton Haselor, Eiall, Binton, Barton, Betford, Benh^ and Mykleton, with the appnrteaences, 
been allotted, assigned, and appoynted to the said S' John Lingen and Isabell his wif, to have, possede, 
and enjoye, to them and to the heires of the said Isabel!, as her parte for her advanncement of the inheritance 
to them belonginge after the death of the sayd Jane Burgh. The manors and lordshipps of WatUesbn]^, 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 22? 

Bradaill, haye, Cardeston, BaUeslej, Brftginton, Lngbton, and Woodoote, and the fourth parte of the lands 
and tenementa in Walton foraaid, in the said conntie of Salopp, been allotted, aaaigned, and appointed, to 
the said S' Thomaa Leighion, knight, to haye, poseede, and enjoj, to Hm and his heiree as his parte for 
his advanncement of the inheritance to him belonginge aiter the death of the eaid S' John Bnrgh, knight ; 
the lordshippe and manor of Clopton, wth appnrtf in the ooimtie of Qloacester, lands and hereditaments in 
Glopton irthin the said conntie, been allotted, aas^ed, and appointed to the aaid S' Thomas Leighton, 
knight, to hare, possede, and enjoy, to Mm and to bis heires, as his part and for his adyanncemt of the 
inheritance to him belonginge after the death of the aaid Jane Bm^h. The lordshippe and manors of 
Tregam Owen, w*^ the members and advowsons of the chorches ther in South Wales, Hem, Hjnton, 
bai^ages, howses, and gardenes in the towne of Sfairewsberye, the mylle of Brocketon, the fourth parte 
of Walton, wthin the conntie .of Salopp, lands and hereditaments in Tregam-Owen, Hem, Hynton, 
Sberosberye, Brockton, and the foorth parte of the lands and hereditamente in Walton forsaid, been 
allotted, assigned, and appoynted, to the sayd John Newport, to have, possede, and enjoye, to him and to bis 
heires, for his parte for his adTanncement of the inheritance to him belonginge ailer the death of the said 
S' John Bnrgh ; the lordsbipps and manors of Byckemsbe in the conntie of Warr', Crome Symond, 
Bonghton, Kyrreswell, and Crome Abitot, w^in tlie conntie of Worcestre ; tike lands and hereditamente in 
Bickemshe, Crome Symond, Bonghton, Eyrreswall, and Crome AMtot, been allotted, assigned, and 
appoynted, to the said John Newport, to have, possede, and enjoye, to him and to his heires, for his parte 
for hie advanncement of the inheritance to bim belonginge aftor the death of tbe same dame Jane Bnrgh. 
The lordships and manors of Mowthoy, ir^ advowsons in North Wales, Haberly with advowson, Hangbton, 
Librokehnrst, and the foorth parte of Walton, w^in the oonntie of Salop, the lands and hereditaments in 
Hovrthoy, Dynas Mowtboy, with advowsona in North Wales, Haberley with advowson, Hangbton, 
Librokehnrst, and the foorth part of the lands and hereditaments with appnrton^^ in Walton, been 
allotted, assigned, and appointed, to the said Thomas Uyttoa and William his sonne, to have, possede, and 
enjoye, to them and to the heires of the said William Kytton, for bis parte of the inheritance to the s^ 
Williani belonginge after the death of the said John Bnrgh ; the lordshippa and manors of Moreball, Over 
Qnynton, Wykewanford, Halford, Camden, Birlingbam, Powick, Holbestre, Tents, bnrgages, and gardenea, 
wt^ rente in Alsetr, Defford, and Brome, w^in the counties of Warr', Qlowcestre, and Worcestre, lands 
and hereditamente in MorehaU, ov' Qnynton, Wykewanford, Halford, Camden, BiUingham, Fowicke, 
Holbestr, Alsetr, Defibrd, and Brome, with appnrt*, been allotted, assigned, and appoynted, to the said 
Thomas Mytton and William his sonne, to have, possede, and enjoye, to them ajid to the heires of the said 
William Hytton, in allowance of his parte of the inheritance to hiyn belonginge after the death of the said 
dame Jane Burgh. It is also agreed, granntod, and appoynted, betweene the said parties by thes' p'senta, 
that for an equall partic'an of y« p'mysses to be hadde, made, and continewd, that the s^^ Sr Thomas 
Leighton and his heires shall content and pay nnto Uta s^ Thomas Mytton and William Mitton his sonne, 
and to tbe heires of the s^ William Mytton an f>.TiniiBll rent of xx*, goynge ont of the foresaid lordshippe 
and manor of Clopton paieable yearely at the feaste of Sat Mycbell the archangell and the aniicia<;'on of 
or ladie by eqnall porc'ons : fibr the annnall rent it shalbe lawful to the said Thomas Mytton and William 
Mjrtton to enter nnto the aaid manor of Clopton and to distraigne, and the distresses therfore taken to 
leade, drive, convey, and ympark onto the time they be therof satisfied and payed. In witnea wherof to 
that on parte of thes' indenture quatriparte toward the forsaid John Lyngen and Isabell his wif, r«mayn- 
ynge, the said Thomas Leighton, John Newport, Thomas Mytton, and William Mytton have sett ther 
seales ; and to the seconde pt therof wtli the said Thomas Leighton abydinge, the foresaid John Lyngen and 
Isabell his wyf, John Newport, Thomas Mytton, and William Mytton, have sett ther seales ; and to the 

LL2 



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228 THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 

third parte of ttes indentnre toward the said John Newport remaynynge, the forsaid John lAng&i and 
Isabell his wif, ThomaB Leyghton, Thomas Mytton, and Willuun Mytton, have sett ther seales. And to the 
fourth parte therof with the said Thomaa Mytton and William Mytton abidinge, the foreaid John Tdngen 
«aA Isabell his wii^ Thomas Leighton, and John Newport, hare eett their seales : written tlie day and yere 
abovesaid.'" The above transcript is preserved among the Hengwrt USS., where it is said to be taken 
" out of a ooppie w** John Brooke, recorder of Mowthoy, wrot out of the origioall." 

It hereby appears that John Newport the elder coheir succeeded to the estates in 
South Wales which the Moutheys inherited from the princes of South Wales ; which 
John Newport, esq., lord of Tre%are Owen in the lordship of Har'ford, was found, by 
inquisition taken at Har'ford {Haverford West) on April 12, 4 Hen. VIII (1513), to 
have died on Oct. 31, 4 Hen. VIII (1512). Thomas was his son and heir, and was of 
the age of twenty-four years and more at the date of the inquest.^ 

The lordship of Mowthey in Powysland fell by partition to William Mytton the 
youngest coheir ; who, by inquisition taken at Salop on the Thursday next after the 
Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, 5 Hen. VIII (Oct 20, 1513), was reported to have 
died seised of the manor or lordship of Mawdwy otherwise called Mowtho in the marches 
of Wales adjacent to the county of Salop, which he had held in demesne as of fee by the 
gift of Owen son of Griffin son of Wenwyn, made to William son of the aforesaid Griffin 
the father of the aforesaid Owen, ancestor of the said William Mitton, whose heir he was; 
namely, son and heir of Elizabeth, daughter and heir of John Burche, knight, son and 
heir of Hugh Burche, esq., son and heir o/Katherine [it should be and ofElinaheih his 
toife] daughter and heir of John, son and heir of William [son and heir of Griffin], son 
and heir of the aforesaid William brother of the aforesaid Owen the first donor. He held 
the same manor of the lord of Fowes in socage, by payment of a certain rent at Christmas. 
Its annual worth, according to the last valuation, was 10 merks and more. The said 
William Mitton, esq., died on July 16 last past. Richard Mitton was his son and heir, 
and he was of the age of twelve years and more at the time of the inquest. 

This ancient patrimony was sold by the late John Mytton of Halston, esq., the heur 
male of the above-mentioned William Mytton, to Mr. Richard Bird of Birmingham. 
The manor is said to extend over a tract of country of 40,000 acres. 

' Hengwrt MSS., No. 119. * Newport Evidences inter Blakeway MSS., apd Bibl. Bodl. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPER POWYS. 



PEDIGREE OP CHZRLETON, LORD OF POWIS. 



John do Cbeilstoa (11), boh and heir, snmiiiODed=H»uile, daughter 
to F«rL KB " Jobamu da CherlstoD." Def* Aag. 30, met, Sret Earl 
1360. dale's Baron.) 



John da Cbsrlaten (IV) aoo and^Alice, danghtei of Biohtrd Edirwd de Cherleton, heir to=Elianor, daa(ihtet and 

bdr. Bon April 36,1363. Som- Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, his brothers nummoned to Pari, f oobeir of Thomas Hot- 

motHd to Fail, m " Johaoni da Ob.(.ii.iint«UlS. (Ttemer'a from Dec. 2, 1401, to Feb. SB, | land. Earl of Kent, and 

GharletoD da Powts." Ob. 1400, HUt. of AnmtUl, vol. i, p. liSl, ai " Edwardo Charletonde I widow of Boger Honi- 

I. p. 02.) Powj^." Ob. 1433. mer. Earl of Hamb. 



Sir John Ore;, knigbt, ereated Earl o^f Joan daa. knd ooheir, aged John Tiploit, Lord Tip-^oice, dao. and coheir, 
TankerrilJa in Normand;, 8 Henr; V. 21 in 1420. Ob. 4 Hen. VI Utfl. Ob. 1443. I aged IB in 1430; ob.Sepi. 

Ob.0Heni7V ^1431.3). (142a-e), 31,1446. 



Henr; Ore;, Earl of Tanker-— Antigone, na- John Tiptoft, eon and heir, aged 10 io Phihppa, Joan, wife Joiee, wifo 

' ' ' " " " tural daughter 31 Hen. VI (1446); created Earl of wire of of Sir of EdmODd, 

of Humphrey Woroestar Julj 16, lUS; attainWd Tbomat Edmund son and beir 

Dnke of OIou- and beheaded 10 Edw. IT. Ha wa« Lord Ingoldei- of John 

eester. twice married, but bis ismie fiuled on Boos. thorpe. Lord Dnd- 

the death of bis son, Edward Earl of lej. 

Worcester in 14Ba. 



rille, aged 1 in 9 Henrj V : 
aged 7 in 4 Henr; VI. A 
minor tin 18 Henry VI. Ob. 
as Henry VI. (CoUMtatMH 
Top. and Qtm<U., vol. viii, p. 
IHS.) 



Biabard Gray, Lord Powia, aged^Uargaret, dau. 
18 in 28 Hen. VL Sat in Pail, aa of James Lord 
Lord Powia. Ob. fl Edward IV, Andley. 

iiee. 

John Qrey, Lord Powi^ aged 
6 in a Edw. IV. 



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THE PRINCES OF UPPEB POWTS. 



PEDIQREE OF THE LORDS MOWIHEY. 



WilliaiD, Hon of Oriffln de U FoIe,YU*'8<vet (or EIibdot) danghtar and ooh^ of Thomas ap Llewebn 
Loid of Mawddw7, oooon 1363-S. ap Owen, Lord of iMoed, Qw;iu)ioiutb, and Tratgani, romHried to nr 
Tndoi kp Otaao, Knt. 



}aba de la Pols (aliaa de Mowethe), Lord of Uawddwy and ofTEliubeth, dughter ud beir of Sir Folk Corbet, of WattlM- 
Xrefgaro, Lord of Wattleabnrgh jura nzoiii, ob. Not. S, 1103. bargh and Horeton Corbet, Knt, bom May T, 18T0, pre- 

I deceased her hnabaud. 



Folk, 



lord of HawddV7,^Iubel, rsmarried to Biehd. 
Wauleabargh , etc., bom Sept. de FMbale, ob. October 6, 
32, 1390, ob. eiroa lilt. S. P. Ii20. 



Hngh Burgh, Esq., Lord of^rElizabath, aole heiress to hei 
Hswddwj jure nxoris, ob. brother Fnlk, dead before Oet. 
Aug. IS, 1430. 28, 1130. 



laDO, danghter and oobeir of Sir Wm.^f Sir John Burgh, Sot, Lord of=JBne oooiub as relict of Sir 

CloptoD, of Clopton and Badbroke, oo. I Mawddw;, bom }ane 13, liU, John Bnrgh, Est, U Edw. IV 
QloDoesier, KoC, llrat wife. ob. 1471. [14Tt-&). 



port, of High 
Eroall, co.Sa- 



-Elilebet)1,lst JofanLeigh' = 
danghlar aad ton, of 

coheir, dead Leightoo, 

in UTS. eo. Salop, 



John Newport, esq., 100 = 
and heir, aged SI and 
more in UT3,ob. October 

31, laia. 



Thomas Newport, Biq., 
son and heir, aged 34 aiid 
more in 1S13. 



J 



=Ankeret,3nd Sir John Ljn-= 

daaghteraod gen, of Ljngen, 

oobeir, dMd 00. Hereford, 

in UTS. EnL, ob. lltSS. 



,. L 



=lEabe1lB, third Thomas = 

daa. and coheir, Hjtton, 

aged 80 and esq., of 

more in 1473, Shrawabni; 

oocnrs IBOl. oh. IBia. 



^Elizabeth, 4th 
daughter and co- 
heir, aged 36 in 
UTS, dewt in 
1501. 



Thomas Leighlon, son Sir John LjngeD, 

and heir, aged 18 in 1473, knt., son tod heir, 

afterwards Sir Thomas 
lid gh ton of Wattles- 
bnrgh, knt. 



WiJtiam HjttoQ,— 
esq., son and heir, j 
ob. Jnlj le, 1B13. 



lUehar 



ehard Hftton, 
aged 13 and more 
in 1013. 



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ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY, 

BUT MORE ESPECIALLY DR. PETER COURTENAY, SOMETIME BISHOP OP 
EXETER, AND AFTERWARDS BISHOP OF WINCHESTER. 



FRANCIS JOSEPH BAIGENT, ESQ. 



T^HE many gallant and knightly deeds recorded in the annals of the house of 
-*- Courtenay, and the desperate fidelity with which they adhered to the fortunes of 
the royal house of Lancaster, are well known to alL We should not, however, be so 
dazzled by the chivalry of some members of this great house, as to overlook others who 
achieved for themselves distinction in a far different arena. It is to these, or at least to 
a few of these, that I wish to direct your attention. 

Within the period of a century, no fewer than three members of this great Devonshire 
family wore the mitre and wielded the episcopal staff, one of whom attained the highest 
rank, and ruled from the primatial chair of Canterbury. Of two of these I shall say not 
little ; but of the third, who received the mitre and pastoral staff as bishop of this city, — 
the city of his native county, and whose name is so familiar to all Exoniana as the donor 
of the great " Peter bell," I shall speak even more at length. 

The first of these prelates is William Cddrtenay, son of Hugh Courtenay, the second 
of that name, Earl of Devon, and his countess, Mai^aret, daughter of Humphry de 
Bohun, Earl of Hereford, and Essex, and granddaughter of king Edward I. He was 
bom in the manor house of Exminster, and there baptized in St. Martin's church. 
Adopting the ecclesiastical profession he was coUated to a canonry in Exeter cathedral 
He became chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1367, and canon of Ampleforth, in 
the metropolitan cathedral church of York, on the 24th of March, 1368-9. A few months 
later he was promoted to the bishopric of Hereford, by papal provision and dispensation, 
he being at that time only in the twenty-eighth year of his age.^ The bull of Pope 
Urban V, on his provision, is dated at Viterbo, August 17, 1369, die seventh year of bis 

* I. Regutntm venerdbdiB m CArUto patri* dondni Wiilielmi de Cowrteney, Dei graUd, Herefordenvt 
Epiteopi, qui vitxaimo oeta/vo (Btatis twe aamo, per ganctitKimim in Okristro patrem ao dominKVi noitmm dominuin 
divindprovideneid papam Urbanum quintwn, de consUio et oaseTtmi sancbs Bomana eceUtitB Cardinalium, di^pen- 
tatitme mper tEtatig defeclii prieoplento Serefordenti fiilt prcefectm ecdesim in Epiteopum et paatorem. — Heading 
to the first volume of hie Episcopal Register in the Bishop's Registry at Heraford. 



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ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 233 

pontificate, and he is therein called Master William Courtenay, canon of York, and a 
Bachelor of Laws.' He soon afterwards received the solemn rite of consecration,^ and 
the spiritualities of the see, March 13th, 1369-70,* and the temporaUties on the 19th of 
the same month,^ and was enthroned on the 15th of September, 1370.° He made hia 
profession of obedience before archbishop Wittlesey in his great chamber at Lambeth 
Palace on the 13th of November the same year, in the presence of Master Richard de 
Warington, the archbishop's chancellor, and John de Barton the registrar, as well as many 
other persons then and there present^ "Whilst bishop of Hereford he paid frequent 
visits to his venerable parents at Tiverton Castle, and rendered valuable service in the 
performance of episcopal functions for Thomas de Brantyngham, bishop of Exeter.' 
After governing the diocese of Hereford for a period of six years, he was translated on 
the 12th September 13/"5 l^ pope Gregory XI to the bishopric of London, void by the 
translation of Simon de Sudbury to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury.® The king 
granted him the restitution of its temporalities on the 2nd December 1375,^ and he 
received the spiritualities from the ardibishop on the following day.^" In 1376, King 
Edward III, at the instigation of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, had imjustly seized 
the temporalities of the illustrious WUliam de Wykeham, bishop of Winchesto'. The 
king having desired the clergy assembled in convocation to grant him a subsidy, bishop 
Courtenay stood up as the vindicator of Wykeham. He held up before the reverend 
assembly a written statement of the injuries sustained by the good bishop, and pleaded 
with fervid eloquence on behalf of a man oppressed and condemned without &ir trial, 
and concluded by adjuring them to refuse any subsidy imtil satisfaction should be made 
to the injured prelate." This was unanimously resolved upon by the entire house of 
convocation, and justice was speedily obtained. A. few months after this, the Duke of 
Lancaster came to open words with bishop Courtenay in the cathedral church of Saint 

' E Registro HeTerendiaBimi Dfii, Dfii. Will. Wittleeey Aroluepiscopi Caatnariensis. Fol. 25. 

* I h&ve not been able to discover any particnian of his conBecration or its date ; bowever, it ia quite 
certain tbat be was consecrated the same jeex. The following ia a copy of the heading to tbe aecond 
Tolnme of his Episcopal Register •.—Begistrmn YenefoMlU in Ohriito pairi» oc dommi domiiti WUUdmi de 
Courtenay J)ei graiid Hereforden^ Episoopi, de ordinUna per ipgmn celebratis, svb aww ab incamaUone Dcmim 
tecutidatn fwrnwi et eomputacionem eeelence An^Ucanm MilLeeitno CCO'^ Septuagegimo, et amaea-aiioms ejui- 
dem. venerabSis palris primo. 

' E B«gistro ipsins apad Hereford. FoL 2. * Prima Patent., anno 44 Edw. Ill, memb. 23. - 

' Registr. ipsina. ' E Repetro Will, Wittlesey Archiepi. Cantnar. Fol. 68. 

^ B Registro Dni Dni Thomra de Brantyngbam Ezoniensis Episcopi, 

* E Registro Bererendiss. Dni Diii Simonis de Sndbury Arcbiepia. Cantnar. FoL 21 b., el 22 a. 
' Secnnda Patent, anno 49 Edw. m, memb. 7. 

*" E Registro Simon, de Sndbory Arcbiepia. Cantnar. Fol. 22. 

" Wharton's Hittoria de EpiBcopU LondineneQna, 8yo. London, 1695. P. 137. 

HM 



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234 ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTBNAY FAMILY. 

Paul's, London.' " Sir, you are too bold," cried the duke; "you put your confidence in 
your birth and kinsmen ; but they cannot help thee ; nay, they shall do enough if tiiey 
save themselves. I will humble thy proud order in the land." " Nay, my lord," replied 
the undaunted Courtcnay, ** I rely on no mortal man ; but I will boldly speak the truth in 
the name of the living God in whom I trust" " Would that I could drag him down by 
his hair I" whispered the enraged duke to his partisans. The words ran through the 
crowd, hitherto mute with suppressed emotion ; but now &om nave and choir and aisles 
rose up the indignant voices of the men of London, and cried that they would defend 
their bishop that day. The duke hastily quitted the church, and proposed in parliMnent 
to deprive the city of its privileges. "Two dajB had not passed ere every bed and 
hanging in the duke's house was pierced with the stabs of bills and javelins, and the 
forgiving bishop of London was summoned to save the duke's palace of the Savoy &om 
utter demoUtion by an armed multitude" of enraged citizens.^ Bishop Courtenay sat 
about the same number of years at London, whence he was promoted by pope Urban VI 
to the archiepiscopal chair of Canterbury on the 9th September 1381. 

Simon de Sudbury, archbishop of Canterbury and chancellor of England, having been 
barbarously murdered by the insurgent populace on the 14th June 1381 ; on the twelfth 
of the following month the king issued his licence to tihe prior and convent of Canterbmy 
to proceed to another electioa^ They assembled for that purpose in their chapter-house 
on the 31st July, and unanimously elected bishop Courtenay to the vacant archiepiscopal 
see. He received the royal assent to his election on the 5th August,* and was shortly 
afterwards appointed lord high chancellor, and had the great seal of England delivered to 
him on the 10th of the same month.^ On the 23rd October, the king granted him the 
restitution of the temporalities of the archbishopric of Canterbury." Nevertheless, on the 
9th September, before the pres^itation of his postulation, pope Urban VI issued his buU 
of provision, and in virtue of this bishop Courtenay was translated to the archiepiscopal 
and primatial see of Canterbury.' He received the apostolic mandates at Croydon on 

' Harleian MS. No. 6,217, p. 20. * Walcott's Life of Wykeham, p. 59. 

* Prima Patent., anno 5 Bic, 11, memb. 36. * Prima Pat., anno 5 Ric 11, memb. 29. 

' Botnl. ClaoB., 5 Bic. 11, memb. 25 in dorso. * Prima Pat., 5 BIc. II, memb. 17. 

' The first folio of his ArchiepiRCopal Register ia headed : — IncipU Sagiatrum, reverendi in Gkrieto paint 
dotnmi WiUielmi Oowri&ney nohUit viri domni Sitgonit CovHeney Comiiia Devonue fiUi, olim Here/ordensi* 
poitea Londoniensia epkccpi, demde vera vacante Canluarienms ecclesia per ohiiv/m honce memorioB domini 
Sinumia de Sudhurid Arekiepitaipi Oantuarieneig, ^uempopidw imurgeru jmUa ivrrim Lotidomeiuem nequiler 
decapUavit anno Di/mini MiUesimo Trieentedmo Octogegimo primo, in arehiepiseopvm Oantaariensem vUimo die 
TMnma Jvlii armo prcsdicto, a priore et eapitulo eccMiB Cantuariangu tmanimiler poetulati, et ante praesm- 
tationsm poetulatuynit »aoE sanctusiTtio in Chrislo patri domino Urbano di\>in&pT<md&nd&Paipx gexUi faciam,per 
etmdem domvimm. Urianum de consiiio fratmm sum-um, dominorum CardindHwrn et Apostoliax polettaUs 
pUnitudine, Quinto Ida* Septenibrie anno Domini aupradkio, ad diclam ecclesiam Oanluarieneem, translaii. 



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ON THE PRELATES OF THE COUETENAY FAMILY. 235 

the 10th December, and caused them to be published in the cathedral church of Canter- 
buiy on the 9th January following. On the 10th January, the prior of the cathedral 
church of Canterbury sent him the archiepiscopal crozier. which he received on the 
20th. On the 5th January he took the canonical oath of obedience to the pope at 
Lambeth ; at which time and place Bobert de Braybroke, bishop elect and confirmed of 
London, and John de Fordham, bishop elect and confirmed of Durham, were consecrated 
by Thomae de Brantyagham, bishop of Exeter, assisted by the bishops of Rochester and 
Bangor, in the presence of the said archbishop, who took no part, because he had not 
received the pallium.^ He received the pallium and the plenitude of his high pontifiical 
dignity at Croydon on the 6th May, 1382. On Sunday, the 20th June, 1395, archbishop 
Courtenay, aasiated by Robert de Braybroke, bishop of London, and John de Walthara, 
Inshop of Sarum, consecrated at Lambeth, £dmund de Stafibrd, bishop of Exeter. He 
was a strenuous vindicator of the rights and privilege of the church, and exerted his 
archiepiscopal powers of visitation so aucceasfiilly through every diocese in the province, 
that his BuccesaoTB never afterwards experienced any serious opposition in the perform- 
ance of this important duty. He obtained a grant from King Richard II to hold four 
feirs at Canterbury yearly, vu., on Holy Innocents' Day {December 28), Whitsun-eve, on 
the eve of the Translation of St. Thomas of Canterbury (July 6th), and on Michaelmas- 
eve (September 28th), each to continue nine daya'^ On the 15th November, 1381. he 
obtained a licence from the same king to erect dwellings in the cathedral close of Exeter, 
towards the " Cookrewe," on an acre of 200 feet in length, the rents of which were to 
serve for the support of two chaplains, who were to celebrate divine service daily in the 
cathedral church of Exeter.^ In the reparation of the nave and cloisters of Canterbury 
cathedral he expended mrare than a thousand marks. He repaired the church of Mepham 
for the use of the infirmary, and conferred many other &vours on his Benedictine 
brethren. He also founded the college of the Blessed Mary and All Saints at Maidstone, 
in Kent, at which place he died on Monday, the 31st July, 1396, in the fifty-fifth year of 
his age, and the fifteenth of his translation.^ By his will he bequeathed his body to be 
buried in the cathedral church of Exeter, in fix>nt of the rood loft {coram summd cruce) 

* "Pneaente WOlielmo Bed non maoiiB imponente, qni paltimn nondnm receperat." Ex Irtdiotilo 
Cawmiei Idehfeldeneis de Svccesgione Archiepieociporum Cantuarisnmtm. — Wtarton'a Anglia Sacra. FoL 
London, 1691. Tom. i, p. 121. 

* Dctrt's Sittonj of Canterbun/. PoL London, 1726, p. 156; and Somner's AittiguUie* of Cwnier- 
bwry. 4to. 1640. 

* " Pro siutmUatione daomm eapeUanoram IHvina tingulit diebut in eodesid Gathedrali Exoniann edebra^ 



* " Joratorea dicnnt (snper Bacramentnm snTim) quod pnedictna Willielmna Archiepiacopos obiit die 
Lnnte proximo ante festnm Sanoti Petri ad vincnla nltimo preterito." Ex iv^yamlume eapta aptid Exon. 
vicetimo die Jwrmani, amio 20 Bio. II. Inqidg. Pott Mortem, Ko. 17, 20 Bic. II. 

M M2 



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236 ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 

near his parents' chantry;^ but when lying on the bed of death, he altered this 
arrangement by a codicil, saying, " That he did not consider himself worthy of being 
buried in his metropolitan church, or in any other cathedral or collegiate church, and 
therefore ordered his body to be interred in the cemetery of his coUegiate church at 
Maidstone, in the place pointed out to his squire John Botelere.^ As he died whilst the 
king was at Canterbury, his majesty commanded that the interment should take place in 
his own metropolitan church. Accordingly he was there buried on the 4th August, 1396,* 
at the feet of the Black Prince, on the south side of the feretory of St. Thomas of Canter^ 
bury. His beautiful alabaster tomb and effigy still exist in good preservation, bearing 
a striking resemblance to that of William de Wykeham in Winchester cathedral To 
the cathedral church of Canterbuiy he bequeathed several costly suits of vestments, 
silver statues for the high altar, and several valuable books. He was also a bene&ctor to 
the church of St. Martin's at Exminster ; and in the inventory of Exeter cathedral 
drawn up on the 6th September 1506, are to be seen recorded suits of vestments of red 
cloth of gold, " ex dono WiUiehni Courteney Ardiiepiscopi Cantuariensis.'" The ancient 
ipartyrology of the cathedral church of Canterbury records that he was, — " Monachus 
istius eeclesicB, erai affabUis, pius et misericors,"* — A monk of this church, he was cour- 
teous, devout, and kind hearted. 

We engrave for the first time, fix>m an impression in the British Museum, his beautiful 
and elegantly executed archiepiscopal seal ; vide Plate xvi, fig. 1. It is of the usual 
pointed oval shape, enriched with tall and delicately-executed canopy work, having in 
its upper portion a crowned figure of the Blessed Virgin with her Divine Son ; below 
this are three niches. The central and largest niche contains a gracefully seated figure 
of our Blessed Saviour, his right hand uplifted in the attitude of benediction, and holding 
in his left hand an orb surmounted by a cross. In the niche on the right hand of our 
Saviour is a figure of St. Barbara, virgin and martyr, holding in her left hand a tower, 

' In teatamenk) antea condito corpus sanm in ecdesi^ Exonienu coram snmmft emce Bepeliendnm 
legaverat. — Wharton's Anglia Sacra, torn, i, p, 7&5. 

* Lan^ene in eztremiB in interiori CBmer& manerii de Maydenston, volnit et OTdinarit, qnod qaia 
non repntavit ae digniun, at dixit, in eak nietropolitaiL& ant aliqaa cattedraU aut collegiatA ecclesii 
Bepeliri, Tolnit et elegit BepoltnTam Bnam in coemiterio eccleaiEe collegiatea de Maydenston, in loco 
designate Jotianni Botelere armigero ano. Hx codicilh, qui tegtamento euo iwvnexiu extai inter archiwt 
ecdetim Clmeti Otuttttarienns. — Wharton's AngUa Sacra, torn, i, p. 121. 

* Begittrum ecdeauB OJiristi Cantuar. This trnstworthy authority gives a fiill and minute account of 
bis bnrial in Canterbnry Cathedral. Witb respect to the skeleton disoovered about the year 1799, 
beneath the large slab in the chancel of Koidstone Church, there is nothing to lead ons to snppose it was 
Archbishop Coortenay's ; on the contrary, it was apparently the skeleton of a yotmger man, and it was not 
poBsihh to ascertain whether the body bad been buried either in sacerdotal or episcopal vestments. 

* Ex bibUothec& CottemaiL&, Nero, c ix, et in bibliotheci Amndellisnik, No. 68, Has. Brit. 



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\ ilMBMlfMIflM^ 

jy o o o ^/ 
y /loK o Ao\\ r tr 



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Arms of tile See of Wiiyiester. 



l-ig, 2, 



BecTBtum of 
Archtp.'W Courtenaj , 



Episcopal Seal of ArdhliisTiop 
WilliBin. Courtanajr. 




Seal of I'eUu- Courteiiay 
Bishop of Winch-PBler. " 




Arms of lady Mary Lisle . 

D aujihlBc of Sir John Courtanay Eat 

Thruatoi] Church., Hants 



Amis of D' Richard Fox 
as Bishop of ExBter 
Winchester Cathedral. 



Arms of Bp. Peler Courteiiaj- 
the Roof or Vaulting of the Lady Chapel 
WmchcBter Cathedra]. 



Frajicis Ja«op}i Biugent,de3 , 



D.snzcdbyVjOOC^IC 



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ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY, 237 

and lier right hand resting upon a sword ;^ and in the coiresponding niche on the left 
hand, is a tall and well executed figure of St Thomas of Canterbury, in full pontificals, 
and with his crozier. Beneath the central figure, within a canopied niche, is a neatly 
executed figure of the archbishop himself in full pontificals and pallium, with his crozier 
beneath his left arm, and his hands in the attitude of prayer. On the dexter side of the 
niche, suspended by a guige &om the cusp of the panel, is a shield chained with the 
arms of the archiepiscopal and primatial see of Canterbury, viz., a pallium charged with 
four crosses pattee fitch^e ; corresponding with this, on the sinister side, is another 
shield, bearing three roundles, in chief a label of three points, each point charged with a 
mitre, being the anns of the Courtenay femily, as borne by the archbishop, viz., or, three 
torteaux (or roundles of a red colour), in chief a label of three points azure, each point 
charged with a mitre argent. Round the mai^in of the seal is inscribed " S : tuUU' : 
courtnwg : tti : flt'a ' ca'tuarim' : ardjtep'i : " — Seal of WiUiam Courtenay, hy ike grace of 
God, Arch^nshop of CatUerbury. I also give, I believe for the first time, a representation of 
his secretum or private seal, copied horn an impression appended to a document preserved 
tunong the records of the Augmentation Office. It is of a circular form, measuring an inch 
and a half in diameter, and depicts within an elongated panel or recess, a knightly helm, 
with a strip of embroidery hanging behind it, resembling more the infulse of a mitre than 
the usual mantling. On the helm is a cap of maintenance, surmounted by a dolphin naiant 
and embowed — his family crest Below the helm, comerwise, is a shield, chained with 
his armorial bearings, as before mentioned : round the margin is engraved, Sfgill' : 
sccrrtu' : li'nl : iuilU'n : wurUnag, See fig. 2. 

The archbishop had superintended the education of his nephew and godson Richard 
Courtenay, eldest son of Sir Philip Courtenay of Powderham, knt, by his wife Margaret 
Wake, a youth of great promise, who was only sixteen years of age at the time of his 
imcle's decease ; fall in stature, with a face of extraordinary beauty ; eloquent in speech 
— in fact, adorned with such grace and comeliness of person,^ that his uncle could easily 
perceive that there was before him a career of distinction, either military or ecclesiastical. 
Accordingly in his will he bequeathed him many books, in case that he should wish to 
adopt the ecclesiastical profession, and his best mitre in the event of his becoming a 
bishop.* The archbishop had also bequeathed six valuable books to his church of Can- 

* I deem it more than probable that the archbishop was bom on this saint's festal day, viz., December 
4th, 134A. In a similar manner, I entertain little or no doubt but that the illnfitrioiiB William de Wykeham, 
Bishop of Wincheater, was bom on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, September 8Ui, 1324. 
On some future occasion I shall have more to say on this subject. 

* " Hie entm sanguine extitit nobiliB, statnra procerus, facie decoms, lingu& facandus, omniqne 
corporis venustate peromatas." Bittoria de epiteopu Norwkensibu), aaikare monaeho Narwicensi amonymo. 

* " Item, lego filio et alnmno meo Ricardo Conrtenay centem marcas, et mnltos libros in caau qno 



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238 ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 

terbiuy, which this Richard Courtenay wob t» be allowed the use of for his life, but with 
the obligation of their being restored to the church of Canterbuiy by his executors under 
a peiaalty of j6300.^ The works were the " MiUelogium" ofSL Augustine, a dictionary in 
three volumes, and "Dr. Nicholas de Lird" in two volumes. He became an ecclesiastie 
and fully justified the high opinion entertamed of his merit. He was collated to the 
prebend of Sneating in the cathedral church of St. Paul's, London, on the 24th Jnly, 
1394 ; canon of Lincoln on the 18th November, in the same year ; and to a prebend and 
canonry in Exeter cathedral on the 3rd October, 1399. In the following year, on Ember 
Saturday, the 18th December, Edmund de Stafford, Bishop of Exeter, ordained him a 
priest in St. Michael's chapel, Chudleigh, at the early age of twenty, in virtue of a bull of 
dispensation granted by pope Boniface IX, dated at Rome, 14th December, 1399.'' 
Ecclesiastical preferments followed one after the other. He became precentor of 
Chichester cathedral in 1400 ; dean of St Asaph in May 1402 ;^ canon of York on the 
let June, 1403 ;* prebendary of Hayes within the castle of Exeter on the 3rd July, 1403 ; 
canon of Wells in 1408, and was elected ita dean on the 26th May, 1410, and his election 
was confirmed by the bishop on the nineteenth of the following month ;^ archdeacon of 

clericns esse velit, et optimam mitram meam in caaa qao faerit episcapofl." Ez iettamerUa ejvidetn archir 
epvcopi. 

' Sicnt in qnodam obligatorio et indentorft inde factiL, qiue in Cancellaii^ nostii habentar, plenins 
continetnr ; Ex MwriyTologio Ecdesux ChrUii Gantuar. in hibliothecA ArttitdeUiand, Mus.Br!t.,No. 68. Pol. 34. 
^TTin Tig the records of the diocese of Winchester, I have met with a sinular instance, an ezempli£oatdon of 
the great toIds monks were wont to place apon their literwy treasureB, Kicholas de Ely, Bishop of 
Wineheflter, who died in the Cietercian Abbey of the Blessed Mary of WaTerley, in Snrrey, on the J 2th of 
February, 1279-80, bequeathed to the prior tmd convent of Winchester Cathedral, his own great bible in 
two Tolnmee, well commented npon. Hia snccessor, the learned John de Fontissara, being desirons of 
borrowing this bitde for the sake of its annotations, the prior and convent obtained &om him the following 
bond for its safe return : " Omnibna Christi fidelibna prteeentes litteraa visaiis vel auditnris, Johannaa Dei 
grat)& Wyntoniensia Episcopns, salntem in Domino. Koveritis nos ex conunodata recepiase & delectds filiis 
noBtrifl...Priore et conventu ecdeaia noetrte WyntoniensiB anam Bibliam. in dnobna volnminibns bone 
gloBMtam, qnffi aliqnando foit, bone memoriffi, Domini Nicholai Wyntoniensis episcopi prsdeoesaoris 
noefari, noetro perpetno sen qoamdia nobis placnerit Insptciendam tenendam et habendun. Ad cojiu 
reetitntionem eisdem fideliter et sine dolo bciendam obligamns nos per pmsentea, qnam si in vit& nostii 
Don restitaerimus eisdem ; obligamns executores nostros et omnia bona nostra, mobilia et immobilia, ecclesi- 
Bstica et mundana, cohercioni et districtioni cujnscnnqne jodicis, eodesiutici et sncnlaria qui prmdicti... 
Prior et conventas duzerint eligendnm, quod possint eosdenL execntores per omniraodam districtioneiii 
compellere qnonsqne dicta biblia dictis filiis et fratribos &erit reatitnta. In cajas rei testitnoninm sigillum 
nostnun pnasentibns fedmns apponi. Datum apud Wolveseye vj'^. Ealendaa Uaii, anno Domini 
HiUeeimo dnoentenmo nonogeaimo nono, consecratioms nostne decimo aeptimo." Bishop Nicholas de Ely 
also bequeathed another valuable biUe to the prior and convent of the cathedral church of Worcester, his 
former bishopric. Amudet Ecriegue Wigomianm. 

' Register of Edmnd de Stafford, Bishop of Exeter. Yol. i, ad calcem. 

' Hot. Pat, 3 Hen. IV., part 2, memb. 19. 

* Wharton's Hittoria de Deamia AseaventHnu, 8vo, London, 1695, p. 366. 

° Register of Nicholas Bubbeworth, Bishop of Bath and Wells. 



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ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 239 

Northampton in 1409 ; chancellor of the Univerflity of Oxford ia 1407, and in 1411 and 
1412. We now reach the last of his ecclesiastical preferments — that dignity which his 
unde anticipated if he became an ecclesiaetic. The bishopric of Norwich being vacant 
by the death of brother Alexander de Tortington, who died on the 28th April. 1 413, the 
king Bolicited his election to the vacant see, and he was chosen accordingly.^ This 
capitular election was confirmed by pope John XXIII, and the necessary bulls for his 
consecration having been received, he was duly consecrated in the Boyal Chapel at 
Windsor by the primate Thomas Arundel, on Sunday the feast of St Lambert, September 
17, 1413,^ in the presence of Eii^ Heniy V and a lai^e assembly of nobles.^ The king 
had already granted him the restitution of the temporalities of the see, viz., on the 11th 



At Windsor, on the 18th September, the day after his consectation, he issued a com- 
mission to Master William Westacre. Licentiate of Laws and archdeacon of Norwidb, 
appointing him to be his vicai^neral and commissary in the city and diocese of 
Norwich ;^ and another, appointing the most reverend father, the lord John de Leycester, 
titular archbishop of Smyrna, his suffragan, with full faculties to perform all episcopal 
fonctions on his behalf within the diocese of Norwich ;^ who iu accordance with these 
powers held his fiist ordination on behalf of bishop Courtenay in the chapel of the 
episcopal palace at Norwich on the 23rd September, 1413.^ The bishop in like manner 

' " Anno 1413. Alexumdir, bisohop of ITorwidi, doied this yen, and aftir him was HaiataT Richard 
Couitnei bialiop ; a fal aUe man to tliat degre." Frmn the Chronicle of England, by John Ga/pgraoe, D.I)., 
on Av,gutUiKia/n friar and lomeUme pnvmcial of hie ordar in England, who died in hia amemii at I/yim in 
NarfaVe, August 12tt, 1464, let. 70. 

* This I leam from hia own Epiacopal Begiatar, stall praserred at Norwich. Hitherto, no writer haa 
given the correct date. The Norwich monk, in his Hiet&ria de Epieeopts Nmvncenmbvt, states inaccnratdy 
that he was consecrated at Canterbtuy, The following is a correct copy of the heading of the third and 
last portion of his Register, folio 101. Begittrum Beverendi in Chrteto pairia et domim domim Bicardi Dei 
gratid Norvncatuis Epiicopi, de et avper eapedOig per mtndem extra ditecerim mam, a prvmo die eonaeeratioTm 
gwB faeke w eapeUd Begia i/nfra ma/nerivm. tdiat logevm domim nottri Begia AngUa infra Paroum de 
Wyndthore, acUieet in FeHo Saneti LamherrU, videlicel mnj' die taenaia Septembris Atrno Domini MiUesimo 
CCCO" tertio dewno. 

' Historia de Episcopis Norwiceneibas, anthore Uonaoho Korwicenai anonymo. Wharton's Anglia 
Sacra, torn, i, p. 416. 

* Bot. Patent., anno 1 Heniy Y, pars 3, memb. 16. 

' jr Begiatro EpiaeopaU tpriua, foL 72. Master William Westacre was collated to the archdeaconry of 
Norwich on the 12th of November, 1407. Begittr. Fratria Alexandri de Tortington, fol. 2. His snccessor, 
Henry Keys, waa collated to this dignity on the 11th April, 1419, void by the death of Master William 
Weetaore. Begiatr. JohoMnit Wakering Sonmc&n. Epiacopi, fol. 43. 

' B^;istr. Rio. Courtenay Norwioen. Epis., fol. 95. 

' Ordineg cAebraU tn eapelld PalalU Norwici die 8aibaii qvatuor teviporvm proximo post feabtm 
ExaUatioma SancttB Crveia, videUcel nono Kalend. Octobria Anno Domini MQleeimo CCCC^" TerHo decimo, 
vice et OMctoritate Reverendi in G?mato patris et domim dontini Bicardi Dei graUd Nortmeenaia Epiaeopi, per 



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240 ON THE PRELATES OP THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 

nomiimted Master John Hody to the important office of chancellor.^ However, having 
thus attained the episcopal dignity he did not enjoy it very long, for having passed over 
to Normandy with the king, who had hastened thither for the purpose of conducting the 
siege of Harfleur, the bishop was there seized with a mortal illness (dysentery)^ (uad died 
on Sunday, the 15th September, 1415, in the thirty-sisth year of his age and the second 
of his episcopate.^ His death is thus recorded in his own Episcopal Register, preserved 
at Norwich, at the end of its first portion, folio 94. " XV" die Septembris apud Harfiete 
in Normannia, obiit Ricardus Courtenay Episcopus Norwicensis, anno domini prsedicto" 
(1415). On the ffleentk day of September at Harfiete in Normandy died Richxrd 
Courtenay bishop 'of Noninch, in the year of our Lord aforesaid.* Ambassadorial 
duties and other public busiuess had so occupied his time and prevented hia quitting the 
court that he was never installed," and few indeed are the recorded transactions in the 
exercise of his episcopal fimctions. The earliest is an institution made by him at the 
Friars Preachers, London, on the 11th November, 1413, of Sir William Staplelaw to the 
vicarage of Bramford in the county of Suffolk. On the 26th November, at the king's 
manor of Kennington, he instituted Su- Thomas Cole, priest, to the parish church of 

feneroWfem in Chrieto pairem Johannem, Dei gratid Smenaeng^n aTchiepUeopum, adem gufficienler in hde 
parte cotnmiaad." E Begistro Ric. Courtenay, Norwicen. Episcopi, fol. 95. 
' Register ipsius. 

* " In this sege many men deied of cold in nytes, and &ate etyng ; eke of afynk of carejmB." Friar 
Capgrave's Chronicls, page 311. 

' "Jnratores dicnnt (sRper sacramentam annm) qnod pnedictna Ricardns Conrtenaj (Episcopus 
Norwicensis) obiit in die dominicft proximo post festun Ezaltationis Sanct«e Cr\xQaa"—InqvKUio poit 
Mortem, anno 3 Hen. T, No. 49. This answers to the 15th of September, as ^ven in the text. The 
Canterhunj S£artyroU>gy is incorrect is giving the 16th of September as the day of hia decease. The 
Norwich monk records his death on the 18t:h Calendsof September, instead of the 17tli Calends of October. 
Wharton's Anglia Sacra, torn, i, p. 416. 

' The following record of his death may be seen in the second volnme of the Register of Archbishop 
Chiohely, foho 149 : " Segittrum Epieeopatvt Norwicentis per mortem naturalem bona memojia dtrmivi 
Bicardi Courtenay uUimi Epitcopi, qui in eomiiivd e^ellentisgimi principit et domini domini Henrici Eegit 
quinti Uhutrie&imi in obtidione villo de Haafiew in Normannid obiit sev die tnentie S^iemiria Anno Domini 
MiUesimo CCCC^ Quinto deeimo." 

* " Qui plnrimis regis et regni negotii pnepedilis, nnnqnam instaUatos fhit." Bistoria de Epiieopis 
NomneentOmt aulhare Mbnaeho Norwiemui anonymo, Wharton's AngUa Sacra, tom, i, p. 116. His 
Register fbrms the second portion of the Tolnme marked as L&er VII, commencing at folio 72, and ends 
vith the Tolnme itself at folio 104 b. Its first folio is headed : — Regiiimm. Beoerendi in Chriato patrit el 
d&mini domini Bicardi, Dei gratid, Nonmcenna Epiecopi, do InglituHonibiu, proviaionibtu, prtesentatiombvi, 
oudodiis, ad/miniabrationOjut et coUationibna clericorwm ad dignOatea, ojffieia et benefieia, ecdeauutiea vacantia 
in tnvitaie et diceceai Normeenai, faetia per venerabilem et drcum^eotvm virum Magiahvm WiUielmwm Weii- 
acre, in deeretis lieerUi<Uum, Archidiaeonum Nonmeenaem, pradicti Boverendi Patria, Vico/rimn in spirituaiibti* 
generaiem, a dedmo aeptimo die memia Sepletnbria, Anno Domini MiUesimo CCCC" Tertio deeimo, Et con- 
(eerojumw dicti Patria Armo Primo. 



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ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 241 

Rickinghall Inferior ; and on the 13tb March 1413-4, in his own residence at Charing near 
Westminster, he collated Master Thomas Rudbome (afterwards bishop of Saint Bavid's) 
to the archdeaconry of Sudbury in the cathedral church of Norwich. On Holy Saturday, 
April the 7th, 1414, Bishop Courtenay held an ordination in the conventual church of 
Tewkesbury abbey, on behalf Mid by the authority of Thomas Peverel, bishop of Wor^ 
cester ; and on the 6th July, he instituted at Charing near Westminster, Sir Hugh Sprot, 
priest, to the rectory of the parish church of Theberton, Suffolk. On the 2l8t August, 
1415, Sir William Holere, priest, was instituted by his vicar-general, to the vicarage of 
the parish church of Halvergate, Norfolk, at the nomination of the Reverend Father lie 
Lord Bishop of Norwich, and at the presentation of the abbot and convent of the monastery 
of Tintem in Monmouthshire.' His body was brought to England, and honourably 
interred in Westminster abbey near the shrine of Saint Edward the Confessor.^ " His 
person," says Fuller, (" the inn of his soul had a fair sign) was highly favoured by his 
prince, and beloved by the people ; yet all this could not prolong his life."^ 

No impression or copy of his episcopal seal is known. Blomefield notices his seal so 
slightly, that it is doubtful if he had ever seen an impression of it. " He bore on his 
seal the arms of Courtnet/ ; or, three torteavx, and a fie of three points azure, in each 
lahd of which three torteanx."* This is all he says about Bishop Courtenay's seal ; but 
with the seals of the other prelates, who occupied the see of Norwich, he is much more 
explicit 

We will now turn our attention to Bishop Peter Couetenay, the third son of Sir 
Philip de Courtenay of Powderham, knight, nephew and heir of the aforesaid Bishop 
Richard Courtenay, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of the gaUant Walter Lord Hunger- 
ford.^ After pursuing his studies with credit at Oxford, he proceeded to the celebrated 
university of Padua, and there obtained the degree of doctor of canon and civil law, and 
is said afterwards to have been incorporated in the university of Oxford.^ " His first 
benefice," says the late Rev. Dr. Oliver, " was the living of Moreton Hampstead near 

' RegiglT. ipmns. 

' " lu septentrionali parte a feretro Sancti Edwardi B«giB, in ipeiiiB ostii mgressD pone magnnm altare." 
—MS. Lambeth. 

' Fuller's Wtrrthiea of England, fol., London, 1662, p. 252. 

* Hinlary of Norfolk, by the ReT. Franda Blomefield, fol., Norwich, 1745, vol. ii, page 374. 

' This Sir Philip de Courtenay, knight, was the eon and heir of Sir John de Goortenay, knight, the 
bishop's brother, and was bom on the 18th Jannory, 1403-1. "Et joratores dicant qnod Philippns de 
Courtenay filine Johonnis de Courtenay militia fratrie prtedicti Bicardi Courtenay (nnper Norwicensia 
Epificopi), eat propinqaior hnres ipains Ricardi, eo qnod prsBdictna Bicardns obiit aine hmrede de corpore 
ano exennte. £t dicnnt qnod xriij die mensis Jannarii ultimo pneterito, idem PhUippos filius pnedicti 
Johaouis fliit letatis zj annonun." — Irtqwmtw post Mortem, anno 3 Hen. T, Ko. 49. 

' Godwin's De Prcetvlibva Anglice, 4to., London, 1616, page 295. 



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242 ON THE PKELATE8 OP THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 

Exeter, to "which he waa preferred on the 30th May 1453."^ Nine days later, he was 
coUated to the archdeaconry of Exeter, which he exchanged on the 7th Januaiy, 1475, 
with Robert Ayscough, for the canonxy and prebend of Channinster and Beer Begis, then 
annexed to the cathedral church of Sarum. Prebendary of Carlton in the cathedral 
church of Lincoln, August the 19th, 1463. This he resigned in 1470, by reason of his 
collation on the 4th November, 1470, to the prebend of Thame. 

On the 26th August, 1464, Richard Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury, collated him to 
the provostship of tlie collegiate church of St Edmund's in that city •?■ and on the 7th 
October, in the same year, to the archdeaconry of Wilta. In the course of 1472, King 
Edward the Fourth appointed him his secretary -^ and dean of the royal chapel of Saint 
Stephen's, Westminster, in 1472, in the room of Dr. John Alcocke, elected to the bishopric 
of Rochester.* On the 11th October, 1476, he was installed dean of Windsor, and was 
also appointed master of Saint Anthony's free chapel aud hospital, London, which King 
Edward IV had just appropriated to the royal collegiate church of Windsor. On the 27th 
April 1477, he was promoted to the deanery of Exeter, and on the 4th December the 
same year presented to the valuable living of Menhenniot in Cornwall. Pope Sixtus IV 
provided him on the 5th September, 1478, to the see of Exeter, void by the death of Dr. 
John Bothe ; and he is the first instance of its dean mounting to its pontifical chair. 
King Edward IV restored to him the temporalities on the 3rd November that year j" and 
on Sunday, the 8th November, 1478, he was consecrated in the aforesaid royal chapel of 
Saint Stephen's, Westminster,' by Thomas Kempe, bishop of London.' " His imperfect 

' Letter dated, December 7th, 1859, jienes me. I venture to reclaim the several partictilars relating 
to Bisliop Coartenay, which I had the pleasore of fnmisIuDg mj venerable and learned friend, the late 
Reverend George Oliver, D.D. " I cannot he loo thankful to you for yowr laborious imiestigatum of Bithop 
Peier Couiienay's life, deatli, and fcunoi." Letter dat«d, Exeter, Jannaty 16th, 1860, jwnes me. 

' E Begistro Domini Domini RidhaTdi Beauchamp Sarunt. epwcopi. 

' E Hotnlis Patentibna. Prima Pat. de annis. 12" et 14° Bdvf. IT, memb. 20. 

• He ifl mentioned as dean of this chapel, in the episcopal register of William Wayneflete, Bishop of 
WincheBter, torn. 11, fol. 43, on 13th Febmary, 14?6-?, as presenting Master Jt^n Thowme to the 
Rectory of the parish Church of Winchfield, Hants. " Ad pnesentationem Petm Codbteh^T, liberie 
capellse Regis Westmonaaterii, Decani et ^nsdem lo<^ capitoli." 

' Rot. Pat. 18 Edw. IV, p. 2, memb. 20. Bymer's Fcedera, fol. London, 1711. Tom. lii, p. 94. 

' He was dean of this chapel at the time of his consecration, and was succeeded in this office by 
Master Henry Sharpe, in 1478. Vids Cottonian MS., FamHna, B. viii, fols. 36-43. This is also attested 
by the following entry on the Patent Rolls: — Biima Patent, de artno 17" Edw. IV, memb. 1. "Bes 
conceBsit Petro Conrtnay decano saacti Stephani Westmoiiasterii ac consiliario sao, custodiam corporis et 
terramm Henrici Lorell filii et hnredis WiUielmi Lovell nnper Domini Morley, ao Alianone nzoris (ijiib 
nnpOT Dominie Lovell, ete.' Tested by the Hng himself, at Westminster, March 18tli, 14?7-8. Per breve 
private sigillo. The celebrated canonist. Dr. WiUiam Lyndewood, was consecrated Bishop of Sunt 
David's, in this chapel, in 1442. I am inclined to believe him to have been one of its deans, and that it 
was on Hub acconnt he selected the chapel for his consecration. As bo little is known, comparatively 



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ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 243 

register at Exeter, acqaaints us with his residing at Bishop's Clist on the 3rd March, 1 482 ; 
and in the summer of that year he was in Cornwall, where he dedicated Saint Agnes' 
chapel with its cemeteiy. We meet him in Exeter on the Ist October, 1482, and we 
street that he was at Exeter on the 18th October, 1483, when Hecry, Earl of fiichmond 
(afterwards King Henry VII), was proclaimed the rightful sovereign. It may be thought 
strange," continues Dr. Oliver, ** that he should assist at the splendid coronation of 
Richard the Third, at Westminster, on the 6th July, 1483 ; for he knew how the usurper" 
had been prevented from gaining possession of Anne Duchess of Exeter, a great heiress 
and his niece, tJirough his cautious policy, and therefore he was marked out for vengeance 
by this usurper. Perhaps, he could not, with safety to himself, decline being officially 
present ; but he made his escape to Bretagne early in November. He had hardly done 
so, when the tyrant arrived to occupy his palace, which he found abundantly stored with 
provisions."^ On taking possession of the diocese of Exeter, the north tower of his 
cathedral was in an unfinished and dilapidated state ; " at the time," says Prince, " of 
this honourable prelate's instalment, the north tower was not far advanced ; whereupon 
he forthwith undertook and set about the work, and in the short time he remained bishop, 
at his own charges and expenses he brought the same to perfection : and it is now a 
very noble and stately piece of building. Which having thus finished, that it might not 
remain an empty and useless steeple. Bishop CJourtenay was pleased further at his own 
cost to furnish one bell of an immense magnitude, weighing, as we are told, 12,500 Ibs."^ 
This celebrated bell, which is reckoned the third largest in England, was recast in 1676, 
when these words were inscribed upon it, viz., " Ex dono Petri Courtney episc. Exon. 
Anno D'ni 1484." To this famous bell, Bishop Courtenay added a clock, and to the clock 
a dial of very curious invention, especi^y for that age ; and this is supposed to be the 
present piece of mechanism. Underneath the clock, within a small chantry chapel, lies 

spewing, of tlie learned anthor of tihe " Prouineiale eeu Comtitutiones AngUa," I will here mentioa that be 
was presented to the rectory of the church of West Tytlieriy, Hanta, between the years 1413 and 1416. 
E Segietro Eeverendimmi Domini Domini Henrud Oardinalit Beaufort, Wintonteneit epiicopi. 

' This I leam from bis own register at Exeter. John Howell, alias Hooker, in his Antique Descrip- 
tion of Exeter, 4to, Exeter, 1?65, p. 132, erroneonsly states that he was " consecrated by Tlwmat, Arek- 
Helwp of Canterbwy, November, anno 1477." And another writer, who is ever ready to sneer at the 
inaccuracies of others, says he was " consecrated by Archbishop Boachier." Cassan's Livet of the Bishojpe 
of Winchester, voL i, p. 315. 

' The Lives of the Bishops of Exeter, by the Very Rer. (Jeorge Oliver, D.D. 8vo, Exeter, 1861, 
pp. 110 and 111. 

* Prince's Worthies of Devon, edit. 1810, p. 229. Bisbop Lyttleton, in his account of Elzeter 
Cathedral, pablished by the Society of Antiqnaries, page 5, says : " If the tradition at Landaff may be 
depended npon, it was bronght from thence to Eseter, in the time of bishop Courtenay, in exchange for 
five other bells, being styled the Peter bell before its removal to Exeter." Dngdale's Monasticon Angli- 
eamtm, by Messrs. Caley, Ellis, and Bandinel, fol, London, 1817, torn, ii, p. 519. 

NN2 



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244 ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 

boned. Bishop Courtenay's vicar-general, Master William Sylke, doctor of laws, who was 
for many years a leading dignitary of the cathedral Bishop Courtenay made some exten- 
sive alterationa and improvements in the episcopal palace at Exeter. The beautiful oriel 
window which he erected has disappeared ; not so, however, the magnificent mantelpiece, 
elaborately enriched, not only with the armorial bearings of the see and his own, but even 
those of his fe-ther and mother, as well as many other heraldic devices ; so admirably 
described by the very Rev. Dr. Oliver in his history of the palace.^ 

Bishop Courtenay presided at Exeter, with honour to himself and advantage to the 
church, for nearly nine years ; when the rich bishopric of Winchester became vacant by 
the death of William Wayneflete, the munificent founder of Saint Mary Magdalen's 
College, Oxford ; Bishop Courtenay was at that time keeper of the privy seal to king 
Henry VII, whom he had been instrumental in establishing on the throne of England.^ 
On the 15th August 1486, the chapter of the cathedral priory of Winchester deputed two 
of their brethren, William Langley, the sub-prior, and Thomas Silkstede, their treasurer, to 
the king with an instrument or letters patent, under their common seal, soUciting his 
royal permission to elect a bishop in the room of William Wayneflete, of pious memory, 
who had died on Friday, the 11th day of the same month.' 

As to the manner of delivery, — when in the king's presence, — kneeling, they were 
to address him thus : — " Your humble subjects and daily beadsmen, the prior and convent 
of St. Swithin's in Winchester, hath sent us unto your highness, with their humble peti- 
tion in writing {here kiss reverently the letter, and then hand it to ^e king, afterwards 
adding) ; and to receive your most gratious answer, and pleasure determined upon the 
same."* The kiug granted them his royal license, or congS d^ilire, on the 30th of 
November,^ and on the 4th of December the monks assembled in their chapter house and 
assigned the ensuing Thursday, the 7th day of December, for the election, and directed 
the necessary mandates of citation to be published viva voce, and copies to be afl^ed on 
the doors of the chapter house and on the great western doora of the cathedral church, 
summoning all who had any right, title, or voice in the said election, to appear on that 

1 Idvei of (fie Biehopa of Exeter and a History of the Cathedral, pp. 255-257. 

' He is recorded to have been translated to Wmchester through (he fevour of king Henry VII. It 
is not improbable that the king had earnestly solicited his election to the vacant see; that he was 
canonicaUy elected by the chapter long before the date of the papal boll of translation cannot be denied, 
and is now for the first time made public. Wharton mentions, in his jlnglia Sacra, torn, i, p. 319, that 
" }i£ wag elected in the month of February by the monkt who were not aware of the papal provimon ; " and 
qnotes 88 his authorities the registers of archbishops Morton and Kempe. I have carefully searched 
through these registers, bnt could not find a single word about bishop Conrtenay's election. 

' See Appendix A. 

* E Begistro communis sigilli priorat{kB Sancti Swithoni Winton. 

' See Appendix B. 



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ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 245 

day in their chapter house at the usual capitular hour. On tbia day, the 7th December, 
1486, the mass of the Holy Ghost was solemnly celebrated at the high altar of their 
cathedral church ; this ended, the bells were rung according to ancient usage, summoning 
them to asaemble in chapter. The prior, Thomas Hunton, and his community, — ^nine-and- 
twenty monks, — having taken their seats ia the chapter house, Brother Eichard Lacy, the 
precentor, deUvered before them a sermon suitable to the occasion, taldng his text from 
the Book of Kings,^ "Choose the best, and him that shall please you most of your master's 
sons, and set him on his father's throne." The guidance of the Holy Spirit was then 
invoked by the devout chanting of the hymn, " Vent Creator SpirUus," — " Come, Holy 
Ghost, Creator come," ete., with its versicle, Emitte Spirilum tuum, ete., and the prayer, 
" O God, who hast taught the hearts of thy faithfid," etc The prior and convent then 
nominated Master Michael Cleve, professor of canon law, as director, and John Tullock, 
notary pontifical, as the registrar of tiieir proceedings ; and Master John OreU, M.A., and 
Master John Lovyere, bachelor of both laws, as witnesses to the election. 

Proof having been given of the due pubhcation of their mandate of citation, it was 
again read in a loud voice at the door of the chapter house, and, after the usual interval, 
all the absentees were pronounced contumacious. The prior, in his own behalf and 
that of his monks, charged, in the name of God, every one excommunicated, sus- 
pended, and interdicted, every one who was not entitled by law and custom to be present 
(excepting their director, the notary, and the two witnesses above mentioned), to depart 
forthwith from the chapter house, that the community might proceed with perfect free- 
dom. Master Michael Cleve having read and expounded to them the general Constitu- 
tion " Quia peoptbr," viz., the twenty-fourth canon of the fourth Council of Lateran,^ 
enumerating the laws to be observed, and the various forms of election ; the prior and 
all his brethren arose, and, without pause, hesitation, or comment, with one voice, and, 
as it were, with one spirit, nominated and elected the Lord Peter Courtenay, bishop of 
Exeter, as bishop and pastor of their cathedral churcL The prior and community em- 
powered Master Michael Cleve to publish their election to the clergy and people; and, 
giving thanks to God for so unanimous an election, moving in procession to the high altar 
of the cathedral church, they solemnly chaunted the hymn, Te Deum laudamus, ete. 
When the chaunting had ceased, standing in front of the rood loft, Master Michael Cleve 
proclaimed with a loud voice to the multitude of people who were waiting in expectation, 
that the prior and convent had unanimously elected the Lord Peter Courtenay, bishop of 
Exeter, to the bishopric of Winchester. A formal account of the entire proceedings was 
drawn up, addressed to the sovereign pontiff, imploring him to confirm their said election, 
and that he would deign to release the said bishop fix)m his church of Exeter, and transfer 

' IV Kings, ch. Xf ver, 3. ' Held under Pope Innocent III, a.d. 1215. 



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246 ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 

him to WiDchester.^ In the following month. Pope Innocent VIII translated him to 
the see of Winchester by a bull dated at Rome on the 29th January, a.d. 1486-7, the 
third year of his pontificate.^ I have not been able to ascertain the precise date of Bishop 
Courtenays translation to Winchester, but it was subsequent to the 17th of March, and 
on or before the 22nd^ I am also ignorant of the date of his being admitted by the 
archbishop to the administration of the spiritualities,* neither have I met with any record 
of his installation. Though he must have had possession of the spiritualities as early as 
the 27th March, 1487,^ on which day he appointed Master John Lychefelde, doctor 
of laws, to be the official of his consistory court of Winchester, and his commissary 
and sequestrator-general throughout the diocese;^ and on the following day, he not 
only collated to the church of Calboum, in the Isle of Wight, but gave the rector 
canonical institution ■? yet it was so recent, that the fact of hia being in possession 
of the spiritualities appears to have been unknown to the bishop of London, tibe provincial 
dean; as there ia a document of his lordship's entered in Bishop Courtenay's Winchester 
Register {MandoLtum pro subsidio levando), dated at Fulham Palace on the 2nd April, 
1487, addressed : " To the vicars-general in spirituals, of the city and diocese of Win- 
chester, the see being vacant"* 

* See Appendix C ' See Appendix D. 

' It was cnstomary to compute the day of transIaitioD, not from the date of the papal bull iteelf, but 
from the day of its reception and pablicatioQ. In a document issued by bishop Peter Conrtenay, entered 
in the register of the Common Seal of Saint Swithin'a Cathedral, Priory, Winchester, dated March 22, 
1490-1, he records it to be ".Et tiiostrm tranalationis anno quinto ;" and an entry in his own episcopal 
register, dated March 17, 1491-2, ia also recorded aa being ia the fiilh year of hia translation, " Et sua 
translationit anno qumUt." 

' So record of this important transaction is to be found either in the archbishop's own register or in 
bishop Courtenay's. 

' Three days earlier than this he made an official appointment of a secular character, as will be seen 
fiirtheron. 

' He was principal of New Inn Hall at Oxford in 1484. On the 12th December, 1489, bishop 
Courtenay collated him to the mastership of St. Cross Hospital near Winchester. This he resigned in the 
latter part of the year 1492. He was living in December, 1506, as Z learn from the register of biahop 
Bichard Fox, torn. ii. 

' " Vicesimo octavo die m«ii*i» Mardi amno d^ni MHieeimo eeetlxxxvij^, et trandationM Diymiid Petri Dei 
gratid Winloni«n»ie Epiacopi, anno primo. Dominus, apud Waltham Episcopi, contulit Magistro Philippo 
David in decretis bacallario, ecclesiam parochialem de Canlbome, per mortem iiatnraleni Domini Bicardi 
Wythe ultimi rectoris ibidem vacantem. Ipsumque rectorem institnit canonice in eftdem cum suia jnribuB 
ot pertinentiia muTersis. Scriptnmque fnit vicario perpetao eoclesice pEOOchialia de Caiysbroke et 
preabitero parochiali de Caulbome pMedioto ad eum induoendom," 

* "Thomas permisslone dirinEl Epiacopns Loudinensis. Dilectis nobis in Christo venerabilibns -riris 
Vicariia in apiritualibus generallbus oivitatia et dicsceaiB Wintoniensia, sede Episcopali ibidem vacaute. 
Salutem in Domino. Idteisa reverendiasimi in Christo patris et domini domini Johaunia, Dei gratifi, 
Gantnariensis archiepiscopi totius Anglim primads et Apoatolicte aedis legata, cum ei qii& decoit rererentia 
jam pridem reeepimus, in luec verba. Johannes permisaionB diving, etc Datum in Manerio nostro 



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ON THE PRELATES OP THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 247 

On the 8th Febraaiy, 1486-7, king Henry VII had granted to bishop Courtenay 
the custody of the temporalitieB of the see of Winchester, and by a brief dated April 2nd, 
1487, the king granted him the restitution of the temporalitieB.* He occupied the see of 
Winchester full five years and a half, and died at his palace of Wolvesey in Winchester, 
in the month of September, 1492, at the age of about sixty years.^ During his episco- 
pate, the lady chapel of Winchester Cathedral, built by bishop Godfrey de Lucy,^ had its 
vaulting and eastern wall removed, and received an addition of about thirty feet in its 
length, and a new vaulted roof throughout These alterations commenced under the 
priorship of Thomas Hunton, were not only incomplete at the time of bishop Courtenay's 
decease, but remained so, in some of its interior decorations, till the prioiship of Thomas 
Silkstede, who succeeded prior Hunton in 1498. The expense of this undertaking was 
doubtless, to some extent, borne by bishop Courtenay, and it afibrda (by the emblazon- 
ment of hifl armorial bearings) the only memorial of his episcopate in the see of 
de Mortlake quinto die menaia Mardi Anno Domini Millesimo cocolxmrj'". Et nostne tranalationia anno 

prime Datam Bub sigillo noBtro in Manerio nostro de Fnlham eecnndo die mengis Aprilis Aimo 

Domini MiUeHimo cccclxuvij", Et nostrw Consecrationis anno xxiriij"." E RegUWo Domini Domini 
Petri Courlenay WinUmiensie Epiacopi, folio 29. On the verso of the same folio is another doonment from 
the bishop of London, addressed in the same manner and of the same date : — "ItutUviio celebratUmie feeti 
Trattrfiifwationie Domini nosiri Jem Ckneti." The certificates of bishop Courtenay, on the execution of 

these two mandates, are dated the twentieth day of Jnly, 1487. 

» Rymer's Fmdera, tom. xii, pp. 322, 323 ; Bot. Pat, 2 Hen. VII, para 2, memb. 9 et 8. 

* His &ther, Sir Philip Conrtenay, knight, died on the 16th December, 1463. William, his aon and 
heir, was found to be thirty-five years of age and more (atatig triginta et quinque annorwm et amvpliui). 
InquiiitiQ Post Mortem, anno 3 Edw. lY, no. 29. Consequently, bom in 1428, that the bishop was not the 
second son ia qnite certain. (Sir Philip Courtenay, knight, tie second aon, waa the founder of the 
Holland branch of the Courtenay family, now represented by Sir Robert Geoi^ Throckmorton, bart.) 
The bishop is recorded to have been the third son, and this I believe to be correct. His lordship 
oonld not have lived to a greater age than sisty-three. I mnst acknowledge that I misled my venerable 
friend, the late Rev. Dr. Oliver, l^ drawing his attention to the shield on the monument of Lady Mary 
Lisle, daughter of Sir John Courtenay, the bishop's brother, at Thruxton Church, Hants. See fig 6, 
Plate svi. This monument asaigna to John the muUei as a difierence, a distinction rum given to the third 
aon, and the annulet to the fifth son. But at the time this monument was erected (1524) the annulet 
denoted the third son, and the mvUet the sixth son. The pedigrees all record John as the sixth son, and 
the biahop as tlie third, except Hoker, who erroneonsly caUa him the second son. The evidence upon which 
I urge this view, is the painted glaes figured by Dogdale, formerly existing in Saint Mary's Church, 
Warwick. Dngdale'e Sittory of Wanoickehire, fol., London, 1730, p. 407, and Mr, PlanchS's PurttUvant of 
Arma, 2nd edition, London, 8vo., 1859, p. 219. 

* Consecrated bishop of Winchester in St. Katherine's Chapel, Westminster, on the 22nd October, 
1189, and died on the 11th September, 1204 ; and in his cathedral chnrch, " extra eapeUam," aaya Dom. 
Thomaa Budborue, " Beaia Yirginis humatva ett." Hi a tomb still exists near the entrance of the aaid 
chapel, covered by a flat marble slab, once ornamented with moveable prickets (i. e., folding down with a 
hinge), distributed in the form of a cross, for the purpose of fixing the lights to be burnt on his anniversary. 
" Idna Septembris Tertio obiit GodeMdna de Lnci Episcopns Wintonieusis, benefactor nostor." £! i£a/rty- 
rologio et Oiihta/no Priaratds de Wgtiicney Ordinis Citterdetaia, m a^ro Hantmiien«i. 



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248 ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 

Winchester. On the exterior of the eastern wall, ornamenting its panelling, may be seen 
two shields of stonework each surmounted by a 
scroll. The dexter one charged with the royal 
arms of England — France and England — quar- 
terly ; viz., 1 and 4, three fleur-de-lys ; 2 and 3, 
three lions passant guardant, and the motto, 
" ©iCU Zt men Inoit," carved in relief upon the 
scroll. The second shield bears, three ronndles, 
in chief a label of three points, each point charged 
with as many roundles,^ — the arms of Bishop 
Courtenay, and on the scroll the motto "IBi 
BloxiaW BW." Within the chapel, on the panelled 
stringcourse, beneath the window of the south 
wall, occurs another shield, with the armorial 
insignia of Bishop Courtenay carved and bla- 
zoned on it> viz. or, three torteaux, in chief a 
label of three points azure, each point chained 
with three plates ; the shield surmounted by a 
scroll, with his motto, " In ffloriam Irtt,"^ fig. 4, 
Plate XVI. In the vaulting above may be seen, in 
like manner, another coloured shield, charged with 

AdJiU™ « T.^, Cl,.p.l. Wln.h..t„ C.U.-U.1, ^^^ S'^"" a^ia- ^ig- "' Plate XVI. 

.,^.B,.bopc<,art«,.T.. rpjjg earliest act of Bishop Courtenay, re- 

corded in his Winchester Register, is the appointment of John Hayes to the office of 
treasurer and guardian (custos) of his palace of AVolvesey for life, who was to receive 
annually the sum of £20 besides all the other profits and emoluments, by ancient custom 
pertaining to the said offices. The bishop also, by the same deed, granted him a rent 
charge or annuity for life, of £10 per annum, payable out of the profits of the manors 
of Taunton, Poundesford and Holwey, with their appurtenances, in the county of 
Somerset ; dated on the 24th March, 1486-7.^ 

* The woodcut represents an elevation of the north Bide. The sonth wall correBponds witli this, but 
has no door. Its eastern wall is the same as the sontb, omitting the string coorse beneath ihe window. 

< Being of conrae nncolonred, I prefer describing the chargee, without reference to their blazon. 

* Isaacke records that he nsed another motto. — " i^UDbbtnnn lulitm," AniiquitUs of Exeter, 2nd edition, 
London, 8vo, 1732, p. 39. 

' " Datum vicesimo quarto die meneiB Martii Anno Domini Millesimo Qnadringentesimo Octnagesimo 
Sexto. Et anno Regni Regis Henrici septimi post conquestum, secnndo." The discharge of the first two 
payments is recorded on the pipe roll of the first year of bishop Peter Goortenay's translation, vU., &om 
Michaelmas 14B6 to Michaelmas 1487, as follows : — " Inde computus in qn&dam tuDnnitate per dominum 



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ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 249 

On the 25th August, 1487, the bishop granted an annuity for life of 20?. to his 
kinsman, Thomas West, Lord de la Warr,-^ for faithful services already performed and to 
be performed, to be paid to him in equal portionB, at the feasts of Easter and Michaelmas, 
by the treasurer of the bishop's exchequer at Wolvesey. And in a similar manner, on 
the 28th of the same month, he granted 10^ per aunmn to his brother, Humphrey 
Courtenay.2 The only individual connected with Devonshire who appears to have been 
employed by Bishop Courtenay while bishop of Winchester, ia Henry Eake, esquire, to 
whom he granted, on tlie 7th January, 1487-8, the custody of all his woods {hoscorum) 
within the king's New Forest, in the county of Southampton, for life; together with an 
annuity, or annual rent of forty shillings, to be paid to him by the treasurer of Wolvesey, 
as before mentioned.^ 

concesBnm Johaimi Hays Theaanrario de WolTeseye, ad terminnm vite ipaioe Johannis de eadtibns et 
proficnia dominorani aive maneriomm de Tannton, Potmdesford et Holewey, in Conutata Somereetsiie, 
Bolvenda ammatim ad festa paschee et Saucti MicIiaeliB archangeli, pront per literaa domini patentee et 
sigillo BDO sigillatas ac confirmationem capitnlarem prions et conventl^ Saucti Swithoni clare patet, 
videlicet pro feato, paachie et Sancti Michaelis accidenti infia tempos hajne computi, x. li, Surama, x. li. 

' The eldest son and heir of Bichard Weat, the seventh lord de la Warr, by Catherine his wife, 
daughter of Robert, lord Hnngerford, niece to Elizabeth Hnngerford, the mother of biahop Peter Conrte- 
nay. He sacceeded his father as eighth lord de la Warr in 1476, and was installed a knight of the 
Garter in 1510. He died in 1525. 

AnnuUai Domini de la Ware. — Omnibus Christi fidelibos ad qnoa pnesentes littene pervenerint. 
Petms permissione divin& WintoniensiB epiecopns, Salutem in omnipotente Salvatore. Sciatis quod nos 
nobilie propinqnitatis contemplatione. Qtiia dilectos nobis in Gbristo Thomas West Dominns de la Ware 
nobis attinet ac pro fideli servicio nobis in poatemm per enndem impendendo, in ejnsdem fidelitate plenins 
confidentes, eidem Thonue dedisse et conceasisse proat per prasentes eidem concedimos, qnoddam feodnm 
annnum sive quandam pensionem viginti Hbrnram ad duos anni terminos, videhcet, ad festa paschie et 
sancti Michaehs archangeli per manns thesanrarii nostri de Wolvesey in acaccario nostro ibidem seqnis 
porcionibns solvendo. Eabendnm ei tenendtiin feodam sive pensionem annnalem prsdicttim eidem 
Thonue ad terminnm vitee ejnadem. Mandantes et pnecipientes dicto thesanrario noatro coicimqiie pro 
tempore existenti qoatenna dictae Thomte festis prtedictia de feodo aive penaione annnfk predict^ aatisfaciat 
et eundem eic aolventea pro qnantitate solutionis feodi aive penaionia annoae prffidict» in compoto sno 
exonorabamns per pMsaentea. Datnm vicesimo quinto die mensis Angnati. 

Anftuiias Humfridi CottrteTtay, — -Item alia seonndam tenorem prffidictom, Hninfrido Conrteney fratri 
domini, de decern libris. Cnjos datmn erat vicesimo octAvo die mensis Angnsti anno regni regis Henrici 
aeptiroi tercio. 

' I find his brother, John Courtenay, Esq., the father of Maiy Courtenay, wife of Sir John Lisle of 
Woodington end Thmxtou, knt., staying with the bishop of Waltham in January, 1490-1. His brother, 
Eomphrey Courtenay, Esq., died on the 23rd April, 1496. Ex inqniaitione capta, 20 Octobris, 1496. Inquis. 
pott mortem, anno 12 Hen. VII, No. 82. 

' Cvttodia omnium boteonim Domini in novd Foreeld, ae etiam qucedam annvilas, ail. iolidcfrv/m. — Petrus 
permissione divin& Wintoniensis episcopns. Omnibus ad quos pnesentes litterte pervenerint, Salntem. 
Sciatis noa pr»&tum epiacopnm, certis considerationibua nos specialiter moventdbns, concessisBe dilecto 
nobis Henrico Rake armigero custodiam omnium et singnlonun boscomm nostromm in&a novam forestam 
domini regis , in comitatn Snthamptonin. Habendam et occnpuidam custodiam prtedict&m pnefato 
Henrico per se vel per depntatunt suom snffidentem, pro termino vitts snse. Ac etiam concessimus et per 

00 



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250 ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 

Biflliop Peter Courtenay was either a person of delicate constitution, or was labour- 
ing under some bodily infirmity; as, &om the time of his translation to the see of Win- 
chester, till his death, he appears to have Hved alternately at Waltham and Winchester, 
and to have visited no other place excepting Bouthwark, at which manor I find him 
aojouming for a few days at the latter end of November of 1487, and during a few da,ys 
at the beginning of the same month, in 1489, and again also in June, 1491 ; and on this 
occasion he visited the court at Greenwich, and stood godfather to King Henry VIH 
who was bom at Greenwich on the 28th June, 1491, and was baptized in the pariah 
church of Saint Alphege there, by Dr. Richard Fox, bishop of Exeter, and afterwards of 
Winchester, and founder of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.^ It would seem he was not able 
to undergo much fatigue, beyond the short and very easy journey of ten miles, the distance 
from his palace of Wolvesey to hia palace or manor house of South Waltham; and 
this but rarely, as an interval of four or six months would elapse before he would make 
his return journey. The year 1488 was a remarkable year, and perhaps there was some 
improvement in his health, inasmuch as he undertook no fewer than five journeys to 
Waltham during that year. The last time I find him at hia manor of Waltham is on 
the 23rd August, 1491 ; but, on the 26th of tiie same month, he was sojourning at his 
palace of Wolvesey, where he continued for a little more than six months, when, perhaps 
a change had become necessary for him; but even this was limited now to the distance 
of a few yards, — the width only of the king's highway, beyond his palace grounds. On 
the 8th March, 1491-2, his abode was beneath the roof of Saint Mary's College, built by 
his munificent predecessor, the energetic and pious William de Wykeham, in the apart- 
ment known as the " Warden's Chamber," belonging to Master Michael Cleve, his chan- 
ceUor, who had, for some time past, acted as hia special commissajy in various transactions 
and episcopal duties.^ Here Bishop Courtenay continued to live for more than six 
months, all his acts beiog dated from this chamber. On the evening of the 11th Sep- 
tember, or else early in the morning of the 12th, he returned once more to his castle or 
palace of Wolvesey, and took up his quarters in a newly-built chamber.' On this day 

pnesentes concedinms eidem Henrico qnandam ammitatem sive ammalem redditnin, qaadraginta sob'dontm 
aDnnatiin percipiendo durante vitJL euk preedict^ per manns thraftonirii nostri de Wolveee^f pro tempore 
eziatenti ad dnoe &imi termitios, videlicet, in festo paecbsa et Sancti Michaelis Archangeli, per teqnalea 
portiones. In cnjns rei t«Btimoninm has literae nostraa fieri iecimna patentee. Datnm uoatro sab eigillo 
in Usnerio noetro de Waltliam quarto die menaia Jaanarii, anno regni re^ Henrici septimi t«rcdo. 

' Sanford'B Oensalogical Salary, p. 449. 

' "In earner^ MagiBtri Michaelis Cleve, cancellarii Domini, inira colleginm Beatn Harite Virginis 
prope Wintoniam. Dominua episcopue, etc." E Begishv epiecopali ^wdem venerabUit pairw Domini Petri 
Courtenay, aeservato in curid conetstorio ecclesue eathedrcdis WimtonvE. 

' "Ihiodecimo die menBiB Septembrig anno Domini praedieto (1492). In camerd nowe oonetradttra 
infra eagtrum ie Wolvesey, Domitms contulit, Magistro Jobaiuu Frye artiniQ magistro eoclesiam parodualeni 



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ON THE PRELATES OF THE COUBTENAT FAMILY. 251 

(12th) he granted a deed of emancipation to Richard Colswayne, and to all his children, 
villeins and natives of Ms manor of Harwell, near Winchester.^ He also collated and 
gave Master John Fiye canonical inatitntion to the vacant church of Hinton Ampner. 
Hants. On the 14th September, he collated Sir John Wyllyamfion to the church of Han- 
□ington, Hants, and gave him canonical institution.^ Two days later occurs his last 
recorded act : An augmentation of the vicarage of Porchester, given under his seal in his 
palace of Wolvesey, on the I6th of September, 1492, and the sixth year of his transla- 
tion.^ Illness, perhaps, incapacitated him from further business during the few remaining 
days of his earthly career ; Thursday, the 20th September, was the great day on which 
he is recorded to have been released from all human trouble. This date I give upon the 
authority of the letter, announcing the vacancy of the see, and soliciting the royal 
license to elect, addressed by the prior and convent of Winchester, to Arthur, Prince of 
Wales, eldest son of King Henry YII, and vicegerent in the absence of the king; dated 
in their chapter-house, under their common seal, on the 15th October, 1492. "We inti- 
mate to your serene highness, by these presents, with heartfelt grief, that Peter, of pious 
memory, late bishop of your church of Winchester, on the twentieth day of September, 
went (as it pleased our Lord) the way of all flesL"* I hardly know how to reconcile 
this with the statement in the register of Cardinal Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
which distinctly records tiiat the vacancy of the see of Winchester, by the death of Bishop 
Peter Courtenay, began on tiie 22ud of September.^ Both authorities are equally high ; 

de H«iiton WmtonienBiB duscesis, per mortem natoralem Domini Bicardo Bolf nltmi lectoris ibidem 
racantem, et ipeiua Uag^iBtriuQ Johfumem Frye rectorem inBtitnit ctuoiiioe in e&dem onm sois jnribns 
et pertinentiis muTereis, cnram tmimarnm pfutxduanonim ejnsdem eibi in Domino commigit. Scrip- 
tmnqne fiiit domino Willielmo W&ns capellano ad enm indncendmn. PrimitDB tamen jniamento ipso de 
canonic& obedientifi, etc. 

' Con£rmed b; the chapter nnder theb common seal, on the 14th September, 1492. 

* " xiiij~° die mensis Septembm anno Domini milleaimo ccccxc*" secondo. Et translationis domini 
episcopi anno Bexto. Dominns oontnlit domino Johanni WjUyamson ecdesiam de Hanyngton Wintoni- 
ensis dicecesiB, per mortem utttaralem domini Alexandri Smallj nltimi rectoris ejnsdem vacantem, et 
ipsnm rectorem institoit oanonice in e&dem cam snia joribna et pertinentiis aniversiB. Coram animaram 
pfffochianoTum ejoBdem aibi in Domino commisit. £t pnestito per enm joramento obedientic Scrip- 
tumqne friit pro ejus indnctione curato ibidem, etc." 

' " Datum Bnb nostro aigiUo in palatto noetro de Wolvesey xvj" die meuais Septembris, anno Domini 
TuiUfl Hi'mn cccc^* iiij-xx xij'*. £t nostra translationis anno sexto." 

* Appendix £. 

' In the Begister of John, cardinal Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, preserved at Lambeth Palace, 
Sol. 78, torn, i, occurs the following heading : — " Acta et procegma htMla et facta in visttatwne eivUatM et 
diceeena tFintomeitms, sede epUcopali tbidem, per ohitum, Recolenda memoruB Domini Petri Caurienay nuper 
eccUgUB Cathedralia Wmttmiemie Epiaeopi, vacwnie, mtetorUate Reverendimmi in Ohrieto patrie et domini 
dmrnni Johannig Dei gratiA orehiepiKopiOantuariaigittotiiuAnglifBpnmatit, etapoetolieceeedit legati, pnetezfu 
vaeationia gedis hujiumodi exdta, anno Domini miUesimo eeaf^ lumogeeimo leemido. Et iptitu Beverendissivii in 
Ohriato patris Traiulationit Amto Sexto ; " and in folio 84 b, " Sequilttr Becepta et Becipienda, per Bobertvm 

002 



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252 ON THE PRELATES OP THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 

yet, in the first instance, it is not improbable the scribe has unintentionally omitted the 
word "secundo" in the registered transcript; be that as it may, had the monks taken 
the trouble of mentioning, as in all other instances, either the day of the week, or that 
it was on the Tigil, or the morrow of the feast of Saint Matthew the Apostle, I should not 
be obliged to content myself with recording that Bishop Peter Courtenay died at his 
palace of Wolvesey, either on the 20th or the 22nd of September, 1492.-^ 

Of Bishop Peter Courtenay no will exists, either at Doctors' Commons or at Lambeth ; 
and, owing to the loss of several folios at the end of the first volume of cardinal Morton's 
register, containing records of the grants of probate and letters of administration for the 
years 1492, 1493, etc., I am unable to say wheliier he died intestate or not. No inqui- 
sition post mortem appears to have been held upon his death. His episcopal seal is of 
the usual shape, enriched with canopy work. Within a niche, in ita upper portion, is a 
representation of the Blessed Trinity. The central and largest niche contains a seated 
figure of our Lady and Child. The dexter niche, a figure of Saint Peter, holding the 
keys in his right hand ; and, in the sinister niche, a figure of St. Paul, with his right 
hand resting upon a sword ; — patrons of the cathedral churches of Winchester and of 
Exeter. Beneath the Blessed Virgin, within a canopied niche, is a figure of the bishop 
himself vested in pontificals, and in the attitude of prayer. On the dester side (below 
the figure of Saint Peter), is a shield bearing two keys in saltixe and a sword in pale, — 
die arms of the see of Exeter ; and on the sinister side, in a corresponding position, a 
shield charged with the arms of bishop Courtenay. The legend is inscribed upon two 
scroDs in a kind of Longobardic, or semi Roman letter : — sigillv' : petbi : covetnat : 
EPiscopi : winton". The seal of Peter Courtnay, bishop of Winchester. See fig. 3, 
Plate XVI. I beUeve this to be the same seal which he used as bishop of Exeter, with no 
other alteration than the obUteration of the word exonien'. and the substitution of 
wiNTON*. This will explain the circumstance of the arms of the see of Exeter appearing 
upon the seal That they are the arms of the see of Exeter, and intended as such, there 
can be but little doubt Fig. 5, Plate xvi, is an example of the arms of the see of 
Winchester in the time of Bishop Courtenay (from the panelled string course below the 
window of the north wall of the Lady chapel, Winchester cathedral), and fig. 8, Plate 

Shirbom^, in dmcesi WitUonieTiri tede epi*copali ibid&m nooante, qaa incepit vaaare xxij'' die mentis S^iem- 
brie Anno Regni Eegia Senriei Septimi, Octaeo, tuque ad fettum Faechee extunn proximo sequenii. Anno 
Regit pjwditto." 

' " ObiU Septemhri* 22*, 1492." Godwin's Be Pnesvitbitt An^lia, 4to, London, 1616, p. 295, and 
Wharton's Anglia Sacra, fol., London, 1691, torn, i, p. 319. On the authority of the register of cardinal 
Uorton. It is John Howell, alias Hooker, in his Antique Description of Exeter, Mo, Exon., 1765, p. 132; 
and Isaacko, in his Antiquities of Exeter, 2nd edit., 8vo, London, 1732, p. 39, who incomctly recOTd that 
he died December 20, 1491. 



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ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 253 

XVI, the anne of Dr. Eichard Fos as bishop of Exeter, the Buccessor of biahop Courtenay 
in the Bee of Exeter, as depicted on the screen on the south side of the choir of Winchester 
cathedral. 

The same cause which prevented Bishop Courtenay removing from place to place 
and tarrying, as his predecessors were wont to do, at the various episcopal manors of 
Famham, Essher, Highclere, Sutton, Marwell, Merdon, Bittern, Wargrave, Brightwell, 
and Taunton, appears to have prevented him from holding ordinations, except on seven 
occasions, and these are a© distributed, as to confirm the supposition of weakness and 
bodily infirmity. Of these ordinations, the first three were held in his private chapel at . 
Waltham in 1487, viz., September 22nd, March Ist and 22nd (1487-8). In Winchester 
Cathedral twice, viz., on Holy Saturday in 1488 and 1489, April 5th and April 18th. 
The remaining two were held in his private chapel within his palace of Wolvesey on the 
27th March and on the 5th June, 1490.^ His suffragans held twenty-three ordinations 
for him during his Winchester episcopate.'^ 

To the credit of Bishop Courtenay, I find, that on taking possession of the diocese of 
Winchester, he appointed Master Michael Cleve, professor of canon law {sacrorum cano- 
num professor), an ecclesiastic who had been held in high repute and often employed in 
ecclesiastical affairs by his predecessor Bishop Wayneflete, and one of his executors, to be 
his chancellor, and entrusted to hini the management of the more (urduous duties and 
affairs of the diocese, which he continued to transact during the bishop's life ; and it 
must have afforded Bishop Courtenay some pleasure to find this able coadjutor elected 
by the warden and fellows of the New College, Oxford, on the 1st March, 1487-8, to the 
wardenship of Winchester College, vacant by the death of Master John Baker, professor 
of sacred theology; thus he was always at hand; and from Bishop Courtenay 'a lengthened 
sojourn at the college, we must take him to have been, moreover, a special friend,' 

' In tiieee aeven ordinartionB bishop Courtenay made altogether in each order, 24 acolytes, 38 enb- 
deacons, 44 deacons, and 48 priesta. His suffraganB ordained 100 acolytes, 129 anb-deacona, 146 
deacons, and 117 priests. 

' The laet of these ordinations was held on Ember Saturday, June 16, 1492. " Vice et auctorUate 
DomirU Petri miieratione divind Winiimientie epitcopi." 

' The college repater only records: "Magieter MichaeU Cleve in jure eiuumieo Doctor, ca»to» quxntm 
post iftffresgum, de (keonid Limeolniensie diaceeis, induciut et imtUiiivt ." A more modem hand haa 

added : " Anno Domini, 148?, Senrici 7"* 2*." He was bom in Saint Ebbe's parish, Oxford, and was 
admitted a scholar of Winchester College in 1454, and thence proceeded to Oxford, and was elected a 
fellow of Xew College in 1460. In 1474 I find him recorded as a bachelor of both laws and a perpetual 
fellow of New College, Oxford, and by that title he received his orders from the hands of bishop Wayne- 
Sete's snfiiagait, William, bishop of Sidon, a canon regular of the order of Saint Augustine, viz., acolyte 
in Winchester Cathedrul, 18th Febmary, 1474-5 j sub-deacon in the conventual chnrch of Hyde Abbey, 
March 11th, following ; and deacon on the 25th of the same mouth in the conventual church of Mottisfont, 
Hants. Priest in Winchester Cathedral on the 23rd September, 1475. He resigned his fellowship in 



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254 ON THE PRELATES OF THE COUETENAY FAMILY. 

On the decease of bishop Peter Courteuaj, the archbishop of Canterbury, John 

1476, and was collated by bishop Wajneflete to the rectory of Drozford, Haute, October Z6th, 1476, which 
he resigned on being collated hy the same bishop od the 4th ISay, 1479, to Crawley Bectory, Hants. This 
he ^lerwards resigned, and was odlated to the rectory of MiohaalmerBh, Hants, Angnst 22, 1481. On 
Uie 13th October, 1478, the prior and canvent of die cathedral priory, in consideration of the valnable 
services he had rendered to tliem and their church, granted bif" an imnn al pension of twenty-siz ahiUings 
and eigbtpence for life, payable out of the profits of their manor of Barton. On the Sth November, 1489, 
Bishop Peter Conrtenay presented him to the rectory of Bleadon, iu the diocese of Bath and WeUa, and as 
Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and WeUe, happened at that time to be Bojonming at hie manor of 
Dogmersfield, in the county of Hants, bishop Gonrtenay directed his letters to him there, with fiill power 
' to give within the chapel of his manor of Dogmersfield, in his oratory or any other fit place, within the 
diocese of Winchester, the said !Uaster Michael Clere, his proxy or other person, presenting &b atdd 
letters in his name, canoniosl institation as rector of the said parish cbnrch of Bleadon, in his lordship's 
diocese. As this was an anusoal privilege, a copy is appended, not only as interesting in iteelf, bnt as 
demonstrating the inaocnnury of the received statement as to this bishop having been committed a 
prisoner in October, 1487, to Windsor Castle, where he continued until his death in May, 1491 . " Prebewut 
Bit Windenmimi dwitag eft, 1487, men«ti Octobris, et Mtgue ad obiium in canere odaervatM," Yide Godwin's 
De prceguHiyug Anglia, Wharton's Anglia Saara, Le Neve's Fasti by Mr. Dnffns Hardy, Cassan's Lives of 
&e Bishops of Bath and WeUs, eto. On the 26th August, 1491, he was instituted prebendary of Leckford, 
Eante, at the presentotion of the abbess and convent of St. Maiy's, Winchester; and on the 22nd Jannaiy, 
1492-3, dnring the vacant^ of the see. Master Robert Shirbome, as guardian of ita spiritualities, instituted 
him to the prebend of Wherwell, at the presentation of tlie abbess and convent of Wherwell, void by the 
election and confirmation of Master William Smyth as Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, its late pre- 
bendary. TTip reputation as a canonist stood so high, that the religious communitieB in the diocese of 
Winchester invariably secured his services to direct their elections ; he was likewise held in high repute as 
a theologian. He died on the 9th October, 1501, and was buried in the chapel of his own college at 
Winchester. At the time of his death he only held two preferments besides his w^denship, vis., the 
rectory of Bleadon and the prebendal stall in the monasteiy of Wherwell. In this last he was succeeded 
by Mastor Hugh Oldham, afterwards Bishop of Exetor. He gave a piece of silver plate with a cover to 
his college at Oxford. 

Fnesmtatio Magistri Miehaelis Oleve ad eedesiam de Bledon in Com. Somersetim. 
Quinto die mensis Novembris anno Domini miUesimo cccclxxxix™" et iranslationis domini episcopi 
umo tertio. Idem dominns eplscopns preeentavit venerabilem vimm Ma^^strum Michaelem Gleve, sacro- 
rum oanonum professorem, canoellarinm suum, reverendo in Christo patri et domino domino Roberto Dei 
gradik Bathoniensi et Wellensi epiacopo, ad ecclesiam parochialem de Bledoni Bathoniensis et Wellenms 
diceoesiB, per mortem natnralem Magistri Stephani Tyler, artinm magistri, ultirai rectoris ejnsdem vacan- 
tem, et ad prtesentetionem ao patronatum dicti domini Wintouiensis episcopi pleno jure spectantem. Et 
quia idem reverendns in Christo pater et dominua dominns episcopus Bathoniensis moram traxhit in 
manerio sno de Dogmersfelde in dicecesi Wintoniensi, prm&tus dominns episcopus Wintoniensis literas snas 
patontes sub eo qui sequitnr verborum tenore direxit. Eeverendo in Christo patri et domino domino 
Roberto Dei gratiiL Bathoniensi et Wellensi episcopo. Petros permiesione diving Wintoniensis episcopus, 
Salntem ot firatemse dilectionis continuum incrementum. tit in capell& manerii vestri de Dogmersfeld vd 
in oratorio vestro ant qaoconque alio loco Konesto ejosdem nostne dicecesiB Wintoniensis, pnedilectain 
nobis in Christo Magistmm Michaelem Cleve, sacroram canonum professorem, cancellarinm nostram, 
vestro rererendee patemitati, ad ecclesiam parochialem de Bledon& vestree dioecesis, per mortem natnralem 
Mi^istri Stephani Tyler ultimi rectoris ejosdem, vacantem et ad nostram prffiseniationem pleno jure spec* 
tantem, prssentatum, ejus ve verom procuratorem sen irantiam vol negotiorum Buorom gestorem sat 



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ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 255 

Cardinal Morton, entrusted the custody of the spiritualities of the see of Winchester^ to 
Master Robert Shirbome, M.A., treasurer of the cathedral church of Hereford,* and to 
Master Eichard Maket, bachelor of canon and civil law.* The dociunent is entered in 
Bishop Courtenay's Winchester Eeg^ter, "but the scribe has omitted the date, the tran- 
script ending with the words : "Datum in manerio nostro de Lamehith." However, in 
virtue of the powers granted by this document, on the 4th Oct, 1492, and under his seal 
{no^ro mih aigiUo quo tUimur) in the cathedral church of Winchester, Master Robert 
Shirbome issued bis mandates of inhibition to the archdeacons of Winchester and of Surrey, 
staying their vi^torial powers, etc. On the same day, as guardian of the spiritualities, I 

Bnffidentem depntatnm literas prteBentatiorufi noatrsB in hkc parte exbibentes boo noniiiie rectorein in diotft 
eUem eccleeii parochi&li de Blodoni vestne dicecesia Taleatis canonice inBtdtnere, patemitatd vestne reve- 
rends specialem lioendam coacedimns per pnesectee. In cajos rei teatunonium sigillnm nostrum hua 
apponi fecimnB. Datnm apod Manerinm nostrnm de Snthworke, die et anno pnedictU, etc. 

' Jouiniis permiseioiie divis& CantnarienBiB Arohiepiaoopns, totins AngUte Primflfi et Apo&tolice Bedis 
Legatns. Ad qnem onmis et onmimoda jonBdiotio spiritoaliB et eccIeBiBatic& qns ad episcopnm Wintooi' 
ensem pertiniut sede' plen&, ip8& sede jam vacante ttotori^ dinoacitor pertmere. Bilectia nobis in Chiosto 
Magistria Roberto Shirbome, artinm magistro, eccleBice c&th«draIiB Eerefordenras tLeaanraria, et Bicardo 
Uaket in ntroqne jnre bacallario, Salntem, gratiam, et benediction«m. dim omnia et onmimoda jnns- 
dictto Bpiritmilis et eccQeeiastioa ad episcopom Wintonienaem qui pro tempore ftierit, nostne Cantnariensia 
ecclesisa snffraganeom sede Wintonienei pleni speotans. Ipsa per obitttm botue memoria Domini Petri 
'Citrtenay Kuper Winionientit Epitcopi jam vaeatUe, Ipdnaqne jnriadictioniA exercitnm ad noa dict<e nostrea 
Cantoarienaia eccleain nomine de jure pnerogadTft et consnetodine ]iad«nns ositata et obserrata legitimeqne 
pneacripta pacific^ et qnieti pertinere notori& dinosonntnr. TSoa de vestna fldelitate, etc. 

' This Robort Shirbome was collated to the treaBnrerahip of Hereford December I4ith, 1486. Dnring 
ihia Tacancy of the see of Winchester King Henry Vll presented him to the masterBhip of Saint Croaa 
Hospital, near Winchester, aa I leara from the register of cardinal Morton, and that he was inatitated by 
MiaBter Michael Cleve aa gttardian of the spiritnahtiM of the vacant see, on t^e 19th December, 1492 ; 
and in a mannacript once in hia posBesaion he has written, " RobeHvs Shirbome evttoi /ait ittUt* hotpitalii, 
atmc regni regis Henrici Septimi, oelavo, nemo, decimo, et inehoavil undecimum, de retiduo ditponal Dent." 
JLD, 1492-6. He waa master of this hospital in 1503, and mnat have resigned it when he was elevated to 
the episcopal dignity in 1505. He waa collated to a canoury of Lincoln Catliedral, May let, 1488 ; 
canon of St. Paul's, London, Angnst 26th, 1489. He was saccesaively archdeacon of Tamiton, Hnntin^ 
don and Bockingham, and was elected dean of St. Panl'e Cathedral in 1199. He waa also preaentod by 
the kmg to the rectoiy of Alresford, Hants, dnring the vacancy of the see by the death of Bishop Thomas 
Langton, and was institnted some time between the months of March and June, in the year 1501. He 
was promoted to the bishopric of Saint David's in 1505, and waa consecrated on the 11th May hf Dr. 
William Smyth, Bishop of Lincoln. He waa translated to Chichester by a bnll dated the 18th September, 
1508, and died on the 21st August, 1536, at the advanced age of ninety-six, and waa buried in his own 
cathedral at Chichester. Hia will ia dated August 2iid, 1536, and was proved on the 24th November in 
the same year. Some additional particulars about him may be seen in my notice of Aiatnc nomeTuls, in 
vol. ix of our JowTud, p. 434. 

' Bector of Compton, near Winchester. Bishop Wayneflete collated and instituted him to this living 
on the day of hia death (August 11, 14B6). He waa institnted to the vicarage of OodshiU, in the Isle at 
Wight, in 1477, void 1^ the resignation of his uncle, Master Ricluu^ Maket, U.A. 



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256 ON THE PRELATES OF THE COUETENAY FAMILY. 

find him collating to the church of All Saints, Winchester. There is also an institution 
•nade by him on the 18th October, recorded, as well as the above, in bishop Courtenay's 
Winchester Register. 

This dateless document is not recorded in the archbishop's register, and owing either 
to some defect or other reason which cannot now be explained, the archbishop issued 
another commission on the 23rd of October, 1492, whereby he appointed the aforesaid 
Master Robert Shirbome, master of arts and treasurer of Hereford cathedral, and Master 
Michael Cleve, professor of canon law, guardians of the spiritualities of the city and 
diocese of Winchester, vacant by the death of Bishop Peter Courtenay.^ And on the 
28th of October, 1492, the archbishop appointed the aforesaid Master Michael Cleve, to 
the office of principal official of the consistory court of Winchester, during the vacancy of 
the see.2 

Bidiop Peter Courtenay is said to have been buried in his cathedral church at 
Winchester,^ and I see no reason for doubting this assertion : though the precise spot ia 
imknown, it was probably in the choir, the pavement of which was removed at the close 
of the seventeenth century, for the purpose of repaving it with coloured marble : this in 
itself ia sufficient to account, not only for the disappearance of any memorial, but of all 
trace as to the place of his sepulture. His grave was, without doubt, like that of his 
successor, covered by a slab inlaid with a monumental brass. There still exists without 
the choir of Winchester cathedral, in the aisle on the south side, a large slab in the finest 
state of preservation, despoiled of a rich, elaborated and delicately executed brass ; — an 
effigy in full pontificals, placed beneath an elegant and light double tripled canopy, groined 
soffits, and enriched with many pinnacles, arch-buttressed and bracketed side shafts, and 
shields of arms ; beneath a smaller canopy, among the clustered pinnacles above the effigy 
was a representation of the Blessed Trinity; and the entire composition enclosed by a mar- 
g^al inscription having at each comer a rose-Uke ornament. This slab was, there can be 
but little doubt, removed from the choir at the period of its being repaved, as no grave 
exists beneath it. Seventy or eighty years ago, it used to be pointed out by the vergers 
as Bishop Fox's tombstone, and it is now called Bishop Courtenay's, and as such I generally 
considered it ; but resolving to make myself better acquainted with it, I have recently made 

' E Regietro Berereiidissiim Domini DomSni Johannia Cardinalia Morton, fol. 78, torn. i. 

' Ibid., fol. 80, torn. i. 

' Qodwin'e De FriesKlibae AngliiB, 4to, London, 1 ()16, p. 285 ; Isaacke's AnMquitiea of Exeter. London, 
8vo, 1732, p. 29; Howel's, alias Hooker's, Antiqae Desoription of Exeter, iba, Exeter, 1765, p. 132. 
" Godwin," sayB the late Dr. Oliver, in a letter to me, dat«d Exeter, Dec. 7th, 1859, " positively asaerte 
Ihai, he was buried in Winchester Cathedral ; bat I have learnt to be Bospicions of Godwin : for I have 
caught him so often tripping from mere carelessness. The general opinioti here, is tliat his remains yrem 
brought down to Powderham cbnrch, where he was baptized." 



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ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 257 

an accurate drawing of it; and after much consideration, I am inclined to believe it to be 
of earlier date than Bishop Courtenay's episcopate, — viz., about 1460.^ Had it ever formed 
the monumental memorial of Bishop Peter Courtenay, instead of exhibiting the outlines of 
four pointed shields (for the armorial bearings), we should have found the matrices of a 
circular form ; the shields of arms would have been encircled by a garter, with its motto 
Honi toil qui mal y pense, a distinctive badge of the bishops of Winchester, as prelates 
of that most illustrious order. 

I have no faith in the supposition or tradition, as to Bishop Peter Courtenay being 
buried at Powderham in Devonshire. I regard Cleaveland's statement : "In the middle 
of its ckancd there is a broad stone bearing the effigy of a bi^op xoiih a Tnitre,"^ with 
suspicion, that is, as to its being " a bishop vnA a mitre" — ^the matrix of a brass, I pre- 
sume, is meant ; and a worn matrix of a knightly figure with the pointed bascinet might 
easily be mistaken for a bishop, especially in Powderham church. Did I believe the story 
and wish to discredit it. Prince's statement would be enough ; — " a monument on which 
may be seen someOiing of the efifigies of a prelate in pontificalibus, which has been 
accounted to be the bishop's."' The idea of Bishop Courtenay's remains having been 
taken to Powderham, his native place, for burial, is deserving of no more credit, than the 
assertions made with respect to the burial places of two other bishops of Winchester; viz. 
Bishop Henry de Blois, brother of King Stephen, of whom it is said (by Gale, in 1715), 
" He was not buried at Winchester, but 'tis thought rather at Ivinghoe in Bucks, in which 
parish he founded a nunnery. There is a statue in that church, which the inhabitants 
have a tradition is his ; and he having a palace there might probably decease at it"* But 
a far better authority, Dom. Thomas Rudbome, a monk of the cathedral priory of Win- 
chester, Uving in the time of Cardinal Beaufort's and Bishop Wayneflete's episcopate," tells 

' I am almoet inclined to a&j 1450. 1 prefer, however, giving what I conBider to be ite latest date. 
It might have been the monnmental memorial of the distingaished prior, Dom. William Alton, who died 
on the lOth November, 1450, and whose body was honourably interred within the cathedr^ church on the 
following day. (Regwter of WiUiami Wayneflete, Bishop ofWwicheater, vol. i.) 

' Cleaveland's Genealogical MUtory of Uie Noble and lUiutrioae Fainili/ of Oourtetiay. EJxeter, 1785, 
fol., p. 285. 

' Prince's WoHkieg of Devon, p. 259. Edit. 1810. 

* The Bittory and Anliquitieg of the Cathedral Ghureh of Winchester, began by Henry, earl of Clarendon, 
in 1683, and oontinned to this time (1715) by Samnel Gale, Gent., 8vo., London, 1715, p. 144. The 
celebrated Browne Willis makes a similar statement about Bishop Henry de Blois being buried at 
Ivinghoe. "Be woi hn/ried at Ivingho Church, Mt the county of Backs, in which paiieh he founded a ■mtnnery." 
Vide, Eiaton/ of the Mitred Parlicanentary Ahbiei, vol. i, p. 103, London, 8vo., 1718. 

' All that has been recorded in print of this illnstrioos monk, the author of the Historia Major Win- 
tonieruie, and the Hietoria Minor Winloniensie, is, that he lived in the time of Cardinal Beaufort, who died 
ou Tuesday, the 11th April, 1447, in the forty-third year of his translation. To this, as a tribute of my 
appreciation of these invaluable works, 1 will add, that he received his orders in 1419 or 1420, and was 

PP 



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258 ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 

UB that " this Henrj' sat forty-thtee yean, and is buried in his church before the high 
altar." ^ A still earlier authority, the animls of the Cisterdan abbey of Waverley in 
Surrey, written in the reign of King Edward the Firat, records the same : " On the 8th 
day of August, 1171, died Henry, Bishop of Winchester, very old and full of days, and 
vna honourably buried before the high altar."^ Bishop William de Edyndon, who died 
on the 8th October, 1366, is churned by the inhabitants of Edington in Wiltshire, it being 
his birthplace, and where he had founded a convent of a certain order of canons called 
" Bonhommes." That he was buried at Edington has more than tradition to support it. 
Wharton quotes an anonymous chronicle which he terms "insigne", as stating that he lies 
buried at Edington " a^md Edyngdon sepultum esse in loco quem ipse jundaverai ;"' but 
the careful Dom. Rudbome says he was buried in his cathedral church, in capeUd pro- 
prid. His effigy not only exists in Winchester cathedral to this day, but even its 
commemorative inscription, which sets the matter at rest : 

ZOgntioit nattut ilBillielmus ifit est tumulatus, 

$ran!ul pcaegcatus in SSintonia catlietrrattui, etc. 

William bom at Edyndon is Here interred ; 

He was a weU beloved prelate, and Winchester was his see, etc. 
Within the last few weeks, I have met with almost contemporary evidence as to the 
place of Bishop Peter Courtenay's burial ; important as being almost a century earlier 
than the authorities already quoted as to his being buried at Winchester. The Cottonian 
manuscript, marked Titus, c. xii, fol. 194, contains a catalogue of the bishops of Win- 
chester from the time of the Conquest to the accession of Bishop Stephen Gardiner in 
1531, whom it records as secretary to King Henry VHl. The handwriting is of this 
period, and in addition to the names, it records not only the number of years each bishop 
occupied the see, but also the place of their buri^ ; and this in every instance is accu- 
rately given. After the name of Bishop William Wayneflete occurs : " Petnis Comteney 
Exonienais Epiacopus, sedit sex annis, Wintonise sepultus, — Peier Courteney, Bishop of 
Exeter, sai six years, buried at Winchester." This is certainly conclusive ; yet without 
this, upon the statements I had previously made and the evidence there offered, my 

present in the ch&ptor house of the cathedral priory on the 15th April, 144?, at the election of William 
Wayneflete, bishop of Winchester. Soon after this he succeeded Dom Walter Burton as fonrtt prior of 
the convent, and was holding this office in 1450. Being an eloquent preacher he was chosen by the com- 
munity to preach before them in their chapter-honse on the llt^ December, 1450, then and there assem- 
bled for the pnrpose of electing a new prior. He died during Bishop Wayneflete's episcopate. 

' " Iste Henncns [Blesensis] sedit annis xliij, et sepnltua est in eoclesi^L sna. coram snmmo altuL" 
Wharton's An^lia Sacra, tom. i, p. 286. 

' "Anno Domini, m" c" luj. Obiit Kenricns Episcopns Wintoniensis grandsvuB et plenoB diemm, 
TJ" Idns Augnflti, et coram majori altari honorific^ sepultus." Ex BibUothecd Cottoniand, Mve. Srit. 
Yetpaeiaims, A, ivi. Fol. 84 b. 

' Bibliotheea Ootkmiana, Galbo, E. to; Wharton's Anglia Sacra, tom, i, p. 317. 



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ON THE PRELATES OF THE COtJRTENAY FAMILY. 259 

cautious, accurate, and painataking friend, the late Kev. Dr. Oliver, did not heaitate to 
record, — " that he waa not buried at Powderham, but in his cathedral church, appears 
certain ;"^ and I trust that I have proved to the satisfaction of my readers that Bishop 
Peter Courtenay sleeps with his many saintly and pious predecessors in his own cathedral 
church of Winchester ; and that the statement as to his being buried at Powderham is 
undeserving of the slightest credit 



APPENDIX. 

DocuMEMTS relating to the election and translation of the lord Peter Courtenay, bishop 
of Exeter, to the bishopric of Winchester ; and the letter of the prior and convent of 
Saint Swithun's, Winchester, soliciting the royal licence to elect a bishop in the room of 
Peter Courtenay, deceased, 

A 
LUtera mima Dommo Begipro Ucentid optinandd ad Epigec^m eiligmidvm. 
ExcELiiENTiasniQ in Christo principi et Chmtiaiu8§iino Begi noetro domino Henrico, Dei grati&, Begi 
An^ire et Franciffi et domino Hibemira. Noa Testri homilea et devoti oratoreaqae contdnui, Prior 
Ecclesin vestne Cathedralis Wintoniie et ejnadem loci cBpitalnm, Salntem in eo coi onmes Beges 
femolanttir et per qnem principeB prospere domin&ntur. Teetne regis majetitatt, cum e& qn& 
decet reTerenti& tenore presentinm, intimamns, qaod recolende memorise, Dominns WillielmnB Wayneflete 
nltimna Epiacopos noator, die Yeneris, nndecimo Angnsti jam inatantis ad vitra aiue terminnm (qnod 
dolentea i^erimna) pervenit, veramtamen feliciter nt eperunns. Ne igitnr sedes epiecopalia aatedlcta 
dintino paetoria aolatio destitnta aea vaoationia detrimenta deploret ant jactnram in apiritoalibns sea 
tomporalibna patjatnr ; ad veatrae celattndiiiis regite preaentiam tmanimi noatro consenan et asaenaa noa 
fratrea Wtllielmnm Langley attppriorem, ac Thomam SiU:eatede hordarinm, ooniratrea et commonachoa 
nostros, mittimnB, per pnesentes dictte vestne excellentifB, Immiliaa qno posanmna supplicantes qnateans 
nt ad libenun fatori epiaoopi et paatoriB eccleaue vestns memoratn electaonem procedere vsie&mua, 
Hcentiam gratioa^ ooncedere dignetnr Teatna regalia gratite magnitndo. Qoam ad ani laadem et honorem, 
ttd inimicomm colla aabjnganda atqne ad popoli ani meritorinm regimen feliciaaime regat et gnbemet 
clemcmtiA. Salvatoria per tempora dnratnra. Datnm anb aigillo noatro oommnni in dome nostri Oapitnlari, 
qninto decimo die mentds Angnsti, Anno Domini Milleaimo CCCC"". Octnageaimo aexto. 

£ Begiistro Commurut SigUli PrwratiU SancH SwWmni WirUonia. Tom. i, Fol. 117, b. 

B 
iMentia dommi Regie pro Episcopo digenda. 
Rex dileotia nobis in Christo, Priori eoclesite cathedralis Wyntonise et ejasdem loci Capitnio, Salntem. 
Ex parte veetrft nolns est homiliter anpplicatnm, qnod, com ecclesia veatra prsdiota, per mortem, 
reoolend» memorice, Willielmi Wajnflete, oltuni epiacopi eodeeice prsedictte, pastoria aolatio ait 
destitata, alinm vobia eligendi in episoopnm et pastorem licentiam vobia ooncedere dignaremnr. Koa, 
precibna veatris in h&o parte favorabiliter inclinati, licentiam illam Tobis dnximna conoedendam. 

' Livee of the Bithspt of Eaxter, p. Ill, 

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260 ON THE PRELATES OF THE COUHTENAY FAMILY. 

Mand antes qnod talem vobie eligatia in episcopnm et pastorem, qui Deo devotna, ecolesue vesfne 
necesBarins, nobisqne et regno nostra ntilis et fidelia existat. In cujna rei etc. TeBto Bege apnd 
Westmonasteriom, nx"". die IfoTembm. 

Per breve de private sigUlo et de dat4 prsedictii etc. 

E Botuh Litterantm Patentivm. de Anno secundo Senrici Septimi, pars I, memi. 10. 

C. 
LUtera missa per Priarem et Cowienlum Eedeaia CaihedralU Wiiiionia Baatitnmo Pairi Domino Papa 

Inrwcentio Octavo, pro amfirmaiwne Eleclioni» facltt de Domino Petro Cimrtenay Exonieagi EpUcopo. 

Sanctissiuo in Christo patri et Domino Dotnino Innocentio, diving providencii, PapEe Octavo. Yeetri 
bniniles et devoti Thomaa Hant^n, prior ecclesiEe CathedraliB Wintoniffi Sancti Swithtuii, ordinis Sancti 
Benedict!, ac ejuadem loci monachi et conlratres, cum omni filiali reverentifi et snbjectione [ad] devota 
pedum OBcnla beatornm. Ad beatitndiniB vestree noticiam per prteaentes, dedndmns, qnod vacante 
nnper Ecclesiil Cathedrali Sancti Swithoni preedid:4, per obitam bome memorife domini WiUieJmi 
Wayneflet« ultimi epiecopi et paatoris Bolatio destitnta, licentiaque illnatriasimi domini Henrici regis noatri 
Anglite, at moris est, eligendi "1''"t" nobis in Episcopom et pastorem, petita pariter et obtenta. Xoa 
pnedicti Prior et capitnlnm in domo nostra capitnlari, ad efiectom in&ascriptnm, capitnlariter congregati, 
qnarto die menaia Decembria Anno Domini Milleaimo cccc°". Octnageaimo Sexto, Septimam diem 
cgnsdem menaia Decembria terminnm peremptoriom, ac locom capitnlarem dict^ Ecclesis, omnibos et 
singnliB intereaae, jos sen voces in electione sen poatnlatione proximi &tnri Epiacopi Wintoniu babentibns 
sea habere preetendentibnB, ad electionem sea postolationem ejnadem celebrandam, preefiximaB et 
OBsignavimas, ac ad peremptorid vocandos et citandos prsdictos omnes et singiiloB, qoendam boneatum et 
discretom vimm Henricnm Tuinare literatmn, nostrnm in hgc parte mandatarinm et apparitorem, fedmos 
et depntavimns. Qno qnidem die Septimo adveoiente, Missa de Spirita Saucto ad Bomniam altare dictw 
Ecclesiffi Cathedralia aolemniter celebrata, ac deinde campana ad capitnlnm congregandnm, pront moris 
est, pnlsata. Nos Thomas Hnnton prior, Willielmns Langley snpprior, Johannes Wood senior, S'icholans 
Wamar, Johannes Flowre fermerarina, Thomaa Oardinare gardinarius, Johannes Chichester hoatilarins, 
Robertns Illesley, Johannes Dorset tertins prior, Thomas Sylkestede hordarins, Johannes Pvry, Johannes 
Tjchefelde, Johannea Lawson, Bicardna Wykam, Johannea Felypas camerarios, Bicardns Marlebnrghe, 
Willielmus Aniudelle, Bicardns Anncell sacristo, Philippns Yonge, Thomaa Gyan, Bicardoa Lacj 
prfficentor, Johannes Stowton, WalteruB Hyll, Johannes Beste, Johannes Tympany, WiUielnms Manwode, 
Thomaa Knyght, Johannea Wood junior, Petrus Marlow, Johannes Northbory, in dict4 domo capitnlari, 
capitnlariter congregati fnimns et capitnlnm fecimns ; conseqaent«rqne, Bicardna Laey pnecent«r, coram 
nobis et aliis tunc aaeistentibae, solemnem in Latinis fecit concionem, cnjns thema erat,— " Eligite 
meliorem, et enm qoi vobis plaonerit de filiis Domini nostri, nnnm et nnnm, enm ponite snper soliom patria 
sni." Et hymnns Yeni Cbeatob Sfisitcs, cnm versicolo, Euittg Spi&ituh TunH, et collects Deds, qui 
COBDA FiDGLiuu, &c., erat decantotns. Qnibns peractis, noa prior ac capitnlnm sive conrentna pnedicti, 
Ma^tmm Michaelem Clyve, sacromm canonnm profeasorem, in directorem, ac Magistmm Johamtem 
Tnllok, notarinm papalem pablicom, in actomm scribam ; et Magistros Johannem Oreil, artinm 
M^istrom et Johannes Lovyere in ntroqne jore bacallarinm, in testes fntorae electionis, nominavimos 
et asanmpBimna, so propterea ipsoe nobiscnm remanere fecimns. Qno facto, compamit mandatarins 
preedictna, et certificavit priorem et capitulom, ae mandatnm prffidiotnm execntom fiiiaae. Et tuidem 
proclamatione canonice facta pro absentibas interesse in electione fntnri pontificia Wintonienaia pnetendere 
T^entibus, et non comparentiboB. Nob, dictns Prior, vice nostra, ao vice et auctoritate, Capitnli, pnedictn 
BcdeBim nostne, propter jmminentem et inetantem finem terminnm, ad eligendnm fiitamm Epiacopnm 
Wintoniensem, nohie de jure dati, ipsoB expectara nlterina non valentes, pronnntiamaB contnmaces ac 



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ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 261 

eornm absentia non obetuite ad nlteriorem expeditionem electionis is ipsam concementiuni procedendmn 
fore decrerimns. Deinde Noa Thomaa prior prsdictos, de masdato et volontate onmiam et smgnlomm 
cxmfratram nOBtromni nobiscimi ut pnefertos, capitnlariter oongregatomm, qoasiiam monitioiiem et pro- 
teatationem in acriptis redactaa, tone ibidem fecimnB legimoa et interposoimns snb eo qni Beqaitnr tenore 
Terbornm : — In Dei nouinb, Aubv. Noe Thomas Hnnton, prior Ecclesteo Cathedralis Sancti Swithimi, 
ordinis Sancti Benedicti, jam vacantia, rice et nomine meis, ac vice nomine et mandate omnium et 
idngalonun con&atrnm meortim, bio capitolariter congregatomm atqne capitolmn sive conventnm 
fadentiam, monemns omnea et sin^os ezcommnnicatoB, anapenaos et etiam interdictoe, ac qnoscnnqne 
alioa, si qni forESn blc sint, qui de jure sen consnetadine, aat alia qnavis ratione, in inatanti eleddonia aive 
poatolationia negotio, de faturo Epiacopo istinB Cathedralis EccleBiee Sancti Svitlinni Wintonife, Dei 
presidio, celebrandK, intereaae non debeant, qnod k domo ist& capitalari, et hoc nostro capitnlo, recedant, 
nosque et alioa, jns et vocea, ac intereaae, in elecfaone aive poatolatione hujnamodi babentea, libere eligere 
sive poatnlare permittant, proteatfutes omniboa via, modo et forma melioribns, qnibos utilins et efficacina 
poterimnB, nomine nostro, et vice omniiim et dngolomm prtedictonun hic comparentinm, jna, voces et 
intereaae in iato electionia aive poatnlationia negotio habentiom, qnod non eat nostra vel eomm intentio 
fiive voluntas, tales admittere, tanqnam jns, aea voces et intereaae in bnjuamodi electione edve postnlataone 
babentea, ant procedere eligere vel postnlare cnm eiadem. Tmmo volnmns, et vnlt qtulibet pnedictomm, 
quod voces tatiom, ai qaa poatmodnm reperiantnr (qnod absit) intervenisse, nnlli prtestent snffragiom, 
nee aSerant alicni nocnmentnm, sed prorsos pro non receptis et non babitis, noUisqae omnino et invalidis 
penitna babeantnr. Qnibna qnidem, momtiooe et proteatatione, sic &ctia, lectia et interpoaitis, non- 
nnlliaqne qni erant in dicta domo Capitolari, jns ant voces in electione sive poatnlatione fntnri Episcopi 
Wintonienaia, non habentibna ab eidem domo capitnlari discedentibns. Pnefatna Magister Uichael CItvc, 
aacromm canonnm professor, ac bujns electionia sive postnlationis negotii director, oonstitntionem 
generalia concilii, Quia propter, pnblic^ l^f^t, et electionnm formas, it jnre traditas, in e&dem constitatione 
contentas, pnbticS declaravit. Qna lecta et declarata, Nos Thomas prior pnedictna, ac onines et aingnli 
con&atres nostri capitolariter congregati, et plenum capitolnm facientea, nemine inatigant« sen dis- 
crepante, immo sabito et repentS, et absque interv^o sen txactatn, inter noa, de super habito ant 
aliqno actn interveniente, SpiritQs Sancti gratia, nt firmit«r credimns, qnasi inapirante, nnico oont«xtn, 
nn& voce et nt apparuit, nno apiritu, in Beverendujn in Christo patrem, et dominom dominnm 
Petmm, Episcopum Ezoniensem, eonaenmmna, ac enndem, & vestri beatitudine, in Epiacopum et 
pastorem Eccleain noatne Cathedralis Sancti Swithuni Wintenias, communiter postulavimua. Snb- 
eeqnenterqne, Ego Tbomaa prior pnedictna, vice et anctoritat« meis, ac mandate et assenau totins capitnii 
pnedicti, dictum Reverendnm patrem Epiacopum Ezonienaem, in Episcopum Wintonienaem poatnlatnm 
in commani, snb eo qui seqnitnr verbomm tonore. In Dei nouine, Ahen, Ego Thomas, etc., etc. 
Postquam qnidem postulationem, aic communi facta, Noa prior et conventus priedicti, potestate, per nos 
ipsam postnlationem clero et populo aolemniter pnUicandi, Magiatro Micbaeli Clfre prtadicto, data etiam 
per ipsnm accepta; pro tarn nnanimi poatnlatione, gratias Deo, contnlimns; ac paalmnm, Te Beum 
Laudantue, decantavimns. Poat cnjns decantationem, pnedictns Master Michael Clyve, juzta pol«8tatem 
sibi in bic parte datam, postnlationem prsdictam, clero et popnio, incontinenti solemniter pnblicavit, ac 
dictnm reverendnm patrem dominnm Petmm Exonienaem Episcopum, ftiiase et eaae, per prtedictoa 
priorem et conventom, in Epiacopom Wintonienaem, poatnlatom publico et manifest^ oatendit et declaravit. 
Ea propter, beatitudini vestne humilitor snpplicamns, ipsamqne imprecamnr nt banc nostram postnlationem, 
de pnedicto roverendo patre, qnasi per inspiiationem SpintAs Sancti, faotam digneter pih et gratiose 
admittere, ipsumque reverendnm patrem Exonienaem Episcopom, k vinculo quo aUegatnr, Ecclesiie 
Exonienai, benigne absolvere, ac ipanm in epiacopum et pastorem Ecclesite Cathedralis Wintoniensia, con- 
cedere, ac ad Ecdesiam Wintonienaem, tninsferre. Acta aunt luec omnia et singula, pront Buprascribuntur 



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262 ON THE PRELATES OF THE COURTENAY FAMILY. 

et reoitaDtnr, snb anno Domini anpraacripto ; Indiotione qninta ; PonfaficatAs vesbn, tamo tertio. Pne- 
aentibiis tnnc ibidem, MagistriB, Johanne Orell, artiiim Magistro, et Johaiute Lovjere, in ntrcxpie jure 
baoallario, S&rametWinton,diceoedam, tostiboB, adpnemisBaTocadaspeoialiteret rogatts. Und. Fol. 118. 

D. 

BuUa IntwcealU Papa Octwiri, »up^ trarulatione Domirti Fein Courtenay EpUaopi, aib eccleiid lAneolaia ad 

eccletiam WitUonia. 

In^OCBNTIUS episoopos, servoB aeiroram Dei, Tenerabili &atri archiepiscopo Cantoariensi, Salntem et 
apostolicam benedidaonem. Ad cnmnlnm tnm cedit salnds et fame si peraonas ecclesiaaticBa prnsertim 
ponti£cali dignitato pneditas divine propagatioms intnihi aptnm &Torifi et preesidii gratia proseqnarie. 
Hodie aiqoidem Tenerabilem fratrem nostrum Petrum Wintonieosem tnnc Exoniensem episcopum licet 
abeentem i. vincalo qno ecdesiie Exoniensis cni tunc pneerat tenebator, de &atnim consilio et apostolicae 
potestatis plenitndine abBolventes. Ipsnm ad ecdedam Wintoniensem tnnc per obitnm bone memorin 
Willielmi episoopi Wintoniensis extra Romanam curiam defiincti pastoris solatio dealatntam de eonindem 
firafmm conmlio apostolidl anotoritat« tranatnlimns. Ipsnmqae eidem eccleaiffi Wintoniensi praficimnB in 
episoopnm et pastorem, curam et administrataonem ipsins ecclesira sibi in apiritnahlms et temporalitma 
plenuie oommittendo pront in nostris inde confectia litteris plenius continetnx. Cnm igitnr nt idem 
Fetros episoopos in oonunissa pnedicUe ecdesira Wintonienais sibi cnra iWlins proficere valoat, tnns &Tor 
si fore noscatnr plnrimnm oportrnms, fratemitatem tnam rogamna et hortamor att«nte p^ apoetolicam 
soripta tibi mandant^s, qoatenns dictnm Petrum epiacopiua et comnuBBam aibi ecclesiam Wintoniensem 
pnediotam snfraganeam toam, babens pro nostra et apostolics sedis rererantia propenaina oommendatoB in 
apliandia et conaerrandia jnribna anifi aic eos tni faToris pnesidio proseqnaris, qnod ipse Fetrns episcopiiB 
too inltna anzilio in commiaao sibi diets eocleaifQ Wintonienais legimine se possit ntiliter ezercere tnqne 
exinde divinam nuBerioordiam ao noatram et pmdict« aedia benedictionem nberitla valeat, promereri. 
Datnm Bonue apnd Sanctum Petmm, anno incamationia Dominicce milloBimo quadringenteaimo octo- 
gesimo aexto, quarto kslendas Febmarii. PontificatiiB nostri anno tertio. 

E Begistro BeeerendUgmd Patru Domini Domini Johannu Cardiwdi* Morton Oantuanantia Archiepiecopi. 
Tom. i, foL 18, b. 

E. 

Littara dtreciOy pfincipi Ariwro, pro Heeniid proeedendd, ad eleoHtmen nom Pontifieit, patre EsTirico di^ 

prineipia, impartiimt tmiumarmii agenie. 

EKCBLLBHTiasmo prinoipi Arturo, Dei gmti&, principi Wallira, duci Comnbiie, primogenito iUnstrissimi 
ac metaendiaaimi, Henrici aeptimi, regia Angliie et FnmciKi, ao domini Hibemife, eo in remotia agents, 
locnm tenenti. Sui hnmilea et devoti, Thomas, permiaaione djvin&, prior ecdeaisi Testne catbedralis, sen 
coQTentnalis Sancti Swithnni Wintoniffi, ordinis Sanoti Benedicti, Wintoniensis dimoesia, et ejosdem loci 
capitnlnm, Salntem in eo, per quern prindpes dotninantur, Yestras serenitati ezoellentin, per pnesentes, 
non sine cordis enspnTiis, intimamus, quod piffi memorite, Petroa nnper episoopus, Tostra Wintoniensis 
ecclesiK, Tioesimo die Septflm.bria, Tiam universs camis, sicut Domino placuit, est ingreBBufi. TSe igitor, 
eocleaia veetra prsdicta, paatoris solatio, in animKrum detrimentum, destituta ramaneat, ad veetram 
ezellentiani fratres et commonaohos noatros, Thomas Silkstede, diets eoclesis supprioiem, et Ricardnm 
Lacy, ouatodem opernm. in eadem, celaitndini Testrte, pneaentiam [poitatores] destinamus, bumibter 
snpplicantes, qnatennB ancoeBBoris ponti£cis, adoptionem iUinsque liberam poteatatem eligendi gnitiB 
impartiamini, bene rivat. Et valeat ezcellentia vnstra, pro qpk nos aaaidne oratores promittimns per 
prtesentea. Datum in domo noatri capitulari, quinto decimo die Octobris, anno Domini miUesimo, qna- 
dringenteeimo, nonogesimo aecnndo. 

E Re^tro Commimit SigiUi Ecdena CathedraUs Sancti Sunthuni Winioma. Tom. i, foL 144. 



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ON THE EARLS OF DEVON 

J. R. PLANCH^ ROUGE CROIX, HON. SEC. 



AT our congress, held at Newport, in the Isle of Wight, during the autumn of 1855, 1 
had the honour of reading a paper on the lords of that island, who were ako for several 
generations earls of DevonBhire. That paper has been printed in the eleventh volume of our 
Journal, pp. 213-26, and I must therefore, necessarily, upon the present occasion, refer 
to some of the principal facts contained in my former essay. Six years have, however, 
elapsed, since that period, and not without research, which will enable me to correct one 
or two more errors in t^ pedigrees handed down to us, and make up for certain short- 
comings of my own. 

Without further preface, then, Richard de Redvers, one of the five barons, who 
adhered to king Henry I. in his contest with his brother Robert, was, according to 
Camden, created by that monarch earl of Bevonshire.^ He is s^d, by Dugdale ^id 
others, to have been the son of Baldwin de Brionne, also called Baldwin de Sap, &om the 
lordship of Le Sap, and De Meules or De Molis, finim another fief in Normandy, and some- 
times " De Excestre," or " the viscount," from having the government of the castle of Exeter 
in fee, with the barony of Oakhampton, through his marriage (according to some authorities) 
with Albreda, a kinswoman of the Conqueror, and being vice-comes, or sheriff of the 
county. This plurality of titles, or rather the arbitrary and iiregular mode of designating 
their possessor, sometimes by one and sometimes by another, is a serious stumbling-block 
in the path of the genealogist. It is necessary to know, and to remember that most of 
these old Norman barons were, as Mrs. Malaprop describes Cerberus, " Three gentlemen 
at once." Some, indeed, like our Baldwin, five or more. The ungallant practice of 
leaving unspecified the wives of these great men — their Christian names being only occa- 
sionally recorded — those of their families rarely ever, except in the case of some great 
heiress, and that by no means as a rule, increases the difficulties we have to encounter in 
researches of this description, and our present inquiry is plentifully sown with them. At 
our first start we find the marriage of Baldwin with Albreda disputed, and her exact 
relationship to the Conqueror undetermined, some calling her his niece, some his 
cousin. Ordericus Vitalis makes Robert de Brionne, the second son of Baldwin, say she 

' Magn. Brit, apud Begitt. Abb. de Ford, 



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264 ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 

waa the daughter of William's aunt. " Baldwino patri meo Molas et Sappu' reddidit et 
jUiam amitCB sues ttxorem dedit" book viii, which would make her that monarch's cousin. 

In the book of Ford Ahhey we read, "Dominus Baldwinua de Brioniifl milea inclitus 
de Normania Albredam Tieptem domini Willielmi Bastardi, nobilisaimis ducis Nonnanise 
duxit in uiorem,"' while, to increase the confusion, we find William himself, in his 
charters to the church of the Holy Trinity at Caen, in 1066, he being then duke of Nor- 
mandy, calling the lady, Emma, and making no allusion whatever to the relationship 
between them. " Baldwinus filius Gisleberti comitis uxor e)'us Emma pro animarum 
redemptione, etc." And afterwards, when Ving of England, in 10S2, in a confirmation 
charter to the same church, he reports the gifts of Baldwin Fitz Gilbert, and Emma, his 
wife, Baldwin himself being one of the witnesses. P^re Anselme, in his Histoire G&n&ah- 
gique, meets the latter difficulty by giving Baldwin two wives, Albreda and Emma; but 
supports his opinion by no authority. The above charters are, however, definitive as to 
his having a wife named Emma, and that is the extent of the positive evidence we have 
on this point of our inquiry.^ 

That Baldwin Fitz Gilbert was, however, sheriff of Devon, holding Oakhampton of 
the king in capite, there is abundant proof ; but not so that he was the progenitor of the 
two families which bore the name of De Redvers. He waa himself of the blood of the 
old dukes of Normandy, being the son of Gilbert, son of Godfrey, count d'Eu, an illegiti- 
mate son of duke Richard I. " Hie Gislebertus," says the monk of Jumieges, " habuit 
duos filios preedictum Ricardum" (from whom descended the Strongbowes and the Clares) 

et Baldwinum Baldwinum etiam genuit tres filios Richardum, Robertum et 

Willielmum et totidem jUias," G. Gemeticensis, cap. ixxvii. Unfortunately he does 
not say by whom, and his second son, Robert, as we have seen, although he speaks of his 
father having married the cousin of the conqueror, does not call her hia mother, nor by 
naming her enable us to identify her either as Albreda or Emma. It is to his eldest scoi, 
Richard, that not only Dugdale, Segar, Sir Richard Woraley, and other distinguished 
English antiquaries, but even Mons. de Gerville and Mons. A. de Prevost, two of the 
most celebrated French genealogists, have considered that Henry I. gave the earldom of 
Devon as well as the lordship of the Isle of Wight, which latter honour was forfeited in 
1078 by Roger de Breteuil, earl of Hereford. Dugdale evidently misconstruing the book 
of Ford Ahhey (in itself not an unimpeachable authority) ; has confounded Richard de 
Redvers with another Richard, called de Brionne or Fitz Baldwin, who is therein stated to 
have died without issue in 1137,' and been buried, first at Brightley, and afterwards 

' Moniul. Angl., vol. i, p. 785. 

' In Domesday, " the wife of Baldwin the sheriff" ia retnmed sa the holder of Wimple, oo. Deyon, but 
nnfortoimtelj no Christian name is recorded. 

' The Book of Ford Abbey, formerly in the Cotton Library, oad niEtrked Julius, B. x, in Dngdale's 



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ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 265 

removed to Ford Abbey, by his only sister, Adela or Adeliza, to whom he left all his 
inheritance, including the shrievalty of Devonshire and honour of Oakhampton, in which 
he had succeeded his father.^ As we shall have to return to this point, which affects the 
descent of the Courtenays, I shall now only observe that it is quite clear that Richard de 
Eedvers, whatever his parentage, died in 1107, and was buried at Monteburgh, an abbey 
in Normandy, of which he appears to have been one of the earliest benefactors, if not the 
founder, by permission of William the Conqueror, in 1080. The top of his stone cofSn 
was pTMervcd fixim destruction by Mona de Gerville, and the epithet, "Fundator,"is 
said to be stUl visible upon it In the foundation charter to Monteburgh, " Signum 
Eichardi de Redvers" occurs before those of earl Simon and earl Eustace ; and following 
theirs we find " Signum Bald' filii Kcardi de Eedvers, Signum Willermi fratre ejusdem 
Bald'." Amongst die subsequent witnesses are William Estur, Humphrey de Bohun and 
Alfred de Lincoln {GaUia Christiana, vol xi, p. 238). 

Who then were the parents of this Richard de Eedvers if we axe not to consider him 
a son of Baldwin de Brionne, as he has till recently been recorded 1 The late Mr. 
Stapleton in his Addenda to the 2nd Vol. of his Illustrations of the Norman Eolls of the 
Exchequer, appears to assert (for I confess I cannot clearly understand the passage) that 
he was the son of a William de Redveis ; but unfortunately does not print the charter 
on which he seems to found this opinion. In the grant of Lodres in Dorsetshire to the 
Abbey of Monteburgh, Richard de Eedvers certaiDly ^ves also " the land which William 
de Redvers had in Monteburgh" ("Et terram quam WiUielmus de Eedvers habuit in 
Montebuigo," Gallia Christiana, vol zi) ; but he does not call him his father or allude in 
any way to his relationship. In another charter of the same Richard, printed by Mr. 
Stapleton, he speaks of his falser and mother, but without naming them. In the 
Chartulary of Carisbrooke, he is called the nephew of William Fitz-Osbome, and the grant 
of die Isle of W^ht to him after the death of Roger de Breteuil, earl of Hereford, 
certainly gives some support to the assertion. William Fitz-Osbome was grandson of 
Herfest the Dane, brother of Gunnora wife of Richard I, duke of Normandy. The 
continuator of Guillaume de Jumi^es tells us that one of Gunnora's nieces married. 
Osmund de CentuviUe {i. e. Cotenville) viscomte de Vernon, and had by him Fulk de 
Aneio (i. e. Anet), and several daughters, one of whom was the mother of the first 
Baldwin de Eedvers, " qua una mater fait primi Baldwini de Eevers." Guil. 6&net. 
cap. xxrvii A question has arisen on the word primi in the above paragrapL By 
some it is supposed to apply to Baldwin de Brionne, but it does not appear that he was 

time, now printed aa " wanting" in tbe Catalogue of that OoUectioii, is, I leftm, amongst the Dodawortb 
!USS. at Oxford. A copy is alao said to be in the posseBsion of sir Thomas PhiUipps. 
' Dngdale, Baronage, vol. i, p. 785. Ly^ona's Devon gub Thonicotnhe. 



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266 ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 

ever called de Kedvers ; by others to the first Baldwin de Bedvers, earl of Devon, son of 
our Richard ; but that I shall presently show cannot be the caae. 

The earliest mention of a Richard de Redvers tiiat I am aware of occora in the 
charter of king William I. to Montebui^ in 1080. Wace, it is true, tells us in his 
account of the Norman invasion, that William was accompanied by " Him who was then 
Sire de Eeviers,"^ but he gives no christian name by which he can be identified. In 
Domeaday a Bichard de Eedvers is recorded as holding Mosterton, in the hundred of 
Beaminster, co. Dorset It is not, however, imtil the reign of Henry L that we hear cA 
his importance. We then find him one of the principal counsellors and champions of 
that monarch against his brother Eob^ ;^ and it is shortly after Henry's accession to the 
throne of England, that he is said to have rewarded Ins Mend's services by the gifts of 
Tiverton and Plympton and the third penny of the pleas of the county. Here we come 
to the next vexed question. Mr. Staplet(m, in the addenda above quoted, denies that 
Bichard de Redvers was ever earl of Devon. Of course we cannot expect him to prove 
a n^ative, and unfortmiately we know not upon what authority the monk of Ford has 
stated that Bichard had the third penny of the counly granted to him ; but Camden was 
not a likely person to make so particular an assertion without testing his authority, and the 
grant of tertium deruzriumi would cany with it the earidom, though the ceremony of girding 
with the sword (generally supposed to have not been practised before the time of John) 
might not have been performed. The argument that we do not find the first Richard de 
Bedvers styled earl in contemporary documents is of no great value, as such omission is 
by no means uncommon in ancient documents ; but that he was so considered as early 
,as the fourteenth century is shewn by the chartulary of Christchurch Twinham,' in 
which his charter is headed " Carta Bic& de Bedveiiis Senioris Comitis Devonia." In 
the chartulary of the priory of CtLrisbrooke he is also spoken of as "tunc Comiti Exonise ;" 
and that his wife Adeliza thought him an earl, either of Devon, of Exeter, or of the Isle 
of Wight, ifi clear &om her charter to Twinham, in whidi she gives to the church of the 
Holy Trinity her diurch of Thorlei, "pro salute animas Domini mei Bicardi Comitis de 
Bedveriis et fiHo mei Comitis Baldwini." This grant being " concedente Bicardi 
comiti herede et nepote meo." You will observe that she styles her husband, her son, and 

' Siomtm de Stm. ■ Tliat our Ridutrd was ixA the onlj de BedTBrs exiBtLog at ihia period or*^die 
first of that name is very possible. He had probably brothers (we know he had a sister named Adeliza). 
There was a Hn^ de Bevers, also called Hn^ de Temon, and uncle of a Baldwin de Berers, whose 
grants to the csnons of Bnuoore in 1089 were confiTmed by king Henry L in 1129. Monast. Angl., voL 
ii, p. 201, where it is erroneonsly stated to be by Henry XL That several of the early members of the 
fiunily were styled indifferently de Bedyers and de Yemon increases the difficoll^ of identification. 

* Wace, Bom. de Bern, i, 14$2-4. Orderioos VitaL Wm, Uabnabaiy. 

» Cotton, Tib. D Ti. 



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ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 267 

her grandson all earls, but not of Devon, though the two latter were indubitably so ; the 
omission, therefore, cannot be used as an argument solely against the first This lady it 
appears &om her charter to the Abbey of Monteburgy was a daughter of William 
Peverel, of Nottingham, and Adelina, of Lancaster, his wife. That she long survived Tiirn, 
and that she was the mother of his children, is proved by the same and other charters.^ 
In the one just mentioned she grants to Montebui^h, by consent of her sons earl Baldwin 
and William de Yemon, and Bobert de Saint mere %liae, and of her brother William 
Feverel (junior), of Nottingham, and of her grandsons Eichard de Beviers, Henry, and 
William, and for the redemption of her own soul and those of her fether William Peverel 
and her mother Adeliza, of whose gift she had possession of it, the manor called Ouveley 
(i. e. Walley, co. Somerset), and the grant is confirmed by Henty II as that of Adelicia 
wife of the aforesaid Eichard de Bedveis {de maritagio suo), with the consent of her sons 
earl Baldwin -and Bobert de Sancta Maria Ecclesia, etc. That she was the mother also 
of the only daughter we have heard of, Hawisia, mwiied to William de Eoumare, earl of 
Lincoln, we have the most satisfactory evidence in a charter of the countess herself to 
Christchnrch, Twinhun, in which, as Hawisia countess de Bumara, for her soid's sake and 
the soul of her lord William " Cornea de Rumara," and of her son William de Bumara, 
she gives to that church all the land which her dear brother, earl Baldwin, gave with her 
in &anc marriage to that noble man her lord William de Bumara, and for the health of 
William de Bumara her grandson and hen:, and of his brother Bobert, and for the souls of 
her father Bichard de Bedvers and Addiz her moOtei', and her noble nephew earl 
Bichard, and for the health of her brothers William de Vernon and Bobert de Sancta 
Maria Ecclesia, and her nephew William de Yemon, and all her ancestors, etc No- 
thing can be clearer than this statement. It is one of the most valuable documents of 
its sort, in a genealogical view, that I have ever met with, and it is remarkable as an 
evidence of the use of the word " nepos " to signify, indifferently, both nephew and 
grandson. The charter is witnessed by two of her grandsons " nepos meus, Bobertus de 
Bumara et Bogr. 'fratris ejus." 

' Nomian SoUt of the Exeheqaar, yol. 2, Addenda. 

' The one just recited shows she lived to see her ^Fandson Bichard auoceed his &ther Baldwin as earl 
ofDeronin 1155. She was dead before 1165. And as she had home fbnr children at least to her 
husband previonaly to 1107, two of whom were old enongh to witness their father's charter to Montebni^h 
in 1080, she must, if these dates can be depended npon, have nearly, if not quite, reached the 100th year 
of her age. This is posable, thoogh some such fxtmpatation induced Dr. Oliver to believe a generation 
had been omitted in the pedigree. That, however, is not possible, as Adeliza distinctly names her 
basband as earl Bichard, hor son earl Baldwin, and her grandson Bichard then earl of DevonsUre. That 
Baldwin and hia brother William most have been very yonng at the time tbey witnessed the charter to 
Kontebnrgh there oan be no donbt. I find among the witnesses to a obarter of Walter and Balph 
D'Astino giving the chnrch of St. Yezin to St. Peter de Cnltnra, " Bainaldo infaiUe fMo Bannnlphns 
Avenel." As Baldwin did not die till 1155 he most himself have been at least 80. 

QQ2 



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268 ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 

Some genealogists have given to Richard de Redvers, flenior, another wife named 
Beatrice, upon the authority of the confirmation charter of Henry II before mentioned, in 
which there is a paragraph which runs as follows : " Ex dono Ricardi de Eevers et WiUiehni 
filii ejus decimam forests sues de Montervont, etc., et onmes elemoslnas quas edem Ricardi 
de Redvers et WiUielmus filiiis ejus et Beatrix uxor ^usdem Ricardi dederunt, etc." If 
this were really so, she must have been his first wife, and died issueless, for Adeliza, as we 
have seen, survived him many years ; but I have recently found a charter to Monteburgh 1^ 
Richard de Vernon, which I think proves that instead of " ejusdem Ricardi " we should 
read " ejusdem WHliehni," and that this Beatrix was the wife of another son of Richard 
de Redvers named William, and brother of that William distinguished as William de 
Yemon, for the persons are enumerated in order, thus : " Adelicia uxor Ricardi de Revers 
WiUifhdus JUius ^'us et Beatrix wxor WiUi^mi, WiUielmus de Vemone et Lucia uxor 
ejus." That in one charter or the other there is an error of the scribe or the printer there 
can be no doubt, and I am inclined to consider the latter tlie right reading. There are 
several documents witnessed by "William, son of Richard de Redvers," or William, 
brother of Baldwin de Redvers, undistinguished by the appellation of " de Vemon," and 
these may be the signatures of the husband of Beatrix, and, perhaps, the ancestor of the 
collateral branch of the de Redvers who are traditionally descended &om a younger son 
of Richard imior. ' 

The issue of Richard by Adeliza Peverel, of whom we may be certain, as acknow- 
ledged in the various charters already quoted, consisted of Baldwin, William sumamed de 
Vernon, Robert de Sancta Maria Ecclesia, and a daughter named Hawisia. 

Baldwin succeeded his father in his Devonshire honours whatever they may have 
been, and in the lordship of the Isle of Wight Of him, therefore, I shall speak hereafter. 

William de Vemoii, as we have seen, had a wife named Lucia, and she appears to 
have been the daughter of William the Chamberlain De TankarviUe, who, with her 
brothers Rabel and Robert, witnessed a charter of Heniy I. to St George de Boscherville. 
In her charter to Monteburgh, she styles herself Lucia de Sancto IQoscello, &om the fief of 
St Floxel in the Oontentin. She died before her husband {atile January 14th, 1165-6), 
leaving issue by him two sons, Richard and Baldwin. 

Robert de Sancta Maria Ecclesia, the youngest son of Richard de Redvers, was so named 
either from the manor of St Maiy Church near Torbay, or, as Mr. Stapleton suggests, from 
the honour and castle of Sancta Maria Ecclesia, otherwise Sainte Mire Eglise' in Nor- 
mandy. If the latter, it would tend, perhaps, to throw some more light upon the parentage 
of Richard de Redvers than we can at present avail ourselves o^ and corroborate the descent 
from the Centuvilles, Contevilles, or Cotenvilles shadowed forth by the monk of Jumi^es. 

' Bobert " de Ste. Marie'gliae " and William de Yemon witness a charter of Bichord de Bedrera 
"ComoB Deronin." Qiartalary of Ghrbtchorcli Twinham. Cotton, Tib, D vi, part 1. 



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ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 269 

"The hoaour of Sanctse Marisa Eceleaiffi," writes Mr. Stapleton, "had appertained to the comie 
de Mortain, and been derived to the possessor of that comU through descent from Herluin 
de Conteville, who, as husband of Herleve or Arlotta, mother of William the Conqueror, was 
by her, &ther of Robert comte de Mortain, and of Odo bishop of Bayeux. Within the limits 
of this ehatellerie, Herluin founded the abbey of Saneta Maria de Grestain, in which he 
lay interred with his spoiwe. It stood on the bank of the Seine fronting the valley 
where waa a church of Saneta Maria Notre Dame du Val, the proximity of which to the 
site of this castle gave it the name of Castrum de Saneta Marise Ecclesise." Unfortu- 
nately, Mr. Stapleton is not successful in proving the descent of this honour to the father 
or mother of Robert de St. Mary Church, or to Robert himself through his wife, if he had 
one, as it is most probable he had, and waa father of William, Jordan and Anucia de St 
Mary Church, wife of Maurice de Rotomago, whose charter is printed by Risdon in his 
survey, page 145.^ William de Saneta Maria Eccleaia was bishop of London in 1198 ;^ 
and another ''William de Saneta Maria ut de Saneta McUre Ecclesia," bishop of 
Avranches, died in 1252. GaUia Christiana, vol ii, p. 485. A Robert de Saint M^ 
Eglise renders account to the king as fermor of the island of Guernsey from 1195 to 
1198, and appears to have been a prebend of Cherbourg before 1200. (Stapleton's Noi'm. 
RoRs.) Havisia, the only daughter of Richard and Adeliza that we know o^ married 
William de Roumare, earl of Lmcoln.' I have just quoted her comprehensive charter, 
and refer to it now as a proof of what I have previously stated as to the error of inferring 
from the absence of titles in documents of this period that they were not possessed by 
the persons named in them. 

It is beyond question that the first Wilbam de Roumare was earl of Lincoln, and 
yet he is only called " comes de Rumaxa" by his own wife, who also designates herself 
" comitissa de Rumara," and not " de Lincolnife." In the same way, her mother, 
Adeliza, speaks of her husbtuid, Richard, the elder, as " comitis de Redveriis ;" but it 
does not follow on that account that he was not also comitis Devonise or " de Ezoniee." 
Indeed, it is more likely we should read, " Ricardi comitis, de Redveriis," as " earl 
Richard de Redvers," and not " Richard, earl or count of Redvers," Reviers never 
appearing as a comt6; and in that case he was an English earl, and earl of what cownty 

' It is ft grant to Tor Abbey of 3 lb of wax aann&Uy, and her body when she shonid die ; the expenee 
of the wax to be a charge npon her m&nor of St. Mary Church. "Jfonoriomeo dfl 8t. Mary Ohurch." 
This is sorely St. Mary's Church, Torbay, and not Saneta Maria Ecdesii in Normandy, &om which 
honour, however, it may have received its name. 

* A "Will, de Sanot. Mar. Eccles." is witness to a charter of Bich&rd L Collect. Vincent, No. iii, 
CoU. Arm. 

* Ordericoa TitaUs calls her MatSda. " The king also gave him (William de Bonmare) for wife the 
noble lady Matilda, daughter of lUchard de Beviers, who bore him a fine boy named William Elias." 
Book yTT chap. ilvi. That she calls herself Savieia is, however, nnqnestionaHe. 



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270 ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 

if not of Devon ? I shall therefore, with all respect for Mr, Stapleton's opinion, contiiiue, 
until more direct evidence can be produced to the contrary, to consider !^chard de 
Bedvers the elder the first earl of Devon after the Conquest, and now proceed to his 
eldest son, Baldwin, who Mr. 8tapleton admits was created earl of Devon, but not until 
the reign of king Stq>hen.^ 

Why, the first thing we hear of Baldwin after his accession to his &,thei^B hononis, 
is his gallant defence of Exeter Castle for three months ctgtmid Stephen, who had been 
admitted into the cdty by the inhabitants, and employed every engine of destruction 
known at that period in vain, until water failed the garrison and compelled their 
surrender. Baldwin tiien fled to the Isle of Wight, and made another stand at Caris- 
brooke, but was at length forced to quit England and take refuge with the earl c£ 
Flanders, king Stephen dispossessing him of all his English honours, to which he was not 
restored till after the accession of Henry II, in the very first year of whose reign, 1155-6, 
he died. I£ therefore, he was not ead of Devon before the reign of Stephen, he could 
not possibly be so until that of Henry II, and did not enjoy the dignity twelve cdendar 
months. Upon what fiicts Mr. Stapleton based his assumption I cannot therefore imagine. 
Unfortunately the earliest of the great Rolls of the Pipe which has been preserved to us 
is that of the 31st Henry I, after which there is again a considerable hiatus, so that during 
the whole of the reign of William Bufiis and {with one exception) of Henry I, we are without 
any reliable information, except such as may be picked out of an occasional charter, or 
gleaned from the pages of a monkish histonan. The vague style in which persons are 
spoken of in the Chronicles of the eleventh and twelfth centuries is very tantalizing to 
tie geneaJc^iflt For instance, in the case before us, the author of the At^ of King 
Stephen speaks of " Baldwin de Bev^s" in one place as " a man of the highest rank and 
descent;"" and in another as " a man, k is taid, oigenUe birth, and an Englishman."^ 

No one unaccustomed to the style of medissval compraition woiild certainly imagine 
the writer to be speaking of an earl of Devonshire, or even a lord of the Isle of Wight ; 
yet there can be no doubt that^ at the period this account was written, Baldwin de 
Eevers, if not still livmg, could only have been recently deceased, and was well known to 
have been both. Id his charter to St. Martin's in the Fields, {Monast. Angl, voL i, p. 1025) 
in which he writes himself^ "^o Baldwinus Exonid comes," he mentaons Ids wife 
Adeliza (" uxoris mei Adeliza"), as well as his father Bichard, and his mother Adeliza, so 
that with the sister of Bichard, named in his diiarter to Monteburgh, "Adeliza soror 
mea," diere were probably three Adelizas de Redvers, two of them countesses, living at 

* "An honour onlf coofwred on his Boa Baldwin, and upon him not tmtil the reign of king Stephen." 
VOTvnan BolU of the Exchequer, Addenda, vol. 2. 

* " Exonii ciritate, referentea Baldwinom de B«Ters vimm et dignitate et genere magnificnm." 
' "Baldwinus vir, vt dictum eet, generoBUB et ab Anglia cum nxore illiiia et fillis." 



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ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 271 

the same period. Add to these, " Adeliza Ticecometissa," sister of Bichard Fitz-BaJdwin 
de Brionue, of whom I shall have to speak heiea^r, the confusion created by this preva- 
lence of a familj Christian name becomes exceedingly perplexing. Of the parentage of 
Uiis second countess Adeliza we are at present profound^ ignorant. The author of the 
Acts of King Stephen, who gives an interesting description of her visit to Stephen's 
camp, in order to intercede for her husband and family, provokingly E5>eakB of her only 
as " that noble woman," and says that she had kinsmen who were engaged with the king 
in the siega^ Dugdale has given him another wife, named Lucia, whom he calls Uie 
daughter of Dm de Balun. Dru had undoubtedly a daughter named Lucia, whose 
husband, if she mamed, has not been recorded, and there is the signature of a " Lucia 
comitasBa" to Baldwin's charter to Qmrch Twinham, but nothing to identify h^ with 
Lucia de Balun, or, indeed, to prove that she was the wife of Baldwin. 

The issue of earl Baldwin consisted of Richard, his eldest son and succeeaor ; Henry, 
who died vita patjis ; and William, the second De Youon, The genealogists have als^ 
given him two daughtera, Matilda and Hawisia or Avicia. Matilda is said to have mar- 
ried Balph Avenel, and Hawisia to have been mother of Mabel de Solariis. I will only 
answer for Hawisia, who, in her own certificate of the donation of her manor of Flete to 
Christchurch Twinham, proclaims herself Hadewisia de Bedvers filia comitis Baldwini, 
and mentions her brother Hcniy, " Fratrem meam Henricum de Keveriia" She is also 
acknowledged by her brother Richard, afterwards earl of Devon, in his charter to Quarr 
Abbey, " ex dono Hadewisee sororis meee" {Moruist. Angl., voL i, p. 760) ; and her grant 
to Church Twinham is confirmed by her brother William, afterwards earl of Devon. That 
the eldest son Richard was by the countess Adeliza and not Lucia is clear from his 
charter to St James's Priory, Exeter, in which he expressly names her, " Matris mea 
AdeL" {Monast. Angl., voL i, p. 64 4.) If Baldwin did, therefore, many another lady named 
Lucia, she must have been his second wife, and we have no record of any issue by her. 
He died, as I have stated, in the first year of the reign of Henry II, 1195-6,^ and was 
buried in Quarr Abbey in the Isle of Wight, which he had founded, and therein also 
were deposited the r^utuns of his countess Adeliza and of his son Henry, who died in his 
other's lifetime. 

Richard de Redveis succeeded bis fatlier, Baldwin, as earl of Devon and lord of the 
Ide of Wight ; but enjoyed his dignity a very few years, dying, according to Robert du 
Mont, in 1162 (8th of Henry II). This &ct seems to me to explain the circumstances 

' Uxor etiam Baldwini dnram banc enonim repnlaioiiem non ferens, nnda pedes sparea Boa|>nlia crineB, 
largoe lachrymBnim imbree emanana ad r^em pro BniB snpf^catoja aooesaib" . . . " tnat pro nobiliii 
mnlieris cognates et amicia qni Beciun ibi in obaidione laborafaant." 

* " Uortnns est Baldwinns de Redvers et saccesait Bichardua ^ns filins." Robert de Uonte. It will 
be observed that be styles neitfaer of tbem earU, though both were undoobtedly bo. 



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272 ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 

which induced Dr. Oliver to believe that a generation had probaHy be^i omitted between 
Eiehard de Bedvers the elder and earl Baldwin.^ The latter certainly witnesses the 
charter of William the Conqueror to Montebui^h in 1080, and granting that Baldwin 
was very young at that time, still there are seventy-five years between that date and the 
one of his death. He must, therefore, as well as his motiier, have reached a very great 
age, which would account for his son surviving him only six or seven yeara.^ PVom 
this period our information becomes more satisfactory. The wife of the second Richard 
de Redvers was Dionissia, daughter of Reginald earl of Cornwall In his charter to 
St James's Priory he expressly names her " Uxoris mei Dyonissiee." In this charter he 
styles himself " Ricardus Devonise Comes," in another " Ricardus Comes Exonise Comitis 
Baldwinis filius," and in his confirmation charter to Quarr Abbey " Comes Exonise et 
Dominus InsuUe Vectse." 

The issue of efurl Richard by Dionissia appears to have been two sons, Baldwin 
apd Richard, both successively earls. Robert du Mont says, under the date 1162, 
" Richardus Redvers Dominus Insulse Vectse in Anglise " {no mention of Devon or 
£xeter, observe) moritur relinquens ex filia Rainaldi comitis Comubise parvulum filium 
nomine Baldwinnm," which would look as if he left but one son. That son, however, 
mentions in his charter "Ricardo de Redveriis fratre meo," and the fiict of the said 
Richard succeeding him ia proof that he was so. The words " parvulum fiKum" imply 
that Baldwin was under age at the death of his father in 1162, and he must, therefore, 
have died while yet a young man, and probably shortly after his marriage with Avicia, 
daughter of Ralph de Dol, by whom he left no issue. 

lUchard de Redvers, his younger brotiier, who consequentiy inherited his titles and 
estates, died ako without issue in 1184. The wife of this Richard is said by Cleveland in 
his history of the house of Courtenay, and also by Sir Richard Worsley in his history of 
the Isle of Wight, to have been Margaret, the daughter of John Biset, and the authority 
apparently quoted for this assertion by the latter writer is the Qose Roll of the 47th of 
Henry III. In my Newport paper I too hastily admitted this evidence in conjunction 
with that of a seal supposed of the lady in question, circumscribed "Maigarete de 
Ripariis," which I consider better proof than the Lieger Book of Plympton, which gives 
him for wife Emma, daughter of Roger de Fontarche. Further inquiry, however, has 
induced me to alter my opinion. In the first place, on consulting the dose Roll referred 

' TicU note ante, p. 267. 

* We learn from the anthon of the Oesla that Baldwin's children were with him in Exeter Castle 
daring the siege b; Stephen in 1136. Richard was the eldest of fonr or five, and old enough to witmesa 
in 1133 a charter of William, bishop of Exeter, to the canons of Pljmton, as " Richard son of Baldwin de 
Bedrers," Mon. Ezon, He was probaUj between forty and fifty at the time of his decease, 



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ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 273 

to by Sir Richard Worsley, I diBeovered that it only proved that a John de Ripariis was 
found eldest son and heir of Margaret, daughter and co-heir of John Biaet and Alice 
Basset his wife, Ehi and Isabel being their other two danghteis.^ Now, though no 
fiichard is mentioned as the husband of this Maigaret, we know that Richard, fifth earl 
of Devon, died without issue, and consequently the Mai^;aret, mother of John herein 
mentioned, could not be his wife. Secondly, I find there was another Richard de 
Redvers or Rivers descended from a junior branch of the earl's &mily, who did many 
Maigaret, daughter of John Lord Biset and Alice, daughter of Thomas Lord Basset, his 
wife, and this has been doubtlessly the origin of the error. I see, therefore, no reason 
for questioning the statement in the Book of Plympton, corroborated as it Is by tiie 
Confirmation charter of Henry II to Plympton, in which Emma, si^er of Bobert de 
Fontarche, is expressly declared to be " Sponsa R. de Riveriis Comitis Devomee." Monast. 
Angl, voL ii, p. 9.^ Nor does the seal engraved by Sir Richard Worsley belong even 
to the Margaret above mentioned. The arms on it, two lions passant, not being those of 
Biset, as inadvertently stated in my Newport paper ; the earliest known of that &mily 
were ensure 10 hezantt. Besides, tlie character of the seal indicates a date as late as the 
reign of Henry III, which is decisive as &r as regards its appropriation to the wife of 
Richard, fifth earl of Devon, who was left a widow in 1184. 

The aforesaid Richard, having left no issue, his title and honours devolved upon his 
uncle, WUliam de Redvers, alias De Vernon, sole surviving son of the first Baldwin, earl 
of Devon. He had married Mabel, daughter of Robert, eomte de Meulant, by whom he 
had one son, named Baldwin, who married Margaret, daughter of Warine Fitz-Gerald ; 
and thU Margaret is, I have little doubt, the right owner of the seal in question. In the 
valuable MS. of Glover, Somerset, preserved in the College of Arms, marked A, is a 
drawing of this seal, and the copy of a charter of Margaret de Redvers, to which it 
was apparently appended. Her husband Baldwin died during his father's lifetime ; 
another circumstance in favour of the seal belonging to his wife Margaret, as she was 
never countess of Devon, or Domina de Insulse. After Baldwin's death she was com- 
pelled to many the notorious Fnlke de Breaute, to whom the guardianship of her iofant 
son Baldwin was first granted on his becoming earl of Devon, upon the decease of his 
grandfather, WUliam de Vernon, in 1216 ; and afterwards, on the disgrace and banish- 
ment of De Breaute, to Richard, earl of ComwalL Maigaret survived her second husband, 

' There is no aUnsion whatever in that roll to the charter of earl Biohard to the Abbey of Bramere or 
Bmmore, in which sir R. Worslej etatea that he calla his wife " the countess Margaret," although the note 
appears to refer to it, 

* Bobert de Pontarche gave the manor of Newton St. CyreB, in the hmidred of Crediton, to the priests 
aod convent of Plympton, Lysona' Devon, vol. ii, p. 361, he must have been son to Boger, and probably 
grandson of William de Fontarche, sherifT of Hampshire, temp. Henry I. 



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274 ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 

and married, thirdly, Robert de Aguillon, out-living him also, and dying herself at a very 
advanced age, 20 Edw, 1, 1292.^ 

During the whole of her life, however, she appears to have called herself simply 
" Margaret de Eedvers," as, in the circumscription of the seal in question ; but whose 
arms, the two lions passant displayed upon it may be, I have not yet been able to 
ascertain. The arms of the family of De Eedvers do not appear to have become settled 
and hereditary before the thirteenth century. The earliest seals appended to their 
charters that have escaped destruction, exhibit a griffin, either alone, or " clenching," as it 
has been called, a smaller animal. They have been vray inaccurately engraved for Sir 
Sichard Worsle/s worl^ but I was fortunate^ enabled to obtain a photograph of the 
seal of Richard de Redvera, the second earl of that name, attached to his charter to 
Newport, and preserved amongst the documents of the corporation of that borough. It 
will be found in plate 17 of the eleventh volume of our Joa-mal, and displays the griffin 
sejant, but not on a shield, and therefore it cannot be considered anything beyond a 
badge or device. His second son, Richard, the husband of Emma de Fontardie, is said 
to have been the first who bore a lion rampant ; but his uncle and successor, William de 
Vernon, continued to use the old griffin, still not on a shield, the secre^um having a 
winged figure holding a sword and a garland, probably an antique gem, so that we arrive 
at 1216 without an hereditary coat of Red vers. Margaret, who married William's son, 
Baldwin, was the daughter of Warine Fitz-Gerald, and the Fitz-Geralds used one lion 
passant. It is just probable that, according to a frequent practice at that day, her 
husband Baldwin might have added that lion to the one assimied by the last earl of 
Devon of the elder line, altering the attitude of the latter from rampant to passant 
They might, however, be the arms of De Breaute, for which I have not yet found any 
reliable authority. They are certainly not those of her third husband, Robert de 
Aguillon, who bore a fleur-de-lya This is a point of interest still left open for inquiry. 

To return to William de Vernon, earl of Devon. Besides his son Baldwin, who died 
in his father's lifetime, he had also, by his countess, Mabilia or Mabel, two daughters. 
The eldest, Mary, married first, Sir Robert de Courtenay, and secondly, Sir Peter de 
Prouse. The other, named Joan, was the wife of Hubert de Burgh, who received with 
her the whole of the Isle of Wight and the manor of Christchurch. I have so repeatedly 
noticed the two great errors made by nearly all our genealogists in confounding this 
Joan with the Johanna who was widow of William de Brewer the younger of Torbay, 
and making hw also the eldest instead of the youngest daughter of the earl of Devon, 
that I shall do no more than allude to them at present, as amongst those misrepresenta- 

' She Bpeaks of other children in her charter to Clerkenwell, Jftmiut. Anql. i, p. 430. They must, 
of cooTBe, hare been either by de Breaute or by D'Agaillon. 



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ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 275 

tions whidi it seemB impossible to eradicate, as, demolish them as often as you please, 
"they rise again with twenty mortal gashes on their heads and push us from our 
stools." 

WLUiam's grandson and successor, Baldwin, was, as I have already stated, ward in 
the first instance to his step-father, Fulke de Breaute, and secondly to Richard, earl of 
Cornwall, through whose influence he was married, or, perhaps, only contracted, to 
Amicia, eldest daughter of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester, who, according to tie 
Fine Roll of the 1 1th of Henry III, a.d. 1277, gives 2000 marks to the king for the mar- 
riage of his eldest daughter " to Baldwin, son of Baldwin de Redvers, son of William de 
Bedveis, earl of DeTonshire." This was eleven years after his grand&ther'B decease, and 
he could still be but a boy, for he was not girt with the belt of knighthood untdl thirteen 
years later, at Christmas, 1240, 24th of Henry HI, the king then holding his court at 
Winchester, when at the same period he was invested with the lordship of the Isle of 
Wight. In the 15th of February, 1245, he died in early manhood, "Adolescens primse 
indoles miles el^antissimus," leaving his son and heir, Baldwin, a child of ten years old, 
Heniy de Wingham having custody of all his lands and the marriage of his heirs, there 
being also two infant daughters, Isabella, aged eight, and Mai^axet, stdU younger. There 
is a very puzzling entry in Vincent^s own copy of his Discovery of Brookes Errors in 
the College of Arms, from the patent roll of the 8th of Edward II, in which mention is 
made of two other sons of " Baldwin, comes Exon" and " Amicia, comitissa," named 
Richard and Henry, the latter expressly denominated " Fihus comitis." If there be no 
mistake in this document, they must both have died before 1262, for in that year Bald- 
win, eaxl of Devon, who had married Avicia de Savoy, cousin of Eleanor, queen of Henry 
III, was poisoned, together with Richard, earl of Clare, and several other persons of 
distinctioD, at the table of his wife's kinsman, Peter de Savoy, earl of Richmond, and 
died on the 13th February, aged twenty-seven, and his only child John having preceded 
him to the grave, the succession devolved upon his elder sister, Isabella, who had mairied 
William de Fort or de Fortibus, comte d'Aumarle, but was at that period a widow, the 
said William de Fort having died at Amiens in 1260 ; he therefore never could have 
been earl of Devon as carelessly asserted 1^ some writera 

Isabella had borne to her husband three sons, John, Thomas, and William, who had 
all died in their iniancy ; and two daughters, Anne, who died unmarried, and Avelina, 
married in 1269, being then eighteen yeais of age, to Edmund, sumamed Ctouchback, 
earl of Lancaster, second son of king Henry III. This beautiful woman, for her efiOgy in 
Westminster Abbey would induce us to believe that she was most beautiful — this great 
presumptive heiress to all the honours and the estates of Albemarle and Devon, died at 
the early age of twenty-five, and during the lifetime of her mother, Isabella de Fortibiis ; at 

rr2 



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.276 ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 

whose death in 1293 the earldom of Devon descended to Hugh de Courtenay, great 
grandson of Maiy, eldest daughter of William de Vernon, earl of Devon. The lordship of 
the Ide of Wight, to which Isabella had succeeded on the death of the countess Amicia 
in 1283, having been sold by the aforesaid Isabella to king Edward I. 

So much has been written respecting the origin of the celebrated fjamily of Courtenay, 
diat it would be impossible for me on this occasion to go into all the mass of assertion 
and test the authorities on which it is founded. I must take up its history simply at 
the period where it becomes connected with that of the county of Devon. Gibbon, in his 
Decline and Fail of the Boinan Empire, has in so masterly a manner epitomized and 
reviewed the works of the rector of Honiton, whom he satirically describes as possessing 
"more gratitude than indmtry, and more industry than criticism," that I could only 
repeat his own words, unless I were inclined to incur the charge of presumption ; and, 
therefore, to his pages I must refer those who desire to be disabused of the mythical 
portion of the extraordinary genealogy concocted by the continuator of Almoin, a monk of 
Fleuiy, in the twelfth century. Taken up by " the grateful or venal monks of Ford 
Abbey," the descent from Lo\us le Groa, king of France, has been adopted l^ our older 
genealogists, with the exception of Sir Wm. Pole, who has denounced it as utterly false ; 
but the important link between the French and English Couitenays, if it ever existed, 
has still to be discovered. All that we know for certain is that a Reginald de Courtenay 
was a man of some eminence in England in the reign of Henry II. It has been asserted 
without proof that he was one and the same person with a Reginald de Courtenay who 
at the same period existed in France. " In all likelihood." is Cleaveland's expression 
(part iii, book 1). Gibbon remarks that, bearing the same name and arms, it may fairly 
be presumed he was of the same race ; but the period is rather too early to depend on 
that evidence. Arms did not become hereditary till after the reign of Henry II, and the 
tOTieavx of the Courtenays, even if assumed as early as the commencement of the twelfth 
century, must be traced to their original bearer before we could venture to found a 
theory upon them. Gibbon, in a note, observes that the torteaux seem to denote the 
affinity of the Courtenays with Godfrey de Bouillon — let us say to the counts of 
Botdogne, and there may be more in this suggestion than the oth^. We have enough to 
do, however, without entering on this vexed questioa The maternal descent of the 
Courtenays from the houses of Avranches and Avenel is involved in a mass of contradic- 
tion, which nothing but the discovery of contemporary official documents can possibly 
^ucidate. 

In order to ascertain what few facts we have to rely upon, it is necessary for me to 
take you back to the point fix)m which we started, and look further into the family of 
Baldwin Fitz-Gilbert, baron of Oakhampton and sheriff of Devon in the time of the 



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ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 277 

Conqueror. We have seen that he had a wife named Emma, and are told that he had 
married a kinswoman of William I, king of England, who is in the book of Ford Abbey 
called Albreda. By one ^r the other, or by both, perchance, if he had two wives, his 
issue is said by Guillaiime de Jumieges, or his continuator, to have consisted of three 
sons, Kichard, fiobert, and William, and as many daughters, the names of whom he does 
not favour us with. One, however, was undoubtedly named Adeliza or Adela, erroneously 
stated in the book of Ford Abbey to have been the only sister of Bichard, the eldest son. 
Sir William Pole and Dr. Oliver have named a second daughter, Emma ; and Lysons 
teUs us that " Baldwin de Brionne gave the manor of I>uletone, now Dalton, to William 
Fitz-Wimund, with one of his daughters in marriage," (vol ii, p. 166). One of the two 
already named — or was this the third ? To begin with' the sons. 

Robert, the second son, seems to have succeeded to his father's estates in Normandy. 
It is into his mouth that Ordericus Yitalis has put the declaration that William the 
Conqueror gave his (Robert's) iather the daughter of his aunt in marriage. Robert de 
Brionne accompanied Bohemond II, prince of Antiodi, to the Holy Land in 1106, and 
there we may leave him as unconnected with our inquiry. Richard de Brionne, the 
eldest son, is said to have succeeded his father in the hereditary office of Sheriff of 
Devon ; and that he and Robert were children of Emma appears tolerably certain, as 
they witnessed her charter to the Abbey of Bee, a grant confirmed by king Henry II in 
tiieee words, " Ez dono Enuna uxoris Baldwini filii comitis Gilberti et filionun ejus 
Roberti et Ricardi." By the same document king Henry also confirms the rights of the 
abb^ to lands in England, "De dono WUIielmi FiL Baldwini," who appears to have 
been the founder of the priory of St Andrews, Cowick, in the deanery of Ken {vide 
Monast. Exonienais), Here, therefore, is sufficirait corroboration of the statement that 
Baldwin had three sons, Richard. Robert, and William. Now about the daughters and 
their issue. This is what we learn from Sir WnL Pole, supported by the Lieger Book of 
Oathampton, but which is " now corrupted," he tells us " by a pedigree found in the 
Abbey of Forde," in which JKchard de Brionne, the founder of Brightley, eldest son and 
heir to his father Baldwin, lord of Oakhampton, is said to have died without issue in 
1137, and left all his property to Adela his only sister, who established the monks of 
Brightley at Ford, to whidi place she removed the remains of her brother Richard, whom 
she had also succeeded in the office of sheriff of the county, hereditary in the &mily of 
Baldwin de Brionne. The latter part of the story is certainly supported by the charter of 
kii^ Richard I, in which he confirms the gift of the church and the whole manor of Thorn- 
combe to Ford Abbeyby "Adiz Vice comitisaa," MonaA. Angl. voLi, p. 791, for Thomcombe 
was one of the manors held by Baldwin the sheriff, at the time of the survey. Sir Wm. 
Pole, however, informs us that Adela married a Kentish knight and died without issue. 



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278 ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 

and had a siater named Emma, who married, first, William Avenel, hy whom she had 
issue Ralph Avenel, and, secondly, William de Avranches, by whom she had Robert 
de Avranches. That Richard de Brionne loved this Robert, and gave him Oakhampton, 
making all the sub-tenants swear fealty to him as the heir of the said Richard. That 
Robert de Avranches afterwards went abroad and married a daughter of Geldwin de Dol, 
by whom he had an only child named Matilda, who married Robert de Aincourt. In the 
meanwhile Ralph Avenel, son of Emma de Brionne by her fiist husband, had married 
Uatilda, daughter of the first Baldwin de Redvers, earl of Devon, and had laid nlaitn to 
■ the barony of Oakhampton, but Richard, earl of Cornwall, brought an assize against him 
and showed that Robert de Avranches was seized of that honour, aud succeeded in estab- 
lishing the right of his daughter Matilda de Aincourt. This lady had also an only child 
named Hawisia, who became tiie wife of William de Courtienay, by whom she had Robert 
de Courtenay, who married Mary, daughter of William de Vernon, earl of Devon, and 
through whom that earldom descended to the Courtenays. Cleavelaud disputes the lower 
part of the pedigree asserting that Hawisia married Reginald, brother of William de 
Courtenay, and amusingly olserves " but which of the two is the right account it is not 
material at this distance of time to know," an easy mode you will admit of disposing of 
a contested point by a genealo^cal autiquary. Having the misfortune to difi*^ with the 
reverend historian of the Courtenays, as to the importance of precision in such matters, I 
shall proceed to examine the various authorities iu support of each statement. 

Firsts as to the hereditary descent of the shrievalty of the county of Devcno, in the 
fiimily of Baldwin de Brionne. If Richard succeeded his father in that oflce and did 
not die till 1137, how is it that we find king William II commendng his charter to the 
priory of St. Nicholas in these words, " WiUielmus Rex Anglorum WHUdmo Vice comite 
filio Baldewini et omnibus barombus suis et ministris qui habitant in Devonsclure 
salutem,"^ and Geoffery de Fumell exercising that office in the Slst of Henry I, during 
the life time of Richard de Brionne, as appears by the Pipe Roll of that date ? And 
where is the authority to show that Richard de Brionne even held the office at all, unless 
it be inferred fixrm a charter of Henry I, commencing '* Hen. Rex Anglie Rico, fil Baldwin! 
et omnibus Baronibus suis de Devon." I have nowhere as yet lighted upon a documait 
in which he is styled vicecomes, and that he was all his life so after the decease of his 
father in 1090 is certainly an error, as, in addition to the facts above recited, we find in a 
charter of Richard de Espec, sans date, but certainly contemporaneous with the imme- 
diate heirs of Baldwin, " Alard Vicecomes Devon." It is, tiierefore, I think, more pro- 
bable that although Richard may have exercised the office of sherifi" after the death of 
his father Baldwin, he did so by royal appointment, and during certain years, and not hj 

' MonaeticoR Exonienmt, pa^ 117. 



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ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 279 

hereditary right or continnoualy for the rest of his hfe time. Then, as to his sister, 
" Aeliz Vic^KnmtisBa," as there is no doubt she is styled hy Bichard I, it by no means 
folloire that die was Vicecomitissa by hereditary right. We are told she married a 
Kentish knight, if so did she continue to reside in Devonshire 1 Might not her husband 
be aheri£F of Kent and she, therefore, distinguished as Vicecomitissa 1 I have not found 
her designated " vicecomitissa DevonuB." Before we can decide this point, we must dis- 
cover if she did indeed many a Kentish knight, and who he may have happened to be.- 

If we are to believe Sir Wm. Pole and the Lieger Book of Oakhampton, Baldwin's 
second daughter, TlmTna, did marry a Kentish knight, William de Avranches ; having 
previously been the wife of William Avenel. to whom she had borne a son and heir 
named Balph, who married Matilda, daughter of Baldwin de Eedvers, earl of Devon. 
Here we find ourselves at once groping in the dark for some clue to lead us through a 
labyrinth of bewildering contradictions. That the feimlies of Brionne, Avenel, Avranches, 
Vernon, and Eeviers, were all intimately connected at a very early period there ia plenty 
of evidence, but precisely how and when, the lamentable gap in our official records 
between 1085 and 1131 renders it impossible at present to detenmne. All we know is, 
that where three or four different versions exist all may be wrong, and one only can be 
right The learned authors of the Recherches mr U DommUiy, have failed to show us 
the connection between the French and English familieB of Avenel, and the descent of 
that line in which we are now interested &om the Avenel who is recorded as a tenant in 
the Norman survey is purely hypothetical That an " AveneHus de Haddon " existed 
in the reign of Henry I. does not assist us in tins inquiry. The absence of a christian 
name p^venta our identifying him with the WUHam Avenel we are in search o^ suppos- 
ing even that his age would admit of it, which is not very probable, for the William de 
Avranches said to have been the second husband of Emma appears to have died in 1087, 
only two years after the completion of the survey. The only document that appears to 
support this descent is the confirmation by a later William Avenel of the grant of his 
fiitfier Raiph of the manor of Kame to Plympton priory, in which he mentions an 
Adeliza as being the aunt of his father, " Ranulphua Avenell pater mens et Adeliza ejus 
amita," which, granting Ealph to be the son of Emma, would of course be the case ; but 
unless we are content to take that for granted, aa the Kev. Mr. Cleaveland " in all likeh- 
hood " would have done, we have no other testimony. 

Of the fimuly of Avranches a littie more may be learned, yet tJmt not much. The 

only WHliam d'Avrttnches who could have been the second husband of Emma de Brionne 

was the son of Guitmond or Wymond, lord of Haie Painel,^ and according to Ordericus 

Vitalis, he married MaiUda, daughter of Baldwin de Meules (De Molis or De Brionne), by 

' Bedwrches mtr l« Domeaday, 



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280 ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 

whom be had the Robert d'AvTancheB who, according to the Booh of Ford Ahhey, married 
Matilda (daughter of Baldwin de Eedvers, earl of Devon), " Vicecomitiflaa Devoniae," 
mother by him of Hawisia d'Avranches, the wife of Reginald de Courtenay. The latter 
part of this pedigree cannot be true ; but it is by no means impoaeible that Ordeiicus may be 
right in giving to William d'Avranch^ a third daughter of Baldwin named Matilda, instead 
of her sister Emma, widow of William AveneL We want the third daTighter mentioned in 
William de Jumieges' History. Lysons tells us (I cannot find on what authority) that 
Baldwin de Brionne gave the manor of Dalton to William Fitz-Wimond with one of his 
daughters in marriage, not naming which. Now WOliam d'Avranches was the son of 
Wymond (Guitmond), lord of Haie Painell, and according to the conunon but perplexing 
practice of the period would be indifferently called d'Avranches or Fitz-Wymond. His 
son Robert,^ either by Malalda or Bmma, would be equally the nephew of Richard Fitz- 
Baldwin, and there is nothing in the charter of William Avenel I have just quoted to jar 
with this suggestion. That Ordericus is not to be implicitly relied on I fully admit, and 
when he or any other writer is contradicted by contemporary authority we may question 
his evidence : but in this case his account is in perfect harmony with the few facta of 
which we are in possession, and those who differ &om him are later historians, who 
produce no official documents in support of their statements. 

The suit of Re^nald, earl of Cornwall, gainst Ralph Avenel, would be equally 
justified, as the plea appears to have been, that Robert de Avranches was seized of the 
barony of Oakhampton when he left England, and that his heirs were entitled to it and 
not Ralph Avenel Their plea would be equally good whether Robert w^:e the son of 
one sister or the other, and it is quite possible that Ralph claimed as the son of an elder 
sister, and not as brother of the half blood. The pleadings themselves, wherever sir 
William Pole found them, might throw more light upon the subject, but &om his abstract 
one inferraice can as fairly be drawn as the other. Robert d'Avranches did not many 
Matilda, daughter of Baldwin de Redvers, as stated by the monk of Ford, but a daugjbter 
of Geldwin de Dol, by whom he had an only child and heir, Matilda : first married, it is 
said, to d'Aincourt, and secondly to Robert Fitz-Edith, natural son of king Heniy L By 
her first husband she had a daughter named Hawisia, who married Reginald de 
Courtenay, and by her second husband a daughter of her own name Matilda, who married 
"V^Tlliam, the brother of Reginald de Courtenay. The proof of part of this descent is 
pretty clear. The charter of " Mahalt de Abrinco," (Maud d'Avranches)" uxor Robert! filii 
regis Henrici," to which is appended her seal with her effigy upon it, but no device or 

' William had &n elder bod named Oraalent or Bnalon (he la so called indifferently), who mairied 
M&nd, daughter of Nigel de UnndeTille and Emma his wife, heiresB of Folkestoiie, and hy her had a son 
William D'AvranclieB, lord of Follcestone, who has by many writers been oonfonnded with his grand&Uier. 



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ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 281 

anna, is preserved in the office of the Duchy of Lancaster ; and in support of this there 
is the charter of her husband " Robert fiL Hen. Regis per concesBionem, Matildis filise 
Roberti de Avranches et heredis Ricbardi fiL BaldwinL" Her first marriage with a 
d'Aincourt does not rest on so firm a foundation ; but it is quite clear that Hawisia de 
Courtenay waa not the daughter of Robert d'Avranches, but his granddaughter, and in the 
Chartulary of Church Twinham we have the confirmation by Matilda de Comtenay of 
grants by Richard Fitz-Baldwin furtho: confirmed by a charter of Hadewise de Cour- 
tenay, "sicut carte Matld' sororis mee," the latter being witnessed by " Robert" de 
Courtenay et Reginald' fratre suo."' That Cleaveland is right in making Hawisia the wife 
of Reginald de Courtenay, and not of his brother William, as sir William Pole would have 
her, is proved by the Fine Roll of the 71^ of John, wherein Robert, son of Reginald and 
Hawisia, is recorded to have given five hundred marks and five palfrey to have livery of the 
honour of Oakhampton, his mother's inheritance.^ There are three links in this chain of 
evidence that require rivetting. 1. The marriage of Matilda de Brionne to William 
d'Avrauches ; 2. His identification with William Fitz-Wimond ; and 3. The substan- 
tiation of the first marriage of Matilda, daughter of Robert d'Avranches, to one of the 
femily of Aincourt The maternal descent of the Courtenays fixim Godfrey Count d'Eu, 
son of Richard I, duke of Normandy, will then be clearly made out, and the conflicting 
accounts of all the preceding genealogists corrected or reconciled. 

From the period of the marriage of the two daughters of Matilda d'Avranches, with the 
two brothers Courtenay we emerge into broad daylight. Robert, the son of Reginald and 
Hawisia, governor of Exeter during the whole reign of king John, married Mary, eldest 
daughter of William de Vernon, earl of Devon, and by her had a son John, who took to wife 
Isabel, daughter of Hugh de Vere, earl of Oxford. They had issue Hugh de Courtenay, 
who married Eleanor, daughter of Hugh le Despenser, earl of Winchester, and their son 
Hugh was, in the ninth year of king Edward III, summoned to Parliament as Hugh de 
Courtenay, earl of Devonshire. Although he had enjoyed the family estates, and sat as a 
baron during the reigns of Edward I and II, he had been refused the third penny of the 
county on the plea that he was " no earl;" but Edward IH having investigated the case, 
and found Hugh's representation to be correct, declared by letters patent of the 22nd of 
February in the year aforesaid, that he should thenceforth assume the title and style 
himself earl, " as his ancestors, earls of Devon, had wont to do." By Agnes, daughter of 

' In the deed quoted by sir Wm. Pole the witnesses are still more clearly defined, "Bobertna de 
Gonrtenay et Reginaldo fratre JUii meis." Page 3. 

* Vide, however, Stapleton's Norman rolla, in which he makes Uatilda lady of Sa^, widow of 
BegmaM de Courtenay, vol. ii, p. 146. There was a Robert de Goortenay who married Alicia de 
Rnmeley, daughter of William Fitz-Doncsn and widow of Gilbert Pipard ; see her chartere in the 3rd 
YoL of the Montuit. Angl., parti, p. 47. "Uuitonun meonim Gilberti Pypard and Roberti de Cnrtenay." 



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283 ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 

John, lord St John of Baaing, he had four sons and two daughters, and thenceforth 
the pedigree of the Courtenay^ eaiiB of Devon, wUl be found &lly and futhfully set 
down in ahno^ every genealogical peerage. 

The origin of the family of De Redveis is still, however, involved in the mists of 
antiquity. Entertaining the greatest lespect for the late Mr. Stapleton, and gratefully 
acknowledging, in common with all who pnraue this branch of archeeology, the great 
obligations we are under to him for his indefatigable researches and valuable information, 
it is with considerable diffidence that I ever venture to demur to the conclusions he 
arrives at from the facts he produces. In his notdce of die Kedveis &mily, appended to 
his lUustraiions of the Norman BoUs of the Exchequer, which I have most carefblly 
re-examined since my return from Exeter, he has clearly shown the identity of it with 
that of Vernon ; but I cannot admit that there is more than a shade of probability that 
the noble knight Richard, with Ins brothers Baldwin and William, are the earliest known 
of the family of De Eedvers, or that they are of that family at aU. Between the date of 
that charter and the mention of "Bichard de Bed vera who slew our monk Grerald," more 
than a c^itury elapses, without the slightest circumstance to connect them. Tliere are 
three known lines of the femily of Reviers : 1. The Anglo-Norman, conunencing with 
Richard, die 6iend and oounseUor of Heniy I, and ancestor of the earls of Devon. 2. That 
of De Rivers of England, supposed to be descended from a younger son or brother of 
Richard aforesaid. 3. That which remained in France. All these are independent of 
the Yemons of Shipbrook, evidently sprang from the same stock, and other collaterals. 
That the one in which we are most interested at this moment is directly descended from 
Baldwin de Brionne, vicecomes Devoniee, aa hitherto bo generally acknowledged, I will 
not assert Dr. Oliver has prudently abstained from giving an opinion, and I am by no 
means anxious to add to the speculations already broached upon the subject But the 
marriage of Baldwin with Alhreda, the cousin of the Conqueror, has still to be proved. 
It is clear that Robert de Brionae was the son of Emma, and in the speech he is said hj 
Ordericus to have made, he speaks of his father's wife, but does not call her his mother. 
If, therefore, Albreda and Emma are two distinct personages, and the former the first wife 
of Baldwin, as set down by P&re Anselme, was there any issue by that marri^ % — ^May not 
Richard de Redvera have been an elder brother of the half-blood of Richard de Brionne . That 
he had a sister we know from his charter (" Adeliz. mtoT mea"), who held the whole of " Be- 
noitville" (Benedictam Villam)^ in conjunction widi a ffichard de Ansgerville, probably her 
husband. He may also have had a brother named Baldwin, the "fir^ Baldwin de Redvers," 
mentioned by the continuator of Guillaume de Jumi^ges as the grandson of Osmund de 

' A BeMdict da Bedrers waa one of the donors of Lodies to the Abbey of Uoatobnr^b. MonaU. 
Angl., vol. i, p. 570. 



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ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 283 

Conteville, viscomte de Vernon and nephew of Fulk d'Anet One curious fact in con- 
nexion with this last assertion I have still to mention. It occtus in the same confirmation 
charter of Henry II to the abbey of Bee, which certifies the grant of Emma, wife of 
Baldwin Pitz-GUbert, and of her sons Robert and Richard. It is the recital of the gift of 
the manor of Mesnilsimon, with its church and aU churches and manors pertaining to it; 
by Fulk d'Anet, and of the land of Groselers near Landan, etc, by AWreda siiier oftiie 
same Fvlk. Also of the manor of ConteviUe, its church, and aU manors, etc., pertaining 
to it, by William Malet Here is a distinct proof that Fulk d'Anet, one of whose sisters 
is said to have been mother of the fiist Baldwin de Beviers, had a sister named Alhreda, 
whose mother was one of the niecee of Gunnora. and consequently a cousin of the Con- 
queror. We know that Arietta, the mother of the OonquerOT, married secondly Heduin 
de Conteville, by whom she had issue Odo bishop of Bayeux, Robert comte de Mortain, 
and Emma de Conteville, wife of Richard d'Avranchea, progenit(»' of the earls of Chester. 
But of Herluin's family we are in perfect ignorance. 

Now should this Osmond de ContevUle, viscomte de Vernon, of whom we have no 
other record^ and idiose existence almost has been denied by the English editor of Otde- 
ricus, prove to have been a brother of Herluin de Conteville, the affinity of Albreda 
to William would be more clearly established.^ 

The claim of kindred to the Conqueror is so continually made and so rarely 
established, that I trust I may be pardoned for drawing the attention of my brother 
antiquaries to a subject which is of the utmost importance to a satis&ctory elucidation of 
the descent of so many great Anglo-Norman families. Any discovery that can be made 
of the connections, by blood or marriage, of his mother, Arietta, or his step-father, Her- 
luin. is of the greatest value. He, himself mentions an unde, Walter, who saved his life 
when a child, and who, aa I have shown m my paper on the earls of Salisbury, had a 
daughter Matilda, the wife of Ralph Taison ; but how he was his uncle no one appears to 
know. The pedigree appended to M. Lappenberg's History of the Norman Kings of 
England, is by no means satisfactory, or worthy the very valuable text it accompanies. 

* There was an Otmond de Goz, aecond Bon of Ainsfi-id Ae Bane, and brother of OtoStaj the Bane, 
TiBComte D'Exmee 108S, the grandfather of Bichard D'Avrancbes, also simiamed Goz, who married 
Emma de ConteviUe. 'Reeherehes gur le Bomesday. It is by no meaas improbable that thU Oemond may 
prove identical with the Osmond de Contoville mentioned bj GemeticenBis. The above are all &om the 
same etock as Krolfor or Rolla, let doke of Normandy, and both Herfaat fhe Dane and Herlnin de Conte- 
Tille may yet be traced np to it. It is worthy of note also that Elisenda, daaghter of Bichard D'Avranches 
and Emma de Conteville, was the wife of Gilbert Connt D'Eq and mother of Baldwin de Brionne. 
Haa tliero been any mistake ; was F-nnma de Cont«ville daoghter of Arietta by Herlnin de Conteville, or 
was the the danghter of Osmond and the grandmot^her, not mother, of the first Baldwin de Bedvers, and 
in that case de Brionne ? I do not apologize for snoh specnlations as these, as they are merely tlirown 
out in the hope of their leading to some discovery important to other inqniries if not to this. 

8S2 



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284 ON THE EARLS OF DEVON. 

The vague account in Guilielmns Gremeticeii^ is all we have to guide us in regaid to tiie 
iasue of the broths and sisters of Quunoia, or of the Toaaj hatural children of the old 
dukes of Normandy, acknowledged in documents of that period hy the same terms of 
consanguinity as would now he only applied to thdr legitimate descendants. Brethren 
of the half-hlood are equally undistinguished &om those of tiie wholes and the arbitraiy 
use of the word "nepos," an additional embarrassment even to the most practised 



Here let me pause for the present. I have dedicated every instant I could ^>are. 
since my return from Devonshire, to the investigation of every authority within my reach, 
that 1 believed capable of affording the slightest aid towards the settlement of this long- 
vexed question. As I stated in the paper which I read at Exeter, "the debateable points 
are all of that purely arehseological character which, however important in themselves, 
have not only no interest for a general assembly, but, if aigued, could not be followed 
by it." I have here entered into them more minutely, but feel how much there is yet to 
do, and request our Devonshire friends and associates to accept this only as an instalment 
of the debt of labour justly due to them, for their cordial and hospitable reception. 



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ON THE PRIORT OF MONMOUTH. 

ST 

THOMAS WAKEMAN, ESQ. 



^HE remains of this religious house are so inconsiderable, and so disguised by modem 
-'- altcratiouB and additions, that it is probable in a few years even the site may be 
unknown. It stood on the north side of the parish church on a high bank overhanging the 
river Monnow. A new street, to which the name of Priory Street is pven, now runa 
between the existing remains and the river. The church of St Maiy was taken down, 
with the exception of the tower, in 1740, and rebuilt by one Smith of Warwick, in the 
execrable style prevalent at that period. I am not aware that any view of the original 
edifice is extant ; in the comer of Speed's map of the coimty is a sketch plan of the 
town, and if any dependence can be placed upon it, the church had a spire ; ihe westem 
part or nave was used as a parish church, and the eastern part or choir was still called 
the monk's churcL 

The monastery was founded by WJhenoc, Gwithenoc or Gwerthenoc, as the name is 
variously written, soon after the Norman conquest, as a cell to the Benedictine Abbey of 
St FlorentiuB, at Saumur in Anjou. Bugdale has given a copy of the original charter, 
wherein Wihenoc recites, that he had built a church in his castle of Monmouth, and 
had granted it for ever to St. Florentius at Salmure, whence he bad invited monks that 
they might there live and regularly serve God in the said church, to which end he had 
granted them the dmrch of St Cadoc near his castle, which the said monks had occupied 
before the one in Monmouth was finished; also the churches of St Wingaloc (Wonaston), 
Rockville, Llangaddoc, Bicknour Wallenais, with ax. others in Herefordshire and Glou- 
cestershire ; three caracates of land near tiie castle of Monmouth, one camcate in Llan- 
gattoc, and one camcate in Suenton ; two parts of the tithes of his manor, and the tithes 
of all mills and duties. The witnesses were Badaron, brother of the donor, and William, 
Yvin, Eobert, Pagan and Ywentroue, sons of Badaran. The docimient has no date. 
Dugdale erroneously fixes the foundation in the reign of Hemy I, in which, as a matter 
of course, he has been followed by all subsequent writers. In a work of such m^nitude 
as the Monasticon, it is by no means surprising that many errors should be discovered. 
The mistake in this instance may have arisen in this way. The first witness to the 
charter was Badaran, brother of the founder, and finding a person of the same name who 



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286 ON THE PRIORY OF MONMOUTH. 

was also a benefactor of the priory in the reign of Henry I, the learned author seema to 
have jumped to the conclusion that he was the same indiyidual as the brother of 
Wil^enoc, instead of his great nephew, as the fact was. Had he chanced to have 
refrared to the Hereford^ire Domesday the mistake could not have occurred, as we 
there read, " Hujus casteUi {M<memvde) ecdesicMn et omnem decmam cum dtiobus 
carucatis terns tenet Sanctm FlorerUim de Salmvr," which shows beyond a doubt that 
the monaatery was founded prior to 1083. At the same time, William Fitz-Badaron, 
another of the wilnesses to his uncle's charter, held Monmouth and other manors. 

Independently of this, we have the testimony of the Liber Lastdavensis, compiled in 
the time of bishop Urban, about the year 1110, and, therefore, an unezceptionable 
authority for the transactionB of the preceding half century, indeed it is not improbaUe 
that the writer was an eye witness of the events he relates, respecting the church of 
Monmouth. After telling us t^t the castle was erected by William Fitz-Osbem, and 
that his son Hoger forfeited his estates for rebellion, the date of which has been fixed 
about the year 1073, the record informs us that "after these things the castle was given 
to Gwerthenanc, and in his fame bishop Herwald consecrated the church of the castle of 
Monmouth, king Caradoc being present." This was Caradoc ap Griffith ap Khyddeich, 
lord of Caerleon and Gwent, who died in 1079. We have, then, the limits 1073 and 
1079 between which the foundation of the monaatery mtut have taken place — Gwerthe- 
nanc became a monk and died in the priory he had founded ; of his brother Badaron we 
have no further account. The names of diese noblemen and the sons of the latter indi- 
cate an Armorican origin, of which country many individuals settled in the marches of 
Wales, where they had grants of lands. No doubt they were found useful as interpreters 
between the Normans and the natives. Of William Fitz-Badaron, the Domesday pro- 
prietor, no grant to the priory has been preserved. Badaron Fitz-WUliam, lord of 
Monmouth, and great nephew of the founder of the priory, succeeded his &ther before 
the 19th April, 1128, at which date he is mentioned in a bull of pope Honorius II. He 
mamed Bohesia, daughter of Gilbert Strongbow, earl of Pembroke, uid sister of Bichard 
Strongbow, the noted conqueror of Ireland. Upon the day of his marriage he and his 
wife made a grant to the monks of certain tithes, which he afterwards confirmed by a 
charter which escaped the researches of Dugdale, but -was published by Madox,^ and has 
since been copied in the additions to the Monasticon. This very interesting document 
recites that the marriage was performed at Strugul (now Chepstow), by Odo, the priwr of 
that place, and Godfrey, prior of Monmouth. In the absence of the earl the bride's 
uncle Walter acted as father in church ; there were present her mother, the countess 
Isabella, the uncle of the bridegroom, Robert Fitz-Badaron, and his son John fitz-Bobert, 
Formvl. AngL 



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OK THE PRIORY OF MONMOUTH. 287 

Thomas Fitz-Pagan his cousin, Meno de . . . . and Beinald de Hagepen, etc I 
Buapect there is some error in the transcription, for as printed it is by no means clear of 
what the gntnt consisted : it runs thus, " decimam quam pnecor redditurus est de villa de 
Monemuta. Hujua rei concesaio facto est circa featum omnium sanctorum in die qua 
mihi deeponsata fiiit uxor mea Bohes apud Striguliam. Donatio vero &cta est in 
sequent! festo Sancti Martini apud Monemetam super altare Sanctse Maries per unum 
cultellum, etc." For pisecor we should COTtainly read prsetor ; the town crier could have 
no pa3rmenta to make to the lord, but the mayor, or bailiff or by whatever name the 
chief officer of the corporation was called, was no doubt here, as elsewhere, accountable 
for rents and tolls, etc, received by him, the tenth part of which was, I suppose the sub- 
ject of the grant ; what follows illustrates the legal distinction between concesno and 
donatio, the first implying a covenant or agreement to do a thing, the latter its confirm- 
ation and warranty. The ceremony of depositing his dagger (cultellum) on the altar 
may have been an usual thing, but I do not recollect any other instance of its being 
recorded in the grant. The date of this must have been, I think, between 1125 and 
1130. Another grant by the same Badaron is published in the Monctsticon, whereby, 
with the consent of his sons Gilbert and James, he gives the prior and monks three 
forges on the Wye in his town of Monmouth, with freedom from toll, etc, in exchange 
for Hodenack (Hadnock) ; among the witnesses we find the name of Sitsyllt ap 
Dy&wal, who was killed in 1172, prior to which the exchange must have been made. 
Other benefactors, contemporary with Badaron, were Richard de Cormeils, who gave the 
monks the church of Weston, and Hugh de Lacy, with Bohais his wife, who gave them a 
rent of three shillings in Lidney. Badaron was living in 1168, but the time of his death 
is unknown. No grant to the priory by either of his sons has been discovered ; the 
eldest, Gilbert, died in 1169 or 1190, leaving his son and heir John under age, for whose 
wardship his maternal uncle, William de Braoce, gave the king one thousand marks.^ 
He was still in ward in 1199, as his guardian then paid the scutage assessed upon his 
lands on king John's coronation ; but from the oblata roll of 3rd John, 1201, we find that 
he was then of age, and married to Cecily, daughter and coheiress of Walter Walerand, 
and paid the king one hundred and twenty marks, and two Norway hawks, to have her 
share of her father's lands. This shows that Cecily was John de Monmouth's first wife, 
and is important in reference to two charters or pretended charters of this nobleman, 
relating to a certain hospital dedicated to the Holy Trinity and Blessed Virgin, in some 
way or other mixed up and connected with the priory. One of th^e, evidently by the 
context the earliest^ assuming them to be authentic, is in the library of Jes\is 
College, Oxford, and has never been published ; the other is copied in the Monasticon 
' See Pipe BoU 2iid Bioh. L 



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288 ON THE PRIORY OF MONMOUTH. 

from a manuscript in the College of Arms.. The first appears to me decidedly spurious, 
and the other, I fear, must be considered as no better entitled to attention. At what 
time, by whom, or for what purpose, these documents were fabricated, it were useless to 
inquire. They are no doubt of considerable antiquity. I have not seen the one in the 
College of Arms, but the hand-writing of the Oxford deed does not appear to me near 
so old as the reign of king John. It has no date nor seal, the label alone remaining, in 
&ct it most probably never had a seal, it having been concocted at a period so long aftet 
the era of John de Monmouth, that much of his history and that of his family was for- 
gotten. Avoiding the contractions, the document is as follows : — 

Johannes filine Oilberti dommaB de Monemat' nmverBis Christi fidelibns ad qnoa preaeafi acriptnm per- 
venerit salatom. Norerit oniverBitas reatra me in honore S&ncte Trinitatia et Beate Marie TirginiB mmm 
hoepitale extra portiam orientalem de Monemat' f ondasee et eidem loco hoepitali et &atJbna ibidem Deo ser- 
vientibns pro solnte anime mee et Cecilie ozoris mee et pro anima patris mei Oflberti et matris mee Berte et 
pro animabuB omnium anteceBSonun et snccessonun meonun in poram et perpetnam elemoBinam dedisee et 
ConceBsiBBe et preeenti carta mea confirmaaGe totam croftam cnm meanagio et gardino que Robertas de Marasco 
qnandam teDoit et totam croftam illam cam prato qae appelator La Winyard et totam terram iUam qae ap- 
pelator QartlieBbal cnm hermitagio de Qarth et com messoa^io et gardino ejosdem loci cnm omuibns terris, et 
pastnris ad idem hermitagiom pertinentibas et com toto bosco de Garththeahnl (sic) et tota paatora et cnm 
omnibns frnctibna et ezifibna qoi de predicto bosco et pastnra et loco poteront aliqno modo provenire. Dedi 
etiam dicto hoapitali et fratribna ^osdem loci liberam paatnram in bosco meo de Hodenac ad sex boTea et sex 
vaccas suaa propriaa. Et si contingat qnod Ego vel heredea mei boacam de Hodenac inclndere volnerimns 
fratrea dicti faospitalis liberam paatnram soam ad prenominata animftlift, ana uichilomiune habeant in pie- 
dicto boBCO, et nt liber4 et qniet^ slnt de patmagio in perpetnnm in eodem bosoo videlicet de qninqnaginta 
porcia ania propriia. Dedi et conoessi dicto hospiiali qnandam liberam coUectam per diea venales in for© 
meo et herednm meorom de Monemnta de omnimodia bladis qne ibi prareniont aicnt solebat collegi et 
debeat ad edificationem. eccleBie dicti faoapitalia et ad saatentationem infirmomm in perpetanm babendam. 
Conceasi etiam et con£nnaTi dicto hoapitali qnindecim acras terre et dimidiom qnaa Robertas Oriald dedit 
dicto hoepitali qnamm qninqne acre et dimidiom jacent apad Warineahalle et qninqne aore et dimidinm 
jacent in Leya et qnataor acre et dimidinm jacent jnzta terram Roberti Seymor in Gifiretstone. Concessi 
etiam et confimum dicto hospitaU nnanL acram terre com qnodam parvo prato qne jacet jnxta terram 
Roberti Seimor qnam Qalfiidna de Cottitham dedit dicto hoapitali. Conceasi etiam et confirmavi dicto 
hoapitali mmm mesnaginm in Mnneeatrete qaod m^istor BobertoB Godard dedit dioto hospital! salvo 
reddita daodecim denariomm pertinentinm ad borgnm et aalvis aerviciis anxiliis et consnetadinibns qne 
mihi et heradibns meia, de dicto meanagio contingent. Hec aatem omnia predicto in pnram et perpetnam 
elemoainam cnm omnibns pertineDtiiB snia predicto hospital! et fratribos ibidem Deo serriendbna Ego 
Johannes de Monemuta et heredea mei contra omnes homines et feminas in perpetnnm waiantizabimns. 
nt antem hec mea donatio conceasio confirmatio worantizatio firma ait et atabilia in perpetanm, ego 
Johannes de Monemnta pro me et herediboa meia preaentem acriptam sigilli mei appositione roboravi. 
Hijs testibns Domino Waltero Abbato de Gratia Dei, Domino Florentio Priora de Monemnta, Domino 
Johanne de Monemata filio meo, Domino Waltero de Konemnta fiho meo, Ricardo de Monemnta filio meo, 
Domino Roberto de Tregat, Domino Thome de Hnnteley, Domino Ricardo de Fago, Domino Williehno 
de Lncy tone Seneacallo, tunc SenetcaUo (sic), de Monemnta, Domino Fhilipo de Colevilla, Badnlfo de 
Wjsam, GaUrido Martel, Johanne Marminm et mnltia ahja. 



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OK THE PHIORY OF MONMOUTH. 289 

There is nothing in the above from which any date can be approximately inferred, 
it will, therefore, be more convenient to copy the Monasticon document before making 
any further observations. It is as followa :™ 

Soant presentes et fdtari quod Ego JohannsH dommna de Monemiita Bsaensn et volnntaie herednm 
meomm pro Balate amme mee et omidiun aQteoessonmi et BnooesBomm dedi concesai et present! carta mea 
oonfirmaTi Deo et Beate llfarie et domni hoBpitailiB de Monemnta qnam fnndavi nomine Sancte TrinitatiB 
in pnTSm et perpetnam elemoBinam totam meum dominioimi de Hodenac et heremitaginm meiim de 
Garilie com omnibos pertineiitiJB hiub et totam terram qne Tooatnr Yinea et pratnm de Vinea et centnm 
§olidofl annni redditns in Hnaldeefeld tnim onmibnB jnribns et pertinentijs anis Iiarietis leleviJB Bectis 
oariarom at aliis BarvitiJB que ad dictom redditam pertinent tam liberonun hominnm qnani nativoram. 
Omnia et singula prediota onm ommbnB jonbas pertinentiJB et libertatibas Bnis dedi predicto hospitaJi de 
Monemnta habenda et tenenda de me et heredibnB meis in perpetanm libere et qniete bene et in pace ab 
omni seonlari serritio et demanda. Ego vero predictns Johannes dominos de A&memnta et heredee mei 
totam predictam terram et redditam com omnibos pertLDentiJB BaiB dicte domni boapitali de Monemnta in 
perpetnam contra omnes homines et feminaa warantdzabimna et defendimna. Et qnta quod hiec donatio et 
oonceasio mea stabilis et firma in perpetanm pennaneat preaenti carte stgiUnm menm apposni. Hiia 
teetibna Domino Helias Landarensis Episcopo, Domino Florentio Friore de Monemata, Domino Johanne 
filio meo. Domino Waltero filio meo, Domino WiUiebno de hacj tone Mareacallo meo, Domino Boberto de 
Tregat, Domino Thome de Honteley, Domioo Boberto de Fogo, Domino Willielmo de Marisco, Domino 
PhiHpo de ColTiUe, Domino Qilberto de DemmirieB et mnltis aliia. 

Helias, bishop of Llandaff, the first witness to this document, was elected in the year 
1230, and died on the 6th May, 1240, and as there is no more reason to assume the 
date of the deed to hare been in the last year of his epi&copa<y, rather than in the first, 
we may fairly take it at the mean, or 1235. Now the Jesus College charter must be 
taken as of an earlier date, for the simple reason that the gift of a part must ueceBsarily 
precede the gift of the whole. In it the founder is made to grant to the hospital pas- 
turage for six ozen and six cows, and pannage for fifty hogs in the woods of Hadnock ; 
in the other he is supposed to give the whole manor, which, of course, included the 
woods, and left him nothing more to bestow in that locality. How much earlier we may 
consider it is not very easily determined ; at the least we may say a year or two. 

The grant purports to have been made for the salvation of the souls of the donor 

and Cecily his wife, and of his father Gilbert, and mother Berta, eta It is evident that 

the writer intended it to appear as having been made in the life-time of Cecily, and he 

supposed that John, Walter and Richard de Monmouth, who appear as witaessea, were 

his sons. On the back of the deed is a pedigree, but in a rather later hand-writing than 

the document itself thus. 

Gilbert=Berta 

Joh'es fil* Oilb'ti = Cecilia 

a Monemnt •> 
limdator hospital' } 
S. Jo. de Monem.) 



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290 ON THE PRIORY OF MONMOUTH. 

We have seen above that John de Monmouth and Cecily were married in 1201. By 
this lady he had a son William, who, in 12X1, was delivered into the king's hands as a 
hostage ; was restored to his parents on account of his ill health in 1213, and died soon 
after. They had also three daughters, who survived, and were returned with their 
descendants as heirs of Walerao. by inquisition, in 2nd Edward II, which sets out the 
■vriiole pedigree. It is therefore quite certain that they had no other ehild. Cecily died 
in 1222, as appears by entries in the Close Rolls of November and December of that 
year, respecting certain property which John de Monmouth held in r^ht of Cecily his 
late wife — " ratione CeciHe quondam uxoris sue fiUe Walteri Walerand," He afterwards 
married Agnes, daught^ and co-heiress of Walter de Musgroa, by whom he had three 
sons, John, Walter, and Richard, the three supposed witnesses of their father's charter. 
John de Monmouth the elder died in or before 1247, as in that year his eldest son and 
heir John had livery of his lands,^ at which time he could have been but Kttle more than 
twenty-one years old, for allowing a reasonable time between the death o£ his Other's 
first wife and his marriage to the second, he was in all probability not bom before 1225. 
At the assumed date of the Monasticon charter, 1235, he could have been only about ten 
years old, and his brother Walter at the most between eight and nine, and supposing the 
college charter to have been dated only two yeara earHer, the three sons of the grantor 
who are supposed to have witnessed it would be of the respective ages of eight, six and four 
respectively, far too young to have been called upon as witnesses to any deed or act what- 
ever, still less would they at that early age have been styled domini ; by which, I suppose, 
the writer meant it to be understood that they were knights. What is still more extraordi- 
nary, and shews that the fabricator of this document lived so long after tiie supposed 
grantor, that he had but Uttle knowledge of Tiim or his family, he makes Ralph de Wysam 
— ^who, if there be any truth in the pedigree, was a grandson of John de Monmouth, 
senior — another of the witnesses, he being the son of Richaid, who was himself only 
about four years old at the time. It would have been, moreover, a very ungracious 
proceeding to have called upon these youths to witness a deed founding a hospital for 
the salvation of the soids of their father and his first wife, without the shghtest allusion 
to their own mother. 

It is extraordinary that although in both these documents the hospital is said to be 
dedicated to the Holy Trinity, yet the one in Jesus CoU^e is endorsed, " Carta d^ni J. 
de Monem' de, Jundaiione hospital. Sci' Johis." This introduces us to another very 
suspicious document published in the Monasticon, which purports to be an inquisition 
taken 22nd Jime, 1st Henry IV, a.d. 1400, at Monmouth, before Robert de Huntley 
deputy of William de Lucy, bailiff of Monmouth, is which is recited a grant by John de 
' Fine Roll, 32 Henry III. 



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ON THE PRIORY OF MONMOUTH. 291 

Monmouth the younger, to God, and the church of the blessed Mary of Monmouth, and 
the abbey of St. Laurentius in SaJmur, etc, of the hospital of St. John of Monmouth, with 
two carucates of land, one hundred shillings annual rent ; with the wood of Garth, hia 
new mill of Buckholt, house-bote and haybote in Buckholt, etc. ; and reciting that the 
same had been confirmed by king Henry TV in the first year of lus reign, by letters patent 

Now, certainly the mention of two carucates of land, the rent of a hundred shillings 
and wood of Garth, would seem to indicate that the hospital of the Holy Trinity and that 
of St John was the same thing, although the change of name is in no way accounted foi. 
It seems rather odd that William de Lucy should be steward of Monmouth in the early 
part of the thirteenth century, and one hundred and seventy years after there should be 
another William de Lucy bailifi" of Monmouth ; still it is not impossible that there should 
have been such persons, although I have not found them mentioned elsewhere. The only 
Robert de Huntley of whom I have discovered any account, was living in 1261, and seems 
to have died before 1375. 

If any such hospital or hospitals had ever existed, we might expect to find some 
remains or some indication in deeds or other records of the site. The Oxford charter 
fixes the site " ecdra portam orientalem," but there are not the slightest indications of 
any building outside the east gate, or as now called Dixon's Gate. 

In Heath's Historical and Descriptive Account of Monmouth, he asserts that the 
hospital stood near the western extremity of Monnow Street, on the bank of the river, 
exactly in the opposite direction to that stated in the charter, but in this he is clearly 
wrong, as the building he mentions, called Clifibrd's Court was the seat of a family of 
that name, and had no connection with the priory or hospital Another conjecture he 
mentions waa that a building in the Back-lane formed part of the hospital ; but he 
forgot to mention ihat upon the strength of this conjecture, for it was nothing else, the 
name of the Back lane had been altered to St John's Street No such places as Hadnoc, 
the Garth, or the Vineyard are mentioned among the possessions of the priory in pope 
Nicholas's taxation in 1291, nor is there any trace of the existence of the hospital of the 
Holy Trinity or St John, at that time, in the town or neighbourhood. I cannot help 
coming to the conclusion that the charters or deeds above quoted are fabrications, and 
that no such institutions ever existed. 

The total value of the possessions of the priory in 1291, in the several dioceses of 
Hereford, Worcester, and Llandafij in spirituals, temporals and moveables, waa 
£85 : 1 8 : 8 ; but, strange to say, when a few years afterwards it waa seized by Edward 
I. as an alien priory, it was valued at £lO only. In the second Heniy V, with other 
alien monasteries, this waa suppressed by the parliament held at Leicester, but afterwards 
restored, made denizen, and annexed to the abbey of St. Saviour at Bermondsey. At 

tt2 



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292 ON THE PRIORY OF MONMOUTH. 

the difisolution the temporahties were valued at £20 : 4, the spiritualities at £64 : 2 : 3, 
in all £84 : 6 : 3, from which tiiere were deductions allowed £28 : 4 : 5, leaving a net 
value of £56 : 1 : 11 per annum. The names of some of the priors of this bouse are 
given in the introduction to Tannei^s Notiiia, another list is in Cole's MSS. in the 
British Museum ; both are in error in placing Robert and Peter before Godfrey. The 
following is a more extended list, but in the four centuries and upwards which elapsed 
between the foundation and dissolution, there must have been many more whose names 
have not come down to ns. 



Godfrey 


inter 


1125 and 1130 


Baderon and CormeUs CharterE. 


Robert 


about 


1160 . 


Baderon'B Charter. 


Fetor 


„ , 


1180 . 


Charter of Hngh de Lacy. 


Florence 


n ■ 


1235 . 




Peter deBoBCO 


about 


1297 . 


Cole's MSS. and Tanner. 


Ralph 




1346 . 


A deed of his of this date. 


ThoB. Tinnoy elected 


1379 . 


Cole's MSS. and Tanner. 


Robert Ward 




1399, died 14i2 


Ditto, there caUed Richd. 


WiUnuByton elected 


1412 . 




RegiiuJd . 




1492 . 


From his deed of this date. 


Robert 


about 


1500 . 


Temp. ChaB. Booth, Bishop of Hereford. 


John -rnddehimi 




1515 . 


A deed of hlB of this date. 


Richd. Dnysham 




. 


Tamp. Henry VHI. 


Charles Herbert 




1581 . 


CansoB in the I>nchy Court. 


Bichd. TailbaaBe 




1533 to 1539 


Wae presented by Robert, abbot of Bennondsey. 



Of the estates belonging to the priory a manor called Llanllwyth and certain lands 
in Llangattock Vibonavel were granted, 5th Edward VI, to Sir Bichard Morgan and 
Thomas Carpenter. The advowson of Llangattock was granted, 24th EUzabeth, to 
Edward Downinge and Peter Ashtone. The rite of the monastery and the manor and 
lands in Monmouth were purchased by Gregory Price in 1557, and granted to him and 
Thomas Kerrye 4 and 5 Philip and Mary. A fishery in the Wye was granted, in 10th 
James I, to Francis Morris and Francis Phelps. 

The property comprised in the grant of 4 and 5 Philip and Mary belonged, in 
1563, to John Kedye, alias Spicer, who died seized thereof on 24 April, 1563, leaving a 
son under age. It was probably sold, as in 1573 one Robert Williams died seized of it 
It continued in his descendants for some generations. The priory house in the time of 
James II was fconverted into a Roman Catholic chapel, upon which account it was seized 
by his successor, and with other forfeited property was granted in the 2nd Wilham and 
Mary, to Henry, lord Delamere, who in this instance, as in several others, appeare to have 
resold the property to the original proprietors, as early in the last century it belonged to 
a Benedict Williams, who sold it to an ancestor of the present fenuly of Williams rf 
Llangiblej. 



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D.gnzcdbyVjOOC^IC 



ON THE PRIOHT OF MONMOUTH. 293 

The site of the priory of Monmouth is now partly occupied as a parish school and partly 
by the offices of James Gilbert Geoi^ esq., solicitor and county clerk. What little 
remains of the ancient monastic buildings has been so altered and masked by modem 
alteratLons and additions, to adapt them to the purposes of the present times, that it 
is impossible, &om any outward appearances, to recognise them as having formed 
portions of an ancient monastery ; if we except a window of probably the fifteenth 
century, which, however, some one — a foolish tourist probably, — ^has christened Geoffirey 
of Monmouth's study. In making some alterations in the portion belonging to Mr. 
Geoi^e, it became necessary to remove a part of what was apparently a veiy Uiick wall, 
which, however, turned out to be hollow, and in the cavity were found a number of 
encaustic tiles, carefully piled up, of six different patterns, coloored tracii^ of which 
I have the pleasure to transmit to the Association. See plate xvn. 

Fig. 1, presents a coat of arms, which, I suppose, was intended for three towers, 
and has a griffin passant for a crest. Bound the margin we read ®xaxe ptO anhnEdlUS 
Q^tfomr CToite tt Sllicie UXOttS ^JuS- 1 1 C No second example of the tUe bearing the 
names of Thomas Coke and his wife seems to have been noticed. 

Fig. 2 has on the verge of tiie tile anno b. b. h. vi, xxxri (Anno regni Eegis Hen- 
rici VI, 36° i e., 1457-8), which would seem to imply the date of its manufacture. Fig. 
3 presents the arms or emblems of the Passion ; composed of the cross, nails, scourge, 
spear, and ladder. Fig. 4 gives the sacred monogram of the Saviour, I H C surmounted 
by an open crown. Fig. 5 exhibits the royal arms, France and England quarterly, sur- 
mounted by a like crown. Fig. 6 has a pehcan in its piety supported on the top of a 
tree — " the true one." 

Tiles analogous to these have been met with at the Priory Church of Great Malvern, 
Worcestershire, some of which have been figured in the Examples of Encaustic Tiles, 
Part iii, Nos. 67 to 71 inclusive, published by Nichols and Son in 1842, where they are 
called " Walled Tiles," and described as intended to have the effect of tapestry hangings.^ 
It is likewise stated that this species of ornamentation has not been found at any other 
place but Malvern, a supposition now corrected by the present relation. Great Malvern 
was a place in which tiles were manufactured, and a kiln was discovered in 1833 iu the 
inmiediate vicinity of the priory, and upon the authority of Mi. Albert Way it may be 
stated that the same tiles, the production of the Malvern kiln, may also be seen in many 
churches in the neighbouring counties of Hereford, Gloucester, and Monmouth.^ 

* Bedncad oopiea of tliese are aUo to be seen in Qent.'s Mag, for April 1844, vol. zzi, p. 4^, Fl&to 2, 
and also arranged aa a border on p. ii of Encaustic THea, 

' Omi.'i Mag., toI. xzi, p. 494. See fJso Jcrumai of tbe British. Arcbssological Asaooiation, vol. iv, p. 
216. Good ezamplea of encanstic tUee are also engraTed in tbe same Jounud, ii, 261 ; y,372; vi, 121 ; 
vii, 70, 384; viii, 151, 249; rii, 75, 196. 



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294 ON THE PRIORY OF MONMOUTH. 

Upon comparing five of the tiles found at Monmouth with those obtained at Great 
Malvern various minute differences may be observed. The size of the specimens at the 
former place arc not quite eight inches and a half long by barely siz inches and a half in 
breadth ; those of the latter rather more than eight inches and a half long by barely six 
inches and a half. A different quality of clay may perhaps be esteemed sufficient to 
account for the small difference in size, but there are yet many other Uttle peculiarities 
observable serving to distinguish them from each other. It is not clear to what part of 
the monastery the Malvern tiles had belonged ; they may have been wall tiles, and they 
may have also constituted a border for the adornment of some particular portion. 
The Monmouth tiles were badly made, coarse, and many of them fell to pieces as they 
were taken up. It may, therefore, be, that they were iix& originals of the pattern, and 
the monks of Malvern, copying the general design and arrangement, gave more finished 
ornament and employed a better material in the manufacture. The monasteries were of 
the same order, and no doubt held frequent communication with each other, and that t^e 
pattern should be carried from one to the other is easily accounted for, but the carriage 
of the tiles themselves such a distance at that time of day would have been a serious and 
expensive undertaking ; it seems, therefore, more probable, that some monk may have 
carried a rough drawing of the different patterns from one house to the other, and had 
them made at home. If the design originated at Malvern the brethren of Monmouth did 
not succeed very well in their imitation ; but if the invention is due to the Monmouth 
men, to those of Malvern must be awarded the merit for great improvement. The tiles 
being different in form from those of a similar fabric generally used for flooring, it has 
been suggested that they were not so applied, but rather placed erect against the wall in 
the same manner as the Dutch tiles which were much in vogue a century ago, and still 
found in old houses, used to be employed. This may be so, and at the same time the 
fact of their being made oblong rather than square presents no obstacle to their having 
been used for flooring. Thomas Coke and his wife had probably been at the expense of 
providing them whatever may have been their use, and in return claimed lie prayers of 
the community. Who or what he was I have not discovered. There is a family of the 
name now resident in the neighbourhood, but I behave their connexion with this part of 
the country does not date «o far back, and their arms are totally different. 



END OF VOL. I. 



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INDEX. 



Abbet of Baildwaa, 28 

Hanglimond, 27 

LiUeahall, 28 

8hrewabiuy, 26, 27 ; founded by Bogar de 

Montigomeiy, A.; ite surrender in 1539-40, 27; 
a of, ib. 



Acolyte, emblems of, 165 

Acton Bomell, parliament held at, in 1283, 14 ; cas- 
tie, 25 

Admiral, etymology of, 172; earlieBt En^ish, 173; 
seals of the high-admirals of England, 171 

Agricnlture promoted by the estAibliBhinent of reli> 
gioua houses, 14 

AiBT, Professor, his account of the invasion of Bri- 
tain, 7 

Alabd, Gervase, fint conunission of admiral given 
to, 173 

Alberbury castle, 42; held under the Barous of 
Cans, H. 

Ancient families in Shropshire, 30, 31 

Anglo-Norman nobility, possesmon of lands t^, II 

Apley castle, 36 

Archeology, benefits to be derived by the study of, 2 

Athelbus estaUishee a mint at Pengwem, 10 

BuoENT, F. J., on the prelates of the Courtenay 

family, 232-262 
Baldwin de Brionne, 263; his parentage, 265; his 

marriagewithAlbreda disputed, 263 ; his issue, 271 
Battlefield church, erected over the remains of those 

slain in battle in 1403, 17 ; in course of restora- 

tion, ib. 
Baxtgr, Riohard, garrisons Wem in 1645, 18 
Belesme, Bobert de, succeeds to the earldom of 

Shrewsbury, 13; his poesessions forfeited to the 

crown, t6. 
Bishop's castle, 44 ; built by a bishop of Hereford, 

t&. ; legend relating to, 57 
Border castles of Shropshire, 37 
Boscobel, royal oak at, 22 
BoTFiELD, B., the President of the British Archeolo- 



g^cal Association, his iuangnral address at the 
Shrewsbury Congress, 1-33 

Brampton Bryan castle, 49 ; held by ^e Bromp- 
tons, ib. 

Bremeninm investigated by the Duke of Nortliam- 
berland, 8 

Bridgnorth castle, 38 ; built by Eobert de Belesme, ib. 

Bbidoeuan, Hon. and Bev. Or. T. 0., on the princes of 
Upper Powys, 79-89, 182-231 

Britain, state of, prior to t^e Boman invasion, 5 ; 
under the Bomaos, 6 

Buildwaa abbey, founded hj Boger de Clinton, 28 ; 
affiliated to Savigny, tb. ; ruins ot,ib.; a paper on, 
99-112 ; references to its history, 99, note; of the 
Savigniac order, 100; purely Cistercian, iJ, ; its 
foundation in 1135, ib.; its buildings, 102; in- 
dicate the prevalence of Xorman style, 104; no 
western door in the abbey church, t&. ; description 
of the several parts of the church, 105, et seq. 

Buboh, Hugh, marries EUz. de Mowethe, alias de la 
Pole, 220 ; notice of, 221 

John, son of Hugh, notice of, 223 

Cabactac¥b, site of the last battle of, 7 

Csfrechova castle, 41, 42 ; built by Bobert de Be- 
lesme, ib. 

Castles in Shropshire, 23-25; Acton Buroell, 25; 
Cans or Caux, 23, 24; Clnn, 25; Holgate, 38; 
visited by Henry I, ib. ; Ludlow, 25 ; Luure in 
the manor of Maesbury, 37 ; Uontgomery, 23 ; 
Pulverbach, 36; Stokesey. 25; Toug, 28, 29; 
WatUesborough, 24, 25 ; Whittington, 25 

Castles of ships, 181 

CauB castle, 23, 24, 4&, 43; probably founded by 
Boger Fitz-Corbet, ib. 

Ckarletoit, pedigree o^ 230 

Charlton castle, 36; founded l^ Lord Charlton de 
Powys, ib. 

CHAELTOif , Sir John de, lord of Powys, notice o£, 204 ; 
fine painted glass reUting to, 205 

Chirk castle, 39, 40 ; chai^d to Henry H, ib. 



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Church Stretton castle, 46, 49 ; a royal foundation, ib, 

Clnn Cafitle, 25, 45, probablf boill; by Pioot, ib. 

Colchester, deeoriptioix of, by Professor Aiiy, 7 

Colours carried 1^ ships, X81 

Comns of MOton first acted at Ludlow Castle, 25 

Corfham Castle, 36 

CoBN&Tii, Uriooninm the coital of the Britmh tribe 

of the, 6 
CousTENAT, prelates of the iamily o^ paper on, 232 

Peter, bishop, 241-262 

Sir Philip, of Powderham, 287 

William, ArchbiBhop of Canterbnry, his 

history, 232 
Crawl Meadows, legendary account of, 63 
Cyniobyrig (Chirbnry), Ethelfleda'a town at, 35 

Devil's chairs, causeways, mountains, etc., 56 
Devon, on the earls of, 263-264 

Edwabd I, ftdmirais in the reign of, 173, I74i 
Edwi£D n, admirals in the reign of, 173, 174 

Itinerary of; 113-144 

Edwasd m, forty admirals in the reign of, 173; 

styled " Onr lord king of the sea," ib. 
Edw&bd IV, admirals in the reign of, 175 
Ellesmere Castie, 46, 47; a bonder fortress iemp. 

Henry I, A. 
Ethelfleda, castle built by, 34 
EXBTIB, Hekst, duke of, high admiral, 176 

John Holland, dnke of, high admiral, 177 ; 

seals of, ib., 178 

Thoius Beanftnt, dnlce o^ high admirai, 177 ; 

seal otjib, 

Bxorcist, emblems of, 165 

&ITOH, ^7. B. W, on the Castles c^ Shropshire and 
its borders, 34-49 

Free school, petition for the oonvermon of the monas- 
tery of Salop into, 17 
Free school, founded by Edward VI, ib. 
— ~^ endowed by Elizabeth, ib. 
~^— — eminent scholars of^ ib. 

Oafbl, the law of; practised in WaUs, 76 

Qiants, associated with ruins and ancient relics, 53 

chair overlookiiig Lndlow, 54 

Gbiffith ap Mbrzditb, his conquests, 81 

QBiimi, son of Wenwynwyn, lord of Powis, 182 ; his 

history, 183-197 
younger sons of, 205, eCMji- 



GusKOBi, her romantic history, 69 

Habtshobhe, Rev. G. H., description of Wroxeter, 9 

hia Baiopia Antigua, 32 

—^^~~-^— itinetary of Edward H, compiled hy, 

113-li4 
Haughmond Abbey, founded by Wm. Fitz-Alan, 27 
■ 1 1—. I — empress Matilda, benefactress to, ib. 

— its present condition, 28 

Hawiba, widow of Griffin of Wenwynwyn, her history, 

197-199 
Helgot founds a castle at Stanton, 35 
Henby I, castles of Shropshire of the time o(, 37 

rearranges the hundreds of Shropshire, 12 

IV, admirals in the reign of, 174 

V, admirals in the re^ of, 175 

— VI, admirals in the reign ofj *6. 

— Vll, admirals in the reign of, t&. 

-■ VILL, admirals in the reign of; ib. 
Hekluin founds the abbey of Sanota Maria de Gus- 

tam,269 
HiLLB, Gordon M. on Bmldwas Abbey, 99-112 
Holy Gross and St. Giles, sepulchral slab o^ removed 

&«m, 168, 169 
HinrnNaDON, John, earl of, high admiral, 1 77 ; seal of;t6. 
Hyssington, legend connected with, 60 

John, actual founderof the Boyal N^avy of Siif^d, 173 
^— DB LA Pole, notice of, 217 

Key, as an emblem on sepulchral stabs, 165, 166 
Kinnerley castle, 41 ; taken 1^ Llewdlyn, ib. 
Knighton castle, 45 ; in the hands of Richard I, i%. 
Knockyn oastle, 41 ; founded by Guy le Strange, ib. 
Ktkaston (Humphrey), wonderful feats o^ 62 

Laws of Oleron, account of, 177-180 

Lector, emblems of, 165 

Legends first personal, then fiunily, and afWwards 
local, 61 

LiOTBiC, earl of Mercia, rebuilds church at Wen- 
lock, 26 

IdUeshall abbey, erected by Bichard de Belmeis, 28 

— ^— ^— ^^— ruins of, ib. 

liLiwBLLTH, prince of Wales, takes Shrewsboiy, 18 

———— orerthrow of, by Edward, 14 
'■— ap Jerweth, his death, 182 

Local legends, important materiab fbr history, 50 

Ludlow Castle, 25, 38, 39 

Ldthib, Martin, Boyal Commission in 1527-8 sent 



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to the bailifiB of SbK/mbary oonoeniing the writ- 
LOgBof, 17 
Jj^hvry Castle, 44 

MabkIi, oonnteaa of Shrewsbniy, her history, 72 et seq. 
Middle Caatle, 47,ft maosion of the Straoges of lfeB8,tb. 
Uinor Shropshire oasties at Wroxeter, Cheswardine, 

Moreton Toret or Corbet, 36 
MitpheU'e Fold, legend c<mneoted with, 59 
Monastery of Salop, petition to the king to oonvert it 

into a College or Free Sdiool, 17 
Monmouth, on the priot^ of^ 285-294 
• Tiles fonnd at, gimilar in 

design to some at the priory of Great Malvern, 293 
Montgomery Castle, 23, 43, 4A\ founded by earl 

Boger de Montgomery, t6. 
Hugh, second earl of Shrewsbnry, 74 ; shot 

in the eye by an arrow, 75 ; bnried in the abbey, 76 
Earl Boger de, founds a castle at Sbiews- 

bnry, 35 ; the first earl of Bhrewsbory, 67 ; his 

history, ib. e< »eq. ; no authority for tlie arms at- 

tribntod fo, 78 
Mom, Sir Thomas, sepulohral slab attributed to, 168 
' removed from St, 

Oilea, ib. 



- Tioar of Holy Cross and St. GKleB, 169 
MoBTiMiBS, founders of Cleobury Castle, 35 
MowTHET, lords, pedigree of, 231 

Kbwtobt, John, succeeds to estates in South Wales, 

228 
Norman Castles in Shropshire, 35 

Earls of Shrewsbury, paper on, 67-78 

— — — names attached to English localities, 23 
STormans erected churches on the S&zon sites, 10 
NosTHUKBEBUBD, duke of, hifl investigation of Bro< 



Oldbury, EtheMeda's borough, 35 

Old Castle, built by Ethelfleda, 35 

Oleron, laws o^ 177-180 

Ostiary, emblems of, 165 

Oswestry Castle, 40, 4il ; identical with Castle 

Lnnre, ib. 
Overton Castle, 39; garrisoned by Wm. Fererell 

against Stephen, ib. 
OwxN Ctvkilidc in the interest of Henry II, 82 i his 

death, t6. ; character 83 

DB 14 POLB, his history, 199 

■ Joanna, wife o^ 201 



OwEH Gltbdwb'b Oak, at Shelton, 22 
■ '■ QwTSBtS, resists the invasion [ 



Pantdlfs, founders of Wem Castle, 36 
ParUament held at Acton Bumell in 1283, 14 
Pedigree of the princes of Upper Powys, 229 ; of 

Gherleton, lord of Powys, 230 ; the lords Mow- 

they, 231 
Pengweni, the lefiige of the Britons after the Saxon 

invasion, 10 ; a mint OBtablished there by Athel- 

stan, t%. 
Pbtit, Eev. J. L., on Shiffiial Church, 90-98 
PsTnaBEW, T. J., on a sepulchre slab in the abbey 

cbnrch, Shrewsbury, 163-170 ; on the seals of 

Biohard, dnke of Gloucester, and otlier BJli"iT<tTa 

of England, 171-181 
Pluich^, J. B., on the Norman earls of Sbrewsboiy, 

67-78 ; on the earls of Devon, 263-264 
PoLB, see Owen de la, William de la, and John de la 
PoDtdfical of Fcgbehrt, 167, 168 
Powis, the princes of Upper ; paper on by Hon. and 

Bev. G. T. 0. Bridgeman. 79-89, 182-231 
Priest, sentence of degradation and deprivation of a, 

164^ 165, ficte 

Quarry, tale respecting the planting o^ 63 
Qnatford Castle, 88 

Red Castle, 36 ; founded by Henry de Andley, ib. 
BSDVERS, Bichard de, created earl of DevonBhire, 

263 ; Adelicia his wife, 267 ; issoe of, 268 ; Bald- 

wm, son of, 270 
Beligioos houses, improvement of agriculture by, 14 
BlCHABD n, admirals in the reign of, 174 

HI, admirals appointed in the reign o{, 175, 

176 

Daxs of Gloucester, se^ of as high admiral, 

171 ; description of^ ib. ; appointed admiral in 
10th Edward IV, 175 ; 11th Edward IV, ib. 

BoBEBT Di Bblisue, the treason of^ 35 ; his his- 
tory, 76 

RoBEETS, E., on Wenloot Priory, 145-162 

Bobin Hood's Butt, near Ludlow, 62 

BooiB DB Laci, probable founder of Ludlow Castle, 
85 

MoDTOOHBEi, subdues the Saxon earl of 

Shrensbory, 10 

Royal oak at Boscobel, 22 

Rnyton Castle, 47 i held by the Stranges of Ness, ib. 
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St. Alcmiikd's Ghnrclt, establialied in 900, 10 

— CuDDA or Cliad Church, established in 780, 10 

— Jultah'b Church, established at an early period, 10 

— L&WEXNCE at Lndlow, now restored, 25 

— Makt'b Chnrch, established in 980, 10 ; the only 
ancient chnrch remaining, t&. ; wall restored, if>. 

— MiLBTTKO founds Wenlock Church, 26 

Saxon constitntion, character of, 10 ; fortress, oue 
only in ShropBhire, S4 

ScABTR, Ser. H. U., describes Roman vestiges found 
at Wroxeter, 9 

Sciropesberie (ShrewBbnry), one of the chief cities of 
Alfred, 9 

Sepulchral slab m the Abbey Chnrch, Shrewsbury, 
163; description of, ib.; probably unique, ib.; 
appropriatian of emblems on, 163-167 ; interpre- 
tation of, 168 

Shelton, Owen Olyndwr's oak at, 22 

Shelve,theleadminesof,19; workedbytheBomans,i&. 

Shifbal Church, paper on the architecture of, 90- 
98 ; its conventnal character, 91 ; careM restora- 
tion of, i6.; fragments of Xorman doorway in, 92 j 
transitional work in, ib.; early style exhibited in 
the chancel arcb, 93 ; its aspect at the end of the 
twelfth centniy, 94 ; more developed Gothic nnder 
different phases, 96 ; early English, Decorated, 
Later Decorated, Perpendioular and sixteenth cen- 
tury, examples of, 96-98 

Shrawardine Castle, 47, 48 ; probably built by Henry 
I,*. 

Shrewsbury, siege of, in the reign of Stephen, 13 ; 
confirmation of the liberties of, by Henry II, ib. ; 
Richard Gceur-de-Lion gives the first extant (dkar- 
ter, ib. ; three others, granted by John, ib. ; cap- 
tared by Uewellyn, prince of Wales, IS ; fell to 
Simon de Montfort, ib, ; frequently visited by Ed- 
ward n, 14 ; Edward III grsnta a new charter to, 
in 1841, ib.; visited by Richard 11 in 1387, 15; 
parliament held in, in 1398, ib. ; saved by Heniy 
lY in 1403, ib. ; royal commission sent to the 
bfuliffl of; is 1527-28, 17 ; garrisoned in 1642, 18 ; 
mint and printing press established at, ib. ; taken 
by CoL Mytton by surprise, 18 ; infirmary esta- 
blished at, in 1737, the second of its kind, 18; 
Benedictine abbey of, 26, 27; civil and ecclesias- 
tical histories o^ 32 ; castle, 37, 88 ; built by Earl 
Roger de Montgomery, ib.; earl of, the premier 
earl of the kingdom, 67 ; earl of, subdued by Roger 
de Montgomery, 10 ; earldom of, given by Henry I 
to his wife, 13 ; on the Zforman earls of, 67-78 



Shropshire, its history and tmtiqaities, 1-33 ; remaAa 
on the dialect of, 4 ; Roman stations in, 7 ; nnder 
the Saxons, 9 ; position of, as a border county, 10 ; 
rearrangement of the hundreds of, by Henry 1, 12 ; 
incursions of the Welsh in, in the reign of Hen^ 
111,13; first heraldic visitatioa of) 18; geology <^ 
19 ; flora of, ib. ; minends of, ib. ; royal forests o^ 
19-22 ; remains of, 22 ; riven of, 23 ; monumental 
effigies and structures in, 30 ; eminent men of, 30 ; 
ancient families in, 30, 31 ; materials for a history 
of; ib. i antiqaities of; 31, 32 ; Mr. Eyton on tba 
CBstles of, 34-49 ; on the local legends of, 50-66 

Sidney, Sir Philip, educated at the Free School at 
Shrewsbury, 17 

SuiTH, C. B., describes sculptures fonnd at Wroz- 
eter, 9 

Snead castle, 44 ; its dubious character, &>. 

Sovereign and admirals, distinotive marks of; when at 
sea, 181 

Spelhan, Sir H., gives list of Buglish admirals, 174 

Stapleton in Legbamess castle, 45; its probable 
foundation in the twelfth centniy, ib. 

Stokesay castle, 25, 36; finmded 1^ Lawrence de 
Lndlow, ib. 

Snb-deacon, sepulchral slab of a, 163 

Talbot, John, Earl of Shrewsbury, effigy of, in Whit. 

dinreh,30 
Tirley castle, 36 ; fonnded by Ralph de Botyler, 36 
Toug caetle, 28, 29 

TJppBE PowtB, pedigree of the princes of, 229 
Uriconium, see Wroxeter; the capital to whidi aU 
the roads converged, 6 ; description of its posi- 
tion, 1%. ; its state and importance, 8 ; its fertility, 
ib ; discovery of the remains of in 1701, A. ; bath 
discovered at in 1788, tb.; Romui sculptures at, 
described by Mr. C. B. Smith, 9 ; vestiges described 
by Rev. H, M, Scarth, ib. ; examination of, by Hors- 
ley, ib. ; acconnt o^ by Mr. Dnkes, ib. ,- aepnlchral 
stones fonnd at, described by Dr. Ward, ib. 



Waseiun, ThoB., on the priory of Monmouth, 285-294 
Wales and Powys, three divisions of; 78 
Wanadyke, 52 
Wabd, Dr., describes three sepnlchral stones fbnnd at 



Waxdi the bold, first Norman sheridFof Shropshire, 12 
Warben, earl of, legend connected with, 56 



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Watling Street, meaning of, 52 

Watdesborongh caatle, 24, 25, 42 ; a border reeidenoe 
of the Corbeta of Cans, ib. 

WlUin>, the northern and Teatonic amith-hero, 53 

Weigh flannels, mode of measnring, 64 

Wem, the first town to declare for the parliament in 
the dvil war, 18 ; garrisoned in 1646 b; Biohard 
Baxter, ib. 

Wenlock chnrch rebuilt 1^ Leofric, 26 ; priory, ib. ; 
a paper on, 145-162 ; Bt. MQbu^^a, the presnmed 
fonnder, 145 ; St. Milbnrga, the abbeea of, ib. ; St. 
Uilbnrga, baried at Wenlock, 147 ; the largeat in 
the county of Shropshire, ib. ; it deetrnction by the 
Danes, tb. ; refonnded by Leofrio and Qodiva, ib. ; 
surrendered to the crown in 1071, 148 ; benefitc- 
tora to, 150 ; its Borrender, 151 ; description of the 
several bnildings of, 151-160; the abbot's house, 
159, 160 ; seals of, 160, 161 ; list of priors, 161 , 162 



Wehwyhwyk de Keveliok reoorers Fowis caatle, 83 ; 

his death, 87 ; cbantcter, 88 
Whitchnroh castle, 46, 46 j founded by William de 

Warren, tj. 
White ladiee, a Cisterciaii convent, 29 ; its mins, ib. ; 

the burial place of Dame Joane, 30 
Wbittington castle, 25, 40 ; fortdfied by Wm. Pe- 

vereljift. 

WlLLIAH DB LA POLE, notJCO of, 212-217 

Wodens dyke, 52 

Wiekin, legend rdating to, 54, 55 

Wbioht, T., his history of Lndlow, 32 ; on the local 

legends of Shropshire, 50-66 
Wrozeter. See TJriconinm, 



York, seal of admiral of the county of, 176 



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