William de Montagu

Notes:

1st Earl of Salisbury. He was the leader of the party that seized Roger de Mortimer at Nottingham Castle on the night of 19 Oct 1330. He died of injuries sustained at a tournament at Windsor.

William married Katherine de Grandison before 1328. Katherine (daughter of William de Grandison and Sibyl de Tregoz) died on 23 Apr 1349. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Philippe de Montagu died on 5 Jan 1382; was buried in Austin Priory, Bisham, Berkshire, England.
2. Sybil Montagu
3. John de Montagu was born about 1329 in of Wark-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England; died on 25 Feb 1390; was buried in Lady Chapel, Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, England.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Buried: Aquitaine, France
• Buried: Priory of St. Frideswide (now Christ Church), Oxford, Oxfordshire, England

Notes:

King's yeoman, King's bachelor, Steward of the King's Household, Keeper of Abingdon Abbey 1318, Seneschal of Gascony 1318-19.

"He was sum. to Parl. 20 Nov 1317 and later." [Complete Peerage]

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

Between 1301 and 1304 William Montagu [...] made his mark in the Scottish wars. In 1302, described as king's yeoman, he was entrusted with the supervision of shipping for the war. In 1306, like many of his illustrious contemporaries, he was knighted along with Edward, prince of Wales. In 1314 he was keeper of Berwick. This military experience served him well, for it is as 'commander of the royal cavalry' (prefectus militie regis) in 1316, a description accorded to him by the Vita Edwardi secundi, that he first emerged as an important servant of the king (Vita Edwardi secundi, 68). In that year he played a leading part in suppressing the revolt of Llywelyn Bren (d. 1318) in Glamorgan and in settling the disputes between the townspeople of Bristol and Bartholomew Badlesmere (d. 1322), the constable of the castle there. In November 1316 he was appointed steward of the royal household. The material rewards of his stewardship included a pension of 200 marks, the absolution of his father's debts, forfeited lands in Cumberland, a quay on the Thames, and the marriage of Joan, one of the heirs of Theobald de Verdon, which he bestowed upon his younger son. He also acted as a channel of patronage for others and a number of grants were made on his information. By influencing the king and making himself a lynchpin in the relationships which bound Edward II to his courtier supporters Montagu developed the importance of the stewardship, which after his death became an important focus of contention among the rival magnates and the particular object of the earl of Lancaster's ambitions.

Montagu was relieved of the stewardship on 16 November 1318 and replaced by Badlesmere. This was almost certainly a concession to Thomas of Lancaster who had accused Montagu of combining with Roger Damory to plot against his life, a factor which delayed his reconciliation with the king. Lancaster's deep suspicion of Montagu is one of the clearest signs that the courtiers around Edward II were his ardent supporters, rather than a 'middle party' as was once thought. On 20 November Montagu was appointed seneschal of Gascony and Aquitaine and governor of the Île d'Oléron. Although prestigious, this appointment was an effective demotion since it withdrew him from the centre of affairs, so reducing his influence over the king. [...] The permanent loss of his forceful presence and military experience disadvantaged the king in the troubled years which followed.

William married Elizabeth de Montfort after 20 Jun 1292. Elizabeth (daughter of Peter de Montfort and Maud de la Mare) was born in of Beaudesert, Warwickshire, England; died on 16 Aug 1354; was buried in Priory of St. Frideswide (now Christ Church), Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 19 Aug 1354
• Alternate death: 29 Aug 1354

Notes:

Also called Alice. Called Elizabeth in her IPM.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 26 Sep 1317

Notes:

"In 1277 he acknowledged that the service of one knight's fee was due from the barony of Shipton Montagu, to be rendered by himself and a serjeant, in the expedition against Llewelyn. In 1280 he was in prison for a forest offence. He was engaged in the Welsh wars in 1282 and later, and in July 1287 was thanked by the King for his service in West Wales, being ordered in Dec. to go thither again instead of to North Wales. On 28 June 1283 he was summoned to attend the assembly at Shrewsbury. In. 1290 he made a settlement of his estates by surrendering them to the King, and receiving a re-grant with remainders to his sons William and Simon. In June 1294 he was summoned to attend the King on urgent affairs concerning Gascony, whither he was sent immediately, and where he apparently stayed till the beginning of 1297. While on this service, in 1296, when the English were besieged in Bourg-sur-Mer, he took a relief ship through the line of French, vessels and brought about the raising of the siege. In November 1298 inquiry was ordered into the crimes of men alleging themselves to be in his service, to his scandal and loss. In 1299 and in many later years he was summoned for service against the Scots; in September of that year he was appointed custodian of Corfe Castle, being replaced in February 1300/1 by Henry (de Lacy), Earl of Lincoln. He was summoned to Parliament from 29 December 1299 to 16 October 1315, by writs directed Simoni de Monte Acuto, whereby he is held to have become Lord Montagu. In July 1300 he took part in the siege of Carlaverock, where he brought up the rear of the third division, and after the capture of the castle was sent to Ireland, probably for provisions. On 12 February 1300/1 he joined in the Barons' letter to the Pope, as Simon, lord of Montagu. In October 1302 he went again to Gascony with John de Hastinges, and was still there in 1303. At Thurlbear, in June 1304, Aufrica de Connoght, heiress of the Isle of Man, quitclaimed all her rights therein to Simon de Montagu, knight. On 30 January 1306/7 he was made captain and governor of the fleet, against the Scots, and was in Scotland, with his son William, in February, being consequently excused attendance in Parliament. He was summoned to attend the Coronation of Edward II, 25 February 1307/8. He appears to have been in favour with the new King, for in 1309 he was made custodian of Beaumaris Castle. In August 1310 he was again admiral of the fleet against the Scots. He had licence to crenellate his house at Yardlington, Somerset, in 1313. In August 1315 he was ordered to remain in the North during the winter campaign. In these later years he was appointed on various commissions--of the peace, oyer and terminer, &c." [Complete Peerage]

Simon married Hawise de St. Amand after 24 Oct 1270. Hawise (daughter of Amauri de St. Amand and Isabel) died in 1287. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 1288

Notes:

"In 1270, for his da. Hawise, [Amauri de St. Amand] bought the marriage of Simon, s. and h. of William de Montagu." [Complete Peerage XI:297, note (f)].

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 4 Mar 1287

Notes:

"He was wounded and captured at the battle of Evesham 4 Aug 1265. He was pardoned for all trespasses 28 Jun 1277, and recovered part of his father's lands." [Royal Ancestry]

"Peter de Montfort participated in his father's treasons and was taken prisoner at the battle of Evesham, but being allowed the benefit of the Dictum of Kenilworth, he was restored to his paternal inheritance -- and afterwards enjoyed the favour of King Edward I, in whose Welsh wars he took a very active part." [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages, 1883]

Peter married Maud de la Mare about 1260. Maud (daughter of Henry de la Mare and Joan de Neville) was born about 1242. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Bertha. Bertha died after 1259. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"He was sum. for service in Wales, 1257, and later, to 1283. In 1261 and 1264 he was sum. to London and to Oxford, to the King's support cum equis et armis; and, in 1283, to the Assembly at Shrewsbury, which does not rank as a Parliament." [Complete Peerage]

Amauri married Isabel. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

CP does not definitively name the wife of Amauri de Saint Amand, but in a footnote it says she was "possibly the Isabel de St. Amand to whom timber was given in Savernake Forest, 1278".

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Aft 1209
• Alternate birth: Aft Oct 1210, of Beaudesert, Warwickshire, England

Notes:

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

A leading supporter of Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester (but no relation), [Peter de] Montfort was technically not a baron, for he held little directly from the king. He was, however, a substantial magnate. His chief seat was at Beaudesert, a low hill above Henley in Arden in Warwickshire, where extensive earthworks of the family castle still remain. Another important base was at Preston in Rutland.

In 1166 Montfort's great-grandfather, another Thurstin de Montfort, had held ten fees from the earl of Warwick, which made him the second greatest of his tenants. The connection with the earls of Warwick, however, played no discernible part in Peter's career, partly because the earldom was held from 1242 until 1263, in right of his wife, by a Poitevin favourite of the king, John de Plessis, who established few local roots. Much more important for Montfort was the family of his grandfather William (I) de Cantilupe (d. 1239), whose principal residence was at Aston Cantlow, only 4 miles from Beaudesert. His father died in 1216 and Montfort spent many years as Cantilupe's ward, developing what was to be a lifelong friendship with his son Walter de Cantilupe, bishop of Worcester from 1238 to 1266. The fleurs-de-lis of the Cantilupe coat of arms were incorporated into Montfort's seal.

It was probably ties of neighbourhood that drew both Montfort and Walter de Cantilupe into the circle of Simon de Montfort, for Beaudesert and Aston Cantlow are respectively 9 and 12 miles distant from Kenilworth, after 1244 Earl Simon's great base in England. In 1248 Montfort was in Earl Simon's retinue when the latter went out to Gascony as seneschal and thereafter there are numerous instances of the close connection between the two men. Peter de Montfort attested many of the earl's charters and was probably often in his company; in 1259 he was named as an executor of Simon de Montfort's will. His faithful service was rewarded with a grant of the manor of Ilmington in Warwickshire. Part of that service was doubtless to help Earl Simon build up his following of midlands knights, for Montfort was well connected locally -- in 1260-62 six knights of Warwickshire and Leicestershire acted as his pledges.

From 1254 onwards, while Montfort remained close to Earl Simon, his career developed independently. He was employed by Henry III on diplomatic missions, was given an important command in the Welsh marches, and by 1257 was on the royal council. He was also closely connected with Edward, the king's son, whom he had accompanied to Spain for his marriage to Eleanor of Castile in 1254. Fear of being ousted from Edward's entourage by the king's Poitevin half-brothers perhaps gave him a personal interest in the political upheaval of 1258, which began with the half-brothers' expulsion from England. In that upheaval Peter de Montfort played a leading part. He was one of the seven magnates whose confederation in April 1258 began the revolution; he was one of the baronial twelve who were to draw up the plans of reform; and he was one of the council of fifteen set up by the provisions of Oxford to govern England in the king's name. In all these capacities Earl Simon was a colleague. However, unlike the earl (who withdrew to France), Peter de Montfort accepted the king's recovery of power in 1261, and in the following year served the king and Edward as custodian of Abergavenny, which he tried in vain to protect from the attacks of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. None the less, when Earl Simon returned to England in April 1263 and raised once more the standard of the provisions of Oxford, Peter de Montfort joined him. This time he was to remain with him to the end. When the civil war commenced in March 1264, he was in command of the Montfortians in Northampton and was captured when the town fell to the king on 5 April. Released after Earl Simon's great victory at Lewes (14 May), Peter de Montfort was one of the council of nine imposed on the king (June 1264) and thenceforth played a major part in the direction of central government. In September he was one of those appointed to negotiate with the king of France and the papal legate in the abortive hope of finding some political settlement. His rewards during this period of power included a grant from the king of the manor of Garthorpe in Leicestershire. Montfort accompanied Earl Simon throughout his final campaign and died with him at the battle of Evesham on 4 August 1265. [...]

The support Peter de Montfort gave Earl Simon was of the first importance. While a close personal friend and follower, he also enjoyed his own power base in the midlands and an independent career in the service of the king and his son Edward. He possessed considerable abilities as a soldier, diplomat, and councillor. It is highly significant that Earl Simon retained the loyalty of such a man to the last.

Peter married Alice de Audley before 1229. Alice (daughter of Henry of Aldithley and Bertrade de Mainwaring) died after Aug 1265. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 23 Feb 1267

Notes:

"He [Piers de Montfort] married, in or before 1228, Alice, daughter of Henry de Audley. He died as stated above, 4 August 1265. Alice survived him." [Complete Peerage IX:123-6]

Notes:

Royal Justice; Seneschal of William Longespee, Earl of Salisbury; Constable of Strogursey Castle.

Henry married Joan de Neville. Joan (daughter of John de Neville and Hawise de Courtenay) died before 1280. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Bef 1220

Notes:

"[I]n the King's service overseas in 1242, and, in 1244, going on service either to Scotland or Wales. He married, June 1234, Asceline, 2nd of the 3 sisters and coheirs of Robert, son of Robert Daubeny. She was living February 1239/40. He d. shortly before 28 July 1245." [Complete Peerage]

Ralph married Asceline d'Aubigny. Asceline (daughter of Robert d'Aubigny and Joan) was born about 1183; died after Feb 1240. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1184, of Beaudesert, Warwickshire, England
• Alternate death: Bef 23 Jul 1216
• Alternate death: Bef 21 Nov 1216
• Alternate death: Bef 24 Nov 1216

Notes:

"Thurstan de Montfort, son and heir, was a minor when he succeeded his father in or before 1199. In 1205 the King took his homage and gave him his land on condition that he demised it for two years to William de Cauntelo. In the summer of 1206 he was abroad in the King's service. In 1210 he was serving the King in Ireland; and in 1214 he was excused the scutage of Poitou, because he fought himself. He appears to have joined in the rebellion against John, and in March 1215/6 had letters of safe conduct on coming to the King." [Complete Peerage]

Thurstan married (Unknown) de Cantelowe. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 19 Nov 1246

Notes:

Also called Henry de Audley; Aldithlegh.

Sheriff of Shrophsire and Staffordshire 1227-8, 1229-32.

"Henry of Aldithley, 2nd son of Adam of Aldithley, (who d. bet. 1203 and 1211) by Emma, daughter of Ralf fitz Orm, of Darlaston, Staffs; was b. about 1175; with his father, he was witness to a charter of Harvey Bagot in 1194. He bought large estates from Eleanor Malbank in 1214; in 1227 he acquired the manors of Edgmund and Newport, and in 1230 that of Ford, all in Salop, and all held by him direct from the Crown, though not by military or knight service. He was Under Sheriff of Salop and co. Stafford 1217-20, and Sheriff 1227-32; was in command of the Welsh Marches 1223-46. He built the castle of Heligh, co. Stafford; and Red Castle, Salop. In 1223 he founded Hulton Abbey. He was appointed Custodian of Chester and Beeston Castle, 22 June 1237, on the extinction of the the earldom of Chester. He m. in 1217, Bertred, daughter of Ralf Mainwaring, Seneschal of Chester. He d. in 1246, shortly bef. Nov. His widow was living in 1249. She was bur. in Hulton Abbey." [Complete Peerage I:337, as corrected in Volume XIV.]

From A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire:

"That this family of Alditheley, vulgarly called Audley," says Dugdale, "came to be great and eminent, the ensuing discourse will sufficiently manifest: but that the rise thereof was no higher than King John's time, and that the first who assumed this surname was a branch of that ancient and noble family of Verdon, whose chief seat was at Alton Castle in the northern part of Staffordshire, I am very inclined to believe; partly by reason that Henry had the inheritance of Alditheley given him by Nicholas de Verdon, who d. in the 16th Henry III [1232], or near that time; and partly for that he bore for his arms the same ordinary as Vernon did...so that probably the ancestor of this Henry first seated himself at Alditheley: for that there hath been an ancient mansion there, the large moat, northwards from the parish church there (somewhat less than a furlong, and upon the chief part of a fair ascent), do sufficiently manifest."

Henry de Alditheley, to whom Dugdale alludes above, being in great favour with Ranulph, Earl of Chester and Lincoln (the most powerful subject of England in his time), obtained from that nobleman a grant of Newhall in Cheshire with manors in Staffordshire and other parts--and for his adhesion to King John, in that monarch's struggle with the insurrectionary barons, a royal grant of the lordship o fStorton in Warwickshire, part of the possessions of Roger de Summerville. In the first four years of King Henry III [1216-1220], he executed the office of sheriff for the counties of Salop and Stafford as deputy for his patron, the great Earl Ranulph. In the 10th of Henry III [1226], this Henry de Alditheley was appointed governor of the castles of Carmarthen and Cardigan and made sheriff the next year of the counties of Salop and Stafford and constable of the castles of Salop and Bridgenorth, which sheriffalty he held for five years. Upon his retirement from office, he had a confirmation of all such lands whereof he was then possessed as well those granted to him by Ranulph, Earl of Chester, and Nicholas de Verdon, as those in Ireland given him by Hugh de Lacy, Earl of Ulster, whose constable he was in that province. He subsequently obtained divers other territorial grants from the crown, but, notwithstanding, when Richard Mareschall, Earl of Pembroke, rebelled and made an incursion into Wales, the king, Henry III, thought it prudent to secure the persons of this Henry and all the other barons-marchers. He was afterwards, however, constituted governor of Shrewsbury in place of John de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, and, on the death of John, Earl of Chester, governor of the castle of Chester, and also that of Beeston, then called the "Castle on the Rock," and soon after made governor of Newcastle-under-Lyne. This powerful feudal baron m. Bertred, dau. of Ralph de Meisnil-warin, of Cheshire, and had a son, James, and a dau., Emme, who m. Griffith ap Madoc, Lord of Bromefield, a person of great power in Wales. He d. in 1236, having founded and endowed the Abbey of Hilton near to his castle at Heleigh, in Staffordshire, for Cistercian monks, and was s. by his son, James de Alditheley.

Henry married Bertrade de Mainwaring in 1217. Bertrade (daughter of Ralph Mainwaring and Amicia de Meschines) died after 1248; was buried in Hulton Abbey, Staffordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1249
• Alternate death: Aft 3 Nov 1249

Notes:

Deputy sheriff of Surrey and Sussex 1217-1226.

William married Basile. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Chief Forester and Justice of the King's Forests throughout England. Notable for having achieved the distinction of being excessively tyrannical and oppressive even by the standards of the early thirteenth century.

Complete Peerage: "On 21 October 1235 he was appointed Chief Forester and justice of the whole of the King's Forest through England. He was one of the English notables who sailed with Richard, Earl of Cornwall, for Palestine from Marseilles in 1240. After his return to England he was so rapacious and oppressive in the execution of his office that, upon evidence obtained by commission, he escaped prison only by a very heavy fine. He retired in disgrace to Wethersfield, where he died soon afterwards."

John married Hawise de Courtenay before 15 Feb 1230. Hawise (daughter of Robert de Courtenay and Mary de Revières) was born in of Okehampton, Devon, England; died before 8 Apr 1269. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 29 Jun 1217

Notes:

Custodian of Sherborne Castle; Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset 1204-07; justiciar in 1208.

"After the accession of King John, he became a prominent official at Court. He joined the Barons against King John in 1215. His lands in Somerset and Dorset were forfeited and granted to Ralph de Raligh. He appears to have submitted in 1216 soon after the accession of King Henry III." [Royal Ancestry]

William married Isabel. Isabel died after Jun 1217. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

A favorite of Henry III.

"Amauri de St. Amand was in the King's service, March 1216/7. In 1226 he was serving in Ireland. In 1230 he fought in Henry's expedition overseas; in 1231 was joint constable of castles in co. Pembroke, and joint negotiator of a truce with Llewelyn. In 1232, joint Keeper of St. James de Beuvron (La Manche); in January 1232/3, the King's messenger to the Duke of Brittany; by July, a knight; later in 1233, on official service in the Marches of Wales. The King's Steward or joint Steward, 1233 certainly till 1240; January 1233/4, joint Constable of the Marches; in May, Keeper of Hereford, &c., acting as sheriff until 1240; Keeper of St. Briavel, &c., June 1234, with renewals till his death; in July, in joint control of the King's expenditure in Brittany. In June 1239 he was one of the nine godfathers of Prince Edward. He married, 1stly,-----; and, 2ndly, between July 1214 and Dec. 1222, as her 5th husband, Iseult, daughter of William Pantulf of Breedon, Leics (died 1194), by Joan, daughter of Piers de Goldington and Eve his wife, and (perhaps after the death s.p. of a brother) her father's coheir and ultimately heir. He died between Easter and September 1241, on the journey to the Holy Land on which he set out in 1240, with Simon de Montfort, as followers of Richard, Earl of Cornwall." [Complete Peerage]

Amauri married Iseult Pantolf. Iseult (daughter of Roger Pantolf) died after 1267. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 1221

Robert married Joan. Joan died after May 1242. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

According to Turton's 1968 Plantagenet Ancestry his wife was one Emma (or Rose?) Corbuceo, whom Jim Weber makes the daughter of Peter Corbucion of Studley & Chillington, mentioned in VCH Warwickshire III:175-87. This Peter's father, another Peter, is also mentioned in VCH Staffordshire V: 18-40.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Between 1170 and 1175, of Caln, Wiltshire, England

Notes:

Also spelled Cantelou; Cantilupe.

Count of Mortain. Sheriff of Worcestershire 1200-15; Sheriff of Warwickshire and Leicestershire 1201-4, 1209-23; itinerant Justice in Staffordshire 1203; Sheriff of Herefordshire 1204-5; Steward of the King's Household 1204-22; justice in Nottinghamshire 1208; itinerant justice in Bedfordshire 1218. Fought at the siege of Bitham Castle, 1221.

"He and William Briwerre supervised elections in the vacant sees of York and Carlisle in 1214. Wendover's description of him as one of John's 'evil counselors' probably owes much to his role as a gaoler of baronial hostages. Wendover also suggests that Cantelowe may have wavered in his loyalty after the rebel seizure of London in 1215, but this is belied by the stream of royal writs sent to him in 1215-16. In 1215 he also witnessed the royal declaration of free election to sees and abbeys. He took the side of the king in his war with the barons. In 1215-16 he was granted a number of manors belonging to rebels, and was commissioned to treat with those who might return to the king's peace." [Royal Ancestry]

"A Norman by birth." [Royal Ancestry]

William married Masceline de Bracy. Masceline (daughter of Adulf de Bracy) died after 1220. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Mazalia; Mazra; Brascy; Braci.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 1201 and 1211

Adam married Emma fitz Ralph about 1170. Emma (daughter of Ralph fitz Orm) was born in of Darlaston, Staffordshire, England; died before Nov 1246. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1201

Notes:

Also called Ralph Mesnilwarin; Ralph de Mednil War.

Justice of Chester. Seneschal of Chester.

Ralph married Amicia de Meschines about 1179. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Amice of Chester. Her legitimacy was the subject of a lengthy seventeenth-century controversy which can be read, in all its magnificently florid language, here.

It seems to us entirely plausible that Amicia was Hugh's legitimate daughter by an unknown earlier wife. The Earl's behavior toward Amicia, and the attitude shown by all their contemporaries -- to say nothing of the illustrious guests recorded as having attended Amicia's wedding to Ralph Mainwairing -- are all consistent with Amicia being legitimate. It's far from impossible that history should have lost track of the identity of a twelfth-century magnate's short-lived first wife. We don't even have firm knowledge of the birth dates of some post-Conquest English kings.

A summary of the issues, from Burke's Dormant and Extinct Peerages:

The earl had another dau., whose legitimacy is questionable, namely Amicia,* m. to Ralph de Mesnilwarin, justice of Chester, "a person," says Dugdale, "of very ancient family," from which union the Mainwarings, of Over Peover, in the co. Chester, derive. Dugdale considers Amicia to be a dau. of the earl by a former wife. But Sir Peter Leicester, in his Antiquities of Chester, totally denies her legitimacy. "I cannot but mislike," says he, "the boldness and ignorance of that herald who gave to Mainwaring (late of Peover), the elder, the quartering of the Earl of Chester's arms; for if he ought of right to quarter that coat, then must he be descended from a co-heir to the Earl of Chester; but he was not; for the co-heirs of Earl Hugh married four of the greatest peers in the kingdom."

(*) Upon the question of this lady's legitimacy there was a long paper war between Sir Peter Leicester and Sir Thomas Mainwaring -- and eventually the matter was referred to the judges, of whose decision Wood says, "at an assize held at Chester, 1675, the controversy was decided by the justices itinerant, who, as I have heard, adjudged the right of the matter to Mainwaring."

The passage from Dugdale that evidently occasioned Sir Peter Leycester's astonishment and disbelief, from his Baronage of England, 1675, reprinted by Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim & New York, 1977; Earls of Chester, pp. 40-41:

[I]t is certain that [Sir Hugh] had another Daughter called Amicia, married to Raphe de Mesnilwarin (a person of a very ancient Family, and Justice of Chester, in those days) whose Legitimacy is doubted by some; the cheif reason they give for it, being, that they find no Memorial, that Earl Hugh her Father had a former Wife.

That she was his Daughter, sufficiently appeareth, not only from his Grant of two Knight Fees with her in Frank-marriage, unto Raphe de Mesnilwarin before mentioned, where he so termeth her. But by another Deed of Roger de Mesnilwarin her Son, wherein he calls Ranulph, Earl of Chester, (Son to this Earl) his Uncle.

As to her Legitimacy, therefore I do not well understand how there can be any question, it being known Maxim in Law, that nothing can be given in Frank-marriage to a Bastard.

The Point being then thus briefly cleared, I shall not need to raise further Arguments from Probabilities to back it, then to desire it may be observed, that Bertra (whom I conclude to have been his second Wife) was married to him, when he was in years, and she, herself, very young, as is evident from what I have before instanced. So that he having been Earl no less then twenty eight years, it must necessarily follow, that this Bertra was not born, till four years after he came to the Earldom. Nor is it any marvel he should then take such a young Wife, having at that time no Issue-male to succeed him in this he great Inheritance."

From Palatine Anthology: A Collection of Ancient Poems and Ballads Relating to Lancashire and Chester ed. James Orchard Halliwell (London: 1850):

The following old ballad relates to a famous dispute between two Cheshire knights, Sir Peter Leycester and Sir Thomas Mainwaring, about the legitimacy of Amicia, daughter of Hugh Lupus. The worthy knights were related by marriage, and the controversy agitated the county for many years, and was hardly settled by the death of one of the principal controversialists. Communicated to me by Mr. W. H. BLACK.

A new Ballad, made of a high and mighty Controversy between two Cheshire Knights, 1673.

(From the ASHMOLEAN MSS. No. 860, iii, art. 1, and No. 836, art. 183.)

Two famous wights, both Cheshire Knights,
Thomas yclep'd and Petre,
A quarrel had, which was too bad
As bad as is my metre.

Neere kinsmen were they, yet had a great fray,
Concerning things done quondam;
I think as long since as Will Rufus was Prince,
E'en about their Great-great-grandame.

Sir Peter (good man) this quarell began:
Whilst he tumbles ore ancient deedes,
Old women can't have quiet rest in their graves,
So loud he proclaims what he reades.

When in reading he found (as he thought) good ground
To judge his Grannam a bastard;
Though he blemisht her name, yet it to proclaim
He resolv'd hee'd be no dastard.

But boldly durst say, that AMICIA
Daughter of Hugh Earle of Chester
For certaine was bore to him . . . .
As sure as his name was Leycester.

To this good intent he us'd much argument
The which all such as are willing
Fully to know, let them quickly bestow
Upon his Booke sixteene shilling.

His Grannam's his friend; yet truth hee'l defend
And little dirt he throws on her,
For as now, so then, among your great men,
A bastard is small dishonour.

Another grandchild, hearing this was stark wild,
The affront he could not digest;
But takes pen in hand, the same to withstand,
As scorning to fowl his own nest.

His Grannam hee'l right, against the erring Knight,
That slander'd her without warrant:
Who does not his best, to free ladies opprest,
Is not a true Knight Errant.

Hist'ry and lawes he cites for his cause,
With Judges and Heraldes; what more?
With these hee'l defy the scandalous lye
That made him . . . . .

They us'd not their swords, but their pens and fowl words,
Which noyse with other folks laughter,
Could not chuse to awake (to clere this mistake)
The jolly old Earl and his daughter.

Then up start[s] Earl Hughe, and sayes "Is it true--
That I, brave Chester's Earle,
Am summon'd to appear before Justices here,
As charg'd with a by-blow girle?"

Not another word, but clapt hand on his sword;
While she (gentle AMICIA)
For feare of some slaughter that might come after,
Besought him in patience to stay.

But she told her Grandson, "'Twas uncivilly done
Such a hideous pudder to keep:
Whilst he dreams that folks soules do snort in dark holes
To awake us out of our sleep.

"Should it have been true, that's suspected by you,
Its father was able to nourish
The barne he had got, and sure I should not
Have been any charge to the parish.

"But you, dear Sir Thomas, (much honor to your domus)
That my cause you have so well defended;
Henceforth leave AMICIA, both keepe Amicitia;
And so let the quarell be ended."

All this said, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography also notes that "[t]he feud, however, was not merely a dispute over genealogical and legal niceties, but reflected the division on the Cheshire bench between those like Leycester who sought a rigorous enforcement of the Act of Uniformity and the Conventicle Acts and those such as Mainwaring who opposed this policy."

William married Leica fitz Ralph. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 31 Jul 1234

Notes:

Chief Forester and Justice of the King's Forest; Sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire 1197-1200, 1202-4; Keeper of the Seaports from Cornwall to Hampshire.

Raised at the court of Henry II as an intimate of Richard, whom he accompanied to the Holy Land on the Third Crusade in 1190. Present at the siege of Jaffa. It was Richard who first appointed him forester, an office he retained under John, but his relationship with the latter king was less smooth. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: "As chief forester he was largely free of supervision by the king's exchequer at Westminster; he held his own exchequer of the forest, which is known to have sat at Marlborough and Nottingham, and was directly accountable to the king, who, however, sometimes intervened personally. Neville's position during John's reign was very powerful, since he was one of the king's closest advisers and agents, but his relationship with his royal master was a turbulent one. Several times he had to pay large fines to the king when his actions did not find favour. His wife may have been one of the women who suffered from the amorous attentions of the king, since in 1204 she made a fine of 200 shillings 'to lie one night with her husband' (Rotuli de oblatis et finibus ... tempore Regis Johannis ed. T. D. Hardy, RC, 1835, 275). In 1212 Neville was forced to pay a fine of 6000 marks, ostensibly for allowing the escape of two knights captured at Carrickfergus in 1210, but it seems also to have covered his misdeeds in administering the northern forests and his tenure of the lands of the bishopric of Salisbury during the interdict. Soon afterwards he was dismissed as sheriff of Hampshire, and as keeper of the county and forest of Cumberland, which he had held since 1209; some of the debt was, however, pardoned later. He witnessed Magna Carta in 1215, but before John's death joined the baronial party, to whom he brought the possession of Marlborough Castle." For this he lost his office and some of his estates.

He made peace with Henry III but did not return to office until 1224; his remaining years as forester were caught up in the complex disputes over forest boundaries between the counties and the central government. He was ultimately dismissed on 8 Oct 1229.

Hugh married Joan de Cornhill before 30 Apr 1200. Joan (daughter of Henry de Cornhill and Alice de Courcy) died between 1224 and 1230; was buried in Waltham Abbey, Essex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft Dec 1224
• Alternate death: Aft 9 May 1225

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Abt 27 Jul 1242, Iwerne, Dorset, England

Notes:

"Sheriff of Devonshire, and Castellan of Exeter, 1209; Castellan of Oxford and Sheriff of Oxfordshire, 1215 in which year King John committed to him the coinage of tin in Devonshire and Cornwall. In 1219 he inherited from his mother the great Honour of Okehampton amounting to 92 knight's fees." [The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz, citation details below.]

Ancestral Roots places Ford Abbey in Devon. It is now in Dorset, but appears to be quite close to both the Devon and Somerset borders (in fact its mailing address is in Chard, Somerset). Given shifting county borders, AR could well be correct for the time when Sir Robert was buried.

Robert married Mary de Revières between 1210 and 1211. Mary (daughter of William de Revières and Mabel de Meulan) died after 12 Nov 1242. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 15 Jul 1250

Notes:

Also called Mary de Vernon.