Roger la Zouche

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 25 Jun 1353

Notes:

Sheriff of Worcestershire, Warwickshire, and Leicestershire, 6 Oct 1329 to 24 Oct 1330. Sheriff of Warwickshire and Leicestershire, March 1334 to June 1340.

John Watson, 5 Jul 2017, soc.genealogy.medieval (citation details below):

In August 1322, Roger la Zouche and Ralph his brother performed military service in Scotland, together with their cousin Eon son of William la Zouche of Harringworth (CPR, 1321-1324, 188). In May 1324, Roger and Ralph were among those accused of entering Hugh le Despenser's manors in Leicestershire (CPR, 1321-1324, 387). Sir Roger la Zouche and Ralph his brother, together with their brother-in-law Sir Robert de Helewell and their cousin Eon la Zouche were among those charged with the death of Roger Beler of Kirby Bellars who was murdered at Brooksby, Leicestershire on 19 January 1326 (CPR, 1324-1327, 284). Eon la Zouche fled to France where he died in Paris in April 1326. There are no further mentions of Ralph la Zouche in the records and it is possible he also died with his cousin in France.

Roger la Zouche's lands in Lubbesthorpe were taken into the king's hands and he at some point was imprisoned at Leicester. On 19 February 1327, he was pardoned for Beler's murder and for breaking out of prison at Leicester (CPR, 1327-1330, 20). After a year and a day his lands in Lubbesthorpe which had been in the king's hands were returned to the feudal overlord William la Zouche who enfeoffed Roger again. From 6 October 1329 to 24 October 1330, Roger was sheriff of Worcester, Warwick and Leicester (CFR, 1327-1337, 151, 193). In February 1331, he was appointed to survey the lands of Roger de Mortimer, Earl of March (CFR, 1327-1337, 236). From March 1334, to June 1340, Roger was sheriff of Warwick and Leicester (CFR, 1327-1337, 391; 1337-1347, 182).

In March 1337, Roger la Zouche and his brother, the future Archbishop, had licence to alienate in mortmain £10 of rent annually for certain chaplains to celebrate divine service daily in the chapel of Lubbesthorpe and in the church of Clipsham for the souls of the said William and Roger and their ancestors (CPR, 1334-1338, 406). Twelve years later, at the height of the Black Death in England, they still had not obtained all the rents, so in August 1349 they had licence to assign 100 shillings of rent from land in North Witham and Gunby, Lincolnshire, held by their nephew, Robert son of Robert de Helewell (CPR, 1348-1350, 358) and in December 1349 for 60 shillings of rent from property in Lubbesthorpe (CPR, 1348-1350, 432).

Sir Roger la Zouche, knight, "fratri meo", was one of the executors of Archbishop William's will dated 28 June 1349. The Archbishop died on 19 July 1352 (Test. Ebor, i, 55). Roger was still living on 25 June 1353, when he acknowledged a debt of £1,000 to John de Thoresby, Archbishop of York (CCR, 1349-1354, 602). He probably died shortly afterwards.

Family/Spouse: Felicia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 21 May 1378

Family/Spouse: Marmaduke Constable. Marmaduke (son of Robert Constable and Katherine) was born in of Flamborough, Bridlington, Yorkshire, England; died on 21 May 1378. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 8 Jan 1400
• Alternate death: Aft 8 Jan 1400
• Alternate death: Between Nov 1400 and 8 Jan 1401
• Alternate death: Between 29 Nov 1400 and 7 Jan 1401

Notes:

Knight of the shire for Yorkshire, Feb 1388 (the "Merciless Parliament").

Sheriff of Yorkshire, 20 Oct 1385 - 18 Nov 1386; 11 Nov 1394 - 9 Nov 1395.

"[H]e married Margaret, the widow of Alexander Surteys, who had died young in 1380 barely a few months after succeeding to family property in North Gosforth. Surteys had, however, by then produced an infant son, who became a ward of Margaret's father, William Skipwith. Since she herself had remarried without first obtaining the necessary royal licence, the Crown demanded a fine of 40s. before dower could be assigned, although in February 1384 Skipwith was ordered to be present when a suitable allocation of property was made to her out of the child's patrimony. Sir Robert was naturally anxious to gain control of the rest of these estates as well, and in October 1385 he finally obtained a lease of the town of North Gosforth at an annual rent of eight marks payable at the Exchequer." [Complete Peerage]

"His return to the Merciless Parliament of 1388, in which the Lords Appellant removed King Richard’s most unpopular favourites and asserted control over the government, does, however, underline the strength of his connexions in the upper ranks of the nobility, for both Thomas of Woodstock and Gaunt’s son, Henry of Bolingbroke, were active as Appellants, and clearly relied upon the support of friends like Constable among the shire knights." [History of Parliament]

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

Sir Robert [ii] Constable [...] continued the family's slow rise into a more than purely local prominence. During his father's lifetime he had begun a military career, campaigning in Brittany in 1373 with John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster. This was the family's first known association with the house of Lancaster since 1321, and it is unclear whether the connection had been maintained in the intervening generations. It may have been for his service on that campaign that Robert was knighted. His military activity continued as head of the family (he served in Brittany under Thomas of Woodstock in 1380 and in Scotland under Gaunt in 1383) alongside involvement in local government. He was a justice of the peace for the East Riding and sheriff of Yorkshire in 1385-6 and 1394-5, and was returned to parliament in 1388. He acquired land in Butterwick in Ryedale, Yorkshire, in 1395, and it may also have been Robert who forged the links with the Percy family that were to be of such importance to the family in the next century. By 1405 (but not in 1378) the Constables held land of the earl of Northumberland in Nafferton, Yorkshire, and elsewhere.

Robert was unmarried at his father's death, but within three years had married Margaret Skipwith, the widow of Alexander Surtees (d. 1380) of North Gosforth, Northumberland. They were pardoned for marrying without licence in January 1384, but the marriage must have taken place earlier, since Robert's heir was old enough to inherit at his father's death, which occurred in late 1400 or early 1401.

Robert married Margaret Skipwith before 20 Jan 1384. Margaret (daughter of William Skipwith and Alice Hiltoft) was born about 1360; died after Jan 1401. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Catherine Cumberworth. Catherine (daughter of Robert Cumberworth and Sybil Ergham) was born in of Somerby, Lincolnshire, England; died about 1404. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]