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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRA
3 1833 00730 8387
Swallowfield and its Owners
Gc
942. Sw97 1269
LADY RUSSELL AND SON From the original at SviallowfieU fiy George Romney, R.A., fainted in 1786-7.
SWALLOWFIELD
AND ITS OWNERS
LADY RUSSELL
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK AND BOMBAY
G* c I9GI
PREFACE
The following pages are the result of my having for many years past, during much desultory reading, dotted down everything I have come across that in any way related to Swallowfield or its owners.
\I pretend to no style ; my work is simply an ' olla podrida ' from innumerable sources, good, bad, and indifferent. Some- times the most important events are merely sketched in, and at other times I enter into minute details, which would be gene- rally considered quite unimportant and uninteresting. But I have written this solely for my own family and neighbours at Swallowfield, and have therefore included everything that I thought might interest them.
It is possible that I may occasionally have drawn from various authors without acknowledging my indebtedness, and of these I must ask pardon. Had I ever contemplated the publication of my notes, I should have been careful to give all my authorities ; as it is, I much regret that in some cases it is now impossible for me to do so.
I had intended that this little work should be revised and
vi Swallowfield and its Owners
put into shape by one who took a great interest in it, and whose criticisms and suggestions I should have valued more than any- other, but fate has ordered it otherwise ; so I now send it forth in all its crudity, knowing that those for whom it is written will not be critical, and will excuse its shortcomings.
CONSTANCE RUSSELL.
SWALLOWFIELD.
CONTENTS
I. SWALLOWFIELD AT THE CONQUEST I
II. SWALLOWFIELD UNDER THE ST. JOHNS AND DESPENCERS . . IO
III. SWALLOWFIELD REVERTS TO THE ST. JOHNS . . . -24
IV. LATER ST. JOHNS AND THEIR TENANTS 32
V. THE DE LA BECHES AND BEAUMYS 39
VI. SWALLOWFIELD A ROYAL PARK 48
VII. THE PRINCESS ISABELLA 58
VIII. SWALLOWFIELD UNDER ROYAL DUKES 68
IX. SWALLOWFIELD AND THE HOUSE OF YORK . . . -79
X. SWALLOWFIELD THE DOWRY OF TUDOR QUEENS . . . . 88
XI. THE FAMILY OF BACKHOUSE 99
XII. SIR JOHN BACKHOUSE THE ROYALIST IIO
XIII. WILLIAM BACKHOUSE, THE ROSICRUCIAN 124
XIV. SWALLOWFIELD PASSES TO THE HYDES 1 34
XV. SWALLOWFIELD BEFORE THE REVOLUTION I45
XVI. JOHN EVELYN AT SWALLOWFIELD 151
XVII. SWALLOWFIELD AFTER THE REVOLUTION 159
XVIII. SWALLOWFIELD REBUILT BY LORD CLARENDON . . . 168
XIX. DEATH OF LADY CLARENDON 1 78
XX. THE LAST OF THE HYDES 187
XXI. GOVERNOR PITT'S CAREER 1 95
XXII. THE PITT DIAMOND 203
XXIII. GOVERNOR PITT AT SWALLOWFIELD 212
XXIV. CHATHAM'S FATHER AT SWALLOWFIELD 219
viii Sajallowfield and its Owners
CHAPTER rAGE
XXV. JOHN DODD AND HIS FRIENDS 226
XXVI. JOHN DODD AND HIS TENANTS 236
XXVII. NOTES FROM THE SALE OF SWALLOWFIELD . . . . 245
XXVIII. THE RUSSELLS AT SWALLOWFIELD 252
XXIX. SIR HENRY RUSSELL THE SECOND 262
XXX. SIR HENRY RUSSELL'S REMINISCENCES OF ST. HELENA IN 1821 273
XXXI. SIR CHARLES RUSSELL AND SIR GEORGE RUSSELL . . . 294
XXXII. REMINISCENCES OF SIR GEORGE RUSSELI 30 1
XXXIII. SOME CELEBRITIES IN OUR PARISH 309
XXXIV. SOME OLD CUSTOMS AND ANTIQUITIES OF SWALLOWFIELD .316
ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA 339
INDEX 349
LIST OF PEDIGREES
1. PEDIGREE SHOWING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE
NEWBURGHS, EARLS OF WARWICK, AND THE BEAU- CHAMPS, EARLS OF WARWICK, AND THEIR DANISH EXTRACTION, ALSO THE THREEFOLD CONNECTION OF WILLIAM FITZ-OSBERN WITH WILLIAM THE CON- QUEROR ......... To face p.
2. PEDIGREE OF BACKHOUSE OF SWALLOWFIELD ... „
3. PEDIGREE OF THE HYDES, EARLS OF CLARENDON, SHOW-
ING THEIR CONNECTION WITH VILLIERS, EARL OF CLARENDON, AND SOME OF THE DESCENDANTS OF THE LORD CHANCELLOR
4. PEDIGREE OF THOMAS PITT OF SWALLOWFIELD (' DIAMOND '
PITT)
5. PEDIGREE OF JOHN DODD OF SWALLOWFIELD
6. PEDIGREE OF THE ST. LEGERS OF SHIXFIF.LP, THE
HUGUENOT FAMILY OF LE COQ
7. PEDIGREE 01 SIR PHILIP JENNWGS-CLERKE, BART.
192 195
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
lady russell and SON Frontispiece
From the original at Swallozvfeld by George Romney, R.A., painted in 17S6-7.
EAST END OF ALL SAINTS' CHURCH, SWALLOWFIELD : INTERIOR To face p. 1 8
ALL SAINTS' CHURCH, SWALLOWFIELD : EXTERIOR . . „ 20
ST. MARY'S CHURCH, SHINFIELD „ 32
JOHN PLANTAGENET, DUKE OF BEDFORD .... „ 70
From the Bedford Book of Hours in the British Museum.
KING HENRY VI „ 72
From a picture in the National Portrait Gallery, by an unknown painter.
ELIZABETH WOODVILLE, EDWARD IV.'s QUEEN ... „ 80
From a print in the British Museum.
ELIZABETH OF YORK, HENRY VII. 's QUEEN .... „ 84
From a picture in the National Portrait Gallery, by an unknown painter.
CATHERINE OF ARRAGON „ 86
From a picture in the National Portrait Gallery, by an unknown painter.
ANNE BOLEYN „ 88
From a picture in the National Portrait Gallery, by an unknown painter.
JANE SEYMOUR „ 89
From the painting by Holbein, photographed by Hanfstacngl.
ANNE OF CLEVES „ 90
From the painting by Holbein in the Louvre.
CATHERINE HOWARD „ 91
From a picture in the National Portrait Gallery {School of Holbein).
x Swallowfield and its Owners
QUEEN CATHARINE PARR .......
From a print in the British Museum,
ROBERT DEVEREUX, THIRD EARL OF ESSEX
From an engraving in the British Museum after the original of Walker, in the collection of the Duke of Sutherland at Trentham.
FRANCES, COUNTESS OF ESSEX
From a picture belonging to the present Earl of Essex.
SIR THOMAS OVERBURY
From an engraving by Renold Elstrack, in the British Museum.
ROBERT CARR, EARL OF SOMERSET, K.G
From a picture attributed to John Hoskins, in the National Portrait Gallery.
THE MARKET PLACE, WOKINGHAM, SHOWING THE ' ROSE ' INN From a lithograph drawing in 1832 by P. H. Delamott, junr.
MONUMENT TO SIR JOHN BACKHOUSE IN SWALLOWFIELD CHURCH, ERECTED IN 1650
BACKHOUSE MONUMENT IN SWALLOWFIELD CHURCH, ERECTED BY LADY CLARENDON IN 1670 . . .
VISCOUNT AND VISCOUNTESS CORNBURY .... From the original portrait by Vandyke, belonging to the Earl of Clarendon.
QUEEN ANNE, WHEN PRINCESS, WITH HER SON WILLIAM,
DUKE OF GLOUCESTER
From the original painted by Michael Dahl in 1695.
FROST FAIR ON THE THAMES, 1 683-4 ....
JOHN EVELYN
From an engraving by Nanteuil, after his own drawing.
CEDARS AT SWALLOWFIELD
THE OLD ENTRANCE, SWALLOWFIELD
HALL AT SWALLOWFIELD, SHOWING PART OF THE VESTIBULE
THE PITT DIAMOND, FROM MODELS IN THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, SOUTH KENSINGTON From an engraving in the Diary of William Hedges, by the kind permission of the Council of the Hakluyt Society.
To face p. 92
136
MS
144 146
170 194
List of Illustrations
PORTRAITS OF LADY SHELLEY (WIFE OF SIR JOHN SHELLEY AND SISTER TO HOLLIS, DUKE OF NEWCASTLE), MR. AND MRS. RICHARD SHELLEY, THEIR TWO DAUGHTERS, FANNY AND MARTHA ROSE (WHO MARRIED SIR CHARLES WHITWORTH), CAPTAIN THE HON. WILLIAM FITZ- WILLIAM, MR. BENYON, AND MRS. BEARD . . .
From the original picture at Swallowfield by Hogarth.
GOVERNOR PITT
From the original picture by Shelter, belonging to Earl Stanhope.
BRIDGE BUILT OVER THE BLACKWATER IN SWALLOWFIELD PARK, BY ' DIAMOND ' PITT
From a photograph by J. Mason Good. LORD CHATHAM
After a picture by R. Brompton, belonging to Earl Stanhope.
JOHN DODD
From an original portrait by Jean Rouquet, belonging to Miss Parke.
HORATIO WALPOLE, FOURTH EARL OF ORFORD .
From a picture painted in 1747 by John Giles Eccardt. SWALLOWFIELD PLACE IN 1820
From an engraving by J. and H. S. Storer. MICHAEL RUSSELL
From the original portrait at Swallorujield painted by George Romney, R.A., in 1 785.
HENRY RUSSELL (AFTERWARDS FIRST BART.) . . .
From the original portrait at Swallowfield painted by George Romney, R.A.
NORTH SIDE OF QUADRANGLE, SWALLOWFIELD .
ITALIAN STONE GATEWAY : ENTRANCE TO GARDEN AT SWALLOWFIELD
SIR HENRY RUSSELL, SECOND BART
From the original portrait at Swallowfield by George Richmond, R.A.
CHARLES RUSSELL (AFTERWARDS THIRD BART.) . . .
From the original portrait at Sivalloivfield by George Richmond, R.A.
To face p. 2 c
232
250
256
259
262
xii Swallow field and ils Owners
SIR CHARLES RUSSELL, THIRD BART., AT THE SANDBAG
battery To face p. 295
From the original picture by Desanges, the property of Mrs. George Brackenbury.
SIR CHARLES RUSSELL, THIRD BART., V.C „ 296
From the original portrait at Swallowfield painted in 1 8S3 Ay Sir John Millais, P.R.A.
SIR GEORGE RUSSELL, FOURTH BART „ 300
From an original crayon.
THE LIBRARY, SWALLOWFIELD „ 302
THE DRAWING-ROOM, SWALLOWFIELD „ 304
YELLOW DRAWING-ROOM, SWALLOWFIELD .... „ 306
MARY RUSSELL MITFORD „ 3 10
From a picture painted in 1852 by John Lucas, in the National Portrait Gallery.
SWALLOWFIELD CHURCHYARD „ 3 14
THE REV. CHARLES KINGSLEY „ 315
From a photograph by Draycott.
NORTH SIDE OF SWALLOWFIELD (1900) „ 336
( The reproductions from pictures in the National Portrait Gallery are from pholograp/is by Walker and Cockerell.)
SWALLOWFIELD
AND ITS OWNERS
CHAPTER I
SWALLOWFIELD AT THE CONQUEST
That quaint old author Fuller says :
' It is observed that the lands in Berkshire are very skittish, and often cast their owners, which yet I impute not so much to the unruliness of the Beasts as to the unskillfulness of the Riders. I desire heartily that hereafter the Berkshire gentry may be settled in their saddles, so that the sweet places in this county may not be subject to so many mutations.'
Swallowfield, situated five and a half miles south-west from Wokingham and six miles south-east from Reading, has certainly been no exception to the proverbial skittishness, since from the time of Edward the Confessor it has constantly cast its owners.
In the Domesday Survey, Berkshire is divided into twenty- two hundreds, and we find mention of two hundred manors, forty-six of which were vested in the Crown. Amongst the latter, in the hundred of ' Cereledone ' or Charlton, were ' Selingefelle,' now Shinfield, and ' Soanesfelt ' or ' Swalfelle,' 1 now Swallowfield, which two manors appear not to have been separated till the year 1553.
1 Manerio Regis de Swalfelle, quod est in Berchesire.' Domesday, Hants, f. 48A.
2 Swallowfield and its Owners
1043-66 From the Survey we learn that in the reign of Edward the
Confessor, 1043-66, * Selingefelle ' and 'Soanesfelt,' as well as one hide in ' Solafel ' in Reading,1 were held by Sexi, ' Huscarle Regis E.,' who held them in free manors of the King, and the value of Selingefelle at that time was £1 per annum, and Soanesfelt the same. The Eluscarli, though usually domestic servants, were sometimes Thanes and higher tenantry or military retainers. Sexi was probably one of these, as besides manors in Berks he held land in Hants, Cambridgeshire, Warwickshire, and Hertfordshire. The name appears again in the beginning of the fourteenth century ; in 1308 an order was sent to the Sheriff of Berks to release from the King's prison of Windsor, Thomas Sexi.2
1066 At the time of the Conquest, 'Selingefelle ' and ' Swalfelle '
were given with many other manors 3 to William FitzOsbern, Lord of Breteuil,4 who was ' dapifer ' or steward 5 to William the Conqueror, as well as Seneschal of Normandy.0 William
1 At Solafel in Reading, alodiarii still existed as tenants. ' Ibi sunt v. alodiarij cu. ii., car. 7, bord. uno.' Kelham says : ' The term of allodium refers to the tenants and possessors chiefly before the Conquest ; it signifies an hereditary and perpetual estate free, and in the power of the possessors to dispose of by gift or sale, but subject to the land-tax of hidage.' This one hide appears at the time of the survey to have been 'held by Stephen, son of Eirardi, and Aluric of him.'
- Calendar of Close Rolls, I Edw. II. membrane 9.
3 Professor Freeman says : 'The men of Berkshire were, as a race, specially loyal to Harold and to England. Not a single Englishman was allowed to keep his lands on their old tenure, and only two English tenants-in-chief appear in the Survey.'
4 Breteuil or Bretteville (Bretolium), in the arrondissement of Evreux. In 1058 William, Duke of Normandy, built the castle of Breteuil and gave the custody of it to William FitzOsbern ; the site of it already, probably, formed part of his ancestral estate. It was built by the Duke to hold in check the castle of Tillieres.
6 These household offices among the Normans were held by persons of the highest birth and eminence, and became hereditary.
■ Thierry says in his Conqni'le de FAngletenw vol. i. p. 270 : ' Fitzosbert etait
Swallowfield at the Conquest 3
FitzOsbern was son of Osbern le Crepon, who had been steward to the Conqueror when Duke of Normandy.1
Besides being the chief officer of his household, William FitzOsbern was related to the King,2 and his greatest friend,3 and we find the King addressing him as ' cousin and councillor.' 4 It was upon his advice that William, on hearing of King Edward's death and Harold's assumption of the throne, deter- mined to force Harold to surrender it and keep the engagement which he had contracted with the Norman sovereign.5
When William assembled his Parliament at Lillebonne, many refused to take part in the expedition, but FitzOsbern entreated them to do so, and in their name he engaged that each feudatory should render double the service to which he was bound by his tenure, and he himself promised to fit out at his own expense sixty vessels, each carrying chosen warriors.6
At the battle of Hastings FitzOsbern, with Roger Mont- gomery, commanded one of the three divisions.7 On the morning of the battle he thought William was delaying too long in commencing hostilities and urged him to proceed :
A 50 ke Willame diseit, Et encore plus dire voleit, Vint Willame li fitzOsber, Son cheval tot covert de fer :
Senechal de Normandie, c'est a dire lieutenant du Due pour l'administration civile.' Bishop Stubbs says that ' the name of comes palatinus is claimed for the Seneschal of Normandy,' and that a cartulary of Trinity, Rouen, of 1068, speaks of William Fitz- Osbern as ' Dapiferi, qui comes erat palatii,' vol. i. p. 372.
1 W. Gemet, 399 D. Ordericus Vit. 467 A.
- He was second cousin once removed through his father and mother, being grandson of Herfast, brother of the Duchess Gunner (through his father), and grandson of Ralf, Count of Ivry (through his mother).
3 Kelham. 4 Rad. de Diceto, 479. 5 Palgrave, Hist, of Anglo-Saxons, p. 307.
6 Thierry, Conquete de PAngic/crrc,vo\. i. p. 271. Ckron. de Normandie, vol. iii. p. 176.
7 Gesta W. Ducts, 208 D. Ord. Vit. 506 C.
4 Swallowfield and its Owners
1 Sire,' dist-il, ' trop demoron, Armons nos tuit ; allon ! allon ! ' Issi sunt as tentes ale, &C1
In Benoit's 2 account of the leaders who particularly dis- tinguished themselves at Hastings is the following :
Si n'a duree acer ne fer Vers Guillaume le fizOsber, Qu'Engleis ateigne si garniz De la mort ne puisse estre fiz.
In the ' Roman de Rou ' (17051) FitzOsbern the Seneschal is called • Li fils Osber col cuer hardi,' and Pictaviensis says he was considered as the pride of the Normans and the scourge of the English.3 FitzOsbern was rewarded for his services by being created Earl of Hereford.4 The following year he invaded and subdued the Isle of Wight ' for his own use and profit,' and he became the first Norman Lord of Wight. His rule over the Island is said to have been more absolute than that of the King himself over the rest of England.5 He founded the Priory of Carisbrooke, and bestowed it, with many other churches, lands, and tithes, on the Benedictine Abbey of Lire in Normandy, which had been established by him.
In 1067 FitzOsbern was made Governor of Winchester,
1070 that city being then second only to London.6 In 1070 he was
sent to Normandy by King William, nominally to protect
Queen Matilda, but Dugdale tells an anecdote to the effect
1 Wace, Reman de Rou, 1. 7509 el seq. 5 Benoit de Sainte-More, vol. Hi. p. 208.
3 ' Hunc Normannis carissimum, Anylis maximo terrori, esse sciebat.' Will. Pict. 149.
1 lie erected Chepstow Castle and Clifford Castle above the Wye.
4 Carisbrooke Chartulary.
' I'lanchd, The Conqueror and his Companions, i. 177.
Swallowfield at the Conquest 5
that William FitzOsbern having set before the King the flesh of a crane half roasted, William struck out at him fiercely, which made FitzOsbern so angry that he gave up his post as steward.1 Anyhow he left the kingdom, and soon after, having married, as his second wife, Richilde, daughter and heiress of Reinald, Earl of Henault,2 he was made titular Count of Flanders. The following year he was killed in battle near Cassel, and was buried, ' amid much sorrow,' at the Abbey of Cormeilles, Normandy, 1071 which he had founded.3
By his first wife Adelina de Toeni, daughter of Roger de Toeni, standard-bearer of Normandy,4 William FitzOsbern 5 had three sons ; the eldest, William, succeeded him as Lord of Breteuil. He was the friend of Robert Curthose, whom he accompanied to Normandy, and his name figures there in the civil wars. In 1090 he was taken a prisoner at Conches and paid 3,000 livres for his ransom. In n 00 he was with William Rufus in the New Forest when that King was killed, and immediately after the accident he started off" for Winchester to guard the Royal Treasury, of which he was Governor. He there found Prince Henry demanding the keys, and told him that neither the treasure nor the sceptre of England was his, but belonged to his brother Robert. High words ensued and blows were likely to follow, when Robert, Count de Meulent, arriving with a great number of the late King's attendants, William de Breteuil was forced to retire and left Prince Henry master of the Treasury.
1 Monasticon, vol. ii. p. 889.
2 She was widow of Baldwin de Monte, called the Peace-maker. (See Rotulus de Dominabus, ed. Grimaldi, p. 15.) The heir of Gilbert de Monte had four uncles, Thomas and John de St. John, Hugh de Plugenet, and Will Fossard.
a Planche, vol. i. p. 179.
4 This office was hereditary in the family of Toeni (or Toesny).
s The Osbernus episcopus of Exeter, in Domesday, was his brother.
6 Swallawfield and its Owners
William de Breteuil died in i 103, leaving no legitimate issue, and he made his cousin Roger de Toeni his heir, but his illegitimate son, Eustace, who held Pacy ' in Normandy, disputed the lordship with Ralph le Breton, the son of Emma Fitz- Osbern's daughter who had married Raoul de Gael,2 Earl of Norfolk. The latter became possessor of Breteuil and gave it to his daughter Amicia as her dowry. Henry I. affianced her to his illegitimate son Richard, and then ' settled on her the barony of Breteuil which had belonged to her grandmother's family,' but Richard was drowned in the 'White Ship' in 11 20, and Amicia married Robert de Beaumont, second Earl of Leicester, called ' le Bossu,' into whose hands it passed, and remained in the family of these Earls of Leicester 3 till they became extinct in 1204, when Amicia de Beaumont, who married Simon de Montfort, gave it up to Philip Augustus, King of France.4
FitzOsbern's second son, Ralph, was a monk at Cormeilles;
the third son, Roger de Breteuil, succeeded to the Earldom of
Hereford and ' had all the lands his father held in England,' so
1071 that he was the owner of Swallowfield in 107 1. He had a great
Breteuil,6 position, and was the originator of the Domesday Survey,0 but
Hereford joining with his brother-in-law Raoul de Gael, Earl of Norfolk,
in a conspiracy against William Rufus in 1074-5, all his
1 Ord. Vit. 840 ; Dugdale, Baronage, 68.
2 De Gael, or Guader, also written Wayer and Waer.
■ Petronel, wife of Robert de Beaumont, ' Blanchemains,' 3rd Earl of Leicester, gave 4ar. rent out of her mills at Bretvile for the performance of the anniversary for William de Breteuil, her son, a leper. (Dugdale.)
1 Amicia, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Leicester, gave to the monks at Lyra one ounce of gold and 1 $s. sterling yearly ' for the health of the soul of Will, de Bretvil, her brother.' (Dugdale.)
'- ' The Domesday Survey was ordered by William in a great council held at Christmas 1085 at Gloucester, when a Danish invasion was supposed to be immi- nent.' (Stubbs, Constitutional Hist, oj England, vol. i. p. 436.)
Swallowfield at tlie Conquest 7
possessions were forfeited to the King. Lingard says : ' Roger 1074-5 FitzOsbern was convicted of treason, and sentenced, according to the Norman Code, to perpetual imprisonment and the loss of his property. His father's services indeed pleaded forcibly in his favour, but his proud and ungovernable temper disdained to ask for mercy.' Ordericus tells us that 'when the King sent Roger FitzOsbern a valuable present of clothes he kindled a fire in his prison and burnt them ; ' they consisted of ' a vest of silk, and a mantle, and a shorter cloak of the skins of martens,' which appears to have been the distinguishing dress of Earls at this time.' x Roger de Breteuil died in prison, leaving no lawful issue, but Dugdale says 2 he left two sons, Raynald and Roger, excellent soldiers under Henry, but neglected by him.3
The Domesday record states that in 1085 ' Soanesfelt ' and 1085 ' Selingefelle ' belonged to Gilbert de Breteuil, who appears as de ' Gislebertus de Bretevile ' 4 in the list of under-tenants of lands Breteui1 at that time.5 His name is, amongst those of the Conqueror's companions, cut in the stone of the cross at Dives, and it seems probable that he is identical with Gilbert Fitz-Turold,6 son of Turold of Pont Audemar, Torville, Torcy, etc. (Governor of William the Conqueror in his childhood), by his wife Weevia or Eva, sister of Erfast the Dane. If this was the case, Gilbert de Breteuil was a cousin both of the Conqueror and of William FitzOsbern.
1 Ordericus, p. 322. 7. ~ Dugdale's Baronage, p. 68. 3 Forval, 536 A.
4 The name also appears in Domesday as 'Breteuile' (Hants, 52, and Wilts, 74 b, ' Breteuille' (Oxf. 161), ' Bretuile' (Hants, 43 a).
5 Sir Henry Ellis's General Introduction to Domesday Book, ii. 298.
6 Dugdale, quoting ' The Monk of Worcester,' says : ' Earl William of Hereford (FitzOsbern) took the town of Headsofrey, situate on the east of Wie, which doth of right belong to the monastery, and gave it to one Gilbert, his servant.' The town referred to appears in Domesday under ' Gilbert, son of Turold.'
Turold, Turaldus, Turolf, Touroude, Theroulde, Turulp, or Thorold, was son of
8 Swallowfield and its Owners
Besides owning Swallowfield, Gilbert de Breteuil held the neighbouring estate of Great Bramshill in Hants, from which Swallowfield is only separated by the river Blackwater. Domesday says : ' Idem Gislebertus tenet Bromselle cum Manerio Regis de Swalfelle quod est in Berchesire.' x Sir William Cope, in his c History of Bramshill,' quotes as interesting the disclaimer of the Jurors of Great Bramshill of all dependence on the King's Manor of Swalfelle.
Gilbert de Breteuil also owned Strathfield Saye and Cholewarton in Hants, Clive and Thornelle 2 in Wilts, Hannay,3 Titherley, Danebridge, and lands in Oxfordshire, ' which had been of the fee of Earl William,'4 and three houses in Southampton, of which the Conqueror granted him the customs.5 By the Domesday record we find that ' Soanesfelt ' (or Swallowfield) was in 1085 accounted worth ,£8 and 6d., and had 8 villains, 8 bordarii, 2 serfs, a mill of 50^/., a fishery of 40^/. ; 1 2 acres of pasture, wood for 20 pigs, and land for 7 ploughs.
' Selingefelle ' (or Shinfield) had 8 villains, 5 bordarii, 2 serfs, a mill of 5J. and 150 eels, and 5 fisheries of 550 eels, 10 acres
Torf or Tork de Harcourt, by his wife Etemberga (or Ertemberga), daughter of Anslech (or Lancelot) de Briquebec, a noble of Danish extraction, who, it has been said, was the ancestor of the Russells. Tork d'Harcourt was the ancestor of the Earl of Harcourt in England, the Due d'Harcourt in France, and last, not least, of Sir William Vernon Harcourt.
There were several Mayors of Oxford of the name of Thorald, living within a few years after the Conquest, who were great benefactors to the church, and we are told 'there was sometime Thorald Hall, a very ancient place, and alwaies belonging to Oseney Abbey,' and a street in Oxford called Thorald or Turold Street.
1 Domesday, Hants, f. 48 a.
- 'Thornhulle' in Wilts, and 'Cholewarton' Hants, were set down as the fee of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford.
3 This appears in Domesday as follows : 'Terra Gisleberte de Bretevile.' In Wanctinz Hundred (Wantage) Gislebertus tenet Hannei, etc.
1 Eyton's Analysis of Domesday, H. M. Add. MS. f. [30, W'oodw.ud's Hauls, vol. ii. p. 166.
«<w
'*
or
JF WAR1 CONOUE
*
son uf Moert
Duke
William, 2nd Duke of Normal 927.
erfast, ' the Dane ' =
i of Loneueville.
Osber.n le Crepon, murdered 1040.
Villiam Filz-Osbern, = A. de Toeni, d. of : d, Lord of Breteuil, I awfield ; ob. 1070-I.
I c- 1074
Emma de Breteuil = Ralph de Gael, Ea: ing joined the crusade of 1 English earldom w ope Urban, she died on 1074, when he retii le way to Jerusalem. He died on his way
Ralph le Breton :
Amicia = Robert de Beaumon I to whom she took
a quo the family of Montmorency-Laval.
.iduit, = Alice, d. of Gilbert wick, de Segrave.
and heir of Robert urne : she it. 1324.
S Swallowfield and its Owners
Besides owning Swallowfield, Gilbert de Breteuil held the neighbouring estate of Great Bramshill in Hants, from which Swallowfield is only separated by the river Blackwater. Domesday says : * Idem Gislebertus tenet Bromselle cum Manerio Regis de Swalfelle quod est in Berchesire.' 1 Sir William Cope, in his ' History of Bramshill,' quotes as interesting the disclaimer of the Jurors of Great Bramshill of all dependence on the King's Manor of Swalfelle.
Gilbert de Breteuil also owned Strathfield Saye and Cholewarton in Hants, Clive and Thornelle 2 in Wilts, Hannay,3 Titherley, Danebridge, and lands in Oxfordshire, 'which had been of the fee of Earl William,' ' and three houses in Southampton, of which the Conqueror granted him the customs.0 By the Domesday record we find that ' Soanesfelt ' (or Swallowfield) was in 1085 accounted worth £8 and 6d., and had 8 villains, 8 bordarii, 2 serfs, a mill of ^od., a fishery of 40^/. ; 12 acres of pasture, wood for 20 pigs, and land for 7 ploughs.
' Selingefelle ' (or Shinfield) had 8 villains, 5 bordarii, 2 serfs, a mill of 55. and 150 eels, and 5 fisheries of 550 eels, 10 acres
Torf or Tork de Harcourt, by his wife Etemberga (or Ertemberga), daughter of Anslech (or Lancelot) de Briquebec, a noble of Danish extraction, who, it has been said, was the ancestor of the Russells. Tork d'Harcourt was the ancestor of the Earl of Harcourt in England, the Due d'Harcourt in France, and last, not least, of Sir William Vernon Harcourt.
There were several Mayors of Oxford of the name of Thorald, living within a few years after the Conquest, who were great benefactors to the church, and we are told 'there was sometime Thorald Hall, a very ancient place, and alwaies belonging to Oseney Abbey,' and a street in Oxford called Thorald or Turold Street.
1 Domesday, Hants, f. 48 a.
• 'Thornhulle' in Wilts, and 'Cholewarton' Hants, were set down as the fee of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford.
' This appears in Domesday as follows : 'Terra Gisleberte de Bretevile.' In Wanctinz Hundred (Wantage) Gislebertus tenet Hannei, etc.
4 Eyton's Analysis of Domesday, B. M. Add. MS. f. 130. Woodward's Hants, vol. ii. p. 166.
REl SHOWING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE XEWBURGHS, EARLS OF WARWICK, AND THE BEAUCHAMPS, EARLS OF WARWH K, AND THEIR DANISH EXTRACTION. ALSO THE THREEFOLD CONNECTION OF WILLIAM FITZ-OSBERN WITH WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR
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of pasture, wood for 350 pigs, and land for 7 ploughs, then valued at ,£8.
Gilbert de Breteuil was probably still holding Swallowfield in 1090 1090, for in the ' Historia Monasterii de Abingdon' we have a charter concerning the church at Sutton, dated 1090, which begins : ' Willelmus rex Anglorum Gilberto de Brittewilla et omnibus fidelibus suis, Francigenis et Angligenis, de Berkescira salutem.' 1
1 Vol. ii. p. 26.
Swalltywfield and its Owners
CHAPTER II
SWALLOWFIELD UNDER THE ST. JOHNS AND DESPENCERS
1 167 In 14 Henry II. the St. Johns held Swallowfield. Amongst the
St. John Barons' Charters of 1 1 66-8 is one in which William de Newburgh, Earl of Warwick,1 says : ' Swalewefeld and Silengesfeld, which should be my demesne, are held by Thomas St. John and his mother.' 2 This Thomas St. John was second son of John de St. John of Stanton-St. John, Oxfordshire, and grandson of William de St. John, the first of the name who came from Normandy to England.3 1 1 67 S In the 'Pleas of the Forest' of Alan de Neville,4 Chief
Justice of the Forests for the year 11 66-7, we find that Swale- feld and Shinningeffeld owe two marks, and in 11 67-8 that they render account of two marks and Thomas de St. John is pardoned two marks by the King's writ and he is quit.5
This was the result of the itinerant survey of the forests
1 William de Newburgh, third Earl of Warwick, was great nephew of Gilbert Fitz-Turold. He died 1 184.
- Red Book of the Exchequer, folio ciiij, second column.
3 Wace, in his Roman de Rou, mentions the men of St. Johan as taking part in the battle of Hastings, and tradition says that the horse-hames or collars with which Lord Bolingbroke's supporters are charged perpetuate the fact that a St. John had charge of the transport of the Normans.
'' Alan de Neville was one of those distinguished for his hostility to the Primate (Becket), and was excommunicated by him in 1166 at Ve"zelay. He died 2 Richard II.
■- Pipe Roll, 13 Hen. II.
Swallowfield wider the St. Johns 1 1
which was ordered in 1167 'for the purpose of collecting the aid which Henry demanded for the marriage of his eldest daughter.' *
Thomas de St. John succeeded his father as Lord of Stanton, and was himself succeeded by his son Roger de St. John. In 1 176 the said Roger was 'assessed ^"133 6s. %d. for trespassing n76 in the King's Forests in Com. Oxon.' 2 St. John
On Monday, July 25, 1205, King John visited Swallowfield, 1205 and again on Wednesday, May 3, 1206, he went there and 1206 1 tested three charters to the bailiffs of Bath, and custodians of vacant bishoprics and tenants thereof respectively, the bishopric then being in the King's hands.' 3 It was not until the following year that the celebrated quarrel commenced between the Pope and the King of England about the right of election to vacant bishoprics. In 1205 Hubert Walter, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had died, and in December 1207 the Pope elected Stephen Langton. John refused to acknowledge him, and the dispute rose to such a height that in March 1208 the kingdom of England was placed under interdict and John was excommuni- cated.
Roger de St. John was succeeded in 12 16 by his son John 1216 de St. John, for whose wardship and marriage Geoffrey de Luci 4 st. John gave 300 marks and married him to his daughter.
John de St. John accompanied King Richard I. to the Holy Land, and was at the siege of Acre. He was one of the knights 5 whom the King, ' on the inspiration of St. George, had dis- tinguished by tying a leathern thong or garter round the left leg
1 Princess Matilda, b. 1156, married in 1167 Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony.
2 Rot. Pip. 22 Hen. II. Oxon. 3 Pat. 7 John.
4 Geoffrey de Luci was son of the celebrated Richard de Luci, Justice of England. He died in his father's lifetime.
5 Weever's Funeral Monuments, 318, 319.
Swallowfield and its Owners
1242
Tlios. de New- burgh, 6th Earl of War- wick Geoffrey Le De- spencer
to incite the wearer to greater daring,' and this legend has been cited as the first institution of the Order of the Garter.1
In 1228 Roger de Toeni died ' near Reading,' most probably at Swalefeld, the Toeni or Toni family being intimately connected with its owners.2
Sir John de St. John died 1230,3 leaving a widow, Emma, and a son, Roger de St. John ; and this same year Geoffrey Le Despencer, Lord of Marcheley or Marteley, Worcestershire, married the said Emma, giving ^'100 for the wardship of her son Roger de St. John, the first and last Baron St. John of Stanton.4 Geoffrey Le Despencer was descended from Robert Le Despencer the Norman, who held the office of ' Dispensator Regis,' Dis- pencer or Steward of the King. He was brother to Hugh Le Despencer, Chief Justice of England, first Baron Le Despencer, and he was uncle and great-uncle to Edward II. 's favourites of that name.
In a Roll dated 1242 ' Swalewefeld ' is said to form part of one of the fees of Thomas de Newburgh, sixth Earl of Warwick, and this Record states that Geoffrey Despencer held half a fee in Swalfelde of the fee and honour of the Earl of Warwick, the Earls of Warwick holding Swallowfield of the Crown in chief as before.5 This Earl of Warwick married Ela, daughter
1 Kennet, Pari. Antiq. 149 ; Barnes's History of Edward III. p. 293.
2 Paris, p. 244, nos. 20, 30, and 41.
3 John de St. John confirmed divers lands to Oseney Abbey, which his father had given, and he and his wife were buried there on the north side of the presby- tery in a high large tomb of marble. The St. John arms were formerly in St- Frideswyde's Church, Oxford : argent on a chief gules, two mullets of six points, pierced or.
' Rot. Pip. 14 Hen. III. Oxon.
5 By Inquis. post mortem 31 Hen. III. no. 26 (1249) we find ' Philippa Comitissa Warewici. De quanto deperiret ei si Galfridus Dispensarius et Emma uxor ejus quieti essent de secta ad hundredum de Bolcnden.' (Roberts, Cakndarium Genealogicum, i. 16.)
Swallowfield tinder the Despencers 1 3
of William Longuespee, Earl of Salisbury (the son of ' Fair Rosamond '), and the said Ela was a great benefactress to the monks at Reading.
Geoffrey Le Despencer died 1252,1 leaving his son John Le 1252 Despencer, who succeeded to the possession of the ' Castle of JL° De. Swalewefeld,' as it is called in a Roll of this date, and on July 10 sPencei Emma, widow of Geoffrey Le Despencer, gave 400 marks for the custody of the said John Le Despencer, her son and heir, and of his lands.2
In 1253 Emma de St. John3 was appointed Lady in charge 1253 of Princess Katharine, youngest daughter of King Henry III., who was born on November 25 of that year, and at the Feast of the Circumcision we find the Queen4 presented her with a brooch, and later on with a girdle of the value of lis. and id., and to Dionisia, Damsel of Emma de St. John, also a brooch.
The little Princess was deaf and dumb, but of great beauty and idolised by her royal parents. She was christened with much pomp by Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury, the Queen's uncle, who stood as sponsor, the infant Princess receiving the name of Katharine, having been born on St. Katharine's Day. The King gave a great feast in honour of the christening on St. Edward's Day, January 5, 1254, to which he invited all the 1254 nobility, including ' Emma de St. John of Swalefeld and her son.' Amongst the provisions on this occasion were ' fourteen wild boars, twenty-four swans, one hundred and thirty-five rabbits, two hundred and fifty partridges, fifty hares, two hundred and
1 Visitation Northampton, (1617). : Close Roll 36 Hen. III. mem. 10.
3 Notwithstanding that the said Emma had married for her second husband Geoffrey Le Despencer, her name continues to appear as de St. John.
4 Eleanor of Provence.
14 Swallowfield and its Owners
fifty wild duck, sixteen hundred and fifty fowls, thirty-six female geese, and sixty-one thousand eggs.1
Soon after this Queen Eleanor had to join the King in Gascony, and left her infant at Windsor, under the charge of Emma de St. John and two nurses, c Avisa ' and ' Agnes.'
1255 Early in the next year the King and Queen returned to England, and by an order dated from Merton,2 April 2, gold clothes, with borders embroidered with the King's coat-of-arms, were to be made for the King to offer in Westminster Abbey for his daughter Katharine.3 In the autumn the little Princess became ill, and she was sent to Swallowfield under the care of Emma de St. John. For her amusement a young kid was brought thither from the King's forest at Windsor.4 The change seemed to benefit her for a time, but in the spring
1256 of 1256 she had a relapse. By the King's command, a report of her condition was sent to him by special messenger during his expedition to France, and when he heard of her convalescence he ordered that a ' silver image made after the likeness of a woman ' should be placed in Westminster Abbey, as a votive offering,5 and the bearer of the news was given 'a good robe.'
We also find orders for her expenses and for those of several children who were companions to the little Princess. Robert Russell, a confidential servant of the Queen, had charge of this expenditure. Notwithstanding, however, all the care bestowed upon her, the little Katharine died in 1258, aged
1 Rot. Claus. 33 Hen. III. no. 15 dorso.
2 Merton, in Surrey, had once a celebrated abbey, to which the principal manor, which belonged to the Crown, was given by Hen. I., and in 1236 the great council was held there which passed the statutes of Merton.
3 Rot. Claus. 39 Hen. III. m. 14. ' Close Roll 39 Hen. III. pt. 1. m. 5. 1 Rot. Claus. 40 Men. III. m. 15.
Swallowfield tinder the Despencers 1 5
five years, to the great grief of her parents, the Queen becoming seriously ill at her death. The King presented the nurses with a present equal to ^100 of our money. There was a magnifi- cent funeral, which cost £$\ 125. \d. The Princess was buried in the Ambulatory in Westminster Abbey, in the space between the chapels of King Edward and St. Benet, close to the tomb of her uncle William de Valence. A splendid monument was raised to her memory by the King, rich with serpentine and mosaics,1 and surmounted by a silver image of his child as St. Katharine, made by the King's goldsmith at the cost of 70 marks.2 The Hermit of Charing was paid fifty shillings a year as long as he lived, that he might support a chaplain to pray daily at the Chapel of the Hermitage for the soul of Katharine.
John Le Despencer (Emma de St. John's son by her first husband), being of full age in 1256, and holding £60 per annum in co. Leicester, and £15 per annum in co. Southampton, was called to receive the honour of knighthood.3 He married Joan, daughter of Robert de Lou.4 No doubt he and his wife then lived at Swallowfield, and we find in a Close Roll 41 Henry III. that permission was given for Emma, Lady of Sualewefeld, to dwell in Porchester Castle, and an order was issued for William
1 Miss Kingsley, in her charming little book The Children of Westminster Abbey, says : ' Most of the mosaic has been picked out, but enough of it and the polished marbles exist to show the elaborate design of the upper slab, while on the wall above it, under a graceful trefoil-headed arch, are traces of gilding and colouring which are supposed to be remains of a painting of the Princess Catherine and two brothers who died in their infancy.'
2 There still exists an order to the King's treasurer to pay Master Simon de Wills five marks and a half for his expenses in bringing a brass image to be set on the tomb and for paying Simon de Gloucester.
3 MS. Cotton Claud. 1. 2.
4 The name Vis de Lou, Lu, or Lew occurs as owners of land in Berks from 1086 to the middle of the fourteenth century.
1 6 Swattowfield and its Owners
de Trubeville, Warden of the Castle, to answer to the Exchequer for the issues thereof.1
The last thing we hear of Emma de St. John is from the Tower Assize Rolls, which mentions under the heading ' De Defaltis,' 1 26 1, 'Emma de Sancto Johanne,' Hundredum de Cherledone, 1256. This same year Sir John Le Despencer sent a petition to Pope Alexander IV., asking that he might build a chapel and keep a chaplain at his Manor of Swalefeld, pleading the dangers which he and his family had to encounter, in going through the forest to Mass at the Church of Sonning, from robbers in summer and floods in winter.2
Windsor Forest was formerly of much greater circuit than it is now, extending into Bucks and Surrey and over the whole of the south-eastern part of Berks as far as Hungerford. The circuit as described in Roques's map appears to be about fifty-six miles, including the whole parish of Swallowfield. The forest was a refuge for robbers, and at this time one Adam de Gurdon, a notorious freebooter, was the special terror of the neighbour- hood. He was born of gentle lineage, and had been the King's Bailiff at Alton in Hants. Henry III. gave him by charter ' free charge of hares and foxes, in and without the forest ; ' but, taking part with the rebel Barons, he was outlawed for treason and rebellion. He then appears to have taken to the road for his living, and to have gathered round him a number of men as fearless and desperate as himself, and became a sort of Robin Hood. Many tales savouring of romance are told of him, one being that Prince Edward (afterwards Edward I.), whilst attend- ing the Parliament at Winchester, heard of the fame of the
1 Robert, Baron de St. John of Rasing, was made Governor of Porchester Castle in 50 Hen. III.
' Rymer's Fcedera, vol. i. p. 610.
Swallowfield under the Despencers 1 7
outlaw, and, fired with the desire of measuring swords with so brave a man, sought him out in the thicket and challenged him to fight. In a pause of the encounter which followed, the Prince offered him his life and advancement if he would give up his arms. The offer having been accepted,1 we find Adam de Gurdon shortly after holding official employment. He ulti- mately became a great landowner, and from his second son is descended the present Gurdon of Letton.
Another desperado is mentioned as specially frequenting the Forest in the neighbourhood of Reading at this time. A letter addressed by the King to the Sheriff of Berks says that ' Richard Siward is lying in wait in Windsor Forest, cum multitudine armatorumj and orders the Sheriff to attempt his arrest.2 And a further letter to the Sheriff of Gloucester orders the arrest of the same Richard Siward for having surprised the Justiciar's baggage between Reading and Wallingford.
The state of the Forest being such as described, it is no wonder that Sir John Le Despencer should have been unwilling to traverse it with his family. The Pope granted his petition, and issued two Bulls from Anagni addressed to the Bishop of Salisbury, in whose diocese Swallowfield was then situated, Copies of these Bulls have been preserved.3
1 The story goes that Prince Edward took him to Guildford Castle and introduced him to his bride, Eleanor of Castile, and that he and she entreated the King to pardon him.
' Prince Edward hath brought him to Guildford Tower, Ere that summer's day is o'er, He hath led him into the secret bower
Of his wife, fair Eleonore. His mother, the ladye of gay Provence,
And his sire, the King, were there ;
Oh, scarcely the Gordon dare advance
In a presence so stately and fair.'
'' Rot. Claus. 18 Hen. III. memb. 25 in dorso.
3 Rymer's Fordera, vol. i. part 2. See also Appendix.
1 8 Sivallowfield and its Owners
Armed thus with Papal authority, Sir John Le Despencer, in 1256, built the church of All Saints, which, restored in 1 869-70 l by Sir Charles Russell, now stands in Swallowfield Park.2 The style of architecture, however, of some parts of the edifice indi- cates a much earlier date than 1256. The east end, which contained the three narrow lights that we see there now, and the 1 bull's-eye ' above, as well as the north and south doors, belong to the style prevalent at least a century earlier, and would give a date from 11 20 to 11 50. It seems, therefore, probable that the remains of a ruined church of anterior date may have been used by John Le Despencer in building the present one. The architect employed for the restoration, Mr. Morris, of Reading, with excellent taste, has carefully preserved these earlier portions and brought them out as fine features. A window in the chancel is of the fifteenth century, and of the ' Middle Pointed ' or Decorated style. The timber belfry is a rare specimen of its kind, probably of the date of John Le Despencer, as also the beams and older parts of the roof. The south porch is modern, but has a good barge-board with ' Perpendicular ' mouldings, the pattern like ' Decorated ' work (J. H. Parker). Originally there must have been two altars, a high altar screened off by a close screen where the present one stands, and another in front of the screen, as indicated by the ancient piscina still existing in the wall.
During the restoration, some remains, supposed to be those of Sir John Le Despencer, were discovered about half- way between the south door and the chancel screen, in a
1 The church had been so disfigured by lath and plaster, and its beauties so entirely hidden by the bad taste of former restorations, that at first it was doomed to be pulled down. It was saved by Charles Kingsley, who first suggested to Sir Charles Russell to try and restore it.
' See Appendix.
Swallowfield under the Despencers 1 9
stone coffin surmounted by a large flat cross. The skeleton was quite perfect, but the head was separate and outside the coffin, which evidently had previously been disturbed. A quantity of cloves were found surrounding the body, and the remains of a wooden dish, which had probably held salt, rested on the breast. The lid was carefully refixed and cemented, and the coffin was placed in its present position under the west window.
Sir John Le Despencer, as well as Roger de St. John, joined the Barons in the great civil struggle against Henry III., and they both attended the celebrated Council summoned at Oxford in 1258, commonly known as 'the Mad Parliament.' 1258
Sir John Le Despencer and his young son Adam, early in the year 1264, formed part of the force left by Simon de 1264 Montfort to hold Northampton, which was taken by the following stratagem :— The garden of a Cluniac monastery abutted on the walls of the town, and the monks, many of whom were French and on the King's side, undermined the walls, putting wooden props as a temporary support. By this means the Royalists made an easy entrance, whilst a feigned assault was made on the other side of the town. Sir John Le Despencer and his son were taken prisoners, and placed in the custody of Reginaldus Waterwill ; 1 but three months later, after the victory at Lewes, they were released ' by the King's writ to Roger de Mortimer, who was ordered to bring them among other prisoners to London to be set at liberty.' " Roger de St. John was summoned to Parliament on December 24, 1264, as Baron St. John of Stanton-St. John, and he was appointed Governor of Oxford.
Early the following year (1265), Eleanor, wife of Simon de 1265
1 Brady ; Paris ; Rishanger, De Bellis ; Ann Dunst. 229. 3 Brady, p. 643 ; Rymer's Fcedera, vol. i. p. 20.
C 2
20 Swallowfield and its Owners
Montfort, sent from her demesne of Odiham Castle, Hants, a present of wine • to the lady of Swalfelde.' We find this in the curious Household Roll of this royal lady, who was the daughter of King John by his wife Isabella of Angouleme and widow of William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke. The Roll, still preserved in the British Museum, is believed to be the earliest known memorial of the domestic expenditure of an English subject. The entry is as follows : c Vinum ij sext. dimid. missum Dominas Swalfelde.' This lady must be Joan, daughter of Robert de Lou, wife of John Le Despencer.
In 1265 Roger de St. John was killed at the battle of Evesham, his estates were confiscated, and ' Swaluefelde and one 1265 messuage and one carucate of lands in Beaumys with woods and
?°fer rents and all appurts ' were granted to Roger de Leybourne, and boume ;n Charter Roll 49 Hen. III. we read that ' only a messuage in Beaumys remained the property of Sir John Le Despencer.' The latter died in 1274. In an inquisition taken in 1276 the Jurors say that ' John Dispensator has made encroachments in the vill of Shenyngefeld ' (i.e. has enclosed three tenements).1 By an inquisition taken the next year at Gertre, co. Leicester, he was found to have died possessed of the Manor of Beransby and the moiety of Wigan-de-la-Mare and several other lands, as also the Hundred of Beaumaner, held of Hugh de Spencer in socage and of the house and park there. And by another inquisition, taken at his house at Marteley in com. Wigorn, he is said to have died possessed of that manor with the advowson of the church, which his father had by gift of Henry III. In right of his first wife, Joan, daughter of Robert de Lou, Sir John Le Despencer also possessed Castle Carlton and Cavenby, co. Lincoln, but his wife dying childless, these manors went, at his death, to ' Inq. p. m. 3 Ed I No. 2.
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Swallowficld under the Despeiicers 21
her cousin, John de Merieth.1 By Anne, his second wife, Sir John had two sons : Adam Le Despencer,2 who died young, and William Le Despencer, styled ' of Belton.' The latter resided at Defford (com. Wigorn) and died in 1328.3 From him are said to have descended Earl Spencer, the Earl of Westmoreland, and the Duke of Marlborough, but of this the proof appears incomplete.
The name of Spencer still survives in the parish of Swallow- field, both amongst the people and also in the village called ' Spencer's Wood.'
The following is a descriptive catalogue of ancient deeds relating to Swallowfield in the time of the Despencers : 4 —
(1) Release by William Le Mire5 to Sir John le Despenser A 4697 (despensatori) of all his rights in meadow land in the Manor
of Scheperugge.6 Witnesses Gilbert le Blunt, Nicholas de Didenham,7 John de Lodewell.
(2) Grant by Thomas Paterick to Hugh Le Despenser of a A 4705 yearly rent from land in Sheperugge by the road leading to the
1 Merieth, also written Meriet and Meryot.
- In 1265 Adam le Despencer obtained quittance for all money owing to Jews.
3 Inq. p. m. 3 Ed. I. No. 2.
4 This catalogue was kindly furnished by Miss Sharp of Ufton, who came across it in making researches for her most interesting work, The History of Ufton Court.
5 Le Mire is another form of de Mora and means ' of the Moor.'
6 Scheperugge is spelt in a variety of ways : Sheperugg, Sheprugge, Seperig, Sceperig, Cheperigge, Siprugge, Sheprige, about 1500 as Shipbridge, in 1807 as Shipridge, now generally called ' Sheepsbridge.' It is at the present time the pro- perty of Henry Hunter, Esq., of Beechhill, and there is still on it an interesting old house with a moat, now turned into a farmhouse. In 1482 'Sheperygge Magna' passed from Peter Marmyon to Walter Stonore, Kt. (Rot. Claus. 22 Edw. IV. m. 27).
7 Didenham, in Shinfield, also passed in 1482 from Peter Marmyon to Walter Stonore, and in 1503 was held by Sir William Capel. Arthur, Lord Capel, sold it to Thomas Woodcock, who lived there.
22 Swattffwfield and its Owners
ford of Stanford. Witnesses, Sir Gilbert le Blount, John Berd, Alan de Stanford, &c.
1 27 1 (3) Conveyance by Alyhiva Cheke and Robert Paterick
to Sir John Le Despencer of meadow land in the moor of Scheperugge for ten years from Hokeday 55 Hen. III. (1271). Witnesses, Gilbert le Blunt, Nicholas de Dideham, Alan de Stanford, &c.
A 4715 (4) Release by William Berd of Scheperyg to Sir John Le
Despencer, his lord, of land in the meadow of ' La More ' of Scheperyg, with certain water ; for which Sir John has given to William part of a meadow at Lethennardesyate (sic) and a mark. Witnesses, Gilbert le Blund, Walter le Fraunkelyn, Thomas de Cheyne, &c.
A 4717 (5) Release by Walter, son of Nicholas the clerk of Seperig,
to Sir John Le Despencer, Kt., his lord, of all the meadow which he used to have in ' la More,' in Seperig, for which Sir John has given to him p. and part of a croft in Seperig in exchange. Witnesses, Sir John de sancto Johanne, William Berd, Thomas de Cheney, &c.
A 4728 (6) Release by Robert, son of Eadmund de Sceperig, to
Sir John Le Despencer, his lord, of the land with a messuage which Robert held from John. Witnesses, Sir William de Say, Adam de Sancto Manovino, Nicholas de Didenham, &c.
A 4729 (7) Grant by Thomas le Blund, Lord of Cheperigge, to
John Le Despenser, son and heir of Sir Geoffrey Le Despenser, of land at Kingesbrige, adjoining the water coming from the monks at Stratfelde.1 Witnesses, Sir Henry de Herlee,2
1 At Stratfield Say, Nicholas de Stoteville founded a cell of Benedictine monks under a Prior in 11 70. The cell was in Berkshire, but the parish in Hampshire. (Camden.)
1 Earley, in the Hundred of Charlton, a few miles from Swallowfield. The family of de Erlegh was originally seated in Somersetshire. The first we
Swallowfield tender the Despencers 23
William de Say,1 John de Tredhorn, Robert de Sindes- ham,2 &c.
(8) Grant by Thomas le Bedel3 to William de la Wifaude4 A 474* of all his meadow in the moor of Siprugge, between the running water of the monks of Stratfelde and the meadow called 'Brodemed.' Witnesses, William Berd, Alan de Stanford, John Alein, &c.
(9) Release by Alvina Cheke to Sir John Le Despenser A 4841 of all the water and fishery between the fishery of John Berd
and the bridge of Sheperugge moor. Witnesses, Nicholas de Didenham, William de la Wifaude, Alan de Stanford, John Alewy, &c.
hear of in Berks was John de Erlegh in 1 1 95, father of the above-mentioned John and Henry de Herlee. In 1231 Henry de Erlegh paid 20 marks for the scutage of the lands which John his brother (whom he succeeded) had held of the King as tenant in capite at Erlegh or Earley. Maiden Erleigh and Erleigh Court are in this parish. Bartholomew Earley appears in a Subsidy Roll, Berks, 39 Eliz.
1 John de St John's son married Katherine de Say, daughter of Geoffrey Lord Say.
3 Sindlesham. 3 Or the bailiff.
4 Wyvols, near Swallowfield, was originally called ' Wyfaud ' or ' Wyfolds,' and there is Wyfolds near Reading.
24 Sivallowfield and its Owners
CHAPTER III
SWALLOWFIELD REVERTS TO THE ST. JOHNS
1265 Baron Roger de Leybourne, to whom Swallowfield was granted
de Ley- in 1265, was son of Robert de Leybourne or Leiburn, who ourne died 10 Rich. I. He had been, as we have seen, on the side of the Barons, and, in consequence, was one of those prohibited by royal precept to meet at any tournament without special licence, and he was also excommunicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
However, not long after, being ' drawn off by rewards,' as was said, he forsook the Barons and fought for the King. In some MS. political songs of the thirteenth century, he is thus alluded to by a contemporary :
And Sir Roger de Leybourne, Who here and there would turn To conquer, kill, and burn ; Prince Edward had harassed him sore, So now he tried hard to restore His loss and something more.
After the battle of Evesham, when the King recovered his power, Roger de Leybourne was made Warden of all the Forests beyond Trent, as also Sheriff of Cumberland, Warden of the Cinque Ports, and Sheriff of Kent. He also obtained a grant of the lands of Adam Le Despenccr, including { one mes-
Swallowfield reverts to the St. Johns 25
suage and one carucate of land in Beaumys, with woods and rents and all its appurts, besides the Manors of Berton, Swaluefelde, and Stanton, which were of Roger de St. John, rebel.' 1 1270
In 54 Henry III., Roger de Leybourne was ' signed with the cross,' in order that he might accompany Prince Edward to the Holy Land, but he died before he accomplished the journey, in 1272 56 Henry III.
Some accounts say that Roger de Leybourne was married three times, his first wife being Alionore, daughter of Stephen de Turnham ; his second, Alionore, daughter of William Ferrers, Earl of Derby, and widow of Roger de Quenci, Earl of Win- chester ; and the third, Idonea, daughter of William de Vipont ; but it appears probable that the latter was his daughter-in-law, and that his only wife was Alionora Ferrers, who died before 1274.
Roger de Leybourne left a son William, who had, says Dugdale, ' livery of part of the lands of his inheritance,' but Swalefeld, as well as Barton and Stanton, reverted at his death to John St. John St. John of Lageham, nephew to John St. John of Stanton. Lageham
From an inquisition taken in 1276, we obtain the names of 1276 John de St. John's tenants in Swallowfield at that date. They are as follows :
Osmund Algar,2 holds 1 acre.
Simon le Fraunklyn 3 „ 1 acre.
1 Charter Roll, 49 Hen. III.
2 Algar, no doubt the same as Elgar, which occurs at Kintbury about 1600, and as ' Ilger.' Richard Ilger or Illeger was bailiff at Swallowfield in 1353.
3 A ' franklein ' was a sort of yeoman freeholder. ' Franklyn ' was the name of a family who possessed Borstall in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and we find mention there of two 'Simon Fraunklins.' About 1276 Walter le Fraunkelyn was witness to a release of Sir John Le Despenser at Swallowfield. In 1301 John le Fraunkelyn of Swalewefield was pardoned for the death of John de la Grave of Swalewefield, by reason of his services in the Scotch war. A ' Christian ffranklin ' was buried at Swallowfield in 158S.
26
Swallowfield and its Owners
i acre, i acre. 2 acres. \ acre, i rood. ^ acre, i rood, i acre. I acre. i acre, i rood, ig, Edret(d), Tedrick, and
Henry de Mora l hold
Crictiana de Mora l
John Wickrig
William Wickrig
Richard le Somel
Nicholas Aleyn 2
Thomas Edred
Walter Pelliparius 3
Richard Vulrich4
Alice Tedrick
John Gold.5 Five of these names, Algar, Wick Gold, appear in the list of under-tenants of lands in Berks at the time of Edward the Confessor.
1 Henry and Crictiana de Mora clearly took their name from a tract of land in Swallowfield which is called in various ancient deeds during the occupation of the Despencers ' La Mora,' ' La More,' ' the Moor,1 and ' Scheperugge Moor.' And we find both names occurring at Swallowfield or in the neighbourhood for some centuries. In 1281 we find in the 'Calendar of Letter Books' that 'Walter le Veyre de Osprenge, whilst living with a certain Will, le Burgogne, enticed a certain Cristiana, wife of Will, de la More, to the society of the aforesaid Will., his master, so that whilst the said Cristiana was away from her husband, the said Walter took and carried away goods belonging to Will, de la More to the value of .£60. In 1496 an inquisition tells us that Nicholas More and Joan, his wife, had the manor of Alington in Hants, and devised it and others to Christine More, late the wife of Henry More, with remainder to Nicholas and Philip More, sons of Henry. In 1543 ' Chrystin More' was paid 'for syngyng in the quere for a year at St. Giles's Church, Reading, xi s. iiii d.' which appears in the churchwarden's accounts. And a ' Christiana More married Hugh Keyte or Keat.'
Amongst the Mayors of Reading appear in 1418 the name 'Rob. Mores or Morris;' in 1422, Robt. Morris jun. ; in 1433, Robert Mores ; 1441, Robt. Morys. The name 'Morris' is well known and very highly respected in Reading at the present day.
2 'John Alein ' appears in a deed temp. Hen. III. relating to Swallowfield. It still exists there under the form of Allen.
3 Pelliparius would mean the skinner or furrier.
4 In an assessment, 1327, under 'Villa de Wokingham,' appears the name ' Wills. Wolnrich.'
s A Richard Gold had land at Streatley in 1214. In 1385 Will. Gold was yeoman of the chamber.
Swallowfield reverts to the St. Johns 27
The ' Minister's Accounts ' 1 give us some interesting details 1280-3 of the expenses incurred, from 1280 to 1283, for the churches of
1 Shenyngefelde and Swalfelde,' under the account of Osbert le But,2 proctor and bailiff of Sir Adam de Stratton,3 the rector.
Twelve pounds of wax bought for processional tapers for the two churches, c;s. 6d. ; price per lb. $\d. 1,100 shingles4 for the chancel of Swalfelde, 6s. $d. ; price per hundred, yd. In re- covering the said chancel with the same, y. 2^d., the hundred for 3^. Carpenter mending the same chancel for three days, <)d. For repairing the houses of the Chaplain of Swalefelde, iy. \d.
In the accounts from 1283 to 1286, we find the same amount 1283-6 charged for the wax tapers ; 2,100 shingles for the chancel of Swalfelde, at ^\d. per hundred ; shaping and laying the same, js., at \d. the hundred ; 500 nails for the same, "]\d. Mending part of the chancel, is. 2d. Timber bought for the Grange of Swalefelde, 15s. 3^. Carriage of the same timber bought at Fynchamstede and Highfelde, 35. Carpentry for the same house,
2 8 s. Rods bought for walling, 45. 6\d. Doing the walling of the same, 3^. Straw bought for covering, 8j. yd. Covering or thatching the same house, 6s. $d. ; 600 laths bought for the walls, ~i\d. ; 2,500, \l\d. Digging earth for the walls, $d. Plastering the walls, 3*. Sd.
On the back of the account of Osbert le But, bailiff, from 1286 90 Michaelmas 1290,5 is noted as follows : Sum of money delivered, ^191 ijs. 6d., whereof from the men of Reading 1 mark
1 Record Office Minister's Accounts, ifip-.
2 The name ' Butts' appears in the Visit, of Berks in 1566, and also in 1664-6.
3 Stratton of Kingston Lisle, Berks, in Berks Visit. 1664-6.
4 ' " Shingles," in building, small pieces of wood, or quartered oaken boards, cleft to about an inch thick at one end, and made like wedges four or five inches broad, and eight or nine long, used instead of tiles or slates, especially for churches and steeples.1 Encyclopedia Britan. vol. xvii.
5 Minister's Accounts, -T^°- in dor so.
23 Swallowfield and its Owners
{i.e. 13s. 4^/.), from Robert de Shorteforde 95. 4^., from Rob the
Chamberlain 1 2s. iod., from Henry de Stodham 45. Sum of
the King's tenth, 55s. 8d.
1291 About the year 1291, Pope Nicholas set on foot a taxation
of all the Papal dominions, and in the Valuation made for this
purpose the following occurs : ' Sarum Dine, Arched. Berk.,
Ecclia de Schaningefelde & Swallfelde, ^"20 Pensio Abb: de
Lyra in eadem £2.' Swalefeld was thus valued at .£20, the tithe
of which of course would be £2. In the original document there
is a mark appended to identify Swalefelde with Swalewefeld, as it
was called in 1242.
1294 John de St. John, in 1294, gave to St. Ethelbert's, Hereford,
' for the good of his soul,' the advowson of the Church of
' Shingefeld ' and the Chapel of ' Swalowefelde.' a
1299 In 1299 William de Beauchamp died, and his son Guy de
Beau-6 Beauchamp, second Earl, held Swallowfield of the Crown in chief3
champ, as before) though John de St. John was the actual owner.
Warwick This same year John de St. John was summoned to Parliament
as Baron St. John of Lageham. He was a prominent character in the
reign of Edward I. and was actively engaged in the Scottish wars.
He was entrusted with the care of Edward of Carnarvon,4 the first
Prince of Wales, and was appointed to instruct him in the duties
1 The name ' Chamberlain ' often appears in the early part of the Swallowfield parish registers, which commence in 1539.
" 'Decanus et capitulum ecclie beati Ethelbti Hereford finem fecerunt cum Rege in quinquaginta marcis pro habenda ecclesia de Shenynfeld Sarisbiriensis diocesis cum capella de Swalefeld eidem ecclie.' (Ro. 14.)
3 Inq. p. m. 9 Ed. II. No. 71 ; Guy, 2nd Earl of Warwick, died 131 5.
1 The young prince had just recovered from smallpox, having been treated by Gaddesden, the court physician, whose ' Rosa Anglorum ' is said to be the earliest notice of medical practice on record. The doctor, describing his treatment, says : ' I ordered the prince to be enveloped in scarlet cloth, and that his bed and all the furniture of his chamber should be of a bright red colour, which not only cured him but prevented him being marked.' He adds that he treated the sons of the noblest houses in England with the red system, and made good cures of all. ,
Swallowfield reverts to the St. Johns 29
of a soldier. At the siege of Carlaverock, captured by Edward I. J3°° in 1300, John de St. John, we are told, was everywhere with Prince Edward, who led the 4th Squadron, John de St. John having on ' all his white caparisons upon a red chief, two gold mullets.' 1
In May, 1300, three persons were appointed in every county of England for the better observance of Magna Charta, and the Forest Charter of Henry III., and to enforce the Statute of Winchester. They were to hear complaints, to judge and to punish without the delay allowed at the common law. The first of the three persons appointed for Oxfordshire was ' John de Sancto Johanne of Lageham,' and in October of the following year he was one of the three appointed to assess ' the 1301 fifteenth,' lately granted to the King, and to tax, levy, and pay it.
In 1306 we find John de St. John's name associated with 1306 Roger de Inglefield and William Plukenet amongst those who, ' by common consent granted by the King and the Earls and Barons,' were to accompany the King and his son in another Scotch expedition, and in 1307 we hear of John de St. John 1307 advancing with 15,000 horsemen to oppose an inroad of the Scots. The English were, however, attacked and dispersed by Edward Bruce, to which Sir Walter Scott alludes in ' The Lord of the Isles ' :
' When fiery Edward routed stout St. John.'
That same year King Edward I. died, but John de St. John continued to fight for Edward II.
After the defeat at Bannockburn, the English were hardly able to defend their own frontiers against Robert Bruce, and in 1 3 1 5 the Baron de St. John 'received command to be at 1315
1 Nicholas, Siege- of Carlaverock.
30 Swallowfield and its Owners
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, well fitted with horse and arms to restrain the incursions of the Scots.' 1316 The following year he died ' seized of the Manor of
Beau- Swalefeld,' ' the young Thomas de Beauchamp, third Earl of vdEarl Warwick, who had succeeded his father the year previous, being of War- the lord in chief.
An inquisition was taken there in July, the following being given as the possessions of • John St. John senior of Lageham, in Berks ' : —
' The Manor of Swalefeld with the appurtenances of the heir of the Earl of Warwick, who is under age,2 and in custody of the King, by service of half a knight's fee.
1 And there is there one capital messuage with a garden, and they are worth 105. per annum.
1 And there are there 80 acres of land, which are worth per annum \os. ; the price of an acre, 6d.
'And 170 acres of land, and they are worth per annum 56J. 8d. ; price of acre, \d.
' And there are there %o\ acres of meadow, which are worth per annum 30J. ()d. ; price of an acre, 1 %d.
' And there are there 44 acres of pasture, which are worth per annum lis. ; price of an acre, 3^/.
1 And there is there a park where the pasture and pannage are worth per annum 40.5.
' And there is there a watermill, which is worth per annum iooj.
1 And there is there a certain several fishery, which is worth per annum 30J.
1 And there are there 24 free tenants, and they pay per
1 Inq. p. m. 10 Ed. II. No. 74.
1 Thomas de Beauchamp, 3rd Earl of Warwick, aged two at his father's death in 1315.
Swallowfield reverts to the St. Johns 31
annum 1085. 6d. at the four principal terms, in equal portions ; and there are there 22 customary tenants, and each holds half a virgate of land, and they pay per annum in rent (de redditu) £6 8s. 6d. at the four principal terms, in equal portions, and their works are worth per annum 64J. id. at three times of the year ; viz. at the feast of St. Martin 1 15., at the Annunciation of the Blessed Mary 95. id., and at the feast of St. Michael 44.J. Also ten other customary tenants, of whom each holds the fourth part of one virgate of land, and they pay per annum 4OJ. 'Also there are 28 cotters, who pay per annum 60s. The pleas and perquisites are worth per annum ioj.'1 1 'Nomina Villarum,' 9 Ed. II.
32 Swallowfield and its Owners
CHAPTER IV
LATER ST. JOHNS AND THEIR TENANTS
1316 John de St. John, first Baron de St. John, was succeeded
Baro'/de in 1 3 1 6 by his son John, second Baron de St. John, who was
de La uPwards of forty years of age, and was summoned to Parliament
ham from August 1st, 13 17, to September, 1322. This same year
he and his wife Margeria de Gyse are plaintiffs and Beatrix de
Gyse deforciant in respect of the Manor of Swalfelle, and he,
by fine, rendered this Manor to Beatrix, and she rendered it
back to him and Margeria.1
We find in the book of John Chandler, Dean of Salisbury 1320 (1415), that in 1320 the then Dean of Salisbury 'visited the
Church of Sonnyne (Sonning) with the Chapel of Schenningfield and Swalefeld, and at the same time Roger de Mortival, Bishop of Sarum, endorsed at Sonning a Bull of Pope John XXII., granting the great tithes of the parishes of Shinfield and Swallowfeld for the repairs of Hereford Cathedral. The grant runs thus : —
' Grant of the Parish Church of Scenigfeld (Shinfield), value £20, with the Chapel of Swallefelde, in the Diocese of Salisbury, for the rebuilding of the Cathedral so long as the work shall last.' Twenty-eight thousand marks having been spent on the superstructure, the whole threatened to fall. And there was 1 Feet of Fines, Berks, 10 Ed. II. No, 3.
Later St. Johns and their Tenants 33
issued a notice ' to penitents who contribute to the rebuilding of Hereford Cathedral, relaxation of sixty days of enjoined penance.'
This same year the Pope wrote a letter to Henry de Schorne,1 Rector of Seehenefeld in the diocese of Salisbury, and Canon and Prebendary of Hereford, living in the Roman Court, concerning his non-residence in Berkshire. He has concession to retain the canonry and prebend as well as the fruits of the rectory. He is to restore half the procurations received, and to pay one year's fruits of the rectory (Shinfield and Swallowfield) to the Holy Land Subsidy.
John, second Baron de St. John, died 1 6th June, 1322, 1322 leaving Margery his wife,2 and John his son and heir, aged Baron Jde fifteen,3 and we find that Master John Walewyn, Escheator 0f'Lag"_ beyond Trent, is given orders not to intermeddle further with ham the Manor of Swalefelde, and to restore the issues thereof, as the King learns by inquisition that John de Sto. Johanne of Lageham and Marjory his wife, who were enfeoffed thereof jointly, held the manor on the day of John's death to theirs and John's heirs by surrender of Beatrice de Gyse by fine levied in the King's court, and that the manor is held by knight service of the Earl of Warwick, a minor in the King's wardship. And the King assigned dower to the said Marjory upon her taking oath not to marry without the King's license.4
By the inquisition taken at Swallowfield on Thursday, 1 6th June, 1323, we learn that when the second Baron St. John 1323 died he held nothing of the King in capite in co. Berks. He
1 Schorne or Shornes of Kent.
- In Common Fleas, de Banco Roll, 17 Ed. II. (1324), there is a case in which ' Cecilia, who was the wife of John de Sancto Johanne of Lageham, demands against Margeria de Gyse the third part of the Manor of Swalewefeld with appurts, as her dower. Said Margeria appears and says that said Cecilia ought not to have dower, because she was never lawfully married to aforesaid John. Case adjourned.'
;1 Inq. p. m. 16 Edw. II. No. 62. ' Close Roll 17 Ed. II. m. 38.
D
34 Swallowfield and its Owners
held in his demesne, as of fee, the manor of Swalefeld of the heir of the Earl of Warwick,1 &c, ut supra. Jury say the capital messuage with the curtilages is worth nothing but the refusal. An extent was then taken of it, which gives us the following :
' Rent from the free tenants £ 1 1 45. 6\d., which was paid at the feasts of St. John the Apostle, the Annunciation of the Blessed Mary, St. John the Baptist, and St. Michael.
' Rent of wrifs and cotters (esterallon) per annum £6 75. ^\d. paid at the feast of St. John the Apostle (385. yd. and 1 lb. of pepper and 1 lb. of cummin), the Annunciation, St. John the Baptist, and St. Michael (£4! and one ploughshare).
'Also the works of the customary tenants per ann. 335. yd. ; 1 80 acres arable land per ann. 505. ; 30 acres meadow per ann. 155.
{ Park enclosed, with underwood and pasture, per ann. 305.'
In 1323 the Dean and Chapter of Hereford paid a fine of five marks to Edward II. for the license of appropriating and anvening the Chapelry of Swalefeld with the Church of Shenygefeld, in the diocese of Sarum, and in 1327 a commission and mandate was issued to confirm the grant made by the Chapter of Hereford to Adam, Bishop of Worcester, sometime Bishop of Hereford, for his life, of the Church of Schynfeld and Chapel of Swalefeld, in the diocese of Salisbury, value £20, in consideration of the labours undertaken by Bishop Adam in the canonisation of St. Thomas, late Bishop of Hereford. This same year, which was the first year of King Edward III.'s reign, a tax was levied called the c Taxation of the 20th, ' granted to the King by the Parliament, and consisted of the twentieth of the value of all the movable goods of every person except the 1 Thomas de Beauchamp, 3rd Earl, born 1313.
Later St. Johns and their Tenants
35
clergy. The Assessments for Berkshire, which are still to be seen in the Record Office, were made before Henry de Pentelawe and William de Sparsholte, and are as follows :
Hundred of Sonning.
Galf atte Beche viii. tiuV. Johe de Ynemdon ivs. v\\d. Johe de Welder vs. nd. Willo de Saltt ilf. Stepho atte Twychen vilf. Andro Willi xiii^. Johe de Okham vis. xid. Johe atte Beche xxid. John Mathew vis. \d. Walto Poydras x\\d. Bartho atte Lane \\\\d.
Villa
Bartho atte Folde vis. v\\d. Thoma le Mestr vid. Agn atte Moure vid. Willo Millit xiid. Johne le Bedel xvid. Gilbto Gerad vid. Rico Mannyg vid. Johne de Sucheye Us. Hid. Alica Syward vid. Willo Adam vid. Johe atte Hurne vid. Johe atte Stonhull His. vid. 1 ' Vulrich' appears in 1
Johne Passelow vid.
Henry atte Msshe (Marsh) xiid.
Johne le Clerk iiu. iid.
Edwardo le Conk vid.
Willo le Hert vid.
Johne Boiling vid.
Thoma Symod (Symonds) vid.
Johne Archewode vid.
Gouild Stepnes ivs. ivd.
Johne atte fforde vid.
de Wokingham.
Willo Ffrende v\\d. Alex atte Leghe v.f. ivd. Willo atte Brout iiiLf. ii^. Willo Wolnrich 1 xviiid. Stepho le Kinch xviiid. Rg. Frendwyne xiid. Willo du Standryche xiid. Johe Seger xiid. Johne de Sucheye xviiid. Johne Howelles vid.
Sma. cii^. id. P.B. (Pro- batur). st of tenants at Swallowfield in 1276.
13=7
de Ifeld
36 Swallowjield and its Owners
John, third Baron de St. John, was summoned to Parlia- ment from 1327 to 1 33 1, and in 5 Edward III., ' making proof \\\\ of his age, had livery of his lands.' 1
Though Baron de St. John was the Manorial Lord of ,333- Swallowfield, it was held in 1333 by Sir John de Ifeld (or Ifield), Sir John ancj ne was tne principal person taxed at ' Swalughfeld ' and 1 Schenygfehl ' in that year, viz. at 20s.2
Sir John de Ifeld was originally called John Aleyn de Ifield.3 He married4 before 1304, Marjory, daughter and heiress of Sir Henry de Apuldrefield,5 of Westerham, Kent, by his wife Isolda de Grey. She brought him in marriage Apuldrefield, Broxham, and Sundrish, and he had many other possessions.
In 1320, Sir John de Ifield and his wife Marjory had been enfeoffed in the Manor of Lageham by John Baron St. John for their joint lives, with remainder to their daughter Katharine.6
1 Rot. Fin. 5 Edward III. m. 23. - Lay Subsidy Rolls, Co. Berks, No. ^-.
3 The name ' Aleyn ' was probably the same as ' FitzAlain.' In 1258 Bartholo- mew and Matilda de Moriston give Hen. de Appeltrefeld the homage and all the services of Simon FitzAlain of Sundrish, and after the decease of Henry's successor, Sir Henry de Apuldrefield, the manor of Broxham remains with 'John Aleyn de Ifeld.'
In 1362 John Aleyn was instituted Canon of Windsor. In 1559 Simon Aleyn was Canon of Windsor. This was the celebrated Vicar of Bray who was the origin of the sole (according to Fuller) proverb of the co. of Berks, i.e. ' The Vicar of Bray will be Vicar of Bray still.' He lived under Hen. VIII., Ed. VI., Q. Mary, and Elizabeth, and was first a Papist, then a Protestant, then a Papist, then a Protestant again. When taxed with being a 'turncoat,' he replied, 'Not so, for 1 always keep my principle, which is this, to live and die the Vicar of Bray.'
* Vincent's MSS. in Coll. Arms 10 p. 8, and MS. Coll. Arms H. 2 ff. 36.
6 Apuldrefield, also written Apeltrefeud, Appeltrefeld, Apeldorefeld, and now Apeldore.
6 John de Latimer died seised of Norbrith in Godstow, which he held of John de Ifield and Margery his wife as of the manor of Lageham, which was the right of inheritance of John, son and heir of John de St. John of Lageham. Inq. p. m. 10 Ed. III. No. 15.
Later St. Johns and their Tenants 37
Sir John held many judicial appointments in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey. There is a long account of his services and offices in Nichols's ' Topographer and Genealogist.'
By his wife Margery, Sir John de Ifield left three daughters :
1. Margaret, who inherited Apuldrefield and Broxham, married Sir Stephen de Ashway,1 left a son, Sir Stephen de Ashway, and was buried in the Grey Friars.
2. Katharine de Ifield, married Sir Thomas de Foxle or Foxley 2 of Bray and Bramshill, Constable of W indsor Castle, who died in 1360, leaving a son, Sir John de Foxle.
3. Joan, the third daughter of Sir John de Ifield, died unmarried.
In Ifield Church, near Crawley in Sussex, there are two monuments, the one a cross-legged knight, and the other a lady, who have been assigned to Sir John de Ifield and his wife Margery.3 Both monuments are engraved in Cartwright's
1 Sir Stephen de Ashway had a mansion in Milk Street, Cheapside. In 1359 he made an expedition to France with John de Brocas of Beaurepaire.
8 Sir Thos. de Foxle was son of Sir John de Foxle, Baron of the Exchequer, by his wife Constance, who brought him Bramshill. Sir John obtained a charter for free warren throughout his demesnes at Bromeshull, Eversle, Hayshill, and Bray. (Cha. Rot. 10 Ed. II. n. 26.) Sir John de Foxle, grandson of Sir John de Ifield, represented the counties of Berks and Hants in Parliament. He married, first, Mathilde, daughter of Sir John Brocas of Beaurepaire. He died 1378, leav- ing two legitimate daughters, Katharine, who married John Warbleton ofYVarbleton and Sherfield-on-Loddon, and Margery, who married Robt. Bullock. Sir John died in 1378, and left small sums to the parish churches of Braye, Fynchamstede, Wokyngham, Everslee, and Bromeshull.
a The late Mr. Stothard is said to have discovered on the shield of the knight some fragments of gilding and paint sufficient to show that his armorial bearing was a bend or withabordure gules. The coat of Ifield in the heraldic dictionaries differs from this, as do the bearings of the Fields and Atfields, with which Ifield is said to be synonymous. Nichols says that the individuals named ' atte Felde' and ' de la Field,' mentioned in the Rape of Bramber as vendors or purchasers of land from 1284-1315, were related to Sir John de Ifield, and in one instance we find Sir John de Ifield and William atte Field parties to fines in the same parish. Also John de la Felde and Robert de la Felde were jurors in the hundred of Typenoke.
38 Swallowjield and its Owners
1 Rape of Bramber,' and that of the knight is also in Stothard's ' Monumental Effigies.'
We do not know when Sir John de Ifield died, but it appears 1343 that he was ' holding ' Swallowfield in 1343, as in that year there was a suit at Westminster between ' Roger, son of John de Sancto Johanne miles and Joan his wife, pffs., and John de Sto. Johanne of Lageham, chivaler, deforciant, of the Manor of Swalefelde, with appurts, which John de Ifeld, chivaler, and his wife Margeria hold for the term of the life of said Margeria. John de St. John grants the reversion of the said manor after the death of Sir John de Ifeld and his wife to said Roger and Joan and to the heirs of their bodies ; but if none, then to revert to John de St. John and his heirs.'
39
CHAPTER V
THE DE LA BECHES AND BEAUMYS
The De la Beches are said to have been the next owners of Swallowfield, and it is certain, from inquisitions, that they held a large portion of it, but possibly not the whole, and it seems probable that they lived at Beaumys Castle,1 which is described as being then c both in Swafeld, Wilts, and Swafeld, Berks.' 2
As early as 1336, Philip de la Beche, Sheriff of Berks, had a right of free warren over Beaumys. He died in 1339, when Edward III. granted it to his brother Sir Nicholas de la Beche, who already had immense territories in Berks and elsewhere. Besides Beche, he owned East and West Compton, Cookham, Binfield, Burghfield, Basildon, Harwell, Stratfield, Padworth, Peasemore, Lekhampstead, Bradfield, Farley, and estates in Sussex.
Sir Nicholas was appointed Governor to the Black Prince, and in 1335-6 was made Constable of the Tower.
In 1340 the two Princesses Isabella and Joanna, aged respectively eight and seven, were left there under his care during the absence of the King and Queen in France, but he
1 Beaumys, also written Beams, Beeaumys, and Bealmes, about two miles from Swallowfield, now the property of Henry Hunter, Esq., of Beechhill.
2 The family of De la Beche took their name from the small manor in the parish of Aldworth, Berks, called 'La Beche,' probably from the beech-tree having nourished there, and Godfrey de Beche, mentioned in Domesday Book, is said to have been the founder of the family.
4-0 Swallowfield and its Owners
appears to have neglected his duties, for on the sudden and unexpected return of the King, one December night, the fortress was found badly guarded,1 the Governor absent,'2 and only three ordinary servants in attendance 3 on the royal children.
Greatly enraged at this, the King ordered the arrest and imprisonment of Sir Nicholas and other officers, and ' treated
1342 them with exemplary rigour,' 4 but in less than two years Sir Nicholas received his pardon, was reinstated as Constable of the Tower, allowed to castellate his houses at Beche and Beaumys, and was also employed in the v/ars in Brittany.
1343 In 16 Edward III., he had summons to Parliament, but not
1345 after. Two years later he was sent as one of the Commissioners to treat with Alphonso, King of Castile, touching a marriage between the eldest son of that King and the Princess Joanna.
1346 Nicholas de la Beche died in 1346-7, leaving no child, but his wife Margery, whom he had married in 1339, survived him, and to her he left his lands in Swallowfield and Beaumys. She was the daughter of Michael, Lord de Poynings, and had pre- viously married Edmund Bacoun or Bacon, of Essex, who was descended from Sir John Bacon of Ewelme. She held the Manor of Hatfield Peverall, which Edward II. had granted to Edmund Bacon in fee in 13 10, for the term of her life, ' partly of the King and partly of the Earl of Hereford by homage, and the third part of a knight's fee and two pairs of gilt spurs of twelve pence price.' And she also held Cressing Hall or Cressinges, Essex.
By her first husband, Margery de la Beche had one
' Twenty men-at-arms and fifty archers were assigned for the purpose {Feedera, vol. ii. p. 1 102).
-' It is said by Froissart that Sir Nicholas had gone to visit a lady-love in the city. 5 The princesses had a large establishment of esquires, clerks, valets, &c. 4 Holinshed, vol. iii. p. 360.
The De la Bechcs and Beau my s 41
daughter, Margery Bacon, born 1337, who married, in 1352, William de Molynes, son of Sir John de Molynes, and she had also a step-daughter ] Margaret Bacon, daughter of Edmund Bacon, by his first wife Joan Brevves,1 who married William, second Baron Kerdeston, of Norfolk.
At the death of her second husband Lady Margery de la Beche must have been still very young, and she was a great heiress. Consequently she was exposed to the designs of many suitors, and the following year we find her mentioned as the wife 1347 of both Thomas de Arderne 2 and Gerard de L'Isle.3 And again that same year Lady Margery de la Beche was carried off and forcibly married to Sir John de Dalton. Very possibly the black death, which was raging this year, may have cut off
1 Joan Brewes was daughter of Sir John de Brewesof Stinton, Norfolk, descended from the Lords Braose of Bramber, one of his ancestors being Sir John de Brewes of Stinton, one of the deponents in favour of Sir Richard Scrope in the celebrated controversy between the latter and Sir Robert Grosvenor. In 1384 we find mention of manors in West Wrotham and East Wrotham, and Elyngton, which belonged to Katharine de Brews for her life, ' the reversion whereof John Bacon, King's Clerk, Thomas Godelake, &c, granted to the King.' (Pat. 8 Rich. II. p. i. m. 36.)
2 It seems not improbable that Thomas Arderne, who married the widow of Sir Nicholas de la Beche, Governor of the Black Prince, should be son of John de Arderne, who was physician to that prince. This John de Arderne is chiefly con- spicuous now as having left a manuscript in which he affirms that the Black Prince assumed after Crecy the plume of ostrich feathers which had been worn by the King of Bohemia, who fell there ; his assertion is very positive, and it is upon this, and this alone apparently, that the story so universally accepted is based. Sir Sibbald Scott, however, says this romantic story ' must be dismissed as fabulous,' and the authenticity of this popular legend is doubted by those who have gone into the question. Dr. Meyrick says that the cognisance and the motto originally belonged to the House of Hainault, and that both were adopted by Edward 1 1 1, and his family in compliment to Queen Philippa, his Queen, who was daughter of the Count of Hainault. German (' Ich dien ') was the language of the Court of Hainault, but it was not the language of the Bohemians. It is also certain that the crest of the King of Bohemia was a wing (Olivarius Vredius). The cognisance of the feathers was worn not only by the Black Prince but also by King Edward.
3 In 1345 Gerard de L'Isle married Elizabeth, widow of Edmund de St. John.
42 SwaUowfield and its Owners
Thomas de Arderne and Gerard de L'Isle within a few months of each other.
John de Dalton was son of Robert de Dalton,1 a large landowner in Lancashire. Accompanied by many lawless friends, amongst whom were Henry de Tildersley, Hugh Fazakerley, Sir Thomas Dutton, Sir Edmund de Mauncestre, and William, son of Sir John Trussell (the latter had the Manor of Woghfield,2 co. Berks, so that he was a near neighbour of Beaums), on Good Friday, the 7th of April, 1347, before dawn, John de Dalton and his companions broke into the Castle of Beaums, and carried off Margery, Lady de la Beche, and many others prisoners. They killed Michael le Poynings, uncle to Lady Margery, as also Thomas the Clerk of Shipton, and frightened Roger Hunt, the domestic chaplain, to death. Goods and chattels were also stolen to the value of 1,000/. In con- sequence of this assault, a writ was directed to the Sheriff of Lancashire to arrest John de Dalton and all his accomplices and commit them to the Tower. On the same day John Darcy, Keeper of the Tower, was commanded to receive Sir John Dalton, his companions, and Robert, his father. A precept was also issued to the Sheriffs of Berks and other counties to seize into the King's hands all the lands, goods, and chattels of the said Margery.3 Thomas de Litherland, the Prior of Buscogh, Tilderslegh, and Dutton were tried and convicted at the summer
1 Sir Robert de Dalton, Lord of the Manor of Byspham and Dalton Hall (now Thurnham Hall).
3 Sir John Trussell had the Manor of Woghfield after Roger de Mortuo Mari (Mortimer), who bought it from Thomas Danvers in 1320. In 1207 a claim was made by Roland Danvers that certain lands in Woghfield, Berks, belonged to him in right of their having come to an ancestor ' as dower on marriage with the daughter of Torold, the son of Geoffrey' (Geoffrey, son of Saxon theyn). The opponent in this suit was Nicholas 'de Bulche.'
s Rowe Mores.
The De la Beches and Beaumys 43
assizes for Wilts, holden before William de Thorpe, Chief Justice of England, and others, but were pardoned on the 28 th of November following.1 1347
At the same time we read 2 in the 20th year of Edward III., of John, 3rd Baron de St. John, upon the death of Margery his mother,2 ' being so infirm that he could not come to the King to do his homage, had respite thereof and livery of those lands '349-5° which she held in dower.' He died the 8th of April, 23 Ed. St. John, III., leaving by his wife Katharine, daughter of Geoffrey de Say, 4 a son Roger, who succeeded him and who was then twenty years of age. In a Roll 22 Ed. III., we find an order for the sale of woods ' pertaining to Margery who was wife of Nicholas de la Beche, ore la femme Johan, son of Robert de Dalton, by reason of the forfeiture of the said John for treasons and felonies.' The said Lady Margery died this same year, ' seised of Swallowfield.' 3 She was buried in Aldworth Church with her second husband Sir Nicholas de la Beche, where their effigies have been much admired.
At her death Swallowfield passed into the hands of Sir Sir Ed- Edmund de la Beche, Archdeacon of Berks, a brother of Sir iaU]3eche Nicholas. He appears to have been a most audacious character. He assisted in the escape of Lords Audley and Berkeley from Wallingford Castle in 1323, for which he was imprisoned at Pomfret, but soon after set at liberty. In 1327 the Mayor and citizens of Oxford, with Edmund de la Beche at their head, joining themselves with the townsmen of Abingdon, went at midnight in a great body with torches and candles and burnt the Manor of Northcott, belonging to the Abbey of Abingdon,
1 William Trussell was probably also pardoned, and in 1357 he was Constable of Odyham Castle when David Bruce, King of Scotland, was confined there.
2 Pat. 21 Ed. III. pt. 3 m. 15.
5 Inq. p. in. 23 Ed. III. pt. i. No. 89.
44
Swallowfield and its Owners
after which they set upon the Abbey itself and ransacked it in a terrible manner, partly killing and putting to flight the monks, for which the ringleaders were hanged at Wallingford. Edmund de la Beche was, however, again pardoned. He died in 1365.
At the death of Lady Margaret de la Beche in 1349 the Manor of Beaumys went to the two younger nieces of Sir Nicholas de la Beche, ' Isabel Fitz-Ellis and Alice dAnvers, sisters and heirs of John de la Beche, lately deceased,' and it remained in the hands of their descendants till 1424. 1
In 8 Henry V. there was a suit at Westminster between John fritz-Elys and Walter Walkestede, clerk, plaintiffs, and William Danvers and Joan his wife, deforciants, concerning lands in the parish of Swalefeld. John Fitz-Elys was no doubt a descendant of the William Fitz-Elys who married Isabel de la Beche. The name, shorn of the ' Fitz,' con- tinued in the neighbourhood for some generations, and a 'John Elys, gent., of Sheynefyeld,' was buried there in 1617.2 William Danvers, the deforciant, must have been the descendant of Robert d'Anvers, who married Alice de la Beche, Isabel Fitz-Elys's sister. The suit ended in William Deanvers (sic) and Joan his wife granting the land to Joan Fitz-Ellis and Walter Walkestede and to the heirs of John, and they were to receive one hundred marks for the concession. And again in 2 Henry VI. (1424) there was a suit between John fFeriby,3 Edmund Rede, Thomas Grene,4 Richard Paulyn, chaplain, and
1 The Berks branch of the Danvers family became extinct with William Danvers, whose will, in Latin, is at Somerset House, dated 1439 {Luffenam, 27).
• And in 1693 John Ellis, gent., and Jane Ladyman were married at Shinfield ; and there is still a farm in Swallowfield parish called ' Ellis's farm.'
3 John fferiby was the representative of the family of John de Foureby, valet of Edward 111., who had a grant of land in Swallowfield in 1357.
4 John Greene was Vicar of Shinfield and Swallowfield in 1604.
The De la Beches and Beaumys 45
William Perkins,1 plaintiffs, and William Deanvers and Joan his wife, deforciants, for ten marks rent issuing out of the Manor of Beaumys, which is described as being both ' in Swafeld, Wilts, and Swafeld, Berks.' The deforciants grant to the plaintiffs the said rent and liberty to distrain for same if in arrear. The plaintiffs give the deforciants £4.0 for the concession. In 145 1 Rich. Milbourn was seised of a third part of Beaumys, and in 1493 Thos. Mylborne, knight, died ' seised of, inter alia, a third part of Beams ; ' he had a son Henry and a daughter Cicely.2
In 1482 Beaumys passed from the Marmions to the Stonors. We find under date March 22 Edward IV. a release ' from John Marmyon, son of Peter Marmyon, to William Stonore, knight, of all his rights in the Manor of Beaumys, which formerly belonged to Peter Marmyon in Shenynfeld, Swalowefeld, Farley, Dydenhame, Trunkwell, Foxhill, and Sheperygge Magna,3 in Com. Berks, Wilts, &c.4
Beaumys then became the property of the Capell family. Sir William Capell, who held it, was Lord Mayor of London in 1 503 ; 5 he left it to Edward Capell, younger son of Sir Giles Capell, and it remained in the Capell family till 1678. Besides Beaumys, they had 1,220 acres and £12 quit-rent in Shinnigfield, Swallowfield, Didenham, Trunkwell, and Ship- bridge. In 1549 Sir Alexander Unton of Wadley, near Faringdon, died ' seised of the Manor of Sheprige in Shinfield and Swallowfield,' valued at £40, which he had settled on his
1 Probably William Parkyns of Ufton Robert, who was Bailiff of Humphrey Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, and Escheator for Berks and Oxon.
2 Inq. 8 Hen. VII. No. 814. In 1677 James Milbourn was Vicar of Shinfield and Swallowfield.
3 Now ' Sheepsbridge.' 4 Rot. Claus. 22 Edw. IV, m. 27.
6 Sir William Capell died 15 15 and was buried at St. Bartholomew's-the-Little. He was son of John Capell, of Stoke Nayland, Suffolk, and from him is descended the present Earl of Essex.
46 Swallowfield and its Owners
second wife Cecily, daughter of Edward Bulstrode, on her marriage in July 1 533-1 He was son of Sir Thomas Unton, who claimed descent from Sir Robert Danvers of Ipwell, Oxon (who died 1467), so that Sir Alexander Unton may have been in possession of Sheperygge as a descendant of the De la Beches. Thomas c Anton ' ' of Stratfild Sey, co. Hants, clerke of the Court of Wards and Liveries,' who died in 1558, must have been of the same family.2 In his will he begins by saying that he held his farm of ' Stratfeld Say ' of Eton College, and that his lease was granted by Will, Lord Marques of Wynchester, Lord Thresorer of England, of the Manor of Turges in Stratfield- Turgis, called Great Pytham and Little Pytham, granted by the late Prior and Convent of Marton Abbey.3 And he leaves to his wife Katherine4 and to his sons Thomas ° and George his grant from Edward Capell of Foxhill, for ten years of their three lives, according to the custom of the Manor of Beames. Thomas Anton also in his will mentions his lands, &c, of which he was ' seised in fee in Swallowfield, Eversleigh, and Fynchehampsted, co. Barks and Southt., and in Castilford, co. York.'
In 1678, Arthur Lord Capel sold Beaumys to Thomas Woodcock.
The family of Wodecock or Woodcock was an old one. We find a John Wodecock in 1398, and there is in Shinfield Church a brass to William Wodecock and his daughters Katarine and
1 Sir Alex. Unton's will, registered in Prerog. Ct. Canterbury (Populwell, 30.)
a Visit, of Berks 1566 gives Anne, late wife to Thos. Unton of Wadley. She married secondly, John Tygehall of Berks.
* Marton Abbey is in Yorks.
'■ Sister of John, James, and Henry Chambrelayn, who were his executors. One of the earliest entries in the parish registers of Swallowfield Church is Jo. Chamberlayn, in the sixteenth century.
J Born 1536.
The De la Beches ami Beaumys 47
Isabella. They appear to have lived at Didingham or Didenham, Shinfield. Mr. Danvers bought Beaumys from Thomas Wood- cock,1 and afterwards sold it to Henry Lannoy Hunter, grand- father of Mr. Henry Hunter, the present owner. The name of Woodcock still survives in c Woodcock Lane,' which runs into the Reading road near Three-mile Cross.
1 Amongst the Chancery Bills temp. James I. is one in which the plaintiff, George Woodcock of Whitley, Berks, a younger son of Robert Woodcock of Didnam, sues his father and eldest brother Thomas Woodcock for performance of an agreement by them to settle on the plaintiff, on his marriage with Margaret Mylls, a daughter of William Mylls, lands in Shinfield, or in case Robert Wood- cock should resume possession of these lands, then lands in Swallowfield then in the possession of William Piggot.
48 Swallowfield and its Owners
CHAPTER VI
SWALLOWFIELD A ROYAL PARK
Roger, fourth Baron de St. John, who, we have seen (p. 43),
1352 succeeded his father in 1350, released in 1352, to Sir Nicholas deColney Lovayne and Margaret his wife, all his right in the Manor of
Lageham, but Swallowfield remained his property and was held by Thomas de Colney.
1353 Roger de St. John died in 1353, aged twenty-four, leaving a ward the widow Joan, aged seventeen, but no children. Peter de St. Third John,1 his kinsman, was his next heir, but was never summoned
to Parliament, and Swallowfield reverted to the King, Joan exchanging the manor with the King for fifty marks per annum.2
1354 In the accounts3 of John White,4 1354 ' Reeve of the Manor of the Lord the King of Swalwefelde,' we get many place-names and many agricultural details. He answers for y. for one acre and half in Risshemede so sold to Richard Forester.
And for 1 id. for hay in Gormede so sold to William Wythe. And for iod. for rowen [i.e. after-math] so sold to him the said Reeve in Goremede.
1 In the Harl. Charters there is a charter of Peter de St. John, dated 1356, to Nicholas de ' Flovaygne,' knight, and Margaret his wife, of right in the manor of Lageham and Mcreden.
1 Feet of Fines, Berks, 27 Ed. III., Trinity, No. 4.
3 Min. Accts. ijj1.
1 John White held a tenement, with lands called ' Lamborne,' in Spene. He had a son called William White of Spene.
Swallowfield a Royal Park 49
And for iod. for hay in Perkemede,1 so sold to William Clerk.
And for Zd. for pasture of the meadow of Perke-mede after carrying away the hay so sold to William Justice and Richard Reeve.
And for $s. for pasture in the stubbles of Swalwefelde.
And for 6d. for one cow agisted in Bromfelde and Peregrove for six weeks, and for 6d. for one heifer agisted there, from the feast of St. Peter ad Vincula to the feast of St. Michael.
And for ^d. for two calves of Henry Parmere agisted there.
And for 4^. for three calves of Robert de Okeley agisted there.
And for /\.d. for one steer of a certain woman of Sheperigge agisted there, &c.
And for 45. for farm of the dove-house for the time of this account.
And for 35. for four quarters and a half of apples and pears sold without.
And for 14J. 6d. for a moiety of the agistment appertaining to the King for the time of this account out of 295. for the whole agistment of the park and Wheteham from the first day of May, up to the Gule [i.e. August 1].
And for 2od. for agistment of four oxen of Richard de Colney. And for 1 2d. for herbage of three gardens sold without for the time of this account.
And for lod. for agistment of 10 oxen, which were Thomas de Colneye's.
And for \d. for a moiety of the herbage of 10 acres in Ryershe.
1 There is some meadow land at Swallowfield which still goes by the name of ' Perkmead.'
50 Swallowfield and its Owners
And for 95. for twenty-four geese sold ; price of a goose, 4^/.
And for is. for agistment of eight oxen and six steers of Thomas Hodeman and John Attehole, in the park for four weeks.
And for \ld. for two colts of Henry Pokeriche x agisted there for the same time.
And for ^d. for one calf of John Taillour agisted there.
And for lod. for three steers of John Jacob'2 agisted there.
And for %d. for calves of Simon Norman 3 agisted there.
And for 6d. for one colt of Stephen Cole 4 ditto.
And for 14^. for the loss of two oaks felled for making the paling of the park, so sold to Adam Aleyn.
And for 45. for one quarter of meslin sold without, and for 55. for one quarter of malt so sold.
And for icw. for autumn works for the coming from five customary tenants of Swa[l]wefelde, every one of whom ought to reap, bind, shock, carry, and stack in autumn the lord's corn with one man every working day before noon until the lord's corn shall be harvested, and such work of one man for the whole autumn is worth 2S.
And for 55. \d. for mowing 8 acres of meadow in Langmede.
And for i6d. for making hay of the grass coming therefrom ; given for every acre, id.
And for iooj. received from Sir Henry de Greystoke5 by the hands of Peter Attehache,6 delivering to him money upon the
1 Query if the same as ' Patherich ' or as ' Pokelchurch.'
2 Anthony Martyn, son of William Martyn of Wokingham, married Anne, daughter of John Jacob ' of Stanford.'
:l The name ' Norman' still in the parish.
4 Joan Loveden of Lambourne married Richard Cole of Ashbury, Berks ; see Berks Visit. 1566.
s Sir Henry de Greystocke, auditor of the King's Chamber, 1355-6. * Hatche of White Waltham. Visit. Berks, 1566.
Swallowfield a Royal Park 51
enclosure of the Park ; and in decay of rent of one cottage which Ralph Prat held, $d.
And in mowing nineteen acres of meadow in Perke-mede this year, by the job, 10^. 6d.
And in carriage of the hay to the Grange y., and in stacking the hay in the Grange 6d., and in picking the hay in the meadows yd.
And in one thatcher with his servant hired to cover over the hay-house for two dogs lid.
And to John Fourbour,1 Parker of the King, for his wages at T,d. a day.
And to Richard Illeger or Ilger,2 bailiff, after him, upon the aforesaid wages.
In the same Roll, under the heading ' Demesne Lands,' we find the following names : ' Wythecroft within the Park sown with wheat, Medelhalifelde within the Park, Mullecroft sown with winter seed by Thomas de Colney deceased, Bromfelde lies fallow, Whetham lies fallow, Neulonde sewn with wheat and with Lent-seed, to the use of Richard de Colney.' And under the head of ' Mowable Meadows,' ' Ten acres within the park in Medelhalymede, 8 acres mown to the use of the aforesaid Richard, and two to the use of the King. Five acres in Flodeyatemede. Half an acre of pasture in the wood called " Farlyngmore." '
This same year, 1353, Richard de Colney,3 cousin and heir 1353 of Thomas de Colney, had a suit at Westminster against the King for the ownership of ' Swalefeld.' It ended in Richard de
1 This name appears later as Fourby and Ferriby.
2 ' Ilger,' probably same name as Algar. Osmund Algar was one of John de St. John's tenants at Swallowfield in 1276.
3 In 1385 ' Master Richard Colney presented to the Church of Eversley.' (Pat. 8 Ric. II. pt. 2, m. 42.)
52 Swallowfield and its Owners
Colney recognising Swallowfield to be the right of the King, who gave him ioo marks for the concession.
Richard de Colney built a chapel in St. Mary's Church, Reading, which was called ' Colney's Chantry.' It stood in the south aisle, and was founded in 1372. We find in Coates's 4 Reading ' licence of mortmain was granted to William Baron and Bartholomew Mayhew to apply an annual rent-charge of 25 shillings, issuing out of five messuages in Reading, to the establishment of a chaplain to celebrate a Mass for the good estate of the King, of William Catour,1 and of Johanna his wife, so long as they shall live, and for their souls after their decease, and for the souls of Thomas de Colney and John de Colney 2 and the souls of the faithful, in the Church of St. Mary, in a certain chapel called Colney's Chapel, every day. The said trustees were empowered to apply to the same uses after the decease of Will Catour, Johanna his wife, and dementia their daughter, two messuages and a tavern called * le boute,' and a certain plat of ground in Reading and six acres of meadow in Tygelhurst (Tilehurst), with three messuages in Minster Street, and two shops with their appurtenances in Soncere Street.3
1 William Catour or Cator was Mayor of Reading in 1370, '73, '83, '84, '88, '89, The name originally appears as ' Le Catour' or ' le Acator,' and sometimes as 'le Akatour' and ' Lakatour.' (Close Rolls, 131 1 and 1312.)
John Cator was buried at Swallowfield in 1545, and a John Cator at Reading in 1558. Emme, daughter of John Cator, was the third wife of Nicholas Backhouse, whose son, Samuel Backhouse, in 1582, bought Swallowfield.
2 In 1383 James Berners, the King's knight, was granted, during the minority of the heir, the custody of the lands, late of John Colney, Esquire, &c. (Pat. 6 Ric. II. p. 2, m. 15.) 'John Colney1 was a ' Buyer for the Household of the King' in 1381, and in 1385 we find 'John Colney, Esquire,' alluded to as forming part of the King's household. (Pat. 6 Ric. II. part ii. m. 15). Richard Turner was the last incumbent or chaplain of Colney's Chantry, at the dissolution of which he received a pension of ,£10 a year, 22 Henry VIII.
-1 Soncere Street was also called Sonkere, Synckere, and le Sinker Street. In the time of Philip and Mary it was called ' Siveyer Street,' in 1802 Sivier Street, and now Silver Street. Robert Sevier had possessions in Reading in 1458, and the name 'Sea\er: occurs in St. Lawrence's Register in 1686.
Swallowfeld a Royal Park 53
The Park of Swallowfield was used at this time by the Crown for the breeding of horses. In a Memoranda Roll, 30 Edward III., appears the following : ' The King to the Sheriff (Oxford and Berkshire), greeting. We command you that of the issues of your bailiwick you shall cause our beloved servant Edmund Rose, keeper of certain of our horses, to be paid and to have the accustomed wages for the keepers of our horses in the parks of Cornbury, Wyndesore, and Swalwefeld, and also the necessaries for the keeping of the same horses for the year of our reign over England now last past, namely to be reckoned from the Feast of St. Michael in the 28th year of our reign over England until the Feast of St. Michael next following, making an indenture between you and the said Edmund Rose, as witness the Treasurer at Westminster, the 2nd day of October in the year aforesaid, by writ under the Great Seal remaining at the receipt of the Exchequer amongst the mandates of Easter term in the 18th year.' And four days later another mandate was issued to the Sheriff commanding him, of the issues of his bailiwick, by testimony of the King's ' beloved groom Edmund Rose,1 or of Robert de Whitton,2 his attorney in this behalf,' to ' cause to be constructed mangers and stalls in our stables at Swaluefeld, and also cause the walls of the same stables to be repaired for our horses and foals remaining in the keeping of the said Edmund.'
Edward III. kept a large stud, and gave immense sums for some of his horses. In Devon's ' Issues of the Exchequer ' the price that he gave for three chargers, in 1330, is mentioned. For a bright brown bay, with two white hind feet, named
1 Edmund Rose, yeoman of Edward III., married Agnes Archer, damsel of Queen Philippa. Stowe mentions Edmund Rose, a Norfolk man who was a valiant soldier.
- In 1655 there were Whittons seated at Blackbourton, Oxon.
54 Siuallowjield and its Owners
'Bayard,' he gave ,£50 (now equivalent to about ,£1,000) ; for one dappled with grey spots, called ' Le Bryt,' £70 (equivalent to about ,£1,400) ; and for a grey with a black head, called 'Pomers,' ,£120 (equivalent to ,£2,000).
In the Originalia Roll 34 Ed. III. rot. 5, we find entries {De Equitio Regis vendendo,' viz., commissions to the three officers appointed to view the King's ' Stalones, Jumenta, et Pullani de citra Trentam,' i.e. in Parks of Windsor, Guildford, Odyham, Swallowfield, Woodstock, &c, and to take so many for his use or for sale. The three Commissioners were John de Brocas, who was ' Custos equorum Regis,' or Master of the Horse,1 Edmund Rose, and the famous William de Wykeham.2
When his war with France was supposed to be over, King Edward wished to lessen his stud, and some of his horses were sold, and the money realised by the sale was given towards the building of Windsor Castle.3
Archbishop Islip, in a work called 'Speculum Regis Edwardi III.,' inveighed against the extravagance of the King's establishment, the expenses of the royal stud particularly exciting his indignation.
'And now, my Lord King,' says he, 'consider the expenses you incur yearly about one great horse. One great horse must needs have at the least one groom to attend to it, who will receive three halfpence per day for his expenses. He will
1 John de Brocas, father of Sir Bernard Brocas of Beaurepaire. His dress was a blue tunic with a white cloth cape.
*' In Issue Rolls, Easter, 30 Ed. III., we find that money was paid by William of Wykeham for the keep of the King's eight dogs at Windsor for nine weeks, taking for each dog \d. per day, and for the wages of a boy to keep the said dogs during the same time, id. per day.
3 In 1344 the King began to erect the Round Table and allowed ,£100 to be expended on it weekly. (Walsingham, p. 117.)
Swallowfield a Royal Park 55
receive a provision for the horse itself ; for the price of hay id., straw id. Thus the expenses for a single day, of horse and groom, will be \\d., and thus the expenses of one week is. J^d., enough to support 4 or 5 poor persons. Thus computing the expence of one groom and one horse per annum the expenses amount to £6 16s. How many and great, then, are the annual expenses for your grooms and horses ! Would it not be good and wholesome counsel to you that you should diminish the number of your horses to pay your debts and those of your father ; or if the debts were paid to give to so many religious poor and pilgrims, or to convert to other uses of piety ? ' 1 The King's frequent study of this work is said to have produced a great effect on him.
In 31 Edward III., Joan, widow of the last Baron de 135S St. John of Lageham, being now of age, married Sir William de Quenton, and they put in a claim for the possession of Swallow- field. There was a suit at Westminster, in which the King and ' John Gaunt who follows ' were plaintiffs, and William de Quenton and Joan defendants. The latter remit their claim to the King for the time of Joan for 100 marks.
Sir William de Quenton died in 1387. Edmund de la 1365 Beche, in whose possession Swallowfield had been since 1349-50, died in 39 Ed. III. ' seised of Swallowfield,' and at his death the manor passed into the hands of King Edward III.
The name of Beche still survives in the neighbourhood of Swallowfield in Beech Hill, the property of Henry Hunter, Esq., who is also the present owner of the site of Beaumys Castle, a slight indication of the moat being all that remains to show where it stood. In the British Museum Additional Charters
1 Middlchill MS. 4826, fol. 34.
56 Swallowfield and its Owners
there is mention of a grant from Andrew de Sakewilt le fitz 1 to Ralph de Restwold 2 and Thomas Hancepe, of land in Sheprugge Magna, Swalewefeld, Shynygfeld, and in Stratfeld, Burefield, Southcot, and Farleye, in co. Wilts and Berks, all of which descended to him at the death of Edmund de la Beche, his kinsman and one of the heirs of Nicholas de la Beche, chivalier. The witnesses were John Bardolph, William Makkeney,3 Hugh de Berwick (all ' milites ') and Henry Stormy,4 Robert Bullock and Andrew de Stratford. Dated at La Lee in the parish of Hurst, Wednesday, Feast of St. Barnabas, iith June, 39 Ed. III.
The same year the King ordered Ralph de Restwold 5 and
Thomas de Hynden G to inquire (by inquest) concerning the
removal and concealment of ,£2,000 found c sub terra apud
Shynyngfeld.' 7
1366 In 1366, Edward III. granted to John deFoureby,8 ' valettus
1 Son of Sir Andrew Sackville, who married Joan, sister and heir of John de la Beche.
2 Restwold of Mongewell, Oxon, and Restwold of the Vache, Berks. Ralph de Restwold and his son William and grandson Richard are mentioned in Patent Rolls in 1375. ' Rafe Rastwold' was Sheriff for Oxfordshire 11 54-5, and Richard Rest- wold was M.P. for Berks i44i,High Sheriff of Berks 1434-5, and again 1462-3, ob. 1475-6 seised of the manors of Lee and Sunning.
3 Mackney Court Farm, near Reading, with the manor, belonged to Robert Dalzell, Esq., in the last century. In 13S1 William Mackeneye was one of the ' Buyers for the Household.'
4 The same name as ' Esturmy.' Henry Esturmy of Wolf Hall, Wilts.
5 Was heir to his mother Margaret, daughter of Sir John de Lortie, ob. 8 p. Inq. 5 Ric. II.
e Thomas de Hynden or Hyvendon of Hevyndon, Berks, died 1373.
' Westm. 6 Dec. 38 Ed. III.
8 Foureby, also written Fourbour, Ferebye, Feriby, Ferreby, and Ferbie, now Ferbey. The ancient seat of this family was at Paul's Cray (four miles from Dart- ford), now only a farmhouse. In the church there are memorials of John Ferreby, 1400: sable, a fess ermine between three goats' heads erased, argent. Several persons of this name, all holding appointments, occur in the fourteenth century. John de Fereby was the King's Clerk of the Works at Westminster and at the
Swallowjield a Royal Park 57
Regis,' and Catharine his wife, in tail general, a messuage, eighteen acres of arable and one of meadow land in Swalefeld, which according to the return of Gilbert Randolph yielded to the King in fee 5*. and \d. annually.1
Thomas de Beauchamp succeeded his father as Earl of Warwick in 1369, and became the over-lord or owner-in-chief of Swallowfleld.
Among the Memoranda of the Treasury, the following is 1369
recorded : ' Memorandum quod xiii die Julii anno xlix liberate de g™au-
fuerunt in Thesauro per Adam de Hertyndon 2 2 litterae ^-—7-7. phaf p/
de quieta clamia de manerio de Swallowefelde et impo- XoSs/ War-
H • , ..... , 1 ■ ,, VV wick-
nuntur in quadam pixide in cista etc. ad tale signum. ° v k.g.
This shows there was a quit claim at this date confirming J375 the manor to the Crown, though the Earls of Warwick held it in chief as before, the Crown only dealing with the Earl's tenants or reputed tenants. The sign at the end of the above memo- randum seems to have been the symbol for Swallowfleld at the Exchequer.
Tower in 1330, and sat on sundry commissions at York and Newcastle, and in 1333 William de Feriby, the King's Clerk, was executed with Sir John Shelley and Sir Bernard Brocas. In 1386 Sir John de Fereby was Treasurer of York Cathedral. In 1353 John Fourbour was bailiff to the King at Swallowfleld, and was probably father of John de Foureby, 'Valettus Regis,' 1366. The name Ferrebee still exists in the parish of Swallowfleld.
1 Pat. 39 Ed. III. 2 M. 2.
a Adam de Hertyndon, Canon of Windsor and Dean of the King's Chapel at Stafford, was one of the Chamberlains of the Exchequer, and he was also Surveyor of the King's Manors, and Surveyor of the Works at Windsor Castle, it being part of his duty to collect money for the said works, and he probably obtained some from Swallowfleld. In 1384 ,£20 of rent in Reading was paid to the Abbot and Convent (of Reading) for finding a monk chaplain to celebrate divine service daily in the Abbey Church for the soul of Adam Hartyngdon. (Pat. Ric. II. pt. 1, m. 18.)
3 Palgrave, Kalendars and Inventories, vol. i. p. 244.
'375
58 Swallowfield and its Owners
CHAPTER VII
THE PRINCESS ISABELLA In 1375, King Edward III. gave to his daughter Princess
FsabeUa! Isabella de Coucy, Countess of Bedford, a grant of ' Swalfeld
Countess Manor with his Park,' and Henry Dounham, her esquire, had
of Bed- ' ' >■
ford the custody of the Park at a rent of four marks yearly, sold to
him for the term of the said Isabella's life by John Fourbour, to
whom it had been granted in 1366.
Isabella, who was the eldest of the four daughters of King Edward III. and Queen Philippa, was born in 1332, at the Palace of Woodstock. The late Mrs. Everett Green ' gives us most interesting details about this Princess, and the curious phases of her matrimonial engagements.
After negotiations for her marriage, first, with Peter,2 eldest son of Alphonso, King of Castile, and then with the eldest son of the Duke of Brabant, both of which fell through, the King, her father, determined that Princess Isabella should marry Louis, Earl of Flanders. This young Prince, however, was averse to such a connection for more reasons than one.
1 Lives of the Princesses of England, vol. iii. p. 163.
2 Peter, afterwards sumamed the Cruel. He became engaged later on to Princess Joanna, Edward III.'s second daughter, who, however, mercifully for her, died of the black death near Bordeaux, on her journey to Spain for her marriage, before she had attained her fifteenth year. In 1367 the Black Prince, after the battle of Najera, reinstated Peter the Cruel on the throne of Castile, from which he had been deposed, and the latter, as a mark of gratitude, presented the Black Prince with the celebrated ruby which is at the top of the British Crown, and which is said lobe the finest in the world.
The Princess Isabella 59
Edward III. had tried in conjunction with the celebrated Van Artevelde to displace his father,1 and that father had been slain at Crecy. Besides which he was attached to the daughter of the Duke of Brabant.2 The Flemish nobles, however, urged the English alliance, and, finding him obdurate, kept him a prisoner till he gave way and ultimately agreed to marry Princess Isabella.
King Edward and Queen Philippa conducted their daughter to the Monastery of Berghes, to meet Earl Louis, where the settlements were drawn out, and the ceremony of betrothal3 performed, the bridegroom engaging to marry her the following month. The King and Queen and the Princess then returned to Calais, where they carried on their preparations for the wedding. A few days before it was to take place the intended bridegroom went out hawking as usual, still guarded by a large number of Flemings lest he should escape! Pretending to go after a falcon, he put spurs to his horse, and managed to get away from them with the assistance of two of his knights. He crossed into Artois and went to the French Court, where he was warmly welcomed by King Philip, and in three months he married Margaret of Brabant ! 4 Froissart, who was secretary to Queen Philippa, gives a detailed account of this curious story.5
1 This ultimately caused the murder of Artevelde by his fellow-citizens in 1345 at Ghent.
2 Margaret, daughter of Duke Wenceslaus of Brabant ; both Edward III. and her father wished her to be the wife of Edward the Black Prince.
3 The original marriage treaty between Louis and Isabella, on vellum, with the seals of Edward the Black Prince, Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, the Earls of Suffolk and Northampton, &c, in beautiful preservation, was formerly in the library of the late Sir Thomas Phillips, Bart., No. 9967, as is also the settlement of 10,000 livres presented by Louis to Isabella. This document is finely illuminated with figures and birds.
4 Anciennes Ckroniques de Flandres. Cotton MS. s Froissart, vol. ii. p. 207.
60 Swalloivfield and its Owners
After this fiasco, there was a respite in the matrimonial negotiations for nearly two years, when propositions were made to Charles of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia, which were not accepted. The Princess now appears to have taken the matter in her own hands, and two years later, in 1 35 1, when she was nine- teen years of age, she engaged herself to Bernard Ezi, the son of the Lord of Albret, a Gascon noble. The young man was said to be remarkable ' for his chivalric valour and his personal graces,' but had no other pretensions to merit the hand of a Princess of England. King Edward, however, who was devoted to his daughter, gave his consent, and every preparation was made for the marriage.
The Princess ordered the most sumptuous apparel, amongst which is mentioned her wedding mantle, of rich Indian silk, furred with ermine, and embroidered all over with branches of trees, doves, bears, and other quaint devices worked in silver and gold. We also find mention of 1 1 9 circles made of silk and pearls, each circle enclosing an Agnus Dei of gold, standing upon a band of green velvet with flowers and leaves.1
The marriage was to take place in Gascony, and all the arrangements there completed, when at the very last moment the Princess broke it off herself. The bridegroom was so miserable in consequence that he became a monk, and relinquished his hereditary rights to his younger brother.
After this, King Edward apparently ceased taking any further steps towards marrying Princess Isabella, though she was only now nineteen years of age, but he was most generous to her. During the next ten or twelve years he made her numerous grants of lands, and amongst these were ' Careswelle, Swalwefeld,
1 These were probably equivalent to ourwedding favours. (M. A. Everett Green.) Wardrobe Ace. 24 & 25 Ed. 111. No. 1215.
The Princess Isabella 61
Benham, Spene, et Hamstede Mareschal, necnon duo mesuagia, duas carucatas terrae, quadraginta acras prati, et viginti acras bosci, cum pertinentiis in Holbenham et Westbrok in comitatu Berk.' 1
And now comes the most romantic episode in the life of the Princess Isabella. King John of France, who had been taken prisoner by the Black Prince at Poictiers in 1356 and brought to London, was liberated in 1360 on condition of his paying an enormous ransom. For the security of this payment many of the French nobility were sent over to England as hostages. ' Amongst these,' says M. A. Green, { was Ingelram de Coucy, Lord of Coucy, who was selected, not only on account of his honourable birth, but because his family had been most strenuous in their resistance of the aggressions of Edward III. in France.'
He was at this time twenty-four years of age, and endowed with every attractive quality.2 Edward III. introduced him at Court, with the result that Princess Isabella, who was now past thirty, fell in love with him, and they were soon publicly engaged. The marriage took place at Windsor in 1366, and King Edward created him Earl of Bedford and installed him as a Knight of the Garter. Besides which he confirmed to him and the Princess all the lands in England which had belonged to his grandfather, William de Guisnes, Lord Coucy ; including the manors of Kirkby in Kendale, Wyersdale, Ashton, Moreholme, and the third part of the lordship of Whittington, all in Lancaster, which descended to the Coucy family through
1 Pat. 1 Ric. II. pt. 2, m. 28.
- Froissart says : ' Whatever he chose to do he did well and with grace, and all praised him for the agreeable manner with which he addressed every one.' The motto of the de Coucy family shows their aristocratic independence : ' Je ne suis roi, ne due, ne prince ne comte aussi, Je suis le Sire de Coucy.' It is nearly as fine as that of the Due de Rohan : ' Prince ne daigne, roi ne puis, Rohan je suis.'
62 Swattowfield and its Owners
Christian, daughter and heiress of William de Lindesey, one of the heirs to William de Lancaster.1
For some years De Coucy lived in England, where his two daughters were born ; he then took part in many campaigns abroad, and spent much time out of England ; and ultimately he was persuaded by King Charles of France to devote his sword to his rightful monarch, and at the same time we are told that ' he communicated to Isabella his wish that she should go back to her father.' 2 This she did, and it was setded that De Coucy should keep his eldest daughter Mary,3 and Philippa,4 the younger, should go with her mother.
In 1377, at the death of Edward III., Ingelram de Coucy, ' on account of the surrender of his homage and his adhesion to the King of France,' forfeited all his lands &c. in England ; but Richard II. 'granted to Isabella, Countess of Bedford, in consideration of her noble birth, all the aforesaid lands, with the exception of certain castles, manors, &c, which are granted in aid of her daughter Philippa' s maintenance.' Swallowfield apparently was excepted, as we find by a Memoranda Roll that Richard II., in 1377, granted to Sir William Arundel, or d'Arundel, for the term of his life, the Manor of Swalfelde, with parks, woods and all other commodities to the same manor, belonging to the counties of Berkshire, Wiltshire, and Southampton.
Isabella, Countess of Bedford, died in 1379, aged forty-seven,
and was buried at Christchurch, Newgate.5
1 The King also gave De Coucy a grant of 1,000 marks per annum out of the Exchequer and thirty from the county of Bedford.
• M. A. Everett Green, Lives, &c. vol. iii. pp. 216, 21S. 3 Mary de Coucy married Henri de Bar in 1303.
* Philippa de Coucy married Robert de Vere, ninth Earl of Oxford, one of the favourites of Richard II., who created him Duke of Ireland.
5 After her death, John Whatton continued to receive an annuity of 5 marks
The Princess Isabella 63
Ingelram de Coucy married secondly Isabelle, daughter of
the Duke of Lorraine, and died in 1397 of the plague.
Sir William Arundel, who became the owner of Swallowfield U77
Sir Will, in 1377, was the second son of Sir John Arundel, Marshal of Arundel
England, by his wife Alionore, granddaughter and heir of Lord
Maltravers ; 1 and he was grandson of Richard Fitz-Alan, ninth
Earl of Arundel, by his second wife, Eleanor Plantagenet. He
was consequently related to King Edward III., and we find him
generally called ' kinsman of the King.'
His father, and his uncle the Archbishop of Canterbury, having dropped the family name of Fitz-Alan 2 and assumed that of Arundel, Sir William continued to use the latter name.
In 1379 Sir William lost his father, Sir John Arundel, who 1379 was drowned, with many others, when at the head of an expedition sent to assist the King of France. Baker, in giving an account of this fatality, says : ' It may not be impertinent to note here the sumptuousness of these times, for this John Arundel was said in his furniture to have fifty-two new suits of apparel of cloth of gold and tissue, all lost at sea.' Sir John left his son five hundred marks.
In November, 1382, the Manor of Swallowfield, called in 1382 the patent ' Swelfeld,' was granted, inter alia, for life to Queen Anne'of Anne,3 being 'in the King's hands by the death of his aunt Isabella, Countess of Bedford, in compensation for deficiencies
granted to him by Princess Isabella from the Manor of Swalfeld, and Hugh de la Chambre 2d. daily from same source.
1 Alionore Maltravers married secondly Reginald de Cobham, and their grand- daughter, Eleanor Cobham, was the lady who did penance.
2 Sir J. H. Ramsay, in his History of York and Lancaster, says : ' The name Fitz-Alan as usually given to this family (Earl of Arundel) in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is a mere invention of later times, unknown to the persons sup- posed to have borne it.J
3 Anne of Bohemia, daughter of the Emperor Charles IV. of Germany. She married King Richard II. in 1382, when she was only fifteen, and died in 1394.
Bohemia
64 Swallowfield and its Owners
in the value of manors lately granted to her in dower.' 1 And later on in the same year Richard II. further granted her that she should 'hold all the premises with knight's fees, advowsons, wardships, marriages and escheats, and all other liberties and customs appurtenant thereto, all fines, ransoms, amercements, issues, forfeits, &c, as fully as the King if he had retained the premises, together with chattels of felons and fugitives, &c.' ■383 In 1383 Sir William Arundel engaged in the Crusade of which Henry Spencer, the warlike Bishop of Norwich, was declared General. This Crusade was raised by Pope Urban VI. against his rival Clement VII. ; France having espoused the cause of the latter, and England of the former Pope.
John Kirton 2 of Sandhurst and John Chewe 3 of Wokingham were appointed c Collectors of the Bishop of Norwich ' for this expedition, in the neighbourhood of Swallowfield.4
This same year Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, the owner-in-chief of Swallowfield, confirmed a grant • to John Russell of Strengesham, knight, for life of a yearly rent of 20/. in time of peace and 40/. in time of war, with ' bouche au court ' for himself, a chamberlain, a groom, and three horses in time of peace, and for himself, a chamberlain, three grooms, and five horses in time of war, in return for bachelor service.' 6
This Queen is called one of the Mothers of the Reformation, as she first introduced the works of Wickliffe to John Huss, and it is said she daily read the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue.
1 Pat. 6 Rich. II. part 2, memb. 35.
2 John de Kirton, alias John de Kyneaton or Kineton, Pat. Rolls, 5 Rich. II. 7. s The name 'Chewe' still exists in Swallowfield.
* West. O. VII. 398. Amongst those 'going beyond the seas in the company of Henry, Bishop of Norwich,' is the name ' John Cordray, clerk.' This is a name (Cordery) much respected now in Swallowfield.
5 Pat. 6 Ric. II. pt. ii. m. 6. This Sir John Russell of Strensham is said to be the direct an estor of the Russells of Swallowfield.
The Princess Isabella 65
In 1389 Sir William Arundel had, together with Sir Simon 1389 Fellrige and Robert Teye,1 a licence to travel, and they were allowed by the licence to take twelve horses with them. Sir William attended Richard II. when he went to Ireland to 1394 quell a rebellion in 1394. On his return he was admitted to the Order of the Garter, and succeeded in 1395 to the stall of 1395 Sir Nicholas Sarnesfield. This same year he was made Constable of Rochester Castle, and Governor of the City of Rochester. In Devon's ' Issues of the Exchequer ' mention is made of a writ directed to Sir William Arundel in 1395 for repairing a defect of the New Tower, near the bridge in Rochester Castle, and in ' Additional Manuscripts ' in the British Museum there is a mandate directed from 'the King to his dear and faithful William Arundel, Chevalier, Constable of his Castle of Rochester,' desiring him to see that the High Street of Rochester is newly paved.
In 1397 Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, the 1397 over-lord or owner-in-chief of Swallowfield, was seized at a feast given to him by the King, and sent to the Tower.2 He had been Governor of the King in the third year of his reign, but very soon joined the party of Thomas, Duke of Gloucester. He and the Earl of Arundel (Sir William's uncle) were tried and condemned to death. Lord Arundel was executed, but the Earl of Warwick's sentence was commuted to banishment to the Isle of Man,3 and the Earl of Wiltshire,4 who was King of the
1 Robert de Teye was a Commissioner of Array in Essex.
2 The Beauchamp Tower, in which so many celebrated persons have been incarcerated, derived its name from this Earl of Warwick
3 Rot. Pari. iii. 380 b.
4 This Earl of Wiltshire was Sir William le Scrope, eldest son of Richard, Lord Scrope of Bolton, in favour of whom the celebrated suit with Sir Robert Grosvenor was decided in 1390, confirming to him the right to bear the arms, azure, a bend or.
66 Swallowfield and its Owners
Island,1 was paid 1,074/. ' for taking him, and for the support of the said Earl &c.' 2
Lord Warwick's estates were given, some to Lord Wiltshire 3
and some to the Earls of Worcester and Gloucester, but the
greater part, with the custody of the young Richard Beauchamp,
Trios- to Thomas Holland, 3rd Earl of Kent, K.G., nephew to
Earl^f R'chard II., who then became owner-in-chief of Swallowfield, Sir
Kent William Arundel continuing to hold Swallowfield ' for the term
of his life of the grant of the King,' and in less than a month
after his uncle's execution he was given the lucrative offices of
Constable and Warden of Reigate Castle, with Rangership of the
surrounding parks and chases. The grant is directed ' dilecto et
fideli consanguineo nostra Willielmo Aroundell, chivaler.'
■399 The account of the feast of the Order of the Garter in
1399 tells us that robes of scarlet were provided for Sir William
Arundel, and robes also were provided for Lady Agnes Arundel,
his wife.4
1400 Sir William Arundel died in August, 1400. He made his
will in London on the 1st of August of that year, wherein he
1 Lord Wiltshire had been King of the Isle of Man since 1393, when Sir William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, sold it to him ' with the title of King and the right of being crowned with a golden crown.'
' Then Sir William was King of the Isle of Man,
But he thought but little of it, For he sold it, and bought cattle, Which was a ipty he ever did, To Lord Scroop he sold it,' &c.
Ballad, Train's Isle of Man, vol. i. p. 53. '' Devon's Issues of the Exchequer, p. 272. Manx Soc. Publ. vol. xvi. p. 309.
3 On the accession of Henry IV. Lord Wiltshire was attainted and beheaded, the Isle of Man being granted to Percy, Earl of Northumberland. He, however, was attanted in 1403, and in 1405 Henry granted the Island to Sir John Stanley, in whose family it remained till 1829.
4 At this time and for ages after every Knight of the Garter was accompanied to the Chapters by his wife, who wore the badge. The monumental statue of Lady Harcourt, nee Byron, af Stanton Harcourt displays the order of the Garter.
The Princess Isabella 67
directed the interment of his remains in the church of the Priory of St. Andrew, at Rochester, at the back of the High Altar, and adds : 'to my wife Agnes, all my jewels ; to my carnal brother, Sir Robert Arundel, my lands ; and my vessels of silver to my loving nephew, Sir William Arundel, Kt.' 1
The will of Agnes, Sir William's widow, bears date 6th September, 1401. In it she desires to be buried near her husband, under a tomb upon which their effigies had been sculptured, and she leaves bequests as follows : ' to the Countess of Hereford (Joan, daughter of the ninth Earl of Arundel, her husband's aunt) ; to my Lady Mother ; to my Sisters (in law) the ladies Ross and Brian (Margaret Arundel, who married Thomas, seventh Baron de Ros, and Joan Arundel, who married first, Sir William de Bryen or Brienne of Kemsyng, Kent) ; to Margaret Cobham (Margaret, daughter of Hugh Courtenay, Earl of Devon, and wife of John, second Baron Cobham, cousin of her husband's) ; to dame Margaret Felbrigge (probably wife of Sir Simon Felbrigge, with whom Sir William Arundel travelled in 1389) ; to dame Catherine St. Liz ; to dame Isabel Vache (wife of Sir Philip La Vache, K.G., Chamberlain of Queen Isabella's).2
Mr. Rye, in the ' Archaeologia Cantiana,' says that the monument of Sir William Arundel ' was unavoidably disturbed during the recent restoration of the choir,' and that ' when the large stone slab which had contained effigies in brass, was removed, a leaden coffin, and the body of a woman closely wrapped in lead, became visible. The brasses had been torn from their slab, but the matrix clearly showed the figure of a knight in armour, holding the hand of a lady by his side.'
1 Reg. Arundel, Lambeth, fo. 173 and 192. 1 N'colas's Testaments Vetutta.
68 Swallowfield and its Owners
CHAPTER VIII
SWALLOWFIELD UNDER ROYAL DUKES
1400 After the accession of the Duke of Lancaster as Henry IV. in 1400, Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, who had held Swallow- field since 1397, engaged in a conspiracy with the Lords Huntingdon, Salisbury, and Despencer to dethrone him and restore Richard. Their plan was to seize the King whilst he was at a tournament at Windsor,1 but Henry was warned and hurried to London. The Earls of Kent and Salisbury then went to Sonning, near Reading, where Queen Isabella2 was endeavouring to raise the people, but they could get no following there, and they retreated to Cirencester, at which place they were made prisoners, and they were executed either there or at Oxford. Some half a dozen of Richard's followers were taken to the Tower and tried. Amongst these men were, Sir Bernard Brocas of Beaurepaire, Sir Thomas Shelley, and Richard's two chaplains, Richard Mandelyn and William de Fereby, who were executed at Tyburn with horrid barbarity. William de Fereby was son of John de Ferriby or Foureby of Swallowfield, valet to Edward III.,3 who had a grant of land there in 1357. He left writings which are to be found in Chron. Giles. He wrote
1 Walsingham, p. 403 ; Chronicle of London, p. 8b.
2 Queen Isabella, second wife of Richard II., was daughter of King Charles VI. of France.
3 Katharine, the mother of William de Ferriby, had a provision granted her.
Swallowfield under Royal Dukes 69
lamenting the fate of King Richard, whom he treats as already dead :
* O Mors crudelis, mundi honorem extinxisti. Rapuit nunc mors cui similem nequit reddere natura, &c.'
Anyhow, in less than a month Richard II. was heard of no more.
When Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, was executed his '4°° honours and lands were forfeited ; 1 at the same time Thomas Beau- Beauchamp, fourth Earl of Warwick, was released from his im- 4th Earl prisonment in the Isle of Man, and reinstated in hie ~»=o«>- of War-
wick,
sions, so that he again became the owner-in-chief of Swallowfield. He died the following year c seized of Swaluefeld,' and a grant, dated the 12th of November, 1 401, gives 'to John de Lancaster, 1401 the King's son, the custody of the house of Swalefeld, with pja"ta. parks, woods, and all other commodities to the same manor f^f'' f belonging in the counties of Berkshire, Wiltshire, and South- Bedford ampton, to have for twenty years from the death of William d'Arundel, chivaler.'
This ' John de Lancaster ' was John Plantagenet, third son of King Henry IV., and was ten years old at this time.
In an inquisition 'capta apud Remenham,' on Monday of 1403 the Feast of All Saints, 4 Henry IV., before the Escheator of Berks2 and a jury, we find, ' item dimidium feodum militis in Swalufeld et Shynyngfeld heres Johannes de St. John de Lageham tenuit de dicto Comite (Warwick) et valuit per annum £20.' And in another Inq. p. m. 8 Hen IV., ' Swalufell et 1407 Shynyfell, a half-fee of which heirs of St. John hold, is in
1 In Issue Roll Mich., I Hen. IV., we find that ' John Lokyngton, clerk, was appointed, under the Great Seal, to seize into the King's hands all the lands and tenements which belonged to Thomas, Earl of Kent, also to inquire concerning the goods and chattels of the same, in the counties of Southampton, Berks, and Wilts.'
2 John Arches was Escheator in co. Berks in 1403.
yo Swallowfield and its Owners
Margaret possession of Margaret, widow of the fourth Earl of Warwick,
of°War-SS and daughter to William, third Lord Ferrars of Groby.
wick jn ]y[ay} K;ng Henry IV. was at Swallowfield. His health
was now very bad, and after he had finished his Welsh campaign
he made several little tours, either for change of air or to
contradict the prevailing opinion that he was incapacitated by
leprosy from appearing in public.1 Mr. Wylie, in his ' History
of Henry IV.,* says: 'From May ist to the 8th (1409) the
King was at Sutton, near Chiswick, on his way to Windsor to hunt
with the hart-hounds, hayters, and otter-hounds. The Royal
tents had been already sent down, and on May 9th he was
at Bird's-nest Lodge, in the Forest, and was able to report that
he was in good surety of his person. Thence he passed to
Easthampstead, Swallowfield, Henley-on-the Heath, and Chertsey,
and was back in Windsor Castle by June ist.'
1435 John Plantagenet, Duke of Bedford, died at Rouen in 1345,
Vienry leaving ' Swalefeld ' as well as all his other estates to his nephew,
King Henry VI., and he assigned an annuity of twenty marks to
Nicholas Cleve 2 and Margery his wife, with power to distrain
on Swalefeld.3
M36 The following year the said Margery Cleve had lost her
husband and married again, for we find in the same inquisition
1 The King probably had cancer in the face ; he is described as having some kind of tumour below his nose. In 1411 hesentfor a Jew doctor, Elias Sabot, from Bologna, and in 1412 he sent to Lucca for Dr. David de' Nigarelli, and he had public prayers offered up for his health. He died suddenly in 1413, being seized with a tit whilst at his devotions in Westminster Abbey. For some time previously he had become almost a bed-ridden cripple, though only 46 years of age.
- The name ' Cleve ' occurs in Basingstoke from the fourteenth century, spelt in a variety of ways : Cleeve, Give, Clithe, Cleet, Clythe, Clyde, &c. John Cleet was Knight of the Shire for Berks in 1362, and his daughter, Alice Cleet, married Edmund Danvers, Knight of the Shire, 1328. William Cleeve was Chaplain and Clerk of the Works to King Henry VI. in 1445 J not unlikely to be son of the above Nicholas Cleve.
5 Inq. p. m. 14 Hen. VI., No. 36.
THE DUKE OF BEDFORD From tlie Bedford Book of Hours in the British Museum.
Swallowfield under Royal Dukes 7 1
that Margery, widow of Nicholas Cleve, lately deceased, having married Thomas Letterford,1 was, with her husband, seised of Swalefield, rent-charge in fee.
This same year the Duke of Bedford's widow Jacqueline or Jacquetta,2 to whom King Henry VI. had granted a third part of the Manor of Swalefeld, took for her second husband Richard Woodville or Wydeville, a squire of no birth, who had acted as steward to her late husband, but considered the hand- somest man in England. In consequence of this marriage, her dower was forfeited, and her share in Swalefeld, inter alia, was taken from her. On her humble supplication to Parliament, however, and through the intercession of Cardinal Beaufort, Duchess Jacqueline's 1437 mesalliance was forgiven and her dower restored the following year, she being assigned £222 on payment of a fine of ^"i,ooo.3 She lived till 1442.
From a Memoranda Roll 20 Hen. VI., we learn that the 1438 King granted, in the sixteenth year of his reign, the custody Martyn of two parts of the Manor of Swallowfield to John Martyn,4
1 Thomas Letterford appears to have been son of John Letterford of Somerset, and in the De Banco Roll of Easter, 15 Rich. II., under 'Somerset,' is 'John Letterford, plaintiff, as well for himself as for the King, in a suit.' The name 'Letterford' very rarely occurs. I was told some years ago at the Record Office that it did not exist, but I ultimately came across the above instances and some others. In an extract, Lay Subsidy, 20 Ed. III., ' Domina de Loterford ' appears. It is probably the same as 'Letford' which we find in Hants in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and sixteenth centuries. 'Walter de Letford was a juror in Hants (Rolls of Parliament, i. 19). John Letford of Aulton Esthoke, Hants, was party to a deed, 15 Hen. VIII. {Cotton Charters, v. 57.)
2 Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford, was a daughter of Peter, Comte de St. Pol ; she had only been married two years to the Duke of Bedford when he died, and she was but 19 when she married for the second time.
3 Devon's Issues of the Exchequer, 436.
4 In a list of Berks gentry for 1433 the name 'Johannes Martyn' appears. He was probably one of the family of ' Martyn of Ockingham,' of which several generations are given in the Visitation of Berks taken in 1566, and a branch of which lived at Shinfield. ' Martyn of Ockingham ' appears amongst the names of
72 Swallowfield and its Owners
Groom-Usher of the Chamber, for the term of his life, and the said John Martyn was directed by the King to pay to Thomas Letterford and Margery his wife, for the term of the life of the said Margery, £% \*]s. \o\d. 'as for two parts of a certain annuity of 20 marks per annum granted by the King to them, of the issues and profits of the lordship or manor afore- said, reserving in his own hands £\ us. 3^. per annum, namely 3//. per diem, for safe custody of the park of the manor aforesaid.'
Margery Letterford was buried at Swallowfield, and a brass to her memory, now in the chancel of All Saints' Church, is in very good preservation. It is thus described by Ashmole : ' The woman is in her ordinary habit, with the scrowl out of her mouth, " Jesu, mercy ; Lady, help." And underneath the following inscription : " Hie jacet Margeria quondam uxor Thomas Letterford, arm., que obiit . . . die . . . an. Dm mcccc '442 . . . Cujus anime propicietur Deus. Amen.'"
In the year 1442, John Martyn of Swallowfield indirectly played a part in one of the most curious stories of English history.
We find in a Roll of that date that he was employed by King Henry VI. to be in attendance on the Duchess of Gloucester and accompany her to Chester Castle, where she was imprisoned. This lady was the celebrated Eleanor Cobham, daughter of Reginald, Lord Cobham,1 a lady of great beauty,
gentry in the Commission of Peace 1501, and his brother, Edward Martyn 'of Shynfelde,' is buried at this latter place, and another Edward Martyn, ' quondam supervisor Regius,' was buried at Shinfield in 1604, as also his wife.
1 This Reginald de Cobham was half-brother to Sir William Arundel, who owned Swallowfield and died in 1401.
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Swallowfield under Royal Dukes 73
whom Humphrey Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, fourth son of Henry IV., had married.
This Duke, called ' the good Duke Humphrey,' had been, in conjunction with his brother John, Duke of Bedford, and Cardinal Beaufort, Regent during the minority of the King, and the Cardinal, jealous of Duke Humphrey, had brought forward an accusation against his wife, of high treason, the accusation alleging that Duchess Eleanor, with confederates, had worked against the King's life by witchcraft. The process consisted in melting a wax figure of the young King before a slow fire, the idea being that as the figure melted his life would melt away also. The scene of this supposed sorcery was the Lodge in Hornsey Park, then the residence of the Duke of Gloucester.1
At first the Duchess fled to sanctuary at Westminster, but she was made to appear before a tribunal consisting of the two Arch- bishops Chicheley and Kemp, Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, and Ayscough, Bishop of Salisbury. In August she was sent to Leeds Casde, Kent,2 till October, when she was brought up before two other Commissions. The Duchess denied many of the charges brought against her, but admitted that she had consulted the celebrated Witch of Eye 3 and also Roger Bolingbroke,4 a learned ecclesiastic, as to her future, and Bolingbroke appears to have encouraged her to believe that the Duke her husband would become king ; but it is equally probable that in this respect, at all events, she was guilty of
1 The Duke and Eleanor his wife had also the Manor of Greenwich granted them by Henry VI. in 1437, and the Duke commenced building the Tower, now the site of Greenwich Observatory.
2 Feed. x. 881 ; Chron. Davis, 58.
3 Margery Jourdemain or Guidemar, also called Jordan and Gourdmain.
4 In the Issue Rolls he is called Roger Bukbroke, and sometimes he appears as Roger Onely or Only.
74 Swallowfield and its Owners
no greater crime than are those ladies of the present time who consult fortune-tellers and palmists.
Duchess Eleanor was, however, condemned first to do penance in the public streets, and then to be imprisoned for life.1 She was made to walk, wrapped in a sheet, with a lighted taper in her hand,2 from the Temple stairs to St. Paul's on one day, on another to Christchurch, Aldgate, and on a third to St. Michael's, Cornhill, followed by the Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, &c. She was then sent to the care of Sir Thomas Stanley at Chester Castle, and it was here that John Martyn of Swallowfield conveyed her, having had the safe custody of the Duchess assigned to him.3 There was also in attendance on the Duchess Sir John Stiward Kt., John Stanley and Thomas Wesenham, esquires, Thomas Pulford, James Grisacre, valets of the King's Crown, and John Wattes, valet of the household.4 In December 1443 she was removed to Kenilworth,5 where she was under the custody of Ralph, Lord de Sudeley, Constable of the King's Castle, and where she had ' twelve persons in attend- ance ; viz., one priest, three gentlemen, one maid, five valets, and two boys.' 6 For her daily support Duchess Eleanor received one hundred marks yearly ; Lord de Sudeley received daily six and eightpence per day ; the priest and the gentlemen %d. per day ; the maid and the valets 6d., and the boys \d. per day.7
Finally, in July 1446, this unfortunate lady was banished to
1 Ellis Letters, second series, i. 107.
- In the Chronicle of London she is said to have been 'barehede, cliif on her hede, berynge a taper of wax of ijlb in here hond.' 3 Issue Roll, Michaelmas, 20 Hen. VI.
1 Ibid. s Rymer's Fosdera, xi. 45.
6 Issue Roll, Easter, 22 Hen. VI. ' Ibid.
Swallowfteld under Royal Dukes 75
the Isle of Man,1 where, it is said, she remained fourteen years, till her death in 1460.2 Her ghost, we are told, still haunts Peel Castle, and the ' Mauthe Dhoo,' or Black Dog, is supposed to be her spectre.3
Of her confederates, Margery Jourdemain, the Witch of Eye, was burnt at Smithfield, and Roger Bolingbroke, the ecclesiastic, who was described as ' a great and cunning man in astronomy,' was hanged,4 having first written a book to prove his innocence.5 Thomas Southwell, who was a Canon of St. Stephen's Chapel,6 Westminster, was also condemned to be hanged, but died in prison.
The witch in Smithfield shall be burned to ashes, And you three shall be strangled on the gallows.
Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI. ii. 3.
Duke Humphrey himself died in 1447, suddenly, after being arrested by order of the King. He obtained his title of ' Good ' from his patronage of literary men.
John Martyn died in 1442-3. He probably gave his name 1442-3 to a portion of Swallowfield, as in 1 662 we find mention of twenty- four acres of the park, near Swallowfield Church, called ' Martyn's Corner,' and in the churchwarden's accounts for 1 801 we still find c Martin's pighde.'
At his death, two-thirds of the Manor of Swalefeld went to
1 Nicolas, Proceedings of Privy Council, vi. 51.
8 Cf. Oliver's ' Monumenta,' in Manx Soc. Pud/, vol. ix. p. 19.
3 The Mauthe Dhoo was an apparition in the shape of a large black spaniel with curled shaggy hair, which was said to haunt Peel Castle. Waldron's Isle of Man, 1 73 1, quoted by Sir Walter Scott in Peveril of the Peak.
4 In the Chronicle of London, edited by Sir Harris Nicolas, we find that Roger the Clerk was ' hanged, hedyd, and quartered,' and ' the hedd sett upon London Bridge, and his quarters at Hereford, Oxenford, York, and Cambngge.'
5 De Innocentia Sua, and he also wrote one Contra Vulgi Supcrsliiioncs.
6 Daniels, in his Life of Henry VI, also mentions, as a confederate of the Duchess who was apprehended, John Hume, her chaplain.
76 Swallowfield and its Owners
John John Penycoke, Groom of the Robes and Chambers to King
enycoke jjenry yj#j w]10 gave the said manor in reversion (after the
respective deaths of John Martyn and Jacqueline, Duchess of
Bedford) to the said John Penycoke to hold for ever in tail male,
yielding yearly at Christmas a pair of spurs of the value of 2cw.,
or los. in money.1 He is described as the son of John Penycoke,'2
and he owned the following manors in Lincolnshire : — Nether-
burnham, Westwood, Owston, Epworth, and Estland, as also
Haxay, in the Isle of Axholme.
1445 Henry de Beauchamp, sixth Earl of Warwick and Duke of
Beau- Warwick, K.G., died in the twenty-third year of his age on June
Countess r J' r445-3 He left an only daughter, Anna de Beauchamp, aged
of War- two years and a half, who became Countess of Warwick. She
was his heir and 'held \ a fee in Swalufeld and Shyngfell,
which heirs of John St. John formerly held, value .£20,'
but we find the Crown still disposing of the tenancy of
Swallowfield as it had done since the year 1357.
Anna de Beauchamp was put under the tutelage of Queen Margaret, and afterwards was under the care of William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, at whose Manor of Ewelme she died in 1449, and was buried in the Abbey of Reading, next to the grave of Constance, Lady le Despencer, her great-grand- mother. '447 In 1447 the sum of £d\ js. \d. was paid out of the
Exchequer, by assignment to John Penycok, valet of the King's
1 Pat. R. 21 Hen. VI. pt. ii. m. 7.
2 John Penycoke was of the family of Penicok or Penycukis of the North. Sir Nigel de Penicok had his estates confiscated by Edward I., and his sons, Nigel and John, entered the English service.
3 Henry III. conferred the title of King of the Isle of Wight upon this Earl, and himself placed the crown upon his head. A representation of Warwick wearing an imperial crown, with a sceptre in his hand, appears in an ancient window in the Collegiate Church at Warwick.
Swallowfield tinder Royal Dukes 77
Robes, in advance, for repairs done at Byflet Park, and to a certain bridge within the said park ; also for repairing a certain lodge there, and for keep of rabbits within the said park.1
In the list of thirty persons2 whom the English Commons 145! petitioned King Henry VI. to remove from about him, appears the name of John Penycoke.3
The petition began as follows :
1 Prayen the Comons, for as muche as the p'sones here aft in this bille named hath been of mysbehavying aboute youer roiall p'sons and in other places, by whose undue meanes youre possessions have been gretely amenused, youre lawes not executed and the peas of this youre reame not observed nother kept.' 4
The King agreed that some of the persons considered objectionable should retire from Court for a year, but he excepted the lords and those who personally attended him. John Penycoke clearly was not removed from the King's person, 146 j for he was one of the hundred and fifty-five individuals who fled into Scotland with Henry VI. after his defeat at Towton, and he was attainted of high treason by the new King Edward IV., and the jurors find that his manors ought to belong to the King by reason of said attainder.5
Also in an inquisition taken October 24, 1465, concerning
1 Byflet belonged to the Crown, and John Penycoke was the King's steward there. In 1450 he presented the Priory, Weybridge Church as a rectory, and in 1454 he was patron of the church at Wisley.
- Amongst the thirty persons were the Duke of Somerset, the Bishop of Chester, John Trevelyan, the Lords Dudley, Hastings, and Hoo.
3 In a poetical satire on the Favourites of King Henry VI., in MS. in Cotton Collection, and reprinted in Ritson's Songs &c, the name ' Jack Nape ' appears — possibly the origin of ' Jack-a-nape.'
1 Trevelyan Papers, vol. i. p. 60 ; Rot. Pari. v. p. 216.
0 Rot. Pari. vol. v. p. 477 ; Will. Wyrcester, {Lib. Nig. ii. p. 491) v. 479.
78 Sivallowfield and its Owners
his lands in Lincolnshire, 'John Penycoke, late of Byfleet,' is found to have forfeited his lands to the King.1
John Penycoke had a son of the same name as himself whom we find, in i486, with his son (also John) executing a deed in favour of the Carthusian Order in the Isle of Axholme, co. Lincoln.
1 Inq. p. m. 5 Ed. IV. No. 43.
79
CHAPTER IX
SWALLOWFIELD AND THE HOUSE OF YORK
The next owner of Swallowfield appears to have been 1464 Elizabeth Woodville, Edward IV.'s Queen. Elizabeth
She was the daughter of Richard de Wydvile or Woodville, wydville Lord Rivers, by Jacqueline or Jaquetta, Duchess of Bedford, and married firstly Sir John Grey of Groby. She then became a Lady of the Bedchamber to Margaret of Anjou. Her husband was killed at the battle of St. Albans in J 461, and in 1464 the King became enamoured of her and married her privately on May 1 of that year at Grafton Regis, her father's place in Northamptonshire. The marriage was not declared till September, when a second sort of ceremony appears to have taken place at Reading Abbey, and there is in the British Museum a portrait of Elizabeth as she appeared in her bridal dress on that occasion, which was illuminated for Edward IV.
We find that ' the Manor of Swaloghfeld being vested in the Queen,' she exchanged a moiety thereof for the Manors of Hagley and Braddeley, co. Worcester, and by letters patent (i.e. lease) dated January 21, 2 Edward IV., devised the other moiety to Richard Hance, Esq.,1 and Alionore his wife, relict of
1 Hance is the same as Hannes. There was a family of that name at Burford, Oxford, and a Richard Hannes of Oxford had arms granted him in i64r.
1465
80 Swallowfield and its Owners
Thomas Prowde, Esq., alias Prutt,1 at a rent of £40 for said moiety. This occupation can be traced through accounts for eighteen years. We do not know who this Richard Hance was, but probably he or his wife had held some position about Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford, the mother of Edward IV.'s Queen, as in the Duke of Lancaster's Min: Accounts mention is made of c Jaquettus Hance,' a manorial officer, doubtless a godson of Duchess Jacquetta.
In the fourth year of his reign King Edward IV. granted to Elizabeth, Queen Consort, who had been crowned in May of this year, an annuity of twenty marks or £13 6s. 6d.2 out of two thirds of the Manor of Swallowfield, and on the same day the King ordered the farmers and occupiers to pay the annuity at Michaelmas and Easter.3
The King had married Elizabeth Woodville contrary to the advice of Warwick, c the King-maker,' 4 who hated the Woodville family and did everything he could to lessen their influence.
Rumours were now set afloat that Jacquetta, Duchess of
1 Prowde, alias Prutt, is written in an infinity of ways : le Pruz, Prowse, Prouse, le Prude, Prowde, Proude, Prud, Prowght, Prat, Prate, Prow, de Prus, de Probus, de Pratellis, &c. In 1461 John Prowght was elected to serve in Parliament for the borough of Reading, and in 1472 'John Prowde' was elected, probably the same man. In 1487 William Prudde, one of the Yeomen of the Crown, had a grant of a messuage in Oxford, and in 1489 William Prudde was made comp- troller of the great and little customs and of the subsidy of wool, leather, and woolfels, and of tonnage and poundage in the port of Pole (Poole). In 1502-3 ' Harry, son of Thomas Prow,' was buried at St. Lawrence's Church, Reading, with his wife Elizabeth, and very likely he was son of Alionore Hance of Swallowfield by her first husband.
- In December 1464 the Queen's jointure was fixed at 4,000 marks, i.e. ,£2,333 6.r. Sd. a year.
3 Pat. 5 Ed. IV. pt. i. m. 5 ; Close Roll 5 Ed. IV. m. 19.
4 Richard Nevill, Earl of Warwick and Salisbury, married Lady Anne Beau- champ, heiress of her niece Anne, Countess of Warwick, who held half a fee in Swallowfield.
ELIZABETH WOODVIULE From a print in the British Muse
Swallowfield and the House of York 81
Bedford, the wife of Richard Woodville, had procured the love of the King for her daughter through witchcraft, so much so that the said Duchess of Bedford addressed a petition to the King to exonerate her from these accusations.
The following curious account is found in the Rolls of Parliament of the 9th Edward IV. : —
' To the Kyng oure Soveraygne Lord ; shewith and lament- ably complayneth unto your hignes your humble and true liege- woman Jaquet duchesse of Bedford, late the wyf of your true and faithfull knyght and liegeman Richard, late Erie of Ryvers, that where shee at all tyme hath, and yit doth, treuly beleve on God accordyng to the feith of Holy Chirche, as a true cristen woman owith to doo, yet Thomas Wake, squier, of his malicious disposicion towards your said oratrice of long tyme continued, entendyng not oonly to hurt and apaire her good name and fame, but also purposed the fynall distruccion of her persone, and to that effecte caused her to be brought in a comune noyse and disclaundre of wychecraft thorouout a grete part of this youre reaume, surmything that she shuld have usid wichecraft and sorcerie, in somuche as the said Wake 1 caused to be brought to Warrewyk atte your last beyng there, Soveraigne Lord, to dyvers of the lords thenne beyng ther present, a image of lede made lyke a man of armes, conteynyng the lengthe of a mannes fynger, and broken in the myddes, and made fast with a wyre, sayying that it was made by your said oratrice to use with the said wichecraft and sorsory, where she, ne noon for her ne be her, ever sawe it, God knowith. And over this, the said Wake, for the perfourmyng of his malicious
1 Thomas Wake, who brought forward this ridiculous charge of sorcery, was a Northamptonshire squire.
82 Swallowfield and its Owners
entent abovesaid, entreted oon John Daunger, parish clerk of Stoke Brewerne, in the county of Northampton, to have said that there were two other images made by your said oratrice, oon for you, Souveraigne Lord, and another for oure Soveraigne Lady the Quene.'
The petition goes on to say that the accusers were commanded to attend the great Council in Parliament, and after they were examined by the Bishop of Carlisle, the Earl of Northumberland, and Lords Hastings and Mountjoye, the Duchess declares she was c clerid and declared of the said noises and disclaundres, which as yet remaygneth not enacted ; for so much as divers lords were absent.' And she entreats the king ' to commaunde the same to be enacted in the grete counsaill so as the same her declaration may allway remaigne there of record, and that she may have it exemplified under the grete seall.'
Shortly after we find that the Earl of Warwick was prevailed upon to agree to a minute acquitting the Duchess of the charge of witchcraft.1 1483 At the death of Edward IV. in 1483, Elizabeth his widow
Tyrwhit ceased to have her annuity from Swallowfield, and the same year King Richard III. granted this manor and lands &c. to Sir "William Tirwhitte or Tyrwhitt, who was his ' armiger de corpore.' The grant styles him c dilectus serviens noster, Willus Tyrwhit, unus armigerorum de corpore nostro.' 2
He was the eldest son of Sir Robert Tyrrwhit of Ketilby,
1 The charges against the Duchess of Bedford were renewed after Edward IV.'s death, as we find in the ' Act for the Settlement of the Crown upon the King and his issue' (Rot. Pari. 1 Rich. III., printed in the Rolls of Parliament, vol. vi.) and the Queen herself was also accused of witchcraft by the Protector, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who charged her with having caused his left arm to wither.
- Lansdowne MSS.
Swallowfield and the House of York 83
by his wife Jane, daughter of Sir Richard Waterton of Methley, and was born in 1456. During his ownership of Swallowfield William Tyrwhitt had by royal grant the office of Seneschal of the Lordship of Caistor, county Lincoln, for his life.
After the accession of Henry VII., ' Swalowfielde,' as we find 1485 it now written, was re-granted, inter alia, to the King's mother- Queen in-law, the Dowager Queen Elizabeth, for life, as part of her ^^eth dower,1 and John Penycoke was probably reinstated there, as viIle this year his attainder was reversed and his possessions restored. In the Bill he is called c John Pennicok, late of Weybridge, in Surrey.'
But the following year the Dowager Queen's jointure lands i486
c , 9 j ■ I r^ , Queen
were again taken from her,- and were given to the Queen, her Elizabeth
daughter.3 The former then retired to the Abbey of Ber- ofYo:k
mondsey with a pension of four hundred marks, which the
King soon after augmented to ,£400, and she stayed there till
her death in 1492.
Richard Smyth, who was Yeoman of the Robes to Elizabeth
of York, Henry VII. 's Queen, was now appointed ' Parker and
Paler ' or Bailiff of the Manor of Swallowfield, which had passed
into her possession. And in December 1487 we find mention of 1487
a grant (' in consideraciun of the true and feithfulle service whiche
oure well-beloved Richard Smythe, Yeoman of the Robes withe
ourederrist wif, the Quene, hathe doone unto us, and during his
lif entenethe to doe, of the herbage and pannage of the park of
Wedgenock or Weggenok (co. Warwick), during the minority of
1 Harl. 33, Art. 1277.
2 Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV., born 1465. She is described as tall and fair, and with long golden hair. She died at the age of thirty-eight, and her effigy is in Westminster Abbey.
3 The grant recites, inter alia, ' the Manor of Swalowfeld.' P. S. No. 759 ; Pat. p. m. 25 and 24.
84 SiLuillowfield and its Owners
Edward, Earl of Warwick, to his own proper use, without therefore paying anything to the King.' 1
In the book of accounts of the Treasury of England are numerous items of silks and of satins bought by Richard Smythe 1 for the use of the lady, the Queene,' and also many curiously described articles, furs of all kinds entering largely in the list ; thus we find ' tymbres of whole ermyns,' ' pane of ermyns,' and 1 purfylle of ermyns,' and the same of ' large and small menever,' as well as c menever leteux.' Then there are ' furrures of bise,' and ' sables,' and ' martrons,' skins of bogy and ' panes of boge,' and furrure of c shanks of bogy ' as well as ' pampiliones of bogy ' 2 and ' furrures of black and white lamb and mynkes.'
In the Privy Purse expenses of Queen Elizabeth of York, the following items paid by Richard Smyth occur : on June 1502, ' to a servaunt of Richard Smyth in reward for bringing a fawne from the parke of Swalofield to the Quene at Richemount, y. 4^.,' and on 6th July c to the undrekepers of Swalowfield for the bringing of three bukkes from Swalowfield and Windesore, 6s. 8</.' On the 28th of September same year to Richard Smyth, Yeoman of Robes, c for money by him payed for a plyte 3 of lawnde for a shirte for the Childe of Grace at Reding 5J.4 and for making of the same shirte 4^., and for offering to our Lady of Cawsham \d. by the Queen's commaundements.' 5
There are many items which mark this Queen's kindness and generosity ; thus we find Richard Smyth paying this year for ' cv
1 P. S. No. 959 ; Pat. p. 8, m. 16 (9) ; p. 3 m. 4 (24).
2 ' Bogy ' or ' boge ■ was lambskin with the wool dressed outwards, Anglice ' budge.' Hence the name of the street in the City, Budge Row.
3 The word ' plight ' occurs in the statute respecting lawns in 1463, so it was probably a measure then in use.
1 On April 2 this year, Prince Arthur died ; his mother was inconsolable, and this offering ' for the Childe of Grace ' was probably a votive offering. 1 Cawsham or Caversham.
ELIZABETH OF YORK
Swallowfield and the House of York 85
yerdes di of cloth at iiijj. m]d. the yerde which was given to divers personnes by the Queue's cotnmaund',' and ' cxj yerdes of cloth for xxxvii poure women for the Quene's maunye, every woman iii yerdes at 2J. yd. the yerd.' And for '13 yerdes of cloth delivered by the commandement of the Queen to a woman that was nurse to the Prince, brother to the Quene's Grace ; and 3 yerdes to the sister of Sir Roger Cotton.' l
Among the receipts of Richard Decons, officer of the Signet, lS°2 for 1502, we find, under the head of ' Swalowfelde,' one of Richard Smyth, bailiff there, of the issues and revenues of the same lordship ' for a yere ended at Miguelmas last passed, ^24 16s. id:
Richard Smyth appears to have been a very devout man. In 1493, he was one of the ten persons calling themselves 'the Brethren of the Mass of Jesus,' a Guild founded by Henry Kelsall, clothier, of Reading. The latter left at his decease that same year 6s. %d. to the church of ' Swallowfelde,' and 6s. Sd. to the church at ' Shenyngfeld.'
Richard Smyth was a great benefactor to the church of St. i5°3 Lawrence in Reading. In the inventory of the plate of that church, made in 1503, we find ca corpax cace,2 the one syde of cloth of gold, and the other syde of blax velvett w' tres of gold and silver, the gyft of Quene Elizabeth by the p'curing of Mr. Richard Smyth, yoman of the Quenys robys, w' iiijor knoppis of silver, w' a corpas cloth to the same.'
1 When Lord Courtenay, who had married Princess Catherine, the Queen's sister, was sent to the Tower by Henry VII., the Queen took charge of his three young children and put them under the care of Margaret Cotton, sister of Sir Roger Cotton, her Master of the Horse. They resided with her at the house of Sir John Hussey, near Havering atte Bower, which place the Queen was fond of visiting. Edward, the youngest of these children, died young ; Margaret died at Colcolm, in Devonshire, when she was fifteen years old, being choked by a fishbone ; and Henry, the eldest, lived to be executed by Henry VIII.
2 Or corporass case.
86 Swallowfield and its Owners
Richard Smyth's wife also appears to have taken an interest in St. Lawrence's Church, for she stood ( God-moder ' at the ' consecracyon of the tenour bell named " Harry," ' erected in 1498 at the expense of Henry Kelsall, and she joined with her husband in presenting a ' canapye of crimson velvett imbroidred w' gold flowers and the Holy Lambe in the mydle.'
She is probably the ' Mises. Smyth ' who was buried at St. Lawrence's Church, Reading, in 1522-3.
Elizabeth of York, Henry VII. 's Queen, to whom Swallow- field had been granted in i486, died in 1503, and the next mention we have of the manor is on the accession of 1509 Henry VIII. in 1509, when we find that ' the King, in anticipa-
of Aragon tion of his marriage ' (so the words run), ' granted to Katherine, o"wales Princess of Wales, in dower for her life,1 inter alia, the Lordship and Manor of Swallowfield, Westebrok, and ... in Berks.' 2
Richard Smyth, who had been Bailiff at Swallowfield for Queen Elizabeth of York, was now reappointed Yeoman of the Robes to the King and ' Keeper of the park of Swallowfeld, Berks, and Paler of the same, also Bailiff and Collecter of the Lordship of Swalowfield for life,' and at the same time he was made steward of Caversham,3 and ' Customer and Collector of dues for weighing wools and fleeces in the town of Calais.' 4 j5u Richard Smyth appears to have died in 151 1, and to have
been succeeded by his son Richard as Yeoman of the Robes and Bailiff of Swallowfield, and his son also took his place as Burgess
1 In the Pat. of Queen Katharine's jointure, made unto her by Henry VIII., there were assigned to her so many manors as yielded yearly a certain rent, cum reprisis, the sum of ^3,316, the sum total of her jointure being .£5,500. (Cecil Papers.)
2 Pat. 1 Hen. VIII. p. 1, m. 8. 3 Ibid. p. 1, m. 5.
4 ' Denarii collecti pro renovacione carte virtute littere patentis domini Regis Hen. VIII. anno secundo— de Ricardo Smyth, xlV
SwaUowfield and the House of York 87
for the Borough of Reading,1 and in 15 13 he was given a grant iS'3 of two custodies in the Monastery of Abingdon.
He continued to be the same benefactor to the Church of St. Lawrence, in Reading, as his father had been. In the inventory of the plate of that church made in 151 8 we read: 1518 ' Item two books, a gospello and a pistello, the one side covered with silver parcell gilt with images upon the same, and the other side with bosses of silver, weighing in all one hundred and thirty- four oz., the gift of Mr. Richard Smyth, Yeoman of the Robes with our Sovereign Lord the King.' Also ' item two basons of silver weighing forty-eight and a half oz., the gift of Mr. R. Smith.' 2
Also in the Inventory of Vestments, we find presented by him, ' A sewte of black velvett w* garters,' and ' iij w* vest- ments w* thappell of whit satin, a brydg w* orfrey 3 of grene saten, ij copes of satten russet and crane, the orfrey red damaske and satten, ij copes of satten, a bryges white and grene paned with orfrey of tawney saten.' Also ' many awter clothes of velvett and satten, and a cushion of crane col. saten.'
Richard Smyth was the last Roman Catholic who was placed in possession at Swallowfield.3 The next Bailiff, 1522, as we 1522-3 shall see, was not only a Protestant, but was employed by Henry VIII. to dispose of the church property which he had seized.
1 ' Nomina Burgensium qui fines non fecerunt ad hunc diem : Ricardus Smyth, valectus garderobe robarum domini Regis.'
• It was probably his son Richard Smythe who married Mary, daughter of John Bucklande, of the parish of St. Lawrence.
3 Orfrey or orphrey.
Swallowfield and its Owners
CHAPTER X
SWALLOWFIELD THE DOWRY OF TUDOR QUEENS
1533 Q. Anne Boleyn
1536 Q. Jane Seymour Q. Anne of Cleves
1541
Q. Katha- rine Howard
1543-4 Queen Kath. Parr
Throughout the reign of Henry VIII. certain lands designated as ' Queen's Lands ' were granted successively to the several Queens of that Monarch, and amongst them the Lordship and Manor of Swallowfield is invariably named.
Thus in 1533 the King granted in dower to Anne (Boleyn), then Queen Consort, ' the same lands that were enjoyed by the Princess Katharine, late wife of our new Prince of Wales.' 1
The same grant of dower was made after marriage to the Lady Jane (Seymour), Queen Consort, and next to the Lady Anne (of Cleves), from whom the King was shortly after divorced ; but with regard to the latter, in consequence of the nobility of her stock, and for the support of her estate, the King made ' a grant to her of lands in Essex and other counties, but not including Swallowfield.'
In 1 541 the King, having married Katharine Howard, granted in dower to her, as Queen Consort, ' the several castles, lordships, manors, &c, which had been assigned to the Lady Jane, late Queen of England.'
Next, the King, after his marriage with Katharine Parr, granted dower to her, which dower included the Manor and Park of Swallowfield.
Christopher Lytcott, Esquire, Henry VIII. 's Bailiff at Swal- 1 Pat. R. 25 Hen. VIII. pt. 2, m. 1.
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JANE SEYMOUR
'he /•tiitithii; /•}' Holtw
Swallowfield the Dowry of Tudor Queens 89
lowfield at this time, held a lease of the place, ' to hold for 60 years, paying yearly for the past twenty-one years £6 12s. yd., and during the remainder of the term £13 4^.' * He was son of John Lytcott of Rushcombe, Berks, by his wife Julian, daughter of John Barker of Wokingham.
In the grant of 1543 we have another mention of a house at Swallowfield. The grant says : ' The mansion, lodge, or dwelling-house of Swallowfelde with all meadows, pastures, woodlands, and lowlands as then enclosed, called the " parke of Swallowfelde," lately disparked, viz. thirty acres of pasture called " Newlandes," twenty-four acres in a corner of the park on the south side from the church way, called " Martyn's Corner," a hundred and ten acres of pasture lying from the said way under the end of the launde between the gate and dwelling-house, one hundred and twenty acres of pasture from the said dwelling- house up to the pale. A meadow near the park pale, called " Parke Meade," and also all that close called " Courte Garden " containing four acres in which a Manor house there hath been builded.' Christopher Litcott has also a lease of a fulling mill (or cloth mill) in Swallowfield, with ' Milne Meade ' and ' Milne Croft,' and the meadows called Parke Meade, Russhe Meade, and Common Meade, ' to hold for twenty-one years at the yearly rent of thirty-six shillings.' 2
The grant goes on to say ' that the Manor of Swallowfeelde is an entier manor and the parish of itselfe, and the ryver called Lodon devydethe the same manor from the manor of Shynfelde. And the patronage of the chirche belongthe to the Deane of Hereffbrde. And is dystaunte from the Kinge's Majestie's Castell of Wyndsor xiiij (14) myles, and from Redyng iiij (4) myles.'
1 Pat. R. 34 Hen. VIII. pt. 7. 2 Ibid. pt. 3, m. 28, 4.
9o Swallowfield and its Owners
1515 In 1545 Christopher Lytcott bought the Rectory and
Vicarage of Wargrave from the King for £378 45., Lytcott hold- ing of the King and his successors, in capite, by the service of the 30th part of a knight's fee. Mr. Herbert Reid, in his ' History of Wargrave,' says : ' It is more than probable Litcote was the means employed for disposing of the Church property the King then had in such abundance, for we notice his name constantly recurring as having purchased similar properties direct from the Crown, retaining them, however, seldom more than a year or two. Such is the case with his purchase of Wargrave Vicarage. After holding possession for less than two years, he disposed of it at a considerably enhanced price to George Kensham, gentleman.'
1548 Katharine Parr dying in 1548, Swallowfield devolved upon
King Edward VI., and Christopher Lytcott continued there as Bailiff.
1553 Sir Edward VI. sold Swallowfield in 1553 to the aforementioned pher Christopher Lytcott and Katharine,1 his wife, for £783 85. %\d.
The Manor of Swallowfield was rated together with the Manor of Shenfelde at twenty-five years' purchase, but, in consequence of a letter received from the Marquis of Northampton (Katharine Parr's brother) the Manor of Shinfelde was appointed to remain in the King's hand ' because it doethe lye nighe the King's parke of Whidey.' This appears to have been the first severance of the two manors.
1554 Christopher Lytcott died December 3, 1554,2 and was buried
1 Katharine, daughter of Robert Cheney of Chesham Boyes, Bucks, who was son of John Cheney of Drayton Beauchamp. Thomas Cheyney of Drayton Beau- champ was shield-bearer to Edward III.
■ In the inquisition taken after his death, Christopher Lytcott is said to have died seised in fee of the lordship and manor of Swallowfelde, and the park of Swallowfclde then disparkcd, twenty messuages, &c.
•JE OF CLEVES
c painting by ILnbcin.
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CATHERINE HOWARD
Aram .1 Picture in tin National Portrait Gallery (School of Holbein)
Swallowfield the Dowry of Tudor Queens 91
at Swallowfield, where there is a good brass to his memory. Ashmole thus described it : 'At the east end of the chancel lyes a gravestone, bearing some brass plates, whereon, under the feet of a man in armour, and a woman in her usual habit, is this following inscribed :
What I am thou seeist,
What I have been thou knowest ;
As I am thou shalt be.
What thou art, remember this.
Christopher Lytcott, Esquire, deceased the 3rd day of December, a.d. 1554. On whose soule Jhesu have mercy. Who married Katherine, the daughter of Robert Chene, of Chesham Boyes, in the county of Bucks, Esq. ; and had by her three sons and one daughter, John, Leonard, Christopher, and Dorothy.'
Under this inscription are the figures of the three sons and daughter, standing with their hands erect, and joyned in the posture of praying.' 1
Haines, in his c Monumental Brasses,' says : ' The figure of Christopher Lytkot, Esquire, 1554, at Swallowfield, Berks, affords a good representation of the military equipment depicted on brasses just after the middle of the century ; the breast-plate is now generally without placcates, and has the tapul or projecting edge formerly in fashion ; the mail skirt has an indented edge, frills are worn at the wrists, and the skirt of taces is divided at the lower part by an arched opening between the tuiles.'
He also says : ' The costume worn from the time of King
Edward VI. until the earliest part of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth is well illustrated by the effigy of Katherine Lytkott at
Swallowfield. The centre of the " Paris head " is depressed ;
1 The shield upon the brass is semee of escallops ; 2 bendlets ; in chief 3 castles : quartering or, a chief sable 3 tilting spears pale wise, heads in chief counter- changed.
Lytcott
92 Swallow field and its Owners
the gown has an opening up the front, tied with bows in the upper part ; collar of fur ; sleeves puffed and slashed on the shoulders.'
Katherine Lytcott, who survived her husband, held Swallow- field ' for her life by right of accruer, with reversion after her death to John Lytcott her son, aged thirteen July 24 1554.' x 1567 She died at Swallowfield in 1567, when her eldest son John
Lytcot Lytcott, then twenty-six years of age, • had a licence of entry
into the manor &c. of Swallowfield, granted to him.' 2 i-75 In 1573 he mortgaged it to Thomas Pope,3 but in 1574 he
1574 redeemed it and was re-seised in his former estate,4 but the same
day he resold the manor to John Cade 5 and his heirs, whereupon John Cade entered on the same.6 1581 In 1581 John Litcott and John Cade, by another indenture,
sold to Anthony Higgins, who thereupon entered and was seised of the manor &c. in fee.7 15S2 Afterwards John Litcott, John Cade, and Anthony Higgins,
by indenture, dated November 30, 1582, sold to Samuel Backhouse, and he became thereby seised in fee of the Manor of Swallowfield.
John Litcott of Swallowfield had a son, John Litcott c of Moulsey,' (Molesey), born 1575, who served in his youth in the wars in Ireland, c with the highest reputation,' and was knighted by King James I. He married Mary, daughter of Sir Nicholas Overbury of Bourton (or Burton-on-Hill), Gloucester, and out of this marriage comes his connection with one of the most remarkable causes cdlebres.
In 1606 a marriage, arranged by James I., took place between
1 See Inq. 1 and 2 Philip and Mary, No. 9, taken after the death of Christopher Lytcote at Abingdon, April 30, 1555.
2 Pat. 9 Eliz. pt. 2 Ro. 19. 3 Citizen and Merchant-Tailor of London. * Close Roll, 15 Eliz. pt. 25. 8 Of Aldenham, Hertford.
6 Close Roll, 16 Eliz. pt. 7. » Close Roll, 24 Eliz. pt. 12.
QUEEN CATHARINE PARR •m a print in the British Mmci
ROBERT DEVERE
in the British Museum, after t)
tit Duke of Sutherland
RD EARL OF ESSE>
Swallowfiehi the Dowry of Tudor Queens 93
Lady Frances Howard, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk, and Robert Devereux, third Earl of Essex.' * The ceremony took place at Whitehall with unusual splendour, Inigo Jones supplying the mise-en-scene, and Ben Jonson, in beautiful verse, eulogising the handsome couple in fallacious prophecies.
As the bride was only thirteen and the bridegroom fourteen, the latter was sent abroad for four years. During his absence, his bride developed into one of the most beautiful and at the same time one of the most depraved women of the day. At the date of his return she had for her lover Sir Robert Carr, the King's handsome favourite, and when her husband took her off to live with him she at once set to work to contrive his death.
At first she tried to attain her object through the assistance of sundry practitioners of the Black Art. Dr. Simon Forman, a well-known astrologer and magician, undertook to give some- thing which would intensify Sir Robert Carr's love for her, and other magical devices were to be used to undermine her husband's health. Lord Essex, however, showed no signs of illness, and shortly after Dr. Forman died.
Lady Essex then, finding that sorcery and witchcraft had not relieved her of her husband, managed with the help of the King and some of the Bishops to get a divorce, and immediately after married Carr, who was created for the occasion Earl of Somerset. The same Bishop (Bath and Wells) who had married the bride seven years before to her first husband officiated at this second event,2 which was made the occasion of still greater rejoicings than the former had been. The bride and bridegroom received the most magnificent presents from all
1 The Earl of Essex commanded the Parliamentary Army at Edgehill ; he died in 1646, when the Earldom of Essex became extinct.
2 ' The Dean of Westminster preached and bestowed a great deal of commenda- tion on the young couple.' (John Chamberlain's letters.)
94 Swalloivfield and its Owners
the Court sycophants, Coke, the Lord Chief Justice, giving them gold articles, and Lord Bacon paying two thousand pounds for the { Masque of Flowers,' given in their honour, and performed by the members of Gray's Inn.
The bride, who was now only twenty, was, we are told, married ' in her hair,' that is to say, her hair (which was very beautiful and long) hanging down to her feet, which was the fashion of the day for girl-brides. One who knew her thus writes : { Those who saw her face, might challenge Nature of too much hypocrisy for harbouring so wicked a heart under so sweet and bewitching a countenance.'
Meanwhile Sir Thomas Overbury, a man of some genius, and a poet,1 brother-in-law of Sir John Lytcot, had used all his influence with Carr, who had long been his most intimate friend, to prevent him from marrying Lady Essex. He failed in his purpose and sealed his own doom, as he incurred the anger of the King, who, for some unknown reason, backed up this divorce and second marriage, and he also roused the revenge of the shameless Countess.
The King tried in the first instance to get rid of Sir Thomas by offering him a diplomatic post at Moscow, and then, when he refused it,2 sent him to the Tower for ' contempt.' Three months later the unfortunate man, who had been ailing for some time, was found dead in his bed, from the effect of poison administered to him, at the instigation, there is no doubt, of Lady Somerset.
It was not until two years afterwards that any suggestions of poisoning were openly made. In the summer of 1615,
1 Sir Thomas wrote a fine poem called ' The Wife.' Lord Bacon said of him, ' His mind was great, and certainly it did commonly fly at good things.'
1 It was said that Lord Somerset persuaded him to refuse the appointment, in hopes that he would be sent to the Tower,
FRANCES. COUNTESS OF ESSEX From a picture belonging to the present Earl of j,
Swallowfield the Dowry of Tudor Queens 95
owing to the deathbed confession of an apothecary's boy, such serious rumours were set afloat, implicating so many persons, that the King appointed a Commission to investigate the matter, consisting of the Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, Chief Justice Coke, the Duke of Lenox, and Lord Zouch. They found that Sir Thomas Overbury had died of poison (introduced into his food), supplied by Franklin, an apothecary, taken to the Tower by Mrs. Turner, Lady Somerset's confidante, and administered by Richard Weston, the under-gaoler, Sir Gervas Helwysse, the Governor, being cognisant of the same.
Mrs. Turner 1 confessed her crime and was hanged at Tyburn. She had introduced the fashion of yellow-starching the large ruffs and cuff's then in vogue, and Coke, in sentencing her, ordered that she should be hanged in one, c so that the same might end in shame and detestation.' We are told that though she 1 made a very penitential end, she dressed herself specially, and her face was highly rouged.'
Franklin and Weston were also hanged. The former said that he had prayed to be excused on his bended knees, but that the Countess, who was able to bewitch any man, had urged him two hundred times to bring the poisons,2 and had tempted him with large bribes.
Weston sent for Sir Thomas Overbury's father, and, falling on his knees, asked for his forgiveness and his wife's. At
1 Mrs. Turner had been the waiting-woman or companion of Lady Somerset. She was a beautiful woman, and had married a physician, but was now a widow, and the mistress of Sir Arthur Mainwaring. She lived in Paternoster Row, and it was there that the Countess of Essex used to meet Somerset, and that the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury was planned.
2 By the evidence produced it appears that at least eight different substances were at intervals mixed with Sir Thomas's food, i.e. white arsenic, diamond dust, aquafortis (nitric acid), lapis cortilis, great spiders, cantharides, rose aker or rose algar (probably realgar or arsenic sulphide), and mercury sublimate. It was sup- posed that it was a second administration of the latter poison that killed him.
96 Swallowfield and its Owners
his execution a distinguished company assembled at Tyburn to hear his last words, and when it appeared that he was going to die without making any further disclosures, some of them asked Weston whether he had poisoned Sir Thomas or not. For this proceeding several persons, including Sir John Lytcott, were committed to prison, Lord Bacon, who was then the King's Attorney-General, preparing the evidence against them. Sir John Lytcott ultimately petitioned for his enlargement, ' the rather because by the continuance of his imprisonment there will come a perpetual blemish upon his reputation.' He had previously, in his evidence, affirmed that with Sir Robert Killegrew, a medical man, he visited his brother-in-law Overbury in the Tower, and found him ' in a weak and evil plight.' Sir Thomas asked him, in a whisper, whether he thought that Rochester (i.e. Somerset) did not juggle with him, to which Lytcott answered he thought not. The Governor saw them whispering, and in consequence, when Sir John returned again to visit his brother-in-law, he was denied, and told his warrant was countermanded. Sir Gervase Helwysse,1 the Governor of the Tower, was also convicted and hanged. A letter was produced, written to him by Lady Somerset (then Lady Essex), in which she says : { If he (meaning Sir Thomas) should send this tart and jelly and wine to your wife, then you must take the tart from her and the jelly, but the wine she may drink it if she will, for in that there are no letters,2 I know, but in the tart and jelly I know there is.' 3
1 The name appears in many ways : Ehvaies, Eluishe, Elvys, Yelvis, Helwise, Helwys, Helwash, Helluish, and Hellwish, and is generally written 'Elwes,' but the Governor wrote his name ' Helwysse.'
- In her examination Lady Somerset said 'letters' was 'the jargon for poison.'
3 Lord and Lady Somerset were in the habit of sending Sir Thomas delicacies and luxuries to eat as well as medicines.
IR THOMAS OVERBURY by Rcnald Ehtrack in the British Museum.
Swallowfield the Dowry of Tudor Queens 97
The trial of the Countess of Somerset was delayed in consequence of her situation, and her only child was born in the Tower.1 She was tried by Sir Francis Bacon, and pleaded guilty, having been given to understand that if she did so her life would be spared. Her trial attracted a crowded audience, which included her first husband, and immense prices were given for admittance to Westminster Hall. Lady Somerset was dressed in c black tammel, a cypress chaperon, and cobweb lawn ruff and cuffs,' and her youth and beauty and demeanour, we are told, produced such an effect on those who were present that, according to Camden, 'all pitied her.' On being asked what she had to say, she replied ' humbly and fearfully,' ' I can much aggravate, but nothing extenuate my fault. I desire mercy, and that the Lords will intercede for me to the King.' She was condemned to be hanged, and taken back to the Tower ; but after being a short time under the charge of Sir William Smith at Blackfriars, she was set free and allowed to live in retirement.
The Earl, who was convicted of being an accessory before the fact, was also condemned to be hanged, but his life was spared. He was kept in the Tower for five years, and then confined in the house of Viscount Wallingford 2 at Causham (or Caversham) from 1 62 1 to 1624, when he was pardoned and released. He and his wife took a loathing for each other and ultimately separated. She died in 1621, aged 28, and he in 1645. Their only child,
1 She was named Anne, and married William Russell, the fifth Earl of Bedford.
2 William Knollys, created Earl of Banbury in 1626, and died 1632, aged 88. His second wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard, survived him and re-married Edward fourth Baron Vaux. In a few years she brought forward two sons who were born during her marriage with Lord Banbury, and tried to set them up as his sons ; but they had been at first called Vaux by her, and were presumed to be the issue of her second husband, who left them his estates. From this arose the celebrated contest for the Banbury peerage.
98 Swallowfield and its Owners
Lady Ann Carr, who was as remarkable for her virtues as her mother had been otherwise, was brought up in utter ignorance of the story of her parents, till one day she read it in a pamphlet which she accidentally got hold of. It is said that she was so horrified at the revelation that she fell down in a fit and was found senseless, with the book before her. She married William Russell, the eldest son of Francis, Earl of Bedford. The latter was so averse to the marriage that he refused his consent, saying that he gave his son leave to marry out of any family but that one. ' At length,' says Pennant, l the King interposed, and sending the Duke of Lenox to urge the Earl to consent, he ultimately gave way. Somerset, now reduced to poverty, acted a generous part, selling his house at Chiswick, plate, jewels, and furniture to raise, for his daughter, a fortune of £12,000 (which the Earl of Bedford demanded), saying that, since her affections were settled, he chose rather to undo himself than make her unhappy.' Lady Anne made a perfect wife and lived in great happiness with her husband, who was in 1694 created Duke of Bedford. She had ten children, one of whom was the celebrated patriot, Lord William Russell.
ROBERT CARR. EARL Picture attributed to John Ho
SOMERSET.
'ational Portrait Gallery.
99
CHAPTER XI
THE FAMILY OF BACKHOUSE
Samuel Backhouse, who bought Swallowfield in 1582, was 1582 a wealthy merchant of London. He was born in 1554, and was Back- the eldest son of Nicholas Backhouse,1 Alderman and Sheriff of house London 1577-80, by his first wife Anne, daughter of Thomas Curzon of Croxall, Derbyshire, and grandson of Thomas Back- house of Whiterigg,2 co. Cumberland, by his wife Eleanor, daughter of John Parkyn or Perkins of Hardoe (or Hartle), Cumberland. The Backhouses were of ancient and honourable descent, but the origin of their name seems undecided, it being doubtful whether it is, as some say, from the aristocratic 'de Bayeux,' passing through the various forms of ' Bageous,' or simply from the plebeian ' bakehouse.'
Samuel Backhouse had married, the year before he purchased Swallowfield, Elizabeth, daughter of John Borlase of Little Marlow,3 by Anne, daughter and heir of Sir Richard Lytton.
1 In the College of Arms we find that Nicholas Backhouse had his arms found out, conformed, quartered, and allowed by Gilde Nischt, Principal King at Arms, and Garter, on February 20, 1579.
- Whiteriggs in the township of Anthorn, in the parish of Bowness-on-Solway. There is a cross there of interlaced Celtic work, called ' Anthorn Cross,' on the spot where, according to an ancient legend, a Backhouse killed a Douglas in 1300. Backhouses still live at a house called Whiterigg Hall, overlooking Whiterigg Marsh.
3 John Borlase, of ancient Cornish family, purchased in 1560 Little Marlow and Medmenham.
ioo Swallowfield and its Owners
The marriage took place at Little Marlow on September 6, 1 58 1, and their first-born child, Anne, was baptized at Swallowfield the following year.
Although Samuel Backhouse appears to have taken pos- session of Swallowfield in 1582, the acquisition having been made without the Queen's licence, litigation concerning it went on, more or less, for six years. For a fine of £1 1 4^. he obtained
1586 pardon by the Royal letters patent dated May 5, 1586, wherein the Queen granted that he might hold the manor &c. ' to him, his heirs and assigns, without hindrance.' 1 Nevertheless, the
1587 following year a writ of distringas was directed to the Sheriff or Berkshire, ordering him to distrain on Samuel Backhouse as tenant of the lands &c. which were of John Litcott, Esq., son and heir of Christopher Littcotte, deceased, and which by the death of Christopher came into the Queen's hands. Samuel Backhouse was ordered to come to the Court of Exchequer in eight days from Michaelmas and do homage to the Queen, and also to show by what title he held the premises. Accordingly,
1588 on April 22, 1588, Samuel Backhouse came in person and complained of the seizing of the manor. Having stated the facts, judgment was given in his favour by the Barons, and an order made for his discharge, saving always to the Queen the homage and fealty due.
Samuel Backhouse seems to have been greatly loved by his relations and respected by his friends, and he entertained both largely. We find mention of visits from his brother-in-law, Sir William Borlace ; his brother, Rowland Backhouse ;2 his cousin,
1 Pat. R. 28 Eliz. pt. 4.
5 Rowland Backhouse, of Widford, Herts, and Cheapside, born 1558, was Alderman and Sheriff of London, and had a long and eventful life. When past eighty he was seized at the House of Commons and conveyed to the Tower for having been concerned in some Royalist outbreak. He married Elizabeth
ioo Swallowfield and its Owners
The marriage took place at Little Marlow on September 6, 158 1, and their first-born child, Anne, was baptized at Swallowfield the following year.
Although Samuel Backhouse appears to have taken pos- session of Swallowfield in 1582, the acquisition having been made without the Queen's licence, litigation concerning it went on, more or less, for six years. For a fine of £1 1 45. he obtained
1586 pardon by the Royal letters patent dated May 5, 1586, wherein the Queen granted that he might hold the manor &c. ' to him, his heirs and assigns, without hindrance.' * Nevertheless, the
1587 following year a writ of distringas was directed to the Sheriff of Berkshire, ordering him to distrain on Samuel Backhouse as tenant of the lands &c. which were of John Litcott, Esq., son and heir of Christopher Littcotte, deceased, and which by the death of Christopher came into the Queen's hands. Samuel Backhouse was ordered to come to the Court of Exchequer in eight days from Michaelmas and do homage to the Queen, and also to show by what title he held the premises. Accordingly,
1588 on April 22, 1588, Samuel Backhouse came in person and complained of the seizing of the manor. Having stated the facts, judgment was given in his favour by the Barons, and an order made for his discharge, saving always to the Queen the homage and fealty due.
Samuel Backhouse seems to have been greatly loved by his relations and respected by his friends, and he entertained both largely. We find mention of visits from his brother-in-law, Sir William Borlace ; his brother, Rowland Backhouse ;2 his cousin,
1 Pat. R. 28 Eliz. pt. 4.
2 Rowland Backhouse, of Widford, Herts, and Cheapside, born 1558, was Alderman and Sheriff of London, and had a long and eventful life. When past eighty he was seized