now much defaced, but on two of them the Etton arms may still be distinguished. (12) THOMAS DE ETTON, son of the Thomas last mentioned, married Isabel, sister and heir of John Dayvell, and widow of Richard Wilsthorp. In 1358 we find the name of Thomas de Etton, "armiger," in a warrant for the payment of various sums to Sir Roger de Beauchamp and forty-one others, for the custody of King John of France at the Savoy, where he was in captivity after his surrender to the Black Prince at Poitiers. It is difficult to distinguish between Thomas the father and Thomas the son, but it is most probable that both this and the entry next quoted refer to the son. On June 12, 1369, letters of protection were granted by the King to Thomas de Etton, who was about to set out in the army of the King, in the retinue of John, Duke of Lancaster, to parts beyond the sea.3 The expedition in question was the Duke of Lancaster's campaign in the Pays de Caux, in the autumn of 1369. There is a long list of letters of protection for this expedition, including the names of John de Nevill, Robert de Nevill of Hornby, Thomas de Claxton, and several well-known Yorkshire names. It has been asserted that Thomas de Etton distinguished himself under the Black Prince at the Battle of Najara (April 3, 1367). This statement is apparently based on a passage in the Herald Chandos' poem, the Black Prince, which relates "Coment le duc de Lancastre et monsieur Johan Chandos passerent en l'avant-garde, et là furent fait chivalers" (on the field before the battle), "et le duc conforta très-noblement ses gentz":"De Lancastre li noble ducs, Qui moult eut en lui de vertus, Curson, Priour et Elitoun," &c.4 Both M. Michel and the earlier editor of this poem are inclined to identify "Elitoun" with the Thomas de Etton to whom letters of protection were granted in 1369. It seems very doubtful, however, whether Etton would be rendered " Elitoun," and I have nowhere seen Thomas de Etton described as a knight. In the will of John 1 Dodsworth MSS., cxxxix. 122. An indenture (marriage settlement) dated at Gilling on the Thursday after the feast of SS. Simon and Jude, 28 Edw. III. (Oct. 30, 1354), between John Dayvell and Thomas de Etton, the father of the Thomas who married Isabel. John de Wilsthorp, son of Isabel, married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas de Etton. 2 Fadera, iii. 413, from Liberate Roll, 32 Edw. III., m. 1. 3 Ibid., iii. 871, from French Roll, 43 Edw. III., m. 15. 4 Le Prince Noir, Poème du Héraut d'armes Chandos. Ed. Francisque-Michel, 1883, lines 3221-3225. 5 H. O. Coxe, Roxburgh Club, 1842. lord Nevill of Raby (Aug. 31, 1386)' we find bequests to Thomas de Etton of a gilt-covered cup and fifty marks, to Thomas Fairfax a gilt cup and twenty pounds, and to John Fairfax of a gilt cup with a laver. The executors named in this will are John Fairfax, rector of the church of Prestcote (Thomas de Etton's uncle), Robert de Nevill of Hornby, Thomas de Etton, Robert de Coverham, and Thomas de Claxton. It is interesting to notice that the names of John de Nevill and three of the five executors of his will occur in the list of letters of protection for John of Gaunt's expedition in 1369, and we may fairly conclude that they were companions in arms in the French wars. We may even surmise that plunder from France may have contributed towards the cost of rebuilding Gilling, for it is to this Thomas de Etton that I am inclined to attribute the basement of the castle, which is practically all that remains of the mediæval house. 2 In 1376 the custody of the free chace of Kirkby Malasart and Nidderdale was confirmed to Thomas de Etton junior. In 1395 he is mentioned as a justice of oyer and terminer. His uncle, John Fairfax, who was successively rector of Hawnby, Gilling and Prestcote, by his will, dated June 7, 1393 (proved June 15, 1393), bequeaths to Thomas de Etton, his kinsman, a mazer with a cover and foot of silver gilt, marked with divers letters B; to Sir John de Etton, knight, a silver-covered cup; to Isabella, wife of Thomas de Etton, a blue gown furred with minever; and to William de Etton, 40s.; he also remitted to Sir John de Etton a debt of eight marks of silver which he owed to him. A grant by Thomas de Etton, lord of Gilling, to David de Rouclyf, knight, John de Pykeryng of Oswaldkirk,5 and William Sproxton, dated St. Benedict the abbot, 3 Hen. IV., is the latest reference to the last Thomas which I have found. This grant, which is in Mr. Fairfax-Cholmeley's collection, has a fine seal bearing the Etton arms. (13) SIR JOHN DE ETTON, knight, was the eldest son of the lastmentioned Thomas. He married (before 1388) Katherine, younger 1 Wills and Inventories (Surtees Soc.), i. 38. 2 Patent Roll, 50 Edw. III., part 1, m. 20, May 28 (1376). Confirmation at the instance of Thomas de Etton, junior, for which half a mark was paid, of a grant by William de Nessefeld of the custody (custodie) of the free chace and warren of Kirkby Malasart and Nidderdale, with the fees belonging to the office of the said custody, with an annual rent (redditu) of ten marks from the manor of Hovyngham payable half-yearly at Whitsuntide and Martinmas, for keeping the said chace and warren, to the said Thomas de Etton for life, remainders in tail to Henry, son of the said William de Nessefeld and Margaret, Henry's sister, remainder to the heirs and assigns of Thomas de Etton in fee. 3 Coram Rege Roll, Mich., 19 Ric. II., m. 10. 4 Test. Ebor. (Surtees Soc.), i. 188, 189. 5 John Fairfax, parson of Prestcote, granted the manor of Oswaldkirk to John Pikering in 16 Ric. II.; the grant was witnessed by Sir John de Etton (Dodsworth MSS., clv. 113). daughter and coheir of William de Everingham, and coheir of her grandfather, Adam de Everingham. In 1391 (June 20) licence was given to Ralph lord Nevill, Sir Thomas Colvylle, Sir John Etton and four others, to perform feats of arms with certain Scots, John lord de Roos being appointed judge thereof.2 Sir John de Etton was sheriff of Yorkshire in 1406 and 1412, and in 1415 he was appointed warden of Roxburgh castle. His name appears on commissions of array for Yorkshire in 1415 and 1418. In a roll of arms temp. Richard II. (c. 1392-1397), Monsr. de Etton bears Barry of twelve argent and gules, a label of three points azure, over all a canton sable charged with a cross patonce or.5 In Atkinson's roll "he be'rith gowlis and sylu' berele, a quart' sabill' wt a crosse paty golde." He died on March 25, 1433. His will and Inq. post mortem3 will be found in the appendix to this paper, and upon latter part of the second Etton pedigree is based. His eldest son, Miles de Etton, died during his father's lifetime, leaving four daughters. these the (14) IVO DE ETTON, the second son of Sir John de Etton, was his heir. By a fine levied in 1438 the manor of Gilling in Rydale was settled on Ivo Etton, esquire, and Joan his wife, in tail male, with remainder to the heirs male of John Etton, knight, remainder to the right heirs of the said John Etton in fee. On March 1, 16 Hen. VI. (1437-8), Ivo Etton and Joan his wife gave a power of attorney to John Revaux, chaplain, and Robert Scawton to take seisin from Richard Newton, serjeant-at-law, and others, the plaintiffs in the above fine1 of the manor of Gilling. The seal attached to this power of attorney, which is in Mr. Fairfax-Cholmeley's collection, bears the Etton arms. Ivo died without issue. In his brother Alexander, a clerk, the male line of the Ettons of Gilling came to an end. In August, 1446, Alexander exchanged the rectory of Laxton, Notts., for the rectory of Gilling, with Thomas Tanfield." On the eve of St. Thomas the Apostle, 25 Hen. VI. (Dec. 20, 1446), he granted the manor of Gilling and all his lands in Gilling and elsewhere in the county of York which had belonged to his father John Etton, knight, to Thomas Wythom, Thomas Delaryver and John Laton of Sproxton.12 1 She was 23 years of age at the death of her grandfather, Adam de Everingham, Feb. 8, 1388 (Ing. p.m., 11 Ric. II.). 2 Fadera, orig. ed., vii. 703. 3 Rot. Scotiae, ii. 2146. Fadera, orig. ed., ix. 254, 569 (Pat., 3 Hen. V., part 2, m. 37d, and 6 Hen. V., m. 31d). 5 Roll of Richard II., ed. T. Willement, 1834, no. 409. VOL. XIX By a fine dated in 1451, the manors of Gilling and Southolme were settled on Alexander de Etton, clerk, for life, with remainder to Thomas Nevill, knight, and others and to Nevill's heirs. Apparently Alexander de Etton did not love his successors the Fairfaxes, for he very effectually defeated their rights for some time by enfeoffing a man of such wealth and importance as Sir Thomas Nevill. This Sir Thomas Nevill was a younger brother of Ralph Nevill, the second Earl of Westmorland. It will be remembered that the first earl left the larger part of his Yorkshire possessions as jointure to his second wife (and widow), Joan of Beaufort, an arrangement which caused great dissatisfaction to his children by his first wife, Margaret Stafford, and ultimately resulted in the complete alienation of the elder from the younger house of Nevill. In the quarrel between them, which was at its height in 1435, we find Thomas siding with his brothers, Earl Ralph and Sir John Nevill, against Joan the Dowager-Countess and her son Richard, Earl of Salisbury. When civil war broke out twenty years later, the two houses of Nevill took opposite sides, and, like his brothers, Sir Thomas and his son Humphrey were found among the most active adherents of the Lancastrian cause. After the disastrous defeat at Towton, a party of Lancastrians, led by Lord Roos and Sir John Fortescu, and guided by the two Nevills, Thomas and Humphrey, attempted to raise the county of Durham, and at Ryton and Brancepeth "with standardes and gyturons unrolled, rered werre ayenst oure Lord Kyng Edward," but on June 26 they were defeated and driven back by Warwick's forces. Both Thomas and Humphrey Nevill were included in the act of attainder passed by Parliament on Nov. 4, 1461. Sir Thomas Nevill seems to have died about this time, but Humphrey escaped from the Tower, and, though he was again in arms in Northumberland, he was afterwards pardoned by King Edward. But when the Lancastrians again rose in the North at the beginning of 1464, Sir Humphrey Nevill was once more to the front, and fell on his cousin Montagu's escort as he passed through a wood near Newcastle, Montagu himself narrowly escaping destruction. Humphrey escaped from the defeat at Hexham, and took refuge with Sir Ralph Grey at Bamborough. Here Warwick summoned them to surrender, offering free pardon to the whole garrison, except Sir Ralph Grey and Sir Humphrey Nevill, "thoo tweyn to be oute of the Kinges grace, 3 1 Feet of Fines, Yorkshire, 30 Hen. VI., no. 89. De Banco Roll, 30 Hen. VI., Mich., m. 544. 2 See extracts from Rolls of Parliament in Appendix VI., post. Other particulars are taken from Warwick the Kingmaker, by C. W. Oman, 1891. 3 Hall's Chronicle, ed. 1809, p. 260. 4 Oman's Warwick, 157. without any redempcion." But the desperate Lancastrians were determined not to give up their lives without a struggle. Warwick and his guns, however, were too strong for them. The castle was taken by assault, and Sir Ralph Grey was captured alive, condemned by Tiptoft at Doncaster, and beheaded. Sir Humphrey Nevill once more escaped, and after spending five years in hiding in Yorkshire, he was again ready for the fray when Robin of Redesdale rose in 1469. This time, however, he was not to escape his kinsman. On the 29th of September he was "takene by the Erle of Warwyke, and behedede at Yorke, the Kynge beynge present."" With Sir Humphrey's attainder ends the brief possession of Gilling by the Nevills. The jurors who took the inquisition in 1489, when Thomas Fairfax claimed Gilling, found that Sir Edmund Hastings had possessed the manor of Gilling from Sir Humphrey Nevill's attainder in 1461 to the accession of Henry VII., and that Sir Charles Somerset had held it from the latter time to the date of the inquisition, but quo jure they knew not. Sir Edmund Hastings was the escheator who took Sir Humphrey Nevill's Inq. p. m. in 1463. Sir Charles Somerset was an illegitimate son of Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset; he came into favour on the accession of Henry VII., and was afterwards created Earl of Worcester. As we have already seen, the manor of Gilling was settled in 1349 by Thomas de Etton on his own family, with remainder to Thomas Fairfax and his wife Elizabeth and their heirs. In 1489 Thomas Fairfax of Walton proved his descent from Thomas and Elizabeth Fairfax, and claimed the restitution of Gilling. His claim was confirmed by an inquisition taken Aug. 1, 1492, and Gilling passed into the possession of the Fairfax family. It is unnecessary to deal here with the earlier genealogy of the Fairfaxes, as the subject has been exhausted elsewhere. They settled at Walton, near Thorparch, in the middle of the thirteenth century, and the claimant to Gilling was the head of the senior line of Walton. His uncle, Sir Guy Fairfax, was the founder of the junior lines of Steeton, Denton and Nunappleton, and was the ancestor of "the great Lord Fairfax," the Parliamentarian General. Thomas Fairfax was made Knight of the Bath at the creation of Henry, Duke of York, 1 MS. account of the siege of Bamborough, in College of Arms. 2 Warkworth's Soc.), p. 7. Chronicle (Camden 3 For his Inq. p. m. and attainder, see Appendix VI., post. 4 See Appendix VII., fost. 5 His petition, &c., is printed in Appendix VII., post, from the York Corporation Papers, vol. ii. J. Gough Nichols' Herald and Genealogist, vii. 145, contains a full and very careful Fairfax pedigree, compiled by Mr. Clements R. Markham, with corrections by Mr. R. H. Skaife. |