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A.D. 1384 (Edw. III-7 Rich. II). William de Wyndesore was the first, after the Barri family, who seems to have possessed the Castle and manors aforesaid. He was summoned to Parliament as Baron de Wyndesore from 5 Rich. II, was Viceroy of Ireland t. Edward III, and husband of the celebrated court beauty, Alice Perers, by whom he left no issue. He was in direct descent from William de Windsor (Wyndesore), lord of Stanwell, co. Middlesex, the brother of Gerald de Windsor (ancestor of the Geraldines and Dukes of Leinster), so that he was undoubtedly akin to David Fitz-Gerald, the Bishop of St. David's, and other contemporary Fitz-Geralds.

Whether, when Manorbeer came into the King's hands, it was bestowed upon him under any such recognized relationship, and in acknowledgment of his services, or whether it had been given to Alice Perers by Edward III, and that he held the property in virtue of his wife (for her possessions were enormous), we have no precise record. It would appear, however, from the inquisitions taken after the death of both that such was not the case. The estate is not named among any of the lands assigned to her, either whilst living or after her death; whilst the post-mortem inquest (8 Rich. II, No. 38), part of which is subjoined, reads as if William de Wyndesore had possessed the fee of Manorbeer and Penally. It proves that he gave up the fee for a life-interest, and that John de Wyndesore, his nephew, was ultimately intended to be enfeoffed thereof in fee simple. But of this, further, under John de Wyndesore. We see no grounds for believing that he obtained the manors by purchase; but rather, seeing that for many subsequent genera tions the property was given by the Crown to different court favourites, he acquired them in that way. On his death, in 8 Richard II, the manors must have been claimed by John de Wyndesore in virtue of his uncle's deed of feoffment.

A.D. 1414 (2 Hen. V). John de Wyndesore, son of John

...

Ing. p. M., Oct. 18, 8 Rich. II, "sed dicunt (juratores) quod Willelmus de Beauchamp chivaler et Hugo Segrave ch'r feoffati fuerunt per predictum Willelmum (de Wyndesore) de castro et maneriis de Maynerbyr et Penaly in com. Pembrochie per quoddam scriptum feoffamenti eisdem factum in feodo simplici, virtute cujus feoffamenti ipsi feoffati seisiti fuerunt ...... et post mortem ejusdem Willelmi, quousque feoffarunt quemdam Johannem de Wyndesore, consanguineum predicti Willelmi"......

2 The descent of William Baron de Wyndesore, as given in the various Peerages, is so thoroughly faulty and imaginary that we refer the reader to the abstract of his pedigree given at p. 137, vol. xi, 4th Series of these Collections. He was the son of John de Wyndesore, and grandson of Sir Alexander de Windesore, lord of Grayrigg,

5TH SER., VOL. VIII.

19

(Baron de Wyndesore's brother), and obtained the estate ostensibly by Letters Patent (1 Hen. IV),1 granting the same to him in fee, and all historians dealing with the subject leave the matter then at rest.

It is evident that two years after this grant of Manorbeer was made, a plea was found-justly or unjustly remains a question-for the revocation of it, ostensibly on the score of misrepresentation or deceit ("ad minus veram suggestionem Johannis Wyndesore"), for the wording of the writ leaves the exact cause open to doubt. The claim set up by John de Wyndsore or his trustees was apparently found untenable. The King, at any rate, held the same as a deception. The steps first taken to revoke the grant of 1 Henry IV may be seen among the Plea Rolls of 3 Henry IV, and other subsequent proceedings in the 12th of that King. Eversham, and Morland, co. Westmorland. After the death of his uncle he was engaged in protracted litigation with Alice Perers ; and at one time also in a suit against Thomas de la Mare, the Abbot of St. Alban's, as to certain lands in co. Herts. In some part of the latter proceedings he is styled "virum utique superbum et protervum". In 1871 he was Sub-Vicecomes of Westmorland, and died on 7 April 1414 (2 Hen. V). Weever (Funeral Monuments) states that he took part at the Battle of Shrewsbury, and was a great commander in the wars of Ireland, t. Ric. II. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and the following epitaph, on a brass plate, in black letter, may be seen on the north side of the church: "Est bis septenus M. Christi C. quater annus,

Vespera Paschalis dum septima lux fit Aprilis,
Transiit a mundo Io. Windesore, nomine notus,
Corde gemens mundo, confessus crimine lotus;
Fecerat heredem Gulielmus avunculus istum,
Miles et armigerum dignus de nomine dignum.
Dum juvenilis erat, bello multos perimebat;
Postea penituit, et eorum vulnera flevit.
Recumbens obiit; hic nunc in carcere quiescit;
Vivat in eternum spiritus ante Deum."

1 "Rex concessit Johanui Windesore in feodo, maneria de Manorbier et Penaley in com. Pem. in Wallia; et Bigelly, et omnia tenementa que fuerunt David de Barri militis in Wallia.' anno 1 Hen. IV.)

(6, Patent,

2 We refer the reader to pp. 170-3, vol. xiii, 4th Ser., of these Collections, for the further proceedings taken in the 12th of Henry IV, with the order for quashing the grant and all claims put forward in respect of it.

William de Wyndesore died in 1384; the grant in question, of Manorbeer, was made to his nephew in 1399, fifteen years afterwards, so that we might certainly assume from the wording of the post-mortem inquest on the former that he had been in possession of the property during that interval, or a portion of it. The Coram Rege proceedings of 3 Henry IV, and the Close Roll entry of 12 Henry IV, however, two and eleven years after the grant, make this supposition less than doubtful. The lands would appear to have been given to John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon and Duke of Exeter; and there is proof that the manors belonged for a time to the Hastynges family previous thereto. That the grant to John de Wyndesore was revoked not only by the Close Roll, 12 Henry IV, but by earlier proceedings, is manifest. The latter are among the county Placita for Wales, taken from the Coram Rege Roll of Trinity Term, 3 Henry IV, and are given in Appendix. The former have already been quoted in vol. xiii, 4th Ser.

A.D. 1400-12 (12 Hen. IV). Elizabeth, Countess of Huntingdon, had been evidently in possession of Manorbeer, together with her husband, John de Holland, Earl of Huntingdon, from some time subsequent to the death of William de Wyndesore, t. Richard II. She was Elizabeth, daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and after the death of the Earl married, as her second husband, Sir John Cornwall, K.G." The proceedings taken in Chancery, 12 Henry IV (Arch. Camb., pp. 170-3, vol.

1 Lord Chamberlain of England, and created, in 1387, Duke of Exeter by Richard II. He was third son of Thomas Earl of Kent by Joan Plantagenet, and married Elizabeth, daughter of John of Gaunt, being thus brother-in-law of Henry IV.

2 Sir John Cornwall, according to tradition, won the hand of the King's sister, Elizabeth, by his prowess at a tournament in jousting at York with a French knight. He was distinguished in various capacities t. Richard II and Henry IV; and probably from his high connection with the blood royal was made by Henry IV, in 1433, Baron Fanhope, co. Hereford, and subsequently, in 1442, Baron Milbroke, co. Beds. He left no issue by his wife, according to Dugdale but others (Heylin and Lysson) record (the former) a daughter married to Lord Maltravers; and the latter, a son killed during the wars in France, in vita patris. Sir John Cornwall took part, under Henry V, at the battle of Agincourt.

xiii, 4th Ser., quite show that up to that date both she and her then husband (Sir John Cornwall) had been long seized of the estate, holding it under a charter and deed of trust set forth in the writ in question. By these proceedings it is shown that at her death John Holland, her son, Duke of Exeter in 1443 (having been restored in blood in 1417) succeeded to the foregoing Pembrokeshire estates, and these he must have held till his death in 1446. It is presumable also that the same were held by his son Henry, the third Duke, until his attainder in 1461, twelve years before his death in 1473.

From that time Manorbeer passed from one eourt favourite to another, until in the reign of Elizabeth it came into the possession of Thomas Owen of Trellwyn, and in recent times into that of Lord Milford.

APPENDIX.

The revocation, in the following extracts, of the Patent granting to John de Wyndesore the manors of Manorbeer, Penally, and Bigelly, 1 Henry IV, quite proves that these lands had been in possession of John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon, until his attainder in 1 Henry IV, and by inference from the time of William de Wyndesore's death. The entries tend to correct the error propagated by different writers, that the same had ever been in the possession of John de Wyndesore.

County Placita.-Wales, No. I.

"Placita coram domino Rege apud Westmonasterium de termino Sancte Trinitatis, anno regni Regis Henrici quarti post conquestum tercio. (Rotulo lxix.)

"Hereford.-Memorandum quod venerabilis pater E. Exoniensis Episcopus domini Regis Cancellarius, per manus suas proprias liberavit hic in Curia isto eodem termino coram domino Rege apud Westmonasterium, quoddam breve domini Regis, indorsatum Vicecomiti Herefordie nuper directum, quod sequitur in hec verba :-Henricus Dei gratia, Rex Anglie et Francie et Dominus Hibernie, Vicecomiti Herefordie salutem: Supplicaverunt nobis Johannes Cornewaill chivaler, et Elizabeth uxor ejus, Comitissa Huntingdon', ut cum Johannes Holand, nuper Comes Huntingdon', et camerarius Anglie, quondam vir ipsius Comitisse, seisitus fuisset in dominico suo ut de feodo et jure de castro, manerio, et dominio de Maynerbier, et de manerio et dominio de Pennaly cum pertinenciis, in comitatu Pembrochie,

ac idem nuper Comes eadem castrum, maneria, et dominia, cum pertinenciis diu ante forisfacturam suam dederit et concesserit, et carta sua confirmaverit Johanni Stevenes, et Ricardo Shelley clerico, habenda et tenenda eisdem Johanni Stevenes et Ricardo, heredibus et assignatis suis imperpetuum, virtute quorum doni, concessionis, et confirmacionis, predicti Johannes Stevenes et Ricardus inde fuerunt seisiti; subsequenter quia nos, ad minus veram suggestionem Johannis Wyndesore, per litteras nostras patentes, de gratia nostra speciali, inter alia dederimus et concesserimus eidem Johanni Wyndesore castrum, maneria, et dominia predicta cum pertinenciis, per nomen maneriorum de Maynerbier et Pennaly cum pertinenciis in comitatu Pembrochie in Wallia, una cum omnibus redditibus et serviciis omnium tenencium, que fuerunt David de Barri chivaler, in Begely in Wallia, et una cum omnibus terris et tenementis, feodis militum, et advocacionibus beneficiorum et ecclesiasticorum, que prefatus Johannes Wyndesore, ac Thomas Holhirst, Johannes Duket, et Thomas Affrent whait, habuerunt de dono et concessione dicti David, in dicto comitatu Pembrochie, que ad manus nostras racione forisfacture predicti nuper comitis devenerunt, habenda et tenenda eidem Johanni Wyndesore et heredibus suis imperpetuum, prout in litteris nostris predictis plenius continetur ; Ac iidem Johannes Stevenes et Ricardus de castro, maneriis, et dominiis predictis cum pertinenciis, virtute doni, concessionis, et confirmacionis predicti nuper comitis, tempore confectionis litterarum nostrarum predictarum, et posteà fuerint seisiti, et statum suum inde continuaverint usque ad certum tempus post mortem ipsius nuper comitis, quod predictus Johannes Stevenes, per nomen Johannis Stevenes armigeri, de comitatu Pembrochie, castrum, maneria, et dominia predicta cum pertinenciis, per nomen castri, manerii, et dominii de Maynerbier, et manerii et dominii de Penale cum pertinenciis, dedit et concessit et carta sua confirmavit eidem comitisse adtunc uxori predicti Johannis Cornewaill, ad vitam ipsius comitisse; Ita quod post decessum ipsius comitisse, predicta castrum, maneria, et dominia cum pertinenciis Johanni, filio predictorum nuper comitis et comitisse et heredibus suis remanarent imperpetuum; Ac prefati Johannes Cornewaill et comitissa, virtute doni, concessionis et confirmacionis predicti Johannis Stevenes, inde fuerint seisiti; Et postmodum prefatus Ricardus cartam ipsius Johannis Stevenes prefate comitisse in hac parte confectam, ac omnia in ea contenta, necnon statum et possessionem ipsius comitisse in castro, manerii, et dominiis predictis cum pertinenciis approbaverit, rectificaverit, concesserit et confirmaverit, et post decessum ipsius comitisse prefato Johanni filio predictorum nuper comitis

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