(96 R.) about 1165, for the soul of his father, the quantity granted being 15 acres, the same as that given for the same purpose by Adam; but it was given in a capacity inferior to that of Adam, for the elder brother had to confirm the grant (97 R.). Roger de Birkin is recorded in the Liber Niger of 1166 as holding a third of a half knight's fee in the fee of Ralph Pagnell.

Like all his brethren, except perhaps William, he attained an advanced age. Nothing is known of any wife of his youth, but in his maturity, he married Maud, daughter of Roger, son of Richard Touche, with whom he received the manor of Over Shitlington, given by her father "the day that I took my journey towards the Holy Land with King Richard," the charter being witnessed by, among others, Richard de Tonge, probably a cousin, a son of Richard de Tweng. The couple must have had but a short married life, for it seems to have been he rather than his nephew of the same name, who, between 1202 and 1207, married Alice, widow of Robert Pictavensis. The exact date is perhaps not now ascertainable, on account of the loss of some of the records of this portion of the reign of King John; but that the marriage was between those dates is evident from a comparison of the Fines 81 and 294 in Surtees, Vol. xciv.; for by the former, it appears that Robert Pictavensis was alive and in possession on August 13, 1202, and by the latter, that he was dead, that Roger, his brother1 and heir, had succeeded him, and that his widow Alice had re-married; all before November 18, 1207. At the date of his marriage with the widow of Robert Pictavensis, this youngest brother of Adam fitz Peter must thus have been of very full years, and it is not to be expected that there was issue of the union.

Besides the charters in which he is mentioned as a witness in the accompanying Table, Roger tests one to Rievaux (344 R.), which was given by Jordan son of Matthew fitz Saxe at least as early as 1170, and in which he is called Roger de Birkin by the name of his brother's manor; and late in the century he tests 379 P. and 405 P., in each of which, following Roger de Lascy, constable of Chester, and being. styled "brother" to John, he is completely identified and distinguished from his nephew Roger. See also Monasticon, No. ix.

Roger died in 1221, having survived his father fifty-six years, and his elder brother fourteen years.

[The Monasticon quotations in this paper are to the original edition; and the references to Domesday 328 b: lxii. &c., are to both the 1783 edition and the photozincographic copy.]

(1) Not son, as stated in Herald and Genealogist, v. 238.

Reference

The Charter History of a Long Life.

ADAM FITZ PETER,

"P," "R," and "S," SIGNIFY CHARTULARIES OF PONTEFRACT, RIEVAUX, AND SELBY RESPECTIVELY.

(The names of Charter-Grantors are in Small Capitals.)

of Birkin.

Adam and Thomas his sons.