former, and with the Fowler family) are still (1848) to be made out, though indistinctly, on the shields which form the termination of the west doorway dripstone.

APPENDIX H.

LIST OF LORDS OF THE MANOR OF RYCOTE.

EXTRACTED PRINCIPALLY FROM DELAFIELD'S MS., AND CONFIRMED BY REFERENCES TO OTHER SOURCES.

"RYCOTE was originally of military tenure, in which condition and dignity it was successively held by the Mandevilles, (de Magnavilla,) Englefields, Quatremains, Fowlers, John Lord Williams of Thame, and Sir Henry Norris, in whose person it was erected into a barony by Queen Elizabeth."

GEOFFREY, or GODFREY de MAGNAVILLA, came over with William the Conqueror. He was created earl of Essex, to which earldom belonged the bearing of the royal standard, and had Rycote and other manors given to him. With his wife, Athelarda, he was buried in Westminster abbey, but the exact spot is not known.

WILLIAM de MAGNAVILLE, his son, succeeded. He founded a monastery of Black Canons at Stonely in Huntingdonshire. After him,

his son.

GEOFFREY, or GODFREY de M"The Empress Maud now [A.D. 1141] sole sovereign of England, under her broad seal, [in which she still retained the title Romanorum Regina,'] granted the custody of the Tower of London to this Geoffrey de and his heirs, covenanting with him therein

M.

Kennett's "Parochial Antiq.," vol. i. p. 92; Stow's "Annals," p. 103; Stow's "Survey," p. 289; Dugdale's "Mon.," vol. i. p. 45.

that she would not make peace with the citizens of London without the said Geoffrey's consent." He was afterwards (in 1143) apprehended in the king's court at St. Alban's, and was not released until he had surrendered both the Tower of London and "other his castells" to the king (Stephen.) Gervase says "the king did it out of necessity; for if he had not secured him, he would have been deprived by him of his kingdom." This Geoffrey was the founder of the monastery of Walden Parva in Essex. He was eventually wounded at the siege of Burwell castle, Cambridgeshire, and died soon after, (A.D. 1144,) being at that time excommunicated: but previous to his death certain Knights Templars came by, who laid upon him the habit of their religious profession, signed with a red cross; and afterwards enclosing him in lead, hung him upon a tree in the orchard of the Old Temple, London, for they durst not bury him. To him succeeded his

son,

GEOFFREY, Who dying about 1166, was buried in Westminster abbey, near his grandfather. His brother,

WILLIAM de M

succeeded, who, "in addition

to his title of earl of Essex, was by his wife also earl of

f Speed's "Hist.," p. 476; Stow's "An.," p. 146; Dugdale, "Mon.," vol. i. p. 55.

Rapin's "Hist.," sub an.

h Camden, Essex; Weever, " Fun. Mon.," p. 626.

His cross-legged effigy still remains in the Temple church. His armour is of edge mail. See Addison's "History of the Knights Templars," cap. 12.

* William de Magnaville espoused Hadewisa, daughter of William earl of Albemarle, in whose right the title of Albemarle became vested in himself. (Rapin, sub an. 1180.) He also carried the crown immediately before King Richard I. at his coronation in 1189. (See an interesting account of the ceremonial in Rapin, sub an.)

Albemarle," observes Camden. He' performed a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and was also general to King Henry II. against the French king in Normandy. After a fruitless interview between Henry II. and Lewis VI. between Gisors and Trye, a battle ensued, in which Ingeramus, the castellan of Trye, was taken prisoner by this Wm. de Magnavillem.

Wm. de Magnaville was succeeded by his paternal aunt, Beatrix de SAY, whose daughter Beatrix married Geoffrey Petri-filius, or Fitz Piers. This Geoffrey Fitz Piers "was girt with the sword of the earldom of Essex by King John at his coronation, having been previously advanced to the high estate of Justicer of England by King Richard I., which office he executed with great commendation, preserving by his wisdom the realm

'This William de Magnaville, lord of Rycote, who seems to have lived till the end of the twelfth century, may possibly be the Knight Templar or Crusader whose effigy is the subject of enquiry. See p. 112, and plate

12.

Hoveden, p. 306, edit. 1596. "Convenerunt ergo ad ultimum inter Gisortium et Trie, Lodowicus Rex Francorum, cum Archiepiscopis, Episcopis, Comitibus, et Baronibus regni sui, et Henricus Rex Angliæ pater, cum Arch. Episc. Comit. et Bar. terræ suæ, et habitum est ibi colloquium de pace facienda inter ipsum et filios suos, 7° Kal. Oct. &c. &c. Sed non fuit de consilio Regis Franciæ, ut filii regis hanc pacem cum patre suo facerent. In eodem autem colloquio Robertus Comes Leicestriæ multa convicia et opprobria dixit regi Angliæ patri, et apposuit manum gladio, ut percuteret regem, sed prohibitum est ei a circumstantibus, et in his finitum est colloquium. In crastino autem colloquii milites regis Franciæ inierunt congressum cum militibus regis Angliæ inter Curteles et Gisors: in quo conflictu, Ingeramus, Castellanus de True, captus est a Comite Willelmo de Mandeville, et traditus est regi patri." The independance of the barons of those times is well exhibited by the earl of Leicester's behaviour at the council, and it is curious to observe that the title Rex appears to have been bestowed upon the heir apparent even in his father's life-time. The expressions "Rex pater," and "Rex filius," constantly occur in the annalists. Collier ("Eccl. Hist.," vol. ii. p. 320) mentions that "Engelram de Trie tilted with the Chancellor of England, (Becket,) afterwards archbishop of Canterbury!" See also "Eccl. Hist.," vol. ii. p. 380.

from that confusion which it after fell into by King John's unadvised carriage"." His son,

GEOFFREY (Fitz Piers) de MAGNAVILLE Succeeded, in 1213, as earl of Essex, &c., and lord of Rycote. He took the barons' side against King John, and was their leader, with Robert Fitz Walter and the earl of Gloster, when they advanced to aid the Londoners. He married Isabel, the divorced wife of King John, and heiress of William, earl of Gloster, and died young of a wound received at a tournament in 1215, and was buried in the church of the priory of the Holy Trinity near Aldgate, London, being succeeded by his brother WILLIAMP, who also died young in 1228.

"Here (says Delafield) is a chasm of about 150 years, which all my search hath not enabled me to supply."

Perhaps Fulco de Ricot, alluded to by Leland, (see the extract,) may come in here as lord of the manor of Rycote. In the Hundred Rolls, under the head of Magna Rucot, occurs the following:-" Dominus Fulco

n Dugdale, vol. i. p. 55; Camden, Essex; Collier, “Eccl. Hist.,” vol. ii. p. 411.

• Speed, pp. 30, 372; Stow's "Survey," p. 143.

P Stow's "Annals," p. 180.

"Fulco de Ricote, temp. Henry III." See "Testa de Nevil." In the ledger book of the Knights Templars' preceptory at Sandford, preserved in the Bodleian Library, written about Edward I.'s time, is a charter of Fulco de Ruicote respecting land in "Hasele." See "Guide to Archit. Ant. near Oxford," pp. 357, 361. It is possible that the crosslegged effigy (see Appendix G) may be the monumental memorial of this Fulco de Ricot, who thus appears as well to have been connected with the Knights Templars as with Haseley. The Harleian MS., No. 4031, folio 105, gives the following links in the Ricot pedigree :-John Ricot died, leaving an only child, Catharine, who, marrying Nicholas Clarke, gave her own name to her husband. This Nicholas Ricote was, by his wife Catharine, the father of Johanna Ricote, who married Nicholas Englefield, the father of the two co heiresses, Sibill and Cicely. (See the following note.) The lordship of Ricote then passed from the Ricot family to the Englefields by inheritance.