XIX. Some Observations Relating to Four Deeds from the Muniment Room at Maxstoke Castle, Co

272 XIX. Some Observations relating to Four Deeds from the Muniment Room at Maxstoke Castle, co. Warwick; exhibited by JOSEPH JACKSON HOTPAED, Esq., F.S.A. By THOMAS WILLIAM KING, Esq., F.S.A., York Herald. Bead June 9,1859. THE earliest of the four Deeds exhibited is without date, but is probably of the latter half of the thirteenth century; by it William de Oddynggeshel, lord of the manor of Solihull, gave and confirmed to Robert Tyberay a piece of land in Solihull, lying in the township of the borough of Solihull, to him and his heirs. The seal of green wax appended to this Deed (Plate XIV. fig. 1) has on it a shield with a fess and in chief two mullets, being the arms of Odingsells; the inscription, which is very faint, reads * S' WILLI D6 OVDINGBSGLeS. William de Odingsells, Lord of Maxstoke, was descended from Galfrid de Oding- sells, who was Lord of Maxstoke in right of his wife Basilia, daughter and coheir of Gerard de Limsey, Lord of Maxstoke; a marriage which took place about the 20 Henry II. The arms borne by this line are those on the seal now exhibited; but Hugh de Odingsells, a younger son of Galfrid just mentioned, took the name of De Flanders from having resided in that country, and he added a mullet to the two already in the arms, changing their tincture to sable. Ida, one of the daughters and coheirs of William de Odingsells, became the wife of Sir John de Clinton, Knight, who was Lord of Maxstoke in her right. He was summoned to parliament 27 Edward I., and died 8 Edward II. Of this marriage there were two sons, John Baron Clinton, of Maxstoke, who was summoned to parliament 6 Edward III., and William de Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon. This William de Clinton, who was created Earl of Huntingdon in 1337, was the grantor in the second Deed exhibited, by which he gave to John Bertulmeu, of Maxstoke, a piece of land called Sotecroft, in exchange for a piece of land in the Ruddynge. On the seal appended to this Deed (Plate XIV. fig. 2) are six crosses crosslet fitchy, and on a chief two mullets of six points, Clinton: the shield is inclosed in a foliated circle of nine-foils, and accompanied by the six lions rampant of Leybourne in the area of the seal, two over the shield, and two on each side, the Earl having married Juliana, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Leybourne, Knight, who had previously married John Lord Hastings of Abergavenny, and Sir Thomas Blount, Steward of the Household to Edward II. This instrument bears PI., e XI SEAES EP_OK DEEDS BEIJ^Ti Nl-TO MAXSTOKE CASTLE - FubUxlml ).:• tin- Srnriv n'^tniiqum-ir.* cr'Lnruli-n.JtWl Observations relating to Four Deeds from Maxstoke Castle. 273 date at Maxstoke on Sunday next after the Feast of St. Barnabas the Apostle in 24 Edw. III. (13th June, 1350). Here I would call attention to the six crosses crosslets fitchy in the arms, which are not in those of John Baron Clinton, who was descended from the elder brother of the Earl of Huntingdon, and who executed the deed next mentioned. The third Deed, in order of date, was made by John Baron Clinton, 17th May, 16 Hen. VI. (1438). By it he granted to Humphry, Earl of Stafford, and Anne his wife the castle and manor of Maxstoke, 100 acres of meadow, and 200 acres of pasture in Shistoke and Coleshill within the park of Maxstoke, and a piece of land called Maydefurlonge, parcel of the manor of Shistoke, and also a rent of 20 marks in Maxstoke, Merston, and Coton, and also the advowson of the Priory of St. Michael of Maxstoke ;a to hold the same to the said Earl and Anne and the heirs and assigns of the said Earl for ever, with power of re-entry into the same or a proportionate part thereof, in case John Lord Clinton and his wife, or either of them, or his heirs or assigns, should be evicted, as therein mentioned, from all or any part of the manors of Whissheton and Wodeford, in the county of Northampton, which were to be conveyed to them by the Earl.b To this Deed two seals are appended; the first (Plate XIV., fig. 3) bears the arms of Lord Clinton in a side-standing shield, being the arms of Clinton, repre- sented as two mullets pierced in chief, and not on a chief, and without any charge in the field (which I beg to notice particularly), quartering those of Say, viz.: Quarterly or and gules. The helmet upon which the crest is placed is supported by two greyhounds. The legend runs thus; gHgtlltt' u>i)'is fc'ni Xw clgntan & tie tag, The second seal (Plate XIV., fig. 4) is that of the Earl of Stafford, containing a side-standing shield of the single coat of Stafford (Or, a chevron gules), the field of which is beautifully purfled; probably a rare instance of purfling being used on a seal. On the helmet is placed the crest, a swan's head and wings issuant from a coronet, the helmet being supported by two heraldic antelopes. This seal exhibits in a remarkable degree the exquisite taste and beauty of seals of this period. The legend runs— ' ffcutnftOit comitis ftaffortrie & ^zxcfyit Jr'nt a The Priory of Austin Canons at Maxstoke was founded by William de Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon, in 1336. b This Deed is quoted by Dugdale in his "Warwickshire, being then in the possession of Sir Thomas Dilke, ancestor of the present possessor. 274 Observations relati/ng to Four Deeds from the Muniment Moom (The remainder of the legend being defective.) The counter seal (fig. 4«) is a shield with the arms of Stafford only, surrounded by a cord, in which three Stafford knots are elegantly introduced. I am informed by Mr. Howard, through whose kindness these interesting documents are exhibited, that the Stafford knot is still to be seen on the gates of Maxstoke Castle, as mentioned by Dugdale. Humphry Earl of Stafford, whose seal is attached to this Deed, was elected (while Earl of Stafford) a Knight of the Garter, on the 22d April, 7 Hen. VI. The single coat and crest of Stafford are upon his Garter-plate, with his style, " Le Coute de Stafford." He was created Duke of Buckingham 14th September, 1444, and was Earl of Buckingham, Hereford, Northampton, and Perehe (the last a French title), also Lord of Brecknock and Holderness. He was Captain of Calais, Warden of the Cinque Ports, and Constable of England; and was slain at the battle of Northampton on the part of King Henry VI. in 1460. He was buried at Northampton, but his remains were afterwards removed to Plessy in Essex. I proceed now to offer a few remarks upon the Family of the Lords Clinton:— John de Clinton, Baron Clinton, whom I have before mentioned as elder brother of William Earl of Huntingdon, had a son, John Baron Clinton, who was heir to his uncle the said Earl, and married Idonea, eldest daughter of Geoffrey Baron Say (whose male issue afterwards failed), by whom he had issue Sir William Clinton, who died in the lifetime of his father, in 7 Richard II. The father died 20 Richard II. leaving his grandson, William Baron Clinton, of Maxstoke, his heir, who died in 10 Henry VI. and was father of John Baron Clinton, who executed the Deed under consideration. The latter appears from his descent to have used the style of Baron de Say ; but by deed of 1st November, 27 Henry VI. (1448), he released all claim to the name, style, and honour of the Barony of Say, and the arms of Say, to his cousin James Fenys, Baron Say and Sele, who was not a coheir to the Barony. Notwithstanding this release, how- ever, we find that Edward Baron Clinton, his great-grandson, who was created Earl of Lincoln in 1572, and had been elected a Knight of the Garter in the 5th Edward VI. is called on his Garter-plate "Earl of Lincoln, and Baron Clinton and Say;" and the arms of Clinton (with the crosses crosslet in the field) are given quarterly with those of Say, which are in the second quarter. Whatever pretensions John Baron Clinton had to the Barony of Say, it does not appear according to the doctrine of later times that he could have been entitled to the entire barony, taking it in the ordinary acceptation of a barony in fee under at Maxstoke Castle, co. Warwick. 275 a writ of summons to. parliament. It is not improbable that in this instance, as it may have been in other cases, he was coheir to lands originally forming a barony by tenure, and so assumed the style of Baron de Say. He was attainted in 1460, but restored to bis title and honours in 1461, 1 Edw. IV. He died in 1464. It is almost needless to say that his Grace the present Duke of Newcastle is lineally descended from him in the male line; and that the present Baron Clinton descends from him through female lines. The fourth and last Deed is one of Henry second Duke of Buckingham, dated the 26th February, 20 Edw. IV. (1481), in which he is described as Henry Duke of Buckingham, Earl of Hereford, Stafford, and Northampton; by it he granted and confirmed to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishops of Ely, Durham, Lichfield, and Lincoln, the Earl of Essex, the Lords Hastings, Howard, Ferrers, and sixteen other feoffees, his manors of Wawenswootton, Church Salford, Great Wolford, Little Wolford, Whatcote, the castle and manor of Maxstoke, and Esthall and Westhall in Sheldon, in the county of "Warwick; but for what purpose does not appear.

Load more