Yorkshire Inquisitions of the Reigns of Henry III. and Edward I
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MARSHALL! DA 670 dnrnrll ICam ^rl^nnl Cthrari} iUaraljaU lEquitg (Eollertton (gift of S. i. iMaraljaU, IC.2J. U. 1394 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 084 250 582 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924084250582 YORKSHIRE INQUISITIONS OF THE Reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. VOL. I. THE YORKSHIRE Htcba^olOGtcal anb ^opoGtapbtcai ASSOCIATION. Record Series. VOL. XII. FOR THE YEAR 1891. YORKSHIRE INQUISITIONS OF THE Reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. VOL. I. EDITED BY WILLIAM BROWN, B.A., Member of the Council of the Yorkshire Archaological and Topographical Association. PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY. 1892. : l&L^O ^3 WORKSOP ROBERT WHITE, PRINTER. INTRODUCTION. AMONGST the documents at the Public Record Office, to which the local historian directs his earliest attention, those known under the title of Inquisitiones post mortem occupy the foremost place. To the topographer and the genealogist they are equally valuable. There is hardly a family of any importance between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries whose genealogy may not be confirmed and enlarged by a reference to these most interesting documents. Parochial and local history are also indebted to them for a mass of information unequalled elsewhere. These inquisitions are termed Chancery Inquisitions, because the writ directing them generally issued out of the Court of Chancery. They extend in an almost unbroken series over nearly four and a half centuries, commencing early in the reign of Henry III., and only terminating with the Civil Wars in the seventeenth century, when the feudal system finally broke down, to be abolished by law at the Restoration. Inquisitiones post mortem were, strictly speaking, surveys made by an officer of the Crown, usually the Escheator, of the estates held by tenants in chief at the time of their death. The object of this survey was fiscal, to ascertain the annual value of the deceased's property, so as to enable the Exchequer to calculate the amount payable by the heir on succeeding to his ancestor's estate, or as it was called his relief. The age of the heir was another subject of inquiry, as if a minor the king would be entitled to retain the property and receive the rents until such heir came of age. Besides the inquisitions taken on the death of tenants in chief, there will be found in this volume many of persons who did not hold direct of the king. This would happen if a chief lord's estate was in the king's hand, whether from escheat, minority of the heir, or any other cause, when the king stood in the stead of the tenant in chief, and received the fine or relief which would in the ordinary course of events have been payable by such sub-tenant to his chief lord. iv. INTRODUCTION. For genealogical purposes these inquisitions are without rival amongst our records. They are constantly quoted by Dugdale in his Baronage as evidence of unimpeachable authority, and in this judgment he is supported by all later vi^riters on the subject. In addition to valuable and often minute surveys of the deceased's estates, the inquisition frequently states the name of the widow, and whether still surviving ; that of the heir and his age ; besides much miscellaneous genealogical information as to brothers and sisters and other relatives. In the time of Edward II. the writ directing the inquisition contained a query as to the date of the death of the deceased, but this is wanting in the inquisitions printed here. The only exception is the statement on p. 216 «, where the date of death is endorsed on one of the writs directing the inquisition, but perhaps wrongly. Although there is little doubt that as a rule the dates in these inqui- sitions are correct, still cases do arise in which it is manifest that there was an error somewhere, as the dates given cannot be made to agree. One very striking instance occurs in this volume in relation to the age of the heir of no less important a person than Edmund de Lascy, Lord of the Honour of Pontefract. In his own inquisi- tion made in respect of his Craven estates (p. 49), the jurors found that his true heir was Henry de Lascy, who was eight 3'ears and a half and one month old on the feast of St. Mary Magdalen, 42 Henry III. (July 22, 1258), from which it is clear that he was born on Dec. 22, 1249. The Pontefract and Leeds juries (pp. 55, 65) disagree with this, and concur in stating that his son Henry was eight years and a half one month and six days old on the feast of St. James the Apostle, July 25, in the same year, which would make his birth three days earlier. Another inquisition, that of Roger de Quency, Earl of Winchester (p. 98), differs far more seriously, as it states that Henry de Lascy, the Earl's next heir, would be fourteen on the day of the Epiphany, 1264-5, which would make him born on Jan. 6, 1250-1, a difference of no less than one year and three weeks. Notwithstanding these discrepancies, the age of the heir, when a minor, can usually be relied on as correct ; but if he were of full age no trust can be placed in the statement about his age, as it was quite immaterial for the purposes of the inquisition. It is possible to detect other small chronological errors. In one portion of the Inq.p.m. of Peter de Brus III. (p. 202), dated Oct. 22, 1279, Roger de Merlay is spoken of as still holding two knights' fees in Burton Agnes, though as we know from No. lvi. he was dead nearly twenty ; INTRODUCTION. v. years previous. In the Holderness portion of the same inquisition it is accurately stated that his lands were in the possession of his heirs (Ibid.) Of even greater value for genealogical purposes are the Proofs of age, taken to show that a minor had attained his majority. They contain the depositions of the witnesses called to prove the age of the heir. Each witness, after stating his own age, gives some reason why the day of the heir's birth or baptism, generally one and the same, should have impressed itself on his memory. Marriage, or the birth or death of a child, are the reasons generally given, but many other, and often very curious ones, are alleged why the witness remembered the fact. No. lxxx. contains a very good specimen of this class of record, but is less interesting to Yorkshire- men, as George de Cantilupe, whose proof of age it is, was born in the neighbourhood of Bristol, from whence all the witnesses came. Unfortunately it is the only one of the kind occurring in this volume. Connected with the same subject are assignments of dower to the widow, of which No. cvi. is a fair example, although by no means so full and interesting as is often the case. Besides this genealogical information these inquisitions contain a mass of other matter no less valuable and of more general interest. The surveys of the different estates afford information to be found nowhere else. The lists of the persons holding by knight service, together with the names of the places where the fees were situated, are most useful in tracing out the descents of the owners of manors. It is, however, in the cases where the chief lord himself held the manor, that these surveys are the most minute and full of interest. In such cases the manor was generally divided into three parts, that held by the lord in his own hands, or as it was called in demesne that held by free tenants ; and lastly that held in villenage, whether the tenant was called bondman, villain, or gresman. The inquisition taken in 1254 on the death of Sir John de Longvilers (No. xli.) gives a very clear idea of this division. AH his five manors were surveyed in much the same manner, and except that at Oakenshaw there was nothing in demesne, there is little difference between them. First the capital messuage and the demesne lands are valued, and with them anything else held by the lord, as a dovehouse, mill, brewhouse, house, park, warren. Next follow the bondmen's holdings and rent, with the value of their customs and services, also whether they give merchet and legewyt, and are subject to tallage. Last, those of the free tenants, whether holding by charter or knight service. Besides the services in chivalry due from those holding by knight service, — vi. INTRODUCTION. the free tenants paid a rent, either pecuniary or nominal, as a pound of cumin or pepper or a bundle of arrows. The enumeration of the customs and services to be rendered by the tenants of the manor are of especial interest, as they throw a flood of light on the condition of classes of persons about whom we can only get incidental notices. The persons who held in bondage may be divided into two classes, villains, who normally held a bovate in the common field, and the cottars, who held a cottage and perhaps a few acres. At Elmsall, near Pontefract (p. gg), it is distinctly stated that the bondmen there did no works, only paying a rent of los. the bovate, but this is exceptional.