Manors and Other Estates
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VCH Draft Text Parish: WELBY Author(s) Dr Alan Fox & Dr Pam Fisher Date: August 2018 LANDHOLDINGS There were two tenants-in-chief for Welby in 1086: Geoffrey de Wirce (de la Guerche), who was also the lord of Melton and held seven carucates and two bovates of land, and Countess Judith, niece of King William I, who held eight carucates and two bovates.1 For much of the medieval period, the Mowbray and Segrave families were lords of the manor that had been held in 1086 by de Wirce. This was purchased by William Digby in 1573. The Assheby family became lords of the second manor by the 14th century. The second manor came to the Digby family through a marriage in the late 15th century, uniting the two manors. This enabled the Digbys to inclose the land for pasture, and depopulate the village. Garendon abbey, near Loughborough, was also a significant landholder in the medieval period following gifts of land, mostly by tenants of the Mowbray/Segrave manor. The abbey built a grange in Welby. After the dissolution, their land was acquired by the earls of Rutland. It is not known when they sold this land, but by 1774 the entire parish was owned by the lords of the manor. The manor of Geoffrey de Wirce, to 1604 Geoffrey de Wirce held seven carucates and two bovates of land in Welby in 1086.2 When he died, his Melton estate, including Welby, was divided between Robert de Mowbray, earl of Northumbria, and Nigel d’Aubigny.3 Robert de Mowbray was imprisoned and forfeited his estates for a rebellion in 1 A. Williams and G.H. Martin (eds.), Domesday Book: A Complete Translation (London, 2002), 644, 646, 647. 2 Williams and Martin, Domesday, 644. 3 D. Greenway (ed.), Charters of the Honour of Mowbray 1107-1191 (London, 1972), xlv. 1 1095. His marriage to Maud was annulled, and she married d’Aubigny, to whom the king granted Mowbray’s forfeited lands, uniting the two portions. D’Aubigny and Maud had no children, and their marriage was annulled. D’Aubigny married again, to Gundreda de Gournai.4 Their son Roger took the name Mowbray. D’Aubigny died in 1129, by which time much of his estate, probably including Welby, had been sub-infeudated.5 Overlordship In c.1130, Roger de Mowbray (c.1120-1188), the son of Nigel d’Aubigny, held nine carucates in Welby, suggesting he may have acquired some of the land within the Domesday manor of Countess Judith, which had substantially reduced in size.6 It has been shown elsewhere that Mowbray was one of four men who were granted lands in this period that had previously been held by Countess Judith.7 Nigel d’Aubigny granted part of his estate to Robert de Ayvill, and from later records this grant included Welby manor.8 In the first half of the 13th century, Robert granted all his lands in Welby with the services of all but one of his free men to Stephen de Segrave.9 The overlordship remained with the Mowbrays until the late 15th century. Roger de Mowbray (d. 1188) was succeeded by his son Nigel (d. 1191), then by Nigel’s son William (d. 1224), then William’s two sons in turn, Nigel (d. 1230) and Roger (d. 1266). Roger was succeeded by his son, also Roger (d. 1297), who was created 1st baron Mowbray. From Lord Mowbray, the overlordship passed to his son John (d. 1322), to John’s son, also John, 3rd baron (d. 1361), then his son, also John, the 4th baron (d. 1368). He married Elizabeth Segrave, uniting the manor and overlordship.10 4 ODNB, s.v. ‘Mowbray, Robert de, earl of Northumbria (d. 1115/1125)’, accessed 29 Jan. 2018. 5 ODNB, s.v. ‘Mowbray, Sir Roger de (d. 1188)’, accessed 29 Jan. 2018. 6 C.F. Slade, The Leicestershire Survey, c. 1130 (Leicester, 1956), 20. 7 C.A. Newman, The Anglo-Norman Nobility in the Reign of Henry I: The Second Generation (Philadelphia, 1988), 124 8 R. Thoroton (J. Throsby, ed.) History of Nottinghamshire, III (1796), 216–19. 9 B. Wells-Furby, A Catalogue of the Medieval Muniments at Berkeley Castle, II (Bristol, 2004), 778 (document D5/50/4, BL Harl. MS 4748, f. 16d). 10 Complete Peerage (1936 edn), IX, 369–85; The Mowbray pedigree is clearly laid out in B. Wells-Furby, A Catalogue of the Medieval Muniments at Berkeley Castle, I (Bristol, 2004), lvii. 2 Manor Stephen de Segrave was granted the manor by Robert de Ayvill in the early 13th century.11 He also acquired other land and interests in the village. These included a farm of the mill from Garendon abbey, for which rent was acquitted,12 and leases over two carucates of land from Lenton priory (Notts): one carucate direct from Lenton and the second carucate under an assignment of a lease granted by Lenton to Arnold de Twiford (these are briefly calendared in the catalogue, and it is possible the two charters relate to the same carucate).13 Lenton priory later granted the latter to Arnold’s widow Katherine.14 Stephen’s grandson Nicholas de Segrave died in 1295 possessed of freeholder rents in Welby, held of John Deyvill (De Ayvill), totalling £4 5s. 10d. annually.15 Nicholas’s heir was his eldest son John, who settled the lands in Welby on his son Stephen and Stephen’s wife Alice.16 On Stephen’s death in 1325, Stephen and Alice were receiving annual rents of £4 11s. 1½d. from their Welby land,17 and John’s widow successfully asserted her claim to one-third.18 The Segrave family does not appear to have been resident after the death of Stephen, as the name does not appear in the lay subsidy lists of 1327 or 1332.19 Stephen’s heir was his son John, who held ‘the hamlet’ of Welby in demesne at his death in 1353, of John de Mowbray (3rd baron, d. 1361) for knight service.20 John Segrave had married Margaret, countess of Norfolk. His heir was his daughter Elizabeth, who had married John Mowbray, 4th baron, 11 The Segrave pedigree is in B. Wells-Furby, A Catalogue of the Medieval Muniments at Berkeley Castle, I (Bristol, 2004), lvii. 12 Wells-Furby, Catalogue, II, 778 (document D5/50/3; BL Harl. MS 4748, f. 16d); 734 (document D5/17/3, BL Harl. MS 4748, f. 16d). 13 Wells-Furby, Catalogue, II, 778 (documents D5/50/5, BL Harl. MS 4748, f. 16d; D5/50/6). Nichols, History, II, 284. 14 Wells-Furby, Catalogue, II, 778 (document D5/50/6, BL Harl. MS 4748, f. 16d). 15 Cal. Inq. p.m. III, p. 192. 16 Wells-Furby, Catalogue, II, 710–11, 714 (document D5/1/8). 17 Cal. Inq. p.m. VI, p. 433; Cal. Close 1323–7, 453. 18 Cal. Close 1327–30, 178. 19 G.F. Farnham, Medieval Village Notes, IV, 271, citing TNA, 179/133/1 and 2, lay subsidies 1327 and 1332. 20 Cal. Inq. p.m. X, p. 109; Nichols, History, II, 284 citing BL, MS Add. 37671, f. 22, rental roll of John de Segrave. 3 in 1349. After the death of John Segrave, and of his widow Margaret, this holding came to Elizabeth and was thus united with the overlordship of John Mowbray.21 Elizabeth Mowbray, née Segrave, died in 1368, shortly before her husband. Their two sons inherited in turn, first John, created earl of Nottingham in 1377, who died unmarried in 1383, then Thomas, who was created first duke of Norfolk in 1397.22 Thomas died in exile and with his dukedom repealed in 1399, holding one knight’s fee in Welby.23 His heir was his eldest son Thomas, executed for rebellion in 1405. Thomas was succeeded by his brother John, to whom the dukedom was restored in 1425.24 John was succeeded in 1432 by his son John, 3rd duke. He died in 1461, leaving one son, also John.25 The long period in which the Mowbrays were tenants-in-chief of Welby manor ended with the death without male issue of John Mowbray, 4th duke of Norfolk, in 1476.26 At his death, his daughter and sole heir Anne was aged three. Edward IV saw a way of securing the future of his second son Richard, aged just two, by arranging for Anne and Richard to be married. William Berkeley, grandson of Thomas, first duke of Norfolk, and one of the heirs general of Anne Mowbray, agreed to make over his potential inheritance from Anne in favour of the young Prince Richard for life, and then to Richard’s heirs and the heirs of Edward IV, with a reversion to William Berkeley and his heirs.27 Anne died in 1481 before the arrangements were finalised, but Berkeley confirmed his renunciation on those terms in 1483.28 Following the death of Edward IV later that year, and with the young Richard imprisoned in the tower (or dead), in 1484 Berkeley made over to Richard III and his male heirs all 21 ODNB, s.v. ‘Mowbray, John, fourth Lord Mowbray’ (accessed 9 Nov 2017); Cal. Close 1349–54, 566; Wells- Furby, Catalogue, II, 712–13. 22 ODNB, s.v. ‘Mowbray, John, fourth Lord Mowbray’ (accessed 9 Nov 2017). 23 Cal. Inq. p.m. XVIII, p. 274; ODNB, s.v. ‘Mowbray, Thomas, first duke of Norfolk’; Nichols, History, II, 285. 24 ODNB, s.v. ‘Mowbray, Thomas, first duke of Norfolk’ (accessed 16 Aug. 2018); ODNB, s.v. ‘Mowbray, John, second duke of Norfolk’ (accessed 16 Aug.