1911 NORMAN INFEVDATIONES MILITUM OF 1172 93 ISTI SERVTUNTAD CUSTOM DOMINI.14 Gaufridus de Sancto Martino, j Gaufridus de Sancto Martino j militem. militem. Michael de Bosco, j militem. Michael de Bosco, j militem Isti ad Willelmus de Malcuple, j militem. Willelmus de Maucuple j Ricardus de Pirrecort, j militem. militem. custum Gaufridus de Augo, j militem. Ricardus de Perrecort j Et isti quinque milites serviunt ad militem. domini custum domini. Gaufridus de Augo, j militem. (Here the section given to St. Saens Manasserus Aguilun &c. should end.) Downloaded from If we put aside Geoffrey of Eu (Augo) whose native place was not far away, all the persons mentioned above took their names from places near St. Saens. Cailly lies about ten kilometres south-west of St. Saens, on the way to Rouen. St. Martin is probably Saint-Martin- 15 Omonville ; Malcuple is Maucomble : both close to St. Saens. http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ Pirrecort is apparently Quievrecourt, by Neufchatel, about twelve kilometres from St. Saens. Places whose names contain the word Bois (Bosco) abound in the neighbourhood. Finally, I may note that the bailiff of La Londe, whom the Red Book gives as Ranulfus de Rollancurt (p. 641), was read as Banulfus de Frellencort by Stapleton. In spite of the reading of the Red Book, Stapleton's version is correct, since Ranulfus de Frellencort wag bailiff of this district ' inter Rislam et Sequanam ' in 1180.16 The at University College London on June 8, 2016 text in the French Register substitutes for the name of the bailiff the later name of the bailiwick (Londa) as it does in several other places. F. M. POWICKE. Early Manumissions at Stauntou, ATottinghamshire. THE four documents which are printed below are preserved among the manuscripts belonging to Henry Charlton Staunton, Esq., lord of the manor of Staunton, Nottinghamshire. They were examined in the latter half of the seventeenth century by Robert Thoroton, the historian of Nottinghamshire, who transcribed them in a book which still remains in the possession of the Staunton family, and gave an of Osbert of Cailly were in the honour of St. Saens seems clear, partly for the reason given above, partly on account of the opposition between the words rex and dominus. From this time the king was to be the lord : hence the two fees appear later among the fees of Bray without being discriminated. Notice that as these and the three fees of St. Saens &c. are referred to under the bailiwick of the Roumoi3 in 1203 (Rot. Scacc. Norm. ii. 551) they cannot possibly have been in the bailiwick of Exmes, as in the Red Book text. ls Cf. Rot. Scacc. Norm. i. 59, ' de firnia tcrrae Comitis Ricardi in Sancto Sidonio et in Osmunvilla.' Stapleton identifies the latter as Omonville sur Varenne, and probably means St. llartin-Omonville, which is also on the Varenne. 16 Rot. Scacc. Norm. i. 100. 94 EARLY MANUMISSIONS AT STAUNTON Jan. abstract of the first charter in his description of the village of Staunton,1 but hitherto the group has never been printed as a whole.2 Prom internal evidence, the charters may with certainty be assigned to the decade 1190-1200, and thus possess exceptional interest as original manumissions of the twelfth century. William de Staunton, by whom the first three of these charters were granted, was the son of Malger, and grandson of Geoffrey de Staunton, a benefactor to Eufford Abbey in the time of Stephen.3 In 1086 the manor of Staunton belonged to the fee of Walter d'Ain- curt, but was granted by the latter's grandson Ealf, as ' the fee of Downloaded from two knights'which Geoffrey de Staunton holds,' to William d'Albini I.,4 and thereafter consistently appears as held immediately of the lords of Belvoir. William de Staunton witnesses two charters preserved among the Belvoir muniments, both dating from the time of William d'Albini III.,5 and also a document extant in the seventeenth century, http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ but now apparently lost, dated ' in the first year after the election of Simon de Langton to the archbishopric of York.' 6 He must there- fore have survived until 1216, but the exact date of his death is unknown, and his son and heir, Geoffrey, does not appear in any dated document until 1239. The village of Alverton in which dwelt Hugh and John Travers, the subjects of these manumissions, was divided in 1086 between three lords. Part was sokeland of the manor of Staunton, another parcel at University College London on June 8, 2016 was annexed to Hugh fitz Baldric's manor of Kilvington, a third part was sokeland of a manor in Sibthorpe, Nottinghamshire, held by a certain Earngrim of Ilbert de Lacy. These three estates can severally be identified in Alverton in the thirteenth century. Hugh fitz Baldric's manor had passed to the family of Morin, and was held by the Bannulf Morin who witnesses all the charters in the present series. The portion of the Lacy fee belonged in the early thirteenth century to the Ealf de Sancto Paulo who attests Charters I. to III.7 and lived until 1216 ; and there can therefore be no doubt that Hugh and John Travers, villeins of William de Staunton, were seated upon the land which had been sokeland of Staunton in 1086. This being the case, it certainly deserves note that, as entered in 1 Thoroton, History of Nottinghamshire, ed. Throsby (1790), i. 307. - A facsimile and translation of charters 2 and 4 are given in a recently pub- lished essay on the family of Staunton by G. W. Staunton and the present writer. 3 Thoroton, iii. 336, citing the Register of Eufford. 4 This appears from a fourteenth century copy of a charter of Ralf's grandson, Oliver d'Aincurt, preserved among the Staunton manuscripts. Several of the witnesses reappear in the Belvoir documents of the twelfth century calendared for the Historical Manuscripts Commission. 5 Hist. MSS. Comm., Belvoir Report, iv. 17, 124. 6 Cited by Thoroton i. 331. " He confirms to Belvoir priory two bovates in Thoroton, Nottinghamshire, sokeland of Sibthorpe in 1086, which his grandfather ' Ereingrim' gave (Belvoir Report, iv. 163). The Arnegrim who was undertenant in Domesday may be the man referred to. 1911 EARLY MANUMISSIONS AT STAUNTON 95 Domesday, the whole population of this portion of Alverton con- sisted of sokemen.8 The existence upon the estate of men who were personally unfree before 1190 is good reason for assuming a depression of the local peasantry during the century which had elapsed since 1086, and this although the village of Alverton never became a manor after the classical model, and in the seventeenth century was still represented by suitors at the chief court of Staunton. I. Omnibus Ckristi fidelibus ad quos presens scriptum pervenerit Willelmus de Stantona salutem. Noverit universitas vestra me Hugonem Downloaded from Travers qui pro me ibit in sanctam terram Ierusalem9 liberum hominem fecisse cum tota sequela sua, et ne quis heredum meorum decetero aliquid ab eo vel a suis possit exigere presentem cartam sigilli mei appositione roboravi. Hiis testibus Eadulfo de Orlingberge,10 Roberto de Stokes,11 Willelmo de Houkeswrtha,13 Rannulfo Morin, Waltero de Hou,13 Ricardo de Stantona persona, Willelmo persona de Kilvingtona,14 Rogero persona de http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ Elvestona,15 Radulfo de Sancto Paulo, Willelmo capellano de Bothlesford,16 Rogero cappellano (sic) de Elletona,17 Gilberto capellano de Thurkelestona,18 Roberto Ruffo, Gervasio clerico, et multis aliis. [Parchment tag (or seal.] II. Omnibus has litteras visuris vel audituris Willelmus de Stanton salutem. Noveritis me caritatis intuitu et pro salute anime mee et anteces- sorum et successorum meorum liberum fecisse Hugonem Travers filium at University College London on June 8, 2016 Simonis de Auvrington19 quia recepit crucem pro me, et quietum clamasse de me et heredibus meis ipsum et sequelam suam inperpetuum ex omni servitio terreno et exactione, et ipsum cum tota sequela sua concessisse Deo et ecclesie sancte Marie de Stantona. Quare volo et concedo quod ipse et sequela sua liberi permaneant sub protectione Dei et Sancte Marie et rectoris ecclesie de Stantona. Hiis testibus, Willelmo persona de Kilving- tona, Radulfo de Sancto Paulo, Waltero del Hou, Rannulfo Morin, Rogero- persona de Elvestona, Willelmo de Alvrington, Henrico fratre suo, Roberto Russel, Willelmo Britone, Gervasio clerico, Waltero filio Gileberti. [Blue and white woven cord for seal.] III. Omnibus has litteras visuris vel audituris Willelmus de Stanton salutem. Noveritis me caritatis intuitu et pro salute anime mee, anteces- sorum et successorum meorum liberum fecisse Iohannem filium Simonis de Auvrington cum tota sequela sua, et quietum clamasse de me et heredibus 8 Sokeland in Alverton, Flawborough, and ' Dallintune ' a lost village, is covered by a single entry which records a total population of twelve sokemen with three •plough teams. 9 Ierim in MS. 10 Orlingbury, Northamptonshire. " East Stoke, Nottinghamshire. 12 Hawkswortb, Nottinghamshire. 13 Holding land in Flawborough, Nottinghamshire. 14 Kilvington, Nottinghamshire. 15 Elston, Nottinghamshire. lr> Bottesford, Leicestershire. >' Elton, Nottinghamshire. ls Thurcaston, Leicestershire 19 Alverton, Nottinghamshire. 96 EARLY MANUMISSIONS AT STAUNTON Jan. meis inperpetuum ex omni servitio terreno et exactione, et ipsum et sequelam suam concessisse Deo et ecclesie Sancte Marie de Stanton. Quare volo et concedo quod ipsi liberi percnaneant imperpetuum sub protectione Dei et Sancte Marie et rectoris ecclesie de Stantona. Hiis testibus, Willelmo persona de Kilvington, Radulfo de Sancto Paulo, Waltero del Hou, Ran- nulfo Morin, Rogero persona de Elveston, Willelmo de Alvrington, Radulfo de Sancto Paulo, Henrico de' Alvringtona, Roberto Ruffo,20 Willelmo Britone, Gervasio clerico, Waltero filio Gileberti, Galfrido filio Roberti. [Blue and white woven cord for seal.] Downloaded from IV.