CHAPTER IV.NOBLEWOMEN.

“Noblesse Oblige.”

InSelden’s “Titles of Honour,” iii., 890, he says, “Of feminine titles some are immediately created in women, some are communicated by their husbands, others are transmitted to them from their ancestors, and some also are given them as consequents only of the dignity of their husbands and parents.” Of “immediate creation” he gives the example of Margaret, Countess of Norfolk, created by Richard II. Duchess of Norfolk, wherein the investiture is mentioned by the patent to be by putting on her the cap of honour “recompensatio meritorum.” Henry VIII. created Anne Boleyn Marchioness of Pembroke. James I. created Lady Mary Compton the Countess of Buckingham in her husband’s lifetime, without permitting him to share the honour. He also created Lady Finch, first Viscountess of Maidstone, and afterwards Countess of Winchilsea, limiting inheritance to heirs of her body.

Anne Bayning, wife of James Murray, was createdViscountess Bayning of Foxley in 1674. Several titles have been granted for discreditable causes, too few for “recompensatio meritorum.” Men that were merely rich have been made peers. Women that have been truly noble have not been made Noble by Letters Patent. The Baroness Burdett Coutts is the only modern example I can recal.

The titles that women received from their husbands were doubtless intended more as an honour to their husbands than to themselves, though they carried, at times, considerable privileges along with them. They bore them as widows until their death, sometimes with the full honours and powers their husbands had borne.

There are some curious cases of titles beingassigned. Randol, Earl of Chester and Lincoln, granted the Earldom of Lincoln to his sister, the Lady Hawise de Quency. She afterwards granted the title to John de Lacy, who had married her daughter Margaret, a grant confirmed by the King in a charter, limiting the inheritance to the heirs of Margaret.

I have already noted the two limitations of a daughter’s inheritance of property. The same affected titles. But having inherited, she became endowed with every privilege to the full; and every duty was exacted of her to the utmost.

Women paid Homage.—In spite of many careless remarks to the contrary, women paid homage. “John, heir of the Devereux, died under age; his sister Joane, making proof of her age, and doing her homage, hadLivery of the Lands of her Inheritance” (2 Ric. II., Dugdale, 117).

The summons to Ladies as well as to Lords for aids to the King was “de fide et homagio.”

It is true that at some periods widows did not pay Homage for the lands of their deceased husbands; but neither then did men pay Homage for the lands of their deceased wives, holding only by “the Courtesy of England.” “Because if Homage be given, it might never return to the lawful heir” (“Statutes of the Realm, Lands held by Courtesy,” vol. i., p. 220).

Received Homage.—Many examples are given in the “Rotuli Hundredorum,” “Testa de Nevil” and “Kirkby’s Inquest.” Isabella and Idonea de Veteripont insisted on Fealty and Homage from the inhabitants of Appleby. 4 Edward I., as did Anne Clifford later (Nicholson’s “History of Westmoreland,” v. 2). One curious distinction comes in here between the sexes, as a result of the system ofcoparcenyamong sisters. A brother might pay Homage to his brother, but not a sister to her sister. The statute of 20 Henry III. (1236) enacted that “the law regarding sisters, co-heirs, be used for Ireland as in England, that the eldest sister only pay Homage to the Overlord or to the King in her own name and that of her sisters, but that the sisters do not pay Homage to the sister for that would be to make her Seigneuress over the other sisters” (Rot. Parl., 20 Henry III.).

They could hold Courts Baron.—A petition, 16 Richard II., appears, praying that no Liegeman should becompelledto appear at the Courts and Councils of the Lord or of the Lady to reply for his freehold.

In Rot. Hundred, Edward I., many women were entered as holding Courts of Frank-pledge and Assizes of Bread and Ale, and as having a Gallows in their Jurisdiction, as Johanna de Huntingfeud held view of Frank-pledge in the Hundred of Poppeworth, Canterbury, vol. i., p. 53. Elena de la Zouche also, Agnes de Vescy, and Elena de Valtibus in Dorsetshire, the Countess of Leycester at Essedon in Buckinghamshire. (“Relation of Women to the State in past times.” Helen Blackburn,National Review, Nov., 1886.)

The Countess Lucy kept her Courts at Spalding during the banishment of her first husband, Yvo de Taillebois. (Selby’s “Genealogist,” 1889, p. 70.) The Pipe Roll of 31 Hen. I. shows that she had agreed to pay the King 100 marks for the privilege of administering justice among her tenants (homines).

In Anne Clifford’s Diary, Harl. M.S., 6177, appears: “1650. This time of my staying in Westmoreland, I employed myself in building and reparation at Skipton and Barden Towers, and in causing ye bounds to be ridden and my Courts kept in my sundry mannors in Craven....”

“1653. In the beginning of this year did I cause several Courts to be kept in my name in divers of my mannors in this Country.”

“1659. And ye Aprill after, did I cause my old decayed Castle of Brough to be repaired, and also theTower called the Roman Tower in ye said Castle, and a Court-House for keeping of my Courts.”

There is preserved in Swansea a charter granted, 2 Edward III., to Aliva, wife of John de Mowbray, of the land of Gower. It recites and confirms various previous charters of the land of Gower, with the appurtenances, andall manner of Jurisdictions, and all Royal Liberties, and free customs which Gilbert de Clare the son of Richard de Clare theretofore Earl of Gloucester and Hertford had, in his land of Glamorgan. (Report of Municipal Corporations, 1835, p. 383.)

This practice seems to have long survived in modified forms. In same Report, p. 2850, regarding the Borough of Ruthin, “It was in evidence, and was indeed frankly admitted by the deputy-steward, that, upon impanelling the jury at the Borough Court Leet it is the uniform practice for some agent of the Lady of the Manor to address a letter, which is delivered to the foreman of the jury in their retiring-room, recommending two persons as aldermen, who are invariably elected. As a part of this system, it was proved that in many instances the duties and fees payable on the admission of burgesses to their freedom had been defrayed by the Lady of the Manor; and that the uncontrolled power of impanelling the jury was left to her agent. The only answer furnished by the deputy-steward was that he had taken for his guide the usage of the place, as pursued by his predecessors, without reference to charters, which had only of late years come under discussion.” Also in page 2840, regarding Rhuddlan,“As far as any ruling body or corporation can be said to subsist in a borough thus circumstanced, the Lady of the Manor must be considered to elect that body; for the Steward of the Court Leet is appointed by her during pleasure; and he gives the constables a list of the persons who are to serve on the jury by whom the two bailiffs, the only subsisting officers of the corporation, are chosen.” The Lady of the Manor there also paid the Constables.

Held by Military Service.—There were 15 ladies summoned for military service against Wales “de fide et homagio,” in 5 Edward I., and again in 10 Edward I. Among these were Devorgilla de Balliol, Agnes de Vescy, Dionysia de Monte Canisio, and Margaret de Ros. A writ was issued to Isabella de Ros, commanding her “in fide et homagio” to send her service to the muster at Portsmouth for the King’s expedition to Gascony, 14th June, 1234. Elena de Lucy was summoned from the county of Northampton “to perform military service in parts beyond the sea. Muster at London, 7th July, 25 Edward I.” Joan Disney of Lincoln was summoned “to perform military service against the Scots. Muster at London, 7th July, 25 Edward I.” These are but a few selected from many others that appear in Palgrave’s Parliamentary Writs. It is true that a substitute might be sent by anyone,male or female, with reasonable excuse. “On 16th April, 1303, proclamation was made that all prelates, persons of religion, women and persons who were unfit for military service, who were willing to commutetheir service by fines, might appear before the Barons of the Exchequer at York on 17th May ensuing. Otherwise they, or their substitutes, must appear at the muster at Berwick on the 26th May.”

Palgrave’s Parliamentary Writs give long lists of women holding castles, towns, and military feods in 9 Edward II., and Harl. MS., 4219, in “Hundreds, Civitates, Burgi, and Villæ in Comitatu Norfolk etDominieorundem,” gives many names of women.

Margaret, widow of Lord Edmund Mortimer, was charged with providing one hundred men for the wars in Scotland out of her lands at Key and Warthenon. Dugdale’s “Peerage and Baronetage,” vol. i., p. 173.

In 3 Edward II. writs docketed “De summonicione servicii Regis” were issued to Abbots and Abbesses alike for military aid against the Scots, “de fide et dilectione;” and to Nobles, Lords and Ladies alike in “fide et homagio.” On the 13th September following Domina Maria de Graham proffers the service of two knights’ fees for all her lands in England, performed by four servants with four barded horses; and many noble ladies offer equivalent service.

Joane Plantagenet, the Fair Maid of Kent, inherited from her brother the Earldom of Kent, and from her mother the Barony of Wake, by which she was styled the Lady of Wake. She married Sir Thomas de Holland, who, through her, became Earl of Kent without creation. Her son Thomas succeeded both. His widow Alicia died possessed of 27 manors held by direct feudalor military tenure, beside many freeholds. (See“Inquisitions Post Mortem”; 4 Henry IV.)

They could be Knights.—Not only in Romances, not only in Spenser’s “Faery Queene,” but in books of Chivalry, we may see that women could be knights. Mary and Elizabeth were made knights before they were made Queens. Abergavenny Castle was held by knight’s service. William, Baron Cantilupe, by marrying Eva, daughter and co-heir of William, Lord Braose, obtained the Castle and Lands. Her tomb in St. Mary’s Church, Abergavenny, 1246, is of interest as being the earliest stone effigy of a woman known in England. Her daughter, Eva de Cantilupe, succeeded to the barony and the castle, and was a knight. Her tomb is the only instance known of the stone effigy of a woman adorned with the insignia of knighthood, 1247. In 1589, Edward Neville sued for the Barony against Mary, Lady Fane, as being entailed in the Heir Male. His suit was refused. The Lord Chief-Justice Popham determined “that there was no right at all in the Heir Male; the common Custom of England doth wholly favour the Heir General ... and Her Majesty would require to make a new creation to prefer the Heir Male to the Heir Female” (Sir Harris Nicolas’ “Historic Peerages,” p. 15).

Inherited Public Office associated with the Title or Property.—The story of Ela of Salisbury illustrates the views with which the early Normans regarded heiresses. She was born in 1188. Her father, the Earl of Salisbury, died 1196, leaving her sole heir. She inherited bothtitle and lands before his three brothers. Her mother conveyed her away secretly to a castle in Normandy, to save her from possible dangers during her minority. An English knight, William Talbot, romantically undertook, as a troubadour, to discover her whereabouts, and, after two years, brought her back to England. King Richard betrothed her as a royal ward to his half-brother, William Longespée, son of Fair Rosamund, who became, through her, Earl of Salisbury. At King John’s coronation at Westminster, William, Earl of Salisbury, is noted as being present among the throng of nobility. (See“Roger Hoveden.”) He died 1226, leaving four sons and four daughters. Though besieged with suitors, Ela preferred a “free widowhood” to selecting another Earl Salisbury. When her son came of age he claimed investiture of the Earldom, but the King refused itjudicialiter, by the advice of the Judges, and according to the dictates of Law. The Earldom and the government of the Castle of Sarum were vested in Ela, not in her dead husband.

The office of Sheriff of Wiltshire, her right by inheritance, she exercised in person until 21 Hen. II., when, probably to facilitate her son’s entrance into the Earldom, she retired as Abbess to the Abbey of Lacock, founded by herself. Even then, however, the youth did not receive the title, and she survived both son and grandson. The note to this Biography adds, “Though the law of female descent, as applied to baronies by writ, has long ceased to govern the descent of earldoms, it certainly didduring the first centuries after the Norman conquest.” (Bowle’s “History of Lacock Abbey.”)

Isabella and Idonea de Veteripont, who afterwards married Roger de Clifford, and Roger de Leybourn jointly held the office ofHigh Sheriff of Westmoreland, and insisted on the Burghers bringing their cases to them personally, 15 Ed. I. The office was held afterwards, also in person, during the reigns of the Stuarts, by the brave Anne de Clifford, Countess of Dorset, Pembroke, and Montgomery, and Baroness of Westmoreland. In virtue of her office, she sat on the Bench of Justices in the Court of Assizes at Appleby. (Durnford and East’s “Term Reports,” p. 397; Nicholson’s “History of Westmoreland,” vol. ii., p. 20.) “As the King came out of Scotland, when he lay at York, there was a striffe between my father and my Lord Burleigh, who was then President, who should carie the sword; but it was adjudged to my father’s side, because it was his Office by Inheritance, and so it is lineally descended on me” (Anne Clifford’s Diary, Harl. MSS., 6177). We may add here, though belonging properly to the following chapter, a parallel case:

“William Balderstone had two co-heiresses, Isabel and Jane. Isabel married Sir Robert Harrington of Hornby, and Jane, first Sir Ralph Langton, and second Sir John Pilkington. When Jane was “the young widow” of Sir Ralph Langton, in 1462, she, along with her sister Isabella and Sir Robert Harrington, her sister’s husband, appeared in court to vindicate their right to the officesof theBaylywicks of the Wapentakesof Amoundernes and Blakeburnshire, peacefully occupied by their ancestors time out of mind, and claimed by one Giles Beeston, on the plea of Letters Patent. Giles not appearing, judgment was given in their favour, and a precept issued accordingly to the Sheriff at the Castle of Leicester, 28th May, 2 Ed. IV. (Townley MSS.; “History of Whalley,” vol. ii., p. 358, 4th edition, 1876, by Whittaker.)

The word, Bailiwick, was then applied to the office of a Sheriff. (See4 Henry IV., c. v.; Statutes, vol. ii.) “Every Sheriff of England shall reside within his Bailiwick.”

“Guy de Beauchamp, late Earl of Warwick, held the manor of Southanton as of inheritance from his deceased wife, Alicia, by the Sergeanty of bearing a Rod before the Justices in Eyre in the county. (9 Edward II.; Blount’s Tenures.”)

Marshal.—Isabel de Clare, only daughter of Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, brought the Earldom into the family of the Marshals of England by marrying William le Marshal. She had five sons (each of whom succeeded to the Office, without leaving an heir) and five daughters. The eldest of these, Maud, Countess of Norfolk, received as her share of the family property the Castles of Strigail and Cuniberg, and, with them, the office of Marshal, and in the 30th Hen. III. “received Livery by the King himself of the Marshal’s Rod, being the eldest who by inheritance ought to enjoy that great Office by descent from Walter Marischal sometime theEarl of Pembroke. Whereupon the Lord Treasurer and the Barons of the Exchequer had command to cause her to have all rights thereto belonging and to admit of such a deputy to sit in the Exchequer for her as she should assign.” (Dugdale Peerage, vol. i., p. 77.) Her son Roger exercised it during the remainder of her life and succeeded her.

Alicia de Bigod, his widow, succeeded him in his honour. I find among the petitions to the Council of 35 Edward I, held in Carlisle, one of “Alicia de Bygod Comitissa Mareschall” to be allowed to send two proxies to the Parliament of the King, “posuit loco suo, Johem Bluet militem, vel Johem de Fremlingham ad sequend pro dote sua coram Rege et consilio suo.” This must have been granted, for these proxies do appear in her name in the Parliament Roll of 35 Edward I. But she was summoned by writ personally (22nd January), in right of her office, to meet Edward II. and his bride at Dover on or about 4th February. (1 Edward II.; Palgrave’s “Parliamentary Writs.”)

The office of Marshal and title of Earl of Norfolk were afterwards given “in tail general” to Thomas Brotherton, son of Edward I. and brother of Edward II. His daughter, Margaret, inherited the office with the title and arms, as she appears as “Margaret Countess Marshal” in the Parliament Roll of 1 Richard II. (Rot. Parl., 713.)

In the petition of John, Earl Marshal, for precedence over Earl Warwick, he says that “Thomas of Brotherton was son of Edward I., and bore the Royal arms. Of himcame Margaret, of whom came Elizabeth, of whom came Thomas, of whom came John, now Erle Mareschal, and so apperteneth ye said place in yis Riall court to this Lord Earl Mareschal by cause of the blode and armes Riall with ye said possession” (Rot Parl., iii. Henry VI.). The office afterwards fell to the Mowbrays. Anne Mowbray, heiress, married the young Duke of York, second son of Edward IV., at the age of four years. She carried the office of Marshal to him, but he died in the Tower with his brother, Edward V., and his uncle seized the title.

“Adeline de Broc held possession of her Guildford estates by the service of beingMarshal in the King’s court.(Temp. Henry II.; Blount’s Tenures.”) “It was adjudged in B.R., Car I., that the Office of Marshal of that Court well descended to afeme, and that she might exercise it by deputy if she pleased.” (Callis, 250.)

High Constable.—Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, held the manors of Harlefield, Newnam, and Whytenhurst, County Gloucester, by the service of High Constable. He left two daughters, but the elder, Eleanor, succeeded to the office, which she conveyed to her husband, Thomas of Woodstock, who exercised it for her; the younger sister, Mary, marrying Henry Plantagenet of Bolingbroke, afterwards Henry IV.

High Steward.—Henry, Earl of Leicester, through the Barony of Hinckley held the office of High Steward of England. He died, leaving two daughters, the elder of whom, having married abroad, left the dignity free to her sister, who married John of Gaunt, fourth son ofEdward III. Through her right he exercised the office of Steward, which their son, Henry IV., carried back to the Crown.

High Chamberlain.—Justice Ashurst, from the King’s Bench in 1788, notes that women have served the office of High Chamberlain (Rexv.Stubbs). I have not yet found the name of the lady that he refers to; but we all know that the Baroness Willoughby d’Eresby held the Office down to our own times, though she allowed her son to exercise it as her deputy. “Catherine, sole daughter and heir to the last Lord Willoughby d’Eresby, became 4th wife to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. She afterwards married Thomas Bertie, and her son was Peregrine, Lord Willoughby d’Eresby, who married Mary, daughter of the Earl of Oxford, whose son Robert (1 Jac. I.) inherited the title and Office of High Chamberlain.” (Dugdale.)

“The Manor of Hornmede, Hertforde, the Lady Lora de Laundford holds as a Serjeanty of our Lord the King by being Chamberlain to our Lady the Queen.” (7 Edward I., Rot., 39.)

Ela, third daughter of Ela of Salisbury, foundress of Lacock, in 1285 was returned as holding the Manor of Hoke-Norton in Oxfordshirein capiteby the Serjeanty of carving before our Lord the King on Christmas Day, when she had for her fee the King’s knife with which she cut. (Placit Coron., 13 Edward I., Rot., 30. Bowle’s “Annals of Lacock Abbey,” p. 160.)

Champion.—The Manor of Scrivelby was held by theDymocks on condition of the possessor acting as King’s Champion. When the heiress, Margaret, inherited the property, she inherited the Office, which her son, Thomas Dymock, performed for her at the coronation of Henry IV.

“The office of Champion at the last coronation was in a woman, who applied in that case to make a deputy.” (See“OliveversusIngram,” 1739, and Co. Litt, 107.)

They could be Governors of Royal Castles.—Isabella de Fortibus held the Borough and Camp of Plympton, and governed the Isle of Wight. In 8 and 9 Edward II. there was a settlement of Hugo de Courtenay’s petition to succeed to his kinswoman Isabella de Fortibus in governance of the Isle of Wight, etc. Isabella de Vesci held the Castles of Bamborough and Scarborough.

Nicholaa de la Haye held Lincoln for the King. “And after the war it befell that the Lord the King (John) came to Lincoln, and the Lady Nicholaa came forth from the western gate of the castle, carrying the keys of the castle in her hand, and met the said Lord King John and offered him the keys as Lord; and said she was a woman of great age, and had endured many labours and anxieties in that castle, and she could bear no more. And the Lord the King returned them to her sweetly, and said. Bear them, if you please, yet awhile.” This story appears in that Royal Commission of Inquiry into the condition of the country named the “Rotuli Hundredorum.” The King was desirous to persuade so steadfast an adherent to continue to hold “in time of peace and in time of war” what, in those disturbed days,was one of the most important fortresses of the kingdom. For Nicholaa de la Haye and Gerard de Camville her husband had stood by King John in all his troubles; their attachment to him before he was King had brought suspicions and confiscations upon them. Gerard had to pay a heavy sum to Richard I. to be repossessed of his own estate, while Nicholaa paid the King three hundred marks for leave to marry her daughter to whom she would, provided it was not to an enemy of the King. After the death of Richard, Gerard de Camville was reinstated as Governor of Lincoln Castle, during the remainder of his life, and at his death John transferred the appointment to his wife, “a lady eminent in those days,” says Dugdale. She continued at her post, and the King also appointed her Sheriff of Lincoln. In 1217 the partisans of Louis the Dauphin laid siege to Lincoln. Though the town sided with the besiegers, though 600 knights and 20,000 foot soldiers came to reinforce them, Nicholaa continued her defence of the castle till the Earl of Pembroke arrived with an army to her relief. In the next year she was again appointed Sheriff of Lincoln by Henry III. But this closed her public career, and she died in peace at Swaynston in 1229. (“Sketches from the Past,”Women’s Suffrage Journal, March, 1888.)

“Several Charters in one of the Duchy of Lancaster’s Cowcher Books, prove that the Constableship of Lincolnshire, the Wardenship of Lincoln Castle, and the Barony of Eye or Haia, always went together. They belonged successively to Robert de Haia, Richard de Haia, andNicholaa de Haia, who became the wife of Gerarde de Camville.” (Selby’s “Genealogist,” 1889, p. 170.)

They could also be appointed to various Offices.—As Nicholaa de la Haye was madeSheriff, so was the wise and renowned Lady Margaret, Countess of Richmond, madeJustice of the Peacein the reign of Henry VII.; and the Lady of Berkeley under Queen Mary held the same office. Lady Russell had been appointed Custodian of Donnington Castle for her life, at a Salary of one pound and twopence halfpenny a day, but for Contempt of her Overlord, she was tried in the Star Chamber, Mich., 4 James I. (See“Moore’s Law-Cases.”)

They could act as Femes Soles when married, or as Partners.—The Countess Lucy [ii.] was one of the few Saxon heiresses that carried her property down into Norman times. She had three Norman husbands, Ivo de Tailleboys, Earl of Anjou, Roger Fitzgerald de Romar, and Ranulph, Earl of Chester. Among the various Charters to the Monastery of Spalding are two, granting and confirming the grant of the Manor of Spalding to the Monks there. The exact words of the second Charter are these, “I, Lucy Countess of Chester, give and grant to the Church and Monks of St. Nicholas of Spallingis with Soc and Sac, and Thol and Them, with all its Customs, and with the liberties with which I best and most freely held in the time of Ivo Tailleboys and Roger Fitzgerald and the Earl Ranulph my Lords in almoign of my soul, for the Redemption of the soul of my father and of my mother, and of my Lords andrelatives,” etc. “Inspeximus by Oliver Bishop of London 1284.” (Selby’s “Genealogist,” p. 70, 71.) In the lives of the Berkeleys, from the Berkeley MSS., 1883, published for the Bristol and Gloucester Archæological Society, some interesting particulars are given of the Lady Joane, daughter of Earl Ferrars and Derby, and wife of Lord Thomas of Berkeley, second of the name. “It appears by divers deeds that in the xxvith yeare of Edward the first, as in other yeares, this lady by hir deeds contracted with Richard de Wike and others as if she had been afeme sole; and for her seale constantly used the picture of herself holding in her right hand the escutcheon of her husband’s arms, the chevron without the crosses; and in her left hand the escutcheon of her father’s family, circumscribed Sigilla Johannæ de Berklai,” vol i., p. 206.

Elizabeth, Lady of Clare, had buried three husbands, and had retained her maiden name through their time as holding the honour and the Castle of Clare,[2]which she inherited on the death of her brother, the last Earl of Gloucester and Hereford, at Bannockburn. Her daughter, Elizabeth de Burgh, married her cousin Lionel,third son of Edward III., in whom the Earldom of Clare became the Dukedom of Clarence.

2.The petition of her “humble Chapeleyns Priour et chanoyns de sa priourie de Walsingham,” that she would not allow the Franciscan friars to settle in their neighbourhood, is communicated by the Rev. James Lee-Warner of Norwich to theArchæological Journal, vol. xxvi., p. 167 (1869). One reason they bring forward is that if the intruders were to propose an indemnity, it could only be “par serment, ou par gages, ou par plegges,” and that such security is of no avail, as the claims of the apostolic See are beyond computation.

In the Act of Resumption of 1 Henry VII., the King excludes the lands of his wife, his mother, Cecile, Duchess of York, and others. And in the Act of Restitution of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, “she was to hold her lands as any other sole person, not wife, may do,” though she was married at the time to the Earl of Derby.

Had the Cure of Churches.—The Abbesses of certain convents inherited the right of dominating the religious succession in some churches (see“Dyer on Grendon’s Case”), “divers churches were appropriated to prioresses and nunneries, whereof women were the governesses” (Callis, 250). In Colt and Gloverv.Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield about a presentation to a church, the evidence shews that many women before the Reformation had the Cure of Churches; that an Archbishop could not legally appropriate a benefice with the Cure to a nunnery between 25 H. 8., and the dissolution of monasteries, though the Pope did.

“Mrs. Foulkes is the Lay-rector of Stanstey, and takes the tithes. She pays one shilling a year as quit-rent to the Lord of the Manor of Stanstey, County Denbigh” (Blount’s “Tenures”).

“That all appropriated churches shall have secular vicars” (see“Statutes,” vol. ii., Henry IV., c. 13).

They could be Peeresses in their own Right, and liable to Summons to Parliament in Person.—Sir HarrisNicolas says, “The usual form of a writ of summons to Parliament is common. There is one solitary instance, however, of an express limitation of the dignity to heirs male,i.e., in the Barony of Vesci”[3](“Historic Peerages and Baronies by Writ”). In Lady Spenser’s case (M. 11, Henry IV., f. 15) it was decided that it was clear law at all times that a Dame might be “Peer de Realm and entitled to all the privileges of such.”[4]“All peers of the realm are looked on as the King’s Hereditary Councillors” (seeJacob’s “Law Dictionary”).

3.It is strange that this unique exception should have occurred in this barony, which had come through a woman, and had been held by a woman. Yvo de Vesci came over with William the Conqueror, and married Alda Tyson, daughter and heir of the Lord of Alnwick. Their daughter Beatrix was sole heir, and married Eustace of Knaresborough, their son taking his mother’s name of De Vesci.

4.Seealso “Statutes,” vol. ii., p. 321. Noble ladies shall be tried as peers of the realm are tried, when they are indicted of treason or felony, 20 Henry VI.

The opinions of Peeresses as representing property, were always considered in the councils of the King. In the early Norman days they sat among “The Magnates Regni” in right of their fees and communities. “In the Constitutions of Clarendon, Henry II., we find that ‘Universe Persona Regni, qui de Rege tenent in Capite’ were to attend the King’s Court and Council.” (Report of the Lord’s Committee on the Dignity of a Peer of the Realm.) The Abbesses, especially those of Shaftesbury, Barking, Wilton and St. Mary of Winchester, holding directly of the King,were summoned to Anglo-Norman Parliaments, as they had been summoned to Anglo-Saxon Witenagemots. Selden mentions their Summons of 5 Edward I. as being extant in his time; their Summons, twenty-nine years later, to the Parliament of 34 Edward I. is still extant, written in the same manner and terms as those of the other clergy. (Palgrave’s “Parliamentary Writs”; 34 Edward I.)

Other Peeresses were summoned according to their inheritance, which, we have seen, followed different lines from what it does to-day, orby proxy. By an exemption, intended as a privilege in these days of rough travelling and dangers, a peeress was permitted “to chuse and name her lawful proxy to appear for herad colloquimn et tractatium coram regeon her behalf.”

Alicia de Bigod sent her two proxies to Parliament, 35 Edward I. (SeeRot. Parl., 189.) Selden and Gurden mention “ninepeeresses so summoned to the Parliament of 35 Edward III.” There were in reality ten. But there was not aParliament properthat year, no writs having been issued for the Commons. It was rather a council of Peers and Peeresses, especially of those holding lands in Ireland, who were summoned to consult with the King what should be done in that country, and what aid they would grant the King. “Anno 35 Edward III., null summoniciones but summons to council 11 Comitissæ summonitæ at mittend. sede dagnos ad. colloq.” (Harl. MS., 6204).

“De consilio summonite pro Terras habentibus inHibernia 35 Edward III., Maria Comitissa Norfolk, Elianora Comitissa Ormond, Anna le Despencer, Pha. Comitissa de la Marche, Johanna Fitz Walter, Agnes Comitissa Pembroch, Maria de Sco Paulo Comitissa Pembroch, Margeria de Ros, Matilda Comitissa Oxon, Katherina, Com. Atholl, Nulla summonitii Parliamenti” (Harl., 778). Dugdale gives the same names (“Summons to Parliament,” p. 263) as summoned by their faith and allegiance to send a deputy to consult with the King and his council at Westminster. “Consimiliæ Brevia diriguntur subscriptis, sub eadam Data, de essendo coram Rege and consulo suo ad dies subscriptos viz., Ad Quindenam Paschæ Mariæ Comitissa Norfolciæ, Alianora Comitissa de Ormond, Annæ le Despenser, Ad tres Septimanas Paschæ Philippæ Comitissæ de la March, Johannæ Fitz-Wauter, Agneti Comitissa Pembrochiæ, Mariæ de S. Paulo Comitissa Pembroc., Margeria de Roos, Matildæ Comitissæ Oxon, Katarinæ Comitissæ Atholl,” 35 Edward III., claus in dorso m. 36. These because they had property in Ireland.”

The proxies,[5]however, do not imply that the ladies themselves would not have been admitted had they chosen to appear, as the special summons of Margaret, Countess Marshall, in 1 Richard II., clearly proves. Men also were allowed to send proxies. “The Bishop of Bath and Wells being infirm and old is allowed to send a proxy to Parliament.” “Ralph Botiller Miles, Lordof Sudeley, has the same permission” (6 Rot. Parl., app., ex Rot. Parl., 1 Edward IV., p. 1, m. [19] 227, a. b.).

5.Plowden notes on this, that the privilege of voting by proxy is a privilege of the House of Lords. (“Jura Anglorum,” p. 384.)

The husband’s succession to his wife’s titles was in order to grant her a permanent and interested “proxy.” In Dugdale’s “Summons to Parliament,” p. 576, there is “A catalogue of such noble persons as have had their summons to Parliament in right of their wives.”

This proves:—

(1) That a man not entitled to be summoned in his own right could be summoned in his wife’s right, but that in doing so he must take her name and title, whether higher or lower than his own: “George, son and heir to Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby, having married Joane, the daughter and heir to John, Lord Strange of Knockin, had summons to the Parliament under the title of Lord Strange” (22 Edward IV., 1 Richard III., 3, 11, 12 Henry VII.).

(2) That a woman held her husband’s titles and possessions till her death by “the courtesy of England,” and could even transfer these while she was alive to another husband. “Ralphe de Monthermer, having married Joane of Acre, daughter of King Edward I. and widow of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, possessing lands of great extent in her right, which belonged to these earldoms, had summons to Parliament from 28 Edward I. to 35 Edward I. by the title of Earl of Gloucester and Hertford. But after her death, which happened in the first year of King Edward the Second, he never had the title of Earl of Gloucester and Hertford,and was summoned to Parliament as a Baron only from the second to the eighteenth of that King’s reign” (Dugdale’s “Summons to Parliament”). There are twenty other cases of nobles summoned in the name of their wives. This, therefore, may be taken to illustrate the representative power in Peers. At the period of Ela of Salisbury the heiress of the Albemarles had conferred her title on three husbands, by the second of whom, William de Fortibus, she had an heir.

“Isobel of Gloucester likewise had two Earls” (Bowle’s “History of Lacock Abbey”).

Margaret de Newburgh, Countess of Warwick, married John Marshall of the Pembroke family, and he became Earl of Warwick,Jure Uxoris. She re-married John de Plessetis, who also bore her title. Her cousin, William Mauduit, succeeded her, and then Isabel, his sister, who married William de Beauchamp, making him Earl of Warwick. Their daughter, Anne de Beauchamp, succeeded as Countess of Warwick. (Burke’s “Extinct Peerages.”)

Dugdale also mentions “the names of such noble persons whose titles are either the names of such heirs female, from whom they be descended, or the names of such places whence these heirs female assumed their titles of dignity: of whose summons to Parliament by these titles the general index will show the respective times.” There are twenty-eight of them. The eldest sons of earls were sometimes summoned to Parliament by their father’s second title in their father’s lifetime, and these titles were often inherited from an ancestress.

That the right of Peeresses to be consulted in relation to aids or subsidies assessed on their property, was acknowledged, can be learned from an interesting document still preserved.

The Commons in 1404 voted a grant to the King (Rot. Parl., iii., 546). “La grante faite au Roy en Parlement. Vos pauvres Commons ... par assent des Seigneurs Spirituelx et Temporels ... grauntont à vous, en cest present parlement deux Quinzismes et deux Dismes pour estre levez des laie gentz, en manere accustume ... Et les Seigneurs Temporelx pur eux, et lesDames Temporelx, et toutz autres persones temporelx pour la depens suis dit grauntont ... Et purtant que cestes subside soit grantez à vous ... lesqueux die soient executy ne mys en œuvre avant la dit Quinzisme de Seint Hiller q’alors ceste graunt entier soit voide et tenue pur null ne levable, ne paiable en null manere ... Protestantz que ceste graunt en temps à venir ne soit pris en ensample de charger les ditz Seigneurs et Communes de Roialme ... sil ne soit par les voluntées des Seigneurs et Communes de vostre Roiaume et ces de nouvell graunt a faire en plein Parlement.”

This, therefore, affirmed not only the rights of the Ladies Temporal to be considered at the time, but the grand principle ofnon tallagio, non concedendo, to all time for all classes.

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