Sir William, lord of the manor here, founded a chapel of the Holy Cross, and that he died Tuesday, November the 12th, 1297, and is buried in his own chapel; all which is true, though Mr. Weaver seems to misunderstand it;[1] for the college here, which was afterwards founded by Sir Robert Mortimer, his grandson, being dedicated to the Holy Cross, made him doubt which was the real founder, when the truth is, they were different foundations; the chapel of the Holy Cross founded by Sir William for his own interment is now standing, and is called Mortimer's chapel, it being the south transept or chapel, opposite to Chanticlere's, which is on the north side, and by reason of the officiating priests that daily served in these chapels, before the foundation of the college, this church was in the collegiate form, and had service performed in it, according to the collegiate manner. By his will, dated in 1295, it appears, that Robert de Bauns rector of Scoulton, Jeffry Fitz-Walter, parson of the third part of Atleburgh, and Richard de Helmingham, parson of Bykereston, or Bixton, were his executors. He held the manors of Bernham, Scoulton, and Atleburgh of the Earl Warren at 6 fees, and had a capital manor-house and 243 acres of land adjoining, a wood of 469 acres, a windmill, and 43l. yearly rents, besides another messuage and lands held of Sir Robert de Tateshale, by the payment of two sparhawks a year. He died seized of Kingstone in Cambridgeshire, Herleveston in Lincolnshire, Atleburgh, Scoulton, and Bernham in Norfolk,[2] leaving
Constantine, his son and heir, then 16 years old, whom the King seized as his ward; but in 1298, John Earl Warren sued the King for his wardship, which belonged to him, in right of the manor of Atleburgh, which was held of him, and was unjustly seized by the escheator, while the Earl was in the King's service in Scotland, who as unjustly assigned to [Alice] the relict of the said William, much more than her just dower, upon which the Earl had his ward, and took from Alice those lands which she enjoyed above her dower; and the same year the said Constantine [by the Earl his guardian] sued Joan, late wife of Gilbert Peche, for committing waste in his manor of Kingstone, while she had the custody of it; in 1305, he obtained a charter for a market and fair to be kept at Kingston; in 1307, he was one of the great men in the retinue of John de Warren Earl of Surrey, who was then with the King in France, at his interview and marriage with Isabel, daughter of Philip King of France; in 1309, he held his manors and lands in Atleburgh, Elingham, and Bernham-Parva, of the Earl Warren, at one fee; and in 1310, had a charter for a yearly fair at his manor of Atleburgh, and was in the Scotch expedition; and again in 1313 and 1314, in which years he had license to found a chantry at his manor of Kingston, and to make a castle of his house at Scoulton in Norfolk; in 1315, he settled Atleburgh on himself and Sibil his wife, for life, Henry de Spectishall, parson of Kingston, and John de Bernham, parson of Bykereston being trustees; in 1329, upon the death of Thomas de Cailly, the custody of Bukenham castle was committed to him; he had two wives, Katherine and
- ↑ Weaver, fol. 808, 809.
- ↑ He left the manor of Foxton to Maud and Cassandra, his daughters, fo rlife, who were sued by Alice, their mother-in-law, for her dower in that manor, in 1298; but they dead or had released it before 1310, for then Sir Constantine Mortimer, lord of it, had a grant for a fair to be held yearly at Foxton.
