ATON COMPLETE PEERAGE 325 17 Edw. II, he confirmed, for 700 marks, to Henry de Percy, the grant which Anthony, Bishop of Durham, had made him of the castle of Alnwick. (") He was sum. to three Councils, 30 Dec. (1324) and 20 Feb. (1324/5) 18 Edw. II, and 25 Feb. (1341/2) 16 Edw. Ill, by writs directed Gilberto de Aton . Will dat. 10 Apr. 1350. () BARONY I. Sir William Axon, of Malton, Ayton, ^c, s. and BY WRIT h., b. about 1299. (") He was sum. to a Council, 10 Oct. I j^7i (1359) Z^ Edw. Ill, and to Pari. 8 Jan. (1370/1) ^ ' ' 44 Edw. Ill, by writs directed Wilhlmo de Aton by which latter summons he may be held to have become LORD ATON. C) He was Sheriff of co. York 27 Nov. 1368-70 and 12 Dec. 1372-73. On 22 Feb. 1376/7 he obtained an exemption for life from being put on assizes, juries, etc., and from being made a justice of the peace, mayor, sheriff, etc. C) He w., before Jan. 1 326/7,0 Isabel, da. of Sir Henry Percy [2nd Lord Percy], by Idoine, (*) da. of Sir Robert Clifford [ist Lord Clifford]. Shed'.before25 May 1368. He^.j./>.w.j.() before Mar. 1388/9.0 (*) The story, related by Dugdale and others, that the Bishop appropriated Alnwick, when holding it in trust for the bastard William de Vescy, is disproved by the deeds to lead the uses of the fines, dated Saturday before All Saints 23 Edw. I [29 Oct. 1295], whereby William de Vescy gave, in the event of his dying i.p. legit., Malton, Langton, Wintringham, and Brompton,co. York, and Caythorpe, co. Lincoln, to William de Vescy of Kildare, and Alnwick and Tughall, Northumberland, to the Bishop and his heirs for ever. These deeds are printed in Collins, cA. 1779, vol. ii, p. 489. C') Test. Ebor., vol. i, no. 47. He mentions in it "William mon fitz. " There appears to be no inquisition extant. But it is evident from a deed dated Saturday in the 1st week of Lent 1349 [20 Feb. 1349/50] [Monasiicon, vol. iii, p. 504) that he had before that date enfeoffed his s. William of some, if not all, of his property. C^) He deposed in 1386 that he was " de age de iiij^^ et vij anz armez de Ixvj ans " {Scrape and Grosvenor Controversy, vol. i, p. 142), whence Nicolas {ihid., vol. ii, p. 347) concludes that the dates prove that he must have been brother of Gilbert, and not son. The dates do not prove this, nor is it true. On the feast of St. Bartholomew 1384, and the morrow thereof, he executed two charters at Malton and Aton in Pickering Lythe, respectively, styling himself Sir William d'Aton knt. s. and h. of Sir Gilbert d'Aton knt. (Bodleian Charters, Yorkshire, nos. 200, 199). The erroneous statement by Nicolas has been copied in Tate's Alnwick, and elsewhere. C) As to how far these early writs of summons did in fact cr. any peerage title, see Appendix A in the last volume. V.G. (') This exemption, with exemplification and confirmations thereof, dated 20 July and 12 Nov. 1377, and 28 Oct. 1379, are on the Patent Rolls, 51 Edw. Ill, w. 35 ; I Ric. II, pars i, m. 19, pars ii, ot. 32 ; 3 Ric. II, pars i, m. 17. (') Feet of Fines, case 272, file 102, nos. 10, 11. (^) For some discussion on mediaeval English names see vol. iii, Appendix C. V.G. (") His son, William, d.s.p., v.p. The seal to a charter of Margaret, " nuper uxor Willelmi Aton militis filii Willelmi de Aton militis, " dated a° 7 Ric. II, gives her arms, barry of 6, over all a bend. (Harl. MSS., no. 245, f 123 d ). {') On Michaelmas day 9 Ric. II, he gave his manor of Barlby to Sir Ralph
