FEUDAL BARONAGE
Chester, as 'constabularius Cestrie.'[1] Dying without issue, William's inheritance was divided between his two sisters, Agnes, who had married Eustace fitz John,[2] lord of Knaresborough (being his second wife), and Maud, who had married Albert Grelley, lord of Manchester.[3] The share of the inheritance which fell to Eustace fitz John comprised the lordship of Halton, in Cheshire—except Daresbury—and the lordship of Widnes in this county—except Cuerdley—together with the office of constable of Chester, which lands and office were duly confirmed to him by Ranulf, earl of Chester.[4] He was slain in an ambuscade of Welshmen at Counsylth, near Basingwerk, in July, 1157, whilst engaged in the invasion of North Wales.[5] Richard, his son by Agnes his second wife, succeeded him as constable of Chester, and apparently attested a royal charter in the autumn of 1157, at Falaise.[6] The date of his death is unknown, but probably occurred before 1163, in which year, or very soon after, a royal charter was attested by his son John, who had succeeded him as constable of Chester, and in 1166 gave 1,000 marks to have the lands of his mother, Albreda de Lisours, lady of Sprotborough.[7]
In 1172 John, constable of Chester, founded the Cistercian abbey of Stanlaw, in Cheshire,[8] and endowed it with the vill of Staining, in Amounderness, and other estates.[9] Early in 1181 he was sent with Richard de Peche to take charge of Dublin after the recall of Hugh de Lacy.[10] To the Knights Templars he gave one ploughland, probably representing a third part of the manor of Great Woolton. The remainder of the manor he conferred upon the Knights Hospitallers.[11] To Salop Abbey he confirmed the third part of the vill of Thelwall, which his predecessors, William the constable and William his son, had given to the monks of that house.[12] He also founded the hospital of Castle Donnington.[13] He was present at the coronation of Richard on 3 September, 1189.[14] He married Alice, daughter of Robert de
- ↑ Farrer, Lancs. Pipe R. 319.
- ↑ Mon. Angl. vi. 955.
- ↑ Ibid. 315b; Duchy of Lanc. Misc. 332
- ↑ Ormerod, Hist. of Ches. (edit. Helsby), i. 52.
- ↑ Will. of Newburgh (Rolls. Ser.), ii. c. 5. Agnes his widow remarried Robert fitz Count, who styled himself constable of Chester once at least. Mon. Angl. iii. 434; vi. 955-6.
- ↑ Round, Cal. of Docts. France, 215.
- ↑ Pipe R. Soc. ix. 51. At Michaelmas, 1166, John, constable of Chester, paid 100 marks of the greater sum of 1,000 marks for livery of his mother's lands. Albreda de Lisours married secondly, William de Clerfait, and thirdly, about 1170, William fitz Godric, by whom she had issue William fitz William, lord of Sprotborough in 1194, who was ancestor of the earls Fitzwilliam (Pipe R. 24 Hen. II. Ebor.). William de Clerfait, whose name occurs on the Pipe Roll of 2 Hen. II. (Rec. Com.), p. 27, had married for his first wife Avice de Tanai, by whom he had Sibil, who married Ralph de Tilli; Mon. Angl. v. 487; Hunter, Deanery of Doncaster, i. 333; Round, Peerage Studies, 48. William fitz Godric was lord of Emley, co. York. His name occurs in the Pipe Roll of 1170 in an entry repeated until 1176, when he renders account of £100 to have the mother of John the constable to wife with her lands. Pipe R. Soc. xxv. 102. His father appears to have been Godric, son of Ketelbern, or Chetelbert. Burton, Mon. Ebor. 332; Pipe R. 31 Hen. I. (Rec. Com.), 33.
- ↑ Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), i. 187, the foundation charter is dated 1278. Coucher of Whalley, Chetham Soc. x. 1.
- ↑ Ibid. xi. 419.
- ↑ Hoveden (Rolls Ser.), ii. 253. Round, Geof. de Mandeville, 390-1.
- ↑ Inq. of 1112, Lanc, and Ches. Rec. Soc. vol. 48, p. 41. His brother, Robert fitz Richard, was prior of the English Hospitallers from about 1187 to 1214, but not continuously. Hist. Soc. Lancs, and Ches. n.s. vol. 18, p. 176n.
- ↑ Reg. of Salop Abbey, MS. penes W. Farrer, No. 317.
- ↑ Mon. Angl. vi. 765.
- ↑ Benedict (Rolls Ser.), ii. 80.
