FEUDAL BARONAGE by his wife Isabel, or Elizabeth, of Vermandois, widow of Robert, count of Meulan, who died in 1 1 1 8. There is nothing in respect of her age to render improbable her marriage to William fitz Gilbert after 1 153,^ for although the information springs from a doubtful source, there is a copy extant of a charter of William fitz Gilbert, in which, as William de Lancaster, he grants free right of pasturage throughout his fee in Lonsdale and Amounderness to the canons of St. Mary de Pre of Leicester, by the advice and consent of William his son and heir, and of Gundreda his wife, and for the health of the souls of his lord Henry, king of England, Queen Eleanor, and their children, and of Gilbert his father, Godith his mother, Jordan his son, and of Margaret, daughter of the countess. This charter was attested by ' Gundreda, daughter of the countess.' ^ William fitz Gilbert made many donations to religious houses.* One of the earliest, which was confirmed by King Stephen, was the grant of Muncaster to Furness Abbey.* The grant did not, however, long continue in force. He also gave the manor and church of Cockerham, the chapel of EUel, 2 carucates in Cockerham and the hamlet of Crimbles, on either side of the River Cocker, to the canons of St. Mary de Pre at Leicester,* land in Swarthof, or Swarthead, in Hensingham (or Preston) to St. Bees, which William Meschin confirmed,* land in the same place to St. Mary's Abbey in York,^ land in Bartonhead to the hospital of St. Leonard of York,' and a fishery in the River Lune, called Chil or Childe, to Fountains Abbey.' An important matter arising during his time was the agreement made before the king, in or about 1 163, between William and the monks of Furness for the demarcation of Furness Fells from the barony of Kendal, and a partition of this mountainous district between them. Before that time there had been no set limit to the great forest area extending from the Duddon to the upper waters of the Lune. William and his predecessors had been wont to chase buck and doe, and to take hawks from the eyries found there. By this agreement he took the western part of the fells, retaining venison and hawks throughout the whole area, but paying to the monks a yearly service of 20 shillings, whilst the monks took the eastern part of these fells.^" The kinship which would exist between Lancaster's wife (if she was the countess Gundreda) and Isabel de Warenne, the wife of William of Blois, who was jure uxoris suae fourth earl of Warenne, may well have been the origin of the feoffment to Lancaster of the lordships of War ton and Garstang by Warenne, and the association of William fitz Gilbert with the castle and district of Lancaster, as governor or seneschal," which led to his assumption of ' Lancaster ' as a surname. The service of one knight due for Warton and 1 Gundreda, countess of Warwick, had ten knights' fees assigned to her in dower in 1 159. Pipe R. Soc. i. 26. Cf. ReJBi. ofExch. (Rolls Ser.), 326. 2 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 392-3. ' His lay feoffments included 2 carucates in EUel to Grimbald de EUel ; 2 carucates in Scotforth to Hugh Norman ; J carucate in Lancaster to Ralph de Torrisholme ; ^ carucate in Ashton to Gilbert de Ashton ; and 2 bovates in Carnforth to Robert the falconer. Exch. K.R. Kts. fees, J, m. ja ; Lanes. Inq. Rec. Soc. xlviii. 4—5.
- Coueher of Furness, Chetham Soc. N.S. ix. 125.
5 Exch. K.R. Kts. fees, , m. 3a ; Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 391-2. Roger fitz Gilbert, his brother, gave to St. Bees the vill of Hensingham, which Alan held of him in drengage, for the health of the souls of WiUiam his brother and William his nephew. Ibid. No. 223. 6 Reg. of St. Bees, Harl. MSS. No. 434. ch. 3. 7 Mon. Angl. iii. 550. Roger fitz GUbert gave 2 bovates in Hensingham to the same house. Ibid. 8 Mon. Angl. vi. 613. * Burton, Mon. Ebor. 178. 1" Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 310-311. " Dugdale, Baronage, i. ^zib ; cf. RoxxnA, Feudal England, 168. 359
