TESTAMENTA VETUSTA. HENRY II. HENRY, by the grace of God, King of England, Duke of Henry the Second, Count of Anjou, son and heir of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, by Maud, widow of the Emperor Henry IV. and daughter and sole heir of King Henry I. by his first wife Maud, daughter of Malcolm III. King of Scotland. He ascended the throne October 25, 1154, and died at Chinon, in Normandy, July 5th, 1189. Henry's predecessors' testamentary dispositions have not been deemed requisite to be introduced into this work, especially as they are fully given in Nichols' Royal Wills. • His second, but eldest surviving son, who was born in 1154, and was crowned King of England by his father's command in June 1170, which accounts for his being styled "Henrico Regi:" he died at the Castle of Martel, in Normandy, in 1182, s. p. William, the eldest son of King Henry II. was born in 1152, and died in the following year. • His third son, who succeeded him as King Richard I. Geoffrey Plantagenet, Earl of Anjou and Poictiers, Henry's fourth son, was born in 1158; he married Constance, daughter and heir of Conan IV. Duke of Britanny and Earl of Richmond, by whom he had issue Arthur and Eleanor, and died vitâ patris at Paris, in September 1186. On the death of Richard the First, Arthur, his only son, became heir to the throne, and in right of his mo- Here was wo ther was styled Duke of Britanny, and is supposed by some historians to have been dispatched by his uncle King John circa 1202. He dying without issue, his sister Eleanor succeeded to his claim to the crown; she was seized by King John, and confined in the Castle of Bristol, but survived until the year 1241, when she died without issue, and was buried in the Church of the Nunnery of Ambresbury. John, Henry's youngest son, succeeded his brother Richard as King of England. Vide his will, p. 5. B aridity right the sof England at this time. Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Archdeacons, Deans, Earls, Barons, Justices, Sheriffs, &c. and all other my faithful subjects, as well clerks as laymen of my territories, within and beyond the seas, greeting. Know ye, that at Waltham, in the presence of R. Bishop of Winchester '; J. Bishop of Norwich; G. Chancellor, my son'; Master Walter de Constantiis, Archdeacon of Oxford; Godfrey de Lucy, Archdeacon of Derby; Ralph de Glanville; Hugh de Morewic; Ralph Fitz Stephen, Chamberlain; and William Rufo; I have made division of some part of my money in this manner: To --, &c. To the religious houses of England MMMMM marks of silver, to be distributed by the hands of R. Archbishop of Canterbury, R. Bishop of Winchester; R. Bishop of Worcester; G. Bishop of Ely; and J. Bishop of Norwich; and Ralph de Glanville, Justiciar of England. To the religious houses of the land of the Earl of Anjou, my father, м marks of silver; towards the marriage of poor and free women of England 1 Richard Tocliffe, alias More, Archbishop of Poictiers; he was Bishop of Winchester from 1172 to 1189. 2 John of Oxford, Dean of Salisbury 1175-1200. 3 Geoffrey, his natural son, by the celebrated Rosamond Clifford; he was made Archdeacon of Lincoln, and, according to some writers, was afterwards elected Bishop of that See, but neither Beatson nor Heylyn assert him to have been so. In 1191 he became Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor, but had his whole estate seized by King John, and after five years' banishment died in 1213. Most authorities state him to have been appointed Chancellor in 1191, but it is evident he filled that office at the date of this will in 1182. Richard, Prior of Dover, who succeeded Thomas à Becket in that See in 1173. 5 Baldwyn, Abbot of Ford, translated to the See of Canterbury on the death of the above-mentioned Richard in 1184; he crowned King Richard the First, followed him to the Holy Land, and died at the siege of Ptolemais. Vide Rapin's History of England, vol. i. p. 354. "Geoffrey Ridall, a Baron of the Exchequer and Lord Trea surer. wanting aid ccc marks of gold, to be distributed by the hands of R. Bishop of Winchester, B. Worcester, G. Ely, and J. Norwich, and Ralph de Glanville'. Towards the 1 Ranulph de Glanville was one of the most celebrated men of his times; Dugdale gives the following account of him: "He was born in the town of Stratford, and obtained the Lordship of Benhall from King Henry the Second, as also a discharge for five hundred acres of wood in Bramam, assarted; that is to say, that those assarts should not be subject to any exaction relating to the forest. In 20 Henry II. upon that rebellion of young Henry (whom the King had unadvisedly crowned in his own life-time) and the invasion of the King of Scots on his behalf, this Ranulph assisted William de Vesci in raising the siege which the Scots had then laid to Proudhow Castle, and with a slender army gave them battle near Alnwick; wherein, obtaining a signal victory, he took the King himself prisoner. In 25 Henry II. he was one of the Justices Itinerant then sent into the Counties of Nottingham, Derby, York, Northumberland, Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Lancaster, and the next year advanced to that Office of Justice of England. In 28 Henry II. he was present with the King at Waltham, and one of the witnesses to this testament there declared. And in 34 Henry II. the King having great disturbances in his territories beyond the seas, he was thence sent into England to raise what power he could to his aid. Moreover from 10 Henry II. to 16 Henry II. and half that year, and from 22 Henry II. till the end of that King's reign (scil. 34 H. II.) he executed the Sheriffalty of Yorkshire by his substitutes. Also, for Lancaster in 21 H. II. and for Westmoreland in 23, 24, and 25 H. II. But in the reign of Richard the First he was displaced from his office of Justice of England, and Hugh de Pudsey, Bishop of Durham, put in his stead. Whereupon he accompanied King Richard (together with Baldwin Archbishop of Canterbury, and Hubert Bishop of Salisbury) in his journey towards the Holy Land; and at Marseilles taking ship thitherwards, arrived at Acon, being at the siege of that city, but departed this life the same year, during that leaguer. As to his works of piety, he founded the priory of Battele, in com. Suffolk, in anno 1171, 17 H. II. for Canons-regular of St. Augustine's Order, and plentifully endowed it. As also the Abbey Leystone, in com. Suff. for Canons of the same order. And having married Berta, the daughter of Theobald de Valoines, senior, Lord of Perham; with whom he had marriage of poor and free women of Normandy wanting aid c marks of gold, to be distributed by the Archbishop of Rouen, and the Bishops of Bayeux, Avaranches, Sagiensis. Toward the marriage of poor and free women of the land of my father, the Earl of Anjou, c marks of gold, to be distributed by the Bishops of Maine and Anjou. This distribution I have made at the place before written, in the year of the Incarnation 1182. And I charge you, my sons, by the fealty you owe me, and the oath ye have sworn to me, that ye cause it to be firmly and inviolably kept; and whoever shall oppose or contravene it, may he incur the indignation and anger of Almighty God, and mine and God's malediction. And I command you, the Archbishops and Bishops, by the oath ye have sworn to me, and the fealty ye owe to me and to God, that ye solemnly, in your Synods, with lighted candles, excommunicate, and cause to be excommunicated, all such as may presume to infringe my distribution. And know ye that our Lord the Pope has confirmed this my distribution, under his hand and seal, on pain of anathema*. the whole Lordship of Brochous, in which the priory of Battele was founded, had issue by her three daughters, viz. Maud, Amabil, and Helewise; unto whom he gave all his lands before he went toward Jerusalem. This Maud had the whole Lordship of Benhall, with the advowson of the Church there; and took to husband Sir William de Aubervile, Knight. To Amabil the Second he gave the moiety of the Lordships of Baudesey, and Finebergh; which Amabil married to Ralph de Arderne; and to Helewise, the third daughter, the moiety of those Lordships of Baudesey and Fenbergh, who became the wife of Robert Fitz Ralph, Lord of Widleham, in com. Ebor." vol. i. p. 424. * Royal Wills, p. 7. JOHN. I, JOHN', by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Acquitaine, Earl of Anjou. Imprimis, I will that my body be buried in the church of St. Mary and St. Wulstan of Worcester. I appoint the following to be my executors: G. by the grace of God Cardinal of St. Martin, and Legate from the Apostolical See; P. Bishop of Winchester; R. Bishop of Chichester3; S. Bishop of Worcester, "fratrem Aimericum de St. Maura;" W. Marshall, Earl of Pembroke; R. Earl of Chester; William Earl Ferrers; William Bruwne; Walter de Lacy; and John de Monemut, Savaricum de MaloLeone; Foulk de Breante*. HENRY III. I, HENRY, by the grace of God King of England and Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy, Acquitaine, and Earl King John was the youngest son of King Henry the Second, and was born in 1166. He succeeded to the throne on the death of his eldest brother, Richard I. April 6, , and died at Newark October 19th, 1216, and was buried in the Cathedral of Worcester. • Peter de Rupibus, from 1204 to 1243. 3 Richard Poore, 1115 to 1217. ♦ Silvester de Evesham, 1216 to 1218. 5 Randal Blondeville. • He was Earl of Derby from 1191 until his death in 1246. * Royal Wills, p. 13. There is no date to this will, but it is evident, from Silvester being described as Bishop of Worcester, that King John made his testament but a short time before his death, as that Prelate was not elected Bishop of that see until the year 1216; his predecessors during the reign of King John being Maugere, Dean of York, and Walter Gray, who was translated to York in 1217. 12/6, |