and other places in Essex. His wife, whose name was Margaret, survived him. He probably died young, for his heirs were two infant daughters, Margaret and Joan, of the respective ages of two years and one year;[1] a supposed brother and nephew, both named Thomas, mentioned by Morant, are more likely to have been an uncle and cousin. Margaret (the daughter) married, successively, Roger de Northwode, John Barry, and Walter Gray; Joan married Thomas de Asheton.[2] Whether either of them left issue does not appear; nor can I trace any connexion between them and Isabella wife of Richard Bastard of Bedford, who is called in the deed exhibited consangninea et hæres of Sir Nicholas de Wokyndon, and should seem to have succeeded in some way to the advowson of the chantry founded pursuant to his will. She may have been, and probably was, some relation too remote to have felt any particular interest in the founder, and was therefore content to part with the right of presenting a priest to his chantry. She and her husband were both living in 1442; for the deed whereby they conveyed the advowson and other property to Coburley and Burghille bears date the 20th of June, 20 Henry VI.[3] She is not therein called consanguinea et hæres of Sir Nicholas do Wokyndon, or otherwise described as in any manner related to him; but the other property comprised in the deed is the Wokendon Fee in Terling, Essex, which, we may reasonably suppose, derived its name from having been in his family, though Morant has not traced its history so far back. At the date of that deed 104 years had elapsed since the death of Sir Nicholas de Halughton; and there had, therefore, been ample time for several devolutions of the property before it came to Isabella.
It may have been observed that the name of her husband, Richard Bastard of Bedford, is remarkable. Bastard was a name well known in Devonshire, and the names of Coburley and Burghille possibly, as well as Acreman, may be referable to the West of England; but why is he called of Bedford? No other person mentioned in the deed has the place of his or her residence subjoined; nor can I discover that there was then at Bedford any family or person of the name of Bastard. If, however, John Duke of Bedford, who died in 1435, had an illegitimate son named Richard whom he recognized, that son would, in all probability, have been called Richard Bastard of Bedford; for there was at that time a practice, not only in France, but also in this country, of thus designating illegitimate sons of noblemen. Contemporary with this Richard were John Bastard of Clarence, John Bastard of Somerset, a Bastard of Salisbury, and Thomas
