Italy; but eventually returned to his own country, and died in 1397. It seems to me far more likely that this Richard, who was living and of full age in 1442, should have been the son of John Duke of Bedford who was born in 1390, than of Ingelram de Coucy, who does not, I believe, appear to have been in England after 1369, which was 73 years before the date of the conveyance to Coburley and Burghille. The fact of John Duke of Bedford not having married till 1423, when he was 33 years of age, makes the supposition of an illicit connexion of which Richard may have been the issue by no means improbable. So much reason is there, in my opinion, for adopting this view of the name, Richard Bastard of Bedford, that, had the deed exhibited been in other respects of an ordinary kind, I should have thought the occurrence of this name in it rendered it worthy of being brought to the notice of the Society, as a contribution to the genealogy of the House of Lancaster.
In conclusion, I have to acknowledge my obligations to Mr. J. J. Howard for all the information that I have derived from the archives of the Armourers' Company, specially for the opportunity of inspecting the various deeds to which I have referred. The inrolment of the charter of the guild in the original language I examined at the Record Office.
inde debita et de jure consueta, imperpetuum. In cujus rei testimonium huic presenti carte nostre sigilia nostra apposuimus. Hiis testibus, Thoma Basset gentilman, Roberto Buri, Johanne Rouchestre seniore, Johanne Rouchestre juniore, Johannu Spurne, et aliis. Datum apud Terlyng predict' vicesimo die Junii anno regni Regis Henrici Sexti post conquestum Anglie vicesimo." Two small seals on labels are appended; of the first a woodcut is given in the text; the device on the second appears to be a wolfs head erased, without any legend. The former from the legend, debines, should seem to have been intended as an enigma, and from the singularity of the object represented I apprehend it is likely to remain unsolved.
The conveyance to Acreman is also in the possession of the Armourers' Company. It is dated the 12th of March, 21 Henry VI. (1446), and by it Coburley and Burghille granted to Acreman, his heirs and assigns, the odvowson only. There are no witnesses. Two small seals are appended; one has on it a bird with the legend, Thomas Coburley: the other a hedge-hog with a legend obscure. The parties to the deed are the only persons mentioned in it, and no place of residence is subjoined to any of the names.
In addition to what has been said of the seal of Acreman appended to the deed exhibited, I may here mention, that the words of the legend are separated by sprigs of oak, as if he supposed the first syllable of the name to have been derived from Ac or Ake (oak) instead of Acre; and that round the impression are the marks of a plaited rush by which it was formerly protected from injury; a practice occasionally found exemplified in seals of that period.
