Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/41

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1920 EARLDOM OF CHESTER 33 and William Patric ; Warwickshire and Leicestershire, fees of William Patric, Roger de Montalt, Robert de Sees ; Lincolnshire, fees of John earl of Lincoln, Roger de Montalt, Hugh Wake, Ralf fitz Simon, Robert de Sees ; Oxfordshire, fee of John de Preaux or Baldwin de Vere ; Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, fees of Henry Touchet, Roger de Montalt ; Rutlandshire, ^ fee of Henry Touchet ; Norfolk and Suffolk, fees of Roger de Montalt, Roger de Mainwaring, Edmund de Sotterley. Hawise de Quincy's share was the fees held by fifty-nine (named) holders in Lincolnshire and two in Yorkshire. William de Ferrers' share was 1^ fees in Derbyshire, the fees of two holders in Leicestershire, of four in Staffordshire, of six in Lincolnshire, and of the same number in Lancashire. The allotment to D'Au- bigny is not noticed in the orders entered on the Close Roll to the sheriff to give seisin, doubtless owing to his minority, nor in the later records of the fine which he paid in 1233 to obtain his seisin, or the final delivery to him of all his lands and castles on attaining his majority in 1235, but there can be no doubt he got his share. It will be observed that the earl of Chester received his share of knights' fees outside Cheshire, like the others, in addition to the county palatine. There was a slight delay in giving Ferrers seisin of the Lancashire lands and fees because the king wished to inspect the charter to the dead earl, granted in 1229, of the lands between Mersey and Ribble, to see whether by its terms the knights' services were due or not in respect of these lands .^ The earl of Chester was ordered to give up this and other charters of these lands to Ferrers.^ The documents seem to have been in the custody of the abbot of Chester. The matter was found to be in order, and the knights and freemen between Ribble and Mersey were ordered to do homage to Ferrers for this portion of his wife's pourparty.^ In the spring of 1234, friction arose between Hawise and her brother-in-law Ferrers, who complained that she was compel- ling knights of the honour of Grantham to do suit at her court in Lincolnshire, though the services of these knights had been part of the share allotted to the Ferrers as mentioned above. The sheriff was ordered to see that the knights were intendent both for suit and service to the earl.* Thus was the inheritance of Ranulph disposed of, and on 7 November 1233 Earl John obtained a confirmation of the liberties of his earldom of Huntingdon by a charter providing that he and his heirs and his men holding of the honour of

  • C(d,. of Close Rolls, 16 September 1233. « Ibid., 25 October 1233.

» Col. of Pat. RoUs, 10 November 1233 ; see also CcH. of Close Rolls, 27 March 1246. ' Cal. of Close RoUs, 20 March 1233/4. VOL. XXXV. — NO. CXXXVII. D