1920 EARLDOM OF CHESTER 37 daughters of his eldest sister, and two younger sisters (all descended from the eldest sister of Earl Ranulph, Maud, and her husband David, earl of Huntingdon) : 1 and 2. Margaret, the eldest sister of John, had married Alan, lord of Galloway. She had died leaving two daughters, namely : Christiana, wife of Wilham de Forz, son and heir of WilHam de Forz (d. 1241), count of Aumale and lord of Holdemess ; and Devorgild, second daughter, wife of John de Balliol, sometime regent of Scotland (and mother of John de Balliol, king of Scotland). 3. Isabel, a younger sister of the earl, who married Robert de Bruce, lord of Annandale (the great-grandmother of Robert de Bruce, king of Scotland) . 4. Ada, another sister of the earl, who married Henry de Hastings. (Maude, another sister, was dead, without issue.) Therefore, the position was that William de Forz and John de Balliol represented, through their wives, the eldest sister ; and as between these wives, de Forz represented the senior co-heir and held the aesnecia in her right. The attitude taken by the king towards the county palatine by sending his ministers to take possession, may have roused the co-heirs' suspicions that they were not to have matters all their own way, and in July and August 1237 we find de Forz and his wife, Isabel de Bruce, and Devorgild de Balliol appointing their attorneys in a formal claim agamst the king for their pourparties of the inheritance.^ The fate of the earldom was left uncertain pending legal proceedings; but in September the king, by agree- ment with the co-heirs, committed the custody of all the earl's lands held of the crown in capite in the counties of Northampton, Lincoln, Huntingdon, and Essex, to William count of Aumale (father of de Forz) until a partition should be made.* The partition was to be effected by the earl and a certa pars given to each, subject to the dower of Helen the widow.^ Eventually John de Ulcote and Everard de Trumpington were appointed commissioners to make the partition of the extraneous lands and of the earl's knights' fees, in the presence of the claimants.* Owing to the absence of the Close Roll for 23 Henry III (October 1238 to October 1239), upon which
- Cal. of Close Rolls, entries between 10 and 14 July and 20 and 28 'August.
» Ibid., 27 September and 26 October 1237.
- Neither the dower lands allotted to the widow of Earl Ranulph nor those given
to the widow of Earl John have been dealt with here. The details are given in the Fine, Close, Charter, and Patent Rolls. After the deaths of the widows, the manors and fees held in dower were partitioned among the co-heirs, and if they or their descendants are found in possession of lands not accounted for in this paper but once the property of the earls, it will probably be for this reason.
- Cal. of Pat. Rolls, 15 October 1238 ; Excerpta e Rot. Fin., 8 January 1238/9.
