Page:History of Norfolk 1.djvu/32

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special favour, his homage was accepted, and livery made to him; Diss manor then was valued at 31l. Hemenhale at 48l. Fincham at 6l. 13s. 4d. He was in the French wars in 1359, being one of those appointed to accompany Sir Walter Manny in that skirmish at the barriers of Paris, the Duke of Normandy then lying in that city, and was then knighted. He married Eleanor daughter of Henry Lord Percy, his guardian, was summoned to parliament from the 15th to the 34th of Edward III. exclusive, and died upon Monday the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, anno 1360, leaving Walter, his son and heir, 16 years of age, Joan his mother surviving him; she died in 1362, whereupon Walter her grandson was found to be next heir, and 19 years of age, this manor being then held at three fees as of the Barony of Baynard Castle.

Walter Lord Fitz-Walter, making proof of his age in 1362, and doing his homage, had livery of all his lands. In the 44th of Edward


III. he was in that expedition made into Gascoign, and there reputed one of the most expert soldiers in the whole realm; but being taken prisoner in those wars, was forced to mortgage his castle and lordship of Egremond for 1000l. towards raising his fine for his redemption. In 1372, an invasion being feared from the French, having raised what power he could for defence of Essex, he was commanded to repair into Norfolk for the safeguard of those parts. In 1379, he procured the King's charter for a weekly market every Friday, at his lordship of Hemenhale in Norfolk, and a fair yearly on the eve, day, and morrow after the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle. Soon after, in 1381, he did great service in Essex against the rebels under Jack Straw, by suppressing those that endeavoured to make head there. Many other great and noble exploits of this man may be seen in the first volume of Dug. Baron. fol. 222, and in the second volume of Holinshed's Chronicle, fol. 405, 419. He was Lieutenant to Thomas Duke of Gloucester, Constable of England, in the great cause between the Lords Lovell and Morley, for the arms of Burnel, in the Court of Chivalry, anno 1384, and 1386, in which year he died in Spain, on Wednesday before St. Michael, being one of those that accompanied John Duke of Lancaster, King of Castile and Leon, in his expedition thither, where the English, not able to bear the heat of the country, died in great numbers. "Among others there died before the breaking up of the camp, one of the greatest Barons of all the company, the Lord Fitz-Walter." I have seen an ancient deed of this Walter, in French, by which, as Lord of Diss, he granted a messuage and 8 acres of land to one William Moundry; it was dated at Henham 40 E. III. to which his seal was fastened, being his paternal coat, and an estoil between two plumes for his crest. (circumscribed, Sigillum Walteri Filtj-Walteri.) His first wife was Eleanor, by whom he had no issue; his second, as Mr. Dugdale tells us, was Philippa, daughter and coheir to John de Mohun Lord of Dunster, and widow of Edward Duke of York; she survived him. But Le Neve, in his