NOTES AND QUERIES. 112 s. vi. MAY 15,
pedigrees given in the peerages are an error,
.-since they make Ralph "the Marshal" in
' Oascony, 1294, and who died by or before
.May, 1296, > identical with Ralph, "Baron
Gorges," who died later in 1324, and leaving,
with other issue, an only son Ralph, a minor,
ged 15. It is also clear, from the foregoing,
'that Ralph "the Marshal" was, in 1294,
i accompanied by a son Ralph, then old
enough to take part in the campaign, who
must be identified with Ralph, Baron Gorges,
summoned to Parliament as a " Baron by
Writ from Mar. 4, 2 Edward II., 1309, to
Sept. 18, 16 Edward II., 1322." Sir Harris Nicolas, 'Historic Peerage' (1857), adds
further: " ob. 1323, leaving Ralph de Gorges his s. and h. set. 16, who was never summ. to Parl. and appears to have died s.p. ante 1400."
Evidence in the Close Rolls (Gal., 1307-13, p. 318) shows that Sir Ralph was with the king in Scotland in 1311, and in 1320 was of the party supporting the king against the faction headed by the Earl of Lancaster. In the same year he was a witness to a charter granted by the king to the burgesses of Bristol.
About this time Sir Ralph was chosen to
- hold the important office of Justiciary in
Ireland. The particulars are entered on the Patent Rolls and involved " keeping the
'land of Ireland with its castles, receiving as long as he shall remain in that office 500?.
a year" (Cal. Pat. R., 1321-24, p. 546, m. 7d). A protection order for three years
was granted, "Mar. 28, 1321, for Thomas de Anne going with Ralph de Gorges " the elder "to Ireland on the king's service." It would, however, seem doubtful if Sir Ralph
ever reached Ireland and took up the appointment for, apparently, when on his way thither he was turned aside and sent
- into Wales to oppose the Mortimer faction.
He was there taken prisoner, and Matthew de Gorges in his company was killed. Con- firmatory evidence of the foregoing is supplied in the following extract :
" 1321, July 2. Grant to Ralph de Gorges taken prisoner while on the King's service and afterwards ransomed, of 500 marks." Cal. Pat.B., 1321-24, m. 5, p. 596.
It would appear, from a later notice, that the ransom alluded to was never paid, or that Ralph was taken prisoner a second time. In December, 1321, an order was 'issued
" to Roger de Mortuo Mari of Wygenor to cause Ralph de Gorges to be released from the custody -wherein he holds him, or, to signify to the king 'the reason for not obeying this 'order."
Sir Ralph was probably released before
Feb. 15, 1322-23, when he is commissioned
to raise a thousand footmen in the counties of
Somerset and Dorset ; and later is further
empowered "to raise double that number,
five hundred to be armed " (Cal. Pat. R.,
1321-24, pp. 73, 76). On the same Rolls
(p. 188) is a notice that a protection order
was granted to Ralph de Gorges going with
Hugh le Despencer " the younger " with the
king to Scotland.
Sir Ralph died in October, 17 Edward II., the writ " ad diem suum clausit ex- tremum " is dated the 24th, the inquisition being held on Dec. 30 ( ' Calendar of In- quisitions,' publ. 1906, vol. vi., p. 299), and the jurors say " that Ralph, his son, aged 15 on the feast of St. Michael last, is the next heir." He left further three daughters, Elizabeth, Eleanor, and Joan. Lady Eleanor survived until 1349.
Of Ralph (4) de Gorges. He was born about Michaelmas, 1308. Collinson, ' Hist, of Somerset,' says "he left no issue." Hoare, 'Hist, of Wilts.,' p. 29, writes : "He soon followed his father to the grave, un- wedded." G. E. C.'s 'Complete Peerage' states : " He died soon afterwards, a minor, and unmarried." The foregoing statements are more or less inaccurate, for Ralph was living in 1336, and was married, 4 Edw. III., to a lady Elizabeth, whose family name has not been traced. The marriage is evidenced to
" by a fine made in the year 1330, at Westminster, between Walter Waleys, querent, and Ralph de Gorges and Elizabeth his wife for the manor of Wroxhale and for the advowson of the church there, &c."- Publ. Som. Rec. Soc., xii. 146.
The writer of the article ' Knighton ' in the ' Victoria County History,' v. 182. errs in stating :
" Ralph and his wife Eleanor had a son Ralph, who died without issue, evidently before 1330-31, when Sir Ralph settled the manor in tail-male on two younger sons of his daughter Eleanor who had married Theobald Russell of Yaverland. William, the elder of the two brothers, died s.p., and the manor (Knighton) was delivered to his brother and heir Theobald in 1343."
A query arises, was not this rather on the death of Ralph (4) de Gorges who was living in 1336, as shown in the following quit claim : " 10 Edw. III., Feb. 27, 1336, by Ralph, son of Sir Ralph Gorges, to Sir John de Roches for lands in Bromley, &c." (Montagu Burrows, ' Brocas of Beaurepaire, ' p. 349). The deed was witnessed to by Sirs Theobald Russel, Bartholomew de Insula, and John de Glamorgan, and was dated at Yaverland 'in the Isle of Wight.
