Mae. 11. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



225 



Barons De Umfravill were styled, even in writs 

 of summons, by their superior Scottish title of 

 Earl of Angos. If these earls had not held En- 

 glish fees, they would not have been peers of 

 England any more than were the ancient Earls of 

 Tankerville and Eu. In later times the strictness 

 of the feudal law was so far relaxed, that in two 

 or three instances English peers were created with 

 territorial titles derived from places in the Duchy 

 of Normandy. 



As to the locality of Clarence, see Sandford's 

 Genealogical History, 1707, p. 222. There is a 

 paper on the subject in the Gentleman's Magazine 

 for November, 1850. The king of arms called 

 Clarenceux, or in Latin Clarentius, was, as it has 

 been very reasonably conjectured, originally a 

 herald retained by a Duke of Clarence. (Noble's 

 History of the College of Arms, p. 61.) Hoping 

 ere long to send you some notes respecting certain 

 real or seeming anomalies amongst our English 

 dignities, I reserve some particulars which may, 

 perhaps, farther elucidate the present question. 



GoLDENCROSS. 



Your correspondent Honore de Mareville 

 has wandered too far in going to the Morea to 

 search for this title. Clare in Suffolk was one of 

 the ninety-five manors in that county bestowed by 

 the Conqueror upon Richard Fitzgilbert, who (as 

 well as his successor Gilbert) resided at Tunbridge, 

 and bore the surname of De Tonebruge. His 

 grandson Richard, the first Earl of Hertford, fixed 

 his principal seat at Clare, and thenceforth the 

 family took the surname of De Clare ; and in the 

 Latin documents of the time the several members 

 of it were styled Ricardus (or Gilbertus), Dominus 

 Clarensis, Comes Hertfordiensis. The name of 

 the lordship thus becoming the family surname, it 

 is easy to see how in common usage the formal 

 epithet Clarensis soon became Clarence, and why 

 Lionel, the son of Edward III., upon his mar- 

 riage with Elizabeth de Burgh, the grand-niece 

 and heiress of the last Gilbertus Clarensis, should 

 choose as the title for his dukedom the surname 

 of the great family of which he had now become 

 the representative. Vokaeos. 



MILTON S WIDOW. 



(Vol. viii., pp. 12. 134. 200. 375. 452. 471. 544. 

 594.) 



Garlichithe is again on the wrong scent. In 

 his first communication on this subject, he allowed 

 himself to go astray by mistaking Randle Min- 

 shull the grandfather for Randle Minshull the son ; 

 and now, with the like fatality, he fails to dis- 

 criminate between Richard Minshull the uncle, 

 and Richard Minshull the brother, of Elizabeth 

 Milton. A second examination of my Reply in 



Vol. viii., p. 200., will suffice to show him that 

 Richard Minshull, the party to the deed there 

 quoted, was named by me as the brother, and not 

 the uncle, of Milton's widow, and that therefore 

 his argument, based on disparity of age, &c, falls 

 to the ground. On the other hand, Richard 

 Minshull of Chester, to whom the letter alluded 

 to was addressed, was the brother of Randle 

 Minshull of Wistaston, and by the same token, 

 uncle of Elizabeth Milton, and of Richard Min- 

 shull, her brother and co-partner in the deed 

 already referred to. 



Garlichithe, and all others who have taken an 

 interest in this discussion, will now, I trust, see 

 clearly that there has been nothing adduced by 

 either Mr. Marsh or myself inconsistent with 

 ages or dates ; but that, on the contrary, all our 

 premises and conclusions are borne out by evi- 

 dence clear, irreproachable, and incontestable. 



All objections being now, as I conceive, fully 

 combated and disposed of, the substance of our 

 investigations may be summed up in a very few 

 words. The statement of Pennant, adopted by 

 all succeeding writers, to the effect that Elizabeth, 

 the widow of John Milton, was a daughter of Sir 

 Edward Minshull of Stoke, is clearly proved to be 

 a fiction. It has been farther proved, from the 

 parish registers, as well as from bonds and other 

 documentary evidence, that she was, without 

 doubt, the daughter of Randle Minshull of Wis- 

 taston, a village about three miles from Nantwich ; 

 that she was the cousin of Milton's familiar friend, 

 Dr. Paget, and as such became entitled to a 

 legacy under the learned Doctor's will, and that 

 she is expressly named by Richard Minshull as 

 his sister in the deed before quoted. T. Hughes. 



Chester. 



THREE FLEURS-DE-LYS. 



(Vol. ix., pp. 35. 113.) 



Devoniensis is informed that an example of 

 this occurs in the arms of King James's School, 

 Almondbury, Yorkshire. The impression, as taken 

 from the great seal of the school, in which how- 

 ever the colours are not distinguished, may be 

 imperfectly described as follows : Three lions (two 



over one) passant gardant , on a chief , 



three fleurs-de-lys . 



As it is not unlikely that some other of King 

 James's foundations may have the same arms, it 

 would be considered a favour if any reader of 

 " N. & Q." possessing the information would com- 

 municate the proper colours in this case, or even 

 the probable ones. Camelodunensis. 



Devoniensis is quite right in supposing that 

 the bearing of three fleurs-de-lys alone, horizontal, 

 in the upper part of the shield, — in other words, 



