PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



MAXEY 



De la Mare. Or a 

 /esse betiveen fwo gimmel 

 ban azure. 



also held by Geoffrey de la Mare when it was con- 

 firmed by Richard I in 1 1 89 to the abbey of Peter- 

 borough.' In 1227 Brian de la Mare died possessed 

 of Maxey and was succeeded by his son Geoffrey, 

 whose family all died childless 

 except Peter, the fifth son, who 

 was accidentally drowned in 

 1280 while with the royal 

 army in Wales, leaving two 

 sons, Geoffrey and Peter. Rival 

 claims to the wardship of 

 Geoffrey were set up by the 

 abbot of Peterborough and the 

 lady of the manor of Ketton, 

 who had the overlordship of 

 the de la Mare property in 

 Rutland. She was, however, 

 ordered by the king to deliver 



the ward to the abbot, who disposed of the 

 custody to Geoffrey of Southorpe, also a knight of 

 Peterborough.^ 



This Geoffrey de la Mare in 1294 made a claim 

 in connexion with the constableship of the abbey, 

 which office had been hereditary in his family,' but he 

 shortly afterwards relinquished his right with all its 

 privileges, including that of taking timber at Peakirk 

 for the repairs of his house-property and for fuel.' 

 A grant of £i:ee-warren was made to him for his lands 

 in Maxey in 1 294-5.^ His son Geoffrey was married 

 three times, and having repudiated his third wife 

 Margaret previous to the birth of her infant, a suit 

 was brought after his death by his daughters against 

 the claim of the infant Geoffrey on the grounds of 

 an alleged irregular union between their father and 

 Margaret. Abbot Adam de Boothby (1321-38) 

 championed the cause of the infant, and after three 

 years of litigation compelled the half-sisters to desist 

 from their claim. He was then plunged into a 

 further contention with the Earl of Hereford, who 

 was overlord of the deceased Geoffrey de la Mare m 

 his Essex estates, the earl going to the length of 

 abducting the child. At length the abbot com- 

 promised at law with him for the sum of X'°'-'> 

 which the earl, repentant on his death-bed, restored 

 to the abbey of Peterborough. The abbot after- 

 wards married his ward to the daughter of Geoffrey 

 Scrope, one of the king's justices.^ 



The time and cause of the cessation of the de la 

 Mare holding are unknown, but in I 37 1-2 all lands 

 in Maxey which had been held by Geoffrey de la 

 Mare were in the hands of Robert of Thorpe,' who 

 was succeeded by his nephew William, the same who 

 in 1374-5 obtained a royal licence to embattle his 

 manor-house at Maxey.* About ten years later 

 William of Thorpe is found in possession of the de 

 la Mare property in Maxey, and also of that formerly 

 held by Roger de Torpel, now called Ardernes 

 Manor.' This is described about 1242 as an eighth 

 part of a fee, and was held at that date as under- 



tenant by Robert de Colville.'" The overlordship of 

 this portion passed with Torpel " into the hands of 

 Eleanor, queen of England. About 1288 Robert's 

 successor, William de Colville, granted his manor in 

 Maxey to Nicholas de Etton and Margery his wife, 

 who was a daughter of William." The son of Nicholas 

 and Margery was Sir Nicholas de Etton, whose widow 

 Jane became the second wife of Sir John Arderne," 

 while Nicholas de Etton her son married Margaret, 

 daughter of Sir John, and died leaving no children. In 

 1347-8 the manor was in the hands of Peter de 

 Arderne," a cousin of Margaret, who, in a suit at law 

 two years previously, had contended that the right 

 form of his name was de Ardene, and not de Arderne, 

 which the jurors, however, disallowed, saying that he 

 had always been known as Peter de Arderne," a 

 dictum somewhat overbearing in view of the fact that 

 Peter was a member of an important Cheshire family 

 holding large estates, including Hawarden, in that 

 county, though but recently possessed of Northamp- 

 tonshire property. Ten years later the manor was 

 transferred by Richard de Wever and Margaret his 

 wife, the daughter of Peter de Arderne, to Robert of 

 Thorpe."^ 



Between 1408 and 1410 both the de la Mare fee 

 and Arderne fee were in the possession of John, earl 

 of Somerset, who was one of 

 the heirs of the Torpel estate, 

 the former being held of the 

 abbey of Peterborough, while 

 the latter was held of the 

 manor of Torpel." Both fees, 

 known henceforth collectively 

 as the manor of Maxey, con- 

 tinued to follow the Torpel 

 descent, and passed in due 

 course into the hands of Mar- 

 garet, countess of Richmond. 

 After her death and the nulli- 

 fying of her testamentary dis- 

 positions to St. John's College, 



the manor remained in the hands of her grandson 

 Henry VIII,'^ who granted it before 1525 to his 

 illegitimate son Henrj', duke of Richmond, who 

 died a few years later." 



In 1550-51 the manor of Maxey was granted by 

 Edward VI to his half-sister, the Princess Elizabeth," 

 who upon her accession granted it in I 561-2 to Sir 

 William Cecil,*' afterwards Lord Burghlcy, and it con- 

 tinued with the Cecils"^ until, upon the marriage 

 of Elizabeth Cecil early in the 17th century to 

 Thomas Howard, earl of Berkshire, it passed to 

 his family. 



After the death of William Howard, son of Thomas 

 earl of Berkshire, Maxey was settled by his son Craven 

 on his two sisters, Anne and Dorothy, who married 

 respectively Sir Gabriel Silvius alias Woods and 

 James Graham. In 1699 it w.-is sold by Dame Anne 

 Silvius and James Graham and his wife with view of 



Beal-fori'. France 

 quartered ivith England 

 in a border gobony argent 

 and azure. 



' Cart. Antiq. DD. 17. 



^ Cbronicon, 9, 61, 72. 



8 y.C.H. Noribants, i, 391. 



•• Cott. Vesp. E. xxii, fol. i. 



s Chart R. 23 Edw. I, No. 88. 



•^ Sparkc, Scriptores^ 226. 



" Pat. 45 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 4. 



8 Abbrev. Orig. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 



■i Feet of F. Div. co. 7 Ric. II, No. 84. 



I" Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 60, fol. 251. 



^^ For Torpel see Utford, 



'^'^ Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 215*; 

 Feet of F. Northants, 17 Edw. I, No. 257. 



^^ Ormerod, Parentalia, 94. 



" Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 38, fol. 157*. 



" Ibid. fol. 213. 



" Feet of F. Northants, 31 Edw. Ill, 

 No. 454. 



'^ Chan. Inq. p.m. 1 1 Hen. IV, No. 44. 



18 Nichol, Royal fTiJs, 4S8. 



" L. and P. Hen. rill, iv, pt. i, 

 p. 67. 



»" Pat. 4 Edw. VI, pt. iii. Grant re- 

 scinded in following year, but renewed 

 1552 (Pat. 6 Edw. VI, pt. iii). 



^1 Pat. 3 Eliz. pt. 10, m. 19. 



«> Feet of F. Div. co. Hil. 9 Jas. I, 

 East. 21 Jas. I ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (scr. 2), 

 ccccxxiv, 84. 



