A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



It may be supposed that with the destruction of 

 the castle the need for the inn ceased ; at any rate it 

 has now for many years been occupied as a private 

 house. 



A little to the west of the parish church is an open 

 space called the marketstead, where the market used 

 to be held. John of Brittany, in 1308, was granted 

 a market on Wednesday in each week at his manor of 

 Fotheringhay, and a fair there every year on the vigil, 

 day, and morrow of St. Michael.' These seem soon 

 to have lapsed, for there is no reference to them in 

 several full descriptions of the manor in the latter part 

 of the reign of Edward III. Henry VI, in 1457, 

 renewed the grant of the Wednesday market to 

 Richard, duke of York, and a fair for two days, 

 namely, the morrow and d.iy following of Relic Sun- 

 day.' If Leland's statement that Edward IV had 

 thoughts of privileging Fotheringhay with a market' 

 be true, this grant also must very soon have lapsed ; in 

 any case, from this time there is no further mention 

 of a market at Fotheringhay. But the fair is still 

 held for one day in the marketstead ; up to about 

 forty years ago every house in the village while it 

 lasted was allowed to sell beer. In the marketstead a 

 cross probably stood which was destroyed about 1580. 

 A maypole also was erected there in the 1 6th century, 

 and in 1578 a sum was paid to the carpenter for 

 ' squaring the maypole that stands in the market- 

 steede.' * May revels were kept up in Fotheringhay 

 until the middle of the 19th century.' 



Fotheringhay was enclosed in 1635.° Among the 

 place-names found in this parish are Swans nest, Saphon 

 Close, Petigreymore, Brakesbalke, Curtilwong, Appul- 

 hoo, and Radulforde. 



In 1086 the Countess Judith, niece of 

 MANOR William the Conqueror and widow of the 

 ill-fated Waltheof, earl of Huntingdon, 

 held six hides in Fotheringhay. Of this two hides 

 were in demesne ; the rest was held by three serfs, 

 nineteen villeins, six bordars, and the priest. There 

 was a mill, and woodland I league in length and 9 fur- 

 longs in breadth, which when it was stocked and the 

 king did not hunt there was worth 10/. Turchil 

 held the land freely in King Edward's time.' The 

 Countess Judith was succeeded in her lands by her 

 only daughter Maud, who married as her first hus- 

 band Simon de St. Liz, the rejected suitor of her 

 mother, who was created earl of Huntingdon. 

 Fotheringhay was considered part of the honour of 

 Huntingdon, and it followed the descent of that 

 honour for the next century.' Simon died about 

 1 109 ; his widow Maud married soon after David I, 

 son of Malcolm III of Scotland, who became king of 

 that country in 1 1 24. David did homage to Maud, 

 daughter of Henry I, and rose to support her claim 

 to the throne when the kingdom was seized by 

 Stephen. He invaded Northumberland, but was met 

 by Stephen with a large force, and an agreement was 

 made by which Henry the son of David was con- 

 firmed in the honour of Huntingdon and did homage 



to Stephen, thus saving his father's oath.' Henry, 

 who is represented by the chronicles as a model of all 

 that a prince should be, died, in 1152, before his 

 father.'" The earldom of Huntingdon was given by 

 Stephen to Simon, son of Simon de St. Liz and 

 Maud, a staunch supporter of Stephen, and the real 

 heir by hereditary right to the earldom, but who was 

 a minor at his father's death. He was described by 

 Robert earl of Gloucester, according to Henry of 

 Huntingdon, as one ' whose deeds never went beyond 

 words, nor his gifts beyond promises.' Henry him- 

 self remarks, on his death in 1153, that Simon 

 'abounded in all that was unlawful and unseemly.'" 

 He was very munificent to the Church, being founder 

 of the nunnery of De la Pre and the abbey of 

 Sawtrey. After his death the earldom of Huntingdon 

 remained for a time in abeyance ; it was confirmed 

 in 1 1 59 by Henry II to Malcolm, 'the Maiden,' 

 king of Scotland. On his death without children in 

 I 165 it descended to his brother William the Lion. In 

 1 173 both William and his brother David joined the 

 great baronial rising of that year against Henry II. 

 William was taken prisoner at Alnwick, and as the 

 price of his release had to submit to the ignominious 

 treaty of Falaise in 1 174. Among his losses was the 

 earldom of Huntingdon, which was granted by Henry 

 to Simon son of Simon de St. Liz the second. Simon 

 died ten years later, when the earldom was re-granted 

 to William king of Scotland, who immediately passed 

 it on to his brother David. Richard I confirmed the 

 honour to David, with all liberties and customs." 

 At the beginning of the reign of John, Earl David 

 was in favour, but he seems to have later sided with 

 the barons, for in 1212 he was commanded to deliver 

 up Fotheringhay immediately for the king's use.'' The 

 castle was returned to him in 1215, but in 1 2 16 he 

 was again termed the king's enemy, and apparently 

 his lands were seized, for in the beginning of the next 

 reign Henry III ordered that Earl David should have 

 seisin of all his lands, etc., whereof he was disseised 

 on account of the war." On David's death in 1 2 19, 

 the wardship of his lands belonging to the honour of 

 Huntingdon was granted, during the minority of his 

 son John ' le Scot,' to Alexander, king of Scotland." 

 In 1227 John, who was also earl of Cambridge, and 

 soon after became earl of Chester by right of his 

 mother, did homage, and had seisin of all his lands. '^ 

 He died without children in 1237, leaving as co- 

 heirs his sisters Margaret, Isabel, Matilda, and Ada. 

 Fotheringhay, at first the dower of John's widow 

 Elena, who married Robert de Quincey, afterwards 

 fell to the two daughters of Margaret, wife of 

 Alan, lord of Galloway, eldest sister of John, 

 Christiana wife of William de Fortibus, earl of Albe- 

 marle, and the celebrated Devorguilla, who married 

 John Balliol." In 1243 Christiana died without 

 issue, and Devorguilla succeeded to the whole of the 

 lordship of Fotheringhay. Devorguilla survived her 

 husband more than twenty years ; she is said to have 

 spent much of her widowhood at Fotheringhay. It 



1 Chart R. 2 Edw. II, m. 12, No. 40. 



* Third Sunday after Midsummer Day. 

 Chart. R. 27-58 Hen. VI, No. 18. 



8 liin. (ed. Hearne), i, 5. 



< See Bonncy. He quotes from an 

 ancient MS. then (1821) In his posses- 

 sion 5 perhaps the MS. book of the affairs 

 ■of the parish alluded to by Stukeley (Itin, 

 Curioi. p. 36). 



* For an account of them see A. E, 



Baker, Glossary of Northants ff^ords and 

 Phrasrs, App. p. 427. 



^ Bridges, ii, 456. 



' y. C. H. Norlhanls, I, 3 50J. 



8 For descent of earldom of Hunting- 

 don see G. E. C. Complete Peerage^ iv, 282. 



9 Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Scr.), 

 ii, 164. '" Diet. Nat. Biog. 



" Henry of Huntingdon (Rolls Ser.), 270, 

 288. 



570 



" Cart. Antiq. X, 28. 



" Pat. 14 John, m. 4. 



" Ibid. 17 John, m. 23 ; Close, 18 

 John, m. I ; ibid. 2 Hen. Ill, pt. ii, 

 m. 9. 



" Pat. 5 Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. 4. 



" Close, II Hen. Ill, m. 12. 



1' Ibid. 22 Hen. Ill, m. 20 ; Close, 

 30 Hen. Ill, m. 2 ; Testa de Nevill (Rec. 

 Com.), p. 38. 



