A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Bassisgbourne. Gy~ 



Tonny argent and gules. 



bourne in 1213.^ In 1216 King John granted the 

 manor to Baldwin de Gisnes*' possibly on account 

 of Nicholas's debts, in which we find him involved in 

 1222.^ Nicholas was paying scutage for his fee in 

 Benefield in 1236 and 1243.** 

 In or before 1252, he was 

 succeeded by his son, Hum- 

 phrey,'*" who, in 1273, leased 

 the castle and manor of Bene- 

 field to Queen Eleanor, the 

 King's mother, for ;^ioo a 

 year, the rent of the first 

 twenty-five years being paid 

 in advance to acquit Hum- 

 phrey of his debts to the 

 Jews.^' Humphrey died about 

 1280,''- and in 1298 Benefield 

 passed from his son and heir 



of the saiLe name to his grandson, another Humphrey 

 de Bassingbourne,*^ lord of the manor in 1 3 16.*' This 

 Humphrey obtained a grant of free warren in 1321,** 

 a liberty which his son, another Humphrey, main- 

 tained at law some eight years later.^ In 1330 

 Humphrey de Bassingbourne had three sons living," 

 but by 134.3 Giles, the eldest, had died, leaving a 

 daughter and heir, Margaret,** and Benefield was 

 settled on her marriage with Walter, son of Robert 

 de Colvile.** Walter and Margaret succeeded Hum- 

 phrey in 1349,*" Margaret being then fourteen, 

 Walter not quite eight years old.^^ Walter was dead 

 before the close of 1367, and his infant son, Robert, 

 survived him less than two years.^^ In accordance 

 with the settlement of 1343 the castle and manor of 

 Benefield descended to the heirs of Robert de Colvile, 

 Walter's father.^^ These were Ralph Basset of 

 Sapcote and John Gernoun, the former being grandson 

 of Elizabeth, one sister, the latter son of AHce, the 

 other sister of Robert's father, Edmund de Colvile.^* 

 In 1377 the manor of Benefield was settled on Ralph 

 Basset,^ who died seised of the manor and castle in 

 the following year.*^' His widow, Alice, held the 

 manor and a third of the castle as dower. She died 

 in 1412, when her heirs were their daughter, Elizabeth, 

 wife of Richard Lord de Grey, and Robert Moton, 

 grandson of Alice, Ralph's elder daughter,^* whose 

 father, William Moton, had died seised of the site 

 of the castle and lands in Benefield nearly twenty 



years before." Richard Lord de Grey died in 1418 

 seised of the manor and a moiety of the castle in right 

 of his wife, Elizabeth.^ In 1445 Elizabeth, who 

 survi\ed her husband about thirty-three years, settled 

 the manor on John Zouche and his wife, her daughter 

 Elizabeth,^' and a few months before her death she 

 granted them her moiety of the castle.^ John 

 Zouche, who had settled a third of the manor on his 

 second wife, Eleanor, widow of John Melton, died 

 in 1501. At her death in 1519"'^ she was succeeded 

 by her son, John Zouche. In 1529 his younger 

 brother David claimed for himself and his late 

 brother Lionel, a share in the family estates under 

 his father's will.*^ John Zouche was succeeded about 

 153163 by his son and heir George, who died in 1557. 

 His son and heir was another Sir John Zouche,®* who 

 with his wife Elizabeth settled the castle and manor.*-'' 

 He died in 1586*' and his son 

 John Zouche with his wife 

 Mary settled the manor in 

 1590*' and in the following 

 year sold it to Sir Christopher 

 Hatton, the Lord Chancel- 

 lor.^ Sir Christopher died 

 without issue in 1591, heavily 

 in debt to the Crown.** His 

 heir was his nephew William, 

 son of his sister Dorothy, wife 

 of John Newport, who took 

 the ?urname of Hatton on his 

 uncle's death.™ In 1 594 Sir 



William Hatton settled the castle and manor of Bene- 

 field on himself and his heirs male with remainder to 

 his daughter Frances. William and Francis Tate," 

 two of the trustees, obtained a lease of the property 

 from the Crown the next year.'^ Sir William died 

 without male issue within two years.'^ According 

 to the settlement of the late Lord Chancellor,'* 

 Benefield should have passed to Sir Christopher 

 Hatton of Kirby, his first cousin,'^ but Sir Robert 

 Rich and his wife Frances, Sir William Hatton's 

 daughter, obtained the interests of the Crown and 

 of the Zouche and Hatton families.'* In 1641 

 Robert, then Earl of Warwick, with Robert and 

 Charles Rich, his sons by Frances, made a settlement 

 of the castle and manor of Benefield among other 

 estates on the marriage of Charles with Mary, 



Zouche. Gules bezanly 

 and a quarter ermine. 



pt. 



Close 



** Rot. Lit. Pal. JoM. (Rcc. Com.), 97*. 



*' Chan. jMisc. bdle. 12, no. 7. 



"Pipe R. 66, m. 6d ; 67, m. 1 3,/. 



" ^*- «/ F'", pt- i, 494-99 i 

 S°i-S, 937- 



" Sparke, Hist. Angl. Script. 56. 



♦'Chart. R. 63, m. 5; Cat. 

 '*72-79i PP- "Z, 113- 



•"Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 24, 

 no. 15. 



"Cal. Inij. p.m. iii, no. 468. 



«• Feud. Aids, iv, 28. 



"Chart. R, 107, m. i. 



"Plac. de Quo fVar. (Rec. Com.), 510. 



♦' Chan. Inq. j.q.d. file 208, no. 4. 



"Cal. Pat. 1343-45. P- '4'- 



" Feet of F. Div. Coi. caie 287, 

 file 41, no. 345. 



»" Ibid. Northanti. cjie 177, file 77, 

 noi. 290, 293. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. F.dw. Ill, file 90, 

 no. 8; Cloie R. 185, m. 27. 



"Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. Ill, file 193, 

 no. ■; ; file 208, no. 25. 



" Feet of F. Div. Cos. case 287, file 

 41, no. 345. 



'* Fine R. 170, m. 10. 



"Close R. 217, m. 3od ; 218, m. 

 26. 



"^ Chan. Inq. p.m. Ric. II, file 4 

 no. 8. 



"Ibid. Hen. IV, file go, no. 15. 



" Ibid. Ric. 11, file 75, no. 21. 



"Chan. Inq. p.m. Ilcn. V, file 30, 

 no. ;. 



"Close R. 295, mm. 3d, i6d ; 297, 

 m. I5d. Chan. Misc. bdlc. 14, file 2, 

 no. 12. 



•"Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. \'I, file 144, 

 no. 34. 



"Ibid. (ser. 2), xxxiv, no. 81. 



•• Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 599, no«. 55, 



56.57-. 



•• Bridges, loc. cit. j Glover, llist. 

 Derby, ii, 342. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), cix, 19. 



•» Pat. R. 8 Elil. pt. I , m. 27 i Feet of 

 F. Div. Coi. East. 8 Eliz. 



" Ch.in. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), ccx, 90. 



"Pat. R. 32 Eliz. pt. 14, m. 31; 

 33 Eliz. pt. 8, m. 33. 



•* Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 32 

 Eliz. ; Hil. 33 Eliz. ; Recov. R. Mich. 

 32 Eliz. ro. 64. 



•" Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), cccxxix, 

 193 ; Pat. R. 37 Eliz. pt. 18, m. 19. 



'"Baker, Hist. Northants, i, 196; 

 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



"Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), cccxxix, 



'93- 



"Pat. R. 37 Eliz. pt. i8, m. 19. 



'•Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), cccxxix, 

 193. 



" Diet. Nat. Biog. 



"Baker, loc. cit. j Chan. Inq. p.m. 

 (ser. 2), ccclxxvi, 100. 



'• I-cct of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 9 Jas. I; 

 Ibid. Northants, Trin. 12 Jas. I ; Hil. 

 14 Jas. I; Mich. 1; Jas. I; Notes of 

 Fines, East. 14 Jas. I ; Pat. R. 14 Jas. I, 

 pt. 22, m. II. 



78 



