A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



1 173.'" Before 1 190, it had passed to his nephew 

 and heir Alan, the son of his sister Emma and Robert 

 de \'itry.^ He seems to have died shortly and Burton 

 passed to his mother and Robert de \'itry, but before 

 1196 it escheated to the King.'^ Burton passed 

 to Thomas Malemains, the husband of Joan, a grand- 

 daughter of Emma de \ itry, and one of the daughters 

 of Eleanor de Vitry by her second husband, Gilbert 

 de Tellieres.^- Malemains went to Germany in 

 1209,^3 and apparently during his absence, King 

 John gave Burton to Fullc de Cantilupe to hold at 

 will.^^ Malemains on his return joined the king's 

 party, and recovered the manor of Burton in 1 216, 

 as part of his wife's inheritance.^ In 1217, it was 

 again granted to Cantilupe,** but presumably he 

 obtained other compensation, since on the death of 

 Thomas Malemains, it was granted during pleasure 

 in 1219 to his widow Joan.*' She died in 1221, and 

 the custody of her lands and heir was granted to 

 William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury and his wife 

 Ela, her half-sister.** Nicholas Malemains obtained 

 livery of the manor before 1225** and it was probably 

 during his life time that the division of the manor of 

 Burton already mentioned was made. In 1 236, 

 Nicholas apparently held the whole of the I J knight's 

 fees.^ Before 1 225, he leased the manor*' and then 

 forfeited it. In 1228 it was granted to William 

 Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, on behalf of his brother 

 Richard Marshall,*- on whose death in 1233, it was 

 granted, during the king's pleasure, to Gilbert de 

 Segrave.*^ In 1234, however, Nicholas Malemains 

 obtained restitution of the manor.** He died before 

 1240** and his widow apparently only held the 

 smaller manor for her life.** His heir, presumably 

 his daughter, was Ela, the granddaughter of Thomas 

 Malemains and wife of Robert de Plessy.*' On the 

 death of Nicholas's widow, Beatrice, after 1284,** the 

 manor was held in direct descent by John, son of 

 Robert and Ela (d. 1313), Edmund (d. 1327), Nicholas 

 (d. 1356), and John who was succeeded by his brother 

 Nicholas Plessy, a minor, who died in 1362.*' It 

 passed to his sister Joan, the wife of John Hamely.'* 

 Their son John died without issue, and after the 

 death of John Hamely in 1399, the reversion of the 

 manor belonged to Joan's uncle, Peter Plessy," who 

 had granted it to John Plessy of Shapwick (co. Dorset), 



'■' Rrd Bk. of F.xch. (Rolls str.), 331-2 ; 

 Crtai Roll of iht Pipe (I'ipc Roll Soc), 

 xi, 119, lii, 54, xxi, p. 53. 



'0 Cott. MS. (B.M.), Doinit. A 8, 

 (ol. 87 ; Pipe Roll Soc. (New «cr.), i, p. 30 ; 

 Mag. Rot. Scacc. Norm. (Soc. of Antiq.), 

 ii, p. xlvii, note O. 



" Pipe R. 8 Kic. I. m. 17. 



'M/<jg. Rot. Scacc. Norm. (Soc. of 

 Antiq), ii, p. xlvi, note O. 



" Ibid. 



" Red Rk. of Exch. (Rollj ler.), p. 532 ; 

 Pipe R. 13 John, m. 13. 



" Roi. I.itt. Pat. (Rcc. Com), i, 195* j 

 Rot. Lilt. Claui. (Rcc. Com.), i, 2S4. 



" Ibid. 34r,A. 



" Ibid. p. 389, 390*. 



•' Ibid. 468* i A/af. Rot. Scacc. Norm. 

 (Soc. of Antiq.), ii, p. xlvi, note O. 



" Cal. Pal. 1216-25, p. 532. 



" Rk. of Fen, i, 603. 



*' Cal. Pat. 1216-25, p. 532. 



•• Cal. Cloie, 1227-31, pp. 36, 542. 



•■ Cal. Cloie, 1231-34, p. 344. 



•« Cal. Pal. 1232-47, p. 83. 



•' Cal. Cloie, 1237-42, p. 257. 



whose son John came into possession.''^ In 1406,'* 

 another John succeeded, and on his death in 1417, it 

 passed to John Cammell, son of Joan, the sister of 

 the fi.st John Plessy of Shap- 

 wick.'* His son Robert and 

 grandson William succeeded 

 him,'^ but William sold Burton 

 Plessy in 1496 to feoffees ap 

 parently to the use of Nicholas 

 Boughton, who died seised in 

 1 5 19.'* His son Edward pre- 

 sumably sold it to Sir Nicholas 

 Vaux, who died seised in 



vo/ 



Plessy. Argent six rings 

 gules. 



1523." The Vaux family 

 held it till the death of 

 Edward, Lord Vaux of Har- 



rowden," when it passed under a settlement of 1646 

 to Nicholas KnoUys, Earl of Banbury." His son 

 Charles sold it to Christopher Cratford and John 

 Kenricke in 1687.** It changed hands frequently 

 at this time. Early in the 1 8th century, John Whiting 

 was lord of the manor,*' but in 1738 Mrs. Anne 

 Dickinson, a widow, sold it to Arthur Brooke.'- In 

 1764, William Steer and his wife Anne sold it to George 

 Udny,*^ who, in turn, sold it in the same year to John 

 Harpur,** who already had the manor of Burton 

 Latimer {q.v.) 



The Priory of Bradstoke held the NETHER manor 

 or PRIOR'S manor in BURTON in frankalmoin of 

 the lords of the manor of Burton Plessy.** In 1221 

 Henry de Braibroc and his wife Christina Ledet 

 granted one virgate of land to the Prior,** but the 

 greater part of the manor must have been formed 

 from the land which Nicholas Malemains granted 

 to his sister Hillary in marriage. After the death 

 of her husband, VValter de Godarville, she granted 

 it in frankalmoin to the Priory, and further charters 

 were obtained from her daughter Joan, the wife 

 of Geoffrey Gacelyn.*' The Priory held the manor 

 till the early 1 6th century,** but it had been granted 

 to under-tenants at fee-farm.*' In 1502, it was held 

 by John Ashby*" in right of his wife Letitia, and they 

 sold it to Sir Richard Empson.*' It was forfeited 

 on Empson's attainder in 1509,'- and in 1512 Henry 

 VIII granted it to Sir William Compton.'^ In 

 some way, however, Thomas Empson regained pos- 



of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 3 & 4 Ph. and Maiy ; 

 Trin. 31 Eliz. pt. i ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 

 (Scr. ii), ccxliv, 121 ; Pat. lojas. I, pt. 15 ; 

 Recov. R. 4 Chas. I, ro. 12. 



'• Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich. 22 

 Chas. I i Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 

 1A55. 



'" Ibid. Mil. 2 & 3 Jas. II. 



*' Bridges, Hist, of Northants. ii, 224. 



•' Feet of F. Ni>ithant8. K.ist. 1 1 Ceo. II, 



"■ Ibid. Norlhants. Mich. 4 Ceo. III. 



"* Feet of F. Northants, East, 4 Geo. III. 



" Slowe MS. (IIM.), 925, fol. 152. 



" Ibid. fol. ibid. 



»' Ibid, fol, 152-3 ; Feet of F. case 172, 

 file 27, no. 345 ; case 173, file 40, no. 657 ; 

 Cal. Chart, iii, 225. 



"" /'/«., dr Quo ll'arr. (RccCom,), 548-9. 



»• /.. 6>- P. lien. 11 II, i, g. 587 (10). 



"' Ibid, ; Feet of F. Northants. Mil. 

 17 Hen, VII. 



•' Ibid. 



"' Exch. Inq. p,m, (.Ser. ii), dclxxvi, 

 10, I I ; Chan, IiKi, p,m, (Ser, ii), xxvi, 21. 



"• /.. 6- /'. //-•". /■///, i, K 10S3 (41) i 

 Pat. 3 Hen. VIII, pt. 3, m. 13. 



182 



