SPELHOE HUNDRED 



MOULTON 



Grimbald. Argent tivo 



bars azure and a border 



gules. 



In 1086 the chief manor o[ MOULTON was held 

 of the Countess Judith' and continued to form part of 

 the honor of Huntingdon, whose descent is 

 MANOR traced under Yardley Hastings. It is last 

 mentioned as attached to this honor in 1439, 

 when the Earl of Warwick so held it of Sir Reynold 

 Grey of Ruthin.* 



As under-tenant at the time of the Domesday Survey 

 stood Grimbald,^ whose descendants held Moulton 

 until the middle of the 13th 

 century. His grandson Robert 

 Grimbald married Maud, the 

 daughter and co-heir of Pain de 

 Houghton.* After his death his 

 widow married Richard de la 

 Pek,5 who held the manor in her 

 right towards the end of the 

 12th century.* Robert Grim- 

 baud was returned in 1242 as 

 holding of the honor of Hun- 

 tingdon in Moulton,' but the 

 actual manor is said to have 

 been acquired from the Grim- 

 balds in the reign of Richard I by Geoffrey Fitz Piers, 

 Earl of Essex,* whose descendant' and heir, John Fitz 

 John, certainly held the manor and in 1 276 was holding 

 a view of frankpledge in his court from his tenants, who 

 were geldable at the hundred and had not paid suit of 

 court there for 20 years.'" On his death in the same 

 year, the manor, then held mainly as one fee of WiDiam 

 Grimbaud, passed to his brother Richard," who also 

 died without issue in 1297, leaving three sisters or their 

 descendants as his heirs. '^ Moulton, which was then 

 worth ;^43 6s. wJ. yearly, was at first assigned to 

 Maud, the eldest sister, wife of William de Beauchamp, 

 Earl of Warwick," but a subsequent partition awarded 

 the manor to the heirs of Isabel de Vipont, a second 

 sister and co-heir. They were Idonea her daughter, 

 widow of Roger de Leyburn, and Robert de Clifford 

 her grandson.'* Idonea, who married John de Cromwell, 

 heldhalf the manor in I292'5 but probably acquired the 

 remaining half from Robert de Clifford soon after, as 

 her husband was lord of Moulton in 1316'* and no 

 further mention is found of the manor in moieties. In 

 1325 Robert de Wombwell and Robert Tree were 

 fined ;^300 for damages done by wilful entry of Moul- 

 ton and Yardley Manors, where they devastated John 

 Cromwell's goods and furniture and expelled him by 

 force and arms," but in the following year Moulton 

 was given to Roger de Bilney as John remained abroad 

 aiding the queen against the king.'* The profits of the 



Beauchamp. Gules a 

 Jesse bet^veen six crosslets 



manor and all things pertaining to her chamber were, 

 however, granted to Idonea" and Moulton was restored 

 to John by Edward III in 1327.-" In 1330 John and 

 Idonea Cromwell claimed view of frankpledge in the 

 manor.^' John died shortly afterwards, and on his 

 widow's death in 1 334, without issue, Moulton passed, 

 according to the terms of a settlement made in 1 320, to 

 Edward the son of Hugh le Despenser the younger, 

 hanged in 1326.^^ It is likely, however, that this settle- 

 ment never took effect and that 

 the manor was acquired by the 

 Beauchamps, Earls of Warwick, 

 co-heirs with Isabel de Vipont, 

 as in 1339 Thomas de Beau- 

 champ, iith Earl of Warwick, 

 settled it on his daughter Joan 

 on the occasion of her marriage 

 with Ralph grandson of Ralph 

 Basset of Drayton, the final re- 

 version of the manor being vested 

 in the Earl of Warwick.^-' The 

 elder Ralph dying in 1343^* 

 and his widow in 1353,^* their 

 grandson Ralph succeeded them in the lordship^* and 

 received a grant of free warren in 1360.^' Ralph 

 died in 1390, when the manor reverted to Thomas 

 Beauchamp, son and heir of the nth Earl.^* On the 

 arrest of the Earl for high treason in 1396, Moulton 

 with the other estates was forfeited,^' but restored on the 

 accession of Henry IV and passed on Thomas Beau- 

 champ's death in 1 40 1 to his son Richard,'" who by his 

 second wife Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Worcester, 

 left a son Henry, aged i 5 when he succeeded to Moul- 

 ton on the death of his father and mother in 1439.'' 

 Henry died in 1446, leaving an infant daughter Anne 

 Countess of Warwick,'- who died three years later, 

 when the manor devolved on Anne sister of the whole 

 blood to Richard and wife of Sir Richard Neville, 

 created Earl of Warwick and known as 'The King- 

 Maker'.-" After his death on the battle-field of Barnet in 

 1 47 1 , his estates were divided between his two daughters 

 and co-heirs, although his widow Anne was still alive.''' 

 Having survived both her daughters, however, she 

 obtained the restitution of her estates by Act of Parlia- 

 ment in 1487," but was obliged to surrender them to 

 the king in the following year.'* Henry VII and 

 Henry VIII kept the manor in their own hands, and 

 during the latter's reign the services of several of the 

 king's retainers were rewarded with the office of bailiff^ 

 of the manor or grants of free warren and land." In 

 1550 Edward VI bestowed Moulton on the Princess 



■ y.C.H. Norihanis. i, 352. 



' Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Hen. VI, no. 54.. 



' V.C.H. Norikanis. i, 352. 



« Cott. MS. Vcsp. E. xvii, fols. 46 d., 



47- 



* Ibid. fol. 47 ; Farrcr, Honors and 

 Knights^ Fees^ ',37. 



» A'.C.//.A'orM<jfi«. 1,381. 



' Bk.ofFees,^]i. 



' Firrer, op. cit. il, 302. 



• C.E.C. Peerage (2nd ed.), v, 433-5. 

 'o Hund. R. (R«. Com.), ii, i 3. 



" Cal. Pal. I 272-81, p. 113; Chan. Inq. 

 p.m. 4 Edw. I, no. 47. 



" Ibid. 25 Edw. I, no. 501. This is the 

 last appearance of the Grimbald mesne 

 lord«hip. 



'> Cal. Close, 1296-1302, p. 144. 



'•• Ibid. p. 248; Abbrev. Rot. Orig. {Rcc. 

 Com.), i, 107. 



" Feet of F. Div. Co. 30 Edw. I, no. 

 271. 



" Feud, /lids, IV, z J. 



" Abbre-v. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 354. 



" Abbre-v. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), i, 

 299J Cal. Close, 1 323-7, p. 603. 



'» Cal. Pat. 1 324-7, p. 3 1 3. 



" Close R. I Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 21-2; 

 cited by Blore in Rutland, 1 8. 



" Plac.de quo Ifar. (Rec. Com.), 560-1. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), 

 no. 66; Did. Nat. Biog.; Feet of F. Div. 

 Co. 14 Edw. II, no. 8. 



" Ibid. Northants. i] Edw. Ill, no. 181; 

 Add. MS. 28024. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 1 7 Edw. Ill ( i s( no!.), 

 no. 59. 



" Cal. Close, I 346-9, p. 582 ; Chan. Inq. 

 p.m. 27 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 43. 



" Cal. Close, 1349-54, p. 587. 



89 



" Chart. R. 34-5 Edw. Ill, m. 6, no. 

 20. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 14 Rich. II, no. 9. 



'» Did. Nat. Biog.; Chan. Inq. p.m. 

 21 Rich. II, no. 137. 



"> Ibid. 2 Hen. IV, no. 58. 



" Feet of F. Div. Co. 2 Hen. VI, no. II } 

 Chin. Inq. p.m. 17 Hen. VI, no. 54; ibid. 

 18 Hen. VI, no. 3. 



" Ibid. 24 Hen. VI, no. 43. 



" G.E.C. Peerage, viii, 60; Feet of F. 

 Div. Co. 6 Edw. IV, no. 41. 



J* Pari. R. (Rec. Com.), vi, 100. 



" Ibid. 391. 



J» Feet of F. Div. Co. Hil. 3 Hen. VII ; 

 De Banco R. Hil. 3 Hen. VII, m. 208; 

 Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A. 11056. 



>' L. and P. lien, rill, i, 108; ibid, iv, 

 2349, 2856; ibid. ii< (2), 191; Ct. of 

 Req. bdle. 1 2, no. 181. 



