A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



were confiscated by Henry I. Maud the daughter and 

 heir of Niel Mundeville married Ruallon d'Avranches 

 (de Abrincis), and the overlordship of OFERSTONE 

 remained vested in the d'Avranches until, on the death 

 of William without issue in 1235, it passed to his sister 

 Maud, the wife of Hamon de Crevecoeur, who held it 

 in her right;' but by 1275 it had escheated to the 

 Crown as lands of Normans.^ 



The mesne lordship was obtained by Humphrey de 

 Millers who married Felice the sister of a William 

 d'Avranches, and probably the daughter of Ruallon 

 and Maud Mundeville.' Humphrey, who was holding 

 the manor in 1 1 66,'' had two sons, by the elder of whom, 

 William, he was succeeded, the second son Ralph being 

 rector of Overstone.' William died before 1223,* 

 leaving two sons, the elder of whom, William, pre- 

 sented his brother Humphrey to the church in that 

 year, and a daughter Felice, the heir of her brothers, 

 who both died before 1 241 .' She was succeeded before 

 1247 by her son Gilbert de Wyarvill, sometimes called 

 de Millers,' but his lands were forfeited to the Crown 

 in 1 27 1 as being those of a Norman.' Overstone was 

 retained in the hand of the king for some years'" and in 

 1 28 1 the manor was bestowed on Christiane de Mareys 

 to hold for life. In 1285 and again in 1290 one of her 

 tenants Walter le Mazun complained that she had 

 unjusdy ejected him from i virgate of land which had 

 been leased to him while Richard de Holebrook was 

 bailiff" for 16/. and on which he had expended much 

 money in buildings and improvements.'- Christiane 

 died c. 1 3 1 2 when her executors, who were to hold the 

 manor for j\ years after her death," leased it for that 

 term to Robert de Appleby, clerk, at a rent of £<^o. 

 Their lessee offended the king, who confiscated 

 Overstone,'* and appointed Martin de Ispanum 

 steward in I3i6,'5 but compensated the executors.'* 

 Overstone was granted in 13 18 to Donald de Mar" 

 who, however, joined the Scots against the king in 

 1327, and was declared a rebel,'* Overstone being 

 forfeited and granted to John Mautravers for life." 

 Richard de Grey of Codnor then petitioned the king 

 for the manor and in 1329 he brought an action against 

 John Mautravers on the ground that Gilbert de Millers, 

 before he forfeited Overstone in 1271, had demised it 

 to Richard de Grey, his great-grandfather.-" Richard's 

 claim was recognized to a certain extent, for in 1331 

 he received a grant of Overstone for 7 years at a rent 

 of ;^35 I2X. lljij'.,-' but on his death in 1335 it was 

 confiscated by the king, probably because there were 

 two years' arrears of rent.'-' Thomas Wake of Deeping 

 was granted the manor in 1335 to hold for one year at 

 an increased rent of £40,^' but it is doubtful if the grant 

 ever took effect, as during the same year it was bestowed 

 upon Sir Walter Manny in part satisfaction of ^100 



per annum granted to him by the king, Overstone being 

 worth 100 marks a year.^* Sir Walter Manny was a 

 native of Hainault, but attached himself to the service 

 of Edward III and took part in most of the French 

 campaigns, being present at Sluys in 1 340 and at Crecy 

 in 1346, and was knighted in 1 331, and in 1346 sum- 

 moned to Parliament as a baron. ■^^ During his tenure of 

 Overstone, John, the son of Richard de Grey who had 

 died in 1 335, renewed the claim of the de Grey family 

 to the Overstone estates,^* without success; and in 1 365 

 one Edmund de Morteyn claimed that his great- 

 grandmother Constance was seised of the manor in the 

 reign of Edward I,-'' but his pretensions were without 

 foundation and Sir Walter Manny died seised of the 

 manor in 1372,-* and was buried in the Charterhouse, 

 of which he was founder. His son having been 

 drowned, the tide and some of the property became the 

 right of his daughter Anne, wife of John Hastings, 

 2nd Earl of Pembroke, and on her death in 1384 

 descended to her son John Hastings, the third earl, who 

 died without issue in 1389.^' Overstone, however, had 

 been settled on Margaret, mo jure Countess of Norfolk, 

 the wife of Sir Walter, who outlived her daughter and 

 grandson and died in 1398.'" In 1 391, after the death 

 of her heirs, she alienated the manor to John Duke of 

 Lancaster^' who settled it on John of Beaufort, his 

 eldest son by Catherine Swin- 

 ford.'^ John of Beaufort, who 

 was created Earl of Somerset, died 

 in 14 10, and his son Henry'' on 

 his death in 141 8 was succeeded 

 by his brother John, a third part 

 of the manor being held of their 

 mother, Margaret Duchess of 

 Clarence,'* who accounted for 

 half a fee in Overstone in 1428." 

 John was made Duke of Somer- 

 set and died in 1444, leaving a 

 daughter Margaret,'* who mar- 

 ried Edmund Tudor, Earl of 

 Richmond, by whom she was the mother of Henry 

 VII. When she died in 1509 Overstone became 

 the property of her grandson Henry VHP'' by whom 

 it was granted in 1537 to Sir William Fitzwilliam, 

 Lord High Admiral of England, and his heirs male.'* 

 The manor escheated to the crown on the death of 

 Sir William without issue in 1542," and was be- 

 stowed by Edward VI in 1550 upon Thomas Smythe, 

 one of the secretaries of state, and Elizabeth his wife, 

 and the heirs of Thomas.*" In 1577 Sir Thomas 

 Smythe settled the manor on his brother George, after 

 his ovm decease and for the lifetime of his wife Philippa, 

 at whose death it was to pass to John Wood, his 

 nephew. Sir Thomas died the same year, and his 



Beaufort. Trance and 



England quartered in a 



border gcbony argent and 



azure. 



' G.E.C. Peerage, i, 36; Bi. of Fees, 

 935.946. 



^ Mins. Accts. bdle. 1089, no. 6. 



3 Baker, Nori/iants. i, 53. 



4 Hearn, Liber Niger, i, 57. 



5 Baker, A'orMan/j. i, 53. 

 * Harl. MS. 6950. 



' Ibid.; Excerpta e Rot. Fin. i, 363. 



8 Ibid, ii, 13. 



9 Baker, Nortkants. i, 54. 



'» Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 13. 



^* He had been appointed in 1281: 

 Abbrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), i, 4.0. 



"^ Cal. Close, 1179-88, p. 365 ; Cal. Pat. 

 1281-92, p. 406. 



" Ibid. 1307-13, p. 508. 



'* Pari. R. i, 341; Chan. Inq. Misc. 

 file Ixxviii, no. 5. 



'5 Feud. Aids, iv, 23 ; Ahbrev. Rot. Orig. 

 (Rec. Com.), i, 224. 



'^ Cal. Pat. 1313-17, p. 564; Cal. Close, 



•3^7-3°. P- +3- 

 " Cal. Pat. I 3 17-2 1, p. 80. 

 '* Did. Nat. Biog. 

 ^■^ Cal. Pal. 1327—30, p. loi. 

 " Coram Rege R. 186 (2), m. 105. 

 " Abhrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), ii, 56. 

 ^^ Cal. Close, 1333-7, p. 360. 

 " Abhrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), ii, 95. 

 " Cal. Pat. 1334-8, p. 176. 

 " Diet. Nat. Biog. 

 ^' De Banco R. 354. m. 362 d. 



" Ibid. 421, m. 152. 



-' Chan. Inq. p.m. 46 Edw. Ill ( i st nos.), 

 no. 38. 



" G.E.C. Peerage (2nd ed.), vi, 351. 



3° Ibid. 



3" Cal. Pat. 13S8-92, p. 461. 



" Fine R. 15 Rich. II, m. 3; Cal. Pat. 

 1391-6, p. 15. 



33 Chan. Inq. p.m. 1 1 Hen. IV, no. 44. 



3* Ibid. 3 Hen. VI, no. 18. 



35 Feud. Aids, iv, 37. 



3' Chan. Inq. p.m. 22 Hen. VI, no. 19. 



3' Ibid. (Ser. 2), XXV, 63. 



3* Pat. 29 Hen. VIII, pt. i, m. 21. 



3» Diet. Nat. Biog. 



*" Pat. 4 Edw. VI, pt. viii, m. 9. 



96 



