10 THE HISTOEY OF THE EOYAL BUCKHOUNDS. 



those persons ever having held the office of Master, although 

 they were undoubtedly the custodians of a portion of the 

 King's Buekhounds and other dogs for the time being. 



In some instances they are styled huntsmen. In no instance 

 are they called Masters. Even the number of buekhounds in 

 the custody of the holders of the Manor varied from time to 

 time. In the 10th year of the reign of Edward II. (A.D. 1316) 

 the Manor of Little Weldon was held by tenure of keeping 

 seven and a half couples of the King's Buekhounds every year 

 in Lent. The same number is mentioned in the original 

 Inquisition taken in the 14th Edward III. (A.D. 1340);* and 

 in a similar document of the 40th Edward III. there are only 

 seven couples mentioned. 



It is unnecessary for us to dwell on the peculiarities of the 

 tenure or sergeanty attached to the Manor of Little Weldon 

 during the period it was held solely by keeping certain drafts 

 of the King's Buekhounds and the contingent services thereof, 

 as this part of the subject is gone into by Professor Burrows. 

 It will be sufficient for our purpose to begin with the manor 

 when it passed to Sir Bernard Brocas on his marriage with 

 Mary de Borhunte. Here we are. somewhat at fault in not 

 being able to ascertain the exact date of this alliance. Sir 

 Bernard Brocas is said to have been divorced from his first 

 wife, Agnes Vavasour, in 1360. When he married his second 

 wife, Mary de Borhunte, the relict of Sir John de Borhunte, 

 is not stated in the family pedigree, as set out in Professor 

 Burrows' volume. If the divorce did not take place before 

 1360 the marriage with Mary de Borhunte must have been 

 subsequent to that date. On June 6th, 1366, in consideration 

 of a payment of 4:1., Sir Bernard Brocas obtained the King's 

 licence to permit Matilda Lovel to make a grant of the Manor 



* Professor Burrows gives a copy of an undated document written in French, 

 preserved among the Brocas family muniments, relating to Thomas de Bor- 

 hunte, the holder of the tenure at this time, in which the number of buck- 

 hounds in his custody is set down as twenty-four, and six greyhounds. This 

 does not correspond with the original Inquisition above mentioned ; and it 

 appears to refer to a later period when the tenure was altered after Sir Bernard 

 Brocas became the first Master (^2^'^'' *^) ^^ *^^ Koyal Buekhounds. 



