A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



shire went with this grant, and all reverted to the 

 crown on the death of Matthew son of John in 

 1309."* Dowry in the manor of Erlestoke (Wilt- 

 shire) was granted, on appeal," to Eleanor widow of 

 Matthew, but the manor of Hunton and the other 

 possessions of Matthew were granted by Edward II 

 in 1309 to Ralph de Monthermer, who had 

 married Joan daughter of Edward I, and to his two 

 sons Thomas and Edward, the king's nephews.** 

 Evidently Matthew son of John had died leaving 

 many debts, since in 1313 came an order to the 

 barons of the Exchequer to supersede the demand 

 they had made on the various lands that had belonged 

 to Matthew, among them on the manor of Hunton, 

 and not to molest Ralph de Monthermer and his sons 

 on account of these debts." On the death of Ralph 

 de Monthermer in 1325 his sons made a partition of 

 the lands that had belonged to ' Sir Thomas Matthew 

 son of John,' and the manor of Hunton fell to the 

 share of Edward," who was holding in 1337, when 

 he mortgaged it to Peter de la Mare." Ralph de 

 Monthermer becoming Baron Monthermer through 

 his romantic marriage with the king's daughter, had 

 been summoned to Parliament as baron from 1 309 

 to 1324," and had played an active part in the 

 Scotch wars of Edward II, and thus the details of his 

 life are fairly well known." Of his son Edward, 

 however, little is known except that he served in 

 Scotland in 1334, an ^ that, although he was the 

 second son, was summoned to Parliament as baron in 

 1337." In all probability he died unmarried soon 

 after the latter date, and the manor of Hunton passed 

 to his elder brother Thomas, who after seeing active 

 service in Scotland was killed at the naval victory off 

 Sluys in 1340." The manor was held by his wife 

 Margaret in dower until her death nine years later, 

 when it passed to their only daughter and heir Mar- 

 garet, the wife of Sir John de Montagu, 18 second 

 son of William first earl of Salisbury. Sir John died 



MONTHERMER. 

 tagle vert. 



Or an 



MONTAGU. Argent a 

 Jesse indented of three 

 points gules. 



seised of the manor held in right of his wife in 1 389," 

 and she held it until her death in 1394.* Their son 

 and heir John, the famous third earl of Salisbury, 

 who became earl as heir of his uncle in 1397, then 

 held the manor until his notorious execution at 

 Cirencester in 1400. According to Dugdale he was 

 ' a great favourite of King Richard the second,' who 



granted him the sequestered lands of Thomas earl of 

 Beauchamp, and constituted him marshal of England 

 in 1398." When the news of Bolingbroke's arrival 

 reached Ireland, whither Salisbury had gone in 

 attendance on the king, he was dispatched to Con- 

 way, North Wales, to gather the Welshmen in the 

 king's cause." Their dispersion when they found that 

 Richard tarried in Ireland is a well-known story, best 

 known perhaps through its introduction into Shake- 

 speare's Richard II. 33 Henry IV tried to win his 

 adherence by a policy of propitiation, but in his 

 faithfulness to Richard he ' confederated with the 

 earls of Huntendon and Kent in designing Henry's 

 destruction.' Under the disguise of Christmas 

 players they came to Windsor, intending to murder 

 Henry and his sons and restore Richard, but being 

 discovered they fled by night to Cirencester in Glou- 

 cestershire. There the townsmen, being ' much 

 affrighted at their coming thither with such numbers 

 at that unseasonable time,' blocked their way and a 

 sharp fight ensued. The conspirators yielded and 

 were given sanctuary in the abbey, but a priest of 

 their company having set fire to some houses as a 

 means of escape, the enraged inhabitants, without 

 stopping to quench the fire, brought them out of the 

 abbey and beheaded them. 34 From the hands of this 

 self-saicrificing supporter of Richard II, on whom an 

 attainder was passed after his death, the manor went 

 by the generosity of Henry IV, ' much compasionat- 

 ing the low estate of the widow and her children,' to 

 his eldest son and heir Thomas. 34 The latter in 

 1414 appealed to Parliament to reverse the attainder 

 passed on his father, but without avail. 36 He himself 

 rendered Henry V much valuable service in his wars 

 in France, was present at Harfleur and Caen, was 

 constituted lieutenant-general of the duchjr of Nor- 

 mandy, and remained in France until he was acci- 

 dentally killed before Orleans " on 3 November, 

 1428-9." He left an only daughter and heir Alice, 

 married to Richard Nevill, who was created earl of 

 Salisbury in right of his wife by letters patent of 

 1442." 



The new earl, although favoured by Henry VI 

 and made warden of the West Marches, 4 " was one of 

 the first to espouse the cause of York, and, after fighting 

 in many brilliant victories, at the Yorkist reverse at 

 Wakefield he was taken prisoner and beheaded, and 

 his head fixed to a pole over the gates of the city of 

 York. 41 



On Richard's death the manor passed, when 

 after the battle of Towton Edward earl of March 

 had become king, to his more famous son Richard 

 earl of Warwick, better known perhaps as ' Warwick 

 the Kingmaker.' His life and deeds are too well known 

 to need any record, and his death on Barnet field in 

 1471 is almost without historic parallel in its pictur- 

 esqueness. His estates, together with those of his wife, 

 Anne Beauchamp, were taken from the latter by Act of 

 Parliament, ' as if she herself had been naturally dead,' 

 and settled upon their two daughters Isabel and 



18 Inq. p.m. 3 Edw. II, No. 49. 



18 Ibid. 5 CaLof Close, 1307-13^. 510. 



50 Cal. of Close, 1307-13, p. 510. 



v Ibid. 



M Ibid. 1323-7, p. 492. 



28 Ibid. 1337-9, P- IO 3- 



" Parl. Writ, (Rec. Com.). 



See Diet. Nat. Biog. 



x G.E.C. Complete Peerage, v, 352. 



* Inq. p.m. 14 Edw. Ill (ist Nos.), 

 No. 34. 



28 Ibid. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. 2(ist Nos.), 

 No. 90. 



"" Ibid. 1 3 Ric. II, No. 34. 



80 Ibid. 1 8 Ric. II, No. 31. 



81 Dugdale, Baronage, !, 650. 

 Ibid. 



88 Act ii, scene iv. 



410 



84 Dugdale, Bar. i, 650. 

 86 Pat. i Hen. IV, pt. 6, m. 3 5 ; 2 

 Hen. IV, pt. I, m. 12. 



86 Roll of Parl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 18. 



87 Dugdale, Bar. i, 653. 



88 Inq. p.m. 7 Hen. VI, No. 57. 



89 Pat. 20 Hen. VI, pt. 4, m. 3. 

 10 Dugdale, Bar. i, 302. 



41 folydorus Virgil, 510. 



