FEUDAL BARONAGE 



Chester, as ' constabularius Cestrie.' 1 Dying without issue, William's inheri- 

 tance was divided between his two sisters, Agnes, who had married Eustace 

 fitz John, 8 lord of Knaresborough (being his second wife), and Maud, who had 

 married Albert Grelley, lord of Manchester. 8 The share of the inheritance 

 which fell to Eustace fitz John comprised the lordship of Halton, in Cheshire 

 except Daresbury and the lordship of Widnes in this county except 

 Cuerdley together with the office of constable of Chester, which lands and 

 office were duly confirmed to him by Ranulf, earl of Chester.* He was slain 

 in an ambuscade of Welshmen at Counsylth, near Basingwerk, in July, 1 1 57, 

 whilst engaged in the invasion of North Wales. 6 Richard, his son by Agnes 

 his second wife, succeeded him as constable of Chester, and apparently attested 

 a royal charter in the autumn of 1 1 57, at Falaise. 6 The date of his death is 

 unknown, but probably occurred before 1163, in which year, or very soon 

 after, a royal charter was attested by his son John, who had succeeded him as 

 constable of Chester, and in 1 166 gave 1,000 marks to have the lands of his 

 mother, Albreda de Lisours, lady of Sprotborough. 7 



In 1172 John, constable of Chester, founded the Cistercian abbey of 

 Stanlaw, in Cheshire, 8 and endowed it with the vill of Staining, in Amounder- 

 ness, and other estates. 9 Early in 1 1 8 1 he was sent with Richard de Peche 

 to take charge of Dublin after the recall of Hugh de Lacy. 10 To the Knights 

 Templars he gave one ploughland, probably representing a third part of the 

 manor of Great Woolton. The remainder of the manor he conferred upon 

 the Knights Hospitallers. 11 To Salop Abbey he confirmed the third part of 

 the vill of Thelwall, which his predecessors, William the constable and 

 William his son, had given to the monks of that house. 13 He also founded 

 the hospital of Castle Donnington. 13 He was present at the coronation of 

 Richard on 3 September, i iSg. 14 He married Alice, daughter of Robert de 



1 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 319. 



* Mon. Angl. vi. 955. 



8 Ibid. 315 b ; Duchy of Lane. Misc. -g%. 



* Ormerod, Hut. of Ches. (edit. Helsby), i. 52. 



6 Witt. ofNewburgb (Rolls. Ser.), ii. c. 5. Agnes his widow remarried Robert fitz Count, who styled 

 himself constable of Chester once at least. Man. Angl. iii. 434 ; vi. 955-6. 



6 Round, Cat. ofDocts. France, 215. 



7 Pipe R. Soc. ix. 51. At Michaelmas, 1166, John, constable of Chester, paid 100 marks of 

 the greater sum of 1,000 marks for livery of his mother's lands. Albreda de Lisours married secondly, 

 William de Clerfait, and thirdly, about 1170, William fitz Godric, by whom she had issue William fitz 

 William, lord of Sprotborough in 1194, who was ancestor of the earls Fitzwilliam (Pipe R. 

 24 Hen. II. Ebor.). William de Clerfait, whose name occurs on the Pipe Roll of 2 Hen. 11. (Rec. 

 Com.), p. 27, had married for his first wife Avice de Tanai, by whom he had Sibil, who married 

 Ralph de Till! ; Mon. Angl. v. 487; Hunter, Deanery of Doncaster, i. 333 ; Round, Peerage Studies, 48. 

 William fitz Godric was lord of Emley, co. York. His name occurs in the Pipe Roll of 1170 in an entry 

 repeated until 1176, when he renders account of 100 to have the mother of John the constable to wife 

 with her lands. Pipe R. Soc. xxv. 102. His father appears to have been Godric, son of Ketelbern, or 

 Chetelbert. Burton, Mon. Ebor. 332 ; Pipe R. 31 Hen. I. (Rec. Com.), 33. 



8 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), i. 187, the foundation charter is dated 1278. Coucher of Whalley, Chetham 

 Soc. x. i. 



Ibid. xi. 419. 



10 Hweden (Rolls Ser.), ii. 253. Round, Geof. de Mandevilk, 390-1. 



11 Inf. of 1212, Lane, and Ches. Rec. Soc. vol. 48, p. 41. His brother, Robert fitz Richard, was prior of 

 the English Hospitallers from about 1187 to 1214, but not continuously. Hist. Soc. Lanes, and Ches. N.S. 

 vol. 1 8, p. i"j6n. 



i* Reg. of Salop Abbey, MS. penes W. Farrer,. No. 317. 



is Mon. Angl. vi. 765. 



i* Benedict (Rolls Ser.), ii. 80. 



299 



