FEUDAL BARONAGE 



by his wife Isabel, or Elizabeth, of Vermandois, widow of Robert, count of 

 Meulan, who died in 1 1 1 8. There is nothing in respect of her age to render 

 improbable her marriage to William fitz Gilbert after 1 153, 1 for although the 

 information springs from a doubtful source, there is a copy extant of a charter 

 of William fitz Gilbert, in which, as William de Lancaster, he grants free 

 right of pasturage throughout his fee in Lonsdale and Amounderness to the 

 canons of St. Mary de Pre of Leicester, by the advice and consent of William 

 his son and heir, and of Gundreda his wife, and for the health of the souls of 

 his lord Henry, king of England, Queen Eleanor, and their children, and of 

 Gilbert his father, Godith his mother, Jordan his son, and of Margaret, 

 daughter of the countess. This charter was attested by ' Gundreda, daughter 

 of the countess.' 2 William fitz Gilbert made many donations to religious 

 houses. 8 One of the earliest, which was confirmed by King Stephen, was the 

 grant of Muncaster to Furness Abbey.* The grant did not, however, long 

 continue in force. He also gave the manor and church of Cockerham, the 

 chapel of Ellel, 2. carucates in Cockerham and the hamlet of Crimbles, on 

 either side of the River Cocker, to the canons of St. Mary de Pre at Leicester,' 

 land in Swarthof, or Swarthead, in Hensingham (or Preston) to St. Bees, 

 which William Meschin confirmed, 6 land in the same place to St. Mary's 

 Abbey in York, 7 land in Bartonhead to the hospital of St. Leonard of York, 8 and 

 a fishery in the River Lune, called Chil or Childe, to Fountains Abbey.' An 

 important matter arising during his time was the agreement made before the 

 king, in or about 1 163, between William and the monks of Furness for the 

 demarcation of Furness Fells from the barony of Kendal, and a partition of this 

 mountainous district between them. Before that time there had been no 

 set limit to the great forest area extending from the Duddon to the upper 

 waters of the Lune. William and his predecessors had been wont to chase 

 buck and doe, and to take hawks from the eyries found there. By this 

 agreement he took the western part of the fells, retaining venison and hawks 

 throughout the whole area, but paying to the monks a yearly service of 

 20 shillings, whilst the monks took the eastern part of these fells. 10 The 

 kinship which would exist between Lancaster's wife (if she was the countess 

 Gundreda) and Isabel de Warenne, the wife of William of Blois, who was 

 jure uxoris suce fourth earl of Warenne, may well have been the origin of 

 the feoffment to Lancaster of the lordships of Warton and Garstang by 

 Warenne, and the association of William fitz Gilbert with the castle and 

 district of Lancaster, as governor or seneschal, 11 which led to his assumption 

 of ' Lancaster ' as a surname. The service of one knight due for Warton and 



1 Gundreda, countess of Warwick, had ten knights' fees assigned to her in dower in 1 159. Pipe R. Sac. 

 i. 26. Cf. RedBk. o/Excb. (Rolls Ser.), 326. 



a Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 392-3. 



8 His lay feoffments included 2 carucates in Ellel to Grimbald de Ellel ; 2 carucates in Scotforth to Hugh 

 Norman ; J carucate in Lancaster to Ralph de Torrisholme ; J carucate in Ashton to Gilbert de Ashton ; 

 and 2 bovates in Carnforth to Robert the falconer. Exch. K.R. Kts. fees, , m. 34 ; Lanes. Inj. Rec. Soc. 

 xlviii. 4-5. 



4 Coucker of Furness, Chetham Soc. N.S. ix. 125. 



6 Exch. K.R. Kts. fees, $, m. 3<J ; Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 391-2. Roger fitz Gilbert, his brother, gave 

 to St. Bees the vill of Hensingham, which Alan held of him in drengage, for the health of the souls of William 

 his brother and William his nephew. Ibid. No. 223. 



6 Reg. of St. Bees, Harl. MSS. No. 434. ch. 3. 



7 Man. Angl. iii. 550. Roger fitz Gilbert gave 2 bovates in Hensingham to the same house. Ibid. 



8 Men. Angl. vi. 613. Burton, Man. Ebor. 178. 



1" Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 310-31 1. " Dugdale, Baronage, i. 421^,- cf. Round, feudal England, 168. 



359 



