EDWINSTREE HUNDRED 



Wyntonesfield and Coldsinethescroft.' Peppercorn 

 appears as the name of a family of villein tenants on 

 the manor in the 15 th century,' and in 1570 there 

 was a house called Peppercorns in the parish in which 

 Andrew Kyng of Meesden, yeoman, lived.'" 



Before the Conquest MEESDEN was 

 MANOR held by Alward, a man of Archbishop 

 Stigand. It was one of the manors 

 acquired under William I by the Bishop of London, 

 of whom it was held in 1086 by a tenant Payn." It 

 was then assessed for I hide and comprised land for 

 five ploughs." 



As one of the Bishop of London's manors Mees- 

 den formed part of the barony of Bishop's Stortford 

 and paid a rent of zs. to the castle there." The Bishop 

 of London claimed quittance of suit of hundred court 

 for his men and their tenants at Meesden before the 

 justices of Edward I." 



Payn's immediate successors are unknown, but at 

 the beginning of the 13 th century Aubrey de Vere 

 Earl of Oxford was holding Meesden as half a knight's 

 fee of the bishop." In the middle of the same 

 century the manor was held under the Earl of Oxford 

 by a sub-tenant, the mesne lordship thenceforward 

 descending with the successive Earls of Oxford." 

 These earls seem to have been peculiarly tenacious of 

 their feudal rights of overlordship." A letter from 

 John de Vere Earl of Oxford to the Abbot of 

 St. Mary Graces, tenant of the manor, in 1 5 1 4 

 reminds the abbot that he owes the service of a 

 knight's fee and relief of 100/. for his lands in Mees- 

 den and summons him to appear at the earl's castle 

 of Hedingham at the following Easter, threatening 

 the penalty of the law should he fail to appear." As 

 late as 1634 a return of knights' fees held of Robert 

 Earl of Oxford was made, Meesden being among the 

 number." Between the Earls of Oxford and the 

 immediate tenant of the manor there seems to have 

 been a further mesne tenancy held by the family of 

 Gedding. What interest they had in the manor or 

 how they acquired it is not clear. In a fine of the 

 manor levied in 1265 it is recorded that Maud 

 widow of Henry le Eveske and Richard son of 

 William de Gedding * put in their claim.' '" In 

 1 304 the manor was said to be held of Robert de 

 Gedding." These rights over the manor, whatever 

 they were, were remitted by Sir John de Gedding to 

 the Abbot of St. Mary Graces in 1383.'' 



MoNCHENBEY. Or 



three scutcheons barry 

 •vair and gules. 



MEESDEN 



In 1253 the immediate tenant of the manor was 

 Robert le Botiller, who in that year received a grant 

 of free warren." Robert le Botiller died seised of 

 the manor in 1262, when Richard le Botiller his 

 brother succeeded. The extent 

 of the manor then included a 

 windmill." In 1265 Richard 

 le Botiller conveyed Meesden 

 to Denise de Monchensey," 

 widow of his brother Robert." 

 The manor descended with 

 the heirs of Denise de Mon- 

 chensey in the same way as 

 the manor of Anstey (q.v.) to 

 Aymer de Valence Earl of 

 Pembroke," and in 1325 was 

 granted for life to his widow 

 Mary Countess of Pembroke, 

 with remainder to her heir 

 Laurence de Hastings." In 1 368 the countess had 

 licence to grant the reversion of this manor with that 

 of Little Hormead and Westmill to a Carthusian 

 monastery to be founded in one of them." With the 

 same manors the reversion of Meesden was finally 

 granted by Letters Patent to the abbey of St. Mary 

 Graces in 1376.'° 



The manor remained with the abbey until the 

 Dissolution." In l 543 it was granted to John Gates 

 of Garnets in High Easter, co. Essex, together with 

 woods of 33 acres called Hall Wood Coppice and 

 Small Wood Coppice." The grantee was the Sir 

 John Gates who in 1553 was beheaded as a supporter 

 of Lady Jane Grey,"^ but the manor was probably sold 

 by him before this date to William Bradbury, who in 

 1550 bought the manor of Langley in Clavering, co. 

 Essex, from him." William Bradbury died seised in 

 1550, his son Robert being his heir.'' Robert died 

 in January 1576-7." The manor descended to his 

 brother Henry and on Henry's death in February 

 1596-7" to his son William. In 1601 William 

 Bradbury of Littlebury and Margaret his wife con- 

 veyed the manor to Richard and Anthony Luther." 

 The Luthers were a family who held considerable 

 estates in Essex, but there seem to have been several 

 branches of the family in which the same Christian 

 names constantly recur, which makes their pedigree 

 difficult to trace." Chauncy states that Richard 

 Luther was succeeded by a son and heir Thomas, 



* Mini. Accts. bdle. 867, no. 6, 7 ; 

 Harl. Roll N 18; Rentals and Surv. 

 portf. 8, no. 33. 



' Ct. R. (Gen. Ser.), portf. 178, no. 2, 3. 



" Will printed in Herts. Gen. and 

 Antiq. i, 36. Willi of other inhabitants 

 are printed in ibid, i, 369, 374 i ii, 9, 10. 



" y.CH. Herts, i, 307A. 



" Ibid. The difference between the 

 hidage and the possible extent of arable 

 here is probably accounted for by the 

 large amount of woodland. 



" Mins. Accts. bdle. 867, no. 5, 6 ; 

 Chan. Inq. a.q.d. file 365, no. 18. 



" Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 290. 



" Ked Bk. ofExch. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 541. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 35 Hen. Ill, no. 32 ; 

 Ct R. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 177, no. 36, and 

 below. 



" In several other cases (see Little 

 Hormead in Edwinstree), and perhaps 

 in this case also, the mesne lordship of 

 the Earls of Oxford was not acquired in 

 the usual way by virtue of a grant from 



a tenant above and of a grant to a 

 tenant below, but was a tenancy acquired 

 in between an overlord and a tenant 

 already holding. 



18 L. and P. Hen. Fill, i, 4766 (printed 

 in full by Cussans, op. cit. Edwinstree 

 Hund. 131). 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccclxxiii, 1 5 . 



2" Feet of F. Herts. 49 Hen. Ill, 

 no. 578. 



21 Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 252. 



^^ Close, 6 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 16 d. 



« Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A 5446. 



'< Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Hen. Ill, no. 14. 

 Richard is called son of Robert le Botiller 

 in Assize R. 325. 



" Feet of F. Herts. 49 Hen. Ill, 

 no. 578. 



2" See Little Hormead. 



" See Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 252 ; 

 Feet of F. Div. Co. i Edw. II, no. 4. 



28 Cal. Pat. 1324-7, p. 153- 



29 Inq. a.q.d. file 365, no. 18. 



'" Pat. 50 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 16 ; see 



89 



Chan. Inq. p.m. 51 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), 

 no. 28 i Feud. Aids, ii, 446 ; Cal. Papal 

 Letters, V, 547 ! Cal. Pat. 1461-7, p. 162. 



" Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 398. At 

 the time of the Dissolution it was leased 

 to John Hagar of Clavering, yeoman 

 (Aug. Off. Deer, xi, 86). 



" L. and P. Hen. Fill, xviii (2), 327 

 (11). *'''' Diet. Nat. Biog. 



85 Morant, Hist, of Essex, i, 614. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xc, 123. 



" Ibid, clxxvii, 54. 



3« Ibid, ccxlix, 54. 



8' Feet of F. Herts. Mich. 43 & 44 

 Eliz. ; Hil. 44 Eliz. ; Feet of F. Div. Co. 

 Hil. 7 Jas. I. , 



88 cf. Morant, Hist, of Essex, 1, 186 ; 

 ii, 191; Fisit. of Essex (Harl. Soc), i, 

 439. None of these branches seem to 

 correspond with the Hertfordshire one. 

 Langley in Clavering was held by the 

 Luthers who held Meesden (Morant, 

 op. cit. i, 614), but the Essex historian 

 has not traced their pedigree. 



12 



