FEUDAL BARONAGE 



third penny of these counties in the farm of the honour of Lancaster is 

 difficult to explain except on the supposition that when Henry 11. gave the 

 honour to his younger son, John of Mortain, he added this sum in augmenta- 

 tion of the issues of the honour. 



The tenure of three Lancashire manors by the Peverels, as part of their 

 honour of Nottingham, seems to suggest that Henry I. had given these 

 manors to William Peverel before he gave the honour to his nephew, Stephen 

 of Blois.^ The date of the grant of the honour of Lancaster to Stephen can 

 only be surmised, as there are no charters of Henry of later date than 1 102,'' 

 nor of Stephen of earlier date than 1 123,' to tell us who was in possession of 

 the honour during the years intervening between these dates. But we know 

 from the Lindsey Survey that in, or perhaps a year or two before, 11 18, 

 Stephen was in possession of the lands in Lindsey which had belonged to the 

 honour of Count Roger. 



The principal acts recorded of Stephen, whilst count of Mortain, in 

 reference to the honour, were the foundation in 1123 at Tulketh, near 

 Preston, of a monastery in connexion with the abbey of Savigny in Mortain;* 

 a confirmation to Robert de Molyneux of Sefton of his land in Downlither- 

 land; ' the translation in 11 27 of the monks from Tulketh to Furness and 

 their endowment with half the land of Furness; ' the re-grant in 1 123 of the 

 church of St. Oswald at Winwick to Nostell Priory, which Roger of Poitou 

 had formerly granted; '' the infeudation of the ancestor of Leon de Manvers 

 in lands in Anston in Yorkshire, and in Holme and Gamston in Nottingham- 

 shire.* These grants were all made while Stephen was count of Mortain. 

 The Pipe Roll of 1 130 records some important agreements made in the king's 

 court by some of Stephen's principal thegns between Ribble and Mersey with 

 their chief lord.* As king he confirmed his grant of Furness to the monks 

 from Savigny and also confirmed to them the grant of Muncaster made by 

 William de Lancaster, ' quae est de feodo meo,' words which suggest that 

 Stephen had received Coupland also, when he acquired the honour of 

 Lancaster.^" 



The history of the honour during Stephen's reign presents many 

 difficulties. Between 1141 and 1143 we find David of Scotland in possession 

 of the land north of the Ribble," and in 1 1 47 we find the earl of Chester in 

 possession of the land between Ribble and Mersey." The former claimed 

 ' Lancaster ' as part of the ancient kingdom of Northumbria; the latter had 

 either forcibly seized the southern region or claimed it on the grounds of a 

 former grant to Ranulf Meschin, the possibility of which we have hinted at 

 above. In the former case, which is the more probable, the earl's possession 

 of this region may have dated from the time between 1 140 and 1 146, when 



1 It has been suggested by Mr. Planch^ (Tie Conq. and his Companions, ii. 269) that Adeline de Lancaster, 

 wife of William Peverel of Nottingham, was a daughter of Roger of Poitou. If this were so, a more probable 

 explanation of the connexion of these manors with the honour of Peverel would be that they had formed part 

 of Adeline's endowment. 



2 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 382. ' Ibid. 427 ; Symeon of Durham (Rolls Ser.), ii. 267. 

 * Ibid. ii. 267. The Coucher of Furness gives the date as 1 124. (p. 8). 



6 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 427. « Ibid. 301. 



7 Mon. Angl. vi. 92 ; Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 4053. 



8 Lane, and Ches. Ree. Soe. xlviii. 105. » Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. i. 



10 Coueher of Furness (Chetham Soc), 125. ^^ Tait, Mediaeval Manchester, 167-8. 



52 Ibid. 169 ; Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 27^-7. 



293 



