A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



the property was divided between his sisters or their children/"* The male 

 line of Albini (or Daubeney) of Cainhoe died out by i 272, while the Bed- 

 fordshire lands of the honour of Huntingdon were, on the death of John Earl 

 of Chester in 1237, divided between the families of Bruce, Balliol, and Hast- 

 ings,"^ the rival claimants fifty years later to the Scottish crown ; but none 

 of them resided in Bedfordshire until Devorguilla, who with her husband had 

 founded Balliol College, came to spend her widowhood at Kempston. John 

 de Grey was the first known holder of land in Bedfordshire "° of a family 

 which for centuries took a leading place in the county. 



The crisis which led to the Provisions of Oxford in 1258 left no trace 

 in Bedfordshire, but when the Londoners broke out in riot in the summer 

 of 1263, on hearing that Prince Edward had seized the treasure in the 

 Temple, Grey's town house outside Ludgate was sacked, and he escaped with 

 difficulty across the Fleet stream.^^" A few weeks later Simon de Montfort on 

 his way from Kenilworth to London passed through Dunstable, where the 

 prior at his request received him ' into fraternity.'"^ In the beginning of 1 264, 

 after the refusal of the barons to accept the arbitrament in the king's favour 

 which Louis IX pronounced at Amiens, hostilities began. The king captured 

 Northampton, and amongst the sixty knights "' taken were three from Bedford- 

 shire, Simon de Pateshull of Bletsoe, who had been sheriff of the county in 

 1258, Hugh Gobion of Higham, and Ralph Pyrot,^** while one of the most 

 important prisoners was Baldwin Wake."* At the battle of Lewes, 14 May 

 1264, Henry de Hastings was among the leaders of the Londoners who fled 

 before Prince Edward's fierce attack."" The prince's reckless pursuit, how- 

 ever, led to the complete defeat of his father's forces by de Montfort."' 



John Balliol, Robert Bruce, and William Bardolf,"^ who were among the 

 royalists captured, were all landowners in Bedfordshire, but no tenants from 

 the county are mentioned. This victory released the prisoners taken at 

 Northampton, and Simon de Pateshull appears again as sheriff on 27 June 

 1264."' Precaution was at once taken to guard the coasts, as the queen, the 

 archbishop, and others were busy organizing a relief from the Continent, and 

 Dunstable sent four mounted men and six on foot for that service."' 



Meanwhile the relations between de Montfort and the Earl of Gloucester 

 were becoming less friendly, and it was in Bedfordshire that the actual break 

 occurred. Gloucester grew indignant at de Montfort's monopoly of power, and 

 looking for ' matter of revenge,' he announced a tournament at Dunstable, 

 at which Henry de Montfort and he were to captain the rival sides. On 



'"" Fine R. 6 Edw. I, m. 9. ^^^ Excerpta e Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), ii, 180. 



"Tw/tf de Nevill (Rec. Com.), Beds. Baronia de Wahull, 250^. He had his chief seat at Water Eaton 

 near Bletchley, Bucks., and was sheriff of the two counties in 1238 {P.R.O. Lift). 



""Jm. Dunst. 223 ; cf Wright, PoRtical Songs of Engl. (Camd. Soc), 62. "^ Ann. Dunst. 226. 



'"Rlshanger, Chron. (Camd. Soc), 24; his other chronicle (Rolls Ser.), 21, gives forty as the 

 number. 



^'^ Ann. Dunst. 229. Pyrot held six knights' fees under the Daubeney barony and had his chief residence at 

 Harlington ; Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 250^. 



'" Rishanger, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 2 1 . Wake must have been already married to Ela, the second 

 of the three Beauchamp heiresses, if her granddaughter Isabel was twenty-four years of age in 1295 ; see Inq. 

 p.m. of the widow of Simon de Beauchamp, Ela's brother; Cal. Geneal. 512. 



'" Wykes, Jnn. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iv, 150. Geoffrey de Lucy, who held Potsgrove under the Earl of 

 Gloucester {Testa de Nevill, 243.2 ; Feud. Aids, i, 2), is said by the Dunstable chronicler (p. 232) to have fled 

 with the Londoners, but no other account of the battle mentions his presence. 



"" For a detailed account of the battle, see V.C.H. Sussex, i, 497-500. 



'"Rishanger, Chron. (Camd. Soc), 32-3. ""P.R.O. List. ^^ Ann. Dunst. 233. 



3° 



