A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



raids on the surrounding country. Dunstable Priory promised lo marks to 

 Ralph Pyrot ' for his protection,' "^ and the money was paid to some of his 

 companions, who passed through about Easter, 1267, on their way to join 

 the Earl of Gloucester, who had withdrawn from the king and occupied Lon- 

 don. Not content with this, they took besides ' our good mill horse and all 

 the horses they found in the town.' They also carried off as prisoner Bartho- 

 lomew Juvenis,"' deputy of Prince Edward, who had been made sheriff of 

 Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire in October 1266.'" 



The Isle of Ely was taken by Edward in July, and Ralph Pyrot and 

 others were allowed to leave with all their belongings. And ' after this all 

 who liked to redeem according to the terms of the Dictum of the legate at 

 Kenilworth ^" had seisin of their lands fully.' "^ 



Little mention is made of the Greys during the war. John de Grey died in 

 1266^*' and was succeeded as sheriff of Nottingham by his son Reginald, who 

 was also governor of Nottingham Castle 1266-7, and of Northampton Castle 

 1267."^ He appears once upon the borders of Bedfordshire. When the Earl 

 of Gloucester was holding London against the king his steward arrived at 

 Brickhill with a considerable troop ; but de Grey, to whom the manor be- 

 longed, came upon him unawares, killed some of his followers, captured 

 others, and drove the rest away.^** Of other landowners and residents in 

 Bedfordshire who can be identified, the ' William de Albiniaco,' whose name 

 occurs among the inimici regis whose lands were seized after Evesham,^*' 

 was possibly the son of Lady Isabel of Cainhoe. The St. Amands were 

 probably royalist, as Almaric de St. Amand received leave to hunt in 

 several counties between December 1266 and March 1267."° 



The Cantilupes exercised no influence as landowners in Bedfordshire 

 during the war. The third William died in 1254, leaving his son George, a 

 child of three, whose wardship was one of the wedding gifts bestowed by 

 the king on Prince Edward."^ Walter Cantilupe, Bishop of Worcester, the 

 uncle of the last William, was a whole-hearted supporter of de Montfort ; he 

 was suspended by the legate Ottobon, 6 December 1265, and died shortly 

 afterwards ; '" but except that he held the rectory of Eaton Bray"' amongst 

 his many benefices he had nothing directly to do with the shire : while 

 Thomas, George's uncle, was appointed chancellor by the barons in 1265,"* 

 became Bishop of Hereford in 1275,"' and is well known as Saint Thomas 

 of Cantilupe. 



On the cessation of the war tournaments were held on all sides ; there 

 were more in the first year of peace than in the preceding decade."' One was 



'" Thi3 kind of blackmail is described in the Dunstable Chron. (p. 241) with reference to the garrison of 

 Kenilworth, 'villas adjacentes depraedati sunt ; alias vero tensaverunt' ( = 'took toll of, levied blackmail on'). 

 Cf. Round, Geoff, de MandevUk, 414-16 for the meaning oi tensare. 



"• Jnn. Dunst. 245. '" P.R.O. List. 



'" See text of the ' Dictum' in Stubbs, Select Chart. 419. '» Jnn. Dunst. 246. 



'" Collins, Peerage, ii, 27, quoting Close 50 Hen. Ill, m. 5. 



"' Ibid, quoting Pat. 5° & 5 1 Hen. III. See Morris, Welsh Wars of Edward I, 33. The service of the 

 garrison was ' ad debellandos inimicos regis,' i.e. outlawed Montfortians, with whom an engagement was fought 

 in Sherwood Forest. The Dunstable Chron. (p. 251) speaks of some knights and others who 'se traxerint ad 

 forestam et ibi morabantur partes illas (the Peak district) devastantes.' 



"» Ann. Dunst. 246. "» Cal. Geneal. 173. 



■" Cal. Rot. Pat. (Rec. Com.), 39^. '" Cal. Geneal. 61; Ann. Dunst. 194. 



Rishanger, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 47. "" Rot. Lit. Pat. (Rec. Com.), %-jb. 



IH 



"""""B'-'J «-""!"'• \"""» ""■/> !•/• •"■<"• i^". rai. ^i\cc. \^OTn.), OJO. 



212. 



'" F088, "Judges of Engl, ii, 288. "• Wykes, Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iv, 263. ' '" Ibid. 



32 



