GREAT or 



> still 



Edward's death, i.e. about 1063, the manor was 

 taken away from that church by Karl Harold, after- 

 wards king, and attached by him to his neighbouring 

 manor of Hitchin. Three and a-quartcr hides, 

 probably in this parish also,' were held before the 

 Conquest by Swen, one of Earl Harold's men.' ' 

 1086 King William held the 8 hides, 

 other 3J hides had been granted 

 Beauvais.' 



William I or William Rufus gave the whole estate 

 as an escheat to Reginald de Argentein, as appears 

 from the evidence of his grandson." 



The manor was held of the king in chief by grand 

 serjeanty for the service of rendering the king a 

 silver-gilt cup at his coronation feast." This service 

 was performed by the lords of the manor until the 

 coronation of George IV. Since that date the state 

 banquet has been dispensed with, and the lords of the 

 manor have been exempt from their service. 



The manor was confirmed to John, son of Reginald 

 de Argentein, by King Stephi 

 living in 1 1 66." Reginald de 

 Argentein, presumably the son 

 of John, since he was grand- 

 son of the elder Reginald, 11 is 

 mentioned in 1 194,' 6 and was 

 Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 

 1 1 06." He was succeeded 

 by Richard de Argentein, who 

 seems to have forfeited, for in 

 1203 he received a pardon at 

 the petition of the Earl of 

 Albemarle from King John, t 



and had his patrimony re- '*" 

 stored. 18 Part of it he 

 delivered to Isabel de Argentein i 

 same year." In 1224. Richard di 

 Sheriff of Hertfordshire and Essex, 1 " and in 1225 

 and 1226 custodian of Hertford Castle." He was 

 also the founder of Little Wymondley Priory," and 

 in 1228 is spoken of as * a noble and one strenuous 

 in arms ' who had already been on a pilgrimage to 

 the Holy Land." He returned there later as a 

 Crusader and was killed in an engagement in 1 246." 

 His son and successor Giles" was engaged in the 

 war against Prince Llewellyn during his father's 

 lifetime, and in 123 1 was taken prisoner by the 

 Welsh.' 6 Reginald de Argentein, son of Giles, 

 inherited Wymondley in 1 283," and was still holding 

 in I303- IS His son John, who succeeded in 1307," 



BROADWATER HUNDRED 



, l8 ,ic.,i»g f i»r.«.»» e%i(cd - Gr „ t 



MUCH 

 WYMONDLEY 



Tohn, aged six 

 died .bout ■3'8.»™B"''"-' w V "«cci. C d Grot 

 month." »J ■ " KloW „ Agn sh ; Tftcrward. married 



John M.ltrave,., who lb; ft™* «» ^^ b „, 

 probably being involved in Mortin possibly 



Lrwards received them back. At son, ..» . P. fe ^ 

 ,• while the between these two mamage. Agnes ^ ^ ^ 



Goisbert de John de Nerford. , '" ' " , " , ;„ , ,,6 John de 

 restored to her by the king, and in 134 J A _ u _ 



Argentein ' 



: „ „a, holding n in he, name." *■£ 



!inl37S , when W,monde,P r ed.o John 



Maltravcrs was holding 



-- when W>..._ , . 



Argentein, her son by her first husband 



formed"^ office of cupbearer at the <— ^ 

 Richard II" In 13S1 heobtained a licence to en ^ 

 the manor on his son William and h» wife Jmhc\, 

 but upon the death of John it mi claimed in 13 £ 

 by his daughter Matilda and her hu» banc live 

 Fit. Warin, and his grandson Baldwin Sj George 

 of another daughter Elizabeth,'" These made 

 .plaint ' that whereas the said John [de Argentein] 

 .,-~.A ..min muniments concerning his lands in 



r of [Little] 

 vildoers seized 



md their friends 

 ot do what was 

 r his decent 

 support the 

 in illegitimate 

 :ngth of the 



delivered certain muniments concermr 

 a chest under lock and seal to 

 Wylmondesle for safe custody, < 

 the prior at Neumarkethcthe as he was coming to 

 Hallesworth, co. Suffolk to celebrate the obsequies of 

 the said John, patron of his priory, forced him to 

 send for the deeds and deliver them to one William 

 Dargentein and afterwards assaulted the 

 and Margaret wife of the said John i 

 at Hallesworth, so that they could nt 

 honorably due in oblations, etc., 

 burial." This strange tale seems t 

 statement of Cussans that William wa: 

 son. William, however, on the si 

 settlement of 1381, made good his claim, and the 

 manor was delivered to him." In 1400 he obtained 

 a confirmation of Stephen's charter to his ancestor 

 John de Argentein." He died in 1419, leaving an 

 infant grandson John" and a widow Margaret, who 

 held a third of the manor in dower until her death in 

 1427" The young John died in 1420, leaving at 

 his heirs his two sisters Elizabeth and Joan," between 

 whom the manor was divided. Joan, who had 

 married Robert Alington, died childless in 1 429, and 

 her moiety passed to her sister Elizabeth, wife of 

 William Alington," who thus became possessed of 

 the whole manor. William Alington, who held 

 Wymondley in right of his wife, died in 1 460, leaving 

 a son John," who held it until 1480, when he was 

 succeeded by his son William Alington.*' The 



* V.C.H. Hen 

 'The holt 



I, 30 1 



Grea 



Wymondley a 



they are both called Wymondley." 



8 V.C.H. Hern, i, 3 35 i. 



5 Ibid. joi. l0 Ibid. 33 ;i. 



11 Sot. Cur. Reg. (Rec. Com.), i, 391-1. 



"Ibid. 162; Testa de ffevill (Rec 

 Com.), 270 ; Assize R, 318, 323, 315; 

 Cal. Put. 1381-5, p. 20 ; Cal. S. P. Dom. 

 [660-1, p. 585; Coi-oq. Rolls; Round, 

 Tit King, Serjeant,, 



"> Cal. Pat. 1399-1401, p. 293. 



u Pipe R. J Hen. II (Pipe R. Soc), 6 : 

 RedBk. ofExch. (Rolls Ser.), i, 332. 



15 Abbrev. Plat. (Rec. Com.), 8. 



16 Rot. Cur, Reg. (Rec. Com.), 106, 162. 

 i7 V.C.H. Hera. Families, 281. 



18 Rot. Lit. Pat. (Rec. Com.), 25. 



» Feet of F. Div. Co. « John, no, 35. 



"y.CH. Herts. Favalia, 281. 



183 



