A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



evidently died before 1212, when seisin of the manor 

 of Ware was allowed to Sacr de Quincy Earl of Win- 

 chester, 1 who between 1 1 68 and 1173 had married 

 Margaret the younger sister and co-heir of Robert 

 Earl of Leicester.^ The Earl of Winchester was 

 Justiciar of England from I a 1 1 to 1214. He was 

 one of the twenty-five barons who were guardians of 

 Magna Carta, and took an active share in bringing 

 over Prince Louis in January 1215-16, to whom he 

 adhered even after the accession of Henry 111, being 

 joint commander of the barons' army April-M y 

 1 2 1 7. Two years later he joined the Crusade during 

 the siege of Damietta, and died abroad on 3 Novem- 

 ber 1 219. He was buried at Acre. 3 Whilst still in 

 favour with John, in 1205-6, he had obtained a 

 grant that he and all lands and fees of the honour 

 of Leicester should be quit of shires and hundreds 

 and sheriff's aids.* A view of frankpledge was there- 

 fore held by the lords of Ware, 5 and the area of their 

 jurisdiction is called a liberty. His son and heir 

 Roger Earl of Winchester granted the manor of Ware 

 in 1253 to his brother Robert de Quincy, 6 to hold 

 of him and his he>: at the yearly rent of half a mark 

 and by service of a knight's fee. 7 The Earls of 

 Winchester held it of the king by three parts of a 

 knight's fee. K The overlordship remained with the 

 earl and his descendants. Roger died without male 



H 



mrat 



w 



J /,„,,, 



issue in 1264, leaving three daughters, Margaret wife 

 of William Ferrers, fifth Earl of Derby (her step- 

 mother's father), Elizabeth or Isabel, who married 

 Alexander Comyn Earl of Buchan, and Helen or 

 Ela, who married Sir Alan la Zouche of Ashby-de-la 

 Zouch. Ware was for a time held of all the heirs 

 jointly, 10 but ultimately became vested in the Ferrers. 

 Margaret had as part of her inheritance the manor of 

 Groby, co. Leicester, to which Ware was appurtenant, 

 and this she settled on her second son William. 11 

 William, son of William, was summoned as a baron, 

 Lord Ferrers, to Parliament in 1300, and was the 

 ancestor of the Lords Ferrers de Groby, 12 with whom 

 the overlordship of Ware descended. 13 



Id 125+ the king by a charter dated at Bordeaux 

 granted to Robert de Quincy, the tenant, a yearly 

 fair at his manor of Ware on the eve and day of the 

 Nativity of the Virgin Mary and the three dayt 

 following. 11 Robert died in 1257, leaving two 

 daughters, Joan and Hawise." Joan, who married 

 Humphrey de Bohun, died seised of Ware in 1184," 

 when it passed to Hawise widow of Baldwin Wake 

 of Liddell, co. Cumberland. The custody of John 

 Wake, son and heir of Hawise, and of the manor of 

 Ware was granted to Queen Eleanor in 1285, 17 

 John Wake did homage for his lands in 1290, and 

 was summoned to Parliament as Lord Wake in 1295."* 

 In 1297 he granted Ware to the king, who rcgranted 

 it to him and his wife Joan in fee-tail, with reversion 

 to the king. 19 John Lord Wake died in 1300. 

 During the minority of his son Thomas the king 

 assigned the custody of the manor and town to 

 William Trente for three years, in discharge of a debt 

 due to him for wine purchased from him by the 

 king's butler, Henry de Say, and for money advanced 

 by him on the king's behalf to Gilbert de Clare 

 Earl of Gloucester. su Later the custody was granted 

 to Queen Isabella. 21 



Thomas Lord Wake was one of the barons who 

 took part with the queen against Edward II, and 

 was by her made justice of all forests south of the 

 Trent and Constable of the Tower of London. In 

 the reign of Edward III he was made Governor of 

 Hertford Castle and also of the Channel Island;. 

 He took part with Edward Balliol in his claim to the 

 crown of Scotland in 1329. 22 Later, in 1342, he 

 served in the French wars. His wife was Blanche 

 second daughter of Henry Earl of Lancaster, who 

 after his death in I 349 " a held the manor in dower- 1 

 and granted 4 acres from it to the Friars Minor of 

 Ware. 16 The extent of the manor at this date was 

 5 76 acres of arable land, 48 acres of meadow, 40 acres 

 of meadow in the park, 36 acres of wood, a water- 

 mill and a fulling-mill, perquisites of court worth 

 £l {an exceptionally large sum), a fishery from 

 ' Stretende' to ' Newemcdedych ' and half a fishery 

 from 'Stretende' to 'Bcmsford.' Thomas Lord Wake 

 had no issue and his heir was his sister Margaret, 

 widow of Edmund Earl of Kent, the youngest son of 

 Edward I. She died in I 349, and was succeeded by her 

 second son and heir John Earl of Kent, who also died 

 before Blanche, in i3$2. sa His heir Joan Lady Wake 

 married Thomas de Holand Earl of Kent, and after 

 his death in 1360 she married Edward Prince of 

 Wales and was the mother of Richard II. Her son 

 and heir by her first husband, Thomas de Holand 

 Earl of Kent, succeeded to her estates in 1385-" 

 He died seised of Ware in 1397, and it then 



Rober 



de Quincy b 

 the 



9 G.E.C. Parage. 



10 Chan. Inq. p.n 



11 Ibid, i; Edw. 

 ,! G.E.C. A«r«£i 

 15 Chan. Inq. p.n 



46 Edw. Ill {zndn 



.d the fourth, who is 

 in the ceil (Diet. Nat. Bivg. i.v 



•* Feet of F. Div. Co. 37 

 no. 77. 



5 Testa de Ntvilt (Rec. Co 

 36oi. The Countess of Leice 

 re held Ware 



i of li 



ifor 



0. 37 ; 9 Ric. 

 ;6 ; 17 Ric. 



11 Cal. Pat. 124.7-58, p. 314; Chart. R. 

 37 &. 38 Hen. Ill, m. 7. 



& Cal. Gen. (ed. Roberts), i, nz. 



16 Chan. Inq. p.m. 12 Eiw. I, no. 27 j 

 Cal. Chit, 1179-88, p. 250. 



Cal. Pat. 1281-91, p. 180. 



1S G.E.C. Peerage, s.v. Wake. 



386 



la Cal. Pat. 1192-1301, pp. 296, 303 



T- 



"•Cal. Pat. 1307-13, p. 218; Cm'. 



'it, 1307-13, p. 39; Abbtrv, Rat. 



\r.\, 169. 



X Cal. Close, 1318-23, p. 77. 



n G.E.C. Peerage, ..v. Wake. 



"Chan. Inq. p.m. 21 Edw. Ill, 



3i Chan. Inq. p.m. 46 EJw. Ill (in* 

 um.% no. 37. 



« Ibid. 26 Edw. Ill, no. 54. 



