820 " Ludgershall Castle and its History. 33 



Marlbro," i.e., " Ludgershall with the Forest/' were among what 

 are called by our old friend Mrs. Markham " the many kind but 

 ill-judged gifts" of that monarch to his brother John. In 1215 

 Geoffrey Fitz Piers, Chief Justice of England, and (after marriage 

 with Beatrix, daughter of William le Saye) Earl of Essex, was 

 governor. He appears to have been called after it, as one record 

 speaks of him as " Ludgershall named Geoffrey." He was a rich 

 man, endowed with much talent and learning, but feared by the 

 king himself on account of his great influence. When King John 

 heard of the death of this nobleman he exclaimed " Now I shall be 

 King and Lord of England." From the year 1200 to 1216 King 

 John seems constantly to have stayed at Ludgershall. He dates 

 thence a mandate to the Provost of Winchester " to send for the 

 king's use a good chariot with all its furniture and four horses to be 

 at Northampton on the Tuesday after the close of Easter." — Ex- 

 cerpta Hist., p. 400, " Close Rolls." 



On July 11th, 1205, Hugh de Neville was ordered to send to 

 Southampton a " good and strong carriage to convey thence such 

 wines as Daniel should deliver, 2 casks of white wine and 4 alnet to 

 Ludgarshall." Festivity seems to have been the order of the day, 

 for in the same month two tuns of wine were ordered to Ludgarshall 

 for the queen's use, the King also being there. No doubt they had 

 " a good time." 



3 John. The king had a stipendiary chaplain at Ludgershall. 

 14 John : — 



" Spent in alms for dinner given to 100 poor persons by the King, because he 

 had eaten meat twice on Friday next after the Feast of St. James, at Lutegarshall 

 ix s . iiij d ., delivered to Brother Thomas the Almoner." — (" Rotulus Misse," p. 236.) 



(There are in the book from which this extract is made several 

 other instances of this very curious habit of King John.) 



In 1215 the king made a stay here on his way either to or from 

 Runnymede. The castle of Ludgarshall continued in the possession 

 of the same family of Fitz Piers until the tenth year of Henry III., 

 when Jollan de Nevill, a justice itinerant, was appointed governor. 

 He is supposed to have been the compiler of the book of fees called 



