204 Notes on the Documentary History of Zeals. 



It is recorded in the reign of Henry III. 1 that Alured, or Alfred 

 de Nichol, or Lincoln, held in " Seeles " one knight's fee of John 

 Fitz Greoffry, and he of the Earl of Salisbury, and he of the King ; 

 and it may be presumed that this was the knight's fee held in 1168 

 by Alured de Nichol of the Earl Patrick 2 . Alured de Lincoln died 

 about A.D. 1264, and we learn from the inquisition taken after his 

 death that "he held of John Fitz John the manor of Celes, which 

 formerly was given in free marriage with Matillda, his mother." 

 His wife, Joan, survived him, but he left no issue, and his nephew, 

 Eobert Fitzpain (son of his eldest sister, Margery), Beatrix, his 

 second sister (wife of William de Grovis), and Albreda de Lincoln, 

 his youngest sister, were his co-heirs. 3 Beatrix must have died 

 shortly after, as in the division of her father's estates the manor of 

 " Seeles," the manor of Duntish, in Dorsetshire, and other manors 

 in that county and in Somersetshire were allotted to her son, 

 William de G-ovis, who received seisin thereof. 4 



The family of De Grovis was of Norman origin, deriving its name 

 from the ville of Grouvis, near Caen. Petronilla, the wife of 

 William de Grovis, was a Norman lady who seems to have lived 

 entirely in Normandy, and their daughter Joan was born there. 5 

 Petronilla survived her husband, and after his death her claim to 

 dower out of his lands in England was disputed on the ground of 

 her being an alien. 6 In the year 1272 (1 Edw. I.), i.e., before the 

 statute of " quia emptores " which prohibited subinfeudations, 

 William de Grovis granted his manor of " Seles " to Edmund, Earl 

 of Cornwall, lord of the manor of Mere, and his heirs, under the 

 annual rent or render of 12d. or a sparrow hawk ; and in the 

 following year the Earl granted it to Walter de Ailesbury. Walter 

 was, it appears, a special favourite of the Earl, who appointed him, 

 some years after, Governor of the Castle and Honour of Wallingford, 



1 Testa de Nevill, p. 133. 

 2 Liber Niger, by Hearne, I., 107. 

 3 Esch. 48 Hen. III., No. 19 ; Rot. Fin. Extr. II., 412. 

 4 Esch. 48 Hen. III., No. 19. 

 5 Inq. 29 Edw. I., No. 190. 

 6 Inq. taken at Dorchester, 11th November, 19 Edw. III. 



