388 



Wiltshire Seals. 



The Esturmys were chief Rangers of Savernake Forest, to which 

 office the bugle horn at the top of the Seal probably alludes ; but 

 that some of them had a propensity for ranging in their neighbours' 

 forests as well as in their own, appears from a curious story, alleg- 

 ed to be preserved in Bishop Mortival's Register at Sarum, 1 relating 

 to Henry Esturmy the elder above-mentioned. In 9 Edw. II. (1315- 

 16) with a party of sporting retainers from Milton, Burbage, &c, 

 nine in number, he broke into the Bishop of Salisbury's Park, then 

 at Ramsbury, and ventured to make a foray amongst the Episcopal 

 deer. Having thereby incurred the sentence of greater excommu- 

 nication, they submitted ; had to make restitution and do penance. 

 The restitution was to replace twelve head of deer, and pay twelve 

 barrels of wine. The penance (which it is difficult to believe could 

 have been literally enforced) was, that they should go round the 

 Market-place of Marlborough on two different market days 

 stripped to their shirts and nether garments : the Vicar of Marl- 

 borough, or some other clerk, to whip them according to custom in 

 such cases : and that afterwards, in solemn procession at Salisbury, 

 they should present a wax taper each at the tomb of Simon of 

 Ghent the late Bishop of Sarum : on which condition the sentence 

 was taken off. 



The privileges of Forester of Savernake, as claimed by this 

 Henry Esturmy the elder, are detailed in a curious document 

 printed in Mr. Waylen's " History of Marlborough,' ' p. 70. 



Henry Esturmy, junior (to whom the seal belonged), was 

 Knight of the Shire for Wilts 36, 37, and 42, Edw. III. 



By the marriage of Maud Esturmy, heiress of the eldest branch 

 of the family at Wolf-Hall, that property passed to the Seymours, 

 about the reign of Henry IY. 



The Charter Horn still preserved at Tottenham, and sometimes 

 called Esturmy's horn, is described in the " Archaeologia" (Yol. III. 

 p. 28), by Dean Milles ; who says there is no evidence on record 

 relating to Savernake that shows how the horn came to the present 

 owners. A green worsted belt is attached to it, with silver bosses, 

 on which are the arms of a Scotch family, Fitz Duncan — Argent, 



4 " Cassan's Lives of the Bishops of Salisbury." p. 89. 



