Unpublished inquisitions: Elizabeth who was the wife of Thomas, duke of Norfolk, ?1400
Posted by: mholford 11 years, 5 months ago
This post continues our occasional series of inquisitions omitted from the published calendars for the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V. It is not fully clear why the present document was not included, but it seems to have been added to its current file in the IPM archive from a different series of documents, and this may have taken place after the printed calendar was published. Unfortunately there seems to be no record of when the document was added to the file, or of its earlier provenance.
The document is badly galled and generally in poor condition, but enough survives for it to be identified as an assignment of dower made to Elizabeth, widow of Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, by the escheator of Northamptonshire.
Thomas Mowbray died in September 1399 and his IPMs, taken in late 1399 and early 1400, record lands in Calais, London and nineteen counties (CIPM xviii.264-305). In May 1400 writs issued from Chancery ordering dower to be assigned to his widow Elizabeth in Calais and twelve of those counties. Assignments survive only for Buckinghamshire, Herefordshire and Leicestershire, in addition to the present assignment for Northamptonshire, and these assignments did not deal with all the holdings in which Elizabeth had claims. Elizabeth's dower holdings in 1403 appear in the IPMs of her next husband, Sir Robert Goushill (CIPM xviii.908-26) and the full extent of her holdings in nineteen counties, by the time of her death, is revealed by her own inquisitions post mortem, taken in 1425 (CIPM xxii.418-41).
Nevertheless, like many assignments of dower, the present document supplies much more detail regarding the holdings than the later IPMs were to do. Particularly valuable are the details of the manorial buildings assigned and the opening part of the document, despite its poor condition, which appears to describe in detail the 80 a. demesne arable mentioned in Elizabeth's IPM.
[Note on editing: because of the poor condition of the document, an attempt has been made to indicate the lineation of the original and the amount of material that is no longer legible.]
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ELIZABETH, WHO WAS THE WIFE OF THOMAS, DUKE OF NORFOLK
308A. [Writ not extant.]
[Writ de dote assignanda to the escheator of Northamptonshire and Rutland, 29 May 1400; the king having taken her oath not to remarry; dower to be assigned, excepting lands previously held by Margaret, duchess of Norfolk, in the presence of the farmers of the lands of the late duke, and of the next friends of Thomas his son and heir. CCR 1399-1402, 142]
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. Assignment of dower. ?28 June 1400. [Details of place and escheator illegible.]
[line 1] [Assignment of dower to] Elizabeth duchess of Norfolk [from the manor of Chacombe] in Northamptonshire which manor ... /
[line 2] Norfolk her late husband made before ... Monday after the feast of ... John the Baptist ... by virtue of a royal writ ... /
[line 3] I the escheator... assign as reasonable dower from the manor ...
[line 4] of the manor ..... worth 111s. 1 ¾ d. viz. ?15 [selions] ...
[line 5] Benefurlong to the (ex parte) ... ?15 selions ...
[line 6] west, 22 selions ... to the west .... selions on (super) Sho....
[line 7] selions on...
[line 8] ... on Conynggereshull, 28 selions on Whythull
[line 9] to the ... ?28 selions on Smaleyerden, 18 ?buts (?buttes) on E..emde...
[line 10] to the ... 14 ?selions fallow (frisc') on Otemede to the west, 30 selions on Astemedefurlong to the west. Pasture ..
[line 11] ..called ?Astemedemeresende and pasture in the same field called Gotesham; pasture in the lower field to the ...
[line 12] ... with ?les Standelles, 1/3 meadow called Astemede to the west as appears by the metes and bounds, 1/3 meadow ...
[line 13] [called Burysouthmede] to the west by metes and bounds, 1/3 meadow called les Hammes to the north of the same by metes and bounds,
[line 14] 1/3 meadow called Radclyff... to the east by metes and bounds, 1/3 ...
[line 15] ... ?site of the manor, to the south of the same houses, containing two bays, 1/3 barn containing 2 bays viz. ?1
[line 16] bay at the east end of the said barn and 1 bay at the west end. 1/3 ...
[line 17] ?garden .. ?orchard to the west of the same, in length as it appears by metes and bounds. 1/3 wood called Gren...h..ll
[line 18] ... as appears by metes and bounds; 1/3 profits of the dovecote; 1/3 profits of court ...
[line 19] [I also assigned] by virtue of the same writ to Elizabeth 1/3 rent of 24s. issuing from ?various tenements in [Northampton]
[line 20] ..as dower ... Thomas her late husband in the same vill ...
[line 21] Also assigned, 1/3 messuage and 2 virgates of land in A...
[line 22] worth 3s. 4d. yearly.
C 137/16/71 m. 18a [misnumbered: C 137/16/81a]=CIPM xviii.308A