C.P. Addition: Sir John de Weyland, Knt. (died 1312) and his wife, Mary de Breuse

[Douglas Richardson]

Dear Newsgroup ~

Complete Peerage 2 (1912): 304-307 includes information regarding Sir Richard de Breuse (died 1292), of Stinton (in Salle) and Heydon, Norfolk, and his wife, Alice le Rus, and their descendants.

In footnote d on page 305, the following information is given regarding their grandson, Richard de Breuse:

"He is said to have married Alienore, daughter of Sir John Shelton, and to have had 2 daughters and coheirs, Mary, wife of Sir John Weyland, and Katherine, wife of Sir John Howard (Blomefield, ibid.). As to these supposed daughters, John de Weyland of Blaxhall and Ash, Suffolk (died 1312), had a wife named Mary, who occurs as such from 16 Edward I to 2 Edward II (Feet of Fines, case 215, file 40, no. 7; case 217, file 50, no. 14). It appears from the earlier fine that she was daughter of [the elder] Richard de Breuse [died 1288] (no. 1 in the text above), by Alice (la Russe)." END OF QUOTE.

Complete Peerage seems to assign Mary, wife of Sir John Weyland, as the daughter of the elder Sir Richard de Breuse [died 1288] based on a fine dated 16 Edward I. However, the particulars of the fine are not provided.

Elsewhere I find the the historian, Chris Given-Wilson, asserts the Weyland-Breuse marriage as fact in his book, Illustrated History of Late Medieval England, published in 1996. On page 78 of this book, the following statement is made:

"Some lifetime grants did not disinherit the future heir or heirs, but merely advanced the time at which part, or less commonly all, of the inheritance was transferred to them. Such anticipatory grants were commonly made in order to allow the future heir to set up his own household on marriage. In 1287, for example, Thomas Weyland gave his eldest son John all his Irish lands plus his Suffolk manor of Middleton, evidently in anticipation of his marriage to Mary, the daughter of Richard and Alice de Braose. Richard and Alice shortly
thereafter made a matching grant of the Suffolk manor of Clopton to
the new couple." END OF QUOTE.

In a footnote found on page 280, the author, Mr. Given-Wilson, cites
as his source the following documents: Public Record Office, C145/49,
no. 3, m. 30; CP 40/72, m. 14d; CP 25(1)/215/40, no. 7.

The last named item is the same fine dated 16 Edward I [1287-1288] cited by Complete Peerage. This fine is included in Rye, Calendar of Feet of Fines for Suffolk (1900): 91. Mr. Rye's abstract reads as follows:

"16 Edward I.

#7 John de Weyland and Maria his wife v. Richard de Breuse and Alice his wife of the manor of Clopton." END OF QUOTE.

Although Rye includes the fine in question, sadly he does not provide any particulars.

So the question remains: Does the fine actually prove the marriage of John de Weyland and Mary de Breuse? Or is the marriage merely assumed on the basis of a land transfer between the Breuse and Weyland families and the earlier allegation of Blomefield?

To answer that question, I recently consulted yet another work, Chancery Miscellanea Part VI (List & Index Soc. 81) (1972). On page 200 of this work, the same Suffolk fine is mentioned once again:

“Fine, 16 Edward I. – Manor of Clopton [Suffolk]; John de Weylaund and Mary his wife, complainants, and Richard de Breuse and Alice his wife, deforciants; conveyance to the former in frank-marriage, with remainder to the latter.” END OF QUOTE.

As we can see, the details of the fine are finally provided. It is clearly stated that the manor of Clopton, Suffolk was granted "in frank-marriage" by Richard de Breuse and Alice his wife to John de Weylaund and Mary his wife. As such, I conclude that Mary de Weyland was in fact the daughter of Sir Richard de Breuse.

For Sir Richard de Breuse' descent from King William the Conqueror, please see my recently published book, Royal Ancestry (5 volume set).

For interest's sake, the following is a list of the numerous 17th Century New World immigrants that descend from Sir John de Weyland [died 1312] and his wife, Mary de Breuse:

Robert Abell, William Asfordby, William Bladen, George & Nehemiah Blakiston, Thomas Booth, Elizabeth Bosvile, George, Giles & Robert Brent, Edward Bromfield, Kenelm Cheseldine, Grace Chetwode, St. Leger Codd, Frances, Jane & Katherine Deighton, Edward Digges, William Farrer, John Fisher, Henry Fleete, Edward Foliot, Warham Horsmanden, Matthew Kempe, Thomas Ligon, Nathaniel Littleton, Anne, Elizabeth, & John Mansfield, Anne & Katherine Marbury, John and Margaret Nelson, Thomas Owsley, John Oxenbridge, Katherine Saint Leger, William Skepper, Diana & Grey Skipwith, Mary Johanna Somerset, Amy Wyllys.

Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah