Montgomery of Cubley Part 2
Rosie Bevan
appears to have been the place of residence of the Montgomery heir apparent.
Succeeding his father in 1303, he made a grant of the mill at Cubley to Alan
the miller [Jeayes, Derbyshire Charters, no.929]. On 22 May 1306 he was
amongst those knighted with Edward, Prince of Wales. In 1308 Walter
presented to Sudbury church. [Charles Cox, Churches of Derbyshire, v.3 p.
316]. Pardoned for the death of Piers de Gavaston 1313. Commissioner of
Array for Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire in 1319. Summoned as a man of arms
of Northamptonshire and as a knight of Derbyshire to the Great Council at
Westminster 9 May 1324, and to serve in Guienne 7 January 1325 [C.Moor,
Knights of Edward I, v.III p. 190]. His first wife and mother of his
children is unknown. He married secondly Joan, daughter of Sir Robert de
Stafford and widow of Peter de Gresley d.c 1310. She was implicated in the
murder of her stepson, William de Montgomery.
"[Peter de Gresley] married Johanna, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Robert
de Stafford and a lineal descendant of the Toenis. Very shortly after her
husband's death, she was forcibly abducted from her manor of Drakelowe,
which had been assigned to her by her eldest son, and carried off to
Swinnerton by Sir John de Swinnerton and others. There she was detained
for a long time, and it is certainly noticeable that we hear nothing of
her for some years after this event. Justice was slow, and not till
1321-4 was Sir John brought to trial, when he produced a pardon from the
King dated May 25, 1310! However, before 1320 Johanna must have escaped,
for she was then the wife of Sir Walter de Montgomery (a connexion of the
Swinnertons), who died in 1322 or 1323 [RB - this date of death is
incorrect]. The violence of the times can be as well gathered from the
following single incident as from a catalogue of crimes. On Sept 23, 1323,
Johanna is found abetting her sons Peter and Robert de Gresley in the murder
of Sir William de Montgomery, son of her late [sic] husband Sir Walter 'on
the high road under the park of Seal!'
Philippa the widow of the murdered man procured the arrest of all three,
but they were acquitted! Again in 1333 she was accused of murder and
again acquitted. After these records - and they are only samples - one is
not surprised to hear of her own strong-box being broken into at Drakelowe
in 1323-4. At last in or before 1342 her turbulent life is ended. "
[The Gresleys of Drakelow" Wm Salt NS 1:43]
Walter had granted the manors of Cubley, Marchington and Sudbury to his son,
William and his heirs, who re-enfeoffed Walter for life. Walter survived his
murdered son and was still living 6 December 1323 as stated in William's
inquisition post mortem [CIPM v. VI ; no.509].
Issue of Walter
- William. See below
- Edward. In 1320 Walter Montgomery, senior, conceded and surrendered lands
in Osleston in the parish of Sutton-on-the-Hill, specifically 1 messuage,
126 acres 1 rood of land, 16 acres of meadow, and 107s.10 3/4d. rent, with
the appurtenances to Edward Montgomery to be held by him and the heirs of
his body created of the said Walter and his heirs [Pedes Finium for the
County of Derby. Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural
History Society, vol. 18 p 8]. Edward and Catherine, his wife, (possibly a
daughter of Sir Nicholas Longford d.1356 and Catherine Brailsford) were
holding a messuage and 24 acres of land in Marchington of Walter in 1343. At
this date Edward and Catherine had three sons Thomas, Walter and John. From
another fine dated 1346, they were also holding land in Derby, Brailesford,
Bolton, Witton, Thurvaston and Longford by right of Catherine. Judging by
the order of remainders in a fine, Catherine appears to have been formerly
married to William de Hyntes and had a son William, who was her son and
heir. [H.J.H Garratt (ed), Derbyshire Feet of Fines 1323-1546; no.831]. In
1596 William Wyrley visited the church of Sutton- on-the-Hill and noted the
arms of Longford, Bakepuize and the two coats of Montgomery [Charles Cox,
Churches of Derbyshire,
v. 3 p.331]
- Walter. As 'Walter son of Walter de Monte Gomeri', he and his wife
Margaret were holding 40 acres in Cubley in 1343. [H.J.H Garratt (ed),
Derbyshire Feet of Fines 1323-1546; no.808]. He was married to Catherine by
1358 who was holding a ninth of the manor of Hulton, Staffs. in dower. She
appears to have been a Bakepuize widow and was holding a third of the manor
of Potlok for life. They were both living in 1371. [H.J.H Garratt (ed),
Derbyshire Feet of Fines 1323-1546; no.901 ;
Harvard Law School Library Deed no. 239 HOLLIS number: -BHJ9993
www.law.harvard.edu/library/special/collections/manuscripts/deeds]
- Margaret. Married to Sir John Fitzherbert of Norbury and brought lands in
Cubley to the Fitzherbert family [Visitation of Derbyshire 1569 and 1611].
9.WILLIAM DE MONTGOMERY, son of the above. Married to Philippa before 1314
(when their son and heir was born). William was murdered in 1323 during the
lifetime of his father.
"Extract from the Plea Rolls. Coram Rege Hillary 18 E II
Leic. The Sheriff had been ordered to arrest Peter son of Peter de Gresleye
and Robert his brother, Joan, the wife of Walter de Monte Gomeri, and
William de Northfolk, and produce them at Trinity term, to answer the appeal
of Philippa formerly wife of William de Monte Gomeri for the death of
William her husband, at which day Philippa appeared and the defendants did
not appear and the Sheriff returned they could not be found and held nothing
within his bailiwick, and he was ordered to put them on the exigend and if
they did not appear, to outlaw them, and he now returned that the said Peter
and William had not appeared at the county courts, and had been outlawed,
but that the said Robert and Joan had appeared at the fifth court, and had
surrendered themselves prisoners, and he had sent them coram Rege, and they
were committed to the custody of the Marshall, who produced them before the
Court, and the said Philippa likewise appeared and appealed the said Robert
brother of Peter son of Peter de Gresleye, of procuring and abetting the
death of her husband, and she stated that they were at the vill of Norton,
near Twycrosse, in co. Leics on the Thursday before the Feast of the
Exaltation of the Holy Cross , 17 E II in the manor house of Walter de Monte
Gomeri, from which place the said Robert had feloniously procured and sent
the said Peter son of Peter de Gresleye to kill her husband, and by which
mission, procurement and assent, the said Peter son of Peter de Gresleye, on
the Tuesday before the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in the
same year, and at the third hour, had feloniously struck her husband on the
head in the vill of Oversheile in Co. Leicestre, on a heath called les
Whitelondes, near the Abbey of Mirivale, with a sword of Cologne worth 6s.
and of which he had died within the arms of the said Philippa." [The
Gresleys of Drakelow, Wm Salt NS 1:44].
Although Gresley was obviously guilty of the crime, the jury returned a
verdict of not guilty on a technicality. Peter de Gresley was pardoned for
it in 1327 and was himself murdered shortly after. Philippa appears to have
subsequently married Richard le Breton, for he and Philippa were holding a
third of the manor of Marchington (Marston Montgomery) and Sudbury as her
dower in 1345. [H.J.H Garratt (ed), Derbyshire Feet of Fines 1323-1546;
no.825]
Issue of William:
- Walter. See below.
- William. Lands in Snelston granted to Walter and William his brother in
tail mail by William, son of Serlo de Grendon, in an undated settlement.
Probably the same William Mountegomery who in 1336 made an inspeximus of
"Evidences" in the keeping of Sir John Gonuston, priest, of lands in
Cobbeley (Cubley), Sudbury, Marston Montgomery, Snelston, Legh in Staffs.,
and other lands in Derbs. and Staffs. [Nottinghamshire Archives
DD/FJ/4/26/4]
10.WALTER DE MONTGOMERY. By his father's inquisition post mortem [CIPM v.VI
; no.509], Walter was found to be his son and heir, aged 10 years old (i.e.
born about 1314). Married by 1343, to Alice, from a fine dated Quindene of
Hillary 1343 [H.J.H Garratt (ed), Derbyshire Feet of Fines 1323-1546;
no.808]. Alice was still living in May 1345 when she and Walter were granted
a papal indult to choose a confessor at the hour of death [Calendar of Papal
Letters, v.3, p. 210]. He was married secondly by 1364 to Maud (possibly
Furnival) according to a fine dated Easter that year. [H.J.H Garratt (ed),
Derbyshire Feet of Fines 1323-1546; no.874].
A series of settlements in tail male were made on Walter in his lifetime. In
1335 Walter had settled on himself and his male heirs the manor of Leigh,
Staffordshire [Nottinghamshire Archives: DD/FJ/1/183/2]. In an undated
deed, William son of Serlo de Grendon settled lands in Snelston on Walter
with reversion to William his brother in tail male [Nottinghamshire Archives
DD/FJ/1/97/1]. On 10 May 15 Edw. III. (1341) William Sapirton, chaplain and
John Roger, feoffees, settled the manors of Cubley, Sudbury, Aston and
tenements in Hill Somersall and Potter Somersall on Walter in tail male
[Nottinghamshire Archives DD/FJ/4/26/5]. On 1 Aug. 1355 William de
Caverswall made a grant to Walter in tail mail of the manor of Caverswall,
Staffs. with messuage and lands in Forsebroke and Dellren (Forsbrook and
Dilhorne), and manor of Roddisley (Rodsley, Derbs) [Nottinghamshire Archives
DD/FJ/4/26/7]. In an undated settlement William Akover (Oakover), Lord of
Snelston, presumably acting in the role of feoffee, settled the manors of
Cubley, Marston and Snelston on Walter for life, then to his son Nicholas in
tail male [Nottinghamshire Archives DD/FJ/4/26/6].
In 1338 and 1342 he was Commissioner of Oyer and Terminer, and in 1345 he
was commissioned to take archers from Derbyshire to Southampton in the king'
s service. In 1346 he was a Justice of the Peace with Nicholas de Longford.
1355 he was escheator of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. In 1343 Walter
settled the manor of Marchington (Marston Montgomery) on his son William
recently married to Margaret, daughter of Sir Richard Stafford. William
appears to have died without issue during the lifetime of his father as
Walter's heir was his son Nicholas. In 1364 Walter and Maud granted by fine
£6 rent in Cubley and a moiety of the manor of Snelston to their son
Nicholas and Ann, his wife, to hold to themselves and the heirs of their
body of Nicholas, of Walter and Maude and Walter's heirs forever paying
therefore 1 rose each year at the feast of the Nativity of St John the
Baptist for all services due etc due to Walter. [H.J.H Garratt (ed),
Derbyshire Feet of Fines 1323-1546; no.874]. Walter was dead by Michaelmas
1374 when Maud was referred to as his widow in a fine [H.J.H Garratt (ed),
Derbyshire Feet of Fines 1323-1546; no.920]. She is probably the same Maud
"sometime wife of Walter Mungomery, knight" mentioned in the IPM of William
de Furnival (d.1383) receiving, for life, 43 marks annually from the manor
of Sheffield, Yorkshire, with the king's licence. [CIPM v.XV : n. 784]. In
1596 William Wyrley recorded the arms of Furnival in heraldic glass in
Sudbury church [Charles Cox, The Churches of Derbyshire v.3 p.323]. Maud was
still living in 1385 when she presented to Cubley church. [Charles Cox, The
Churches of Derbyshire, v. 3 p. 94].
Issue of Walter
- William. Son and heir by Alice, he was married to Margaret, dau. of Sir
Richard Stafford by 1343, but both were dead before 1364 when lands which
had been settled on himself and Margaret, were settled on Nicholas and Ann.
- Nicholas. Son and heir by Maud. See below
- Walter. Younger brother of Nicholas by Maud, he was granted Ecton,
Northants., which he was holding in 1428, and which was subsequently held by
his heirs of Montgomery of Cubley [VCH Northants v.4 p.123]
- Benedicta. Confirmation was made in 1380 by John de Bollouwe and Adam
Torold, chaplains to Benedicta daughter of Walter Montgomery of property in
Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire. [Derbyshire Record Office Reference:
D5236/8/6]
11. SIR NICHOLAS DE MONTGOMERY I. Born c 1357, heir of his father Walter
[Nottinghamshire Archives DD/FJ/4/26/6]. Six pounds in rent from the manor
of Cubley and a moiety of the manor of Snelston was settled on him and his
wife Ann and their heirs in 1364 presumably as a marriage settlement [H.J.H
Garratt (ed), Derbyshire Feet of Fines 1323-1546; no.874]. His first
appearance in the records was in 1377 when serving on a local commission. In
1380/81 he was in the service of Thomas of Woodstock overseas when Thomas
Foljambe administered his affairs (aat a time when Nicholas may have been
married to Foljambe's niece Margery, daughter of Sir Godfrey Foljambe
d.1375), knighted by 1381 and in 1388/89, 1410, 1413, 1415 was Knight of the
Shire for Derbyshire. He held local positions as Justice of the Peace,
Commissioner of Array, Commissioner of Oyer and Terminer, Commissioner of
the Peace between 1381 and 1424. He was Constable of Tutbury castle, master
forester of Tutbury and Needwood chase, parker of Agardsley and Rowley,
Staffs. for the duchy of Lancaster 23 July 1403-16 Dec. 1408 [J.S.Roskell
(ed), The House of Commons 1386-1421, v.3 p.760]. Nicholas was married
subsequently to Margaret, widow of Richard Baskerville (1370-1394), and
mother of John Baskerville, probably by 1403 when he was ordered by Henry IV
to fortify Eardisley castle, a Baskerville possession, against the Welsh.
[Pedigrees of the Plea Rolls, The Genealogist, v.16 p.86 ; M.Salter, The
Castles of Herefordshire and Worcestershire, 1992. p.19]. In the scutage of
13 Henry IV Nicholas was assessed at an income of £72 p.a and was receiving
an annuity for life from the honour of Tutbury of 40 marks [J.P.Yeatman, A
Feudal History of the County of Derby, v.1 section II, p. 484]. Margaret and
Nicholas were involved in a suit over the manor of Chabnor, Herefordshire
with Richard de la Bere in 1413 [The Genealogist v.16 p.86]. Nicholas died
in 1424 and Margaret was still living in 1436 when she was assessed at £26
income in Derbyshire [English Historical Review 49:631-2]
Issue of Nicholas
- Nicholas. See below. Possibly son by Margery Foljambe.
- Thomas. As Thomas son of Nicholas Montgomery he was granted the next
presentation to Sudbury church in 1422. [Charles Cox, Churches of
Derbyshire, v. 3 p. 316]. A Thomas Montgomery esq, was also mentioned in
connection with Osmaston chapel in 1406 [A Saltman, The Cartulary of Tutbury
Priory, (HMSO, 1962) no.426]
- Possibly Matilda. Wife of Thomas Clarell of Aldwark d.1441. (See separate
post)
- Margaret. Probably daughter of Margaret. Settlement of the manor of
Kedleston, Derbyshire was made on Margaret and John Curzon on their marriage
in 1411. [I.H.Jeayes, Descriptive Catalogue of Derbyshire Charters (London,
1906), no. 1505]