Heirs of Margaret de Holand, wife of John de Blackburn, Robert de Hepwell, and Adam Banastre

[Douglas Richardson]

Dear Newsgroup ~

Margaret de Holand, sister of Sir Robert de Holand, 1st Lord Holand, is reported to have had three husbands, namely Sir John de Blackburn, of Wiswell, Robert de Hepwell (died 1304), of Chorley, and Sir Adam Banastre (executed 1315). See, for example, VCH Lancaster 6 (1911): 131 (sub Chorley), which is available at the following weblink:

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp129-149

VCH Lancaster adds the additional information regarding Margaret's children:

"Henry de Ferrers, as son and heir of William, in 1329 put forward a claim to the manors of Chorley and Bolton, except 60 acres of land, &c., in the former, against Robert son of Robert de Hepwall and Margaret widow of Adam Banastre, each apparently holding a moiety; and at the same time the Prior of the Hospitallers claimed 6 acres from Margaret Banastre. Margaret probably died about that time, for in the following year Henry de Ferrers pursued his claim against her heirs. These were her four daughters, Alice, Agnes, Joan and Katherine, the manors being held in 1330 by John de Harrington the younger with Katherine his wife, Robert de Shireburne with Alice his wife, Robert de Horncliff with Agnes his wife, and Thomas de Arderne son of Joan." END OF QUOTE.

Recently I located a Common Pleas lawsuit dated Hilary term 1314. This was presumably during the lifetime of Margaret and her third husband, Sir Adam Banastre. The lawsuit lists Margaret's three married daughters by Sir John de Blackburn, and adds what appears to be a new Blackburn heir, Richard de Harington. The lawsuit does not mention Margaret de Holand or her then husband, Sir Adam Banstre. Below is a brief abstract of the lawsuit.

In Hilary term 1314 Richard de Harington, Henry de la Lee and Agnes his wife, Robert de Shireburn and Alice his wife, and Thomas de Ardern and Joan his wife sued Robert de Strelleye regarding one messuage, 12 tofts, one mill, 29 bovates, 100 acres of land, 10 acres of meadow, four acres of wood, and eight acres of pasture with appurtenances in Strelley, Nottinghamshire, it being claimed as the right of the said Richard, Agnes, Alice, and Joan. Reference: Court of Common Pleas, CP40/204, image 160f (available at http://aalt.law.uh.edu/E2/CP40no204/aCP40no204fronts/IMG_0160.htm).

Elsewhere I find that Final Concords For Lancashire, Part 2, 1307-1377 (1902): 67-81 adds the following information regarding the issue of Margaret de Holand:

"Margaret de Holland possessed in her own right the manors of Chorley, Bolton-le-Moors (Great Bolton) and Aighton, near Mitton. After her death these manors were divided amongst her four daughters and coheirs, viz., by her first husband, John de Blackburn of Wiswall and Nether Darwen—(1) Alice, who married Sir Robert de Sherburn; (2) Agnes, who is named in this Fine, and married first Sir Henry de Lea of Charnock, Lea and Ravensmeols, secondly, Sir Robert de Horncliffe, the plaintiff in this Fine, but appears to have had no issue by either of her husbands; (3) Joan, who married Sir Thomas de Arderne; by her second husband, Sir Adam Banastre, who was beheaded by order of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, on the feast of St. Michael, 9 Edward II., 1315—(4) Katherine, who married Sir John Harrington of Farleton, in Lonsdale. These estates descended in the families of Sherburn, Ardern, and Harrington, as may be seen by various inquests post mortem taken in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. (Cf. Whitaker's History of Whalley, edit. 1876, ii., p. 30). A number of subsequent Fines, temp. Edward III., refer to these manors. Vide post." END OF QUOTE.

We see here that Margaret de Holand is assigned the same three Blackburn daughters as found in the 1314 Common Pleas lawsuit. So far, so good. But no place is given to Richard de Harington. Margaret de Holand is, however, assigned a fourth daughter by her Banastre marriage, namely Katherine, wife of Sir John Harington, of Farleton. Although Katherine Banastre does occur in 1330 among Margaret de Holand's four co-heirs, her interest in Margaret de Holand's estate would not be due to her being a Blackburn heiress, only as a daughter of Margaret's final Banastre marriage.

If Richard de Harington was Margaret de Holand's grandson, it would appear his interest in her lands was extinguished by 1330. It is also possible that Richard de Harington was the son of a daughter of Sir John de Blackburn, by a marriage other than Margaret de Holand. If so, he would have held no interest in Margaret's lands following her death. This would explain his exclusion from the later 1330 lawsuit.

Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah