Costentin family in medieval Bedfordshire
Niall C.E.J. O’Brien
In the search for medieval people the uneven nature of the surviving
documents make a continuous story difficult. While researching the Costentin
family in Lincolnshire a few references to another Costentin family in
Bedfordshire made their appearance. The Costentin family possibly came from
Costentin in the Manche region of France.[1]
The earliest reference to the Bedfordshire family of Costentin actually
comes from Huntingdonshire. In about 1150 lands in Tetworth in Huntingdonshire were
granted by Henry de Costentin, his son Geoffrey, and grandson Elias to the
monastery of Sawtrey.[2]
This grandson, Elias de Costentin, is mentioned in a few documents from
the reign of King Henry III. In 1228-9 Elias de Costentin paid the king a fine
of 40s for passage and scutage in a half a knight’s fee in Bedfordshire within
the fee of William de Humez.[3] It
is not clear who was this William de Humez. One possibility was William de
Humez, abbot of Westminster abbey (1214-1222) or another relative.[4]
There was another family of de Humez in the north of England, around Durham and
Yorkshire, who had a few people called William de Humez in the family.[5]
There was another family called de Humez in Normandy, Richard seneschal of
Normandy and his son William. But William de Humez appears to have lost his
English lands when Normandy fell to the French in 1204.[6] It
is difficult to but certain which of these people the landlord of Elias de
Costentin was or if it was another William de Humez.
In about 1231 a person called Elias de Costentin was constable of Clun
castle in Shropshire on the marches with Wales. In that year he was ordered to
surrendered the castle on the order of King Henry III because the king had
entrusted the castle to Ralph de Mortimer.[7]
The castle was owned by John Fitz Alan who had supported the Earl Marshal in
the latter’s war against Henry III and hence the crown intervention.
In 1236-7 Henry de Costentin made a fine of 50s to the king for the
relief of half a knight’s fee that Elias de Costentin, his father, held in
Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.[8]
In 1254-5 Henry Costentin died leaving his son Geoffrey as his heir and
who was of full age. Geoffrey’s inheritance consisted of 2¼ virgates of land in
Sutton town in Bedfordshire. These were held of the king in chief by the
service of one half knight’s fee.[9]
This was possibly the same half knight’s fee held by Elias de Costentin from
William de Humez and because it was now held directly from the crown increases
the possibility that it was the Humez family of Normandy who had the fee in
1228.
The modern village and civil parish of Sutton (population about 300) is situated in eastern
Cambridgeshire about a mile south of Potton where the Costentin family also had
property. In the Domesday Book (1086) the Countess Judith held Sutton. In that
time the village was divided into a number of hides and virgates.[10] It
is not possible to link the 2¼ virgates held by Henry Costentin with any
property at Domesday. The nearly two hundred years between both records is just
too much to bridge.
In 1273 Geoffrey de Costentin came before the king’s court concerning the
land of Geldston which was seized following the default of debt by Robert le
Warner. In 1274 Geoffrey de Costentin came to the king’s court to reply to
Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, concerning the seizure of his lands at
Potton, Sutton and Gatesbryr for failure to settle a debt.[11]
Elsewhere in 1286-7 a
person called Geoffrey Costentin had a windmill outside the East Gate of
Nessyndene, Kent. The windmill was rented by Geoffrey Haspal.[12]
Elsewhere in 1276 a
person called Henry Costentin sold a small holding at Gamlingay in
Cambridgeshire.[13] It is
not clear how this Henry was related to Geoffrey de Costentin. It was noted
above how in 1236-7 Henry Costentin succeeded to land in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
Could Gamlingay be those lands?
After the 1280s the
Costentin family seem to disappear from the records. Maybe they died out or accumulated
too much debt and had to sell the family property. Medieval documents love
recording the adventures of people with property and leave the ordinary off the
record books. In the 1270s debt and selling property seem to be the only family
activity.
Costentin in Northamptonshire
Meanwhile in the time of
King Henry 1st Richard and Roger de Costentin held 3 small virgates
at Hargrave in Northamptonshire.[14]
It is difficult to say if these people
were related to the Costentin family of Bedfordshire or to that of Lincolnshire
or a totally separate family – a project for another day to find their history.
Bibliography
Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry
III, 1225-1232
Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward
1, 1272-1279
Dryburgh, P.,
and Hartland, B. (eds.), Calendar of the
Fine Rolls of the reign of Henry III, Volume II, 1224-1234 (London, 2008)
Dryburgh, P.,
and Hartland, B. (eds.), Calendar of the
Fine Rolls of the reign of Henry III, Volume III, 1234-1242 (London, 2009)
Farrer, W., and Clay,
C.T. (eds.), Early Yorkshire Charters:
Volume 11, The Percy Fee (Cambridge, 2013)
Farrer, W., Honors and Knights' Fees: An Attempt to
Identify the Component, volume 1 (Manchester, 1925)
Morris, J. (ed.),
Domesday Book, 20, Bedfordshire (Chichester,
1977)
Sharp (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem
preserved in the Public Record Office, volume one (14 vols. Kraus-Thomson,
reprint, 1973)
Sharp (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem
preserved in the Public Record Office, volume two (14 vols. Kraus-Thomson,
reprint, 1973)
Summerson, H., Clun: Documentary Sources for the Castle and
Borough (1993)
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[1] Dryburgh, P., and Hartland, B. (eds.), Calendar of the Fine Rolls of the reign of Henry III, Volume III,
1234-1242 (London, 2009), p. 623
[3] Dryburgh, P., and Hartland, B. (eds.), Calendar of the Fine Rolls of the reign of Henry III, Volume II,
1224-1234 (London, 2008), no. 13/484
[5] Farrer, W., and Clay, C.T. (eds.), Early Yorkshire Charters: Volume 11, The Percy Fee (Cambridge,
2013), p. 230
[6] https://www.geni.com/projects/Kirtlington-Manor-Oxfordshire-England/25483
accessed on 4th May 2017
[7] Summerson, H., Clun:
Documentary Sources for the Castle and Borough (1993), p. 3; Calendar
of Patent Rolls, Henry III, 1225-1232, p. 434
[8] Dryburgh, P., and Hartland, B. (eds.), Calendar of the Fine Rolls of Henry III, Vol. III, 1234-1242, no. 21/159
[9] Sharp (ed.), Calendar of
Inquisitions Post Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office (14 vols.
Kraus-Thomson, reprint, 1973), vol. 1, no. 321
[12] Sharp (ed.), Calendar of
Inquisitions Post Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office (14 vols.
Kraus-Thomson, reprint, 1973), vol. 2, no. 635
[14] Farrer, W., Honors and
Knights' Fees: An Attempt to Identify the Component, volume 1 (Manchester,
1925), p. 18
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