Bonby manor in medieval Lincolnshire
Bonby is a village and civil parish in north Lincolnshire, about 4 miles
(6 km) south from Barton-upon-Humber.[1] At
the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086 Hugh son of Baldric held Bonby with its
six ploughs, 14 villagers, 7 small holders and 2 freemen. It was then worth £6
and paid 3 geld in tax.[2]
Hugh son of Baldric held about 25 holdings across Lincolnshire at Domesday.[3]
Early owners
In the 33rd year of King Henry III (October 1248-1249) Maud,
the late wife of Geofffrey de Cerland, held at her death £10 worth of land at
Bonby in Lincolnshire. This was held in chief of the king by the service of
half knight’s fee. Maud left three heirs, namely; Agatha (wife of Sir John de
Mares), Joan (wife of Ralph de Planaz) and Alice (sometime wife of Henry de Sancto
Hillario) who were each aged forty years and more.[4] It
has so far not being possible to find extra information on Geoffrey de Cerland
or his three sons-in-law.
Bonby under the Costentin family
In 1263-4 Geoffrey IV Costentin died leaving his brother John Costentin
(aged 29 years) as heir. The Costentin family possibly came from Costentin in
the Manche region of France.[5] In
that same year of 1263-4 John Costentin succeeded to the land of Bonby in
Lincolnshire. This consisted of I toft and 7 bovates of land in demesne along
with 30 bovates and 3 parts of a bovate of land with 5 tofts in villenage. This
property was held of the king in chief by serjeanty which was to carry a wand
in front of the king if the monarch was in the county on Christmas Day.[6]
Geoffrey IV Costentin was the son of Geoffrey III de Costentin who came
of age in December 1252. In March 1253 Geoffrey III de Costentin was given
seisin of Balrothery, Co. Dublin, on payment to the king of one year’s income
(£33 9½d).[7] Geoffrey
III de Costentin didn’t live long to enjoy his inheritance and died in 1253
leaving Geoffrey IV Costentin.[8]
Geoffrey III de Costentin was the grandson of Geoffrey de Costentin, an
important landowner and official in medieval Ireland. For more on the Costentin
family in Ireland see = http://celtic2realms-medievalnews.blogspot.ie/2017/05/geoffrey-de-costentin-and-family-in.html
Costentin family in Lincolnshire
Early documents show the Costentin family in Lincolnshire
at least from the middle of the twelfth century. In 1155-66 a person called
Geoffrey de Costentin was a witness to a grant of Legsby church in Lincolnshire
to Sixhills abbey by Robert, son of Robert de Thweng.[9] The
Costentin family were owners of Bonby manor in Lincolnshire from at least the
first half of the thirteenth century. Yet in 1201-2 a person called Geoffrey de
Costentin was paying fines in Lancastershire, Wiltshire and in the honor of
Gloucester.[10] Geoffrey de Costentin also held the manor of
Thorp in Staffordshire from the Earl of Lancaster. This place later took on the
name of Thorp Costentin.[11]
Costentin in Staffordshire
Geoffrey de Costentin of Bonby also held the manor of Thorp in
Staffordshire from the Earl of Lancaster. This place later took on the name of
Thorp Costentin.[12]
Bonby under the Costentin family
John Costentin succeeded in 1263-4 to Bonby and also had property in
Ireland as in 1271 he held 4 knights fees at Kenkilly in the honor of Fore from
Geoffrey de Geneville.[13] Around
1281 John Costentin enfeoffed his brother Richard Costentin of the manor of
Bonby in exchange for certain lands in Ireland. For this Richard was to pay
John a pair of gilt spurs at Easter.[14]
Richard Costentin retained some property interest in Ireland as in 1318 he held
the manor of Ballyfermot, Co. Dublin, of Robert de Clahull.[15]
It seems from records that Richard Costentin often went to Ireland on
extended visits. In 1303 he was living in Ireland when he asked for a writ that
Sir Richard de Exeter, chief justice of the Dublin Bench, would receive his
English attorneys for three years. Richard Costentin was too ill at the time to
go in person to the Dublin Bench.[16]
Other owners of parts of Bonby
The entire manor of Bonby was not held by the Costentin family. We saw
earlier how the land of Maud de Cerland was divided among her three heirs one
of whom was John de Mares. In 1288-9, John, son of Juliana of Barton, held one
bovate of land along with 54s 6d of rent from free tenants and 15s 11d rent
from bondmen. He had previously purchased this holding from John, son of John
de Mares of Kent and continued to render to John junior the sum of 2d in rent.[17]
Costentin owners in late
thirteenth century
Shortly after St. Valentine ’s Day, 1291, John de Costentin was found
seized at his inquisition post mortem of a capital messuage, 11 bovates of land
in demesne along with free tenants holding a further 22 bovates of land in the
manor of Bonby. The jury didn’t know by what service to the king John held
Bonby but they did know of the enfeoffment to Richard Costentin. Geoffrey V Costentin,
son of John, was aged 30 years plus and was heir to Bonby.[18]
Little is known of Geoffrey V Costentin. In February 1291 Geoffrey de
Costentin was fined a half mark because he failed to appear at the Dublin
county court.[19] Sometime
in the next two or three years Geoffrey de Costentin died without no direct
heirs and was succeeded to Bonby and to his Irish property by his cousin
(uncle), Richard de Costentin. His inquisition post mortem for Balrothery was
taken in 1294-5.[20]
Holeym family at Bonby
In 1316-7 John de Holeym was found holding a capital messuage and 3½
bovates of land in the manor of Bonby. This he held by the inheritance of Agnes
de Limbergh, his sometime wife, by the service of 6d yearly to Richard
Costentin. His heir was his son by Agnes called John de Holeym.[21]
Bonby under the Hothum family
At some date before 1318 Richard Costentin and Matilda his wife made an
enfeoffment of Bonby to John de Hothum, Bishop of Ely. In September 1318 the
Bishop made a grant to Matilda of 10 marks yearly in return for her grant to
the Bishop of her dower lands at Bonby.[22]
By December 1318 John de Hothum, Bishop of Ely, held Bonby and did homage for
same to the king.[23]
Although the Costentin family had left Bonby some members of the family
still retained property in Ireland. In 1323-4 Geoffrey VI de Costentin paid £1
for a half service for Balrothey in the army service of Tylagh issued by John
de Arcy.[24]
Balrothey was an ancient property of the family since the days of King Richard.
Bishop Hothum memorial in Ely cathedral by Andrew Rabbott
By 1327, John de Hothum, Bishop of Ely, and John de Hothum, son of Peter
de Hothum (brother of the bishop), had a joint interest in the English
properties of Geoffrey de Costentin at Thorpe Costantyn, Staffordshire and
Bonby in Lincolnshire.[25] In
May 1343 John de Hothum, son of John de Hothum of Bonby, did homage for his
lands in England and Ireland. The king wrote to the justiciar of Ireland to
give protection to John de Hothum for that homage.[26]
In June 1344 John de Hothum senior passed on Bonby to his son, also
called John de Hothum. In return for this gift the son promised his father £100
yearly from Bonby and other manors as income.[27] This
John de Hothum junior was a grandnephew of John de Hothum, Bishop of Ely, an
important figure in early fourteenth century Ireland.[28]
In June 1347 John de Hothum junior gave his manor at Solihill and
Colyweston to trustees in return for 100 marks from each manor yearly. In
September 1347 John de Hotum junior paid 268 marks in part payment of 500 marks
for the ransom of Sir Sylvester de la Foill from Sir Michael de Pontynges.
About the same time John de Hothum entrusted the manor of Colyweston in
Northamptonshire for the same ransom.[29]
On 27th September 1351 John de Hothum, son of John de Hothum
of Bonby died. The subsequent inquisition post mortem found that John junior
held land in the counties of Essex and Lincoln. In Essex
he held the manor of Fifhyde with his wife Juetta, who survived him. That manor
was a gift of his father, John de Hothum senior to be held in chief of the king
by a service of one knight’s fee. If John junior left no heirs of his body
Fifhyde was to transfer to Henry son of Geoffrey le Scrope.
In Lincolnshire John de Hothum junior held the manor of Bonby jointly
with his wife and by the gift of his father with the reminder to the right
heirs of the donor. A later inquisition after Easter further clarified the
inheritance. Bonby was to be held by John junior for the lifetime of his father
with remainder after to John and Juetta and the heirs of their bodies. Failing
these heirs the right heirs of John de Hothum senior would inherit.
The first inquisition found Bonby was held in chief of the king by
service of grand serjeanty. By this service the holder had right to carry a
white rod before the king on Christmas Day if the king was in the county.
It would appear that John de Hothum junior left no heirs of his body in
1351. Instead, his two sisters; Katherine (aged 19 years) and Alice (aged 16
years) were declared as his heirs.[30]
In Ireland John de Hothum junior was granted Kilkenny castle in August
1335 from his granduncle, John de Hothum, Bishop of Ely. In February 1352 John
de Hothum, son of Peter de Hothum of Bonby, had possession of Kilkenny castle
and gave it to Lord Thomas de Ferrars and Lady Anne la Despenser, his wife.[31]
Le Despenser family inherit Bonby
Hugh le Despenser died on 2nd March 1374 at Padua in Lombardy
leaving his son Hugh le Despenser as heir. The boy was variously aged between
18 and 22 years old at the time.[32]
This Hugh le Despenser senior of 1374 held lands in the counties of
Yorkshire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire. In Lincolnshire he held the manor
of Bonby jointly with his wife Alice de Hothum as of her right. Bonby was still
held of the king in chief by petty serjeanty, namely, to carry a white wand
before the king at Christmas time if he was in the county. The manor was worth
100s and no more because it was in waste with no buildings. The land was mostly
untilled as it was said to be sandy and stony in places. The meadows, pastures
and marshes were flooded by the River Ankholm.[33]
The manor of Colyweston in Northamptonshire was held jointly by Hugh
with his wife Alice of John de Oddingeseles by knight’s service. This manor
came to Alice following the death of her brother
John de Hothum as did those of Crauncewyk and Hothum in Yorkshire .[34]
Bonby in later times
After the death of Hugh le Despenser, Alice de Hothum married Sir John
Trussell (died 1424), before her own death in 1379. Her son, Hugh le Despenser,
died without issue in 1401 when he was succeeded by his sister, Anne, wife of
Edward Butler.[35] Thus in
the fourteen century Bonby was held by Edward Butler until his death in March
1413 and thereafter by Edward, Duke of York, until his death in October 1415.[36]
Bonby rectory
Meanwhile, in the time of King John, the rectory of Bonby belonged to
the prior and convent of Merton. Later King John arranged for the rectory of
Bonby along with those at Saxilby, and All Saints, Stamford, to be given to the
Benedictine priory of St. Fromund, Normandy to form the endowment of Bonby Priory.[37]
Bonby priory was never very big and probably supported only one monk.
During the Hundred Years War Bonby became so unprofitable to the prior of St.
Fromund that in 1390 he granted to London Charterhouse. But this was done
without the king's consent and Bonby priory was by that time seized as alien
property.[38] It was
farmed for a time by the king's clerks at an annual rent of 12 marks. In 1380
Bonby priory was valued at £8 5s 10d per annum.
In 1403 the crown granted Bonby to the Carthusians of Beauvale in
Nottinghamshire.[39] At that
time the priory was said to be valued at less than 18 marks. The possessions of
Bonby included the rectory of the parish church of that place, pensions of 13s.
4d. each from the churches of Saxby and St. John's Stamford, and the advowsons
of the churches of Sts. Peter, John, Paul, and George, Stamford, and Saxby and
Grafton. In 1404 the prior of St. Fromund consent to this transfer and
quitclaimed any rights he had on Bonby.[40]
Bibliography
Brooks, E. St.
John, Knights’ fees in Counties Wexford,
Carlow and Kilkenny, 13th-15th Century (Dublin, 190)
Brooks, E. St.
John (ed.), Register of the Hospital of
St. John the Baptist without the New Gate, Dublin (Dublin, 1936)
Chapman, J.B.W.
(ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post
Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office (14 vols. Kraus-Thomson,
reprint, 1973), vol. 14
Connolly, P.,
‘Irish material in the class of ancient petitions (sc8) in the Public Records
Office, London’, in Analecta Hibernica,
no. 34 (1987), pp. 1-106
Curtis, E.
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond deeds, volume
one, 1172-1350 (Dublin, 1932)
Curtis, E.
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond deeds, volume
two, 1350-1413 (Dublin, 1934)
Down, K.,
‘Colonial society and economy’, in Cosgrove, A. (ed.), A new history of Ireland, volume II: medieval Ireland, 1169-1534
(Oxford, 2008), pp. 437-491
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)
Forty Second Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public
Records Office, Ireland (Dublin, 1911)
Frame, R., Colonial Ireland, 1169-1369 (Dublin,
1981)
Gwynn, A., and
Hadcock, R.N., Medieval Religious Houses
Ireland (Blackrock, 1988)
Hagger, M. The Fortunes of a Norman Family: The de
Verduns in England, Ireland and Wales, 1066-1316 (Dublin, 2001)
Kirby, J.L.
(ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post
Mortem: Volume 20, Henry V (London, 1995)
Mills, J., and
McEnery, M.J. (eds.), Calendar of the
Gormanston Register (Dublin, 1916)
McNeill, C.
(ed.), Calendar of Archbishop Alen’s
Register, c.1172-1534 (Dublin, 1950)
Nicholls, K.W.,
‘Inquisitions of 1224 from the Miscellanea of the Exchequer’, in Analecta Hibernica, no. 27 (1972), pp.
103-112
Otway-Ruthven,
A.J., A history of Medieval Ireland
(London, 1980)
Sharp, J.E.E.S.
(ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post
Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office (14 vols. Kraus-Thomson,
reprint, 1973), vol. 1
Sharp, J.E.E.S.
(ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post
Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office (14 vols. Kraus-Thomson,
reprint, 1973), vol. 2
Sharp, J.E.E.S.
(ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post
Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office (14 vols. Kraus-Thomson,
reprint, 1973), vol. 6
Sharp, J.E.E.S.
(ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post
Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office (14 vols. Kraus-Thomson,
reprint, 1973), vol. 9
Sheehan, J., Westmeath: as others
saw us (Moate, 1982)
Sweetman, H.S. (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland (5 vols.
Liechtenstein, 1974)
Warren,
W.L., ‘King John and Ireland’, in Lydon, J. (ed.), England and Ireland in the Later Middle Ages (Dublin, 1981),
pp.26-42
Wells-Furby,
B. (ed.), A catalogue of the medieval
muniments at Berkeley Castle, Volume two (Bristol and Gloucestershire
Archaeological Society, 2004)
=============
End of post
=============
[4] Sharp, J.E.E.S. (ed.), Calendar
of Inquisitions Post Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office (14 vols.
Kraus-Thomson, reprint, 1973), vol. 1, no. 134
[5] 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
[6] Sharp (ed.), Calendar of
Inquisitions Post Mortem, vol. 1, no. 574
[7] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of
Documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1, 1171-1251, no. 2682; Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland,
vol. 2, 1252-1284, nos. 146, 158
[8] Sharp, J.E.E.S. (ed.), Calendar
of Inquisitions Post Mortem (Liechtenstein, 1973), vol. 1, no. 277;
Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of Documents
relating to Ireland, volume 2, 1252-1284, no. 146
[9] Farrer, W., and Clay, C.T. (eds.), Early Yorkshire Charters: Volume 11, The Percy Fee (Cambridge,
2013), 206
[10] Anon, Rotulus Cancellarii,
Vel Antigraphum Magni Rotuli Pipæ, de Tertio Anno Regni Regus Johannis
(London, 1833), pp. 56, 120 234
[11] http://www.british-history.ac.uk/staffs-hist-collection/vol5/pt1/pp105-109
accessed on 4th May 2017
[12] http://www.british-history.ac.uk/staffs-hist-collection/vol5/pt1/pp105-109
accessed on 4th May 2017
[14] Sharp, J.E.E.S. (ed.), Calendar
of Inquisitions Post Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office (14 vols.
Kraus-Thomson, reprint, 1973), vol. 2, no. 750
[15] Brooks, E. St. John, Knights’
fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny, 13th-15th
Century (Dublin, 190), p. 59n
[16] Connolly, P., ‘Irish material in the class of ancient petitions (sc8) in the Public Records Office, London’, in Analecta Hibernica, no. 34 (1987), pp.
1-106, at p. 82
[17] Sharp (ed.), Calendar of
Inquisitions Post Mortem, vol. 2, no. 713
[18] Sharp (ed.), Calendar of
Inquisitions Post Mortem, vol. 2, no. 750
[20] Hogan, J., ‘Miscellanea of the Chancery, London’, in Analecta Hibernica, 1 (1930), pp.
179-218, at p. 205
[21] Sharp, J.E.E.S. (ed.), Calendar
of Inquisitions Post Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office (14 vols.
Kraus-Thomson, reprint, 1973), vol. 6, no. 5
[24] Forty Second Report of the
Deputy Keeper of the Public Records Office, Ireland (Dublin, 1911), p. 53
[25] Brooks, E. St. John, Knights’
fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny, 13th-15th
Century (Dublin, 190), p. 199n;
Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward III, 1327-1330,
p. 207
[28] Phillips, J.R.S., ‘The Mission of John de Hothum to Ireland,
1315-1316’, in Lydon, J. (ed.), England
and Ireland in the Later Middle Ages (Dublin, 1981), pp.62-85; Curtis, E.
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond deeds, volume
one, 1172-1350 (Dublin, 1932), no. 677
[30] Sharp, J.E.E.S. (ed.), Calendar
of Inquisitions Post Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office (14 vols.
Kraus-Thomson, reprint, 1973), vol. 9, no. 637
[31] Curtis, E. (ed.), Calendar of
Ormond deeds, volume one, 1172-1350 (Dublin, 1932), no. 677; Curtis, E.
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond deeds, volume
two, 1350-1413 (Dublin, 1934), pp. 208, 209; Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward
III, 1364-1368, p. 425
[32] Chapman, J.B.W. (ed.), Calendar
of Inquisitions Post Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office (14 vols.
Kraus-Thomson, reprint, 1973), vol. 14, no. 56
[35] Wells-Furby, B. (ed.), A
catalogue of the medieval muniments at Berkeley Castle, Volume two (Bristol
and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 2004), p. 958
[36] Kirby, J.L. (ed.), Calendar
of Inquisitions Post Mortem: Volume 20, Henry V (London, 1995), no. 397
