BARONIES BY WRIT.

ASTLEY. Andrew de Astley, whose ancestors were Barons by tenure, was summoned to Parliament from the 23rd June, 23 Edw. İ. 1295, to the 26th September, 29 Edw. I. 1300, and dying' in that year, left

Nicholas his son and heir, then twenty-four years old2, who was also summoned to Parliament on the 4th July, 30th Edw. I. 1302, on the 11th June, 2nd Edw. II., 1309, and 26th October, 3rd Edw. II., 1309; but attending the latter monarch to Scotland, was taken prisoner, or according to some accounts slain, at the battle of Bannockburn. The time of his death is uncertain; but it appears that he died without issue, as, in the 19th year of the same reign, his nephew,

Thomas de Astley, son of his younger brother Sir Giles de Astley, had livery of his lands; but he was not summoned to Parliament immediately on his succession to the inheritance of his uncle: he received writs of summons, however, in the 16th, 22nd, and 23rd of Edw. III. but not afterwards, although he appears to have been living, at least as late as the 33rd of that reign3: neither was his son and heir, Sir William de Astley, ever summoned. No proof exists of either of the Barons Astley having sat in Parliament.

Joan, only daughter and heiress of the said Sir William, married first, Thomas Raleigh of Farnborough, in Warwickshire, by whom she had no issue; and, secondly, Reginald Lord Grey of Ruthyn, to whom she was second wife, and had issue by him, a son and heir, Edmund de Grey, who was afterwards summoned to Parliament as Lord Grey of Groby; with which barony that of Astley descended to Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, who was beheaded and attainted in 1554; and whose present sole representative is her Grace Ann Eliza, Duchess of Buckingham and Chandos.

ATON. Gilbert de Aton was summoned to Parliament on the 30th December, 18 Edw. II., 1324, on the 20th February, 1325, and again on the 25th February, 16 Edw. III., 1342; and appears to have died in that year leaving William his son and heir, who was also summoned on the 8th January, 44 Edw. III., 1371, but never afterwards, nor is any evidence to be found of either of these Barons having been present in Parliament. By Isabel, daughter of Henry Lord Percy, the said William Lord Aton had three daughters, who were his heirs: namely, Anastatia, wife of Sir Edward de St. John, knight;

1 Writs of summons to Parliament continued to be addressed to him, however, until the 34 Edw. I., and which were probably "issued and enrolled by mistake."-Palgrave's "Parliamentary Writs," p. 433.

2 Esch. 29 Edw. I. No. 155.

3 Pat. 33 Edw. III. m. 4. dorso.

4 He must have died before the 13 Ric. II. 1389, as in that year partition was made of his lands between his daughters.

whose present representatives are, Edward Lord de Clifford; James Brownlow; William Gascoigne, Marquess of Salisbury; John Gower, Esquire; and Isabella, Countess Dowager of Egmont. Katherine, who married Sir Ralph Evre, and is now represented by Sir William Strickland, Bart.; and Elizabeth, who married first, William Placye, and secondly, John Conyers, of Sockburne, in Durham. The heirgeneral of the said Elizabeth is Thomas Stonor, Esquire.

AUDLEY OF HELEIGH. Nicholas de Audley, or Aldithley, whose ancestors were Barons by tenure, received a writ to attend a great council, dated on the 26th January, 25 Edw. I., 1297, and died in 1299, leaving Thomas his son, his heir, who died a minor in 1307. Nicholas, the brother and heir of Thomas, was regularly summoned to Parliament, from the 8th January, 6 Edw. II., 1313, to the 25th August, 12 Edw. II., 1318, and died in 1319; to whom respectively succeeded James, his son, and Nicholas, his grandson, both of whom were likewise summoned to Parliament. The latter died in 1392, s. P. leaving John Tuchet, then aged 20, son and heir of John Tuchet, son and heir of Sir John Tuchet, by Joan his sister; and Margaret, wife of Sir Roger Hillary, his other sister, who was then forty years of age; and Fulk Fitz Warine, son and heir of Fulk, son and heir of Fitz Warine, by Margery, half-sister of the said Nicholas (namely, daughter of his father, James Lord Audley, by Isabel, his second wife 1), his heirs. The said Lady Hillary died in 1410, s. p.3 when, according to modern opinions, the barony of Audley fell into abeyance, between John Tuchet, and Fulk Fitz Warine, above mentioned. The former was summoned to Parliament, as "John Tuchet, without the addition of " de Audithley," from the 21st December 7 Hen. IV., 1405, to the 9th Hen. IV., 1408. He died in 1409, leaving James Tuchet, his son and heir, then ten years of age. On the death of his grand-aunt, Lady Hillary, in 1410, he became the eldest coheir of the barony of Audley, unless, which is not probable, the writ to his father in 1405, was a termination of the abeyance of that dignity, instead of a new creation of a barony of Tuchet. Soon after he became of age, on the 26th February, 8 Hen. V., 1421, he received a writ of summons to Parliament by the appellation of "James de Audley," which must be considered a complete termination of the abeyance of the barony of Audley; and he continued to be so summoned until 1455. After his death in 1458, John, his son and heir, was similarly summoned, as were his male heirs, subject however to two forfeitures and restorations, until the death of John Tal

MS. note of the "Inquisitiones Post Mortem" of the 9th Hen. IV. in the possession of the writer, but the only inquisition in the printed calendar of that year of the name of Audley or Audithley, is No. 35, Ricardus de Audeley, "whose lands were also in the county of Stafford."

Esch. 15 Ric. II. No. 1.

3 MS. note of the "Inquisitiones Post Mortem" of the 12th Hen. IV. Her heirs are said to have been John Audeley, son of John, son of Audley, alias Tochet

and Joan his wife, her sister.

bot Tuchet, Earl of Castlehaven, in Ireland, without issue, in 1777. His nephew and heir, George Thicknesse, who assumed the name of Tuchet, the son and heir of Philip Thicknesse, by Lady Elizabeth Tuchet, the sister of the last Baron, was allowed the barony, and dying in 1818, was succeeded by his son, George John Thicknesse Tuchet, the present Baron.

Two or three facts connected with the title require to be stated. Although the first writ on record, that of the 25 Edw. I., can scarcely be deemed a writ of summons to a regular Parliament, as none of the spiritual peers were summoned, it has been held that the dignity was created by that writ; and such is accordingly the precedency which has been assigned to the Lords Audley. The earliest proof of sitting which exists is of John Tuchet, who was one of the witnesses in Parliament to two patents for the settlement of the crown in 8 Hen. IV., 1406: in which he is merely called "John Touchet:" his son, and grandson were frequently present, and were always described by the name of "Audley," or as "Lords Audley." By the statute 29th and 30th Car. II., for the restoration of James Tuchet, son and heir of Mervin Tuchet, Lord Audley, and Earl of Castlehaven, in Ireland, who was attainted of felony, and beheaded in 1631, whereby this barony became forfeited, the descent of it was specially limited to the said James Tuchet, and the heirs of his body; in default of which to Mervin Tuchet, third son of the late Mervin Lord Audley, beheaded in 1631, and the heirs of his body; failing which, to the daughters of the said Mervin Lord Audley, and their heirs; thus passing over George, the second son of the said Mervin Lord Audley, and his issue, as "fully, amply, and honourably," as if he were "naturally dead without issue.' The cause of this exclusion was, that George Tuchet was then a Catholic priest abroad.

AUDLEY. On the 15th May, 14 Edw. II., 1321, a Hugh de Aldethley, or Audley, who is presumed to have been a younger brother of Nicholas Lord Audley, of Hely, who died in 1319, was summoned to Parliament by the style of "Hugh de Audley, senior," but never afterwards, nor has the date of his death been ascertained; Hugh, his son and heir, was summoned to Parliament in his father's lifetime, from the 20th November, 11 Edw. II., 1317, to the 15th May, 14 Edw. II., 1321, as "Hugh de Audley, junior," and from the 3rd December, 20 Edw. II., 1326, to the 24th August, 10 Edw. III., 1336, as "Hugh de Audlei." Having married Margaret, the daughter and coheiress of Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester, he was created Earl of Gloucester on the 23rd April, 1337, and died s. P. M. in 1347, leaving Margaret, his daughter and heiress, the wife of Ralph Lord Stafford. Their heir general is George William Stafford Jerningham, present Lord Stafford under the patent to Sir William Howard and Mary his wife (the heir general of the house of Stafford Dukes of Buckingham) of the 12th of September, 1640. The ancient Barony of Stafford, and whatever other honours he possessed, having been forfeited by the attainder of Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham,

in 1521.

No proof has been found of either of the Lords Audley of this family having sat in Parliament as a Baron.

BADLESMERE. The first of this family who was summoned to parliament among the Barons of the realm is Bartholomew de Badlesmere, Lord of the manor of Badlesmere and of Leeds Castle, in Kent. He was summoned from the 26th October, 3 Edw. II., 1309, to the 5th August, 14 Edw. II., 1320; and on the Parliament Roll of the 9th year of that reign, in the record of the proceedings between the council of the King and the delegates of the Earl of Flanders on the discussion of certain differences, it is said 1, that "prefati Arnaldus et Thomas Attornati Perote et Joh'is predictor' coram Venerabilibus Patribus W. Cant' Archie'po totius Anglie Primato, J. Norwic' J. Cicestr' E'pis, Thoma Comite Lanc', Adomaro de Valencia Com' Pembr', Joh'e de Brittania Comite Richem', J. de Sandale Cancellar', W. de Norwico Thes', et quibusdam Justic' de utroq. Banco, Bartho de Badelesmere et alijs Baronibus et Dñi Regis Fidelibus, apud Westm' super quibusdam negotijs statum Dñi Regis et Regni tangentibus tractandis convocatis, supplicarunt quod Dñus," &c.

He was among the adherents to Thomas Earl of Lancaster; and was taken prisoner at Burrowbridge, in March, 1322, was soon afterwards executed, and was attainted. By Margaret his wife, who was daughter of Thomas de Clare, grandson of Richard Earl of Gloucester, and aunt and one of the coheirs of Thomas de Clare, Seneschall of the Forest of Essex, he had one son Giles de Badlesmere, who was fourteen years of age A° 2 Edw. III.2, and four daughters.

In the 1 Edw. III., the attainder of Bartholomew de Badlesmere was reversed, and Giles de Badlesmere, his son and heir, was restored to his father's lands in the 7 Edw. III., although he was at that time still a minor 3. He was summoned to Parliament from the 22nd January, 9 Edw. III., 1336, to the 18th August, 11 Edw. III, 1337, and died in 1338, without issue, when his four sisters were found to be his heirs, viz.

1. Margery, then thirty-two years old, and the wife of William Lord Roos.

2. Maud, twenty-eight years old, and wife of John de Vere, Earl of Oxford.5

Rot. Parl. vol. 1. p. 359.

Esc. 2 E. 3. Second Numbers, No. 23.

3 Claus. 7 Ed. 3. pt. 2. m. 3.

4 Esc. 12 E. 3. No. 44.

5 Some authorities state that she married first, Robert Fitz Payne, but she appears to have been confounded with another person. Among the Ancient Charters in the British Museum marked 45 F 11 is one, dated in May, 9th Ed. I., 1281, twentynine years before this Maud was born, containing an agreement between Bartholomew de Badlesmere and Robert Fitz Payne, that Robert, son of the said Robert, should marry Mary, daughter of the said Bartholomew, before the feast of St. James next following, whom he dowered with land to the annual value of two hundred marks. He was to receive with her 1200 marks, and it was agreed that she should reside with, and be supported at the cost of, her father, for one year after her marriage.

3. Elizabeth, twenty-five years old, first married to Edmund Baron Mortimer, of Wigmore; and secondly in the 12 Ed. III., to William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton.

4. Margaret, twenty three-years old, and wife of John Lord Tiptoft.

1. Margery, the eldest sister and coheir, survived her husband William Lord Roos, and married, secondly, Thomas de Arundel. She died in the 37th Edw. III., when Thomas de Roos, her son by her first husband, was found to be her heir. The coheirs of this lady at the present time are, Sir Henry Hunloke, Bart., George Earl of Essex, and Charlotte Baroness de Roos.

;

II. Maud Countess of Oxford. The descent from this lady continued in the male line until the 18 Hen. VIII., 1526-7, when her greatgreat-great-great-grandson John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, died without issue, and left his three sisters his coheirs, viz. Elizabeth, Dorothy, and Ursula. Of these, Dorothy married John Neville, Lord Latimer and her representatives, who are extremely numerous, will be traced under that title'. Ursula was twice married: first to George Windsor, son and heir apparent of William Lord Windsor, by whom she had no issue; and secondly, to Sir Edmund Knightley, of Fawsley, co. Northampton, by whom she had five or six daughters, who all died infants or without issue: she was buried at Letheringham, in Suffolk. Elizabeth, the other sister and coheir of John Earl of Oxford, married Sir Anthony Wingfield, of Letheringham, in Norfolk, K.G.; and her share of the Barony is now vested in Charles Baron Dillon, a general in the Austrian service, grandson and heir of Francis Dillon, of Proudston, in the county of Meath, and Mary his wife, who was the only child and heiress of Sir Mervyn Wyngfield, Bart., sixth in descent from Sir Anthony.

III. Elizabeth, the third sister and coheir of Giles de Badlesmere, had issue by her first husband a son and heir, Roger de Mortimer, Earl of March. As this lady's share of the Barony of Badlesmere became vested eventually in the Crown by the marriage of Anne, only sister, who left issue, of Edmund Mortimer, last Earl of March, with Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Cambridge, grandfather of King Edward IV., it is unnecessary to take any further notice of this line. IV. Margaret, the fourth sister and coheir of Giles de Badlesmere, had issue by her husband John Lord Tiptoft, a son and heir, Robert de Tiptoft, who was twenty-six years of age at the death of his father,

1 Her present coheirs, 1828, are, 1st, the Duke of Northumberland; 2d, Winchcombe Henry Howard Hartley, of Sodbury, co. Gloc. Esq.; 3d, Sir Charles Knightley, of Fawsley; 4th, Troth, only dr. and heiress of the late Grey Jermyn Grove, of Pool, co. Salop, Esq.; 5th, Villiers William Villiers, of Bath, Esq.; 6th, the Earl of Abindon; 7th, Sir Francis Burdett, Bart.; 8th, the heir or heirs, if any, of William Sandys, who married in 1596, Elizabeth 2d dr. and cohr. of Sir Wm. Cornwallis, of Brome, Knt.; 9th, William Fermor, of Tusmore, co. Oxford, Esq.; 10th, Lord Rollo; and 11th, the heirs, if any, of Elizabeth, Barbara, Constance, and Victoria, four of the daughters and coheirs of Archibald 7th Earl of Argyle, who died in 1628.

2 Ped. of Dillon in the College of Arms.- Ped. of Wingfield in Blore's Rutland.