Part One: The Normans (1066-1199)

The Royal Lords (1066-c.1140)

The earliest two recorded lords of Moreton[hampstead]¹ manor faced each other in the most famous battle on English soil. Their lordship is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as can be seen below.

The Liber Exoniensis² of 1086 is a composite land and tax register associated with the Domesday Survey of 1086, covering much of Southwest England and has a fuller text. The sole surviving copy is MS 3500 in Exeter Cathedral Library. Here is a translation of the relevant Latin text for the manor of Moreton:

‘The king has an estate which is called Moreton[hampstead], which [Earl] Harold held on the day that King Edward [the Confessor] was alive and dead {i.e. January 5^th 1066}, and it paid geld for 3 hides. 20 ploughs can plough these. Of it the king has 1 hide and 3 ploughs in demesne and the villans 2 hides and 8 ploughs. There the king has 16 villans and 6 bordars and 6 slaves and 20 beasts and 130 sheep and woodland 1 league in length and 1 furlong in width, and 20 acres of meadow and 60 acres of grazing-land; and it pays 12 pounds by weighing and smelting and it paid the same amount, when Baldwin received it. To this estate just mentioned is attached the {i.e. every} third penny {i.e. collected} of the hundred of Teignbridge.’
1] Moretonhampstead was called only Moreton until the fifteenth-century when it acquired the suffix ‘hampstead’ for unknown reasons.
2] http://www.exondomesday.ac.uk

From this we can conclude:
HAROLD GODWINSON: LORD OF MORETON (?-1066) held the manor on January 5^th 1066 when he was Earl of Wessex and most probably still held it from January 6th to October 14^th 1066 while he was also King of England. The manor is important enough in terms of its income of a third of the local hundred’s revenues to be a desirable manor for such a powerful man. The Sheriff of Devon at the time of the Conquest was Heca¹ who was described elsewhere in the Liber Exoniensis as ‘vicecomes’ and he probably supervised the royal manors in the county.
1] Entry 322b1 re The Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE) database at www.pase.ac.uk

KING WILLIAM I: LORD OF MORETON (1066-1087) held it as a royal manor when he replaced Harold as King after his victory in the Battle of Hastings on October 14^th 1066.

As far as can be determined Moreton continued to be a royal manor for nearly another century during the reigns of King William I’s sons:
KING WILLIAM II: LORD OF MORETON (1087-1100)
KING HENRY I: LORD OF MORETON (1100-1135)
KING STEPHEN: LORD OF MORETON (1135-?c1140)

THE ROYAL STEWARDS (1066-c.1140)

The lives of the royal lords are well-documented and need no further discussion here. Less well-known are the Sheriffs of Devon who would have overseen the manor’s interests for the royal lord and in turn appointed a local steward to actually manage its manorial business. The Domesday Survey’s description of Moreton records that ‘Baldwin received it’. To find out out about this Baldwin and and the other royal stewards of Moreton see the attached account below.

Royal Stewards of Moreton 1066-c1140-PDF

WILLIAM DE TRACY: LORD OF MORETON
(c1142-c1174)

Renowned as one of the murderers of Archbishop Thomas Becket in 1170 but less well-known to be the lord of Moreton, much of William de Tracy’s life has been shrouded by myths. As the leading authority on Becket’s murderers, Professor Nicholas Vincent, has opined: ‘The Tracy descent is a veritable mare’s nest, from which few genealogists have emerged entirely unscathed.¹ Fortunately, the assiduous research of Professor Vincent in the English and French archives has gone a long way to clarifying the Tracy descent.² To find out more about William de Tracy and his significant impact on Moreton and Doccombe see the attached account and the map below.
1] Bischofsmorder im Mittelalter ed. By Natalie Fryde & Dirk Reitz, p231, Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 2003
2] Much of what follows on de Tracy is based on Professor Vincent’s chapter entitled ‘The murderers of Thomas Becket’ in the above reference. See also his ‘Becket’s Muderers’, The Friends of Canterbury Cathedral, 2002. He was also kind enough to come to Moretonhampstead to give MHS a lecture on ‘Who killed Becket’ as part of our research project on Doccombe manor – see https://www.doccombeparishscapes.co.uk

William de Tracy-PDF

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER TRACY’S DEATH
(c1174-1199)?

The Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem (referred to in the account of William de Tracy in the attached PDF above) tell us that de Tracy’s lands were escheated to the crown. King Richard I (1189-1199) restored custody of the Tracy estates, not to Henry (‘le bozu’) ¹ de Tracy, William’s son, but to his nephew, Hugh de Couterne who answered for Tracy scutage in 1194 and 1196. ² Hugh retained his custody of William’s lands until the death of King Richard in 1199. King John effectively put them up for sale as competing ‘fines’ for their lordship are recorded from the Tracys of Barnstaple and from Henry de Tracy , the natural heir. ³ Henry was given brief possession but in 1199 had to agree to grant away the manor of Moreton, ‘one of his father’s principal possessions’ ⁴, to the King’s Justiciar, Geoffrey fitz Peter.

‘… William [de Tracy] had a son Henry de Tracy le Bozu ¹ born in Normandy, who long after came to Geoffrey son of Peter, chief justice of England, grandfather of John son of John, praying him to aid him in recovering his inheritance & for so doing he gave him the said manor of Morton to be held to him….’⁵
1] Le Bozu is a descriptive yet derogatory French term for a person who has severe kyphosis or abnormally excessive convex curvature of the spine.
2] Pipe Roll 6 Richard p171.
3] Pipe Roll I John p198; Rotuli de Oblatis, pp 15-16 – pace N Vincent, ibid. Bischofsmorder p260.
4] ibid. Bischofsmorder p260.
5] ibid. Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem …

PART TWO: THE MANDEVILLES (1199-1310)

GEOFFREY FITZ PETER: LORD OF MORETON
(1199-1213)

Geoffrey was born about 1145 into a family of local royal officials and minor landholders at Ludgershall on the border of Hampshire and Wiltshire. By the time he acquired Moreton he had risen far beyond that, showing an impressive capacity for self-improvement and aggrandisement.¹
1] The article on Geoffrey on the ODNB website by F J West can be accessed by use of a local library card at https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/9626. Much of what follows owes is indebted to that article.

By 1166 Geoffrey held several lands as a sub-tenant but soon moved on, making his way in the burgeoning echelons of royal administration being created by King Henry II to become sheriff and local justiciar of Northamptonshire and chief royal forester hearing the pleas of the forest in an extensive circuit. At the same time he acquired the custodies of various lands and heirs, including Saham in Norfolk that had belonged to William de Say (d.1177), and included the wardship of William’s two daughters. William’s father had married Beatrice de Say, sister of the wealthy Geoffrey de Mandeville, earl of Essex; in 1184 or 1185 Geoffrey fitz Peter married her granddaughter, also called Beatrice, who was one of his wards.

This was an astute marriage for ambitious Geoffrey: Beatrice was coheir with her sister Maud to the Mandeville barony, an extensive complex of lands across East Anglia, the South-East and Warwickshire. They did not divide the Say inheritance equally with Maud and her husband, William of Buckland; by their final concord of January 1185 they were given only the manor of Bruninton, the service of 2 tenants and a promise of land worth £10 from future acquisitions.¹ ‘He undoubtedly had Henry II’s consent since heiresses were a valued royal resource, an easy means for the king to reward landless knights in his service.’²
1] Ancient Charters, Royal and Private, ed. J.H.Round. P.R.S. 10 (1888): 108-9 no. 66
2] The Mandeville Inheritance, 1189-1236: Its Legal, Political and Social Context by R.V.Turner in The Haskins Society Journal (1989) Vol. 1 p.150

The Mandeville honour owed the service of 113 knights in Henry II’s time. Earl William de Mandeville was one of the justiciars whom Richard I appointed to rule England during his absence on crusade in 1189, but he died that year, leaving no children nor surviving brothers, so that his heir was his aged aunt Beatrice who had married William de Say. She had two sons; the youngest Geoffrey still alive and William (d.1189) with daughters Beatrice & Maud. If the aunt was bypassed for such a significant honour who should it go to?

Geoffrey fitz Peter was quick to claim the barony in the right of his wife against her uncle Geoffrey de Say. The justiciar, William de Longchamp, at the wish of Say’s grandmother Beatrice, had awarded the barony to Geoffrey de Say for a ‘relief’’ i.e. payment of 7,000 marks but he failed to pay. Geoffrey fitz Peter saw his chance and used his position as a ‘curialis‘ during the king’s absence on The Third Crusade (see below) to secure the barony for only 3,000 marks (£1800).¹ He paid only 900 marks (£200) at once, but received seisin of the lands and the third penny of the county of Essex, although not the title of earl.² Nothing was said about Maud’s right!³
1] Pipe Rolls 2 Richard I 104,111
2] Charter Jan. 1191 issued by King Richard in Sicily on his way to the Third Crusade. (ibid Round Ancient Charters 97-98 n 59
3] ibid Turner p.154

By the time of his wife’s death sometime before April 1197, Geoffrey had used his administrative experience and his baronial status by marriage to become a prominent figure during King Richard’s long periods of absence from England where he only spent about 6 months in his ten year reign. When Richard I became king in 1189, Geoffrey fitz Peter himself had taken a vow of crusade, but the king, by papal permission, released him from his vow. In the arrangements the king made in 1190 for the government of England in his absence on crusade, Geoffrey was one of the named colleagues or a ‘curialis‘ of the justiciar Longchamp, as a baron of the exchequer and a royal justice. He was one of those excommunicated for his part in removing Longchamp in 1191 but soon showed that he was a political survivor. As a colleague of the new justiciar, Archbishop Walter de Coutances, he remained sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire where many of his own lands lay. He had also been astute enough to cultivate Archbishop Hubert Walter, who became justiciar in 1193, and under whom royal administration showed marked innovation. Under Hubert Walter’s justiciarship Geoffrey’s name soon appeared at the head of the justices before whom final concords were made at Westminster.

With Hubert Walter he went on circuit in the Midlands and East Anglia and joined his Welsh expedition in the same year. On Hubert’s resignation of the justiciarship in July 1198, the king appointed Geoffrey as his successor, for by then he was a justice of considerable experience, having begun his career in the days of Glanville when Henry II’s assizes were being worked out. Indeed, he, as well as Hubert Walter, has been suggested as the author of the treatise on the laws which bears Glanville’s name¹. Geoffrey had had similarly long experience as a baron of the exchequer, and as a local royal officer. He remained Justiciar until his death in 1213.
1] The ‘Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie’, often called Glanvill’s laws, is the earliest treatise on English law.

On King Richard I’s death in 1199, there was discussion, and perhaps doubt, about the succession but Geoffrey was said to have secured the barons’ allegiance for Richard’s brother John over the claims of Arthur of Brittany at a council at Northampton in 1199; and at his coronation feast ‘Johannes rex accinxit … Gaufridum Filium Petri gladio comitatus de Exsex’ – King John girded Geoffrey Fitz Peter with the sword of earl of Essex.¹ This implied the King considered him to be an earl de facto without actually creating him one de iure. He paid off the balance of his debt within three years but his unclear earldom gave John a subtle weapon for keeping him loyal – it was only held ‘during the king’s pleasure’ and the dominant de Say claim could always be revived.²
1] Chronica Magistri Rogeri de Houedene ed. W.Stubbs (Longman & Co. and Trubner) 1871 Vol. IV p90
2] ibid Turner p155

Shortly after Geoffrey acquired Moreton. King John’s confirmation of the grant of Moreton manor to Geoffrey fitz Peters is recorded in two charter rolls:

Charter Rolls of 1 John, dated 20th June 1199.
‘John by the Grace of God. etc.. Know that we have given and confirmed by this present charter the gift which Henry, son of William de Tracy, made to Geoffrey Fitz Piers, earl of Essex, of the manor of Moreton with all its appurtenances, to have and to hold by the same Geoffrey and his heirs from the said Henry and his heirs in perpetuity, by the free service of one sore sparrowhawk¹ every year by way of all services and dues belonging to the same Henry and his heirs. Wherefore we wish and strictly order that the same Geoffrey and his heirs shall have and hold from the same Henry and his heirs the same manor in perpetuity for the said service, as the charter of the same Henry attest. Witnesses to this: William the marshal, Earl of Pembroke; William de Braose; Hugh Bardolf; Simon of Pattishall; Peter of Stokes. Given by the hand of Simon Archdeacon of Wells and John Gray at Sorham June 20th in the first year of our reign.’
1]  A ‘sore sparrow hawk’ was a bird in its first year, capable of being trained to strike and bring down smaller birds, such as could be used for the table. As there were no imports of fresh meat from abroad then, and most of the English meat had to be salt cured for winter use, it was necessary to have good supplies of game (both birds and beasts). 

Charter Rolls, 2 John, dated; 4th November 1200, which incorporates the earlier charter of 1 John, dated 20th June 1199.
‘John by the Grace of God, etc… Know that we have given and by this present charter confirm the gift which Hugh de Courtenay made to Geoffrey Fitz Piers, earl of Essex, of the whole manor of Moreton with the advowson of the church, and with all other appurtenances of the same manor within and without the town (villa) without reservation, to have and hold by the same Geoffrey and his heirs from the same Hugh and his heirs, for the service of half a knight’s fee by way of all services and dues. Wherefore we wish and strictly order that the same Geoffrey Fitz Piers should have and hold the same manor with appurtenances by hereditary right as the charter of the said Hugh attests.’

There are two significant points to note about these charters,
Firstly, both charters had this footnote:
‘Note that by special order of the lord King in this confirmation is omitted the [the word] reasonable.’
This shows that even ruthless King John was not happy about this ‘nefarious transaction’.¹ Geoffrey had strong armed Henry to give him Moreton in return for Geoffrey’s help, as the King’s Justiciar, in recovering the rest of his lands. ‘Clearly there was nothing ‘reasonable’ about a transaction that was so obviously a bribe’.²
1] & 2] ibid. Nicholas Vincent in Bischofsmorder p261

Secondly, the statement that Geoffrey Fitz piers should hold the manor by hereditary right shows a degree of ownership which excludes the continuation of comital status. The replacement of the original nominal service of one sparrowhawk in the 1199 charter by the more usual service in 1200 based on a ‘knight’s fee’ implies that Moreton was now placed on the same basis of assessment to service or tax as applied to most other estates and manors¹. Yet in 1297 Richard Fitz John is shown as holding the manor of the king in chief for one sparrowhawk or 2s yearly²; and in 1329³ Robert Courtenay still rendered one mewing sparrowhawk. The first reference to the correct assessment occurs in Feudal Aids of 1346⁴: under the heading of the Hundreds of Haytor and Moreton, Hugh de Courtenay is shown as holding Moreton for half a knight’s fee of 20s. From this entry it might be concluded opined Heath that the Exchequer had at last succeeded in correctly assessing the manorial lord. Or does it? Under the heading of the Teignbridge Hundred (where Moreton has always been) we find that Hugh de Cortenay {sic} holds Moreton ‘pro uno esperverio in socagio quod comes Ultonie quondam tenuit pro quo manerio oneratus fuit de relevio nichil‘.⁵ That means that he held it for a sparrowhawk in soccage (i.e trained) as did the Earl of Ulster⁶ and so nothing is owed for a relief/fee. While Feudal Aids as late as 1428⁷ also show under the Teignbridge heading that ‘the heirs of Hugh de Courtenay hold Moreton for one sparrowhawk in soccage, which of old Hugh de Courtenay once held‘.

So, as Heath muses, did the lords of Moreton evade their proper taxation for 200 years or not?⁸
1] Key History of Moretonhampstead by R O Heath, privately published, pp46-7
2] The National Archives C133/80/6 Inquistions Post Mortem Series I 25 Edward I 1297
3] ibid C 135/13/13 IPM 2 Edw. III 1329 ‘Robert Courtenay of Moreton held a messuage, a carucate of land, 9 acres of meadow, 2 water mills & 100s rent of king by service of mewing sparrowhawk yearly.’
4] Inquisitions And Assessments Relating To Feudal Aids, Vol. 1: With Other Analogous Documents Preserved in The Public Record Office, A. D. 1284-1431 p437 & p440
5] ibid. p391
6] Richard de Burgh, second earl of Ulster [called Red Earl] (b. in or after 1259, d. 1326), magnate, lord of Connacht, was the eldest son and heir of Walter de Burgh, earl of Ulster (d. 1271), and of Avelina, daughter of John fitz Geoffrey, justiciar of Ireland (1245–56) and lord of Moreton (1258-1275).
7] ibid Inquisitions And Assessments etc.
8] ibid. Heath p47

As justiciar, Geoffrey fitz Peter appeared to remain in the shadow of Hubert Walter who was both archbishop of Canterbury and the king’s chancellor. Nevertheless, when King John was in France, before the loss of Normandy in 1204, and when he was in Ireland in 1210, the government ran in Geoffrey fitz Peter’s name as regent. He presided over the exchequer, and was the authority to whom the barons looked for instruction even when the king was in England. From 1200 a scutage was levied almost annually, and in 1202 and 1203 the money raised by tallages, and the profits of justice, went through the exchequer audit in the same year, which suggests that he was making a determined attempt to collect and deliver as much as he could as quickly as possible. He also strengthened his own financial position and by 1204 was sheriff of seven counties.

As a justice Geoffrey was no less active. He organized three eyres in the later summer and early autumn of 1199, and himself led the justices who visited Warwickshire, Leicestershire, and Northamptonshire. In 1202 there was a general eyre, as extensive as those of 1194 and 1198, and he led the justices in Surrey, Kent, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire, and Sussex. He regularly presided over the bench at Westminster, and in his absence pleas were adjourned for consultation with him, even though there had emerged a group of regular and experienced justices who could maintain the legal fiction of the justiciar’s presence.

While Hubert Walter remained chancellor until 1205, it is not certain how much he or Geoffrey fitz Peter was the driving force behind royal administration. Some scholars have spoken of Walter’s ‘genius’ as distinct from Geoffrey’s ‘competence’. There is no evidence that Geoffrey was anything other than a loyal servant who furthered the king’s interests in the administration of justice and finance, and also served him as a soldier, when he campaigned against the Welsh in 1206 and 1210. The king’s presence in England after the loss of Normandy, the disappearance of chancery enrolments between 1210 and 1212, and the cessation of pleadings in the bench after 1210, give the appearance of a diminished role for the justiciar, but there is no evidence of royal distrust of him, nor of a breach between them. The justiciar could always have been dismissed, but Geoffrey held his office until his death.

After the loss of Normandy he had, indeed, been further rewarded by the king. He was granted the castle and honour of Berkhamsted at a fee farm of £100 p.a. in May 1205, its income being £400 p.a., in addition to twenty-two knights’ fees held of the honour of Mortain. It had also the right of succession to the children of Geoffrey and his second astute choice of wife, Aveline, the widow of William de Munchensi; of Swanscomb, Kent, and Gooderstone, Norfolk, and a daughter of Roger de Clare, the powerful earl of Hertford.

Geoffrey also received from the king, sometimes in return for payment in money and – somewhat ironically given Moreton’s sparrowhawk service – hunting hawks, a significant part of the lands forfeited by Normans in England, such as Robert fitz Ernis, in all worth over £100 p.a. and the valuable dock at Queenhithe in the city of London.

But what about his impact on Moreton? That was also significant.

‘The King to the Sheriff of Devon, etc.. Know that we have given to our beloved and trusty Geoffrey Fitz Piers, earl of Essex, a market in Moreton every week on Saturdays, unless it be to the injury of neighbouring markets. And therefore we order you to grant this market to him, and to have it proclaimed throughout the area of your authority on the same day.’¹
1] Close Rolls, 8 John, 5th May 1207

‘

The grant of a market in May 1207 was followed a few weeks later by the grant of a fair:

John by the Grace of God, etc.. Know that we have given and by this our charter confirm to Geoffrey Fitz Piers, earl of Essex that he shall have at Moreton a fair every year, lasting five days namely the vigil of All Saints, the day and the three following days as long as the fair shall not be to the injury of neighbouring fairs. Wherefore we wish and strictly order that the said Geoffrey and his heirs shall have and hold the same fair with all its appurtenances, well and in peace, freely, quietly, honestly, in all places and things, with all liberties and free customs belonging to the same fair, as has been said’.¹
1] Charter Rolls 9 John l6th June 1207

In the time of King Alfred it had been enacted, c.932 AD, that the privilege of holding a market should be extended to rural areas, and probably one market centre was set up in each Hundred; but attendance at such a market involved the villein farmers of Moreton in a very difficult and hazardous journey to Teignbridge (Kingsteignton). The lord of the manor also stood to gain considerable extra revenue from his charges for stallage and other market dues as well as from increased consumption of ale brewed exclusively in his brewhouse.The grant of the market and fair to Moreton at this date shows perhaps the influence that the earl of Essex had with King John. It may also reflect John’s need for financial support which this sort of grant could help to secure. It may also be associated with ending of all Devon being classed as a royal forest.¹ Nevertheless the grant of a fair along with a market as early as 1207 shows that Moreton had achieved an advanced stage of development by the early thirteenth-century. Only four towns in Devon had been granted a fair before Moreton – Barnstaple, Exeter, Tavistock and Totnes.²

1] In 1204 King John charged ‘the men of Devon’ 5000 marks (£3333.6s 8d) for the deforestation (i.e. it was no longer reserved as a royal hunting area; it did not mean cutting down trees!) of the entire county up to the ‘regards’ of Dartmoor and Exmoor which remained part of the designated forest. (Pipe Roll 1204, 89). Neither the bishop of Exeter nor the earl of Devon participated in the fine and the King was slow to keep to his side of the bargain, so the situation remained unclear for another thirty years. In the reign of Henry Ill, however, it seems to have been accepted that the whole of the county was outside the forest. (CR, 1227-31, 382). This helped to accelerate its economic development, especially the growth of the woollen and tin industries, and in turn markets and fairs.
2] ‘Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516’ published by List & Index Society, Kew, 2005

Geoffrey died on 2 October 1213. His burial place is unknown, though he had founded Shouldham Priory, Norfolk, a hospital at Sutton de la Hone, Kent, and was a benefactor – ironically perhaps – of the hospital of St Thomas of Acon in the birthplace parish of Thomas Becket in London, originally founded in memory of the archbishop murdered by Geoffrey’s predecessor as lord of Moreton.

GEOFFREY FITZ GEOFFREY: LORD OF MORETON (1213-1216)

The eldest son and heir of Geoffrey FitzPeter, earl of Essex, by his first wife Beatrice, daughter of William de Say and heiress in 1189 of the Mandeville earls of Essex. On his father’s death King John installed him with the whole of the Mandeville inheritance and his father’s custodies but pointedly held back the earldom of Essex to play him off against the de Says and their claim to it.¹
1] Rotuli De Oblatis et Finibus ed T Duffy p502-3

The opportunity soon arose in ‘one of his most notorious acts’ in a reign full of dastardly royal moves.¹
1] D Carpenter https://finerollshenry3.org.uk/content/month/fm-11-2010.htm)

Geoffrey’s marital choices were surprisingly risky. His first marriage was to Maud or Matilda, daughter of Robert FitzWalter, another important Essex landowner and the effective leader of the baronial rebellion against John. Perhaps it was her reputed stunning beauty.

On Maud’s death without issue, in 1212 he made an even more eye-watering choice of wife that was to have long-term repercussions for his descendants. He married Isabella, third daughter and coheiress of William, earl of Gloucester, and the ex-wife of King John who had their childless marriage declared annulled in 1200 on grounds of consanguinity. The terms on which Geoffrey was to take Isabella were extraordinary. To marry her and to have her lands, except Bristol castle, he was to pay the king an unprecedented fine of 20,000 marks (about £13,666 then); the sum to be paid in four instalments each of 5,000 marks, the last to be handed over in Michaelmas 1214, with the proviso that the king might resume Isabella’s lands if the payments were to fall into arrears. These terms were nothing short of ruinous and quite impossible for the earl to meet.¹
1] Rotuli de Oblatis et Finibus p520-1

Why did Geoffrey submit to this Faustian financial bargain with the king? Certainly he was able to enjoy the revenues of Isabella’s substantial estates for as long as she lived, amounting to roughly 800 marks a year. After his wife’s death, however, he would lose them, as her heirs were the de Clare earls of Hertford. Moreover, there was little prospect of him establishing a new lineage by her as she was well beyond child-bearing age. The most likely explanation for Geoffrey’s submission is that the king threatened to revive the de Say claim to his lands and the earldom of Essex. If this action had succeeded in the courts, Geoffrey would have been left with nothing to his name. He gave in to the king’s financial demands and the de Say claim was thrown out, albeit still not permanently!¹
1] Curia Regis Rolls, vii, pp. 110–11; Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum [hereafter RLC], ed. T. D. Hardy, 2 vols. (Record Commission, 1833–34), i, p. 166.

There were soon almost inevitably problems in making the payments:

‘Geoffrey married Isabella although unwillingly. For which marriage he gave security to the king for paying 10,000 marks and more, which he was never able to pay, and for the payment of which his woods were destroyed and his manors pawned.’1
1] Annales de Dunstaplia in Annales Monastici, iii, p. 45. (The author’s translation)

Did those pawned manors include Moreton?? A later account in the pipe rolls, credited Geoffrey, before the outbreak of the civil war in 1215, with making no less than ten payments totalling some £3582 or 5373 marks, and doubtless much of this was harried from him.1
1] TNA/PRO E 372/ 69, rot. 16 (http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT4/H3/E372no69/aE372no69fronts/IMG_1219.ht).

In the light both of his grievances against John and of his family connections with Robert FitzWalter, it is not surprising to find Geoffrey on the rebel side in 1215. He was one of the wealthiest of the Barons opposed to King John and in June 1215 after the signing of the Magna Carta he was named to the Council of Twenty-Five to ensure its terms were adhered to – especially perhaps in Geoffrey’s case those dealing with Royal fines made ‘unjustly and against the law of the land’. They parcelled out the government of the country in the autumn, and not surprisingly Geoffrey was assigned responsibility for Essex. When the king tried to renege on his agreement the de Mandeville castle at Pleshey near Chelmsford was besieged by the royal forces. Geoffrey was excommunicated for adhering to the Barons’ party (16/12/1215) and his lands given to Savary de Mauleon.1

‘The King greets all knights, free men and all others who hold from Geoffrey de Mandeville lands which themselves had appertained to his father and mother. Know that we give with our love and faith to Savary de Malo Leon all the lands and tenements which are the aforesaid Geoffrey’s as the first born child of his father and his mother, excepting the land which William de Mandeville his brother held and which itself appertains to the same first born. And therefore we command you that the same Savary is as if he were the true lord in all situations, legal actions and responses. And in this etc. we pledge you. Witnessed by myself at Denstable 20th December in the 17th year of our reign.’
And it is commanded to all sheriffs in whose bailiwicks the same Geoffrey had lands and tenements that the same Savary should have full possession without delay of all the lands just as is aforesaid. Given the same place and date.²
1] Savary de was a French soldier who aided the King in the First Barons’ War (1215–1217).
2] Patent Rolls December 20 1215 p161. See also Charter Rolls p223 19 June 1216 – Mauleon given Manor and honour of Berkhamstead & Aylesbury.

Two months later Geoffrey met his death by accident with a French knight at a tournament held in London by those the rebels supporting Prince Louis of France’s claim to the throne. and was buried in Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate in London. His widow Isabel was remarried to Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent but died within weeks of the wedding.

WILLIAM FITZ GEOFFREY: LORD OF MORETON (1216-1227)

William, born about 1186, was the 2nd son of Geoffrey FitzPiers, 1st Earl of Essex of the 2nd creation and Beatrice de Say (d. 1197). As he came of age he acquired lands but he and they soon became caught up in the political turmoil of King John’s later years.

On November 4^th 1213 he had already had livery of lands in Essex, formerly belonging to Robert FitzErneis, to hold as his late father had held them and the next day had livery of his late father’s manor of Wellesworth, Hampshire.¹
1] Cl.15 Joh.p 2.m 5

He must have also held land in Devon. Like his brother, Wiliam married a daughter of Robert FitzWalter the leader of the baronial rebellion against John, and when he also espoused the cause of his father-in-law his Devon lands were confiscated:

‘The king greets the sheriff of Devon. Be it known that we are giving back to our faithful subject Henry fitz Count all the lands that William de Mandeville held of him in your bailiwick. And therefore we command that you cause the same Henry to have the aforesaid lands without delay. Witnessed by myself at Trowbridge May 14^th [1215].’¹
1] CL 14/5/1215 p. 200

It is not known if these lands in the ‘bailiwick’ of the Sheriff of Devon included Moreton as we have no evidence of his brother’s involvement with Moreton – in any case all his brother’s lands were also confiscated as noted above. There must have also been a brief period of reconciliation with the king because all his lands in Dorset, Essex, Hampshire and Norfolk were confiscated between the autumn of 1215 and the spring of 1216.¹ His Devon lands were again granted to Henry fitz Count in December 1215.² Excommunication with his brother Geoffrey was enacted by Pope Innocent III about the same time.³ At the end of John’s 17^th year as king in late May 1216 on a list of twenty ‘names of those who took up arms in the war against the lord king’, Geoffrey and William de Mandeville were the first two names listed.⁴
1] Cl.17 Joh.m 19; Cl.17 Joh.m 17; Cl.17 Joh.m 5
2] CL 14/12/1215 p. 242
3] Matthew Paris, re-edited St Alban’s Chronicle of England, Vol. II, ed. H R Luard 1874, p. 643
4] Close Rolls John 17 Vol 1 pp270b 1833 Record Commission

After his brother’s death in February 1216 there is clear evidence that William held Moreton, albeit because he had it confiscated:

‘We command the Sheriff of Devon to let Henry de Franchedney have all the land with all its appurtenances in Moreton that was granted to William de Mandeville by the lord King.  Witnessed there May 6^th [1216].’¹

1] CL 17 John p. 2 m. 2

After the death of King John in October 1216, William supported Prince Louis of France’s attempt to claim the throne as a maternal grandson of Henry II. At the siege of Berkhamstead Castle, occupied by the king’s forces, a sally from the garrison, seized much of the baggage of the besiegers including the banner of the Earl William.¹
1] Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages, Burke’s Peerage, Ltd., London, England, 1883, p. 353, Mandeville, Earls of Essex)

Like his forebears William proved to be a political survivor and having returned to fealty, on October 4^th 1217, he was restored to all the lands which his brother had held on the day he receded from his fealty^:

‘William de Mandeville has returned to the fealty and service of the lord King and has letters making him in entail possession of his lands which his brother Geoffrey de Mandeville had in that respect on the day when he withdrew from the fealty and service of the lord King John the father of the Lord King and the letters are directed to the Sheriffs of Devon, Dorset, Southampton, Wiltshire, Warwickshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk, Essex, Canterbury, Oxford, Lincoln, York, Nottingham, Northampton, Gloucester, Hugh de Vivon, and Eleanor {?} de Perar.’¹
1] CL 1 Henry III Vol. 1 p. 327

In fact it was another two years before he fully regained Moreton as the two festering issues plaguing the Mandeville inheritance intervened again.

Firstly, the Regents of Henry III saddled him (no account as yet being taken of any payments and assignments) with the whole of Geoffrey’s 20,000 marks debt for the hand of Isabella of Gloucester. Taken narrowly, this was perfectly legal for Geoffrey’s original fine had not merely offered no let out in the event of Isabella’s death. It had also offered none to his heirs in the event of Geoffrey’s. The debt, however, had become all the more extraordinary, for William found himself liable for a vast sum from which he had received absolutely no benefit. He had no connection with the Gloucester estates which were now controlled first by Isabella as a widow, then by her next husband, Hubert de Burgh, and finally, on Isabella’s death in October 1217, by her heir Gilbert de Clare earl of Hertford. William de Mandeville was to liquidate the 10,000 marks debt at the rate of 150 marks a year. Fortunately for Moreton and his other possessions, the money was to be drawn annually only from the revenues of two Mandeville manors in Essex.¹
1] For a detailed discussion of this issue see https://finerollshenry3.org.uk/content/month/fm-11-2010.html

William, was in no position to resist for he was at that very time facing the other issue bedeviling the Mandevilles – a renewed attempt by the Says to recover the Mandeville inheritance. It was heard in the courts between 1217and 1219 but no decision was made while the king was a minor and in the meantime he could receive back his lands.

The regrant of his lands, however, suggests that there had been some additional issues in the case of Moreton:

‘Concerning the manor of Morton. The King greets the Sheriff of Devon. Know that we have released to William de Mandeville Earl of Essex, by [the agency of] William Earl Warren and John Marshal, his manor of Moreton that was taken into our hand. It was recognised by the sworn homage of our Teignbridge Hundred at the last itinerant circuit of our Justices in your county that the men of that manor should owe suit to our aforesaid Hundred of Teignbridge which they have not done and instead made claim that the same men do not owe what the same Earl says [they do].’

In respect of which we have arranged a day for the same Earl concerning this suit before our Justices at Westminster on Michaelmas day in three weeks [time]. And therefore we have ordered yourself to be there before our aforesaid Justices to certify that that of which they accused happened in your County. We order that Jocelin Lord Bishop of Bath and his associates our itinerant Justices in the same County should have before our aforesaid Justices at Westminster on the day that presentment under oath of the homage of the aforesaid Hundred that was made before them about the aforesaid service. Meanwhile therefore William Earl of Essex is permitted to have his manor of Morton in peace and to have also this writ. Witnessed on the date [i.e. 19/9/1219] as above by the same [Hubert de Burgo Justiciar].’¹
1] Close Rolls Henry III’s September 19^th 1219 Vol I p400 1833 Record Commission

This suggests that Moretonians had been in involved in some sort of rebellion. Unfortunately, no details so far have been found and the matter was obviously cleared up and William soon appeared in the first recorded action taken by a lord on behalf of Moreton manor. It marked the start of a long-running rivalry with the neighbouring manor of Chagford. In order to protect his market in Morton, William challenged the right of Hugh, manorial lord of Chagford, to hold a market there:

‘Hugh of Chagford was summoned to show by what authority he had set up a market at Chagford to the detriment of Earl William de Mandeville’s market in Moreton, without the licence of the lord king. And Hugh came and pleaded that he had not set up a market as had been said, because his market had been set up a hundred years ago whereas the earl’s market was started five years ago. And both were on Sundays until, out of respect for the faith, they were moved to Saturdays.

And Earl William declared through his attorney that the same Hugh never had a market at Chagford, although a few people sometimes met on Sundays and bread, and meat, and the like were sold. Subsequently the earl’s father, Geoffrey Fitz Piers, came and spoke with John the lord king, so that the lord king gave him a market in Moreton where previously there used to be an assembly like the one at Chagford. And then the lord king prohibited the assembly and market at Chagford so that at the beginning of the (civil) war there was no assembly or market at Chagford, but only during and on account of the (civil) war.

And Hugh said that his market had been established many years before the earl’s market, and he pleaded that he had never received a prohibition such as had been described. Then he declared on oath that he had taken toll and stallage in the market as appropriate, and he always had done so. And the earl pleaded that Hugh had never taken tolls except after the (civil) war. And the earl threw himself on the jury, and Hugh did the same.

Then the sheriff ordered an inquiry to be made by free and lawful men of Chagford and Moreton as to whether:

There had been in Chagford a market receiving tolls, stallage, and other customs pertinent to a market before John the lord king granted a market in Moreton to Geoffrey Fitz Piers, earl of Essex.

And whether Hugh of Chagford had received the aforesaid dues of the aforesaid market of Chagford before the (civil) war etc..

And the inquiry should be held on the Sunday before Ascension Day by letters under his (the sheriff’s) seal and the coroner’s seal; etc..And Hugh nominated Gervase Fitz Henry as his attorney.‘¹
1] Curia Regis Roll 72, Hilary Term, 4 Henry III, 1219As W G Hoskins commented:

‘We do not know the upshot of this case, but even so it tells us something of value. We know that Moreton did in fact receive a grant of a weekly market in the year 1207. The Moreton case is particularly interesting also as showing the development of a regular chartered market out of a casual assembly of sellers and buyers at a very early date, and the grant of 1207 antedates by a long way the grant made to Hugh de Courtenay (in 1334) which was presumably only a confirmation.’¹
1] Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries Vol. XXIII pp21-2

We know of one other action by William concerning Moreton. It appears that he alienated the part of the manor on the western side of the main settlement:

‘CHARLES OF TAVISTOCK
Ely Foorde to whom William Mandeville, earl of Essex gave Foorde part of the manor of Morton in Co. Devon.¹

The family chart in the same source shows that the granted land passed through another nine generations of Foorde before a daughter and heir Margery married ‘John Charles of Morton in Devon, gent.’ in the late 15th century.² Its extent in 1523 was recorded as ‘3 messuages, 100 acres of land, 20 of meadow, 40 of pasture and 40 of heath.³ The name still survives today with Ford St on the west side of the town (see photo below).
1] The visitations of the county of Devon :Comprising the herald’s visitations of 1531, 1564, & 1620 / With additions by Lieutenant-Colonel J. L. Vivian. p. 168
2] ibid.
3] See http://www.moretonhampstead.org.uk/gaz/ford.ghtml

William served Henry III loyally for the rest of his life, including an engagement against Llewellyn in Wales¹ and a spell as Ambassador to France.²
1] Patent Rolls 7 Hen.3.m 2d
2] Patent Rolls 9 Hen.3.m 4d

William died in late 1226 or early 1227. His heart was buried in Walden Abbey, Saffron Walden (his birthplace) while his body was buried at Shouldham Priory, Downham, Norfolk which his father had founded.

JOHN FITZ GEOFFREY: LORD OF MORETON
(1227-1258)

ACQUISITION OF MORETON
As William left no issue, the Earldom of Essex devolved upon his sister, Mary or Maud (d.1236), Countess of Hereford, while the lands which he inherited including Moreton passed to his half-brother, John fitz Geoffrey (aka John FitzPiers) for a fine of 300 marks.¹ John was the son of Geoffrey fitz Peter, fourth earl of Essex, justiciar of England (d. 1213), and his second wife, Aveline, daughter of Roger de Clare, earl of Hertford.
‘3 June 1227. For John fitz Geoffrey. John fitz Geoffrey has made fine with the king by 300 m[arks] for having seisin of the lands formerly of Geoffrey fitz Peter, formerly earl of Essex, his father, which fall to him by inheritance and of which W[illiam] earl of Essex, brother of the same John, later had seisin and died seised, and the king has taken his homage. Order to the sheriff of Buckinghamshire to cause John to have full seisin of all lands that the abovesaid G[eoffrey] had in his bailiwick and of which Earl W[illiam] later died seised, as aforesaid…’
1] Fine Rolls of 11 Henry III 28 October 1226-27 October 1227 Membrane 5 p1

The sheriffs of eight other counties and London, including Devon, received the same order. The castle and honour of Berkhamsted (except Winterslow in Wiltshire) remained in the hands of the king.

William’s sister Matilda, widow of the earl of Hereford, had married Wiltshire knight, Roger of Dauntsey (aka de Antes) and he encouraged her to challenge Geoffrey’s inheritance, including Moreton.
‘For John Fitz Geoffrey. It is ordered by John de Muleton and his fellow justices in the county of Devon that the action between Roger de Antes and his wife, the plaintiffs, and John Fitz Geoffrey holding a tenement in Moreton shall be held in the court of justices in Westminster in 15 days from St. Michael’s Day. Witnessed as above {i.e at Westminster by the king on July 21^st 1228}’¹
1] Close Rolls 1228

The settlement in John’s favour was announced two years later:
‘Devon: Between John son of Geoffrey, plaintiff and Roger Dantesy and Matilda his wife [and the sister of John Fitz Geoffrey; …. (inter alia) …..being an agreement between John and Matilda, the issue and heirs of Geoffrey Fitz Piers deceased, as to the division of the estates of the deceased…….  etc ……  John Fitz Geoffrey retains 35/- rents out of Moreton Recognizance of an assize of mort d’ancestor was summoned .’¹
1] Feet of Fines 1230

There were other claims against John in Moreton that had to be settled:
‘For Geoffrey Ie Breton. The Sheriff of Devon is ordered to make over to Geoffrey Ie Breton such possession in his land in Moreton as he had on the day when he (the sheriff) ordered that land to be taken into the king’s hands on the occasion of the death of William de Mandeville, earl of Essex, and that which he then took he should return to him. Witnessed as above {i.e. at Westminster April 5^th 1227}’¹
1] Close Rolls 1227

We have one other record of John’s involvement with Moreton
Devon — Simon de Furnell appointed Henry Dublepere as his attorney against the plaintiff John Fitz John concerning customs & services in Moreton.¹
1] Close Rolls 1232

We do not know the outcome of that case and John concentrated on building a career and acquiring land elsewhere.

FAMILY
Second husband of Isabel Bigod (c1212-1250), daughter of Hugh Bigod, 3^rd Earl of Norfolk, & his wife Maud Marshal of Pembroke. She was the widow of Gilbert de Lacy of Ewyas Lacy Herefordshire. They married about 1230 and managed to secure her dower lands there. They had six children who he made sure married into well-endowed families.

CAREER
John was a substantial magnate but, in terms of land held in hereditary right, not one of the first rank. Probably this situation, and the example of his father, who had risen in the king’s service from humble origins to the earldom of Essex, was the spur to his long career in the royal administration.
John began that career as sheriff of Yorkshire between 1234 and 1236. He must have impressed as in1237: at the request of a parliament that conceded the king taxation, he was added to the king’s council along with William (IV) de Warenne, earl of Surrey, and William de Ferrers, earl of Derby. If this elevation to the highest level reflected John’s standing with his fellow magnates, in the ensuing years he gained and retained the confidence of the king.
1237-1245: he seems to have acted as one of the stewards of the king’s household, a post that he combined with the sheriffdom of Gloucestershire (1238–46). More briefly with the office of chief justice of the southern forests (1241–2) – following in his forebears footsteps.
c1242: John Fitz Geoffrey, son of Geoffrey Fitz Piers, Earl of Essex became the 1st Baron of Quarrendon. We assume this is a reward for his roles as one of the stewards of the King’s household and Sheriff of Gloucestershire. He also has responsibility for the justiciarship of the southern forests and the seneschalship (a marshal for the French Crown) of Gascony. In June 1245 he appears on the English delegation to Papal Council at Lyon.

He was thus well fitted for his long period in office as Justiciar of Ireland (1245–56), where he had private interests through the dower of his wife, Isabel (daughter of Hugh Bigod, earl of Norfolk), who was the widow of Gilbert de Lacy of co. MeathHe was soon being well rewarded
6 Nov 1245, Lilleshall
Grant to…John son of Geoffrey of 500l. a year at the Exchequer of Dublin for his maintenance in time of peace in the king’s service so long as he is justiciary of Ireland…¹
3 Dec 1245, Windsor
Mandate to Robert de Turbervill, steward of the lands late of W. Marshal, earl of Pembroke, in Ireland, to deliver to John son of Geoffrey, justiciary of Ireland, all the lands and castles late of the said earl in Ireland; as the king ought to have primer seisin of the lands of barons dying, who hold in chief, so that they may do what they ought in homage and relief; to hold the same until Anselm Marshal, brother of the earl, come to the king to do what he ought.¹
1] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Hen. III, vol. 3, pp. 466, 468

In 1254 Ireland was made part of the endowment of Edward, the king’s son, and John fitz Geoffrey, between 1254 and 1258, became the prince’s leading councillor. He also retained his place on the council of the king.
1253-4: In French campaigns Henry III said JFG’s services were ‘immense’ . Organised barons, knights etc to serve there & raise finances from church & Irish.¹
One of a group who agreed to be imprisoned if Henry III did not pay his debts of 5k marks to ctitzens of Bordeaux from French campaigns. ²
1] D. Carpenter Henry III part 1 p297
2] Roles Gascons vol 1 item 4302 / CPR 1247-58 p357-8)

His rewards from the King, over his long career, included the manors of Whaddon, Buckinghamshire, and Ringwood, Hampshire, the wardship of the land and heirs of Theobald Butler in Ireland (for which he paid 3000 marks), the castle of Bristol and ‘for his immense and laudable service’ the whole cantred or hundred of the Isles in Thomond.¹
1] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Hen. III, vol. 4, pp. 328-9, 360

The king was also generous about his debts. In 1242 he owed £668 3s 2d, largely in arrears from his time as Sheriff of Yorks & Glos. But the king pardoned him £116 13s 4d & allowed him to pay off the remainder at £10 pa. When the barons of the exchequer baulked at this Henry III rebuked them for objecting to this settlement ‘for those serving us most laudably’ .¹
1] Pipe Roll 1242 p115; E/372/81 m10d; CR 1237-42 p516.

By the 1250s he was described by Matthew Paris as ‘a man of illustrious descent, rich and powerful‘.¹
1] English History 1235-1273 ed J A Giles Vol. III p296 London 1845

In the political crisis of 1258, however, John fitz Geoffrey was one of the king’s chief opponents.
A later chronicle, the Westminster Flores historiarum, named him and Simon de Montfort as the ringleaders of the revolution. Certainly he was one of the seven magnates whose Confederation in April 1258 began the process of reform. He was then one of the twelve chosen by the barons to reform the realm, and one of the council of fifteen imposed on the king by the Provisions of Oxford  to advise the king and oversee the entire administration. Parliament was to be held three times a year and the households of the king and queen were also to be reformed.. (See Treharne & Sanders Documents + Chancery Rolls)

On 23 July 1258 he went with Roger (III) Bigod, earl of Norfolk & his brother-in-law, and Simon de Montfort to demand that the Londoners accept ‘whatever the barons should provide for the utility and foundation of the realm’. ¹ He was one of the twelve chosen Barons to reform the realm and one of the council of fifteen imposed on the King by the provisions of Oxford.
1] Cronica maiorum et vicecomitum Londiniarum, 38–9

Why did he oppose the king?
The Westminster Flores ascribed John’s conduct to resentment at being removed from the Justiciarship of Ireland.
Like other leading magnates he was also provoked by the behaviour of the king’s Poitevin half-brothers. His place in Edward’s councils was threatened by their growing influence over the prince.
In addition, he was engaged in a fierce dispute over the advowson of one of his manors—Shere in Surrey—with the youngest of the brothers, Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke and bishop-elect of Winchester. This reached a climax on 1 April 1258 when Valence’s men attacked John’s at Shere and killed one of them. When John demanded justice, the king ‘did not wish to hear him and wholly denied him justice’ andexcused Aymer, his half-brother.¹
1] Just/1/1187m1: Paris v 708

This episode helped spur the revolutionary action taken against the king at the Westminster parliament which opened a week later. ‘Fitz Geoffrey was a dangerous man to offend in this way’.¹
1] D A Carpenter The Reign of Henry III  A&C Black 1996

Indignation at John’s treatment spread the more easily because his brothers-in-law were Roger Bigod, earl of Norfolk, and Hugh Bigod, who was later appointed justiciar by the Provisions of Oxford. Both were his colleagues among the seven original confederate magnates.

DEATH: John’s sudden death on 23 November 1258 thus deprived the new regime of one of its bastions.

John fitz Geoffrey was evidently a man of considerable parts, respected both by his fellow magnates and by the king. Indeed, despite his role in the revolution of 1258, when Henry III heard of John’s death he ordered a solemn mass to be celebrated for his soul and donated a cloth of gold to cover his coffin.

BURIED: At Shouldham Priory, Shouldham, Kings Lynn and West Norfolk Borough, Norfolk, England.

John was succeeded by his son, John Fitz John, who became a leading supporter of Simon de Montfort.

JOHN FITZ JOHN: LORD OF MORETON
(1258-1275)

John, Sir, fitz John (c.1240–1275), baronial leader, was the eldest son of John fitz Geoffrey (c.1206–1258) and his wife, Isabel, the daughter of Hugh Bigod, third earl of Norfolk, and the widow of Gilbert de Lacy of Meath.
1258: John fitz Geoffrey was succeeded by his son John who became 2nd Baron of Quarrendon.

From 14 March 1257/8 to 25 May 1263 Sir John Fitzjohn was summoned for Military Service against the Welsh. ¹
1] https://www.battleofevesham.co.uk/rebels/john-fitzjohn

February 1259: John fitz John undertook to pay 450 marks / £300 for seisin of his father’s lands while still under age.
‘18 Feb. Westminster. Concerning a fine of John, son of John fitz Geoffrey. By the fine of £300 which John, son and heir of John fitz Geoffrey, made with him, the king has granted and demised to him the custody of all lands and tenements, with all their appurtenances, formerly of the said John fitz Geoffrey, his father, the custody of which came into the king’s hand by reason of the minority of John son of John, together also with his marriage if Margery, daughter of Phillip Basset, his wife, dies before the same John reaches lawful age, to have and hold by the same John son of John or his assigns until he comes of lawful age, with the wardships, escheats, issues and all other things which might arise therefrom or fall in in the meantime as fully as if the king were to retain the same custody. Order to Henry de Farnelegh’ and Richard le Rus, keepers of the lands formerly of John fitz Geoffrey, to cause John son of John to have full seisin of the aforesaid custody without delay. By the justiciar and the king’s council.¹
1] CFR, 43 Henry III, no. 83; TNA: C 60/46

He thus acquired a substantial magnate inheritance centred upon Buckinghamshire, where he was lord of Aylesbury, Whaddon, and Steeple Claydon.

He also becamea leading supporter of Simon de Montfort.
1260: Simon de Montfort returned to England and re-imposes the Provisions of Oxford. John continues to support him bringing several knights from Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire.

1261: John fitz John, as part of the abortive attempt to prevent the overthrow of the Provisions of Oxford, the revolutionary programme imposed in 1258, became sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire in opposition to the sheriff appointed by the king.
‘The new sheriffs were generally men of greater power & higher status, usually closely connected to the regime.’¹
1] D Carpenter Henry III prt2 p. 215

17 October 1263 summoned to a Council¹
24 December 1264 summoned to Parliament by writs directed to John son of John. ¹
1] https://www.battleofevesham.co.uk/rebels/john-fitzjohn

1263: He joined Simon de Montfort when the latter returned to England and reimposed the provisions. While others deserted, John fitz John remained with Montfort to the end, bringing with him several Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire knights.

July 1263: John’s local influence was acknowledged and increased when de Montfort’s government made him keeper of the peace in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire charged to prevent any further plunder, especially of church property, & restore possessions to those despoiled unjustly. ¹
1] CPR 1258-66 271-3

December 1263, with the other Montfortians, he accepted Louis IX’s offer to arbitrate on their quarrel with the king. When Louis’s verdict condemned the provisions of Oxford outright, the Montfortians refused to accept the verdict and prepared for war.

16 February 1264/5: one of those prohibited, from taking part in the tournament at Dunstable, and ordered to attend a Council on the morrow of Ash Wednesday (19 February) following.¹
1] https://www.battleofevesham.co.uk/rebels/john-fitzjohn

March 1264: John was involved in the seizure of Gloucester. According to the Dunstable annals, John fitz John was knighted at Gloucester.

April 1264: He led the pillage of the Jews in London. He killed the most famous English Jew, Kok son of Abraham, with his own hands and was less than pleased when Montfort made him share part of the spoils. This shocking act is testified by two separate sources: ^{1 2}
‘In the week before Palm Sunday [13 April], the Jews of London were destroyed, and all their property was stolen. Many of them were stripped naked, and attacked, and afterwards murdered during the night. Five hundred of them were murdered. Those who survived were saved by the justiciars and the mayor of London, having been sent to the Tower of London before the slaughter took place.’
1] London Archives medieval bundle COL/CS/01/001/001 Liber de Antiquis legibus by Alderman Arnold Fitz Thedma p 62 Published in 1846 by the Camden Society.

‘Among the authors of this impiety John Fitz-John was distinguished, who slew with his own hand the most famous Jew in the city, Kok the son of Abraham, and added to his own treasures [Kok’s} riches and [those] of nearly all the rest; out of which he … gave, though unwillingly, no small amount to the earl of Leicester so neither of them should be free from the guilt of robbery and murder.’ 2] Thomas Wykes Chronicle Roll Series p141

According to the Dunstable Annals John’s dreadful action was because feared that Jews planning a rebellion with Greek fire & had forged keys to gates & possibly underground passages.
See D Carpenter p 308; Dunstable Annals p230

14/5/1264: At the Battle of Lewes John fitz John commanded the 2nd division of Montfort’s army in the centre with Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester, and William de Munchensi.
‘He fought strenuously in the battle’, the annals of Worcester recorded, ‘smashing steel helmets and taking many of his adversaries prisoner’ . ¹
1] Annales Monastici 4.452

In de Montfort’s subsequent regime, although involved in negotiations with the marcher barons and with the increasingly disaffected Gilbert de Clare, John’s role was in the provinces rather than at court, perhaps in part because of his comparative youth. He was one of a group of young and warlike men such as Robert de Vieuxpont and William de Munchensi, called contemptuously ‘the junior boys of England mouldable as wax’ by the chronicler Thomas Wykes, who were attracted to de Montfort’s side, quite probably by the glamour of his military reputation.¹
1] Annales Monastici 4.133)

However, he must have impressed as a year later he had moved more to the centre of a significant development.

Jan-March 1265: De Montfort’s Great Parliament was notable as the first to which representatives of both counties & towns summoned. In addition there were 18 loyalist magnates that included John and+ 120 ecclesiastics. Moreover John was a witness named on the King’s confirmation of Magna Carta. ¹
1] Corpus Christi College Cambridge MS 70

He also built up his portfolio of possessions.
From 6/1264:John was made castellan of Windsor where he dragooned the local population into providing a garrison and munitions for the castle. Later a jury agreed that men from Windsor were forced into castle garrison by John & stayed there ‘for fear of their families’. ¹
1] TNA JUST 1/42 m 15 image 1201

June 1264: In addition, when his brother-in-law Robert de Vieuxpont died, he became custodian of Vieuxpont’s lordship of Westmorland.

After the desertion of Gilbert de Clare and the escape of Edward, the king’s son, from captivity, John fitz John was with Montfort on his final campaign.

4 August 1265: wounded & captured at the Battle of Evesham, John was saved from death by the royalist Roger de Clifford, who had married his niece, and was almost the only survivor of note.¹
1] Wykes p174;Osney 172

Roger de Clifford was not the only royalist to whom John fitz John was related, for he himself had married a daughter of the king’s justiciar, Sir Philip Basset. Basset’s eldest daughter had married Hugh Despenser, one of Montfort’s closest associates, and perhaps that tie, together with the role of his father in 1258, influenced John’s political sympathies.

Some of his lands were occupied and doubtless protected by some of his royalist kinsmen, notably by Roger de Clifford, William de Beauchamp of Elmley, who had married one of John’s sisters, and his uncle Roger Bigod. The bulk of his lands, however, were given to Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester who had seized them immediately after the battle.

Moreton was given to a Courtenay – the family that subsequently became its lords for six hundred years.
Sep/Oct 1265
Moreton to Courtenay:
Hundred of Tongbrig [Teignbridge] Sir John son of John was with Sir Simon de Muford [Montford]. Therefore Sir John de Curtenay [Courtenay] seized Morton [Moretonhampstead], which is worth 12l [£12] a year. Sir John received therefrom 4l 5s 4½d. Afterwards it was seized into the hand of Richard King of Almain.
C. Inq. Misc. 27. (35)

While John was put in the care of Isabella De Fortibus, the elder daughter of Baldwin de Redvers, Earl of Devon and the widow of the Earl of Aumale.
February 7^th 1266:
‘Westminster. Whereas Isabel de Fortibus, countess of Albemarle, and [lady of] the Isle [of Wight], has mainperned by letters patent that she will restore John son of John, unless he should die, to the king, or to such other as he will or his heirs if the lot of mankind should happen to the king. Provided that if the said John in the meantime do any harm to the king or his heirs or any of his faithful subjects, or procure any such to be done, or the king shall hear that he has offended in any way, the countess shall at the king’s mandate cause the said John to come before him within the reasonable term of four weeks. The king has committed the said John to her in bail and received the said John into his protection throughout his land and power and commands all bailiffs accordingly not to molest him. Until Christmas.’
Calendar of Patent Rolls p545

In July 10th 1266: John had behaved himself and was pardoned and admitted to the King’s peace along with c 30 others.
July 10 1266 Calendar of Patent Rolls p614
‘Kenilworth. Admission to the king’s peace of John son of John, and remission to him of the king’s indignation and rancour of mind conceived towards him by occasion of the disturbance in the realm. And pardon to him of all trespasses committed by him at that time. And the king is unwilling that he be molested in his person on that account. Provided that he behave faithfully in future.’

He recovered his lands under the Dictum of Kenilworth by which they had to be repurchased by John at five times their annual value! Perhaps the financial strain is reflected in John’s sale of Ringwood Manor, Hampshire, for 2250 marks.

In and after 1267: he was on good terms with Gilbert de Clare who had distanced himself from the king and recruited Montfort loyalists and appeared as a member of his entourage.
In April 1267 Gilbert marched to London to confront the king and persuade him to return the lands of the disinherited barons.
June 4 1267: John was given safe conduct with others to take a message to the king.
‘Stratford. Safe conduct for John son of John [plus 5 others] coming on this Sunday with their households to Hammes and Stratford Monachorum with a message from the earl of Gloucester and his company and returning to London; to endure for the whole day.
Power to R[ichard] king of the Romans, Edward the king’s son, H[enry] son of the king of the Romans, and Philip Basset, to receive these into the king’s safe conduct as above.’
June 4^th 1267 Calendar Patent Rolls (Membrane 17d) p143

John son of John appears in a general pardon of Clare’s followers
June 25 1267:
‘St Paul’s London. Remission … for things done …. by occasion of the dissension long had between the king and the earl…  [and] trespessases since the earl’s return from Wales to London’.
Calendar Patent Rolls (Membrane 14d) p145

1 June 1268:  Having recovered his lands from Gilbert de Clare, he did homage for them to Gilbert. This was a false move as it was seen as being in ‘contempt’ of the king and Henry III oredred all his lands to be seized. John went to court to do homage to Henry himself.
CFR 1267-8 no. 479; CR 1264-8 468

That worked as a case in the records of the Feet of Fines shows his possession of Moreton again by 1270.

At Westminster, 1 month from Easter Day, 54 Hen. III 11 (April 1270) Before Martin de Litlebiry, Master Roger de Seyton & John de Cobbeham, justices, & other etc. Between John son of John, plaintiff, & Walter de Frankenney tenant; as to 1 messuage, 6 ferlings of land, 1 mill, 23s rents, except 20 acres of land, 3 acres of wood, 2 acres of meadow, in Morton (Moreton Hampstead). Walter acknowledged the tenement to be the right of John & gave it up to him at the Court, & remitted & quit-claimed the same for himself & his heirs to John & his heirs for ever. For this John gave to Walter 20 marks of silver.’
1270  Henry III   54  11/04/1270  Feet of Fines  Vol. 1 P 372 / Fine 721 Devon Feet of Fines. Volume 1. Richard I-Henry III. 1196-1272. Edited by the Rev. Oswald J. Reichel. (Devon and Cornwall Record Society; Exeter, 1912)

26 May 1270: He was one of those appointed to treat with Llewelyn at Gresford on the morrow of Trinity (9 June) following.
Westminster. Whereas the king is sending R. bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, William de Valencia the king’s brother, John son of John and Robert Walerand to go to Gresford (ad crucem Griffini) on the morrow of Trinity, to treat with Llewelin son of Griffin prince of Wales of divers matters; he by these presents empowers them to treat with Llewelin on the business and bringing to a full and final end all things contained in the peace between the king and Llewelin.’
Cal Pat p431:

15/11/1270  John Fitz John & his heirs were granted a weekly market on Mondays & 3 day fair for feast of St. Margaret (9-11th June) at his manor of Moreton, co. Devon.
Grant to John, son of John, and his heirs, a weekly market on Monday at his manor of Morton, co. Devon and of a yearly fair there on the vigil, the feast and the morrow of St. Margaret.
Charter Rolls
NB The market day had changed from Saturday (first grated in 1207) to Monday and the annual fair from All Saints (November) to June

His continuing political rehabilitation was seen in the royal succession of 1272.
1272: Letter to Prince Edward informing him of his father’s death and his succession & loyalty to him – John one of signatures
Foedera, conventiones, literæ ed Thomas Rymer p124-5.

John soon gained the favour of Edward I & represented the new king at a Great Council at Lyons. He witnessed various charters.

Sunday the Feast of St. Dunstan 19 May 1275: He was present ‘in generali parliamento’ at Westminster.

Marriage to Margery, daughter of Sir Philip Basset of Wycombe and his wife Hawise de Lovaine. Basset served as the Chief Justiciar of England (1261-3) between the two terms served by his son-in-law, Hugh le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer. He served during the period that Henry III regained control of the government from the barons. He was married twice. By Hawise, granddaughter of Godfrey of Louvain (d.1226), he had two daughters.

6/11/1275: His death (childless) caused grief to both king and court. Dover Chronicles record the sorrow of Edward and ‘all the court’.
Canterbury/Dover 281-2

Succeeded by his brother Richard Fitz-John.
10/1275:
‘Oct. 30. Westminster. Grant, at the instance of Richard son of John, brother and next heir of John son of John, that [the executors of the will of the said John] have free administration of his goods, and that the king will betake himself to his heirs for the payment of any debts he may owe to the king, and exact nothing thereof from his executors, and that he may demise three of his manors, to wit, Aylesbury, co. Buckingham, Moleton, co. Northampton, and Cyvel, co. Wilts, for the payment of his debts, if he should die of his present illness ; to which the said Richard has in [the king’s] presence agreed.’
Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edw I, vol. I, 1272-1281, (Public Record Office, 1901), p.113 (arrangements for payment of the debts of John Fitz John):

His life was cogently summed up by D.A. Carpenter in his recent biography of Henry III (prt2):
‘John fitz John had given vigorous military support to the cause of Simon de Montfort. His career permits a glimpse of both the virtues and the vices of the medieval miles strenuus.’

RICHARD FITZ JOHN c. 1242-1297
LORD OF MORETON 1275-1297

Succeeded his elder brother John FitzJohn in 1275. The King took his homage, and he had livery of his brother’s lands in England, 8 December 1275, and in Ireland, 5 May 1278.
1275: Dec. 8 Windsor. Order to the sheriffs of Norfolk, Buckingham, Devon, Surrey, Wilts., Northants., & Southampton to deliver to Richard son of John, brother & heir of John son of John, deceased, tenant in chief, the lands late of his said brother, he having done homage.
(Fine Rolls Ed I p 62 & p95)

But he inherited also his brother’s debts.
1275: PETITION TO THE KING
Reference:  SC 8/258/12898
Petitioners:  Richard Fitz John.
Name(s):     Fitz John, Richard
Addressees: King and council.
Nature of request:
Richard Fitz John states that the executors of his brother, John Fitz John, have not paid John’s debts as they were supposed to, but that he is constantly harassed for these debts. He also states that he is owed money by his late brother, but the executors will not give him payment or an allowance against the debts he owes his brother, but continue to levy this debt from him: so that he is being ruined. He asks that the debt he owes his brother’s executors might be assigned to his brother’s debtors, and that he might have an acquittance towards the executors; or that he might have security from the executors to keep him unharmed towards his brother’s debtors before the debt that he owes them is levied, and that the debt that John owes Richard might be allowed against the debt that Richard owes them; or that he and the executors might come before the King and council and receive justice.
Note: CPR 1272-81 p.113 is dated 30 October 1275 and CCR 1272-7 p.319 is dated 17 November 1276. This petition must date from around this time.

Calendar of Close Rolls, Edw I, vol. I, 1272-1279, (Public Record Office, 1900), p.319 (order to acquit Richard Fitz John of £90 of the debts of his brother)
Nov. 17. Westminster. To the barons of the exchequer. Whereas the late king granted to John son of John, lately deceased, tenant in chief of the said king, for a fine of 300l. made with him by the said John, whilst he was a minor in the said king’s wardship, the custody of all the lands that belonged to John son of Geoffrey, his father, the wardship whereof came to the said king by reason of John’s minority, to have with all appurtenances until he came of age: the king, not wishing to aggrieve the heirs or executors of John son of John contrary to the said grant, orders the barons to cause Richard son of John, brother and heir of John son of John, to be acquitted of 90l. that are exacted from him by summons of the exchequer of the debts of the said John son of John for the arrears of the farm of the manor of Aylesbury for the time when he was under age after the late king had granted to him the custody aforesaid.

Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edw I, vol. I, 1272-1281, (Public Record Office, 1901), p.113 (arrangements for payment of the debts of John Fitz John):
‘Oct. 30. Westminster. Grant, at the instance of Richard son of John, brother and next heir of John son of John, that [the executors of the will of the said John] have free administration of his goods, and that the king will betake himself to his heirs for the payment of any debts he may owe to the king, and exact nothing thereof from his executors, and that he may demise three of his manors, to wit, Aylesbury, co. Buckingham, Moleton, co. Northampton, and Cyvel, co. Wilts, for the payment of his debts, if he should die of his present illness ; to which the said Richard has in [the king’s] presence agreed.’

He soon began to advance his own military career.
As holder of a knight’s fee in Surrey, he was distrained in 1278 to receive knighthood on or before Christmas following.
1277: Richard took part during King Edward I of England’s great campaign against Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in Wales.
1282: He served in a similar campaign in Wales, when Edward finally crushed Llywelyn, and served under 3 of most powerful men in kingdom:
1282: In retinue of the 8^th Earl of Gloucester (Gilbert de Clare – The Red Earl & son in law of ED1 + great marcher eral) in 1282,
1283: He was summoned to attend the King at Shrewsbury, 28 June 1283
1287: In retinue of the Earl of Surrey (John Warenne – half-brother to Bigod Earls of Norfolk)
1287: Summoned to a Military Council, 14 June 1287
1294: In retinue of the Earl of Cornwall (Edmund – cousin of the king & V powerful in Cornwall & Devon)).
1288: 22 August during the King’s absence abroad, the king’s regent, the Earl of Cornwall, issued order to abstain from violations of the peace to earls of Gloucester, Warwick & Norfolk, Hugh le Despenser, William de Braose & Richard Fitz John.
1290: Present ‘in pleno parliamento domini Regis’ on the morrow of Trinity 29 May 1290 with other ‘magnates et proceres tunc in parliamento existentes’, whereby he is held to have been ‘LORD FITZJOHN’.
1295: Summoned to Parliament 24 June 1295, by writs directed to ‘Ricardo filio Johannis’, Whereby held to have become ‘LORD FITZJOHN’
1295: Summoned again for Military Service for Gascony, 3 October 1295 & being about to proceed to Gascony with Edmund Crouchback, the King’s brother,
1295: He was appointed, 18 October 1295, Constable of the Rockingham Castle, in order that his wife and household might inhabit that castle during his absence abroad.
1296: November.  Captain of Bourg-sur-mer, when that town was besieged by the French under Henry, Sire de Sully, and the garrison was in danger of being starved out. In response to their urgent appeal, the King wrote, 9 December 1296, to Richard fitz John, and the mayor and other men of Bourg-sur-mer, that he was sending provisions which should reach them about the Purification [7 Feb.] following, 1,000 qrs. of wheat, 300 qrs. of oats, 200 qrs. of beans, 300 bacons, and over 10,000 merlings. Simon de Mountagu, ‘miles strenutts et cordatus’, relieved the town, and the French raised the siege.
1297: Richard was still Captain of the town in May 1297, shortly before he died without issue in Gascony, in August 1297.

His Inquisition Post Mortem showed he held lands throughtout England as well as 40 townships in Ireland
Writ 26 September 25 Edward I (1297)
Richard son of John: Essex, Wiltshire, Devon, Surrey, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Lancashire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Sussex, Hampshire, Yorkshire (includes assignment of dower to his widow, Emma).

His lands in Moreton Parish are recorded thus:
Inquisition Post Mortem of: The lands and tenements of Richard son of John on the day he died. Made at Mor[e]ton[hampstead] in the County of Devon.
Dated: 3/11/1297
Made on oath by: Richard de la Forde, Richard de Wrey, Thomas de Nor[th]bov[e]y, Andrew de Halahewelle, Henry de Brokedone, William de Huahetone {Howton?}, William Bere, Walter de Wrey, John de Wrey, Richard de Cranbroke, John Parleben & William Parleben.
Richard held: The manor of Moreton[hampstead] from the Lord King in Chief by service of a sparrowhawk or 2s paid at the Feast of St Margaret {November 16^th}.
The lord’s land on the manor comprised:
A messuage with a close worth 12d pa.
40 acres of arable worth 3s 4d pa at 1d an acre.
60 acres of wood with waste land of which the pasture is worth 31s pa.
6 acres of meadow worth 3s pa at 6d an acre.
Rents:
Free tenants pay 46s pa at Michaelmas & Easter in equal portions.
Fixed rents of customary tenants are £12 9s 8d paid in equal portions at 4 quarterly term days, Service from them 14s pa and amercements from them 60s pa at the Feast of St Peter in Chains.
Mills: A fulling mill worth 8s pa and 3 water mills worth 60s pa. (NB This is the fourth earliest recorded Fulling Mill in Devon.)
Other income: Pleas & perquisites worth 10s pa.
Heirs: Joan Countess of Warwick who was the wife of Nicholas {sic – should be Theobold} Botiller and the Countess of Ulster who are of full age
Seals attached
SUM TOTAL: £24 6s
C 133 – Chancery: Inquisitions Post Mortem, Series I, Edward IWrit 26 September 25 Edward I (1297)

He also held the advowson of Moreton Parish
Inquition made at York on Wednesday after the quinzaine of Easter, 27 Edw. I.

RICHARD DE BURGH c.1259-1326
LORD OF MORETON 1297-1304

One of the most powerful Irish nobles of the late 13th and early 14th centuries.

c1259: Second earl of Ulster [aka Red Earl or Richard Όg (Younger)] (b. in or after 1259; d. 1326), magnate, lord of Connacht,
Eldest son and heir of Walter de Burgh, first earl of Ulster (d. 1271), and of Avelina (d. 1274), daughter of John fitz Geoffrey, justiciar of Ireland (1245–56) and lord of Moreton (1227-1258).

Educated at the court of Henry III & Edward I – 1280 ‘the king’s groom’

1271: On his father’s death Richard was a minor and was only granted seisin of his inheritance on 5 January1281 on reaching adulthood.
1281: Married Margaret (d. 1304), said to have been the daughter of John de Burgh and a great-granddaughter of Hubert de Burgh, earl of Kent;

1283: they were granted Ratoath, Meath, the former de Burgh property in Owney, Limerick, and the dower lands in Ulster of Hugh de Lacy’s widow, by Queen Eleanor, who described Richard de Burgh as her ‘cousin’.

1282: He had returned to England by February 1282, was knighted by the king at Rhuddlan in Wales at Christmas 1283.

1285: Went to Ireland again after 1 July 1285, when the king pardoned him a half of his debts at the Irish exchequer ‘for his laudable service’, presumably in the Welsh war. Thenceforth he spent much of his time in Ireland.

1286: he ravaged Connaught and reestablished his family’s power there, deposing Brian O’Neill as chief native king and substituting a nominee of his own. He also attacked the native king of Connaught in favour of that branch of the O’Connors whom his own family supported.
1301: Edward I asked de Burgh ‘to bear in mind that the king relies on him more than any other man in the land [of Ireland. (Calendar … Ireland, 4.849).
Friar Clyn describes him as ‘a knight prudent and witty, wealthy and wise, and full of years’ (Annals of Ireland, ed. Butler, 18).
The Irish annals call him ‘the best of all the English of Ireland’
(Annala Connacht, 261),
A bardic lament in Gaelic survives commemorating his death.

‘For more than forty years Richard de Burgh was the most powerful magnate in Ireland and he had the land and resources to match most of the leading comital families in England.’
Dictionary of Irish Biography Article by Ronan Mackay

He led his forces from Ireland to support England’s King Edward I in his Scottish campaigns in 1296. Secured isle of Man for the king.

ACQUIRED MANOR OF MORETON BUT SOON GAVE IT UP
1297: Richard acquired further lands following the death in 1297 without children of Sir Richard Fitzjohn, the heir of his maternal grandfather, John fitz Geoffrey. The inheritance was shared with four other heirs of Sir Richard and Richard de Burgo’s purparty or share included the manor and advowson of Moreton:

26/10/1299     Fine Rolls (extract)
Order to the escheator beyond the [River] Trent to deliver to Richard de Burgo, earl of Ulster, kinsman and coheir of Richard son of John, his like pourparty, to wit, the manor of Cleydon,co. Buckingham, extended at £36 7s 8d, the manor of Morton, co. Devon, extended at £24 4s* a year…
*The 1297 IPM gives the manor’s sum total of annual income as £24.6s though a sparrowhawk or 2s was paid as homage to the king.

1304: His wife & eldest son died. His second son married Elizabeth de Clare daughter of Earl of Glos & they were enfeoffed with manors in Ireland.
Keen to concentrate on his interests in Ireland Richardexchanged Moreton for land there with Gerard de Orum, the King’s Yeoman. For their part the de Grandisons were ‘finding the occupation of their Irish territory uncongenial and the defence of it anything but easy and had become absentees’
History of Clonmel By William P. Burke

Richard de Burgo exchanged Moreton for land in Ireland with Gerard de Orum, the King’s Yeoman
Stirling. Confirmation, at the instance of Gerard de Orum, king’s yeoman, and of Richard de Burgo, earl of Ulster, of a grant in fee simple by the latter to the former of the manor of Morton, co. Devon, in exchange for a like grant to the earl of all the lands of Estremoy and Otheny in Ireland, which the earl held at a fixed rent by lease of Otto de Grandisono for the life of the said Otto, and which the said Otto afterwards granted in fee simple to Gerard, whereby the earl attorned to the said Gerard for his fealty and farm, as appears in charters of the earl and Gerard which the king has inspected. By privy seal.
Calendar Patent Rolls 1301-7 p245 29/07/1304

GERARD DE ORUM/DE GRANDISONO c. 1238-1328
LORD OF MORETON 1304

Gerard d’Oron or Orons/Oram/Dorum/Dorme/Doronis/ was the nephew of Otho de Grandison and possibly the son of Rodolph, Seigneur de Orons – Oron-Le-Chateau is about 10 miles from Lausanne.

He was first mentioned in England in July 1290 when Otho gave him the reversion of Estremoye & Otheny on his irish estate.
Cal. Patent Rolls Ed I ii 372
In 1304 Gerard exchanged that interest with Richard de Burgo, earl of Ulster for the manor of Moreton (SEE ABOVE).

THEOBALD GRANDISON
LORD OF MORETON 1304-1309/10

Gerard gave the manor of Moreton to his cousin, Theobald de Grandison, prebend/canon of Geneva, Wells and Eckington in Sussex.

In turn Theobald sold Moreton to Hugh de Courtenay in 1309:
‘In 1309 he conveyed, as tenant in chief, the manor of Mortone {Moretonhampstead}, Devon, in fee to Hugh de Courtenay (afterwards Earl of Devon), who in 1310 granted it to his younger son, Robert de Courtenay, and his issue , with remainder, failing issue, to himself and his heirs’
The Register of John de Grandison, Bishop of Exeter, part III 1899 pedigree of family by FJB Winchester

This was approved by King Edward II
Hugh de Curtenay to retain the manor of Morton (Devon) acquired by him from Theobold de Grandisono.
1309: Inquisition Ad Quod Damnum p112

Hugh passed Moreton immediately to a son.
Pardon, after inquisition ad quod damnum, to Hugh de Curtenay for acquiring in fee, without licence, from Theobold de Grandisono, tenant in chief, the manor of Morton, co. Devon, with restitution thereof; licence also for him to grant the same to his son Robert and his issue, with remainder, failing issue, to himself and his heirs. By K., on the information of W. de Melton.
1310 Calendar of Patent Rolls p212

So began 580 years of Courtenay lordship of Moreton manor.