Page:A History of Cawthorne.djvu/35

 Henry de Laci, this last male heir, at that time (1294) surrendered all his lands to King Edward I., who, at the same time, re-granted them to Henry for his life, and after his decease to Thomas Plantagenet and Alice his wife, and their heirs, annexing to this grant the extraordinary provision, that, in default of such heirs, the estates should go to Edmund, the father of Earl Thomas, and to his heirs for ever.

Thomas Earl of Lancaster is given as the lord of this Wapentake of Staincross in the "Nomina Villarum" of 9 Edward II., being the returns made by the Sheriffs (shire-reeves) of the hundreds, wapentakes, &c., in the several bailiwicks. The entry is, "Libertas de Osgotcrosse." "Thomas Comes Lancastriæ dominus est libertatis de Osgotcrosse," Staincross being included in the Wapentake of Osgoldcross. Cawthorne in this Return is given as "Salthorn." No mention is made of either Staincross or Osgoldcross in the earlier Survey known as "Kirkeby's Inquest," 13 Edward I., 1284-5, on account, most probably, of all the land being held by one person.

On the death of Henry de Laci, Thomas added the Earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury to the three he already held, those of Lancaster, Leicester, and Derby. There is no need to speak here of the part he played during the reign of Edward II., when he could treat with his royal cousin on equal terms. At the Battle of Boroughbridge, however, Lancaster and his forces were defeated, and the earl himself obliged to surrender. On March 22, 1322, he was tried by the king's judges, in presence of the hostile earls, in his own castle at Pontefract, was condemned as a traitor, and was at once beheaded. Strangely enough, the people declared this "martyr of Pontefract" worthy of being called St. Thomas; they declared that miracles were wrought at his tomb, and they used his name as a watchword of liberty!

All his immense estates at once passed into the hands of the crown.

During the lifetime of her husband, Alice, Countess of Lancaster, was forcibly carried off from her husband's castle of Pontefract. The Earl Warenne, of Conisborough, was accused, and the king himself suspected of conniving at this abduction. She was carried to Earl