Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/441

 EXAMPLES OF MEDIAEVAL SEALS. 377 liing by John de Norwich, in 21 Edward III., wherein he alleged that Guy and Elianor had held Benhall in special tail, with remainder to the heirs of Guy ; and that the site of the said manor, and twenty-eight messuages, 454 acres of land, 22 acres of meadow, upwards of 200 acres of pasture, 124 adrcs of wood, 2 niills, 25 knights' fees, and the market [inarche) of Farnham, were held by them of Monsieur Walter de Norwich,"* the father of the said John, as of his manor of Dalengeo (Dalinglioo), and that by the death of Gu}'^ without an heir he (John) was entitled to the reversion of the premises by escheat ; and that Elianor then held them, and the king had granted the reversion to the Earl of Suffolk (Robert de Ufford) to the disinheriting of the petitioner, and he prayed that the grant might be revoked. The answer to the petitioner reminded him, that, as Elianor was yet living, his application was prema- ture.^ We find the king also granted the reversion of the third part of the manor of Ilketshall in 11th year of his reign to Elizabeth de Burgh the lady of Clare.' Elianor appears to have kept the last-named grantee somewhat inconveniently long in expectancy. At length she died in the 23 Edward III., about a year after this seal had been affixed to the above-mentioned acquittance. 4. Seal of Lauren'CE de Watelixgton'e, a personal seal with heraldry. The matrix of brass was recently found near Norwich : the precise place has not been ascertained. It is now in the collection of Norfolk seals and signet-rings formed by Mr. Robert Fitch of Norwich. The handle is of the common pyramidal form, terminating in a loop or ring for suspension ; a star is deeply cut near the margin, showing the top of the seal, and the direction in which it should be held when an impression was made. The impress is an escutcheon boldly engraved, and charged with the following coat, three chevronels -^ ■within a bordure engrailed. The small spaces around - i^^^^^^^. the escutcheon are filled up with foliated orna- ments. The legend is — ^ s' lavrecii. d'. wate- LiNGTOXE. (See woodcut.) The date may be assigned to the middle of the xivtli century. Blomefield mentions two families of this name settled from an early period at Watlington in Norfolk. Sir Robert de Watlingtone, in the reign of Stephen, held that manor of the Bardolphs, barons of Wirmegay, and it continued in the possession of his descendants until the reign of Edward II. No mention, however, has been found of any person of that farnily bearing the name of Laurence. - The coat given on this Seal has not been found ascribed to a family of the name of Watlington. The like was borne by a cadet of Clare, as we learn, from the Roll of Arms of the reign of Edward II., where it appears that Sir Nicholas de Clare bore, Or, three chevronels c/u/es ; a bordure indented sable. A similar coat was also borne by the de Wateviles 8 He was successively baron, treasurer, and chief baron of the exchequer. 9 Rot. Pari, ii., 108. The claim of the crown seems to have prevailed. See CaL Rot. Pat., 10 b. ' Pref. Lib. de Antiq. Legibus, p. cxii. et seq. - The name occurs, also, in other counties. In the reign of Edward I. Gonnilda de Watlington held lands in Marlow, Bucks, of Matilda, Countess of Gloucester, llund. Rolls, vol. ii. p. 354. The manor of Watlingtons, in West Hagbourn, Berks, was held b_v Edmund Earl of Cornwall, in 1231.