Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/282

 274 REVIEWS OF BOOKS April William son of John Senior (the name had formerly been read as ' Senior '), was ' his next heir in blood ', his inheritance passed under ' a fine levied in the king's court ', after his wife's death, to William de Bohun, earl of Northampton, and his heirs, from whom, in due time, it came into the hands of the Crown as part of the duchy of Lancaster. The present volume carries on this most valuable calendar from 1352 to 1360, so that at least two volumes more will, apparently, be needed to complete the reign of Edward III. Although, as we learn from the brief preface, the proofs of the elaborate index had to be passed through the press during Mr. O'Reilly's absence on military service, the two hundred and twenty-six pages to which it extends should win the gratitude of those who use it and adds, as usual, enormously to the value of the volume. One notes, on looking through it, a few small points that seem to need correction. The John de Beauchamp (de Bello Campo) ' of Warwick ' on p. 530 was not, as indexed, ' earl of Warwick ', but a brother of Earl Thomas. The Inq. post mortem on John (no. 628) proves the two to be identical. His brother Thomas's heir apparent was similarly known as Guy ' de Warwick ' (pp. 372, 460). The ' Bourghcher ' on p. 588 is ' Burgcher ' on p. 597, but there is no cross-reference ; consequently Eleanor, daughter of John de Lovayne, a considerable heiress, who married William Bourchier. is found on both of these pages separately. So also Michael de Poynings is found on p. 722, but ' Ponynges ', the medieval form, is found on p. 721, with no cross-reference. Oddly enough, ' Lionel de Andwerp ' (pp. 261, 567) is not recognized as Lionel, son of Edward III (p. 687). A tragedy characteristic of the times has its echo in this volume, where we can trace the fate of that unhappy widow, Margery de la Beche, to its close. 1 She is here recorded to have died at Calais 20 March, 23 Edward III (1349) or, on another page (no. 315), 20 Edward III ; but her description as ' late the wife of Nicholas de la Beche, sometime wife of Edmund Bacoun ' (no. 26), has not availed to identify her in nos. 315, 316, under Beche, in the index. The previous volume (vol. ix) has a good deal about her, owing to her violent abduction, from her manor-house of Beaumeis, by Sir John Dalton, son of Robert, who subsequently married her without the king's licence, for which her lands were forfeited to the Crown. An inquisition in the present volume records the knight's succession to his father in 1353, and another headed ' Edmund Bacoun ' and taken later in the same year records that on 7 April, 20 Edward III (1346), ' John de Dalton, knight, who raped the said Margery, also married her, whereby the said manor was taken into the king's hand by reason of the forfeiture of the said John ' (p. 77). Yet another of these inquisitions (no. 314), relating to ' Edmund Bacoun and Margery his wife ', extends over four and a half pages (pp. 262-6). It proves that Edmund had died twenty years before (3 April 1336) and deals with his heirs by his two wives. Its interest consists chiefly in its references to public records : the Crown called for transcripts of fines and ordered ' the Red Book in the Exchequer ' and other records there to be examined, and received extracts from ' the book of fees at the Exchequer ', the Red Book, and 1 I have recently dealt with this outrage, which involved murder and plunder, in Sussex Arch. Cdl. Ixii (1921), pp. 12-18.