Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/46

 Amounderness by the service of one Knight, thus the later charter, just quoted, must be regarded as a confirmation of a previous grant, and not as an original donation. He was an extensive founder of monastic houses, and amongst the abbeys established by him was that of Cockersand, which he endowed with the whole Hay of Pylin (Pilling) in Amounderness. He was appointed sheriff of the county of Lancaster by Richard I. in 1194, and retained the office until the death of that monarch five years afterwards. His son, Theobald, married Maud, sister to the celebrated Thomas à Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, and assumed the title of his office when created Chief Butler of Ireland. The family of the same name which inhabited Rawcliffe Hall until that property was confiscated through the treasonable part played by Henry Butler and his son Richard in the rebellion of 1715, was directly descended from Theobald Walter-Butler. The Butlers of Kirkland, the last of whom, Alexander Butler, died in 1811, and was succeeded by a great-nephew, were also representatives of the ancient race of Walter, and preserved the line unbroken. Theobald Walter, the elder, died in 1206, and Amounderness reverted to the crown.

Richard I. a few years before his death presented the Honor of Lancaster to his brother, the earl of Moreton, who subsequently became King John, and it is asserted that this nobleman, when residing at the castle of Lancaster, was occasionally a guest at Staining Hall, and that during one of his visits he so admired the strength and skill displayed by a person called Geoffrey, and surnamed the Crossbowman, that he induced him to join his retinue. How far truth has been embellished and disguised by fiction in this traditional statement we are unable to conjecture, but there are reasonable grounds for believing that the story is not entirely supposititious, for the earl of Moreton granted to Geoffrey l'Arbalistrier, or the Crossbowman, who is said to have been a younger brother of Theobald Walter, senior, six carucates of land in Hackinsall-with-Preesall, and a little later, the manor of Hambleton, most likely as rewards for military or other services rendered to that nobleman. John, as earl of Moreton, appears to have gained the affection and respect of the inhabitants of Lancashire by his liberal practices during his long sojourns in their midst. He granted a charter to the knights, thanes, and