Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/303

 9-Hs.ix.ApRiM2.i902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

29o

was a son of Rebecca Boate by her first husband, Mr. Thomas Holt, the eldest brother of the mayor. ALFRED T. EVERITT.

High Street, Portsmouth.

LONDRES (9 th S. viii. 443 ; ix. 35, 151). I beg leave to thank MR. ALFRED CHAS. JONAS for his desire to set me right concerning certain points in the history of the family of De Londre and their doings ; but inasmuch as his opinion appears to have been founded upon the so-called l History of the Conquest of Glamorgan by Robert FitzHamon and his Twelve Paladins,' from which he quotes, his conclusions have not that weight and acceptance of which they might otherwise be worthy. Of this so-called "history" the late Mr. G. T. Clark, in his 'Land of Morgan,' speaks as the "traditional 'Conquest of Glamorgan,' a very neat, round, and circumstantial story, but as deficient in evidence as though from the pen of Geoffrey himself"; and discussing the matter many years ago with the late Mr. Robert Oliver Jones, of Fonmon, I came to the conclusion that it was invented by John le Stradling, younger brother, secretary, and literary hanger-on of his more fortunate elder, who desired to contract a marriage with Joanna, daughter of Henry Beaufort, subsequently cardinal. This story was invented for the greater glorification of the Stradling family and their connexions. MR. JONAS will observe that a " Sir Wm. le Esterling was one of the twelve knights, and is said to have acquired St. Donat's in consequence." There was no such person at the time in this county. The Sir Peter le Esterling then living was seated at Rogerston, in co. Monraouth, and the first incoming of the Stradlings in Glamorgan was by a fortunate marriage with Wenllian, heiress of the Bercherolles, about 1364. The family which held the manor of St. Donat's prior to the Stradlings was Bawddwyn, one of whose tombstones may still be seen amongst the nettles in the churchyard of Merthyrmawr.

The manor of Ogmore was held directly of the Crown by knight service. Of this there are many documentary evidences The founda- tion charter of Ewenny is itself negative evidence, inasmuch as no "over-lord" gives consent to alienation of lands. There must have been a monastery of some kind at Ewenny prior to the foundation of William and Maurice de Londre in 1141, as in 1138 Stephen confirms to that house certain churches and tenths, and again in 1139 Robert Consul confirms to it the gift of a burgage and land in the vicinity of Kenfege.

There are extant letters from Adam, Abbot of St. Peter's at Gloucester, asking the sanction of the Lord of Ogmore to their nomination of John de Tewksbury as Prior of Ewenny in 1339. This is significant.

Ewenny was most likely a Benedictine house originally, but it is undoubtedly planned on the well-known Cistercian model, having its cloister garth on the south side of the church.

A fragment of the tombstone of William de Londre, the original founder (in intention), with deeply cut Lombardic lettering, may be seen in the church, evidently earlier than that of Maurice. G. E. R.

THE DUCHY OF BERWICK (9 th S. viii. 439, 534; ix. 130, 258). At the last reference, in connexion with the use of the prefix " Fitz," COL. PRIDE AUX mentions that one of the illegitimate sons of Henry I. was known as Robert FitzEdith, and MR. BAYLEY refers to the case of another of Henry I.'s illegitimate 8ons v i z. t the famous Robert le Fitz le Roy, the great Earl of Gloucester, who marriea Mabel, daughter of Robert FitzHamon, and had a lawful son and heir named William FitzCount, second Earl of Gloucester. MR. BAYLEY instances Robert FitzHamon and William FitzCount as cases in point that the prefix "Fitz" does not always denote ille- gitimacy. But do we know anything about the parentage of FitzHamon, and may not the surname FitzCount indicate illegitimacy ? an illegitimate grandson 1 In very many cases it is quite certain that the prefix denotes legitimacy rather than otherwise, but the two above cases quoted by MR. BAYLEY are not definite one way or the other. In fact, from other evidence it would seem that the name FitzCount indicated an illegitimate grandson of Henry I., for that name was borne in more than the one case mentioned by MR. BAYLEY by such a relation. Henry I. had by Sibyl Corbet, Reginald de Duns'tanville, Earl of Cornwall; Rohesia, who married Johel Pomeray ; Maud, the wife of Conan, Count of Rennes, and William de Tracy. This Reginald de Dunstanville had several daughters by Beatrix de Cardinan (? Beatrix de Valle), possibly five, amongst them Dionisia, the wife of Richard de Redvers, Earl of Devon, whose daughter Hawise married her cousin Robert, son of William FitzCount, second Earl of Gloucester (men- tioned above). But Reginald de Dunstan- ville had also by Beatrix de Valle (who after- wards became the wife of William Brewer, the judge of Henry II. and one of the regents of Richard I.) an illegitimate son named