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 BEDFORD 69 before 1 138, and cr. EARL OF BEDFORD by King Stephen in 1 138,(^) who put him in possession of the Castle and Barony of Bedford, ejecting therefrom the sons of Robert Beauchamp, whose cousin, the da. and h. of Sir Simon Beauchamp, had been granted in marriage to the said Hugh. He appears, however, to have lapsed into poverty, and even to have been degraded from his peerage three or four years afterwards,('') and at his death the title, in all probability, became extinct. II. 1366 I. Ingelram, or Enguerrand de Coucy, Sire de Coucy, to La Fere and Oisy in the district of Marle,(') <yc., only s. ^377' ^^^ ^- of Enguerrand de Coucy, of the same, by Catharine OF Hapsburg, 1st da. and coh. of Leopold, Duke of Austria (s. of Albert, King of the Romans, and grandson of the Emperor Rudolph), sue. his father in 1344, being then in his 5th year. He was one of the hostages for John, King of France, to England, where he arrived in 1360. The English King showed great favour to him, restoring him lands in Lancashire, {ffc, to which he had claim by descent (through his great-grandmother. Christian, da. and h. of Sir William Lindsay) from the family of Balliol. He m., 27 July 1365, at Windsor, Isabel C*) I St da. of King Edward III, by Philippe, da. of William, Count OF Holland and Hainault. In consequence of this royal alliance he was made K.G. the same year, and by charter, 11 May 1366, was cr. EARL OF BEDFORD, with rem. to the heirs male of his body by the said Isabel. On 9 July 1367 he obtained the territory of Soissons, which Guy de Blois, Count of Soissons, another of the French hostages, was induced to surrender, so as to purchase his freedom. On the accession of Richard II he resigned to that King, 26 Aug. 1377, all his English Honours,(^) and devoted himself to the service of France, where he greatly distinguished himself, being Marshal and Grand Butler of that Kingdom. His wife (who was b. 16 June 1332 at Woodstock) remained in England, and was one of the Ladies for whom (notwithstanding her husband's resignation) robes of the Order if) For a list of Earldoms conferred by King Stephen see vol. iv, Appendix D. C") Negligenter et remisse, ut vir laxus et efFeminatus se continens, justo Dei judicio, de Comite miles, de Milite in brevi pauperrimus fuit." — See Gesta Stephani as quoted in Vincent's Discoverie of Errours, p. 46, and see also p. 300 of that work. i^) The illustrious descent and aristocratic independence of this house is "proudly exemplified in their very characteristic motto," " Roi je ne suis. Prince ni Comte aussi, Je suis le Sire de Coucy." See The Princesses of England, by M. A. Everett Green, vol. iii, p. 198, to which work the editor (G.E.C.) was indebted. See also comments on this account of the family of de Coucy, in an article by J. Bain, in The Genealogist, N.S., vol. iv, p. 89. There is an interesting French work, The History of the Town and Lords of Coucy, by Maximilian Melleville (Laon, 1 818); also a pedigree (by Alexander Sinclair) in Lord Crawford's Lives of the Lindsays. See also vol. i, p. 386, note "d." (••) As to her supposed name of "Plantagenet," see vol. i, p. 183, note " c." (^) For a list of English peerages surrendered, see vol. iii, Appendix A.