Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 4.djvu/680

 662 APPENDIX H 1243 the Sheriff of Warwickshire was ordered to pay the third penny to Margery, who, in another mandamus ot the same date, is called Countess of Warwick: Mandatum est vicecomiti War' quod illas x libras quas Thomas quondam comes War' percipere consuevit per annum nomine comitatus predict! Margerie sorori et heredi predicti comitis reddi faciat eodem modo quo predicto comiti prius reddi consueverunt.(*) These cases of women receiving the third penny which we have here set out are earlier than any which were discussed in the Earldom of Norfolk case. It is possible that the practice underwent a change consonant with the gradual alteration in the position of women of high rank which is observable in the course of the 13th and 14th centuries; it was also affected by the collapse of the feudal system under which these grants originated. Limitations in the Creation of Earldoms The terms of inheritance in the case of early earldoms are often evidenced by charters recording the creations. The earliest grants are in fee simple — namely, to the grantee and his heirs, heredibus suis or in tail general, to the grantee and the heirs of his body, heredibus de corpore suo exeuntibus.Q') The earliest known of these charters is that of Stephen to Geoffrey de Mandeville, creating him Earl of Essex. J. H. Round dates it June-Dec. 11 40. It will be noted that it contains no reference to the third penny: S. Rex Ang[lorum] Archiepiscopis Episcopis Abbatibus Comitibus Justiciis [sic] Baronibus Vicecomitibus et Omnibus Ministris et fidelibus suis francis et Anglis totius Angliae salutem. Sciatis me fecisse Comitem de Gaufr[ido] de Magnauilla de Comitatu Essex[e] hereditarie. Quare uolo et concede et firmiter precipio quod ipse et heredes sui post eum hereditario jure teneant de me et de heredibus meis bene et in pace et libere et quiete et honorifice sicut alii Comites mei de terra mea melius vel liberius vel honorificentius tenent Comitatus suos unde Comites sunt cum omnibus dignitatibus et libertatibus et consuetudinibus cum quibus alii Comites mei prefati dignius vel liberius tenent.('=) [Then follow the names of witnesses.] The next charter is that of the Empress Maud to the same Geoffrey; J. H. Round dates it Midsummer 11 41. This is the first charter extant containing a grant of the third penny, and the remarkable phrase " sicut comes habere debet in comitatu suo " is worthy of note. Only the clauses reciting the creation are printed here: M. Imperatrix regis Henrici filia Archiepiscopis Episcopis &c. Sciatis omnes tam praesentes quam futuri quod Ego Matildis regis Henrici filia et Anglor[um] (») Close Roll, 27 Hen. Ill, ;;;. 5. C") The expression in fee when applied to baronies by writ always means heirs general of the body of the grantee. (') Text by J. H. Round, in his Geiffrey de Mandevilte, pp. 5 1-2.