Laurence de Saint-Maur of Rode, Somerset

  General Notes:

Sir LAURENCE DE SAINT MAUR, son and heir, was one of the boys at Windsor with the royal children in 1254, when his father was overseas with the King. In 1266 he was in possession of Road (i). In May 1270 he had protection as a Crusader. He was preparing to go to St. Iago in January 1275/6, and in August following to accompany Edmund, then Earl of Lancaster, whose steward he was, to Navarre. He was summoned for, and served in, the expedition of 1282, under the Earl and Roger de Mortimer, in which Llewelyn was taken, and his head sent to London. Keeper of Jedburgh castle, 1291. In 1292 he is said to have been going with the Earl to Wales. He was exempted from the general summons for service in Gascony, 1294, but was there under the Earl.

He married, 1stly, Emma ----, who died in or before Hilary term 1275/6; and, 2ndly, Sibyl, elder daughter and coheir of Hugh DE MORWICK, widow of Sir Roger DE LUMLEY. He died February 1296/7; his widow died 26 July 1298.

(i) When he presented to Road, which property may have been settled upon him, on his marriage, by his father. In that year he acquired land in cos. Northants and Warwick.

[Complete Peerage XI:357-8, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

  Events

• Manorial Estate: Seymours Manor, Bassingbourn, Royston, Cambridgeshire, SG8, GB. ² Before 1066 1½ hide at Bassingbourn had belonged to the bishopric of Winchester. It was held in 1086 by Bishop Walkelin, whose successor Henry of Blois probably ceded it to his brother King Stephen. Two manors at Bassingbourn, SEYMOURS and ROWSES, were later held of Stephen's honor of Boulogne. The Bassingbourns originally held the former, under that honor, of the Caieux and their successors as lords of Cheyneys manor in Steeple Morden, whose possessor successfully claimed in 1235 wardship of the hide held of him by Warin of Bassingbourn. In the 1270s Warin's son Edmund assigned that manor to Lawrence de Seymour, who had married Warin's niece Emma (d. by 1276), in place of a Northamptonshire manor given as her marriage portion. Lawrence transferred Seymours, before his death in 1297, to his eldest son Nicholas, later Lord Seymour, who died in 1316, holding 260 a. at Bassingbourn as ½ knight's fee for a nominal service, of Edmund's son Warin. Nicholas's eldest son, Sir Thomas de Seymour, came of age in 1325 and held Seymours in 1346, but not when he died without issue in 1358.

• Inquisition: Post mortem, 28 Feb 1297. ¹ 386. LAURENCE DE SANCTO MAURO.

Writ, 28 Feb. 25 Edw. I.

WILTS. Inq. made at Malmesbury on Sunday before the Annunciation, 25 Edw. I. Pulton by Creckelade. A capital messuage &c., 220a. arable, 8a. meadow, pasture, 10l. 13s. 4d. assised rent, a windmill and pleas &c. of court, held of the king in chief by service of 1/2 knight's fee. Nicholas his son, aged 26 and more, is his next heir.

BEDFORD. Inq. 10 April, 25 Edw. I. Eddeworth. A capital messuage, 140a. arable, 30s. rent of free tenants, and 63s. rent of bondmen who are ought to reap in autumn, held of John Bluet by service of 110s. yearly. Heir as above, aged 27 and more.

SOMERSET. Inq. made at Frome, 20 March, 25 Edw. I.

La Rode. The manor (extent given) held of Robert Russell and his heirs, lords of Horsington, for 1/2 knight's fee. Heir as above, aged 30 and more.

SUSSEX. Inq. made at Flessinges on Tuesday after St. Gregory the Pope, 25 Edw. I.

Flecchinges parish. 50a. arable at Sipfeud, 3a. meadow, and 30a. wood.

Estfirle parish. 40a. arable at Cherlackeston, 2a. meadow, 26s. rent, works &c., a fourth part of a hundred, and pleas &c. of court, held of Sir Edmund the king's brother and his heirs, of the fee of Leicester, for a knight's fee, viz.- a little fee of Mortain.

Heir as above, aged 25.

NOTTINGHAM. Inq. 31 March, 25 Edw. I. The said Laurence held nothing of the king in chief in Nottingham, Rutland or Derby south of Trent.

Gaham. A capital messuage, 8 bovates of land, a heath (bruscus), a windmill, 1 mark free rent, 7 bovates of land in bondage rendering 5s. each yearly, and 2 cottages rendering 5s. yearly, held of the earl of Leicester by service of 1/4 knight's fee. Heir as above, aged 28 at the feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross next.

Writ, 28 Feb. 25 Edw. I.

NORTHUMBERLAND; BETWEEN TYNE AND COKET. Inq. made at West Chyvynton on Wednesday in Easter week, 25 Edw. I. He held nothing in his demesne as of fee between Tyne and Coket. Heir as above, aged 24.

NORTHUMBERLAND. Inq. Wednesday before Palm Sunday, 25 Edw. I.

Newton on Sea. The town (extent given), including a capital messuage, 1a. meadow pertaining to the brewhouse (bracinam) with three sikettis of herbage, herbage called 'le lynkes,' three boats (batelle), and 8 1/2 farmers (husband'), each rendering 40s. 9d. yearly, an acre of land with two brewhouses, and a boat called 'le Cane,' held of William de Vescy by homage, suit at the court of Alnewyk every three weeks, and 13s. 4d. for the guard of the castle of Alnewyk.

Yerdehill alias Yerddehill. Tenements held by Ralph Long, William son of Thomas, William de Gosewyk, and Michael de Midilton, at yearly rents.

Alnewyk. A forge held by Thomas Bolt at a yearly rent of 12d.

Heir as above, aged 24 and more.

C. Edw. I. File 78. (7.)

Laurence married Emma, daughter of de Bassingbourn and Unknown. (Emma died before 21 Mar 1276.)

Laurence next married Sibyl de Morwick after 1279. (Sibyl de Morwick was born about 1248 and died on 26 Jul 1298 ².)