Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Alice FitzAlan and John/Stephen De Segrave

Alice FitzAlan, born in 1314 in Arundel Castle, died on 20 January 1385/86 in Knockin near Oswestry. She was the daughter of Alice De Warenne and Edmund FitzAlan. She died 7 Feb 1340. The Dictionary of National Biography says she married Bohun, Earl of Hereford as does John Burke.

FOUNDATION FOR MEDIEVAL GENEALOGY HAS ALICE AS DAUGHTER OF RICHARD FITZALAN WHOM OTHER SOURCES NAME AS HER GRANDFATHER.
"Her existence is proved by (1) Calendar of Inquisitiones post mortem[66] which states that the wardship of two parts of a messuage in Upton, Shropshire was "in the hands of Alesia the said Earl's daughter by his gift" and (2) the registers of Chaucombe Priory[67] which note that Alice's brother Edmund Earl of Arundel settled property on her and her husband Stephen de Segrave and also give Alice's date of death"


She married John (Stephen) De Segrave, 3rd Lord Segrave of Westhatch, Wiltshire, Bretby in Repton, Ashbourne, Derbyshire, Chaucombe, Northamptonshire, Stiveschale, Thurlaston in Dunchurch, Warwickshire, and North Piddle, Worcestershire. He died in1324-1325. He was the son of John De Segrave and Christine De Plessy or Plessets.

John was Constable of the Tower of London and predeceased his father, dying in Gascony.

He was granted letters of protection to travel in Scotland in 1305, 1307, and 1322. In 1314 he took prisoners to Scotland to exchange for his father John, who had been captured at Bannockburn. He was granted Stottesden Hundred in Shropshire for life in 1318. He supported Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and was pardoned for it in 1318. In 1323 Roger de Mortimer escaped from the Tower of London, which Stephen was Constable of and he was held responsible for it. His father had to put up 10,000 pounds as a bond to have him pardoned for misdemeanors in 1324. Also in that year he traveled to Gascony on business for the king and died while there. He was buried at Chaucombe Priory.

The Index Library
By British Record Society

Inquisition made at New Sarum before Richard le Wayte, the King's escheator in divers counties, 8th January,
19 Edward II [1327], by the oath of Roger de Colynburne, Walter dc
Stanle, John de Briguerd, Thomas de Haumbere, Hugh de Nuprude,
John Rayne, John atte Watere, William de Colynburne, Gilbert Gouschl,
John Gousche, John Bulkenap, and John alte Forde, who say that
Stephen de Segrave and Alice, his wife, held jointly in their
demesne as of fee, on the day the said Stephen died, the manor of
Westhatch, from the Abbess of Shaftesbury in chief, by the senvice
of 9 marks payable yearly to the said Abbess at her abbey of
Shaftesbury at Christmas, Easter, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist,
and Michaelmas, in equal portions, for all service, by feoffment of
John de Segrave, father of the said Stephen, who gave the said manor
to the said Stephen and Alice, and the heirs of Stephen. '
There is there one chief messuage, with a curtilage, which are
worth yearly 3s 4d. ; and the rent of 8 free tenants, each of whom
holds one messuage and one virgate of land, and pays 8s. yearly at
the above said terms in equal portions, 33s 4d and there is I Ib. of
pepper arising from the rent of one free tenant, who holds one
virgate of land, payable at Michaelmas, price l2d. ; and the rent of
7 bond tenants, two of whom each hold £ virgate and pay 6.?. 8d.
yearly, and five hold each 5 acres, and pay 4^. yearly at the same
terms in equal portions, 33^. ^d. There is of chershett of the same
7 bond tenants 7 cocks and 7 hens, payable at Martinmas, worth
3^. i\d., the price of a cock ?rent of 1 8 cottars, each of whom holds one cottage and one curtilage,
and pays yearly at the same terms 2s. in equal portions, 36^. Also
the works of the 5 bond tenants and 18 cottars are worth in the
Summer 2s. 1jworth yearly $$s., the price of the acre $d. ; and 1 1 acres of meadow
worth yearly 18s., the price of the acre 18pasture worth yearly 2s.
John de Segrave, son of the said Stephen, is his heir, and is aged
1 o years.
Chan. Inq. p.m., 19 Edward II, No. 91.


Antiquities of Shropshire‎ - Page 151
by Robert William Eyton - 1857

Before I proceed with any account of the new Lords of Stottesden, it will be fitting to trace to its extinction the male line of De Gamages. Godfrey succeeded his father at Cotesmore, in Rutlandshire, and at Mansel Gamages, and other estates in Herefordshire and in Wales. He died in 1253, and I find an order to the King's Escheators to seize his lands, dated Oct. 2, of that year. Also in the same month, Alda, his widow, was suing John de Plessetis for a third of the manor of Stottesden, which she claimed as her dower. The cause was adjourned to Hilary Term following, but the litigated land being apparently seized into the King's hand, John de Plessetis moves the Court to reinstate him at once therein. This was probably done, either immediately or eventually, for I cannot suppose that Alda's claim was ever allowed. Godfrey de Gamages left three daughter and coheirs, viz. Elizabeth, Lucia, and Eufemia. Elizabeth appears to have been married to Henry de Pembruge, Junior, previous to April 20, 1254, when I find her, her husband, and her two sisters, jointly impleading one Richard de Tunderley for the lad of Trewarn, which, being a member of that Honour of Boghred late held in capite by Godfrey de Gamages, had been wrested from the said Godfrey by the said Richard de Tunderley, under the false pretence that it was a member of the Honour of Castle Matilda in Elvein.

On May 10, 1254, we find, as I have before related, that Henry de Pembruge,Senior, purchased from the King the marriages of Lucia and Eufemia de Gamages, for two of his other sons. The ladies were taken from the custody of Margery de Lacy, who I suppose had them in ward by reason of their late father's tenure at Mansel Gamages. I have also before alluded to another claim of two of these coheiresses, viz. Elizabeth and Euphemia, who, in 1263, were endeavouring once more to recover Stottesden from Hugh, son and heir of John de Plessetis above mentioned. Their claim ws unsuccessful, as the sequel will show.

It remains therefore to state that Lucia, the third coheiress,had probably deceased in the interval, without issue; and that the descendants of Henry and William de Pembruge, husbands respectively of Elizabeth and Eufemia de Gamages, represent that family of almost baronial rank, whose connection with Stottesden here ceases, but whose history as lords of Tong, I have already continued to a much later era.

We now return to John de Plessetis, the powerful and fortunate favourite of Henry III, and whose title to Stottesden was evidently framed in disregard of the better claims of hereditary descent. His history, as sometime Earl of Warwick, I need not dwell upon here. In the year following that in which Stottesden was given to him conditionally, he obtained a grant thereof in fee and inheritance, with all its liberties and appurtenances. In 28 Hen. III (1243-4) he had a grant of Market here, to be held weekly on Tuesdays, and a fair to be held annually on the eve, the day, and the morrow of the Assumption (August 14, 15, 16), together with the privilege of Free Warren.

The jurors of Stottesden Hundred, relating in1255 the status of this manor, said that "it was an escheat of the Lord King of the Land of the Normans, which Sir John de Plessy holds in capite of the King, who is enfeoffed in the same vill by Royal Charter, and for service of half a knight's fee. Therein are III hides of land, and they were used to be geldable, but now are not so, by Charter which the said John hath from the King: and he (John) hath withdrawn himself from suits of Hundred Courts, and from other things implied by the term geldable, these nineteen years past; wherby the King is damaged at the rate of L1 per annum, or L19 in all." The jurors also said that "Sir John de Plessy had a franchise in the vill of Stottesden, and had withdrawn himself from every kind of suit." They also reported how two hounds of Philip De Farlawe's having entered the warren of John de Plessy, but caught nothing therein, the said Philio had paid 4s. recompense to Henry de Chippenham, the Seneschal of Stottesden.

John de Plessetis was at this time Earl of Warwick; but for the mode in which he acquired and held that title I must refer elsewhere: at the Shropshire Assizes of January, 1256, he is so styled in two instances; the first, where he recovers the person and chattels of Robert de Bollisword, his native or villain, who he had previously sued for in the county court; the second, where Gilbert de Mitleton,having against him a suit of novel disseizen concerning a tenement in Stokes, retracts the same.

John de Plessetis, Earl of Warwick,died on February 26, 1263. The heir of himself and his first wife, Christiana de Sandford, was Hugh de Plessetis, aged twenty six years at his father's death. In April following this Hugh had livery of the manor of "Suttesdon" (read Stottesdon) "as a tenure in capite, by service of one knight's fee," his relief thereon being 100s. He had also livery of other lands inherited from his mother. He married Isabella, one of three coheirs of Philippa Bassett, sometime Countess of Warwick, and on Nov. 29, 1265, had livery of his said wife's estate. In 54 Hen. III (1269-70) Hugh de Plessetis gave the manor of Stottesden, in frank marriage with Christiana his infant daughter, to John, son of Nicholas de Segrave, which John seems at the time to have been about fourteen years of age. The jurors of Stottesden Hundred reported this transfer at the Assizes of September 1272, adding that it was without the King's consent. They also reported John de Segrave to be then seized thereof; but among the defaulters in their Hundred appears the name of Nicholas de Segrave, as though the father were accountable for the suit and service due from Stottesden while the son was in minority. At the Inquisition of Stottesden Hundred, taken in Novembrf, 1274, the jurors traced accurately the descent of this manor from John de Plessetis to Hugh de Plessetis. The alienation thereof by the latter they also dated in 1270, and explained that Nicholas de Segrave was to hold Stottsden for his life. This however he did not do; for though he himself lived till 1295, his son John ws in 1277 fully seized of Stottesden. There was a Military Summons returnable at Worcester on July 1 of the latter year, and John de Segrave responded thereto by acknowledging the service of one knight's fee in Stottesden, performable by himself and John Mallore, his serving man. The Feodary of 1284 consistently reports that "John de Segrave and Christiana his wife hold the manor of Stotresdon for one knight's fee of the King,in capite."

At the Assizes of 1292 the jurors of this Hundred said that John de Segrave claimed free warren in Stottesden; also to hold his free court there twice in the year, and decide all such pleas as the sheriff ordinarily decided; also the privilege of assizing bread and beer. Being questioned, as it seems, for his authority to exercise these franchises, John de Segrave pleaded the Grant of King Henry III of the manor and its liberties to John de Plessetis and his heirs. At the time of that grant, said he, the King held the two annual courts in question. As to assizing bread and beer, that was further justified and implied by the Grant of Market given to the same John de Plessetis by the same king. Hugh de Lowther (the Crown Attorney) hereupon started a favourite objection of his in such cases, viz. that a grant to John de Plessetis and his heirs could not extend to the present defendant, who was not his heir. The result was a reference of the matter to the next Parliament.

The Feodory of March, 1316, gives John de Segrave as Lord of Stottesden. He died in 18 Edw. II (1324-5), seized inter alia of this manor. His son Stephen had obtained, four years previously, a grant of the Hundred of Stottesden for life. He died in the same year, and apparently in the same foreign service as his aged father. The heir of both was John, son of the said Stephen, which
John was then in minority; but of him I need say no more. His career,as well as many other incidents in the fortunes of the great baronial house which he represented are the subject of a nobler and fuller record.

Some people believe that she belonged to her grandfather, Richard FitzAlan. I found a post on GEN-MEDIEVAL mailing list that says:

For evidence that Earl Richard had a such a daughter, Alice (or Alesia), see Calendar of IPM, 4 (1915):39, where she is specifically named. For evidence that Stephen de Segrave's wife, Alice, was Alice de Arundel, see Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, 5th ser., 9 (1935-37), pg. 166, which in turn cites the Register of Chaucombe Priory. This article also cites other evidence which links Alice,wife of Stephen de Segrave, to the Fitz Alan/Arundel family of
Shropshire.

Some researchers equate her with Edmund FitzAlan's daughter Aline who married Roger le Strange. If Aline and Alice are one in the same, then she had three husbands
1. John De Bohun; 2. Roger le Strange; 3. John De Segrave.

They had children:

1.John Segrave, 4th Baron, married Margaret Plantagenet,Duchess of Norfolk
2.Eleanor
Royal ancestors of Magna charta barons: including ancestry of John Talbot ...‎ - Page 101
by Carr Pritchett Collins - 1959

Plantagenet Ancestry
By Douglas Richardson, Kimball G. Everingham, David Faris
A genealogical history of the dormant, abeyant, forfeited, and extinct ...‎ - Page 200
by Sir Bernard Burke - 1866

Savage-Stillman-Rogers-Lindsey-Dever and related families with Magna carta ...‎ - Page 442
by Myrtle Savage Rhoades - 1971

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