Recently I have been looking at the family of Felton of Edlingham,
Northumberland. I have found quite a few erroneous statements in print
concerning the family of the first Sir William de Felton who died on 5 April 1327.
There seems to be some confusion regarding his wives. The facts are
straightforward. William de Felton had two wives and they were both named
Constance. He did not have a wife named Eustancia. This is simply a mis-reading
of Cunstancia or Constance.
His first wife was Constance de Pontop who was one of the heirs of
Philip de Oldcoates (Ulecote). In 1200, Philip de Oldcoates of Oldcoates and
Stirap, Nottinghamshire married Joan, sister-in-law of Sewal fitz Henry, a
royal official. In 1209, King John granted to Philip Sewal’s lands in
Northumberland which had escheated to the Crown after Sewal’s death, to hold by
the service of sergeantry of being the king’s forester and the custodian of the
pleas of the Crown in Northumberland. These lands were in Nafferton, West Matfen,
and Lorbottle with some rents in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Philip de Oldcoates was
sheriff of Northumberland in 1214-16 and again in 1216-20; custodian of the
bishopric of Durham in 1217; he was appointed seneschal of Poitou on 16
September 1220 and was reported to be dead on 30 October 1220 [1].
After Philip’s death, his property in Northumberland was divided between his
five sisters and their husbands [2].
It appears that Alice, one the sisters, who was unmarried in 1221, married Laurence
de Pontop, of Pontop, Durham. Laurence held some position in the bishopric of
Durham, probably the bishop’s forester. Laurence died some time before 1250,
leaving two sons, Thomas and Robert.
Isabel de Oldcoates, another of the sisters and heirs of Philip de
Oldcoates, married Thomas de Sturton of Sturton-le-Steeple, Nottinghamshire. After
the death of Thomas de Sturton without children, his widow Isabel gave her
share of her brother’s lands to her nephew Thomas de Pontop. On 24 February
1253, the king confirmed the lands given by Isabel de Sturton to Thomas de
Pontop [3].
Thomas de Pontop died shortly before 21 September 1265, seised of lands in Matfen,
Nafferton and Lorbottle, and leaving two infant daughters, Constance aged two and
Isabel aged one [4].
Constance de Pontop married William de Felton some time before 27 July
1284, when the sheriff of Northumberland was ordered to respite the demand by
summons of the Exchequer against William de Felton and Constance his wife for
the debt of Philip de Hulcotis (Oldcoates) until the quinzaine of Michaelmas
next [5].
When Philip de Oldcoates died in 1220 he owed money to the Crown, and more than
sixty years later, the Exchequer was still chasing his heirs for payment.
William and Constance either bought or were granted other lands in
Matfen, Nafferton and Lorbottle by some of the other heirs of Philip de
Oldcoates. By a fine at Westminster, dated 25 June 1285, Robert de Pontop
granted seven messuages and 100 acres of land in West Matfen to William de Felton
and Constance his wife and their heirs, with reversion to Robert on the failure
of heirs of the marriage [6].
Thomas de Blyth, a descendant of Margery another of the sisters of Philip de
Oldcoates granted William de Felton and Constance his wife, all his lands in
the towns of Matfen, West Nafferton and Lorbottle which was confirmed by Edward
I in June 1291 [7].
By Constance de Pontop, William had at least five children:
- John, who had letters of protection going to Scotland with his father in May 1303 [8]. He died v.p. before 24 June 1315
- Robert who also died v.p. about 1319
- William II, eldest surviving son and heir, who died on 21 September 1358.
- Alice, who married Robert Delaval of Seaton Delaval, Northumberland (d. 19 August 1353 [9]).
- Eleanor, who married John de Fenwick.
By a fine at Westminster dated 21 June 1316, William de Felton granted to Robert de Felton (his son) the manors of Edlingham, Northumberland and Boddington, Northamptonshire. Robert recognised William's right and granted the manors to William
de Felton, for life with remainder to William his son, with successive
remainders to Robert de la Vale and Alice his wife and her heirs male; to John
de Fenwyke and Eleanor his wife and her heirs male; and to the right heirs of William
de Felton [10].
The 1316 grant by William to Robert was made after the death of the eldest son John. The reversion to his sisters indicates that his
brother John had died before this date. Adam of Monmouth
records that in 1307, two brothers, J[ohn] and R[obert] de Felton detained
William de Langton, bishop of Coventry and took him to York. He says that the
brothers afterwards suffered bad deaths [11].
It is difficult in the records to distinguish this Robert and John from Sir Robert
de Felton of Litcham, Norfolk (the presumed brother of Sir William de Felton) and
his son John. Sir Robert de Felton of Litcham died at Bannockburn in 1314,
It is not certain when Constance de Pontop died, but William
married secondly, probably in the early 1300’s, another Constance. By her, he
had three daughters, two of whom were married in 1328 [12]:
- Margaret, who married Robert Bertram of Bothal (31 Mar 1307 - 21 Nov 1363 [13]).
- Elizabeth.
- Constance, who married Robert Strelley of Strelley, Nottinghamshire (died 9 Dec 1353 [14]).
Unfortunately neither of these
inquisitions has survived. The lands which William had occupied by the courtesy
of England after the death of Constance were distributed to his three daughters
in October and November 1328, but no description of the property appears to
exist, so it is difficult to make a guess as to the identity of William’s
second wife. However, it appears that the second Constance could also be a descendant of Philip de Oldcoates, as the descendants of Margaret de Felton were later holding lands in Lorbottle:
[1] Calendar
of Patent Rolls, Henry III, vol. 1: 1216-1225 (1901), 249, 269
[2] Calendar
of Patent Rolls, Henry III, vol. 1: 1216-1225 (1901), 296
[3] Calendar
of Fine Rolls, 37 Henry III, No. 466.
[4] Calendar
of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Vol. 1, Henry III (1904), 193-4. No. 608.
[5] Calendar
of Chancery Warrants, 1244-1326 (1927), 19.
[6] CP
25/1/187/7, number 44
[7] Northumberland
Record Office, Swinburne (Capheaton) Estate Records, ZSW/167/3
[8] Calendar
of Chancery Warrants, 1244-1326 (1927), 175.
[9]
Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, vol. 10, Edward III (1921), 102, No. 114
[10] CP
25/1/285/30, number 125, c.f. Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward II, Vol. 5, 13.
[11] Thomas
Hog, ed., Adami Murimuthensis Chronica, English Historical Society (London,
1846), 10
[12] Calendar
of Close Rolls, Edward III: vol. 1: 1327-1330 (1896), 335-6
[13] Calendar
of Inquisitions Post Mortem, vol. 11, Edward III (1935), 369, No. 487
[14] Calendar
of Inquisitions Post Mortem, vol. 10, Edward III (1921), 83, No. 94
[15] Calendar
of Fine Rolls, vol. 4, Edward III: 1327-1336 (1913), 36, 61
John, I am coming to this party late (Jul 2021), but just ran across something that doesn't exactly line up. In Thoroton's Hisotry of Nottinghamshire, part 3 (https://www.british-history.ac.uk/thoroton-notts/vol3/pp420-424#fnn16), it says "which Philip died without heir of his body, but had five sisters who divided the inheritance amongst them, being heirs of the said Philip their brother, the first whereof was called Alice de Sterap, the second Margery (or Margaret) the third Isabell, the fourth Juliana, and the fifth Constance.
ReplyDelete¶Alice had three sons out of matrimony, viz. Ingeram to whom she gave three bov. in the town of Sterap."
I can't seem to find anything that says Alicia was married to Lawrence Pontop or Punthorp. Is there a different reference??
I appreciate your blogs!
Donna Hartley