John, son of Nicholas de Langton (1283-1342), citizen and merchant of York, followed his father and grandfather to become mayor of York between 1353 and 1361. Three generations of Langtons occupied the mayoralty of York between them for over 40 years. John son of the second Nicholas de Langton was born about 1305 and died in 1373. An entry in the Patent Rolls in May 1378, shows that he had two wives. His executors,[1] William Graa, citizen and merchant of York, and Robert Wycliffe, parson of the church of St. Crux, York, had a royal licence for the alienation in mortmain of rents in York to a chaplain, “for celebrating divine service daily at the altar of St. Katharine the Virgin in Holy Trinity church in the king's court, York, for the souls of John de Langeton and Beatrice and Margaret his wives.” [2] No doubt this was in fulfilment of John de Langton’s will, which has unfortunately not survived.
John de Langton’s son and heir, another John de Langton, was a minor
at the time of his father’s death in 1373. The Langtons held their land in Huddleston
of the archbishops of York, who were their feudal overlords with rights of
wardship and marriage of heirs of their tenants. On 5 November 1373, John de Thoresby, archbishop
of York, granted the wardship and marriage of the young John de Langton to William
Graa and Robert Wycliffe. [3]
The younger John appears to have come of age about 1383, so was born about 1362
and was certainly the son of John de Langton’s second wife Margaret. The
younger John married Joan, daughter of Robert de Neville of Hornby, Lancashire
and was the father of Sir John Langton of Farnley who died on 25 February 1459.
No sources in print give the identities of these two wives of John de Langton,
but there are some clues in contemporary documents which enable conjectures to
be made.
Beatrice, First Wife of John de Langton
John de Langton and Beatrice were married before 10 February 1329,
when by a fine at York, Nicholas de Langton and Mary his wife settled property
and rents in Over Dinsdale, Swinefleet and Reedness on them. [4]
Beatrice was represented in court by a lawyer acting as her guardian, so was
probably under age.
A clue to the identity of Beatrice is the grant made on 2 September
1338 by Sir John de Meaux of Bewick in Holderness, son of Godfrey de Meaux, to
John de Langton, son of Nicholas de Langton of York, of the whole manor of
Huddleston with land there and in Sherburn and Milford; to hold for his life
with all the profits, etc. at the yearly rent of 24 marks of silver. [5]
The agreement between Sir John de Meaux and John de Langton was set
aside on 31 July 1355, with a condition that if Sir John de Meaux had a male
heir, then one year after Sir John’s death the heir would pay 400 marks to John
de Langton or his heirs. Presumably this would be in exchange for the return of
the Huddleston manor to the Meaux family. The next day a new rental agreement for
Huddleston was made with the annual rent payable by John de Langton increased
to 29 marks. [6]
Why did Sir John de Meaux grant the manor of Huddleston, with its
valuable stone quarries to John de Langton? The grant was made personally to
John and not to the Langton family. Nicholas de Langton his father who died in
1342 was still alive when the grant was made. The only reason that I can conjecture
for this generous grant is that John de Langton’s wife Beatrice was the sister of Sir John de Meaux.
The identity of Beatrice will always remain in doubt, but there is a
distinct possibility that she was Beatrice de Meaux, daughter of Sir Godfrey de
Meaux and his wife Scholastica de Gayton and sister of Sir John de Meaux. That
Geoffrey had a daughter named Beatrice is confirmed by a series of cases in the
court of Common Pleas in 1327-28 when Beatrice, daughter of Geoffrey de Meaux
sued the executors of the will of Geoffrey de Meaux for her share of the goods
and chattels of her father according to the custom of the county of York. [7]
The close relationship between the families of Meaux and Langton can be seen in
a deed enrolled in Chancery on 27 May 1334 when John de Langton, Nicholas de
Langton and William de Garton (who married Ellen, sister of John de Langton), were
the witnesses to a release by John de Dufford, knight, to Scholastica, late the
wife of Godfrey de Meaux. [8]
When Sir John de Meaux died childless in 1377, his property was
inherited by his great nephew, Anthony de Spanby, grandson of his sister Elizabeth, who in November 1383
quitclaimed all his rights in the manor of Huddleston and other lands to John
son of John de Langton, [9]
so presumably John de Meaux had granted Huddleston to John de Langton before
his death.
John de Langton’s first wife Beatrice appears to have died in before
1355. On 6 February 1355, John de
Langton, donsel, of the diocese of York, had a papal indult to choose a
confessor who shall give him plenary remission at the hour of death. [10]
Presumably Beatrice was dead by this date as she is not mentioned in the
indulgence.
The evidence that Beatrice was of the family of Meaux may not be
particularly compelling, but there is more evidence concerning the identity of
John’s second wife, Margaret or Margery.
Margaret (or Margery), Second Wife of John de Langton
On 20 April 1412, Robert Wycliffe, clerk, settled the manor and
advowson of Wycliffe on himself with remainders to Sir Thomas Pykworth, knight
and his male heirs begotten by Ellen his late wife, sister of the said Robert;
remainder to John son of John de Ellerton and the male heirs of his body, on
condition that he and his male heirs should be called by the name of Wycliffe
and bear the arms used of old by his ancestors, the lords of the manor; remainder to Robert son of John de Langton and
the male heirs of his body, on the same condition; remainder to Thomas son of
John de la Mare (de Lamore), on the same condition, remainder to the said John
de Langton and his heirs on the condition that he should sell the property
immediately for the greatest sum possible, and distribute the money in alms to
the poor. [11]
All of these persons were related to Robert Wycliffe in some way. Ellen,
wife of Sir John de Pickworth was Robert’s sister, although it appears that she
and her husband died without living heirs.
John son of John de Ellerton was probably Robert’s nephew, son of his
sister Maud and her husband John de Ellerton senior. It is likely that John de
Ellerton adopted the name of Wycliffe, and it is he who was lord of Wycliffe in
1428. [12]
The later lords of Wycliffe quartered the arms of Ellerton with the Wycliffe
arms.
Robert son of John de Langton is more difficult to fit into the
Langton family. It is doubtful that he was a son of the John de Langton,
sometime mayor of York, who died in 1373. It is more likely that he was the
second son of the younger John de Langton and his wife Joan, daughter of Robert
de Neville of Hornby, and thus a younger brother of Sir John Langton. If
Margaret the second wife of John de Langton was a sister of Robert Wycliffe,
then this Robert de Langton was the great nephew of Robert Wycliffe.
There was a connection between the family of de la Mare and Margaret
wife of John de Langton as shown in the will dated 26 September 1358 of Thomas
de la Mare, canon of St Peter's, York who makes “Johannem de Langeton de Ebor”, one of his executors and leaves
various valuable items to Marjory [Margaret] de Langton his cousin. [13]
There was a family relationship between Margaret, second wife of John
de Langton and Robert Wycliffe, but whether she was Robert’s sister, a niece or
a cousin will probably never be known.
[1] Chancery:
Certificates of Statute Merchant and
Statute Staple, C 241/158/92
[2] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Richard II,
vol. 1: 1377-1381 (1895), 216.
[3] R. H. Skaife, ed., The
Survey of the County of York Taken by John de Kirkby, Called Kirkby’s Inquest:
Also Inquisitions of Knights’ Fees, the Nomina Villarum for Yorkshire, and an
Appendix of Illustrative Documents, Surtees Society 49, 1866, 430.
[4] Feet of Fines: CP 25/1/272/105, number
12.
[5] Report on the Manuscripts of
the Late Reginald Rawdon Hastings, Esq., of the Manor House, Ashby de La Zouche, vol. 1, Historical
Manuscripts Commission (London, 1928), 179.
[6] Ibid., 1:179–80.
[7] Court
of Common Pleas, 1 Edward III, Easter, m. 58, Michaelmas, m. 57, 2 Edward III,
Trinity, 67d, Michaelmas m. 251, cited in Index of the Placita de Banco,
1327-1328, Part 2, Lists and Indexes, 32 (1912), 781.
[8] Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward III,
vol. 3, 1333-1337 (1898), 313.
[9] Calendar of Close Rolls, Richard II,
vol. 2: 1381-1385 (1920), 413.
[10] W.
H. Bliss and C. Johnson, eds., Calendar
of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain, vol. III
(London, 1897), 578.
[11] Joyce
W. Percy, ed., York Memorandum Book, vol. 3, Surtees Society, 186 (1973), 212.
[12] William
Page, ed., A History of the County of York North Riding, vol. 1, (London,
1914), 139
[13] James
Raine, ed., Testamenta Eboracensia, Part 1, Surtees Society, 4 (London, 1836),
68.
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