Ranulph de Merton

Events 

Date of Birth: unknown.

Place of Birth: unknown.

Date of Death: unknown.

Place of Death: unknown.

Relationships

Father: Richard de Merton.

This relationship is recorded in the Ledger Book of Vale Abbey (See below.)

Mother: unknown.

Spouse: unknown.

Children: 

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)

Randle de Merton alias de Sutton.

Evidence

from the Cheshire Archives catalogue:

Copy of grant of moiety of township of Birches.  late 13th century. (Copy 15th century?)  [DCH/J/31/4]

Among the witness are Stephen de Merton and Randle de Merton.

Grant of piece of land in the Stublach.  c. 1260-1280  [DCH/J/116/1]

Among the witnesses are Robert de Wyninton, Randulph of Merton, and Richard Starky.

Gift of 2 burgages in Middlewich. 13th century. [D 7890]

Among the witnesses is Randle Merton.

from the Ledger Book of Vale Abbey:

(p. 52)

Petition for exchange of lands with Randolph, son of Richard de Merton.—To their Lord. Whereas one "Rondolf le Fitz Richard" of Merton, tenant of the abbey and convent of Vale Royal, being indicted on suspicion in the Forest of Mare is anxious (voleit) to remove further from the cover of the forest aforesaid, by making some exchange with the said abbot and convent; will [the Prince] of his especial grace grant him leave to do this ? [temp. Edw. I.]

(p. 130)

from a 1350 Quo Warranto Inquiry in which a charter from the time of Edward I is presented describing the lands of the abbey:

…And also all the land in Nethre Litel Ovre, which belonged to Hugh de Merton, brother and heir of Ranulph de Merton, clerk, and all the land of Ranulph son of John of Littel Over, and all the land of Nicholas Baret, son of Richard Baret, in Nether Litel Oure. And all the land of Hervey de Bradeford, and of Robert, son and heir of the same Hervey, in Bradeford. And also all the land of Ranulph de Sutton, son and heir of Ranulph de Merton, in Sutton, which lands the aforesaid Hugh, Ranulph, Nicholas. Hervey, Robert and Ranulph gave up into our hands, quit of them and their heirs for ever, with all the liberties which they had, or could have, in woods, commons, moors, pastures, wastes and all other their appurtenances, without any reservation. ..

from the Calendar of Patent Rolls:

1278. June 18. Westminster.

Grant to Ranulph de Merton, the king’s forester in the county of Chester, in fee simple of an annuity of five marks at Merton, out of the issues of the serjeanty of the countess of Warwick, in compensation for a release and quit-claim made by him to the Crown of all the right and claim he had or could have in the office of his serjeanty within the lands, woods, and other places conferred by the king upon the abbot and convent of Vale Royal in the county aforesaid.

1284. October 22. Carnarvon.

Grant to Ranulph de Merton and his heirs of reasonable estover, to wit ‘husbold,’ in the forest of la Mare, in exchange for the like estover which he had in the wood of Bradeford, and which he has surrendered to the king for the use of the abbot and convent of Vale Royal.

from the Calendar of Close Rolls:

1275. November 5. Westminster.

To Guncelin de Badelesmere, justice of Chester. Order to permit Ranulph de Ovre and his parceners to have the free common in the wood of Bradefordewod that they always had in the wood before the king recovered seisin of the wood against Stephen de Merton.

1281. October 24. Westminster.

To the barons of the exchequer. Whereas Ranulph de Merton, the king's forester in co. Chester, quitclaimed to the king, on 22 June, in the sixth year, all his right in the office of his serjeanty within the lands, woods and other places conferred by the king up to that day on the abbot and convent of Vale Royal, and the king, in recompence, granted to him the serjeanty called 'the serjeanty of the fees of the countess of Warwick,' for which serjeanty 6 marks used to be rendered yearly to the king's exchequer of Chester, to have to Ranulph and his heirs for ever, rendering therefore one mark yearly to the said exchequer for all service: the king orders the barons to discharge (oncretis) Leonius son of Leonius, late chamberlain of Chester, of 5 marks yearly from the date of the aforesaid charter, if he have been charged therewith, and to charge him with the remainder of the six marks yearly for that time, unless he have previously answered for it.

References

Calendars of the Close Rolls preserved in the Public Record Office. (His/Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1902-).

Calendars of the Patent Rolls preserved in the Public Record Office. (His/Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1906-).

The Ledger Book of Vale Royal Abbey (The Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 1914).

Ormerod, George; Peter Leycester; William Smith; William Webb; and Thomas Helsby. The history of the county palatine and city of Chester: compiled from original evidences in public offices, the Harleian and Cottonian mss., parochial registers, private muniments, unpublished ms. collections of successive Cheshire antiquaries, and a personal survey of every township in the county, incorporated with a republication of King's Vale royal and Leycester's Cheshire antiquities. (London: G. Routledge, 1882).