William de Blanchminster
Also known as William de Warrenne
Lord of Whitchurch
Events
Date of Birth: unknown.
Place of Birth: unknown.
Date of Death: before 11 June 1260.
Place of Death: unknown.
See the entries in the patent rolls below.
Relationships
Father: William de Warenne de Albo Monasterio.
This relationship is given by Farrer (HKF 3, p. 373). It is recorded in the Rotuli Finium (cited below).
Mother: unknown.
Spouse: Amice de Audley.
This relationship is recorded in a 1283 petition to parliament related by Biancalana (p. 36). John Ravilious drew attention in soc.genealogy.medieval to its relevance to the traditional construction of this family, as the petition (to recover the reversion of Amice’s maritagium) implies that Bertrada was a daughter of Amice and that Eleanor, Maud, and Joan were not.
Spouse: Eve FitzWarin. Probably married about 1240.
The romance of Fulk FitzWarin states that Fulk’s daughter Eve married the lord of Blancminster. See Eva’s page for more evidence.
Children (by Amice):
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)
Bertreya de Blanchminster (died by 1281) (mentally unsound).
Children (by Eva):
(Clemence has been given as a third wife on soc.genealogy.medieval, the mother of Matilda and possibly of Johanna, but I don’t follow the evidence. Clemence was the widow of a steward of William de Albo Monasterio. The steward was also named William de Albo Monasterio. The steward was murdered by 1253. I assume the William de Albo Monasterio of this page was the lord, not the steward.)
Eleanor de Blanchminster married (1) Robert le Strange; married (2) Bewes de Knovill.
Joan de Blanchminster married William de Barentyn.
Matilda de Blanchminster married William de Brascy.
Evidence
from the Rotuli finium (v.1, p. 450, Eyton, pp. 19-20):
1246:
William, son and heir of William de Warenne de Albo Monasterio paid a fine of 20 marks for livery of his father’s estates, although the sheriff of Shropshire was to retain the castle of Album Monasterium.
from the Calendar of Patent Rolls:
1253. March 13. Westminster.
Appointment of John Lestrange and William Trussell to enquire who killed William de Albo Monasterio, steward of William de Albo Monasterio and by whose command and who afterwards received the evil doers, and the sheriff of Salop is commanded &c. and to send the inquisition when made to the king.
Afterward James de Aldithele was associated with him.
1260. June 11. Westminster.
Whereas a contention has arisen between John de Warenna and James de Alditheleg touching the wardship of the lands and heirs of William de Albo Monasterio and the castle of Whitchurch (de Albo Monasterio) late of the said William, which wardship the said John assests to belong to him, whereby disturbance of the realm might arise; the king has provided by his council, in order to avoid this peril, that the said castle shall be committed to his knight Peter de Neyvill until Midsummer, so that then it may be discussed by the council to whom the said wardship ought to belong. The king therefore commands the said James to deliver the castle to Peter to keep until the said term. And, as the king has commanded the said John to be then before him and his council to show his right in the said wardship, he also commands the said James to be there to receive justice.
Also a letter close is written on the dorse of the Closes, 11 June.
By K. & C.
1260. June 30. Westminster.
Whereas, after the decease of William de Albo Monasterio, between John de Warenna, asserting that the castle of Whitchurch belonged to him as chief lord, and James de Aldithele, a dispute arose over the keeping of the castle, and the king, to pacify the dispute, ordered the castle to be delivered to H. le Bygod, as above mentioned, and how it now appears that the said William held it of the said John by knight service, it has been provided in the presence of the said John and James by the council that seisin thereof be given to the said John, to wit, such seisin, as belongs to the chief lord of the fee upon the death of a tenant so that Bertreia the eldest born and one of the daughters and heirs of the said William, who is of full age, and who after the death of her father kept herself in the said castle, shall remain therein in the same seisin in which she was when it was delivered to the said justiciary, and that the said John do for the said Bertreya and her co-heirs, as regards the inheritance which the said William held of him, swift justice according to the law and the custom of the realm. And that no prejudice may arise to the said John or his heirs by reason of the king’s taking the said castle into his hands, the king has caused these letters patent to be made for the said John.
Mandate to the said justiciary to cause the said castle to be delivered to the said John.
from the A Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds v. 3:
Chester. Salop.
D. 227. Grant by Giles de Erdinton, to Robert le Estrange, of the manor of Merbury, co. Chester, with the land of Halehurst, co. Salop, which he had of the grant of William de Albo Monasterio, for the yearly rent of a rose at Midsummer; in return for which Robert grants to Giles all his land in Rowelton and Elwrthyn for 73s. yearly rent. Witnesses:— Sirs Roger de Clifford, Hamo Lestrange (Extraneo), John de Clinton, Odo de Hodenet, knights, and others (named). Day of St. Peter ad Vincula, 52 Henry III.
from the Plea Rolls for Staffordshire :
[1272]
Staff. Salop. Bogo de Knovile and Alianora his wife, Joan formerly wife of William Barentyne, Robert de Bracy and Matilda his wife, sued Thomas son of Nicholas de Aldytheleye for a messuage and a carucate of land in Loskesford in co. Salop, which was valued at 70s. annually, as the right of the said Alianora, Joan, and Matilda, in which the said Thomas had no entry except by a disseisin which James de Aldytheleye had unjustly made of Hugh de Albo Monasterio, the uncle of the said Alianora, Joan, and Matilda, whose heirs they are. Thomas called to warranty Giles de Alditheleye, who appeared and called to warranty Nicholas de Aldytheleye, who is to be summoned in co. Stafford for the Octaves of Michaelmas. m. 7.
The inquisition post mortem of Bertrada (CIPM ii, no. 387):
Bertreya Daughter of William de Blauminister alias de Blammoster.
Writ to the sheriff of Salop, 11 Feb. 9 Edw. I.
Salop.
Extent, Friday after St. Chad, 9 Edw. I.
Blaminister. A fourth part of the manor held of the earl of Warenn by service of a fourth part of a huntsman to the earl at his will and at his cost.
Eleanor l'Estrange (Extranea), Joan de Barentyn, and Maud de Bracy, her sisters, are her heirs and of full age.
Writ (undated fragment)
Essex.
Inq. Sunday after St. Peter ad Cathedram, 9 Edw. I.
Extanis ad Montem. 2 carucates land held of John de Warenn earl of Warenn (Warennye) by service of 1 knight's fee.
Little Canevel. 80a. arable, 4a. meadow, 3a. pasture, 6a. wood, and 67s. rent, held of the said John earl of Warenn by service of ¼ knight's fee.
Eleanor le Estraunge, Joan the wife of Sir William de Barentyn, knt., and Maud the wife of Sir William de Bracy, her sisters, are her next heirs, and aged 30 and more.
C. Edw. I. File 27. (6.)
References
Biancalana, Joseph. The Fee Tail and the Common Recovery in Medieval England, 1176-1502. (Cambridge University Press, 2001).
Burgess, Glyn S. “Women in the Fouke le Fitz Waryn” in Por le soie amisté: Essays in Honor of Norris J. Lacy. (Brill, 2000).
Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem (Edward I, Vol. 2; 1904)
'Deeds: D.201 - D.300', in A Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds: Volume 3, ed. H C Maxwell Lyte (London, 1900), pp. 429-440. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/ancient-deeds/vol3/pp429-440 [accessed 21 June 2022].
Eyton, R.W. Antiquities of Shropshire, Vol. X. (1860).
Farrer, William and Charles Travis Clay. Early Yorkshire Charters vol. 8: The Honour of Warenne (1949).
Le Strange, Hamon. Le Strange Records: A Chronicle of the Early Le Stranges. (London:1916).
'Parishes : Ravenstone', in A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 4, ed. William Page (London, 1927)