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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2012
I forward you herewith a transcript of all such portions as can be read of a mutilated roll in the possession of Sir Joseph William Copley, of Sprotborough, in the county of York, Baronet. I am indebted for my copy to the courtesy of Charles Jackson, Esq. of Balby. The handwriting of the document is not much more modern than the date of the last instrument contained in it. It was certainly executed during the fifteenth century, probably about the middle of that period.
page 398 note a i. 349.
page 398 note b See Tanner, Not. Mon. Yorkshire, Sprotburgh.
page 399 note a Hunter's, South Yorkshire, i. 333Google Scholar; ii. 93.
page 400 note a Sir Thomas Fitz William, grantor of this charter, lived in the time of Henry III.: the date of his death towards the end of that reign is not exactly known. If it be allowable to restore the name of the prior of Blythe, by reading [Theobal]do, the charter may be dated between 1260 and 1272, as in the former year Theobald became prior of that house. His predecessor was named Gilbert, a name which in the ablative would not give the final syllable do.
page 400 note b William, son of Thomas, was heir to Sir Thomas Fitz William. Anabel and Helen de Lisle, the two ancresses in whose favour the first charter was made, were still alive at the date of this. It is probably somewhat earlier than the fine which follows.
page 401 note a The fine of the copy of the record of which this is a fragment was levied in the 8th year of Edward I. as appears by Mr. Hunter's note (South Yorks, i. 336) of a more perfect copy in a MS. collection at Milton. The claim, it also appears, was for 24 quarters of wheat, which were in arrear of an annual rent of eight quarters, no doubt the gift of the conuzor's father recorded in the first charter.
page 401 note b Widow of Sir John FitzWilliam, of Sprotborough, and “de Arkeseye joust Doncastre,” who died on or before 1385. In 1364 he had (says Hunter, i. 338) the King's licence to amortise land to the use of the master and chaplains of the hospital of St. Edmund of Sprotborough. Dame Elizabeth was a daughter of the house of Clinton, but her place in the pedigree is not clear. The Rotuli Parliamentorum of 1389 (iii. 260) contain a curious petition from Sir Thomas Metham, from which it seems Sir John Fitz William was murdered by Roger Spark, a servant of John Aske, of Ousthorp.
page 401 note c Probably Edmund FitzWilliam, ancestor of the family of that name, of Wadworth and Aldwark. Hunter's South Yorkshire, ii. 54.
page 402 note a Robert Waterton the younger, of Methley. Whitaker, Loidis and Elmete, 268. He would appear to be identical with Robert Waterton esquire, upon whose death several writs of inquiry issued (Esch. 3 Hen. VI. No. 16) as to what lands, &c. he died seised of in Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire. By the inquisitions taken in pursuance of these writs, it was found that he died seised of the manor of Northleverton, co. Notts, held of the Archbishop of York in socage by the service of 11s. per annum; of the manor of Westburgh, co. Linc, held of the King in capite; of the manors of Brotton, held of the King in capite, and Everingham, held of the Archbishop of York, and of lands at Skynnergreve, in the county of York, all as tenant by the curtesy, these manors being of the inheritance of his late wife Joan, to whose son and heir Robert Elys they all remained. This Robert Elys was then 40 years old and upwards. He was found to have died on Wednesday next after the feast of St. Hilary then last past (Jan. 17, 1425), his heir being his son Robert Waterton, aged 16 years and upwards. Joan, who thus figures as the first wife of Robert Waterton, was a daughter of William de Everingham, and widow of Sir William Elys, and (with a sister) coheir of her brother Robert de Everingham, who died 44 Edw. III. (See Ord's Cleveland under Skinningrove.) Robert Waterton died, it will be observed, between the execution of the first and the second of the two charters in the text, and it is curious to find his widow confirming her own and her late husband's deed within two days of his decease. Sir Robert his father must have survived him, for he himself is returned as holding no other lands than those which he had by the curtesy. His son Robert also must have died without issue, as the daughters of Lady Welles became the coheirs of their uncle and grandfather, and as such made partition of the estates 26 April, 2 Hen. VII. according to a deed cited in Burke's Landed Gentry, ed. 1863.
page 402 note b Scawsby. Scalchebi, Domesday; Scauceby, Kirkby's Inq.; a hamlet in the parish of Brodsworth.
page 402 note c Leo Lord Welles, sixth Baron by writ, killed at the battle of Towton 1461; he married a daughter of Robert Waterton the elder, of Methley, who has been variously called Jane and Cecily.
page 402 note d Thomas Clarel, of Aldwark, was father of this Margaret, widow of John Fitz William. He was drowned in the River Don 1st May, 1442. It is more probable that it was his son who witnessed this donation. This person was aged 40 years at his father's death.
page 403 note a An eastern fabric. It probably took its name from the city of Alexandria. Kaine, Fabric Bolls of York Minster, 338. Peacock, Eng. Church Furnit. 182.
page 403 note b Planks.
page 403 note c Stooths. Pieces of wood used to make the framework of plaster partitions. The word is still in use.
page 403 note d A step, or perhaps flight of stairs. “Grece or tredyl or steyre, gradus.” Prompt. Parv. i. 209.
page 404 note a In documents of this age chimney is usually understood to signify not the flue for carrying away the smoke, but the iron grate in which the fire burned. We have evidence here of its use in the modern meaning.
page 404 note b The rough thin Yorkshire flags with which many of the houses and churches in that neighbourhood are still covered.
page 404 note c Making ditches or cleansing them. The word is still common.
page 404 note d Paling gates, i.e. nailing thin perpendicular pales over the horizontal framework.
page 404 note e Enlarging.
page 404 note f Outshot.
page 404 note g A shrine, feretrum.
page 404 note h “The marriage of a maiden of my kin ” seems meant, but why entered in this account ?