CHAPTER VII. THE LORDS OF LEWES FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST TO THE TO GIVE a detailed history of the Lords of Lewes during the whole of this lengthened period, is not by any means my intention, nor indeed could it be effected without the labour of years. It will, perhaps, be most expedient to confine our brief notices to one family; and as that of De Warren is the first that held the barony and town, it may not be improper to devote a few pages in narrating some of the most prominent events, in which the successive noblemen of that family were engaged, till the extinction of the male heritable line, and the consequent transfer of the Lordship to the Earl of Arundel. What more immediately connects the Warren family with the town, is, that during the whole of the time in which they enjoyed the lordship of it, the Castle of Lewes was their favourite place of residence. But no sooner had it passed into the hands of Richard Fitz-Alan, than the castle and the town were abandoned, and the seat of splendour was transferred to Arundel. An account of this noble family, has already appeared in a former publication connected with Lewes; that account was strictly compiled from Dugdale's Baronage, see vol. i. pp. 73-82. In addition to this, the splendid work of Dr. Watson, viz. Memoirs of the Earls of Warren and Surrey', has served to aid me in the rapid sketch here given; but the condensed form into which I have been compelled to throw this part of the work, has precluded me from availing myself of all the information which that invaluable publication contains. At p. 525 of Watson's History of Halifax, is the following notice :-" John Watson, A.M. F.S.A., author of the above, has in manuscript, ready for the press, An History of the ancient Earls of Warren and Surrey, proving the Warrens of Poynton, in Cheshire, to be lineally and legally descended from them." The following is extracted from the Life of Gilbert Wakefield, written by himself. "On May 3, 1799, I arrived in Stockport, in Cheshire, the second or third best living in the kingdom, as Curate to the Rev. John Watson, M.A., formerly fellow of Brazen Nose College, Oxford. This gentleman has given some account of himself in WILLIAM, FIRST EARL OF WARREN AND SURREY. William de Warren, first Earl of Surrey, was descended from an ancient and honourable family of Normandy, who bore the name of St. Martin, until the Earldom of Warren' was conferred upon them. This nobleman, having married Gundred, the fifth daughter of William, Duke of Normandy, accompanied his father-in-law, to whom he was otherwise related by descent, in his victorious expedition to England: and held a distinguished command in the memorable and destructive battle of Hastings. The conduct of the Earl in that successful conflict, seconded probably by the claims of relationship which he had on the victor, obtained for him especial favour: Lordships, and lands in almost every part of the kingdom, were lavishly conferred upon him, and even the estates of his History of the Antiquities of Halifax, to which I refer the reader who wishes for any information on this point. He was a very lively, conversant, well-informed man; and one of the hardest students I ever knew. His great excellence was his knowledge of antiquities. He compiled a book to prove the right of Sir George Warren, of Poynton, near Stochport, and patron of the benefice, to the barony of Stockport. Not more than six copies, I think, of this work were printed. Eyres of Warrington had this honour; for it was perhaps the most accurate specimen of typography ever produced by any press." Mr. Wakefield was certainly mistaken as to the number of copies printed, probably he should have said circulated. The work was not published at the time of its being printed, for Sir George would not permit any copies to be disposed of. At what time the memoirs got into circulation is uncertain; they may now be occasionally met with, but the work fetches a high price. A MS. in the herald's office, says, "Warren is in that part of France which was Neustria, now Normandy; it belonged to that noble family in France, named de Sancto Martino.” " William de Warren was nephew to the Countess Gunnora, the great grand-mother of William the Conqueror.-Dugdale's Bar, vol. i. p. 73. those who had taken no active part in opposing the fortunate invader, were basely wrested from them, in order to increase the wealth and power of the royal favourites1. A victor is always generous to his followers at the cost of the vanquished: and at the time when the English were smarting under the wounds which their defeat had inflicted, the monarch connived at the unprincipled aggressions of his favourite chiefs. No nobleman in the suit of the Conqueror, received so many marks of royal attention, as William de Warren. Besides his possessions at Netesham, Stanhow, and Sharnburn, he had large estates in other parts, such as Westune in Shropshire; in Essex twenty-one lordships; in Suffolk eighteen; in Oxfordshire, Maplederham and Gadintone; in Hampshire, Frodinton; in Cambridgeshire, seven lordships; in Buckinghamshire, Brotone and Caurefelle; in Huntingtonshire, Chenebaltone with three other lordships; in Bedfordshire four; in Norfolk, one hundred and thirty-nine lordships; in Lincolnshire, Carletune and Benington; in Yorkshire, the Lordship of Coningsburgh, within the soke whereof, were twenty-eight towns and hamlets2. Besides these, his possessions in Surrey and Sussex, which are entirely passed over by Dugdale, were neither few nor unimportant. Not only the Borough but the whole Rape of Lewes, containing about a sixth part of the county belonged to him3. It was the policy of the Conqueror, to heap honours and wealth on his Norman followers, in order to ensure their fidelity, and through them to hold in subjection the English, who still murmured at a foreign yoke. The maritime parts of the kingdom were parcelled out amongst his relations and trusty followers, and every means were taken to defend the coasts from foreign aggression. Each of the six rapes of Sussex had at that time, a castle, river and sea port, accessible by shipping, although the sea has since considerably withdrawn In Sir Henry Spelman's English and Post-Bramwith, Fishlake, Thorne, Tudworth? Hathumous Works, folio 190, pt. 2, a minute ac-field, Stiresthorpe? Sandal. count is given of the ejection of one Edwin, a Dane, from his Lordships of Netesham, Stanhow and Sharnburn. 2 Dugdale's Baron. vol. i. p. 74. The names of these towns and hamlets are mentioned in Domesday, under the head of Earl Warren's possessions in Eurickshire, and the following are the modern names supposed to answer to them, as given by Watson in his Memoirs of the Earls of Warren :-Ranfield, Clifton, Braithwell, Barnbrough, Hoyland, Bilham, Dalton, Wilsick, Harthill, Kiveton, Aston, Kirk Sandal, Gresbrough, Cusworth, Bramley, Aughton, Whiston, Warmsworth? Dinnington, Aston, Stainforth, ' Mr. Rowe in his MS. History of the Manorial Customs, &c. of the Barony of Lewes, says, that the following were "the manors in Sussex, parcel of or belonging to the Barony of Lewes, once the possession of the Earl of Warren. 1. Ditchling -2. Rodmel-3. Northease cum Iford-4. Rottingdene-5. Peckham-6. Houndean-7. Lewes Burgus-8. Cuckfield-9. Kymer-10. Highley11. Brighthelmston-12. Meechinge cum Peddinghoe-13. Allington-14. Clayton-15. Pycombe-16. Middleton. Mr. Rowe doubtless enumerates only those manors held by Lord Abergavenny as his portion of the Lewes Barony. itself. These, in cases of necessity, were so many inlets, for Norman and other foreign auxiliaries of the Barons', and at the same time, formed a strong and connected barrier against invasion. The town had been fortified, and a castle erected here, in the time of the Saxons, in order to check the incursions of the predatory Danes; and as Lewes was a kind of strong hold to the whole Rape, and afforded an easy and direct communication with the continent, the Earl of Warren might deem it safest and best to make this spot his chief residence. Also the pleasantness of the situation, the fruitfulness of the South Downs, and the very favourable opportunities that the neighbouring Weald afforded for enjoying the delights of the chase, (of which the Normans were passionately fond), might all concur in determining him to fix upon Lewes as the post where his duties and his pleasures might be best united. As soon, therefore, as he had taken possession of his Barony, he either rebuilt from the foundations, or strengthened the fortifications, and enlarged the Castle of Lewes. He also built the Castle of Reigate in Surrey, and Castle Acre in Norfolk, at which places he occasionally resided, as also at the Castle of Coningsburgh, in Yorkshire. The popular measures that the Conqueror for some time pursued, having softened the jealousy, and, to all appearance, pacified the resentment of the English, in the following year he made a voyage to his native country. During the king's stay in Normandy, the Earl of Warren, together with another nobleman were commissioned to aid the regents of the kingdom in quelling some disturbances that had arisen amongst the English, in consequence of the insults and oppressions experienced from the proud victors. He was afterwards appointed, with William de Benefacta, a Chief Justicier of England. Whilst filling this exalted office, the Earl of Warren was actively engaged in suppressing the commotions raised by Roger Earl of Hereford, the son and heir of William Fitzosborne, formerly Regent of the kingdom. In the battle that ensued, the revolters were compleatly routed. What renders this insurrection worthy of notice is the dastardly conduct of the Earl of Warren, and the other victorious chiefs, who disgraced their victory, and tarnished their fame, by inhumanly cutting off the right foot of those who, by the chance of war, had fallen into their hands. William, on his return to England, followed up the cruelty of his generals, by the infliction of punishments, on the insurgents, which were at once unmanly and disgraceful. About the year 1070, William de Warren, and Gundred, his wife, left Watson's Memoirs, p. 40, vol. i. England, with an intention of making a pilgrimage to Rome. It was on this journey that the Earl and his Countess who had previously determined to erect a religious house for the pardon of their sins and the saving of their souls, and those of their aucestors and successors, resolved to found under their castle of Lewes, a Priory, of the Cluniac order, which should be, in some degree, dependant on the foreign monastery. Two years afterwards, his resolution was partly carried into effect: a splendid edifice was begun in Southover, and monks from Cluni, soon after came over to superintend the new establishment. The amount of the property lavished by the earl on this religious house, is in these days, (now that the fanatical spirit of popery has disappeared,) sufficient to strike us with astonishment. Deed after deed conferred new honours on the monastic establishment, which having once obtained a footing in the district, increased in wealth and power, as well from the piety, as from the fears and the fashion of the times. What Mr. White remarks in his Antiquities of Selbourn, relative to the Priory there, is equally applicable to the establishment of the Earl of Warren. "No sooner had a monastic institution got a footing, but the neighbourhood began to be touched with a secret and religious awe. Every person round, was desirous to promote so good a work, and either by sale, by grant, or by gift in reversion, was ambitious of appearing a benefactor. They who had not lands to spare, gave roads to accommodate the infant foundation. The religious were not backward in keeping up this pious propensity, which they observed so readily influenced the breasts of men. Thus did the more opulent monasteries, add house to house, and field to field; and by degrees, manor to manor: till at last 'there was no place left,' but every district around became appropriated to the purposes of their founders, and every precinct was drawn into their vortex1." About seven years after the foundation of the Priory, Gundred, the wife of the Earl of Warren, died in childbirth, the 27th of May, 1085, at Castle Acre, in Norfolk, where the earl had not only erected a castle, but also founded a Cluniac monastery, as a cell to the Priory of Lewes. interred in the chapter house of the Priory of Lewes. She was The sculptured slab of black marble, which once covered her remains in the monastery, was discovered about the year 1775, by Dr. Clarke, of Buxted, in the Shirley chancel of Isfield church. It formed the table part of a mural monument of Edward Shirley, Esq., by whose father, probably, it was preserved at the demolition of the Priory, and conveyed by his direc 1 History of Selbourn, 4to. p. 339. In the Chapter dedicated to the Priory of Lewes, a list of the distinguished personages who were buried in that magnificent church will be given to which church I beg to refer the reader, for a more detailed account of the origin, establishment, and dissolution of the Monastery. |