unable to carry this point, he effectually succeeded in bringing about a divorce between the Earl of Lancaster and his Countess; the former of whom revenged himself on Earl Warren, by demolishing the castle of Sandal, near Wakefield, belonging to that nobleman, and wasting his manors on the north side of Trent. Several historians regard Earl Warren as the principal, rather than an accessary, in the above disgraceful proceeding1. Whether the violence was planned by himself, and executed by his emissaries, in order to gratify his licentious passion, or whether he lent himself as an instrument to further the abandoned design of St. Martin, his conduct was equally criminal, and deserving the utmost reprobation. Nor was the conduct of the countess, who tamely submitted to, or rather willingly acquiesced in, the pretended violence, less worthy of execration. The earldom of Stratherne, forfeited by the rebellion of Malisius, Earl of that County, was given to the Earl of Warren, by Baliol, King of Scotland, in 7 Edward III., in consequence of the Earl having assisted the Scottish king in subduing the insurrection, occasioned by the indignation of the Scots against him, for having done homage to the King of England. The earl had two sons by Maud de Nerford, and three daughters. Both the sons died before the earl. He appears never to have been married to Maud, but on her death, he contracted an alliance with Isabel de Houland, by whom he had no issue. In the 6th Edward II., Earl Warren obtained a charter from the king, for a weekly market every Tuesday, at his manor of Reigate, in Surrey; also for a market in his manor of Cukefeld on the Monday, and a fair there yearly, on the eve, day, and morrow first after the feast of the holy trinity. Likewise for a market every Tuesday at Dychening, and a fair yearly, on the eve, day, and morrow after the feast of St. Margaret, the virgin. Also for a market every Thursday, at his manor of Brightelmeston; for a fair every year on the feast day of St. Lawrence, at Hurst; for the like on Martinmas Day at Westmeston, and a third at Portslade, on the feast day of St. Nicholas, all in Sussex2. 'Lambard, in his Dictionary, word Wakefield, | Sandall and Wakefield, in Yorkshyre, and beside gives the following account of this transaction: "In the time of kinge Edward II., the Earle of Warren that then was, violently ravished one Alice, the wife to the Earl of Lancaster, and caryed her to his castle of Reigate, in Surrey: whereat the Earle of Lancaster takinge just offence, spared no meanes that might worke his spedy revenge: forthwith, therefore, he entered into his castles of so distourbed him by the ayde of his friends, in the residue of his possessions, that the Earle of Warren was in the end contented, partly to cover his fault, and partly to recover the rest of his lyvinge to gyve him freely all his landes beyond the river Trent. This payed he for his pleasure, and was taught the lesson nocet empta dolore voluptas." 'Dug. Baronage, i. 81. The Gateway of Lewes Castle is supposed to have been built by this Earl. A view of it, sketched by Lambert about the year 1760, is here annexed. The description will be given in a subsequent chapter. The Register Book of Lewes Priory contains the following confirmations and grants of this Earl. A charter' by which he confirmed all the donations, concessions, and confirmations of his ancestors, to God, and Saint Pancras, and the monks of Lewes. Another directing his seneschal and servants in the parts of Norfolk, to deliver to the prior and convent of Lewes, all the great and small tithes arising from all the demesnes of his manor of Sculthorp, in Norfolk. Dated at Lewes 20th of November, 16 Edward II. On the same page is a letter testimonial, that a certain obligation of a thousand marks made to him, should be of no effect, if the prior of Lewes did not permit dilapidations there. In page 26, is a letter, revoking the presentation which he had made to the church of Blatchington, on his discovering that the right of presentation was with the prior of Lewes. There is also on the same folio, a licence to the Bishop of Chichester, and prior, and convent of Lewes, to make a new prebend, from the churches of Waldern and Horsted-keynes. The earl died in 1347, 21 Edward III., in his 61st year, and was buried in the abbey church of Lewes. As the Earl of Warren left no lawful issue, nor any brother to succeed to his estates, the male heritable line of this noble house became extinct, and the earldom of Warren was lost. The son of Alice, his sister, who had married Edmund Fitz Alan, Earl of Arundel, succeeded to a portion of his estates, and became Lord of Lewes, as well as Earl of Surrey. As we designed only to give a sketch of the Warren family, so long as they continued to hold the Barony of Lewes, we must here rest. Their power and importance are manifested by the brief and imperfect sketch that has been given, and their influence on the state and condition of the town, is evident. Without, therefore, proceeding farther in this biographical mode, the order of descent of the barony of Lewes shall be thrown into a table, and what may be deemed worthy of record, in the lives of those who are distinguished as holding the whole, or a portion of the Lordship of the Castle and Barony, will be mentioned in the notes. That the table may afford a complete view of the Lords of Lewes from the Conquest to the present time, the descent of the barony in the Warren family is again briefly recorded. 136 A TABLE of the LORDS of LEWES CASTLE and BARONY, from the Conquest to the present time. I.-WARREN. 1066 William de Warren, first Earl of Surrey, husband to Gundred, (daughter of William the Conqueror), and grantee of Lewes Castle, &c. 1089 William de Warren, son of the preceding, second Earl of Surrey. 1135 William de Warren, son of the preceding, third Earl of Surrey. 1148 William de Blois, Earl of Moreton, third son to King Stephen, and Lord of Lewes in right of his wife Isabel de Warren, only daughter of the preceding. She survived this her first husband. 1159 Hameline, natural brother of Henry II., became the second husband of the said Isabel, and Lord in her right. 1202 William de Warren, son of Isabel by her second husband, sixth Earl of Surrey. 1239 John de Warren, son of the preceding, seventh Earl. 1304 John de Warren, grandson of the preceding, (his father having died young), eighth and last Earl of Surrey, died without lawful issue. II. FITZ-ALAN'. 1347 Richard Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, became Lord of Lewes by descent, being the son of Edmund Fitz-Alan and Alice his wife, only sister of the last John de Warren. 1375 Richard Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, son of the preceding, was attainted and beheaded in the reign of Richard II. (1394). The Lordship of Lewes was successively granted to Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and John de Holland, Duke of Exeter. 1400 Thomas Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, son of the preceding, to whom the Lordship of Lewes was restored on the accession of Henry IV. He left no issue, and his unentailed possessions descended to his three sisters, Elizabeth, Joanna, and Margaret, in coparcenary. 1415 Joanna Lady Abergavenny, 1415 Sir Rowland Lenthal, Knt., second sister and co-heir of the last Earl of Arundel, widow of Wm. Beauchamp, Baron of Abergavenny, and Lady of one third of the Barony of Lewes. VI.-NEVILLE. 1435 Edward Neville, Lord Abergavenny, and Lord in right of his wife Elizabeth, granddaughter of the aforesaid Joanna ;-in Lord of one third of the Edmund Lenthal, Esq. only 1450 He became entitled to a further sixth part by the death of Edmund Lenthal, making together one moiety. 1476 George, Lord Abergavenny', son of the preceding. 1450° He became entitled to a further sixth part by the death of the said Edmund Lenthal, making together one moiety. 1461 John Mowbray, third D. of Norfolk, son of the preceding. 1475 Richard, Duke of Norfolk, brother to Edward V., and Lord of a moiety of the Barony in 1483 Sir John Howard, VIII. BERKLEY. 1483 William Berkley, Mar quis B. and Earl of Nottingham, Lord of one fourth of the Barony. |