The first Yorkshire Beaumont - 2 of 2

In the first of these two articles I considered William de Beaumont's early career with Roger Constable of Chester (from 1194, it is reasonable to call him Roger de Lacy) and concluded that it appears that William was in Normandy in the king's service but was apparently back in England by May 1205.

In the years between 1205-1211 William appears several times as a mid-ranking witness to Roger's charters - I don't intend to itemise them. Most and perhaps all of these concerned the lands of the Pontefract honour in West Yorkshire. (1)

Pontefract castle had been released to Roger when King John came to the throne in 1199 (Roger's son and heir John then being taken as "hostage.") Thus  thereafter I suppose that Clitheroe and Roger's other castles at Halton and Castle Donnington became less important.

A picture of Pontefract Castle said to be by Alexander Keirincx,
thus early c17 (Wikipedia)

One obvious thing to mention is the grant of lands at Huddersfield to William, by Roger. The original charter seems not to have been at Whitley Hall and its history is a puzzle (2) . In the RHB 1796 Pedigree in this Archive the charter is mentioned but not its whereabouts. I am inclined towards confidence in R.H.Beaumont's work, and he gives the names of three extra witnesses not noted elsewhere that I have seen.

From Box 1/157 (the part of the RHB 1796 pedigree
dealing with the first William and summarising the grant
of the lands at Huddersfield)

Another grantee of land at Huddersfield from Roger was Colin de Damville (also called Quatremars), and he too was a frequent witness to his lord's charters. Colin also had a grant of land at Huddersfield from Roger. After Roger's death Colin gave his interest in a mill at Huddersfield to Stanlaw abbey for his late lord's soul, William de Bellomonte witnessing that charter (3).

Roger died in 1211, aged I think less than fifty. His son John was now the lord of Pontefract etc etc. John is usually known as eg John de Lacy, Constable of Chester, that is, until 1232 or 1233 when he was made Earl of Lincoln.

Early in his career John de Lacy had a tricky relationship with King John. I think it fairly safe to say that when his father died John was only about nineteen; the main castles were taken back by the King, that security and pledges were given for them in 1213, and that thereafter things were bumpy.

But John de Lacy and at least one other local baron went to the King at a bridge near Retford on 31 December 1215 and submitted to him. The king then came to Pontefract a couple of days later.

John de Lacy on these occasions will have been surrounded by his own people!

I think the location is Merrial or Eel Pie Bridge on the Old London or Great North Road between Tuxford and Retford. Caroline suggested plausibly that "Eel Pie" looks a bit like "Isle de Paix" or Peace Island.

Eel Pie Bridge on the "Old London Road" at West Drayton, Notts
(Google)

In 1218 William de Beaumont became involved in a case about land at Quarmby near Huddersfield. He told the court that the present lord's father (meaning Roger) had granted the land to him. William produced Roger's charter (no doubt the one referred to above!) as his evidence but he lost his case because it was found that the disputed land was not in Huddersfield and thus wasn't included in Roger's grant to him (4). An alternative version of this story is that the grant was to this William's father but I think that was a mis-translation - a question of who was meant by "his father."

Accordingly the William of the 1218 case is the one to whom the Huddersfield land was originally granted.

But whether he was still alive in the 1230s when land at Whitley was granted by John de Lacy (now Earl of Lincoln) to him or to his successor and namesake, I cannot say. RHB thought that this was a successor (5).

The charters connected with the grant of Whitley appear corrupt and have been much discussed and muddled by local historians and others. This grant is mentioned in the RHB 1796 pedigree in this archive but not in a way that helps to unravel muddle. I may well return to this in another article but I really ought to go to Wakefield and look at the documents first (6).

Very briefly, some people called Dransfield (the name of an old farm near Whitley) sell land to the Earl (John de Lacy) who then grants the land to a man named John Muncebote, with a statement in the deed that he may assign it to William de Beaumont if he has no heirs. Some historians have decided that "Montbegon" should be substituted for "Muncebote," a theory which I can't go into details about here, but I am not at all sure that it is necessary to do this, for "Muncebote" or "Mucenbot" is a name that I have found mentioned occasionally in records from that period. (7) No more can be said except this is is another puzzle!

View from Whitley towards Almondbury. Photo by EMB, 1972.
Part of Box 14-021 in this Archive

We do not know if William married, or to whom. It is however very clear that the namesake who married a Norfolk lady in about 1185 - and his son - are a different family with entirely different feudal connexions. I wrote about these Norfolk and Suffolk Beaumonts on this blog in June 2015.

...............

(1) Many of the charters are in Early Yorkshire Charters, volume 3, and/or in the Cartularies of the local religious houses.

(2) It is said now to be at the West Yorkshire Archives (DD/RA/F/19/26) having come from the Ramsden family, of Byram and Longley. It is catalogued intriguingly as "The Original Document of Grant by Roger de Lacy, Constable of Chester, to William Beaumont of land in Huddersfield" and must have been seen by R.H. Beaumont who it is said, wrote an "elaborate" account which is referred to in notes by a Mr G.W.Tomlinson (Yorks. Arch. Journal vol. 8 p. 502). I don't know if the document was seen by Roger Dodsworth when he noted the Longley and Whitley deeds in 1629.

(3) In this case the charter was seen by Dodsworth, at the Ramsden house, Longley. Yorks. Arch. Journal vol. vii p.273. Whalley Coucher Book vol. 3 pp. 935-936. The names Damville and Quatremars appear with enormous variations.

(4) Selden Society volume 56, for 1937 (Rolls of the Justices in Eyre for Yorkshire in 3 Henry III 1218-1219), ed. Doris M Stenton, no.282.

(5) 1796 Pedigree.

(6) West Yorkshire Archives (Whitley Beaumont documents) ref: DD/WBD/IX/1 is the charter which was perhaps optionally in favour of William. WBD/IX/2 and WBD/IX/3 are charters which closely precede it, whilst WBD/IX/91 is a [c18] copy of WBD/IX/1.

(7) John “Mucenbot” is mentioned as being acquitted in a case of alleged wounding and robbery in Yorkshire in 1218-19. Selden Society 1937 (as above), no.692.

EMB
June 2020