Isabell de Mutton

Citations

1. [S1022] Edited by The William Salt Archeological Society, Collections for a History of Staffordshire, A list of knight's fees of the Barony of Stafford of A.d. 1242, which occurs in the Testa de Nevill, confirms this date, for it states that the heir of Ralph de Mutton held two and a half fees in Mutton, Ingestre, and Gratwich. The heir of Ralph de Mutton was an infant daughter named Isabella; and the question now arose whether the mesne lord, Vivian de Standon, or the superior lord, Robert de Stafford, was entitled to the wardship and marriage of the heiress.
   • The manor of Salt formed no part of the fee of Standon, being held under the lords of Tene, and it probably passed to the Myttons by intermarriage with one of the family of Fitz Gilbert of Tene. It would not be inclnded in the two and a half fees held by the Myttons under the Barony of Stafford, as the heirs of Fitz Gilbert of Tene would be liable for the military service. Besides this large estate, the Myttons held land in Gloucestershire under the Marmions and in Ireland under the Vcrduns.
   The matter, in fact, was not free from doubt, for one knight's fee held by the Myttons was held immediately of the Barons of Stafford, another knight's fee was held under the Standons, and other lands were held of the lords of Tene, and of the Marmions; the right to the wardship and marriage of the heiress would lie with the lord whose ancestor had made the prior feoffment to the ancestor of the heir. The right of Vivian de Standon, the mesne lord, does not appear to have been disputed in the first instance, but on the death of the latter in 33 H. Ill, the superior lord, Robert de Stafford, claimed the wardship of the heiress, and took possession of her. Vivian de Staundon, however, had held land in Fenton and Bucknall, in capite of the king, and, following the usual rule iu such cases, the whole fief of Standon was taken into the King.s hand, and the custody of it, together with the wardship of the heir, was sold by the King to his Treasurer, Philip Lovel.* The latter immediately laid claim to the wardship of Isabella, and brought an action against Robert de Stafford in the Curia Regis.
   The record of the suit states that Robert de Stafford was sued by Philip Lovel in a plea, that he should give up to him Isabella, the daughter and heir of Ralph de Mutton, the wardship of whom belonged to him by reason of the custody of the land and heir of Vivian de Staundon which had been given to him by the King, and because the said Ralph had held his land of the said Vivian by military service. Robert appeared and defended his right to the custody of Isabella, because Ralph, the father of Isabella, held of him Ingestraund, Gretewyz, and Ruwe by military service, and because the ancestors of the said Ralph had been enfeoffed by his ancestor before they were enfeoffed by the ancestor of Vivian. Philip denied this, and stated that the ancestors of Ralph had been enfeoffed of their tenement in Mutton, by the ancestor of Vivian before the ancestors of Ralph had been enfeoffed at Ingestraund, Gretewyz, and Rue, and appealed to a jury.f
   A postscript states that a concord was afterwards made, by which Robert de Stafford acknowledged the wardship and marriage of the said Isabella to be the right of the son and heir of Vivian de Staundon, and he surrendered her to the said Philip in the namo of the said heir; and he further remitted to Philip the relief of the son and heir of the said Vivian in lieu of damages, and he pledged himself to deliver up the said Isabella at three weeks from the Purification of the Blessed Virgin in 35 II. Ill (23 Feb., * Fine Roll, 3t II. III. t "Staff. Coll.," Vol. IV, p. .
   1251). This arrangement was ratified by a Fine which was levied at Westminster, on the 20th January, 1251, between Robert, son of Vivian do Standon, and Robert de Stafford,* by which the latter acknowledged the marriage of Isabella to be the right of Robert, son of Vivian.
   Robert de Stafford likewise lost the custody of the Mytton fief, for this had fallen into the hands of Vivian de Standon, at the period of the death of Adam de Mutton, owing to the minority of Ralph, the heir, and Vivian had bequeathed the custody, by will, to his two younger sons, Thomas and Walter. A writ on the Fine Roll of 34 H. Ill, states that Thomas, son of Vivian de Standon, having complained to the King that his father, Vivian, had bequeathed to him and to his brother Walter, the custody of the land which had belonged to Adam de Mutton, in Mutton and Rndge, and which, after the death of Vivian, the King's Escheators had taken into the King's hand, together with the land which the said Vivian held in capite of the King; the King's Escheators were commanded to give the said Thomas and Walter full seisin of the said custody, if the facts be as they had been represented to the King.
   The final result of all these contentions was that Robert de Stafford renounced his claim to the wardship of the heiress, but would be left in possession of the custody of the Ingestre fief, which was clearly his right, and was not in dispute ; the younger sons of Vivian de Staundon obtained the custody of the Mytton fief during the minority of the heir; and Philip Lovel obtained possession of the heiress, whom he shortly afterwards married to Philip de Chetwynd, a cadet of the great house of Clietwynd, of Chetwynd, co. Salop. f Philip de Chetwynd must have been akin to Philip Lovel, for his mother was a daughter of John Lovel, the Baron of Minster Lovel, in co. Oxford. Philip Lovel had, in fact, purchased the custody of the Staundon fief from the King with a view to the advancement of a near relative, to whom he had probably stood sponsor at his birth, and who had been named after him.
   A fendal heiress would, if married, come into possession of her patrimony at the age of fifteen, and, accordingly, we find as early as 41 H. IIl, an entry on the Patent Roll assigns Justices to take an assize which Adam de Mutton* had arraigned against Philip de Chetwynd and others, respecting a tenement in Mutton. Isabella was, therefore, in possession at this date, viz., in 1257, and was probably born about A.d. 1240. She is named, jointly with her husband, Philip, in suits on the Assize Roll of A.D. 1272, and in July of the same year they levied a Fine with Thomas de Ferrars, of Lockesley, respecting a water course in that villf which adjoined their manor of Gratwich. A suit in Banco, of Michaelmas Term, 12 E. I, shews that Philip died in 1283 ;f his wife, Isabella, survived him for eight years, and died early in 1291, for a writ on the Fine Roll of 19 E. I, dated 1st March, states that the King had accepted the fealty of Philip de Chetwynde, son and heir of Isabella "de Chetwynd, deceased, for all the lands and tenements which the said Isabella held by military service of the heir of Nicholas, Baron of Stafford, who was under age, and in ward to the King. Nicholas de Stafford had been killed in Wales, A.d. 1288.