Helmingus Legatt Esquire

Citations

1. [S775] P. H. & Page, William Ditchfield, A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 3: pages 475-484 - 'Parishes: Hagbourne; It is uncertain which William this was, but his heir was indisputably Richard son of a William de Windsor. (fn. 66) Richard de Windsor came of age in 1279, (fn. 67) and in 1305 settled the manor (fn. 68) on himself and his wife Joan with remainder in succession to his sons Richard and William. Joan survived her husband (fn. 69) and died on 21 January 1327–8. (fn. 70) The manor descended to Richard de Windsor, the son, who died on 3 April 1367, (fn. 71) leaving a widow Clarice, (fn. 72) who received in dower a considerable portion of the manor and a chamber at the hall end with a solar or upper room and an oratory. (fn. 73) The heir, Richard de Windsor's grandson, Miles Windsor, (fn. 74) was a minor, and the rest of the manor was committed to Helming Leget, (fn. 75) who married the widow Clarice, (fn. 76) and subsequently to Adam de Wymondham, citizen and mercer of London.
2. [S776] G. A. J. Hodgett, The Cartulary of Holy Trinity, Aldgate, Pages 35-44 - 'Parishes: St Dunstan in the East; Bristowe whose executors granted the tenement to W. Brewer who paid 13s. 4d. as appears in their charter (fn. 15) enrolled 33 Ed. I; Richard Ko(u)ncedieu, 1 and 19 Ed. II and 6 Ed. III; John Mandeville, 30 Ed. III; John Malewayn, 36 Ed. III as appears by an inquisition (fn. 16) taken in the time of John Pechche, mayor of London, 36 Ed. III and the jury said that he died seised of one tenement in parish of St. Dunstan which was valued at 10 marks a year if it might be located from which an annual rent of 1 mark was paid; Helmyngus Leget, 39 Ed. III; William Walworth, 10 Ric. II; William Ascham.
3. [S364] Dorothy Wertz, Notes Compiled in County Essex, England on the Leggett Family, Helmingius Legat - Sometimes called Elming, Helming, or Elmyng. According to the 1635 pedigree was the son of Robert. Appears in many Essex county records, including the Inquisitiones Post Mortem (official listings of properties held by the deceased and of their disposal -- wills at this time were extremely rare) under Edward III in 1372 and 1377. Helmingius apparently acquired most of his property by marriage. There are two versions of the case in the Inquis. Post Mortem: both versions agree that one John Mockynge of London died in the 21st year of Edward III [1347], leaving 21 houses in St. Mary's Southwark (district of London south of the Thames), two shops by the Waterwarf, two shops by Thomas atte Hyde, land in Bosden, Kent, land in Totenham (then a town north of London), land and houses in London in the parishes of St. Leonard, Estchep (now Eastcheap), St. Margaret Briggestret (Bridge Street), and St. Magnus, also land in Hadleigh in Suffolk and in Hyntlesham, Suffolk. The property passes to John's wife Nicholaa for one year, after which she died [1348]. By her bequest the property went to John Wroth, who became the guardian of her two minor sons, John and Nicholas. John died several weeks after his mother. (Possibly of plague, which recurred in epidemics from 1348-49 onward for about a century.) According to one version of the case, John Wroth, after six years [1354], sold the guardianship of the estate to John Malawyn, who also bought "for three or four marks the marriage of Nicholas," John Mockynge's surviving minor son. Malawyn also bought the wardship of Maud Durant, whom he married to his own son. John Malawyn married Nicholas Mockynge to Margery, his daughter. According to law, the wardship and marriage should have been the right of the king.
        According to a second version of the case, recorded along with the first, Nicholas Mockynge sued Robert Legge, the mayor of London, for the removal of John Wroth as his guardian, and won. The mayor and aldermen appointed Malawyn as guardian, and Nicholas sued them again for the right to manage his own estates, and finally won. Nicholas died 1½ years [c. 1360?] after succeeding to his father's estates and the property passed to the crown. Margaret, daughter of John Mockyng, and Roger Shipbrok her husband, sued the crown and received Mockyng's property back. They assigned one third to Margaret, widow of Nicholas, as her dower. (According to law, the widow had to receive one-third of her husband's property by right of "dower".) Helming Legat then married Margaret. Helming's will, dated 1391 (he died around 1412) apparently mentions Margaret, and a son John, though an Inquis. Post Mortem of 1427 lists one Elmundus Legat, leaving "in Totenham, 69 acres and a house called Mockynge's" to Thomas Legat, so Helming must have also had a son Elmundus. According to a summary of the will, in 1391 Helming lived in the parish of St. Mary Fantchurche (Fenchurch, now the site of Fenchurch Street Station, London), and St. Bartholomew, London (still extant as St. Bartholomew the Great). The will was proved at Canterbury, which is not as strange as it sounds, because the ecclesiastical court of Canturbury sat in the church of St. Mary le Bow, London.
   According to records in the Guildhall Library, London, pertaining to Thomas Legge, mayor, there appears the following note about Helmingius Legget:
   "Helmingius Legget, Esq., by license of Edward III, in the 49th year of his reign (1375) gave one tenement (house), with a curtelage (yard or courtyard) thereto belonging, and a garden with an entry thereto leading, unto Sir John Hariot, Parson of Fen-Church (St. Mary Fenchurch) and to his successors forever: the house to be a parsonage and the garden to be a churchyard or burying-place for the parish."
   Fenchurch was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666 and was never rebuilt. The site is covered by the present Fenchurch Street Railroad Station.
   Helmingius was an escheator, a county officer appointed by the Lord Treasurer to look after escheats, lands that had reverted to the crown when the tenants left no legal heirs. Helmingius seems to have traveled throughout Essex hearing and judging civil cases, because his name appears as the hearing officer for many cases on the Essex Chancellory Rolls. In 1402 and again in 1406 he was Lord High Sheriff (the King's representative, highest office in the county) of Essex and Hertfordshire. In both years he is listed on the rolls as living at Stapleford Taney (modern Stapleford Tawney: see the material on the Taney and Mandevllle families, from whom Helminglus acquired Stapleford Taney).
   Helmingius married Lady Alice Mandeville in 1401. Lady Alice held Stapleford Taney (where they apparently lived), Bromfield, Chatham Hall in Great Waltham, and Estwick (Eastwick) in Hertfordshire, just across the county line from Essex (all the other properties were in Essex.) Helming was sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire in 1402 and 1408, according to Morant's History of Essex. Morant, the most reliable historian of Essex says of their (Helmingius' and Alice's) son Thomas we have no further account, other than that he was 18 years old at the time of his mother's decease (1420) ." Alice also held Black Notley, on which is Stanton's Farm, now the second oldest house in Essex, dating from about 1350, with a barn from about 1250, perhaps incorporating the timbers of an earlier house. The house was restored to its original condition in 1971. [Dorothy has photos.] The following are excerpts from the Feet of Fines for Essex:
   1408 Helming and Alice sold one messuage (house) and 35 acres in Chatham to John Hamond of Great Waltham.
   1408 Michaelmas term. (Court terms, like present-day school terms, were named after the ecclesiastical calendar. Michaelmas would be the Fall term.) John son of William Doreward,
   Robert Trask, clerk, Richard Wythermersh Thomas Rolf and Henry Duncote, clerk, pl. (plaintiffs, that is, the purchasers). Elming Leget and Alice his wife, def. (deforciants, that is, the sellers). The manors of Blaknottele (Black Notley), Chatham, and Bromfield (modern Broomfield) 4 shillings rent in Chatham and a moiety (either a half or an indefinite portion) of the manor of Stapleford Tawney and the advowson (the right to select the parish priest) of the church of the same town, county Essex, and the manor of Estwyck (Eastwick), county Hertford. Plaintiffs and the heirs of Robert to hold of the chief lords (nobody actually owned land except the Crown; to hold of the chief lords meant to get as close to ownership as was ordinarily possible) the manors of Blaknottele (Black Notley), Chatham, and Estwyck, the moiety and advowson, rent and homages and services of John Hamond and his heirs, also the remainder (right to full possession of the estate upon the death of those who have a life interest) of the manor of Bromfield, which John Tyrell.and Alesia his wife hold for her life.
   1410 Easter term. Elming Leget and Alice his wife and James Hoget and Joan his wife, pl. Thomas Lopham and William Preston, def. The manors of Stapleford Tawney and Chatham. Plaintiffs acknowledged the manors to be the right of Thomas as those which the deforciants have of their gift, and for this the deforciants granted them to Elming and Alice and the heirs of Elming to hold of the chief lords, rendering 20 lire yearly to the deforciants and the heirs of Thomas, in moieties (equal portions) at Michaelmas and Easter, with power of distraint (seizure for nonpayment of rent).
   1411 Elming and Alice sold two tofts (either plots of land--enclosed by a hedge or wall, or hills, or wooded hills) and 35 acres in Stapliford Thaney (Stapleford Tawney) to Reynold Malyns, John Roundell, John Page, Edmund Oates, and Simon Archer.
   1411 Elming and Alice sold one messuage (house), one toft, and 16 acres in Stapilford Taney and Lambourne.
   Helmingius Legat must have died between 1411 and 1413. His widow, Alice, married Roger Spice. In the Feet of Fines for Essex appear the following:
   1413 Michaelmas and Hilary. Ralph Hulle, plaintiff. Roger Spice and Alice his wife deforciants. Manors of Blaknottle (Black Notley) and Bromfield and 100 acres of land and 40 shillings of rent in Blakenotle (Black Notley) and Bromfield, county Essex and the manor of Estwyck (Eastwick) county Hertford. Deforciants and the heirs of Roger to hold the manors of Blaknotle and Estwyck and also the reversion of the manor of Bromfield which John Tyrell and Alesia his wife hold for her life.
   Alice died in 1420. The Inquisitiones post Mortem for that year list on the same page:
   Alice, who was the wife of Helmingius Leget. 69 acres in Totenham and the house called Mockynges. To Elmundus Leget.
   Alice, who was the wife of Roger Spice. The manors of Blacknotle, Chatham, and Bromfield. To Clement Spice (her son by Roger Spice).
   In direct contradiction to the common practice and to the laws of inheritance, Alice's property did not pass to the eldest son, Thomas Leget. Morant therefore assumes that Thomas Leget must have died while still a minor. That would be the end of the Leget line. Another possibility might be that Helmingius Leget entailed the Mandeville properties that had been Alice's before her marriage upon Alice and the heirs of her body forever. In any case, the Mandeville properties of Black Notley, Chatham, Bromfield, and Eastwick were not inherited by Helmingius' heirs (the material gathered at long distance by a New York Leggett is here in error) but are passed on to the Spice family. Thus Black Notley was a Legat possession only from 1401-1412, the dates of Helmingius' marriage to Alice Mandeville.
        It appears, however, that Helmingius' and Alice's son Thomas did not die while a child. Helmingius' heirs inherited his London properties, which he acquired by marrying Margaret Mockyng, daughter-in-law of the deceased John Mockyng.
        In the Inquis. Post Mortem of 1427 Elmundus Leget leaves land in Totenham and a house called Mockynges to Thomas Leget. Elmundus may have been the son of Helmingius and Margaret. Thomas may have been Elmundus' half-brother, the son of Helmingius and Alice.
4. [S640] W. J. Hardy, Calendar of Feet & Fines For London and Middlesex - Richard I to Elizabeth I, page 146 - Roger Shipbrok, and Margaret, his wife, & Helmygus Leget, and Margery, his wife. Premises in Totenham, and a third part of the manor of Totenham.
   Anno 43. [43 Edward III, 1370]
5. [S776] G. A. J. Hodgett, The Cartulary of Holy Trinity, Aldgate, [List of those paying quit rent]: El(mun)dus Legett, 36 Ed. III [1363] and 8 Ric. II [1385]; now [1425–7] the prior of the Carthusians.
6. [S364] Dorothy Wertz, Notes Compiled in County Essex, England on the Leggett Family, Properities of John Mockynge of London - 21 houses in St. Mary's Southwark (district of London south of the Thames), two shops by the Waterwarf, two shops by Thomas atte Hyde, land in Bosden, Kent, land in Totenham (then a town north of London), land and houses in London in the parishes of St. Leonard, Estchep (now Eastcheap), St. Margaret Briggestret (Bridge Street), and St. Magnus, also land in Hadleigh in Suffolk and in Hyntlesham, Suffolk.
7. [S364] Dorothy Wertz, Notes Compiled in County Essex, England on the Leggett Family.
8. [S764] Special Collections: Ancient Petitions: "... the petition dates to 1375 as the letters of protection granted to Roecliffe were revoked on 3 February 1375 ... People mentioned: Robert Roecliffe, knight, Helming Leget.
9. [S772] R B Pugh (Editors), A P Baggs, Diane K Bolton, Eileen P Scarff, G C Tyack T F T Baker, A History of the County of Middlesex, Volume 5: pages 324-330 - Tottenham Manors; The third part of Bruces which became the manor of MOCKINGS was granted to Richard Spigurnel for life before 1335, when he received a further grant in tail. (fn. 41) In 1340 Spigurnel confirmed the conveyance of a third of a third of the manor of Tottenham to John de Mocking, of Somerset, and his wife Nichole, (fn. 42) who held it of the earldom of Pembroke. After the deaths of John in 1347 and Nichole in the following year the lands passed to their son Nicholas, who died in 1360 leaving his sisters Margaret, wife of Roger Shipbroke, and Idony, wife of Simon Benington, as coheirs. (fn. 43) The death of Idony in 1361 and of her son John of Abingdon in 1363 brought her moiety to the Shipbrokes, (fn. 44) who within a few months conveyed the whole estate to Helming Leget and his wife Margery, Nicholas Mocking's widow. (fn. 45) In 1397 it passed to Helming's son and namesake and in 1427 to his grandson Thomas, who mortgaged it to John Gedney. (fn. 46) The estate was first called the manor of Mockings in 1427, when Thomas's aunt Elizabeth Leget quitclaimed her rights to Gedney. [Correction: Elizabeth was Thomas' widow not his aunt - klm]
10. [S777] A P Baggs, J Freeman, C Smith, J H Stevenson, E Williamson D A Crowley (Editor), A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 16: Pages 8-49 - 'Great Bedwyn; Before 1275 Robert Fosbury held 1 carucate at West Grafton by serjeanty. (fn. 42) It passed to John Fosbury (d. c. 1294) and to John's son Peter (fn. 43) (d. 1352), whose coheirs conveyed it c. 1352 to John Malwain (d. 1361) and his wife Margery. John Malwain also held land at Marten, with which the estate at West Grafton descended to his son John (d. by 1378). (fn. 44) The estate at West Grafton had passed by 1380 to that John's sister Margery and her husband Helming Leget.
11. [S778] Daniel Lysons, The Environs of London:, Volume 3:Tottenham, County of Middlesex, pp. 517-557 - 57 See Esch. 5 Hen. VI. N^o 33. It appears by an inquisition taken anno 1372 (Esch. 46 Edw. III. N^o 10.), that this manor was then in the Mocking family. Elmingus Legett, father (perhaps) of Elmingus who died in 1412, is frequently mentioned in a mutilated record of the inquisition taken after the death of John de Mocking in 1347. It is probable, therefore, that the Legetts were connected with the Mockings by marriage. 58 Leger-book of Tottenham Manors. 59 Esch. 8 Hen. V. N^o 3. An inquisition taken anno 1427, at which time Thomas Legett, son and heir of Elmingus, was 23 years of age, describes the manor of Mockings as containing 100 acres of arable, valued at 3d. an acre; 30 of meadow, at 2s.; and 40s. rents of assize. It was then held of John Gedeney (whose property it afterwards was) by a quitrent of 33s. and suit of court. Esch. 5 Hen. VI. N^o 33. 58 Idonea, wife of Simon de Benington, died anno 1361, seised of a moiety of a third part of the manor of Tottenham—John de Abyngdon, her son, being her heir. Esch. 35 Edw. III. pt. 1. N^o 42. John de Abyngdon died (under age) the next year, when Margaret, wife of Roger Shipbrook, was found to be the next heir. Esch. 36 Edw. III. pt. 1. N^o 12. Elmingus Legett died anno 1412, seised of 36 acres of arable, 8 of meadow, and 33 of wood, parcel of the manor of Bruses, with view of frank-pledge upon the said estate. See Esch. 5 Hen. VI. N^o 33. His widow died seised of the same lands, described as a third part of the manor of Bruses. Esch. 8 Hen. V. N^o 3. Richard Cumberton, being seised of a third part of the manor of Tottenham, in the year 1434 aliened a third part of that third to Richard Chippenham and others. Esch. 12 Hen. VI. N^o 44.
12. [S765] Prerogative Court of Canterbury Records: Will of Helmingius Leget dated 14 August 1491 [believe this should have read 1391 - unless this is another Helmingius with a will a hundred years later, the listing is in error. Dorothy Wertz, in her manuscript, refers to the 1391 will and this is the only will on record for a Helmingius Leget. - klm].
13. [S763] Harleian Society, Harliean MS, 1398, Helmingus Legat ar. vice comes Essexiae t'pe R. 2 qui sub Herico quarto moriens reliquiet filium suum in custodia. Married Alicia Mandeville [Henry IV 1401].
14. [S364] Dorothy Wertz, Notes Compiled in County Essex, England on the Leggett Family, The ecclesiastical court of Canturbury sat in the church of St. Mary le Bow, London.