Notes for William Willoughby

Research Notes:

Spelling variants in Feudal Aids: Wyleby. Willyby, Welebey, Wilebeigh, Wilebegh. Willeby, Wyluby (William (1401-02, Wyleford, Suffolk), John (1346, Hoxne, Suffolk) and Margaret (1316, Suffolk)) (Also John Wileby in Leicester and Robert Willughby in Warwick).

Complete Peerage states, [1]

In the 12th and 13th centuries there were two separate families of Willoughby holding lands in Lincolnshire. One, from whom the Lords Willoughby descended, took its name from Willoughby in the Marsh, in Lindsey, and the other from Silk Willoughby, in Kesteven. Both families were tenants of the Gant fee.(j) As to the latter, Robert de Willoughby gave land in Silk Willoughby to the Templars before 1185;(k) and, with his son Ralph in his place, had a quitclaim from Ralph de Stixwould of land there in 1199.(l)

(j) In 1212 and 1243 (Book of Fees, pp. 161, 179, 1031, 1058).
(k) B. A. Lees, Rec. of the Templars, p. 92.
(l) Feet of Fines, Lines, 1199-1216, P.R.S., no. 3, where the place is wrongly indexed as Willoughby in the Marsh. The Stixwould holding was in Silk Willoughby (Book of Fees, pp. 179, 1068).

Sir Robert s. of Ralph de Willoughby gave a toft there to the church of Lincoln, circa 1240-50.(a ) This family also had an interest in Pleasley, co. Derby, where in 1203 the King confirmed land to John de Aincurt and Ralph de Willoughby and their wives, heirs of Serlo de Pleasley;(b) and in 1219 it was recorded that William de Willoughby had been given the church of Pleasley jointly by his br. Ralph de Willoughby and John de Aincurt.(c)

(a) Reg. Antiq., Lincoln Rec. Soc, vol. vii, no 2131. In 1242-43 Robert de
Willoughby held a \ knight's fee in Silk Willoughby of Simon de Kyme who held of Gilbert de Gant (Book of Fees, p. 1031).
(b) Farrer, Honors and Knights' Fees, vol. i, p. 174.
(c) Curia Regis Rolls, vol. viii, p. 74. This William must not be confused with his contemporary William of Willoughby in the Marsh.A Robert de Willoughby (evidently Ralph's h.) was holding lands in Pleasley in the middle of the 13th century (Jeayes, Derbyshire Charters, no. 1893). He (or a later Robert), lord of Pleasley, gave a confirmation charter to Darley Abbey in 1274 (Cart. of Darley Abbey, ed. R. R. Darlington, p. 411); and in 1288 he confirmed by fine his feoffment of the manor of Pleasley to Thomas Beke, Bishop of St. David's (Derbyshire Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. Journal, vol. xiii, p. 23), the latter's interest passing to his br. Anthony, Bishop of Durham, who held a i knight's fee there in 1302 (Feudal Aids, vol. i, p. 251). In 1311 Robert de Willoughby (of Willoughby in the Marsh), as a coh. of Anthony Beke, had a moiety of the manor of Pleasley and the advowson jointly with John de Harcourt (Cal. Inq. p.m., vol. v, no. 274). Thus the two Willoughby families, of no known relationship, acquired interests in Pleasley by marriage at the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 14th centuries respectively.

William de Willoughby, whose parentage is unknown,(d) held land in Sloothby, in Willoughby in the Marsh, in the time of King Richard.(e) He witnessed charters at the end of the 12th and early in the 13th centuries, two being issued by Gilbert de Gant;(f ) appears in law-suits in 1200 and 1202;(g) served on juries in 1204 and 1205; held a knight's fee in Willoughby in the Marsh of Gilbert de Gant in 1212 ; and in Sep. 1217 the sheriff of Lincolnshire was ordered to restore to him possession of his lands, as he had held them before the war. He is named in judicial activities, Dec. 1220-16 Aug. 1223; and in Sep. 1221 he and others were ordered not to interfere with the tenure of Earl de Warenne in Stamford and Grantham.(a) He m. Maud, da. and coh. of William de Fulletby.(b) He was living in 1225 but d. before 1227.(c)

(d) Lands in Willoughby in the Marsh, Sloothby, West Ashby and Hasthorpe, Lines, held by his descendants in the 13th century, were held of Gilbert de Gant by a certain Roger in the reign of William the Conqueror (Lincs Domesday and Lindsey Survey, Lincoln Rec. Soc, pp. 110, 112; Book of Fees, pp. 161, 165, 1068). A Robert de Willoughby, unidentified but probably the Robert of Silk Willoughby (see note "a" above for the Kyme tenure there), witnessed charters of Philip de Kyme temp. Hen. II (F. M. Stenton, Danelaw Charters, pp. 15, 39, 67; Gilbertine Charters, Lincoln Rec. Soc, p. 99).
(e) Rot. Curiae Regis, vol. ii, p. 271.
(f) Danelaw Charters, pp. 138, 163, 263, 355; Hatton's Book of Seals, no. 298.
(g) Curia Regis Rolls, vol. i, p. 322; Earliest Lines Assize Rolls, Lincoln Rec. Soc, nos. 61, 149, 1077.
(a) Curia Regis Rolls, vol. iii, pp. 225, 309; Book of Fees, pp. 161, 165; Rot. Lit. Claus., vol. i, pp. 323, 471; Patent Rolls, 1216-25, pp. 306, 398 et passim.
(b) W. 0 . Massingberd, "Willoughby of Willoughby, co. Lincoln," in Genealogist, N.S., vol. xviii, pp. 230—33; Rot. Hugonis de Welles, Lincoln Rec. Soc, vol. iii, p. 138.
(c) Idem, pp. 138, 155; see text above.

Robert de Willoughby, 2nd but 1st surv. s.,(d) suc. de facto to the family estates, presented to Willoughby in the Marsh church in 1227 and .appears as tenant of Gilbert de Gant in I242.(e) He was app., 23 June 1246, to aid in the custody of the royal escheats in Lindsey, where he was escheator, Mar. 1255/6 and at his death; was granted exemption from juries and recognitions, 1252 and 1255; and on 3 Oct. 1255 he was given free warren in his demesne lands.(f) He is said to have m. a lady from the family of Orreby, lords of Orby and Ingoldmells, Lines.(g) He d. between 3 Feb. 1256/7 and 21 Feb. 1257/8.(h)

(d) His elder br. Hugh m. Frethesancia, da. and coh. of William de Scoteny, and d. v.p. She m., 2ndly, Walter de Killingholme and d. shortly before 1 Sep. 1259. Their s. and h., William de Willoughby, who was a minor at his grandfather's death, 1225-27, did not suc. to the family estates but was ancestor of the Willoughby lords of Cumberworth, Lincs, which he inherited from his mother. He d. shortly before 8 Aug. 1277, leaving a s. and h., William, then aged 24. See Massingberd, op. et loc. cit.; Reg. Antiq., vol. vi, pp. 179-80; Cal. Inq. p.m., vol. i, no. 442; vol. ii, no. 226; Rot. Hugonis de Welles, vol. iii, p. 155.
(e) Idem; Book of Fees, pp. 1058, 1069; Cal. Patent Rolls, 1232-47, p. 483; Massingberd, op. et loc. cit.; see p. 657, note "a" below. He may be the man who, in 1243 and I 244, was keeper of the castle of Sandal Magna, Yorks (Cal. Liberate Rolls,
vol. ii, p. 261).
(f) Cal. Patent Rolls, 1232-47, p. 483; 1247-58, pp. 167, 428; Cal. Liberate Rolls, vol. iii, p. 203; Cal. Charter Rolls, vol. i, p. 450; Close Rolls, 1254-56, p. 286; 1256-59, p. 197.
(g) Dugdale, Baronage, vol. ii, p. 83. In 1242 Robert shared lands in Fenton, Lines, with Fulk de Orreby, he was in a lawsuit with Gilbert de Orreby, Feb. 1256/7, and his grandson Robert was a co-heir and an executor of John de Orreby in 1316
(Book of Fees, pp. 1039, 1056, 1069; Final Concords, Lincs, 1244-72, Lincoln Rec. Soc., p. 140; Cal. Inq. p.m., vol. vi, no. 109; Cal. Close Rolls, 1313-18, p. 526; Reg. Palat. Dunelm., Rolls Ser., vol. ii, p. 819). The three branches of the Orreby family are discussed by Farrer (op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 99—100; cf. ante, vol. x, sub Orreby). G. A. Moriarty suggests that Robert de Willoughby's unnamed wife was probably a da. of John de Orreby of Orby, s. and h. of Herbert, s. of Alard, otherwise Herbert de Orreby, for whom see ante, vol. x, p. 168, note " c " This John was ancestor (great-great-grandfather it would seem) of John de Orreby to whom Robert de Willoughby, grandson of Robert abovenamed, was coh. in 1316. Cf. p. 658, note "e" below.
(h) Final Concords, Lincs, 1244-72, p. 140; Cal. Close Rolls, 1256-59, p. 197; cf. Massingberd, op. cit., p. 231.

William de Willoughby, s. and h., as the result of a lawsuit, Mich. 1258, with his cousin (of the senior line), William s. of Hugh de Willoughby, obtained by fine, 13 Oct. 1259, legal recognition of his possession of the manor of Willoughby in the Marsh, with its appurtenances, to hold of the said William, s. of Hugh, and his heirs for ever.(a) He was granted free warren in his demesne lands, 20 Feb. 1267/8, and claimed these rights at Quo Warranto proceedings in 1281;(b ) was ordered, Aug. 1278, to aid the sheriff of Lincolnshire in conducting an enquiry about Flemish shipping coming to Boston, Lines; and was active, with his father-in-law, as a Justice in Lincolnshire, 1279-80.(c) He m., circa 1250-60, Alice, 1st da. and coh. of John (Beke), Lord Beke, of Eresby, Lines.(d) He was living, Sep. 1290,(e) but d. before 29 Mar. 1300.(f) Alice apparently surv. her father, who d. 1303-04,(g) and d. before May 1311 .(h)

(a) Idem, pp. 231-32; Final Concords, Lincs, 1244-72, p. 287; see p. 656, note "d" above.
(b) Cal. Charter Rolls, vol. ii, p. 89; Plac. de Quo Warranto, p. 403.
(c) Cal. Fine Rolls, vol. i, p. 100; Cal. Patent Rolls, 1272-81, pp. 344, 346, 409. On 15 July 1282 a William de Willoughby was granted protection to go to Jerusalem (Idem, 1281-92, p. 30).
(d) See that title; also Coll. Top. et Gen., vol. iv, pp. 331-45.
(e) When he presented to Willoughby church (Bishop Sutton's Reg., 1280-99, Lincoln Rec. Soc, vol. i, p. 140).
(f) Cal. Close Rolls, 1296-1302, p. 387.
(g) Plac. de Quo Warranto, p. 162; see note "d" above.
(h) When her s. Robert was her representative. See follg. note.
(i) At the inq. p.m., May 1311, on his great-uncle, Anthony Beke, Bishop of Durham, to whom he was coh., he [Robert de Willoughby, s. and h., of William de Willoughby and Alice Beke] was said to be 40, or more than 50, years old (Cal. Inq. p.m., vol. v, no. 274).

Footnotes:

[1] George E. Cokayne and Geoffrey H White, ed., The Complete Peerage, rev., Vol. 12, part 2, Tracton to Zouche (London: St Catherine Press, 1959), 654-657.