HONOR OF MORTAIN
In reading the history of Lulworth the Honor of Mortain is mentioned. This subject can be confusing when taken with the rest of the manorial history. However an Honor was a grouping of English lands held by the Count of Mortain, who was William the Conqueror's half-brother and who by the Domesday book held two large swaths of land in Lulworth. During the Newburgh's tenure, Lulworth was about 45,000 acres.
Wulfeton was a manor near Charminster which is mentioned as a Mortain possession. This further identifies the range of Lulworth.
An Honor is land, normally comprising MANORS in several counties, held by a BARON or TENANT-IN-CHIEF. What follows is a rather concise explanation of the evolution of The HONOR OF MORTEYN aka MORTAIN.
I. The Honour of Mortain and the Earldom of Cornwall.
The portion of the honour of Mortain to which the following observations are intended to apply is not the original comte of Mortain in the diocese of Avances which gives its name to the honour, was a Norman barony which on the forfeiture of William the Warling (Warlenc) in 1051 was conferred on Robert, the Conqueror's half-brother (Planche, "The Conqueror's Companions," I, 108; II, 55); nor yet the whole of that very much larger estate in twenty counties in England which on the divisions of the spoils was assigned to the count of Mortain; not even indeed the whole of that portion of it in the shires of Wilts, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall which, according to the summary in the Exeter "Domesday" (fol. 531) consisted of 623 manors assessed at 833 hides all but 2 1/2 virgates," with arable land for 1480 ploughs, "of a value of £1409 all but 6 shillings and 10 pence," and of which we are told "the count had 200 hides all but 2 [virgates] in lordship, worth to him £400 and a mark of silver," and "his liegement had 655 hides all but 1/2 virgate worth to them £1000 all but 6 shillings and 10 pence"; but only the Devonshire estates belonging to this section, a comparatively small number, 81 manors assessed at 79 1/2 hides with a cultivated area of some 40,000 acres. The count had besides 263 manors in Cornwall (Exeter "Domesday," fol. 224-65), besides 17 which he had filched from the bishop of Exeter, St. Petrock, or some other Church holder.
The holder of this great fief, Robert, count of Mortain (Comes Moritonensis or Moritanius, or de Moritonio, or de Moritolio, or de Moriteleio, for it is written in all these ways) was by extraction a younger son (Odo, bishop of Bayeux, being his elder brother) of Herlwin de Conteville and his wife Herleva, the Conqueror's mother. He was therefore the Conqueror's half-brother. Born about 1031 (Planche, I, 108), he must have been some thirty-five years of age at the time when he received his English estate, the western section of which now occupies our attention. By his first wife Matilda (I liver, "mon.," p. 32), daughter of ROGER DE MONTGOMERY, earl of Shrewsbury (Round, "Feudal England," 154) who is spoken of as deceased in documents dating between 1087 and 1091 (Cal. of Documents in France," 257,433,435), he had a son William afterwards count of Mortain, and four daughters, viz Emma, married to William, count of Toulouse, great-grandmother to Eleanor, Henry II's queen; Agnes, married to Andre de Vitre, mother of Hawise, wife of Robert de Ferrers, earl of Derby; Denise or Agatha, married to Sieur de Laval; and Barbe, married to Baudouin de Bose (Mrs. Vade-Walpole in "Notes and Queries," 9 ser., VIII, 526, 28 December, 1901) After Matilda's death in 1083 ("Cal. Documents in France," p. 435) he married secondly Almodis (Ibid. p. 256, 436), by whom he had another son, Robert. On the Conqueror's death he joined in the rebellion against William Rufus in 1088 ("Political History of England," II, 75) The insurrection was soon put down, but sharing in the general amnesty he never lost his earldom, and died some time before 1100 (Planche, I, 113, "Cal. of Docts. in France," 436).
His eldest son, William, who succeeded him as count of Mortain, and earl of Cornwall ("Cal. of Docts, in France," 285), married Adelidis de Ou or de Eu ( ibid. 426) between 1100 and 1106, and founded the priory of Montacute in Somersetshire ("Trans." XXIX, 257, n. 40). Offended with Henry I because that King refused to give him the earldom of Kent, which his uncle, Odo, bishop of Bayeux, had bequeathed to him, he took part with Robert de Bellesme, his maternal uncle, against the King (Maclean's "Trigg Minor," II, 287; Ordericus Vitalis, III, 358), was defeated and taken captive at Tinchebrai in 1106 ("Political History of England," II 128,144). His honour was then forfeieted (Round, "Victoria History of Northampton," 288), his eyes were put out, and he was condemned to imprisonment for life. Shortly before his death in 1140 he became a monk at Bermondsey.
For a time Henry I himself held the honour, and in that capacity gave a charter to Constance de Tony ("Trans." XXXIV, 589, 592) ; but before 1113 ("Cal. Docts, in France, " 97, 290) he had bestowed it on his nephew, Stephen of Blois, afterwards King (Ibid. 127). To Stephen succeeded his son William (Ramsay, "The Angevin Empire," 12). A charter of William as count of Mortain is dated 1158 ("Cal. Docts. in France," 285,343). On William's death in 1159 the honour of Mortain was re-annexed to the royal demesne (Ramsay, 22) Mathew, son of Dietrich of Flanders who had married Mary, Stephen's daughter and heiress, sometime abbess of Romsey but dispensed from her vows by the Pope ("Political History of England," II, 271), not being allowed by Henry II to take it up (Ramsay,91). The King then retained the honour of Mortain, but gave the county of Cornwall to Reginald, a natural son of his grandfather, Henry I, by Amasa the daughter of Richard Corbet ("Lib. Nig.," p. 131, note; "Trans." XXIX 455, n. 4 XXXIII, 366), who in 1166 paid 215 marks 4/5 (Dugdale, "Bar.," I, 610) for 215 1/3 fees in Devon and Cornwall ("Lib. Nig., " 131,132), besides 59 marks 6/8 for the fees of Richard de Revers. Reginald died 1 July 1175 (Round, "Feudal England" 509), leaving two side-wind sons, one by Alice de Vaux, afterwards the wife of the elder William Briwere, known as Henry Fitz Count or Henry the Earl's son, the other William ("Trans." XXXIV, 571) who held Sheepwash in Devon ("Lib. Nig.," 129) and Recradoc in Cornwall ("Trans." XXXIV, 571) and by his wife Beatrix, daughter of the Cornish magnate, William, son of Richard, son of Turold or Turolf (ENDING THE CITATION HERE) four daughters, one of whom, Maud is stated to have married Robert [Newburgh], count of Meulan ("Trans." XXXIV, 586, n. 4). Henry II then bestowed the honour of Mortain on his own son, John, afterwards King who signs charters as count of Mortain in 1194 in 1196 and 1198 and is so called in the Pipe Roll of 1196. The country of Cornwall he gave to Reginald's son, Henry to hold to farm, and with it he gave him the manor of Bradninch to which King Richard added Kingskerswell and Diptford and King John the castle of Totnes, Cornworthy, and Loddiswell. After the separation from Normandy in 1204 the county of Cornwall for the countship of Mortain no longer belongs to English history, was again confirmed to Henry the earl's son by Henry III, but was forfeited on Henry's rebellion in 1219 and on 10 August, 1231, was given by Henry III to his brother Richard, King of the Romans. From Richard it descended to his son, earl Edmund, who died without issue in 1300, when it again reverted to the Crown.
Foregoing is from: Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, Vol. XXXVIII [Vol. VIII, second series] 1906.
Wulfeton was a manor near Charminster which is mentioned as a Mortain possession. This further identifies the range of Lulworth.
An Honor is land, normally comprising MANORS in several counties, held by a BARON or TENANT-IN-CHIEF. What follows is a rather concise explanation of the evolution of The HONOR OF MORTEYN aka MORTAIN.
I. The Honour of Mortain and the Earldom of Cornwall.
The portion of the honour of Mortain to which the following observations are intended to apply is not the original comte of Mortain in the diocese of Avances which gives its name to the honour, was a Norman barony which on the forfeiture of William the Warling (Warlenc) in 1051 was conferred on Robert, the Conqueror's half-brother (Planche, "The Conqueror's Companions," I, 108; II, 55); nor yet the whole of that very much larger estate in twenty counties in England which on the divisions of the spoils was assigned to the count of Mortain; not even indeed the whole of that portion of it in the shires of Wilts, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall which, according to the summary in the Exeter "Domesday" (fol. 531) consisted of 623 manors assessed at 833 hides all but 2 1/2 virgates," with arable land for 1480 ploughs, "of a value of £1409 all but 6 shillings and 10 pence," and of which we are told "the count had 200 hides all but 2 [virgates] in lordship, worth to him £400 and a mark of silver," and "his liegement had 655 hides all but 1/2 virgate worth to them £1000 all but 6 shillings and 10 pence"; but only the Devonshire estates belonging to this section, a comparatively small number, 81 manors assessed at 79 1/2 hides with a cultivated area of some 40,000 acres. The count had besides 263 manors in Cornwall (Exeter "Domesday," fol. 224-65), besides 17 which he had filched from the bishop of Exeter, St. Petrock, or some other Church holder.
The holder of this great fief, Robert, count of Mortain (Comes Moritonensis or Moritanius, or de Moritonio, or de Moritolio, or de Moriteleio, for it is written in all these ways) was by extraction a younger son (Odo, bishop of Bayeux, being his elder brother) of Herlwin de Conteville and his wife Herleva, the Conqueror's mother. He was therefore the Conqueror's half-brother. Born about 1031 (Planche, I, 108), he must have been some thirty-five years of age at the time when he received his English estate, the western section of which now occupies our attention. By his first wife Matilda (I liver, "mon.," p. 32), daughter of ROGER DE MONTGOMERY, earl of Shrewsbury (Round, "Feudal England," 154) who is spoken of as deceased in documents dating between 1087 and 1091 (Cal. of Documents in France," 257,433,435), he had a son William afterwards count of Mortain, and four daughters, viz Emma, married to William, count of Toulouse, great-grandmother to Eleanor, Henry II's queen; Agnes, married to Andre de Vitre, mother of Hawise, wife of Robert de Ferrers, earl of Derby; Denise or Agatha, married to Sieur de Laval; and Barbe, married to Baudouin de Bose (Mrs. Vade-Walpole in "Notes and Queries," 9 ser., VIII, 526, 28 December, 1901) After Matilda's death in 1083 ("Cal. Documents in France," p. 435) he married secondly Almodis (Ibid. p. 256, 436), by whom he had another son, Robert. On the Conqueror's death he joined in the rebellion against William Rufus in 1088 ("Political History of England," II, 75) The insurrection was soon put down, but sharing in the general amnesty he never lost his earldom, and died some time before 1100 (Planche, I, 113, "Cal. of Docts. in France," 436).
His eldest son, William, who succeeded him as count of Mortain, and earl of Cornwall ("Cal. of Docts, in France," 285), married Adelidis de Ou or de Eu ( ibid. 426) between 1100 and 1106, and founded the priory of Montacute in Somersetshire ("Trans." XXIX, 257, n. 40). Offended with Henry I because that King refused to give him the earldom of Kent, which his uncle, Odo, bishop of Bayeux, had bequeathed to him, he took part with Robert de Bellesme, his maternal uncle, against the King (Maclean's "Trigg Minor," II, 287; Ordericus Vitalis, III, 358), was defeated and taken captive at Tinchebrai in 1106 ("Political History of England," II 128,144). His honour was then forfeieted (Round, "Victoria History of Northampton," 288), his eyes were put out, and he was condemned to imprisonment for life. Shortly before his death in 1140 he became a monk at Bermondsey.
For a time Henry I himself held the honour, and in that capacity gave a charter to Constance de Tony ("Trans." XXXIV, 589, 592) ; but before 1113 ("Cal. Docts, in France, " 97, 290) he had bestowed it on his nephew, Stephen of Blois, afterwards King (Ibid. 127). To Stephen succeeded his son William (Ramsay, "The Angevin Empire," 12). A charter of William as count of Mortain is dated 1158 ("Cal. Docts. in France," 285,343). On William's death in 1159 the honour of Mortain was re-annexed to the royal demesne (Ramsay, 22) Mathew, son of Dietrich of Flanders who had married Mary, Stephen's daughter and heiress, sometime abbess of Romsey but dispensed from her vows by the Pope ("Political History of England," II, 271), not being allowed by Henry II to take it up (Ramsay,91). The King then retained the honour of Mortain, but gave the county of Cornwall to Reginald, a natural son of his grandfather, Henry I, by Amasa the daughter of Richard Corbet ("Lib. Nig.," p. 131, note; "Trans." XXIX 455, n. 4 XXXIII, 366), who in 1166 paid 215 marks 4/5 (Dugdale, "Bar.," I, 610) for 215 1/3 fees in Devon and Cornwall ("Lib. Nig., " 131,132), besides 59 marks 6/8 for the fees of Richard de Revers. Reginald died 1 July 1175 (Round, "Feudal England" 509), leaving two side-wind sons, one by Alice de Vaux, afterwards the wife of the elder William Briwere, known as Henry Fitz Count or Henry the Earl's son, the other William ("Trans." XXXIV, 571) who held Sheepwash in Devon ("Lib. Nig.," 129) and Recradoc in Cornwall ("Trans." XXXIV, 571) and by his wife Beatrix, daughter of the Cornish magnate, William, son of Richard, son of Turold or Turolf (ENDING THE CITATION HERE) four daughters, one of whom, Maud is stated to have married Robert [Newburgh], count of Meulan ("Trans." XXXIV, 586, n. 4). Henry II then bestowed the honour of Mortain on his own son, John, afterwards King who signs charters as count of Mortain in 1194 in 1196 and 1198 and is so called in the Pipe Roll of 1196. The country of Cornwall he gave to Reginald's son, Henry to hold to farm, and with it he gave him the manor of Bradninch to which King Richard added Kingskerswell and Diptford and King John the castle of Totnes, Cornworthy, and Loddiswell. After the separation from Normandy in 1204 the county of Cornwall for the countship of Mortain no longer belongs to English history, was again confirmed to Henry the earl's son by Henry III, but was forfeited on Henry's rebellion in 1219 and on 10 August, 1231, was given by Henry III to his brother Richard, King of the Romans. From Richard it descended to his son, earl Edmund, who died without issue in 1300, when it again reverted to the Crown.
Foregoing is from: Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, Vol. XXXVIII [Vol. VIII, second series] 1906.