Grant by William Bere and Walter de Hameldon, both of Staunford (Stamford), to Raymond le Spicer of the same, Edda his wife, and his heirs and assigns, of a garden in the parish of St Mary of Bynewerk, Staunford, between the town wall and the garden of the prior of St Leonard near Staunford. Sunday after St Giles, 2 Edward III. 1328-1329. (C 146/3891).

Newstead Priory (by Stamford Priory. Lincs. 2m E of Stamford), “was situated on the river Guash, and stood within a few yards of the present mill. It was founded by William de Albini, third Earl of Arundel, and Lord of Uffington, and confirmed by Edward III., in 1337. William de Albini was one of those barons who resisted King John, and for which he was excommunicated by the Pope. He died at Uffington in 1236: his heart was buried at Belvoir, and his body in this priory.

William de Aubigny the third, gave to this Hospital of the Invocation of the Blessed Virgin of his own foundation, and seated at the bridge of Wass, between Stamford and Offington, the place where the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary stood, with the court adjoining the mill at Offlngton, with other lands particularly describe in his deed; as also the tithe of all the bread of his house. He likewise ordained, that the master of the hospital should be a priest and canon regular, and to have another canon with him to say mass for the living and the dead, with proper ministers to assist them; that seven infirm poor persons should be maintained out of the revenues of the hospital, allowing them necessary food and cloathing, with seven beds for them to lye in, and all things thereunto belonging; and in case the revenues should increase, the number of poor to be also augmented. By another deed the said founder confirm’d his former, and added other donations, ordaining that there should be two priests, one of them to say mass every day for the dead, and the other according to the time; as also one deacon and one clerk to serve the said priests, and thirteen beds for poor. William de Aubigny the fourth confirm’d all his father’s grants by particular deed; as did King Edward III. in the eleventh year of his reign, reciting in his charter all the particular donations”. Dugdale’s Monasticon.

“The effigy at Bottesford, it is believed, represents William de Albini III., lord of Belvoir and Uffington, near Stamford, who founded Newstead Priory, near that town, and whose body was buried at Newstead and his heart under the high altar at Belvoir Priory, with the following inscription, which was afterwards removed to Bottesford;— “Hic jacet Dni Willielmi Albiniaci, cujus corpus sepelitur apud novum locum juxta Stanfordiam.” This William de Albini, in 1211, was one of the sureties for the preservation of the peace concluded between King John and the French King; and he was one of the twenty-five barons who swore to the observance of Magna Charta. The material of this curious efiigy is Purbeck marble. In the churchyard at Bottesford there is a stone slab, probably of the latter part of the fourteenth century, exhibiting a semi-effigy of a female, respecting which there is a tradition that it represents a lady who resided in the adjoining hamlet of Normanton. Its original position would be the interior of the church, but when it was removed to the east side of the churchyard is not known. It is_styled by the villagers the “Fair Maid of Normanton”. (G.M. p. 364, 1864).

“The name Bottesford is given to all the Parish, but at what period is uncertain, no notice is taken of it in the Domesday survey, which contains those which belonged to individuals, and not those which belonged to the King, Wm. the conqueror seized all the manors that belonged to Edward the Confessor, which was called Royal demains; by this Wm. had many Manors in this Country, and Woolsthorpe, Redmile, Esthorpe Wimbisthorp, Bottesford and Normanton, all having names from their situations, and all joining each other, shows they are Royal Demains. Other Manors around have their names from the possessors, as Barkston, Mnston. It is certain, that about the year 1260, Henry the 3rd granted free warrant of Bottesford, Esthorpe, and Normanton, to Isabella heiress of the House of Albini, who was afterwards married to Robt. de Ros, of Hamlech, in the north Riding of Yorkshire. Isabella survived Lord Ros. Henry the 3rd was guardian to her when young”. (Andrew Esdaile, Rutland monuments, with a description of Bottesford church and parish, p. 27 1845).

1. Roger de Colville of Bytham Castle, Lincolnshire.

2. Walter de Colville (b. ca. 1225, d. 1276), m. Isabel, dau. of Odenel d’Albini, son of William d’Albini I. and Matilda, dau of Odonel de Umfraville. Muston: At the general survey it was included in Bottesford. In 1276, Walter de Colville held it. In 1284, Robert Ros held lands, as a member of Belvoir. In 1345, William Ros held a fee; and in 1363 Margery, his wife, held a fee. (John Curtis: A Topographical History of the County of Leicester, p. 130, 1831).

3. Roger de Colville of Bytham Castle (b. 1251. d. 1287), m. Margaret, dau of Richard de Braose, of Stinton, Norfolk, and Alice de Ros, dau. of William de Ros, 2nd Baron Ros of Helmsley, and Margaret de Badlesmere, dau. of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere.

William de Ros helped in negotiating a peace between the English and Robert de Brus, who had assumed the kingship of Scotland; and was the son of William de Ros, 1st Baron Ros of Helmsley, claimant of the crown of Scotland in 1292, son of Robert de Ros and Isabel d’Albini (dau. of William ‘the Lion’ d’Albini; son of William d’Albini and Margeret de Umfraville, dau of Odonel de Umfraville; aunt of Walter de Colville’s wife). William de Brus (br. of Sir Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale; father of Robert de Brus, King of Scotland (grantor to Walter FitzGilbert), was granted wardship on May 8, 1288 of the lands late of Roger de Coleville, son of Walter, as follows, tenant in chief of Bytham and other places in co. Lincoln, reserving to the King the marriage of the heirs during their minority (Calendar of the Patent Rolls, 1272-1281, p. 247).

William d’Albini and Margeret de Umfraville had issue: Alice d’Albini, who m. Gilbert de Gand; their dau., Juliana, m. Henry de Armenters (from whose general family stemmed the Wormleys); the Armenters being Colvilles. *As the great-grandson of Isabel, dau. of William I, ‘The Lion’, King of Scotland, he competed for the crown of Scotland in 1292. Roger de Colville’s son, Edmond, held Bottesford in 1316.

3. Gilbert de Colville, b. ca. 1255. The Writs of Military Service show (1292) Gilbertus Coleville performing military service in Scotland due from Gilbertus de Neville, his kinsman, through the Merlays. Gilbert de Neville (elected a Knight of the co. of Lincoln in 1290) performing such service in 1277 due to Gilbert de Gand (br. of Juliana d’Armenters), son of Gilbert de Gand, Earl of Lincoln and Alice d’Albini); husband of Laura, dau. of Henry de Baliol and Lauretta de Valognes; parents of Nicola de Gand, wife of Piers de Mauley and Joan de Brus, dau. of Peter ll de Brus, of Skelton, and sister of Margaret de Brus, who m. Robert de Ros; br. of William de Ros (Roos), 1st Baron Ros of Helmsley.

4. Walter de Hameldon, of Stamford (the grantor of 1328/9), and Scotland. By way of disambiguation, Edmond de Colville’s grandson, Walter, was born ca. 1340.

“Hamelyton near Normanton, on the road to Okeham, is in the maps and some descriptions spelt Hambleton, or Hamelden.  The overlordship of Normanton followed the descent of Hambleton until the death of Sir Giles de Badlesmere in 1338. Normanton, after this date, is said to have been held of Hambleton manor. Early in the 13th century Normanton was subinfeudated (to) Robert d’Albini, son of William d’Albini. (Maud, dau. of Odinell de Umfraville (d. 1182), m. William d’Albini, and the d’Albinis may have obtained Normanton through her). As given, William d’Albini was the cousin of William Colville’s wife. Robert d’Albini presented to the church in 1227, and he or his son Robert presented in 1234. (Rot. Hug. de Welles, Cant. and York Soc., ii, 180).

The fundamental fact about the Walter FitzGilbert who was given land in Scotland by Robert de Brus is that he was necessarily of a knightly class who were equipped by military training and a network of kin who could be called upon to defend the possessions of each other. Land held by the knightly class was always held on the prerequisit of miltary service to be given. It was by proof of such service that ownership of land was ascertained in courts of post mortem; the jury always seeking to establish by which pact land was subfeudated; the ‘quo pacto habuit’ burden of proof.

Walter FitzGilbert was a sword-wielder, not a quill pusher.

Another imperative was the rules regarding the sequestration of land. Walter FitzGilbert was granted land forfeited by John Comyn, the cousin of his namesake, husband of Alice de Ros, kinswoman of Walter FitzGilbert. Walter’s descendants bore gules, 3 cinque foils or. The earliest representation of the Hamilton arms appears on the Bute Mazer were gules, three cinquefoils ermine, presumably for Walter FitzGilbert. “(A) sensible proposition is that they were kin, or vassals of the Umfraville lords of Redesdale and the earls of Angus” (Bruce A. McAndrew, Scotland’s Historic Heraldry, p. 235, 2006). The Umfraville armorial being: gules, 3 cinquefoils or.

copyright m stanhope 2019