General Notes

Name Suffix:<NSFX> Lord Of Fontney
At the period of the Norman conquest, Robert de Marmion, Lord of Fontney, in Normandy, having by grant of King William, the castle of Tamworth, in the co. Warwick, with the adjacent lands, expelled the nuns from the abbey of Polesworth to a place called Oldbury about four miles distant. "After which," writes Sir William Dugdale, "within the compass of a twelvemonth, as it is said, making a costly entertainment at Tamworth Castle for some of his friends amongst whom was Sir Walter de Somerville, Lord of Whichover, in the co. Stafford, his sworn brother, it happened that, as he lay in his bed, St. Edith appeared to him in the habit of a veiled nun with a crosier in her hand and advertised him that, if he did not restore the abbey of Polesworth, which lay within the territories belonging to his castle of Tamworth, unto her successors, he should have an evil death and go to hell. And, that he might be the more sensible of this her admonition, she smote him on the side with the crosier and so vanished away. Moreover, that by this stroke being much wounded, he cryed out so loud that his friends in the house arose and, finding him extremely tormented with the pain of his wound, advised him to confess himself to a priest and vow to restore the nuns to their former possessions. Furthermore, that having so done, his pain ceased and, that in the accomplishment of his vow, accompanied by Sir Walter de Somerville and the rest, he forthwith rode to Oldbury and, craving pardon of the nuns for the injury done, brought them back to Polesworth, desiring that himself and his friend Sir Walter de Somerville, might be reputed their patrons and have burial for themselves and their heirs in the abbey -- the Marmions in the chapter house -- the Somervilles in the cloister. However, (continues Dugdale), some circumstances in this story may seem fabulous, the substance of it is certainly true, for it expressly appeareth by the very words of his charter that he gave to Osanna, the prioress, 'for the establishing of the religion of those nuns there, the church of St. Edith, of Polesworth, with its appurtenances, so that the convent of Oldbury should remain in that place.' And likewise bestowed upon them the whole lordship of Polesworth: which grant King Stephen afterwards confirmed." The castle and manor of Tamworth, in Warwickshire, and the manor of Scrivelsby, co. Lincoln, were granted by the Conqueror to this Robert de Marmion, to be held by grant serjeanty, "to perform the office of champion at the king's coronation" (the Marmions, it is said, were hereditary champions to the Dukes of Normandy, prior to the conquest of England). Robert Marmion was s. at his decease by his son and heir, Robert de Marmyon, Lord of Fontney. (Although it is not intended that this work shall embrace personages who were merely feudal lords, the present family, as that from which the Championship of England is inherited, demands to be noticed) [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, England, 1883, p. 355, Marmyon, or Marmion, Barons Marmyon]