General Notes

The following is copied from the website "Some Corrections and Additions to the Complete Peerage", maintained by Chris Phillips:

CRIOL or KIRIEL

Volume 3, page 542:

NICHOLAS DE CRIOL, of Eynsford, Stockbury, Westenhanger, &c., Kent, and Croxton Kerrial, co. Leicester, s. and h. of Nicholas DE CRIOL, of Croxton, and of Cherry Hinton, co. Cambridge, sometime Warden of the Cinque Ports (who d. shortly before 2 July 1273), by his 1st wife, Joan, da. and h. of William D'AUBERVILLE, of Eynsford, &c., Kent ... He m., before 10 Feb. 1272/2, Margery, da. of Gilbert PECHE, of Westcliff, Kent. He d. 12 Oct. 1303. His widow's dower was ordered to be assigned, 1 Jan. 1303/4. Her will, directing her burial to be at the Friars Minor at Bedford, dat. 31 Mar. 1319 (Lincoln Reg.).

[Note: above is the article in CP III:542, following is the discussion of the changes]

There has been some confusion between Margery, the daughter of the Nicholas de Criol who died in 1303, and Margery, the second wife and later widow of his father Nicholas de Criol (d.1273). The will dated 1319 is certainly that of the elder of these Margerys - the stepmother, not the widow, of Nicholas de Criol (d.1303). The younger Margery had licence to remarry, 30 June 1304 [Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1301-1307, p.236; her late husband's name is mistranscribed as John in the printed calendar, but is clearly Nicholas in the original roll].

Margery, the widow of Nicholas de Criol (d.1273) is described as such in a number of documents before the death of the younger Nicholas de Criol in 1303. In 1284-6, Margery de Cryoyl late the wife of Nicholas de Cryoyl held the manor of [Cherry] Hinton, Cambridgeshire [Feudal Aids, vol. 1, p. 135]. By an undated charter, a Margery de Kyriel gave a croft in Hinton to Ralph de Hyntone [British Library, Harl. Ch. 52 G 1], and in 1301 a Margery de Kyriel, apparently using the same seal, quitclaimed the manor and advowson of Easton Neston, Northamptonshire, to Geoffrey de Braddene and Katherine his wife [British Library, Add. Ch. 21856]. According to Baker's History and antiquities of the county of Northampton [vol. 2, p. 139], Lady "Margaret", widow of Sir Nicholas de Criol, had been enfeoffed in the manor and advowson in 1300 [citing Madox, Formulare Anglicanum, p. 90 (1702)].

Extracts from the will of Margery de Criol, dated at Irchester [Northamptonshire] 21 March 1319, were printed with notes in Bedfordshire Historical Record Society, vol. 14, pp. 83, 84. Clearly the testator is the elder Margery, as she makes provision for the souls of her daughter Catherine de Braddene. Provision is also made for the souls of her son Bertram and her daughter Margaret Hereward (a Robert Hereward, also apparently deceased, is also mentioned). She also mentions Elizabeth, the wife of Sir John de Pabenham - both of whom are living.

The elder Margery seems to have been married previously to Peter de St Martin and (by 1260) Peter Dansey (who was living in 1266), and previously to have appeared as Margery de Clifford in 1254 [Victoria County History, Buckinghamshire, vol. 4, p. 192]. Although the name of the Bertram who appears in her will suggests that he was her son by Nicholas de Criol (whose father was called Bertram), it is not clear whether Nicholas or Peter Dansey was the father of her daughters Catherine, Margaret and Elizabeth.

Margery's parentage is not quite clear. She was presumably closely related to the Richard Clifford, son and heir of Sir John de Clifford, who in 1313 surrendered his rights in various lands to Margery de Crioll, widow of Sir Nicholas de Crioll, Elizabeth, wife of Sir John Pabenham the elder and Margery Hereward, daughter and heir of Margaret, late the wife of Sir Robert Hereward [Baker, History and antiquities of the county of Northampton, vol. 1, p. 713; cf VCH Buckinghamshire, vol. 4, pp. 192, 193 and VCH Northamptonshire, vol. 4, p. 21]. Richard de Clifford and his brother William, rector of Irchester from 1268, and later bishop of Emly, had in 1289 transferred lands in Irchester, possibly in trust for Margery [VCH Northamptonshire, vol. 4, p. 21]. Provision is made in Margery's will for one "brother Richard de Clifford". It is possible, though unproved, that the Richard, son of John de Clifford, who appears in 1313 was the Richard de Clifford who succeeded his father John as lord of Frampton on Severn, Gloucestershire, by 1294 [VCH Gloucestershire, vol. 10, p. 144].

[The question of the two Margery de Criols was raised by MichaelAnne Guido in April, 2002. Mardi Carter pointed out the discussion of the Criols in the Bedfordshire Historical Record Society volume, where extracts from Margery's will were printed. Thanks for other contributions from Rosie Bevan, Tony Ingham and Doug Smith.]