General Notes

BARONY OF DEINCOURT (I)

SIR EDMUND DEINCOURT, of Blankney and Branston, co. Lincoln, Holmesfield and Elmton, co. Derby, Granby, Notts, Duddington, Northants, &c., son and heir of Sir John DEINCOURT, of Blankney, &c. (who died before 14 October 1257) (c), by Agnes, daughter of Sir Geoffrey DE NEVILLE, of Raby, co. Durham (d). The King took his homage, though he was still a minor, on or before 8 January 1268/9. He was in the Army of Wales in 1277, 1282, and 1294, and in the Army of Scotland in 1299. He was summoned for Military Service from 16 April 1291 to 1 May 1325, to attend the King wherever he might be, 8 June 1294, to attend the Coronation, 18 January 1307/8, to Councils from 8 January 1308/9 to 20 February 1324/5, and to Parliament from 6 February 1298/9 to 3 December 1326 by writs directed Edmundo Deyncurt or Deyncourt, whereby he is held to have become LORD DEINCOURT. He did homage for his lands in Burnby, co. York, to three successive Archbishops of York, 1299, 18 July 1300, and 3 May 1310. As Edmundus de Eyncourt dominos de Thurgerton', he took part in the Barons' Letter to the Pope, 12 February 1300/1. He was one of those ordered, 3 September 1312, to prohibit the Earl of Lancaster and others from repairing to the King with horses and arms. By a fine, levied in the octaves of St. Michael he conveycd the manor and soke of Blankney, with the advowson of the chapel there, the manors of Branston, Mere, and Granby, a messuage in the bail of Lincoln, the advowsons of the Priory of Thurgarton and the Hospital of St. Leonard at Stoke, and the manors of Holmesfield and Elmton, save a messuage, &c., in Elmton, to himself for life: remainder to William son of John Deincourt, remainder to John brother of the same William, in successive tail general: remainder to his own right heirs. By another fine, of the same date, he conveyed the said messuage, &c., in Elmton, to himself for life: remainder to Hamon de Mascy and Joan his wife [late the wife of Edmund son of John Deincourt], for her life: remainder to Isabel daughter of Edmund son of John Deincourt, in tail male: remainder to his own right heirs. He married Isabel, daughter of Sir Reynold DE MOHUN, of Dunster, Somerset, by his 2nd wife Isabel, daughter of William (DE FERRERS), EARL OF DERBY. He died 6 January 1326/7.  [Complete Peerage IV:118-20, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

(c) This John had livery of his lands, 19 Sep 1246, and was son and heir of Oliver (who had livery in 1217), by Nichole, to whom Nichole (1st daughter and coheir of Richard de la Haye, and wife of Gerard de Caunville) gave Duddington in free marriage; which Oliver was son and heir of Oliver (aged 24 in 1186, m. Amabel, and d. in or bef. 1201), son and heir of John (who had livery in 1167-8, and d. 6 Nov 1183), by Alice, sister of Ralph Murdac.  John was son and heir of Walter son and heir of Ralph (who m. Basilie), son and heir of Walter d'Aincurt, the Domesday lord of Blankney.

(d) This Agnes was widow of Richard de Percy, of Topcliffe, co. York, who d. shortly bef. 18 Aug 1244.  She was his 2nd wife.  The Lady Agnes de Percy gave the manor of Steeping, co. Lincoln, to Edmund d'Eyncourt her son and heir, and his heirs, by deed dated 20 Edward I.  She d. bef. 20 July 1293.  The effigy on her seal wears a dress charged with billets and a fesse dancette, and holds up two shields, the dexter charged with 5 fusils conjoined in fesse, the sinister with a saltire.

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Edmund, 8th baron, who obtained that remarkable license above mentioned [see Walter de Ayncourt] from Edward II. He signed, 12 February, 1301, 29th Edward I, the celebrated letter sent by the barons, assembled in parliament at Lincoln, to Pope Boniface VIII, denying his jurisdiction in temporal affairs, and denying that Scotland was a fief of the Roman see. The duplicate of this letter exists amongst the pubic archives, and the seal of "Edmundus de Eyncourt" thereto appended, is in good preservation and was engraved in 1729, in the 1st vol. of the "Vetusta Monumenta." Baron Edmund was also present, 33rd Edward I [1305], when the king refused permission to the bishop of Durham to present a foreign bishop, on the Pope's recommendation, to the priory of Coldingham. He had two sons, John and William, who were with the feudal army at Carlisle, 29th Edward I [1301], in the place of their father, and figure in the roll of Caerlaverock where John, it is said, 'mult bien fist son devoir." He d. v.p., and subsequently, William, a commander of distinguished valour, was killed 23 June, 1314, 7th Edward II, before the Castle of Stirling, on the eve of the battle of Bannockburn.

Baron Edmund's eldest son, John, left three sons, Edmund, who also d. in the baron's lifetime; William (afterwards 9th baron), and John. Edmund, the grandson, left a dau., Isabel, and the object of the above-mentioned license was to vest the estates in her uncle, William, next brother of her father, Edmund, in order to prevent the barony descending to her and thus passing, in case of her marriage, to another name and family. The youngest brother, John, represented Lincolnshire in parliament, 11th Edward III [1338], and Nottinghamshire, 14th Edward III. Baron Edmund d. 20th Edward II [1327] at a very advanced age. He had immense possessions with great weight and authority; he was prominent in the chief events of his time and attended his sovereigns on all important occasions of war or council. On his decease, his son John, and his grandson Edmund, being dead, and the great-granddau. Isabel being also dead, without issue, William, 9th Lord d'Eyncourt, s. his grandfather, when twenty-six years of age, as heir by descent as well as by virtue of the licensed entail. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, England, 1883, p. 170, d'Eyncourt, Barons d'Eyncourt]