General Notes

Also the I Lord Ros of Helmsley.William was one of competitors for the Scottish throne, through his great-grandmother Isabel, natural daughter of William the Lion, King of Scotland. He was subsequently engaged in the wars of Gascony and Scotland, and discovering the intention of his kinsman, Robert de Roos, then Lord of Werke, to deliver up the Castle to the Scots, he lost no time in apprising the king, who thereupon dispatched him with 1,000 men to defend that place, but the Scots attacking this force upon its march cut it to pieces. When Edward I, himself advancing from New Castle-Upon-Tyne, soon obtained possession of the fort and appointed Lord Roos its Governor, allowing him during his absence in Gascony to nominate his brother Robert, his Lieutenant. In a short time, after he had a grant of this castle, with its appurtenances, forfeited by the treason of his before-mentioned kinsman, and for several subsequent years, his lordship was actively engaged in Scotland. He married Maud, or Matilda, one of the daughters and co-heirs of John de Vaux, who brought him the Manor of Fenton and lands in Boston in County Lincoln.