ROGER DE MOWBRAY, being under age when the death of his father Nigel took place, was a ward of King Stephen; in the third year of whose reign, though in his minority, he was one of the Barons who met at York, to consult with Archbishop Thurston, for the defence of the north, then invaded by David King of Scotland, Roger took the chief command in the battle which was fought near North-Allerton, † and in which the English obtained a complete victory over the Scottish forces. In the seventh year of Stephen, A. D. 1142, Roger, adhering § to the King against the Empress Maud, was taken prisoner at the battle of Lincoln, but soon afterwards regained his liberty. In the thirteenth of Stephen, A. D. 1148, Roger attended Lewis, King of France, to the Holy Land ‡. In the twelfth of Henry the Second, Roger ** was certified to hold eighty-eight knights' fees,†† a third and fourth part de veteri feoffamento, and eleven knights' fees, and three parts, de novo;" for which, upon levying §§ the aid for marrying the King's daughter, he paid sixty-eight pounds, sixteen shillings, and fourpence. In the twentieth of Henry the Second, Roger, to support the cause of Prince Henry, who wished to reign either over England, or Normandy, Anjou, and Maine, repaired his castle at Kinardfere, in the Isle of Axholme, which had been long ruinous, and fortified all his other strong places; but Geoffrey, bishop elect of Lincoln, and the King's natural son, having collected the forces of Lincolnshire, laid seige to Kinardfare castle and destroyed it. This Rich. Hagushald, 320. 15. + This was called the battle of the Standard, from a remarkable standard erected on a machine with wheels, in the centre of the English army. See Note in Henry's History of England. § Hagushald, 320. 18. S. Dunelm, 276. 3. ** Lib. Rub. in Scacc. Ebor. ++ This was money paid by those who wished to exempt themselves from military service, the sum demanded temp. Henry II for each knight's fee was three pounds. Gervas Chron. c. 1381. §§ Rot. Pip. 14 Henry II, Ebor, This took place in the year 1173*. Roger perceiving the badness of his cause and repenting of the baseness of his conduct for encouraging the Prince against his father, hastened to the King, who was then at Northampton, confessed his fault, and implored in the most submissive manner the royal pardon, surrendering his castles at Thirsk and Kirkby Malesard. The royal clemency was extended towards him; but lest his contrition should not be sincere, the King ordered his castles to be immediately destroyed, and thus put it out of his power either to offer them as places of strength to others, or of defence and refuge for himself, should rebellion again break out in the kingdom. After this he continued firm in his allegiance and attachment to the throne. The charities and bequests of Roger de Mowbray were as numerous as his possessions were extensive. At the instance of his mother, Gundreda, he founded the Abbey of Byland † for Cistertian monks, in the year 1145, and also the Abbey of Newburgh for Canons Regular of St. Augustine, to which he appropriated the Churches of Haxey, Owston, Epworth, and Belton, with all the lands and tythes belonging to them, situated in the Isle of Axholme. Roger de Mowbray founded a Preceptory at Balshal, in the County of Warwick, for Knights Templars, and endowed it with certain lands in the Isle of Axholme, and with the Manor of Kettleby, in Lincolnshire. This raised him so high in the estimation of that order, that they unanimously granted to him and his heirs the power of releasing any of the Templars' fraternity, under the sentence of public penance, for any offence whatever, on expressing their contrition§. In the early part of the reign of Henry the Second, Roger bestowed Sandtoft upon the Abbey of St. Mary's, at York; to the Hospital of St. Leon *Camden's Britannia. Anglia Sacra, c. p. 378. R. Hoveden, p. 307. W. Newbrigen, c. 2. c. 32. ards Benedict Abbas, p. 73. † Byland, olim Debellalanda, Begeland, Rot. Pip. 16, Henry 2.- Beckand, Sim. Dunelm, A. D. 1138. § For a more enlarged detail of these endowments, see Dugdale's Mon. Ang. Vol. 2, p. 193, 528. ards, the ninth sheaf of all his corn throughout his lordships in England; and, amongst other Hospitals which were founded and endowed by Roger, that of Burton Lazars claimed particular notice, being the chief of all the spittles and lazar houses in England, but dependant on the great one at Jerusalem. It was founded for eight sound, as well as for several poor leprous brethren, and was dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary and St. Lazarus*. Several other endowments were made by this munificent and pious nobleman to charitable institutions and religious establishments. During his stay in the Holy Land, Saladin taking advantage of the differences between Guy de Lusignan and the Earl of Tripolis, entered the Holy Land with an army of Turks, and utterly defeated the Christians. Roger de Mowbray was taken prisoner, and shortly after, having been ransomed by the Templars, he died † abroad, and was buried at Sures, leaving issue by his wife, Alice de Gant, two sons, Nigel and Robert. NIGEL, like his father, had a great predilection for the holy wars; and being signed with the cross for an expedition into those parts, died before his arrival there, in the third year of the reign of Richard the First, 1191. Whether his journey was for the purpose of rescuing Palestine from the hands of the infidels, or whether he was one of those who went by the authority of the Pope, to dethrone the Christian Emperor of Constantinople, cannot now be ascertained. Whatever was the object of his journey, he did not live to reach the end of it. He left four sons, William, Robert, Philip, and Rogers, by Mabel, his wife, daughter to the Earl of Clare. Though his * Its possessions, 26 Hen. VIII, were valued at £265 10s. 2d. per ann. and the house itself was granted to John Dudley, Lord Lisle, 36 H. 1. See Tanner's Notitia, Leicestershire, Art. 3. † Dugdale relates the following extraordinary event to have happened to Roger de Mowbray, which was no doubt firmly credited in the times of monkish superstition. Roger wearied with the wars of the Holy Lands, was returning to England. In his journey he found a dragon fighting with a lion, in the valley of Saranell; he mortally wounded the dragon, by which he so far gained the regard of the lion, that it followed him to his castle at Hode, in England. After this he lived fifteen years. § Roger, son of Nigel de Mowbray, in the twefth year of John's reign, obtained a grant from the his charities were not so extensive as those of his father, he performed many deeds which showed that he possessed great feeling and liberality. WILLIAM, eldest son and heir, was his father's successor; and in the sixth of Richard the First, 1194, paying £100 for his relief, had livery of his lands. In the time of King John, he was the most resolute of the barons who took up arms to compel that weak prince to sign Magna Charta, June 9th, 1215. After the death of King John, he espoused the cause of Prince Lewis of France against Henry the Third, and was among those taken prisoners at the decisive battle fought in the streets of Lincoln; but, through the interposition of Robert de Burgh, his submission was received. He retired to his possessions in the Isle of Axholme, where he died in 1222; and his body was taken for interment to the Abbey of Newburgh. His wife was Agnes, daughter of the Earl of Arundel, by whom he had two sons, Nigel and Roger. In this history of the lineal descendants of the house of Mowbray, we perceive that, whether engaged at home or abroad, whether advocating the royal cause or supporting the measures of the disaffected, they always took a leading part, and frequently displayed considerable courage and resolution. But individuals like nations have their periods of tranquillity and peace; and the sons of the last mentioned William seem to have been but little engaged in state affairs. NIGEL DE MOWBRAY, in the eighth of Henry the Third, paying £500 for his relief, had livery of his lands; but he died soon after, in 1228, leaving no issue; and was buried at Nantes in Brittanny. His wife was Maud, daughter and heir to Roger de Camvil. ROGER, his brother, succeeded to his property; and was one of the barons Henry appointed to command the army which he sent into Scotland, to assist the King of that country against the rebels: and when Henry went to Chester, to subdue the Welch, Roger attended him. Roger married Maud, daugh ter King, of Swansham, Fulburn, and Cotesey, which were the lands of Allan de Roan. Roger dying without children, these were afterwards inherited by his brother William, ter to William de Beauchamp, of Bedford, by whom he had issue Roger, Robert, Andrew, John, Edmund, and William; and also three daughters, whose names are not mentioned. Being fond of domestic ease, he retired to his domains in the Isle of Axholme, where, in the 51st Hen. III. A. D. 1226, he breathed his last, and was buried at Pontefract. ROGER, his eldest son, in the sixth year of Edward the First, on doing his homage, had livery of his whole inheritance, and had summons to the Parliaments of the twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-fourth, and twentyfifth of Edward the First *. He was one of the King's attendants when he went into Flanders; but dying at Ghent, his body was brought over for interment to England, where it was buried in the Abbey of Fountains, A. D. 1299. Roger was married to Rose, sister † to Gilbert Earl of Clare, by whom he had several sons. JOHN, the eldest, being a minor on the death of his father, was given in ward to William de Breos§, whose daughter Aliva he married. John * Roger de Mowbray was one of the barons summoned by Edward the First to sit on the trial of David, the Welsh Prince, at Shrewsbury, when that brave but unfortunate sovereign was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, for defending the liberties of his native country and his own hereditary authority. But perhaps we may feel less commiseration for his fate, when we recollect that, on being dispossessed of his inheritance by his brother Llewellyn, he had sought and received the protection of Edward, and assisted all the efforts of that Prince to enslave his countryThis is alluded to in the summons: "Et quia vobiscum, qui, ut prædiximus circa expugna tione dictorum fratrum et suorum complicum, dampna, labores, sumptus una nobis sustenuistis, colloquio habito, intendimus ordinare quid de David fieri debet, memorato (quem susceperamus exulem nutriveramus orphanum ditaveremus de propriis terris nostris, et sub alarum nostrarum clamide foveramus, ipsum inter majores palatii nostri collocantes." men. † Hornby, in his Remarks on Dugdale's Errors, says, she was not a daughter but great-granddaughter to Rich. de Clare, Earl of Hertford. § Jones, in his History of Brecknockshire, Vol. 1. p. 95, observes, that this last William de Breos, or Braose, was a most abandoned and dissipated spendthrift, defrauded his son, John de Mowbray, of the lands of Gower, on whom he had settled them, and cheated his creditors by mortgaging them three times over, and at last sold them to three different persons at the same time, none of whom obtained possession, although all paid him the purchase-money, |