which appear to have been considerable. (Note 4.) In 1387 he served in the wars in France, in the 1387. retinue of Richard, Earl of Arundel, Admiral of England. He was also summoned to Parliament 1381. from 1381 to 1401.* He married Ela, the daughter and coheir of Sir John St. Loe, Knight, and died May 15, 1401, leaving three sons, Richard, John, and Nicholas, of whom both the latter died without issue. By her testament, dated 1409, Ela bequeathed her body to be buried in the new chapel of Staverdale Priory, next to her husband's grave. She left her son Nicholas twenty pounds, her son John a set of beads of coral, garnished with gold, and made him her heir male, whilst Alice, her grand-daughter, was made her heir female.* Richard de St. Maur served in Ireland under Thomas, Duke of Surrey, the Lieutenant of that realm, in 1399. 1399, and afterwards in France, in 1402. He was summoned to Parliament from 1402 to 1407, and died the following year, leaving no male issue. His wife, Mary, received at his death a considerable 1408. dowry, and his daughter, Alice, inherited the remainder of his property. This daughter was born either just before or just after his death in the house of Thomas Cressy, citizen and mercer of London, in the parish of St. Laurence, in Cripplegate Ward, and was baptised in the church of St. Laurence. She married Sir William le Zouche, Knight, of Totnes, who performed fealty, and had livery of her lands.* Thus the elder of the two families started by Milo de St. Maur came to an end in an only daughter. We will therefore now go back to his second son, William, for from him apparently are descended the St. Maurs or Seymours of the present day. Sir William de St. Maur, Knight, was expressly called "of Penhow,"† which was one of the border castles in Monmouth erected against the Welsh, and which, as has been already noticed, had formed part of the possessions of the family for some time. These possessions Sir William evidently determined to increase, for, in 1235-6, he entered into an agree1235. ment with Gilbert Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, to wrest the Manor of Woundy or Undy (as it was called later) from a Welshman, Morgan ap Howell, Lord of Caerleon,* an attempt which appears to have been successfully carried out, the manor being subsequently divided between the Earl and Sir William. An old Latin record, which is transcribed in Vincent's manuscript baronage in the College of Arms, No. 20, says: "Gilbertus Marescallus, comes Pembrochiæ tenetur præbere domino Willo de S. Mauro consilium in quantum poterit, secundum leges Angliæ, ad perquirendum manerium de Woundy, de Morgano filio Hueli, tali conditione quod si præd; Willus dictus menerium perquirere poterit, dictus Gilbertus habebit medietatem dicti manerii, et aliam medietatem faciat extendi dicto Willo, per probos et legales homines ad hoc ex utraque parte electos ita quod pro qualibet summa 20 L. redditus dictus Gilbertus dabit Willo de S. Mauro decem libras. Et quod idem Willus de S. Mauro teneat medietatem dicti manerii in manu sua, donec inde plenam solutionem, sicut præscriptum est, receperit. Et si forte contigerit, quod idem Willus de consilio dicti Gilberti defecrit, dictus Willus de S. Mauro remaneat solutus et quietus de obligatione, quam dictus Gilbertus fecit super dictum manerium de Woundy." Sir William de St. Maur thus became possessed of the Manor of Undy in addition to that of Penhow.t The latter place he made his residence, and soon transformed it into a larger and more important castle, surrounded by a large park, both of which he named St. Maur. He also dedicated the church there to St. Maur, the patron * Notes on Penhow Castle. ↑ Dict. Nat. Biog., and J. R. Planché, Journ. Archæolog. Assocn., 13, 327-8. + Complete Peerage (Jacob). saint of the family,* who seems to have been of some importance in ancient days, for even now churches are to be found abroad that were dedicated to him. Camden, in his chronicles of events in Ireland, 1361, also mentions him: "On the feast of St. Maur the Abbot, there happened a violent wind, that shook or blew down the pinnacles, chimneys, and such other buildings as overtopped the rest; trees without number and several steeples; particularly the steeple of the Friar's Preacher's." (Note 5.) Sir William's signature appears as witness to two charters of Gilbert Marshall, and to three of Walter Marshall, two being undated, and the third bear1245. ing the date 1245. He married the 3rd daughter of William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, but nothing more is to be found about him except that his son, Roger, is mentioned as succeeding him. Sir Roger de St. Maur inherited his father's possessions at Undy and Penhow. He is mentioned as Lord 1269. of the Manor of the former in 1269. He died before 1300, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Roger. (Note 6.) It is at this period that we first find mention made of the arms of the St. Maur family which, from a seal appendant to a grant of messuage to Thomas Elliot, of the chapel of Undy, surrounded by this inscription : "Sigill, Rogerii de Seimour," appear to have consisted of two angel's wings, joined, tips downward. In an MS. of Percy Enderby, which was in the possession of S. R. Bosanquet, Esq., in 1867, he records that in the "South windows at Penhow there were in the centre the arms of Seymour, Gules, 2 wings conjoined, or." In his History of Modern Wiltshire, vol. i, p. 115, Sir Richard Colt Hoare says: "Percy Enderby, in his book entitled * Complete Peerage (Jacob). † Notes on Penhow Castle. Augustine Vincent's Manuscript Baronage, 1613. |