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Eleanor Fitz John, the widow of Herbert Fitz John. Fitz John Eleanor King and council....

Catalogue reference: SC 8/17/812

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This record is about the Eleanor Fitz John, the widow of Herbert Fitz John. Fitz John Eleanor King and council.... dating from [1330-1331] in the series Special Collections: Ancient Petitions. It is held at The National Archives, Kew.

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Full description and record details

Reference
SC 8/17/812
Date
[1330-1331]
Description
Petitioners
Eleanor Fitz John, the widow of Herbert Fitz John.
Name(s)
Fitz John, Eleanor
Addressees
King and council.
Nature of request
Eleanor the widow of Herbert son of John states that her husband, with his father's assent, dowered her at the door of the church of Harescombe, when he married her, with a third of the manor of Barnsley, in Gloucestershire, together with other lands and tenements. She sued in parliament at Westminster, in the first year of the king's reign, to have her dower from the manor of Barnsley, and an inquiry was ordered, held and returned in Chancery. But the king gave Barnsley to Edmund earl of Kent, so Eleanor was told to sue to him. She brought a writ of dower against him, but this was quashed by the death of Edmund. The manor is now in the king's hand, and Eleanor has been kept from her dower for eight years or more, since the death of her husband. She requests a remedy.
Nature of endorsement
Coram rege.Because the son of the Earl of Kent has been granted right of inheritance by the king and his council in full parliament, she is to sue to him for her dower at common law.
Places mentioned
Harescombe, [Gloucestershire]
Barnsley, [Gloucestershire]
Westminster.
People mentioned
Herbert son of John (Fitz John)
John son of Reginald (Fitz Reginald), father of Herbert
Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent.
Note
CCR 1330-3 p.231 is dated at Havering-atte-Bower, 8 May 1331; CCR 1330-3 p.232 is dated at Havering-atte-Bower, 11 May 1331. Edmund Earl of Kent was executed on 19 March 1330, and his son Edmund restored on 7 December 1330; he died before 5 October 1331. It is probably this son to whom the endorsement refers, in which case the petition can be dated to between December 1330 and October 1331. It is just possible that the son referred to is Edmund's younger brother John, who succeeded him, but in that case the reference to king and parliament granting right of inheritance, without mention of the elder brother to whom it was granted, would seem odd.
Related material

For another petition by the same petitioner concerning her dower, see SC 8/168/8386

For another petition from the same petitioner about her dower, see SC 8/257/12805

For another petition by the same petitioner about her dower, see SC 8/111/5535

For another petition from the same petitioner, see SC 8/54/2680

For transcript, see no.21 of PRO 31/7/96

For a related petition by the same petitioner, see SC 8/172/8578

Held by
The National Archives, Kew
Former department reference
Parliamentary Petition 3544
Legal status
Public Record(s)
Language
French
Closure status
Open Document, Open Description
Publication note(s)
  • Calendar of Close Rolls, Edw III, vol. II, 1330-1333, (Public Record Office, 1898), p.231 (instructions to the countess of Kent not to intermeddle with certain manors, including two-thirds of Bardesleye (sic), granted to Edmund, son and heir of her late husband); p.232 (order to escheator to deliver some other lands to the petitioner)
  • Rotuli Parliamentorum; ut et Petitiones, et Placita in Parliamento, vol. II, Edw III, (Record Commission, 1783), p.409a (no. 174) (similar petitions from same petitioner concerning other manors)
Record URL
https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C9060953/

Series information

SC 8

Special Collections: Ancient Petitions

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Eleanor Fitz John, the widow of Herbert Fitz John. Fitz John Eleanor King and council....

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