Margaret (Marguerite, Margaride) de Bearn, Countess of Foix and Vicomtesse of Bearn....

Petitioners

Margaret (Marguerite, Margaride) de Bearn, Countess of Foix and Vicomtesse of Bearn.

Name(s)

de Bearn, Countess of Foix and Vicomtesse of Bearn, Margaret (Marguerite, Margaride)

Addressees

King and council.

Nature of request

Margaret, Countess of Foix and Vicomtesse of Bearn, makes eight requests:1) She states that the Seneschal, John de Hastynges, has withheld several letters of hers, although, at the king's request, she has made full restitution to the Lord of Lescun and Arnold de Dyngy of the lands that she holds from them. She asks that the letters might be returned.2) She requests letters patent to be able to plead in all the pleas in which she is implicated in the court of Saint-Sever and in all other courts of the Duchy of Guyenne by means of a proctor.3) She states that there has long been a bastide called Villefranche in the lordship of Bearn, and that the lord of Came has claimed part of the bastide's land in the court of Saint-Sever. She has shown sufficient evidence for the ownership of the land, but the Seneschal of Gascony has had an inquest held by the Seneschal of the Landes, without her knowledge and contrary to the custom of the land. She asks that the Seneschal and all the king's other judges in the Duchy might be ordered by the king's letters patent not to disturb her or the people of the bastide in their possession or seisin.4) She requests letters to the Seneschal and all the other judges in the Duchy not to disturb or hinder her people of Orthez and Bearn in their seisin and possession in the lands and woods of Salles and Padugir.5) She states that her father, Gaston de Bearn, and the people of Orthez bought a wood called Gardes, in the usage and property of the Vicomtes of Bearn and the people of the place, but that the Seneschals of Gascony have wished to build a new bastide there, to the prejudice of the Vicomtes and people. They ask for letters to the Seneschal of Gascony, to cease the construction of the bastide until the matter is determined in the court of Saint-Sever.6) She states that by the testament of Gaston de Bearn, Vicomte of Bearn, she has inherited the vicomte of Gabardan and the land of Captieux, and has done homage for the land. She requests a letter to the Seneschal not to put the land out of the hand of the Duke of Aquitaine until her right has been fully heard.7) She asks that the Seneschal might be ordered to keep the land of Riviere in Bigorre in the hand of the Duke of Aquitaine until Guilhelma de Moncade, her sister, pays the debts and bequests of their father, for the part that belongs to her.8) She asks that the Seneschal of Gascony might keep that land until she [Guilhelma] restores to the executors of her father's testament a land assigned to her in the realm of Mallorca, which is under judgment, and which she holds contrary to the will of the excutors and of her father.

Nature of endorsement

[On face, to first] He has kept them because she has built a bastide called Villefranche on the king's land, and other . . .[To second] This has been answered before, and a letter made][To third] The Seneschal is to be ordered that when the parties and the king's defenders have been called, he is to [examine] the letters concerning the bastider called Villefranche which has been built on the king's soil, and the trespass . . ., and when the lands of the heirs of Raymond Bernard de Caste have been returned, and the lands of the Lord of Lescun and the lands of Arnold de Dyngy, the king's letters that the Seneschal received are to be restored to her.[To fourth] This has been answered before, and she is to abide by that response.[To fifth] The Seneschal is to be that if sees that he can do it without doing prejudice . . . the king, he is to do it; if not, he is to do it in the way that is best to be done for the king's advantage.[To sixth] This has been answered before and a letter made.[To seventh] This has been answered before and a letter made.[To eighth] This has been answered before, and for this reason she is to comply with the previous decision.[On dorse] Entered.

Places mentioned

Foix, [France]

Bearn, [France]

Lescun, [Gascony, France]

Guyenne, [France]

Aquitaine, [France]

Labastide-Villefranche, [Gascony, France]

Came, [Gascony, France]

Saint-Sever, [Gascony, France]

Orthez, [Gascony, France]

Sales (Salles-Mongiscard), [Gascony, France]

Padugir [unidentified], [Gascony, France]

Riperie (Riviere), [Gascony, France]

Begoyre (Bigorre), [Gascony, France].

People mentioned

John de Hastynges (Hastings), Seneschal of Gascony

Lord of Lescun

Arnold (Arnaut) de Dyngy (Dingy)

Lord of Came

[Henry de Lacy], Earl of Lincoln

Amaneu de La Bret (Albret)

Gaston de Bearn, Vicomte of Bearn

Guilhelma de Moncade, sister of Margaret, Countess of Foix, Vicomtesse of Bearn

[Edward of Caernarfon], Duke of Aquitaine.

For another petition from the same petitioner, see no. 14 of C 47/25/2

For another petition from the same petitioner, see SC 8/187/9301