Maud de Badlesmere

She had two marriages/partners. Her first husband was Robert “Roger” FitzPaen, who she married in ABT 1316. The place has not been found. They had no known children.

Her second husband was John de Vere, who she married in BEF MAR 1335. The place has not been found. They had no known children.

Pedigree Chart (3 generations)

Maud de Badlesmere (c1310-1366)	Bartholomew de Badlesmere (1275-1322)	Guncelin de Badlesmere (c1236-1301)
		Guncelin de Badlesmere (c1236-1301)


	Margaret de Clare (c1275-?)

Events

Notes

Note 1

!Note: Robert FitzPaen [also recorded as de Northwood and de Baskerville] appears to have accompanied his close cousins John and William as they relocated to Kent in the mid-13th century. Like them, he acquired land in the area—most notably within the manor and parish of Whitstable, also called Northwood and Dodeham. The naming of the manor “Northwood” likely commemorates their ancestral lands in Shropshire, originally granted through Ysolda’s line. Robert’s son Roger FitzPaen married Maud de Badlesmere, who inherited the manor of Whitstable through her father and brother. Sir Richard Hawkins, descended from John, later held land in the same area. These overlapping inheritances point to a coordinated family settlement, suggesting that additional children or cousins of the Hawkins/Northwood line likely established themselves in Kent at the same time. This cluster marks the true origin of the Kentish Northwood name and line.

!Source: The visitation of Kent : taken in the years 1619-1621, page 202, by John Philipot, Rouge Dragon, Marshal and Deputy to William Camden, Clarenceux., edited Robert Hovenden, F.S.A., London 1989. [Public Library of Boston]

Arms. — Quarterly : 1 and 4, Argent, on a saUire sable five fleur-de-lis or ; 2 and 3,

Azure, a chevron, between three demi-lions couped or, Hammes. Chest. — On a mount vert a hind lodged or.

Andrew Hawkins had a faire estate within the libertie of Holdernes Inq. 17 E. 3. [1374]

Son: Richard Hawkins sold diuerse lands in >> Whitstable << to John Bedell A^ 20 R. 2. [1387]

Son: John Hawkins had lands at Boughton in Kent as appeareth by a release from John Langnath & Thomas Hayte to the same Jolin Hawkins & Joane his wife A" 4 et 7" Rici. 2

!Source: Wiltshire Record Society, ABSTRACTS OF FEET OF FINES RELATING TO WILTSHIRE FOR THE REIGN OF EDWARD III EDITED BY C. R. ELRINGTON

https://belnapfamily.org/Wiltshire_Records_Society_Feet_of_Fines_Abstracts_EdwardIII_v29.pdf

Quin. of Hil. — Quindena of Hilary Term — The court session two weeks after the Feast of St. Hilary — basically, late January or early February 1328.

pl. — plaintiff —The person bringing the case — here, John Mautravers the younger.

def. — defendant — The person holding or claiming the property — Maud, 18 years old, widow of Robert FitzPayn.

advowson — The right to appoint a parish priest to a benefic. A very valuable right attached to a manor; you could sell or lease it.

le Fitz — “the son” . Marks him as “Robert the son of Robert FitzPayn,” confirming your Robert III. holds in dower

Widow’s life interest — Maud holds the property for her lifetime as her widow’s portion. She can collect income but not sell it.

reversion — The right to take possession after a life tenancy end. Whoever buys the reversion gets the estate once the widow dies.

cons. 100 marks — Consideration of 100 marks — John Mautravers pays 100 marks for this right.

has done fealty — Formal oath of loyalty — Maud acknowledged she held the land from her overlord and swore the required oath.

Warrant_v. — Warrantia vocata — Indicates that a previous warrant or obligation was acknowledged in the case — basically, the legal paperwork’s fine print.

His widow Maud de Badlesmere still held the Manor of Pole and its church advowson as her dower, meaning for her lifetime.

Robert II FitzPaen , her late husband’s father, or the estate’s trustees likely sold or mortgaged the reversion, the right to the property after her death, to John Mautravers the younger, a powerful Marcher baron and royal official.

Mautravers sued or formally petitioned the king’s court, at York, to confirm his claim to that reversion, paying 100 marks for royal confirmation.

The court granted it, with Maud acknowledging her life interest and performing the standard fealty oath.

John Mautravers bought the reversion, meaning he would inherit the manor when she died.

The FitzPaen family effectively cashed out of that estate when Robert III died, before 1328. After that, the Pole estate belonged totally to Maud.

Source: Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, Second Edition.

[Original PDF: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/The_history_and_topographical_survey_of_the_county_of_Kent_%28IA_b28772155_0008%29.pdf]

The manor of Whitstaple, called formerly, as above mentioned, Northwood, alias Whistaple, together with the hundred and the church of Whitstaple appendant, seems to have been in very early times part of the possessions of the same owners as the barony of Chilham, and to have continued in like manner in the descendants of Fulbert de Dover.

In King Henry III’s time [1216-1272] I find it styled the manor of Northwood, alias Whitstaple, with the church of Northwood, appertaining to the barony of Chilham. And in the next reign of King Edward I, the manor of Whitstaple, which with its appendages of Northwood and Grafton, in this parish, had descended down in like manner as Chilham, to John, Earl of Athol.

He, being attainted and his lands confiscated, this manor, with its appurtenances, remained in the crown until Edward II, in his 5th year [1312], granted it to Bartholomew de Badlesmere, the rich Lord Badlesmere of Leeds. He, in the 9th year of that reign [1316], had a grant of free warren within this manor. But in the 15th year of that reign [1322], having joined the discontented barons, his lands were all seized, and the king granted this manor to David de Strabolgie, son of John, Earl of Athol, before mentioned, for his eminent services—for his life.

He had licence in the 18th year of that reign [1325] to impark his wood of Northwood, in his manor of Northwood, and died in the 1st year of Edward III [1327], upon which it reverted again to the crown. It was granted next year [1328] to Giles de Badlesmere, son of Bartholomew before mentioned, who had all his lands and manors restored to him. He died s.p. [sine prole, without issue] in the 12th year of that reign [1349], possessed of this manor, leaving his four sisters his coheirs.

Upon the division of their inheritance, >>> this manor of Whitstaple, alias Northwood, was allotted to Maud, widow of Roger FitzPain, and then the wife of John de Vere, Earl of Oxford. <<< His grandson Robert, Earl of Oxford, created Marquis of Dublin and Duke of Ireland, was by Parliament, in the 11th year of King Richard II, banished, and his estates confiscated, among which was this manor with the church appendant.

It seems to have been granted soon afterwards to Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, the king’s uncle, who, in the 17th year of that reign, settled this manor, as well as the church—being then held in capite with the king’s licence—on his newly-founded college of Fleshy, in Essex, to hold in free, pure, and perpetual alms. It continued with the college till the dissolution of it in the 27th year of King Henry VIII, when it came into the king’s hands as not having the clear revenue of two hundred pounds per annum…

!Note: So between Robert, earl of Oxford, and Thomas, duke of Gloucester, Richard Hawkins sold diverse lands in Whitstable to John Bedell. I believe these are the same place, but probably a different feoffment level.

Noted that Richard Hawkins sold "diverse lands" in Whitstable to John Bedell in 1387 [20 Richard II].

This transaction likely did not involve the manor itself, which was in capite [held directly from the king], but subinfeudated lands — i.e., parcels that had been granted to the Hawkins family as tenants or sub-tenants.

The Hawkins family held land within the manor of Northwood/Whitstable but were not lords of the manor itself. Their holdings may have been:

- A sub-feoffment, potentially dating from the early 1300s or even inherited through marriage or service — such as military service, fitting our working theory of service under Dover Castle or Northwode overlords.

Richard Hawkins’ 1387 sale shows that the family retained recognizable land in Whitstable, consistent with descent from Andrew Hawkins [b. abt 1270].

The absence of a recorded acquisition and the clear existence of their land in an established manor supports the argument that this land was retained property — likely dating back to the period when William de Hokeswod/Flegh/Hawkins gave up Hawkinge but kept Nash and Whitstable.

Maud de Badlesmere, Countess of Oxford [1310 – May 1366] was an English noblewoman, and the wife of John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford. She, along with her three sisters, was a co-heiress of her only brother Giles de Badlesmere, 2nd Baron Badlesmere, who had no male issue.

At the age of 11 she was imprisoned in the Tower of London along with her mother, Margaret de Clare, Baroness Badlesmere and her four siblings, after the former refused Queen consort Isabella admittance to Leeds Castle and ordered an assault upon her when she attempted entry.

Maud was born at Castle Badlesmere,[citation needed] Kent, England in 1310, the second[citation needed] eldest daughter of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere and Margaret de Clare. She had three sisters, Margery, Elizabeth, and Margaret; all of whom eventually married and had issue. She had one brother, Giles.

Her paternal grandparents were Guncelin de Badlesmere and Joan FitzBernard, and her maternal grandparents were Thomas de Clare, Lord of Thomond and Juliana FitzGerald of Offaly.

On 14 April 1322, when she was twelve years of age, Maud's father was hanged, drawn and quartered by orders of King Edward II, following his participation in the Earl of Lancaster's rebellion and his subsequent capture after the Battle of Boroughbridge. Maud, her siblings,[1] and her mother had been arrested the previous October after the latter had ordered an assault upon Queen consort Isabella after refusing her admittance to Leeds Castle where Baron Badlesmere held the post of governor.[2] Maud's mother, Baroness Badlesmere, remained imprisoned in the Tower of London until 3 November 1322,[3] although it is not known[citation needed] when Maud and her siblings were released. Her brother Giles obtained a reversal of their father's attainder in 1328, and he succeeded to the barony as 2nd Baron Badlesmere. Maud, along with her three sisters, was Giles's co-heiress, as he had married but fathered no children by his wife, Elizabeth Montagu.

In June 1316, Maud, aged six, married her first husband, Robert FitzPayn, son of Robert FitzPayn. Welsh historian R. R. Davies relates in his book, Lords and lordship in the British Isles in the late Middle Ages how her father, Lord Badlesmere, when drawing up the marriage contract, sought to provide for Maud's future by ensuring that she would have independent means. He granted her land worth 200 marks per year, and her future father-in-law was constrained to endow her with three manors and their revenues.[4] >>>> The marriage did not produce children <<<<; and on an unknown date sometime before March 1335 Maud married secondly, John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford. Upon her marriage, Maud assumed the title Countess of Oxford. John was a captain in King Edward III's army, and as such participated in the Battle of Crécy and the Battle of Poitiers.

John de Vere [December 1335- before 23 June 1350], married Elizabeth de Courtney as her first husband.

Thomas de Vere, 8th Earl of Oxford [1336- 18 September 1371], married Maud de Ufford, by whom he had a son Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford

Aubrey de Vere, 10th Earl of Oxford [1338- 15 February 1400], married Alice FitzWalter, by whom he had three children, including Richard de Vere, 11th Earl of Oxford

Elizabeth de Vere [died 23 September 1375], married firstly in 1341, Sir Hugh de Courtney, by whom she had one son, Hugh de Courtney, Lord Courtney; she married secondly John de Mowbray, 3rd Lord Mowbray; she married thirdly on 18 January 1369 Sir William Costyn

Margaret de Vere [died 15 June 1398], married firstly Henry de Beaumont, 3rd Baron Beaumont [4 April 1340 – 17 June 1369], the son of John de Beaumont, 2nd Baron Beaumont and Eleanor of Lancaster, by whom she had issue; she married secondly Sir Nicholas de Loveyne; she married thirdly after 1375 Sir John Devereux, by whom she had issue.

In June 1338, Maud's brother Giles died without leaving any legitimate issue. A considerable portion of the Badlesmere estates was inherited by Maud and her husband.

Maud died at the de Vere family mansion Hall Place in Earls Colne, Essex in May 1366 at the age of fifty-six years. Evidence given at the various inquisitions post mortem held after her death differ as to whether she died on the 19th, 23rd or 24th day of the month.[5] This source gives details of her numerous properties which were to be found in Essex and six other counties.

Note: The statement “The marriage did not produce children,” if true, would imply that Roger had surviving brothers or uncles to carry forward the FitzPaen name. Upon the death of her brother Giles de Badlesmere who died without issue in 1349, Maud received the manor of Whitstable [alias Northwood] as her share of the Badlesmere inheritance. This allotment was held in fee, not merely in dower, and later passed into the de Vere family line following her remarriage to John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford.

!Source: The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant,

Extinct, or Dormant G. E. Cokayne; new edition rev. Vicary Gibbs & H. A. Doubleday

Vol. V [Eardley of Spalding to Goojerat]. London: The St Catherine Press, 1926 [cancelling 1921 issue]

https://archive.org/details/CokayneG.E.TheCompletePeerageSecondEditionVolume5EAGO/page/n239/mode/2up

Marriage of Maud de Badlesmere Pat. Roll 10 Edw III p. 1 m. 36; Confirms Maud m. John de Vere [7th Earl of Oxford]; he b. 1312, d. France Jan 1359/60; she d. 24 May 1366

Maud de Badlesmere, widow of the boy Robert III FitzPaen, had married John de Vere, Earl of Oxford [1311/2–1359/60], dying 1366. Her marriage carried the Badlesmere and FitzPaen alliances into the Oxford peerage.

Page 455 links the closing generation of the FitzPaen barons to their two heiresses:

Through these marriages the Somerset–Dorset FitzPaen estates were absorbed into two major noble houses while retaining the arms and heritage of the original family. No trace appears of any northern [Lincolnshire or York] connection, further validating the exclusive southern-Marcher descent from Emma Paen de Northwood.

Maud de Badlesmere

Personal and Family Information

Pedigree Chart (3 generations)

Events

Notes

Note 1