Egerton MS 3041

THE RIDWARE CHARTULARY. Chartulary of the Ridware family, lords of Seal, co. Derb. (but formerly in co. Leic.), compiled 2 Edw. II [1308-1309] for Thomas, son of Walter de Ridware (f. 3 b), with contemporary and subsequent (14th cent.) additions and insertions. Latin and French. The manuscript contains copies of deeds and other evidences, 11th-14th centt., relating to the lands of the family in Seal, Ridware, co. Staff., Frilsham, co. Berks, Kettlebaston, co. Suff., Roston, co. Derby, and other places in the counties named, arranged mainly topographically. On ff. 42 b-53 is material, partly added, relating to litigation, etc., 1250-1283 and n.d., of Matilda, daughter of Nicholas Peche and widow of Sir Walter de Ridware, conceming her patemal inheritance. The earliest datable document copied (f. 36b) is a writ of William II (H. W. C. Davis, Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, i, 1913, no. 456; cf. J. H. Round, Engl. Hist. Rev., xxix, 1914, p. 354; since the scribe has inserted a small marginal 'w' as a guide to the rubricator of the initial capitals, William II, not Henry I, is clearly intended); and the latest (f. 65) is an addition dated 21 Edw. III [1347-1348]. As originally compiled, the chartulary appears to have begun at f. 9, with material relating to Seal, and to have ended at f. 55b. Miscellaneous additions and insertions (mainly temp. Edw. II) at the beginning (ff. 1-8), end (ff. 56-67) and on blank leaves, etc., elsewhere in the volume, include:-(i) Narrative, in Latin and French, of a dispute, 12th-13th cent., between William le Seneschall al. Le Sage, of Ridware, and the Prior of Lapley, co. Staff., ostensibly copied from 'une veyl escrouwe [scroll]' and incorporating information about the early history of the Ridware family, beg. 'Ili avoit un homme qe fu apele Asser geun'. ff. 4, 3b;-(ii) A table of the contents of ff. 7b-59b, etc., in a hand which appears also to have begun a serial roman numeration of the entries from f. 7 b. ff. 6-7;-(iii) Charters of Edward II, granting to Thomas de Ridware (a) Free Warren in all his demesne lands, 28 Aug., 6 Edw. II [1312], see Cal. Charter Rolls, iii, P. 195. f. 7b;-(b) A market, fair, etc., in Seal, 12 Mar., 4 Edw II[1311], see ibid.,p.165. f.8b;-(iv) A note, in French, of the beating of bounds between Ridware Hamstall and Nethertown, 3 May, 13 Edw. I [1285]. f. 7b;-(v) Fragments of three original terrier rolls relating to Seal, etc., 14th, 15th centt. ff. 65-67. The manuscript has been edited, with a complete abstract of the contents, by I. H. Jeayes and G. Wrottesley, 'The Rydeware Chartulary', Coll. Hist. Staffordshire (Wm. Salt Arch. Soc.), xvi, 1896, pp. 229-302; it had previously been described by J. Nichols, Hist. Leicester, iii, part II, 1804, pp. 999-1007, etc. (with extracts), and by I. H. Jeayes, Descriptive Catalogue of the Charters and Muniments of the Gresley family, 1895, pp. 112-119. See also Brit. Mus. Quart., ii, 1927-1928, pp. 97-98. Vellum; ff. ii+ 73. 11 in. x 8 in. A.D. 1308-I309, with later (14th cent.) additions. Gatherings, i⁸, ii-iv^l2, v⁴, vi⁵ (lacks 6), remainder irregular. Written in several elegant charter hands with red titles and initial letters (both uncompleted); for the latter have been substituted, in a number of instances (ff. 5-37 passim), contemporary pen drawings of the grantors of charters, that of Edward II (f. 8b) recalling his Great Seal (A. B. and A. Wyon, Great Seals of England, pl. viii, no. 49). Other pen drawings in the margins include illustrations of the subjects of grants, viz. woodland, with birds, f. 15; woodland, houses and assart, f. 26b; sheep-pasture and woodland, f. 27; and, more elaborately, a satirical animal scene (f. 20b), depicting the hunted carrying their hunters captive, which is reproduced by Jeayes and Wrottesley, op. cit., plate opp. p. 229, and by Jeayes, op. cit. A marginal plummet sketch (f. 24b) of a charter with armorial seal attached was apparently intended to direct the artist to his model for a representation of the arms within an initial. Most of the drawings are reproduced, with descriptive notes (f. ii) by M. Gresley, in the Anastatic Drawing Society, volume for 1860, p. 8 and pls. xlv-xlvii. ff. 68-70 are insertions, apparently cut from an early 16th cent. book of arms on vellum, containing representations in tincture of the arms of 'James Washing[ton]', 'Harvysse Cressye ar.', 'Edwarde Vavasor a[r.]', and 'Walter Pulline ar.' Brown stamped leather binding over wooden boards, by James Hayday (f. i), 19th cent. The chartulary apparently passed, circ. 1600, with the manor of Seal, into the hands of the Gresley family, Barts., of Drakelowe, co. Derby. Sotheby's sale-cat., 7-9 Nov. 1927, lot 445.