t

Again, in the 7th Edward I., being summoned to shew by what warrant he claimed to have free warren and free chace, in certain towns of Sussex, &c. he replied, that King John having granted a recompence to his father for the loss of the honour of Warren, in Normandy, that king had at that time granted that his family should have all their lands in warrenage, and possess free warren therein, because of their surname De Warren. In the 10th Edward I. the king granted to John, Earl of Warren, the Castle of Dynas-Bran, (an ancient castle, the remains of which are still seen, seated on the summit of a romantic mountain, near the beautiful river Dee, at Llangollen), with the lordships of Bromfield and Yale. Fabyan says, "In thys 10 yere the kyng herying more and more of the unstedfastnes of the Walshe-men, for to let them of theyr purpose to greve hys holdes, he sente thyder with a crewe of sowdyours, the erles of Northumberland and of Surrey, whyche with greate corage entrede into Walys, and made with the Walshe-men many skyrmysshes, tyll lastly, upon Palme Sonday, Davyd with a great power of Walshe-men, met with the sayd lordes, and knyghtes, at a place nere to a towne called Havardyne, where betwene them was a sore fyght, but in the ende the losse fyll to the Englysshmen.” In the 24th Edward I., the Earls of Warren and Warwick defeated the Scots at Dunbar, who

suffered a loss of ten thousand men in the battle; the Castle of Dunbar fell into Warren's hands, with some Scottish lords. The Earl of Warren was appointed chief justice and governor of Scotland, by Edward I., and resided in Bothwell Castle, on the Clyde. He was defeated at Stirling Bridge, in 1297, by the hero Wallace; and immediately repaired to London, to crave assistance; and subsequently posted himself near Roxburgh Castle and Berwick, for the defence of those places.

An ancient French heraldic poem, describing Soissant et vingt et sept banieres, eighty-seven banners of the knights, who were with Edward I., on the capture of the strong Castle of Caerlaverock, runs thus: "John, the good Earl of Warren, the justiciary and governor, commanded the other wing, as well knowing to lead a noble and honourable company; of gold and azure, nobly chequered was his banner; he had in his troop, Henri de Perci, who seemed to have made a vow to humble the Scots; his banner was conspicuous, with a blew lion rampant, on a yellow field." He held a command in the army of Edward I., during the entire Scotch war. By his Countess Alice, daughter of Hugh le Brun, he had a son William, who was killed in a tournament at Croydon, Dec. 15, 1286. John, Earl of Warren, died at Kennington, A. D. 1304: he was buried before the high-altar, at Lewes, in the midst of

the pavement; on his tomb-stone was the following epitaph:

Vous qe passez, ou bouche close
Priez pur cely ke cy repose:

En vie come vous estis jadis fu,

Et vous tiel serretz come je su.

Sire Johan count de Gareyn gyst ycy;
Dieu de sa alme eit mercy,

Ky pur sa alme priera

Troitz mill jours de pardon avera.

Alice, Countess of Warren, was interred in front of the high-altar; on her tomb a dragon, with a branch held in its mouth, was sculptured *.

Of their children, William married Joan, daughter of Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford; she died in 1293, and was buried under an high tomb, in her husband's grave, before the high-altar; Eleanor married Henry, Lord Percy, whose son, Henry de Percy, is mentioned above, as accompanying John de Warren, in the Scotch war; Isabel married John de Baliol, King of Scotland, and had a son, Edward de Baliol.

John, the eighth Earl of Warren and Surrey,

Jacet coram magno altari Lewen., sub una petra marmorea et sculpta in modem unius draconis producentis ramum ex ore suo.-Lewes Register.

son of William, succeeded his grandfather, the seventh Earl. He married Joan, daughter of Henry, Earl of Bar, and of Eleanor, daughter of Edward I. He received a grant of the Castle and honour of Peak, in Derbyshire, with the forest of the High Peak, le Frith, to hold during his life, in as ample a manner as William Peverell enjoyed the same before it came to the crown by escheat, on account of William Peverell having poisoned the Earl of Chester, in 1153. William I. granted the honour of the Peak to William Peverell. In the 9th Edward II., the Earl of Warren was excommunicated by the Bishop of Chichester, for his intercourse with Maud de Nerford; and with armed retainers in his company, threatening the bishop, that prelaté attacked him and imprisoned him. A. D. 1315, 21st Maye, "a motion of divorse betwixt Dame Joanne de Baars vel Barre, the kinge's coosen, and her lord John, erl of Surrey, enforced by Maude de Nereforde against the erl for nerenes of blood, &c. This did Dame Mawde de Nereforde follow against t' erl and countisse."Tower Records.

This divorce took place. This Earl having given great assistance to his relation, Edward Baliol, when the Scots revolted against him, was created by Baliol, a Scottish peer, receiving a grant of the Earldom of Stratherne. He finally

married Isabel de Houland; died A. D. 1347, and was buried near the high-altar, under a raised tomb *.

His sister Alice married Edmund Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, and carried the earldom of Surrey into that family; her son Richard Fitz-Alan, succeeded to the united titles of Arundel and Surrey. This Earl Richard married Eleanor, daughter of Henry, Earl of Lancaster, who died in 1372, and the Earl of Arundel and Surrey died in 1375; they were buried in the chapter-house at Lewes. In a window of the chancel of Arundel Castle, were the figures of this earl and countess; the rich coronet on Earl Richard's head, is given in Dugdale's Baronage, Vol. I. p. 318, and on his tabard were depicted the arms of Fitz-Alan and Warren, quartered; but it appears that the title of Earl of Warren was laid aside by this family; Eleanor Plantagenet, his wife, had the royal arms on her under-garment, and those of Fitz-Alan and Warren on her upper robe. Their son Richard Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, was beheaded in 1375, in the reign of Richard II. His lordship of Lewes was restored to his son, Thomas Fitz-Alan, Earl of

* John, the eighth Earl, it is said, built the gateway of Lewes Castle, which is similar to the gates and towers built at this period, and is more modern than the keep. A gold florin was discovered by some workmen amongst the foundation stones of the castle gateway..