A TABLE of the LORDS of LEWes Castle, &c.

1492 George, Lord Abergavenny, son of the preced- 1489 Thomas Howard E. of ing.

1535 Henry, Lord Abergavenny, son of the preced- 1546 On the attainder of the ing.

1723 Edward, Lord Abergavenny, brother to the pre-1732 Edward, D. of Nor

1744 George, Lord Abergavenny, son of the preced-1777 Charles, D. of Norfolk, ing, created Viscount and Earl Abergavenny in 1784.

1785 Henry, Earl of Abergavenny, son of the pre-1786 Charles, D. of Norfolk, ceding, is the present Lord of one moiety of the Barony of Lewes.

'John de Warren died without lawful issue and his only sister Alice having married Edmund Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, the barony and lordship of Lewes passed into his family in right of his wife. The earl himself was beheaded at Bristol in 1326; and on the death of the Earl of Warren in 1347, the son of his sister Alice, Richard Fitz-Alan, succeeded to his titles and estates. on the 24th of of January, 1375, and was buried in the Chapter-house of Lewes Priory.

2

He died

* Richard Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, was beheaded 17 Richard II., and his estates forfeited by attainder. Lewes Castle and Lordship were thereupon granted by the king to Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, who had married Elizabeth, daughter of the earl. The duke was afterwards banished the realm, and died at Venice, in 1399. In the preceding year he granted a charter of confirmation to the prior and monks of Lewes, of the foundation charter of the second Earl of Warren of the said Priory.

3 Thomas Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, was restored in blood in Parliament, 1 Henry IV. He was at the siege of Barfleur in 1415, but was obliged by sickness to return to England, where he shortly after died.

4

✦ Elizabeth was four times married:-1st, to Lord William de Montacute; 2d, to Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, mentioned in a preceding note; 3d, Sir Gerard Ufflete; and 4th, Sir Robert Goushill, who had been esquire to her second husband.

5

A partition in Chancery was made by this duke about the 18th Henry VI. with Sir Edmund Lenthal, and Edward Lord Abergavenny (as co-heirs of the Earl of Warren), of the Castle and Barony of Lewes.

Sir Edmund Lenthal's share amounted to
The Duke of Norfolk's share to
Edward Lord Abergavenny's share to

There were 83 knight's fees.

£. 3. d. 206 13 6 224 13 61 225 13 5

Sir Edmund Lenthal, John Duke of Norfolk, and Edward Lord Abergavenny had each one-third of one-third of the Sheriff's tourn, called no-man's land, with one-third of the profits thereof, valued at twelve pence each. Also one-third of one-third of the rents of 117. 6s. called Sherevesgeld, to be annually received within the Rape of Arundel, valued at 17. 5s. 1d. each. Also alternately 11. 2s. 3d. the turn of advowson of Lewes Priory, estimated, when it happens, at five pounds.

In 1451 the Duke of Norfolk, in his father's life time, was created Earl of Warren and Surrey. He was one of the cousins and heirs of Sir Rowland Lenthal, who in 1448 or 9 died without issue. 'Sir George Neville, Lord Abergavenny, died 7 Henry VII., and was buried on the south side of the high altar of Lewes Priory Church, where he had before erected his tomb.

Sir James Berkley, Kt., afterwards Lord Berkley, married Lady Isabella, eldest daughter of Thomas Mowbray the first Duke of Norfolk, and had issue by her two sons-1st, William, Lord Berkley, created Marquis of Berkley 4 Henry VII., who died without issue living at his death. His brother Maurice was his next heir, but he wholly disinherited him, leaving most of his large estates to King Henry VII. and his issue male; and several estates to his courtiers. The estate, however, that he granted to the crown reverted to the Berkley family on the death of Edward VI., the last issue male of Henry VI.; 2d, Maurice Berkley, disinherited, but he sued for and recovered many of the estates his brother had conveyed from him. He recovered amongst the rest, the fourth part of the Borough and Barony of Lewes, but did not die seized thereof, having made partition of the same with Thomas Duke of Norfolk about the 15th Henry VII., in which partition he probably granted his fourth part of Lewes Borough to this duke, as Maurice Berkley does not appear to have died seized thereof, in the inquisition of his lands, post mortem, 27 Henry VII.

Thomas Howard was created Earl of Surrey at the same time that his father John was created Duke of Norfolk, by Richard III. He was restored in Parliament 4 Henry VII. to the Earldom of Surrey, and to the dignity of Duke of Norfolk 5 Henry VIII., after his victory over the Scots, at Flodden Field.

10 Thomas Earl of Norfolk, on being restored in blood in Parliament 1 James I., recovered all such titles of honour and precedence as his father Philip, Earl of Arundel, lost by his attainder, as also such baronies only as Thomas late Duke of Norfolk, his grandfather, lost by his attainder. He was created Duke of Norfolk 20 Charles I., and went abroad when the civil wars broke out, and died at Padua, in Italy, 4th of October, 1646.

"Thomas Earl of Norfolk restored by Act of Parliament 13 Charles II. to the Dukedom of Norfolk, and to the heirs male of his body, with limitation thereof to the heirs male of his father Henry, late Earl of Arundel, Surrey, and Norfolk, and divers other remainders. This Duke had nine brothers and three sisters. His eldest brother Henry Howard, who succeeded to the Lordship

of Lewes, was, 21 Charles II., created a Baron by the title of Castle Rysing, in Norfolk, and, 24 Charles II., was created Earl of Norwich, and Earl Marshal of England, with limitation of that great office to the heirs male of his body, with several remainders. This Henry Earl Marshal married Anne, daughter of Edward Marquis of Worcester, and by her had issue two sons, Henry and Thomas, and three daughters.

12 The paternal ancestor of this family, which is of French extraction, came into England at the Norman conquest; and his descendants have been of considerable note. Sir Robert Sackville, in

the time of Henry I., held of the manor of Eye, in Suffolk, fourteen manors in Essex and Suffolk, and one knight's fee in Mendham. He left Jordan de Sackville, his son and heir, who married Ela, a daughter and co-heir of Raph de Dene, Lord of the manor of Buckhurst, in Sussex; Jeffrey succeeded to Jordan, and to him another Jordan de Sackville, who being in arms with the confederate barons at Evesham, in 49 Henry III., was taken prisoner in the battle fought there. Most of his successors, being knights, have held large possessions in Sussex, and elsewhere. Their principal seat was Buckhurst.

Sir Richard Sackville. One fourth part of the castle, town, and lordship of Lewes, was the 21st of April, 1566, conveyed to this nobleman, but it is uncertain whether by grant or purchase. 13 Fuller, in his English Worthies, p. 813, gives the following account of this nobleman:"Thomas Sackville, son and heir to Sir Richard, (Chancellor, Sub-Treasurer of the Exchequer, and Privy Councellor to Queen Elizabeth,) by Winifred, his wife, daughter to Sir John Bruges, was bred at Oxford, where he became an excellent poet, leaving both Latin and English poems of his composing to posterity. Then he became barrister, and afterwards in his travels, was for some time prisoner at Rome; whence returning to the possession of a fair estate, he wasted the greatest part thereof, and afterwards being made (as is reported) to dance attendance on an Alderman of London, who had gained great penny-worths by his former purchases of him, he was sensible of the incivility, and resolving to be no more beholding to wealthy pride, he turned a thrifty improver of the remainder of his estate. Others affirm, that Queen Elizabeth, (his cousin german once removed,) diverted the torrent of his profusion by her frequent admonitions: after which, she made him Baron of Buckhurst, in Sussex, A. D. 1566; sent him Ambassador into France, 1571; into the Low Countries, 1586; made him Knight of the Garter, 1589; and Treasurer of England, 1599. He was Chancellor of the University, where he entertained Queen Elizabeth, with a sumptuous feast. He was a person of so quick dispatch, that his secretaries seldom pleased him. Thus having made amends to his house for his mispent time, both in increase of estate and honour, being created Earl of Dorset by King James, he died April 19, 1608."-He died at the council table suddenly, 6 James I., Queen Anne being present.

66

"Robert, Earl of Dorset, married Lady Margaret, sole daughter of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk. He was a learned gentleman, says Fuller, p. 819, (who calls him, by mistake, Richard,) to whom the Greek and Latine were as familiar as his own native tongue. Succeeding his father in his earldom, he enjoyed his dignity not a year. He erected a College at East Grinstead, for thirty one poor people, to serve almighty God therein, endowing the same with three hundred and thirty pounds a year, out of his lands in England."

Pat. 8 James, p. 56, is a grant from the crown, in consideration of 1000 marks (or 666l. 13s. 4d.) to Edward Neville, Lord Abergavenny, inter multa alia: of a moiety of the castle, barony, manor, town, and borough of Lewes, and of rents of assize of 6l. Os. 5d., issuing out of divers lands and tenements, in Lewes, and of the Courts Leet and Courts Baron; and of the fair there held annually in the week after Whitsuntide; and of the fishery of Lewes; and of the common fines, amounting to 81. 2s., or thereabouts; to be paid by the residents within the barony, manor, town, and borough aforesaid, &c. To be held to the said Lord and the heirs male of his body lawfully issuing; remainder to the use of the heirs male of the body of Edward, late Lord Abergavenny, his father; remainder to the use of the heirs male of Sir Edward Neville, Knight, grandfather of the grantee; remainder to the use of the heirs male of George Neville, Knight, formerly Lord Abergavenny; remainder to the use of the heirs of the body of Thomas Neville, Knight, the brother of the said George, for ever; to be held by the same grants, services, and tenures, as the same were theretofore held, and not by any other.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE BATTLE AND MISE OF LEWES.

"Is there a river in the land

Can boast a clear and guiltless wave,
Pure from the life-blood of the brave,
Where no man wash'd his gory hand?
I fear me, no! Is there a plain
By shepherd's lonely footstep trod,
Where some huge heap of native slain
Swells not the turfy sod?"

Margaret of Anjou, Canto viii.

It might justly be deemed an unpardonable omission, were I to pass over the early history of this town, without narrating the particulars of the memoràble battle that was fought in the immediate neighbourhood, between Henry III. and the insurgent barons of the kingdom: and especially, since the consequences resulting from this battle, were, perhaps, more beneficial to the community at large, than those of any similar event recorded in English history. When it is recollected that the result of this battle, was to purge the English court of those foreign parasites, whose cupidity augmented the misfortunes of the people, and whose interested councils embroiled the monarch in countless disputes with the nobles, and weakened the affections of the lower classes: that it produced the ratification of those charters, which had been forced, on the field of Runnymede, from the false and feeble John, and which his successor had confirmed and revoked almost in the same breath: and more than all, when it is considered that the first certain summons that our history or records can furnish, of knights, citizens, and burgessess, being called up to parliament as representatives of the general body of the people, was occasioned by this successful struggle against arbitrary power, it is not, perhaps, assuming too much, to attach a more than ordinary importance to this

memorable battle, which threw into the hands of the barons, a temporary regality, unfeelingly exercised indeed, and shamelessly abused, but which, notwithstanding, opened the dawn of better days, by fixing the throne on its firmest foundation-the people's love.

The account given by Matthew Paris of this battle, and that of Walter Hemingford', are generally accounted the best. I shall, therefore, principally confine myself to these two authorities, but not without availing myself of the probable relations of other chroniclers.

Henry III. had long made himself obnoxious to his subjects, and especially to that part of them, whose power and influence were secondary only to his own. His wanton profusion and unprincipled rapacity, but rendered more glaring the imbecillity which marked his character. He seemed to live only for himself and his favourites, who exercised with his connivance, a tyranny ill suited to the feelings of a high spirited nation. No dependence could be placed upon his promises: his oaths were binding only so long as the observance of them suited his own convenience: and his fickleness and caprice, rendered unavailing the wisest counsels, and alienated his sincerest friends. The nation had been involved in an expensive and inglorious war, that his second son might enjoy the empty title of King of Sicily: the treasures of his subjects had been exposed to the rapacity of the Roman see: the lustre of his crown he had basely tarnished by becoming tributary to France: and the great charter, which he had again and again most solemnly confirmed, was infringed by him without scruple or remorse. In vain did the lavish monarch appeal in the most submissive terms to his parliament, for supplies to carry on his unpopular and destructive measures: and when, by legal means, his wants could not be supplied, he had recourse to the most iniquitous proceedings, to support his prodigal expenditure.

When, at length, every other means had been found unavailing, the barons determined to effect by force the reform, which they had long in vain attempted to bring about by entreaty and persuasion. They took up arms in defence of their liberties, and subjected themselves to the opprobrium of being deemed rebels, that they might rescue the king from the degradation into which he had fallen, by perversely adhering to the unprincipled measures recommended by his foreign favourites, and thus again restore tranquillity to their distracted country.

1

Walter Hemingford was a monk of Gisborough, in Yorkshire, of which town Robert de Bruce, who was present at this battle, was lord.

It is not, therefore, improbable, that Hemingford had his account from this nobleman, or from some of the knights or esquires attendant upon him.