William
de Meschines, Baron of Copeland, made over to his neighbour Waldeoff, Baron of Allerdale, the land between Cocker and Derwent,
and the five towns of Brigham, Egglesfield, Dean, Greysouthen, and Clifton, which latter donation gave to Waldeoff the whole valley of the Derwent
except the district round its embouchure at Workington.
Waldeoff shifted his residence from Papcastle, where he had at first placed it, to Cockermouth, and the lands handed over to him by William de
Meschines became known as the Honour
of Cockermouth, and also as Allerdale-above-Derwent in contradistinction to Allerdale-below-Derwent or Waldeoff's grant from
Henry I. William de Meschines, Baron of Copeland,
fixed his residence at Egremont, and that name
superseded Copeland. The name of Allerdale-above-Derwent also became extended to cover all the country down
to the Duddon. In a space of about fifty years the
barony of Allerdale-
below-Derwent passed through the hands of Alan, son
of Waldeoff, of his son and successor, another Waldeoff, and of his sister Octreda,
who carried the inheritance to her husband, Duncan, Earl of Murray, from whom
it passed to their son William FitzDuncan. Meanwhile,
the neighbouring barony of Copeland had fallen,
first, into the hands of Cicely, the heiress of De Meschines;
Cicely's only daughter Alice, by her husband Robert de Romilly,
Lord of Skipton, had a daughter, Alice, who became
the wife of William Fit2Duncan, and so for a short time these two baronies were
joined. A well-informed and accurate writer, of whose valuable papers we have
been making free use, says ;
“And now it might have been supposed that a powerful family was likely to bear
rule over a district which extended, in Cumberland, in length from the Duddon to the Waver, and in breadth from Dunmafl Raise to St. Bees Head, possessing as they also did
the territory of Craven in Yorkshire, whose fertility more than counterbalanced
its deficiency in extent ; whilst in Scotland, the
great earldom of Murray gave to FitzDuncan a status
inferior to no other subject of that
kingdom. . . . FitzDuncan's only son, celebrated in
tradition as the " Boy of Egremond,"
succeeded to these territorial demesnes, and bis
connections were regal, for he was (through his grandfather Duncan, younger
brother to David), second cousin to Malcolm, King of Scotland, and by the
marriage of Duncan's sister, " Matilda the Good," with Henry I. he
stood in the same relationship to Henry II. of
Long, long in darkness did she sit,
And her first words, " Let there be
In Bolton, on the Field of Wharfe
A stately Priory."
(Cockmouth Castle,"
Transactions, Cumberland and Westmorland
Antiquarian Society, vol. iv., p. 109 ; " Egremont
Castle," ibid.,
voL vi., p. 150, by W. Jackson, F.S.A. These are full
of information.)
The boy of Egremond " had
three sisters, Cecily, Amabel, and Alice, among whom
his great estates were divided. Cecily, the eldest sister, got the great barony
of Skipton-in-Craven, and married William-le-gros, Earl of Albemarle. Amabel,
the second sister, married Reginald
de Lucy, and got the barony of Copeland. Alice, the youngest sister, got the
barony of Allerdale - below- Derwent,
and the honour of Cockermouth.
She married firstly Gilbert Pipard, a justice
itinerant, and secondly Robert de Courtenai, and died
childless. Her possessions,
therefore, were divided. The honour of Cocker- mouth,
and part of the demesne lands in the barony of Allerdale-below-Derwent, went to William de Fortibus,
Earl of Albemarle, and grandson of sister Cecily; while the rest of Allerdale-below-Derwent went to
Richard de
Lucy, son of Amabel, the second of the sisters coheiresses, wife of
Reginald de Lucy, and owner of Cope- land or Egremont.
Richard de Lucy married Ada de Morville,
one of the coheiresses of Hugh de Morville,
lord of the barony of Burgh. By her he had two daughters, Amabel,
and Alice de Lucy, who married respectively Lambert and Alan de Multon, sons of Thomas de Multon,
who himself married the widowed Ada de Morville after the death of her first husband, Richard de
Lucy. These three politic marriages have been mentioned in our accounts of the
baronies of Gilsland and of Burgh. From Lambert de Multon, and Amabel his wife,
sprang the family of Multon of Egremont,
inheriting that barony,while
Alan de Multon, and Alice his wife, took the name of
Lucy, settled at Cockermouth, and inherited that
portion of Allerdale-below-Derwent,
which had fallen to their aunt Amabel. Presently, by
failure of sister Cecily's issue, the honour of Cockermouth, and the part of Aller-
dale-below-Derwcnt that had gone with it, escheated
to
the Crown, who granted it to various favourites for
their lives, including Piers Gaveston, and Andrew de Harcla. Ultimately Anthony Lord Lucy, of the family that
had settled at Cockermouth, and who had arrested
Andrew de Harcla on a charge of treason, was allowed
to make good his claim thereto. The Lucys thus got
the honour of Cockermouth,
the whole of the barony of Allerdale- below-Derwent, and the barony of Wigton,
which had lapsed to Allerdale-below-Derwent, out of which it was originally carved. The Lucys also acquired by an heiress
of the Multons of Egremont
one-third of that barony. The honour of Cockermouth, and the other estates held by the Lucys, were carried in 1386 by Maud, sister and heiress of
Anthony, fourth Lord Lucy, to her husband Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland,
on condition that he should quarter her arms with his. The Percys
purchased the outstanding two-thirds of the barony of Egremont,
and thus became lords of
Hubert
de Vallibus, the first baron of Gilsland,
was a
Norman, fourth son of Robert de Vallibus, or de Vaux
who, in 1086, held property in
Hubert de Vallibus followed the fortunes of the young
Prince Henry in his long struggle with Stephen. He was
probably an old man when he received the reward of his
services in a grant of Gilsland. His son, Robert de
Vallibus, second baron, fills a large space in
history and
legend ; but we dismiss as fabulous that legend which
credits him with the treacherous murder, during a truce,
of Gilles, the son of Bueth. This Robert de Vallibus
defended the city and
1173 and 1174, against William the Lion of Scotland, and
the determined front he showed, impervious alike to
threats or bribes, checked the progress of the King of
Scotland. The parley between De Vallibus, or De Vaux,
and the Scottish leaders, as told in rhyming Norman-
French by Jordan Fantosme, would make a fine subject
for a picture. In all, five Barons de Vallibus, or de
Vaux,
ruled over Gilsland, of whom the last, Hubert, left
one sole
daughter and heiress, Maud or Matilda. These Barons de
Vallibus were among the greater barons of England,
and
as such Robert de Vallibus, 4th Baron, was summoned
personally to Parliament, sigillatim per litteras nostras, in
pursuance of the 141)1 clause of the Great Charter, Gils-
land being a barony by writ.
The heiress, Maud de Vallibus, married Thomas de
Multon, son of Thomas de Multon,
of Multon, or Moulton,
near Spalding, in
were Englishmen or Normans does not appear, but the
fact that they derived their name from an English estate
is against their having been persons of consequence on
the Continent. They may have been retainers or connections
of the Angevin Ivo Tailboise in right of his English
wife Lucia, mother of the Lucia who married Ranulf
Meschin. The connection is suggestive, and probably
accounts for the appearance of the De Multons in
Thomas de Multon the elder was sheriff of
a grant of the custody of Amabil and Alice de Lucy, coheiresses
of Richard de Lucy, Baron of Egremont in
bert and Alan de Multon,
and from them sprang the
families of Multon of Egremont
and Lucy of Cocker-
mouth, whose fortunes we need not at present further to
pursue. Thomas de Multon the elder followed up this
great matrimonial coup by another ; he himself married
Ada de Lucy, the widowed mother of the two young
ladies, and herself the coheiress of Hugh de Morville.
Thomas de Multon the elder thus became forester of
Burgh-by-Sands in that county, and other estates. By
his second wife,
the younger, who inherited a full share of the Multon
matrimonial sagacity. He married Maud de Vallibus,
and so became Thomas de Multon de Gilsland ; but
beyond that he makes little mark. His wife, Maud or
Matilda, was domina de Gilsland ; she outlived her
husband,
her son, and her grandson, and continued domina
de Gilsland to the day of her death, in 1295, sitting
on the
bench at Assizes at Penrith as domina
de Gilsland — a "
grand old woman," if indeed she should not rather be
called a " grand old man," for, in 19 Edward I. she was
summoned to Parliament as Matilll de Multon d'n's de
Gillesland. She was succeeded in
her estates by her great-
grandson, Thomas de Multon de Gilsland,
who was summoned
to Parliament as such, thus maintaining the position
of the barony as a barony by writ, and of the lords
thereof among the greater barons. He died in 1313,
leaving an heiress, Margaret de Multon, a child just
entering on her teens, between whom and Ranulph de
Dacre a marriage had been arranged by their parents
when both were very young indeed. This arrangement
had, however, been superseded, prior to the death of
Thomas de Multon de Gilsland,
by another, a much more
brilliant alliance, under which Margaret de Multon
was
betrothed to Robert de Clifford, the seven-year-old heir
of the Robert Clifford who had inherited the great estates
of the Vipounts in Westmorland, and who fell at
Bannock-
burn in 1314. Edward II. committed the estates of the
Cliffords and the heiress of Gilsland
to the guardianship
of Guy Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. But when the
lady was " sweet seventeen," she asserted
her own right
to a say in the matter, and eloped by night from
scrape for this exploit, and Lord William Howard records
it thus :
Pat 28 Oct° A° ii Ed. III. (should be II.}- Ranulph de Dacre
pardoned for stealing awai in the nighte
out of the king's custody
from his Castell of Warwick of Margaret, daughter and
heir of
Thomas of Molton of Gilsland,
who helde of y kinge in capite, and
was within age, whearof the sayd
Ranulpbe standeth indighted in
curia regis.
Let us hope the stealing away was mutual, and one of
hearts, and that Ranulph did not steal awai the young
lady solely quia jus habuit
ad ilium, as the chronicle of
Lanercost says. The barony of Gilsland
thus came into
possession of the family of De Dacre, or De Dacor, who
took their name from Dacre, or Dacor,
a manor in
of which they were lords under the Baron of
Greystoke. Among the great
families of
martial house of Dacre stands out the most prominent.
So far back as ever they can be traced they are avro^ovci
of the soil, De Dacres of Dacre.
The first that is known
is William de Dacre of Dacre,
sheriff of
20 Henry III., and great-grandfather of the daring and
lucky wooer who carried off the young " lady of Gilsland."
The Dacres,
So daring in love, and so dauntless in war,
are ever inseparably connected in history and legend with
memories of Flodden, of border warfare and border raids,
while their wild slogan of "a Daker, a Daker, a read bull,
a read bull," was ever a terror to the Scotch, as their
banner of martial red, with its silver escallops, was ever a
rallying-point for the English bordermen.
Ranulph de Dacre was
succeeded in the estates and
honours by three sons, a grandson and a great
grandson.
The death, in 36 Henry VI., of the last of these,
Thomas
Dacre by name, brought about a remarkable severance
of
the estates and honours. The old Multon
Lincolnshire
property and the dignity of Lord Dacre devolved upon
the heir general, Joan, wife of Sir Richard Fenys,
and
daughter of Thomas Dacre's eldest son, who had died
vita parentis. From her descend the Dacres of the
South,
who still enjoy that title. The bulk of the property fell to
the heir male, the second son of Thomas Dacre,
namely,
Ranulph de Dacre, who
received a writ of summons to
Parliament as Ranulph Dacre
of Gilsland. But he was
presently knocked on the head at Towtonfield ; his blood
was attainted, as was that of his brother Humphrey, who
succeeded. The estates were forfeited, and the bulk of
them granted to Lady Joan. Humphrey, however, recovered
them, and was summoned to Parliament as
Lord Dacre de Gilsland, and
he and his descendants
enjoyed the dignity of " Lord Dacre
of the North." In
3
Richard III.
this Humphrey Dacre became
Lord
Warden of the
that famous office, which has become almost identified
with the lords of Gilsland. He died in 1 Henry VII.,
leaving a numerous family by his wife, Mabel Parr,
daughter of Sir Thomas Parr, and great-aunt to Queen
Katherine. He and his wife lie buried under a fine tomb
adjoining, the north side of the choir at Lanercost,
on
which their names and arms are carved in relief.
To Humphrey succeeded his son and heir, Thomas
Dacre, probably the best known of his race. He, like
his
ancestor, Ranulph de Dacre,
stole away his wife in the
night. In this case the lady was Elizabeth de Greystoke,
ultimately the heiress of the entire baronies of Greystoke
and Fitzwilliam, of a moiety of the baronies of Bolbeck
and Wemme, a fourth part of that of Montfichet, and a
third of a moiety of that of Morley or Morpeth, and
also
of the manor of Hinderskelfe. The lady was at
her away by night. No doubt she was destined for one
of that family, and thus a second time did a Daqre
disappoint
a Clifford of a well " tochered
" bride. And it is
not too much to say that the
de Multon and Elizabeth de Greystoke,
two girls in
their teens, have largely coloured the political
complexion
of the
the fortunes of this kingdom.
Thomas Dacre served at the siege of
with Lord Surrey. Under that nobleman he commanded
the reserve at Flodden Field, and greatly contributed to
the victory. He was made a Knight of the Garter, and
was Lord Warden of the
until his death in 17 Henry VIII. In that office he
acted
with vigour and severity. As an instance we may cite
the "
jornay " he devised in 1525, the year of his death,
That the whole garrison with the inhabitants of the country were to
meet at Howtell Swyre upon
Monday e, at iiij of the clock, aft'nons
the
xxix of Junij, and the
said company by the suffrance of God to ride
into
burae the towne ; the town
of
and the Mossehouse.
Severe abroad, Sir Thomas Dacre, or Lord Thomas
Dacre, as he was called, was careful at home. He took
strict care that the Scots should have little chance of
making reprisals in
as his initials show, to guard against inroads from
by Bewcastle and the
stop invasions across the Solway, and his arms, with
the
garter round them, are still over the door of the farmhouse
into which the castle has been converted. He also built
the outworks and much of the upper part of Naworth
Castle Lord Thomas Dacre died in 1525, and he and
his wife, Elizabeth de Greystoke, are buried at Lanercost,
under a tomb on the south side of the choir.
His eldest son succeeded as William, Lord Dacre of
Gilisland and Greystoke,
and as Lord Warden of the
Marches, in which capacity he is admitted to have been
rough upon the Scots, for, being indicted for treason at
Westminster, he was acquitted by his peers, as Dugdale
says:
By reason that the witnesses were Scotchmen of mean condition, who
were thought to be suborned, and to speak maliciously against him, in
regard of his severity towards them as Warden of the Marches.
Lord William stood aloof from Aske's rebellion. He
was Governor of Carlisle in the reigns of Edward VI.,
Elizabeth, and Mary, though not continuously. He died
in 1563, and was buried in Carlisle Cathedral, leaving five
sons — Thomas, Leonard, Francis, George, and Edward —
and five daughters. Thomas succeeded his father as
Lord Dacre, but died in 1566, leaving one son,
George, a
lad not five years old, and three daughters, Ann, Elizabeth,
and Mary, of whom the eldest, Ann, was little over twelve
years of age at her father's death. The mother of
these
children was Elizabeth Leybourne, daughter to Sir
James
Leybourne, of Cunswick, co.
Westmorland. She married,
shortly after her first husband's death, Thomas, Duke of
Norfolk, as third wife, but she did not long survive.
Shortly after his mother's death the little Lord George
was killed by a fall from a wooden horse, and thus his
three sisters became his coheirs, who all being minors,
the Duke, their stepfather, obtained a grant of their
wardship and marriage, and disposed of them to his
three
sons : Ann marrying the Earl of Arundel; Mary, Thomas,
Lord Howard of Walden, afterwards Earl of Suffolk ;
and Elizabeth, Lord William Howard, the Duke's third
son.
A great controversy arose about the dignities and
possessions of the young lord so unfortunately killed, and
the controversy divided into two separate questions — that
of the dignities and that of the possessions. A Commission
appointed for that purpose decided that the dignities
did not go to the heir male, Leonard Dacre, but to
the
heirs general. High authorities have doubted the cprrect-
ness of this decision, but it prevailed. Thus the barony
of Dacre of Gilsland, or of
the North, fell into abeyance
between the three coheirs, and has ever since remained
in abeyance, for the dignity of Baron Dacre of Gilsland,
now held by the Earl of Carlisle, is a new creation by
patent, in the year 1660, with precedence from that
date.
The controversy as to the possessions of the little Lord
Dacre was more important and more protracted, and is
too long for these pages. It has been most ably and
clearly gone into by the Rev. G. Ornsby, F.S.A., in
the
preface to his valuable edition of Lord William Howard's
Household Books.* Three of the Dacre uncles in
succession
tried to wrest the estates from their young nieces, *
Surtees Society, vol. IxviiL