Feudal barony of Barnstaple
From AD 1066, the feudal barony of Barnstaple was a large feudal barony with its caput at the town of Barnstaple in north Devon, England. It was one of eight feudal baronies in Devonshire which existed in the Middle Ages. In 1236 it comprised 56 knight's fees or individual member manors. The feudal service owed for half the barony in 1274 was the provision to the royal army of two knights or four sergeants for forty days per annum, later commuted to scutage.
Descent
de Mowbray
The barony was first granted by William the Conqueror to Geoffrey de Mowbray, Bishop of Coutances, who is recorded as its holder in the Domesday Book. His heir was his nephew Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, son of Geoffrey's brother Robert de Mowbray. In 1095 Robert II rebelled against King William II and his barony escheated to the crown.de Totnes
At some time before his death in 1100 King William II re-granted the barony of Barnstaple to Juhel de Totnes, a Breton formerly feudal baron of Totnes, from which barony the king had expelled him after the death of his father William the Conqueror in 1087. In about 1107, Juhel, who had already founded Totnes Priory, founded Barnstaple Priory, of the Cluniac order, dedicated to St Mary Magdalene. Juhel's son and heir was Alfred de Totnes, who died sine prole some time before 1139, leaving two sisters as his co-heiresses each to a moiety of the barony: Aenor and a sister whose name is unknown.de Braose and de Tracy moieties
The inheritance of the barony of Barnstaple by two co-heiresses split its possession during the period c. 1139 to 1213 into two moieties, which became re-united under the de Tracy family. The descent of the two co-heiresses was as follows:- Aenor de Totnes married the Welsh Marcher Lord Philip de Braose, 2nd feudal baron of Bramber, Surrey, son of William de Braose, 1st Lord of Bramber. The moiety descended to her eldest son and heir William de Braose, 3rd Lord of Bramber, and thence to his son William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber. According to Sanders in 1208 King John confiscated the lands of William de Braose and in 1213 granted his moiety of the barony of Barnstaple to Henry de Tracy, the husband of his granddaughter Matilda de Braose.
- The other de Totnes sister, whose name is unknown, married Henry de Tracy, leaving a son and heir Oliver de Tracy, who in 1165 was charged scutage on 25 knights' fees for his moiety. In 1166 he declared 23 1/3 and in 1168 30 1/2 knights' fees. Oliver left a son and heir Oliver, who left as his heir Henry de Tracy, who also inherited in 1213 the other moiety as described above. Henry de Tracy, according to Pole, had married Matilda de Braose, daughter of Reginald de Braose, son of William de Braose. In 1236 he answered for 56 knights' fees, representing the whole barony. In 1246 he answered for 28 knights' fees formerly relating to the Braose moiety and for his 28 paternal knights' fees "of the honour of Oliver de Tracy". Pole further stated that his wife Matilda de Braose had been given the manor of Tawstock, two miles south of Barnstaple, by her childless aunt Loretta de Braose, wife of Robert FitzPernel, Earl of Leicester, which manor had been one of three knight's fees of the barony given as her marriage portion by her father. Thenceforth Henry de Tracy made Tawstock his seat.
FitzMartin
Maud de Brian's first husband was Nicholas FitzMartin, who had pre-deceased his father Nicholas FitzMartin, feudal baron of Blagdon, Somerset. Maud married secondly Geoffrey de Camville, of Clifton Campville, Staffordshire, who had summons to attend the king at Portsmouth, with horse and arms, to embark in the expedition then proceeding to Gascony. He was subsequently summoned to parliament as Baron Camville, of Clifton, in the county of Stafford, from 23 June 1295 to 22 February 1307. Camville survived her by about 29 years during which time he retained possession of the barony under the curtesy of England.The barony was recovered on Geoffrey's death by Maud's son William FitzMartin whose son and heir William FitzMartin died childless in 1326.
Audley
The heirs of William FitzMartin were his surviving sister Eleanor FitzMartin, who died without children, albeit having married twice, and James Audley, 2nd Baron Audley, the son of his other sister Joan FitzMartin, by her second husband Nicholas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Heleigh Castle, Staffordshire. James Audley thus in 1342 inherited his childless aunt Eleanor's moiety of the barony of Barnstaple, giving him possession of the whole. On the death of James Audley, 2nd Baron Audley in 1386 the barony of Barnstaple passed to his son, Nicholas Audley, 3rd Baron Audley, who died without issue. His co-heiresses were his two full-sisters, Joan and Margaret and his half-sister Margaret and their descendants:- Joan Audley who married Sir John Tuchet. Their son was John Tuchet, 4th Baron Audley and 1st Baron Tuchet.
- Margaret Audley, married Sir Roger Hillary.
- Margaret Audley, who married Fulk FitzWarin, 4th Baron FitzWarin of Whittington Castle, Shropshire and Alveston, Gloucestershire. In 1392 Margaret's 3-year-old grandson Fulk FitzWarin, 6th Baron FitzWarin, feudal baron of Bampton, Devon, inherited the manor of Tawstock in Devon, 2 miles south of Barnstaple, thought to have been a later seat of the feudal barons of Barnstaple, but which had certainly been a possession of Judhael and later of de Braose, and which had been settled in 1370 by James Audley, 2nd Baron, in tail male successively to his three sons from his 2nd marriage, Thomas, Rodeland and James, who all died without children. The later heir of the FitzWarins was the Bourchier family, Earls of Bath and Barons FitzWarin, who made Tawstock their seat and were highly influential in Barnstaple society and politics. They also inherited via the Audleys other manors formerly part of the barony of Barnstaple, including Nymet Tracy, St Marychurch, Kingston, Marwood, Upexe and Creedy Wiger. The Bourchier Barnstaple townhouse is thought to be no. 62 Boutport Street, with its surviving ornate plaster barrel-ceilings dated 1620, showing the arms of Bourchier, which survives next to the Royal and Fortescue Hotel, and was converted in about 1760 to premises of the "Golden Lion" coaching inn. It was converted to premises for the National Westminster Bank in 1936, in 1991 housed a branch of the Woolwich Building Society and in 2014 is a restaurant.
King Richard II
The feudal barony of Great Torrington was also similarly granted. Holland was loyal to Richard II, and following the latter's deposition by Henry Bolingbroke in 1399, later King Henry IV, Holland rebelled and was executed in 1400. The barony passed to his eldest son, Richard Holland, who died later the same year.
From 1425 the barony was held by John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter, son and heir of the 1st Duke. On his death in 1447 it passed to his son Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, who was attainted in 1461 whereupon his possessions were granted to his wife, Anne of York, the second child and eldest surviving daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and an elder sister of Kings Edward IV and Richard III. She divorced her husband and remarried to Thomas St Leger, who held the lands after her death in 1476 by Courtesy of England until his beheading in 1483. In 1483 King Richard III granted "the Castle and Borough of Barnstaple" to Thomas Everingham, who held it until King Henry VII deposed Richard III in 1485 and two years later granted it to his mother, Margaret Beaufort.
Queen Mary I
granted the barony to Thomas Marrow, MP, though apparently shorn of all its constituent fees and manors, held thenceforth by their tenants directly from the crown as tenants-in-chief. Thus the feudal barony was now one in name only, with no substantial constituent lands or tenants, and conferred no right on its holder of taking a seat in parliament.Castle Manor
This so-called "castle-manor" was soon after acquired from "Samuel Marowe" by Sir John Chichester of Raleigh, in the parish of Pilton just over the River Yeo from Barnstaple, and several leases were granted by him to townspersons of orchards gardens and houses within the walls of the castle. In 1566 Sir John Chichester assigned to the Mayor, Corporation and Burgesses of Barnstaple all his rights and interests in the Manor of Barnstaple. He remained however as lord of the manor of "Castle Court" and as part of the agreement under which he relinquished some of his rights, the Corporation was obliged to provide for him two annual "fish dinners". Later this was voluntarily relinquished by his descendant on condition that the Corporation paid instead two annuities of 20 shillings each to various charities in Barnstaple.The ancient "Manor of Hogsfee/Hoggfee" etc. appears to have been connected with the castle manor. In 1732 the Mayor and Aldermen acquired 1/3 of it from John Carew and in 1734 the remaining 2/3 from Thomas Saltren and John Weddon.
Fees in 1326
The 1326 Inquisition post mortem of William FitzMartin lists his fees pertaining to the Barony of Barnstaple as follows:| Name of fee | no. of knight's fees | Tenant |
| Hesel & Rewes | 1 | Walter Tauntefer |
| Essewalter | 1 | Robert de Karnidon |
| Tappelegh | 1 | Oliver de Wibbebury |
| Teyngcomb | 1 | Oliver de Wibbebury |
| Heales | 1/2 | Oliver de Wibbebury |
| Pydikwell and Gratton | 1 1/2 | Robert de Cruwes and Jordan le Vautort, co-heirs of Mauger de Sancto Albino |
| Boclonnd and Hurtelegh | 1 | Thomas de Fillegh |
| Estboclannd | 1 | Thomas de Fillegh |
| West Bray | 1/2 | Thomas de Fillegh |
| Bremelrugg and South Alre | 1 | John Tracy |
| Suttecombe | 1 | Richard de Merton |
| Merton | 1 | Richard de Merton |
| Hengestecote | 1/3 | Robert Crues and Jordan de Valle Torta |
| Pillonnd & Barlinton | 1 | Walter de Pillonnd and of him by Roger de Cornu and Mabel his wife for life of Mabel |
| Rowesbugh | 1 | Baldwin le Fleming |
| wanteslegh & Ebberlegh | 1/20 | John de Lodehiwich |
| Mollond Champens | 1 | John de Whiteby |
| Est Stodelegh | 1/2 | Robert Marchaunt, which Thomasia relict of Robert his father holds in dower |
| Bonelegh & Little Hampteford | 2 | Walter Gaboun |
| Hwich | 1 | Robert Beaupel |
| Wlrington | 1/2 | Matthew de Crouthorn |
| Estbray | 1/4 | Matthew de Crouthorn |
| Mortehoo | 1/2 | John de Hardeshull |
| Bitteden | 1 | Heir of Thomas de Bitteden, a minor |
| Bere & Puppecote | 1 | Nicholas Martyn and of him by John Chatri for life |
| Wlrington | 1 | Nicholas Martyn |
| Medeneford | 1/21 | John de Lodehiwish |
| Middleton | 1 | John de Wes |
| Hautebray | 1 | Baldwin le Flemyng |
| Little Bray | 1/2 | Baldwin le Flemyng |
| Matting | 1 | John de Penris & Philip ap Wylim |
| Kynewalton | 3/4 | John de Penris & Philip ap Wylim |
| Whetefeld | 1/3 | John de Penris & Philip ap Wylim |
| Roughlee | 1/2 | John de Penris & Philip ap Wylim |
| Pleystowe | 1 | Ralph de Thesbergh |
| Ans | 1 | Robert de Stokhey |
| Combe Mounceaux | 1/6 | Heir of Nicholas Marchaunt, a minor |
| Coueleye | 1/2 | Henry de Ca |
| Colrigge | 1 | Henry de Ca |
| Lockesbere | 1 | |
| westdoune & Dene | 1 | |
| T | 1 | Heir of John de Benelighe |
| Cloteworthy | 1/14 | Oliver de Clotew |
| Horton | 1/4 | |
| R | 1 | Thomas son & heir of William de Raleghe, a minor |
| Walworthy, Kuttenore, Trendeleshoo, Sevenash, Pcote & Bridewik | 5 | Thomas son & heir of William de Raleghe, a minor |
| crakeweye | 1/4 | Robert Crus |
| Clistracy | 1 | Bishop of Exeter |
| Braunford Speke | 1/2 | Robert de Curteny |
| Northcote Prior's | 1/2 | Prior of Pilton in frankalmoin |
| Coriton | 1 | Henry de Chambernoun |
| Wlvelegheye | 1/4 | Robert Beaupiel |
| Aylardesford | 1/20 | William de Aylardesford |
| Little Boy | 1/2 | Alwardus Homaz, William le Leche & John de Pount Jordan |
| Peadehull | 1/2 | Thomas de Peadehull |
| Nether Exe | 1/2 | Baldwin Flemyng |
| Chaggeford | 1 | Oliver de Wybbebury |
| Surton, Milford, North Phrisshel, Thorne, Roude, Kymworthe & Neulond | 2 | William Spek |
| Combe Acastre & Combe Regni | 1 | "Whereof Oliver de Ess holds Combe Acastre & a certain tenant holds Combe Regni" |
| Croulegh | 1 | Prior of St James, Exeter, in frankalmoin |
| Farweye | 1 | Abbot of Quarera in frankalmoin |
| Westhorwode | 3/4 | Walter Gamboun of Merston |