BARONS OF HUGH LUPUS.
(Vol. iii., p. 87.)
Your correspondent P. asks for information respecting the families and descendants of William Malbank and Bigod de Loges, two of the Barons of Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, whose signatures are affixed to the charter of foundation of St. Werburgh's Abbey at Chester.
Of the descendants of William Malbank I can learn nothing; but it appears from the MS. catalogue of the Norman nobility before the Conquest, that Roger and Robert de Loges possessed lordships in the district of Coutances in Normandy. One at least, Roger, must have accompanied the Conqueror to England (and his name appears in the roll of Battle Abbey as given by Fox), for we find that he held lands in Horley and Burstowe in Surrey. His widow, Gunuld de Loges, held the manor of Guiting in Gloucestershire of King William; and in the year 1090 she gave two hides of land to the monastery of Gloucester to pray for the soul of her husband. Roger had two sons, Roger and Bigod, or, as he is sometimes called, Robert. The former inherited the lands in Surrey. One of his descendants (probably his great-grandson) was high sheriff of Surrey and Sussex in the years 1267, 1268, and 1269. His son Roger de Loges owned lands and tenements in Horley, called La Bokland, which he sold to the Abbot of
Chertsea. His successor, John de Logge of Burstowe, witnessed in the tenth year of Edward II. a deed relating to the transfer of land in Hadresham, Surrey. The name became gradually corrupted to Lodge.
To return to the subject of inquiry, Bigod de Loges—
"held five tenements in Sow of the Earl of Chester, by the service of conducting the said earl towards the king's court through the midst of the forest of Cannock, meeting him at Rotford bridge upon his coming, and at Hopwas bridge on his return. In which forest the earl might, if he pleased, kill a deer at his coming, and another at his going back: giving unto Loges each time he should so attend him a barbed arrow. Hugo de Loges granted to William Bagot all his lands in Sow, to hold of him the said Hugo and his heirs, by the payment of a pair of white gloves at the feast of St. Michael yearly."—Dugdale.
Bigod de Loges had two sons, Hugo and Odardus:
"Odardus de Loges was infeoffed by Ranulphus de Meschines, Earl of Chester, in the baronies of Stanyton, Wigton, Doudryt, Waverton, Blencoyd, and Kirkbride, in the county of Cumberland; and the said Odardus built Wigton church and endowed it. He lived until King John's time. Henry I. confirmed the grant of the barony to him, by which it is probable that he lived a hundred years. He had issue Adam. Adam had issue Odard, the lord, whose son and heir, Adam the Second, died without issue, and Odard the Fourth likewise," &c.—Denton's MS.
Of the branch settled in Staffordshire and Warwickshire—
"Hugo de Loges married, tempo Richard I., Margerie, daughter and heiress of Robert de Brok. By this marriage Hugo became possessed of the manor of Casterton in Warwickshire. He was forester of Cannock chace. He had issue Hugo de Loges, of Chesterton, whose son and heir, Sir Richard de Loges, died 21st of Edward I. Sir Richard had issue two sons, Richard and Hugo. The eldest, Richard of Chesterton, left issue an only daughter, Elizabeth, married to Nicholas de Warwick. The issue of this marriage was John de Warwick, whose daughter and heiress, Eleonora, married Sir John de Peto, and brought the manor of Chesterton into that family."—Dugdale.
M. J. T.