Alicia de Bigod, his widow, succeeded him in his honour. I find among the petitions to the Council of 35 Edward I, held in Carlisle, one of “Alicia de Bygod Comitissa Mareschall” to be allowed to send two proxies to the Parliament of the King, “posuit loco suo, Johem Bluet militem, vel Johem de Fremlingham ad sequend pro dote sua coram Rege et consilio suo.” This must have been granted, for these proxies do appear in her name in the Parliament Roll of 35 Edward I. But she was summoned by writ personally (22nd January), in right of her office, to meet Edward II. and his bride at Dover on or about 4th February. (1 Edward II.; Palgrave’s “Parliamentary Writs.”)
The office of Marshal and title of Earl of Norfolk were afterwards given “in tail general” to Thomas Brotherton, son of Edward I. and brother of Edward II. His daughter, Margaret, inherited the office with the title and arms, as she appears as “Margaret Countess Marshal” in the Parliament Roll of 1 Richard II. (Rot. Parl., 713.)
In the petition of John, Earl Marshal, for precedence over Earl Warwick, he says that “Thomas of Brotherton was son of Edward I., and bore the Royal arms. Of him came Margaret, of whom came Elizabeth, of whom came Thomas, of whom came John, now Erle Mareschal, and so apperteneth ye said place in yis Riall court to this Lord Earl Mareschal by cause of the blode and armes Riall with ye said possession” (Rot Parl., iii. Henry VI.). The office afterwards fell to the Mowbrays. Anne Mowbray, heiress, married the young Duke of York, second son of Edward IV., at the age of four years. She carried the office of Marshal to him, but he died in the Tower with his brother, Edward V., and his uncle seized the title.
“Adeline de Broc held possession of her Guildford estates by the service of being Marshal in the King’s court. (Temp. Henry II.; Blount’s Tenures.”) “It was adjudged in B.R., Car I., that the Office of Marshal of that Court well descended to a feme, and that she might exercise it by deputy if she pleased.” (Callis, 250.)
High Constable.—Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, held the manors of Harlefield, Newnam, and Whytenhurst, County Gloucester, by the service of High Constable. He left two daughters, but the elder, Eleanor, succeeded to the office, which she conveyed to her husband, Thomas of Woodstock, who exercised it for her; the younger sister, Mary, marrying Henry Plantagenet of Bolingbroke, afterwards Henry IV.
High Steward.—Henry, Earl of Leicester, through the Barony of Hinckley held the office of High Steward of England. He died, leaving two daughters, the elder of whom, having married abroad, left the dignity free to her sister, who married John of Gaunt, fourth son of Edward III. Through her right he exercised the office of Steward, which their son, Henry IV., carried back to the Crown.
High Chamberlain.—Justice Ashurst, from the King’s Bench in 1788, notes that women have served the office of High Chamberlain (Rex v. Stubbs). I have not yet found the name of the lady that he refers to; but we all know that the Baroness Willoughby d’Eresby held the Office down to our own times, though she allowed her son to exercise it as her deputy. “Catherine, sole daughter and heir to the last Lord Willoughby d’Eresby, became 4th wife to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. She afterwards married Thomas Bertie, and her son was Peregrine, Lord Willoughby d’Eresby, who married Mary, daughter of the Earl of Oxford, whose son Robert (1 Jac. I.) inherited the title and Office of High Chamberlain.” (Dugdale.)
“The Manor of Hornmede, Hertforde, the Lady Lora de Laundford holds as a Serjeanty of our Lord the King by being Chamberlain to our Lady the Queen.” (7 Edward I., Rot., 39.)
Ela, third daughter of Ela of Salisbury, foundress of Lacock, in 1285 was returned as holding the Manor of Hoke-Norton in Oxfordshire in capite by the Serjeanty of carving before our Lord the King on Christmas Day, when she had for her fee the King’s knife with which she cut. (Placit Coron., 13 Edward I., Rot., 30. Bowle’s “Annals of Lacock Abbey,” p. 160.)
Champion.—The Manor of Scrivelby was held by the Dymocks on condition of the possessor acting as King’s Champion. When the heiress, Margaret, inherited the property, she inherited the Office, which her son, Thomas Dymock, performed for her at the coronation of Henry IV.