6. Isabel, married at Havering, February 9, 1321, Richard Earl of Arundel; divorced 1345; buried in Westminster Abbey. No issue.
7. Alianora, contracted July 27, 1325, to Lawrence de Hastings, Earl of Pembroke: contract broken by Queen Isabelle, who on January 1st, 1327, sent a mandate to the Prioress of Sempringham, commanding her to receive the child and “veil her immediately, that she may dwell there perpetually as a regular nun.” (Rot. Claus., 1 Edward the Third.) Since it was not usual for a nun to receive the black veil before her sixteenth year, this was a complete irregularity. Nothing further is known of her.
8. Margaret, consigned by Edward the Second to the care of Thomas de Houk, with her nurse and a large household; she remained in his charge “for three years and more,” according to his petition presented to the King, May 1st, 1327 (Rot. Claus., 1 Edward the Third.) On the previous 1st of January, the Queen had sent to the Prioress of Watton a similar mandate to that mentioned above, requiring that Margaret should at once be professed a regular nun. No further record remains of her.
III. Hastings of Pembroke.
John de Hastings, second (but eldest surviving) son of Sir John de Hastings and Isabelle de Valence: born 1283, died (before February 28) 1325. Married Julian, daughter and heir of Thomas de Leybourne and Alice de Tony; born 1298, or 1303; succeeded her grandfather William as Baroness de Leybourne, 1309; married before 1321. By charter dated at Canterbury, March 5th, 1362, she gave a grant to the Abbey of Saint Augustine in that city, for the following benefits to be received: a mass for herself on Saint Anne’s Day, with twopence alms to each of 100 poor; a solemn choral mass on her anniversary, and 1 penny to each of 200 poor; perpetual mass by a secular chaplain at the altar of Saint Anne, for Edward the Third, Lawrence Earl of Pembroke, and John his son; all monks celebrating at the said altar to have mind of the said souls. On the day of her anniversary the Abbot was to receive 20 shillings, the Prior 5 shillings, and each monk 2 shillings, 6 pence. (Rot. Claus., 36 Edward the Third.) She died November 1st, 1367, and was buried in Saint Augustine’s Abbey. (She had married, secondly, in 1325, Sir Thomas Blount, Seneschal of the Household to Edward the Second, who betrayed his royal master; and, thirdly, in 1328, William de Clinton, afterwards created Earl of Huntingdon.)
Their son:—Lawrence, born at Allesley, near Coventry, March 20, 1321 (Prob. Aet., 15 Edward the Third, 1st Numbers, 48); in 1326 he was in the suite of Prince John of Eltham, and in the custody of his intended mother-in-law, Alianora La Despenser: he and the young Alianora must therefore have been playfellows up to five years of age, at least. Three pairs of slippers are bought for him, price 20 pence, (Wardrobe Accounts, 20 Edward the Second, 31/18.) On July 27, 1325, Lawrence was contracted to Alianora, daughter of Hugh Le Despenser the younger (Rot. Pat., 19 Edward the Second): which contract was illegally set aside by Queen Isabelle, who granted his custody and marriage in the King’s name to her son Prince Edward, December 1st, 1326 (Rot. Pat., 20 Edward the Second). The marriage was re-granted, February 17, 1327, to Roger Earl of March. We next find the young Earl in the suite of Queen Philippa; and he received a robe from the Wardrobe in which to appear at her churching in 1332, made of nine ells of striped saffron-coloured cloth of Ghent, trimmed with fur, and a fur hood. In the following year, when the Queen joined her husband at Newcastle, she left Lawrence at York, desiring “par tendresce de lui” that the child should not take so long and wearying a journey. He was therefore sent to his mother the Countess Julian, “trusting her (says the King’s mandate) to keep him better than any other, since he is near to her heart, being her son.” She was to find all necessaries for him until further order, and the King pledged himself to repay her in reason. (Rot. Claus., 7 Edward the Third, Part 1.) Lawrence was created Earl of Pembroke, October 13, 1339; he died in the first great visitation of the “Black Death,” August 30, 1348, and was buried at Abergavenny. Married Agnes de Mortimer, (see next Article) married 1327 (Walsingham); died July 25, 1368; buried in Abbey of Minories. (She remarried John de Hakelut, and was first Lady in Waiting to Queen Philippa.)
Their children:—1. Joan, married Ralph de Greystoke, after October 9, 1367.
2. John, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, born 1347, died at Arras, France, April 16, 1375; buried Grey Friars’ Church, London. Married (1.) Princess Margaret, daughter of Edward the Third; born at Windsor, July 20-21, 1346; married in the Queen’s Chapel (Reading?), 1359; died S.P. (after October 1st), 1361; buried in Abingdon Abbey. (2.) Anne, daughter and heir of Sir Walter de Mauny and Margaret of Norfolk: born July 24, 1355; married 1363; died April 3, 1384.
IV. The Mortimers of Wigmore.
Edmund De Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore, son of Roger de Mortimer and Maud de Braose: born March 25, 1266; died at Wigmore Castle, July 17, 1304; buried in Wigmore Abbey. Married Margaret, daughter of Sir William de Fienles: married September 8, 1285; sided warmly with her son, and gathered various illegal assemblies at Worcester, where she lived, and at Radnor. On December 28, 1325, the King wrote, commanding her to retire to the Abbey of Elstow without delay, and there dwell at her own cost till further order: “and from the hour of your entering you shall not come forth, nor make any assembly of people without our special leave.” She was commanded to write and say whether she intended to obey! The Abbess of Elstow was at the same time ordered to give convenient lodging to her in the Abbey, but not to suffer her to go forth nor make gatherings of persons. (Close Roll, 19 Edward the Second.) Nothing further is known of her except that she was alive in 1332, and was dead on May 7, 1334, when the mandate was issued for her Inq. Post Mortem. The latter contains no date of death. Margaret was buried at Wigmore. Their children:—1. Roger, born April 25 or May 3, 1287; created Earl of March, 1328; hanged at Tyburn, November 29, 1330: buried in Friars’ Minors Church, Coventry, whence leave was granted to his widow and son, in November, 1331, to transport the body to Wigmore Abbey. Married Jeanne de Geneville, daughter and co-heir of Peter de Geneville (son of Geoffroi de Vaucouleur, brother of the Sieur de Joinville, historian of Saint Louis) and Jeanne de Lusignan: born February 2, 1286; married before 1304. On hearing of her husband’s escape from the Tower in August 1323, she journeyed to Southampton with her elder children, intending to rejoin him in France: but before she set sail, on April 6, 1324, the King directed the Sheriff of Southampton to capture her without delay, and deliver her to the care of John de Rithre, Constable of Skipton Castle. A damsel, squire, laundress, groom, and page, were allowed to her, and her expenses were reckoned at 13 shillings 4 pence per day while travelling, and after reaching Skipton at 13 shillings 4 pence per week, with ten marks (6 pounds, 13 shillings 4 pence) per annum for clothing. (Close Roll, 17 Edward the Second.) These details appear afterwards to have been slightly altered, since the account of the expenses mentions 37 shillings 6 pence for the keep of two damsels, one laundress, one chamberlain, one cook, and one groom. Robes were supplied to her at Easter and Michaelmas. She remained a prisoner at Skipton from May 17, 1324, on which day she seems to have come there, till August 3, 1326. (Rot. de Liberate, 19 Edward the Second, and 3 Edward the Third.) By mandate of July 22, 1326, she was transferred to Pomfret (Close Roll, 20 Edward the Second), which she reached in two days, the cost of the journey being ten shillings 10 pence, (Rot. Lib., 3 Edward the Third.) When her husband was seized in October, 1330, the King sent down John de Melbourne to superintend the affairs of the Countess, with the ladies and children in her company, dwelling at Ludlow Castle, with express instructions that their wardrobes, gods, and jewels, were not to be touched. (Rot. Pat. and Claus., 4 Edward the Third.) The lands of her own inheritance were restored to her in the December and January following, with especial mention of Ludlow Castle, (Rot. Claus., ibidem). Edward the Third always speaks of her with great respect. In August, 1347, there were suits against her in the Irish Courts (the Mortimers held large estates in Ireland), and it is noted that she was not able to plead in person on account of her great age, which made travelling perilous to her. (Rot. Claus., 21 Edward the Third.) She was then 63. On the 19th of October, 1356, she died (Inq. Post Mortem, 30 Edward the Third 30)—the very day of her husband’s capture, 26 years before—and was buried in the Church of the Friars Minors, Shrewsbury. (Cott. Ms. Cleop., C, 3.)