[1135] Thus the Chronicle of Walden Abbey (Arundel MSS.) relates that at the death of Geoffrey, Earl of Essex, in 1166, his mother was living at her Priory of Chicksand, with her sister "Adeliza" of Essex. On the succession of his brother William, "Alicia de Essexia" came to Walden Abbey "ordinante comite Willelmo ejus nepote," and settled and died there (ibid., cap. 18). But the most important evidence is a charter of this same Earl William, abstracted in Lansdowne MSS., 259, fol. 67, granting to "Adelicia of Essex," his mother's sister, the town of Aynho in free dower over and above the dower she had received from Roger fitz Richard, her lord. This charter is witnessed by his mother, "Roesia Comitissa;" Simon de Beauchamp, his uterine brother; Geoffrey de Ver and William de Ver, his uncles; Ranulf Glanville, and Geoffrey de Say, who was his cousin. He had previously granted Aynho (? in 1170) to Roger fitz Richard in exchange for Compton (co. Warwick), his charter being witnessed inter alios by John (de Lacy), the constable of Chester (see p. 392 n.), Ranulf de Glanville, and Geoffrey de Say (see my paper on "A Charter of William, Earl of Essex," in Eng. Hist. Review, April, 1891).
[1136] Colne Cartulary, Nos. 51, 54.
[1137] "Domino suo primo marito Roberto scilicet de Essexiâ" (Walden Abbey Chronicle). Dugdale makes her, in error, the wife of Henry de Essex.
[1138] This descent has not hitherto been established, and Mr. Freeman speaks of Swegen of Essex as "father or grandfather of Henry de Essex."
[1139] He appears in the charters of this priory as "Robertus filius Suein" and as "Robertus de Essex filius Suein."
[1140] See Appendix N. His paternity, which is well ascertained, is further proved by his confirmation, in the (MS.) Colchester Cartulary, of a gift by his father, Robert de Essex, to St. John's Abbey, Colchester.
[1141] I have purposely abstained from touching on the relationship of Lacy to De Vere, because there is evidently error somewhere in the account given by Dugdale, and as the descent is without my sphere, I have not investigated the question. The Rotulus de Dominabus should be consulted. Nor do I discuss the descent of Sackville. Mr. Ellis wrote: "The coat of Sackville, Quarterly, a bend vairé, is doubtless derived from De Vere, but by what match does not clearly appear." It is singular that William de Sackville, who died circa 1158, is said to have married Adeliza, daughter of "Aubrey the sheriff," which points to some connection between the two families.
[1142] Antiquities of Heraldry, p. 209.
[1143] Ibid., p. 230.
[1144] Ibid., pp. 228-232.