[457] William de Tresgoz appears in the Pipe-Roll of 31 Hen. I. as a landowner in Essex (where the family held Tolleshunt Tregoz of the honour of Peverel) and elsewhere. He was then fermor of the honour of Peverel. In the above inquisition "William de Tregoz" holds six fees of the honour.
[458] William "de Boevilla" (sic) appears in the same roll as a landowner in Essex (pp. 53, 60), and William "de Bosevill" (sic) is found in (Hearne's) Liber Niger (p. 229) as a tenant of the Earl of Essex (1½ fees de vet. fef.). But what is here granted is the manor of Springfield Hall, which William de Boseville held of the honour of Peverel "of London," by the service of two knights. Mathew Peverel, the Tresgoz family, and the Mauduits were all tenants of the same honour.
[459] Mathew Peverel similarly appears in the Pipe-Roll of 31 Hen. I. as holding land in Essex and Norfolk. In the above inquisition William Peverel holds five fees of the honour.
[460] Elmdon (Essex) had been held of Eustace of Boulogne at the Survey by Roger de Someri, ancestor of the family of that name seated there. Stephen was of course entitled to their servicium in right of his wife. Adam de Sumeri held seven fees of the Earl of Essex in 1166.
[461] Possibly the Ralph Brito who appears in the Pipe-Rolls of Hen. II. as holding terræ datæ "in Chatelegâ," and who also figures as "Ralph le Bret," under Essex, in the Liber Niger (p. 242), and as Radulfus Brito, a tenant of Robert de Helion (ibid., p. 240).
[462] Duchy of Lancaster, Royal Charters, No. 18.
[463] This same principle is well illustrated by two cartæ which follow one another in the pages of the Liber Niger. They are those of "Willelmus filius Johannis de Herpetreu" and "Willelmus filius Johannis de Westona." Here the suffix (which in such cases is rather a crux to genealogists) clearly distinguishes the two Williams, and is not the appellation of their respective fathers (as it sometimes is). This leads us to such styles as "Beauchamp de Somerset" and "Beauchamp de Warwick," "Willoughby d'Eresby" and "Willoughby de Beke." Many similar instances are to be found in writs of summons, and, applying the above principle, we see that, in all cases, the suffix must originally have been added for the sake of distinction only.
[464] See p. 120.
[465] Of the absentees, the Earl of Chester and his half-brother the Earl of Lincoln will be found accounted for below, as will also the Earl of Warwick; the Earl of Leicester was absent, like his brother the Count of Meulan, but he generally, as here, held aloof; the Earls of Gloucester, Cornwall, Devon, and Hereford were, of course, with the Empress. Thus, with the nine mentioned in the charter, we account for some eighteen earls.
[466] See Appendix M, on the latter earldom.