JOHN OF ELTHAM, EARL OF CORNWALL. (2 EDW. III.)
This John being second son to King Edward the Second, was born[363] at Eltham in Kent, upon the festival of the Blessed Virgin’s Assumption, in anno 1316, the 9th of his father’s reign; and in 16 Edward II. had a grant[364] in fee of the castle, manor, and honour of Tuttebury, part of the possessions of Thomas Earl of Lancaster, then attainted. Also in 1 Edw. III. another[365] in general tail of the manor of Milham in com. Norfolk; and a third[366] in reversion after the death of John de Britannia, Earl of Richmond, to himself and the heirs male of his body, of the honour of Richmond, with all the castles, manors, and lands belonging thereto; shortly after which, viz. in 2 Edw. III. he was advanced[367] to the title of Earl of Cornwall in that parliament which begun at Salisbury after the quindesme of St. Michael. And in 3 Edw. III. the king, then going[368] into France to do his homage for the dukedom of Aquitaine, was constituted[369] his lieutenant here during his absence. In 4 Edw. III. he had another grant[370] in tail general of twenty pounds per annum, by the title of Earl of Cornwall, to be paid out of the issues of that county; likewise of the manor of Hanlegh, and of the castle and manor of Eye, with the hamlets of Dalingho, Alderton, Thorndon, and certain lands in Clopton, in com. Suffolk; also of twenty pounds yearly rent, payable by the Prior of Bromholme, in com. Norfolk, for the manor of Baketone; of certain rents pertaining to the honour of Eye in com. Norfolk, Suff. and Essex; of the guardianship of the castle of Eye, and of the free court in Lincoln belonging thereto; of the castle, town, and honour of Berkhamstead
in com. Hertford; of the manor of Risberghe, with the park and manor of Cippenham, in com. Bucks; of the castle, town, and honour of Walingford in com. Berks, with its members; of the honour of St. Walerie, in com. Oxon, and other counties; of the mills at Oxford, with the meadow there called Kingsmede; of the manors of Boudon and Haverbergh in com. Leicester; of the manor of Byflete in com. Surrey; and of the town of Rokyngham in com. Northampton, all of which were then valued[371] at two thousand per annum. Besides which, he then also obtained a grant[371] of the hundreds of Hertsmere and Stow in com. Suffolk, and of the yearly ferme of Queenhithe in the city of London.
In 5 Edw. III. upon[372] the king’s expedition into Scotland, he was again appointed[373] his lieutenant here during his absence. And in 7 Edw. III. had another grant[374] in tail general of the hundreds in Cornwall; likewise of the town of Lestwithiel, with all the issues and profits of that county, then belonging to the king, viz. of the ports, wreck of sea, prizes, and customs, as also of the yearly ferme of the city of Exeter, with the profits of the water of Sutton, in com. Devon, and of the stannaries and coinage thereof in that county; likewise of the river of Dertmouth, with the profits of the mines in Cornwall, and of the town of Yvelchester in com. Somerset.
In 8 Edw. III. he obtained license[375] for to have a market every week, upon the Thursday, at his manor of Wintringham in com. Lincoln, as also for two fairs, one on the eve, day, and morrow of St. Philip and St. James, and six days next ensuing; the other on the eve and day of All Saints, and six days following; likewise for two fairs at Kirketon, the same, one on the eve and day of the translation of St. Thomas the Martyr, and six days after; the other on the eve and day of St. Andrew the Apostle, and six days ensuing; and in 9 Edw. III. was[376] in that expedition then made into Scotland; so likewise in 10 Edw. III. at which time the king having intelligence that the French had promised to aid the Scots, he marched[377] himself into that realm with a great army, and fortified the castle of Stryvelyn, with a great ditch, as also the town of St.
Johnston’s, at which place this John Earl of Cornwall, then[378] also being and falling sick, departed[378] this life without wife or issue, and was afterwards honourably buried in St. Edmund’s chapel, within the abbey church of Westminster, where his monument still remaineth.
A LIST of those individuals who have held the Lands and the Patronage of the ancient Princes of Cornwall, with the Nominal Office of Duke, since the settlement made by King Edward the Third.
1. Edward Plantagenet, the Black Prince, created by Charter, confirmed in Parliament, A. D. 1337, with this clause:
Habend. et tenend. eidem Duci et ipsius ac heredum suor. Regum Angl. Filiis primogenitis, et Ducib. dicti loci in Regno Angl. hereditarie successur.