Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/432

368 EXAMPLES OF MEDIiEVAL SEALS. which he is called her uncle {avxmculo meo.y This is corroborated by another document not known to Mr. Stapleton ; a letter among the records in the Tower, which was written by AVilliam de Warenne to Hubert de Burgh Justiciary of England, who had married his relation, Beatrix de Warenne ; and in which he speaks of the arrival of his own niece, his (Hubert's) kinswoman [ncjttis )iostre et cocfnatc vestrc), A translation of this letter has been published by Mr. Blaauw in the sixth volume of the Sussex Archaeological Collections, pp. 110 — 111. It is without date, but was probably written in 1219. When the alliances of the two families are examined, it certainly seems more likely that the relationship between the Countess and William de Warenne was one of blood, as suggested by Mr. Stapleton, than one of affinity. On what authority the French writers have supposed her mother to have been a De Longueville, or have attributed to her that surname, we are not able to state.- The husband of Alice was Earl of En in her right. lie was Ralph d'Issoudun, brother of Ilugh le Brun, Comte of La Marche, who married Isabella of Angouleme, the widow of King John, having been betrothed to her before her first marriage, hut deprived of her by John's power and influence ; which led to these two brothers assisting Philip of France to wrest Normandy from John. In 1219 Alice became a widow. Among other estates in England she held the rape and castle of Hastings, which, though seized by John, were restored by him in 121-1.^ But in 9 Hen. III. (1225) an arrange- ment was made between the king and the Countess Alice respecting them/ and in the same year she quitted England, and has been generally supposed to have died in 1227. This Mr. Stapleton has shown to be a mistake ; for she appears to have been living as late as 124.5, and possibly a year or two later.^ Her only son, Ralph, called by Dugdale William, succeeded to the earldom of Eu, but, adhering to the king of France, did not obtain the English estates. She also left a daughter, !Maude, who married Humphry do Bohun, Earl of Hereford, and was an ancestress of the subsequent Earls of Hereford of that family. The seal is attached to a deed among the archives of the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury, which relates to the patronage of the church of " Ilelham " ( ? Elham, Kent). It is not dated, but appears from the contents to have been made in the time of Archbishop Edmund, who filled the sec from 1234 to 1242 ; thus it furnishes additional evidence of the mistake of those writers, who state that the Countess died in 1227. The form and size of the seal are shown by the woodcuts. On the obverse is her effigy in profile, a position not very uncoinmon in foreign, though rare in English seals of this date, bearing on her left hand a hawk with its jesses ])en(lent, an<l in her right, which is brought to her waist, is a flower, or possibly a fleur-de-lis. She is habited in a long ungirded robe, with tight sleeves, and on her head is a kind of cap, flat at the top, and scciin-d by a bund passing under her (Jiin. The legend is imperfect, but ' I'ref. lUt. Seac. Norman, ii. >). Loii^Micvillc, though tho son assimuMl tluit ccxxxi., ct. tf'i. of l)i- W.'iitiiiio. 2 Th<! futlirr (if Williuiii ilo Waniuic •' I'n 1. Itot.Si-m-. Ni>nnf»ii.ii. i).oc-xxxii. Im BoiiHtiiiKH c.illcil ll,iii:<liii l'laiil;i^;ciii!t, note, ami Ciil. I<<>t. I'al., ."> Ii. l>ut, liiiviti({ l)c<:ii illc^itiiiiiiti', li'm Hnniainc ' Ciil. Hot. Tut., K> I), in iiiircrUiii ; ftml it Im |>(j«hil)li' ji li.•lll^,'llt( r ' I'rof, Hot. bene. Nonn.iii. ii., |i. of Imh limy friiiii koiik: i-ansc have licni fe.xxiv. <li»liiiguiHti<:il liy till.' MO'iiuiiii- nl' U>