Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/137

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Marett
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Marett

Powys. He remained, however, without territory for several years. Even when Iorwerth and Cadwgan were slain in succession in 1112 he did not improve his position. According to 'Brut y Tywysogion' (Oxford edit. p. 291), he was in 1113 'penteulu' (captain of the guard) to Owain ap Cadwgan, an office specially reserved by Welsh custom for landless members of the royal family (Ancient Laws of Wales, ed. 1841, i. 12). In that year, however, Owain divided with him the forfeited domains of Madog ap Rhiryd. Though the gift seems to have been resumed, Maredudd recovered it on Owain's death in 1116, and henceforward appears regularly among the princes of Powys. In 1118 he took part in the feud between Hywel of Rhos and Rhufoniog and the sons of Owain ab Edwin. In 1121 he was leader of the resistance offered by Powys to the invasion of Henry I. During the few remaining years of his life his power grew apace; in 1123 his nephew, Einon ap Cadwgan, bequeathed him his territory; in 1124 a second son of Cadwgan, Maredudd, was murdered; and in 1128 a third, Morgan, died on pilgrimage. Two other enemies to his progress his nephew, Ithel ap Rhiryd, and his great-nephew, Llywelyn ab Owain Maredudd himself removed, the former by murder, the latter by mutilation. Thus at his death in 1132 he was lord of all Powys [see Madog ap Maredudd].

[Annales Cambriae, Rolls ed.; Brut y Tywysogion, Oxford edit. of Red Book of Hergest.]

J. E. L.

MARETT or MARET, PHILIP (1568?–1637), attorney-general of Jersey, born about 1568, was second son of Charles Maret, by Margaret, born Le Cerf, and was descended on both sides from Norman families long resident on the island. He was educated in a Spanish seminary, and was consequently described by his enemies as a papist, though he was ostensibly a strong supporter of the English church. Being well versed both in law and the customs of Jersey, he was in 1608 appointed advocate-general of the island, and in 1609 succeeded Philip de Carteret of Vinchelez as attorney-general, in which capacity he supported the 'captain' or governor, Sir John Peyton, against the claims of the presbyterian 'colloquy' or synod to exclude episcopally ordained ministers. In the complicated feud which raged between the governor and the bailiff, John Herault, Marett succeeded in rendering himself thoroughly obnoxious to the bailiff, whom he accused of every kind of usurpation. Herault rejoined by disputing Marett's title to the office of king's receiver and procureur in Jersey, with which Peyton had rewarded his adherent. The long strife culminated in 1616, when Marett, losing his temper, vented his abuse on the bailiff while the latter was presiding in the royal court, and accused Sir Philip de Carteret, a jurat of the island, of an attempt to assassinate him. For this outrage he was, in May 1616, ordered to apologise and pay a fine of fifty crowns. In the meantime his enemies sought to replace him in office by one of their own partisans. Marett, refusing to submit or to acknowledge the competence of the court, was ordered to England to appear before the lords of the privy council. By them he was committed to the Gatehouse for contempt, and finally sent back to the island to submit to the judgment of the court. Still refusing to appear in court and submit to his sentence, he was committed, in September 1616, to Elizabeth Castle, whence he piteously complained of the weight of his manacles. He was soon released, and found further means of evading his sentence. Charges and counter-charges were freely bandied about. Marett was doubtless a victim of much private and personal malice, but he is described, with probable truth, as 'proud, presumptuous, and hated of the people,' while his effrontery in denial earned him the title of 'L'Etourdi.' After numerous cross-appeals the case was referred to the royal commissioners (in Jersey), Sir Edward Con way and Sir William Bird, and, their finding being adverse to Marett, was eventually referred to the king himself, who ordered the ex-procureur back to Jersey to make public submission, or in default to be banished from the island.

Marett seems subsequently to have been reconciled with Herault, and was, 12 March 1628, elected a jurat of the royal court. In May 1632 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of the island by Sir Thomas Jermyn, during the temporary absence of Captain Thomas Rainsford. He died in January 1636-7, and was buried in the parish church of St. Brelade. By his wife Martha, daughter and coheiress of Nicholas Lempriere and widow of Elias Dumaresq, he had a son Philip (d. 1676), who was imprisoned by Colonel Robert Gibbons, the Cromwellian governor, for strenuous resistance to his exactions, in 1656.

A descendant, Sir Robert Pipon Marett (1820-1884), son of Major P. D. Marett by Mary Ann, daughter of Thomas Pipon, lieutenant bailiff of Jersey, was educated at Caen and at the Sorbonne, was constable of St. Helier, where he effected some notable mprovements, in 1856, and solicitor-general of Jersey in 1858. He was attorney-general