a day, while £1 6s. od. went in tithes as I have explained above.[1] We again meet with William FitzWalter in that charter of the Empress Maud to Geoffrey de Mandeville which I assign to 1142.[2] She grants therein to Geoffrey that William may have his hereditary constableship of Windsor Castle and lands.[3]
William was succeeded by a son of the same name, to whom King Henry II., by a charter granted at Windsor 1154–64 confirmed the lands of his father. This charter, which proves the pedigree, is known to me only from Harleian Roll, P. 8, a pedigree of the Windsor family and of their Irish kinsmen, the FitzGeralds, which although compiled at a bad time (1582) is of quite exceptional value. The charter of which I speak confirms to William of Windsor all the land of his father, William FitzWalter, and of his grandfather, Walter FitzOther.[4] This William is constantly mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Henry II. as among those who supervised building operations at Windsor Castle. I believe that I have discovered his wife, of whom the name has not been known, in that Christina de Wiham who was a tenant by knight-service on the Montfichet fief in 1166.[5] The argument is this. The domesday lord of the fief, Robert Gernon, had an under-tenant, Ilger, who held of him two manors in Essex, Wormingford and Maplestead. Walter de Windsor is subsequently found giving, in conjunction with his mother Christina, the church of Wormingford to Wix Priory[6] and bestowing on St. Paul's three of his neifs at (evidently) Maplestead.[7] Moreover, in 1187 he is found holding a fee and a half of Richard de
- ↑ Great Roll of the Pipe, 31 Hen. I. p. 127.
- ↑ Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 163.
- ↑ 'quod Willelmus filius Walteri et hæredes sui habeant custodiam castelli de Windesh[ores] et omnia sua tenementa sicut ipse Willelmus et antecessores sui eam habuerunt de rege Henrico patre meo et antecessoribus ipsius' (ibid. p. 169).
- ↑ 'Sciatis me reddidisse et concessisse Willelmo de Windesoriis totam terram que fuit Willelmi filii Walteri patris sui et Walteri filii Otheri avi sui. … Testibus Willelmo fratre meo et comite Reginaldo et Jocelino de Baillil apud Windesorias.' As the pedigree gives with this charter transcripts of the extracts from the Empress Maud's charter, of the charter of Henry II. in favour of his cousin William FitzRobert FitzWalter, and of the fine of 9 Ric. I., all of which are quite accurate, its authority is excellent.
- ↑ Red Book of the Exchequer, p. 350.
- ↑ See Morant's History of Essex, ii. 232, 233, and the Monasticon (under Wix), where the charter is printed.
- ↑ 9th Report Historical MSS. App. i. p. 34.
