Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 5.djvu/45

LEICESTER. 43 K;irl of Leicester," had a grunt (v.p.1 of all the lan 1 his father had in England. i' J ) of Breteuil and of Paey. and of the Stewardship of England and Normandy. It is open to conjecture that, possibly, he was, by this charter rrcnijnixct (v. p.) as Ea - 1 "t" Leicmternnd consequently thatAr and not hi- father wlui is said to have been a monk since 1158) was the Justiciar uf England Uf3— 1168. In' 1 173 he espoused the side of Prince Henry against lung Henry II., hy whitta he was taken pvisoiier (his castle of Breteuil being burnt and the to.vn of Leicester Dearly ttastriiyed; and not released til! .Ian. 1177 when he was restored in blood ami honours. He was again arrested in April 1188 but was restored before 25 Dec. llSli, when he performed his office of " DtifltjfaPi' 1 He was bearer of the third sword at the Hist Coronation (3 Sep. 1189), of Richard I. He m. in llCS Pernell or I'etn.oilla, heiress of the powerful family of GnhNT.iKSNIt., said to be da. of Hugh de Gkkxtmesnil ( c ) and with her acquired vast estates.; 1 '] She w;s living in 1179 and, po-sibly, in 11011, *J at which date he departed on the Crusade during which he (/. (on the voyage) 31 Aug. 1190. ami was Ami-, at Dunrzo ( I >yrachium) in Albania. (a) 11 Totam terrain Uodberti Comitis patris sui de Anglia. sieut Comes Kodbertus de Mellend, avus suns * * tennit ; insuper leddMi et coiicessi Britulium, cum to o honore. c, sicut Willehnus rla Briiolio * * teuuit. * * Praitciva Jedi et couce.-si ill feu In et herelitate I'asci cum toto houore et totam terrain qunn Willeluius de I'asci in Anglia et in Normannia tennit in feudo de me et de quocumque cam tennisset, et Concha H Vretcuil.'So. 1, Carton J. 219. Printed by SI. Delisle, Cartulaire Noi tnand, p. 2) With reference to Pacy we read in It, 'In Mout (sub an. 11:13) " .Mortito Willelmo de Paceio absque liberie redditutn est castrum Paceii Roberto, tilio C<unitis Lrgeeestriio, quia p»rtinebat ad honorem Uritolii, unde ille erat legitimus lucres ex parte matris sine." Ex i nt'nnn. G. W.Watson. ( h ) It is to be nbserved that Stapleton says that Eapi'cr or Seneschal I its Xor.nnnnitc wis the usual title of the Chief Justiciar of Normandy and was a dignity held by William Fibs Osbern, son of Osberli Dapifer. Now the Oapifenttut An/lie et Xornvtnnie was granted to this Earl in his father's lifetime (see note "a" next above), from which fact [if taken by itself) it Would seem thereby likely that he (and not his father) was the Chief Justiciar of England 1105 — 1 1 03 (see p. 44, note " d "), but there are, writes Mr. (!. W. Watson, "powerful "bjectinus to this theory. In the first place the Justiciar is uniformly described as Em I of Leicester. Now we read in the Convention between Henry II. and the Count of Flanders (Hearne's Lib. Nig. I, p. 31). among the sureties of the King of England ' K ibcrlus, filiiix Comitis Leirccstre, fro c. Mfin*.' This Convention is ot date 1103 and it is out of the question that the fitilU is meant for /{nbertns til. Pctrunilltc j in other words Hubert Blanchmains Ml Jilins Comitis and not Comti in 1163. Other charters there are of 1155 and UtiO to which Robert, son of the Earl of Leicester, is witness, and the former contains also Robert, Earl of Leicester, as witness (see Eyton, pp. 11, 49.) This seems to me to prove that Robert, the son, was not Robert, the Viceroy." ( c ) Her father's name is thus given in the genealogy by the monks of St. Mary at Leicester, but Mr. Blanche (who says that at this date no '• Hugh de Grentesmil " appears elsewhere) expressly states that " the parcntuye of Pcrnelle has not been exactly ascertained." See, however, p. 41, note "h," where Hugh de Grente- mesnil (the founder of St. Evroult) is spoken of as being her great grandfather. This would make her father to be (Hugh) the s. and b. of that Ivo who was cheated out of his inheritance of Leicester by Robert, Count of Meulan. See p. 40, note " f." The above genealogy (Moiutst., edit. 1830, vi, 4G7), also attributes (2) to this lady the heirship of the honour of Hinckley ; is, also, responsible (3) for Earl Robeit being a monk 15 years before his death, and makes (4) Amicia de Beaumont to be the mother of Earl Simon who was slain at Evesham. This last ■tatementweXwoWtobe wrong so that not improbably the other three may be wrongalso. ( u ) Doubtless (among others) the Grentmesnil fiefs in Normandy, for the Leicester- shire estates had already passed (at all events in pledge) to the Beaumont family. See p. 40, note " f." (°) She attested a chatter (undated) to the monks of Lire shortly before the Earl, her husband, set forth on his journey to Jerusalem. He was, however, on two pilgrimages there ; one in 1179 (Annals of Waverley) and the other in 1190. Ex inform. G. W. Watson. (') " Robertus, Comes Leicestriic, Anandiie, sancti Egidii obiit lauguore praaventus in mare mediterraneo, et apud Duraz, Graicia; urbem, sepultus est." (Chron, de Mailros, Fell's Collect., I, p. 178.) Ex inform. G. W. Watson.