Nicholas de Segrave Baron Segrave
GIVN Nicholas de
SURN Segrave
NSFX [Baron Segrave]
AFN V9SJ-FF
DATE 7 MAY 2000
TIME 01:05:21
This feudal lord married Annabil Chaucumbe, daughter and co-heir of
Robert deChaucumbe, obtained a grant in the 15th year of King Henry
III., from Simonde Montfort, Lord of Leicester, of the whole town of
Kegworth, co. Leicester,and in two years after, had a grant from the
crown, of the manor of Newcastle-under-Lyme, co. Stafford; being the same
year constituted Governor of Bolsover Castle. In the 26th year of Henry
III., he was made Justice of all the royal forests, south of Trent, and
Governor of Kenilworth Castle. In the 35th year of the same reign, he was
constituted one of the justices of Oyer and Terminer, in the city of
London, to hear and determine all such causes as had usually been tried
before the justice itinerant, at the Tower of London. But inthree years
afterwards, being deputed, with Roger Bigod, Earl Marshal, on anembassy,
was treacherously seized (along with John de Plassets, Earl of Warwick,
and divers others of the English nobility,) by the French, as he was
returning, and died within a short period, sometime in 1254, of the
severe treatment he had received in prison.
Stephen de Segrave, who in the 5th year of King John, was Constable of
the Tower of London, and remained faithful to that monarch in his
conflicts with the barons, obtained a grant in the 17th year of John of
the lands of Stephen de Gant, lying in the cos. of Lincoln and Leicester,
with the manor of Kintone, co. Warwick. In the 4th year of King Henry
III., he was made Governor of Saubey Castle, Leicestershire, and the next
year constituted Sheriff of the cos. of Essex and Hertford, and
afterwards Leicestershire. In the 8th year of the same reign, he was
Governor of the Castle of Hertford, and in two years after, one of the
Justices Itinerant in the cos. Nottingham and Derby. About this period we
find this successful person, whom Matthew Paris says, in his young days "
from a clerk was made a knight," acquiring large landed property by
purchase. In the 13th year of King Henry III., he bought the manor of
Cotes, in the co. Derby, from the daughters and heirs of Stephen de
Beauchamp, andhe afterwards purchased from Ranulph, Earl of Chester and
Lincoln, all the lands which that nobleman possessed at Mount Sorrell,
co. Leicester, without the castle; as also two carucates and a half lying
at Segrave, which himself and his ancestors had previously held at the
rent of 14 shilling per year. Inthe 16th year of Henry III., he obtained
a grant of the custody of the castleand county of Northampton, as also
of the cos. Bedford, Buckingham, Warwick,and Leicester, for the term of
his life.; taking the whole profit of all those shires for his support in
that service; expecting the ancient farms, whichhad usually been paid
into the exchequer. And, having been of the king's council for several
years, as also Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, he succeeded in the
16th year of Henry III., Hubert de Burgh in the great office of
Justiciary of England, being at the same time constituted Governor of
Dover, Canterbury, Rochester, etc., and Constable of the Tower of London.
After thiswe find him, however, opposed by the bishops and barons, and
his manor houseat Segrave burned to the ground by the populace, as well
as another mansion in the co. Huntingdon. The king, too, in this perilous
crisis, deserted him, and cited him, along with Peter de Rupibu, Bishop
of Winchester, and others who had been in power, to appear forthwith at
court in order to answer any charge regarding the wasting of the public
treasure, which might be preferred against them. Some of those persons,
conscious of guilt, fled to sanctuary, andStephen de Segrave sought
asylum in the abbey of Leicester, where he openly declared that he was
and had been a priest, and that he resolved to shave hiscrown again to
be a canon of that house. Nevertheless upon second thoughts, he braved
the storm, and appeared at court, under the archbishop's protection;
where the king called him a wicked traitor, and told him that it was
underhis advise that he had displaced Hubert de Burgh from the office of
Justiciary, and cast that eminent person into prison; nay, that had he
gone the length of his council, Hubert would have been hanged, and divers
of the nobility banished.
In twelve months subsequently, however, Stephen de Segrave made hispeace
by paying 1000 marks to the king, and he afterwards grew again into such
favor, that in the 21st year of Henry III., he was the means of
reconciling the king with some of his most hostile barons. Subsequently,
he was made Justice of Chester, and the king's Chief Councilor, and
"being now," says Dugdale, "advanced in years, deported himself by
experience of former times, withmuch more temper and moderation than
heretofore." This eminent person married (1) Rohese Despencer, daughter
of Thomas le Despencer, and (2) Ida Hastings, sister of Henry de
Hastings, with whom he had in frank-marriage, the manorof Bruneswaver,
co. Warwick. Of Stephen de Segr