21. MATESFORD

Sampson Tree

JOHN DE MATESFORD (21)

 

JOHN DE MATESFORD was lord of the manor of Daldich in the East Devon parish of Luppitt, north of Honiton.

Sir William Pole tells us:[1]
“Daldich in this parish, sometyme ye land of Sir William Meledon Kt; after him John de Matesford was lord thereof; by Elizabeth, daughter & heire of John Matesford, wief of William Ferrers of Churchstowe, it came unto John Ferrers, their sonne; & he dying without issue, the lands of Ferrers were devided between Emma, wief of William Ashford, of Ashford, & Joane, wief of Richard Yard, of Bradley. This land fell in coparcinary unto Ashford.”
[copacinary is a joint inheritance. Daldich was part of Emma’s share.]

In 1360, John de Matesford was one of the witnesses in the proof of age for John Horsey of Upottery. He was then aged 40. This tells us that John was born around 1320, in the reign of Edward II.
“William Hore, aged 50 years, John Mattesford, aged 40 years, Richard Somaister, aged 42 years, and Robert Pomeray aged 60 years, agree and say that one John Rous brought against them in the King’s Bench a writ of trespass returnable on the quinzaine of St. Martin, 12 Edward III, and on Easter Sunday before the birth of the said heir the same John Rous remitted to them all actions, and so by the date of the quitclaim the age of the heir is manifest.”

We know little of his early life, neither of his parents’ names, or where he grew up, except that he was from Devon.

We do not know whom he married, and the name of only one child, his daughter Elizabeth. She was either an only child, or the only surviving one, since she was his sole heir.

Tristram Risdon tells us a little more about when John took over the manor of Daldich.[2]
“Daldich had once lords so named, but in the beginning of K Edw 3 [1327] it was the land of Sir William Meldon, knt. The 17^th of the same king’s reign it did belong unto John Matesford, from whom descended Elizabeth, wife of William Ferrers of Churchton”.
In other words, John was lord of the manor of Daldich by 1344, when he was 24.

We do not know how this manor of Daldich passed from Sir William Meledon to John de Matesford. Since we do not know the name of John’s wife, it may be that she was from the Meldon family.

Luppit stands in the Blackdown Hills.
There was a church there at least as early as Norman times, but the present church of St Mary is thought to have been built in 1300-1320, shortly before John de Matesford was born.
One of the outstanding features of St Mary’s is its Norman font. This is richly carved with lively and grotesque figures, human and animal. One panel shows two men fighting, with a human head between them. Various interpretations have been put forward, but none of them is wholly convincing.

John would have been in his late twenties in 1348 when the Black Death struck England. Nearly half the population died, but John evidently survived.

We know that he was an esctheator. This was an official charged with managing those estates which had reverted to the king in the absence of an heir.

Research by the Royal Holloway College tells of “John Mattesford Escheator of Cornwall and Devon, 12 December 1372-December 1376.
“Notes: Mattesford was a Devonian, holding land in that county”.[3]

Most of what we know of his adult life comes from the Close Rolls of Edward III[4]  and from a potted biography of Baron Leonard Carew. [5]

Sir Leonard Carew was lord of the neighbouring manor of Mohun’s Ottery from 1343-1369. Following his death in 1369, we have the following writ:
28/12/1369, “Writ for IPM of Leonard de Carreu. Berks: Mollisford. The manor, … He died on 9 October last. Thomas his son, aged 1 year and more, is his heir. Southampton: Annedeport. … long before his departure from England in the company of the earl of Pembroke he enfeoffed Hugh Harston, Ralph Clatford, Thomas Stone, chaplain, and John de Matesford, their heirs and assigns, of the manor of Annedeport.”
Carreu is more usually spelt Carew. Annedepot is Amport in Hampshire.

This connection between John de Matesford and Leonard de Carew becomes clearer in 1371.
“To Thomas Chaumernoun escehator in Devon. Order to remove the king’s hand, and not to meddle further with the lands taken into the king’s hand by the death of Leonard de Carreu, delivering up any issues thereof taken; as the king has learned by inquisition, taken by the escheator, that the said Leonard at his death held no lands in that county in chief nor of others in this demesne as of fee, but long before his death made a feoffment of all his lands in Devon to Thomas Stone parson of Combe Raleight, John Mattesford, Hugh Harstun and Ralph Clattesford, their heirs and assigns, and that the same are held of others than the king.”

On 22 Jun 1374 at Westminster an order was given to John de Mattesford, escheator in Devon and Cornwall, along similar line to another concerning what to do at the death of an abbess or abbot.. Clearly, the king did not intend the escheator to rush in and seize the abbey for the king. He was to treat the abbess or abbot’s successor as their heir.

This escheator was ordered to “take a simple seisin of Wilton Abbey, now void by the death of Sibyl Aucher, abbess thereof, and not to meddle with that abbey, the temporalities or possessions thereof, by reason of this vacancy, but straightway to withdraw this time without taking aught to the king’s use, suffering the prioress and nuns thereof to have the said abbey, temporalities and possessions with all property and goods thereto belonging according to the king’s letters patent, and not troubling or grieving them in aught, but saving the king the knights’ fees, advowson of churches, wards, reliefs, escheats which may fall in during this vacancy, as lately of his favour and affection towards the said nuns, and for 60/, by the said Sibyl paid in the hanaper of chancery, the king granted that so soon as the abbey should be void by the death, cession or resignation of the said abbess, the prioress and nuns should have the keeping thereof and of all temporalities and possessions thereof with all property and goods thereto belonging all the time of the first vacancy, so that the escheat or other bailiff or minister of the king whatsoever should not meddle with the same during that vacancy, saving the knights’ fees, advowsons of churches, wards, reliefs and escheats which might fall in.”

The king in question was Edward III.

On 17 Aug 1375, another mandate was given to John de Mattesford of Devon:
“the king with the assent of the prelates, earls, barons and other nobles of the realm granted by letters patent to the abbot, prior and convent of Glastonbury that at every vacancy of the abbey by death, cession, resignation or otherwise the prior and convent and their successors should have the keeping of the abbey and all the temporalities thereof with all goods and property to the same belonging as fully as ever the abbot had when the see was filled, so that they should have free administration and disposal of the said temporalities, property and goods as they should see best, saving to the king the knights’ fees and advowsons of churches during a vacancy, rendering to the king for every vacancy if it should endure one whole year 1,000 marks, and if for a less time or a greater in proportion, so that no sheriff, escheator or other bailiff or minister of the king whatsoever should by reason of such vacancy meddle with the keeping thereof or of the manors, granges or other property or goods whatsoever to the abbey belonging, except that at the beginning of every vacancy the escheator or other minister of the king for the time being should take a simple seisin and at once depart as aforesaid.”

John was again involved with the Carew family in 1375.
18/11/1375, “Nicholas Careu, Thomas, son of Leonard Carreu, and John Mattesforde, querents, and John Prescote, deforciant. … … which John Meriet’, knight, and Elizabeth, his wife, held in dower of Elizabeth, of the inheritance of John Prestecote … after the decease of Elizabeth shall remain to Nicholas, Thomas and John Mattesforde and the heirs of Thomas, to hold together with the 2 parts, of the chief lords for ever.”

In 1376, John de Mattesford, escheator in Devon, was given orders “concerning 10f knights’ fees in Burlescombe and Lomene Clavyle with the members, the moiety of one knight’s fee in Bydeford and one knight’s fee in Kilkhampton held by Theobald de Greneville, five knight’s fees held by Dame de Blount, and one knight’s fee in Calwodele held by Andrew de Calwodele.”

We learn of John’s involvement in Cornwall in the following order:
“to John de Mattesford escheator in Cornwall and Devon, in regard to the manor of Rillaton, the town of Lostwythiel, the manors of Tewyngton, Helleston in Kerrier, Moresk, Tywamyll and Penmayn, the fee farm of Liskeret namely 181. 18d, the manor of Tyntagel, except Tyntagel Castle, the borough of Bossynny, the town of Camelford, the manors of Penlyn and Tybeste, the borough of Helleston in Kerrier, the fee farm of Launceston and the farm of other profits there namely 81.9s., the manor of Talskedy, with the issues thereof.”

This is the last we hear of John. We do not know when he died.

The Matesford arms werer: Argent, a chevron gules between three trefoils or.  A red inverted V on a silver background, between three gold trefoils.]

 

 

[1] Pole, Sir William, Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon,17^th century. London 1791.
[2] Tristram Risdon. Survey of the County of Devon, c.1630.
[3] Cornwall and the Kingdom: Connectivity, Cohesion, and Integration, c. 1300-c. 1420. https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/29033673/2017drakesjdphd.pdf
[4] . Calendar of the Close Rolls, Edward III https://archive.org/stream/calendarofcloser14grea/calendarofcloser14grea_djvu.txt
[5] Many mini biographies: 7605568. Baron Leonard Carew.