22. ST AUBYN

Sampson  Tree

STEPHEN DE ST AUBYN (22)

 

STEPHEN DE ST AUBYN is believed to be the father of Mauger de St Aubyn, whose crusader effigy can be seen in Georgeham church in North Devon.[1] His own father was another Mauger de St Aubyn.

Stephen is thought to have been born in 1230, in the reign of Henry III.[2]

He held Henstridge, formerly Hengestridge. This probably the settlement at Berry Down, in the parish of Berrynarbor, south of Combe Martin. There is also a Henstridge in Somerset.

 

He had one known child, Mauger, born 1255.

The Linley and Jim Hooper’s family history website quotes a document concerning Stephen’s tenure of the manor of Martinhoe. The source and date are not given.[3]

… Stephen de Sancto Albino, tenant & … Between David de Pentyr & Simona his wife, plaintiffs & Stephen de Sancto Albino, David in Simona’s place, as to the manor of Martinhoe, Steven acknowledges the whole of the manor to be the right of Simona. For this David & Simona granted the same to Stephen. Stephen paid 12 marks of silver.

A mark was 13s 4d, or 2/3 of a pound.

De Sancto Albino is the Latin form of St Aubyn, and the one usually used in documents.

 

Martinhoe stands on the high coastland west of Lynton.

Stephen is also thought to have been lord of the manor of Georgeham. He may have been involved in the dispute when the church tithes were fought over.

“By 1261 a certain Oliver de Tracey was appointed Rector of Ham.St.George (first written evidence that there was indeed a church here) De Tracey appears to have been a man of spirit with the interests of his new parish very much at heart. The Croyde tithes had been given to the monks of the Priory in Barnstaple, so the Rector gathered together seventeen faithful friends, seized the Tithes and carried them off! Sadly his enterprise failed, he and his friends were condemned by the King’s Court to pay fines of £10. and the Croyde tithes were not restored to Georgeham until 1311. The present name Georgeham (the stress falling equally on the “George” and the “Ham” is recorded in 1536, but the older version of Ham St.George was still in use in later histories. The Parish records, dating back to 1538, are among the oldest in the country.”

During the reign of Edward I [1272-1307] more of king’s business in the shire communities devolved to knights like Stephen. They had to keep peace, raise money and troops, gather information for the king, and execute judgement of his courts. It was the beginning of unpaid public service in local government by the gentry.

On the Feast of St Nicholas, 41 Henry III [1287], Stephen de Sancto Albino, knight, was a witness to a grant of a rent.[5]

 

Stephen outlived his son Mauger, who died in 1294. He died in 1318 at Henstridge.

 

[1] 21. ST AUBYN
[2] www.linleyfh.com
[3] www.linleyfh.com
[4] www.viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk
[5] National Archives, Records of the Exchequer: King’s Remembrancer: Ancient Deeds, Series D: E 210/228