The Hadwen Family of Lancashire

Sir William de Plumpton was descended through his mother from William the Lion, King of Scotland. [COMPLETE PEERAGE (hereafter CP) 11: 92-93, 117-118.] Plumpton's first marriage was to Alice, daughter and heir of Sir Henry Beaufiz [also seen as Beaufitz and Byaufiz]. They were married no later than 14 April 1322, the date of a settlement by his father upon Sir William and Alice, his wife, and heirs of their bodies of the manor of Nesfield. [PLUMPTON CORRESPONDENCE, ed. Thomas Stapleton, CAMDEN SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS no. 4 (1839), p. xx.] At the death of Sir Henry in 1325, Alice was said to be aged 28 and more. [CIPM 6: 399.] If she were born about 1297, and considering that this was likely the first marriage for each of them, Sir William's birth year can be estimated at 1295. No surviving children resulted from this marriage and Alice was dead by 30 June 1334 when Christiana de Emeldon's dower was "made to the said William and Cristiana." [CCR Edward III 1333-1337, p. 319.]

The Plumptons had since ancient times held most of their Yorkshire, England properties as tenants of the Percys, and in 1295, Sir Robert de Plumpton, Sir William's grandfather, adopted "the armorial insignia of his lord paramount, 'the Sire de Percy,'" slightly modified. [Stapleton, pp. xvii-xix.] William de Plumpton had been knighted by 19 September 1328 when he and his brother-in-law Sir Peter de Middelton witnessed a charter by Sir Henry Percy. [CPR Edward III 1327-1330, p. 398.]

On 24 August 1330, before Sir William married Christiana, a commission of oyer and terminer convened to hear the complaint of John, Lord Mowbray, that a large number of men, including Plumpton and Sir Peter de Middelton, had "entered his free chaces and warrens" at Kirkby Malzeard and other Mowbray holdings in Yorkshire, England and had "hunted there without license, and carried away deer, hares, rabbits, partridges, and pheasants." [CPR Edward III 1327-1330, p. 569.] Henry and Geoffrey le Scrope, members of the commission, were related to Plumpton. Geoffrey's wife was Juetta de Ros, a sister of Plumpton's mother Lucy de Ros. The complaint made by Mowbray may reflect enmity arising from the fact that Plumpton had acquired an interest in the manor of Kirkby Malzeard through his father-in-law, Sir Henry Beaufiz, who held "the manor of Kirkeby Malasart, now in the king's hand through the forfeiture of John de Moubray," a reference to Lord Mowbray's father who was executed after being captured at Boroughbridge in 1322. [CIPM 6: 399.]

Neighborly relations may have improved for many years, because it was not until 20 August 1351 that a commission of oyer and terminer was convened on the complaint of John, Lord Mowbray, that Plumpton, who was then the Sheriff of York, and others had entered Mowbray's free chace at Kirkby Malzeard, hunted therein, carried away deer, and assaulted his men. On the same day, another such commission looked into a complaint made by Blanche de Mowbray that Plumpton and others had "broke her closes and houses" and drove away oxen and cows at several other Mowbray holdings in Yorkshire, England. [CPR Edward III 1350-1354, pp. 159-160.] Blanche is identified as the daughter of John de Mowbray on 10 August 1349 in CCR 23 Edward III 1349-1354, p. 51. The last of Lord Mowbray's complaints of poaching against Plumpton and several other prominent Yorkshire, England men was heard by a commission of oyer and terminer on 20 October 1354. This action again complained of an entry into his free chace at Kirkby Malzeard as well as at Burton in Lonesdale, County of York, the hunting and carrying away of deer, and assaults upon his men. [CPR Edward III 1354-1358, p. 130.]

Kirkby Malzeard, a locale of all three of Lord Mowbray's complaints of poaching against Plumpton and his associates, was a major holding of the Mowbrays. [CIPM 3: 357.] As noted above, Plumpton also had an interest in Kirkby Malzeard through his father-in-law who had acquired it from the Crown after its forfeiture by John I, Lord Mowbray, executed following the Battle of Boroughbridge. On 24 April 1345, Plumpton received a license for the alienation in mortmain affecting some of his holdings in Kirkby Malzeard and elsewhere in Yorkshire, England for the celebration of divine services in the church of St. Wilfrid, Ripon, for his good estate, his soul when he is dead, and the souls of his parents, ancestors, and heirs. [CPR Edward III 1343-1345, p. 455.] In any event, Kirkby Malzeard continued to be listed as one of the four Mowbray manors in Yorkshire, England. [CIPM 11: 138-139 (1361).]

Although the Plumpton holdings were mostly in Yorkshire, England, he eventually acquired an estate in Nothumberland which was not part of Christiana's dower. As early as 1346 and as late as 1358, "William de Plumpton and Christiana his wife" held the manor of Brenkley, located 7 miles NNW of Newcastle, of Sir John de Eure for one-eighth of a knight's fee. [FEUDAL AIDS 4: 57-59; and NCH 12: 522-523.]

Sir William de Plumpton served as a Member of Parliament representing Yorkshire, England in 1331. [Godfrey Richard Park, PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION OF Yorkshire, England (1886), p. 288.] He was on many occasions called upon for his services in the North of England. On 10 February 1354 and again on 2 July 1354, Plumpton and others were appointed justices to enforce the Statute of Labourers in parts of Yorkshire, England. [CPR Edward III 1354-1358, pp. 58-61.]

On 20 January 1347, an order of appointment by the king's council noted that "William de Plumpton who is of the retinue of Henry de Percy" was "about to go in his company to the march of Scotland for the defence thereof." [CFR Edward III 1337-1347, p. 493.] The Percys, long an important family in Yorkshire, England and Lincolnshire, had become dominant landowners in Northumberland as the result of their 1309 purchase of Alnwick from the Bishop of Durham. [CP 10: 458.] King Edward III having made over to Henry Percy the reversionary interests in Warkworth and other Clavering estates on 2 March 1328, they passed to the Percy family in 1332 upon the death of John de Clavering. [W. Percy Hedley, NORTHUMBERLAND FAMILIES (1968) 1: 161.] Sir William de Plumpton was no doubt a member of Henry Percy's retinue because Plumpton owed knight's service to Percy (1301-1352), his feudal lord. Percy must have called upon Plumpton for services in his retinue with some frequency. Percy took "part in the siege of Berwick, of which he was made the keeper, and fought at Halidon Hill." [CP 10: 461.] This is the battle in which Richard de Emeldon was killed.

Plumpton and Lord Mowbray served together at least four times on commissions of oyer and terminer. First, Mowbray and Plumpton served on a commission convened on 8 February 1350 to hear a complaint by Christopher Maillore that several miscreants had "broke his close and houses" at Hoton Conyers, Yorkshire, England, and done other damage. [CPR Edward III 1348-1350, p. 520.] On 6 July 1352, Lord Mowbray and two others were added to a commission of which Plumpton was a member and which looked into a claim that a ship had been broken up and its timbers carried away. [CPR Edward III 1350-1354, p. 289.] On 10 July 1356, Plumpton, Lord Mowbray, and three others were members of a commission that heard a complaint that an abbot, his fellow monks, and others had besieged a house near Knaresborough in Yorkshire, England and carried away goods. [CPR Edward III 1354-1358, p. 498.] Last, on 26 June 1361, Lord Mowbray and Plumpton served together on a commission that heard a complaint by the Abbot of Fountains that disturbers of the peace had entered his free chaces and free warrens, felled trees, and carried away game from several places in Yorkshire, England. [CPR Edward III 1358-1361.] This may have been the last time that Lord Mowbray and Sir William de Plumpton were together as Mowbray died on 4 October 1361. [CP 9: 383.]

Plumpton's life, too, was coming to an end. "He died 36 Edw. III. 1362, towards the close of the year." [Stapleton, p. xxi.] Christiana survived her husband for about a year, the date of her death in 1363 being given both as "20 December" and the "Saturday after Christmas." [CIPM 11: 459-460.]