Saturday, May 6, 2017

Costentin family in medieval Bedfordshire

Costentin family in medieval Bedfordshire

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

In the search for medieval people the uneven nature of the surviving documents make a continuous story difficult. While researching the Costentin family in Lincolnshire a few references to another Costentin family in Bedfordshire made their appearance. The Costentin family possibly came from Costentin in the Manche region of France.[1]

The earliest reference to the Bedfordshire family of Costentin actually comes from Huntingdonshire. In about 1150 lands in Tetworth in Huntingdonshire were granted by Henry de Costentin, his son Geoffrey, and grandson Elias to the monastery of Sawtrey.[2]

This grandson, Elias de Costentin, is mentioned in a few documents from the reign of King Henry III. In 1228-9 Elias de Costentin paid the king a fine of 40s for passage and scutage in a half a knight’s fee in Bedfordshire within the fee of William de Humez.[3] It is not clear who was this William de Humez. One possibility was William de Humez, abbot of Westminster abbey (1214-1222) or another relative.[4] There was another family of de Humez in the north of England, around Durham and Yorkshire, who had a few people called William de Humez in the family.[5] There was another family called de Humez in Normandy, Richard seneschal of Normandy and his son William. But William de Humez appears to have lost his English lands when Normandy fell to the French in 1204.[6] It is difficult to but certain which of these people the landlord of Elias de Costentin was or if it was another William de Humez.

In about 1231 a person called Elias de Costentin was constable of Clun castle in Shropshire on the marches with Wales. In that year he was ordered to surrendered the castle on the order of King Henry III because the king had entrusted the castle to Ralph de Mortimer.[7] The castle was owned by John Fitz Alan who had supported the Earl Marshal in the latter’s war against Henry III and hence the crown intervention.

In 1236-7 Henry de Costentin made a fine of 50s to the king for the relief of half a knight’s fee that Elias de Costentin, his father, held in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.[8]

In 1254-5 Henry Costentin died leaving his son Geoffrey as his heir and who was of full age. Geoffrey’s inheritance consisted of 2¼ virgates of land in Sutton town in Bedfordshire. These were held of the king in chief by the service of one half knight’s fee.[9] This was possibly the same half knight’s fee held by Elias de Costentin from William de Humez and because it was now held directly from the crown increases the possibility that it was the Humez family of Normandy who had the fee in 1228.

The modern village and civil parish of Sutton (population about 300) is situated in eastern Cambridgeshire about a mile south of Potton where the Costentin family also had property. In the Domesday Book (1086) the Countess Judith held Sutton. In that time the village was divided into a number of hides and virgates.[10] It is not possible to link the 2¼ virgates held by Henry Costentin with any property at Domesday. The nearly two hundred years between both records is just too much to bridge.

High Street in Sutton by Rodney Burton

In 1273 Geoffrey de Costentin came before the king’s court concerning the land of Geldston which was seized following the default of debt by Robert le Warner. In 1274 Geoffrey de Costentin came to the king’s court to reply to Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, concerning the seizure of his lands at Potton, Sutton and Gatesbryr for failure to settle a debt.[11]

Elsewhere in 1286-7 a person called Geoffrey Costentin had a windmill outside the East Gate of Nessyndene, Kent. The windmill was rented by Geoffrey Haspal.[12]

Elsewhere in 1276 a person called Henry Costentin sold a small holding at Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire.[13] It is not clear how this Henry was related to Geoffrey de Costentin. It was noted above how in 1236-7 Henry Costentin succeeded to land in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. Could Gamlingay be those lands?

After the 1280s the Costentin family seem to disappear from the records. Maybe they died out or accumulated too much debt and had to sell the family property. Medieval documents love recording the adventures of people with property and leave the ordinary off the record books. In the 1270s debt and selling property seem to be the only family activity.

Costentin in Northamptonshire

Meanwhile in the time of King Henry 1st Richard and Roger de Costentin held 3 small virgates at Hargrave in Northamptonshire.[14] It is difficult to say if these people were related to the Costentin family of Bedfordshire or to that of Lincolnshire or a totally separate family – a project for another day to find their history.

Bibliography

Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry III, 1225-1232

Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward 1, 1272-1279

Dryburgh, P., and Hartland, B. (eds.), Calendar of the Fine Rolls of the reign of Henry III, Volume II, 1224-1234 (London, 2008)

Dryburgh, P., and Hartland, B. (eds.), Calendar of the Fine Rolls of the reign of Henry III, Volume III, 1234-1242 (London, 2009)

Farrer, W., and Clay, C.T. (eds.), Early Yorkshire Charters: Volume 11, The Percy Fee (Cambridge, 2013)

Farrer, W., Honors and Knights' Fees: An Attempt to Identify the Component, volume 1 (Manchester, 1925)

Morris, J. (ed.), Domesday Book, 20, Bedfordshire (Chichester, 1977)

Sharp (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office, volume one (14 vols. Kraus-Thomson, reprint, 1973)

Sharp (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office, volume two (14 vols. Kraus-Thomson, reprint, 1973)

Summerson, H., Clun: Documentary Sources for the Castle and Borough (1993)

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[1] Dryburgh, P., and Hartland, B. (eds.), Calendar of the Fine Rolls of the reign of Henry III, Volume III, 1234-1242 (London, 2009), p. 623
[3] Dryburgh, P., and Hartland, B. (eds.), Calendar of the Fine Rolls of the reign of Henry III, Volume II, 1224-1234 (London, 2008), no. 13/484
[5] Farrer, W., and Clay, C.T. (eds.), Early Yorkshire Charters: Volume 11, The Percy Fee (Cambridge, 2013), p. 230
[7] Summerson, H., Clun: Documentary Sources for the Castle and Borough (1993), p. 3; Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry III, 1225-1232, p. 434
[8] Dryburgh, P., and Hartland, B. (eds.), Calendar of the Fine Rolls of Henry III, Vol. III, 1234-1242, no. 21/159
[9] Sharp (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office (14 vols. Kraus-Thomson, reprint, 1973), vol. 1, no. 321
[10] Morris, J. (ed.), Domesday Book, 20, Bedfordshire (Chichester, 1977), nos. 21.7, 53.21-28
[11] Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward 1, 1272-1279, pp. 54, 119
[12] Sharp (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office (14 vols. Kraus-Thomson, reprint, 1973), vol. 2, no. 635
[14] Farrer, W., Honors and Knights' Fees: An Attempt to Identify the Component, volume 1 (Manchester, 1925), p. 18

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