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(Migne, Fatrologia,' clxii. 266, Ep. cclxi.). | But if the wife of William de Bellême were a daughter of Richard I, there would have been a second relationship between the parties; for Hugh would have been sixth in descent from Richard, from whom his proposed bride was only fifth in descent. -It is improbable that the Bishop of Chartres would have ignored this slightly nearer conEnexion, and based his objection solely on the other descent. The argument may not be conclusive, but in the absence of evidence in support of M. du Motey's theory, I think that it is sufficient to justify us in rejecting the suggested parentage of Maud, and in concluding that it is most improbable that she belonged to the ruling house. The annexed Table III shows the descents involved, and also makes clear that if William's wife had been a daughter of Richard I, his granddaughter Mabel would have been a near relation of her husband, Roger de Montgomery: which is a further argument against the suggested affiliation of Maud, although we must not overlook the possibility of a dispensation.

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dered-in 1026. Doubt is thrown on his legitimacy by 'L'Art de Vérifier les Dates,' but M. du Motey explains that this is due to confusion with another Warin, who was an illegitimate son of his brother Robert. By an unknown wife he left a daughter Adeline, wife of Rotrou of Mortagne, from whom descended the Counts of Perche. Warin also left a natural son Ralf, living in 1050 and probably in 1053.

Stapleton believed that three nephews of Warin's brother Yves were sons of Warin, but were excluded from the succession owing to their tender age when their grandfather died (op. cit. I. Îxxii-iii.). But we learn from M. du Motey that two of these, Warin and William, were illegitimate sons another brother (Robert); and it is probable that the third (Robert) was also an illegitimate scion of the house.

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(3) Robert, who was wounded at Blavou and, when his father (already seriously ill) was killed by the news of the disaster, succeeded to his fiefs. He was captured in a war with Maine and murdered in the Castle of Ballon, possibly some years later than 1033, the date given by M. du Motey. There is no evidence that he was married, but he left two illegitimate sons, Warin and William.

(4) Yves, who became Bishop of Sées in 1035 and Lord of Bellême on the partition of the family fiefs. He died in 1070, when his estates passed to his niece Mabel.

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(5) William Talvas, who succeeded to He was supAlençon, Sées and Domfront. posed to have died before 1050, but it now appears that he is mentioned as assenting to a charter of his brother Yves, which M. du Motey assigns with some probability to 1053. According to Orderic he did not die until after his daughter's marriage, which M. du Motey assigns to vers 1054"; but this date appears to be conjectural. liam married first Hildeburg, daughter of a noble named Arnoul (not identified), by whom he had issue Arnoul and Mabel. His second wife was a daughter (unnamed) of Ralf (or Rodulf) de Beaumont, Lord of Beaumont-le-Vicomte and St. Suzanne, by whom he had no issue.

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(6) Benoît, whose existence was unknown before M. du Motey's researches. As a boy he was taken by his father to the Abbey of St. Benoît-sur-Loire, and it is probable that he became a monk there.

As Arnoul, only son of William Talvas, died before his father, on the latter's death

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the Bishop of Sées became the last legitimate male member of the great house of Bellême. On the bishop's death, the family fiefs were

reunited in the hands of his niece Mabel, Countess of Shrewsbury, only daughter and heiress of William Talvas.

TABLE IV.

(The first house of Bellême). Yves de Creil =

Godeheut Albert de la Hildeburg Ferté-en-Bauce.

living 945.

Yves de Bellême
living 1005

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Hildeburg (1)

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Bp. of Sées.

dau. of

c. 1031.

1026

murd. 1033, died 1070.

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or later.

1053 (?).

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RAINSFORD ASSOCIATIONS WITH SHAKESPEARE, SOUTHAMPTON AND HALL.

(See ante pp. 291, 311, 330, 383, 419). FROM whom did this Dr. John Hall derive? I have long suspected that he descended from the Halls of Idlicote near Brayles and adjoining Compton Wynyates, the ancient seat of the Comptons from whom come the Barons of Northampton. This suspicion has been strengthened by reading Shakespeare's Warwickshire Contemporaries by Charlotte Carmichael Stopes, to whom I am much indebted for some of the material in this article. She records in that work that there was a family of Hall residing at Idlicote, in Kineton Hundred about 1575. In A Catalogue of all the noblemen and gentlemen resident in Warwick in 1577-8 by Henry Ferrers of Baddesley' published in Nicholas's 'Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica' vol. vii. p. 298 is mentioned Richard Hall of Idlicote. There is only one interesting association with this name found in the Public Records. At the same time the search was being made by Sir Thomas Lucy and Thomas Wilkes in the house of Edward Grant of Northbrookes a search was made of Hall's House of Idlicote' as if something suspicious was expected to be found there." This was probably in connection with the recusancy laws. Wilkes said they found nothing there but the mother of

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Benoît

Talvas, of Ralf de (?) monk at

Beaumont. St. Benoît.

Roger de Montgomery, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury. G. H. WHITE.

Somerville, who was so ill in body and mind as to be past remembrance. This proves a considerable intimacy with the Somerville family of Edreston, a probable connection with Hugh Hall the priest, and a certainty of Catholicism, which would give a natural reason for the foreign education and travel of Dr. John Hall. He possibly took his degree in Paris or in Leyden. This would quite accord with his turning up at Stratford after the death of Elizabeth. His Warwickshire origin undoubtedly explains the great intimacy he had with the County families Protestant, Puritan and Catholic alike, when he began life as a physician.

Walter Savage of Broadway, co. Worces ter, son of Francis Savage of Elmley Castle. co. Worcester by Anne daughter of William Sheldon of Beoley, co. Worcester married Elizabeth daughter and heir of John Hall of Idlicote, co. Warwick, Arms, Argent, an eagle displayed gules (Gloucestershire Visitations). Walter Savage's mother Anne Sheldon, was executrix to the will of Edmund Rainsford who died at Elmley Castle 1558. It will be remembered that Sir John Savage is mentioned in the will of Sir Henry Wriothesley 2nd Earl of Southampton Paul Rainsford who married Frances Willoughby was living at Netherton about one mile from Elmley Castle c. 1570 and had a law suit with his cousin Alice Ashfield of Barford Mitchell, co. Oxon, widow of Anthony Ashfield.

There were Halls living at Barford Mitchell, which is about one mile from South

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Newington, where John Hall was living in the early part of the sixteenth century. He married Elizabeth daughter of John Beaufoy (? of Edmondscote, co. Warwick). These Halls of South Newington descended from the main line seated at Swerford. John Beaufoy of Edmonscote married Juliana daughter of Sir William Rainsford of Great Tew by his wife Jane, daughter of Sir John Osbaldeston of Chadlington. The fourth quartering of Rainsford of Great Tew is, Argent an eagle displayed gules for Hall of Swerford, and the fifteenth quartering of Beaufoy is Rainsford, Argent a cross sable. From the Stratford Corpora1 tion Records we find that a house in Wood Street was left by Master John Hall of Hook Norton 27 Nov. 1519. Hook Norton is about two miles from Swerford. Richard Hall of Swerford Esquire was a Judge of Assize temp. Hen. VII.

Here may be the explanation of the Halls later having property in Acton, Middlesex. They bore for their arms Argent an eagle displayed gules, identical with those borne by John Hall of Idlicote. Thomas Escourt married Catherine daughter of Richard Hall of Swerford and their great-grandson, Thomas Escourt, married Mary, daughter of William Savage of Elmley Castle. brother Walter married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of John Hall of Idlicote.

His

Elizabeth daughter of Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, Shakespeare's patron, married Sir Thomas Escourt Knt., one of the Masters in Chancery. Burke's, 'Dormant and Extinct Peerage.'

John Hall of South Newington, who married Elizabeth Beaufoy, had a son Anthony. This Anthony may be identified with Anthony Hall, mentioned in the will of Sir John Rainsford of Bradfield Hall, Essex, 1559, and described as his servant. Among his servants he also mentions Thomas Hull, Henry Hulles (forms of Hall) and Thomas Rainsford ( identical with Thomas Rainsford buried at Wykeham Park adjoining Broughton Castle, c. 1560). Anthony Hall had a son Anthony of Banbury, and another son, Samuel, of Barford Mitchell, who married Anne daughter of Nicholas Harris. These Halls, apart from kinship, would be well known to Sir John Rainsford as his grandmother, Elizabeth Fiennes's family lived at Broughton Castle near The Banbury. Sheldons of Beoley descended from the Sheldons of Weston Park and ranked next in importance to the Comptons of Compton

Wynyates, about a mile from Brailes where William Rainsford was Lord about 1540. About two miles to the south is Little Compton where lived Thomas Rainsford who married Barbara Bentley of New Place and about two miles to the north of Little Compton is Barton-in-the-Heath, where Christopher Sly's father lived, both mentioned in The Taming of the Shrew. Shakespeare's maternal aunt Joan Lambert also lived there.

The arms of Hall are found in the many churches and manor houses in Oxfordshire. In Tew Church in glass windows (Wood): Quarterly 1 and 4. Azure an eagle displayed or (Wilcotes) 2 and 3, Or an eagle displayed gu. (Hall).

In Mr. Rainsford his house, Quarterly 1 and 4 Az. an eagle displayed arg. ducally gorged legged and beaked or (Wilcotes) 2 and 3, Argent and cross sa. (Rainsford) quarterly Raynsford and Wilcotes impaling quarterly 1 Arg. on a bend gu. 3 martlets vt. (Danvers) quarterly Raynsford and Wilcotes impaling two coats parted_per fes. (1) Arg. an eagle displayed gu. (Hall) (2) Sa. on a chevron arg. between 3 garbs or a cinque foil of the last (Oxfordshire Visitations).

Hall of South Newington and Banbury, Oxon. and of Warwick, Ar. an eagle displayed gules, crest a demi-eagle with wing's endorsed collared.

They also bear, according to to Robson, Azure an eagle displayed or ducally gorged argent. The similarity of their arms with those of Wilcotes should be here noted, as they also bear, Azure an eagle displayed ar. armed and gorged with a ducal coronet or crest a demi-eagle with wings displayed argent beaked sa. The Rainsfords of Cumberland and Longdon, Worcestershire, also bear Az. an eagle displayed ar. ducally gorged or. The arms of Hall, Wilcotes and Rainsford indicate a community of blood. The Wilcotes are Rainfreds or Rainfords, Wilcote Salop having been purchased about 1204-10 by Rainfred Bishop of St. Asaph from John le Strange, who assumed the name of Wilcote. It is claimed that the Halls are really a branch of the Wilcotes or Rainfreds, and so-called because a member of these families probably resided at a Hall on one of their estates (? Swerford) and in course of time adopted Hall as a surname. This is confirmed by the following taken from the Winchcombe Chartulary transcribed by the Revd. David Royce of

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Swell, Glos. William Wilcotes and Robert Lewknore, William and John Wilcote in connection with land in Lidstone (a hamlet in Enstone near Great Tew) and Robert Danvers. William atte Hall confirms Geoffrey Biddell Walter Sharp and John Pinton in his Lidstone lands c. 1337. A similar instance may be cited. Hall of Jamacia now of Harrow, was a branch of the Halls of Greatford Hall, co. Lincoln, a family of great antiquity, who were themselves a scion of the Fitzwilliams of Clixby, and of the same lineage as Earl Fitzwilliam. A younger brother of that house, Arthur Fitzwilliam of the Hall was called, to distinguish him from his brothers, Arthur of the Hall and that description became in the sequel Arthur Hall. Many of his descendants were for generations after christened Fitzwilliam Hall. Arms, Argent on chevron engrailed between 3 talbots' heads erased sa, a star of six points wavy or ('Burke's Landed Gentry '). The arms of Earl Fitzwilliam are, Sable, a chevron between three leopard's faces or.

66

ALFRED RANSFORD.

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WELLINGTON BEFORE WATERLOO. THE DEATHS OF TWO FAMOUS WATERLOO HEROES, COPENHAGEN,' "" AND NAPOLEON'S 66 CHARGER MARENGO." THE following is taken from P.R.O. C.O.

53/4, June 22, 1836:-(See 'N. & Q. cxlvii, 176)." On the 12th inst. died at Strathfieldsaye of old age, 'Copenhagen,' the horse which carried the Duke of Wellington so nobly on the field of Waterloo

and was remarkable for gentleness and spirit united.

He lost an eye some years before his death, and has not been used by his noble owner for any purpose during the last ten years. By the orders of his Grace, a salute was fired over his grave, and thus he was buried as he had lived, with military honours. This horse has long been a great attraction to strangers, who were accustomed to feed him over the rails with bread, and the Duke himself preserved an especial regard for him, which cannot be wondered at upon considering he bore him for sixteen hours safe through the grandest battle that occurred in the history of the world. [Wellington, it must be remembered, stated publicly on two occasions, that he had spent the night of the 17th June in the Prussian

Lines, therefore, he had previously ridden Copenhagen to and from Wavre, back to his position in front of Waterloo, at an early hour on June 18.] The late amiable Duchess was likewise particularly attached to him, and wore a bracelet made of his hair. And the following from C.O. 119/14, Oct. 23, 1825::

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Copenhagen (says the Sporting Magazine) derived his name from the city in which he was foaled, his dam having been taken out there in the expedition of 1807, by the late field Marshal Grosvenor. The horse was not only thoroughbred, but had a very illustrious pedigree, being on his father's side a grandson of the celebrated Eclipse, and on his mother's of a well known horse of his day, John Bull. Copenhagen was sold by General Grosvenor to the Marquis of Londonderry, then Adjutant General to the Peninsular Army, who sent him, with other horses, to Lisbon, in 1813. While there he was selected and bought, with another horse, by Colonel Charles Wood, at the price of 400 guineas, for the Duke of Wellington.

At Vittoria and the Pyrenees the Duke used no other horse. On the memorable day of Waterloo, though the great Captain had ridden Copenhagen for 18 hours, the horse gave little signs of fatigue, and on the Duke patting him, struck out as playfully as if he had merely been taking a canter in the Park. For endurance of fatigue, indeed, he was always remarkable, however hard the day. Copenhagen never refused his corn, though he would often eat it while lying down, an unusual manner with horses. His colour was a full rich chestnut; he was a small horse, standing little more than fifteen hands high, but possessed great muscular power. His general appearance denoted Arabian blood."

As Marengo was also a famous equinine Waterloo hero, it is only fitting that his name should be included here.

The skeleton of "Marengo "--Napoleon's favourite charger, was a light grey barb, 14 hands in height, and was procured by Napoleon in Egypt after the battle of Aboukir in 1799. The horse was ridden by him at the battle of Marengo, and named after the victory. It is believed subsequently to have carried his master at Austerlitz 1805, Jena 1806, Wagram 1809, in the Russian Campaign of 1812, and at Waterloo 1815, when he was wounded in the near hip. After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, Lord

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Written by Mrs. Barbauld, after she had completed her 80th year.

When life as opening buds is sweet,
And golden hopes the fancy greet,
And youth prepares his joys to meet,
Alas! how hard it is to die.

When scarce is seized some valued prize,
And duties press, and tender ties
Forbid the soul from earth to rise,

How awful then it is to die.

When one by one those ties are torn, And friend from friend is snatched forlorn, And man is left alone to mourn,

Oh! then how easy 'tis to die. When trembling limbs repose their weight, And films, slow gathering, dim the sight, And clouds obscure the mental light,

1820.

66

'Tis Nature's precious boon to die.

She died on 9th March, 1825.

T. CANN HUGHES, F.S.A.
WOakrigg," Scotforth, Lancaster.

SUNDIAL RECORDING "SUMMER

TIME.' "-On Saturday, May 19, at 3 p.m., Lord Camden declared Petts Wood, Chislehurst, open to the public as a memorial to Mr. William Willett, the originator of Summer Time. He also unveiled a sundial of Cumberland granite bearing the words "Summer Time and Horas non numero nisi æstivas.' See The Times of May 21. This is probably the first sundial to record "Summer Time" rather than solar time. E. S. GIBBONS.

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WM. R. N. BARON.

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ST. T. BRIDE, FLEET STREET.-Thomas Pennant in his Some account of London' says about the church of St. Bride's that it was dedicated to St. Bridget and he adds: I whether she was Irish or whether she was Scotch; whether she was maiden, or whether she was wife, I will not dare to determine." Can any reader enlighten me on this point? May she not have been St. Bridget from Sweden, founder of the Order which was also early established in England?

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