The history and antiquities of Boston, and the villages of Skirbeck, Fishtoft, Freiston, Butterwick, Benington, Leverton, Leake, and Wrangle; comprising the hundred of Skirbeck, in the county of Lincoln. Including also a history of the East, West, and Wildmore fens, and copious notices of the Holland or Haut-Huntre fen ... sketches of the geology, natural history, botany, and agriculture of the district; a very extensive collection of archaisms and provincial words, local dialect, phrases, proverbs, omens, superstitions, etc. By Pishey Thompson. Illustrated with one hundred engravings.

506 DE CROUN, VAUX, ETC.
she gave the manor of Freiston, with certain lands in the town of Boston, and
bore him a son, named John.
Henry Longchamp, the eldest son of Petronilla, had a daughter, named
Alicia, who married Roger Pedwardine, and bore him five sons, Walter, Henry,
Bryan, John, and Richard. Alicia died 15th May, 1330, and was buried in
the north side of the chapel of the Virgin Mary, in Burton Pedwardine, where
Dr. STUrELEY saw her monument in 1714.
John de Vaux, son of Petronilla, by her third husband, Oliver de Vaux,
had a daughter, named Matilda, whom William Ros, lord of Hamlake,
married about 1287;1 he died in 1317, and was buried in Kirkham Priory,
Yorkshire, under a marble tomb, on the north side of the choir. He was succeeded by his son, William, who married Margery, one of the co-heiresses of
Giles de Badlismere, Lord Chilham, Baron of Chilham Castle, county of Kent.2
This William Ros, the great-grandson of Petronilla de Croun, was summoned
to Parliament from 11 to 20 Edward II., and from 1 to 15 Edward III. He
died 16th February, 1342, and was buried in Kirkham Priory on the south side
of the high altar. An inquisition was taken respecting his estate in 1343, to
which we have already alluded.3 His widow, Margery, died October 18, 1363.e
H:3er son, William, was only fifteen years of age at the death of his father in
1342; lie was, in consequence, in ward to the King; and his estate was so valuable, that Ralph, Lord Neville, paid 1300 marks for the custody of only one-half.
Although only a youth, he was in the wars of France, where, it is said, he
was one of those lords who led the second brigade in the famous battle of Cressy,
where the English obtained so glorious a victory over the French army. He
hlad summons to Parliament 24 and 25 Edward III.; but the year following
(1353) going into the Holy Land, he there died without issue, leaving Margaret,
his wife, daughter of Ralph Lord Neville, surviving, and Thomas, his brother
and heir, then fourteen years old.
Thomas was often employed in the wars with France, and had summons to
Parliament, from 36 Edward III. to 7 Richard II. inclusive, in which year
(1384), intending a journey to the Holy Land, he died before he left England,
and was buried in the choir of Rievaulx Abbey, in Yorkshire. He married
Beatrix,5 daughter of Ralph, Earl of Stafford (and widow of the Earl Desmond),
andl left four sons and two daughters.
She is said to have brought to her husband, as The King directed by his precept, to the treasurer
her marriage-portion, the manor of Freiston, and and barons of the Exchequer, that the remainder
lands in Boston; also, the manor of Hackford, and should be forthwith paid. At the time of his death
divers other lands and knight's fee, to the number he had 150 marks yearly rent issuing out of the
of nineteen or thereabouts.-BANKS' Baronage, city of Lincoln."
vol. ii. p. 444. A hobbler is generally understood to mean an
2 The Close Rolls, 16 Edward I., give a different armed man, mounted on a small horse or hobby,
statement, and represent John de Vallibus (De inferior to a man-at-arms, but superior (inutility) to
Vaux) as having two daughters; one, Petronilla, a foot soldier. —See BLOUNT'S Tenures, COWELL'S
married to William de Nerford; the other, Ma- Law Dictionary, LOWER On English Sirnames,
tilda, married to William de Ros de Hamlake. p. 97, and FENN'S Paston Letters.
An agreement was made between the parties in 4 In a post-mortem inquisition, held in 1363, she
February 1288 (16 Edward I.), by which the is called the sister of Egidius de Badlesmere,
manors in Freiston and Boston became part of the widow of William de Ros de Hamlake, and first
inheritance of William de Roos and Matilda his the wife of Thomas Arundel.
wife. 5 Thomas Lord Ros, and Beatrix his wife, held
3 In 11 Edward III. (1337). "William Lord the manor of Freiston and Ros Hall manor in St.
Ros, then residing at Ros Hall in Freiston, pre- Botolph's, in 1383; Beatrix (his widow), held the
sented a petition to the King, representing that he manor of Godesfield, in Freiston manor, in 1415;
had received a command from King Edward II. to John Lord de Ros also held Godsfield manor in
attend him at Coventry, thence to march with him Freiston, and Freiston manor in 1421. We do not
against the Scots, who had invaded his realm; and find any other mention of this manor of Godsfield;
that being at his manor at Freiston, in Lincoln- the nearest approach to it is in the Acre Book
shire, he hastened to him with all his men-at-arms, (1785), where three acres of land in a part of the
divers hobblers, and some foot-soldiers, accordingly; parish, named Brownthorp, is called Gods' Croft,
but had received no more than one hundred and which was then the property of William Hubbert.
fifty pounds towards his charges in that expedition.