Matthew I Redman, Lord of Levens, Sheriff of Lancashire & Seneschal of Kendal

There is a biographical chapter about Matthew Redman/Redmayne I in William Greenwood's book The Redmans of Levens and Harewood (1905), available online on Google Books.

NOTES

Matthew was the second son but became heir because his older brother Benedick/t was given as a hostage to King John by Gilbert FitzReinfrid in the events following the Magna Carta in 1215. His father was captured and imprisoned, and two of his brothers were held as royal hostages

A petition written by his grandson (also named Matthew) many years later, in 1292, recounts that when Matthew Redman was one of the King's Coroners in Lancashire, Scots came to his manor of Yealand Redmane and confiscated all of his goods and chattel, as well as his rolls of the Coroner's Offce, then burned down the manor, the village and surrounding area.

His wife Amabel (Amabilis) brought as dower lands in Dreg (Drigg) and Carleton, which he gave to Furness Abbey with her assent.

Greenwood discusses the possible identity of Amabel at some length, citing the theories of Mr. Farrer, and makes a strong argument that the lands of her dowry had been associated with the Stuteville, Greystock (Greystoke) or Harrington families; he concludes that she was likely the daughter of William fitz Ranulf de Greystoke (whose mother was named Amabel) and of Helwise de Stuteville.

According to Greenwood, he had four sons (none named Matthew): Henry, his heir and successor; Ingram, Randle, Nicholas and two daughters, Juliana and Agnes

Full Chapter (scanned, with some spelling errors resulting)

CHAPTER IV.

Sir Matthew I., Sheriff of Lancashire, and Henry II.

HENRY'S second son and heir, Matthew, who was the first of seven Redman knights bearing that name and linking the twelfth with the seventeenth century, was probably born about iigo, three years after his father came into possession of Levens, Yealand, Silverdale and the other family lands.

He would thus be a boy of nine when John came to his throne, and would spend his boyhood and 3'outh amid the constant alarms, the seething discontent and appeals to arms which marked the reign of that weak-kneed monarch. At the crowning time of family trouble, when his father was taken prisoner at Rochester Castle and his elder brother. Benedick, had to leave his home as hostage for Fitz Reinfrid's good behaviour, Matthew would have reached man's estate and had not improbably made his d6but on the battlefield. His lot, however, fell in more peaceful times than that of his father ; and his days appear to have been mostly spent in discharging his duties as sheriff and seneschal, and in the peaceful pursuits of a country gentleman of the time.

In 1229, a few years after he succeeded to his inherit- ance, Matthew, in company with Richard de Copland, "William de Yeland and Roger Gernet, was appointed a justice " for taking the assize of novel disseisin at Lancas- ter on the Thursday before the purification of the Blessed

Mary against the Abbot of Leicester concerning a tenement in Cokersand " (Cal. Pat. Rolls, Hy. III. 1225-32). He was probably the Matthew de Redman who, with Walter de Strickland and Alan le Boteiler, witnessed a grant by Thomas de Hastings to the Hospital of St. Peter at York. He was among the witnesses to the confirmation by William de Lancaster, the third, of a grant of lands in Furness to Alexander de Kirkby (Farrer's Pipe Rolls, pp. 442-3) ; to a grant in 1247 by Ralph de Ainecurt to Roger Pepin, a parson of Kirkby in Kendal, of land in Nateliint (MS. Dods. 149 fo. 142 — " Natland Box ") ; and again, in his capacity as Seneschal of Kendal, to a deed of confirmation to Patric, son of Gospatric, by the third William de Lancaster (Burn).

In 1242 a fine was passed between Matthew de Redman, son and heir of Henry de Redman, and William de Lan- caster, the third (Dods. MS. 159 fo. 180) ; and in the same year he was a tenant of the Barony of William de Lancaster for lands in Yealand, holding with Robert de Coniers one-eighth of a knight's fee (Testa de Nevill, pp. 398-9)-

In 1243 Matthew " appeared on the fourth day against William de Lancaster in a plea to hold the fine levied in the Court of the King, before the Justices itinerant at Lancaster, between him, the said Matthew, complainant, and the said William, impedient., concerning the manors of Levenes, Skelesbolt (? Skelsmere), Quenefeld (Whinfell) and Lupton, with app'. whereof a cyrograph was made. William did not appear, and he was attached by Ralph de Ayncurt, and Richard de Heysham. Therefore, because the fine was of recent date the sheriff was commanded to distrain the said William by his lands to appear at three weeks from Trinity." (C. R. Roll No. 128. m. 2 dorso.)

In 1245 Matthew was appointed sheriff of Lancashire, holding the office with William de Lancaster ; in the two following years he served alone ; and in 1248 he had for colleague Robert Latham (Baines i. 58).

In 1246 he was concerned (with Robert de Coniers and Alice, his wife and Matthew's kinswoman) in a dispute with Thomas de Betham about common of pasture in Levens ; and a similar dispute is revealed in C. R. Roll 64. m. I. dorso — Thomas de Bethum versus Adam de Yeland and Matthew de Redman in a plea to shew by what right they claimed common-right, by Walter, son of Robert, pledged to sue at fifteen days after Easter.

These are all trivial incidents enough in the life of a doughty knight, who would have figured more appropri- ately on the field of battle than in witnessing signatures and squabbling in law-courts ; but they are landmarks, however insignificant, and must serve where more stimu- lating records are absent.

The following petition gives one a vivid glimpse of the perilous times in which Sir Matthew lived, when almost every day brought a fresh alarm, if it did not, as in this case, actually bring disaster. The petition is by the second Matthew, who explains that when his grandfather (Mat- thew, the first) was one of the King's coroners in the county of Lancaster, the Scots came to his manor of Yealand Redmane and took from him all his goods and chattels, as well as the Rolls of his office of coroner, and committed Yealand Redmane and all the country to the flames. The petitioner expresses the pious aspiration that the King will not be incommoded at the time of the Eyres by the loss of these stolen Rolls, and assures him that his grandfather, the coroner, was not to blame in the matter.

32 REDMANS OF LEV ENS AND HA RE WOOD.

A nre seinr le Roi et a soun counseil prie soun liege vadlet Maheu de Redmane si lui plest que come Mons Maheu de Redmane son Ael que dieux assoille qi heir fut un des coroners le Roi en le comite de Lancastr graunt temps dedens quen temps les Escos venierunt en le dit comite de Lancastr ces est — au manor de Yeland Redmane qe fut au dit Mons Maheu et qe est en Lonesdale en le dit comite, pristerunt de lui toutz ses biens et chatteuz ensemblement oue toutz les Roules tochanz I'office de Coronner et arderunt la dite ville et tout le pays entour parquoi le dit Maheu prie la grace nre seignr le Roi qil ne soit empeche en temps de Heyr pur les Roules avantdits desicome tout le pays set le mischief et qe la defaute qe les Rules furent perdutz ne fut la defaute de Coronner. (Ancient Petitions, Bundle 136, No. 6799.)

In connection with this Petition Colonel Parker writes (Lancashire Assize Rolls, Pt. i., p. 10 of Introduction) : — " As Matthew Redman, the grandfather, died before 1254 and Henry, his son and successor, lived until the autumn of 1278, the absence of the coroner's Rolls seems to have passed unheeded for many years, and the Justices in Eyre during that period must have overlooked them. In 1292, however, the Justices held a very strict enquiry into every detail connected with the county and to this we probably owe the above petition."

Perhaps the most interesting event in Matthew's life to the student of Redman history was his marriage to Amabel, who brought as dower lands in Dreg and Carle- ton in Cumberland, which, with her assent, he gave to Furness Abbey. " Ego Matheus de Redman, voluntati et assensu Amabilie uxoris mee, dedi Deo et beatae Marie de Furnesia, terram meam de Dreg et de Karlton, quam accepi in liberum maritagium cum prefata Amabilia, sponsa mea." (Beck's Annates Furnesienses Lxxx.)

In Farrer's Lancashire Fines, Pt. i., pp. 71-2, I find the following fine : — At Lancaster, on the morrow of the Ascension of Our Lord, 19 Henry III (i8th May, 1235).

Between Robert, Abbot of Furneys, plaintiff, and Mat- thew de Redman and Amabel, his wife, impedients, re- specting the fourth part of the manors of Carleton and Dreg, with the appurtenances. A plea of warranty of charter had been summoned between them. Matthew and Amabel acknowledged the fourth part of these manors to be the right of the abbot, and of his church of ffurneys, as that which he and his church have of their gift ; to hold to him and his successors, and to his church in per- petuity, performing to the chief lords of that fee for Matthew and Amabel, and Amabel's heirs, forinsec service belonging to that fourth part, for all service and exaction. And Matthew and Amabel and the heirs of Amabel will warrant the said fourth part to the Abbot and his suc- cessors, and to his church, by the said service. For this acknowledgment the Abbot gave them forty marks of silver.

Who was Amabel ? This is a question which provides ample scope for interesting speculation and divergent opinion. Mr. Farrer, who speaks on such matters with authority, says in a note on page 72 of his Lancashire Fines, Part i. : — " I have not been able to discover the parentage of Amabel. These manors (Carleton and Dreg) were members of the Stutevill fee in Cumberland, which Joan, daughter and co-heiress of Nicholas de Stutevill, lord of Liddel, conveyed by marriage to Hugh Wake. Amabel was probably a Greystock or a Harrington, as these families had held the two manors between them temp. Henry HI. and Edward I."

According to John Denton, " William, the son of Thomas de Graystoke and the Lady Adingham in Four- ness, in the tenth year of Edward I. (1282) held a knight's fee between them in Dregg ; and in the twenty-ninth Edward I. (1301) the Abbot of Caldre, Patrick Culwen, and the Lady Margaret Multon held Dregg of John de Graystock, and of John, the son of Robert Harrington, and they over of John Wake."

Here then we have, if we accept Denton's authority, lands in Drigg (to use its modern name) and Carleton in the hands of both Greystokes and Harringtons, but in both cases at a time when both Matthew and Amabel had long been dead. It is probable, however, that the Grey- stoke interest in these manors was of a much earlier date than that assigned by Denton. William de Greystoke (son of Ranulf), who died in 1209, wed Helwise de Stute- ville, the only alliance between these two great north- country families ; and it is not improbable that it was this union that brought Stuteville lands into the family of Greystoke. It is suggestive, too, to note, since we are endeavouring to discover Amabel Redman's identity, that William de Greystoke who married Helwise de Stuteville, was the son of an Amabel, and was not unhkely to give this name to a daughter. The following pedigree will perhaps make this point more clear : —

William de Grevstoke= Helwise de Stuteville. d. in 1209. I

(Article on the Greystokes by the Rev. James Wilson, M.A., in the Ancestor, vol. vi.).

It is thus quite conceivable that Amabel, wife of Mat- thew de Redman, was a daughter of William de Greystoke and Helwise ; in which case both the name and the dower-lands would be intelligible.

If she were a Stuteville (and after much thought on the subject my own speculation leans strongly to the Grey- stoke identification) she was probably a daughter of Nicholas de Stuteville, and aunt of Joan who married Hugh le Wake, of Blisworth, and from whom the " Fair Maid of Kent " and her son, King Richard II., directly deJived their descent.

Which of these two suggested identifications is correct is a point which will possibly never be satisfactorily decided ; but that Amabel was either a Greystoke or a Stuteville seems reasonably certain.

Amabel outlived her husband, and after her death had a legal dispute with Henry de Redman, Matthew's heir. There is a petition by Amabel (the date of which is not given) to have a special Court to take the Assize of Novel disseisin, brought by her against Henry de Redman, Roger de Cornthwa3't and others concerning tenements in Yeland. Amabel describes herself as " Amabel q fu la femme maheu de Redman gest du Comtee de Westm"*," which had lately been burnt and destroyed by the Scots, so that she cannot live there ; and because the Justices of Assize so rarely come to those parts, she asks for a special Court, to consist of Edmund de Nevill, Adam de Skelton, Gilbert de Syngelton, and Robert de Shyreburne, " ou deux de eux."

Matthew appears to have died during his period of office as Sheriff in 1248, or very soon after — at least before Ascension Day, 1254, when his son Henry appears as owner of Levens. He had four sons and two daughters at least : — Henry, his heir ; Ingram and Randle, who occur in 1254 as sons of Matthew de Redman ; Nicholas, who appears in 1277-8 in a suit with the Abbot of Cocker- sand ; and Juliana and Agnes, who also occur in 1254.

His arms appear in the Roll of Henry HI., known as Glover's Roll (1243-6), — de goules trois horeilers (aishions) d'or.

Henry II.

Of the second Henry the Records tell us little. He ap- pears to have led a singularly retired and uneventful life, in striking contrast to the Redmans who came before and after him. In 1267 — at least thirteen and possibly nine- teen years after his father's death— he received a grant of free warren in Levens, Yealand, and Trenterne.

Rex concessit Henrico de Redman liberam warennam in omnibus dominicis terris de Lyvenes, Yeland et Trenterne in Com' Lane' at Westm'land. (Dodsworth MSS. 159 f. 181).

In the same year (12th June, 1267) he received an exceptional mark of favour from Henry III., in whose " good books " he must have been, in the form of an exemption from the duty of serving on assizes, juries, &c., and of filling the offices of sheriff, coroner, eschaetor, &c., for life. (Patent Roll, 51 Hen. III., m. 15.) This exemption from holding prominent public offices no doubt accounts for Henry's rare appearances in the records of his time.

He was probably but a child when the headship of his family fell to him, and though he certainly held it for more than twenty years, there is little to record of him beyond the facts that he lived, married, and died. In the last year of his hfe he was a defendant, on June 22nd, 1278, in a case at Appleby Assizes ; and on the 22nd of the following September his case against Roger de Lancaster was struck out because he was then dead, " eo quod pre- dictus Henricus obiit " (Assize Roll, 1238 m. 13).

That he had a son and heir, Matthew, is conclusively proved, as will be seen later under Sir Matthew II. ; and it is probable that he had also another son, Henry, for in 1300 we find among the benefactors of Cockersand Abbey the name of " Henry, son of Henry de Redman" (MSS. of W. C. Strickland, Esq., of Sizergh). It may be the same Henry who appears on the roll of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Essex and Hereford, containing the proffers of military service made at Carlisle : —

Dominus Johannes, Baro de Greystock, recognovit et offert ser- vicium duorum foederum militum et dimidium, fac' per Henricum Redman, Ad' de Colewell &c cum v equis co-opertis. (Palgrave's Documents Illustrating the Affairs of Scotland, p. 209.)