Ralph Fitzwilliam (c. 1256 – 11 February 1317), or Ralph, son of William de Grimthorpe, Lord of Greystoke, was a feudal baron with extensive landholdings in the North of England, representative of a manorial lordship seated where Grimthorpe Hill rises to commanding views a mile to the north of Pocklington in the Yorkshire Wolds. He gave sustained military service and leadership through the Scottish and Welsh campaigns of Edward I and was summoned to parliament from 1295 to 1315. His marriage in c. 1282 brought him other manors including Morpeth in Northumberland and its appurtenances. In 1297 he was enfeoffed as tenant-in-chief (feudal lord) of the entire barony of Greystoke, seated at Greystoke in Cumberland but with Yorkshire estates, through his matrilineal Greystok descent. He entered upon these in his own right in 1306. Having served in the retinue of Aymer de Valence, during the first decade of Edward II's reign he remained dependable as a military leader and royal lieutenant in the defence administration of the northern counties and Scottish marches. His descendants adopted the Greystoke name, and their inheritance continued in the male line until the end of the 15th century.T.F. Tout, revised J.S. Hamilton, 'Fitzwilliam, Sir Ralph (c. 1256–1316/17)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (OUP 2004).'Pedigree of Merlay, Greystock, Dacre and Howard, Barons of Morpeth', in J. Hodges, A History of Northumberland, in three parts, Part 2, Volume 2 (Author, Newcastle 1832), pp. 373-83 (Google).
Family background Ralph Fitzwilliam was born probably in 1256, for he is described as being 40 years old and more in 24 Edward I.J.E.E.S. Sharp and J.E. Stamps (eds), '325: Inquisition of Gilbert son of William', in Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem and Other Analogous Documents, III: Edward I (HMSO 1912), p. 201 (Internet Archive). He was the son of William FitzRalph, lord of Grimthorpe, Great Givendale, in the soke of Pocklington, in the Yorkshire Wolds.R. Davies, 'Grimthorpe', Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. II (1873), pp. 195-214. William his father was the son of an elder Ralph Fitz William. Their paternal ancestry is traced to one Ulf, possibly that notable son of Thorald who built the church of Aldbrough in Holderness.Exemplified in 'Stemma Ulfi Comitis', in J.C. Brooke, 'An illustration of a Saxon inscription remaining in the church of Aldborough, in Holdernesse', Archaeologia VI (Society of Antiquaries, London 1782), pp. 39-53, pp. 39-53, Foldout (Internet Archive). Reproduced in G. Poulson, The History and Antiquities of the Seigniory of Holderness (Thomas Topping, Hull/W. Pickering, London 1841), II, p. 2 (Google). By a marriage in a subsequent generation they appear to have descended from Emma the daughter of Waldef,W. Crossman, 'A Bull of Adrian IV relating to Neasham Priory, Co. Durham', Archaeologia Æliana, 2nd Ser. XVI, pp. 268-73. Lord of Neasham, and (before 1157) founding patron of the Priory of St Mary at Neasham, a small nunnery in the parish of Hurworth-on-Tees, near Darlington, County Durham.R. Surtees, 'Parish of Hurworth', in The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham, 4 volumes (Nichols and Son, London 1823), III, p. 260 (British History Online).'Neasham', 'Hurworth', in W. Page (ed.), A History of the County of Durham, Vol. 3 (VCH, London 1928), pp. 285-293 (British History Online).
Opinions have differed as to whether Joan de Greystok, daughter of Thomas de Greystok of Greystoke in Cumberland,C. Clay and D.E. Greenway, Early Yorkshire Families (C.U.P. 1973, digital 2013), pp. 38-39. was the mother or the grandmother of Ralph Fitzwilliam. In either case, that descent bore heavily upon his fortunes. William Dugdale, in his Baronage (following an earlier source), calls Ralph "the Son of William Fitz-Ralph, (Lord of Grimethorpe, in Com. Ebor.) Son of Ioane, Aunt to him the said Iohn" [i.e. Greystok],'Appendix: Narrative of Lord William Howard, 1605', G. Ornsby (ed.), Selections from the Household Books of Lord William Howard of Naworth Castle, Surtees Society LXVIII (1877), pp. 365-93, at p. 391 (Google); W. Dugdale, 'Greystoke', in The Baronage of England (London 1675–76), I, pp. 739-42, at p. 740 (Umich/eebo). a formula which leaves room for confusion. The Fine rolls for 1268–1269 show that William Fitz-Ralph of Grimthorpe and his wife Joan paid half a mark for an assize.The Fine Roll 53 Henry III (1268–69), C 60/66, m.5, (Henry III Fine Rolls Project, incorrectly loaded for m. 9), shows (556) "Willus fil' Radi de Grimthorp dat [singular] dimid' marc..." and (561) "Willus fil' Radi de Grimthorp et Johā ux' ejus dant [plural] dimid' marc...", showing that Joan is to be taken as William's wife, not Ralph's: they give half a mark. Somerset Herald John Charles Brooke took Joan to be the wife of the elder Ralph, William's father:J.C. Brooke, Archaeologia VI (1782); see also R. Davies, 'Grimthorpe' (1873), p. 197; M.C.F. Morris, Nunburnholme: Its History and Antiquities (H. Frowde, 1907), pp. 20-40, at p. 32 (Internet Archive). the Dictionaries of National Biography, Cokayne's Complete Peerage, and others, take her to be William's wife.J. Hodges, History of Northumberland II.2 (1832), p. 376 (Google); T.C. Banks, Baronia Anglica Concentrata (Ripon 1844), I, p. 241 (Google); E. Foss, 'Ralph Fitz-William', in The Judges of England, Vol. III: 1272–1377 (Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, London 1851), pp. 89-91 (Google); J.W. Clay, The Extinct and Dormant Baronies of the Northern Counties of England (James Nisbet & Co. Ltd, London 1913), pp. 94-98 (Internet Archive); T.F. Tout in the Old D.N.B. (1885–1900), (sustained by J.S. Hamilton in the Oxford D.N.B. 2004 revision), but citing Dugdale; and G.E. Cokayne, Complete Peerage (Alan Sutton, 1987), V, pp. 513-16.
Reign of Edward I Grimthorpe and Greystoke William FitzRalph had a grant of free warren in his ancestral manor of Grimthorpe (just north-east of Pocklington), and in Hinderskelfe (the site of Castle Howard), in Yorkshire, in 1253.Calendar of Charter Rolls, I: Henry III, 1226–1257 (HMSO 1903), 12 Jan. 37 Hen. III, m. 15, p. 415 (Internet Archive). Contra, giving date as 1269, R. Davies, 'Grimthorpe', p. 197. His kinsman, William son of Thomas de Greystok, entered his inheritance on the death of his brother Robert de Greystok,'314. Inquisition post mortem of Robert son of Thomas de Craystok', in J.E.E.S. Sharp and A.E. Stamp (eds), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem and Other Analogous Documents, I: Henry III (HMSO 1904), pp. 83-84 (Internet Archive). and had free warren in his manors of Brunnum (Nunburnholme, just east of Pocklington) and Ellerton, Yorkshire, in March 1257.Calendar of Charter Rolls, I: Henry III p. 465 (Internet Archive). William de Greystok acquired his part of Morpeth, Northumberland and the Merlay barony, by his marriage to Maria, daughter and coheir of Roger de Merlay.'Corporation of Morpeth', in 6th Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Part I: Report and Appendix (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London 1877), at p. 529 (Google), and see charters of Roger de Merlay at p. 527 ff. J. Wallis, The Natural History and Antiquities of Northumberland: and of so much of the County of Durham, as lies between the Tyne and the Tweed, 2 vols (London, 1769), I, p. 285-99 (Google).W. Farrer and C.T. Clay (eds), Early Yorkshire Charters, IX: The Stuteville Fee, Extra Series, vol. 7 (1952), pp. 30-32; Morris, Nunburnholme, pp. 30-31 (Internet Archive). In musters at Worcester and Carmarthen in July 1277 Ralph FitzWilliam de Grimthorpe, son of William FitzRalph, proffered the military service due from his uncle William de Greystock in the wars against the Welsh: his service was transferred by the King to be performed under Edmund Earl of Lancaster in West Wales.F. Palgrave (ed.), The Parliamentary Writs and Writs of Military Summons (Command, Westminster 1827), I, pp. 615-16 (Google).
Marriages and offspring At Ralph Fitzwilliam's death in 1317 his heir, his younger son Robert, was aged 40.J.E.E.S. Sharp and A.E. Stamp (eds), '50. Inquisition of Ralph son of William', in Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem and Other Analogous Documents, Vol. VI: Edward II, (HMSO 1910), pp. 22-26 (Internet Archive). Since Ralph's marriage to Marjory de Bolbec did not take place until 1281, it is inferred that there was a first marriage no later than 1275, though the name of the first wife, mother of Ralph's descendants, is not known.
In November 1281 Ralph obtained licence to marry Margery, widow of Nicholas Corbet, daughter and coheir of Hugh de Bolbec junior and his wife Theophania,See 'IV. Pedigree of Aton, etc', in G. Tate, The History of the Borough, Castle, and Barony of Alnwick, 2 vols (Henry Hunter Blair, Alnwick 1866), I, pp. 406-10 (Google), at pp. 408-09. See alternative interpretation in 'Finedon', in The Victoria County History of the County of Northamptonshire, Vol. III (V.C.H. 1930, reprinted 1970), pp. 196-200 (Internet Archive). paying for that a fine of 100 marks.Calendar of Fine Rolls, I: Edward I, 1272–1307 (HMSO 1911), p. 158 (Internet Archive). V.C.H. Northants. III, p. 199 n. 64, sows a doubt that Ralph's wife may have been the daughter, not widow, of Nicholas Corbet, citing Placita de Quo Warranto, Temporibus Ed. I, II & III (Commissioners, 1818), pp. 545-46 (HathiTrust). This marriage brought to him a portion of the Bulbeck barony of Northumberland seated at the manor of Styford in the parish of Bywell,The various baronial hereditaments could still be identified in 17 Henry VI: see T. Madox, Baronia Anglica: A History of Land-Honors and Baronies (Robert Gosling, London 1736), p. 58 (Google). with Hedoun on the Wall, Angyrtoune (Morpeth) and Dodynton.J.E.E.S. Sharp and A.E. Stamp, '51. Inquisition of Robert son of Ralph', in Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem and Other Analogous Documents, VI, pp. 26-33, at pp. 32-33 (Internet Archive). Margery was one of four sisters, whose mother Margery de Bolebec was sister of Richard de Montfichet, of Avelina wife of William de Forz, 3rd Earl of Albemarle, and of Philippa, wife of Hugh de Playz. In 1274 Margery Corbet and her three sisters became heirs to their second cousin Aveline de Forz, Countess of Aumale, daughter of the 4th Earl of Albemarle and first wife of Edmund Crouchback.J.E.E.S. Sharp and A.E. Stamp (eds), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem and Other Analogous Documents, I, Henry III (HMSO 1904),'528. Hugh de Bolebek alias de Bolebech', p. 150-51; II (HMSO 1906), '130. Inquisition of Avelina, late the wife of Edmund the King's brother', pp. 86-87 (Internet Archive). Around Michaelmas 1285 (13 Edward I) Ralph Fitzwilliam made a fine with John Yeland for the distribution of the moieties of that inheritance among his wife's sisters, the coheirs, making a gift of premises there and in Hertfordshire and Essex also to Yeland.Feet of Fines (Diverse Counties), 13 Edward I, CP 25(1)/285/23 no. 157 (View original at AALT, image 12. Recited in A.J. Horwood (ed.), Year Books of the Reign of King Edward the First: XXXII-XXXIII (Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts and Green, London 1864), Trinity 1304, at pp. 304/05-316/17 (Google). He fought against the Welsh again (on his own account) in 1282 and in 1287, and received a royal gift of four deer from the Forest of Galtres in 1283.7th Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records (Command, London 1846), pp. 243-44 (Google).
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