Philippa (Bolebec) de Lancaster (abt. 1239 - bef. 1294)

Born about 1239 in Blanchland, Northamptonshire, England

Ancestors

Died before 1 Sep 1294 before about age 55 in England

Philippa Bolebec was a member of the aristocracy in British Isles.

Biography

She was the oldest daughter. She was already married and 'aged 23 and more' when her father died in 1262. Although her family inheritances such as the Bolbec barony of Styford were divided in four after her father died, two of her sisters died without issue and her son John de Lancastre therefore inherited 3 quarters of the barony.

VCH Essex concerning the manor of East Ham:^[1]

Richard de Montfitchet, last of his family in the male line, died without issue in 1267. His heirs (subject to the life-interest in dower of his widow Joyce (d. 1274)) (fn. 18) were the descendants of his three sisters, Margery de Bolbec, Aveline de Forz, Countess of Aumale, and Philippa de Plaiz. (fn. 19) Aveline de Forz, granddaughter of the countess, and Richard (d. 1269) son of Philippa de Plaiz, each received onethird of the inheritance. The remaining third was shared between the four granddaughters of Margery de Bolbec: Philippa de Lancaster, Margery Corbet (d. 1303), Alice de Huntercombe (d. c. 1284), and Maud de la Val (d. 1281). Alice and Maud died without issue. After the deaths of their husbands, Walter de Huntercombe (1313) and Hugh de la Val (1302), their shares seem to have been divided between their sisters' heirs. (fn. 20) Aveline de Forz, who married Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, son of Henry III, was also childless, and when she died in 1274 her share was assigned to Philippa de Lancaster. (fn. 21)

The eventual result of this sequence of events was the division of the Montfitchet fee in East and West Ham into three unequal parts. The inheritance of Richard de Plaiz became the manor of Plaiz, while that of Margery Corbet became the manors of East and West Ham Burnells. The share of Philippa de Lancaster became the manor of EAST HAM or EAST HAM HALL. This lay mainly in the south of the parish; the manor-house adjoined the church to the north-east, and the lords of the manor originally held the advowson of East Ham. The name was first applied to the main part of Philippa's holding which passed to her on the death of Aveline de Forz. Philippa's lands were held in her right by her husband Roger de Lancaster until his death in 1291. (fn. 22) She herself died in 1294 holding East Ham manor in chief for ¼ knight's fee. It was then some 200 a. in area. (fn. 23) Her son and heir John de Lancaster inherited further properties in East Ham and West Ham after the deaths of Hugh de la Val and Walter de Huntercombe.

Original footnotes:

18. Cal. Close 1272–9, 81–2, 86.

19. Sanders, English Baronies, 83–5; cf. V.C.H. Essex, iv. 227; Cal. Inq. p.m. ii, p. 235 (Maud de la Val).

20. See p. 10.

21. Cal. Close 1272–9, 244; Cal. Inq. p.m. ii, p. 508.

22. Sanders, English Baronies, 85.

23. Cal. Inq. p.m. iii, p. 106.

VCH Essex, under Chigwell manor:^[2]

The manor of BARRINGTONS (or LITTLE CHIGWELL) took its name from the family of Barrington which held the tenancy in demesne from the 12th to the 16th century. It is probably identical with the estate of 2 hides and 15 acres which Robert Gernon was said to hold in Chigwell in 1086. [V.C.H. Essex, i, 553b.] The overlordship appears to have descended like that of Battles in Stapleford Abbots (q.v.) until the death in 1267 of Richard de Montfichet. In 1274 ½ knight's fee in Chigwell and elsewhere was assigned to Philippa, wife of Roger de Lancaster and granddaughter of Margaret de Bolbec, sister of Richard de Montfichet. [Cal. Close, 1272-9, 82.]

Sources

1. ↑ 'East Ham: Manors and estates', in A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6, ed. W R Powell (London, 1973), pp. 8-14. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol6/pp8-14 [accessed 10 October 2018].
2. ↑ 'Chigwell: Manors', in A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4, Ongar Hundred, ed. W R Powell (London, 1956), pp. 24-32. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol4/pp24-32 [accessed 10 October 2018].