Feudal Lordship of Winterborne Saint Martin

The Ancient Feudal Manor and Lordship
of Winterborne St. Martin (Dorsetshire)

The family of Maltravers

Hutchins continues from the death of Robert Fitz Pain the son. John Maltravers, Lord of Hooke purchased the Hundreds, manors and other property interests of Robert Fitz Pain in Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire. This included the manor of Winterborne St Martin but without the patronage of the Church. This was made possible after Maltravers had been required by the King Edward III to provide William de Montacute with a Royal crest of an eagle to be borne by him and his heirs forever. William de Montacute was the Earl of Salisbury and his history is interesting.

John Maltravers was a descendant of the Maltravers of Lychett in the east of the County and his loyalty to the Crown was questionable. His estates had been confiscated for his involvement in the death of King Edward II in 1327. The king was disliked by the majority of Barons and Lords and certainly was not a favourite of the people of the country. Indeed, during the last six years of the reign of Edward II, it is recorded that half the baronage of England were butchered, imprisoned, or banished by the king in the course of the struggle against the king's favourites.

Maltravers Shield

John Maltravers was one of the gaolers, who acting with Roger de Mortimer of Wigmore and Chirk in Shropshire, removed the King from the comfort of Kenilworth to Berkeley Castle. Today, Wigmore Abbey, with it Norman origins is the home of the writer's cousin and her actor husband. Then, the Queen, Isabella de France, (who had become known as "the She wolf of France") was Mortimer's mistress and played an important part in the conspiracy.

Berkeley Castle was the place of the foul deed of the King's murder, although others recount his last days were spent at Corfe Castle at the eastern end of the Maltravers Dorset estate. Hutchins, referring to a particular tower of the castle, recounts:

"Here most probably is the spot where the cruel murder of the king was committed"

It is thought this version of the story came about from the Kings brother, Edmond of Kent. Seemingly the earl was anxious to restore his brother and was made the victim of a plot by which a certain friar was persuaded of the truth of the tale that the king was still alive and in Corfe Castle.

Corfe Castle

To this end the friar was smuggled into the castle and shown the supposed king. Reporting to the earl who was persuaded to incriminate himself by a letter to the brother he supposed was still living although captive. This letter was used by Isabella and Mortimer as an excuse to ruin and execute him.

Wherever he died, their attempts to starve him were unsuccessful. They finally satisfied their orders to leave no mark on his body by passing a red hot spit through a trocar (a thin tube but in this case a bull's horn was reputedly used) and into his bowels. One wonders whether this may have been in disgust of his wide ranging libertine ways that were said to know few bounds. The event was marked by Gray's Bard with a short verse as though it happened at Berkeley:

"Mark the year and mark the night, when Severn shall re-echo with affright, The shrieks of death through Berkeley's roofs that ring, Shrieks of an agonising King!"

Edward III, father of the Black Prince, assumed effective power three years later in 1330. It was remarked,

"the honour of Edward III shines no brighter for his complaisance towards his father's murderers; and the elaborate ordinances issued for the late king's funeral make the conduct of Isabella appear peculiarly revolting"

After somewhat perfunctory judicial proceedings were undertaken Roger de Mortimer was imprisoned and then executed for his part in the murder the King. Again the claim is made that this happened at Corfe. The Mortimers held land in Dorset. Edmond Mortimer Earl of March had lands in the adjoining manor of Winterbourne Steepleton and Roger Mortimer, and the Lords of Chirk were the lords paramount of the manor of Stottingway in the adjoining Hundred of Culliford Tree.

Maltravers was the Governor of Corfe Castle at this time. He was found to be an accessory to murder and escaped thus avoiding punishment. For his part in the arrest of Mortimer, William Montacute followed him as Governor and also enjoyed the Chase of Purbeck provided for deer hunting. Maltravers sentence was remitted and his estates were restored in 1351. Ten years later he provided an endowment for the church of Winterborne St Martin. He fought in the Battle of Crecy and sat in Parliament until his death "at a ripe old age in 1364".

He would have been another to enjoy the hunting of the deer, not at Purbeck but within his manor of Winterborne St Martin.

The estates passed to Maltravers' son, also John. In 1367 he founded the Chantry at the St Martin's church for masses to be said for the departed, the benefactors and their descendants. It is thought this was in the north aisle of the church where the Lady Chapel is today. The priest's house was opposite the church. In the Valor of 1535 shortly before the restoration of the monasteries, it seems from the list of anniversaries kept by the monks at Abbotsbury that the community were faithful in their duties to commemorate the soul of the founding benefactor. All chantries attached to Abbotsbury ceased four years later at the hand of King Henry VIII.

John Maltravers died in 1386 and was laid to rest at Melbury Sampford. He is remembered there where his tomb is inscribed:

" Here is laid John Maltravers the younger, knight, second son to John Maltravers and Alice is wife, daughter and heir to Sir Walter Foliot: and Humphrey Stafford and Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of the said John Maltravers, God have mercy".

By 1386 the Monastery and Convent at Abbotsbury were in serious decline following frequent invasion from the sea by Spaniards, Normans and Bretons and the costs in providing defense for the kingdom. It is thought the nearby medieval village of West Bexington was destroyed by such foreign invasion. Then abbot had also squandered much of its wealth and enjoyed high living. Without assistance or a reduction in commitments the religious functions of the abbey would have to cease. The abbot petitioned Pope Urban VI who requested the Bishop of Salisbury to appropriate the church at Tolpuddle for the use of the brethren. In 1390, the convent obtained a grant from Pope Boneface IX appropriating St Martin’s church once more and four others in the area. Between them, they provided almost all the income required for the abbey.