March 2012 – Women in the Ragman Roll, pt. 2

Women in the Ragman Roll: part two

Matthew Hammond

 

Last month’s feature discussed women whose fealties to King Edward I were recorded in the Ragman Roll. All of the 77 or so women who swore fealty to Edward I (about 5% of the total), and whose fealties were later recorded in the Ragman Roll, came to Edward’s parliament at Berwick-upon-Tweed on 28 August, 1296. As we saw last month, this group of women were quite diverse in their geographical origins and social status, although at least 40 women, more than half, were from the counties of Berwick and Edinburgh (including Mid- and East Lothian).[1] Eight of the women were heads of religious houses – prioresses – and it is not difficult to understand what brought them to Berwick. Like their male counterparts, they seem to have been mostly swearing fealty on behalf of their institutions, for the lands which they held corporately. But what about the rest of the women who swore fealty to Edward at Berwick? In the thirteenth century, women were usually restricted by law from exercising rights of lordship over property: these rights were instead vested in a father, husband, or other male relative.

Fortunately, three other documents produced at the Berwick parliament help shed light on this question. The first of these documents, dated on 3 September, six days after the fealties were sworn, survives in The National Archives. Printed in full by Stevenson (no. 385), this document lists the petitions to the English crown made by 37 Scottish ‘ladies’.[2] Thirty-one of these petitions were made at the Berwick parliament, and the remaining six were made at Ipswich the following January. These first 31 petitions were adjudicated by a panel made up of Sir Hugh Despenser[3], Sir Walter Beauchamp, the king’s household steward, Sir John of Droxford, the keeper of the king’s wardrobe,[4] and John of ‘Benstede’.[5] As we saw in the last feature, the first two petitions listed were made by prioresses for possessions in the burghs of Berwick and Perth. The document’s own introduction describes the petitions as being made by three categories of women: 1) ladies whose husbands are in the king’s prison, 2) ladies whose husbands were killed fighting against the king, and 3) ladies whose husbands were innocent.

 

Widows at the Berwick Parliament

Of the 37 women whose petitions were recorded, probably only twelve also appear in the Ragman Roll. These women were mostly widows. Widowhood was the one stage of life when most women were legally permitted to control their own property. When a woman was married (and most of our evidence comes from women of the aristocratic and gentry classes), she was legally entitled to a dower in the form of landed property. These dowerlands were sometimes called the widow’s terce, because they often consisted of a third of the total estate. Provided by the husband, they continued in practice to be controlled by the husband until his death. Legally, after his death, the widow controlled these lands personally, although she sometimes found herself competing with male relatives when it came to exercising this right ‘on the ground’. Because the lands reverted to the husband’s (or his heir’s – usually the firstborn son’s) estate, in practice sometimes the same lands could be set aside and re-used again and again for dower, always reverting to the patrimony. By contrast, the dowry or marriage-portion, sometimes called a tocher in Scotland, was land given by the wife’s family to the husband, theoretically to help support her throughout her lifetime. A key part of marriage politics, it was this transaction which saw the permanent alienation of land from one family to another.[6]

Of the 77 or so women whose fealties are recorded in the Ragman Roll, some fourteen are explicitly described as widows, using the expression, ‘qe fut la femme’ – ‘who was the wife’ – of a particular man. Of these fourteen widows, only five appear in the documents described in the appendices below. These are marked with an asterisk in the following list.

1. Agnes ‘qe fu la femme’ of Henry Lovel (IP, 172)

2. Alice ‘qe fu la femme’ of Alan of Ormiston* (IP, 137)

3. Alice, ‘qe fu la femme’ of Philip of Halliburton* (IP, 137)

4. Anable ‘qe fu la femme’ of Patrick of Graham* (IP, 146)

5. Devorgoyl (Dervorgilla) ‘qe fut femme’ of Robert of Chartres* (IP, 125)

6. Eufemme (Euphemia), ‘qe fut la femme’ of William of Horndean (IP, 146)

7. Eve, ‘qe fut la femme’ of Malcolm of Frendraught (IP, 132)

8. Isabella, ‘qe fut la femme’ of David the Tailor* (IP, 156)

9. Isabella, ‘qe fut la femme’ of Thomas the Steward (IP, 157)

10. Joan, ‘qe fut la femme’ of Ranulf Wishart (IP, 159)

11. Margaret, ‘qe fut la femme’ of Peter of Lundin (IP, 159)

12. Margaret, ‘qe fut la femme’ of William of Abernethy (IP, 146)

13. Marjory, ‘qe fut la femme’ of Thomas Banysleve (IP, 137)

14. Mary, ‘qe fut la femme’ of Hugh of Airth (IP, 170)

 

However, many of the women who are not explicitly called widows in the Ragman Roll were indeed widows, according to the documents described in the appendices. These women are listed below:

 

Women listed in Appendix One who are also in the Ragman Roll[7]:

15. Margaret of Ramsey (IP, 157): either widow of Lord Ness of Ramsey or Malcolm of Ramsey

16. Mary of Synton (IP, 127): widow of Lord Alexander of Synton

17. Margaret of Penicuik (IP, 155): widow of Nigel of Penicuik

18. Joan de la Haye (IP, 146): widow of Lord Nicholas de la Haye[8]

 

Women listed in Appendix Two who are also in the Ragman Roll[9]:

19. Marjory of Graham (IP, 144): widow of John of Graham

20. Helen Papedy (IP, 156): widow of Stephen Papedy

21. Marjory of Sydserff (IP, 161): widow of William of Sydserff

22. Joan of Nisbet (IP, 151): widow of Thomas of East Nisbet

23. Peronel (Petronilla) de Vieuxpont (IP, 154): widow of William de Vieuxpont

24. Mary, queen of Man (IP, 164): widow of Malise II, earl of Strathearn (d. 1271)[10] and Hugh of Abernethy (d. 1291/2).[11]

25. Alina de Vieuxpont (IP, 167): widow of William de Vieuxpont

26. Marjory Comyn, lady of Gordon (IP, 131): widow of Adam Gordon (probably)[12]

27. Helen of Duddingston (IP, 155): widow of Hugh of Duddingston

28. Agnes ‘del Crage’ (IP, 156): widow of William del Crag

29. Mabilla of Congalton (IP, 150): widow of Walter of Congalton

30. Elizabeth of Rosneath (IP, 142): widow of Philip of Rosneath

 

Appendix Two describes a list of letters addressed by Edward’s clerks to sheriffs around Scotland, informing them that a particular widow has sworn fealty to king Edward and is to have her property restored to her, whether property she holds through inheritance or ‘in dotem’ – dowerlands. An exception is made for castles and fortifications. The majority of these women also appear in the Ragman Roll. This document is mainly useful due to the fact that it gives us the counties where these women held lands.

 

Thus, while only 14 women in the Ragman Roll are explicitly called widows, the documents summarised in Appendices One and Two reveal that no fewer than 30 of the women in the Ragman Roll were indeed widows. Thus, of the 77 (or so) women, 8 (or 10%) were prioresses, and 30 (or 39%) were widows: thus the status of just under half of the women have been accounted for, leaving about 39, or 51%, unexplained. However, given that more than half of the widows in the Ragman Roll were not called widows, and their status is only known from these other documents produced at the Berwick parliament, it is likely that at least some, if not the majority, of the remaining 39 women were also widows. Presumably, not all of the records produced at the Berwick parliament survived, or not all of the widows were able to successfully petition the English administration. There are many women listed in Ragman Roll who do not appear in the documents described in Appendixes One and Two, who may just as well have been widows whose petitions and restorations have simply been lost.

 

At times, it would appear that the evidence of seals can fill some of the gaps in our understanding. One such gap is the ‘maiden name’ or paternal surname of women who are described as widows of their husbands. For example, the seal of Dervorgilla, wife of Robert Carnoto or de Chartres, reads ‘SIGILL’ DERWORGOYL D’CRAUFORD, suggesting she was a member of the Crawford family, who were important in the southwest in the thirteenth century.[13] This identification is very plausible, given Dervorgilla’s rare forename – she is the only person bearing this name mentioned in the Ragman Roll – and the fact that the Crawford family were important tenants of Alan, lord of Galloway, father of Dervorgilla of Galloway, who herself was mother of King John Balliol.[14] The use of her paternal surname by a woman was not unusual on a seal, as that of Eva of Cockburn, prioress of Haddington, demonstrates.[15] The seal of Margaret, widow of William of Abernethy, which reads S’MARGARITE DE BRENESIN, probably also gives her paternal surname, although the identity of ‘Brenesin’ has yet to be determined.[16] However, seals could also give the woman’s married surname, as in the cases of Peronel or Petronilla de Vieuxpont and Joan Wishart.[17]

The petitions recorded in Stevenson, ii, no. 385 (see App. I), reveal something of the English royal administration’s approach to the property of these women. Many of the widows, those listed in Appendix One as numbers 17 – 23 and 25 – 31, were allowed to have everything they asked for quiete – that is, no strings attached. As we shall see, that was not the case with many of the other women. The text gives us some additional information about the widows, often telling us how long they have been in their widowhood, which may be useful in identifying them and giving us an indication of their ages. Margaret, widow of Ness Ramsay, had been a widow for 20 years, as had Agnes, widow of John de Burneville, whereas Alice, widow  of Philip of Halliburton, had only been a widow for two years, and Mary of Synton for three. The value of the dowers of the petitioners who were widows tells us something about their wealth. Many of them sought the restoration of their dowers, and this tended to be lands worth between ten and twenty marks. Alice of Halliburton was rather more wealthy, with a dower worth 30 marks; Elizabeth of Langmuir rather less so, as her lands were only worth four marks yearly. Of course, there were a few women who belonged to a higher rank of society than the majority, whom we might term lesser aristocracy holding single feus. One of these was Dervorgilla [Crawford], wife of Robert de Chartres, whose dower was worth 40 marks (and this is assuming that the lands petitioned for comprised the entire dowers, which may not have always been the case). As we might imagine, this is in contrast to the higher nobility – Joan de la Haye’s lands were worth 250 pounds, while the countesses of Ross and Atholl were given 100 pounds’ worth of lands outwith their earldoms, respectively (in January 1297). Of course, not all women got all their wealth through inheritance, especially those in the commercially active merchant class – Christiana, widow of Godishalke of Cologne, petitioned the king for the lands which she acquired after the death of her husband ten years previously, in addition to the lands from her inheritance.

 

Women whose husbands were in prison

The main other group to appear in the appendix documents produced at Edward’s Berwick parliament do not appear in Ragman Roll. These are women whose husbands acted against the king. The petitions of 12 women (in App. 1) whose husbands were captured at Dunbar and in the king’s prison, or at the papal curia, resulted in the restoration of a portion of lands to the women (the case of Annabella, widow of Patrick Graham, who had been killed at Berwick, was deferred to the judgment of the Guardian of the kingdom of Scotland). These are outlined in App. 3, which, similarly to App. 2, contains instructions to implement the restorations of certain values of lands. The petitions state how much land the women claimed, based on their inheritance (or ‘heritage’, in Scots legal parlance), or their dower and/or possibly their dowry. These women were generally allowed lands amounting to one fourth of what they claimed to possess; presumably, King Edward wanted to pocket the rest to help fund his Scottish administration. For example, Mary, wife of Duncan Scot, son of Sir Michael Scot, who was captured at Dunbar, asked the king for £10 of land for her support; he allowed her only 60s (or £3) worth of land. Similarly, Alexander Comyn of Badenoch’s wife, Eve, only got 30 marks, despite claiming possession of £40 of land from the dower of Sir Alexander of Moray, her late husband, and 80 marks of land from his inheritance (a mark was worth 2/3 of a pound; thus the total value of what Eve claimed was 140 marks in yearly revenue).

An exception to the rule is the case of Mary, the wife of Sir Richard Siward the elder, who had nine children, of whom four were the children of Sir Richard with another wife, and five were her children from her previous marriage to the late Simon Fraser. She claimed 50 marks’ worth of land. The problem was that Elizabeth, wife of Sir Richard’s son, also named Richard, claimed that the elder Sir Richard had given her 50 marks’ worth of land on her marriage – in other words, as her dower. The document states that these ‘50 marks of land were contained within the 50 marks of land which belonged to the said Richard the father, as above’; i.e., it was the same land that Mary claimed. The Appendix One document states that Mary was to get £40 worth of land for the support of herself and her children – this equates to 60 marks or 10 marks more than she claimed.[18] The petition suggests that Elizabeth got nothing, but the document in Appendix 3 directs the guardian John de Warenne to give the land to both Mary and Elizabeth.

On the other extreme were the cases of Christiana, wife of Sir Edward of Letham, and Christiana, wife of Stephen Pessun. Their petitions are followed by the statement that ‘the king wills that they have nothing’. Unlike the previous women, whose husbands were (except one) captured and in prison, the husbands of these two women were ‘with Sir Thomas Randolph’ in France. Like Mary Siward, Christiana Letham had nine children, but in this case, presumably due to ongoing traitorous or rebellious activities involving Edward’s great enemy the king of France, she was to have nothing, her lands being given over the earl of Dunbar.

Why do these women who petitioned King Edward not appear in the Ragman Rolls? There are a few possibilities for this. First, unlike the widows, their husbands were still alive, making their legal position in terms of landholding much less secure. They may not have been seen as landholders and thus not able to swear fealty or perform homage for land. Second, as we saw with the widows, only a portion of the widows who petitioned King Edward swore fealty ‘in’ the Ragman Roll. As King Edward appears to have wanted to keep fealty and homage to one days’ proceedings at his Berwick parliament (28 August), it is likely that many of those widows either showed up in Berwick after 28 August, were present on that day but were unable to have their fealties registered due to the inevitable crowds and chaos which must have taken place, or possibly they were not at Berwick at all but petitioned King Edward remotely, possibly through a family member or friend. Similarly, the women whose husbands were in prison may not have been present on 28 August, although it seems unlikely that this would eliminate all of these women from the Ragman Roll. Third, it may have been that Edward was not yet ready to receive their fealties on the 28th, due to the precarious position of their husbands. It is possible that they, along with others, may have sworn fealty after 28 August, and that these instruments of fealty were simply lost. Finally, it is possible that male relatives swore fealty for some of these women, although there is again no clear sign of this in the written record.

Whatever the reasons for their fealties or lack thereof, these three documents produced at the Berwick parliament dealing with women and their property mark a watershed in Scottish history for the study of women. As with the Ragman Roll fealties themselves, they mark the first time we are able to glimpse not only the lives and lands of individuals, but are able to examine and analyse larger numbers of women as a key group in society.

 

Appendix One: Petitions made to King Edward by Scottish women

3 September, 1296, at Berwick-upon-Tweed (with additions)

TNA, C 47/22/2(11)

Stevenson, Documents, ii, 92, no. 385

Bain, CDS, ii, no. 869

 

Women who also appear in the Ragman Roll have been marked with an asterisk: *

Women who also appear in the document in Appendix Two (restorations to widows) have been marked with a cross: †

Women who also appear in the document in Appendix Three (wives of prisoners of war) have been marked with the section sign: §

1. The prioress of Haddington*
2. The prioress of St Leonard’s of Perth*
3. Annabella, who was wife of Patrick of Graham*, who was killed at Dunbar
4. Mary, wife of Lord Richard Siward §, who is in the king’s prison
5. Elizabeth, wife of Richard son of Richard Siward §
6. Mary, wife of Duncan the Scot, son of Lord Michael Scot §, who was captured at Dunbar and is in the king’s prison
7. Eva, ‘wife’ of Lord Alexander Comyn of Badenoch §, who was captured at Dunbar, and widow of Lord Alexander of Moray
8. Agnes, wife of Richard Marshal, son of David the Marshal §, who was captured at Dunbar and is in the king’s prison
9. Isabella, who was wife of Simon of Denmuir †
10. Alicia, wife of William of Lindsey §, who is in the Roman curia, and has been there for three years
11. Agnes, wife of Lord Alexander de Meniers (Menzies) §, captured at Dunbar, and is in the king’s prison
12. Isabella, wife of Andrew of Synton §, captured at Dunbar, and is in the king’s prison
13. Mariota, wife of Edmund of Ramsey §, captured at Dunbar on the field
14. Emma, wife of William of Clapham §, captured at Dunbar, and is in the king’s prison
15. Christiana, wife of Lord Edward of Letham, who is in parts of France with Lord Thomas Randolph
16. Christiana, wife of Stephen Pessun, who is in France with Lord Thomas Randolph
17. Margareta, who was wife of Lord Ness of Ramsey*[19] †
18. Agnes, who was wife of John de Burneville †
19. Helen, who was wife of Alexander of Blair †
20. Mary, who was wife of Lord Alexander of Synton* †
21. Margaret, who was wife of Malcolm of Ramsey*[20] †
22. Alicia, who was wife of Alan of Ormiston* †
23. Margaret, who was wife of Nigel of Penicuik* †
24. Petronilla, who was wife of Thomas le Chaundeler
25. Alicia, who was wife of Philip of Halliburton †
26. Elizabeth, who was wife of Alan of Longmuir*[21] †
27. Dervorguilla, who was wife of Robert of Chartres * †
28. Ela of Ardross, who is 60 years old*
29. Christiana, who was wife of Godishalke of Cologne
30. Sara, who was wife of Duncan ‘del Glen’ †
31. Eustacia, who was wife of Reginald Cheyne, the father †

[At Ipswich, 2 Jan. 1297, in front of the bishops of …, in a new hand:]

1. Mary, wife of Lord Simon Fraser
2. Joan, wife of Lord Nicholas Hay*
3. Joan, wife of Lord John Butler

[the following is in French, in a new hand:]

1. Lady Joan, wife of Sir John Comyn, the son
2. The countess of Ross §
3. The countess of Atholl §

Appendix Two: List of letters for widows at Berwick parliament

3 September, 1296, at Berwick-upon-Tweed

Rotuli Scotiae, i, 26a (3)

Foedera, i, ii, 845-6

 

Women who also appear in the Ragman Roll have been marked with an asterisk: *

 

1. Eustachia, who was wife of the late Reginald Cheyne to sheriff of Ayr

2. Marjory, who was wife of John Graham*                         to sheriff of Perth

3. Eustachia, who was wife of Reginald Cheyne  to sheriffs of Banff, Kincardine, Forfar, Inverness, Aberdeen

4. Dervorgilla, who was wife of Robert of Chartres*         to sheriffs of Lanark, Dumfries

5. Elizabeth, who was wife of Alan of Langmuir[22]               to sheriff of Edinburgh

6. Isabella, who was wife of Simon of [Denmuir]               to sheriff of Edinburgh

7. Margaret, who was wife of Nigel of Penicuik*               to sheriff of Edinburgh

8. Alicia, who was wife of Philip of Halliburton*  to sheriff of Berwick

9. Agnes, who was wife of John de Burneville     to sheriffs of Berwick, Edinburgh, Roxburgh

10. Margaret, who was wife of Malcolm Ramsay[23]            to sheriff of Linlithgow

11. Helen, who was wife of Alexander of Blair    to sheriffs of Forfar, Berwick

12. Mariota, who was wife of Benedict the clerk                to sheriff of Berwick

13. Helen, who was wife of Stephen Papedy*    to sheriff of Berwick

14. Emma, who was wife of Hugh of Newbattle to sheriff of Selkirk

15. Mary, who was wife of Philip of Keith                              to sheriff of Berwick

16. Marjory, who was wife of William of Sydserff*           to sheriff of Edinburgh

17. Joanna, who was wife of Thomas of East Nesbit*      to sheriff of Berwick

18. Mary, who was wife of Alexander of Synton*             to sheriff of Roxburgh

19. Alicia, who was wife of Philip of Halliburton*                to sheriffs of Edinburgh & Berwick

20. Petronilla, who was wife of William de Vieuxpont*   to sheriff of Edinburgh

21. Petronilla, who was wife of William de Vieuxpont*   to sheriff of Berwick

22. Marjory, who was wife of Stephen Lockhart                to sheriff of Edinburgh

23. Isabella, who was wife of David the tailor*    to sheriff of Forfar

24. Margaret, who was wife of Ness Ramsay[24]   to sheriffs of Berwick, Edinburgh

25. Mary, who was wife of Hugh of Abernethy (Mary, queen of Man)*  to sheriff of Forfar

26. Mary, who was wife of Malise, earl of Strathearn (Mary, queen of Man)* to sheriff of Perth

27. Isabella, who was wife of Richard Melville     to sheriff of Perth

28. Alina, who was wife of William de Vieuxpont*to sheriffs of Berwick and Haddington

29. Alicia, who was wife of Alan of Ormiston*     to sheriff of Edinburgh

30. Marjory, who was wife of Adam Gordon*     to sheriff of Berwick

31. Helen, who was wife of Hugh of Duddingston*           to sheriff of Edinburgh

32. Agnes, who was wife of William del Crag*     to sheriff of Edinburgh

33. Margaret, who was wife of Peter of Lundin*               to sheriffs of Kincardine, Fife

34. Mabilla, who was wife of Walter of Congalton*          to sheriff of Edinburgh

35. Eva, who was wife of Robert Lovel    to sheriffs of Aberdeen, Roxburgh, Forfar

36. Elizabeth, who was wife of Alan of Langmuir[25]             to sheriff of Ayr

37. Sara, who was wife of Duncan del Glen                          to sheriff of Berwick

38. Elizabeth, who was wife of Philip of Rosneath*           to sheriffs of Forfar, Aberdeen

39. Rose, who was wife of Adam Dolfin                 to sheriff of Roxburgh

 

Appendix Three: List of wives of Scottish prisoners-of-war

4 September, 1296, at Berwick-upon-Tweed

Rotuli Scotiae, i, 28a (3)

Foedera, i, ii, 846

 

1. Mary, wife of Richard Siward, and Elizabeth, wife of Richard son of Richard Siward: 40 librates

2. Agnes, wife of Alexander de Meniers (Menzies): 50 markates

3. Eva, wife of Alexander Comyn of Badenoch: 30 markates

4. Agnes, wife of Richard le Mareschal (Marshal): 10 markates

5. Mary, wife of Duncan Scot son of Michael Scot: 50s. of land

6. Mariota, wife of Edmund Ramsay: 10 markates

7. Emma, wife of William of Clapham: 50s. of land

8. Countess of Ross, wife of the Earl of Ross: 100 librates

9. Countess of Atholl, wife of the Earl of Atholl: 100 librates

10. Isabella, wife of Andrew of Synton: 5 markates

11. Alicia, wife of William Lindsay: 10 librates

 

 

ABBREVIATIONS

Bain, CDS, ii: Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland preserved in Her Majesty’s Public Record Office, London, Vol. 2, A.D. 1272–1307, ed. by Joseph Bain (Edinburgh, 1884)

Foedera: Foedera, Conventiones, Litterae et Cuiuscunque Generis Acta Publica, ed. T. Rymer, Record Commission edition (London, 1816–69)

IP: Instrumenta Publica sive Processus super fidelitatibus et homagiis Scotorum domino regi Angliae factis, 1291–96, ed. by T. Thomson, Bannatyne Club (Edinburgh, 1834)

McAndrew: Bruce McAndrew, ‘The Sigillography of the Ragman Roll’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 129 (1999), 663–752

Rotuli Scotiae: Rotuli Scotiae in turri londinensi et in domo capitulari westmonasteriensi asservati, 2 vols (London, 1814–19)

Stevenson, Documents: Joseph Stevenson, Documents illustrative of the history of Scotland, 1286-1306, 2 vols (Edinburgh, 1870)

TNA: London, The National Archives