The Inventory of Juliana De Leyborne Countess of Huntyngdon
FROM THE SURRENDEN COLLECTION.
The Inventories of Executors and Administrators, from the Archives of the Ecclesiastical Courts, and those of attainted individuals, returned into the Court of Exchequer by the escheator, furnish us with evidence the most truthful of the wealth and power, the habits and modes of life of those whose personalties are therein recorded, often in minutest detail. We seem to be at once admitted behind the scenes, to witness all that passed there. "Sic sese ferebant" meets us at every turn, and, in many instances, much illustration, even of the very character of the party, is thereby revealed.
Many of us must have frequently experienced this, in rambling through the rooms where the furniture and chattels of one lately dead are exposed to sale, in the precise state in which they were standing at the moment of departure. It is always a melancholy spectacle, and ought to be an instructive one.
In this point of view, the early Inventories of contrariant and deceased magnates, on which we frequently stumble in our researches, possess the greatest interest; they throw light on the domestic habits of an age of which only the general public history is known, and that often but imperfectly. I have therefore thought
that it will not be unacceptable to our readers if, from time to time, I introduce them, by means of these Inventories, into the abodes of our early Kent magnates. I shall begin with two of very opposite characters,—the one that of a peaceful but powerful lady, the other that of a turbulent Baron. The latter, with its long catalogue of arms, the riding-gear of himself and lady, and the list of the prisoners in his dungeons, I shall defer to our second volume. At present I will admit our readers to the residence of the great Infanta of Kent, Juliana de Leyborne, Countess of Huntingdon, herself, by birth, the heiress of countless demesnes; and being by marriage the mother of one Earl (Pembroke), and the widow of another (Huntingdon), her wealth was unbounded. To her splendid and princely habits of living, in her tapestried halls at Preston, where she kept her state, the following Roll of her effects bears ample witness. Although it unfortunately does not furnish such minute detail as we often find in these Inventories, yet as evidencing the affluence and hospitality of our great Infanta, it claims an early admission to our volume.
The first membrane of the Roll is all that remains to us of this Inventory. Fortunately it is the portion which records the chattels in her house, and on many of her Kent manors. The remainder is lost. By the indorsement, "Rotls. exec.," "Inventar. Comitisse Hunt.," it is evident that this is the original Inventory delivered to the Ordinary by Juliana de Leyborne's executors, or the duplicate thereof retained by them;—lost, many ages since, from its proper depository, but afterwards happily secured by the research of the first Sir Edward Dering, for his collection at Surrenden. The portion which we have is in excellent preservation, written in the usual form of abbreviated Latin.
For the convenience of the general reader, I have rendered it into English, as literally as the use of modern terms will allow, supplying in foot-notes the original words where it seemed necessary to do so. It is as follows:-
Inventory of the Goods of the noble woman, LADY JULIANA DE LEYBORNE, late Countess of Huntyngdon, wherever they be in England, in the Province of Canterbury, on the day on which she died, viz. the first day of November, in the year of our Lord 1367.
| IN THE HOUSE AT PRESTON. | £ | s. | d. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wardrobe | In primis, in gold and silver, in ready money | 1241 | 6 | 8 |
| Item, divers vessels and jewels of gold and silver | 410 | 0 | 0 | |
| Item, 4 cloths of gold | 26 | 13 | 4 | |
| Item, 1 cloth of silver and 5 cloths of silk | 5 | 6 | 8 | |
| Total | 1683 | 6 | 11 | |
| The Chapel | Item, divers vestments, books, and other ornaments for my Lady's Chapel | 31 | 0 | 8 |
| The Chamber | Item, divers ornaments for my Lady's head | 10 | 8 | 0 |
| Item, divers my Lady's vestures, with fur, buttons, and other apparel, for my Lady's body | 37 | 5 | 4 | |
| Item, divers beds, with their furniture | 48 | 16 | 2 | |
| The Hall | Item, 1 dorser, of the work of "Befs de Hampton" | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Item, one dorser with a coster of the arms of Leyborne | 13 | 6 | 8 | |
| Item, one dorser, with a coster of tawny worsted | 0 | 16 | 0 | |
| Item, three bankers | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| Pantry, Buttery | Item, one pipe of red wine, value | 2 | 13 | 4 |
| Item, table cloths, towels, napkins, and other small things | 7 | 7 | 8 | |
| Kitchen, Larder | Item, 30 carcases of oxen for my Lady's larder | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| Item, 2 boars, and 200 hogs, for the same larder | 33 | 0 | 0 | |
| Item, 280 muttons and other sheep, for the same larder | 14 | 0 | 0 | |
| Item, 16 fat bucks, salted | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Item, salmon, melewell, stockfish, and other fish | 32 | 0 | 0 | |
| Item, brass and leaden vessels, with other iron utensils | 10 | 3 | 0 | |
| Bakery and Brewery | Item, corn and malt in the Bakery and Brewery, in gross value | 21 | 0 | 0 |
| Item, divers utensils in the Bakery and Brewery, value | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Horses | Item, one horse, value | 13 | 6 | 8 |
| Item, one horse, value | 10 | 0 | 0 | |
| Item, three horses, value | 10 | 0 | 0 | |
| Item, 10 horses, value | 20 | 0 | 0 | |
| Oats and Hay | Item, 100 quarters of oats for foddering the horses, value | 13 | 6 | 8 |
| Item, 100 loads of hay, value | 12 | 10 | 0 | |
| Utensils | Item, divers utensils and instruments in the Chamber, Hall, and Workshop, with chariots, and carts for the household, value | 10 | 0 | 7 |
| Sum | 379 | 5 | 9 | |
| Sum total of the house | 2062 | 12 | 8 | |
MANOR OF PRESTON.
| MANOR OF PRESTON | £ | s. | d. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preston | First, divers corn, as appears in the account of the servant there, value | 60 | 0 | 0 |
| Item, divers live stock, as appears in the same account, value | 74 | 0 | 0 | |
| Item, dead stock there, as appears in the same account, value | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Also in arrears of the servant there, on his last account | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 139 | 0 | 0 | |
The chattels on the other Kent manors are similarly given. The heads in each case being almost precisely the same, it will be beside our present purpose to detail them; it will suffice to give the value found in each manor, viz.:—
| Manor | £ | s. | d. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preston | 139 | 0 | 0 |
| Elmerston Overlond | 133 | 0 | 0 |
| Elham | 69 | 3 | 0 |
| Esshetesford | 50 | 0 | 0 |
| Gare | 106 | 0 | 0 |
| Slayhull | 56 | 6 | 2 |
| Mere | 19 | 4 | 10 |
| Eslyng | 63 | 0 | 10 |
| Beuriper | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Wodlyng | 43 | 19 | 8 |
| Leyborne | 83 | 11 | 6 |
| Wateringbury | 81 | 7 | 10 |
| Total of chattels in the Kent manors | 849 | 3 | 10 |
The remainder of the Roll, with the exception of one entry relating to manors in Norfolk, is wanting. The above manors of Preston, Elmerston, Overland, Elham, Ashford, Gare, Slayhull, Mere, Easling, Wodlyng, Leyborne, and Wateringbury, were all among those included in Juliana's feoffment, cited in note to page 4, supra.
Such was the opulence of our great Infanta, and such the lavish hospitality with which she supported her state. But "she shall carry nothing away with her when she dieth, neither shall her pomp follow her."
Even so, the Lady of Leyborne, owner, it seems, of more numerous domains, and wider far than any ever held by one lord within the bounds of Kent, since the days of Odo,1 is ready for her hour. The settlement of her estates has long been made. "The day is far spent," and, as the shadows of evening gather round, her worldly task is done.
Many of her manors she has already bestowed on religious houses; the rest of her paternal inheritance she conveyed to the King, five years since, reserving to herself no more than a life-interest therein; the fees of them all (if I have rightly interpreted the transaction) to be, at her death, divided among certain religious houses; and, of her boundless possessions, all that she can call her own, as she passes away, are the personalities in her house and on some of her farms. Just two days before her death, she bequeaths these also to pious and charitable uses.
"In the name of God. Amen.
On Saturday, the 30th day of October, in the year of our Lord, 1367, I, Juliana de Leyborne, Countess of Huntyngdon, make my testament after this manner:
Of sound mind. First, I bequeath my soul to God, and the blessed Virgin, and all His Saints; and my body to be buried in the Church of the Monastery of St. Augustine of Kent, in the new Chapel,2 on the south side of the Church. Item, I leave all my goods and chattels, moveable and immoveable, to the disposal of Sir Alexander Wayte, Canon of Wingham, Sir John Amublee, Rector of the Church of Harrietsham, and John de Middleton, appointing the same executors of this my testament, that they may dispose, for my soul, in rewards of my servants, and other works of charity, as to them may seem most expedient.
Item, I appoint the Lord Thomas, the Abbot of the Monastery of the aforesaid Church of St. Augustine's, supervisor of this my testament.
Done the day and year as above. In witness whereof, to this my testament my seal is appended."
Thus closes the scene on all this pomp and affluence; verily piety and charity had here their perfect work. With this noble lady passed away the baronial and illustrious name of De Leyborne. The palace at Preston soon degenerated into a mere monastic farm-house (a fate which is soon after shared by her old baronial castle of Leyborne), and not a trace now remains of the grandeur which, as our inventory evidences, must once have there existed.
L.B.L.
Endnotes
- It must be remembered that the domains of Averanches, Maminot, Crevecoeur, and the other lordships (eight in all), constituting the great Constabulary of Dover Castle, must always be exceptional cases in estimating the possessions of our ancient magnates. It is true that these were extensive and lordly domains, but they were very heavily burdened with the maintenance of Dover Castle and keeping ward there, for which specific purpose they were originally granted, and though conferring great power and high position upon their owners, it is very questionable whether they added to their wealth so largely as at first sight might be supposed.
- This chapel was of her own foundation.