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184 WINDSOR. NARFORD(*) and who appears to have been, as early as 1366, the mistress of Edward III., over whom, till the day of his death, she exercised unbounded influence, receiving large gifts from him, and being twice censured by Parl. for her interference with justice. Her parentage is uncertain, she was very possibly related to Sir Richard PERRERS, Sheriff for Horts and Essex, temp. Ed. II. and Ed. III. (b) She was "domicella Camerie Regina," before Oct. 1366, a position which plainly implies that she was of good birth, tho' she is sometimes expressly stated to be otherwise. In 1875, attired as "the Lady of the Sun,” she rode thro' London to the tournament at Smithfield and on 20 May 1376, "apparel for the Countess of Bedford [da. of the King] and for Alice Perrers" was ordered by privy seal for a like occasion. (°) Lord Wyndesore d. ap., or s.p. legit., at Heversham, co. Westmorland in the diocese of Chester, 15 Sep. 1384, when the Barony became extinct. (d) Nunc. will dat, at Heversham, 15 Sep. and pr. 12 Oct. 1384. widow, after a series of lawsuits with her husband's relatives, d. at Upaninster, co. Essex, in 1400. Will dat. 15 Aug. 1400, pr. 8 Feb. 1400/1. His having become "the mistress of Ed. III. in the lifetime of Queen Philippa," it being added that other writers "as well as the hostile St. Albans' chronicler "refer to her as such, and that "tho' the charges of avarice and intrigue may be exaggerated it is impossible to doubt the substantial accuracy of the story." (n) She was a "femme sule" in 1371and 1374, but this, presumably, could be equally well said of her as a spinster or as a widow. It is certain that she had two daughters mentioned in her will (who were probably children of Sir Thomas de Narford) and it is equally certain that neither was a child of William de Wyndesore. (b) See note "d‚” p.. 188. (c) Beltz's Order of the Garter, p. 10. one. (d) According to five inquisitions taken at his death, his coheirs were his three sisters, (1) Isabella, then aged 60, or 38, and then unm. (2) Christiana, m. Sir Willian de Morers, of Elvington, co. York, and then aged 55, or 38, and (3) Margery, m. John Duket, and then aged 50, or 34. Of these inquisitions, those in Dorset, Essex and Middz., give the greater age, while those in Berks and Wilts give the lesser This coheirship, however, is complicated by the Baron's will, in which he speaks of Robert, Roger, William, Elias and Poter, "sons of my brother [Qy., if br. of the whole blood] John de Wyndesore, deceased,” which John appears to have had also an eldest son John, sometimes called heir to testator and mentioned in will of his relict, sco below. This lastnamed John was, for a short time, of Manorbeer and Penally, co, Pembroke,* and was bur, in Westminster Abbey, 7 April 1114, having himself a sou, John. Courthope states in his text (tho' on what ground is unknown) that this Barony is in abeyance among the descendants of the three sisters [sic] of the grantee (an anoma lous devolution of a Barony in fee, tho,' doubtless, correct enough as to the estates) altering the, apparently, more rational statement in "Nicolas" that in 1384 it "is presumed to have become extinct. He appends the following note (slightly altered from one in " Nicolus") to the word “ 'abeyance," viz. :—“The statement in the text [that the three sisters were the coheirs] rests on the authority of several Inquisitions taken 8 Ric. II. ; but Dugdale, in his Warwickshire, p. 481 (cited in Bunks Stemmata Anylicana), states, that he left his daughters his heirs, of whom

• Joane, the eldest, married Skerne. Alice, widow of Lord Wyndsore, in her testament

dated in 1400, speaks of three daughters, Joane, Jane, and another Joane: to the latter (whom she describes as her youngest daughter) she gives her manor of Gaines in Upminster, and bequeaths to her two other daughters all her manors, &c., which Johu do Wyndesore, or others by his consent, had usurped, and orders her executors to recover them; for, she emphatically adds: 'I may on the pain of my soul he hath no right there, nor never had.' It is probable, therefore, that he left illegitimate issue, born before his marriage with the said Alice."

• William de Wyndesore had a grant of Manorbeer Castle from the King, to the

succession whereof the said John de Wyndesore got a confirmation, which was subsequently cancelled on the score of misrepresentation. This certainly points tu illegitimacy, and in his M.I., he is not spoken of as heir at law to his uncle, William, the words being "constitit, hæredem avunculus iste." See this matter fully discussed in an exhaustive account of "Manorbear Castle and its Early Owners," by Sir G. F. Duckett, Bart., in the Archæologia Cambrensis.