Individual
Go to List of Family Names Go to List of People < Previous Next >
PANTULF Hugh
Birth: ABT 1133 Wemme, Shropshire, England
Death: 1224
Notes
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I05449
ID: I05449 Hugh Pantulf , Lord of Wemme
Keats-Rohan [Domesday People p.860] says that by his first wife William had a
daughter Christiana, the wife of Hugh Pantulf of Wem, d.1224 [Cart Shrewsbury, 297].
Hugh is mentioned on p.1059 as the son and successor of Ivo Pantulf, who
succeeded his father c.1137/38 and died in 1175. [Ref: Chris Phillips 22 May 2002
msg to SGM]
*****
I now come to Hugh, Brother of Ivo. In 24 Hen. 2. this Hugh Pantulfe was amersed for
trespassing in the Kings Forest in Northamptonshire. And in 26 He. 2. being
constituted Sheriff of Shropshire, continued in that trust till 1 Ric. 1. inclusive. In 6
Ric. 1. upon collection of the Scutage for the Kings redemption, he paid forty shillings
for his Knights Fees in Staffordshire.
Having the Title of a Baron, he left issue William his Son and Heir... [Ref: Dugdale,
_Baronage_, v. i, p. 434]
*****
PANTULF, HUGH (d. 1224?), sheriff of Shropshire, was a son of Ivo, grandson of
Wilhiam Pantulf or Pantolium. He first appears as a witness to a charter at
Shrewsbury, 1175-6 (Eyton, _Shropshire_, viii. 154), and in 1178 was amerced for a
trespass on the king's forest in Northamptonshire (Dugdale, _Baronage, i. 434). After
Michaelmas 1179 he was made sheriff, and remained in office till Michaelmas 1189
(Eyton, ix. 165). In 1186 he witnessed a charter at Feckenham (Eyton, _Court and
Itinerary_, p. 270), and towards the close of that year acted as justiciar in the
Staffordshire circuit, and sat at Lichfield. In 1187 his tour extended through
Staffordshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and pleas and conventions
were held and tallages assessed by him (_ib._ p. 281). In 1188 he was at Geddington,
Northamptoushire, with the king, and in February 1189 (_ib._ p. 298) a fine was levied
in the Curia Regis at Shrewsbury before Hugh. Again in that year he held pleas in
Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, and Staffordshire. In 1190 he was in the
king's court at Westminster (Eyton, vii. 12). He received lands in Herefordshire from
Richard I (_Testa Nevill_, p. 56). In 1204 he was the king's messenger, with a safe-
conduct to Gwenwynwyn, prince of Powis (_Rot. Pat._ p. 45), and in 1206 he was at
John's court at Nottingham. He was charged with waste and neglect in the stores of
the royal castles during his sheriffdom, and made to pay part of the deficiency on the
sheriff's ferm, amounting to 360_1_. 1s. 10d.; of this he was excused 200_1_. (Eyton,
iii. 68). His name appears on the scutage rolls of 1194-7. In the 'Testa de Nevill' (p.
54-5) he is stated to have held by barony. He died before December 1224. He married
Christiaua [sic], daughter of William Fitzalan, and received as her dowry Badminton in
Herefordshire, which he granted to Lilleshall Abbey in 1215-18. He had five sons-
William, Ivo, Alan, Hugh, and one R., prebendary of Bridgnorth.
[Authorities cited] M. B.* [Ref: DNB, Editor, Sidney Lee, MacMillan Co, London &
Smith, Elder & Co., NY, 1909, vol. xv, pp. 186]
* Miss Bateson, author of this article.
*****
Hugh Pantulf, unlike his father, was a very and highly visible baron of Wem. To a
large extent, Hugh's importance appears to be tied to the fact that in 1170 he married
Christiana Fitz Alan, the daughter of William Fitz Alan I (who was probably the most
powerful baron in Shropshire before his death in 1160).[35] It seems fairly certain that
it was Hugh's connection with the Fitz Alans which allowed him to be sheriff of
Shropshire from 1170 to 1189,[36] for in the twelfth century the shrievalty of
Shropshire was a semihereditary preserve of the Fitz Alans, and it would appear that
Hugh Pantulf was given the position until the Fitz Alan heir, William II, was old enough
to take over the responsibility.[37]
Regardless of one's view of the role of sheriffs in the twelfth century, Hugh Pantulf
was almost certainly a disastrously bad sheriff. If one sees the sheriff as a royal agent
- the king's administrator and "tax" collector in the county - then Hugh was an almost
unbelievably inept sheriff. For some twenty years after Hugh turned over the shrievalty
to William Fitz Alan II in 1189, the Pipe Rolls are full of entries in which the clerks of
the Exchequer are trying to straighten out the bureaucratic chaos which Hugh left
behind him.[38] Succeeding sheriffs complain bitterly of the condition in which Hugh
left the royal manors,[39] and as late as 1220 a man named John paid twenty marks to
have an inquest to prove that his father, Alan, had turned over two hunting horses to
Hugh Pantulf while he was sheriff and that Hugh failed to record this payment.[40]
However, even if one views the medieval sheriff not as a royal official but rather as a
man who used his position to increase his wealth at the expense of his neighbors and
the crown, then Hugh still appears to have been an absurdly incompetent sheriff.
Although the Pipe Rolls speak of "deficiencies" in the royal manors of Shropshire, it is
clear that Hugh either stole or allowed to be stolen much of the livestock and
occasionally the furnishings of a great number of manors under his theoretical control.
As late as 1202, for example, the manor of _Werefeld_ (Worfield) was still missing six
ox teams, six hundred sheep, thirty-two bee stalls, thirty sows, and twenty-four cows,
which amounted to an annual loss of £16 6s.[41]
The Pipes make it clear that even when judged by the subsequent sheriffs of
Shropshire, the pillaging of the royal manors under Hugh's control was extraordinary.
What is not so certain is just where all the missing livestock and other property went.
Ordinarily, one might assume that Hugh had simply been more rapacious than many
contemporary sheriffs, but the records after 1189 make this conclusion most
improbable. In 1209 Hugh was fined £360 1s. 10d. for depleting the stock on royal
manors while he was sheriff,[42] but in spite of its specificity, the sum can hardly
represent the total cost to the crown of Hugh's depletions; for between 1189 and
1202, the annual losses at Worfield alone were £16 6s., or £211 18s. for this thirteen
year period, and Worfield was only one of a number of manors which were depleted
during Hugh's stewardship. Even if the £360 1s. 10d. only represents the replacement
costs of Hugh's depletions, his tenure as sheriff hardly rebounds to his credit. It is
therefore somewhat surprising that the same entry in the Pipe Rolls states that King
John pardoned Hugh £240 of the fine, that Hugh did pay £100, and that he still owed
£20 1s. 10d. Moreover, it would appear that Hugh's £100 fine represents the total
amount of compensation Hugh made for his depletions of the royal manors, for at the
end of 1212 he still owed the remaining £20 1s. 10d.;[43] and as far as I can tell, he
never paid this remaining portion of the fine. It is possible that King John waived the
greater portion of Hugh's fine in return for Hugh's support in the last years of his reign,
but the apparent poverty of Hugh's son suggests that Hugh simply may have been
unable to pay more than £100.
In spite of Hugh's remarkable behavior as sheriff, it would seem that he was on good
terms with his kings both before and after 1190. He was with Henry II at Shrewsbury in
July 1175 when he witnessed Henry's charter in favor of Shrewsbury Abbey,[44] and
sometime between 1175 and 1186, Henry gave him the manor of Stanford
(Herefordshire) for the nominal fee of one hound ("_brachettus_") per year.[45] In July
1186, Hugh was with the king at Feckenham (Worcestershire), where he witnessed a
grant to Haughmond Abbey,[46] and he was again with Henry on 14 July 1188 at
Geddington (Northamptonshire).[47]
Following the death of Henry II, Hugh seems to have spent several months with King
Richard. On 27 September 1189 Hugh was at _Broud_ (near Warwick), where he
witnessed Richard's charter in favor of Robert, son of Maurice de Berkeley,[48] and
on 11 November he witnessed Richard's charter to the citizens of Shrewsbury at
Westminster.[49] Hugh was still with the king on 6 December at Dover, where he
witnessed another of the king's charters,[50] and it seems likely that it was at this time
that Richard added to the grant of Stanford which Henry II gave Hugh.[51] It has
been suggested that Hugh then accompanied Richard to Acre,[52] but since he paid a
fine for Robert Corbet at Michaelmas, 1190, that is hardly possible. After Richard's
release from captivity, Hugh once again appeared at Richard's court, for Hugh was
with Richard at Portsmouth on 25 April 1194, where he witnessed a charter to Thomas
Basset.[53] This seems to have been Hugh Pantulf's last contact with Richard,
probably because Richard spent the remainder of his reign on the Continent, but Hugh
continued to have dealings with Richard's successor.
In 1202 King John twice exused Hugh Pantulf from paying the scutage he owed for
that year.[54] Two years later the king was trying to arrange a truce with Llewellyn,
and on 16 March 1204 John wrote to Llewellyn to inform him that the bishops of
Bangor and Saint Asaph (Wales), William Fitz Alan, John le Strange, and Hugh Pantulf
were to see that Llewellyn had safe conduct to come to England for consultations with
John.[55] Later that year Hugh Pantulf was again chosen for escort duty; on 10
August John informed Gwynwynwyn, prince of Powis, that Hugh Pantulf and Robert
Corbet had been assigned to serve as his escort to ensure his safety.[56] It would
seem that John placed a high value on Hugh's services, for on 9 January 1205 the
king, apparently at Hugh's request, gave a manor worth twenty pounds a year
(Stottesden in Shropshire) to two of Hugh's younger sons Ivo and Hugh.[57] In the
following year Hugh was again excused a debt through a royal writ,[58] and he
witnessed one of John's charters.[59] On 7 October 1208 Hugh Pantulf was at
Shrewsbury, where he witnessed the treaty between Gwynwynwyn (who was Hugh's
granddaughter's husband as well as the prince of Powis) and King John,[60] but after
this date the references to Hugh decrease significantly.[61]
A royal gift to Hugh Pantulf suggests that Hugh was one of John's supporters in the
Magna Carter crisis,[62] and this supposition seems to be confirmed by the absence of
any records in the following years referring to confiscations or escheats of Pantulf
lands. There is an entry in the Patent Rolls dated 20 December 1215 which states that
a number of knights in the castle of _Beauveer_ (Belvoir, Leicestershire), including a
"William Pantulf," have made their peace with the king,[63] but this William Pantulf
was probably not the son of the baron of Wem. Hugh Pantulf's eldest son was named
William, and through his mother, Christiana Fitz Alan, he held land in Leicestershire;
but since no lands of the Pantulfs of Wem escheated during this period, I think it
probable that the William Pantulf in question was a member of the cadet line of
Pantulfs who held substantial lands in Leicestershire. This absence of escheats also
leads me to suspect that the William Pantulf who was captured by the king's men in
the castle of Eractergus (Carrickfergus, Ireland) may not have been the son of Hugh
Pantulf,[64] although Hugh's son was certainly in Ireland in 1210, and so it is at least
possible that Hugh's son, like Robert Corbet's son, did rebel.
Because Hugh Pantulf must have been at least eighty-five years old at the time of the
Magna Carta, it is hardly surprising that he rarely appears in the records of the ensuing
years. Hugh survived at least two of his sons, one of whom, known only as "_R. filius
Hugh Pantulf_," was a prebendary of the church of Eardington in Shropshire,[66] the
second son, Alan apparently died early in 1218, for in March of that year the sheriff of
Shropshire was ordered to give Hugh Pantulf full seisin of the land and heirs of Alan
Pantulf, which pertained to Hugh because of the fief which Alan held of him.[67] But
while much of the Pantulf family's affairs seem to have been managed by two of Hugh
Pantulf's sons (William and Hugh) in the years after Magna Carta, Hugh Senior, was
apparently still active at a time when he must have been in his mid-nineties, for in the
Michaelmas Term of King's Bench in 1223, Hugh came to court in person to defend his
right to the manor of Stanford which was first given to him by Henry II.[68] This
remarkably long-lived baron finally died in 1224, for in December of that year his
eldest son, William Pantulf, did homage for the lands of his father and fined £100 for
his relief.[69]
To judge by the number of charters which bear his name, Hugh Pantulf was a popular
witness not only with kings but also with his relatives and neighbors. Hugh witnessed
at least six charters of his lords and in-laws, the Fitz Alans, four of these together with
his son-in-law, Robert Corbet.[70] In addition, Hugh and William Fitz Alan jointly
witnessed another nine charters, two of them together with Robert Corbet.[71] Hugh
also witnessed two charters of Robert Corbet,[72] and another seven charters of his
vassals and neighbors.[73]
In addition to witnessing the donations of others, Hugh Pantulf made several
donations of his own. About 1215 Hugh gave the monks of Lilleshall Abbey the
advocacy of his church at Badminton,[74] and at approximately the same time he gave
shrewsbury Abbey the site of a mill below his manor of Sutton.[75] Shortly before his
death, Hugh recognized the rights of Shrewsbury Abbey to a pond and the land
surrounding it which was a part of his manor of Wem, but it would appear that this
pond was a somewhat reluctant gift on Hugh's part, for the abbot of Shrewsbury had
to sue Hugh before he would acknowledge the abbot's rights.[76] At about the same
time, however, Hugh made what seems to have been a voluntary donation of all the
land and buildings which belonged to this fief in the cornmarket of Shrewsbury to the
monks of Haughmond Abbey.[77]
[35] Eyton, _Antiquities_, 9:164. This marriage was almost certainly Hugh Pantulf's
second marriage. Hugh's father, Ivo, was clearly an old man when he died, since he
was an adult in 1130 when he succeeded his father, Robert Pantulf. Moreover, Hugh
Pantulf was the eldest of at least five sons and so was probably at least forty years
old when he married Christiana, for Hugh's fourth brother, William was an adult in the
1150's. I think it is certain that Hugh's daughter, Emma, who was the wife of Robert
Corbet, was his daughter by his first wife; for Emma's son, Thomas Corbet was born
before 1177, and so Emma could hardly be the result of a marriage which took place
in 1170. However, it is also reasonably certain that Hugh Pantulf had no sons by his
first wife, for if he had any living male heirs in 1170, it is most unlikely that he could
have married a Fitz Alan heiress. No woman of Christiana's station would have been
given in marriage to a man who already had heirs to succeed him, and it is clear that
the William Pantulf who succeeded Hugh was Christiana's son.
[36] Hugh appears as sheriff of Shropshire in the Pipe Rolls from 1180 to 1190, which
indicates that he was sheriff between 1179 and 1189, for the Pipes enroll the records
for the previous year.
[37] Eyton, _Antiquities_, 9:164-65.
[38] See Shropshire entires in Pipe Rolls, _1 Richard I_ to _12 John_.
[39] See Pipe Rolls, especially _3 John_ through _8 John_.
[40] Public Record Office, MS E 368/3/14r.
[41] Pipe Rolls, _4 John_, p47.
[42] Eyton, _Antiquities_, 3:67-68.
[43] Pipe Roll, _14 John_, p. 62. The fact that Hugh was pardoned most of his fine
does not prove that he was not the culprit, but it seems unlikely that he would have
been pardoned if he had benefited from these depletions.
[44] Eyton, _Antiquities_, 8:153-54.
[45] Public Record Office, _The Book of Fees_, 1:100.
[46] Shrewsbury Public Library, Phillipps MS 11224 (Haughmond Cartulary), fol. 31; R.
W. Eyton, _Court, Household and Itinerary of King Henry II_, p270.
[47] Eyton, _Court of King Henry II_, p. 287.
[48] Pipe Roll, _Itinerary of Richard I_, p. 9.
[49] Ibid., p. 13.
[50] Pipe Roll, _Cartae Antiquae Rolls 11-20_ p. 127.
[51] Public Record Office, _The Book of Fees_, 1:147.
[52] Eyton, _Antiquities_, 9:165. Eyton seems to base his belief on the fact that Hugh
was on good terms with Richard and attended his court in January 1190, but I think
that the fine referred to indicates that it was Robert Corbet, not Hugh Pantulf (who
must have been around sixty years old in 1190), who went with Richard to Palestine.
[53] Pipe Roll, _Itinerary of Richard I_, p. 91.
[54] Pipe Roll, _4 John_, pp. 44, 184.
[55] _Rot. Pat., p. 39.
[56] Ibid., p. 45.
[57] _Rot. Claus._, 1:17.
[58] Pipe Roll, _8 John_, p. 111.
[59] Record Commission, _Rotuli Chartarum in Tuyrri Londinensi Asservati, A. D. 1199
-1216_, p. 162b.
[60] Record Commission, _Foedera, Conventiones, Litterae, &c.; or, Rymer's Foedera,
A.D. 1066-1383_ 1:101.
[61] Hugh's reduced activity in the years after 1208 is almost surely to be explained by
the fact that Hugh must have been in his late seventies at the time.
[62] _Rot. Claus._, 1:190.
[63] _Rot. Pat., p. 162.
[64] Public Record Office, MSS E 372/62/1r.; E 372/63/1r.
[65] Eyton, _Antiquities_, 9:167.
[66] _Rot. Pat., p. 35.
[67] _Rot. Claus._, 1:356.
[68] Public Record Office, _Curia Regis Rolls_, 11:199-200.
[69] _Rot. Fin._, 1:123. Although Hugh Pantulf's age at his death is certainly
remarkable, it is not as extraordinary as it might seem at first glance. Despite such
things as the high infant mortality rates and the unsanitary conditions of the period,
some people did live very long lives. As I have already shown, Thomas Corbet was at
least ninety-eight years old when he died, and as I shall demonstrate in the next
chapter, Fulk Fitz Warin III was surely in his eighties and probably in his nineties at his
death.
[70] The four Pantulf / Corbet charters are Shrewsbury Public Library, Phillipps MS
11224 (Haughmond Cartulary), fol. 55 and Catulary of Saint Peter's of Shrewsbury
(National Library of Wales MS 7851D [Phillipps MS 3516] nos. 301, 305, 368. Hugh
Pantulf also witnessed Shrewsbury Public Library no. 369 and National Library of
Wales, Pitchford Hall Doc. no. 2456.
[71] The two Pantulf/Fitz Alan/Corbet charters are _Staffordshire Record Society_,
2:270-71 and Shropshire County Record Office, 1898/1 (Kenyon-Slaney Deeds). The
seven Pantulf / Fitz Alan deeds are Shropshire County Record Office, Acton Reynald
Deed no. 7 and Shrewsbury Public Library, Phillipps, MS 11224 (Haughtmond
Cartulary), fols. 34, 63, 114, 134, 210, 228.
[72] Ibid., fol. 211; Catulary of Saint Peter's of Shrewsbury (National Library of Wales
MS 7851D [Phillipps MS 3516], no. 291.
[73] British Library, Egerton MS 3712 (Wombridge Cartulary), fol. 75. Shrewsbury
Public Library, Phillipps MS 11224 (Haughtmond Cartulary), fols. 34, 40; Shropshire
County Record Office, 972/box 223/Beriton bundle (2 charters); Shropshire County
Record Office, 52/94; Shropshire County Record Office, 465/1. Hugh's popularity as a
witness was apparently the result of his frequent travels. Unlike the Corbets and Fitz
Warins, Hugh seems to have spent very little time at home.
[74] British Library, MS add. 50121 (Lilleshall Cartulary), fol 54.
[75] Shrewsbury Public Library, Deed 6062 (original); Catulary of Saint Peter's of
Shrewsbury (National Library of Wales MS 7851D [Phillipps MS 3516], no. 297.
[76] Catulary of Saint Peter's of Shrewsbury (National Library of Wales MS 7851D
[Phillipps MS 3516], no. 400.
[77] Shrewsbury Public Library, Phillipps MS 11224 (Haughtmond Cartulary), fols. 181
-82 [Ref: Barons of the Welsh Frontier p28-31 (footnotes p169-171]
Regards,
Curt
RootsWeb is funded and supported by Ancestry.com
Parents
PANTULF Ivo (BEF 1114 - 1175)
----- ----- ()
Siblings
PANTULF Hugh (ABT 1133 - 1224)
Marriage To FITZ ALAN Christiana (ABT 1142 - )
m.
Notes
Parents
FITZ ALAN William (ABT 1105 - 1160)
OF GLOUCESTER Christiana (ABT 1118 - )
Children by FITZ ALAN Christiana ABT 1142 -
PANTULF Emma (ABT 1162 - )
Produced by Fzip 1.7 6/20/2017