William de Cantilupe, 1st Baron Cantilupe

William de Cantilupe, 1st Baron Cantilupe[4] (1262-1308) of Greasley Castle in Nottinghamshire and of Ravensthorpe Castle in the parish of Boltby, North Yorkshire, was created Baron Cantilupe in 1299 by King Edward I. He was one of the magnates who signed and sealed the Barons' Letter of 1301 to the pope and was present at the Siege of Caerlaverock Castle in Scotland in 1300, when his armorials were blazoned in Norman-French verse in the Caerlaverock Roll.

Arms of Cantilupe of Greasley Castle, Nottinghamshire: Gules, a fess vair between three fleurs-de-lys or (this image as visible on the 1355 Cantilupe Chantry, Lincoln Cathedral), often stated to be three leopard's faces jessant-de-lys;[1] the fess being a difference of the arms of the senior line, feudal barons of Eaton Bray
Seal of William de Cantilupe, 1st Baron Cantilupe (1262-1308),[2] of Greasley, used to seal the Barons' Letter of 1301 to the pope[3]

Origins
Recumbent effigy and chest tomb of Sir Nicholas de Cantilupe (d.1266), father of William de Cantilupe, 1st Baron Cantilupe; St Mary's Church, Ilkeston, Derbyshire

He was born in 1262 at Lenton Priory[5] in Nottinghamshire (to which his maternal ancestors the de Greasley family had been benefactors), the son and heir of Sir Nicholas de Cantilupe (d.1266) of Withcall (an ancient Cantilupe possession[6]) in Lincolnshire, Greasley in Nottinghamshire and Ilkeston in Derbyshire, by his wife Eustachia FitzHugh, daughter and heiress of Ralph FitzHugh of Greasley[7] (whose mother was Agnes de Greasley, heiress of Greasley and Ilkeston) and of Middle Claydon in Buckinghamshire. William's father died when he was aged four and was buried in St Mary's Church, Ilkeston where survives his recumbent effigy and chest tomb, showing him as a "lively" cross-legged warrior, often said to be a depiction reserved for crusaders.[8] He displays the arms of Cantilupe of Greasley sculpted on his shield. Within two years his mother remarried,[9] to William de Ros (1254-1310) of Ingmanthorpe in Yorkshire[10] (uncle of William Ros, 1st Baron Ros (d.1316) who married the heiress of Belvoir Castle[11]) by whom she had further issue.[12]

William's father (Sir Nicholas de Cantilupe (d.1266)) was the 5th and youngest son of William II de Cantilupe (d.1251), 2nd feudal baron of Eaton Bray[13] in Bedfordshire, steward of the household to King Henry III (whose own father William I de Cantilupe (died 1239) had been steward of the household to King John, father of Henry III). Sir Nicholas's uncle was Walter de Cantilupe (1195-1266), Bishop of Worcester and his elder brother was Thomas de Cantilupe (1220-1282), Chancellor of England, Bishop of Hereford, who was canonised as a saint in 1320. The senior line died out in the male line in 1273 on the death of his first cousin, 22 year-old Sir George de Cantilupe (1251-1273), 4th feudal baron of Eaton Bray, Lord of Abergavenny, who had inherited vast Welsh estates from his mother Eva de Briouze.

Career

In May 1274 at the age of 12 he accompanied his uncle Thomas de Cantilupe, who would be appointed Bishop of Hereford the following year, to the Second Council of Lyons.[14] On 29 December 1299 he was summoned by writ of King Edward I addressed to Willelmo de Canti Lupo or Cauntelo, by which he was created Baron Cantilupe (properly Cauntelo),[15] a title in the peerage of England. He signed and sealed the Barons' Letter of 1301 to the pope (as Dominus de Ravensthorpe, "lord (of the manor) of Ravensthorpe").

Caerlaverock Roll
Modern transcript of the blazon in Norman-French of the arms of William de Cantilupe, 1st Baron Cantilupe (1262-1308), Caerlaverock Roll, 1300, with reconstructed image of the arms so described, with three leopard's faces jessant-de-lys
The 1st Baron's arms as blazoned in the Caerlaverock Roll (1300): Gules, three leopard's faces jessant-de-lys or

He was present at the Siege of Caerlaverock Castle in Scotland in 1300, when his armorials, a version of the arms of the senior line differenced by a fess vair (as seen on his surviving 1301 seal), were blazoned in Norman-French verse in the Caerlaverock Roll as follows:

E Guillemes de Cantelo,
Ke je par ceste raison lo,
Ke en honneur a tous tens vescu
Fesse vaire ot el rouge escu
De trois flours de lis de or espars
Naissans de testes de lupars.

Translated by Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas as: "And William de Cantilupe, whom I for this reason praise, that he has at all times lived in honour. He had on a red shield a fess vair, with three fleurs-de-lys of bright gold issuing from leopard's heads".[16]

Marriages and children

He married twice:

  • Firstly at some time before 1285 he married Maud d'Arches, daughter and heiress of Osbert d'Arches of Aston and Kereby, Yorkshire, and of Somerby in Lincolnshire and of Normanton in Nottinghamshire. Died childless.
  • Secondly in 1292 he married Eve de Boltby, daughter and co-heiress of Adam de Boltby of Boltby and Ravensthorpe in Yorkshire and of Langley in Northumberland, and widow successively of Alan de Walkingham (d.1283) of Cowthorpe, Yorkshire (by whom she had male issue William Walkingham of Boltby and Ravensthorpe, who died childless, when Nicholas de Cantilupe, 3rd Baron Cantilupe (c.1301-1355) obtained possession of those manors[17]) and secondly of Richard Knout/Knut (d.1291). Eve de Boltby is believed to be represented by the recumbent stone female effigy in Felixkirk Church, near Ravensthorpe.[18] By Eve he had issue:
    • William de Cantilupe, 2nd Baron Cantilupe (1293-c.1321), eldest son and heir who died unmarried, having at the age of 20 refused an arranged match claiming he was too young and that he "desires no woman for his wife". He played a role in the 1312 murder of Piers Gaveston, favourite of King Edward II. In 1313 he begged that king on his knees for forgiveness and in 1321 he relinquished all his estates in favour of his younger brother.
    • Nicholas de Cantilupe, 3rd Baron Cantilupe (c.1301-1355), younger son and heir of his brother.

Death

He died in 1308. It has been suggested[19] that the (heavily restored) recumbent stone effigy of a knight in Felixkirk Church, near Ravensthorpe, is his monument, although others believe it to represent John de Walkyngham (d.1284)[20]

Sources
  • GEC Complete Peerage, vol.3, pp. 111–116
  • Sanders, I.J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086–1327, Oxford, 1960, pp. 39–40
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References
  1. GEC Complete Peerage, vol.3, p.111, note c), of the leopard's faces little physical evidence exists apart from the verse blazon in the Caerlaverock Roll (1300). The seal of the 1st Baron (d.1308) appended to the Barons' Letter, 1301, shows no leopard's faces nor does the sculpted shield of the 3rd Baron (d.1355) on the Cantilupe Chantry by Lincoln Cathedral, which does show an over-sized boss on the fleurs-de-lys, on which possibly any relief detail has worn away
  2. GEC Complete Peerage, vol.3, pp.111-2
  3. National Archives 1301.
  4. The name has numerous variations in spelling (Canteloupe, Cauntiloue, Cauntelou, Cantiloue, Cauntilieu, Cantelo, Canteloo, Cantelowe, Cantlow, etc.) with a Latinized form de Cantilupo. The oft-quoted translation of the Latinized form as "from the song of the wolf" would be de cantu lupi and "from the singing wolf" would be de cantanti lupo, of which de canti lupo might be an abbreviation. However it appears from the early pre-heraldic seals of the family that some play was made on the Latin noun Lupus, "wolf" (see M Julian-Jones, Thesis on de Cantilupe and Corbet families, 2015, Online Research @Cardiff (ORCA), Cardiff University ) The standard spelling used by modern historians is "Cantilupe".
  5. His place of birth is recorded as a result of a proof of age inquiry made on the attainment of his majority (21) as King Edward I, who held his wardship, disputed that he was entitled to exit wardship
  6. Held by William I de Cantilupe (d.1239) and then by his son William II, father of Nicholas of Greasley (see: Henrietta Kaye, Serving the man that ruled: aspects of the domestic arrangements of the household of King John, 1199-1216, p.98, (A thesis submitted in September 2013 to the School of History at the University of East Anglia in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy)
  7. GEC Complete Peerage, p.111
  8. Re: Ilkeston, in Daniel Lysons and Samuel Lysons, 'Parishes: Ilkeston - Lullington', in Magna Britannia: Volume 5, Derbyshire (London, 1817), pp. 192-202
  9. Eustachia remarried at some time before 1268 and without royal licence
  10. GEC Complete Peerage, p.111, note e
  11. GEC Complete Peerage, vol.XI, pp.95-7;117-18
  12. Her son was Sir William de Ros, none of her de Ros descendants were ever summoned to Parliament (i.e. were not created peers) (GEC, XI, p.119
  13. Sanders, I.J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327, Oxford, 1960, pp.39-40
  14. Finucane, R.C., biography of Thomas de Cantilupe published in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]
  15. GEC, p.111-12
  16. Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas, The Siege of Carlaverock, London, 1828, p.40
  17. Partington, Richard, biography of Nicholas de Cantilupe, 3rd Baron Cantilupe (c.1301-1355), published in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  18. https://www.ilkestonhistory.org.uk/history/briefhistories/lordsofthemanor/lordsofthemanor.htm
  19. See image and caption
  20. http://www.medievalcombatsociety.org.uk/index.php/research/armour-in-effigy/armour-effigies

Further reading
  • M Julian-Jones, Thesis on de Cantilupe and Corbet families, 2015, Online Research @Cardiff (ORCA), Cardiff University
  • Frederik Pedersen (Senior Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen), 2012 YouTube video discussing the termination of the Cantilupe family and the family in general
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