This John being second son to King Edward the Second, was born[363] at
Eltham in Kent, upon the festival of the Blessed Virgin’s Assumption,
in anno 1316, the 9th of his father’s reign; and in 16 Edward II. had
a grant[364] in fee of the castle, manor, and honour of Tuttebury,
part of the possessions of Thomas Earl of Lancaster, then attainted.
Also in 1 Edw. III. another[365] in general tail of the manor of
Milham in com. Norfolk; and a third[366] in reversion after the death
of John de Britannia, Earl of Richmond, to himself and the heirs male
of his body, of the honour of Richmond, with all the castles, manors,
and lands belonging thereto; shortly after which, viz. in 2 Edw. III.
he was advanced[367] to the title of Earl of Cornwall in that
parliament which begun at Salisbury after the quindesme of St.
Michael. And in 3 Edw. III. the king, then going[368] into France to
do his homage for the dukedom of Aquitaine, was constituted[369] his
lieutenant here during his absence. In 4 Edw. III. he had another
grant[370] in tail general of twenty pounds per annum, by the title of
Earl of Cornwall, to be paid out of the issues of that county;
likewise of the manor of Hanlegh, and of the castle and manor of Eye,
with the hamlets of Dalingho, Alderton, Thorndon, and certain lands in
Clopton, in com. Suffolk; also of twenty pounds yearly rent, payable
by the Prior of Bromholme, in com. Norfolk, for the manor of Baketone;
of certain rents pertaining to the honour of Eye in com. Norfolk,
Suff. and Essex; of the guardianship of the castle of Eye, and of the
free court in Lincoln belonging thereto; of the castle, town, and
honour of Berkhamstead in com. Hertford; of the manor of Risberghe,
with the park and manor of Cippenham, in com. Bucks; of the castle,
town, and honour of Walingford in com. Berks, with its members; of the
honour of St. Walerie, in com. Oxon, and other counties; of the mills
at Oxford, with the meadow there called Kingsmede; of the manors of
Boudon and Haverbergh in com. Leicester; of the manor of Byflete in
com. Surrey; and of the town of Rokyngham in com. Northampton, all of
which were then valued[371] at two thousand per annum. Besides which,
he then also obtained a grant[371] of the hundreds of Hertsmere and
Stow in com. Suffolk, and of the yearly ferme of Queenhithe in the
city of London.
In 5 Edw. III. upon[372] the king’s expedition into Scotland, he was
again appointed[373] his lieutenant here during his absence. And in 7
Edw. III. had another grant[374] in tail general of the hundreds in
Cornwall; likewise of the town of Lestwithiel, with all the issues and
profits of that county, then belonging to the king, viz. of the ports,
wreck of sea, prizes, and customs, as also of the yearly ferme of the
city of Exeter, with the profits of the water of Sutton, in com.
Devon, and of the stannaries and coinage thereof in that county;
likewise of the river of Dertmouth, with the profits of the mines in
Cornwall, and of the town of Yvelchester in com. Somerset.
In 8 Edw. III. he obtained license[375] for to have a market every
week, upon the Thursday, at his manor of Wintringham in com. Lincoln,
as also for two fairs, one on the eve, day, and morrow of St. Philip
and St. James, and six days next ensuing; the other on the eve and day
of All Saints, and six days following; likewise for two fairs at
Kirketon, the same, one on the eve and day of the translation of St.
Thomas the Martyr, and six days after; the other on the eve and day of
St. Andrew the Apostle, and six days ensuing; and in 9 Edw. III.
was[376] in that expedition then made into Scotland; so likewise in 10
Edw. III. at which time the king having intelligence that the French
had promised to aid the Scots, he marched[377] himself into that realm
with a great army, and fortified the castle of Stryvelyn, with a great
ditch, as also the town of St. Johnston’s, at which place this John
Earl of Cornwall, then[378] also being and falling sick, departed[378]
this life without wife or issue, and was afterwards honourably buried
in St. Edmund’s chapel, within the abbey church of Westminster, where
his monument still remaineth.
* * * * *
A list of those individuals who have held the Lands and the
Patronage of the ancient Princes of Cornwall, with the Nominal
Office of Duke, since the settlement made by King Edward the Third.
1. EDWARD PLANTAGENET, the Black Prince, created by Charter,
confirmed in Parliament, A. D. 1337, with this clause:
Habend. et tenend. eidem Duci et ipsius ac heredum suor. Regum Angl.
_Filiis primogenitis_, et Ducib. dicti loci in Regno Angl. hereditarie
successur.
Which has been thus translated:
To have and to hold to the same Duke, and to the first begotten sons
of him, and of his heirs, _Kings of England_, and to the Dukes of the
said place in the Kingdom of England, hereditarily to succeed. (See
Lord Dunstanville’s Edition of Carew, pp. 433-441.)
2. RICHARD PLANTAGENET, afterwards King Richard the Second, in
opposition, as it would seem, to the words of the grant, as his
father had never been King of England.
3. HENRY PLANTAGENET, son and heir of King Henry the Fourth,
afterwards King Henry the Fifth.
4. EDWARD PLANTAGENET, son and heir of King Henry the Sixth,
murdered in 1471.
5. EDWARD PLANTAGENET, son and heir of King Edward the Fourth,
nominally King in 1483, but murdered the same year.