The Battle Abbey Roll. Vol. III.
by
The Duchess of Cleveland.

Prepared by Michael A. Linton
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Sanctes : Sainct Tese is the corresponding name in Leland's list. This was probably derived from Saintes or Xaintes, the capital of Haute Saintonge in Acquitane, often mentioned in Edward III.'s wars. There was also, however, a Seigneurie de Santes, held by the De Launays in 1366. Of Gilbert de Launay, Lord of Santes, came the Seigneurs de Villerval. See Anselme. "Episcopus de Saintes" held lands in Hampshire, 1086.—Domesday.

The name is of very rare occurrence in records. Richard de Seign (if, which I think is more than doubtful, Seign stands for Saintes), in 1202, was one of the Justices Itinerant in Staffordshire. (Staff. Hist. Collect.) Thomas Seynt was of Kent, c. 1272. (Rotul. Hundred.) Sir Aylmer Saint was, as Holinshed tells us, one of the forty-six Knights of the Bath made at the coronation of Henry IV. "Sante was a Doctor of Divinitie, and was imbassador at Rome bothe for King Edwarde the Fourth, and Henrie the VII.th."^[1]—Leland. The Saints (a Newcastle family) bore, in honour of their name, Azure, three cherubs Or, their wings countercrossed saltierwise: see Robson.

1. ↑"Richard Sans-Peur enjoyed the reputation of being an ardent lover of adventure, constantly in search of the excitement which danger afforded—a very dare-devil, like his grandson, the Conqueror's father. It was believed that he could see in the dark, and many a tale is related concerning him full of grotesque horror. How—for example—when watching during the dark hours in the wayside oratory, grim and ghastly rose the dead man from his bier, and how the demon-possessed corpse, wrestling with the Duke, was thrown and stilled by his antagonist's nerve and power. Hence his traditional appellation."—Sir Francis Palgrave.