The Battle Abbey Roll. Vol. III.
by
The Duchess of Cleveland.
Prepared by Michael A. Linton
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Souch : de Stipite Sicco.[1] All authorities are agreed in deriving this great house from the Sovereign Earls of Brittany; but they differ materially as to the affinity it bore to the parent stock. Dugdale tells us that William La Zusche, who died in 1199, in his confirmation charter to Swavesey Priory, calls Roger La Zusche his father and Alan La Zusche Earl of Brittany (son of Geoffrey) his grandfather. "But," objects Eyton, "the only Earl Alan of Bretagne whose father's name was Geoffrey was guardian of William I. when Duke of Normandy, and died by poison in 1040: whereas Alan, first Lord Zouche of Ashby was living in 1186, and is not said on good authority to have been son of any Earl Alan, but of Geoffrey, Vicomte of Rohan. Moreover, this Alan La Zouche of Ashby was succeeded by his son William, William by his brother Roger, and Roger by his son Alan—a descent not strictly identical with anything implied in the Swavesey charter.
"That document, if it proves anything (and is accurate as well as genuine) proves that other descendants of the Earls of Brittany, besides Zouche of Ashby, were called La Zouche and had claims upon Swavesey."—History of Shropshire. No one has (as far as I know) yet explained why the name was originally borne.
The Vicomtes de Rohan "were," it appears, "at one time seized of considerable estates in England," which they retained till the reign of King John, when Alan, the last Vicomte, forfeited them by adhering to his French allegiance. Part of his fief was granted to his kinsman Roger La Zouche.
Alan La Zouche, the undoubted founder of the family, who in his charter to Lilleshall Priory styles himself "son of Geoffrey le Vicomte," lived in the time of Henry II., and acquired a great estate through his wife Alice, the heiress of the elder male line of De Belmeis. She brought him Ashby—since, as Ashby-de-la-Zouche, the head of his barony, in Leicestershire, Tong and other manors in Shropshire, and lands in Sussex and Devonshire. Their eldest son William commonly went by his mother's name; but when he died s. p. in 1199, he was succeeded by his brother Roger, who had always called himself La Zouche. In 1203, when the rumour of Prince Arthur's murder roused the Bretons to "join Philip Augustus in that united attack on John's territory that ended in the loss of Normandy," Roger, himself a Breton, at first took part with his countrymen, and forfeited his English fief. But it was not for long. Hardly had the new grantee, William de Braose, taken possession, than Roger suddenly returned to his allegiance; electing to sacrifice his Breton rather than his English inheritance: and he was amply compensated for its loss. King John gave him Maple Durham and Petersfield, with other grants in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, and some land in Norfolk that had been the Vicomte de Rohan's. He "remained faithful to the King in every later extremity," and lived to a great age, dying about 1238. He was succeeded by his son Alan II., "distinguished by steady loyalty, much capacity, and a proportionate advancement of his house in riches and honour. This great Jurist married Ela, daughter and coheir of Roger de Quinci Earl of Winchester, in whose estates, involving a share of the older Earldom of Leicester, Zouche of Ashby was thenceforth a co-parcener."—Eyton. He was pre-eminently favoured and trusted by Henry III., who gave him the custody of Cheshire and North Wales in 1251; the Wardenship of all his Forests South of Trent in 1260; named him one of the guarantors of his treaty with Louis of France in 1261, and appointed him Constable of the Tower in 1264. In 1268, "having commenced a suit against John Earl of Warrenne, who chose rather to determine the matter by Sword than by Law, he was kill'd by him in the King's hall at Westminster."—Camden. But Lord Zouche was not killed, though both he and his son Roger were sorely wounded. He died two years afterwards, and was followed by this Roger, and then by Roger's son Alan, the last heir-male of the line. Alan III., first summoned to parliament in 1297, was one of Edward I.'s train of soldier-peers, who did good service in Scotland and Gascony, and had charge of the Castle and Forest of Rockingham. He died in 1314, leaving three daughters; 1. Ellen, married first Nicholas de St. Maur, and secondly Alan de Charlton; 2. Maud, the wife of Robert Lord Holland; and 3. Elizabeth, a nun at Brewood in Staffordshire. The two elder divided the estates, with the exception of the caput baroniae, Ashby-de-la-Zouche, and the manors of Swavesey and Fulborne in Cambridgeshire, which were settled on his cousin William de Mortimer.
This cousin, thenceforth known as William La Zouche, was the second son of Joyce La Zouche, daughter and heir of a younger brother of Roger La Zouche I., and the second wife of Robert de Mortimer, Baron of Burford. He was summoned to parliament in 1323 as Lord Zouche of Mortimer, and held the offices of Constable of the Tower, and Justiciar of the Royal Forests S. of Trent. He was twice married, both times to a widowed heiress, first of the De Toesnis, and next, of the De Clares; and by each of them left a son. The eldest, another Alan, was renowned in arms under Edward III., and numbered among the heroes of Cressy. He died shortly afterwards, and was succeeded by two Hughs, his son and grandson, the latter of whom was childless, and the inheritance passed to a daughter, Joyce de Botetourt.
Another longer continued baronial line represented the heirs male of this great house. Eudo La Zouche, the uncle of Alan III., last Baron of Ashby, married Milicent, widow of Roger de Montalt, and one of the sisters and heirs of George de Cantelupe, Baron of Bergavenny, who brought him estates in eight different counties, Haryngworth in Northamptonshire, held of the King in capite, being the head of the Honour. He died in 1298. His son and heir, summoned to parliament in 1308, was the first of five Williams who successively bore the title of Lord Zouche of Haryngworth. In 1312, he and Sir John Grey of Rotherfield having a dispute "which was heard before the King and his Council, and there falling out high Words between them, Grey drew his Knife upon him in the King's presence, for which both of them were committed to prison." We find him afterwards throwing off his allegiance, and on the King's flight into Wales in 1325, he was, "having Lands and Interest in those parts," sent in pursuit with the Earl of Lancaster, and captured the ill-fated fugitive near Llantressan. He was a Knight Banneret, with the reputation of a stout soldier, and followed Edward III. three times to France, and once to Flanders, with a train of twenty men-at-arms and as many archers. His grandson William II., again a Banneret, could count up one Scottish and four French campaigns, and led to the field a retinue more than twice as numerous, comprising fifteen knights, thirty-four esquires, forty men-at-arms, and forty archers. William III. "was he, who being accused by a Frier-Carmelite, that he had scandalized John of Gant Duke of Lancaster, with evil Machinations against the King, was brought before the Parliament (though at that time very sick) to answer the Charge; but stoutly denying all, he was at length acquitted."—Dugdale. Not only acquitted, but taken into favour, for in 1386 he obtained a market and fair at Haryngworth, with license to castellate his manor house,[2] and two years later was banished the Court by the nobles then in arms at Haringay Park, as one of the King's evil counsellors. He was styled of Totness ("the Lordes Souche," says Leland, "were long time Lordes of this towne and Castell"); and in 1391 was found next heir to John de Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, in virtue of his descent from Milicent de Cantelupe. William IV., Lieutenant of Calais in 1413, acquired a second barony through his wife Alice, the posthumous daughter and sole heir of Richard, last Lord St. Maur, who himself represented a former Zouche heiress. They had two sons; William V., Lord Zouche and St. Maur; and John, ancestor of the Zouches of Codnor. The sixth Lord, who greatly added to his Devonshire estate by marrying one of the co-heirs of the Lord Treasurer Dinham, fought against Henry VII. at Bosworth, and suffered attainder; but his son was restored in blood, and the inheritance passed without further molestation to three subsequent generations. Edward,[3] the last Lord, was one of the peers who sat in judgment on Mary Queen of Scots at Fotheringay. Elizabeth afterwards sent him on an embassy to Scotland, and appointed him her Justiciary for North and South Wales: and he was Constable of Dover and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports under her successor. "He built the magnificent mansion of Bramhill, Hants, as a residence (it is said) for Prince Henry, the son of James I. The architect, it is believed, was Thorpe (who built Holland House in 1607): the effigy over the N. front is that of Lord Zouche, and the pipes bear the initials E. Z. and the date 1612, the year in which the Prince died. Lord Zouche bequeathed the estate to his cousin, Sir Edward Zouche of Woking, who died in 1634; and (being a dissolute character) it is likely that he sold the whole in his lifetime, as neither he nor his son are described of Bramshill."—Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica. Lord Zouche himself died in 1625. His wife was his kinswoman Alianor, daughter of Sir John Zouche of Codnor, by whom he left two daughters; Elizabeth, married to William Tate of De la Pre, near Northampton;[4] and Mary, married to Thomas Leighton. The barony of Zouche fell into abeyance for nearly two hundred years, till it was claimed and obtained by Sir Cecil Bisshop as a descendant of Elizabeth Tate. At his death in 1828, it again lapsed between his two daughters, but was eventually granted to Harriet, the eldest, who conveyed it to the Curzons.
The pedigree of the Zouches of Codnor is only carried down to about the same date—the first half of the seventeenth century. Their ancestor, Sir John, in the time of Henry VI. married Elizabeth, aunt and heir of the last Lord Grey of Codnor, who brought him considerable possessions, and notably the caput
baroniae in Derbyshire. Five generations of successors inherited them; the last of whom was Alianor Lady Zouche's brother, another Sir John. Leland also tells us of a Northamptonshire estate that had apparently come to them through a different channel. "Benefeld Castell is clene faullen downe to the Grounde. It was never of any great Compace. It longgid, as I hard, to the Bassingburne's, and after cam to one of the Souches.
"This Souche hath also Codnor Castell, sumtyme the chefest Howse of the Grayes, wher he now doith muche Coste. This Souche is a Man of faire Landes."
The last Sir John sold every acre he possessed, and went over to Ireland, where he died. He left only three married daughters, but there must have been many collaterals; for, though his two brothers died young, his grandfather could boast of eleven younger sons! Collins, in his Dictionary (vol. ii.), mentions James Zouche, of an ancient family in Surrey and Hants; the son of James Zouche, who having raised a troop of horse for Charles I. at his own expense, in which Sir Alan Zouche and Edward Zouche were captains, died at Pedding on his return from Oxford. He was the son of Sir Edward Zouche, knt, Marshal of England; probably the Sir Edward mentioned by Weldon, in his Court of James I. This must have been the cousin "of dissolute character" to whom the last Lord Zouche bequeathed Bramshill. Then there was Richard Zouche, Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, who died in 1660, described by Anthony Wood as "an exact artist, a subtle logician, an expert historian; and for the knowledge and practice of the civil law, the chief person of his time." The last notice of all is by Banks, who writes in 1808: "The family of Zouche, once so numerous, seems now almost entirely extinct, unless the Rev. Dr. Zouche, Prebendary of Durham, the ingenious Editor of Walton's Lives, be, as his name indicates, a remaining branch of this ancient stock."
It is remarkable that the name of the gallant Archbishop of York, William de la Zouche, one of the commanders at the victory of Nevill's Cross in 1346, is entered on none of the pedigrees.