Muschampe

From Muscamp, Normandy, which was held by a branch of De Tilly (Magn. Rotul. Scaccariae Normanniae). Roger de Muscamp held Wilgebi, Lincolnshire, in 1086; and Robert de Muscam his son, Seneschal to Gilbert de Gand, had issue (Mon. i. 963), Hugh, a benefactor of Nostel Priory in the time of Hen. I. (Mon. ii. 35). This Hugh, who appears in the Liber Niger as a landowner in York and Lincoln, has left his name to Muskam in Nottinghamshire, which he held of Henry Murdac, Archbishop of York. He. had a park, and no doubt a residence, at South Muskam, where some of his land was granted to Rufford Abbey, his last gift being made "when he rendered himself to the fellowship of the monks." His son and heir Robert confirmed his grants, and completed the church he had commenced building at Rufford. Robert's three sons, Ralph, Robert, and Andrew, all died s. p., and in 1223 Ralph de Gresley entered into possession of their inheritance as the husband of their sister Isabel. At North Muskam, Thomas de Muschamp held of Robert de Everingham's fee in 1165 (Lib. Niger), and was succeeded there by at least four generations of descendants, but Thoroton only carries the pedigree down to 1323, when the manor was disposed of by Thomas de Muschamp.

A more important branch of the family was seated in Northumberland, where Reginald de Muscamp is mentioned in 1130 (Rot. Pip.). Robert de Muscamp (perhaps his brother) received from Henry I. a barony of four knights' fees in Bambroughshire, and chose Wooler—a small market town to the east of the Cheviots—as the head of his honour. His son Thomas, who joined Prince Henry's rebellion in 1172, and married Maud de Vesci, the daughter of the Lord of Alnwick, was the grandfather of another Robert, considered the mightiest baron in the North of England—vir magni uominis in partibus Borealibus (Matthew Paris). Yet Dugdale tells us little or nothing about him. He died in 1249, leaving three daughters and co-heiresses: Margery, Countess of Strathearne; Isabel, married to William de Huntercombe; and Cecily, the wife of Odonel de Forde. The name, however, did not perish with him, but was of long continuance in the county. A William de Muschampe of Barmoor Castle (about a mile W. from Lowick) is mentioned in 1272: and his descendant George Muschampe was twice High Sheriff of Northumberland under Queen Elizabeth. Another Muschampe served as Sheriff in 1622, and was probably the last of his race, for after 1630 Barmoor had passed to the family of Cooke. "Tradition says, that one night the cattle of the last of the Muschampes were stolen by a party of moss-troopers. In the morning, Muschampe repaired to the place of gathering, which was near a thorn tree, in a field called the Craftmoors. Here he sounded his bugle to alarm his vassals, and at their head immediately commenced the pursuit. The thieves were taken while crossing the Tweed near Kelso. Muschampe rushed into the river, and with one blow clove Hempseed, the chief marauder, to the chine. His followers offered no resistance, and the cattle were retaken. From this circumstance the place was called Hempseed's Ford."—Mackenzie's Northumberland.

Another branch of the Muschamps, traced from Thomas Muschamp, Sheriff of London in 1463, remained at Camberwell till the middle of the sixteenth century. They had a house at East Horseley.—Manning and Bray's Surrey.

-- Cleveland