Geoffrey Armenters

  Noted events in his life were:

• Family History: Burley, Rutland, England. ¹¹¹⁶
Geoffrey, who held the subtenancy of Burley in 1086, also held Kislingbury (co. Northants) of Gilbert de Gant [V.C.H. Northants, i, 346], and both these manors we find, in the 12th century, in the family of Armenters or Ermenters. It is possible therefore that Geoffrey may have been the same as or the father of Geoffrey de Armenters who gave tithes from Stow and Kislingbury to St. Andrew's Priory, Northampton. In the middle of the 12th century his son John de Armenters held Stow of the fee of Gilbert de Gant[ibid. 371; Baker, Northants, i, 443; cf. Dr. Round in Ancestor, i, 191-], (fn. 20) and died without issue. He seems to have been succeeded by his nephew Sir David son of Henry de Armenters who gave the church of Burley to the nuns of Nuneaton (co. Warw.) Add. Chart. (B.M.) 47789]. This grant was confirmed by his overlord, Simon, Earl of Huntingdon, and by Henry son and successor of David de Armenters [Add. Chart. 47802]. Henry de Armenters had succeeded David before 1196, when he held two knights' fees in the county of Rutland and paid scutage of 40s[Red Bk. of Excheq. (Rolls Ser.), 103; Pipe R. Soc. (New Ser.), vii, 229]. In 1206 Henry paid 5 marks for having judgment against David, Earl of Huntingdon, about the boundary between his vill of Burley and the Earl's vill of Exton[Curia Regis R. iv, 110, 111; Feet of F. Rutl. 9 John, no. 18]. The dispute seems to have related to that part of the wood of Burley lying outside Henry's park.

Geoffrey son of Henry had probably succeeded by 1218, when he acquired land in Burley from Robert son of Ralph. In 1228 Geoffrey and his heirs were exempted from serving on assizes and juries [Cal. Close R. 1227-31, 53]. In 1230 he was one of the commissioners on the Assize of Arms for Rutland [Ibid. 401], and held many other local appointments [Ibid. 1231-4, 586; 1234-7, 191, 553]. He paid 4 marks in 1235-6 for 2 fees of the honour of Gant in Rutland [Bk. of Fees (P.R.O.), i, 506]. His son John by his first wife Juliana, daughter of Gilbert de Gant, his paramount lord [Baker, loc. cit.], had respite from becoming a knight in 1253 [Cal. Close R. 1251-3, 444]. Both this John and his brother Henry died without issue and their half-sister Alice, daughter of Geoffrey de Armenters by a second wife, daughter of Peter Picot, became heiress of the Armenters estates. Her custody was given in 1256 to her overlord, Gilbert de Gant [Excerpt. e Rot. Fin. ii, 225, 444]. The heiress Alice had married Gerard de Lisle before 1275/6 [Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 54]. Gerard had quittance of general summons in the counties of Northampton, Rutland and Norfolk in 1285 [Cal. Close R. 1279-88, 364, 406, 407], and was dead by 1288 [Ibid. p. 554]. Alice, who survived him, married Sir Nicholas de Segrave. Nicholas de Segrave held half a fee there in 1305 [Feud. Aids, iv, 204], and in 1312/13 the manor was settled on Nicholas and Alice and their issue male, with remainder in default to John de Lisle, third son of the heiress Alice [Feet of F. Rutl. Hil. 6 Edw. II, no. 8]. Nicholas de Segrave was still in possession of the manor in 1316 [Feud. Aids, iv, 208; Inq. a.q.d. cxii, 1], and died in 1322 [G.E.C. Complete Peerage, vii, 104.], when John de Lisle succeeded. He and his brother Sir Warin were partisans of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, Sir Warin being hanged at Pontefract in 1322. John forfeited his lands, and Burley was given into the custody of Edmund de Assheby [Rolls of Parl. ii, 383 a].

'Parishes: Burley', in A History of the County of Rutland: Volume 2, ed. William Page (London, 1935), pp. 112-119.