John de Meriet

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ¹²⁸²
John de Meriet, son and heir of Nicholas de Meriet, was under age at the time of his father's death, and his guardianship was committed to Prince Edward, the King's eldest son, who granted the same to Anketin de Martivall and Agnes his wife. The King received this John de Meriet's homage, on learning by the Inq.p.m. of 47 H. III., No. 7, that he had come to full age on St. Kenelm's day in that year (17 July, 1263); and, on 15 November, 1263, ordered the said Anketin and Agnes his wife, to cause full livery of seisin of of all the lands of his inheritance to be made to him accordingly. [Fines Roll, 48 H. III., m. 6.] His birth therefore took place on, or about, 17th July, 1242.

John de Meriet, in 1277, proffered--Walter de Bokenhull--the service of one knight's fee, due on his lands in Meryet, for the expedition against Lewelin, Prince of Wales: to muster at Worcester on Tuesday next after the octave of St. John Baptist, 6 July, 5 E. I. [Parliamentary Writs, printed by the Record Commission, I. 736].

John de Meriet died in the early part of the year 1285; the writ on his death, directed to Henry de Bray, the escheator on this side Trent, being dated 20 March, 13 E. I. (1284-5).

~Genealogy of the Somersetshire Family of Meriet, pp. 10-12

• Background Information. ¹²⁷¹
At the time of the Conquest the later manor of Merriott formed two estates. The second estate, of five hides, occupied in 1066 by Godwin, had passed by 1086 to Harding son of Eadnoth the staller.

The manor evidently passed from Harding son of Eadnoth, or Harding de Meriet, to his son Nicholas FitzHarding (d. by 1171), followed by his grandson Henry de Meriet (d. by 1192). [Proc. Som. Arch. Soc. xxviii. 100-4.] Nicholas de Meriet (d. by 1229) inherited his father's lands in 1212, and in 1229 was succeeded by his son Hugh (d. c. 1236). [Pipe R. 1212 (P.R.S. n.s. xxx), 119, 223; Cal. Inq. p.m. i, p. 2] From Hugh's son Nicholas (d. c. 1258) the manor passed in turn to Nicholas's son John (d. 1285), and grandson, also John. The last succeeded as a minor and received his lands in 1297. [Cal. Inq. p.m. ii, pp. 341-2; Plac. Abbrev. (Rec. Com.), 293] On his death in 1308 he was followed successively by his sons John (d. by 1322) and George (d. 1328). [Proc. Som. Arch. Soc. xxviii. 104-24; Cal. Inq. p.m. vii, p. 119.] From George's son, Sir John de Meriet (d. 1369), the manor descended to his son Sir John (d. 1391), and subsequently to the latter's daughter Elizabeth, wife of Urry Seymour.[Cal. Inq. p.m. xii, pp. 376-7; Proc. Som. Arch. Soc. xxviii. 126-64] On Elizabeth's death without issue c. 1395 the estate was inherited jointly by her cousins Elizabeth and Margaret d'Aumale, granddaughters of George de Meriet (d. 1328) and wives of Sir Humphrey Stafford and Sir William Bonville (d. 1408) respectively. [Proc. Som. Arch. Soc. xxviii. 164-7]

~A History of the County of Somerset, Volume IV, p. 53-55

In 1086 there were three separate estates called Lopen. The largest, of 2 hides, had been held T.R.E. by Tofig the sheriff, and in 1086 was in the possession of a king's thegn, the Englishman Harding son of Eadnoth the staller. The largest estate descended in the Meriet family like the manor of Merriott until the death of John de Meriet in 1285. His son, also John (d. 1308), succeeded as a minor and received his other lands in 1297, but Lopen, called for the first time the manor of Great Lopen, was held in dower [Cal. Inq. p.m. ii, pp. 341-2; Cal. Close, 1279-88, 321] by his mother Margaret until 1329 if not later. [Feud. Aids, iv. 315] Her successor was her grandson Sir John (d. 1369), still a minor in 1346. [Feud. Aids, iv. 331,337] Sir John's widow Maud, held Lopen in dower until her death in 1398 when it passed under settlement jointly to William Bonville and Sir Humphrey Stafford and their wives as coheirs of Sir John Meriet (d. 1391).

~A History of the County of Somerset, Vol. IV, 163-170

John married Ela.¹²⁸² (Ela died after 1302 in England ¹²⁸².)