Nicholas de Meriet

  Noted events in his life were:

• 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

• Background Information. ¹²⁸²
Nicholas de Meriet, son and heir of Hugh de Meriet, did homage for one knight's fee and a half which he held of the King in chief in Meriet. Accordingly, the King, on 9 May, 1236, issued his precept to the Sheriff of Somerset, that having taken security from the said Nicholas for the payment of his relief, he caused full seisin to be made to him of all the lands in Meriet, of which his father, Hugh de Meriet, was seised in fee [Fines Roll, 20 H. III. m. 10]. At the Dorset Assizes in 1244, Nicholas de Meriet was charged by the bailiffs of the city of Exeter with having demanded tolls of market of citizens of Exeter when attending his markets of Lopene and Meriet, as being contrary to the liberties secured to the citizens by the charters granted to them by the King's predecessors [Placita &c. in Com. Dors. coram R. de Thurkileby et sociis suis anno regni regis Henrici filii R. Johls 28 (1244) rot. 3 in dorso].

Nicholas de Meriet died about the year 1258, as Elizabeth his widow, in that year, for a fine of one mark, obtained a writ of 'Pone ad bancum,' with reference to her dower, dated 29 March [Fines Roll, 42 H. III. m. 9] The inquisition on his death was not taken till after John de Meriet, his son and heir, came of age: from which inquisition, taken at Yvelcestre, on the oaths of Walter de Loveny, Ralph Burnel, Gerard de Coker, Martin de Coker, Ralph Albe, Elias de Coker, Nicholas de Lopeneford, Richard le Mey, John Duket, William le Cu, Robert Malreward, and Philip de Cnolle, we learn that this Nicholas de Meriet held one knight's fee of the King m chief in Meriet, Lopen, and Stratton, Somerset, and one other knight's fee there of the Earl of Glovernya (Gloucester), all of the yearly value of £.60, and that John de Meriet was his son and heir, of the age of 21 years on St. Kenelm's day, 47 H. III. (17 July, 1263). [Inq.p.m. 47 H. III. No. 7.]

~Genealogy of the Somersetshire Family of Meriet, pp. 8-10

Nicholas married Elizabeth.¹²⁸²