Timeline 1377:
Edward III died at Sheen Palace, Richmond, Surrey on 21st June after reigning for 50 years and was buried at Westminster Abbey, Middlesex. He was 64 years of age and his 10 year old grandson Richard II succeeded him and was crowned King of England on 16th July at Westminster Abbey, Middlesex. 1381: The peasants revolted in England against their landlords and their 14-year-old King Richard II. The people were heavily taxed to pay for wars in France. Rioting took place in many towns throughout England. They marched to London, led by Wat Tiler and rioted in the streets, broke into the Tower of London, stole from merchant's houses and set houses on fire. King Richard met the rebels and promised to help them, but later he punished them.
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Nicholas Bayntun was born in 1358 at Faulston House, in the county of Wiltshire. In the various court documents he is listed as Nicholas de Benton, or Beynton, however we see the spelling of the surname changing to Bayntun some time around the turn of he 17th century. A deed, dated at Fallerston (now known as Faulston) 45 Edward III (1372) reads: Thomas de Borestoke, clerk, concedes the Manor of Fallerston to Nicholas de Benton and his wife Joan. Witnessed by Nicholas de Bonham, Henry Gilbert, Oliver Harnham and John Leigh. This was probably the execution of his father's will. Nicholas Bayntun was just 14 years of age when his father died in 1372 and duly inherited his estates. He appears to have married Joan Daundely about this time also. Joan was his first cousin, once removed. As far back as 1086 the Manor of Chilton Candover was held of the Bishop of Winchester by Richard de Audely, ancestor of the Daundely family. In 1372, this manor was settled on Nicholas and his wife in fee-tail in the year they married. From the fact that in default of heirs of Nicholas and Joan, the property was to pass to the right heirs of Joan, it seems probable from this, that Joan was the heiress of the Daundely family. Also at this time, the Manor of Week, or Wyke Daundely, was rendered by the same court, to hold and to the heirs of their bodies of the chief lords forever, passing from the Daundely family to Joan and her husband Nicholas. This manor contained the several divisions of Upper, Middle and Lower Week. A chapel was formerly appropriated to Upper Week in St. Mary Bourne church, afterwards referred to as the week aisle. In 1275 Lower Wroughton was held by Robert Daundely another ancestor of Joan's and was later called the Manor of Lower Wroughton. By the 1280's, Robert had been succeeded by Walter Daundely. The Bishop then relinquished all claim to Wroughton Manor to the Prior of St. Swithun's, and Daundely's land, while still said to be held of the Bishop, was expressly said to lie within the Priors manor. Although the descent of Lower Wroughton is not thereafter clear, the Daundely's heirs were the Bayntuns and it was presumably by inheritance of his wife, Joan, that the manor was held by Nicholas Bayntun in 1401. Sir Philip Daundely probably died about 1372 when the Manors of Chilton Candover and Daundely were settled on Nicholas Bayntun, Lord of Faulston and Joan his wife in fee tail with a remainder to the right heirs of Joan in case they failed to have surviving issue, from which it seems certain that Joan was the heiress of the Daundely family, and daugher of Philip Daundely. According to the Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, on the 10th October 1376, Nicholas applied for a royal licence to crenellate the walls of his manor house at Fallerston to protect himself from the unrest in the county among tenants. This licence was granted at Westminster by King Edward III. Faulston was, at that time, a noble old-fashioned house and he built four towers around it, added a drawbridge and a moat and crenelated his strong high walls which consisted of freestone and a layer of flints, squared and headed. The farm was enclosed and run with paid labour, with the tenant farmers losing all their strips of land in the common fields. Two of the towers faced south, one east and the other west. But despite his strengthened house, Nicholas Baynton had trouble with his bondmen and bond-tenants in 1387 when they rebelled against their Lord by withdrawing their customary services by resisting attempts to enforce them. But Nicholas was not the only landlord to have such an uprising amongst his people owners all over the country were in similar difficulties. The next year, 1388, Nicholas asked for an inquiry into the affairs of two of the chapels. The Vicar said that the predecessors of the present Lord of Faulston, their wives and tenants, had all been buried at the Faulston Chapel. This was the Chapel of St. Andrew and St. Mary Magdalen, standing somewhere between Faulston Manor House and Chapel Close. An extract from the Calendar of Patent Rolls, Richard II, shows that on the 14th February 1387, to investigate a report that bondsmen of Nicholas Bayntun at Faulston had rebelled and confederated to resist him. In 1391 (15 Richard II) Nicholas Bayntun was one of a Commission to enquire into the possessions in England of the Abbess of the alien Monastery of St. Leger at Preaux in Normandy and in 1392 he was investigating the title of Beatrice de Roos, late the wife of Richard de Burley, Knight, to the Manor of Nethersburgate, in Hampshire. Nicholas was a Justice of the Peace for Wiltshire in 1396. A Commission of Oyer and Terminer, in accordance with the late ordinance in parliament to Robert Charlton, John Wykynge, John Goweyn and Richard Juyn, upon information that bondmen and bond-tenants of Nicholas Benton at Fallerston, Co. Wilts., had withdrawn their customs and services for their holdings and had confederated to resist him and his ministers. 'A Commission of Oyer and Terminer' was a procedure set out to hear and determine, for one of the commissions, representing the above parties, by which a judge of assize sat, to make diligent inquiry into all treasons, felonies and misdemeanours, whatever committed, and to hear and determine the same according to law. Nicholas Bayntun was mentioned in the Calendar of Patent Rolls, Richard II 1389-1392, when he (and others) were appointed, on the 5th April 1390, as Commissioners to enquire, touching the petition of John Blanchard for restitution of the Manor of Bereford St. Martin and a messuage in Wilton. Two years later on the 5th February 1392 he is recorded in the Calendar of Patent Rolls, Richard II 1391-1396, when he (and others) were appointed as Commissioners to enquire and certify, touching the title of Beatrice de Roos, widow, to the Manor of Netherburgate, in the county of Southampton. Another entry in the Calendar of Patent Rolls, Richard II 1396-1399, lists he (and others), appointed, on the 28th June 1396, at Westminster, on a Commission of the Peace and of Oyer and Terminer in the county of Wiltshire, pursuant to the statutes of Winchester, Northampton and Westminster. A deed, dated 7 Henry IV (1406), shows Nicholas de Benton, senior, Lord of Fallerston. Witnessed by John Gowayne, Oliver Cervington and Henry Gereberd. He was also a Justice of the Peace for Wiltshire at this time. On the 17th October 1410, at Westminster, Nicholas Bayntun is again mentioned in the Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry IV 1408-1413, for not appearing to answer John Thomas of the county of Surrey touching a debt of 76 shillings. He is referred to as Nicholas Beynton of the county of Wilts, the younger. An Inquest on the Wiltshire Estate of Nicholas Bayntun was held at Fisserton Aucher on February 8th (14 Henry IV) 1412. He had held on the day he died the Manor of Compton Chamberlain of the Lord King by service of a knight's fee. He also held four messuages in the town of New Sarum. Some time before he died Nicholas had enfeoffed by charter John Bushell, clerk, and John Bole, clerk, of the Manor of Faulston (in trust), held of the Bishop of Winchester by what service the jury did not know. Nicholas died on the Monday next before the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary last celebrated. Nicholas Bayntun Junior his son and next heir and mroe that 30 years of age. There is no record of the burial place of Nicholas Bayntun, but it is thought he and his family before him, may have been buried in a square field, known as Chapel Close, which might have been either the site of a Chapel or a field attached to the Chapel which was next to Faulston House. There are no visible signs of any graves today, unless buried beneath the ground. By 1650, most of the moat around Faulston House was filled in, the wall pulled down and three of the towers. The remaining tower is still standing today in excellent repair. There is also no record of the death of his wife Joan, but Nicholas Bayntun died in 1412 and he was succeeded by his son and heir Nicholas Bayntun |