Sir Thomas Heselrig, of Fawdon, in Northumberland, Knight, ancestor of the present family of that name, inheritors of Nosely, at which place she lies interred, having died in 1406. By his second wife, the Lady Maud, who brought him the manors of Sutton and Bewick, first of Richard the Second, he had issue five sons, Sir Ralph, Sir Richard, Sir Leonard, John, and Bartholomew, and one daughter, named Maud. Sir Ralph, the eldest son, having engaged in a league against Henry the Fourth, with the well-known Owen Glendower, or Glendowrdwy, (as the name is uniformly, and with more attention to Welsh orthography, spelt in the Collection of Public Acts,) and other great men, in favour of Edmund Mortimer, Earl of Marche, the lineal heir of the Crown, was attainted and beheaded in the year 1405. Sir Richard, the second son, having obtained a grant of his brother's forfeited estate, served in Parliament, the third of Henry the Sixth, for the County of York, of which he was Sheriff in 1426 and 1434, as also of the Counties of Warwick and Leicester in 1414, 1422, and 1432. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry, Lord Beaumont, and widow of William, Lord D'Eincourt, but died without issue in 1437, the fifteenth of Henry the Sixth.

Sir Leonard de Hastings, third son of Sir Ralph, and continuator of the line, succeeded to the family estate upon the decease of his brother Sir Richard, and served the office of Sheriff for the Counties of Warwick and Leicester in 1454. He married Alice, daughter of Thomas, Lord Camois, and, dying in 1456, the thirty-fourth of Henry the Sixth, left issue by her four sons, viz. Sir William, Lord Hastings, his heir, Richard, Sir Ralph, and Thomas; and three daughters.--Anne married to Thomas Ferrers, of Tamworth Castle, Esq., Joane to John Brokesby, Esq., and Elizabeth to Sir John Donne. Of the sons, Richard, the second, espoused Joane, daughter

of Sir Richard Welles, Lord Welles and Willoughby, heir to her brother Robert, Lord Welles, and widow of Richard Pigot, Esq.; and by her, who survived him about two years, had an only son, Antony, who died before him without issue. He had summons to Parliament as Baron Welles, November 15, 1482, twenty-second of Edward the Fourth; and, departing this life in the year 1503, was buried in the Grey Friars Church, London. Sir Ralph, the third Son, in 1461, was keeper of the lions in the Tower of London, joint constable of Rockingham Castle with his eldest brother, William, Captain of Guisnes, and Esquire of the body of the King. By his wife he had three daughters, coheirs, first, Florence, wife of Edward Lord Grey, of Wilton, the last heir male of whose family, Thomas, was, in November, 1603, the first of James the First, convicted of high treason with Lord Cobham, and Sir Walter Raleigh, and died a prisoner in the Tower of London, July the 6th, 1614; second, Isabel married to Sir Dive, Knight; and third, Maud, to

Sir John Longueville, Knight.

CHAPTER II.

OF SIR WILLIAM HASTINGS, AFTERWARDS LORD HASTINGS.

SIR William de Hastings, afterwards Baron Hastings, of Ashby de la Zouch, eldest son and heir to Sir Leonard, succeeded to the family estates on the decease of his father. Acting a conspicuous part in the political events of his time, Sir William occupies a correspondent space in their history, and was as remarkable for his valour, loyalty, and public services, and the consequent high favour in which he stood with his Sovereign, as for the unworthy and violent manner of his death. In the year 1455, he was appointed Sheriff of the Counties of Warwick and Leicester, and Ranger of Were Forest. Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, who afterwards fell at the battle of Wakefield, December 31, 1460, fighting for his undoubted right to the Crown, in the grant of an annuity to Sir William, dated at the castle of Fotheringay, April 23, 1456, styles him his beloved servant, and states "that he gives same to the end that he should serve him above all others, and attend him at all times, (his allegiance to the King excepted)." When Edward the Fourth, the Duke's son, ascended the throne, March 4, 1460, he was not unmindful of his father's friend, and hastened to testify his filial respect for the memory of the one, as well as his personal esteem of the other's merit, by showering on him so many different offices of dignity, trust, or profit, as almost appear tedious in the enumeration. He was successively, and at short intervals, constituted Master of the Mints at London and Calais; Steward of the honour of Lei

cester, and of the Manors and Castles of Donnington, Higham Ferrers, and Daventry, together with all other his Majesty's Manors in the Counties of Warwick, Leicester, Nottingham, and Huntingdon, and parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster; Constable of Leicester, Higham Ferrers, and Donnington Castles; Ranger of Leicester Forest; Constable of Rockingham Castle jointly with his brother Sir Ralph; Steward of the Royal Manors within the forest of Rockingham; and Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold, and of North Wales. In addition to these several testimonies of his Sovereign's favour and gracious regard, he was, on the 26th of July, 1461, the first of Edward the Fourth, by patent, created Baron Hastings of Ashby de la Zouch; and soon after invested with the high dignity of Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter. He subsequently obtained the Castle and rape of Hastings in Sussex; and, some years later, was appointed Constable of the Castle of Beaumaris in the Isle of Anglesey.

On the 14th of April, 1464, his Lordship entered into agreement with Dame Elizabeth Grey, late wife of Sir John Grey, Knight, son and heir of Edward Grey, late Lord Ferrers, that he should have the wardship of her son Thomas, afterwards Marquis of Dorset, on whose part it was stipulated that he should, within five or six years afterwards, marry the eldest daughter of Lord Hastings that might then be living. In his capacity of Master of the Mint, he undertook, about this time, a new coinage of gold, consisting of pieces of eight shillings and four pence sterling, called nobles, (of which, says my authority, there should be fifty pieces in the pound weight of the Tower,) other pieces of one half, and a third of one fourth, that value. In 1465, we find him in a diplomatic character, accompanying Richard Earl of Warwick, to conclude a league of amity between King Edward and Charles of Burgundy; and, in the fol

lowing year, he was again associated with the same nobleman to negotiate a peace with the Ambassador of Lewis the Eleventh, King of France; as also to confer with Charles of Burgundy touching his contemplated marriage with Margaret, sister to the King of England. He was afterwards commissioned, in conjunction with Earl Rivers, to treat and arrange the conditions of a league between the King, and Philip, Duke of Burgundy. During this same year, he was again constituted Steward of the honour of Leicester, and Constable of the Castle there, as also Warden of all the parks, chases, and manors belonging to that honour.

The long contested claims, and sanguinary struggles, between the hostile houses of York and Lancaster, afforded Lord Hastings fresh occasions for displaying his unshaken fidelity, and dauntless zeal, in the cause of his royal friend and master. In 1470, the superior, but transient power of the adherents of Henry the Sixth, reinforced by the levies of Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick, commonly styled the King-maker, prevailed so far as to render it expedient for King Edward to quit the realm. At that perilous and doubtful crisis, and when the Lancastrian forces surprised the King's encampment, near Nottingham, by night, Lord Hastings prudently urged the necessity of his Majesty's immediate flight from an army in a great measure composed of concealed enemies, and vacillating friends, on whom no safe reliance could be placed in circumstances of emergency. Accordingly the fugitives, who had scarcely time to mount their horses, so sudden and rapid was the advance of the assailing party, hurried, with a small retinue, to Lynn, in Norfolk, whence they instantly embarked for the Continent on board a small vessel, fortunately found in that harbour ready to put to sea; and, after narrowly escaping the pursuit of some ships belonging to the Easterlings, or Hanse Towns, then at war with both France and