Nicholas Carew (died 1311)

Arms of Carew: Or, three lions passant in pale sable These were the arms shown on the seal of Nic(olae)us de Carru (c. 1255 – 1311), appended to the Barons' Letter, 1301 and blazoned in the 1301 Caerlaverock Roll of Arms

Seal of Nicholas Carew (died 1311) affixed to the Barons' Letter of 1301 showing: Three lions passant in pale with inscription: S(IGILLUM) NICHOLAI DE CARREW ("seal of Nicholas de Carew")

Nicholas Carew (died 1311), Lord of Moulsford, was a baron of medieval England who took part in the Wars of Scottish Independence.

He was feudal lord of Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire, feudal lord of Odrone ^[2] (mod. Idrone, County Carlow) ^[3] in Ireland and lord of the manor of Moulsford in Berkshire (since 1974 in Oxfordshire), was a soldier. He was the first of the Carew family to form a connection with the English county of Devon, ^[4] where his descendants became very prominent until modern times. His descendants obtained three Carew baronetcies and four peerage titles, namely Baron Carew (1605) in the Peerage of England (for Sir Sir George Carew (1555–1629), created in 1626 Earl of Totnes) and Baron Carew (1834) in the Peerage of Ireland and Baron Carew (1838) of Castle Boro in the County of Wexford, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom (both for Robert Shapland Carew (1787–1856)).

Origins

He was the eldest son and heir of Nicholas de Carew (died 1297), feudal lord of Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire, lord of the manor of Moulsford in Berkshire and jure uxoris feudal lord of Odrone, by his wife Avice Tuitt, daughter and heiress of Richard Tuitt of Marston in County Westmeath, Ireland, whose family had acquired the Barony of Odrone by an earlier marriage to the heiress of Odrone. ^[5]

Career

As Nic(olae)us de Carru, D(omi)n(u)s de Mulesford ("Nicholas de Carew, lord of the manor of Moulsford") he was one of 103 signatories of the Barons' Letter of 1301 addressed to Pope Boniface VIII as a repudiation of his claim of feudal overlordship of Scotland and as a defence of the rights of King King Edward I of England as overlord of that kingdom.

"Baron Carew"

In 1300–1 he was summoned to Parliament by writ of King Edward I (1272–1307) as Dominus de Moulsford ("lord of the manor of Moulsford") by which he is deemed to have become Baron Carew. ^[6] He is called "Baron Carew" in various sources, ^[7] but a peerage title Baron Carew at this early date is not mentioned in the authoritative Complete Peerage (1887–98) by George Edward Cokayne. Pole however states that he was summoned to Parliament by writ of King Edward I (1272–1307), which would have made him a baron. ^[8] If so, there is no clear descent of such barony, and no explanation of why it had no clear ending. ^[9] According to Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage, 1968: "For several generations the heads of the family are described as Barons of Carew and Hidron, but none of them sat in Parliament with the exception of Nicholas de Carew who subscribed to the celebrated Barons' letter to the Pope in 1300". ^[10]

Caerlaverock Roll

He was present at the Siege of Caerlaverock Castle in Scotland in 1301, during which his armorials were amongst those blazoned in French verse by English heralds in the Caerlaverock Roll of Arms, as follows: ^[11]

An vaillant home e de grant los

O lui, Nichole de Karru,

Dont meinte foiz orent paru

Li fait en couvert e en lande

Sur la felloune gent d'Irlande;

Baniere ot jaune bien passable,

O treis lyouns passans de sable.

("A valliant man ... Nicholas de Carew, who many times appeared ... a banner of gold ... three lions passant of sable")

Marriage and children

Arms of Peverell of Ermington: Or, an eagle displayed azure

He married Amicia (or Amy) Peverell, ^[13] daughter of Hugh Peverell lord of the manor of Ermington in Devon, and heiress of her brother Sir John Peverell of Ermington, ^[14] the last in the male line. By Amicia he had children including:

• John Carew (died 1324), eldest son and heir, who married twice:
  • Firstly to Elinor de Mohun, daughter and heiress of Sir William de Mohun of Mohuns Ottery ^[15] in the parish of Luppit, Devon, by whom he had a son Nicholas Carew (died 1323) who married Elinor Talbot, daughter of Richard Lord Talbot,(sic, Vivian, 1895) (should be Sir Richard Talbot, who signed and sealed the Barons' Letter, 1301 and held the manor of Eccleswall in Herefordshire in right of his wife Sarah, sister of William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick) but died childless. ^[16] Sir William de Mohun of Mohuns Ottery was a younger son of Reginald de Mohun (1206–1258), feudal baron of Dunster (son), by his second wife Isabel de Ferrers, widow of Gilbert Basset (died 1241) ^[17] and daughter of William de Ferrers, 5th Earl of Derby (1193–1254) by his wife Sibyl Marshal, a daughter and co-heiress of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1146/7-1219). ^[18] Reginald de Mohun gave the manor of Ottery to his younger son Sir William Mohun. ^[19]
  • Secondly John Carew married Joan Talbot, daughter of Sir Gilbert Talbot, by whom he had a son John Carew (died 1363), the heir of his half-brother Nicholas Carew (died 1323), ^[20] from whom he inherited Mohuns Ottery, an important future seat of the Carew family. Joan Talbot survived him and remarried to John Dartmouth (alias Tuckett). ^[21]
• Thomas de Carew (died 1331). ^[22]
• William de Carew (died 1359), died childless. ^[23]
• David de Carew ^[24]

Sometimes claimed to be a son but more likely a grandson ^[25] was Nicholas Carew (died 1390), of Beddington in Surrey, Keeper of the Privy Seal during the reign of King Edward III. He married Lucy, daughter and heiress of Sir Richard Willoughby (c. 1290 – 1362), Chief Justice of the King's Bench and widow of the MP Sir Thomas Huscarle ^{[26] [27]} (d. by 1352), of Purley Magna in Berkshire, and his descendants lived at Beddington for several generations.

Landholdings

Through his wife he inherited several manors including:

• Weston Peverell, near Plymouth; ^[28]
• Mamhead ^[29]
• Ashford ^[30]
• Galmeton ^[31]

Further reading

• The Life of Sir Peter Carew, of Mohun Ottery, co. Devon., edited by Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1st Baronet (1792–1872), published 1840 in Archaeologia, the journal of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Concerning early history of the Carew family, source quoted by Vivian, 1895.
• Hamilton-Rogers, William Henry, Memorials of the West, Historical and Descriptive, Collected on the Borderland of Somerset, Dorset and Devon, Exeter, 1888, chapter The Nest of Carew (Ottery-Mohun), pp. 269–330, esp. pp. 286 et seq.

References

1. Debrett's Peerage, 1968, Carew Baronets, p.155; Baron Carew p.216
2. Vivian, 1895, p.134
3. In the 16th century the Irish territorial barony of Odrone represented about 6,360 acres, when held by Sir Peter Carew (c. 1514 – 1575) of Mohuns Ottery in Devon (Hooker, John, The Life and Times of Sir Peter Carew: Kt., (from the Original Manuscript), p. 254, footnote ); the location of Odrone is unclear, but see National Library of Ireland document "Pos1707", described as: "[Lambeth Palace Library Ms 635 (extracts)] The meares and bounds of the Barony of Odrone. Names of the towns, inhabitants etc. of Odrone. Map of the Barony of Odrone; extensive list of place names; inhabitants listed and map of the barony".. It was the residence of the Irish King Art Óg mac Murchadha Caomhánach (Art MacMurrough-Kavanagh). A letter from Anthony St Leger to King Henry VIII states: "And upon th'arryvall of Your Graces Deputie, he, with your Chaunceler, th'Erle of Ormonde your Thesaurer, Chieffe Justice, and capytaynes, dyrected a jornay a jornay into Odrone, where McMorgho and his kynsmen, called the Kevenaghes, doo inhabyte, who had commytted, in the commotion tyme, infynyte hurtes to Your Graces subjectes. In revenging whereof Your Graces Deputie remayned 10 dayes in that contrey, commyttyng burnynges, spoyles, and other hurtes, where we had fynally a communycacion with the saide McMorgho and Kevenaghes. And after many haynous offences by us alleadged to the sayde Kevenaghes, they conformed them to certen orders and directions, as appeareth by wryting, the copy whereof ys inclosed in Your Graces Deputies letters now addressed to Your Highnes, as he hathe informed us, of all the procedinges used therein."(State Papers: Henry VIII, Vol.111, Part III, pp. 239–243 Correspondence between the governments of England and ... ); See Prendergast, John Patrick (1808–1893), The Plantation of Idrone by Sir Peter Carew, Journal of the Kilkenny Archæological Society
4. Pole, p.333
5. Vivian, 1895, p.133-4, incl. footnotes
6. Victoria County History: A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 3, Page, William & Ditchfield, P.H. (eds.), 1923, pp. 504–7, note 44, quoting: Parliamentary Writs (Record Commission), Vol.I, p.104
7. Vivian, 1895, pp. 133–4, calls him "Lord Carew", his father "Baron of Carew" and his grandfather "Baron of Carew and Moulesford"
8. Pole, p.129
9. The original text of the Heraldic Visitations of Devon, as declared by the Carew family (thus in italics), names his descendant "Sir Edward Carew, Baron of Carew of Mohun Autrie" (died 1513), yet drops such title in naming his eldest son "Sir William Carew of Mohuns Autrie", none of whose own sons are named or generally recognised as barons or peers(Vivian, 1895, p.135)
10. Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage, 1968, p.155, re Carew baronets of Haccombe
11. s:The Roll of Caerlaverock/The Roll
12. Pole, Sir William (died 1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, pp.317,496; Risdon, Tristram (died 1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.185
13. Pole, pp.513,
14. Vivian, p.134
15. Risdon, p.38
16. Pole, p.333
17. Pole, p.128
18. Sanders, I.J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327, Oxford, 1960, p.114
19. Pole, p.128
20. Pole, p.333
21. Vivian, p.134
22. Vivian, p.134
23. Vivian, p.134
24. Vivian, p.134
25. Rawcliffe, Carole (January 2008), "Carew, Nicholas (d. 1390)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, retrieved 19 July 2017
26. Lysons, Daniel, The Environs of London, Volume 1, County of Surrey, London, 1792, pp. 49–67, Beddington
27. Vivian, p.134 "Huscort,"
28. Pole, p.333; Vivian, p.134
29. Pole, p.259
30. Pole, p.334
31. Risdon, Tristram (died 1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.185

Sources

• Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pedigree of Carew, esp. pp. 133–4
• Pole, Sir William (died 1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, especially pp. 129–31 and 333-4, descent of Carew.