Some corrections and additions to the Complete Peerage: Volume 1: Audley of Stratton Audley

AUDLEY (of Stratton Audley)

Volume 1, pages 347, 348 (as modified by volume 14):
He [Hugh Audley (d. 1325 or 1325/6)] m., before 7 Jan. 1293, and probably in 1288, Isolt, widow of Sir Walter DE BALUN, of Much Marcle, co. Hereford (who was living and m. to her in 1286/7), da. of Sir Edmund DE MORTIMER, 1st LORD MORTIMER,(e) of Wigmore, co. Hereford, by (----). She brought him the manors of Eastington, co. Gloucester, and of Thornbury, co. Hereford.
Note e:
Her father, Edmund de Mortimer of Wigmore, by charter, undated, gave to her and Walter de Balun, her husband, the manor of Arley, co. Stafford, for life. (Addit. MSS., no. 5485, f. 160). On 12 Apr. 1326, she (again) had livery of this manor. (Close Roll, 19 Edw. II, m. 8). (ex inform. G.W. Watson). V.G. The mother of Isolt must be an earlier wife of Edmund Mortimer than Margaret de Fiennes, since Isolt married Hugh, Lord Audley circa 1288 and Margaret married Edmund in 1285 (see post, vol. ix, p. 283, note (m)). [Ex inform. Lindsay L. Brook.]

Isolt was not a Mortimer, but was a daughter of Roger le Rus or Rous.

The manor of Eastington, Gloucestershire, had been held by the Balun family from at least as early as 1227 [Victoria County History, Gloucestershire, vol. 10, pp. 127-131]. It was settled by fine on Walter de Balun and Isolt, his wife, and the heirs of Isolt, by Roger le Rous in June 1287 [Gloucestershire Record Series, vol. 16, p. 181 (2003); apparently the same settlement is referred to in Year Books of Edward I, Years 20-21, pp. 142-146]. In 1289, Isolt, daughter of Roger le Rus, claimed the manor of Eastington as her right against Reynold de Balun (Walter's brother and heir) in the Court of Common Pleas [CP 40/78, rot. 38]. An inquisition in 1326 found that Isolt had seisin as Walter's widow, and that she and Hugh d'Audley were also seised until the manor was forfeited through Hugh's treason [Duncumb, History of the County of Hereford, vol. 3, p. 7].

Although the reference given for the grant of the Mortimer manor of Upper Arley, Staffordshire (now Worcestershire), to Walter de Balun and Isolt is incorrect, so that the document cannot be found, an inquisition in 1326 found that the grant had been only for the lives of Walter and Isolt [Calendar of Close Rolls, 1323-1327, p. 467].

The statement that Isolt brought Thornbury in Herefordshire to the Audleys seems to be the result of confusion with another place of the same name in Gloucestershire. The Gloucestershire Thornbury was inherited by Margaret de Clare, the wife of Hugh de Audley, the younger son of Hugh and Isolt [see Complete Peerage, vol. 1, pp. 346, 347], whereas the Herefordshire Thornbury was held by the Mortimers of Wigmore [Duncumb, History of the County of Hereford, vol. 2, part 1, pp. 203, 204].

[Most of the evidence, including that identifying Isolt's father, was provided by Douglas Richardson. The question was also discussed by Rosie Bevan, Cris Nash, John P. Ravilious, John Watson and Vickie Elam White.
Item last updated 26 August 2018.]