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- Excerpt from "Notices of an English Branch of the Malet Family", by Arthur Malet, published 1885, p 31-32, appendices G6, G7, G8, G9, G10:
ROBERT MALET.
Robert Malet, according to Mr. Halstead,* bore as his coat of arms three escallops as borne by the Somerset Malets, and as this coat was first adopted by Baldwin Malet, and as no one unconnected with him could have taken his arms, I assume that Robert must have been a younger son of Baldwin's. As his father does not appear to have had any possessions in Buckinghamshire, it is to be presumed that he was rewarded by the King with lands in the Midland Counties, for the service which he rendered to the Crown.
We learn** from Sir A. M.'s MSS., vol. i, p. 26, that Robert Malet was entrusted by Edward I with the duty of arresting Lord Thomas de Weyland, the King's Chief Justiciary, who, being accused of malpractices during his master's absence from England, and being called to account on his return, had fled and taken sanctuary at Babbewell, near St. Edmund's Bury in Suffolk. This service he duly performed. He appears to have been Sheriff of the counties of Bedford and Buckingham*** in the 13th and 14th of the reign of King Edward I (A.D.1285). He witnessed the homage of John Baliol, King of Scotland, to King Edward I in 1293,+ and was Knight of the Shire for Buckinghamshire++ for several years up to the 17 Edward III, A.D. 1344. This Robert Malet had a daughter, Milicent, who married Laurentius de Broc,* from whose heiress are descended the Mordaunts, Earls of Peterborough.
* CHARTA D'NI ROBERTI MALET.
Robertus Malet omnibus hominibus et amicis suis sal: Sciatis me memet ipsum et haeredes meos obligasse perfacere Laurentio de Broc in libero maritagio cum Millicenta[sic] filia mea ducentos solidatos terrae in loco competenti ex illis quos teneo in comitatibus Cantabridgiae et Huntingtoniae sibi et haered: suis de dicta Mili- centa filia mea exeuntibus et hoc erit circa festum B: Mariae V: anno regni Regis Henrici vigessimo septimo. Et si ego Robertus Malet vel haeredes mei praedict: ducentos solidatos terrae in iisdem comitatibus praedicto Laur: de Broc et haeredibus suis de dicta Milicenta etc., warrantizare non possumus; ego Robertus Malet et haeredes mei faciemus praedicto Laur: de Broc et heared: suis de terris meis isn Quenton in comitatu Buckinghamiae ad valore praedictorum solidorum reddibus, etc. Test: Dno Walt: de Patshull, Steph: deLega , Tho's de Grimbald, Nich: de Bellocampo, Gervasio filio Reginaldi, Math: de Paddington, Joh'n de la Mole, Thos: Erdley, etc. Circa anno 27 H. III.
The arms assigned to this Malet by Mr. Halsted are three escallops as they are now borne by Malet of Somersetshire, ibid.,p. 23.
We also learn from the same authority that the Mordaunts, Earls of Peterborough are descended from this Malet by an heiress of Broc.
Interplacita coram concilio Regis a die Sancti Johannis Baptistae in tres septimanas anno vigesimo septimo Henrici III't? , Regis (1234) (Hunt).
Robertus Malet venit et convenit quod dedit Laurentio de Broc decem libratis terrae per extentum Dom'ni Regis in Huntingdonia et in Cantabrigia et si non erit tantum ibidem habebit in Quenton in comitatu Buckinghamiae.
** Sir A. M.'s MSS., Vol. I, p. 26.
Ex libro MSS. inscripto liber memorandorum Ecclesiae Conventualis de Barnwell in agro Cantabrigii, scripto sub Edwardo I, cujus apographam nunc habetur in Bibliotheca Harleyana.
Tempore illo quo incendebatur Ecclesia nostra de Barnwell [sc: sub Rege Edwardo I] erat Dominus Edwardus Rex Angliae in partibus transmarinis. Verum tamen in regressu suo in Angliam, auditis querelis multos cum rigore juris acriter punivit, et praecipue quatuor Justitiarios in Banco quos misit in carcerem in Turrim, viz., London, et post multos dies unus eorum, Will'us de Brampton nomine ut dicebatur, fecit redemptionem pro 6,000 marcis. Alius dictus Johannes de Lovetot pro 4,000 marcis. Quartus vero et principalis Justitiarius, Dominus Thomas de Weyland, timens sibi non et ausus comparere coram Rege, sed abiens fugit ad patres minores apud Babbewell juxta St. Edmundus [sc: Bury in Com: Suf:], et ibi recepit eorum habitum. Quod audiens Rex misit ibidem fidelem suum Robertum Maleth qui bene custodiret corpus praedicti Thomae, ne fugeret, et insuper praecipiens districtissime ne cibum vel potum ad sustentationem fratrum intrare quoquo modo permitteret. Praedictus vero Robertus complevit jussum Regis, et fecit per eos qui longe erunt et prope obsideri praed: locum in circuitu cum sollicitudine magna, fere per tres menses, non sine multis expensis totius comitatus, laboribus, vigiliis et frigore magno, quia tunc hyems erat. Qua propter onmes frates recesserunt, et hoc bene custodes permiserunt; nullum tamen exeuntem reverto permiserunt. Et sic tandem remansit in loco eodem dictus frater Thomas de Weyland, et duo tantum fratres cum eo, quorum unus erat laicus. Hi tres fratris inopem vitam duxerunt, et quasi fame et situ exaruerunt. Tandem idem frater Thomas resumpto habitu saeculari festinavit ad regem sub custodia, quod alibi divertere non poterat. Et cum perveniret London volens habere colloquium cum Rege ut abeo peteret veniam in magna humilitate; noluit Rex videre eum, sed praecipit ut associos suos Justitiarios duxeretur ad Turrim London et in vinculis coarctaretur. Et post paucos dies Rex per nuntios solennes dedit ei optionem in tribus; sed elegit tantum unam viam sc: abjurare regnum Angliae q'd et postea fecit, et tanquam unus de vilissimis scurris Angliae, tunica tantum vestitus, discalceatus, et nudo capite, accipiens et portans crucem in manu, tenuit altam stratam versus mare, et per noctes domum non introivit, et sic mare pertransiit. O quam erat mirabilis tanti viri subita mutatio! See also Holinshead's Chronicles, 17 Edward I, p. 284. [A.D. 1289.]
*** MSS., Vol I, Sup. I, p. 3.
Robert Malet, late Sheriff of the counties of Bedford and Buckingham, was behind in his accounts 13 and 14 Edward I A.D. 1285. Madox's History of the Exchequer, p. 696.
+ Vol. I, p. 8.
John Baliol, King of Scotland, does homage to King Edward I, in the presence of Robert Malet, Knt., 21 Edward I, Rymer's Faedera, Tom. I, pp. 593, etc., A.D. 1293.
++ Ibid., p. 27.
Gives the years Robert Malet was Knight ofthe Shire for Buckinghamshire, A.D. 1344; 4,5,6,8,15, 16, 19 Edward II; 6, 7, 14, 17, Edward III. See Prynn's Brevia Parl: Rediviva, pp. 13,14.
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