THE PEERAGE O F IR EL A A N D. VISCOUNTS. TRACY, VISCOUNT TRACY. THE furname of TRACY was taken by this family 15 from a maternal ancestor, defcended from the Tracies, B De De Maigne) a noble Norman, whose fon Ralph was Earf of Hereford in the reign of his uncle, the Confeffor; and in 1051 raising forces in that county, joined Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and Siward, Earl of Northumberland against Goodwin, Earl of Kent, who, under pretence of restraining the Welch, had entered into rebellion against his Prince; but thofe Earls joining the King at Gloucester, and Goodwin perceiving an equal power to oppofe him, submitted to an amicable treaty, to be holden in London. After this, with Earl Odo, he was made admiral of above fifty fhips, and fent against Harold, Earl Goodwin's fon, who then infefted the English coaft; but when the Cónqueror was fettled on the throne, he deprived him of his Earldom; and his fon Harold, at the time of the general furvey of the poffeffions of lands in England, begun by the Conqueror 14 of his reign and finished the 20th ; poffeffing feveral Lordships, and fixing his chief refidence at Sudeley, was Lord thereof, and of Todingtune in the county of Gloucester. I He founded the little priory of Ewyas for Benedictine Monks, the castle whereof and other lands he fecured by his marriage with Maud, daughter of Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, (by his wife Ermentruda, daughter of Hugh de Claremont in Beauvoys 2), by whom he left two fons, John de Sudeley, his fucceffor in that barony; and Robert, furnamed D'Ewyas, from his refidence there, who poffeffed a very great eftate, part of which was Lydiard in the county of Wilts, and leaving an only child Sibylla, fhe was first married to Robert de Tregoz (after to Roger de Clifford) their fon Robert gave it the name of LydiardTregoz, and from them many honourable families in England defcended. John de Sudeley, Lord of Sudeley, by marriage with Grace, daughter of Traci, Baron of Barnstaple, had two fons, Ralph, Baron of Sudeley, founder of the Priory of Erdbury in Warwickshire, and progenitor of the Sudeleys, Barons of Sudeley, whofe heirs male failed in John, Lord Sudeley, in the reign of Edward III., and the title was conveyed by his eldest fifter Joan, to the family of her husband Sir William Butler (Boteler, of the family of Wemme) who were thereupon fummoned Peers of England; after whose extinction, it hath alfo given the title of Baron from Lodge's Collections, 2 Idem. the the first year of Q. Mary, 1554, to the family of his Grace the Duke of Chandos. William, the younger fon, was named Traci from his Sir mother, (a ufual cuftom in that age, for younger fons to William. affume their mothers furnames) and he, or fome of his pofterity differenced their coat-armour from the elder house of Sudeley, by adding an escallop, fable, between the bendlets, as now ufed.-This William de Traci lived in the reign of Henry II. and held lands of his brother Ralph, by the service of one Knight's fee; which probably was the manor of Todingtune, for it appears by Domesdaybook, that it was held by the Lord Sudeley of the manor of Sudeley; in the time of Edward I. the Tracies are exprefly faid to be poffeffed of it; and this William, in a deed, perfected by Otwell, Lord of Sudeley (fon and heir to the faid Ralph) is called his uncle *.-To him fucceeded his fon Oliver, who is mentioned among the knights in Gloucestershire, that paid fcutage in 2 of K. John; and Oliver: his fon William in 1263 being made sheriff of that county by the Barons, in oppofition to Sir Macy de Befeicke, a William. Frenchman, was affaulted by him as he was holding his court, and imprisoned in the caftle of Gloucester; whither the Barons fending Sir Roger Clifford, and Sir John Giffard to his rescue, they took the caftle, with Macy in it, and seized all his goods.In 1289 (17 Edw. I.) he is recorded among the Knights of the fame county; and, with Ralph de Sudeley his kinfman, is faid to command under that King, in his victorious expeditions to Scotland. Sir Sir He left iffue Sir William Tracy of Todington, who in Sir 1298 (27 Edw. I.) was in ward to Laurence Trefham, be- William, ing then certified to hold 40l. a year lands, and on that account qualified to receive the honour of Knighthood.In the beginning of Edward II. reign he was at the tourB 2 nament *Fuller, in his Worthies of England, makes this Sir William Traci of Toddington (whom he characterizes for a man of high birth, state and ftomach; a favourite of the King, and his daily attendant) to be one of the four, who 13 December 1170 (17 HenII.) were concerned in the affaffination of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, for his violent invafion of his fovereign's prerogative: but he had mistaken him for his contemporary Sir William Traci of Wollacomb in Devonshire, who lies there buried under a monument, with his effigies and armour engraven thercon; and this mistake was probably occafioned by Sir William Traci of Toddington's removal into that county in his old age, where he had large poffeffions, and who dying there about the year 1180, is fuppofed to lie buried in the church of Mort. nament held at Dunstaple, as appears by an old draught of a Knight in armour, bearing a standard with the arms of the family '; 12 of that King he was sheriff of the county of Gloucester, and again in the 17, jointly with John Bermanfel, an office in thofe times of great authority and jurifdiction. He left iffue a fon Henry, and a daughter Margery, married to John, fon of John Archer of Umberflade in the county of Warwick, who dying in 1299, (28 Edw. I.) left two fons, John, and Thomas, whofe defcendant Thomas in 1747 was created Lord Archer, Baron of Umberslade; which title became extinct in 1777. Henry. Henry Tracy, Efq. who fucceeded at Todington, was Henry. the father of another Henry, whofe fon Thomas was theThomas. riff of Gloucestershire in 1359 (34 Edw. III.) and fo continued four years fucceffively, fays Sir Robert Atkins, in his Survey of that county; but Dr. Fuller, in his Worthies, Sir John. makes John Tracy his fon to be the sheriff, whom he also places in that office Anno 1363 (38 Edw. III.) and for 5 years after. Which John reprefented the said county in the parliaments, held at Westminster 32. 37. 40. and 43Edw. III. and both authors agree that he was then a Knight, and fheriff again in 1370, (45 Edw. III.)—In 1362 he gave the advowson of the church of Todington and an acre of land to the abbey of Hales; and was sucHenry, ceeded by his fon Henry, father of John Tracy of TodJohn. ington, who was fheriff in 1379 (2 Richard III.), and left William. William Tracy, who bore the fame office in 1395, as did William. his fon William in 1416 (5 Hen. V.) and was one of those perfons of quality in the county of Gloucester, who, bearing ancient arms from his ancestors and holding lands by tenure, had summons in 1418 to ferve K. Henry V. in person for defence of the realm.-He married Alice, elder daughter and coheir to Sir Guy De-la-Spine (De Spineto) Lord of Coughton, and had iffue William his heir; John, living 27 Hen. VI. and Alice, married to Hugh Culme He was knight for Warwickfhire in the parliaments of K. Richard II. and Escheator of that county and of Leicestershire whofe father William held notable employments in the former county in Edward III's reign, and was grandfon to William De-laSpine, who married Johanna, daughter and coheir to Sir Simon de Cocton (now called Coughton) the lineal heir male of Ralph, fon of William de Cotton; who were all perfons of great account, and flourished at that place before the reign of Henry H. So that Lord Tracy may quarter the arms of those two families. ! Lodge Collect, |