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Sir Neel/Nigel Loring, KG (c1320-1386), wearing his garter robes
over a tunic showing his arms. From the 1430 Bruges Garter Book made by
William Bruges (1375–1450). Sir Nigel was likely bearded with long hair, but when the illustration was made the style was clean-shaven.
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I once said to my book group, "We Americans are all descended from peasants." A member countered that she was descended from a noble family of Luxembourg. "All right," I conceded, "but the rest of your ancestors were probably peasants." She agreed that might be so. I believed this until, with a better understanding of 17th century immigration to Virginia and Maryland - those younger sons of aristocratic families fallen on hard times, seeking to make tobacco fortunes in the New World - I discovered that some individuals in our pedigree appear in recorded history.
In my previous blog I gave the lineage from William Rainey, our 6th great-grandfather, up to our 13th great-grandparents, Joan Acworth and Edward Waldegrave and their travails in Tudor times. HERE
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King Edward III's tomb, likely how he appeared in life.
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Generations earlier, during the reign of King Edward III (1312-1377), our ancestor, Sir Nigel Loring (c1320-1386), was famous in his lifetime as a courageous soldier during the Hundred Years War, loyal bodyguard in battle and household chamberlain in peace to the king's son, Edward, Prince of Wales, later called the Black Prince. I'm grateful to our very distant English cousin, Sue Valiant, who shares Joan Acworth's father, George Acworth (1478-1530), as our common ancestor (as well as Sir Nigel). She's permitted me to quote from her 50 page biography, titled Sir Nigel Loring, His Life and Times, that she posted on Ancestry. Her passages are in italics.
The lineage beyond George Acworth (1478-1530), our 14th great-grandfather, is through George's mother, Elizabeth Broughton (c1450 - c1515), her father Sir John Broughton (c1407 - c1489), his mother, Mary Pever (c1375 - c1409), and her mother, Margaret Loring (c1355 - c1424). Margaret and her older sister Isabel were Sir Nigel Loring's surviving children and his heirs. The Loring family had been in possession of the Manor of Chalgrave, Bedfordshire, since Albert of Lorraine became court chaplain to William the Conqueror and appeared in the Domesday Book of 1086 in possession of Chalgrave and nearby lands. Apparently, Albert, a Norman, had been chaplain to Edward the Confessor, son of Emma of Normandy, during his kingship, and simply passed his allegiance to his kinsman, William, upon the defeat of Harold at Hastings. Priests could marry until the Church forbade it in 1139.
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County Bedfordshire, England
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Sir Nigel (sometime Neel) Loring (c1320-1386) is our 19th great-grandfather. Hard to wrap your mind around this, I know. He spoke Anglo-Norman, French, and probably a soldier's English.
In the 14th century people lived closer to heaven than to earth, faith was strong, life difficult, eyes ever lifted Godward. Wars were blessed as righteous. Civilians, men, women and children, might be hacked to death after a French town fell to warn towns farther on not to resist the might of King Edward of England, but such slaughter was not a sin. Chivalry was not what we imagine. In wartime human life had no value except for ransom to fill the coffers of the king and to enrich his armies as he fought for the throne of France, claimed through his mother Isabelle. Sir Nigel Loring believed with a simple and steadfast heart that his military prowess in the name of King Edward and Prince Edward was righteous and godly. He became one of the great knights of the realm. The 14th century has been called a 'distant mirror' of our own times. You decide.
The years of Nigel’s early life would have been difficult for his father, [Sir] Roger, as this was when Roger
Mortimer and Queen Isabella overthrew Edward II and took power for themselves in the name of
Isabella’s son Edward. On 21st January 1327 Edward II was forced to abdicate and Edward III became
King. Roger Loring would have had to choose sides during the turbulent years at the end of the reign
of Edward II. . . In October 1330 when Edward III was strong enough to turn on Mortimer, . . . Roger Loring successfully chose
the winning side and was in a position to
place his son Nigel Loring in the household of
Edward III.
At about age eight, Nigel would have been placed in the household of another knight to learn a knight's craft. By 1335, at fifteen, he was still in training in the royal household. In 1340, his training complete, he was chosen to accompany Edward III on his Flanders campaign. A large French fleet stopped the English fleet at the mouth of the River Zwin and the Battle of Sluys ensued on 24 June.
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| A miniature of the Battle of Sluys from Jean Froissart's Chronicles, 15th century |
The smaller English boats used grappling hooks, long bows, and hand-to-hand fighting to defeat and destroy the French fleet, ensuring future battles would occur on the continent. The king was 28 and Nigel about 20. After the battle the king knighted Nigel for bravery and granted him £20 per year to maintain his estate of knighthood. Through the years Nigel would have difficulty receiving full payment. A king might possess wealth in lands, but gold and silver were often scarce.
The new knight had to establish himself and acquire all the equipment he needed. Knighthood was
expensive. Nigel had very little money of his own at this stage so might have had to ask for parental
help until the money promised by the king was paid. Armour and special horses were a basic
expense. A knight used a comfortable palfrey for riding and training and only mounted his war horse
(destrier) when he was about to fight. Then there was the cost of tournaments and the special armour
and weapons needed for them. A knight was expected to follow an affluent lifestyle especially if he
was in the household of the King or the Prince of Wales. Whilst he was in the royal household his
food and lodgings might be found but when on government work attending courts and on diplomatic
missions then expenses had to be paid out of the knightly pocket and reimbursed if and when possible.
He would need to employ pages, squires, grooms and body servants to look after himself, his armour
and his horses. His squires would also need horses, usually hackneys, and his equipment had to be
carried on pack horses or on a wagon. As a knight he had the right to bear arms and the arms of Nigel
Loring were Quarterly argent [silver] and gules [red] a bend engrailed [edge of concave curves] sable [black].
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| Sir Nigel Loring's coat of arms, likely already held by the family for a few generations.
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A joust
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In February, 1342, 250 helmeted knights assembled for the tournament at Dunstable near Nigel's home, a place where tournaments had been held for about two hundred years. With much pageantry,
parading and preliminary jousting, the main event, the great mêlée, in which two armies
attempted to unseat and capture opponents for ransom and horses, did not begin until the sun was going down, leaving little time for ransoms to be won or lost. It's believed to have been the last mêlée-tournament held in
England. Nigel's grandfathers and his father Roger had participated in earlier tournament mêlées.
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A tournament mêlée in 1300
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Nigel fought in Brittany in 1342 when King Edward and King Philip IV of France backed rival claimants for the Duchy of Brittany.
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Brittany, France
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It was the dispute over whether Gascony belonged to the English king or to the French king that began the Hundred Years' War. In October 1344 Nigel was a member of a group of Edward III's personal friends sent to negotiate with nobles in Gascony regarding their allegiance prior to Edward's deciding whether to deploy military forces.
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Gascony, a Basque area
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Edward III's possession of Aquitaine was also weakening and Nigel served under the command of Henry Grosmont, Earl of Derby (later Duke of Lancaster), sent in the king's name to take command of Aquitaine.
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Henry Grosmont, Earl of Derby, later Duke of Lancaster, in his Garter robes
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Modern Aquitaine in France
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At the age of 25 Nigel was sent on his first recorded diplomatic mission as envoy to the Papal Court at
Avignon to report to the Pope about the peace negotiations in Gascony. The new pope, Clement VI,
was a Frenchman who had served King Philip as Chancellor. Clement was pro French and anti
English in the dispute between the two Kings.
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Papal Court at Avignon
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Pope Clement, aware that Edward III was preparing for war, wrote to King Edward of his irritation that the Earl of Derby had refused to come himself, but asked the king to prolong the truce for a year.
On the same day the Pope wrote to Henry, earl of Derby in Gascony. ‘The pope has heard, by Nigel
de Loring, knight, that which makes him grieve the more at the non-arrival of the earl, to whom he
was ready to concede whatever should make for peace.’ This shows that Nigel spoke to the Pope in
person. Six days later on 26 April 1345, the Pope was writing to King Philip of France passing on
secret information gleaned from the English delegation. . . .
It is interesting to note that Nigel used the occasion of his official visit to make a personal petition to
the pope on behalf of his younger brother John Loring [a cleric]. ‘Nigel Loring, knight of the earl of Derby,
sometime the king's ambassador to the pope. Whereas, on behalf of his brother, John Loring, of the
diocese of Lincoln, a petition was made for a benefice in the gift of the abbot and convent of
Ramesey, value 100l, notwithstanding that he was in his seventeenth year, which was granted for a
benefice, without cure of souls, to the value of 30 marks; and as the said grant is useless, the pope is
prayed to grant a dispensation to the said John to hold benefices.
Granted to the amount of 50 marks with cure of souls, 30 without, Dated as above 28th July 1345.[citation omitted]
As the war began in France in 1345, Nigel contracted to fight for Henry Grosmont, Earl of Derby. In a knight's contract, called an 'indenture', was a valuation for his warhorse, with a promise of recompense should the horse be lost in battle.
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| A knight's most valuable possession, his destrier. |
Over his armour every knight wore a [cloth] coat of arms with his blazon on it. This identified him when he
was fully armoured and unrecognizable by friend and foe. The coat of arms allowed a knight to
decide which enemy knight to fight with the object not of killing him but of taking him prisoner and
ransoming him. After skirmishes and battles there was a market where prisoners were bought, sold
and exchanged. Selling his prisoner gave a knight more readily available money and no problems
awaiting ransoms. Indentures provided for all ransoms more than £500 to be for the king, with
compensation. Soldiers had to give a third of their prize money to their captain and he had to give a
third of his gains to the king. Capturing prisoners and guarding them was a problem in the heat of
battle and diminished the efficiency of the fighting unit. Such was the honour among knights that
once captured their captor could ask them to leave the battle and not continue to fight and come back
when the battle was over to arrange their ransom. The prisoner would usually hand over some part of
his arms in pledge to his captor. Lesser men were killed outright.
The strongest English weapon was the chevauchée, raiding deep into France, killing, plundering and burning towns and villages, taking wealthy prisoners for ransom, forcing towns to submit to the English king to avoid destruction, thereby putting the French king to disadvantage because neither army really wanted a destructive battle. Only Church property was respected.
Sir Nigel fought in the division of Henry Grosmont, now Earl
of Lancaster, in Gascony in 1346, providing 3 esquires and a hobelar - a lightly mounted infantryman. It's believed Nigel was at the siege
of Calais when the city fell on 4 August 1347, after nearly a year of assaults. Edward, Prince of Wales, was also present.
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Depiction of a French town under siege
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In September 1347 a peace treaty was agreed, planned to last until 8 July 1348. It was to cover
France, Scotland and Flanders. Edward and his knights returned home to England to celebrate their
military successes with tournaments, hunting and spending their prize money. The nation was
ecstatic. The news of the victories was announced from the pulpits and proclaimed at the market
cross. It was said that no woman in England lacked for a new gown or jewellery as so much wealth
was brought back from France. The joy did not last long as the pestilence came to England.
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Depiction of burial of plague victims
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We now call it the Black Death but at the time it was referred to as ‘the pestilence’. It arrived in
Southampton in August 1348. In September the plague was in Dorset and by November it had
reached London. In New Year 1349 the plague swept through south England killing around 40% of
the population. By March the food supply had collapsed, law and order had broken down and the
economy was suffering deflation. The chronicler Henry Knighton described it. ‘And there was a great
cheapness of all things for fear of death, for very few took any account of riches or of possessions of
any kind. A man could have a horse which was formerly worth forty shillings for half a mark (6s 8d),
a big fat ox for four shillings, a cow for twelve pence, a heifer for sixpence, a fat wether for
fourpence, a sheep for threepence, a lamb for tuppence, a large pig for fivepence and a stone of wool
for ninepence. Sheep and oxen strayed through the fields and among the crops, and there was no one
to drive them off or to collect them, but they perished in uncounted numbers throughout all districts
for lack of shepherds, because there was such a shortage of servants and labourers.[citation omitted] To add to this there was cattle pestilence and heavy rain began to fall. Sheep and cattle died and crops
failed. In January 1349 the king and his court went into the country and probably because they
generally lived in more hygienic and airier conditions than the normal populace none of the knights of
the garter died of the plague. About 25% of their contemporaries between the ages of 21-35 died. By
autumn 1349 Henry Knighton tells us ‘no one could get a reaper for less than eightpence with food, or
a mower for less than twelvepence with food. For this reason many crops perished in the fields for
lack of harvesters’. In 1348 a ploughman earned about 2 shillings a week. By 1350 this had risen to
10 shillings. Landowners who did not have enough cash (rents could not be paid by dead tenants) had
to sell off parts of their estates cheaply in order to avoid bankruptcy. All this affected Nigel as he
looked to his manor of Chalgrave and started to buy more land.
The royal court kept away from London and Edward III ruled by decree. The country was in
economic meltdown but Edward went ahead with his plans to inaugurate the Order of the Garter
which he did on 23 April 1349. Nigel is well documented as one of the first Knights of the Garter.
He had the 10th stall on the Prince’s side. Nigel was 28 by this time and had been knighted only 8
years and yet he was picked as one of the original 26 Garter Knights.
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Sir Nigel Loring as a founding member of the Knights of the Order of the Garter
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The actual function of the order was almost exclusively religious. It was a serious and solemn
foundation. Knights of the Garter had to celebrate mass for dead knights and assist in the
maintenance of the college of canons at Windsor. Every time they passed through Windsor the KG
had to hear mass at the chapel. They all had to be present at the St George’s day feast to hear mass
unless they were absent by the king’s leave. If they were absent they were to celebrate the feast
themselves as if they were at Windsor. One of the secular rules was that no KG was to be seen in public without his garter.[ Richard Barber, Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine, Boydell 1978] The Garter was an order of chivalry and something should be said of what
chivalry meant in the fourteenth century. Its major components were loyalty and prowess. Prowess
was noted from individual achievement on the battlefield or the tournament. It was the most esteemed
of the qualities of a soldier. Prowess combined skill at arms with great daring. Prowess was
honoured above generalship or strategy. Command was given to the most senior noble on campaign
without regard to fitness for office and strategy was not a recognised military skill of the time. To be
one of the original knights, Nigel must have convinced the king of both his loyalty and prowess.
In about 1348 Nigel, now a rich man, married Margaret Beauple, daughter of Sir Ralph Beauple of
Knowstone in Devon and Elizabeth Bloyou, our 20th great-grandparents. They were large landowners and Margaret brought Beaworthy as her marriage jointure; in 1371 she inherited her father's other lands. Nigel served in France with Sir Ralph Beauple in 1355, so they might well have known each other on an earlier campaign.
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Knowstone is in north Devon.
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In 1350 Nigel was sent on a diplomatic mission to the Low
Countries. He was commissioned with others to treat with [King Edward's wife] Queen Philippa's sister, the Empress
Margaret, concerning payments due to the king for the government of the Low Countries in Zealand,
Holland and Friesland [citation omitted]. This was a responsible mission. He is authorised to negotiate with the
Empress Margaret and her advisors about financial matters and tasked with getting the Empress to
hand over monies owed to Edward III.
Nigel entered the household of Edward, Prince of Wales, about 1350, and by1355 had become his chamberlain, one of the three highest household offices.
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Edward, Prince of Wales, in his Garter robes
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The chamberlain was the closest personal servant to the prince. The post carried an
immense amount of influence and responsibility and it was usually held by men who were close
personal friends. The chamberlain had responsibility for the treasure and the jewels and for
controlling both written and personal access to the prince. Petitions brought to the prince would
normally have been endorsed by the chamberlain. He attended personally on the prince and vetted
those who were either allowed to see the prince or turned away. It is fairly safe to assume that the
prince trusted Nigel and that he liked him enough to have him with him during the most part of every
day. He must also have trusted his judgement. He was part of the prince’s permanent staff. As
chamberlain he would have been busy with all the coming and going and messengers between the
prince’s commanders, the council in London and the king on campaign in Scotland. The pope also
sent nuncios to the prince and his commanders to try to stop the campaign and the war. Nigel must
have had a team of knights and squires he could use as messengers between all these people.
Nigel was about to accompany Edward, Prince of Wales, later called the Black Prince, perhaps because of his brutality to the French citizenry, on campaign in France. He was a member of the prince's war council while in England and again after landing in France in September 1355. In October the prince began a chevauchée into Aquitaine, during which he pillaged Avignonet and Castelnaudary, sacked Carcassonne, and plundered Narbonne. After 58 days, they headed for winter quarters.
Nigel spent the winter in Bordeaux with the prince. As his chamberlain and close friend, he was never given a military command because his purpose was to counsel the prince and to physically protect him, especially in battle.
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While in France, the prince allegedly lost his signet ring and used Nigel's to stamp wax seals on documents. In 1866 the prince's signet ring was discovered at Montpensier in the Auverne, which he had pillaged in 1356. It now rests in the Louvre. The ring is gold, originally enameled, set with a carved ruby.
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Detail of carved ruby on the Black Prince's signet ring.
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The next year, 1356, on another chevauchée, the prince ravaged the Auverne, Limousin, and Berry, but failed to take Bourges. He offered terms of peace to King Jean II of France, who had outflanked him near Poitiers, but refused to surrender himself as the price of their acceptance. This led to the Battle of Poitiers, in which the prince's army routed the French and took King Jean prisoner. (After some ransom was paid and lands granted to Edward III, Jean was released in 1360 to raise more ransom, and his son Louis exchanged for him at Calais; learning his son had escaped Calais, King Jean voluntarily returned to captivity and died in England in 1364).
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King Jean II of France, painted on board c. 1350 during his lifetime.
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On the eve of the battle of Poitiers, Sir Nigel, two other knights, and two yeomen were chosen as the prince's personal bodyguard, likely because they were the best fighters to defend the heir to the throne. Because they were unable to capture their own prisoners for ransom, the prince doubtlessly handsomely rewarded Sir Nigel and the others. The Battle of Poitiers is still considered a great English victory HERE
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Battle of Poitiers by Eugene Delacroix in 19th century
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Nigel was sent at
the end of October 1356 along with Sir Roger Cotesford to take a personal message from the prince to
the king [citation omitted] and to give a full, personal report to the king as a trusted member of the prince’s household
who was there with the prince and in the war council. Nigel also took a letter to the Mayor, Aldermen
and people of London from the prince. The letter was copied into the letter books of the City and so
its contents have survived.[citation omitted] The letter to the Mayor of London says that if he wants to know more he
should ask Sir Nigel Loring who is described as our very dear and beloved knight. The mayor and
aldermen were asked to give Nigel their trust in his word as he was speaking from his own
knowledge. Nigel would also have been able to tell the king what the prince’s thoughts were for the
next stage of the campaign. Instructions and communication of the views of the king and his council
was equally important and Nigel and Cotesford would have brought these back with them when they
returned to Bordeaux. Since Nigel was involved with the peace negotiation and had instructions from
the king it is likely he returned as soon as a ship could take him, probably before Christmas. The record of the award made to Nigel after the battle of Poitiers tells us that he was there and that he
was one of the men in the prince’s personal bodyguard that day. ‘Our dear and well loved
chamberlain Neel Loheryn in Gascony and in particular the battle of Poitiers where he was assigned
to our body is granted £403 6s 8d’.[citation omitted]
This was worth £238,000 in 2012.[citation omitted]
The Prince of Wales returned to England with his armies, booty, and King Jean, to great celebration.
It was probably about this time that the
prince gave him the manor of Trematon in Cornwall for his lifetime. On Nigel’s death it reverted to
the Duchy of Cornwall. . . Nigel was awarded a pension of £83 6s 8d per year. No
previous expedition had brought back so many rich prisoners or so much wealth.
In about 1359 Nigel rented a house in London so his wife Margaret and their two daughters could come to court. That same year the prince gave Nigel lands in Wales.
In 1359 King Edward again declared war on France, and Nigel accompanied the prince there in October. For seven months the King's armies pillaged, burned and foraged, but King Jean's son, the dauphin, refused to meet in battle. On May 10, 1360, Nigel was a witness to the Treaty of Brétigny, in which King Edward renounced his claim to the French throne in return for Aquitaine, about one-third of France, in full sovereignty, and the English returned home. Between November 1360 and October 1361, Nigel was one of the commissioners in the transference of towns, castles and lands in Aquitaine from the French to the English, and also to cause issues, rents, revenues and other emoluments
thereof arising to be levied to the king's use, to take in his name oaths of fealty of nobles
and others, to depute and establish justices, provosts, bailiffs and other ministers and
officers. It called for being a good administrator and keeping meticulous records. Nigel was about 40 years old. He was still chamberlain to the Prince of Wales, and so must have spent more time in London than in Aquitaine, and managed his clerks and lawyers from there.
In 1363, the Prince of Wales and Aquitaine moved his court to Aquitaine. Nigel and his wife Margaret were a part of the court at Bordeaux until 1367. Those must have been heady days. In August 1363 the Prince petitioned Pope Urban V for a portable altar for his steward and for Nigel, his chamberlain, because they traveled so often about Aquitaine and could then hear mass privately.
‘Edward, prince of Aquitaine and Wales: On behalf of the steward of his household, Thomas de
Felton, knight, and Joan his wife, for a portable altar. The same: For the like on behalf of his
chamberlain, Nigel Loring, knight, and Margaret his wife. Granted for six years’
In 1362 Pedro, king of Castile had signed an Anglo Castilian alliance. . . The French were
supporting Pedro’s brother Enrique who was his rival for the throne of Castile. The alliance only
allowed the English to fight the French within Castile. In 1365 the French sent the ‘free companies’
that were causing havoc in France to fight the Moors in southern Spain. In fact the real motive for
sending them to Spain was to help Enrique in Castile against his brother Pedro. King Pedro invoked
the Anglo Castilian treaty in the autumn of 1365. It was too late and Enrique defeated his brother and
was crowned king of Castile in the spring of 1366. King Pedro was in exile in Portugal by early June
1366. At the end of June he returned to Galicia, which was still holding out against Enrique and it
was here that Nigel was sent as one of the prince’s ambassadors to discuss what King Pedro required.
The prince then sent Nigel and three other knights to England to discuss the Spanish campaign with
King Edward [citation omitted]. Nigel was able to spend about 6 months in England. . . .
He was only about 46
years of age but he had made a great deal of money which he had invested in new property. He
started to enhance his manors by building parks at some of them. Permission to build a park was a
reward from the king. It meant that Nigel was given permission to hunt on his own land. Technically
he was given the right of ‘free warren’ which meant he had the right to keep a pack of hounds and
hunt game (not deer or boar). This was a right normally reserved to the king and nobility. . . He was given the right to build hunting parks at Chalgrave,
Beaworthy and Porlock.
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19th century depiction of the Black Prince crossing the Pyrenees with his army in February 1367
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In February 1367, the prince, Nigel, and the prince's armies crossed the Pyrenees in snow and ice to help King Pedro regain the throne of Castile from his half-brother, Enrique. It's a complicated story of treachery and intrigue, resulting in the victorious Battle of Nájera in April. HERE Afterward, the prince wanted payment for his armies from Dom Pedro, who went to Seville to raise money, but failed to return. Nigel was sent with others to discover why. By late summer the prince's army was suffering from hunger, malaria and dysentery, including the prince, who took his depleted army back over the Pyrenees and reached Bayonne in September.
Relations with the French were worsening and by early 1369 war was imminent. Nigel was still being
named as chamberlain to the Prince and was one of his councillors named on 17th October 1369 when
the City of Poitiers was granted rights of high justice. The prince had been ill with dysentery ever
since returning from Spain and much of the routine administration work must have been devolved to
his councillors. French and English raids began again. The prince oversaw the long siege of Limoges
and when the city fell he ordered the execution of 3,000 inhabitants including women and children.
Then he set fire to the city. . . [I]n 1369 Nigel
served with Sir Robert Knolles in his expedition into the Agenois at the siege of Domme and the
following year with John Hastings second earl of Pembroke in Poitou. . . The Prince of Wales was back in England by April 1372. Nigel returned with
him.
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Siege of Limoge
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Nigel had served ten years with the prince in Aquitaine. At the time of his knighthood the king had awarded him £20 per year to maintain his estate as a knight. In 1371 he was forced to remind the king he had not been paid for the previous ten years. King Edward ordered payment, worth £255,700 at 2013 purchasing power, or about $330,807. Patience was the hallmark of those serving the royal household. Nigel continued to acquire lands and manors - what else would a successful knight do with war booty? His two daughters became wealthy heiresses.
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Likly where Nigel's daughter Margaret, our ancestress, married. All Saints Church, close to Chalgrave Manor, consecrated in 1219. It lost its tower in a storm.
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In about 1372, upon his return to England, Nigel's daughter, our ancestress Margaret (c1355-1424), married their Bedfordshire neighbor, Thomas Pever/Pevre (c1346-1429), who had inherited his father's estate in 1361. They became our 18th great-grandparents. Pever's estate, Toddington, was a half-mile from Chalgrave, which Margaret inherited on her father's death. She brought land in Devon and Bedfordshire as a marriage jointure. Although it must have been an arranged marriage, she no doubt knew Thomas Pever and hopefully entered the marriage with contentment. He was eleven years older, but he outlived her.
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Edward the Black Prince's tomb in Canterbury Cathedral
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The Prince of Wales wasted away with dysentery until his death in June 1376. Sir Nigel Loring likely served him until his end. Nigel is not mentioned on any court roll after the prince's death, and so must have retired to his estates, but the prince, knowing his end was near, had made certain that lands and rents he'd given Nigel in 1358 would be paid after his death. In 1378 the following was enrolled in the Close
Rolls.
‘To the justice and chamberlain of North Wales, and all sheriffs, escheators and other the king's
ministers there for the time being. Order to suffer Nigel de Lohereyn the king's knight to hold and
enjoy the boroughs of Nevyn and Purthely, the fee farms and manors thereof, the services of all
tenants, wards, marriages etc. within boroughs and without, the pastures, fisheries, woods, mills,
multures etc. thereto pertaining and 4l [£4] of yearly rent due for repairs of the said manors, according
to letters patent of E. prince of Wales, dated 21 July in the fifteenth year of his principality, [1358]granting the premises to the said Nigel and to the heirs of his body as fully as the prince himself
had the same. By p.s. [456.]’[citation omitted]
Sir Nigel Loring lived in retirement on his estates for ten years prior to his death.
Nigel left a will dated 12 March 1385 in which he asked to be buried in the conventual church of the
Order of Saint Augustine at Dunstaple in the diocese of Lincoln, near his wife [not named], who was
buried there. His mansion and shops, etc., in the parish of Saint Andrew near Baynards Castle [in London] were to
be sold for pious and charitable uses [citation omitted]. The will was proved 18th October 1386. This tells us that
Margaret had died before him and was buried at Dunstable so her death had taken place in the ten
years since their return from Aquitaine. Presumably by March 1385 he was either ill or beginning to
feel weak. However, he lived on for another year and died on 18th March 1386. He was buried at
Dunstable Priory on 25th March 1386. He was 66 years old.
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Dunstable Priory where Sir Nigel was buried
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Believed to be a memorial effigy of Sir Nigel Loring in All Saints Church in Chalgrave, Bedfordshire
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The will has a long list of bequests to
orders of friars, nunneries and churches in the 13 parishes where he held lands. The only personal
goods mentioned are a gold circlet valued at £40 and 2,367 great marguerite pearls specially prized
possessions which were to be shared between his two daughters. His real estate had already been
settled on his trustees for division between his two daughters. His daughter Margaret received the
manor of Chalgrave but the manor house, the outhouses and barns and the stock pens and fish ponds
were divided between the two sisters.
No trace of Chalgrave Manor exists. The land it stood was plowed after World War II and now is covered by a golf course.
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Loring arms surrounded by the Order of the Knights of the Garter
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P.S. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote two historical novels that feature Sir Nigel Loring. Although Doyle was proud of these best-sellers, they are not historically accurate about Loring himself, but perhaps are of the times. Although I downloaded for free The White Company and Sir Nigel from Amazon, I found them difficult to get into.
