Roger de Somery of Dudley

  General Notes:

~Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700, 8th Edition, 55:29, 81:29, Roger de Somery,Lord of Dudley, Worcester, married Nichole d'Aubigny. ¹⁶⁰

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
Roger de Somery, uncle and heir. In 1229 he made an agreement with Maurice de Gant, granting to the latter Dudley and Sedgley for 7 years, and undertaking not to marry within that term without Maurice's consent. On 20 Apr 1230 he was granted protection. In 1233 his lands were seized because he had not come to be knighted; and in January 1233/4 he was appointed to remain at Shrewsbury to maintain order in those parts. On 11 Jul 1245 he was summoned to be at Chester with arms and horses; and on 30 Jul 1247 he had a grant of free warren at Chipping Campden, Gloucester, and Sedgley, Staffs. In 1251 he was in a commission; in May 1253 was going to Gascony; and on 3 Nov 1253 he was granted free warren at Clent. In December 1253 and January 1253/4 he was with the King.

In July 1257 Roger de Somery was summoned to Chester to go to Wales with the King. In 1258 he was one of 12 elected to treat with the King's Council, and one of the 24 appointed by the barons. In 1260 he was summoned to London and later to Shrewsbury, and on 11 Sep 1261 to St. Albans. In 1262 he was to be warned for building a castle at Dudley without licence. On 23 Dec 1262 he was summoned to be at Worcester, and on 25 May 1263 to be at Hereford. On 10 Aug 1263 he was directed to deliver to Hamon Lestrange the cos. of Salop and Staffs; and on 17 Oct was summoned to Windsor.

On 16 Mar 1263/4 Roger de Somery obtained licence to enclose his manor houses of Dudley, Staffs, and Weoley, Worcs, with a ditch and wall of stone, and fortify and crenellate them. On 30 Jan 1265/6 he was granted protection as going to the Marches on the King's service. In 1267 he was commissioned with others to hear complaints and to carry out the terms of the dictum of Kenilworth, and to complete the peace with Llewelin. In 1268 with Philip Basset and others he was elected by the Counties of Hereford, Salop, Staffs and Warwick, to act with the Council of the earls and barons; and was appointed as a commissioner to ordain the aid for a number of countics. In 1268 also he was appointed to settle affairs in the March; and on 28 Apr 1269 to hear contentions in Wales. On 12 Feb 1269/70 he was granted a market and a yearly fair at Newport (Pagnell), Bucks; on 16 Oct 1270 he was sent as envoy to Llewelin. In June 1271 he pronounced a sentence of excommunication against an official of Canterbury, which was subsequently cancelled by the Chancellor.

Roger de Somery married, 1^stly, Nichole, daughter and one of the coheirs of William de Aubigny, Earl of Arundel, by Mabel, sister and heir of Ranulph, Earl of Chester. He married, 2^ndly, in or before 1254, Amabil, widow of Gilbert de Segrave, daughter and coheir of Robert de Chaucombe, of Chalcombe, Northants. He died on or before 26 August 1273.

~Cokayne's Complete Peerage, 2nd Edition, Vol. XIIA, pp. 112-113, Vol. XIV, p. 586

  Information about this person:

• Background Information. ⁹⁰¹
On the Staffordshire Pipe Roll of 15 and 16 John (1212-14), the Earl of Salisbury was assessed for Poitou scutage on fifty knights' fees, from the payment of which he was exempted by writ, being probably with the King in Poitou. He was assessed in Staffordshire as having the custody of the barony of heir of Ralph de Somery. And on the roll of 17 John (Easter, 1215) it reads "hæres Randulphi de Someri, ls. de cremento de Swinford, et de Clent, et Mere, de hoc dimindio anno." Also the Testa de Nevill for Staffordshire enumerates among those who held "donatione domini Regis," the Earl of Salisbury, who it is stated hold the manors of Swinford, Clent and Mere, with the son and heir of Ralph de Somery in custodia, by the will of the King.

Roger married, as his first wife, Nichola d'Albini, the daughter of William d'Albini, and sister and one of the heirs of William and Hugh, successively Earls of Arundel and Surrey. By marriage to Nicola, Roger Acquired the manor of Campden, Gloucester, and in 28 Henry III (1244), upon partition of the land to the coheirs of William and Hugh, he gained the manor of Barrow-upon-Soar, Leicester. In 29 Henry III, 1245, he paid £51 for fifty-one knights' fee which he then held, and in 31 Henry III, 1247, he had a grant of free warren and a market and fair in Campden, and also a grant of free warren in his manor of Sedgley.

Roger de Somery accompanied the King in 37 Henry III to Gascony, his letters of protection while being absent were dated 20 May 1253. In the same year, by grant made in Gascony, he had free warren in all demesne lands in England, and a grant of a fair in his manor in clent, and in 38 Henry III, 1254, he was assssed to the aid for knighting the King's son. by writ dated at Coventry, 24 Jul 1256, he was directed by the King to proceed to Glamorgan, "cum tot servitio suo," fpr tje defense of those parts against the Welsh.

Nichola was dead before 20 Jan 1247, for on the Plea Rolls of 32 Henry II [axxizes at leicester, 20 Jan 1247] is a suit respecting hunting at Bradgate, in which Ralph de Somery, Nocola's son, is one of the plaintiffs. The second wife of Roger de Somery was Amabel, daughter and coheir of Robert de Chacomb, of Chacomb, Northampshire, and the widow of Gilbert de Segrave. The children of Roger and Nichola were Ralph, and four daughters who became coheirs to their mother. They were Margaret, who first married Ralph Basset of Drayton, and second to Ralph Cromwell of Tatteshall; Joan, wife of John le Strange of Knockyn; Mabel, wife of Walder de Suley; and Matilda, first married to Henry de Erdington and second to William Byfield.

~ Extracts From the Plea rolls of the Reign of Edward II, A.D. 1307-1327, pp. 14-21

Roger married Nichole d’Aubigné, daughter of William d’Aubigné Earl of Arundel and Mabel of Chester ^141,160.^,840 (Nichole d’Aubigné was born about 1195 in Barrow-on-Soar, Leicestershire, England and died before 1254 in England.)

Roger next married Amabil de Chaucombe, daughter of Robert de Chaucombe and Juliana de Cornhill ^141,160.^,840 (Amabil de Chaucombe was buried in Chaucombe Priory, ¹⁴¹.)