Vol 1: The Bluets - Lackham Countryside Centre

The Bluets 126
in any of the records held by the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre.
Then, in January 1361, 555 Peter and Margaret put forward an action to
“grant back and render the manors to be held directly by Peter and the
heirs of Peter‘s body” . This was a legal action called a Plea of Covenant
by which the plaintiff (Peter and Margaret) alleged that the defendants
( in this case John de Burbach the vicar of Helmerton church, and
Walter Fynamour) had failed to keep an agreement (to grant back and
render the land to Peter) 556 It was noted that this was a moiety of the
manors, and that the remainder (and, as it turned out, Peter‘s part as
well, there being no heirs) went to Edmund Baynard and his wife Eleanor
[Bluet, Margaret‘s younger sister] 557
Peter de Cusaunce was obviously important within the county – he was
Sheriff of Wilshire in 1377 and presented the rector to the church at
Hilperton in 1380.
In the windows of Silchester Church coats of arms relating to the
holding families of the manor could be found 558 . Each coat of arms was
in a separate window, and it might be that each was financed by
different members of the famil.
In his article on the history of Lackham 559 Kite gives a coat of
arms which includes those said to be of de Cusaunce 560
555
Actually the action (see next fn for reference) took place in the week beginning
on the Quin[dene] of Hil[ary] 35 Edw III which is the 21st of January 1361.
Hilary was “formerly, one of the four terms of the courts of common law in England,
beginning on the eleventh of January and ending on the thirty-first of the same
month, in each year; - so called from the festival of St. Hilary, January 13 th ”.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Hilary
556
Elrington CR (1974) (ed) Feet of Fines Edw III WRS Introduction, pp6-7
557
Elrington CR (1974) (ed) Feet of Fines Edw III WRS no 488 p118
558
Bishop Gibson, in Cambden‘s Brittanica (1695) describes three coats of arms, viz
in a field sable, seven fusils argent bendwise [Cusaunce], in a field sable, a fesse
between two chevrons or [Baynard] and in a field or an eagle displayed with two
heads gules [Bluet].
559
Kite, E (1899) Old Lackham House and its Owners Wilts. Notes and Queries vol
III
560
Kite credits this to John Withie (Harleian Ms#1443) and shows (top) Baynard.
Bluet, Cusaunce and below Ufford (aka Willoughby) Blake, and Baynard. The full