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de Clare,
THE HILTONS. 305
William Mowbray, William Beauchamp, William de Colvill, and
others, and as the arms of several of these are in the Minster, it is possible
that this cognizance may have been his.
In the Caerlaverock roll, one John de Lancaster is mentioned, whose
arms were argent two bars gules
;
on a quarter of the second a lion passant
guardant or. Dugdale says of him that " he was in that expedition made
" into Scotland, being in the retinue of Brian Fitz-Alan, of Bedale, in
" Yorkshire." Harris Nicolas says that he was the descendant of the
Governor of Lancaster Castle in the reign of Henry II., and that, 22
Edward I., he was summoned by the King to attend him with horse
and arms into France. These facts seem strongly to associate these arms
with him, the quarter mentioned being probably an augmentation of
honour, viz., one of the royal lions, granted to him in recognition
of his
personal services and perhaps valour in the Who field. can say what
deed of prowess may have merited such a distinction at the hands of a
Plantagenet He seems indeed to have continued in the ? royal favour, for
he was one of the King's sergeants for the county of Cheshire in the reign
of Edward III., and died s.p., 1334, when his barony became extinct.
But as this
shield is close to the window bearing the arms of Luterel,
I am disposed to assign them to Godfrey de Hilton, who bore argent two
bars azure, and who married Hawisia, daughter of Andrew Luterel, and
died 1459, having released all his rights in Winestead and Swine to his
nieces Isabel and Elizabeth, the former of whom married Robert Hildyard,
whose descendant still owns the property there. Godfrey de Hilton was
grandson of William de Hilton and Matilda, daughter of Roger de Lascelles,
of Kirby Underknoll. William de Hilton received, as his younger son's
portion from his father Robert de Hilton, lord of Hilton in Durham, these
same lands in Winestead and Swine, which he had inherited from his
grandmother Beneta, daughter and heiress of Gilbert Tyson, lord of Bridlington
and Malton.
There is much that is
very quaint and interesting about this family
of Hilton. First they bore as their crest Moses' head, horned or radiated.
The conventional representation of the Divine glory which flickered on his
face and made it shine. The statue of Moses by Michael Angelo, at Rome,
is an instance of this. There is an engraving in Surtees of the arms
on Hilton Castle, on the banks of the Wear, near Sunderland, surmounted
with a helmet richly mantelled, bearing Moses' head in " profile. The
horns resemble," he " says, poking sticks," but I should say, the horns on
the head of a snail. The Hiltons were also amongst the families whose
ancestors used supporters from ancient times (see page 72).
But, in addition,
they bore the title of baron, not from any peerage created by the Crown,
or from any summons to Parliament, for though Robert de Hilton, 1303-5,