Grant - William Selby of Branxton 1476

[gloveg]

The attached Grant is in latin and I would be grateful if someone could help me with the gist of it.
Basically, I believe it is a Grant of the tower and manor of Branxton, together with lands in Paston and Wooller, from William Selby to his son, Oliver Selby, his legal male heirs with remainder to Roland Selby and his legal male heirs.
Would really appreciate an expansion on that and if it is likely that Roland Selby is also William's son.

I attach the Grant in three parts which fit together side by side.

Thanks,
Gerelle Lovegrove.

Part 1

[gloveg]

Part 2

[gloveg]

Part 3

[horselydown86]

It is as you have said - William Selbye Esquire gives grants and by this his present charter confirms to Oliver Selbye his son his tower and manor of Brankeston, with their appurtenances, in the County of Northumberland and all his lands and tenements, rents and services in the towns and territories of Brankeston Paukston and Wollar, with their appurtenances, in the same County, to have and to hold to Oliver and the legitimate male heirs of his body for ever of the chief lords of that fee by the services thence due and of right accustomed.

In case of failure of the legitimate male heirs of Oliver's body William wills that all the lands are to wholly remain to Roland Selbye under the same conditions.

Roland is stated to be the brother of Oliver.

At the end of line 7 and beginning of line 8 we have:  ...Rolando Selbye ff(rat)ri eiusdem Oliv(er)i...

In case of failure of the legitimate male heirs of Roland's body William wills that all the lands are to wholly remain ...p(ro)pinquori consanguineo meo masculo cognominio mei... which (if I have it right) is to my nearest male relative by my last name, under the same conditions as before.

William then gives a warranty against all men to Oliver, Roland and the nearest male relative (and the various male heirs) as laid out above.

I don't fully understand the last part.  It seems to involve two men - John Strother and Henry Gray - who seem to be his attorneys in ensuring peaceful seisin in the lands for Oliver.

**********************************************

Gerelle, would you please avoid (as much as is possible) splitting documents vertically like this.

It drives me mad switching from image to image while trying to keep the lines together.  This is exacerbated in these documents because the same words are used over and over again on successive lines.

If you can, please split the document horizontally, with about 6 - 8 lines per image, and ensure that at least one line from any image is repeated at the top of the following image.

This gives us the best presentation with which to work.

Don't worry about the image being too wide.  It should be OK for anything except some absurdly wide Chancery documents.

[gloveg]

Thank you very much. I did wonder if Roland was Oliver's brother. And it helps that no other sons were named, but it is interesting that he states that, if all else fails, he leaves the lands to another male relative of that name without stating who that might be, because there were quite a number of Selbys in North Durham at the time, but Branxton was not a part of North Durham, so Im wondering if he was directly related to them or not. It's been a question that has not been answered yet.
Sorry about the vertical splitting. It is a wide document and I was not sure if you would be able to read it if the writing was too small. I could get the writing bigger by vertically splitting it.
Again, thanks for your wonderful service. Really do appreciate it.
Cheers, Gerelle.

[gloveg]

I have one more question, regarding this document please.

Does anything in the Grant indicate that Oliver is a minor at the time the Grant is made, especially considering your statement about "John Strother and Henry Gray - who seem to be his attorneys in ensuring peaceful seisin in the lands for Oliver", or is it not possible to make this type of grant of lands to a minor?

Thanks, Gerelle.

[Bookbox]

I have one more question, regarding this document please.

Does anything in the Grant indicate that Oliver is a minor at the time the Grant is made, especially considering your statement about "John Strother and Henry Gray - who seem to be his attorneys in ensuring peaceful seisin in the lands for Oliver", or is it not possible to make this type of grant of lands to a minor?

First, I agree with horselydown86's transcription and interpretation.

I can't see anything here to indicate that Oliver is a minor. Anyone granting property could appoint attorneys to act on his behalf. I’m not aware of any age restrictions for the recipient of such a grant.

The last part reads:

Et ad deliberand(um) plena(m) &

pacifica(m) seisina(m) p(re)fato Oliv(er)o de & in Turri & man(er)io p(re)dict(is) ac de & in o(mn)ib(us) terris & tenement(is) Redditib(us) & servic(iis) p(re)dict(is) cu(m) eor(um) p(er)tinenc(iis)

se(cun)d(u)m vim forma(m) & effectu(m) p(re)sent(is) carte mee assignavi & loco meo posui dilectos michi in (Christo) Joh(ann)em Strother et Henricu(m) Gray

coniu(n)ctim & divisim attornatos meos speciales p(er) p(re)sentes  In cu(ius) rei testimo(nium) huic p(re)senti carte mee sigillu(m) meu(m) armor(um) apposui Dat(um)

apud Brankeston p(re)dict(um) vicesimo die *[mensis Septembris anno regni Regis Edwardi quarti] p(ost) conquestu(m) Anglie sextodecimo

And for delivering full and peaceful seisin to the aforesaid Oliver of and in the aforesaid tower and manor, and of and in all the aforesaid lands, tenements, rents and services with their appurtenances, according to the power, form and effect of my present charter, I have assigned and put in my place my beloved in Christ John Strother and Henry Gray, jointly and severally, as my special attorneys for these presents. In witness of which matter I have placed my seal of arms on this present charter. Given at Brankeston aforesaid on the twentieth day *[of the month of September in the sixteenth year of the reign of King Edward the Fourth] after the Conquest of England.

     * part of the dating clause is obscured in the fold, so this is best guess.