The Honour of Wallingford was a medieval English

England in the Middle Ages

England in the Middle Ages concerns the history of England during the Medieval period — from the end of Roman rule in Britain through to the Early Modern period...

 honour

Honour (land)

In medieval England, an honour could consist of a great lordship, comprising dozens or hundreds of manors. Holders of honours often attempted to preserve the integrity of an honour over time, administering its properties as a unit, maintaining inheritances together, etc.The typical honour had...

 (a large estate

Estate (house)

An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...

) located circa 1066 to 1540 in present-day Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

.

The Honour of Wallingford was established after the Norman conquest of England

Norman conquest of England

The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...

, which began in 1066. The Honour initially encompassed Wallingford and Harpsden

Harpsden

Harpsden is a village and civil parish just south of Henley-on-Thames in South Oxfordshire.-History:Remains of a Roman villa have been found about southwest of the village....

 and thereafter gained numberous other manors. The Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 records that in 1086 Alkerton

Alkerton

Alkerton is a village in Gloucestershire, England....

 had two main manors

Manorialism

Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...

. In the late 11th century Miles Crispin

Miles Crispin

Miles Crispin , also known as Miles or Milo of Wallingford, was a wealthy Norman landowner, particularly associated with Wallingford Castle in Berkshire...

 held the larger of these as part of the Honour of Wallingford. After Crispin's death in 1107 his widow Maud supported the Empress Matilda

Empress Matilda

Empress Matilda , also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood...

 during the Anarchy

The Anarchy

The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...

. When King Stephen defeated Matilda, Maud entered a religious house and King Stephen gave her estate to Henry, Duke of Normandy

Henry II of England

Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...

. This made Aston Rowant

Aston Rowant

Aston Rowant is a village and civil parish about south of Thame in South Oxfordshire, England. The parish includes the villages of Aston Rowant and Kingston Blount, and adjoins Buckinghamshire to the southeast....

 part of the Honour of Wallingford. The Honour of Wallingford also included Newton Purcell

Newton Purcell

Newton Purcell is a village in Newton Purcell with Shelswell civil parish in Oxfordshire, southeast of Brackley in neighbouring Northamptonshire.-Early history:...

. Until the 13th century, Chesterton, Oxfordshire

Chesterton, Oxfordshire

Chesterton is a village and civil parish on Gagle Brook, a tributary of the River Bure in Oxfordshire. The village is about southwest of the market town of Bicester...

 was part of the honour. In 1360 Pyrton

Pyrton

Pyrton is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about north of the small town of Watlington and south of Thame.The toponym is from Old English meaning "pear-tree farm".-Archaeology:...

 manor was recorded as part of the honour.

In the 13th century the Honour of St. Valery passed to the Earl of Cornwall, who at that time also held the Honour of Wallingford. When Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall

Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall

Edmund of Cornwall of Almain was the 2nd Earl of Cornwall of the 7th creation.-Early life:Edmund was born at Berkhamsted Castle on 26 December 1249, the second and only surviving son of Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall and his wife Sanchia of Provence, daughter of Ramon Berenguer, Count of Provence,...

 died childless in 1300, however, the Honour of St. Valery passed to the Crown

The Crown

The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...

. By 1414, the Honour of St. Valery was part of this honour. In 1540 the honour was separated from the Duchy of Cornwall by Act of Parliament

Act of Parliament

An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...

 (32 Hen. 8 c. 53), at which point it became part of the newly created Honour of Ewelme.

Recipients of the Honour of Wallingford include Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall, who was given it together with Cornwall by Edward II

Edward II of England

Edward II , called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...

 in 1307 (see Materials in cornish law

Materials in cornish law

This is a list of charters promulgated by kings of England that specifically relate to Cornwall. Various such charters were issued from 1201 to 1508. Having been incorporated into the Kingdom of England late in the Anglo-Saxon period, the constitutional status was unlike that of the rest of England...

). Thomas Chaucer

Thomas Chaucer

Thomas Chaucer was the Speaker of the English House of Commons and son of Geoffrey Chaucer and Philippa Roet.-Life:...

 was given the honour by Henry IV

Henry IV of England

Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...

 in 1399. William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk

William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk

William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, KG , nicknamed Jack Napes , was an important English soldier and commander in the Hundred Years' War, and later Lord Chamberlain of England.He also appears prominently in William Shakespeare's Henry VI, part 1 and Henry VI, part 2 and other...

 became constable of Wallingford Castle

Wallingford Castle

Wallingford Castle was a major medieval castle situated in Wallingford in the English county of Oxfordshire , adjacent to the River Thames...

 in 1434 and at the time of his murder in 1499 his properties included the honour. These passed to his wife (daughter of Thomas Chaucer) Alice de la Pole

Alice de la Pole

Alice de la Pole, Duchess of Suffolk was an English Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.Alice was born Alice Chaucer, daughter to Thomas Chaucer and Matilda Burghersh. Her grandfather was the poet Geoffrey Chaucer. When she was 11 she married Sir John Philip. The couple lived briefly at...

. Their son John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk

John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk

John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, KG , known as "the Trimming Duke". He was the son of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Alice Chaucer, daughter of Thomas Chaucer.-Life:...

, also held the honour.