(English) belonging to Newborough: v. Newbury.

Newborough, Staffs, was Newburgh, Novus Burgus, in the 14th cent.

Henry de Newburgh (so named from the castle of Neufbourg, in Normandy, where he was born) was the younger son of Roger de Bellomont Earl of Mellent, and the brother of Robert, afterwards Earl of Leicester (see Beaumont). He himself obtained the Earldom of Warwick towards the latter end of the Conqueror’s reign. "when,” says Dugdale, "King William, having begirt Warwick with a mighty ditch, for the precinct of its walls, and erected the gates at his own charge, did promote this Henry to the earldom, and annexed thereto the royalty of the borough, which at that time belonged to the crown.” Here, "upon the site of the tower illustrated by the traditions of Guy, the great opponent of the Danes,” he built his castle, which, enlarged and strengthened during the long succession of its powerful lords, became one of the most renowned of English fortresses, and remains "the glory of the Midland shires.” William Rufus further bestowed upon him all the lands that had belonged to his Saxon predecessor Thurkill, whose daughter and heir Margaret, Leland tells us, he had married. Ordericus, on the other hand, asserts that his w ife was a sister of Rotrode, Count de la Perche, and one of his sons (the Bishop of Evreux) certainly bore the name of Rotrode. But he was probably twice married, for it was only through the former alliance that his descendants could lay claim to the right they invariably asserted of representing the famous Guy. The Bear and Ragged Staff, that had been handed down as Guy's device, was first assumed by Henry de Newburgh, and has ever since been continued as the badge of all the successive Earls of Warwick.

No tradition has struck deeper root in the hearts of Englishmen than the heroic legend of Guy of Warwick; and though he is sometimes treated as a mythical champion, there seems to be no rational ground for doubting his existence, nor his good service against the Danes. His story, as told by Dugdale, is copied from an account written about 1395, and has thus acquired all the adjuncts and couleur locate belonging to that period, which, however strangely interpolated upon its Anglo-Saxon groundwork, do not necessarily discredit it.

Guy, whose "memory for his great valour hath ever since been, and is still as famous,” and whose name was honoured even in the far East, was the son of Siward of Wallingford, and acquired the Earldom of Warwick by marrying the only child of Rohand, “a famous warrior inrich’t vith great possessions” in the time of Alfred. Soon after, he set forth on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. During his absence, in the third year of the reign of Athelstan, the Danes made one of their accustomed inroads, landed on the South coast, wasted and burnt the country nearly up to the gates of Winchester, where the King had taken refuge, and sent two of their chieftains “to desire him to resign his crown, or else that the dispute for the kingdom should be determined in a single Combat by two Champions for both sides.” The King, being hard pressed, accepted these terms, and “calling together his nobles, offered that province” (Hants) “for a reward to him that should conquer the Danish champion Colbrand.” He further “enjoyn’d a Fast of three dayes,” and “with earnest prayers and abundant teares,” waited for the coming deliverer. But none presented himself. Earl Rohand, “that most valiant of a thousand,” was dead; Earl Guy beyond seas; and Colbrand, the Dane, was a ferocious giant, whom all dreaded to encounter. At last, on the Eve of St. John the Baptist, a good angel appeared to the King in a dream, and bade him go up, with two churchmen, to the top of the Northgate (where the Hospital of the Holy Cross was afterwards founded), staying there till the hour of prime, and “then he should see divers poor people and pilgrims enter thereat, amongst which there would be a personable man in a Pilgrim’s habit, barefooted, with his head uncovered, and upon it a Chaplet of white Roses; and that he should entreat him for the love of Jesus Christ, and the devotion of his pilgrimage, and the preservation of all England, to undertake the Combat” The King went as directed, and “espying one neatly clad in a white short sliev'd gown reaching to the midleg, with a Garland of Roses upon his head” (to our ideas there is some­thing very festive in the Palmer’s attire), “and a large staff in his hand, but looking wan and much macerated by reason of his travelling barefoot, and his beard grown to a very great length,” laid hold of his coat, and offered him enter­tainment This the Palmer refused; then the King, opening his heart to him, “told how Olaus King of Denmark and Golavus King of Denmark had besieged him there for nearly a twelvemonth,” and how sorely he stood in need of a champion to maintain his right “'Oh my Lord the King,' saith the Palmer, ‘you may easily see that I am not in any condition to take upon me this fight, being feeble and weakned with dayly travail: alas! where are your stout and hardy Souldiers, that were wont to be in great esteem with you?’ ‘Ah!' quoth the King, 'some of them are dead, and some are gone to the Holy Land; I had one valiant Knight which was Earl of Warwick, called Guy: would to God that I had him here, for then should this Duel be soon undertaken, and the War finishtand as he spoke, tears fell from his eyes.” The Palmer, moved by his distress, accepted the office of champion; then, in great joy, “they brought him into Church with ringing of bells, and Te Deum was begun with cheerful voices; and they entertained him with meat and drink, as also with bathing, putting apparel upon him; and for the space of three weeks cheered him up with the best refreshments.” When the appointed day arrived, the Palmer rose betimes and heard three masses; then “armed himself with the King’s best harness,” was girt with the sword of Constantine the Great, and holding in his hand the lance of St.Maurice, rode forth, “the most proper and well appointed knight that ever they saw,” to meet Colbrand the Dane. The giant came “so weightily armed that his horse could scarce carry him, and before him a Cart loaded with Danish axes, great Clubs with knobs of iron, Steel Lances, and Iron Hooks to pull his adversary to him” (a curious description of the weapons in use during the fourteenth century): and as soon as he saw the Englishman, called out to him to “get off his horse, and cast himself down with submission. But the Palmer, arming himself with the sign of the Cross, and commending his soul to God, put spurs to his Horse to meet the Gyant” The latter unhorsed him; and the blows aimed by the Palmer could, by reason of his height, reach no further than his shoulder; then Colbrand “smote at him with a square bar of steel,” but he interposed his shield, struck the club out of the giant’s hand, and while he stretched out his arm to take it up, cut off his hand. The combat went on notwithstanding, till “in the evening of the day,” the Dane fainted from loss of blood, and the Palmer cut off his head with an axe: "and going to the Cathedral to give thanks to God, offer’d up his weapon at the high altar (long kept in the vestry there, and called by the name of Colbrand’s Axe), and resumed his pilgrim’s habit, refusing all reward. The King being importunate to discover his name,” and the Palmer consenting to reveal it to him only, under oath of secrecy, "they walked out alone in a bypath to a certain Crosse at some distance from the Citie, and there, humbly bowing himself to the King,” he confessed he was Guy of Warwick. “From whence the Earl bent his course to Warwick: and coming thither not known of any, for three days together took Aimes at the hand of his own Lady as one of the XIII poor people unto which she dayly gave relief herself, for the safety of him and her, and the health of both their souls. And having rendered thanks to her, he repaired to an heremite that resided amongst the shady woods hard by, and abode with that holy man till his death; and then succeeded him in his cell, and continued the same course of life for the space of two years after; but then discerning death to approach, he sent to his Lady their wedding Ring by a trusty servant, wishing her to take care of his burial; adding also, that when she came she should find him lying dead in the Chapel before the Altar; and moreover that within xv dayes after she herself should depart this life.” The place of his retreat is still called Guy’s Cliff. By his neglected wife he left a son named Reynburn, who was followed by Wolgeat, then by Wigod, and lastly, by Alwyne (cotemporary with Edward the Confessor), who is called Alwinus Vicecomes in Domesday, "either because he did exercise the power and authority of Earl Leofric (his uncle) here in Warwickshire, or else that he had the custody of the county to the King’s immediate use. He left issue Turchill, who was a great man in that age, but no more really Earl than his father or Ancestors had been.” It is clear that neither father nor son took part with Harold, for at the date of Domesday, Turchill “continued possess’d of vast lands in this Shire, yet thereof was neither the Borough nor Castle of Warwick.” His son, however, never enjoyed his inheritance, which passed to his daughter Margaret, the wife (according to Leland) of the first Norman Earl of Warwick, to whom, after this long digression, we now return.

He was, says Dugdale, “of great familiarity with Henry, the King’s youngest son, and one that stuck closest to him, upon the death of William Rufus, for obtaining of that Crown; and so ever afterwards.” He founded St.Sepulchre’s Priory; and “began the making of Wedgenock Park, following therein the example of the King Henry, who made the first park at Woodstock that ever was made in England.” His son Roger, who espoused the cause of the Empress Maud, was the father of William and Waleran, who in turn succeeded to his Earldom and possessions—certified 12 Hen. II. to amount to one hundred and five knight’s fees, in those days an enormous fortune. But Waleran “had much ado a great part of his time touching his inheritance; there starting up one who feigned himself to be his brother, Earl William, deceased in the Holy Land, which occasioned him no little trouble and vexation.” The line ended with his grandson Thomas, sixth Earl, who died s. p. in 1242, leaving the Earldom to his only sister Margery. She was at that time married to John Mareschal (brother, as some say, of William Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke), but she lost her husband the year following, and at once became an object of speculation as a marriageable heiress. Henry III. forthwith issued his mandate to the Archbishop of York and William de Cantilupe, desiring them to seize her castle of Warwick, “forasmuch as the said Margerie being one of the most noble Ladies in England, and possesst of a Castle extraordinarily strong situate also towards the Marches, it would be most perilous she should take to husband any person whatsoever of whose fidelity the King had not as great confidence as of his own;” threatening that, “in case she should be so rash as to do otherwise, the same Castle and lands should be for ever forfeited to the King and his heirs.” She was not even allowed the customary privilege of buying the liberty to marry as she pleased by payment of a heavy fine: but forcibly urged “as from the King” to give her hand to “one of his domestic servants in his special favour,” John de Plessetis. The match, as may be supposed, was utterly distasteful to her, and she delayed giving her consent as long as she dared; yet, before the year was out, she had become the wife of the upstart favourite. Even then, the King was not wholly satisfied. “As there was,” says Dugdale, “extraordinary means used about wooing and winning this great Lady to marry with John de Plessets, so there was not wanting suspition that, being such an heir, she had been strongly solicited by some; and that possibly by reason of the weakness of her Sex, she might have been wrought upon to contract herself privately with another. Wherefore to make sure work, the King got a Bond of her with a Deed to boot whereby she obliged herself that if it could be justly proved that she had so contracted marriage with any other before, all her lands and possessions should be forfeited.” Poor Margery had no children; and when she died (about 1263) the vast inheritance of the Newburghs passed to her cousin William Mauduit, and four years later to his sister, Isabel de Beauchamp. They were the children of her aunt Lady Alice, the only daughter of Waleran, fourth Earl of Warwick.

This illustrious branch of the Beaumonts has left its name to Winfrith Newburgh, a manor and hundred in Dorset, where some descendants of the first Earl of Warwick continued till 1541. “His fifth son, according to Dugdale, but his third, according to Camden (probably two of the elder brothers died young), inherited his father’s lands in Normandy, was seneschal and justiciary of that duchy, and a great benefactor to the abbey of Bee, where he became a monk, and dying 1158, was buried in the chapter house there. Of his marriage we find no account This was, probably, the same person who is styled dapifer and justiciar of Normandy by Du Chesne, in his Norman Chronicle, and the same to whom King HenryI.gave Winfrith.” - Hutchins' Dorset. His son and heir Roger founded Bindon Abbey in 1172, where most of his descendants had their sepulture, and married Maud Arundel “sometimes styled Countess of Sarum,” who must have been a very considerable heiress, for in 1245 her son Robert paid ₤15 for "fifteen knights fees of R. Arundel.” Robert, "among other illustrious nobles, was party to a treaty of peace between King Richard I. and Tancred King of Sicily, on the occasion of the passage of the former to the Crusades in the Holy Land.”—Ibid. Six more generations succeeded him at Winfrith. "Sire Robert de Newborgh,” in 1322, "is enrolled amongst the Knights Bachelors taken in arms against the King at the battle of Boroughbridge, and in the following summer submitted to a fine of £100, in consideration of which his life was saved” His descendant William, less fortunate, was made prisoner at Cast near Tewkesbury, and there beheaded in 1430. The last heir, Sir Roger, was Sheriff of Dorset and Somerset 8 Hen. VIII., and died the same year, leaving his great estate to his daughter Christian, the wife of John, second Lord Marney.

In Leland’s time, "the Genealogie of the Newborows and the name of Heires General that they maried with be yn Glasse Windows in a Parlour in the Maner Place at Est Lilleworth.” This manor house has long since disappeared, for the castle now standing at Lullworth was built in 1600 by Viscount Bindon, partly out of the ruins of Bindon Abbey.

A Norman name: Neubourg; a local name