(English, Scottish) One who came from Quincay, formerly Quinci (Quintus’ estate), in Maine, France.

“a baronial family from Quinci, Maine, traced by La Roque (Mais. d’Harcourt i. 213) to the house of De Rohan, whose arms they bore.” The muscles were borne by the Dukes de Rohan, and “adopted in regard the Carps of that Duchy had such marks on their skin.” - Dugdale. This sounds absurd. Their haughty motto was - “Roy ne puys, Duc ne daigne, Rohan je suys.” - The Norman People. The pedigree of the Earls of Winchester, given by Dugdale, is comparatively brief, for it only commences with Saher de Quincy in the time of Henry II., and ends with the last heir in 1264, but the house, while it lasted, was amongst the greatest of the realm.

Saher descended from Richard de Quincy, the companion-in-arms of the Conqueror, and received a grant from the King of Bushby in Northamptonshire, that had belonged to Anselm de Conches. He held this, as well as some land in Bedfordshire, in 1165. - Liber Niger. His wife was Maud de St. Liz, who brought him two sons, Robert and Saher.

The eldest, Robert, an active and adventurous soldier, left no heir. He invaded Ireland with Earl Strongbow, who appointed him Seneschal of Leinster; four years afterwards witnessed a charter of William the Lion to Kelso Abbey, and received the Scottish barony of Tranent, with the office of Justiciary of Scotland. Then, in 1190, he “being in the Holy Land upon the Recess of the King of France, was made Captain of those CL Soldiers then left behind for the defence of his Country against the Infidels.” His last expedition was with Coeur de Lion to Normandy in 1194.

His brother and successor Saher, created Earl of Winchester by King John, married Margaret de Bellamont, second daughter of Robert Blanchmaines Earl of Leinster, and co-heiress of her brother, Robert Fitz Parnel, whose vast possessions were divided in 1204 between her and her elder sister Amicia, the wife of Simon de Montfort. The strong fortress of Montsorell, which the King at first retained in his own hands, was eventually committed to her husband’s custody.

Saher, thus invested with the power and authority of a great baron, took a leading part in the councils of the King’s enemies. Already, in 1203, when Castellan of the Norman castle of Rueil, he had refused to defend it against the French from disgust at the slothful inaction of John himself, “who then lay at Caen, and minded nothing but Feasting, Luxury, and lying in Bed till Dinner­time.” At first, while the differences between the barons and their sovereign still admitted of mediation, he received letters of safe conduct to come to Court, and endeavour to bring about an understanding; and obtained the same immunity for all those who came to petition the King for the redress of their grievances till the Clause of Easter 1214. But when all other means failed, he took the field under the banner of Marescallus Dei et Ecclesiæ; and was one of the twenty-five illustrious guarantors of Magna Charta that were excommunicated by the Pope. “Which,” adds Dugdale, “did not at all startle him;” for he soon after went with Robert Fitz Walter on an embassy to France, to offer the crown of England to King Philip’s son Lewis. Nor did he, like so many others, return to his allegiance on the accession of Henry III., but kept a strong garrison at Montsorrel on behalf of the French prince, and was one of the principal commanders of the army that was routed at Lincoln. He was there taken prisoner, but released on his submission a few months afterwards. The next year, abjuring home politics, he set out, with the Earl of Chester and others, on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and was present at the siege of Damietta; but died on his way to Jerusalem in 1219.

He left three sons by “that great Inheritrix,” as Dugdale styles his wife: 1. Robert; 2. Roger; and 3. another Robert. The elder Robert was in Palestine at the time of his father’s death, and never lived to return home and claim his heritage. He married Hawise, the fourth daughter of Hugh Keveliock, Earl of Chester; by whom he had an only child, Margaret, the wife of John de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln.

Roger, who succeeded his father as Earl of Winchester, again made a splendid alliance; for his first wife, Helen, the eldest daughter and co-heir of Alan of Galloway, brought him the office of Constable of Scotland, with a great appanage. “In 31 Hen. III., being in Galway (where he had great Possessions in right of his Wife) and exercising more severity to the People of that Country than becom’d him, he was besieg’d by them in a Castle there: and being apprehensive of his danger, mounted his Horse, well armed (with some of his Followers) and broke through them; whence he came to the King of Scotland, to whom he made his complaint of their dealing; who punish’d them for that their Rebellious Insurrection, and re-establish’d him in the possession of his Right.” - Dugdale. By this Scottish wife he had three daughters who became his co-heirs, Margaret, married to William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby; Elizabeth, married to Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan in Scotland; and Ela, married to Alan la Zouche.

He was twice again married, and on each occasion to a widow; for his second wife Maud, daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, was previously Countess of Pembroke; and the third, Alianor, the seventh daughter of his son-in law the Earl of Derby (by his first marriage with one of the great Pembroke heiresses) had for her first husband William de Vaux. By one or other of these two Countesses he had a fourth daughter, Isabel, contracted in 1240 to Hugh de Nevill; but no son was ever born to him, and the name and title of the Earls of Winchester expired at his death in 1264.

He had been the last survivor of his race, for his younger brother, Robert, died seven years before him. Robert was not behind the rest of his family in the success of his matrimonial venture; for his wife was a Welsh princess, who, as the daughter of Llewellyn, was probably richly dowered. But she, again, had three daughters and no son. One of the daughters was a nun; the other two were married: Joan to Humphrey de Bohun, son of the Earl of Hereford (I am quoting Dugdale, but no such match is recorded in the Bohun pedigree); and Margaret to Baldwin Wake.