The Battle Abbey Roll. Vol. III.
by
The Duchess of Cleveland.

Prepared by Michael A. Linton
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Return to Index

Preaus : from the barony of that name, in the arrondissement of Rouen, "which was, about 1070, held by the Eudo Dapifer of Domesday, son of Hubert de Rie."—Taylor. The "Sire de Praels" is mentioned by Wace at the battle of Hastings. This family used a singular war-cry, "Cesar Auguste!" and bore Gules, an eagle Or, beaked and membered Azure. Jean de Preaux founded the Priory of Ste. Marie de Beaulieu about 1200, and Pierre de Preaux, in the latter part of the same century, married Yolande de la Marche, the niece of Henry III. Another Pierre, their son, whose wife brought him the great inheritance of Crespin, with a share of Tesson, was the last of his race, leaving only two daughters.

"In England a 'Sire de Praeres' appears about 1119 as a vassal of the Earl of Chester."—J. R. Planche. This was the Richard de Praers who gave Knockmirton, at that date, to Chester Abbey; and who, according to Ormerod, was a tenant of the Baron of Wich-Malbank at Barthomley in Cheshire, held by this family shortly after 1086. "They were in this country," says Sir Peter Leycester, "a race of great possessions, but are long since worn out and swallowed up by other names." From this parent stock "descended collateral lines settled at Checkley, Baddiley, Badington, Duddon, and Stoke, all of which terminated in heirs general at an early period."

The principal line—that of Barthomley—was the first to expire: it lasted for six generations, and ended with Thomas de Praers in 1349. His daughter and heiress, Elizabeth, was the wife of Sir Robert de Fouleshurst, one of Lord Audley's four gallant esquires, who accomplished "marvels at arms" with him at Poictiers, and lies buried under a stately altar tomb in Barthomley Church. The extinction of the Baddiley branch followed within a very few years; it had given two Sheriffs to the county, Sir William, who served four times under Edward I., and his son of the same name, appointed in 1349. The co-heiresses were Joan de Mainwaring and Margery de Honford. The Haddon and Badington lines branched off from this: the former ended in the second generation; the latter, which boasted of a Steward of Halton and Constable of Beeston, continued till 21 Ric. II. Agnes, the daughter of the last heir, married Richard de Bromley. The longest-lived house was the one that assumed the name of its manor, Stoke, and lasted well into the reign of Henry V. The two last heirs were brothers; the elder died in 1417, when only six or seven years old; the other did not live to marry, and their kinswoman, Isabella de Beeston, became Lady of Stoke. Their grandfather, Roger, had received an annuity from Richard II. "for service in the wars and loss of both his eyes."

The name is to be found in several other parts of England. In Palgrave's Parliamentary Writs I meet with a Thomas de Praeres, Lord of Southstoke in Sussex, 1316: a Sir Henry de Praeres "one of the Supervisors of the array and Leader of the levies in Wilts" in 1311; knight of the shire for that county in 1319, and for Gloucestershire the following year; and a Sir John de Praeres, three times summoned from Essex; first for Edward II.'s coronation; then, in 1322, for military service; and two years later to the great Council at Westminster. In Essex "the manor of Prayers was held under the De Veres as early as the time of Henry III. by the ancient knightly family of Prieres, Preyers or Prayers, from whom it took its name. Robert de Prayers had a son, Sir Thomas, who married Anne, daughter and heir of Hugh de Essex the younger, descended from Swein de Essex, Baron of Rayleigh, and by her had an only daughter Margaret, wife of Robert de Bourchier, Lord Chancellor of England in King Edward III.'s reign. Sir John and Sir Thomas de Prieres were two of the Knights Bannerets under King Edward I.; but their arms were different; the former bearing Gules a fesse with two bars gemelles Argent; and the latter Vert, a bend Argent with two cotises Or,"—Morant. There exists, however, a certain degree of affinity between the two coats. Those of the Cheshire families were altogether different. The Barthomley line bore Gules a scythe Or (in evident allusion to preau, a meadow): that of Stokes Party per chevron Vert and Ermine a chevron engrailed counterchanged. None of them displayed the Imperial eagle of the French house.