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

Prepared by Michael A. Linton
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Wardebois : in Leland's list Verbois, from Verboys, near Rouen. This family gave its name to Warbois or Warboys, formerly spelt Wardeboys, a considerable village on the high road from Huntingdon to Ramsey. Unfortunately there exists no History of Huntingdonshire in which to seek for some notices of its owners: and Camden only tells us that the families of this little county "have been so worn out, that though it has been very rich in Gentry, yet but few Sirnames of any note are remaining, which can be drawn down beyond the reign of the last Henry." Warboys passed to the Cromwells, and "Sir Oliver" (the usurper's uncle), "sold it to Sir John Leamon, who said, It was the cheapest Land he ever bought, tho' the dearest that ever Sir Oliver sold; for it seems that this latter, tho' otherwise a wise Man, yet had not that Wit, either to keep his Estate, or sell it to its Worth."

Walter Wardebois is mentioned in the county as early as 1199. (Rotuli Curiae Regis.) Geoffrey de Wardbois, a townsman of Cambridge, was "charged with having joined in the great riot against the Master and Scholars of the University" in 1322.—Palgrave's Parliamentary Writs.

I find in Anselme's Histoire Genealogique de la France that the seigneurie of Verbois was brought to the Harcourts in 1326 by Alix de Brabant.