The New Murrey and Blue blog

The thrice-married Maud Francis, who eventually became Countess of Salisbury, was undoubtedly the heir of her father, the extremely wealthy Sir Adam Francis (1325-75), at one time Lord Mayor of London.

Yet she had no fewer than three elder brothers, born to the same mother, so how could this be? The answer is, dear Reader, that Sir Adam was already married to another woman at the time of the brothers’ birth.

The name of Sir Adam’s first wife is, strangely, unknown. However, they had several children together, all of whom, sadly, died young. It was only after this first wife’s death that Sir Adam was able to marry Agnes Champneis, who was already the mother of his three sons. They then had a daughter, Maud, together, and Maud, being classed as legitimate, became her father’s heir-at-law.

(It is important to note that Sir Adam did not commit bigamy and nor did he call Agnes his wife during his first wife’s lifetime.)

In many countries, the marriage of Adam and Agnes would have legitimated their sons automatically. This was, however, definitely not the law in England.

Two of the three sons appear to have died young. However the third, his father’s namesake, was knighted before October 1382 and made two respectable marriages, the first to an heiress, Margaret (d. before 1393), daughter of John Osterle. The second was to Margaret Holland, whose parentage is not clear. She is said to have been the sister of Sir John Holland – but surely not that John Holland, the Duke of Exeter. She is more likely a member of the Hollands’ extensive Lancashire cousinage.

The younger Adam was MP for Middlesex on several occasions and appears to have lived the life of a country gentleman. He was careful, however, not to involve himself in dangerous politics and was not influenced by his brother-in-law, John Montagu Earl of Salisbury. It appears that although he was not strictly his father’s heir he was left a very considerable chunk of property, gaining some that had initially been allocated to his mother, and he certainly bought or acquired more.