Among the charters at Rougham I find eighteen or twenty which were
executed by Peter Romayn and Matilda. In no one of them is she called
his wife; in all of them it is stipulated that the property shall
descend to whomsoever they shall leave it, and in only one instance,
and there I believe by a mistake of the scribe, is there any mention
of their _lawful_ heirs. They buy land and sell it, sometimes
separately, more often conjointly, but in all cases the interests of
both are kept in view; the charters are witnessed by the principal
people in the place, including Sir Richard Butler himself, more than
once; and in one of the later charters Peter Romayn, as if to provide
against the contingency of his own death, makes over all his property
in Rougham without reserve to Matilda, and constitutes her the
mistress of it all. [Footnote: By the constitutions of Bishop
Woodloke, any _legacies_ left by a clergyman to his "concubine"
were to be handed over to the bishop's official, and distributed to
the poor.--Wilkins' "Cone." vol. ii. p. 296 b.]
Some year or two after this, Matilda executes her last conveyance,
and executes it alone. She sells her whole interest in Rougham--the
house in which she lives and all that it contains--lands and ground
rents, and everything else, for money down, and we hear of her no
more.
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