and north of England. William received livery of them in January 1384, which gave him an extensive sphere of influence around Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, and eastern Yorkshire. By this time, the estate had two dowager baronesses to support: his deceased brother's wife Mary and their mother, Beatrice. Mary died within a year of her husband, and her extensive inheritance was divided among her Percy relations. Ros received her dower lands, which included the ancient Barony of Helmsley. Beatrice, on the other hand, had outlived three husbands and would outlive William; she was assigned her dower lands in December 1384. This meant that Ros would never hold a large swath of land, predominantly in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Ros received seisin of his estates on 11 February 1394, which included custody of several Clifford family estates; his sister had married Thomas de Clifford, 6th Baron de Clifford around 1379. He held the latter lands until their son came of age around 1411. Ros married Margaret, daughter of John Fitzalan, 1st Baron Arundel and Eleanor Maltravers, soon after he inherited. She was already in receipt of a 40-mark annuity from King Richard II because she had been in the household of Richard's recently deceased queen, Anne of Bohemia. His wife gave Ros what may have appeared to be a useful connection to the crown. Also useful to William was the fact that his wife's father had recently died, so Ros now had the Earl of Arundel as a brother-in-law. His new connections and the higher political profile they brought may account for the royal grants he soon received of Clifford manors in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Worcestershire. These had been the dower lands of Euphemia (widow of Robert, Lord Clifford), who had died in November 1393. Ros attended the king's wedding to his second wife—the French King's daughter, Isabella of Valois—in Calais in December 1396. His wife's grandfather died the following year, and she became Lady Maltravers suo jure. Although Ros received some royal favour, Charles Ross has suggested that he may not have been doing as well as expected for a man in his position. Ross suggests that William's Fitzalan connections might have worked against him with the king. Arundel was a staunch political opponent of Richard's, and Ros's marrying into this politically unpopular family may account for the few offices the king granted him. "It seems strange", says Ross, "that a