who claimed that she had been driven away by her husband. In December 1310 he received a grant, to him and his heirs, of free warren in his demesne lands in Brunnum (Nunburnholme), Butterwyk, Thorpe Bassett, Scakelthorp, Thornton in the Moor, Norton upon Swale and Wellebyry, in Yorkshire, and in Benton, Killingworth, Hepiscotes, Tranwell, Stannyngton and Horsle, Northumberland. Reign of Edward II Northern Justice In the reign of Edward II Ralph attached himself to the baronial opposition. In 1309 he was appointed a justice to receive in Northumberland complaints of prises taken contrary to the statute of Stamford. On his own behalf he became involved in a suit in 1305 concerning the manor of Brierton, County Durham: from this he had purchased a rent worth £30 and more, but the feoffee, Geoffrey de Hartlepool, refused to pay him. Geoffrey attempted a plea in Parliament, but the cause is notable for the light it sheds on the episcopal jurisdiction of the County Palatine, back to which the case was repeatedly referred, continuing unresolved until 1315. Ralph was appointed constable of Barnard Castle by Bishop Bek, under whom he served as a justice for the liberty, and under Richard Kellaw (bishop, 1311–1316) he served as a keeper of the peace. It appears from a letter of c. 1312, when Fitzwilliam's men were preventing Geoffrey from harvesting at Brierton, that, by appealing to the legal authority of the liberty rather than to the feudal authority of Robert Clifford (who was killed in 1314), Geoffrey was seeking to enlist Bishop Kellaw's influence towards Fitzwilliam, though the bishop was reluctant or unable to exercise it to a sufficient extent. Kellaw could remember that, when subprior in 1301, his plea (in a matter of £200 damages) for observance of royal protection (or any such writ not the bishop's) had been refused by Ralph Fitzwilliam, William de Crompton and John de Crepping, Justices of the franchise. Retinue In August 1311 (5 Edward II), at Hinderskelf, Ralph FitzWilliam, Lord Greystoke [sic] retained Nicholas, son of Thomas de Hastings by indenture to serve him during his life, "as well in the times of Peace, as in War; in the time of War, with two Yeomen, well mounted and arrayed; and in time of Peace, two Yeomen and four Grooms. In consideration of which Service, he was to have all Accoutrements for his own Body; as also two Robes yearly,