Historic%20Yorkshire

70
THE TRAGIC STORY OF THE ELLANDS.
by the faithless wife,succeeded in plantinghis murderous
dagger in the breast of his host. The yeomen of the
household — house-knaves, as they were called — forced the
door ofthe hall, butit wastoo late — theLordof Ellandlay
prone,his coursenearlyfinished;butsummoningup allthe
remnants of his dying strength, he dipped his hand in the
blood that slowly welled from the ghastly wound, and
casting some upon the face of the Norman, said with his
last breath, " Even as thou hast won this heritage, by
such means it shall go from thee and all thy house.''
Hugo then married the guilty womanwho was the cause
of the tragedy,and assumed the nameof the deadElland,
together withhis possessions. Upon the coming over of
William in 1066, Hugo lent his services, and for his
assistance was rewarded by the title of Knight, and the
granting of large estates; but retribution overtookhim at
the time of the great attempt of the Saxons to throw off
the Norman yoke, in 1069, when he was killed by one
whose land he had seized.
There is no reliable account of the Ellands during the
period which elapsed between the above date and that of
the struggle betweenEdwardII.and his barons, but it is
considered that the descent was direct from that time
when an Elland was one of the refractory nobles hanged
at Pontefract by Edward. His son, Sir John Elland,
becamea great favourite with Edward III., chiefly by his
successful efforts against the Scotch. He was a good
type of the baron of those days. Oneof themost powerful
of the secondary nobles, his influence, especially in his
native Yorkshire, was enormous. An ancient ballad,
which deals with occurrences of his life, says —
At Eland Sir JohnEland dwelt,
Within the ManorHall,
The town his own, the Parish held
Most part upon him all.
He was a man of ungovernable passions, and being
remarkablystrong and huge, with a perfect masteryof all
weapons of war,it is not surprising that he was held in