The History of the foundation of Walden abbey names “Galfridus…Willielmus cognomina Mandavilla…et Matildis, Humfrido de Bohun comiti Herefordiæ maritata” as children of “domino Galfrido filio Petri” & his wife. Henry III King of England ordered custody of "tocius terre que fuit H. comitis Herefordie", except the property of "Matildi comitisse Herefordie…manerio de Wokesie…dotem suam…[et] maritagio suo in manerio de Witehurst" given by "G. filius Petri pater ipsius comitisse…H. comiti Herefordie", dated 26 Jul 1220.
She succeeded her brother, William de Mandeville Earl of Essex, in 1227 as Ctss of Essex, suo iure. "Roger of Dauntsey and Matilda countess of Hereford, sister and heiress of William de Mandeville formerly earl of Essex" made a fine "for Matilda’s relief and for having seisin of the lands formerly of the same W. earl of Essex", saving "to Reymund de Burgh and Christiana his wife, the dower of Christiana…from the lands formerly of William earl of Essex", dated 29 Oct 1227. The Testa de Nevill includes a list of landholdings in Gloucestershire, dated to [1226/28], which includes "Comitissa Herford est maritata Rogero de Antesye, nescitur pre quem. Terra eius valet xv.l". An order dated 22 Feb 1228 records a fine paid by "Rogerus de Antese et Matildis comitissa Herefordie uxor eius" in respect of a debt of "W. comes Essexie frater ipsius comitisse". Her divorce [from her second husband] by a church council convened at St Alban's, mandated by the Pope, was recorded by Matthew Paris.
The Annals of Dunstable record that “comitissa Herfordiæ” died in 1236. 1
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Her maritagium included the manor of Wheatenhurst, and property in Framilode (in Fretherne), Gloucestershire....
In Michaelmas term 1220 and Michaelmas term 1221 ... Maud sued William Longespée, Earl of Salisbury, and Ela, his wife in a plea of dower in Wiltshire. Maud married (2nd) after Michaelmas 1221 (date of lawsuit) and before Easter term 1226 (date of lawsuit) Roger de Dauntsey (or de Dauntesey, de Auntesey), Knt., of Dauntsey and Wilsford, Wiltshire, and, in right of his wife, of Pleshey, Debden, High Easter, Walden, and Waltham, Essex, Amersham and Quarrendon, Buckinghamshire, Kimbolton, Huntingdonshire, Enfield, Middlesex, Long Compton, Warwickshire, etc. They had no issue. In 1226 she and her husband, Roger, were sued by her son, Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, regarding the manor of Heddington, Wiltshire. Maud was heiress in 1227 to her brother, William de Mandeville, 6th Earl of Essex, whereby she became suo jure Countess of Essex. She and Roger had livery of her Mandeville inheritance 29 Oct. 1227 and 22 Feb. 1227/8. In the period 1226-c.1243, Roger reached an agreement with Simon, Prior of Bradenstoke, concerning a close called Linley situated between their lands. In the period 1227-32, she gave a tenth of her means of life to the nunnery of St. Mary Clerkenwell, as her cousin, Geoffrey de Mandeville, 2nd Earl of Essex, granted it. In 1229 Roger and his wife, Countess Maud, sold one moiety of the manor of Long Compton, Warwickshire, excluding the capital messuage to William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, and the other moiety of the manor, including the capital messuage, to Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent. In 1229/30 she received the manors of Gussage, Dorset and Debden, Essex, as well as property in Winchester, Hampshire, by settlement with her half-brother, John Fitz Geoffrey. Countess Maud subsequently conveyed the manor of Gussage, Dorset, to her half-sister, Maud Fitz Geoffrey (died 1261), wife successively of Henry d'Oilly, Knt., and William de Cantelowe, Knt., Steward of the King's Household. Countess Maud instituted annulment proceedings in 1232 to free herself from her second husband, Roger. In Easter term 1232 Josce de Cornhull sued Roger and his wife, Maud, regarding a debt of £24 14s. 3d. in Essex. Following a sentence of divorce pronounced in Court Christian, Maud had a writ of livery, 24 April 1233, for all the lands of her inheritance then in the hands of Roger. A papal review board, however, overturned the sentence of divorce three years later and adjudged her to be Roger's lawful wife. The castles and lands which comprised Maud's inheritance and dower, and from which she had made grants in her "free widowhood" during those three years, were ordered restored to Roger in July 1236. In the period, 1234-5, she leased the manors of Saffron Walden and Debden, Essex to Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury at an annual rent of £120, until a debt of 7,160 marks owed by her late brothers, Geoffrey and William de Mandeville, was paid in full. In Jan. 1236 the king requested that she fulfill the promise which she gave to Master John de Ferentino, Archdeacon of Norwich, of making him a provision of £10 yearly in land in the manor of High Easter, Essex.... 2
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