Papers relating to disputes between Sir William Maurice and the Ellis family of Ystumllyn, [c. 1597]-1620.
Sir William Maurice owned several freehold properties and held a crown lease in the township of Gest, Caernarfonshire. The lawsuits are centred mainly around his repeated attempts to disprove the title of Owen Ellis to certain lands in Gest. The papers, deriving from several actions in the courts of Chancery, the Exchequer, the Council of the Marches in Wales and Star Chamber, include substantial bills of complaint: Owen Ellis, plt., against Sir William Maurice and other members of his family and neighbours, defts, for unlawful possession of properties at Porth Hirfaen and Gest, and forcible entry with damage at Bron-y-gadair and Ynyscynhaearn, 1617-1620; the counter suit of Sir William Maurice, plt., and further complaints against Owen Ellis and others, defts, for intrusion into Bron-y-gadair Bach, Cwm Allt y Minog, etc., and for libellous accusations of bribery, corruption, sorcery and maintaining houses of ill-repute, 1617-1620. Accompanying papers include defendants' answers, breviates, jury lists, interrogatories, depositions of witnesses, court orders, a copy of a deed of exchange of 1585 and pleadings from a suit by the executors of Ellis ap Cadwalader, claiming a penalty against William Maurice for breaking the terms of the exchange, [c. 1597]. Owen Ellis 's complaint and the breviate of 1617 contain detailed descriptions of the land boundaries in question.