This is the point at which the male succession of the de Erlegh family changes. The marriage of Margaret de Sondes to John Erle shifts the dominant inheritance to a previously junior branch of the family. At this point there is a major shift in the geographic center of activity of the de Erlegh family from Berkshire to Somerset, England. There are other junior branches that continued to occupy the large holdings in Berkshire. But the main line of succession now goes through a female heir, Margaret de Erlegh, the daughter and heir of John(VII) who inherited Beckington. She married three times. Her first husband was Sir John St. Maur [31] who was the second son of Richard St. Maur and inherited from him the manor of North Molton, Devon [28]. John and Margaret had a son John St. Maur. Margaret’s second husband was Sir Walter de Sondes and her third was Sir William Chaney [11,v.2,p.199]. The second marriage produced a daughter, Margaret de Sondes [18], who is important to the story of the main Erleigh line.
John St. Maur, the son of Margaret de Erlegh by her first husband, married Elizabeth Bamfylde [28], the daughter of Sir Thomas Brooke.
When Margaret de Erlegh died in 1443 Beckington passed into the hands of the Bamfylde family [11,v.2,p.199]. The direct main line of the Erleigh family became extinct at this point. John St. Maur had a son Sir Thomas St. Maur who, in turn, had a son John, who was followed by Sir William St. Maur, from whom the estate passed to his daughter, Margaret St. Maur [37].
Margaret de Sondes, the daughter of Margaret de Erlegh and Sir Walter Sondes (The 3rd marriage of Margaret de Erlegh) married John Erle of Ashburton, County Devon, who was probably the grandson of John de Erlegh (VI) and the son of Robert de Erlegh in a junior branch of the Erleigh Family [37].
