Anchetil de Greye (c. 1046 – after 1086) was a
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
chevalier
Chevalier may refer to:
Honours Belgium
* a rank in the Belgian Order of the Crown
* a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold
* a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold II
* a title in the Belgian nobility
France
* a rank in the French Legion d'h ...
and vassal of
William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford
William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford, Lord of Breteuil ( 1011 – 22 February 1071), was a relative and close counsellor of William the Conqueror and one of the great magnates of early Norman England. FitzOsbern was created Earl of Hereford ...
, one of the great
magnates of early
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
England.
He is regarded as the ancestor of the noble
House of Grey
The House of Grey is an ancient English noble family from Creully in Normandy. The founder of the House of Grey was Anchetil de Greye, a Norman chevalier and vassal of William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford, one of the few proven companions ...
, branches of which held many peerage and other titles in England, including
Baron Grey de Wilton
Baron Grey de Wilton is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England (1295) and once in the Peerage of Great Britain (1784). The first creation was forfeit and the second creation is extinct.
History First creation
The fi ...
(1295),
Baron Ferrers of Groby
Baron Ferrers of Groby (or Baron Ferrers de Groby) was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created by writ on 29 December 1299 when William Ferrers, 1st Baron Ferrers of Groby was summoned to parliament. He was the son of Sir William de Fe ...
(1299),
Baron Grey of Codnor
The title of Baron Grey of Codnor is a title in the peerage of England.
This barony was called out of abeyance in 1989, after 493 years, in favour of the Cornwall-Legh family of East Hall, High Legh, Cheshire. The Lords Grey of Codnor are seni ...
(1299, 1397),
Baron Grey de Ruthyn
Baron Grey of Ruthin (or Ruthyn) was a noble title created in the Peerage of England by writ of summons in 1324 for Sir Roger de Grey, a son of John, 2nd Baron Grey of Wilton, and has been in abeyance since 1963. Historically, this branch of th ...
(1324),
Earl of Tankerville
Earl of Tankerville is a noble title drawn from Tancarville in Normandy. The title has been created three times: twice in the Peerage of England, and once (in 1714) in the Peerage of Great Britain for Charles Bennet, 2nd Baron Ossulston. His ...
(1419, 1695),
Earl of Huntingdon
Earl of Huntingdon is a title which has been created several times in the Peerage of England. The medieval title (1065 creation) was associated with the ruling house of Scotland ( David of Scotland).
The seventh and most recent creation dates t ...
(1471),
Marquess of Dorset
The title Marquess of Dorset has been created three times in the Peerage of England. It was first created in 1397 for John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, but he lost the title two years later. It was then created in 1442 for Edmund Beaufort, 1st ...
(1475),
Baron Grey of Powis
The title Baron Grey of Powis (1482–1552) was created for the great-grandson of Joan Charleton (c. 1400–1425), co-heiress and 6th Lady of Powis (Powys) and her husband, Sir John Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville (1384–1421) after the death of ...
(1482),
Duke of Suffolk
Duke of Suffolk is a title that has been created three times in the peerage of England.
The dukedom was first created for William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, William de la Pole, who had already been elevated to the ranks of earl and marquess ...
(1551),
Baronet Grey of Chillingham (1619);
Baron Grey of Werke
Baron Grey of Werke (or Warke), of Chillingham in the County of Northumberland, was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created on 11 February 1624 for Sir William Grey, 1st Baronet. He had already been created a baronet, of Chillingham i ...
(1623/4),
Earl of Stamford
Earl of Stamford was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1628 for Henry Grey, 2nd Baron Grey of Groby. This Grey family descended through Lord John Grey, of Pirgo, Essex, younger son of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, ...
(1628),
Viscount Glendale
A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status.
In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...
(1695),
Baronet Grey of Howick (1746),
Baron Walsingham (1780),
Baron Grey of Howick (1801);
Viscount Howick (1806),
Earl Grey
Earl Grey is a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1806 for General Charles Grey, 1st Baron Grey. In 1801, he was given the title Baron Grey of Howick in the County of Northumberland, and in 1806 he was created Viscou ...
(1806),
Baronet Grey of Fallodon (1814), etc., which married into the royal family and which continues to this day.
Lady Jane Grey (c. 1537 – 1554) "the Nine Days' Queen", was a member of this family.
Landholdings
![DomesdayBook AnchetilDeGrey Radford Oxfordshire](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/DomesdayBook_AnchetilDeGrey_Radford_Oxfordshire.png)
In his
Latinised name of ''Anschtallus de Grai'' (an alternative spelling for ''Anschetillus'') he is listed in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
of 1086 as the
lord
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
of six Oxfordshire
manors,
all
held
Held may refer to:
Places
* Held Glacier
People Arts and media
* Adolph Held (1885–1969), U.S. newspaper editor, banker, labor activist
*Al Held (1928–2005), U.S. abstract expressionist painter.
*Alexander Held (born 1958), German television ...
from
William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford
William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford, Lord of Breteuil ( 1011 – 22 February 1071), was a relative and close counsellor of William the Conqueror and one of the great magnates of early Norman England. FitzOsbern was created Earl of Hereford ...
(c. 1020 – 1071),
lord
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
of the manor of
Breteuil, in
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
, a relative and close counsellor of
William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
, whose chief residence was
Carisbrooke Castle
Carisbrooke Castle is a historic motte-and-bailey castle located in the village of Carisbrooke (near Newport), Isle of Wight, England. Charles I was imprisoned at the castle in the months prior to his trial.
Early history
The site of Carisb ...
on the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
, one of many English castles he built.
The manors held by Anchetil de Greye were as follows:
*Black Bourton, Bampton hundred, Oxfordshire;
*Brighthampton, Bampton hundred, Oxfordshire;
*Rotherfield Greys, Binfield hundred, Oxfordshire;
*Cornwell, Shipton hundred, Oxfordshire;
*
Radford, Shipton hundred, Oxfordshire;
*Woodleys, Wootton hundred, Oxfordshire;
The principal estate granted to Anchetil de Greye in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
was ''Redrefield'' (subsequently
Rotherfield Greys
Rotherfield Greys is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire. It is west of Henley-on-Thames and just over east of Rotherfield Peppard (locally known as Peppard). It is linked by a near-straight minor road to H ...
), the
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
of which is today represented by
Greys Court
Greys Court is a Tudor country house and gardens in the southern Chiltern Hills at Rotherfield Greys, near Henley-on-Thames in the county of Oxfordshire, England. Now owned by the National Trust, it is located at , and is open to the public.
...
, now in
South Oxfordshire
South Oxfordshire is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a planned move to Didcot, the district's largest town. The a ...
.
[Open Domesday Online: Ansketil de Graye]
accessed January 2017[Crossley & Currie, 1996, pages 180-183] Anchetil was also the tenant of
Standlake
Standlake is a village and civil parish in West Oxfordshire about southeast of Witney and west of Oxford, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Brighthampton. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,497. The River Windru ...
,
[ seemingly a part of Brighthampton.
]
Origins
Greye's origins in Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
are unclear, although it is believed he came from the vicinity of today's Graye-sur-Mer (Calvados, ''Graieum'' 1086, ''Graia'' 1172, ''Gray'' 1183) which would have been within the domain of William I
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...
. There is also a possible connection to the eastern French town of Gray
Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...
.
It is likely that Anchetil de Greye was of Norse ancestry in whole or in part since the given name ''Anchetil'' (from ''Ásketíll'' "God-Cauldron") was a fairly common Norse-origin name in Normandy. The "Greye" in his name then was either simply a reference to his estate, or to his mixed Scandinavian-Frankish ancestry which was also common in Normandy by the time of the invasion of England. His immediate ancestry is uncertain, but some researchers believe he was the son of a certain Hugh Fitz Turgis,[De Ste-Marie, 1842, page not cited] that means "Turgis' son" (from ''Thorgisl'' "hostage of Thor"), another clue he was from Normandy.
More than 20 superficially distinct instances of ''Anschitil'', ''Anschil'', ''Anschetil'', etc. in early Norman documents must refer to a far smaller number of distinct individuals. Particularly interesting is ''Anschitil de Ros''. According to ''Domesday Monachorum'' he was the feudal landlord, under the Bishop of Bayeux, of ''Craie'', another ''Craie'', and ''Croctune'' (or Crawton). These three places are in the Cray valley of Kent, which was in Norman times the foremost site of chalk mining from denehole
A denehole (alternatively dene hole or dene-hole) is an underground structure consisting of a number of small chalk caves entered by a vertical shaft. The name is given to certain caves or excavations in England, which have been popularly suppose ...
s, on a scale rivalled only by the Hangman's Wood
Hangman's Wood and Deneholes is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Little Thurrock in Essex. The deneholes, which were created by medieval chalk mining, are a Scheduled Monument.
The name Hangmans Wood dates back to at least t ...
cluster of deneholes on the other side of the Thames in Grays.
Cray and Grey seem to be almost interchangeable in Kent place names. Cray passed from Anglo-Norman French into English as a word for "chalk", while ''greye'' is one of the wide range of French regional dialect words for "chalk". In Normandy, ''Grai'' is modern Graye-sur-Mer, and ''Ros'' is modern Rots, on the outskirts of Caen about away. Between them, on the river Seulles, at Orival near Creully
Creully () is a former commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Creully sur Seulles.
The town square is named after Canadian Lieutenant Bill McCormi ...
, lies an ancient quarry where building stone is said to have been dug and lime burned since Gallo-Roman times. One of the key resources found in chalk mines is flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...
, which was used for tools, construction and making fire.
Whether ''Anschetil de Grai'' and ''Anschitil de Ros'' were two persons or one, they/he must have known about and profited from the digging and shipping of limestone in Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
, so it is at least curious that they/he picked chalk-digging areas for their new feudal domains in England.
Descendants
He was the great-grandfather of John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich
The Bishop of Norwich is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The bishop of Norwich is Graham Usher.
The see is in t ...
, and probably also of Henry de Grey
Sir Henry de Grey of Grays Thurrock, Essex (1155–1219) was a favourite courtier of King John of England.
Family
Sir Henry was the son of John de Grey (born Thurrock, Essex, c. 1140 and married c. 1157) and probably a great-grandson of Anche ...
, and the great-great-grandfather of Walter de Grey
Walter de Gray (died 1 May 1255) was an English prelate and statesman who was Archbishop of York from 1215 to 1255 and Lord Chancellor from 1205 to 1214. His uncle was John de Gray, who was a bishop and royal servant to King John of England. ...
, Archbishop of York
The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...
and Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...
of England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
Sources
*
*
See also
* Baron Grey de Wilton
Baron Grey de Wilton is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England (1295) and once in the Peerage of Great Britain (1784). The first creation was forfeit and the second creation is extinct.
History First creation
The fi ...
* Baron Grey of Codnor
The title of Baron Grey of Codnor is a title in the peerage of England.
This barony was called out of abeyance in 1989, after 493 years, in favour of the Cornwall-Legh family of East Hall, High Legh, Cheshire. The Lords Grey of Codnor are seni ...
* Baron Grey de Ruthyn
Baron Grey of Ruthin (or Ruthyn) was a noble title created in the Peerage of England by writ of summons in 1324 for Sir Roger de Grey, a son of John, 2nd Baron Grey of Wilton, and has been in abeyance since 1963. Historically, this branch of th ...
* Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...
References
External links
Greys Court in Oxfordshire
Origin of the Name Anchetil
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greye, Anchetil de
1050s births
Year of birth uncertain
Year of death unknown
Anglo-Normans
Norman warriors
People from Rotherfield Greys
Anchetil de Grey