William de Lancaster I (d. circa 1170), or William Fitz Gilbert, was a
nobleman
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...
of the 12th century in
Northwest England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,052,000 in 2011. It is the ...
during
the Anarchy, and the period during which his region was ruled by
King David I of Scotland. His position survived the return of English rule under
King Henry II, and his most important lordship, which had previously come together under
Ivo de Taillebois, would evolve into what was eventually known as the
barony of Kendal
The Barony of Kendal is a subdivision of the English historic county of Westmorland. It is one of two ancient baronies that make up the county, the other being the Barony of Westmorland (also known as North Westmorland, or the Barony of Apple ...
. According to a document some generations later, he was also referred to as William de Tailboys (de Taillebois) when younger, and then became "William de Lancaster, baron of Kendal". He died in about 1170.
Titles and positions
Earliest holdings
Despite his by-name "de Lancaster", which was used by his descendants as a family name, William and his relatives appear in contemporary documents relating mainly to what is now the modern county of
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...
, not
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, the county of Lancaster. He and his family were especially associated with
Copeland in western
Cumberland,
Furness
Furness ( ) is a peninsula and region of Cumbria in northwestern England. Together with the Cartmel Peninsula it forms North Lonsdale, historically an exclave of Lancashire.
The Furness Peninsula, also known as Low Furness, is an area of vill ...
in the
Lake District, the barony of
Kendal, which became part of
Westmorland
Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...
, and various areas such as
Barton between Kendal and
Ullswater
Ullswater is the second largest lake in the English Lake District, being about long and wide, with a maximum depth a little over . It was scooped out by a glacier in the Last Ice Age.
Geography
It is a typical Lake District "ribbon lake", ...
. Much of this area was not yet permanently part of England, or divided into counties. Only part of this area was within the later English county of Lancaster or
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
. The by-name "de Lancaster", by which William was remembered, therefore referred to the city of
Lancaster, to the south of his lordships, and probably more importantly to some area under its jurisdiction which did not necessarily become part of the later county. In 1900, William Farrer claimed that "all of the southern half of
Westmorland
Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...
, not only the Kirkby Lonsdale Ward of Westmorland, but also the Kendal Ward, were linked with Northern Lancashire from a very early time" and formed a single district for fiscal administrative purposes.
Two apparently lost records which are said to have mentioned William's father Gilbert apparently connected him to Cumbria, specifically to the area of
Furness
Furness ( ) is a peninsula and region of Cumbria in northwestern England. Together with the Cartmel Peninsula it forms North Lonsdale, historically an exclave of Lancashire.
The Furness Peninsula, also known as Low Furness, is an area of vill ...
.
The following are some of the areas associated with him:
*
Muncaster
Muncaster is a civil parish in Cumbria, North West England. The parish is south west of the city of Carlisle, in the Copeland district, in the county of Cumbria, England. The parish includes the village of Ravenglass. In 2011 the parish had a p ...
in Cumberland. William Farrer, in his 1902 edition of Lancashire
Pipe Rolls and early charters, wrote:
It appears that he was possessed of the lordship of Mulcaster (now Muncaster), ''over'' the Penningtons of Pennington in Furness, and ''under'' Robert de Romille
Robert de Romille (also de Rumilly) was an adventurer from Brittany who joined the Normans in their Conquest of Britain. After 1086 King William I made him lord of the estates of Bolton Abbey. Romille built the first Skipton Castle in 1090 to repe ...
, lord of Egremont and Skipton
Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Ai ...
, who held it in right of his wife, Cecilia, daughter and heiress of William Meschin
William Meschin (sometimes William le Meschin; died between 1130 and 1135) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and baron. The brother of the earl of Chester, Meschin participated in the First Crusade. After returning to England, he acquired lands both ...
.
:According to Farrer, this title would have been one of those granted by
Roger de Mowbray, son of
Nigel de Albini, having come into his hands after the decease without male heirs of
Ivo de Taillebois. He also believed that this grant to William de Lancaster came to be annulled.
*
Workington
Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207.
Locat ...
,
Lamplugh
Lamplugh () is a scattered community and civil parish located in West Cumbria on the edge of the English Lake District and historically part of Cumberland. It had a population of 763 in 2001, increasing to 805 at the 2011 Census.
The main A50 ...
and
Middleton. The manors of Workington and Lamplugh in Cumberland were given by William de Lancaster, in exchange for Middleton in
Westmorland
Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...
, to an apparently close relative, Gospatric, son of Orme, brother-in-law of
Waldeve, Lord of
Allerdale.
*
Hensingham
Hensingham is a suburb of Whitehaven and former civil parish, now in the parish of Whitehaven, in the Copeland district, in the county of Cumbria, England. The ward population taken at the 2011 census was 4,145. In 1931 the parish had a popula ...
. The Register of
St Bees shows that both William son of Gilbert de Lancastre, and William's son William had land in this area. William's was at a place called Swartof or Suarthow, "probably the rising ground between
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It i ...
and Hensingham, known locally as Swartha Brow". The appears to have come from his father Gilbert. His brother Roger apparently held land at Walton, just outside modern Hensingham, and had a son named Robert. Roger and William also named a brother called Robert.
*
Ulverston
Ulverston is a market town and a civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. In the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 census the parish had a population of 11,524, increasing at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census to ...
. Farrer argued that this may have been held by William and perhaps his father Gilbert, before it was granted by Stephen, Count of Boulogne and Mortain, to
Furness Abbey
Furness Abbey, or St. Mary of Furness, is a former Catholic monastery located to the north of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The abbey dates back to 1123 and was once the second-wealthiest and most powerful Cistercian monastery in the cou ...
in 1127. The possible connection of William's father Gilbert to Furness will be discussed further below.
Enfeoffment by King Stephen
King Stephen's reign in England lasted from 1135 to 1154, but only during a small part of this did he control this region. For the majority of his reign all or most of this area was under the rule of
David I of Scotland
David I or Dauíd mac Maíl Choluim ( Modern: ''Daibhidh I mac haoilChaluim''; – 24 May 1153) was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians from 1113 to 1124 and later King of Scotland from 1124 to 1153. The youngest son of Mal ...
.
During the period when Stephen was in control "we possess distinct and clear evidence that Stephen, as king, enfeoffed a knight of the lands of
Warton in
Kentdale and the wide territory of
Garstang
Garstang is an ancient market town and civil parish within the Wyre borough of Lancashire, England. It is north of the city of Preston and the same distance south of Lancaster.
In 2011, the parish had a total resident population of 4,268; ...
, in Lancashire, to hold for the service of one knight. This was William de Lancaster, son of Gilbert by Godith his wife, described in the Inquest of service made in 1212 as "''Willelmus filius Gilberti primus''", that is, the first to be enfeoffed of that fee."
[
]
Enfeoffment by Roger de Mowbray
At a similar time, during the period 1145-1154, a major enfeoffment by Roger de Mowbray put William in control, or perhaps just confirmed his control, of what would become the barony of Kendal, plus Warton, Garstang, and Wyresdale in Lancashire, as well as Horton in Ribblesdale
Horton in Ribblesdale is a small village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated in Ribblesdale on the Settle–Carlisle Railway to the west of Pen-y-ghent.
Its population in the 2001 census ...
and " Londsdale". The latter two are sometimes apparently being interpreted as indicating possession for some time of at least part of what would become the Wapentake of Ewcross in the West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
.
The Scottish period
During the Scottish occupation, Hugh de Morville became the overlord of much of this area, a position he kept when the area later returned to English control. Farrer and Curwen remark:
William de Lancaster no longer held anything in Kentdale of Roger de Mowbray; but he appears to have held his lands in Westmarieland and Kentdale of Morevill by rendering Noutgeld of £14 6s. 3d. per annum, and some 16 carucate
The carucate or carrucate ( lat-med, carrūcāta or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms ...
s of land in nine vills in Kentdale as farmer under Morevill. In 1166 William de Lancaster I held only two knight's fees, of the new feoffment of Roger de Mowbray in Sedbergh, Thornton, Burton in Lonsdale, and the other places in Yorkshire previously named, which his descendants held long after of the fee of Mowbray by the same service. The Mowbray connexion with Kentdale had come to an end upon the accession of Henry II, who placed Hugh de Morevill in possession of Westmarieland in return, possibly, for past services and in pursuance of the policy of planting his favourites in regions of great strategic importance. Probably the change of paramount lord had little, if any, effect on the position of William de Lancaster in Kentdale.[ ]
In Cumberland further west, William was probably castellan in the castle of Egremont under William fitz Duncan
William fitz Duncan (a modern anglicisation of the Old French Guillaume fils de Duncan and the Middle Irish Uilleam mac Donnchada) was a Scottish prince, the son of King Duncan II of Scotland by his wife Ethelreda of Dunbar. He was a territoria ...
. Such proposals are based on his transaction with his cousin Gospatrick son of Orme, whereby castle service at Egremont was due to William for Workington.
The barony of Kendal
William de Lancaster is often described as having been a baron of Kendal
The titles of Earl of Kendal and Duke of Kendal have been created several times, usually for people with some connection to the royal family.
*The first creation was for John, 4th son of King Henry IV, who was created Earl of Kendal, Earl of Ri ...
. In fact it is not so clear what kind of lordship existed over Kendal, given the lack of clarity of records in this period. The word baron developed specific meanings during the Middle Ages, namely feudal baron and baron by writ. William Farrer wrote, in the introduction to his ''Records of Kendal'':
After a careful review of the evidence which has been sketched above, the author is of opinion that no barony or reputed barony of Kentdale existed prior to the grants of 1189–90; and that neither William de Lancaster, son of Gilbert, nor William de Lancaster II, his son and successor, can be rightly described as "baron" of Kentdale.[.]
What became the barony of Kendal is nevertheless generally accepted to have started to come together already under Ivo de Taillebois (d. 1094) in the time of William Rufus, some generations before William. In later generations William was depicted by his family as having been a Taillebois. A continuity is therefore often asserted between what Ivo held, and what William later held, despite the fact that William had no known hereditary claim on Kendal, and Ivo had no male heirs. (This is also the reason for the frequent assertion that William held the entire wapentake of Ewcross, even though it seems that the family of Roger de Mowbray kept hold of at least Burton in Kendal. William held two parts of it, mentioned above, while Ivo had held another, Clapham. The rest is speculation.)
According to Farrer, the barony of Kendal became a real barony only in the time of William's grand daughter Hawise, who married Gilbert son of Roger fitz Reinfrid. Both he and his son William de Lancaster III were certainly barons of Kendal.
Other offices
*Furness
Furness ( ) is a peninsula and region of Cumbria in northwestern England. Together with the Cartmel Peninsula it forms North Lonsdale, historically an exclave of Lancashire.
The Furness Peninsula, also known as Low Furness, is an area of vill ...
and the Royal forests
A royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), is an area of land with different definitions in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The term ''forest'' in the ordinary modern understanding refers to an area of wooded land; however, the ...
. According to a later grant to Gilbert Fitz Reinfrid
Gilbert fitz Roger fitz Reinfried, or Gilbert the son of Roger fitzReinfrid, (died about 1220) was an Anglo-Norman feudal baron whose administrative career in England began in the time of Henry II of England, Henry II (1154-1189), for whom his fat ...
, William must have held some position over the whole forest of Westmarieland (the Northern or Appleby barony of Westmorland), Kendal and Furness. His claims in Furness may have gone beyond just the forest, but this appears to have put him in conflict with the claims of the Furness Abbey, and this conflict continued over many generations. His family may have had links there before him. Some websites report that his father Gilbert was known as "Gilbert of Furness". (This apparently comes from a 17th-century note by Benjamin Ayloffe, mentioned below.)
*Lancaster Castle
Lancaster Castle is a medieval castle and former prison in Lancaster in the English county of Lancashire. Its early history is unclear, but it may have been founded in the 11th century on the site of a Roman fort overlooking a crossing of ...
. According to Dugdale, the eminent English antiquarian, he was governor of Lancaster Castle in the reign of Henry II, about 1180. Little is known about how William came to hold the honour of Lancaster and use the surname, but it is sometimes suggested that it implies connections to royalty, perhaps coming from his apparent marriage to Gundred de Warrenne (or was this just yet another reward for some forgotten service, perhaps against the Scots?).
* Seneschal. According to a note written by the 17th century antiquarian Benjamin Ayloffe, which is reproduced in the introduction of Walford Dakin Selby
Walford Dakin Selby (1845–1889) was an English archivist and antiquary.
Life
Born on 16 June 1845, he was the eldest son of Thomas Selby of Whitley, Essex, Whitley and Wimbush Hall, Essex, by his wife Elizabeth, youngest daughter and coheiress o ...
's collection of ''Lancashire and Cheshire Records'', p.xxix, William was ''Seneschallus Hospitii Regis'', or steward of the king's household. The same note also states that William's father was the kings "Receiver for the County of Lancaster".
Ancestry
William's father was named Gilbert, and his mother was Godith. They are both mentioned clearly in a benefaction of William to St Mary de Pré and William was often referred to as William the son of Gilbert (fitz Gilbert). William was also said to have descended from both Ivo de Taillebois and Eldred of Workington, who were contemporaries of William Rufus
William II ( xno, Williame; – 2 August 1100) was King of England from 26 September 1087 until his death in 1100, with powers over Normandy and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales. The third so ...
, but the exact nature of the relationship is unclear and indeed controversial.
Two late cartularies, those of Cockersand Abbey and St Mary's Abbey in Yorkshire, give a father-to-son descent from Ivo through Eldred, Ketel, and Gilbert to William. However, monastic genealogies concerning their benefactors are generally considered unreliable. There are chronological concerns with this pedigree: Ivo and Eldred appear to have been contemporaries, as were Ketel and Gilbert. Likewise, it implies that William de Lancaster was heir to Ketel fitz Eldred, but Ketel is commonly thought to have had another heir. And there is also no record of Eldred being an heir to Ivo, while it would be unusual for the descendants of a Norman noble (Ivo) to have so many Anglo-Saxon names (Eldred, Ketel, etc.).
The 12th-century annalist Peter of Blois
Peter of Blois ( la, Petrus Blesensis; French: ''Pierre de Blois''; ) was a French cleric, theologian, poet and diplomat. He is particularly noted for his corpus of Latin letters.
Early life and education
Peter of Blois was born about 1130. Ear ...
related that Ivo's "only daughter, who had been nobly espoused, died before her father; for that evil shoots should not fix deep roots in the world, the accursed lineage of that wicked man perished by the axe of the Almighty, which cut off all his issue." The only known heiress of Ivo was a daughter named Beatrix. Her sons by her one documented husband, Ribald of Middleham, did occasionally use the Taillebois surname. A connection between William and Ivo de Taillebois is still supported based upon a similarity of land holdings between the two. Likewise, a record in the Coucher Book of Furness Abbey
Furness Abbey, or St. Mary of Furness, is a former Catholic monastery located to the north of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The abbey dates back to 1123 and was once the second-wealthiest and most powerful Cistercian monastery in the cou ...
involving Helewise de Lancaster, William's granddaughter, claims he had been known as William de Tailboys before receiving the right to be called ''"Willelmum de Lancastre, Baronem de Kendale"''. However, Farrer and Curwen have questioned the accuracy of this account, pointing out that William was probably not baron of Kendal, but an under-lord there.[ There was a Tailboys family present in Westmorland during the 12th century, for example in Cliburn, and these were presumably relatives of William de Lancaster. This family used the personal name Ivo at least once, and may have been related to Ivo and Beatrix.
In a 1212 Curia Regis Roll entry, William's granddaughter Helewise de Lancaster and her husband refer to ''"Ketel filius Eutret"'' as her ''"antecessor"'', a term that could mean literal ancestor, or simply a predecessor more generally. A grant to St Leonard's York by William refers to Ketel, the son of "Elred", as his ''avunculus'' (maternal uncle). Likewise, a second charter, from 1357, repeats the claim that Ketel son of "Aldred" was ''avunculus'' of William.][)] Gilbert was thus not son of Ketel. Noting that ''avunculus'' was sometimes used imprecisely for a paternal uncle, Frederick Ragg proposed that Gilbert was the brother of Ketel, and hence son rather than grandson of Eldred However, George Washington and George Andrews Moriarty instead viewed Ketel as maternal uncle to William, brother to Gilbert's wife Godith. Washington noted that the names Godith, Ketel and Eldred are all Anglo-Saxon names, rarely used by Normans, possibly indicative of a single family. This contrasts with the French names of Gilbert, and his son and grandsons named William. Moriarty suggested that Christina, Ketel's wife, may have been a relative of Ivo de Taillebois such as the unnamed daughter mentioned by Peter of Blois. The daughter mentioned by Peter of Blois is often considered to be the same as the one known daughter, Beatrix, the wife of Ribald of Middleham. For example, Katherine Keats-Rohan accepted Godith as Ketel's sister, but proposed their mother to be Beatrix, through a marriage to Eldred of which no contemporary record has been found.[Keats-Rohan, ''Domesday Descendants''. See the pedigree of Taillebois, p.42 and the entry for Willelm filius Gilberti de Lancastria on p.339.]
Descendants and relatives
William was married to a Countess Gundred, perhaps his second wife. She is sometimes identified with the widow of Roger, Earl of Warwick
Earl of Warwick is one of the most prestigious titles in the peerages of the United Kingdom. The title has been created four times in English history, and the name refers to Warwick Castle and the town of Warwick.
Overview
The first creation ...
, who was daughter of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey and Elizabeth of Vermandois, but William Farrer instead identified her as daughter of Roger and the elder Gundred.
William had issue:
* Avicia, who married Richard de Morville
Richard de Morville (died 1189), Lord of Cunninghame succeeded his father Hugh de Morville (died 1162) as Constable of Scotland and in his Scottish estates and English lands at Bozeat in Northamptonshire, and Rutland, as well as a number of f ...
, constable of Scotland (possibly as widow of William Peverel the Younger
William "the Younger" Peverel ( or – after 1155) was the son of William Peverel. He lived in Nottingham, England.
He married Avicia de Lancaster (1088 – ) in La Marche, Normandy, France. She was possibly the daughter of William de Lancaste ...
, although ''Complete Peerage
''The Complete Peerage'' (full title: ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom Extant, Extinct, or Dormant''; first edition by George Edward Cokayne, Clarenceux King of Arms; 2nd edition revi ...
'' proposed this William's wife was a daughter of Roger the Poitevin
Roger the Poitevin (Roger de Poitou) was born in Normandy in the mid-1060s and died before 1140. He was an Anglo-Norman aristocrat, possessing large holdings in both England and through his marriage in France.
He was the third son of Roger of Mo ...
, lord of Lancaster itself)
* William (II), William's heir, whose own legitimate heir Helewise de Lancaster married Gilbert son of Roger Fitz Reinfrid.
* Jordan, mentioned in a benefaction to St Mary de Pré in Leicester, he died young.
* Agnes, who married Alexander de Windsore
* Sigrid, married to William the clerk of Garstang.[
William's granddaughter Helewise had a son and heir who took her surname, William de Lancaster III. He died without male heirs, heavily indebted, apparently due to payments demanded after he was captured at ]Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
during the First Barons' War
The First Barons' War (1215–1217) was a civil war in the Kingdom of England in which a group of rebellious major landowners (commonly referred to as barons) led by Robert Fitzwalter waged war against King John of England. The conflict resulte ...
.
References
Further reading
*"The Lancaster Family" H.F. Lancaster 1902 Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
Call CS71.L245 1902
*Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis, Lines 34-24, 38-25, 88-25.
*Keats-Rohan ''Domesday Descendants''
*William Dugdale
Sir William Dugdale (12 September 1605 – 10 February 1686) was an English antiquary and herald. As a scholar he was influential in the development of medieval history as an academic subject.
Life
Dugdale was born at Shustoke, near Coles ...
's ''Monasticon''
Cockersand Abbey
St Mary's Abbey in Yorkshire
an
St Leonard's in Yorkshire
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lancaster, William De, I
De Lancaster, William
People from Cumbria
12th-century English people