William de Bodrugan (c. 1250-1307), sometimes referred to as a knight, was a Cornish priest and landowner, who became firstly Provost of

Glasney College Glasney College ( kw, Kolji Glasneth) was founded in 1265 at Penryn, Cornwall, by Bishop Bronescombe and was a centre of ecclesiastical power in medieval Cornwall and probably the best known and most important of Cornwall's religious institut ...

, and secondly

Archdeacon of Cornwall The Archdeacon of Cornwall is a senior cleric in the Church of England Diocese of Truro. History and composition The archdeaconry of Cornwall was created in the Diocese of Exeter in the late 11th century. The area and the archdeacon remained p ...

Family

William was the second son of Philip de Bodrugan and his wife Rosea, or Roslyn, perhaps the daughter of Luke de Hendresuk of

Talland Talland ( kw, Tallan) is a hamlet and ecclesiastical parish between Looe and Polperro on the south coast of Cornwall (the parish includes the eastern part of the village of Polperro, where there is a chapel of ease and formerly also the town of ...

. His elder brother, Roger, died in 1277, leaving his son, Henry Bodrugan, heir to the family's estates, under aged. William purchased Henry's

wardship In law, a ward is a minor or incapacitated adult placed under the protection of a legal guardian or government entity, such as a court. Such a person may be referenced as a "ward of the court". Overview The wardship jurisdiction is an ancient jur ...

from Sir William de Alneto on 19 May 1277, thereby recovering control of the family's property. William is known to have fathered one illegitimate child, Elizabeth, and possibly two more, Felicia and Philip. * Elizabeth, married to Adam de Markwell. * Felicia, married Andrew de Trevelyan in 1309. * Philip, son of William de Bodrugan (mentioned in 1311).

Career

In 1274 William became

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the family

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

of St Martin by Looe. As guardian for his nephew, William had control over the family benefices, so he was able in 1277 to appoint the new rector of

Poundstock Poundstock ( kw, Tregorlann) is a civil parish and a hamlet on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The hamlet is situated four miles (6.5 km) south of Bude half-a-mile west of the A39 trunk road about one mile from the coa ...

. In July 1278 he succeeded to the

canonry A canon (from the Latin , itself derived from the Greek , , "relating to a rule", "regular") is a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, i ...

of Master William de Sancto Justo at

. On 6 November 1282 he was

collated Collation is the assembly of written information into a standard order. Many systems of collation are based on numerical order or alphabetical order, or extensions and combinations thereof. Collation is a fundamental element of most office filin ...

to the rectory of

Ruan Lanihorne Ruan Lanihorne is a civil parish and village in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated approximately four miles (6.5 km) east-southeast of Truro between the River Fal and its tributary the Ruan River.Ordnance S ...

. On 22 March 1283 William gave up St Martin by Looe, appointing a new rector in his place, but in August 1285 he returned as

coadjutor The term coadjutor (or coadiutor, literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadj ...

to Sir Walter de Tremur who had fallen ill. William became the first official Provost of Glasney on 17 April 1283. On 28 February 1288 he relinquished the provostship. He was

from 1295 to 1307.

Landowner

During William's life, particularly in his later years, he engaged himself in expanding his landed estate, eventually acquiring the manors of Tremodret (

Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX ...

), Trethew (

Liskeard Liskeard ( ; kw, Lyskerrys) is a small ancient stannary and market town in south-east Cornwall, South West England. It is situated approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of Plymouth, west of the Devon border, and 12 miles (20 km) eas ...

), and Markwell ( St Erney). These lands would eventually pass to his nephew, Henry, apart from Markwell which was given by William to Adam de Markwell for his lifetime as part of Elizabeth's

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

. On Adam's death the manor passed back to Henry's son, Otto.

References

* Whetter, James, ''The Bodrugans: a study of a Cornish Medieval knightly family'', Lyfrow Trelyspen, 1995 * Whetter, James, ''The History of Glasney College'', 1988 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bodrugan, William Archdeacons of Cornwall Medieval Cornish people 13th-century births 1307 deaths

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

13th-century English people 14th-century English people