William Peverel († 28. January 1114), Latinised to Gulielmus Piperellus), 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 ...

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

granted lands in England following the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...

Origins

Little is known of the origin of the William Peverel the Elder. Of his immediate family, only the name of a brother, Robert, is known.''

The 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 revis ...

'', Vol IV, App. I, pp 761–770, "Peverel Family". This also dismisses the Tudor-era genealogical invention that made him illegitimate son 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 ...

(after William Camden, Britain or a chorographicall description... (1637) p.550-551) J. R. Planché derives the surname from the Latin ''puerulus'', the diminutive form of ''puer'' (a boy), thus "a small boy", or from the Latin noun ''piper'', meaning "pepper".

Lands held in England

William Peverel was a favourite of

. He was greatly honoured after the

, and received as his reward over a hundred manors in central England from the king. In 1086, 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 manusc ...

records William as holding the substantial number of 162 manors, forming collectively the ''

Honour Honour (British English) or honor (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of socia ...

of Peverel'', in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

and

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, including

Nottingham Castle Nottingham Castle is a Stuart Restoration-era ducal mansion in Nottingham, England, built on the site of a Norman castle built starting in 1068, and added to extensively through the medieval period, when it was an important royal fortress and o ...

. He also built

Peveril Castle Peveril Castle (also Castleton Castle or Peak Castle) is a ruined 11th-century castle overlooking the village of Castleton in the English county of Derbyshire. It was the main settlement (or ''caput'') of the feudal barony of William Peverel, kn ...

, Castleton, Derbyshire. William Peverel is amongst the people explicitly recorded in the

as having built castles. He is considered first

Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests The Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests is a position established by the Normans in England. The sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in ...

Marriage and children

William married Adeline, who bore him four children: two sons both named William, one dying childless, the other often called

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 ...

, and two daughters, Maud and Adeliza, who married

Richard de Redvers Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...

References

;Bibliography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peverel, William 1040s births 1110s deaths Anglo-Normans People from Derbyshire