Walter D'Aincourt (or Walter Deincourt or d'Eyncourt) was a landholder in

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

under King

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...

in 1065/1066. Later in 1066, he fought for

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

against

Harold Godwinson Harold Godwinson ( – 14 October 1066), also called Harold II, was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon King of England. Harold reigned from 6 January 1066 until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, the decisive battle of the Norman ...

and was rewarded with a large number of manors in a number of counties but particularly

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

after 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 Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

Biography

D'Aincourt's mark on history is recorded principally 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

which records him as tenant-in-chief of thirteen manors in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, one manor in

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, four in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, nineteen in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

and thirty-seven in

. He made his home in Blankney in Lincolnshire.The Conqueror and His Companions by J.R. Planché, Somerset Herald. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1874
accessed 13 December 2007. His surname is said to have had its origin in the village of

Aincourt Aincourt () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located in the . Population See also *Communes of the Val-d'Oise department The following is a list of the 183 Communes of France, communes o ...

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

on the

River Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres p ...

between

Mantes Mantes-la-Jolie (, often informally called Mantes) is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region of north-central France. It is located to the west of Paris, f ...

and Magny.Thurgarton Abbey at British-History
accessed 13 December 2007. In 1088, after the

Rebellion of 1088 The Rebellion of 1088 occurred after the death of William the Conqueror and concerned the division of lands in the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy between his two sons William Rufus and Robert Curthose. Hostilities lasted from thre ...

, Walter bore a royal writ of

William II of England William II (; – 2 August 1100) was List of English monarchs, King of England from 26 September 1087 until his death in 1100, with powers over Duchy of Normandy, Normandy and influence in Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland. He was less successfu ...

ordering the men of William de St-Calais, Bishop of Durham, to return the cattle that they had stolen from rebels during the conflict. Walter's first son, William, died young, while in fosterage at the court of King William II "Rufus", and was buried in

Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, also called Lincoln Minster, and formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, is a Church of England cathedral in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lincoln and is the Mo ...

, but his other son Ralph lived to become the second Baron Deincourt; his third son was named Walter. Walter (senior) was known to, and described as a blood relative of, Remigius de Fécamp,

Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of Nort ...

who contributed substantially to William I's conquest of England. It has been speculated that D'Aincourt's rewards were due not to his contribution to the conquest but to his kinship of Remigius. However, J.R. Planché believed, on the basis of Walter's son William D'Aincourt being so described on a plaque found in his tomb, that Walter's wife Matilda was of royal descent. On this basis, plus proof that Walter and Matilda made donations on Alan Rufus's behalf, and chronological considerations, Matilda is argued by the historian Richard Sharpe to be a daughter of Count Alan Rufus and of Gunhild of Wessex, and thus a granddaughter of

, a view that Katharine Keats-Rohan finds convincinghttps://www.academia.edu/2039901/Domesday_People_Revisted (sic). (Sharpe's article also cites a suggestion by Trevor Foulds that Matilda d'Aincourt might have been the Princess Matilda who was a daughter of King

and his wife Queen Matilda.)

Descendants

Walter and his wife Matilda had many descendants, such as the later members of the

House of Neville The House of Neville or Nevill family (originally FitzMaldred) is a noble house of early medieval origin, which was a leading force in English politics in the Late Middle Ages. The family became one of the two major powers in northern England an ...

, including Warwick the Kingmaker.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daincourt, Walter Anglo-Normans English landowners Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown People from Derby