Anchitil de Grai, Lord of Rotherfield

The ancestry shown here is according to Robert Glover, Somerset Herald 1571-1588. He is said to have been the "most reputable" member of the Tudor College of Arms (which, considering the Dethicks and others, isn't saying a lot), but also to have indulged in rather too much Wild Mass Guessing whenever he ran short of facts.

The Editor's Notes in the Norfolk Antiquarian Miscellany, vol III, part 1, p. 8 https://books.google.com/books?id=5UMuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=an... show a completely different descent.

The New England Historical and Genealogical Register for October 1922 (pp. 295-299) show a similar descent, while dissing the Glover pedigree as false. https://books.google.com/books?id=zyhAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA300&lpg=PA300&d...

Recherches sur le Domesday adds just one generation between Turgis and Anschetil (Hugh fitz Turgis, who can also be found in the Domesday Book). https://archive.org/details/recherchessurle02dangoog/page/n175

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchetil_de_Greye

Anchetil de Greye From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anchetil de Greye was a vassal of William the Conqueror who accompanied him in the Norman conquest of England. (Probably not at Hastings - he would have been a mere teenager - but the "pacification" of England went on for another twenty years and many people came over to help out at various stages.)

Anchetil de Greye (rendered variously in different documents, e.g. 'de Graye', 'de Grei'; also 'Anketil') is specifically named in the Domesday Book of 1086. The principal estate granted to Anchetil de Greye in England was called Redrefield (subsequently Rotherfield Greys) and the manor house, Greys Court, in Oxfordshire. He was the great grandfather of John de Gray, Bishop of Norwich, and the great great grandfather of Walter de Gray, Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor of England; and is regarded as the ancestor of all the Grey/Gray noble families in England.

Greye's origins in France are unclear. Some sources speculate a connection to the Croy family whose ancient estate and castle were in what was later called Picardy, and that 'Greye' derived from 'Croy'. Others however believe that there was a connection to an estate in the vicinity of today's Graye-sur-Mer which would have been within the domain of William, and possibly also to an estate in the vicinity of the eastern French town of Gray. History records that the original Viking founder of Normandy, Rollo, made raids into the eastern part of France where the town of Gray is located.

The etymology of the name 'Greye/Grey/Gray' depends on which speculation is true. If 'Croy', then it ultimately derives from either the French word for 'cross' (croix) or 'chalk' (OF croie), a reference perhaps to an element of the soil. If 'Gray', then it might derive from the Gallo-Roman name 'Gradus', cognate to the Celtic 'Grady' which means 'illustrious' or 'noble', or from the Gallo-Roman name 'Gratus' meaning 'pleasing', or also from 'chalk', which is greda in Occitan and gré in Doubs regional dialect.

It is likely that Anchetil de Greye was of Viking ancestry in whole or in part since the given name Anchetil ('god-helmet') 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-French 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[1]

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 deneholes, on a scale rivalled only by the Hangmans Wood cluster of deneholes on the other side of the Thames in Grays.

Cray and Gray 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 13 km away. Between them, on the river Seulles, at Orival near Creully, lies an ancient quarry where building stone is said to have been dug and lime burned since Gallo-Roman times.

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. So it is at least curious that they/he picked chalk-digging areas for their new feudal lands in England.

References ^ De Ste-Marie, M (1842). Recherches sur le Domesday.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchetil_de_Greye

Anchetil de Greye From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anchetil de Greye was a vassal of William the Conqueror who accompanied him in the Norman conquest of England. (Probably not at Hastings - he would have been a mere teenager - but the "pacification" of England went on for another twenty years and many people came over to help out at various stages.)

Anchetil de Greye (rendered variously in different documents, e.g. 'de Graye', 'de Grei'; also 'Anketil') is specifically named in the Domesday Book of 1086. The principal estate granted to Anchetil de Greye in England was called Redrefield (subsequently Rotherfield Greys) and the manor house, Greys Court, in Oxfordshire. He was the great grandfather of John de Gray, Bishop of Norwich, and the great great grandfather of Walter de Gray, Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor of England; and is regarded as the ancestor of all the Grey/Gray noble families in England.

Greye's origins in France are unclear. Some sources speculate a connection to the Croy family whose ancient estate and castle were in what was later called Picardy, and that 'Greye' derived from 'Croy'. Others however believe that there was a connection to an estate in the vicinity of today's Graye-sur-Mer which would have been within the domain of William, and possibly also to an estate in the vicinity of the eastern French town of Gray. History records that the original Viking founder of Normandy, Rollo, made raids into the eastern part of France where the town of Gray is located.

The etymology of the name 'Greye/Grey/Gray' depends on which speculation is true. If 'Croy', then it ultimately derives from either the French word for 'cross' (croix) or 'chalk' (OF croie), a reference perhaps to an element of the soil. If 'Gray', then it might derive from the Gallo-Roman name 'Gradus', cognate to the Celtic 'Grady' which means 'illustrious' or 'noble', or from the Gallo-Roman name 'Gratus' meaning 'pleasing', or also from 'chalk', which is greda in Occitan and gré in Doubs regional dialect.

It is likely that Anchetil de Greye was of Viking ancestry in whole or in part since the given name Anchetil ('god-helmet') 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-French 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[1]

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 deneholes, on a scale rivalled only by the Hangmans Wood cluster of deneholes on the other side of the Thames in Grays.

Cray and Gray 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 13 km away. Between them, on the river Seulles, at Orival near Creully, lies an ancient quarry where building stone is said to have been dug and lime burned since Gallo-Roman times.

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. So it is at least curious that they/he picked chalk-digging areas for their new feudal lands in England

Født i 1052, Anchetil de Greye (gjengitt forskjellig i ulike dokumenter, for eksempel "de Graye", "de Grai" (som i listen over Vilhelms riddere følgesvenn seiler til England i 1066 fra Notre Dame-kirken i dykk-sur-Mer) "de Grei" og "Anketil") er spesifikt nevnt i Domesday Book (1086). Han var oldefar av John de Grey, biskopen av Norwich, og trolig også av Henry de Grey og den store-oldefaren Walter de Grey, erkebiskop av York og han rikskansler. Han regnes som stamfaren til den edle huset Grey

Greyes opprinnelse i Frankrike er uklart, men det antas han kom fra nærheten av dagens Graye-sur-Mer som ville ha vært på domenet for William I.

Det er sannsynlig at Anchetil de Greye hadde norrøne opphav helt eller delvis siden han ble gitt navnet Anchetil (fra Ásketíll "Gud-hjelm") som var et ganske vanlig norrøne opprinnelse navn i Normandie. "Greye" i hans navn så var enten bare en referanse til hans eiendom, eller hans blandet skandinavisk-frankiske opphav som var også vanlig i Normandie ved invasjonen av England.

Historiske opptegnelser viser at den opprinnelige Viking grunnleggeren av Normandie, Rollo, gjorde hærtokt i den østlige delen av Frankrike hvor byen av Gray ligger. Navnet Cray gikk fra Anglo-Norman fransk til engelsk som ord for kritt, mens greye er blant det store utvalget av franske regionale dialekt ord for kritt. Anschetil de Grai, må ha vært har kjent og profitert på graving og frakting av kalkstein fra Normandie. Så det er ikke det minste rart at han plukket ut kalkgruveområder som sine nye føydale landområder i England.

Anchetil de Greye var vasall. Han fulgte William Erobreren i den normanniske erobringen av England i 1066. Vasall er en betegnelse på en person som har fått et geografisk område å administrere på vegne av makthaverne. Gjenytelsen for å motta et slikt len var krigstjeneste og skatter.Anchetil de Greye fikk den viktigste eiendommen i England Redrefield senere kalt Rotherfield Greys og herregårdshuset Grey i Oxfordshire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchetil_de_Greye