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Ada Warenne had other husbands: confusingly, Baron of Kendal and Lancaster
Parents:
Siblings:
Spouse and children:
Birth: Unknown. (No source gives an 1110 date, as a user previously indicated)
Baptism: Unknown.
Marriage:
Death: After 1166 according to FMG. English Wikipedia suggests 1170 without giving any sources. Location unknown.
Burial: Unknown.
Occupation: Lord of Kendale and Lonsdale in Westmoreland (1166 - death)
Alternate Names: William "Taillebois" de Lancaster, William Fitz Gilbert, William de Tailboys or de Taillebois.
From the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy Medlands Project page on English Nobility Medieval:
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLISHNOBILITYMEDIEVAL3L-O.htm#Wil...
GODITHA .
m GILBERT, son of ---.
Gilbert & his wife had [two] children:
i) WILLIAM "Taillebois" de Lancaster (-after 1166).
ii) [GILBERT de Lancaster .
---
From the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy Medlands Project page on English Nobility Medieval:
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLISHNOBILITYMEDIEVAL3L-O.htm#Wil...
WILLIAM "Taillebois" de Lancaster (-after 1166).
[m firstly ---.
m [secondly] ([Jun 1153/1156]) as her second husband, GUNDRED de Warenne, widow of ROGER de Beaumont Earl of Warwick, daughter of WILLIAM de Warenne Earl of Surrey & his wife Elisabeth de Vermandois [Capet] ([1120 or after]-after 1166).
William & his [first] wife had [one child]:
a) [HAWISE de Lancaster .
William & his [second] wife had one child:
b) WILLIAM de Lancaster (-bur Furness Abbey).
References:
From the English Wikipedia page on William de Lancaster I:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_de_Lancaster_I
William de Lancaster I, or William Fitz Gilbert, was a nobleman of the twelfth century in Northwest England. He was possibly also referred to as William de Tailboys (de Taillebois) when younger. He is the first person of whom we have any record to bear the name of Lancaster and pass it on to his descendants as a family name. He died in about 1170.
The blazonry attributed to William de Lancaster I and several of his main line descendants: "Argent (silver or white), two bars gules (red), and on a canton of the second, a lion, passant guardant, or (gold or yellow)"
Titles and positions
Earliest holdings
The general impression given by the known appearances of William and his relatives in contemporary documents, is that his own family origins lay in the modern county of Cumbria, especially Coupland in western Cumberland, Furness in the Lake District, The Barony of Kendal, which became part of Westmorland, and various areas such as Barton between Kendal and Ullswater, also in Westmorland.
Because of the surname he took up he is better remembered for the power he later wielded in Lancashire, near to the above areas, but just to the south of modern Cumbria.
The following are areas associated with him...
Muncaster in Cumberland. According to William Farrer, in his 1902 edition of Lancashire Pipe Rolls and early charters, p. 305, "It appears that he was possessed of the lordship of Mulcaster (now Muncaster), over the Penningtons of Pennington in Furness, and under Robert de Romilly, lord of Egremont and Skipton, who held it in right of his wife, Cecilia, daughter and heiress of William de Meschines."
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 with male heirs of Ivo de Taillebois. He also believes that this grant to William de Lancaster came to be annulled.
Workington, Lamplugh and Middleton. The manors of Workington and Lamplugh in Cumberland were given by William de Lancaster, in exchange for Middleton in Westmorland, to a relative, Gospatric, son of Orme, brother-in-law of Waldeve, Lord of Allerdale. [1]
Hensingham. The Register of St Bees shows that both William and his brother Roger granted land in this area.
Ulverston. See Farrer in "Lancashire Inquests, Extents, and Feudal Aids" who argues 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 in 1127. The possible connection of William's father Gilbert to Furness will be discussed further below.
Enfeoffment from Roger de Mowbray
Around 1150, a major enfeoffment by Roger de Mowbray put William in control, or perhaps just confirmed his control, of what would become of the Barony of Kendal, plus Warton, Garstang, and Wyresdale in Lancashire, as well as Horton in Ribblesdale and "Londsdale" - the latter two sometimes apparently being interpreted as indicating possession of at least part of what would become the Wapentake of Ewcross in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
William de Lancaster is often described as having been a Baron of Kendal. In fact this is not so clear. 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."
Part of the problem comes from the time he lived in:
What became the Barony of Kendal is generally accepted as having come together under Ivo de Taillebois (d.1194) in the time of William Rufus. And, as will be discussed below, at least 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. (This is apparently 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, both successors of William de Lancaster I (and possibly of Ivo de Taillebois) were certainly Barons of Kendal.
The Scottish period
Egremont Castle. During the Scottish occupation, according to several websites, William was castellan in the castle of Egremont under William fitz Duncan. Others have suggested that his later enfeoffments and good marriage perhaps suggest that he played a role in leading the fight back against Scotland.
Note that, if it be accepted that William ever held Ewcross in Yorkshire, then it is probably during this period William seems to have lost control of some of them, which were later not in his possession.
Concerning other specific holdings and ranks
Furness and the Forests. According to a later grant to Gilbert Fitz Reinfrid, 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. 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 Selby'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
Most securely, we can say that 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. Indeed, William was often referred to as William the son of Gilbert.
William was also said to have descended from both Ivo de Taillebois and Eldred of Workington, contemporaries of William Rufus, but the exact nature of the relationship is unclear and indeed controversial. Most likely, the connection is through daughters or illegitimate sons of these two men. Some sources exist, as follows. ..
1. The most widespread account, that Ivo was simply the father Eldred, and Eldred the father (or grandfather) of Gilbert, unfortunately now seems to be wrong, or at least has gone out of favor.
The two authorities for a direct line of father-son descent from Ivo to Eldred to Ketel to Gilbert to William de Lancaster were records made much later in Cockersand Abbey and St Mary’s Abbey in Yorkshire. See for example William Farrer’s comments in 1902: “The Lancashire Pipe Rolls of 31 Henry I., A.D. 1130, and of the Reigns of Henry II., A.D. 1155-1189; Richard I., A.D. 1189-1199; and King John, A.D. 1199-1216” See p.vii (Addenda and Corrigenda) concerning p.389 I.18. Also see what he wrote in 1909: “The Chartulary of Cockersand Abbey of the Premonstratensian Order” See p.305-8.
2. A connection to the Taillebois family, if it was indeed one family, seems to be justifiable as follows. The Coucher Book of Furness Abbey contains a concord (CCVI on pages 344-345 of the edition printed for the Chetham Society in 1887) wherein Helewise, granddaughter and heir of William is party. In the genealogical notice it is claimed that William had been known as William de Tailboys, before receiving the right to be called "Willelmum de Lancastre, Baronem de Kendale". This is the only relatively contemporary evidence for this assertion however, and it is has in fact been argued by John F. Curwen that William was not Baron in Kendal, but rather an under-lord there.
3. Concerning the connection to Eldred, in a Curia Regis Roll item dated 1212, R., 55, m. 6, Helewise and her husband Gilbert Fitz Reinfrid make claims based upon the fact that "Ketel filius Eutret" was an "antecessor" of Helewise. This could mean he was an ancestor, but it could also perhaps merely mean he was a predecessor more generally. More intriguingly, in one charter to St Leonard's York William refers to Ketel, the son of Elred, as his avunculus, which would literally mean "maternal uncle" (but the word was not always used precisely, the more general meaning of uncle might have been intended). (A 1357 charter printed in Ragg 1910 repeats the claim that Ketel son of Aldred was the avunculus of William son of Gilbert.)
Therefore Godith may have been a daughter of Elred of Workington, while Gilbert may have been a relative of Ivo de Taillebois, either through illegitimate sons, or perhaps one of his seeming brothers. There was in any case 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.
Descendants and relatives
William married Gundreda, perhaps his second wife, who was said to be the daughter of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey and Elizabeth of Vermandois. She was the widow of Roger, the Earl of Warwick. Note that King Stephen's son, William, married Gundred's niece, Isabel de Warenne. This implies a very close relationship with the King's party.
William had issue:
Gilbert fitz Reinfrid and Helewise's son William also took up the name de Lancaster, becoming William de Lancaster III. He died without male heirs, heavily indebted - apparently due to payments demanded after he and his father were involved in the Baron's revolt.
William de Lancaster III's half brother Roger de Lancaster of Rydal inherited some of the Lancaster importance. It is thought that Roger was a son of Gilbert Fitz Reinfrid, but not of Helewise de Lancaster. Roger is widely thought to be the ancestor of the Lancasters of Howgill and Rydal in Westmorland. (In fact the line starts with one John de Lancaster of Howgill, whose connection to Roger de Lancaster and his son, John de Lancaster of Grisedale and Stanstead, is unclear except for the fact that he took over Rydal and Grasmere from the latter John.)
The Lancasters of Sockbridge, Crake Trees, Brampton, Dacre, and several other manors in Westmorland and Cumberland, were apparently descended from William de Lancaster II's illegitimate son Gilbert de Lancaster. Many or perhaps all of the old Lancaster families found throughout Cumbria seem to descend from Gilbert and his brother Jordan.
The de Lea family eventually lost power in the time of Thomas de Lancaster, who was a member of the Plantagenet royal family.
Another Lancaster family, in Rainhill in Lancashire, also seems to have claimed descent, given that they used the same coat of arms as Gilbert Fitz Reinfrid and his sons (argent, two bars gules, with a canton of the second, and a "lion of England", either white or gold, in the canton). However the exact nature of the link is unknown. A branch of this family is said to have lived in Herstmonceaux in Sussex in recent centuries.
References
External links
* Paul Lawrence's webpage concerning the Lawrence family of Ashton who descend from the de Lancasters
* William Dugdale's Monasticon. Cockersand Abbey and St Mary's Abbey in Yorkshire.
* Farrer's Introduction to his Records of Kendal. On British History Online. On Edenlinks website.
* The Register of St Bees
* The Lancaster webpage on mysite website and an ongoing work of Wade Lancaster
Contact: Carolyn Clark Campbell
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ID: I8836
Name: William DE LANCASTER Gov.of Lancaster
Sex: M
Birth: 1100 in Lancaster, England
Death: 1170
Occupation: Gov.of Lancaster
Change Date: 14 MAR 1999
Father: Gilbert DE MERCIA
Mother: Godith
Marriage 1 Gundred DE WARREN b: ABT 1117 in Vermandois, Normandy, France
Children
Henry DE LANCASTER DE LEA
Avice DE LANCASTER b: ABT 1134 in Cumberland, England
Pedigree on the male line:
William de Lancaster -> Gilbert de Lancaster -> Ketel of Kendal -> Eldred of Kendal -> Yves Taillebois
-------------------------------------
From the British History Online page on Records relating to the Barony of Kendale, Volume 1:
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=49272 Date accessed: 09 August 2010.
We now come to the difficult period which covered the reign of Stephen. Fortunately 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, in Lancashire, to hold for the service of one knight. This was William de Lancaster, son of Gilbert by Godith his wife, (fn. 2) described in the Inquest of service made in 1212 as "Willelmus filius Gilberti primus," (fn. 3) that is, the first to be enfeoffed of that fee.
About the same time Roger de Mowbray, who was of age about the year 1140, enfeoffed the same William of all the grantor's land of Lonsdale, Kentdale and Horton in Ribblesdale, to hold by the service of four knights. (fn. 4) The date of this charter is indeterminate, but it was certainly issued during the period 1145–1154. It did not continue effective for very long.
During the greater part of Stephen's reign, Cumberland, Westmarieland, and probably Kentdale and Lancashire as far south as the Ribble, were in the hands of David of Scotland. A few of his charters of confirmation of this period relating to these regions have come down to us in monastic chartularies. (fn. 5)
Whilst under his rule all Westmarieland was granted to Hugh de Morevill, whom Sir Archibald C. Lawrie describes as David's "life-long friend." (fn. 6) He was constable of Scotland during the latter part of David's life.
When Henry II came to the throne, in 1154, it is certain that Westmarieland was in Morevill's hands and with it the lordship over the greater part of Kentdale. At that time 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 carucates 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.
William was also called Willelm.
Willelm filius Gilberti, Baron Kendal of Workington, served as castellan of William FitzDuncan's castle of Egremont in 1138.
He married Gundred de Warenne, daughter of Guillaume II de Varennes, 2nd Earl of Surrey and Isabel de Vermandois, between 1153 and 1156.
See "My Lines"
( http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cousin/html/p373.htm#i7935 )
www.findagrave.com
William FitzGilbert de Lancaster
BIRTH 1124
Kendal, South Lakeland District, Cumbria, England
DEATH 1166 (aged 41–42)
England
BURIAL
Priory of St. Mary and St. Bega
St Bees, Copeland Borough, Cumbria, England
MEMORIAL ID 171802724
Family Members
Parents
Gilbert Lancaster de Furnesio
unknown–1138
Goditha Fitz Reinfrid
1091–1145
Children
William de Lancaster II
1156–1184
from Compiler: R. B. Stewart, Evans, GA
( http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cousin/html/index.htm )
1095 |
1095
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Probably, Kendal, Westmoreland, England, UK
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1112 |
1112
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Kendal Castle, Kendal, Cumberland, England
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1150 |
1150
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Kendal, Cumbria, England
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1154 |
1154
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Kendal, Westmoreland, England
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1160 |
1160
Age 65
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Probably, Kendal, Westmoreland, England, UK
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1295 |
1295
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1992 |
November 19, 1992
Age 65
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1993 |
April 30, 1993
Age 65
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||
???? |