• Not the son of Sir David "le Belward" ap William ap Dafydd, Knight, de Malpas & Catherine verch Owain. Chronological analysis suggest they were contemporaries and not father / son.

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Piers ‘le Clerc’

Peter, from who descended, the le Roters, or Rutters, of Thornton-in-the Moors.

From https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Malpas-216

Peter is known by several names reflecting his adult status.

As Peter de Thorneton, he was lord of the Thorneton manor, which he had been given in reward for his service. Since he acquired Thornton in his lifetime, he was not born Thornton; and since secretary to the Earl was his job during life, he was not Clerk at birth. He was not born with either name.

If his father was David de Malpas, his own surname at birth would most likely have been de Malpas. If his father was not David de Malpas, it is unclear what his "last name at birth" might have been.

Brother Robert

Peter had a brother named Robert.[8]

Issue

Three children of Peter the clerk have been identified --

• son Patricius
• son Ranulf (see Charters 200-201) in charters identified by Tait,
• daughter Agnes is identified by Ormerod and the Visitation of Chester.

Research Notes

Was Peter the son of David le Clerk?

The Visitation shows David as Peter's father, and David in turn the son of William Belward,[16] and was also known as Dan David de Mallpas Clericus.[18]

Visitation

The Visitation of Cheshire of 1580 shows Peter as the son of David le Clerk and his wife, Margareta, the daughter and heir of Ralph (Radulphus) Baron of Mallpas and his wife Beatrix, the sister of Hugh Keveliock co Chester.[16]

The Visitation also shows David, Peter's father, as the son of William Belward,[16] and so known as Dan David de Mallpas Clericus.[18]

Birth Year Estimation

Peter was Secretary to Randle Blundeville, Earl of Chester, who was in office 1181-1232. Therefore Peter "flourished" during this period.

If he was the "Peter the clerk" who drafted the famous Amicia charter of Hugh II (Ormerod iii, 226) his official career was a long one. He was seemingly alive after 1226. [1]

The charters in which Peter's name appears fall in the period 1194-1228, with many falling in the narrower period 1200-1208.

This alone might suggest that Peter flourished beginning in 1194, and if aged 24 at the time might have been born, say, 1170.

However, at least two of the charters refer to Patrick, an adult son of Peter. If those charters fell at the end of the narrow period, say, 1208, and Patrick was aged 21 at the time, Patrick would have been born, say, 1187, his parents married no later than 1186, and Peter himself born no later than 1165. He could in fact have been born earlier than 1165, and has been given a birth year of 1150, which is plausible.

Older view of him

From https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~hwbradley/genealogy/aqwg1300.htm#25170

Peter le CLERC [Parents] 1, 2 was born 1185 in Malpas, Cheshire, England.

Parents: Sir David de MALPAS Knight (b. 1159) & Catherine VAUGHAN (married 1189)

Wife unknown.

He had the following children:

• M i Sir Ranulph le ROTER Knight was born 1210 and died 1244, married Avice de KINGSLEGH
• F ii Agnes le CLERC 1 was born 1213 in Malpas, Cheshire, England.

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Piers le Clerc, was granted Thornton-le-Moors, which was confirmed by Sir John de Arderne, in a charter attested by Philip de Orreby, Justice of Chester; Roger de Montalt, and others, after the succession of Sir John de Arderne's to the Lordship of Aldford, by grant of Randle de Blundeville, Earl of Chester. Peter was the secretary to this Earl of Chester.

It is stated by Collins, on the authority of the Egerton Pedigree, that Peter was the younger son of David le Clerc, lord of the moiety of the Barony of Malpas. The same decent is frequently given among the Cheshire pedigrees, and in the copy of Booth's Pedigrees, a reference, for confirmation of this fact, is expressly made to an original charter then in the possession of the writer and numbered XXXIII in his collections.

Randle, sixth Earl of Chester, by deed without date, granted to this Peter a boat, and the right of fishing on the Dee from Chester to Eaton; and by another deed, missing the date, granted to Peter, an acquittance from attendance on the court of the shires of hundred and pleas of the forests, from puture of serjeants of the peace, and payment of pannage in the earl's forest. [Harl. MSS. 2131, p. 34] Peter the Clerk has a son and heir, Randle; and a daughter named Agnes, who married William de Blore.

~George Ormerod's The History of County Palatine and City of Chester, Vol II, p. 15 • Background Information. 924 Sometimes during the reign of King John, Thornton part of the fee of Aldford. Richard de Aldford comfirmed a grant of Thornton to Peter le Clerc, the Secretary of the Earl of Chester. Collin, on the authority of the Egerton Pedigree, states that Peter le Clerc was a younger son of David le Clerc, lord of the moiety of the Barony of Malpas. Peter le Cleric's son, Randle assumed the name le Roter, and was the godson of Randle, Earl of Chester. Peter le Cleric is sometimes called Peter de Thornton, from the place of his residence.

~Notitia Cestriensis: Or Historical Notices of the Diocese of Chester, p. 146 footnote 2.

Sources: 1.Author: George Ormerod, Esq. LL.D. F.R.S. & F.S.A. Title: History of the County Palatine and City of Chester Publication: Name: 1882; Note: Source Medium: Book

Full Title Page Text: History of the County Palatine and City of Chester: Compiled from Original Evidences in Public Offices, the Harleian and Cottonian Mss., Parochial Registers, Private Muniments, Unpublished Ms. Collections of Successive Cheshire Antiquaries, and a Personal Survey of Every Township in the County; Incorporated with a Republication of King's Vale Royal, and Leycester's Cheshire Antiquities. By George Ormerod, Esq., LL.D. F.R.S. & F.S.A. Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged, by Thomas Helsby, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister-at-Law. "EXIMIA NOBILITATIS ALTRIX; NEC ENIM ALIA EST IN ANGLIA PROVINCIA, QUAE PLURES NOBILES IN ACIEM EDUXERIT, ET PLURES EQUESTRES FAMILIAS NUMERARIT." CAMDEN. In Three Volumes.

Page: vol. II, pp. 14 - 17 & 598 Text: Peter Le Clerc. Son of David de Malpas; lord of Thorneton; secretary of Randle de Blundeville, earl of Chester. Ancestor of the Roters of Thornton le Moor.

Piers (Peter) le Clerc, was granted Thornton-le-Moors, which was confirmed by Sir John de Arderne, in a charter attested by Philip de Orreby, Justice of Chester; Roger de Montalt, and others, after the succession of Sir John de Arderne's to the Lordship of Aldford, by grant of Randle de Blundeville, Earl of Chester. Peter was the secretary to this Earl of Chester.

It is stated by Collins, on the authority of the Egerton Pedigree, that Peter was the younger son of David le Clerc, lord of the moiety of the Barony of Malpas. The same descent is frequently given among the Cheshire pedigrees, and in the copy of Booth's Pedigrees, a reference, for confirmation of this fact, is expressly made to an original charter then in the possession of the writer and numbered XXXIII in his collections.

Randle, sixth Earl of Chester, by deed without date, granted to this Peter a boat, and the right of fishing on the Dee from Chester to Eaton; and by another deed, missing the date, granted to Peter, an acquittance from attendance on the court of the shires of hundred and pleas of the forests, from puture of serjeants of the peace, and payment of pannage in the earl's forest. [Harl. MSS. 2131, p. 34] Peter the Clerk has a son and heir, Randle; and a daughter named Agnes, who married William de Blore.

~George Ormerod's The History of County Palatine and City of Chester, Vol II, p. 15

• Background Information. 924 Sometimes during the reign of King John, Thornton part of the fee of Aldford. Richard de Aldford comfirmed a grant of Thornton to Peter le Clerc, the Secretary of the Earl of Chester. Collins, on the authority of the Egerton Pedigree, states that Peter le Clerc was a younger son of David le Clerc, lord of the moiety of the Barony of Malpas. Peter le Cleric's son, Randle assumed the name le Roter, and was the godson of Randle, Earl of Chester. Peter le Clerc is sometimes called Peter de Thornton, from the place of his residence.

~Notitia Cestriensis: Or Historical Notices of the Diocese of Chester, p. 146 footnote 2

Peter was the 3rd son of Sir David de Malpas "le Clerk", took the surname of Clerk.

Sources

• not the son of Dan David "le Clerk" de Malpas, Justice of Chester
• not a known son of Margaret verch Einion
• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hwbradley/aqwg1300.htm#25170
• Ormerod's "barons of Malpas" pedigree
• https://cybergata.com/roots/2253.htm
• WikiTree contributors, "Peter (Malpas) Thornton (abt.1165-)," WikiTree: The Free Family Tree, (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Malpas-216 : accessed 19 April 2025). - Bibliography of Frequently Cited Sources
  • George Ormerod (1819). The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester... Volume II, Containing the Hundreds of Edisbury, Wirral, and Broxton. London, Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor and Jones: 1818. Malpas Thornton of Thornton Pedigree. Accessed June 24, 2018 jhd
  • Page 16. Citing Harl. MS 2119, 2032, 1535, and Chesh. Ped. Coll. Arm. ccessed June 24, 2018 jhd
  • George Ormerod (1882) Compiled from Original Evidences in Public Offices, the Harleian and Cottonian MSS, Parochial Registers, Private Muniments, Unpublished Ms Collections of Successive Cheshire Antiquaries, and a Personal Survey of Every Township in the County; incorporated with a republication of King's Vale Royal, and Leycester's Cheshire Antiquities, 2nd Edition, Ed. Thomas Helsby, 3 volumes, (London: George Routledge and Sons, 1882), II:14-15.
• James Tait MA, ed, The Chartulary or Register of the Abbey of St Werburgh Chester, (Printed for the Chetham Society, 1920), I:xlviii, Digital Image Internet Archive (https://archive.org/stream/chartularyorregi791manc#page/n67: accessed 30 August. 2018).
• John Paul Rylands, ed., "The visitation of Cheshire in the year 1580 made by Robert Glover, Somerset Herald, for William Flower, Norroy king of arms, with numerous additions and continuations, including those from the visitation of Cheshire made in the year 1566, by the same herald. With an appendix, containing the Visitation of a part of Cheshire in the year 1533, made by William Fellows, Lancaster Herald, for Thomas Benolte, Clarenceux king of arms. And a fragment of the Visitation of the City of Chester in the year 1591, made by Thomas Chaloner, deputy to the Office of arms", The Publications of the Harleian Society, XVIII, (London: Harleian Society, 1882), accessed 18 April 2015, pp.160-2.