Walter d'Ayncourt

Walter D'Aincourt (or Walter Deincourt) was a landholder in Derby under King Edward the Confessor in 1065/1066.[1]

Later in 1066, he fought for William the Conqueror against Harold Godwinson and was rewarded with a large number of manors in a number of counties but particularly Nottinghamshire after the Norman conquest.

Domesday records 74 manors given to Walter D'Aincourt.[2]

Biography

D'Aincourt's mark on history is recorded principally in the Domesday Book which records him as tenant-in-chief of thirteen manors in Derbyshire, one manor in Northamptonshire, four in Yorkshire, nineteen in Lincolnshire and thirty-seven in Nottinghamshire.[3][4] He made his home in Blankney in Lincolnshire.[5]

His surname is said to have had its origin in the village of Aincourt in Normandy on the River Seine between Mantes and Magny.[4]

In 1088, after the Rebellion of 1088, Walter bore a royal writ of William II of England 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, 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 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.[5] On this basis, plus proof that Walter and Matilda made donations on Alan Rufus's behalf, and chronological considerations, Matilda is argued[6] by the historian Richard Sharpe to be a daughter of Count Alan Rufus and of Gunhild of Wessex, and thus a granddaughter of Harold Godwinson, a view that Katherine Keats-Rohan finds convincing[7] (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 William the Conqueror and his wife Queen Matilda.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_D%27Aincourt

Family

Walter de Ayncourt, de Eyncourt or d'Eyncourt, a noble Norman, one of the distinguished companions in arms of the Conqueror, by his wife Matilda, had two sons, William and Ralph.

Walter came, it seems from Aincourt in the Norman Vexin, near Mantes. He obtained several manors in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. His chief seat was at Blankney, which was the head of the barony of his descendants. Very little is known about Walter, but he was a cousin of Bishop Remigius de Fescamp, who removed his see to Lincoln and built a cathedral there. Walter's family and the bishop's family must have been connected before the Conquest brought them both to England.

- The Yorkshire Archæological and Topographical Journal, Volume 4. pp. 228-229

https://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLISHNOBILITYMEDIEVAL3D-K.htm#_T...

A.      AINCOURT

1.         WALTER [I] de Aincourt (-[1103]).  The epitaph of his son William indicates that Walter was "consanguinei Remigii episcopi Lincolniensis" but his precise relationship to Remy Bishop of Lincoln has not been ascertained.  Domesday Book records “Walter d'Aincourt” holding land in Morton, Old Brampton, Pilsley, Holmesfield, Elmton and Stony Houghton in Derbyshire; land in Flawborough, Staunton-in-the-Vale, Cotham, East Stoke, Hockerton, Knapthorpe, Bulcote…Granby, in Nottinghamshire; land in Wombwell, West Melton, Toftes and Rawmarsh in Yorkshire West Riding; land in Belton and Great Gonerby Hundreds, in Old Somerby, Humby, Westhorpe, Houghton, Sudwelle, land in the hundreds of Swinstead, Burton-le-Googles, and Branston, in Blankney, and land in Potterhanworth Hundred, all in Lincolnshire[4].  He was related to Remy Bishop of Lincoln, according to the epitaph which records the death of his son "Wi[llelmus] filius Walteri Aiencuriensis consanguinei Remigii episcopi Lincolniensis…"[5].  An undated charter of King Henry II confirms the possessions of York St Mary and lists donations including the donations of “ecclesiam [in Beltona]…decimas suas de Hanawarda et de Blankanaie et de Coreby et de Cotes et de Turgaston et de Greneby et de Hikalinga et de Cnapthorp et de Cartune” made by “Walterus de Daincourt”[6]. 

m MATILDA, daughter of ---.  An undated charter of King Henry II confirms the possessions of York St Mary and lists donations including the donations made by "Walterus de Daincourt" and the donation of “unam carucatam terræ quæ fuit Brutinæ in Corby et silvam…decimam de domino de Abbingtuna et de Lins et de Thudesham et decimam Ribaldi de Pikenham de altera Lins, et decimam de Herinthorp, decimam Normanni de Fliccaburh, decimam Gerrardi in Apelby et Gamesthorp et terram…Northuuda juxta Burtunam in Lincolschira” made by “Matildis uxor eius”[7].  Richard Sharp suggests that she was Mathilde, [illegitimate] daughter of Alain "Rufus" de Bretagne Lord of Richmond & his mistress Gunhild ---[8].  This is based on her apparent royal ancestry which is indicated in the epitaph which records the death of [her son] "Wi[llelmus] filius Walteri Aiencuriensis…regia styrpe progenitus"[9].  It should be noted that the epitaph ("Wi[llelmus] filius Walteri Aiencuriensis consanguinei Remigii episcopi Lincolniensis…prefatus Willelmus regia styrpe progenitus") distinguishes between Walter’s relationship with the bishop of Lincoln and William’s being “regia styrpe progenitus”, which indicates that the latter connection must come from his mother’s family.  Some of the property which she donated to York St Mary was previously held by Alain "Rufus" (including Little Abington in Cambridgeshire, which he had acquired with the lands of "Eddeva Pulcra"). 

Walter [I] & his wife had two children: 

• a)         RALPH de Aincourt (-1158 or before).  The primary source which confirms his parentage has not yet been identified.   The 1130 Pipe Roll records "Rad fil Walti" returning in Lincolnshire for "terra Godwini"[10].  “Radulfus de Ayncourt” founded Thurgarton priory, Nottinghamshire, for the soul of “Basiliæ mulieris meæ”, by undated charter[11].  m firstly BASILIE, daughter of ---.  “Radulfus de Ayncourt” founded Thurgarton priory, Nottinghamshire, for the soul of “Basiliæ mulieris meæ”, by undated charter[12].  m secondly as her second husband, MATILDA, widow of RALPH FitzOdo, daughter of ---.  The primary source which confirms her marriages has not yet been identified.   Ralph & his first wife had [two] children: ...
• b)         WILLIAM de Aincourt (-30 Oct [1088/98]).  An epitaph records the death "III [Ka]l Nov", while at the court of King William II, of "Wi[llelmus] filius Walteri Aiencuriensis consanguinei Remigii episcopi Lincolniensis…prefatus Willelmus regia styrpe progenitus"[19]. 

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Descent

Fenwick Allied Ancestry: Ancestry of Thomas Fenwick of Sussex County, Delaware. By Edwin Jaquett Seller p. 128

• Walter D'Eincourt at the time of the Conquest obtained sixty-seven lordships in various counties whereof Blankney, in Lincolnshire, was his principle seat and head of his barony; by Matilda his wife had:
• Ralph Deincourt, second Baron, who founded the Priory Thrugarton, in Nottinghamshire; by Basilia his wife had an eldest son
• Walter Diencourt, third Baron, who was a great benefactor to St. Mary's Abbey, in York; had as second son and heir
• John Diencourt, fourth Baron, married Alice (or Ann), daughter of Ralph Murdoch, and had as his eldest son
• Oliver Diencourt, fifth Baron, who ? Richard was in the King's service in Normandy; wife Annabella had a son
• Oliver, sixth Baron, joined the barons against King John, married Nichola de Haya, a great woman in Lincolnshire and had a son and heir
• John Diencourt, seventh Baron,
• son Edmund Diencourt, certified to holding twenty five knights fees; was in wars of Gasgoigne and Scotland in the time of Edward I had son and heir
• Edmund Diencourt married Isabel who married Sir. William FitzWilliam.
• p. 154 William Diencourt, ninth Baron, brother of Edmund (eighth Baron)...was in the battle of Durham where the Scots were defeated; also in the wars of France, married Millicent daughter of William, Lord Roos, of Hamlake and had
• Margaret (or Maud) Diencourt who married Robert Tibetot.

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Notes

“ Priory and Church of St. Peter's, Thurgarton, Notts.” A PAPER BY THE REV. J. STANDISH ON THURGARTON PRIORY, READ THERE ON THURSDAY, JULY 25TH, 1901, BEFORE THE R.A.I.

A SMALL village in Normandy called Aincourt, not far from Mantes on the Seine, gave its name to the Anglo-Norman family of D'Aincourt. The first English baron of this name was Walter, who was connected by marriage with William Duke of Normandy, and was also a kinsman of Remigius, the first Norman bishop of Lincoln. Remigius when Almoner of the Abbey of Fecamp, by the Norman seaboard, made an offer to Duke William of a ship and twenty armed men as a contingent for the invading force. He embarked with his fighting men, landed with his chief at Pevensey, and if not with his arms—which is by no means unlikely—certainly by his words, influenced and contributed to the Norman victory.
Harold's English forces spent the night before the battle in drinking and singing, the Normans spent their night in listening to the religious exhortations of the bishops and other clergy and in prayer and confession of their sins. Of these exhorters, Remigius was one, and contemporary chroniclers have been careful to present us with his portrait; dwarfish in stature, dark in complexion, undignified in aspect. "Nature," says William of Malmesbury, "seemed to have "formed him to show that the noblest spirit might dwell in "the most wretched body."
Of the cousin or kinsman of Remigius, that is to say, of Walter the first English Dayncourt, contemporary history is silent. He is said by Dr. Thoroton to have given his tithes of Gotham, Thurgarton, Granby, Hickling, Knapthorpe to the Abbey of St. Mary's at York, to which his wife Matilda was also a benefactor. Quite apart from family relationships, he must have been a soldier of distinction, if we are to judge from the numerous baronies he received from the Conqueror :— 1 lordship in Northamptonshire, 4 in the West Riding, 11 in Derbyshire, 17 in Lincolnshire, of which Blankney was made the head of his barony, and 34 in Notts, including Thurgarton, which had been, previously, Swayne's.
Walter D'Aincourt had two sons, William and Ralph. William went to the Court of William Rufus, died young, and was buried before the western door of Lincoln Minster. A leaden epitaph found in his grave speaks of him as regia stirpe progenitus, and also informs us of the kinship with Remigius. Ralph became his father's heir, and was 2nd baron. Of other members of this family, perhaps we may note, in passing, that Walter the 3rd baron fought for Stephen at Lincoln in 1141, and that William the 9th baron fought for Edward the Third in the French war, and was the custodian of King John of France.

References

• Nottingham Medieval Studies 36: 42–78. Sharpe, Richard (2007). "King Harold's Daughter". Haskins Society Journal: Studies in Medieval History 19: 1–27 GoogleBooks
• “A Genealogical History of the Dormant: Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct ...“ . By Bernard Burke. GoogleBooks
• http://cybergata.com/roots/9897.htm
• http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p774.htm#i...
• Fould, Trevor. The Thurgarton Cartulary. Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1994. p. cxv. Table 1a: Deyncourt Main Branch. link
• Foulds, Trevor. The Thurgarton Cartulary. Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1994. p. cxvii. Table 2: Deyncourt Secondary Branch. link
• "Walter of Aincourt, Domesday Book". link