William de Percy († before 1099)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William de Percy († between 1096 and 1099) was a Norman nobleman who came to England during the Norman Conquest . He is considered to be the founder of the English aristocratic family Percy . It probably got its name from the village of Percy-en-Auge in Calvados in Normandy . After Kopialbuch of Whitby Abbey he wore as a nickname Asgernuns or Ohtlesgernuns what could have been an allusion to his mustache.

Life

It is said that Percy came to Northern England in 1067 in the wake of Hugh d'Avranches , but this is probably just a claim made by the Whitby monks. They claimed that Percy had given them the Whitby and Flamborough churches at that time . At the latest when William the Conqueror made an advance to Scotland in August 1072, Percy belonged to the Norman army. He then oversaw the rebuilding of York Castle under the orders of Hugh Fitz Baldric , the sheriff of York . Shortly after 1077 he donated extensive estates to Whitby Abbey, which had recently been re-established by the hermit Reinfrid , a former monk from Evesham Abbey . A little later, however, for reasons that are no longer known, the Convention split. Abbot Stephen († 1112) and most of the monks moved to Lastingham , which belonged to the king, while Prior Reinfrid and the remaining monks, with Percy's approval, moved to Hackness , where they were safer from pirate attacks. Presumably Percy tried to reclaim the parts of his foundation under the administration of Abbot Stephen, in order to hand them back to Reinfrid. It was not until 1090, 1096 at the latest, when Percy confirmed considerable holdings of the monastery, that the monks returned to Whitby. Percy's brother Serlo de Percy later became Prior of Whitby, and during the reign of Henry I , his nephew William de Percy became Abbot.

According to the Domesday Book , Percy owned the reigns of Whitby and Sneaton in Yorkshire as a vassal of Earl Hugh d'Avranches in 1086 , and as a crown vassal he owned other estates in Yorkshire, Lindsey , Nottinghamshire and Hampshire . He owned houses and St Mary's Church in York. From his estates in Yorkshire alone he drew an annual income of over £ 64. In addition, as a vassal of the Bishops of Durham, he also held estates in Scorbrough in Yorkshire and in other places. He is mentioned as a witness around 1086 when the Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy appealed to the king in a dispute. Between 1091 and 1095 he is mentioned several times as a witness to documents from King Wilhelm II . He built castles in Topcliffe , Spofforth , Sneaton and Hackness in Yorkshire.

In 1096 he set out on the First Crusade in the contingent of Duke Roberts II of Normandy . He died in Palestine , supposedly within sight of the city of Jerusalem . His body was buried in Antioch . His heart was returned to England and buried in Whitby Abbey . His son, Alan de Percy , became his heir .

Family and offspring

Percy married Emma de Port , a relative of Hugh de Port from Basing . By marriage, his family acquired Hambledon in Hampshire . Emma, ​​who survived Percy, also donated land in Cambridgeshire to Whitby Abbey , which she had received as a dowry. Percy had several children with her, including:

  • Alan († between 1130 and 1136)
  • Walter
  • William
  • Richard of Dunsley

His main heir was his eldest son, Alan. In 1166 his son, Percy's grandson of the same name, William de Percy, owned 28 Knight's fee from his old inheritance and eight others. Picot de Percy, who testified to documents in 1086 and was a vassal of Percy in Yorkshire, was probably closely related to him, as was Ernald de Percy, who before 1096 testified to a document of Percy as a vassal of Robert de Brus .

literature

  • Gerald Brenan: A History of the House of Percy. Volume 1, Freemantle & Co., London 1902 ( archive.org ).

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ See also: Companion of Wilhelm the Conqueror
  2. ↑ Gerald Brenan: A History of the House of Percy. Volume 1, p. 8.
personal data
SURNAME Percy, William de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION norman nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH 11th century
DATE OF DEATH between 1096 and 1099