Willelm (Percy) de Percy (abt. 1034 - 1096)

Born about 1034 in Normandy, France [uncertain]

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1096 at about age 62 in Mount Joy, the Holy Land

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Biography

William was a major Norman landowner in England by the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, with land in several counties. Topcliffe in Yorkshire was the caput of his barony, where he built a castle, and he was associated with Yorkshire as early as 1070. He founded Whitby Abbey and died near Jerusalem on the first crusade. According to Keats-Rohan he first became lord of part of Jubal Sumaq in Syria.

Nickname

Complete Peerage:

He apparently bore the cognomen of “Asgernuns” or “Ohtlesgernuns” (Whitby Chartulary, pp. 1, 3), in allusion, perhaps, to his moustaches or whiskers; whence the name Algernon.

Place of origin

As noted by Complete Peerage: "There are several places of the name in Normandy." Since then, authors such as Loyd, Keats-Rohan and Richardson agree that Complete Peerage (Vol.10, p.435, footnote b) demonstrated that the place of origin of the English Percy family was Percy-en-Auge: Calvados, arr. Lisieux, cant. Mézidon. In the words of Loyd: "Percy, dept. La Manche, arr. St-Lô, cant. Percy, the traditional place of origin, and one which in view of the connexion with earl Hugh is prima facie probable, must be discarded."

(William held some lands under Hugh d'Avranches the Earl of Chester, as did many English barons. But also there was a memorandum in the Whitby Chartulary, p. 312 saying that William accompanied the future Earl of Chester from Normandy to England. Whitby was founded by William, and although such monastic founder legends are frequently wrong, Complete Peerage thinks there is no specific reason to doubt this statement.)

Complete Peerage's explanation:

Although there is no definite evidence to prove that William de Percy held lands in Normandy, records dated 1175 and 1218 show that his grandson William de Percy II had held an inheritance there, which was not, however, in his possession at his death (see infra, p. 441, note “a”). No indication is given of the locality of these Norman lands, but a link in the chain of evidence is supplied by the fact that Henry du Puiset, whose mother was Alice de Percy, da. of William de Percy II, held land in Perci et in Mureres, of which he enfeoffed Hugh Burel in 1180 (see infra, p. 442, note “c”). There is no doubt that the latter place is Morieres, dep. Calvados, arr. Falaise, cant. St-Pierre-sur—Dives; and 8 kil. distant is Percy-en-Auge, arr. Lisieux, cant. Mézidon.

Not only was there such a Borel family in that region but also, according to Complete Peerage, "members of a Morers family, evidently deriving its name from Moriéres, occur as tenants of the Percy fee in England".

Keats-Rohan adds that "William and Ernald de Percy were benefactors of Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives (near Lisieux)" citing Chanteux, Rec. Henri I, no. 60. On the other hand she says that "the Cotentin Percys who occur in Cart. Saint Saveur, BN lat. 17137, fols 24v, 192v, 219) [sic, should be comma] show no links with the English family".

Immediate family

From Complete Peerage:

• He had a brother named Serlo,who was the second prior of Whitby.
• William and Serlo had a nephew William de Percy, presumably son of another brother, who later became abbot of Whitby.
• They also had a niece Alice, "probably a sister of the last-named William", who according to Complete Peerage, married

"1stly, not later than 1115, Rainald Belet or Buscel, who gave the church of Hutton Bushell to Whitby (Farrer, op. cit., vol. i, no. 375, and no. 371 note), and whose son Alan Buscel in one of his many charters to Whitby mentions his father Rainald and his mother Alice de Percy (Idem, no. 377); and,

"2ndly, Hugh de Boitorp, who in the memorial of benefactions is said to have given jointly with her, described as niece of William de Percy and Prior Serlo, tithe in Boythorpe to Whitby (Chartulary, p. 4). The last reference mentions a gift made by Ace son of Wimund de Lochintun [Lockington], nephew of Abbot William, which suggests that Wimund m. another sister; but it is open to question whether the passage as it stands is correct (Farrer, op. cit., no. 372 note)."

• "Picot de Percy, who witnessed charters of Alan de Percy (see infra, p. 438, note “e”) and another Whitby charter circa 1115—circa 1125 (Farrer, op. cit., vol. i, no. 530), and who as Picot occurs in 1086 as a tenant of William de Percy at Bolton-upon Dearne and Sutton-upon-Derwent (Domesday Book, vol. i, ff. 321 b, 322 b), was probably closely related. A Picot de Percy was the donor of the church of Bolton Percy to Nostell Priory, confirmed by his son Robert and his grandson William (Farrer, op. cit., vol. iii, no. 1439; Dugdale, Mon., vol. vi, p. 93); and Robert son of Picot de Percy gave the church of Sutton-upon-Derwent to Whitby (Chartulary, p. 5 and no. 43). For notes on this branch of the Percy family see Idem, p. 708 note. Its representative Piers de Percy, who d. 1266/7, held Wharram Percy in chief, and lands in Sutton-upon-Derwent, Carnaby, and Bolton Percy of the Percy fee (Cal. Inq. p. 711., vol. i, no. 653). "
• "From Arnold de Percy, who witnessed William de Percy’s “charter of foundation” to Whitby (see infra, p. 437, note “e”) descended the Percys of Kildale, who were tenants of the Brus fee there and in Kilnwick Percy; an account of this branch is given in Farrer, op. cit., vol. ii, no. 746 note, and a large collection of their charters is entered in the Guisborough Chartulary."

Wife and children

He married Emma de Port. "She was nearly related to Hugh de Port of Basing, the ancestor in the male line of the family of St. John (Round in Genealogist, vol. xvi, p. 6)." They had:

• Alan his son and heir.
• Walter and William, who witnessed his charter to Whitby. Complete Peerage says "William may be the canon of York of that name who witnessed charters circa 1115—circa 1125 and 1133-circa 1144. (Early Yorks Charters, vol. i, nos. 530, 531)."
• "Richard, of Dunsley, who with his heir Alan gave tithe in Staxton to Whitby (Chartulary, p. 3 and no. 540), and witnessed other charters of Alan (see infra, note “e”). By his wife Alice, also wife of Walter de Argentom (Early Tor/ls Charters, vol. ii, no. 900), Richard had a son William, who was the founder of a hermitage at Mulgrave (Idem, no. 899), and of Handale Priory (Idem, no. 897), and a benefactor of Whitby in a charter in which he mentions William his grandfather, the founder (Idem, no. 898). Richard had another son Alexander (Idem, no. 1072).

Life events

From Complete Peerage:

• "In 1070 he was engaged on works connected with the rebuilding of York Castle after its destruction by the Danes; and in 1072 he took part in the Conqueror’s expedition to Scotland." (Mentioned in Domesday Book, vol. i, f. 298.)

1086 Domesday Book:

• "he was a tenant-in-chief in the three ridings of Yorkshire, in Lindsey, with a small holding in Notts, and of Hambledon, Hants, which he had received with his wife." (Domesday Book, vol. i, ff. 291 b, 321 b—323, 353 b—354. “Willelmus de Perci tenet Ambledune cum femina sua accep’” (Idem, f. 4.6 b).)
• "he was also an under-tenant of the Earl of Chester in Whitby and its soke, in Catton, E.R., and in the city of York, and of the Bishop of Durham in Scorborough and Lund, E.R." (Domesday Book, vol. i, ff. 298, 304. b, 305.)

• He re-founded Whitby Priory not later than 1086. Mentioned on the foundation charter were "Hugh, Earl of Chester, as the grantor’s lord" and it was witnessed also by "William’s wife Emma de Port, and Alan, Walter and William his sons, and by Arnold de Percy. His gifts in general terms were confirmed by William II to Prior Serlo de Percy, 1091-95".
• About 1086 he "was among the Barons present when the Conqueror heard a plea relating to property of the Abbey of Fécamp".
• 1091-1095. He witnessed charters of King William II (William "Rufus").
• "In 1096 he set out on the first Crusade, and he d. and was bur. at Mount Joy, near Jerusalem." There was "a tradition that his heart was brought back and bur. at Whitby; but there is no corroborative evidence".

Sources

• Cockayne et al. "Percy" in Complete Peerage, Vol.10, pp.435ff
• Keats-Rohan, "Willelm De Perci" in Domesday People, p.478
• Loyd, "Percy" in Anglo-Norman Families, p.77
• Richardson, Douglas, Royal Ancestry, Vol. IV (Salt Lake City, UT: Royal Ancestry Publications, 2013) pp. 343-344.
• Sanders, (1960) "Topcliffe" in English Baronies, p.148

See Also:

• Doomsday Book[1]
• Collins, A. & Brydges, E., "Percy, Duke of Northumberland," Collins's Peerage of England: Genealogical, Biographical, and Historical, Vol. II (London: F.C. and J. Rivington, Otridge and Son, 1812) pp. 218-219. Google Books.
• https://books.google.com/books?id=JBAXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=Mainfred+%22the+Dane%22+de+Percy&source=bl&ots=3ahUG70eG7&sig=KjALk4ECjw9d8n0kBfFivqmjo8Y&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiV0JaAptTbAhVSrVkKHdotDs4Q6AEIUzAH#v=onepage&q&f=false
• Geni.
• Davis, Henry. Regesta Regum Anglo Normannorum, 1066–1154 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1913) Vol. 1.

• Page xxiv: "William, who attests a Bath charter in 1091 is possibly identical with william de Percy who attests immediately after Roger Bigot in an original charter of the same year."
• Page 59: #220 1086 'Ala Chocha' [? Laycock (Wilts.)] Witness: William de Perci
• Page 61: #228 1078-86 Witness: W[illiam] de Percy
• Page 67: #259 1069-87 Westminster. Witness: W[illiam] de Percy
• Page 83: #319 1091 Hastings Signa William de Percy
• Page 83-4: #320 c.1091 Signa William de Percy
• Page 86: #328 1092 May Lincoln. Signa William de Percy
• Page 105: #421 1087-99 York. "He confirms the gifts of William de Percy, founder of the said monastery."