Urse (Abitot) d'Abitot
Privacy Level: Open (White)

Urso (Abitot) d'Abitot (abt. 1040 - abt. 1108)

Urso (Urse) d'Abitot formerly Abitot
Born about in Saint-Jean-d'Abbetot, Seine-Maritime, Upper Normandy, Francemap [uncertain]
Ancestors ancestors
Son of [uncertain] and [mother unknown]
Husband of — married [date unknown] [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died about at about age 68 [location unknown]
Profile last modified | Created 11 Mar 2012
This page has been accessed 18,946 times.
The Birth Date is a rough estimate. See the text for details.
Medieval Project
Urse (Abitot) d'Abitot is managed by the Medieval Project.
Pre-1500 certified?
Join: Medieval Project
Discuss: Medieval

Contents

Biography

URSE "The BEAR - The NOTORIOUS SHERIFF" d'ABITOT - BARON of SALWARPE and ELMLEY - HEREDITARY VISCOUNT of WORCESTERSHIRE - CASTELIAN of WORCESTER CASTLE - CONSTABLE in the KING'S HOUSEHOLD

Early Norman England

  • The Notorious Sheriff
"In the second half of the eleventh century, at the time of the Domesday Survey (1086), the one name most likely to send the chill of fear down the spine of everyone in the County of Worcestershire, young and old, rich and poor, was that of Urso the Sheriff, or simply Urso, or Urse as he was most generally known. Forceful, dynamic and resolute he certainly was." [1]

Urse of Abettot, or of Worcester, was an Anglo Norman administrator and land holder in England during the time of the Norman dynasty (1066-1135), who was especially important during the time of William II (William Rufus). One of the most important positions he held was as sheriff of Worcestershire, for which he was appointed by the king.[2]

At the time of Domesday Book in 1086 he was a tenant-in-chief in the counties of Hereford, Gloucester, Warwick, and Worcester, and also held other lands as a tenant lord.[2] His tenancy in chief was the basis of the feudal barony Salwarpe.[3]

According to Loyd, his first recorded occurrence in England is in 1067.[4][5] However he is an example of a person in this generation whose family can be traced back to France with reasonable confidence. (See below.)

Sanders reports that he was sheriff of Worcestershire from about 1069 until his death, and that he died in 1108.[3] Keats-Rohan accepts the estimation of Sanders for the death date.[6] It was in 1108 that he was succeeded in his lands and office by his son Roger.[2]

Like many of the first Anglo-Norman sheriffs, and indeed secular lords before 1066, Urse was criticized by clerics for his incursions upon old church land rights. He is for example mentioned in "Hemming's Cartulary".[7] William of Malmesbury recorded a rhyming curse made upon him by Ealdred, the Archbishop of York, for encroaching upon the cemetery of Worcester Cathedral priory: "Hattest thu Urs, haue thu Godes kurs" (you are called Urse, you have god's curse).[2][8]

As explained by Keats-Rohan, apart from his own lands in the barony of Salwarde, he appears to have inherited lands and offices in England from his brother Robert the dispenser (or Robert the bursar) after Domesday Book in 1086. Lands from both of the two brothers were inherited by the co-heiresses of Urse.[6]

That Urse was heir of his brother Robert within his own lifetime, and in turn had a second daughter who married a Marmion, was proposed by J.H. Round in his Feudal England.[9] It is now accepted for example as the most likely scenario by Complete Peerage, Sanders, and Keats-Rohan as the most likely way in which the Marmion family shared the inheritance of Robert the bursar (or dispensator) together with the Beauchamps.[10]

Another probable brother of Urse was Osbert d'Abetot, who was sheriff of Worcester after Urse's son Roger. Osbert was probably the ancestor of the d'Abetots known from records in Worcestershire in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and who are associated with the places Croome d'Abitot and Redmarley d'Abitot.[2]

Children and legacy

Modern historians believe that he had three children.[6][2]

  • Roger d'Abitot - "Vicecomes de Worcestria" (Sheriff of Worcester). Son and heir. He was banished by King Henry I, about 1110 for killing an officer of King Henry I.[2] The family's possessions passed on via Urse's two apparent daughters.
  • Emmeline d'Abitot, the wife of Walter I de Beauchamp, who received the barony of Salwarpe in 1114, they made their seat at Elmley Castle.[11] Emmeline's name is not known from surviving records, but it was mentioned by William Dugdale in the 17th century, who presumably had access to lost records.[2]
  • The apparent wife of Roger Marmion.[12] Note that there is no record of this person. As discussed above, she was proposed in order to explain the connection between Robert Dispensator and the Marmion family, who inherited his lands.[10]

Loyd proposed that there is evidence from France of another son in France, Robert de Abetot, possibly also known as Robert fitz Urse. (See Origins section below.)[4] However Keats-Rohan suggests that this might simply be Urse's known brother, who she refers to as Robert Dispensator.[13]

Name

His name, which is not unique in this period, simply means "bear" in French (Latin Ursus/Urso etc, Old French Urs/Ors, modern French Ours). As a sign of their descent from him, his descendants the Beauchamps used the bear as a symbol.[2]

"Urs" and "Ours" are the first known styling's of this name found in early document's. "Urso" and "Urse" appear to be later influence's of Latin and Norman French, on the language in his time.

That he bore the rampant bear cognizance shield, or was at least honored as such, in the frieze on Worcester Cathedral, in the Arms of the Beauchamp family thereafter, and the flags, seals, etc., of the County of Worcestershire itself, is undeniable. Additionally, the Fitz Urse line, who also bore Arms with a bear as one of the charges, have been suggested as being related to Urso, although this is unsubstantiated.

However it is not an extremely unusual name (there were several others in Domesday Book) and names based on animals (such as wolves and eagles) were more generally not very unusual until this period, when Frankish names were still much more common in the nobility than "Christian" names, such as John.

Origins

Loyd showed that there is only one Abbetot in Normandy, and at this place there is record of the name Urse being used by a local landed family.[4] Urse was probably born there.[2]

In modern France Saint-Jean d'Abbetot, has postcode 76430 and is part of the commune of La Cerlangue, on the north side of the Seine near the river mouth and the harbour at Le Havre. It is near Tancarville.

These lords of Abbetot were the chamberlains of Tancarville in this time, and they appear with the Tancarvilles in some records.

  • In a charter of the future King William, still Duke of Normandy, which as Loyd says cannot be made later than the summer of 1066, "certain gifts to the church of St-Georges-de-Boscherville are stated to have been confirmed by the chamberlain Ralf son of Gerold (of Tancarville), the name of Urso 'de Abetot' as a witness to the confirmation being added in another hand above the line in the cartulary".[4]
  • By a charter of the time of Henry I William the chamberlain of Tancarville gave tithes and church lands in Abbetot to Boscherville, as well as 4 akers of land between the church and Robert son of Urse (in Abetot ecclesiam et decimam et terram pertinentem ecclesiae et quatuor acras quae sunt inter ecclesiam et domum Roberti filii Ursi).[4]

Lands in 1086

Urse's Domesday lands (1086), the basis of the barony of Salwarde which mainly went to the Beauchamps:

Urse's brother Robert's lands (1086), later apparently inherited by Urse, and then mostly to the Marmions:

Sources

  1. Eric Smith @ redmarley.org - Urso d’Abitot - Sheriff of Worcestershire
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 J. H. Round, revised by Emma Mason, "Abetot, Urse d' (c. 1040–1108)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. [consulted 2022]
  3. 3.0 3.1 Sanders, I.J., English Baronies, p.75 (Salwarpe) and also see p.145 (Tamworth: Marmion's barony).
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Loyd, Anglo-Norman Families, p.1 (Abetot, Abitot).
  5. Loyd refers to charter no.10 in Davis ed. Regesta regum anglo-normannorum p.3. In a royal charter relevant to Worcester, "Urs minister" is a witness. Fortunately, the charter is dated to 1067. One of the two medieval copies of the charter is in "Hemming's Cartulary", p.414 of the printed edition.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Keats-Rohan, K.S.B., Domesday People, p.439 (Urse)
  7. See comments for example in Emma Mason's "Change and Continuity in Eleventh-Century Mercia", in: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1985.
  8. William of Malmesbury, De gestis pontificum Anglorum, p.253.
  9. Round, J.H., Feudal England, pp.194-5.
  10. 10.0 10.1 Cockayne et al., Complete Peerage, 2nd ed., Vol.8, pp.505-6 (Marmion).
  11. Keats-Rohan, K.S.B., Domesday Descendants, pp.314-315 (Beauchamp).
  12. Keats-Rohan, K.S.B., Domesday Descendants, p.1032 (Marmion).
  13. Keats-Rohan, K.S.B., Domesday People, p.383 (Robert Dispensator).

See also:





Is Urse your ancestor? Please don't go away!
 star icon Login to collaborate or comment, or
 star icon contact private message private message private message a profile manager, or
 star icon ask our community of genealogists a question.
Sponsored Search by Ancestry.com

DNA
No known carriers of Urse's DNA have taken a DNA test.

Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.



Comments: 27

Leave a message for others who see this profile.
There are no comments yet.
Login to post a comment.
I think there are a few issues with this biography that need correcting,

It is really important that in a collaborative environment we stick to the style and standards that WikiTree has set, particularly those related to the structure of biographies. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Biographies. Consequently, I think that section about the estimated date, should revert to the accepted WikiTree Estimated date template, and the explanation perhaps go under a Birth subheading.

Also, I realise that this biography really needs an overhaul, in respect to the fact that it refers to sources, rather than correctly citing them. Several primary sources were also mentioned in the G2G question about this profile, but never added. However I am quite concerned about the paragraph under the Pre-Conquest Normandie heading, which doesn't refer to, or cite, a source at all, which makes it really difficult to assess the reliability of the information.

posted by John Atkinson
I've taken some more steps. May we remove the citation from the redmarley website? If not then we should at least give a new URL.

Concerning the opening paragraph in bold all-caps I would suggest that a more normal way to list titles and offices would be in normal text, and citing a source like CP.

I also think our focus on the bear implications of the name, and the differences between French and Latin forms, and later heraldry, is a bit questionable. The importance of this is not so clear, and from other profiles in this period we know that discussions about name variants can get very long. Does anyone want to try to make something simpler and/or find a good source citation explaining the importance?

posted by Andrew Lancaster
Draft for a new version here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Andrew%27s_drafting_page . Anything missing which can really be sourced back to medieval records?
posted by Andrew Lancaster
There are several sourcing notes which seem to be copy pasted and refer to Habington. Anyone know where these notes come from and what they refer to?

I think the references come from British History Online's Worcs VCH, and it is Habington, Surv. of Worcs. published 1899 https://archive.org/details/asurveyworceste00amphgoog/page/n11

posted by Andrew Lancaster
Perhaps this profile needs a special G2G discussion. I will aim to start one, and maybe I'll draft a new page from scratch as this is an example of a common problem where it is difficult to keep compromising unless we give up all commitment to good research. Apart from the heraldry mythology there is also the modern fascination with his medieval name, and just in general the article is a mess of poorly sourced story telling which means that there is no room for what serious historians have written. It is difficult to know how to improve this article in small steps, and wikitree has a long history of trying to do this and creating extremely long unreadable articles which do not LET readers understand what better published sources think.
posted by Andrew Lancaster
Hello, in line with current project guidelines related to significant profiles, I've added the EuroAristo project as a manager on this profile. If you have any questions please let me know. Thank you
posted by John Atkinson
It is obvious by looking at the Bayeux Tapestry, particularly the friezes at top and bottom, that yes, the weavers did use some artistic licence, and the current opinion is that the patron was Odo, Bishop of Bayeux who was at the battle and presumably directed the design of the tapestry.

Fox-Davies is considered one of the early experts on heraldry and you can read his view that there were no examples of armorial bearings in this period. https://archive.org/details/completeguidetoh00foxdrich/page/16

If you would like us to believe your alternate view, then please provide the evidence or the experts supporting that view.

posted by John Atkinson
Sorry John, but I am in not confused about this.

There are multiple scenes in which two or more individuals are shown bearing the same arms, same tincture, same charges [sic], indicating a fuedal (prob) or familial (poss) connection, which is part of the basis of what heraldry is.

These connections are virtually undenible as shown, obviously intended to show heraldry [sic], as we now know it.

The best guess is that the weavers were advised by soldiers who were present at the battle, as to the events that occured before them. We don't know who actually supplied the information that was used to create these scenes, but are we really to believe that these obvious examples of heraldic connection, were just thrown in by the weavers, in some flight of artistic fancy?

Sorry Dan, but you are confusing a decorated shield or even something that maybe be a personal symbol with heraldry. Andrew is right there is no heraldry in this time period.

In relation to the Bayeux Tapestry there is this quote "no individual is depicted twice bearing the same arms, nor are any of the descendants of the various persons depicted known to have borne devices resembling those in the tapestry" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraldry

posted by John Atkinson
finally have a little time to start answering Andrew, thank you for your patience.

HERALDRY

Suggesting that there was 'no' heraldry at this time is, I believe, just a bit shortsighted, especially given the said Bayeux Tapestry, on which there are, in fact, multiple examples of heraldry (I stopped copying the pertinent panels at about a dozen, when it dawned on me that this would not be the right forum to share same), as well as other examples, that appear to specifically depict a mixed bag of individuals or clans (the Viking ship panels showing multiple round shields, of varying tinctures, attached along the rails, and at least one other panel, showing soldiers bearing these same round shields, all again of the same different tinctures.

(cont)

It seems rather clear that heraldry was in use at this time (c. 1066), as shown on the tapestry, as well as it showing many who apparently bore no embellishment.

That Urso bore his rampant bear, as shown on the cathedral frieze, is I think, rather solid.

The Arms borne by the various branches of the d'Abitot families were several, only a couple of which are shown here so far (a dozen have been identified), but other than possibly FitzUrse, from whom they hail is still pretty much up in the air. Urso, Osbert and Robert are the prime candidates, but the line also continued in Normandie, so those folks could also possibly be the originators of any or all of the branches.

(cont)

Approximately 50 profiles have been collected, from what appears to be several branch's, and attempting to connect them is I think, Important.

The use of heraldry in helping to determine descent is often very important, and needs to be presented on WikiTree. Other researchers need to be able to see these potential connections, but I haven't yet figured out the ideal location for them.

Attempting to complete a line has always been something I've strived to do in genealogy, and heraldry has been an extremely helpful tool for this, especially when available, being able to follow the land holdings, tenancies, etc.. Sometimes these are all we have ...

Any/all questions or comments welcome and appreciated.

posting these backwards for easier reading

A  >  Abitot  |  D  >  d'Abitot  >  Urso (Abitot) d'Abitot

Categories: Sheriffs of Worcestershire | 11th Century | Domesday Book | Early Barony of Salwarpe | Estimated Birth Date