Contents |
A William le Belward of Malpas lived in 12 Henry 1 (1111-1112). So observed George Ormerod writing in 1819 (revised by Helmsby in 1882) in a pedigree of the Egertons of Egerton. [1]
While a reference to someone living at a particular time generally refers to some event or document recorded at that time which might establish a person's existence, no document has yet been identified which might answer how we know this William was "living in 12 Henry 1."
As a result, we do not know who this William was, who his parents actually were, and if he married and had children, what their names might be.
That "William le Belward of Malpass lived in the time of 12 H. 1 is then also cited by Joseph Howard in 1868. [2]
Carl Boyer, citing Ormerod, also refers to this date: "William le Belward of Malpas, Cheshire, lived in 12 Henry I." [3][4]
Smith reports that the "Malpas manor itself in 1086, in the Duddeston Hundred, comprised 8 households (7 villagers and one smallholder), deemed quite small, and the tax assessed was 8 geld units, deemed quite large. The damage done during the Norman war to replace the Saxons is clear; the value of Malpas to the lord in 1066 was £11.2, while the corresponding value in 1086 was £2.6. Malpas was comprised of land for 14 ploughlands, including 6 lord's plough teams and 2.5 men's plough teams; it also had 2.5 acres of meadow. It had been held by Earl Edwin in 1066, and it's lord and tenant-in-chief in 1086 was Robert son of Hugh, who had 5 men at arms." [5]
See Space:Malpas_Barons_in_Cheshire
Arthur Collins writes that Robert Fitzhugh, Baron of Malpas, one of the Barons of Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, at the time of the Conqueror, who had a castle in Malpas, of which the keep remains near the church, had an only daughter who married William le Belward, William thus becoming possessed of the Barony of Malpas. [6][7]
Collins reports the child of Fitzhugh's daughter and William le Belward was a second William le Belward, Baron of Malpas, married Beatrix, daughter of Hugh Kevelioc, fifth Earl of Chester, and sister and co-heir of Earl Ranulph. [6]
George Ormerod made this William le Belward part of a pedigree which began with a John le Belward, "according to the pedigrees living in the reign of William Rufus, and who was, perhaps. one of the five knights mentioned in Domesday as holding of Robert Fitz-Hugh." [1]
John le Belward as father
Many other pedigrees show the father of the William le Belward who lived in 12 H 1 as John le Belward.
George Ormerod, writing carefully in 1819, with edits by Helmsby in 1882, shows numerous pedigrees with William le Belward at the top. On the pedigree entitled Egerton of Egerton [1] the line begins with John le Belward, "according to the pedigrees living in the reign of William Rufus, and who was, perhaps. one of the five knights mentioned in Domesday as holding of Robert Fitz-Hugh.
Mabella as Wife
Ormerod states that William le Belward of Malpas who lived 12 Hen 1 was married to Mabel, daughter and coheir of Robert fitz Hugh, baron of Malpas. [1]
On the pedigree entitled Barons of Malpas[8] the line begins with Robert Fitz-Hugh, baron of Malpas at the time of the Domesday Survey, witness to the foundation charter of the abbey of St. Werburg, 1093, and father of two daughters, Letitia and Mabella.
The second generation of this pedigree gives these two daughters' husbands:
The third generation is comprised of William Belward, lord of a moiety of the barony of Malpas, including Egerton, and married to Tanglust, natural daughter of Hugh Kevelioc, Palatine earl of Chester, (but according to the family roll, Beatrix, 6th daughter of Randall, earl of Chester.) [1]
George Ormerod's pedigree of the barons of Malpas [9] shows Mabella, one of two daughters of Robert FitzHugh, Baron of Malpas, married to William le Belward.
George Ormerod shows Mabella and William with a dotted line relationship to another William le Belward, making the younger William a son or perhaps other relation in the next generation. The younger William Belward, lord of a moiety of Malpas, is said, according to Ormerod's pedigree, to have married a daughter of Hugh Kevelioc, earl of Chester. Ormerod then shows the younger William as father of (1) David de Malpas, son of William Belward, alias le Clerc, eldest son and heir, who married Catherine, daughter of Owain Vaghan, lord of Meilor; (2) Robert de Chommondeley, ancestor of the Cholmondeleys of Cholmondeley, second son of William Belward, and (3) Richard, third son of William Belward.
Ormerod shows William le Belward, son of the William le Belward who was living 12 Henry I and his wife Mabel, daughter and co-heir of Robert FitzHugh, as holding a moiety of Malpas, including Egerton, and married to Tanglust, natural daughter of Hugh Kevelioc, 5th earl Chester, (but according to the family roll, Beatrice, daughter of the 6th earl. He shows the younger William and his wife Tanglust, in turn, as the parents of Sir John le Belward, le clerc, holder of 1/2 the barony of Malpas.
Writing in 1846, Alfred Suckling [10] positions William as the son of John le Belward. Suckling states that it was John who became Lord of Malpas by marriage to Letitia, daughter and heiress of Robert Fitz-Hugh, Baron of Malpas. Suckling also states that the Belward family "came over with the Conqueror." This account appears quite confusing and contradictory and should be treated with great caution.
Consistent with Wolcott's pedigree, Joseph Howard's 1868 account shows the Egerton family originating with William le Belward who "lived in ye tyme of William Rufus King of England (1087-1100) and had issue William le Belward of Malpass who lived 12 H 1 (1112) [2]
Writing in 1868, Howard notes that the William le Belward of Malpass who lived in the time of 12 H. 1 had issue William le Belward of Malpass who lived in tyme of King Stephen (1135-1154) [2]
Howard, too, shows a William IV: William le Belward of Malpas lived in tyme of King Stephen. (1135-1154) He was lord of ye Moity of Malpass and mar. Beatrix, dau to Hugh Bohun als Kivilock and coheir to her brother Randle Earl of Chester [2] Howard shows William IV as father of David de Malpas called Dan David le Clerk was Justice of Chester 34 H 2 (1223) and lord of halfe ye Barony of Malpass in right of his wife Marg coheir to Rafe ap Einion Barfon of Malpass [2] as well as Philip de Malpass second son and heir to his brother William he was called Philipp de Egerton and Philip Goch de Egerton. He lived 33 E. 3 (1340) and mar. Kathrine sister to Rich de Hulton or Hutton [2] Philip in turn had a son David de Egerton son of Philipp de Malpass he lived 16 E 2. (1323) hee mar. Cisley dau to S Randlede Thornton by Avice his wife, dau and heir to Rich. De Kingsley. [2]
Croston [11] repeats the conventional understanding that William le Belward, son of William and Mabella, married Tanglust, natural daughter of Hugh Kevelioc -- or Beatrix, daughter of Randle, earl of Chester. [12]
It is increasingly well established that neither Mabella nor Tanglust actually existed.
Croston also concurs: "Robert FitzHugh, whose name appears as a witness to the foundation charter of St. Werburgh's Abbey at Chester in 1093, had two daughters, Letitia and Mabilla, who in course of time became his heirs, and the latter of whom afterwards married William le Belward, of Malpas, son of John le Belward, who was living in the time of William Rufus, and is believed to have been one of the five knights mentioned in the Domesday as holding their lands of the Norman baron." [11]
Croston adds, to this William the Lady Mabilla conveyed her moiety of the Malpas barony, and from this marriage...sprang the House of Egerton. [11]
William, married Tanglust, natural daughter of Hugh Kevelioc. "In due time a son, William Belward, was born, who at his father's death succeeded to the moiety of the Barony of Malpas, including the township of Egerton. He married Tanglust, a natural daughter of Hugh Kevelioc, Palatine Earl of Chester, or, according to some authorities, Beatrix, daughter of Randle, Earl of Chester, and had a son David, surnamed Le Clerc, from his being secretary to the Earl of Chester, who was knighted and made Justice of Chester. [11]
Burke notes that "It has been considered deserving of remark, that the two great Cheshire families of Cholmondeley and Egerton, are descended from the same common ancestor, William le Belward, who was Baron of Malpas, in that county, under / the Norman Earls Palatine." [13]
"Robert, the son of Hugh, Baron of Malpas, dying without male issue, the barony of Malpas, with the lordship of Cholmondeley, or Calmundelei -- the name of which lordship has been written twenty-five several ways -- devolved on his only daughter and heir, Lettice, married to Richard le Belward; whose son (or grandson) William le Belward, married Beatrix, daughter of Hugh Kiviliock, the fifth Earl of Chester. He was, in right of his mother, Baton of Malpas. He left three sons (1) David de Malpas, anceswtor of the Egertons, from whom the Earls of Bridgwaer and Wilton descended; (2) Robert, who, having by gift of his father, the lordship of Cholmondeley, settled there, and assumed the local name, which has been continued in his descendants, (3) Richard. The eleventh in descent from Robert, the second son of of William le Belward, was Sir Hugh Cholmondeley, of Cholmondeley, who was knighted in 1588, the memorable year of the Spanish Armada. [13]
Sharpe's history gives the Cholmondeley descent from William. [14]
Following Ormerod, Boyer begins his account of the Egerton family by noting that "John le Belward was living during the reign of William Rufus, perhaps one of five knights holding land of Robert FitzHugh, baron of Malpas in Domesday. [15][4]
Malpas
Carl Boyer [15] identifies a John le Belward living during the reign of William Rufus (1087-1100) and states that he was perhaps one of five knights holding land of Robert FitzHugh, baron of Malpas in Domesday. [15]
Boyer shows William III and Mabella with a son William, who perhaps married Tanglust, natural daughter of Hugh Kevelioc.[4]
Darrell Wolcott shows William as born about 1090, the third of several Williams le Belward. [16]
Darrell Wolcott in his analysis of The Malpas Family of Cheshire[16] has reviewed these pedigrees and attempted to rationalize them in order to make the various dates and relationships coherent. Wolcott presents the following timeline pedigree which these Malpas biographies follow:
Regrettably, Wolcott's scheme requires connections which have been disproven, and the insertion of fictional persons to fit missing generations, and therefore cannot be relied upon.
Wolcott also shows Mabel daughter of Robert fitz Hugh, married to William. [16] Boyer shows the same, citing Ormerod, and noting that Mabilia has become "Lettice" in in T. C. Banks' Domant and Extinguished Baronetages, 1:203), while Robert's other daughter "Letitia" married Richard Patric. (Ormerod 2:598) [4][3]
Richard
Wolcott is concerned primarily with showing a line of descent and mentions only Richard (born, say, 1120) as a son of William III.
Because no other evidence has been found for the William who lived in 12 Henry I, including parents, spouse and children, the following children, previously connected, have been detached:
See also:
Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
Categories: Malpas, Cheshire | Malpas Name Study