The Heirs of Alexander de Neville of Redbourne (Part 1)

Recently I have been looking at the heirs of Alexander de Neville of Redbourne, who died in 1252, when his estates were divided between his five sisters and coheirs. I have found a lot of incomplete and erroneous information about these heirs and their descendants in print, both ancient and modern, so I have tried to trace their descendants from contemporary sources. This first post sets the scene by briefly looking at the ancestors of Alexander de Neville.

Please note that many of the dates given here are only estimated.

In the early twelfth century, Swein son of Ailric held several manors in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumberland, some of which had been held before the conquest by his father Ailric. Swein was dead in 1130 and was succeeded by his son Adam, who died about 1159 and was succeeded by his two daughters and co-heirs [1].

Amabel daughter of Adam son of Swein (c. 1140-1204)

Amabel, the eldest daughter of Adam son of Swein, married firstly Alexander son of Reginald de Crevequer of Redbourne, Lincolnshire, who died about 1165, and secondly William, son of Gilbert de Neville II [2]. Amabel was married to William de Neville before 1166, when he was holding 8 fees in Yorkshire of the Lascy honour of Pontefract which were part of Amabel’s inheritance from Adam son of Swein [3]. William and Amabel were still alive in November 1202 when they were sued by Robert son of Ulric de Mirfield concerning a bovate of land in Mirfield [4]. Amabel appears to have died in or before 1204, when Cecily her daughter gave the king 10 marks to have land in Harpswell and Hardwick (in Lincolnshire) which Amabel who was the wife of Alexander de Crevequer held in dower of the gift of Alexander, whose heir she is [5]. Amabel’s husband William de Neville died in or before 1212.

Cecily de Crevequer (c.1163-1208)

Cecily, daughter of Alexander de Crevequer and his wife Amabel married Walter de Neville, who is said to be another son of Gilbert de Neville II, although I am unsure if the church would allow her to marry her step-father’s brother. In 1185, Walter de Neville rendered an account of 200 marks to have right touching the lands of Reginald de Crevequer, whose [grand] daughter he had married [6]. Before 1200, Walter de Neville granted the nuns and brethren of Bullington priory, a toft in Redbourne and a fishery in the river Alcolne with the assent of his wife Cecily [7]. Walter died some time before 1200. Cecily is said by Farrer to have been alive in 1218 [8], but there is a Curia Regis record showing that she died before Easter 1209 [9].

Alexander de Neville (I) (c. 1182-1222)

Alexander, eldest son of Walter de Neville and Cecily de Crevequer was probably born between 1180 and 1183. He is named in an entry in the Fine Rolls in 1204 as the son and heir of Cecily[10]. It is said that he had a younger brother Walter who was tenant of the manor of Kings Walden in Hertfordshire [11] (we will come to that again later). In 1203, Alexander represented his mother in court in a legal dispute between Cecily and her cousin, Alexander son of Simon de Crevequer concerning the Crevequer barony in Lincolnshire [12]. After Cecily’s death in or before 1209, Alexander inherited the barony of Redbourne, and land in Cumberland and Mirfield, Nunnington and Adwick upon Dearne in Yorkshire which were part of Cecily’s inheritance from Adam son of Swein.

In 1212, Alexander de Neville, Roger de Montbegon and Simon fitz Walter were holding land by cornage in Cumberland which had previously been held by William de Neville; these lands had been given by Henry I to Adam son of Swein, their ancestor [13]. The Lancashire lands which William de Neville held in right of his wife Amabel were still in the king’s hand, which suggests that William had died in or shortly before 1212 [14].

In 1218-19, Alexander de Neville, heir of Cecily de Crevequer, rendered an account of £37 and one mark and two palfreys, for having a reasonable part of the inheritance of his grandmother Amabel [15].

Little is known about Alexander, and although he nominally held a barony, he does not appear to have had any money. He died before 13 June 1222, when Geoffrey de Neville and Richard de Alençon made fine with the king for having the custody of the land and heir of Alexander de Neville. They also agreed to pay the £100 that he owed for his relief and the £100 that his heir owed for his relief, plus to pay the debts that Alexander owed the king for the debts of the Jews. Richard or Geoffrey was to render 20 marks per year towards paying off these debts [16].

Alexander left a widow named Margaret who was still living in January 1227 [17] and at least three children; John his son and heir, Alexander and a daughter named Clemence.  John died before 10 October 1230, still under age and in the custody of Richard de Alençon [18]. In 1236, Clemence was married to William the brother of Richard de Alençon [19].

Alexander de Neville (II) (c. 1214-1249)

Alexander, son of Alexander de Neville came of age before 8 July 1236 when the escheators in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire were ordered to give him seisin of his father’s lands [20].  In September 1236, the king agreed that he could pay off his debts at a rate of 10 marks per year instead of the 20 marks which Richard de Alençon had been paying [21].

Alexander married, some time before 1236, a lady called Mateleon by whom he had six children, Alexander, his son and heir, and five daughters, whose descendants are the subject of this article. The daughter’s names were Joan, Margery, Ellen, Julian and Cecily, in the probable order of their birth, although there is conflicting evidence whether Joan was the eldest or the youngest.

Alexander de Neville died before 12 July 1249, when his writ of diem clausit extremum was issued to the escheators. His inquisition post mortem found that his heir was his son Alexander, aged 12 and more, that he held in Lincolnshire 3¼ and 1/8 knight’s fees and land in Nunnington and Mirfield in Yorkshire [22]. Another inquisition held on 8 March 1253 after the death of his young son Alexander found that he held his barony of the king in chief by the service of 3 knight's fees by finding 3 knights in the king's army for 40 days at his own cost [23]. This is probably much more than he could actually afford.

On 14 August 1249, Richard de Alençon was granted the wardship, during the minority of the heirs, of the land and heirs of Alexander de Nevill, with their marriages [24].

Alexander de Neville (III) (c. 1237-1252)

Alexander (III), the young heir of Alexander de Neville (II) died before 19 October 1252, aged about 15, when the sheriff of York was ordered to deliver to Richard de Alençon, Margery, Ellen, Julian, and Cecily, heirs of Alexander de Neville, who had been unjustly detained, it is said, by Mateleon their mother [25]. The other and probably eldest sister, Joan was already married to John de Heton [26].

The heirs of Alexander de Neville who died in 1252 were his five sisters:

-      Joan who married John de Heton,

-      Margery who married Nicholas de Neville,

-      Ellen who married firstly William de Pontefract and secondly Henry le Tyas,

-      Julian who married Ingram Folenfaunt,

-      Cecily who married Adam de Neufmarché.

The succeeding parts of this post will look at their descendants.

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[1] William Farrer, ed., Early Yorkshire Charters; Being a Collection of Documents Anterior to the Thirteenth Century Made from the Public Records, Monastic Chartularies, Roger Dodsworth’s Manuscripts and Other Available Sources, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1916), 317n https://archive.org/stream/earlyyorkshirech03farruoft#page/317/mode/1up.

[2] W. O. Massingberd, “Lincolnshire Nevill Families,” The Genealogist, New Series 27 (1911): 1–7 https://archive.org/stream/genealogist2719selb#page/5/mode/1up.

[3] Hubert Hall, ed., The Red Book of the Exchequer, vol. 1 (London: HMSO, 1896), 421.

[4] William Brown, ed., Pedes Finium Ebor. Regnante Johanne A.D. MCXCIX-A.D. MCCXIV, Surtees Society 94, 1894, 60 https://archive.org/stream/pedesfiniumeborr00york#page/60/mode/1up.

[5] Thomas Duffus Hardy, ed., Rotuli de Oblatis et Finibus in Turri Londinensi Asservati Tempore Regis Johannes (London, 1835), 213 https://archive.org/stream/rotulideoblatse00johngoog#page/n278/mode/1up.

[6] The Great roll of the pipe for the thirty-first year of the reign of King Henry the Second, A.D. 1184-1185, Pipe Roll Society, 34 (1913), 91.

https://archive.org/stream/piperollsociety34pipeuoft#page/91/mode/1up

[7] Frank M. Stenton, ed., Danelaw Charters (London, 1920), 64, 65 https://archive.org/stream/documentsillustr00stenuoft#page/64/mode/1up.

[8] Farrer, Early Yorkshire Charters, 3:317 https://archive.org/stream/earlyyorkshirech03farruoft#page/317/mode/1up.

[9] Doris M. Stenton, ed., The Earliest Lincolnshire Assize Rolls A.D. 1202-1209, Lincoln Record Society 22, 1926, 280 https://archive.org/stream/publicationslinc22lincuoft#page/280/mode/1up.

[10] Hardy, Rotuli de Oblatis, 199 https://archive.org/stream/rotulideoblatse00johngoog#page/n264/mode/1up.

[11] Edmund Nevill, “Nevill of Herts.,” The Genealogist, New Series 26 (1910): 24–26 https://archive.org/stream/genealogist2619selb#page/n78/mode/1up.

[12] Stenton, Earliest Lincoln Assize Rolls, 232 https://archive.org/stream/publicationslinc22lincuoft#page/232/mode/1up.

[13] H. C. Maxwell Lyte, ed., Liber Feodorum. The Book of Fees Commonly Called Testa de Nevill. Part I, A.D. 1198-1242 (London: HMSO, 1920), 199.

[14] Ibid., 215.

[15] Pipe Roll, 3 Henry III, as cited in William Brown, Yorkshire Inquisitions of the Reigns of Henry III. and Edward I., vol. 1, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series 13, 1892, 277.

[16] Calendar of Fine Rolls 6 Henry III, No. 192.

http://www.finerollshenry3.org.uk/content/calendar/roll_016.html#it192_005

[17] Calendar of Fine Rolls 11 Henry III, No. 83.

http://www.finerollshenry3.org.uk/content/calendar/roll_025.html#it083_010

[18] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry III, vol. 2, 405.

http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/patentrolls/h3v2/body/Henry3vol2page0405.pdf

[19] F. W. Maitland, Bracton’s Note Book, vol. 3 (London, 1887), 201, No. 1187 https://archive.org/stream/notebook03bracuoft#page/201/mode/1up.

[20] Calendar of Close Rolls, Henry III: vol. 3: 1234-1237 (1908), 288.

[21] Calendar of Fine Rolls 20 Henry III, No. 527.

http://www.finerollshenry3.org.uk/content/calendar/roll_035.html#it527_002

[22] Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Volume 1: Henry III (1904), 38, No. 154.

https://archive.org/stream/calendarofinquis01grea#page/n97/mode/1up

[23] Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Volume 1: Henry III (1904), 69, No. 154.

https://archive.org/stream/calendarofinquis01grea#page/69/mode/1up

[24] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry III, vol. 4, 46.

[25] Calendar of Close Rolls, Henry III: vol. 7: 1251-1253 (1927), 166.

[26] Calendar of Fine Rolls 37 Henry III, No. 539.

http://www.finerollshenry3.org.uk/content/calendar/roll_050.html#it539_014