Untangling the Trussells [Part 1]

I have constructed a pedigree, below (and in parts 2 and 3) down to the end of the fourteenth century for the Trussell family. There is nothing new here, but I hope that it helps those looking at the rather confused Trussell genealogy in secondary sources.

Trussell of Kibblestone, Staffordshire

1. Sir Richard Trussell (c. 1240 - 1265)

Nothing much is known about Richard Trussell as he died relatively young. He was the eldest son of William Trussell of Billesley, Warwickshire, a justice itinerant in the reign of Henry III, who appears to have died after September 1257. [1]

Richard Trussell married Roese, daughter and heiress of William son of Ivo Pantulf of Kibblestone, Staffordshire and Hales, Shropshire. By this marriage, Richard acquired large estates in Staffordshire and other counties, and Billesley ceased to be the chief seat of the family. [2] They were married before October 1260, when the abbot of Lilleshall, Shropshire sued Richard Trussell and Roese his wife, and Alice de Paunton (Roese’s mother) for 10s. arrears of rent and in a plea that Richard and Roese should permit him to have reasonable estovers in his wood of Hales. [3] Richard died at the battle of Evesham, Worcestershire on 4 August 1265, fighting against the king and his lands were forfeit, although later apparently restored. [4] Roese survived him for nearly 30 years and died shortly before 6 April 1294, leaving a son and heir William, aged 32. [5]

Richard Trussell and Roese had two sons, Sir William, and Sir Edmund. I will deal with Sir Edmund’s descendants in part 3 of this article.

1.1 Sir William Trussell (1262 – 1325)

Sir William son of Richard Trussel and Roese Pantulf, was born according to his mother’s inquisition post mortem, on 3 July (the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle) 1262. He had livery of his mother’s lands on 14 May 1294. [6] On 8 June 1294, he was summoned to attend the king and was ordered in person to muster at Portsmouth on 1 September 1294 for service in Gascony. The expedition apparently did not proceed because on 12 November he was appointed collector of a tax of tenth in Northamptonshire. In July 1297, he was again summoned for military service in Gascony and ordered to appear at Rochester with horses and arms on 8 September. [7] In 1297-8, he was sheriff of Kent.[8]  In April 1298, he was commissioned to rent out the king’s waste lands in Essex and Hertfordshire. [9] On 1 April 1300, he was ordered to perambulate the forests of Essex, Buckingham, and Oxford and to present his report to Parliament at Lincoln on 20 January 1301. He was appointed a commissioner of array in Cheshire and parts of Wales on 2 June 1301 and ordered to appear in person to perform military service against the Scots on 24 June 1301. [10] In November 1301, he is mentioned as justice of Chester. [11]

He appears as William Trussell, ‘the elder’ on several commissions of oyer and terminer between 1305 and 1318. The appellation of ‘the elder’ was used to distinguish him from either his son, who died before June 1317, or his nephew, Sir William Trussell, eldest son of his brother Edmund.

It is not known if William had more than one wife. In a fine dated in November 1324 William’s wife is named Isabel. [12]  Sir William Trussell died before January 1326, Hillary term, 19 Edward II, when his widow Isabel sued John son of William son of William Trussell of Kibblestone (his grandson) and Eleanor his wife for a third part of the manor of Kibblestone which she claimed as dower. [13] In the same legal term, Laurence Trussell, and two others, the executors of the will of William Trussell of Kibblestone, sued Henry de Wollaston in a plea that he should render to them and to Isabel formerly wife of William Trussell, and to John Trussell and Thomas Trussell, their co-executors, a sum of £6 6s. 8d., which he unjustly detained. [14]

Sir William Trussell had two sons; William, knight (d.v.p., 1317), and Laurence, a clergyman, executor of his father’s will, who was living in 1340.

1.1.1 Sir William Trussell (c.1280 – 1317)

Sir William son and heir of William Trussell was probably born about 1280. He married, around 1300, Maud youngest daughter and co-heir of Warin de Mainwaring. She was aged 6 months at the death of her father on 31 May 1289. [15] Among the properties that she brought him was the manor of Weybourne, Norfolk, where they apparently lived. It was probably this William Trussell who was knighted together with the Prince of Wales and 266 others early in 1306. [16]  On 3 July 1306, the sheriff of Norfolk was order to give to William son of William Trussell, letters of respite of debts because he was setting out for Scotland with Thomas, earl of Lancaster. [17] On 27 February 1308, William Trussell ‘the younger’ and Maud, his wife, had licence to grant the manor of Warmingham, Cheshire and the advowson of the church of that place, held in chief, which are of her inheritance, to Agnes, late the wife of Warin de Mainwaring, for life.[18]

William probably died in the early part of 1317. In June 1317, Edward II brought Maud to London and by the king’s order, she married ‘the king’s yeoman,’ Oliver de Bordeaux. They were married in the chapel at Woodstock on 26 June 1317 in the presence of the king. [19] On 20 January 1326, Oliver de Bordeaux, king's yeoman, had licence to enfeoff Matthew, vicar of the church of Old Windsor, with property and rents in Eton, New Windsor, and Old Windsor, held in chief, and for Matthew to regrant the same to Oliver and Maud his wife and the heirs of their bodies, with successive remainders in tail to William Trussell, son of Maud, to Warin his brother, and to the right heirs of Oliver. [20] Maud died before 23 May 1336. [21]

1.       William and Maud had three sons, Sir John, Sir William, and Sir Warin.

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[1] Edward Foss, The Judges of England, vol. 2: 1199-1272 (1848), 488.

[2] Philip Styles, ed., A History of the County of Warwick, vol. 3: Barlichway Hundred (1945), 59-60.

[3] Staffordshire Historical Collections, vol. 4 (1883), 146.

[4] Calendar of Inquisitions Miscellaneous (Chancery), vol. 1 (1916), 192, 255, 278.

[5] Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, vol. 3, Edward I (1912), 103, No. 172.

[6] Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. 1, Edward I: 1272-1307 (1911), 338.

[7] Francis Palgrave, ed., The Parliamentary Writs and Writs of Military Summons, vol. 1 (1827), 872.

[8] Joseph Bain, ed., Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland, vol. 2; 1272-1307 (1884), 248.

[9] Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward I, vol. 4, 1296-1302 (1906), 203.

[10] Francis Palgrave, ed., The Parliamentary Writs and Writs of Military Summons, vol. 1 (1827), 872.

[11] Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward I, vol. 5: 1302-1307 (1908), 62.

[12] Feet of Fines: CP 25/1/286/32, number 238.

[13] Staffordshire Historical Collections, vol. 9 (1888), 112.

[14] Staffordshire Historical Collections, vol. 9 (1888), 113.

[15] Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, vol. 2, Edward I (1906), 455, No. 742.

[16] Staffordshire Historical Collections, vol. 8 (1887), 26.

[17] Grant G. Simpson and James D. Galbraith, eds., Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland, vol. 5 (Supplementary) (1970), 354.

[18] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward II, vol. 1 1307-1313 (1894}, 47.

[19] Archaeologia, or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, vol. 26 (1836), 339.

[20] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward II, vol. 5: 1324-1327 (1904), 214.

[21] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, vol. 3: 1334-1338: (1895), 271.