Durand de Hothum

William, the earliest ancestor of the Hotham family, was a retainer of the family of Fossard and no doubt of Norman origin. His feudal overlord Nigel Fossard, or his son Robert had enfeoffed William or his father with two knight’s fees in the East Riding of Yorkshire. It appears that William or his son Durand took up residence in the village of Hotham and adopted the name of “de Hotham”.

Durand, son of William de Hotham succeeded his father before 1165. He is called Durand de Hodum in the Pipe Roll of 12 Henry II (1164-5) [1]. In 1166, Durant filius Willelmi, held two knight's fees of William Fossard of the old feoffment [2]. In 1240-42, Robert de Hothum II was holding two knight's fees of Peter de Mauley (the successor of the Fossards) in Hotham, Cranswick, Seaton and Easthorpe [3]. These were the two knight's fees which his ancestor, Durand, son of William de Hothum held in 1166 of Fossard.

In a deed dated between 1162 and 1165, Durandus de Hothum, witnessed a confirmation by Henry II to the canons of Warter of Akenbergh and Belhagh (in Lockington), which the canons of Merton had granted to them [4].

In a deed dated between 1175 and 1183, Durando de Hothum witnessed a confirmation by William Fossard II, at the request of Odard Canoun and William de Vescy, his lord, (of the gift made by the said Odard and confirmed by William de Vescy, his lord, to the nuns of Watton), of the mill of Pouzthwaite and a carucate of land there [5].

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[1] The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Eleventh Year of the Reign of King Henry the Second, A.D. 1164-1165, Pipe Roll Society 8, 1887, 48.

[2] Hubert Hall, ed., The Red Book of the Exchequer, vol. 1 (London: HMSO, 1896), 407.

[3] H. C. Maxwell Lyte, ed., Liber Feodorum. The Book of Fees Commonly Called Testa de Nevill. Part II, A.D. 1242-1293 (London: HMSO, 1923), 1098.

[4] Dodsw. MS. vii, f. 324d as cited in 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), 413.

[5] Chancery Miscel. (P.R.O.), bund. 9, n. 5, m. 5 as cited in ibid., 3:411.