the Botiller family of Skelbrook, and Lyham, Northumberland
John P. Ravilious
Dear Michael, David, MichaelAnne, et al.,
Several threads in the recent past dealt with the Savile family
and the related family, le Botiller of Skelbrook. The latter family
is related to the de la Haye family of Spaldington, co. Yorks.,
evidently both through an early marriage and also by descent of the
later de la Hayes from a Botiller heiress [1].
Among other items of evidence, the text of a fine was provided by
W. P. Baildon from 1269 concerning the Butiller/Botiller family (2
generations) and 12 bovates in Spaldington, Yorks. [2]. Today I noted
a fine of the same period, involving the same individuals, and 8
bovates and a mill in Lyham, Northumberland, the text of which
follows:
' No. 160. Fine made at Newcastle upon Tyne, on the same
date and before the same justices [within 15 days of St. John
the Baptist, 53 Henry III.]. Between Robert le Butiler, the
younger, and Agnes, his wife, plts., and Robert le Butiler,
the elder, and Custance, his wife, deforciants, of 8 oxgangs
of land and a moiety of one mill with appurtenances in
Leyham, whereof a plea of covenant was summoned between
them, to wit, that the aforesaid Robert le Butiler, the
elder, and Custance, his wife, acknowledge the aforesaid
tenements with appurtenances, to wit, everything the same
Robert le Butiler, the elder, and Custance, before held in
the same vill, to be the right of the aforesaid Robert le
Butiler, the younger, and Agnes, and the heirs begotten of
the body of the same Robert and Agnes, of the chief lords of
that fee by the services which to that tenement pertain, for
ever. Thereupon the same Robert le Butiler, the younger,
and Agnes grant for themselves and their heirs that they
will pay to the aforesaid Robert le Butiler, the elder, and
Custance, his wife, every year during the life of the same
Custance six marks of silver, and after the death of the
same Custance, the aforesaid Robert le Butiler, the younger,
and Agnes and their heirs shall be quit of the payment of
the aforesaid moneys for ever. And if it happen that the
aforesaid Robert le Butiler, the younger, and Agnes should
die without heirs of their bodies begotten, then the
aforesaid tenements with appurtenances, after the death of
both the same Robert le Butiler, the younger, and Agnes,
shall wholly revert to the aforesaid Robert le Butiler,
the elder, and Custance and the heirs of the same Custance
quietly, for ever. ' [3]
The manor of Lyham, Northumberland (or at least a moiety thereof)
in fact passed to the heirs of Robert le Botiller and Agnes. Robert
le Botiller, the younger, held a moiety of Lyham at the 1296 assize
[4]. Edmund le Botiller, the younger son and eventual heir of Robert
(the younger) and Agnes, was engaged in a suit in 1329 against William
de Lyham, about which little detail is known: however, the abstract
concerning the suit does reference the manor, 'which Robert le
Botiller, senior, and Constance, his wife, gave to Robert le Botiller
and Agnes his wife ' [5]. This evidently followed on a suit (1328,
Michaelmas term) by William de Lyam [Lyham], executor of the will of
John de Lyam, against Edmund le Botiller for a debt of £40 [6].
It appears most likely that the lands in Lyham, Northumberland
came to the Botiller family in the same manner as those in
Spaldington: by the marriage of Robert le Botiller 'the elder' with
Constance de la Haye. Should anyone have any further evidence or
observation on this matter, especially with regard to any light this
may cast on the ancestry and marriages of the de la Hayes of
Spaldington (ancestors of Prince William, among many others), that
would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
John *
NOTES
[1] See SGM threads, <BUTLER OF SKELBROOK AND KIRK SANDAL>,
Jan 2005, and <Thomas de la Haye of Spaldington: his
paternal ancestry>, Sept 2005, among others.
[2] W. P. Baildon, Notes on the Early Saville Pedigree and
the Butlers of Skelbrook and Kirk Sandal, YAJ XXIX:68-69:
' 1269, Trinity Term. - Fine between Robert le Butiler junior and
Agnes his wife, plaintiffs, and Robert le Butiler senior and Constance
his wife, deforciants, of 12 bovates of land in Spaldington. The
deforciants admit the property to be the right of Robert junior and
Agnes by the gift of Robert senior and Constance; Robert junior and
Agnes grant to Robert senior and Constance for life, to hold of Robert
junior and Agnes and the heirs of their bodies, paying yearly 1d. at
Pentecost for all service; reversion to Robert junior and Agnes and
the heirs of their bodies, to hold of the chief lords; remainder to
the right heirs of Constance, quit of any other heirs of Agnes (Feet
of Fines, Yorks., case 266, file 53, no. 43).
His wife's name was Constance; she had land in Spaldington [near
Howden, East Riding] in her own right. They had issue Robert.'
[3] Three Early Assize Rolls of the County of Northumberland,
Saec. XIII, Surtees Soc. Vol. LXXXVIII (Durham: published
for the Society by Andrews & Co., 1891), p. 416.
[4] Rev. Charles Henry Hartshorne, M.A., Memoirs Illustrative
of the History and Antiquities of Northumberland
(London: Bell and Daldy, 1858), II:148 :
' Lyham. Hugo de Flotewayton et Robertus le Botiller tenent
quintam partem unius feodi militis in villa de Lyham
de Johanne de Vescy, et ipse de Rege. '
[5] F. W. Dendy, Extracts from the De Banco Rolls relating to
Northumberland: 1308 to 1558, Archaeologia Aeliana
(Third Series, 1910), VI:45.
[6] Baildon, ibid.
* John P. Ravilious