Dear Newsgroup ~
Recently I was doing research on the immediate family of Sir Robert d'Eyville (living 1242-3), of Egmanton, Nottinghamshire, and his wife, Denise Fitz William, which lady was a granddaughter of Hamelin, Earl of Surrey, the half-brother of King Henry II of England.
Complete Peerage 4 (1916): 131 (sub Deiville) identifies Denise Fitz William as the "daughter of Sir Thomas Fitz William, of Sprotborough, co. York."
Denise was actually Sir Thomas Fitz William's own sister. C.P. further states Denise married Robert D'Eyville in or before 1229. No mention is made of her death date, although a footnote suggests she survived her husband Robert who was living in June 1242.
This past month I located a lawsuit dated 1279 in which Robert and Denise's son, John D'Eyville, acknowledged that he owed John de Lovetot and his wife, Margaret, a debt of £40. Mention is made in the lawsuit of the will of John D'Eyville's mother, Denise.
Reference: Court of Common Pleas, CP40/29, image 455f (available at
http://aalt.law.uh.edu/E1/CP40no29/aCP40no29fronts/IMG_0455.htm).
From this record, we know that Denise Fitz William was dead by 1279.
This past week I came across new information on Denise Fitz William in the following source:
Chibnall, Sherington (1965): 44, 45 (Cockfield ped.), 55-56.
The author shows that Denise Fitz William had a hitherto unknown first marriage to Adam de Cockfield, of Feltwell, Suffolk, Nuthall, Nottinghamshire, Sherington, Buckinghamshire, and Stoke Lyne, Oxfordshire, etc., son and heir of Adam de Cockfield, Knt., of Feltwell, Suffolk, Nuthall, Nottinghamshire, etc., by Agatha, daughter and co-heiress of Robert d'Aguillon, Knt. Adam was born about 1198 (came of age in 1219). He died without issue in 1221. Following Adam's death, his brother and heir, Robert de Cockfield, granted a messuage and five acres of land in Sherington, Buckinghamshire in 1223 to Simon Fitz Adam, in exchange for another messuage and a virgate quitclaimed to himself and Denise de Cockfield and William de Sherington by the said Simon. The author states further that Denise married (2nd) before 1227 Robert D'Eyville and that she died in 1260-1.
For interest's sake, the following is a list of the mumerous 17th Century New World immigrants that descend from Denise Fitz William and her 2nd husband, Sir Robert D'Eyville:
Elizabeth Alsop, William Asfordby, Frances Baldwin, Dorothy Beresford, William Bladen, George & Nehemiah Blakiston, Mary Bourchier, James & Norton Claypoole, William Crymes, Francis Dade, William Farrer, Anne, Elizabeth & John Mansfield, Richard Palgrave, William Skepper, Diana & Grey Skipwith.
I've copied below my revised file account of Denise Fitz William including this new information. For further details on her ancestry and extended family, please see my book, Royal Ancestry, 5 volume set, published in 2013.
Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah
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6. ROBERT D'EIVILLE, Knt., of Egmanton, Nottinghamshire, Stoke Lyne, Oxfordshire, etc., son and heir. He married after 1223 and before 1227 DENISE FITZ WILLIAM, widow of Adam de Cockfield, of Feltwell, Suffolk, Nuthall, Nottinghamshire, Sherington, Buckinghamshire, and Stoke Lyne, Oxfordshire, etc. (died 1221), and daughter of William Fitz William, of Sprotborough, Yorkshire, Plumtree, Nottinghamshire, etc., by Ela, daughter of Hamelin, 5th Earl of Surrey [see FITZWILLIAM 8 for her ancestry]. His wife, Denise, had lands in Skegby, Nottinghamshire in free marriage. They had two sons, John, Knt., and Adam, Knt., and one daughter, Margaret. In 1223 Robert de Cockfield granted a messuage and five acres of land in Sherington, Buckinghamshire to Simon Fitz Adam, in exchange for another messuage and a virgate quitclaimed to himself and Denise de Cockfield and William de Sherington by the said Simon. In 1229 John de Lungvilers brought an assize of novel disseisin against Robert and his wife, Denise, regarding a tenement in Skegby, Nottinghamshire. In 1242-3 Thomas Fitz William brought an assize of mort d'ancestor against Robert and his wife, Denise (sister of the said Thomas), regarding the manor of Greetwell, Lincolnshire; Thomas granted them the manor to hold to them and the heirs of Denise rendering 13 marks annually. SIR ROBERT D'EIVILLE was living in 1242-3. In or before 1250 she was fined 35 marks by the justice of the forest pleas in Yorkshire. In 1251 Denise d'Eyville leased the manor of Sherington, Yorkshire to John de Cave. In or after 1252 John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey brought a writ of entry against his widow, Denise, concerning the manor of Greetwell, Lincolnshire, and agreement was made so that Thomas Fitz William rendered the manor to the earl. In 1260 Thomas Fitz William granted various lands in Barnburgh, Barnthorpe, Harlington, and elsewhere in Yorkshire to his sister, Denise, widow of Robert d'Eyville, in exchange for the manor of Greetwell, Lincolnshire. At an unknown date, she gave Alan Hille, called the miller, her native with all his family to Monk Bretton Priory, Yorkshire. Denise died testate in 1260-61.
References:
Blomefield, Essay towards a Top. Hist. of Norfolk 2 (1805): 178 (Beaufo-Aguillon-Cockfield ped.). Testa de Nevill (1807): 7. Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum 5 (1825): 132-133. Atkinson, Cartularium Abbathiæ de Rievalle (Surtees Soc. 83) (1889): 223-224 (charter dated pre-1284 of John de Eyville; charter granted with consent of his mother, Denise; charter witnessed by his brother, Sir Adam de Eyville). Giffard, Reg. of Walter Giffard Lord Archbishop of York 1266-1279 (1904): 52. Lincolnshire Notes & Queries 9 (1907): 188-189. C.P. 4 (1916): 130-131 (sub Deiville) (author erroneously identifies Denise Fitz William, wife of Robert de Daiville, as the "daughter of Sir Thomas Fitz William, of Sprotborough, co. York;" Sir Thomas Fitz William was actually her brother). Foster, Final Concords of Lincoln from the Feet of Fines A.D. 1244-1272 2 (Lincoln Rec. Soc. 17) (1921): 288. Book of Fees 2 (1923): 1065. VCH Buckingham 4 (1927): 451-458. VCH Oxford 6 (1959): 312-323. Chibnall, Sherington (1965): 44, 45 (Cockfield ped.), 55-56. Court of Common Pleas, CP40/29, image 455f (available at
http://aalt.law.uh.edu/E1/CP40no29/aCP40no29fronts/IMG_0455.htm).
Children of Robert D'Eiville, Knt., by Denise Fitz William:
i. JOHN D'EIVILLE, Knt. [see next].
ii. MARGARET D'EIVILLE, married JOHN DE LOVETOT, Knt., of Great Stambridge, Essex, Thele (in Stanstead St. Margaret's), Hertfordshire, etc. [see PASHLEY 7].