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Birth:          ABT 1124 of Kendal, Westmoreland, England
Death:          1170 

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_de_Lancaster_I
William de Lancaster I, or William Fitz Gilbert, was a nobleman of the 12th century in 
Northwest England. According to a document some generations later, he was also 
referred to as William de Tailboys (de Taillebois) when younger, and then became 
"William de Lancaster, baron of Kendal", although there is some uncertainty amongst 
most commentators concerning the exact meaning of the term "baron" in this case. He 
is the first person of whom there is any record to bear the name of Lancaster and pass 
it on to his descendants as a family name. He died in about 1170.
Titles and positions[edit]

Earliest holdings[edit]

Despite his surname, William and his relatives appear in contemporary documents 
relating mainly to what is now the modern county of Cumbria, not Lancashire, 
especially Copeland in western Cumberland, Furness in the Lake District, The Barony 
of Kendal, which became part of Westmorland, and various areas such as Barton 
between Kendal and Ullswater, also in Westmorland. Much of this area was not yet 
permanently part of England.

Although only part of this area was within the later English county of Lancaster or 
Lancashire, this entity had not yet come to be clearly defined. So the title of "de 
Lancaster", by which William is remembered, could have referred not only to the 
church city of Lancaster, to the south of this area, but to an area under its control. In 
1900, William Farrer claimed that "all of the southern half of Westmorland, not only the 
Kirkby Lonsdale Ward of Westmorland, but also the Kendal Ward, were linked with 
Northern Lancashire from a very early time" and formed a single district for fiscal 
administrative purposes.[1]

The two apparently lost records which are said to have mentioned William's father 
Gilbert also apparently connected him to Cumbria, specifically to the area of Furness.
[2]

The following are areas associated with him, for example ...

Muncaster in Cumberland. According to William Farrer, in his 1902 edition of 
Lancashire Pipe Rolls and early charters,wrote:


It appears that he was possessed of the lordship of Mulcaster (now Muncaster), over 
the Penningtons of Pennington in Furness, and under Robert de Romille, lord of 
Egremont and Skipton, who held it in right of his wife, Cecilia, daughter and heiress of 
William de Meschines.[3]

According to Farrer, this title would have been one of those granted by Roger de 
Mowbray, son of Nigel de Albini, having come into his hands after the decease without 
male heirs of Ivo de Taillebois. He also believed that this grant to William de 
Lancaster came to be annulled.

Workington, Lamplugh and Middleton. The manors of Workington and Lamplugh in 
Cumberland were given by William de Lancaster, in exchange for Middleton in 
Westmorland, to an apparently close relative, Gospatric, son of Orme, brother-in-law of 
Waldeve, Lord of Allerdale.[4]

Hensingham. The Register of St Bees shows that both William son of Gilbert de 
Lancastre, and William's son William had land in this area. William's was at a place 
called Swartof or Suarthow, "probably the rising ground between Whitehaven and 
Hensingham, known locally as Swartha Brow". The appears to have come from his 
father Gilbert. His brother Roger apparently held land at Walton, just outside modern 
Hensingham, and had a son named Robert. Roger and William also named a brother 
called Robert.[5]

Ulverston. Farrer argued that this may have been held by William and perhaps his 
father Gilbert, before it was granted by Stephen, Count of Boulogne and Mortain, to 
Furness Abbey in 1127.[6] The possible connection of William's father Gilbert to 
Furness will be discussed further below.

Enfeoffment from King Stephen[edit]

King Stephen's reign in England lasted from 1135 to 1154, but only during a small part 
of this did he control this region. For the majority of his reign all or most of this area 
was under the rule of David I of Scotland.

During the period when Stephen was in control "we possess distinct and clear 
evidence that Stephen, as king, enfeoffed a knight of the lands of Warton in Kentdale 
and the wide territory of Garstang, in Lancashire, to hold for the service of one knight. 
This was William de Lancaster, son of Gilbert by Godith his wife, described in the 
Inquest of service made in 1212 as "Willelmus filius Gilberti primus," that is, the first to 
be enfeoffed of that fee."[7]

Enfeoffment from Roger de Mowbray[edit]

At a similar time, during the period 1145-1154, a major enfeoffment by Roger de 
Mowbray put William in control, or perhaps just confirmed his control, of what would 
become the Barony of Kendal, plus Warton, Garstang, and Wyresdale in Lancashire, 
as well as Horton in Ribblesdale and "Londsdale". The latter two are sometimes 
apparently being interpreted as indicating possession for some time of at least part of 
what would become the Wapentake of Ewcross in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

The Scottish period[edit]

During the Scottish occupation, Hugh de Morville became the overlord of much of this 
area, a position he kept when the area later returned to English control. Farrer and 
Curwen remark:


William de Lancaster no longer held anything in Kentdale of Roger de Mowbray; but 
he appears to have held his lands in Westmarieland and Kentdale of Morevill by 
rendering Noutgeld of £14 6s. 3d. per annum, and some 16 carucates of land in nine 
vills in Kentdale as farmer under Morevill. In 1166 William de Lancaster I held only two 
knight's fees, of the new feoffment of Roger de Mowbray in Sedbergh, Thornton, 
Burton in Lonsdale, and the other places in Yorkshire previously named, which his 
descendants held long after of the fee of Mowbray by the same service. The Mowbray 
connexion with Kentdale had come to an end upon the accession of Henry II, who 
placed Hugh de Morevill in possession of Westmarieland in return, possibly, for past 
services and in pursuance of the policy of planting his favourites in regions of great 
strategic importance. Probably the change of paramount lord had little, if any, effect 
on the position of William de Lancaster in Kentdale.[7]

In Cumberland further west, William was probably castellan in the castle of Egremont 
under William fitz Duncan. Such proposals are based on his transaction with his 
cousin Gospatrick son of Orme, whereby castle service at Egremont was due to 
William for Workington.[8]

The Barony of Kendal?[edit]

William de Lancaster is often described as having been a Baron of Kendal. In fact this 
is not so clear what kind of lordship existed over Kendal, given the lack of clarity of 
records in this period. The word barony developed specific meanings during the 
Middle Ages, namely feudal baron and baron by writ. William Farrer wrote, in the 
Introduction to his Records of Kendal:


After a careful review of the evidence which has been sketched above, the author is 
of opinion that no barony or reputed barony of Kentdale existed prior to the grants of 
1189–90; and that neither William de Lancaster, son of Gilbert, nor William de 
Lancaster II, his son and successor, can be rightly described as "baron" of Kentdale.
[7]

Whether or not "Barony" is the clearest word, what became the Barony of Kendal is 
generally accepted as having come together under Ivo de Taillebois (d. 1094) in the 
time of William Rufus, some generations before William. And, as will be discussed 
below, at least in later generations William was depicted by his family as having been 
a Taillebois. A continuity is therefore often asserted between what Ivo held, and what 
William later held, despite the fact that William had no known hereditary claim on 
Kendal, and Ivo had no male heirs. (This is also the reason for the frequent assertion 
that William held the entire wapentake of Ewcross, even though it seems that the 
family of Roger de Mowbray kept hold of at least Burton in Kendal. William held two 
parts of it, mentioned above, while Ivo had held another, Clapham. The rest is 
speculation.)

According to Farrer, the Barony of Kendal became a real barony only in the time of 
William's grand daughter Hawise, who married Gilbert son of Roger fitz Reinfrid. Both 
he and his son William de Lancaster III, both successors of William de Lancaster I 
(and possibly of Ivo de Taillebois) were certainly Barons of Kendal.

Concerning other specific holdings and ranks[edit]

Furness and the Royal forests. According to a later grant to Gilbert Fitz Reinfrid, 
William must have held some position over the whole forest of Westmarieland (the 
Northern or Appleby Barony of Westmorland), Kendal and Furness. His claims in 
Furness may have gone beyond just the forest, but this appears to have put him in 
conflict with the claims of the Furness Abbey, and this conflict continued over many 
generations. His family may have had links there before him. Some websites report 
that his father Gilbert was known as "Gilbert of Furness". (This apparently comes from 
a 17th-century note by Benjamin Ayloffe, mentioned below.)

Lancaster Castle. According to Dugdale, the eminent English antiquarian, he was 
governor of Lancaster Castle in the reign of Henry II, about 1180. Little is known 
about how William came to hold the honour of Lancaster and use the surname, but it 
is sometimes suggested that it implies connections to royalty, perhaps coming from his 
apparent marriage to Gundred de Warrenne (or was this just yet another reward for 
some forgotten service, perhaps against the Scots?).

Seneschal. According to a note written by the 17th century antiquarian Benjamin 
Ayloffe, which is reproduced in the introduction of Walford Dakin Selby's collection of 
Lancashire and Cheshire Records, p.xxix, William was Seneschallus Hospitii Regis, or 
steward of the king's household. The same note also states that William's father was 
the kings "Receiver for the County of Lancaster".[9]

Ancestry[edit]

William's father was named Gilbert, and his mother was Godith. They are both 
mentioned clearly in a benefaction of William to St Mary de Pré and William was often 
referred to as William the son of Gilbert (fitz Gilbert). William was also said to have 
descended from both Ivo de Taillebois and Eldred of Workington, who were 
contemporaries of William Rufus, but the exact nature of the relationship is unclear 
and indeed controversial.

Two late cartularies, those of Cockersand Abbey and St Mary's Abbey in Yorkshire, 
give a father-to-son descent from Ivo through Eldred, Ketel, and Gilbert to William. 
[10] However, monastic genealogies concerning their benefactors are generally 
considered unreliable.[11] There are chronological concerns with this pedigree: Ivo 
and Eldred appear to have been contemporaries, as were Ketel and Gilbert. Likewise, 
it implies that William de Lancaster was heir to Ketel fitz Eldred, but Ketel is commonly 
thought to have had another heir. And there is also no record of Eldred being an heir 
to Ivo, while it would be unusual for the descendants of a Norman noble (Ivo) to have 
so many Anglo-Saxon names (Eldred, Ketel, etc.).

Annalist Peter of Blois, related that Ivo's "only daughter, who had been nobly 
espoused, died before her father; for that evil shoots should not fix deep roots in the 
world, the accursed lineage of that wicked man perished by the axe of the Almighty, 
which cut off all his issue." The only known heiress of Ivo was a daughter named 
Beatrix. Her sons by her one documented husband, Ribald of Middleham, did 
occasionally use the Taillebois surname. A connection between William and Ivo de 
Taillebois is still supported based upon a similarity of land holdings between the two. 
Likewise, a record in the Coucher Book of Furness Abbey involving Helewise de 
Lancaster, William's granddaughter, claims he had been known as William de Tailboys 
before receiving the right to be called "Willelmum de Lancastre, Baronem de 
Kendale".[12] However, Farrer and Curwen have questioned the accuracy of this 
account, pointing out that William was probably not Baron of Kendal, but an under-lord 
there.[7] There was a Tailboys family present in Westmorland during the 12th century, 
for example in Cliburn, and these were presumably relatives of William de Lancaster. 
This family used the personal name Ivo at least once, and may have been related to 
Ivo and Beatrix.[13]

In a 1212 Curia Regis Roll entry, William's granddaughter Helewise de Lancaster and 
her husband refer to "Ketel filius Eutret" as her "antecessor", a term that could mean 
literal ancestor, or simply a predecessor more generally. A grant to St Leonard's York 
by William refers to Ketel, the son of "Elred", as his avunculus (maternal uncle). 
Likewise, a second charter, from 1357, repeats the claim that Ketel son of "Aldred" 
was avunculus of William.[14] Gilbert was thus not son of Ketel. Noting that avunculus 
was sometimes used imprecisely for a paternal uncle, Frederick Ragg proposed that 
Gilbert was the brother of Ketel, and hence son rather than grandson of Eldred[15] 
However, George Washington and George Andrews Moriarty instead viewed Ketel as 
maternal uncle to William, brother to Gilbert's wife Godith. Washington saw in the 
names Godith, Ketel and Eldred a pattern of Anglo-Saxon naming indicative of a single 
family, as opposed to the Norman names of Gilbert, his son and grandsons. Moriarty 
suggested that Christina, Ketel's wife, may have been the unnamed daughter of Ivo de 
Taillebois mentioned by Peter of Blois[16] More recently, Katherine Keats-Rohan 
accepted Godith as Ketel's sister, and favored as their mother Ivo's one known 
daughter, Beatrix, through a marriage to Eldred of which no contemporary record had 
been found.[17]

Descendants and relatives[edit]

William married, perhaps his second wife, Gundred. She is sometimes identified with 
the widow of Roger, Earl of Warwick, who was daughter of William de Warenne, 2nd 
Earl of Surrey and Elizabeth of Vermandois, but William Farrer instead identified her as 
daughter of Roger and the elder Gundred.[18]

William had issue:
Avicia, who married Richard de Morville, constable of Scotland (possibly as widow of 
William de Peveral)
William (II), whose legitimate heir Helewise de Lancaster married Gilbert son of Roger 
Fitz Reinfrid.
Jordan, mentioned in a benefaction to St Mary de Pré in Leicester, he died young.
Agnes, who married Alexander de Windsore[19]
Sigrid, married to William the clerk of Garstang.[19]

William's eventual heiress was his granddaughter of Helwise, whose son by Gilbert fitz 
Reinfrid took his mother's surname. This William de Lancaster III died without male 
heirs, heavily indebted, apparently due to payments demanded after he was captured 
at Rochester during the First Barons' War, and ransomed off by his father.

Parents
DE LANCASTER Gilbert (ABT 1104 - )
DE TAILLEBOIS Goditha (ABT 1106 - )

Siblings
DE LANCASTER William (ABT 1124 - 1170)

Marriage To DE WARENNE Gundred (ABT 1124 - AFT 1166)
    m.  

Notes

Parents
DE WARENNE William II (1081 - 11 May 1138)
DE VERMANDOIS Elizabeth (Isabel) (1081 - Jul 1147)

Children by DE WARENNE Gundred ABT 1124 - AFT 1166
DE LANCASTER William (ABT 1154 - 1184)
DE LANCASTER Avice (Avicia) (ABT 1154 - 1 Jan 1191)

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