|
19 February 2015
D'Abitot
The towns of Sainte-Jean-d'Abbetot
and Tancarville are both in Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie.
Dabitot: from
St.-Jean-d'Abbetot, canton de Colbosc, in the arrondissement of
Havre, of which the Seigneurie belonged
to the
Chamberlains of Tankerville. The fief was inherited by Amaury, a
cadet of the family, thence named Amaury d'Abbetot,
who was the
father of Urso, Viscount of Worcester, and Robert named from his
office Le Dispencer.
The name
continued in Normandy, mentioned in various charters quoted by M.
d'Anisy (v. Recherches sur le Domesday)
till the
reign of Philip Augustus, when it appears, for the last time, in a
list of the Norman gentry.
Helisende d'Abitot married
Gerard de Tancarville (31x great grandparents)
They had a son;
 | Aumary D'Abitot (30x great grandfather) who fathered ;
|
| Urso D'Abitot (29x great grandfather).
Urso was Constable of Worcestor Castle and hereditary Sherriff of Worcestshire.
|
He is said to have accompanied William the Conqueror during his conquest in 1066. He appears in the Domesday book. At the Domesday Survey he was tenant-in-chief in Gloucs, Herefordshire, Warks and Worcs. He was also called Urso of Worcester. Urso died after 1086. Urso had :
http://www.1066.co.nz/library/battle_abbey_roll1/subchap212.htm states-
Urso the Viscount, or Urso
of Worcester, as he is styled in Domesday, held a great domain in that county,
as well as in Hereford, Warwick, and Gloucestershire, and "earned an evil
notoriety which lasted long after he was dead. It is mentioned in the Survey
that: 'Urso the sheriff, had so oppressed the tenants on the virgate of land at
Droitwich belonging to Brictric's late manor of Sodbury, that they cannot now
pay the salt due from them.' This is not the only instance of his rapacity; and
the lands of the see of Worcester and of the abbeys of Evesham and Pershore,
were systematically despoiled by him without redress. His brother Robert, the
King's Despencer, aided and abetted him. Urso gave lands belonging to the see in
dowry with his own daughter, despite remonstrance and appeal."_A. S. Ellis.
Worst of all, while building his castle at Worcester, he encroached upon some
ground that had been consecrated as the cemetery of the adjoining convent. For
this sacrilege the malediction of the Church was pronounced upon him by the
Archbishop of York, "with mine and that of all holy men, unless thou removest
thy castle from hence; and know of a truth that thine offspring shall not long
hold the land of St. Mary to their heritage." This malediction, preserved in an
old couplet,
"Hightest thou Urse,
Have thou the curse:"
seems in no wise to have
troubled or disturbed its recipient; yet, though thus insensible to the thunders
of the Church, Urso was himself among her benefactors. He was the founder of
Malvern Priory, which became a cell to Westminster Abbey. The disregarded
prophecy did not halt in fulfilment; for the threatened forfeiture came to pass
in the next following generation. His son Roger was banished the realm for
slaying one of Henry's I.'s household; and his confiscated estates granted to
Walter de Beauchamp, the husband of his sister, Emmeline. It was a princely
gift. "Urso d'Abitot," says Nash, "had manors in almost every part of the
county. Being hereditary Sheriff, his office was to keep this part of the newly
conquered kingdom in subjection; it was necessary, therefore, that his power
should be very great." Three of these manors, Croome d'Abitot, or Earl's Croome,
Ridmarley d'Abitot, and Dabitot's Lawerne, still bear the name of their first
Norman lord. Nor did it die out in the county. The Beauchamps held his lands and
took his place as hereditary Sheriffs; but the kith and kin of Urso d'Abitot
were to be found in Worcestershire at least six hundred years after his death.
"Some of the name of D'Abitote continued in Ridmarley till within this century"
(this was written in 1782), "lived at the Down-house, and were called DAbitotes
de la Downe de Ridmarley. They married into considerable families. Osbert
D'Abitote married the daughter of Sir Geffrey Moody: William their son married
Draycote: and John the son of William married Washburne. This John had issue
Walter and Edmund, from whom are derived two families: the one settled in
Herefordshire: the other continued in Worcestershire: and Thomas, the heir of
the Worcestershire branch, was alive in Mr. Habingdon's time" (temp. Charles
I.), "but the family are now extinct."_Nash's Worcestershire. The line seated at
Croome had ended long before. "Crombe was held from the time of Osbert D'Abitot
(1283) of William de Beauchamp; and in 1483 William D'Abitot held half a
knight's fee in Crombe, which William his ancestor formerly held. In this
William, or his son, the male line ended. The females of this family married
with Verney, Langeston, Ryce, Child, and Townley, by which means the estate was
divided among these persons."_Ibid. In Derbyshire "a branch of the ancient house
of Abitot, settling at Barlow, is supposed to have taken their name from that
place, and possessed it for several generations."_Lysons.
Sources:
http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/De_Arbitot-1
http://mauriceboddy.org.uk/Tancarville.htm
http://cybergata.com/roots/2585.htm
http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28022
|