Medieval Family History - taking the plunge...

[Keith Sherwood]

Lydart,
The North Sea ferry will probably founder and sink if I take such a large tome with me, but I'll certainly bear it in mind for later on.
And Trish, I think watching the film "Iris" last month persuaded me, simply out of curiosity, to sample one of her many books...
keith

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi again, Everyone,
Have nearly finished my Medieval Genealogy book now, but today I thought I'd give things a try by asking for help at the Cambs Record Office.  Managed to find a very helpful book on their shelves compiled and written by a William Mortlock Palmer in 1912, entitled: "Cambridgeshire Subsidy Rolls".
In there were transcribed the names of people who had contributed to/ been mentioned by name in the County, arranged by Hundreds and then parishes within these:
Jurymen on the Assize roll of 1260; the Lay Subsidy of 1318 and 1327; the Wool Tax of 1347; the 1524 Lay Subsidy; the Poll Tax Subsidy rolls of 1377; other lists for Land Tax 1411, Income Tax for 1435, Graduated Income Tax of 1450, and finally the Clerical Poll Tax of 1379.
Not a single mention of my family GURNER anywhere - what did I expect, anyway!  In the 1377 Poll Tax records the entry for Ickleton was "missing" - Hinxton down the road was described as "illegible", far more frustrating...
However, I did find an entry in the 1641 Lay Subsidy for a Robert GORNER, being taxed 20 shillings on his lands.
But an excellent book to find, nonetheless, however disheartened I have become already!
keith

[Lydart]

Keep at it Keith, its the only way to find anything !


One day ....


... one lucky day ...





(maybe)

[Keith Sherwood]

Lydart,
Course I will!  It's just that it was one of those mornings at the CCRO.  My medieval genealogy, looking things up for about 5 Rootschatters on here, helping a good friend of mine in Cambridge who was with me - nothing seemed to work out today, could find nothing I/we wanted...
There'll be other days, of course...
keith

[willow154]

Yes, Keith, there will be - I'm sure the other rootschatters will be overjoyed at your help.
Your day will come!
Paulene
Been really looking forward to the updates on the post, by the way

[pinefamily]

This has to be one of the more interesting threads I have read through.
I am no expert on medieval genealogy, but I have one caveat: at what point do surnames stop being surnames? Unless your ancestor is the lord of the manor, surely at some stage John Guildford becomes John of Guildford, at which point this applys to all people of the same place. I guess this is more of a problem in smaller towns or villages.
My own case in point: the Dowdeswell name seems to have originated in and around Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. There is a village of the same name nearby. Now, there is a gap in the instances that the name is mentioned in medieval records, so did the family that was lord of the manor of Dowdeswell die out, or spread out to other areas? Is the origin of the name with the landed family or from the village?
Food for thought.....
Darren

[pinefamily]

Anyway, I'm stuck in the 1500's with my Dowdeswell's. Not enough wills, and too many John's!
Darren

[behindthefrogs]

This has to be one of the more interesting threads I have read through.
I am no expert on medieval genealogy, but I have one caveat: at what point do surnames stop being surnames? Unless your ancestor is the lord of the manor, surely at some stage John Guildford becomes John of Guildford, at which point this applys to all people of the same place. I guess this is more of a problem in smaller towns or villages.
Darren

In one of my families I can date the move to around 1296.  At this date I find one person calling himself John filius Edline where as in the same year someone who I think was his brother called himself William Edelin.  I have found no examples of the former format after 1300 for this family.  However I am not sure even in the case of John filius Edline that Edline was not already effectively a surname as I have to go back another 100 years to find the various forms of "son of" consistently referring to the Christian name of the father.  Fitz is one of these forms.

Of course you get utter chaos as surnames become adopted.  For example I have Edelin FitzJohn de Burgh (c1150) having six sons, three of whom started surnames as follows:

William FitzEdlin whose sons seem to have adopted the surname Edlin
Ralph FitzEdlin Lord of Aldfield whose sons adopted the surname Aldfield
Hugh FitzEdlin de Burgh whose children adopted the surname of de Burgh which I don't understand because it only means from the walled town.

David

[MarieC]

That medieval genealogy site is fantastic!  A great mass of information on the Norreys family - I now have to sit down and work through it to trace my line.  Lots of great general information there, also!  It will make it much easier for those of us who know very little about medieval genealogy!

MarieC