de Synot Lincolnshire Doomesday?

[sue alderton]

Hi

I was wondering if anyone has done some serious research into the Lincolnshire Doomesday? I am researching my family history and it is claimed that my relative a Flemish knight "de Synot" came with William the Conqueror in 1066 to invade England. As a reward he received land in Somerset and Lincolnshire and it is reported that this was mentioned in the Somerset and Lincolnshire Doomesday records. I have searched the Doomesday Online but it only records the greater landowners, earls and barons and probably these are Normans. Is there anyone out there who has come across this surname attached to anyone in this part of the Doomesday Book?

Unfortunately the spelling can vary greatly, Synot may come from the swan which is on their Coat of Arms and the surname could be Cygnet, Sinet, Synnot, Synott, Sinnett, Sennatt, Sinay and so on.

Any help would be appreciated,

Sue

[diddymiller]

Hi Sue,

info at National Archives:

•Phillimore publishers (1975-1992): These separate volumes for each county use the Farley Latin transcription facing a modern translation. They contain footnotes and short introductions and maps. There are cumulative indexes to persons, places and subjects. The series includes a supplementary volume: the Boldon Book, a survey made in 1183 that covers much of Northumberland and Durham, two counties not included in Domesday. For using these volumes see The National Archives Domesday Research Guide.


go to:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=266&j=1

for loads of info /content /where to look for etc..


Lincs library seem to hold copies probably worth contacting them at:

Lincoln_Library@lincolnshire.gov.uk

Diddy

[sue alderton]

Thanks for the information. I will give it a go. I am in Australia so I cannot visit the library and I did not want to purchase Phillimore's work if the family does not even appear in the document.

Sue

[diddymiller]

no i wondered whether the library would be able to provide you with pohotocopies / pdf etc if family was mentioned.

many larger libraries will now provide this service for price of copies.

Diddy

[diddymiller]

OR - some kind soul living in area might be able to look for you...

Diddy

[sue alderton]

Thanks anyway for the sympathy. I spent yesterday going through the Somerset Doomesday entries that are online. Over 300 entries so far and of course many are without surnames which I know was not common then. Most are names mentioned such as "man of ......" some noble or freeman or knight etc so if he was mentioned in such a way I would have no hope of ever verifying whether he received lands in Somerset or Lincolnshire Dooomesday. I was hoping to link him to one of the Flemish liege lords that he may have been bound to, de La Roch or De La Clare, I cannot imagine if they retained their names he did not retain his? England was more French than english in those days and they would have clung to their French names as they did to their French ways.

I did find one interesting name "Cynesige" but with nothing attached to it, no title that is and I do know that there was a famous church dignatary of that name but I think from all accounts he may have been out of the time frame I am working within. So that led me to consider the following......

My relative "de Synot" comes from Flanders their coat of arms is 3 swans on a red back ground, the french word for swan is cygnet and not far from Lille in old Flanders is a small village "the place of swans," "Cynes." De Synot is very close in sound to De Cygnet. The word Cynesige is very similar?

My family history comes from pieces taken from a book written on the Sinnotts in 1644 by Nigel Sinnott in which these statements are made - a knight from Flanders who accompanied William the Conqueror in 1066 and received lands in Somerset and Lincolnshire and whose names appear in the Domesday Books of those counties.

So I guess I will just keep plodding and see what I can come up with but if any one else out there can help shed some light on this family background I would greatly appreciate your help and thanks again diddymiller.

Sue

[PrueM]

Hi Sue,
I'm sure you've already gone down this route, and I know the info on these sites need to be taken with a huge bucket of salt, but have you seen this entry:

http://www.4crests.com/sennett-coat-of-arms.html

It mentions that "Early records of the name mention Sinod (without surname) who was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086".

Sadly it doesn't say where in Domesday    but I thought the alternative spellings might help you to locate your man.

Cheers
Prue

[sue alderton]

Thanks for the reply. I have been on the track of my family name for the last 3 years and only got a renewed spurt just recently when a family member asked for some info. I have used every spelling that one could think of to search out the family name, even reverting back to the spelling of their family crest the swan "cygnet" as a source, because it sounds so much like Synot.

I have all these unverified satements and I am a stickler for confirmation I cannot go on undocumented family history statements I would like to ferret out the truth. I do realise in situations like family history a lot of the information we have is heresay and sometimes you just have to go with it.

So thanks for the interest I have used that one already and it comes up with lands in Dorset but the information that has been handed down to me is that the family "de Synot" were given lands in Somerset and Lincolshire so I will continue down this track until I have exhausted this avenue and then maybe just accept that they got it wrong or the name was not mentioned in a way that would be recogniseable today. The grant may have been made through the liege lord that the Synots were bound to.

Sue