་ brother of Thomas de Etton senior, but the chronicle gives us no information as to his parentage. Thomas de Etton (described as son of Geoffrey de Etton) and his wife granted to the convent of Watton 195 acres in the fields of Etton (in campis de Ettona).1 Thomas married twice, his children by his first wife being Thomas junior, Geoffrey, Odard de Skerne (from whom probably descended the Skernes of Skerne), and two daughters. By his second wife, Alice daughter of William, parson of the church of Eggesholm,' he had three sons, William, Robert and Henry." He appears to have had, by his first wife, another son, William, who is not mentioned in the Meaux chronicle, for in Mr. Fairfax-Cholmeley's collection is a grant in fee by Thomas, son of Geoffrey de Ettun, to William, son of his first wife, of one bovate in Gilling, "which William son of Grim held and quitclaimed to me, for himself and his heirs, because I placed him in religion, for which placing I deposited the value of 100 shillings, as of my own proper buying ("tenuit et quietam mihi clamavit de se et heredibus suis, quia posui eum in religione, pro cujus positione posui valentiam c. solidorum," etc.); to hold rendering only so much forinsec service as belongs to one bovate of land, of which twenty carucates make a knight's fee." If I am right in attributing this grant to Thomas de Etton senior, it is the earliest record which I have found of the connection of the Ettons with Gilling. (4) THOMAS DE ETTON junior, the eldest son of Thomas senior, seems to have been an unfortunate individual. He killed Jordan de Raventhorpe, "propter sororem suam, Ceciliam." In the time of Hugh, the fifth abbot of Meaux (1210-1220), Thomas, being greatly in debt to the Jews, received sixty marks from the convent, and let his lands in Skerne to them for fifteen years. In the following year, when all who owed money to the Jews were compelled to satisfy the King concerning their debts, Thomas had to pay the large sum of 240 marks, which he borrowed from the convent, to be repaid in twelve years by yearly instalments. 'He had to give them also seven oxgangs and sixty acres of land, with closes, pastures, the right of fishing, and other liberties, in Skerne; and to engage not to sell, or let, or mortgage the rest of the estate to any party whatever except to the monastery. To guard against any tricks on the part of the Jews, the convent had a search made in their public chest at York The 1 Dodsworth MSS., vii. 3156. grant is witnessed by Roger archbishop of York (1154-1181), Simon canon of Beverley, Walter chaplain of Malton, Richard priest of Watton, William clerk of Etton, Stanard de Etton, Walter 'prepositus' of Watton, and others. 2 Chron. Mon. de Melsa, i. 318-19. 3 This grant is witnessed by Ralph de Surdeval, Reginald de Capetoft, William Burdon, Geri de Gilling, Adam de We, Enricus de Etton, William his brother, Geoffrey de Ampleford, and others. 4 Chron. Mon. de Melsa, i. 317. for any bond relating to the land; and succeeded in obtaining a release from all debts secured on the land by Thomas de Etton. They paid to the sheriff of York for his consent and assistance in the search, ten marks.' They also paid to Nicholas de Stuteville, the chief lord of Skerne, forty marks for his seignorial rights over the ten carucates-eight in Skerne, and two in Hutton and Cranswickwhich made up the half of a knight's fee held of him by Thomas.1 In 1223 Thomas de Etton junior released to John de Surdeval nine and a half bovates of land in Gilling in Ridale, in consideration of the payment of six marks of silver. Thomas was dead in 1226, when his widow, Matilda, claimed of Nicholas de Stuteville one-third of her husband's lands in Etton as her dower. From his son Robert, who quitclaimed to Watton Priory all its possessions in Etton,' descended the Ettons of Etton. Robert's son Laurence was the great-grandfather of the Amanda de Etton who married Patrick de Langdale." 7 8 (5) GEOFFREY DE ETTON was the second son of Thomas de Etton senior. His father gave him six bovates of land in Skerne, which he (Geoffrey) let to the convent of Meaux for a term of years, and afterwards, in the time of Alexander, the fourth abbot (1197-1210), granted to them in frankalmoign. It was apparently this Geoffrey who granted to the Dean and Chapter of York all the lay fee which William Burdon held of him in Grimston, and one toft which Bernard the miller (Molendinarius) held of him in Gilling. This grant was confirmed by Geoffrey's brother, Thomas de Etton, and in his confirmation the fee in Grimston is described as consisting of twelve bovates." In 1220 Geoffrey de Etton paid 20s. for a writ to summon twelve jurors for an assise of novel disseisin against Absalon, parson of the church of the Holy Cross of Gilling, concerning tenements in Gilling. Geoffrey de Etton and Absalon the parson of Gilling appear as witnesses to a quitclaim by William de Surdeval to the abbey of St. Mary, York, of three and a half carucates in Gilling." Geoffrey is mentioned as having been present when Nicholas de Stuteville and 10 1 Chron. Mon. de Melsa., i. 374-7, and preface i. xxxix. 2 Fine Roll, 5 Hen. III. Feet of Fines, Yorks., 7 Hen. III. Chartulary of St. Mary's Abbey, York (now in the possession of the Dean and Chapter of York), fo. 215. Dodsworth MSS., ix. 69b.; clvi. 30b. The release is in Mr. Fairfax-Cholmeley's collection. 3 Coram Rege Roll, 10 Hen. III., no. 95, m. 5. Cf. Rot. Litt. Claus., 10 Hen. III. (ii. 1506). 4 Mon. Ebor., 413. 5 Yorks. Archeol. Journal, xi. 372. 6 Chron. Mon. de Melsa, i. 318. 7 Grimston, in the parish of Gilling. 8 Dodsworth MSS., cxxv. 876. The grant is witnessed by S. Decano and H. Thesaurario. Simon of Apulia was Dean of York between 1194 and 1214. Hamo was treasurer in 1199, when he and Simon appear together as witnesses to a charter in the Guisborough Chartulary (Surtees Society, lxxxix.), ii. 54. 9 Dodsworth MSS., vii. 103. 10 Fine Roll, 4 Hen. III., part 1, m. 4 (York, June 10, 1220). See also Appendix, I. post, 11 Dodsworth MSS., ix. 69; clvi. 30. Robert and Nicholas his sons were bound in roos. to the nuns of Keldholm,1 and he witnessed a charter of Robert, son of Nicholas de Stuteville, to Keldholm.2 He also witnessed a charter of Richard Cruer of Kalton3 in Ridale, granting land to the hospital of St. Peter, York, and a charter of Thomas de Richeburne to Byland Abbey." It is clear from the above facts that Geoffrey was intimately connected with Gilling, and although I have been unable to find any definite proofs of his relationship with the next two generations, it appears most probable that he was the ancestor of the Ettons of Gilling. 6 (6) IVO DE ETTON is described in the Testa de Nevill (circa 12351245) as holding one fee of Roger de Mowbray in the county of York, which doubtless refers to Gilling. In the accompanying pedigree I have suggested that Ivo was the son of Geoffrey, though proof is wanting. Ivo de Eton, then constable of Tickhill, witnessed a quitclaim of Matilda de Luvetot, widow of Gerard de Furnival, to the prior and canons of Worksop (Gerard de Furnival died 3 Hen. III.). In 1233 Ivo de Etton witnessed an agreement between Robert de Brereton and Walter de Percy. In a list of tenants by military service who are not knights, 40 Hen. III., Ivo de Etton appears as holding twenty librates of land in the wapentake of Ryedale." (7) WILLIAM DE ETTON was probably son of this Ivo. By an agreement dated at York on the Quinzaine of the Epiphany, 1251 (Jan. 20, 1251-2), William de Etton released and quitclaimed to Osbert de Corneburgh the service of his men in Gilling; the services are recounted in the agreement, and Osbert is to pay yearly to William de Etton at Easter a pair of white gloves in lieu of all services.10 In 1267 William de Etton witnessed a charter of the abbot of York to Sir Adam de Barton." We may doubtless attribute to the same person a grant by "William de Hetton de Gilling in Rydale" to Geoffrey de Hetton12 his brother and Juliana de Neusum his wife, of two bovates in the territory of Gilling and three acres of land of "marys ad assartandum" next to the land of William Surdeval, chaplain and to the assart which Master Roger de Laycester, parson 9 Cott. MSS., Claudius C. ii. fo. 25, printed in Kirkby's Inquest volume (Surtees Soc., xlix.), p. 434. 10 This agreement is in Mr. FairfaxCholmeley's collection. It has a seal with fleur-de-lis surrounded by a legend in Lombardic characters. 11 Dodsworth MSS., clvi. 586. 12 Yvo and Geoffrey de Etton and Robert Barne of Gilling appear together as witnesses to a charter of Baldwin Wake, son of Joan de Stuteville and Hugh Wake (Dodsworth MSS., vii. 220). |