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DE ARGENTEIN Reginald
Birth: 1144 Great Wymondley, Hertfordshire, England
Death: BEF 1203
Notes
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I13297
The following information taken from Medieval English Genealogy website at:
http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/families/arg/argoutl1.shtml
The mother and brothers of Reginald de Argentein:
John was succeeded, in the late 12th century, by Reginald de Argentein. We know
that John was the son, and Reginald the grandson, of the first Reginald de Argentein,
so it is quite likely that the younger Reginald was John's son (although he could
equally well have been his nephew).
A possible clue to the identity of Reginald's mother is provided by his inheritance of
lands formerly held by a certain Guy. Unfortunately, the evidence is somewhat
contradictory and confusing (see discussion). It seems clear that the property had
been held by Reginald's father (possibly in right of his wife), having come from Guy,
who in turn had inherited it from his mother 'Tieca' (although one document has
instead 'Thecius', which seems to be a man's name!). On the evidence it is impossible
to be sure of the relationship - it seems likely that Tieca was Reginald's grandmother,
although it is unclear whether on the paternal or maternal side.
Reginald had at least two brothers:
Apparently he had a brother with the same name as himself (which seems strange in
modern eyes, but was not unknown in medieval times). This brother was known as
Reginald of Halesworth (in the record of his grant to Reginald's son Oliver, he is
described as Oliver's 'patruus', or paternal uncle).
He seems also to have had a brother Roger, who caused a great deal of trouble by his
marriage to Matilda, a Buckinghamshire heiress, who was apparently somehow related
to the Argenteins. (Roger seems to fit in here, because he is named as the brother of
a Reginald de Argentein, who is called 'a certain knight'. However, it is possible that
this refers to a different Reginald - if so, chronology suggests these two may belong to
the following generation.)
Reginald de Argentein:
Reginald's father and grandfather were essentially local landowners with only a
handful of manors in the eastern counties, and they seem to have played no role
beyond their locality. But with Reginald the family began to achieve a wider
prominence, which was to be reinforced by his son and grandson.
Reginald was active in local affairs, and acted as sheriff in the eastern counties
through most of the 1190s. He served in Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in 1193,
1194 and 1195, and in Essex and Hertfordshire in 1197 (for half a year) (Pipe Rolls).
More significantly, he was appointed a justice, and sat both at Westminster and in the
provinces. Numerous records survive of fines made before him: the earliest I have
found was at Norwich in September, 1191. The records continue until 1202
(apparently the year before his death), when sufficient information survives to trace
his movements in detail. On 16 June he was sitting at Westminster, and later in the
same month at Cambridge. In July he was at Norwich, King's Lynn and Ipswich, where
he remained until early August. In September he was at Hertford and Chemsford, and
in October and November he was again at Westminster (Pipe Roll Society).
Reginald continued to hold the property he had inherited, though not without
difficulties. The manor of Great Wymondley, although it had been held by the family
since his grandfather's time, was claimed by one Alan de Vitrie, who had apparently
succeeded in dispossessing him. Unfortunately we do not know the basis of Alan's
claim, but by 1190 the court at Westminster decided in Reginald's favour (perhaps
unsurprisingly, given his official connections), and in 1195 Richard I issued a charter,
confirming the manor to him and his heirs.
Another legal dispute concerned the advowson of Great Wymondley church, which,
according to Reginald, had been granted to his grandfather together with the manor.
However, the advowson was also claimed by the Abbess of Elstow, according to
whom it had been given to the abbey, as an appurtenance of Hitchin church, by its
foundress, the Countess Judith, in the time of William I. The dispute dragged on for
about 10 years, and was finally settled after Reginald's death, when his son Richard
gave up the claim to the advowson. In return, the nuns were to remember him in their
prayers.
Reginald also had problems concerning his inheritance from the estate of Guy the son
of Tieca. In 1190 the Pipe Roll tells us that Reginald was to pay £100 for justice
concerning these lands and those claimed by Alan de Vitrie (i.e. Great Wymondley). In
the following year, however, Nicholas, the son of Robert, the son of Harding, appears
owing 200 marks, to have peaceful possession of the lands of Guy the son of Tieca,
which Reginald claimed. The entries concerning Nicholas - which seem somewhat
confused - appear in the Pipe Rolls under Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire and
Gloucestershire, and continue until 1196 and 1195 respectively. In 1195, Richard I
issued a charter for Reginald (dated the day after the one referred to above), in which
his original payment of £100 was replaced by a fine of 200 marks, in return for which
he was confirmed as the holder of Great Wymondley, and promised justice concerning
the lands of Guy.
The difficulty concerning these lands seems to have arisen because Guy had
somehow been involved in the castration of a certain Alan of Wales, which is
mentioned both in a charter of Henry II for Guy, and in Richard's second charter for
Reginald. It seems that the lands may have initially been confiscated as a result (and
perhaps granted to Nicholas' family), but that the offence was finally forgiven. Be that
as it may, the trouble was not over yet. In 1202 Reginald again had to go to court, to
secure another part of his inheritance from Guy. This time he sought the advowson of
the church of 'Chederton', in Bedfordshire, against the prior of St Neots. The result of
the action is not known.
In addition to the property which he inherited, he had various interests in a number of
counties.
He held the manor of Cholderton, Wiltshire, of the Bernard family; and the
Bassingbourn family held it as his sub-tenants (VCH Wiltshire).
He was a plaintiff in a plea of novel disseisin in Letchworth (just north of Wymondley)
in Hertfordshire in 1198 (Curia Regis Rolls)
He was granted a tenth of a knight's fee in Pelham [?Middlesex] by William son of
Robert (before 1212) (Curia Regis Rolls).
Ralph de Tyvill demanded against him a tenement in Ramsey in Huntingdonshire in
1199 (Farrer, vol.3, p.180, citing R. Cur Regis i 396 or 401).
He held a carucate of land at Wissett (near Halesworth) in Suffolk, c.1199 (Placit.
Abbrev.).
Reginald must have died either at the end of 1202 or in early 1203. At his death he
left a widow Isabel, who renounced her dower rights in favour of Reginald's son
Richard, in return for a house to live in at Wymondley. We do not know whether Isabel
was the mother of Reginald's children - indeed, there seems to be no evidence at all
about the identity of their mother.
As well as Richard, his son and heir, Reginald had at least three more sons:
Oliver, who fought for the baronial party in the reign of King John.
John.
Reginald.
Parents
DE ARGENTEIN John (1123 - 1198)
FITZ TECON Ellen (1126 - )
Siblings
DE ARGENTEIN Reginald (1144 - BEF 1203)
Marriage To DE HALESWORTH Rose (1148 - )
m.
Notes
Children by DE HALESWORTH Rose 1148 -
DE ARGENTEIN Richard (ABT 1175 - 1246)
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