Individual

Go to List of Family Names Go to List of People    < Previous Next >

Birth:          ABT 1150 Brompton Ralph, Williton, Somersetshire, England
Death:          ABT 1212 Withycombe, Williton, Somersetshire, England

Notes
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I24873
Ralph FITZWILLIAM, of Brompton Ralph and Withycombe, which Isabel [his 
grandaughter] held the manor of Brown in Treborough, a third of the original manor of 
Withycombe, and other lands. [Complete Peerage VIII:534-5]

--------------------

Manor of Brompton Ralph, Somerset:

Frithogyth, wife of King Aethelheard, gave 5 hides at Brompton to Glastonbury Abbey 
c. 729. By 1066 the abbey had lost the estate to Brictric. William I granted it to 
William de Mohun, of whose honor of Dunster it was held until 1627 or later. William's 
tenant in 1086 was Turgis. In 1166 the estate was almost certainly one of the 5½ fees 
held by William son of Durand (d. before 1194) under William de Mohun. Ralph, son of 
William and grandson of Durand, who gave his name to the estate to distinguish it 
from Brompton Regis, married Yolande, sister of his overlord William de Mohun, and 
secured a remittance of scutage from his estate at Brompton. Ralph, who may have 
been dead by 1212, had three daughters: Lucy, wife of William Malet, Hilary, wife of 
John FitzUrse, and Isabel, wife successively of Hugh Peverel and of Nicholas 
FitzMartin.

['Parishes: Brompton Ralph', A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 5 (1985), 
pp. 19-25. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk]

NOTE: Apparently Isabel was a grandaughter according to CP (not daughter, as 
indicated above). I have her as daughter of Hilary & John FitzUrse. The rest of the 
above article chases the descent through Lucy (who held Brompton Ralph), whose 
descendants do not tie in with any people connected with my ancestry (Merriotts and 
Wellingtons).

--------------------

The following is copied from a Withycombe Manor website, which indicates that Isabel 
may have been his daughter (not granddaughter as CP states) and gives a few of the 
ancestors/predecessors of Ralph FitzWilliam, 
http://www.withycombe.org.uk/parish.html:

The information contained in this section comes in large part from Maxwell Lyte's 
"Some Somerset Manors" (Somerset Record Society, extra series, 1931) and also from 
Savage's "History of the Hundred of Carhampton" (1830), where he mostly quotes the 
earlier Collinson.

After the Norman Conquest the whole of the manor of Withycombe was given to 
Geoffrey, the bishop of Coutances (in Normandy): Edmer held it on his behalf. Geoffrey 
was much more of a soldier than an ecclesiastic. He fought bravely for his King at 
Hastings and in subsequent battles and was well rewarded, being presented with no 
less than two hundred and eighty lordships in England. He possessed seventy manors 
in Somerset alone, including Culbone and Withycombe. He died in 1093 and the manor 
passed to his nephew, the Earl of Northumberland. Two years later the Earl, Robert de 
Moubray, was stripped of his lands for rebelling against William II, and Lyte speculates 
that it was then that William de Mohun, the first Norman lord of Dunster Castle, 
acquired the manor (being already in possession of much land in the area).

A kinsman of William de Mohun named Durand (called variously D. the Steward or D. 
de Mohun) or Durand's son William fitz Durand subsequently held the manor of 
Withycombe in fee, together with other lands. William fitz Durand was succeeded by 
his son Ralph fitz Durand: he married Yolenta, the sister of the current lord of Dunster, 
William de Mohun IV; who, in consideration of the marriage, remitted the scutage 
(military service) due from the manor of Withycombe. The marriage took place between 
1177 and 1194.

Ralph died around 1212, leaving three daughters: Lucy (relict of William Malet), Ilaria 
(wife of Richard of Combe) and Isabel (wife of Hugh Peverel). A dispute and a lengthy 
court case ensued, which resulted in the division of the manor of Withycombe into 
thirds (around 1238). Lucy Malet, the senior co-heiress, inherited the manor and the 
advowson of the church, which she held directly under the lord of Dunster. Ilaria and 
Isabel each held a third of the manor directly under Lucy, although Lucy quit-claimed 
to her overlord the rights of service that her sisters owed to her in return for the lands. 
The third part that was left in Lucy's sole control was that which was much later 
known as Withycombe Wyke; Ilaria's subsidiary third was later known as Withycombe 
Hadley; Isabel's we will call Withycombe Peverel, simply for the sake of clarity.

Parents
FITZ DURAND William (ABT 1125 - BEF 1194)
----- ----- ()

Siblings
FITZ WILLIAM Ralph (ABT 1150 - ABT 1212)

Marriage To DE MOHUN Yolande (Yolenta) (ABT 1166 - BEF 29 Apr 1252)
    m.  

Notes

Parents
DE MOHUN William (ABT 1130 - 1176)
DE TOENI Godehaut (ABT 1130 - )

Children by DE MOHUN Yolande (Yolenta) ABT 1166 - BEF 29 Apr 1252
FITZ WILLIAM Hilary (ABT 1195 - )

Produced by Fzip 1.7 6/20/2017