THIS family of Grenville, Greinville, or Grenevyle, or Greenfield, as the name in very ancient times was variously written, has been incontestably seated at Wotton under Barnwood, in Buckinghamshire, at least from Henry the First's reign, which is apparent, as well from the charter of Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, hereafter mentioned, and the register of the abbey of Nutley (within four miles of Wotton) as from one hundred and forty deeds, sans date, concerning this family at Wotton; and a regular succession of a great number of dated deeds, which prove the pedigree in every King's reign from King John, being possessed of the following manors in Buckinghamshire, viz. Wotton, Chilton cum Easington, Ashington, Ham, Grenville's Manor in Hadenham, Nether Winchenden, Policott, Widmere, and Foscott; and also divers estates in Dorton, Crendon, Adingrave, Grendon, Brill, Borestall, Kingsey, Oakeley, Buckingham, and Wicomb, in the said county; besides manors, lands, &c. in other counties. Of which deeds I shall give some extracts, to prove the descent, b &c.

a Penes Ric Com. Temple.

b Prince, in his Worthies of Devonshire, treating of the family of Granville, mentions the Grenvills of Buckinghamshire to be a collateral branch; which is also remarked by George Granville, Lord Lansdown, in the account he gave of his family to Moreri; where is likewise added their Norman descent, from Rollo the first Duke of Normandy, who was of Danish extraction. And as to the present difference in writing the name, it was alike in both, as is evident from the old deeds of the Granvills of the west, and those

GERARD de Greinville (with Roger Earl of Clare, and others of great note) is one of the witnesses to the charter of Walter Giffard, the second Earl of Buckingham and Longville; wherein he granted to the priory of Newenton Longeville, in com. Buck. all tythes of Buckingham, and several other places adjacent in that county, and among which are, Chilton, and Wotton, the seat of this family of Grenville; which lordship was held of the honour of Giffard; and there are tythes at Wotton, called to this day Longeville tythes. It is therefore a very reasonable conjecture, that the said Gerard was one of the first sons of Richard de Granville, mentioned in the note, by his wife the sister of the said Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, who founded the abbey of Nutley, in Bucks, anno 1161, and died without issue, in 1164.

The said Gerard de Greinville held of Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, three Knights fees, de veteri feoffamento, in the reign of Henry the First, or before, Walter Giffard, first Earl of Buckingham, dying 1103, and the tenure of lands, held from the crown in the time of Henry the Second, were called de novo. A Knight's fee then consisted of twelve carves, or carucates of land, worth yearly 20l. and every carve, or carucate, consisted of eight oxgangs, and each oxgang contained fifteen acres of land. The said Gerard de Greinville appears likewise, by the pipe rolls, h to have paid his proportion to an aid levied by the sheriff, on the principal persons of the counties of Bucks and Bedford, in 1156.

of Buckinghamshire. And as to the arms being different, it is well known to our antiquaries, that they were not generally settled till the reign of Edward the First.

RICHARD DE GRANVILLE, who came in with William the Conqueror, married one of the daughters of Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham and Longville, to whom, with that honour, the Conqueror gave great possessions in Buckinghamshire, viz. forty-eight lordships, called the Honour of Giffard, whereof Crendon was the chief; it was therefore sometimes called the honour of Crendon; and Wotton and Chilton were members of the said honour. He was son of Harmo Dentatus, Earl of Corboil, and Lord of Thorigny and Granvile, in Normandy; and seated himself first at Biddeford, and next at Kilkhampton, in Cornwall. From him descended the Earls of Bath, &c.

c Monast Ang. vol. iii. p. 111. Inquisitiones temp. Hen. III. and Edw. I. • Jekyl's Barone, Extincti, MS. p. 154, penes meips. Lib Rub. in Scaccar.

f Ibid.

h Rot. Pip 3 Hen. II. Bucks and Bedford.

b Kennet's Parochial Antiq. and Dugdale's Baionage, vol į.

ROBERT de Greinville, his brother, probably the same that witnessed the foundation of Nethe, was also a witness to the charter of William de Lizures, Lord of the fee of Borestal (or Bostall) in com. Buck. three miles from Wotton, before the reign of Richard I. for, in the first year of that King, the said William de Lizures died; and in the reigns of Henry II. Richard I. John, and part of Henry III. lived Sir EUSTACE de Greneville, a person of great note. He appears, by some subsequent deeds, which I shall quote, to have been nephew to Gerrard, and Robert, beforementioned; but what his father's name was is not so certain.

In 32 Henry II. this Sir Eustace gave one hundred marks to have the lands that were Gerard de Greinvil's, his uncle, then in the hands of the King; which debt' was not discharged till 2 Rich. I. In 6 Rich I. he was in the expedition the King then made into Normandy, m and on that account was with William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, Richard Earl of Clare, and Hugh de Nevil (who were likewise in the said expedition) excused from paying scutage. In the 16th of King John, he was" constable of the Tower of London; and having a grant from the Bishop of Winchester, of the wardship and lands of William Borstard, King Henry III. in the first year of his reign, sent his precept to Geffery de Nevile, to deliver to his beloved and faithful Eustace de Greynvill Senescalla nostra, the lands of Barton, and all other the fees belonging to the said Willliam Borstard. In 3 Hen. III. the P sheriff of Yorkshire had command from the King, to deliver full seisin of the manor of Barton to his beloved and faithful Eustace de Greynvill, for his support in his service. And the year after, on a plea for the advowson of the church of Barton, in com. Ebor. between the said Eustace de Greynvill, and the priory of the Trinity in York, who claimed it by a charter of Ralph Paganel, he set forth his claim from the Paganels, and that he also had it by gift from the King. In 9 Hen. III. he came to the King on the muster at Montgomery against the Welsh. In 18 Henry III. William de Buzin presented to the church at

i Kennet's Parochial Antiq. of Ambrosden, &c. p. 148.

Rot. Pip. 32 Hen. II. Bucks and Bedford.

1 Rot. Pip. 2 Rich. I. Bucks and Bedford.

m Rot. Pip. 6 Richard I.

n Claus. 16 Joh. m. 18.

P Claus. Hen. III.

9 Placita apud Westm. Term. Hilar. 4 Hen. III. Rot. 6.

MS. Not. B. 5. in Bibl. Joh. Anstis, Arm nup. Garter Reg. Armor. p. 37

s Kennet's Par. Antiq. p. 277.

Feringford, alias Fringford, in com. Oxon. the advowson of which he had recovered in the King's court, against the prior of Coges, and Eustace de Grenevill, and Joan his wife, &c. Also the same year, 18 Henry III. the King directs the Barons of his Exchequer, to remit to Eustace de Greinville the hundred marks he was to pay for having seisin in the manor of Tunstal in Ireland, which Hugh de Burgh had of the gift of Robert Arsic, father of Joan, wife to Sir Eustace, and Alexandria, wife to Thomas de la Haye; as they had not possession of the said manor, which they fined for.

t

X

This Sir Eustace is a witness to William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke's confirmation of the gifts of the venerable Earl of Buckingham, and his wife, to the abbey of Nutley, and particularly of the park of Crendon, which Earl of Pembroke married Isabel, the daughter and heir of Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, descendant from Rohais, sister to Walter Giffard, the founder of that abbey. And the same Sir Eustace, for the souls of him and his ancestors, granted, &c. to God, and the Blessed Mary, the park of Chrendon, (i. e. Nutley ") and the Canons there serving God, Williamson of Syward de Codington, his villain in Chilton; and that the same William should serve the said canons, in the same conditions and services, as he was obliged to serve him. Also to a grant of this Sir Eustace de Greneville, of half a hide of land, &c. in Chilton, to the said abbey of Nutley: the witnesses thereto are Robert de Greinvile, Gerard de Greinville, and William his brother, Jordain de Valoines, and William de Arches. Which William de Arches was son of Godfrey, younger brother to Walter Giffard, Earl of Longueville in Normandy, father to the first Earl of Buckingham; and was cotemporary with Walter Giffard, second Earl of Buckingham, who founded the abbey of Nutley. Likewise, by another charter, he granted to William, son of Nygell, one yard land in Chilton, which John, the son of Syward, held of him, with free paunage in his woods for his swine; and also grants to him, the said Syward, to be his villain, cum tota secta sua; whereunto are witnesses, Robert de Greinville, Reginald de Greinville, with Gerard and Robert de Greinville, sons of Robert de Greinville. The charters are with

x Ibid.

' Dugdale's Baronage, vol. i. p 60.
"Ex Regist de Nutley, MSS.
Jekyl's Baronage, MSS. p. 154, in Famil. de Giffard.
2 Ex Chart. penes Ric. Dom. Cobham.

out date, but by the witnesses appear to be before the reign of King John; a for William, son of Nygell, died in the beginning of that King's reign.

By another charter, he sends greeting to all his friends and vassals, French and English, confirming to the abbey of the ს park (viz. Nutley) for the soul of King Henry, of Gerard his uncle, his own and his wife's souls, the gift of the church of Chilton, &c. which Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, gave to the abbey. This confirmation of the Earl of Buckingham's grant by Sir Eustace strengthens much the conjecture of his being descended from the daughter of Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, who was married to the first Richard de Granvile. Moreover, he adds, several gifts of his own; to which Robert and Reginald Greinville are witnesses, &c. He likewise grants to Robert, son of Robert de Greinville, his uncle, for service and homage, two hides of his land in Chilton.

The said Sir Eustace had to wife Joan, the eldest of the two daughters and coheirs of Robert de Arçic, Baron of Coges in Oxfordshire; Alexandria, the youngest, was the wife of Thomas de Haye. This Robert de Arçic was lineally descended from Manasses Arçic, a Norman, who in 1103, gave the church of Coges to the monks of Fescamp, in Normandy, with lands and tythes in divers other places; which induced the monks of Fescamp to send over part of their convent to Coges, and there founded a cell to that foreign monastery.f

a Kennet, p. 66.

bEx Regist. Nutley in Dugdale's MS. vol. xxxix. fol, 68. in Bibl. Ashmol. Oxon.

c Ibid.

d Dugdale's Baronage, vol. i p. 538, 539.

* Ibid.

f The aforementioned Robert de Arçic, Baron of Coges, in 13 Joh. & paid twenty pounds, five shillings, for twenty Knights fees, and a fourth part : but being with William de Albini, Thomas de Muleton, and other of the rebellious Barons, in the castle of Rochester, was there taken prisoner, in 17 Joh. and committed to the custody of Peter de Mauley, and his lands in Oxfordshire were seized into the King's hands, and disposed of for the maintenance of the castle of Oxford However, on that accord, between King Henry and those Barons, in the first year of his reign, he had restitution of his lands; and afterwards continued firm in his obedience to the said King In 13 Hen. III. when the scutage of Wales was levied, he had his discharge for twenty Knights fees, and a fifth part, which he then held. He

Rot. Pip. 13 Joh. Oxon. i Claus. 18 Joh. m. 14.

h Claus. 17 Joh. m 4. * Rot Pip 13 Hen. III. Oxon.