Medieval Generations

The early part of the pedigree is broken into three distinct sections:

– Domesday tenants (generations 1 & 2)
– The de Marisco family (generations 3 – 10)
– Early generations in Lincolnshire (generations 11 – 17)

References are given at the end of each section. Further information will be found in my book, Marris of Burton Corner: A Family History by G. Philip Marris, published June 2019 (ISBN 978-0-244-19420-8).

Domesday tenants (generations 1 & 2)

The first-known ancestors of the modern Marris family were Adelolf de Marč (de Marck, de Merc, etc.) and his father Otbert. It was Adelolf who fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, after which both he and his father were granted lands previously occupied by the defeated Saxons.

The Marris pedigree was accepted by the Ulster Herald in 1938 and registered with the College of Arms shortly afterwards. It was later published in the 1952 edition of Burke’s Landed Gentry. In the introduction to that edition, the then editor L. G. Pine, in a special article on “English Pedigrees” (pp. xl – xli), wrote:

“Before leaving this subject of alleged Norman descent, it may be of interest to give those names which are known to us from contemporary or near contemporary documents, of persons who actually accompanied William in 1066, and were present at Hastings. This list is drawn from a lecture given on 10th May, 1944, by Geoffrey H. White, to the Society of Genealogists and printed in their magazine. The list is interesting as showing the names of Companions of the Conqueror which scholars have been able to find . . . The list was not put forward by the authors (nor by me now) as unalterable. It is possible that it can be extended, but the fact remains that only 25 names are given derived from these reliable sources ….”

Pine then added the following important paragraph:

“To this list I would add the name of Adelolf de Merc [sic], ancestor of the Marris family in the present edition. Details regarding Adelolf can be read in “The Lords of Ardres” by J. H. Round (Feudal England (1909), p. 462).”

1. Otbert de Marč
Otbert was the father of Adelolf below. Otbert received estates in Northamptonshire and probably Buckinghamshire. Some 35 years after Domesday in 1086, the Northamptonshire Survey (c. 1120) shows Otbert having been succeeded by his son Adelolf.

2. Adelolf de Marč
Adelolf de Merc was a Domesday tenant of Eustace, Count of Boulogne. After the Battle of Hastings, Adelolf received numerous manors in Essex and other places (see Domesday Book).

References to the above Domesday tenants

– Domesday Book, vol. 21 (Northamptonshire), Phillimore & Co. Ltd, 1979.
– Domesday Book, vol. 32 (Essex), Phillimore & Co. Ltd, 1983.
– Freeman, E. A., History of the Norman Conquest of England, 1877.
– Keats-Rohan, K. S. B., Domesday People, Boydell Press, 1999.
– Keats-Rohan, K. S. B., Domesday Descendants, Boydell Press, 2002.
– Marris, Robert Hugh Winston Davis de, unpublished manuscripts, c.1940–54 [unpublished, handed down to the present owner of this website].
– Northamptonshire Survey, c.1120.
– Round, John Horace. Feudal England, 1895, 3rd edn., Simon Shand Ltd.
– Pine, L.G., Burke’s Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 17th edn., Burke’s Peerage, London, 1952, “Marris”, pp. xl-xli & p. 1703.
– Shopkow, Leah, History of the Counts of Guines and Lords of Ardres, University of Pennsylvania Press, Pennsylvania, 2001.

The de Marisco family (generations 3-10)

The line then continues through ten generations of the Marisco family of Somerset, Lundy Island and Ireland. Above is all that survives of Marisco Castle on Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel. The castle originally occupied two acres at the extreme south of the island, and was surrounded by a stone wall, with ditch, except along the cliff edge, which overlooked an almost perpendicular drop. The Castle Keep (pictured) has walls nine feet thick. The author of this website and his wife stayed in the Castle Keep and can confirm the thickness of the walls and the absolute silence from inside even during the most wildest of gales screaming up the Bristol Channel.

Pedigree
Full details of the Marisco generations will be found in the references given at the end of this article.

Below are the key points concerning the Marisco generations.

3. Jordan de Marisco (als. de Insula), married Hadwissa, dau. of Baldwin Redvers of Isle of Wight & Devon.

4. Geoffrey de Marisco, held a half-fee in Huntspill Somerset of the honor of Bampton in 1166 A.D. (Liber Niger), d. 1189, married … dau. of Fitz Azor, of the Isle of Wight family.

5. Robert de Marisco, occurred 1175-1180 (Devon Pipe Roll), married … a sister of Archbishop Comyn (she d. circa 1220).

6.1 William de Marisco, Son & Heir, b. before 1162 A.D. of Huntspill, Camely, Lundy, occrd. 1194 A.D. to 1229-30 A.D., married Lucy, dau. of Alexander de Alneto Lord of Camely. She was bur. at Bath Abbey.

6.2 Richard? d.1226, Bishop of Durham & Chancellor.

6.3 Walter, d. by 1192.

6.4 Jordan, occ. circa 1192 A.D.

6.5 Geoffrey, b. before 1171 A.D., Justiciar, d.1245, married (1) … dau. of Esserly and (2) Eva de Birmingham. Issue from first marriage: 6.5.1 Joan, d.1225, m. Theobald Walter II (he d. 1230 A.D.); 6.5.2 William, ex. 1242, married (Matilda?) de Londres, niece of Henry de Londres, Archbishop of Dublin; 6.5.3 John V.P. Issue from second marriage: 6.5.4 Robert.

6.6 Son, married Frances and had issue: 6.6.1 Robert Frances, Bishop of Killaloe 1217, deposed 1221; 6.6.2 John Travers., occ. 1234.

7.1 Jordan de Marisco, of Huntspill, Camely, Lundy & Corkeduffeney, b. before 1189 A.D., succeeded by 1233, d. 1234, bur. Bath Abbey, married ….

7.2 Son, probably named Adam?

7.3 Son, probably named Robert?

7.4 Son, probably named Elias?

7.5 Agnes, by 1211 married William de Hanton Lord of Budgeworth, Somerset.

7.6 Daughter, occ. 1217.

7.7 Daughter, occ. 1220.

8.1 William de Marisco, of Huntspill & Camely Co. Somerset, East Rasen (Now Middle Rasen) Co. Lincs, Lundy Island, Weyperous, Corkeduffeney & Latteragh, b. before 1213 A.D., d. 1284 A.D., bur. at Bath Abbey, married & had issue (1) Margery, occurred in Devon with her husband 1242 A.D., in Lincolnshire with her husband 1268 A.D. (Fine Rolls), married (2) Matilda, widow of William Fukeram of Wyke, Somerset, who d. 1257.

8.2 Richard of Balylymasty & Balyrigan.

8.3 Jordan, occ. 1258, in Lincs. 1271-2 (Lincs Assize Roll).

9.1 William, D.S.P., married Bertha.

9.2 John de Marisco, b. before 1254, suc. 1284, of Camely, Lundy, Weyperous & East Rasen (now Middle Rasen) Co. Lincs., d. 1285 A.D., married Olive, dau. of Milo FitzDavid, Baron of Iverk.

10.1 Herbert de Marisco or de Marreys, b. 1276 at Pollrone Co. Kilkenny, of Huntspill, Camely, Weyperous, d. 1326-7. He sat in the Parliament of 1296 as a Baron. He married (before 1306) and had issue (1) Sibilla, dau. & co. heiress of Walter de la Haye, Escheator of Ireland. He in addition to his Irish lands held of William de Fortibus, sometime Earl of Albemarle 1/8 part of a Knight’s fee at Kyrmington (modern Kirmington, nr. Gt. Grimsby) Co. Lincs, married (2) by 1316, Isabella, dau of Sir Henry de Tracey of Woolcombe, widow of Sir Simon Roges of Porlock. She m. (III) Edmund le Botilier, probably younger brother of James, Earl of Ormond (both alive 1350 A.D.).

10.2 William, occur. In Lincs 12 March 1300-1 when he as [sic] a Lincs. Knt. Was summoned to come to the King at Berwick on Tweed. He married … and had issue: 10.2.1 William de Marisco, occ. in Ireland 1306-1317. On 14 Dec 1311, 4 Edward II when at Berwick on Tweed granted 4 bovates of land four tifts [?] with their crofts in Hoton [?] in Hynsty [?] which he held in the gift of William his father to the Prior & Canons of the Park of Helagh [?] (Charter Rolls).

11.1 Stephen de Marisco, b. circa 1304, of Huntspill, Weyperous, Clogher, Lundy Island. Summoned with the heirs of Camville, by Writ addressed to the Sheriff of Notts & Derby, to attend a great Council at Westminster to take into consideration the affairs of Ireland, d. circa 1373, S.P., (Inq. P. M. 1381). Married by 1344 (1) Alice …. Married by 1368 (2) Lucy …., she d. circa 1275 [sic].

References to the above Marisco generations

– Brooks, Eric St. John. The Family of Marisco, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland:
—– Vol LXI Part I (Jun 30, 1931), pp. 22-38.
—– Vol LXI Part II (Dec 31, 1931), pp. 89-112.
—– Vol LXII Part I (Jun 30, 1932), pp. 50-74.

– Chanter J. R. History of Lundy Island. Reprinted from Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and the Arts (1871).

– Collinson, Rev. John. History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset, Vol II (1791).
—– Porlock, pp. 36-7.
—– Camely, pp. 124-6.
—– The Hundred of Huntspill cum Puriton, pp. 389-97.

– Marris, Robert Hugh Winston Davis de, unpublished manuscripts, c.1940–54 [unpublished, handed down to the present owner of this website].

– Pedigree of Marris, Marreys, de Marreys originally de Marisco of Huntspill, Somerset, of Pollrone, Co. Kilkenny …… of Croxton and Holland both in Co. Lincoln, c.1066 — 1948. Stored at (and available from) National Library of Ireland. Ref: GO MS 175 pp. 501-14. [this is the pedigree accepted in 1940 by Thomas Sadleir, Deputy Ulster King of Arms, Dublin Castle. Sadleir continued to update the early parts of the pedigree during the 1940s.]

– Pine, L.G., Burke’s Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 17th edn., Burke’s Peerage, London, 1952, “Marris”, pp. 1703-4.

– Steinman, G. Steinman. Some Account of the Island of Lundy (1836).

– Ternstrom, Myrtle. The de Marisco family of Lundy, printed in Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and the Arts. Vol 139 (2007), pp. 41-68.

9th May 2016

Early generations in Lincolnshire (generations 11 – 17)

(Only the main line of descent is shown in this section.)

11.2 William de Marreys, b.1306 (Inq. No. 668 Proof of age of Philip de Baggeshore P.R.O.), occ. in Ireland 1344-5, married Mary, dau. of Raymond de Cantwell.

12. Thomas (de) Mareys, mentioned as of Ingoldmells Lincs (Fine Rolls) on the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, 15 Richard II, 1393 A.D., married (Elizabeth Bruse).

13. Robert Marreys, living near or at Ingoldmills 5 Henry IV, 1404 A.D.

14. Robert Maress of Ingoldmills, Middle Rasen, North & South Kelsey etc., Living at South Kelsey 33 Henry VI (1455–57). He married a daughter of Stott.

15. Thomas Marres who married Katherine, daughter of John Hansart & Lara his wife.

16.1 Robert Maress, Son & heir, Living at South Kelsey, 6 Edw. IV to 17–18 Edw. IV, who married Alice, dau. of . . . . . Carlton, d. 18 March 1477 at S. Kelsey

17. Simon Marys, born at South Kelsey 1458. He married Ellen Clarke and had three children:

18.1 John Marris, of whom presently – see below.
18.2 Lawrence, will dated 19 Nov 1546, proved 7 May 1547, D.V.P.
18.3 Nicholas of Wainflete, D.V.P., will 22 April 1553, proved 26 Sept 1553.

References to the above early Lincolnshire generations

– Fine Rolls.
– Lincs. Wills.
– Lincs. Parish Registers.
– Marris, Robert Hugh Winston Davis de, unpublished manuscripts, c.1940–54 [unpublished, handed down to the present owner of this website].
– Massingberd, W. O., Court Rolls of the Manor of Ingoldmells in the County of Lincoln,
Spottiswood & Co. Ltd, 1902.
– Pine, L.G., Burke’s Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 17th edn., Burke’s Peerage, London, 1952, “Marris”, p. 1704.

Generations 18-29)

The line continues through 18.1 John Marris (see C. 1500 AD to date (Generations 18-29)