Walter D'AINCOURT ²⁰¹⁶

   FamilySearch ID: GZZ3-89M

  General Notes:

LifeSketch
Walter D'Aincourt (or Walter Deincourt or d'Eyncourt) was a landholder in Derby under King Edward the Confessor in 1065/1066.

Later in 1066, he fought for William the Conqueror against Harold Godwinson and was rewarded with a large number of manors in a number of counties but particularly Nottinghamshire after the Norman conquest.

Biography
D'Aincourt's mark on history is recorded principally in the Domesday Book which records him as tenant-in-chief of thirteen manors in Derbyshire, one manor in Northamptonshire, four in Yorkshire, nineteen in Lincolnshire and thirty-seven in Nottinghamshire. He made his home in Blankney in Lincolnshire

His surname is said to have had its origin in the village of Aincourt in Normandy on the River Seine between Mantes and Magny.

In 1088, after the Rebellion of 1088, Walter bore a royal writ of William II of England ordering the men of William de St-Calais, Bishop of Durham, to return the cattle that they had stolen from rebels during the conflict.

Walter's first son, William, died young, while in fosterage at the court of King William II "Rufus", and was buried in Lincoln Cathedral, but his other son Ralph lived to become the second Baron Deincourt; his third son was named Walter. Walter (senior) was known to, and described as a blood relative of, Remigius de Fécamp, Bishop of Lincoln who contributed substantially to William I's conquest of England. It has been speculated that D'Aincourt's rewards were due not to his contribution to the conquest but to his kinship of Remigius. However, J.R. Planché believed, on the basis of Walter's son William D'Aincourt being so described on a plaque found in his tomb, that Walter's wife Matilda was of royal descent. On this basis, plus proof that Walter and Matilda made donations on Alan Rufus's behalf, and chronological considerations, Matilda is argued by the historian Richard Sharpe to be a daughter of Count Alan Rufus and of Gunhild of Wessex, and thus a granddaughter of Harold Godwinson, a view that Katharine Keats-Rohan finds convincing (Sharpe's article also cites a suggestion by Trevor Foulds that Matilda d'Aincourt might have been the Princess Matilda who was a daughter of King William the Conqueror and his wife Queen Matilda.)

Descendants
Walter and his wife Matilda had many descendants, such as the later members of the House of Neville, including Warwick the Kingmaker.

As Loyd encapsulated it, "Walter de Aincourt was a substantial Domesday tenant-in-chief, notably in Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire".

Loyd identified his origins in modern Ancourt near Dieppe, (modern postcode 76370). It is now a small rural village on the banks of the river Eaulne, about 5.25km (a short walk) from the English channel. Loyd was able to confirm this by finding Oliver, the successor of Walter, holding land still in Ancourt in 1212-1220 in the Registers of the king of France, Philip Augustus. This was during the time when King John lost Normandy and Norman lords had to declare themselves for the English or French overlords, and many lost or divided their lands. Loyd wrote that "Oliver had remained in England and adhered to John; Ancourt would therefore be in the French king's hand."

According to his epitaph in Lincoln cathedral, Walter (or at least his son William who died young) was a kinsman of both kings, and Bishop Remigius of Lincoln. Concerning Remigius Loyd remarks that "it is to be noted that Remigius had been a monk and almoner of Fécamp and that the abbot of Fécamp was patron of the church of Ancourt".

According to Sanders, Walter died before between about 1090 and 1103, and was succeeded by his son Ralph. The above-mentioned epitaph in Lincoln cathedral records that William died whilst being raised at the court of William I.

It is sometimes stated that Walter's wife Matilda was of royal descent. On the basis that Walter and Matilda made donations on Alan Rufus's behalf, and chronological considerations, Matilda is argued by the historian Richard Sharpe to be a daughter of Count Alan Rufus and of Gunhild of Wessex, a view that Katherine Keats-Rohan finds convincing.

Keats-Rohan references Foulds' introduction to the cartulary of Thurgarton for more information about Walter and his descendants.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Affiliation: Walter de Aincourt held 74 manors as recorded in The Domesday Book,, in England. ²⁰¹⁵

Walter married Matilda DE PENTHIÈVRE about 1090 in Branston, Lincolnshire, England.²⁰¹⁵ (Matilda DE PENTHIÈVRE was born about 1060 in Penthièvre, Morbihan, France ²⁰¹⁶ and died on 21 April 1136 in Blankney, Lincolnshire, England ²⁰¹⁶.)