William d'Abney

     William d'Abney, son of John D'ABNEY, was born circa 1362 in Derbyshire, England.¹ William d'Abney was also known as The Forester.

William d'Abney witnessed the release by John Wele of Taddington and William Clerk of Hope, chaplain, to John Bower of Hope and Rose his wife, on 29 September 1394, of lands and tenements in the village and fields of Hope, which they had of the gift and feoffment of the said John and Rose, with reversion to Thomas Swynok and Ellen his wife, daughter of the said John Bower, and, if the same die without issue, to the brothers and sisters of the gild of St. Mary of Dronfield in Hope, Derbyshire, England. Witnesses were: Richard Forester, vicar of Hope, Robert Woderove, William Abney, Henry Sun, and Nicholas Scharpe.^2,3

Records of a court held at Tyddeswall in 22 Richard II (1398), listed Wm. de Abney as one of the foresters of Derbyshire.⁴

As recorded in the Patent Rols in the time of Henry IV on 11 Jan 1408, "Commission to Roger Leeche, 'chivaler,' Thomas Folgeamp, esquire, and John Stafford, esquire, to arrest Robert Eyr the elder, William Abney of Hope, Robert Eyr the younger and Nicholas his brother, John Balge of Aston and William Eyr of Thornhill and keep them safely until they find security that they will appear before the king in Chancery in the quinzaine of Easter next to answer the king and Thomas Brichfefiled and Cecily his wife and until they deliver up Joan the daughter and heiress of Nicholas Padley sometime husband of the said Cecily, and to kepp the said Joan safely when thus delivered up, and to certify thereon to the king in Chancery." There was nothing else recorded regarding this matter or its outcome.⁵

William d'Abney was In 1408 Walter Pyg and Alice, his wife, of Haselbach, conveyed to Sir John de Strelley, knight, and Joan his wife, a messauge and 2 bovates of land in the field and village of Hasselbach. Witnesss were Nich. Montgomery, Robert le Ayr de Hope, forester, William de Abnay of the same, Richard Pygot, and John le Smyth of Tydeswall. Given at Haselbach on Lord's Day next after the feast of S. Martin [November 11] in winter, anno [in the year] 9 Henry IV [1408] in November 1408 in Hope, Derbyshire, England.⁶

On 14 April 1409 William d'Abney of Hope granted land in Hope, Derbyshire, England, to Ralph de Staueley [Stanley?], knight, Richard de Sudberry, rector of Crofton (county York), Richard Pygot of Hokelowe and Richard ABNEY, his son, including all his lands and tenements in Hope and elsewhere in the county. Witnesses: William Woderove of Hope, Robert Eyre, forester, John Kyrkeyard, and Richard de Baggeschawe.⁷

William d'Abney was included on a tax list in 1431 in Hope, Derbyshire, England. The Exchequer Lay Subsidies in the reign of Henry VI gives the names of the principal inhabitants of Hope: Hugo Eyre of Hognaston, County Derby, genr. 20s: William Eyre of Hathersage 13s 4d, Robert Eyre of Padley, armig. 100s, Nicholas Eyre, genr. 40s, William Abney of Hope, yeoman 13s 4d [13 shillings, 4 pence], Robert Eyre of Padley, armig. 40s.

Yeomen were originally a class of free British landholding farmers in the late 14th century to the 18th century who owned their own farms. The amount of land owned and the wealth of the English yeoman varied from place to place. Many yeomen were prosperous, mixed with the minor county or regional gentry and some even rented land to gentleman landowners. Some were entitled to be classed as gentlemen but did not pursue it, as it was cheaper to remain a yeoman. Some yeomen of the later Tudor and Stuart period shared the heritage and ancestry of the occupational medieval yeoman, as attested mainly by weapons found above the fireplace mantles (especially in the border shires) of the West Midlands of England.

Most yeomen had servants or labourers with whom they would work if they had the means to afford such services. Some yeomen had more wealth than the minor gentry, but remained classed as yeomen by choice rather than by necessity. Often it was hard to distinguish minor gentry from the wealthier yeomen, and wealthier husbandmen from the poorer yeomen.

Sir Anthony Richard Wagner, Garter Principal King of Arms, wrote that "a Yeoman would not normally have less than 100 acres" (40 hectares) and in social status is one step down from the Gentry, but above, say, a husbandman. (English Genealogy, Oxford, 1960, pps: 125-130).

The Concise Oxford Dictionary, (edited by H.W. & F.G. Fowler, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1972 reprint, p. 1516) states that a yeoman is "a person qualified by possessing free land of 40/- annual [feudal] value, and who can serve on juries and vote for a Knight of the Shire. He is sometimes described as a small landowner, a farmer of the middle classes."⁸

The following appeared 1431: "William Abbeney of Hope in the said county, yeoman, on Friday said he had a free tenement in demesne in the same place, which is held in socage, and it is valid throughout the year."

In the feudal system the demesne (di-MAYN; from Old French demeine ultimately from Latin dominus, "lord, master of a household") was all the land, not necessarily all contiguous to the manor house, which was retained by a lord of the manor for his own use and support, under his own management, as distinguished from land leased by him to others as sub-tenants. Socage was a form of rent paid by the farmer at set intervals to the feudal lord. The term tenement in demesne suggests that this was land that William Abbeney possessed as a tenant of a feudal lord. This tenamentum (tenement or holding) could never be taken back from a free tenant as long as the socage was paid and he had heirs. This would make it in affect his demesne.⁹

Recorded on 25 Mar 1432 a lease from William Abnay of Hope to Richard Dutton of the same, a messuage of land etc. in "le Castelton clyff" in Casteton.¹⁰

William d'Abney died before 1468 in Hope Parish, Derbyshire, England.