| The Cochran and French families of WV |
| Urso (Ursolde) de Arbitot , Constable of Worcester ** |
Urso de Arbitot , Constable of Worcester Abetot, Urse d' (c.1040-1108), administrator, deri ved his name from St Jean d'Abbetot, near Tancarville (Seine Inf茅rieure) where he was probably born. He appears in Domesday Book as a tenant-in-chief in the counties of Hereford, Gloucester, Warwick, and Worcester, and as a subtenant in Dorset, Oxfordshire, and Wiltshire. He is styled 'Urso de Wirecestre' from his position as sheriff of Worcestershire, an office which he held from shortly after the Norman conquest. William of Malmesbury, describing him as vicecomes Wigorniae a rege constitutus ('appointed sheriff of Worcester by the king') , tells the story of his encroaching on the cemetery of Worcester Cathedral priory to make the ditch around his castle, and being sternly rebuked by Archbishop Ealdred (d. 1069): 'Hattest thu Urs, haue thu Godes kurs' (De gestis pontificum, 253). Urse earned a reputation in Worcestershire as a predator on monastic lands, especially those of the monks of Worcester: in one case he seized a manor as a marriage portion for his daughter, and Evesham Abbey, too, suffered at his hands. However, he was a benefactor of Great Malvern Priory, which, during a fourteenth-century lawsuit, claimed him as its founder. On the revolt of the earl of Hereford in 1075 he joined Bishop Wulfstan of Worcester and Abbot 缅thelwig of Evesham in defeating the earl's forces. In the reign of William II, d'Abetot was a prominent official in the royal administration. He remained sheriff of Worcestershire for life, and died in the course of 1108, when he was succeeded in his lands and office by his son Roger, who was banished c.1110 after killing an officer of Henry I. Roger d'Abetot was in turn succeeded as sheriff of Worcestershire by Osbert d'Abetot, who held office until a date between 1113 and 1116. Osbert was probably a brother of Urse and the ancestor of the d'Abetots who were prominent in Worcestershire in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and who gave their name to the places Croome d'Abitot and Redmarley d'Abitot. Urse's daughter was probably named Emmeline; Dugdale identified her from a register of the dean and chapter of Worcester-presumably register II (now lost), since she is not named either in register I or in the rental of 1240. She married Walter (I) de Beauchamp (d. c.1133), who acquired the estates of Urse. The cognizance of the bear, borne by their descendants, the Beauchamp earls of Warwick, signified descent from Urse (ursus, Latin 'the bear'). Urse was also survived by a widow, Alice. His brother, Robert Dispenser (surnamed from his office in the royal household), had died about 1097, and some, at least, of his estates were acquired by Urse, but were subsequently divided between the Beauchamp and Marmion families, suggesting that Robert was survived by a daughter, married to Robert Marmion. J. H. Round, rev. Emma Mason SOURCES: E. Mason, ed., The Beauchamp cartulary: charters, 1100-1268, PRSoc., new ser., 43 (1980) 路 Hemingi chartularium ecclesi忙 Wigorniensis, ed. T. Hearne, 2 vols. (1723) 路 Willelmi Malmesbiriensis monachi de gestis pontificum Anglorum libri quinque, ed. N. E. S. A. Hamilton, Rolls Series, 52 (1870) 路 R. R. Darlington, ed., 'Winchcombe annals, 1049-1181', A medieval miscellany for Doris Mary Stenton, ed. P. M. Barnes and C. F. Slade, PRSoc., new ser., 36 (1962), 111-37, 122 路 Florentii Wigorniensis monachi chronicon ex chronicis, ed. B. Thorpe, 2, EHS, 10 (1849), 11 路 Dugdale, Monasticon, 3.447 路 T. Habington, A survey of Worcestershire, ed. J. Amphlett, 2 vols., Worcestershire Historical Society (1895-9), vol. 2, pp. 178, 263 路 F. West, The justiciarship in England, 1066-1232 (1966), 10-12 路 I. J. Sanders, English baronies: a study of their origin and descent, 1086-1327 (1960) 路 R. R. Darlington, ed., The cartulary of Worcester Cathedral Priory (register I), PRSoc., 76, new ser., 38 (1968), no. 41 路 R. R. Darlington, 'Aethelwig, abbot of Evesham', EngHR, 48 (1933), 177-98 路 W. Dugdale, The baronage of England, 2 vols. (1675-6), vol. 1, p. 225 [Ref: J. H. Round, 'Abetot, Urse d' (c.1040-1108)', rev. Emma Mason, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 at: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28022, accessed 23 Sept 2005] Sources: AFN: HPGT-87 Title: Ancestral File (TM) Author: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Publicatio n: July 1996 (c), data as of 2 January 1996 Title: Ordinance Index (R) Author: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Publicatio n: 1993 02 28 Edition Title: The Phillips, Weber, Kirk, & Staggs families of the Pacific Northwest Author: Jim Webe r Publication: ancestry.com Note: downloaded periodically 2001-2004. Updated frequently, with many sources. Note: jim.weber@nwintl.com Title: The Plantagenet Ancestry, by William Henry Turton, 1968 Page: 117 Title: Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, b y G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2000 Page: VIII:505-6 (d) Text: Urse d' Abetot | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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