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Individual:
Name Suffix: Sheriff York, Sire De Graville
Note: Malet is a dimunitive of "Mal" meaning evil.The Peytons, Camden observes, have had a common progenitor with the Uffords, who became Earls of Suffolk, the founder of both being William Mallet, a Norman baron, who was sheriff of Yorkshire in the 3rd of William I, and obtained grants of sundry lordships and manors from the crown, amongst which were Sibton and Peyton Hall, which he possessed at the time of the survey."Iselham," says the same author, "formerly belonged to the Bernards, which came to the family of the Peytons by marriage, which knightly family of Peyton flowed out of the same male stock whence the Uffords, Earls of Suffolk, descended;albeit they assumed the surname of Peyton, according to the use of that age, from their manor of Peyton Hall, in Boxford, in the county of Suffolk." [John Burke & John Bernard Burke, Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland, and Scotland, Second Edition, Scott, Webster, & Geary, London, 1841, p. 408, Peyton, of Isleham]Note: Domesday states that Walter de Caen held Sibton (given to him by William's widow) and Swein of Essex held Peyton--Walter having been dead since 1071. ---------------------------------------------------William, according to some, was grandson of Lady Godiva & brother of Harold Godwyn's wife, while not necessarily entirely true, probably there was some relationship.---------------------------------------------------According to Crispin and Macary, "William (Guillaume) Malet de Graville stands out as one of the most imposing figures at the Conquest. There can be no doubt about his presence there, which is subscribed to by William of Poitiers, Guy of Amiens,Orderic Vital, and all the historians of this epoch. So much has been placed on record concerning him that just a few facts of his life will be recited here.He was probably descended from Gerard, a Scandinavian prince and companion of Duke Rollo, which gave the name of the fief of Gerardville or Graville, near Havre. Robert, the eldest son, occurs in a document of about 990 in Normandy. On his mother's side William Malet was of Anglo-Saxon origin, for she was probablythe daughter of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and Godwa or Godgifu, the supposed sister of Thorold the Sheriff in the time of Edward the Confessor, and therefore the aunt of Edwin and Morcar, Earls of Northumberland. He was nearly killed in the battle of Hastings but was rescued by the sire de Montfort and William of Vieuxpont, and was appointed by William the Conqueror to take charge of the bodyof Harold, a statement that has been disputed. The consensus of opinion favorsit, and it is most logical if William Malet's mother was as stated the sister of Algar II., 7th Earl of Mercia, who was the father of Alditha, wife of Harold. He accompanied King William at the reduction of Nottingham and York in 1068, for which he was rewarded with the shreivalty of land in that county. Gilbert de Gand and Robert Fitz Richard were also commanders in this expedition. The following year he was besieged in the castle of York by Edgar, the Saxon prince, and was only saved from surrender by the timely arrival of the Conqueror. In thesame year he was attacked by the Danes, who captured the city of York with great slaughter and took William Malet, his wife and children, prisoners, but their lives were spared, as was that of Gilbert de Gand, for the sake of their ransoms. There is evidence that he was slain in this year, but it is uncertain and the date of his death is unknown. An entry in Domesday that "William Malet was seized of this place (Cidestan, Co. Suffolk), where he proceeded on the King's service where he died," would indicate that his death occurred during the compilation of that book. He was witness to a charter of King William to the church of St. Martin-le-Grand, in London, and is there styled "princeps," which title,however, was honorary and not hereditary, having
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