Early History of The FOZARD's
This information has been compiled by Geoffrey Lindsay Fozard, 11th Oct 1984...
PREFACE
It would seem from the information which we have at present, that if we Fozards are descended from the Fozards mentioned in the attached notes, then it must be from a junior branch as the senior family lost it's name when Joan, the last survivor, married Robert de Turnham.
It would seem that there were junior branches of the family – see under heading of South Otterington
and also that an Emma Fossard held land at Welburn in 1166.
Another fact which would support the idea of our descent from one of these FOSSARDS is that
I well remember my grandfather -John Fozard
(b. 8/8/1854) telling me that the Fozards were a
Yorkshire family who had lived in Yorkshire for very many years

ASSELBY 2 M F Howden, 8 F Selby. --Pop. 254.
Here Nigel Fossard had two extensive fisheries, which yielded on an average, 2,400 eels annually.

FOZARD

This information on the Fozard family is from "The History of the North Riding of Yorkshire".
There could be more references in "A History of Prominent Yorkshire Families"
and "Victorian History of the County of Yorkshire".

The family seems to have originated at or near Grammont In Flanders.
The first member of the family in our research is NIEL DE FOSSARD
(n.b. not "Nigel" as quoted in one historian' 5 recordings of the Northern settlement of Yorkshire).

It would seem that there were two branches, possibly a third.
The main branch had it1st main landholdings in ESKDALE (Yorkshire)
and in the Vale of Pickering and Middle Derwent.

The junior branch had land in the Northallerton area, around Otterington.

The lands of the main branch are now in the possession of the Earl Mulgrave - Marquess Normanby - whose residence is behind Whitby.

In 1166, an Emma Fossard was holding land at Welburn, Yorkshire.

-NIEL DE FOSSARD-
Overlord of Doncaster. Had possession of the
Manors of Wilton, Hutton, Bulmer, Sittenham, Morton, Mytton, Sheriff Hutton,
Turchill, Thurston, Borrowby, Hutton Mulgrave, Mickleby, Bramham Park, Cormborough, West Pilling, Fortington and Upper Towtheraite.

He also held land at Thirley Cotes, Newby, Beswick Hall, Lockerby Manor, Great Broughton, Terrington, Wigginthorpe, the Soke of Bulmer and Upper Helmsley.

He granted the Church of St. Helen and the Holy Cross to the Abbey of St.Mary in York.
This benefaction was confirmed by Henry I1 and Edward II.

-ROBERT DE FOSSARD-

Son of NIEL. Became tenant in chief after the rebellion of 1106 when the lands of Mortmain were escheated but Robert's Heirs failed to inherit (reason not known).
When Norstal Priory was founded in 1121,
Robert donated the church, together with 14 bovates (210 acres).

Robert was in possession of OTTERINGTON in 1279 but by 1284 it was held by Richard Malebicke.

Robert had one son - WILLIAM-and a daughter-AGNES.

-WILLIAM DE FOSSARD-
Son of Robert.
Gave the Canons of the church and two Carucates of land of Bramham. Gave two oxgangs and a loft at Newbiggan to Bridlington Priory 1307 - 1314.
Jointly with his father, he gave one carucate of land in the Manor of Borrowby and Roxby to Whitby Abbey.
He married the sister of LE GROS, EARL OF ALBERMARLE.

-Battle of Lincoln, 2 Feb. 1141-

King Stephen was attacked at Lincoln by Ralph, Earl of Chester, Robert of Gloucester
& the Disinherited - those Midland Knights & Barons whose estates Stephen had declared confiscate.
STEPHEN fought until his sword was broken and then used a two-handed axe
which a citizen of Lincoln slipped into his hand.
His terrible strokes long held the rebels at bay but at last he was thrown to the ground by
William de Caines, a powerful Knight who caught him by the helmet and dragged him over. With him were captured WILLIAM FOSSART, Bernard Baliol, Roger de Mowbray, ,
William Peveril, William de Clerfait, Baldwin Fitzgilbert, RichardFitz-Urse
and many other gallant Knights.

-WILLIAM DE FOSSART- (A MINOR)
Son of William.
-Geoffrey Fossard South Otterington-

The tenants of this moiety in the 12th & 13 centuries were a family called
FOSSARD, perhaps connected with Niel de Fossard & probably a junior branch,
mentioned in Domesday Book.
In the last half of the 12th Century, ADAM LE BRUS (later to become the family of
Robert the Bruce in Scotland)
granted to GEOFFREYFOSSARD the tenure of
which Geoffrey's father had held for half a Knight's fee.
This property must have passed from Geoffrey to
THOMAS Fossard who held it before 1242
In 1279 ROBERT Fossard was in possession.
Five years later the moiety had passed to Richard Malebicke.

-THOMAS FOSSARD-
Son of Geoffrey.
In 1241 he was granted a Knight's fee to Byland Abbey seems to have been made lord (vol. 1, page 562 -County History of Yorkshire).

-LYTHE MANOR-
This Manor was held by NIEL who is said to have been a tenant before the Conquest (?).
It was two carucates in extent. NIEL was succeeded by his Son ROBERT who in turn was succeeded by his son WILLIAM who left it to his son
WILLIAM LE GROS, Earl of Albermarle
who was thus tenant at Lythe in 1179, the year of his death.

For the betrayal of the Earl's Sister the Heir William was obliged to flee the country.
He returned after his guardian's death and is said to have recovered his inheritance
but from 1180 - 1197
Lythe and it's Soke seems to have remained in the King's hands.

-JOAN DE TURNHAM (NEE FOSSARD)-
BEATRICE widow of William, sued for dower in 1199.
WILLIAM left a daughter - JOAN
a minor in the custody of the King who gave her in marriage to ROBERT DE TURNHAM.
Joan was perhaps dead in 1200 - 1212 when
Robert de Turnham held 31 & a half Knight's fees in chief in Yorkshire.

-ISABEL DE MAULEY (NEE TURNHAM)-

Daughter of Robert and JOAN de Turnham.
Given by King John in marriage in 1236
to PETER DE MAULEY - a Pontevin, Esquire of King John, for a nominal payment of 7,000 marks of silver but really, it was said, as the price for the murder of the King's Nephew - Arthur, Duke of Brittany.

PETER DE MAULEY died in 1241,
leaving a son PETER who sailed to the Holy Land on a Crusade. (His lands came ultimately into the possession of the Earl Mulgrave).
The eldest daughter of Peter de Mauley and Isabel –
HILLARY - married PETER DE BRUS and their daughter –
married ROBERT ANNESLEY, 1st Earl of Anglesey,
in the reign of Charles II. In their turn the Annesleys died out, the surviving daughter marrying into the Mulgrave family.

-PRIORY OF GROSMONT-
The Grandimontine Priory of Grosmont had it's origin in a gift to the Priory of Grammont
in Flanders made by JOAN, daughter of WILLIAM Fossard and wife of Robert de Turnham.
Joan granted to the Priory (and this was later confirmed by her husband in the name of King John),
a dwelling house in the forest of Egton, between Egton & Cocket (in Eskdale)
200 acres of lands, with the woods round their house,
the will of Egton, the sole right of free fishery in the streams & freedom from all dues,
except the grinding of the corn of the Lord's household when he was in the village.

The Abbey was surrendered (at the Suppression of the Monasteries) in 1539 & in February 1543 King Henry VIII granted the site & all the possessions
of the Priory in Egton Parish to Edmund Wright, a Captain in the Scottish Wards.
Two years later Edmund alienated this property to Sir Richard Cholmley of Whitby.
There are no further obvious references in Church or Manor records hereafter, of the main branch of the family.

WILLIAM DE MOWBRAY (Fourth Baron Mowbray died circa 1222) assisted in driving William of Aumale,( also known as WILLIAM DE FORZ) from Bytham 1221.

1219 Earl of Pembroke died and Hugh de Burgh became Justicar ( Chief Justice of all England) & Chief King's Councillor leading to 26 years of bad
government when the Poitevins (the French I believe) were appointed to many
of the highest offices in the kingdom.

BYTHAM also known as BIHAM, Lincolnshire.

PETER DE MAULEY took possession of Mulgrave (near Whitby) estates in 1221.
Mauley was a supporter of WILLIAM DE FORZ, Earl of Aumale who rebelled and
seized Bytham Castle. This took place on 2nd February 1221 when the King was
present (in residence?)


"THE HISTORY OF OLD MULGRAVE CASTLE",
BY Hugh P. Kendall (A.Brown & Sons,Ltd, Hull: 1948).

Chapter 1. THE LEGEND AND ITS ORIGIN".
From the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle".A.D.798.
This year there was a great fight at Hwelleage (Whalley in Lancashire) in the land of the Northumbrians, during Lent,on the 4th before Nones of April,and there Alric, the son of Herbert, was slain and many others with him.

>From the "Chronicle" of SIMEOM OF DURHAM (1060-1135).A.D.798.,
a conspiracy having been organised by the murderers of ETHELRED,the King, WADA the leader in that conspiracy, fought a battle together with them against Eardwulph in the place which is called by the Angles Billingahoth, near Whalley, and very many having been slain on both sides,the leader WADA was put to flight, and King EARDWULPHUS obtained a kingly victory over his enemies.
(Note: The original Latin gives "Wada dux", that is "leader" not "duke").

>From Camden's "Britannia", 1586.
Hard by, upon a steep hill near the sea, a castle of WADA, a Saxon duke, is said to have stood; who (in that confused anarchy of the Northumbrians so fatal to the petty princes) having combined with those that murdered King ETHELRED, gave battle to King ARDULPH at Whalley in Loncolnshire (sic) but with such ill success that his army was routed and himself forced to fly.
Afterwards he fell into a distemper, which killed him, and was interred in a hill here, between two solid rocks about seven feet high, which being at twelve feet distance, from one another, occasions a current opinion that he was a giant-like stature.

>From "TABLE OF TRADITIONS" by M. A. Richardson.
This ARDULPHE, King of Northumberlande, slew WADA, his duke, that agin him was rebel Beside Mulgrave, where as men understande His grave is yet men saye upon the fell For his falsehood and treason, as books tell, Between Gysburgh(=Guisborough) and Whitby, sothe to say Where for treason he was laid in the highway.

>From Leyland's "Itinerary", circa 1545 AD.)
"Mougreve Castelle stondith on apon a Craggy Hille; and on ech side of it iis an Hille far higher then that whereon the Castelle stondith on.
The North Hille on the Topp of it hath certan Stones communely caullid WADDES Grave, whom the People there say to have bene a Gigant and owner of Mougreve.
There is by these Stones a bec yn out of the Mores by Mougreve cum doun by many Springes.
2 bekkes one of ech side of the Castelle, and yn the Valeys of the 2 great Hilles.
The one is caullid Sandebek, the other Estbek, and shortly after goith to the Se that is not far off".

>From Charlton's "HISTORY OF WHITBY", 1779.
Peter de MALO LACU, commonly called Peter de MAULEY,.. .
marrying the only daughter of Robert de TURNHAM,
(this Robert had married JOAN FOSSARD – see later..), obtained by her a large inheritance which had formerly belonged to Duke WADA;
But the castle being grown ruinous and decayed, he built the same anew; and when finished, it appeared in his eyes so beautiful a fabric that he named it Moultgrace.
However, the neighbouring inhabitants, finding it a great grievance, by the change of one single letter, called it
Moultgrave; by which name and no other has it ever since been known.
(Note: the latter portion is from Camden).

THE LEGEND OF MULGRAVE CASTLE.
Concerns a mythical giant named WADA, who is commonly supposed to have built both Mulgrave and Pickering Castles, which are over 20 miles apart;
nevertheless he was building them at one and the same time, assisted by his wife, BELL, also of giant stature.
As they possessed only one hammer, when one was working at Pickering and the other at Mulgrave, the difficulty was overcome by their physical prowess, which enabled them to perform the feat of throwing the hammer backwards and forwards across the country, giving a great shout when he, or she, sent it off.
The Roman Road across Wheeldale Moor is still called "Wade's Cuaseway", and was attributed to WADA, who, so we are told, made it for the convenience of his wife when she went to attend her cattle. She assisted in its making by carrying stones in her apron, but occasionally the strings would break and her load be deposited on the moor.
This accounts for the huge heaps of stones to be found there.
The worthy couple had a son, also named WADA, or Wadda, whose strength was comparable only with that of his parents.
On one occasion, when an infant, clamouring for its mother's breast, he saw her milking a cow at Swart Howe, and, in his temper, picked up a boulder which he threw across country.
The missile struck BELL in the ribs with such violence that the stone was indented although the lady suffered no inconvenience. This stone, with the imprint of Bell's ribs, was long shown to the curious and, finally, was broken up when the turnpike road to Guisborough was made.
A huge bone was, many years ago, shown to visitors at Mulgrave Castle, and purported to be one of the ribs of Bell's cow.
It bore a remarkable resemblance to the jaw-bone of a whale. (Nearby Whitby was a whaling port).

WADE'S HILL.
-is the traditional burial place of the giant WADE.
A large upright stone remains in position, one of the two already ,mentioned. They were originally twelve feet apart and were said to mark the head and foot of the grave.
The Rev. Canon J. C. Atkinson, of Danby, excavated the site, but nothing whatsoever was found except stones.
It is probable that there had been a prehistoric burial here at a very remote period.
The presence of the monoliths indicate burial in the Pre-Bronze Age, such monuments being found
in other parts of the district around Whitby.

CHAPTER 2. THE FOSSARDS.
The first mention of the place-name "MULGRAVE" in any of its forms is to be found in the Domesday Book of A. D. 1086.
In this record it is called "Grif", and is stated to be one of the Manors of the Count of Mortain, who had, as an under-tenant, one Nigel (FOSSARD).
In the reign of King EDWARD the Confessor, the Manor of Grif was worth, for the purposes of the ancient tax called "Danegeld", the sum of twenty shillings, but, the period when the Domesday Survey was made, it was worth nothing; in the words of the scribe who made the entry, "it is waste",
that is, there was no revenue to be obtained from it.
Presumably the district had shared, with the rest of Cleveland, in the terrible destruction committed by the King's army when he, in person, extracted a fearful revenge upon the northern peoples in A.D.1069, for the Danish revolt which had culminated in the massacre of the Norman garrison at York.
William 1 had become king of Southern England at the Conquest of 1066, but it was not until three years later that the North was brought to heel.
Domesday Book does not tell us who held the manor of Mulgrave previous to the Conquest, but it does state that Lythe, Hutton Mulgrave, and Egton (all nearby places) were all held by a man named Suuen, or Swen, probably a Dane; therefore it may be that he held Grif as well, before being dispossessed at the hands of the Norman. However that may be, we find
Nigel (FOSSARD) in full possession twenty years after the Conquest, but Domesday has nothing further to tell us.
Who was this man, NIGEL FOSSARD, and whence did he come?
He was NIGEL FOSSARD, one of the many needy adventurers who enlisted under the banner of William the Bastard and came with him to England. He played his part in the Battle of Hastings and saw the sun of the Saxon set forever, and Harold II, the king of forty weeks and a day, meet the death of a soldier and a patriot.

(Then follows "Nigel Fossard. was a man possessing considerable influence with the Conqueror."....

to the point where the Fossards, with no sons, leave the ranch to daughter JOAN who married
ROBERT DE TURNHAM... better known as ROBERT TAYLOR

"In such a castle as we have described, NIGEL FOSSARD would keep his state when visiting his Cleveland domain.
The Norman love of the chase would, no doubt, constitute its chief attraction, for Foss was eminently suited for a hunting centre.
For this purpose it was probably mainly used as its owner was employing his activity in other directions.
He possessed estates in plenty and was a generous benefactor to the Abbey of St. Mary's at York, giving to the Abbot and Convent not only the church of St. Crux in the city but also the churches of Doncaster, Houghton and Bainton, besides various tithes and lands.
He was also one of the early benefactors to the Priory of the Holy Trinity in Micklegate, York, and gave land at Roxby to Whitby Abbey.
In common with the rest of the Norman Barons,
NIGEL FOSSARD was a strange mixture of piety and rascality, whose only fear was the thunder of Holy Church, which was regarded with a superstitious awe at direct variance with his lack of regard for the sanctity of human life and the property of other people.
The Castle of Montferrant, near Birdsall in the East Riding, was also built by NIGEL FOSSARD and was one of the largest earth and timber strongholds in Yorkshire.
Its ditches are now almost obliterated, the plough reigning supreme where Norman men-at-arms lorded it centuries ago.
Of it Leland, writing circa 1535, says:-'Mount Ferrant Castelle stoode 2 miles from MALTON in the lordship and Paroche of Byrdeshaul.
It is now clearly defaced and bussches grow wher it stoode'.
In addition to Foss and Montferrant, NIGEL FOSSARD built at least 2 other castles in the East Riding, those of Aughton and Lockington, the former being a favourite residence of the family in later times, and also of their successors to the estates, but that of Montferrant was by far the most extensive.
The chief seat appears to have been at Langthwaite, near Doncaster, and this was probably the first castle built by him.
Traces of it still remain, there being a ditch some 40 feet in width, whilst other details show later buildings in stone. All these castles were of the motte and bailey type."

Nothing definite is known of the immediate ancestors of Nigel Fossard, for the name is not a territorial one. He died about the year 1091, leaving 3 sons, by name
ROBERT, WALTER and STEPHEN.
ROBERT married a certain ALCELINA, and had issue 4 sons –
WILLIAM,ROBERT, NIGEL and RALPH - and 2 daughters.
One daughter, GERTRUDE, married ROBERT DE MEYNELL of Whorlton, (west of Stokesley), the founder of the castle there, whilst the other daughter married ALEXANDER PAGANEL. Of this latter daughter nothing is known, but her sister Gertrude was the mother of STEPHEN DE MEYNELL of Whorlton Castle and, on the decease of her first husband, married JORDAN PAYNELL who, for the good of his soul, gave lands in Bridlington to the Priory there.

ROBERT FOSSARD.
-succeeded as son and heir to the estates of his father, NIGEL, in all the 3 Ridings of Yorkshire.
Previous to the year 1120, he had granted the churches of Bramham. Lythe and Warrum, to the Priory of St Oswald at Nostell; and, in the year 1124,
he confirmed, as a matter of form, the gift from his father of a carucate of land at Roxby (near Mulgrave) to the Abbot and Convent of Whitby.
He also founded a chapel at his manor-house of Rossington and granted the church of Huntington to the Abbey of Evesham.
Little further is known of ROBERT FOSSARD, but he died about the year 1135, and was succeeded by his eldest son WILLIAM.
WILLIAM FOSSARD 1.
-3rd baron, succeeded his father ROBERT FOSSARD about the year 1135.
He was one of the principal commanders at the
Battle of the Standard, fought near Northallerton,
22nd Aug 1138, and one of the most powerful of the northern barons of this period.
In the civil war between King STEPHEN and Queen MATILDA, he espoused the cause of the king, being taken prisoner along with that monarch and many other knights, at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141.
He lived through the troublesome times which marked the reign of STEPHEN, and saw the drastic changes introduced by
King Henry II, the first Plantagenet king, who pulled down many of the castles built by unruly barons during the civil war, which were little more than nests of robbers and marauders.
The date of the decease of WILLIAM FOSSARD is not known, but from existing records it appears to have occurred shortly after the year 1165.
His eldest son came of full age in the year 1171, and was therefore in minority at his father's death.
The custody of his person and estates had been granted by
King Henry II to WILLIAM LE GROS, Earl of Albemarle, in the year
1165; therefore William Fossard, the father, was dead at that time.
WILLIAM FOSSARD Junior, would succeed his father as Fourth Baron when about the age of 15 years.
There was also another son IVO, who will be mentioned later.
WILLIAM FOSSARD II.
-Fourth Baron, born circa 1150, succeeded to his father's estates when about the age of 15 years.
He was apparently of a somewhat wild and reckless disposition.
A monkish chronicler of the period (Meaux) asserts that he
seduced the sister of the Earl of ALBEMARLE, his guardian, and to escape the Earl's vengeance, fled to France, whence he did not return until after Albemarle's death in the year 1179.
He also says that the Castle of Montferrant was destroyed by King Henry II as a mark of royal anger at this escapade.
Both stories may be more or less fiction or current scandal, even though written by a priestly hand, as no definite evidence, other that the chronicle, is available.
In later life William Fossard became deeply involved in difficulties of a financial nature, borrowing money extensively from the Jewish fraternity in York and elsewhere. He paid off some of his debts by mortgaging a portion of his estates to the Abbey and Convent of Meaux.
He had many transactions of a like character when in difficulties, one being a grant of lands in Bainton to the Priory of Guisborough. The great religious houses had an eye to business by performing offices other than those of Holy Church, and not always dictated by spiritual aspirations.
The Jews, with whom William Fossard became involved, were tolerated in the State only because they were a necessity.
They supplied the financial backing for great enterprises by carrying on a very extensive business as banker and moneylenders.
Aaron of Lincoln and Joses of York were household words to the needy northern gentry, and these 2 men, with others settled in
the Jewry in York, had from time to time accommodated William Fossard to the extent of some 1260 marks, a sum perhaps equal to about £10,000 of our present-day (1948) currency.
When the Jews refused to extend further credit,
Fossard had recourse to his friend the Abbot of Meaux, Aaron of
Lincoln signing the a quittance on behalf of the creditors involved.
In the year 1161, WILLIAM FOSSARD paid a sum of forty pounds in lieu of Knight's Service; that is, the provision of a fully-equipped man-at-arms to serve in the king's army for a space of 40 days in each year.
This payment, called "Scutage", was paid by any knight or baron who found it inconvenient to follow the king to battle.
It was a newly-introduced tax (1159) and served a double purpose, for it enabled a knight to stay at home and provided money for the hiring of foreign mercenaries.
It also marks the first step towards the overthrow of the feudal system. Probably our worthy baron preferred to pay his scutage rather than don his armour, for he does not appear to have inherited the war-like spirit of his ancestors.
WIILLIAM FOSSARD is reputed to have made Foss Castle his principal residence, probably preferring its comparative isolation; and it is probable that he would rebuild the old castle of Nigel, his great-grandfather,to suit his requirements.
It is possible that a new hall may have been constructed at the south end of the bailey, overlooking Sandsend Beck.
(L'Anson. "Yorks Arch. Journal").
A period of about 120 years had elapsed since the first castle had been thrown up, and no doubt it had undergone many alterations in the meantime, if not entirely rebuilt.
WILLIAM FOSSARD, last of the family in the male line in direct descent from Nigel Fossard, the companion of the Conqueror "before the Conquest, at the Conquest and after the Conquest", died circa 1195, at about the age of 45 years.
By his wife BEATRICE, he had issue 2 daughters, JOAN and IDONIA.
The latter appears to have died in her father's lifetime, or very soon after his death
for JOAN FOSSARD became the sole heiress of the extensive family estates; further,
she was only a young girl at her succession.
This latter fact is obvious because she was made a ward of the King, RICHARD I,
who was the occupied in the Holy Land fighting in the Third Crusade.
She must have therefore been under age at this period; for a female ward, if unmarried, was considered to be of age at 16 years, after which the wardship ceased and the profits of her estates in the interim were paid to her after deduction
of her upkeep and her guardian's "profits".
The period of wardship was not destined to be a prolonged one; for it would appear that no sooner was JOAN Fossard of age than a suitor appeared in the person of one ROBERT DE TURNHAM, soon to carry off the Lady of Mulgrave to be his wife.
Thus Fossard estates became vested in him by right of his wife.
The brother of WILLIAM FOSSARD, named IVO, is mentioned in one document only, as far as I have found. It occurs in the confirmation of a grant by William Fossard, which apparently he had from William, Earl of Albemarle, to his brother IVO, and is of the Hermitage of St. Leonard of Egton, "formerly
of Sedeman, the hermit". The date of the document is between 1170 and 1195.
----------------------------------------------------------
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(My words now!!...) That is the end of the Fossards at Mulgrave. JOAN Fossard's hubby Robert de Turnham was warrior-like.
The one blemish on his story is the massacre of the Jews in York, when they in fact took their own lives inside Clifford's tower (all good York books have its photo!), rather than face the attacking crowds, burning the tower at the same time.
Robert is recorded as one of the ringleaders. He was a great friend of Richard I.
About 1196, a new castle was built in stone at Mulgrave,
(the ruins which one can see now).
JOAN nee Fossard was of a religious disposition for she
founded a convent near here in Grosmont (Grandimont in those days). Robert died 1211 or 1213.
He and Joan Fossard had 1 daughter ISABELLA, born after 1200.
She married Peter DE MAULEY - and so begins another family name in charge at Mulgrave.....)

Carol
Illawarra NSW Australia

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fozzard@SoftHome.net
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