GENERAL INTEREST

There are extraordinary insights to be gained from the study of medieval charters, especially those translated by such luminaries as Francis Peck (The Antiquarian Annals of Stanford in Lincoln, 1727).

We can glean much of the mindset of the landed classes and the limits of their ‘charity’. It is a common misconception that their gifts to religious houses (to pay for obsequies for their soul and that of their ancestors) were free of incumberance. As any modern day landlord, if (‘religious’) tenants did not pay their rent on ‘gifted’ land it was repossessed.

We access the names of ancient tenements, now mostly under concrete – the poignancy of charters, gifting from those about to die, one such of Asceline de Waterville’s terminating in: ‘Farewell’ – the ‘truth’ of history, with the narrative of ‘King John versus the barons’ being shown in the context of ‘barons versus barons’.

CONNECTIONS TO BERC

For those of a genealogical interest, Francis Peck gives an insight into the Colvilles association to S. Michael of Stanford, from which family, I suppose, came the Walter de Hameldon; who with William Berc (both of Stanford) granted a garden (to Raymond le Spicer), situated between the town wall and the garden of the prior of St Leonard, near Stanford, in 1328. (N. A., C 146/3891).

William Berc descended from William, a nephew of Ralph (on his mother’s side), son of Achard de Stanford (Peck, 4), who, in 1170, was patron of the church of St. Peter, gifting its tithes to the nuns of St. Michael, founded by William de Waterville; to which William de Colville, of Bytham, was a benefactor.

Richard, son of William ‘the nephew’ was a grantor to the nuns of St. Michael’s, Stanford, of land in Wenton, which he held of the Colvilles. (Rutland). 1238. (N.A., E 210/194). Richard was the brother of William de Berc, who confirmed this grant in 1246 (Rutland). 1246. (N.A., E 210/165). One of these brothers, it may reasonably be presumed, was the father of Robert de Berc, whose son, William, was of age in 1391 ( Leicester and Rutland R.O., DE1431/228), and was probably the aformentioned Walter de Hameldon’s co-grantor.

William ‘the nephew’ was a son of Hugh de Berc, recorded in Rutland in 1176 and 1180 (Pipe R. Soc. xxv, 185; xxix, 88). In 1197, he acknowledged that gave to Roger de Colville all his lands in Berc which he held of William Colville, which lands were to be held of Hugh by the service of a sixth part of a knight’s fee. The grant was confirmed by Thomas, eldest son of Hugh de Berc.

The family made various grants in Wenton to St. Michael’s Priory, Stanford (Anct. D. (P.R.O.), B. 1202, 1214; D. 172, 194, 165). In 1206, Hawise, the widow of Hugh de Berc, conveyed her dower in Stanford (4 virgates) to Roger de Colville Sr. (Cur. Reg. R. iv, 232, 283; cf. ibid. 306; Feet of F. Rutl. Trin. 9 John). Hawise was probably a dau. of William de Colville and Maud (Matilda) d’Albini (Brito), thus, aunt of Roger.

In 1276, the above 4 virgates were held by Walter de Colville, who d. in 1277, leaving a son and heir Roger, who d. in 1287–8, leaving an infant son, Edmund, who was succeeded in 1316 by his son Robert, aged 10 (Cal. Inq. ii, no. 592). Robert, Lord Colville, d. in 1368, when Robert, son of his son Walter, succeeded.

Thus:

1. Hugh de Berc, tenant of William de Colville, br.-in-law of Alice de Stuteville, wife of Roger de Merlay, parents of Roger de Merlay, who m. Margery de Umframville, sister of Gilbert de Umframville I., under whom the Colvilles held in Normanton, and, almost certainly, in “Hameldune”. William de Colville was the son of William de Colville, whose wife’s cousin, William Albini I. (Brito), m. Matilda, dau. of Odonel de Umframville (grandfather of Gilbert de Umframville I.), whose family armorial was: gules, 3 cinque foils or, which were associated with the descendants of Walter de Hameldun: ‘(A) sensible proposition is that they were kin, or vassals of the Umfraville lords of Redesdale and the earls of Angus’ (Bruce A. McAndrew, Scotland’s Historic Heraldry, p. 235, 2006). Hugh de Berc m. Hawise de Colville.

2. Willian de Berc, cousin of Roger de Colville, who received the dower lands of William de Berc’s mother

3. Richard de Berc, tenant of the Colvilles at Wenton. He he or his br. was the father of:

4. Robert de Berc.

5. William de Berc, held land in Stanford with Walter de Hameldon.

GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATIONS

By way of clarification, some idea of the geographical associations between places in this account should be given, for they were subject to changes of county.
Francis Peck (hereinafter as précis):

In the 5 of H. 3. the towns of Gretham, Cotesmore, Overton, Stretton, Thistleton, Tigh, Wichendon, Exton, Whitwel, Alstanthorp, Burghley, Exwell; Ochcham cherchesoche, Hameldune cherchesoche, & Ridlington cherchesoche, all part of the county of Nottingham, were made part of the county of Rutland. Now S. Peters parish in Stanford being part of Hameldune cherchesoche, it is, I think, evident that the said parish of S. Peter in Stanford, was, till then, part of the county of Nottingham.
In the 15. of Henry the third, the advowson of the church of Hamildon in Rutland, was adjudged to belong to the bishop of Lincoln, together with the chapel of Brandeston, & a pension of twenty shillings from the church of S. Peter in Stanford.

About this time the nuns of S. Michael by Stanford, having employed a certain clerc, a friend of theirs, to sollicit a confirmation of their privileges at Rome, he, as they afterwards alledged, against their order, got inserted some additional articles, to wit, one for the said nuns to chuse their own prioress (an act which greatly provoked the abbat & monks of Burg, in whom that right was invested by William Waterville sometime abbat of that church & founder of this nunnery) & another to release them from payment of sundry pensions, reserv’d to the said abbat & monks of Burg, out of several churches by them heretofore given to the said nuns.

The village of Upper Hambleton stands on the top of a hill some 417 ft. above the Ordnance datum, and fine views over the Vale of Catmos can be had from it. The land falls away from the village about 200 ft. to the River Gwash on the south and east and to a stream, a tributary of the Gwash, on the north. The village street is built along a by-road leading from Edith Weston to the main road from Stanford to Oakham, which latter town is about three miles distant. (A History of the County of Rutland: vol. 2, ed. William Page (London, 1935), pp. 66-72).

The manor of Hambleton with the rest of Martinsley wapentake, first appears as part of the dower of Aelfthryth, mother of Ethelred the Unready, and afterwards as dower of Ethelred’s queen, Emma. The Confessor granted the two mother churches of Oakham and Hambleton, with the church of St. Peter, Stanford, belonging to Hambleton, and all appurtenances, to St. Peter’s, Westminster, while the manors of Oakham and Hambleton belonged to his queen Edith at the time of the Norman Conquest under his grant to her of Rutland for life with reversion to the Abbey.
In the Lincolnshire survey, Albert appears as holding the church of St. Peter, Stanford, with two dwellings and ½ carucate land in Hambleton. (Mellows, Pytchley’s Bk. of Fees, 21).

The seven berewicks of Hambleton may have been Braunston, Normanton, (where the Colvilles were tenants of their kinsfolk, the Umfravilles). Lyndon, Martinsthorpe, Edith Weston, Manton, and Market Overton. (Add. R. (B.M.), 7177).

The manor known by the 14th century as Great Hambleton was granted by the Conqueror or William Rufus after 1086 to the ancestor of the Umfravilles, apparently Robert ‘with the beard’. (Rot. Hund. Rec. Com., ii, 49). This record throws doubt on the interpretation of ‘barba’ as beard (cf. Hist. of Northumb., xii, 81); ‘who came to the Conquest of England’. Robert was apparently succeeded by another Robert (d. about 1145) who was pardoned for some default in 1130, (and he by Odinel, who built Prudhoe Castle. Odinel’s son, Odinel d’Umfraville,* one of the barons who captured William the Lion at Alnwick, (died seised of land in Normanton and elsewhere in the county in 1182, and was succeeded by his son, Robert (Pipe R. Soc. xxxii, 46). *As will hereinafter be given, William de Colville’s wife was the first-cousin of William Albini I. (Brito), who m. Matilda, the dau. of Odonel de Umfraville, grandfather of Gilbert de Umfravville I.,* whose family armorial was, as the later Hamiltons, gules, 3 cinque foils or.

He was succeeded in 1226 here and in Redesdale by his son, *Gilbert I., who, in 1238, presented to the church of Market Overton, where he held a knight’s fee.
The heir Gilbert II., second Earl of Angus, joined the baronial party against Henry III, but was in possession of Market Overton in 1267 and of Hambleton in 1275. He settled the two manors in 1289 on his eldest son Gilbert III. and his wife Margaret, dau. of Thomas de Clare, and their issue. Gilbert III died in 1303 in his father’s lifetime and the Earl then settled the reversion of the manor of Hambleton, after Margaret’s death, on himself and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan (Inq. a.q.d. xliii, 13), and his wife, Elizabeth, dau. of Roger de Quincey, the uncle of Robert de Quincy, whose half-sister, Asceline, m. Thomas de Colville, br. of William de Colville.

Alexander Comin’s half-brother, Richard, was the father of John “the Red” Comyn, who m. Eve de Lindsay, dau. of William de Lindsay, and sister of David de Lindsay, ancestor of Sir James Lindsay of Crawford (d. 1397), who m. Margaret, dau. of Sir William Keith. Margaret Keith’s sister, Janet Keith, m. Sir David Hamilton, 3rd Laird of Cadzow, son of David FitzWalter. Sir James Lindsay and Margaret Keith had issue: Margaret Lindsay, who m. Sir Thomas Colville of Oxenham, d. ca. 1402, a distant cousin of the Colvilles under consideration, yet closely connected as a common entity:

Sir Thomas Colville of Oxenham was a descendant of Thomas de Colville (cognomento ‘the Scot’), obit. 1219, Constable of Dumfries Castle. ‘Thomas de Colville, the constable of Dumfries Castle, gave land in Galloway to Vaudey Abbey, to pray for the souls of dead Scottish Kings. The fact that a Lincolnshire Abbey received land in Galloway for the souls of Scottish Kings is only explicable because of the existence of an aristocratic family with members in both kingdoms’ (G. Barrow, The Anglo-Norman Era in Scottish History, 1980).

The Lindsays took their name from the fief of Lindesia in Lincolnshire, held of the de Gand family, one of whom would have been a ‘militibus de Lindesia’, ante 1135 (RBE, 292, 293, 298); a proposition repeated thus: Sir Walter de Lindissi or Lind(e)say (was) ‘almost certainly 3rd son of Gilbert de Gand probably accompanied David, Earl of Huntingdon, subsequently King David I, in his anglicising of the Lowlands in the early 12th century; he was witness 1116 to an inquisition concerning the see of Glasgow’ (Charles Mosley, editor, Burke’s Peerage, 107th edition, vol. 1, p. 950).

THE COLVILLES OF STANFORD

1. William de Colville, m. Maud (Matilda) d’Albini (Brito), dau. of Ralph d’Albini (Brito). William held one night’s fee of Robert de Gand in Lincs., husband of Gunnora d’Albini (Brito), Maud’s sister. Ralph d’Albini (Brito) was the uncle of William Albini I. (Brito), who m. Matilda, the dau. of Odonel de Umframville (grandfather of Gilbert de Umframville I.), whose family armorial was: gules, 3 cinque foils or.

In R. I. William de Coleville gave a fine of thirty marcs for livery of his purparty of fifteen knights to S. Michael of Stanford and fees in Binebruc & Aburne in Lincolnshire . ‘Know present & future people that I William le Colevil & Matilda my wife, have given & granted, & for me & my heirs sold, & by this our present charter confirmed to Q. the monk & his heirs, for his service, one half acre of land ; to wit, that which lies beyond the land of the church towards North-Witham near the land of the same Q, the monk, at Walterbusc: paying therefore yearly he & his heirs, to me & my heirs, one clove of a july-flower, to wit, at Easter; for all service & exaction. And I William le Colevil & my heirs will warant the foresaid land to the foresaid Q. the monk & his heirs, & to whomsoever he shall give & sell it, against all men. For this selling & gift of the lands the said Q. the monk hath given me six shillings before hands. And that this may be firm, to the present charter I have put to my seal. Witnesses John le Diva.

1.1. William de Colville, m. Beatrice de Stuteville. Her sister, Alice, m. Roger de Merlay, son of Ralph de Merlay, Lord of Morpeth, Northumberland, and Juliana of Dunbar, dau. of Gospatric II. of Dunbar. Roger de Merlay and Alice de Stuteville had issue: Roger de Merlay, who m. Margery de Umframville, dau. of Richard Umframville, and sister of Gilbert de Umframville I.

1.1.1. Roger de Colville, of Bytham Castle, Lincolnshire.

1.1.1.1. Walter de Colville, bore as armorial: or, a fess gules, as a descendant of the Coxwold Colvilles, who bore or a fess gules charged with three lions rampant argent, the charge being the arms of Fauconberge, with which the Colvilles intermarried.

1.1.1.1.1. Roger de Colville, of Bytham Castle.

Francis Peck:

To all the faithful of Christ, who shall see or hear this writing, Roger de Coleville, greeting in the Lord eternal. Ye shall understand that I have released , and altogether quit claimed for ever, for me, & my heirs, or my assigns, to the Nuns of St. Michael without Stanford and their successors, all manner the service, & the whole right & claim, which I ever had, or have been able to have, in all that tenement which the said nuns hold of my fee in the town of Wenton, & likewise in the field of Berk, to wit, as well in wards, reliefs, eschaets, as in suits of courts, & all manner the other secular services, customs, exactions or demands; so that I, nor my heirs, nor my assigns, from the said nuns, on account of the said tenement hence & for ever hereafter, neither will, nor shall be able to require any thing: save only the yearly rent of ten shillings to me & my heirs, or my assigns, to be paid at two terms of the year, to wit, at the nativity of St. John Baptist five shillings, and at the purification of the virgin Mary five shillings. Saving moreover the forinsec right of the Lord the K. unto the said tenement belonging. And if it happen that the said nuns shall be wanting in payment of the said rent at the abovesaid terms, then it shall be lawful for me, or my heirs, or my assigns to make a distress in the said tenement, till it shall be fully satisfied to us. And that this release & our quitclaim may obtain the strength of a perpetual firmness, to this writing, I have put to my seal. Witnesses, Sir William de Coleville, knight, then steward of the said lord Roger de Coleville, John de Burle, Richard de Rippele, Geoffry de Cottesmor, Helpa de Berk, William de Berk clerc, Ralph Maudut of Overton, & others. Given at Berk, at Easter in the year of our Lord 1279.

In 1297. 25. E. 1. ‘about May beganne a rebellion in Scotland by the setting on of William Waleys; the E. of Surrey [lord of Stanford) being then in England. Whereupon the K. appointed that the said E. should have the leading of all such men of warre as might be levied beyond Trent, to represse the Scottish rebels. After that the E. of Surrey was come to the English campe, bicause William Waleys ceased not to assemble more people, the Englishmen doubting of some treason, resolved to give battle: but whylest they were in mind thus to do, the bp. of Glascow & William Douglass submitted themselves, & so were committed to warde. About the end of Aug. the E. of Surrey, when he saw the Scotishmen would not perform promise touchyng delivery of pledges, & that Waleys still moved the people to rebellion, assembled his army, & with the same entred Scotland.

1.1.1.1.2. Gilbert de Colville. The Writs of Military Service show (1282) “Gilbertus Coleville” performing military service in Scotland ‘due from Gilbertus de Neville’. In 1277, Gilbert Neville performed military service in Scotland due from “Gilbertus de Gaunt”. In 1290, Gilbert de Neville was elected as one of the Knights of the Shire for Lincoln.

1.1.1.1.2.1. Walter FitzGilbert, alias Walter de Hameldon.

1.2. Thomas de Colville, m. Asceline, half-sister of Robert de Quincy.

(1. Saher de Quincy, m. (after 1136) Matilda de Saint Liz, relict of Roger FitzGilbert de Clare, and mother of Matilda FitzRobert de Clare, wife of William d’Albini Brito II., their son marrying Maud de Umframville, their granddau. being the wife of Walter de Colville, as shown. 1.1. Saher de Quincy II., m. (1162) Asceline, relict of Geoffrey de Waterville. 1.1.1. Robert de Quincy, granted the ancient castle of Forfar by his cousin, William I of Scotland, m. Orabella. His half-sister, Asceline, m. Thomas de Colville, br. of William de Colville. 1.1.1.1. Saher de Quincy, one of the 25 sureties of the Magna Carta. The arms of Saher de Quincy are described as or, a fesse gules, which suggest a close affinity to the Colville family. Saher de Quincy m. Margaret de Beaumont, dau. and heir of Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester. 1.1.1.1.1. Roger de Quincy. 1.1.1.1.1.1. Elizabeth de Quincey, m. Alexander de Comyn, 6th Earl of Buchan, Constable of Scotland (obit. 1290). 1.1.1.1.1.1.1. Elizabeth Comyn, m. Gilbert de Umfraville II., Earl of Angus).

Francis Peck:

Ascelina, the youngest sister & coheiress of William, son of Pain Peverell, married, as I before observed, Geoffry de Waterville. The said Geoffry & Ascelina de Waterville had issue two daughters, Ascelina de Waterville & Matildis de Diva. From Ascelina descended Roger de Torpel; & from Matildis, Hugh de Diva. These two sisters were great benefactresses to the nuns of S. Michael by Stanford.

To all unto whom the present writing shall come, Ascelina de Waterville, eternal greeting in the lord. Your universality shall understand that I have given & granted to God & the church of S. Michael of Staunforde, & to the nuns there serving God, unto their proper uses. For the souls of my father & my mother, & for the souls of my lords & children, & of all my ancestors, & for the health of my soul. Witnesses, Reiner then dean of Stanford , Roger de Torpell, Ralph de Diva, Ralph Mortimer, Thomas de Colewill, Philip de Colewill, Geoffry de Colewill, William de Colewill, Robert de Colewill, Ralph de Colewill.

To all the children of holy mother church, unto whom the present writing shall come, Asclina de Waterville, greeting in the lord. Your universality shall understand, that I have given & granted, & by this my present charter confirmed to God & the church of S. Michael the archangel of Stanford, & to the holy nuns there serving God. Witnesses, Hugh the capellan, lord Thomas de Colevill, Geoffry de Colevill, Ralph de Colevill, & Philip de Colevill, Geoffry de Colevill & William of S. Laurence, & master Sampson, Thomas Patric, & many others. Farewel.

In 1215, William de Albini the third was joyned in commission with the archbishop of Canterbury, William earl Warenn [lord of Stanford] & others, for the safe condućting all those persons who came to London in the terme of the Epiphany, next after the relaxation of the interdićt, to implore the kings favor for their great offences, & thence to the kings court at Northampton, & so to their own homes. This year also the nobles of the north assembled at Stanford against K. John. The occasion they pretended for assembling thus was, ‘that they were oftentimes called forth to serve in the warres & to fight in defence of the realm, & yet notwithstanding were at home still oppressed by the kings officers, who (upon confidence of the lawes) attempted all things whatsoever they conceyved. And if any man complayned, would answer by & by that they had law on theyr side, to do as they had done; so that it was no wrong but right which they did, & therefore, if they that were the lordes & peeres of the realme were men, it stood them upon to provide that such inconvenience might be avoyded, & better lawes brought in use.

The chief ringleaders of this power were, Robert Fitzwater, Eustace Vescy, Richarde Percy, Robert Roos, Peter de Breuse, Nicholas de Stouteville, Saer (de Quincey) earle of Winchester, Henry earle of Clare, Richard earle Bygot, William de Mowbray, William de Cressy, Raufe FitzRobert, Robert de Vere, Fulke Fitz Warenn, William Mallet & many other:

William earl Warenn, lord of Stanford, was one who most inclined to him (K. John) & by whose advice magna carta [& the carta de foresta] were granted. On the other hand, William de Albini [who built Newsted] was one of those twenty five barons, who swore to the observation of magna carta & the carta de foresta, sealed by the king at Runnimede; & who obliged themselves by oath to compel the king [to observe them] in case he should recede. Moreover there were eight & thirty other that were sworn to be obedient. William earl Warenn was one of those thirty-eight.

William de Albini’s stout heart being at length humbled [by his long imprisonment at Corf] he gave a fine of six thousand marcs for his liberty; which mony was raised by Agatha Trusbut his wife, out of his own lands: the king commanding that they should be delivered into her hands for that purpose, with power to sell & mortgage what should be needful, sending likewise his special precept to his tenants to give him effectual aid towards the raising of that great sum.

And now that great lord William de Albini the third, who founded the hospital & priory of Newstede by Stanford, 5 being a stout & valiant soldier, most nobly qualified, & full of days, departed this life at Offintune the morrow preceding May 6. in the year 1236, whereupon his body was buried in his hospital at Newstede, & his heart handsomely deposited under the wall opposit to the north side of the high altar of Belver. This William for the health of his soul & the soul of Agatha then his wife; but especially for the soul of Margery his former wife, gave to the monks of Belvoir, one sheaf of every kind of grain arising out of all his lands belonging to his lordships of Belvoir, Wulstorp, Botelesford, Oskynton, & Stokes. The first of these his wives Margery, was daughter to Odonel de Unfranville, a great baron in Northumberland. The second Agatha, daughter & coheir of …Trusbut, an eminent baron in Yorkshire, & widow of … She was also buried in the priory of Newstede by Stanford. By the first of these wives he had issue, William de Albini the fourth, his son & heir; Odonel, taken prisoner with him at Rochester; & carried to Corf (who lieth buried at Belvoir) as also Robert & Nicholas. He had likewise a daughter, Alice, who married Ascelin de Waterville.

To all the children of holy mother church unto whom the present writing shall come, William de Albini the fourth greeting. Ye shall understand, that I, for the health of my soul, & for the health of the soul of the noble lord William de Albini my fathcr, & for the souls of Margery d’Umfranville my mother, & Albreda my wife, & Isabella my wife, & of my ancestors & successors, have granted & by this my present charter confirmed, to God & the church of S. Mary of New-Place, at the bridge of Uffintun, & to my canons there serving God, who are of the foundation of the said noble man William my father, all that new-place at the bridge of Uffintun, as it is enclosed with a wall & a ditch, with the appurtenances; as also all the donation, lands, men, possessions, rents, & liberties, with all the appurtenances & easements, within the town & without, by the said lord William my father.

I have not seen any thing farther memorable of William de Albini the fourth than that he had two wives, Albreda Biseth, & Isabel. Moreover that he died before the 32 of H. 3. & was buried before the high altar in the priory of Belvoir, & his heart at Croxton priory in Leicestershire. Lastly, that he left issue Isabel his daughter & heir, wife to Robert de Ros (an eminent baron in Yorkshire). Here being a period to the male line of that principal branch of this noble family.

Robert de Ros was son and heir of Everard de Ros (d. bef. 1184) and his wife Roese, dau. of William Trussebut. He m. Isabella, widow of Robert de Brus III, and an illegitimate dau. of King William I. His grandson, Robert de Ros, m. Isabel d’Albini (d. June 15, 1301), dau. of William, d. 1247, and granddau. of William d’Albint (d. 1236) of Belvoir, Leicestershire, by his second wife, Isabel.

Robert de Ros and Isabel had issue: William de Ros, 1st Baron Ros of Helmsley (d.1316), who was one of the claimants of the crown of Scotland in 1292. His issue inc. Isabel de Ros, who m. Walter de Fauconberg, 2nd Baron Fauconberg, having issue: John de Fauconberg, who m. Evede Bulmer (of Percy descent); their dau. Joan m. William de Colville, son of Robert).

1.3. Philip de Colville, fl. 1268.

1.3.1. William de Colville, fl. 1270, of Thimbleby & Sigston, d. bef. Feb. 17, 1299, held land in West Heslerton in 1284 (Feudal Aids).

1.3.1.1. Robert de Colville, fl. 1300-24, tenant of the Brus fee in East Heslerton in 1302. (ibid.). In 1300, Robert de Colville was at the muster at Carlisle, and was responsible for conscripting local men to fight in the Scotland.

1.3.1.1.1. William de Colville, m. Joan Faucenberg, granddau. of Isabel de Ros (and Walter de Fauconberg), sister of William de Ros one of the claimants of the crown of Scotland in 1292, of Albini descent, as the Colvilles.

Briefly,

The Colvilles were of a knightly class who held of the Brus by military service. Walter FitzGilbert was of necessity of that class, able to defend his lands.

The Colvilles were kin of the Comyns, whose disposessed lands were given to Walter FitzGilbert – a medieval norm was to punish one part of a kinship group by rewarding another part with their possessions.

The Colvilles who pre-dated Walter FitzGilbert in Scotland were cousins of the later Hamiltons, that is, cousins of their cousins.

The Colvilles were kin of the Umfravilles. Of Walter FitzGilbert’s family: ‘(A) sensible proposition is that they were kin, or vassals of the Umfraville lords of Redesdale and the earls of Angus’ (Bruce A. McAndrew, Scotland’s Historic Heraldry, p. 235, 2006).

The Colvilles were Crispins, from whom descended the Stanhope and Wormley families, as vindicated by DNA analysis.

Walter FitzGilbert was almost certainly the Walter de Hameldon who held land in Stanford with William de Berc.

Any living Hamilton with a close DNA link to the Wormleys is likely to be a Colville. Other Hamiltons may have been adopted Colvilles. Most Hamiltons will not be of this stock.

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