Recently I posted a conjectural pedigree tracing possible descents of the Bole family of Westmoreland co, Pennsylvania, and the Boyle family of Limavady, co. Londonderry, Ireland, from John Boyle (abt 1464?-abt July 1555), laird of Kelburn, Ayrshire, Scotland. This article picks up with John’s ancestry, both known and hypothetical. It includes what I believe are the most likely connections to the Boyvilles of co. Cumberland, England, and of Normandy, France.
1. Godard de Boyville, b. abt 1063?. In co. Cumberland he was the first lord of Millom by grant of William de Meschines, and held the manor of Kirksanton [4, 20]. Godard was a contemporary of Richer de Boyville, b. abt 1075?, d. abt 1150?, reputedly a vassal in Normandy, France, of William’s brother Ranulph de Meschines, Viscount of Bayeux. If so, Richer was likely a native of Boyville (Beauville, Beuville, Biéville, Boeville), located 5 miles NNE of Caen in Normandy and 22 road miles from Bayeux. In England, Ranulph granted Richer the barony of Levington that included the manors of Kirklinton and Solport, co. Cumberland [3]. The patronage of both Godard and Richer by the Meschines suggests that they were of the same family and may have been brothers. Godard was the father of [4, 20]:
2. ——- de Boyville, b. abt 1091? [4, 20]. Father of [4, 20]:
3. Robert de Boyville, b. abt 1116?, m. abt 1141? to Margaret, daughter of Waldeve [18]. By right of his wife he held part of Newby, Yorkshire [18]. Sometime before 1152 he resigned his land of Kirksanton, co. Cumberland, so that he could hold it as a free tenant after pilgrimage [21]. Father of [18, 21]:
4. William de Boyville, b. abt 1142?, d. aft 1174, held land in Kirksanton, co. Cumberland and received further land there from the abbot of St. Mary’s, York, sometime 1161-1184 [18]. He also repeatedly granted rights in Kirksanton in the period 1175-1194 [21]. Father of [18, 21]:
5. Robert de Boyville, b. abt 1168?, who in 1209/10 witnessed a charter of Alice de Rumilly regarding Borrowdale, co. Cumberland [18]. Father of [18]:
6. Guy de Boyville, b. abt 1194?, d. aft 1246 [18], m. ca 1219? to ——-, daughter of William de Thursby, of Thursby, Yorkshire [18]. In 1241 he had co. Westmoreland property seized for having failed to tend to the knighthood of Ralph d’Eyncourt [17, 19].
Guy was the father of Sir William de Boyville, b. abt 1220?, d. 1291/2 [5, 18, 22], who m. to Alice ——- [19]. Given the Kelburn connection to the Cumyn family (see below), it seems significant that in 1249 William was a witness in Annandale, co. Dumfries, Scotland, to a grant made to Sir Robert de Brus, which was also witnessed by Sir Walter Cumyn, Earl of Menteith, Sir Alexander Cumin, Earl of Buchan, and Sir John Cumin [12]. It may have been about this time that William was a forester in Allerdale, SW of Carlisle in Cumberland co [20].
In 1261 William and his wife Alice sued regarding land in Carnforth in Lancashire [19]. In 1268, and again in 1272, he served in an inquisition, the latter in Carlisle involving the Cumberland estate of the widow of Sir Eustace de Bayllol (Baliol) [12]. By 1274 he was the king’s escheator north of the River Trent, under King Edward I of England. A Henry de Boyville was his clerk by 1278-9 [12, 23]. In 1280 William was again part of an inquisition in Carlisle. Two years later was elected Sheriff of co. Cumberland and Constable of Carlisle Castle, but the election was revoked by King Edward [5]. In 1287 William held part of the lands of Skipton Castle, Yorkshire. In 1288 he arrived at an agreement with the prior of St. Bees regarding Kirksanton manor, located in Millom, co. Cumberland [18].
In July 1291, after King Edward asserted overlordship of Scotland, William accepted a commission to take the fealty of the Bishop of Whithorn to Edward, as well as the fealty of all of Galloway. He was rewarded by being made warden of the Scottish castles of Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, and Wigtown. In that capacity, in late Nov 1291 he petitioned for £8 to support his housing in Dumfries Castle. However, in early March 1291/2, Henry de Boyville was to be paid for the custody of the castles, “after the death of Sir William de Boyville” [5, 12].
William may have been the brother of, and Guy the father of:
7. ——– de Boyuile?, b. abt 1223?, d. bef 1278, m. abt 1248? to Marjory Cumin [7], daughter of Sir Walter Cumin of Rowallen, Ayrshire [16]. In another blog entry I surmised that because of his marriage he was an adherent of the Cumins (Comyns), who became closely allied with the Baliols about 1269 when Sir John Comyn married Alianora Baliol, sister of the future King John Baliol [9]. John Baliol possessed the district of Cunningham in Ayrshire, within which is Kelburn [10, 11]. Thus the circumstances suggest that this man, whose given name is unknown, may have been the original Boyle possessor of Kelburn, obtaining it about 1270 from Sir Walter Cumin [16], who may have himself obtained it from the Baliols. He died before 1278 [15]. Father of [8]:
8. Richard de Boyuile, b. abt 1248?, d. aft 1295, m. abt 1275? to Anicia Mure, b. abt 1252?, daughter of Sir Gilbert Mure (Gilchrist Mor), of Pokellie (Polkelly), co. Ayr, Scotland, by an unknown wife [13]. Richard was of Kilburne (Kelburn) at the time of his marriage, when he was granted the lands of Polruskane by Gilbert Mure (who d. 1277) [1, 14]. Richard was styled lord of Calburne (Kelburn) when chartered the rents of Malderland by Sir Walter Cumyn, at some point in or before 1277 when Sir Walter was dead. He was also of Ryesholm, co. Ayr [1]. He is believed to have held Wamphray in co. Dumfries, Scotland, in that Ryesholm was a tenandry (freehold) of the lordship of Wamphray, said to have been “the original holding in Scotland of the de Boyville family now represented by the Boyles, Earls of Glasgow” [6]; i.e., the Kelburn family. In 1296 his name was inscribed on the Ragman Rolls [1]. Father of [8]:
9. Sir Robert de Boyvilla, b. abt 1273?, d. aft 1295, is said to have succeeded his father as lord of Kelburn. His name was also inscribed on the Ragman Rolls in 1296, and he used a seal bearing a “bull’s head cabossed” [8]. Its use suggests that even at that early date, the name was being pronounced in contracted form as “Bole”. Father of? [8]:
10. Richardus (Richard) de Boyville?, b. abt 1298?, a tenant mentioned in a charter of Sir Fergus de Ardossan in Dalry par, co. Ayr, probably about 1320 [8]. Father of? [8]:
11. Hugo de Boyll?, b. abt 1325?, of Ryesholm, co. Ayr, made a donation to Paisley Abbey in co. Renfrew in 1399 [8]. Father of? [8]:
12. John Boyle?, b. abt 1353?, of Caleburne (Kelburn) in 1417, sat in an assize that year [8]. Father of? [8]:
13. Robert Boyle?, b. abt 1381?, d. bef 1457, of Calburn (Kelburn), in 1446 witnessed a charter to John Boyle of Wamphray, co. Dumfries, of the lands of Ryesholm [8]. Father of [8]:
14. Robert Boyle, b. abt 1408?, d. bef 1478, had sasine of the Kelburn lands in 1456 [8]. Father of [2]:
15. William Boyle, b. abt 1436?, d. abt 1494, had sasine of Kelburn bef 1478. He witnessed a sasine in 1482, and in 1493 had sasine of his grandfather Robert’s office of hereditary Sergeant or Coroner in the lordship of Largs [8]. Father of [8]:
16. John Boyle, b. abt 1464?, d. abt July 1555, had sasine of Kelburne in 1495. He was chartered South Ballochmartine, Great Cumbrae island, co. Bute, in 1536, by King James V [8].
Notes:
[1] Boles, D.B. (2017). The Origins and Descendants of James Bole of Westmoreland and Armstrong Counties, Pennsylvania. Tuscaloosa, AL: private print. Available at Lulu.com.
[2] The Scots Peerage presented a pedigree showing (13.) Robert Boyle as the father of an unknown Boyle who died before Robert, in turn the father of (15.) William Boyle (Paul, J.B., The Scots Peerage. Edinburgh: David Douglas., v. 1, p. 535, 1904-14). However, a footnote indicated that the version I have shown (Robert father of Robert father of William) is equally plausible. In my view it is more plausible, as William is known to have been the grandson of the first Robert (see text); the second Robert was surely the son of the first given the 1456 sasine; and there is no evidence of any other intervening Boyle.
[3] Information retrieved from http://www.kirklintonhall.co.uk/main-hall (2017). The page was the source of much of the information on Richer, but unfortunately has since been taken down. A rough summary apparently drawn from the page appears at https://venues4hire.org/venue/details/25520/kirklinton-hall-marquee-venue (2020), but does not include the important statement that Richer had been Ranulph de Meschines’ vassal in Normandy. Partial support comes from the statement that “There were De Boyvilles who were feudal tenants of Beuville, near Caen” (Robertson, W. Ayrshire: Its History and Historic Families. Kilmarnock, Scotland: Dunlop & Drennan, 1908), and that Boyville or Boeville was a “common name in Normandy, Twelfth Century” (Pickett, T.E. The Quest for a Lost Race. Louisville, Ky: John P. Morton & Co., 1907).
[4] Clay, C.T., & Greenway. D.E. (2013). Early Yorkshire Families. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
[5] The Transactions and Journal of Proceedings of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 1907.
[6] The Scottish Historical Review, v. 28, pp. 165-8 (1949).
[7] The Scots Peerage, op. cit., v. 4, pp. 183-4. The source attributed the marriage to this man’s son Richard, but appears to have misunderstood the description in a sasine of “the lands of Kelburne given to Richard Boil, eldest son to Boil of Kelburn and Marjory Cumin his wife, daughter to Cumin of Rowallen”. Surely that indicates that the father, not the son, contracted the marriage, with the wording seeming clear to that effect.
[8] The Scots Peerage, op. cit., v. 4, pp. 183-4.
[9] The exact date of the marriage is unknown. However John, the son of John and Alianora, was one of the leaders of a Scottish army in 1296, at which time he had at least one child. Thus he could not have been born much after 1270 (The Scots Peerage, op. cit., v. 1, p. 535).
[10] Robertson, G. (1823). Genealogical Account of the Principal Families of Ayrshire. Irvine: Cunninghame Press.
[11] Chalmers, G. (1807). Caledonia: Or, an Account, Historical and Topographic, of North Britain. London: T. Cadell, W. Davies, and A. Constable and Co.
[12] Bain, J. (1881). Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland. Edinburgh: H.M. General Register House, v. 1.
[13] Sir Gilbert is generally held to have married a daughter of Sir Walter Cumyn, of Rowallen, following the battle of Largs in 1263 (Bruce, M.E.C., Family Records of the Bruces and the Cumyns. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1870). That appears too late for her to have been the mother of Richard de Boyuile. Gilbert was b. ca 1197 (ibid), so he could easily have had a previous wife or wives.
[14] Ibid.
[15] His son Richard was referred to as lord of Kelburn no later than 1277 (see text).
[16] See the sasine description in note 7. There would have been no reason to mention Marjory Cumin and her father unless Kelburn had come to the Boyle family by way of hers. Sir Walter Cumin is the only male Cumin I have found to be associated with Rowallen.
[17] Information retrieved from https://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/trees/218086/I12752/-/individual (2020).
[18] Farrer, W., & Clay, C.T. (2013). Early Yorkshire Charters, Vol. 7: The Honour of Skipton. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
[19] Information retrieved from https://www.rockystrickland.com/stricklandsofsizergh_2.pdf (2020).
[20] Whellan, W. (1860). The History and Topography of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland. London: Whittaker and Co.
[21] Brownbill, J. (1916). The Coucher Book of Furness Abbey: Volume II. The Chetham Society, part II.
[22] He died in 1305 according to Farrer and Clay, op. cit. However, that was a younger man of the same name, in that his heir was his son John, age 21-23 (ibid), and he had been summoned for military service in 1297-8 (Palgrave, F., The Parliamentary Writs and Writs of Military Summons. No place or publisher, v.1, 1827).
[23] Bain, J. (1884). Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland … Vol. II, A.D. 1272-1307. Edinburgh: H.M. General Register House.
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Modification of “File:WalrondArms.png” by Lobsterthermidor (talk) 13:31, 28 September 2016 (UTC), licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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