NEALES OF BERKELEY YATE AND CORSHAM INTRODUCTION. THE following lists of Neales of Berkeley, of Yate, co. Gloucester, and of Corsham, co. Wilts-and of others with whom they have been connected by marriage-have been compiled to serve as a key to the records and charters of the family, particulars of the more important of which records and charters follow thereafter. These records are very numerous and contain information as to persons, events and things which Mr. H. Farnham Burke, of the Heralds' College, has advised would be of interest to a large number of people outside of the Neale family and would help to restore to life some of the past history of many localities as well as of other families which still survive in and about the districts to which the records relate. It has been found convenient to divide the above lists under 3 separate heads-the first containing Neales previous to their recorded settlement at Yate, covering a period roughly extending from 1100 to 1500, and for particulars of whom recourse has been chiefly had to the Charters and Muniments of Berkeley Castlethe second containing Neales of Yate, covering a period extending roughly fron 1500 to the present time, of whom there is a continuous record, and who have throughout that period continuously held lands in that parish, the records of which are still extant; and shewing their connection with the Belsires of Yate, extending over the greater part of the same period, as well as with other families including the Baynhams of Westbury and Cleerwell, co. Gloucester, the Greens of Milton Clivedon, co. Somerset, the Smiths of North Nibley, the Irelands of Bristol, and the Corbetts of Yate-and the third containing Neales of Corsham and Shaw, Wilts, covering a period of from about A 1700 to the present time (of whom also there are continuous records) and shewing their connection with the Arnolds of Corsham, the Smiths of Froome Zellwood, co. Somerset, and of Shaw, co. Wilts, the Selfes of Beanacre, Melksham, the Webbs of Monckton Farley, the Seymours of Seend, the Ducketts of Calne and Hartham, and the Gawlers of Ramridge, co. Southampton, as well as with numerous other families in the neighbourhood of the above places and elsewhere, including Gibbons of Corsham, Goldstones of London, Jackson-Ducketts of Hartham, Burrards of Walhampton, co. Southampton, Nicholas of Roundway, Winchester and Oxford, Chaloners of Roundway, Harveys and Lovells of Cole Park, Malmesbury, Lucas of Shenfield, Methuens of Melksham, Bradford, and Corsham, Norris of Nonsuch, Hanham of Neston, Somner of Seend, Ker and Bellenden-Ker and others. With regard to the early Neales of whom mention is made in the Berkeley Castle Charters, it will be seen that they appear as witnesses and parties to numerous important documents of early date under the Latin form of the name without addition of place, and that later on the name appears with the place of settlement. It seems clear, beyond any question or doubt, upon a consideration of a large number of the more important of the above charters as well as of other records, that Nigellus filius Arthuri, who married Aldena daughter of Robert Fitzhardinge and who appears first in the following list, was of the distinguished and powerful family of his name already sometime previously settled at Mowbray in Leicestershire. Frequent mention is made of members of both branches of the family in the Berkeley Charters, and it is interesting to note that both the Fitzhardings and the Nigelli are found at a very early period intimately associated with the Priory Church of St. Mary Overie (now St. Saviour's Church and Southwark Cathedral). In 1106 (7 Hen. I.) the two Norman knights, William Pont de L'Arche and William Dauncey, renewed the foundation there for Canons regular of the Order of St. Augustine. In the same reign Mabel, wife of Nigel de Mowbray, gave to the Priory one virgate of land in Benestede In the reign of Hen. II. Nigel de Mowbray (D'Albini) gave to the Priory the churches of the Manor of Benestede, of Wudemarsesthorne, of Berghes, and of St. Margaret, Southwark, which latter church had previously been given by Hen. I. by charter to the fraternity. The second Robert Fitzharding, nephew of Nigel fil. Arthuri, married about the year 1190 Juliana de Pont Arche, a descendant, and probably granddaughter, of the founder (cf: Berkeley Castle Charters Nos. 68, 101, 168 and 170, all made about 1200-1220, to which William de Punthdelarch, Pontearche or Pontelarche and Maurice son of Nigel are in each case witnesses together). It would be interesting if it could be shown that St. Mary Overie was renamed St. Saviour's (St. Sauveur) by the new founders and benefactors the Nigelli (D'Albini), to commemorate in the country of their adoption the older foundation in 1048 of the Abbey of St. Sauveur on the Ouve by their ancestor Neale among the green orchards of the Cotentin. In about the year 1207 the Priory was burned and in a Harleian Manuscript at the British Museum it was recorded (10 King John) as follows :— "In this yere was the first Maire of London; and Seynt Mary Overeye was that yere begonne. Henv. Fitz Aldewyne. P'mus Major. Petrus Duke Anno x." It is not improbable that William Pont de L'Arche (judging from the very prevalent custom of families taking distinctive names from places and offices) was himself a Nigellus; and this theory receives support from the fact that in all the Berkeley Charters in which members of the family of Ponte de L'Arche appear as witnesses, Nigelli are found as witnesses also; and it receives further support also from Thom. Neell appearing apparently as a witness to the above record. About the year 1350 Joan, daughter of Maurice de Berkeley married Reginald de Cobham; and in 1369 (43 Edward III.) she bequeathed her body to be buried in the Churchyard of St. Mary Overie in Southwark before the church door where the Image of the Blessed Virgin sitteth on high over that door. It will be seen that she was a cotemporary of John Wycliff, the father of English prose, of John Gower, also buried in St. Saviour's, and of Geoffrey Chaucer. Nigellus, filius Arthuri, it will be seen, was a cotemporary with the above Nigel de Mowbray (D'Albini), and the Berkeley Select Roll (No. 130) shews the descent of Thomas de Mowbray (1366) from the above Nigel D'Albini. The mention of D'Albinis and de Mowbrays opens up a very interesting chapter. Roger of Montbrai (English Mowbray) in the Cotentin and Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances, were brothers: and their sister married Roger of Albini. Geoffrey de Mowbray was consecrated Bishop of Coutances at Rouen 10 April, 1048. He completed his Church, which was consecrated 8 December, 1056, in the presence of Duke William. He (with his brother Roger) accompanied William to England, was present at Hastings, received vast grants of land, interpreted to the Normans at William's coronation at Westminster, and was present at his funeral at Caen. He is supposed to have built the castle and outer walls of Bristol; and he died at Coutances 3 Feb., 1093, in the presence of Odo of Bayeux, William's half brother, leaving some 280 English Manors to his brother Roger's son, Robert de Mowbray. Robert de Mowbray (first Baron), Earl of Northumberland, raised a rebellion against William Rufus, was captured and imprisoned at Windsor, where after 30 years he is supposed to have died. After Robert's imprisonment Pope Pascal II. allowed Matilda his wife to marry Nigel de Albini, a relative and probably cousin of Robert, and their son Roger de Mowbray (D'Albini) became the second baron. Roger (D'Albini) the second Baron had large estates in Leicestershire (Domesday Book, 1085); was a steady supporter of Rufus and Hen. I., the latter of whom invested him with the first Earl's vast estates in England and Normandy. His son Roger founded numerous monasteries; was a great benefactor of the church; went thrice to the Crusades, was taken prisoner by Saladin; but was redeemed by the Templars. Nigel, son of the last Roger, succeeded as third Baron; was the great benefactor of the Priory Church of St. Marie Overie (St. Saviour's), Southwark (temp. Hen. II.), and was the cotemporary of Nigellus, son of Arthur, Robert Fitzharding's son-in-law. Of the same family and also a cotemporary of Nigellus son of Arthur was William de Albini, Earl of Arundel, who married. about 1137 Adeliza, widow of Hen. I., by whom he had 7 children. He was one of the witnesses to the final composition between Hen. II. and Stephen: he escorted Henry's daughter into Germany on her marriage with Henry of Saxony: and died at Waverley 12 October, 1176. It is very noticeable that Queen Adeliza, after her marriage with William Albini and some time previous to 1151, granted Berkeley Harness to the Abbey of Reading, where her first husband, King Henry, was buried, thus proving the close connection of the Nigels and Albinis with Berkeley before Robert Fitzharding's settlement there. As will be seen elsewhere this William Albini of the Strong Arm built Castle Rising in Norfolk, overlooking the Wash, some 20 miles as the crow flies from the Abbey of Wymondham (where his father, the Pincerna, lay buried): and it was there that later on the She Wolf of France, her son's prisoner, participator in the Berkeley crime, drew wearily to an end her chequered career, while her worthy successor Philippa, Consort of the English Justinian, was busy with her looms in Norwich and in founding the commercial prosperity of England and at the same time encouraging Eglesfield of pious memory in his work of founding her Royal College at Oxford. William, son of the last mentioned William de Albini and 2nd Earl, died 1196. William, his son, 3rd Earl, was a favourite of King John, accompanied him to Runnymede, and became one of his sureties for the faithful observance of the Charter. He went on a crusade: was at the siege of Damietta: and died 1221. Another William D'Albini and a William de Mowbray were of the 25 Barons to whom the execution of Magna Charta was |