The Battle Abbey Roll. Vol. III.
by
The Duchess of Cleveland.

ADDITIONAL NAMES GIVEN BY LELAND.

Prepared by Michael A. Linton
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Avenele : Sires de Biard, or Es-Biard, one of the great names of Normandy. The Roman de Rou gives it twice; first as the compeer of the powerful Lord of Avranches:

"D'Avrencin i fu Richarz,
Ensemble od li cil de Biarz:"

and again, further on—

"Des Biarz i fu Avenals."

Biarz or Biard, now Les Biards, is in the canton of Isigny, arrondissement of Mortaine; and the Avenels were hereditary Seneschals of the Counts of Mortaine. They held their fief by the service of five knights in the Viscountcy of Cerences. According to Vincent de Beauvais, a thirteenth-century writer of dubious authority, they descended from Harold the Dane, a kinsman and companion-in-arms of the first Duke Rollo. Be this as it may, they were, at all events, of great account in the ensuing century. Hugh de Roceto, in 1030, granted the church of Ste. Marie de Beleme to Marmoutier Abbey, with the consent (among many others) of his kinsman, Herve de Braviard, Buiard, or Biard. In a subsequent charter of 1067, Herve appears again, together with a Sigembert-de-Es-Biarz, probably his son or nephew. He was, in any case the father of Osmellinus qui cognominabatur Avenellus, mentioned in 1060 in a charter of Robert de Say, whose sons succeeded to Sigembert's estate, and took from it the name of Biarz. There were five, if not six, of these brothers. The eldest was William the Seneschal, who followed his Count to England, and fought at Hastings, but is believed to have returned to Normandy unrewarded. The elder line of his descendants held Biarz till they died out in 1258: and several branches of the family are still to be found in Brittany as well as in Normandy.—Recherches sur le Domesday.

The name of Avenel is written in Domesday, but only as an insignificant under-tenant of Roger de Montgomeri; and "we have every right to be surprised at the Conqueror's parcimony to this powerful family."—Ibid. It is clear however, that they owned a great territory in Derbyshire not long after; for "Avenel Haddon" (William Avenel in another deed) is one of the witnesses of the foundation charter of Lenton Priory in the time of Henry I.; and, by a separate charter, bestowed upon it two manors belonging to his own domain of Haddon. In 1169, Robert Avenel witnessed another donation to this Priory, and the foundation charter of Welbeck Abbey. This may have been the same Robert Avenel des Biarz whose name is appended to a charter granted in 1158 at Tinchebray by the Count de Mortaine to the nuns of Mouton; but the family was exceptionally numerous, and the coat of arms, of Avenel of Had don, Gules six amulets Argent, does not bear the faintest resemblance to that of the Sires de Biarz, chef de la branche mere, who bore De gueules a trots aigles d'argent. In the following century, Alice, the heiress of William Avenel, brought to the Vernons the vast domain that earned for the last of its Lords the title of "King of the Peak," with Mont Meland, Goriz, Auvers, Rovistrat, &c, in Normandy.

Many fragmentary notices of the family are to be found scattered about the country, and prove that, despite the alleged niggardliness of the Conqueror, they had become considerable land-owners. The Liber Niger mentions Avenels in Bedfordshire. John de Avenel, jointly with two others, was Sheriff of Gloucester 1187, '88, '89: and must have been the father of William de Avenel of the same county, who was a banneret in the time of King John. They bore the six annulets of the house of Haddon. William de Avenel (perhaps the same?) in the following reign served as knight of the shire for Cambridge, where his name is preserved by Avenel's Manor; and "held Barford-St.-Martin in capite of the King. But in the ensuing reign his estates devolved to the Crown by the attainder of Nicholas Avenel for felony."—Hoare's Wilts. This Nicholas was Custos of Graveley Forest. Gamlinghay was "the habitation formerly of the Avenels" in Cambridgeshire, "whose estate came by marriage to the ancient family of St. George."—Camden's Britannia. In the time of Henry II., Gilbert de Avenel received Gnipton in Leicestershire from his brother William de Hareston. His posterity continued there till 30 Ed. III., when the last heir-male, another Gilbert, died, leaving two daughters co-heiresses.—Nichols' Leicestershire. Galfrid de Avenel was Lord of Lokesbere temp. Hen. II., and "it continued in the name till Hen. VI. time."—Pole's Devon. Eleanor, daughter and heir of John Avenel, brought it to Edward Richards. Another branch, seated at Blackpool in the same county, ended about 1450 with three co-heiresses, married to Huyshe of Sand, Wykes of North Wykes, and Holcombe. These Devonshire Avenels bore Argent five fusils in fesse Sable between two cotises Gules. One of them, Randolf Avenel, married Adeliza, daughter of Baldwin de Meules or de Brionne, who in her own right was Baroness of Okehampton and Hereditary Sheriffess of Exeter, but she brought him only a daughter named Maud, through whose co-heiresses the barony passed to the Courtenays. "Langton Avery," in Dorsetshire, "was probably a corruption of Langton Avenel, so called from the earliest lords of it of whom we find any mention." Peter de Avenel, the son of Robert, was living 15 John, and claimed the advowson against Robert's granddaughter Matilda and her husband William FitzGerold.—Hutchins' Dorset.

On the other side of the Border, the Avenels held one of the most important of the Marcher baronies. Robert Avenel, the first Lord of Eskdale, was for a short time Justiciary of Lothian, and received his lands from David I., whom he probably accompanied to Scotland. He died a monk of Melrose in 1185, having been one of the principal benefactors of the Abbey. His daughter was the paramour of William the Lion, to whom she bore a daughter named Isabel, the wife of Robert Bruce. His son Gervase confirmed his grants to Melrose; but his grandson Robert disputed them, and had a fierce contest with the monks, which was decided in their favour by the King in person in 1235.—v. Monastic Annals of Teviotdale. With this Robert the line ended in 1243; and "his great domain passed to his son-in-law, Henry de Graham, one of the Magnates Scotiae in the parliament held at Scone in 1283."—Wood's Peerage. Gervase Avenel was among the hostages to the King in 1219, obsides regis Scotiae.