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

Prepared by Michael A. Linton
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Haunteny : in Leland's list, Hauteyn. Godwin Haldein held in Norfolk in 1086 (Domesday). Blomefield contends that this is a Danish name, but it appears as Alden in the Norman Exchequer Rolls of 1180-95. He had held his lordship of Gratyngton in the time of Edward the Confessor, and was not only permitted to retain it, but received a grant of three other manors at the Conquest. "How he came to be in such favour and to merit so much from the Conqueror, is not known; it is, however, worthy of remark and notice, that if he was an English Saxon, he is the only one I have yet found in Norfolk that was allowed to keep his land at the Conquest, and held it at the Survey."—Blomefield. Two Hauteyns are mentioned in the time of Henry II.; both resident in the parish of Haylesdon: Walter, who held two fees of the Honour of Clare; and Theobald, who gave his name to Hauteyn's Manor, which, together with Oxnead, he had obtained through his wife Agnes, daughter of Albert de Greslei. She re-married an Amundeville, and in 1183 held Hauteyn's Manor in dower; John, the eldest of her three sons, being then a minor in the King's custody. He died s. p., but from one or other of his brothers descended Sir Hamo de Hauteyn, a man of some note and importance in the county under Henry III. He was "one of the justices appointed to look after the Jews' affairs; and there was a mandate to the barons of the realm to deliver to them the keys of the chest of the Jews, with the rolls, &c. belonging to that office"; from which, however, he was suspended for "certain misdemeanours" in 1228. In 1218 the claimed "frank pledge, free warren, gallows, and assize of bread and beer" at Oxnead; and in 1226 was summoned to meet the King in Parliament at Shrewsbury. He afterwards sided with the barons, and lost his estate, which was granted to Patrick de Chaworth; but it was given back to him in 1268, when Sir Bartholomew de Hauteyn (perhaps his brother?) likewise recovered his lands, forfeited for the same cause to Ernisius de Stuteville. Sir Hamo served as Sheriff of Norfolk in 1258. His son Sir John, who held two knight's fees of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Essex, is "said to have incurred the displeasure of Edward I., and to have paid a fine of £569 6s. 8d. This Sir John was probably the same person who was receiver of the King's customs of wool, and citizen of London in 1322, and sealed with Argent a bend Sable. Some of the Hauteyns sealed with Bendy of 8, Argent and Sable."—Ibid. The next heir, William, conveyed Oxnead to his brother John, rector of Oxnead, "who with his feoffees sold it to Sir Richard de Salle, Henry Hauteyn, another brother, and Jeffrey de Smalbergh, his brother-in-law releasing their rights." In 1368 Sir Robert accordingly entered into possession, "but was much disturbed in suits about it," another younger brother who had not been consulted, with his two sons (one of them "a professed fryar at Blackeney") and a grand-daughter, each in their turn suing for the estate. In the end the priest carried the day, but not till seventy-five years afterwards, unless—as seems most likely—Blomefield has made an error in his dates. He says that "in 1443, John Hauteyn, then a Carmelite friar at Blakeney, had license from Pope Eugenius (on proving that, before he was fourteen years of age, his parents forced him to enter among the fryers and become a religious) to leave his house, habit, and Order, and proceeding in his claim, recovered his inheritance." This is all I can find respecting the Hauteyns in Norfolk.

In Yorkshire, Peter Halden held one knight's fee, temp. Henry III. "pro Warda Castri de Richmond."—Gale's Richmondshire. Stephen Hauteyn was summoned from Holderness for military service 4 Ed. III.: and John Hautayn of Ald-Ravensor, was among those rated in Aid for Knighting the Black Prince in 1346.—Poulson's Holderness.

The Heraldic Visitation of Oxfordshire of 1634 (printed in Vol. 5 of the Harleian Society's publications) contains a pedigree of five generations of the Hawtayn or Hawten family. The name, now Hawtin, is still to be found in and near Banbury.