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

Prepared by Michael A. Linton
-------*--------
Return to Index

Pinel : Ralph Pinel, in 1086, held a barony in Essex and Suffolk. (Domesday). It is impossible to decide to which of the Norman families of the name he belonged. There were three, all bearing different arms, "maintained in their nobility" during the seventeenth century; the Sieur des Hayes, the Sieur de Bois-Pinel, and another near Rouen; and in 1789 four Pinels figured in the great Assembly of the Nobles. Three of them, the Seigneurs de Gouville, de Golleville, and du Quesnay, belonged to the Cotentin; the fourth, another Seigneur de Bois-Pinel, was seated near Rouen. Several of the name are found in the Norman Exchequer Rolls of 1180-98.

A second Ralph Pinel—probably the grandson of the first—held four fees in 1165 of the Earl of Essex in Essex, and some land in Berkshire under Fitz Robert and Fitz Peter, another of whose tenants was Anchetil Pinel.—Liber Niger. The name continued in the former county for many generations: John Pinel occurs there about 1272.—Rot. Hundred. There is some hint of a previous scandal in the family. In the Pipe Roll of 12 John, "Robert Vanx owes five best palfreys, that the King may be silent regarding Henry Pinel's wife." The Oxfordshire fee of Warin Pinel (then deceased) is spoken of in the Testa de Nevill; and in 1278, Roger Pinel, Robert Pinel's widow, and Margaret, daughter of William Pinel, were all landowners in the county. Contemporary with them were Matthew Pinel of Suffolk, his brother Hugh, and Henry Pinel of Huntingdonshire.—Rotuli Hundredorum. Two coats are assigned to this name by Robson: Per pale, Argent and Or, an eagle displayed, standing on a billet raguly Azure: and Argent on a chevron engrailed Gules a lion rampant crowned Or.