Robert Eaton

• Preferred Name: Robert Eaton^{[1] [2] [3]}
  
• Alternate Name: Robert de Eyton
  
• Alternate Name: Robert de Eaton
  
• Gender: M
  
• Death: BEF 1160 in England with note: Standardized date of death.
  
• FSID: 2HS8-Y1T
  
• Birth: 1097 in Dover, Kent, England at LATI: N1.1274 LONG: E0.312
  
• Notes:

  === Notes for Robert DE Eaton: from Eaton G ===
  Notes for Robert DE Eaton: from Eaton Genealogy: "The name Eaton is of Welsh and Saxon origin, a place name meaning hill or town near the water. In Welsh, "Aw" means water and "Twyn" means a small hill; Atwny, called Eyton, "a small hillock near the water." In Saxon "Ea" means water and "Ton" town - the same -- viz--a town or hill near the water.
  
  === The Eyton family of Shropshire can be tr ===
  The Eyton family of Shropshire can be traced back to Robert de Eyton whowas lord of the manor of Eyton upon the Weald Moors in Salop ( later tobe known as Shropshire) England in the mid-twelth century. From thisfamily, we can trace the origns of John Eaton of Dedham, Mass., WilliamEaton of Reading, Mass., and Jonas Eaton of Reading, Mass.. Very littleis known of Robert de Eyton and his name is, in fact, known only from 2charters which bear his name. However, from these two documents, and fromwhat is known of his descendants, we can infer much. The purpose of thisarticle is to review all known information on Robert deEyton, refute thecommon assertion that he is the son of William Fitz Alan, and to discussthe likely ancestry of Robert de Eyton. We owe much to the great historians of Shropshire, Rev. Robert W. Eytonwho published the Antiquities of Shropshire circa 1854 and George C.Morris who wrote his Genealogies of Shropshire in 1880. Without theirreading, translation and publication of ancient manuscripts, Robert deEyton may have been lost to history. Charters Concerning Robert de Eyton: The Eyton family in Shropshire is known to have controlled7 manors in itsearliest days. These were Eyton, Bratton, Horton, Buttery, half-Lawleyand Sutton in Shropshire and Cresswell in Staffordshire. It should benoted that all of these manors were held by William Pantulf, 1st Baron ofWem in the Doomsday Book of 1086 and that the Eyton's were vassals of theBaron of Wem for centuries afterwards. It is the interest in Butterywhich allows us to identify Robert de Eyton as the head of the family. Inthe reign of Henry II, Robert de Eyton gave the manor of Buttery to theShrewsbury Abbey in a charter witnessed by Ralph Pantulf. This gift wasthen confirmed by Robert de Eyton's suzerain, Ivo Pantulf, 3rd Baron ofWem who states he has conceded to the monks ofShrewsbury a certain estate(unam terram) which is called Buttereia which Robert de Eitona had givento the said monks, witnesses Alured Ab bot of Hageman, Ivo Chaplain, RalphPantulf, Walter Meverel, Roger de Bethesloua, John de Eppelei, Helias deJai and Robert de Christianson. These two brief charters concerningthegift of Buttery and the confirmation of the gift are the only 2 documentswe have concerning Robert de Eyton. Between 1225 and 1227, Robert de Eyton'sson, Peter I de Eyton thenconfirmed the grant of Buttery to Shrewsbury Abbey.Then, in 1249, Alicede Eyton, widow of Peter I de Eyton, again renounces her rights toBotereye in favor of the Abbot of Shrewsbury. The importance oftheseconfirming deeds is that they firmly attach the original grantor ofButtery asan ancestor of the better documented lords of Eyton. Estimates of Dates: Born 1100-1145 / Died 1180 The confirmation charter of Ivo Pantulf is dated without explanation byR.W. Eyton to between 1170 and 1175. Morris gives a wider date. He notesthat Alured (first witness of the charter) was appointed by Henry II asAbbot of Hageman in 1159. When Alured died is not known. However, by1181two others had held the post. Robert de Eyton's successor andpresumed son, Peter I de Eyton, begins to appear frequently in chartersstarting in 1180. From this we can assume Robert de Eyton's death wasbefore 1180. From the charters witnessed by Peter I de Eyton, we know he was of age(20 and older) by 1180 meaning he had to have been born before 1160.Using the tightest possible chronology, Robert de Eyton had to have beenborn before 1145. It is likely that he was born much earlier. His gift ofButtery manor most likely occured towards the close of his life andlikely when he was an old man. I have called his birth date as between1100 - 1145 to emphasize the range of possibilities and to point out howuncertain the date is. Error in identification: William Fitz Alan is NOT the father of Robert deEyton. I 1911, Nellie Rice Molyneux publishedher book History and Genealogy ofthe Eaton Families. In it she identified Robert de Eyton as a younger sonof William Fitz Alan by hi s wife Isabel de Say. This connection has beenpicked up and republished in various books. It can now be found onliterally hundreds of web sites. Careful inspection of these pedigreesshow that they are clearly exact copies of what Molyneux wrote and arenot separate research. As far as can be determined, Molyneux was thefirst to publish this connection. William Fitz Alan was an extremely powerful feudal baron in the county ofSalop (Shropshire). His descendants would become the well known andpowerful Earls of Arundel and his brother was the 1st high Stewart ofScotland whose descendants became the kings of Scotland. William FitzAlan's father, Alan Fitz Flaad, was given by King Henry I vast lands inShropshire in what is believed to be a reward for the Alan Fitz Flaad'ssupport in Brittany before Henry became king. William Fitz Alan was astrong supporter of the Empress Matilda in her rebellion against hernephew King Stephen I. As a consequence of his support, when Matilda'sson, King Henry II, came to power in 1155, the king gave the richheiress, Isabel de Say in marriage. They were wed in the spring of 1156. As we have seen, Robert de Eyton was born before 1145 so he could not bethe son of this marriage. If he was the son of William Fitz Alan by hisprevious marriage then he would have inherited the Fitz Alan estates. Theonly thing known of Robert de Eyton is the estates that would become tobe held by his heirs. So, can any of these lands be traced to WilliamFitz Alan? The answer is no. All of the Eyton lands were held by theBarons of Wem and Fitz Alan's never had a say in any of the Eytonestates. Given that there is no apparent connection between William Fitz Alan andRobert de Eyton, how and why did Molyneux come to call RObert the son ofWilliam? This is likely a case of mistaken identity. Three of Robert deEyton's manors were held at the time of the Doomsday Book of 1086 byWarin, a vassal of William Pantulf, 1st Baron of Wem. From this it hasbeen stated that Robert de Eyt on is likely a descendant of this Warin.Now the lands which were given to Fitz Alan family by King Henry I wereoriginally held by Warin the Bald, 1st Norman Sheriff of Shropshire. IfWarin the Bald and the Warin who was a cassal of the Pantulf's were thesame person then one might think that the lands passed from Warin to theFitz Alan's to Robert de Eyton. However, these two Warin's are not thesame person. Warin the Bald was dead before 1086 while the other Warinwas still living. Molyneux mistakenly equated these Warin's and madeRobert de Eyton a son of William Fitz Alan to explain the inheritance ofthe Eyton manors. Likely Ancestry of Robert de Eyton: As we noted earlier, the early Eyton estates consisted of 7 manors. All 7of these belonged ot William Pantulf, 1st Baron of Wem in 1086. Three ofthese were held by Warin as a vassal of William Pantulf. Four othermanors came to the Eyton's after 1086. R.W. Eyton suggests that all 7were "old foement" and that they had to have been acquired soon after1086. It is also known that the Eyton Coat of Arms from the earliesttimes are quartered with those of the Pantulf's. The easiest interpretation of the inheritance of these manors is thatRobert de Eyton is a descendant of William Pantulf. William Pantulf had 4sons: Robert Pantulf, the second son, succeeded as 2nd Baron of Wem. Theother three sons all remained in Normandy. The next three generations ofPantulf's are not well documented in the ancient charters. We know thatRobert Pantulf was succeeded by his son Ivo Pantulf, 3rd Baron of Wem.Ivo had a little known brother William who occurs in a few charters,primarily in Staffordshire. It is very easy to imagine that this WilliamPantulf was the father of our RObert de Eyton. Thus the lineage would beWilliam Pantulf - Robert - William - Robert de EYton. It was suggested by R.W. Eyton that Robert could have been a descendantof Warin (vassal of the Pantulf's) and that he himself was a cadet of thePantulf's. He bases this theory on t he ground that Warin held threemanors at the time of the Doomsday Book and that the Eyton's quarteredthe Pantulf Arms. I do not favor this as it does not explain how theother 4 manors came to be held by Robert de Eyton. It has been pointed out by Rick Eaton that in the quartering of the EytonCoat of Arms, the Pantulf arms are traditionally drawn in 2 and 3quarters while the Eyton fret is drawn in the 1 and 4 positions. Theimplication is that an Eyton married a Panutlf heiress. It is verypossible that the 4 additional manors were obtained by way of dowry fromthe Pantulf's. So this leaves us with four possibilities: 1. Robert de Eyton is descended from William Pantulf, 1st Baron of Wem. 2. Robert de Eyton is a descendant of Warin, vassal of the Pantulf's. 3. Robert de Eyton (or his father) married a Pantulf heiress. 4. Robert de Eyton is an unrelated vassal of the Barons of Wem Unfortunately, unless new primary evidence is discovered, we willprobably never be able to prove conclusively which theory is correct. Fornow we are left with Robert de Eyton as the earliest known ancestor inthe male line of the Eatons.
  
  === Eaton--Early British--Welch--Saxon. Reco ===
  Eaton--Early British--Welch--Saxon. Records St. Alban. Crest P. 110 Eaton Genealogy. Crest Burke. Color for reunion PINK for dec. of William Eaton.
  
  === Warin was William Pantulf's chief Feoffe ===
  Warin was William Pantulf's chief Feoffee in Shropshire. Besides Eyton he held Bratton and Horton under the same Baron. The next known Lord of these three manors was Robert de Eyton, living in the reign of Henry II. The probability that Robert de Eyton was Warin's direst descendant and heir is not the mere average probability that the Tenant of three distinct Manor a century after Domesday was the lineal representative of the Tenant of those same Manors at Domesday. Pantulf's Barony was exempt from all probability of being disturbed as to its constituents by that great Shropshire catastrophe, the fall of Earl Robert de Belesme. We know in short that it was then or afterwards enlarged rather than diminished, and we may fairly presume that this was in reward of the loyalty of its Chief, and his sevices at the siege of Bridgnorth. Warin was himself a Cadet of the House of Pantulf, for the Descendants of Robert de Eyton, his presumed heir, have uniformly quartered the Arms of Pantulf. It has been suggested that his quartering of the Arms of a Suzerain might have been merely a token of feudal dependence. The alternate theory seems to be that, when a vassal is found bearing the arms of his Suzerain, as a quarter and without any difference, he was his Suzerain's relation by blood as well as tenure. This is a very interesting as the arms of Pantulf, Baron of Wem, are Gu two bars erm., while those of Eyton of the Wildmoors are a fret or with a brodure ar. This shows quite conclusively that the Eyton family is a production of a marriage between Pantulf and Audley. The Audleys were descended from Adam, son of Ligulph, while the Pantulfs are descended from William, the brother of Ligulph, and by the marriage of Joan de Eyton with Adam de Peshall, Junior, we have another intermarriage as he was descended from Ligulph through is son Osbert, whose daughter married Robert de Peshall. The important part of this is that W de Eyton, related both to the Staffords and the family of Peshall, witnesses the deed of confirmation for the Manor of Peshall to Robert Fitz Gilbert de Corbeil by the second Robert de Stafford.
  
  The Lord of Eyton obtained feoffment from the Barons of Wem in four Manors, in which Domesday does not state that Warin or any other Tenent had as yet acquired investiture. That this change was soon after Domesday is clear, for the whole Fief held by De Eyton under Pantulf was of old Feoffment. The four Manors in question were Buttery, Half-Lawley, and Sutton, all in Shropshire, and Cresswell, in Staffordshire.
  
  It was with respect to Buttery, and Robert de Eyton's disposal thereof in the reigh of Henry II, that the history of this family recommences, about half a century after Domesday. Robert de Eyton gave Buttery to Shrewsbury Abbey, with the consent of Ivo Pantulf his Suzerain. As usual in such early grants, the confirming Deed of Suzerain is the only one preserved, perhaps the only one executed at the time. Ivo Pantulf addressing his sons, acquaints them that he has conceded in almoign to the Monks of Shrewsbury a certain estate which is called Buttereia, which Robert de Eiton had given to the said Monks. Witnesses, Alured Abbot of Hageman, Ivo Chaplain, Ralph Pantulf, Walter Meverel, Roger de Bethesloua, John de Eppeleia, Helias de Jai, Robert Christian, &c. The above deed probably passed about 1135, and so was coeval with the close of Robert de Eyton's life. Ivo de Pantulf (1102) was contemporary with his cousin Ormunda who married Robert de Peshall. Robert de Eyton married Edelina de Stafford and his son William de Eyton witnessed the deed of confirmation made by Robert de Stafford to Robert Fitz Gilbert de Corbeil, circa 1160, for the manor of Peshall, which quite clearly fixed the date of the execution of this deed. [History and Genealogy of the Pearshall Family pp528-529]
  
  __________________________________
  
  From: cochoit@aol.com (Joe Cochoit)
  Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.medieval
  Subject: Re: Eyton
  Date: 22 Oct 2002 20:42:39 -0700
  
  Joan Eyton is identified in the History and Genealogy of the Pearsall Family by Clarence Pearsall pub. 1928 vol. 1 p. 534 as a daughter of John de Eyton. This ID is backed up by a fair amount of discussion on the inheritance of manors and various suits surrounding Adam de Peshale and his wife.
  
  John de Eyton was a younger son Sir Peter III de Eyton (d. c1302) of Eyton, Shropshire and his wife Margery.
  
  The lineage for Sir Peter III de Eyton can be found with good supporting data in:
  Antiquities of Shropshire, XII volumes. by Robert Eyton, 1854 vol. VIII p. 27-35 and
  Genealogy of Shropshire by George Morris in 8 volumes. Located at the Shrewsbury Library and filmed by the LDS (Film #'s 504545 - 504550) Film 504545 sub EYTON pg. 268-288
  
  Occurs: Means a record exists where the individual either signed a charter or deed, witnessed or attested to a record, sat as a juror or surety, or is recorded as paying fines or fees.
  
  Born: In all cases is an estimate based on the earliest recorded instance of an individual appearing in records and an assumption that the person had reached his age of majority (21 Years) and claimed his inheritance in his own right. Before means before and not about - in many cases it may be significantly before.
  
  Died: Usually is between the last recorded instance of an individual and evidence of his heirs assuming his lands or position.
  
  Robert de Eyton, Lord of Eyton (on the Weald Moors) Born: bef. 1145 (based on his son being Lord of Eyton in 1180 this is the latest date I can possibly assign to his birth)
  Died: bet. C1175-1180
  Occurs: 1170-1175
  Lord of the Manors of Eyton on the Weald Moors, Bratton, Horton, Buttery, Half-Lawley, Sutton, and Cresswell.
  His suzerain was Ivo Pantulf, Baron of Wem
  
  Peter I de Eyton, Lord of Eyton (on the Weald Moors)
  Born: bef 1160
  Died: 1207-1212
  Occurs: frequently 1180-1191, 1200, 1207
  
  Peter II de Eyton, Lord of Eyton (on the Weald Moors)
  Born: bef 1192
  Died: 1237-1240
  Occurs: 1212, 1220, 1222, 1224, 1227, 1231, 1234, 1237
  Married: Alice Unknown died 1255-1256
  
  William de Eyton, Lord of Eyton (on the Weald Moors)
  Born: bef. 1220
  Died: 1251-1255
  Occurs: 1240, 1242, 1248, 1251
  Wife: Matilda de Lega who married 2nd Walter de Pedwarine His son was less than 10 years old at his death.
  
  Peter III de Eyton, Lord of Eyton (on the Weald Moors)
  Born: 1245-1255
  Died: bet 1301-1302
  Occurs: 1272. 1276, 1277, 1292, 1298, 1301
  
  You will find on hundreds of web sites the statement that Robert de Eyton, the first in the line, is a son of William Fitz Alan. This is clearly an error. It comes from History Genealogical and Biographical of the Eaton Families by Nellie Zada Rice Molyneux. Pub. 1911 where this Eyton line is given as ancestral several 17th century Eaton immigrants. The Eytons are almost certainly a cadet branch from William Pantulf, Baron of Wem as all Eyton manors were held by William Pantulf at the time of the Doomsday Survey. The exact connection is not known.
  
  You gave the death of Adam Peshall as d. 1419. The Adam de Peshall who married Joan Eyton was killed January 8, 1346 resisting arrest. It was his son who died in 1419.
  
  Joe Cochoit

1. Peter De Eyton I, b. AFT 1148 in Dover, Kent, England     d. 1237 in Dover, Kent, England

1. Title: Legacy NFS Source: Robert de Eyton -
   Author: History and Genealogy of the Pearsall Family in England and America; Clarence E Pearshall & Hettie May Pearsall, Ed. {192, Page number: 528-529
   Page: Migrated from user-supplied source citation: urn:familysearch:source:2736742560
   
2. Title: Legacy NFS Source: Robert de Eyton -
   Author: Newsgroup: soc.genealogy.medieval, at groups - google.com, Page number: Joe Cochoit, 22 Oct 2002
   Note: Source Media Type: Book
   Page: Migrated from user-supplied source citation: urn:familysearch:source:2736742371
   
3. Title: Ancestry Family Trees
   Author: Ancestry Family Tree