Agnes de Surdeval

• Preferred Name: Agnes de Surdeval
  
• Gender: F
  
• FSID: L6ZX-NH5
  
• Birth: 1076 in Yorkshire, England
  
• Death: 1170 in Skelton, Yorkshire, England at LATI: N4 LONG: E1.1337
  
• Burial: in Guisborough, Yorkshire, England at LATI: N4.5363 LONG: E1.0519
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  Agnes, wife of Robert de Brus, First Lord of Skelton and Annandale, and mother of his children:
  - Adam de Brus, Lord of Skelton; oldest son and heir
  - Robert II de Brus, 2nd Lord of Annandale
  - Agatha de Brus
  - Hugh de Brus
  - Pagan de Brus
  
  Although she has been identified at various times as Agnes Paynel, Agnes de Paganell, Agnes de Bainard, Agnes Bainard, Agnes Baynard, and Agnes de Annand, it has been pointed out that these names never actually appear in any charters, not even those of Robert himself. And that these names are unsubstantiated.
  
  Evidence from charters would indicate that Agnes was an heiress of the Surdeval family. While this is believed to be true, it is not known exactly HOW she was related to the Sourdevals. She may have been an unrecorded daughter of Richard de Sourdeval. Richard accompanied Robert, Count of Mortain (brother of William the Conqueror) to England in 1066 during the Norman Conquest and held many manors in the Yorkshire region. Alternatively, she may have been a daughter of Richard's son Robert, or even a daughter of Richard's daughter Matilda Maude de Sourdeval who married Ralph (Radulf) Paynel, Sheriff of Yorkshire.
  
  Although the exact birth date of Agnes is not known it is usually estimated to be about 1076 or later, this makes it more likely that she was a granddaughter of Richard de Sourdeval as she would have been considerably younger than his other known children.
  
  Robert de Brus is often reported as marrying in 1089, if this date is accurate, then Agnes surely was not born later than 1076, at the latest.
  
  -------------------------
  
  There is speculation about another wife, See:
  
  https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KZG8-WFL Agnes Paynell daughter of Foulques Paynel Lord of Dudley and Beatrix FitzAnsculf.
  
  There is a Paynell connection with Matilda 'Maud' de Surdeval marrying into the Paynell family, however, her husband was Ralph Paynell.
  
  It is not known how "Foulques Paynel" was related to the branch Matilda married into.
  
  It is also unconfirmed exactly how Matilda Maud was related to Agnes. Agnes may have been her sister, her daughter or her niece. Because her exact relationship with the Sourdeval family is not known, Agnes family name is not known with any certainty. It all depends on who her parents were. If her father was a de Surdeval then she would have been 'de Surdeval' however if her mother was a 'de Surdeval' then her surname would have been different. That is why she is called a 'Surdeval heiress' because her name is not known.
  
  --------------------------
  
  Blakely, Ruth Margaret (2000) The Brus family in England and Scotland 1100-c.1290., Durham theses,
  Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1594/
  
  Page 26 - 27
  
  Little is known about the wife of the first Robert de Brus except that her name was Agnes, that she was linked with her husband in his grants to foundations at Guisborough, York and Whitby, and that she made a gift to Guisborough priory in her own right, of the manor of Carlton by Camblesforth. This last grant has given rise to the theory that Agnes was the daughter of a Paynel, an idea which Farrer rightly rejected. Although Carlton was soke of the Paynel manor of Drax, it had been held by the king in 1086, formed part of the original Brus fief and was later held by Paynel of Brus not the other way round. It is therefore more likely that Carlton had been gifted to Agnes by her husband as part of her dower. Farrer's own initial suggestion was that Agnes was daughter of Geoffrey Bainard, a sheriff of Yorkshire who briefly held the manor of Burton [Agnes] in the time of Rufus. Although King supports this theory, Farrer himself ultimately rejected it, with good reason. Like Carlton, Burton [Agnes] was part of the initial Brus fief, and two of its berewicks were added in the exchange of 1103 as a direct grant from the king. In 1086 the manor had been held by the king and let out to farm, so despite Geoffrey Bainard granting the church and some land there to St Mary's, York, he may only have held it temporarily or by virtue of his office. Furthermore, Agnes is not named at all in her husband's own grant of the church of Burton [Agnes] to York, making it unlikely that she was Geoffrey's heir. Finally, the appellation 'Agnes' was not used until the mid-thirteenth century and may well have come from Agnes d'Aumale, wife of Adam de Brus I.
  
  In contrast to these unsubstantiated suggestions for the descent of Robert's wife, a few clues can be found from charter evidence which give tentative support for Farrer's subsequent theory, endorsed by Clay, that she was a Surdeval heiress.
  
  In the foundation grant to Guisborough priory, which contained a large amount of Mortain/Surdeval land, not only is Agnes's name linked with her husband's, but their son, Adam, is designated as 'our' heir, suggesting that some of the lands were of her inheritance.
  
  The same meaning is implicit in the wording of an entry in the chartulary of St Mary's, York, regarding the grant of a mill and land in Sunderlandwick, made by Robert, his wife and their heirs. Sunderlandwick, a manor near Driffield in the East Riding, may well have been in Surdeval's hands after Gospatric had forfeited it and come to Brus as his wife's maritagium [portion which is given with a daughter in marriage].
  
  In addition to these clues about Agnes herself, it has been noted that Robert de Brus I witnessed Henry I's confirmation of a grant by the count of Mortain to Marmoutier before 1104, in association with Ralph Paynel. This would suggest that both of them already had an interest in the count's lands through marriage to his tenant's daughters and possible heirs.
  
  By whatever means the Mortain/Surdeval lands passed to Robert de Brus, they must have been a welcome and valuable addition to his barony. They included not only the manor of Skelton, where the castle to which he later transferred his caput may already have existed, but also the two manors in Guisborough which provided the site and major part of his endowment for Guisborough priory and must therefore, like his Chester lands, have come to him before c.1119.
  
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  Robert de Brus, 1st Lord of Annandale wife Agnes de Paynel.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_de_Brus,_1st_Lord_of_Annandale
  
  Robert I de Brus, 1st Lord of Annandale (c. 1070 – 1142) was an early 12th century Anglo-Norman baron and knight, the first of the
  
  Robert de Bruce II 1078?-1141 wife Agnes Pagnel
  Dictionary of National Biography page 114
  https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofnati07stepuoft#page/114/mode/2up
  
  Robert Bruce II was son of Robert I, and companion of David I of Scotland at the cou
  
  === (21) dead ===
  (21) dead
  
  === AGNES BAINARD (BAYNARD) NOT THE WIFE OF ROBERT DE BRUS ===
  A more modern review of documents/sources by history experts in 2000 revealed that the wife of Robert de Brus was not the daughter of Geoffrey Bainard, a sheriff of Yorkshire, as had previously been thought.
  
  The theory that the wife of Robert de Brus, identified only as "Agnes" in charters, was Agnes Bainard was originally put forth by William Farrer, a historical researcher who lived 1861 to 1924 and author of "Early Yorkshire Charters", as well as other historical collections. After putting forth this theory Farrer himself ultimately rejected it.
  
  After studying the charters of Carlton, which gave rise to the theory that Agnes was the daughter of a Paynel, Farrer rejected that theory as well. And who better to interpret the charters of early Yorkshire than the man who collected and edited 12 volumes of them.
  
  === 1. Source: "Ancestry of Roger Ludlow" b ===
  1. Source: "Ancestry of Roger Ludlow" by Seversmith, p. 2,368.

1. Luce de Bruce, b. 1109     d. in Le Hommet-d'Arthenay, Manche, Lower Normandy, France
2. Agatha de Brus, b. ABT 1095 in Skelton Castle, Yorkshire, England     d. 1142 in Middleham, Yorkshire, England
3. Robert de Brus - Second Lord of Annandale, b. 1105 in Skelton Castle, Yorkshire, England     d. 1190 in Skelton, Yorkshire, England
4. Adam Brus 2nd Lord of Skelton, b. ABT 1113 in Durham, England     d. 1143 in Gisborough, Yorkshire, England