William de Tracy

• Preferred Name: William de Tracy^{[1] [2] [3]}
  
• Alternate Name: William de Sudeley
  
• Gender: M
  
• Burial: in Mortehoe Church, Mortehoe, Devonshire, England at LATI: N1.1859 LONG: E4.2085
  
• Death: 1210 in Hertfordshire, England at LATI: N1.8375 LONG: E0.1895 with note: GEDCOM data
  
• http://familysearch.org/v1/TitleOfNobility: Baron; Lord of Brayne & Morton
  
• Occupation: High Sheriff
  
• http://familysearch.org/v1/TitleOfNobility: Knight
  
• Birth: 1133 in Hertford, Hertfordshire, England at LATI: N1.7985 LONG: E0.0791
  
• FSID: MQ71-Y5R
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  William assumed his mother's maiden name, Tracy, during the reign of King Henry II. He was directly related to the King through his mother Grace. He was one of the four knights who responded to King Henry's II's plea to get rid of Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury. The four knights had been in Normandy, and went to England, where on Dec. 30, 1170, William struck the first blow in the murder of the Archbishop. The four knights fled to the Danelaw, the area of England still under Viking law. By the next year, William was back in Normandy and was made a royal judge (Justice) by King Henry. During the reign of King John, William fought against the king and his lands were confiscated. There is no clear record that the four knights were punished for the murder of Thomas Beckett. However, the tradition is that they were excommunicated and forced to go to the Holy Land where they died fighting and are buried under the doorway of what is now the Al Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The de Sudeleys held that there was a curse on the family; perhaps this is why William took the name Traci. The Sudeleys claim that William is buried in Morthoe, and died in 1224, which would have made him 91 at death. The answer will never be clear.
  
  Tracy Genealogy, Ancestors and Descendants of Lieutenant Thomas Tracy, by Evert E Tracy, M.D., 1898
  Grace de Tracie had two sons, Ralph de Sudeley, the heir and successor to his father, and William de Tracie who inherited his mother’s estates and assumed her family name.
  Sir William de Traci lived in reign of Henry II and held lands of his brother, Ralph de Sudeley, by one knight’s fee. This holding was the manor of Toddington for it appears in “Domesday Book” that it was held by the Lord de Sudeley, of the manor of Sudeley, and in the reign of Edward I the Tracys are expressly said to possessed of it; and this William, in deed of Otwell, lord of Sudeley, son and heir of said Ralph, is called his uncle.
  Sir William was one of the four knights who, in 1170 at the instigation of King Henry II, assassinated Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Fuller, in his “Worthies of England’” names the assassin as Sir William Traci, of Toddington, and descries him as a man of high birth, state and stomach, a favorite of the kings and his daily attendant.” In the nineteenth year of the reign of King Henry II (1171) he was created “Justiciary” of Normandy, and we know that for a time he performed the duties of the office, for he was present at Falaise in 1174, when William, king of Scotland, did homage to Henry II, and in 1176 he was succeeded in his office by the Bishop of Winchester. Subsequently Sir William returned to England. During the reign of King John, he appeared in arms against his sovereign with the other rebellious barons, and in consequence his lands were confiscated by the crown.
  At the beginning of the reign of Henry III, however, these lands were restored to him, as is shown by a roll dated at Westminster, November 18, second year of the reign of Henry III (1218). During the latter part of his life, he seems to have repented for the murder of the archbishop, for he founded and endowed a chapel to Thomas a Becket, in the conventual church at Tewkesbury.
  He was, it is said, buried at Morthoe, where an effigy, by some believed to be his remains in the church. Sir William de Traci died at Morthoe, county of Devon, in 1224. By Hawise de Born, his wife, he left a son and heir and two daughters.
  
  Sir William de Traci or Tracy (Baron Brandninch)
  Sir William was born about 1133 at Sudley Castle, Sudley Manor, Gloucestershire, England. his parents were William de Tracy and Alice de Normandie. In due time he married Hawise de Bourne in 1165 i
  
  === Sir William Tracy
  Sir William De Sudeley
  Sir William De Traci
  ===
  William Tracy’s mother, Grace Tracy, Daughter and heiress of Henry de Tracy, feudal lord of Barnstable in Devonshire. William was the second son and inherited the lands of his mother, and assumed her family name of Tracy. Knight of Gloucestershire; One of the knights who, at the instigation of Henry II, assassinated Thomas a Becket. Sir William Tracy died in Devonshire, and is supposed to have been buried in the parish church at Marthoe. (Per North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000. Hyde genealogy...from William Hyde, page 1176.) *above reference also refers to “Fuller’s Church History, Hone’s Every Day Book, and Polehele’s History of Devonshire” for information regarding William’s burial place.
  ** In “North American Family Histories, 1500-2000, Tracy, Winslow, The Tracy/Winslow Family” It says that in 1171 he was created “Justiciary” of Normandy. During the reign of king John he appeared in arms against his king and his lands were confiscated. They were returned to him November 18, 1218 during the reign of Henry III. He died at Morthoe, county of Devon in 1224, where he is buried.
  
  === M E Sorley: The Sorley Pedigrees P 13 ===
  M E Sorley: The Sorley Pedigrees P 13
  
  === !AKA: William de Tracy, Lord of Bradninc ===
  !AKA: William de Tracy, Lord of Bradninch, Devon - Doc. Line 124A-29 !BIRTH: Date: After 1090 - Doc. Line 24-26 After 1090 (almost certainly being younger than his half brother Robert de Caen, Earl of Gloucester - Doc. Line 222-26 !CHILDREN: Of Wiliam de Tracy and unknown wife N.N. de Tracy - Doc. Line 24-27 - Of William de Tracy, Lord and [ ] de Pomeroy William - Doc. Line 124A-29 - Of William de Tracy and an unknown wife William de Tracy (his father's heir) and a daughter Doc. Line 222-26 !DEATH: Date: Shortly after 1135 - Doc. Line 25-26 ca. 1135 - Doc. Line 124A-29 ca. 1135 (soon after his father) - Doc. Line 222-26 !NOTE: Granted during his father's lifetime the escheated estates of Willima Capra in Devonshire including the barony of Bradninch, co. Devon.
  
  === This profile was originally that of Wiliam de Braose ===
  It was merged with William de Tracy, unmerged, remerged, etc.etc. - The sources and information attached relate to William de Tracy nêe William Sudely. he is not the same person as William de Braose. All information on William de Braose has been moved to a new profile, please do not remerge.
  
  === Ancestral File Number: 9FTL-Z8 ===
  Ancestral File Number: 9FTL-Z8
  
  === !TITLE: Baron of Barnstable. ===
  !TITLE: Baron of Barnstable.
  
  === He was present at the tournament at Barn ===
  He was present at the tournament at Barnstaple by Edward II. He was madeHigh Sheriff of County Gloucester in 1319. (Tracy Genealogy, being someof the Descendants of Stephen Tracy of Plymouth Colony, 1623, compiled bySherman Weld Tracy, 1936)
  
  === ONE OF FOUR MURDERERS OF THOMAS A. BECK ===
  ONE OF FOUR MURDERERS OF THOMAS A. BECKET, ARCHBISHIP OF CANTERBURY.
  
  === Sir William made high sheriff of Glouch ===
  Sir William made high sheriff of Glouchestershire in 1269.
  
  === Baron of Barnstaple ===
  Baron of Barnstaple
  
  === Source: Title: The Plantagenet Ancestry, ===
  Source: Title: The Plantagenet Ancestry, by William Henry Turton, 1968 Page: 133 Title: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, 7th Edition, byFrederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Shippard Jr., 1999 Page: 25-26, 24-26 Title: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, 7th Edition, byFrederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Shippard Jr., 1999 Page: 25-26
  
  === NOTE: In Plantagenet Ancestry (Eng.116) ===
  NOTE: In Plantagenet Ancestry (Eng.116) the above couple are credited with the daughter,Grace, who married (Baron) John de Sudeley, son of Harold de Sudeley. This can hardley be correct since.... (more on original record)
  
  === He was escheator to county Gloucester, a ===
  He was escheator to county Gloucester, abt 1250, and Constable ofGloucester Castle 1264, presented to the church of Toddington 1271.
  
  === !BOOK: Ancestry & Descendancy of Lt. Tho ===
  !BOOK: Ancestry & Descendancy of Lt. Thomas Tracy of Norwich Conn (1660) by Evert E Tracy
  
  === Historians say he one of the knights who murdered St. Thomas Beckett ===
  King Henry II ordered the hit on his archbishop, Thomas Beckett. William de Tracy was one of the four knights who killed him.
  
  === Name Suffix: Prince of England
  REF ===
  Name Suffix: Prince of England
  REFN: HWS9004
  Ancestral File Number: 9FTL-Z8
  OBJE: C:\LEGACY\PICTURES\C_PrinceSaintEmpire.GIF
  OBJE: C:\LEGACY\PICTURES\Angleterre_1327.GIF
  
  OBJE: C:\LEGACY\PICTURES\C_PrinceSaintEmpire.GIF
  OBJE: C:\LEGACY\PICTURES\Angleterre_1327.GIF
  OBJE: C:\LEGACY\PICTURES\C_baron1.GIF
  OBJE: C:\LEGACY\PICTURES\tracy.jpg
  
  OBJE: C:\LEGACY\PICTURES\tracy.jpg
  
  === Tracy family line ===
  I and my father has done extensive research on this family tree. The book titled descendants of Grace DeTracy list all Tracy's all the way down to William McKnight Tracy 1935-2019.
  
  === "Ancestral Roots..." (Balt., 1992) 222-2 ===
  "Ancestral Roots..." (Balt., 1992) 222-26: William de Tracy, born to an unknown mistress of the king, "born after 1109...d. ca. 1135, soon AFT his father; granted during his father's lifetime the escheated estates of William Capra in Devonshire including the barony of Bradninch, co.Devon. By an unknown wife, William de Tracy had two identifiable children: Sir William de Tracy (his father's heir), b. say 1135, liv. 1170, who was one of the four murderers of Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, and a dau. md. Gervase de Courtenay."
  
  === [Brøderbund WFT Vol. 5, Ed. 1, Tree #21 ===
  [Brøderbund WFT Vol. 5, Ed. 1, Tree #2126, Date of Import: 1 Nov 1999] New England families, William R. Cutter, Vol. I, p. 137 Lived in the reign of Henry II, and held the manor of Toddington. He was one of the knights who, in 1170, at the instigation of Henry II, assassinated Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. He is described as "a man of high birth, state and stmach, a favorite of the King and his daily attendant." In 1171, he was created justiciary of Normandy, serving about 5 years. He then returned to England and during the reign of King John, took up arms against him, and his lands were confiscated. They were later restored, however. Late in life, he founded and endowed a chapel to Thomas a Becket in the conventual church at Tewkesbury, indicating his repentance. He died at Morthoe, County Devon, in 1224.
  
  === Information from www.familysearch.com; s ===
  Information from www.familysearch.com; submitted by: ARLIN TRACY BARNES 1396 EAST 300 NORTH LAYTON, UT 84040
  
  === William de Tracy was almost certainly yo ===
  William de Tracy was almost certainly younger than his half brother, Robert de Caen, Earl of Gloucester. He died soon after his father, Henry I, died. He was granted during his father's lifetime the escheated estates of William Capra in Devonshire including the barony of Bradninch, Devon. Weis. 25-26, 222-26.

1. Henry de Tracy I le bossu, b. 1166 in Toddington, Gloucestershire, England     d. 1230 in Toddington, Gloucestershire, England
2. Amicia de Tracy, b. ABT 1184 in Toddington, Gloucestershire, England     d. in Honiley, Warwickshire, England

1. Title: Wikipedia - William de Tracy
   Author: Sudeley, Lord, Becket's Murderer William de Tracy, in The Sudeleys – Lords of Toddington, London, 1987, pp: 77–78, 82, 88, OCLC 82268496 Sudeley, Lord (1987) pp. 76–78, and opposite p. 100 Sudeley, Lord (1987) p. 82 Sudeley, Lord (1987) pp. 82–83 https://www.archive.org/stream/conquerorhiscomp02planuoft/conquerorhiscomp02planuoft_djvu.txt Excerpt: TRACIE, "Sire de," 1. 13,605. The Norman family of Tracy does not appear to have been of much importance in England before the reign of Stephen, who bestowed upon Henry de Tracy the honour of Benstable (Barnstaple) in Devonshire; but the first of the name we hear of is Turgis, or Turgisins de Tracy, who with William de la Ferte was defeated and driven out of Maine by Fulk le Rechin, Count of Anjou, in 1073, and who was therefore in all probability the Sire de Tracy in the army at Hastings.....
   Publication: Name: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/William_de_Tracy;
   Note: Sir William de Tracy (died c. 1189) was a knight and the feudal baron of Bradninch, Devon, with caput at the manor of Bradninch near Exeter, and was lord of the manors (amongst very many others) of Toddington, Gloucestershire and of Moretonhampstead, Devon. He is notorious as one of the four knights who assassinated Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, in December 1170. Thomas_Becket_Murder.JPG Contemporary drawing portraying the murder of Becket Origins William was son of John de Sudeley and his wife Grace de Tracy. Their elder son, Ralph de Sudeley (died c. 1192), became his father's heir, while the younger, William, inherited his mother's barony of Bradninch and assumed her family name as William de Tracy. He became a knight of Gloucestershire and held the lands of his brother by service of one knight's fee. William de Tracy appears in a charter of his older brother Ralph de Sudeley, assigning the manor of Yanworth, near Cirencester, to Gloucester Abbey. Two of the witnesses to that charter lived on land held by the Normandy branch of the de Tracys, and two of the English witnesses had previously witnessed a charter to Barnstaple Priory in 1146 for Henry de Tracy, who had married a daughter of Juhel de Mayenne as permitted by Stephen, King of England. In 1166 William held one fee from his brother Ralph. Murder of Becket William de Tracy was one of the four knights who, supposedly at the behest of King Henry II, in 1170 murdered Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. His accomplices were Reginald Fitzurse, Hugh de Morville and Richard le Breton (or de Brito). They afterwards invaded the Archbishop's Palace plundering Papal Bulls and Charters, gold, silver, vestments, books, and utensils employed for the services of the church. Henry failed to arrest the knights, advising them to flee to Scotland. Whilst their lands technically escheated to the crown, they appear to have continued to enjoy use of them after only a short interruption, presumably as a favour from the king. They stayed only a short while in Scotland, returning to the castle of Knaresborough in Yorkshire, the possession of Hugh de Morville. Benefactions He executed a charter granting to the Canons of Torre, in the county of Devon, all his lands at North Chillingford. Alkborough It is known that Hugh de Morville, Richard de Brito, and William de Tracy built a church at Alkborough, near Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire, where, until 1690, an inscribed stone on the chancel recorded the benefaction.[citation needed] Bovey Tracey The name of the town of Bovey Tracey is derived from the River Bovey which passes through the town, and from the 'de Tracey' family – from Traci near Bayeux, Normandy, who settled in the area after the Norman Conquest of 1066. William de Tracy rebuilt the town's Church of St Peter, Paul and Thomas after 1170 as part of his penance for his part in the Archbishop's murder. In addition he significantly rebuilt and added a tower, chancel, and porch to the church of Lapford, Devon, which was then re-dedicated to Becket. Nymet Tracy According to local tradition, William de Tracy founded a church at Nymet Tracey near Bovey, in penance. Excommunication and exile The benefactions failed to impress Pope Alexander III, and he excommunicated de Tracy and the other murderers on Maundy Thursday, March 25, 1171. William de Tracy set out for Rome after the end of September, but before Henry II's expedition to Ireland in October, when he made appearances in the shire court of Oxford, attesting a quitclaim relating to land of Winchcombe Abbey at Gagingwell, near Enstone, north of Oxford. In addition, he was present when the charter recording the transaction was offered up on the High Altar at Winchcombe Abbey. Scutage was paid on de Tracy's lands that year. The departure of the other knights to Rome was delayed until two of them, FitzUrse and de Morville, had taken part in the great Revolt of 1173–74 against the king. The Archbishop's murderers gained their audience with the Pope, who despite their penitence, declared they should be exiled and fight in Jerusalem "in knightly arms in The Temple for 14 years", and then return to Rome. Death and burial There is speculation as to what happened next. Herbert of Bosham says that de Tracy did not reach the Holy Land but died as early as 1174 of leprosy at Cosenza in Southern Italy. After much examination the present Lord Sudeley dismissed this story as fictitious sensationalism on Herbert's part. Moreover, de Tracy's journey east is confirmed by Romwald II, Archbishop of Salerno and by Roger Hovenden, who stated that the Pope instructed the knights, once their duties were fulfilled, to visit the Holy Places barefoot and in hairshirts and then to live alone for the rest of their lives on the Black Mountain near Antioch, spending all their time there in vigils, prayers, and lamentations. It is thought that de Tracy retired to a hermitage there. Roger Hovenden related further that after their deaths the bodies of the knights were buried at Jerusalem before the door of The Temple, the Templar Round Church built on the site of the Temple of Solomon. This conforms to the tradition that the murderers were buried under the portico in front of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was the refectory of the Knights Templar. Another tradition is that the bodies of the knights were returned to the island of Brean Down, off the coast of Weston-super-Mare and buried there. Relatives and descendants William de Tracy had a son, also called William, who made charitable benefactions in France, building and endowing a house for lepers at a place called Coismas, possibly Commeaux, or Couesmes-Vaucé. He also made gifts to the Priory of St Stephen, Le Plessis-Grimoult of lands possessed by the family before they all finally came to England. He died before 1194, leaving a son, Henry, who lost his lands in 1202.
   
2. Title: Record of Sir William de Tracy's Death- 1224
   Author: Ripley, Charles Stedman. The ancestors of Lieutenant Thomas Tracy of Norwich, Connecticut. Boston: A. Mudge & Son, Printers, 1895. Print. Most useful information found on pg.35
   Publication: Name: https://books.google.com/books?id=tlpZAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=Sir+William+de+Tracy+and+Hawise+de+Born&source=bl&ots=zEPJgKc8U1&sig=7jS4qZl;
   Note: Book on 'The Ancestors of Lieutenant Thomas Tracy of Norwich, Connecticut'
   Page: This is an older book with facts correlating to Sir william de Tracy that fit with the information from the spouses' and children's records.
   
3. Title: Our royal, titled, noble and commoner ancestors
   Author: Citations [S2687] Unknown author, The Royal Descents of 500 Immigrants, by Gary Boyd Robert, p. 396.
   Publication: Name: https://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p358.htm#i10737;
   Note: Sir William de Tracy, Murderer of Thomas a Becket1 Last Edited 4 Apr 2020 M, #10737 Father William de Tracy, Baron Bradninch b. a 1090, d. 1136 Sir William de Tracy, Murderer of Thomas a Becket married (Miss) de Pomeroy. Family (Miss) de Pomeroy Child Rose/Rohays Tracy+