| Name |
William MALET |
 Note |
Aft 1079 [1] |
- Editor's Note:
The first Malet known to hold the Honour of Curry Mallet was Robert Malet, but where does he fit in the larger Malet family known to exist in England at this time?
It is important to state at the outset that we have no historical record explaining exactly who this Robert was; only theories. All of the theories however lead us to conclude that even though we don't know for certain where, when or to whom Robert was born, we have no reason to suspect that he was not in some sense a descendant of the William Malet known to have been one of the Knights who accompanied William the Conqueror in 1066.
What follows is a verbatim excerpt from "Notices of an English Branch of the Malet Family", by Arthur Malet, published 1885, wherein he makes the case that this Robert Malet was the son of Gilbert Malet, who in turn was the son of William Malet who fought at the Battle of Hastings. Further research has been done by several scholars since Arthur Malet published his work, and none of them support Arthur Malet's theory. K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, writing in "Domesday Book and the Malets" suggests that this Robert may actually have been the son of Robert Malet, brother of Gilbert, and that is the theory followed here.
For more information on this topic, click here: Malet of Curry Malet, Somerset c.1130
Excerpt from "Notices of an English Branch of the Malet Family", by Arthur Malet, published 1885, pp 72-73, appendix GG, HH2:
ROBERT MALET OF CURRY MALET AND SHEPTON MALET.
We learn from the return made by the Abbot of Glastonbury 12 Henry II, A.D. 1166,* that Robert held in the reign of Henry I, sometime between the years 1100 and 1135, under the Abbey of Glastonbury, ten knights' fees; and we also know from his son William Malet's return of his knights' fees at the same time,** that the greater portion of the Somerset knights' fees held by him was of the old feoffment, which must mean that they had been held by his father Robert before him. Thus we find Robert Malet in possession of a large part of the property of Roger de Corcelle, who died during the reign of William Rufus. No record or tradition existing of the mode in which these possessions fell to the Malets, I have concluded that Gilbert Malet must have married a De Corcelle, heiress to those estates of which Robert was seised during the reign of Henry I.
Robert Malet was a witness to the charter granted by Maud the Empress to Geoffrey de Magnaville when she created him Earl of Essex, which is supposed to have been in about 1141, but he lived on at least to 1150; for Mr. Farbrother in his Notes on the History of Shepton Malet, page 220, states "that there was not long ago in the chest of Shepton Mallet Church a letter from Robert Malet written in about 1150, in which he petitions the Pope on behalf of himself and the inhabitants that a cemetery may be added to the Church, for that the corpses were lost and frequently those also who carried them in going to Glastonbury, the place of burial, in bogs and quagmires." Beyond this date I find no record of him. Supposing therefore that he was twenty-one years at the accession of Henry I, and this would be probable, as his father Gilbert must have been about fifty years old at that time, he must have been about seventy-one years old in 1150, the date of his petition to the Pope. He was succeeded by his son William.
* Sir A.M.'s MSS., Vol. II, pp. 1 and 2.
Return made by Abbot of Glastonbury, 12th Henry II, A.D. 1166.
Milites qui tenuerunt tempote Regis Henrici (primi) et modo tenet de Abbatia de Glaston. Robertus Malet tenuit feod: x milit: et Hubertus de Sancta Susanna tenuit de eodem ii milit: et modo Will'us Malet tenet totum tenementum pro xii militibus.
** To William Malet, the son of Robert Malet, of Curry and Shepton. Charta Willielmi Malet, 12 R. Hen. II [A.D. 1166.] de Militibus suis in Com. Som: Ex Libro Nigro Schaccarii. Isti sunt milites de veteri feoffamento Willielmi Malet de feodo quod tenet in capite de Rege.
Willielmus filius Reginaldi 7 milites et 3m partem militis. Baldwinus Malet 2 milites et 3m partem. Tho's de Halsway 1 mil: Osbert de Eston 3 mil: Roger Arundel 1 mil: Robert de Woda 1 mil: Serlo de Braicot I mil: Jordan de Cnolla 1 mil: Walter de St'o Quintino 1 mil: Jordan de Stafford 1 mil: Radulphus Hosatus dimid mil: Isti sunt de verteri feoffamento, et tot debet Regi. Robert Malherbe 1 mil: et 4 partes mil: Helias de Meigs 4m partem mil. Joh'es Belet et Henry de Lopene 1 mil: PHilip Buzar 5m parem mil. Willielmus Hostiarius 20 part mil.
De novo feoffamento isti subscripti. Robertus filius Bernardi 1 mil: Osbert de Bamville 10m partem mil: Malgerious 5m partem. Will'us de Northfolc 10m partem mil: Ipse Willielmus debet Regi in Kent de Honore quem ei dedit dimid: mil:
These knights' fees in Somerset of the old and new feoffment which this Baron William Malet held of King Henry II in capite in the twelfth year of his reign, were in number twenty-two entire fees, besides the parts of fees.
|
| Note |
Aft 1104 [2] |
- Excerpt from "Notices of an English Branch of the Malet Family", by Arthur Malet, published 1885, pp 73-74, appendix GG, HH1, HH2:
WILLIAM MALET.
Robert Malet of whom we have record up to 1150 was succeeded by his son William Malet, and who, sometime in the reign of Stephen ( I cannot fix the precise date), between the years 1135 and 1154, was one of the witnesses to that King's Charter to the Church of St. Benedict of Ramsey.* In the second year of Henry II, A.D. 1156** he paid the sum of L. 25 for Danegeld in the county of Somerset, and in the 12th year of Henry II, A. D. 1166, he certified for the assessment of the aid for marrying the King's daughter to upwards of twenty-two knights' fees of the old feoffment, and upwards of two knights' fees on the new.*** For all these in 14 Henry II, A.D. 1168, he paid the sum of L.15 12s. 10d. Reckoning in addition to these the fees he held of the Abbey of Glastonbury+ in number twelve, he held thirty-four knights' fees in Somerset, the Honour in Kent, and four knights' fees in Sussex.
The Rev. R.W. Eyton in his Somerset Domesday Studies calls William Malet the steward and favourite of Henry II. He was one of the recognitors of the Constitutions of Clarendon, one of thirty-eight nobles whose names are attached to that remarkable document, the provisions of which (though ten of the sixteen clauses were disallowed by the Pope) are, in the words of Mr. Stubbs, "no mere engine of tyranny or secular spire against a churchman; they are really a part of a great scheme of administrative reforms, by which the debateable ground between the spiritual and temporal powers can be brought within the reach of common justice, and the lawlessness arising from professional jealousies abolished. That they were really this, and not an occasional weapon of controversy, may be further inferred from the rapidity with which they were drawn up, the completeness of their form, and the fact that notwithstanding the storm that followed they formed the groundwork of the later customary practices in all such matters."
I find in Sir A. M.'s MSS. an entry that William Malet married Maud, a daughter of Robert Mortimer, but there is no reference to any source from which to trace any further particulars. He left a son Gilbert, who succeeded to the barony.
* Dug. Bar., Vol.I, p.3.
In charta Stephani Regis Angliae Ecclesiae Sancti Benedicti de Ramseia, etc. Test: Maud Regina. R: Epo: Sarum. A: Epo: Lincoln. R: Epo: Exon. H. Epo: Ely. R: Comite Warwick. Will'm Martin Milone de Glouc: Wm Malet. Apud Oxenford. Ex excerptis MSS. Ric: St George.
** Collinson, vol. i, p. 31.
*** To William Malet, the son of Robert Malet, of Curry and Shepton. Charta Willielmi Malet, 12 R. Hen. II [A.D. 1166.] de Militibus suis in Com. Som: Ex Libro Nigro Schaccarii.
Isti sunt milites de veteri feoffamento Willielmi Malet de feodo quod tenet in capite de Rege.
Willielmus filius Reginaldi 7 milites et 3m partem militis. Baldwinus Malet 2 milites et 3m partem. Tho's de Halsway 1 mil: Osbert de Eston 3 mil: Roger Arundel 1 mil: Robert de Woda 1 mil: Serlo de Braicot I mil: Jordan de Cnolla 1 mil: Walter de St'o Quintino 1 mil: Jordan de Stafford 1 mil: Radulphus Hosatus dimid mil: Isti sunt de verteri feoffamento, et tot debet Regi. Robert Malherbe 1 mil: et 4 partes mil: Helias de Meigs 4m partem mil. Joh'es Belet et Henry de Lopene 1 mil: PHilip Buzar 5m parem mil. Willielmus Hostiarius 20 part mil.
De novo feoffamento isti subscripti. Robertus filius Bernardi 1 mil: Osbert de Bamville 10m partem mil: Malgerious 5m partem. Will'us de Northfolc 10m partem mil: Ipse Willielmus debet Regi in Kent de Honore quem ei dedit dimi: mil:
These knights' fees in Somerset of the old and new feoffment which this Baron William Malet held of King Henry II in capite in the twelfth year of his reign, were in number twenty-two entire fees, besides the parts of fees.
+ Sir A.M.'s MSS., Vol. II, pp. 1 and 2.
Return made by Abbot of Glastonbury, 12th Henry II, A.D. 1166.
Milites qui tenuerunt tempote Regis Henrici (primi) et modo tenet de Abbatia de Glaston. Robertus Malet tenuit feod: x milit: et Hubertus de Sancta Susanna tenuit de eodem ii milit: et modo Will'us Malet tenet totum tenementum pro xii militibus.
|
| Birth |
Est 1120 |
Curry Mallet, Somerset, England  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Land Transaction |
Between 1150 and 1155 |
Curry Mallet, Somerset, England [3] |
- Succeeded to the barony of Curry Mallet upon his father's death. Besides the Honour of Curry, he had estates in Sussex, Surrey, Kent, and Suffolk.
|
| SW Group |
A |
| UKC 1881 |
N |
| Death |
Between 1169 and 1170 |
Curry Mallet, Somerset, England [3] |
| Person ID |
I6938 |
Southwest |
| Last Modified |
7 Jan 2026 |
Est 1120 - 1170 (~ 49 years)
: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
: State/Province
: Country
: Not Set