Path of a Family - ADVENTURES with the VANCE`S

Transcription

By J. David Vance
Email: [email protected]
1st Edition (v1.2)
This book is provided at no charge for personal use only
And may not be resold, copied or reproduced in whole or in part
Without the written permission of the author
Cover picture: Sir Roland de Vaux of Triermain, illustration from J.B. Lippencott (ed.), The Poetical Works of
Sir Walter Scott, (Philadephia: Lippencott, J.B., 1878)
Path of a Family Part I: The Norman de Vaux to the Irish Vances: 1066-1800s
J. David Vance
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................................................2
70,000 TO 35,000 YEARS AGO: VANCE PRE-HISTORY .............................................................................4
GENETIC CLUES TO A LOST STORY........................................................................................................................4
SOME BACKSTORY ON THE NORMAN DE VAUX .....................................................................................8
0 AD TO 1066 AD: RUMOR HAS IT .....................................................................................................................8
THE “USUAL STORY” OF THE ANGLO-NORMAN DE VAUX ..................................................................................14
SOME HISTORICAL BACKGROUND FOR THE AVAILABLE NORMAN RECORDS ....................................................16
MAJOR ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND LOCATIONS OF THE DE VAUX/VAUS/VANS FAMILY ....................................18
C. 1066-86 AD: THE NORMAN COMETH ....................................................................................................19
THE DE VAUX IN THE NORMAN CONQUEST .......................................................................................................19
THE NEXT DE VAUX IN ENGLAND ......................................................................................................................25
THE DE VAUX HEAD NORTH ..............................................................................................................................26
WRAPPING UP THE ANGLO-NORMANS: A LOOK BACK AT THE USUAL STORY ..................................................34
THE ANGLO-NORMAN DE VAUX FAMILY ..........................................................................................................36
SO…WERE THERE ANY DE VAUX ON THE CRUSADES?.......................................................................................37
SO…WHERE IN NORMANDY WERE THE DE VAUX FROM?...................................................................................38
C. 1153-65 AD: FROM ANGLO-NORMANS TO SCOTS .............................................................................41
THE DE VAUX OF DIRLETON ..............................................................................................................................41
THE VANS OF BARNBARROCH............................................................................................................................46
THE SCOTTISH DE VAUX / VAUS / VANS FAMILY ...............................................................................................51
SO… WHAT EXACTLY WAS THE FAMILY COAT OF ARMS? .................................................................................56
SO… WHAT ABOUT THE ROBERT THE BRUCE CONNECTION? .............................................................................62
C. 1617 FROM SCOTS TO IRISH: ENTER THE VANCES.........................................................................63
MAJOR IRELAND LOCATIONS OF THE VANS/VANCE FAMILY .............................................................................65
FROM SCOTLAND TO IRELAND ...........................................................................................................................68
THE NEXT GENERATIONS IN IRELAND ...............................................................................................................71
SO… WHO EXACTLY WAS WILLIAM BALBIRNIE?...............................................................................................81
CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................................84
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................................85
© 2011, J. David Vance
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J. David Vance
Introduction
My grandfather always said the secret to good health was picking the right parents. He felt you could
overcome some things with lifestyle choices but you were otherwise pretty much stuck with what you
were born with.
I have no idea if he was right about health. But I do know the secret to genealogy is picking the right
parents. You can trace your ancestors back pretty far if you’re lucky enough that they were important
or happened to leave good records. You can overcome some gaps with diligent research, but you can’t
make up for the past - you’re pretty much stuck with what you were born with.
The Vance name has many origins - some Vances started from “Wentz” in Germany, others from
“Vants” in Holland - but a large group of British and Americans are lucky enough to have been born
into a family name that the records trace back to the “de Vaux” name in Norman times, and as a family
of that period the de Vaux are probably at least as well documented as any family outside of major
nobility; not well, but well enough. So with a little effort we get to see the path of one family name
through nearly a millennium of Western history from the 11th century to the present.
I have set out to tell the story of my direct ancestors, the Vances of Columbia County, Pennsylvania;
and though there are gaps and conflicting data, the best interpretation is still that our Vance family
name is descended from these de Vaux. As the name changed from de Vaux to Vaux, to Vaus, to
Vans, and finally Vance, the path of the family name through history looks something like this:
The de Vaux, Vans and Vance Family path through Great Britain to Columbia County
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This is Part I of the full story, covering from the pre-history of the family name through to around
1800 when the first Vances left Ireland for Columbia County. Since that first part of the family story
is of interest to many others besides the Vances of my direct line I have separated it out into its own
book. Part II picks up with the first Vances who emigrated from Donegal, Ireland to Northumberland
County, Pennsylvania around 1800 and will follow the Vances of Columbia County through to
modern times.
It is perhaps surprising that although they were overall very minor players on the stage of history, the
story of the de Vaux has been told and retold for centuries. Unfortunately it has also been shrouded
for centuries by half-truths and legends, so what you will read here may be very different from what is
published elsewhere about the de Vaux family. What I have tried to do instead of repeating the “usual
story” is to sift through some of the myths to focus on what is available in primary records.
An introduction should always acknowledge the giants upon whose shoulders the author stood; and for
the Norman de Vaux and the Vans/Vances of Scotland and Ireland the Vance Family Association
(www.vancefamilyassociation.org) has for nearly thirty years tirelessly collected stories, reports, and
research on the Vance family name and most of what is contained here has been published already in
their quarterly newsletters. Also, Jamie Vans, the twenty-third Laird of Barnbarroch, has spent much
of his own time and resources not only helping other Vans/Vance researchers but also documenting
the family history in print and online.
His research can be found at
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vfarch/Publications.html.
I (and any other Vance
researchers) am deeply indebted to them all for all their work, and I hope I have credited them
appropriately in these pages.
For Part II and the story of the Vances of Columbia County, I am grateful to my own father, James R.
Vance, who was the first in my family to catch the genealogy bug. In today’s world when the
published material available with the click of a computer mouse dwarfs the fabled library of
Alexandria and genealogists can connect and collaborate over e-mail with their peers every day
without effort, it is humbling to note that what my father documented with index cards, road trips, a
library card and letter campaigns still probably makes up 90% of what we know about the Vances of
Columbia County today.
Of course, everyone inserts their own biases and assumptions and perhaps the biggest assumption in
publishing this story is that our ancestors are actually interesting. To improve the odds of that being
true I have tried to walk a line between dry facts and factual color commentary, so that this story of
the de Vaux is more than just a list of who begat whom.
While documenting the path of the family name I came across other related subjects that I have
pursued to some extent but where I know a more complete picture could still be developed with a little
more research. I have included these “asides” under separate articles under the heading of “Gene Pool
Reflections” to make it clear that I have really only dipped a toe into those topics and there is more
left to find.
As for any history, the conclusions and interpretations presented here are always open to challenges –
and both large and small debates continue over many topics. But to me the story is still a fascinating
and entertaining look back at our family history – or, if you prefer, at one family name’s most likely
path through history. I hope you will find it the same.
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70,000 to 35,000 years ago: Vance pre-history
Cro-Magnon Cave Paintings in Lascaux, France
(credit: Peter80, Wikimedia under GNU_Free_Documentation_License_1.2)
Genetic clues to a lost story
We all know that our own DNA is unique; that even though everyone inherits their DNA from their
parents, the genetic material is “shuffled” each time so every individual inherits a unique combination
of genes. Even so, certain genetic markers are consistently passed along unchanged. Over many
generations these consistent genetic markers also accumulate small, random changes in their DNA
sequences, and those “copying errors” are then passed on to further generations. These are miniscule
changes in DNA markers; mutations only in the sense of unexpected differences and nothing on a
scale that would mean changes in physical traits or health disorders. But by finding and studying
these miniscule changes across large populations, scientists can map the distribution and migration
patterns of those genetic markers over thousands of years; and therefore can tell how our ancestors
developed and expanded across the globe.
The Genographic Project (https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html) is a
genetic anthropology study launched in 2005 by the National Geographic Society that aims to map
historical human migration patterns using DNA samples from hundreds of thousands of people from
around the world. It focuses on how groups of humans spread across the earth and is not concerned
with individual genealogies, nor can it identify who our specific ancestors were or in what specific
timeframes they actually moved from place to place. So it truly IS an anthropology study, not a
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genealogy study.
But it also
bridges those two fields by
offering us a fascinating window
into a previously hidden genetic
legacy from our remotest ancestors
well beyond the reach of any
surviving historical records.
This type of DNA study is not
without its critics; it invites
controversy from those concerned
about the impacts on ancient
cultural beliefs and genetic
yDNA Inheritance along male lines
privacy standards, and, like fossil
evidence and carbon-dating, it is another example of science challenging wide and deeply-held
religious convictions. While acknowledging those debates, including this research is not meant to be
a statement about any of them. The DNA analysis is included here not because the science is
unchallengeable but simply because it offers a relevant theory on the pre-history of the Vance family
name.
Some of the easiest consistent markers to test for (and therefore used by the Genographic Project) are
in the Y chromosome, which is passed along only from fathers to their sons, and in mitochondrial
DNA which is passed along only from mothers to their daughters. This analysis was based on male
DNA (mine), and therefore on the Y chromosome. So in studying the male connection from past
fathers to sons, it was (presumably, but I’ll leave that line of discussion to Part II) following the same
lines as the Vance name has traveled down through male ancestors – hence its relevance to the
Vances of Columbia County and this book.
However, if you are by chance uneasy about my choice to include in this book one widely-held belief
about human origins and not others, please send me what research your system of beliefs has done on
the pre-history of the Vances of Columbia County and I’ll be happy to include it as a chapter in the
next edition.
So back to the science beliefs… based on common mutations in the Y chromosome, scientists have
grouped ancient populations into haplotypes and haplogroups, which developed at identifiable
timeframes of human history at identifiable regions of the globe. One haplogroup can spawn others as
the genetic “copying errors” of certain individuals from the original group survive and are passed
along to large numbers of descendants.
Based on archeological research, scientists believe that the first modern humans developed in Africa
around 200,000 years ago, and started migrating out of Africa to the rest of the world about 60,000
years ago. One man probably living in the Rift Valley of northeast Africa between 31,000 and 79,000
years ago (most likely around 50,000 years ago) developed the genetic marker called M168 that is
shared by all non-African males living today, so he is considered the common ancestor of all nonAfricans.
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Western Atlantic Model Haplotype Migrations, 79,000 - 30,000 years ago (map courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech)
When the Ice Age over Europe receded about 50,000 years ago, this man’s descendants followed the
changes in climate, plants, and animal territories out of Africa and into the Middle East. From there,
the timeline of genetic markers runs as follows:
-
45,000 years ago in the Middle East (or Africa): a new individual develops the genetic marker
M89, which is shared by some 90-95% of all non-African males today. M89 is also known as
the Middle Eastern Clan.
-
40,000 years ago in Iran or south Central Asia: M9 develops, known as the Eurasian Clan,
and the descendants of this individual spent the next 30,000 years migrating across most of the
Northern Hemisphere. To quote directly from the study, “Nearly all North Americans and
East Asians are descendants of [this man], as are most Europeans and many Indians.”
-
35,000 years ago north of the Hindu Kush region in Central Asia: an individual with the M45
marker spawns the Central Asian Clan and is the common ancestor of most Europeans and
Native Americans.
-
30,000 years ago still in Central Asia: the descendants of an individual with the M207 marker
begin to migrate towards Europe. Some turn south to colonize India; others marked with a
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new M173 mutation migrate into Europe and replace the Neanderthal tribes living there. Still
around 30,000 years ago, a new M343 marker develops in an individual whose descendants
became the Cro-Magnon people of Europe.
In total, the DNA analysis puts the Vances as part of haplogroup R1b (M343), also known as the
Western Atlantic Modal Haplotype. To quote the study further, “Today, roughly 70 percent of the
men in southern England belong to haplogroup R1b (M343). In parts of Spain and Ireland, that
number exceeds 90 percent.”
That’s what the Genographic Project has been able to determine after collecting over 400,000 DNA
samples around the world. However, as they continue to collect more samples and more data, they are
adding details to the story and continuing to expand on the timelines and the regional migrations. As
their analysis improves, so will their theories on the pre-history of the Vance male line.
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Some Backstory on the Norman de Vaux
0 AD to 1066 AD: Rumor Has It
The history of the de Vaux/Vans/Vance name has for the past several hundred years included a
popular backstory about the birth of the “de Vaux” name.
The story of the origins of the de Vaux/Vans/Vance family name back to the de Baux of France and
from there to the birth of Jesus Christ is a delightful tale that has been gleefully reprinted by
genealogists for many years. In its modern form it usually runs like this1:
The barbaric Goths
Historians of France and England are reasonably certain the Vances are descendants of the
Baltic Goth tribes of northern Europe. The Goth people were known to have lived on the
shores of the Baltic Sea before the birth of Christ.
The Goths lived somewhat peacefully in their northern homes, tending their crops with the
help of slaves captured in war, until about 200 AD when they became war-like and began to
migrate south into Europe. Their history as they marched across Europe was little else than a
record of barbarian slaughter and pillage.
They started war with the Roman Empire in the early 300’s AD when they invaded Turkey
and Greece. Alaric the Balthing became king of the Goths in 395 AD and in 410 AD led the
Goths in a successful sacking of Rome which was a proximate cause of the fall of the Roman
Empire in Italy. (It is reported by some that the Vances are directly descended from Alaric).
Alaric was a Christian who tried to be merciful to those who were conquered. When Rome
was taken he ordered that any person who took refuge in the two churches of the great
apostles, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, were to be spared but his orders were ignored by his
troops. Streets were heaped with the dead, while others were brutally tortured, and many
slaves taken.
Alaric and his army then marched to southern Italy in an attempt to cut off supplies coming to
Rome from Africa. They were caught in a storm when they attempted to invade Sicily. Alaric
became sick and died at age 35. The Goth’s momentum was then stopped and many of his
followers settled in Italy.
1
Since I am pretty hard on this story, I won’t give the source of this particular version, but suffice it to say it has
been repeated in many published genealogies that trace their ancestry to the de Vaux. It IS a great story and I’ve
included it myself to liven up otherwise dull reports to family members on the origins of the Vance name… I just
don’t include it as a likely story.
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Les Baux castle in Southern France
(credit: Benh, Wikimedia under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)
family de Baux
The Vances descend from a Baltic Goth family who overtook an ancient fortress in southern
France after they were expelled from Italy. The medieval castle, Les Baux, still exists as ruins
perched atop a rocky mountain ledge near Arles, France. From their castle, they took the name
de Baux (pronounced “dee bow”).
The first record of a de Baux is that of Gossallin who, in about 810, married Herriasbeuck,
daughter and heiress of William, Sovereign of the Court of Orange, and niece of Bertha, wife
of Emperor Charlemagne.
The de Bauxs were feudal overlords owning seventy-nine
villages and towns, mostly located along the Rhone River
from Marseille north to near Lyon. One author says of them
“The Princes of Les Baux were a barbaric race, … with wild
mountain blood in their veins. Their association with
Christianity was certainly not of a very intimate kind. They
were a blind, bloodstained race, believing in violence and
retaliation as the one and only means of grace in this world
and troubling themselves, till the moment of death, with very
little about the next. They generally reaped as they had sown;
feared, hated, and often dying deaths as terrible as those
which they had inflicted on their victims.”
Seal of De Baux
It was a powerful and influential family that married into a
number of kingdoms and fiefdoms of Europe. They have been
Dukes of Andrea; Princes of Joinville, Taranta, and Altamara;
Sovereign Counts of Orange and Provence; and Kings of
Vienne and Arles.
The de Bauxs also claim descendancy from the Magi King,
Balthazar, one of the wise men following the star to
Bethlehem upon the birth of Jesus. To make sure everyone
understood their relationship to Balthazar and the birth of
Jesus, the de Bauxs carried the symbol of the star of
Bethlehem on the arms and armor they bore in tournaments as
well as in battle. It was also on their coins and in wall
Arms of de Baux
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hangings decorating their castle. Written on the tomb of Raymond de Baux (who many think
is the direct ancestor of the Vances) is, “To the illustrious family of des Baux held to derive its
origin from the ancient King of Armenia to whom under the guidance of a star, the Saviour of
the world manifested himself”.
de Baux to de Vaux
In 929 AD Bertrand de Baux went to Normandy, in the north of France, by invitation of the
Duke of Normandy and established a branch of the family there where the name became de
Vaux. Bertrand was the progenitor of the family de Vaux, which long held a distinguished
rank among the nobles of Normandy.
This wonderful tale is a genealogist’s dream - a direct ancestral claim for the Vances all the way back
to Biblical figures that includes an ancient royal lineage of strapping testosterone-soaked barbarians
who by strength of arms and faith channeled their ferocious masculinity (and femininity, surely) into
the bloodlines of the leading nobility of Western civilization. No wonder that anyone who can’t
marry a Vance wants to be one. Those castles are standing empty; we should move right back in
tomorrow.
Really though… after that story any hardened researcher is crying out for some evidence. If there
originally were citations or references to research that anchored the story they have been lost. Most of
the current genealogists credit an 1860 author named William Balbirnie (more about him later) who
himself pulls the story out of William Playfair’s “Baronetage of Scotland” published in 1811. But
Playfair bases the story solely on “the most authentic documents” and generic “Norman historians”2.
And even if those unnamed but still “reasonably certain” historians of France and England did write
the story first, history has always belonged to the victors, and Western nobility in particular had a
stronger tradition of ensuring that their documented ancestry supported their right to rule than they did
of sticking to the facts.
In Balbirnie and Playfair’s defense, they were simply repeating a story that had been told before. The
ancestry of the nobility of Great Britain has been published and republished by many authors over the
centuries since William the Conqueror, and most of them have simply reprinted stories written by
earlier authors. The story of the de Vaux/de Baux connection was too good to pass up and has been
swapped around many times over hundreds of years.
The version of the origins of the de Vaux in one of the longest-running books on the ancestry of
British nobility, Burke’s Peerage, runs as follows3:
2
William Playfair, British Family Antiquity; Illustrative of the Origin and Progress of the Rank, Honours, and
Personal Merit, of the Nobility of the United Kingdom, vol. VIII (The Baronetage of Scotland), (London:
Whittingham & Rowland, 1811), p 146.
3
John Burke, A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, Extinct,
Dormant, and in Abeyance, (London: Colburn & Bentley, 1831), p. 531.
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Again, the story is romantic but the evidence is missing. Even the example of the 1615 church
inscription establishes only that the de Baux/de Vaux name-swapping happened in Italy (and perhaps
in Provence), but doesn’t say anything about any connections to a similar de Vaux family of
Normandy. And there is no evidence that anyone named “de Baux” lived in Normandy in medieval
times; and one would think (unless Burke is right that only the southern French confuse “B” and “V”!)
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that if the two names were that easily confused there would at least be some cases of “de Baux” found
in the north of France as well.
It is possible also that the story is flipped, and the de Baux are an offshoot of the de Vaux family who
moved south. But there is still no evidence of the connection, and if that were true then since the de
Baux left first, they would not be connected in any meaningful way to the descendants of the de Vaux
at the time of the Norman Conquest.
And with all due respect to any de Baux descendants who may still be running around enforcing their
ancestral claims, there is no actual evidence of anyone who descended from the Magi Kings; so
without a signed note from Balthazar himself that part sounds more like just a good excuse for keeping
a nifty shield design and battle cry around for a few hundred years (the ancestral battle cry of the de
Baux was “Au hazard, Balthazar!”, which roughly translates as “To chance, Balthazar!”, except it
rhymes in French).
Balbirnie also claims that the heraldic connection (the similarity of their coats of arms) between the de
Baux and de Vaux establishes them as a common family4. While I have not investigated that
similarity, Jamie Vans5 maintains that no such connection exists. And in any case heraldry did not
become a widespread system of inheritable emblems until the late 12th century, so the idea that the de
Baux and de Vaux families kept a common heraldry going on purpose for hundreds of years before
that is rather far-fetched.
In fact, in the 11th century surnames themselves had only been popular even among the nobility for a
generation or two, and people (even nobles) often changed surnames when they moved or even
changed political alliances. At a time when people could change surnames several times in their own
lifetime, it is doubtful that the de Baux and de Vaux families all grimly held on to the same family
name for generations except for one mispronunciation.
As discussed earlier, DNA analysis does strongly support that our pre-Cro-Magnon male line – like
the ancestors of most Western Europeans – followed a migratory path from the Urals across into
Western Europe and the British Isles. But those migrations happened through major population shifts
some 30,000 years before recorded history. There is no connection between those migrations and a
potential link from the Baltic Goths and de Baux to the de Vaux, Vans and Vances.
Is the tale possible? Well, the ancestry is certainly possible based only on pure mathematics. Each of
us (biologically) has two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, and so on – it’s a wellknown math exercise that even allowing for the same people to show up in multiple branches of our
ancestry, you only have to go back about as far as 900 A.D. to find that every human living then is a
probable ancestor of everyone living today. Based on that analysis, if Alaric, Bertrand de Baux, or
even Balthazar did have children and their lines continued, there is a high likelihood that everyone on
the planet is descended from them in some way. But we have no idea whether their descendants did
in fact survive, and besides, whether the family name descended that way is a completely different
question.
4
“In 1096, Raoul de Vaux of Normandy bore the same arms as Baux of the house of Provence.” William
Balbirnie, (Transcript of) An Account historical and genealogical from the earliest days till the present time of
the family of Vance in Ireland, Vans in Scotland, & originally de Vaux in France, Latin de Vallibus, (Cork:
Noblett, J.M., 1860), p. 4.
5
Jamie Vans, Origin of the Irish Vances, 3rd edition, 2007, p 3.
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vfarch/Publications.html (16 May 2011)
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Is the tale likely? Well, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, which along with the lack of
evidence is why most serious-minded genealogists would reject it. But to be fair, although there’s not
much chance of it being literally accurate, what is really likely is that we’ll never know the truth of it.
The link from the Norman de Vaux to the Vans and Vances has more factual support, and even that
has gaps. Before the time of the Norman Conquest of England, although we have this great story, the
real ancestry is lost in the haze of history.
So don’t bet your life on the story, even if your ancestors have repeated it for hundreds of years. But
if you’ve always felt you deserved to be treated like a Magi King, or just wanted a genetic excuse for
your barbaric behavior, be my guest.
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The “usual story” of the Anglo-Norman de Vaux
“In 1066, three brothers, Hubert, Rundolph and Robert, the sons of Harold de Vaux, Lord of Vaux, in
Normandy, accompanied William the Conqueror to England, and there their descendants became
Lords de Vaux of Pentney and Brevor, in Norfolk, of Gilliesland in Cumberland, and of Harrowden in
Northhamptonshire.”
Starting with these words from the opening pages of his 1860 book on the Vans/Vance family6,
William Balbirnie weaves an ancestry for the English/Scottish/Irish Vance/Vans/Vaux family lines
from Alaric the Visigoth through the powerful de Baux family of Provence to the de Vaux family of
Normandy and across to England with William the Conqueror as “Lords de Vaux.” This story is so
well-distributed among Vance family researchers that it has taken on the status of a tribal creation
myth.
To be fair, Balbirnie didn’t invent it himself; the same story about the de Vaux titled houses of
England and Scotland has been told for hundreds of years, mostly by publishers of the genealogies of
British nobility who have borrowed from previous publishers over and over again.
Even as refined a source as Burke’s Peerage carries the same story:
At the time of the Norman Conquest, Harold de Vaux, Lord of Vaux, in Normandy, having for
religious purposes conferred his seignory upon the abbey of the Holy Trinity at Caen (founded
by Mathilda, wife of William the Conqueror), came into England, accompanied by his three
sons [Hubert, Ranulph, and Robert].7
Through the efforts mainly of the Vance Family Association (www.vancefamilyassociation.org),
Jamie Vans, and the Vance/Vans Y-DNA Project (www.vancegenealogy.com), many American, Irish,
Scottish and English Vans/Vances do trace their surname back to the Vans of Barnbarroch and from
there to the Norman de Vaux. While there are gaps in the record, the relationships between major
family lines are well-established. But for most of us the existence of Harold and his sons and their
association with William the Conqueror has been largely taken on faith.
As Jamie Vans notes in his papers8, that faith isn’t supported by the few available records that still
exist from the 11th century; in fact those sources tell the story of the de Vaux with a very different cast
of characters. The story of those de Vaux is just becoming more widely available, using sources more
accessible through digital records and the increasingly online collaboration of medieval researchers,
and these notes really only capture the first glimpses of that story here.
The story that emerges is incomplete, and raises new questions and gaps to fill. But there clearly is a
story in these Norman de Vaux, and perhaps in time new pieces of the puzzle will close those gaps.
For the benefit of those who may not have access to other sources of Vans/Vance research, I have
repeated the well-known stories. However, it still helps as a starting point if you are familiar both with
the original story of Harold and his sons (which many know from William Balbirnie’s book; flawed
6
William Balbirnie (Transcript), p. 1.
John Burke, p. 531.
8
Jamie Vans, “The Lairds of Barnbarroch,” Some notes on Vans History, 2001, p 4.
7
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but still probably the best-known of the published research on the Vans/Vance Irish/Scottish/English
lines), and with Jamie Vans’s well-written articles which can be found online at
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vfarch/Publications.html.
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Some Historical Background for the Available Norman Records
To follow this story further, it helps to put the times in context. In the year 1066 upon the death of
King Edward (the Confessor) of England, Harold, the powerful Earl of Wessex, took the English
throne in place of Edward’s son Edgar (who was still a minor); ignoring a promise that Edward had
supposedly made to name William, Duke of Normandy (in present-day France), as his legal heir.
William was furious. In a severe blow to English-French relations forever after, he and some 7,000 of
his Norman friends landed on the shores of England; and, after defeating and killing King Harold at
the Battle of Hastings, William became the first Anglo-Norman King of England and was enshrined
forever in history books as William the Conqueror.
The Anglo-Saxon nobility of England were suddenly at a severe disadvantage against their new
Norman masters. William gave his knights the best estates and titles in Britain, and spread out his
forces to consolidate power. Within 20 years the Normans had executed across their new empire the
most comprehensive census ever conceived at the time, recording every village, estate, landed person,
and taxable asset among their new people - a task so unprecedented that the disruption was compared
to the end of the world and the final compilation became known afterwards as the Domesday
(Doomsday) Book.
The Domesday Book has been used for nearly a thousand years as a window into the newly AngloNorman England of the 11th century. Technically it’s a window to 1086, not 1066, so it doesn’t say
who actually fought with William’s invasion army; but it does give great detail on what Normans were
in England in 1086 and what they were doing. Other records that exist from those times include:
-
The Battle Abbey Roll, supposed to be a list of William’s companions on the Conquest,
commissioned by William himself to be kept at Battle Abbey in Hastings. Its authenticity
has been disputed (and there are several versions), but it appears to date back to at least
the 14th century. At the least it serves as a companion guide to the Domesday Book. In
1899 Catherine Powlett, Duchess of Cleveland, published what is widely regarded as the
most reliable guide to its contents.
-
The Dives List, a more recent (1866) list of William’s companions based on the
Domesday Book and other records. The Dives List is also printed in the Duchess of
Cleveland’s book. Again, this is more of a double-check, not a primary source.
-
The Pipe Rolls, also called the Great Rolls of the Exchequer, which remain from 1130 and
from 1156 onward. These rolls contain the yearly accounts of the sheriffs, who were
responsible for the finances of the local counties.
-
Charters of local abbeys and priories (called cartulary). In medieval times, it was common
for knights and people of means to found religious houses or endow them with property,
assets and money. The records of these transactions were kept in the religious houses and
although many have been lost or destroyed, the efforts of researchers and the explosion of
online collaboration and digital records over the recent decade have allowed the remaining
cartulary to be widely available for the first time.
-
Property sales, title transfers, judicial proceedings (assize rolls), and other legal
documents. Those few records that do still exist from medieval times, and the efforts of
16
J. David Vance
medieval researchers to catalog and analyze them, are also just becoming more widely
available through digitization and electronic distribution.
A comment on the sources used
Wherever possible I have referenced primary records or works published by medieval researchers
where those works are supported by original sources. But we’re talking about records spanning over
seven hundred years, and given the opportunities over that period for human error, plagiarism from
less-reliable sources, or outright fabrication, even though I have tried to trace back to whatever
primary sources still exist, they too can be proved wrong. Even abbey charters have been known to be
forged.
So I’ll freely admit to two rules I have followed in compiling this material. First, I’ve been picky
about what to include, staying as much as possible with the most reliable sources available. That
doesn’t mean all other sources are wrong, it just means I’ve stayed away from anything I didn’t have a
reason to trust. For instance, I’ve avoided the published genealogies of British nobility except to point
out some of the known stories, since those works usually copy other authors without any references. I
still do in some cases offer up conjectures – but when I do, I say so.
Secondly, I have included some of the more interesting “facts” from 19th and 20th century local county
historians whose authors had access to primary source material that I could not reach on my own.
Without those this history would still be about the same people, they’d just be less interesting. But I
have tried to use those sources only when their conclusions agreed with the other available records.
And since in quoting from those I strayed from my first rule, I have gone overboard in pointing them
out as “anecdotal” or “unsupported”.
17
J. David Vance
Major England and Scotland Locations of the de Vaux/Vaus/Vans
Family
The following map (courtesy of Google Earth™) shows the major locations described in connection
with the de Vaux, Vaus, and Vans in England and Scotland.
(Credit: Google Earth™ and MapsOf.net under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)
18
J. David Vance
c. 1066-86 AD: The Norman Cometh
Battle of Hastings in 1066, detail from the Bayeux Tapestry (credit: Wikipedia, public domain)
The de Vaux in the Norman Conquest
As Jamie Vans has noted in his works on the Vans/Vance families, Harold de Vaux and sons as
described by Balbirnie and the genealogies of British nobility are not in the Domesday Book at all.
What’s worse, the two “de Vaux” who ARE listed in the Domesday Book – Aitard de Vaux (de
Vallibus), and Robert de Vaux (de Vallibus) – have been overlooked in most of the published
histories.
A note: the name “de Vaux” is from Old French meaning “of the vales” or “of the valleys” (not
“brooks or rivers” as has been reported elsewhere). Formal documents of the time were written in
Latin, and the name would appear as “de Vallibus” (same meaning in Latin). Another common
spelling with the same meaning was “de Vals”. English-only speakers would anglicize the name to
Vauz, Vaulz, or Vaus – or Vans, later in Scotland. These spellings and others appear in the various
records of the time. The “Vance” spelling only appeared much later once the name moved to Ireland.
Robert and Aitard were recorded as “mesne-lords” (i.e. noble sub-tenants) with grants of lands in
Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex under the wider grants of Roger Bigod, a favorite of William’s who was
given the title of Earl of Norfolk and established his first seat of power in Thetford, Norfolk and
founded a priory there.9
Although Robert and Aitard aren’t included in the traditional story of “Harold and sons”, they are
remembered in the local county histories of Norfolk (for instance, Blomefield or Page – see
Bibliography). Although those works often list how the manor houses or other assets were passed on
9
Background on Roger Bigod is from Wikipedia, which I’ve used only for wider historical context separate
from the de Vaux story.
19
J. David Vance
from Robert and Aitard to their descendants, much of it is anecdotal and (in most cases) I have not
repeated it here.
Robert and Aitard de Vaux also appear in the Battle Abbey Roll and Dives List; which unfortunately
only means somebody thought they actually fought with William’s army at the Battle of Hastings; it’s
not really sure evidence that they were there or what their role was. All the real evidence that does
exist for Robert and Aitard begins in 1086.
Robert de Vaux (b. c. 1040-1060 – d. aft. 1130)
By 1086, Robert de Vaux had received lands around Pentney in Norfolk and a manor house in
Shimpling, along with other lands in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex.
Robert de Vaux's land holdings in 1086, from The Domesday Book Online
(http://www.domesdaymap.co.uk)
Robert had enough wealth and status to found Pentney Priory around 1130 “for the health of the souls
of himself and his wife Agnes and his ancestors.”10 The foundation charter says of him that “This
Robert came into England with the Conqueror”11. Since the priory was founded some 64 years after
1066, this may have been a claim Robert was particularly proud of; it marks him as a very old man
even if he only came over around the fateful Battle of Hastings, but of course nearer to 80 or more
when the priory was founded if he was old enough to fight in 1066. But he could still make the claim
10
“Houses of Austin canons; The priory of Pentney”, A History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 2 (William
Page, 1906), pp. 388-391, as reported on http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=38288 (16 May
2011).
11
William Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum (London: R. Midgley, 1692), Volume II, page 131.
20
J. David Vance
if he did accompany William’s army in 1066 but as a squire or some other junior non-combatant
support role.
Report on Pentney Priory from William Dugdale's 1692 Monasticon Anglicanum
Orderic Vitalis, a monk who lived around 1075-1142 and wrote a famous chronicle of the times,
writes that a Robert de Vaux gave tithes to the abbey of St. Evrault in Normandy around 108012.
Several historians13 have assumed that reference is to the same Robert de Vaux, although it is certainly
very possible that the Robert who tithed in 1080 was a different person.
Judging from their
descendants, Robert was clearly a favorite family name for the de Vaux.
One of the volumes of the Domesday Book
Aitard de Vaux (b. bef. 1070 – d. aft. 1107-10)
“Aitard,” on the other hand (judging again by later generations) was an unusual name for the de Vaux.
From the Domesday Book, Aitard de Vaux took land in Keswick and Surlingham, among other
holdings in Norfolk and Suffolk.
12
Marjorie Chibnall, The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, Volume III Books V and VI, (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1972) 127-129.
13
See for instance: Duchess of Cleveland, The Battle Abbey Roll, with some Account of the Norman Lineages,
vol. 1 (London: John Murray, 1889) pp. 294-299
21
J. David Vance
Aitard de Vaux's land holdings in 1086, from The Domesday Book Online
(http://www.domesdaymap.co.uk)
One modern historian noted that Robert and Aitard were both witnesses to the foundation of Roger
Bigod’s priory at Thetford: “Thetford [Priory] charters of c. 1107-10 mention the grants of Aitard de
Vallibus and Robert de Vallibus, and were attested by Robert and Aitard de Vallibus. Aitard was
perhaps the younger brother of Robert, who was the more prominent tenant of [Roger] Bigod in
1086.”14
Other sources15 also refer to Aitard as Robert’s brother, but no evidence for the relationship is given.
There is certainly some indirect evidence that they were related. Later generations believed to have
descended from Robert are found in possession of Aitard’s former lands, presumably through
inheritance. Also in court records around 1242, Maud de Vaux, a descendant of Hubert de Vaux of
Gilsland (who available records indicate was Robert’s descendant), refers to her “ancestor” Aitard.16
Those references suggest strongly that Aitard and Robert were related, and probably closely; but it
doesn’t tell us how. There is another indication that Aitard might have been Robert’s father (see
later), but it relies in part on anecdotal evidence from the local county history of Norfolk.
The unknown de Vaux in Somerset, Dorset, and Devon
There is also evidence that one or more of the de Vaux family received lands as far west as Somerset,
Dorset, and Devon counties around or just after 1086.
14
K.S. B. Keats-Rohan, Domesday People: A Prosopography of persons occurring in English documents, 10661166, Volume 1, Domesday Book (Suffolk, UK: Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 1999), p. 126.
15
Duchess of Cleveland, pp. 294-299
16
Assize Roll, Norfolk and Suffolk, no. 818 m. 19 d., quoted in S. H. Lee Washington, The Early History of the
Stricklands of Sizergh (Boston: The Rumford Press, 1942) p. 21
22
J. David Vance
Although no de Vaux are listed in the Domesday Book for these counties, local histories report that in
Somerset the de Vaux held manors at Seveberge (Seaborough, now in Dorset),
Sevenemetone/Sevenhampton (Seavington St. Mary’s) and Essehulle (Ashill) 17.
Unknown de Vaux land grants in Somerset/Dorset/Devon
(Credit: Google Earth™ and MapsOf.net under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)
Around 1220 Robert de Vaux, by request of his mother Alice de Vaux, in particular granted additions
to the rights to Bruton Priory18, as well as appointed a Bishop Joceline to the parish of Ashill19.
There is also a story about the de Vaux in the history of the town of Seaborough in Dorset:
Soon after [the Domesday Book] was written, King William the Conqueror gave this manor
[Seaborough] with other lands to Le Sieur de Vaus, or Vallibus, who came over with him from
France… In which family of De Vallibus, Seaborough descended through many generations,
but the names of the several possessors do not all occur. In the time of Henry III, Ralph de
Vallibus being obliged to send men in the service of the King, when he undertook a crusade to
the Holy Land, amongst others dispatched one John Gole out of his manor of Seaborough,
who went accordingly to Jerusalem…where he fought valiantly, and after his return, as a
reward for his merits, this Ralph de Vallibus gave him an estate in Seaborough (by deed still
extant [in 1791]) about A.D. 1229.20
17
See for instance: Thomas Gerard of Trent, The Particular Description of the County of Somerset (London:
1633), as reported in Rev. E.H. Bates (editor), The Somerset Record Society, Vol. XV (London: Harrison and
Sons, 1900), p. 92., and John Collinson, The History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset, vol. III (Bath: R.
Cruitwell, 1791), p. 123.
18
Thomas Gerard of Trent, as reported in Rev. E.H. Bates (editor), p. 92.
19
Rev. E.H. Bates (editor), p. 75.
20
John Collinson, p. 172. Also on local Dorset websites, see for instance
http://www.opcdorset.org/SeaboroughFiles/Seaborough.htm.
23
J. David Vance
“Le” means “The”, and “Sieur” is a French minor nobility title translating roughly to “Sir”, so all this
tells us is that a Norman noble named de Vaux (who presumably came to England around 1066) is
connected to Seaborough. The story is anecdotal and apart from the later involvement of “Ralph de
Vallibus” is unproven (“Ralph” could be Ranulf before 1199 but could also be Robert or Roland de
Vaux of Gilsland, since the Gilsland de Vaux were administering others lands in Devon, Norfolk and
Suffolk around that time, but the real question is whether the referenced deed still exists). But it
establishes at least an influence from a de Vaux family as far west as Somerset/Dorset. This “Sieur de
Vaus” could of course have been Aitard or Robert themselves. Or it could have been a relative of
theirs, or even possibly a different Norman family who assumed the same name in England.
The de Vaux also appeared in Devon; for example Hubert de Vaux (of Gilsland) owned Farwood
Barton in Devon around 1130 under the lands of Baldwin de Redvers21, and in the 1170’s or 1180’s,
Hubert’s son Robert granted land in Pinhoe, Devon to St. Nicholas Priory in Exeter22. The Domesday
Book records Farwood Barton as simply owned by “Herbert.” It’s possible but unlikely that this is
the same Hubert de Vaux of Gilsland (since Hubert died in 1165, he should not have been old enough
in 1086 to hold land), so either we have an unknown “Herbert de Vaux” or else Herbert is a different
person and the de Vaux family did not hold land in Devon until shortly after the Domesday Book was
compiled.
The de Vaux’s position in Anglo-Norman England
Aitard and Robert’s position as sub-tenants of Roger Bigod and their lack of titles in the new country
suggest that while they may have been of a noble family, they were not of any significant stature in
William’s court (or perhaps they were simply poor, although Roger Bigod himself was of a poor
Norman family and arose to his position through his friendship with William23).
How do we know they were even of a noble family? In the eleventh century the practice of taking a
last name was not yet standard outside of the nobility, and the “de” (“of”) in their name indicated at
least some rank. There was certainly a noble family (or families) of de Vaux in Normandy at the time
(see later), but there is no indication of who Robert or Aitard’s parents were or how they were related
to the de Vaux in Normandy. Jamie Vans has even suggested24 that they might be de Vaux family
followers or retainers who joined William’s army and assumed the name of the family to whom they
were most connected.
What we do know is that Robert at least claimed to have arrived “with the Conqueror,” that there is
anecdotal evidence from Seaborough that either Robert, Aitard, or another de Vaux arrived with
William as well, and that the fortunes of the de Vaux after the Norman invasion were sufficiently good
for them to continue to hold property and endow religious houses in their new country. All of which
argues that these first de Vaux were at least favorably – if perhaps not highly - positioned along the
Anglo-Norman social ladder of the day.
21
Hugh Doherty, Robert de Vaux and Roger de Stuteville, Sheriffs of Cumberland and Northumberland, 11701185, “Anglo-Norman Studies: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2005, vol. XXVIII” (Woodbridge: The
Boydell Press; Lewis, Christopher Piers (ed), 2005), p 79, footnote 121
22
Bearman, Robert, Baldwin de Redvers, Anglo-Norman Studies XVIII: Proceedings of the Battle Conference
1995 (Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 1996) p. 33. Also see later story on Hubert de Vaux from Hugh Doherty,
Anglo-Norman Studies XXV, 2005.
23
Ok, this one’s from Wikipedia.
24
Jamie Vans, “The Lairds of Barnbarroch,” Some notes on Vans History, 2001, p 4.
24
J. David Vance
And we also know that the descendants of these de Vaux used their connections to climb that social
ladder a bit further.
The next de Vaux in England
After Aitard and the first Robert de Vaux, “the successors to the de Vallibus holdings in 1166 were
William fitz [son of] Robert de Vaux and Robert de Vaux, holding thirty and five fees respectively.”25
In “Battle Abbey Roll”, the Duchess of Cleveland notes that after the Robert de Vaux who appears in
the Domesday Book, “the son of this first Robert, Robert II, in his grant to Castleacre Priory of a mill
and meadows in Pentney, mentions his three brothers, Robert pinguis [“the fat”], Gilbert, and Hubert.
If this was the same Hubert who received Gilsland about 1156, he must then have been well advanced
in years.”26
For Aitard’s line we have only the commentary from local historians about land grants. The manor of
Surlingham, for instance, is said to have passed from Aitard to his son Robert de Vaux, then to his son
Hubert, and finally to a John de Vaux who around 1250 gave it along with his daughter Maud in
marriage to Thomas Moulton of Gilsland in Cumberland27.
So while there is no surviving primary evidence of descendants from Aitard, there are a few land
transactions that together indicate that Robert’s sons were William, Robert, Robert pinguis, Gilbert,
and Hubert. Note that if all of these sources are accurate, including the anecdotal reports of Aitard’s
descendants, that would make Aitard de Vaux the Domesday Robert’s father (since it was the
Domesday Robert who had a son Hubert whose line ended with Maud de Vaux daughter of John de
Vaux).
William de Vaux succeeded his father Robert as the patron of Pentney Priory28, and it was because of
this that in 1166-7 he became embroiled in the political struggles between the pope and Thomas
Becket on the one side, and King Henry II on the other.
Hugh, Earl of Norfolk [Roger Bigod’s son] had cast covetous eyes upon [Pentney] priory’s
lands, and had seized them on the pretext of a recovery made, apparently by collusion, against
William de Vaux, the patron and son of the founder; against this seizure the prior and canons
appealed to Rome, and the pope ordered the sentence of excommunication to be pronounced
by the bishop of London against the Earl. The bishop, however, finding himself in the
dilemma of either disobeying his ecclesiastical superior or offending the king, endeavored to
persuade Earl Hugh to restore the lands… the earl continuing obdurate, the pope sent an order
for his excommunication and that of William de Vaux to Becket, who ordered the bishops of
Norwich and Ely to publish it, while he at the same time wrote to the canons comforting them
and urging them to have courage and to make no rash compromise with the earl. The exact
course of subsequent events is difficult to trace, but victory eventually must have rested with
the canons, as they continued in possession of their lands at Pentney29.
25
Keats-Rohan, K.S.B., p. 126.
Duchess of Cleveland, pp. 294-299, footnote 135.
27
Francis Blomefield, Hundred of Henstede: Surlingham, An Essay towards a Topographical History of the
County of Norfolk”, Vol. 5, (1806) pp 462-470.
28
William Dugdale, pp 69-70
29
William Page (editor), Houses of Austin Canons: The priory of Pentney, pp 388-391.
26
25
J. David Vance
It was these kinds of church-versus-state power battles that just three years later triggered Thomas
Becket’s assassination through the apparent misinterpretation of an outburst from Henry II.
While there is no record of William de Vaux’s recovering grace with the Church, he did at least have
three sons of his own, William, Adam, and Robert30. His eldest son William took holy orders and
became prior of Pentney.
The charters of Pentney Priory also provide a way of tracing Robert de Vaux’s continuing de Vaux
line through the priory patrons31:
-
William’s son Robert became the third patron of the priory.
That Robert then had sons William, Oliver, John, Phillip, Roger, Hugh, another William,
and a Robert who became the fourth patron but who died without issue;
The fifth patron was Oliver (son of Robert the third patron).
Oliver succeeded to his father’s estates upon the death of his older brother William, and according to
the Pipe Rolls was one of the barons in arms against King John leading up to the Magna Carta in 1215
(see later for another de Vaux from Gilsland also involved in the same struggle).
Oliver then had four sons - Robert, William, John, and Oliver. The first three each became patrons of
Pentney in turn.
John de Vaux then had two daughters, Petronilla de Vaux who married William Nairford and Mathilda
(Maud) de Vaux who married William Roos at the close of the 13th century and this line of the de
Vaux was no longer associated with Pentney after that period.
Other de Vaux lines of Norfolk and Suffolk continued for many generations (and undoubtedly still
have descendants there today). One descendant, Nicholas Vaux, fought for Henry VII in the 1500’s
and in 1523 was appointed to the peerage as Lord Vaux of Harrowden.
The de Vaux head North
The next Norman de Vaux to leave major records for posterity was Hubert de Vaux, who although
originally a land-owner in Devon, is believed to be the same Hubert mentioned in the grant to
Castleacre Priory as the son of the Robert de Vaux from in the Domesday Book. The family
connection from Hubert to Robert and Aitard is supported by other indirect sources:
1. The Assize Rolls in 1242 (referenced earlier) which record that Aitard de Vaux was an
ancestor of Maud de Vaux, a descendant of Hubert de Vaux,
2. William de Vaux son of Robert de Vaux (and the second patron of Pentney Priory) was a
witness to the foundation charter of Lanercost Priory in Cumberland which was founded by
Hubert’s son Robert (see below)32,
3. Lanercost Priory and Pentney Priory were both Augustinian houses, both bearing an unusual
dedication to Mary Magdalene at their founding33 and Lanercost is believed by local tradition
30
William Dugdale, pp 69-70
The patrons of Pentney are from charter number 2 for Pentney Priory in William Dugdale, p. 70.
32
For the witnesses to the Lanercost charter, see William Dugdale, pp. 236-238
31
26
J. David Vance
to have been populated by monks from Pentney34, all of which (in addition to the Pentney
patron witnessing the Lanercost foundation) suggest a close connection between the two
priories from the start,
4. Hubert’s descendants in Cumberland continued to own land in Norfolk and Suffolk, for
instance, his grandson (also named Hubert) owned Surlingham in Norfolk and Denham in
Suffolk, both of which were owned by Aitard de Vaux in 108635,
5. and Ranulf de Vaux (Hubert’s son), is mentioned in the 1194/95 Pipe Rolls for Norfolk and
Suffolk as a landowner there owing money to repay the debts of his brother Robert de Vaux
of Cumberland36.
While this evidence is certainly indicative of a family relationship between the de Vaux of
Norfolk/Suffolk and Hubert’s line of de Vaux, it is worth noting that the assumption that the Hubert de
Vaux who went to Gilsland was the son of the Domesday Robert de Vaux, while probable, should be
further explored.
Hubert de Vaux (b ? – d. 1165)
Hubert de Vaux and his son Robert’s lives are examined in detail in a 2005 paper given at the annual
Anglo-Norman Conference in Battle, England37. It was in this paper, for instance, that Hubert’s
holdings in Farwood Barton, Devon were called out38. The conference paper then goes on as follows
(nearly every sentence in the original has footnote references to supporting material in various royal
acts or priory and abbey cartulary; I have left these out for readability):
Hubert was a prominent witness of the charters of Baldwin de Redvers and was evidently a
major figure in Baldwin’s following in Devon. In the years 1136-9 Baldwin was one of the
earliest and more vigorous opponents of King Stephen; in 1136 he was exiled from England.
In Normandy he earned a reputation as an active and aggressive partisan of the Empress
[Mathilda, granddaughter of William the Conqueror, mother of Henry II and an opponent of
King Stephen of England] and the count of Anjou. His following was something of a training
school for supporters for the Empress. Stephen de Mandeville…was also a tenant and
follower of Baldwin de Redvers. Hubert and Stephen headed the witness lists of four of
Baldwin’s charters.
Unlike Stephen, however, Hubert was able to make the transition from comital tenant to
follower of the Empress. Between 1141 and 1145 he witnessed an act of the Empress, place33
William Dugdale, pp. 68-70 and pp. 236-238
Mentioned in local histories of Lanercost Priory. See for instance the Lanercost Priory tour notes at
http://cumbria-study-group.wikispaces.com/file/view/LANERCOST+PRIORY+TOUR+HD.doc, which
mentions the modern Scriptorium window with the arms of Pentney and Lanercost to commemorate the
connection.
35
Assize Roll, Norfolk and Suffolk, no. 818 m. 19 d., quoted in S. H. Lee Washington, The Early History of the
Stricklands of Sizergh (Boston: The Rumford Press, 1942) p. 21
36
Pipe Roll 6 Ric I (1194/95), Norfolk & Suffolk, p. 63, as reported by the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy.
See http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLISHNOBILITYMEDIEVAL3T-Z.htm#_ftn393.
37
Hugh Doherty, pp 65-102
38
Footnote 121 in the Hugh Doherty paper reads: “For Hubert’s property of Farwood Barton see the original
deed of Baldwin de Redvers for Savigny Abbey printed in Charters of the Redvers Family and the Earldom of
Devon, 1090-1217, ed. R. Bearman, Devon and Cornwall Record Society new series 37, 1994, 67-9, no. 17. For
evidence of other property and services held by Hubert’s heirs in Devon, see Ranulf de Vaux’s original deed,
now Public Record Office (PRO) DL 25/2311, also copied into PRO DL 42/2, fol. 200r.-v.”
34
27
J. David Vance
dated at Devizes, his first known appearance at her court. Hubert continued to witness her
acts over the next decade, every one place-dated at Rouen; he even witnessed a writ for
Reading abbey perhaps as late as 1159.
His service to the Empress opened doors to the household of Henry fitz Empress, duke of
Normandy [the future King Henry II of England]; Hubert is found witnessing acts of Duke
Henry place-dated at Devizes and Dunstable. After Henry fitz Empress became Henry II,
Hubert received immediate reward; from Michaelmas 1155 until the final quarter of the
exchequer year 1157-8 he received £50 blanch from the royal manors of Calne and
Chippenham in Wiltshire, evidently to tide him over until the king granted him something
more substantial and permanent. He was not required to wait long.
At Newcastle upon Tyne, during the first seven months of 1158, Henry granted him the land
of Gille son of Bueth and land in Corby and Catterlen in Cumberland. A later deed of Robert
de Vaux referred to the “barony which the lord Henry king of England gave to my father and
me in the land of Gille son of Bueth”…and for Robert, and for succeeding generations of its
lords, this baronia was known as Gilsland.
From Saxton 1579 Map of Cumberland: showing Irthington (marked Jedington), Castlestead,
Lanercost, and Triermain (Tretermane)
28
J. David Vance
In short, then, Hubert left England with the followers of Baldwin de Redvers, found favor at the court
of the future King Henry II and his mother, and followed Henry II back into England only to be
rewarded for his service. His aligning with the winning side meant a decided upswing in the fortunes
of the Anglo-Norman de Vaux, since he received not only extensive lands in Cumberland but the title
of Baron of Gilsland as well.
Still, Henry’s gift was not a luxury assignment. Gilsland was a border county right next to Hadrian’s
Wall and to Scotland, and in Anglo-Norman times was the equivalent of the Wild West. The Norman
Ranulph de Meschines was already responsible for all of Cumberland and had divided it into three
great fiefs, “Gilsland and Lyddale to guard the passes from Scotland by land, and Burgh to guard the
approaches by sea.”39 The main problem in Gilsland was Gille, son of Bueth, who stoutly maintained
his rights. Ranulph first installed his younger brother, William de Meschines, as the original Baron of
Gilsland, but “he was never able to get it out of the hands of the Scots; as Gil, son of Bueth, held the
greater part of it by force of arms.”40 Upon Henry II’s grant, William de Meschines then handed the
barony and its troublesome Scots to Hubert, who appears to have at least been able to hold most of the
lands granted to him.
There are several stories of how Hubert dealt with Gille de Bueth – in some, Gille had died before
Hubert took over but the Bueth family continued to make trouble. In others, his son Robert (see later)
was the one who eventually solved matters with Gille. In a third version, one of Hubert’s sons
Eustace de Vaux (although I can find no independent evidence for Eustace) married a granddaughter
of Gille and finally united the families. All are possible; none are reliably credited.
The de Vaux established their first baronial manor at Castlestead (Irthington), where the Bueth family
had their original seat of power. Apparently there is (or was, in 1816) still a gravestone for a De
Vallibus in the parish church at Irthington41 – if true, this might be the earliest known grave of the
progenitors of this branch of the Vans/Vance family name.
Hubert died in 1164 leaving sons Robert and Ranulf (and perhaps a third son William, Roland, or
Eustace)42, and passed the barony of Gilsland onto his son Robert.
Robert de Vaux (b ? – d. 1193-4)
There is a disputed story of how Robert de Vaux dealt with Gille de Bueth. Repeated by Camden in
1637 and by many others since then, it says that Robert invited Gille (or his son after Gille’s prior
death, in other versions) to a meeting at Castlestead for the purpose of reconciling the parties – but
once there, Robert “treacherously slew him [Gille] on the very hearthstone of his father's house, to
which he had come in good faith and full assurance of safety.”43
39
41
Daniel Lysons, Magna Brittania; Vol.IV Cumberland (London, Cadell & Davies, 1816) pg. 119.
42
Robert’s position as Hubert’s son is acknowledged in the Lanercost foundation charter and the confirmations
of the grant of Gilsland to the de Vaux. Ranulf is listed in Pipe Rolls (among other documents) as paying for
Robert’s debts, and succeeded to the Barony of Gilsland upon Robert’s death in 1193-4. Local histories mention
another brother named variously William, Roland, or Eustace but these may be confusions with later de Vaux.
43
40
29
J. David Vance
The story continues that “in
consequence of the death of
Gilles, the de Vallibus prevailed,
and succeeded in wresting
Gillesland from this family; but
the murder was so uncalled for
and barbarous, that Robert, as it is
said, lamented it so grievously that
as an atonement, he not only built
the Abbey of Lanercost, but
endowed it with a great portion of
the land which had caused the
quarrel.44”
It is certainly true that Robert de
Vaux founded the priory of
Lanercost Priory (From Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum)
Lanercost in 1169 and endowed it
with many lands and privileges.
However, the foundation charter45 says only that Robert founded it for the sake of Henry II and for the
health of the souls of his father, Hubert and his mother, Grace. Gille de Bueth is mentioned in the
charter in connection with the lands granted to the priory, but there is no indication of atonement for
guilt over a misdeed.
Other Cumberland historians have dismissed the story. “Robert de Vallibus, second baron, fills a large
space in history and legend, but we dismiss as fabulous that legend which credits him with the
treacherous murder, during a truce, of Gilles, the son of Bueth”46
Whether true or not the story of the murder has captured local attention for centuries. As late as the
19th century Robert de Vaux was the subject of a fictitious ballad called “The Bridal O’Naworth”
where after the murder, the ghost of Gilles de Bueth appears to him on his wedding day (at the altar, in
fact), and frightens him so much that, wracked with guilt, he founds the priory of Lanercost then and
there.47
It would not be the first time that Robert de Vaux was the subject of epic poetry.
Robert succeeded his father in 1164-5, when he too was confirmed in the estates of Gille son
of Bueth by the king. Until 1173 and 1174 Robert de Vaux can be traced as a regular member
of county society in Cumberland, performing the obligations of his rank, witnessing local
transactions, and confirming the gifts of his father. His outstanding achievement in this period
(and perhaps an early expression of his ambition) was his foundation of an Augustinian priory
at Lanercost. But it was the events of 1173-4 – his installation as castellan of Carlisle and his
(narrowly) successful defence of the city – that transformed his fortunes.48
At that time King Henry II of England was fighting his son Henry and the King of France in
Normandy, and William the Lion, King of Scotland, took advantage of the distraction to push his
44
James Patterson, History of the County of Ayr (Edinburgh:Dick, John,1847) pg. 513
William Dugdale, pp. 236-238
46
Richard Ferguson, A History of Cumberland, (London: Stock, Elliot, 1890), p. 162.
47
Peter Burn, English Border Ballads (Carlisle: Coward, G&T: 1874), p. 28.
48
Hugh Doherty, pp 65-102
45
30
J. David Vance
claims for the border territories between Scotland and England by force. During these campaigns, the
Scots invaded Cumberland and attacked Carlisle, but failed to take it.
While historians agree that Carlisle had a lucky escape, they don’t all agree that Robert de Vaux’s
bravery in combat was the reason; but at the time, the Norman equivalent of a national media gave
Robert full credit. Some time between 1174 and 1185, a Norman chronicler named Jordan Fantosme
composed a wildly popular epic poem in Norman French which in large part celebrated Robert de
Vaux as the noble savior of Carlisle.
Now go the barons demanding the truce,
They go to Robert de Vaus where he was,
He was dressed in a breast-plate, leaning on a battlement,
And held in his hand a keen sword,
With a sharp edge, he handled it gently;
…
And said Robert de Vaus: “Now come nearer,
Say your pleasure; be afraid of nothing.”
…
“Sir Robert de Vaus, you are valiant and wise.
…
Surrender him [the King of Scotland] the castle and all the fortress,
And he will give you so much coined money
Never Hubert de Vaus had so much collected.49
Needless to say, Robert did not give up Carlisle, and the Scottish army moved on to pillage Appleby
and other less protected English towns.
Immediately after his success at Carlisle Robert de Vaux was made Sheriff of Cumberland, a position
he enjoyed until 118550. The conference paper goes on to outline Robert’s actions during his tenure as
Sheriff, culminating with his overstepping his authority on numerous occasions and being removed
from office in 1185 for among other things, having “permitted the king’s prisoners to escape from his
custody” and for “having sustained the circulation of the old money contrary to the general
prohibition”51 For these offenses, Robert de Vaux was also fined 100 marks; a burden he struggled to
pay until his death in 1193-94. After his death, “his brother and heir, Ranulf, proffered 100 marks ‘for
the debts of his brother Robert’; the pressure of these debts may have even forced Ranulf to sell
important property and services in Devon to William Briwerre for 65 marks.”52
Ranulf inherited the barony of Gilsland from his brother. He married a woman named Alice, and upon
his death in 119953 passed the barony to his son Robert (who in 1216 like his uncle before him also
assumed contol of the castle of Carlisle and the shrievalty and forest of Cumberland54).
49
Francisque Michel, Chronicle of the War between the English and the Scots in 1173 and 1174, by Jordan
Fantosme (London: J.B. Nichols and Son, 1840) pp. 63-65.
50
Hugh Doherty, p 90.
51
Hugh Doherty, p 93.
52
Hugh Doherty, p 101.
53
I.J. Sanders, English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent, 1086-1132, (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1960), p. 124.
54
Hugh Doherty, p 102.
31
J. David Vance
This son Robert is likely the same Robert who, documenting the request of his mother Alice de Vaux,
granted additions to the rights to Bruton Priory and appointed a Bishop Joceline to the parish of Ashill
(referenced earlier). If so, it shows the de Vaux of Gilsland were still managing their land holdings
and responsibilities in the south of England several generations after the original Norman de Vaux.
This Robert also apparently took sides against King John in the unrest of the barons leading up to the
Magna Carta; by order on 15 Oct 1212 King John took the following hostages in place of Robert de
Vaux: “his mother Alice de Vaux, his sister Grace, his son Hubert, and Roland his illegitimate
brother.” 55
A further order on 19 Dec 1212 released them now that Robert de Vaux was in
captivity56.
The Magna Carta was a historic charter finally signed in 1215 by King John (under duress) through
which the English barons sought to limit the royal authority for the first time (previously if they had
issues with the King they just sought to replace him with another candidate through civil war). King
John’s history of imposing arbitrary taxes and fines for small infractions was one reason for the unrest;
the Pipe Rolls famously document that “the Bishop of Winchester paid a tun of good wine for not
reminding the King [John] to give a girdle to the countess of Albemarle, and Robert de Vaux five best
palfreys [horses] that the same King might hold his peace about Harry Pinel’s wife.”57
Robert died around 1235 (having bequeathed his body around 1221 to Lanercost Priory “wherever and
whenever I should pass from this life58”), then his son Hubert took over the barony but died himself
around 124059. Hubert had a daughter Maud de Vaux who married Thomas de Multon, and upon her
death in 1295 the barony of Gilsland passed to the Multon family.
Lanercost Priory continued to function through to the 1500’s, but its position on the border with
Scotland exposed it to constant danger. In 1296 William Wallace and the Scottish army encamped at
Lanercost, robbing the canons but burning only certain houses of the monastery, sparing the church.
In 1306, King Edward I made the last of several visits to Lanercost and sent the brothers of Robert de
Brus (the Bruce) and other Scottish captives from there to Carlisle for execution;
the stern old warrior having with his own mouth sentenced Thomas de Brus to be dragged at
the tails of horses from Lanercost to Carlisle before the dread sentence of hanging and
beheading was carried out. The heads were suspended on the three gates of Carlisle, except
the head of Thomas de Brus which was reserved to decorate the keep of the castle.60
Then in 1311 the now King Robert Bruce of Scotland occupied the priory, and King David II of
Scotland again in 1346, causing much devastation each time61.
Other de Vaux sons (presumably of the same line) took holdings around Cumberland – most notably at
Hayton, Catterlen, and Brownrig. These de Vaux families are documented in various genealogies and
county histories and I have not tried to pursue their family stories here.
55
Marjorie Chibnall, pp. 127-129.
Marjorie Chibnall, pp. 127-129.
57
Henry Hallam, History of Europe During the Middle Ages, vol. II (New York: The Colonial Press, 1899), p.
237.
58
J. Wilson (ed)., ‘Houses of Austin canons: The Priory of Lanercost’, A History of the County of Cumberland,
Vol. 2, (1905), pp. 152-161.
59
I.J. Sanders, p. 124.
60
J. Wilson (ed)., pp. 152-161.
61
J. Wilson (ed)., pp. 152-161.
56
32
J. David Vance
Ranulf’s son Roland mentioned before is likely the same Roland de Vaux who about 1240 gave a
grant of certain land in Triermain to the canons of Lanercost for the soul of Robert de Vaux his
brother62. This is the first Roland de Vaux found associated with Triermain, although the de Vaux
(and several Rolands) continued to hold Triermain and Triermain Castle until the late 1400’s.
There is an anecdotal story reported about a tomb at Lanercost Priory which still existed in the 1700’s:
Passing through the east doorway of the aisle…we see on our left, under an arch in the north
wall of the north transept, a tomb which has in the central compartment of its front a shield on
which is a bend dexter chequy, the arms of Vaux of Triermain. Hence it is regarded as the
tomb on which was formerly the following epitaph63:
…the authority for the epitaph is Mr. Francis Warwick of Warwick Hall, who died in 1772 or
1774…Mr. Ballantyne Dykes, a descendant of the Vauxes of Triermain, placed in 1863 on the
modern east wall of the abbey nave a tablet assigning this epitaph to Sir Roland de Vaux…to
whom the manor of Triermain was granted by his elder brother Robert, fourth Norman lord of
Gilsland, and nephew of the Robert who founded the priory in 1169.64
The book then describes the tomb’s effigy and places the markings as belonging to a later 14th century
Roland de Vaux, saying of Triermain that:
Roland [the first] had issue Alexander, and he Ranulf, after whom succeeded Robert, and then
they were named Rolands successively that were Lords thereof until the reign of Edward IV
[1461-1483].65
“Roland de Vaux” also gained a measure of fame as a fictitious character in Sir Walter Scott’s 1813
ode “The Bridal of Triermain”, whose lead character Roland de Vaux is a knight-errant roaming the
countryside around Triermain to rescue Gyneth, the daughter of King Arthur, from the magic castle
(see front cover).
62
Charter referenced as Reg. of Lanercost, MS, ii, 21; v.2; vii 18. in J. Wilson (ed), p. 143.
“Sir Roland (de) Vaux who was once the Lord of Triermaine; Is dead, his body (is) clothed in lead and lies
low under this stone; Even as we (are) so was he on earth a living man; Even as he (is) so will we (be) for all the
craft we can (i.e. no matter how hard we try)” – my own translation sure to infuriate real scholars of old Scots
English.
64
Ferguson (ed.), Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian & Archeological Society, Vol.
XII (Highgate, Kendal: T. Wilson, 1893), pp. 313-315.
65
Ferguson (ed.), p. 315.
63
33
J. David Vance
Wrapping up the Anglo-Normans: A Look Back at the Usual Story
So… what of Harold de Vaux and his sons Robert, Rundolph, and Hubert, according to the usual story
of the Vans/Vance origins?
Looking back again, the published story starts as follows:
At the time of the Norman Conquest, Harold de Vaux, Lord of Vaux, in Normandy, having for
religious purposes conferred his seignory upon the abbey of the Holy Trinity at Caen (founded
by Mathilda, wife of William the Conqueror), came into England, accompanied by his three
sons [Hubert, Ranulph, and Robert].66
Of Harold there is no sign in the original records of Norman England. In fact, the only available
pointer to primary records for Harold is through Robert Vans Agnew, who identifies the exact Caen
charter:
Harold de Vaux, or De Vallibus, Lord of Vaux, a large Parish within a League of the Town of
Bayeux, in Normandy, gave that Lordship to the Abbey of the Holy Trinity at Caen, which
was founded by Mathilda, Wife to William the Conqueror. The Charter of Donation was,
before the Revolution, in the Chartulary of the Library of the King of France (number 5650,
extract taken by the Abbe de Larue, formerly Professor of History at Caen, and now in
England), and probably still exists in the Archives of the Republic.
The Rolls of Battle Abbey, and the Chartulary of Caen, prove that Harold de Vaux came from
Normandy into England, with William the Conqueror in 1066, and that he had three Sons,
Hubert, Ranulph, and Robert.67
Unfortunately Vans Agnew is incorrect in his reference to the Battle Abbey Rolls, at least the version
of the Rolls generally accepted today. And research into the published material today on the charters
of Caen does not show any assignment of de Vaux lands to the abbey68.
Apart from Hubert witnessing acts of the court at Rouen, there are many other cases of de Vallibus
family members in Normandy witnessing charters in the 11th and 12th century. A Ralph de Vallibus
witnessed a charter to the abbey of Fontenay given by William the Conqueror around 1070, for
instance, and other abbey charters in Normandy are witnessed by William, Geoffroy, John, Hugh,
Guy, Foucher, Renaud, Hubert, and other de Vaux/de Vallibus between 1090 and 113869. However,
there is no Harold, and the de Vaux are all just witnesses, not grantors.
66
John Burke, p. 531.
Robert Vans Agnew, Sketches of a genealogical and historical account of the family of Vaux, Vans, or de
Vallibus, (Pembroke, Wilmot, W.E.: 1830) p. 10.
68
At least according to Marjorie Chibnall, Charters and Custumals of the Abbey of Holy Trinity Caen, (London:
Oxford University Press, 1982-1994)
69
From the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. See http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/MAINE.htm#_ftn858.
67
34
J. David Vance
Without additional evidence, then, there is no basis for the usual story; but even if it’s not factual,
there are several options to explain how it got started:
1. If we assume that Aitard de Vaux became Harold de Vaux in the usual story, and his son was
the Robert de Vaux in the Domesday Book, then the story fits with some confusion over
Ranulf (Hubert’s son), Harold/Hubert and the Domesday Robert and Hubert’s son Robert;
2. Or perhaps Aitard and Robert were brothers, and Harold really was their father but had either
died by the time of the Domesday Book or was the unnamed de Vaux in Somerset/Dorset. In
that case Aitard became “Ranulph” in the usual story, and Hubert, who was important as the
link from the Norman de Vaux to the baronies of England, got “promoted” to son of Harold
instead of grandson.
3. The other explanation is that Aitard, Robert, and Hubert’s original time in England was simply
forgotten, and Hubert, in returning from Normandy with King Henry II, spawned the legend of
“Harold de Vaux” coming to England, with his real sons Robert, Ranulf and perhaps a third
son. Even so, the later details in the usual story still often confuse the two Roberts who
founded Pentney Priory and Lanercost Priory, and which Harold/Hubert became first baron of
Gilsland.
After nearly a thousand years it’s not really important to prove that story right or to decide how it got
started. But it’s not hard to see how it could have evolved from the facts as the story was retold again
and again by historians and genealogists over the centuries.
But other evidence may still come to light, since it is also clear that this is only the beginning, not the
full story of these Norman de Vaux. If mass digitization of records and widespread availability of
historical information continues to grow, and library and Internet search engines continue to get
smarter, perhaps someday someone can publish the complete story of the Norman de Vaux. That
would be worth remembering.
35
J. David Vance
The Anglo-Norman De Vaux family
While the point of this exercise was not to develop a family tree to compete with all the other de Vaux
genealogies; for clarity the following are the Anglo-Norman de Vaux names and relationships as
referenced in these Notes. Dates shown are based solely on the records from the Bibliography.
I. ?1 de Vaux. (May be Aitard de Vaux).
A. Aitard2 de Vaux was born before 1070. He died after 1107.
1. Robert?3 de Vaux (May be Domesday Robert?)
B. Robert2 de Vaux married Agnes ? (Domesday Robert, 1st patron of Pentney). He was
born between 1040 and 1060. He died after 1130.
1. Gilbert3 de Vaux
2. Robert3 de Vaux
3. Robert3 pinguis [“the fat”] de Vaux
4. Hubert3 de Vaux married Grace ? (1st Baron of Gilsland). He died in 1165.
a) Robert4 de Vaux. (2nd Baron of Gilsland & Sheriff of Cumberland). He died
between 1194 and 1195.
b) Ranulf4 de Vaux married Alice ? (3rd Baron of Gilsland). He died in 1199.
(1) Roland5 de Vaux
(2) Grace5 de Vaux
(3) Robert5 de Vaux. (4th Baron of Gilsland, held in custody for a time under King
John). He was born before 1212. He died around 1235.
(a) Hubert6 de Vaux. He died in 1240.
i) Maud7 de Vaux married Thomas de Multon. She died in 1295.
c) (William, Roland, or Eustace)?4 de Vaux
5. William3 de Vaux. (2nd patron of Pentney). He was born before 1150. He died after
1167.
a) William4 de Vaux. (became prior of Pentney).
b) Adam4 de Vaux
c) Robert4 de Vaux. (3rd patron of Pentney).
(1) William5 de Vaux
(2) Oliver5 de Vaux. (5th patron of Pentney).
(a) Robert6 de Vaux. (6th patron of Pentney).
(b) William6 de Vaux. (7th patron of Pentney).
(c) John6 de Vaux. (8th patron of Pentney).
i) Petronilla7 de Vaux married William Nairford.
ii) Mathilda (Maud)7 de Vaux married William Roos.
(d) Oliver6 de Vaux
(3) John5 de Vaux
(4) Phillip5 de Vaux
(5) Roger5 de Vaux
(6) Hugh5 de Vaux
(7) William5 de Vaux
(8) Robert5 de Vaux. (4th patron of Pentney).
C. ?2 de Vaux (of Somerset/Dorset holdings. May have been Robert or Aitard).
36
J. David Vance
So…were there any de Vaux on the Crusades?
Surely the prettiest reference to the de Vaux on Crusade, but its accuracy
is unproven. At least it has a correct coat of arms for Ranulf de Vaux of Gilsland
Possibly. They certainly would have been encouraged to go. But there are no primary records that list
all the minor knights in the nine Crusades between 1095 and 1272.
Local historians of Norfolk and Cumberland give several stories – some say there were de Vaux at the
Fall of Jerusalem in the First Crusade (1095-1099), others that there were de Vaux in the disastrous
Second Crusade (1147-1149) and in Richard the Lion-Hearted’s more moderately successful Third
Crusade (1187-1192). And of course, there is the story mentioned before from Seaborough of a de
Vaux sending a local to fight in another crusade before 1229 (which would have been either the rather
uneventful Fifth (1217-1221) or Sixth (1228-1229) Crusades).
Unfortunately none of these reports are supported by eyewitness accounts of the Crusades; which only
means that if the de Vaux were there, they did not call attention to themselves. And there are no
primary records in England or Scotland that say the de Vaux went on Crusade. So we don’t know.
The picture is from a list of the knights of the Third Crusade in “English Crusaders, containing an
account of all the English knights who formed part of the expeditions for the recovery of the Holy
Land, illustrated by 300 Coats of Arms” by James Cruishank Dansey (London: Dickenson & Co.,
1850), a book that purports to have collected names from all the records that still existed at that time.
It mentions a Raoul de Vaux in the First Crusade (who could have been either from Normandy or
Britain) and also lists Ranulf de Vaux and John de Vaux here – certainly Ranulf is known to have
become the real Baron of Gilsland shortly afterwards (so if he went on Crusade, he came back) but
unless this was a John de Vaux from Dirleton or Norfolk, he is not listed in other records for Gilsland.
37
J. David Vance
So…where in Normandy were the de Vaux from?
The short answer is – nobody’s sure.
There was apparently a “Terra de Vallibus” (“Land of Vaux”) somewhere in modern-day France
within the holdings of William the Conqueror and his immediate descendants. Orderic Vitalis
mentions it once70, and it appears in the Rotuli Normanniae (tax rolls for Normandy during the period
when William the Conqueror’s descendants ruled both Normandy and England) connected with a
Robert and William de Vallibus in 120271. But neither reference has enough detail to place it on a
map. There may have even been more than one “Terra de Vallibus”.
William the Conqueror’s lands in Europe in 1086 and possible “Land of Vaux” locations
(credit: Google Earth™ and University of Texas libraries PCL Map collection)
The de Vaux who came with William the Conqueror were certainly not the only de Vaux in
Normandy; the de Vaux/de Vallibus name shows up many times in charters of religious houses in
70
71
Marjorie Chibnall, Orderic Vitalis, p. 259.
Thomas Hardy (ed). Rotuli Normanniae in Turri Londinensi, vol. 1. (London, 1835), p. 67
38
J. David Vance
Normandy through the 11th and 12th centuries and the title of “Seigneur de Vaux” continued in France
and Belgium in many places through at least the 16th century. But the origins of the family (or
families) are not documented, and there is no clear “Vaux” region to point to for where the title or the
family first came from.
Some genealogists have called out Vaux-Sur-Seulles, near Bayeux and Caen, in Normandy; not only
because of the consistency in the names, but because that area is in the heart of William the
Conqueror’s seat of power, which would have ensured a close connection to Norman nobility
(although the de Vaux were not apparently that well connected in William’s court). There is also a
Vaux-Sur-Aure near Caen.
Vaux-Sur-Eure near Rouen is also a possibility; again because of the name connection. Interestingly,
Vaux-Sur-Eure traces their town’s history back to the mention by Orderic Vitalis of Robert de Vaux
who tithed to St. Evrault in 108072; although it’s not clear if that connection is supported by more than
just the similarity in names.
Since “Vaux” means “valley”, it’s not really surprising that the gentle rolling landscape of Normandy
lends itself naturally to many possible origins of the “de Vaux” family name.
There is also another completely different option suggested by at least three sources.
Orderic Vitalis also writes
about a campaign in 1099
that
William
Rufus
undertook in Normandy
against Elias, Count of
Maine, in which William
Rufus’ forces captured and
burned the “castle of Vaux
in
Monce-en-Belin”73.
Also, a charter of the abbey
of Saint-Vincent-du-Mans
dated to the late 11th century
was witnessed by a Hugo de
Vallibus and notes he held
“the fief of Vaux” at LaChapelle-Saint-Remy74.
And today still, between
19th Century Chateau de Vaux, Yvre L’Eveque (old postcard)
Monce-en-Belin and La(credit : http://sarthissime.blogspot.com/2010/12/yvre-leveque.html)
Chapelle-Saint-Remy
(which are about 20 miles from each other very close to Le Mans, France) there is a Chateau de Vaux
still standing near the town of Yvre-l’Eveque.
72
See town website at http://www.vaux-sur-eure.fr/fr/actualite/1587/les-origines-village-vaux-sur-eure
Marjorie Chibnall, Orderic Vitalis, p. 259.
74
From the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy; see http://fmg.ac/Projects/Medlands/MAINE.htm#_ftn858.
Original charter reference is Charles, R. and Menjot d’Elbenne (eds.) Cartulaire de l’abbaye de Saint-Vincent du
Mans (Le Mans, 1886), Liber primus, p. 80 footnote 5.
73
39
J. David Vance
The current manor house there only dates from the 19th century, but the earliest “Seigneur de Vaux”
that can be associated with Yvre-l’Eveque is William Becquet, Lord of Vaux in 139475. In any case
there is little doubt that the eastern outskirts of Le Mans have had a long association with the de Vaux
name. Could this be “the” – or “a” – Terra de Vallibus?
But… the Le Mans area is not part of Normandy.
In the 11th century it was part of the county of Maine, which was then a buffer state sitting between the
more powerful regions of Normandy and Anjou. Maine was annexed to Normandy by William the
Conqueror in 1063, and although troops from Maine fought with the Normans on many occasions
(including at the Battle of Hastings), the county itself revolted against the Normans several times
before France took it over in 1203.
If the de Vaux did come from Maine, it’s possible that they were newly aligned with William the
Conqueror in 1066 and either not as well-known – or perhaps not as trusted – in his court; which
might explain their lesser status in Anglo-Norman England. It could also be one reason that a branch
of the de Vaux were sufficiently disaffected with William the Conqueror to align with Edgar and end
up in Scotland, if that version is accurate. And it might also help explain Hubert de Vaux’s rise in
influence at the court of the Empress Mathilda at Anjou, since Maine was at times a political ally of
both Normandy and Anjou.
But without more evidence that’s all just speculation (and I mention it mainly to show how far off we
could be); it is perhaps even more likely that different de Vaux families (or different branches of the
same family) held land in many places in Normandy and Maine. Without more information on Robert
and Aitard de Vaux to get a better fix on their origins, the question remains unanswered.
75
Edmond Monnoyer, Bulletin de la Societe d’Agriculture, Sciences et Arts de La Sarthe, 3rd series, tome 6, vol.
XIV (Le Mans: Monnoyer, Ch. 1859), p. 288.
40
J. David Vance
c. 1153-65 AD: From Anglo-Normans to Scots
The de Vaux of Dirleton
The next line of de Vaux of usual interest to the Vans/Vance family is the de Vaux of Gullane (Golyn)
and Dirleton, in East Lothian, Scotland. The original name of this parish just east of Edinburgh was
Golyn, with (according to local historians) original manors in the villages of Golyn (now Gullane) and
Dirleton which were granted to the de Vaux some time between 1124 and 1165 (either in the reigns of
King David I of Scotland or King Malcolm IV of Scotland).
Dirleton, Gullane, and the Island of Fidra east of Edinburgh
(credit: The Internet Map Archive, public domain)
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J. David Vance
Several Scotland historians (Nisbet76 for instance, quoting Dalrymple) say a Philip de Vaux is first
mentioned holding land in the south of Scotland during the reign of King Malcolm IV (1153-1165),
but the earliest mention of a de Vaux in Scottish royal acts or charters is c. 1160 when a John de Vaux
was a witness to several royal charters for King Malcolm IV. John was also a hostage for King
William I the Lion at Falaise in 1174, and witnessed several charters for King William I c. 118077.
Also, a William de Vaux witnessed royal charters for King William I between 1189 and 119978.
Castle of Dirleton near Edinburgh
(credit: Wikipedia, Jonathan Oldenbuck under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)
The first de Vaux known to be Baron of Dirleton was William de Vaux:
Some time during the 12th century, these lands [of Dirleton] were acquired by a de Vaux (or
Vallibus), one of the wealthy Anglo-Normans who had come to Scotland under the patronage
of King David (1124-1153). The first known owner of the barony was William de Vaux, a
favourite of King William the Lion (1165-1214). About 1220 this baron gave the island of
Fidra, or Eilbottle as it was then called, to the White Canons of Dryburgh79
76
Alexander Nisbet, A System of Heraldry, Speculative and Practical, Vol. II (Edinburgh: Blackwell, William,
1816), Appendix p. 248.
77
G.W.S. Barrow, Regesta Regum Scottorum, i. Acts of Malcolm IV, and ii, Acts of William I (Edinburgh,
1960-71). See Matthew Hammond,
http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/scottishstudies/charters/de%20Vaux%20family.pdf (16 May 2011).
78
Barrow, Regesta Regum Scottorum ii, Acts of William I, see also Matthew Hammond.
79
From the Official Guide to Dirleton Castle, as reported by Jamie Vans, “The Lairds of Barnbarroch,” Some
notes on Vans History, 2001, p 5. http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vfarch/Publications.html (16 May
2011)
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J. David Vance
For those unfamiliar with the British Isles: unlike Cumberland which was disputed between England
and Scotland at that time, East Lothian is squarely in Scotland, and the de Vaux of Dirleton would
have been clearly aligned with the King of Scotland in any struggles against England.
There are actually two theories as to the origins of the de Vaux of Dirleton, reported in the various
genealogies and local county histories. One is that the first de Vaux (whether Philip, John, or
William) was a junior son of the Gilsland family of de Vaux who for unknown reasons changed
allegiances (which, in the shifting medieval political alliances, was more common than one might
think).
The second, favored by Robert Vans Agnew in his
genealogy of the Vans family of Barnbarroch80, goes
back to the Norman invasion. Upon the death of King
Harold at the Battle of Hastings, the Anglo-Saxon
nobility of England quickly proclaimed Edward’s
nephew Edgar King of England. Even some Norman
nobles who were disaffected with William the
Conqueror aligned themselves with Edgar. Despite
some early victories, William’s army proved too much
for Edgar’s, and Edgar and his nobles escaped in 1073
to the protection of King Malcolm III in Scotland.
Although I have not pursued this further, Robert Vans
Agnew reports that several historians (Boethius, Scott,
Heron, Rapin & Hume, etc) list Vaux/Vaus among the
names of those nobles with Edgar who were granted
lands by King Malcolm. Vans Agnew also reports
other historians who claim the family arrived in
Scotland during the reign of King David (1124-53) or
King William I (1165-1214).
Towards the end of his reign King William I was held
again for a time in England, and there is record that
John of Vaux “son of William of Vaux” was held hostage in June of 121381 by King John for a time as
surety for King William. Robert Vans Agnew uses this to conclude that the de Vaux were wellestablished by the end of King William’s reign – although given that John’s grandfather John de Vaux
was also held as a hostage for William in 1174, the available cartulary supports them being wellestablished earlier at the very start of his reign.
Interestingly the John de Vaux of Dirleton who was held hostage in 1213 was held in the custody of
Robert de Vaux at Gilsland82 (only some six months after Robert himself was held in custody during
the English barons’ unrest against King John’s rule). That does not necessarily mean a close family
connection – but it must have at least made for some interesting conversation between de Vaux
families.
80
All references to Robert Vans Agnew are from Robert Vans Agnew, pp. 21-23.
Joseph Bain, Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland preserved in Her Majesty’s Public Record Office,
London, vol. 1, (Edinburgh, H.M. General Register House, 1881-88), no. 574.
82
Bain, no. 574. See also Matthew Hammond,
http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/scottishstudies/charters/de%20Vaux%20family.pdf (16 May 2011).
81
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J. David Vance
Robert Vans Agnew does also note that all the historians he cited agree that regardless of their exact
origin, the de Vaux family in Scotland are a branch of the de Vaux from England. As further proof,
he offers the similarity of their coats of arms, which (per his report) for the de Vaux of Gilsland were
“argent, a bend checky or, and gules” (i.e. a silver shield with a diagonal stripe of gold and red check)
while the de Vaux of Dirleton were the same except the bend was gules only (so a silver shield with a
diagonal stripe of red only).
While most of these connections are simply anecdotal, it is worth noting that even without primary
records to show the exact relationship, a connection between de Vaux of Gilsland and the de Vaux of
Dirleton seems certain – either a de Vaux from the same generation as Aitard or Robert de Vaux
joined up with Edgar and migrated to Scotland, or a later de Vaux left England for reasons unknown
and found favor at the royal court of Scotland.
Once they took on the barony of Dirleton, various roles and actions of the de Vaux of this line can be
seen through the royal charters and cartulary of the times (especially grants and charters to Dryburgh
Abbey, about 45 miles south of Dirleton)83. Some highlights from those sources:
o
Before he died some time after 1221, William de Vaux granted land on the island of Fidra
and the right of patronage for the church of Gullane to Dryburgh Abbey.
o
His son John de Vaux (the hostage for King William in 1213) was also the Sheriff of
Edinburgh for a time around 1219, married a woman named Ada, and was seneschal to the
Queen of Scotland.
o
John had a brother William who appears to have taken up religious service. William was
clerk to the Bishop of St. Andrew’s around 1221-1229, owned land around Gullane and
Eldbotle, and was possibly the rector of the church of Congalton in 1224.
o
John had a son Alexander who shows up in charters between 1239 and 1267.
o
Alexander had a son John who shows up in charters between 1290 and 1309.
The Dryburgh Abbey charters also reference a Robert de Vaux who granted them other land on Fidra
island; the charter is dated between 1212 and 1234 but Robert’s relationship to the other de Vaux is
unknown. There is an interesting comment from Scottish charter researchers:
This is very likely Robert II de Vaux, lord of Gilsland, Cumberland, whose uncle Robert I
founded Lanercost Priory, which had land at Kingston to the SE of Dirleton. Robert succeeded
to Gilsland after the death of his father Ralph in 1199 and had custody of John II de Vaux of
Dirleton after he became a hostage of King John in 1213. A Robert de Vaux also witnessed a
charter of William Noble to Newbattle Abbey relating to Kingston, and the charter was
confirmed by William I de Vaux of Dirleton (Newb. Reg., nos. 116, 117). It is perhaps
noteworthy in this context that the place-name Gilsland survives to the present immediately
SW of North Berwick (OS: NT 545 845), 2 km north of Kingston and about 3 km east of
Dirleton Castle.84
This comment, while a possible further link between the de Vaux of Gilsland and those of Dirleton, is
anecdotal and should be treated carefully. In the same source it is noted that Robert’s son John
confirmed the grants of his father – and there were no John de Vaux in Gilsland listed during the 13th
83
All references in the subsequent bullets are from Matthew Hammond.
All Dryburgh Abbey charter references in this section are to Matthew Hammond,
http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/scottishstudies/charters/Dryb.%20Lib._rev_MHH%2013-3-8.pdf (16 May 2011).
84
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J. David Vance
century in available primary records (or local histories). So while the link is possible, it is also very
possible that Robert is just another de Vaux in the Dirleton line – perhaps a brother of John and
William’s – with his own son John and this line is just an offshoot of the barons of Dirleton.
Between 1289 and 1307 while Alexander’s son John was baron of Dirleton, King Edward I
(Longshanks) of England was invited to arbitrate a succession dispute over the throne of Scotland.
Instead, he invoked feudal overlordship and tried to take over Scotland – eventually by force. John de
Vaux was required to swear fealty to Edward in 1291 and 129685. In 1298, Edward invaded Scotland
and met with little resistance until he reached Dirleton castle, which stubbornly held out until it finally
surrendered after a long siege. In 1304, John de Vaux swore fealty again to Edward after the battle of
Strathord upon Robert Bruce’s surrender.
Robert Vans Agnew has a story about this John de Vaux:
…[his] submission to the English King seems to have been very doubtful, for in 1306 there is
mention of him as one of the supposed friends of Robert Bruce, and an order is given by
Edward I to Aymer de Valence, that “as soon as Johannes de Vaus [John de Vaux] and
Alexander de Seton shall be returned from a voyage towards the islands, on which they were
with Johannes de Moubray, he shall seize for the King the Castle of Dirleton, which he shall
provide with every thing necessary, and give over to Johannes de Kyngeston, to be kept by
him till further orders. He shall also seize all the lands and valuables belonging to the Castle,
and shall send the persons of Johannes de Vaus and Alexander Seton to the King”.
There is however reason to believe that either the accusation of Johannes de Vaus being an
adherent of Robert Bruce was ill-founded, or that he found means again to make his peace
with the English, for we find an order from Edward I dated at Lenton, September 13th 1307, to
him and several other Scots barons, to proceed into Galloway and suppress some commotions
occasioned there by the partisans of Bruce.86
There is also a charter to Dryburgh Abbey around 1271 from Alexander de Balliol, Lord of Cavers, of
part of “the wood of Gladswood, formerly belonging to John de Vaux and Devorgilla his spouse.”
This has been taken by historians to mean that John de Vaux was also the second husband of
Devorgilla of Galloway, descendant of King David I of Scotland, and, from her first marriage, mother
of John Balliol who assumed the throne of Scotland from 1292 to 1296.
For the next Barons of Dirleton, we have only anecdotal reports by local historians:
85
See Matthew Hammond, http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/scottishstudies/charters/de%20Vaux%20family.pdf (16
May 2011).
86
Robert Vans Agnew, pp. 26-27.
45
o
Thomas de Vaux, son of John de
Vaux. Thomas was said to have
fought in the battle of Halidon Hill
in 1333, and to have been killed in
1346 at the battle of Neville’s
Cross at Durham;
o
William de Vaux, brother or
nephew of Thomas de Vaux.
William was said to have been
taken prisoner at the battle of
Durham and spent a year in the
Tower of London, after which he
returned to his lands in Scotland.
o
Local historians differ on whether
William lived until 1392, or died in
1364 and had a son William who
inherited the barony and then lived
until 1392.
In any case the
William who lived until 1392 is
said to have married Catherine
Douglas, of the powerful Douglas
family.
J. David Vance
Battle of Neville's Cross, Durham, from a 15th century
manuscript (Wikipedia, public domain)
Chalmers has an anecdotal story that the last William de Vaux was a typical noble of the times87. In
his role as Baron he oversaw local judicial proceedings, and when he ruled against one defendant in
1385, the injured party appealed to the Sheriff of Edinburgh and got the baron’s sentence overruled.
The local judiciary was so incensed by William’s conduct during the proceedings that they referred
him directly to the king for censure. There is no record of whether the king took action, but Chalmers
notes:
The baron of Dirleton appears to have acted with all the outrage of a lawless age. He
prosecuted his neighbour in his own court, he resisted the sheriff's process, he opposed
pertinaciously the king in his judicial council ; yet we do not see in the Record that the baron
of Dirleton was committed for his violent contempt of the constituted authorities. William de
Vaus was then baron of Dirleton, and died in 1392.
After William died, his eldest daughter (or in some reports, the daughter of Thomas), who had married
Sir John Halyburton, carried the barony of Dirleton into the Halyburton family.
The Vans of Barnbarroch
While the de Vaux name may have ended in the barony of Dirleton, it continued through many further
generations in “cadet houses” – younger sons of the de Vaux barons who were not in line of
succession for the barony but were granted estates and junior titles in other areas of Scotland. Such
Vaux (or Vaus) names appeared holding estates in Barnbarroch, Lochslyn and Menie, and even in
87
George Chalmers, Caledonia, or a Historical and Topographical Account of North Britain, Vol. 3 (London:
Cadell & Davies, 1810), pp 409-410.
46
J. David Vance
“junior houses of junior houses” like Lybrack and Longcastle, which were estates granted to younger
sons of the house of Barnbarroch88.
There is an anecdotal story by local historians that William de Vaux of Dirleton (who died around
1364) had a younger son named Sir Andrew Vaux who moved to Galloway. This Andrew was killed
at the battle of Poictiers in 1356, and was “succeeded by another Sir Andrew, whose name appears in
the settlement of the Scots crown made at Scone, 4th April 1373, although in Robertson’s Records the
name is erroneously given Andreas de Valoniis.”89 However, primary records confirming that story
have not been identified – the earliest confirmed mention of a Vans of Barnbarroch is a John in 1384.
The story of the Vans of Barnbarroch has been amply explored by Jamie Vans, the twenty-third Laird
of Barnbarroch, in various publications; for that reason I have summarized their story here through
excerpts gratefully reproduced with his permission. I have chosen to use excerpts only because Mr.
Vans covers some of the same background on the de Vaux of England and Dirleton as has already
been mentioned previously, and also includes comments on the Irish Vans/Vances which I have saved
to a later chapter.
From “Notes on the history of the family of Vans of Barnbarroch”:
Barnbarroch can be found in Wigtownshire, in
SW Scotland, not far from the county town
Wigtown. The house is now a ruin due the the
fire of 1941, and should not be approached. The
fire unfortunately destroyed many of the family's
possessions and the family records which were
some of the most complete in the area. Some of
these, though, have survived and can be found in
the Scottish Record Office in Edinburgh.
The name changed gradually from de Vaux, to
Vaus, to Vans. Its pronunciation in Scotland to
this day is with a long a, as "Varnss". If you try
that, it is easy to see how that would have
developed from Vaus in the spoken work. In
writing, of course there was no "right" way to
spell in medieval and Stuart times - and in handwriting "n" has always been hard to distinguish
from "u".
From “The Lairds of Barnbarroch”, the story of the first
Vans of Barnbarroch:
Vans of Barnbarroch
The Arms of Vans of Barnbarroch have been differenced by the Lord Lyon from the Arms of
de Vaux of Dirleton by a silver mullet being placed on the red bend while one or two of the
very old Armorials shew three silver mullets as the correct difference. The Arms of the
88
Jamie Vans, Origins of the Overseas Vances, pp 1-8. For all references in this section see
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vfarch (16 May 2011).
89
References and quotes in this paragraph are to Thomas Murray, The Literary History of Galloway,
(Edinburgh: Waugh & Innes, 1832), Appendix p. 335.
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J. David Vance
Douglas family include three silver mullets and it may well be, though there is no direct proof,
that the silver mullet awarded to Barnbarroch may be because the first Vaux to come to
Wigtownshire and the progenitor of Robert of 1451 was a younger son of William, the last
baron de Vaux of Dirleton and his wife who was a Douglas. Alternatively, the silver mullet
perhaps only recognises the fact that Robert obtained his land from the Douglas, or perhaps
Robert's mother was a Douglas. Perhaps the silver mullet has nothing whatever to do with any
Douglas connection. The fact that the Arms of Barnbarroch are the Arms of Dirleton with a
difference is very strong evidence that the Wigtownshire branch are cadets of the East Lothian
ones. If, as seems likely, the members of the Vaux family were landless between say 1350 and
1450, it might well prove impossible to trace them with accuracy because the only evidence
would lie in Charters which concerned the ownership of land.
According to Robert Vans Agnew in his introduction to Correspondence of Sir Patrick Waus:
A son, or perhaps a nephew, of Willielmus de Vaux of Dirleton in East Lothian settled
in Galloway where he is said to have married an heiress about the year 1384 and
obtained the lands of Barnbarroch, which he held under the Douglasses, who were at
that time Lords of Galloway, and to whom he was allied, Willielmus (whose son or
nephew he is supposed to have been) having married Catherine Douglas. This was
Johannes de Vallibus or Vaus, the first of the name at Barnbarroch. From this John
Vaus of 1384 the family has continued in the male line in unbroken descent, and in
possession of the same lords of Barnbarroch to the present time. In the fifth
generation from him the representative of the family was Patrick Vaus who, while yet
a minor, succeeded to the estate in 1482.
In any case Robert certainly obtained a Charter dated 26th January, 1451 from the eighth Earl
of Douglas to the land of Barglass and Barnbarroch. P. H.. McKerlie doubts the correctness of
the above paragraph. He thinks it likely that Robert Vaus was the son of Alexander Vaus who
was Bishop of Galloway in 1420 and that Robert obtained the Charter of 1451 through the
Bishop's influence. The bishop himself might well have been the remaining heir male of the
name, from a younger son of William de Vaux of Dirleton.
From “Barnbarroch”, the further story of the Vans of Barnbarroch:
The first member of the Vans family to inhabit Barnbarroch was John who, in 1384, obtained
the land from Archibald, Earl of Douglas and Lord of Galloway. At this time the house or
castle was presumably a fortified tower of a type then common in the Scottish borders and
which can still be seen in a few places.
A charter granted to Robert Vaus by William, Earl of Douglas, presumably the 8th Earl, on 26
Jan 1451 is among the Barnbarroch papers now in the Scottish Record Office.
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J. David Vance
The most famous member of the family
was Sir Patrick Vaus of Barnbarroch (d
1597) whose correspondence was edited
and published by Robert Vans Agnew in
1882.
Sir Patrick was one of the
ambassadors who travelled to Denmark in
1587 to arrange the marriage of the future
king James VI to Princess Anne of
Denmark. Letters to Sir Patrick from Mary
Queen of Scots and James VI are among
the family papers.
By the second half of the seventeenth
century the fortunes of the family had
declined and its owners were in debt, In
1747, however, John Vans of Barnbarroch
married Margaret Agnew, sole heiress of
Robert Agnew of Sheuchan. Family legend
has it that the Agnews were against the
match and that the two may even have
eloped. There is no evidence for that; it
may be Margaret’s grandfather who
opposed the marriage for he died in about
1747 and his death may have made it
possible. In any case John took the name of
Agnew and in 1771 built the present
mansion house of Barnbarroch on the site,
as far as we know, of the ancient building.
His son Robert’s correct surname was
therefore Agnew. Robert christened all his
Views of Barnbarroch House in its active days
children “Vans” and recorded his action in
the family Bible. I believe that his children did the same but that all future generations called
themselves by the surname Vans Agnew until my father, Patrick Alexander Vans of
Barnbarroch returned to the name Vans in 1965.
It is possible that at the east end of the house, traces of the previous house are still visible,
particularly on the rather blank east wall itself where the detailing seems different from the
strictly classical work of the front and back.
The west end is, of course, a further addition. This was probably built by John Agnew’s great
grandson Robert Vans Agnew in around 1860; at least he sold Sheuchan 1855 and this may
well have funded this extension to the house.
The fortunes of the estate continued to decline and it was in a poor state by the time the
mansion was gutted by fire in 1941; Colonel John Vans Agnew (known as Barnbarroch
Johnny) escaped as luckily did those servants who slept in the house. Johnny’s wife, in whose
bedroom the fire is thought to have started, sadly did not. The estate was sold to tenant
farmers and to a timber merchant and this would have been the end of the story - however my
49
J. David Vance
cousin Hugh Bowlby bought back the ruin of the house and 4.5 acres from the timber
merchant - and then passed it on to my father when he became head of the family.
Now the house and this land have again been sold to a family from Derbyshire who intend to
rebuild it as a family home, with my best wishes and, I am sure, those of all the Vans family.
Barnbarroch House today post-1941 fire (overhead picture credit: Google Earth™)
50
J. David Vance
The Scottish de Vaux / Vaus / Vans family
For clarity the following are the Scottish de Vaux / Vaus / Vans names and relationships referenced
before. Dates shown are based solely on the records from the Bibliography.
The de Vaux of Dirleton
I. Philip?1 de Vaux (if he existed) was born circa 1130.
A. John2 de Vaux was born before 1155. He died before 1189. In 1174, this John was a
hostage for King William The Lion at Falaise.
1. William3 de Vaux (c. 1170 – aft. 1221).
a) John4 de Vaux (c. 1190 – aft. 1251) married Ada ? He was a hostage for King
William in 1213 (held in custody of Robert de Vaux of Gilsland), was Sheriff of
Edinburgh in 1219, and was seneshal to the Queen of Scotland.
(1) Alexander5 de Vaux (c. 1220 – c. 1270).
(a) John6 de Vaux (bef. 1270 - aft 1309). John defended Dirleton against King
Edward of England in 1298, and was perhaps the second husband of
Devorgilla, mother of John Balliol who claimed the throne of Scotland.
i) Thomas7 de Vaux (bef. 1310 – 1346) said to have been killed at the battle
of Durham.
ii) William7 de Vaux (bef. 1320 – c. 1364) was said to have been taken
prisoner at the battle of Durham, spent a year in the Tower of London, then
returned to Scotland. May have been Thomas7 de Vaux’s nephew (son of an
unnamed brother of Thomas).
a) William8 de Vaux (bef. 1364 – 1392) married Catherine Douglas.
(i) ?9 de Vaux married Sir John Halyburton (said to be around 1350).
(ii) ?9 de Vaux married Sir Patrick Hepburn.
b) Andrew8 de Vaux (if he existed). Andrew is said to have moved
to Galloway and started the line of Vans of Barnbarroch (anecdotal).
Andrew died at the battle of Poictiers in 1356.
(i) Andrew9 de Vaux (if he existed) (bef. 1356 – aft 1373). Andrew is
said to have been at the settlement of the Scots crown at Scone
on 4 April 1373 (anecdotal). If correct, Andrew would presumably
be the father of the first recorded John Vaus of Barnbarroch.
b) William4 de Vaux (c. 1200 – aft. 1229). He was clerk to the Bishop of St. Andrews
around 1219-1229 and was possibly the rector of the church of Congalton.
51
J. David Vance
The Vans of Barnbarroch
The following detail for the known Vans of Barnbarroch (repeated here only to the early 1800s but the
line continues to present day) is reprinted from Jamie Vans’ publications.90
90
Jamie Vans, “The Lairds of Barnbarroch,” Some notes on Vans History, 2001, pp 7-10.
52
J. David Vance
53
J. David Vance
54
J. David Vance
55
J. David Vance
So… what exactly was the family Coat of Arms?
Traditionally, there wasn’t one. The de Vaux/Vaus/Vans families used many.
As the rules of heraldry and inheritable coats of arms developed between the 12th and 15th centuries,
several dozen different coats of arms were registered for different branches of “de Vaux” families in
parts of France and even Belgium91. These “de Vaux” arms can be highly ornate and incorporate
creatures and symbols of various kinds, and these are the arms that often show up if you just search for
“de Vaux Coat Of Arms” on the Internet. However, these are separate, later, de Vaux families (or at
best, different branches of the same family) and do not represent the ancestry of this line of Vans and
Vances. But even the Anglo-Norman de Vaux had many coats of arms:92
Some of the Arms used by various Anglo-Norman de Vaux families at various times
91
See, for instance, Victor Rolland’s Illustrations to the Armorial general by J.B. Rietstap (first printed 1903,
latest reprinting London: Heraldry Today, 1967). Rolland’s book of drawings based on J.B. Rietstap’s original
19th century catalog of heraldic descriptions is considered an authoritative work and shows thirty different coats
of arms for various de Vaux families in England, France, and Belgium.
92
Thomas Robson, The British Herald, or Cabinet of Armorial Bearings, Vol. II (Sunderland: Turner &
Marwood, 1850)
56
J. David Vance
When the de Vaux arrived in England around 1066-1086, it was still a hundred years before heraldry
was formalized, and some four hundred years before the rules were completely documented and
enforced. So while they did settle on some consistent designs, the early Norman, English, and Scots
de Vaux could have – and did – use many variations of those designs at different times.
That also means the primary records don’t all agree. The arms of the de Vaux of Norfolk and Suffolk,
as well as those of Gilsland, for instance, are said by some records to be “Chequy, or and gules” (gold
and red in a check pattern), while other records say they were “Chequy, argent and gules” (silver and
red in a check pattern). The question is further complicated because the arms when used were not
always colored (on stone, for instance), or the colors wore off, so sometimes the patterns had to be
enough to identify the family. That means the colors could be open to debate.
Even as late as 1523 when Nicholas Vaux became Lord Vaux of Harrowden, the arms he took were
“Chequy or (sometimes argent) and gules, on a chevron azure three roses or (sometimes argent)”;
clearly in deference to his descent from the original de Vaux, but variously recorded as gold or silver
depending on the source.
Patterns could sometimes be used in different variations as well. In the baronial house of the de Vaux
of Gilsland, the early barons would usually use a full shield of gold (or silver) and red check, but they
might have also used other variations as long as there was no confusion with other houses.
Robert Vans Agnew, for instance, calls the coat of arms of de Vaux of Gilsland “Argent, on a bend
chequy or and gules” when he notes a connection to the similar coat of arms of the de Vaux of
Dirleton – “Argent, on a bend gules.” But what he calls the arms of Gilsland are usually recorded as
the arms of the junior house of Vaux of Corby, which were not granted until many years after the de
Vaux first held Dirleton – so that connection is only possible if the baron of Gilsland used the Corby
pattern for his own purposes before it was later assumed by the house of Corby.
The full “heraldic achievements” including crests, mantling etc. were not formalized until centuries after the
original de Vaux nobility, so it is unlikely they actually ever used anything this ornate. This one has the coat of
arms right but the crown is wrong, it signifies royalty. But a dozen or so paid heraldry sites will for a fee gladly
make their version of this look great on a T-shirt or a mousepad for you!
57
J. David Vance
With all those variations, the coats of arms shown in this picture are really just examples of the major
designs used by some of the de Vaux/Vaus/Vans families.
de Vaux, Vaus, and Vans Heraldry
Local historians have offered their opinions on the subject of the coats of arms of the de Vaux.
On the de Vaux of Gilsland:
The Vaux afford another instructive instance of how the early heralds differenced coats of
arms. Vaux of Gilsland bore a shield chequered red and gold and the red and gold chequers of
the great baron of Gilsland must have been well known and inseparably associated with the
name of Vaux. From the same stock sprang other local families of Vaux inferior in dignity
and wealth to the great Baron of Gilsland. These families did not bear the red and gold
chequers of the great baron differenced by martlets and crescents. They adopted another plan.
Vaux of Catterlen assumed a golden shield and put…a broad stripe of the red and gold
chequers across it, while Vaux of Tryermain (according to Lysons) displayed a red and gold
chequered bend across a green shield. Vaux of Corby… bore on a silver shield a bend of the
family colours. Vaux of Catterlen put also on his shield just mentioned three garbs. Vaux of
Torcrossock took the same shield but with six garbs. No one from their respective coat
armoury could take Vaux of Tryermain, of Catterlen, or of Corby for the well known baron of
58
J. David Vance
Gilsland; yet no one could fail to read on their coat armoury that they claimed to be nearly
connected with him.93
On the de Vaux of Dirleton:
The only unquartered painted example of the Vaux coat-of-arms bears Argent, a bend gules,
and belongs to William (IV) de Vaux (fl. 1333x57), whose caput [land] was the splendid
castle of Dirleton…the family originated in Normandy and reached Scotland in the reign of
William the Lion in the person of John (I) de Vaux (fl. 1174x78). The seal of his son, William
(I) (d. ca 1200) is non-heraldic; however, on the seal of the latter’s son, John (II) (fl.
1214x30), is found a bend. Other early seals show differencing – Ermine, a bend for Sir
William de Vaux and a bend between two cinquefoils for Sir John de Vaux of Edinburghshire,
who signed the Ragman Roll homages.
Much later examples, following the extinction of the senior line, include Vaux of Manye
[Menie]: Argent, on a bend gules, three mullets argent, and the corrupt [meaning “didn’t
follow the rules of heraldry”] Vans of Barnbarroch: Argent, on a bend gules, a mullet argent
(sometimes or) in chief. The English Vauxs of Gilsland, distant kin to the Scottish family,
bore Chequy argent and gules [note argent (silver) reported here for Gilsland, not or (gold)].94
Some examples of the Vaux/Vaus/Vans coats of arms from around England and Scotland follow.
Most of these pictures were graciously provided to the VFA by Jamie Vans and are reproduced here
with acknowledgment and thanks to Mr. Vans.
Stone memorializing marriage of John Vaus and Grizzel
McCullough in 1649 (Vans of Barnbarroch arms on left).
Vans of Barnbarroch arms from c. 1700s, now in
museum in Newton Stewart
93
Richard Ferguson (ed). Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Antiquarian and Archeological
Society, Vol 1, (Highgate, Kendal: T. Wilson, 1874) pp. 308-309.
94
Bruce McAndrew, Scotland’s Historic Heraldry, (Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2006) p. 168.
59
Side aisle of old Wigtown church, Vaus tomb
Quartered arms from Lanercost Priory - Vaux of
Gilsland in upper right
(credit: http://www.lanercostpriory.org.uk/index.html)
J. David Vance
Whithorn Priory, Wigtownshire entrance: Arms of
Vaus (note chequy bend used here)
Vaux of Gilsland arms, St. Oswald’s church, Kirkoswald, Cumbria
© Martin & Jean Norgate,
http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/thelakes/html/lakemenu.htm
With all those variations, which coat of arms is “ours”? One
answer, I’m afraid, is “none”. Coats of arms aren’t really for
extended families, they are traditionally borne only by the one
person entitled to use them, and if you didn’t already know
you were in line to receive hereditary arms, you probably
don’t really have one.
On the other hand, the Vance Family Association (VFA), in
cooperation with others, has designed a Vance coat of arms
based on both the traditional arms of the house of Barnbarroch
and the seal used by the Rev. John Vans in his will of 1661.
This
coat
of
arms
is
available
at
http://www.vancefamilyassociation.org for anyone with
Vance ancestors to copy and use.
Vaux of Gilsland arms, Kirkham Priory,
Kirkham, North Yorkshire
© Pat Smith, http://mauriceboddy.org.uk/Helmsley.htm
60
J. David Vance
VFA Vance Coat of Arms
The VFA was also awarded a Certificate of Accreditation for a restricted corporate Tartan for the
Vance family (meaning a tartan manufacturer cannot use the tartan pattern without the permission of
the VFA). This tartan is for use by those with Vance family ancestors as well – if you are interested in
having cloth woven for personal use, please contact them through the website.
VFA Corporate Tartan
61
J. David Vance
So… what about the Robert the Bruce connection?
Included in William Balbirnie’s 1860 book – almost in passing
- is a family connection from the Vans of Barnbarroch back to
Robert the Bruce, who reigned as King of Scots from 1306 to
1329 and became possibly the greatest Scots hero when he
defeated Edward II of England at Bannockburn in 1314 and
secured (for a time) independence for Scotland from England.
Robert married twice and had five children plus another six
acknowledged illegitimate children; his descendants are well
documented and include all later Scottish monarchs and all
British monarchs since 1603 when the three Crowns were
united. So while I have not spent any time validating the
connection, it is based on well-known historical information
and seems to be in little doubt.
Robert the Bruce (1274-1329)
(credit: Wikipedia, public domain)
For the Vans family, the lineage is as follows. From Sir
Patrick Vans of Barnbarroch and Lady Mary Kennedy descend
the later Vans of Barnbarroch and (it is thought) the Irish
Vances as well.
62
J. David Vance
c. 1617 from Scots to Irish: Enter the Vances
In March of 1860, “a very industrious and enthusiastic chronicler came… to gather up, if possible, the
history of the Vance family [in Ireland]. He received but few responses to his letters, and gave up the
task in despair. He had carefully studied shire, county, and parish records in Scotland and Ireland, and
published what he deemed a correct account of the family in those lands.”95
This chronicler was William Balbirnie, a Glaswegian (Scot from Glasgow) living at the time in Cork,
Ireland. His mother was a Margaret Vance, originally from Coagh, Ireland, and he was pursuing the
ancestry of her family name. What he eventually published in 1860 was a flawed, but very
comprehensive, report of his detailed investigations into the Irish Vances.
William Balbirnie’s 1860 book is based upon three
main lines of research:
1. Publications by British antiquarians like
William Playfair, which Balbirnie used
extensively for the de Baux/de Vaux
ancestry
and
tracing
the
Norman/English/Scottish history of the
Vance name. Because he accepted their
version of history without question,
Balbirnie’s account is accurate only in the
general migration of the family name and
repeats all of the unsupported flaws in their
accounts;
2. Research by others in his own family, most
particularly his uncle, George Washington
Vance. While Balbirnie himself is careful
to call out flaws in those previous accounts
where they seem obvious to him, he accepts
the rest of their conclusions without
question;
Front plate from Balbirnie's 1860 book
3. His own trip that year to the north of Ireland
to find living Vance family members and
learn their history, supported by a letter
campaign he undertook to gather more
details.
Jamie Vans has done a thorough job of reviewing this last part of William Balbirnie’s research and
pointing out where he drew unsupported conclusions and (in some cases wild) assumptions about the
ancestry of the Vances living in the north of Ireland at the time.96 But besides their ancestry,
perhaps the most relevant part of Balbirnie’s research for modern genealogists is just the snapshot of
Northern Irish Vance family members from the mid-1800’s, at a time when although the area was
95
J.H. Beers and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago:
J.H. Beers & Co., 1893), p. 54
96
Jamie Vans, Origin of the Irish Vances. See http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vfarch (16 May
2011).
63
J. David Vance
more heavily populated than it is now, the local record-keeping was poor and there is little surviving
primary source material.
On a personal note, perhaps the top “holy grail” I have pursued in my own research, without success,
is the confirmed link between the Vances of northern Ireland in the 18th and 19th century and the first
Vances in Columbia County, Pennsylvania. The records agree that the Vances emigrated to
Columbia County from Donegal, Ireland, in 1802-1804, but it is not recorded who their Irish parents
were or what precise line of Vances they descended from. So, drawing heavily on Balbirnie and
Jamie Vans’s research, in this section I can only show the spread of the Vance family in northern
Ireland around 1802-1804 and where the Vances of Columbia County were most likely to have
originated – I can’t show exactly what family they came from.
64
J. David Vance
Major Ireland Locations of the Vans/Vance Family
The following map (courtesy of Google Earth™) shows the major locations connected with the Vans
and Vance family in Ireland.
I have included a table of locations names used by Balbirnie against their modern equivalents (and I
have also included a confidence assessment!), since over the centuries the original Gaelic location
names have been spelled in various ways in English.
Balbirnie also made some errors – for instance, he references the will of Patrick Vance of “Lifficulty”
in 1697, while the Index to Raphoe Wills shows the same will date for Patrick Vance of “Lissacully”.
The reference is undoubtedly to the same will; of course the error could also be in the more current
transcription of the Index to Raphoe Wills, but since Balbirnie never locates “Lifficulty” and there is
no other town in Donegal that seems a likely fit, I have noted the location as the modern
“Lissacholly”.
Also, Balbirnie references a deed between Patrick Vance of Forthill, county Longford and William
Vance of “Blenevoher, county Westmeath”, which he says is “not far from Patrick of Forthill”. I
believe this was a simple recording error on Balbirnie’s part - modern references to the same deed note
“Blenevoher” is in county Longford – indeed, if it is the same location, not far from Forthill.
65
J. David Vance
Major Northern Ireland locations for the Vans/Vance family name
(map courtesy Google Earth™ and NASA/JPL-Caltech)
66
Location (Balbirnie)
Antrim
Aughavea
Ballyboyle
(Boylaghoutra)
Ballyclug
Ballyforlea
Ballymacombs
Benburb
Location (Current)
Antrim
Aghaveagh
Ballyboyle
Ballyclog
Ballyforlea
Ballymacombs
Benburb
Blenevoher
Bleanavoher
Cannoncocherty
Castle Caulfield
Coagh
?
Castlecaufield
Coagh
Corlongrove
Corradreen
Derry/Londonderry
Donaghmore
Donegal
Dromedart
Drumgorman
Drumhirk, Tyrone
Drumhirk, Down
Dungannon
?
Corradreenan
Derry/Londonderry
Donaghmore
Donegal
Drumadart
Drumgorman
Drumhirk
Drumhirk
Dungannon
County
Lat (Deg) Long (Deg) Confidence
Tyrone
Tyrone
54.713382
54.630295
-6.216761
-6.610672
High
High
Donegal
Tyrone
Derry
Derry
Tyrone
54.641841
54.601885
54.663984
54.833657
54.411953
-8.142188
-6.651527
-6.720239
-6.503614
-6.745731
Med
High
High
High
High
Longford
53.623113
-7.998188
Tyrone
Tyrone
Tyrone
54.506534
54.647865
-6.837112
-6.618718
Monaghan
Armagh
Derry
Tyrone
Donegal
Donegal
Donegal
Tyrone
Down
Tyrone
54.255440
54.994510
54.530715
54.654487
54.651253
54.642314
54.497894
54.618544
54.502852
-7.760749
-7.319996
-6.811011
-8.110714
-8.321206
-8.239511
-6.823391
-5.658920
-6.769568
Med
J. David Vance
Comment
Mentioned by Jamie Vans
WB says in Westmeath (incorrect) but "not far
from Patrick of Forthill"
Registry of Deeds has record (Vol. 31, pg 155) in
1721 of deed ref. by WB between Patrick Vance
of Forthill and William Vance of "Blenecohar,
Longford"
LongfordLibrary.IE website identifies
"Bleanavoher" as site on Lough Ree
NOT FOUND WB says in "parish of Ballyclug"
High
High
NOT FOUND
Med/High
High
High
High
High
Med/High Also a Drumgornan near there
High
High
WB says near Newtownards
Dunkineely/Downeco
nnolly
Dunkineely
Forthill
Forthill
Gortnaburn
Gortnavern
Donegal
Longford
Donegal
54.631981
53.580813
55.023167
-8.360519
-7.894193
-7.728773
High
High
Med
Gortward
Inver
Gortaward
Inver
Donegal
Donegal
54.641571
54.657207
-8.265758
-8.299362
High
High
Killygavney
Killygavna
Monaghan 54.298730
-7.003997
Killymangle
Kilmacrenan
Killinangel (Beg)
Kilmacrenan
Donegal
Donegal
54.554899
55.032088
-8.180120
-7.775551
Med
High
Lifficulty
The Point
Raphoe
Raneel
Rugham
Lissacholly
St. John's Point
Raphoe
Raneely
Roughan
Donegal
Donegal
Donegal
Donegal
Tyrone
54.476986
54.585121
54.873688
54.607366
54.581641
-8.204477
-8.436048
-7.600482
-8.294283
-6.744717
Low/Med
Med
High
Med/High
Low
Sheagh
Terryscollip
Tullydish
Skeagh
Terryscollup
Tullydush
Fermanagh 54.320615
Tyrone
54.430461
Donegal 55.117923
-7.459260
-6.779378
-7.390014
Low/Med
High
High
"Downeconnolly" from 1600s could also be
modern Drumnakilly or Drumnacarry, Inver
parish, Donegal
Found a tombstone for "Hugh of Gortward"
there in 1993
WB says "in parish of Drumholm". There is also
a Killinangel More 1 mile north of Killinangel
Beg
Index to Raphoe Wills shows will of Patrick "of
Lissacully" dated 1697
Mentioned by Jamie Vans
Table of Irish Locations connected with Vances. Map references are per Google Earth (2011)
67
J. David Vance
From Scotland to Ireland
In 1607, the rebel O’Neill and O’Donnell Irish Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel (Donegal) had just
finally fled to Spain, ending the lines of native Irish royalty, and opening the doors for King James
(newly King over all three kingdoms of Great Britain) starting in 1608 to offer forfeited estates in
Ulster to colonists from Scotland and England.
Jamie Vans (among others) has noted that the Vans family of Barnbarroch were among these first
“Undertakers” (so called because of what they were undertaking):
In 1610 Sir John Vaus of Longcastle [of Barnbarroch] obtained 1,500 acres in Downeconnelly
a place in Donegal in the parish of Inver where several Vances are found settled in the latter
part of the 17th century, Boylagh and Banagh barony, Co. Donegal from William Stewart
(brother of Alexander Stewart, Lord Garlies, and cousin of the King). The same year Patrick
Vaus (or Vans) of Lybrack.. [younger brother of John Vaus, and second son of Sir Patrick
Vaus of Barnbarroch] was granted 1000 acres of land in Boylaghoutra, also in Boylagh and
Banagh barony, Co. Donegal.97
While there is no evidence that Sir John or Patrick ever lived on or worked their land grants
themselves (in fact, they sold much or all of it by 1613), this is the first evidence of the Vans of
Barnbarroch holding interests in northern Ireland.
Locations of Barnbarroch, Longcastle, and Lybrack (said to be near Balfern)
near Newton Stewart in Wigtownshire, Scotland (map credit: Google Earth™)
97
Kathleen Neill, Director of the Irish Genealogical Society, as reported by Jamie Vans, Origin of the Irish
Vances, p. 13.
68
J. David Vance
The next evidence relating to the Vans family is a will on file in the Registrar Temple in Dublin (at
least in 1860), dated the 22nd of October 1661 and probated the 26th of July, 1662, for a Rev. John
Vauss (or Vans):
The will is sealed with the Barnbarroch Arms in red wax, viz: “Argent on a bend gules, 3
mollets”. He appoints his “sonne, William Vauss” his executor and gives legacies to his two
grandsons John and William Vauss, and Jane Vauss his daughter, and David Cunningham, her
husband, also to Rebecca and Marion Vauss…William is the only son made mention of in his
will but he must have had at least two besides and we account for William only being named
from the presumption that the others had already been amply provided for and had removed to
other localities.98
This Rev. John Vans was the Rector of Kilmacrenan (Balbirnie quotes George Washington Vance as
saying he was Puritan (Presbyterian), but then later suggests he was Episcopalian), in the county of
Donegal and Diocese of Raphoe in northern Ireland.
Balbirnie then further makes the case that all of the northern Irish Vances are descended from this
Rev. John Vans – and most American Vance genealogies have adopted his view that therefore the
Vances who emigrated to the US in the 18th and 19th centuries from Ireland are all descended from the
Rev. John Vans.
The story proposed by Balbirnie is that this Rev. John Vans was the eldest son of Sir John Vans of
Barnbarroch (1574-1642) - and therefore, at the time, the heir to the Barnbarroch title - who fled to
Ireland in 1617 to avoid religious persecution or “some family misunderstanding.”
This is an
assumption based solely on the historical context. In 1600, King James had established Episcopacy as
the official religion of Scotland over Presbytery, and while Presbyterian ministers were still held in
wide regard by much of the population of Scotland, there was enough animosity and political violence
between religious factions to give a minister of the Presbyterian faith cause for fear of persecution.
And depending on their origins and family ties, there was also enough backlash against Episcopalians
that the same might have been true in reverse.
Of course, it may also be that Rev. John Vans was following the Scots colonists into the new land out
of a simple desire to minister to a departed flock.
In any case, he established himself at
Kilmacrenan, some 30 miles north of the the
original Vans land grants and a town already
famous for its centuries-old monastery and
abbey and until shortly before he arrived, the
historic site of the crowning of the Irish
O’Donnell Kings of Tyrconnel.
Ruins of Kilmacrenan Abbey, Donegal
(credit: Donegal Genealogy Resources, public domain)
98
While the Rev. John Vans’ connection to the
Vans of Barnbarroch seems assured, Jamie
Vans – who might be excused a personal stake
in the matter – has also challenged on quite
reasonable grounds Balbirnie’s assertion that
the Rev. John Vans was the eldest son and the
heir of Barnbarroch. Balbirnie produces no
William Balbirnie, (Transcript) pp.17-18
69
J. David Vance
evidence for this and there is no other suggestion of a split in the Vans family of Barnbarroch. Also
second (or later) sons were more likely to use the clergy as a vocation at that time.
Instead, Jamie Vans suggests other options - that the Reverend John Vans was either the same person
as a known illegitimate son John of Sir John Vans of Longcastle, or even more likely, that he was the
natural son of Patrick of Lybrack.
Mr. Vans also suggests another option based on the coat of arms used in the Rev. John Vans’ will,
which:
as described by Balbirnie are not the arms of Barnbarroch, nor even (correctly according to the
rules of heraldry as I understand them) a younger son of Barnbarroch, they are precisely the
arms of another branch of the Vaus family, that of Vaus of Menie [in Aberdeen].99
Menie, according to Jamie Vans, was another cadet branch of the Vaux/Vaus/Vans family first
mentioned in 1435 which ran for at least five or six generations; although it is uncertain whether it is
was a separate branch off the Dirleton de Vaux family or another cadet branch of Barnbarroch. In any
case, it is entirely possible that the Rev. John Vans, while still connected to the same overall family, is
actually from the house of Menie rather than directly from Barnbarroch.
In any case, although the possible reasons range from the romantic to the mundane, it is wellestablished that an off-shoot of the house of Vans of Barnbarroch (or perhaps Menie) emigrated
(perhaps around 1617) to Donegal county in north-west Ireland.
Donegal landscape, present day (credit: author)
99
Jamie Vans, Origins of the Overseas Vances, p. 1.
70
J. David Vance
Donegal landscape, 1800s
(credit: Ancestry.com, Old Photographs of Donegal, public domain)
Jamie Vans also notes100 that between 1600 and 1700 there are certainly other persons named
Vans/Vaus/Vauss/Vaunse/Vantz/Vance etc in Irish records outside of northern Ireland – in Dublin, for
instance, and in Cork and Limerick counties in the south. Some of these can be identified as sons of
the Rev. John Vans, but others are probably from other families with similar names.
The Next Generations in Ireland
Thanks to William Balbirnie, as updated by Jamie Vans and others, quite a number of Vans/Vances
have been identified in northern Ireland between the late 1600’s and Balbirnie’s trip in 1860. What is
less certain is exactly how they all relate to each other.
When William Balbirnie made his trip around lower Donegal in 1860 many of the Vance families he
visited did not know their ancestry back more than two or three generations. So even if their family
stories differed, Balbirnie helpfully arranged them on his Vance family tree wherever he thought they
best fit as descendants of the Rev. John Vans.
(Except, that is, for a few Vance families who didn’t answer his repeated letters. He dismisses their
entire families as being too impolite to carry the same noble de Vaux genes!).
In his own publications Jamie Vans has provided corrections to Balbirnie’s family tree where the
primary evidence suggests it, but while he has otherwise left it alone, he also notes the risks in
Balbirnie’s original assumption that everyone in a local area with the same family name is by
100
Jamie Vans, Origin of the Irish Vances, p. 15.
71
J. David Vance
definition descended from the same person, even in rural Ireland. Those risks are valid (and may be
borne out by recent DNA evidence), but the results of their combined research is still probably as close
to the actual descent of the Vance name in northern Ireland as will ever come to light.
The primary evidence that survives for Northern Ireland for the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries is sparse –
mostly piecemeal church records, land records, and government records that have survived wars and
fires over the years. While I have reproduced the combination of others’ research as a family tree
here, be aware that – with one exception – we know these people existed, but how they really
connected to each other is only partially clear, and many genealogists have reconnected this family
tree into other equally possible structures.
The best (and periodically updated) version of that research, with references to original sources, can be
found on Jamie Vans’ website at http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vfarch (as of 16 May
2011).
The one exception: the elusive Dr. Lancelot Vance
In 1689. the war for the throne of England, Scotland, and Ireland between King James II (a Catholic)
and William of Orange (a Protestant, who would become King William I) came to the shores of
Ireland as James landed there from France to take back his kingdoms. James was supported by the
mostly Catholic majority of Ireland and hoped to use the country as a base to regain control of
England and Scotland.
The northern parts of Ireland though were mainly Protestant, having already been receiving for nearly
a century a steady influx of Scottish and English colonists. James’ army moved to consolidate power
in Ireland but in April of 1689 it arrived at the gates of Derry (Londonderry) and found them locked
by the Protestant city population, prompting a 105-day siege of the city that only ended when
William’s navy forced through a blockade at the end of July and relieved the city’s defenders.
The Relief of Derry, by William Sadler
(credit: The Siege of Derry, The Somme Memorial Loyal Orange Lodge 842)
72
J. David Vance
It is a well-spread Vance family story, also included in Balbirnie’s book as fact in the research from
his uncle George Washington Vance, that one of the sons of the Rev. John Vans was a doctor named
Dr. Lancelot Vance with the Coleraine Regiment of the Derry garrison who during the siege had to
take over the command of that regiment when their Colonel (named Parker) deserted, and who “died
of excessive fatigue during the plague that broke out among the besieged.”101
The quote that Balbirnie attributes to his uncle goes on to say that the “Vance” name in official records
has been mis-recorded as “Lance” but that “ there never was a person or family of the name of Lance”
in the north of Ireland “at that time or since.” Balbirnie himself expresses some doubts as to the
likelihood of this “Lancelot Vance”, but he still dutifully reports the story and connects Lancelot with
real Vance descendants in Coagh and other towns in northern Ireland.
While many Vance family trees can trace their roots back to Lancelot based on this story (and over
time, especially through the distribution of information over the Internet, his name seems to have
become Dr. Lancelot Francis Vance and some even show the name of his wife) Jamie Vans (and
others) have also expressed real doubts about his existence. There are no surviving primary records
that suggest that anyone in Ireland named Lancelot Vance ever lived during this period. And there are
no surviving primary records that suggest that anyone named Vaux, Vaus, Vans, Vance, etc. was
involved on either side of the siege of Derry.
In fact, there was a Colonel Thomas Lance of the Coleraine regiment at the siege of Derry (but not a
Lancelot Lance, and not a doctor) whose story is almost word-for-word the same as the one reported
for “Lancelot Vance”. Thomas Lance did take over the regiment when the original Colonel Parker
deserted and was a significant figure in the Derry city resistance – he was appointed one of the
commissioners to lead the city during the siege, participated in a mini-revolt among the defenders
against the original City Governor, and was then a pall-bearer at the second City Governor’s
funeral.102 He was also a signer of the city’s address to King William after the relief, but “owing to the
privations of the siege his health broke down103” and he died some six weeks after the city was freed.
Other eyewitness accounts were published after the siege which mention Col. Lance - it would be
strange if a prominent Colonel’s name had been so widely misreported.
In 1932, William R. Young wrote an authoritative book called “Fighters of Derry”, with over fifteen
hundred individual biographies of the defenders and attackers. He gives the story of the real Colonels
Parker and Lance. Someone also called to his attention the tombstone that Robert Anstruther
Balbirnie Vans erected for John of Coagh (see So…who exactly was William Balbirnie?) and so he
acknowledges the story of Lancelot Vance, although he does not consider Lancelot a real person (nor
are there any Vances, Vans, Vaus, etc. mentioned in his book).
In Young’s opinion, “Lancelot
Vance” was a likely confusion between the real Thomas Lance and the Irish military experience of
Patrick Vans of Barnbarroch (died 1733):
Col. Patrick Vance [sic] of Barnburragh, Wigtonshire, held a commission as Captain in Lord
George Hamilton, afterwards Earl of Orkney’s, regiment of Enniskillen [Ireland] foot in 1691.
In an application to the Duke of Marlborough in 1706 for further military employment, he
summarizes his services as follows: served in France sixteen years, afterwards in the
101
George Washington Vance papers, as reported by William Balbirnie, (Transcript) p. 17.
References from William R. Young, Fighters of Derry, Their Deeds and Descendants (London: Eyre and
Spottiswoode, 1932), pp 100-101, and John Graham, A History of the Siege of Londonderry and Defence of
Enniskillen, in 1688 and 1689, (Toronto: Maclear & Co, 1869), pp 97, 108, 126.
103
William R. Young, p. 100.
102
73
J. David Vance
revolution, and later in 1691 obtained a captaincy in the Enniskillen Regiment, commanded by
the Earl of Orkney, in which capacity he served till the reduction of Ireland, when the
regiment was broke. In answer to this, he was given a commission as 2nd Lieutenant in Col.
Townsend’s Regiment, and was later appointed Lieut.-Col. in another regiment. Later on his
name figures in 1714 as Lieut.-Col. on the half-pay list.
The above officer was son of Sir John Vans, of Barnburragh, Wigtonshire, succeeding
eventually to that estate. He was the first M.P. for Wigtonshire after the Union with
England.104
Another theory is that a doctor Vance was a real but minor figure in the siege of Derry whose story
was so hopelessly confused with that of Col. Thomas Lance that the original was lost – or less likely,
that Thomas Lance was a Vance who changed his name or allowed it to be misconstrued. But so far
there has not been any actual evidence uncovered to suggest either. For now at least Dr. Lancelot
Vance remains only a story – possibly a real person, but if so he has eluded all attempts to confirm it.
The Vans/Vances spread out in the 18th and early 19th century
As compiled by William Balbirnie, Jamie Vans, and others, the known Vans/Vances in Northern
Ireland from the early 1600s through the early 1800s is shown below. Most of what we know about
these Vans and Vances comes from wills and land deeds that have survived the centuries of strife in
Northern Ireland – in other words, we know very little apart from their names and perhaps a few key
dates and relationships.
One major relationship is well-known – John Vance of Coagh, William Balbirnie’s 2nd great
grandfather, had a daughter Elizabeth Vance who married a Joseph Jackson; their son Andrew Jackson
emigrated to Tennessee and his son Andrew Jackson became General Andrew Jackson who was
President of the United States from 1829 to 1837.
In the names below I have highlighted the Alexanders, Johns, Georges, and Thomases because those
are the first names of the early Vances of Columbia County, Pennsylvania. While none of these
Vances can be positively identified as those first Vance emigrants to Columbia County, in later
chapters I plan to explore where in this collection of Irish Vances they are most likely to have
originated.
104
William R. Young, p. 101.
74
J. David Vance
Known Expansion of the (mainly Northern) Irish Vans/Vances – from first land grants and Rev. John Vans
through Balbirnie’s 1860 trip (sources: Balbirnie and Vans)
(map credit: Ireland Genealogy Project, public domain archives)
1
I. John Vans Rev was Reverend (Rector of Kilmarcenan, Donegal). He was born between 1590
and 1600. He died in 1661/62 at Donegal, Ireland.
2
A. Rebecca Vauss
2
B. Jane Vaus married David Cunningham.
2
C. Patrick Vaus. Per Balbirnie, Patrick was in Cromwell'
s army and received grants of land
in Liberties of Cork and Dublin on 26th January 1667 (Records Custom House, Dublin).
He died between 1655 and 1715.
3
1. Patrick Vance of Lifficulty
3
2. George Vance of Raneel. He died circa 24 Feb 1711/12.
4
a) Alexander Vance of Killygavney
4
b) William Vance of Aughavea.
5
(1) William Vance of Aughavea. He died in 1740.
6
(a) John Vance of Aughavea.
7
i) Margaret Vance married ? Brown.
8
(a) Samuel Brown
6
(b) David Vance
75
J. David Vance
6
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
(c) William Vance died in 1775.
7
i) Elizabeth Vance married Oliver Vance Senior, of Drumhirk, son of John Vance.
5
(2) John Vance of Aughavea died circa 1700.
5
(3) James Vance of Ballymacombs. He was born circa 1690. He died circa 1745.
6
(a) William Vance.
6
(b) James Vance of Ballymacombs. He was born circa 1720. He died circa 1790.
7
i) William Vance of Suffolk
7
ii) James Vance of Ballyforlea. He was born circa 1750. He died circa 1820.
8
(a) Robert Vance of Belfast. He was born circa 1821.
9
i) David Nisbet Vance
6
(c) Adam Vance was born circa 1730. He died circa 1780.
6
(d) Joseph Vance was born circa 1730.
5
(4) Adam Vance was born circa 1700. He died circa 1745.
4
c) George Vance
4
d) John Vance
4
e) Thomas Vance of Raneel. He was born circa 1710. He died in 1741.
5
(1) Hugh Vance of Gortward. He was born circa 1743. He died circa 1771.
6
(a) Patrick Vance
6
(b) Hugh Vance of Gortward. He was an officer in the Revenue Police. He was born
circa 1776. He died in 1801.
7
i) Thomas Vance
7
ii) John Vance was a merchant. He died between 1800 and 1870 (when his horse
ran off with him).
7
iii) Hugh Vance married ? Corscadden.
8
(a) ? Vance
8
(b) ? Vance
8
(c) ? Vance
7
iv) Patrick Vance.
8
(a) Major William Vance
8
(b) Patrick H. Vance was born at Donegal, Ireland. He married Sarah Elizabeth
Taylor. He died in 1803 at Knox Co., TN.
8
(c) David Vance was born at Donegal, Ireland. He died at Mecklenburg Co., NC.
7
v) James Vance of Gortward. He was born circa 1806. He died in 1831.
8
(a) Hugh Vance of Gortward.
9
i) James G.I. Vance of Gortward.
10
(a) Patrick Vance of Gortward was born on 4 Dec 1896.
3
John Vance
3
Hugh Vance
3
Unknown Vance
3
Thomas Vance of the Point. He died in 1745.
4
s will in 1745. He died after 1745.
a) John Vance. Mentioned in his father'
4
b) Thomas Vance of the Point
5
(1) Alexander Vance of Killymangle, Drumholm
6
(a) Susan Vance married Alexander Vance, son of John Vance of Drumgorman.
7
i) Israel Vance
7
ii) John Vance died in 1780.
7
iii) 2 daughters Vance (according to Balbirnie)
7
iv) Thomas Vance was born circa 1780. He died circa 1840.
7
v) Alexander Vance was born circa 1780. He died circa 1850.
4
c) 2 other children Vance (according to Balbirnie)
3
David Vance of Drumgorman. He was born circa 1690. He died circa 1739.
3
James Vance of Drumgorman. He was born circa 1695. He died circa 1737.
4
a) Alexander Vance.
5
(1) Israel Vance
4
b) Sarah Vance
4
c) Patrick Vance of Drumgorman. He was born circa 1690. He died circa 1770.
76
J. David Vance
5
(1) William Vance
5
(2) John Vance of Drumgorman. He was born circa 1720. He died between 1790 and
1830.
6
(a) George Vance died circa 1860.
6
(b) Alexander Vance married Susan Vance, daughter of Alexander Vance of
Killymangle, Drumholm. He was born circa 1750. He died circa 1820.
7
i) Israel Vance (see above)
7
ii) John Vance (see above)
7
iii) 2 daughters Vance (according to Balbirnie) (see above)
7
iv) Thomas Vance (see above)
7
v) Alexander Vance (see above)
6
(c) Patrick Vance of Drumgorman married Elizabeth Scott. He was born circa 1800.
He died circa 1860.
7
i) John Vance died on 28 Sep 1835 at the Du Pont Powder Mill, Wilmington,
Delaware.
7
ii) Patrick Vance
8
(a) John Vance died circa 1850.
7
iii) James Vance married Eliza Jane Elliott. He died in 1869 at Victoria, Australia.
7
iv) Robert Vance died before 1860.
7
v) George Vance died before 1860.
7
vi) 3 daughters Vance (according to Balbirnie)
7
vii) Alexander Vance
8
(a) 5 children Vance (according to Balbirnie)
5
(3) Alexander Vance was born circa 1720. He died circa 1800.
6
(a) William Vance. (died young)
6
(b) John Vance died circa 1830.
7
i) Andrew Vance
7
ii) William Vance
7
iii) George Vance died circa 1860.
7
iv) 2 daughters Vance (according to Balbirnie)
3
9. William Vance of Blenevoher. He was born circa 1695. He died circa 1755.
3
10. Alexander Vance of Derry. He was born circa 1695. He died circa 1755.
2
D. Another - Thomas/Lancelot? Vance.
It is doubtful that Lancelot exists; however these later Vances are usually associated
with his line.
3
1. John Vance of Coagh married ? Williamson. He was born circa 1659 at Ireland. He died
after 1735 at Ireland.
4
a) John Vance died in 1760.
5
(1) William Vance married Sarah Sherrard. He died in 1788.
6
(a) William Vance (illegitimate) died in Mar 1855 at Coagh.
5
(2) Margaret Vance married Robert Brown. She died before 1807.
4
b) James Vance of Coagh married Mary Hogg. He died in 1772 at Coagh.
5
(1) William Vance of Dublin married ? Gormly. He died in 1801.
6
(a) James Vance died between 1770 and 1830.
6
(b) Richard Vance died on 16 May 1811 at Battle of Albuera.
6
(c) John Vance of Merrion Square died circa 1800.
5
(2) George Vance died in 1784 at Santa Cruix.
5
(3) Joseph Vance of Cookstown married ? Usher.
6
(a) James Vance of Summerhill married Mary Ann (probably) Shaw. He died in 1815.
7
i) Richard Ephraim Vance died in 1845.
7
ii) Joseph Vance was born circa 1800.
7
iii) Thomas Shaw Vance was born circa 1805.
7
iv) John George Vance was born circa 1816. He died in Sep 1868.
7
v) William Vance was born circa 1822.
7
vi) James Vance of Dublin married Mary Alicia Courtney. He was a doctor. He
was born circa 1807. He died in 1858.
77
J. David Vance
8
(a) James Vance was born in 1810. He died in 1870.
8
(b) William John Vance was born circa 1845. He died in 1880.
6
(b) William Vance
6
(c) George Vance
6
(d) Joseph Vance married Jane Thornhill. He was born before 1785.
7
i) Thomas Jonathan Vance was born on 4 Jul 1830.
5
(4) John Vance of Coagh married Jane Brown. He was born in 1712. He died in 1799.
6
(a) Margaret Vance married George Balbirnie. She was born 1771-72 and died 5 April
th
1846. He died 15 July 1847.
7
i) Robert Anstruther Balbirnie Vans. He was born on 1 Nov 1798. He died August
1855.
8
(a) Robert C. Balbirnie Vans
7
ii) Jane Balbirnie
7
iii) Charles Balbirnie. He died in 1819.
7
iv) George Balbirnie. He emigrated to Baltimore in 1829 and died Nov 1858.
7
v) Margaret Balbirnie, “died young”.
7
vi) John Balbirnie.
7
vii) William Balbirnie.
8
(a) Margaret Vance Balbirnie.
viii) and ix) Arthur and Thomas, twins.
x) Margaret Mathilda Balbirnie. She died in Glasgow in 1857.
6
(b) George Washington Vance was born in 1782. He died in 1852 at Dublin.
5
(5) James Vance was born in 1745. He was Lord Mayor of Dublin between 1805 and
1806. He died in 1808.
4
c) Andrew Vance
4
d) William Vance of Antrim married Elizabeth Wilkinson.
5
(1) William Vance of Antrim married ? Gilem. He was born circa 1740 at Antrim.
6
(a) William Vance of Antrim married Eliza Jane Brown. He was born on 4 Feb 1767.
7
i) William Vance was born on 3 Jul 1812 at Antrim. He died on 4 Sep 1882.
7
ii) Robert Vance. (died young)
7
iii) James Vance was born on 26 Apr 1817 at Antrim. He died before 1861.
7
iv) John Vance was born on 18 Oct 1819 at Antrim. He died in Dec 1866 at
Nottingham, England.
5
(2) Ezekiel Vance married Mary McConaseghty. He was born on 24 Apr 1768 at Antrim.
6
(a) ? Vance in America
6
(b) ? Vance in America
6
(c) ? Vance in America
4
e) Elizabeth Vance married Joseph Jackson.
5
(1) Andrew Jackson, married Elizabeth Hutchinson; emigrated to Tennessee abt 1765.
6
(a) General Andrew Jackson, President of the United States 1829-1837.
3
2. Patrick Vans of Forthill married an unknown person. He was born in 1686. He died
after 1720.
4
a) William Vance of Dublin was a surgeon in 1755. He died between 1755 and 1780.
4
b) Patrick Vance Rev T.C.D. He died between 1695 and 1755.
5
(1) Thomas Vance Rev L.L.D. He was Minister of Usher'
s Quay, Belfast between
1756 and 1772. He died in Jul 1772.
6
(a) Patrick Vance Rev of Belfast. He was born in 1754 at Donegal. He died
on 2 Jan 1800 at Belfast.
7
i) William Forde Vance Rev.
8
(a) George Vance Rev
8
(b) William Forde Vance
7
ii) Thomas Vance of Belfast. He was born in 1782. He died on 4 Mar 1827
in Mexico.
8
(a) Patrick Vance of Liverpool.
9
i) Thomas Arthur Vance.
10
(a) Arthur Patrick Vance was born in 1891.
78
J. David Vance
2
E. William Vance was born circa 1629 at to 1640.
3
1. William Vance
Another line of Northern Irish Vans/Vances (collected by Jamie Vans) may come from another original
105
settler :
1
I. Joseph or John Vans was born between 1590 and 1610 at Wigton, Cumberland
2
A. George Vance of Terryscollip married Grace Vans. He was born circa 1640. He died in 1758.
3
1. William Vance was born circa 1676. He died in 1774.
4
a) Grace Vance married ? Holmes.
3
2. John Vance married Eliza Oliver. He was born in 1677 at Drumherk, Donaghmore.
He died on 29 Oct 1759. John and Eliza are said to be buried at Castlecaulfield.
4
a) Oliver Vance Senior, of Drumhirk married Elizabeth Vance, daughter of William Vance.
He later married Mary ? He died between 1710 and 1790.
5
(1) Henry Vance was born circa 1764. He was baptized on 27 Jun 1764
at Donaghmore, Tyrone.
5
(2) Elizabeth Vance was born circa 1766. She was baptized on 30 Jan 1766
5
(3) William Vance was born circa 1768. He was baptized on 18 Aug 1768
5
(4) Anne Vance was born circa 1774. She was baptized on 23 Jun 1774
5
(5) Jane Vance married Oliver Vance, son of John Vance of Drumhirk
and Jane Young. She was born in 1774. She died in 1867.
5
(6) Grace Vance was born circa 1779. She was baptized on 9 May 1779
5
(7) Sarah Vance was born circa 1783. She was baptized on 27 Nov 1783
5
(8) John Vance was born circa 1786. He was baptized on 26 Feb 1786
5
(9) Robert Vance was born circa 1789. He was baptized on 10 Oct 1789
4
b) Jane Vance married ? Graham. Her married name was Graham.
4
c) John Vance of Drumhirk married Jane Young. He was born in 1727.
He died on 29 Apr 1793.
5
(1) John Vance died in America. He was born circa 1761. He was baptized
on 8 Dec 1761 at Donaghmore, Tyrone.
5
(2) Mary Vance married Capt. ? Donaldson. Her married name was Donaldson.
She was born circa 1763. She was baptized on 19 May 1763 at Donaghmore,
Tyrone. She died in 1847.
5
(3) William Vance died at young. He was born circa 1764. He was baptized
on 28 Apr 1764 at Donaghmore, Tyrone.
5
(4) Oliver Vance married Jane Vance, daughter of Oliver Vance Senior,
of Drumhirk and Mary ? He was born circa 1765. He was baptized on
23 May 1765 at Donaghmore, Tyrone. He died in 1823.
5
(5) Elizabeth Vance died at young. She was born circa 1767. She was baptized
on 22 Jan 1767 at Donaghmore, Tyrone.
5
(6) Anne Vance died young. She was born in 1768.
5
(7) George Vance was a surgeon. He was born circa 1769. He was baptized
on 29 Mar 1769 at Donaghmore, Tyrone. He died on 28 Mar 1837 (killed by
a lunatic he was attending(?)).
5
(8) Sarah Vance was born circa 1771. She was baptized on 7 Jul 1771
105
This line from Joseph Vans of Wigton is listed in Jamie Vans’ online family tree and is also Vance line #2 in
John O’Hart, Irish Pedigrees, Vol. II (Dublin: Ringsend School, 1888), pp 415-416.
79
J. David Vance
at Donaghmore, Tyrone. She died in 1803.
5
(9) Andrew Vance was born circa 1773. He was baptized on 4 Mar 1773
at Donaghmore, Tyrone. He died in 1849. He married Mary Falls in Aughnacloy.
5
(10) Richard Young Vance was born circa 1775. He was baptized on
10 May 1775 at Donaghmore, Tyrone. He died in 1839 at St. Pancras, London.
5
(11) James Vance was Lt. in 57th Regt. He was born circa 1777. He was baptized
on 10 Mar 1777 at Donaghmore, Tyrone. He died in 1811 at Newry, in
a duel with another officer.
80
J. David Vance
So… who exactly was William Balbirnie?
No surviving pictures have surfaced of the 19th century amateur genealogist who attempted to
document the Irish Vances. But from his own hand and a few other records (mainly the Church of
Latter Day Saints IGI ancestry records), we know something of his life.
William Balbirnie was born in 1812 in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of George Balbirnie and Margaret
Vance. The Balbirnie family was an old Scottish house from Inverighty in Forfarshire with titles and
estates through to the 17th century when William’s 3rd-great-grandfather aligned himself with the
wrong side in one of the Scottish civil wars and had his title and estates forfeited as a result. William
only mentions this Balbirnie history in passing in his Vance book but it may have provided at least
some of the basis for his own continual hunt for noble connections through other family names.
According to William, his father was an officer in a Scottish regiment, posted to Coagh “during the
time of the Irish rebellion” around 1796 where he met and on 13 November 1797 married a local
Irishwoman named Margaret Vance. By 1810 the couple had moved to Glasgow where George joined
the family business as a dyer (dyers were tradesmen who used their skills to form inks, dyes and
colorful stains for clothing, furniture, fabrics, materials and artwork). In Glasgow 9 of their 10
children were born, including William.
William became a dyer like his
father, and on 13 April 1835
married Margaret Bouglass Glenn
and had 3 daughters:
Ellen
Bouglass
Craig
Balbirnie,
Margaret Vance Balbirnie, and
Wilhelmina Balbirnie. But by the
time he wrote his book his wife
and children had died except for
his daughter Margaret Vance
Balbirnie, born on 21 September
1839 , whom he called a “muchloved daughter… the last remnant
of a much loved and joyous
hearth.” William lived most of
his pre-1860 adult life in Cork,
Ireland, as did his daughter
Margaret – who on 29 August
1868 married a Philip Lovel
Roche in Cork.
A dye-works factory from the late 19th century
(credit: © Norwich Textiles; © Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service)
By his own admission, William Balbirnie’s legacy to the Vances came about entirely by chance. In
1839, William’s older brother Robert Anstruther Balbirnie moved to Australia, but in 1854 he brought
his family back for an expected two year stay in Great Britain and at that time for reasons unknown
became seized with a desire to learn more about his mother’s Vance family. He sent William an
urgent letter to “incur any expense” to gather up the history of his grandfather John Vance of Coagh
81
J. David Vance
and other Vances. William dutifully spent the next six
years talking to family members, writing letters to
various Vances in Ireland, and finally embarking on at
least one tour of Donegal in the pursuit of the details
that would become his book finally published in 1860.
His brother Robert must have been receiving regular
reports from William by mail, and evidently his
curiosity was at least partially satisfied because in
December 1854 he changed his full name to Robert
Anstruther Balbirnie Vans and some time later even
erected a new tombstone for his grandfather John of
Coagh describing the story of their (supposed)
ancestor Lancelot Vance in the 1689 siege of Derry.
Sadly, Robert died on his return trip to Australia in
1855 and did not live to see his brother’s final
published results.
John of Coagh tombstone, erected in 1854/55 by
Robert Anstruther Balbirnie Vans
(from VFA archives)
There are hints that the book on the Vances may not
have been William’s only contribution to genealogy;
some other books106 reference an 1854 publication of
his entitled “A Historical Account of the Family of
Balbirnie”, which presumably was his first
genealogical work on his own family name.
Unfortunately, I could not find a copy of this earlier
work.
What we know of William Balbirnie’s life after 1860 is
mainly from census reports and LDS Church ancestry
records, but he seems to have joined his relative Charles
Balbirnie in Philadephia in the dyer business, possibly
capitalizing on the boom in Union military uniforms for
the American Civil War. On 27 December 1861 he
married another Vance descendant in Philadelphia,
Margaret Vance McIlwain (the granddaughter of his
great-aunt, born in 1840 in Londonderry). He may have
continued to live in Cork, Ireland since the births of his
first five children are listed there in Irish records from
1864 through 1873; however by 1880 he had emigrated
officially to Philadelphia. One genealogy book of the
time107 lists William Balbirnie, his wife and his 6
children by name as Philadephia residents. The family
is also listed by name in the 1880 Federal Census in the
7th Ward, 8th District of Philadelphia (and Charles
Balbirnie and family are listed in the 7th Ward, 4th/5th
Districts).
Margaret Vance McElwaine Balbirnie (seated) and
daughters Helena and Eleanor (from VFA archives)
106
107
See, for instance, John O’Hart, p. 29.
Charles Browning, Americans of Royal Descent (Philadelphia; Porter & Coates, 1891), p 559.
82
J. David Vance
His new wife had a pedigree of her own, since her 2nd great grandfather was Cadwalader, Lord
Blayney, the 7th Baron of Monaghan in the Peerage of Ireland, and it appears that William integrated
this new noble connection right into his pantheon, as two of the children of his second family were
named Harold Hubert de Vaux Balbirnie and Cadwalader Davis Blayney Balbirnie with 3 of the other
4 receiving either Vance or Blayney as a middle name.
There is no doubt more we could learn about William Balbirnie’s life in Philadelphia from local
sources – but for now, all that I have recorded is from LDS Church records that William Balbirnie
died in 1886 in Philadelphia at the age of 74.
83
J. David Vance
Conclusion
If this story ends abruptly, it is only because it connects from here to many different Vans and Vance
genealogies in Great Britain, Ireland, and the United States, and so the story splits from here off along
the different family branches and over to the diligent genealogists who maintain them.
For my own line, Part II of “Path of a Family” explores the Irish Vances who emigrated to
Northumberland County (to a part soon to become Columbia County), Pennsylvania in the US around
1802-1804, and from there established a branch of American Vances who by and large stayed put for
nearly 150 years. Their story shifts abruptly from this one to a typical American tale of emigrant
farmers struggling to make a living in their adopted country, exchanging the turbulence of United
Kingdom and European history for the comparatively tranquil rural American lifestyle of the early 19th
century.
Not every story of the de Vaux, Vaus, and Vans family lines has been reported here, and there is
always more that remains to be discovered – more anecdotes to explore, more published stories to
review, and more records to sift through. The first place I would refer any seriously interested readers
would be to the Vance Family Association, whose newsletters contain most of this information with
additional facts included and in many cases pictures besides. Any readers needing more information I
would secondly refer to the other sources in the Bibliography, and thirdly to the primary sources on
medieval history available in libraries, in history societies, and on the Internet (although as everyone
knows, for every valid source on the Internet there are at least five to ten sources that are pure fiction).
William Balbirnie ends his 1860 book with the sentiment that:
…in taking leave of our readers, we hope that we have afforded them some entertainment and
enlightenment, and have awakened in their breasts some portion of that interest with which we
ourselves were inspired – which nerved us from time to time to prosecute our arduous and
trying undertaking. Although our labours have been long, arduous, and often fatiguing to
body and mind, we are not satisfied that we have handled our subject as it ought to have been,
and would doubtless have been in abler hands108.
With the resources that were at my disposal and the prior work that I have leaned on for this story, I
am perhaps not quite as fatigued by this journey as William obviously was. But while, like Balbirnie,
I do hope that a new generation will take me up on the challenge of correcting and expanding on this
story, I also share his feeling that it is enough if you found the path of this family through this threequarters of a millennium of Western history interesting and entertaining. It is not often that we are
lucky enough to catch glimpses of a family’s history, no matter how blurry, over such a long period of
time.
On the other hand, if you didn’t find it interesting and entertaining, I can live with that, too.
108
William Balbirnie (Transcript), p. 50.
84
J. David Vance
Bibliography
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Path of a Family - ADVENTURES with the VANCE`S

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