Richard
Rivel and family of Curry Rivel
Niall
C.E.J. O’Brien
Curry
Rivel
Curry Rivel is a
village and parish east of Taunton in Somerset on the road to Langport. The
‘curry’ name is from old British for a stream.[1] Other
sources say that Curry comes from crwy
which in Celtic means a boundary.[2] At
the Norman Conquest in 1066 Curry Rivel was part of the royal manor of Curry.
After 1066 some of the manor was parcelled off to form the manor of North
Curry. Also some waste land in Curry Rivel was transferred to the manor of
Capland. Other parts of the original royal manor of Curry included Stocklinch
Ottersey, Stocklinch Magdalene and Hambridge. In 1084 the area later known as
Curry Rivel was called Ablata de Churi. The church of Curry Rivel was held by
King William while the land was held by the Comte de Moretain (King William’s half-brother)
and Britell de St. Clair was the subtenant.[3]
Richard
Rivel I
Richard Rivel came to
prominence in the reign of King Henry II. In the 26 Henry II he was constable
of Kaermerlin castle. By 1166 Richard Rivel held the manors of Langport and
Curry Rival in Somerset by the service of two knight’s fees and part of a single
fee held by Muchelney Abbey.[4] In
1209-12 Richard Rivel was a witness with William de Montacue of an
acknowledgement by Henry de Careville that he and his tenants should do suit at
the hundred-court of Bruton.[5]
In about Easter 1210-1
Richard Rivel (represented by Jacob son of Widone) and the Abbot of Muchelney
(represented by Robert de Dillurton) went to court at Westminster concerning a
knight’s fee that the abbot claimed from Richard on the manor of Dunheved.
Richard Rivel acknowledged that he owed the abbot and his successor’s two parts
of a knight’s fee in money (five parts add up to one knight’s fee). For this
the abbot quit claimed all arrears but made known that if arrears should arise
in the future that the abbot could enter Dunheved and distain the tenement.[6]
Richard Rivel died by
July 1213 but because of the Interdict imposed on England by the Pope, Richard
Rivel was not buried until March 1215.[7]
The Interdict was imposed and relaxed on 29th June 1214. On the last
day of March 1215 the body of Richard Rivel senior was buried before the altar
of the Holy Cross in the greater church of Muchelney Abbey. On the same day
Richard Rivel junior granted the Abbey one mark payable yearly by Richard le
Bule from the land of Andredeschie in Curry Rivel. This money was for prayers
for the soul of his father and mother and his ancestors and heirs.[8]
Richard
Rivel II
In March of April 1221
Fulk de Bréauté wrote to Hubert de Burgh, justiciar of England, about the
difficulties he was having provision Plympton castle. Fulk de Bréauté cited a
number of magnates in Cornwall and Devon as most unhelpful. These included
William Briwere, Robert de Courteney, W. de Torintone and Richard Rivel.[9]
Richard Rivel was
married to Mabel, daughter and eventual heiress of Walter de Ashleigh. They had
one daughter and heiress, Sabina Rivel.[10]
In 1222 Richard Rivel died leaving his daughter as heir.[11]
Sabina
de Ortiay
In about August 1222
the sheriff of Somerset was ordered to make a “diligent inquisition” on how
much land Richard de Rivel held in the county in chief of the king. The results
of the inquisition were to be sent to Hubert de Burgh, justiciar of England by
Michaelmas 1222. The sheriff was further to cause Sabina de Rivel, daughter and
heiress of Richard de Rivel, and her husband, Henry de Ortiay, to have full
seisin of the estate after the king accepted security from them to render their
relief fine.[12]
In 1224 Henry de Ortiay
pledged 20 marks for the fine of £100 which Walter de Goderville owed the king
because Walter had joined in rebellion with Fulk de Bréauté.[13]
In 1226-7 Richard de
Oylli claimed two parts of three virgates of land in Hembrige against Henry de
Ortiay (Ortiaco) and his wife Sabina. Richard further claimed one third part of
the same three virgates against Mabilia, wife of the late Richard Rivel (her
dower third). The court found that Richard had no claim and he quit claimed all
his rights. For this Mabilla gave him ten acres of tillage land to the west of
Hunnesworth to hold for her life and after her death to retain eight acres to
hold of the heirs of Henry and Sabina.[14]
In September 1231 King
Henry III ordered the sheriffs of Devon and Somerset to take into the king’s
hand the lands of Roger de Gouiz and Henry de Ortiay and to hold until further
notice.[15]
In about April 1237
Henry de Ortiay paid a fine of 20 marks to the king to have a licence to
enclose a wood and make a park at Curry Rivel. An error in the Exchequer wrote
this fine as 100 marks and Henry III had to correct the amount to 20 marks.[16]
As well as holding the
inheritance of his wife in Somerset and Dorset, Henry de Ortiay held other
property in Dorset for life. One of these places was the manor of Charborough
(worth £10 17½d) which he rented from the crown. After his death the manor was
granted for life in 1242 to Richard Marshal on condition he pay the crown 5
marks 17½d per year.[17]
In about May 1242 King
Henry III wrote to the sheriffs of Counties Somerset and Dorset that he had
taken the homage of Sabina de Ortiay for that lands that her former husband,
Henry de Ortiay, held in the two counties from Sabina’s inheritance. The sheriffs
were to give Sabina de Ortiay full seisin of her lands. Furthermore they were
not to pursue Sabina for the scutage she owed the king from her knight’s fees
due on the king’s crossing. This scutage had been remitted by the king.[18]
Henry
de Ortiay II
Sabina de Ortiay died
in 1254 and was succeeded by her grandson, Henry de Ortiay (d.1321), son of
Richard de Ortiay.[19] Thomas
Gerard suggested that Henry de Ortiay died an old man and left two sons, Henry
and Walter and that Henry de Ortiay junior succeeded to his father’s estate but
not to the status of a 400 mark Baron and automatic membership of parliament. But
this seems to overlook the Richard de Ortiay of the middle generation who died
without succeeding to Curry Rivel. Henry de Ortiay junior by his wife Sybill
was the father of John and Hugh (who died without heirs male).[20]
The parish church of St. Andrew at Curry Rivel has four 13th century
effigies of members of the Ortiay (Lorty) family.[21]
Church of St. Andrew at Curry Rivel by Angela Davage
In 1310-11 Henry de
Ortiay (Urtiaco) and his wife Mabilla (elsewhere called Sybilla) acknowledge
that the manors of Curry Rivel and Langport with the advowson of Curry Rivel
were of the right of Geoffrey de Putteneye. In return Geoffrey granted the
manors and advowson to Henry and Mabilla for life, to hold in chief of the
king.[22]
In the time of King
Edward III the lands of Putney Lorty passed to John Gunter by way of his wife,
Elizabeth, daughter of Sibylla, and granddaughter of John de Ortiay. Meanwhile
the lands of Curry Rivel, Stock Trister, and Cucklington were said to have fallen
to the crown and that subsequently King Edward granted these lands to William
Monte Acute, Earl of Salisbury.[23] The
new owners did not enjoy these former Ortiay properties in peace. In 1340 John
de Molyns (holder of Stock Trister) complained that Sir James Lovel, John de
Mildeneye, parson of Curry Rivel and Richard Lorty with others broke into the park
at Stock Trister and removed deer.[24] In
the same year of 1340 the parson of Curry Rivel, with others, assaulted Thomas
Marleberge as he tried to collect the ninth value of wool, sheaves, fleeces and
lambs in Somerset due to the king.[25]
John
de Ortiay
But rather than Curry
Rivel falling to the crown it would seem that John de Ortiay simply sold the
manor with other property to William de Monte Acute. In 1330-31 John de Ortiay
(Urtiaco) acknowledged that the manors of Curry Rivel, Langport, Hambrugge,
Bradeweye and Erneshull with the hundreds of Abedykt and Boleston along with
the advowsons of Curry Rivel and Erneshull belonged to William de Monte Acute.
This was made even though the properties should have passed to John de Ortiay
after the death of Sybilla. For this acknowledgement William de Monte Acute
paid John de Ortiay 200 marks in silver. Sybilla de Ortiay agreed to the sale
and did homage to William de Monte Acuto for her life interest.[26]
It is not clear why
John de Ortiay sold much of the Rivel inheritance. Maybe he was short of cash
and needed the money or he had support Queen Isabella ad Mortimer against Henry
III. Not everyone was happy with the sale and Henry de Ortiay of Swell lodged a
claim in the king’s court for the property but his claim was rejected.[27] Yet
even with its new owner the family name of Rivel was kept for the place-name of
Curry Rivel as it still does nearly a thousand years later.
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End of post
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[1]
Bush, R., Somerset Villages in colour
(Wimborne, 1995), p. 49
[3] Bates,
Rev. E.H. (ed.), Domesday Studies: an
analysis and digest of the Somerset Survey (according to the Exon Codex) and of
the Somerset Gheld inquest of A.D. 1084 (2 vols. London, 1880), vol. 1, pp.
69, 74, 98, vol. 2, pp. 1, 11, 12
[4] Bates,
Rev. E.H. (ed.), Two cartularies of
Muchelney and Athelney in the County of Somerset, p. 63
[5]
Holmes, T.S., & Hobhouse, Bishop, & Lyte, H.C. Maxwell (eds.), Somerset Two cartularies of the Augustinian
Priory of Bruton and Cluniac Priory of Montacute in the County of Somerset
(Somerset Record Society, Vol. VIII, 1894), no. 19b
[6]
Green, E. (ed.), Pedes Finium commonly
called feet of fines for the County of Somerset, 1196-1307 (Somerset Record
Society, Vol. VI, 1892), p. 27
[7] Bates
(ed.), Two cartularies of Muchelney and
Athelney in the County of Somerset, p. 63
[8] Bates
(ed.), Two cartularies of Muchelney and
Athelney in the County of Somerset, p. 62, no. 31
[9] Shirley,
Rev. W.W. (ed.), Royal and other
historical letters illustrative of the Reign of Henry III (2 vols. London,
1862), Vol. 1, p. 172
[10] Bates
(ed.), Two cartularies of Muchelney and
Athelney in the County of Somerset, p. 63 [accessed on 24th
March 2016]
[12] Dryburgh,
P. and Harland, B. (eds.), Calendar of
the fine rolls of the reign of Henry III, Vol. 1, 1 to 8 Henry III, 1216-1224 (Boydell
Press/National Archives, 2007), no. 6/266
[13]
Paul Dryburgh and Beth Harland (eds.), Calendar
of the fine rolls of Henry III, Vol. 1, 1216-1224, no. 8/344
[14]
Green, E. (ed.), Pedes Finium commonly
called feet of fines for the County of Somerset, 1196-1307 (Somerset Record
Society, Vol. VI, 1892), pp. 57, 58
[15]
Dryburgh, P. and Harland, B. (eds.), Calendar
of the fine rolls of the reign of Henry III, Vol. II, 9 to 18 Henry III,
1224-1234 (Boydell Press/National Archives, 2008), nos. 15/276, 277
[16]
Paul Dryburgh and Beth Harland (eds.), Calendar
of the fine rolls of the reign of Henry III, Vol. III, 19 to 26 Henry III,
1234-1242 (Boydell Press/National Archives, 2009), nos. 21/97, 113
[17] Dryburgh
and Harland (eds.), Calendar of the fine
rolls of Henry III, Vol. III, 1234-1242,no. 26/493
[18]
Dryburgh and Harland (eds.), Calendar of
the fine rolls of Henry III, Vol. III, 1234-1242, no. 26/314
[20]
Thomas Gerard of Trent, The particular
description of the County of Somerset (1633), Bates, Rev. E.H.
(ed.),(Somerset Record Society, 1900), p. 211
[21]
Bush, Somerset Villages in colour, p.
49; Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Edward 1,
1292-1301, p. 271. In 1297 the parson of Curry Rivel (Master Henry de
Somerset) was given the king’s protection after paying a fine with countless
other clergymen of parishes and monastic houses.
[22]
Green, E. (ed.), Pedes Finium commonly
called feet of fines for the County of Somerset, 1307-1346 (Somerset Record
Society, Vol. XII, 1898), pp. 20, 153
[23]
Thomas Gerard of Trent, The particular
description of the County of Somerset (1633), p. 211
[24] Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Edward III, 1340-1343,
p. 91
[25] Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Edward III, 1340-1343,
p. 96
[26]
Green, E. (ed.), Pedes Finium commonly
called feet of fines for the County of Somerset, 1307-1346 (Somerset Record
Society, Vol. XII, 1898), pp. 20, 153
[27]
Green, (ed.), Pedes Finium commonly
called feet of fines for the County of Somerset, 1307-1346, p. 154
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