Poher
family in the Stogursey charters
Niall
C.E.J. O’Brien
The village of Stogursey lies in
undulating pasture land at the foot of the Quantock Hills, Somerset. Between
1100 and 1107 William de Falaise and Geva his wife gave the church of St.
Andrew at Stoke and its tithes to the Benedictine Abbey of Lonlay, Normandy.
The Abbey of Lonlay was founded by William de Bellême in 1026. The first
mention of a religious community at Stogursey is in about 1120. From that time
until 1295 the priory of Stogursey was a dependent house of Lonlay Abbey. At
the start of war between England and France in 1295 such “alien priories” were
taken into the king’s hand.[1]
The Stogursey charters and documents
contain some important information relating to the families of FitzUrse, Courcey,
Columbers, Regni and Poher.[2]
This article will hope to put a family story to the often dry words of charters
and such legal documents. The task is far from easy as the editors of the
charters said that information on the family is not very considerable and their
lands which they held in the Honour of Courcey are not easily identified.[3]
Along with other families from Somerset
such as that of Cogan, de Marisco and Courcey, the family of Poher went to
Ireland as part of the invasion and conquest of that country. Robert de Poher
sailed to Ireland in 1172 and William his brother along with John son of Robert
went over in 1186.[4]
The
spelling of Poher and Power
In Ireland, as in Somerset, the family
name of Poher was written variously as Poher, de la Poer and de la Pour before
later settling down as Power. In the Stogursey charters we see the name of
Power in use by the mid-fourteenth century. In September 1347 the prior of
Stogursey made a lease for life to Sir Ralph de Myddelnee the tithes in the
manor of Blakeford. Among the witnesses to this lease was Henry Power. Henry
Power was elected Member of Parliament in 1332. He married Matilda de Gyverney
and died in 1361. His only daughter and heir, Joan Power married William de
Shareshull.[5]
Having said the proceeding the spelling of the family name still had variants
as Henry Powair senior was referred to in documents from 1350 while his seal
used the spelling of Power.[6]
This difference of spelling is not unusual as definite spelling of surnames did
not come into existence until the seventeenth century. Walter Ralegh, a
courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, spelt his own surname in various ways throughout
his wife.
Nicholas
le Poher
Sometime before 1189, possibly in 1186,
Nicholas le Poher granted to St. Andrew of Stoke all the land which Theobald
Carpenter held from him in Middleton. Among the witnesses to this grant was
Joan the mother of Nicholas le Poher along with William le Poher and Philip le Poher.
These lands are said to be in the place now known as Milton Podimore as they
were still listed as owned by Stogursey Priory in 1505.[7]
Ralph
le Poher
The Stogursey charters say that Ralph le
Poher had two sons called William and Robert. Other sources say he had three
sons, William, Robert and Roger.[8]
Stogursey Church of St. Andrew by Martin Southwood
William
le Poher
On or before 1185 William le Poher, son of
Ralph le Poher, confirmed the grant of 10s rent from Knaplock made by his
brother Robert le Poher, senior, to the church of St. Andrew of Stokes. Knaplock
Farm is in the parish of Cannington, some two miles east of Stogursey.[9] In
1185 William le Poher sailed to Ireland. William le Poher died sometime before
1204.[10]
In 1172-3 William le Poher and Hugh Pincerna owed 9lbs from their property in
Oxfordshire for the army of King Henry II crossing to Ireland.[11] In
about 1184-1189 William le Poher granted land and tithes at Aghred and Tueos in
Ireland to Stogursey priory.[12]
In 1200 William le
Poher was a witness to an agreement between Meyler Fitz Henry and Fulk de
Cantilupe whereby the Fulk leased land at Corkach in the fee of Hubrim in
Ireland to Meyler for ten years.[13]
In October 1200 William le Poher was at Gloucester to witness the grant of 40
carucates to Thomas, abbot of Glendalough.[14]
By 1204 William le Poher was deceased.[15] But
not before he left a son called John le Poher, ancestor of the le Poher family
of Kells, Co. Kilkenny and Kilmeaden, Co. Waterford.[16]
Robert
le Poher, senior
In 1172-3 Robert le Poher
owed 10s from his property in Oxfordshire for the army of King Henry II
crossing to Ireland.[17] Sometime
before 1181 Robert Poher senior made a grant of 10s rent from Knaplock to the
church of St. Andrew of Stokes.[18]
Robert le Poher was killed in 1178 in a battle with the Irish in South Kildare.[19]
Robert
le Poher, junior
In 1172 Robert le Poher
junior sailed to Ireland. In about 1181 Robert le Poher junior confirmed the
grant of his father, Robert le Poher of the 10s to St. Andrew’s and also
confirmed the grant of 8d rent to same made by his brother, John le Poher.[20]
In July 1221 Robert le Poher was informed that the king had replaced Geoffrey
de Marisco as justiciar of Ireland by Henry, Archbishop of Dublin.[21]
By 1228 Robert le Poher junior had died and was succeeded by his son John. In
November 1228 Richard Duket and Henry de St. Florence gave the king 100 marks
to have the right of marriage of John le Poher.[22]
In April 1230 John le Poher made homage for his father’s property in Ireland.[23]
By October 1249 John le Poher was dead and was briefly succeeded by his eldest
son, Robert le Poher, but Robert died before October 1249 and the justiciar was
instructed to find Robert’s brother and heir (John) to give custody to John
Maunsel.[24]
John le Poher was the ancestor of numerous Power families in medieval Waterford
including the baron of Dunhill family.[25]
Roger
le Poher
In 1175 Robert son of Alfred granted to
the church of St. Andrew of Stokes his church of St. John of Holeford. This
grant was witnessed by a number of Poher family members like Durand le Poher,
William le Poher and Roger le Poher.[26]
This Roger le Poher was the third son of
Ralph le Poher. In the 1170s Roger le Poher went to Ireland where he assisted
in the invasion and colonisation. In 1177 Roger le Poher was said to have
assisted John de Courcey at the battle of Down. In 1181 Hugh de Lacy made Roger
a captain of Leighlin.[27]
Roger le Poher was the ancestor of Poher families in Kilkenny and east Cork. A
number of his descendants were sheriffs of Co. Waterford in the fourteenth
century.[28]
John
le Poher
Meanwhile back in 12th century
England John le Poher was one of two sons of Robert le Poher, senior. In about
1180 John le Poher confirmed the grant made by his father, Robert, of 10s rent
in Knaplock to the church of St. Andrew of Stokes. At the same time John added
to his father’s grant by giving an additional rent of 8d to Stogursey. The
grant was affixed with the seal of John de Poher which displayed a fleur de lys in its design.[29]
The French heritage of the Poher family was something of high value to the
family. This was in the days before King John lost Normandy and the Hundred
Years War when the Anglo-Normans still considered themselves French first and
English a distant third after Normandy.
Conclusion
The Poher family were a
small landed family in 12th century Somerset but the Norman Invasion
of Ireland in 1169 opened up an opportunity of advancement. The three brothers
from Stogursey went on to hold extensive property in Ireland and their
descendants are still numerous in that country today.
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End of post
============
[1] Tremlett,
T.D. & Blakiston, N. (eds.), Stogursey
Charters: charters and other documents relating to the property of the alien
priory of Stogursey, Somerset, now belonging to Eton College (Somerset
Record Society, Vol. LXI, 1949), pp. ix, xi, xiii, xiv
[2] Tremlett
& Blakiston (eds.), Stogursey
Charters, p. xviii
[3] Tremlett
& Blakiston (eds.), Stogursey
Charters, p. xx
[4] Tremlett
& Blakiston (eds.), Stogursey
Charters, p. xx
[5] Tremlett
& Blakiston (eds.), Stogursey
Charters, no. 63
[6] Tremlett
& Blakiston (eds.), Stogursey
Charters, no. 66
[7] Tremlett
& Blakiston (eds.), Stogursey
Charters, p. xx, nos. 18, 170
[8] Parker,
C., ‘Paterfamilias and parentela: The
le Poer lineage in fourteenth-century Waterford’, in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. 95C (1995), pp.
93-117, at p. 95
[9] Tremlett
& Blakiston (eds.), Stogursey
Charters, no. 13
[10] Tremlett
& Blakiston (eds.), Stogursey
Charters, no. 13
[11] Sweetman,
H.S. (ed.), Calendar of Documents
relating to Ireland (London, 1875, reprint Liechtenstein, 1974), vol. 1
(1171-1251), no. 41
[12] Tremlett
& Blakiston (eds.), Stogursey
Charters, no. 51 (21)
[13] Sweetman
(ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to
Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 129
[14] Sweetman
(ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to
Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 132
[15] Tremlett
& Blakiston (eds.), Stogursey
Charters, no. 13
[16] Parker,
C., ‘Paterfamilias and parentela: The
le Poer lineage in fourteenth-century Waterford’, in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. 95C (1995), pp.
93-117, at p. 95
[17] Sweetman
(ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to
Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 41
[18] Tremlett
& Blakiston (eds.), Stogursey
Charters, no. 15
[19]
Parker, C., ‘Paterfamilias and parentela:
The le Poer lineage in fourteenth-century Waterford’, in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. 95C (1995), pp.
93-117, at p. 95
[20] Tremlett
& Blakiston (eds.), Stogursey
Charters, no. 15 accessed on 17th April 2013
[21] Sweetman
(ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to
Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 1001
[22] Sweetman
(ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to
Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 1635
[23] Sweetman
(ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to
Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 1786
[24] Sweetman
(ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to
Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 3014
[25]
Parker, C., ‘Paterfamilias and parentela:
The le Poer lineage in fourteenth-century Waterford’, in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. 95C (1995), pp.
93-117, at p. 95
[26] Tremlett
& Blakiston (eds.), Stogursey
Charters, no. 12
[27] Orpen,
G.H., Ireland under the Normans
(Dublin, 2005), Vol. II, p. 12
[28]
Parker, C., ‘Paterfamilias and parentela:
The le Poer lineage in fourteenth-century Waterford’, in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. 95C (1995), pp.
93-117, at p. 95
[29] Tremlett
& Blakiston (eds.), Stogursey
Charters, no. 14
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