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Thurston de Banastre

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Thurston de Banastre

Birth
Newton, Cheshire West and Chester Unitary Authority, Cheshire, England
Death
unknown
Cheshire, England
Burial
Chester, Cheshire West and Chester Unitary Authority, Cheshire, England Add to Map
Memorial ID
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"His (Thurston's) successor, both in Cheshire and Shropshire, was Thurstan Banastre, probably his son. In proof of his dignity, as one of the earl's chief barons, we find his name standing as the third witness, following William, earl of Lincoln, and William de Percy, of the charter by which Ranulf Gernons, fourth earl of Chester of his line, acknowledges and appoints Eustace fitz John to be his hereditary constable. This charter probably passed in the earl's palatinate court between 1149 and 1154. Of about the same, or perhaps rather earlier, date is the charter of Earl Ranulf releasing to the monks of Shrewsbury his toll in the city and county of Chester. This was given at Shrewsbury and is tested by Ralph, abbot (of Shrewsbury ?), Robert, the earl's steward, and ' Thurstan Bannestre.' * Evidence is wanting to enable us with absolute certainty to connect other contemporary members of this family with Thurstan Banastre, but Robert Banastre, the first of the Lancashire family of that name, and Alard Banastre, sheriff of Oxfordshire from Easter, 1170, to Michaelmas, 1175, may have been younger sons of this Thurstan. No doubt exists as to the ultimate successors of Thurstan in his Cheshire, Lancashire, and Shropshire estates. These were two sisters, Maud, the younger, wife of Henry II. 's steward, William de Hastings (occurs 1159-1168, dead, 1182), whom she married in or before 1168, and Margery or Margaret, the elder, wife of Richard fitz Roger, thegn of Woodplumpton, in this county, and the founder of Lytham Priory, whom she married before 1176. Margery's husband is mentioned in the Pipe Roll of 1180, as owing a fine of 100 for the recovery of his Lancashire lands, which had been seized by the crown because he had given his eldest daughter and heir in marriage to Robert de Stockport without the king's licence. He died in 1201, and his wife was deceased in 1206. Although the sisters Margery and Maud were daughters of Thurstan Banastre, it is probable that they were grandchildren of the Thurstan who occurs between 1141 and 1154, and daughters of Thurstan II.,* seeing that Maud, the younger, was married before 1168 and survived until 1222. In 1219 she was still a widow and had lands in Kirmington, co. Lincoln, worth ten marks per annum. In the division of their father's estates, which was not effected without recourse to the king's court, the Shropshire estates of Munslow and Aston fell to the share of Maud, in whose descendants, the barons of Abergavenny and earls of Pembroke, these manors descended. To Margery and her heirs fell the manor of Appleby, in Leicestershire, with the church, the manor of Kirkby in this county, held of the constables of Chester, together with Simonswood appurtenant to it, and the manor of Aughton, of which the family of Waleys, or Walsh (Walensis), were undertenants' ; but so far as can be ascertained the Cheshire estates descended in the line of Robert, younger brother of Thurstan Banastre II."
'The Barony of Newton in Makerfield', VCH Lancashire I:366-75
"His (Thurston's) successor, both in Cheshire and Shropshire, was Thurstan Banastre, probably his son. In proof of his dignity, as one of the earl's chief barons, we find his name standing as the third witness, following William, earl of Lincoln, and William de Percy, of the charter by which Ranulf Gernons, fourth earl of Chester of his line, acknowledges and appoints Eustace fitz John to be his hereditary constable. This charter probably passed in the earl's palatinate court between 1149 and 1154. Of about the same, or perhaps rather earlier, date is the charter of Earl Ranulf releasing to the monks of Shrewsbury his toll in the city and county of Chester. This was given at Shrewsbury and is tested by Ralph, abbot (of Shrewsbury ?), Robert, the earl's steward, and ' Thurstan Bannestre.' * Evidence is wanting to enable us with absolute certainty to connect other contemporary members of this family with Thurstan Banastre, but Robert Banastre, the first of the Lancashire family of that name, and Alard Banastre, sheriff of Oxfordshire from Easter, 1170, to Michaelmas, 1175, may have been younger sons of this Thurstan. No doubt exists as to the ultimate successors of Thurstan in his Cheshire, Lancashire, and Shropshire estates. These were two sisters, Maud, the younger, wife of Henry II. 's steward, William de Hastings (occurs 1159-1168, dead, 1182), whom she married in or before 1168, and Margery or Margaret, the elder, wife of Richard fitz Roger, thegn of Woodplumpton, in this county, and the founder of Lytham Priory, whom she married before 1176. Margery's husband is mentioned in the Pipe Roll of 1180, as owing a fine of 100 for the recovery of his Lancashire lands, which had been seized by the crown because he had given his eldest daughter and heir in marriage to Robert de Stockport without the king's licence. He died in 1201, and his wife was deceased in 1206. Although the sisters Margery and Maud were daughters of Thurstan Banastre, it is probable that they were grandchildren of the Thurstan who occurs between 1141 and 1154, and daughters of Thurstan II.,* seeing that Maud, the younger, was married before 1168 and survived until 1222. In 1219 she was still a widow and had lands in Kirmington, co. Lincoln, worth ten marks per annum. In the division of their father's estates, which was not effected without recourse to the king's court, the Shropshire estates of Munslow and Aston fell to the share of Maud, in whose descendants, the barons of Abergavenny and earls of Pembroke, these manors descended. To Margery and her heirs fell the manor of Appleby, in Leicestershire, with the church, the manor of Kirkby in this county, held of the constables of Chester, together with Simonswood appurtenant to it, and the manor of Aughton, of which the family of Waleys, or Walsh (Walensis), were undertenants' ; but so far as can be ascertained the Cheshire estates descended in the line of Robert, younger brother of Thurstan Banastre II."
'The Barony of Newton in Makerfield', VCH Lancashire I:366-75


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