William Paynel
| William Paynel | |
|---|---|
| Died | around 1145 to 1147 |
| Occupation | Baron of Hooton Pagnell |
| Spouse(s) | (1) daughter of William fitzWimund (2) Avice |
| Children |
|
| Parent(s) | Ralph Paynel |
William Paynel (sometimes William Paganel; died around 1146) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and baron.
Paynel was the son of Ralph Paynel, who was a tenant-in-chief listed in Domesday Book with lands in Yorkshire. Ralph also held Middle Rasen in Lincolnshire as well as lands in Normandy – Les Moutiers-Hubert in the Calvados region and Hambye in the Manche region. Besides William, Ralph was the father of Jordan and Alexander. Jordan died before their father and without heirs. Ralph died by 1124, at which time William Paynel, the eldest surviving son, inherited his father's lands including those at Drax in Yorkshire. Other lands held by Ralph and William were Hooton Pagnell also in Yorkshire. The lands at Drax, combined with those at Hooton Pagnell, are considered a barony under the name of Hooton Pagnell, and passed to William from his father.
In September 1136, Paynel's castle at Les Moutiers-Hubert was attacked by Count Geoffrey of Anjou, husband of Empress Matilda. Matilda was the only surviving legitimate child of King Henry I of England, but at Henry's death in 1135, her cousin Stephen of Blois had seized the throne of England and secured Normandy as well. In 1136 Matilda and her husband contested Stephen's seizure of both England and Normandy, starting a civil war usually known as The Anarchy that lasted most of Stephen's reign from 1135 to 1154. By 1140, Paynel was a supporter of the Empress Matilda's efforts to gain the throne of England. In late 1140 he was named Matilda's castellan for Nottingham Castle, which had just been captured by Matilda's half-brother Robert of Gloucester. At the end of Lent in 1142 William Peverel seized the castle for the king's forces while Paynel was absent visiting the Empress. After Paynel's death, his sons were also supporters of the Empress, and lost control of Drax for this support, but by 1154 Hugh and Fulk split some of the English and Norman lands between themselves.
...
Wikipedia