Person:William Hastings (1)

William de Hastings (various contemporary spellings)

Father. Apparently no surviving primary record names the father of William and his brother Henry. William de Hastings was the last known Hastings with the same hereditary possessions and offices. Dugdale reported in the 17th century that he saw such evidence in the collection of the herald Robert Glover.

Mother. Maud de Banestre. See Fine Rolls, both at the time of her death, where her son William de Hastings is named as the heir (6/194, 17 June 1222); and that of her son William de Hastings (10/52, 26 December 1225; 10/83, 28 January 1226; 10/84, 28 January 1226).^[2] Her inheritance accounts for the things that William's son Henry did not inherit from the Hastings family.

Approximate birth date: certainly before 1180, and probably before 1170. Reasoning:

William became an adult between 1182, when his elder brother Henry was himself considered too young to be dapifer of the Abbot of Bury,^[3] and 1194, when he became heir to his brother.^[4]

Matching this very well, his apparent father William seems to disappear from records after about 1168.^[5]

m. Margery Bigod.

According to the antiquary William Dugdale, who sometimes had sources no longer existing, William married Margery Bigod, the only known daughter of Roger le Bigod who died in the 5th year of Henry III, 1219/20 and had a step mother named Gundred. Roger was a Magna Carta Surety Baron and Earl of Norfolk. (His report under Bigod differs from that under Hastings about which William was the husband, and is apparently the correct one.)

Children of William de Hastings and presumably also Margery Bigod:

• Sir Henry de Hastinges. A well-known baron in the time of Simon de Montfort.

• Ida de Hastings. Held Blunham, Bedfordshire, a Hastings possession of this family, for life.^[6] She m. Stephen de Segrave d. 1241. Dugdale describes Seagrave's wife as a sister of Henry de Hastings.^[7]. Secondly she m. Hugh de Pecche

1.   Dugdale, William. The baronage of England: or, an historical account of the lives and most memorable actions of our English nobility. Deduced from publick records, ancient historians, and other authorities. (London, England: Thomas Newcombe, 1675)
   133 and 574.
2. ↑ Fine Rolls
3. ↑ His elder brother Henry had become an adult between early 1182 when Joscelin of Brakelond reported his presentation to the Abbot in Bury, by an uncle named Thomas de Hastings, and year 3 of Richard I, 1191/2 when Pipe Roll records show that Henry received taxation exemptions for going overseas.
4. ↑ William paid 100 marks as relief for the land and serjeantry of his brother Henry, and another 100 to avoid going to Normandy. Pipe Rolls 6 Richard I is cited by Eyton, Clark and Moriarty, all apparently following Dugdale. Eyton adds that there is an accounting for one of these fines the following year. He cites Madox p. 216, but it should be Vol.1, p.316. (That record states explicitly it is for the lands and serjeantry - serjeantry being a less usual form of possession, so there is little room for misunderstanding who this is. It names the brother Henry whose inheritance it is. It states that this was in Norfolk or Suffolk. "Willelmus de Haſtinges r c de C marcis, pro Relevio terræ a Serjanteria Henrici fratris sui. Mag. Rot. 7. R. 1. Rot. 6. b. Norf. & Sudf.")
5. ↑ See various Pipe Rolls, for example 1167/8, and compare to Eyton (1878), Court, household and itinerary of King Henry II. archive.org link
6. ↑ Excerpta e Rot. Fin. (Rec Com)., ii, 17
7. ↑ Baronage, i. 672