Person:Nicholas Chaundeler (1)

At an inquisition take by Nicholas Jordan, and others, by virtue of a writ tested at Canterbury, 10 March, 36 Henry III (1252), it was stated upon oath that the and of Tryenestone (Trehanston) (in Romcey March, inthe county of Kent), which the brethren of the King's Hospital of Ospringhave of the king's bailiwick, was, immediately after the Conquest of England, given to a certain knight name Tryan. Afterwards Alberic de Marinis held it at the pleasure of our lord, the King Henry that now is (Henry III). And. . . because the said Alberic ill-treated the tenants, the king took away from him the said land, and conferred it on Walter deBurgo; and, after Walter de Burgo, our lord the king gave it to Thomas de Normanvill, to hold during pleasure, and after the said Thomas, Nicholas de Chandeler helt it, of the gift of our lord the king, during pleasure, and afterwards our lord the king conferred it upon Jordan de Mont Martini, to hold during pleasure; and after the said Jordan our lord the conferred it on the brethren of his hospital of Ospreing, who still hod it. The said land is work yearly, in rents and other issues of land, 100 shillings.

Nicholas de (le) Chandeler, not withstanding the regrant of Trehanston, remained in favour with the crown. Perhaps the king rewarded him with other lands on the borders of Wiltshire and Goucestershire. At any rate, we afterwards find him in this neighborhood. It seems probable that he as with Prince Edward at the battle of Evesham, at which Simon de Montfort was signally defeated, for 25 Apr, 1 Edward I (1271-72), there is an order to the Treasurer of the Exchequier to pay this Nicholas Le Chaundeler, for faithful services, an annuity for life by the hands of the Sheriff of Gloucester (Close Roll, 1 Edward I)

The ancestry of Nicholas le Chaundeler, who, as we have seen, removed from the county of Kent, where the family appears to have first settled, is obscure. He was of Noman descent, and probably the first of his line to live permanently in England. The anme occurs frequently in Normandy; but no important genealogical data can be gathered from the scattered and disconnected refrences. The only definite information at hand comes from the Rolls of France, from which it is ascertained that Hamo le Chandler, who appears from other circumstances to be of the Wilts family, had safe conduct from England to or through the lordship of I'Aigle, 1418-19, and that Peter Chaundeler, doubtless a kinsman, had safe conduct to travel to Normandy, 1451-52 (Norman Roll, 6 Hen. V, pt II; Roll of France, 30 Hen. VI). We may therfore assume that the family came from I'Aigle. The name was originally le Chaundeler, not de Chaundeler, which is mere mistake of the scribe who so recorded it. Chaundeler (afterwards contracted to Chandler) as a durname, has nothing to do with the trade of Chandler, as sometimes stated. It appears to be surnames of Le Marshall, le Chancellor, &c. In very ancient times this officer had no doubt, been simply candle-bearer to the sovereign; but in the tenth or eleventh centuries had become a recognized official of the Royal, or Ducal, household. Thus the law as of the Welsh, in the tenth century, mention, among the twenty-four servants of the Court, the Kanuylyt of the King and Queen. In this was several families of le Chaundeler might (and doubtless did) arise, not in the least related to each other. No connection, for instance, can be established between the le Chaundelers of Wilts, and those of Norfolk, Suffolk and the northern countries. Moreover, the arms borne by these families are totally different. The arms attributed to Chaundler of Wilts are: Chequy argent and gules, on abend engrailed sable three lions passant or The Chandeler or Chaundler, family of Hyde Barton Hants, a branch of the Wiltshire family, bore; Chequy or and gules, on a bend engrailed sable three lions passant guardant of the first.

London: - Calendar of Coroners Rolls, City of London, 1300-1378 Tuesday after the Feast of St. Barnabas the same year, information given to the aforesaid Coroner and Sherrifs that Simon de Eggesfeld lay dead of a death other than his rightful death in the rent of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, in the parish of St. Mary de Aldermanbury in the Ward of Crepulgate. Thereupon they preceeded thither, and having summoned good men of that Ward, they dilligently enquired how it happened. The jurors - - . . . Richard le Chaundeler . . . say that on the preceding Monday about sun-set, Robert de Hemmyngburgh of co. York struck the above Simon on the breast with a short knife at the top of Phelippeslane in the aforesaid parish, owing to a sudden quarrel, inflicting a mortal wound an inch broad and 4 inches deep so that he died the same night. The felon fled into the church of St. Files in the Ward of Crepulgate without. Precept to the Sherrifs to take him on leaving sanctuary.

1.   www.cencircles.com/users/daveanthes/2/data/12591.
2.   London, England: Parish and Probate Records.