Person:Warinus La Strode (1)

From "In Search of the Strode Orphans", McMurty, Kallam & O'Boran, 1998, pp. 7-8.

Warin variously called in contemporary records, "le Breton" based on his place of birth, and "le Arbaletrier" (cross-bowman), based on his role within the army of William, was probably the nephew or a near kinsman of Brian, Comte (Count) deBretagne (Brittany), who is known to have been a principal officer at the Battle of Hastings, leading the left flank as the Normans invaded England on September 24, 1066.

Warin, or as he is sometimes referred to in the Latin form of his name, Warinus, is mentioned in Ellis's (1883), A General Introduction to the Domesday Book. "Arbalistarius" in Latin means cross-bowman. Tradition, which seems highly probable, states that Warin went to the island of England in the military retinue of William of Aquitaine, who was called after his death, William "The Conqueror".

In this capacity as one of the soldiers of William, Warin is later recognized in the 1086 Domesday survey of the realm among the "ministri", or servants of the King. In the years following the Norman invasion of England there developed three classes of royal service: the "semeantry", who were men from the military, the "taini", who were men drawn from the native Saxons, and the "ministri". Warin, as a member of the ministri, would have been responsible for the administration of royal orders within his local district. Most of the "servientes" names within the Wiltshire Survey in the Domesday Book II were of a similar background consisting of soldiers originally born in the Normandy or Brittany regions of France, who had provided military service to William during the conquest of England and then resettled in England.

By right of military conquest prompted by his competing claim to the crown of England, William claimed England. To enforce his claim and maintain his tenuous hold on his newly won property, he displaced many of the previous native landholders and replaced them primarily with men who were known to be loyal to him through their performances during combat; men such as Warin.

THE STRODES (Taken from: A Family History, by Donovan Faust) The Strode family in England began with Sir Warinus de la Strode. (Spelling of Stroade, Strowde and Stroud also are found). He immigrated from the province of Bretagne (Brittany) in France at about the time the powerful Duke of Normandy conquered England in 1066 and became the kind known as William I, or William the Conqueror. About a third of his army was recruited from Brittany so Warinus, since he was a knight and came to England and acquired land during this period, may have been a part of the large invasion force.

The land he came to was mostly a forested island interspersed with a few low mountains, some fertile valleys, considerable marsh and much stubby growth such as still remains on the moors. Its inhabitants were Anglo-Saxons and people of Scandinavian ancestry. He settled in the southwestern part of the country in what is now Dorsetshire, probably on a manor granted by one of the nobles who received large landholdings from the conquering king. These fiefs which were awarded by the king to his nobles and knights had been confiscated from their English landowners. The Strodes remained there or in adjacent counties for 23 generations until Joane Strode Mendenhall came to America a short time before her death in 1683.

Specific information about their first several hundred years in incomplete as record-keeping was limited before the 1500's. Few people could read or write and any records were mostly kept by the church, taxing authorities, a town clerk or a scribe if one was available. Compilation of the Strode family tree and its several branches is based upon data in the Family History Archives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the world's largest repository of such information. More than two dozen genealogical researchers contributed to the Archive's file on the Strodes. Several other archival sources were used to verify data to the extent possible.

They apparently were a prominent family, living on their feudal landholdings in Dorset for ten generations in the village which bore their name. Their land, or at least part of it, may not have been the most desirable as the word stroud, or strode, has an Old English derivation meaning marshy ground. (The marshy parts still may have been productive in furnishing reeds and rushes which were needed for thatching roofs and strewing over the cold, bare floors of manor houses). Therefore, in this era before surnames became prevalent, the progenitor of the family would have been known as "Warinus of the March" -- for one who dwelled near a marsh. Topographic features often were used to identify people who otherwise possessed but a single name. They continued to use the French "de la Strode" or "de Strode" until the 1400's when the preposition was dropped and Strode adopted as a surname. This was in keeping with the practice, following assumption of the crown by Duke William, wherein the Court and English gentry spoke French for several hundred years while most of the working classes continued to speak the Anglo-Saxon-derived Old English.

Although there is no documentation of a family connection, three persons of the name are discussed in WEBSTER's BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY and the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITTANICA. The latter refers to the Strodes as an ancient family long established in southwest England.

Unlike other sections of this family history, descriptive narrative relating to the first ten generations of the Strodes treats them as a group, as insufficient data is available for individual summaries. Only the name, approximate date of birth and where they lived can be found. Typical of the period, no information is recorded for females in this early group.

About all that can be gleaned about these ancient ancestors relates to known historical events or rulers and the conditions and customs of their time. It is only through these that a sketchy picture of what their lives may have been like can be drawn.

The Norman conquest of England in 1066 was a turning point for Europe. The Duke of Normandy had an unclear claim to the English throne but he made it good when he defeated the Anglo-Saxons at the Battle of Hastings in southest England. He provided such strong rule that England became the most powerful state in Europe. Among his achievements was compilation of the detailed Domesday Book of landowners, the people they employed and their possessions -- probably the earliest example of a national census. It was a massive document of more than two million words handwriting in Vulgar Latin.

As previously noted, William forcibly replaced Englishmen as the chief landholders with his own peers, who were committed to serve him. At the same time, he introduced the feudal system to fulfill the basic need for government, justice and protection against attack. It was an arrangement between feudal aristocrats -- a lord and his vassals -- in which the lord gave his vassals land, or fiefs, in return for loyalty, military support and other considerations. The vassals generally were noblemen or of the gentry and would commit to providing a specific number of men for military service. The vassal, in turn, could grant parts of his fief to others and become their lord, often to meet his commitment to supply fighting men. With these sub-holders, together with the yeomen, tradesmen/craftsmen and serfs required to work the land, whole villages grew on the fief-holders manor. None of the vassals actually owned the land, only the use of it. However, this right to use could be handed down from generation to generation to the eldest living son, a custom called primogeniture, which ensured that the fief would not be broken up and that one person would remain responsible for the promised services to the lord.

Differences among vassals were settled in the lord's court, a body made up of all the vassals. The lord presided and judgement was made by the vassals, or peers, of the contesting parties. It was the beginning of the principles followed today in our courts of law. The feudal system continued until the middle 1300's.

It is reasonably certain that the Strodes were land-holding vassals on some level of this hierarchical feudal society. They certainly were of the gentry and, although only seven Strodes in 23 generations were knights, the family had a penchant for marrying into families of equal or higher rank.

A knight, while a chivalrous and highly regarded warrior, was actually in the lower ranks of the titled medieval social classes. Society was stratified into the following classes, in descending order: king, duke, earl, viscount, baron, knight, esquire. After these came the merchants, craftsmen, freemen farmers and, finally, villeins. Villeins were unfree serfs who, in return for a place to live and perhaps a pig or two, committed to work the lord's land and do carting, ditching, cutting thatch and other tasks in addition to military service if required. Further, a fine was payable by the villein to the lord of the manor if his unmarried daughter became pregnant; apparently the lord was more permissive with the other classes.

The church was the single most important civilizing force during the Middle Ages and its influence extended to almost everyone. It christened the children, performed wedding ceremonies and conducted burial services -- thereby becoming a primary source of recorded information about the people and events of the period. Its leading official, usually an archbishop, was second only to the king in power and the church was the largest single landholder in feudal Dorsetshire as well as most of England. Its scholars wrote the history of the times and parish buildings served as hospitals for the sick, inns for travelers and as the focus for many community activities. Support for all of this came from the people through tithes, according to the biblical injunctions of Moses that one tenth of all produce should be given to the work of God. Tithes became a legal requirement for support of the parish church and were collected in kind, ie. each tenth sheaf of grain, each tenth sheep or pig, even the tenth pail of milk.

A medieval village in the 11th century usually consisted of a castle or manorhouse and a church, with associated peasant huts or cottages. Most of the huts were built with walls made of wattle-and-daub (Poles driven into the ground, intertwined with twigs or rushes then packed and coated with mud). The roofs usually were of thatch. There were no windows in wattle-and-daub huts; cottages might have windows but they were small and blocked with shutters or sacks and, if built of stone, were merely slits. Floors were of trodden earth. Once dried out hard and swept repeatedly with a brush broom, they ceased to be dusty and acquired a smooth surface. Doors were kept low for both economic and defensive reasons; an intruder, creeping in bent double and head first, was easily stunned or decapitated. Furnishings were spartan -- a few crude stools, a utilitarian plank table and bags of straw on the floor for sleeping. Meals consisted of black bread, eggs, poultry and a few vegetables such as cabbage and turnips. Rarely could meat be afforded by the peasantry and hunting and fishing was not allowed as Bgame on the manor belonged to the lord.

Better-off citizen had more commodious timber-framed or stone cottages and lived considerably better. And the lord of the manor, of course, lived best of all -- although his quarters by today's standard would be considered stark, ill-heated and uncomfortable. In cold weather, the lord in his drafty manor house or castle shivered in linen under a fur-trimmed robe; the peasant in a stuffy hut wore scratchy wool next to the skin -- and the same fleas bit both.

The dirt streets of these manor dependencies were mostly narrow, crooked and filthy. People threw all of their garbage into the streets and disease could spread quickly. A resident who went out at night took his servants or others along for protection against robber, all carrying torches or lanterns to light their way on the dark streets.

It was primarily an agrarian society, devoted to raising grains and root crops and much pasturing of sheep and cattle. Primitive plows were large wooden contraptions that required terms of four to eight oxen, or as many as a dozen if the soil was heavy. About an acre could be plowed in a day. Underbrush bound together or the trunk of a tree was dragged across the plowed ground to break the clods and prepare the soil for planting. Sometimes the clods were broken up by a man swinging a heavy wooden mallet, the origin of the term "clodhopper". Although parts of the terrain in Dorset were rocky or marshy, much of the area offered a welcoming opportunity for certain types of farming, particularly grazing and foraging. Pigs were among the earliest farm animals and great survivors through their ability to forage. Their proclivity for rooting up earth for mast and roots was an early substitute for plowing. There were expected to be self-supporting.

England was relatively tranquil during the reign of William I after he had forcefully put down several uprisings by the Anglo-Saxons and even his own barons. But during the 1100's the people of England were drawn into turbulent times. The successors to William were unable to sustain the control that had prevailed during his tenure. His son William II was assassinated; another son, Henry I, attacked and defeated his brother Robert, Duke of Normandy, and imprisoned him for life. Upon Henry's death, civil war beset the country and the throne was occupied by three different sovereigns in a period of 19 years. Finally, a strong king, Henry II, ruled effectively from 1154 to 1189 -- a time that saw improvements in the lives of the people, the beginnings of Oxford University and light come into houses through the first use of glass in the windows of private houses.

Henry was succeeded by Richard I (The Lion-Heart). Although Richard became a legend, during much of his ten-year reign he drew on a large number of his subjects to fight in two wards and heavily taxed those remaining to pay for them. The first was the Third Crusade to the Holy Lands, after which Richard almost immediately became involved in a war with Philip Augustus of France to protect the English-controlled lands that then occupied more than half of that country. He lost his life while storming a French castle. During his time as king, he spent barely six months in England.

While Richard was away, England was ruled by his brother John, who succeeded him as king of England and Duke of Normandy. John was cruel and treacherous, had his nephew Arthur murdered, was inept at politics, continued to tax his subjects heavily, was excommunicated by the Pope, and in 1205 lost all of the English lands in France in another war with Philip Augustus. It was one of his unjust appointed sheriffs (in Nottingham) against whom the legendary Robin Hood fought. (The sheriffs, who represented the king at the county level, were notorious for their greed and rapacity. One chronicler described a sheriff in animal terms as a "hungry lion, rabid wolf, cunning fox, filthy pig and shameless dog"). Most of the barons and many powerful clergy revolted and forced John to affix his seal to the Magna Carta -- a charter which guaranteed tax collection only by legal means, justice to all and no imprisonment without trial. It was a landmark in fair government. John, who died in 1216, was considered such a bad king that no English monarch since then has taken his name.

It is not known what role the Strode family may have played in these events. But, in view of their apparent prominence, logic would suggest that they were involved in both military engagements and government councils as well as being subjected to the heavy taxes exacted during much of the period. It is known that Sir John de Strode was the sheriff of Dorset and Somerset. One wonders if the above description of a sheriff applied to him.

Strode Information internet (http://www.vnla.com/vnl/gen/mcq/Strode.htm) Vic Ledger "Strode Family"

"There are many families of English descent living in North America today who are descendants of Strouds or Strodes.

"As to the origin of the name, some say it is Saxon, and that in the early Tenth Century it was spelled Strodg. But there are many others who differ with this belief and claim that the name Stroud is of Norman origin. Whichever its origin may be, all authorities agree that in ancient records it has been spelled in many different ways -- Strode, Strowde, Strood, and Stroud -- all of them often referring to the same person.

"To be better informed about the family of Strouds and Strodes (most common spelling) it is well to know early English history, the history of that country when it was known as Britannia. At that time it was composed of present-day England, Wales, and Southern Scotland; the boundary line between it and Scotland being the Cheviot Hills and the Tweed River. And the first recalled mention of it was by the Phoenician traders who went there often to obtain tin.

"Following the Phoenicians came the Romans under Julius Caesar. The subjugation of the Britons began in 43 A.D. under Emperor Claudius, and was completed under Agricola during the years 78 to 81 A.D. From then it remained in the Roman hands until 410 A.D.

"When the Romans withdrew from Briton, the Picts and Scots swept down upon it from the North. TheBritons then invited the Teutonic tribes (German) of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes to come help them drive out the invaders. This they did, but when they had done so, they turned upon the Britons and drove them into remote corners of Wales, Cornwall, and Cumberland before they established kingdoms of their own -- the Angles in Northumbria, East Anglis and Mercia; the Saxons in Sussex, Essex, and Wessex; and the Jutes in Kent. "From 827 A.D. to 1016 A.D. there was a long line of Anglo-Saxon sovereigns ruling England. Then came the Danish line of sovereigns, reigning until the year 1042 A.D. This was followed by the resotration of Anglo-Saxon sovereigns for twenty-four years.

"In 1066 William, Duke of Normandy (Northwestern France), with about 5,000 soldiers, crossed the English channel to invade Sussex and conquer the Saxons. When the Normans won the Battle of Hastings, it meant the submission of all England to their leader, William the Conqueror. "William's character was spirited, haughty, and tyrannical, but not without a generous portion of affection for his Norman followers. He disgusted his English subjects in many ways, but especially by the strong partiality which he had shown to the Normans -- preferring them in all offices of trust and dignity.

"Descendants of the Normans became the ruling class of England. The Normans were a race of conquerors, with a genius for law and government. They ruled England with great ability.

"The English language, literature, and architecture owe much to the Normans. At first the Normans spoke French, but subsequently the Norman French blended with the Germanic tongue of the Anglo-Saxons and became English.

"The Strode family (of Parnham, Dorset County) is an ancient knightly one, whose original progenitor in England is said to have been Warinus (Warine) de la Strode. This Warinus de la Strode apparently came to England in 1066 in the retinue of William the Conqueror as one of his warriors. It was also claimed that he was in the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066 when King Harold was slain. The prefix of 'de la' to the Strode name lends strong credence to the French or Norman origin of the family.

"The consequence of the Battle of Hastings was submission of all England to William the Conqueror, who had challenged Harold's right to be its king. As a result of this submission, William was crowned King William I of England on 25 December 1066.

"Early in his reign, King William I introduced into England the feudal law, dividing the whole Kingdom except the royal demesne in baronies and bestowing most of them, under the tenure of military service, upon his Norman followers. Warinus de la Strode, being one of these followers, had a vast estate granted him. He was knighted by King William I.

"From 'Ancient Pedigrees, Evidences, and Records Collected and Drawn' by Sir John Strode, who died in 1636 at the age of 75 years, it is possible to learn much about these knightly STRODES. Especially can this be done if the chart is used in conjunction with notes of John Hutchins in his The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset.

"By recording the facts listed in this chart, and the notes of Hutchins, much confusion would result if a means to differentiate people were not used. Accordingly, as had been done by both Sir John Strode and John Hutchins, capital letters (in parentheses) will be used to distinguish each succeeding generation in the early times....

"Warinus de la Strode (A) came to England in the year 1066 A.D. in the retinue of William the Conqueror. Hutchins stated Warinus...'the Normandy family of Geofroi, Duke of Bretagne (son, grandson, or nephew), and to have borne their arms (coat of arms), ermine in a canton sable, an etoile of five points argent.' This is similar to the coat of arms issued to the English Strodes and gives further credence to the origin of the Strodes. The Geogroi, Duke of Bretagne, mansion house stood 11 miles south of Strasbourg, France.

"Warinus' wife's name is not known, but it is known that he obtained an estate upon which he built a commodious manor house (Strode Manor) and lived there until his death, rearing sons and daughters. His lineal heir was William de la Strode.

1. ↑ A General Introduction to Domesday Book, by Ellis 1883,
   volume 1, page 507.
2. ↑ In Search of the Strode Orphans, McMurtry, Kallam & O'Boran 1998
   pages 7 & 8.