Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Agback" data-source="post: 605092" data-attributes="member: 5328">G'dayMy family is fairly easy to trace, having a spectacularly conspicuous surname, and having been aristocratic until the Civil War (1637, not 1861).I am descended (male line, no less) from a 13th-Century English baron named (variously: spelling was rather dodgy in the 13th Century) Sire John de Ewill or Munsire Johannes de Eyvile, but known to history as Sir John Deiville. (Arms: or, a fess gules, semée of fleurs-de-lys counterchanged.)Sir John was a supporter of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester (the Father of Parliament), and was summoned as a baron to the Mad Parliament. After the barons were defeated in 1265 Sir John refused a pardon, arguing that he had done nothing to be pardoned for--but that the King had broken his oath. He fled with Sir Nicholas de Segrave and some supporters to the Isle of Ely, and became one of the historical figures on whom Robin Hood is based. In April 1267, in association with the treacherous Earl of Gloucester, he captured London, and held it against the King (and the future Edward I) until June 18, when he was betrayed, captured, and forced to accept a pardon.Sir John led his banner in the Royal army against the Welsh in 1277, 1282, and 1283. And after his death in 1292 his son led his banner in the English army at the Battle of Falkirk. But we never got our seat in the Lords back.Regards,Agback</blockquote>