Key Facts

Snapshot:	knight in 13th- and 14th-century Kent, England
Parents:	Sir 4203240William Detling His mother's identity is unknown.
Born:	by 1304 location unknown
Died:	after 1334/5, and maybe by 1346 location unknown
Buried:	unknown

Note: This profile would not have been possible without the pedigree and evidence presented in I. Cave-Browne's book Detling in Days Gone By, or The History of the Parish (Maidstone and London, 1880), page 63. I'd also like to thank researcher Jared Nathan for referring me to I. Cave-Browne's work.

2101620William Brampton de Detling must have been born by 1304, and his father is Sir 4203240William Detling, as explained in the problem section below.

Problem: Resolved Who is 2101620William's father? Below is an excerpt from the pedigree that appears in: I. Cave-Browne, Detling in Days Gone By, or The History of the Parish (Maidstone and London, 1880), page 63. I believe that this portion of Cave-Browne's pedigree is ultimately correct, but that he misinterpreted one of the records cited. First I will explain Cave-Browne's error, and then I will explain why I still believe the pedigree to be correct. Cave-Browne's error 2101620William—the subject of the page you're currently reading—is the bottom of the three Williams shown in the pedigree. As you can see, Cave-Browne cites a 1291 record as evidence that 2101620William's father was 4203240William. That record reads:1 iiijto Kal. Maij. Apud Otteford in Curia, Willelmus de Dettlinge fecit homagium et fidelitatem Domino pro dimidio feodo militari; quam terram Dominus Willelmus de Dettlinge pater ejus aliquando tenuit.1 English translation: "The 4th day before the Kalends of May. In court at Otford, William of Dettlinge made homage and fidelity to the Lord for half a knight's fee; which land Sir William of Detling his father once held." The phrase pater ejus aliquando tenuit ("his father once held") insinuates that his father (i.e., 4203240William—if Cave-Browne's pedigree is accurate) was probably dead by 1291.1 However, Cave-Browne seems to have been unaware of (and doesn't mention in his book) records that prove that a certain Sir William de Detling was murdered in Detling in 1304.2 Who could this William (the murder victim) have been? It almost certainly wasn't the youngest 2101620William (the subject of this page), since he appears in several other records over a ~30-year period after 1304, as described in more detail below. Furthermore, from the abovementioned 1291 record we know that a certain William de Detling was probably dead by 1291.1 I propose that the William who had died by 1291 is mostly likely 8406480William (the first of the three Williams in the pedigree above, and grandfather of 2101620William who is the subject of this page). After ruling out the possibility that 2101620William or his grandfather 82046480William was the 1304 murder victim, we're therefore left with 4203240William as the most plausible candidate. To reiterate: The man who paid homage in 1291 was actually 4203240William, not 2101620William as Cave-Browne proposed. The 1291 record also mentions 4203240William's father, 8406480William, who apparently had died by the time record was created. 4203240William was subsequently murdered in 1304. So what evidence does prove 2101620William's father? 2101620William owned a manor in Detling.3 So did his son4 and many later descendants.5 His (proposed) father and grandfather had owned land there, too,1 along with a manor.6 Patterns of ownership and inheritance are critically important in medieval genealogy, and the apparent multi-generational inheritance of the Detling land, particularly its manor, supports the family relationships proposed.

A 1319 fine shows that 2101620William had a wife named Alice, and that they owned some property in Detling, specifically 21.75 acres plus appurtenances. However, 2101620William and Alice were essentially sued, and they apparently lost the property, at least temporarily.3 A copy of the original court record is below.7 (This fine is also the first record to show 2101620William's alternate/alias surname Brampton.)

This 1319 court record mentions 2101620William, his wife Alice, and their Detling property. Full image.7 Abstract.3

Despite the apparent legal setback, 2101620William apparently remained in Detling, since he's listed as an inhabitant of Detling in 1327 (where his name is recorded as "Willelmus Branton"),8 and as an inhabitant of Maidstone Hundred in 1334/5 (as "Sir Wm. de Detlynge").9

2101620William later re-acquired his Detling property (or perhaps a similar plot nearby), since in 1346 his son 1050810John paid for a fee that 2101620William owned (presumably previously) in Detling.4 That 1050810John paid for his father's (former?) land loosely suggests that 2101620William may have died.

Other records refer to "William de Detling," but because 2101620William, his father, and his grandfather all share the same name, for some records it's difficult to determine which William is being described. I have compiled a list of these inconclusive records to help with future research.

Sources Cited:

1: Charles Trice Martin, ed., Registrum Epistolarum Fratris Johannis Peckham, Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis, Volume III (London, 1885), page 998. As you can see, the record is dated "4 kal. Maii," i.e. four days prior to the Kalends of May 1290 using the ancient Roman calendar method. This corresponds to 28 April 1290/1. A more thorough transcription comes from: I. Cave-Browne, Detling in Days Gone By, or The History of the Parish (Maidstone and London, 1880), page 62. It reads, "iiijto Kal. Maij. Apud Otteford in Curia, Willelmus de Dettlinge fecit homagium et fidelitatem Domino pro dimidio feodo militari; quam terram Dominus Willelmus de Dettlinge pater ejus aliquando tenuit."

2: Caroline Burt, Edward I and the Governance of England, 1272–1307 (2013), pages 217-220. Burt cites several different court records pertaining to the murder and subsequent trials; you can read the relevant excerpt and citations for yourself.

3: James Greenstreet, "Kent Fines, 10-15 Edward II," Archaeologia Cantiana Volume XIV (1882), page 259, entry 626A.

4: James Greenstreet, "Assessments in Kent for the Aid to Knight the Black Prince, Anno 20 Edward III," Archaeologia Cantiana, Volume X (1876), page 151. As you can see, Greenstreet transcribes de Johanne de Detlynge et Thoma de Bukwelle pro dimidio feodo quod Willelmus de Detlynge tenuit in Detlynge de Archiepiscopo, which might translate as "from John Detlynge and Thomas de Buckwell for half the fee which William of Detlynge held in Detlinge of the archbishop."

5: UK National Archives CP 40/717 (Court of Common Pleas / Plea Rolls / Chief Justice's roll, 18 Hen VI, Easter term), on an apparently unnumbered page pertaining to a lawsuit involving William Sonde et al. vs. John Ruton et al. I obtained an image of this record from: Anglo-American Legal Tradition, O'Quinn Law Library, University of Houston; <http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/H6/CP40no717/bCP40no717dorses/IMG_1261.htm>, accessed 29 March 2022. You can see AALT's index entry for this record at <http://aalt.law.uh.edu/Indices/CP40Indices/CP40no717/CP40no717Pl.htm> by searching "1262." As you can see, the original record is in Latin, so refer to the abstract in: George Wrottesley, Pedigrees from the Plea Rolls: Collected from the Pleadings in the Various Courts of Law, A.D. 1200 to 1500, from the Original Rolls in the Public Record Office, page 371.

6: Reverend L. B. Larking, "On the Heart-Shrine in Leybourne Church," Archaeologia Cantiana, Volume V (1863), page 143. Larking references a somewhat obscure, anonymous, but contemporaneous manuscript whose origin he further describes on page 166.

7: I obtained an image of this record from: Anglo-American Legal Tradition, O'Quinn Law Library, University of Houston; <http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT7/CP25(1)/CP25_1_101_97-112/IMG_0264.htm>, accessed 16 April 2022.

8: I. Cave-Browne, Detling in Days Gone By, or The History of the Parish (Maidstone and London, 1880), page 63. Cave-Browne is clearly transcribing an earlier record, but I can't find the corresponding UK National Archives reference ID.

9: H. A. Hanley and C. W. Chalklin, The Kent Lay Subsidy Roll of 1334/5 page 117.