Gautier d'Aincourt

Thurgarton priory, Nottinghamshire 1912

Gautier d'Aincourt probably came from the parish of Aincourt, situated in the Norman Vexin, whose patronage was given by one of his descendants to the abbey of Bec. The information on the family in Normandy is scant. There are towns bearing the name Aincourt, Encourt, Eincourt and others in the Haute Normandy, as well as in the Beauvoisis. He accompanied duke William to England at the conquest and served him with great zeal, for which he was rewarded with sixty-seven manors in different counties, among which was the domain of Blankney, in Lincolnshire, which became the chief seat of his barony. An epitaph to the memory of his son William in Lincoln cathedral on a leaden plate found in his grave in the churchyard there, states that he was of royal blood and a kinsman of Remigius, almoner of Fecamp, later bishop of Lincoln. Ralph d'Eyncourt, William's younger brother, founded Thurgarton priory, Nottinghamshire, and was a great feudal baron. The family was powerful and prominent down through the centuries, the male line becoming extinct in the reign of Henry VI, when the estates were carried in the female line to the families of Cromwell and Lovel. --(This name appears on the Falaise Roll)