Tracy

The Norman thus designated on the Roll, derived his name from the town of Traci, in his native Duchy. His descendants became Lords of Barnstaple in Devon, and enjoyed high repute in that county. Their heiress, Grace, only child of Henry de Traci, Baron of Barnstaple, temp. Henry I., married John de Sudeley, Lord of Sudeley and Toddington, and had two sons Ralph, the elder, was ancestor of the Sudeleys, Lords of Sudeley Castle, whose eventual representative Joan, eldest sister and co-heir of John, Lord Sudeley, wedded William Le Boteler, of Wem; and William, the younger, took his mother's name of Traci, and was possessed of Toddington, in Gloucestershire, and the Barony of Barnstaple, in Devon.

Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire - Photo © Elle Charlton, Feb 2006

He held twenty-six knights' fees in 1165, and was steward of Normandy. This William de Traci, it is asserted, was one of the murderers of Thomas à Becket. From him descended the Tracys of Toddington, Viscounts Tracy, of Rathcoole, and the Tracys, Baronets of Stanway. Of the former, Henry Tracy, eighth Viscount, died in 1797, leaving an only daughter and heir, Henrietta Susannah, married in 1799, to Charles Hanbury, Esq., who assumed the additional surname and arms of Tracy, and was raised to the peerage in 1838, as Baron Sudeley. Since the decease in 1797, of the eighth Viscount Tracy of Rathcoole, the hereditary honours of the family have remained dormant, but they are now claimed by Benjamin Wheatley Tracy, Esq., Lieutenant R.N., and James Tracy, Esq., who have both submitted their pretensions to the decision of the house of Lords. --(This name appears on the Battle Abbey Roll)

Turgis de Tracie

From Tracy near Vire, arrondissement of Caen, Normandy. Turgis de Tracy, who with William de la Ferte, was defeated and driven out of Maine by Fulk le Rechin, count of Anjou, in 1073 was probably the "cil de Tracie" whom Wace (l. 13605) mentions as present at Hastings. In 1082 William and Gilbert de Tracy subscribed to a charter at Tracy, which is recorded in Gallic Christiana. A natural son of Henry I was called William de Tracy, probably because he was born in that castle. Henry de Tracy received from king Stephen the barony of Barnstaple. William de Tracy in 1170 was one of the murderers of Thomas a Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, and is asserted to have been the youngest son of John de Sudeley, Lord of Sudeley and Toddington, and Grace, only child and heir of the aforementioned Henry de Tracy. He took his mother's name of Tracy and possessed Toddington in Gloucester, the barony of Barnstaple in Devon, and held twenty-six knights' fees in Normandy in 1165. From him descended the Tracys of Toddington, viscounts Tracy of Rathcoole, and the Tracys, baronets of Stanway. --(This name appears on the Falaise Roll).