General Notes

REFN: 4324AN
Alias:<ALIA> /Algernon/
REFN: P4325
In 1070 he was engaged on works connected with the rebuilding of York Cast
le after its destruction by the Danes.  In 1072 he took part in Willi
am I (the Conqueror) expedition to Scotland.  In 1096 he set out of the fi
rst Crusade and died.  He was buried at Mount Joy near Jerusalem, Palestin
e.  Following William's dying wishes Sir Ralph Eversly, a knight, carri
ed his heart back to England and buried it at Whitby Abbey.
The Conqueror and His Companions
by J.R. Planché, Somerset Herald. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1874.
The name of Percy, strange to say, does not occur in the Roll of Battle Ab
bey; for I cannot agree with my old friend Sir Bernard Burke in his discov
ery of it in Percelay, a form in which I have never found it in any author
ity. Strange, because in view of the numerous interpolations it contain
s, one can scarcely imagine the omission of a name so distinguished in Ang
lo-Norman history. But for those manifest additions the fact of the absen
ce of the name of Percy would go far to establish the genuineness of the R
olls, as no member of that family appears to have fought at Senlac, and Wi
lliam de Percy must be placed in the list of those noble Normans who "ca
me over with the Conqueror" on his return to England in 1067, amongst wh
om I have already mentioned Roger de Montgoineri and Hugh d'Avranches.
William de Percy was the sworn brother-in-arms of the latter, and accompan
ied him to England, *[Mon. Ang., vol. i, p. 72.] and who on being made Ea
rl of Chester transferred to him the lordship of Whitby, with the extensi
ve domains attached to it in the East Riding of Yorkshire. By what servi
ce he obtained the vast possessions held by him at the time of the gener
al survey we have no information, an old manuscript, quoted by Dugdale, si
mply saying that, "being much beloved by the King," he enjoyed them throu
gh his bounty, and it is not till we arrive at the reign of Stephen th
at we hear of any remarkable actions attributed to his descendants, when h
is great-great-grandson, William de Percy, distinguished himself by his va
lour in the famous battle of the Standard.
The name of this ancient and noble family was derived from their great fi
ef of Perci, near Villedieu, in Normandy, and according to tradition th
ey were the descendants of one Mainfred, a Dane, who had preceded Rollo in
to Neustria. Geoffrey, the son of Mainfred, followed him in the servi
ce of Rollo, and was succeeded in rotation by William, Geoffrey, Willia
m, and Geoffrey, all born in Normandy, the latter Geoffrey being the fath
er of William de Percy, the subject of this notice, and of Serlo, his brot
her, the first abbot of Whitby, a monastery founded by William on the si
te of one called Skinshale, which had been destroyed by Inguar and Hubba.
Upon this abbey William bestowed the towns of Seaxby and Everley; but resu
med and regranted them to Ralph de Everley, his esquire, who had been in h
is service many years.
Abbot Serlo, his brother, feeling injured by this proceeding, made his com
plaint to William Rufus, with whom he had been on terms of intimacy duri
ng the reign of his father, and the King ordered restitution to be made. S
erlo, however, was not satisfied with the restoration of the towns, and ha
ving no confidence in his brother, determined to quit Whitby and establi
sh himself where he should hold under the King only, and be out of his bro
ther's power. He therefore begged of Rufus six carucates of land in Haken
as and Northfield, and translated thither part of the community of Whitby.
William de Percy married a lady named Emma de Port, "in discharging of h
is conscience," says our ancient writer, she being "very heire" to the est
ates given to him by William the Conqueror, and in 1096, having joined t
he first Crusade in company with Robert Court-heuse, died at Montjoye, ne
ar Jerusalem, the celebrated eminence so named by