The First Robert Boynton of Boynton
Robert de Boynton is something of a mystery. We can be sure that Robert de Boynton [1273-1324] had a father. The question is -- can we be confident that his father was also named Robert? Can we be sure that there was a first Robert Boynton of Boynton who was the father of Robert of 1273-1324? What else can we know about the mystery man?
Two sources suggest that Robert [of the 13th century] was the father of Robert [of the 14th century]: Carus Collier in An Account of the Boynton Family, and A. Gooder in Parliamentary Representation of the County of York 1258-1832, vol 1. There is agreement among the authors. But it is when you follow their footnotes that questions arise.
Follow the footnotes, and along the way we will learn all that is known about the shadowy Robert Boynton.
A. Gooder, Parliamentary Representation of the County of York 1258-1832, vol 1
This is the paragraph about Robert de Boynton in Gooder's book.
Robert de Boynton (Bouynton, Bovynton, etc) April 1309. A member of a well known East Riding family, Robert de Boynton was the son of an earlier Robert. He died, certainly before 30 October 1324 and probably before 20 May previous, leaving a widow Constance and four sons; John, the eldest, who had served in Scotland before Oct. 1311; Walter; Lambert, who became a canon of Newburgh; and Roger; and two daughters, Alice and Constance. Roger was the ultimate h. of the other brothers, and his son Robert was knight of the shire in 1376.
"Boynton's lands included a third of a knights fee in Boynton and Thorpe, a tenth of a knights fee in Hunmanby with other possesssions in Rudston.
A. Gooder, ed. (1935) Parliamentary Representation of the County of York 1258-1832 vol 1., YAS Record Series vol 91.
All he does is assert that the Robert, who was a knight of the shire in 1309, was the son of "an earlier Robert." No justification is provided. He appears to be following Collier's lead because the next several footnotes are to Collier's Account of the Boynton Family. Which takes us to Collier.
Collier, An Account of the Boynton Family
On pages 43 and 44 Collier puts three Boyntons in a "row."
(I) RABOT, RABOD OR RAWODUS DE BOVINGTON, received from his father, Walter de Bovington, about the end of the 12th or beginning of the 13th century, a grant of land in Rotsea. The Chartulary of Guisborough Priory records that Rabod de Bovington gave to that monastery a toft and a fishery in Rotsea,1 and he gave besides to that religious house one bovate of land with a toft, in Tibthorpe.2
(II) ROBERT DE BOVINGTON gave two bovates of land with three tofts and their appurtenances in Rotsea to Guisborough Priory,3 and I am of opinion that this Robert was son or grandson of the above Rabod de Bovington (I). This Robert held a carucate of land in Boynton.4
(III) SIR ROBERT DE BOVINGTON, KT., [1273-1324], son of Robert de Bovington (II), gave to Bridlington Priory three bovates of land, less a perch and a half, in Boynton,
1. Guisbro' Chart. I, 115u.
2. In the parish of Kirkburn. Guisbro' Chart. I, 96 ; II, 445.
3. Guisbro' Chart. II, 441.
4. Bridlington Chart. 183.from the carucate his father had held there.l
Collier uses a spelling of Boynton that was one of the major spellings of Boynton in the 13th and 14th centuries. There were others, and Collier has "cleaned up" the spelling by making these three the same.
The first thing to note about this passage is the dates for Sir Robert de Bovington, kt. He gives the dates of birth and death as 1273 and 1324. There is ample evidence for 1324; there was an inquisition post mortem after he died that is very good evidence for that date. 1273 is a mystery, however. He just asserts it, and I have found no documents that give Robert's date of birth, which is not at all unusual. No one collected birth records until the 16th century. So we do not know the dates of birth for most men and women before the parish registers were initiated in the 17th century.
Collier cites two documents that refer to the 13th century Robert: footnotes 3 and 4 in quotation. One is a document published in the Guisbro' Chartulary II and the other is a document published in the Bridlington Chartulary. The first of these, in Latin, is:
[In Rott]ese habemus ij bov. terrae cum iij toftis ad easdem pertinentibus ex dono Roberti de Bovingtona, set faciendo servitium; set eadem nobis confirmave[runt T]hom[as], filius Roberti de Daltona, unam, et Galfridus de S. Martino alteram, et servitia eisdem debita quieta clamaverunt. Item ex dono ejusdem . . . iiij bov. terrae cum v toftis ad eas pertinentibus. Item habemus iij bov. terrae et toftum cum crofto de Canonicis de Thorneton per escambium . . . y. [p. 441]
The document is not dated; neither are the documents surrounding it. William Brown, the editor of the chartulary, wrote that the date of compilation of the entire document, of which this is one entry, was most likely 1299 [Brown, pp. xxiii-xxv]. That is when the document was compiled; it is not necessarily the date of the financial transactions -- such as the one by Roberti de Bovingtona. Brown identified at least some transactions that must have taken place as early as 1270 and 1280. If this transaction happened that early then the 14th century Robert was unlikely to have been the person involved. If the transaction happened in 1299 then the 14th century Robert could have been the person giving the land. The date is critical to sorting out which Robert Boynton was involved, and the date is not given.
The second document is in the Bridlington Chartulary. The village Boynton is only about 5 miles from Bridlington. Boyntons late in the 12th century and early in the 13th century were actively involved in transactions with the Bridlington priory. The chartulary lists other transactions involving Boyntons, including this one.
Grant by Robert son of Robert de Bouington to the Canons, in free, pure, and perpetual alms, of three bovates of land, less a perch and a half, in the territory of Bouington, from that carucate of land which his father sometime held in that vill; namely, those three bovates which lie between the donor's land and the land which was Simon de Bouington's, with all the appurt., etc., within and without the vill. To hold from the grantor and his heirs, free and quit from all secular service to them. Warranty. Test., Robert de Percy, Walter de Carthorp, William and Robert his sons, Adam de Bouington, Gilbert de Speton and Peter his son, Ernald de Bucton, Richard White (Albo) of Bempton, Ernald de Marton and Robert and William his brothers, William de Lekeburn, Luke Siluer, Richard de Irton, Thomas de Swaledale, Henry de camera, Gocelin de Feriby. [Lancaster, p. 183]
This document is also not dated -- nor are the surrounding documents. There are several reasons for thinking that the document may have been from 100 years earlier than the late 13th and early 14th century. The only Adam de Boynton we know of lived then. We can find Robert de Percys at both time periods, as with others in the list of witnesses. However, we do not know of Robert Boyntons that early, and it is not included in the Early Yorkshire Charters. The editors who put together the early Yorkshire charters had access to the Bridlington Chartulary, and if they had thought this charter was as early as the 12th or early 13th century they would have included in their compilation.
One Additional Document
Robert de Bouyngton was witness to a transaction that appears in a collection of Yorkshire deeds that was published in 1955.
106. St. Alban. June, 15 Edward I [June 22, 1287]. Grant by Arnold, son and heir of Sir Walter de Buketon to sir Ralph son of William, as his sister Matilda's dowry, all his manor of Buketon with all his land in the same vill, also all his land in Bempton with appurtenances, and with the villeins, their issue and chattels and with all his rents from the said vills for the term of her life and after Matilda's death, reversion to the grantor. Warranty. Sealing clause. Witnesses: Sir Marmaduke de Thweng, Sir Robert de Buketon, William de Ergham, William de Sywardby, Robert de Bouyngton, William Bard. At the house (hostium) of the church of Butterwik in Crandale.
M. J. Stanley Price, ed. (1955) Yorkshire Deeds vol. X, Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, p. 38.
This deed is dated at June 22, 1287. If Robert de Boynton of the 14th century was born in 1273, as Collier suggests, then this is unlikely to be him who was serving as witness. Fourteen is a bit young for serving as a witness.
Conclusion
If you put together the transaction that lists Robert as son of Robert and the transaction dated 1287 that seems pretty good evidence for Robert the father.
We learn very little about the mystery man, however. He gave some land in Rotsea to the Guisbrough priory. He witnessed a transaction with the major personages in his part of Yorkshire: de Thweng, Buckton, and Sywardby were all actively involved in Yorkshire life. And his son gave some land he had held in Boynton to the priory at Bridlington. He was an East Riding land holder with good connections. As was his son.
....
Brown, W, ed. (1891) Cartularium Prioratus de Gyseburne, Ebor. Dioecesseos, Ordinis S. Augustini, Volumen Alterum, published for the Surtees Society, vol. 89.
Collier, Carus (1914) An Account of the Boynton Family, Middlebrough.
Gooder, A. ed. (1935) Parliamentary Representation of the County of York 1258-1832 vol 1., YAS Record Series vol 91.
Lancaster, W. T., ed., (1912) Abstracts of the Charters and Other Documents Contained in the Chartulary of the Priory of Bridlington, Leeds.
Price, M. J. Stanley, ed. (1955) Yorkshire Deeds vol. X, Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series