She was born to wealth. Her great, great grandfather had been one of Robert de Brus' men when the Brus fee was being established in the first decades of the twelfth century. Her great grandfather and her grandfather and her father had held land from the de Brus family. And she was independently wealthy. Her brother died without heir before her father died. When her father died she and her sister Agnes were co-heirs of the family fortune. Then Agnes died without issue. Joan was the sole heir of Acklam; the family fortune was hers.

The Boyntons were nouveau riche. Ingram's great, great grandfather is unknown. His great grandfather is only a name -- Stephen. Nothing more is known about him. His grandfather, Walter, assembled a modest fortune while serving as chief financial officer of St. Mary's Abbey at York. The land was scattered through the southeast of Yorkshire. Ingram's father, William, did some work for the Fauconbergs that increased the family fortune. But Ingram's marriage with Joan doubled the family fortune and moved its center of gravity from Boynton in the East Riding to the North Riding. They became the Boynton Triangle Boyntons; property at Acklam and Roxby of Joan and at Boynton of Ingram.

Family

Joan could trace her family to the first days of Henry I; the early 12th century. A new king meant new king's men -- especially in the troublesome north. Dalton puts the point this way:

Henry I not only continued Rufus's policy of governing Yorkshire through 'new men' closely attached to the royal court and dependent upon the king, he extended it . . . They included Nigel d'Aubigny, Eustace Fitz John, Waster Espec and Robert of Brus, some (possibly all) of whom were younger sons or middling magnates from the west of Normandy, who had probably been in the service of Henry I before he became king, and who had attached themselves to his royal court after 1100. It was to him that all of them owed their Yorkshire tenancies-in-chief. They were expected to govern the county as his men, as an extension of the royal court. [Dalton, p. 104]

Robert de Brus was one of the new king's men in Yorkshire, and Alfred de Acklam was one of his men. They lived in the century of great expansion of religious houses in Yorkshire, and Robert de Brus, consistent with his means and stature, established the monastery at Guisborough and gave land to other religious houses. And he encouraged his men to do likewise, which they did whether willingly or not. The relationship between Robert de Brus and Alfred de Acklam is found in charters making arrangements for the Guisborough priory [Farrer, vol. II, p. 29] and other abbeys.

Robert de Brus and his men had endowed both the monks of Whitby and the canons of Guisborough, and the two religious houses got into a spat over what each had been given. They approached Robert de Brus and he said -- you each get half. And one half included "the canons have 3 car[ucates] of the fee of Alfred, the man of Robert de Brus, in Acklam." [Farrer, vol. II, p. 219]

In a charter 25 years later Adam de Brus II confirmed the gifts made by his men and included a "toft by William de Aclum, and 2 bovates (in Acklam) by Alvred his grandfather." [Farrer, vol. II, p. 6]

From Alfred came Reiner. From Reiner came William. And from William came Roger -- who was Joan's father. [Farrer, vol. II, pp. 50-52].

As his great grandfather had been a Brus man so was Roger. What we know about him is found in twenty charters recording gifts and a few official records. Of the twenty charters, 19 were found in the chartulary of the Priory of Gisborough. Robert de Brus and his men, including Alfred de Acklam, had established the priory. One hundred years later Peter de Brus and his men, including Roger de Acklam, were improving the finances of the priory. Roger made a gift of land in Marton and Scaling. Otherwise he was a witness to the transactions. Peter de Brus was frequently involved either making a gift, confirming the gift of someone who held land from him or as a witness. And the witnesses appear over and over, as Roger did. Clearly these were the men of Peter de Brus.

Boyntons appear as witnesses in these same records. Walter, Ingram's grandfather, was a witness on two of the charters. Rabod, Ingram's uncle, was a witness on three of the charters. The Boyntons and the Acklams were not strangers.

From these and a few other documents we know that Roger's father was William; his mother was Margery. His brother was Robert. His son was William. His daughters were Joan and Agnes. He lived at the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century; he was dead by 1231.

The principal sources of information about the de Acklam family are: 1) a footnote in Farrer's discussion of the Brus fee in his second volume of Early Yorkshire Charters [Farrer vol. II, pp. 50-52] and the passages about Acklam and Roxby in the Victoria County History for the North Riding [Page, pp. 221-222, 368-369]. They tell the same story -- Alfred to Joan who married Ingram bringing all the de Acklam land with her.

Another set of documents provide more information about Joan and her immediate family. The documents are about land that passed from St. John the Evangelist of Healaugh Park to the priory of Durham. These specific documents involved the Acklams and the Boyntons.

Joan de Acclum . . . in my widowhood and in my free power, to William, my brother, for his homage and service, the entire moiety of my land, which I had in Cleatlam with the tofts and crofts which Baldwin and Robert, son of Baldwin, and Hugh, son of Jocelin, held . . . rendering yearly for all service and exaction, two gilded spurs or 6d. at the feast of St Cuthbert in September [4 September) . . . With these witnesses, lord Robert son of Meldred, Gilbert Hansard, Brian son of Alan, Gregory de Leuinctorp, William de Bollebi, Robert Bonenfaut, Bernard son of Gilbert, Jordan de Beverle and many others.

William son of Roger de Acclum . . . to God and the Blessed Mary and to the house of St John the Evangelist of [Healaugh] Park and the canons serving God there . . . two bovates of land in the vill and territory of Cleatlam, with all their appurtenances . . . namely, those [bovates] which Baldwin de Cletlum held and Reginald, his son, held of me, with the toft and croft in the aforementioned vill pertaining to the aforesaid two bovates . . . With these witnesses, Alan de Wilton, Ingram de Bouinton, Robert de Acclum, Adam de Hiltone, Robert deacon of Newsham, Walter de Cletlum, Thomas the Scot, Robert son of Adam, and others.

Ingram de Bouintone and Joan, his wife . . . to God and the Blessed Mary and to the house of St John the Evangelist of [Healaugh] Park and the canons there . . . two bovates of land with all appurtenances in the vill and territory of Cleatlam, which they have of the gift of William de Acclum, namely, those two bovates which Reginald, son of Baldwin, held of the aforesaid William de Acclum . . . With these witnesses, Alan de Wiltone, Thomas, his brother, Gregory de Leuint, Robert de Acclum, Walter de Cletlum, Robert clerk of Newsham, and others.

William, son of Ingram de Bouinthona . . . to God and the Blessed Mary and to the house of St John the Evangelist of [Healaugh] Park and the canons there . . . two bovates of land in the vill and territory of Cleatlam, with all their appurtenances . . . namely, those [bovates] which are nearer their two bovates towards the north, which they have of my gift in the same vill, for the exchange of the rent of one mark which they had in the vill of Newbiggin in the Bishopric of Durham . . . With these witnesses, William de Grandun, Alan Petty [or perhaps Little], Henry Spring, Jun de Colevilla, Ellis Burel, Walter de Cletlum and others. [Greenwall, ed. pp. 154-155]

Joan was a widow before she married Ingram de Boynton.

Joan had a brother named William. This is the only source mentioning her brother. It seems clear that "brother" was used as we would use it -- though sometimes in the thirteenth century they used relational words such as brother for a broader set of relationships than we do. William was her brother. William was the son of Roger de Acklam. William was the uncle of William de Boynton; William de Boynton was Joan's son. Hence, "uncle" would be our version of the relationship between son and mother's brother. If William had had an heir the heir would have received the de Acklam family land. So he must have died without heir.

Joan's uncle -- Robert, the brother of her father -- was keeping his hand in family affairs. He witnessed two of the transactions: one, the gift of William; two, the gift of Ingram and Joan.

Ingram de Boynton was interacting with the de Acklams before he married Joan. He witnessed the gift of William de Acklam to the religious house at Healaugh Park.

Joan's First Marriage

Joan's first husband was Peter Amundeville. Most of the land of the Amundevilles was in Lincolnshire, but they held some land in Yorkshire from the Percys [Clay 1963, pp. 172-180]. There was an Amundeville family in Durham, but they seem to have been distant cousins [Clay 1946, pp. 60-70]. Peter Amundeville died in 1216. [Clay, 1945-47, p. 122] Joan and Ingram were married at least as early as 1220. Life was difficult, survival was low probability, and survivors frequently married more than once [Boynton Stories: The Tangled Web of Castle Leavington; Three Love Stories].

The only legacy of Joan's first marriage -- that we can trace -- was a piece of land in Owersby in Lincolnshire, which was one of the centers of Amundeville holdings. Joan and Ingram paid Henry III 3 marks in 1220 and 1221 to establish a "clean title" to the land [Crook, p. 138]. In 1222 they leased the land to Geoffrey, son of Baldwin, and Peter de Bath for twelve years. Geoffrey and Peter de Bath, in turn, donated the land to Hugh the bishop of Lincoln. When the bishop died in 1233 he commissioned his men to continue to use the land for the benefit of the poor for the term of the lease. It was a "busy" piece of land.

Joan and Ingram

Joan married twice. Once to a man from Lincolnshire. Even by today's standards it is a considerable trip from Acklam to Lincolnshire. Then to Ingram whose land was centered in the East Riding -- not the North Riding, which is where Acklam and Roxby are. How did they meet each other? How did they get together? In Yorkshire there was a manor about every five miles in all directions; they still exist but as small villages. Many marriage partners grew up in close proximity, but that was not the case for Joan. She went farther afield for her husbands; Joan de Acklam -- a jet setter. Even at the beginning of the thirteenth century they seem to have been a very mobile society -- though they organized their mobility rather differently than we do today [Boynton Stories: It's Party Time; County Court].

Joan, the jet setter, settled down long enough to have four children: William, Michael, Joan and Margaret [Collier, p. 4]. We know a good deal about William who was the family heir. About the other three all we know is that Carus Collier found their names on a deed preserved at Burton Agnes.

Fleur-de-lys +SIGILL:IOHANNE:DE:ACCLVM

Joan had two husbands and four children. And Joan had her own seal [Blair, p. 271]. You only needed a seal if there was something you needed to sign. Joan had a fortune to manage, and she was a supporter of religious houses. She had important papers to sign so she had a seal. It was quite unusual for a woman to have a seal. For the first 200 seals in the catalogue only 18 were seals of women -- less that ten percent.

She was an unusual woman. Joan was both jet setter and mogul.

Joan de Acklam Amundeville Boynton

Joan was a lady. A lady with a long and distinguished family history. A lady who had her own fortune and her own work to do. A lady who doubled the Boynton family fortune -- producing the Boynton triangle.

....

Blair, Hunter C. (1911) Durham Seals; Catalogue of Seals at Durham, Archaeologia Aeliana, third series, volume VII, pp. 268-360.

Clay, Charles Travis (1945-47), The Family of Amundeville, Lincolnshire Architectural and Archaeological Society, Reports and Papers, vol. 3, pt. 2, pp. 109-136

Clay, Charles Travis (1946) "Notes on the Family of Amundeville," Archaeologia Aeliana Fourth Series, vol. XXIV, published for the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Clay, Charles Travis (1963) Early Yorkshire Charters vol. XI The Percy Fee, printed for The Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series Extra Series vol. IX.

Collier, Carus (1914) An Account of the Boynton Family and the Family Seat of Burton Agnes, William Appleyard & Sons.

Crook, David (1990) Great Roll of the Pipe for the Fifth Year of the Reign of King Henry III, Michaelmas 1221 (Pipe Roll 65), vol. New Series 48, London.

Dalton, Paul (1994) Conquest, Anarchy and Lordship; Yorkshire, 1066-1154, Cambridge University Press.

Greenwell, W., ed. (1872) Feodarium Prioratus Dunelmensis, A Survey of the Estates of the Prior and Convent of Durham Compiled in the Fifteenth Century, Publications of the Surtees Society.

Farrer, William (1915) Early Yorkshire Charters, vol. II.

Page, William (1923) The Victoria History of the County of York North Riding, vol. two.