Die Wortley familie

Die Wortley-familielyn strek terug tot in die Normandiese tydperk.  As in the case with many landed families it has had its ups and downs;  periods of considerable influence in state and politics and quieter times when the main concern has been to preserve the South Yorkshire estate for future generations.  (The Village of Wortley. A place of beauty, character and especially history. http://thecountesstearoom.co.uk/home/index.php/history/the-village-of-wortley)  Die Wortley familie (van Normandiese oorsprong) maak aanspraak op opspoorbare herkoms sedert ten minste die heerskappy van Koning Stephen, (1136-1154).

The number of carucates available for military enfeoffment the region most heavily encumbered (belas) with knights' fees was that of the Don valley.  (Dalton, Paul:  Feudal Politics in Yorkshire 1066 x 1154.  A thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield.  April 1990.  P. 92)  Ongeveer 1500 hektaar grond was nodig om ‘n ridder te onderhou en daarom is klein landgoedere in gedeeltes van ‘n knight’s fee gemeet. (http://www.towneley.org.uk/downloads/TTv4_web.pdf)   Hoe die grond verdeel is, is nie heeltemal duidelik nie.  It is, however, of little consequence of what superior Wortley was really holden, since the superiors must have placed a subinfeudatory here.  This was done soon after the Conquest, and that subinfeudatory, whoever he was, was the progenitor of the lords who hold Wortley at the present time.  (Timbs, John:  Abbeys, Castles, and Ancient Halls of England and Wales.  Their legendary lore and popular history.  Vol 3.  London. P. 234)

Koning Henry II het vir Koning Stephen opgevolg en het van 1154-1189 regeer.  Hy was een van die mees doeltreffende konings van Engeland.  Hy het aan bewind gekom te midde van die Anarchy (periode van burgeroorlog) van koning Stephen se regering. English and Norman barons in Stephen's reign manipulated feudal law to undermine royal authority.  Hy het die Normandiese regering verfyn en ‘n selfstandige burokrasie geskep.  Hy het oorloë, rebellie en omstredenheid suksesvol oorleef. (Britannia http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon26.html)   In sy regeringstyd het Henry II die mag van die baronne ingeperk.  (Royal family history. http://www.britroyals.com/kings.asp?id=henry2)  Until the reign of Henry II (r.1154-89), royal justice was administered wherever the King happened to be, but under Henry, a royal ordinance decreed that five judges should sit in a certain place rather than travel with the King for the convenience of litigants.  Thus by 1178, there were judges sitting in the Hall during the King's absence.  Of the four main courts, the Common Pleas, King's Bench, and Chancery sat in Westminster Hall itself, and the Exchequer in an adjoining building.  (http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/westminsterhall/government-and-administration/early-law-courts/)

Daar is 'n gaping van 43 jaar tussen die Domesday inquest en die volgende oorblywende stel rekords: the pipe rolls  uit  die een en dertigste regeringsjaar van koning Henry I (1130).  Die volgende oorblywende stel rekords is die pipe rolls van die tweede jaar van die regering van Henry II (1156).   Hulle verteenwoordig die vroegste oorblywende reeks openbare rekords, en is deurlopende van 1155 af tot in die 19de eeu.

Die eerste aangetekende Wortley was Alanus de Wortley, genoem in die Pipe Rolls van 1165, die 11de regeringsjaar van Koning Henry II.  One Alanus de Wortley was mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of 1165 as having a residence at Wortley.   (The Village of Wortley. A place of beauty, character and especially history.  http://thecountesstearoom.co.uk/home/index.php/history/the-village-of-wortley) 
Alanus is die eerste erkende voorsaad van die manor house, wat steeds in besit van die Wortley heerskappy is.  Alanus of Wortley, the first known progenitor of this great family, lived in the twelfth century;  but his birth can hardly be placed later than the era of the sons of the Conqueror. (Timbs, John:  Abbeys, Castles, and Ancient Halls of England and Wales.  Their legendary lore and popular history.  Vol 3.  London. P. 234; 235)

Die Wortley heerskappy, vorm ongeveer driekwart van die gemeente van Tankersley, veertien kilometer noord-noord-wes van Sheffield, and is naturally divided by general topographical character into two portions of nearly equal extend – Wortley and Wharncliffe.  (Timbs, John:  Abbeys, Castles, and Ancient Halls of England and Wales.  Their legendary lore and popular history.  Vol 3.  London.  P. 231)  Die Wortley family was sedert die 12de eeu in besit van grond by Wortley en Wharncliffe.   Wharncliffe occupied the rough terrain on the western edge of the lordship of Wortley.  (Hey, David:  A history of the Peak District Moors)

Die Tankersley gemeente word begrens aan die westekant deur die Donrivier en beslaan ongeveer 8500 hektaar. Die grond is oor die algemeen vrugbaar en goed vir verbouing. The surface is beautifully diversified with hill and dale, and the scenery abounds with pleasing features,  a spacious park well stocked with deer, and containing some of the most ancient and stately oak-timber in the county.  (Lewis, Samuel, ed.:  'Tamerton-Folliott - Tapton', in A Topographical Dictionary of England, (London, 1848), pp. 297-300)  Die Don, die grootste van die Sheffield-riviere is skilderagtig mooiDanus,Don, river. commonly Don and Dune, seems to be so call’d, because it is carry’d in a low deep chanel; for that is the signification of the British word Dan.  It first salutes Wortley, which has given name to the eminent family of the the Wortleys.  (Camden, William:  Britannia. 845)

On the Eastern edge of the District is located the area known as Wharncliffe, a lovely woodland area overlooking the River Don and dominated by an outcrop of natural Sandstone the Wharncliffe Crags. Deer have roamed wild over this land for many years.  (Stockbridge & district history society – welcome to our past.  http://www.stocksbridgehs.co.uk/archive/wharncliffe/%E2%80%9C/%E2%80%9C/)  The rugged escarpment of Wharncliffe Crags rises abruptly above the River Don on the north-eastern border of Hallamshire.  (Hey, David:  A history of the Peak District Moors)

Wharncliffe Crags, Sheffield.   (Stockbridge & district history society – welcome to our past. http://www.stocksbridgehs.co.uk/archive/wharncliffe/%E2%80%9C/%E2%80%9C/)

Middeleeuse kleinboere het in wattelboom- en kleihutte gewoon.  Geen lord sou in soortgelyke  omstandighede geleef het nie.  Manors was van klip gebou en hulle was gebou om lank te hou.  Die manors se grootte was 'n aanduiding van die lord se welvaart.  In vergelyking met Tudor en Stuart Standaarde, was Middeleeuse manors redelik klein.  In vergelyking met die standaarde van Middeleeuse Engeland, was hulle, buiten vir kastele en katedrale, waarskynlik die grootste geboue wat die kleinboere ooit gesien het.  (History learning site – Medieval manor houses http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval
_manor_houses.htm )  Dit is onbekend waar die oorspronklike Wortley manor gebou was, maar 18de eeuse landmeters wat die Wortley Old Park opgemeet het, het geglo dat dit erens in die Wharncliffe Chase gebied was.  (Newton, Richard: Wortley through the ages.  The History of the Long Term Development of the Landscape Surrounding Wortley Hall from the End of the Ice Age to the Modern Period.)  Wharmcliffe Chase is suid van die Wortley dorp geleë.  I mean in the neighbourhood of Wharncliffe Chase, where the hills are finely clothed with native woods, and rise boldly though not abruptly, from its banks, till they place the visitor on an elevation from which he may command a prospect rich, varied, extensive and beautiful as eye can behold.  (Hunter, Joseph:  The History and Topography of the Parish of Sheffield: with Historical and Descriptive Notices of the Parishes of Ecclesfield, Hansworth, Treeton and Whiston, and of the Chapelry of Bradfield.  London. 1819)

 Feitlik al die Middeleeuse manorial dwelling-houses  was hall houses in een of ander vorm. This plan was composed of a single, full-height hall with a screen at one end sheltering it from the entrance and from a passage which led, between the buttery and pantry, to the kitchens: at the opposite end was a dais for the owner and his family. Reached from the dais end were a chamber and a family room with perhaps a sleeping-room (called a solar) above it. Dit was ‘n baie suksesvolle manier van bou.  Externally, from the 13th century onwards, the social environment became more settled and peaceful and the need for a manor house to be explicitly defensive was becoming less pressing. However, many retained elements of fortification such as moats and gatehouses, protecting a walled courtyard which often incorporated one or more ranges of buildings, extending from and around the original hall and housing the wider range of rooms that the increasingly complex services and social structures within the household demanded. As such, the story of most manorial houses up to the 16th century was one of accretion and addition, rather than wholesale rebuilding.  (Staveley Hall:  An outline chronology.  Staveley_hall_a_timeline_chronology.pdf)

Die stamboom van die Wortley familie hieronder is grootliks soos dit voorkom in Joseph Foster se Pedigrees of the County Families of Yorkshire, Vol. 2, West Riding London. 1874.