William d'Anvers, of Bourton & Chiselhampton

William Danvers ,Born: abt 1197, Tetsworth, [parish], Oxfordshire, England

Died: abt 1246, Tetsworth, [parish], Oxfordshire, England

In an early charter, Robert Danvers speaks of his second son William as his heir, Geoffrey the eldest son having died during his father's lifetime. But in virtue of the one and a half fiefs which Geoffrey had received as dower for his wife, he became a military tenant of the Bishop of Lincoln, and as such appears in a document, which has been copied into the 'Testa de Nevill' (p. 120), which gives the names of the Bishop's tenants about the year 1220. That Geoffrey died about that time, we learn from two deeds, which are among those entered in the register of Eynsham Abbey. By the first of these, Geoffrey gives to his wife Sara, the lands which his father had given to him on their marriage. The second deed is one executed in the year 1224, after Geoffrey's death and after his widow's marriage to Henry de Kenesworth. The first of these deeds was a ‘charter’, the second a ‘fine’. A charter was the old and somewhat clumsy method of conveying land, while a fine was the outcome of the discovery that no title to property was so good as one that had been contested and settled in a Court of Justice. And that a fictitious suit would serve all the purposes of a real one for the need in hand.
In the case in question, a suit was raised in the Court ot Westminster between the Abbot of Eynsham and Henry de Kenesworth, appearing for his wife Sara, widow of Geoffrey Danvers; and as the result of the hearing, Henry and Sara recognise the right of the Abbot to the land in question. In consideration of the agreement, the Abbot pays to Henry and Sara a ‘fine’ of nineteen marks (hence the name of ‘fine’ for such a deed). And William Danvers, as brother and heir to Geoffrey Danvers, recognises the right of the Abbot to the land which his father Robert had given as dowry to Sara.
William Danvers succeeded his father Robert about the year 1228, at a time when King Henry III was still a minor, and Hubert de Burgh, the Justiciar, and Archbishop Longton were practically the rulers of England. Shortly after his succession to the estates William Danvers renewed his father's charter to the Abbot of Eynshaw. At the time that he did this, the names of the witnesses show that he had made Bourton his home, for they were all names of North Oxon people. The registers of Thame Abbey and of the Priory of Chaucombe bear evidence of the same nature. Indeed, after the time when William's father and uncles gave their charters to the Abbey of Thame, we do not find members of the Danvers family signing as witnesses to charters in the Thame register. However out of the small number of the charters that have been preserved from Chaucornbe Priory, close to Bourton, the signature of William Danvers appears on five of them. William's son and heir, another Robert Danvers, was, moreover, distinctly Robert Danvers of Bourton.
In the Close Roll of 9 Henry III (1225) we find a William de Auners going on service to join Richard, the King's brother, who commanded the English army in France.
Further we find William's name in a very interesting manuscript now in the possesion of Queen's College, Oxford, which contains, amongst other documents of the diocese of Lincoln, two lists of the Bishop's tenants. The manuscript in question contains two principal lists of the tenants of the diocese of Lincoln, the first of which was compiled in 1225. It contains, besides a list of those who hold military fiefs ( an estate held of a superior on condition of military service), a complete list of all other tenants, their names, occupations, rents, and the conditions of their tenures. The second list that of the year 1300 includes only the names of those holding fiefs.
Here’s an example taken from the list: In Thame, Peter the miller holds a virgate of land at a rent of eight shillings and four hens, and he has to carry a cart-load of wood, or pay twopence. He has also to pay for pannage (feeding of swine in the woods on acorns, etc.) at the rate of a penny for each pig above a year old, and a half-penny for one younger. He has also to, on one day in winter and one day in quadragesima (starts first day of Lent, 40 days before Good Friday), to plough for the Lord Bishop. And to mow the meadow of the Bishop for three days till nine o'clock, and in the same
manner to collect the hay (or fodder) for three days, and to carry the hay for one day and a haIf. Also to mow the Bishop's corn for three days with two men, who are to be fed by the Bishop. He was also to make for the Bishop a quarter of malt, getting from his lord the fuel to dry the malt.

The terms of the other tenants in Thame vary little, but they were apparently accommodated to each man's business. Thus, Henry, the black-smith, had to find iron and prep the iron work for four carts. At the end of the list was added as follows: “I become your man in life and limb and worldly honour for the tenement I hold of you. I will in return pay you fealty and loyalty, saving the faith due to our lord the king. I will be faithful and loyal to you, and will loyally do you the service I hold due, so help me God and the saints.” (fealty is a feudal tenant's sworn loyalty to a lord).
Such were the words with which William Danvers did homage and swore fealty, first to Hugh Wallys, Bishop of Lincoln, and then to his successor Robert Grostete.
William Danvers died, it would seem, prior to the year 1246. His eldest son and heir was Robert, and it appears that he also had a son Richard. Richard in the 'Rotuli Hundredorum' of 1278, is one of the King's Commissioners for the Hundred of Thame, and except for Robert, had a property larger than other members of the family in Tetsworth.

Memoirs of the Danvers Family pg 54
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=NkAIAwAAQBAJ&pg=GBS.PA57&hl=en