Adam [II] de Alditheley

  Research Notes:

www.familysearch.org (AFN: 8XKQ-GD)

Excerpted from The House of Stanley from the 12th Century
by Peter Stanley at
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ourpage/history.htm :
"The County of Staffordshire had been laid waste after the passage of the Norman Army that crushed the revolt of 1067-70, and in 1086 (at the time of the Great Survey) Staffordshire had attracted few Normans as it was then considered to be unprofitable land. In 1086, the Manors of Aldithley, Balterley and Talk on the Hill were held by a Saxon, Garnet, who was a King Thane (the title of one who held his land direct from the King, i.e., a Tenant-in-Chief). At the time of the Domesday Book, there were sixteen Saxon thanes holding land in Staffordshire, and Gamel (who held his land by military service, for life) was the most important of the group. He is shown as holding Aldithley, Balterley and Talk on the Hill which were then assessed as two virgates, half a virgate and one virgate respectively. They contained nine villeins, six borderers, three and a half ploughs, having a total value of seventeen shillings (a huge sum in those days).
Gamel holds Balterley - Ulvic held it;
Camel holds Aldithley - Ulvic and Godric held it, and they were free; Camel holds Talc (Talk on the Hill) - Godric held it, and he was a free man.
By the year 1124, the lands that were held from the King by Camel, the Saxon thane, had passed into the possession of the Norman family of De Verdun. At the time of the Norman Conquest, this family was represented in England by Bertram de Verdun, the son of Geoffrey, Count of Verdun. When William was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 25 December 1066, it was Bertram de Verdun who supported the King's right hand which held the sceptre, providing a glove for the purpose. He was an important baron, and appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a tenant-in-chief, holding the ten hide Manor of Farnham in Buckinghamshire. His son, Norman de Verdun, is mentioned in 1124 as a tenant-in-chief, holding lands in Staffordshire, Leicestershire and Buckinghamshire. He was also Lord of Weobley in Shropshire. The De Aldithleys (Audleys) appeared to have acquired the freehold tenancies of the Manors of Aldithley, Balterley and Talk on the Hill, at about the same time as Norman de Verdun became tenant-in-chief of these estates. Sir William Dugdale (who was Garter King of Arms from 1677 to 1686) was of the opinion that the Audleys were a cadet branch of the De Verduns who subsequently adopted a surname derived from their new English estates. Lydulph (Liulf) de Aldithley was the first of his family to appear in official records as holding lands at Aldithley and Balterley, by socage, i.e. military service from Norman de Verdun (who appears in 1124, and again in the Pipe Rolls of 1130). In 1130-1132, this Lydulph had witnessed a Charter as 'Liulf fitz Liulf, thereby indicating that he was the son of an earlier Liulf. This earlier Liulf flourished in the reign of the Conqueror's youngest son, Henry I (1120-1133), and it is likely that he also held the tenancies of Aldithley and Balterley, as in 1130 he was required to pay an extremely heavy fine of 200 Marks, 10 Deerhounds and 10 Hawks, which he incurred for the murder, in 1129, of his neighbour, Gamel fitz Griffin, the Thane of Betley (which adjoins Aldithley and Balterley). This Liulf was obviously a man of some importance to have escaped with his life, and clearly a man of wealth to have been expected to pay such a fine. It seems likely that he was a Norman, and possibly related to the powerful De Verduns. In addition to his elder son Lydulph (or Liulf), this early Liulf had another son, Ralph fitz Liulf who occurs in 1130.
The De Aldithleys rendered Knights' service to the De Verduns throughout their early history, until 1231, when Nicholas de Verdun, the last male of his line, died."

Adam married.