Thursday 27 May 2010

More early Cruwys references

A researcher in Australia has kindly sent me some interesting early references to the surname Cruwys and variants which he found in the book The Norman people and their existing descendants in the British dominions and the United States of America published by Henry S. King & Co. in 1874. The references are as follows:
Crewe, a branch of DE LA MARE or Montalt, whose arms it bore, with a slight difference (Ormerod, Cheshire, iii. 165). Crewe was in the barony of Malbanc, and was possessed c. 1150 by Henry de Criwa, who attested a charter of Hugh Malbanc. Sire Thomas de Crue was living after 1241. Hence the Lords Crewe of Stene, maternally represented by the Lords Crewe.

Crews or Crewys. Hugh de Creus and Richard de Creos were of Normandy 1198 (Mag. Rot. Scac.). Creus-Anisy was in Normandy (Ib.). Richard de Crues also occurs in Devon 1199; and the family has remained there ever since.
The abbreviation Mag. Rot. Scac. is explained as Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae sub Regibus Angliae in Memoires de la Societe des Antiquaires de la Normandie which is translated elsewhere as "Great Roll of the Norman Exchequer under the English Kings". These were the Norman Pipe Rolls of 1183-1184. I've not as yet been able to discover the modern spelling of Creus-Anisy in Normandy or its location. Does anyone have any suggestions?

© Debbie Kennett 2010

3 comments:

Andrew Millard said...

Anisy is a few miles north of Caen (google map).

Andrew Millard said...

According to The Government of England Under Henry I by Judith A. Green page 228 and French Wikipedia, Anisy is in the Canton of Creully: could this place reference be a misreading of Creully?

Debbie Kennett said...

Thanks Andrew for all your help. Creully does in fact seem to be the name of both a commune and a canton in France. However, both communes and cantons were only created c.1790 at the beginning of the French revolution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantons_of_France

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communes_of_France

I think I need to check the original Norman Pipe Rolls to see the spelling that was used in the originals. I wonder if Creus-Anisy is perhaps an old name for Anisy with Creus denoting the family association. The Creus part could have been dropped after the French Revolution. This happened in Devon: Anstey Cruwys became East Anstey; Rackenford Cruwys became Rackenford.