William Peverel

This article is about the Norman knight known properly as William Peverel the Elder. For his son, see William Peverel the Younger.

William Peverel († 28. January 1114), Latinised to Gulielmus Piperellus), was a Norman knight granted lands in England following the Norman Conquest.

William Peverel
Constable of Dover Castle
In office October/November – December 25, 1066
Personal details
Died	January 28, 1114 Likely Kent, England

Origins

William Peverel the Elder is the son of Randulph Peverel of his immediate family, only the name of a brother, Robert, is known.^[1]

The name Peverel is an Anglo-Norman variant form of the Old French surname Pevrel, Peuvrel diminutive form in -el of Pevrier, Peuvrier meaning "pepper or spice seller".^[2][3] It developed a svarabhakti in Anglo-Norman which consists in this case of interposing an -e- between the v and the r. This phonetic feature is regularly observed in Anglo-Norman,^[4] for example: D'Évreux "of Évreux" > Devereux ; French ouvrit vs AN overi ; French oeuvre vs AN o(e)vere, etc. The medieval latinization Piperellus is correct, piper meaning "pepper" in English and is the source of Old French peivre > French poivre and Old English piper > English pepper. The diminutive suffix -ellus gave regularly -el in northern French, but later -eau in western and central French.

Lands held in England

William Peverel was a favourite of William the Conqueror. He was greatly honoured after the Norman Conquest, and received as his reward over a hundred manors in central England from the king. In 1086, the Domesday Book records William as holding the substantial number of 162 manors, forming collectively the Honour of Peverel, in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, including Nottingham Castle.^[5] He also built Peveril Castle, Castleton, Derbyshire. William Peverel is amongst the people explicitly recorded in the Domesday Book as having built castles.^[6]

William possibly served as the Constable of Dover Castle very briefly following the death of Bertram Ashburnham during or after the Battle of Hastings. He would hold the position no later than December 25, 1066 as Odo de Bayeux became Earl of Kent shortly after William the Conquerer's corronation.^[7]

Marriage and children

William married Adeline, who bore him four children:

• William Peverel, (before 1100)
• William Peverel the Younger
• Matilda Peverel, and she married Robert fitz Martin
• Adeliza Peverel, who married Richard de Redvers.^[1]

There is a record of Matilda Peverel, in the 1130 Piper Rolls being the daughter of William Peverel Pipe Roll 31 Hen I (1129/30), Northamptonshire, p. 86. It is uncertain that this is the same person that married Robert fitz Martin, there is strong recorded evidence that they are the same person.

References

1. The Complete Peerage, Vol IV, App. I, pp 761–770, "Peverel Family". This also dismisses the Tudor-era genealogical invention that made him illegitimate son of William the Conqueror (after William Camden, Britain or a chorographicall description... (1637) p.550-551)
2. Albert Dauzat (revu et complété par Marie-Thérèse Morlet), Noms et prénoms de France, éditions Larousse, p. 479b.
3. Jean Tosti, "Pevrel, Peuvrel" on Geneanet (online)
4. Jacques Allières, La formation de la langue française, Que sais-je ?, PUF, 1982, p. 120
5. A description of holdings in Derbyshire, from the Domesday Book (http://www.infokey.com/Domesday/Derbyshire.htm). A local history of Duston, Northampton (http://www.duston.org.uk/peverel.htm).
6. Harfield 1991, p. 391
7. Statham, Samuel Percy Hammond (1899). "The history of the castle, town, and port of Dover". Internet Archive. London, New York, Bombay, Longmans, Green, and Co. p. 310. Retrieved 10 January 2025.

Bibliography

• Harfield, C. G. (1991), "A Hand-list of Castles Recorded in the Domesday Book", English Historical Review, 106 (419): 371–392, doi:10.1093/ehr/CVI.CCCCXIX.371, JSTOR 573107