| (Witness) Anecdote | | He was referenced in the family history. On the left bank of the river Somme not far from Amiens, stand the ruins of the castle of Picquigny, the ancestral home of the Vidames de Picquigny. This castle, and later the family, are supposed to have received the name from one Pignon or Picgnon, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, who landed on this bank, and built the foundations of the castle (Jacque de Guise, "Annal de Hainaut," I:72). The ruins are plainly to be seen from the train on the journey from Calais to Paris.
The province of Picardy is said to have taken its name from the castle - so thought Bartholomew Anglicus who took the idea from oen Erodoc, author of a description of the country ("Mems. de le Soc. des Antiquaries de Picardie," t.XIV:40).
The earliest references to the Picquigne family are found in the works of l'Abbe Lambert d'Ardes, who was Canon of St. Omar, and lived in the early part of the thirteenth century. His writings cover the period extending from the year 800 to the year 1208.
In his "Historia Ghisnensium Comitum" in speaking of William, the Castellan of St. Omar, he says, "This William first married a wife descended from the most noble family of Charlemagne, King of the Franks, the daughter named Melisande of Arnulph vice-lord of Pinkin.("Rec. des Hist. des Gaules et de la France," XIII, p.429, cap. 46; Bouquet [on binding], Benedictines Rel.of Cong. of St. Maur [on Title Page].
Andre Duschene, another historian mentions, as the Vidame or Viscount of Picquigne, "Arnould or Ernulph whose daughter Milesende said to be of royal descent (ex regio Caroli Magni sanguine orta) married in 1084 Guillaume, Chatelaine of St. Omar" (Andre Duschesne, "Histoire des Comtes de Guines", 53, 79, 90, 91 (1631); Lamberti Ardensis, "Historia Chisnens," cap. XLVI; apud Rer. Gall. Scrip. t.XIII, p.129).
Also we find in the writings of Jacob Meyer, in 1561, a reference to the above Melisande and her royal descent (Jacob Mayer, "Ann. Rer. Flandric" (1561)).
Ordericus Vitalis, the monk of the eleventh cebtury, whose writings are considered by scholars to be most authentic, also makes mention of the Picquigny family. "This family descended from the Viscounts of Picquigny, one of the greatest houses in the north of France, and maternally derived from Charlemagne" (Ordericus Vitalis, "Rec. des Hist. des Gaules et de la France," XIII: 429).
The duchess of Cleveland also states as follows: "A castle had existed at Picquigny as early as the eighth century, and became the head of a barony to one of the greatest houses in France, maternally derived from Charlemagne" (The Duchess of Clevelend, "The Battle Abbey Roll," XIII:8).
Another reference to the family: "The Vidames de Picquigny were among the magnates of medieval France; hereditary officers of the Bishops of Amiens, their house in that city is still called 'le Vidome'. Two members of their house followed the Conqueror to England: Ansculf de Pinchengi and Ghilo, his brother. The former had died before the completion of the Domesday Survey, leaving a son and heir, William, who succeeded to his father's only Northants manor, that of Barnack. Ghilo obtained a barony of which the caput was at Weedon, and which took from his descendants its name of 'Weedon Pinkeney'" (J. Horace Rounds, "Introduction to Domesday Survey," Vist. Hist. of Northampton)..
The ancestry of Arnulph, Vidame of Picquigny, is obscure, but although the name of his wife is unknown, the above references may be taken as good authority that she descended from the great Charlemagne.
The children of Arnulph and his wife, to whome we have references were:
- Eustache
- Guermonde
- Ansculph
- Ghilo
- Melisande, who married William of St. Omar
There were probably others. Historians in and about the thirteenth century took small account of the females in a family. In this particular case, the daughter, Melisande, might have never been mentioned had she not married the prominent William, lord of the castle of St. Omar.
L'Abbe Lambert d-Ardes was the priest of Ardes, but also Canon of St. Omar, so he had every possible opportunity of learning the history of the people of the district.
Although the Lords of Picquigne lived in Picardy, they held lands also in Normandy which were located near Vernon-on-the-Seine (F. Meyer "Histoire de Vernon," 333). This may explain why Ansculf and Ghilo, two of the younger sons of Arnulph, Vidame of Picquigny, went to Normandy. The eldest son by right of primogeniture would succeed his father, and there may have been more incentive for the younger ones to move to Normandy.
In a manuscript on "the Lords of Picquigny from the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries," we find that "Anscorf and Ghilo, sons of Arnulph, Vidame of Picquigny, went to Normandy" (Mas Latrie, "Tresor de Chronologie," P.1660(1889). Arch. Nat. R. 1-35).
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| Anecdote | | Mr. Horace Round gives an interesting note on the word Picquigny. He writes: "Picquigny was a test word for the English, who were never able to pronounce it. It was used as such for their recognition when they were expelled from Ponthieu and in 1489, a Frenchman, employed in London, could still use it as a test (J. Horace Rounds. "Vist. Hist. of Northampton"; Robert Gaguin, "La Royne de bon Repos")
This difficulty in pronouncing the word is evidenced in itsmany variants, some of which are : Pinchengi, Pinkene, Pinchene, Pynkenheye, Pinkeney, Pinkeni, Pinken, Pyntkenay, Pickney, Pincnay, Pinkenye, Pynchigeny, Pinchenay, Pinkinie, Pynkenegh, Pynkyny, Pinckne, Pignay, Pingneye, Pinkegny, Pinckenny, Peneni, Pinchen, Pinchoni, Pinkeneze, Pinkeigni, Pinchyne, Pynkneghe, Pincheni, and present day Pinckney.
Little attention has been given to the study of the name Gilo or Ghilo, but remembering that its bearer in the first instance was Picardese, and that one must look for a French origin, it is obvious that it is not the equivalent of the English name Giles, for which the French word is Egide, from the Latin Augidius. One must rather look to the French Guillaum (from the Latin Gulielmus) for the derivation of Gilo (Ghilo) which was possibly a contracted form of Guillaume.
Bardsley, in his "English and Welsh Surnames" gives the name Giles de Pincheni as founder of Weedon Priory but the word Giles is a flagrant error, as there is abundant documentary evidence that the founder of Weedon Priory was Ghilo, the second Baron of Weedon.
William, the Conqueror, bestowed many lands on Ghilo de Picquigny, who selected Weedon as the centre of his Barony, and with reason, for in that county clustered eleven of the nineteen manors which he held at the Domesday Survey, one of which was Sulgrave. The baronial castle is said to have stood on a mound sthat still exists in the village of Weedon which provided a home and a title for ten successive barons in nine generations, and has itself been known to posterity for over six hundren years as Weedon Pynkeney (Pinckney).
The English and French families became distinct in the reign of King John, for the Vidame lost the lands which he held from the King of England during the wars between that monarch and Philip Augustus of France Liberati Rolls, 1201: 21, 22, 33, May, 1201.
at this time men had to make their decision in regard to citizenship. They must peldge allegiance to either England or France, but could not be vacillating. Consequently the Viscount de Pynkeney decided to be a Frenchman and there-upon lost the lands which had been bestowed upon him by the King of England. So the family became divided, those remaining in England becoming English citizens. We have, however, two records of Lords of Picquigny visiting England in medieval times. During the French wars of Edward I in 1299 "Sire John Pinkeny, Vidame of Amiens," came as a hostage for English prisoners in France when a truce was declared, and promises of protection and indemnification of expenses were given him Cal. of Patent Rolls, 1299, P.P. 27Edw.I, m.17. Those were carried out, and also sport provided for him when an order was issued to the Keeper of the forests to permit "John, Vidame de Pynkeny, Knight, upon exhibition of this letter to take one or two deer, by view of John Randolph" Ibid., m. 20. The second visit was in 1333, when "Ferarius de Pynkeny, Knt." came as special envoy from Philip of France to Edward III Ibid. 7 Edw.III: pt.I:m.7.
GHILO DE PICQUIGNY held four hides (480 acres) of land in Sulgrave, and Hugh Landric and Othbert were his under-tenants at the time of the Conqueror's survey. In 1294, John de Monthault died, seized of a manor here, which was held of Robert de Pinkeney by the service of a sixth part of a knight's fee. In 1347, Stephen de Trafford accounted for half a knight's fee in Sulgrave, as held of the fee of Pinkeney and this was henceforth called Tarfford's Manor. Here, there was also another manor which was formerly in the posession of William Pinkeney, and held by the family of de Ellington.
It continued in the maile line of this family till the reign of Henry VIII. about 1604 it passed from the family to the Crewes, and with the Trafford manor, to John Hodges, Esq., in whom all the manors were proved to center in 1764. The third manor of Sulgrave, upon the dissoultion of the Monasteries, was surrendered to the Crown; and in 1539 was granted to Lawrence Washington of Northampton. Robert Washington, son and heir, conjointly with his oldest son, Lawrence, sold this manor in 1610 to Lawrence Makepeace, of the Inner Temple, London. Lawrence Washington, after the sale of his estate, retired to Brington, and his second sone, John Washington, emigrated to America, and was the grandfather of George Waashington, the American patriot.
No later record than the Domesday Book has been found of Ghilo, the brother of Ansculf, first Baron of Weedon, but his son, Ghilo, had succeeded him ni the barony in the reign ofHenry I, and there is every reason to believe that he had other sons, some of whom were his "tenants-paravail". The publications of the Pipe Roll Society reveal that in the short period already covered by them, the de Pynkeneys appear in the counties of Bedofr, Berks, Busk, Dorset, Essex, Gloucester, Hants, Hereford, Herts, Kent, Middlesex, Northants, Suffolk, and in London. Could time be given to the, the Archives of that period would furnish a rich harvest of information concerning the family, and their investigation would be a vast undertaking.
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