The manor of Craie, Kent
PAUL'S CRAY... takes its name from the church being dedicated to St. Paulinus, and the river Cray, which runs through it; being in antient deeds usually written Paulins Cray, and sometimes Cray Paulins...
Paul's Cray was given by William the Conqueror to Odo, his half-brother, bishop of Baieux, and earl of Kent; and it is accordingly entered in the survey of Domesday, under the general title of the bishop's lands in this county, as follows:
Anscbill de Ros holds of the bishop (of Baieux) Craie. It was taxed at half a shilling. The arable land is... In demesne there is 1 carucate and 7 villeins, with 6 borderers having 1 carucate. There is a church and 1 acre of meadow, and 3 acres of pasture.
In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth 4 pounds, and now 3 pounds. Leuric beld it of king Edward.
This place was afterwards part of the possession of Sir Simon de Cray; he was lord-warden of the cinque ports in the 3d and 4th years of king Edward I. [c1275] and his sons, William and Simon de Crey, attended that king in his victorious expedition into Scotland, and were there knighted. He held it of the honour of Albermarle, by homage and service, and it was again held of him by Peter de Huntingfield and Simon at Broke, as half a knight's fee.
Ramsden Crays, Essex
2.
At the Domesday Survey, [the village of Ramsden] belonged to Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, and Ralph, brother of Ilgar...
3.
Ramsden Crays was held by Simon de Craye in 1252 (Close Rolls)...
4.
The parish church of St. Mary stands about a mile from the village of Crays Hill (which takes it’s name from one Simon de Crei, who in 1260 had his manor house at the top of the hill).
Sources:
1. Hasted, Edward, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent Volume 2, 1797, quoted in British History Online.
2. White's Directory of Essex 1848
3. The Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names Ekwall E, Oxford, 1947.
4. Geocaching web site
It was the Harleian Society's publication "Knights of Edward I" that alerted us to the DE CREYE family and its connection with Pauls Cray and Footscray in Kent. The villages took their names from the River Cray which was named during the time when the inhabitants of the area spoke a Celtic language, related to Welsh. The de Creye family were overlords of the villages, or of some of them, perhaps further back than Symon de Creye the crusader, since we have no history between 1086, when it was held by Bishop Odo, brother of William I, and 1189 when Symon de Creye set out on the Third Crusade.
Although Hasted says it was Pauls Cray that was granted by King William to Bishop Odo, the actual translation of the Domesday Book names the manor simply as Craie. While there were later separate parishes of Paul's Cray, Foots Cray, St Mary's Cray, Crayford and others, that lie along the River Cray in Kent, the clear existence of a single manor of Craie (or Creye) in 1086 supports the supposition that the de Creye family held this manor and took their name from it. Whether they were lineal descedants of Anscbill de Ros or the beneficiaries of a later grant we do not know.
Hasted appears to confuse the two Simons, father and son. We do not think that Simon de Creye the elder was Warden of the Cinque Ports. He would have been about 65 years old. The sons William and Simon were definitely knighted for their services to Edward in Scotland and we believe it was the younger Simon who was appointed Warden of the Cinque Ports on 4 February 1275.
In the case of Ramsden Crays in Essex it is clear that the Crays part of the name comes from the de Creye family. The manor of Ramsden was split into two at some time after 1086, possibly in the year 1208 when the Bellhouse family acquired half the manor and called it Ramsden Bellhouse. Then or later, but certainly by 1252, the other half was granted to the de Creye family and became Ramsden Crays which, in this modern spelling, is its name today. Crays Hill is a village within the parish of Ramsden Crays. Crays Hall Farm and Crays Hall Cottages are also shown on modern maps near the ancient parish church, as is Crays Wood about a kilometre northwards.
We list on this page the various members of this line on the basis of their connectons to each other and to these localities. The relationships are uncertain. Other people with the name de Creye are also known at this period, mainly in London. They are listed on a separate page. It seems likely that they too are related to the de Creyes of Pauls Cray etc., but the relationships will be more distant and are in any case unknown.
It is unlikely that the name de Creye developed into the surname Cree, even though it is written thus in one or two instances. We record here our brief research into the name in case a link is ever found.
Symon, the earliest known de Creye
[p 585:]
THE ENGLISH CRUSADERS
The first* army of Crusaders which England sent forth, being now landed under the command of their king, it may be gratifying to see a list of the nobles and knights of greatest note, who on this occasion
Bore the radiant red-cross shield
Mid the bold peers of Salem's field.
[In the list of the nobles and knights p 586:]
Creye, Symon de
* The use of the phrase "the first army" does not imply that this was the First Crusade. It was clearly the Third Crusade.
Source: The Fireside Book: A Miscellany, Philadelphia, 1837
This is the earliest reference we have found to the de Creye family and Symon de Creye is the earliest Englishman we know of with a surname that might be a precursor of Cree. However it is almost certainly a co-incidence that the earliest Scotsman with a similar surname was also a Simon - Simon de Kref!
The Third Crusade took place from 1189 to 1192. It therefore seems that the Symon de Creye listed as taking part cannot be the same as Simon de Creye who held Ramsden Crays in 1252. We will postulate below that the latter was born in the early years of the Thirteenth Century. perhaps as early as the year 1200. This means that Symon de Creye of the Third Crusade could have been his father or his grandfather.
It seems highly likely that he is of the same line. Both Symon and Simon are listed as being amongst the highest echelon of the land, and therefore it is unlikely that there would be two unrelated lines of the same name and of that status.
Simon de Creye of Ramsden Crays
1.
At the Domesday Survey, [the village of Ramsden] belonged to Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, and Ralph, brother of Ilgar...
2.
Ramsden Crays was held by Simon de Craye in 1252 (Close Rolls)...
3.
The parish church of St. Mary stands about a mile from the village of Crays Hill (which takes it’s name from one Simon de Crei, who in 1260 had his manor house at the top of the hill).
Sources:
1. White's Directory of Essex 1848
2. The Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names Ekwall E, Oxford, 1947.
3. Geocaching web site
From the dates of events in the lives of his children and date he is first recorded as holding Ramsden Crays, we can estimate that he was born in the early years of the Thirteenth Century.
I cannot find the original sources for these extracts but they seem plausible in view of the fact that Simon de Creye's son, also Simon, held the half a knight's fee of Ramsden in Creye in 1314.
So how was it that the de Creye family came to be associated with two locations bearing their name, the villages of Paul's Cray and Footscray on the River Cray in Kent, and Ramsden Cray in Essex? Parishes and manors rarely took their names from the surnames of individuals in mediaeval England. The exceptions are two-word placenames where the second word of the name very frequently was that of someone who was overlord of that place. Often a parish or manor would be split into two parts under separate owners, and so to distinguish them the owner's surname was added to the original place name.
The villages of Paul's Cray, Footscray, Crayford etc. took their names from the River Cray on which they all lie. We suggest that, after an ancestor of Simon de Creye, or maybe Simon himself, was granted the lordship there, the family started to use the surname de Creye which became a hereditary surname. This was the era when Englishmen were starting to take hereditary surnames.
Simon de Creye then acquired overlordship of part of Ramsden in Essex and this part became Ramsden Creye to distinguish it from the other part, Ramsden Bellhouse. Ramsden Crays is the modern spelling and part of the parish is called Cray's Hill.
Simon's sons, Simon and William, are known to have retained a degree of overlordship in the Kent Cray manors: Simon was overlord at Foot’s Cray in 1291 and William was involved in land transactions at Paul's Cray and Footscray on a number of occasions from 1303 to 1314.
Joan de Creye - "very beautiful and good"
1.
Predictus dominus Gilbertus Pecche duas habuit vxores: vnam que
uocabatur Matildis de Hastinges, genere quidem claram sed moribus
multo clariorem, et habuerunt filios et filias. Que London defuncta
est. Sepultum est corpus eius in ecclesia canonicorum beate marie
ultra aquam, quia videlicet huc deferri honorifice non potuit tunc temporis,
sicut ipsa optauerant, propter perturbacionem que tunc erat in Anglia...
Post hec accepit dictus Gilbertus aliam uxorem filiam domini Symonis de Creye;
que uocabatur Johanna. Hanc quidem dilexit et honorauit multum, eo quod
pulcherima esset et bona; de hac quidem genuit filios et filias,
et ob amorem matris magis cepit diligere pueros secunde uxoris quam prime,
quod ex post facto patuit.
[The aforesaid Sir Gilbert Pecche had two wives. One was called Matilda de Hastings, who was renowned for her family but much more for her way of life. They had sons and daughters. She died in London and was buried in the church of the canons of the Blessed Mary over the Water, because her body could obviously not be brought here to be carried with honour at that time, as she had chosen, because of disturbance which there was that time in England... Afterwards the said Gilbert took another wife, daughter of Simon de Creye, who was called Joan. He loved and honoured her very much indeed, as she was beautiful and good. They had sons and daughters and because of the love of their mother he took to loving the children of his second wife more than those of the first, which became very clear after the fact.]
2.
Richard de Dover died shortly before 26 Sept, 1247... Children of Richard de Dover, Knt, by Maud of Angus:
i. Richard de Dover, of Lesnes, Kent, son and heir, minor in 1261, He married Joan de Creye, daughter of Simon de Creye, of St Paul's Creye, Kent, Warden of the Cinque Ports. They had no issue... He died shorly before 10 Jan. 1266. His widow, Joan, married (2nd)(as his 2nd wife) Gilbert Pecche (sic) Knt., of Great Thurlow, Suffolk, Bourn, Eversden, Guilden Morden, Haslingfield, Kingston, Lolworth, Long Stanton, Madingley, Rampton, Swaffham Prior, Wimpole, etc., Cambridgeshire, Birdbrook and Plechedon (in Henham), Essex, Westcliffe, Kent, High Ercall, Shropshire, etc., and in right of his 2nd wife, of Lesne, Kent... They had five sons. Gilbert, Knt. [1st Lord Pecche], William, John, Giles and Simon...
In 1291 his widow Joan, complained that the escheator seised Plechedon (in Henham), Essex, and Great Thurlow, Suffolk for the crown, though she and her husband were joint-feoffees thereof. Joan was living in 1302...
1. Clark, J W, Liber Memorandorum Ecclesie de Bernewelle CUP,
Cambridge, 1907, p 50. This is a transcription of a manuscript written at
Barnwell Priory, Cambridge, in the years up to 1296.
2. This extract is from Richardson, D (author) and Everingham, K G (ed.), Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families 2nd Edition, Salt Lake City, 2011.
The first extract is mainly about Gilbert Pecche, whom we know to be a grandson of King John, but it also describes his second wife Joan de Creye as "very beautifu and good" and gives us the vital information that she was the daughter of Sir Simon de Creye.
The second text tells us that Joan de Creye had previous been married to Richard de Dover, of Lesnes, Kent. Lesne is only about 8 km (5 miles) from Paul's Cray. Richard was under 21 in 1261 and therefore born no earlier than 1240, and died shortly before 10 Jan. 1266. It has been reported that he was only eighteen at his death so he must have been very young when he married Joan. We should surmise therefore, for want of any other evidence, that Joan too was quite young - we know that she was very beautiful - and this gives an estimated birth year for her of, say 1240. She is known to have been still living in 1302 so we have an idea of her life span.
The huge list of manors held by Gilbert de Peche is of interest. They are mainly centred in Cambridgeshire but parishes in Essex are also mentioned. These general areas are where some much later, isolated occurrence of the Cree surname have been noted. See our page England > Miscellaneous in the Family History Section. Is it possible that relatives of Joan de Creye brought the name Creye to these areas in the Fourteenth Century and remained under our radar until they surfaced in the 16th Century in Cambridge and Essex?
The last extract states that Simon was Warden of the Cinque Ports but this is incorrect. As we will see below, his son, Sir Simon de Creye, was Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1275.
Sir Simon de Creye
1.
CREYE, Sr Simon de, Kt (Creie, Craye). De goules a une crois engrele de or. Kent (Parl.). Gu. A cross engrailed or (St. George, Dering). The same, with in dexter chief an eagle displayed (Dering variant). Const. of Rochester Cas. 18 Jan. 1267. Comr in Kent and 8 other Counties re Dictum of Kenilworth 23 Sep 1267. To cede Canterbury Cas. and town 13 Dec. 1267 (P.R.). Late Const. of Rochester Cas. and Warden of the Cinque Ports 4 Feb 1275 (P.R. and C.R.). K. has pardoned his debt to Exchequer 22 May 1276. His lands to be surveyed, and he to have the chief mess. and ¾ of his lands, but Jews to have residue for levying his debts 17 Nov 1276 (C.R.). A Kt. serving Roger, E. of Norfolk, 1 Jy, 1277. A juror at Canterbury 20 Jan 1279 (P.W.). Owes on lands in Kent 1285, and Ess. 1286 (C.R.). Overlord at Foot’s Cray, Kent, 2 Nov 1291. Holds ¼ Kt. Fee at Ramesden, Ess., 26 Ap. 1307, and ½ Fee at Ramsden and Creye 26 Aug. 1314 (Inq.)
Abbreviations used in the above text are:
Comn - [?]
Comr - Commissioner
C.R. - Close Rolls
F. R. - Fine Rolls
Inq. - Inquisitiones
K. - King
Kt. - knight
Parl. - Parliamentary Writs of Edward I and II
P.R. - Patent Rolls
P.W. - Parliamentary Writs
Sr - Sir
Stepney, St. George, Dering refer to various Rolls and Lists of Arms of the period to 1327
2.
1267-8
In this year, his lordship the King, returning from Salopesbery, after peace had been made between him and Lewelin, Prince of Wales, arrived in London on the Vigil of Saint Edward, King and Confessor [5 January]. In this year, about the Feast of Saint Michael, it was provided by the Council of his lordship the King, that inquisition should be made throughout all the realm of England, as to the points which are set forth below in French, in this Book...
"Whereas the King of England hath given the lands of many persons, who had lands in divers Counties and in divers Hundreds, he doth therefore will, that inquisition be made who have been enfeoffed by him, and in what hundred, of lands of such persons; [and] that it be stated, who were against him in these commotions in his realm, and of what lands they are enfeoffed, and to whom such lands belonged, and who holds them now, and who have taken the revenues of such lands since that time, and what has become of the same. On the other hand, he doth wish to know, by inquisition made, who have taken the lands of others by force by reason of the aforesaid commotions in the realm, and still withhold the same, and have not restored them unto the King; and who they are that hold the same, and by what warranty.
The Names of the Inquisitors in these Counties.
William de Seint Oumer; John Luyel; Simon de Creye.
Sureye—Susexe—Kent—Middelsexe—Esexe—Herteford—Sutfolke —Nortfolke—Cantebrigge—Huntingdone.
3.
1273
June 17.
Westminster
To Simon de Kraye, constable of Rochester castle. Order to cause the gate of that castle, which was destroyed (diruta) in the time of the late disturbances, to be repaired, expending up to the sum of 12l. by the view and testimony of lawful men.
1273
June 18.
Westminster
To the barons of the exchequer. Order to give Simon de Kraye, constable of Rochester castle, upon his paying 20 marks in part payment of the money wherewith he is charged at the exchequer for the issues of the bailiwick of the castle, to have respite for the remainder of the money until the king's arrival in England, by the permission of the king's lieges supplying his place, so that Simon may then satisfy the king therefor at the exchequer. Given by the hand of W. de Merton, the chancellor.
1274
April 23.
Westminster
To S. de Crey, constable of Rochester castle. Order to cause Peter Renaume of Douay, who lately came from Flanders with cloth and fur-trimming (pelura), and whom the constable caused to be arrested when passing through Rochester, to be released from that castle without delay with his cloth and fur-trimming, provided that he shall be delivered to William de Valencia to be kept in prison until further orders, as William, asserting that the cloth and fur-trimming are his, has mainperned before the king's subjects supplying his place in England to answer to the king on his arrival in England for Peter and the cloth and fur-trimming.
1275
Feb. 4.
Caversham
To the treasurer and barons of the exchequer. Order to search the rolls of the exchequer, and to certify the king what and how muuch was allowed to the sheriffs, constables of Rochester castle, for the custody of the castle within forty years before the disturbance in the realm, and also what and how much was allowed to the constables of the castle after the disturbance, and how much should be allowed of right to Simon de Creye, late constable of the castle, for the custody of the time when he had the custody, and to desist in the meantime from the distraint upon Simon for the money extracted from him for ward (ward') of the castle, and to cause to be delivered to him his goods (averia) taken for this reason, as the king wishes to be certi?ed before the quinzaine of Easter next concerning the allowances made before and after the disturbance in the realm.
1275
June 23.
Westminster
To the justices appointed for the respite of the Jews. Order to respite until the quinzaine of Michaelmas next the demand upon Simon de Creye for all debts touching the king's Jewry or to be paid to the king's Jews.
To the treasurer and barons of the exchequer. Order to cause the said Simon to have respite until the quinzaine of Michaelmas for all debts due to the exchequer fur the time when he had the custody of Rochester castle by the king's commission.
1275
Nov.14.
Westminster
To the justices appointed for the custody of the Jews. Order to cause Simon de Creye to have respite until the quinzaine of Easter next for all debts due to the king and that are exacted from him by summons of the exchequer of the king’s Jewry.
The like to the treasurer and barons of the exchequer.
1276
May 22.
Westminster
To the barons of the exchequer. Notification that the king has pardoned Simon de Creye all debts due from him to the exchequer, for which reason Simon has pardoned the king all debts due to him from the king, and order to cause Simon to be acquitted of all debts due from him to the exchequer, and to cause this to be so done and enrolled, provided that Simon make to king sufficient quittance of the debts owing to him by the king.
1276
Nov 17.
Westminster
To the justices appointed for the custody of the Jews. Order to cause an extent of the lands of Simon de Creye to be made, and to assign a quarter thereof to the Jews to whom he is indebted, saving to him his chief messuage and three parts of his land for the maintenance of himself and family, notwithstanding that the king lately ordained that Christians indebted to Jews should retain the chief messuage and a moiety of their lands and that the other moiety should be delivered to the Jews until the debts had been levied therefrom.
1314
Dec. 5.
Northampton
To John Abel, escheator this side Trent. Order to deliver to the aforesaid Matilda [late the wife of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, tenant in chief,] the following of the said earl's knights' fees, assigned to her in dower...
... a moiety of a [knight's] fee in Rammesden and Creye, in the same county [of Essex], which Simon de Creye holds, of the yearly value of 50s...
Sources:
1. "Knights of Edward I" (ed. C Moor, pub. The Harleian Society 1929, Volume 1 pp250-1)
2. H. T. Riley (editor) Chronicles of the Mayors and Sheriffs of London: 1188-1274 Centre for Metropolitan History, 1863, pp101-112
3. Calendar of the Close Rolls preserved in the Public Record Office:Edward II AD 1313-1318, HMSO, London, 1893.
 The shield of Sir Symon de Creye from the Dering Roll recently saved for the nation and acquired by the British Library. |
Events in Sir Simon de Creye's adult life range from 1267 to 1314, suggesting a birth year in the 1240s which is consistent with being a brother of Joan de Creye. As she is explicitly described as daughter of Simon de Creye, Sir Simon must be a son of the same Simon de Creye.
Sir Simon (the son) is stated to be "Overlord at Foot’s Cray, Kent." We know from the previous section that Joan's first husband Richard de Dover was "of Lesne." Lesne is now in Bexley and only about 8 kilometres (5 miles) from Foots Cray.(Source: Wikipedia article on Lesnes Abbey, extracted 5 July 2010.) This reinforces our belief that Joan and Simon were both children of the elder Simon de Creye.
We can estimate their father's birth date as being very roughly 1210.
It is clear that Sir Simon de Creye held important positions in the national heirarchy and was well trusted by Henry III. He was appointed Constable of Rochester Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports. After the Henry III had finally defeated Simon de Montfort and made temporary peace with Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Simon de Creye was appointed in 1267 as one of the two Inquisitors for the south-eastern counties of England which had been under de Montfort's control.
He was overlord of the village of Foots Cray (modern spelling) which, along with Pauls Cray, held by his father Simon and his brother William, lies on the small River Cray in Kent and is now part of the London Borough of Bexley.
He also held a quarter of a knight's fee at Ramesden, Essex, in 1307 (perhaps alongside a quarter held by his brother William) and half a fee at Ramsden and Creye in 1314 (which may have been the year William de Creye died).
Sir William de Creye
1.
CREYE, Sr William de, Kt. De goules a une crois engrele de or, a une bende de azure. Kent (Parl.). Serviens for Walter de Trayli 4 Aug 1282. Excepted from service in Gascony 14 June 1294. To serve over seas 7 Jy 1297 (P.W.). Confirmation of grant for life by Jn. fil. Jn. de Ripariis to Wm. fil. Simon de Cray of £20 rents at 18 places in Corn. 18 Feb. 1299 (P.R.). Going to Scotland for K. with Wm. de Leyburn, has respite of Aid 9 Ap. 1303. Has suit re tenements at Paulynes Craye, Kent, 10 Ap. 1303 (C.R.). Comn re trespass agst. him at Crayepaulyn when on K’s service 11 Aug 1304. Pardon of £20 lent him when he went to Gascony for K. 21 May 1306. Staying in Scotland for K. 28 Oct 1307. Conservator of Peace, Kent, 17 Mar 1308. Comn re trespass agst. him at Paulinscraye 14 June 1311, and assault upon him in London 1313 (P.R.). Capt. and Admiral of the Fleet, about to go via Irish Sea to Scotland. Grant of wardship of lands late of Eleanor, wid. of Walter de Traylly, 8 June 1315 (F.R.).
Abbreviations as in the previous section
2.
Date: 26 Edw I Mar 13 [13 March 1298]
For John of Fenwicke in Gascony: issued on the pledges of Reginald de Montaigne, Gilbert Pechie and William de Cree, knights, and Robert Faucillion, valet, by Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln.
3.
[p66]
1302
Nov. 26.
Reading.
To the Sheriff of Essex. Order to take into the king's hands the lands of Giles de Argenteim, and to cause them to be kept safely until otherwise ordered... to answer to the king for his contempt, as the king lately caused the holding of tournaments, jousts and tilting etc., to be forbidden by the... sheriffs in their counties without the king's licence.
The like to the same [Sheriff of Kent?] to attach William de Creye.
[p69]
1303
Jan. 2.
Odiham.
Henry de Leyburn, knight, acknowledges that he owes to William de Creye 300l.; to be levied, in default of payment, of his lands and chattels in co. Kent.
[p221]
1304
Oct. 12.
Kirkham.
To William Inge, William de Craye and Thomas Chaucumbe. The king has received complaint from William do Brewosa that whereas he is lord of the castle, manor, Honour and rape of Brembre and of the five Hundreds within the rape and of other things pertaining to the Honour in the said (sic) county, and he ought by reason of the Honour aforesaid to have wreck of the sea, the moorage-dues (sedes) of ships, and cognisance of all trespasses of bloodshed committed within the fee and precinct of the said Honour, and to receive amercements and emends thence arising, and he and his ancestors from time out of mind have used such liberties hitherto, William Paynel and Margaret, his wife, with certain other malefactors unknown came to the manors of Bradewauter, Worthinge, and Hyen, which are of William de Brewosa's fee and Within the precincts of his said Honour, when he was in the king's service in Scotland under the king's protection, and resisted his bailiffs and men wishing to use the said liberties, and hindered him and his bailiffs from having the said wreck of the sea, etc. and from enjoying his other liberties : the king, wishing to provide William de Brewosa with a speedy remedy, has appointed them justices to enquire by the oath of men of co. Sussex what malefactors with the said William Paynel and Margaret [Incomplete]
4.
1314
April 1.
St. Albans.
Enrolment of release by Roger de Rokesle the younger to John Abel and Margery his wife, and Walter his son, of his right in the lands they hold in Fotescreye, Haselhurst, Paulinescreye, Bexle, Northcreye, Eltham and Rokesle. Dated at London, on Sunday after the Invention of the Holy Cross, 7 Edward II. Witnesses: Richard de Rokesle, Roger le Sauvage, John le Chaumpaigne, William de Creye, knights; John de Ifeld...
5.
Bill containing a memorandum of money owed to William de Creye, Admiral of the ships of the Cinque Ports and of other ships from Bristol and Ireland, for wages and armour for his men... William de Creye (Cray), knight... [? 1321-? 1323]
6.
Sire Simon de Creie, de goules, a une crois engrele de or.
Sire William de Creie, meisme les armes a une bende de azure.
[Sir Simon de Creye: a red shield with a golden engrailed cross.
Sir William de Creye: the same arms with a blue diagonal band.]
Sources:
1. "Knights of Edward I" (ed. C Moor, pub. The Harleian Society 1929, Volume 1 pp250-1)
2. The National Archives, Kew, Ref C 47/2/13/5
3. Calendar of the Close Rolls preserved in the Public Record Office: Edward I Vol. V. AD 1302-1305, HMSO, London, 1900, pp66, 69, 221.
4. Calendar of the Close Rolls preserved in the Public Record Office: Edward I AD 1272-1279, HMSO, London, 1908, p98.
5. The National Archives, Kew, Ref SC 8/99/4929. This is an endorsement to SC 8/99/4928 described below under William's widow Margery de Creye.
6. Gwilt, Joseph, A Roll of Arms of the Reign of Edward the Second, Pickering, 1829.
Events in Sir William de Creye's adult life range from 1282 to 1315. Some sources state that he was a brother of Simon de Creye the younger, possibly based on the fact that both served in Scotland. Here he is stated to be a son of Simon de Crey ("Wm. fil. Simon de Cray") However this is ambiguous since there were two Simons, father and son. Hence the confusion.
It is clear that Sir William de CREYE held important positions in the national heirarchy in the reign of Edward I - Captain and Admiral of the Fleet about to go to Scotland. Source 1 connects him to the village of Pauls Cray (modern spelling) which lies on the small River Cray in Kent and is now part of the London Borough of Bromley. Source 3 adds the formal title Admiral of the ships of the Cinque Ports, although this is not the same (we think) as Warden of the Cinque Ports.
We have not yet seen the original of which the second extract is a summary. The context is not clear. It is worth noting the association here of William de Cree and Gilbert Pechie. This is not the Gilbert Pecche who married William's sister Joan since he had died in or before 1291. It is probably therefore Gilbert and Joan's son Gilbert whom we know to have been a knight and the first Lord Pecche. (See under Joan de Creye above.) Noteworthy also is the spelling CREE. This is probably the earliest example of this spelling that we have seen. While it is not the usual spelling that William used it does indicate some ambiguity as to how the name of this family was pronounced in the 13th Century and some hope that they are the forebears of some later family who are definitely CREE.
 My interpretation of the shield of Sir William de Creye from the blazon in Gwilt (ref. 6.). |
The shield of Sir William, shown here, is the same as that of Sir Simon de Creye shown above, with the difference that a blue diagonal band has been added ("une bende de azure"). It is known (from Fox Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry p 114, for example) that "in early times" such a band was used to "difference" a shield. Differencing was necessary to distinguish either the eldest son during the the lifetime of his father, or a younger brother. While a "label" was the more usual difference in the former case, a bend more often indicated the latter as it could became an integral part of the new, permanent shield of the resulting cadet line. Although deductions on the basis of heraldic arms is never certain, it seems likely from this evidence that Sir William was the younger brother of Sir Simon de Creye and therefore like Sir Simon, a son of Simon de Creye the elder.
William died between 1314 and about 1322.
 The shield of Sir William de Creye from a document in Essex County Archives |
PS
It was quite pleasing to find this illustration of the shield of William de Creye, since it is exactly the same as the one I had drawn above:
PPS
Since writing this article we have found a reference to a charter showing that Sir William de Creye also owned two-thirds of the Manor of Woodborough in Nottinghamshire. See William de Creye and the Charter of Eleanor de Lyston 1335.
Margery de Creye
Petitioners: Margery de Creye (Cray), widow of William de Creye and executrix of his testament, and her co-executors.
Name(s): de Creye (Cray), Margery
Addressees: King and council.
Nature of request: Margery, widow of William de Creye and executrix of his testament, and her co-executors, asks that the money owed to her late husband by the King for wages for his service on the sea towards Ireland in the Scottish wars in the King's eighth year, for which she has a bill, might be allowed against the account of a debt owed by William to the King for the farm of the wardship of the lands of Walter de Trayli, son and heir of John de Trayli.
Nature of endorsement:: [None. The endorsement to this petition is on the dorse of SC 8/99/4929] Coram rege.The King wishes to be advised by the Barons of the Exchequer.
Places mentioned: Ireland; Scotland; Dublin, [Ireland]; Winchelsea, [Sussex].
People mentioned: William de Creye (Cray), husband of petitioner; Alexander le Counvers, clerk; Walter de Trayli; John de Trayli.
Note: One of a collection of petitions published on pages 387ff of Rot. Parl., vol I., which are dated to 15 or 16 Edward II (8 July 1321-7 July 1323). Those petitions which can be more securely dated nearly all seem to date from these years.
Source: The National Archives, Kew, Reference SC 8/99/4928.
This document tells us of another member of the de Creye family, Margery de Creye, and a firm relationship to a known member, William de Creye (see previous section). Margery was his wife. That Margery was alive at the date of this petition, 1321-23, is consistent with her late husband William de Creye being a son of Simon de Creye the younger.
Sir Robert de la Crey
1.
CREY, Sr Robert de la, Kt. Arg. An escutcheon gu. debruised by a bendlet sa. (Stepney)
2.
That this [tournament] was the one held at Stepney is clear from the date. Tyrell... says that it, "was held in London shortly after the coronation, and that the King fearing for his favorite [Gaveston], the Earl of Lancaster and others being of the opposite party, ordered the gates of the city to be shut all day."
Carte distinctly mentions it, and the cause and object of it. "The English nobility meeting, (he says,) on Feb. 28 [1308] in the refectory at Westminster Abbey, made another attempt for removing the favorite, and amending the state of the realm; but they being the only estate then assembled, and the King deferring to give his answer till after Easter, when the Commons, as well as they, were to meet in Parliament, they proclaimed a Tournament at Stivenhithe, in honour of his Majesty's coronation. Gaveston in his turn was afraid of appearing at it; and engaged the King to forbid it; on a suggestion that it was desgned for his destruction."
It will be observed that the principal persons in this tournament at Stepney were attached to that party opposed to Gaveston, and headed by Thomas Earl of Lancaster and Guy Earl of Warwick... Many of the persons mentioned in this roll perished either in the field or on the scaffold, at Bannockburn or at Boroughbridge...
Ao. 1309. 2 Edw. II. Quinto Kalend. Junii fuit magnum Hastiludium apud Stevenhithe, ubi Egidus de Argentein, cum complicibus, fuit contra omnes venientes... [There follows a numbered list of 235 knights who attended the tournament, of whom number 124 is] Sr Robert de la Crey. - Arg. a shield Gu. debruised by a bendlet Sa.
Sources:
1. "Knights of Edward I" (ed. C Moor, pub. The Harleian Society 1929, Volume 1 p250)
2. Collectanea topographica et genealogica Vol 4, Soc. of Antiquities, 1837, p 62 "Tournament at Stepney, 2 Edw. II."
The blazon of Robert's arms describes a red shield with a black "bendlet." A bendlet is the same as a bend but narrower. This is similar to the shield of Sir Simon de Creye but less so than that of Sir William. The bendlet reminds us slightly of Sir William's blue bend but the gold cross, which would seem to be essential feature of shields of this family, is absent. This seems to be a deliberate attempt to design a shield that is as different as possible to the others of the family. The basic red shield maintains minimal resemblance.
Since Sir Robert was young enough to attend a tournament in 1308, he was probably of the generation of grandsons of Simon de Creye the elder. He is therefore likely to be a son of Sir William de Creye or of Simon de Creye the younger.
Roger de Creye
Petre family of Ingatestone and West Hornden
Medieval deeds pertaining to the Petre estates
Wednesday All Souls 11 Edward II [2 November 1317]
Grant: Roger de Creye to John de la Mare of Sydenham and his heirs etc.
Perpetual licence to bring horses and oxen into said Roger's wood called Creyeswood in summer or winter and also to cut and take away thence at any time heather, broom and fern as fuel.
Seal of arms.
Source: Essex Archives Online: Ref D/DP T1/310
What is signicficant here is that the Petre family, in whose estate papers the document quoted is to be found, was based at Ingatestone and West Hornden. These two Essex parishes are both about 8 km (or 5 miles) from Ramsden Crays. The record of a "perpetual licence" by Roger de Creye is likely to have passed to the Petre family because at some time the manor of Ramsden Crays passed to them.
This means it is likely that Roger de Craye held Ramsden Creye in 1307 and is therefore a son of Simon de Creye whom we know to have held a "half Fee at Ramsden and Creye 26 Aug. 1314."
The clincher however is that Roger's wood was named as Creyeswood. I looked at the Ordnance Survey map for the area around Ramsden Crays and my eye lit on... Crays Wood. It's a large area of woodland just outside the present parish of Ramsden Crays but bordering on the parish boundary and only 1000 metres from the parish church. This must surely be where in 1317 Roger de Crey granted John de la Mare a perpetual licence to bring horses and oxen in summer or winter and also to cut and take away thence at any time heather, broom and fern as fuel. (Incidentally Sydenham, where John de la Mare hailed from, is not many miles from Paul's Cray, the other seat of the same de Creye family that held Ramsden Crays.)
In conclusion
It seems possible but unlikely that a male descent line from de Creye family of Pauls' Cray and Footscray in Kent and Ramsden Crays in Essex might have survived. The spelling of the name might have become Cray or Cree. We would expect to find some fleeting mentions of such descendants, perhaps with surname variants such as Creye (without the "de") or Cray or Craye in the intervening period between 1300 and the start of surviving parish registers around say 1600. We have now found a few such records shown here. Also there was a John Cree (or Gree) who was at Cambridge University but was also Rector of Harbledown in Kent in 1492-3. (See 1472-92: Alumni Cantabrigiensis.) Perhaps he was related to our Knights of Edward I. But we can trace no line back from him.
An interesting connection is between the manors in Kent and Essex held by Simon de Creye and his sons Sir Simon and Sir William. These were Ramsden Crays in Essex and Foot's Cray and Paul's Cray in Kent. Sir Simon de Creye (the younger) was overlord at Foot’s Cray, Kent, on 2 November 1291 and held a quarter of a knight's fee at Ramesden, Essex, on 26 April 1307 and a half fee at Ramsden and Creye on 26 Aug. 1314. (Foot's Cray is adjacent to Pauls Cray which was held by his supposed brother William de Creye and their father Simon de Creye.)
It is of interest that river names in England are among the oldest surviving place-names in the country, many, like the River Cray, being of Celtic origin. It seems undisputed that the de Creye family took its name from the place-names here. It is of interest that the Domesday Book mentions a single place, namely "Craie", which was held in 1086 by Anscbill de Ros as tenant of the Bishop Odo.
Some secondary sources seem to imply that the village of Crays Hill in Ramesden Cray, Essex, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. Alric held 1 hide, 15 acres in Stanmer and Crays Hill, Essex in the time of King Edward. This property was held by Sasselin [in 1086]. However I am now fairly certain that neither Ramsden Cray nor Crays Hill was mentioned in Domesday Book.
Both Craie, Kent, and Ramsden, Essex, were held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux but he, as King William's ambitious and ruthless half-brother, held vast swathes of England. Nevertheless this fact may have had a part to play in the fact that the de Creye family later had major interests in both manors.
It seems likley that the manor of Cray (Craie) was held by the first Simon de Creye, or more probably an ancestor of his, and that the family acquired the surname from the fact of holding the manor. Later, the first Simon de Creye (or perhaps an ancester) was granted the half the manor of Ramsden in Essex. This manor might then have been given the name Ramsden Cray to distinguish it from the other half, Ramsden Bellhouse.
We know that Ramsden Belhouse was held by Ricardus de Belhus in 1208 (from Ekwall quoting the Curia Regis Rolls) so the split was no later than that date. We know that Sir Simon de Creye held "half a knight's fee at Ramsden and Creye" in 1314 while also being "overlord" at Foot's Cray, Kent.
The sequence of events described here is likely to be correct, even though the timings are unknown. It would seem likely that the grant of the manor of Cray, Kent, would have preceded the grant of the half manor of Ramsden by one generation at least. Some time must have elapsed between the family acquiring the Kent manor and the name becoming established as their hereditary surname.
Since Simon de Creye is known to have held Ramsden Crays in 1252, this suggests that his forebears might have frist held the manor of Cray, Kent, not much later than 1200, and possibly much earlier.
See also the page More occurences of the surname Creye.