Of Knights and Bishops: Part I

The First Whartons

The following history of the Wharton family is taken from the following primary sources:

Wharton, Nathan Earl. The Wharton Sleeve. San Marino, Calif: privately published manuscript. 1949.

Rankin, Rev. Samuel. The Rankin and Wharton Families and Their Genealogy. Greensboro, NC: Jos, J. Stone & Co, 1931.

The Whartons of Antiquity

We know the Wharton family is descended from Danes who had invaded England, and Norseman who settled in Northern France around 900 AD who intermarried locally with descendants of Franks and Saxons. The direct ancestors to the Wharton name settled near the city of Caen, though they weren't known as Whartons then. In fact, no one knows with any degree of certainty what they were called.

According to The Wharton Sleeve by Nathan Earl Wharton, our first ancestor to arrive in England was an officer with William I "the Conquerer" in 1066, the first Norman king. Some family histories state that this was Gilbert de Querton (as the surname was originally spelled). However, this seems unlikely since Gilbert de Querton didn't show ownership of the lands from which the family name was taken until the late 1200s, more than two centuries after the Norman conquest. Since the de Querton name comes from an English village, they would hardly have been named that while living across the Channel before the invasion.

At the time of this writing, we must assume this officer's name remains unknown. In fact, he probably had no surname at all, which was not unusual back then. Last names only became important around the time that the Doomsday Book was being organized, after William I had already conquered England. More often than not, those surnames came as a result of occupation (smith, miller, etc.) or location (village or estate).

So where did the Querton (eventually Wharton) surname come from? Some sources indicate it is the Latin version of the name, but that seems unlikely. If anything, the family would have been French or Scandinavian in origin, rather than Latin. A more likely explanation is that it appears to be locational in nature, coming from an village in England, originally called Querton.

Querton Village, Westmoreland County

Our story, then, begins with a small village which was known to have existed by at least 1100 AD, though probably much before that. It was located in north-central England in the Eden Valley (Figure 1). The Eden River itself ran through the village, which was bordered on three sides by high mountains called The Mallerstang—in the southeastern corner of what was once Westmoreland County—less than a mile from the village of Kirkby Stephen. ▼

In 1974, the county of Westmoreland was dissolved and incorporated into Cumbria County, now the most northwestern county in England, bordering Scotland to the north and the Irish Sea to the west. However, the region centered around Ravenstonedale and Kirkby Stephen retains a rich history in which Whartons were featured prominently. It contains the ruins of Pendragon Castle, the place at which legend maintains King Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon, met his fate.

Figure 1—Location of Eden Valley in England.

Where the name for the village actually came from remains uncertain. However, one possibility is that it may be Celtic in origin, The region was originally settled by Celts who populated the area, most likely Brigantes Celts, who predate the Roman invasion of the first century AD. If the village was indeed established by the Celts, then one possibility lies in a clue from their alphabet.

The ancient Celtic language, called Ogham, contained several alphabets. One was called the tree alphabet, with each letter designated by a different tree. The letter Q was called quiert, which was represented by an apple tree—in the same way A is for apple, B is for ball, and so on in the modern English alphabet.

The suffix ton or tun was commonly used to denote "a hill" of "by something" (which was often a hill). So the original Celtic meaning might be something similar to "a grove of apple trees" or "a hill with apple trees." Names such as Appleton or Appleby—the latter in particular is located near where Querton was located—may actually be anglicized versions of the Querton name.

In any case, a medieval manor named Querton with accompanying castle was built there sometime in the 12th century by a Scottish Lord named Wauchope (today Warcop) during the reign of Edward I. The manor was named Querton Manor, and just as we conjecture about the origins of the name, we can likewise conjecture whether the manor of Querton took its name from the village, or the village of Querton took its name from the manor.

The castle, called Lammerside, stands above the River Eden in a remote Mallerstang dale. It's name may have derived from a corruption of "Lamberts Keep," and is classified as a Pele tower. These were small, square defensive towers erected throughout the north of England in the middle ages to provide protection against Scottish border raiders. This was a common feature of life in the north in those turbulent times as the region switched back and forth several times between Scotland and England before finally remaining under English control.

Figure 2—Ruins of Lammerside Castle. [1]

The castle was mentioned in A Tour from Downing to Alston-Moor by Thomas Pennant.[2] He wrote that it carried "the sad name of the Dolorous Tower" (dolorous meaning a feeling of great distress or sorrow). Lammerside still exists today, though it's in ruins.

So, how did our ancestors come to own the manor of Querton? It's a convoluted story, which begins in 1155. For some undocumented reason, King Henry II, great grandson of William I "The Conquerer," gave the manor and surrounding lands of Querton to Sir Hugh de Morville, who were also Normans.

The de Morvilles arrived in England after 1135 when Hugh's father, also called Hugh, served King David of Scotland in his conquest of Northern England for William II. They were our ancestors as well. Descendents of their line eventually married into the Wharton line when John Wharton II (1455-1503), Lord of Westmorland, married Lady Elizabeth Fenwick (Fenwick-Leigh-Multon-de Morville).

The Pieces of a Puzzle

King Henry may have given Querton to the junior Hugh because the Warcops were either vanquished in battle (they were on the wrong side of history with Normans now in power) or their line simply died out. For whatever reason, the castle, manor, and surrounding lands ended up in the hands of the de Morvilles, eventually Hugh de Morville who became Lord of Westmoreland. Here the story gets truly convoluted, all because of some dishonorable bloodshed.

Did you expect anything less?

Sir Hugh de Morville is chiefly known as one of the assassins of Thomas á Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. While not a direct ancestor, Hugh was my 1st cousin, 23 times removed (23 generations back). He and three other of King Henry II's knights plotted Becket's murder after interpreting the king's angry words (supposedly "who will rid me of this turbulent priest?") as a command. They assassinated the Archbishop at Canterbury Cathedral on 29 December 1170 (Figure 3). Hugh never struck a blow but was complicit because he held the crowd back as the archbishop was martyred.

Figure 3—The murder of Thomas á Becket.

King Henry II advised the knights to flee England to Scotland. Legend says that Hugh de Morville took refuge at Lammerside Castle, before he was banished to France. Hugh Seat is named after him and Wild Boar Fell, as seen from beyond the castle to the north, is said to have haunted him because in a certain light, its profile strongly suggests the face and mitre of the recumbent St Thomas.

When he was banished, Hugh gave the Querton estates to a certain Walter, son of Durand. Whether this was a family member, a friend, or to pay off a debt is uncertain. However, this transfer became the essential legal justification when our Wharton ancestor claimed title to the lands more than a century later.

From Walter, the lordship of the manor descended by heirship to his son Jordan, and from Jordan to his daughter Isobel. Isobel then give the land to Robert, the son of someone named Henry. Who this Henry was remains unclear. Was Henry her husband and she gave it to their son, Robert, or was this Robert someone else? Regardless, this Henry had a brother named Gilbert. When Robert died childless, the lands reverted to Robert's uncle Gilbert (Henry's brother).

Gilbert de Querton: The First of Us

It's unclear if Gilbert descended directly from Walter, son of Durand, or from a different family. There is no documentation that indicates his lineage, so while we may conjecture any number of possibilities, none of it can be substantiated. Perhaps we'll never know. All we know for certain is that Gilbert, born about 1250, rightfully became the owner of the Manor at Querton and was the first to take the name of the manor and the village as his surname. This Gilbert de Querton (meaning "of Querton") is considered by most to be the first Wharton. He was my 21st great-grandfather.

While Gilbert was quite capable of making a name for himself, he also married well. About 1280, he married Emma de Hastings, the heiress of one of the most illustrious families in all of England. From her father, they inherited Croglin, Nateby, and Tebay, though they lived at Lammerside Castle. Emma was my 20th great-grandmother and the 11th great-granddaughter of "Rollo" Ragnvaldsson, the first Duke of Normandy, albeit through an illegitimate child of his grandson, Richard I (Figure 4).

Figure 4—Relationship of Sir Gilbert Wharton to the Dukes of Normandy.

Upon his marriage to Emma, Gilbert had no coat of arms of his own. So, he adopted the Hastings coat of arms, after making a few changes. The coat of arms that has come to be known as the Wharton Sleeve is predominantly the Hastings Sleeve with colors reversed. The Hastings arms was a black sleeve on a silver field. The Wharton arms was a silver sleeve on a black field. ▼

The Hastings coat-of-arms was one of the first created. Its romantic origin centers on an ancestor of Emma de Hastings—Hugh de Hastings of Barawell (1105-1152). He received Barawell upon marriage to Erneburga de Flamville. As the legend goes, Hugh was in a jousting tournament and carried a plain gold shield without markings of any kind. He noticed other knights displayed favors from their wives or sweethearts, so he approached his wife in the stands and asked for a favor that would bring him luck. Having nothing suitable on hand, Lady Erneburga is said to have torn off the sleeve of her gown and draped it over the shield of her husband. Shortly after that, the Hastings Sleeve had became the Hastings coat of arms. It is not known if the sleeve brought Hugh de Hastings luck in the tournament.

To the family's credit, however, a later ancestor added some notable changes. Approximately 300 years later, Sir Thomas Wharton, the first Lord Wharton (1495-1568), was granted an augmentation from King Edward V. It commemorated a decisive victory over the Scots at Solom Moss on Solway Firth in 1542—for Sir Thomas's surprising conduct and success in the defeat of the Scots. It was perhaps one of the most considerable victories the English ever gained over the forces of that neighboring kingdom.

The augmentation was an engrailed bordure of lion's paws on the coat-of-arms. One of the most ancient descriptions of the Wharton coat-of-arms is noted in The Encyclopedia of Heraldry [3] indicates the motto being Pleasur en faits d'armes, or "Pleasure in feats (deeds) of arms." ▼

One stipulation about using a coat-of-arms: it was intended for use only by those to whom these arms were earned. Today, many people lash family coats-of-ams as if, simply by being members of the family, those arms applied to them. In reality, only those of nobility or who have been knighted, have earned that right and are entitled to claim ownership of their arms. That's not to say the family coat of arms that was used by the nobility within a particular family can't be shown in a historical context. However, there are many who question the use of wall decorations, coffee cups and dinnerware inscribed with their family coat-of-arms, and so on by those to whom it doesn't belong.

Figure 5—The Wharton Sleeve augmented by a bordure of lion's paws.

In 1292, trouble was brewing for Gilbert. King Edward I, the great grandson of Henry II, decided to claim the manor. So, a trial was held to determine the manor ownership. Edward Ross Wharton, a renowned Latin and Greek scholar and a Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, found, during his Wharton genealogy searching, the original record of the trial, written in Latin.^e The following is his translation—it is the first known Wharton document. In it, there are enough of Gilbert's relatives to show that he was of Norman descent.

(The finding of the jury before Hugh de Cressingham and his fellows, itinerant justices "of our lord the king, at Appleby, in the county of Westmoreland, 6 October 1292".)

"Our lord the king - - - claims - - - against Gilbert de Querton the Manor of Querton with its appurtenances. And Gilbert concerning the tenement defends against the claim the right of the king himself who now is, and is well aware of the seisin of our lord King Henry, predecessor of the now lord king, and says that the same lord King Henry of his seisin gave the aforesaid Manor to one Hugh de Morville, and the same Hugh of his seisin enfeoffed thereof one Walter son of Durand, and the aforesaid lord King Henry, great-grandfather of the new lord king, by his charter which he produces, allowed and confirmed the gift of the aforesaid Hugh, made to the same Walter; and from Walter himself the right and fee descended to one Jordan as son and heir. And from Jordan himself the right and fee descended to one Isobel as daughter and heir, which Isobel indeed of her seisin gave the aforesaid manor to one Robert son of Henry, which Robert indeed died in seisin thereof without heir to himself. And from Robert himself the right and fee reverted to that Gilbert who now holds it, as uncle and heir, brother of the aforesaid Henry father of Robert himself, son of Henry. Whence he puts himself on a jury of the county in the place of the great assize of our lord the king, and claims cognizance to be made whether he himself have the greater right in the aforesaid manor with its appurtenances by confirmation made and enfeoffments aforesaid, or the aforesaid lord the king. And

*Hugh de Multon
*Thos de Derwentwater
*Wm de Strickland
*Richard de Preston
John Mauchael
Wm de Crackenthorp
John de Fraunceys of Cliburn
Nicholas de Musgrave
Adam de Hawrington
John de Quale
Richard de Wardecoppe
Adam de Musgrave
(* Knights)

jurors chosen for this purpose, say on their oath that the aforesaid Gilbert has a greater right to hold the aforesaid tenements, by confirmation made and enfeoffments aforesaid, than our lord the king to have them as demanded. AND THEREFORE it is considered that the aforesaid Gilbert may have seisin thereof forever, saving the right of our lord the king when at another time he shall wish to speak thereof.

That's some pretty heady stuff—Gilbert standing up to the king to defend his right to the estate, proving title to it. Which means that Gilbert had received the manor of Querton legitimately, legally, and rightfully. This document also shows little doubt that our ancestors were of Norman descent, since most of the names on this court record of witnesses proving title are, in fact, Normans.

During the 14th century, the "Qu" in the family name was changed to "Wh" throughout most of England. Thus de Querton became de Wherton, later as de Wharton, and then just Wharton. In addition, the town of Querton eventually became known as Wharton, probably to match the name change. English records indicate that there are many forms of the name—Whorton, Warton, Wartone, Whartin, Wharten, Wartun, and Whartun—though generally Wharton is the spelling most commonly used in America and that which was used by the Lords Wharton in England.

And what became of the town of Querton? Though its name was changed to Wharton, it was torn down by Sir Thomas Wharton III, First Baron (1495-1568)—the same who had won such a stunning victory over the Scots—because it marred his view of the Eden Valley. So much for sentimentality. The townspeople of Kirkby Stephen vilify him even today for that reason.

Our Early Wharton Ancestors

The early pedigree for our Wharton ancestors is as follows (the child through which our line passes is in bold):

 ¹Sir Gilbert de Querton^♂︎[abt.1250-1314]
         m. Emma de Hastings^♀︎
         Three children: Henry^♂︎ Thomas^♂︎ and William^♂︎
 2Sir Henry de Querton^♂︎[1281-1343]
         m. Margaret^♀︎ [maiden name unknown]
         Six children: Thomas^♂︎ Hugh^♂︎ John^♂︎ William^♂︎ Thomas^♂︎ and Emma^♂︎
 3Sir Hugh de Querton^♂︎[1308-1389]
         m. [name unknown]
         Two children: William^♂︎ and Rev. Symon^♂︎
 4Sir William de Wherton^♂︎[1327-1417]
         m. Margaret Depden^♀︎
         Four children: Symon^♂︎ Henry^♂︎ John^♂︎ and Richard^♂︎
 5Henry de Wherton^♂︎[abt.1355-abt.1440]
         m. Elizabeth de Musgrave^♀︎[1350-?]

The Musgraves were an important family in England, littered with Oxford scholars and members of Parliament. The Musgraves include the ancestors of the modern royal family as well as our own.

Elizabeth's father, Baron Thomas de Musgrave, First Lord of Musgrave, was the 18th great grand-father of both Prince Charles and Lady Diana ... and my 17th great-grandfather. Sir Thomas served as knight of Westmorland under Edward III and was a member of Parliament (1351-1374).

From 1347 to 1348, he was associated with the bishop of Carlisle, guarding the western marches towards Scotland. Upon the invasion by King David Bruce, Sir Thomas was one of the commanders who battled and routed King David's army near Durham, during which the king and many of his nobles were taken prisoner. Thomas was afterwards one of the English commissioners who negotiated with the Scottish commissioners concerning the release of their king. Later, he was Governor of Berwick and sole justiciary throughout all the lands in Scotland held by the English.

Sir Thomas's mother, Sarah, was a Harclay with a particular dubious distinction. Her brother was Baron Andrew of Harclay Castle in Kirkby Stephen, Earl of Carlisle and member of Parliament. He was appointed warden of Carlisle Castle in 1313, and in that capacity he led the successful defence against the Scottish siege of Carlisle.

In 1322, he gathered and led the northern forces that defeated and captured the rebellious Earl of Lancaster at Boroughbridge. Three days after Lancaster's execution, Harclay was created Earl of Carlisle. The defeat of the rebels enabled the king to turn his attention to Scotland. Harclay raised another considerable force towards this campaign, but was unable to meet up with the royal forces before their disastrous defeat at Old Byland.

Afterwards the north of England became very hard to defend against Scottish raiding, and apparently Harclay decided to take matters into his own hands. He met with Robert I of Scotland to propose peace terms. Several different versions of the resulting agreement has lacked consensus among historians regarding the reasonableness of the proposal.

In any case King Edward could deem it nothing less than treason. Harclay was arrested, hanged, drawn and quartered on 3 March 1323. If in fact the severity of the charges and punishment were unjustified, then other factors may have been at work. It was Sarah who successfully petitioned the king to have the portions of his body recovered from the far corners of the country to where they had been sent (Carlisle Castle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, York, Shrewsbury) and his head from London Bridge, so that she could bury him properly.

Henry de Wherton himself stands as a pivotal ancestor in our family lineage. From the union of Henry and Elizabeth, we find our family history follows two paths—toward the Lords Wharton one way and to our own ancestors the other way. Those paths lead through the two of their children:

Thomas^♂︎[b.1388] through whom would come the Lords Wharton. Though the line would eventually die out, this line of Whartons received a Barony (30 Jan 1515), Earldom (24 Dec 1706), Marquisate (1 Jan 1715), and Dukedom (20 Jan 1718). While they are not our direct ancestors, they were cousins and the details of their lives can be found in a subsequent chapter. The barony continues to exist today, though under a different name.

Gilbert^♂︎[b.1395] who was the ancestor of the Whartons of Kirkby Thor (Westmoreland County), Old Park and Dryburn (Durham County), Gillingwood and Skelton Castle (York County). He was my 15th great-grandfather (our pedigree runs through the Whartons of Gillingwood). We will meet him again in a subsequent chapter.

———————

FOOTNOTES

[1] Photo Courtesy of David Murray. Lammerside Castle—Mallerstang's Other Castle  . EdenValleyCumbria. Accessed 30 March 2022.

[2] Pennant, Thomas. A Tour from Downing to Alston-Moor. London, England: Wilson & Co. 1801. p 132.

[3] Burke, John. The Encyclopedia of Heraldry. London, England: H. G. Bohn. 1844.

[4] Wharton, Edward Ross. The Whartons of Wharton Hall. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 1898.

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