Norman de Redmayne

   Other names for Norman were Norman de Heiland and Noman de Yeland.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information.
A document of a charter, circa 1170, was found at Levens Hall by William Greenwood, that was for the grant of Levens by William de Lancaster, most likely the second baron of Kendal of that name. The grantee in the document was "Normannus de Heiland," or Yealand, and identified him as the first of the Redman owners of Levens. This family was founded by Adam d'Averenge or d'Avranches who was granted Yealand and Silverdate by William de Lancaster I. [Farrer's Lanc. fines, pt. i., p. 107n]

William Greenwood examined the documents relating to the family of Yealand, and found that Norman de Yealand was most likely the son of Adam d'Avranches, and thus a cadet of the great Norman family, de Abrincis, of which Hugh Lupus, earl of Chester, and nephew of William the Conqueror were perhaps the most distinguished members. Greenwood felt there was no doubt of this relationship, and he pointed to the fact that Norman de Yealand became, upon Adam's death, the joint proprietor of Adam's estate along with his brother Roger de Yealand. It was stated that Alice Coniers (Adam's great-grand-daughter) and Sir Matthew de Redman, Norman's grandson, were of common descent.

Years before Norman's death, he became known of Norman de Redymane. He probably survived until circa 1184, and is described in Dodworth MSS. as "Dapifer Guarini ministr' S'ci Hosp' Jer'lm." It is thought that he acted in this capacity, when he was a young man, to William de Warren*, third earl of Surrey on his crusade to the Holy Land.

The earliest recorded document that mentions Norman de Redmayne is as a witness to a charter [Ex Registro de Cokersand, f. 112; Monasticon, vi. 909] that grants land in Hailinethait by Thomas, son of Gospatric, to Furness Abbey, and to a confirmation by William de Lancaster to William, son of Roger de Kirby-Irleth, of certain lands in Furness [Farrer's Lanc. Pipe R. pp. 442-443] Mr. Farrar gives the date of this confirmation as 1179.

Norman de Redmayne appears to have died circa 1184, and from this period, the history of his descendants can easily be supported by an abundance of evidence.

~Transactions of the Cumberland, Vol. III, pp. 273-276 ⁹¹⁶

In Greenwoods later book, The Redmans of Levens and Harewood ⁸⁹⁸ , pub. a few years after this article, he decides that a more more plausible suggestion was that he was the dapifer of Warinus de Lancaster, the brother of William de Lancaster, Baron of Kendal, who was a Crusader. Greenwood admits that he doesn't have proof of either. The only evidence he has is a description of Nomarman as "Dapifer of Guarinus, Minister of the Holy Hospital of Jerusalem" when he was a witness to a Confirmation of lands by William de Lancaster to William, son of Roger de Kirkby-Irleth. He is again refered to as "Norman, the dapifer," when he is a witnesses to a grant by William to Hugh, the Hermit, but this time he is also called Norman de Redmayne [Ex Registro de Cockersand, f. 112; Monasticon, vi., 909].