John Argentein

  Information about this person:

• Web Reference: Outline of the History of the Argentein Family.

• Background Information. ¹²¹³
William I or William Rufus gave the whole estate of Great Wymondley as an escheat to Reginald de Argentein, as appears from the evidence of his grandson.

The manor was confirmed to John, son of Reginald de Argentein, by King Stephen, and he was still living in 1166. Reginald de Argentein, presumably the son of John, since he was grandson of the elder Reginald, is mentioned in 1194, and was Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1196. He was succeeded by Richard de Argentein, who seems to have forfeited, for in 1203 he received a pardon at the petition of the Earl of Albemarle from King John, and had his patrimony restored. Part of it he delivered to Isabel de Argentein in dower in the same year. In 1224 Richard de Argentein was Sheriff of Hertfordshire and Essex, and in 1225 and 1226 custodian of Hertford Castle. He was also the founder of Little Wymondley Priory, and in 1228 is spoken of as 'a noble and one strenuous in arms' who had already been on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He returned there later as a Crusader and was killed in an engagement in 1246.

~A History of the County of Hertford, Vol. III, pp. 181-185