♂William de Oddingseles

William de Oddingseles (died before 1271) was an English landholder, lord of the manor of Solihull in Warwickshire in the middle of the thirteenth century. He was the twenty-first great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006) by two separate lines of descent, both through his son William de Oddingseles (died 1295).

Lord of Solihull

William is said to have been the youngest son of Hugh de Oddingseles and his wife, Basile. In 1213 the barony of the Limesi family was divided between two heiresses, one of them Basile, and by 1242 William, though a younger son, held its manor of Solihull. In 1250 he had free warren^W, the sole right to hunt small game, at Solihull and at Maxstoke. He was still living in 1263.

Family and death

William de Oddingseles and Joan had at least two sons, William and Nicholas. He had probably died by 1271, when his two sons were made “quit of common summons of the eyre in two counties”, released from attending the king’s traveling judges in eyre^W. The elder son, William, succeeded him at Solihull, and the younger, Nicholas, had Forshaw. After William’s death Joan married Ralph de Limesi, who in 1286 presented a priest to the church of Solihull in her right.

Lines of descent

Both lines run through his son William and William’s daughter Margaret de Oddingseles (born about 1277), and then through her son John de Grey (1300–1359). One comes down through Thomas Dudley^W (1576–1653), later governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, to Nathaniel Dudley (1763–1844); the other reaches Nathaniel’s wife, Anna Smith (1764–1825). The two lines meet again in their daughter Sarah Dudley (1795–1839).

Notes

The county history

Almost everything known of him comes from the Victoria County History of Warwickshire (vol. 4, the article on Solihull), a compiled history. It says that “By 1242 the manor of Solihull was in the possession of William de Oddingeseles, youngest son of Hugh and Basile”, that he was “still alive in 1263, but was probably dead by 1271”, and that “He was succeeded by his son William”, who “died in 1295”. It gives the grant of free warren at Solihull and Maxstoke in 1250, and Forshaw passing “to his younger son Nicholas”. The history spells the name Oddingeseles.

His death

The 1271 date rests on a Close Roll entry (Close Rolls 1268–72, p. 429), cited by the county history: “When William and Nicholas, his sons, were quit of common summons of the eyre in two counties”. No record of his death itself is known.

Two Williams

The county history’s article on Maxstoke makes the William who died in 1295 “a younger son of Hugh and Basile”, running father and son together. The Solihull article keeps them apart, and so does the 1277 foundation of a chantry in Solihull church by the younger William “with the consent and assistance of his mother Joan then wife of Ralph de Limesi”; this page follows it.