| Notes |
- Said to have accompanied Hugh d'Avranches, later Earl of Chester, from Normandy to England. See The Complete Peerage vol.X,p436.
William de Percy, 1st Baron Percy (d.b.1096-1099) known as Aux Gernons (with Whiskers), was a Norman baron who arrived in England immediately after the Norman Conquest of England, and was the founder of the powerful English House of Percy.
The Cartularium abbathiae de Whitteby states Hugh d'Avranches and William de Percy arrived in England in 1067.
It is also quite possible that Percy had been one of the Normans to whom Edward the Confessor had given lands, but were later expelled by Harold Godwinson. This may explain Percy's unusual epithet, Aux Gernons, as at the time Normans were generally cleanshaven and the English were not, and it may be that Percy had assimilated local custom. Later generations of Percies would use the soubriquet, as the Christian name Algernon.
Consolidation
Following the rebellion of Gospatric Earl of Northumbria, and the subsequent Harrying of the North, large swathes of territory in northern England and the Earldom of Chester were granted to Hugh d'Avranches, who had been instrumental in the devastation. Percy in turn was granted territory by d'Avranches, in addition to those already held by him of the crown. Percy also married a Saxon noblewoman called Emma de Porte, her epithet presumably came from her landholdings at Seamer, a once thriving harbour in North Yorkshire. It may be the case that the lands granted to Percy by the crown were de jure uxoris. At the time of the Domesday Book, Percy was in possession in capite of a hundred and eighteen manors in Lincolnshire and the North Riding, with further lands in Essex and Hampshire.
Building works
Percy set about fortifying his landholdings, constructing Motte and Bailey castles at Spofforth and at Topcliffe. He also granted land to the Benedictine order and ordered construction of a new abbey at Whitby, amongst the ruins of the Anglo-Saxon one of Streoneshalh.
Death on the First Crusade
Percy accompanied Robert of Normandy on the First Crusade, where he died "within sight of Jerusalem". His body was buried at Antioch, but his heart was returned to England and is buried at Whitby.
Issue
By Emma de Porte, Percy produced four sons:
Alan de Percy, 2nd Baron Percy
Walter de Percy
Willam de Percy, 2nd Abbot of Whitby
Richard de Percy
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- 1096
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