The descent from Ketel is through the Lancaster line. William II de
Lancaster was the grandson of Sir Gilbert de Lancaster that married Godith. Chetell
is the father of Gilbert de Lancaster [ my proofs] and DR believes [as does
Katherine S.B. Keats-Rohan] that Godith was the sister of Chetell.
I hope this helps.
MichaelAnne
If I understand what Ms. Guido has written above, she has identified
Ketel Fitz Eldred (living 1120's) as the paternal grandfather of
William de Lancaster I. This error was first promulgated in 1915 by
James Wilson in his book, Register of St. Bees, and soundly rejected in
1962 by the distinguished genealogist, G. Andrews Moriarty, Ll.B.,
F.S.A.
What do the records show? William de Lancaster I and his son, William
II, confirmed to the brethren of St. Peter of York land in Newby,
Westmorland, where they held "by the gift of Ketel, my uncle." Later,
William de Lancaster II (died 1184) granted to St. Peter's "the whole
of the land in Newby which Ketel son of Eldred" gave them there
[Reference: Ragg, Charters of St. Peter's Hospital, York (Trans. of the
Cumberland and Westmorland Antiq. & Arch. Soc. n.s. 9): 237-239). So,
Ketel Fitz Eldred was the uncle of William de Lancaster I.
In 1962 G. Washington wrote on the subject of Ketel Fitz Eldred's
relationship to William de Lancaster I and his father, Gilbert:
"It was thereupon concluded [evidently by Mr. Ragg cited above] that
that first William de Lancaster's father, Gilbert, was a brother of
Ketel son of Eldred, from whom descended also the Curwens of
Workington. But when in 1915 Canon James Wilson produced his valuable
Register of St. Bees he remarked that "evidence to make Gilbert the
brother of Chetell and not his son is to be viewed with suspicion.
Though Chetell was alive after 1120, his son Orm was old enough to
witness a charter in 1094 ... To regard Gilbert as a brother of Chetell
would put him a generation too early.' (pp. 248-249). And again,
'Gilbert the father of William de Lancaster was the elder son of
Chetell, and therefore the elder brother of Orm, father of Gospatric,'
a quo the Curwens (pp. 60-61).'"
Washington continued:
"Fortunately, the attention of my learned and distinguished friend, Mr.
G. Andrews Moriarty, Ll.B., F.S.A., was attracted to this problem of
William de Lancaster and his antecedents in 12th-century Westmoreland
..... Mr. Moriarty's solution ... is that William de Lancaster's father,
Gilbert, was a Norman knight, as evidenced by the French Christian
names given to all his recorded children; whilst William's mother,
Godith, was clearly the sister of Ketel son of Eldred and thus of
native English stock (it will be recalled that Ketel was called William
de Lancaster's avunculus, a term which strictly speaking means
'maternal uncle'). It is even possible, as Mr. Moriarty surmises, that
Ketel's wife, Christian or Christina, may have been a Taillebois by
birth; for, according to Peter of Blois, Ivo himself 'had an only
daughter, nobly espoused' (see the Duchess of Cleveland's Battle Abbey
Roll, III, 345), and certainly William de Lancaster's granddaughter,
Helewise, along with her husband Gilbert fitz Renfrid, later confirmed
some of Ivo's grants to the abbey of St. Mary at York." [Reference:
George Washington, "The parentage of William de Lancaster, lord of
Kendal," in Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiq. & Arch.
Soc. n.s. 62) (1962): 95-97].
Given the above discussion, I find the evidence compelling that Ketel
Fitz Eldred was the uncle of William de Lancaster I. It is Mr.
Moriarty's position (and also that of Dr. Katherine Keats-Rohan), that
Ketel Fitz Eldred was the maternal uncle of William de Lancaster I.
That likewise makes sense to me.
Best always, Douglas Richardson. Salt Lake City, Utah
Website: http://www.royalancestry.net