Cornet Family, Lothian

There was a Cornet family connected with the Flemish de Quincy family, fellow countrymen and companions of the Yorkshire-based de Bruses and Seatons - as well as David I of Scotland and his part-Flemish wife, Maud of Huntingdon. The de Quincys, cadets of the Bethune family along with the de Chocques, had links with Boulogne and held vast estates in Scotland and England. The core of their English estates clustered in the Midlands (Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire). There were two demesne manors and several other properties occupied by tenants in Huntingdonshire. Tranent, near Edinburgh in East Lothian where the Scottish Cornets were based, was one of Earl Roger de Quincy's chief Scottish messuages with a mill, a colliery and tenancies in Tranent, Falside and possibly Myles. Miles Cornet (Milone Corneht) acquired the land near St Germains priory on the de Quincy estate that is known as Myles - it was named after him. Myles Farm is still located there today. Coincidentally, the ancestral home of the de Quincys, i.e. Cuinchy in Flanders, now France, is about 18 miles as the crow flies from a place called Cornet, in Hainaut, now in Belgium.

The Domesday de Quincy daughter Jonet married Walter de Seton and the de Quincy lands at Tranent would later pass to the Setons (Platts, 1990). The Setons had a castle nearby. In the early-1200s Milo/Miles Cornet ('Dominus Milo corneht' - Divise de Stobbo, or The Marches of Stobbo c. 1200, pdf) was prior of St Germains one and a half miles northeast of Tranent (People of Medieval Scotland 1093-1371 database, link). He had at least two children, John Cornet and a daughter who is not named but is recorded in a charter of the late-thirteenth century as being the wife of a local member of the de Preston family. In Latin, Milo means knight or soldier but the Germanic variant stems from 'mild', meaning peaceful or calm. In what is probably a coincidence one of our first known paternal ancestors to be recorded in Danby parish records, 'Milo Corney', or Miles Corner, born in 1627 at Danby, has the same-sounding name as Milo Cornet if the francophone pronunciation of Cornet is used. St Germains was founded c. 1170 by the de Quincy family on their land as a hospital of the Order of the Star of Bethlehem. That was probably about the time, or not long after, that Miles Cornet was born. He died after about 1230 when G. F. Black lists him as witnessing a charter of Adam son of Edulf (The surnames of Scotland: their origin, meaning, and history, G. F. Black, 1946). The first prior appears to have been Ralph who witnessed a charter of Saher de Quincy, Earl of Winchester as prior of St Germains between 1207 and 1213.

The Hospital of St Germains was the only house in Scotland of the Order of the Star of Bethlehem. This order was organised as a chapter of Augustinian canons regular under the direct control of the bishop of Bethlehem; the bishopric of Bethlehem was revived in 1110, soon after the establishment of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, and within a few decades of its foundation the bishopric was the recipient of substantial gifts of property in the west., pdf

In 1247 Godfrey de Prefectis, Bishop of Bethlehem, visited Scotland in the capacity of a papal legate, and seems to have made extreme financial demands of the Scots. His predecessor, Renier, Bishop of Bethlehem, in 1225

..obtained from Pope Honorius III a faculty to correct and reform the houses of his Order, with power to institute and remove "as freely as pertains to him," because he holds "many houses in different dioceses lawfully pertaining to him, in which dwell brothers of the Order of Bethlehem, sometimes taken with a rebellious spirit so that they are disobedient and presumptuous."

The hospital would have overseen the care of sick knights and others suffering injury and what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from the Third Crusade of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Richard I of England and Phillip II of France (1189–1192). Robert de Quincy took part in that crusade. The period of the Forth Crusade was 1202-1204, the Fifth Crusade was 1217-1221 and the Sixth Crusade took place between 1228-1229. Prior Miles Cornet would probably have admitted casualties from the Fifth and Sixth Crusades. The Siege of Acre led to the fall of the last major crusader stronghold in 1291, 'Although the crusading movement continued for several more centuries, the capture of the city marked the end of further crusades to the Levant.', link

Above, Corner and Cornet entries in The surnames of Scotland: their origin, meaning, and history, George F. Black, 1946, link

Miles Cornet, prior of St Germains in East Lothian, witnessed Scottish charters of crusader knights Robert de Quincy, Justiciar of Scotland, and Earl Saher de Quincy 1st Earl of Winchester in the late-twelfth and early-thirteenth centuries. De Quincy translated his retainers, including the Shelfords, St Andrews and possibly the Cornet families, from the English Midlands to Scotland. It seems that other Cornet relations continued to live in the English Midlands for Saher Cornet (possibly named in memory of either Saher de Quincy, father of Roger or Saher de Seton) witnessed a charter c. 1250 of 2nd Earl of Winchester and Constable of Scotland Earl Roger de Quincy (c. 1195-1264) to Brackley Hospital of a rent in Brackley in Northampton, pdf. In 1222 Miles Cornet witnesses one of Earl Roger de Quincy's acts relating to mills at Tranent. A fellow witness of that charter was Aluredo de Prestona/Alured de Preston, a family connected to the Cornets, see below. Alured is a form of the old English name Alfred and is found on the Isle of Man. George F. Black, above, lists a charter of Ade son of Edulfi (Adam son of Edulf) to Newbattle Abbey that Miles witnesses in about 1230 (7 January 1210 X 1231, POMS). Eadwulf was the son of Uchtred, both are old Northumbrian personal names. King John of England reigned from 1199-1216, so Miles Cornet's son John was probably born during King John's reign and named after him.

Miles' descendant, his grandson Simon Cornet, son of deceased John Cornet, resigned the family estate at Myles (Mylis) by quitclaim to Sir Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan, a relative of the de Quincys through his wife, on 25 January 1285. From him it was to go to William de Preston, his relative.

1. Simon Cornet, son and heir of the late John Cornet, at the assembly (colloquium) of the lord king, in the presence of Sir Malise, earl of Strathearn, Sir John Comyn, Sir William de Soules, justiciar of Lothian, Sir John Comyn of Buchan, Sir William Comyn of Kirkintilloch, Sir Hugh of Pearsby, Sir John of Stirling, and many others, has resigned, quitclaimed and by staff and baton restored in perpetuity, all his right and claim that he had in the land of ‘Mylis’ (MLO?) with pertinents, which was the late Sir Milo Cornet’s, into the hand of Sir Alexander Comyn, earl of Buchan, constable and justiciar of Scotia, to the infeftment of William of Preston, his (Simon’s) relative (consanguinium). 25 January 1285. Link

2. Simon Cornet, son of John Cornet, has given, granted, and by this his present charter established to John of Preston son of his aunt, all his land of Myles (Tranent parish, ELO) which is called ‘Krawwyth’ with all its just pertinents, to his assignees, freely, quietly and hereditarily, rendering annually 1d. on Christmas if asked in the said feu for all services, exactions and demands, and if not the 1d, making forinsec service of the lord king for the chief lord of the feu. circa 25 January 1285. Link

Incidentally, in 1264, Saher de Seton was attorney for Alexander Comyn, earl of Buchan, as keeper of two parts of Earl Roger's lands in Lothian. From Comyn the land at Myles was passed to William de Preston. William Soulis, knight, justiciar of Lothian (d.1292/3) was one of the witnesses to the first charter, above, and the Soules family is said by Platts to have had origins in the Cotentin with feudal ties to the counts of Mortain. The other witnesses were: Hugh of Pearsby, sheriff of Roxburgh; John Comyn, earl of Buchan (d.1308); John Comyn, lord of Badenoch (d.1302); John of Stirling, knight (son of Alexander lord of Stirling); Malise (III), earl of Strathearn (d.in or a.1317); William Comyn, lord of Kirkintilloch (brother of John Comyn (d.1302).

In the second document, Transaction: Gift of lands of Myles called Krawwoyth, again from January 1285, Simon Cornet, son of John Cornet, (original language: 'Simon korneth filius Johannis korneth') gave Krawwyth to 'John de Preston, son of my aunt'.

It is difficult to make out the family relationships. There are two beneficiaries of Simon Cornet's resignation of the Cornet family land at Myles/Mylis, William de Preston (a 'relative') and John de Preston ('son of my aunt'). Was William de Preston Simon's maternal uncle and John de Preston his cousin? Simon's aunt was the unnamed sister of his father, John Cornet. Simon's aunt may have been born in the late-1100s. John Cornet may have been born c. 1200 AD (in the early reign of King John), meaning his son Simon Cornet was born c. 1230. If so, Simon would be getting on in years when he transferred the Cornet land to William de Preston and his younger cousin John de Preston in 1285.

Also in 1285, a William de Preston (son of John) gained Sir Simon Fleming's land at Tranent, link. Another Scottish charter of c. 1285 has a Peter de Preston, son of the late William lord of Preston, giving land known as Mackabey in Myles to his uncle, William de Preston (son of John). Given the association with the Cornet estate, the connection between the two families seems to be with the ancestors of William lord of Preston in Lothian who was probably born in the early-thirteenth century and was dead by 1285.

Alexander III of Scotland would die the following year (19 March 1286) in an unwise journey by horse at night, throwing the country into the turmoil of a succession dispute between thirteen competitors for the crown of Scotland. The first beneficiary of Simon Cornet's quitclaim, William de Preston, was alive in 1285 and may have been the William de Preston born c. 1226 who married Sybil Ross in 1251. He was one of the Scottish nobles summoned to Berwick by Edward I in the Scottish succession crisis in 1291. As mentioned, William lord of Preston, father of Peter de Preston, was dead by 1285.

The Prestons in East Lothian may descend from Leophus de Preston (Lyulph or Ligulf) who had gifted land in Linlithgow to Newbattle Abbey and is said to have lived in the reign of King William the Lion (1165-1214), link. The early de Preston origins are hazy but some sources say Leolph the father of Leolph de Preston came from Preston Patrick in South Lakeland, Cumbria - an area familiar in this research - being located between Corney in Cumbria and Corney in Lancashire. Others say they were from Perthshire. Lyulph/Ligulf is an Old Norse and Old English personal name. It might be that the de Preston family's earliest origins trace back to Huntingdonshire in the East Midlands. Simon de Senlis, from the House of Vermandois, was given the earldom of Northampton and Huntingdon following the invasion of England in 1066 by a grateful William the Conqueror. Simon was the first husband of Maud of Huntingdon who when Simon died then married David I - to whom control of the estates passed. Maud's relations, brothers Walter the Fleming and Seiher de Seton (who took the name of the North Yorkshire sea port), were also descended from the Counts of Flanders. There is a manor called Preston Deanery near Northampton and descendants of Walter fitz Winemar, son of Winemar de Hanslape 'The Fleming' adopted the surname 'de Preston', link. Walter fitz Winemar's land at Preston was held of the above mentioned King David I, Countess Judith de Lens and also the Bishop of Coutances in Normandy, Geoffrey de Montbray.

Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, founded by David I in 1128 after a miraculous escape from being gored by a stag in East Lothian, had land at Preston and a church at Tranent. The village of Preston was on the East Lothian coast and is now a small part of the centre of Prestonpans. As indicated in the quitclaim and other charters of 1285, Miles Cornet's unnamed daughter had married a John de Preston, brother of William lord of Preston, probably some time around 1230. There was land on the de Quincy East Lothian estate of Tranent known as Prestongrange to the west of the village of Preston and Prestonpans. It was Newbattle Abbey's grange farm - worked by Cistercian monks and contiguous with the Cornets' land at Myles: 'Confirmation to Newbattle abbey of grange of Preston in territory of Tranent in free alms, as given by Robert de Quincy, grandfather of Earl Roger, and confirmed by charters of said Robert and of Earl Roger's father. (Before 1234)'.

As well as making salt, coal was discovered and mined by the monks at Prestonpans in 1210 - this could be the earliest instance of coal mining to be recorded in Britain. Newbattle was founded in 1140 by Cistercian monks from Melrose Abbey, itself a daughter of Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire, under the patronage of David I and his son Prince Henry. Rievaulx was also involved in ironstone mining and the production of iron articles in Cleveland, North Yorkshire. The lands acquired at Myles, Tranent, by the Prestons in 1285 were later part of the gift given by King Robert de Brus to Sir Alexander de Seton in 1321 as a reward for his loyalty. In Sadberge, southern Durham, there were members of a de Preston family (Walter and William) at Yarm (Jarom) in Langbaurgh who appear in the same Yorkshire Lay Subsidy records (1301) that John and Thomas Cornay appear in. There are many places named Preston, however. The Setons had land and connections in the manor of Preston on the River Tees, southwest of Stockton. Yarm is about two miles upriver from Preston.

The parish of Preston is mentioned in church records of 1025 when it was referred to as church lands. It appears to have been composed mainly of scattered farms and possibly a small hamlet. Link

The Cornets in Scotland disappear from the records there after 1285 having lived in East Lothian for around one hundred years. By coincidence the Cornays (there is no 'de' prefix before the name Cornay in the Cleveland family) first appear in Langbaurgh, Cleveland records immediately after that time. The politics could be turbulent and a family's circumstances and fortunes could quickly change. It would be unusual if Simon hadn't left the Cornet estate at Myles to his son, if he had one, but occasionally things happened that resulted in a son falling out of favour. The rendering of surnames could change, either through choice to differentiate them from another branch, or when a local scribe simply wrote down the name as they heard it. The Cornet estate in Scotland was gifted to Simon Cornet's de Preston relatives for a penny in 1285. Simon became a popular family name for the Prestons in the late-thirteenth and early-fourteenth centuries.