IS THIS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF MY LINEAGE?
Found this info here :-
http://www.apl.ucl.ac.uk/people/Aylward_hist.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The AYLWARD name is derived from the old English name
Aethelward, meaning "noble protector" (cf
the modern "adel vaardare" in Swedish). It is of patronymic origin -
that is it is derived from a personal name. The "original" Aethelward
is, presumably, the one in the Encyclopaedia Britannica who was one of the
noble family of
It is not a very common name, except in
certain parts of
You come across the Aylward (or Ailward) name quite commonly in mediaeval times. As an example, below is the story of St Godric who is of the Ailward family.
One merchant, became Saint Goderic. This holy
man's father was named Ailward, (I am Aylward) and his mother Edwenna (I am Edward) became a saint.
Found this info here :-
http://www.apl.ucl.ac.uk/people/goderic.html
Medieval
Sourcebook:
Reginald of
Was
this one of my noble forebears? His father's name was Ailward & mother’s
name Edwenna!
The growth of trade in the middle ages
is of overwhelming significance. By the 13th century towns and trade, even
though comprising a minority of the population, dominated the Western economy.
This has widespread ramification - the monetization of life, the possibility of
communally rather than aristocratically sponsored art, the possibility of urban
subcultures and so on. On a wider level, it was this expansion of trade which
in a later age pushed European states to establish the world system of the
modern period.
Since literature was long the domain of
aristocrats and clerics, we sometimes miss direct early accounts of merchant's
lives.
One merchant, Godric, became a saint and hence we do
have an account of his life.
This holy man's father was named Ailward, and his mother Edwenna. Both of slender rank and wealth, but abundant in righteousness and virtue.
They were born in
For this reason,' aspiring to the
merchant's trade, he began to follow the chapman’s,
(peddler or hawker), way of life, first
learning how to gain in small bargains and things of insignificant price; and
thence, while yet a youth, his mind advanced little by little to buy and sell
and gain from things of greater expense. For, in his beginnings, he was wont to
wander with small wares around the villages and farmsteads of his own
neighbourhood; but, in process of time, he gradually associated himself by
compact with city merchants.
Hence, within a brief space of time, the
youth who had trudged for many weary hours from village to village, from farm
to farm, did so profit by his increase of age and wisdom as to travel with
associates of his own age through towns and boroughs, fortresses and cities, to
fairs and to all the various booths of the market-place, in pursuit of his
public chaffer.
He went along the high-way, neither puffed
up by the good testimony of his conscience nor downcast in the nobler part of
his soul by the reproach of poverty....
Yet in all things he walked with
simplicity; and, in so far as he yet knew how, it was ever his pleasure to
follow in the footsteps of the truth. For, having learned the Lord's Prayer and
the Creed from his very cradle, he oftentimes turned them over in his mind,
even as he went alone on his longer journeys; and, in so far as the truth was
revealed to his mind, he clung thereunto most devoutly in all his thoughts
concerning God
At first, he lived as a chapman for four years in Lincolnshire, going on foot and
carrying the smallest wares; then he travelled abroad, first to St. Andrews in
Scotland and then for the first time to Rome.
On his return, having formed a
familiar friendship with certain other young men who were eager for
merchandise, he began to launch upon holder courses, and to coast frequently by
sea to the foreign lands that lay around him.
Thus, sailing often to and fro
between
He fell into many perils of the sea,
yet by God's mercy he was never wrecked; for He who had upheld St Peter as he
walked upon the waves, by that same strong right arm kept this His chosen vessel
from all misfortune amid these perils.
Thus, having learned by frequent
experience his wretchedness amid such dangers, he began to worship certain of
the Saints with more ardent zeal, venerating and calling upon their shrines,
and giving himself up by wholehearted service to those holy names. In such
invocations his prayers were oftentimes answered by prompt consolation; some of
which prayers he learned from his fellows with whom he shared these frequent
perils; others he collected from faithful hearsay; others again from the custom
of the place, for he saw and visited such holy places with frequent assiduity.
Thus aspiring ever higher and higher,
and yearning upward with his whole heart, at length his great labours and cares
bore much fruit of worldly gain. For he laboured not only as a merchant but
also as a shipman ... to Denmark and Flanders and Scotland; in all which lands
he found certain rare, and therefore more precious, wares, which he carried to
other parts wherein he knew them to be least familiar, and coveted by the
inhabitants beyond the price of gold itself; wherefore he exchanged these wares
for others coveted by men of other lands; and thus he chaffered, (bargained),
most freely and assiduously. Hence he made great profit in all his bargains,
and gathered much wealth in the sweat of his brow; for he sold dear in one
place the wares which he had bought elsewhere at a small price.
Then he purchased the half of a
merchant-ship with certain of his partners in the trade; and again by his
prudence he bought the fourth part of another ship. At length, by his skill in
navigation, wherein he excelled all his fellows, he earned promotion to the
post of steersman....
For he was vigorous and strenuous in
mind, whole of limb and strong in body. He was of middle stature,
broad-shouldered and deep-chested, with a long face,
grey eyes most clear and piercing, bushy brows, a broad forehead, long and open
nostrils, a nose of comely curve, and a pointed chin. His beard was thick, and
longer than the ordinary, his mouth well-shaped, with lips of moderate
thickness; in youth his hair was black, in age as white as snow; his neck was
short and thick, knotted with veins and sinews; his legs were somewhat slender,
his instep high, his knees hardened and horny with frequent kneeling; his whole
skin rough beyond the ordinary, until all this roughness was softened by old
age....
In labour he was strenuous, assiduous
above all men; and, when by chance his bodily strength proved insufficient, he
compassed his ends with great ease by the skill which his daily labours had
given, and by a prudence born of long experience.... He knew, from the aspect
of sea and stars, how to foretell fair or foul weather. In his various voyages
he visited many saints' shrines, to whose protection he was wont most devoutly
to commend himself, more especially the church of St Andrew in Scotland, (where
Ted had his first Scottish holiday!), where he most frequently made and paid
his vows. On the way thither, he oftentimes touched at the island of Lindisfarne,
(where Ted went when on holiday!), wherein St Cuthbert had been bishop, and at
the isle of Farne, where that Saint had lived as an
anchoret, and where St Godric (as he himself would tell afterwards) would
meditate on the Saint's life with abundant tears. Thence he began to yearn for
solitude, and to hold his merchandise in less esteem than heretofore....
And now he had lived sixteen years as
a merchant, and began to think of spending on charity, to God's honour and
service, the goods which he had so laboriously acquired. He therefore took the
cross as a pilgrim to Jerusalem, and, having visited the Holy Sepulchre, came
back to England by way of St James [of Compostella].
Not long afterwards he became steward
to a certain rich man of his own country, with the care of his whole house and
household. But certain of the younger household were men of iniquity, who stole
their neighbours' cattle and thus held luxurious feasts, whereat Godric, in his
ignorance, was sometimes present. Afterwards, discovering the truth, he rebuked
and admonished them to cease; but they made no account of his warnings;
wherefore he concealed not their iniquity, but disclosed it to the lord of the
household, who, however, slighted his advice. Wherefore he begged to be dismissed
and went on a pilgrimage, first to St Gilles and thence to
On his return from
Godric, when he had restored his
mother safe to his father's arms, abode but a brief while at home; for he was
now already firmly purposed to give himself entirely to God's service.
Wherefore, that he might follow Christ the more freely, he sold all his
possessions and distributed them among the poor. Then, telling his parents of
this purpose and receiving their blessing, he went forth to no certain abode,
but whithersoever the Lord should deign to lead him; for above all things he
coveted the life of a hermit.
From Reginald of Durham, "Life
of St. Godric, " in G. G. Coulton, ed. Social
Life in Britain from the Conquest to the Reformation, (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1918), pp. 415-420
This text is part of
the Internet
Medieval Source Book. The
Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to
medieval and Byzantine history.
Unless otherwise indicated the
specific electronic form of the document is copyright. Permission is granted
for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational purposes and
personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No
permission is granted for commercial use.
(c)Paul
Halsall Mar 1996
halsall@murray.fordham.edu
Finchale Priory - photo taken May 2001
Cross that marks Saint Godric’s
tomb
Finchale Priory is located in a very
pleasant setting, a few miles outside
Finchale was a hermitage until it was
made a priory which was dependant on
A rough stone grave within the ruins of the later church is thought to be the last resting place of Saint Godric.
During Gilbert de la Ley's lifetime
many famous men were living in the area, the most celebrated being Godric the
Hermit, who had established himself in a cell at Finchale and lived there for
60 years. Finchale had by the 12th century become a well-known ecclesiastical
centre, and in the years 792, 798, and 810 Church Synods had been held there.
In 1110 the fame of St. Godric, who
was supposed to have performed many miracles, attracted pilgrims from far and
wide. The path taken by pilgrims from Witton would be by Strait Stirrups
(Findon Hill) and Pity Me to Finchale.
It is recorded that Godric performed
miracles on two Witton persons; one Robert, son of Uctred, and the other a
child, whose name is not given.
It is believed that Gilbert de la Ley
was prompted in his charitable work by St. Godric's
good example. His generosity was not confined to Witton alone.
