Richard (Pirot) Perrot (abt. 1030)

Descendants

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Biography

Richard was born about 1030 in Normandy and passed away about 1100 in Kent. This is the original Perrot family in England, with Pirot, its founder, reputed to have come from Normandy with William the Conqueror in 1066. A cadet branch later become well known in Pembrokeshire from where it spun off other branches, while the remainder settled in Bedfordshire.

They bore the original Perrot arms, before the 3-pear motif was adopted. These were quarterly per fess indented or and azure, the use of which persisted for an extended period in the family branch in Morton-upon-Lugg in Herefordshire. The following is from Nichols, 1870: "This coat was in fact a more ancient one than the other. Rauf Parot or Pirot, who originally bore it, lived in the thirteenth century, as it occurs with his name in three of the rolls of that period printed in the Archaeologia, vol. xxxix See pp 43, 54, 97].

According to the Roll of Edward II, (edit. Nicolas, p. 88) he was of Bedfordshire: Sir Raff Perot, quartile de or e de azure endente ; and his name is still retained in that of Edward III. (edit. Nicolas, p. 88) ;-Monsire Rauf Per[o]t, quarterly endente, or et asur. From these blasons it must be concluded that the coat was indented per pale as well as per fess, like that of Langley, and not divided by a plain line in pale, as Perott is The Domesday census of 1086 shows that Pirot had done very well for himself, and would have been considered a very large land holder. He held land from three different tenants-in-chief: Nigel of Aubigny, Swein of Essex (son of Robert FitzWimarc), and Eudo the Steward. Pirot is known as Pirot of Wyboston, Bedfordshire, which was probably his main place of residence. His other holdings were in Streatley, Beeston, and Northill in Bedfordshire; Babraham, Pampisford, and Sawston in Cambridgeshire; and Great Glenham in Suffolk. These provided an estimated income of £29.60 per year, and was assessed at 26.37 gelds. Pirot would have been lord over 47 villagers, 30 smallholders 5 slaves, 11 freemen. These holdings extended over 25.3 ploughlands of crop land, plus 12 acres and 12.5 ploughshares of meadow, which contained 16 cattle, 36 pigs, 146 sheep, 2 beehives, 0.5 churches, 4 mills and 30 pigs in the woodlands. The land was worked with 12.5 Lord's plough teams & 16.5 men's ploughteams.

Useful Notes: Ploughland = land plowable by 8 oxen; depending on fertility, size ranged from 330 to 1320 acres Geld = a taxable unit of land assessed on the number of hides Freeman = A man who was free and might hold land but who owed some services to his lord. Tenant-in-chief = The King's principal barons and churchmen who held land directly from him Villan = An unfree peasant who owed his lord labour services (two or three days per week) but who also farmed land for himself Value= the value of a manor was an estimate of the money its lord would receive annually from his peasants Plough team = 8 oxen

The family had settled in Kent by the reign of king Henry I (1100-1135). Then, they largely disappear from the record after Ralph VII was the family head in the the 1350's, which coincides with the Black Death; there are only sporadic mentions after that. The feet of fines contain records of a a Parot in 1429, a Perot in 1455, with and a Peryot in 1499. In the mean time, a Perot appears in Bedfordshire in 1329, and again in 1477. The family finally reappears in the records, starting 1550 in Luton, Bedfordshire.

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Sources

1. ↑ Based primarily on: Cokayne, G.E. 1945. Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and all its Members from the Earliest Times. The St Catherine Press, London. Vol 10: 473-477. Nichols, John Gough. 1870. Perrott Notes, In: The Herald and Genealogist. Volume the Fifth. J.G. Nichols and R.C. Nichols, Printers to the Society of Antiquaries, 25, Parliament Street, Westminster, London. Pp 369-376. 1989. The Bedford Shire "P's". P*rr*tt Society Family Notes. 6:25-28.
2. ↑ http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~parrott/genealogy/Kent. Wayne Parrott Ps of Kent html

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