Thwing [Thweng] family (per. 1166-c.1234), gentry
by John Walker
© Oxford University Press 2004 All rights reserved

Thwing [Thweng] family (per. 1166-c.1234), gentry, held land in
Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Northumberland, from at least 1166. The
family is first represented in the historical record by Robert (I) of
Thwing (d. in or before 1166). He was succeeded by his son Robert (II)
of Thwing (d. 1172x99), referred to as Robert son of Robert of Tegneg
in a charter of Henry II's reign. In 1166 he was recorded as holding a
knight's fee in Legsby, Holtham, and Ludford, Lincolnshire, from
William de Percy, and, it is assumed, Thwing in the East Riding of
Yorkshire from Adam de Brus. Through Robert (II)'s marriage to Emma,
one of the sisters and coheirs of Duncan Darel, the Thwings received
part of the east Yorkshire estate of Lund, which in 1203 comprised a
third share in four carucates in the village. The Thwings held their
Lund estate from the bishop of Durham and this together with heraldic
similarities to the arms of the fitz Marmadukes, barons of Hordern in
Durham, have led to suggestions that the family originated from that
county. Robert was a patron of the Lincolnshire priory of Sixhills, to
which he gave the town and church of Legsby. He was living in 1172,
when he witnessed a charter to Rievaulx Abbey, but had presumably died
and been succeeded by his son Marmaduke (I) of Thwing (d. in or after
1234) by 1199 when Marmaduke was acting as a surety for Richard de
Malebisse.

Marmaduke was imprisoned for homicide in 1204, although the exact
details of the crime are unclear. In the same year Marmaduke paid
100s. to be placed in the custody of twelve lawful men and his
sureties, including Peter de Brus, paid a fine of 40 marks and pledged
themselves to prevent him from causing further disorder. Marmaduke was
evidently released shortly afterwards and he served as a juror in
1208. He joined the baronial opposition to the crown during the civil
war after 1215, but in 1217 he made peace with the minority government
of Henry III and thereafter he appears to have been active as a royal
official in northern England. In 1218 he was part of a commission that
investigated the bishop of Durham's complaint concerning obstructions
across the River Tyne; in 1226 he was involved in inspecting the
condition of Scarborough and Pickering castles; and in 1230 he was
ordered with other officials to take oaths from anyone who had been
sworn to arms at the end of King John's reign. In addition to these
specific functions he served as an assize justice during the years
1221–9 and as a coroner until August 1230, when he was replaced on
account of his infirmity. The influence of the Thwings in the East
Riding at this time was indicated by the marriage before 1227 of
Marmaduke's daughter Cecily to William the Constable, the son of
Robert the Constable of Holderness. In 1227 he came to an agreement
with William concerning a bovate of land in demesne and the service of
six carucates in Kilham in the East Riding, which Marmaduke had given
to William as marriage settlement with his daughter. The date of
Marmaduke's death is not known but the last reference to him is in
November 1234 when he was party to a final concord. He was succeeded
by his son Robert (III) of Thwing (d. 1245x57), who was an opponent of
papal provisions in England, then by Robert's son Marmaduke (II)
Thwing (d. 1282x4). The arms of the Thwing family, first recorded in
1227, are given as argent, a fesse gules between three popinjays vert.

JOHN WALKER
Sources  GEC, Peerage, new edn, 12/1 • W. Brown, ed., Cartularium
prioratus de Gyseburne, 2, SurtS, 89 (1894) • W. M. I'Anson, ‘Kilton
Castle', Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 22 (1913) • W. Farrer and
others, eds., Early Yorkshire charters, 12 vols. (1914–65), vol. 2