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Poindestre in Exchequer roll of Normandie

1180 and 1195 AD

The following is an email from one of the co-authors of "Jersey 1204-The Forging of an Island Community" published in 2004 by Thomas & Hudson. Dr. Judith Everard reports that the surname "Poindestre" appears in the Exchequer roll. More information on the book is available here.

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2004
From: Judith Everard
To:Jamie Poindexter
Subject: Jersey 1204

Dear Jamie,

Thank you very much for your generous letter about 'Jersey 1204'. I printed it and handed it to Professor Holt, who was also very pleased to hear from you.

Like you, I have not encountered any Poingdestre's in the Channel Islands before 1309. Since my interest was in family's occurring before and shortly after 1204, I had not done any research on the family.

Since receiving your letter, I have done a little research and found Richard Poindestre in mainland Normandy before 1204. He appears in the surviving records of the Exchequer of Normandy for the years 1180 and 1195. It appears that neither Richard nor any other Poindestre appears in the (incomplete) Exchequer records for the remainder of the period before 1204, when this type of record ceases. This signifies only that Richard and his family managed to avoid being in debt to the royal government in these years.

In 1180, Richard Poindestre was in debt for a fine of 10 livres (angevins), imposed on him and a number of his compatriots in the prévôté of Bayeux for taking the great fish, which were the king's prerogative.

In 1195, Richard Poindestre was in debt, again with a large number of others, for non-payment of a tax on wine ('vinagium').

The reference is Thomas Stapleton (ed.), Magni Rotuli Scaccarie Normannie, vol. I, (London 1840), pp. 6 and 271. The 1180 Exchequer roll will soon be available in a new edition published by the Pipe Roll Society (c/o Dr David Crook, The National Archives, Kew), hopefully by the end of 2004. New editions of the Norman Exchequer rolls from 1184 to 1203 will follow over the next few years.

These isolated references suggest that Richard Poindestre was not himself an official of the royal government, but an ordinary free man going about his business, apparently in the Bessin. To find out more would require an arduous search through the only other written records of the period, the archives of the cathedral and local monasteries.

If you or another member of your group is interested in researching the family in Normandy in the XI-XIII centuries, I would be happy to help with advice on sources.

Best wishes
Judith Everard