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Sunday, May 9, 2021

Reginald de Seinesberia fl.1186

Google the history of the Sainsbury surname and you'll run across the claim that the first instance is in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire. For example:

The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Reginald de Seinesberia, which was dated 1190, in the "Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire".

Read more: https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Sinisbury#ixzz6uKTI4FIn

However, it's unclear if this example really is a surname (passed down to children) or simply a by-name to indicate that the Reginald in question lived in "Seinesberia" (likely modern-day Saintbury).

But for the record, here's how the 1914 edition of those pipe rolls describe the entry in question:

A curious entry tells us how a man [Reginaldus de Seinesberia] was amerced [i.e., fined] twenty marcs because he refused to marry (renuit) Hasculf Musard's daughter (p. 121), for whose board and clothing £2. 3. 4. (tenpence a week) was allowed by the King as Hasculf's fief was in ward (p. 109). 

And here's the original Latin entry from page 121 of this edition of the pipe rolls:

It's clear that Hasculfi's surname was Musard; but unclear whether "de Seinesberia" is anything more than Reginald's hometown.

Source: Pipe Roll Society. (1914). The great roll of the pipe for the thirty-second year of the reign of King Henry the Second: A.D. 1185-1186. Publications of the Pipe Roll Society. Vol. 36. London: St. Catherine Press. https://archive.org/details/hists59413167/page/n168/mode/1up

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