Origin of Surname
The name possibly indicates a resident of the Jersey parish of Saint Martin, but far more likely, someone who came from one of the Norman villages bearing this name - possibly that near St Martin Le Gaillard. The historian, G F B de Gruchy, in manuscript notes, wrote of de Saint Martin: "Arms. Gules, nine billets argent. But the seal of Richard de St Martin, Bailli 1367, shows -- A fesse between 3 mullets". [1]. [2] De Gruchy continued: "The important family of de St Martin, of the Pays de Bray in Eastern Normandy, bore 10 billets, which probably indicates a common origin with the Jersey family", as above.
Early records
Willielmus and Rogerius di Sancto Martino were witnesses of charters of land grants in Jersey in the middle of the 12th century.
Drogo de St Martin held land in Trinity in 1274 [3]. He also held half the Guernsey Fief de Canelly in right of his wife Guillemote, daughter and co-heiress of Henri de Canelly. Henri de St Martin, son of Drogo, held one carucate of land in Trinity( Assize 1309) and in the Extente of 1331 Richard, his son, held this land, which is that known as the Fief de la Trinité. Other members of the family held other fiefs. [4].
The Jersey Chantry Certificate of 1550 contains one de St Martin.
Jourdain de St Martin was born in Trinity in 1200
Payne's Armorial of Jersey
For many generations this family, long since extinct, possessed the Fief Hubert of Trinity.
Thomas de St Martin, the last Seigneur of Trinity, was accused after his death of having participated in the attempt to deliver the island to the French, during the Governorship of John Nanfant. This charge probably derived an air of possibility from the fact that Guille de St Martin, brother of Thomas, had been Attorney-General of Jersey under the Count de Maulevrier, the French commander. It was made use of in the reign of Henry VIII, by Sir Hugh Vaughan, the then Governor, as a pretext for endeavouring to wrest the estate from Drouet Lempriere, nephew and heir of the aforesaid Thomas.
The allegation, however, was proved to be false, and the rapacious claims of Vaughan were, to the honour of the Bailly, Helier de Carteret, disallowed by the Court. Durell in his notes to Falle's history, mentions that John, Guillot, Ralph and Guy de St Martin (probably cousins of Thomas) were also implicated in the accusation.
Variants
- Martin
- de St Martin
- Martyn 1309
- Martin dit Maignan 1461-78
Family records
Family trees
The second of these trees is largely a copy of a section of the first, but with some variations.
Biographies
- Richard, Jean and Geoffroi de St Martin successive Bailiffs of Jersey
- Guillaume de St Martin
- Richard de St Martin, Bailiff
- Thomas de St Martin, Gentleman Usher to Henry VII
- Jean de St Martin, Bailiff
- Geoffroi de St Martin, Bailiff
Family gravestones
Click on any image to see a larger version. See the Jerripedia gravestone image collection page for more information about our gravestone photographs
Old Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Family properties
Links
Notes and references
- ↑ Medieval Jersey families, before the use of quarterings became established in the Island, often adopted the arms of heiresses in lieu of their own
- ↑ Guy Dixon, La Chasse, Maufant: an example of Jersey`s vanishing heritage',' in ABSJ Volume 26, Part 4 (1996)
- ↑ Extente
- ↑ G F B de Gruchy, manuscript notes
