DE RIDEWARE DE HAMSTALL, William GEUN (Sir ) [318] ¹

  General Notes:

GenCircles :

William Geun was the first of the family to assume the surname Rydeware, according to William Dugdale, in his 'History of Staffordshire'. He made his manor in Staffordshire his principal place of residence. He had two sons.

The 10 generations preceding William originate with: Leodric or Leuric I, who was born about 680 A.D. and was created First Earl of Leicester, Earl of Lincoln, and Earl of Chester. He was a member of the royal family of the kingdom of Mercia. He signed with the King in 716, the charter of foundation of the Monastery of Coryland, as Leofric, Earl of Leicester.

Algar I, Second Earl of Leicester, Earl of Lincoln, and Earl of of Chester was living in 838.
Algar II, Third Earl of Leicester, Earl of Lincoln, and Earl of of Chester, was killed in the battle with the invading Danes in September 870. He had on the day previous to his death gained a great victory and slain three of the enemies kings.

Leofric II, Fourth Earl of Leicester, Earl of Lincoln, and Earl of of Chester.

Leoewine, Fifth Earl of Leicester, Earl of Lincoln, and Earl of of Chester, Earl of Hereford, was created Duke of Mercia, succeeding Eadric, the treacherous Earl of Mercia who was beheaded by King Canute. He married Alwara, granddaughter of Athelstan, first King of all England. He was living in the year 1000.

Leofric III, Sixth Earl of Leicester, Earl of Lincoln, and Earl of of Chester, Hereford, Northampton, and Duke of Mercia died in 1057. He took a leading part in public affairs, and on the death of King Canute, in 1035, when the claim to the throne was disputed, he was active in averting civil war. About the beginning of the reign of King Edward the Confessor, Leofric founded the great monastery at Coventry. Leofric married Godiva, Countess of Coventry, who is famous in legend as Lady Godiva. She was the daughter of Thoroid the Earl (of Coventry).

Algar III, Seventh Earl of Leicester, Earl of East Anglia, and Duke of Mercia married Aelgifu or Alvera, daughter of William Mallet, a Norman lord. Algar gave rich gifts of land to the Abbey of Reims and then resigned his dukedom and earldom, and retired to that abbey as a monk, where he died.
Eadwyne, Eighth Earl of Leicester, Earl of Lincoln, and Earl of of Chester, Warwick, East Anglia, Northampton, March and Hereford, and fourth and last Duke of Mercia, was slain in 1071. His dukedoms and earldoms covered about one half of England. With his brother Morkar, or Morcar, he repelled the invasion of Tosti, Earl of Normandy, and his rebellious forces, when they landed on Lindley coast, Lincolnshire, and soon after, with King Harold, his brother-in-law, destroyed the invading Norwegian army at the battle of Stamford Bryg, in Yorkshire, September 1066. He opposed William of Normandy, but later swore fealty to him as King of England.

Astor, Asceur, or Asser I of Edningshalle was a Saxon noble. He is believed to have married a natural daughter of William the Conqueror.

Asser Jeun, or Junior, son of Asser I, became vested in the estate of Edninghalle and Nethertun (Hamstead-Rideware). He resided at Nethertoun (Hamsted-Rideware) and died sometime before 1256, leaving two sons. William Geun was his successor.

This pedigree of the Ridgway family is given by the Rev Edward Coolbaugh Hoagland, in his book published in 1958: "Twigs from Family Trees, Notes on the Ridgway Families of Bradford County, PA, Descendants of David, Richard, Robert and Burr Ridgway Pioneers" He states about the ancestors of the American Ridgway family: 'Ridgway and Ridgeway are of local origin, from the residence at "the ridge-way" or the road over the back of the hill. In the earliest records this name was written "Rydeware". The accounts of this ancient family have been written by various historians, but in the "Ridgway Family Manuscript" by James Ridgeway, to be found in the Long Island, NY Historical Society is the following: The pedigree of the family is best given by Sir Thomas de Rydeware in the "Chartulary" prepared by him at great length in 1308, and which was published in the "History and Antiquity of Leicester" by John Nicholas, vol. III, part 2, pp. 983,984,999-1007,979, 994, and which we have followed as the basis of this history down to the children of Sir Thomas de Rydeware.

A less extensive but similar pedigree appears in Glover's "History of Derby". Sir Thomas de Rydeware carried his pedigree back to Asser, in the time of the Conquest. The earliest account of the family extant is that which is given by the great antiquarian authority Sir William Dugdale, in his "Baronage of England" under the title of Earls of Chester; and also in his famous work the "Honastician Angelicantum". There he gives a record of Leofric I who signs himself Earl of Leicester in the year 716 (the first who bore that title) and who was also Earl of Chester; and a record also of Leofric's descendants and successors to those earldoms continuously down to Eadwyne, at the time of the Conquest, and who was grandson of the renowned Leofric III and Godiva his wife, Countess of Coventry, which Leofric was son of Leofwine; who, from Leofwine to Eadwyne, were, for four generations, Dukes of Mercia, in addition to their earlier titles of Earls of Leicester, Chester, etc. Those who wish for further information on many of the intermarrying lines down through the generations should be pleased to refer to the compiler's companion volume, "162 Allied Families" pp. 5-34, 82, 83 etc.'

Other source : From <http://skatfamily0.tripod.com/> - E-Mail : skatfamily@earthlink.net
Vought, Lelah Ridgway, Ridgway-Ridgeway Family History, Lelah Ridgway Vought, Auburn, MA, 1973, pp. 2.