SIR ALBERT OF LORRAINE

Also Albert (or Alber) de Lorraine. His birth and death dates are unknown but we do know he was living in 1086. He came from France to England. Somewhere along the line "Lorraine" was changed to the English version of the name "Loring." The surname is sometimes spelled Lorin or Loryng. In Germany it is spelled as Lothringen or von Lothringen.

Not much is known of Albert but he most likely was related in some way to France's Ducs de Lorraine. It is known that he was the first owner of Sharnbrook Manor in 1086 in England according to the Doomsday Book of 1086 (a census). His English lands became known as Loring and Pipings Manor. Albert held four lands in England in Bedfordshire Parishes. They were: Chalgrave, Wootton, Shelton, and Sharnbrook. Chalgrave became the chief seat of the Loring family. The four parishes later became part of the Barony of Bedford and the de Beauchamp family held the title of Baron.

According to the Domesday Book of 1086, Albert de Lorraine was an ecclesiastical clerk and/or chaplain favored by Edward the Confessor and William I. He had land in Bed (Bedfordshire), Herefords, Rutland, and Surrey. He held 10 Hides (an Anglo-Saxon unit of land holding generally from 15-30 acres) in Wootton without any tenant. The manor in Bedfordshire had 20 villagers and 6 slaves and woodland for 400 pigs. He got the Bedfordshire Manor from Aelmar, the Thegn of Earl Tosti (brother of King Harold). As said before, the land in Bedfordshire held by Albert became known as Wootton Manor and was later held by the Barons of Bedfore, de Beauchamp family.

ACCORDING TO BRITISH HISTORY ONLINE:

At the Survey of 1086 eight proprietors of land are named as holding in Sharnbrook. First amongst these Domesday tenants may be mentioned Albert of Lorraine, whose lands subsequently became known as LORINGS or PIPINGS MANOR. In 1086 Albert of Lorraine, who had been preceded by Algar, a man of Queen Edith, held 2 hides (15-30 acres), a quarter of a virgate and a mill worth 16s.

He owned land, including a 10-hide manor at Wootton, elsewhere in Bedfordshire, and, as has been shown by Mr. Round, was a clerk or chaplain who enjoyed the favour alike of Edward the Confessor and of William, and received from them lands and houses.

With regard to the overlordship of this manor, it was held by Albert of Lorraine of the king in chief in 1086, but in 1185 is found attached to the barony of Bedford, to which overlordship the latest reference has been found in 1419.

The reasons for connecting the Loring family, who subsequently held in this parish, with Albert of Lorraine, the clerk of Domesday, may be briefly summarized as follows:—Albert held in four Bedfordshire parishes at Domesday: Chalgrave, Wootton, Shelton, Sharnbrook. Some century and a half later it is found that in three out of these four, Chalgrave, Wootton and Sharnbrook, the Loring family are holding by knight service, and that moreover all three have become attached to the barony of Bedford.

The chief seat of the Lorings was at Chalgrave; the descent of their Sharnbrook Manor was as follows:—Roger Loring died some time before 1185, at which date his son Peter, aged twelve, was in the guardianship of the king. This Peter was still alive in 1250, in which year he was defeated in a suit against Dunstable Priory, and it was probably his son Peter who died in 1286, and whose epitaph is given by the Dunstable chronicler as 'qui super omnes progenitores suos specialius nos amavit.' ("A great father and special to all"). The feudal assessment for 1302 gives Peter Loring as still holding one-fifth fee in Sharnbrook. Roger Loring his son died before 1346, and was succeeded by his son the eminent Sir Nigel Loring, a founder Knight of the Garter, who on his death in 1385–6 left two daughters as co-heirs. Of these Isabel became the wife of Robert Lord Harington, and acquired Sharnbrook as part of her share in her father's property. Her husband died in 1406, when the Sharnbrook property included a messuage, 100 acres of land, 20 acres meadow and 10 acres of wood.

Their son John Lord Harington died in 1417–18 without issue, and his brother William succeeded him. In 1449 William Lord Harington conveyed this estate, called for the first time a manor, into the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury and other trustees. He died in 1458, leaving as heir Elizabeth wife of William Bonville. Her son William, who acquired the title Lord Harington in right of his mother, was slain at Wakefield in 1460, and Sharnbrook passed to his daughter Cecilia, who became the wife of Thomas Grey first Marquess of Dorset.

From: 'Parishes: Sharnbrook', A History of the County of Bedford: Volume 3 (1912), pp. 88-94. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42388.

(1) Albert de Lorraine + unknown wife

(living in 1086)+ unknown

(2) Roger Loring I + unknown wife

son of Albert, B-around 1115, D-around 1185 + unknown

(3) Peter Loring + Jane Morteyne

son of Roger I, B-1173, D-1286 @113 y/o + unknown

(4) Roger Loring II + Cassandra Perrott

son of Peter, B-probably in 1280 in Bedfordshire, D-before 1346 probably in 1320 + B-about 1285

(5) Sir Nigel Loring

son of Roger II (B-1320, D-1386, had 2 daughters, no sons)

(5) Sir William Loring

son of Roger II (B-1322, D-1415)

(5) Sir Thomas Loring

son of Roger II (B-1325, D-unknown)