William de St. John

   Another name for William was William de Port.¹²²

  General Notes:

From Charles Cawley's Medieval Lands - Untitled English Nobility P-S :
Dugdale Monasticon, Vol. IV, Boxgrave Priory, VI, p. 646, A manuscript recording the founding of Boxgrove Priory, Sussex names "Godehelda filia N. Pagnell" as the wife of "Willielmum secundum", son of "Adæ de Port." She married secondly (1242 or before) Richard de Lucy. ¹¹⁷⁸

  Information about this person:

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
William de Port, afterwards William de Saint John was the son and heir by 1^st wife, made profer in 1202 of 150 li. for the lands in England of his great-uncle William de St John, i.e. the honor of Halnaker. In 1203 he occurs on the Norman Exchequer Rolls as owing 12 li. 10s. for scutage on the service of 21 knights' due on the fees of William d'Orval. On the separation of England and Normandy in 1204 William adhered to King John and his lands in Normandy were confiscated. Southampton castle was committed to him on his father's death, and he was sheriff of Hants, 1214 and 1215. He was with John in his disastrous expedition in Poitou and Anjou, 1214. In Feb 1214/5, he was one of the King's emissaries to the Earls, Barons and people of Hants, and in November one of those charged to bring men from Angouleme, and stores from Corfe castle, to the King at Rochester; but later he joined the Dauphin, probably at the siege of Winchester, Jul 1216. However, on 16 Mar 1216/7 he had a safe-conduct to speak with the Earl Marshal, his lands having been granted on the previous day to John Marshal. In Feb 1219/20 he was "with the King" at the siege of Bytham; in Feb1224/5 he witnessed the Forest Charter and the confirmation of Magna Carta. Bailiff of the Channel Islands, May 1227 to Oct 1232. In 1230 he served in Henry's abortive expedition into France, and in 1233 was employed in defence of the Southeast coast.

William married Godeheut; and died in 1239. By 1242-43 his widow had married Richard de Lucy.

Footnote: "Ego Willielmus de Sancto Johanne filius et heres Adae de Port" [Dugdale, Mon., vol. iv,p 647]. The change of name, of which the first undoubted occurance is Trin. 1205, is curious since the family of Port, both in ancestry and landed estate was more important than that of St. John.

~Cokayne's The Complet Peerage, Vol. XI, pp. 321-322

William married Godehut.