The following link leads to an interesting story about Nicholas Crundall who is grandfather to our Elder John Crandall. It is a story about conflict between a churl and a Lord. Our ancestor is the "churl" or peasant farmer.
Here is a brief description of social classes in medieval England that might help you to understand this story better:
The United Kingdom, over the past many centuries, has consisted of many smaller kingdoms each ruled over by a king or queen constantly shifting in alliances. Currently Queen Elizabeth is the sovereign for the United Kingdoms of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, but centuries ago, each kingdom had their own king or queen. Each kingdom was broken into earldoms where earls (in old English called geburs or borh) ruled over these regions which included several manors. Lords ruled over the manors which were comprised of several villages. The peasant farmer (also known as a ceorl or churl in Old English) could own a share of the village land or flocks and was free to give or sell his land which also meant that he could choose his Lord or manor depending on where he purchased land. Below the 'churl' or free peasant farmers, existed tenant farmers known as the villein or semi-free peasants owing labour service to the local lord in return for their own land. Below the tenant farmer or villein were the slaves. Some slaves sold themselves into slavery to avoid starvation while others were penal slaves working off a crime sentence. We now have in our modern English vocabulary today the terms: churlish, villainous, and boorish as derogatory terms that were originally based on these social classes.
The United Kingdom, over the past many centuries, has consisted of many smaller kingdoms each ruled over by a king or queen constantly shifting in alliances. Currently Queen Elizabeth is the sovereign for the United Kingdoms of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, but centuries ago, each kingdom had their own king or queen. Each kingdom was broken into earldoms where earls (in old English called geburs or borh) ruled over these regions which included several manors. Lords ruled over the manors which were comprised of several villages. The peasant farmer (also known as a ceorl or churl in Old English) could own a share of the village land or flocks and was free to give or sell his land which also meant that he could choose his Lord or manor depending on where he purchased land. Below the 'churl' or free peasant farmers, existed tenant farmers known as the villein or semi-free peasants owing labour service to the local lord in return for their own land. Below the tenant farmer or villein were the slaves. Some slaves sold themselves into slavery to avoid starvation while others were penal slaves working off a crime sentence. We now have in our modern English vocabulary today the terms: churlish, villainous, and boorish as derogatory terms that were originally based on these social classes.
The Crandalls were not royalty and were likely churls or villeins. Recent findings indicate that the surname Crandall may be a professional term suggesting that they were iron or stone workers wielding 'crundle' hammers. This fits well with the mountainous terrain in Gloucestershire, England where we find the Crandalls presence documented and also several mining communities. With this in mind, it makes it easier to understand why our Nicholas Crandall or Crundall would struggle for 11 years in litigation with the same person to claim what he felt was his rightful living and not lose ground on social status.
This may have been a precursor to why Elder John Crandall left England less than 50 years later during the revolution caused when King Charles I refused to acknowledge parliament. Parliament was (and still is in a similar way) the voice of the lords representing the wishes of the common people of their manors similar to our House of Representatives. John Crandall may have chosen to come to America for a more prosperous and free life and to escape this system of social class. Religious liberty would have also been important after centuries of conflict between the Catholic church, the Church of England, and the Protestant movements.
This may have been a precursor to why Elder John Crandall left England less than 50 years later during the revolution caused when King Charles I refused to acknowledge parliament. Parliament was (and still is in a similar way) the voice of the lords representing the wishes of the common people of their manors similar to our House of Representatives. John Crandall may have chosen to come to America for a more prosperous and free life and to escape this system of social class. Religious liberty would have also been important after centuries of conflict between the Catholic church, the Church of England, and the Protestant movements.
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I (Christi Clark) recently had the pleasure of making a last minute trip to England. I bought the ticket on a Wednesday and flew out 2 days later. While there, I wanted to take advantage of this likely being the only time I'd ever visit England, and visit family historical sites. Jonny was in England for work in the vicinity of Salisbury and Stonehenge which is within a few hours of Bath and Gloucestershire, the region of the Crandalls. Although, I didn't accomplish anything worth documenting for genealogy' sake, it was an experience to be in the land of our origin. I immersed myself in the history of the region and let my imagination consider the landscape and the setting for our family history. |
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While in Westerleigh, Gloucestershire, England, I managed to find the St. James Westerleigh church where Elder John was baptized in 1617 as an infant. It has recently received some funding from English Heritage Foundation to restore and preserve the building...and it NEEDS it. The headstones in the church cemeteries are wearing away, many are already completely smooth and void of any inscription, leaning at greater than 45 degree angles, and overgrown with shrubbery but it's pretty amazing that it's still standing after more than 700 years and for being strucky by lightning at least twice. |
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It has taken over a century with many people researching to extend our pedigree past Elder John Crandall of Rhode Island but with technology and communication improving the evidences are finally being found and well documented. We no longer have to bear the expense of traveling to England or turn disintegrating pages of parish records because they have been digitized for us to peruse from the comfort of our home computers. The greatest value here is that when tired, one can walk away and come right back to it at their convenience. |
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The Westerleigh parish seems to be packing up at the moment, hopefully to begin its restoration. Jonny and I inquired after information inside this inn. There's a rumor/legend that a tunnel existed between the church and this inn because the inn was previously used to house the monks. The inn is older than the church and both buildings were in existence when the Crandalls lived in the village. The infant baptismal font pictured in the 1st link below is still sitting just within the doorway and may have been the very font where Elder John Crandall was baptized as an infant. There's some disagreement about it's age. |
Other interesting links:
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