Earliest Reference to Armistead
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In reply to:
Armistead name origin
John Harris 1/20/09
Earliest Reference
I have read that the first reference to the family is in the hundred rolls of 1273 where the name of Robert Armitstead appears, but the first one I have found so far appears in the poll tax returns of 1377. The poll tax was introduced in this year by Richard II, with a flat rate of one groat (fourpence) per head for all adults over 16, clergy and paupers being exempt. In 1379 a sliding scale was introduced, with the basic rate remaining at fourpence, while tradesmen and artisans paid 6d, farmers, merchants and innkeepers 1/-, and franklins forty pence. A franklin was a farmer not of gentle birth who owned his own land, and in 1379 Laurence de Armitstead was the only franklin in Giggleswick the highest taxpayer in the village apart from Robert Stainford, the lord of the manor, who paid one pound. The highest tax in the land was paid by John of Gaunt, the king's uncle (an ancestor, as will appear later) who paid £6.13.4 (ten marks). It is interesting to note that the total tax levied in Giggleswick, with a tax-paying population of 355, was £4.11.8, almost as much as that of Leeds, Huddersfield and Halifax combined.
Another Armitstead, John, is mentioned in the 1379 Poll tax return, so the name would appear to have become a surname by then rather than just a place of residence. Surnames were introduced into England by the Normans and were not in use in Yorkshire before the thirteenth century.
The Flodden roll of 1511 lists the men of Giggleswick called up at that time who presumably fought at the battle of Flodden Field against the Scots. Thomas, James and Oliver were required to provide themselves with a bow, while James Armitstead of Stainforth (he was obviously a man of property) had to have a bill, bow, able horse and harness.
http://www.fitzwalter.com/afh/Armitstead/armithist1.htmhttp://www.fitzwalter.com/afh/Armitstead/armithist1.htm
According to Kenrick Armitstead
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Re: Earliest Reference to Armistead
John Harris 3/27/09
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Re: Earliest Reference to Armistead
David Halbert 3/30/09
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Re: Earliest Reference to Armistead
John Harris 3/30/09
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Re: Earliest Reference to Armistead
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Re: Earliest Reference to Armistead