Orderic Vitalis records that William I King of England constructed “Snotingeham castrum” [Nottingham] and entrusted it to “Guillelmo Peverello”, dated to 1068. Domesday Book records “William Peverel” holding properties in Buckinghamshire; numerous properties in Northamptonshire; several properties in Derbyshire; numerous properties in Nottinghamshire. A charter of King Henry II records donations to York St Mary, including the donation of land “in Rudstan” by “Willielmus de Peverel”. “…Willelmo Peverello…” witnessed the charter dated Sep 1093 under which William II King of England donated property to Lincoln cathedral. Henry I King of England confirmed the donation of the church of Lenton to Cluny, by charter dated to [1103/14], which records “Willelmo Peverello cum uxore sua Adaleida et filio suo Willelmo” as founders of the church and is subscribed by “Mathildis regine, Willelmi Pevrelli de Notingaham, Adeline sue uxoris, Willelmi Pevrelli filii illorum, Ro[berti] comitis Mellentis, Gisleberti de Aquila…Roberti fratris Willelmi Pevrelli, Simonis comitis, Stephani comitis de Alber”. “Robertus de Laceio” founded Pontefract Priory, for the soul of “Hylberti patris mei et Hawisiæ matris meæ”, by undated charter witnessed by “W. Peverel…”
The Cartulary of the Priory of St James, Northampton records the death “V Kal Feb” of “Willi Peverell fundatoris”. 1
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One persistent but unverifiable tradition holds that the earliest William Peverel was the son of William the Conqueror by a Saxon princess, born before his marriage to Matilda of Flanders. And says Ranulph was the husband of that Saxon lady who fathered several half-siblings of her first child. Most would identify this Ranulph as identical to "Wrenoc" (which they claim is the same name as "Gronwy" in Welsh) and a son of Tudor ap Rhys Sais... And the Saxon princess is usually called Maud, daughter of Ingelric; the latter supposedly being a base son of Aethelred the Unready... While Rhys Sais did hold Whittington before the conquest and his son Tudor appears in the Domeday Book as a tenant of lands held under Earl Roger de Montgomery, the chronology connecting that Welsh family to the Peverel's is flawed. 2
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