Gurney Genealogy Library Updated 29 May 2026 by Allen Gurney

Edmund Gournay (d. 1387)

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Lawyer of eminence; steward of John of Gaunt's East Anglian estates; standing counsel to the city of Norwich; husband of the heiress who brought West Barsham into the family.

Born
c. 1340–1350, Harpley, Norfolk. Son of John de Gournay IV (G24). First attested 1354, keeping court at Harpley "on Thursday next before the feast of the conversion of St. Paul" (early January, 34 Edw. III). 1
Died
1387. Will dated at West Barsham on Thursday, the feast of the Ascension of Our Lord in that year (May 1387). Proved the same year. 2
Occupation / Religion
Lawyer of eminence. Justice of the peace for Norfolk (1370 and 1375). Royal commissioner (multiple appointments). Steward of John of Gaunt's East Anglian estates, 1372–1387. Standing counsel to the city of Norwich and borough of Bishop's Lynn (King's Lynn). 3
Buried
Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, West Barsham, Norfolk. Directed by will; 8s. to be distributed to the poor on his burial day. 4
Marriage(s)
Katherine de Wauncy — daughter of Sir William de Wauncy, Knt., of West Barsham, Lord of Depden (Suffolk) and Denver (Norfolk). Katherine was eventually sister and heir of Sir Edmund de Wauncy, who died in 1372 leaving only an infant son who also died soon after, bringing the entire West Barsham estate to Edmund Gournay in right of his wife. The marriage and the resulting Wauncy descent are independently confirmed by Francis Blomefield in his West Barsham parish entry: "this lordship came to Edmund Gurney, by the marriage of Catherine, daughter of Sir William, and sister of Sir Edward Wauci." A grant of 100 marks per year from the West Barsham and Denver manors was settled on Edmund and Katherine by her father, dated 31 Edward III (1357). 5

Highlights

  • He acquired West Barsham — and made it the family's home for three centuries. Through Katherine de Wauncy, Edmund inherited the ancient manor of West Barsham when her brother's line failed in 1372. The estate had been in the Wauncy family since Domesday Book, when Hugo de Wanci held it under the Earl Warren. From Edmund's death in 1387 until the family became extinct in the direct male line in 1661, the Gurneys were the Gurneys of West Barsham. The hall that still stands — its 16th-century north wing Grade II listed — is the building that Edmund's descendants expanded and occupied. 6
  • Steward of John of Gaunt's East Anglian estates, 1372–1387. John of Gaunt — Duke of Lancaster, father of the future Henry IV, and the most powerful man in England after the king — retained Edmund as his steward for the East Anglian portion of his vast holdings. Edmund was not merely a local gentleman; he was a trusted officer of the most powerful magnate in the realm, managing revenues and legal affairs on a scale that dwarfed anything the Norfolk gentry typically handled. 7
  • Counsel to both Norwich and Bishop's Lynn simultaneously. Edmund and his colleague Edmund de Clipesby served as "the standing council for the city of Norwich, in the nature of recorder and steward." Bishop's Lynn (modern King's Lynn) also sought his counsel. This made him one of the most prominent legal figures in East Anglia — a man whose opinion two major urban corporations paid to retain. 8
  • His arms impaled the Wauncy coat — and the evidence survives. Edmund's arms (an engrailed cross, argent — that is, a silver cross with a scalloped edge) impaling the Wauncy coat (gules, three dexter hand-gloves pointed downwards, argent) were visible in a window of "Gurney's Place" in St. Julian's parish, Norwich, when Mr. Norris recorded them. The same impaled coat was still visible in a window of Denton church, Norfolk, as of Daniel Gurney's writing in 1848. 9
  • The patent and close rolls are full of him. Daniel Gurney catalogues Edmund's appearances across at least fifteen separate royal instruments: justice of the peace, commissioner for forcible entry, commissioner for customs fraud, arbitrator between the prior of Norwich and the prioress of Carrow, special commissioner for Queen Philippa's manor, justice for piracy inquiry, and more. He is one of the most thoroughly documented ancestors in the entire lineage. 10

Children

Name Dates Mother Notes
Sir John Gurney V, Knt. d. 1408 Katherine de Wauncy Eldest son. Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk 1400; steward to Earl of Arundel; returned to Parliament 1399; held 8 Norfolk manors + 1 Suffolk manor. His son Edmond died under age — line extinct. 11
Robert Gournay fl. c. 1370–1420 Katherine de Wauncy G22 in direct line. Second son. Daniel Gurney notes "whom we believe was named Robert." Married Joan de Norwich. His son Thomas I (G21) inherited the estates after Sir John's line failed. 12
Jeanne Gurney fl. c. 1370s Katherine de Wauncy Married Osbert Mundeford of Hockwold, Esq., who was also one of Edmund's executors. 13

Narrative

Edmund Gournay is the ancestor who transformed the family’s position in Norfolk society. His predecessors at Harpley had been respectable minor gentry — knights and esquires of moderate standing. Edmund became something considerably more: a lawyer of county-wide reputation, retained by the city of Norwich (the Norwich City Treasurers’ accounts record him at 20 shillings a year, paid in the same paragraph as Edmund de Clipesby), by the borough of Bishop’s Lynn, and — most impressively of all — by John of Gaunt himself, as steward or joint steward of the Duke’s East Anglian estates almost continuously from 1372 until Edmund’s death.87

Edmund’s Gaunt connection is the key to his leap in status. Gaunt was not just another noble employer: in the 1370s and 1380s he was the royal uncle whose lands, household, and political reach made him one of the strongest forces in England. Edmund’s job was to help make that East Anglian machinery work.7

At the same time, he was accumulating a dense record of royal commissions. The Patent and Close Rolls of Edward III and Richard II mention him repeatedly: appointing him justice of the peace, commissioner for customs fraud, arbitrator between ecclesiastical houses, special commissioner for the queen’s manor, and investigator of piracy in Norfolk roads. He was, in the language of the period, a man of business — the kind of trusted, legally trained professional whom both great lords and urban corporations needed to manage their affairs.10

His most consequential personal act was his marriage to Katherine de Wauncy. Her family had held West Barsham since before Domesday Book. Through a tragedy of infant mortality — her brother Sir Edmund de Wauncy died in 1372 leaving only a seven-year-old son who also died soon after — the entire West Barsham estate came to Edmund in right of his wife. He became lord of West Barsham and moved the family’s primary seat there from Harpley. In 1357 his father-in-law had already settled 100 marks per year from the West Barsham and Denver manors on Edmund and Katherine; by 1375, Edmund was leasing out the manor in a 180-year indenture signed at West Barsham, sealing with the engrailed cross.56

He died in 1387 at West Barsham, directing burial in the parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. The fuller Latin copy of his will names four executors — Katherine his wife, John his son, Osbert de Mundeford, and Thomas Kempe — and adds a vivid burial scene: thirteen poor men in white vestments holding torches around his body, with alms distributed to the poor present at the funeral. It also includes a striking restitution clause directing his heirs to compensate anyone he had unjustly dispossessed of land (disseised), injured, extorted, or wrongfully detained property from.15 His son Sir John V succeeded and built further on Edmund’s legal foundations. Edmund’s second son Robert — the direct ancestor — would in due course inherit when Sir John’s line failed.1112

Citations

  1. Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, p. 357: "Son and heir of the before mentioned John de Gourney IV, kept his first court at Harpley in 1354, on Thursday next before the feast of the conversion of St. Paul." Birth estimated c. 1340–1350 based on this first court appearance. ↩
  2. Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, p. 363: "Edmund Gurney died in 1387; his will is dated at West Barsham, on Thursday the feast of the Ascension of our Lord in that year." Will proved same year: Reg. Harsyke, fol. 34, Bishop's office at Norwich. Independent confirmation from Francis Blomefield, An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk, vol. vii (London: William Miller, 1807), "Gallow and Brothercross Hundreds: West-Barsham," pp. 42–47: "The will of this Edmund is dated at West-Barsham, on Thursday, the feast of the Ascension of our Lord in 1387. He bequeaths his body to be buried in the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in this town, and 8l. to be distributed to the poor here, on his burial day; Katherine his wife to have all her dower, and all his utensils in his house, and her part of all his other goods; appoints Osbert de Mundeford, and Thomas Kempe, his executors. Witnesses, William de Mildenhal, vicar of West-Barsham, Nicholas de Barsham, &c.; and was proved in the same year." Available via British History Online. ↩
  3. Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, pp. 358–363: extended catalogue of Patent and Close Roll entries. Justice of peace: Pat. 44 and 49 Edw. III. Stewardship of Gaunt: History of Parliament Online (Edmund Gurney, d. 1387). Counsel to Norwich and Lynn: Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, p. 359. ↩
  4. Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, p. 363: "He bequeathed his body to be buried in the church of the Assumption of the blessed Virgin in that town, and 8l. to be distributed to the poor on his burial day." ↩
  5. Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, pp. 357–358: Katherine daughter of Sir William de Wauncy. Grant of 100 marks: "dated 31 Edward III (1357). The said deed of Wauncy, sealed with a splayed Falcon on a scutcheon." West Barsham acquisition: her brother Sir Edmund de Wauncy died 1372; his son died soon after; lordship of West Barsham came to Edmund de Gurney "in right of his wife, daughter of Sir William, and sister and heir of Sir Edmund de Wauncy." Independent confirmation from Francis Blomefield, An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk, vol. vii (London: William Miller, 1807), "Gallow and Brothercross Hundreds: West-Barsham," pp. 42–47: "Edmund de Wauci ... died in the 46th of Edward III. leaving by Joan his wife, Edmund, his son and heir, aged 7 years; this Edmund died soon after, on whose death this lordship came to Edmund Gurney, by the marriage of Cat[herine, daughter of Sir William, and sister of Sir Edward Wauci]. In the 41st of Edward III. a fine was levied between Edmund Gurney, and Katherine his wife, querents, Thomas de Beeston, trustees, &c. deforcients of the moiety of the manor of West-Barsham, settled on Edmund and Katherine, in tail." Available via British History Online. ↩
  6. Daniel Gurney, Record (1848), p. 279: "From this period this family of the Gurneys were principally seated at West Barsham for many generations." West Barsham Hall north wing: Grade II listed; hall burned 1815; 16th-century north wing survives. DG Appendix LXIII (Wauncy family): Domesday Survey records Hugo de Wanci holding West Barsham under Earl Warren in 1086. ↩
  7. L. S. Woodger, "GURNEY, John (d.1408), of Harpley and West Barsham, Norf.," in J. S. Roskell, L. Clark, and C. Rawcliffe, eds., The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1386-1421 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), History of Parliament Online. The biography states that Sir John's father Edmund "served John of Gaunt as either steward or joint steward" of the East Anglian estates almost continuously from 1372 to 1387, and also supplies the non-DG support for Edmund's counsel being sought by Norwich and Bishop's Lynn. Source IDs: history-of-parliament-online-gurney-1386-1421, hop-gurney. ↩
  8. Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, p. 359: "these two, Clipesby and Gurney, were the standing council for the city of Norwich, in the nature of recorder and steward." The underlying Norwich record is William Hudson and John Cottingham Tingey, eds., The Records of the City of Norwich (Norwich and London: Jarrold, 1910), vol. ii, "Selected Records of the City of Norwich," pp. 44 and 47, recording 20s. yearly to "Edmund Gornay for his fee this year" in the same fee paragraph as Edmund de Clipesby. Internet Archive: archive.org/stream/recordsofcityofn02norwuoft/recordsofcityofn02norwuoft_djvu.txt. For Bishop's Lynn, use the History of Parliament biography cited in note 7; a local Lynn primary account for the counsel phrase has not yet been isolated. Source IDs: norwich-records-hudson-tingey-vol2, history-of-parliament-online-gurney-1386-1421. ↩
  9. Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, p. 358: "Mr. Norris conjectures that his house in Norwich was Gurney's Place in St. Julian's parish, in a window of which house Mr. Kirkpatrick saw his arms impaling one of the coats of de Wauncy, Gules, 3 dexter hand gloves pointed downwards argent. This coat is now to be seen in a window of Denton church in Norfolk." ↩
  10. Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, pp. 358–363: fifteen-plus royal instrument citations from Patent and Close Rolls, 36–50 Edw. III and into Richard II's reign. ↩
  11. Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, p. 374 (John V chapter); History of Parliament Online (John Gurney, d. 1408). ↩
  12. Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, p. 363: "a second son, whom we believe was named Robert." Pedigree by Cook, Clarenceux, 1622. See G22 fact sheet. ↩
  13. Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, p. 363: "also a daughter Jeanne, married to Osbert Mundeford of Hockwold, Esq. who was one of the executors of his will." Source: Pedigree by Cook, Clarenceux, 1622. ↩
  14. Francis Blomefield, An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk, vol. 5 (London: W. Miller, 1806), pp. 33–39, "Cringleford" / "Berford's Manor"; British History Online. Source ID: blomefield-norfolk-vol5-pp33-cringleford-berford. ↩
  15. Daniel Gurney, Supplement to the Record of the House of Gournay (1858), Note 118, pp. 789–791, full Latin copy of Edmund Gurnay's will from Harl. MSS. 10, fol. 144 / pencil 148, copied from the decayed Registrum Harsyke. Names Katherine his wife, John his son, Osbert de Mundeford, and Thomas Kempe as executors; specifies thirteen paupers in white vestments holding thirteen torches around the body; and includes the restitution clause for wrongfully detained, extorted, or disseised property. Source ID: dg-rec-supp. ↩