William de Percy

William I (Willame) de Percy (d.1096/9), 1st feudal baron of Topcliffe in North Yorkshire, known as Willame als gernons (meaning "with whiskers"), was a Norman nobleman who arrived in England immediately after the Norman Conquest of 1066. He was the founder via an early 13th century female line of the powerful English House of Percy, Earls of Northumberland, and via an 18th century female line of the Dukes of Northumberland. Origins The Cartulary of Whitby Abbey states that Hugh d'Avranches (later 1st Earl of Chester) and William de Percy arrived in England in 1067, one year after the Norman Conquest. It is possible that Percy had been one of the Normans to whom King Edward the Confessor had given lands, but who were later expelled by King Harold (d.1066). This may explain Percy's unusual Norman epithet, Als gernons ("Bewhiskered"), as the Normans were generally clean-shaven, unlike the English, and possibly Percy had assimilated the local custom. Later generations of Percys would use the sobriquet in the form of the first name "Algernon". The name was taken from Percy, a fief near Villedieu in the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy. This suggests either of today's villages of Villedieu-lès-Bailleul, in the Orne département or Villedieu-les-Poêles, in the Manche département.