Page:The Boynton family and the family seat of Burton Agnes.djvu/13



To write an account of a family like that of Boynton is by no means easy, from the fact that the members have lived for the most part the lives of quiet country gentlemen, thoroughly interested in, and enjoying country pursuits, leaving politics and other affairs that draw men into the light of public knowledge, more or less alone. With the exception of Henry Boynton who was opposed to King Henry IV, and Sir Matthew Boynton, the first Baronet, with his son Matthew, both of whom gained notoriety during the Civil War of the 17th century, we cannot call any of the family historic characters. All this makes it hard to identify the various members and their relationship one to another in the earlier generations.

Of Bartholomew de Boynton, who is claimed as the founder of the family, I find no contemporary evidence whatever; nor am I able to identify any members of the family before 1182, when I find Walter de Bovington buying land of Riches de Arnallia, in Arnallia

Adam de Bovington I find witnessing documents in the Chartulary of Guisbrough Priory, and also in that of Bridlington Priory, but I have been unable to say what relation he bears to his contemporaries, Walter the buyer of land in Arnold and Walter's brother William.