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Gotts Surname Family History
Earliest known occurrences of the name
- 1095 The earliest reference is Godui GOTT in 1095 in Bury St Edmunds (Reaney)
- 1330 of John de la Gote in Yorkshire (Bardsley)
- 1335 & 1356 John GOTTE is a witness in Sudbury, Suffolk (Harley charters British Library)
In both these cases John Gotte is a witness to land records, which would be in the manorial court. He does not seem to be involved in the transaction, only a witness to it, so presumably he had some standing in the community? The first is in 1335, for Johanna, wife of Peter of Reydon. His name is third line from the bottom, and synopsis is also in Latin:
- 1188 GOTTE filius Wulfrici in York Pipe Rolls (Reaney)
- 1195 Gilbertus filius GOTTE in Lincoln Pipe Rolls (Reaney)
- 1202 Haldan GOTTE in Lincoln Assize Records (Reaney)
- 1200’s Several records in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire as GOTTE, continuing through to GOTT now (FanUK)
- 1256 Bishop Walter of Suffield’s will in Norwich Great Hospital mentions:”to GOTTE of South Elmham three marks”. South Elmham is just over the border into Suffolk. Here is the entry:
Abbot Baldwin of Bury St Edmunds was a powerful man, physician to William II (Rufus) and he commissioned a survey of the lands owned by the Abbey which was published in 1095. The book is unusual in the level of detail it gives on the individuals.
DC Douglas has published a transcription of his Black Book of Feudal Aids.
Six villages are described in detail, one of which is ‘Theowardstre Hundred’ or Thedwestry. In ‘Bertune’ (probably Beyton, six miles East of Bury St Edmunds) it notes there were 70 free men and farm labourers on 5 carucates of land.
One of these was Godui Gotte with ‘vi acras et vi denarios’. So he was a free man and farmed 6 acres with a rent of 6 (very old) pence.