Vance Web Site

My name is Andrew Vance and I started this site.This site was created using MyHeritage.com. This is a great system that allows anyone like you and me to create a private site for their family, build their family tree and share family photos. Be sure to visit the Discussion Boards on the Activities tab!!!Please note that this information is work in progress and some of it may be inaccurate.  Your help is appreciated in rectifying any mistakes.Thank you! --------------------Vance --> de Vaux --> de Beaux? -------------------------- Norman family of de Vaux originated in Rouen, northern France, and settled in England following the Norman Conquest of 1066. Two de Vaux brothers, or cousins, were among a number of Anglo-Norman knights invited to Scotland, and granted land, by King David I of Scotland in the 12th century. Hubert de Vaux was given the barony of Gilsland in Cumbria, at that time part of Scotland, while John de Vaux was granted the barony of Dirleton. John built a castle at Eldbotle, probably to the north-west of modern Dirleton, and another, named Tarbet Castle, on the island of Fidra, although neither survives. In 1220, Fidra was gifted to the monks of Dryburgh Abbey by William de Vaux. William's son, another John, had been held hostage in England as surety for the good conduct of King William the Lion in 1213, and succeeded to the barony in the 1220s. He then began the construction of a replacement for Tarbet at Dirleton, which was recorded as a "castellum"; in 1225, although this may refer to an earlier timber structure. In 1239, de Vaux was appointed seneschal, or steward, to Marie de Coucy, on her marriage to King Alexander II. Marie de Coucy was the daughter of Enguerrand III, Lord of Coucy (d.1242), builder of the Chateau de Coucy, in Picardy (c.1220s), which probably served as a model for Dirleton. The 13th-century stone castle, of which only the donjon, or keep, remains, represented a show of de Vaux's status, and would have required peaceful times to permit a prolonged construction project.  Peaceful times ended in 1296, with the outbreak of the Wars of Scottish Independence. Dirleton, which guarded the route between Edinburgh and the English border, changed hands several times through the invasions of the English under King Edward I. During the campaign of summer 1298, the castle was besieged by English forces under Antony Bek, the Bishop of Durham. Dirleton withstood the assault for several months, until the English victory at Falkirk allowed them to bring up large siege engines, after which the castle was soon reduced. Dirleton was garrisoned by the English, but must have been retaken by the Scots before 1306, when the English commander Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke recaptured Dirleton once more. It was finally retaken by the Scots some time before 1314, and was slighted, or deliberately damaged, to prevent its reuse by the English. The castle and lands of Dirleton passed to the Borders family of Haliburton (or Halyburton) when John Haliburton (d.1355) married the heiress of the de Vaux family, shortly before 1350