William de Percy Domesday
d. 1096
Vitals
Family
About
William de Percy, called Als-gernons for the whiskers he wore in a clean-shaven age, came from Percy in Normandy in the Conqueror's wake and held some hundred and eighteen manors in Domesday Book, the foundation of everything the name Percy later meant. He took the cross in old age and died near Jerusalem about 1096 on the First Crusade, the earliest crusader in this ancestry. The nickname he wore became, in time, the hereditary Percy forename Algernon.
Research notes
WILLIAM de PERCY (d. c.1096), DOMESDAY tenant-in-chief of ~118 manors, founder of the English Percys, from Percy in Normandy; father of Alan de Percy (our line). *** DOCUMENTED HEAD of the Percy line; Norman origins above note-only. Direct ancestor. ||27 Oct 2026 - WIFE WIRED (✓)|| Emma de Port, who brought Hambledon, Hants, in marriage (CP X 'Percy' p.438). CP pp.435-437: 'whose parentage is unknown', came with Hugh d'Avranches c.1067, worked on York Castle 1070, in the Scottish expedition 1072, Domesday tenant-in-chief in the three ridings, built Topcliffe castle, refounded Whitby by 1086, 'In 1096 he set out on the first Crusade, and he d. and was bur. at Mount Joy, near Jerusalem.' Source: Complete Peerage 2nd ed. vol. X (1945), 'Percy' pp.435-447 and notes (page images supplied by Aynsley, read 27 Oct 2026).