Mellett History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Mellett was first found in Suffolk where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor of Cidestan. "All the families of this name in England trace their descent from the renowned William Lord Mallet de Graville, one of the great barons who accompanied William the Conqueror." 1

"No figure stands out more vividly in the great battle of the Conquest than does 'Guillame whom they call Malet,' as Wace suggests for bravery." 2

William, Lord Malet of Greville was one of the greatest landowners in England, having 221 manors in Suffolk alone. He was ancestor of the Mallets of Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, and those now resident in Jersey. William Mallet was descended from Gerard, a Viking prince and companion of Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy, about 950. They held the castle of Graville near Havre. Maternally, William Mallet was a Saxon, descended from the Earls of Mercia, and more distantly related to Morcar and Edwin, Earls of Northumberland. William Mallet was at the Battle of Hastings, and was instructed by William the Conqueror to take care of the slain King Harold's body. 3 In 1068, he proceeded north with William and led in the reduction of the cities of Nottingham and York.

Robert Malet or Mallet (d. 1106?), Baron of Eye, was "the elder son of William Malet of Graville, and succeeded to his father's possessions on his father's death in 1076. At Eye, Malet built and endowed a monastery of Benedictine monks. From his position he enjoyed considerable influence in the eastern counties, and he took a prominent part in repressing the rebellion of Ralph, Earl of Norfolk, in 1075-6, and in the capture of Norwich Castle which followed. In King William's grant of the manor of Fracenham to Archbishop Lanfranc, Malet is styled vice-comes or sheriff, and later on, at the beginning of Henry I's reign, he appears as great chamberlain of England. In the struggle between Henry and Duke Robert, Malet espoused Robert's cause, and shortly after Henry's accession he was banished from England, together with other adherents of Robert, and his estates in England were confiscated and bestowed by Henry upon Stephen of Blois. He retired to Normandy, and is supposed to have been killed at the battle of Tinchebrai in 1106." 4

"Mallett is a slightly altered form of a very ancient name in Norfolk, where it has remained ever since the time of William the Conqueror, when Roger Mallet or Malet, lord of Eye in Suffolk, received an extensive grant of lands. The name of Malet was common in the adjoining county of Lincoln as well as in the distant county of Somerset in the reign of Edward I." 5

Early feudal rolls provided the king of the time a method of cataloguing holdings for taxation, but today they provide a glimpse into the wide use of the name throughout ancient Britain. The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 included Malet filius Henry. C. Baldwin Malet, Somerset; Sarra Malet, Cambridgeshire; and Harvey Malet, Buckinghamshire. 6

The Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I. included Alan Malet in Derbyshire, Henry III-Edward I. 7

The Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 listed Magota Malet and Yohannes Malet as holding lands there at that time. 6