Given that Adam's father Swein fitz Alric is listed as a land owner of note in the 1066 survey it is unlikely that Adam was born as late as 1118. There is a charter that intimates that Adam was able to sue for inheritance in or around 1123. Adam would have to have been at least 21 at that time to be able to deal with this matter without a guardian acting on his behalf.
Swane son of Alric was dead in 1130, when Hervey de Vescy?? (possibly incorrect) ("de Veceio ") owed ^10 for the wife of Suein son of Alric with her dower in Cumberland, 1 and Adam son of the same Suein rendered account of 5 marks for his mother's dower in Yorkshire after her death, 2 she being then alive. The above gift purports to have been confirmed by Henry I, by a
charter 3 attested by the archbishop of York, and by 12 of the clergy and
laymen who attested the charter of Hugh de Laval, confirming his own
gifts and those of Robert de Lascy to the monks of La Charite at Kirkby
(Pontefract), and to which, if genuine, the date 1123-1124 may be assigned.
(Chartul. of Pontefract, at Woolley Hall, f. fod. Pd. in Charlul. of Pontc-
fract, n. 378.)
We can be sure of the date of his death as that is also recorded in the Chartulary of St. John of Pontefract:
Adam fitz Swain fitz Ailric died in 1159, a few months before the
consecration of the new buildings of St. John's monastery, destroyed in
the wars of the time of king Stephen; and almost the exact date of his
death can be deduced with certainty from the Pipe Rolls. For besides
his land in Yorkshire and Cumberland, Adam fitz Swain farmed of the
king the royal town of Doncaster, paying a yearly rent of J~6o for it;
and year by year the sheriff as a matter of course made a return of
the condition, Dr. and Cr., of his account with the royal treasury.
Given Adam's many achievements it would suggest a dob of 1100 or possibly a few years earlier.. In the year 1100 his Father Swain Fitz Alric would have been around 55.
Adam Fitzswain had at least two brothers; Richard de Robert de Snydale and Henry de Denby. The names Snydale & Denby are related to a villages close to where Swein and Alric held lands and most researchers seem to have deferred to those places. However, Henry spent a great deal of time in Cumberland where he, his Father and brother Adam held lands and he was also a vassal of the King of Scotland and witnessed several royal charters. It would also appear that Henry left male heirs;
that, in fact, at this time a seal belonged
to a person, not to a family. It is in the Additional Charters,
No. 7423, a confirmation charter to Byland Abbey granted by Symon
son of Henry de Denebi (a younger brother of Adam fitz Swain).
(Chartulary of St. John of Pontefract)
It adds, "and because I have not a seal, I have sealed this charter
with the seal of Jordan my brother."
There is also a claim to a third brother Richard de Bretton but I am unsure of the provenance of this and personally am dubious.
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