AVENEL: A surname, says Anderson, "now scarcely known except in the pages of romance, once borne by high and powerful barons, whose descendants, if any now exist, have long ceased to be called by the name of their progenitors" (Scot. Nat., I, p. 170). The name is territorial, from Avenville in the department of Orne. The first of the name in Scotland was Robertus Avenel who witnessed charters in the reigns of David I, Malcolm IV, and William the Lion. He received from David I grants of Upper and Lower Eskdale, and was a generous benefactor to the Abbey of Melrose, bestowing on the monks of that house a large portion of his lands in Upper Eskdale (Melros, 39). Some time after 1175 he became a humble monk in that house and died in 1185: "Obiit Robertus Auenel novicius, familiaris noster, viij idus Martii," and, adds the pious chronicler, "cujus beata anima, semper vivat in gloria" (Chron. Mailr., p. 93). For some eighty years the family was prominent in the history of Scotland. It ended in the direct line in Roger Avenel who died in 1243, and his daughter and heiress married Henry de Graham of Abercorn, into whose hands the Avenel estates passed.

The French Avenel, from the place- name Avenelle (Orne) or Aves- nelles (Nord) = the Oat-Fields. [Cp. Low Latin avenariæ, from Latin avena, oats] Victe. et Victesse G. d'Avenel.-Paris Directory.

But the name also appears to be a per­sonal one (with the diminutive suff. -el), poss. of Celtic origin: there is, however, much ob­scurity.

John Avenel. —Hundred Rolls

AVENEL: The sire des Biars, who was at the battle of Hastings (Taylor's Roman de Rou., pp. 219,227), bore the name of Avenals, without prefix. William Avennel probably the "sire" referred to, was lord of Biars, in the canton d'Isigny, and seneschal to the Count of Mortain. (De Gerville, Mem. Soc. Ant. Norm). It does not appear whether the surname was originally derived from Avenelles, in the department of Eure.