Recorded in many forms as shown below, this is a very early English medieval surname, but of Fernch origins. Probably introduced into the British Isles at or immediately after the Norman Conquest of 1066, it derives from the word "enveisie", meaning playful. It was used as a nickname for a bright, cheerful person, or given the sardonic and robust Chaucerian humour of the period, the absolute opposite! Derived ultimately from the Latin "vitium" meaning pleasure, it is recorded once only in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 with that of Robertus Invesiatus of Cambridge. However this was not a hereditary surname, it simply described one Robert, the sporting (or playful)! There are said to be twenty nine versions of the modern surname including Vaisey, Vasey, Veysey, Voysey, Facey, Fasey and Pheazey. The name development in England over the many centuries and taken from charters and pipe rolls, has included Adam le Veyse of Somerset in 1270, William Veysy of Cheshire in 1357, Robert Feysy of Nottinghamshire in 1395, and John Vasey of Suffolk in 1456. The marriage of Anthony Facey and Blanch Sampson was recorded at St. Dunstan's in the East, Stepney, on July 22nd 1641. The first recorded spelling of the family name is believed to be that of Robert Lenveiset. This was dated 1131, in the records of Rieveaux Abbey, Yorkshire, during the reign of King Henry 1st, and known as "The Lion of Justice", 1100 - 1135. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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