Reading Mr. Yeatman* is like opening a box of chocolates, people just pick out the chocolate that is most attractive to their tastebuds. He offered chocolates to suit all prejudice. If he were with us now, he would not, as an inteligent person, have opined that the Heriz took their toponym from Hericourt; an ‘out-of-the-top-of-the-head’ orthological projection, if presented with facts to the contrary: The Heriz family held la (Héris)siere, Haye-Pesnel, Avranches, of the Peverels, under Hugh d’Avranches (obit. July 27, 1101). Geoffrey de Heriz is recorded in Avranches with ‘les hommes de Guillaume Peverel sont du diocèse d’Avranches’ (Société d’archéologie et d’histoire de la Manche, 1992, Identification des notables de l’Avranchin et du Cotentin cités dans le livre noir de l’abbaye de la Lucerne, 1143-1309, p. 56). Hence the Heriz armorial of three hedgehogs, a pun on a contraction of their toponym (Heris), with Le Hérisson being an hedgehog. This has long since been known: ‘Le sire de Heriz fit construire son château de la Hérissière, dont les soubassements servent an château actuel'(Revue de l’Avranchin et du pays de Granville, vols. 27-28). Heris, the contraction of Hérissière, was a common spelling in official documents: ‘Hugo de Heris tenet Stapilford … Robertus de Heris, militem … Willelmus de Heris, milit …’ (R.B.E). Hérissiere was also called La Rochelle-le-Hericiere (D.N., v. xi., p. 379, 1776), and another common spelling of Heriz was Herice, a contraction of Hericiere. *John Pym Yeatman. Lost certificates of Knight’s fees for the counties of Nottingham and Derby.

What can not be proved is that Geoffrey Alselin’s son was Geoffrey de Heriz, aforesaid.

Of the Alselins, much as been conjectured by antiquarians as to how the fee of Geoffrey Alselin was transmitted to descendants of his family. I see no good reasion why the verdict of ‘The inquest taken at Shelford on Friday next before the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, 16th Oct., 1304’, given as follows, should be considered inferior to any other interpretation. Supposition about the Alselin family seems to be bedevilled by a person of one generation being confounded with a namesake of the next, a not uncommon problem.

Geoffrey Alselin was a tenant at Domesday in Lincolnhire, where King William gave ‘to Allan Rufus, Earl of Britain and Richmond, 101 lordships. Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent, 76. Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland, 2. Judith, Countess of Northumberland. 17. Robert Vesci 7. William Mallet, 1. Nigil de Albini, 12. Robert de Stafford, 20. William de Percy, 32. Walter D’Eincourt, 17. Guy de Creon or Crown, 61, Goisfred Hanselin, 15. Ranulph de St. Valery, 6. William le Blound or Blunt, 6. Robert de Todenes,’32.’ Ralph de Mortimer, 7. Henry de Ferrers, 2. Norman d’Arcie, 33. Alured de Lincoln, 51. Walter Bee, 1. Ralph Paganel, 15. Ernisius Burun, 28. Gilbert de Gondavo or Gaunt, grandson of Baldwin, Earl of Flanders, 113′(Hist. Of Lincoln, Drury and sons, 1816).

Geoffrey Alselin also held in Nottingham: ‘The next fact, however, that we arrive at is, that at the time of the compilation of Domesday Book (1080-1086), William Peverel held one hundred and sixty-two manors in England; and possessed in Nottingham alone, fortyeight merchants’ or traders’ houses, thirteen knights’ houses, and eight bondsmen’s cottages; besides ten acres of land granted to him by the king to make an orchard; and the churches of St. Mary, St. Peter, and St. Nicholas; all three of which we find he gave, with their land, tythe, and appurtenances, by his charter, to the piiory of Lenton. Goisfred de Alseline, or Hanselin, lord of Shelford, the next great proprietor in Nottingham, had twenty-one houses; Ralph de Burun, thirteen knights’ houses; and Robert de Busli, eleven’ (British Arch. Assoc. vol 8, p. 196, 1853).

He must have been born circa 1035, as he held jointly with a nephew in 1086: ‘Ruskington, an extensive parish in the hundred of Flaxwell, parts of Kesteven, Lincolnshire, is described in Domesday under the heading Terra Goisfredi Alselin, Laxewelle Wapentacha, by the uame of Rescliintone, and at that time was in the joint tenure of Goisfred Alselin and his nephew Ralph, save six bovates of land, which Drogo de Bevrere, (La Beuvriere, canton de Bethune, arrondissement de Bethune, departement du Pas de Calais,) held. Attached to it were three berewicks, Amwick, Bransewell, and Evedon, and an extensive make. The Priory of Haverholme was within the limits of this parish, on an island of 300 acres, formed by two branches of the Sleaford river, and having been relinquished by the Cistercian monks of the abbey of Fountains, who repaired to Louth Park, Alexander Bishop of Lincoln. by charter, in the year 1139, bestowed this site upon a monastery of the order of Sempringham; at which date the parish was of the joint tenure of Ralph Hanselin and Robert de Calz, to whom the Bishop gave a mill in exchange for their shares. Cam Soc. 34, cxxiii., 1846.

A reading of De antiquis legibus liber; Cronica maiorum et vicecomitum Londoniarum (lxxxvii – xci) informs that as early as the 8th year of Henry I., 1108, the barony of Geoffrey Alselin had been divided between his nephew’s son, Robert de Caux, and Geoffrey Halselin-, his own son, the relevant section being given as follows:

‘Sir John Bardolf was summoned as a baron to attend Parliament from 8th March, 27th Edw. I. 1299, to 29th Sept. 30th Edw. I. 1302, and was the twenty-second peer who subscribed the letter to the pope at Lincoln, 12th Feb. 1300, 29th Edw. I. by the style and title of Dominus de Wirmegeye. The earliest inquisition taken after his decease is dated at Bures on Tuesday the morrow of St. Matthew the Apostle, 22nd Sept. 1304, which manor was of the inheritance of his wife, and held of the king in capite by the service of the fifth part of one knight’s fief, and he will have died in that month. Under the heading Extenta terrarum et tenementorum que fuerunt Hugonis Bardolf defuncti, we have this summary of their value. Norfolcia, Manerium de Wyrmegay cum Rungeton, Fyncham, Stowe et Well, Quynbergh, Cantley, Castreet Strumpshagh. Summa clxviili vis. iiid.* Bedeford. Redditus in Houtone, ix.s. i.d. Nottingham. Shelford

(William de Wormegai) assumed the local surname from this residence, a proof that he was a younger brother of Henry de Ferrariis, baron of Ferrieres in Normandy. In 1168, William de Wormegai held in capite of the king fourteen knight’s fiefs and a half, all of whom had been enfeoffed in the time of King Henry I., except Richard, son of Wace, whom his father had enfeoffed of his demesne afterwards, whereof he did the service of the fourth part of a knight. Of the see of Norwich he also held ten knight’s fiefs. The inquisition on the death of Hugh Bardolf describes Wormegey cum membris, Rungeton, Fincham, Stowe et Welle et Quynberg as held by barony, and the render of eight shillings each month towards the custody of the castle of the king at Norwich. Of the foundation of the family of Warren, was a priory of canons of the order of Saint Augustine, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the Holy Cross, and St. John the Evangelist, who were patrons of the parish church under the invocation of St. Michael, which curacy has been described by Ecton and Willis as that of the Holy Cross. Cantley and Caistor were parcel of the inheritance of Juliana de Gournay, and Strumpshaw was an acquisition from Sir Stephen de Strumpshaw, who in the fourth year of the reign Edw. I., 1276, enfeoffed William Bardolf and Juliana de Gournay, his wife, of this manor, with its appurtenances, and was held of Sir John de Wauton by the service of half an ounce of silk or muslin annually, or 6d. at Michaelmas. * Houghton, near Dunstaple, com. Bedf., Bledlow, Wendover, and Hulcott, com. Bucks, and Birling, near Eastbourne, com. Sussex, were all of the barony of Gournay, and Shelford com. Notts was the caput of the barony of Ralph Hanselyn. The inquest taken at Shelford on Friday next before the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, 16th Oct., 1304, describes the lands in Shelford to be held with other lands in divers counties of the lord the King in capite by the service of the moiety of one barony. The same jury say that Thomas Bardolf is the next heir of the said Hugh, and is of the age of 22 years and more, and that the court then was worth annually xiiis, iiiid. Sum of the whole extent xli. xviiid. ob. quad. Stoke Bardolf was also part of the same moiety, owing the service of one knight’s fief, and valued at xvili. vis. ob. As early as the 8th year of Henry I., 1108, the barony of Geoffrey Alselin had been divided between his nephew’s son, Robert de Caux, and Geoffrey Halselin, his own son, as appears by this entry in Jerbure wapentake containing the amount of land held by each tenant in capite at that date, Cotton. MS. Claudius C. v. Rodbertus de Chalz et Goffridus Halselinus in Wragebi iiii carucatas, et v bovataset tertiam partem unius bovate. At the time of Domesday survey, Geoffrey Alselin was tenant of Wrawby, and Ralph, his nephew, held it under Geoffrey, as also of a berewick and soke of this manor in Elsham and Kettleby, which descended to their heirs. In 1131, Ralph Halselin rendered account of 200 marks of silver, and one mark of gold, for the relief of the land of his father, Geoffrey, in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. In the last named county Ockbrook was of the inheritance of Ralph Alselin, and was held by William and Hugh Bardolf, for half a knight’s fief, as part of the barony of Shelford.

The Patronymic Alselin:
1. Alselin, ‘a knight of William de Braose’ (Briouze, Orne). ‘A west Norman origin is probable for this  family’ (Keats-Rohan, D.P.).
1.1. Geoffrey Alselin, c. 1035-1108; d. before 1109, when Robert son of Henry I. was created Earl of Gloucester.
1.1.1. Geoffrey Alselinus (Geoffrey de Heriz?), d. by 1129; witnessed a conventio of Henry de Ferrer’s son, Robert, circa 1125.
1.1.1.1. Ralph Alselinus ‘In 1131, Ralph Alselin rendered account of 200 marks of silver, and one mark of gold, for the relief of the land of his father, Geoffrey’.
1.1.2. The Domesday tenant (‘Robert’), who held Tibshelf and Stapleford (Notts.) under William Peverel? (G. Turbutt, A history of Ogston, p. 226, 1975); synonomous with Robert de Heriz?, Sheriff of Nottingham, 1110-1122 (Judith A. Green, The Government of England under Henry I., p. 221, 1989), and tenant of the Ferrers, whose son, Ivo, was also Sheriff of Nottingham. The first mention of a family of Heriz occurs c. 1105, at the foundation of Lenton priory, by William Peverel I.; donators being Geoffrey and Robert de Heriz I. Was the said Robert also ‘Robert de Dun’?, noted as donator in the foundation charter of Tutbury Priory, founded by Henry Ferrers. A part of the Norman honour of the Ferrers was near St-Aubin-sur-Mer, Seine-Inf., arr. Yvetot, cant. Fontaine-de-Dun (Le Prevost, Mem. et Notes … de Eure, ii. 100). Bourg-Dun is 2 miles south-east of St. Aubin. It is probable that ‘Robert de Dun’ was Henry de Ferrer’s tenant in Normandy, and held Hilton and Stapleford of him in England. People were simultaneously known by array of names at this time, reflecting the ever-changing holding of fiefs under successive lords. Dun: ‘Le nom de la localité est attesté sous les formes Dunus en 876 et vers 1023, Burgo Duni en 1236 et 1244’ (François de Beaurepaire (préf. Marianne Mulon), Les Noms des communes et anciennes paroisses de la Seine-Maritime, p. 180, 1979). Dun représente un hydronyme, c’est-à-dire le nom de la rivière qui coule à cet endroit le Dun, qui s’est fixé comme toponyme selon un processus fréquemment observé en Seine-Maritime, cf. Dieppe, Eu, Fécamp, etc.,(ibid.). Le Dun est cité dès le VIII siècle (en 735 – 743) dans un texte rédigé en latin: super fluvio Duno (ibid.), sur la rivière Dun. Le Bourg-Dun est situé à 5 km de Luneray, à 7 km de Fontaine-le-Dun, à 13 km d’Offranville, à 14 km de Saint-Valery-en-Caux et à 19 km de Dieppe. It was the site of a fortress.
1.2. Brother, name not known. Geoffrey Alselin ‘appears to have been established with a brother and co-parcenor, but by 1086 the brother had been succeeded by his son Ralph de Calz’ (Keats-Rohan, D.P.).
1.2.1. Ralph de Cauz b. circa 1060, ‘Ralph de Chalz is very likely* to be named from La Chaux, Orne, not far from Briouze’ (Keats-Rohan, D.P. La Chaux, Orne, arr. Alencon c. de Ferte Mace. He was listed in Domesday as holding land of his uncle, Geoffrey, various manors in Lincoln, of the barony of Henry de Ferrers. See: Alselin (Goisfridus), T. E. C. [Northamptonshire, folios 219, 227; Leicestershire, folio 235 B; Derbyshire, 276 B; Nottinghamshire, 280, 289; Yorkshire, 326; Lincolnshire, 336, 369 B; Clamores Ebor., 373 B, 374; Yorkshire, 379. *Alternatively, he may have been named after a fief in the Pays de Caux, in the district of Dieppe; more anciently Pays de Calz, and Cauz.

Keats-Rohan’s supposition is solely based on an assumed relationship between ‘Alselin, a knight of William de Braose’, and Geoffrey Alselin, which would have more merit if successive Alselins had connections to the Braose, which they did not. There was no ‘continuation of association’, which was a feature of Norman ‘feudal’ relationships. Also, if the grounds for ‘Alselin’ being the father of Geoffrey are solely based on the appearance of ‘Hauselinus’ in a charter (of 1080) of St. Florent (an abbey to which William de Braose was a large grantee), then this proposition is not very robust. Charte de confirmation de Guillaume le Conquerant. Cartulaire-Blanc de l’abbaye de St.-Florent: ‘In veneris die id est sexta feria que tunc temporis tercia erat ante Purificationem sancte Marie in sancti Georgii ecclesia de Baucaravilla annuit et confirmavit Guillelmus rex Anglorum hanc meam elemosinam et Mathildis regina uxor sua eorumque filii ad hanc annuitionem et confirmationem fuerunt hii: Odo consul (probablement l’évêque de Bayeux, fait comte de Kent), Hugo consul de Cestra (Hugues d’Avranches, fils de Richard Goz, fait comte de Chester en 1071); Alanus Rufus, Galterius de Meduana. Henricus de Bellomonte, Odo Gamelini filius, Guillelmus Purellus, Guillelmus de Falesia, Bigotus, Unfridus de Bohon, Richard usque ejus filii, Heunnus vicecomes, Radulfus Terrerii filius, Hauselinus, Willelmus monachus, Romellisque () archiepiscopus, Reginaldus regis capellanus, Bernardus Uspachi filius’.

Temp. Will. I. Letter of William de Braiosa, son of Philip, to his son (Philippi filius filio suo (fn. 3) ) and all his lieges. He notifies to his dearest son and them, that for his soul and [those of] his relatives living and dead, he grants and presents (tribuo) to St. Gervase of Braiosa and St. Florent and his monks the manor (mansio) of Armigetone, (fn. 4) after his decease; and he desires his son and all who love him, to grant it. Testes sunt: Robertus frater meus; He[r]bertus canonicus; Primaldus capellanus meus; Robertus Silvatinus (sic) (fn. 5); Radulphus de Vivo Monastero; Willelmus Normanni filius (fn. 6); Bernardus; Willelmus Magni (sic) filius (fn. 7); Radulfus de Boceio; Hauselinus; Hausardus; Gaufredus Silvaticus; Robertus Mallet.

Charter of William de Braiosa. For the soul of Ralf, son of Waldulf and of Ralf his son [and of Geoffrey] (fn. 10), and for the forgiveness of his sins, and for the souls of his father and mother, and for Philip, his only son, who willingly allows [the gift], and for William king of the English and queen Mathildis his wife, and for the souls of their fathers and mothers, and for their sons and daughters, [in order] that they may confirm this gift and compel anyone who would impair it to make amends, he cheerfully gives to the church of St. Gervase and St. Protaise, most blessed martyrs, all his tithe, excepting his demesne profit from the mills of Briouze (Braiosa

Testes sunt: Herbertus Gunduini filius; Odo Rufus de Fraxineto; Willelmus Godelini filius; Radulfus Tostini filius; Halselinus; Rogerius Ponherius: Hubertus Bonitus; Ricardus de Molinellis; Raginaldus cocus; Unsel Mansellus de Punctello; Alarius de Ponte Aldemeri; Gaufridus de Falesia Ameline filius; Guasbertus Bertranni gener; Algherus ejusdem Bertranni filius; Albericus faber; Randulfus Landrici de Boceio filius; Albericus S[ancti] Florentii famulus. Hoc autem factum est Radulfo, Albaudo, Goscelino de Haia, S. Florentii monachis presentibus.

Keats-Rohan’s theory is one of several; the 19th century antiquarian, Léchaudé D’Anisie, proposed a Dinan ancestry of the Alselins, but, again, association between these families is barely noticeable. Of those associated in this account, a pertinent question might be: who were Ferrers known by other names?; a question unlikely to ever be answered.

1.2.1.1. Robert de Cauz, b. circa 1085.
1.2.1.1.1. Robert de Cauz, d. 1186. Either he or his father held Sempringham in joint tenure with Ralph Alselin. He and Roger de Beningworth were tenanants of the fee of William de Roumare in 1166. (As were a multitude of others).
1.2.1.1.2. Walter de Cauz (Lat. Calce), named in the Roll of the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1130 – William Peverell the younger, who had succeeded Ivo de Heriz.

There were common associations between the Heriz and Alselins: The Register of Derley-Abbey, British Museum, fol. 58. b., states that ‘Walkelin de Derby and Goda his wife gave the mansion in which they dwelt, and which Walkelin had purchased of William Alsin'(grandson of Ralph de Cauz, b. circa 1060); Walkelin de Ferrers (son of Robert de Ferrers and Margaret Peverel, son of Henry de Ferrers), married Godeheut de Toeni.In Carta Regis Henrici Secundí (Vide Cart. 57 Hen. III. m. 26. Et Pat. 8 Ric. 11. p. 2, m. 3.) par Dugdale, Henry II. confirms donations to Darley Abbey (founded by Robert de Ferrers),’Sciatis me concessisse et prœsenti confirmâsse ecclesiœ sanctie Marias de Derlega’, and ratifies gifts by Ex dono Willielmi de Heriz et Walchellini de Derbeya et Gode uxoris suœ, totam tenuram prœdicti Willielmi de Derbeia, infra burgum et extra, in mansuris …’, which, in the sense of habitacula villicorum, the lord’s chief dwelling house within his fee, suggests that a case can be made for ‘Willielmi de Heriz’ (son of Ivo) and ‘William Alsin’ being different appelations of the same man, signifying common ancestry.

To repeat: What can not be proved is that Geoffrey Alselin’s son was Geoffrey de Heriz, aforesaid. This, though, is not improbable. Yet, what that entails is an unknown ancestry, which is not the preferred ‘chocolate’ of many. The large Domesday fee of Geoffrey Alselin, and his relative obscurity, may suggest his marriage to an heiress of a family of considerable rank – the usual path to rapid advancement.

Of the Dunnes: In Braideshale, Siward had, before the general survey, a manor, rated to the geld at five carucates, and the arable land was five carucates … In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and at the time of the survey, the value was £4.; and at the latter period, Robert held it, of the fee of Henry de Ferriers … In the reign of Edward the Confessor, it was possessed by Siward; and after the Conquest, by Earl Ferrers. At an early period the family of Dunne possessed it, of which family was Robertus de Dunne, who at or soon after the foundation of the Priory of Tutbury, was a considerable benefactor thereto, as appears by the confirmation Charter of Robert, the younger Earl Ferrers, his master. This Robertus de Dunne held two knights’ fees in the county of Derby, of the family of Ferrers, in the time of Hen. I.; as did his son, in 12 Hen. II. … This Hugh, who probably was the eldest son of Robert, had a daughter and heiress, Johanna, who carried one moiety of this manor, in marriage, to the family of Curzon, in which family it continued. Curzon: Richard de Curzon, second son of Giraline, held four Knights fees in Croxhal, Kedleston, Twyford and Edinghall, in com. Derb. in the time of H. I. He bore for his Arms, Vairy, Or and Gules, on a Chief Azure, three Horseshoes. Argent Vairy or and gules: the blason of William de Ferrers, 5th Earl Derbys.; the horseshoes also being emblematic of the Ferrers.

copyright  m stanhope 2015