The Norman chroniclers were propagandists of elite families, each of which claimed descent from the Duchess Gunnora or her (suspiciously) numerous nieces. They treated tenure and lineage as equivalents when composing their accounts, so as to enhance the veracity of these claims, and promote the concept of a continuity of rule, which was the consequence of Divine Providence, and, thus, unchallengable. Their accounts owe as much to approximation as they do to fact. Where accounts are somewhat factual, they may be so by degrees – a great-niece may be designated as a niece, etc., such innacuracy being discerned by the test of chronology.

1. Harald/Aralt, proposed as synonomous with Harald of Bayeux, noted ally of Rollo’s family, who came to hold land between Bayeux and Coutances, and the person called on for assistance by Bernard the Dane when the Scandinavian colonists came under attack by Hugh the Great, duke of the Franks, in conjunction with King Louis IV. Professor Eleanor Searle (‘Facts and Patterns in heroic poetry’, 1984), wrote of the besieged colonists being reinforced by a new wave of Norsemen in the 960’s, and Richard (‘dux pyratorum’) took as a wife Gunnor, the daughter of one of their leaders, in a ‘peace-weaving’ marriage. Harald was the military commander of Bayeux (and not Harald Bluetooth), where Richard, “the Great Prince”, was fostered. Richard was imprisoned at Lâon by King Louis IV., and was rescued by a Danish band led by Osmund de centville, restoring his control of Normandy by 947. (John Haywood, Northmen, 2015).

“Le jeune Richard, enfermé à Laon, était exposé, si l’on en croit les historiens normands, aux plus grands dangers. Le roi de France voulait, disent-ils, lui faire brûler les jarrets, et, par cette mutilation, le rendre incapable d’occuper le trône ducal; mais les Normands qui l’entouraient, et principalement Osmond de Centville, parvinrent à le soustraire à la cruauté du roi, et lui assurèrent un asile à Senlis, près de son oncle maternel” (Adolphe Cheruel, Histoire de Rouen, vol. i. 1843).

As proposed by Benjamin T. Hudson (Viking Pirates and Christian Princes: Dynasty, Religion, and Empire, p. 67, 2005), Richard’s wife, Gunnora, may have been related to Harald. it is also possible that Harald was the father of Godfrey Haraldsson, whose son, Lagmann, was a military ally of Duke Richard II.

The Normans pressed for the marriage of Richard and Gunnor, ‘so that from a Danish father and a Danish mother may be bore the heir of this land, and will be its defender and advocate’ (Dudo, 4.125).

Possibly of Harald’s family:

1.1. Harfast. Brother of Gonnor, Duke Richard’s wife. Dudo of Saint-Quentin claimed she was of noble Danish origin, without specifying whether this was a paternal association. Herfast would have been granted land in Normandy by his brother-in-law, Duke Richard, a fief of which was named Crépon or Créspon (Albert Dauzat et Charles Rostaing, Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de lieux en France, 1963).

A clue to this family’s place of origin is given in the orthgography of Herfast; which is a form of Haerfest (OE), Herbist (OHG); Herfst (Dutch). These are Saxon terms meaning harvest, and are seen in the statements ‘god sumer’, ‘god harfest’. They represent a distinctly forms of harvest, being distinguishable from the Scandinavian forms Haust (ON), Hdst (OSw.); Host (OD). It is therefore likely that the family of Crépon were of some Saxon association.

1.1.1. Osborn de Crépon, married Emma, daughter of Raoul d’Ivri (Count Rodolph), uterine brother of Duke Richard I.* Guillaume of Jumièges records that Osborn’s sister married Osmund de Centville, their son being Foulques d’Anet. This Osmund is extremely unlikely to have been the rescuer of ‘Duke’ Richard; the usual genealogical ‘slight of hand’ being to make the first of a name the father of a namesake.

(*Guillaume de Jumièges records the marriage of Sprota (concubine of William Longsword, and mother of ‘Duke’ Richard) and “Asperleng”, who owned the mills in the valley of the Risle; they the parents of Raoul d’Ivri and Hugues, bishop of Bayeux, whose daughter, Aubree, married, firstly, Robert d’Ivry, and, secondly, Albert de Cravent. By her first huband, Aubree may have been the mother of Raoul de la Cunelle, stepson and inheritor of Albert de Cravent, vassal of the Crispins, of land at Tillieres, and of 30 acres at Damville. (La Cunelle, Eure, cant. de Damville, comm. de Buis-sur-Damville).

The parentages of Sprota and Asperleng are unknown.

Osborn de Crépon was also referred to as Osborn de Créspon: ‘Osbern de Créspon, gendre de Raoul comte d’Ivry, neveu de la feue duchesse Gonnor’ (Revue de Rouen et de Normandie, vol. 13, p. 268, 1845). This form of the name was also given to Gilbert Crispin; see André La Fresnaye, et al. Nouvelle histoire de Normandie, p. 110, 1814.

1.1.1.1. William FitzOsborn. In a charter concerning land at Guernanville, ‘Foulques the elder, tainted by corruption, lifted his heart (toward God) and withdrew to Ouche, where he assumed monk’s robes, and gave to St. Evroult the church of Guernanville and its tithes’. This donation was confirmed by Guillaume de Breteuil (William FitzOsborn’s son), Gilbert Crispin I. and his sons (Gibert Crispin II. and William Crispin I), in the presence of Roger de Clare; son of Richard FitzGilbert, son of Gilbert de Brionne, son of Godfrey, born c. 953), illigitimate son of Duke Richard, “the Great Prince”.

We see here that Count Rodolph’s son, Bishop Hugh, gave lands centred around Guernanville to William FitzOsborn, his nephew, and Gilbert Crispin the elder; their subtenant being Foulques de Guernanville. Gilbert Crispin and his sons were vassals of the ‘de Brionnes’, holding the border fortresses of Tillieres and Damville under their suzerainty. (It is quite possible that Gilbert Crispin was an illigitimate son of Gilbert de Brionne. The Norman elite’s very survival was entrusted to the Crispins; it would have been unthinkable not to give such a responsibility to kinsmen of the ducal family; although such a relationship may have been based solely through association with Count Rodolph).

The same grouping of Crispin, FitzOsborn, and Clare is seen in a legal dispute between them and Robert, Count of Meulan, who had been granted the castle of Brionne by Robert Curthose, and tried to claim the Abbey of Bec as part of this domesne. William Crispin, William de Breteuil, and Roger de Clare were vehemently opposed to this: ‘Tunc forte supervenerunt Willelmus Crispinus, et Willelmus de Britolio, et Rogerius de Benefacta, qui cum causam scissent, magna indignatione commoti, magnis vocibus et terribilibus juramentis protestati sunt, quicquid sui parentes ecclesiie Becci dederant, se auferre, si Comes Mellenti cenobium Beccense in suo dominio quoquo modo haberet’ (Notitia de Liberate Beccensis Monasterii, 1088-1090). I would suggest that they spoke as a familial group.

1.1.2. … de Crepon, m. Osmund de Centville. (This is not necessarily synonomous with Conteville).

1.1.2.1. Foulques d’Anet, from the vil of Anet, south of Ivry. (A probable relative was Robert d’Anet, vassal of the lords of Ivry, who held land at Brézolles, as the Crispin family.

1.1.2.1.1. Gunnora d’Anet, m. (I suggest) Gilbert Crispin I.,* which would answer M. Le Prevost’s statement that there was an apparent association between the Crispin and FitzOsborn family, without the basis of that association being known. ‘Nous ignorons à quel titre Gislebert Crespin etait appele à ratifier cette donation; mais nous supposons que ce pouvait être à raison de quelque alliance avec la famille d’Ivri, dont le souvenir est perdu (‘Ordericus Vitalis’, ed. le Prevost et. al., p. 398, 1840).

Gilbert Crispin, ‘who because of the shape of his hair was to be known as Crispin. For in his early youth he had hair that was brush-like and stiff and sticking out, and in a manner of speaking bristling like the needles of a pine tree. This gave him the name of Crispin, from ‘crispus pinus, ‘pine hair’. Gilbert Crispin I. was also noted by Milo Crispin as being ‘of renowned origin and nobility: And like the Fabii, or the Anicii or Manlii, carried the tokens of fame (insignia) among the Romans, so the Crispins knew even greater fame among the Normans and the French’ (How The Holy Virgin Appeared To William Crispin The Elder And On The Origin Of The Crispin Family, ed. Migne, cols. 735-744, 1856).

With regards to his epithet, the Normans often combined various naming elements, in this case, the toponym Crépon is punned with a matching physical characteristic; an early form of a word game.

1.1.2.2. Albreda d’Anet. (It is not known whom she married). Foulques d’Anet and his sister Albreda were among the early benefactors to the abbey of Bec-Hellouin “Ex dono Fulconis de Aneto et homimim suorum manerium de Mesnillo Simonis cum ecclesia et omnibus ecclesiae et manerii pertinentiis. Ex dono Albredae sororis ejusdem Fulconis assensu et voluntate ipsius terram de A.d. 1047. Groselers quae est juxta landam sita cum omnibus pertinentis suis’. La collection des Mémoires des Antiquaires de Normandie contient (tome XVI, 2e partie, page 287) le détail des revenus que le fief d’Anet versait dans les caisses du Roi, vers l’année 1204.

A fief of Anet was Marcilly: Ces revenus provenaient des eaux et forêts, des moulins, des pressoirs, des fours, du blé, de l’avoine, d’œufs de Pâques; ils se soldaient en livres et sous, et en mesures. Au nombre des arrière-fiefs qui relevaient d’Anet étaient les villages de Marcilly, Saussay et Marchefroi. (Pierre Désiré Roussel, Rodolphe Pfnor Histoire et description du château d’Anet, p. 2, 1875).

The suzerainty of Marcilly was entwined with that of Brezolles:

Croth vient de Crota, issu lui-même de l’anglo-saxon, Crust ou Crot, qui signifie un enclos. Primitivement Croth était une dépendance de la terre de Sorel, qui avait pour seigneur au xi° siècle, Ingulfe Ribault, puissant baron, originaire de Dreux, qui possédait à la fois Brezolles, Remalard, Thimer, etc. Son nom figure en 1028 au las d’une chartre du roi Robert et d’une autre de Henri 1er.

Il eut pour fils aîné, Albert, cité par Ordéric Vital, mais Sorel et Croth échurent à Guazzon ou Gaston, son second fils, marie à Frodeline. 11 fonda dans son domaine de Thimer une forteresse nommée le Chàteauneuf qui est devenue une ville importante; lui-même prit le nom de Guazzon du Chastel qui a passé à ses descendants.

En 1060, du consentement de sa femme et de ses trois fils Hugues, Gauzbert et Guazzon du Chaste! donna aux religieux de Marmoutiers, l’église de Croth avec les habitants, les vignes, les prés, les moulins, les pêcheries, etc. Hugues Bardon, seigneur suzerain donne son assentiment à la donation.

A coté des seigneurs do Sorel, il existait à Croth d’autres seigneurs moins importants qui portaient le nom de ce fief. On trouve, eu 1062, dans le cartulaire de Chartres, Arnold de Croth et de Richard son frère.

Vers 10S0, l’abbaye de Saint-Père acheta sans doute des moines de Marmoutiers, l’église de Croth, sise au Haut-Croth, in Croto superiori.

On a vu plus haut, que Guazzon du Chastel avait un fils aine, nommé Hugues, qui s’est rendu célèbre dans l’histoire, sous le nom de Hugues de Chàteauneuf. Ce guerrier fut présent en 1066, à la restitution des Authieux que fit Richard fils d’Hellouin le-Sénechal, en présence du duc Guillaume. Là se trouvait également présent Roger de Montgomery, dont Hugues épousa la fille en 1073. Cinq ans plus tard, il prit le parti du duc Robert Courte-Heuse coiitrele roi Guillaumo, son père, et reçut les révoltes dans ses châteaux de Remalard, Châteauneuf et Sorel. Pour le punir, Guillaume lui enleva Remalard. Il n’eut que deux filles, Mathilde, l’aînée, fut la première prieure de Bellomet, près La Loupe, que son père avait fait bâtir pour elle. Mathilde , sa sœur, épousa Gervais qui hérita de Sorel, de Chateauneuf, de Dreux, etc.

En 1092, Gervais de Chàteauneuf fit la paix à Bréval, entre Guillaume de Breteuil et Goel, seigneur d’Ivry. Ce seigneur, en 1104, à la suite d’un échange fait avec l’abbé de Saint-Père, lui céda ladirne des Essarts do la foret de Croth.

En 1107, Gautier de Croth fut témoin dans une charte de Foulques de Marcilly (the second of that name) pour Saint-Père de Chartres. On trouve encore dans le cartulaire de saint Père, un Payen de Croth, parent du premier.

Gervais de Chàteauneuf, sénéchal du roi de France, Philippe I, faisait des courses sur les terres de Normandie: pour se délivrer de ce voisin incommode, Henri I” fit bâtir les forts de Nonancourt, d’Illiers, puis il enleva à Gervais son château de Sorel. Croth dut alors rester quelques années entre les mains du roi d’Angleterre.

Hugues II, fils de Gervais, reçut la garde do l’Aigle que lui confia Louis VI en 1118; plus tard, il se révolta contre Henri Ier, en 1122, et essaya de ravitailler Wateville en 1124; fait prisonnier à la journéede Bourgthoroulde, il fut captif en Angleterre, puis délivré. Il avait épousé Amicie, une des filles de Galéran de Meulan. En 1132, il guerroyait avec Roger de Tosny, contre Guillaume Mauvoisin, seigneur de Rosny. (A cousin of the Crispin family).

Hugues autorisa la donation de Panlatte, faite à l’abbaye du Bec, il donna à celle de l’Estrée le mort-bois de sa forêt de Croth, enfin, il mourut vers 1140, laissant un fils du môme nom que lui.

En 1144, les évoques d’Evrcuxct de Chartres confirmèrent à l’Estrée le droit de prendre du bois mort dans la forêt de Croth. Vingt ans plus tard, le pape Alexandre III confirma les droits dos religieux de l’Estrée dans le bois de Croth.

Hugues III de Chàteauneuf eut, en 1152, une guerre à soutenir contre Gilbert de Tillières (Gilbert Crispin IV., whose family were enfeoffed in Brezolles) et le duc do Normandie qui brûla le bourg de Brezolles (1). Hugues est cité en 1181 au nombre des chevaliers du Perche portant bannière.

On voit dans un acte de 1185, que les moines de Marmoutiers avaient conservé leur prieuré de Croth, différent de l’église achetée par les moines de Saint-Père, et que les seigneurs d’Anet avaient aussi des droits à Croth. (Dictionnaire historique, vol. i., 1868).

1.1.2.2.1. Foulques de Marcilly.

1.1.2.2.1.1. Foulques de Marcilly, heretofore given.

1.1.2.2.2. Roger de Ivry.

1.1.2.2.3. Hugh de Ivry. Mr. Stapleton (Historical memoirs of the house of Vernon, p. 32, 1856), makes a case for Albreda being the mother of (1) Roger de Ivry, the ‘Conqueror’s’ butler, and the founder of a monastery in honour of the Virgin Mary, in the vicinity of his castle of Ivry. His wife was Adelina, daughter of Hugh de Grandmesnil. (2) Hugh of Ivry, also butler of the ‘Conqueror’. ‘Alberada Hugonis et Rogerii mater, dedit, annuentibus ipsis, hoc quod habebat in ecclesia et decima de Hainolvilla (Henouville-en-Caux) et unam acram terrae in eadem villa pro anima sua. Hugo Pincerna supradictae’ (Charter of confirmation for the Abbey of the Holy Trinity of Caen).

1.1.2.2.4. Robert d’Ivry. “Robert d’lvry ended his days in the abbey of Bec, leaving three sons, Ascelin Goel, and William, “milites insignes”, and Robert, in holy orders. The eldest of these succeeded to his father’s patrimony, and built thereon the castle of Bréval ; his wife, Isabella; was daughter of William of Breteuil, who had obtained from Duke Robert and from Roger de Beaumont, (to whom the chatellenie had been given after the exile of Roger Pincerna, and who was now indemnified with the castle Of Brionne in exchange) the cession of the Honour of Ivry, which he claimed in right of his descent from Count Ralph, uterine brother of Richard 1, Duke of Normandy. After the death of William, King Henry I retained the castle of Ivry in his own hands for a time, but about the year 1119 he restored the wardship to Robert Goél, son of Ascelin Goel and Isabel de Breteuil. Of this marriage there was issue, seven sons and a daughter, the wife of Ralph Le Roux. The names of three sons have been preserved ; Robert Goél above-mentioned; William Lovel surnamed Lovel (Lupellus) his next brother, who after the death of °f Iv’y’ Robert acquired the castle of Ivry and the whole patrimony; and Roger, surnamed the Stammerer (Balbus) who was lord of the castle at Grossoeuvre (Grandis-silna) in the diocese of Evreuxfs captured by King Stephen in the year 1137. The wife of WVilliam Lovel was a sister of Waleran, Comte of Meulan, and by her it is presumed he had a son Waleran, who in 1172 made this return to the King’s precept for recognition of service”. (Mr. Stapleton, ibid.).

1. Raoul d’Ivry (Count Rodolph), uterine brother of ‘Duke’ Richard I.
1.1. Emma d’Ivry, m. Harfast de Crépon.
1.1.1. Osborn de Crépon.
1.1.1.1. William FitzOsborn.
1.1.1.1.1. William de Breteuil. “I, William de Breteuil, son of Count William, do give and grant to St. Evroult and his monks, out of the tolls of Glos, one hundred shillings yearly to buy fish at the beginning of Lent, for the repose of the souls of my father and mother, and that of my own; and that their anniversaries and my own may be observed by all the monks as a feast; and that on each of our anniversaries, a portion of meat and drink equal to a monk’s share be given to the poor. During my life also a mass of the Holy Trinity is to be sung for me in the abbey every Sunday. I also grant to the monks one burgess in Breteuil, and whatever my mesne-tenants, Richard Fresnel, William Halis, and Ralph de La Cunelle, and others, have granted to them I also give and confirm. All this I grant by these presents, and I faithfully promise them hereafter my counsel and aid and other privileges. Whoever, after my death, shall take away or diminish the things granted, let him be accursed.” This charter was ratified and witnessed by the signatures of William de Breteuil himself, Ralph his chaplain, William the steward, son of Barno, Arnold, son of Arnold, and Robert de Louviers”.
1.1.2. … de Crepon, m. Osmund de Centville.
1.1.2.1. Foulques d’Anet.
1.1.2.1.1. Gunnora d’Anet, m. (I suggest) Gilbert Crispin I, kinsman of the FitzOsborns.
1.1.2.1.1.1. Gilbert Crispin. When Gilbert Crispin II. donated land in Tillieres, he did so in the presence of Giroie de Echauffour, who was a vassal of the Crispins at Reville. Between 1049-1050, William, son of Giroie, donated the tithes of Calavilla to Bec., the gift being confirmed by Hugh and Robert Grandmesnil, his nephews (Faroux, 122). The place from which the Crispins assumed a name (Colville) is a matter of choice; some suggesting that it was from Fresne-Cauverville, Eure, canton Cormeilles, in that William de Echauffour held land in Lievin, 5 miles from Fresne-Cauverville.
1.2. Hugues, bishop of Bayeux.
1.2.1. Aubree, m. 1. Robert d’Ivry.
1.2.1.1. Raoul de la Cunelle (‘Rodulfus de Cunella‘); ‘d’Ivry’ kinsman of the Crispins.

From a similarity of names, Fulk d’Anet has been confounded constantly with Fulk d’Aunou.

copyright m stanhope 2017