More than any other feature of their lives, I suggest, the issue of arranging marriages for political and economic gain was paramount to the Norman elite. The example of the Montforts L’Amaury evidences this. It was not always the case that those betrothed were locked into loveless relationships, for affection might follow marriage, and, certainly, given the example of William Crispin III., as follows, who loved his grandmother, we are told, affection within families was not unknown.

1. Amaury I, Count of Hainault, noted in a gift by Emperor Otto I to the monastery of Crespin, at the request of “Richizonis atque Amelrici comitum”, pf Feb. 12, 973. He m. — de Cambrai, daughter of Isaac Comte de Cambrai. The Gesta Episcoporum Cameracensium records that Foubert, Bishop of Cambrai, dissolved the marriage between “filiam Isaac” and “Amulricum comitem … ex pago Heinou”, on grounds of consanguinity.
1.1. Guillaume de Hainaut.
1.1.1. Amaury II. de Montfort, signed a charter in 1028 (with Eudes II., Count of Champagne, Guillaume IV., Count of Auvergne, Fulk III., Nerra, Count of Anjou, Beaudoin, Count of Flanders, Dreux I., Count of Vexin, Ives, Count de Beaumont, Manasses de Dammartin, Bouchard II., lord of Montmorency), confirming the property of the Abbey of Coulombs. He married Berteis, who consented, with her children, to the gift he made in 1053 to the Abbey of Marmoutier (in the presence of Thibaut, Earl of Blois, Eudes, brother of the King, and Waleran de Meulan, father-in-law of Roger de Beaumont, and grandfather of Robert de Beaumont, Ist Earl of Leicester), of the village of Senicourt, in Chartres, together with the churches of Olinet, Rambouillet, and Prouvais.
1.1.1.1. Simon I. de Montfort, assisted Henri I. to take back the fortress of Tillieres, defended by Gilbert Crispin I., whose son, William, was to marry Simon’s sister, by way of a French/Norman peace treaty. (For their grandson, William, see as follows). Simon witnessed King Philip I’s confirmation of the gift of the church of Saint-Germain de Brézolles, made to the Abbey of Saint-Pere, Chartres, by Albert de Chauleau-Neuf, in 1062. He married, firstly, circa 1055, Isabelle, daughter of Hugh I. de Bardoul, Lord of Broyes and Nogent. His third wife was Agnes, the daughter of Richard, Count of Evreux (grandson of Richard I., Duke of Normandy), widow of Roger de Tosny. Simon I, de Montfort died in 1087, having attended the funeral of William ther Conqueror (Ordéric-Vital). He was buried in the cemetery of the church of St. Thomas d’Epernon.
1.1.1.1.1. Amaury III. de Montfort, nicknamed “The Fort” or “The Courageous”. He died in battle in 1089, without issue. He married twice, separating from Richilde, his first wife, from the family of Hainaut, on account of consanguinity.
1.1.1.1.2. Richard de Montfort. In order to avenge the death of his brother, he supported the uprising of Ascelin Goel. Their army encountered that of William de Breteuil, who they took captive, with many of his knights. We are told that Ascelin caused them to be exposed, during that cold winter, in the windows of Ivry castle, covered only in wet shirts, which froze upon their bodies; and this to give them means of atoning for their sins by a salutary penance. As part of a peace settlement, Ascelin was to marry a daughter of William, who was also to pay a large amount of money.
1.1.1.1.3. S1mon 11. de Montfort, surnamed “The Younger”, acquired a reputation for honour and bravery, and following the example of his brother, Richard, of whom he was successor, he took part in the ongoing hostilities between Ascelin Goel and Guillaume de Rréteuil, but, prudently, not in a major way. His sister, Bertrade, married Philip I. of France, abandoning her husband, Foulques Réchin, Count d’Anjou. King Philip and Bertrade de Montfort obtained a reciprocal judgment of separation, against his wife, and against her husband. Many found this scandelous, and some of the nobility ran to arms. Guillaume-le-Roux, the Comte de Poitiers, and Amaury, Simon’s younger brother, laid siege to Monlfort-Amaury and Epernon, but Simon II. defended them with so much bravery, that he obliged the aggressors to retire. A chronicle of Saint-Denis says he was made prisoner on another occasion, still fighting for France, and was set free in 1101.
1.1.1.1.4. Amaury IV. de Montfort.* In 1144, he became Baron de Montfort on the death of his brother, Simon II. de Montfort, with whom he had been in dispute, to the point of soliciting other lords to come and besiege him in his castle of Montfort l’Amaury. He had been engaged to the daughter of Robert, Count de Meulan, that granted him at the age of one year. About 1107, he married Richilde, daughter of Beaudoin II., Count of Hainault, whom he was obliged to separate from in 1118 on grounnds of consanguinity. This issue was often used as a political strategy against alliances that thretened the interests of others, rather than being driven by religious conviction. Agnes, his second wife, daughter of Anseau de Garlande, left by him three sons: Amaury, Simon, and Robert, and a daughter, Agnes de Montfort, the wife of Waleran II. de Meulan, to whom she brought as a dowry the lordship of Gournay-sur-Marne; in her mother’s right. Amaury was more political than religious, cartularies not listing many endowments by him. He did donate the church of Houdan to the abbey of Colombe, this being confirmed by Simon de Montfort, his son, count of Evreux.
1.1.1.1.4.1. Amaury V. de Montfort.
1.1.1.1.4.2. Simon III. de Montfort, count of Evreux, surnamed “the Bald”, was brother and successor of Amaury V. He married, about 1155, Amicia, Countess of Leicester, daughter of Robert de Beaumont and Perenelle de Grandmesnil. It was probably because of this alliance that Simon embraced the cause of Henry II. King of England (placing his fortresses of Rochefort, Epernon, Montfort-Amaury, and several others, at his disposal), against King Louis VII., his legitimate sovereign. Simon de Montfort died in 1181, leaving from his marriage with the Countess of Leicester, whose property passed into the house of Montfort, three sons and two daughters: the elder, called Bertrade, married in 1171, Hugh, Earl of Chester; the younger, Pérenelle, married Barthélcmy, Lord of Roye, Grand Chamberlain of France, founder of the abbey of Joyenval, where she was buried with her husband. The Countess de Montfort remarried to Guillaume des Barres.
1.1.1.1.4.2.1. Amaury VI. de Montfort, eldest son of Count Simon III. and Amicia his wife, married, before 1182, Mabille, the eldest daughter of William, Count of Gloucester, and Havise de Beaumont, the first cousin of his mother, and close relative of Richard, who made this marriage. Thus, Amaury VI. de Montfort was Count of Gloucester on account of his first wife. His second wife was a daughter of Hugh de Gournay and Julienne de Dammartin, of the family into which William Crispin II. married. He sold his county of Evreux to King Philip Augustus in 1200. He died before the Countess Amicia, his mother; and Simon IV. de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, his brother, continued the male posterity of the house of Montfort; and whose fourth son, Simon, was the famous Earl of Leicester in English history.

The Montforts bore for arms, Gules, a lion rampant argent, the tail knotted, forked, and passed in saltire.

William Crispin III. repeatedly fought against Henry I., alongside his cousin, *Amaury de Montfort, in his sphere of influence around L’Aigle and Gisors – fortress areas near Neaufles. He also fought with his cousin against the French who sought to usurp Amaury de Montfort’s lands. Milo Crispin noted that William Crispin III. admired his grandmother, Eve Crispin, ‘with fitting love’. He also records his death in French captivity, and the granting of his wish to be buried at Le Bec, situated between Le Havre and Rouen in the Risle valley. He married Joanna de Trèves. (Ctl. St. Aubin, ii, no. DCCCCXXXI, 1114). Their son, Joscelin Crispin, married Isabella de Dangu, daughter of Robert de Dangu. (BN, ms. lat. 18369, pp. 55-57). They had issue: William Crispin IV., fl. 1223, Baron du Bec-Crespin, who married (2) Alix, a daughter of Etienne de Sancerre I., Great Butler of France, and Seigneur de S. Briçon, and sister of the wife of Adam de Melun III. The son of William Crispin IV. was Marshal Guillaume Crispin, whose son William Crespin VI. had only two daughters, Jeanne and Marie Crispin, the former marrying, in 1334, the Count de Tancarville, John of Melun II., the Grand Master of France; the latter marrying John of Chalon III., Count of Auxerre and of Tonnerre, Great Butler of France. (See Hist. Of Chatillon, proofs, p. 8. & Hist. Généalog, of the Grand Officers of the Crown, vol. II. pp. 847, 848).

copyright m stanhope 2017