As in the colonisation of Virginia by English settlers, the colonisation of England by Norman settlers was achieved by the transplantation of kinship groups.

The Norman elite’s control of England was through a ‘mesh’ of interrelated families; a form of familial chain-mail, that gave protection against a hostile environment. Essentiially, neighbours in Normandy became such in England.

Of such neighbours were the Crispins (alias Colville) and the Percys. Milo Crispin, the former family’s ‘historian’, stated that they were of “noble origin”. They were also entrusted with the defence of Normandy, being governors of various border forts.

The protection of Normandy would have only been given to members of the ducal family.

One possibility is that Gilbert Crispin I. was an illigitimate son of Gilbert de Brionne; another, that they were cousins.

1. Richard, ‘the Great Prince’. About the year 980, Richard, duke of Normandy, gave Brionne to one of his natural children, named Godefroy, which included the territories of Bonneville and Bec. After the death of Richard, a brother of Godefroy, born like himself a concubine, Guillaume, Count of Exmes, revolted against his elder brother. Raoul d’Ivry, uncle of the brothers, was charged to end the rebellion, and captured Guillaume in Exmes, bringing him to Rouen, under the guard of Turquetil de Harcourt. (See Charpillon, Dict., Hist., p. 584, 1868). Thus, Godefroy d’Eu held the barony of Bonneville-sur-le-Bec.
1.1. Godefroy d’Eu, cousin of Emma d’Ivri, wife of Osborn de Crepon. Guillaume of Jumièges records that a sister married Osmund de Conteville. Their son was Foulques d’Anet. Gilbert Crispin I. married his daughter, thus explaining Prevost’s statement that there was an obvious connection between the FitzOsborns, decendants of Osborn de Crepon, and the Crispins, without its basis being known.
1.1.1. Heloise, m. Ansgot. Heloise received Bonneville as dower.
1.1.1.1. Herluin de Bec. Educated in the household of Gilbert de Brionne. Hellouin founded the Abbey of Bec toward the 37th. year of his life, i.e. 1034. ‘His father, Ansgot, derived his origin from those Danes who first conquered Normandy, and his mother was closely related to the dukes of Flanders. Gilbert, Count of Brionne, grandson of Richard I., Duke of Normandy, by his son, Prince Godefroy, had Herluin brought up by him, and particularly cherished him among all the lords of his court’. (See Francois Guizot, Collection des mémoires relatifs à l’histoire de France, p. 146, 1826). ‘Hellouin, in the presence of his two brothers, Odo and Roger, gave to Bec the third part belonging to him from his land of Bonneville, and his lands of Petit-Quevilli, Seine-Inférieure, and Surci, Eure, as well as the land of Cernai-sur-Orbec, Calvados’. (See W. Genet, t. xi, p. 35). This charter dates to c. 1035.
1.1.2. Gilbert de Brionne.

1.2. Guillaume d’Eu, m. Lesseline, sister of Turquetil de Harcourt.
1.2.1. Gilbert Crispin I, cousin of Gilbert de Brionne, m. a daughter of Foulques d’Anet. Gilbert Crispin held the fortress of Tillieres under the ducal family as a vassal of Gilbert de Brionne.
1.2.1.1. Gilbert Crispin II., held the fortress of Damville as a vassal of Gilbert de Brionne’s son, Richard FitzGilbert (de Clare). The military prowess of the Crispins was well esteemed: ‘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’. (Milo Crispin, How The Holy Virgin Appeared To William Crispin The Elder And On The Origin Of The Crispin Family, ed. Migne, cols. 735-744, 1856).
1.2.1.1.1. Gilbert Crispin III., m. Hersende de Brezolles, kinswoman of Albert Ribaut, and became enfeoffed in Armentières-sur-Avre.
1.2.1.1.2. Robert de d’Armentières, held Whatton of Gilbert de Gaunt. Hence the family of Wormley.
1.2.1.2. William Crispin 1. Hence the family of Stanhope.  Some members of which  acknowledge a common origin with the Wormleys, based on a consideration of all the evidence at our disposal.
1.2.1.2.1. William Crispin 11., an Anglo-Norman lord, who held land in Wetherby, Wheldrake, Coxwold, and Goodmanham in Yorkshire, and in Ancroft in Northumberland, as mesne-tenant of William de Percy. The Colvville/Percy connection was repeated in Scotland, where Philip de Colville was successor to Henry and Geoffrey de Percy at Heiton, Roxburghshire. (G. W. S. Barrow. The Anglo-Norman era in Scottish History, 1980). William de Percy was from Perci-en-Auge, Calvados, arr. Lisieux, cant. Mezidon. Lisieux was the caput of this branch of the Crispin family. As a vassal of the family of d’Eu, William de Percy donated to St Pierre-sur-Dives, founded by Lesseline de Harcourt, Countess d’ Eu, after the death of her husband (par Torigni). St Pierre-sur-Dives was built on the land land of Stigand de Mezidon. Some sort of familial connection between him and William de Percy may be presumed.

William de Percy, d. 1096, m. Emma, a da. of Hugh de Port; their son was Alan de Percy, who m. Emma de Gaunt, da. of Gilbert de Gaunt; their son, William, was the father of a namesake, who m. Adeliza de Clare, descendant of Gilbert de Brionne.

1.3. Robert d’Everux, Archbishop of Rouen.
1.3.1. Richard d’Evreux, m. (after 1040), as her second husband, Godechildis, widow of Roger de Tosny. (W. Genet, Liber vii., iv., p. 269).
1.3.1.1. William d’Evreux.
1.3.1.2. Agnes d’Evreux. Orderic records that ‘Radulfus filius Rogerii de Toenia’ kidnapped ‘Agnetem uterinam sororem suam, Ricardi Ebroicensium comitis filiam’ and married her to ‘Simoni de Monteforti’, brother-in-law of William Crispin I, son of Gilbert Crispin I.

1.4. Richard II.
1.4.1. Eleanor, m. Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders, whose first wife Otgiva was a sister of Giselle, who was probably the mother of Gilbert de Gaunt.

We may never be able to determine which particular streams flowed into the genealogical river, but the pattern of Norman cohesion based on interrelated families at least identifies the river.

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