There are as many inconsistencies in accounts of the Norman elite as there are in human nature; Norman ‘histories’ being variously composed by monks who served the propaganda needs of their masters, and were of a religious persuasion that allowed the belief of their abbot being able to see their transgressions through stone walls. Women were generally seen as ‘Eve’, and Norman matriarchs had to be of a saintly status to warrant a mention. In all this, the one constant of society at this time (and well beyond) was that the elite married within their kinship circle, so preserving protection and wealth within it. It is this aspect that helps identify likely genealogies – that of repeated associations between the same families over successive generations. Genealogy is not made more ‘academic’ by the insertion of copious references, that is, by using a method that is now considered ‘academic’, whilst ignoring the plausibility of the source. We need to ask when considering the Normans, and all triumphant dynasties, what is really going on here?

The following suggestion of the ancestry of Erchembald the Fleming follows a plausible pattern, I suggest.

1. Charlemagne, m. Hildegard of Vinzgouw.
1.1. Louis I, ‘the Pious’, m. (1) Ermengarde of Hesbaye (in Liege, Belgium), dau. of Ingeram, Duke Of Hesbaye, and Hedwig of Bavaria.
1.1.1. Holy Roman Emperor, Lothar (“der Franken”), m. Ermengarde of Tours.
1.1.1.1. Lothar II., by his concubine, Waldrada:
1.1.1.1.1. Gisela, m. Godfrey (Ivarsson), brother of Sitric, father of Ragnall, who, like Rollo, was called princeps Nortmannorum. He was the leader of the Loire Vikings that had conquered much of Brittany, and he attended the coronation of Rollo’s son, William Longsword, “and was probably of Rollo’s family” (A. Hugo, France Historique, p. 416, 1837). Ragnall was probably the father of Sprotta (Scand. Sprottr), concubine of William Longsword, described as ‘nobilissima’ (Frodoard, 933, MGH SS III, p. 381). She was not a Breton. William Longsword held land to the east of the Loire Vikings in Brittany, and Sprotta was likely allianced with William as a peace-weaving marriage, giving William an uncontested (by Ragnall) claim to the Cotentin and Avranchin. Sprotta and William had issue: Richard I., who m. Gunnor, his former concubine. 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 dau. of one of their leaders, in a ‘peace-weaving’ marriage. They had issue: Richard, “the Great Prince”, bur. Fécamp, who, by a concubine, had Godfrey, father of Gilbert de Brionne ( overlord of Gilbert Crispin I.), father of Baldwin FitzGilbert. Ragnall’s brother was probably Harald of Bayeux, “noted ally of Rollo’s family, who came to hold land between Bayeux and Coutances, possibly connected to the family of the Duchess Gunnor, and the person called on for assistance by Bernard the Dane when the Scandinavian colonists came under attack by Frankish forces” (Hudson, Viking Pirates, p. 65, 2005).

Sprotta, m. (2) Asperlenc, having issue: Rodolph d’Ivri, born ca. 943, father of (1) Emma d’Ivri, Abbess of St Amand. Baldwin FitzGilbert, raised by Emma d’ivri at Rouen, probably his aunt; donated to St Amand in memory of his mother. (2) Emmenie d’Ivri (she and siblings born ca. 970), who m. Richard de Beaufour. Of their daus., it is suggested, one m. Erchembald, vicecomes of Rouen, having issue: Gilbert Crispin I., father of Gilbert Crispin II. (Collavilla); his son being Robert d’ Armentieres, who held under Gilbert de Gand in 1086. A second dau. probably m. Gilbert de Brionne; a third certainly m. Hugh de Montfort-sur-Risle; their dau., Alice de Montfort-sur-Risle, m. Gilbert de Gand.
1.1.1.1.1.1. Bernard ‘the Dane’. (Beorn; ‘of the blood royal of Saxony’). The invaders of Normandy were referred to as Marchmen, describing an origin between the Elbe and Eyder, that is, of “the march”, the boundary between Germany and Denmark. The letters the invaders brought with them were expressly called Marcomannic; and it was the Marcomanni who sacked Rouen. Another term for the invaders was Nordalbingian, which, as Marchman, meant a person from beyond the Elbe. These terms point to a Marcomanni settlement in “the march”, in Saxon Holstein and Danish Sleswick; that is, the ‘Normans’ were of mixed blood.

1. Charlemagne, m. Hildegard of Vinzgouw.
1.1. Louis I., m. (2) Judith of Bavaria, dau. of Welf I, count in Swabia, and Hedwig, a member of the Saxon nobility, the dau. of Count Isambart (“Isambard the Saxon”).
1.1.1. Charles II., born in Frankfurt, 824, d. 877.
1.1.1.1. Judith, m. (1.), as his third wife, Aethelwulf, king of Wessex, son of Ecgberh (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 855); (2) her stepson, Aethelbald, king of Wessex (“contrary to God’s prohibition and the dignity of a Christian, contrary also to the custom of all the pagans … and drew down much infamy upon himself”; Asser, p. 8.; (3) Baldwin I. (“Iron-Arm”), count of Flanders; he of pragmatic disposition, it may be presumed.
1.1.1.1.1. Boudewijn (“von Flanderen”), count of Flanders, m. Ælfthryth, dau. of Alfred “the Great”, king of the Anglo-Saxons, and Ealhswith.
1.1.1.1.1.1. Arnulf I. (“the Great”), count of Flanders; born in 889, in Ghent, East Flanders, d. 965; m. Adele of Vermandois, dau. of Héribert II, count of Vermandois, and Adèle, dau. of Robert I, King of France, and Aélis. His southern expansion led to conflict with the Normans, who were trying to secure their northern frontier, resulting in the 942 murder of William Longsword at the hands of Arnulf’s confederates.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1. Luitgarde, m. Wichman von Hamaland, “burggraaf von Ghent”.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1. Adela (“von Sachsen”), m. Balderich, Graaf von Drenthe, who d. 1021.

1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2. Theodric von Ghent, m. Hildegarde.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1. Arnoul von Ghent, m. Liefgarde.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1. Adalbert von Ghent, m. Ermengarde.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.1. Rolph (Rudolf) von Ghent: “Roelof Adelbert Arnoud van Gent” m. Giselle, sister of (1) Ogive, daus. of Gislebert of Luxemburg (“Ogivam, filiam Gisleberti comitis de Lixelemborg”), and cousins of Otgive, dau. of Gislebert’s brother, Frédéric I, count of Moselgau. They were sons of Sigefrid of Luxemburg, and brothers of the empress Cunégonde (Annales Quedlinburgenses). Giselle made a gift to St. Peter’s, ca. 1058, naming her three sons: “Balduuini filii ipsius Gislæ, item filiorum eius Rodulfi, Gisleberti”.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.1.1. Gislebert von Ghent (Gilbert de Gand); brother of Rodulph de Gand, chamberlain of Flanders, and Baldwin, lord of Alost. The first record of him is that he was left conjointly in command of York with William Malet (as sheriff) and Robert FitzRichard in 1068. He was the second-cousin of Otgive, dau. of Frederick I, count of Moselgau, and wife of Boudewijn IV (“von Flanderen”), who m. (2) Eleanor of Normandy, dau. of Richard II. (“the Great Prince”) and Judith of Brittany. Gislebert von Ghent m. Alice de Montfort-sur-Risle, dau. of Hugues II. de Montfort-sur-Risle and a dau. of Richard de Beaufour, as given.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1. Hugh de Gand, m. Adeline de Beaumont, dau. of Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan, 1st Earl of Leicester.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1.1. Robert de Gand, m. Gunnora de Albini Brito, dau. of Ralph de Albini Brito (English Baronies’, I. J. Sanders, OUP, 2nd ed, 1963); she m. (2), Nicholas de Stuteville. A sister of Gunnora de Albini Brito, Maud, m. William de Colville (Collavilla); descendant of Gislebert Crispin I. William held one night’s fee of Robert de Gand in Lincs, his br.-in-law.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1. Gilbert de Gand, Earl of Lincoln, obit. 1241, father of Juliana de Gand, who m. Geoffrey d’Armentières, son of Henry d’Armentières.

1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.2. Erchembald von Ghent, vicecomes (in this instance, sheriff) of Rouen, m. a dau. of Richard de Beaufour and Emmenie de ivri, sister of Emma d’Ivri, Abbess of St. Amand (wife of Osmund the dapifer); granddaus. of Sprotta and Esperlenc.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.2.1. Gislebert Crispin, m. Gunnora de Conteville (born 1009), granddau. of Osmund de Conteville, and a sister of Osmund the dapifer, who Gislebert Crispin attempted to defend during the successful attempt to kill him in 1040. Gislebert made a gift to St. Amand to honour Osmund’s memory.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.2.1.1. Gislebert Crispin (alias Collavilla), held the fortress of Damville as a vassal of Gilbert de Brionne’s son, Richard FitzGilbert (de Clare).
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.2.1.1.1. Gislebert Crispin, m. Hersende de Brezolles, and became enfeoffed in Armentières-sur-Avre
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.2.1.1.2. Robert Crispin (de Armentières-sur-Avre), held under his kinsman, Gislebert von Ghent, in 1086.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.2.1.2.1. William de Whatton, m. … de Newmarch.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.2.1.2.1.1. Robert de Watton.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.2.1.2.1.2. Adam de Newmarch. It is claimed (CP ix. 543, citing Yorkshire Archæological Journal, vol. iv, p. 143, and Blythe cartulary, fo. 106), that Adam de Newmarch was the son of William de Watton, an unnamed son of his inheriting land from William de Newmarch, his uncle. Pipe Roll 31 Hen I (1129/30), Northumberland, p. 36., records ‘Wills de Waddona’ accounting for ‘fil suus’ having succeeded to the land of ‘Willi de Novo Mercato avunculi sui’ in Northumberland.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.2.1.2. Hesilia Crispin, m. William Malet; he receiving Conteville by dower. His family held Collavilla, nr, Harfleur.

1.1.1.1.1.1.2. Baldwin (“von Flanderen”), d. 962, bur. in the Abbey of St. Bertin, Saint-Omer, France (then Flanders), m Matilda “Mechtild von Sachsen”, dau. of Hermann I, Duke of Saxony and Hildegard von Westerburg; and sister of Bernard I, Duke of Saxony. Matilda d. May 25, 1008, in Ghent.
1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1. Arnulph (“von Flanderen”), d. 987., bur. La Chapelle-Saint-Laurent, Poitou-Charentes, France, m. Rosala, dau. of Berengar II of Ivrea, king of Italy.
1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1. Boudewijn IV (“von Flanderen”); born 980, d. 1035, in Ghent, m. (1) Ogive of Luxembourg, dau. of Frederick I, count of Moselgau.

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