1. Sprotta, consort of William Longsword, m. (2) Asperlenc. Sprotta (Scand. Sprottr), described as ‘nobilissima‘ (Frodoard, 933, MGH SS III, p. 381). She was not a Breton. Eric Christiansen’s (History of the Normans, note 234, p. 199, 1998), explains that in 934 William Longsword was given Breton lands by King Ralph as a bulwark against the Vikings to the west of them, led by Ragnall, and Sprotta was likely allianced with William as a peace-weaving exercise, giving William an uncontested (by Ragnall) claim to the Cotentin and Avranchin.

1.1. Raoul (Rodolph) d’Ivri.

1.1.1. Hugh, Archbishop of Bayeux, gave Celloville, that is Serlos villa (Seine-Maritime, cant. de Boos), and Sahurs (Seine-Maritime, cant. Grand-Couronne), to St Amand. Hugh was the br. of Emma d’Ivri, Abbess of St Amand, who m. Osborn the dapifer. They jointly donated “our cultivated land, which is near the valley Erchembald” to St Amand.

1.1.2. … m. “Richardus de Bello-fago”. (See Pierre Bauduin, ‘La première Normandie’, p. 206, 2004). He must have been of a family of the highest rank. Beaufou/Beaufai is situated in the parish of Ballon (arr. Beaumont-le-Vicomte, ca. 10 mls fr. le Mans); a fief in the posession of Herbert, Count of Maine in 1031, which later passed to the family of Cadurces (Chaworth). This might suggest the ancestry of Richard de Bello-Fago, who, if he was a younger son of Hugh II, Count of Maine, and br. of Herbert, Count of Maine (in 991), then, the social qualification is met, and, as importantly, also a political/familial one: Herbert’s wife was probably the sister of Judith de Rennes, the wife of Richard II, Duke of Normandy, son of Richard I.

1.1.2.1. … m, Vicecomes Erchemald, who, on entering La Trinité du Mont, gave to the house his meadow in Sahurs, and all that he held by (his wife’s) hereditary right in Celloville. (RADN, no. 82, 1030-1035).

1.1.2.2. … de Beaufour, m. Hugh de Montfort-sur-Risle.

1.1.2.2.1. Alice de Montfort-sur-Risle, m. Gilbert de Gand, lord of Barton-on-Humber in 1086.

THE GILBERTINES

1.1.2.1.1. Gilbert Crispin I, who attempted to defend Osmund the dapifer during the successful attempt to kill him in 1040. Gilbert made a gift to St. Amand to honour Osmund’s memory, a gift witnessed and approved of by Emma d’Ivri (Receuil, ed. Fauroux, no. 82). Gilbert m. Gunnor d’Anet. (see https://tinyurl.com/hv7bz9v5 ).

1.1.2.1.1.1. Gilbert Crispin II.,* m. Hersende de Brezolles, and became enfeoffed in Armentières-sur-Avre. He donated a moiety of Brezolles to Bec, as did Simon d’Anet, at a later date. *Gilbert de Colavilla.*

1.1.2.1.1.1.1. Robert d’ Armentieres, Domesday tenant of Gilbert de Gand.. Robert d’ Armenteres appears in the Berkshire Domesday as the owner of a house in Wallingford belonging to the manor of Milo Crispin. (D. B., i, 56b; V.C.H. Berks. i, 326), He attested a charter of Gilbert de Gand in favour of Abingdon abbey. (Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon, ii, 16), in which Gilbert donated a house in London for the use of the Abbot of Westminster, Gilbert Crispin, as follows. In 1166, David d’Armentières held ten knights’ fees of Earl Simon of Northampton, to whom most of the Domesday fief of Gilbert de Gand had descended. (L. F. Salzman, ed., A History of the Co. of Oxford: vol. 1,, pp. 373-395,1939).

Milo Crispin was almost certainly one of “the many others” attributed to William Crispin I. and Eve d’ Montfort, as was Gilbert Crispin, Abbot of Westminster; and a cousin of the children of Gilbert Crispin II., who almost certainly included Robert d’ Armentières.

De Hospitio Abbatis apud Lundoniam. (Abbot’s residence at Westminster).

Gilebertum de Gant mansio doniæ donatur. Idem etiam donum, antecessoris hujus abbatis tempore Athelelmi, iste vir contulerat: sed ipsius obitu cognito, sibi reusurpavit. At modo resipiscens, sub interminatione anathematis perpetuam possessionem retinendum eidem ecclesiæ devote idem restituit. Cui attestationi:

Rodulfus, ejusdem Gilleberti dapifer; et

Robertus de Candos, cum (with)

Roberto de Armenteres;

Ermerus de Rithie, cum (with)

Roberto filio Osberni;

Radulfus, et frater illius

Hamericus, nepotes Roberti;

Et plures alii.

Robert de Chandos was made castellan of Dangu in 1119, the hereditary privilege of the Crispin family. William Crispin lII had been deprived of it by king Henry I for taking the side of William Cleto, son of Robert Courteheuse in the struggle for power within the Norman elite. A fellow ‘conspirator’ was William’s brother, Thibaut (Crispin) de Gisors, who, with his cousin, Amaury de Montfort, led an attack on Gisors, but were defeated by the troops led by Robert de Candos, military commander for Henry I. (Aristide Guilbert, History of the cities of France, vol. v., p. 551., 1848).

It would appear that the Crispin family had divided loyalties, with the family of Gilbert Crispin II being partisan to Henry I. The co-signatories of ‘Robertus de Candos’ and ‘Roberto de Armenteres’ signified this. Wiiiiam Crispin lII, was the son of William Crispin/Colville, as follows.

1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1. William de Whatton, m. … de Newmarch.

1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1.1. 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. From the family of Newmarch came that of Wormely.

1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1. Adam de Newmarch, born c. 1146, benefactor of Roche Abbey, 1180.

1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.2. Henry de Newmarch, m. Dyonisia, dau. of Otes de Tilli, who m. (2) Henry Puiset, as follows.

MALET CONNECTION

1.1.2.1.1.2. Hesilia Crispin, m. William Malet.

1.1.2.1.1.2.1. Robert Malet, held the fief of Collavilla, near Harfleur, Seine-Inf. Domesday shows *Gilbert de Colavilla” as a considerable undertenant of Robert Malet at Rendlesham; he also held under Robert Malet’s mother, Hesilia Crispin (DB/Sf 6/19-21, 29-30, 34-37, etc.). That is, Gilbert Crispin/Colville II. was a tenant of his cousin and aunt.

What has to be understood is that the Normans did not have surnames as we understand them today – a hereditary name to be passed on to successive generations. The Normans used bynames, an example of which was identifying someone by their places of habitation, or of the habitation of a family intermarried to them. Different bynames could be passed passed down to siblings, or different bynames were interchangeably used by the same siblings. Thus, the Crispin family used the byname Colville to signify their familial connection to the Malets of Collavilla. Contemporaries would have recognised this ‘code of association’; equally recognising the byname of Tilliers, a fortress commanded by the Crispins.That we might now interpret such as Colville and Crispin as surnames of different families, is only through a perspective alien to the Normans. There is an imperative to understand the customs of those studied.

1.1.2.1.1.3. William Crispin I.

1.1.2.1.1.3.1. William Crispin/Colville II, was a considerable tenant of his cousin, Robert Malet, in Yorkshire, whose forfeited lands were given to William de Percy, whose son, Adam de Percy, m. Emma de Gand. William Crispin was 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. He also held other land in Yorkshire: in Arnodestorp, Burnby, Clifton, Dunnington, Easthorpe in Londesborough, Elvington, Fyling, Grimston in Dunnington, Hayton, Hinderwell, Ianulfestrop, Kirkleatham, Kipling, Marshe-by-the-Sea, Nafferton, Pockthorpe, Scoreby, Sutton upon Derwent, and Warter. (Domesday Book, folio 322v).

Ormesby formed part of the fee granted to Robert de Brus. Alan de Percy (son of the said William de Percy), lord of Kildale, was holding Ormesby early in the 12th century. In the reign of Edward the Confessor Uctred held the vill of Normanby (7 carucates), in Ormesby.

William de Percy had half a carucate as soke of Marske, in Ormesby (V.C.H. Yorks. ii, 263; held of him by William de Colville/Crispin.

Half a carucate in Normanby was in 1086 held by Robert Malet, (V.C.H. Yorks. ii, 257).

Normanby afterwards passed into the Brus fee, (Guisbro’ Chartul. (Surt. Soc.), i, 96; Rievaulx Chartul. (Surt. Soc.), 73).

ALBERMARLE AND BRUS CONNECTION

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.1. ‘Lord Thomas de Colvyle gave to God and the appertenances of the vill of Coxwold’. (Excerpt from Foundations of Bylands Abbey, Gentleman’s Magazine, 1843). He was a tenant of Roger de Mowbray, and probably m. his niece. ‘Thomas de Colevilla’, received from his feudal lord, Roger Mowbray, the Yorkshire manors of Coxwold, Yearsley and Oulston, between 1154-1157, for the service of one knight’s fee. The manor of Coxwold included vills of Ireton, Ampleforth, Osgodby, Thirkleby, and Baxby.

Roger de Mowbray m. Alice de Gand, granddau. of William de Percy, He was lord of Epingham, situated on the road from Oakham to Stanford, juxta Normanton and Hameldun. Temp. Domesday, Empingham was held as two manors by Gilbert de Gand. (V.C.H. Rutl. i, 142). Sir Roger de Mowbray, great-grandson of the said Roger, held the manor in 1259, and the overlordship descended with one fee in the manor of Hameldon. (Cal. Inq. Hen. III, no. 421. Ibid. 24 Hen. VI, no. 41).

In Lincolnshire, Alan de Monceaux, d. aft. 1161, founded Nun Cotun Priory, “more especially for the souls of Stephen Earl of Albemarle and of Hawise his wife, and endowed it with the whole town of Coton. He followed the fortunes of the Earl, and shared his possessions in Yorkshire as well as Lincolnshire”. (Poulson’s Holderness). His son, Ingram de Monceaux, d. by 1205, confirmed his father’s donation of the advowson of the church of Cuxwold, and two bovates of land in the same village, to the nuns of Nun Cotun (English Episcopal Acta, vol. 20, p. 127), witnessed by Rogero Crispin de Keleby, father of Thomas Crispin, and (Master) Walter Crispin (clericus de Keleby).

Domesday Book records a manor of one carucate in Keelby which corresponds to the one carucate which Stephen de Albemara held in Cotun in 1115–18. Stephen de Albemara m. Hawise, dau. of Ralph de Mortimer, having issue: Agnes, who m. William de Roumare, Earl of Lincoln. Agnes m. (2) Adam I de Brus, Lord of Skelton. Gilbert de Gand (as follows), m. Hawise, dau. of William de Roumare and Agnes. Thus, a connection to the Colvilles is established.

Adam de Brus was the half-br. of Robert de Brus, 2nd Lord of Annandale, who m. Eufemie: “W. comes Albemarle”* granted property to “Eufemie nepti mee uxori Roberti de Brus”. Their issue included: (1) Robert de Brus, who m. (1183) as her ist husband, Isabel, illegitimate dau. of William I, King of Scotland. She m. 2ndly (1191) Robert de Ros. (2) William de Brus, d. July 16, 1212. His son, Robert de Brus, granted land in Cnoculeran to Roger Crispin, ca, 1215. Stephen de Albemara was the father of *William d’Aumale, d. 1179, whose heiress was his dau., Hawise, who m. 2ndly, in 1190, William de Forz. It is not unreasonable to suppose that this Roger Crispin was Rogero Crispin de Keleby.

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.1.1. Philip de Colville, held land in Thimbleby and Sigston, Yorkshire. At the end of the 12th century, Bishop Hugh Puiset granted the manors of Thimbleby, Ellerbeck and Foxton and Sigston to his seneschal, Philip Colville.

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.1.1.1. Roger de Colville (Rogero Crispin de Keleby) witnessed the confirmation of the gift of of the church of Cuxwold to Nun Cotun by Ingram de Monceaux.

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.1. Walter Crispin, witnessed charters of *Robert de Gand. A charter of May 26, 1214 records a final settlement between “Nicholas Basset and Basilia his wife” and “Walter Crispin” relating to land in Barton upon Humber, Lincolnshire which belonged to Basilia, as dower (Basset Charters, 110, p. 60). ‘At Hilary 1214, knights were sent to Basilia, who was ill, to see whom she had attorned. Both she and her husband appointed Nicholas of Ferriby as their attorney in this plea of dower. At Trinity 1214, both Walter and Nicholas gave half a mark for a licence to agree’. ( C.R.R. vii., pp. 54, 56, 87). A deed (ca. 1180) of William son of Robert de Percy (of Bolton Percy ] was witnessed by Peter Basset and his son, Nicholas Basset. (EYC , XI , no . 99).

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.2. Thomas Crispin.

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.2.1. Richard Crispin. Carta Ricardus Crispin de Keleby, 1252-1254, records donations to Selby Abbey.

At Domesday, William Malet held Bolton Percy, which passed to William de Percy.

He was obviously closely related (perhaps brother) to Picot de Percy, tenant of William de Percy at Bolton-upon Dearne, and Sutton-upon-Derwent (D.B., vol. i, ff. 321 b, 322 b), Picot de Percy witnessed charters of Alan de Percy (son of William, and husband of Alice de Gand), ca. 1115-1125. (Farrer, op. cit., vol. i, no. 530), A Picot de Percy was the donor of the church of Bolton Percy to Nostell Priory, confirmed by his son Robert and his grandson William (Farrer, op. cit., vol. iii, no. 1439), father of the Robert who d. 1226.

Peter Basset was the son of Reynold Basset, son Robert Basset and a sister of “Adam de Warrum”. (E.Y.C., vol. i., p. 232). A charter of Adam de Warum sold land to Henry de Puiset (son of Hugh Puiset and Adeliza de Percy, a marriage prior to Hugh becoming a priest), in villæ de Yokeflet, who between 1202-1212 gifted this to the Priory of Finchale, witnessed by Philippo de Colevill and Ricardo de Everlai. (James Raine, The Priory of Finchale, p. 42, 1837). Hugh Puiset was a great-grandson of William the Conqueror. Henry de Puiset’s wife was Dyonisia, dau. of Otto de Tilly. (Madox, Hist. Exch., p. 356), the relict of Henry de Newmarch.

William de Warrum’s granted Yokefleet to his son, Adam, between 1180-1189, which he held from Hugh du Puiset (whose seneschal was Philip de Colvillel), in feudo et hereditate. A purchase of land from the widow of Serlo de Sutton by Aubreye, widow of Robert de Percy, d. 1226-1229, son of William De Percy (of Bolton Percy) was witnessed (as ist) by Willelmo de Warrum, son of Adam. (P.R.O. E, 327/106).

BASSET

1. … 1.1. Robert Basset. King Richard I confirmed donations to Rievaulx abbey of “toftas et domos Eboraci in Mersc”, in 1189. (Rievaulx, CLXXIII, p. 124). “Adam de Warrum”. 1.2. Reynold Basset, founded the chapel at Hinderskelfe. (E.Y.C, vol. I, p. 499). 1.2.1. William Basset, held two knights’ fees “de feodo Albredæ de Insula” in Norfolk in 1166. (R.B.E., i, p.397). 1.2.2. Peter Basset, confirmed a donation of land to Kirkham, made by “Rainaldus Basset, pater meus”, witnessed by “Nicolao filio meo”. (E.Y.C. vol. i,, p. 498). 1.2.2.1. Nicholas Basset, m. Basilia … Nicholas Basset witnessed a deed of Robert son of William de Percy (of Bolton Percy) between 1224-1229, which belonged to Basilia. (Basset Charters, 110, p. 60).

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.1.2. William de Colville, m. Maud d’Albini (Brito). He was the br.-in-law of Robert de Gand*, husband of Gunnor d’Albini (Brito). In R. I. William de Coleville gave a fine of thirty marcs for livery of his purparty of fifteen knights to S. Michael of Stanford and fees in Binebruc & Aburne in Lincolnshire. ‘

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.1.2.1. William de Colville, m. Beatrice de Stuteville, sister of Alice de Stuteville, wife of Roger de Merlay; their issue being: Roger de Merlay, who m. Margery de Umframville, dau. of Richard Umframville, and sister of Gilbert de Umframville I.

Hawise de Colville, m. Hugh de Berc., tenant of the Colvilles. His great-great grandson, William de Berc, witnessed a grant with Walter de Hameldon (both of Stanford, Rutland) of a garden situated between the town wall and the garden of the prior of St Leonard, near Stanford, in 1328. (N. A., C 146/3891).

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.1.2.1.1. Roger de Colville, of Bytham Castle, Lincolnshire.

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.1.2.1.1.1. Walter de Colville (b. ca. 1225, d. 1276), m. Isabel, dau. of Odenel d’Albini, son of William d’Albini I. and Matilda, dau of Odonel de Umfraville.

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.1.2.1.1.1.1. Roger de Colville of Bytham Castle (b. 1251. d. 1287), m. Margaret, dau of Richard de Braose, of Stinton, Norfolk, and Alice de Ros, dau. of William de Ros, 2nd Baron Ros of Helmsley, and Margaret de Badlesmere, dau. of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, and Margaret, relict of Gilbert de Umfraville. Bartholomew de Badlesmere became holder of the Umfraville fiefs Normanton and Hameldun; thus becoming overlord of the Colvilles in those places. Of the Hamiltons:

A “sensible proposition is that they were kin, or vassals of the Umfraville lords of Redesdale and the earls of Angus”. (Bruce A. McAndrew, Scotland’s Historic Heraldry, p. 235, 200). The Umravilles bore a single cinquefoil on their shield. A vassal adopting this would add a number of charges, and here is possibly the origin of the three cinquefoils in the Hamilton escutcheon.

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1. Gilbert de Colville, b. ca. 1255. The Writs of Military Service show (1292) Gilbertus Coleville performing military service in Scotland due from Gilbertus de Neville, who was elected a Knight of the co. of Lincoln in 1290, performing such service in 1277 due to Gilbert de Gand (br. of Juliana d’Armenters), son of Gilbert de Gand, Earl of Lincoln and Alice d’Albini.

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1. Walter FitzGilbert. Grant by William Berc and Walter de Hameldon, both of Staunford (Stamford), to Raymond le Spicer of the same, Edda his wife, and his heirs and assigns, of a garden in the parish of St Mary of Bynewerk, Staunford, between the town wall and the garden of the prior of St Leonard near Staunford. Sunday after St Giles, 2 Edward III. 1328-1329. (C 146/3891).

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.2. Philip, commander of Drax Castle, against the army of Stephen, in 1154. Alan de Percy granted to the monks of Whitby a ploughgate of land in Oxenham, and another in Hetune, near Roxburgh’ in the barony of Oxenham.’ About the year 1153 Geoffry de Percy, with the consent of Henry de Percy, his brother and heir, granted to the monks of Kelso, for the souls’ health of King David I., and Henry his son, a ploughgate of land in Heton, witnessed by Philip de Colville. The manors of Oxnam and Heton passed from the family of Percy into the possession of the Colvilles.

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.2.1. Thomas de Colville (“the Scot”), obit. 1219, Constable of Dumfries Castle.

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.3. Thomas de Colville, from whom a succession of his namesake, lords of Cuxwold. He, or his son, was probably ‘Thoma de Hameldun’ (so called, it is probable, from having a holding in Roger de Mowbray’s manor of Hameldun), who witnessed the Melrose charter as ‘Thoma de Homeldun’, with his son ‘Roger de Homeldun’, in the reign of King William ‘the Lion’. (1165 to 1214).

Mr. Riddell (‘Stewartiana’) suggested that this Roger may have been he “who figures in this excerpt from Burton’s Monasticon Eboracense, relative to the right of the Abbey of Whitby, Yorkshire, to parts of Oxenham: “Oxenham, Alan, son of Alan de Perci,* gave one carucate here; (Gaufrid de Perci, another), confirmed by Malcom, King of Scotland, and by Henry de Perci, brother of Gaufrid, and by David, King of Scotland, and by Philip de Colevile, Malcolm reigned between 1141-1165.

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.3.1. Roger de Hameldun.

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.3.1.1. ‘Roberto de Hameldun’. A later Melrose charter (ca. 1250), was witnessed by ‘Roberto de Hameldun’ (probable son of Roger) and his son ‘Rogero de Hameldun’.

1.1.2.1.1.3.1.3.1.1.1. ‘Rogero de Hameldun’.

THE GAND CONNECTION

1.1.2.2. … de Beaufour, m. Hugh de Montfort-sur-Risle.

1.1.2.3.1. Alice de Montfort-sur-Risle, m. Gilbert de Gand, lord of Barton-on-Humber in 1086. He restored the Abbey of Bardney, destroyed by the Danes, Prior to the dissolution of monasteries the advowson of Barton was appendaged to the abbey of Bardney; the tithes of the lordship therefore belonged to the monastery.

Gilbert was also lord of Burley in Rutland, which lies north-east of Oakham, near Stamford, where the Colville family had substantial holdings. Temp. Domesday, Geoffrey d’Armentieres held it of Gilbert de Gand. This Geoffrey was clearly closely associated of Robert d’Armentieres. His descendant, David d’Armentieres, d. bef. 1196, father of Henry, held land in Burley. (Add. Chart. 47802). The said Henry held the park in Burley in 1206. (Leic. Arch. soc., vols 49-54, 1973). Burley descended with the Barons of Gand through five generations of the male line. Another Domesday tenant-in-chief, Robert Malet, also held land in Burley. (Burley, Rutland Folio: 293v).

1.1.2.3.1.1. Walter de Gand, confirmed the religious donationsof his father. He m. Maud, dau. of Stephen, Earl of Brittany. Sir Walter de Lindissi or Lind(e)say (was) ‘almost certainly 3rd son of Gilbert de Ghent (Gilbert de Gand I.), probably accompanied David, Earl of Huntingdon, subsequently King David I, in his anglicising of the Lowlands in the early 12th century; he was witness in 1116 to an inquisition concerning the see of Glasgow’ (Charles Mosley, editor, Burke’s Peerage, 107th edition, vol. 1, p. 950).

1.1.2.3.1.1.1. Gilbert de Gand, Earl of Lincoln, d. 1156, was lord of Barton-on-Humber, and had built Barton Castle in the 1140s. In 1148, he founded the abbey of Rufford in Notts., giving to it a portion of his Barton estate. He m. Hawise Roumare, dau. of William, Earl of Lincoln, whereby he became eventually, in her right, Earl of Lincoln.

1.1.2.3.1.1.2. Robert de Gand, m. istly, Alice Paynel. Robert de Gand, m. (2) 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. William held one night’s fee of Robert de Gand in Lincs, his br.-in-law. William de Colville agreed to pay the king a fine of 20 mares and one palfrey, to have seisin of Normanton, Rutland, held in chief by the de Umfravilles. Ralph d’Albini (Brito) was the uncle of William Albini Brito I., who m. Matilda, the dau. of Odonel de Umframville, grandfather of Gilbert de Umframville I., whose family armorial was gules, 3 cinque foils or..

1.1.2.3.1.1.2.1. Gilbert de Gand, Earl of Lincoln, m. Alice d’Albini, second-cousin of Gunnor d’Albini and her sister, Maud, wife of William de Colville. Henry d’Armentieres held two knights’ fees in the county of Rutland for land in Burley of the Honour of Gand. (Red Bk. of Excheq. (Rolls Ser.), 103; Pipe R. Soc. (New Ser.), vii, 229).

In 1206, Gilbert de Gand sued the prior of Sempringham for 7 bovates with appurtenances in Barton-upon-Humber … the prior had no right of entrance except through Earl Simon (d’Aumale) and the Countess Alice, his wife (Gilbert’s 1st cousin). His tenant was ‘Master Walter Crispin’, who, circa 1215, granted to North Ormsby (Gilbertine, Lincs.) seven bovates in Barton-upon-Humber.

Charters relating to the Gilbertine Houses of Sixle, Ormsby, Catley, Bullington, and Alvingham:

“To all who shall see or hear these letters Master Walter Crispin sends greeting. Let the whole body of you know that I have given, granted, and by this my present charter confirmed to God and blessed Mary and the convent of Ormsby, and this especially to make up the need of linen cloth for the uses of the nuns of the same house, seven bovates of arable land in the territory of Barton with three tofts in the same village and with all their other appurtenances and easements, liberties, and free customs within the village and without in pure and perpetual alms, to have and to hold freely,quietly, and peaceably of me and my heirs. And I and my heirs will warrant and acquit and defend the aforesaid land with all its appurtenances to the aforesaid convent against all men for ever”.

A patron of St. Mary’s was Roger de Mowbray: “Roger de Moubray to all the sons of holy mother church present and future sends greeting. Know that I have given and granted and by this present charter confirmed to God and the church of Saint Mary of Ormsby and the nuns and brethren serving God there, one dwelling of one acre in the territory of Kinnard Ferry, namely that next the ditch of the canons of Kelfield, to possess in pure and perpetual alms, free, immune, and quit from all exaction and worldly service, with all liberties and free customs belonging to free alms, for the safety of my soul and the souls of my ancestors”. (ca. 1160).

1.1.2.3.1.1.2.1.1. Juliana de Gand, m. Geoffrey d’Armentiers. Undated Charter of Gilbert de Gand giving to Geoffrey de Armenteres, in free marriage with Juliana, his daughter, the service of 2 knights by reducing to Geoffrey and his heirs by Juliana the service due from the fee which his father Henry de Armenters had held. (Book of Seals, Hatton, 1950, p. 205).

1.1.2.3.1.1.2. Robert de Gand, m. 2ndly Gunnor d’Albini, and became br.-in-law of William de Colville.

1.1.2.3.1.2. Emma de Gand, m. Alan de Percy. Witnesses to the Charter of King Henry I., whereby he confirmed the Foundation of Bardney Abbey in Com. Linc. by Walter de Gand.

1.1.2.3.1.2.1. Henry de Percy.

1.1.2.3.1.3. Alice de Gand, m. Roger de Mowbray, uncle of Thomas de Colville’s wife.

D’IVRI

1. Raoul (Rodolph) d’Ivri.

1.1. … m. “Richardus de Bello-fago.

1.1.1. … m, Vicecomes Erchemald.

1.1.1.1. Gilbert Crispin I.

1.1.1.1.1. Gilbert Crispin II., Domesday tenant of Robert Malet, as Gilbert de Collevilla. He m. Hersende and became enfeoffed in Armentieres-sur-Avre.

1.1.1.1.1.1. Robert d’Armentieres, Domesday tenant of Gilbert de Gand.

1.1.1.1.1.1.1. William de Whatton, m. … de Newmarch. A son, taking the name of Newmarch, which family held the fief of Womersley, one of whom being the ancestor of the family of Wormley, a derivative of Womersley.

1.1.1.1.2. William Crispin I., uncle of Robert d’Armentieres

1.1.1.1.2.1. Milo Crispin, cousin of Robert d’Armentieres.

1.1.1.1.2.2. William Crispin II. (Domesday tenant of Robert Malet, as William de Collevilla), cousin of Robert d’Armentieres.* The forfeited estates of Robert Malet demised to William de Percy, who became the overlord of William de Collevilla. William de Percy’s son, Adam de Percy, m. Emma de Gand. *He was the probable brother of Geoffrey d’Armentieres, Domesday tenant in Burley (under Gilbert de Gand), where Robert Malet held land.

1.1.1.1.2.2.1. Thomas de Collevilla.*

1.1.1.1.2.2.1.1. Philip de Colville.

1.1.1.1.2.2.1.1.1. Roger de Colville (Rogero Crispin de Keleby). The Keleby connection was through Stephen de Albemarle’s granddau., Agnes, marrying William de Roumare, Earl of Lincoln, whose dau., Agnes, m. Gilbert de Gand, br. of Robert de Gand, br.-in-law of William de Colville, uncle of Roger de Colville (Rogero Crispin de Keleby).

1.1.1.1.2.3. Gilbert Crispin, Abbot of Westminster.

1.1.1.1.3. Hesilia Crispin, m. William Malet, who held the fief of Collevilla …

1.1.1.1.3.1. Robert Malet.

1.1.1.2. Croco.

1.1.1.2.1. Rainald filius Croco, Domesday sub-tenant in 6 manors held by Milo Crispin of the Hon. of Wallingford.

1.1.2. … de Beaufour, m. Hugh de Montfort-sur-Risle.

1.1.2.1. Alice de Montfort-sur-Risle, m. Gilbert de Gand, lord of Barton-on-Humber in 1086. Gilbert’s wife was the ist-cousin of Gilbert Crispin I. and 2nd cousin of William Crispin I. (uncle of Robert d’Armentieres), whose son, Gilbert, Abbot of Westminster, lived in a London mansion donated by Gilbert de Gand, a donation witnessed by Robert d’Armentieres, cousin of Gilbert, Abbot of Westminster.

1.1.2.1.1. Walter de Gand.

1.1.2.1.1.1. Gilbert de Gand, d. 1156, m. Hawise Roumare, dau. of William, Earl of Lincoln.

1.1.2.1.1.2. Robert de Gand, m. Gunnora de Albini Brito, sister of Maud, who m. William de Colville, who held one night’s fee of Robert de Gand in Lincs.

1.1.2.1.1.2.1. Gilbert de Gand, Earl of Lincoln, m. Alice d’Albini, second-cousin of Gunnor and Maud.

1.1.2.1.1.2.1.1. Juliana de Gand, m. Geoffrey d’Armentiers.

1.1.2.1.2. Emma de Gand, m. Alan de Percy.

1.1.2.1.3. Alice de Gand, m. Roger de Mowbray, the overlord of *Thomas de Collevilla, who m. his niece.

All genealogical econstructions of the very distant past are subject to the extremely obvious comment that there are either no references to validate claims, or that references are of a dubious nature. This has become a subject in its own right, with a vast number of pages being written about what is not known, on the basis of a chosen measure, when another choice might reveal what can be inferred to be known – the concept of “the known unknown”.

What is meant is that a knowledge of how the society of those being studied was constructed can be used as a measure of likely relationships. Ergo, in the early Norman period society was based on familial connections, with those donating to religious foundations almost invariably being in some way related to the founder’s family; this way being consanguineous or non-consanguineous – a network of variously related uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, and cousins. They very often shared tenurial associations, being near neighbours, and tenants of each other, or of the same overlord, who was the head of their kinship circle. Those that donated together dined together around the same familial table.

Another factor in the decoding of early Norman relationships is the turbulent politics of the time, with the knightly class siding with one claimant of land over another, made more complicated to understand by allegiances being subject to change. Those that fought together tended to be in some way related, allegiance being made more secure by marriages akin to strategic moves on a chess board.

At the heart of political control were such border forts as Tillieres and its defensive outposts, such as Armentieres-sur-Avre, situated 20 miles S.W. Family relationships of the knightly class centred around control of these defensive bastions.

A reasonable proximity of the relationships of the Norman nightly class associated by tenure can be achieved; there are only a small number of possibilities.

ARMENTIERES

1. Ribald de Dreux.

1.1. Albert Ribald, inherited Brezolles, m. Adelaise, sans male issue. Within Brezolles was the fief of Bérou-la-Mulotière. (B. Guérard (ed.), ‘Cartulaire’, op. cit., t. II, p. 557-559). This was adjacent Dame-Marie, and was called “the stronghold of Bérou”. (Arch. dép. Seine-Maritime, II B, 399, no. 8 (1605).

Geoffroy II de Bérou was closely associated with Gislebert Crespin II, lord of Tillières.

In 1096, Geoffroy (and his wife, Euphemie, their children, his brother and his children), granted to Saint- Père-de-Chartres and the church of Brezolles, with the agreement of Gilbert II (and his sons Gilbert III and Ribald), his half of two mills in Bérou; the other half being that of the Crispins. The grant confered the rights of fishing in the mill streams and ponds for eels. (Cart. de Saint-Père, p. 459).

Geoffrey’s father, Geoffrey, and his wife Agnes, made donations of lands in Tillières to the Abbey of Bec. BNF, lat. 12884, p. 153-159 (1092): “Gilbertus Crispinus molendinum ex concessionu Teudonis de Sancto Dionisio, quod Goifridus de Berou dederat de iis quae ab eo tenebat and decimam de sua terra de Goheria and Goifrido de Berou cum uxore sua Agnete”.

1.2. Frodeline de Dreux, m. Guazon, son of Raoul le Barbu, lord of Châteauneuf.

1,2,1, Hugues I of Châteauneuf, heir to his uncle, Albert. He was Lord of Châteauneuf between 1073 and 1105. He m. (1073) Mabile, dau. of Roger de Montgommery and Mabile de Bellême,

1.3. Adelaisa de Dreux, m. Albert III,, lord of Gallardon.

1.4. Teudo.

1.5. Garin. Teudo and Garin subscribed to King Henry’s original confirmation of Albert’s gifts to St. Peter, re–issued by King Philip in 1060. (RHGF XI, pp. 602–4; GC, VIII, instr., col. 301; PL 151.1036; Sœhnée 105; cf. CSMP, p. 469).

1.6. Agnes, m. Geoffroy de Bérou?

Gilbert Crespin II. Hersende … and became enfeoffed in Brézolles and (6 miles easterly)Armentieres. It is suggested that Gilbert’s wife was paternally of a family which held land of Albert Ribald in Brézolles – that of Geoffroy de Bérou:

1. Geoffroy de Bérou, ca. 1025-1092.

1.1. Geoffroy II de Bérou, m. Euphemie. (Possibly the Geoffroy d’ Armentieres of Domesday).

1.1.1. Geoffroy III. de Bérou, d. Jerusalem, 1115.

1.1.1.1. Geoffroy IV. de Bérou.

1.1.1.1.1. Raoul de Bérou. Simon d’Anet, lord in Tillières and Châteauneuf, confirmed Raoul’s donation to the Abbey of Bec of the tithe of his mills in Acon. (Prevost, Notes historiques, op. cit., t. i., p. 88).

1.1.2. Richard de Bérou.

1.2. Hersende de Berou, m. Gilbert Crespin II.

1.2.1. Ribaud Crespin. According to M. Le Prevost, Robert d’Oily was from Ouilly-le-Basset, arrondissement of Falaise. Another candidate is Ouilly-la-Ribaude (Calvados), canton de Lisieux, early caput of the Crespin family. Robert d’Oily’s dau. m. Milo Crespin, Ribaud.s cousin.

1.2.2. Gilbert Crespin 111.

1.2.2.1. Gilbert Crespin IV., confirmed William Malet’s gifts to Bec. (Charpillon, ‘Dictionaire’, p. 928, 1868).

1.2.3. Robert Crespin, the Robert d’Armentieres of Domesday, in England at the time of the 1096 gift to Saint-Père by Geoffroy II de Bérou, assented to by his father and brothers.

1.3. Raoul de Bérou.

1.3.1. Richard de Bérou.

1.3.2. Gilbert de Bérou.

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