What follows is an attempt to show the interconnections between various families that served the Norman dukes; interconnections through marriage which created military kinship groups which protected the rights and priviliges of the ruling elite. It was a game of military chess, with opponents seeking to use their knights to out-position each other. A wrong move could be fatal, and a wrong decision of which side to serve could be brutally punished.

This system of the feudally and familially-bound persisted over centuries; its remnants being found in the colonisation of 17th century Virginia; where most marriages were based on centuries old ties of kinship, a simple fact if adequate research is done.

An irony is that the line of the Norman dukes held power in England until the Plantagenet succession of 1154; wherehas the line of their female ancestor, Sprota, by her second partner, Asperlenc, continued to be of great significance for centuries afterwards, in the blood of such families as Crispin, Gand, (ducal) Hamilton, and Newmarch (Wormley).

As an appendix, Hugh de Cavalvilla is mentioned, in the context of a possible lineage of the first Norman ‘dukes’.


TABLE 1 – BROYES AND MONTFORT

i. Hugh Bardoul of Broyes, Beaufort, and Nogent.
ii. Isabelle de Broyes, m., as his ist wife, Simon de Montfort l’Amaury, br. of Eve de Montfort, wife if William Crispin I. (W. Frolich, trsl., The Letters of Anselme of Canterbury, 1990-1994, nos. 22, 98, 118, and 147). They were the children of Amauri 1 de Montfort, and Bertrade de Gometz. Amauri 1 de Montfort was the possible son of William de Hainault, ca. 967-1003. (Marjorie Chibnall, ed. & trans., The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, vol. iv., 1969-80).
ii. Barthelemy de Broyes, m. Elizabeth,* dau. of Raoul III, Count of Valois, br. of Drogo de Mantes. (Heather J. Tanner, The Political Role of the Comital Family of Boulogne in Northern France and England (879–1159) (PhD diss.). University of California, 1993). Drogo/Dreux de Mantes, Comte du Vexin and Amiens, m. Godgifu (dau. of Æthelred king of England and Emma, dau. of Richard (the Great Prince) of Normandy and Gunnor); sister of Edward the Confessor. (A link to the family of Malet may be assumed). Drogo’s lands included a mill and a farm in Gelle, where was situated “Mansum Fulcoldi” (d’Anet). (Cart. Saint-Germain des Prés).

*Elizabeth was the sister of Hawise, wife of Roger de Mortimer, a leader the Norman forces against the French at the battle of Mortemer in 1054.

‘The Norman and French forces met at Mortemer (before Lent, 6 Feb., 1054). The Normans were led by Count Robert of Eu, assisted by Hugh of Gournay, Hugh of Montfort, Walter Giffard, William Crispin, and Roger of Mortemer … There at dawn battle was instantly joined and continued on both sides with bloodshed until noon. Finally, the defeated French took to flight including their standard-bearer, Odo, the King’s brother. In this battle, the greater part of the French nobility was slain; the remainder were kept in custody throughout various Norman villages’. (Excerpt from ‘Obert, Count of Eu’, by his wife, Countess Lescelina).

It is far from improbable that he was an illigitimate son of Hugh d’Ivri.

TABLE II – IVRI

i. Raoul (Ralf) d’Ivri.
ii. Hugues d’Ivri.
iii. Roger de Mortemer, m. Hawise, sister of Elizabeth, wife of Barthelemy de Broyes, br. of Isabelle de Broyes, who m. Simon de Montfort l’Amaury, br. of Eve de Montfort, wife if William Crispin I.
ii. … m. “Richardus de Bello-fago.
iii. … m, Vicecomes Erchemald.
iv. Gilbert Crispin I. That he was not the same person as Gilbert de Brionne has been recognised in academic sources for nearly 200 years – Aug. Le Provost, Rom. Rou, t. II, p. 232 and 238; Mem. League of Antiqe de Normandy, 1828-1829, p. 419; Mabillon ‘Life of St. Hellouin’, Gall. Christ., vol. xi. – as detailed in MSAN, pp. 110-112, 1837. Unfortunately, the beam of knowledge has not illuminated many ‘internet histories’, which have an ageing Count Gilbert de Brionne being a castelan of a border fort.
v. Gilbert Crispin II., Domesday tenant in Sussex of his cousin, Robert Malet, and his aunt, Hesilia Crispin. (DB/Sf 6/19-21, 29-30, 34-37, etc.).
vi. Robert de Armentieres, Domesday tenant of Gilbert de Gand in Whatton. He 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.*
vii. William de Whatton, m. … de Newmarch.
viii. Adam de Newmarch (Blythe cartulary, fo. 106), whose family held the fief of Womersley, from whence the family of Wormley as Newmarch.
v. William Crispin I., m. Eve de Montfort.

TABLE III – TOSNY

1. Ralf de Tosny.
ii. Roger ‘the Spaniard’ de Tosny, castelan of Tillières for Richard II., in 1013, a position given to Gilbert Crispin I. after Roger’s exile. Roger m. Godehyldis, who m. (2) Richard, Count of Évreux. Their dau., Agnes d’Evreux, was the 2nd wife of Simon I de Montfort, br. of Eve, wife of William Crispin I. (See Elisabeth van Houts, The Normans in Europe, p. 215, 2000). Simon and Agnes had issue: Amaury de Montfort, who m. (1) Richilde, dau. of Baudouin II, comte de Hainaut, son of Count Baldwin VI. of Flanders.(2) Agnès, dau. of Anseau de Garlande, Count de Rochefort, and Beatrice, dau. of Guy I of Montlhéry and Hodierna of Gometz. Gilbert de Gand was the son of Ralph, Lord of Aalst near Ghent, and Gisele of Luxembourg, the sister-in-law of Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders, grandfather of Count Baldwin VI.
iii. Robert de Tosny, Baron of Belvoir.
iv. Adeliza de Tosni, m. Roger Bigod, earl of East Anglia.
v. Cecily Bigod, obit. 1135, m. William d’ Albini Brito, of Saint-Aubin-d’Aubigné (Ille-et-Vilaine).
vi. Ralph d’Albini, m. Sybil de Valognes, widow istly of Robert de Ros, and 2ndly of William de Percy, son of Alan de Percy II., and Emma de Gand, dau. of Gilbert de Gand I.
iii. Ralf de Tosny II., m. Isabel de Montfort l’Amaury (dau. of Simon de Montfort l’Amaury), and cousin of William Crispin II.
iv. Ralf de Tosny III., m. Adelise, dau. of Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, and Judith, niece of William the Conqueror; a dau. of his sister Adelaide, Countess of Aumale, and Lambert II, Count of Lens.
v. Maud, brought the earldom of Huntingdon to her second husband, David I of Scotland.

Thus, the blood of the Albinis, Colvilles, and (ducal) Hamiltons carried that of Tosny. (See appendix).

TABLE IV – EVREUX

i. Richard I., m. Gunnor.
ii. Robert, ‘Robert the Dane’, Archbishop of Rouen, d. 1037. Robert was a powerful ecclesiastical ally of his father, Richard I, his brother, Richard II, and his nephew, Richard III., but on the latter’s death, his br. Robert I. became duke of Normandy, who banished his uncle, Robert, who, with Hugues d’Ivri, had questioned the right of Robert to be duke. From exile in Paris, Robert excommunicated his nephew and placed Normandy on an interdict, effectively not sanctifying the marriages made by those close to Robert I. (François Neveux, The Normans, trans. Howard Curtis, p. 100, 2008).
iii. Richard, Count of Évreux.
iv. Agnes d’Evreux, 2nd wife of Simon I de Montfort, br. of Eve, wife of William Crispin I. Marriages within the ducal circle were an entirely political matter. The alliance of a niece of Ralph de Gacé to the Crispin family kinship group was a move to nullify opposition to the ducal house.
iii. Ralph de Gacé, who in 1040 ordered the assassination of Count Gilbert de Brionne, tutor of young Duke William, and overlord of the Crispin family. Ralph m. Basilla, dau. of Gerard Flaitel; she m. (2) Hugh de Gournay. (Anselme de Sainte-Marie, Histoire de la Maison Royale de France, p. 478, 1726).
iii. William d’Évreux, m. Hawise, dau. of Giroie, Lord of Échauffour, relict of Robert de Grantmesnil I. (Europäische Stammtafeln, tab. 79).
iv. Judith d’Évreux, second-cousin of William the Conqueror.
v. A dau. m. Hugh de Jarze.

TABLE V – CRISPIN cont.

vi. Milo Crispin.
vi. *Gilbert Crispin, Abbot of Westminster.
vi. William Crispin II, b. ca. 1060, Domesay tenant in Yorkshire of his cousin, Robert Malet; these lands on forfeit being given to William Percy I, the new overlord of William Crispin II., alias William de Colville.
vi. “Many others”.
v. Hesilia Crispin, m. William Malet.
vi. Robert Malet, held the fief of Collavilla, Harfleur.
v. Emma Crispin, m. Pierre de Conde.
vi. Osbert de Conde, lord of Horncastle, Lincs, m. Adelaide, addressed as “My Lady” in the work of Samson de Nanteuil.
vii. Robert de Conde, d. ca. 1140, in Skellingthorpe, Lincolnshire, m. Alice, dau. of Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare (Keats-Rohan, Domesday Descendants), sister of (1) Lucy, 2nd wife of Baldwin de Redvers, br. of Alice de Redvers, wife of Roger de Nonant II.; Eva de Redvers, wife of Robert d’Oilly. (2) Adeliza de Clare, wife of William Percy II, who m. 2ndly, Sybil de Valoignes. (3) Gilbert FitzRichard de Clare, whose grandson, Baldwin Wake, died seised of an estate in Skellingthorpe. Alice, wife of Robert de Conde, confirmed the gift of her nephew, Baldwin fitz Gilbert, to Bardney Abbey, of the church of Saint Mary Magdalene of Hartsholme, in the parish of Skellingthorpe.

A Domesday tenant in Skellingthorpe was “Gilbert Crispin, Abbot of St Peter of Westminster” (370r Great Domesday Book), br. of William Crispin II.

TABLE VI – IVRI cont. to Gand.

iii. … de Beaufour, m. Hugh de Montfort-sur-Risle.
iv. Alice de Montfort-sur-Risle, m. Gilbert de Gand. 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.

It is as easy as it is wrong to assign a place of origin to a Conquest-era person on the basis of the origin of his lord, especially if that lord had numerous tenants, and more especially if the descendants of that person had little or no association with those of the conjectured place of origin over the next five generations. Such is the case of Robert d’Armentières, who was the vassal of Gilbert de Gand. He is likely to be of the family of Crispin, who held Armentières, Verneuil, the descendants of which, as Colville, had shared associations with those of Robert d’Armentières.

v. Walter de Gand.
vi. Alice de Gand, m. Roger de Mowbray, br. or close relative of Thomas de Colville’s wife.
vi. Gilbert de Gand, Earl of Lincoln, d. 1156, lord of Barton-on-Humber, m. Hawise Roumare, dau. of William, Earl of Lincoln, whereby he became eventually, in her right, Earl of Lincoln.
vii. Robert de Gand, m. (2) Gunnora de Albini Brito, dau. of Ralph de Albini. (English Baronies’, I. J. Sanders, OUP, 2nd ed, 1963);
and Sybil de Valoigne, relict of Robert de Ros I, and William de Percy II. A sister of Gunnora, Maud, m. William de Colville, who held one night’s fee of Robert de Gand in Lincs; and 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 was the uncle of William Albini I., who m. Matilda, the dau. of Odonel de Umframville, grandfather of Gilbert de Umframville I., who held the fief of Hameldon, adjacent Normanton.
viii. Gilbert de Gand, Earl of Lincoln, m. Alice d’Albini, second-cousin of the said Gunnor and Maud. 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).

ix. Juliana de Gand, m. Geoffrey d’Armentiers. Gilbert de Gand gave to Geoffrey de Armenteres, his son-in-law, 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). Henry de Armenters was the son of David de Armenters.
v. Emma de Gand I., m. Alan de Percy, son of William de Percy I. They witnessed the Charter of King Henry I., whereby he confirmed the Foundation of Bardney Abbey in Com. Linc. by Walter de Gand, Emma’s brother.
vi. William de Percy II, d. 1168, 2nd husband of Sybil de Valoignes, her ist being Robert de Ros I., d. 1160, her 3rd, Ralph de Albini.

TABLE VII – returning to:

v. William Crispin I., m. Eve de Montfort.
vi. William Crispin II., b. ca. 1060, Domesay tenant in Yorkshire of his cousin, Robert Malet; these lands on forfeit being given to William Percy I, the new overlord of William Crispin II., alias William de Colville.
vii. William Crispin III., b. ca. 1085, d. 1135; nearly killed Henry 1 at the Battle of Bremule, in 1119.
viii. Willelmo de Colevilla, b. ca. 1110, witnessed a charter per “concessisse Roberto filio Roberti (de Ros) cum testa totam terram Roberti patris sui quam tenuit in capite de rege Henrico avo meo et de quocunque eam tenuisset et ministerium patris sui”. (1155-1158), and
a charter of Robert de Ros I., confirming the gift of Walter Espec his uncle to the church of St. Mary of Rievaux, for the soul sof his said uncle, his father and mother, and his brother Evarard; signing as *Willelmo Crispino”. He also witnessed (as Willelmus Crispin), a charter of Roger de Nonant I. (1133-1138), (Tot. Pr. Deed I), “Rogerius de Nonant son of Wido consent to and confirm the gift of Richardus de Pola which gift in that illness of which he died he gave to the church of Saint Marie of Totenes and to the monks of Saint Sergius
Andecavis serving God in it”.
viii. Joscelin Crispin, b. ca. 1115, m. Isabella, dau. of Robert de Chandos. (BN, ms. lat. 18369, pp. 55-57).

ix. William Crispin IV., b. ca. 1150, s.l. 1223, m. Eve, dau. of William de Harcourt (Le Prevost, 11, 6-8, 1862-1869), and Alice Noel, and sister of Richard de Harcourt, who m. Arabella, dau. of Saher de Quincey, and sister of Robert de Quincy; their half-sister, Asceline, m. Thomas de Colville, son of William de Colville (and Maud d’Albini), br.-in-law of Robert de Gand.
vii. Thomas de Colville, witnessed a gift of Roger de Mowbray I. of land in Stainton which was confirmed by Henry II. (1155-1157). He was a tenant of Roger de Mowbray, and husband of Matilda d’Aubigny, obviously a close relative of Roger. ‘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.
viii. Philip de Colville, held Harrold in Bedfordshire of the honour of Huntingdon as a result of an agreement between King Malcolm IV., the cannons of Harrold Priory, and Robert de Brus. He defended Drax Castle in 1154 against King Stephen.

ix. William de Colville, m. Maud d’Albini. Robert de Gand, m. Maud’s sister, Gunnora, dau. of Ralph de Albini Brito (English Baronies’, I. J. Sanders, OUP, 2nd ed, 1963), and Sybil de Valoignes, relict of Robert de Ros, d. 1160, and William de Percy II., d. 1168. (Surt. Soc, 117, p. 7, 1911).
x. Thomas de Colville, m. Asceline, half-sister of Robert de Quincy, son of Saher de Quincy. Asceline’s sister, Hawise, m. Baldwin Wake, grandf. of Margaret Wake, wife of John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, the forfeited lands of his family devolving to Walter FitzGilbert, descendant of Thomas de Colvilles br., William de Colville, it is strongly suggested.

Baldwin Wake was the grandson of Gilbert fitz Richard de Clare, br. of Alice, wife of Robert de Conde, grandson of Emma Crespin.

TABLE VIII -APPENDIX

i. Sigfried, ‘king’ in Denmark in 873. In this year, Hedeby, and thus the fortress of Hochburg, was controlled by Sigfried, who negotiated its trade with King Ludwig of Germany. (Angelo Forte, Richard D. Oram, Frederik Pedersen, Viking Empires, p. 46, 2005). ‘According to the testimony of Svein II. Estridsen, Sigfrid was succeeded as a king in Denmark by Helgi, probably after the battle on the Dyle in 891’ (Gwyn Jones, A History of the Vikings, p. 111, 2001). A commander of Sigfried and Healfdene was Hals, mentioned in the Annales Fuldenses for 882. Hals is a similar name to Hulci in its genitive form, so it is reasonable to equate Hals with Hulci and Helgi.
ii. Helgi (Malahulc), uncle of Rollo, who succeeded his father as ruler of Hedeby; a reign that was short-lived.
iii. Hugh de Cavalcamp. Caval = horse. His fief was probably Cavalvilla, present-day Cavoville, arr. Louviers; 10 mls S.W. of Tosny.
iii. Ralf; his brother, the Archbishop, bestowed the fief of Todiniacum, or Tosny, on him. (Ada Arcliiepp. Rothomag., by a monk of St. Ouen, temp. Pap. Greg. VIL, ap. Mabillon, Vett. Analecta, p. 223). Villa Toeniensis, 1071 (ch. de Ralf de Tosny).
iv. Ralf de Tosny (Charter of Rich. 11.), commander of Tillieres in 1013.
v. Roger de Tosny, joint commander of Tillieres in 1013, surnamed ‘the Spaniard’ (Charter of Foundation of the Abbey of Conches, ap. Gallia Christiana, torn. xi., Instrumenta, col. 128.; and Gui. Gemet., lib. v. cap. 10., ap. Duchcsne, Script. Norm., p. 253), who rebelled on the accession of William ‘the Bastard’, Duke of Normandy (Gui. Gemet., lib. vii. cap. 3., ap. Duchesne, p. 268).

Ralf de Tosny, Baron of Belvoir, temp. Domesday, was of Tosny, arr. Louviers. (Keats-Rohan, Domesday People).

ii. Osketil, perhaps the Ketil who was said by Richer of Reims (Historia, i, 28, vol. 1, p. 62) to be the father of Rollo (‘filio Catilli’). This identification of Rollo’s father is supported by David Crouch (The Normans: the history of a dynasty, pp. 297-300, 2002). Professor Crouch also suggests that Rollo’s uncle was probably someone called Malahulc, identified by Orderic Vitalis c. 1113 (GND, ii., 94-5, Musset, 1977, 48-9), but not known from any other source, whom I would equate with aforesaid Helgi, alias Hulci.

‘A Danish king or chief, named Osketil, who had commanded a band of his countrymen in the siege of Paris, and to whom Count Eudes had promised an establishment in France, upon condition that he should renounce his piratical habits and embrace the religion of the Franks, was assassinated by a standard bearer, in the suite of the Count, at the very moment he presented himself at the baptismal font. This sacrilegious murder was not only excused by the king, but the assassin received the castle of Blois, the lord of which had been slain by the Normans, as his reward for delivering the kingdom of an enemy, who, it was alleged, might have become the more dangerous for his pretended conversion’. (Henry Wheaton, History of the Northmen, p. 231, 1831, cit. Depping, tom. ii. pp. 23–35. Suhm, H. af D. tom. ii. pp. 395, 398, 408, 411).

iii. Rollo (Hrolfr). Norse name ‘Hrolfr’, cognate to the Franco-Germanic ‘Rodulf’ ‘Radulf’; dim. Ralf.
iv. William Longsword. His concubine, Sprota, m. (2) Asperlenc, and was mother of: Raoul (Ralf) d’Ivri. (See TABLE II). The primary connection of such families as Crispin and Gand to the ducal house of Normandy was through this context.
v. Robert I.
vi. Robert ‘the Dane’, Archbishop of Rouen.

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