It is the nature of a blog that articles on the same subject supercede each other, and information is scattered thoughout. This article attempts to give a brief summary of the relationship of the families of Crispin and Ivri; joining that which is scattered.
The more that ancestries become clear, or appear to, the less words are required to describe them. In all these years of writing about a Harris family of Virginia in, it seems, countless words, it boils down to being able to summarise everything in about 20 pages. This is the process: the sifting of a vast amount of material to find a central thread that clearly makes sense, in terms of how families of former times intermarried over successive generations in order to protect and promote their economic and social status – the English kinship system.
IVRI
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.
1.1.2. Emma d’Ivri, m. Osborn the dapifer, son of Harfast, br. of Gunnor, wife of ‘Duke’ Richard, “the great prince”. Cart. St. Amand: “We donate from the area of Rothornagensi our mill in Rauleni villa, and our fields in Chevilly. In addition we give our cultivated land, which is near the valley Erchembald and the mountain called Cochetel”. Osborn’s sister, b. ca. 980, m. Osmund de Centville, having issue: (1) Foulques d’Anet, b. ca. 1000, from the vil of Anet, south of Ivry. He was not Foulques d’Aunou. There was a close and ongoing association between the Crispins and the d’Anets. The latin ‘ Aneio’, was wrongly translated as d’Aunou. (2) Gunnora d’Anet, m. Gilbert Crispin I. “Nous ignorons à quel titre Gislebert Crespin etait appele à ratifier cette donation; mais nous supposons que ce pouvait être à raison de quelque alliance avec la famille d’Ivri, dont le souvenir est perdu” (‘Ordericus Vitalis’, ed. le Prevost et. al., p. 398, 1840). Gilbert Crispin’s mother was a descendant of Raoul d’ Ivri..
1.1.2.1. William FitzOsbern, whose mother was a granddau. of Raoul d’ Ivri..
1.1.3. … 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.
1.1.3.1. … de Beaufour, m. Hugh de Montfort-sur-Risle.
1.1.3.1.1. Alice de Montfort-sur-Risle, m. Gilbert de Gand.
1.1.3.2. … m, Vicecomes Erchenbald, 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). Erchembald is a name commonly held by vassals of the Counts of Flanders.
Erchembald was the brother of “Franconis” (carta St. Bertin), from Medieval Latin Franc (“a Frank”), from Frankish *Frank (“a Frank”. Compare also Old High German Franko (“a Frank”), Old English Franca (“a Frank”). From Late Latin Franc (“a Frank”), of Frankish origin. The Franks were divided in several tribes, such as the Salian Franks in Flanders, including French Flanders. Old Salian Frankish evolved into Dutch and Flemish dialects. In that Baldwin V., Count of Flanders, was the father-in-law Duke William, and his key ally, the connection of Flemmish nobles to the ducal circle is easily accounted for.
THE GILBERTINES
1.1.3.2.1. 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, not Annou.
1.1.3.2.1.1. 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*, Domesday tenant of Robert Malet and Hesilia Crispin.
1.1.3.2.1.1.1. Robert d’ Armentieres, Domesday tenant of Gilbert de Gand. 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
1.1.3.2.1.1.1.1. William de Whatton, m. … de Newmarch. A son, taking the name of Newmarch, which family held the fief of Womersley, was the ancester of the family of Wormley, this being a derivative of Womersley.
1.1.3.2.1.2. William Crispin I. The ancestor of the family of Stanhope, and one of Hamilton.
1.1.3.2.1.2.1. Milo Crispin.
1.1.3.2.1.3. Emma Crispin, m. Pierre de Conde.
1.1.3.2.2. Croco. b. ca. 1010. A sobriquet; cric/croc, hair like a lion’s mane, en flamande (Flemish).
1.1.3.2.2.1. Rainald filius Croco, follower of William FitzOsbern, and sub-tenant in 6 manors held by Milo Crispin of the Hon. of Wallingford, Domes. The King holds Wilmingham in demesne, and it was held in parcenary by Ulviet. It was then as now assessed at 1 hide. Here is 1 ploughland, and 3 villeins with 2 ploughlands and half an acre of meadow. Its value was and is 20s. Rainald the son of Croc holds 1 yardland of this manor, and says that Earl Roger gave it to his father. It was worth 5s. but it is now waste. He held Wainhill in Oxfordshire under the FitzOsborns.
1.1.3.2.2.1.1. Gilbert filius Rainaldus, vassal of the Crispins, b. ca. 1045, donated 80 ac., with Emma de Conde, sister of William Crispin I. and Gilbert Crispin II., in La Tillaye,* to Bec Abbey. *Canton Christophe-sur-Conde, Eure, which is ca. 10 mls N.E. of Thiberville.
1.1.3.2.3. Erchembald. Erchembald de Faverolles, canton Thiberville, b. ca. 1015-1020. This fief had a common boundary with Bournainville. Erchembald de Faverolles was a vassal of the Crispin family (Prevost, M and N, ii, 78). Bournainville/Faverolles was held by “Guillaume Crespin le jeune”, his son, William, his son, William., his son, Goscelin (1155) . “Milon Crespin”, son of “Guillaume Crespin le jeune”, donated land in Bournainville to the Abbey of Bec. (Charpillon, D.H. i, 526).
WILLIAM MALET
1.1.3.2.1.4. Hesilia Crispin, m. William Malet.
1.1.3.2.1.4.1. Lucy Malet, m. Turold the Sheriff. (K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, “The Parentage of Countess Lucy Made Plain”, Prosopon Newsletter, 2, 1995).
1.1.3.2.1.4.1.1. Lucy FitzTurold, b. ca. 1075, m. (3) Ranulph de Meschines (1070-1129), son of Ranulph, Viscount of Bayeux. (Keats-Rohan, Prosopon Newsletter, May 1995: “Lucy was William Malet’s thrice-married granddaughter“).
1.1.3.2.1.4.1.1.1. Ranulph de Meschines, 4th Earl of Chester, from 1129 to 1153. Geoffrey le Despenser and his son, Thomas le Despenser, served Ranulph.
ROBERT MALET
1.1.3.2.1.4.2. Robert Malet. His Surry holdings included the Manor of Sutton: “Upon the Inquest the verdict of the Jury was that Durand had seized this estate without the King’s Brief or Livery. (Nathaniel Salmon, Antiquities of Surrey, p. 142, 1736. Sutton is ca, 10 miles N. of Burghes: “There seems to have been a Manor here by the name of Berge, next after Mickelham in the Record. This had been in Edward’s time four Manors, enjoyed by as many Lords (almost certainly one being Robert Malet), these Lands, now brought into one Manor, and held of the Bishop by one Hugh,* are rated in Walton Hundred, ibid., p. 98. *Hugh de Berghes.
DURAND MALET AND THE DESPENSERS – an amendment to my previous article.
1.1.3.2.1.4.3. Durand Malet, (b. ca. 1045), held 13 carucates belonging to Burton in the manor in Prestwold, Leicestershire. Robert Malet’s Surry holdings included the Manor of Sutton: “Upon the Inquest the verdict of the Jury was that Durand had seized this estate without the King’s Brief or Livery. (Nathaniel Salmon, Antiquities of Surrey, p. 142, 1736. Sutton is ca, 10 miles N. of Burghes: “There seems to have been a Manor here by the name of Berge, next after Mickelham in the Record. This had been in Edward’s time four Manors, enjoyed by as many Lords, almost certainly one being Robert Malet.
1.1.3.2.1.4.4 … Malet (b. ca. 1045), m. Rainald de Queniborough/Gainsborough, tenant of Geoffrey de la Guerche/Wirce, who received Durand Malet’s 5 carucates of land in Burton-on-the-Wolds, as dower. Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. Folio: 369r. Great Domesday Book. Domesday place name: Gainesburg. People mentioned: tenant-in-chief: Geoffrey de la Guerche. Lord in 1086: Rainald. (E 31/2/2/8263).
It is not improbable that Rainald was synonomous with Rainald filius Croco, supra.
1.1.3.2.1.4.4.1.1. … (b. ca. 1065), m. Hugh de Berghes, supra. (Alternatively, a son of Rainald could have m. a sister of Hugh).
1.1.3.2.1.4.4.1.1.1. Ansketil de Berghes (b. ca. 1087), of Burton-on-the-Wolds.
1.1.3.2.1.4.4.1.1.1.1. Geoffrey le Despenser (b. ca. 1102), of Ranulf, Earl of Chester. “Gaufrido dispensatore et Ivone fratre suo” witnessed a charter of Ranulf, ca. 1150. There was invariably a familial connection between a lord and his “despenser”.
1.1.3.2.1.4.4.1.1.1.1.1. Thomas Dispensator (b. ca. 1127), filius Gaufridi Dispensatoris” (Nichols iii, 2: 815, 817). Thomas Despenser, son of Geoffrey Despencer granted and confirmed to Garendon abbey, 10 bovates in Burton with the consent of his overlord for this land, Ansketil de Berges.
1.1.3.2.1.4.4.1.1.1.2. Ivo de Alspath, Constable of Coventry Castle, for Earl Ranulf of Chester.
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