The similarities between the Noman invasion of England in 1066 and the early colonisation of Virginia is lost on the vast majority. The Norman elite were typified by how they formed familial associations – “Foedus inter consobinos heredes” – inheritance (and close tenurial association) passing down non-consanguineous lines of cousins; a necessary element of colonisation in a hostile environment, as in early Virginia. Whichever historical period under consideration, it is necessary to research within the context of the social norms of that time – what were the conventions within which families intermarried?; how did that shape their immediate environment?, that is, why were families neighbours? When considering the early medieval period a renowned historian stated that “the answer is in the soil”: neighbours were invariably kin of sorts; a method of mutual survival. The only change in this arrangement in the post-medieval period was that families also intermarried through consanguineous lines of cousins – the religious barriers to this had gone.

In a Virginia context, there is a cultural barrier to overcome in understanding similarities between the social conventions of the Normans and English colonists. Essentially, many people reject the concept of settlement being the result of a “collective enterprise” between closely related families, preferring to believe settlement was by individual effort, as promoted by Hollywood. These perspectives appear mutually exclusive, to the most fervent of the “individualistic” mindset, but, of course, they are not. In the bleak midwinters of early Virginia, individuals strove to survive by calling on the combined strength of their kin; that is, individuals, striving to support their families, assisted other individuals who attempted to do the same.

Commenting on the Bland/Randolph union of 18th century Virginia, Phillip Hamilton stated: “Marriage not only joined two people together, it also expanded a family’s access to capital … as well as broadened its kinship network. Virginians certainly loved the members of their families, but they also relied upon these horizontal bonds for tangible assistance in their day-to-day plantation operations. therefore very few plantations functioned as self-sufficient entities, rather most were worked collectively with interdependent family members from several households sharing material and human resources in order to advance the entire clan’s fortunes. As an 18th century Virginian recognised, “Many advantages arise from relations living near to each other … Their connection and interests are mutually strengthened … by a reciprocation of good offices, which cannot be exercised when they live far apart”. (Phillip Hamilton, Gentry Women and the Transformation of Daily Life in Jefforonian and Antebellum Virginia, p. 9, presented at the Southern Conference on Women’s History (6th, 2003, Athens, Ga.). Although the subject matter is relatively well-to-do families of the 1700’s, and the role of women within them, the insights also apply (and moreso) to poorer families (with greater needs for co-operation), and to males, and (even moreso), to the early, more challenging, years of colonisation. It is as understandable that the general public do not realise the role of kinship in colonisation, as it is impermissible for someone calling themselves “academic” to be as ignorant.

Another similarity between the Normans and early English settlers of Virginia is that their genealogies are subject to imagination. Regarding the Normans, Orderic Vitalis and Robert de Torigny, writing circa 1120-1140, were propagandists of a ruling establishment of elite families, each of which claimed descent from the Duchess Gunnora or her relatives. They treated tenure and lineage as equivalents when composing their accounts, so as to enhance the veracity of these claims, and promote the concept of a continuity of rule, which was the consequence of Divine Providence, and, thus, unchallengable. Their accounts owe as much to approximation as they do to fact. Where accounts are factual, they may be so by degrees – a great-niece may be designated as a niece, etc., such innacuracy being discerned by the test of chronology. Similarly, most constructed genealogies in early Virginia stand little scrutiny, and follow a general pattern of attaching a perceived ancestor to an “Ancient Planter”. This mirrors claiming an ancestor was a “Companion of the Conqueror”. In both cases, the number of correct claims could be counted on the fingers of one hand. The orthodox mythologies are riddled with impossible chronologies, and intermarriages between families that were total strangers, and/or of a differing social class; an anathema at this time.

In the notes that follow, the ancestry (within a range of probability) is given for certain intermarried Norman families. They have been subject to much disinformation, which is ongoing, and, sadly, which is not just the product of copying from the internet, but is propogated by some who claim to be academic, who copy references without questioning their validity.

Two examples of disinformation concern Gilbert Crispin I and his wife, Gunnor d’Anet. Firstly, tha he was not the same person as Gilbert de Brionne has been recognised in true 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. Secondly, the wife of Gilbert Crispin I. was Gunnor d’Anet, not d’Aunou. Quoting the Somerset Herald, J.R. Planche: “From a similarity of names, Fulk d’Aulnay has been confounded constantly with Fulk d’Aunou, of whom I have already discoursed. Even M. le Prévost has been partially misled by it. A Simon d’Aneti or de Aneio, recorded in the red book aforesaid, is asserted by the authors* of the “Recherches sur le Domesday” to be the recognized descendant of Foulques d’Anet” (and is connections to the Crispins is shown hereinafter). Even on the level of common sense, Gilbert Crispin’s wife cannot have been a dau. of a Foulque (who was a son of the fabled “Baldric the Teuton”), and a brother to a number of heads of elite Norman families (their exact relationships being equally as “fabled”). There would have been a plethora of gifts to Bec-Hellouin from the Crispins in conjunction with any of their large number of assumed cousins (or from the Crispins to them), where in fact there are none recorded. In contrast, there are any number of connections between the Crispins and the d’Anets, if anyone cares to look.

This type of copy-cat disinformation certainly concerns early English families families in Virginia. There are any number of contrived, and easily disproved, genealogical constructions that are clung to as a drowning person to a straw; yet, to single them out, would be less than charitable.

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 (as kin) in Normandy became such in England, as neighbours in England became such in Virginia.

Milo Crispin, the Crispin 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 (kinship) network.

The following genealogical constructions appear to most to be totally unconnected to marriages in early Virginia, but they are not. The same principles of arranged marriages that furthered the interests of both families strictly applied in both Norman England and English Virginia. To understand one is to understand the other – indeed, to understand the basis of all social interactions in colonisation of harsh environments. English colonists of early Virginia cannot be studied as social isolates; their true origins need to be adduced, and those of their neighbouring kinsfolk, who arrived in Virginia as social and economic units. This is often a difficult task, involving research of regional archives in England. It is easier, of course, to copy what has been previously portrayed as fact.

HELOISE

A genealogy of possibility, only; but, crucially, one that “makes sense”, and which cannot be readily dismissed.

1. Boudewijn (“von Flanderen”), count of Flanders, m. Ælfthryth, dau. of Alfred “the Great”, king of the Anglo-Saxons, and Ealhswith.
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. Baldwin III., Count of Flanders, m. Matilda, dau. of Hermann I, duke of Saxony, and Hildegard von Westerburg.
1.1.1.1. Arnulf (961-March 30, 987), Count of Flanders, m. Rozala, dau. of Berengar II., king of Italy.
1.1.1.1.1. Baldwin (Jan. 8, 980 – May 30, 1035), Count of Flanders, m. (2) Elenore, dau. of Richard II, of Normandy, half-br. of Geoffrey, father of Gilbert de Brionne.

1.1.2. Luitgarde, m. Wichman von Hamaland, “burggraaf von Ghent”.
1.1.2.1. Theodric von Ghent, count in West Frisia (Ouest-Frise). Frisé, frisée. adjective: curly-haired; latin crispus, frisé, from which crispinus is a diminutive. He m. Hildegarde, dau. of Dietrich 1, Count of West Frisia, and Hildegarde, of some relation to Arnulf I. (“the Great”), count of Flanders.

1.1.2.1.1. Heloise, m. Ansgot. “Au commencement du onzième siècle, Bonneville appartenait à un chevalier de race normande, nommé Ansgot, vassal de Gislebert, comte de Brionne, et allié, par sa femme Hellois, aux puissants comtes de Flandres”. (Alfred Canel, Essai historique, archéologique et statistique sur l’arrondissement de Pont-Audemer, p. 314, 1834). *Will. Gem. vi. 9. A Danis qui primi Normanniam obtinuerunt, originem duxit pater ejus; mater autem ejus paren proximam Ducum Flandriæ consanguinitatem attigit. (Beati Lanfranci Cantuariensis archiepiscopi, 1745 ed., p. 287). That is: “His father was descended from the Danes, who were the first to conquer Normandy; and his mother was of near consanguinity of the Dukes of Flanders”.

Heloise, by the conjecture given herein, was the second-cousin of Baldwin (Jan. 8, 980 – May 30, 1035), Count of Flanders, who m. (2) Elenore, dau. of Richard II, of Normandy, half-br. Geoffrey, father of Gilbert de Brionne (overlord of Gilbert Crispin I.), and grandfather of Robert FitzRichard*. Heloise received Bonneville as dower.

1.1.2.1.1.1. Herlwin, founder of the Abbey of Bec Herluin, educated in the household of Gilbert de Brionne. ‘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 ca. 1035. Bec was founded on the land of Gilbert de Brionne, and under his patronage.

1.1.2.1.2. Arnoul von Ghent, great-grandfather of Gislebert von Ghent (Gilbert de Gand). The first record of him is that he was left conjointly in command of York with William Malet (as sheriff), who m. a dau. of Gilbert Crispin I., and *Robert FitzRichard in 1068.

1.1.2.1.3. Erchembald, vicecomes (in this instance, sheriff) of Rouen, m. a dau. of Richard de Beaufou and a sister of Emma d’Ivri, Abbess of St. Amand (wife of Osmund the dapifer); granddau. of Sprotta and Esperlenc, thus consanguineous of the Norman ‘dukes’. Erchembald is a name commonly held by vassals of the Counts of Flanders. He 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.

1.1.2.1.3.1. Gislebert Crispin I., b. ca. 1005, m. Gunnora de d’Anet (born 1009, per Bec Cartulary), 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, a gift witnessed and approved of by Emma d’Ivri (Receuil, ed. Fauroux, no. 82). 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

Gilbert Crispin, a vassal of Gilbert de Brionne. Milo Crispin, his kinsman, cantor of Bec Abbey, wrote of him: ‘Because of the shape of his hair was to be known as Crispin. For in his early youth he had hair that was brush-like and stiff and sticking out, and in a manner of speaking bristling like the needles of a pine tree. This gave him the name of Crispin, from ‘crispus pinus, ‘pine hair’. Gilbert Crispin I. was also noted by Milo Crispin as being “of renowned origin and nobility”. (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). Duke Robert I. established Gilbert Crispin at Tillières to defend this important border castle for him. The Normans had a fondness for word-play that exploited multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, or of different words of the same meaning, thus crispus, frisé; Gilbert of renowned Frisian origin and nobility. He was Gilbert son of Erchembald, named in a charter as Gulbertus – It is a creation of old orthographical speculation that Gulbertus stems from Gosbertus; it, rather, is a derivative of Guilbert, of which is the form Guilbertus, as trancribed in med. latin as Gisiebertus, more commonly, Gilbert.

1.1.2.1.3.1. 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).

1.1.2.1.3.1.1. Gilbert Crispin III., m. Hersende de Brezolles, kinswoman of Albert Ribaut, and became enfeoffed in Armentières-sur-Avre. Albert Ribaud, gave the church of Brezolles (Eure-et-Loir, cant. Dreux) to the monastery of Saint-Pere of Chartres; the same monastery receiving donations from the Armentières family of Verneuil. ‘Deux chartes du cartulaire de Saint-Père font mention de Foulques et de Fulbert d’Armentières’ (Charpillon, Anatole Caresme, ‘Dictionnaire historique’, p. 143, 1868).The Tillières branch of the Crispin family had a share in seigneurial revenues at Brezolles. (Daniel Power, The Norman Frontier, pp. 246-247, 2005).

1.1.2.1.3.1.2. Robert de d’Armentières, held Whatton of Gilbert de Gaunt. Hence to the family of Wormley. 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. 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.

1.1.2.1.3.2. William Crispin I. Hence to 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.
1.1.2.1.3.2.1. William Crispin II., an Anglo-Norman lord, was a tenant of William de Percy I., in Yorkshire, who had succeeded to a Malet fee. His son, Adam de Percy, m. Emma de Gand. The association of the Colvilles and the Percys was a feature in Scotland.
1.1.2.1.3.2.1. ‘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, 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).
1.1.2.1.3.2.1.1. Philip de Colville.
1.1.2.1.3.2.1.1.1. Philip de Colville, accepted an invitation of King Malcolm IV. to settle in Scotland.
1.1.2.1.3.2.1.1.1.1. William de Colville,* m. Maud d’Albini (Brito). He was the br.-in-law of Robert de Gand.

1. Odonel de Umframville.
1.1. Matilda de Umframville, m. William Albini I. (Brito), whose cousin, Maud d’Albini (Brito), m. *William de Colville.
1.2. Richard de Umframville, Lord of Redesdale, Baron of Prudhoe, did homage for his father’s lands in 1226.
1.2.1. Gilbert de Umframville, succeeded to his father’s titles and lands. John Comyn m. Matilda, Countess of Angus, and became in her right Earl of Angus. Matilda m., 2nd, Gilbert de Umfraville, Lord of Redesdale, &c., who also became in her right Earl of Angus.
1.2.1.1. Gilbert de Umframville, m. Elizabeth Comyn, dau. of Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan – Wyntoun, vol. ii. p. 55.

1. Alice de Montfort-sur-Risle, m. Gilbert de Gand, lord of Burley in Rutland, which lies north-east of Oakham, near Stamford, where the Colville family had substantial holdings.
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).
1.1.1. 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. 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.
1.1.2.1. 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).
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).
1.2. 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.
1.3. Alice de Gand, m. Roger de Mowbray, probable uncle of *Thomas de Colville’s wife.

1.1.2.1.3.2.1.1.1.1.1. William de Colville.
1.1.2.1.3.2.1.1.1.1.1.1. Roger de Colville, of Bytham Castle, Lincolnshire.
1.1.2.1.3.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1. 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.
1.1.2.1.3.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1. 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.
1.1.2.1.3.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1. 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, his kinsman, through the Merlays. Gilbert de Neville (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.
1.1.2.1.3.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1. Walter FitzGilbert. (i.e. Walter de Hameldon). The Colvilles were kin and vassals of the Umfravilles of Normanton and Hameldun, one of them is recorded as “Walter de Hameldun” in 1328 ( (C 146/3891). He almost certainly the son of Gilbert de Colville, summoned to military service in Scotland. Genealogical enquiry into the medieval origins of the Hamilton, or any other such family, can only be grounded in a understanding of the social/economic/military imperatives of their time, essentially, their tight binds of kinship by which they defended their mutual interests. Enquiry outside these bounds is not academic in nature. 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, 2003). 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.

1.1.2.1.3.3. Heloise Crispin, m. William Malet. J. R. Planche: “How came he possessed of Conteville? We know that Herluin* had been previously married, and had by his first wife a son named Ralf. Was that first wife an Englishwoman, and had she a second son named William,* heir eventually to Conteville?

POSSIBILITY OF MALET, one not easily discounted.

1. …
1.1. Godgifu (Godiva), m. Leofric, Earl of Mercia, d. 1057. There is no evidence connecting the legend with the historical Godiva.
1.1.1. Ælfgar of Mercia, d. 1062, m. Ælfgifu.
1.1.1.1. Aldgyth, m. King Harald.
1.2. Thoroldus de Buckenhuld, sheriff of Lincolnshire.
1.3. Wulfgifu. Her holdings temp. Domeday were mostly in Hartismere Hundred, wherein was Eye, the caput of the Malet family. She was associated in holdings with a Leofric, and, in this regard, Wulfgifu and a son (un-named) held Coldacote (unlocated), see D.B. Sf. 6/212. Leofric held estates in his own right, which became those of (1) Hesilia Crispin; (2) her son, Robert Malet, as did Wulfgifu’s. Some of Wulfgifu’s estates had been given to her by Queen Aldgyth. (D.B. 6. Sf. 6/ 229/30).
1.3.1. A dau. m. *Herluin de Conteville?
1.3.1.1. *William Malet, m. Hesilia Crispin (Monasticon 3. 405), sister of William Crispin I, and Gilbert Crispin II.

ERCHEMBALD AND THE CRISPINS – a continuation of association.

1.1.2.1.3.2. 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 d’ Echauffour held Giverville, canton Thiberville, his sister becoming inheritor, situate 5 niles fr. Fresne-Cauverville. (Reginald Allen Brown, Anglo-Norman Studies. p.99, 1985). William’s father, Giroe, was a vassal of Gilbert Crispin I. (Faroux/Musset, p. 558). Fresne-Cauverville (Cauverville-en-Lieuvin) was probably synonomous with Colleville. “Colleville, comm. du Fresne-Cauverville, cant . de Cormeilles, Eure”. (Nomina Germanica, Arkiv för Germansk Namnforskning, 11, 408, 1954).

1.1.2.1.3.3. Croco, b. ca. 1010. A sobriquet; cric/croc, hair like a lion’s mane, en flamande.

1.1.2.1.3.3.1. 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. Held Wainhill in Oxfordshire under the FitzOsborns – ancestor of the Foliots.

1.1.2.1.3.3.1.1. Gilbert filius Rainaldus, vassal of the Crispins, b. ca. 1045, donated 80 ac., with Emma de Conde, sister of William and Gilbert Crispin II., in La Tillaye,* to Bec Abbey. *Canton Christophe-sur-Conde, Eure, which is ca. 10 mls N.E. of Thiberville.

RICHARD THE GREAT PRINCE

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. Gilbert de Brionne. 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). One of the most erroneus and repeated myths of Norman genealogy makes Gilbert Crispin I. synonomous with Gilbert, Count of Brionne. Prévost, in his commentaries on Rom. de Rou, t. ii., in MSAN, 1828-1829, gives the source of this misconception, which should not be necessary if the slightest attention is given to the unlikely event of a governor of the castle of Tillières being also the Count of Brionne.
1.2. Robert d’Everux, Archbishop of Rouen.
1.2.1. Richard d’Evreux, m. (after 1040), as her second husband, Godechildis, widow of Roger de Tosny. (W. Genet, Liber vii., iv., p. 269).
1.2.1.1. William d’Evreux.
1.2.1.2. 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.
1.3. Richard II., of Normandy.
1.3.1. 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.

DESCENDANTS OF HARFAST

1. Harfast, brother of Gonnor, Duke Richard’s wife. Harfast names Angoht (Ansgot) as one of his milites in a ducal charter (“Ego Arefastus notum esse volo omnibus christianis”, etc.)
1.1. … m. Osmund de Centville (not the tutor of Richard 1). She received (assumed as dower) the fief of Livarot, where Gilbert Crispin I. held land.
1.1.1. Foulques d’Anet. James Robinson Planché: “The continuator of Guillaume de Jumiéges, however, enlightens us as to his parentage; a point of more importance. As I have already stated, page 47 of this volume, he tells us that Fulk de Aneio (de Alneto, de Aneto, d’Anet, for it is spelt all manner of ways) was the son of Osmund de Centumville (i.e. Cotenville) by a niece of the Duchess Gonnor or Gunnora.

“From a similarity of names, Fulk d’Aulnay has been confounded constantly with Fulk d’Aunou, of whom I have already discoursed. Even M. le Prévost has been partially misled by it. A Simon d’Aneti or de Aneio, recorded in the red book aforesaid, is asserted by the author* of the “Recherches sur le Domesday” to be the recognized descendant of Foulques d’Anet,” but they have not favoured us with the materials for such recognition”.

Such as Mr. Planché and *Léchaudé d’Anisy would have been aware that Gilbert Crispin’s wife can not have been a dau. of a Foulque (who was a son of the fabled “Baldric the Teuton”), and a brother to a number of heads of elite Norman families (their exact relationships being equally as “fabled”). There would have been a plethora of gifts to Bec-Hellouin from the Crispins in conjunction with any of their large number of assumed cousins (or from the Crispins to them), where in fact there are none recorded. In contrast, there are any number of connections between the Crispins and the d’Anets, as exampled here:

“The materials for such recognition”.

Our first knowledge of Damville is a charter of 1070, by which William the Conqueror confirmed various donations made by the Crespin family to the Abbey of Bec. These concessions are from Gilbert Crespin, including the gift of the Church of Damvill. The deed that we consider is only a confirmatory act; but the original donation could not be much earlier, as the founding of the Abbey of Bec goes back to just before 1040. In the charter of 1070, we see, included among the signatories, Richard, son of Count Gilbert, who, apparently, succeeded his father in the lordship of Damville.

By 1188, Gilbert (great-grandson of the donator of 1070) had ceased to possess Damville. He had sold it to Simon Anet (Simon II. d’Anet) before leaving for the Holy Land, where he died in 1190, at the siege of Acre (‘Isti obierunt eodem anno [1190] in obsidione Acrae: vicecomes of Turonia, Gilibertus of Tillers’).

In 1162, Simon of Anet was ordered by King Louis “the Younger” to restore to the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés all the rights he claimed on the lands of the said abbey, and of other abbeys. Thus, in 1169, he gave the whole parish of Rouvres to the Abbey of Bec-Hellouin, which had been the possession of his father (Simon) and his father (Robert). In 1188, he also owned the castle and the seigneury of Damville. This very important seigneury belonged to the illustrious family of Tillières, and, to raise money for the Crusade, Gilbert de Tillières sold his castle of Damville to the lord of Anet. (Anet. Archaeological Society of Eure-et-Loir, 1877).

From the cartulary of Bec:
From the donation of Simon d’Ânet: The church and the house of Rouvres with the entire tithe and all its belongings; the church of Marcilly (Marcelleio) with the entire tithe and its affiliations, and the land near the church given by Simon Senioris; the church of Bérou with the tithe and its affiliations; of Gilbert Crespin’s donation, half of the tithe of the toll of Brezolles and the house of the monks in which they lodged in Chartres, juxta posternam episcopi. 1194. Bibl. nat., lat. 12884, f, 254. (The said Gilbert held the fief of Armentieres).

1.1.1.1. Gunnora d’Anet, m. Gilbert Crispin 1.

1.2. Osborn de Crépon, m. Emma, dau. of Raoul d’Ivri (Count Rodolph), uterine brother of Duke Richard I. “We (Osborn and Emma) 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” (Cart. St. Amand).

1.2.1. William FitzOsborn. In a charter concerning land at Guernanville, ‘Foulques the elder, tainted by corruption, lifted his heart (toward God) and withdrew to Ouche, where he assumed monk’s robes, and gave to St. Evroult the church of Guernanville and its tithes’. This donation was confirmed by Guillaume de Breteuil (William FitzOsborn’s son), Gilbert Crispin I. and his sons (Gibert Crispin II. and William Crispin I), in the presence of Roger de Clare; son of Richard FitzGilbert, son of Gilbert de Brionne, son of Godfrey, illigitimate son of Duke Richard, “the Geat Prince”.

ANOTHER PERPECTIVE OF LINEAGE

1. Sprotta, concubine of William Longsword.
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. These Vikings were 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. The Loire Vikings held sway in Brittany between 919 and 936, and Sprotta was probably of Ragnall’s family.
1.1. Richard I., m. Gunnor, his former concubine.
1.1.1. Richard II., ‘the Great Prince’.
1.1.1.1. Godfrey.
1.1.1.1.1. Gilbert de Brionne, ovelord of Gilbert Crispin I., as his son was overlord of his son, in Damville, etc.

1. Sprotta, m. (2) Asperlenc.
1.1. Raoul (Rodolph) d’Ivri.
1.1.1. Hugh, Archbishop of Bayeux. Between 1042-1049, Hugh gave Celloville, that is Serlos villa (Seine-Maritime, cant. de Boos), and Sahurs (Seine-Maritime, cant. Grand-Couronne), to St Amand. Notice the close similarity between the names Celloville and Colleville.

1.1.2. … m. “Richardus de Bello-fago”. (See Pierre Bauduin, ‘La première Normandie’, p. 206, 2004).
1.1.2.1. … m. Vicecomes Erchembald, who, on entering La Trinité du Mont, gave to the house his meadow in Sahurs, and all that he held by hereditary right in Celloville. (RADN, no. 82, 1030-1035).
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).
1.1.2.1.1.1. Heloise Crispin, m. William Malet.

1.1.3. Emma d’Ivri, Abbess of St Amand, m. Osborn the dapifer. 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”.
1.1.3.1. William FitzOsbern, whose family witnessed charters concerning lands in Ivry with the Crispins.
1.1.3.2. … de Crepon, m. Osmund de Centville.
1.1.3.2.1. Foulques d’Anet, from the vil of Anet, south of Ivry. To paraphrase D’Anisy (1842) –

“We must note that, as a result of a false interpretation of the text of Orderic Vitalis and Guillaume de Jumièges, Foulques d’Aunou, son of Baudry the Teuton, was often confused with Foulques d’Anet, son of Osmond de Centville, who are two different characters”. He points to the latin ‘primus Fulco de Aneio’, being wrongly translated, as shown by entries in the Norman Exchequer accounts of Simon d’Aneio being synonomous with Simon d’Aneto, descendant of Foulques d’Anet, citing Ducarel, pp. 229,230. There was a close and ongoing association between the Crispins and the d’Anets.

1.1.3.2.1.1. Gunnor, m. Gilbert Crispin 1. “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). To answer this quandry: Gilbert Crispin’s mother was probably a great-granddau. of Raoul d’ Ivri, and her children were cousins of the FitzOsberns, as shown by them conjointly witnessing charters.
1.1.3.1.1.1.1. Gilbert Crispin II., donated a moiety of Brezolles to Bec.
1.1.3.1.1.1.1.1. Robert d’ Armentieres, held under Gilbert de Gand in 1086.

1.1.4. … de Beaufour, m. Gilbert de Brionne?
1.1.4.1. Baldwin FitzGilbert, raised by Emma d’Ivri at Rouen, possibly his aunt; donated to St Amand in memory of his mother.

1.1.5. … de Beaufour, m. Hugh de Montfort-sur-Risle. By a second wife, Hugh was the father of Adeline de Montfort-sur-Risle, who m. William of Breteuil, eldest son of William FitzOsbern.
1.1.5.1. Alice de Montfort-sur-Risle, m. Gilbert de Gand, overlord of Robert de Armentieres.

As in Normandy, as in Virginia – the same principles applied.

The need is to confront what has been written, falsely, as fact. Genealogy, in this regard, can be nothing more than a branch of human nature, which is challenging, but fruitful to overcome.

The number of English settlers in early Virginia who would have been of a continuous Norman male-line descendancy would be miniscule. The Normans, themselves, were “birds of many colours” (Dudo de St. Quenin, “Rollo’s Dream”); a mixture of various interbred racial herarchies.

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