Walter FitzGilbert de Hamilton

With special notice of the families of Crispin, Heriz, Lacy, Ferrers, and Wormley.

Much of the nineteenth-century ‘construction’ of the Crispin family stemmed from the writings of such as Mr. Grimaldi, who borrowed from an utterly discredited earlier source. The aim of most genealogists contemporary to him was to show clear ties of blood between the Norman elite; clear and unbroken lines of descent stemming from the earliest recorded luminary, such as Rollo or Anslech. They glossed over reality by adopting the same technique as the first chroniclers of the Norman dynastic system; that lineage can be accurately ascertained through tenurial inheritance. To some degree this does give insight into family relationships, for land would have ‘stayed in the family’; adjoining neighbours were most likely to be related; and, in another sphere, those donating to a religious foundation were certainly in some way related to its founder; the right to donate was a jealously guarded privilege, and the sequence in which people appear in charters can be suggestive of their ‘closeness’ to the founder’s family. This term in some way sums up the problem facing pedigree-makers, for a person who held land may have done so as a nephew, cousin, or son-in-law of the previous holder; the person donating to a foundation may have been a daughter-in-law’s cousin, etc. That is, a wide-range of relationships defined the Norman elite kinship network, and an association of blood can not always be inferred from succession to land.

It may be added that 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.

Regarding the colonisation of Normandy by any distinct ‘nation’ group; on the principle that language adheres to the soil, it is claimed that Scandinavian words are frequently found in Normandy place-names, with affixes indicating settlement, such as ‘bye’ (Danish), proving this. In that we can not be certain of the primitive form of words claimed as Scandinavian, they may also be representatives of the Belgic, Anglian, or Saxon dialects; the latter being spoken by the Otlingua-Saxonica of the Bessin,* who had established themselves on the channel coast centuries before the arrival of Rollo. ‘Scandinavianism’ occurs more probably in proper names, compounds of the name and a French noun, as in Toufreville; yet, again, many of these can not be assigned to a distinctly Scandinavian origin. Given the paucity of tenth-century charters, early spelling is absent, and names appearing in later charters are latinised and influenced by local vernacular. It may be added that the total number of place-names containing the elements ‘bye’ in Normandy is neglgible when compared to the number of them in England. It is questionable reasoning to explain this in terms of Normandy not being settled by ‘ordinary’ Scandinavians, who formed settlements, but by ‘aristocratic’ ones that did not. A less contorted explanation is that Normandy was colonised by Rollo’s ‘birds of many colours’, a coalition of many ‘nationalities’, not by a Scandinavian hegemony.

As shown by Isaac Taylor (Words and Places: Or Etymological Illustrations of History, pp. 94-95, 1873) in the Bessin we find Sassetot (Saxons field), Hermanville, Etreham, or Ouistreham (Westerham), Hambye, Le Ham, Le Hamelet, Cottun (cows’ yard), Ethainus, Heuland (hayland), Plumetot (Blomfield or Flowerfield), and Douvres (the shore). Charlemagne transported into France a vast multitude of Saxons – ‘multitudinem Saxonorum cum mulieribus et infantibus’. After another Saxon conquest he transplanted every third man – tertium hominem – of the vanquished people. Many of the German names in France may be due to these forced emigrations. The area and intensity of this German colonization may conveniently be traced by means of the patronymic village names, of which there are more than 1100 in France. In addition to these names, about five hundred words were introduced into the French language by the German conquerors. Most of them are names of weapons and military terms, such as gonfanon, or guerre, from werra, war.The other words are chiefly the names of articles of dress, of beasts of the chase, and terms belonging to the feudal system. To these must be added the points of the compass, nord, sud, est. As late as the year 812, A.D., the Council of Tours ordained that every French bishop should be able to preach both in the Romance and Teutonic languages. Thus, it is impossible to distinguish between early Saxon settlers and later ones, and it may have been the case that the Saxons of Bayeux joined with later colonisers in a anti-French coalition.

I would propose that a significant part of the early Norman aristocracy were not Danes or Norwegians, either in appearance, custom or manner. They were beardless, short of stature, and dark of skin. The Dane was large of frame, blond, and bearded. The Irish term for the Norman invaders of their country was ‘dark haired Normans’. That a significant part of the early Norman aristocracy were of this ‘dark’ Saxon genotype was suggested by Knopf (The Racial Basis of Civilization: A critique of the Nordic doctrine, 1931), who claimed that ‘the inhabitants of the German Tyrol, who have been declared to represent the true type of the primeval Teuton, have dark or black hair. In short, the most genuine sons of this (Teutonic) race may be black-haired’. ‘Norwegians, Swedes,and Danes certainly came to Normandy -in as much as these modern concepts of statehood have relevance – Bernard the Dane was a companion of William Longsword, son of Rollo, in the early 940s. However, the fact that Bernard’s origins were remarked upon may mean that he belonged to a minority group’ (David Crouch, The Normans: The History of a Dynasty, app. 1., 2006). To which could be added – a disreportianally powerful minority.

A charter of Herfast, brother of Gunnor, wife of Duke Richard I., points to him inheriting, or being given given land by his brother-in-law, which had a distinct Scandinavian antecedent: ‘In nomine Domini. Ego Arefastus notum esse volo omnibus christianis, quia res hereditatis meae Sancto Petro concedo Carnotensi cœnobio, pro salute mea et antecessorum meorum nec non et pro salute comitis Richardi et matris sua Gonnoridis’ … Herfast, ante 1028, gave to St Pere de Chartres the villa of ‘Le Ham’ and a mill at ‘Barneville’, (farmstead of a Scandinavian chief named Björn, Biarn, or Béorn), as well as a third of ‘Torgis Villa (farmstead of a Scandinavian chief named Thorgils),identified as Teurteville-Hague, canton Octeville, by M. Guerard (ed., Cartulaire de I’abbaye de Saint-Pere de Chartres, ed., pp. 108-15, 1840).I suggest this interpretation to be unsound. Knut Gjerson (History of the Norwegian People, vol. 1, p. 151, 1915) claimed that Teurteville was a newer form of Torquetelvilla, derived from the personal name Turquetil (Thorketil), whereas Torgis corresponds to Thorgils, the name of a son of Harald Harfager. ‘The Icelandic records introduce us to a celebrated chief by the name of Thorgils. The Irish not using the letter H but as an aspirate, and dropping one where two consonants come together, made from Thorgils, Torgis: Thorgils is, at present, in Norway pronounced Torges’ (Edward Ledwich, The Antiquities of Ireland, p. 30, 1804).’Harald Harfagre was monarch of Norway about 870 … To Thorgils and Frotho, two of his sons, he gave (in 903, according to the Icelandic Chronicles) a well-appointed fleet, to plunder the coast of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. They landed in Dublin, and reduced it under their power. Frotho was taken off by poison, but Thorgils reigned long in that city, and at length fell by the machinations of the Irish. Such is the account given by Snorro. The plaintsong of William Longsword, son of Rollo, suggests that he may have had a Celtic mother. Writing a generation after Rollo, Flodoard describes Rollo’s son, William Longsword, slain December 17,942, as having a mother who was ‘concubina Brittana’ – the contemporary Frankish eulogy, ‘Lament for William’ seems to suggest Brittana equates to Britain, rather than Brittany.

A Ragenold mentioned by the annalist Flodoard, who, like Rollo, was called princeps Nortmannorum, was leader of the Loire Vikings. He is noted as being a man of Rollo, who attended the coronation of Rollo’s son, William Longsword, in 931, and was probably of Rollo’s family (Abel Hugo, France Historique, p. 416, 1837). ‘In 924 Ragenold, although he had accepted a grant of lands within the borders of France, laid waste the country of Duke Hugh’ (Reginald Lane Poole, The English Historical Review, p. 16, 1911). Later that year, Ragenold was party to a treaty with Hugues le Grand, in which he relinquished lands he had siezed in Maine (Bulletin de la Société d’agriculture, sciences et arts de la Sarthe, xiii., 1858). Although Ragenold was not Rollo, with whom he has been confounded, he places Rollo within a Scandinavian network.

Another problem facing Norman pedigree making is that can piece together which families intermarried, but, in doing so, bar them having any common ancestor after c. 920; a fact dictated by church laws which outlawed marriages of those related by consanguinity and affinity. Consanguinity is being related by blood within seven prohibited degrees at that time, affinity is relationship through a marriage and followed the same rules of consanguinity while spiritual affinity related to God-parentage. For centuries historians have believed his reasons to be based on consanguinity and that William and Matilda were related through a common ancestor. As it turns out their closest blood relationship is that they were third cousins (once removed). W. H. Blaauw, in ‘Remarks on Matilda, Queen of William the Conqueror and Her Daughter Gundrada’ (Archaeologia, vol. 32, p. 110, 1847), suggests that Matilda’s mother, Adela of France, had been previously married to Richard III, 5th Duke of Normandy, William’s uncle; and although the marriage had probably not been consummated, under canon law a second-degree affinity existed between William and Matilda, which is much closer than third cousins, and an additional impediment to the marriage. For some of the following families, a common ancestor may have been the case between 870-920. It can be added that elite Norman families were usually those from which came bishops, and they may have extended a certain laxity regarding consanguinity and affinity laws to their relatives.

Pedigree making linked to DNA testing is also a perilous proposition when considered against the not infrequent adoption of a stepfather’s name during these early times, and the often unproven nature of a link to a particular pedigree.

THE CRISPINS

Gilbert Crispin I. may have married a niece of Osbern de Crepon, which would answer M. le Prevost’s statement that there was an apparent association between the Crispin and FitzOsborn families, without the basis of that association being known. ‘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). The wife of Gilbert Crispin I. is given as a daughter of Baudry Le Teuton and a niece de Gilbert de Brionne. Thus, she is identified as a sister of Fulk d’Aunou, so named from his fief of Aunou le Faucon, arrondissement of Argentan. I suggest she has been confounded with a sister of Fulk d’Anet.

Baldric the Teuton and his wife had issue a number of renowned sons, all of whom the Conqueror assisted to prosper: 1. Nicholas de Bacqueville. He succeeded to his father’s fief of Bacqueville-en-Caux, Seine-Inf., arr. Dieppe. He married a niece of the Duchess Gunor, wife of Duke Richard I., grandparents of of Duke Robert I. He was the father of William de Martel, Lord of Bacqueville, whose descendants in France bore the name Martel. That this was the case is shown by his grandson, also named William Martel, in 1133, granting to the Abbey of Tyron, ‘by and with the consent of Albreda his wife, Eudo his brother, and Geoffrey and Roger his sons, all his right and title to the Priory of St. Mary de Bacqueville.’ 2. Fulk d’Aunou, so named from his fief of Aunou le Faucon, arrondissement of Argentan. 3. Robert de Courci, the third son of Baldric the Teuton, assumed the name of de Courci from his inheritance of Courci-sur-Dive, and transmitted it to his immediate descendants. His son, Robert de Courci II., took the title of Baron of Courci, with possession of one of the most important baronies in the duchy, which contained 56 fiefs. Another son, Richard de Courci, married a lady named Guadelmodis, and was the Sire de Courci present at Hastings. For his services he received from the Conqueror the barony of Stoke in the county of Somerset, and the manors of Newnham, Setenden, and Foxcote, in Oxfordshire. At least, he held them at the time of Domesday. He was a great friend of Hugh de Grentemesnil I.; some of their children became related in marriage. 4. Richard de Nevil was the first of the famous name of Nevil, derived from his fief of Neuville-sur-Tocque, in the department of the Orne, canton Gacé. The name and parentage of his wife remains unknown; but it is known that he left four sons, Gilbert, Robert, Richard, and Ralph. 5. Baldric de Balgenzais, who took his name from lands he held in Bouquency. 6. Vigerius de Apulensis, was named after his uncle, and was also called Apulensis, having been born, it is presumed, in Apulia.

Why, therefore did the descendants of Gilbert Crispin I. have little or no connection, whether tenurial or otherwise, with their supposed cousins? Conversley, they had a very close relationship with the families connected to that of d’Anet.

KINSHIP CONNECTIONS

1. …

1.1. Harfast. Brother of Gonnor, Duke Richard’s wife. Dudo of Saint-Quentin claimed she was of noble Danish origin, without specifying whether this was a paternal association. Her brother, Herfast, would have been granted land in Normandy by his brother-in-law, Duke Richard, a fief of which was to named Crepon or Crespon; the family did not originate from there. A clue as to their place of origin is given in the orthgography of Herfast; which is a form of Haerfest (OE), Herbist (OHG); Herfst (Dutch). These are Saxon terms meaning harvest, and are seen in the statements ‘god sumer’, ‘god harfest’. They represent a distinctly Saxon form of harvest, being distinguishable from the Scandinavian forms Haust (ON), Hdst (OSw.); Host (OD). It is therefore likely that the family of Crepon were of some Saxon association.

1.1.1. Osborn de Crepon. Guillaume of Jumièges records that a sister married Osmund de Conteville, their son being Foulques d’Anet, the uncle of (mentioned in a charter of 1060 as brothers) William de Reviers, Richard de Reviers, and Baldwin de Reviers, the latter being father of Richard de Reviers, obit. 1107 (Robert Bearman, Charters of the Redvers Family and the Earldom of Devon 1090–1217, Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1994, pp. 1-2). ‘The earliest mention of a Richard de (Reviers) that I am aware of occurs in the charter of king William I. to Monteburgh in 1080’. (He married Adeliza). ‘This lady it appears from her charter to the Abbey of Monteburgh was a daughter of William Peverel II., of Nottingham, and Adelina, of Lancaster, his wife’ (J. R. Planche, Collectanea Archaeologica, 1862, pp. 282-3). ‘Sa fille Adeliza épousa Richard de Reviers. Sa petite-fille, Marguerite Peverell, porta sa succession dans la famille des Ferrers, comtes de Derby, originaires de notre commune de Ferrières-Saint-Hilaire, Eure’ (Auguste Le Prevost, Mémoires et notes, p. 256, 1862). William Dugdale wrongly identified Richard de Reviers with Richard the son of Baldwin FitzGilbert. The Complete Peerage claimed that Richard de Reviers was the son of William de Vernon,which is problematic. His father may have been Baldwin, one of three Reviers brothers named in a charter of 1060; the other brothers being William, and Richard, who died in that year.

The statement that Osmund de Conteville married a niece of the Duchess Gunnora is contained in the Historia Normannorum, in the 37th chapter of the 8th book. This book is entirely the composition of Robert du Mont, who, when a monk at Bee, re-edited the history of William of Jumieges, which had been brought down to the accession of Duke Robert, eldest son of the Conqueror, and added thereto the life of Henry I, then recently deceased. ‘Et quoniam de sororibus Gunnoris comitissae fecimus mentionem, licet etiam de illis qui secundo gradu consanguinitatis affines eidem fuere prout, ab antiquis accepimus, aliqua dicere. Habuit ergo ex fratre suo Herfasto A-d. 1047. eadem Comitissa nepotem Osbernum de Crepon, patrem videlicet Willelmi Comitis Herefordie, viri per omnia laudabilis. Neptes vero plures predicto Gunnor habuit …Quarta Osmundo de Centumvillis Vicecomiti Vernonii, ex qua natus est primus Fulco de Aneio et plures filia, quarum una mater fuit primi Baldewini de Revers’.

Guillaume of Jumièges records that one of the daughters of ‘Rodulphum’ (Raoul d’Ivri, born c. 950, obit. 1015, uterine brother of Duke Richard I. and his wife ‘Erembergam … natam in quadam villa Calcini territorii … Cavilla’) married ‘Osberno de Crepon de qua natus est Willelmus filius Osberni’. He also recorded that another daughter married ‘Richardus de Bello-fago’ by whom she had ‘Robertum qui ei successit et filias plures, quarum una iuncta est Hugoni de Monte-forti matrimonio’. Erembergam was the first wife of Raoul d’Ivri, by whom he was also father of Hugh, created Bishop of Bayeux c. 1011, obit. October 1049. Raoul d’ Ivri married, secondly, Albereda, and was father of John, Bishop of Avranches, obit 1079. She is named as wife of Raoul by Orderic Vitalis, who says that she built the castle of Ivry, executed the architect Lanfred to prevent him from completing a similar construction elsewhere, and attempted to expel her husband from the castle, but was killed by him.

The name Crepon was likely given to the village of that name in Calvados by Danish settlers; it is a form of the Danish word Kreppe, meaning to crimp (krimp) – to make curly (frisée). Crépon (Calvados) was also known as Crespon ( Albert Dauzat et Charles Rostaing, Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de lieux en France, 1963), of which the nickname Crespin or Crispin is a form; derivatives of crespe (curly). Osborn de Crepon was also referred to as Osborn de Crespon – ‘Osbern de Crespon, gendre de Raoul comte d’Ivry, neveu de la feue duchesse Gonnor …’ (Revue de Rouen et de Normandie, Volume 13, p. 268, 1845). This form of the name was also given to Gilbert Crispin: ‘Ce commandant étoit Guillebert de Crespon , auquel le feu duc Robert avoit confié cette place, et qui, l’ayant munie et approvisionnée, étoit très-disposé à la bien défendre. Mais le jeune duc, cédant au roi comme un pupille à son precepteur, réitéra l’ordre à plusieurs reprises, et Crespon obéit. C’est ainsi que Tillières fut, pour quelques années, séparée du duché de Normandie (André La Fresnaye, et al. Nouvelle histoire de Normandie, p. 110, 1814).

1.1.1.1. 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, and other land that Hugh, bishop of Bayeux, had given him in the same place, which he had held a long time under William, son of Osborn, nephew of the prelate. William, son and heir of Foulques confirmed these donations on the altar of Sancti Petri, and accepted in recognition an ounce of gold (which was) given as charity to the monks. This donation was confirmed by Guillaume de Breteuil, Gilbert Crespin I. and his two sons, in the presence of Roger de Clare ……’ We see here that Count Rodolph’s son, Bishop Hugh, gave lands centred around Guernanville to William FitzOsborn, his nephew, and Gilbert Crespin the elder; their subtenant being Foulques de Guernanville, whose gift of his enfeoffment was confirmed by Foulque’s son, with the permission of Guillaume de Breteuil, William FitzOsborn’s son, Gilbert Crespin I., and his sons, Gibert Crespin II. and William Crespin I.; and Roger de Bienfaite (Clare), whose vassal, Geoffroy de Fierville, bore the three hedgehogs of the Heriz family; the Crespin family being ‘hérissée’; which referred to their spiky hair, and would have been a pun on the type of fort held; a Hérissière, which had a pallisade of angled stakes that resembled the spines of a hedgehog (fr. hérisson); un cercle hérissé de pointes. This conjecture would explain in a very simple way, as aforementioned, the tenurial associations between Heriz and Peverel; it was not always a case of common descent, rather a common bond to a framework of cousins, often of the half-blood, an association to which gave opportunity of tenure.

The same grouping of Crespin, FitzOsborn, and Bienfaite (Clare) is seen in a legal dispute between them and Robert, Count of Meulan, who had been granted the castle of Brionne by Robert Curthose, and tried to claim the Abbey of Bec as part of this domesne. William Crespin, son of Gilbert Crespin I., William de Britolio, son of William FitzOsborn, and Roger de Bienfaite (Clare) son of Robert de Bienfaite, were vehemently opposed to this: ‘Tunc forte supervenerunt Willelmus Crispinus, et Willelmus de Britolio, et Rogerius de Benefacta, qui cum causam scissent, magna indignatione commoti, magnis vocibus et terribilibus juramentis protestati sunt, quicquid sui parentes ecclesiie Becci dederant, se auferre, si Comes Mellenti cenobium Beccense in suo dominio quoquo modo haberet …’ (Notitia de Liberate Beccensis Monasterii, 1088-1090). I would suggest that they spoke as a familial group.

Fulk d’Anet and his sister Albreda were among the early benefactors to the abbey of Bec-Hellouin “Ex dono Fulconis de Aneto et homimim suorum manerium de Mesnillo Simonis cum ecclesia et omnibus ecclesiae et manerii pertinentiis. Ex dono Albredae sororis ejusdem Fulconis assensu et voluntate ipsius terram de A.d. 1047. Groselers quae est juxta landam sita cum omnibus pertinentis suis. Mr. Stapleton (Historical memoirs of the house of Vernon, p. 32, 1856), makes a case for Albreda being the mother of (1) Roger de Ivry, the ‘Conqueror’s’ butler, and the founder of a monastery in honour of the Virgin Mary, in the vicinity of his castle of Ivry. His wife was Adelina, daughter of Hugh de Grandmesnil. (2) Hugh of Ivry, also butler of the ‘Conqueror’. ‘Alberada Hugonis et Rogerii mater, dedit, annuentibus ipsis, hoc quod habebat in ecclesia et decima de Hainolvilla (Henouville-en-Caux) et unam acram terrae in eadem villa pro anima sua. Hugo Pincerna supradictae’ (Charter of confirmation for the Abbey of the Holy Trinity of Caen). (3) Robert de Ivry. ‘Contemporary with Hugh and Roger, and, it may be presumed, their brother, was Robert of Ivry, who married the blessed Hildeburgis, daughter of Hervey, Lord of Chateau-Galardon’. Robert d’lvry ended his days in the abbey of Bec, leaving three sons, Ascelin Goel, and William, ‘milites insignes’, and Robert, in holy orders. The eldest of these succeeded to his father’s patrimony, and built thereon the castle of Breval; his wife, Isabella, was daughter of William of Breteuil, who had obtained from Duke Robert and from Roger de Beaumont, (to whom the chatellenie had been given after the exile of Roger Pincerna, and who was now indemnified with the castle of Brionne in exchange) the cession of the Honour of Ivry, which he claimed in right of his descent from Count Ralph, uterine brother of Richard I, Duke of Normandy’ (ibid.). Albreda’s first husband has not been identified.

Clearly, two families have been confounded when the wife of Gilbert Crispin I. was identified. ”There was also in earlier times a Fulk de Aneio, or Aneto; who was of the Vernon family (the son of Osmond de Centumvillis, and one of Gunnor’s sisters), and derived his name from Anet, a little south of Ivry. The two Fulks and their families seem to have been sometimes confounded’ (J.R. Planche).

THE IVRI CONNECTION

1.

1.1. Harfast. Brother of Gonnor, Duke Richard’s wife

1.1.1. Osborn de Crepon, married Emma, daughter of Raoul d’Ivri, born c. 950, obit. 1015, uterine brother of Duke Richard I.

1.1.1.1. William FitzOsborn.

1.1.1.1.1. William de Breteuil. To repeat, Rooul de Ivri’s son, Bishop Hugh, gave lands centred around Guernanville to William FitzOsborn, his nephew, and Gilbert Crespin the elder; their subtenant being Foulques de Guernanville, whose gift of his enfeoffment was confirmed by Foulque’s son, with the permission of Guillaume de Breteuil, William FitzOsborn’s son, Gilbert Crespin I., and his sons, Gibert Crespin II. and William Crespin; and Roger de Bienfaite (Clare), whose vassal, Geoffroy de Fierville, bore the three hedgehogs of the Heriz family. Roger de Bienfate’s sister married ‘Rodolphe de Tillieres’, son of Gilbert Crispin II., Sgnr. de Tillieres (Guillaume de Jumieges, 3. p. 312). Raoul ‘s son, Hugh , Bishop of Bayeux , succeeded him after 1015. According to the chroniclers , he rebelled, circa 1030, against Duke Robert , fortifying the castle of Ivry and attempting to enlist French mercenaries, but the Duke took the castle, and the rest of the vast possessions of Hugh of Bayeux in the region passed to the son of his brother-in-law, Osborn , husband of his sister Emma.
1.1.1.1.1.1. Isabella de Breteuil, m. Ascelin Goel. He succeeded to his father’s patrimony, and built thereon the castle of Breval; his wife, Isabella, was daughter of William of Breteuil, who had obtained from Duke Robert and from Roger de Beaumont (to whom the chatellenie had been given after the exile of Roger Pincerna, and who was now indemnified with the castle of Brionne in exchange) the cession of the Honour of Ivry, which he claimed in right of his descent from Count Ralph, uterine brother of Richard I, Duke of Normandy.

1.1.2. … de Crepon. Guillaume of Jumièges records that a sister married Osmund de Conteville.

1.1.2.1. Foulques d’Anet.

1.1.2.2. Albreda d’Anet, m. … Foulkes d’Anet and his sister Albreda were among the early benefactors to the abbey of Bec-Hellouin: ‘Ex dono Fulconis de Aneto et homimim suorum manerium de Mesnillo Simonis cum ecclesia et omnibus ecclesiae et manerii pertinentiis. Ex dono Albredae sororis ejusdem Fulconis assensu et voluntate ipsius terram de A.d. 1047. Groselers quae est juxta landam sita cum omnibus’. pertinentis suis’. Foulques d’Anet made a gift of the manor of Mesnil Simon, with its church and all churches and manors pertaining to it. Albreda made a gift of the land of Groselers near Landan. The manor of Conteville, its church, and all manors, etc., pertaining to it, was granted by William Malet, husband of Hesilia Crispin, daughter of Gilbert Crispin I. Mesnil-Simon is a commune in the Departement du Calvados, canton de Lisieux, and Les Groisilliers the name of another commune in the same Departement, canton de Cambremer. Liseux was the caput of the Crispin family. A possible connection to Conteville:

(‘Here is a distinct proof that Fulk d’Anet, one of whose sisters is said to have been mother of the first Baldwin de Reviers, had a sister named Albreda, whose mother was one of the nieces of Gunnora, and consequently a cousin of the Conqueror. We know that Arletta, the mother of the Conqueror, married secondly Herluin de Conteville, by whom she had issue Odo bishop of Bayeux,* Robert comte de Mortain, and Emma de Conteville, wife of Richard d’Avranches, progenitor of the earls of Chester. But of Herluin’s family we are in perfect ignorance. Now should this Osmond de Conteville, viscomte de Vernon, of whom we have no other record, and whose existence almost has been denied by the English editor of Ordericus, prove to have been a brother of Herluin de Conteville, the affinity of Albreda to William would be more clearly established’ (J.R. Planche, Collectanea Archæologica, p. 283, 1862).

Herluin de Conteville, burried in Sancta Maria Ecclesia, Normandy. ‘The honour of Sanctae Mariae Ecclesiae,’ writes Mr. Stapleton, ‘had appertained to the comte de Mortain, and been derived to the possessor of that comte through descent from Herluin de Conteville, who, as husband of Herleve or Arlotta, mother of William the Conqueror, was by her, father of Robert comte de Mortain, and of Odo bishop of Bayeux. Within the limits of this chatellerie, Herluin founded the abbey of Sancta Maria de Grestain, in which he lay interred with his spouse. It stood on the bank of the Seine fronting the valley where was a church of Sancta Maria Notre Dame du Val, the proximity of which to the site of this castle gave it the name of Castrum de Sancta Mariae Ecclesiae’ (ibid.).

Now we know from Ordericus Vitalis, his contemporary, that Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, uterine brother of the Conqueror, ‘camali ardore stimulatus, genuit filium nomine Johannem, quem nunc in curia Henrici Regis videmus eloquentia magnaque probitate pollentem’; hence it maybe assumed that Robertus nepos Episcopi, who on the Roll of the Exchequer, 31 Hen. I. 1130, was an ‘accomptant pro placito bisse in Norhamtescira’, had this designation as grandson of Bishop Odo, son of John here named, and that by marriage with the heiress of William du Hommet he acquired her Honour, which thus became united with his own fief of La Riviere’ (Thomas Stapleton, ‘Magni rotuli’, p. 183, 1844).

1.1.2.2.1. Robert d’lvry.

1.1.2.1.1.1. Ascelin Goel, m. Isabella de Breteuil.

1.1.2.3. … d’ Anet, m. …

1.1.2.3.1. Baldwin de Reviers.

1.1.2.3.1.1. Richard de Reviers, m. Adeliza, daughter of William Peverel II. Her sister, Margaret, married Robert Ferrers, 2nd. Earl Derbys., grandson of Henry de Ferrers, who led a charge at Hastings with Gilbert Crispin II. Richard de Reviers and Adeliza Peverel had issue: 1. Baldwin de Reviers, created first Earl of Devon, obit. 1155. 2. William de Vernon, married Lucy de Tancarville, daughter of William de Tancarville and his wife Matilda d’Arques. He inherited Richard’s lands in Normandy. 3. Robert de Sancta Maria Ecclesia. 4. Hubert de Vernon. 5. Hawisia de Reviers, married William de Roumare, Earl of Lincoln, c.1127. Undated charter of ‘Hawisia countess de Rumara, for her soul’s sake and the soul of her lord William ‘Comes de Rumara’, and of her son William de Rumara, she gives to that church all the land which her dear brother, earl Baldwin, gave with her in franc marriage to that noble man her lord William de Rumara, and for the health of William de Rumara her grandson and heir, and of his brother Robert, and for the souls of her father Richard de Reviers and Adeliz her mother, and her noble nephew earl Richard, and for the health of her brothers William de Vernon and Robert de Sancta Maria Ecclesia, and her nephew William de Vernon, and all her ancestors … ‘. William de Roumare was born circ. 1090, he was the son of Roger FitzGerold de Roumare, b. circ 1050, obit. ante July 1098. He witnessed an undated charter of his brother Robert to le Bec, which charter is confirmed by an undated charter of Robert’s nephew William de Roumare, who calls Robert his predecessor. Roger and Robert were sons of Gerold ‘Miles Christi’, who with consent of Robert his son and heir gave to the nuns of St. Amand, Rouen, the church of Roumare for the soul of his wife Aubreye. Among the witnesses are Radulfus frater Geroudi and Osbertus de Novoforo (Neufmarche), who also attest another grant by the same Gerold to St. Amand in the presence of William, King of the English. Gerold, the Seneschal witnessed charters in 1055, 1063, and 1066, and circia 1064 Duke William established Gerold ‘dapifer’ as Castellan of Neufmarche. Gerold de Neufmarche is witness to a charter of William I dated April 1067. The appearance of Osbern de Neufmarche as witness to the two charters of Gerold ‘Miles Christi’ mentioned above is due to his family holding Neufmarche. Orderic , under the year 1064, gives an account of the circumstances under which Duke William disinherited Turketil, lord of Neufmarche, Osborn’s father, and gave it in moieties to Hugh de Grandmesnil, and Gerold the Dapifer. In the charter granted by Duke William (and therefore before 1066) to the Abbey of Bocherville, occur the attestations of Geroldus Dapifer, and Robertus filius ejus – which Robert, by the St. Amand charter already cited, is proved to have been his heir. William de Romara first appears in 1118 as the castellan of Neufmarche. He evidently possessed this place in right of his descent from Gerold, and consequently must have been heir to Robert.There are strong grounds for supposing that Ralph, the brother Of Gerold, one of the witnesses to the preceding charter of St. Amand, was the same as Ralph, the founder of the abbey of Bocherville, and ancestor of the Tancarvilles, Chamberlains of Normandy. If such be the fact, then the name of Gerold de Romara’s father was the same as his own; for Ralph names Gerold as his father in the Bocherville foundation charter.

1.1.2.4. … d’Anet, another of the plures filia, m. Gilbert Crispin I., ‘who 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 … 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).

1.1.2.4.1. Gilbert Crispin II. Led a charge at Hastings with Henry de Ferrers.

1.1.2.4.2. William Crispin I., ‘had a wife named Eve de Montfort who suited him well on account of her origin and manners. Eve de Montfort bore him Gilbert, abbot of Westminster, William Crispin II., and many others ( ibid.). Eve de Montfort died in a fire at Le Bec in 1099, and was buried there, next to her husband. It is recorded of her that she had to do penance for her love of lapdogs (Adolphe Porée, Histoire de L’Abbaye du Bec, 1901). It is thought that Milo was one of the ‘many others’, as possibly was Geoffrey de Fierville.* His family bore the same three hedgehog arms as the Heriz of Notts. and Derbys. This was a rare armorial charge, and those bearing it were most likely related. He may have been the father of Geoffrey de Heriz and Robert de Heriz.

When William Peverel I. founded the Priory of Lenton, in the first decade of the twelfth-century, donators to it were his feudatories in Avranches; ‘les hommes de Guillaume Peverel sont du diocèse d’Avranches’, being ‘Le premier était Avenel, Raoul Malherbe, Norman de Saint Patrice, Geoffroy de Heriz, Adelelme ou Adelée, Robert de Mortain (Société d’archéologie et d’histoire de la Manche, 1992, Identification des notables de l’Avranchin et du Cotentin cités dans le livre noir de l’abbaye de la Lucerne, 1143-1309, p. 56). Geoffroy de Heriz donated to Lenton two-thirds of his tithes in Stapleford (Mon. Anglic. v. 111b). The Heriz family held the fief of La Hérissiere in La Rochelle, situated six miles from Avranches, in the canton of Haye-Pesnel, from whence also came the Paynels, Beauchamps, Earls of Warwick and Worcester, and the family of Subligny, founders of the Abbey of Lucerne. La Hérissiere was a ‘fief de Haubert’, that is, held of the ducal family (D. N. V. XI. P. 379, 1776). It was also called La Rochelle-le-Hericiere (ibid.), and la Rochelle-Ambleville, where Guillaume St. Jean’s tenant in 1162 was Roger Heriz, grandson of Robert de Heriz I. (Dubosc Cart. 5-7). The Heriz family were tenants of Robert de Ferrers in Derbys., son of Henry Ferrers, who was noted at Hastings as leading a charge with Gilbert Crispin II.

1. Robert de Heriz, ob. ante. 1128, who held Stapleford, Tibshelf, Wingfield, and Oxcroft, was mesne tenant of William Peverel I. Robert was Sheriff of Nottingham, 1110-1122. [Judith A. Green, The Government of England under Henry I., p. 221, 1989.] He was a King’s Commissioner who witnessed charters of Robert de Ferrers, 1st. Earl Derbys.2. Ivo de Heriz I married Emma de Bilborough, daughter of [H]erbert de Bilborough, knight of William Peverel I. ‘Erbert, a knight of William Peverel’s, held this Manor (of Gonalston) in the time of King Henry I. and left it to Emma his eldest daughter, and one of his co-heirs, who, marrying to Ivo de Heriz, brought this manor into his family’ (Thomas Cox, Anthony Hall, Robert Morden, Magna Britannia, p. 104, 1738). 3. Robert de Heriz II. Agnes was the daughter and co-heiress of Gilbert Alcher, who held land in Sudbury, Derbyshire, of the Agard family, tenants of the Ferrers. 5. Ivo II de Heriz II., obit. 1225, who married Hawise Briwere, probably closely related to William de Briwere, to whom King John gave the forfeited estates of the Peverel family. 6. John I. de Heriz, whose wife, Sarah de Heriz, married, secondly, Jollan de Neville. 7.John III de Heriz, ob. 1329, (CIPM vii. no. 234) had a daughter, Maud de Heriz, who married Richard de la Reviers; their daughter, Sarah, marrying Robert de Pierpoint.

1.2. Senfria, m. forrester of St. Vaast d’Equiqueville.

1.2.1. Joscelina, m. Hugh de Montgomery.

1.2.1.1. Roger de Montgomery I.

1.3. Duvelina, m. Turulf de Pont Audemer.

1.3.1. Humphrey de Vielles. Au moment où les Normands se débarrassèrent, par le poison, d’Alain, duc de Bretagne, le 1er octobre 1040, le jeune prince avait pour gouverneur Turquetil de Neufmarché.Ce doit être le même personnage, dit le savant annotateur d’ Orderic Vital, que Guillaume de Jumiéges appelle Turold. Peut-être le mot Turquetil n’est-il même qu’un diminutif de Turold, comme Anchetil est un diminutif de Hans. Nous sommes porté à croire aussi que ce Turquetil de Neufmarché pourrait bien être le même que Turquetil, frère d’ Onfroi de Vieilles et père d’Ansquetil de Harcourt. Turquetil eut pour successeur, comme gouverneur de la forteresse de Neufmarché, son fils Geoffroi, qui possédait ce domaine en 1052 (J. E. Decorde, Essai historique et archéologique sur le Canton de Gournay, p. 342, 1861, cit. Orderic Vital., Hist. eccl., tome II, p. 370. Edit. 1840). That the two Turquetils are synonymous was also the suggestion of Le Prevost, who gave what can be described as the ‘Bourgtheroulde hypothesis’ – Bourgtheroulde is first mentioned circa 1025, being the fief of Turold or Théroude, tutor of the duke Guillaume, either held as heritage, or given by the duke Robert, father of his pupil (Le Prévost thought that Théroude was brother of Achard, first lord of Bourgtheroulde. Théroude was one of the principal officer of the court of the duke Robert. In 1031, Théroude, signs a charter of Saint-Wandrille, immediately after Duke Robert, Mauger and Galeran de Meulan. In 1033, his name appears in ba charter of Saint-Wandrille, immediately after the ducal family and the constable Osbern de Crépon, but before Achard, Toustain and Raoul de Tancarville, principal officers of the Duke Robert. Théroude was assassinated about 1040, probably at the same time as Osbern Seneschal. Turquetil and Turold are synonomous, a conjecture supported by Lesceline, daughter of Turquetil inheriting Bourgtheroulde. She married Guillaume, count d’Eu, son of Duke Richard. She died leaving three children: Robert, count d’Eu and lord of Bourgtheroulde, Guillaume, Count de Soissons, and Hugues, Archb. of Lisieux. After Mortemer, Bourgtheroulde, in whole or part, came to Robert d’ Harcourt, son of Anquetil and nephew of Lesceline (Charpillon, Dictionnaire historique, 516-20 , 1868). M. Le Prevost’s conjecture can be challenged on two accounts – chronology, and charter evidence (as given herein), but may be slightly amended at little cost to suggest the two Turquetils were father and son, or uncle and nephew.

If Le Prévost was ‘generally’ correct, then the family of Turold were strongly associated with Ferté-Macé. The charter of foundation of Saint-Georges de Boscherville, given by Guillaume de Tancarville between 1050 and 106O, shows a donation of Dunelme de Pont-Audemer, daughter of Onfroi de Vieilles, of Boscus Achardi. Achard was a friend and vassal of Guillaume I. de Bélesme, and was governor of Domfront, ‘Achardus Divine, miles of Donnifroute.’ Circa 1036, a charter of foundation of the priory of St-Jean Baptiste of the Mont notes his death. It is assumed that Dunelme married his son, Achard de Domfront, alias Achard d’Ambriegrave, He, Henri de Domfront, and Mathew de la Ferté Mace brought eighty men-at-arms from le Passais-Normand to join the forces assembled by Duke William for the conquest of England (“Recherches sur le Domesday”). A Sire de Ferté Mace, either Mathias or William, married a sister of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, and his son William is described as nephew of that prelate in the charter of an Archbishop of Tours, temp. St. Louis. It is certain that, in 1092, he delivered to Henry I. the fortress of Domfront, of which he held in the name of Roger de Montgomeri ( Bouquet, Hist. of France, t.x., p. 1910).
NEWMARCH

It can not be known if the following Yorkshire family of Newmarch were connected to those aforementioned, though their associations suggest a descendancy from the Norman elite, and the arms they displayed in Womersley church ( a fess fusily) were those of the family of Bernard de Newmarch.
1. Raven, Thane of York.
1.1. William FitzRaven of Hatfield, m. a daughter of Hugonis de Bosville.
1.1.1. Mabel FitzRaven, heiress of Hatfield, m. Otes de Tilly. Carta Henry de Laci, grandson of Ilbert de Laci, cart. Pontefract no. 13, c. 1160. ‘… His testibus, Ottone de Tilli, Jordano Folioth, Ada filio Petri et Thoma fratre suo, Ada de Reinevilla, Reinero clerico, Willelmo de Bulli, Roberto Avenel, Ascetillo de Hardewic, Jordano de Aula, Alano Hasard et aliis’. In another charter of 1160, Henry’s witnesses include ‘Willielmo de Reinevilla et Adam filio suo’ (William’s father was also called Adam, recorded in a charter of Nostel Priory, 1122, William held four knights’ fees of the Laci honour of Pontefract. His son, Adam, was steward of Henry de Laci. Jordan de Reineville, a younger son of Adam de Reineville I, was probably the Jordan who held land in Ecclesfield in 1150-60 and 1171-81, as recorded in charters of Richard de Luvetot and his son William. 1.1.1.1. Denise de Tilli, m 1. Henry de Novo Mercato (buried Hampole). His nephew, Henry, m. (2), in 1218, Frethesenta Paynel, descendant of Ralph Paynel. The Reinevilles first appear as donors of the Chapell of St. Clements, Ilbert having a manor in Campsall. At the time of Domesday Ilbert had obtained Badsworth also, with Upton, Rogerthorp, Womersley, South Elmsall, South Kirkby, Moorthorp, Frickley, and Bramley, a group which continued in his descendants for some generations (Richard Holmes ed., The Chartulary of St John of Pontefract, p. 315, 2013). He is frequently confused with his lord of the same Christian name, Ilbert de Laci. The family derived its origin from Reineville, dept. Calvados, arr. Vire, cant. Conde-sur-Noireau, comm. Lassy, being a hamlet of Lassy. The Reinevilles may have been a cadet of the Lacis.

1. Richard Foliot of Norton, m. … Bardolf, sister of Robert Bardolf of Great Carlton and Hoo. 1. Adam Paynel married Agnes Bardolf, daughter of Hugh Bardolf of Riseholm, and sister of Hugh Bardolf and Robert Bardolf, lords of Castle Carlton, both in Lincolnshire, and of Hoo St. Warburgh, in Kent; and upon the decease of the latter prior to the first day of July, in the ninth year of Henry the Third, 1225, Ralph Paynel did homage for his portion of the lands, which had been those of Robert Bardolf, his uncle (Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Memoirs illustrative of the history and antiquities of the county and city of York, p. 150, 1848). Adam Paynel was also known as Adam de Hamelton. Agnes Paynel and her brother, Hugh Bardolf II., sheriff of Westmorland and Northumberland, were very likely siblings or first cousins of William Bardolf, d. 1200, whose widow was the great-granddaughter of Waldef, thegn of Hepple in Coquetdale, Northumberland, and who remarried to Ivo de Taillebois, Chamberlain to Robert de Vipont, Lord of Westmoreland. 1.1. Walter de Buruden, of Buruden, Coquetdale, fl. 1230. 1.1.1. Sir William de Buruden, witnessed a charter of Peter Haig to Melrose Abbey, between 1260-1270 (Melrose Liber i, no. 304). 1.1.1.1. Gilbert FitzWilliam de Buruden. 1.1.1.1. Walter FitzGilbert de Buruden, his grandson titled himself ‘de Hamelton’. 1.2. Adam de Osgoteby. 1.2.1. Adam de Hamelden/Hamelton. 1.2.1.1. Chancellor Sir William de Hameldon, Dean of York, and chief Chancery officer, who held land from Adam de Newmarch (son of Henry, as appears in Kirby’s Inquest) in Marr, near Hickleton – ‘William de Hamilton holds a moiety from Adam de Nova Merchato and he from Tickhill’.
1.1. Jordan Foliot. There are 3 or 4 deeds of Jordan Foliot to Pontefract Priory, in Duglale’s Monast., tome v. pp. 125-6; by consent of his wife Beatrice, and his father Wm., to which Wm. de Bardolf is a witness. Jordan and Henry Foliot, Henricus Wallensis, Wm. de Vesci, Wm. de Reineville, and others, are witnesses to the confirmation deed of Henry de Lacy, of Wm. de Viller’s* gift of Neuhus, Whitkirk, &c., to the Templars; in Dugdale’s Monast., vii. p, 840. *Obit. 1181.

1.1.1. Richard Foliot of Norton, Fenwick, Grimston and Wellow, obit. 1299, m. Margery de Stuteville, dau of William de Stuteville.

1.1.1.1. Jordan Foliot of Gressenhall and Weasenham, m. Margery de Neumarche, obit 1330, dau of Adam de Newmarche of Womersley. The Chartulary of St. John, 484. c. 1280: ‘I, Adam de Newmarch, son of John de Newmarch*, for the good of my soul and of Joanna my wife, and of my father and all my ancestors and heirs, have granted to God and St. Mary and the Monastery and Cluniac monks of the York diocese, &c., the place of the blessed Nicholas of Cobcroft, with all its appurtenances’ … His testibus: domino Ricardo Foliot, domino Jordano Foliot, domino Roberto de Wilmersly, domino Umfrido de Vilers, militibus, Petro de Santona, Nicholas de Burtona, Petro de Giptona, et multis aliis.

1. …
1.1. Henry de Newmarch, who m. (2), in 1218, Frethesenta Paynel.
1.1.1. Adam de Newmarch. Chancellor ‘William de Hamilton holds a moiety from Adam de Nova Merchato and he from Tickhill’.
1.1.1.1. Robert de Newmarch, held Wymersley (Womersley), witnesses the charter of his second-cousin, Adam de Newmarch, as ‘domino Roberto de Wilmersly’.

(There is a profound difficulty with attempting to construct pedigrees from charters, especially when, say, a single name, such as Adam, is common to many first and second cousins – such is the case with the Newmarch. Mr. Holmes, ed., The Chartulary of St John of Pontefract, pp. 580-1, shows domino Ricardo Foliot, domino Jordano Foliot, domino Roberto de Wilmersly signing in succession, as first witnesses, a charter of Adam de Newmarche to a religious foundation. They would have been invariably closely related. Mr. Holmes, p. 595, gives a brief table which shows that this Adam was the son of John, nephew of Henry. Although no one has successfully identified Robert de Newmarch, G.F. and C.H. Newmarch probably were accurate, though in other instances very much not so, in stating that Adam de Newmarch, 2nd. son of Henry, who held Womersley, seemed to have sons, John, Robert, and Adam (this Adam’s daughter marrying Jordan Foliot). Thus, if this Robert de Newmarch was ‘domino Roberto de Wilmersly’, then his signing of his second-cousin’s charter immediately after Jordan de Foliot makes sense, in that he was the uncle of Jordan de Foliot’s wife. It is claimed that Womersley passed to the son of Adam the grantor, also named Adam, if so, probably by purchase, who married, Elizabeth, daughter of Roger de Mowbray, obit. 1266, and Maud de Beauchamp, obit. 1273. I suggest that Womersley passed to Adam*, son of Adam, brother of Robert de Newmarch (Roberto de Wilmersly). Aug. 30, 1291: ‘To the same Malcolm de Harle, escheator Grantham beyond Trent. Order to cause all the lands that *Adam de Novo Mercato held of the king in chief as of the inheritance of Cecily, his wife, in Redburn, near Hilbaldestowe, which the escheator took into the king’s hands upon Adam’s death, to be relevied to Cecily until the next parliament, so that there may then be done what ought of right to be done’ (Hunter, South Yorkshire II: 228). Adam de Newmarch and Cecily de Neville were the parents of Roger de Newmarch, who held land in Womersley. Robert de Novo Mercato (Newmarch/Wilmersley) was the father of Adam: Aug. 15, 1307: ‘Grant by Adam son of Robert de Novo Marcato to Adam de Pontefracto, of 1 1/2 acre in … , adjoining le Quarel flat on the north; 1 acre abbutting on the croft held by John Cokewald; 1/2 acre at ye Crownest; and 1 plot of land in Hepton, between Longrode and le Welclosys, late held by Michael de Deneby of Cecilia* de Novo Mercato; at a rent of 12d. for the land within the bounds of Mirfield, and 2s. for the land within the bounds of Hepton. John de Sothyll, Sir Wm. de Beston, Knts., John de Lascy’ ( A. S. Ellis, Yorkshire Deeds, YAJ, xii. p. 260). *Cecilia de Neville, of the family of Neville of Redbourne, Lincs. and Mirfield, Yorks, descended from Walter de Neville: 1. Alexander de Crevequer, of Redbourne, co. Lincs.; d. ca. 1165; m. Amabel, daughter and coheiress of Adam FitzSwain, of Appleby, co. Lincs. 1.1. Cecily de Crevequer, heiress of Redbourne, obit. 1218; m. Walter de Neville. It seems certain that John de Wormeley, ob. ante 1373, believed to have married Eleonor Foliot, was a continuator of Roger de Newmarche, with Eleanor being a likely younger daughter of Richard Foliot of Gressenhall and Weasenham, obit. 1325, grandson of Jordan Foliot, who married Margery de Newmarch. Richard Foliot’s eldest daughter, Margery, in 1330, had livery of her purparty of the lands of her grandmother, Margery de Newmarch).

1.2. Adam de Newmarch.
1.2.1. *John de Newmarch.
1.2.1.1. Adam de Newmarch, m. Joanna.
NEWMARCH GENEALOGICAL TABLE

1. Ralph de Newmarche, Domesday tenant of Roger de Bully (Keats-Rohan , D.P., p. 336).

1.1. William de Newmarch, benefactor of Blythe Priory.

1.2. … de Newmarch, m. William de Whatton.
1.2.1. Robert de Watton.

1.2.1.1. Adeline de Whatton, m. William de Heriz: ‘Adelina, the daughter and heir of Robert de Whatton, gave the Church of Whatton to the Abbey of Wellebek, to maintain hospitality thereof, for, the souls of her said father, her mother Beatrix, and William de Heriz her husband, who was living about 10 H. 2. c. but in 22 H. 2. (1176) his brother, Robert de Heriz, who was his heir, was amerced for trespassing on the Forest’ (Thoroton, v. i. 265). Donations to religious houses of William de Heriz and his wife do not mention any living issue. Reginaldus de Aslacton witnessed Adelina de Whatton’s deed, who by the consent of William de Heriz, her husband, gave to the Priory of Lenton, her two men or tenants, Hugh and Henry, with the three bovates of land they held in Aslacton, which gift she and her said husband offered on the high Altar of the Holy Trinity, at Lenton. These were her dower lands that her father held of Robert de Lacy.

1.2.2. Adam de Newmarch. It is claimed (CP ix. 543, citing Yorkshire Archæological Journal, vol. iv, p. 143, and Blythe cartulary, fo. 106) that Adam de Newmarch was the son of William de Watton, an unnamed son of his inheriting land from William de Newmarch, his uncle: Pipe Roll 31 Hen I (1129/30), Northumberland, p. 36., records ‘Wills de Waddona’ accounting for ‘fil suus’ having succeeded to the land of ‘Willi de Novo Mercato avunculi sui’ in Northumberland.

1.2.2.1. Adam de Newmarch, born c. 1146, benefactor of Roche Abbey, 1180. His brother, Henry, m. Denise de Tilli, daughter of Otes de Tilli.
1.2.2.1.1. Henry de Newmarch, who m. (2), in 1218, Frethesenta Paynel. ‘Henry de Novomercato, son of this Sir Adam, confirmed to that Abbey, all their lands and possessions they had in his fee in this Parish of Whatton’ (ibid. 266).
1.2.2.1.1.1. Adam de Newmarch. Chancellor ‘William de Hamilton holds a moiety from Adam de Nova Merchato and he from Tickhill’, c. 1285.
1.2.2.1.1.1.1. Margery de Newmarch, m. Jordan Foliot, son of Richard Foliot and Margery de Stutteville. 1264, The king has committed to Richard Folyot the manors of Adam de Novo Mercato of Womersley (‘son of Adam’) Campsall, Thorp’, Bentley and Archsey in Yorkshire, which the king took into his hand because he (Richard) captured him (Adam) while Adam was resisting the king in hostile manner in the conflict that recently took place at Northampton, to keep for as long as it pleases the king. Richard Foliot’s Yorkshire properties included Norton, near Campsall and Walden Stubbs (‘Stubbs’). The early manor house lay a little to the north of the vill of Walden Stubbs, in the parish of Womersley. To the west, we find a large area of farmland known as Smeaton Leys, through which passes an ancient connecting lane known as Leys Lane. He was a tenant of the de Lacy family of Pontefract (Holt. p. 98). He was also a patron to St. Peter’s Church at Kirk Smeaton, Yorkshire, in 1238-9, 1270-1 and 1289. Richard Foliot Sr. also had a son, William, who died in 1312. He held land in Wisbech, Norfolk. He is the likely grandfather of Eleanor Foliot who married John de Wormely, as follows.
1.2.2.1.1.1.1.1. Richard Foliot, of Gressenhall and Weasenham, Norfolk, b. Dec. 25, 1283, died on the King’s service in Scotland between April 18 and July 23, 1317 (Rot. Pat. 10 Edward II., p.2, m. 20). He m. (1310) Joan, relict of James de Bohun, daughter of Sir William de Brewose, Lord of Bramber and Gower
1.2.2.1.1.1.1.1.1. Margery Foliot, in 1330, had livery of her purparty of the lands of her grandmother, Margery de Newmarch.
1.2.2.1.1.1.1.1.2. Margaret Foliot (Inq. p.m. deceased brother, Richard Foliot, Edward II. file 93, no. 6).
1.2.2.1.1.1.2. Adam de Newmarch, (his lands being escheated in 1264) m. Cecily de Neville, desc. of Walter de Neville (1. Alexander de Crevequer, of Redbourne, co. Lincs.; obit. c. 1165; m. Amabel, daughter and coheiress of Adam FitzSwain, of Appleby, co. Lincs. 1.1. Cecily de Crevequer, heiress of Redbourne, obit. 1218; m. Walter de Neville). Aug. 30, 1291: ‘To the same Malcolm de Harle, escheator Grantham beyond Trent. Order to cause all the lands that Adam de Novo Mercato held of the king in chief as of the inheritance of Cecily, his wife, in Redburn, near Hilbaldestowe, which the escheator took into the king’s hands upon Adam’s death, to be relevied to Cecily until the next parliament, so that there may then be done what ought of right to be done’ (Hunter, South Yorkshire II: 228).
1.2.2.1.1.1.2.1. Roger de Newmarch, held land in Womersley.
1.2.2.1.1.1.2.1.1. John de Wormeley, ob. ante 1373, m. Eleanor Foliot, a likely grandaughter of William Foliot, uncle of Richard Foliot of Gressenhall and Weasenham, son of Jordan Foliot, who married Margery de Newmarch. Richard Foliot’s eldest daughter, Margery, in 1330, had livery of her purparty of the lands of her grandmother, Margery de Newmarch.
1.2.2.1.1.2. Robert de Newmarch, alias ‘domino Roberto de Wilmersly’ (Wormely).
1.2.2.1.1.2.1. Adam de Newmarch. Aug. 15, 1307: ‘Grant by Adam son of Robert de Novo Marcato to Adam de Pontefracto, of 1 1/2 acre in …, adjoining le Quarel flat on the north; 1 acre abbutting on the croft held by John Cokewald; 1/2 acre at ye Crownest; and 1 plot of land in Hepton, between Longrode and le Welclosys, late held by Michael de Deneby of Cecilia de Novo Mercato; at a rent of 12d. for the land within the bounds of Mirfield, and 2s. for the land within the bounds of Hepton. John de Sothyll, Sir Wm. de Beston, Knts., John de Lascy’ (A. S. Ellis, Yorkshire Deeds, YAJ, xii. p. 260).
1.2.2.1.2. Adam de Newmarch.
1.2.2.1.2.1. John de Newmarch.
1.2.2.1.2.1.1. Adam de Newmarch.The Chartulary of St. John, 484. c. 1280: ‘I, Adam de Newmarch, son of John de Newmarch*, for the good of my soul and of Joanna my wife, and of my father and all my ancestors and heirs, have granted to God and St. Mary and the Monastery and Cluniac monks of the York diocese, &c., the place of the blessed Nicholas of Cobcroft, with all its appurtenances’ … His testibus: domino Ricardo Foliot, domino Jordano Foliot, domino Roberto de Wilmersly, domino Umfrido de Vilers, militibus, Petro de Santona, Nicholas de Burtona, Petro de Giptona, et multis aliis.
CRISPIN, WHATTON, AND WORMLEY

I suggest that William de Whatton was of the family of Crispin: Robert d’Armentières, Domesday tenant of Gilbert de Gand, came from d’Armentières, près Verneuil. He appears in a charter of Saint-Père (Cartulaires de France: Cartulaire de l’Abbaye de Saint-Père, vol. 2, no. 150), dated 1101-1120, the preceeding charter (no. 149) is witnessed by Foulques and Fulbert d’Armentières. Robert’s charter sees him donate land in Armentières: ‘Quod Robertus de Ermentariis terciam partem molendini Bussellensium et tantumdem terre et boschi et prati, juxta sitorum, nobis dedit. Harum relatione veridica litterarum certificetur posteritas subsequentium, quod, in Ermentariis, quidam vir extitit, nomine Robertus, qui sui patrimonii sanctum Petrum ejusque monachos, annuentibus fratre ejus et matre, perpetuos fecit heredes … Presentibus his testibus: Alberto forrerio, Rogerio Comite, Rogerio fabro, Christiano, Mainardo’.

Robert d’Armentières held land in England under Hugh d’Avranches, Henry de Ferrers, and Gilbert de Gand. He attested a charter of Gilbert for Abingdon Abbey in 1086 (Chron. Abing. ii, 12-13), and held Whatton of him. Robert was succeeded in England (ante 1127) by a son or nephew, Henry d’Armentières, tenant of the Gand family, the father of David d’Armentières, who, in 1166, held ten knights’ fees of Earl Simon of Northampton, to whom most of the Domesday fief of Gilbert de Gand had descended. His son was Henry: Richard I.: Michaelmas 1190-1198 (Pipe Roll 36-44) ‘Henricus de Armentieres debet c s. pro habendo recto de feodo j militis in Watton’.

This family of Armentières were closely associated with that of Crispin. Gilbert Crispin II., Châtelain de Tillières, who led a charge at Hastings with Henry de Ferrers, of whom Robert d’Armentières held land in England, was the father of Gilbert de Tillieres, who married Hersende de Brezolles, who Paul Bauduin (La Première Normandie) suggests was of the family of Albert Fils-Ribaut, whose family held Armentières; Hersende receiving dower land there. This is confirmed by Gilbert’s donation of land in Armentières to Bec, and the confirmation (1117-1135) of that gift by his son, Gilbert (P. Guerard, ed., ‘Cartulaire’, op. cit. t. i., 27). Given that Robert d’Armentières was a tenant in England of Henry de Ferrers and Gilbert de Gand, and took his name from a fief held by the Crispin family, it is not improbable that his ancestry is as follows:

1. Gilbert Crispin I.
1.1. Gilbert Crispin II., Seigneure de Tillières m. Hersende, and became enfeoffed in Armentières.
1.1.1. Gilbert Crispin III., confirmed father’s gift of land in Armentières to Bec.
1.1.2. Ribaut. 1.1.3. Richard. 1.1.4. Landry. 1.1.4.1. Raoul.
1.2. Raoul de Tillieres. Richard de Bienfaite, son of Gilbert de Brionne, m. Rohaise, dau. of Walter Giffard and Ermengarde Flaitel. A daughter, whose name is unknown, m. Raoul, Sèigneur de Tillières. ‘N … de Clare, épousa Raoul Sèigneur de Tillieres en Normandie, fils de Gilbert, seigneur de Crespin. Guillaume de Jumieges pag. 312’ (Anselme de Sainte-Marie, Histoire de la Maison Royale de France, p. 481, 1726). Raoul was the son-in-law of Richard de Bienfait (born c. 1020), whose son, Gilbert FitzRichard de Clare (born c. 1045), was the father of Richard FitzGilbert de Clare (born c. 1070, obit. 1136), whose daus. were (1) Alice de Clare, who m. William de Percy, Lord of Topcliffe, son of Alan de Percy and Emma de Gand, dau. of Gilbert de Gand, overlord of Whatton, and Alice de Montfort-sur-Risle, * (2) Rohese de Clare, who m. Gilbert de Gand, Earl of Lincoln, grandson of the aforementioned Gilbert, and son of Walter de Gand, ‘a man of great piety and humanity’ (Leland, Collect., vol. i., p. 92). He married Maud of Brittany, daughter of Stephen I, Count of Brittany, and Hawise. Their daughter, Alice de Gand, 1122-1180, married (2) Roger de Mowbray, her first husband being Ilbert de Lacy II., obit. 1141. (Rot. de Dom., 9). *Her half-sister, Adeline de Montfort-sur-Risle, m. William de Breteuil, Seigneur d’Ivry, son of William FitzOsbern, Earl of Hereford, a family closely associated with that of Crispin.
1.2.1. Robert de d’Armentières, held Whatton of Gilbert de Gand.
1.2.1.1. William de Whatton, pogenitor of the families of Newmarch and Wormley.
1.3. William Crispin, alias Colleville.
1.4. Robert Crispin.

HAMILTON

The great antiquarian John Riddell (in ‘Stewartania’, 1843) made the case for a settlement in Scotland of a family of Hamilton prior to that of Walter FitzGilbert, whose grandson was styled de Hameldon.

‘But who, then, was the first Hameldun or Hamelton who actually held lands and had thus settled in Scotland anterior to Walter FitzGilbert de Hameldun, the hitherto earliest discovered founder of the family? This may be a material preliminary to fixing their original ancestry, and, as it happens, is all in statu that we may be enabled to ascertain. The writer believes he can answer the preceding question by adduction of an original quit-claim by ‘Roger de Hameldun’ of his right to a carrucate of land in Oxenham, in Roxburghshire, which held of the Crown of Scotland, to John, Abbot of Whitby, in Yorkshire. It is without date, but must have been between 1245 and 1258, when the latter can be proved to have been Abbot. The preceding we may conclude also to have been the ‘Roger de Hameldun’, who is established by other Whitby deeds to have possessed Geker in ‘Hamelton’, along with the woods of ‘Hamilton’ which formed a manor in Yorkshire and hence must have been the foyer of these Hamiltons.

It hence follows that the first of the surname (for there is no prior notice of it there elsewhere) who had settled and actually held lands of the Crown in Scotland, was the preceding Roger de Hameldun, ‘as proprietor of Oxenham’, in Roxburghshire, between 1243 and 1258; and, singularly, of an English family, who, precisely like the Scottish eventually, had an estate named Hamilton, and who, in Scotch parlance, might be styled the Hamiltons of that Ilk in Yorkshire. In the Chartulary of Melrose, there are two charters, so far back as the reigns of William the Lyon and Alexander II, that is from 1166 to 1214, and from 1214 to 1249, thus far anterior to any Paisley Hamilton notice, which are respectively witnessed – the oldest by ‘Thoma de Homeldun, et Rogero filio ejus’, and the later by ‘Roberto de Hameldun’ and ‘Rogero de Hameldun’.

Hameldun, as has been shewn, is much earlier than the time of the fictitious Sir Gilbert, or true Walter Fitz-Gilbert, being traced through the Chartulary of Melrose from the reign of William the Lyon, down to that of Alexander II, who died in 1249, when we meet with Robert, and Roger de Hameldun. I conceive this Roger may possibly have been the cotemporary of the same name, 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 de Percy II., 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, in Scotland … Roger de Hameldun, quit claimed to John Abbot of Whitby all his right herein. John, Abbot of Whitby, is shewn by the same Monasticon to have been elected Abbot in 1245, that is, in the identical reign of Alexander II, which makes the above Roger de Hameldun a cotemporary with the Roger de Hameldun in the Melrose Chartulary.

The property of Oxenham, afterwards, as can be proved, possessed by the Scotch Colvilles, also mentioned above, lay in Roxburghshire. Indeed it is further coincidental, that the first Melrose charter referred to during King William’s reign, and witnessed by Thomas de Hameldun, and Roger his son, though it does not prove any possessions by them, yet relates to the lands of Clifton and others, in the same county. Thus Hamiltons have been attached to the latter, but more especially by means of the transaction in Burton’s Monasticon, which proves their first possession in Scotland, in the person of Roger de Hameldon, to have been Oxenham, in Roxburghshire, as early as the reign of Alexander II, though he quit-claimed it; the family may have gone afterwards into the interior. But we have now at least got a high antiquity for ‘Hameldun’ with us, honestly come at, much above what has been so contorteously and inadequately strained’.

The following suggestion may account for the origins of these Hamiltons. William Crispin II. was an Anglo-Norman lord who held land in Wheldrake, Goodmanham, Arnodestorp, Dunnington, Elvington, Fyling, Hinderwell, Kirkleatham, Nafferton, Pockthorpe, Sutton upon Derwent, and Warter (Domesday Book, folio 322v.) of William de Percy I., who had taken over a Malet undertenant.

Of his sons were:

1. Philip de Colleville, from whom descended the Lords Colville of Scotland (E. A. Freeman, The Norman People, pp. 405-406, 1874). Philip de Colleville’s son, Philip de Colville, accepted an invitation of King Malcolm IV of Scotland to settle in Scotland, and founded the baronies of Culross and Ochiltree. He was witness to a general confirmation by King Malcolm IV. of all donations made by his predecessors to the monastery of Dunfermline before 1159. He was one of the hostages for the release of King William the Lion from captivity in 1174. The first possessions he obtained in Scotland were Heton and Oxenhame, in the county of Roxburgh.

‘Philippus de Colvill’ donated ‘terre in Hetoun ex dono Galphridi de Percy et Henrici patris sui’ to Dryburgh monastery by undated charter Bannatyne Club (1847) Liber S. Marie de Dryburgh: Registrum Cartarum Abbacie Premonstratensis de Dryburgh. Henry de Percy has granted and by this his charter established, to Whitby Abbey in perpetual alms, those donations by which Alan de Percy II., his brother, gave two ploughgates of land, one in Oxnam (Rox) and the other in Heiton (Rox), and that donation of one ploughgate of land in Oxnam which Geoffrey, his brother, gave to the same church in perpetual alms … Whitby Cart., no. 60, 24 May 1153. These were grandsons of William de Percy I., by his son, Adam de Percy I. : ‘By Emma de Gand,* dau. of Gilbert de Gand, Alan de Percy had issue had seven sons, whose names all appear in the Chartulary of Whitby Abbey, either as benefactors to that foundation, or at least as witnesses to the grants of others of their family. These sons were first, William de Percy, eldest son and heir; second, Walter Percy, surnamed of Rugemond, who was himself a Baron, and his name occurs as such in witness to a charter, which is printed in Selden’s Titles of honour. He or some other Walter de Percy had a son named Robert; third, Alan de Percy, surnamed Le Meschin, or The Younger; fourth, Geoffrey de Percy. These two last obtained considerable possessions in Scotland from King David; out of which they made grants to Whitby Abbey’. *Her niece was Alice de Gand, who married Roger de Mowbray, son of Neil d’Aubigny, overlord of Thomas de Colville.

Phillip de Colville’s son, another Thomas de Colville, obit.1219, constable of Dumfries Castle, was witness to several charters of King William the Lion between 1189 and 1199. ‘Thomas de Colevilla cognomento Scot’ donated ‘quartam partam de Almelidum … Keresban’ to Melrose abbey by charter dated to after 1200 (Melrose Liber, tome i., 192, p. 172). Roll constabul. – Philipp de Mubray,* Willmo de Vallon, Henr. Biset, Thomas de Colville, Adam fil Herb … Chart. Kelso. Thomas de Colville was a witness to several charters of K. William, between the year 1189 and 1199. Chart. Soltre, no. 6; Chart. Arbroth, no. 51. Thomas de Colville had property in Berwickshire. He was succeeded by William de Colville, his son, who granted to the monks of Newbotle the lands which belonged to his father ‘super le Ness.’ Chart. Newbotle, no. 210. William de Colville settled at Morham, in East Lothian, under William, the Lion. *Son of Nigel de Mowbray, son of Roger de Mowbray, who married Galiena, daughter of Waldeve, Earl of Dunbar, and with her acquired considerable property, particularly the Baronies of Barbougle, Dalmeny, and Inverkeithing.

2. Thomas de Colleville, the youngest son of the Anglo-Norman Colvilles, obtained, by gift of his father,Yearsley, also spelt Everley, Ifferley, and Yresley, a name deriving from Efor’s Leigh, meaning field of the wild boar, near York, where he granted lands to Byland Abbey: ‘In the reign of Stephen, Thomas de Colvyle gave pasture in the wood of Eversley (Yearsley) to Byland Abbey’ (Excerpt from The Yorkshire Archeological Journal, vol. xiv. See also Burton, Mon. Ebor., 72). He married Matilda d’Aubigny, who was third witness, after two canons, to a charter in which her husband granted lands to Newburgh Pryory, c. 1150. She was probably a close relative of Roger de Mowbray. ‘Lord Thomas de Colvyle gave to God and the monks all the land which is between the pool of their mill and Thorpe. He gave also all Bersclyve and Bertoft, and the appertenances of the vill of Cuckwald (Coxwold), lying to the north toward Whitaker, to do there with whatsoever they would for ever’ (Excerpt from Foundations of Bylands Abbey, Gentleman’s Magazine, 1843).

He had several sons recognised by posterity, among which were Philip de Colville, who was ancestor of the Colvilles of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and the Everlys of Yorkshire. He held land in Thimbleby and Sigston, Yorkshire. He was founder of the Nunnery of St. Stephens, Foukeholm, and of St. James Hospital, Northallerton (William Page, History of the County of York, p. 116, 1974). His son was William de Colville, who held one night’s fee of Robert de Gand, husband of Gunnora d’Albini (Brito),* in the honour of Bourne, Lincolnshire, and 14 others in the same county, who, temp. Richard I., gave land to Whitby Abbey (J. C. Atkinson, ed., Cartularium Abbathiae de Whiteby, 1879). *Her sister, Maud d’Albini (Brito), was the wife of William de Colville, brother-in-law of Robert de Gand. They were daughters of Ralph de Albini Brito. This family were cousins of the Umframvilles of Scotland.

The sons of William de Colville and Maud d’ Albini Brito were (1) Roger de Colville, of Bytham Castle, Lincolnshire, who married Beatrice de Stuteville,* of Brandesburton, East Yorkshire. There son was Walter de Colville, who married Isabella d’ Albini Brito, of Aubourn and Counthorpe, Lincolnshire, daughter of William d’Albini Brito II.**, obit. 1242, son of William d’Albini Brito I. and Matilda, the daughter of Odonel de Umframville. (2) Robert de Colville, who held lands at Thimbleby and Arncliffe. His sons were Walter de Colville, obit. 1277, and Thomas de Colville, who held land in Coxwold, Oulston, and Yearsley. Thomas de Colville’s desmesnes formed one knight’s fee of Roger de Mowbray II. *She was the second-cousin of Nicholas de Stuteville II., of Liddel, Cumberland, who m. Devorguilla of Galloway, daughter of Roland of Galloway and Elena de Morville. Nicholas died in 1218, in Newcastleton, Liddesdale, Scotland. **His brother was Odinel d’Albini Brito. Walter de Colville and Isabella may have had a son, Gilbert, whose son, Walter, assumed the armorial bearings of his Umframville cousins.

Ralph de Albini Brito (- 1191) m. as her third husband, Sybil de Valognes, widow firstly of Robert de Ros,* and secondly of William de Percy, son of Allan de Percy II. and Emma de Gand. Her third marriage is confirmed by the 1181/82 Pipe Roll which records ‘Radulfus de Alben’ accounting for ‘cc. m pro ducenda matre Ebrardi de Ros’ in Yorkshire. Gunnora de Albini Brito married (1) Robert de Gand and (2) Nicholas de Stuteville, as the youngest of the three daughters of Ralph de Albini Brito and his wife. Robert de Gand was a benefactor to the Abbey of Bardney. He died in 1192, leaving issue by his first wife Alice,** the daughter of William Paynel, one daughter the wife of Robert Fitz Harding, by whom she had issue an only son Maurice, who assumed the name of Gaunt. Dying without issue in 1230, the estates reverted to his uncle Gilbert de Gaunt, son of the above Robert by his second wife Gunnora, the neice of Hugh de Gurnay. *Their grandson was Robert de Ros II., who was deputed one of those to escort William the Lion, his father-in-law, into England, to swear fealty to King John. Some years later, Robert de Ros assumed the habit of a monk, whereupon the custody of all his lands and Castle Werke (Wark), in Northumberland, were committed to Philip d’Ulcote, but he soon returned and about a year later he was High Sheriff of Cumberland. In early 1191, in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, Ros married Isabella Mac William (Isibéal nic Uilliam), widow of Robert III de Brus. Isabella was the illegitimate daughter of William the Lion, King of Scots by a daughter of Richard Avenel. **Alice Paynell, widow of Richard de Courcy, daughter of William Paynell of Drax & his second wife Avice de Rumilly.

Thomas de Colville was witness to a gift of Roger de Mowbray (whose wife was the cousin of Alan de Percy II., and who was the overlord of Thomas de Colville, who had married Roger’s kinswoman) of land in Stainton which was confirmed by Henry II. (1155-1157). His testibus were Nigelo de Mowbrai (son), Roberto Capellano, Rogeri de Mowbrai (son), Roberto capellano de Helmeslac, fratre Waltero Ruffo de Templo, Roberto de Daivilla, Thoma de Colevilla, Radulfo de Belvere, Helia de Ferlinctuna, Thoma de Hamelduna Thomas de Hameldun took his name from a range of hills known as Black Hambleton’ (William Farrer ed., EYC, vol. iii. Malet Fee, p. 453, repub. 2013). Thomas de Colville’s main residence was Coxwold, eighteen miles north of York, set just on the rise into the Hambleton Hills, with a view over to the ruins of Byland Abbey. Domes. Hameltun, Hameldun, or Hamelton Hill is a specific place in Nidderdale: In the Carta of Roger de Mowbray de recompensatione de Niderdala, in the Register of Fountains Abbey, fol. 148. 6., given in Dugdale, Throstle How is thus mentioned as a point on the boundary of Fountains Earth: ‘et sic usque ad Frostilde hou, et de Frostilde-hou usque ad Hameldon, et inde usque ad Dalhagha et totum Dalhagha (Dallowgill) et inde trans versnm moram deversus Scfoldene’.

Thoma de Hamelduna was probably a younger son of Thomas de Colville, and was he who witnessed the Melrose charter as Thoma de Homeldun (probably c. 1175) with his son Roger de Homeldun, a later Melrose charter being witnessed by ‘Roberto de Hameldun’ (probable son of Roger) and his son ‘Rogero de Hameldun’, who witnessed the gift of Alan de Percy II. to Whitby of lands in Oxenham, given to him by Henry and Geoffrey de Percy, his brothers, their tenant in Hetoun being ‘Philippus de Colvill’. The interwoven nature of these associations is typical of the medieval kinship group, which gave patronage to those within.

The earliest recorded Hamiltons in Scotland were probably of the Colville family, whose historic links to the Percys saw them established in Roxburghshire as both Colville and Hameldun. This is not to say that any subsequent Hamiltons of Scotland were their offspring, yet the probability is there to the open mind.

UMFRAMVILLE

‘Potentum de Northumb. potentiss: Odonellus De Umframvilla ad Castelli sui resartienda tecta indebite exactionibus vicinos suos compellebat,’ &c. He opposed the Scotch Invasion made under Duncan, and was in the Battle when William The Scotch King was made prisoner — Holingshed p. 424. Anno 20 Hy. 2d. his Castle at Harbottel was taken by the Scots— Leland Col. vol. 1, p. 353 — and his Castle of Prudhou besieged. But Robert de Stutevile, then Sheriff of Yorkshire, by the help of some Northern Barons timely relieved it. — Hoveden 308. In 23 Hy. 2d. this Odonel was one of the Witnesses to the arbitrament betwixt Alphonsus, King of Castile, and Sanctius, King of Navarre — Hoveden’s Annals, p. 332 and 538. As to his pious works, first he demised to the Monks of Newminster the Moors of Chyviott, with the Granges of Filtone and Tollard — Mon. Angl. vol. 2, p. 917, viz., Dominus Odonellus De Umframvill qui primus dimisit Nobis ad firmam Moras de Chyviothe et Grangias de Viltone & de Tollard, Will, De Umframvill, Ricardus De Umframville filii dicti Odonelli Gilberttjs De Umframville Matildis. Uxor ejus qui dederunt Nobis pasturam de turfhelle Gilbertus De Umframville filius ejus qui vendidit Nobis dicta loca ex integro cum omnibus pertin et libertatibus suis. … And gave to the Canons of Hexham the Church of Chelverton, with the Chapels of Birteley, Chipchess, Gonewarton, and Swynburne, Little Heton and Colevell.

In the Choir at Hexham, is an ancient and handsome tomb of that warlike family of the Umfrevilles, and figured in token of their having been in the Crusades: his children were Robert, William, Richard, Matilda, and Alicia. Matilda, the daughter to Odonel, married William Albini,* (Brito), and his first Wife by whom she had issue, William de Albini, Son and Heir ye 4th of his name, Odonel Albini, and others — Dugd. Baron. vol. 1, p. 115, a. and b. This Odonel Albini lyes buried near the Chapter house in the Priory of Belvoir, and near him his Mother, Matildis de Umframville, both on the West side. — Mon. Angl, vol. 1, p. 328, b.

*His uncle was Ralph d’Albini Brito, aforementioned, who obtained fifteen knights’ fees from his brother William, in the 12th of Henry II, and in the 28th of the same reign, he gave two hundred marks for license to marry the mother of Evrard de Ross, (whose name was Sibill a de Valoines). This feudal baron, who founded some religious houses, died at Acre, in the Holy Land, in 1190. William, Son of Odonel de Umframville — Dugd. Mon. Angl, vol. 2, 917, a. 9, is cited. And the Arms of gules, 3 cinque foils or, appropriated to him , finding such a coat borne by the name of D’umfrevile in the delineated MSS. of Wingfield, of Crowfield in Suffolk, 1602, reduced into alphabetical order by J. Gibbon, Bluemantle Poursuivant, living 1714, for as omnis additio probat minor italser, so taken to be here; and that his elder brother’s coat was gules, a cinque foil or, the crosses not being as yet added’ (Simon Segar The Umfrevilles: their ancestors and descendants, pp. 8-9, 1855).

Of the ‘de Hamelduns’ of Rutland: Odinel d’Umfraville, one of the barons who captured William the Lion at Alnwick, died seised of land in Normanton and elsewhere in the county of Rutland in 1182 and was succeeded by his son Robert (ob. s.p. about 1195). Hambleton was taken into the king’s hands in 1199 as security for a debt owed by Robert’s brother and heir Richard to Maud daughter of Ralph Vinitor. Richard joined the barons against King John and his lands were forfeited, but were restored in 1217. He was succeeded in 1226 by his son Gilbert, who married Maud, Countess of Angus, aunt and heir of Earl Malcolm, and daughter and heir of Gilechrist, Earl of Angus, by Maud, sister of William the Lion, and became Earl of Angus in her right in 1243. His widow Maud (d. 1261) received the manor of Hambleton in dower in 1245 until the king assigned her full dower. The heir Gilbert, second Earl of Angus, was in possession of Hambleton in 1275. He settled the two manors in 1289 on his eldest son Gilbert III. and his wife, Margaret, daughter of Thomas de Clare.

The institution of Richard de Hameldon to Normanton: ‘Nouverit universitatas vestra, nos, ad presentationem noblis viri Gilberti de Dunfranvil, patroni eclesie de Normanton …’ (Rotuli Roberti Grosseteste, episcopi lincolniensis, A. D. MCCXXXV-MCCLIII). In that granting of church ‘livings’ was usually confined to someone related to the patron, it is reasonable to assume that Richard de Hameldon was of the family of ‘noblis viri Gilberti de Dunfranvill, although this relationship was not necessarily of the blood. Richard de Hamelon was not the first of that name to have been a cleric associated with the Umfravilles – 1238, Adam de Hameldon, Sub-deacon, Market Overton (sponsored) by Dns. Gilbert de Umfraville; in 1252 notice is made of ‘Willielmus de Hameldene’ and the ‘maneria Hameldon’ and Overton in comitatu Botelandiae’, this William being alive in c. 1280. Patronage of the church of Hameldon was of the Bishops of Lincoln from 1232 (R. iii, f. 123., f. 192). The fact that these ‘de Hameldens’ were priests detracts from them having any genealogical significance.

The only evidence for a non-clerical ‘de Hameldon’ occurs in a deed of c. 1280-1300 relating to North Luffenham (Oakham juxta Hameldon), in which place Simon Basset was lord, who had married a daughter of William de Avenel. I assume John Basset to be his son, a younger brother of Ralph Bassett, living 1292, who m. Elizabeth, dau & coheir of Roger lord Colvile, descendant of William de Colville and Maud d’Albini (Brito/Bretoun). This family were cousins of the Umfamvilles of Scotland. Exchange: (i) William son of William of North Luffenham (Oakham), (ii) John Basset, his Lord – 3 rods arable land in North Luffenham (lies in the east field of the town between John’s own land and that of Richard de Hameldon abutting on the garden of Thomas de Cimiterio and 1 rod lies in the north field above the town between ii’s own land and that once Henry Gernet’s stretching over Middilsti); and service of 2d annual rent. In exchange for 1a land in the west field Witnesses: John de Glaston; Richard Toky; Robert Waytesckach; Robert Bretoun; Hugh de Halinton; William the clerk. It is not improbable that the Umfravilles were patrons of their Colville (Hameldon) cousins in Rutland.

Or, in some cases at least, the appelation ‘de Hameldun’ was adopted by a series of clerics – William de Hameldon, ‘rectoris’ was almost certainly the son of Roger de Hameldon, i.e. ‘Roger Bridge of Hambledon’ (‘Rogeri ad pontem de Hamelton’). A ‘Johen ad Pontem’ appears in military writs of Leicester, 1296. It was a toponym adopted by those who settled ‘at the bridge’ in various places.

ROLLS AND REGISTER OF BISHOP SUTTON

Whissendine in Rutland (Wyssenden’). R. William son of Roger Bridge of Hambledon, clerk in minor orders, p. by Sir John of Swinburn, knight, and John, sacristan of Lindores, proctors of the A. and C. of Lindores, to the church of Whissendine vacant by the death of Master Rolandinus and the res. of William of Swinburn who was first presented. The presentation was disputed by Lady Devorguilla de Balliol, Robert Bruce the elder and John of Hastings, who presented another candidate. After litigation, a royal writ directed the bishop to accept the candidate of the abbot of Lindores. (This writ is given in full.) William was therefore given custody of the church August 8, 1289, and ordained subd. and inst. at S. Leonard’s outside Stamford, December 17, 1289. Had letters patent.

Willelmo filio Rogeri ad pontem de Hamelton’ clerico presentato hi minoribus ordinibus per dominum Johannem de Swyneburn’ militem et fratrem Johannem de Lundors sacristam monasterii de Lundors in Scotia procuratores Abbatis et Conventus de Lindores, presentandi ad ecclesiam de Wyssenden’ cum vacaret specialem potestatem habentes, ad eandem ecclesiam de Wyssenden’ vacantem per mortem Magistri Rolandini ultimi rectoris ejusdem, facta prius inquisitione per Decanum de Roteland’ per quam acceptum extitit inter cetera dictam ecclesiam esse litigiosam per oppositionem domine Deverguyle de Balliolo alium clericum presentantis ex adverso et post altercationem aliqualem inter eos in curia domini Regis habitam recepto brevi regio sub hac forma: — E. etc., Sciatis quod cum Abbas de Lundors in curia nostra coram dilecto et fidele nostro Elia de Bekingham justiciario ad hoc assignato arramiasset assisam ultime presentationis die veneris in festo beate Marie Magdalene apud Tyneweir versus Robertum de Brus seniorem , Johannem de Hasting’ et Devergullam de Balliolo de ecclesia de Wyssenden’, iidem Robertus, Johannes et Devergulla venerunt in eadem curia nostra et concesserunt predicto abbati hac vice presentationem suam ad predictam ecclesiam, salvo sibi jure suo cum alias inde loqui voluerint. Ex ideo vobis mandamus quod non obtante reclamatione predictorum Roberti, Johannis et Devergulle , ad presentationem predicti abbatis ad predictam ecclesiam hac vice ydoneam.

LACY

As for the Lacys, little is known, though they may have been related in some way to the FitzOsborns, as it was customary to grant the lands of a disgraced noble to another branch of his family. Upon the rebellion of Roger de Breteuil, son of William FitzOsborn, the Conqueror conferred it upon Walter de Lacy (assumed younger brother of Ilbert), who died on March 27, 1085. Heirs of both families shared in the inheritance of the estates of the family de Lacy in Normandy. The mother of Ilbert was Emma. She and Ilbert are named in a charter by which she granted 22 acres of land at Montmain to the nunnery of St. Amand as ‘Emma, the mother of Ilbert de Lacy’, described as such to distinguish her from the Abbess of St. Amand of the same name. It is speculated that their father’s name may have been Hugh, as they both named a son by this name. Ilbert and Walter were hereditary tenants of Bishop Odo of Bayeux.

The land in question was specifically at Bois l’Evêque (‘Bosci qui vocatur Episcopi, vers 1080’). ‘Ilbert de Laci, et sa mère, Emma, étaient propriétaires du Bois l’Evêque, près Darnetal. Emma de Laci, en prenant le voile à Saint Amand de Rouen, avant 1069, donna à celte abbaye xxii acros terrœ in Bodes (Boos) in montequi vocatur Mainart (peut-être le Mont-Main), qui furent vendus à un moine de la Trinité-du-Mont par l’abbesse’ (Guérard, Delisle, eds. Ord. vit., p. 104, 1855).

I suggest that the identity of Emma may be adduced from the Cartulaire de l’abbaye de Saint-Bertin, 1080: ‘Anno ab incarnatione Domini Mlxxx., ego Ingelrannus, Hilberti filius, concessu domini mei Willelmi, Anglorum regis, et Mathildis reginas, conjugis ejus, filiorumque eorum Rotberti atque Willelmi, dono Sanctae Trinitati, in perpetuum ejus, pro redemptione animae eorundom regis et reginae ac fdiorum, et meae et antecessorum meorum, duas partes decimae, id est duas garbas quae michi attinent, de villa Bosci qui vocatur Episcopi, et tantum terrae ubi grancia et domus granciarii fieri possint, et quantum terrae ipse granciarius habebit; faciens inde hanc cartam Walterio, Sanctae Trinitatis abbati, monachisque suis, tali conventione, ut isto meo clerico, qui in monasterium causa mei modo receptus est, alius ejusdem ordinis clericns pro eo in monasterium ad monachum recipiatur, et iste ordo de recipiendis clericis alius pro alio in reliquum teneatur. Signum Willelmi, regis. Signum Mathildis, reginae. Signum Rotberti, filii regis. Signum Willelmi, fratris ejus. Signum Ingelranni , cujus est donatio. Signum Rotberti, comitis de Moretuil. Signum Vitalis, abbatis. Signum Rainaldi, clerici. Signum Rotberti, filii Giraldi’. (I suggest that this is the origin of the family of Roumare. All that is known of their ancestors is that a Gerald had two wives, Albreda and Emicia, and a son (probably by the first) named Robert, who is presumed to be the Robert FitzGerald of Domesday, and the brother of Roger*, who is said by Peter de Blois and Florence of Worcester to have had an elder brother, William de Roumare.*His son, William de Roumare, was governor of Neuf-Marché).

This is a charter of Enguarrand FitzHilbert. He witnessed a charter of 1073 in which William I confirmed the donation by ‘Nielli filii alterius Nielli’ made by ‘suus pater’ of six churches on Guernsey to the abbey of Marmoutier (Delisle,Pièces justificatives, 33, p. 36, 1867). He also witnessed a charter of 1077 in which William I. granted property to the abbey of Saint-Etienne de Caen (ibid., p. 41). As above noted, he donated property to Sainte-Trinité de Rouen, with the consent of ‘domini mei Willelmi Anglorum regis et Mathildis reginæ coniugis eius, filiorumque eorum Rotberti atque Willelmi’. ‘Eudo de Ria fitz Hubert’ and Enguarrand FitzHilbert witnessed the charter of July 14, 1080 in which William I confirmed the foundation of the abbey of Lessay (ibid., p. 49). Engelram was the brother of Aldbreda, wife of Hubert de Ryes dapifer, parents of Eudo de Ryes dapifer, i.e. ‘Eudo de Ria fitz Hubert’ – Enguarrand was witnessing the charter of his nephew. ‘Nielli filii alterius Nielli’ was Neil de St Sauveur, son of a namesake and Adela de Brionne, daughter of Gilbert de Brionne (grandson of Duke Richard I.). The latter Neil had among other issue: William, Girardo, and Emma: ‘Niellus vicecomes’ donated six churches on Guernsey to the abbey of Marmoutier, for the souls of and with the consent of ‘uxore mea Adila … filiis nostris Rotgerio … et Willelmo, alteroque Willelmo et Girardo … cum sororibus eorum Emma, Bilelde atque Mahelde’, by a charter of c. 1060.

If Enguarrand’s father, Ilbert, was a brother of Hugh, whose children were Ilbert and Walter de Lacy, he witnessed the confirmation of Neil de Saint Sauveur as the brother-in-law of Neil’s daughter, Emma, wife of Hugh. He also gifted to Sanctae Trinitati land in ‘villa Bosci qui vocatur Episcopi’; Emma, mother of Ilbert and Walter de Lacy, having also gifted to Saint Amand de Rouen land in Bois l’Evêque, i.e. ”villa Bosci qui vocatur Episcopi’. Ilbert de Lacy’s son, Hugh, was buried in Sanctae Trinitati. Bois l’Evêque was an inheritance from Robert d’Everux, Archbishop of Rouen.
CRISPIN AND LACY

1. Richard: ‘Vers 980, Richard I, dit le vieux, duc de Normandie, donna à l’un de ses enfants naturels nommé Godefroy, Brionne avec la suzeraineté des domaines voisins … Nous savons que Bonneville et le territoire du Bec dépendaient de ce nouveau Comté … Après la mort de Richard-le-Vieux, un frère de Godefroy, né comme lui d’une concubine, Guillaume, comte d’Exmes, que nous verrons par la suite devenir comte de Brionne, se révolta contre son frère aîné, le duc Richard II, et voulut se rendre indépendant. Raoul d’Ivry, oncle des deux princes, fut chargé de mettre le rebelle à la raison; il l’assiégea dans Exmes, le fit prisonnier et le ramena à Rouen, où il fut enfermé dans une tour et confié à la garde do Turquetil, seigneur très puissant à cotte’ (Charpillon, Dict. Hist., vol. i., p. 584, 1868); ref. Ord. Vit. Thus, Godefroy als Geoffroy d’Eu held ‘la baronnye de Bonneville-sur-le-Bec.’
1.1. Godefroy als Geoffroy d’Eu. Held Bonneville. 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.
1.1.1. Heloise, m. Ansgot. Heloise received Bonneville as dower.
1.1.1.1. Herluin de Bec. Educated in the household of Gilbert de Brionne.
1.1.2. Gilbert de Brionne.
1.2. Guillaume d’Eu, m. Lesceline: ‘Soit que Godefroy n’eut possédé le comté d’Eu qu’à titre précaire, soit que son fils fut trop jeune pour lui succéder, le duc Richard disposa de ce comté en faveur de Guillaume, son frère, dont nous avons parlé et lui fit épouser Lesceline, fille de Turquetil, son gardien, seigneur très riche qui est la tige d’une illustre famille normande’ (ibid.). Half-br. of Duke Richard II., who entrusted Tillieres to his nephew, Gilbert Crispin I.
1.2.1. Gilbert Crespin I, m. a daughter of Foulques d’Anet.
1.3. Robert d’Everux, Archbishop of Rouen.
1.3.1. Richard d’Evreux. ‘Ricardus comes Ebroicensis, Rodberti archiepiscopi filius’ m. (after 1040), as her second husband, Godechildis, widow of Roger de Tosny by whom he had ‘Willelmum qui nunc Ebroicensibus principatur’ (Willelmi Gemmetencis Historiæ (Du Chesne, 1619), Liber VII, IV, p. 269).
1.3.1.1. William d’Evreux. Orderic Vitalis names ‘Guillermus Ricardi Ebroicensis comitis filius’ among those who took part in the battle of Hastings.
1.3.1.2. Agnes d’Evreux. Orderic Vitalis 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, son of Gilbert Crispin I.
1.3.2. Emma d’Evreux (illigitimate daughter), m. Hugh, who held lands in Lassy and Cambeaux. She donated land in ”villa Bosci qui vocatur Episcopi’ to St. Amand. Orderic Vitalis says that “the practice of celibacy among the clergy was so relaxed that even bishops had concubines and openly boasted of their numerous progeny.These rolls could be reversed, with Hugh being an illigitimate son, and Emma being the heiress of Lassy.
1.3.2.1. Ilbert de Lacy.
1.3.2.2. Walter de Lacy.
1.3.2.2.1. ‘Helewysa relicta Willelmi de Ebroys’ donated ‘terram … Hyda, quam Walterus de Lacy dedit ei in matrimonium’ with the consent of ‘rege Henrico seniore … tempore Willelmi abbatis’. Willelmi de Ebroys (Evreux) is a likely son of Simon de Montfort (his sister Eve, wife of William Crispin I., was born in 1009, dying in a fire at le Bec in 1099, aged 90 (see W. Frolich, trsl., The Letters of Anselme of Canterbury, 1990-1994, nos. 22, 98, 118, and 147; Adolphe Porée, Histoire de L’Abbaye du Bec, 1901 ), and Agnes d’Evreux; William taking his mother’s name.
1.3.3. Ilbert d’Evreux (illigitimate son).
1.3.1. Enguarrand FitzHilbert. Donated land in ”villa Bosci qui vocatur Episcopi’ to Sainte-Trinité de Rouen.

1.4. Wevia, m. Osbern de Bolbec. ‘Bolbec, complètement inconnu jusqu’ à la fin du Xe siècle, ne se révèle, à cette époque, que par ses seigneurs Osbern de Bolbec, qui vivait en 992 … épousa la sœur de Gonnor, et devint ainsi beau-frère de Richard I., duc de Normandie … Le petit-fils d’ Osbern, Gautier Giffart’ (Aristide Guilbert. Histoire des villes de France, vol. 5, p. 62, 1853).
1.4.1. A daughter or son unknown. On chronological grounds, Walter Giffard I. can not have been the son of Osbern and a sister Gunnor (b. circ. 950).
1.4.1.1. Walter Giffard I., b. circa 1015, m. Ermengarde Flaitel, b. circa 1030, fille de Gérard Flaitel, un seigneur du Talou. She appears in Domesday, where mention is made of the ‘Terra Rothais uxoris Ricardi filii Gisleberti’, in St. Neots. In 1113, she granted the Manor of St. Neots to the Abbey there.

1.4.1.1.1. Walter Giffard II., Earl of Buckingham, b. circ. 1040, obit. 1102. Orderic confused reports of father and son while Freeman, not realizing that the elder Walter had died in the lifetime of the Conqueror, assumed William Rufus had created the first Walter as earl of Buckingham when in fact it was his son Walter who became the first earl. See: John Parker ed., Records of Buckinghamshire, vol. 8, pp. 289-293, 1903).

1.4.1.1.2. Rohaise Giffard, m. Richard de Bienfaite b. circ. 1025. Their daughter m. Rodolphe (Raoul) de Tillieres, son of Gilbert Crispin II., and possibly the cousin of Geoffrey de Fierville, vassal of Richard de Bienfaite.
1.5. Gunnor, married Duke Richard I., uterine brother of Raoul d’Ivri. Guillaume of Jumièges records that one of the daughters of Rodulphum’ (Raoul d’Ivri) and his wife ‘Erembergam … natam in quadam villa Calcini territorii … Cavilla’ married Osberno de Crepon de qua natus est Willelmus filius Osberni’.

1.5.1. Duke Richard II., m. Judith of Brittany.

1.5.1.1. Eleonora, m. Baudouin IV ‘Barbatus’, Count of Flanders.

Richard I. had illegitimate children by unknown mistresses, inc:

1. Guillaume d’ Eu, m. Leceline de Harcourt, father of Osbern d’Eu, father of Ansfroy. ‘Soit que Godefroy n’eut possédé le comté d’Eu qu’à titre précaire, soit que son fils fut trop jeune pour lui succéder, le duc Richard disposa de ce comté en faveur de Guillaume, son frère, dont nous avons parlé et lui fit épouser Lesceline, fille de Turquetil, son gardien, seigneur très riche qui est la tige d’une illustre famille normande’ (Charpillon, Dict. Hist., vol. i., p. 584, 1868).

2. Godfroy de Brionne, father of Gilbert de Brionne (we are informed by Milo Crespin, that Gilbert de Brionne raised Herluin as if he were his son. Godfroy held ‘la baronnye de Bonneville-sur-le-Bec’ (ibid.). Gilbert de Brionne was the father of Richard de Bienfate, whose dau, of unknown name, married ‘Rodolphe de Tillieres’, son of Gilbert Crispin II., Sgnr. de Tillieres (Guillaume de Jumieges, 3. p. 312).

3. (I suppose) Heloise, m. Ansgot, parents of Herluin de Bec, Odo de Bec, Roger de Bonneville. In a charter of Hellouin, 994-1078, after describing himself as ‘Herluinus filius Ansgoti’, he adds, ‘adstantibus et laudantibus fratibus meis Odone et Rogero. ‘These brothers gave concessions of paternal inheritance to Le Bec, in lieu of which Roger received a horse worth 100 shillings, and Odo placed his son in le Bec. Herluin de Bec founded the Abbey of Bec toward the 37th. year of his life, in 1034. ‘Son père tirait son origine de ces Danois qui les premiers conquirent la Normandie, et sa mère était liée de proche parenté avec les ducs de la Gaule Belgique, que les modernes appellent le pays de Flandre. Son père s’appelait Ansgot, et sa mère Héloïse. Gilbert, comte de Brionne, petit-fils de Richard I., duc de Normandie, par son fils le prince Godefroi, fit élever Herluin auprès de lui, et le chérissait particulièrement entre tous les seigneurs de sa cour’ (Francois Guizot, Collection des mémoires relatifs à l’histoire de France, p. 146, 1826).

Gilbert Crispin I. was the supposed brother of Ralph de Bec, Herliuin de Bec, Odo de Bec, and Roger de Bec; yet neither Gilbert Crispin I. or Ralph de Bec could have been brothers of Herluin, Eudes, and Roger, who received their mother’s dower lands: ‘Ansgot et Héloïse eurent trois autres enfants, savoir: Eudes, Roger et une fille mariée à Balderic de Servaville; ils paraissent leur avoir laissé en héritage, outre le fief de Bonneville, le Petit-Quevilly, le Pré, près de Rouen, Surcy-en-Vexin, Cernay, et un manoir à Malleville (Charpillon, Dict. Hist. vol. i., 1868). Herluin founded Bec in partnership with his mother Heloise, on whose dower lands the abbey was instituted; ‘his mother, Heloise, is said, on what authority it is not very clear, to have been a near kinswoman of the reigning house of Flanders’ (Edward Augustus Freeman, The History of the Norman Conquest, p. 215, 1870). ‘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. ‘Mater proximam Ducum Morinorum, quosmoderni Flandros cognominant, consanguinitatem attigit’.

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.

*De cette circonstance provient, dit-on, le nom des deux communes de Quevilly, étymologie qui me paraît très plausible, et que j’adopte complètement. Du diminitif clavicula, on a fait dans le moyen-âge Cavilla, Kavilla, Kevilla, et en français, Cavilly, Kévilly, Çivilly, chevilles et chiville. On trouve souvent dans les auteurs de cette époque cavilla pedis, pour la cheville du pied (2). La circonstance des pieux chevillés aura fait donner au canton le nom de Quevilly, comme celle des haies, formées de branches entrelacées, a fait donner à tant d’autres lieux la dénomination de Plessis, Plexus. Quelques années plus tard Ansfroy, fils d’Osberne, vicomte d’Eu, nous apprend par une charte en faveur de l’abbaye de la Sainte-Trinitédu-Mont, qu’il y avait déjà deux Quevilly (Hist. de l’abbaye de la Sainte-Trinité, par le même, p. 74).
FERRERS

I would suggest that the name Bec-Vauquelin gives clue to the probable ancestry of the Ferrers family.* Vauquelin de Ferrière, the French name of Walkelin de Ferrers, was lord of Ferrières-Saint-Hilaire, cant. Bernay. His son, Henry de Ferrers, joint leader of a force at Hastings with Gilbert Crispin II., castellan of Tillières, received his Domesday holdings over a period of time, receiving lands in the Appletree Wapentake, circa 1071, on land formerly held by Hugh d’Avranches: ‘Gulielmus primus, anno 1070, Henrico de Ferrariis filio, castrum Stutesburiae, quod Hugo de Abrincis primus tenuerat, concessit’ (Tutbury Cart.). Vauquelin de Ferrière (Walchelin de Ferrers) may have been a younger brother of Gilbert Crispin I., or, at least, a close cousin. Dans le xi. siècle, Drucourt faisant partie du vaste domaine possédé par la famille Crespin dont Livarot était le point central. Vers 1070, Guillaume Crespin II du nom, héritier de l’affection de son père en vers l’abbaye du Bec, lui céda à Drucort l’église avec la dîme, le patronage et autres appartenances; il y joignit ce que tenait de lui Robert Malconvenant (Charpillon, Dictionnaire historique, vol. 1, p .955, 1868). Il convient en conséquence d’identifier Ferrières avec Ferrières-Saint-Hilaire ( Eure, canton de Broglie). A proximité de cette localité, on rencontre Drucourt (Eure, canton de Thiberville), qui était désigné au moyen âge sous la forme Drocourt (Mémoires de la Socit´é historique et archéologique de l’arrondissement de Pontoise et du Vexin, vols. 40-43, p. 183, 1930).

Les Héricé (Hérissé) also bore trois hérissons de sable (P. L. Jacob, L’ancienne France: La chevalerie et les croisades, p. 265, 1866), and they were a family of Mayenne that had also originated in Normandy. Heris (Heriz) is the diminutive of hérisson (Louis-Jérôme Bondil, Introduction à la langue latine, p. 197, 1838). Henry de Herice (Heriz) of Widmerpool, obit. 1273, bore canting arms of or, three hedgehogs sable. The family of Hercé (Hersé, Hersy) of Mayenne, bore d’azur trois herses dor; that is, hersé – a portcullis, or a plank of spikes (Joseph Wilson, A French and English dictionary, p. 258, 1833). The connotation of ‘spiky’ is shared with derivatives of hérisson, but it is not probable that this family of Hercé belonged to the same Norman kinship group.

 

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