The First House Of Bellême1

Geoffrey H. White

doi:10.2307/3678582

The First House Of Bellême1

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2009

Geoffrey H. White

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Roger de montgomery, 1st earl of Shrewsbury, married Mabel de Bellême, the heiress of a great house which held the castles of Bellême and Alencon, Domfront and Sées, with widespread lands along the southern marches of Normandy, not only in that duchy but in the kingdom of France and the county of Maine. The importance of the family is attested by its inclusion in L'Art de Vérifier les Dates; but the standard account in that great work was superseded in 1920 by the detailed history of the lords of Bellême published by the Vicomte du Motey. Unfortunately the author's enthusiasm for his heroes overran his discretion; and as Orderic, our leading authority, paints most of them in the blackest colours, du Motey made a bitter attack on his accuracy and even on his veracity. Moreover, he made no attempt to grapple with the chronological difficulties inherent in the received descent, nor did he show any critical idea of the comparative value of his authorities; whilst his own lively imagination added picturesque details to what might otherwise have been a “bald and unconvincing narrative”.

Type: Research Article
Information: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 22 , December 1940 , pp. 67 - 99

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3678582 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1940

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Footnotes

I wish to express my thanks to my friend, Mr. L. C. Loyd, for his valuable suggestions and criticisms

References

² The second house of Belleme, which descended from Robert deBellême, eldest son of Roger and Mabel, soon split into two main branches:the counts of Ponthieu, through whose heiress Ponthieu passed to Eleanor of Castile and her husband Edward I; and the counts of AlenÇon, who inherited the vast estates of the first house of Bellême.

³ Les Origines de la Normandie et du Duché d'A lenÇon; deuxième partie, Origines du Duché d'AlenÇon, pp. 111—306. The first part also contains a number of references to the family.

^{page 68 note 1} Afterwards printed as “The Lords of Bellême and AlenÇon ”, in Notes and Queries, clii. 399—401, 417—19, 435—8 (1927).

^{page 68 note 2} “Orderic and the Lords of Belleme”, Ibid., clvi. 165–68 (1929).

^{page 68 note 3} “Les Origines de la Maison de Bellême ”, in Etudes sur quelques Points d'Histoire de Normandie, pp. 25—47 (1926)

^{page 68 note 4} See infra, and in particular Appendix B.

^{page 68 note 5} Hoc itaque ut Osmundus, pueri paedagogus, per Ivonem de Credolio, regis balistarium, agnovit (Ord. Vit., ed. Le Prévost, iii. 88—9). For the date, cf. the editor's notes on this passage.

^{page 68 note 6} Cf. Round, King's Serjeants, p. 15.

^{page 68 note 7} “Grand maitre des balistes de France” (Du Motey, op. cit., p. 68). Stapleton calls him “ chief engineer to Hugh the Great” (Mag. Rot. Scacc. Norm., i, p. lxxi), i.e., the duke of France, evidently overlooking the word “ regis ” It is misleading to describe him as “I'un des arbalestriers du roi Louis” (Mathon, Histoire de la Ville et du Château de Creil, p. 27).

^{page 69 note 1} Dudon (ed. Lair), p. 233.

^{page 69 note 2} Du Motey confidently affirmed that Yves was already lord of Bellême and other fiefs, which he had inherited from his father (op. cit., pp. 68, 112—13); but cf. White, Notes and Queries, clii. 418—19.

^{page 69 note 3} This is the earliest version, given by Dudon de St. Quentin. The later story, related by William de Jumièges and Orderic, was that Osmund hid the boy in a bundle of green fodder and so carried him off to his own quarters, where he kept Richard hidden until sunset.

^{page 69 note 4} Dudon (ed. Lair), pp. 228—31; Guil. de Jumièges (ed. Marx), pp. 48—9; Ord. Vit., iii. 87—90. Hugh de Fleury says simply that a certain knight named Osmund took Richard by stealth to the castle of Coucy (Mon. Germ. Hist., ed. Pertz, ix. 383). Flodoard and Richer ignore the whole affair.

^{page 69 note 5} According to Flodoard, in 945 Bernard attacked the King's huntsmen and hounds, and carried off their horses, etc. (Flodoard, Annales, ed. Lauer, p. 96). Lauer, who regards the details of Richard's rescue by Osmund as legendary, suggests that the object of this unusual act of aggression may have been to deliver the young duke (Lauer, Règne de Louis IV, pp. 102—3).

^{page 69 note 6} According to William de Jumièges, Bernard was astounded when Osmund, having left the little duke at Coucy, arrived early in the morning at Senlis; but William cannot have known such a detail. On the alleged relationship between Richard and Bernard, see Appendix A.

^{page 70 note 1} Guil. de Jumièges, pp. 48, 152.

^{page 70 note 2} White, Notes and Queries, clii. 400—1, 417.

^{page 70 note 3} Ord. Vit., iii. 88—9.

^{page 70 note 4} Ibid., ii. 416, 421; v. 134.

^{page 70 note 5} Rainald, youngest son of Ernault d'Echauffour, who entered St. Evroult at the age of fifteen and lived there for fifty-two years (ibid., ii. 110).

^{page 71 note 1} Cf. White, Notes and Queries, clii. 417.

^{page 71 note 2} Yves de Creil n'est pas le père de Guillaume de Bellême. II est de toute nécessité d'insérer entre ces deux personnages, pour que leur généalogie Concorde avec les souscriptions des chartes authentiques, Yves le Vieux de Belleme dont parlent les documents manceaux (Prentout, op. cit., p. 41).

^{page 71 note 3} Ergo de pluribus unus electus, Ivo, congressurus procedit…. Vir fortis praemium petiit et accepit (Richer, lib. III, cap. 76, in Mon. Germ. Hist., ed. Pertz, v. 623).

^{page 71 note 4} For later versions of this story, in which the feat of Yves is attributed to other persons, cf. Lot, Les Derniers Carolingiens, p. 101.

^{page 71 note 5} Bouquet, H. F., ix. 732.

^{page 71 note 6} Stapleton, op. cit., i. pp. lxx—lxxi.

^{page 71 note 7} Du Motey, op. cit., p. 116; for the date, cf. Mabillon, Ann. Ord. S. Ben., iii. 610—11. The bishop was Seinfroy, whose sister married the younger Yves.

^{page 72 note 1} Recueil des Charles de St. Germain-des-Près (ed. Poupardin), no. XLIV; assigned to 968—79 by Prentout, who gives the attestations as: “ S. Ivonis. S. alterius Ivonis.”

^{page 72 note 2} Monachi…accesserunt ad Yvonem, fidelem nostrum, et venerabilem conjugem ejus Geilam…cum assensu fidelium nostrorum Yvonis patris et Yvonis filii uxorumque eorum….Actum in castro Sylvanectensi, anno Incarnationis dominicae 981, Lothario regnante 27…. S. Yvonis vasalli. S. Geilae uxoris ejus. S. Yvonis filii ipsius (Lot, op. cit., pp. 403—4).

^{page 72 note 3} Here Prentout makes an extraordinary slip, for he writes: “ On pourrait se demander si les deux Yves qui souscrivent la charte de 981 ne sont pas Yves de Creil et Yves de Bellême plutÔt qu' Yves de Bellême et son fils Yves, puis que celui-ci est marié et que cet Yves fut évêque du Mans; mais un éVêque de ce temps peut parfaitement être marié ” (Prentout, op. cit., p. 35). Undoubtedly, but it was not Yves who became bishop of Le Mans; it was his brother Avesgaud. The Yves who became a bishop (of Sées) belonged to the next generation.

^{page 73 note 1} Stapleton, op. cit., i. p. lxxi.

^{page 73 note 2} Prentout, op. cit., p. 41.

^{page 73 note 3} Quam ob rem ego Ivo … in castro meo Belismo…Actum Belismo Castro (Cart. Marmoutier pour le Perche, ed. Barret, no. 1; Arch, de l'Orne, H. 2150, Inv. Somm., ii. 49; cf. pp. iii-iv).

^{page 73 note 4} Guil. de Jumièges—additions by R. de Torigny—p. 320; cf. De Romanet, Géographie du Perche, pp. 102—4.

^{page 73 note 5} Duval dates it circa 1190 (Inv. Somm., loc. cit.).

^{page 73 note 6} Prentout declares that “toutes les considérations denotent un testament ”(op. cit., p. 38), but does not explain what they are.

^{page 73 note 7} On the Passais, which was transferred to Normandy in 1054, cf. Stapleton, op. cit., i. p. lxxvii.

^{page 73 note 8} Ivo Belesmensis…hujus dilecti dei [sc. Gauzlin] haudquaquam immemor extitit, Magniacum cedendo illi (Vita Gauzlini, ed. Delisle, no. 9).

^{page 73 note 9} De nostris haereditariis beneficiis, quae ibidem habentur, plurima…conferimus (Neustria Pia, p. 424).

^{page 74 note 1} Reminiscens plurimarum injuriarum quas ego et praedecessores mei Salariensi intuleramus ecclesiae (Du Motey, op. cit., pp. 78, 145, citing “Cart, du Chapitre de Sées ”, fol. 29, where he renders “ praedecessores ” by “ ascendants ” and “ ancdtres ”).

^{page 74 note 2} In 1004 according to Prentout (op. cit., p. 44); but although Gauzlin was nominated at the end of 1004, he did not obtain possession until 1005 (Gallia Christiana, viii. 1550). Until this record of the gift to Gauzlin was found by du Motey, it was supposed that the latest date for Yves was 997, a date which was due to confusion with the Yves who founded 1'Abbayette (cf. Appendix B).

^{page 74 note 3} Post obitum autem Ivonis, ego Willelmus et Godeheldis mater mea (Cart. Marmoutier pour le Perche, no. 1 (2).

^{page 74 note 4} Sepulto autem Segenfrido Episcopo et Monacho domnus Avesgaudus nepos ipsius sedem episcopalem suscepit (Mabillon, Vetera Analecta, iii. 299).

^{page 74 note 5} Ad cumulum damnationis suae accepit mulierem nomine Hilde-burgam in senectute (ibid., iii. 298).

^{page 75 note 1} Cartulaire de l'Abbayette (ed. Bertrand de Broussillon), p. 11.

^{page 75 note 2} See Appendix B. Depoin describes her as “ soeur de la comtesse Ledgarde ” (Cart. St. Martin de Pontoise, p. 469), but gives no reason for this surprising description, which would make her a daughter of Herbert II, count of Vermandois. For an examination of Ledgarde's marriages and connexions, cf. Depoin, Etudes préparatoires à l'Histoire des Families Palatines, pp. 17—21, 27—9.

^{page 75 note 3} Cart. Marmoutier pour le Perche, no. 1 (2).

^{page 75 note 4} Mabillon, op. dt., iii. 299—303.

^{page 75 note 5} Cart. St. Anbin d'Angers, ed. Bertrand de Broussillon, i. 3.

^{page 75 note 6} Cart. St. Victeur au Mans, ed. Bertrand de Broussillon, p. 10.

^{page 75 note 7} Ego Avesgaudus, Dei gratia Cenomannensium praesul, meusque frater Ivo (Cart. St. Vincent du Mans, ed. Charles et d'Elbenne, no. 12, “ 995—1032 ”; but probably c. 1020—30, as two of the witnesses occur in the time of their nephew Yves, Bishop of Sées. Ibid., nos. 590, 629). It was believed that Avesgaud's predecessor died 16 Feb. 994/5, but he attested a charter on or after 12 Oct. 997 (Cart, de l'Abbayette, p. 9).

^{page 75 note 8} Mabillon, op. cit., iii. 300.

^{page 75 note 9} Depoin, Cart. St. Martin de Pontoise, p. 469; cf. Chartes de l'Abbaye de Jumièges, ed. Vernier, nos. xv–xvii.

^{page 76 note 1} Mabillon, op. cit., iii. 305—6. His brother, Robert, was father of Gervase, whose daughter Maud married Hélie de la Flèche, Count of Maine, by whom she had a daughter Eremburg, mother of Geoffrey Plantagenet.

^{page 76 note 2} Du Motey, op. cit., pp. 84, 166.

^{page 76 note 3} Cart. Marmoutier pour le Perche, no. 2; Recueil des A des de Philippe Ier (ed. Prou), no. CLXXVI. This forgery was strangely accepted as genuine by Barret, although it had been duly rejected in L'Art de Vèrifier Us Dates, xiii, 144, and by Mabillon, Ann. Ord. S. Ben., iv, 381. It has since been rejected by Duval, Archives de l'Orne, Sèrie H, Inv. Somm., ii. pp. v—vii; Prou, op. cit., pp. ccxix-ccxxv; Halphen, Le ComU d'Anjou an XIe Siècle, p. 340; Lemarignier, Etude sur les Privilèges d'Exemption… des Abbayes Normandes, pp.181 et seq.

^{page 76 note 4} Contigit Guillelmum Belesmensem, castra metendi causa, curtam superius nominatae Villae-Abbatis sibi deligere (Bouquet, H.F., x, 347).

^{page 76 note 5} Cart. Marmoutier pour le Perche, no.1.

^{page 77 note 1} Vita Gauzlini, ut supra.

^{page 77 note 2} Cart. St. Père de Chartres (ed. Guérard), i. 155—6.

^{page 77 note 3} Mabillon, Vetera Analecta, iii. 299.

^{page 77 note 4} Ord. Vit., ii. 22—3.

^{page 77 note 5} Mabillon, loc. cit.

^{page 77 note 6} Ord. Vit., ii. 23. On his way home Géré married Gisle, daughter of Thurstan de Bastemburg, with whom he had fallen in love when he saw her by chance at dinner in her father's house (Guil. de Jumièges— interpolations by Orderic—p. 163).

^{page 77 note 7} Guil. de Jumièges—additions by R. deTorigny—p. 254; cf. Mabillon, op. cit., iv. 320.

^{page 77 note 8} Guillelmus Princeps, et Mathildis, uxor eius, et filii eius Fulconis, et Garinus, et Guillelmus, et Robertus, miles…Auesgaudus, Ceno-manensis Episcopus (Neustria Pia, pp. 424—5).

^{page 77 note 9} Guil. de Poitiers, in Hist. Norm. Scriptores (ed. Duchesne), p. 183.

^{page 78 note 1} Dignum est scire te negotia regni tui. Noverit prudentia tua quod Guillelmus de Bellismo, ultus perfidiam filii sui, conjecit eum in carcerem, unde non egredietur, ut ait, sine consilio nostro (Bouquet, H.F., x, 478). Another version of this letter reads “ filii tui ” (cf. L'Art de Verifier les Dates, xiii, 144), which is followed by du Motey (op. cit., pp. 154—5); but it is absurd to suppose that the bishop would explain to the king that he was only informing him of the fate of the king's own son because it was proper for him to know what happened in his kingdom.

^{page 78 note 2} Guil. de Jumièges, pp. 101–2. A late Chronicle of Normandy, post 1250, embroiders this account with sundry details (Bouquet, H.F., xi, 323), which are incorporated by du Motey.

^{page 78 note 3} Guil. de Jumieges, p. 102.

^{page 78 note 4} As William stated that he founded and endowed the abbey with the consent of his wife and his sons Fulk, Warin and William (Neustria Pia, p. 424), no doubt part of the endowment came from Maud's lands.

^{page 78 note 5} A later story was that she descended from the traitor Ganelon (Bouquet, H.F., xi. 323).

^{page 79 note 1} Du Motey, op. cit., pp. 117, 297, 302.

^{page 79 note 2} White, Notes and Queries, clii. 436—7.

^{page 79 note 3} Guil. de Jumieges—interpolations by Orderic—p. 154; cf. Ord. Vit., v. 3—4, where the demon becomes demons.

^{page 79 note 4} Du Motey, op. cit., p. 153.

^{page 79 note 5} When Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, died suddenly in 1324, one writer alleged that his death was caused by an evil spirit (Flores Hist., ed. Luard, iii. 223); but Mr. Jenkinson suggests that he died of apoplexy (Archceologia, lxvi. 406).

^{page 79 note 6} Stapleton, op. cit., i. lxxiii; De Romanet, op. cit.., pp. 38–40.

^{page 79 note 7} Ord. Vit., v. 3—4, where the historian calls Warin “de Domfront”.

^{page 79 note 8} Guil. de Jumieges—additions by R. de Torigny—pp. 320, 307. In 1126, as count of Perche and lord of Bellême, he confirmed the possessions of St. Leonard of Bellême(Arch, de l'Orne, H. 2153, Inv. Somm., ii, 50).

^{page 79 note 9} With other members of the family he assented, as “ Radulfo filio Warini ”, to a purchase by the abbot of St. Vincent, 1050–60; and he assented to a grant by Yves, bishop of Sées, as one of his nephews (Cart. St. Vincent, nos. 548, 545).

^{page 80 note 1} Et Seginfredo, filio Willelmi de Bellissimo (Cart. St. Vincent, no. 548). Atque Seinfredo (Cart. St. Aubin, ii. 422).

^{page 80 note 2} Du Motey, op. cit., p. 160.

^{page 80 note 3} Ibid., p. 121.

^{page 80 note 4} Prentout, op. cit., p. 42; White, Notes and Queries, clii. 435—6.

^{page 80 note 5} L'Art de Vèrifier les Dates, xiii, 145; so also De Romanet, in table on p. 98.

^{page 80 note 6} Guil. de Jumièges—interpolations by Orderic—pp. 154—5; cf. Ord. Vit., v. 4. According to the late Chronicle already mentioned, Robert's defeat was preceded by an earlier combat which he won (Bouquet, H.F., xi. 323). Du Motey objects that William Fitz Géré could not have led the relieving force, as he was a young boy at the time; an argument which depends on the accuracy of Orderic's story of his father's marriage. For the castle of Ballon and its lords, cf. Round, Studies in Peerage and Family History, pp. 189 et seq.

^{page 81 note 1} Annuentibus etiam Warino et Willelmo filiis Roberti (Cart. St. Vincent, no. 548). Warin is mentioned in another charter (Ibid., no. 545), and both brothers attest two other charters (Cart. Marmoutier pour le Perche, no. 6; Cart. St. Aubin, ii. 421—3).

^{page 81 note 2} They may be the William the Bastard and Warin his brother whose names appear in two other charters (Cart. St. Vincent, nos. 573, 629). The second charter mentions William's fief at Contilly.

^{page 81 note 3} Guil. de Jumièges—interpolations by Orderic—pp. 155, 161.

^{page 81 note 4} Ibid., p. 165.

^{page 81 note 5} Ord. Vit., ii. 46.

^{page 81 note 6} Cart. St. Vincent, no. 834. Cf.: “ Hoc scriptum firmavit Ivo in festivitate sancti Leonardi, in Belismi castro “ (Ibid., no. 835).

^{page 81 note 7} Unde ego Ivo…locellum Sanctae Gauburgis, in territorio Belis-mensi situm…domno meo Hainrico regi, ex cujus beneficio est, me corroborandum tradidisse (Cart. St. Père de Chartres, i, 155—56).

^{page 81 note 8} Post mortem vero Willelmi comitis et Rodberti filii ejus, quem securi inimici ejus in carcere positum interfecerunt, Ivo, frater Willelmi, in honore succedens (ibid., p. 157).The writer is wrong in styling William a comes, unless this is intended to represent princeps, and in making Yves his brother instead of his son. That Yves was the son of William is proved by his own charters (Cart. St. Vincent, nos. 587, 611).

^{page 81 note 9} This is duly pointed out by Du Motey, who was the first writer to realise that Yves succeeded Robert as lord of Bellême (op. cit., p. 169).

^{page 82 note 1} Guil. de Jumièges—interpolations by Orderic—p. 165; Ord. Vit., ii. 46.

^{page 82 note 2} Cf. White, Notes and Queries, clii. 436.

^{page 82 note 3} In 1200 the Constable of the Tower of London was paid 4 shillings for buying “ quasdam taleuatias ” (Pipe Roll 2 John, p. 149).

^{page 82 note 4} Ord. Vit., Hi. 422. But this Robert, the son of Roger de Montgomery and Mabel de Bellême, was always styled Robert de Bellême, not Robert Talvas. Du Motey has written a life of Robert as: he Champion de Normandie: Robert II de Bellême, in which he exalts him as a noble patriot, instead of the monster of cruelty portrayed by Orderic.

^{page 82 note 5} “ Férocité ” in L'Art de Verifier les Dates, xiii. 145—6; “ hardness of heart ”, in Stapleton, op. oil., i. p. lxxii.

^{page 82 note 6} Ord Vit., iii. 422, n. 1.

^{page 82 note 7} Stapleton, op. cit., i. p. lxxii.

^{page 82 note 8} Du Motey, op. cit., p. 121.

^{page 82 note 9} Ord. Vit., ii. 412.

^{page 83 note 1} Du Motey, op. dt., p. 121. A nickname was apt to become attached to a particular Christian name. Thus the second count of the Normans was known as William “ Longsword ”; and this sobriquet was assumed by or given to Henry II's brother William (Stenton, Early Northamptonshire Charters no. vii), and his nephew William Henry's illegitimate son—afterwards earl of Salisbury. Again, the sobriquet “ Martel ”, borne by Geoffrey II of Anjou, was revived for Geoffrey IV. Geoffrey V was styled “ Plantagenet ”; and Wykes gives that “ cognomen ” to his grandson Geoffrey—son of Henry II (Ann. Mon., ed. Luard, vol. iv, p. 37); although that may be a late error.

^{page 83 note 2} He is probably best known through Wace's story that he cursed the future Conqueror, when he saw him lying in his cradle at Falaise (Roman de Rou, ed. Andresen, ii. 147). As Wace calls William Talvas “ le vieil ”, there seems to be some confusion between father and son.

^{page 83 note 3} Du Motey holds that Yves and William divided the family estates after Robert's death (op. cit., pp. 169—70).

^{page 83 note 4} Guil. de Jumièges—interpolations by Orderic—pp. 155, 161, 162.

^{page 84 note 1} Orderic, ii. 27—8.

^{page 84 note 2} Ibid., ii. 15; Guil. de Jumièges—interpolations by Orderic—pp. 162–3.

^{page 84 note 3} Ibid., pp. 164, 169; Ord. Vit., ii. 15.

^{page 85 note 1} Firmantibus idem donum meum Guillelmo fratre meo….(Cart. St. Aubin, ii. 421–23; photograph at end of vol. iii). Although assigned by the editor to the reign of Herbert I, Count of Maine (d. 1036), it certainly belongs to the period (1060–2) when Herbert II was restored after the death of Geoffrey Martel, count of Anjou, who had turned the boy out.

^{page 85 note 2} It was formerly supposed that Talvas died before 1050; but du Motey argued (op. cit., p. 216) that a charter of Yves, confirmed by his brother William (Cart. St. Vincent, no. 545), belonged to 1053.

^{page 85 note 3} Guil. de Jymieges—interpolations by Orderic—p. 162.

^{page 85 note 4} Orderic calls him Arnulf's “ germanus ”, a term which he uses else where for a legitimate brother of the half-blood ex parte paterna (Ord. Vit., iii. 347). In a charter of Bishop Yves, his gift is confirmed by “” nepotibus meis Oliverio Warino Willelmo et Mabilia nepte mea. Praeterea omnibus spem hereditatis in me habentibus.” The subscriptions of Mabel and her husband Roger, their infant son Robert, and Oliver, follow, but not those of Warin and William (Cart. St. Aubin, ii. 421—3). In another charter of Yves, Oliver's name precedes those of Warin and Ralf (Cart. St. Vincent, no. 545); but in a notification by the abbot of St. Vincent, Oliver's name occurs among those of his probably illegitimate cousins: “ annuentibus etiam Warino et Willelmo, filiis Roberti, et Olivario, Willelmi filio, et Radulfo, filio Warini, et Seginfredo, filio Willelmi de Bellissimo ” (ibid., no. 548).

^{page 85 note 5} Guil. de Jumieges—interpolations by Orderic—pp. 164—5. He is the only Oliver whose name occurs among the earlier names in the Nomina Monachorum Becci (Porée, Hist, de l'Abbaye du Bee, i. 628 et seq.).

^{page 86 note 1} Guil. de Jumiéges—interpolations by Orderic—p. 164, where the author mentions that some people alleged that Arnuli was slain by Oliver; which Orderic refused to believe.

^{page 86 note 2} Testes…. Yves de Belismo, Arnulfus nepos ejus (Bouquet, H.F., xi. 132). The bishop would not attest in this way, but the witness might perhaps be Arnulf's great uncle Yves.

^{page 86 note 3} Guil. de Jumièges—interpolations by Orderic—pp. 156—7.

^{page 86 note 4} Ego Rogerius, ex Northmannis Northmannus, magni autem Rogerii filius (Sauvage, L'Abbaye de Troarn, Preuves, no. III).

^{page 86 note 5} This descent is given by Yves, bishop of Chartres (Migne, Patrologia, clxii. 266). Robert de Torigny makes Josceline the daughter of Gunnor's sister Wevie. He relates that Senfrie was the beautiful wife of an unnamed forester of the duke, who was attracted by her; but Senfrie managed to substitute Gunnor for herself (Guil. de Jumieges—additions by R. de Torigny—pp. 321, 323). On the sisters and nieces of Gunnor, cf. White, Genealogist, N.S., xxxvii. 57—65, 128—32.

^{page 86 note 6} Guil. de Jumieges—interpolations by Orderic—p. 169.

^{page 86 note 7} Ord. Vit., ii. 47.

^{page 87 note 1} Ibid., ii. 52—3. No doubt the abbot doctored her supper (Planch é Conqueror and his Companions, i. 191—2). As Mabel lived nearly 15 years afterwards (Ord. Vit., loc. cit.), the date was probably early in 1065. Du Motey, misreading xxv for xv and dating the death in 1082, makes the year 1057 (op. cit., p. 223).

^{page 87 note 2} Ord. Vit., ii. 46—7.

^{page 87 note 3} Arch, de l'Orne, H. 938; Inv. Somm., i. 195—6.

^{page 87 note 4} Ord. Vit., ii. 81, 106—7.

^{page 87 note 5} Ibid., ii. 178; cf. Planché, op. cit., i. 181—4.

^{page 87 note 6} Comitatus Arundelli et Salopesberiae dono accepit (Guil. de Jumièges —additions by R. de Torigny—p. 322). However, Roger was only earl of Shropshire, although he might be styled earl of Shrewsbury, from his capital, or earl of Arundel, from the castle where he resided (cf. Round, Geoffrey de Mandeville, pp. 316—25).

^{page 88 note 1} Ord. Vit., ii. 214.

^{page 88 note 2} On the other hand, there is the succession to the French comté of Meulan about ten years later. When Count Hugh became a monk at Bee in 1080 or 1081, although he had two half-brothers (the sons of his father's second marriage), he was succeeded by his nephew Robert de Beaumont, whose mother was Hugh's sister of the whole blood and whose father, Roger de Beaumont, was (like Roger de Montgomery) a great Norman baron, a favourite of the Conqueror, and descended from a sister of the Duchess Gunnor. Orderic states that Robert held the comté by hereditary right (Ord. Vit., iii. 427; cf. Guil. de Jumièges, p. 159), and William of Poitiers calls him the nephew and heir of Hugh (Hist. Norm. Scriptores, ed. Duchesne, p. 202); though an English writer says that he bought the castle of Meulan from the king of France (Will. Malmesbury, ed. Stubbs, p. 483). On the whole question cf. Depoin, Cart. St. Martin de Pontoise, pp. 311—13, and White, Genealogist, N.S., xxxvi. 173—8.

^{page 88 note 3} Ord. Vit., ii. 410—11, 432; iii. 598. For the date, cf. Appendix C. Mabel's second son, Hugh de Montgomery, afterwards second earl of Shrewsbury, pursued the murderers; but they escaped by breaking down the bridges behind them.

^{page 89 note 1} Ord. Vit., iii. 90.

^{page 89 note 2} Kalckstein, Geschichte des französischen Konigthums unter den ersten Capetingern, p. 128 n.

^{page 89 note 3} Lauer, Règne de Louis IV, p. 5 n.

^{page 89 note 4} This appears from the Lament for William, printed (with facsimile of MS.) by Lair, Etude sur la Vie et la Mort de Guillaume Longue-Epée, pp. 61—2.

^{page 89 note 5} Prentout, Etude Critique sur Dudon de Saint-Quentin, pp. 130, 177, 279–80. At p. 130 n. he deals with Lair's proposal to alter the text of the Lament, in order to make it agree with Dudon's more nattering story that William's mother was daughter of a Count Berenger, and that he was born in Rouen.

^{page 89 note 6} Dudon (ed. Lair), p. 189.

^{page 90 note 1} Dudon (ed. Lair), p. 231. Accordingly William de Jumièges calls Richard the nepos of Bernard. In his note on this passage, Marx refers Lauer, but favours Kalckstein's theory as probable without naming him (Guil. de Jumièges, p. 49 n.).

^{page 90 note 2} Kalckstein, op. cit., p. 246 n.

^{page 91 note 1} Stapleton, op. cit., i, p. lxxi.

^{page 91 note 2} Bertrand de Broussillon, Cart, de l'Abbayette, p. 5.

^{page 91 note 3} Duval, Arch, de l'Orne, vol. ii., Introd., p. iii, n. 2.

^{page 91 note 4} Du Motey, op. cit., pp. 113, 119, 120; for earlier authorities, cf. p. 113, n. 4; also L'Art de Vérier les Dates, xiii. 142.

^{page 91 note 5} White, Notes and Queries, clii. 400.

^{page 91 note 6} Prentout, op. cit., pp. 32 et seq.

^{page 92 note 1} Cart, de l'Abbayette, pp. 9–12.

^{page 92 note 2} Dr. Poole, in his ingenious attempt to prove that Herbert the Chamberlain was an illegitimate son of Herbert II, count of Maine (Eng. Hist. Review, xlv. 273–281), has stretched the meaning of cognatus to the widest possible extent, in order to explain John of Hexham's statement that Herbert's son William, archbishop of York, was a cognatus of Roger, king of Sicily (Simeon of Durham, ed. Arnold, ii. 318). As I have pointed out elsewhere. Dr. Poole's explanation of their kinship, when reduced to terms of genealogy, is that the archbishop was Herbert II's illegitimate son's son, whilst the king was Herbert II's first cousin's wife's first cousin (White, Notes and Queries, clxii. 441).

^{page 92 note 3} Du Motey, op. cit., p. 119.

^{page 92 note 4} As the theory under examination emanates from Depoin, it may be pertinent to quote his statement that: “Lorsque avunculus est employé au lieu de patruus, il désigne d'ordinaire un oncle issu d'un autre lit que le pére” (Etudes préparatoires à I'Histoire des Families Palatines, p. 10).

^{page 93 note 1} Cart, de l'Abbayette, p. 9. Therefore the date–limits of 997–1008 given by Prentout (op. cit., p. 32) seem improbably wide.

^{page 94 note 1} Prentout, op. cit., pp. 33, 34.

^{page 94 note 2} It is possible that William the clerk and William the layman were identical with William dean of Le Mans and William the layman, whose names follow each other as witnesses to a charter of Hugh, count of Maine, c. 1015, being followed by that of Yves, brother of the layman (Gallia Christ., xiv., Instr., col. 131).

^{page 94 note 3} Yvonis, fidelissimi mei militis, interpellatione“ … “Signum Yvonis militis qui hanc cartam fieri fecit” (Lot, Etudes critiques sur;l'Abbaye de St. Wandrille, Charte no. 10).

^{page 95 note 1} Ibid., p. 41, n. 2.

^{page 95 note 2} A suggestion that his father Fulcoin might have been identical with a Fulcoin, count of the Corbonnais or Mortagne, who is supposed to have been the maternal grandfather of Rotrou, count of Mortagne (De Romanet, op. tit., p. 99), is clearly untenable. Again, as he was evidently dead when his son founded 1'Abbayette, it is not likely that he was Fulcoin the vicomte who attested a charter of Fulk, count of Anjou, in 1003 and another not earlier than 1006 (Cart. St. Aubin, i. 157–8, 10–12; Layettes du Trésor des Chartes, no. 15).

^{page 96 note 1} Ord. Vit., ii. 411.

^{page 96 note 2} “Le 5 décembre 1082” (Ibid., n. (3))

^{page 96 note 3} Du Motey, op. cit., pp. 273, 276.

^{page 96 note 4} Sauvage, op. cit., p. 15.

^{page 96 note 5} Round, Cat. Docts. France, no. 465.

^{page 96 note 6} Davis, Regesta, no. 172.

^{page 96 note 7} Ibid., no. 97.

^{page 96 note 8} Du Motey, op. cit., pp. 274, 279; cf. White, Notes and Queries, clvi. 168.

^{page 96 note 1} Ord. Vit., ii. 214.

^{page 96 note 2} Gallia Christiana, xi. 682.

^{page 96 note 3} Poole, Medieval Reckonings of Time, pp. 43—4.

^{page 96 note 4} Ord. Vit., iii. 597–8.

^{page 96 note 5} Regesta, no. 125; cf. no. 127.

^{page 96 note 6} Mr. Loyd points out that the notable list of ecclesiastical witnesses was the result of the Council of Lillebonne at Whitsuntide (31 May) 1080. He regards the Council as of some importance in helping to fix the year 1080.

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The First House Of Bellême1

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