Gilbert MALET

Est 1050 -

• Name	Gilbert MALET
  Note	Aft 1020  [1]
  Excerpt from "Notices of an English Branch of the Malet Family", by Arthur Malet, published 1885, pp 1-17, appendix A1-A10: WILLIAM MALET. Early in the eleventh century, during the period in which Edward the Confessor was living in Normandy under the protection of the Duke, there existed an English family consisting of a brother and three sisters, Thorold, Godiva, and two other sisters whose names are unknown. (1) Thorold was Sheriff of Lincolnshire; Godiva married Leofric Earl of Mercia; of the other sisters, one married an English husband of high rank, the other married a Norman noble named Malet, who was by her father of two sons William and Durand; the former, one of the companions of Duke William and who is named as having fought at Hastings, the latter also presumably an actor in the same battle, and both named in Domesday Book as tenants in capite. I particularise the whole of the four members of this English family, as the history of each has its peculiar share in elucidating the mystery which has hitherto attached to the parentage of William Malet, who is described by Guy of Amiens as half Norman and half English; (2) the accumulation of evidence conclusively proving the existence of these two unrecorded sisters of Thorold and Godiva, and that William and Durand Malet were the sons of one of them. 3 CONT We know, on the undoubted authority of the charter granted by Henry the Second, at Devizes, in 1152, to William Randolph, Earl of Chester, (3) that Robert Malet, son of William and Alan of Lincoln were each of them avunculus to the Earl's mother, the Countess Lucy, who was the daughter of Ivo Taillebois Count of Angers, by Lucy, one of the daughters of Alfgar Earl of Mercia, the son of Leofric, by Godiva, the sister of Thorold. (4) Alan of Lincoln, (5) doubtless a kinsman of Alfred of Lincoln, I assume to have been his son; if so, or if he was a sister's son, he was equally the son of a nephew or a niece of Thorold. Mr. Freeman, on the English connection of W. Malet, says that Alan is more likely to have been Alfred's son than his brother, and it seems that it must have been so, otherwise he could not have borne the same relationship to the Countess Lucy as did Robert Malet; and, as the Devizes charter precludes doubt as to this relationship, Robert Malet must have had a similar descent to Alan of Lincoln. This must have been by his father having been a son of a sister of Thorold and Godiva, which alone could give him and Alan of Lincoln a similar relationship to the Countess Lucy. Additional proof of nearness of kin may be found in the summary of a grant (6) give in the thirty-fifth report by the Deputy Keeper of Public Records, by which William de Roumara gave to Robert, grandson (nepos) of the Countess Lucy, land which had been held under Lucy the Countess by Ivo and Colswegen, uncles of the said Robert. As by no possibility could the term uncle apply to Ivo Taillebois, who moreover would not have held land under his own daughter, and as Durand Malet, the brother of William Malet, and therefore of the sae descent, had a son named Ivo, who would bear to Robert de Roumara precisely the same relationship as did Colswegen, the son of Alfred of Lincoln, it follows that the Ivo alluded to must be not Ivo Taillebois but Ivo Malet. The relationship can now be clearly shown. (Chart) 3 CONT It will be observed that the near relationship of William Malet to Harold's Queen Aldgith (7) thus manifested accounts for the otherwise incomprehensible tradition that her mother Aelgifu was a sister of William Malet. It will also be seen that this pedigree brings into similar relationship to the countess Lucy, Colswegen, Alan of Lincoln, Robert Malet, and Ivo Malet, so that Colswegen and Ivo, who are, in the summary of the grant above mentioned, called each avunculus to her grandson Robert de Roumara, are in reality his kinsmen , each of a similar relationship, though not what we now should term uncle. Having accounted for William Malet's parentage, we may now consider how he came to be called by Guy of Amiens "Compater Heraldi," that is to say, having the ecclesiastical connection of standing at the baptismal font with Harold as a fellow sponsor for some child of sufficiently noble birth to be entitled to two such godfathers. The rivalry between the houses of Godwin and Leofric previous to Harold's marriage to Aldgith, which closed though it hardly healed the sore, militates against the supposition that the occasion could have been in England and it seems as if considerable weight may be attached to Mr. Planche's conjecture (8) that it may have been in Normandy, in 1062, during the enforced visit of Earl Godwin's son to Duke William, the year in which the Duke's daughter Adela was born. He adds, "Is it possible that Harold and William Malet were her godfathers? Guy of Amiens, Matilda's almoner, would certainly be cognizant of that fact." It may be thought that the politic Duke would hardly permit Harold to enter into intimate relations with any of his great Norman Barons; yet such a tie through his own child might be beneficial, and the conjoining with him in the holy ceremony of one who, besides being a distant connection by marriage, was an attached follower of his own, could be of no political disadvantage. I think I am warranted in thus designating William Malet, as the terms on which the Duke treated him in England fully warrant the inference that they were bound together by more than the common bond of Prince and Feudatory, even if the distant connection through his marriage with a Crispin be disregarded. William Malet married Hesilia Crispin, (9) who was through a female, descended in the fourth generation from Rollo I, Duke of Normandy, and therefore related to Duke William, the fifth in descent in the male line. Lanfranc states (10) that Hesilia, sister to the two Crispins (who fought at Hastings), was the mother of William Malet, a valiant soldier, who in old age became a monk in the Abbey of Bec for some years before he died. We know from the undoubted authority of Domesday (11) that William Malet died in the King's service during the campaign against Hereward before the completion of the Survey, and we know from equally undoubted authority, Robert Malet's charter to his Abbey at Eye, (12) that William Malet was his father and Hesilia his mother; it seems, therefore, that the Archbishop or his amanuensis must have fallen into some error which has been followed in the subsequent chronicles of Bec. By Hesilia Wiliam Malet had issue Robert, Gilbert, and Beatrice. As his eldest son Robert could hardly have been less than twenty-six years of age at this father's death in 1071, William's marriage may have been in about 1044, and as he possibly married at the age of twenty-five he will have been born about the year 1020, and was aged about fifty-one at the time of his death. Having endeavoured by the means at our disposal to account for William Malet's parentage, it would be desirable to trace the earlier position of his family in Normandy before the conquest of England, but I cannot find that there ware any early records in existence in which the name occurs. In L. Dacherii notae ad Lanfranci Archiepiscopi Cantuar, Epist. 35, p. 370, we find: "Clarissima apud Caletes familia Maletana unde et illud Gallicum proverbium, 'Les Malets et les Martauxs son les plus nobles de Caux.'" ["The most famous family Malets from which (comes) that Gallic proverb 'The Malets and the Martaux are the most noble of the Caux.'"] The name too is said to have arisen "Ob bellicam fortitudinem eo quod in praeliis hostes ut malleo contunderet." [From that battle courage with which he pounded the enemies in battles as if with a hammer.--translations by Irene W.] It seems probably as the name had passed into a proverb that it was in use in the early times of the Norman settlement in France, but this is merely a matter of conjecture. It is not even known whether the cognizance of the three fermalets or buckles was borne by the family at the time of the invasion of England, or whether it was, as were so many other distinguishing coats of arms, adopted at the time of the crusades, from which time till the present it has been borne by the various French branches of the family; it was also borne by the descendants of Durand Malet of Irby. Having elucidated the personality of William Malet in Normandy, it remains to collect the records of his life in England. The battle of Hastings, or Senlac, is the scene in which he first appears. Wace, in that portion of his Roman de Ron in which he recounts the deeds of the Normans, names first Roger de Belmont, and next after him William Malet, whose deeds he thus describes. His archaic French may perhaps excuse my placing an English translation by its side. Guillame ki l'en dit Mallet William whom they call Mallet Hardiement entrels se met; Boldly throws himself among them; Od l'espee ki resflambie With his flashing sword As Engliez rent dure escremie; Against the English he makes furious onset; Maiz son escu si estroerent, But his shield they clove, E son cheval soz li toerent' And his horse benath him killed, Et il meisme eussent mort, And himself they would have slain, Quant vint le Sire de Monfort When came the Sire de Monfort Et Dam Willame de Vez-pont, And Lord William de Vez-Pont Od granz maisnies ke il ont, With the great fore which they had, Le rescotrent hardiement. Him they bravely rescued. Mult i perdirent de lor gent; There many of their men they lost; Mallet firent monter maneiz Mallet they remounted on the field Sor un destrier tot freiz. On a fresh war-horse. When King Harold's body was found after the battle, the Conqueror, refusing his mother, Gytha's offer to ransom it, entrusted it, as we are told by Guy of Amiens, William of Poitiers, Benoit de St. More, and Orderic Vital, (13) to William Malet for burial near the sea. There has been much discussion as to its delivery to William Malet and its place of burial, but it seems to have been fairly set at rest by Mr. Freeman, and there is no room to doubt that it was first buried by William Malet on the sea-shoe, possibly in a cairn on the cliff near Hastings, whence in more settled times it was by the King's permission removed, and, with such honors as the period allowed, buried in Harold's own Abbey of Waltham. The next mention we have of William Malet is after the submission of York to the King in 1068, when a castle was built there and left to the care of William Malet, who was made Sheriff, with large grants of land in the country, Robert Fitz-Richard, and William of Ghent, with five hundred picked knights. (14) They were not suffered long to hold it in peace. In January, 1069, the King sent Robert de Comines to take possession of the earldom which Gospatric had fled from; Robert de Comines' passage lay through Durham, where he was surprised and, with his whole force, slain. This led to an immediate revolt in Yorkshire: the citizens of York slew Robert Fitz-Richard, with many of his men; and the insurgents, headed by Edgar the Atheling, attacked the castle. The Sheriff sent for aid to the King, who speedily arrived and utterly routed the revolters; he then, in addition to the first, built a second castle, which he entrusted to William Fitz-Osborn, Earl of Hereford, and and left the north in order that he might keep the feast of Easter at Winchester. Shortly after his departure the English again rose, and attacked the castles at York, but were defeated and driven off by the Earl of Hereford, who after this success must have departed, as we hear nothing of him in the events in the north which subsequently occurred. The Sheriff, William Malet, and Gilbert of Ghent were now in command at York, with what was deemed a sufficient garrison, but they must have found some difficulty in providing food for their men, as otherwise we can hardly account for the seizure by the Sheriff of the provisions which were being brought into the city for the use of the Archbishop. The circumstances are so graphically illustrated by Mr. Freeman, in his History of the Norman Conquest, (15) that I shall be excused for transcribing them, as illustrating the overpowering sense of military necessity in the commander, and the politico-religious scrupulosity of the King. "Ealdred [the Archbishop] was present in his metropolitan city on one of the feasts of the Church, by which must be meant the Pentecost of the present year. A large stock of all manner of good things was being brought into the city from the episcopal lands in its neighbourhood. It chanced that the Sheriff -- William Malet must be meant -- was at that moment going out of York with a large company. At a short distance from the city he met the Archbishop's horses and waggons [sic] bringing in wheat and other meats for the feast. The Sheriff asked the drivers who they were, and for whom they were bringing those good things. They answered that they were the servants of the Archbishop, and were bringing in the things that were needful for his service. The Sheriff, caring little for the Archbishop or his servants, bade his own followers seize on the whole of the stores and carry them to the king's storehouse in the castle. When the news was brought to Ealdred, he sent messengers, clerks, and citizens to the Sheriff, and bade him restore the stolen property , and make good the loss to St. Peter, and to himself as his vicar; otherwise he would at once go on to wield his spiritual weapons against him. As no satisfaction was to be had, but as the Archbishop's servants were driven away with threats and insults, the high-spirited Primate made up his mind to go at once and lay his complaints in person before the King. He went to London, where William then was. His coming is said to have caused some stir in the city, and the Norman Bishop of London, William, with a crowd of clergy and people , came to meet him with all honour." Then follows the account of his interview with the King, after which "Ealdred went home in safety and honour, and one of the highest nobles in William's court was sent with letters, by virtue of which everything, even to the cords which tied the sacks of corn, was faithfully restored to the Archbishop. And from that day no man dared to wrong him any more." Some months after this more serious events occurred. The Danish fleet under Sweyn arrived on the coast of England, and William the King, who was then in Gloucestershire, warned his officers in York to stand firmly on their defence, and to call at once for his presence should it be needed. They, over-confident in their own strength, sent back word that they could hold out for a year without further aid. I cannot do better than transcribe from Mr. Freeman's work (16) the account of what followed. "The English and Danish fleets had already met in the Humber, but their banners had not yet been seen beneath the walls of York, when a tomb within the Minster of St. Peter closed on the body of the last Primate of Northumberland of the old stock (Ealdred died 11th September, 1069). Meanwhile the confederate fleets were in the Humber. . . . The fleet sailed on; we are not told at what point of the Ouse the troops disembarked, but it is plain that the easiest road to York from any convenient landing-place would lead them along the left bank of the river, over the former battle-ground of Fulford; this road would bring them at once upon the elder of the two castles. It was indeed guarded by the stream of the Foss, but even if the bridge was not yet there, the crossing of so small a stream was a hindrance which might easily be overcome. It is plain that the castles were the first object of attack, and if the fleet, or any part of it, did sail up to York , it would be the castles which they would first come upon as barring their course. Before the Danes reached the city the whole country poured forth to join their banners. Men went on with all joy, walking and riding. A host that could not be numbered, pressing on with one heart and one soul, came within sight of the warders of the Norman Castles. Their captains had boasted that they could defend themselves for a while year without help from William, but they found that such a boast was vain indeed. They looked for a siege, and their first thought was to hinder the besiegers from filling up the ditches of the castles, and so finding a more ready approach to the walls. Lest the houses near the castle should be used for this purpose, the Normans betook themselves to their favourite element. They set fire to the houses in their own immediate neighbourhood. The flames spread, the greater part of the city was destroyed; and the fire even seized upon the metropolitan church in the opposite quarter. Whether this sacrilege was designed or no, it was speedily avenged. Two days later, while it would seem that the flames were still blazing, but while the city was not yet wholly destroyed, the host drew nigh which was to save it from its foreign masters. The Earls Waltheof and Gospatric and the chief Thegns, who had joined the army led the way; the whole force of Denmark and Northumberland followed. The garrisons ventured on a sally, (17) and a fight followed within the walls of the burning city. And now it was that for one moment Waltheof, the son of Siward and Oethelfloed, stood forth as the hero of deeds which handed down his name in the warlike songs of the tongues of both his parents; we hear again the old ring of the lays of Brunanburh of Maldon and of Stamford bridge, as we listen to the tale which speaks of the giant form of the Northumbrian Earl, his mighty arms, his sinewy breast; how he stood by the gate as the enemy pressed forth, and how as each Norman drew nigh a head rolled on the earth beneath the unerring sweep of the Danish battle-axe. (18) Three thousand of the strangers died that day, a hundred of the chiefest in rank were said to have fallen among the flames by the hands of Waltheof himself; and the scalds of the north sang how the son of Siward gave the corpses of the Frenchmen as a choice banquet for the wolves of Northumberland. The tale stirs the blood like the tale of the last victory of Harold by the banks of Derwent. . . . For the moment all seemed triumphant; the Norman garrison of York was utterly cut off; of the men who had held city and shire in dread, a few only were saved alive as prisoners; among these were the two commanders, Gilbert of Ghent and William Malet, (19) together with William's wife and two children; the two castles were broken down. . . .Thus between friends and enemies, York had become a mass of ruins. Churches and houses had fallen before the flames kindled by the Normans; the Norman castles had fallen before the hammers and crowbars of liberated Englishmen. No attempt seems to have been made to occupy the city or to defend the Roman walls which had not utterly perished. The work of the moment had been done; the enemy had been swept from the earth; till another day of battle should come there seemed to be no work on hand, save to enjoy the plunder that had been won. The Danes went back to their ships with their booty: the men of Northumberland, following the common instinct of irregular troops after either victory or defeat, went away every man to his own home. (20) With the loss of the castle of York, and his captivity among the Danes, William Malet lost his Shrievalty, which was bestowed on Hugh the son of Baldric, who had large possessions in the shire. He seems also to have lost some of his lands: it may be that most of those he held in Yorkshire were attached to the office of Sheriff, but no doubt many were private property, as we find in Domesday Robert Malet claiming them as having belonged to his father. There is no account of William Malet's release from the Danes, but it is most probable that it was when Sweyn made his agreement with William to leave England, and return home to Denmark in the year 1069 or 1070. We have no other notice of William Malet until William's campaign in the Fenland against Hereward in 1071; but not withstanding his failure at York, we cannot suppose that a man of his reputation can, unless he was in captivity, have been left unemployed in times which called forth all the energies of the invaders. I have extracted in Appendix A 5 (11), a passage from the Norman Conquest from which we find that some of William Malet's lands had passed from him before his death, and showing conclusively that he died about 1071, during William the Conqueror's campaign against Hereward in the marshes in the east of England. 3 CONT Of the rank held by William Malet among the companions of the Conqueror, we find (21) in William's charter to St. Martin-le-Grand in London, next after the signatures of the Bishops, Abbots, and Earls, those of Richard the son of Gilbert and William Malet, and to each of their names and to no others the title of "Princeps" is attached. We also find (22) that William Malet, among the very few nobles privileged to build castles, had permission to construct one at Eye, where also he established a market. 3 CONT I cannot discover that he built any monastery or founded any abbey; the grant of Cunteville to the Abbey of Bec, often attributed to him, was the act of his grandson William, the son of Robert, and to him seems to be due the foundation of the Abbey of Graville. The stirring scenes in which William Malet was so prominent an actor may well be supposed to have left him little leisure for even such works as were in those days deemed almost necessary to salvation, and his death at the age of fifty-one may be called untimely, giving him no period of old age to be passed in the performance of religious duties. It is, however, to be observed that he does not seem to have scrupled to act in opposition to the ecclesiastics, when military exigencies as at York, or his own interests as in the market at the castle of Eye, were opposed to theirs. 3 CONT We have no account of his possessions in Normandy anterior to the invasion of England, but there is little doubt that he was the head of the family, and that his hereditary possession (23) was Graville, the Latinised form of which, Gerardivilla, distinguishes it from the very similar names of Grandville and Glanville which have at times been confounded with it. Neither is there any list of his possessions in England, which must have been very large, for we find in the Survey, which was not completed until about seven years after his death, many claims made by his son Robert on lands held by his father chiefly in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, which had passed to other proprietors, besides the vast estate which apparently descended unquestioned to Robert as eldest son and heir. His widow Hesilia appears to have been amply dowered; she is recorded in Domesday many times as holding property under the invariable designation of "Mother of Robert Malet." We have no other historical notice of her subsequent to her husband's death. William Malet had issue by Hesilia two sons, Robert and Gilbert, and one daughter, Beatrice, married to William de Archis. 3 CONT I am quite unable to enter on the subject of the branches of this family by female descent, except to notice some of the names as they occur in the course of the narrative; but there is an entry in Dug. Bar. , vol i, under the head of Vere, which, from the singularity attending it, merits notice here; it is as follows: " Alberic the Third" [he was a successor of that Alberic de Vere who was made by Henry I Grand Chamberlain of England after the banishment of Robert Malet] "was made an Earl in King Stephen's time by Maud the Empress, as it seems, for by that name she granted him all the lands which his father, Alberic de Vere, held at the time of his death; and likewise the office of Great Chamberlain of England, to hold as fully as Alberic de Vere, or Robert Malet, or any of his ancestors, did, with all usages and liberties thereunto appertaining. Moreover, by the same charter she granted him all the land of William de Abrincis, with the whole inheritance which he claimed in right of his wife, as fully as William de Archis had held the same." From this it appears that the wife of Alberic de Vere III was descended from William Malet through his daughter Beatrice, who was the wife of William de Archis. (24) Their granddaughter Beatrice, Countess of Guines, married the third Alberic de Vere, and thus William Malet's descendant became the wife of the Great Chamberlain of England, the successor of her great-uncle, Robert Malet. It appears, however, that she was divorced without issue by Alberic, so that no portion of William Malet's blood flowed in the veins of subsequent De Veres. Appendices (1) Dug.Mon., vol iii, p 206. Thorold , Sheriff of Lincolnshire; called also Thorold of Buckenhale, the brother of the Countess Godiva.) (2) See Carmen de Hastingoe Proelio, in Michel's Chron. Anglo-Normandis, iii, p. 27, line 587 --""Quidam partim Normannus et Anglus." (3) Charter of Henry Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, dated at Devizes 1152 (A. R. Stephani, 17), granting to Ranulph Earl of Chester "totum honorem de Eia, sicut Robertus Malet avunculus matris suae melius et plenius unquam tenuit. . . . et feudam Alani de Lincolia ei dedi qui fuit avunculus matris suae." -- Orig. Chart in the Cottonian Collection. (4) I am chiefly indebted to Mr. Freeman's note PP, on p. 466, Norman Conquest, vol. iii, edition 1875, and to pp. 600-1, vol.ii, edition 1870, for the collected information which has enabled me to piece together the early notes of the family of Malet. William Malet, who fought at Hastings, and was by the Conqueror entrusted with the burial of Harold, who was also partim Normanus et Anglus, and Compater Heraldi, (a) has himself left nothing by which his lineage may be traced; but from historical sources we learn that his mother must have been an Englishwoman, that his wife's name was Hesilia, and that his children's names were Robert, Gilbert, and Beatrice (b). We also learn that his son, Robert Malet, was, in common with Alan of Lincoln, kinsman (the word is avunculus) to the mother of William Randolph Earl of Chester, the son of Randolph Earl of Chester, by his wife the Countess Lucy, (c) daughter of Ivo Taillebois, by his wife Lucy, who was the daughter of Alfgar Earl of Mercia (d). There is also recognised by Mr. Freeman "a notion of the pedigree-makers, whensoever it may have come, that Aelgifa, the wife of Alfgar, was a sister of William Malet" (e). It is also stated in the Crowland Chronicle already adverted to that the Sheriff Thorold was a brother of Godgifa, the wife of Leofric, and mother of Alfgar Earl of Mercia; and there are other evidences of connexion, (f) on which Mr. Freeman remarks, "None of these indications proves much by itself, still perhaps all of them put together may have some cumulative force. They all point to Thorold as a kind of centre. Let us suppose that he was the brother of Godgifa, that another sister, married, we must suppose, to a foreign husband, was the mother of William Malet, that Alfred of Lincoln was the son of another brother or sister. Let us suppose further that the nameless widow of William Malet [she is named Hesilia in Robert's charter, noted above], by the help of a dispensation if needed, married Alfred of Lincoln, and was the mother of Alan, and that the elder Lucy was her daughter by either of her husbands. There is no evidence for either of these suppositions, but there is nothing to contradict any of them, and they would explain all our facts. Alfred of Lincoln would be the nephew of Thorold, Alan and Robert would be, as they were, the uncles of the Countess Lucy, William Malet would be partim Normannus et Anglus, and we could see the origin of the statements, inaccurate as they are in the shape in which we have them, which connect both Lucy and William Malet with the house of Leofric." Following these remarks the pedigree would fall into the following shape:--(a chart) It will be seen that in this pedigree I have given the name Hesilia to the widow of William Malet, who by Mr. Freeman is assigned to Aluredus of Lincoln as his second wife. Robert Malet's charter to Eye (g) leaves no doubt as to his mother's name, and we know from her being entered in Domesday as Robert's mother that she survived her husband. I have also entered Lucy, the wife of Ivo Taillebois, as the daughter of "Aluredus nepos Turoldi" by a first wife, because as she was not William Malet's daughter and William Malet died in 1071, (h) and Ivo Taillebois was married to Lucy about 1073, (i) it was impossible that she could be a daughter of Hesilia by Aluredus. I have also, as suggested by Mr. Freeman in this note, entered Colswegen of Lincoln as a son of Aluredus by his first wife. I need hardly say that this pedigree is one to which Mr. Freeman is in no way committed. It is founded on what he has given merely as suppositions to account for certain acknowledged and supposed relationships, and as perhaps affording some casual hints (of which it will be seen I have made full use) to any one who might endeavour to trace out these genealogies. It seems to me that the cumulative evidence leaves no doubt as to the first line of the pedigree, and in adopting this we necessarily take Thorold's father as the source from which we derive in the generation after Thorold these three personages--Alfgar Earl of Mercia, Aluredus, or, to adopt the English name, Alfred of Lincoln, and William Malet, the three latter being all nephews of Thorold the Sheriff. Alfgar Earl of Mercia married Eadgifa.I presume she cannot be identified, for there is nothing extant to give even a colour of possibility to the notions of the pedigree-makers alluded to by Mr. Freeman that she was a sister of William Malet. Alfgar and Eadgifa had for children--Edwin, Morcar, and Ealdgyth, Harold's queen. Mr. Freeman (j) states, "Orderic Vital, 511 B, distinctly calls Ealdgyth the only daughter of Alfgar." Mr. Freeman, however, goes on to state: "His [Orderic's] account is very confused; he not only leaves out their son Burkhard, but he confounds Alfgar with his father Leofric, and makes Godgifa Alfgar's wife instead of his mother. His words are: 'Devoti Deo dignique religionis laude parentes elegantem et multa laude dignam ediderunt sobolem Edwinum Morcarem et unam filiam nomine Aldit qui primo nupsit Guitfrido regi Guallorum post cujus mortem sociata est Heraldo regi Anglorum.' But the genealogy of Leofric's family, which I have already spoken of , (k) gives Alfgar a daughter Lucy, who, though unknown to Domesday, inherited the lands of the family, (Obtinuit Lucia soror eorum terras paternas) and who was married first in the Conqueror's time to Ivo Taillebois." Mr. Freeman goes on to give her other attributed marriages, &c., which I do not quote as he rejects them as impossible, and the tradition of which is only to be accounted for by the mistake of mother for daughter, both bearing the same name Lucy. After reading Mr. Freeman's opinion of Orderic's account of the Earl of Mercia's family, I think I am justified in not attaching such importance to it as to reject other evidence, whereby we add another member to it in the person of Lucy, an additional daughter of Alfgar, and who married about 1071 or 1073 Ivo Taillebois, nephew of William the Conqueror and Count of Angers. I am not concerned to uphold the genuineness of the deeds, some said to have been forged in the name of Ingulfus, and other notices in the Peterborough Chronicles, from which I draw my conclusion that there was a Lucy, a daughter of Alfgar, who married Ivo Taillebois. All that I contend for is, that deeds, even though false as to the claim which they are forged for the purpose of establishing , may and probably do contain truth in the mention of incidental circumstances, especially when they affect personages of such exalted rank, that their history must be known at the time to all persons of intelligence more especially to those who would be judges of the claim, and any falsity concerning whom would at once discredit it. I may also state that there seems to be not only no record, but no tradition even, of any other parentage for Lucy, wife of Ivo Taillebois, wherefrom she might be supposed to have belonged to any other family than that of Alfgar; and in the absence of any other means for identification I necessarily claim to adopt those which come down from the most ancient period, even though denied to be contemporary. It is almost superfluous to observe that the wife of Ivo Taillebois must necessarily have been of noble birth and endowed with great possessions. As to any credibility to be attached to the facts mentioned by Ingulfus, the Quarterly reviewer (l) writes: "the pseudo-Ingulfus, if quoted, must be quoted only in those passages where relations not improbable in themselves are uncontradicted by surer authorities." This is precisely the course I wish to pursue. There appears to be no doubt that Lucy, who is styled the Countess, was the daughter of Ivo Taillebois and his wife Lucy. This seems to be admitted both by Mr. Freeman (m) and Mr. Nichols (n) as the only possible way of unravelling the enigma of "the long -lived and often-wedded Lucy of tradition." Mr. Freeman's supposition of the marriage of Alfred of Lincoln with the widow of William Malet is not based on any tradition, but on certain relationships which can be otherwise explained. We know from the charter of Beatrix, the daughter of William Malet, by which she granted the village of Radingfield to her brother's monastery at Eye, that she had but two brothers, Robert and Gilbert, and as she mentions only them and her parents it is evident that she had no sister. William Malet died in A.D. 1071 (o). Ivo Taillebois was married to Lucy about A.D. 1073, so that she could not have been the daughter of Alfred of Lincoln by William Malet's widow. She was not William Malet's daughter, and no legend or tradition hints at her being a daughter of Alfred of Lincoln by another wife. I see no reason to dissent from Mr. Freeman's supposition that Alan of Lincoln was a son of Alfred of Lincoln; but whether he was the son of Alfred, or of a brother or sister of his, he will hold the same relationship to the other personages with whom authentic documents show him to have been connected. In the charter to Randolph Earl of Chester, the son of the Countess Lucy, daughter of Ivo Taillebois, granted by Henry II before he was King, dated at Devizes in 1152, Robert Malet and Alan of Lincoln are each styled avunculus to Randolph's mother, Lucy the Countess (p). Now, whatever relationship avunculus may mean -- and it is probable that the term was used loosely -- it must be that each of these avunculi stood in equal relationship to the Countess Lucy; and had it been possible for the Countess's mother to have been the daughter of Alfred of Lincoln, they might possibly have been called her uncles if he had married Hesilia, whether Hesilia or a former wife had been the mother of Alfred's son Alan; but it has been shown he did not marry Hesilia, so that the connection through her did not exist. The little weight that can be attached to the assertion of Orderic Vital that Ealdgyth, Harold's queen, was the only daughter of Earl Alfgar and his wife Eadgifa, has been noticed above. And I think that the statements that Lucy was their daughter, (q) made in the Crowland Chronicle of Ingulfus and in the Peterborough Chronicle, must be considered to outweigh Orderic Vital's assertion. I do not maintain that the documents quoted are genuine, but I take the assertions therein made as the nearest that we have to the time when these personages were living. They affected great families whose history must have been known, if not to the public yet to the tribunals before which the documents containing them were to be produced; and it seems to me that we cannot escape the conclusion that Thorold the Sheriff was the brother of Godiva, the brother or brother-in-law of the father of Alfred of Lincoln and the brother-in -law of the father of William Malet, and that Lucy, the wife of Ivo Taillebois, was the daughter of Earl Alfgar, the son of Godiva. We come now to the relationship between the Countess Lucy and Robert Malet and Alan of Lincoln. Alfred of Lincoln was the nephew of Thorold, and therefore first cousin of Earl Alfgar and of William Malet. Alan of Lincoln was, it is assumed, either a son or nephew of Alfred of Lincoln. I take the nearer relationship as involving less confusion with equal relationship to the other designated parties. Lucy, wife of Ivo Taillebois, was daughter of Alfgar. Robert Malet was the son of William Malet. The Countess Lucy, daughter of Lucy, Ivo's wife, therefore stood in precisely the same relationship to Alan of Lincoln as to Robert Malet, each of whom is stated in the Devizes charter mentioned above to be avunculus to her. Now these two could not have been actually uncles by the mother's side, which is the first meaning we attach to avunculus, unless Lucy, Ivo Taillebois' wife, Alan of Lincoln, and Robert Malet had been all children of Hesilia; this, as shown by the dates of Ivo's marriage and Hesilia's widowhood, was impossible. But it is also shown that Lucy, Ivo's wife, Alan of Lincoln, and Robert Malet were all children of persons who were first cousins to each other. Whether under these circumstances either Alan or Robert could in strict right have been called avunculus to Lucy's daughter, the Countess, is, I must confess, problematical; but there seems no possibility of a nearer relationship, and I therefore must conclude that the term was laxly used. It may also be that, as Ivo Taillebois, Robert Malet, and Alan of Lincoln were near neighbours, and all personages of great consequence, their social relations might have been of that intimacy which would permit the use of terms of nearer connexion than the real degree of relationship would justify. It does, however, appear that the term avunculus was very laxly used, for Mr. Freeman (r) cites a summary of a document in the thirty-fifth report of the Deputy-Keeper of the Public Records, "showing that William de Roumare, the son of the Countess Lucy by her first husband, granted to Robert, grandson (nepos) of the Countess, land of Ivo and Colsuenus, uncles of the said Robert, held of the said William's mother (Countess Lucy), but Colswegen, being a son of Alfred, was a brother of Alan, and Alan was called Countess Lucy's uncle; so that if her grandson (we have never heard of her having a brother or sister, and if he was her grandson he must have been William de Roumare's own son) can call his grandmother's uncle his uncle we have a use of the word which shows considerable laxity in its application. The Ivo coupled with Colswegen must have been the son of Durand Malet brother of William Malet, thus being of the same kin and generation as Robert Malet, Colswegen, Alan, and Ivo Taillebois' wife Lucy; for I find (s) that Durand Malet was tenant in capite in Lincolnshire, holding several manors, among them Irby on Humber and Rothewelle, and that in 1156 Hugh, son of Ivo Malet, with the consent of his mother Margaret, and of Ralph, his son and heir, gave two oxgangs in Rothewelle to Whitby Abbey, so that there is no doubt that Ivo was the son of Durand Malet. Under these circumstances I think we are justified in constructing the pedigree which is annexed. (Chart) 3 CONT Although the evidence for these relationships is partly drawn from controverted sources, those sources are the only ones that exist. They existed in times not far removed from the lifetime of the personages concerned, and if not from more exact knowledge were probably supplied by the traditions then current. May I, without infringing the respect due to a great name, adapt to my own conclusions the words I quoted from Mr. Freeman's Norman Conquest at the commencement? There seem to me "nothing to contradict any of them, and they would explain all our facts. Alfred of Lincoln would be the nephew of Thorold; Alan and Robert would be, as they were, uncles" [I would rather translate avunculi kinsmen] "of Lucy; William Malet would be partim Normannus et Anglus; and we could see the origin of the statements, inaccurate as they are in the shape in which we have them, which connect both Lucy and William Malet with the house of Leofric." (a) Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol.ii, 2nd edition, p. 512, et seq.; Will. Poict., 138; Wid. Amb., 582; Wid. Amb., 573 and 587; Guy of Amiens, 588; Benoit, 37627 (b) Dug. Mon., vol.iii, p. 401, et seq. Carta Roberti Malet, Fundatoris Ecclesiae conventualis de Eya, and Carta Beatricis sororsis Roberti Malet being a grant of the village of Radingfield to the same convent (c) Grant of Henry II, Devizes 1152 (d) Dug. Mon, vol.iii, p.215, No. I. Annales de Peterborough in Bib. Cott., and a Crowland Chronicle (e) Norman Conquest, vol.iii, 2nd edition, p. 778 (f) Dug Mon. vol. iii, p. 216. Charter of Ivo Taillebois "pro animabus sui ipsius et conjugis suae Luciae et antecessorum Toraldi scilicet uxoris ejus." In Domesday, 351, Turoldus appears as antecessor of Ivo Taillebois, and in 346b we have Turoldus vicecomes as a benefactor of Spalding Priory (g) Dug. Mon., vol.iii, p 401 (h) Norman Conquest, vol. iv, p.471, 2nd edition (i) According to a Crowland Chronicle before 1071; Arch. Inst. Proceedings, 1848, Lincoln, vol. - p. 254 (j) Norman Conquest, vol. ii, p. 660, 2nd edition (k) Norman Conquest, vol. i, p. 717. See also Ellis, vol. i, p. 490 (l) Vol. xxxiv, p. 296. I believe the paper is by Sir F. Palgrave (m) Norman Conquest, vol. iii, p. 778, appendix PP, 2nd edition (n) Topographer and Genealogist for 1843, vol. i, pp. 10, 11 (o) Norman Conquest, vol. iv, p. 204; Appendix W. p .787, 2nd edition (p) Totum honorem de Eia, sicut Robertus Malet avunculus matris suae melius et plenius unquam tenuit, et feudam Alani de Lincolia ei dedi qui fuit avunculus matris suae. (Orig. Chart. in Cottonian Collections) (q) Dug. Mon., vol. iii, p. 215, No. 1, Annales de Peterboroguh in Bib. Cott., anno MLII. Hoc tempore Thoroldus Vicecomes et frater germanius Godivae Comitessae Leycestriae. . . prioratum de Spalding inchoavit. . . . Anno MLXXIII Edwinus et Morcarus filii Algari filii Leofrici comitis Leicestriae saepius capti, sed semper miseratione regis et gratia suae nobilitatis impune demisi, postremo non vi nec dolo hostium sed suorum perfidia trucidati regem etiam ad lachrymas coegere, quorum sororem nomine Luciam cum onmibus terris eorum Yvoni Taylboys tunc Andegevensi comiti maritavit. . . Iste Yvo maritus Lucias filiae Algari comitis Leicestriae monachis Spaldingae dederet evidenter fecit confirmari. Ibid., No. 2. Thoroldus Luciae comitessae antecessor. . . .Cumque post modum Rex Willielmus adquisivisset regnum Angliae per conquestum mortuoque dicto Thoroldo relicta sibi haerede Lucia predicta, et Yvo Taylboys eandem Luciam duxerat in uxorem. Ibid., No. 5. Donum Yvonis Taleboys de Spalding cum una carucata terrae Ecclesiae S. Nicolai Andegaviae collatis. . . necnon pro sui ipsius et conjugis suae Luciae et antecessorum Toraldi scilicet uxoris ejus requie. Topographer and Genealogist, 1843, vol. i, pp. 10,11; Nichols. "That Turold was sheriff, that he gave the manor of Bukenhale to Crowland Abbey rests on the authority of Domesday Book, and it is all we know with certainty of him. But the frequent repetition of his name in the charters of the priory of Spalding in enumeration of former lords of that place, shows that he was regarded as its Saxon lord, and the fact that Earl Algar occurs in Domesday Book in the same position may be thought some corroboration of the assertion that the Countess Godiva, Earl Algar's mother, was the sister of Turold. (Note) Hist. Ingulfi, anno 1051; also pretended charter in History of Croyland commencing 'Ego Turoldus de Bukenhale coram nobilissimo domino meo Leofrico comite Leycestriae et nobilissima comitessa sua Godiva sorore mea.' In another charter of Spalding, Hugh Earl of Chester enumerates 'antecessores mei scilt. Torald vicecomes et Lucia comitessa,'" &c. Cole's Collections, MS. additions, 5844, p. 432, X : "In Spalding habebat comes Algar ix car., p. 12." Lucy, the daughter of Earl Algar, was married to Ivo Taillebois, according to the Crowland Chronicles, before the year 1071, the only issue being a daughter nobly espoused. Hist. Ingulfi: "Huic autem Yvoni Tailbois post necem duorum fratrum et comitum Edwini et Morcarii Luciam sororem eorum cum omnibus terris ad eosdem pertinentibus inclytus Rex Willielmus dederat in uxorem." In a subsequent passage the marriage is fixed in 1072. (r) Norman Conquest, vol. iii, Appendix PP (s) Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal, 1875-6, vol. iv, p. 144; A.S. Ellis (5) Archaeological Institute Proceedings, 1848, Mr. Nichols, Lincoln, p. 255. "Alan of Lincoln, the other uncle, was doubtless a kinsman of Alured of Lincoln, who held an extensive fief in Lincolnshire at the Domesday Survey, and who probably was the same person who is designated, under the 'City of Lincoln,' in that record as Aluredus nepos Turoldi." (6) E.A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, Vol. III, note PP, p. 776, et seq. "In the thirty-fifth report of the Deputy-Keeper of the Public Records there is a summary of another document which throws yet further light on the English kindred of the Countess Lucy, and as I think on that of William Malet; . . . this is a grant by William of Roumare, the son of the Countess by her first husband, to Robert, nephew or grandson (nepoti) of the Countess, of the land of Ivo and Colsuenus, uncles of the said Robert, held of the said William's mother. There is a certain risk in making inferences from a description of this kind without seeing the document itself, but we seem to have here a most important piece of evidence, which may connect all the person of whom we have just been speaking [the houses of Leofric Earl of Mercia, and William Malet] with another famous Englishman of Lincolnshire, of whom I have something to say in my fourth volume, Colswegen and Ivo, that is doubtless Ivo Taillebois, are spoken of as uncles of a nephew [nepos may be grandson] of the Countess Lucy. If we take uncle to mean great-uncle we might suppose Colswegen to have been a son of Alfred of Lincoln. He would thus be an uncle of Lucy and great-uncle of her nephew; but if by Ivo is meant Ivo Taillebois it is not easy to see how he could be the uncle or great-uncle of his daughter's nephew." Yorkshire Archaeological And Topographical Journal, 1875-6, Vol. IV, p. 144. "Biogrpahoical Notes by Alfred E. Ellis." "Durand Malet was tenant in capite in Lincolnshire, holding several manors, among them Irby (on Humber), Rothewelle, and Willingore. His descendants continued at Irby for many generations. In 1156 Hugh, son of Ivo Malet, with the consent of his mother Margaret , and Ralph, his son and heir, gave two oxgangs in Rothewelle to Whitby Abbey ." We have here another Ivo than Ivo Taillebois, and it seems that this Ivo, the son of Durand Malet, must be the one meant in the document alluded to. This obviates the difficulty about the relationship to the Countess Lucy alluded to by Mr. Freeman, whose whole paper PP, on the English connexions of William Malet, should be read. It is too long for me to insert here. This also determines the fact of Durand being the brother of William Malet. (7) Grithfridi quoque Regis Wallorum, postquam hostilis eum gladius peremit, pulchram conjugem Aldith praeclari Comitis Algard filiam sibi [Heraldus] junxit. --Willelmi Caluculi Gemmet. Mom. Hist. Mormannorum, lib. vii. (8) See his work, The Conqueror and his Companions, vol. ii, p .95. (9) A chart. (10) Lanfranci, Opera omnia Migue Patrologie, vol. 150, p. 737. "Iste Gislebertus, qui ut diximus Crispini cognomen primus est adeptus, accepit uxorem Senioris Fulconis de Alnov germanam nomine Gonnorem, de qua tres filios genuit, Gislebertum Crispinum pro quo scribere ita suscepimus, et Robertum, duasque filias, Emmam Petri de Cundeto genetricem, atque Esiliam matrem Willielmi Malet, qui miles strenuus in senectute factus est monachus Becci, et transactis aliquot annis honorifice in caenobiali observatione bono fine quievit... Willielmus Cripinus medius frater" (t). M. Gilles Andre' de la Roque, Histoire Genealogique de la Maison de Harcourt, Tom, 1er; a Paris, 1662, p. 826. "La Chronique du Bec nous apprend que Guillaume Mallet chevalier genereux estant parvenu a une belle vieillese ce fit moine en cette Abbaye; et qu'il estoit fils de Robert Mallet premier du nom Sire de Graville et Esile de Brionne, soeur de Richard sire de Bienfaite et de Claire, enfans de Gilbert Crespin, (u) Comte de Brionne (Tuteur de Guillaume, second Duc de Normandie), et de Gonnor, soeur Germaine de Fouques d'Annou, le dit Gilbert fils de Godefroy Comte d'Eu et de Brionne fils de Richard premier duc de Normandie." The first extract is from Lanfranc's account of the family of Crispin. The second from La Roque, who states that he gathers it from the chronicles of Bec. Both state that Esilia, the daughter of Gilbert Crispin, was the mother of a William Malet, the latter stating also that she was the wife of Robert Malet, who was banished by King Henry I in 1101, her son by him being the William Malet who was banished by King Henry I in 1109. Both these statements are supposed to be in accord with one another, but they are not reliable as confirmatory because they arise from the same source, Lanfranc having been of the Abbey; but they are mutually explanatory, showing that the William Malet who died at Bec was not the William Malet who fought at Hastings, and who died in England 1071. For as Lanfranc died in 1089, the William Malet who he states died an old man at Bec could not be the William Malet who was banished by Henry I in 1109. A similar objection shows that Lanfranc could not have mistaken the name of William for that of Robert, the son of Hesilia and William Malet, and who was banished by Henry I in 1101. We are, therefore reduced to the belief that the story is apocryphal, as it cannot be true of the William Malet the companion of the Conqueror, and no other William Malet historically existed of whom it could be said that he was the son of Hesilia Crispin and died a monk in Bec before the death of Lanfranc in 1089. All accounts agree that there existed an Hesilia Crispin, sister of the Crispins who fought at Hastings; all connect her with the Malet family, and no doubt has ever been thrown on the authenticity of Robert Malet's charter to the Monastery of Eye in which he expressly states that William Malet was his father and Hesilia was his mother. It seems to me that there is no alternative but to decide that she was the Crispin alluded to by Lanfranc, who by some error, either of Lanfranc or his amanuensis, was designated the mother of William Malet. It seems to me certain that Lanfranc's paper on the Crispin family was the early document, and that the circumstances were adapted by the chronicler to persons of a time subsequent to the death of Lanfranc. In impugning the value of such authorities we must not omit to note that the sister of the Crispins who fought at Hastings would be the contemporary of their comrade, William Malet, and as such might well be his wife, but by no possibility his mother. (t) The third brother. (u) Gilbert Crespin of Bec, and Gilbert Count of Brionne were of different families, as shown in the foregoing pedigree kindly furnished to me by Mr. Buckler, Deputy Somerset Herald (11) E.A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, Vol. IV, 2nd edition, p. 204, et seq., Notices of William Malet in Domesday. "It is from the second volume of Domesday that I am able to put together the evidence which leads me to believe (see vol. iv, p. 471) that William Malet was killed in the war with Hereward. That volume contains a crowd of references to the death of William Malet; at some time before the date of the Survey (see pp. 294, 273b, 334b, 380b, 407, 440b, 441, 442b. and 444. Most of these are cases in which the land had passed away from his son Robert to various owners, among them the East Anglian Bishopric; but these passages give us no hint as to the manner of his death. In three other entries things get more distinct. In 247 we read of land being held 'die quo pater R. Malet ivit in servitium Regis.' In 322b we read of land in Suffolk 'ex hoc erat seisitus Willielmus Malet quando ivit in servitium Regis ubi mortuus est.' Lastly, in 133b we find land in Norfolk claimed by Robert Malet, who 'dicit quod pater suus eam tenuit quando ivit in maresc, et hoc testatur hundret et tamen non tenebat ea die qua mortuus fuit.' This certainly looks to me as if William Malet had been killed in the campaign in the fenland." (12) Pro animabus patris mei Willielmi Malet et matris Meas Hesilias. (13) Carmen de Hastingae proeliio in Michel's Chron. Anglo-Normandis, Vol. III, p. 27, l. 587, Guy of Amiens:-- "Ex templo quidam partim Normannus et Anglus Compater Heroldi jussu libenter agit Corpus enim Regis cito sustulit etsepelivit, Imponons lapidem scripsit et in titulo Per mandata Ducis Rex hic Heralde quiescis It custos maneas littoris et pelagi." William of Poitiers, 128:-- "Enim non decere tali commercio aurum accipi, dictum est illudendo opportere situm esse coustodem litoris et pelagi, quae cum armis ante vesanus insedit, Gulielmo agnomine Maletto concessit." Benoit de St. More writes:-- "Le Reis Heralut fut seveliz Mais a` un Guillaume Malet, Et si me retrait li escriz, Qui n'est losel pas ne valet, Que sa me`re pour lui aveir, Maiz chevaliers durs et vaillanz. Vout au Duc doner grant aveir; Icist l'en fut depreianz, Mais n'en vout unques doner prendre, Qu'il le dona a enfoir, Ne pour rien nule le cors rendre; La ou li veudreit a plaisir." Orderic Vital writes, "ad tumulandum prope litus maris, quod diu cum armis servaverat Gulielmo agnomine Malleto victoris jussu traditus est." (14) E.A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, Vol. IV, p. 202. "The submission of York was accepted, but William put little trust in the promises which were made to him, and he determined to take every means to secure the city, which was his greatest conquest since the submission of London," . . . . . "After the erection of the castle five hundred picked knights were set to guard the fortress, under the command of at least three trusty captains. One of them, Robert Fitz Richard, we know only from his fate next year; of the others one was the Flemish adventurer Gilbert of Ghent: the other man was a man whose name must always awaken a certain sympathy in English hearts, William Malet, who had borne the body of Harold to its first hasty burial on the rocks at Hastings. He received the office of Sheriff, and was at once rewarded with large gifts of land in the shire." (15) Vol. iv,p 257; 2nd Edition. (16) Norman Conquest , vol iv, p. 264. (17) Ord. Vit, 513 D. "Castellani obviam eis inconsultius exeunt, et intra urbis maenia infeliciter confligunt. Non valentes resistere multitudini omnesinterimuntur aut capiuntur. (18) Will. Malms., u. 8 Flor. Wig., 1069 (19) "In Florence and Simeon we get the names; Willelmo Malet (qui tunc vice-comitatem gerebat. Sim.) cum sua conjuge et duobus liberis et Gileberto de Gant (Sim.), aliisque perpaucis viatae reservatis." (20) Simeon's Expansion of Florence, 85. (21) Dug. Mon., Vol. VI, Part 2, 1324, Ecclesia Collegi Sti. Martini le Grand infra civitatem London, carta Regis Willelmi Conquestoris de prima fundatione ejusdem. After the signatures of the ecclesiastics and earls there follow: "Ego Ricardus, filius Gilberti Princeps; Ego Willielmus Malet, Princeps."No other names have this title attached to them. Sir H. Ellis' Introduction to Domesday Book, Vol. I. p. 252:-- "Under Hoxana" [the Hundred of Hoxana, in which Eye and Dunwich are situate] "we have a curious entry, which seems to show that the Norman tenants in capite had sometimes the power to establish a market to their own advantage: "In hoc manerio erat unum mercatum T.R.E. paulo post Willelmus Rex advenit. Sedebat in Sabbato et W'us. Malet fecit suum castellum ad Eiam. Eadem die qua erat mercatum in manerio Episcopi Willus Malet fecit alium mercatum in suo castello, et ex hoc ita pejoratum est mercatum Episcopi ut parum valeat et modo sedet die Veneris Mercatum aut de Heia sedet die Sabbati modo tenet Robertus de dono Regis.'" (22) Dug. Mon., Vol.III, p. 401, note. "Eya olim nobile castellum habebat paludibus adjacens cujus nunc tantum specula et murorum in aliquot locis runae extant hoc castellum vi Gulielmi Normanni (ut oppidani praedicunt) dirutum fuit quod ejus violentum imperium non admisivit." (23) Neustria pia, p. 864,"Abbatia de Graville fundatur ab illustri heroe Gulielmo Malet, cujus charta ibi recitatur, vocatur Dominus Gerardi Villae (i.e., Graville) in Normanina, et donat omnes suas ecclesias in Normannia et Anglia." I can find no absolute proof that Graville was the property of the family of Malet previous to the invasion of England. That there were members of a family of that name before that time seems certain, as, if there were any foundation for Lanfranc's assertion that a valiant soldier of that name became a monk and died in a good old age at Bec, it was most probably before that time, and that they possessed Graville is also probable from the saying attributed to them by Wulson de la Colombiare: "Ceux de cette maison, dit il, pretendent que Jules Cesar leur donna la qualite de Sires; d'out est venu le vaudeville conserva dans la famille: 'Il ya plutot un Sire de Gravile qu'un Roi en France.'" Now, although there may have been Sires de Graville long before the time of the Normans, for a town on a river near its mouth was important in ancient days, and its name Gerardivilla may be of great antiquity, and although there may have been Sires de Graville of other names than Malet before the times of the Normans, the family of Malet would hardly have adopted the saying if they had not believed their name to have existed in a period anterior to so comparatively modern a period as that of William, the seventh Duke of Normandy. (24) Diary of Sir Symonds d'Ewes, Harl. MSS. 646, p. 102.
  Birth	Est 1050  [2]
  Gender	Male
  Note	Aft 1066  [3, 4]
  Editor's Note: The first Malet known to hold the Honour of Curry Mallet was Robert Malet, but where does he fit in the larger Malet family known to exist in England at this time? It is important to state at the outset that we have no historical record explaining exactly who this Robert was; only theories. All of the theories however lead us to conclude that even though we don't know for certain where, when or to whom Robert was born, we have no reason to suspect that he was not in some sense a descendant of the William Malet known to have been one of the Knights who accompanied William the Conqueror in 1066. What follows is a verbatim excerpt from "Notices of an English Branch of the Malet Family", by Arthur Malet, published 1885, wherein he makes the case that this Robert Malet was the son of Gilbert Malet, who in turn was the son of William Malet who fought at the Battle of Hastings. Further research has been done by several scholars since Arthur Malet published his work, and none of them support Arthur Malet's theory. K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, writing in "Domesday Book and the Malets" suggests that this Robert may actually have been the son of Robert Malet, brother of Gilbert, and that is the theory followed here. For more information on this topic, click here: Malet of Curry Malet, Somerset c.1130 Excerpt from "Notices of an English Branch of the Malet Family", by Arthur Malet, published 1885, pp 68-72, appendix B2, FF, GG: GILBERT MALET. Gilbert Malet, the second son of William Malet, the companion of William the Conqueror, does not appear in English history among the actors of the stirring deeds of the time immediately succeeding the conquest of England. We cannot suppose but that a man the son of William Malet, and brother of Robert Malet, must have been a personage of considerable importance, but in the absence of any record of his deeds or qualities it is as the transmitter to his descendants of the blood of the founder of the family that we are chiefly interested in him. The first notice we have of him is that he, with his father, mother and sister, was among the few spared by the Danes and English from the slaughter of the garrison of the Castle of York in 1069. It is supposed that his elder brother Robert was at this time about twenty-six years of age, and if Gilbert was the youngest of the three children, he may have been at this time about twenty years old. He is named in Beatrice Malet's gift of Radingfield to the Monastery of Eye* as her brother, and in Domesday Book, which is supposed to have been completed in 1086, so that at that time he may have been of the age of about thirty-six. In that record we find him holding land under his brother Robert,** and in two instances Hubert de Malet holds land in the same village as Gilbert. But the total thus held is so small that it is evident he must have had property elsewhere. From all these small possessions lying within the same half Hundred, I think it is not im- probable that they may have been set apart for him by his father William while he was a youth, and that he continued to hold them after William's death under his brother Robert. There is no historical record of Gilbert's marriage, but as we have no reason to think that any other Malets than William and Durand and their families came to England at that period, and as Durand and his descendants remained in the eastern counties, we must look to William's descendants for those of that name that we find in the West of England. Roger de Corcelle is entered in the Domesday Book as holding in the County of Somerset more than one hundred properties. The Rev. R.W. Eyton in his Domesday Studies writes in p. 59 "Counting all additamenta of manors and all duplicate manors, this feudalist held in capite (A.D. 1086) no less than one-hundred and eight Somerset estates. Most of them were small; some were only recently acquired; waste was a characteristic of a few, value of none; only three of the number gelded for more than 3 1/2 hides; these were Shepton (4 hides), Limington (7 hides), and Curi, now Curry Malet (7 hides). Besides these tenures in capite Roger de Corcelle held many manors under Glastonbury Abbey, a position in which we learn from Domesday he had been preceded by his father. Undoubtedly that father was Wilhelm de Curcelle, whom we find in the summer of 1068 attesting the Conqueror's restoration of Banwell to Giso, Bishop of Wells." This Roger de Corcelle after Domesday disappears, and the next owner of a portion of his Somerset estates, notably of Shepton and Curi, the former under the Abbot of Glastonbury, the latter in capite, is Robert Malet. Of the time when, or of the means by which he became possessed of them I can find no trace. I have from Canon Jackson's historical associations of Farleigh Castle,*** p.1, "At the death of this Roger de Corcelle the manor of Farlegh reverted to the Crown, and William Rufus granted it with other estates to Hugh de Monfort." And by the kindness of Mr. Wm. Daubeny in showing me the pedigree of the family of Albini, I learn that " William Albani married Cecilia Bigod, who held Roger de Corcelle's manor of South Petherton of the gift of Henry I. "Thus for the lapse and transfer of these two comparatively small portions of the estate a record exists so far important that it fixes the death of Roger de Corcelle not later than some time in the reign of William Rufus. But we learn from the return made by the Abbot of Glastonbury in the 12th year of Henry II, A.D. 1166+ that Robert Malet had possessed in the time of Henry I property which had been held by Roger de Corcelle, and which at the date of this return was accounted for by William Malet. Now we know that all the English possessions of Robert Malet the son of the first William Malet were confiscated by Henry I in the year 1101, and were afterwards bestowed by him on Stephen Count de Blois, afterwards King of England. These estates in Somersetshire, however, were never confiscated; there is no trace of confiscation or re-grant; they fell into the possession of Robert Malet noiselessly and peaceably . The only inference to be drawn is, that Gilbert Malet the son of the first William Malet must have married either a sister or a daughter of Roger de Corcelle, and his son Robert inherited the property of his mother. Had the property been obtained in any other way, some transaction would have remained either in the Crown records for the property held in capite, or in the Glaston records for that held of the Abbey. Or in failure of records, some tradition would have remained. As in collecting circumstantial evidence the minutest circumstances must not be neglected, I would draw attention to the Christian names. The first Gilbert names his son Robert, after his great brother; that son names his son William, after his grandfather; the founder of the family; and this William gives to his son the name of Gilbert, his grandfather, who again names his son William. The significance of the arms also requires notice. The earliest arms borne by the Malets were the three fermalets or buckles; these were used by the descendants of Durand Malet and by the descendants of the first Robert through his son William, who was the ancestor of so many distinguished families in France, all of which retained this cognisance. But the descendants of Gilbert Malet in Somerset took for their arms++ a shield bearing Paly of six ermine and gules a lion passant regardant or, over all. Had they obtained their property by any mode excepting that of marriage, it is most improbable that they would have taken other arms than those borne by the senior branch of the family, while, as we may infer from the change of arms by the Enmore Malets a few generations on, it was not an unusual measure on a marriage with an heiress; for Baldwin Malet took the arms of Deandon on his marriage with Matilda, a daughter and coheiress of Hamelyn de Deandon (circa 1272). I may perhaps have dwelt too long on a subject which may be deemed not open to question, but it seemed to me better to work it out independently of any prepossessions than to slur it over on the strength of a supposed general acknowledgement of the fact. 3 CONT Gilbert Malet was succeeded by his son Robert Malet. * CHARTER OF THE MONASTERY OF EYE. Carta Roberti Malet, fundatoris Ecclesiae Conventualis de Eya. [Ex registro de Eya penes Thomam Deye generosum. An. 1630. Fol. 58.] 3 CONT Cum pro animarum suarum salute multa bona opera fideles vivi ac Deo devoti operentur; hoc praecipium estimatur quod in constructione et edificatione sanctae matris ecclesiae impenditur. Nam in sancta ecclesia virorum religiosorum precibus illorum peccata qui eam edificant, Dei misericordia dilicuntur, pauperes elemosinis sive aliis beneficiis sustentantur, ceteraque caritatis officia cum tempus exigit humilitate ministrantur: et quia Dei misericordiam per opus simile spero ego Robertus Malet assensu domini mei Willelmi regis Angliae pro anima ipsius et uxoris ejus Matildi reginae pro memet ipso et pro animabus patris mei Willelmi Malet et matris meae Hesiliae,+++ et pro animabus omnium antecessorum et parentum meorum ad usus Monachorum apud Eyam, monasterium construo et monachorumm conventum in eo pono. Et ut ipsi Deo libere et quiete servire possint, eidem monasterio de meis propriis ecclesiis et decimis ad eorum sustentamentum confero, praesentis scripti attestione confirmo. Imprimis ecclesiam Eye quae in honore sancti Petri fundata est concedo cum omnibus terris et decimis eidem pertinentibus. Do eis etiam partem de burgagio meo in Eya cum vivario uno. Do etiam eis decimam fori Eye, et omnes ecclesias de Dunwico quae factae sunt aut faciendae; necnon et decimam totius villae, tam in denariis quam in allecibus, et unam feriam ad festum sancti Leonardi per tres dies, scolas etiam ejusdem villae. Do eis insuper ecclesiam de Laxfeud cum omnibus terris et decimis eidem ecclesiae pertinentibus; et ecclesiasm de Badinham cum terris et decimis et pertinentiis, et in eadem villa do eis unam carucatam terrae; preterea ecclesiam de Benseya do eis eum omnibus terris et decimis sive aliis possessionibus eidem pertinentibus; ecclesiam de Benehale cum terris et decimis et pertinentiis; ecclesiam de Bergebi cum capellis et terris et decimis ad eam pertinentibus sive aliis possessionibus; ecclesiam de Sekebroc cum capellis et decimis et pertinentiis; ecclesiam de Welleburne cum capellis et decimis et pertinentiis; et de terris meis do eis villam, quae dicitur Stoke, cum omni integritate sua, scilicet ecclesiam cum terris et decimis sive aliis possessionibus cum omni tenemento quod Benedictus capellanus meus de meo tenuit. Et petitione Osberti de Cuncteville do eis totam terram quam habebat in Accolte. Do eis etiam ecclesiam de Thorendona cum omnibus terris decimis et pertinentiis. Et assenu Walteri filii Grip do eis totam terram quam habuit in Frasingefeld cum molendino; et decimam de Playforde, et ecclesiam ejusdem villae cum terris decimis et pertinentiis; et Alfricum de Fen cum tota terra sua; et decimam Oyn Campayn de Ilstede. Confirmo eis donum Walteri Arbalesterii qui dedit eis duas partes decimae suae de Halegestowe et de Gosewelde et ecclesiam Sanctae Margaretae cum terra quae ei pertinet. Do eis ecclesiam de Helegleya cum terris et decimis sive aliis possessionibus eis pertinentibus; et ecclesiam de Denetune cum terris et decimis et omnibus pertinentiis Ecclesiam de Burendyo; et ecclesiam de Thatingetune cum terris et decimis et possessionibus, ecclesiam de Suttune cum pertinentiis; ecclesiam de Stradbroc, et ecclesiam de Wyngefeild cum terris et decimis et pertinentiis. Do etiam eis piscarias omnes de Welles et in Elyn; et totam decimam 107. de omnibus silvis meis, de pasnagio tam in denariis quam in porcis, tam in garbis, quam in agris vel vitulis, sive in omnium forestarum decimis et de omnibus essartis in caseis, in velleribus, et in omnibus aliis decimis, et de dominio meo horum maneriorum meorum do eis decimis; totam decimam de dominio Eye et de Stradebur, et de Redelingfeud, et de Dinnenetune, et de Thahtingetune, de Badingham, de Keletune, de Helesteya, de Leestune, de Laxfeud, de Bergebi, de Seckebroc, de Weleburne, de Orburne, de Cava. Quare volo concedo et firmiter praecipio ut teneant libere et quiete omnia sua ab omni exactione; habeantque socam et sacham, et toll et theam, et infangenetheof in Eya, in Donewyco, sive in aliis locis ubicunque terras habuerunt. Habeant que omnes alias libertates quas Dominus meus Willielmus rex Angliae mihi concessit quando Honorem mihi dedit. Do eis etiam ecclesiam de Pelecoth cum terris et pertinentiis suis, Ecclesiam de Thornham et ecclesiam de Melles cum terris et decimis et omnibus pertinentiis suis. Praeteria donationes quas Barones et milites mei, me annuente, eis fecerunt praefato Monasterio concedo et confimo. Quorum nomina haec sunt. Rog. de Huntingfeud dedit eis ij partes decimae suae de dominio de Huntingfeud et de Linestede et de Benges. Ric. Honel dedit eis duas partes decimae suae in Winerdestune. Willielmus Gulafre dedit duas partes decimae suae in Hukenholle. Ogerus dedit duas partes decimae suae de Bedingfeud et de terra sua quae habuit in Framlingham. Ernaldus filius Rogeri dedit duas partes decimae suae de Wytingeham et de Wasketona. Radulphus Grossus dedit eis duas partes decimae suae de Cratinges et ecclesiam sancti Botulphi de Yea cum appendiciis, quam Willielmus de Roville dedit, et duas partes decimae suae de Clakestorpe et de Glemham, et sokemannum quendam in Petlegh. Hugo de Avilers dedit duas partes decimae suae de Brom, et Selfhangre, et hoc quod Alwinus presbyter tenuit de eodem Hugone in Beria et ecclesiam ejusdem villae cum terris et decimis sive allis possessionibus et decimam de triginta acris terrae de feodo Comitis Britaniae. Odo de Charune dedit eis duas partes decimae suae de Giselingham et Reydona. Godardus de Giselingham et uxor ejus dederunt Deo et sancto Petro dimidiam ecclesiam de Giselingham et terram et omnia quae 108. ad eandem pertinent mediatatem. Hubertus de Rikinghale dedit duas partes deimae suae de Rikinghale. Hubertus de Montecaniso dedit Deo et sancto Petro suam terram apud Jakesleiam scilicet hospitium suum cum tenura ejus. Ranulphus de Glanvillis optulit super altare Sancti Petri hospitium quod habuit in Jakesleia. Robertus Malus nepos dedit Deo et sancto Petro decimam suam de Huntingfeud. Joselinus de Heleseia dedit decimam c. acrarum in Huntingfeud ecclesiase sancti Petri. Galfridus de Briseworda dedit Deo et sancto Petro ecclesiam de Briseworda cum libera terra ejus et cum propria decima domus suae. Fulcredus de Pesenhale dedit duas partes decimae suae in eadem villa et decimam Unfridi filii Unney. Do monachis de Eya ecclesiam de Jakesleia cum omnibus pertinentiis suis. Jurdanus dedit eis decimae suae duas partes in Wikebegge, et ecclesiam ejusdem villae cum terris et decimis eidem ecclesiae pertinentibus. Do eis omnes ecclesias et omnes decimas pro- priorum maneriorum castello Eye pertinentium, et aliis viris militibus sokemannis meae jurisdictionis concedo et praecipio ut monasterios meo et conventua de Eya de beneficiis benefaciant pro facultatibus suis. Volo etiam et firmiter praecipio ut quaedam feria quam monachis meis dedi quatuor diebus teneatur Ka: Augusti et ut venientes et redientes in his quatuor diebus pacem meam et protectionem domini mei Regis Willielmi habeant; ne aliquis eos disturbet nec eis injuriam vel malum faciat super forisfacturum decem librarum. Hujus donationis et confirmationis meae testes sunt Hubertus de Montekenesi, Rogerus filius Walteri de Huntingfeud, Willielmus de Rovillis, Willielmus Gulafre, Robertus filius Walteri, Robertus filius Erfredi, Odo de Charimer, Herveus de Glanville, Osbertus de Cunteville, Benedictus Capellanus, Galfridus filius Urselli, Arnulphus de Wydeville, Walterus de Cornoville, Egger praepositus, Fulcredus de Pesen' hale, Hubertus Malus nepos, Robertus Roiator, Godebertus de Witsand, Walterus Arbalesterius. Haec omnia illis concedentibus testimonio Dei et sancti Petri super altare Sancti Petri Eye ego Robertus Malet optuli ecclesiase monachorum meorum; et haec carta mea in perpetuum confirmavi. Carta Beatricis sororis Roberti Malet. [Ex registro de Eya penes Thoma Deye generosum. An. 1630. Fol. 59.] Ego Beatrix soror Roberti Malet concedo Deo et sancto Petro Apostolo de Eya et monachis ejusdem loci villulam quandam Radingefeldiam nominatam quietam et liberam ab omnibus querelis et calumpniis contra omnes homines sicut meum dominium scilicet pro redemptione amimae meae et patris et matris mei, necon et fratrum meorum Roberti Maleth et Gilberti Malet, aliorumque amicorum vivorum et defunctorum. Testibus Francisgenis et Anglis, Roberto Presbitero, Rogero Diacono, Radulpho de Bellicia, Alfredo de Combia, Mayno de Sandeclaro, Edrico, Alfrico coc, Ansgodo de Cantuar, et Gaufrido coco. ** Extract from the Suffolk Domesday Book. Perreham dim H. Blachesala, Wantesdana, in Blachesala x ac~: vat ii sol Gislebert de Malet hab't xii ac sep: dim: car; vat iii sol id'm Gislebert. viii ac et dim: Abbi vat xvi d. id'n Gislebert in Preham xii ac:valIi sol. id'm Gislebert iiii ac val: viii d. Gislebert. in Blachesala tenet Gislebert de R. Malet iii lib'os ho's xxx Gislebert tent in Blachesala xvi ac: de dom'io de Cheletuna vat xxv d. Soca Abbis Cheltuna, Rimdham, Cranefort, Gliemham, Benehala, Straffort Faraha~. in Craneford val ii sol Gislebert tenet. val v. sol Hubert de Malet. ac xxx val ii sol: Gislebert tenet. in Benehala ac xxx val v sol Hubert de Malet. *** Collinson, vol. iii, p. 51 + Sir A.M.'s MSS., Vol. II, pp. 1 and 2. Return made by Abbot of Glastonbury, 12th Henry II, A.D. 1166. Milites qui tenuerunt tempote Regis Henrici (primi) et modo tenet de Abbatia de Glaston. Robertus Malet tenuit feod: x milit: et Hubertus de Sancta Susanna tenuit de eodem ii milit: et modo Will'us Malet tenet totum tenementum pro xii militibus. ++ Sir A. M.'s MSS., vol. i, pp. 2 and 3. +++ The italics are mine.--A.M.
  SW Group	A
  UKC 1881	N
  Person ID	I6939	Southwest
  Last Modified	7 Jan 2026

  
  

  Father	William MALET,   b. Est 1020   d. Abt 1071, Norfolk, England (Age ~ 51 years)
  Mother	Heselia CRISPIN,   b. Est 1020, Normandy, France
  Marriage	Est 1044  [5]
  Family ID	F2191	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Sources

  [S1780] Arthur Malet, Notices of an English Branch of the Malet Family (St. Martin's Lane, London, England: Harrison & Sons, MDCCCLXXXV (1885).), pp 1-17, appendix A1-A10, M8W994S136. [S1780] Arthur Malet, Notices of an English Branch of the Malet Family (St. Martin's Lane, London, England: Harrison & Sons, MDCCCLXXXV (1885).), p 68, M8W994S136. [S1780] Arthur Malet, Notices of an English Branch of the Malet Family (St. Martin's Lane, London, England: Harrison & Sons, MDCCCLXXXV (1885).), pp 68-72, M8W994S136. [S3809] K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, "Domesday Book and the Malets: Patrimony and the Private Histories of Public Lives", Nottingham Medieval Studies Volume 41 (1997), Page(s) 13-56., M05S3809. [S1780] Arthur Malet, Notices of an English Branch of the Malet Family (St. Martin's Lane, London, England: Harrison & Sons, MDCCCLXXXV (1885).), p 7, M8W994S136.