Person

Book/Story

Nicknames

Family

Description

AGLESINE ?

(probably fictional, but possibly historical)

For the similar story told of Archbishop Stigand, see Peerage and Pedigree, (J.H. Round), vol I, pp 304-5

THE CONQUEROR

An abbot who led the men of Kent in a delegation to demand the preservation of the region’s liberties from Duke (soon to be King) William, after the Battle of Hastings.

(Historical note: there may have been an abbot named Aglesine in England at this time, but your editors can confirm neither his existence nor the truth of the story Heyer tells of him. Some suspicion arises, however, because the story of a cleric who demanded that the Conqueror preserve the liberties of Kent also was told of Stigand, the Archbishop of Canterbury--but in that instance the story is false. While it may be true of Aglesine, it has more the air of a tale one wishes were true, than of one likely to be true. Consider the plausibility of an abbot’s being able to make, not requests, but demands of William after the battle of Hastings. What did the abbot mean to do if William chose not to give way? The story seems apocryphal, however appealing,)

ALDGYTHA*

Sources:

1066: the Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp. 58-9

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 189

Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), pp. 47, 49, and 30 [sic]

THE CONQUEROR

Daughter to Earl Alfgar and widow of Griffyd of Wales. Aldgytha was taken to wife by King Harold after his coronation.

(Historical notes:

Also known as Eldgyth or Edith of Mercia. Daughter of Earl Aelfgar, and sister to two Earls (Edwine and Morkere or Morcar). Hers is one of the saddest stories of the period. At fifteen, she was married to Griffyd (or Gruffudd, or Gruffydd) ap Llewelyn, who from 1055 was king of Gwynedd and Powys and Deheubarth, in Wales. After Harold Godwinesson defeated the Welsh in 1062 or 1063, he demanded that the Welsh abandon Griffyd. As a result, Griffyd was murdered by Cynan ap Iago (1063), and his head sent to Harold. At some point, possibly as early as about 1064, but more likely in 1066, after his coronation, King Harold Godwinesson married Aldgytha.

She had three children by her first husband, but two died in 1070; her only surviving child, a daughter named Nest, married Osbern fitz Richard and is claimed--reliably or not--as ancestress of many of the Marcher lords on the Welsh border.

As Queen Edith she had one child, a son Harold – who did not, needless to say, become king, since his father King Harold was killed in battle in October 1066 by William the Conqueror.)

ALFRED*

Sources:

1066: the Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) p 33 (where Alfred is called younger brother of the man who later would become King Edward the Confessor)

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 141-2

Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), p. 29

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) p. 84 (where Edward is called younger brother of Alfred)

Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage (1956 ed.) p lx

THE CONQUEROR

Brother to Edward the Confessor, and son of King Ethelred Unraed by his second wife Emma of Normandy. Alfred died in 1035 or 1036 attempting to depose King Cnut. It was believed he was betrayed by Earl Godwine of Wessex.

(Historical notes:

Alfred was sometimes described as Edward the Confessor’s twin, but probably was the younger [or possibly the elder] brother of Edward by at least ten months, rather than ten minutes.

If the detail that Alfred attempted to “depose Cnut” is something from a chronicle of the period, rather than being an invention of Heyer’s, your editors have not tracked down its source. Howarth says that Cnut was dead already before Alfred arrived in England, and that Alfred, after being welcomed by Earl Godwine, was turned over to King Harald Harefoot (son of Cnut), who had Alfred blinded. Howarth adds that Godwine later was tried but acquitted of complicity in Alfred’s death.

The chronology in the Handbook of British Chronology, is consistent with Howarth’s account, saying that King Cnut died in Nov 1035 and that Alfred wasn’t murdered till 1036. The same year for Alfred’s death is given in Linklater, who, however, says there is little doubt that Godwine was culpable, and that he won his acquittal by what amounted to a bribe, plus the claim that he had acted under orders from Harald Harefoot, who then was acting as Regent. On the other hand, Burke’s Peerage says that Alfred died about 1035. So, as we may conclude, there is some obscurity about the facts of the matter.)

ALFWIG ?

(possibly historical)

THE CONQUEROR

King Harold Godwinesson’s uncle who fought at the Battle of Hastings.

(Historical note: The claim that Harold had an uncle Alfwig, the Abbot of Winchester, who was present at the battle of Hastings, may be true, although your editors have not found confirmation from sources in which they place full faith. An “Abbot Alfwig” appears in Tennyson’s “Harold: A Drama,” for what that’s worth—which may be little enough.)

ALRIC the Schoolmaster

THE CONQUEROR

A Saxon monk who accompanied Edith Swan-neck when she came to retrieve King Harold’s body.

ALS BARBE*, Geoffrey

THE CONQUEROR

One of the sons of Geoffrey Martel of Anjou. He and his brothers fought over the county after their father’s death, thus eliminating a threat to Duke William of Normandy.

(Historical note: He succeeded his father as Count of Anjou but was deposed and imprisoned in 1067. He died in 1098. The “als Barbe” portion of his name means simply “with the beard,” or “the Bearded”.)

ANGOULEME*, Fulk, Count of

(apparently historical)

THE CONQUEROR

Fulk of Angouleme was one of King Henry of France’s allies in the invasion of 1054, and was present when King Henry received news of the defeat at Mortemer.

(Historical note: there does seem to have been a Fulk Taillefer, Count of Angouleme, who was born in 1015 (or perhaps 1030) and died either in 1087 or 1089).

ANSELM

THE CONQUEROR

A Churchman who is known for wisdom but is too holy to give Duke William the subtle counsel Lanfranc devises.

AQUITAINE*, Peter, Duke of

(apparently historical)

THE CONQUEROR

The “young Duke” joined Henry of France in his 1054 invasion of Normandy. Shortly after, he joined his stepfather, Geoffrey Martel of Anjou in another invasion of Normandy, but was the first to retreat ignominiously.

(Historical note: This apparently would have been William VII Pierre, born about 1023, who succeeded to the duchy in 1039 and died in 1058.)

ARQUES*, William, Count of

Sources:

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp 177, 180-1

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter I

THE CONQUEROR

Half-brother to Robert, Count of Hiesmes (later 6^th Duke of Normandy), and so uncle to William the Conqueror. Swore allegiance to William in his cradle. He fought along with his nephew, Duke William, against the rebels at Val-ès-dunes (1047), but later turned against him. He was penned up in his castle at Arques for several years, fomenting rebellion, including alliances with King Henry of France. He was finally defeated by Duke William, who exiled him from Normandy in 1054.

(Historical notes:

William of Arques, Count of Talou, was a natural son of Duke Richard II of Normandy by a woman named Papia. William’s full brother, Mauger, became archbishop of Rouen, and their (legitimate) half-brother Robert became Duke of Normandy. William of Arques thus was an uncle of Duke William – and if his claim to the duchy had no better legal basis than did Duke William’s, neither had it any less.

According to Planché, Count William rebelled in 1053, which would cast doubt on the claim that he was penned up in his castle “for several years” before being defeated and banished in 1054.

As an exile he first took refuge with his brother-in-law, Guy of Ponthieu, then with Count Eustace of Boulogne.)

ASNIÈRES ?, Lord of

(possibly historical)

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 2 chapter XI

(also see mention of a “Raoul d’Asnières” in a charter of 1032: vol 2 chapter X, under “de Columbières”)

THE CONQUEROR

The lord of Asnieres did not join Duke William at Val-ès-dunes, but it is not apparent if he joined the rebels against young Duke William.

(Historical notes:

Asnières is a commune in the arrondissement of Bayeux.

Wace, writing about a century after the battle of Hastings, includes “Gilbert le Viel d' Asnières” among the Norman forces. Planché found a record that in the year 1082 one Raoul Asnières had witnessed a charter to the Abbey-aux-Dames at Caen. While this Raoul might have been a son or nephew of Gilbert, Planché was unable to trace a Gilbert d’Asnières either in Norman records or in those of Norman England. Nor could he locate such a person in the Domesday book as having held land in England in 1086, though it may be true that Gilbert, if he existed and if he was granted land after the conquest, had died by the time the survey was made.)

ATHELING*, Edgar

Sources:

Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), pp 29, 30

Kings and Queens of Scotland (C. Bingham) pp 15-17

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp 29, 42, 45, 190

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 221, 223, 228

THE CONQUEROR

The young son of Edward the Atheling, considered by some to have the true claim to the throne of England and by others considered practically a foreigner.

(Historical notes:

“Atheling” was the Anglo-Saxon term for the heir to the English throne. At the beginning of 1066 Edgar was the surviving male of the old English royal house, but had not been raised in England and was not yet of age. He was the son of Edward Atheling (who died in 1057, son of King Edmund Ironside) by Agatha “of Kiev” (she was a “kinswoman” of Emperor Henry II, and possibly the daughter of St. Stephen, King of Hungary: she was raised at the Hungarian court).

Edgar was aged about thirteen in 1066. Though still a boy, he was elected King of England in London after Harold fell, but was never crowned, and in the end submitted to Duke William. He was briefly held by William, and taken to Normandy in 1067. He joined the Earls Edwine and Morkere in their rebellion in 1068 and fled to Scotland under King Malcolm III’s protection. King Malcolm married Edgar’s sister Margaret in 1069 (she was Malcolm’s second wife, and bore him six sons, four of whom would reign as kings of Scotland. Regarded as saintly even during her lifetime, she later was canonized (1251) as St. Margaret).

Edgar remained the focus of several rebellions, including one failed attempt by Phillip of France, who was the son of Henry and Anne of Kiev, and thus Edgar’s first cousin. Edgar finally made his peace with William in 1074, but periodically engaged in the various conflicts between William’s sons. He was known to have been alive in 1125, but probably died soon after.)

ATHELING*, Edward

Sources:

Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage (1953 ed)_p. lx

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp 42-3

THE CONQUEROR

Father of the Edgar Atheling who was elected King of England in London soon after the battle of Hastings – but who, of course, was not fated to enjoy the fruits of his election.

Edward was the (younger) son of King Edmund Ironside by his wife Ealdgyth. Edmund Ironside had been chosen King in April 1016 but later that year he made an agreement with Cnut (son of Swegn Forkbeard) by which Cnut got part of England and Edmund secured the other part – Wessex. Edmund then died, in Nov 1016. Later his son Edward was summoned to England by Edward the Confessor, possibly with the intent of making him his heir, but he died in 1057, soon after his arrival in England.

(Historical note: Also sometimes called “The Exile,“ this Edward was born in 1016 and at his death he left a son (Edgar) and 2 daughters. The circumstances of his death were mysterious, and it sometimes is urged that Harold Godwinesson was involved in more than merely the sense of being a concerned observer.)

AUVERGNE*?, William of

(apparently historical)

THE CONQUEROR

One of the allies of King Henry of France in his invasion of Normandy, in 1054.

(Tentative historical notes:

There was a Comté of Auvergne, and its Count in 1054 appears to have been named William, fifth of the line to bear that name.

This William either was the second son of William IV, Count of Auvergne (who died in or about 1016, being succeeded by an eldest son Robert, who then died in 1032 or 1035, leaving no son); or possibly Count Robert did leave a son and heir named William, who thus would have been William IV’s grandson. In either event, William V died early in 1060.)

AVRANCHIN*, Viscount of

THE CONQUEROR

See: d’AVRANCHES, Richard, Viscount

BASTARD*, William the

THE CONQUEROR

See: Normandy, William, Duke of

BAYEUX*, Bishop of

Source:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché)

Ch. III

THE CONQUEROR

By implication, was involved in the attempt of Guy of Burgundy to overthrow Duke William of Normandy, as Guy was proclaimed true ruler of Normandy in Bayeux. Also, this bishop appeared close in the councils of Ranulf de Bricassart, viscount of Bessin, who stood against Duke William.

(Historical note: This probably was Hugh, Bishop of Bayeux, who died at the Council of Rheims (Oct 1049) more than a year after the battle of Val-ès-dunes. He was succeeded by William’s half-brother, Odo (q.v.), who was aged probably 19 or 20 on receiving the episcopate.)

BAYEUX, Godfrey of (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

A man of Bayeux who plays chess with Grimbauld du Plessis at Valognes. Probably an adherent of Guy of Burgundy, as he is not one of the men drugged that night.

BAYEUX, Hardrez of

THE CONQUEROR

Favourite of Ranulf de Bricassart, Viscount of Bessin. Killed in battle at Val-ès-dunes by Duke William.

BAYEUX*, Odo, Bishop of

Sources:

The Complete Peerage, (revised edition) vol VII, pp 124-9; also vol XII/1, Appendix K, p. 31, and Appendix L, p 48

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter III

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp. 143, 174, 201

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 175

THE CONQUEROR

Half-brother of William the Conqueror

Half-brother of William the Conqueror, described as the younger son of Herleva and Herluin of Conteville. Odo’s ferociousness belies his religious calling. He personally directed the defence of Bayeux from attack by King Henry of France, and fought at the battle of Hastings. He presided over the marriage of William and Mathilda of Flanders, and over the oath given to Duke William by Harold Godwinesson at Bayeux. He was present also at the Council of Lillebonne, where he chafed visibly over the initial reluctance of the Norman barons to support Duke William’s bid for England’s throne.

(Historical notes:

Odo’s name also is given in the form “Eudes.” He was born about 1030, and probably, though not certainly, was the elder, not the younger, of the two sons of Herluin of Conteville by Herlève, mother of the Conqueror. Odo became Bishop of Bayeux in 1049 or 1050, apparently before he came of age.

While not named by William of Poitiers as present at the battle of Hastings, Odo is depicted among the Norman forces on the Bayeux Tapestry, and it is difficult to believe that he would not have attended his half-brother at the battle. He was granted more than 500 manors in England after the Conquest, and received the earldom of Kent from William in 1067. Power may have gone to his head: by the early 1080s he had formed an ambition to become Pope. This got Odo in serious trouble with William, who had him imprisoned in Normandy, though he was pardoned by the Conqueror on his death bed, and King William Rufus restored him as earl of Kent.

Not content with this good fortune, Odo conspired to replace William Rufus as King of England with Robert, Duke of Normandy. As the conspiracy failed, Odo lost his English honours and possessions when he was banished from England in 1088. He became chief minister of Duke Robert in Normandy, accompanied him on Crusade in September 1096, and died at Palermo in 1097.)

BEC*, Lanfranc, Prior of

Sources:

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp. 99, 101

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) pp. 138-9

Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), p. 210

THE CONQUEROR

Lanfranc initially ran afoul of Duke William when he opposed his marriage to Mathilda on the grounds of consanguinity. However, he convinced William to send him to Rome to negotiate a dispensation for the marriage, and became one of his closest advisors, particularly on the matter of England.

(Historical notes:

Lanfranc was a respected scholar of logic and theology. Though an Italian (from Pavia) by birth, he had long lived in Normandy, and at the beginning of 1066 was Prior of the monastic college of Bec. The man who was Pope in 1066 (Alexander II) had been a student of Lanfranc’s there. This may have had much to do with Lanfranc’s success in obtaining papal blessing for Duke William’s proposed invasion of England in that year.

Lanfranc later was made Archbishop of Canterbury in August of 1070, following the Conquest. He died in 1089.)

BELESME* ?, Robert of

(apparently historical, but possibly fictional)

Source:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter I, and chapter III

THE CONQUEROR

Called “Robert the Devil.” Raoul de Harcourt feels that England should not be left to the mercies of men of this Norman baron’s stripe.

(Historical note:. Planché says that a William, Seigneur of Belesme, is mentioned by Wace as a man a generation older than William the Conqueror, and this man, if he really existed, may have had a son or grandson named Robert. Planché elsewhere mentions a Robert of Belesme, but calls him the son of Roger de Montgomeri, which further confuses the matter.)

BERENGIER

THE CONQUEROR

A heretical cleric who debated against the doctrine of Transubstantiation, and who was finally refuted at the Council of Tours. It was ostensibly to debate Berengier that Lanfranc went to Rome, though in reality, he was there to obtain a dispensation for William’s marriage to Mathilda.

BERTOLON (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

Destrier (war horse) ridden by Raoul de Harcourt at Hastings.

BESSIN*, Ranulf of

THE CONQUEROR

See: de Bricassart, Ranulf, Viscount of Bessin

BIOTA

THE CONQUEROR

The aunt of Count Heribert of Maine and wife of Walter of Mantes. Biota and her husband usurped the comté of Maine after Heribert’s death.

BLANCHFLOWER (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

A gray destrier (war horse) of Raoul de Harcourt, owned at about the time of the invasion of King Henry of France.

BONDEVILLE ?, Herluin of

(unknown whether the name is fictional or historical)

Sources (that do not, however, identify this figure by name):

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter I

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 180-1

THE CONQUEROR

Described as “honest,” Herluin is the leader of a small force of three hundred that had set out against William of Arques during his rebellion, in order to protect the duke’s interests. William, by a lightning ride, comes up with him well before he is expected, and drives Arques’ forces into the Castle.

(Historical note: the general story (of a force of 300 knights coming from Rouen at the news of the rebellion of William of Arques, and meeting with Duke William) apparently is true, but the name of the leader of these 300 knights may have been invented by Heyer.)

BOULOGNE*, Eustace, Count of

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed.), vol XII/1, Appendix L, p. 48

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) p.174

They Came With the Conqueror (L. G. Pine) p 96

Studies in Peerage and Family History (J. Horace Round) pp 147-50

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter V

For a description of the incident at Dover in 1051, see The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 162-3. In 1067 Eustace tried to capture Dover Castle, but was repulsed: see p 229

THE CONQUEROR

During the reign of Edward the Confessor, Eustace fell afoul of the people of Dover. Edward angered his subjects by taking Eustace’s part. Eustace commanded the first division of William’s army at Hastings, which was composed mostly of non-Normans, including the men of Boulogne.

(Historical notes:

This Eustace, often called Eustace II, is also encountered as Eustace “aux Grenons,” which is a form of “als Gernons,” meaning “Eustace with the whiskers.” He succeeded his father, Eustace I, as Count of Boulogne about 1047

The incident at Dover, in 1051, led briefly to the exile of Earl Godwine and his sons, after Godwine refused the King’s order to harry the town of Dover (which lay within his earldom) to punish the people.

Eustace is one of the dozen Norman noblemen specifically mentioned by William of Poitiers as having been present at the battle of Hastings, and one historian says Eustace was severely wounded in the fighting. The Bayeux tapestry, depicting the events of Hastings, has a picture that apparently is meant to be him: the label “Eustatius” is faintly visible, and the tapestry makers confined themselves to naming only certain of the senior figures present at the battle. Afterward he obtained sizable land-grants in England, the bulk being in Essex, but he had scattered holdings in at least 9 other counties. Nonetheless he returned home after Hastings, perhaps because of a quarrel with Duke William.

He married twice, first as the second husband of Goda, the widow of Drogo (or Drew, or Gauthier), Count of Mantes (in the French Vexin), who had died in 1035. Goda, however, was more than just a French widow, more even than a noble widow: she was a daughter of King Ethelred Unraed of England, and sister of Edward the Confessor. She died about 1056, having borne no children by Eustace. His second marriage came in December 1057 to Ida de Bouillon (daughter of Geoffrey (IV) of Bouillon); she bore him 3 sons.

Eustace’s brother, Lambert, was married to William’s sister or half-sister Adelaide, though he died in 1054, leaving an infant daughter.

About the autumn of 1067, while William was in Normandy, Eustace attempted an invasion of southern England, but was repulsed, and forfeited his English holdings, though William later forgave him. His date of death sometimes is given as 1080, but other authorities say 1093.)

BRIQUEBEC*?, Lord of

(apparently historical)

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter X

THE CONQUEROR

A supporter of William at the battle of Val-ès-dunes (1047).

(Historical notes:

The lordship of Briquebec was located near Valonore.

It appears that Heyer may have found this name in the “Roman de Rou” of Wace, or in a note in a scholarly edition of that work. Wace says that one Robert Bertram “le Tort” (the crooked) led “a great force” at the battle of Hastings, and did considerable damage against Harold’s forces.

Planché confirms from other sources that a Robert Bertraim, lord of Briquebec, was alive during the Conquest period, though he may or may not have been lord at the time of Val-ès-dunes. Robert founded the priory of Beaumont-en-Auge in Normandy before the Conquest, and lived until about the year 1082.

Planché also says that there was a school of thought that if a Bertram was indeed present at Hastings, this would not have been Robert Bertram but rather one William Bertram, probably Robert’s brother; both men being sons or grandsons of Toustain de Bastenbourg, ancestor both of the Lords of Briquebec and also of the Lords of Montfort.

There were at least two Bertram families that were seated in England after the Conquest: one at Bothall the other at Mitford. The Bothall branch held there in chief by the service of three knights’ fees, and the first Bertram on record there may have been a grandson of Robert Bertram. Planché does not trace the Mitford branch earlier than a William Bertram, living in the reign of Henry I (1100-35). That branch may, accordingly, have been founded by the William Bertram who sometimes is said to have been at Hastings-- or by his son, or nephew, or by some entirely different family. The Bertrams of Mitford failed in the male line before 1327, and the Bertrams of Bothall did the same within the next 50 years.)

BRITTANY*, Alain of

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed.), vol X, pp. 779-80

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1 chapter I

THE CONQUEROR

Father of Conan of Brittany; brother of Odo of Brittany

The first of Duke William’s guardians during his minority. Alain was poisoned at Vimoutiers.

(Historical note: Alain III of Brittany (the name also often appears in the form “Alan”) was eldest son of Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany (died 1008), by Hawise (died 1034: daughter of Richard I, Duke of Normandy). He ruled jointly with his brother Eudon (or Odo) after their father’s death; the duchy later was partitioned. This Alain died in 1040.)

BRITTANY*, Conan, Count of

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed.),, vol X, pp. 780-1

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp 98-9

THE CONQUEROR

Son of Alain of Brittany

A young man who bids fair to be a great tyrant, Count Conan is described as a “young and boastful man” who took the earliest opportunity to withdraw his fealty to the Duke of Normandy.

(Historical note: Conan II of Brittany was the son and heir of Alan, Duke of Brittany, but when Alan died in 1040 his brother Eudon (Odo) seized the government to Conan’s exclusion; Conan did not recover it until 1057. Conan died without issue, being poisoned in 1066 prior to the Battle of Hastings, and was succeeded by Count Houel or Hoel of Cornouaille (who, in turn, would die in 1084: he was the husband of Conan’s sister Hawise, and the father of Alain Fergant.)

BRITTANY*, Odo of

Source: The Complete Peerage, (revised ed.), vol X, pp. 779-81, 783-5

THE CONQUEROR

Younger brother of Alain of Brittany

Uncle to the young Count of Brittany (Conan), he invaded Normandy about 1055, in company with Geoffrey of Anjou and Peter of Aquitaine.

(Historical notes:

This Odo (also written “Eudon”) was a Count in Brittany, having received a partition of some of the lands his father Geoffrey had held when Duke of Brittany. He married a woman named Orguen and fathered a brood of some eight sons.

Alan the Red, the third of these sons, was probably at the Battle of Hastings, and certainly received large grants from William I, amounting to over 400 manors by 1086. He died without issue in 1089, and was succeeded by his next younger brother, Alan the Black.)

BURGUNDY*, Guy of

Sources:

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp 175, 179

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1 chapter I

THE CONQUEROR

William the Conqueror’s cousin, who led a conspiracy against him that culminated in the battle at Val-ès-dunes, where he was defeated (1047). He was allowed to depart out of Normandy.

(Historical notes:

Guy’s mother, (named in one place as Alice, but elsewhere as Judith) was sister to Duke Robert (father of William the Conqueror), who married the Count of Burgundy.

Guy was brought up with Duke William, and was personally knighted by the Duke. However, having his own claim to the duchy of Normandy, and not wanting in ambition, Guy too rebelled, conspiring to divide the duchy with two other noblemen if they would help him depose his cousin William.

Guy’s stronghold, the fortress of Brionne, was stout enough so that he was able to withstand a siege for nearly three years after the battle: he surrendered only in 1050.)

BUSAC*, William

Sources:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1 chapter I, and vol 1, chapter VIII

The Complete Peerage, (revised ed.), vol V, pp. 151-3, see especially p. 152, note (d)

THE CONQUEROR

Brother of Robert, Count of Eu, he occupied the Castle of Eu against his brother and Duke William, and was defeated. He was banished from Normandy, and took refuge at the court of King Henry of France.

(Historical notes:

This William was still another man who could make a claim to the ducal succession in Normandy. He was the son of Guillaume, an illegitimate son of Duke Richard I of Normandy (who thus was the half-brother of Duke Richard II of Normandy), making our William a distant cousin of William the Conqueror.

William was one of, apparently, two brothers of Robert, Count of Eu, Robert having been a co-commander of the Norman army at the battle of Mortemer on 1054. The other known brother, Hugh, became a Bishop

William’s rebellion appears to have taken place in or about 1052. However, King Henry of France gave him an heiress for a bride: about the year 1058 he married Adelais, daughter and heir of Count Renaud (or Reginald) of Soissons (who died in the spring of 1057).

CAHAGNES ?, Lord of

(possibly historical)

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter XI

THE CONQUEROR

The Lord of Cahagnes held off from William at Val-ès-dunes, though it is not apparent that he joined the rebels. A baron described by Earl Harold of Wessex as a turbulent man, needing a strong hand over him.

(Historical notes:

“Cahagnes” is a place in the arrondissement de Bayeux.

Heyer may have found this name in Wace, whose account of the battle of Hastings, written a century afterward, mentions “le Sire de Chaignes” among the soldiers there. Planché says that the name appears in the Domesday book, though he provides no further information. He also says that the lords of Cahagnes were benefactors of the abbey of Grestein, in Normandy, and of the priory of Lewes, in Sussex, which latter detail tends to confirm the evidence of Domesday book. But of course it is far from proof that a lord of this place, or any of his sons, brothers, or uncles, fought at Val-ès-dunes, Hastings, or anywhere else.).

CANTERBURY*, Stigand, Archbishop of

Sources:

Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), pp. 210, 258

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp. 193-4

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) pp, 87, 89-90

THE CONQUEROR

The Churchman who anointed Earl Harold King of England. Stigand was under interdict at this time. After the Battle of Hastings he was repelled by William, who chose the Archbishop of York to anoint him at his coronation.

(Historical notes:

Stigand had earlier been Bishop of Winchester, transferring to Canterbury in 1052, though continuing to hold the see of Winchester as well: this pluralism was one of the causes of the papal sentence of deposition against him.

Though Stigand initially declared his support for Edgar the Atheling, after the battle of Hastings, he quickly changed his mind and was the first leader then in London to recognize Duke William as King. This did not avail for long, however. He was deposed in 1070, and died in 1072.)

CHAMPAGNE*, Count of

Sources:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché)

Vol I, chapter IV

The Complete Peerage, (revised ed.), vol XII/1, Appendix K, p. 33

THE CONQUEROR

also Champagne, Thibaut, Count of

An unnamed Count of Champagne complained of his imprisonment by the Count of Anjou to King Henry of France. Duke William joined King Henry in the subsequent campaign against Anjou. Later, Thibaut, Count of Champagne, joined Henry of France in the invasion of Normandy in 1054.

(Historical notes:

The earlier reference in the book might be to Count Thibaut III or to his brother and predecessor Etienne II, Comte of Champagne and Brie, (the latter of whom had succeeded their father in 1037 and died in 1047-8, leaving a young son Eudes (Odo)); Thibaut, however, took the earldom on the basis that his nephew Eudes was much too young to be made Count.

Eudes, who later would succeed his uncle as Count of Champagne, is sometimes stated to have been present at the battle of Hastings. Eudes also became the third husband of Adelaide or Adeliza , a sister (or, possibly, half-sister) of William the Conqueror.

CHARTRES*, Count of

THE CONQUEROR

Complained of his imprisonment by the Count of Anjou to King Henry of France. Duke William joined Henry in the subsequent campaign against Anjou.

(Tentative historical note: this Count isn’t given a name, but if Heyer took him from history her reference appears to have been to Thibaud (or Thibaut) Blois, who succeeded his father Count Eudes in 1037, and died in 1089.)

CNOPPE, Osegod

(unknown whether fictional or historical)

THE CONQUEROR

A Saxon monk who accompanied Edith Swan-neck when she came to retrieve King Harold’s body.

CONFESSOR*, King Edward the

Sources:

Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), p. 30

The Kings and Queens of England (Jane Murray) pp. 225-30

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) p. 83, 84 (where Edward is called younger brother of Alfred)

THE CONQUEROR

A younger son of Ethelred, King of England

Son of King Ethelred “Unraed” (the latter word meaning “the Redeless” - lacking wisdom – rather than “the Unready”) by his second wife. Brother of Alfred. Edward is a refugee at the court of Duke Richard of Normandy, and views William in his cradle. Later, he retakes England from the heirs of Cnut the Dane, and becomes King. He has a reputation for saintliness. He reluctantly marries Eadgytha, daughter of Earl Godwine of Wessex, but chooses celibacy, rather than getting an heir to rule after him. He promises to make William the Conqueror his heir, but upon his death, the Witan chooses Harold Godwinesson as king.

(Historical notes:

Edward was born sometime between 1002 and 1005. He was crowned king of England in April 1043, and lived till January 5, 1066.

His mother was Emma, who, as the daughter of Richard I, duke of the Normans; was aunt of Count Robert of Hiesmes; and great-aunt of William the Conqueror. Emma became the second of Ethelred’s queens in the spring of 1002 and bore him 2 sons (Edward, who became King Edward the Confessor, and Alfred) and a daughter (Godgifu or Goda). Ethelred was, however, deposed in 1013 by Swegn Forkbeard, who in turn died in Feb 1014. Ethelred returned thereafter, but died in April 1016 and was succeeded by his eldest son Edmund, called Ironside

Emma, meanwhile, re-married in 1017 to Swegn’s son King Cnut, and bore him a son, Hardicanute (or Harthacnut), and a daughter (Gunhild, or Kunigund). Emma died in March of 1052.)

CONTEVILLE*, Herluin of

Sources:

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 175

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter I

The Complete Peerage, (revised ed.) vol XII/1, Appendix K, pp. 30-1

THE CONQUEROR

Husband of Herleva, who earlier, as mistress of Robert, Count of Hiesmes (later Duke of Normandy), was the mother of William the Conqueror. Herluin ahd Herleva were the parents of Odo of Bayeux and Robert of Mortain, half-brothers of the Conqueror

(Historical notes:

Herluin, a widower, was a Norman knight, and Vicomte of Conteville.

There is dispute about when Herluin and Herleva married. One school of thought is that Robert, 6^th Duke of Normandy, married off his discarded mistress, Herlève, to the obliging Herluin soon before departing on pilgrimage to the Holy Land about the beginning of 1035. Another view is that the marriage occurred only after Duke Robert’s death later that year. Another school of thought—the one championed in The Complete Peerage--is that Herlève and Herluin married in or about the year 1029, soon after the birth of her illegitimate son William.)

CONQUEROR*, William the

THE CONQUEROR

See: Normandy, William, Duke of

COUTANCES*, Bishop of

(Geoffrey de Mowbray)

Sources:

The Complete Peerage, (revised ed.) vol XII/1, Appendix L, p. 48. See also vol IX, pp 705-6, and p. 366

(And, for the connection with de Vere, see vol X, pp 193-4)

They Came With the Conqueror (L. G. Pine) pp 96

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter I

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 224

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) pp. 95, 138, 164,

THE CONQUEROR

Officiated at the marriage ceremony of Duke William and Mathilda. Also the Bishop who conducted the prayer to Saint-Valéry to invoke his aid in bringing good weather. In the book he rode with Duke William to “Senlac Field” (the battleground of Hastings) in England.

(Historical notes:

This was Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances, who later was described by Dugdale, a 17^th century antiquary, as “more skillful in arms than divinity.” Brooke says that Geoffrey obtained his bishopric by purchase, not because of any notable piety or service to the church.

The see of Coutances lies in the western part of Normandy

While it is not certain that Geoffrey was at the battle of Hastings, both Orderic and Wace say he was part of the Duke’s invading force in 1066, which makes it likely, though not certain, that he participated at Hastings.

He received large grants of land in England, the wealth of which he dedicated to the building of the cathedral of Coutances. He assisted at the coronation of the Conqueror, and continued to serve the King afterward.
He died without issue in 1093-4, and so is not the direct ancestor of the later Lords Mowbray, though he appears to have been a cadet of that family. There is a story that Geoffrey was appointed the earl of Northumberland after the rebellion of the earls of Hereford and Norfolk, an honor he later relinquished to his nephew Robert. While Planché says that Geoffrey apparently served a short time as governor of Northumberland, and that at his death left his English lands to Robert, his brother’s son, little more of this story is confirmed by The Complete Peerage (CP) – which lists neither a Geoffrey nor a Bishop of Coutances as ever having been Earl of Northumberland. The only Bishop who might be regarded as having been Earl of Northumberland during part of the reign of William I was Walcher of Durham, not Geoffrey of Coutances. CP does state that one Robert de Montbrai (Mowbray), Lord of Bazoches, was made Earl of Northumberland about the year 1080 or 1081, during the reign of William I. But it also says that the man Robert succeeded as earl was, not his uncle Geoffrey, but one Aubrey, (a Norman knight who retired to Normandy no more than a year after having been appointed about the middle of 1080).

One of Bishop Geoffrey’s men, who held land of him in two counties at the time of the Domesday survey, appears to have been Aubrey, the first in England of the famous de Vere family, longtime earls of Oxford.)

CRESPIN*, William, of Bec

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter VIII; see also vol 1, chapter VII

THE CONQUEROR

Leader, with Giffard of Longueville, of the men of Caux against King Henry of France in 1054.

(Historical notes:

In 1054 William Crespin (or Crispin) was one of the four commanders at Mortemer, with Robert d’Eu, Walter Giffard and Hugh de Gournay.

That he was present at Hastings appears to be a supposition from the account of Wace, writing about a century after the battle, who lists “William ki l'on dit Crespin” among the Norman host. Wace also mentions a "Cil ki donc gardont Tillieres," which, if not another reference to the same person, sometimes is identified as Gilbert Crespin, possibly a brother of this William. Planché says that Gilbert and William Crispin were cousins of Toustain fitz Rou, the Conqueror’s standard-bearer at the battle of Hastings.

According to Planché, relying on the work of Père Anselm, a genealogist, this William probably was one of the three sons of Gilbert, Baron of Bec and Castellan of Tillières, apparently by Gonnor, sister of Fulk d'Aunou. Père Anselm also wrote that William married before the year 1077 to Eva, daughter of Simon de Montfort l'Aumary, and had two sons (William and Gilbert).

William Crespin fought at Mortemer in 1054, and attested charters in Normandy as late as 1082, so chronology is by no means fatal to the contention that he could have participated at Hastings. If he died in or before 1085, that would explain why he is not listed as a tenant of the crown in the Domesday survey, assuming he ever received grants in England from the Conqueror. A Milo Crispin, who may have been a brother of William, is listed as a substantial landowner in the Domesday book, holding more than 80 lordships.)

CREVECOEUR*?, Lord of (apparently historical)

Source:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter IX

THE CONQUEROR

One of William’s allies at the battle of Val-ès-dunes (1047)

(Historical notes:

Planché identifies Crévecœur as Crèvecœur-en-Auge, in the arrondissement of Lisieux.

It may be surprising to find a “lord of Crèvecœur” listed as Duke William’s ally at Val-ès-dunes, because if historians are correct the father of this same man was in rebellion against the Duke at the same battle, and in fact was killed at Val-ès-dunes.

The man who died at the battle had the arresting name of Hamon aux Dents (Hamon "with the teeth"). This Hamon was Lord of Thorigny and Creulli, but lost those lands when he not only rebelled against Duke William, but had the further misfortune to be killed while doing so.

Hamon-with-the-teeth left two sons, of whom the only one who seems to have left legitimate issue was the elder, named Hamo, who became dapifer (steward) to King William, and also served as sheriff of Kent. This second Hamo was granted land in England, and some accounts make him out to have been lord of Astremeville and Crèvecœur in Normandy.

This, in turn, becomes of interest because Wace, in his description of the battle of Hastings, includes a “Sire de Crèvecœur,” not further named, among those who followed Duke William wherever he went during the fighting. While an account written about a century after the battle is not first-rate evidence for facts concerning the battle, this man might have been Hamo fitz Hamon, who on chronological grounds would have been a grown man in 1066.

In any case, Hamo the Dapifer married and had two sons. The eldest son, Robert Fitz Hamon, may have been Lord of Astremeville in Normandy, and he certainly conquered Glamorgan in Wales, and was granted the Honour of Gloucester in the reign of William Rufus. Robert, however, apparently left no children to succeed him.

The younger son of Hamo Dapifer was still another Hamo, son and grandson of earlier men of the same name. This youngest Hamo, or at least his line, may have received the lordship of Crèvecœur from his father, and for this reason Planché assumes that his father, Hamo Dapifer, was the lord of Crèvecœur mentioned by Wace (either because that Hamo really was present at the battle, or because Wace assumed that the lords of Crèvecœur in his own day must have descended from a man who helped in the conquest of England).

The youngest Hamo married and appears to have been the father of Robert le Crèvecœur, who founded the Priory of Leeds, in Kent, in 1119. Robert in turn married and had three sons, being succeeded by the youngest, Daniel, whose son and heir Robert became the father of still another Hamon, last of his line, who married the heiress of Folkestone in the time of King Richard I.)

d’ALBINI ?, William

(possibly historical)

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed.) vol I p 233, including notes (c), (d), and (f)

Peerage and Pedigree (J.H. Round) vol I, p. 302

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché)

vol 2, chapter IV

THE CONQUEROR

The hereditary cupbearer [butler] to the dukes of Normandy. Described as “sleek”.

(Historical notes:

Aubigny is a commune near Periers, in the Côtentin (arrondisement of Coutances, dept. of La Manche). The French term was “de Aubigny,” which was rendered “De Albiniaco” or De Albinio” in Latin, and in England the spelling soon became De Albini or d’Albini.

Wace says that an otherwise unnamed man called “li boteillier d'Aubignie” was present at Hastings, and although it is possible that Wace was correct, it appears from other sources that the office of butler was not conferred on a de Aubigny until about the year 1100 – more than a generation after the battle of Hastings. This may mean that Wace assumed the family had been butlers to the Norman dukes before the conquest of England, or it may mean that Wace assumed that a family that was important in the England of his own day must have come over with the Conqueror.

In sum, while there certainly was a noble family in England called d’Albini, the fact remains that the novel’s William d’Albini (or d’Aubigny) may or may not be a figure from history. One source reports that this William was real, and married the sister of Grimbauld (or Grimoult) du Plessis, the traitor of Valognes and Val-ès-dunes. While it is not impossible that this William, or his son, was present at Hastings, these claims cannot be confirmed by reference to any reasonably contemporaneous account of the battle.

Further doubt arises when the descendants of this family are claimed to include the earls of Arundel and Northumberland, because according to The Complete Peerage the first d’Aubigny who became Earl of Arundel, although named William d’Aubigny, was not ennobled till 1138-9, and apparently was not descended in the male line from a man who fought at the Battle of Hastings. The first d’Aubigny Earl of Arundel was the son of a man who did not arrive in England till the reign of Henry I (1100-35).)

d’AUFAY*, Gilbert

(also listed in some references as “Goubert d’Auffay”)

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed), vol XII/1, Appendix L, p. 48

They Came With the Conqueror, (L.G. Pine) p. 96

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché)

vol 2, chapter VIII

THE CONQUEROR

A close friend of Raoul de Harcourt and Edgar of Marwell. Gilbert was present at Hastings,

but decided he would not take lands in England, remaining with his family in Normandy. During the Council of Lillebonne he was in a testy mood as his wife was expecting, and he was hoping, after six daughters, to finally have a son.

(Historical notes:

This family is also encountered as St. Valeri, (the latter word also rendered “Waleri” and “Galeri”), and Gilbert’s father (Richard) was also known as de Heugleville, having received that estate by marriage to Ada, widow of Herleuin de Heugleville. Richard built a town there on the river Sie, of which he became lord, at a place once called Isnelville, which was named Auffay or Aufay – whence the name d’Auffay.

Gilbert, also called Goubert, as the son of Richard de Heugleville, was thereby grandson of Gilbert, the Advocate of St. Valeri, by Papia, daughter of Duke Richard II of Normandy. Gilbert thus was yet another cousin of the Conqueror. He was twice connected to the Duke, in fact, because his wife Beatrice (daughter of Christian de Valenciennes) was a cousin of Mathilda, William’s duchess and later queen.

Wace includes an otherwise unspecified “Sire de St. Galeri” among the Norman host at the battle of Hastings, and according to Orderic this Gilbert fought in the armies of Duke William during all the principal actions during the English wars until the throne was secure and peace restored. The Complete Peerage says that Gilbert certainly was in the Duke’s army and almost certainly was present at the battle of Hastings.

Orderic also says that after the conquest Duke William offered Gilbert considerable lands in England, but “he refused to participate in the fruits of rapine,” and returned to Normandy.

Your editors cannot tell whether Heyer unearthed or simply invented the story that Gilbert had trouble fathering a son, but that he had six daughters is a detail open to doubt. According to Orderic, Gilbert and Beatrice had two sons and one daughter. Gilbert devoted Hugh, one of his sons, to the monastic life in the abbey of St.-Evroult, of which several members of his family were benefactors.)

d’AVRANCHES*, Hugh

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed.) vol III pp 164-5 (but compare vol XII/1, Appendix K, pp. 32-3)

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter I

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) pp. 156-7

THE CONQUEROR

A young excitable baron who supported Duke William’s plan to invade England.

(Historical notes:

This Hugh was the son and heir of Richard “le Goz,” Viscomte d’Avranches in Normandy, who is said to have married William’s half-sister, Emma (daughter of Herluin de Conteville by Herlève, the Conqueror’s mother, though some historians question the existence of Emma de Conteville).

Whoever his mother may have been, however, Hugh himself was undoubtedly real: by his contemporaries he was styled Hugh “Vras” or “Le Gros,” meaning “the Fat,” but due to his rapacious character he was given the rather more gratifying style of Hugh “Lupus” (Hugh the Wolf) by later writers. He was made Earl of Chester by the Conqueror about the year 1071.

It is questionable whether either Hugh or his father was present at the Battle of Hastings (The Complete Peerage says only that Hugh is “generally supposed” to have been present, though if so he would have been no more than age 19, if that).

In the reign of William Rufus, this Earl Hugh, then an old man, was instrumental in getting Anselm to England, where he was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093.

Hugh married Ermentrude, daughter of Hugues (Hugh), Comte de Clermont, and had a son and heir Richard, who was still a boy when Hugh died.

Hugh became a monk very late in life, a few days before his death late in July 1101; later his title passed to his nephew Ranulf, after the death of his only son Richard in the wreck of the White Ship in Nov 1120.)

d’AVRANCHES*, Richard, Viscount

Sources:

The Complete Peerage, (revised ed.) vol III pp 164-5

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter I

THE CONQUEROR

Father of Hugh, later Earl of Chester

Richard, Viscount of Avranchin, was married to Emma, Duke William’s half sister, and thus was the Conqueror’s brother-in-law. He was a strong supporter of William in his early efforts to secure his dukedom, and in his later enterprises. He was present at the council of William’s closest advisors prior to Lillebonne.

(Historical notes:

Richard is variously called Richard le Goz, Le Gotz, or Le Gois.

It is debatable whether this Richard, or his son Hugh, or both, or neither, participated at the battle of Hastings. Viscount Richard is placed at the battle in the acount of Wace, written a century afterward. Given that in the year 1066 Hugh would have been no more than aged 19, and may have been some years younger than that, it would seem that if either father or son participated at Hastings the probabilities favor the father over the son. Richard lived as late as 1082, and so might well have been present at the battle. Further, Planché cites an extract from the cartulary of the Abbey of Whitby to the effect that Hugh did not come to England until 1067.)

DANE*, Cnut the,

[King of England 1016-35]

Sources:

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 129-40

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) pp. 61-5; and 81-3

Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), p. 29-30

Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage (1956 ed.) p lx

THE CONQUEROR

Father of Harold Harefoot, later King of England

King of the Danelaw and Mercia from 1016, king of all England from November of the same year; King of Denmark 1019-35; King of Norway 1028-35

(Historical notes:

Cnut (the name sometimes is given as “Canute”) was born about 995, the younger son of Swein (or “Sweyn,” or “Swegn”) Forkbeard, King of Denmark from 987-1014, who briefly held the English throne from Ethelred.

After the death of Edmund Ironside (November 1016), Canute, who had been given Mercia and Northumbria in a treaty with Edmund, convinced the English witan to make him king. Canute was the first Dane to be actually crowned king of England. His subsequent rulership of Denmark and Norway made him the most powerful monarch in northern Europe.

Depending on your point of view, Cnut had a mistress and a wife, or two wives. By his mistress (or handfast wife), Aelfgifu of Northampton, he had two sons (Sweyn, who became King of Norway; and Harold Harefoot, who became King of England).

He also married in 1017 to Emma, (the widow of King Athelred “Unraed”, and mother of Edward the Confessor) and had another son Hardicanute.

His elder brother Harald, King of Denmark, died childless in 1018 or 1019, leaving Cnut heir to that kingdom as well. He was acknowledged as King of Norway in 1028.

Cnut died in November 1035, in his 40^th year.)

de BEAUMONT*, Lady Adeline

Source: The Complete Peerage (revised ed.) vol VII pp. 520, 522 note (b), and 523. See also vol XII/2, p. 358, note (a)

THE CONQUEROR

Mother of Robert de Beaumont, a companion of the Conqueror

Wife of Roger de Beaumont. Gisela de Harcourt wonders if she can get a certain recipe from her during a visit to Beaumont-le-Roger.

(Historical notes:

Adeline or Adelina was the daughter of Waleran and the sister of Hugh, successive Counts of Meulan. Though Adeline and Hugh had two half-brothers (one of whom, another Waleran, also left issue) by their father’s second wife, Adeline apparently was Hugh’s only heir of the whole blood. Accordingly, the comté of Meulan had passed to her son Robert by the end of 1081, after her brother. Count Hugh, had died without issue.

Beaumont-le-Roger was a castle built by Roger on the hill about Vieilles, in Normandy: it became the seat of the barony that Roger inherited from his father Humphrey de Vieilles

Meulan is a place in the French Vexin, lying on the river Seine between Mantes and St. Germain-en-Laye.)

de BEAUMONT*, Roger

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised edition) vol VII pp 522-3. Also vol XII/2, pp 357-8

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1 chapter I

THE CONQUEROR

Father of Robert de Beaumont, a companion of the Conqueror

Lord of Beaumont, in Normandy - Hubert de Harcourt owes fealty to him, and it is he whom Raoul petitions to help him find a place in Duke William’s service. One of William’s principal barons.

(Historical notes:

Roger de Beaumont was Lord of Beaumont, Pont Audemer, Brionne, and Vatteville, in Normandy. He is said to have furnished 60 ships for the invasion of England, but did not accompany the expedition. Nonetheless, after the Conquest William granted him several manors in Dorset and one in Gloucestershire.

He appears to have been loyal to the young Duke William, and according to Orderic this Roger de Beaumont is the man who defeated and slew Roger de Tosny (or “de Toeni”) and two of his sons, who were ravaging the lands of Humphrey de Vielles, Roger de Beaumont’s father.

Roger married Adeline (daughter of Waleran and sister of Hugh, successive Counts of Meulan, in the French Vexin), and they became progenitors of more than one English noble family:

--Their eldest son and heir, Robert de Beaumont, became Count of Meulan in 1081, and later, about 1107, would be created the first earl of Leicester by King Henry I. That male line failed in 1204 on the death of Robert, the 4^th Earl. The title then passed, in 1205 or 1206, to Simon de Montfort, son of the elder daughter of the 3^rd Earl.

--Also their younger son, Henry de Beaumont, would be created the first earl of Warwick in 1088 by William Rufus: Henry’s direct male line lasted until 1242 when Thomas, the 6^th Earl, died without issue.

Roger himself still was living in 1066, and indeed lived for decades afterward. He became a monk soon after 1090, dying some years later.)

de BEAUMONT*, Robert

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed) vol VII pp 523-526 (including p 526, notes (a), (c) & (d)), and App I in that volume, pp 737-8; also see vol XII/1, p 496, and Appendix L of that volume, pp. 40, 41, 48. And, for the earldom of Bedford, created in 1138, see vol II, pp. 68-9

They Came With the Conqueror (L. G. Pine) p 96

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) p.174

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter VI

THE CONQUEROR

Son and heir of Roger de Beaumont

The eldest son and heir of Roger de Beaumont, (q.v.) Robert led a thousand Normans in his first trial of arms, the battle of Hastings, and fought with immense bravery.

(Historical notes:

Robert de Beaumont, born about 1046, is one of a dozen Norman noblemen mentioned by William of Poitiers as present at the battle of Hastings, in an account confirming that Robert and his Normans were part of the right division of William’s army, and that Robert distinguished himself. After the battle he received large grants of land in Warwickshire, plus holdings in at least 3 other counties.

Robert later succeeded in right of his mother about 1081 to her brother Hugh’s title as Count of Meulan in the French Vexin, and so is often encountered in histories of the period as Count of Meulan.

Being a young man in 1066, he long survived William the Conqueror, and was one of the chief ministers of William Rufus, and then of Henry I, who is said to have created him Earl of Leicester about 1107. Because Robert already was an Earl (Count of Meulan), he was not styled Earl of Leicester, though the title passed at his death to his second son.

Robert sometimes is said to married twice, though if so the supposed first marriage, to Godechilde, a daughter of Raoul (or Ralph) de Toeni, is described as “highly improbable” in the account of Robert in The Complete Peerage, which notes that both Robert and Godechilde married other people in the same year – 1096 – when Godechilde was still a young girl, and there is no mention in contemporary chronicles that an earlier marriage of Robert and Godechilde had been annulled.. Robert certainly married, in 1096, to a woman named Isabel (also called Elizabeth), daughter of Hugh de Crépi, Count of Vermandois (Hugh being younger son of Henry I, King of France) who bore him a family of three sons (of whom the two eldest were twins, born in 1104) and four or, per one source, five daughters. Isabel/Elizabeth may later have deserted him, eloping with William de Warenne (son of the veteran of Hastings); she certainly married this William quite soon after Robert died in June 1118.

At Robert’s death his sons were still boys, but the twins, at least, were raised in the court of Henry I.

--The eldest son, Waleran, succeeded to the Norman and French lands and became Count of Meulan.

--The younger twin, Robert, succeeded to most of the English lands and became Earl of Leicester.

-- The third son, Hugh, called “Pauper,” was created Earl of Bedford, but not till 1138, and he did not found a family that survived.)

de BELLOMONT, Ives

(probably fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

A member of Duke William’s army at the Battle of Hastings. De Bellomont was decapitated and his head was found in a hollow by Raoul de Harcourt.

(Historical note: This name is not found on any of the lists assembled from contemporaneous, or near-contemporaneous, accounts of those present at Hastings.)

de BERNAY, Geoffrey

(probably fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

A baron of the Evrecin who, at Beaumont-le-Roger, disapproves of William’s strategy during the invasion of 1054. and then later, at the Council of Lillebonne, of his intended conquest of England.

(Historical notes:

Bernay is a place in Eure.

Your editors have not found confirming information about a Geoffrey de Bernay in Normandy in 1054 or 1066. However one Ralph de Bernay was sheriff of Herefordshire under Fitz Osbern, and is listed in Domesday. So, if Heyer found this Geoffrey in the pages of history, and didn’t simply invent him, the Ralph de Bernay in the Domesday book may have been Geoffrey’s son, nephew, or other kinsman. Or simply his former neighbor from Bernay)

de BIENFAITE*, Richard

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed.) vol III p 242 (for the honour of Clare); also vol V pp 694-5 (for Gloucester), vol VI pp 498-9 (for Hertford); and vol X p 348 (for Pembroke). For FitzWalter see vol V, p. 472, note (f)

Feudal England (J.H. Round), chart pedigree after p 358

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter II (see also vol 1, chapter IV)

THE CONQUEROR

Brother of Baldwin de Meules, q.v.

Young Richard is brought to Beaumont-le-Roger to meet Raoul de Harcourt when he is sent as William’s envoy before the 1054 invasion of Normandy by King Henry of France. He is later present at the Council of Lillebonne, and is an enthusiastic supporter of William’s plans to invade England.

(Historical notes:

Richard de Bienfaite, so called from his lordship of Bienfaite in Normandy, was a younger son of Gilbert Crispin, Count of Brionne in Normandy (Gilbert, who was murdered in 1040, was himself the son and heir of Godfrey, Count of Brionne, an illegitimate son of Richard, Duke of Normandy – so this Richard was yet another figure who, if he chose, could have asserted a blood right to the duchy of Normandy).

Richard de Bienfaite was born before 1035, came to England with William the Conqueror (Wace, writing about a century after the battle, says Richard was present at Hastings, but in fact it appears he arrived in England sometime in the 20 years after the battle). He received from William more than 170 lordships, 95 of which were part of the Honour of Clare in Suffolk. From the Honour of Clare he was to become known as Richard de Clare: he also is referred to, variously, as Richard d’Orbec, Richard de Tonbridge, and Richard FitzGilbert.

By the year 1074 he was one of the Chief Justiciaries of England, along with William de Warenne.

He married Rohesia (only daughter of Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham), and the couple became the progenitors of one of the most powerful families in England. Through his son and heir Gilbert he was the ancestor both of the de Clare Earls of Hertford (the earldom dating from about 1136 or 1138) and Gloucester (beginning 1217), and of the de Clare Earls of Pembroke (beginning 1138). Further, his fifth son Robert was the great-great grandfather of Sir Robert fitz Walter, first of the barons Fitzwalter.

Richard was living at least as late as 1081, and died apparently about 1090.)

de BIGOD*, Roger

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed) vol IX pp 575-79 (and see p. 575, notes (a) and (b))

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter II

(Roger is not listed in They Came With the Conqueror (L.G. Pine) p 96 among those known to have been present at Hastings.)

For an incidental mention of “Rogerius, cognomento Bigot” in England in or before 1079, see Feudal England (J.H. Round) p 255)

THE CONQUEROR

A young vassal of the Warling Count of Mortain, who gave away the count’s plot against William.

(Historical notes:

Heyer says this warning of treachery was taken to Duke William by Roger le Bigod, but according to the chronicler William of Jumièges, it was Robert le Bigot (possibly the father or a kinsman of Roger) who was a poor knight in the service of William Werlenc, (or the Warling), Comte de Mortain, and who reported to Duke William that the Warling was plotting against him, probably in 1056. (The plot may have been imagined rather than real, though in either case it led to the banishment of the Warling about the year 1056; Duke William bestowed the comté of Mortain on his half-brother Robert.)

Wace, writing a century after the battle of Hastings, mentions a man “L’Ancestre Hue le Bigot” (Hugh being a contemporary of Wace) among the leaders of the Norman army at the battle, but without giving any more specific identification; and “Bigot” was not an uncommon name in Normandy..

Roger le Bigod certainly came to England during the time of the Conqueror, and may have been present at Hastings; he certainly held land in England as early as 1071, was sheriff of Norfolk in 1080 and again in 1086, and in the interim had also been sheriff of Suffolk. By 1086 he held large estates in Norfolk and Suffolk, including more than 120 lordships in Suffolk.; by 1091, in the reign of William II, Roger was royal steward, an office he also held in the reign of Henry I.

Roger married twice, having at least one son by each wife. He died in September 1107. His eldest son and heir, William, drowned in the wreck of the White Ship in 1120. Roger’s second son, Hugh, was later created Earl of Norfolk, about the end of 1140 or the beginning of 1141. Hugh’s line held the earldom until 1302 when Roger Bigod, the 5^th Earl, surrendered his title and lands to the King: this Roger died without issue in 1306.)

de BOHUN*, Humphrey

Sources:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter III

The Complete Peerage (revised ed) vol V, pp. 134-5 (for Essex); vol VI, p. 457, including note (e) (for Hereford); and vol IX, pp. 664-8 (for Northampton)

THE CONQUEROR

Present at Valognes, but went out wenching when William’s other adherents were drugged. Besides Guy of Burgundy, the only other lord of note to go to Valognes.

(Historical notes:

Bohun, or Bohon, is a place in the arrondissement of St. Lô, in the Cotentin, (the communes of St. Andre and St. George “de Bohon” still survive there, or at any rate survived at least to the late 19^th century).

Wace, writing about a century after the battle of Hastings, says that old “Onfrei”(Humphrey) de Bohun was one of Duke William’s soldiers. Humphrey is another of those whiskered men among the normally clean-shaven Normans, since he was known as Humphrey “with the beard.”

This Humphrey sometimes is said to have been some sort of kinsman to Duke William, but the exact relationship is not specified, and Humphrey did not receive grants of hundreds of manors in England, which otherwise seems to have been the Conqueror norm when rewarding his undoubted kin.

Humphrey died before the year 1113, having married three times: he survived all three of his wives, having fathered three sons and two daughters. From his third and youngest son, also named Humphrey, is said to have descended the de Bohuns who later figure prominently in England.

Indeed, the name Humphrey de Bohun is one encountered frequently in medievel English history. A Humphrey de Bohun had become steward to Henry I by the year 1131. This Humphrey married Margaret, eldest daughter of Miles of Gloucester (Miles became Earl of Hereford in 1141 and died in 1143). Later the grandson of Humphrey and Margaret, one Henry de Bohun, was made Earl of Hereford in 1200, and through his marriage to Maud de Mandeville (sister and heiress of William de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, who died without issue in 1227), secured for his son and heir, also named Humphrey de Bohun, the eventual claim to the earldom of Essex in 1236. From 1236 until 1361 there were five earls of Hereford and Essex, four of whom were named Humphrey de Bohun. The de Bohun family also became Earls of Northampton in 1337 in the person of William de Bohun, fifth son of one of the Humphreys de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex. The son of William, yet another Humphrey de Bohun, succeeded also to the earldoms of Hereford and Essex in 1361, but when he died without a son in 1373, the male line fell extinct.)

de BRICASSART*, Ranulf, Viscount of Bessin

Source;

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1 chapter I

(He also is mentioned incidentally under Saint Sever, in vol 2 chapter XI)

THE CONQUEROR

One of the major lords who stood against William during the rebellion of Guy of Burgundy. Ranulf fled from the field of Val-ès-dunes. His war cry was “Saint-Sever, Sire Saint-Sever”.

(Historical notes:

Saint Sever was a possession of the Viscounts of the Avranchin

Ranulf (or Renouf) was later reconciled to Duke William, as he married Mathilda, daughter of Richard d’Avranches by the woman who may have been William’s half-sister Emma de Conteville. (Planché speculates that if Ranulf was married by 1047, his father-in-law might have enfeoffed him of Saint Sever at the time of his marriage, which might then explain his battle cry at Val-ès-dunes.).

The son of Ranulf and Mathilda, named Ranulf (or Ranulph) “Le Meschin,” (the young) inherited the earldom of Chester after his cousin Richard died in the wreck of the White Ship.)

de BRIOSNE, Geoffrey (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

A neighbour of the de Harcourt family. Gilbert de Harcourt has a running feud with him, and makes occasional forays onto his lands.

(Historical note: Though this Geoffrey appears to be fictional there was both a “Brionne” estate (belonging to the de Beaumont family) and a “de Briose” (or Braouse) family in Normandy.

de CLERMONT, Renault

THE CONQUEROR

Favourite of King Henry of France, he accompanied him during the 1054 invasion of Normandy. In Prince Eudes’ force, he was present at Mortemer, but managed to escape with Eudes. He again accompanied Henry in 1058, and was present at the defeat at the fords of Varaville, which marked Henry’s last attempt to interfere with William.

de COURCELLES ?, Baldwin

(unknown whether historical or fictional)

Source consulted:

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) p. 123

THE CONQUEROR

One of the vassals present at Beaumont-le-Roger when Raoul de Harcourt brings the duke’s instructions for the defense of Normandy against Henry of France in 1054. He dislikes William’s strategy.

(Historical notes:

Your editors have found not found definite information about a Baldwin de Courcelles in Normandy in 1054, or indeed in William’s army during or after the conquest. There are only tantalyzing hints that there may indeed have been such a man in history. For example::

--one Baldwin was a substantial tenant of the crown by the year 1086, and sheriff of Devon in the west country; and

--one “Roger de Courseulles” is listed in Domesday, with large holdings in Somerset and elsewhere in the southwest of England. Granted that the spelling differs, and that Roger seems to have been son of a William “de Courcelles,” it would certainly seem possible that this Roger may have been the nephew, or other kinsman of a Baldwin “de Courcelles.” Or equally, of course, Baldwin may simply have been an invention of Heyer’s.)

de GACE*, Raoul, Governor of Normandy

Sources:

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 173, 177

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter I. Also mentioned incidentally in vol 2, chapter XI

THE CONQUEROR

Governor of Normandy during the later part of William’s minority. Retook the Castle of Falaise on the Duke’s behalf when it was held by Toustain Goz.

(Historical notes:

Gace, or Gacé, or Gascie, is a place in the arrondissement of Argentan.

Raoul de Gace apparently achieved power by a coup, as he was responsible for the murder (assassination) of one of William’s earlier governors, (Thorkill or Turquetil, who may in turn have been the father of the first of the historical de Harcourts, Anchetil), as well as William’s first guardian, Gilbert, the Count d’Eu.

Raoul was in position to try a coup because he himself had noble Norman blood: his father, Archbishop Robert of Rouen, and Count of Evreux (who died in 1037) was the uncle of Robert, 6^th Duke of Normandy. Thus the step of appointing him Governor of Normandy in William’s minority might have been a way to prevent him from attempting further depredations.

This Raoul, who certainly qualifies as a decisive man, if not perhaps an amiable one, died childless before the year 1066, and his domains were seized – with, we may suspect, no small pleasure -- by Duke William.

Wace, writing about a century after the battle of Hastings, includes “cil de Gascie" (he of Gacé) in the Conqueror’s army, but even if this reference is accurate it cannot, of course, have meant the late Raoul.)

de GOURNAY*, Hugh

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 2 chapter IV (see also chapter VI, in entry for Neel de Saint-Sauveur)

THE CONQUEROR

One of William’s adherents from the beginning, he is described as “honest” and “wise in war”. He was one of the men who accompanied William to the court of King Henry of France to appeal for help against Guy of Burgundy. He fought as a member of William’s forces from Val-ès-dunes to Hastings.

(Historical notes:

Gournay lies in the district of Le Brai.

The claim that this Hugh was present at Hastings comes from Wace, who places a “Le viel Hue de Gournai” among the Norman host. (“Le viel” may in this context mean “elderly,” or merely “senior,” though either interpretation would appear justified in Hugh’s case.)

At any rate, this Hugh was the second of the name who was Lord of Gournay: he also was present at the battle of Mortemer in 1054. He married and had at least one child, a son Hugh.

According to Planché, a Norman chronicle (by no means unimpeachable) called “"L'Histoire et Chronique de Normandie," printed in 1610, says that Hugh was mortally wounded at Cardiff in “1074” – though not, you see, so mortally as to prevent his being carried, afterward, all the way across England and back to Normandy, where he died. Another source, a Welsh chronicle printed in 1584, reports that Hugh died as the result of a battle near Cardiff, in Wales but not until about the year 1094 – at which battle Roger de Montgomeri and Neale le Vicomte de Saint-Sauveur, were both slain

. However, Planché adds, first, that Neale (or Neel) le Vicomte is elsewhere said to have died before 1085, and that his son and successor, another Neel, died in 1092. Second, that although Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Salop, indeed died in 1094, he died a monk, and no cause of death is given for him in contemporaneous histories – something your editors have confirmed by reference to The Complete Peerage. And third, says Planché, it is elsewhere reported that Hugh, at some time after the battle of Hastings, also became a monk, though in Normandy, and died there some time after 1085. This is not necessarily proof that Hugh and Roger weren’t warlike fellows as monks went (or that they may not have become monks when at death’s door). Whether in or out of monkish habits, they might still have been in arms 25 years and more after Hastings, though we must bear in mind that Hugh, at least, was not a young man even in 1066. Still, one is led to regard the story of a battle near Cardiff in which these men were wounded or killed, especially as late as 1094, with a certain skepticism.

Hugh de Gournay, the son of our Hugh, became the third husband of Basilia, daughter of Gerrard Flaitel, widow of Raoul de Gacé, and sister of the wife of Walter Giffard, 1st Earl of Buckingham.)

de GRANTMESNIL*, Hugh

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed), vol VII p. 524 (and notes (f) and (g)); also vol XII/1, Appendix L, p. 48

They Came With the Conqueror (L.G. Pine) p 96

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché),

vol 2 chapter III

Feudal England (J.H. Round) pp. 167-70, 347-8

THE CONQUEROR

Described as one of the finest warriors in Normandy, and one of William’s constant adherents. He was, however, banished for little cause (during one of William’s explosions of temper), but was pardoned prior to 1066. He was one of the men called to the private council held by William prior to Lillebonne. He was injured at Hastings.

(Historical notes:

Grantmesnil (the spelling sometimes is given as “Grentmesnil” and “Grandmesnil”) is a place in the arrondissement of Lisieux.

This Hugh, Lord of Grantmesnil, was one of the two sons of Robert de Grantmesnil, who was mortally wounded in the battle between Roger de Toeni and Roger de Beaumont, early in the reign of Duke William.

Hugh was banished by Duke William in 1058, and not recalled till 1063, so evidently William, if quick to anger, was not always quick to forget. Still, when Hugh was recalled he was given custody of the Castle of Neufmarché-en-Lions.

Hugh is one of the Companions of the Conqueror for whose presence at Hastings there is contemporaneous evidence: he is among the dozen men named by William of Poitiers as present at the battle.

He received some 100 manors in England after the Conquest, including more than 50 in Leicestershire, alone, plus extensive holdings in at least three other counties. He was appointed sheriff of Leicestershire, and also governor of Hampshire.

He is said to have married Adeliza, daughter of lvo, Count of Beaumont-sur-l'Oise, who bore him five sons and five daughters. She died about 1086.

Hugh became a monk shortly before his death, dying early in 1094.

One of his sons, Ives or Ivo, rebelled against King Henry I in or about 1101, and when that was unsuccessful he found it expedient to mortgage his estates to Robert de Beaumont and depart on crusade about 1102. When Ives died on crusade, Robert retained his lands.)

de HARCOURT, Eudes (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

Son of Hubert de Harcourt, brother to Gilbert, half-brother to Raoul. Heyer paints this Eudes as a slow-witted man who had been present at both Val-ès-dunes and Hastings.

de HARCOURT, Gilbert (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

Son of Hubert de Harcourt, half-brother to Raoul, brother to Eudes. Married to Gisela. Gilbert was briefly outlawed for joining the rebellion of Roger de Toeni against William the Conqueror. Heyer describes this character as having fought for William at Val-ès-dunes, and as having been wounded in the leg at Hastings.

de HARCOURT, Gisela (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

Wife of Gilbert de Harcourt. She was present at the council at Beaumont-le-Roger in 1054. She has a tendre for her brother-in-law Raoul.

de HARCOURT, Hubert (apparently fictional, but seems to be based on a real family)

As to a “d’Harcourt” family in this period, see The Complete Peerage (revised ed) vol V, p 151, in the entry for Guillaume, 1^st Count of Eu

See also The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter I, and vol 2 chapter IX

THE CONQUEROR

Father to Raoul de Harcourt. Vassal of Roger de Beaumont. He captured the traitor Grimbauld du Plessis at the battle of Val-ès-dunes.

(Historical notes:

Though Hubert and his sons apparently are fictional, there was a real family named de Harcourt or d’Harcourt, on whom Heyer may have loosely based this family in her book. One Anschetil or Anchetil d’Harcourt was the son of Turketil (or Turquetil, or Thorkill), Seigneur de Turqueville and de Tanqueraye. This Anchetil also had a sister named Lesceline who married William, Count of Eu (a natural son of Richard I, Duke of Normandy) and was mother of Robert, Count of Eu, later Lord of Hastings.

This Turketil/Turquetil, in turn, may have been the same man as Thurkild or Thorold, Lord of Neufmarché-en-Lions, the governor of the boy duke, William, who was assassinated soon after 1035.

Anchetil, in either case, was known as d’Harcourt, taking his second name from the bourg of Harcourt, which is near Brionne. Anchetil married Eve de Boessey, Dame de Boessey-le-Chapel, who is reported by the French historian La Roque, and by the genealogist Père Anselm, to have borne a daughter and seven sons (Errand, Robert, Jean, Arnoul, Gervais, Yves, and Renauld).

Further, Wace, writing about a century after the battle, includes an otherwise unnamed “Sire de Herecourt” among the followers of the Conqueror at Hastings. According to Planché some French authorities identify him as Errand, the eldest son of Anchetil. The fact that the “Sire de Herecourt” is not further named may have given Heyer the license to invent Hubert and his family. Or she may have felt that Anchetil, having at least seven sons already, would not complain overmuch to be credited with one more, and so proceeded to create Hubert and his family from there.)

de HARCOURT, Raoul (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

Son of Hubert de Harcourt. Half-brother to Gilbert and Eudes de Harcourt. Raoul is a dreamer, who dreams of peace and order in a Normandy torn by civil dissension. He believes William, the young duke, may be the man to bring this order, and so takes service with him. Unasked, he stands guard outside William’s door when he begins to believe there is a plot threatening the Duke, and so earns the nickname “the Watcher”. He then helps William to escape from the traitors at the hunting lodge at Valognes. He becomes William’s favourite, and serves with him in all his military campaigns. Though he asks for no recompense or rewards, he is familiar with all the great men of his time, and in the novel he serves as our “eye” in all of William’s councils. He is the messenger sent on both occasions to request the hand of Mathilda of Flanders in marriage for the Duke. He befriends the Saxon hostage, Edgar of Marwell, and when Edgar’s sister also comes to Normandy, he falls in love with her. He is separated from his friend and his love by hostilities between William and Harold Godwinesson, whom Edgar serves.

(Historical note: This Raoul may be loosely based on Robert de Harcourt,.or on another member of the historical de Harcourt family discussed above in the entry for de HARCOURT, Hubert.)

de LACY*, Walter

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 2, chapter VI

THE CONQUEROR

Failed to join William at Val-ès-dunes, though it is not apparent that he joined the rebels. Geoffrey Martel, Count of Anjou had a grudge against him, and had to be persuaded by King Henry of France not to divide their forces in order that he might lay siege to one of his castles.

( Historical notes:

The place-name that took the spelling “Lacy” in English was originally Lacie, [which later was spelled “Lassy” by the French...]. It lies between Auvray and Vere

The story that Walter de Lacie, or possibly one Ilbert de Lacie (who may have been the brother of Walter), or both, were present at Hastings comes from Wace, who mentioned both a “Cil de Lacie" and "Le Chevalier de Lacie” in his account of the battle – though this account was written about a century after the battle was fought. These two references may have been to two different men, or to one man under different styles. Both Walter and Ilbert were real men, however.

That Walter de Lacie was present in England shortly after the battle is a proposition that’s confirmed in chronicles of the period: in 1069, Walter de Lacy was part of the fighting force that went with William Fitz Osbern to battle Welsh rebels in Brecknock.

Walter married a woman named Emmeline, who bore him three sons and two daughters. He died accidentally in the spring of 1084, when he fell from a ladder while inspecting a portion of the Church of St. Peter at Hereford, which then was being built under his patronage.

Walter’s eldest son and heir, Roger, held nearly 100 lordships at the time of the Domesday survey, some 65 of which were in Gloucestershire. Roger, however, was banished from England by William Rufus, the land going to his next brother Hugh, who died without issue. Walter’s third son, another Walter, became a monk and had no issue either. So by the second generation the English lands of de Lacy were divided between Walter’s two daughters. According to Planché the only daughter who had children was the younger one, Emma. Her son Gilbert who took the name Lacy, and was ancestor of the family that later made a name for itself in Ulster.)

de L’AIGLE*, Engenufe

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed), vol XII/1, Appendix L, p. 48

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter VI

They Came With the Conqueror (L.G. Pine) p. 96

THE CONQUEROR

A member of Duke William’s army who perished at the Battle of Hastings. Described by Earl Harold of Wessex as turbulent, and needing a strong hand over him.

(Historical notes:

The castle of l'Aigle (the eagle), was located on the river Risle, in the arrondissement of Mortain

The name of this man also is given in the forms Engenulf, Euguenulf, and Enguerrand

de L’Aigle (or Laigle), Lord of L’Aigle. He was the son of Foubert de Beine, who founded the castle.

Both Wace and Orderic place Engenufe at the battle of Hastings, but the statement that he died there is first made by Orderic, writing more than 70 years after the battle. Still, The Complete Peerage says it seems safe to accept Orderic’s account in this case.

He married a woman named Richeveride, who bore him three sons. Roger, the eldest, was slain about the year 1060 in circumstances that are not otherwise recorded.

The second son, Richard or Richer, may possibly have been at Hastings with his father. Richer was killed by a young assassin from ambush, on the way to the siege of Saint-Susanne in 1084 or 1085. Richer married Judith, (daughter of Richard le Goz, Viscount of the Avranchin) by whom he had several children, of whom the eldest son and heir, Gilbert, became Lord of L’Aigle. This Gilbert, or his descendant, later obtained the barony (feudal lordship) of Pevensey in England.

The third son, Gilbert, received the viscounty of Exmes or Hiemois from Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, about the end of the year 1090. Gilbert withstood a siege by Robert de Belesme early in 1091, but was killed when he was attempting to escape capture at Moulins in 1092).

de MANCEAUX, Drogon

(unknown whether fictional or historical)

THE CONQUEROR

Failed to join William at Val-ès-dunes, though it is not apparent that he joined the rebels.

de MEULES*, Baldwin

Sources:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter II

Feudal England (J.H. Round), chart pedigree following p. 358

THE CONQUEROR

A member of Duke William’s court who wrote poetry to Elfrida’s beauty.

(Historical notes:

Baldwin de Meules was a son of Count Gilbert of Brionne, one of the young Duke William’s guardians who was murdered. After the father’s murder, Baldwin and his brother Richard de Bienfaite took refuge at the court of Baldwin of Flanders. They returned to Normandy at the time of William and Mathilda’s marriage. Baldwin received Meules and Sap as recompense for his portion of his father’s lands, which had been confiscated and joined to the ducal possessions.

It is sometimes contended that Baldwin fought at Hastings, though this belief requires us to suppose that he was the “Sire de Reviers” mentioned by Wace.

Whether Baldwin was present at Hastings or arrived in England afterward, he received large grants of land from the Conqueror in the west of England, including more than 150 manors in Devonshire. He served as sheriff of Devon, as did two of his sons.

He married twice: first to a woman named Albreda, sometimes said to have been a kinswoman (niece or cousin) of Duke William, by whom he apparently had no issue. By his second wife, Emma, Baldwin had three sons and three daughters. He seems to have died about the year 1090.)

de MONTDIDIER*, Ralph

Sources:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter IV under William de Warenne

Also mentioned in The Complete Peerage (revised ed) vol IX, p. 266

THE CONQUEROR

Ralph de Montdidier accompanied King Henry of France during his 1054 invasion of Normandy. Montdidier was in Prince Eudes’ division, and was taken prisoner at Mortemer. He must have been ransomed, as he was present once again with King Henry of France in 1058, at the defeat at the ford of Varaville.

(Historical note: this Ralph apparently is the Comté de Montdidier who received a safe conduct from Roger de Mortemer, much to the displeasure of Duke William of Normandy. The difficulty, from Roger de Mortemer’s viewpoint, is that Roger had done homage to Count Ralph, and therefore was his man. The story comes from the chronicle of Orderic)

de MONTFORT*, Hugh

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed) vol XII/1, Appendix L, p. 48.

They Came With the Conqueror (L. G. Pine) p 96

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter V

Mentioned as present in February 1066 when Duke William told his closest allies of his plan to invade England. See 1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) p. 95

THE CONQUEROR

All the references in the book to a de Montfort (some of the references are direct, others not) are probably to this Hugh. An adherent of William’s from Val-ès-dunes to Hastings, he was a member of the private council held by William prior to Lillebonne. He was a good friend of Raoul de Harcourt.

(Historical notes:

It is possible, though unlikely, that the Val-ès-dunes reference is to Hugh With the Beard, the father of this Hugh de Montfort. The elder Hugh died early in the reign of duke William in combat with Walkelin de Ferrers, who was mortally wounded in the same contest.

Both Hughs, father and son, were Lords of Montfort-sur-Risle near Brionne.

The younger Hugh de Montfort (Hugh II) is one of a dozen Norman noblemen mentioned by William of Poitiers as having fought under William at the battle of Hastings. Orderic calls him the Constable, and also says he fought at Hastings. Further, this Hugh II was one of the leaders at the battle of Mortemer in 1054, though in the book he is not mentioned as being involved. After the conquest he received considerable lands in England (amounting to more than 100 manors, in 4 counties), and also the governorship of Dover Castle.

Note, though, that in any case, despite the tempting similarity of names, this Hugh II is not ancestor in the male line of the familiar “de Montfort” family that became earls of Leicester early in the 13^th century. Hugh II apparently married twice, having two sons (Hugh and Robert) by his first wife, and a daughter (Alice) by his second wife. Though Robert was living at least as late as 1099, neither he nor Hugh left any children. The daughter, Alice, married Gilbert de Gant, a son of Count Baldwin VI of Flanders, a nephew of Queen Mathilda.)

de MONTGOMERI*, Mabille

Sources:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter VI

The Complete Peerage, (revised ed.) vol XI, p. 683 (note (d), as continued on p. 684) and pp 686-7, including p. 687, note (a). Also see vol I, p. 230

THE CONQUEROR

Mabille, wife of Roger de Montgomeri and daughter of William of Belesme, was both beautiful and a troublemaker. When Roger returned from Flanders after Mathilda’s insulting refusal to William’s offer of marriage, he made the mistake of telling Mabille about Mathilda’s comments. Later, when seated with the duke at dinner, Mabille hinted at the insults, causing the duke to force the story from Roger. As a result, the duke made his “love quest” to the Flemish court to punish Mathilda.

(Historical notes:

This was Mabille (or Mabel) de Bellême, the daughter and heir of William Talvas, Lord of Alençon and Seez in Normandy (himself the fifth son of William de Bellême, lord of Bellême and Alençon).

Mabille brought considerable property with her in marriage to Roger de Montgomeri., an event solemnized, per Planché, in 1048, though The Complete Peerage says only that the date probably was between 1050 and 1054. She was murdered either in December 1079 (per The Complete Peerage) or in 1082 (per Planché) by a man identified variously as “Hugh Bunel,” or as “Hugh de la Roche d'lgé.”

Orderic describes her as a “poisoner and a monster of iniquity,” (alleging, among other crimes, that Mabille poisoned Gilbert, one of her husband’s brothers, about the year 1063). However, The Complete Peerage comments that his statements about her "must be receivcd with great reserve.”)

de MONTGOMERI*, Roger

Sources:

The Complete Peerage, (revised ed.) vol XI, pp. 683-7 (see especially p 684, and note (i), and p. 686, note (j)); also see vol I, p. 230-3

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter VI

THE CONQUEROR

See also: “Montgomeri” (without the prefixed “de”)

Roger de Montgomeri is one of William’s most powerful seigneurs. He is married to Mabille, daughter of William Talvas, lord of Belesme. He fought in the army of Duke William in many wars, and acted as one of his envoys when William first requested the hand of Mathilda of Flanders from her father, Count Baldwin. Heyer also says that Roger led a large force of men of Belesme at Hastings, but as to that detail see below under the historical notes.

(Historical notes:

Montgomeri or Montgomery refers to the communes of St-Germain-de-Montgomery and Ste-Foy-de-Montgomery, in Calvados, arrondisement of Lisieux

This Roger de Montgomeri was the second man to bear that name: he apparently was the third but first surviving son and heir of an earlier Roger de Montgomery, seigneur of Montgomery and vicomte of the Hiesmois, who was exiled early in the reign of the young Duke William because his elder son William had murdered Osbern, son of Herfast the steward. This elder Roger married Josceline, who apparently was a niece of Gunnor, Duchess of Normandy.

Despite the inauspicious fact of the banishment of the elder Roger de Montgomery, his son and namesake, the second Roger, duly succeeded his father as lord of Montgomeri and vicomte of the Hiesmois. He was a member of Duke William’s army as early as 1048, and from 1053 was a frequent member of William’s entourage.

There is some confusion in the accounts of the Norman conquest, on the matter of whether Roger was present at Hastings: Wace says he fought there, whereas Orderic says he remained in Normandy as part of the council to advise Duchess Mathilda. The editors of The Complete Peerage side with Orderic, saying that Roger remained in Normandy in 1066, and didn’t arrive in England until the end of 1067.

After the Conquest Roger received a grant of Arundel and Chichester (Dec 1067), and is commonly said to have become Earl of Arundel. Further, in 1070 he was created Earl of Shrewsbury or Shropshire, having also a number of other large grants of land.

Roger married twice, and had five or six sons and four daughters by his first wife Mabel (or Mabille) de Bellême. Later, on the death, in 1070, of Mabille’s paternal uncle Yves, bishop of Sées and seigneur of Bellême; the whole of the large Bellême estates passed to Roger in her right: he thus became lord of Alençon, Séez, and Bellême, in Normandy. After Mabille’s murder Roger remarried: his second wife was Adelaide, daughter of Everard de Puiset; they had at least one son, named Everard.

Roger died at Shrewsbury in July (or possibly August) of 1094, three days after having become a monk.

Roger’s second and third sons duly succeeded as earls of Shrewsbury, but the male line failed in 1171)

de MORTEMER*?, Ralph

(probably historical, but see note)

Source:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter VII

THE CONQUEROR

Mentioned as part of William’s forces under Robert of Eu at Mortemer in 1054.

(Historical notes:

Mortemer (the Latin version of which takes the pleasing, if somehow ominous, form “Mortuo-mari”) is a place in the Pays de Caux in Normandy.

There is, to say the least of it, no clear-cut story to be found here. One Hue (Hugh) de Mortemer is said by Wace to have been present at the battle of Hastings, but in the first place Wace was writing about 100 years after the battle, and so cannot be treated as an unimpeachable authority. In the second place, one of the editors of Wace says the man at Hastings was not Hugh but Roger, son of Roger de Mortemer; while another editor, Auguste le Prévost, says, again without citing his authority, that "it was not Hugh de Mortemer who assisted at the battle of Hastings, but his father Raoul [Ralph], son of Roger, Lord of Mortemer sur Eaulne.” A Ralph de Mortemer may also have been present at Mortemer in 1054.)

de MORTEMER*, Roger

Sources:

The Complete Peerage vol IX pp 266-7 through 285 (for Mortimer)

Also vol VIII pp 433-54 (for March)

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter VII

THE CONQUEROR

Roger de Mortemer is identified in the book as the Lord of Mortemer who supports William at the battle of Val-ès-dunes (1047). He was one of the commanders of the Norman force under Robert of Eu, which destroyed the army of Prince Eudes at Mortemer in 1054.

(Historical notes:

Roger de Mortemer was Seigneur of Mortemer-sur-Eaulne (a place near Neufchâtel-en-Brai, in Normandy). After the battle of Mortemer he sheltered the Count of Amiens, and helped Ralph, Count of Montdidier, one of the French prisoners (and a nobleman to whom Roger had done homage), to escape. For this he was banished and his estates confiscated by Duke William. Roger was later pardoned, and some of his estates returned, except for the castle of Mortemer, in Normandy, which had been granted to the duke’s kinsman, William of Warenne.

Roger received considerable grants of land in England, and was living at least as late as 1078 but was dead by the time the Domesday Book was compiled in 1086, when his son and heir Ralph was listed as a tenant-in-chief in 12 counties. From Roger, through this son Ralph, were descended the Lords Mortimer, the second of whom was created Earl of March in 1328, though he was attainted and executed just over two years later, in November 1330. The Earl of March left a son and heir Edmund who was summoned to parliament in 1331 as Lord Mortimer, and his son and heir was restored to the earldom of March in 1354. The earldom merged in the crown in 1461 when Edward, the 7^th Earl, was proclaimed King Edward IV)

de SAINT-MAURE* ?, Drogo

(possibly historical, but more likely fictional)

Sources:

Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage (1956 ed) p 1089, and 2029

They Came With the Conqueror (L.G. Pine) pp 58-9

THE CONQUEROR

“Honest” Drogo is one of William’s adherents who is drugged at Valognes.

(Historical note: Drogo may be meant for “Guido de Saint-Maure, who sometimes is said to have come to England in 1066, and to have been a distant ancestor of – among other worthies -- Jane Seymour, the dukes of Somerset, and the marquesses of Hertford. This story, though, while indisputably romantical, does not appear to be substantiated by records of the Norman era.)

de SAINT-SAUVEUR*, Neel, Viscount of Cotentin

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter I; and vol 2, chapter VI

THE CONQUEROR

Called the “Noble Chef de Faucon”. He fought against Duke William at Val-ès-dunes, and was exiled. Later, when William laid siege to the garrison of Geoffrey Martel, Count of Anjou at Domfront, Saint-Sauveur took the war into Martel’s own territory, thus delaying a relief of the siege. This won him back into William’s good graces, and he received his properties back. He remained a faithful adherent of William, and Heyer says he was with William at the battle of Hastings. He appears as one of the more dashing of William’s principal lords.

(Historical notes:

Saint-Sauveur lies in the Cotentin.

For fighting against Duke William at Val-ès-dunes, Neel was banished. He lived in Brittany for some time, but eventually, in an unspecified year, was recalled and restored to his lands.

The only authority who suggests that this Neel was present at Hastings is Wace, writing about a century later, who identifies a “Neel” in command of a company, among the barons of the Cotentin..

For the story that Neel le Vicomte de Saint-Sauveur died at a battle at or near Cardiff in Wales, about 1092-4, along with Roger de Montgomeri and Hugh de Gournay, see the entry for de GOURNAY, Hugh.)

de TOENI*, Roger

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter I

THE CONQUEROR

Father of Ralph de Toeni. Led a rebellion against William the Conqueror during William’s minority.

(Historical notes:

These details are taken from the narrative of Orderic, writing about the middle of the 12^th century. Orderic says that Roger de Toeni, seeing no need to be loyal to a bastard offspring of the ducal house, rebelled.

De Toeni, along with two of his sons, Halbert and Elinance, died in battle against Roger de Beaumont.)

de TOENI*, Ralph

(Lord of Conches)

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed.) vol XII/1, Appendix L, p 48

They Came With the Conqueror (L,G. Pine) pp. 96, 97. (But compare Burke’s Peerage and Baronetage (1956 ed) p 965)

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter VII

THE CONQUEROR

The de Toeni family were the hereditary gonfanoniers, or standard-bearers, of the Dukes of Normandy. Ralph de Toeni fought beside William for many years, and acted as herald for William after the battle of Mortemer in 1054, taking the news of the crushing defeat to King Henry of France. He was banished for little cause in 1058, but reinstated in 1063. At Hastings, he refused the honour of carrying the gonfanon, arguing his age, and recommended Toustain FitzRou le Blanc to William’s notice as a young man eager to serve him.

(Historical notes:

This Ralph was either the son or grandson (Orderic says grandson) of the Roger de Toeni who, disputing the succession of William the Bastard in Normandy, was slain with two of his sons by Roger de Beaumont.

The story that Ralph (whose name also sometimes appears in the form “Raoul”) “refused” the honor of carrying the Duke’s standard at the battle of Hastings is not a contemporaneous account: it comes from Wace, writing a century later. According to Wace, Ralph “claimed quittance” rather than flatly refusing the honor, not because of his great age, but became he wished to engage in the thick of the fighting.

Ralph received some 37 lordships in England, particularly in Norfolk, but made Flamstead in Hertfordshire his chief seat. He married in 1077 to Isabel (or Elizabeth), daughter of Simon de Montfort l’Amauri, in return for having helped Simon to kidnap and marry his half-sister, Agnes (daughter of Richard of Evreux and Ralph’s mother Adele.) Ralph’s daughter Godechilde later would marry Baldwin, King of Jerusalem.

Ralph died in 1102. According to L.G. Pine, Ralph is one of three or four Companions of the Conqueror who demonstrably founded families that, in the direct male line, still were present and reasonably prominent, in the England of the 20^th century. Pine says that the Gresley family, Baronets of Drakelow in Derbyshire, are his direct descendants. (Note, however, that even here the accounts are somewhat variable. According to the entry in the 1956 edition of Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage, the Gresley Baronets descend from directly from Nigel, the brother of Ralph, rather than directly from Ralph. Or, if Planché is to be believed, they descend from Robert, another brother of Nigel and Ralph.)

de VIEUXPONT*?, William

(apparently historical: see note)

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter IV

THE CONQUEROR

A member of Duke William’s army who was slain at the Battle of Hastings.

(Historical notes:

Planché says that the place,Vieuxpont, probably was Vieuxpont-en-Ange, in the arrondissement of Lisieux.

With a “Sire de Montfort”, this William de Vez-Pont (Vieuxpont) is credited with saving the life of William Malet at Hastings. However, this story appears in the account of Wace, written about a century after the battle, and so is not unimpeachable evidence either of the event itself or of this William’s presence at the battle.

If there was someone named Vieuxpont at the battle it might, on historical grounds, as easily have been Robert in addition to (or instead of) William: according to Orderic one Robert de Vieuxpont was among those sent by the Conqueror to Normandy in 1073, to help John de la Flèche against Fulk le Rechin, Count of Anjou. Further, a man who apparently was the son of this Robert was claiming lands in Devonshire in 1131 [or possibly 1113]. But this, of course, is not conclusive either, concerning events in 1066. William and Robert de Vieuxpont may have been near kin: perhaps brothers, perhaps father and son; and both, or either, or neither, may have been present at Hastings. Or the two men may have had no blood kinship at all.

William de Vieuxpont does not otherwise appear in historical records of early Norman England, and so may have died at Hastings itself, if he was present there. In any event he apparently died before 1073.

A Vieuxpont family, whose name was Anglicized as “Vipount,” can be traced from Robert de Vieuxpont, this one having rather more staying power. In the reign of King John , another Robert Vipount received a castle and a barony in Westmoreland, which was lost by the grandson of the grantee, who apparently had the misfortune to be killed at the battle of Evesham.)

de WARENNE*, William

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed.), vol XII/1 pp 491-4; also vol XII/1, Appendix L, p. 48

They Came With the Conqueror (L. G. Pine) pp 96

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter IV

THE CONQUEROR

“Brother” to Roger de Mortemer, and a life-long adherent of Duke William’s. Served with him from Val-ès-dunes to Hastings. A member of the private council held by William prior to Lillebonne.

(Historical notes:

“Warenne” is a variant spelling of the hamlet of Varenne in the Seine Inférieure, on the river Varenne.

This William was a younger son of Rodulf de Warenne (whose name sometimes was Latinized as Rodulfus and other times as Radulfus). The father, however named, was a considerable landowner in Normandy, in lands adjoining the Seine upstream from Rouen; he still was living at least at late as 1074. He married twice, and his first wife Beatrice, the mother of William, was almost certainly a niece of Gunnor, the second wife of Duke Richard I of Normandy.

During his father’s lifetime William de Warenne was given lands in Normandy by Duke William, to include Ballencombre, with its castle. He also received the castle of Mortemer in or after 1054, after the forfeiture of Roger de Mortimer. Orderic, who mentions this detail, says William was kinsman (though evidently not brother) to Roger.

William de Warenne became one of the Conqueror’s most powerful seigneurs. He is one of a dozen Norman noblemen named as present at the battle of Hastings by William of Poitiers (who, though not himself at the battle, was chaplain to the Duke and had been a soldier before joining the church: his account was written between 1071 and 1076). After the victory William de Warenne obtained considerable lands in England, to include grants totaling nearly 300 manors in 13 different counties, and William II later created him first Earl of Surrey about April 1088.

He married twice: first apparently about 1078 to Gundred, sister of Gherbod the Fleming, Earl of Chester (some sources say this Gundred was a daughter of the Conqueror, or a daughter of his wife Mathilda, by an earlier husband, but The Complete Peerage says these notions were later disproved). Gundred died in childbed in May 1085 leaving 2 sons and a daughter. William’s second wife, whose name is not recorded, was a sister of Richard Guet, listed in the Domesday Book as one of his tenants in Essex.

William was seriously wounded at the siege of Pevensey before the end of May 1088, and died, apparently of the effect of his wound, on June 24^th. His direct male line, normally styled Earls of Warenne, but sometimes Earls of Surrey, held the earldom until the death, in 1148, of his grandson, the 3^rd Earl, also named William. At that point it passed to William of Blois, a younger son of King Stephen, who married Isabel, the only child of the 3^rd Earl. That William died without issue, but Isabel remarried and had children: her issue held the earldom into the late 14^th century , when it was forfeited.)

DIGERA, Edric

(probably fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

A Saxon lord on whose lands Edgar and Alfric shot a hart in their boyhood. Digera was slain in the Welsh wars and succeeded by his nephew. His wife was Dame Elgifu.

du LAC

(probably fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

One of Henry of France’s host at the battle of the fords of Varaville in 1058. Ralph de Montdidier tells King Henry that du Lac has the French forces which are cut off on the other side of the fords “well in hand,” just before they are cut down by William’s bowmen.

du FAUCON, Neel, Chef

THE CONQUEROR

See: de Saint-Sauveur, Neel, Viscount of Cotentin

du-PIN*?, Fulk

(apparently historical)

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2 chapter XI

THE CONQUEROR

Tries to pull down Richard de Bienfaite from a bench at the Council of Lillebonne. Is against a venture overseas.

(Historical notes:

Planché says that Pin is thought to be “Pin au Haras, arrondissement of Argentan.”

A “Sire des Pins” is included by Wace, writing about a century after the battle of Hastings, in his description of the Norman host. As often is true, Wace provides no further details that might identify this man, and permit scholars to determine the likelihood that he was part of William’s invading army. Planché found one Foulques (or Fulk) des Pin mentioned in a Norman charter of the Conqueror’s time, and also a Morin du Pin, living at least as late as the year 1080, who was dapifer to Robert, Comte de Mortain. But either man, or neither, may have been present at Hastings. According to Orderic, also writing several decades after the battle, a family of this name was in England shortly after the Conquest, and may have been vassals of the Count of Meulen.)

du PLESSIS*, Grimbauld

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter I

THE CONQUEROR

An adherent of Guy of Burgundy, and the most celebrated traitor from the hunting lodge at Valognes. It was Grimbauld who arranged to have those men loyal to Duke William drugged, in order to allow Duke William to be taken in his sleep. He was taken captive at Val-ès-dunes by Hubert de Harcourt, and died in prison.

(Historic notes:

His forename is also given as “Grimoult.”
After the defeat of his allies at Val-ès-Dunes, Grimbauld was captured and imprisoned. He confessed that he had meant to kill Duke William at Valognes, and that his accomplice was a knight named Salle, son of Huon. Salle challenged Grimoult to a trial by battle, but on the day this combat was to occur, Grimbauld was found dead in his prison cell.

There also is a story that Grimbauld’s sister married William d’Aubigny (named d’Albini in the book) whose descendants obtained the estates of Arundel and Mowbray after the Conquest.)

DUXIA*

(historical figure, but see note)

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter I

THE CONQUEROR

Maternal grandmother of William the Conqueror

Wife of Fulbert of Falaise and mother of Herleva, mistress of Count Robert of Hiesmes. Also mother of Walter of Falaise. Grandmother of William the Conqueror. Duxia is the first to hear of Herleva’s vision.

(Historical note: Just as Herlève’s father is sometimes called “Fulbert” but also is given various other names in different chronicles of the period, so also “Duxia” may, or may not, really have been the name of Herlève’s mother: in some accounts her name is given as Helen and in others, saving your reverence, as Dodo.)

EADGYTHA*, Queen of England

Sources:

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) p. 193

Handbook of British Chronology (Powicke and Fryde) p. 30

Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage (1956 ed.) p lx

Feudal England (J.H. Round) p 124

THE CONQUEROR

The eldest child of Earl Godwine (or Godwin) of Wessex, Eagytha was married in January 1045 to King Edward “the Confessor,” who had been crowned in the spring of 1043. She bore Edward no children, as he chose to remain celibate. After the Conquest, she was allowed by William to remain in her dower city of Winchester.

(Historic notes:

Her name is also rendered as “Eadgyth” and “Edith.”

Her husband, King Edward “the Confessor,” died early in January 1066. She submitted to Duke William about a month after the battle of Hastings. Eadgytha died in 1072 per one source, or in 1075 per other sources.)

EARNULPH (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

One of Harold’s train when he is ship-wrecked on the coast of Ponthieu. He is present at the oath-taking at Bayeux.

EDMUND (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

One of Harold’s train when he is ship-wrecked on the coast of Ponthieu. He is present at the oath-taking at Bayeux.

EDRICSSON, Alfric (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

A Saxon friend of Edgar of Marwell. One of Harold’s party in the shipwreck off Ponthieu, he escaped to the Norman court to beg for help. Edgar and Alfric grew up together, but Edgar’s long exile at Normandy caused difficulties in renewing their friendship. Alfric felt that his friend was sadly changed by his years in Rouen.

ELGIFU (probably fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

The wife of Edric Digera. She bore him many children, but each was a leper and hence unfit to succeed him.

EMMA (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

A midwife, who delivers Herleva of her son William. Herleva’s mother, Duxia, consults her about Herleva’s precognitive dream, as Emma is also a wise woman.

ENGLAND*, Ethelred, King of

[reigned about 978-1016]

Sources:

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) pp. 49, 58-61

Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), pp. 28-9

Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage (1953 ed)_p. lx

THE CONQUEROR

Father of several children, including [by his second wife] Edward the Confessor and Alfred. Deposed by Swein Forkbeard, father of Cnut (or Canute), but returns to the throne in 1014 on Swein’s death. Succeeded by the eldest son of his first marriage, Edmund Ironside.

(Historical notes:

His nickname, “Unraed”, was not contemporaneous: it doesn’t seem to be recorded before the 13th century. The nickname appears to be a pun on his given name: “Ethelred” means “noble counsel,” and “Unraed” means “no counsel” in the sense of without wisdom or good counsel. Disappointingly, then, it seems he was not known as Ethelred “the unready,” which is a corruption of the earlier form.

However, the fact that Ethelred’s reign coincided with some three decades of attacks on England by the Vikings, which he was not successful in countering, may have made the later form of his name not altogether unfitting.

Ethelred apparently was born about 968-9, the youngest son of King Edgar of England; he succeeded his half-brother Edward “the Martyr” (who had acceded as a boy in 975 but died (was murdered) in 978 or 979). Ethelred died in April of 1016.)

ESTOUTEVILLE*, Lord of

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter X

THE CONQUEROR

Ally of Duke William from Val-ès-dunes to Hastings.

(Historical notes:

Planché says that Estouteville might refer to Estouteville-sur-Cailly (in the canton of Bouchy, arrondissement de Rouen, which formerly was a dependency on the fief of La Ferté en-Brai, of which the Gournays were lords) or it may mean Estouteville-sur-Mer.

The notion that any man from Estouteville was present at Hastings comes from the account of Wace, written about a century after the battle: a “Sire d'Estoteville” appears in Wace’s description of the Norman host. Since no further identification was provided, later historians were left to conjecture that if this report is accurate it may mean Robert d’Estouteville, since a man so named was, about 1055-6, governor of the Castle of Ambrières, defending it for Duke William against the attempted depredations of Geoffrey Martel.

However, no reference to Robert has been located by your editors among Duke William’s forces at either Val-ès-dunes or Mortemer. Nor does a Robert d’Estouteville appear in Domesday book as a tenant or chief undertenant of the crown, though he apparently was living at the time of the Domesday survey.

Robert did marry and have a son, also named Robert, who was a baron in Normandy at least as late as 1106. From this we may guess that the first Robert, if he was present at Hastings, did not choose to settle in England, but returned home after the battle.

The second Robert was captured at the battle of Tinchebrai by Henry I and without further ado was imprisoned for life. He, however, had already married and had a son, again named Robert, who also was captured by Henry I, in his case at the storming of Dive, but was released. This third Robert later was made sheriff of Yorkshire in the reign of King Henry II.

ETHELRED* of England

THE CONQUEROR

See: ENGLAND, Ethelred, King of

ETHELWULF

(probably fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

A Saxon who lives near Pevensey

EU*, Robert, Count of

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed) vol V, pp 151-3

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter VIII

THE CONQUEROR

Described as a kinsman of Robert, Count of Hiesmes [later Duke of Normandy]. Robert of Eu is a faithful adherent of Duke William of Normandy, having sworn allegiance to him in his cradle. He accompanies him in all his military campaigns, and it is his castle at Eu that is the scene of Duke William’s marriage to Mathilda of Flanders.

(Historical notes:

Eu (which shows up in numerous other spellings, to include Ewe, Ou, and Ow) lies in Caux province, on the river then called Eu or Ou, but now called Bresle.

This Robert was the son of William, at one time comte d’Exmes (which this William lost after an unsuccessful rebellion), and later comte d’Eu. Count William, in turn, was the natural son of the first Duke of Normandy named Richard (that is, of the man called Richard I, the 3^rd Duke of Normandy), and the half brother of Duke Richard II. Since Duke Richard I also was the great-grandfather of William the Conqueror, Robert and the Conqueror were cousins.

Duke Richard I gave his natural son William the comté of the Exmesin (or Hiémois) which William later lost by rebelling against his half-brother, Duke Richard II. The half brothers later were reconciled, though, and William received the comté of Eu. William apparently was dead by 1054; his wife was Lesceline, daughter of Turketil, Lord de Turqueville.

Robert was the brother of Hugh, Bishop of Lisieux, who died in July 1077, and of William Busac (q.v.).

Robert was one of the commanders of the Norman army at the battle of Mortemer in 1054. There is no contemporaneous or near-contemporaneous statement that he was present at the battle of Hastings, though it would be no great marvel if he fought there. What is certain is that Robert, as a kinsman of William the Conqueror, did well in England after the Conquest, receiving the honor of Hastings, as well as manors in Essex and Huntingdonshire; by the time of the Domesday survey he also held some 40 estates in Dorsetshire and 7 other counties. He was a co-commander in Lincolnshire, with Robert, Count of Mortain, in 1069, when Danish invaders were defeated in Lindsey.

He married Beatrice (or Beatrix), by whom he had at least two sons. He died in September of a year between 1089 and 1093, and was succeeded by his second but first surviving son William, Count of Eu and Lord of Hastings. His direct male line expired in 1186, when Eu and Hastings passed by marriage to Raoul de Lusignan, the husband of Alice (or Aaliz), only sister of Henry, 6^th Count of Eu and 5^th Lord of Hastings.)

EUDES*, Prince of France

Source:

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 181

THE CONQUEROR

Brother of King Henry of France. Prince Eudes led a Belgic host as part of a two pronged attack against William, and had his army destroyed at Mortemer by William’s forces in 1054.

[Historical note: his name sometimes is given in the form “Odo.’]

EUSTACE* of Boulogne

THE CONQUEROR

See: BOULOGNE, Eustace, Count of

EVREUX*, Count of

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed) vol XII/1, App L, p 48

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter VIII

THE CONQUEROR

Duke William’s cousin who was part of the secret council prior to Lillebonne.

(Historical notes:

This would have been Richard, 2^nd Comte d’Evreux. Count Richard also fought at Hastings, according to the chronicler Wace (who was writing about 100 years after the battle), but in fact the family representative who was at the battle was not the Count, but his son and heir William d’Evreux. This is per the account of William of Poitiers (who wrote his account about five years after the battle, and who was a member of Duke William’s household)..

Count Richard was a grandson of Duke Richard I of Normandy; he succeeded his father, Robert, in 1037. He married twice, first to Adela (or Helene), widow of the Roger de Toeni who died in 1038. His son and heir William was a child of this marriage, along with a daughter Agnes. His second wife, Godechilde, bore him one child, a daughter. Count Richard died in December of 1067.

William of Evreux, later the 3^rd Count, was half-brother to Ralph de Toeni. After the Conquest he was constantly in trouble with the Conqueror and his son Henry I, having his lands taken and restored on more than one occasion. He died without issue in 1118, and his title passed to Amaury de Montfort, son of his sister Agnes by Simon de Montfort.

FERGANT*, Alain, of Brittany

Sources:

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) p 174

The Complete Peerage (revised ed.) vol X, pp. 780 (chart pedigree), 783 note (c), and 784 note (a)

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1 chapter VIII (also vol 1, chapter II for a brief paragraph on his first wife Constance of Normandy, a daughter of William the Conqueror)

THE CONQUEROR

A “cousin” [actually nephew] of Count Conan of Brittany [who was poisoned early in 1066], Alan mustered troops to invade England under Duke William of Normandy. At the Battle of Hastings, says Heyer, he led the left wing of the invading force.

(Historical notes:

The forename “Alain” also is spelled “Alan.” The by-name “Fergant” (or Felgan) is Breton for “the Less” or “the Younger.”

Heyer definitely places this Alan Fergant at the battle of Hastings, as one of the senior commanders, a statement that appears to come from the writing of Wace. However, Wace was writing about a century after the battle, and in this instance he may have made an error. The commander of the left wing of William’s army appears, instead, to have been Alan’s cousin, the man called Alan le Roux (Alan the Red.)—who, confusingly, also was a cousin of Duke (or Count) Conan of Brittany. Worse yet, that either of these Alans was present at the battle is nothing we draw from accounts that were written at the time. Alan Fergant is named as present at Hastings by Wace, but the earliest authority for the statement that Alan the Red led the left wing of William’s army is the work of Gaimar, writing 70 years after the event. Accordingly, The Complete Peerage says that the Alan who almost certainly was present at Hastings, “probably as the leader of the Breton contingent,” was Alan the Red, not Alan Fergant.

Alan Fergant, however, may himself have been present at the battle, and if he was there he not unlikely may have had command of a force of men. He was the son of Hoel V, Count of Cornouaille, by Hawise of Brittany (daughter of the Alan, Duke of Brittany, who died in 1040). This Hoel became Duke of Brittany early in 1066 when Conan, only brother of Hawise, died without issue.

According to Wace, Hoel sent Alain with a large contingent of troops to join William during the conquest.

Alain Fergant married first, in 1086, to Duke William’s daughter Constance, who died without issue (poisoned, it is said, by her own servants, either in April 1090 or possibly August 1094). He then married Ermengarde (daughter of Fulk le Rechin, Count of Anjou), by whom he had a son and heir, Conan.

Alain Fergant succeeded his father as Count of Cornouaille and Duke of Brittany in 1084, and died a monk in October 1119. For reasons that may, perhaps, now be obvious, he is frequently confused with his cousins, the brothers Alain le Roux and Alain le Noir, who successively held large grants of land in Yorkshire.)

FITZERNEIS*, Roger

Sources:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter VII

They Came With the Conqueror (L.G. Pine) p 96

THE CONQUEROR

A member of Duke William’s army at the Battle of Hastings. FitzErneis was seen by Raoul de Harcourt to fling his lance away and to attack the Saxon front “like a maniac”. He was killed even as he reached the Saxon standard.

(Historical notes:

The “Roger” fitz Erneis of Heyer’s book may have been intended to be “Robert FitzErneis,” which is the name given in the Falaise Roll, in Wace, and also in Planché and in L.G. Pine’s They Came With the Conqueror. Roger/Robert was a collateral descendant of the Tesson family through his mother Hawise, the sister of Fulk d'Aunou. He married a woman named Hawise, like his mother, and left at least one son. His death at Hastings, which Heyer apparently took from the account in the “Roman de Rou” of Wace, is indirectly attested by a charter of his son, also named Robert, who says that his father was slain in England.

Consider, however, that though fitz Erneis is included by L.G. Pine in his list of men known to be present at Hastings, Pine was not convinced that fitz Erneis died at the battle, saying only that he was killed sometime between 1066 and 1083. This too would be consistent with the language in the charter of the younger Robert.)

FITZOSBERN*, William, Seneschal of Normandy

Sources:

The Complete Peerage vol VI pp 447-50 (though note (f) on p. 447 questions whether this William was Seneschal of Normandy or England). Also see vol XII/1, Appendix L, p 48

Feudal England (J.H. Round) p 328, and p 329, note 19

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter VI

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 248

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) pp. 104, 202

THE CONQUEROR

Son of Osbern, the seneschal (steward) of Normandy, who was murdered by William de Montgomeri in Duke William’s chamber. Always loyal to the Duke, and close in his counsels, he was granted the lordship of Breteuil by William. He was part of the private council called by William prior to Lillebonne. He was an enthusiastic supporter of William’s plans for England, and at the council of Lillebonne, while acting as spokesman for the reluctant baronage, announced to their astonishment and consternation that they unanimously supported William’s bid for the English throne. He commanded one wing of Duke William’s army at Hastings.

(Historical notes:

The story of FitzOsbern’s unexpected strategem at Lillebone comes from the “Roman de Rou” of Wace, writing about a century after the battle of Hastings.

William FitzOsbern was himself doubly, if distantly, connected to Duke William (the Conqueror) through Richard I, the 3^rd Duke of Normandy. That is, he was eldest son and heir of Osbern, the steward of Normandy, and Osbern’s father, Herfast, was the brother of Gunnor, wife of Richard I of Normandy. Also Osbern’s wife, Emma, was the daughter of Ralph, Count of Ivry, who on his mother’s side was half-brother of Duke Richard I of Normandy).

William FitzOsbern is one of a dozen men named by William of Poitiers as present at the battle of Hastings. He thus shared in the spoils of victory, receiving large holdings in Britain (including the Isle of Wight, and the county of Hereford), and was made earl of Hereford in 1067 (or in 1070, per Orderic). William I made him Regent, and entrusted Norwich to him in 1067, on leaving England.

He was one of two guardians named by Baldwin VI of Flanders (eldest brother of Queen Matilda) for his son and heir, Arnolf. But Baldwin VI died in 1070, and thereafter FitzOsbern was sent by Queen Mathilda to assist Richilde, (or Richildis, widow of Baldwin VI), against another of Matilda’s brothers, Robert le Frison (the Frisian). William had married Adelise (daughter of Roger de Toeni), but she had died by this time, having borne 3 sons. Being a widower himself, William married Richilde, and so can be regarded as, briefly, the titular Count of Flanders. However, he was killed early the next year (February 1071) in battle with Robert’s forces.

At his death the lordship of Bruteuil went to his elder son William, while earldom of Hereford passed to his second son Roger. Roger, however, forfeited his lands and titles by rebelling against William I in 1075.)

FITZROU* le Blanc, Toustain

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed), vol XII/1, Appendix L, p. 48

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter VII

They Came With the Conqueror (L.G. Pine) p 96

THE CONQUEROR

A young knight of Caux who was chosen to bear Duke William’s standard at the Battle of Hastings, after the honour was refused by Raoul de Toeni, the hereditary standard bearer.

(Historical notes:

“Gonfanon” is the French term for banner, the Latin “vexillum.” The banner was the one blessed by Pope Alexander II, and sent to Duke William by Gilbert, archdeacon of Lisieux, who had championed William’s cause in Rome as the wronged heir-designate to the English throne.

Toustain (whose name is also given in the form “Turstin FitzRou”) was a son of Rou (Rollo), a younger son of Crispon, Lord of Bec-en-Caux (a place near Fécamp). The claim that he was the Conqueror’s standard-bearer at Hastings is made by Orderic, a Norman monk writing several decades after the battle. However, The Complete Peerage says it seems safe to accept it as fact that he was present at the battle.

He received large estates in England.)

FITZWILLIAM*, Roger

Source: The Complete Peerage (revised ed.), vol VI pp 449-50; see also vol IX, p. 573

THE CONQUEROR

The son of William FitzOsbern, and playmate of Duke William’s eldest son Robert.

(Historical note: He was the second (or possibly the third) son of FitzOsbern, and received the earldom of Hereford and the lands of his father in England. He was known as Roger de Breteuil. In 1075, during one of the Conqueror's absences from England, he conspired with his brother in law, Ralph de Gael, Earl of Norfolk, and also with Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland, and other nobles against King William. The plot was revealed by Waltheof, who got cold feet and advised Lanfranc of the conspiracy. Roger de Breteuil was captured and imprisoned for the balance of his life.

FLANDERS*, Adela, Countess of

THE CONQUEROR

Mother of Matilda, who married William of Normandy, later King of England

Adela is described as a Frenchwoman, and of lively disposition. She was the wife of Count Baldwin V of Flanders, and the mother of Mathilda, Robert the Frisian, Baldwin (and also, says Heyer, mother of Judith, but as to that see note under Flanders, Judith of).

(Historical note: Adela (whose name also is sometimes given as Alix) was a Capet, of French royal blood. She was the daughter of Robert II, King of France, who was variously called the Good, the Pious, or the Sage. She was thus the sister of King Henry of France.)

FLANDERS*, Baldwin [V], Count of

Sources:

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 183, 248

THE CONQUEROR

Father of Matilda, who married William of Normandy, later King of England

The father of Mathilda, wife of William of Normandy. He was known as Baldwin the Wise. After the death of King Henry of France, he was Regent for Phillip until he reached his majority. This left one of William’s frontiers secure. Baldwin was also [according to the book] the father of Judith, who married Tostig, son of earl Godwine.

(Historical note:

This was Count Baldwin V. He was accounted a powerful ruler, and his acceptance of William as a son-in-law indicated that William had risen above his early problems and was secure as Duke of Normandy. Baldwin died in 1067.

Baldwin married Adela Capet (sister of King Henry I of France) and had several children.

Note that at least two modern accounts make Judith and Matilda kinswomen, but not sisters. See entry for Flanders, Judith of)

FLANDERS*, Baldwin [VI] of

Source: The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 248

THE CONQUEROR

The son of Count Baldwin the Wise and brother of the Lady Matilda. Baldwin is better known for caution than for courage.

(Historical note: this was Baldwin VI, eldest son and heir of Count Baldwiin V, whom he succeeded in 1067. Baldwin VI married Richildis and fathered a son, but died in 1070 and Flanders was soon taken by his younger brother Robert le Frison.)

FLANDERS*, Judith of

Sources:

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) p. 84

: The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 3, 163, 191

The Conqueror and His Companions (J. R. Planché) vol 1 chapter I

The Complete Peerage (revised ed.), vol IX, p. 703

THE CONQUEROR

Daughter of Count Baldwin of Flanders and his wife Adela. She married Tostig Godwinesson. Generally accounted the more beautiful of the two sisters, she ran to fat in later years.

(Historical notes:

Heyer here follows the story that Judith was the daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders, by Adela or Alix Capet, (sister of King Henry I of France), making her the sister of Mathilda, wife of William the Conqueror. This may be, ahem, a typesetting error in the book, or simply one more instance of the not infrequent disagreements among historical sources concerning these times.

According to Howarth this Judith was the cousin, not the sister, of Duchess Mathilda, which presumably would make her Count Baldwin V’s cousin or niece, rather than his daughter.

Linklater in one place calls Judith, wife of Tostig, the cousin of Count Baldwin, but elsewhere says Tostig was Baldwin’s brother-in-law, which would indicate that Judith and Baldwin were siblings.

Planché agrees that Judith was sister of Baldwin V of Flanders, which if true would make her Matilda’s aunt. This story is echoed in The Complete Peerage, which says that Judith was the daughter of Baldwin IV of Flanders, and thus Mathilda’s aunt (Mathilda being the daughter of Baldwin V).

Count Baldwin IV (who died in 1039; father of Baldwin V) had two wives: Baldwin V was his son and heir by his first wife Ogive de Luxembourg. His second wife was a daughter of Richard II Duke of Normandy, and Judith may have been a daughter of either the first or the second marriage of the earlier Baldwin, though the chronology makes it more likely that Judith was a child of the second wife.)

FLANDERS*, Mathilda of

(also NORMANDY, Mathilda, Duchess of)

Sources:

They Came With the Conqueror (L. G. Pine) pp. 34, 151

Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), p. 31

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) p. 144

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 183, 211

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter I, and vol 1, chapter II

[For the doubt that Gundred was a daughter of Mathilda see also The Complete Peerage, (revised edition) vol XII/1 p. 494 note (j)].

THE CONQUEROR

The daughter of Count Baldwin of Flanders, and his wife Adela. Heyer describes Mathilda as a widow, previously married to a Fleming named Gherbod. She was married to Duke William of Normandy after a stormy courtship, in 1053. She was very ambitious for her children, especially her eldest son Robert, who was her favourite. She provided William with his flagship, the Mora, and was co-regent with her son during the expedition to England. She is credited in the book with the creation of the Bayeux Tapestry.

(Historical notes:

This lady, whose name is often rendered as “Matilda” rather than “Mathilda,” is a more shadowy figure than you might expect of a Duchess and a crowned Queen. There is, for example, considerable confusion about something as basic as the year of her marriage to the Duke: different sources give different dates. The Handbook of British Chronology, while marking the year as doubtful, cites William de Poitiers, who dated the wedding to 1050-1. But then, Linklater says 1051 or 1052; the Dictionary of British History says 1053; and L.G. Pine says 1054. Planché says that the date is variously given in the range 1047 to 1053, and he himself thinks it was likely the end of 1053 or the beginning of 1054. The ambiguity arises because William would appear to have made overtures for Mathilda’s hand as early as 1049: the couple faced an injunction against their marriage from Pope Leo IX (dated by Planché from the Council of Rheims in Oct 1049), apparently due to a belief that they were related, though distantly. The marriage was later recognized as legitimate by Pope Nicholas II.

Further, while Mathilda traditionally was credited with having been behind the creation of the Bayeux Tapestry, today standard histories credit Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, William’s half-brother, with having commissioned it, likely between 1066 and 1077.

There is also a question whether, in fact, she had an earlier husband than Duke William, which in turn means there is doubt about how many children she had, and even, in the case of her daughters, what their names were, and in what order they were born. By William she certainly had 4 sons and 5 daughters, but she sometimes is credited with a sixth daughter. A woman named Gundred or Gundreda, first wife of William de Warenne, was once said to have been a daughter of the Conqueror, or a daughter of Mathilda’s by an earlier husband. This last is the line adopted by Heyer in the novel, where Mathilda is made the widow of Gherbod, but this notion is by no means universally found in reference books for the period. The Complete Peerage dismisses the story outright as a “later theory,” since disproved.

What we apparently can say for sure is the Matilda was the daughter of Baldwin (V), Count of Flanders, by Adela (or Alix) Capet. William I is said to have been devoted to her, and made her regent of Normandy during his absence. She was crowned queen of England in March 1068. Their last son, Henry, was born later that year in Selby, their only child born in England. She returned to Normandy in 1069, and died there about the end of 1083, being buried at Caen in the Abbaye aux Dames.)

FRANCE*, Henry [I], King of

Sources:

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp 178-9, 183, 207. See also p. 174, 178, 180

THE CONQUEROR

King of France during the early years of William’s reign as Duke of Normandy, and William’s overlord in France. When William’s father dies, King Henry seizes the Argentan, and the stronghold of Tillieres. Later, Henry assists William in putting down the rebels at Val-ès-dunes, and then calls upon his aid against the Count of Anjou. He later turns against William, twice invades Normandy, and is twice repulsed. After the second peace is made, he dies and is succeeded by his son Philip, who is still underage. Henry entrusts guardianship of his son to William’s father-in-law, Baldwin of Flanders.

(Historical notes:

Henry had reason to feel gratitude to the dukes of Normandy: in 1031, during the reign of Duke Robert, William’s father, Henry himself had to take refuge in Normandy, which he used as the base to regain his throne. The fact that he turned against William later on appears to have much to do with William’s fighting prowess, which Henry no doubt regarded as a threat.

Henry’s wife, Anne of Kiev, was a daughter of Jarisleif, Prince of Novgorod. Henry died early in 1060, and was succeeded by his son Philip, then still a boy in the guardianship of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders (William’s father-in-law).)

FRANCE*, Phillip, King of

Source: The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 183, 207, 248, 250-1, 255, 256

THE CONQUEROR

The son of King Henry of France. Phillip succeeded his father when still a minor and was put in the guardianship of Count Baldwin of Flanders.

(Historical notes:

Phillip, the son of Henry of France and Anne of Kiev, inherited his father’s enmity toward Duke William. Phillip’s wife, Bertha of Hainault, was sister of Robert le Frison (younger brother of Count Baldwin VI of Flanders, who quickly took over after his death in 1070) – and who gave asylum to Edgar the Atheling after his forced departure from Scotland.

Philip supported several rebellions by William’s Norman vassals. He also supported the claims of his cousin, Edgar the Atheling, against William, and he supported the rebellion of Robert Curthose (William’s eldest son and heir) against his father.)

FRISIAN*, Robert the

Source: The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 248

THE CONQUEROR

Robert the Frisian was the younger son of Count Baldwin of Flanders. During the wedding festivities of his sister Mathilda and her new husband Duke William of Normandy, Robert tried to pick a fight, and had to be restrained by Hugh de Montfort and Edgar of Marwell.

(Historical note: After his father’s death in 1067, the next Count was his elder brother Baldwin VI—who, however, died in 1070. Robert fought with his brother’s widow Richilde (or Richildis) over the succession to rule of Flanders. Richilde was supported by Queen Mathilda, who sent William FitzOsbern to assist her. FitzOsbern married Richilde, but was killed in battle near Cassel by Robert’s forces.

FULBERT*, tanner of Falaise

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed.) vol XII/1, Appendix K, p. 30

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter I

THE CONQUEROR

Father of Herleva, the mistress of Count Robert of Hiesmes, and thus a grandfather of William the Conqueror. Heyer describes him as a commoner - a tanner in business in Falaise, Normandy.

(Historical notes:

While there is historical basis for the details Heyer uses in the novel, the father of Herlève seems in fact to have been a burgess of Falaise as well as a tradesman of some sort. His trade was identified as that of tanner by the Victorian historian Edward Freeman, but The Complete Peerage says that there is no authority for that statement. Other sources describe him as a brewer, or a dealer in leather and/or fur, or a tailor.

Similarly, while “Fulbert” sometimes is given as his name, he is identified variously in different sources: as Robert; Richard, Herbert, Verperay, or Vertprey

Whatever his name or exact occupation, Herlève’s father was made chamberlain of Normandy in 1027 when Robert succeeded his elder brother as Duke of Normandy.).

GASCONY*?, Guy-Geoffrey, Count of

(apparently historical)

The Conqueror

Joined King Henry of France in an invasion of Normandy, made in concert with the rebellion of William of Arques. When Henry seized the border castle of Moulins in Hiesmes, he gave it into Guy-Geoffrey’s care. Guy Geoffrey also accompanied Henry in the later invasion in 1054 which ended with the French defeat at Mortemer.

GHERBOD*, the Fleming

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed.) vol III p. 164

Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage, (1956 ed.), asterisked note, p lvi

The Conqueror

The first husband of Mathilda of Flanders.

(Historical note: Scholars dispute whether Mathilda of Flanders truly had another husband before she married Duke William. See further comments in the historical note for “Flanders, Mathilda of.”

The belief that Mathilda married twice rather than once had its origin in the wording of some charters of the period: William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, made a grant by charter to Lewes Priory, in memory of “the queen, his wife’s mother.” William of Warenne’s wife’s name was Gundred, and she is described as having a brother, Gherbod, who is said to have been Earl of Chester. But though there does seem to have been a man named Gherbod, Earl of Chester, available during the period in question, what is not clear is that he ever was married to Mathilda.

The Complete Peerage does show a Fleming named Gherbod, Avoué of the Abbey of St Bertin, who was made Earl of Chester in 1070, but it identifies neither wife nor family for him. It says this man returned to his native country soon after being made Earl, was captured at the battle of Cassel in 1071 and was kept a prisoner for many years, never returning to England. So this Gherbod, if he was married, would appear to have died without issue, as the earldom was re-granted in 1071 to Hugh d’Avranches (later called Hugh “Lupus”), the son of Richard le Goz, Vicomte d’Avranches, by Emma, who may (or may not) have been a half-sister of William the Conqueror.)

GILBERT*, Count, Governor of Normandy

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed), vol III p 242; also see incidental mention in vol V, p. 151

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter I

Feudal England (J.H. Round), chart pedigree after p 358

The Conqueror

This Count Gilbert is not identified by complete name and title in the novel, but he is one of three of the Governors of Normandy who were murdered during the minority of Duke William. He was called “The Father of His Country”.

(Historical notes: This was Gilbert, count of Brionne and Eu, himself another of the seemingly endless pool of kinsmen of William the Conqueror. He was the son and heir of Godfrey, Count of Brionne (an illegitimate son of Richard, Duke of Normandy). Gilbert was murdered, by agents of Raoul de Gacé, certainly between about 1036 and 1040, and apparently in the year 1040. Gilbert was the father of Richard de Bienfaite (later called Richard de Clare) and Baldwin de Meules. The two sons fled to the protection of Baldwin (V) of Flanders, where they remained until the marriage of Baldwin’s daughter Matilda to Duke William of Normandy.)

GIFFARD*, Walter, Lord of Longueville

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed), vol II pp 386-7. Also vol XII/1, Appendix L, p. 48

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter V

They Came With the Conqueror (L. G. Pine) pp. 96, 97 (But compare Burke’s Landed Gentry (1925 ed) p 721)

The Conqueror

One of William’s major barons, who fought as part of his host from Val-ès-dunes to Hastings. A member of the private council called by William prior to Lillebonne. Giffard lost his horse at the battle of Hastings, and was rescued by the Duke.

(Historical notes:

According to the chronicler William of Jumièges, this Walter was (wait for it...) a distant cousin of the Conqueror: Walter’s father was Osborn de Bolebec by Aveline (or Duvelina), whose sister Gunnor was wife of Richard, Duke of Normandy.

Walter is one of the dozen Norman noblemen named by William of Poitiers as having fought at Hastings. (The story that he was struck down in the fighting comes from Benoît de St.-More.) Walter received more than 100 lordships in England after the victory, nearly half of which were in Buckinghamshire. He married Ermengarde (sister of William, Bishop of Evreux), by whom he had two sons (Walter and William) and a daughter (Rohese). He died before 1085.

His elder son and heir, also named Walter Giffard, was Justiciar of England in 1085. He was created Earl of Buckingham (though known to his contemporaries as Earl Giffard), apparently by William Rufus, between 1093 and 1097. The senior male line failed in 1164 when the 2^nd Earl, still another Walter Giffard, died without issue. However, the first Walter’s daughter, Rohese, married Richard de Bienfaite (q.v.): their great-grandson Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, assumed the title of Earl of Buckingham, and seems to have been so considered. He, though, died without male issue in 1176.

Nonetheless, according to L.G. Pine, Walter is one of three or four Companions of the Conqueror who demonstrably founded a family that, in the direct male line, still was present in England into the 20^th century. Pine says that the Giffard family listed in the Landed Gentry are descended from Walter. Note, however, that this statement is not consistent with the one in Burke’s Landed Gentry (1925 edition), where the Giffards of Chillington, in Staffordshire, are said to descend from Osborne, brother of Walter Giffard, (who also had land in England), rather than from Walter himself.)

GODWINE*, Earl of Wessex

Sources:

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) pp. 83-4

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp 31-2

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 135. Also, for the point that Godwine was not, regarded as possessing English royal blood, see pp 1, 2, 161. See also 1066: the Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) p. 29; and Brooke p. 64

The Conqueror

Father of Harold Godwinesson, King of England

Father of Harold and Tostig, among many other sons, and of Eadgytha, wife of Edward the Confessor. Godwine was a “strong man” of England, who was frequently able to impose his will on King Edward the Confessor. He was exiled to Ireland on one occasion, but Edward was forced to recall him. He was suspected of having betrayed Edward’s brother Alfred. When Edward once alluded to this at the feast where Godwine was welcomed back to court, the earl swore that if he had anything to do with Alfred’s death, he should choke on the bread he was about to eat. He shoved the bread in his mouth, and immediately choked to death.

(Historical notes:

Godwine, or Godwin, was a native Englishman created Earl of Wessex by King Cnut, possibly because they were related by marriage: Godwine’s wife was the daughter (or sister) of Earl Ulf of Denmark, Cnut’s brother-in-law. Godwine himself was instrumental in securing the succession of Edward the Confessor to the throne in 1042. He was banished by King Edward in 1051, reinstated the next year, and died in 1053, being succeeded by his eldest surviving son Harold

Godwine’s father, Wulfnoth, may have been a piratical thane in Sussex early in the 11^th century, but your editors cannot verify the possibility, and in fact have found later historians dismissing, what appears to be a later story, that Godwine was in direct male descent from Athelred I, (King of the West Saxons from 865 or 866, died 871) the next older brother of King Alfred the Great (who ruled Wessex and English Mercia from 871 to 899).

GODWINESSON*, Gyrth

Sources:

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp 42, 179

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p 189

The Conqueror

Fourth of Earl Godwine’s sons, who was loyal to his brother Harold. He was killed with Harold at the battle of Hastings.

(Historical note: he was made Earl of East Anglia by Edward the Confessor)

GODWINESSON*, Harold

Sources:

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) pp 85-9

1066: the Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) p. 90

Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), p. 30

Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage (1956 ed) p lxi

The Kings and Queens of England (Jane Murray), pp 221-3

For a discussion of the origin of “Senlac” for the battle of Hastings, see Feudal England (J.H. Round) pp 259-63. Also see 1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) , p. 169 (note)

The Conqueror

The second son of Earl Godwine (or “Godwin”) of Wessex, and the most capable. Harold planned for many years to succeed Edward the Confessor as King of England. He succeeded his father as Earl of Wessex, and defeated the Welsh, under Gryffid. He was ransomed by William after his party was wrecked on the coast of Ponthieu, and later served with William in the war with Conan of Brittany. In order to leave Normandy and return to England, Harold agreed to take an oath supporting William’s claim to England, which he never had any intention of keeping. He was also betrothed to William’s eldest daughter Adela. After Edward’s death (on January 5, 1066), Harold was elected King of England by the witan, and was crowned the following day. He first fought off the forces of his brother Tostig and Harold Hardrada, King of Norway, defeating them at Stamford Bridge. Hearing, soon thereafter, that the forces of Duke William of Normandy had landed in the south, Harold turned his remaining army south and, by forced march, brought them to Hastings to face William’s forces. He was defeated and killed at “Senlac field” on October 14, 1066

(Historical notes:

“Senlac” is the name first assigned to the battle of Hastings by Ordericus Vitalis (Orderic), a Norman monk and chronicler writing more than 70 years after the battle.

Harold, born about the year 1022, was the brother-in-law of King Edward the Confessor (whose Queen, Edith, was the daughter of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and so was Harold’s sister). This was not Harold’s sole claim to royal connection, though he apparently had no English royal blood: Gytha, the wife of Earl Godwin, and mother of Edith and Harold, was descended from King Harold Bluetooth of Denmark, and from Olaf, King of Sweden

Harold may not have been, in reality, the noble defender of the underdog Saxons as he frequently figures in fiction and legend. While he did in fact seem to have many points of ability, some historians depict him as a violent, ambitious, and unscrupulous man – as may be gathered from the fact that he was crowned the day after King Edward the Confessor’s death.

He greatly loved Eadgyth (or Edith) Swanneshals, his mistress (or wife, according to Scandinavian or “handfast” law), but in 1066 he married Aldgytha (or Ealdgyth or Ealgyth or Edith) of Mercia, widow of his enemy, Gryffid (or Gruffyd) and daughter of the powerful Earl Alfgar (or Aelfgar) of Mercia.

Harold had one legitimate child, a son named Harold, by Queen Edith, having sired some six children on his mistress Edith

GODWINESSON*, Leofwine

Source: The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p 189

The Conqueror

Fifth of Godwine’s sons, who was loyal to his brother Harold. He was killed with Harold at the battle of Hastings.

(Historical note: Leofwine was created an Earl of lands in the southeast of England by Edward the Confessor.)

GODWINESSON*, Swegn

Sources:

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp 36-7

: The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 160

The Conqueror

The eldest of Earl Godwine’s six sons. A troublemaker, whose death was not considered a loss by anyone who knew him. He at one time abducted no less a person than an abbess.

(Historical note: Swegn, (the name also appears as Swein, and Sweyn, and Svein),, briefly held the earldom of Mercia, which had been taken from Leofric, and was in alliance with Griffyd of Wales. He was exiled twice: once in 1046, for seducing (and/or kidnapping) the abbess of Leominster; then for murdering his cousin Beorn. He was eventually pardoned from his second exile, but only on condition that he make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He died in Constantinople, on the way home from pilgrimage, in 1052.)

GODWINESSON*, Tostig

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed) vol IX p 703

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp 43-5, 83-6

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp 169, 188

The Conqueror

The third son of Earl Godwine of Wessex. Tostig married Judith, “sister” of Mathilda of Flanders. He was the favourite brother of Queen Eadgytha. In or after 1055 Tostig was created Earl of Northumbria by King Edward the Confessor, but managed to make himself odious to his people. A turbulent, foolish man, Tostig entered on a scheme with Harold Hardrada of Norway, to take England from his brother Harold. He was killed at Stamford Bridge in 1066.

(Historical notes:

Tostig may in fact have been mentally ill, since his personality appears to have undergone a marked change. He was once the favorite brother of Edith, Edward the Confessor’s queen, which is hard to square with the fact that as earl his rough treatment of his people so disgusted his thegns that they rose in revolt against him in the autumn of 1065 and elected Morcar (younger son of Alfgar, Earl of Mercia) in his place. Though this infuriated King Edward the Confessor, he had no power to stop it.

Tostig’s wife, Judith, though certainly a member of the family of the Counts of Flanders, may have been Duchess Matilda’s kinswoman (cousin, or possibly aunt) rather than her sister. See the discussion in the entry for FLANDERS, Judith of.)

GODWINESSON*, Wlnoth

Source:

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp. 42, 68-9, 89

The Conqueror

Youngest brother of King Harold

The youngest son of Earl Godwine, he was one of the hostages given to Duke William by Edward the Confessor. He also grew up in Normandy, and preferred his Norman life to that of England. William gave him an estate for life in Normandy.

(Historical note: Wlnoth (or Wulfnoth) may have been handed over to Duke William of Normandy as early as 1051: he was not released until William died in 1087. He himself is said to have died in 1094, well outliving all of his turbulent brothers, as well as his sisters.)

GOSPATRICK*

Source: The Complete Peerage (revised ed.) vol IX p 704

The Conqueror

The intended victim of a plot by Queen Eadgytha and Earl Tostig of Northumbria.

(Historical notes:

The reference here might be to Gospatrick (or “Gospatric,”), who sometimes is identified as a son of one Maldred of Strathclyde, though The Complete Peerage says he presumably was the son of Crinan, abbot of Dunkeld (himself the son of Bethoc (daughter of King Malcolm II of Scotland)) by Ealdgyth, daughter of one Ughtred, Earl of Northumberland. Though not, apparently, the nephew of Siward (who was Earl of Northumbria from about 1041 to his death in 1055) Gospatrick was descended not only from another pre-Conquest Earl of Northumberland, but also from the royal houses of both England and Scotland.

Gospatrick eventually became earl of Northumbria after the Conquest—certainly by the year 1071, when he was in possession of the earldom after being pardoned. Apparently he received the earldom slightly earlier, in 1069 or 1070, by paying a heavy fine to William the Conqueror to succeed Robert de Comines, who had been killed at Durham, with 700 of his men, in January 1069. He was accused of having assisted in the slaying of Comines, however, and was deprived of the earldom in 1072. He fled to Scotland, where he was given land by his kinsman, Malcolm Canmore]

GOZ*, Toustain

Sources:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter I

The Complete Peerage (revised ed.) vol III pp 164-6. See alsp vol XII/1, Appendix K, pp. 32-3

The Conqueror

Grandfather of Hugh d’Avranches, Earl of Chester

Toustain Goz rebelled against Duke William during his minority, and took the Castle of Falaise. The Castle was recovered from him by Raoul de Gace, Governor, on the Duke’s behalf.

(Historical notes:

Toustain (or “Thurstan”) le Goz, viscount of Exmes from 1035 to 1041, was the father of Richard, Viscount d’ Avranches.

Richard, in turn, married Emma (who may, or may not, have been a daughter of Herluin de Conteville by Herleva (or Herlève, among other variant spellings), mother of Duke William). Richard and Emma had a son and heir Hugh d’Avranches, who became Earl of Chester in 1071. This Hugh, Earl of Chester, became a monk in July 1101 and died four days later. His line perished with his only son Richard, the 2^nd Earl, who drowned in the wreck of the White Ship in 1120.

GRIFFYD*

The Conqueror

Welshman defeated by Harold Godwinesson in 1063. Harold carried Griffyd’s head and the beak of his ship to London as trophies

(Historical note: Griffyd (or Griffith) ap Llewelyn was the king of Gwynedd in Wales, who had some years previously aided Swegn Godwinesson in a rebellion against Edward the Confessor. After his defeat by Harold, who demanded the Welsh abandon him, Griffyd was finally slain by one of his own men and his head was sent to Harold. Harold later married his widow, Aldgytha (or Edith), daughter of Alfgar of Mercia.)

GUIENNE*, Count of

[apparently historical]

The Conqueror

About 1048, the Count of Guienne, along with the Count of Poitou, was taken prisoner by Geoffrey Martel, Count of Anjou. They were forced to agree to his extortionate demands before they were set free.

(Tentative historical note: Guienne or Guyenne (Aquitaine) certainly was a real place, which might well have had an unfortunate Count, such as Heyer describes, in the 1040s. Your editors have, however, not located information about this worthy that they deem wholly clear or trustworthy. It is possible, but only possible, that Heyer referred here to the man variously called Pierre-William V or William VII, called “the Brave,” who apparently was born in 1023 and thus would have been a young man in the year 1048.)

GUNDRED*

Source: 1066: the Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) p. 30

The Conqueror

The sister of Earl Harold Godwinesson and of Queen Eadgytha. Dame Gundred was among those shipwrecked in Ponthieu. She is a haughty woman who found it difficult to get along with Duchess Matilda of Normandy.

(Historical note: Gundred (or Gunnhilda or Gunnhildro) died in 1087.)

GYTHA

(fictional)

The Conqueror

The aunt of Edgar of Marwell and his sister Elfrida. Dame Gytha hates all Normans intensely and tries to prevent her niece’s marriage.

HAKON*, son of Swegn

Source: 1066: the Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp. 69, 70, 165

THE CONQUEROR

Hakon is the son of Swegn, eldest son of Earl Godwine. He is one of the hostages for Godwine’s good behavior given to William by Edward the Confessor. Only a child when taken in hold, he grows up in Normandy.

(Historical notes: Per Howarth, this Hakon is thought to have been the bastard son of Swegn Godwinesson. Harold retrieved his nephew Hakon from Normandy in 1064, and two years later was accompanied by him to the battle of Hastings.)

HARDRADA*, Harold

Sources:

1066: the Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp. 107-11, 133, 136-40

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 3, 94-5, 200-3. See also pp. 194, 198

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) p. 86

THE CONQUEROR

King of Norway who aided Earl Tostig in his rebellion against King Harold. Hardrada was defeated and slain at Stamford Bridge.

(Historical notes:

Harold Hardrada (or Hardraada) became ruler of Norway in 1047 on the death of his nephew Magnus “the Good.” Hardrada, a half-brother of Olaf the Stout, based his claim to the throne of England on flimsy grounds. His nephew and predecessor, King Magnus, was said to have made a treaty or agreement with King Harthacanute (son of Canute) that if either died without an heir, the other would inherit his throne. On King Magnus’s death Hardrada, as his nearest heir, became ruler of Norway, and thus could be said to have inherited Magnus’ claim to the throne of Harthacanute--who had died childless in 1042, to be succeeded by Edward the Confessor. After Edward the Confessor died, also without issue, Hardrada claimed England on the basis of his status as Magnus’s heir. The English, to no one’s great surprise, did not find themselves persuaded by the force of this claim.

In the summer of 1066 Hardrada amassed a large fleet and sailed to Scotland and then England, where he joined Tostig, the exiled brother of King Harold Godwinesson, in an attempted invasion. On September 20 their combined army won a decisive victory by the village of (Gate) Fulford, near York, over the armies of Earl Edwin of Mercia and Earl Morcar of Northumbria. However, five days later they met the forces of King Harold, who dealt the invading army a terrible defeat at Stamford Bridge, east of York. Both Hardrada and Tostig were killed, and of their original combined fleet, numbering at least 240 ships, it was said that the Viking survivors only numbered enough to be able to crew and sail 24 or 25 of their vessels home.)

HAREFOOT*, Harold, [Regent of England 1035-7; King of England 1037-40]

Sources:

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) p. 83

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp 141-2

Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), p. 30

Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage (1953 ed)_p. lx

THE CONQUEROR

Described as a bastard son of King Cnut. It was during his reign over England that Earl Godwine of Wessex persuaded Edward the Confessor’s brother, Alfred, to attempt a military expedition to England, and subsequently betrayed him.

(Historical note: Harold (or Harald) was the second son of King Cnut (or Canute) by his first, “handfast” marriage with Elfgiva (or “Aelfgifu”). On the death of Cnut in 1035 the eldest son, Sweyn, was King of Norway, and Harold, the second son, became ruler of England. He ruled originally (in late 1035 or early 1036) as co-regent for his younger half-brother Harthacnut, with Cnut’s widow Emma. Because of Harthacnut’s continued absence in Denmark, Harold was eventually crowned king in 1037. During the regency, Alfred returned to England, ostensibly to visit Emma, who was his mother as well as Harthacnut’s. When Alfred was taken prisoner, Harold had him blinded so brutally, he died from his wounds. Emma, who had supported Alfred, was forced to flee to Flanders. Harold died in March 1040.)

HERLEVA* of Falaise

Sources:

The Complete Peerage, (revised edition) vol XII/1, Appendix K, p 30-4

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter I

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 173-4, and 175-6

THE CONQUEROR

Mother of William the Conqueror

Mistress of Count Robert of Hiesmes, mother of William the Conqueror. Father: Fulbert, tanner of Falaise, Mother: Duxia. Brother: Walter of Falaise. Later married Herluin, knight [vicomte] of Conteville. Herleva had a dream, just prior to giving birth to William, that she gave birth instead to a great tree that spread its branches over both Normandy and England. She foretold that her son would be a King. She had other issue, Odo and Robert, by her second husband.

(Historical notes:

While Heyer definitely identifies Herlève’s father as Fulbert and her mother as Duxia, and while there is historical authority for both names, these authorities are neither unimpeachable nor unanimous. According to Planché, the father of Herlève is also named, in various sources as Robert; Richard, (with the arresting by-name of “Saburpyr”), Herbert, Verperay, or Vertprey. Similarly, Herlève’s mother is named in some sources as Helen or as Dodo. Indeed, Herleva herself is many times given under the spelling Herlève, and her name also appears in the forms Arlette, Arlotta, and, most fatally, Harlotta.

The date of Herlève’s marriage with Herluin isn’t known with certainty: it sometimes is said to have taken place only after the death of Duke Robert in 1035, or not long before he departed on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem from which he would not return. On balance, though, the editors of The Complete Peerage found it most likely that Herlève married Herluin about 1029, not long after the birth of William.

Herlève had at least two sons and a daughter by her husband Herluin. She sometimes is credited with a second daughter, or with two additional daughters, by Herluin.

Further, before her marriage, in addition to bearing to Count Robert (later Duke Robert) the son who would become William the Conqueror, Herlève may also have borne him an illegitimate daughter, (named, variously, Adelaide, Adeliza, Aeliz, or Adela). The girl, however her name was spelled, clearly was a sister of William the Conqueror, but some authorities make her another illegitimate child of Herlève by Robert; others make her a daughter of Duke Robert by another mistress; still others say she was a daughter of Herlève by her husband Herluin. Doubts aside, the girl married three times: first to Enguerrand, Count of Ponthieu and Sieur d’Aumale; second to Lambert, Lord of Lens (brother to Count Eustace of Boulogne), and third to Eudes (or Odo), Count of Champagne.

There is a most interesting suggestion in Planché, and in Linklater, that perhaps Herlève was something more than a simple tanner’s (or burgess’) daughter of Falaise. Her lover Duke Robert, after all, married her off to a more than respectable man, and went to great lengths, before departing from Normandy on pilgrimage, to secure her bastard son’s acceptance and recognition as his heir. As he did not take the most obvious step of securing the legitimacy of his heir by marrying the boy’s mother and legitimating her son, perhaps this was became Count Robert and Herlève were, in fact, cousins, within the prohibited degree of consanguinity.)

HIESMES*, Robert, Count of (later 6^th Duke of Normandy)

Sources:

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp 172-7

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) p. 82

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) p. 64

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter I

The Complete Peerage, (revised edition) vol XII/2, p. 268

THE CONQUEROR

Younger son of Duke Richard II of Normandy

Father of William the Conqueror. Son of Duke Richard of Normandy. Called Robert the Devil, or Robert the Magnificent. Robert went on pilgrimage and died when his son William was only 7.

(Historical notes:

The comté of “Hiesmes” is also spelled “Hiemois” and “Hiémois.”

Appealing though the name “Robert the Devil” is—at least from a safe distance--, this version of the name appears to have been bestowed on Duke Robert only sometime after his death. Robert was also called “the Magnificent” in some accounts.

Though the sources consulted by your editors cannot agree whether Duke Robert died on the outbound leg of his pilgrimage to Jerusalem (as Howarth writes) or on the return trip (as per Brooke, Planché, and The Complete Peerage), it at least seems indisputable that he died in 1035.

HUGH the Wolf

(unknown whether historical or fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

Mentioned in passing, when Raoul de Harcourt feels that England ought not to be left to the mercies of men of this Norman baron’s ilk.

(Historical note: Hugh “the Wolf” might be taken as a reference to Hugh d’Avranches, son of Richard d’Avranches. The difficulties are, first, that Hugh was not known as “Lupus” (the wolf) at this time; and, second, that in any case he appears to have been too young at the time of the battle of Hastings to have yet acquired this reputation. It is even debated if he was old enough to have been present at the battle at all: he is not listed by L.G. Pine among the men established from contemporaneous, or near-contemporaneous evidence to have participated in the fighting. (see d’Avranches, Hugh)).

HUNDBERT the Strong (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

Father to Oswine, who was the betrothed of Elfrida of Marwell.

IRONSIDE*, Edmund

[King of England from April 1016; died in November 1016]

Sources:

Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), p 29

Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage (1956 ed)_p. lx

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp 131-2

THE CONQUEROR

The father of Edward the Atheling (q.v.)

(Historical notes:

Edmund, called Ironside was born about 980, or at any rate between 980 and about 993; a younger son of King Ethelred Unraed by his first wife. (He thus was an elder half-brother of Edward the Confessor)

King Ethelred was dispossessed of the crown in 1013 by Swegn Forkbeard, King of Denmark (who however died early the next year). Ethelred, recalled to England, died not long thereafter, in Apr 1016, at which point his eldest surviving son, Edmund Ironside, was chosen King at London. Later that year, having been defeated in battle by Cnut (Canute), the son of Swegn, Edmund and Cnut agreed to a division of the kingdom, as a result of which Edmund was King of Wessex and Canute controlled the Danelaw and Mercia

Edmund had two sons, the younger of whom was Edgar the Atheling (q.v.), born about 1016.)

IVES (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

Duke William’s page who suffered from seasickness during the journey in the Mora to invade England.

JARLSSEN, Eric (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

A strange fierce man from Danelagh. Jarlssen, a Dane, had a quarrel with Oswine Hundbertson and was accused of using witchcraft to kill him. Jarlssen was condemned to death by stoning.

LANFRANC*

THE CONQUEROR

See: BEC, Lanfranc, Prior of

le Rechin*, Fulk, Count of Anjou

Sources:

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 248-50, 255, 258, 259

The Complete Peerage, (revised edition) vol X p. 780

THE CONQUEROR

Nephew of Geoffrey Martel

The son of the Count of Anjou who rode with him in the King of France’s train against Duke William. Fulk is a crabbed, surly and quarrelsome man.

(Historical notes:

Fulk “le Rechin” usurped his brother’s inheritance as Count of Anjou in 1067.

The appellation “Le Rechin” means “the Bad-tempered” or “the cross-grained.” It is a tempting, if improbable, fancy of your editors that Fulk may have earned this soubriquet while in a state of advanced ill-humor after having lost Maine to Duke William of Normandy in the early 1070s. Fulk later allied himself with the young King Philip of France, and was a persistent adversary of William’s thereafter.

His daughter, Ermengarde, became, in or after 1090, the second wife of Alain Fergant, who in 1084 became Duke of Brittany.)

LISIEUX*, Gilbert, “Archbishop” [actually Archdeacon] of

Sources:

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) p. 102

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater), p. 206

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter VIII under Count Robert of Eu; see also vol 1, chapter I

But note that:

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke), p. 138 lists Gilbert Maminot, Bishop of Lisieux, who served as chaplain, head physician, and astrologer to William the Conqueror

THE CONQUEROR

See also: LUXEUIL, Hugh, Abbot of).

Duke William’s envoy to Rome, to plead his case against Harold Godwinesson. Gilbert was sent armed with Lanfranc’s instructions.

(Historical notes:

This reference includes what appears to be a rare, uh, typesetting error in Heyer, since the historical Gilbert was actually Archdeacon of Lisieux. Further, the see of Lisieux was a bishopric, not an archbishopric.)

The Bishop of Lisieux, (this may have been Bishop Hugh, who died in July 1077 (younger brother of Robert d’Eu)), was present at the marriage of William and Mathilda.) Another Bishop of Lisieux, Gilbert Maminot, was present at the Conqueror’s death in 1087.)

LONDON*, William, Bishop of

Source: Handbook of British Chronology, 2^nd ed. (Powicke and Fryde), p 239

THE CONQUEROR

The Churchman who held the sacred oil at the coronation of King William I on Christmas Day, 1066.

(Historical note: this William became Bishop of London in 1051, and served till 1075.)

LUXEUIL*, Hugh, Abbot of

Sources:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter VIII

The Complete Peerage, (revised ed.), vol V, p. 152 note (d)

THE CONQUEROR

Brother of Robert of Eu and William Busac. During Busac’s rebellion, Hugh travels to Rouen expressly to urge duke William to severely punish Busac.

(Historical notes:

Hugh was later also Bishop of Lisieux, though according to The Complete Peerage he was made a Bishop in 1049, which seems to be prior to the rebellion of his brother William Busac.

Hugh died in July 1077)

de Magneville*, Geoffrey

Sources:

Geoffrey de Mandeville (John Horace RoundP p. 37

The Complete Peerage (revised ed.) vol V, p. 113 note (c)

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter III

THE CONQUEROR

The lord of Magneville held off from William during the battle of Val-ès-dunes, though he does not appear to have joined the rebels. He was present at the council of Lillebonne, and was called with the lord of Moyon to inscribe his name after Saint-Sauveur and Tesson.

(Historical notes:

There are several possible sources for the name Magneville (also given in the forms Magnaville and Magnavilla, as well as Manneville and Mandeville) in Normandy

Wace, writing a century after the battle of Hastings, says that an otherwise unnamed “Sire de Magnevile” was part of the Norman army.

This is the founder of the family of the Mandevilles in England. Geoffrey de Mandeville may or may not have been present at the battle of Hastings, but he assuredly was one of the Conqueror’s men in England afterward: by the time of the Domesday Survey, 20 years after the battle, Geoffrey held more than 100 lordships, including a chief seat in Essex. His line prospered: his son William was the first constable of the Tower during William’s reign.

Geoffrey married twice, but apparently had issue only by his first wife Athelaise (or Adeliza), who bore him a son William among other children. In turn, William’s son, another Geoffrey de Mandeville, was made Earl of Essex during the reign of King Stephen.
Geoffrey’s male line, at least through his eldest son William, failed in 1189.)

MAIGROT, Hugh

(unknown if historical or fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

A monk who was sent as envoy to King Harold before the Battle of Hastings. Maigrot was chosen for his knowledge of the Saxon tongue, and could thus comprehend Harold’s conversation with his advisors.

MAINE*?, Heribert, Count of

[Probably historical, but see notes.]

THE CONQUEROR

The young Count of Maine who had suffered under the Count of Anjou. Upon Anjou’s death Heribert swore allegiance to Duke William of Normandy and, says Heyer, was betrothed to William’s daughter Adeliza. Upon his death he bequeathed Maine to Duke William. His aunt Biota and Walter of Mantes usurped the county and had to be put down by the Duke.

(Tentative historical notes:

There certainly was a comté of Maine, and “Heribert” and “Hugh” (see the next entry below) both appear as family names in the house that held this dignity. While your editors have not been successful in locating further information about either of the men mentioned incidentally in Heyer’s book, this must be understood as resulting, not from an error of Heyer’s, but rather from their want both of expertise and of access to reliable sources concerning the history of the medieval French and Norman nobility

Your editors have not, for that matter, confirmed the story that William ever betrothed one of his daughters to the Count of Maine. William did have a younger daughter Adela, but if she ever was betrothed to Heribert of Maine it would seem that his untimely death must have prevented the marriage: Adela, who apparently was born about 1062, married in the year 1080 to a Count of Blois who sometimes is referred to as Stephen, and who in other sources is called Henry.)

MAINE*, Hugh, Count of

Source: mentioned briefly in The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter I

THE CONQUEROR

Young Hugh, Count of Maine in about 1048, was under the guardianship of Geoffrey Martel, Count of Anjou, who abused his position.

MALET

(presumably fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

William of Normandy’s destrier (war horse) at Val-ès-dunes.

MALET*, William

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed), vol XII/1, Appendix L, p. 48

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2 chapter IV (Also see vol 1, Chapter IV)

Feudal England (J.H. Round) pp 256, 349

They Came With the Conqueror (L.G. Pine) pp. 25, 96, 97 (And compare Burke’s Peerage and Barenetage (1956 ed) p. 1432)

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) p. 187

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p 234

THE CONQUEROR

William Malet, who had Saxon blood, acted as a translator for William when the news was brought of Harold’s capture in Ponthieu. He was present at Hastings and, again because of his Saxon ancestry, was given charge of Harold’s body, to see that it was honourably interred.

(Historical notes:

A great deal is known about William Malet, the Lord of Graville. The “Saxon blood” claim appears in the “Carmen de Bello,”and in fact it seems likely that William’s mother was the daughter of Leofric of Mercia and his wife Godgifu/Godiva, making him cousin to King Harold’s wife Aldgytha. He apparently held land in Lincolnshire before the Conquest, which if true is interesting, because he was present among the Normans at the battle of Hastings. According to Wace (in the “Roman de Rou,” written about a century after the battle), Malet nearly was slain at Hastings when his horse was killed beneath him: he was rescued by the lord of Montfort and William de Vieuxpont.

He is said to have been the man whom Duke William assigned to build a cairn for the body of Harold Godwinesson, after the battle.

Among the large number of estates he received from William I, he was also given the shrievalty of York (1068). He was attacked at York the following year by Edgar Atheling (and rescued by the timely arrival of the Conqueror) and later by the Danes, when he and his wife and two of their children were made prisoners. They were spared for the sake of their ransoms.

His wife (or possibly his mother) was Hesilia Crispin. William Malet and his wife had 2 sons and a daughter. One of the sons, Robert, was a warrior in England by the year 1074, when he accompanied William de Warenne in a campaign against the rebellious Ralph, Earl of Norfolk.

He died before the compilation of Domesday Book (1086), apparently in or before the year 1072.

He had numerous descendants. Indeed, according to L.G. Pine, William is one of three or four Companions of the Conqueror who demonstrably founded a family that, in the direct male line, still was present in England into the 20^th century. Pine says that a Malet family listed in the Landed Gentry trace their line from this William Malet. While your editors could not verify this by reference to Burke’s Landed Gentry for 1925, the entry in Burke’s Peerage says the the Malet baronets of Wilbury, Wilsthire (created 1791) descend from William Malet, through his younger son Gilbert.)

MANTES*, Walter of

[apparently historical]

THE CONQUEROR

The spouse of Count Heribert of Maine’s aunt Biota. Walter is a cruel and ambitious man who claimed Maine upon his nephew’s death. Since Heribert of Maine had promised Maine to William, war resulted, with William defeating Walter.

(Tentative historical notes:

Biota was one of two sisters of Hugh IV of Maine (died 1051), and thus an aunt of Hugh’s son and heir Herbert II (died 1062). She and her husband Walter died in or about 1063; the cause was rumored to be poisoning.

Count Herbert II did not, it appears, ever have control in Maine, though he was the son and heir of the previous Count there.)

MARGARET*?

[apparently historical]

Source: Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage (1956 ed) p. lvi

THE CONQUEROR

The sister of Count Heribert of Maine who was betrothed to Duke William’s eldest son Robert “Curthose” and brought to live at Rouen.

(Historical notes:

Again, satisfactory information has been difficult to locate. While there appears to have been a Count Heribert of Maine, that man succeeded his father in 1015 and died in or about 1036. So if the man had a sister it is not readily apparent that she could have been of an age to be suitable as a wife for Robert “Curthose,” Duke William’s eldest son, who was born in or about 1052 or perhaps as late as 1054.

The Margaret who, it is said, was betrothed to Robert Curthose seems to have been the daughter of Hugh IV of Maine (Hugh having died in 1051), and the sister of Count Herbert II, who did take shelter for a time in the Norman court at some point after his father’s death, before dying in 1062.

In any event, if this Margaret was indeed betrothed to.Robert Curthose it appears the betrothal did not lead to marriage: Robert’s wife was named Sybil or Sybilla, the daughter of Geoffrey, Count of Conversano; they had 2 sons: William (born in 1101) and Henry (born 1102).)

MARTEL*, Geoffrey, Count of Anjou

Sources:

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp 179-81, 183

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter I

THE CONQUEROR

Opponent of William of Normandy on many occasions, but was always defeated. Invaded Normandy several times, both on his own and in company with King Henry of France. Considered vainglorious. When he died, he left his sons squabbling over Anjou.

(Historical notes:

“Martel” is a by-name meaning “the Hammer” – a name this Geoffrey evidently did his best to earn. In addition to several incursions into Normandy, Count Geoffrey also was at war with his own liege, King Henry I of France, soon after the battle of Val-ès-dunes, when Duke William marched in support of the King. By 1054 Count Geoffrey and King Henry had made common cause and were invading Normandy.

The land of Anjou lay southeast of Brittany and south of Normandy, buffered from the latter by Maine. Geoffrey had designs on Maine, investing its capital, Le Mans, in 1048. He then thrust into Bellême, which was claimed by both Maine and Normandy. This drew Duke William into war, and Geoffrey was decisively defeated.

Geoffrey, who died in November 1060, eventually was succeeded as Count of Anjou by his nephew Fulk le Rechin (Fulk the Cross-grained), who had become Count by the expedient of making war against, and imprisoning, a less capable elder brother )

MARWELL, Eadwulf, Thane of

(fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

Father of Edgar and Elfrida. He is killed at Hastings.

MARWELL, Edgar, Thane of (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

The son of Eadwulf, Thane of Marwell, Edgar is an adherent of Harold Godwinesson. He is given by Edward the Confessor to William of Normandy as one of the hostages for Godwine’s and Harold’s good behavior. He spends most of his adult years in Normandy, and becomes the close friend of Raoul de Harcourt. When Harold and his party are shipwrecked on the coast of Ponthieu and William ransoms them, Edgar is reunited with his lord, and his younger sister Elfrida. When Harold is released after his oath-taking at Bayeux, Edgar is allowed to return to England with him, with some bitterness between him and Raoul over the nature of Harold’s release.

MARWELL, Elfrida of (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

The younger sister of Edgar of Marwell, Elfrida is in Harold’s party when they are wrecked on the coast of Ponthieu. She and Raoul de Harcourt fall in love with each other, but she returns to England with her brother and Harold after the oath-taking at Bayeux.

MAYENNE*, Geoffrey of

Source: The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 248

THE CONQUEROR

Geoffrey of Mayenne joined Geoffrey of Anjou in bringing down the castle of Ambrieres, which earned Anjou a cartel of war from William, to meet him at Ambrieres. Anjou thought the better of accepting. Mayenne himself was besieged and taken prisoner by William, and was forced to give an oath of simple homage to William in exchange for his freedom. He later joined Walter of Mantes in his revolt following the death of the Count of Maine.

(Historical note: This Geoffrey was a border baron whose mistress, Gersendis, was the sister of a man who had been Count of Maine some two decades previous. Geoffrey had control of Maine about the end of 1070, but was soon expelled by Fulk, Count of Anjou)

MERCIA*, Alfgar, Earl of

Source: The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 166-8

THE CONQUEROR

Son of Leofric of Mercia, and father of Aldgytha, who married both Gryffid of Gwynedd (in Wales), and Harold Godwinesson.

(Historical note: Alfgar, who became Earl of East Anglia in or before 1055, was outlawed in that year, but went to Ireland, recruited some Vikings there, and formed an alliance with Griffyd of Gwynedd. They invaded England and forced a peace on Harold Godwinesson, as a result of which Alfgar was restored to his earldom.

Alfgar resigned his earldom of East Anglia on his father’s death in 1057 in order to succeed to his father’s earldom of Mercia. He was banished again the following year, but again fell back on his alliance with Griffyd, and this time also got help from a son of Harold Hardrada of Norway, and again was restored. Alfgar died in 1062. Griffyd, who married Alfgar’s daughter, died not long thereafter.)

MERCIA*, Edwine [or Edwin], Earl of

Source: The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp 194, 197, 199, 204, 228, 239

THE CONQUEROR

Son of Earl Alfgar of Mercia, and brother of Morkere, earl of Northumbria. He is described as not having his father’s wisdom. He did not bring his levies to join Harold at Hastings, and so contributed to his defeat.

(Historical notes:

Earl Edwin and a local militia defeated Tostig during an armed reconnaissance south of the Humber in the spring of 1066. In the autumn of that year, though, Edwin and his brother were the first to meet Tostig when he invaded, and were defeated by him on September 20, 1066, in a great battle at Fulford Bridge, with very heavy losses. (These losses, coming so soon before the battle of Hastings, may explain the failure of Edwin and his brother to support Harold with their levies.).

After the Conquest, the brothers were taken as hostages to Normandy in March 1067, but on their return soon became sources of disaffection, acknowledging William’s rule only over the southern portions of England. In 1068 they led a major rebellion, which caused their rights and estates to be forfeited, and convinced William to completely replace the Saxon aristocracy with Normans. Edwine was betrayed and murdered, apparently by his own men, in 1070.)

MERCIA*, Leofric, Earl of

Source: The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater), pp. 135

THE CONQUEROR

Father of Alfgar of Mercia, and grandfather of Edwine and Morkere. Leofric attended the Convention held by Edward the Confessor in London in 1051. He was opposed to the growing influence of Earl Godwine.

(Historical notes:

Leofric, a member of a Mercian family, was made Earl of Mercia by King Cnut. He was the husband of the legendary “Lady Godiva”, or Godgifu. In constant rivalry with the family of Earl Godwine, he was briefly dispossessed of the earldom of Mercia, when it was granted to Swegn, or Swein, Godwinesson. Leofric was in periodic conflict and periodic alliance with Griffyd of Wales. He died in 1057.)

MERLIN

(mythical)

THE CONQUEROR

Mentioned in passing as a Churchman living in the time of King Vortigern who prophesied tumult in England.

MICHAEL

(unknown if historical or fictional)

Source: (for parentage of Mauger) The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p 177

THE CONQUEROR

Bastard son of Archbishop Mauger of Rouen. Raoul and his friends wonder if Mauger’s plots against his nephew, William, are with the intent to place his bastard Michael on the throne of Normandy.

(Historical notes:

Archbishop Mauger of Rouen, the alleged father, was a real man: a bastard son of Duke Richard II of Normandy by a woman named Papia.

Mauger may have fathered a bastard son named Michael, but if so your editors have not succeeded in confirming his existence. If this Michael did exist, he would appear to have been a brother or half-brother of William the Warling, the exiled Count of Mortain.)

MONTFIQUET*, Gilbert

Source:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 2, chapter II

THE CONQUEROR

Held off from William at Val-ès-dunes, but it is not apparent that he joined the rebels. Was one of his “lesser barons” observed by Harold Godwinesson during his stay in Normandy.

(Historical notes:

Montfiquet, or Monfiquet, or Montfichet, lies between Bayeux and St. Lô.

The chronicler Wace, writing about a century after the event, includes a nobleman called “le Sire de Monfichet” in his account of the battle of Hastings. That may have been this Gilbert, but Planché notes, skeptically, that if Gilbert de Montfichet was present at Hastings, it seems odd to find no apparent trace of him, or of his descendants, holding land in England at the time of the Domesday Survey. Planché thought that le Sire may have been William, possibly the brother or son of Gilbert.

Or, to further muddy the water, another possibility sometimes advanced is that the “Sire de Monfichet” may have been Robert Guernon, lord of Montfiquet.)

MONTGOMERI*

THE CONQUEROR

This Montgomeri is not further identified in the book by his given name, but is identified as the murderer of Osbern, the Duke’s Seneschal, who was killed in the Duke’s own chamber.

(Historical note: This Montgomeri was William de Montgomeri, brother to the Roger de Montgomeri in the book. There were an additional three brothers, Hugh, Robert and Gilbert. In revenge for the murder, Osbern’s vassals murdered William, and for good measure his brothers Hugh, and Robert. Gilbert was unintentionally poisoned by a sister-in-law, leaving only Roger, a firm adherent of Duke William’s.)

MORTAIN*, Count of

Source:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter III

THE CONQUEROR

Not to be confused with Robert, Count of Mortain, who was half-brother to Duke William. This Mortain, called the Warling Count, rebelled against Duke William just after the first campaign against the Count of Anjou, in 1048.

(Historical notes:

This was William the Warling, son of Archbishop Malger, and grandson of Duke Richard I of Normandy

After William the Warling’s “rebellion” was put down, the estates of the Count were confiscated from the original family, and granted by William to his half-brother, Robert.)

MORTAIN*, Robert, Count of

Sources:

The Complete Peerage, (revised ed.) vol III, pp. 427-8

Feudal England (J.H. Round) p 128

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché),

vol 1, chapter III

THE CONQUEROR

Half-brother to William the Conqueror, named as the elder son of William’s mother, Herleva, by Herluin of Conteville. He is described as heavy and dogged. About the year 1050 he was granted the confiscated lands of the Count of Mortain who rebelled against William shortly after the taking of Domfront. He is close in William’s counsels throughout his career. During the battle of Hastings he remained close at William’s side. Once his horse was killed under him and he was remounted by Raoul de Harcourt.

(Historical notes:

This comté, the head of which was at Mortain (Latinized variously as “Moretoniun” and “Moretolium”) lay in the Avranchin, in the Cotentin peninsula: Robert received it about 1050 or 1051 from his half-brother, Duke William.

Robert, born about 1031, may in fact have been the younger, rather than the elder, of the two sons of Herluin and Herlève; the other son was Odo (Eudes), Bishop of Bayeux, q.v. After the battle of Hastings, Robert, besides obtaining grants in at least eight other counties, received more than 200 manors in Cornwall – almost the entire county -- and so is usually considered Earl of Cornwall, though he was only styled Count of Mortain (having held the latter dignity for well over a decade by that point). He married twice, and died in December 1090, several years before his brother Odo.

After Odo’s death in 1097, Robert’s son William demanded the earldom of Kent from Henry I, as heir to his unmarried uncle. When this demand was refused, William rebelled, was defeated and captured at the battle of Tinchbray (or Tinchebrai) in 1106. There is one story that he then was blinded and died in prison, but The Complete Peerage, while agreeing that he was long imprisoned, says that he became a monk in 1140. This William, son of Robert, was married to a woman named Adilidis, but apparently died without issue.)

MOULINES-la-Marche*, William of

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 2, chapter IV

THE CONQUEROR

Son of Walter of Falaise, who was Herleva’s brother and Duke William’s uncle. Moulines-la-Marche was therefore first cousin to Duke William. He was known for his cruelty and hot temper, and is described as torturing pages for sport. At the battle of Hastings he was noted for his unflagging energy, and is credited for hacking down Harold’s royal standard. For his exploits, he was afterward called William Sanglier.

However, two of his knights were guilty of the mutilation of Harold’s body, for which William ordered their knightly spurs to be cut off. He had an altercation with Raoul de Harcourt over Elfrida, sister of Edgar of Marwell.

(Historical notes:

Moulins-la-Marche is a place in the arrondissement of Mortagne.

The authority who places him at the battle of Hastings was Wace, writing about a century after the event, who says that “Willame des Molins” was present

William of Falaise received the lordship of Moulines-la-Marche in the right of his first wife Alberede or Albrede, daughter and heir of one Guitmund, Lord of Moulins. William and Alberede were benefactors to the Abbey of St. Evroult, and on his death William would be buried in the chapter house there. This was not for many years yet, and meanwhile William, having fathered two sons on Alberede, then divorced her on grounds of consanguinity; she became a nun. William now was free to marry Duda, daughter of Waleran de Meulen, by whom he had another two sons.

According to Orderic, William was one of the men sent to Normandy in 1073 to help John de la Flèche against Fulk le Rechin, Count of Anjou.

William held considerable lands in England, including property in Devonshire. After his death, however, his eldest surviving son and heir, Robert, was banished by Henry 1, later dying in Apulia. Robert in turn was succeeded by his half-brother Simon, a son of William’s by his second wife.)

MOYON*, William, Lord of

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised edition) vol XII/1, pp. 36-7

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 2, chapter V

THE CONQUEROR

A lord of Moyon held off from assisting William at Val-ès-dunes, though he is not specifically counted among the rebels. He was present at the council of Lillebonne, having been called to a private interview with William to inscribe his name on the list immediately after that of Saint-Sauveur and Tesson.

(Historical notes:

Moyon (under various spellings, to include Moion, Moun, Moyne, and Mohun), was a vill and castle in La Manche, lying to the south of St. Lô in the Cotentin

Wace, writing about a century after the battle of Hastings, includes a “le Viel Willame de Moion” among the Norman host.

A William de Mohun, presumably the same man, was granted more than 50 lordships in Somerset, and had further grants in at least three other counties

The grandson [or, at any rate, the heir] of this man, also named William, was later created Earl of Somerset in or about 1141.)

NEVERS*, Count of

THE CONQUEROR

The Count of Nevers accompanied King Henry of France in his invasion of Normandy in 1054. He was present with Henry when he received the news of the defeat at Mortemer.

(Tentative historical note: while Heyer mentions this man only by his title, there was such a comté in France at the time, and the man who held it in the year 1054 appears to have been William, Count of Nevers, who was born about 1030, succeeded his father, Count Renaud I, in 1040, and died in or about 1083.)

NORMANDY*, Adela of

Sources:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1 chapter II

Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), p. 31

See also--

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp 78-80

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 255

Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage (1956 ed.) p lxi

THE CONQUEROR

Daughter of William the Conqueror

Daughter of William and Mathilda, Adela was betrothed to Harold Godwinesson, who later repudiated the betrothal. She is described as remembering him “all her short life”.

(Historical notes:

There appear to be confusion here, with either of two of William’s other daughters, viz:

Adeliza (or Adelaide), the eldest (or second-eldest) daughter (she was born in 1055-6, and sometimes is said to have died in 1065, but other sources give the year as 1073); whom Planché identifies as the Norman princess to whom Harold Godwinesson was betrothed in 1062, when she would have been aged 7; or possibly with--
Agatha,, one of his youngest daughters, born about 1064 (per Planché) or about 1056 (per Howarth, who identifies her as the little girl to whom the middle-aged Harold may have been betrothed). The story of a daughter of William who was betrothed to Harold and remembered him all her life, but died young, apparently comes from Orderic, writing more than 70 years afterward.
This “Agatha” may be the same child who also is named Adela who generally is listed as William’s third or fourth daughter; she was born about 1062, and married in 1080 to Stephen, Count of Blois and Chartres. She was the mother of the Stephen of Blois who usurped the throne of England from his cousin Mathilda (the Empress Maud) on the death of King Henry I. Countess Adela died about 1135 [or 1137].

NORMANDY*, Adeliza of

Sources:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter II

Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage (1956 ed.) p lxi

THE CONQUEROR

Daughter of William the Conqueror

The first daughter of William and Mathilda, and betrothed to Heribert of Maine, who died before the marriage could take place.

(Historical notes:

The eldest daughter of William and Mathilda is sometimes given as Cecilia, and sometimes as this Adeliza or Adelaide, or Agatha.

Adeliza (or Adelaide or...), apparently born in or about 1055 became a nun and died about 1065 per some sources, or she died in 1073 per the Handbook of British Chronology. Planché says she was the daughter who was betrothed to Harold Godwinesson in 1062, when she was aged 7, and that she died before 1066

NORMANDY*, Cecilia of

Sources:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter II

Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), p. 31

THE CONQUEROR

Daughter of William the Conqueror

The second daughter of Duke William and Duchess Matilda, and their third child. Cecilia resembled her mother greatly, and was dedicated at her birth to the Holy Church.

(Historical notes: Cecilia, who apparently was either the eldest or second eldest of William’s daughters, certainly was born before 1066 (Planché says the year was 1056). She became a nun and later abbess of Holy Trinity, Caen, in 1112, and died, depending on which source you believe, in 1125, 1126, or 1127.)

NORMANDY*, Richard, [4^th] Duke of

Sources:

They Came With the Conqueror (L.G. Pine) p. 40

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 171-2

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter II

THE CONQUEROR

Grandfather of William the Conqueror

Father of Count Robert of Hiesmes, grandfather of William the Conqueror. Sometimes called Duke Richard the Good.

(Historical notes:

The man referred to here was the 4^th Duke of Normandy, the second to be named Richard. This is the Duke whose sister, Emma, married Ethelred Unraed, King of England, in 1002.

Duke Richard (II) succeeded his father, Duke Richard (I) in 996. He married, evidently in 1008, to Judith of [Rennes and/or Brittany] by whom he had two sons; he died in 1026. The eldest son, another Richard, outlived his father as 5^th Duke by only about a year. (Duke Richard III died leaving as his only heir a natural son, named Nicholas, but the boy was bundled off to a monastery: he was Abbot of St. Ouen in 1042.) Normandy then was taken by Count Robert of Hiesmes, second son of Duke Richard II, who in turn was father of William the Conqueror.

Judith, Richard’s duchess, is said by Planché to have been the daughter of Conan le Tort, Count of Rennes (by his second wife Ermengarde, daughter of Geoffrey Grisegonelle). She died in 1017, having borne five children: Richard, Robert, Guillaume, Alix (also called Judith), and Eleanore)

NORMANDY*, Richard of

Sources:

They Came With the Conqueror (L.G. Pine) p. 40

Burke’s Peerage and Baronetage (1953 ed) p lxi

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter II

THE CONQUEROR

Son of William the Conqueror

The second son of Duke William and Duchess Matilda, Richard was never a strong child and suffered from convulsions in his infancy. He has inherited his mother’s fair colouring and fights constantly with his brother.

(Historical note: Richard, who was born either about the year 1054, or possibly in 1057-8, was apparently the fourth child of William and Mathilda. He did not survive his father, but died in his twenties, unmarried, in 1081 while hunting in the New Forest. The cause of death was an advanced case of having been gored by a stag.)

NORMANDY*, Robert of

Sources:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter I

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) pp. 154-5, and 160-1

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp 206, 255-7

THE CONQUEROR

Son of William the Conqueror

Eldest son of William and Matilda. His father was skeptical of him as his heir, and felt he wished too much to be loved. He was his mother’s favourite. He was known as Curthose because of his short legs.

(Historical notes:

The story that this Robert was called “Curthose” (Court-heuse) because his legs were short may be nothing more than a story: it is possible that he was so called because he favored shorter hose, or socks, than the norm for his day. He might, in other words, have been called Robert-of-the-crew-socks.

Heyer’s story that Duke William was “skeptical” of his eldest son also needs some explaining: William had named Robert heir to the duchy of Normandy some years before the invasion of England, when the boy was in his early teens. During William’s later absences from the duchy, Robert grew accustomed to autonomy, and eventually he chafed under the control his father always asserted when returning to the continent. Eventually Robert demanded full control in Normandy and Maine, and upon his father’s refusal he rebelled, about the year 1077-8, with the open support of the French king, and with his mother’s secret support. And--which was far worse--Robert proceeded to score a victory over his father. Any mistrust from father toward the heir might fairly be presumed to date from this period.

At William’s death Robert, as the eldest son, received his father’s ancestral holding -- Normandy -- while England went to the next surviving son William “Rufus.” Though a capable soldier, Robert was not a good administrator or ruler, with the result that his control in Normandy weakened.

Robert went on the First Crusade in 1096, while his brother William Rufus acted as his Regent in Normandy.

Robert was in frequent conflict with his two surviving brothers William and Henry (the latter is the Henry who had himself crowned King of England after Rufus’ death in 1100, because Robert was away on Crusade at the time, and hence was in no position to object).

When William Rufus died and Henry had himself crowned King in Robert’s absence, Robert attempted, on his return home in 1101 to wrest England from Henry, as he had been designated William’s heir. The attempt failed, and instead Robert accepted an annuity and the promise that he would succeed Henry on his death. In 1106, Henry invaded Normandy, defeated Robert at Tinchebrai, and imprisoned him in England. He died 28 years later, still imprisoned, aged 80. )

NORMANDY*, Rollo, [1^st] Duke of

Source: They Came With the Conqueror (L.G. Pine) pp. 32-3

THE CONQUEROR

Original Duke of Normandy, of the line from whom William the Conqueror was descended.

(Historical note: Rollo, or Hrolfur, was granted Normandy in 911 by Charles the Simple of France. He died in 927 according to one source, or another says he gave up the dukedom to his son in 927 and went into retirement, dying in 932.).

NORMANDY*, William, [7^th] Duke of

Sources:

The Complete Peerage, (revised ed.) vol XII/1, Appendix K, p. 31

They Came With the Conqueror (L.G. Pine) pp. 34-5, also 40-2

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) pp.90-3

Kings and Queen’s of England (Jane Murray) pp 215-9

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter I (also see the beginning of chapter II for a discussion of why William is assumed to have been born in 1027-8)

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 246-7, 277, 283

THE CONQUEROR

William, bastard son of Count Robert of Hiesmes by Herleva [or Herlève] of Falaise. He became Duke of Normandy at about the age of 7, on his father’s death while on pilgrimage. This William is the Duke of Normandy best known to history as William the Conqueror, who became King of England by conquest following the battle of Hastings in October 1066. His early years were marked by constant rebellions, the Normans not taking it for granted that the late Duke’s bastard son had a right to succeed him, and it was not until after the battle of Val-ès-dunes in 1047 that he began to take full control of his duchy. Though there were other risings afterward, none was a serious threat to his rule. He also fought off several invasions by the King of France and the Count of Anjou, among others. He established a level of sovereignty over several of his neighbours, such as Maine, Mayenne, and Ponthieu. He married Mathilda, daughter of Count Baldwin of Flanders and his wife Adela. The story [which may in fact be no more than a story] was that Mathilda at first declined his offer of marriage forcefully, referring derogatorily to his bastardy. Her language, when reported to William, so incensed him that he rode to the Flemish court and whipped Mathilda in her bower. When he renewed his courtship sometime later, she accepted his suit. Despite the story of this rough wooing, the marriage was a happy one both in the novel, and also, apparently, in fact. William was well known for his fighting prowess, his statecraft, and the periodic explosions of his horrific temper. He was very sensitive to unflattering references to his birth.

(Historical notes:

In addition to his well-known names of William "the Bastard," and "the Conqueror," he was also sometimes known as William "the Great" and "the Elder."

William’s date of birth usually is given as either 1027-8 or 1028-9. Depending on when he was born, he was the natural son of either a Count or a Duke. (His father Robert (himself the younger son of Richard, the 4^th Duke of Normandy), who had been made a Count by his father, succeeded his elder brother Richard, the 5^th Duke, in 1027, becoming 6th Duke of Normandy. Duke Robert died in June 1035.)

Though the Battle of Hastings took place in October 1066, and William was crowned on Christmas Day that same year, he did not begin effectively to consolidate his rule over England until 1067, after a visit home to Normandy, and can be said to have achieved reasonable control by about 1070. He instituted a program of raising castles throughout England, initially wood motte-and-bailey constructions, which beginning some dozen years later were replaced by stone castles at all key sites. The most famous – though not the largest -- of these castles is the White Tower, now part of the fortifications of the Tower of London.

Toward the end of his reign, William also ordered the Domesday survey, which is a document of incomparable value in learning about England during this period.

Of his and Mathilda’s 9 (or possibly 10) children, only their youngest son, Henry, is said to have been born in England, at Selby, in 1068.

As he had needed to do in Normandy, so too in England William had to fight off several rebellions. The last significant resistance was that of Edgar the Atheling in 1072. Thereafter he divided his time between England and Normandy and Brittainy. He last left England for Normandy in the summer of 1086, where he would stay until his death the next year.

In the late summer of 1087, while on horseback in Mantes, he had an accident and the pommel of his saddle ripped a wound in his stomach. The wound became infected, leading to peritonitis. He died five weeks later, in September 1087, at Rouen.)

NORMANDY*, William of

(called William Rufus, later King William II: reigned 1087-100)

Sources:

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) pp. 1556

The Kings and Queens of England by Jane Murray, pp 213-4

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 283

THE CONQUEROR

Son of William the Conqueror

The third, but second surviving, son of William the Conqueror and his Queen, Matilda. “Red” William possessed a temper to match his “fiery head.”

(Historical notes:

This William apparently was born in or about 1060.

His well-known appellation, “Rufus,” apparently referred to his ruddy complexion, rather than to his red hair: according to Murray his hair was blond.

Because King William I had named his eldest son Robert the heir to Normandy, William II inherited his father’s kingdom in 1087.

The reign of the second William cannot, however, be described as prosperous. It was said of him that he “made hell fouler by his coming.” It may be that Rufus’ reputation as a cruel, avaricious ruler was given to him primarily by the churchmen (who, after all, were the ones who wrote the histories of the time) because, like his successors Henry II and John, he resisted clerical attempts to interfere with his government, and used the English church as a source of revenue whenever possible. In actuality, the second William showed a not inconsiderable ability in the nearly 13 years he ruled England: he was a capable warrior. But he apparently was a man difficult if not impossible to like personally, and to judge from the surviving evidence his friends, if he had any, were much outnumbered by those who wished him ill.

William died in the summer of 1100 in a hunting accident in the New Forest and was succeeded by his younger brother Henry. The swiftness with which Henry held his coronation (three days later) caused suspicions that the accident was no “accident,” particularly since William’s elder brother Robert, Duke of Normandy, not only had been named by William II as his heir, but might naturally be held to be the proper heir to the English throne. Henry displayed at least as much ruthlessness as King as William II had showed, but he fell less foul of the Church, possibly because he had considerable gifts both as a warrior and as an administrator. Thus, of the sons of William I, Henry secured by far the best reputation in the eyes of history.)

NORTHUMBRIA*, Morkere, Earl of

Source: Complete Peerage, vol IX, pp 703-4

THE CONQUEROR

Morkere was the (younger) son of Alfgar, Earl of Mercia, and the brother of Edwine of Mercia. He chose not to bring up his forces to join Harold at Hastings, and so contributed to the Saxon defeat. He is described as not having his father’s wisdom.

(Historical notes:

Morkere (the name may commonly be encountered in the form “Morcar”) worked closely with his older brother Edwine. Both were taken into exile to Normandy by William in 1067, but returned and led a major rebellion in 1068, whereupon both brothers’ rights and holdings were forfeited.. It was this rebellion that convinced William to completely replace the old Saxon aristocracy with Normans,
After his brother’s murder, Morkere joined in the rebellion of Hereward the Wake. Though Hereward escaped, Morkere was captured and imprisoned.)

NORTHUMBRIA*, Siward, Earl of

Sources:

Complete Peerage, (revised ed.), vol IX, pp 702-3

Kings and Queens of Scotland, (C. Bingham) p. 14

THE CONQUEROR

The powerful Earl of Northumbria who was opposed to the family of Earl Godwine in their rise to power in England. Siward attended the Convention held in London about 1051.

(Historical notes:

Siward was a Dane, and may have come to England with Cnut; he was made Earl in or before 1041. Although he married twice and had two sons, his eldest son died in battle against the Scots in 1054, and his younger son Waltheof was under age at his father’s death the following year, and was passed over in favor of Tostig Godwinesson, (a younger son of Godwin or Godwine, Earl of Wessex), who was a favorite of King Edward the Confessor.

Siward was a kinsman of Malcolm Canmore (the elder son of Duncan I, the King of Scotland, who was killed in battle by Macbeth in 1040, and who himself became King of Scotland in 1058.) The fact that Tostig, not Siward’s son Waltheof, was Earl of Northumberland from 1055 may explain the fact that, three years after Malcolm became King of Scotland, he ravaged Tostig’s lands in 1061.

ODO*

THE CONQUEROR

See: BAYEUX, Odo, Bishop of

Half-brother of William the Conqueror

OSBERN*, son of Herfast, Seneschal of Normandy

Sources:

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 177

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter I

The Complete Peerage, (revised ed.), vol VI, p. 447, including notes (e) through (g)

THE CONQUEROR

Father of the William FitzOsbern who became Earl of Hereford soon after the Conquest

Seneschal of Normandy, Osbern was the father of William FitzOsbern, the Lord of Breteuil. Osbern was the son of Herfast and was one of Duke William’s governors during his minority. He was murdered by William Montgomeri in the Duke’s own chamber.

(Historical notes:

Osbern was dapifer (steward of the household) to young Duke William. He was killed at Vaudreuil.

Osbern’s father, Herfast de Crepon, was the brother of duchess Gunnor or Gonnor, the second wife of Duke Richard I.

Osbern himself married Emma, (daughter of Ralph, Count of Ivry, who himself was maternal half-brother of Duke Richard I of Normandy).).

OSWINE

(fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

The son of Hundbert the Strong. Oswine was betrothed to Elfrida of Marwell, but died of a wasting disease just as she became of marriageable age. Eric Jarlssen was accused of causing his death by witchcraft.

OSWINE

(fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

One of Harold’s party when he was ship-wrecked on the coast of Ponthieu. He is present at the oath-taking at Bayeux.

PAPIA

(unknown whether fictional or historical)

THE CONQUEROR

A redheaded swineherdess who was pursued by Moulines-la-Marche and ended as Archbishop Mauger’s mistress.

(Historic note: Mauger did sire children, but history seems not to have recorded the name(s) of their mother(s). Mauger’s own mother (and the mother of William of Arques) was named Papia, as was his sister, who married Gilbert, advocate of St. Valery.)

PICOT de Say*, Robert of

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter IX

For mentions of “Picot” the sheriff of Cambridgeshire, which probably is not the same person, see Feudal England (J.H. Round) pp. 103, 104

THE CONQUEROR

A large bulky man who tried to control the uproar caused by Duke William’s proposal to invade England, but was ignored in the tumult.

(Historical notes:

Planché identifies Say as a place near Argentan, and says that its lords in Normandy were vassals of Roger de Montgomeri.

Wace, in his account of the battle of Hastings, lists a “Cil de Saie” among the Norman forces. Some historians take this to mean Robert of Picot de Say, who is listed in the Domesday book as holding more than two dozen manors in Shropshire, of Roger de Montgomeri, the Earl of Arundel and Shrewsbury. However, if Earl Roger did not arrive in England until 1067, it seems unlikely, though of course not impossible, that his vassal Robert would have arrived earlier. If Robert came over with Roger de Montgomeri he still qualifies as a “Companion of the Conqueror” in the sense of one who assisted in the Norman pacification of England, though not in the sense of a participant at Hastings.

This Robert and his wife were benefactors of a church in 1060 along with an Osmelin de Say (possibly a brother or uncle of Robert), who therefore may also have been the “de Saie” mentioned by Wace.

Robert Picot de Say married a woman named Adeloyse, by whom he had at least two sons

The given name “Picot” may otherwise be familiar to students of the Norman period: a man named Picot, apparently not the same man as this Robert, was sheriff of Cambridgeshire during the Conqueror’s reign, and was not regarded fondly by his neighbors in the shire.)

POITOU*?, Count of

(apparently historical)

THE CONQUEROR

About 1048, the Count of Poitou and the Count of Guienne were taken prisoner by Geoffrey Martel, Count of Anjou. They were forced to agree to his extortionate demands before they were set free. The Count of Poitou died four days after his release - rumours suggested that the cause was poison.

(Tentative historical note:

The comté of Poitou was real, but your editors are not satisfied that they have confirmed this story from the novel. The Count of Poitou from about 1030 to about 1058 seems to have been a man named variously as Peter or William. If this man was taken prisoner about 1048 and died four days after his release, then several possibilities present themselves. If the years of his capture and death both are correct, then the Count was imprisoned some ten years—in which case one may feel some surprise that Heyer found the detail unworthy of mention. Alternatively, of course, either the statement that the Count was imprisoned “about 1048” or the one that he died “about 1058” may either, or both, be more elastic in this instance than one ordinarily expects. In sum, though, seldom have your editors had such frequent cause to lament their ignorance of the chronology and history of 11^th century Normandy and France!)

PONTHIEU*, Guy, Count of

Sources:

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp 70-1

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter I; see also vol 1, chapter IV

From Alfred to Henry III (Christopher Brooke) p. 85

THE CONQUEROR

Son of Hugh of Ponthieu, he was taken prisoner at Mortemer by William’s forces during Henry of France’s 1054 invasion of Normandy. After an imprisonment of some years, he agreed to give William simple homage in exchange for his freedom. When Harold Godwinesson was shipwrecked on his coasts, Guy took custody of him, later exchanging him with William for a ransom. At St.-Valery, he assisted in arranging the ceremony to the Saint to request a favourable wind for the invasion fleet.

(Historical notes:

The county of Ponthieu adjoins the coast of Normandy; its Count was a vassal of Duke William’s. Harold’s unplanned landing here apparently took place in the summer of 1064.

Hugh (II) of Ponthieu, father of Guy, is said to have died in 1052, and your editors deduce that Guy may have been Hugh’s second, rather than his eldest, son.

This Guy (or “Wido”) evidently was not the son, but may have been the brother, of the Enguerrand, Count of Ponthieu, who married Adelaide, or Adeliza, said by Planché to be a full sister of William the Conqueror by Herlève of Falaise. (Count Enguerrand, who died in 1053, was the son of Hugh II of Ponthieu, per Planché).

Count Guy is said to have died about 1101.)

PONTHIEU, Hugh, Count of

THE CONQUEROR

Father-in-law of William of Arques, he came in the train of King Henry of France, in support of Arques’ rebellion. He was slain in the engagement of St.-Aubin, and Henry retreated to France.

PONTHIEU, Waleran

THE CONQUEROR

Son of Hugh of Ponthieu, and brother of Guy of Ponthieu. He accompanied his brother and King Henry of France in the 1054 invasion of Normandy. He was slain at Mortemer.

PRODIGY of St. Jacques

(legendary)

THE CONQUEROR

A woman exhibited to Duke William by William FitzOsbern. The prodigy, probably a Siamese twin, had two trunks connected at the navel and supported by a single pair of legs. When Duke William saw her one half had died and the other lived.

(Historic note: This is one of the many legends surrounding the Conquest period that may or may not have its source in a historical event.)

RIE*, Hubert, Sieur of

Sources:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché); vol 1, chapter I; and vol 2, chapter V

See also The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 2, and 1066 the Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) p. 68

THE CONQUEROR

The Sieur of Rie was just outside his castle when he saw Raoul and William riding hell for leather from Valognes. He stopped William long enough to provide him with food and rest, and assigned his three eldest sons to escort William safely to Rouen to meet with his half-uncles. Meanwhile, he himself, pretending to be a sympathizer, misdirected the pursuing rebels of Valognes in order to give William time to escape.

(Historical notes:

The story of Hubert de Rie’s assistance to the young Duke William after Valognes was taken by Heyer from the chronicles of Orderic, written about 70 years after the battle of Hastings..

In the year 1096/7 the abbey and church of St. Peter's, Colchester would be founded by Hubert’s youngest son Eudo. As was often the practice at the time, the grateful clerics wrote a history of their foundation, in which their evident zeal to glorify the family of their founder led them to make statements that, to put the thing charitably, cannot always be confirmed from the historical record. According to this abbey narrative, Hubert de Rie gave signal service to Duke William again some years after Valognes, when he acted as a messenger between William and Edward the Confessor, on behalf of William’s claim to the crown when Edward was reported to be near death. Hubert returned, so the story goes, with the promise of England for William. (Your editors know of nothing to corroborate this story, which if true ought to have been made loudly and repeatedly public by Duke William in the months leading up to his invasion of England. In fact, the story was that Edward the Confessor, on his deathbed, repudiated his earlier promise to Duke William, and directed that Harold Godwinesson should be England’s next King. The occasion when King Edward is said to have promised the crown to Duke William took place years earlier, about the year 1051, not at the time Edward was dying.)

Hubert and his four sons (Ralph, Hubert, Adam, and Eudo) sometimes are said to have been present at Hastings, another assertion that your editors have not traced to any reliable authority. Planché, indeed, says flatly that there is “no satisfactory evidence” that Eudo, the youngest son, fought at Hastings. The nearest he can come is to note that Wace, in his account written about a century after the battle, lists among the Normans at the battle "Cil de Praels" (Sire de Préaux). Eudo can be shown to have been lord of Préaux in the year 1070, and may – or may not -- have been so four years earlier.

The four sons of Hubert are reported to have settled in England after Duke William became King, having received lands or offices from William. This, however, is another detail from the chronicle of the foundation of St. Peter's, Colchester, and so is not necessarily a source in which to place your trust. What is true is that Eudo or Eudes, the youngest son, became William I’s dapifer (steward of the household) about the year 1070 or 1072. At the time of the Domesday survey, Eudo held more than 60 manors spread across six counties He was with William when he died at Caen (1087), and, it is said, received from him the mission to secure the succession of England to William Rufus, which he executed faithfully.)

ROBERT

(possibly historical)

See The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 221

THE CONQUEROR

A man of Norman blood residing near Pevensey who aided Duke William by sending crucial information on King Harold’s movements.

(Tentative historical note: this man, or at least his name, might easily be Heyer’s invention, but Linklater does mention an unnamed English landowner, of Norman birth, who told Duke William before the battle that Harold had defeated Harold Hardrada and Tostig.)

ROUEN*, Mauger, Archbishop of

Sources:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché); vol 1, chapter I; see also vol 1, chapter III under the Count of Mortain

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 177, 181

THE CONQUEROR

Half-uncle to Duke William. Though he initially assisted William in gaining the duchy, he was opposed to him in after years, finally excommunicating William for his marriage to Mathilda, though a dispensation had been obtained. William deprived him of his see, and sent him into exile.

(Historical notes:

Mauger (or “Malger”) was a natural son of Duke Richard II of Normandy by a woman named Papia. His full brother was William of Arques; his (legitimate) half-brothers Richard and Robert were successive Dukes of Normandy.

It appears that Mauger was the father of William the Warling, the Count of Mortain who was banished by Duke William in or about the year 1051. This act may itself explain the antipathy Mauger had for his nephew, Duke William.

Mauger, in addition to having excommunicated Duke William and his duchess, when they were newly married, also secretly encouraged the rebellion of his brother William of Arques. The Duke had his revenge some two years later, when he passed sentence of banishment against his uncle, who had been found guilty by an ecclesiastical council at Lisieux of a long list of offences, including the study and practice of the black art. Duke William banished him to the Channel Islands, but some time later he—lamentably—fell overboard and drowned while sailing off the French coast.)

ROUEN*, Maurilius, Archbishop of

THE CONQUEROR

An ascetic monk who succeeded Mauger to the see of Rouen.

ROUMARE*, Lord of

Sources:

The Complete Peerage vol VII pp 667-9; see especially p. 667, note (c)

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter VI

THE CONQUEROR

An ally of William’s at Val-ès-dunes.

(Historical notes:

The lordship of Roumare was near Rouen; there was also a forest of Roumare at one time.

This unnamed lord of Roumare, if not an invention of Heyer’s, would appear to have been a knight named Gerald (or Gerold) de Roumare, called “Miles Christi,” or possibly his brother (he had at least one, named Ralph, who was chamberlain to Duke William), or his father or uncle.

This Gerald appears as seneschal to Duke William from at least 1055, and was made Castellan of Neufmarché about the year 1064 by the Duke. By his first wife, who appears to have been named Aubreye, Gerald had a son Robert fitz Gerald (who was holding Corfe in Dorset at the time of the Domesday survey). Presumably by his second wife, Gerald may have had a son named William; he certainly had a son Roger fitz Gerald “de Roumare.” The latter man was Lord of Spalding in Lincolnshire, during the reign of William Rufus, which would mean the period 1087-1100. Roger’s son William also was born during the reign of Rufus.

Wace, writing about a century after the battle of Hastings, mentions a "Dom. Willame de Romare,"among the Norman host, but the chronology does not support the supposition that this William is the same “William de Roumare” (or even the father or grandfather of the man), who later became Earl of Lincoln.

The Earl of Lincoln was a later William de Roumare, born about 1096, son of Roger fitz Gerald. He became Earl in or about the year 1141; though his male line failed when his grandson, yet another William, died without issue about 1198.)

SAINT-Hilaire de Ferrieres*, Henry, Lord of

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed.) vol IV pp 190-91

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter III

THE CONQUEROR

A baron who opposed Duke William’s plan to invade England.

(Historical notes:

Saint Hilaire de Ferrières is a place near Bernay.

This Henry is the man more familiarly encountered, in surveys of the period, as Henry de Ferrières (or de Ferriers or Ferrers), Sire de Ferrières and Chambrais (the latter is now named “Broglie”), on the Charantonne in Normandy. He was a younger son of the Walkelin who died in combat against Hugh de Montfort, early in the reign of Duke William.

He is named by Wace as having been present at Hastings, and though Wace was writing about a century afterward and so was not a first-hand witness, it is clear that in any event Henry was one of the Conqueror’s men in England after the battle: he held land there in 1071, later, in 1085, he was appointed one of the Domesday commissioners, and at the date of the survey (1086) he held more than 200 lordships and manors, of which more than 100 were in Derbyshire – the remainder were scattered in 13 other counties.

He married a woman named Berta and had at least three sons; he died at some point in or after 1089.

His third son, Robert, the only one who survived his father, received most of Henry’s lands in England, and was created Earl of Derby in 1138, dying the following year. This Robert’s grandson William, the 3^rd Earl, rebelled against the King and lost his title in 1174, but it was restored to William’s son, another William, in 1199, and the de Ferrieres family held the earldom, with that one interruption, from 1138 to 1266, when it was forfeited by Robert de Ferrers, the 6^th Earl.

SAINT-Pol*?, Count of

(probably historical)

THE CONQUEROR

A vassal of King Henry of France. Present at Val-ès-dunes, and accompanied Henry in his invasion of Normandy in 1058, which ended in the defeat at the fords of Varaville.

(Tentative historical note: The comté of Saint Pol was real, but your editors have not prospered in their attempts to identify which man held the title during this period.)

SCHOOLMASTER, Alric the

THE CONQUEROR

See: ALRIC the Schoolmaster

SIGWULF (fictional)

THE CONQUEROR

A Saxon who was shipwrecked on the coast of Ponthieu when in attendance to Earl Harold of Wessex. He is Alfric Edricson’s friend. Present at the oath-taking at Bayeux.

SWAN-NECK*, Editha

Sources:

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp. 59, 90, 187

Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), p. 30

THE CONQUEROR

The beautiful mistress of Earl Harold of Wessex. Editha came to retrieve Harold’s body after the Battle of Hastings. Editha is described as a tall, graceful woman with golden hair.

(Historical note: Editha (also called Edith and “Eadgyth”) Swanneshals or Svanneshals (called “Swan-neck”) was the wife, according to Scandinavian “handfast” law, of Harold Godwinesson. She was much loved by him, and gave him six children, of whom one of their daughters , Gytha, married Waldemar, King of Novgorod (who is identified elsewhere as Vladimir II, Grand Duke of Kiev).)

SOISSONS*, Count of

(apparently historical)

THE CONQUEROR

The Count of Soissons was one of King Henry of France’s allies in the invasion of Normandy in 1054.

(Tentative historical note: The comté of Soissons was real. While Heyer does not name the man who held it during this period, the Count in 1054 appears to have been Renaud de Vermandois, who sometimes also is listed as Count of Troyes. He was born about 987, and died in 1057.)

STIGAND*

THE CONQUEROR

See: CANTERBURY, Stigand, Archbishop of

TAILLEFER* “of the Golden Voice”

Source:

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) p. 174

THE CONQUEROR

Duke William’s favourite minstrel who sang a song to praise Elfrida’s beauty, and was favoured by Earl Harold of Wessex. At the Battle of Hastings Taillefer charged the Saxon lines alone, singing the Song of Roland, and was cut down.

(Historical note: Early accounts that mention Taillefer say he was William’s jester; other accounts call him a minstrel or juggler.)

TALVAS*, William, Lord of Belesme

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter I; see also vol 1, chapter VI under Roger de Montgomeri

Also mentioned under Arundel in The Complete Peerage (revised ed.), vol I p 230

THE CONQUEROR

Father of Mabille, wife to Roger de Montgomeri. Swore allegiance to William the Conqueror in his cradle.

(Historical notes:

Could we have here another, er, rare typesetting error in the novel? According to Planché, quoting the story in Wace, this William Talvas, Lord of Belesme, is the man who, far from swearing allegiance to the future Conqueror, in fact cursed the infant William in his cradle.

The name “Mabille” is also given as “Mabel,” and the place “Bellesme” is spelled “Bellême” in The Complete Peerage.)

TESSON*, Raoul I, Lord of Turie-en-Cingueliz

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter I; and vol 2, chapter IV

THE CONQUEROR

One of William’s principal barons, he had sworn to join the rebels against him at Val-ès-dunes, but when he arrived on the field he joined William’s forces. He was reluctant to go to England, but was the second to inscribe his name on the lists at the Council of Lillebonne. He fought at Hastings.

(Historical notes:

This is the first of successive lords of Cingueleiz whose name was Raoul (or Rodulfi). He attested a charter before the year 1035, and Duke William summoned his aid in 1054 to repel an invasion.

Though Heyer says that this Raoul fought at Hastings, if so he apparently would have been aged in his 50s at least. The claim that someone named Raoul Tesson fought during the Norman invasion of England comes from Wace, writing a century afterwards, and may, instead, have been a reference to this Raoul’s son, Raoul II.)

TESSON*, Raoul II

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 2, chapter IV

THE CONQUEROR

Son of Raoul Tesson I, Lord of Turie-en-Cingueliz, he was killed at the battle of Hastings.

(Historical notes:

Planché spells the name “Taisson.”

Wace, writing about a century after the battle, mentions a “Raol Teisson” as one of the Norman warriors at Hastings. If Wace was accurate, the man in question likely would have been this Raoul II. Raoul II, if he was part of the Norman army, is presumed to have been killed in the fighting, because his name does not appear in historical records from the subsequent period, and though he had a son and heir the heir likewise does not appear as a landowner in England..

Raoul II married Matilda, the daughter of Walter of Falaise, (the uncle of Duke William). This Raoul II left a son and a daughter, and as noted above the son is not listed as a tenant of the crown in the Domesday survey of 1086.

THORIGNY*, Hamon-aux-Dents, Lord of

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter I; and vol 2, chapter IX

See also The Complete Peerage (revised ed.), vol V, p. 683

THE CONQUEROR

Father of Hamo Dapifer, who may have been Lord of Crèvecœur

Described by William as “a bandog, one who would do me a mischief if he could”, he fought against Duke William at Val-ès-dunes (1047). He killed the French King Henry’s second horse under him, but was himself killed in the battle.

(Historical noted:

Hamon was Lord of Thorigny, Maissi, and Creulli, according to Planché. The story that Hamon unhorsed the King of France comes from the chronicle of Wace.

He had two sons, Robert and Hamo, both of whom sometimes are claimed to have been present at Hastings, and while Robert appears to have died without issue, it seems that Hamo had children. It sometimes is said this Hamo’s granddaughter was the wife of Robert, 1^st Earl of Gloucester.)

THORKILL*

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1 chapter I

THE CONQUEROR

Mentioned in passing as a governor of Duke William during his minority, who was murdered.

(Historical notes:

Thorkill (whose name also is given in the forms Thurkild, Thorold, or Turquetil), Lord of Neufmarché-en-Lions, had charge of young William’s education when his father, Duke Robert, left Normandy on pilgrimage. Along with Gilbert, Comte d’Eu (William’s guardian), Thorkill was murdered by (or, at least, at the instance of) Raoul de Gacé, This Raoul, who himself was a connexion of the ducal house, being a nephew of Duke Richard II, was later appointed to serve as one of William’s governors, and as commander-in-chief of his armies, in which latter capacity he led the force that recovered the Castle of Falaise from the rebel Toustain Goz.

Thorkill/Turquetil’s son Anchetil appears to have been the founder of the historic de Harcourt family (as distinguished from the apparently fictional de Harcourt family that Heyer included in her novel.)

THOUARS*, Haimer, Count of

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised ed) vol XII/1, Appendix L, p. 48

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1, chapter VII

THE CONQUEROR

Co-commander of the left wing of the Norman forces at the battle of Hastings, along with Alain “Fergant”

(Historical notes:

Viscount Haimer of Thouars (the name also is given as Aumari, Aimeri, Haimon, and Amaury) is believed to be among those who were trusted with Duke William’s initial plan to invade England. He is one of a dozen Normans named by William of Poitiers as present at the battle of Hastings.

According to Planché our man was the fourth Viscount de Thouars to bear the name Aimeri (as variously spelled): he was the eldest son of Geoffrey II, Viscount de Thouars.

He married twice, having children by both marriages. His first wife was named Aserengarde, by whom he had 2 sons and a daughter. His second wife was Ameline, who appears to have borne him another 3 or 4 sons.

He died in 1093.)

THURKILL

(unknown whether fictional or historical)

THE CONQUEROR

One of Edgar of Marwell’s old Anglo-Saxon friends.

(Historical note: Unless this Thurkill was an invention of Heyer’s, he may be based on one of the few members of King Harold’s army who are mentioned by name in historical sources. The historical Thurkill was from Berkshire. His exact history and fate are otherwise unknown.)

TOURNIERES*?, Lord of

(possibly historical)

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 2, chapter XI

THE CONQUEROR

Held off from Duke William at Val-ès-dunes, though it is not apparent if he joined the rebels.

(Historical notes:

Tournieres is a place in the arrondissement of Bayeux; and Le Tourneur lies near Vire: either might be the source of the name.

Wace, writing about a century after the battle of Hastings, mentions among the Norman army both a "Sire del Torneor” and then, a few lines later, a "Sire de Tornieres,” which might represent two references to one man, or one reference to each of two different men. Planché could shed no further light on either possibility. If the lord of Tournieres was indeed present at Hastings, it is possible either that he was killed at the battle or died soon afterward: either possibility might account for the silence of the historical record respecting his later career. As, of course, also is true of the possibility that no such person was numbered in William’s army.)

TREGOZ*?, Lord of

(possibly historical)

Source: The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 2, chapter XI

THE CONQUEROR

A baron who was persuaded by Duke William to support him in his invasion of England.

(Historical notes:

Tregoz is a place in the arrondissement of St. Lô: the location of an ancient castle where a brook flows into the Vire.

The story that a man from Tregoz was present at Hastings appears to come from Wace, whose account mentions an otherwise unidentified man who then held Tregoz (“cil ki donc tenoit Tregoz”), who during the battle slew two Englishmen. The earliest member of the “de Tregoz” family mentioned in Dugdale was William, who held land in England in 1131, but on that account this William would not appear a likely candidate to have fought at Hastings 64 or 65 years earlier. The father or even the grandfather of this William might have been the right age, always assuming that Wace was accurate at this point of his narrative.)

VALERY, Saint

THE CONQUEROR

A saint buried at Saint-Valéry in Ponthieu. His bones were exhumed in order to invoke his aid in bringing good weather to ease the crossing of the Channel.

(Historical note: St Valéry (feast of translation: Dec 12) was a fifth century Benedictine monk who founded a monastery in Picardy. He was an extremely abstemious and humble man. His fame spread after miracle cures were reported at his shrine. After the Conquest his relics were taken to England, and returned only in Richard the Lion-Heart’s reign, late in the 12^th century.

VASSY*, Ives de

Sources:

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 2, chapter VI

The Complete Peerage (revised ed.) vol XII/2, pp.268-74

THE CONQUEROR

A baron who opposed Duke William’s proposal to invade England.

(Historical notes:

Vassy, which entered English from the latinized form “de Vesci,” lies in the arrondissement of Vere.

Wace mentions the otherwise unnamed "Sires de Vaccie" in his account of the battle of Hastings. According to Planché there were two men – Robert and Ives (or Yves, or Ivo) de Vassy, who may, or may not, have been brothers – who would have been of age at the right time.

Robert still was living at the time of the Domesday survey (1086), where he is listed as holding a total of 19 lordships in four different counties.

Ives was given in marriage a woman named Alda, the only daughter and heir of William, Lord of Alnwick and Malton, whose father was Gilbert (or “Gisbrit”) Tyson, Lord of Alnwick, in Northumberland. This Gilbert or Gisbrit is said to have been an Englishman who died while fighting in Harold’s army, perhaps at the battle of Hastings, though the editors of The Complete Peerage found this story unlikely.

Ives and Alda had an only child and heir, Beatrice, who married Eustace Fitz John and had a son William, who took his mother’s name of Vescy or De Vesci. This William’s great-grandson, John, was summoned to the rebel Parliament of December, 1264, and John’s brother and heir, William, was summoned to parliament in 1295. This line ended when the second baron, an illegitimate son of the first who was summoned to parliament in 1313, was killed at the battle of Bannockburn the following year.

The Complete Peerage spells the family name as “Vescy.”)

VERCERAY

THE CONQUEROR

The first destrier, or war horse, belonging to Raoul de Harcourt.

VERMANDOIS*, Herbert, Count of

Sources: The Complete Peerage (revised ed.) vol VII pp 523-6 (and note (b) on p 526); Also see vol XII/1 p 496

THE CONQUEROR

Herbert of Vermandois was an ally of King Henry of France in the invasion of Normandy in 1054. He was present at the defeat of Mortemer, in the force of Prince Eudes.

(Historic notes: This Herbert was Count of Vermandois and Valois. His daughter and heir Adelaide married Hugh de Crépi (younger son of Henry I, King of France) and had a daughter named Isabel (or Elizabeth: the two names were synonyms at this time), who married first to Robert de Beaumont (Count of Meulan, who also held extensive lands in England, and is sometimes said to have been 1^st Earl of Leicester). Robert died in 1118, leaving twin sons (one succeeding as Count of Meulan in France, the other, Robert, become Earl of Leicester in England). This Isabel/Elizabeth then married William of Warenne, (2^nd Earl of Surrey, though usually styled “Earl of Warenne,”) and had another 3 sons.

The de Beaumont family held the earldom of Leicester in the male line until the 4^th Earl died in 1204, when it passed to Simon de Montfort, husband of the elder daughter of the 3^rd Earl.

The de Warrenne family held the earldom of Surrey until the death of the 3^rd Earl in 1148, when it passed to William of Blois by marriage with Isabel, the 3^rd Earl’s only daughter and heir. They had no issue, but after his death Isabel remarried and had at least one son, and that line held the earldom into the 14^th century.

Herbert of Vermandois was thus the ancestor of more than one noble English family of the medieval period.)

VORTIGERN

(legendary)

Source: Dictionary of British History, ed by J.P. Kenyon, p. 352, also pp. 168, 177

THE CONQUEROR

King of Britons who was made to see a prophetic vision in a pool of water by Merlin the Churchman.

(Historical notes: “Vortigern” was a Romano-British king in the early to mid 5^th century. According to Bede, he is described as having fought off the Saxons, and then invited them into Britain as mercenaries to help him against his enemies, including the Picts and Irish. The ones he invited were Horsa and Hengist, who decided to stay, establishing themselves in colonies on the southeastern coasts of Britain, in what was called the Saxon Shore.

“Vortigern” isn’t a personal name: it’s title meaning “overlord.”)

WALTER of Falaise

Sources:

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) p. 177

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché), vol 1, chapter I

THE CONQUEROR

Brother of Herleva, mistress of Count Robert of Hiesmes. Uncle to William the Conqueror. When his nephew, William, becomes Duke of Normandy, he has a place at the ducal court. His two sons receive titles from their cousin.

(Historical note: the two sons of Walter of Falaise have not been traced or independently confirmed by your editors. Walter did have a daughter named Matilda, according to Planché.)

WATCHER, Raoul the

THE CONQUEROR

See: de HARCOURT, Raoul

WORCESTER*, Wulfstan, Bishop of

Source: Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), p 260

THE CONQUEROR

The Churchman who led Edgar the Atheling to Duke William’s presence.

(Historical note: This Wulfstan was consecrated Bishop of Worcester in 1062, and died in January 1095)

of BRITTANY*, Alan the Red

Sources:

The Complete Peerage (revised edition) vol X pp 779-85; see especially pp 783 note (c), and 784 note (a)

The Conqueror and His Companions (J.R. Planché) vol 1 chapter VIII

This appears to have been the historical figure who led the left wing of Duke William’s army at the battle of Hastings: he is not the same as the man Heyer called Alan Fergant.

(Historical notes:

This Alan the Red (Alain “le Roux” or Rufus), like his cousin Alan Fergant, was both the son and the cousin of previous Counts in Brittany. His father Eudes, Comte de Penthièvre, was the younger son of Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, by Hawise (daughter of Richard, Duke of Normandy). Duke Geoffrey died in 1008, and for some 25 years his two sons, Alan and Eudes, ruled jointly. Later the duchy was partitioned, with Eudes receiving a part. Eudes seized control of the duchy on Alan’s death in 1040, to the exclusion of Alan’s son Conan, who did not recover till 1057. Count Eudes died in 1079. Our Alan the Red, third son of Count Eudes, was thus cousin of Conan. Alan Fergant was the son of Hoel, Count of Cornouaille, by Hawise, daughter of the Duke Alan who died in 1040.

That Alan the Red is likely the man who led a wing of Duke William’s army at Hastings is suggested by the fact that Alan the Red, at the time of the Domesday compilation, held land in 11 English counties, representing more than 400 manors. The bulk of his holdings were in Yorkshire, where he was Lord of Richmond

Alan the Red died without issue in August 1079 and was succeeded by his next brother, Alan the Black, who died without issue in 1093, and was succeeded by his brother Stephen.)

YORK*, Aldred, Archbishop of

Sources:

1066: The Year of the Conquest (David Howarth) pp. 56-7, 196

The Conquest of England (Eric Linklater) pp. 188, 224-5

Handbook of British Chronology, (2^nd edition; ed by Powicke and Fryde), p. 264

THE CONQUEROR

The Saxon Churchman who rather unwillingly anointed Duke William as King of England on Christmas Day, 1066. Aldred was chosen over Stigand, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

(Historical note: Aldred (name also spelled “Ealdred”) became a bishop in 1044, and had been bishop of both York and Worcester in 1061-2, becoming archbishop of York in 1062. Aldred also was the archbishop who had anointed Harold Godwinesson at his coronation in January 1066. He remained loyal to his new king, and later crowned Matilda when she came to England. He died in September 1069.)