William the Conqueror - Descendants
The Normans (Men of the North), were a mixed nation of the fiercest Norwegians, Swedes, and Danes, and became settled in Neustria, in France, at the beginning of the 10th century, when King Charles the Simple, conferred the Duchy, since called Normandy, on
ROLLO, THE DANE, one of the most celebrated of the Norman leaders. This renowned Chieftain, m. 1st, Poppa, dau. of Berengarius, Count of Bayeux, and 2ndly, Gisela, dau. of Charles, King of France; by the former of whom he left at his decease, in 931, two sons and two daughters, viz.:
1. WILLIAM, of whom presently.
2. Robert, Count of Corbeil, ancestor of HAMON DENTATUS, 6th Count of Corbeil, who, according to Anderson, was father of two sons;
1. ROBERT FITZ-HAMON, who accompanied WILLIAM to England, and achieved great renown by his conquest of Glamorgan, where he was made Prince. His dau. Mabel, m. ROBERT, Earl of Gloucester, illegitimate son of Henry I.
2. RICHARD DE GRANVILLE, Earl of Corbeil, who d. on his journey to Jerusalem, leaving a son,
RICHARD DE GRANVILLE, Earl of Corbeil, patriarch of the great House of Granville, of which was the ever memorable
Sir BEVIL GRANVILLE, the Cavalier commander, slain at the battle of Lansdowne, 5 July, 1643.
From his son, Sir JOHN GRANVILLE, created EARL of BATH, in 1661, derived the GRANVILLES, now of Calwich Abbey, co. Stafford.
1. Crespina, who m. GRIMALDUS I., Prince of Monaco, and had issue,
GUIDO I., Prince of Monaco, living A.D. 980, ancestor of the GRIMALDIS, Sovereign Princes of Monaco, and Dukes of Valentinois.
Crispinus, Ansgot, who received from his grandfather Rollo, the Barony of Bee, and became patriarch of the Lords of Bec-Crispin.
Gibellinus, who was made Lord of Sinus St. Troppeus, by William I., Count of Provence.
2. Gerletta, who m. William II., Duke of Aquitaine, and Count of Poictou, and had with a dau. Blanca, wife of Lewis V. King of France, a son,
WILLIAM III., Duke of Aquitaine, who d. in the Abbey of St. Cyprian, A.D. 1025, having had a son,
Guido, who became on his father’s resignation in 1019, Duke of Aquitaine. He founded the Priory of St. Gemma, in Xaintonge, and d. in 1021, when he was succeeded by his son,
WILLIAM IV. Duke of Aquitaine, who assisted Philip I. of France, against William the Conqueror. He erected the Palace of Poictou, and, after conferring large donations on the Church, d. in 1086. His son and successor,
WILLIAM V. Duke of Aquitaine, reigned no less than seventy years. At his death, which occurred in 1156, he left two daughters:
PETRONELLA, wife of Rudolph, Count of Vermandois.
ELEANOR, Duchess of Aquitaine, who m. Lewis, King of France, but was divorced from that monarch in 1150, when she wedded HENRY II. King of England.
The eldest son of Rollo, Duke of Normandy,
WILLIAM, surnamed Longa Spatha, Duke of Normandy, m. Adela, dau. of Hubert, Count of Senlis, and dying in 948 (he was slain, it is stated, by the treachery of Arnulph, Count of Flanders), left a son and successor,
RICHARD I., Duke of Normandy, surnamed sans peur, who d. in 960, leaving by his wife, Gunilda, a Danish lady, four sons and two daughters, viz.
1. RICHARD, his heir.
2. Mauger, Earl of Corbeil.
3. Robert, Count of Evreux (afterwards Bishop of Rouen), father of two sons, Richard, Count of Evreux, and Rudolph, Constable of Normandy.
4. William, Count of Hiesmes and Eu, and Lord of Monstreul, who in. Lefieltna de Harcourt, and had two sons:
Robert, Count of Eu.
William, Count of Soissons, d. without male issue.
I. Emma, m. 1st, Etheldred, King of England, and by him, who d. in 1016, was mother of a son, EDWARD the CONFESSOR. Emma, m. 2ndly, CANUTE the GREAT, and by him was mother of HARDY CANUTE, King of England.
2. Hedwig. m. to Geffrey, Count of Bretaigne.
The eldest son,
RICHARD II., Duke of Normandy, surnamed the Good, m. 1st, Judith, dau. of the Duke of Britany, and had issue:
2. ROBERT, successor to his brother.
3. William, a Monk.
1. Alice, who m. Renauld, Earl of Burgundy, and had a son, Guy, who claimed the Duchy at the decease of Robert le Diable.
2. Eleanora, who m. Baldwin IV. Earl of Flanders, and was father of Baldwin V Count of Flanders, whose dau.
MATILDA, m.. William, Duke of Normandy, and became afterwards on the Conquest of England, Queen of England.
3. Papia, wife of Guilbert Saint Valery.
Duke Richard m.. 2ndly, Estrith, sister of Canute the Dane, and dau. of Swene, King of Denmark. From her he was divorced; and subsequently he took as his third wife, Papia, a Danish lady, by whom he had two sons, Mauger, the celebrated Archbishop of Rouen, and William, Count of Arques.
Richard d. in 1026-7, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
RICHARD 111., Duke of Normandy, who is stated to have been poisoned in 1027. He left no legitirnale issue, and was succeeded by his brother,
ROBERT LE DIABLE, (Robert the Devil) 6th Duke of Normandy, who contributed to restore to his throne, Henry, King of France, and received from the gratitude of that monarch, the Vexin, as an addition to his patrimonial dominions. In the 8th year of his reign, curiosity or devotion, induced him to under take a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where the fatigues of the journey arid the heat of the climate, so impaired his constitution, that he died on his way home, at Nice, in Bythinia, in 1035. To Duke Robert, Herleva, or Arlotta, the dau. of an officer of his household, had borne a son, William, who so strongly interested the affections of his father, that, before his departure for Palestine, Robert had prevailed on an assembly of the Barons at Fescamp, to acknowledge as heir to the Duchy, this
WILLIAM (The Conqueror), who was only ten years old at his father’s death. The Earl Gilbert became his guardian, and the King of France solemnly engaged to protect the rights of his orphan vassal. But the guardian was slain, the interests of William were neglected, and his dominions during the time of his minority, exhibited one continued scene of anarchy and bloodshed. At the age of nineteen, however, the young Duke first took the field to support by his own good sword, his claim to the succession, and after defeating Guy of Burgundy, and William of Arques, he baffled the efforts of his opponents ; and at length, aided by the chivalry of the warlike age in which he lived, effected the Conquest of England, by the defeat of Harold, at Hastings, in 1066.
The Conqueror, who was b. in 1024, m. in 1053, Matilda, dau. of Baldwin V., Count of Flanders, by Adela, his wife, grand-daughter of Hugh Capet, and had issue:
DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.
1. ROBERT, surnamed Court Hose, to whom his father bequeathed Normandy and Maine. This illfated Prince, defeated at the battle of Tenchebrai, was confined by Henry I. of England, in Cardiff Castle, until his death in 1134, after a captivity of twenty-eight years. He m. (when in Italy, on his way to Palestine) Sybilla, dau. of Geoffrey, of Conversana, of Norman descent, and had a son,
WILLIAM, Earl of Flanders, who was protected by Philip le Gros, King of France, and received from that monarch, the hand of Joan, sister of his Queen Alice, and dau. of Humbert, Count of Maurienne. This youthful Prince, distinguished for his courage and. gallantry, was slain at the battle of Alost, in 1128. He left no issue.
2. Richard, d. young.
3. WILLIAM, who succeeded to the throne of England, as 2nd of the name.
4. HENRY, who ascended the throne as HENRY I.
1. Cicely, Abbess of the Holy Trinity, at Caen, d. in 1126.
2. Constance, who m. Alan Fergant, Count of Bretagne, but d. s. p.
3. Alice, contracted to Harold.
4. Adela, who m. Stephen Count of Blois, and d. in 1137, leaving a son, STEPHEN, King of England.
5. Agatha, betrothed to Alphonso, King of Gallicia, d. unm.
6. Gundred, who m. William de Warren, Earl of Warren and Surrey, and by that potent noble (who d. in 1089), had issue:
(At one time it was thought that Gundred was the Daughter of William the Conqueror. This has since been disproved.)
ALL THE FOLLOWING THEREFORE ARE DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM DE WARREN NOT WILLIAM I.
1. WILLIAM DE WARREN, Earl of Warren and Surrey, who m. Elizabeth, dau. of the great Earl of Vermandois, and widow of Robert, Earl of Mellent, and dying in 1135, left issue,
WILLIAM DE WARREN, Earl of Warren and Surrey, a crusader, whose only dau. and heir, Isabel de Warren, m. 1st, William de Blois, Earl of Moreton, natural son of King Stephen, but by him bad no issue: and 2ndly, Hameline Plantagenet, (natural brother of Henry II.) who assumed the surname of Warren, and became Earl of Surrey. By this Earl, Isabel left at her decease, 1198, a son WILLIAM WARREN (Plantagenet), Earl of Warren and Surrey, who m. twice, and had with a dau. Isabel, who m. Hugh de Albini, Earl of Arundel, but d. s. p., one son, JOHN WARREN, Earl of Warren and Surrey, who m. Alice, dau. of Hugh le Brun, Earl of March, and half-sister, by the mother, of Henry III., and had one son and two daus., viz.: 1. William slain in a tournament at Croydon, leaving issue, a son John, Earl of Warren and Surrey, who d. s. p. in 1347, and a dau. an eventual heiress, Alice, wife of EDMUND FITZ-ALAN, Earl of Arundel, ancestor, by her, of the Dukes of Norfolk (see under EDWARD I.)
2. Alianore, who m. Henry, Lord Percy, and ancestor of the PERCYS of Northumberland (see under HENRY III.). and 3. Isabel, wife of John de Baliol, afterwards King of Scotland.
2. Reynold, one of the adherents of Robert of Normandy.
3. Editha, who m. 1st, Gerard de Gournay, Baron of Gournay, and 2ndly, Drew de Monceaux, and had by the former one son and two daughters, viz.:
1. HUGO DE GOURNAY, ancestor of the Lords Gournay.
2. Gundred, who m. Nigel de Albini, Scutifer Conquestoris, and had two sons.
1. Roger, who possessing the lands of Mowbray, assumed, by command of King Henry, the surname of Mowbray, and became ancestor of the MOWRAYS, Dukes of Norfolk.
2. Henry, of Camho, ancestor of the Albinis, feudal Lords of that place.
3. A second dau. who m. Richard de Talbot, and had two sons, viz.;
Geoffrey de Talbot, ancestor of the TALBOTS of Bashahl, Co. York, represented by RICHARD WALMESLEY LLOYD, Esq., son and heir of the late Richard Hughes Lloyd, Esq. of Plymog, Gwerclas, and Bashall.
Hugh de Talbot, ancestor of the Earls of Shrewsbury.