FRAME FAMILY ORIGINS

 

FRAME FAMILY ORIGINS

Dedicated to the memory of:

A. D. WELD FRENCH - Author of the "Index Armorial," Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Member of the Scottish History Society, and of the Committee on Heraldry of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, author of Notes on the Family of Frenche, The Antiquary, vol. viii., 1886 - & WILLIAM SMITH ELLIS Esq. of the Middle Temple - Author of 'Hurstpierpoint.'

(A series of 'rough notes' in progress)

INTRODUCTION: Frame Family Origins is a 'sketch' of how the family of Frame might have evolved from the Fresnels of Normandy; a series of 'rough notes' that may be useful to others as a starting point of research. Tracing ancient genealogies in Normandy is like peering into a mist, trying to identify obscure figures within it. The best glimpse we have of them are provided by charters, which inform us of the donators to religious foundations, who would have been related in some way to their founder. It is all too easy to presume an immediate relationship between donators, allowing us to construct the clear lines of descent so demanded by modern genealogical enquiry, and, although such relationships are often revealed in charters, sometimes more obscure ones are hidden within them, buried within the concept of kinship. The powerful families which ruled early Normandy were closely related, a relationship compounded by marriages within their kinship network. It is often the case, as within the family of Ferte-Fresnel, that people donated to a variety of religious foundations, representative of their general common ancestry. Thus, when members of the Ferte-Fresnel family donated to the foundations of the FitzOsberns, Giffards, Toenis, and Gois, they were affirming common bonds of ancestry, reinforced through tenantships, and junior members of the kinship network serving as seneschals to the senior ranks, rather than always giving clue to more immediate relationships.

i. THE FAMILY OF GOMETZ - GOMETH-ST-CLAIR: In the foundation charter of the priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs, dated 1067, Hodierne de Gometz (alias de La Ferté) confirmed the gift of her father. Witnesses included Gaufridus Parisiacus episcopus, Geoffrey Bishop of Paris, Guido de Monte Letheri, Simon de Monte Forti, Thetbaldus Monte Morenciaco (Montmorenci - her husband's uncle) , Amalricus Castello-Forti, Fredericus of Curbuilo, Willelmus de Gomethiaco, and Hugo Novo Castello. Guido de Monte Letheri was either Guy Montlhéry et de Bray, châtelain de Rochefort, or his son, Guy 'le Rouge' (comte de Rochefort), whose siblings were Milon de Bray, married to Lithieuse, viscomtess of Troyes; Guillaume, lord of Gometz (Willelmus de Gomethiaco, as above); MéIisende, married to the comte de Rhéteil; Elisabeth, wife of Josselin of Courtenay; Alix married to Hugh, lord of Puiset, and a sister married to Gauthier, comte de Saint-Valery. We find the same witnesses in the charter granting the church of Saint-Spire de Corbeil by Count Bouchard ("Corboliensium Comes", as below mentioned) in 1071 - "Guidonis Monte Lehari, Hervei of Marliaco, Theolbaldi Monte Morenci, Simonis de Monte Forti, Guillelmi of Gurneto, Guillelmi de Feritate, Almaric Castro Forti. Willelmus de Gomethiaco must have been Hodierne's son, younger brother of the Comte de Rochefort (Du Chesne, Hist, de la Maison de Montmorenci), who had received his mother's manor of Gometz, as her father, Guillaume de Gometz, died circa 1060; the next seneschal holding that post by 1065. It seems quite probable that Willelmus de Gomethiaco was also Guillelmi de Feritate (i.e. Willelmus de Gomethiaco; active in wordly affairs until 1071), alias Willelmi (de Feritate)Fresnel. William Fresnel possessed the castle of La Ferté-Fresnel (near L'Aigle and Gauville), in Perche, in 1071, as attested by a charter of that date. This castle and fief were held under the (FitzOsbern)  lords of Breteuil, by the service of five knights completely armed.

ii. THE ANCESTOR OF WILLIAM GOMETZ (seigneur de La Ferté-Alais, Bures, Gometz, sénéchal de France) is said to be Aubert de Corbeil (Bulletin de la Société historique et archéologique de Corbeil, d’Étampes et du Hurepoix n° 21 (50e année) (1944), pp. 33-118. Gustave Estournet, La Ferté-Alais, ses origines, ses noms, ses premiers seigneurs S.H.A.C.E.H., 1944). He was the son of Osmond le Danois, tutor of 'duke' Richard I. of Normandy, who was in all probability a very close member of Richard's family, a case supported by him being second signatory to one of Richard's charters. His brother was Hamon, Count of Corbeil, and lord of Gournay-sur-Marne, who was given these lands by Hugues 'le Grand.' Hamon married Elizabeth de Vendome, a grand-daughter of Landric I. de Baugency. She is stated to be a close relative of Hedvige, wife of Emperor Otto I.; with Landric possibly being married to Hedvige's sister. (Le premier seigneur qui porte le titre de sire de Baugenci, nous l'avons dit déjà , se nommait Landri ou Lancelin, il vivait en l'an 922; il avait alors des fils capables de porter les armes et son père appelé Landri Sore, Landericus-Sorus, c'est-à-dire Landri au teint cuivré ou Landri aux cheveux roux, avait une fille, Elisabeth de Baugenci, qui mariée en premières noces à Aymon de Corbeil et en secondes à Bouchard, comte de Corbeil, de Melun et de Vendôme (Société française de numismatique, p. 355, 1846; Landri I. , that is, Lancelin de Maers, alias Landric de Metz, was a co-signer of charters and military commander of Richard 'the Justicar.' The Historia of Hugh of Potiers states that he was the nephew of Bishop Adalgar of Autun, of which province Richard 'the Justicar' was count. He distinguished himself at the siege of the 'little castle' of Metz, and was awarded with a castellanship in the Nivernais. He also held land under the Theobald de Blois, father of Gerlotte de Blois, wife of Heriolfr Turstain. He was the ancestor of Ivo Fitz Herice of Nottingham (Rotuli de Liberate).

iii. After Hamon's death, Elizabeth was married to Bouchard, younger son of Foulques 'the Good', count of Anjou. Bouchard was a favourite of Hugues Capet, and received from him the counties of Corbeil and Melun, and the seneschalship of Paris. Aubert's daughter, sister of William de Gometz, was Germaine de Corbeil, who was married to Mauger, son of 'duke' Richard I. and Gunnora, cited in charters of Jumieges concerning lands on Poitou, 1012. Children of Germaine and Mauger, cousins of Hodierne and Bertrade, were (1) Guillaume de Corbeil, comte d'Avranches, Mortain, and Corbeil, who, dispossed by William 'the Conqueror' in 1067, became a monk at St. Denis. His grandson, Bouchard de Corbeil, as above, espoused Alix, daughter of Hilduin III. de Montdidier, widow of Guy 'le Rouge' Montlhery. (2) Hamon 'le Dentu', ou Hamon 'le Hardi', comte de Corbeil, and seigneur de Thorigny, Maisy (Bayeux), and Cruelly (Creully, Calvados, is located 18 miles from Caen. His issue (there is no authentic proof as to whom he married), second-cousins of William de Feritate-Fresnel, were (1) Robert FitzHamon de Gloucester. He died in England in March 1107, and was buried in the monastery of Tewkesbury. He espoused Sybil de Montgomery , daughter of Roger de Montgomery, 1st. Earl of Shrewsbury. (2) Richard FitzHamon, espoused to Sybil de Giffard, daughter of Gautier de Giffard, 1st. Earl of Buckingham. (3) Hamon FitzHamon (Hamon de Crevequer) the Dapifer (Cartulaire de Saint-Martin-des-Champs, des Vaux-des-Cerny (par J. Depoin); Cartulaire de Saint-Spire de Corbeil; Chronique de Robert de Torigny; Actes de Jumieges).

iv. WILLIAM FITZOSBERN: William Fresnel was a man of William FitzOsbern. (Earl William FitzOsbern was the son of Osbern FitzHerfast, that is, Osbern the high-steward, who is also sometimes called Osbern de Crepon, from the name of an estate in the neighbourhood of Bayeux. William of Jumieges calls him 'procurator principalis domus', an office which was only concerned with that branch of the stewardship which regulated the internal service of the palace; his father being Herfast de Crepon, brother of Duchess Gunnor, wife of 'Duke' Richard I. Osbern FitzHerfast married Emma, a daughter of Count Rodolf of Ivry, who was a half-brother of the said 'Duke' Richard. Through her he inherited a large property in central Normandy, including the honours of Pacy, Jouy, and Cocherel on the Eure, lands dependant on Breteuil and centred on Ivry, the earliest demesne of the Norman 'dukes' (D.C. Douglas, William the Conqueror, pp. 89-90, 1964). These lands included the fief of Freschenes, and it may be assumed that William Fresnel acquired this fief as feudatory of William FitzOsbern; his family being also known by derivatives of its name, see anon. Claims that William Frenel was descended from the family of 'Osbern de Freschenes' are fictitious, as the foundation charter of St.Evroult, quoted as evidence, is given a date of 15 years before the Abbey was founded (1050); the cartuary copies of the 'actual' foundation charter 'have certainly been tampered with ..... probably in the 1130's' (Matthew Strickland, Anglo-Norman Warfare, p. 34, 1992). William FitzOsbern held land near Port-en-Bessin, près Bayeux. He was the lord of Lyre, Rugles, Ferté-Fresnel, and, within Ferté-Fresnel, of Glos-la-Ferrière, an 'ancienne motte féodale.' William FitzOsbern donated the tithes of his mares of Glos-la-Ferrière to Lyre Abbey. Ferté-Fresnel was the principal part of the fief de Russy to which was attached Argouges-sous-Mosles. The lord of Argouges-sous-Mosles was Vaultier d'Argouges, whose daughter, Colette, married Robert 'the Strong' de Harcourt, who was in some way closely related to the Beaumont family of Pont-Audemer. Members of the d'Argouges family later held under Adam de Porte in Mapledurwell. (Les d'Argouges portent: écartelé d'or et d'azur, à trois quintefeuilles d'argent; V. la Roque, Histoire de la maison d'Harcourt, t. i. , p. 305).

V. THE PORTES OF RUSSY: Within Russy was the Abbey of Cerisy. After the conquest, we see Hugues, Hubert, and Gislebert de Porte appearing in acts of 1080 and 1083. As for Hugues, he accepted royal munificence in Basing, in Hampshire, and fifty four other seigniories in the same county, in the time of William Rufus. His son Henri, founded the priory of Shirburn, which was dependent on the abbey of Cerisy, in Normandy. Russy became 'dependait autrefois du doyenne du Campigny', as shown, a branch of the familly of Ferté-Fresnel, thus clearly showing a link between the family of Fresne in Herefordshire (who held under Adam de Porte, who represented a branch of the Basing family] and the family of Ferté-Fresnel - they were clearly, as armorial bearings suggest, one and the same. The family of Porte held the manor and castle of du Porte within the Russy estate, and were principal benefactors of Cerisy, and 'the Fresnes of Mappledurwell all came from Russy' (Loyd, 'Origins'). The castle of du Porte came to belong to the family of Couvert. Raoul de Couvert was lord as late as 1453. The family of Héricy came to posses the lordship and castle afterwards: lady Isabeau Couvert, dame de Couvert, married 'de noble homme Le Herissy (d'Héricy) escuyer seigneur de Fierville, morte l'an 1511.' The castle then passing to the family of Colleville (Caumont, tome I. de la Statistique, p. 130). Herissy-Fierville, d'argent à trois hérissons [bezans] de gueules - a Norman branch of the Notts. family of Heriz.

VI. THE FAMILY OF MONTLHERY: The family of Montlhéry were 'cousins' of the Crispins, the ancestor of whom, Heriolfr Turstain, married Gerlotte de Blois; her sister being the wife of Bouchard de Bray, ancestor of the Montlhéry and Montmorency families. Thus, Guillaume de Bec, father of Crispin de Bec (Crespin Ansgot) was first cousin of both Thibeaud de Montlhéry and Bouchard de Montmorency, with such alliances being continually repeated. 'Protected by subinfeudation to relatives, the patrimony was extended and further protected by marriage within the kin-group to which the baron belonged, i.e. a family network that included the relatives of his mother and of his wife. For the most part the Church turned a blind eye to the frequent, and frequently blatant, infringements of the prohibited degrees by the feudal class, for the simple reaon that its personnel were drawn from that class and were commited to up-holding its interests' (K.S.B. Keats-Rohan , Nottingham Mediaeval Studies 36, 1992).

VII. 1. BOUCHARD DE BRAY, fl. 987, Lord of Ecouen , of Marly, of Bray-sur-Seine, etc.; sp. Hildegarde (daughter of Thibault I. Count of Chartres and Blois , Count of Chartres, Rennes, Chateaudun; Vicomte de Tours, Samur,  and Beaugency),  and Luitgarde of Vermandois, cousin-Germain to Hugh Capet King of France,  d. o. Herbert II of Vermandois Count of Vermandois and Troyes; sister, as said, to the matriarch of the Crispin family. 1.1 Thibeaud de Montlhéry et de Bray, sp. dame de Chevreuse. Thibault, Lord of Bray and of Montlhery, Grand Forester of France. He is founder of a branch that became extinct in 1118, after having been allied to the Houses of Gommets, of Champagne, of Courtenay, of Rhethel, of Dampierre, of Sens, of Montfort, of France (of Jerusalem and of England),  and possessed of the Lordships of Bray of Montlhery, of Creci, of Rochefort-en-Yvelyne, of Gournay, the Viscounty of Troyes and the Lordships of Gomets and of Chateaufort, and furnished two grand Seneschals of France (Des Ormeaux, Hist, de Montmor., vol. I., p. 23.) 1.1.1. Guy I. de Montlhéry sp. Hodierne de Gometz; her sister was mother of William I. Crispin's wife. 1.2. Bouchard de Montmorency et Marly,  fl. 1042, sp. Adelheid de Clermont (Creil).1.2.1 Bouchard III. Sire de Montmorency surnamed 'the Bearded', Lord of Ecouen, of Marly, of Feuillarde, of Chateau-Basset, had issue by his wife, Helvide,* the widow of Sir Hugh Basset (Du Chesne, Des Ormeaux). 1.2.1.1.  Hervé de Montmorency, the founder of the Montmorency-Marisco (Montmarais/Montemarisco) line; sp. Alvere de Marisco. Children of their great-grandaughter, Alix de Montmorency, were called Amaury/Amary; she having married into the family of Montfort; see Robert de Amar, as follows. Alvere was also known as Alvève de Mariscis (Marches), daughter, par Duchesne, of Earl Leofric of Mercia - 'Leofric, comte des Marches et de Leicester, de Godeva , sa femme, eut plusieurs enfans, dont le plus jeune de ses fils, Herlewin ou Hervé, seigneur des Marches.'

viii. Much is open to interpretation. Mr. Freeman commented on the sport of pedigree-makers, using, as an example, the family of Earl Leofric, son of Earl Leofwine of Mercia: 'I Know of no authority for any children of Leofric and Godgifu except Earl AElfgar. It is hardly needful to refute the notion, entertained even by Sir Henry Ellis (ii. 146), that Hereward was a son of the Mercian Earl. On this score even the false Ingulf is guiltless. The mistake arose solely from a late and blundering genealogical roll, printed in the Chroniques Anglo-Normandes, ii. xii. The same roll gives Leofric a third nameless son, who was a child (" tertium parvulum cujus nomen non habetur") at the coming in of William, and was beheaded for the sake of his inheritance. Leofric died an old man in 1057 ; a son of his could hardly be "parvulus" in 1066. This family seems to have been picked out (see above, vol. i. p. 457) as the special sport of pedigree-makers.' (E. A. Freeman, Hist. Norman Conquest, p. 629, 1868).

ix. LEOFRIC'S WIFE WAS GODGIFU, sister of Thorold, sheriff of Lincolnshire. Duchesne gave them a daughter, as above, wife of 'Herlewin ou Hervé, seigneur des Marches.' The wife of her proposed brother, AElfgar, bore the name of AElfgifu, first wife of Cnut. The question becomes, whom is referred to in Domesday? To qoute again from Mr. Freeman, 'She appears in Domesday in a form which clearly shows that she survived the Conquest, that she retained her lands, or parts of them, but that she was dead at the time of the Survey. In Leicestershire (231 b) there is a special heading, "Terra Alvevse Comitissse,"and in Suffolk (ii. 286 b) one of "Terra Matris Morchari Comitis." But the word used is not "tenet" but "tenuit." Cf. also Nottinghamshire, 280 b. I know not on what authority pedigree-makers affirm her to have been a Frenchwoman.' Duchesne's conjecture may have been that "Terra Matris Morchari Comitis" refers to AElfgifu, and "Terra Alvevse Comitissse" refers to Alvève de Mariscis, daughter of Leofric, and sister of Earl AElfgar, Alvève being a French approximation of her Saxon name; she may have outlived her sister-in-law.

x. Again from Mr. Freeman: 'Of the children of AElfgar and AElfgifu, their two famous or infamous sons, Eadwine and Morkere, need no mention here. The existence of a third son, Burchard (see pp. 455, 459), depends on the amount of trust which we may give to a charter preserved in the local history of Rheims, quoted by Sir Henry Ellis (i. 325); "Notum sit Algarum quemdam, Anglorum Comitem, consentiente Edwardo Anglorum Rege, Sancto Remigio villam de Lapeleia dedisse pro anima filii sui Burchardi, cujus corpus in polyandrio ecclesise quiescit." Lapley in Northamptonshire and other property belonged at the time of the Survey, not to "the Church of Rheims," as Sir Henry Ellis says, but to " Saint Remigius of Rheims" (Domesday, 222 b), that is, to the Abbey.' Duchesne would have argued that this charter, if genuine, referred to Bouchard, son of 'Herlewin ou Hervé, seigneur des Marches' and Alvève de Mariscis. As said, much is open to interpretation, and, I would suggest, a reasonable amount of faith.

*Also the name of William I. de Ferte-Fresnel's wife.

xi. N.B. Mr Ellis (Hurstpierpoint) makes a strong case for the Ellis family to be synonomous with that of De La Mare (alias Marisco): 'William de Mara and William Alis of Domesday were identical ....... a more familiar acquaintance with the family of De la Mare will tend to establish the identity of William Alis and William de Mara ......... William de Mara of Domesday was synonomous with William de Dalmari or De la Mare, (or Marisco). His presumed descendant (was) Gilbert d'Aumari, who held lands in Somersetshire, 15 Henry II.(Lodge's (Archdale's) Irish Peerage, and Dugdale's Baronage), without any evidence being given of the connection. The arms of the latter's family were barry nebulee of six, over all a bend. These are substantially the arms of the later Bassetts, a cadet of Tyrel, whose earliest arms were hedgehogs, 4,3,2 & 1. In 6 Edward II., Nicholas Damory was owner of the manors of Bochenhall and Blechendon, co. Oxon. These, at the Domesday Survey, were held by " Gilbert" Basset. Robert de Amar and Philip de Hampton were witnesses to the foundation charter of Osney Abbey, by Robert d'Oilly, A.d. 1129 (Dugdale's Manasticon). This Robert de Amar was doubtless the Bobert de la Mare of the Pipe Roll, 1131, whose lands were accounted for by his brother Henry, he being then recently deceased, and probably left a heiress, married to Gilbert Basset, the Gilbert D'Amory of 15 Henry II. Bobert Damari, and Bobert his son, with Gilbert Basset, were witnesses to a charter dated 3 Henry III. (Kennett's Parochial Antiquities), A.d. 1140, Robert de Gay owned the manor and church of Hampton-Gay, co. Oxon. A bend between six fleurs de lis, for Hampton of Oxon, is quartered by Gournay (Records of the House of Gournay). It may reasonably be suggested that the families of Ferte-Fresnel and Ellis, suggested as close kin by William Smith Ellis, were so related; cousins of Montmorency connection.

xii. BERTRADE DE GOMETZ AND THE LORDS OF VENOIS: The example of kin-group marriage which follows shows Bertrade de Gometz, sister, par Anselme, of Hodierne, being the mother of Crispin de Bec's grandson's wife, Eve de Montfort. The following proposed relationships between Gilbert Crispin II. and Goisfrid 'le Marshal' ('Mareschal de Venoix)and between him and Gilbert 'le Marshal', may show why the antiquary William Smith Ellis thought that the Fresne, Ellis, and Chevreville families were in some way related. 1. Crispin de Bec. 1. 1. Gilbert Crispin: 'who because of the shape of his hair was to be known as Crispin. For in his early youth he had hair that was brush-like and stiff and sticking out, and in a manner of speaking bristling like the needles of a pine tree. This gave him the name of Crispin, from 'crispus pinus, 'pine hair'. Gilbert Crispin I. was also noted by Milo Crispin as being 'of renowned origin and nobility' (Milo Crispin, How The Holy Virgin Appeared To William Crispin The Elder And On The Origin Of The Crispin Family, ed. Migne, cols. 735-744, 1856). Duke Robert I. established Gilbert Crispin at Tillières to defend this important border castle for him. 1.1.1. Gilbert Crispin II. Castellan of Tillières, who distinguished himself at the Battle of Hastings, jointly leading a large company with Henry de Ferrers. 1.1.1.1. Goisfrid de Bec (Geoffroi de Bec, whose family held the fief of Venois in Normandy - S.A.S. vol. vii., p. 83, 1859 - from which the names Venuiz, Venes, and similar derive (Percy Hide Reaney, Richard Middlewood Wilson, A dictionary of English surnames,  p. 446,1991). Venois was a Crispin fief situated near Caen, Calvados. 1202 - 'Henry FitzHerbert, Aelis his wife and their sons (and his son-in-law, Gilbert) grant to the Abbey (Caen) the tithe of their fee in Venois and Franqueville.'

xiii. VAINS: The earls of Chester, hereditary vicomtes of the Avranchin, of Crispin stock, were lords of a fief of similar name (Vains) near Avranches; their feudatories being the Lacy family, and of them, Raoul Paynel. Richard de Vains (son of Ranulf 'the Moneyer') was the ancestor of Robert FitzRoger, Lord of Warkworth and Clavering. Vannes (Vains) in Avranches was a ducal fief. William 'the Conqueror' gave to the monks of Mont-St-Michel in 1061 the mill of Vains (MS. xxxiv., Bibliothèque d'Avranches). His son, Robert Curthose confirms this gift, with additions: "I give the ground of Feugères, held by my father." The Feugères were of Bretagne, and this informs us of the orthography of Vannes and derivatives near Avranches. (Vennes or Vannes; taken from the Bretagne word for wheat - gwened). Robert specifically excludes the portion of Vains "which Raoul de Vains (Feugères) holds of me. I make this donation in the presence of the Comte Rannulfe and his barons of l' Avranchin." This is not to say that the (Veim) seigneurie de Vains were Feugères - or Sourdevals; Raoul being known by that appellation from his nearby fief - or that they were Lacys. This latter family were originally from Bretagne, and their feudatory in Avranches and Yorkshire, Raoul Paynel, as will be shown, married into the Avranches family; Haculphe de Subligny marrying likewise. The family of Raoul de Vains (Feugères) were closely associated with the Ferte-Fresnels in Antioch. Hasculphe de Subligny was lord of Fresnes and Chevreville, these vils being in his fief of Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët. The Chevrevilles and Ferte-Fresnels were closely associated through charter evidence by the antiquary, William Smith Ellis. Hasculphe's family were the mesne lord of Richard de Veims (Vains) fl. 1141. Ilbert de Lacy held Hamelton in Yorkshire, and Raoul Paynel of him; Jordan Paynel was most likely Jordan de Hamelton, into which these Ferte-Fresnels married. The 'Veims' alias 'Femes' and Fresnes (Walter de Fresne in 1166 held of Lucy de Hereford in right of her dower) were quite clearly of the family of Ferte-Fresnel, who held half of Fresne in Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët. We will see as follows that Walter de Feme was a witness to charters of Roger, Earl of Hereford, whose daughter (by his wife Cecily FitzJohn, daughter of Payn FitzJohn and Sybil de Talbot; Payn FitzJohn being the son of John 'Monoculus' FitzRanulf, son of Ranulf 'the Moneyer' de Vains, and Sybil de Talbot being a daughter of Geoffrey Talbot and his wife Agnes, daughter of Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath in Ireland, and brother of Ilbert de Lacy, lord of Hamelton, ancestor of the Lacy Earls of Lincoln - Wurt's Magna Charta), Lucy de Hereford, married Herbert FitzHerbert, grandson of Henry FitzHerbert, above mentioned, and another son, married to a daughter of Robert FitzRoger, Lord of Warkworth and Clavering, above mentioned. In other words, tenurial associations in Avranches were repeated in Yorkshire and Herefordshire, with Walter de Femes being synonomous with Walter de Fresnes and he possibly marrying into the family of de Hereford (Bohun) of which his descendants served, see anon. (Henry Fitz-Herbert, chamberlain to king Henry the first, married the daughter and heir of Sir Robert de Corbet, and had issue by her a son named Herbert, and he was father to Herbert FitzHerbert, who by his first wife Lucy, daughter and co-heir of Milo, earl of Hereford, and lord high constable of England, had issue a son named Peter (Piers) Fitz-Herbert, from whom the Herberts earls of Pembroke originally issued out, and by his second wife Matilda (alter his decease, remarried to the lord Columbers) he had issue Matthew Fitz-Herbert, who was one of the Magnates or barons, at the compiling of magna charta (John Philipot, Vil. Cant., p.354, 1776).

xiv. D'AVRANCHES AND OSMOND: When occupying Normandy, between 920 and 930, powerful families built a series of mottes circulaires, circular wooden forts. These were places of original abode, held before families moved to other estates. Some of these mottes circulaires were at Barneville-la-Bertran, held by the Briquebec family of Heriolfr Turstain, La Haye-du-Puits, and Varenquebec, from where, according to Sir Francis Palgrave, the Harcourt family originated. These families were obviously closely connected by kinship; connections confirmed by future alliances: Hrolf's son was Ansfrid I.; his sons were Osmund de Gois (probable father of Aubert de Corbeil, as above) and Ansfrid II. de Gois, father of Wymond de Gois and Toustain de Gois; father of Richard, Vicomte d'Avranches, who married married Emma de Conteville, the Conqueror's half-sister. There is some speculation that Osmund de Gois was synonomous with Osmond de Conteville, Viscomte de Vernon [Collectanea Archæologica, p. 283, 1862; cit. Recherches sur la Domesday]. This Osmond may have been the father of Herluin de Conteville, often given as the son of the totally obscure Jean de Conteville. Certainly, par Prevost, Osmond de Conteville married a niece of the Duchess Gonnor, and their daughter married Baldwin FitzGilbert de Brionne; their daughter marrying a nephew of Richard, Vicomte d'Avranches (see as follows); a typical example of marriage within the same elitist kinship network. Such a scenario would explain the marriage of Richard d'Avranches to and his close kinswoman, Emma de Conteville. We know that Arletta, the mother of the Conqueror, married secondly Herluin de Conteville, by whom she had issue Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, Robert, Comte de Mortain, married to Maud de Montgomery, and the said Emma de Conteville.

xv. WYMOND DE GOIS D'AVRANCHES, the uncle of Richard d'Avranches, lord of Creully, was the father of William d'Avranches, Lord of Okehampton, stated to be a cousin of Richard d'Avranches by Orderic Vitalis, who married Emma FitzGilbert de Brionne, daughter of Baldwin FitzGilbert de Brionne de Meules and Albreda le Gois d'Avranches, daughter of the above mentioned Osmond de Gois. (Emma's brothers were Richard FitzBaldwin de Redvers, who married Adelise de Peverel, and William FitzBaldwin, father of Ralph de Avenel, seigneur de Biards). Their children were: 1. Lesceline d'Avranches, who married William Paynel, lord of Moutiers, near Lisieux. Their son Raoul Paynel, Sheriff of Yorkshire, was a man of Ilbert de Lacey, and held Fresne, near Sourdreval, under Richard de Sourdeval, of the Count of Mortain. 2. Robert d' Avranches, who married, firstly, a daughter of Gelduin de Dol, and, secondly, Maud de Monville, daughter of William d'Arques and Beatrix Malet, daughter of of William Malet and Hesilia Crispin. By the lady of Dol, Robert d'Avranches was the father of Maude d'Avranches, who married William de Courci. By Maud de Monville, Richard was the father of William d'Avranches, who held of William d'Arques in Kent. By either lady, Richard was the father of Denise d'Avranches, who married Hasculphe de Subligny, who held under the Count of Mortain. Subligny is near Saint-Jean-le-Thomas, from where the family of St. John originated.

xvi. THE FAMILY OF HEREFORD: Brecknockshire Castle remained in the power of the Welsh princes until 1092. It was in this year that Barnard Newmarche, a relation, and, according to some accounts, the brother of William 'the Conqueror', made himself master of Brecknock, where he established himself with a number of his retainers. The lordship of Brecknock was granted to him by the king, and that he might obtain possession of his rights and the better defend himself against the natives, whose hostility and resistance to his authority made it difficult for him to maintain his position in the country, he built the castle of Brecknock, as a stronghold for himself and for his troops. Notwithstanding the vigorous efforts of the Welsh to drive him from the country, he succeeded in his conquest, and at his death the lordship of Brecknock was inherited by his son-in-law, Milo FitzWalter, Earl of Hereford. This earl was succeeded by four of his sons, in turn, and afterwards by Philip de Braose, their brother-in-law, who died about 1160 A.d. At the death of Bertha, William de Braose's widow, Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Essex, who had married their second daughter, succeeded in right of his wife to the lordship of Brecknock. War was still carried on between Edward I. and Llewelyn, till Humphrey, son of the last-mentioned lord, with the authority of the king, and by his own arms and arguments, convinced his dependents of the folly of resisting Edward. In 1286 de Bohun's lands in Brecknockshire were invaded and pillaged by the retainers of his late guardian, Gilbert Earl of Gloucester. At a subsequent period Humphrey was suspended in his office of high constable of England for resisting the levy of the king's taxes. He was a benefactor to the monks, and an augmenter of the liberties and privileges of the burgesses of Brecknock; he died at Plessy in 1298. He was succeeded by his eldest son, who, as an atonement for his father's conduct, surrendered to the crown the earldoms of Hereford and Essex, together with the constableship of England; and shortly after married Elizabeth, seventh daughter of Edward I., when the king, with certain reservations, restored him his office and estates. Humphrey, with a considerable force levied in his lordship, supported Edward in his war against Robert Bruce. He was taken prisoner in the battle of Bannockburn, and was afterwards freed in exchange for Bruce's wife. In 1315 de Bohun assisted in the suppression of a formidable rising in Glamorganshire, which co. however he himself afterwards invaded, in prosecution of a quarrel between himself and the king's favourite, d'Espencer. Edward, by the advice of his council, resolved to reduce these turbulent barons to obedience: some of their allies submitted; but Bohun with about 3000 men joined in the north the disaffected Earl of Lancaster, and was killed at Boroughbridge, in Yorkshire, in 1321. The rebellion ended, the younger d'Espencer was now constituted governor of Brecknock Castle, obtained the lordship and the property of the late Earl of Hereford. Upan the death of tbe d'Espencers, the confiscations consequeut on the rebellion were reversed, and the property restored to the family of the Hereford, in the person of John de Bohun. This earl, after having been created knight of the bath, died in 1335. Humphrey, his brother, succeeded him. a nobleman who lived upon no very friendly terms with lie burgesses of Brecon; he died unmarried, and his nephew William inherited his titles and estates. The lordship of Brecon seems to hate remained in settlement during the widowhood of Joan his wife. With William ended the male line of this family of de Bohuns. The lordship of Brecknock now reverted to Henry IV., who had married Mary, the daughter of the last de Bohun.

xvii. (In 1284 the representative of Walter de Gernon in Bromfeld parva, as it is called, was William fitz Hugh. He held the vill for the eighth part of a kuight's-fee under Hugh de Freyne (i. e. Fraxino), and Hugh held it under Emfred (i.e. Humphrey) de Bohun. Emfred de Bohun is further said to hold it of the King — so completely had the mesne-interest of Bromfield Priory been effaced. By Emfred de Bohun I presume we must understand the cotemporary Earl of Hereford. How the Bohuns obtained an interest,here is another question. The family of du Fresne, or de Fraxino, held largely under the Bohuns elsewhere - Eyton, Ant. Shrop., p. 219, 1857). See as follows: 'In the important survey taken, in the reign of Henry III., of the Knights' Fees in certain counties in England and their tenure, commonly styled the 'Testa de Nevil,' the heirs of Thos.de Freigne were found seized, in 1277, of half a fee in 'Parva Covarne.' In that county, at the same period, Hugh de Freigne was seized of Sutton and Masham, half a fee in the same county, and, yet more, of half a fee in Moccas, also in that county, as recorded in the same survey. In further corroboration of their tenure here being, as alleged, of ancient grant, Walter de Freigne was certified, in 1166, as holding three Knights' Fees 'of his Barony in the county of Herefordshire; while Alured de Freigne, a younger member of the house, was on the same occasion recorded as holding the third part of a Knight's Fee. The above Hugh of Moccas was evidently the descendant of Walter of 1166.' As will be shown, this Humphrey de Bohun was also overlord of Roger Reom (Freame). In 1086 Stroud was evidently included in the earl of Chester's great manor of Bisley. In 1303 the fees of Bisley manor held from the earl of Hereford by grant from the earls of Chester included Paganhill, assessed as ½ knight's fee, and Over Lypiatt, assessed with Tunley in Bisley as one knight's fee, and after the death of Humphrey de Bohun in 1373 the Stroud manors were specified as one fee at Over Lypiatt, one fee at Paganhill, and ½ fee at Nether Lypiatt. At the partition of Humphrey's estates between his daughters Eleanor and Mary in 1384 the overlordship of the manors was assigned to Mary and her husband, Henry, earl of Derby, who became Henry IV. An estate at Lypiatt owned by one Richard in 1220 probably comprised Nether Lypiatt tithing. Richard may have been Richard de Veim who in 1225 was impleaded over property in Bisley and Stroud by Hugh Mortimer, Bartholomew Laban, and Bartholomew's wife Muriel. An earlier Richard de Veim was one of the vavasours on Bisley manor c. 1135. In 1346 ½ knight's fee at Nether Lypiatt was held jointly by John de Reom, who had succeeded William de Reom, and the prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. John de Reom's estate, later known as the manor of Nether Lypiatt, was held in 1374 and 1384 by Roger Reom, who may have been succeeded by Thomas atte Reom who in 1387 did fealty to Bisley manor for land formerly held by Roger. In 1479 William Freame, whose name was evidently a variation of Reom, held Nether Lypiatt manor. In 1517 the manor was held by the same or a later William Freame, and it was retained by his widow Catherine who married Richard Walsh; on Catherine's death in 1539 it passed to her son Thomas Freame, probably the same man who made his will in 1572 and was succeeded by his son William. William was succeeded by his son Robert, who died in 1599 holding the manor and over 400 a. of land in Nether Lypiatt and Thrupp, and the manor passed to Robert's son Thomas (d. 1659) and Thomas's son Thomas (d. 1664). The younger Thomas's heirs were his three daughters, Sarah who married Henry Windowe, Anne who married Thomas Chamberlayne of Wanborough (Wilts.), and Elizabeth who married Thomas Clutterbuck of Brown's Hill, Bisley; the daughters made a partition of the manor in 1689 although Thomas's widow Anne (d. 1694) still occupied the manor-house and had a life-interest in part of the estate. Catherine, daughter and heir of Thomas and Anne Chamberlayne, married Charles Coxe, and she apparently also inherited her aunt Sarah's part of the estate; the descent of the Clutterbucks' share is traced below ('Stroud: Manors and other estates', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 11: Bisley and Longtree Hundreds (1976), pp. 111-119).

xviii. THE FAMILY OF BOHUN OF SAINT GEORGES DE BOHON NEAR CARENTAN: Humphrey de Bohun, sire de Bohun, is said to have been a kinsman and a companion in arms of William the Conqueror. Humphrey was the godfather of William and was certainly close to him because we see the names of William, duchess Mathilde, and their children associated with Humphrey's children. Old English books designate him Humfridus cum Barba or Humphrey with the Beard. His beard distinguished him from other Norman knights of the period because they habitually shaved. He was in possession of the lordship of Taterford in Norfolk. This family originated from Bohon in the arrondissement of St. Lo in the Cotentin, Normandy, where there still exists St. Andre and St. Georges De Bohon. The mound of the old castle is still visible. Humphrey is reported in the chronicles of Wace as the companion of the Conqueror at Senlac. He is reputed to have been a near kinsman of Duke William, but how or in what degree is unknown. The fact remains that the witnesses to the Benedictine priory at St George's in 1092, were all members of King William's immediate family or branches thereof. Humphrey de Bohun II. succeeded his father as lord of Taterford and Bearer of the Royal Standard in 1120 in the battle of Benneville in Normandy. Humphrey married Maud (Mathilda or Mahaut, who died 1142), daughter of Edward de Salisbury, between 1087 and 1100. The dowry gave him important estates in the Wiltshire area and the barony of Trowbridge. This was the first of a series of marriages which benefitted the Bohons. Humphrey de Bohun III., Lord of Hereford. Steward and Sewer to King Henry I, supported Henry in the rebellion of 1173. At the instigation of Milo, his father-in-law, he espoused the cause of the Empress Maud and her son, against King Stephen, and so faithfully maintained his allegiance that the empress, by her special charter, granted him the office of Steward and Sewer, both in Normandy and in England. In the 20th year of Henry II, this Humphrey accompanied Richard De Lacy, Justice of England, into Scotland, with a powerful army to waste that country; and was one of the witnesses to the accord made by King William of Scotland and King Henry II. as to the subjection of that kingdom to the crown of England. He married Margery of Gloucester, dau. of Milo of Gloucester, E. Hereford and Lord High Constable of England. Children: Marjorie de Bohun, married: Waleran de Newburgh (4º E. Warwick) (1140 -1204) (m. 2 Alice de Harcourt). Humphrey de Bohun IV.; hereditary Constable of England, in the right of his mother, if the chronicles of Lanthony are correct, 4th Baron de Bohun, Lord of Hereford. Married Margaret of Scotland (1154 -1201), dau. of Henry, Prince of Scotland, E. Huntingdon, and his wife, Ada Warren. Henry 5th Earl of Hereford, Sheriff of Kent. Created by John I., dated Apr 28, 1199; but the office of Lord High Constable of England he inherited from his father. He was one of the leaders of the barons who forced King John to sign the Magna Charta, and he was one of the twenty-five sureties, in 1215. He had his lands sequestered, but they were restored at the signing of the Magna Charta, at Runnemede. He was subsequently excommunicated by the Pope, and did not return to his allegiance on the death of King John, but was one of the commanders in the army of Louis le Dauphin, at the battle of Lincoln. He was taken prisoner by William Marshall at the battle of Lincoln, in the 1st year of Henry III. After this defeat he joined Saire De Quincy, and other Magna Charta barons in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in Jun. 1220. His body was brought home and buried in the chapter-house of Llanthony Abbey, in Gloucestershire. He was also Sheriff of Kent, and married: Maud FitzGeoffrey, dau. of Geoffrey Fitz Piers, 4° E. Essex, and Beatrix Say, B. Mandeville. Humphrey de Bohun V. succeeded his father as Earl of Hereford, and possessing the honor of Essex through his mother, was created Earl of that county by Henry III, at whose marriage he performed the office of marshal in the king's house, and in three years afterwards in the year 1239, was one of the godfathers at the font, for Edward, eldest son of the King, there being no less than nine sponsors on the occasion, five temporal and four spiritual lords. He was Lord High Constable of England. In 1250 he took up the cross and proceeded to the Holy Land. In three years afterwards, he was present, with other peers, when that formal curse was denounced in Westminster Hall, with bell, book, and candle, against the violators of the Magna Charta; in which year he founded the church of the Fryers Augustines, in Broad-street, within the city of London. In the great contest between the King and the barons, he fought for the latter at Evesham, where he was taken prisoner, but he did not long continue in bondage, for we find him soon after again in favor, and receiving new grants from the crown. He married (1) Maud de Lusignan , -14 Aug 1241, (2) Maud de Tosni, dau. and heiress of Roger de Tosni of Avebury. Their children were (1) Alice de Bohun, wife of Roger de Tosni of Flamstead, Bliston, Helston and Carnanton. (2) Humphrey de Bohun VI., who espoiused Eleanor de Braose, dau. of William de Braose and Eve Marshall. He Married secondly, Joan de Quincey, dau. of Robert De Quincy and Helena Ap Llewelyn. Their issue: (1) Alianore de Bohun (C. Derby), espoused to Robert de Ferrers (6º E. Derby); and (2) Humphrey de Bohun VII. (3º E. Hereford and 2º Essex), espoused to Maud de Fiennes, was overlord of Hugh de Freyne, and Roger Reom (Freame), both as above.

xix. ST. JOHN: Bibliothèque d'Avranches contains charters that show a close relationship between the family of Saint-Jean (le-Thomas) near Subligny and the family of 'Veims.' When William St. John donates the tithes of Angey to St. Etienne de Caen in 1162, sigatories include Roger St John, William de Feugères, Robert and William de Veim, and Roger de La Rochelle. Clearly these families were connected in some way, which is not to say that they were all of the same near paternal stock, rather that marriage and feudal alliances unknown to us bonded them. Roger was the son of Robert de Heriz (Sheriff of Notts.); I have previously documented the Heriz family of Rochelle. Walter de Feme connected to Warkworth shares their close connection through the de Vyvians to Warkworth. It is interesting that in the Exchequer returns, Rochelle and Subligny (Hasculphe's fief) are treated as one. The family of de Portes, as above, married into the St. Johns in post-Conquest England, some Fresnes (Ferte-Fresnels) being their sub-feudatories.

xx. THE MARSHALS: There is a charter of foundation of the priory of Châteauceaux, printed by Morice in his "Histoire de Bretagne," Preuves, tom. i, pp. 384-5, which contains some interesting information respecting a branch of the Crispin family to be identified. In English it would run thus: 'I, Gaufridus (Geoffrey or Godfrey) Crispin, Lord of Châteauceaux (Champtoceaux) for my salvation and the redemption of the soul of my beloved wife Margaret, and with the assent and authority of my brothers, Herluin, Onderic, Joscelin, and Ralph, &c.; and the gift is witnessed by Theobald, his eldest son, the lady Girbergia, his mother, and Simon Crispin, his brother; a William Crispin being also named in the charter, whom I would suggest was Goisfrid's cousin, William Crispin II. The bearings of Goisfrid le Marshal's family were Lozengy, the same as the Crispins, suggesting Goisfrid de Bec to be synonomous with Goisfrid le Marshal. 1.1.1.I.1. Thibaud Crispin, seigneur de Champtoceaux. 'Thibaut de Champtoceaux assista en 1061 à la cession faite par le comte Ceoffroi-le-Barbu (Geoffroy III d'Anjou, dit le Barbu) aux moines de Saint-Florent de Sanmur, des fortifications construites autour de cette abbaye, à charge de les faire garder par leurs vassaux.' Thibeaud's line ended in heirs female: 'Au commencement du xne siècle, une dame de Champtoceaux, nommée Garmache, épouse Geoffroy de Briollay; their daughter marrying --- de Sable (Ménage. Sablé. page 103). Her sister, Warmasia de Champtoceaux , marrying her cousin, Amaury Crispin. 1.1.2. William Crispin I. William Crispin I. was 'of outstanding manners, the best known of all; with military fame he rose above almost all his contemporaries. His famous prowess made many envious. William, duke of the Normans, called William Crispin to the castle of Neaufles and gave him, and his son after him, the castle and the vicomte of the Vexin. There William established his home to ward off French invasions. He revisited, however, the land he held elsewhwere in Normandy in the district of Lisieux' (Milo Crispin, ibid.). (The military prowess of the Crispins was well esteemed: 'And like the Fabii, or the Anicii or Manlii, carried the tokens of fame [insignia] among the Romans, so the Crispins knew even greater fame among the Normans and the French.' Milo Crispin, ibid. William Crispin I. had a wife named Eve de Montfort, 1009-1099, 'who suited him well on account of her origin and manners. Eve de Montfort bore him Gilbert, abbot of Westminster, William Crispin II., and many others' (Milo Crispin, ibid.) Eve de Montfort died in a fire at Le Bec in 1099, aged 90, and was buried there, next to her husband. It is recorded of her that she had to do penance for her love of lapdogs! (Adolphe Porée, Histoire de L'Abbaye du Bec, 1901). Eve de Montfort was the sister of Norman frontier lord Simon de Montfort (W. Frolich, trsl., The Letters of Anselme of Canterbury, 1990-1994, nos. 22, 98, 118, and 147). They were the children of Amauri 1 de Montfort, obit. 4/2/1031, and Bertrade de Gometz). 1.1.2.1. William Crispin II., sp. Agnes de Mauvoison. 1.1.2.1.1. Amaury Crispin, Seigneur de Champtoceaux (Regest III, no. 729. Ctl. St. Aubin, i., no. cxiv.). 1.1.2.2.2. Gilbert le Marshal, whom I make to be the second-cousin of Goisfrid le Marshall; the most ancient known coat of arms of these Marshals was a Bend Lozengy, again, that of the Crispins. Nineteenth-century accounts of Gilbert le Marshal and Robert de Venois vying for the position of 'Marshal' because they had both married daughters of Goisfrid le Marshal do not take into account that the family of Venois were Crispins; those vying were of the same paternal line.

xxi. WALTER DE FEME AND WARKWORTH: Walter de Feme was witness (not, as Duncumb says erroneously, to the charter of Bernard Newmarch, temp. Henry I.) to a charter of Roger Earl of Hereford, between 1143-54. He probably held the manors of Fenne and Feme in Herefordshire under William Fitz-Norman (of which family Mr. Ellis believed to be that of Marshal). Earl Roger was Roger FitzMiles, 2nd Earl of Hereford, see above, who died on 22 September 1155 (Hereford Cathedral Book of Obits). He was the son of Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford, Lord of Brecknock, who married Sybil de Neufmarche, daughter of Bernard de Neufmarche, Lord of Brecon and Nest, grand-daughter of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, in 1121.

xxii. WILLIAM FITZOSBERN, LORD OF FERTE-FRESNEL, was lord of Petres in Normandy, and this has given rise to claims that he was the father of Roger de Petres, alias Roger FitzOsbern de Petres. Earl William obtained Petres when he married into the Tosny family (David Walker, Medieval Wales, p. 23, 1995), and it may be the case that Roger de Petres was of that family, and related to Earl William in that manner. Whatever the case, Earl William gave land to Roger de Petres in Standish, and made him Constable of Gloucester Castle; a considerable trust in those times of Welsh border dispute (Hist. St. Peters, Glouc. i. 76). As will be shown, William de Ferte-Fresnel also married into the Tosny family, establishing a kinship link to the de Petres. Milo FitzWalter de Petres founded Lhantony Secunda in 1136, to which the Fresnes as Femes and Veims were to be much associated, see as follows.

xxiii. 1.Roger de Petres, sp. Eunice de Balun, relative of Hamelyn. 1.1. Walter FitzRoger de Petres, the Royal Constable, 1114, sp. Emma de Balun, sister of Hamelyn. 1.1.1. Milo FitzWalter de Gloucester, Miles of Gloucester, the Royal Constable, 1130).  Their children were: (1) Bertha of Hereford, married to William de Braose* before 1150, by whom she had issue. (2) Roger FitzMiles, 2nd Earl of Hereford. (3) Walter de Hereford, who died after 1159 in the Holy Land. He was Sheriff of Gloucester in 1155-1157, and Sheriff of Hereford in 1155-1159. (4) Henry FitzMiles; Henry of Hereford, died 12 April 1165. He succeeded to the title of Baron Abergavenny in 1141/42. (5) William de Hereford. He died before 1160 without issue. (6) Mahel de Hereford, died October 1165 at Bronllys Castle, Breconshire, mortally hurt when a stone dropped from the tower during a fire; died without issue. Buried at Llanthony Priory. (7) Margaret de Gloucester, married Humphrey de Bohun, by whom she had issue. (8) Lucy de Hereford, buried at Lhantony, married to Herbert FitzHerbert of Winchester, Lord Chamberlain, by whom she had issue: Piers (Peter) Fitz Herbert sp. Alice Fitz Robert de Warkworth, daughter of Robert Fitz Roger, Lord of Warkworth and Clavering, and Margaret/Margery de Chesney. Children of Piers Fitz Herbert and Alice de Warkworth were: Sir Reginald Fitz Piers, b. c. 1220, Gloucestershire, obit. 4/5 May 1286. He m. (2) Joan de Vivonia, daughter of Sir William de Vivonia, "de Fortibus", Lord of Chewton, and Maud/Matilda de Ferrers.

xxiv. CONNECTIONS TO ADAM DE PORT: 1179-80, 26 Hen. II., in which same regnal year Adam de Port gave 1000 marks to the King for livery of his wife's inheritance in Normandy, as also that he might be restored to the King's favour and do his homage. This baron, who derived his local name from Port-en.Bessin of the fee of the Bishop of Bayeux, appears to have been thrice married, and to have survived to the 15th year of the reign of King John ; his first wife was the countess Sibilla, widow of Milo, Earl of the county of Hereford, and daughter and heiress of Bernard de Novo-mercato, a powerful baron of that county, whose fief Adam de Port reported to the Exchequer, 14 Hen. II. with the nomenclature of the knight's fees held of the old and new feofment ; at which date his father John de Port, Lord of Basing in the county of Southampton, was yet living. By the countess Sibilla he had no issue, and her property descended through her daughter by her first husband, Berta, wife of Philip de Braose, to William de Braose, who in 1194 paid 22 li. 13s. for the knight's fees which had belonged to Adam. His second wife was Mabilia de Aureavalle, whose inheritance in Normandy he has been shewn to have obtained in 1180, and by whom he had a son named William de Portu, who had possession of the Honour of Lithaire in the second year of the reign of King John, and who eventually inheriting the lands of the family of St. Johanne through descent from Muriel, sister of William and Robert St. John, who had intermarried with his maternal ancestor de Aureavalle, thereupon assumed that local surname. The third wife of Adam de Port was sister of William de Braose, as above mentioned; she was living in 1210.

xxv. BALUN: We have seen from the above that the family of Gometz or Gometh were closely linked to the family of Landri Sore, and to that of Mauger, son of Duke Richard . The family of Landri held land in Balun, Maine. Mauger's 'hommines' included 'Willelmus Geroii' (who is recognised as a kinsman of the ducal house); Robert, son of William I. Bellesme; and Walter Sor (Elisabeth M. C. van Houts GND, 5-8, p. 56, 1995). Louise 11. 137 identifies Sor with the valley of Surdon, near St.-Mars-Sous-Ballon, and Walter Sor is named in O.V. vi., 396-8 thus: 'Willelmo filii Walterio apud Balaum.' Thus, William de Gomethiaco's brother-in-law, Mauger, was the overlord of his cousin, Walter Sor, brother of Elizabeth de Vendome, and of another brother-in-law, Josselin of Courtenay, whose family were the superior lords in Balun, though not without contention. The Coutenays are mentioned in the foundation charters of du prieuré de Saint-Mars-sous-Ballon, with various orthography - Curtaieni, Courtouin, Cortoin - and vied for supremacy in Balun with the family of Hamelin de Balun.

xxvi. HUGUES DE COURTONIA MARRIED THE NIECE OF RALPH DE AVENEL, seigneur de Biars, see above. It can not be ascertained what relation this Hugues was to Josselin, William de Gomethiaco's brother-in-law. The Avenels mediated in the dispute between Hugues and Hamelin, and a pact was reached whereby it was agreed that Hamelin would hold the Castle of Balun of the lords of Courtenay - Hamelinus de castello Baladonenatus Sancti Vincent., f° 335 - and Hamelin's brother, Guinebaud alias Winebaldus, received the domain of Guinelmudière-en-Saint-Mars. It is wrongly assumed that Hamelin and Guinebaud were the sons of Dru de Balun. The root 'Dru' was often used synonomously at this time to denote amicus fidelis, a friend, and usually relation, of the superior lord - 'signifie féal, fidèle ami, et le second, fidélité' (Ménage, Dictionn. des étymol). Dugdale, researching the founders of the priory of Bergeven, would have seen the following text: 'Hamelinus drudi de Balladone filius', and wrongly deduced the filiations of the family. (See chartes relatives à la fondation de Notre-Dame-de-Bergeven prieuré dépendant de l'abbaye de Saint-Vincent du Mans).

xxvii. It seems a reasonable case that William de Gomethiaco alias William Ferte-Frenel was the ancestor of the family of Balun; reasonable on grounds that he was in a position to question the hegemony of his brother-in-law in Balun, and reasonable given the very close associations between the Baluns, the de Petres Earls of Gloucestershire, and various Ferte-Fresnels; as Femes, Fresnes, or Veims.

xxviii. 1. William Ferte-Frenel (William de Gomethiaco). 1.1. Emma de Balun, sp. 'Gauthier, connétable d'Angleterre' - i.e. Walter de Petres, as above. 1.1.1. Milon comte d'Hereford. 1.1.1. Roger comte d'Hereford; Walter de Feme witnessed his charters; Walter de Frene held of Roger's sister. 1.2. Lucie de Balun, sp. Baldwyn de Redvers.  1.2.1. Maud de Redvers, sp Ralph de Avenel, seigneur de Biards. 1.2.2. 'William de Vernon,' so called because he was born at Vernon Castle, in Normandy, the seat of his grandfather, prior to his arrival in England, and who had died in 1107. He witnesses, as 'William son of the Earl,' his father's deeds in favour of St. James' Priory as early as 1143. 1.3. Hamelyn de Balun, lord of Abergavenny, dying without issue left that territory to his nephew Milon, comte d'Hereford. 1.4. Guinebaud de Balun, 'frater Hamelini.' In the Magna Britannia of the county of Gloucester, p. 776, it is stated that Winebold de Balon obtained the manor of Eastington or Easington, in that county, and gave the tithes to the monks of Bermondsey, in Surrey, and a mill in Framelode* to the abbey of Gloucester. A fief held by Richard de Veim at a late date, see as follows.

xxix. A CLEAR CONNECTION BETWEEN WALTER DE FEME AND RICHARD DE VEIM: Richard de Veim, fl. 1141, feudatory of Ranulf, earl of Chester, descibed as a 'vavasseur of Bisley' took his name from Vains: Manche, arr. and cant. Avranches, rendered inconsistently as Veim, Vein, Vehim, Vehin, Vehein, Vedun etc. (Bouvris, Jean-Michel, "Aux origines du prieuré de Vains: une version inédite de la confirmation par le duc Robert Courte-Heuse d’une donation faite en 1087 par Guillaume le Conquérant à l’abbaye de Saint-Etienne de Caen", Revue de l’Avranchin et du pays de Granville, 64, 1987, p. 3-21, 67-90, at p. 10-12). The vavasseurs of Vains were vassals of Richard de Subligny, brother of Hasculphe. Members of Hasculf’s family were themselves tenants of the earls of Chester, to whom Hasculphe was related. Hasculphe de Subligny gave his name to his holding of Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët,* married Denise d'Avranches. (See anon). Subligny is near Saint-Jean-le-Thomas, from where the family of St. John originated. The families of St. John, de la Haye, and Paynel were three of a dozen or so ruling families, mostly related to him, that William the Conqueror empowered to govern England (John Le Patourel, Michael Jones, Fedal Empires, p. 28, 1984). Denise d'Avranches was the niece of Lesceline d'Avranches, who married William Paynel, lord of Moutiers, near Lisieux. Their son Raoul Paynel, Sheriff of Yorkshire, held half of Fresne, near Sourdreval, under Richard de Sourdeval, of the Count of Mortain - he also held Hamelton in Yorkshire. (See anon). The families of Fresne and Chevreville were situated here,* and the latter were often associated with the former in charters, suggesting a very close connection. The nineteenth-century antiquary, William Smith Ellis Esq., postulated a common ancestry for the families of Ellis (Halis/Alais), Chevreville, and Ferte-Fresnel (Fresne) - 'Richard Fresnel occurs in Ordericus Vitalis (ii. 191), as mesne tenant, along with William Halis, of the Earl of Brettville. (The 'Veims' also holding of him - M.S) This person belonged to a family which there is much reason to believe had the same, and that not a very remote, origin with William Halis.' 'We have seen, at an early period, the goat's head associated heraldically with the Ellises and Martons; its use by them is explained, if we assume, as we are justified in doing, that the Fresnes, Carevilles, and Cherolcourts (Chevrevilles), were of common origin with the Alises' (William Smith Ellis Esq., Hurstpierpoint: its lords and families, ancient and modern, p. 52, 1866). *Chevreville (Manche), cant. de Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët, arr. de Mortain. Liste des paroises: Barenton, La Basoge, Beauchesne, Beauficel, Bellefontaine, Bernières, Les Biards, Bion, Le Bois, La Boulouse, Brecey, Brouaius, Le Buat ; — Cellant, Chalandré, La Chapelle-Urée, Clessegué, Cherencey, Les Chéris, Chevreville,* Coulouvray, Crenay (Notre Dame), Crênay (Saint-Pierre), Cuves (Saint-Denis), Cuves (Saint-Laurent); — Ducey; — Ferrieres, Fontenay, Fresnes, Fresne-Poret. Walter de Feme, above, is almost certainly synonomous with Walter de Fresnes, who held three knights' fees in Herefordshire in 1166, whom Mr. Ellis identifies as of the family of Richard Fresnel, above mentioned - I will as follows make him the son of this Richard and Emma de Laigle, Richard being the great-grandson of William de Ferte-Feritate, above mentioned. The family of Fresnel, or Ferte-Fresnel, were synonomous with that of Fresne of Sourdeval, as will be shown, and the connections shared between them and Richard de Veim, fl. 1141, feudatory of Ranulf earl of Chester (to whom Hasculphe de Subligny was related) would sugest them to be of the same family; seperated by orthography rather than blood.

xxx. FREMES OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE: A likely grandson of Richard de Veim, fl. 1141 - 'Richard de Veyne, Knight, for the salvation of his soul and the soul of his wife Beata, but especially for the soul of his lord, son of Henry de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, great-nephew of Earl Roger, above mentioned, gives to the Church of Lanthony all the land he has in the manor of Haresfield, of the Gift of his said lord, with two acres Meadow which adjoin Lanthony: the Canons to have the whole with Wood, salvo regali servicio Comiti Heref. This donation I make to the Prior and Canons of Lanthony to augment and sustain the hospitality of their house, and especially for the sustentation of Two Canons who shall pray.' Witnessed by Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, Constable of the King, Peter Fitz Herbert, and the lord William de Putot, then Sheriff of Gloucester, and many others. This Richard de Veyne being Henry de Bohun's seneschal, thus most likely related to some degree. 1199-1220: Carta Henrici de Bohun Comitis Herefordie super messuagio de Fremelade. Witnessed by 'Ricardo de Veim, tunc temporis senescallo meo,' with others. — Winchcombe Cart. i. p. 229. He was first witness., and must have had connection to (sic.) Fremeland. Thus, Richard's father may have been a vavasseur of Vains, but I believe the family's earlier toponym was one of Fresne, ab. Freschenes. We also see this Richard recorded thus; 'The county in which Richard de Veym was appointed, in 9 Henry III., 1225, to act as a justice itinerant was Gloucestershire, where his property was situate. During the troubles at the end of King John's reign, his land had been given to Robert de Vernay ; but it may be presumed it was afterwards restored to him. The last occurrence of his name is on his being selected in 10 Henry III. as one of those who were to assess and collect the quinzime of the county' (Edward Foss, The Judges of England: with sketches of their lives &c. Vol. 2, p. 500, cit. Rot. Claus. i. 262., II. 64. 76. 147, 1225). It may reasonably be presumed that a family of Fremes of Gloucestershire derive from him, and they clearly retaining their associations to the Bohuns: 'Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Essex, &c., died seised of one knight's fee in Lower Lypiatte, which John Clifford held ; of another half of a fee which the Abbot of Tewkesbnry, the prior of the hospitallere of St. John of Jerusalem and Roger Reom held, (escheat 46 Edward III., No. 10.) This Roger Reom (alias Veim) and Freme were the same family, for John Bygge, of Stroud, died seised of a messuage and other lands held of Thomas Reame by fealty, as of the manor of Nether Lypiatt. His son and heir was, Thomas Freme, Esq. of Nether Lypiatt, 30 Hen. VIII., who m. a dau. of Sir William Morgan, Knt. of Peneyd, and was father of William Freme, Esq. of Nether Lypiatt, who was father of Robert Freme, Esq. of Nether Lypiatt : he m. Joan, dau. of Gough, and with other Issue, had William, his heir (Burke).

xxxi. CHEVREVILLE: The family of Chevreville also held in Neufchatel-en-Bray: Turold de Quievreville (cart. Sanct. Trin. 1043 'Signum Turoldi de Drincourt' - i.e. Neufchatel-en-Bray - 3 miles from Busli. His son was Richard FitzTurold. The manor of Penhallam was held in 1086 by Richard fitz Turold and formed part of an extensive fee which was to become known in the 13th and 14th centuries as the honour of Cardinham. Richard, in turn, held his lands from the king's half-brother,Count Robert of Mortain. The most important Mortain tenant in the county was Richard fitz Turold whose twenty-nine manors returned an annual income of £33. His son was William FitzRichard, sp. Denise de Mortain (1. Ralph de Beaumont, sp. Godehilde de Belème, 2. Hildebourge de Beaumont, sp. Guillaume II de Belesme, 3. Mabel de Belesme, sp Roger II de Montgomery, s. o. Roger I. de Montgomery & Josceline de Pont-Audemer, 4. Maud de Montgomery, sp. Robert, Comte de Mortain, s. o. Herluin de Conteville, s. o. Osmund de Gois (Collectanea Archæologica, p. 283, 1862; cit. Recherches sur la Domesday), 5. Denise de Mortain, sp. William FitzRichard). Another son of Turold de Quievreville was Fulke de Lisours, 'Man of Roger', i.e. Fulke de Chevercourt, man of Roger de Busli, his cousin, sp. Albreda Lizures, 'Albreda filius Robertum de Lizures' - ancestor of the Markham family. Roger de Busli founded the Priory of Blithe in 1088, and witnesses are: Turoldus de Cheverchort, Fulk de Lisoriis, and Thoraldus frater ejus, W(alterus) de Drincourt. Roger de Busli took his surname from Bully, near Neufchatel-en-Bray (Thor. Soc. v. 44-6 p. 15, 1941).

xxxii. GIROIE: The family that became known as the Giroie was typical of the upper strata of Norman elite in the eleventh and early twelth centuries. What we see is an extensive multilateral network of kinship, in which the affinity to the duke was becoming increasingly important. Our main source for their history the Anglo-Norman monk Orderic Vitalis, was mainly interested in family because they were patrons of his monastery St-Evroul d’Ouche. He therefore shaped his narrative to glorify the branch of the family that participated in the founding of the monastery. What follows is largely derived from Ordericus’s account. Giroie, the founder of the family, settled in borderlands between Normandy and Maine ca. 1025. He was a soldier and companion-in-arms to the Lord of Bellême, a powerful noble, and also of 'Paganus' - ancestor of the Paynels. (What we can know is that the families of Giroie and Paynel, associated with the Ferte-Fresnels, were feudatories on Bellesme land; Guillaume I. de Bellesme, Radulph de Beaumont's brother-in-law, built Chateau d'Essaye d'Essecourt, situated near Pont-Audemer, from whence the Beaumont family of Normandy originated; the ancient arms borne by the Viscomtes de Beaumont were d'azur au lion d'or, which are very similar to those borne by the [descendants of Onfroi de Vieilles] Beaumonts of Meulan, viz. de sable au lion d'or (Jouffroy d'Eschavannes, 'Armorial universel', 46-7); Odo de Fraxineto, Radulphus of Maine's grandson, was a signatory to the foundation charter of St. Père, c. 1080, along with Henry de Beaumont, Onfroi de Vieille's son, and Alorius de Pont-Audemer, Henry de Beaumont's cousin, of the said Beaumont family of Normandy; Le Prevost could not account for Radulphus de Beaumont of Normandy being called Beaumont before his family held Beaumont near Pont-Audemer). From a second marriage came seven sons and four daughters (see below). The naming pattern (Williams and Roberts) reflects connections with the ducal house of Normandy.

xxxiii. GIROIE AND PORTES: The family of Girois (Giroie, Giroye, Giroys, Gere, Girois) is one of oldest of Maine and Normandy. Gilles Bry spoke about them with much respect and calls them Geroien. They were much connected to the family of Sablé. Solomon de Sablé. married, at the beginning of the eleventh- century, Adélaïs, fourth daughter of Girois, lord of Montreuil, in Normandy. Guillaume de Jumièges records the marriage of Girois and Gisela, daughter of "Toustain de Montfort" - a descendant of Herolfr Turstain. Another daughter of Girois, Hadvisse, married (1) Robert de Grandmesnil (2) Guillaume Count d' Evreux, grandson of Richard, Duke of Normandy. The charter of foundation of Solesmes by Geoffroy de Sablé, mentions Solomon de Sablé. Their relationship is not known, but he may have reasonably been his brother (Fortuné Legeay, Recherches historiques sur Mayet (Maine), p. 238, 1859), and, thus, uncle of Drogo du Porta - Radulphus de Beaumont was a feudatory of the Comte du Mans, i.e. Maine, acting as his bailie, i.e. steward. He was a benefactor of L'Abbeye de St. Aubin, a cell of L'Abbeye de St. Saveur [Philippe le Bas, Dictionaire Encyclopedique, p. 887, 1845]. He and his descendants were lords of the castellums of Beaumont-le-Vicomte, and nearby Le Fresne. As shown, he married Godehildis de Bellesme. His son was Geoffroy du Sablé. He founded the abbey of Solesmes between 1006-1015 [Julien Rémy Pesche Dictionnaire topographique, historique et statistique de la Sarthe, p. 746, 1836]. His son was Dreux du Sablé, who witnessed his father's gift by 1016 as a boy. Identified as Drogo de Fraterniaco (that is, Fresnay, ctl. xxxvi. Sancti Vincentii; his gifts were confirmed by his son Odo ou Eudes de Fraterniaco), and also as Drogo de Porta [carte de Fraterniaco, Cccxxxix. D.D. 4 - M.S.) William ‘the Giroie,’ Giroie’s eldest son to reach maturity, shared the honor of Montreuil with the second son, his brother Foucois. Foucois was the companion and godson of Gilbert, count of Brionne, William’s enemy. William acquired the castle of St-Céneri and left it to his younger brother Robert, who had supported him against Foucois. This Robert died in 1060 rebelling against Duke William 'the Conqueror.' William secured his holdings by marrying the daughter of a powerful neighbor, Fulbert de de l’Aigle. (The earliest information about the family is derived, therefore, from Orderic Vitalis, who was interested in Fulbert and his descendants because they were patrons of his monastery of Saint-Evroul, but even Orderic's acquaintance with Fulbert was limited. He knew Fulbert of Beina chiefly as the father of Hiltrude, who was married to William Giroie, one of the founders of Saint-Evroul - M.S.). Although William dispossessed Foucois, he proved a more generous patron to his other brothers. He was not only the head of the clan but their personal lord. The cohesion of the clan is revealed by a laudatio, the formal permission that each member of the group had to give if one wished to donate land to a monastery. Of the daughters, two married lesser lords holding lands neighboring the Giroie’s possessions, swelling the family’s local retinue, and two married geographically remote partners of social rank equal to the Giroie, creating political alliances for the family. Hadvisse’s marriage to Robert of Grandmesnil led to her sons and her brothers William and Robert to co-found the monastery of Evroul around 1050 on the spot that Robert of Grandmesnil had died. The monastery thus connected to clans in an aura of sanctity. Two sons of the second generation, Robert of Grandmesnil.and Ernaud d’Echauffour eventually became monks. Orderic’s account is to be compared to contemporary genealogies, which tend to be ideological constructs 1) devised to justify possession of the patrimony (hence focus on male line), and 2) which emphasize marriages that enhanced luster of clan. Orderic’s focus on his monastery permits us to see beyond these genealogies. The Giroie's story is not that of a "lineage" in which the eldest son inherited everything. Nor is it a straightforward story. Foucois may have been the eldest son, but because he lost out in the struggle with William, he was not only dispossessed but read out of the family. The story is also one in which family solidarity is demonstrated in vendettas (see below) and in the foundation and maintenance of monasteries. The Giroie, like the story of Hugh IV of Lusignan and Count William V of Aquitaine, is set in a world in which noble families unite or fight with one another to increase their holdings, and in which the success of a family owed much to the favor or disfavour of a count (Prof. Richard Abels, Giroie: from Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History of the Normans, ca. 1140; based on analysis by Dominique Barthelemy, in History of Private Life, vol. 2, ed. G. Duby, Harvard U. Press, 1988, pp. 96-105).The family of Ferte-Fresnel were in some way closely linked to that of the Girois of Maine; they jointly founded St. Evroult (1050), and it may be assumed that a Ferte-Fresnel had married a member of the Giroie or Grandmesnil family, or someone of a closely connected family, such as Sablé, that is, someone of the 'extensive multilateral network of kinship.'

xxxiv. ETYMOLOGY: The surname Frame, at least the one associated with Sir Adam Frame alias Frenche or Franche, can be traced to the canton of Pavilly, situated near Rouen, were a Osbern de Freschenes (whose family were seneschals to the FitzOsberns) was tenant in the latter half of the tenth-century. This was the site of a famous monastery associated with Saint Frame[childe] alias Franc[hilde], a seventh-century Frankish princess. The first element of the name, whether given with an interchangeable n or m, referred to the Germanic origin of the Saint; the second element probably meaning noble. The monastery gave rise to the nearby settlement of Freschenes, which derived its name from the same root as that of the Saint, for, by substituting the word chênes for the personal element of the name, we have Franchenes, or simlar, from which, in the tongue of the time, as different from present French as is present English from Chaucer, would have been similar to Fre[yn]sheens; hence the derivative Fresheens, thus Freschenes, further contracted to Fresnes, this latter form being interpretted as pertaining to the ash tree. The termination chênes could have referred specifically to oaks, but is more likely to have been used in the general sense [arbor] to indicate "a wooded settlement of the Franks." Etymologists such as Förstemann interpretted the derivative as a Frisian settlement, specifically the abode of someone named Frisco, yet such a view lacks the historical context in which the name developed. Franche and Framche would have had the same conotation, both meaning "free" - as in Franci [free men] from whom Saint Framechilde descended. This is not to say that all those called Fresne or French, as examples, had origins in Pavilly, or that these names did not exist other than as a contraction of another, yet in the specific case of the ancestors of Sir Adam Frame, that they were otherwise known as Fresne (or Freynsh, Frenshe, Freinche, Frainche) was a result of ancient connections to a site associated with the Franks. I give this example - In 1348, John Freyne, the son and heir of "John Freigne," became seized of Moccas, Marden, etc., as on his father's recent decease. At the last period, a Robert Frensh was seized of other lands in Herefordshire, on whose decease, in 1370, the custody of his estate was committed in wardship, "durante minoritate heredis." Antiquaries wrongly thought that this record was one of the many that evinced the transition from Freyne to French, wherehas, in fact, the contraction Freyne and its like had always been Freynshe and its like. 'FRANK (Ger.), free, but in topography meaning belonging to the Franks; e.g. Franconia (the district of the Franks) ; France, abridged from Frankreich (the kingdom of the Franks or freemen); Frankenthal (the valley of the Franks) ; Franken-berg and Frankenfels (the hill and rock of the Franks) ; Frankenburg and Frankenhausen (the dwellings of the Franks); Frankenstein (the rock of the Franks); Franken- markt (the market of the Franks); Ville-franche and Ville-franche sur Saone (free town), in France; Villa-franca (free town), several in Italy; Villa-franca (free town), in Spain' (Professor John Stuart Blackie, 'Geographical Etymology', 1887).

xxxv. FRESCHENES AS FRESKIN AND MORAY: A Robertus de Freschenes appears in acts circa 1160 with members of the de Vaux [Vallibus] family, who were to settle in Dirletown, Scotland, home of the later Halyburtons [Rymer's Faedera, vol. i. p. 40]. It would seem reasonable to suggest that the Freskin whose name appears in a charter by King William to Freskin's son, William, granting Strathbrock in West Lothian and Duffus, Kintrae, and other lands in Moray, "which his father held in the time of King David" (G. W. S. Barrow, The Acts of William I King of Scots 1165-1214 in Regesta Regum Scottorum, Volume II, no. 116, pp. 198-9, 1971) was of the Freschenes vide Fresquienne family. Freskin is a name common to the families of Moray and Douglas. The youngest son of the first recorded Lord of Douglas, William de Douglas, Freskin de Douglas, was parson of the parish of Douglas, before being appointed Dean of Moray. The Freskins of Kerdal, Lairds of Moray, had for their armorial bearings 3 stars, and living side by side with the Douglas, might they not be of the family? The similarity between the heraldry of the Morays and Douglases with the use of "Argent, on a chief azure, three stars of the field" for Douglas, and "Azure, three stars argent, two and one" for Moray,* makes this a compelling notion [Herbert Maxwell, A History of the House of Douglas vol i., 1902]. The name Freschenes or Fresquienne is also synonomous with Friskin or Freskin or Fresquin, as shown in the Acts of William I. of England, 1066-1087, wherein Richard de Friscen[is], in a latinised form, is also noted as Richard de Fresquienne. It can be further noted that Victorian antiquaries considered the case that Freskin (Fresquin) was a son of William de Fresquienne, alias Freschenis, alias (Ferte) Fresne(l)*, noted in a charter of 1131 of St. George de Bocherville, without finding proof for the case. However, by way of tentative proof: 'The Morays were related by marriage to a Lothian family, and the point might be solved did we know the exact relationship between the Morays and the Lundons, as indicated in the "Register of Newbattle." There John de Moravia appears as son of John of Lundon, proof that from this family there apparently sprung a race of Morays,** though probably of illegitimate birth. Why a son of Lundon should be distinguished as 'of Moray' may be matter for speculation. It, however, militates against the hitherto accepted theory that all Morays descend from Freskin" (Mr D. Murray Hose, Notes On The Family Of De Moravia, Or Moray; Transactions Of The Gaelic Society Of Inverness, Volume xxv., 19O1-19O8). The Acts of Henry II., concerning his French possesssions, are witnessed by 'Johannes de Lunda, Robertus de Freschenis.' Lunda is a latinisation of Lund. Thomas de Lunda settled in Scotland before 1163. A Johannes de Lunda, temp. Edward III., was prebendary of Govan in "ecclesia Glasguensi." If an association can be made between John of Lundon (Lundon vide Lundin), later of Auchtermerny, or, a lion ramp. gu., and Johannes de Lunda, then it would be not be improbable that John of Lundon was the father of a son who took his mother's [Freskin] name of Moray, and that Freskin was of the family of Freschenis (Freschenes) alias Ferte-Fresne or Ferte-Fresnel, and perhaps the son of William Freschenis, as noted.*The Freschnenes would seem to be synonomous with the Ferte-Fresnels: "In the present and future, know that I, Robert de Fresnes, gave in perpetual offering to Saint-George de Boscherville" (A. Besnard, Monographie de l'église et de l'abbaye Saint-Georges de Boscherville, P. 7, 1899).

xxxvi. ** MORAY AND SUTHERLAND:There were more ancient and different families of Moray than the one associated with Freskin; the Morays of Culbin, with the aid of the Registers of Dunfermline (p. 195) and St Andrews (pp. 109, 260, 340), as just one example, can be traced to a more remote antiquity than any other branch. Freskin's son, William, witnessed a charter in 1160, and between 1166 and 1171 had a grant of his father's lands ('Quas terras, Pater suus Friskinus tenuit tempore Regis David Avi mei') in Strathbrock, Duffus, Rosile, Inshkiel, Kintrae, and Machir, and, in 1190, he had other grants in Moray, from the Bishop of that see. He may have been William Fresekyn, 'Sheriff of Invernaryn' named in 1204. William had three sons, Hugh, Lord of Duffus,* William, and Andrew, who is possibly identical with the Andrew de Moray who appears in Border charters, and probably became ancestor of the southern Morays. William, second son of William ('Willielmus Filius Willielmi Friskini']), who married the daughter and heiress of David de Olifard, son of Walter de Olifard, justiciary of Lothian, was Dominus de Pettie, Brachlie and Boharm, [and was] father of Walter of Pettie, married to a daughter of Malcolm, earl of Fife, of whom came Sir Andrew Moray, Lord of Bothwell, see anon, Governor of Scotland, who died anno 1338; and Sir John de [Moray], whose representative in the right male-line is Moray of Abercairny; Andrew, Bishop of of Moray; Gilbert, Bishop of Caithness; and Richard of Coulbin. Hugh, Lord of Duffus, the eldest son of William and grandson of Freskin, was the heir to Duffus and Strabrock. He is referred to as Hugh Freskin* and Hugh de Moravia in documents from 1195 onward. The Bishop of Moray gave him a free chapel in Duffus Castle between 1203 and 1214. By 1211, he also had Skelbo and other lands in Sutherland. Hugh Freskin died before 1222, and was buried in the church of Duffus, leaving three sons, William, Walter, and Andrew: "Hugh was father of Walterus de Moravia, .'filius quondam Hugonis de Moravia', so called in an agreement, anno 1366, with Archibald, Bishop of Moray, about a part of the wood and moor of Spynie. He probably married a daughter of the Earl of Ross; acquiring lands of him. His son 'Friskinus filius Walteri' married Joanna, heiress of Strathnavir, who was of the family of the Earls of Caithness. They had two daughters, co-heiresses, viz. Helen, married to Sir Reynold Cheyne,** and Christine, married to William de Federeth. These daughters brought to their husbands one fourth part of Caithness. The family of Cheyne of Duffus ended likewise in two daughters; viz. Mary, married to Nicholas Sutherland, second son of Kenneth, Earl of Sutherland, who was killed at Hallidon Hill, anno 1333; and the other daughter married to John Keith, youngest son to Sir Edward Keith, Marshall of Scotland, and with her got Inverugie lands in Buchaa, and a part of Duffus. Thus Duffus was divided into the King's part, Duffus' part, and Marshall's part. Alexander Sutherland (gules three stars or), grandson of Nicholas, married Morella, the heiress of (Robert) Chisholm of Quarrelwood (grandson of Sir Robert Lauder of Urquart Castle/Abercrombie), which greatly increased his fortune; and the family purchased Marshall's third, and had an opulent estate (Shaw, Hist. Province Moray, pp. 99-100, ed. 1827).

xxxvii. *Hugh Freskin, acquired the territory of Sutherland, that is, Southerland, as lying south of Caithness, forfeited by the Earl of Caithness, in his rebellion of 1197, which rebellion Freskin had assisted to suppress. His eldest son, William, is believed to have been the first Earl of Sutherland, in this direct line. His son, William, second Earl of Sutherland, was one of the Scottish nobles who attended the parliament of Alexander III., at Scone, in 1283-4, when the succession to the crown of Scotland was settled. He was succeeded by his son, Kenneth, the third Earl of Sutherland, as above. His eldest son, by a daughter of the Earl of Marr, was William, the fourth Earl, who made an incursion into England, with the Earl of March, in 1340. He married Margaret, eldest daughter of Robert I. by his second wife, Elizabeth de Burgo, and full sister of David II., who created the earldom of Sutherland into a regality, in honour of Earl William and Margaret his wife, in 1345. The ancient territory of Petty and Brachly, comprehending at least the whole modern parish, first occurs in record as part of the possessions of a branch of the great family of De Moray, who seem to have held these lands as tenants of the Crown, from the end of the twelfth-century; and, early in the thirteenth, Walter de Moray conferred the parsonage tithes of the churches of Petty and Brachly on the cathedral church of Moray, of which they thenceforward formed one of the prebends, the patronage remaining with the family of the granter. In 1226, Bishop Andrew enters into an agreement with Walterus de Petyn, relative to the lands of Ardtrillen, Lunyn, Duldavy, and Croyn, which lands his father, William, it is said, had held, and affirmed that they belonged to him by hereditary right. It is not improbable that Petyn had been possessed by Freskyn himself. In charter 61 of the chartulary of Moray, which establishes prebends in Elgin cathedral, this is said to be done as to Pettie and Bracholy, with the consent of Walter de Moray, then patron. In the preface to the chartulary we have an account of successive possession of these lands by Sir Andrew Moray, as above, the celehrated patriot, and Archibald 'the Grim', effective founder of the Black Douglas dynasty, third Earl of Douglas [ermine a heart gules, on a chief azure, three mullets argent, the change from metal to fur being a regular difference adopted by cadets of the Douglas family; illigitimate son of Sir James Douglas, and cousin of William, first Earl Douglas, by his marriage with the heiress of Bothwell and Pettie, who would appear to be Joanna, daughter, most like, of Thomas Moray of Bothwell, second son of Sir Andrew Moray, above mentioned. It has been suggested that the young Archibald spent time with his cousin William at the court in exile of King David II. at Chateau-Gaillard in Normandy.

xxxviii. **CHEYNE AND GORDON: 'In the chartulary of Kelfo, there are donations by Adam de Gordun, fon of Adam, by Richard de Gordun — by his fon, Thomas Junior — by his fon Thomas junior — by his heireff and daughter Alicia, to 'the abbacy of Kelfo.' Thefe donations are prior to 1270; and it is probable, that the donors were the anceftors of Sir Adam Gordon warden of the Marches — Rymer, vol. II. p. 870 (who was0 given in 1296 the forfeited lands of John Comyn, Dominus de. Strathbolgie. In 1376 Robert II. renewed the grant to Sir John Gordon, fon of Sir Alexander, fon of Sir Adam. Prior to this laft grant of Strathbolgie, David Bruce had given the foreft of Enzie and Boyne to that Sir John Gordon, who was flain in 1388. His fon, Sir Adam, was flain at Hamildun in 1401. This Sir Adam left no iffue but a daughter and heireff, Elizabeth, who married Alexander Seton, fon of Sir William Seton of Winton. Of this marriage was Alexander, who in 1421 and 1439 is called Alexander de Seton, dominus de Gordon; and it was not till 1449, that the family refumed the furname of Gordon, when created Earl of Huntly. Alexander, fon and heir of Elizabeth Gordon, was thrice married. By his firft wife he had no children. By his fecond, Egida Hay, daughter and heireff of John Hay of Tullibody, he had a fon, Alexander Seton de Gordon' (John Grant, William Leslie, A survey of the province of Moray, p. 16, 1798). Sir Reginald de Cheyne married Helen, daughter of Freskin de Moray, whose daughter, Christian Cheyne, married Alexander de Seton de Gordon.

xxix. THE GORDONS AS SETONS OF YORKSHIRE: 'The fee of Brus originated in the grant by Henry I, during the first decade of his reign, to Robert de Brus of about eighty manors which had formed part of the "Terra Regis" at the Survey of 1086. When William count of Mortain lost his English fee in 1104 some thirteen manors which had been held under Robert count of Mortain by Richard de Surdeval were probably included in the fee which Brus thereafter held directly of the Crown. Robert de Brus attested a charter of William count of Mortain to Marmoutier, made during the period 1103-1IO6; he did so no doubt as a tenant of the fee of Mortain in Normandy, and possibly in England also' (William Farrar). Guisborough Cartulary: 'Adam de Brus II. notifies to the king his confirmation of lands to Guisborough, 1170-90; the same Adam confirms Adam de Setun held land of him in Skelton, 1170-95. Peter de Brus I. confirms that Adam de Seton held land of him in Southburn, 1196-1212.' (Seton = Sethuna, Setton, Saiton; three carucates of land, held before the Conquest by Uctred as a 'manor,' were in the hands of Richard de Sourdeval, tenant under the Count of Mortain, in 1086. The under-tenants were a family called Seaton whose identity with the ancestors of the great Scottish family of Seton of Seton in East Lothian has been suggested. Although there are difficulties with this suggestion - those suggesting a seamless connection claim that Sir Christopher Seaton of Whitby Strand, who married the sister of Robert Brus, had a bother named Alexander, ancestor of the Scottish family of Seton. Whilst this is only a possibility, it does seem probable that the Scottish family of Seton shared some common origin with the Setons of Yorkshire. By this notion, the family of Gordon as Seton had historic tenurial associations with the Yorkshire families of Brus, Hamelton, and Fresnel - to borrow from what follows in more detail: 'Mathilda de Sourdeval, his daughter, Ralph Paynel's wife, and sister, as said, of the wife of Robert Brus II., was a likely former mistress of Robert de Beaumont. It is not a case that nineteenth-century accounts of the Hamiltons being descended from the Beaumonts were wrong, it rather seems the case that such accounts wrongly assigned this association to later generations, and did not take into account the relevance of Gervase Paynel's arms, and the strong likelihood of his brother being the progenitor of the Hamiltons of Scotland.

xxxx. 1. Adam de Seton. 1.1. Ivo de Seton, witness to Adam Brus II. in Yorkshire & Robert Brus II. in Annandale.1.1.1. Adam de Seton II., ob. ante 1234, sp. Mathilda de Turp [Thorp] of Castle Eden, seneschal of Peter Brus I.; granted lands in Skelton [EYC, ii. 26 & 431]. 1.1.1.1. Ivo de Seton, lost many family possessions (CDS, i. nos 1216). 1.1.1.1.1 Adam de Seton III., held land in Seton for knights service [EYC, xi. 205]. 1.1.1.1.1.1. John de Seton, "undoubtedly identical with the John de Seton who was a knight of Robert Brus V." [Ruth Margaret Blakely, The Brus family in England and Scotland, 1100-1295, p. 139, 2005, cit. Yorks Inq. iii., 99-100]. 1.1.1.1.1.1.1. Christopher Seton, sp. Chrstine, daughter of Robert Brus VI., tennant in Annandale, hanged and drawn in 1306 for supporting the rebellion against Edward I. Christopher's mother is unknown - There is no evidence which indicates that Ermina de Seton was the mother of Sir Christopher de Seton. Rather, it appears Ermina was the step-mother of Sir Christopher de Seton. There is an abstract of a petition of Ermina de Seton in the National Archives in which Ermina de Seton mentions Christopher de Seton by name but does not call him her son. Rather, she refers to him only as the son and heir of her late husband, John de Seton. The same is true of Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1301–1307 (1898), 465, where Christopher de Seton is identitied as the son and heir of John de Seton, but Ermina is not called his mother. A name mentioned in the petition is that of Brabazon.

xxxxi. FRAUNCEYS AND BRUS: Guisbrough Priory: The surnames of Fraunceys (Ferte-Fresnel) and Brus, identified with this district, were found in the Cotentin of Normandy at an early period as grantors or as witnesses to charters; making likely some familial connection. Robert Fraunceys was one of the few recorded knights of the second Robert de Brus, who founded this priory in 1119, near his castle of Skelton, the name of this Robert Fraunceys, knight, appearing soon after the death of the first Robert de Brus, in circa 1100, as one of the witnesses to a charter to the neighboring Abbey of Whitby. At this time, tenurial associations were usually based on familial ones, and it is far from improbable that the family which held Seton under Richard de Sourdeval were of his family; or at least of a connected family, such as those of Brus or Fresnel.

xxxxii. RUTHERFORDS OF FLANDERS: Surnames often have an emotional context, and are often given origins that most suit the needs of those researching them. This has certainly been the case with many Scottish surnames, for very understandable reasons, yet, with great credit, some family historians seek to go beyond myth and fantasy, and seek out what is more likely to be true. Such a historian is Gary Rutherford Harding, who, concerning some previous research into his family, observes 'Mark Twain said, History tells us that the truth is not hard to kill, but a lie told well is immortal ......... the internet harbors many 'genealogists' busy achieving their immortality' (Gary Rutherford Harding, The Rutherfords of Roxburghshire, privately published, lat. ed. 2002; cit. Kenneth Rutherford Davis, The Rutherfords in Britain: a history and guide, Alan Sutton Publishing, Gloucester, 1987). Mr. Rutherford Harding clearly shows that the Rutherfords who settled in Scotland were of Flemmish extraction. To summarise his main points: (1) "Under David I (1124-53) and Malcolm IV (1153-65) the Flemish counts, Thierry de Alsace (1128-63) and his son Philip de Alsace (1163-91) cooperatively developed a program to settle Flemish immigrants in various areas of Scotland, including Roxburgh. The purpose of this settlement policy was to establish a defensive zone between England and Scotland; hence the ancestors of many knightly families occupied border regions. {2) 'Counts Thierry de Alsace and Philip de Alsace were also the overlords of the Seigniory of the Court of Ruddervoorde in West Flanders. In 1128 Lambert de Ridefort (Ruddervoorde) served as a witness for Count Thierry de Alsace. In 1154 Lambert de Ridefort and his brother Eustachius (Eustache) served as witnesses to Gerald, Bishop of Tournai and Count Thierry de Alsace. Sir Gerard de Ridefort (de Ruddervoorde) - 10th Grand Master of the Knights Templar - accompanied Thierry de Alsace, Count of Flanders on his 4th crusade to Outremer in 1164, at which time, Gerard entered the service of King Amaury I of Jerusalem........ By the year 1230, the lordship of Ruddervoorde belonged to Lamkin van Ruddervoorde after the death of his father Knight Haket who received it from the Dean of St. Donatian church in Bruges.' (3) "At about this time, Robertus dominus de Rodyrforde, first appears in the Scottish records. Robertus dominus de Rodyrforde witnessed a royal charter in 1140 granted by King David I of Scotland to Gervasius de Rydel....... It is interesting to note, the third syllable was spelled 'ford' with the Flemish ending of 'e' and almost identical to the Flemish toponymic name of Ruddervoorde in West Flanders, Belgium........ Ruddervoorde or Ridervoorde means 'a knight's river crossing', and interestingly the Gervasius de Rydel mentioned about has a surname with a similar etymology ....... The hamlet of Rutherford enters into the Scottish record during the reign of William the Lion shortly after 1165. Since the time of James Rutherfurd II the Rutherfurd chieftains have always been from Edgerston which is to the south of Rutherford on the Jed River flowing through the town of Jedburgh.' (4) 'Central to Rutherford genealogy in Scotland and to the Hunthill Rutherfords specifically is the family’s connection and descent from the powerful "Black Douglases" and their kin, the Glendonwyns....... The Rutherfords and Glendonwyns were the [seneschals] to the Douglas family along with the Home and Hoppringle families. Sir Robert Rutherford’s wife, Margaret Glendonwyn, was the grand daughter of both Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas, and Margaret Stewart, daughter of John Stewart, King Robert III of Scots." [5] "Margaret Glendonwyn’s father was Sir Simon Glendonwyn of Glendonwyn and Parton (a 1455) who was married to Elizabeth Lindsay daughter of Alexander Lindsay, 2nd Earl of Crawford and Marjory (Margaret) of Dunbar a descendant of Gospatrick the great earl. Alexander Lindsay's aunt, Agnes Dunbar, was the wife of Sir James Douglas - 1st Lord of Dalkeith and as such was also the great great aunt of Sir Simon Glendonwyn. The Hunthill coat of arms carries a charge of three passion nails which came from the Douglas of Morton coat of arms. Margaret Glendonwyn, daughter of Sir Simon Glendonwyn married Sir Robert Rutherford of Chatto (a 1484, d before 05.1495) and acquired the land in Roxburghshire that is called Hunthill through marriage. Sir Robert Rutherford had confirmation of his late father's gift of Nether Chatto on November 21, 1429 from Archibald 4th Earl of Douglas, as "his dear esquire", with a Crown confirmation on March 25, 1439." [6] "The hamlet of Ruddervoorde, the origin of the modern name of Rutherfurd/Rutherford, was part of the political and military structure of the beautiful city of Bruges [Brugge]. Cities like Bruges had a mixed population; noblemen and freeman merchants who ran the powerful guilds. David I of Scotland used these free burghs as the model for Jedburgh, Roxburgh and Berwick on the Scottish Borders. The most important social distinction in a burgh was not between nobles and merchants, or between merchants and craftsmen, but between those who held the status of burghers and those who didn't. The Ruddervoordes enjoyed a unique position as freemen, burghers and ministeriales.[Ernest, Gilliat-Smith, Medieval Towns - Bruges]. [7] "Desiderius Hacket (of a family connected to the Chevrevilles and Ferte-Fresnels, par Ellis - M.S) Chatelain of Bruges, was head of the house of Erembalds ........ under suspicion for the assassination of Count Charles ........ The Hacketts of County Kildare, Ireland, are also known as the de Ridelsford family of Lincolnshire. The name Haket means "hooks", which is also a type of fish. Haket was a prominent Christian name of this family and along with Lucy [also a fish] evolved into surnames in Britain with very similar coats of arms ........ On July 29, 1128 Count Thierry d' Alsace and a large army of Knights took the Erembald city of Ypres. The people of Bruges and the knights also plundered Ruddervoorde........ with increasing frequency the young Erembalds of Ruddervoorde began to migrate to Britain. They disappeared from Flanders at the same time the "Rutherfords" began to appear in England, Scotland and Ireland. The English county of Gloucester has a town called Ruddeford listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. The Yorkshire wapentake of Austhorpe also lists the town of Redeford. Both properties were owned by Roger de Busli [of Markham ancestry - M.S] who, like the Rutherfords, was from the coastal area of Flanders called Bray. Roger de Busli was the master of Tickhill Castle with which the Rutherfords were long connected." Mr Rutherford Harding then claims that the relationship in Scotland between the Rutherfords and the families of Douglas, Bruce, Stewart, Lindsay, Hay, Bethune, Lyle, Erskine and Crawford stem from previous associations in Flanders and Normandy. This contention, whilst possibly true, can not be proven, for, as in all these cases, it would be necessary to define who these families were prior to settling in Scotland before claiming more ancient associations with them. Previous associations in Flanders are on a sounder footing. On etymological grounds, a strong case can be made for associations with the family of Ridelsford. That the Ruddervoordes used the name Hacket points to associations with that family, and might suggest they stemmed from the Harcourt family. On grounds of ancient heraldry, the Rutherfords of Scotland can claim to have married into the family of Wavrin. Centuries of debate have not determined who the Wavrins were descended from; all that can be adduced is that they married into the families of Bethune & d' Alsace. Roger, lord de Wavrin, obit. 1169, seneschal of the comte de Flandre is regarded by us as the first lord de Wavrin. Land at Lille was held by Roger de Wavrin through his marriage to Emma, the heiress of Pierre d' Alsace, son of Thierry d' Alsace, comte de Flandre; Malannoy came later to the same family by the same means. [See Chesne: l'Histoire de la Maison Bethune]. Thus, it made great sense, at a time of upheaval, for the Wavrins to marry into the ruling family of Flanders, and equal sense for Ruddervoordes to marry with them. The Rutherford's heraldric charge is the reversed tinctures of the de Wavrin family of Flanders. This fact has been most wrongly used to claim that the Rutherford's were descended from the Bailleuls, who bore the exact same charge; wherehas all that can be adduced as fact is that both families married into the Wavrins. Of relationships in Scotland; early charters show members of the Rutherford family to be co-signatories with the family of Valoniis alias Lundin, of the family associated with the Freschenes. They are also recorded as "kin" of the Gordon family of Seton (Nancy S. McBride, Gordon kinship, p. 22, 1973). In the lineage chart that follows, the Gordon family of Seton (of Yorkshire) are intricately connected to all the families connected to the Rutherfords.

xxxxiii. MR. SMITH ELLIS: Mr Ellis, who is quoted within this account, was one of those learned Victorian gentlemen who never claimed to know exactly who his ancestors were, but who gave much information as to whom they were probably related, and to infer a particular progenitor. He traced the ancestors of William Alis of Domesday to the parish of Alisay [Ferte-Alais], district of Beauce. He traced the holding of Ferte-Alais to "William de Gommeth", who is named in two charters, dated 1043 and 1067, and infers that he was the likely brother of Geoffrey de Gomet, named in a charter of 1065 [De Brequigny, Receuil des Charles, vol. ii. p. 98]. Mr. Ellis states that [at a later date] this family bore arms of "argent on an escocheon vert two fleurs de lis in pale within an orle of eight fleurs de lis gules." He then equates this family with that of Hommet: "The distinguished family of Hommett, or Humet, or Humez, are known to have borne three fleurs de lis for their arms", which "sprung from Robert de Humet, who, before 1025, founded the priory of St. Fromond." Mr. Ellis makes the point that "Gommett, or Ghomett, becomes Hommett, as easily as Gherlotta or Gerlotta does Harlotta, or Ghersendis or Gersende, Hirsende. More anciently, Mr. Ellis shows that "The fleurs de lis of the early Counts of Blois were probably used by the Norman Counts." "The arms of the baronetical family of Blois are a bend vaire between two fleurs de lis." "Vaire would seem, therefore, to have been another of the bearings of this race." He further points out the fleur de lis and vaire were all borne by Goz, or synonymous families (D'Anisy, Seals, plate 8, No. 16); then gives the example of the Rochefort family sharing similar arms to that of Alais - three bars wavy, and of another branch a fess between three martlets. When the point is made that the Rutherfords likely stemmed from a brother of Gerlotte de Blois, what is implied is that they stemmed from someone who would have overwhelmingly [to an inbred degree] shared the DNA profile of others "of this race." This point is made by many researching this area; that the ruling elites of Normandy and Boulogne were essentially of the same family. What I feel should happen is that where there is doubt of exact ancestry, a statement such as "descended of the ducal family and its ilk" would serve better than unprovable supposition.

xxxxiv. THE EXALTED COUSINSHIP NETWORK OF THE FRENCHE FAMILY OF THORNDYKES: Patricke de Dunbar, "Counte de la Marche", sp. Margery Comyn. daughter of Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan, and Elizabeth de Quincey. 1.1. Patricius de Dunbar, "comes Marchie et Morauie." He married his cousin, Lady Agnes Ranulph, daughter of Sir Thomas Ranulph, first Earl of Moray. At the death of her brother, John Ranulph, third, Earl of Moray, 17/10/1346, she succeeded to his estates, including Annandale and the Isle of Man. 1.1.1. Agnes Dunbar, sp. Sir James Douglas, Lord Of Dalkeith. 1.1.2. Margaret Dunbar, sp. [cousin] Alexander de Lindsey, given certain Crawford lands of "Henrici de Pynkeney, fratris et heredis Roberti de Pynkenoy defuncti." 1.1.3. George, Earl of Dunbar & March, sp. Christiana de Seton, daughter of Sir William Seton alias Gordon. George Dunbar was a close friend and ally of the Percy family of England. 1.1.3.1. Lady Elizabeth Dunbar, sp. Robert Frenche, 1st. Laird of Thorndykes. 1.1.3.2. Lady Janet Dunbar, sp. Sir John de Seton de Gordon; their daughter, Janet, marrying John Halyburton. 1.1.2.1. David de Lindsey, "Dominus de Crawford, filius et lucres quondam Domini Alexandri de Lyndessay." 1.1.2.1.1. Sir James de Lindsey, "Jacobus de Lyndesay, filius David de Lyndesay, militis." 1.1.2.1.1.1. Thomas de Lindsey, "filio meo .... Jacobo de Lindesey." 1.1.2.1.1.1.1. Lady Jane Lindsey, sp. John de Fregne; her cousin, Euphemia de Lindsey, sp. Sir John Herries of Terregles, desc. of William Heriz, fl. 1059, of Notts. 1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1. Robert Frenche, the first Laird of Thornydykes. 1.1.3.1.1. Adam Frenche, 2nd. Laird of Thorndykes, sp. Janet Roule, daughter of Andrew Roule, alias Rowle, lord of Primside; her brother, George Roule married Margaret Kerre, daughter of Andrew Kerre of Altonburn. 1.1.2.2. Beatrice Lindsey, sp. Sir Archibald Douglas. 1.1.2.3. Elizabeth Lindsey, sp. Sir Simon Glendonwyn. 1.3.2.3.1. Margaret Glendonwyn, sp. Sir Robert Rutherford [mother was Janet Douglas; this Rutherford pedigree is quite well documented from "Robertus dominus de Rodyrforde" onwards, although some inheritors are given as sons who were most likely nephews; they were to marry into the above Kerre family. What is quite evident is a Douglas connection to the Heriz family. Sir William "le Hardi" Douglas, sp. [2] Eleanor of Louvaine, obit. post 3/5/1326, bur. Dunmow Priory, widow of William de Ferrers, b. Woodham Ferrers, obit. 20/12/1287, Groby Old Hall, 1.1. Sir Archibald Douglas [half-brother of Sir James Douglas]; held Terregles; tennants were the Herries family, descendants of the Heriz family of Notts., sp. Beatrice Lindsey, daughter of Sir Alexander Lindsey of Crawford, Leicestershire, whose sister, Katherine Ferrers, married Ralph Vyvian; their son was Richard Vyvian, who married Constance Peverel, descendant of William Peverel I. of Notts; their daughter, Joan Vyvian (see abov) was the wife of John Harryes of Devon (descendant of the Heriz family of Notts., and ancestor of the Harris family of Radford); her grandmother, thus, being the sister-in-law of Archibald Douglas's mother; a connection which would have been very well known to her. This Harris connection to the Ferrers family, in general, continuing in the instance of their 'Cornworthy branch' being situate at Cherston Ferrers, com. Devon, following the Ferrers of St Hilaire du Harcouët. Sir William's son, Sir Archibald Douglas, as above, was overlord of the Herries family of Terregles, desc. from the Notts. Heriz. Bruce A. McAndrew points to the fact that not all incomers to Scotland in the eleventh-century were Flemish, yet he specifically mentions the family of Seton as being of Flemish extraction (B. A. McAndrew, The Flemish Connection, The Double Tressure, 1993, 15, 43). The early Rutherford coats of arms displayed black martlets. The martlet is the martin or swallows of Palestine, and indicates that an ancestor had been upon a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The martlet was used in the twelth-century only by the family of Boulogne, as an indication of birth order, i.e. the third son of the Count of Boulogne. It might naturally follow that the Rutherford family were of the Boulogne family. At the time of of Flemish occupation of Scottish borderlands, Ernisius de Seton bore this sign. The Setons and the Rutherfords were, thus, of the same family group. "Ernisius the Crossbowman" held land in Seton, Rutlandshire, in 1130. Robert de Tosni [Lindsey connection] held one hide and one bovate in Seton with one virgate in Barrowden in 1086. Seyton. Gules a bend argent between six martlets or. The connections between the various branches of Seton in England and Scotland has always been contentious, with some nineteenth-century analysts stating that the Yorkshire Setons were the ancestors of the Scottish ones; it is more probably the case that the Setons were "of the same ilk" - closely related in ways now lost to us. A genealogy may be as follows: (1) Ardolph (obit. ante 996), Count of Guines and husband of Mathilde of Boulogne, the sister of Arnold II and Eustace I of Bologne. He was also the son of Sigfried, Count of Guines, who married Elstrude the daughter of Arnold "the Old" of Flanders. He may have been Count of Bologne as well after the death of either Arnold II or Eustace I. He is possibly the same person who is identified in other sources as Guy of Guines. His sister, Heloise of Guines, was the wife of Crispin de Bec, ancestor of the Crispin family, who became de Colleville, and then Stanhope, and grandson of Heriolfr Turstain. In my work Descendants of Ragnar I attempt to show a possible relationship between Heriolfr, Bernard The Dane, and Sigfried, Count of Guines. (2) Baldwin II, Count of Boulogne (obit. 1033), said to be a son of Guy. (Possible cousin of Gilbert Crispin I.) (3) Eustace I, Count of Boulogne (obit. 1049), possibly the son of Baldwin II., sp. Maude de Louvain. (Possible second-cousin of William Crispin I.). (4) Lambert, Count of Lens (obit. 1054), son of Eustace I. One source argues convincingly that Lambert was actually killed in 1047 at the Battle of Cassel, and was succeeded as Count of Lens by his son, also named Lambert, who was the one killed in 1054 at the battle of Lille. (5) Eustace II, Count of Boulogne & Lens (obit. 1093), son of Eustace I. and brother of Lambert of Lens. Eustace II was the father of three heroes of the First Crusade. His eldest son, Godfrey of Bouillon (d. 1100), became Duke of Bouillon. The second son, Eustace III (obit.1125), succeeded his father as Count of Boulogne; and the youngest son, Baldwin I (obit. 1118), became Count of Edessa and King of Jerusalem. Their father, Eustace II, was an ally of the Duke of Normandy, and he followed William the Conqueror on the invasion of England in 1066. Later, Eustace became an important landholder in Norman England, a reward for services rendered to William during the invasion. He was also related to Raoul de Tosni II., and was a friend of Roger de Montgommery & Robert de Mortain. 1. Lambert of Lens. 1.1. Lambertus de Ridefort, possible father of the Grand Master, first Officer of the Kingdom, Sir Gerard de Ridefort (de Ruddervoorde), Eustace de Ridefort (de Ruddervoorde), and Robertus dominus de Ridefort (de Ruddervoorde), ancestor of the Scottish Rutherfords. (Follows accepted naming patterns). 1.2. Seier de Seton de Lens, held near Staithes, Whitby, Yorkshire, and on the Firth of Forth. Scotland. 1.3. Walter de Seton de Lens. 1.3.1. Ernisius de Seton de Lens.

xxxiv. SOURDEVAL/FOUGERES/MOIGNE/AUDLEY/POLE/COUVERT/COLDHAM: Raoul de Sourdeval (of indeterminate relation to Richard de Sourdeval) of Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët was also Radulph (Raoul) de Fougères. 'Les anciens seigneurs de Sourdeval, autre chef-lieu de canton du même arrondissement, avaient pris le nom de Le Moigne. Ils étaient d'une branche cadette de la maison de Verdun. Raoul de Fougères gave to the abbey of Savigny 'totum dominium suum de Verduno', dans l'Avranchin, that is, all the land he held in Verdun, including half the lordship of Ferrière in Mortain [Société linnéenne de Normandie, p. 170, 1828]. The same source states that this fief was formerly 'Ex dono Hugonis filii Ausketilli terram suara de Verdun.' This family of Verdun were strongly connected to the Lacys: In the time of the Conqueror, Bertram de Verdun held Férucham in the county of Buckinghamshire; his son, Nicholas, married Joan de Lacey; their daughter, Rohese, married Theobald le Boteler, of West Dereham, Norfolk; their daughter, Maud, married John FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel, and their son, John, married Margaret Lacy. A branch of this Verdun family became seigneurs d'Aldithley, which became known in England as Audley. Thus, it can be seen how tenurial associations were transferred from St Hilaire du Harcouët to England, with Yorkshire being a particular hub in this process: Ilbert de Lacy (Domesday); his son was Hugh de Lacy, abbot of Selby. n.b. Ilbert was the mesne lord of the manor of Hamelton (Hambleton Hough; wooded hill; also known as Hammelton/Hamilton), and gave tithes to Selby (Morrel's Selby). 'La maison de Lacy, ou plutôt de Lassy, originaire de Bretagne (Voyez l'Annuaire de 1863, p. 210). Armes: d'argent, à fasce de gueules. (Voyez pi. B.C.). They settled in Normandy: 'Le berceau de la famille de Lacy était Lassy au diocèse de Baveux (Calvados, arr. de Vire, canton de Condé-sur-Noireau' (ibid.). Hugh de Lacy, obit. 1242, married Lesceline de Verdun; his tenant was Alured de Fresne, of one-third knight's fee. The families of Couvert (of castle du Porte) and Coldham seem connected to the Fougères in England: Hasted in his "History of Kent,'(loco Capell) says — "COLDHAM is a manor in this parish which appears by records to have been anciently the patrimony of owners of the same name, who bore for their arms Gules, a fess ermine between three martlets Argent; but before the reign of Richard II, they had passed it away to a family of the name of Baker." These are the identical arms of Covert (Couvert) except the tincture of the martlets which is Or. In the visitation of Sussex, 1634, there is a pedigree of Coldham, the arms being a mullet. In Manning and Bray's Surrey (II., 441) it is stated that "temp. Henry II. Sir Richard Covert, son of Sir Bartholomew, who came into England with the Conqueror, had great possessions in Sussex, and was Lord of the Manor of Chaldon (in Surrey) and Patron of the Advowson; "the authority for the statement being Harl. MSS. 1500. The Domesday undertenant of Chaldon was Ralph de Felgeres (Fougères), who also held the Manor of Tadworth in the same county. The Manor of Bockham in Surrey was held at the Domesday Survey, by Halsar (Hansard?) of William de Braose. In the thirteenth-century Chaldon (the lordship in chief), Tadworth, and Bockham, were held by the family of Hansard, who were also owners at an early period of land in the Rape of Bramber. Various coats are assigned to the Hansards; the prevalent ones being three mullets of different tinctures, and on different fields; one branch bearing three estoiles; another coat is three martlets. From all this it would seem, that the Coverts, the Hansards, and the Coldhams had a common origin of some kind; that the changes of name and of arms, common at early periods, occurred with some of these families; but with which, or if with all, and under what circumstances, at present it does not seem easy to ascertain. The three estoiles borne by Courthope and Cruttenden appear from the foregoing to have been derived from the Coverts, who probably at an early period bore mullets, and were the progenitors of the Courthopes and Cruttendens. Ralph de Fougères held land in Cuddington, co. Surrey, at the time of the Domesday Survey. The subsequent owners of the manor, the Cuddingtons, were nearly related to the baronial family of FitzAlan of Bedale, co. York, whose coat was, Barry, as was the Hansards; Brian FitzRalph (who, Mr. Bray thinks, was Ralph de Fougères), being the relative. The arms of FitzRalph are Barry in chief three buckles. Ermine, on a fess gules, three buckles or, were the arms of the Norman family, De Covert, in 1738 — the date of the publication of the "Armorial de la France," which contains their pedigree (L, 158). Ralph de Fougères had a daughter married to William de St. John (Collins Peerage vi., 270). The ancient arms of St. John were two mullets on a chief. From the ermine in both the coats of Covert; the buckles in that of the Norman family; the mullets in that of St. John; and a presumed ancient coat of Covert containing mullets, and the other circumstances mentioned, it may be safely conjectured, that all the families in question were tenants, or undertenants (at one period or other) and relatives of the Dukes of Brittany; and therefore of one blood and kindred. The family of Fougères were also closely associated with the family of de Poillé [Pole]. In 1195, Leonisius de Fougères, grandson of Leonisius de Poillé, grand bailli de Mortain et seigneur de Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët, claimed the church of Brécey. The family of Poillé were connected to the Fresne family, in the guise of Plessis, in Maine: 'Plessis, nom d'habitation, fort commune dans le Maine et particulièrement dans la Sarthe le Grand et le Petit-Plessis, en Poillé ...... et ....... nom d'une ancienne châtellenie, située à Cherreau (v. cet art.), près la Ferte-Bernard. Le nom de Plesse, que portait aussi une ancienne seigneurie de l'Anjou, appartenant à la famille de Montmorency, est dérivé de Plexitium, qui, dans la basse latinité, signifie une enceinte formée de haies [Julien Rémy Pesche, Dictionnaire topographique, 445-9, 1836]. 'Cette famille des de Poillé était originaire des environs de Fougères ....... famille d'Ercé-près-Liffré [trois bezans, a rare charge, so likely to be of the same family as Herissy-Fierville], Bretagne, originaire environs de Fougères [MSAC. 523, 1883]. The families of Poillé and Fougères held in Bretagne of the Counts of Dol. Radulph de Fougères was seneschal of Brittany; cousin of Duke Geoffrey. Thus, a number of closely connected families held land over a wide geographical and political area. (Poillé signifies a coppersmith: Poillé - grands baillis de Mortain et seigneurs de Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët. Villedieu les Poêles derives the adjunct to its name from the number of coppersmiths working there, as in 'cheminées et de poêles en faïence' [fireplaces and tiled stoves]. Villedieu-les-Poêles is between Granville and Avranches).

xxxxvi. COUVERTS EN NORMANDIE: The Couverts were a noble family of name and arms, which formed several branches, both in France and in England. the name derives from the Parish of Couvert, which is close to Bayeux in Basse-Normandy. The family also gave their name to two other strongholds, one located in Bayeux, and the other in Caen, parish of May, near the Abbey of Fontenay. The first recorded of this name is Gullaume de Couvert, Lord of Couvert near Bayeux, who held the patronage of the church of Couvert in 1258 with the Prior of the Hospital of Bayeux [Cart. de Sémin]. Jean de Couvert, Lord of Couvert in Caen by an act of 1330 [Extr. Reg. Bayeux, fol. 80] is believed to be the father of Guillaume and Jean de Couvert: I. Guillaume de Couvert, Lord of Couvert, married Alexis Piquod, daughter of Andre, Seigneur of Russy-Saint-Honorine, Colleville and Percy. They were both alive in 1391 and 1401; she was widowed in 1411. Of this marriage was Simon de Couvert, Lord of that place, and priest of Gouberville in the Côtentin, fl. 1407 and 1441. By his death, the Seigniory of Couvert passed to I. Jean de Couvert, brother of Guillaume, Lord of Couvert, a man of Robert, Lord de Beaumesnil. Jean De Couvert had issue: - I. Roger; - & Jean, sire of a branch in England. Sir Roger De Couvert, Lord of Couvert and Estrehan-Perreux, married Alix de Vaubadon, widow of Guillaume Baratte. He was of the number of men assembled in 1419, with Jean de Saint-Fromont, Raoul de Argouges, Robin de la Haye, Guillaume de Louviers, who shared the lands of Jeanne de Vassy, widow of Henry de Hotot, Lord of the manor of Beaumont-le-Richard. His issue were: - I. Raoul, Knight, Lord of Couvert, d' Estrehan-le-Perreux, who married Jeanne Hamon, widow of Jean Danisy, daughter of Guillaume Hamon, Lord of Campigny; II. Jean; III. Jean De Couvert, Lord of Couvert, Estrehan and Tancarville in 1455, who married Marie de Mont [Hardie en Belmeis; Belmeis = Bellesme]. They had issue: - I. Isabeau, Lady of Couvert and d' Estrehan-le-Perreux, who married by contract of September 7, 1464, Guillaume de Hericy [trois besans]; the Norman branch of Heriz], Lord of Fierville, Creulet and Cauches, who died in 1511. She died without issue, and the family of de Hericy inherited the estates, which later passed by marriage to the Collevilles [M. Stanhope, transl. D.N, pp. 274-5, 1772]. A close link to the family of Hayes d'Espinay Saint-Luc is suggested: 'Jean des Hayes d'Espinay Saint-Luc: écartelé au premier et dernier d'hermines à la face de gueules chargée de trois boucles d'or, au deuxième et troisième d'argent au chevron d'azur chargé de besans d'or' [Vertot, Histoire des chevaliers, p. 200, 1830].

xxxxvii. THE PAYNELS AND CONNECTIONS TO HAMELTON, FRANCEYS AND HERIZ

Under the Mortain fee, Ralph de Paynel held Hamelton and Armyn of that place under Ilbert de Lacy; Ralph having married Ilbert's sister or daughter (Clay,114). Ralph secondly married Matilda de Sourdeval, daughter of Ralph de Sourdeval (Thoresby), whose sister married Robert Brus II. of Skelton. Ralph de Sourdeval (Fougeres) held much land in Avranches under the Count of Mortain, including that which was later to be called Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët, within which were the vils of Fresne and Chevreville; these being subfeudiated to the families of Ferte-Fresnel (with which the Sourdevals were closely associated in Antioch), and Chevreville. The surnames of Fraunceys and Brus were found in the Cotentin of Normandy at an early period as grantors or as witnesses to charters; making likely some familial connection. Robert Fraunceys was one of the few recorded knights of the second Robert de Brus, who founded this priory in 1119, near his castle of Skelton, the name of this Robert Fraunceys, knight, appearing soon after the death of the first Robert de Brus, in circa 1100, as one of the witnesses to a charter to the neighboring Abbey of Whitby. The family of Heriz were likewise associated with the Brus: The first settler at Claxton was probably a cadet of the Baronial family of Heriz of Wiverton in Nottinghamshire. William (brother of Ivo de Heriz), who attests a charter of his nephew William de Heriz, about the time of Henry II. would not stand ill in point of time as father of the Claxton line; but see Thoroton's Notts, pp. 30 and 300; and Dugdale's Baronage, title Heriz, vol. I. p. 684. See also, in Chalmers's Caledonia, the very interesting chapter on the Saxon, Norman, and Flemish settlers in Scotland, vol. I. p. 535. The Claxtons, whilst they changed their name, constantly retained the three allusive herissons, or hedgehogs, of the paternal coat, varying only the tincture. Heriz of Wiverton bears Azure three hedgehogs Or; Lord Herries, of Terregles in Scotland, Argent, three urchins (or hedgehogs) Sable; Maxwell Lord Herries, Argent, a saltire Sable, in chief a label of three points Gules; quartering, Argent, three urchins Sable, for Herries; and Claxton, Gules, a fesse between three hedgehogs Argent. The crest, which in the Visitations is a hedgehog Sable, quilled Or, appears on Sir William Claxton's seal (in the Treasury) a garb on a helmet ('Parish of Greatham', The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham: volume 3: Stockton and Darlington wards (1823), pp. 134-143). Their earliest evidence is perhaps the grant of Thomas Prior of Durham, to Leo de Claxton, of a toft, which lately belonged to Bewley Grange, for the foundation of a free chapel, with a quit-claim of two oxgangs in Claxton, which Leo, grandfather of the first Leo, assigned to the same Chapel. Claxton's seal to the counterpart bears the impress of a single urchin — sigill. Leonis de Heriis; Sheriff of Durham. William de Heriz was a witness to the foundation charter of Holm Cultram, and to a confirmation grant to St Bees by David I., witnessed by Robert Brus II. He had earlier witnessed the agreement between Guisborough and Whitby witnessed by Robert de Brus I., between 1130-1139 where his name appears before that of Robert's two sons.

xxxxviii. Little is known of the 'Paynels' as fact. The family of Paynel - the primitive name of this family is Pagen, Paganel and Pagenel - were at the very earliest times associated with Castle Gannes; a rare extant example of a Haya or Haga, a Viking fort, ramparted, double in some parts, and protected by a hedge, surrounding a ballium - an intermediate form of defense between a camp and castle.

il.Ordericus tells us that William Paganel was one of the great men who died about the same time as the Conqueror. It is, however, Ralph Paganel, presumed to be his younger brother, who appears in Domesday as one of the tenants in chief of the King: 'and from this it seems likely that William, desiring to remain in Normandy, got as his reward those lands in the Cotentin which his descendants enjoyed: the Conqueror, moreover, it is known, gave his wife as dowry the fief of Briqueville-sur-Mer' (Cart. Mont. S. Michel). William of "des Moustiers-Hubert" (Lisieux) is mentioned in the Roman de Rou as fighting side by side with Avenel des Biarz and Robert Bertram, baron of Briquebec, at the battle of Hastings.

li. The Seigneur de Biarz is twice mentioned by Wace in his Roman de Rou. First in company with Richard d'Avranches (l.13, 600-1), and subsequently thus -- 'Des Biarz i fu Avenels' ( l. 13, 632); Les Biards being a bourg on the banks of the Selune, canton of Isigny, arrondissement of Mortain. The Avenels were seneshals to the Mortains. What is more, La Rocque believed the Verdun family (of Fougeres) to have originated in the fief of Biars (Biarz) canton d'Isigny

lii. 1. Radulfus Paynel. 1.1. Foulques Paynel At the beginning of the twelth-century, (his son?) 1.1.1, Guillaume Paynel, in a judgement given in Rouen in 1113, was seized of the land of Raoul Tesson. He had married Mathilde de Falaise, cousin of the Conqueror. Their grandson was Jourdain Tesson, as below. 1.1.1.1. Foulques Paynel II. Gilbert d' Avranches, brother of Richard, Viscount d'Avranches, had a daughter, Dyonisa, who married Hasculphe de Subligny. They had a son who bore the name of his grandfather, thus also Gilbert Avranches. His older sister, Lesceline, married Foulques Paynel II., 1170, Foulques receiving the seigniories of Bricquebec, Gacé, Hambie, Bréhal, Fontenay-le-Paisnel, and Haye-Paisnel. Foulques sister, Gundreda, married Mathieu de Ferté. Foulques married Cecilia Tesson, daughter of Letitia of Saint-Saveur and Jordan Tesson, who held Thury-Harcourt. Foulque's son (1.1.1.1.1), Guillaume Paynel, took the name of Tesson. He married Petronel de Montfort, of a Crispin family. These Paynels could have well been, by the judgement of Rouen, Tessons in any case, who some say were a cadet of Harcourt.

liii. 1. Radulphus Paynel. 1.1. Foulque Paynel. 1.1.1. Ralph Paynel. 1.1.1.1. Jordan Paynel, alias Jordan de Hameldon 1.1.1.2. Gervase Paynel ("Some authorities ftate Gervafe Paganel as a younger fon of Robert Boffu, earl of Leicefter,and fay he married Felice, daughter and heir of Athelstan Dodo, fon of Geffery, fon of Athelftan Dodo, founder of Dudley caftle, from whom it was fo named; and in allufion to this defent are the arms (1) which he is faid to have borne - a Cinquefoil Ermine - Banks), 1.1.1.3. William Paynel. 1.1.1.3.1. Adam Paynel, alias Adam de Hameldon ('The next of this name noticed is Adam Painell (alfo prefumed another fon of William Paganell and Julian Bahuntune, his wife); which Adam, the 6th of Richard I. paid twenty millings fcutage upon the king's redemption, and married the widow of William Fitz-Williams fifter and coheir of Robert Bardulf, lord of Hoo, in Kent, and of caftle Carleton, in com. Lincs.' - Banks)

liv. JORDAN DE HAMELDON ALIAS HAMELTON ALIAS OSGODBY. In 1204 the manor of Osgodby (6 miles from Hamelton or Hameldon, near Selby) was held in demesne by Jordan de Hameldon, otherwise known as Jordan of Osgodby (E.Y.C. ii, p. 329). By 1223, it had passed to Jordan's daughter Dyonesia, who married Sampson de la Pomeroy* (Yorks. Fines, 1218-31, p. 54), and it subsequently passed to Adam of Osgodby (Burton, Hemingbrough, 305-6). *Pomeroy alias Chevreville; descendants of Roger de Chievre of La Pommeraie, in Calvados, arrondissement Falaise, canton Thury-Harcourt ("Infeudationes Militum" of 1172).

lv. 1. Adam de Hameldon or Hamelton, sp 'a daughter of Hugh Bardolf' of Great Carlton and Hoo. Hugh Bardolf had five daughter who became co-heirs of their brother, Robert Bardolf. Robert Bardolf is described as the uncle (avunculus) of Jordan Foliot, and Ralph Paynel (Excerpta e Rotulis Finium, p. 129), sons of Richard Foliot and Adam Paynel.

lvi. (A. Robert de Stuteville, Sheriff of Yorkshire, sp. Hawise Murdac. B. Hawise de Stuteville m. Hugh de Morville, son of Hugh de Morville, Constable of Scotland, & Beatrice de Beauchamp, and brother of Maude de Morville, sp. William de Veteriponte; parents of Ivo de Veteriponte, sp. Isabel de Lancaster; parents of Joan de Veteriponte, sp. Hugh Franceys.* B. William de Stuteville m. Berta de Glanville, d. o. Gerard de Glanville. C. Robert de Stuteville m. Sybil de Valoines, d. o. Philip de Valoniis or Valognes, chamberlain of Scotland, obit. 1215. 'Charta Philippi de Valonijs, Rob. de Stutevill. 'Universis sancte matris ecclesie filijs, Philippus de Valonijs, salutem. Sciant presentes et futuri me dedisse et concessisse et carta mea confirmasse Roberto de Stutevill, et Sibille filie mee, et heredibus quos predictus Robertus de Stutevill habebit de predicta Sibilla sponsa sua, villam de Torpenhon, in maritagium.' At the death of Robert son of Roger about 1194 Hertingfordbury came to his daughter and heir Gunnora de Valognes, who married Robert FitzWalter. Their daughter Christine, wife of William de Mandeville, died without issue, and the Valognes estates were divided between her three heirs, Lora de Baliol, Isabel Comyn and Christine de Maune, daughters of Philip de Valognes, cousin of Gunnora. (See Bennington; Feet of F. Div. Co. 25 Hen. III, no. 48). Philip de Valognes was the son of Roger de Valognes and Agnes FitzJohn,* d. o. John FitzRanulf. D. Nicholas de Stuteville, lord of Cottenham and Liddell, sp. Devorgilla of Galloway, d. o. Roland, lord of Galloway and Helen de Morville, d. o. Richard de Morville and Avice de Lancaster. Richard was the son of Hugh de Morville and Beatrice de Beauchamp. E. William de Stuteville of Gressenhall, sp. Margeret de Say, d. o. Hugh de Say. (Hugh de Say of Richard's Castle, Herefordshire, obit 1197. He md. Mabel Marmion abt 1180, d. o. Robert Marmion and Maud de Beauchamp. Margaret de Say md. [1] Hugh de Ferrers, [2] Robert de Mortimer, son of Robert de Mortimer, and [3] William de Stuteville. Hugh de Say appears to have been living in early 1197, but died s.p.m. before Michaelmas of that year. His widow, Mabel, was remarried by Easter 1201 to one Reynold, whose identity is not further known (CP: vol vi. 453, vol ix. 255-258; AR line 177 (2-3). F. Margery de Stuteville m. Richard Foliot of Norton, Fenwick, Grimston and Wellow who had married firstly a daughter of Hugh Bardolf of Great Carlton and Hoo; her sister being the wife of Adam Paynel. Hugh Bardolf had five daughter who became co-heirs of their brother, Robert Bardolf. Robert Bardolf is described as the uncle (avunculus) of Jordan Foliot, and Ralph Paynel (Excerpta e Rotulis Finium, p. 129), sons of Richard Foliot and Adam Paynel. B. Burga de Stuteville m. (before 1171) William de Vescy of Alnwick, Sheriff of Northumberland then Lancashire (obit. 1184). A. Johanna de Estouteville, a sister of Robert de Stuteville (fol. 23 Liber Vitae of Durham), sp. Gilbert Hansard)

lvii. 1.1. Chancellor Sir William de Hamelton, Dean of York.(The Hameltons of Yorkshire were in some way closely connected to the family of Fresnel (in the guise of Franceys), in that a Franceys was executor of William de Hamelton's will. William de Hamelton, Dean of York, and chief Chancery officer, was patron to a number of Chancery officers who originated within a few miles of his home in Brayton, Selby. They may have been in some way related. One of these officers was Adam de Osgodby, of a family that were to serve as officers with such as William de Airmyn [Armine] - they were the same family: The Airmyns came from Osgodby, 6 miles from Brayton. At William de Hamelton's death his executor (usually related) was John le Franceys (canon of York). A Frame crest is:'On a mount vert an ermine ppr.' This crest is identical to that of the family Armine. It would seem certain that those who eventually became Frame were represented in the environs of Selby). 1.2. Robert de Osgodby I. 1.2.1. Robert de Osgodby II. 1.2.1.1. Sir Richard de Osgodby, alias Richard Franceys of Brampton en-le-Morthen, vicar of Bubwith. I reasonably assume Sir Richard de Osgodby to be a son of ------ Franceys, by the widow of Robert de Osgodby II. 1.2.1.1.1. John Franceys de Osgodby. 1.2.1.1.1.1. Dame Clemencia Franceys, sp. Roger de Vescy. 1.2.1.1.1.2. Sir Adam de Osgodby, Keeper of the Rolls of Chancery. 1.2.1.1.1.2.1. Adam de Osgodby, parson of Gargrave, alias Adam de Armyn: To repeat, a Frame crest is: 'On a mount vert an ermine ppr.' This crest is identical to that of the family Armine.

lviii. A. William de Vescy of Alnwick, Sheriff of Northumberland & Lancashire, sp. Burga de Stuteville, d. o. Robert de Stuteville, Sheriff of Yorkshire, whose sister married Gilbert Hansard (fol. 23 Liber Vitae of Durham), B. Eustace de Vescy of Alnwick , sp. (1193) Margaret, d. o. William the Lion, King of Scots. C. William de Vescy of Alnwick, sp. Isabel de Longespee, d. o. William Plantagenet Longespee,1st Earl of Salisbury; m (2) Agnes de Ferrers, obit. 11/5/1290, d. o. William de Ferrers, 5th Earl of Derby. D. John de Vesci of Alnwick, sp. (1279) Isabelle de Brienne (Beaumont), d. o. Louis de Brienne of Acre, Viscount de Beaumont (Dugd. Bar., ii., 52). E. William de Vescy, Lord of Alnwick, 19/9/1249-19/7/1297, sp . Dame Isabel de Periton, d. o. Adam de Periton (Cal. Oen., i., 402; ii., 558). She presented Bubwith (a Tison manor at Domesday) to Richard Franceys; a benefice confirmed by her daughter-in-law, Clemencia; 'Ricardi avus meus et Johannes pater meus.' F. Roger de Vescy, sp. Clemencia Franceys, d. o. John Franceys, son of Richard Franceys of Bubwith, great-grandson of Reyner Franceys of Brampton. Adam Franceys, a contemporary of Reyner Franceys, I believe to be be the Adam Franceys of Aytoun, noticed as follows.

lix. THE AYTOUN FAMILY IN SCOTLAND: sprung from the Norman family of de Vescy in England, who possessed the great barony of Sprouston in Northumberland, and of whom a long thread of pedigree is given by Sir William Dugdale in his Baronetage of England. The family of De Vescy's was of great antiquity, but the family name is now extinct. One of the family much distinguished himself as one of the barons who compelled King John to grant the Magna Charta, for securing the lives and properties of the English subjects. His name is appended to the Magna Charta. About the same time a younger son of the family, Gilbert de Vescy, came into Scotland, and received from King Robert I. the lands of Aytoun in the Merse, and changed his name, by royal authority, to the estate, as was the custom of the period. (Matthew Forster Conolly, Biog Dict., 18,1866).

lx. Ayton. This place lies about twenty miles to the eastward of Thornydykes and about nineteen miles from the castle of Dunbar, and was included in the shire of Coldingham, in which was located the priory of that name, whose records commence at an earlier period than those of any other monastery in Scotland." Among the many donators to this priory, the old Earls of March were particularly conspicuous, as it is to be observed by the many charters made by them in its favor; but David, the Baron of Quixwood, a territory adjacent to Coldinghamshire, seems to have outvied in his liberalities by charters most of the other donators. In the three charters herein recorded, it is noticed that Adam Franceys was a witness (circa 1188) to all. As this search in the records of this priory is mainly confined to charters particularly identified with the name of Franceys, whose possessions were at Ayton.

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

lxii. It hence follows that the first of the surname (for there is no prior notice of it there elsewhere) who had settled and actually held lands of the Crown in Scotland, was the preceding "Roger de Hameldun, "as proprietor of Oxenham", in Roxburghshire, between 1243 and 1258; and, singularly, of an English family, who, precisely like the Scottish eventually, had an estate named Hamilton, and who, in Scotch parlance, might be styled the Hamiltons of that Ilk in Yorkshire. This Roger may have been cotemporary with the "Roger de Hameldun" already mentioned, who (with his brother Robert) test a deed, though only connected with Northumberland (Sir William Fraser suggested that Walter FitzGilbert belonged to a Northumbrian family - M.S), shortly after 1223, in the Chartulary of Melrose — a coincidence worth remarking, though not yet identified with him. The above, consistently with what was stated, is all that can as yet be safely offered touching the origin of the Anglo-Scot Hamiltons, we not being able to connect the same Roger or his kindred with the Walter Fitzgilbert de Hameldun in 1296, though they possibly enough — considering, too, the extreme rarity then of this English surname in Scotland — may have been related' (John Riddell, Comments in refutation, p. 259, 1860).

LXIII. FURTHER NOTES: Any understanding of the Hamelton or Hameldon family that established itself in Scotland by 1258 can only be gained through knowledge of familial and concomitant tenurial relationships in Avranches, Normandy; the details of which I have noted herein, and will repeat now as summary, so as to refresh the salient points in the mind of the reader. In essence, Ralph de Sourdeval (Fougeres) held much land in Avranches under the Count of Mortain, including that which was later to be called Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët, within which were the vils of Fresne and Chevreville; these being subfeudiated to the families of Ferte-Fresnel (with which the Sourdevals were closely associated in Antioch), and Chevreville, that is Pomeroy; descendants of Roger de Chievre of La Pommeraie, in Calvados, arrondissement Falaise, canton Thury-Harcourt. In 1086, Ralf de Pomaria, in addition to his tenancies-in-chief, held among other under-tenancies lands in Devon and Cornwall of Robert Count of Mortain. In 1166 Henry de Pomereia, Ralf's representative, held 30 fees of the old feoffment and 1 11/12 of the new. In the Norman "Infeudationes Militum" of 1172 under the heading 'de honore Mortonii in eadem baillia' (ie. Obertii de Hosa) is the entry 'Henricus de Pomaria iij partm militis defeodo de Vado; et tenet castrum de Pomaria cum purpestura de Rege.' The families of Paynel, Sourdeval, and Lacy also had close tenurial ties in Avranches, relationships being paralleled in post-Conquest Yorkshire, near to the town of Selby. Under the Mortain fee, Ralph de Paynel held Hamelton and Armyn of that place under Ilbert de Lacy; Ralph having married Ilbert's sister or daughter (Clay,114). Ralph secondly married Matilda de Sourdeval, daughter of Ralph de Sourdeval (Thoresby), whose sister married Robert Brus II. of Skelton. Whatever the relationship in Avranches between the Ferte-Fresnels as Fraunceys or Frankeys, it was strengthened in Yorkshire by this connection to Brus. I beg to repeat: 'The surnames of Fraunceys and Brus, identified with this district, were found in the Cotentin of Normandy at an early period as grantors or as witnesses to charters; making likely some familial connection. Robert Fraunceys was one of the few recorded knights of the second Robert de Brus, who founded this priory in 1119, near his castle of Skelton, the name of this Robert Fraunceys, knight, appearing soon after the death of the first Robert de Brus, in circa 1100, as one of the witnesses to a charter to the neighboring Abbey of Whitby' (herein). The exact record of whom married whom is lost to us, which offends the modern quest for genealogical exactitude, yet an incomplete jigsaw may give us a fair estimation of the overall picture, without straining to find pieces that forcibly fit. It can also be well noted that Ralph Paynel held Armyn near Selby, the family of which descended maternally from a daughter of William de Skelton (Brus); the family of Frame being strongly connected to the Armyns by identical armorial bearing.

lxiv. JORDAN DE HAMELTON (HAMELDON): He is first recorded in 1166, as holding of Puiset (the Bishop of Durham) fees in Hameldon (Durham) and Osgodby near Selby, Yorks (EYC. ii. 320). The latter is within a few miles of another Hameldon, Jordan held both Hameldons. His Durham fee was anciently held by the Bishops of Durham, and a descendant of the Hamelton family, Richard de Emyldon, is recorded as being the landlord of 'Agnes widow of John de Menevylle' (Inq. p. m. 16 Hatfield, ap. Dun. cor. W. de Claxton). Another, more immediate, descendant of this family was Johannis de Hameldun, fl. 1233-44, who is recorded in the records of St. Giles (Durham) as being closely associated with Gilbert Hansard - one of Bishop Puiset's feudatories, who gave his whole vill of Aymundeston (Amerston, in the parish of Elwick) and fifty oxgangs in Hurtheworth (Hurworth) for the support of a chaplain to celebrate for ever in the chapel of the Hospital for the souls of himself, his father and mother, and all his kin. This donation is what probably led eventually to the foundation of the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen. The Hospital of Kepyer had lands at Amerston and Hurworth, which had been given by Gilbert Hansard for the support of a chaplain to celebrate for himself and his family. The Convent of Durham had property at Chyrton in Northumberland, which had been given by John de Hameldun for the support of three priests to celebrate for himself and his family on condition of his two brothers, Henry and Walter, being the firmarii feodarii, paying nine marks a year to the Convent. An exchange of these properties between the Hospital and the Convent had been proposed, but, after some contention, had fallen through, owing, apparently, to the Convent's unwillingness to maintain the three priests on the terms proposed in the exchange. Eventually, however, through the action of Gilbert Hansard and Walter de Hameldun (the representatives of the two families whose souls were to be benefited), a composition was agreed to, one part of the conditions of which was that the Hospital should cede to the Convent certain land at Hurworth, together with twelve acres of "Southcroft " near the city of Durham, producing altogether an annual revenue of three marks, which were to be devoted by the said Convent to pious uses through the hands of its almoner in a certain place for the benefit of the souls of the said John de Hameldun and of all the departed.

lxv. Temp. Tho. Melsonby, Prior of Durham, 1233-1244. 'Quit -claim by the Convent to the Hospital of Revenues in various placesin return for the cession by the hospital to the Convent of their lands at Amerston on condition of the hospital providing a chaplain at Keyper to sing for 'the souls of the Hameldon and Hansard families' (Printed in "Priory of Finchale," Surtees Society, p. I27; cit. Memorials of St. Giles's, Durham, Surtees Society xxx., ccxxxiv.). I draw the readers attention to comments herein concerning likely links between the Fougeres (Sourdevals), Hansards, and Coldhams, and connections shown anon to the families of Coldingham and Norreys, which may have no little relevance to this subject.

lxvi. 4.3. Ebor. 8a (c.1180). Confirmation by Simon de Crieveqeur* of a grant by Robert Benedictus knight, who holds of him, to God and St Cuthbert and the monks of Durham of the church of Blyborough with the advowson rights.Witnesses: Gilbert Hansard, Robert son of Ernis,** Jordan of Hameldon, Richero, Jordan of Lindsey, Richard Bertram, Robert de Insula, Walter of Killingholme, Arnald of St Cuthbert, Godwin the rich, Hugh and Martin his [?sons], Geoffrey of Widdrington, William of Ketton, Gilbert of Heworth ("Blyborough Charters", ed K. Major, in A Medieval Miscellany for D.M. Stenton, ed P.M. Barnes and C.C. Slade (Pipe Roll Society, New Series 36, 1960), p. 217). *From Crevecoeur, in the arrondissement of Lisieux. Hasted says (though his authority may be questioned) that the family name of Hamo Dapifer or Vice-comes of Domesday was Crevequer. He adds that he was brother of Robert Fitz-Hamon; and here he is supported by a charter of the Conqueror to Saint Denis, existing still at Paris, to which we find as witnesses, "Ego Haimo Regis dapifer" — "Ego Robert frater hujus Haimonis. See herein for children of Germaine and Mauger, to repeat: 'His issue (there is no authentic proof as to whom he married), second-cousins of William de Feritate-Fresnel, were (1) Robert FitzHamon de Gloucester. He died in England in March 1107, and was buried in the monastery of Tewkesbury. He espoused Sybil de Montgomery , daughter of Roger de Montgomery, 1st. Earl of Shrewsbury. (2) Richard FitzHamon, espoused to Sybil de Giffard, daughter of Gautier de Giffard, 1st. Earl of Buckingham. (3) Hamon FitzHamon (Hamon de Crevequer) the Dapifer (Cartulaire de Saint-Martin-des-Champs, des Vaux-des-Cerny (par J. Depoin); Cartulaire de Saint-Spire de Corbeil; Chronique de Robert de Torigny; Actes de Jumieges). Of the Lincolnshire branch, seated at Redburn, I have found very few notices. They also held land in Yorkshire: for Richard Coeur de Lion confirmed to Selby Abbey the church of St. Andrew of Redburn and of Ashby in Yorkshire, given by Reginald de Crevequer, with the consent of his wife and his son Alexander. He granted in addition the town of Redburn and forty acres of his demesne lands.... Simon de Crevequer confirmed this grant, and Simon de Crevequer added "a toft and a culture of land."—Burton's Mon. Ebor. Again, John de Crevecoeur, with the consent of his suzerain, Roger de Mowbray and Matilda his wife, sold to Fountains Abbey his land at Galghagh: his son Robert, and his grandson Hugh, confirmed it to the monks in 1256. **He was strongly connected to the Tison and Crispin families: Robert Fitz Erneis, ancester of above, the only Norman mentioned by Wace as having fallen at Senlac was, as his name imports, the son of Erneis, a collateral descendant of the family of Tison by his wife Hawise, sister of Fulk d'Aunou, son of Baldric le Teuton of Bacqueville near Dieppe. The children of Baldric are: 1) Nicholas de Bacqueville, whose son Martel fought at Hastings with the Conqueror; 2) Fulco d'Aunou who fought at Hastings; 3) Robert de Courci father of Richard and ancestor of the great English and Irish family of de Courcy; 4) Richard de Neuville ancestor of the famous Neville family who had his feif at Neuville-sur-Tocque; 5) Baldric de Balgenzais, had his fief at Bauquence; 6) Wiger Apulensis, probably born in Apulia and named after his grandfather and an uncle; 7) Elizabeth, married Fulco de Boneva, 8) Hawise, married Robert Fitz Erneis, who was killed a Hastings; 9) Gunnor, wife of Gilbert Crispin. Gilbert Hansard was 'cognatus' of the Vescy/Tison family in that his wife was Johanna, a sister of Robert de Stuteville (fol. 23 Liber Vitae of Durham), whose niece married William de Vescy of Alnwick, Sheriff of Northumberland & Lancashire (sp. Burga de Stuteville, d. o. Robert de Stuteville, Sheriff of Yorkshire), as mentioned.

lxvii. Confirmation between 1186 and 1194 by Hugh, Bishop of Durham, of a grant made to the prior and convent (of St. Cuthberts) to Robert, nephew of Magistri Richard de Cold(ing)ham* (of one carucate upon Derwent called Woodhall* or Grimesthorpe; Grimesthorpe juxta Hemingbrough, where also held Jordan de Hamelton, his tenants there, as stated, being the Norreys (Ebor xvi.). Robert's testibus of the first grant were Simon camerario; the Chamberlain, Walter de Hadintona, and William de Houdena; his testibus in the confirmation grant included Henrici de Puteaco (as first), Gilbert de Leia, Philip de Coleville (my direct ancestor - M.S), and Jordan de Hameldon. *Chief clerical officer of Bishop Hugh, held the benefices of Elvet and Bishop Middleham. His fellow cleric was Magistri Robert de Haddington, holder of the benefice of Walkington, rector of St. Nicholas, Durham, and subdean of Lincoln. c. 1192. Richard de Coldingham may have been a "relative" of Prior German(us) (No. 41, DCM 3.12 Spec 16, PUE ii., no. 164; Hugh de Puiset 146). His death in 1198 is mentioned by Roger de Howden (iv. 69). *In the next generation, another Robert de Coldingham resides at Woodhall, married to Christiana; their son was Thomas de Coldingham, who held the manor in 1284/5 (Burton, 406). His heir was Margery de Coldingham, who married Walter de Paxton, by 1313 ('Hemingbrough: Brackenholme with Woodhall', A History of the County of York East Riding: Volume 3: Ouse and Derwent wapentake, and part of Harthill wapentake (1976), pp. 52-55.

lxviii. SELBY MONASTERY: It was founded by the king to the honour of Saint German, a name which afterwards appears in the TIson family. The TIsons are presumed to have descended from the lords of the country in the department of Calvados, called le Anglais, of which Thury-Harcourt is the capital. Much of the following pedigree is taken from Dugdale's Baronage, vol. i. p. 95, which accounts for the connection between the TIson and Vescy families by the usual genealogical means of a daughter unknown to history being the common link; she is even named as Beatrice by Dugdale - yet, the general proposition remains sound. Gilbert TIson, lord of Bridlington, Walton, Malton, and Alnwick, at the time of the Norman conquest, had issue William Tison, son and heir, and Richard, second son. William had one only daughter, Beatrice, who was given in marriage by William 'the Conquerer' to Ivo de Vescy, with the barony of Alnwick and Malton, and all lands appertaining thereto.— Richard TIson, second son of Gilbert, founder of the Abbey of Guisbrough, and by gift of his father lord of Shilbottle, Hasand, Newton, Reighton, Folandon, and Boxfield, and the church of Gysius (by gift of his father), is buried in Guisbrough Abbey: he had one only son, William TIson; and William one only son, Germayne, possibly synonomous with Abbot German; and Germayne one daughter, sole heir, who married William Hilton, Baron of Hilton, father of Alexander Hilton, father of Robert Hilton.— William Tison, son and heir of Gilbert TIson, lord of Bridlington, Walton, Malton, Alnwick, &c. married the daughter of Gilbert de Gaunt, Earl of Lincoln, and by her had his sole heiress, married to Ivo Vescy:- Ivo Lord Vescy, baron of Alnwick and Malton, married Alda, sole heir of William TIson, lord of Bridlington and Malton, and had issue Beatrice, sole heir of all those lands.— Eustace FitzJohn, a noble baron, son of 'Monocolus', lord of Knaresborough, close relative and heir of Serlo de Burgh, who in the reign of the Conqueror built Knaresborough Castle, married first Agnes, daughter of William the constable of Chester, founder of Norton Abbey, and sister and heir of William his brother, also constable of Chester, who died s.p.; by Agnes, his first wife, had Richard FitzEustace. (Richard Fitz Eustace x Jane Bigod = Roger Fitz Richard x Alice de Clare = Robert FitzRoger x Margaret de Chesney = Alice FitzRobert x Piers FitzHerbert, son of Herbert FitzHerbert and Lucy of Hereford = Sir John FitzRobert x Ada Baliol, daughter of Hugh de Baliol and Cecily de Fontaines = Roger FitzJohn x Isabel de Dunbar, daughter of Patrick de Dunbar, Earl of Dunbar, and Euphemia de Brus. Eustace FitzJohn married, secondly, the above-mentioned Beatrice, with whom he had the baroniea of Malton and Alnwick, and with her founded the abbeys of Malton and Alnwick and the hospital of Broughton, and by her had issue William, who assumed the name and arms of Vescy, and was lord of Alnwick and all other honours; he married Birga, daughter of Robert Stuteville, and by her had Eustace de Vescy of Alnwick and, second, Warren Vescy, lord of Knapton by gift of his father. — Eustace de Vescy married Margaret, daughter of William king of Scots and Earl of Huntingdon, and by her had issue William. — William de Vescy, who married, first, Isabel, daughter of William Longespee, Earl of Salisbury, by whom he had no issue; and, secondly, Agnes, daughter of William de Ferrers, Earl Digby, and by her had John and William, successively Lords Vescy, who both died without issue.

lxix. OSGODBY: In 1204 the manor of Osgodby (6 miles from Hamelton or Hameldon, near Selby) was held in demesne by Jordan de Hameldon, otherwise known as Jordan of Osgodby (E.Y.C. ii, p. 329). By 1223, it had passed to Jordan's daughter Dyonesia, who married Sampson de la Pomeroy (Yorks. Fines, 1218-31, p. 54), and it subsequently passed to Adam of Osgodby (Burton, Hemingbrough, 305-6). (Thus, Jordan de Hameldon's daughter married a Chevreville from Sourdeval, apud Fresnes). This Adam was also known as Adam de Hamelton (Campbell, 'Lives of the Chancellors', vol. i, p. 183), the father of William de Hamelton, the Chancellor, Dean of York, and Robert de Osgodby, who held Osgodby in 1284-5 (Feud. Aids, vi. 37; Cal. Rot. Chart., 133). William de Hamelton's executor was his great-nephew, the lawyer, John Franceys. Robert de Osgodby was followed by his sons, Robert de Osgodby, and Sir Richard de Osgodby alias Richard le Franceys, see previous note, vicar of Bubwith, as below, father of the said John Franceys, and Sir Adam de Osgodby, Keeper of the Rolls of Chancery (Surtees Society, vol. 138, p.10), he being the father of Adam de Osgodby, parson of Gargrave, noted in a petition of 1325 by the Abbot of Sawley, being defended by his uncle, John Franceyss. In a suit of the same year we find Adam de Armin, parson of Gargrave, trying to recover debt from John de Ryther. It would seem that Adam de Armin and Adam de Osgodby were one and the same, and that he had acquired an holding in Armin - 'Mynne' is Old Norse for a river mouth, and Airmyn simply means 'The mouth of the Aire' - from whence the names Airmyn, Harmyn, Armin, and Eyreminne. 'Armin - Parish of Snaith - Osgoldcross wapentake. Ralph Paganel had possessions here. Richard, son of William de Neusom, Clerk, gave to the Priory of Drax the sixth part of the ferry of Armin, which was given to him by Adam, the son of Adam de Armin, by John the Carpenter of York and Margaret his wife, and by William de Garton and Joan his wife' Lawton ('diœcesi Eboracensi'), p. 156, 1842).

lxx. John, son of Sampson de la Pomeroy, confirmed a grant of land which had been mode to the Priory of Drax by his father and his mother Dionisia, daughter of Jordan de Hamelton; who, in her widowhood, in granting lands to Walding, son of Ralph alias Reyner de Osgodby, by the name of 'Dionisia daughter of Jordan de Osgotby', reserved an annual payment to the Canons of St. Nicholas de Drax - 'for the good of the soul of Sampson her late husband'; these grants being confirmed by Robert, as above, son of Adam de Osgoteby (Mon. Ebor., p. 109).

lxxi. Thomas of Corbridge's Register, Surtees Society, vol 138 p.10: "Adam was the son of Robert de Osgodby, who was living in 1284, and brother of Richard, vicar of Bubwith" Greenfield's Register, Surtees Society, vol. 153, p. 269: "31 Jan 1316-7. Institution and induction of Sir Richard de Osgotby, priest, to the church of Bubwyth, on the presentation of Dame Isabel de Vescy, who had power to present to benefices in the patronage of Dame Clemence de Vescy (Frankeys).

lxxii. Between about 1170 and 1184 Roger de Mowbray gave to Roger de Eyville all the remaining demesne land in South Cave, Harthill Wapentake, Yorkshire, after the enfeoffment of Nicholas de Bellun and Robert le Norreys, namely 3 carucates and other property. The lands of South Cave were only a few miles from Osgodby Manor in Yorkshire, where Robert's brother William le Norreys held land before 1196. William le Norreys held lands in Bereford during the reigns of King Stephen (1135-54) and King Henry II (1154-89). Prior to 1202 William le Norreys had 3 carucates of land in Bereford, Yorkshire. In 1204 the manor of Osgodby, Yorkshire was held by Jordan de Hameldon, otherwise known as Jordan of Osgodby. William de Norais held an assart (cleared land in a wooded area, ready for planting) under Jordan of Osgodby before 1196).

lxxiii. 1. Robert Frenel alias Franceys. 1.1. Walter of Hereford. 1.2. William de Aton, who held in Hameldon: Between 1214 and 1221 Alexander, abbot of Selby, and the convent of the same place, granted "Willolmo de Malteby, filio Roberti de Malteby, dims carucatas terrae et tres bovatas in territorio de Thorp super Usam, scilicet illas quas Gilbortus de Aton, pater Willelmi de Aton, recepit de nobis in escarabium pro terris de Hamelton, et quas idem Gilbertus de nobis tenuit" (Dodswortk MS., xciv., fo. 42 a). In the 9th year of Edward II. an inquiry was directed (Feb. 22) preliminary to the inquisitio post mortem, which seems to have originated in the claim of Gilbert de Aton to this barony as the descendant of Warin de Vesci. The inquiry is entirely ex-parte, the object of the commissioners being to make out that Warin was not in the right line of inheritance. The inquisitio post mortem was held on the 2nd of June following, before the escheator ultra Trent, at York, when the jury found that Gilbert de Aton was the true heir. No record of the inquisition remains at the Tower; but a copy was preserved at the Priory of Malton, and is printed in the Monasticon. The verdict states that, on the death of William de Vescy without a direct heir, the inheritance reverted to the heir of Warin de Vesci, who was the brother of Eustace the grandfather of the above William. That Warin had a daughter, Marjory, who had a son, William de Aton; and William had two sons, William and Gilbert de Aton II., the latter of whom had become the heir on his brother's death without issue. Gilbert's descendants assumed the name of de Vesci, and possessed the barony of Malton for many generations.

Gilbert's family were overlords of the Franceys family of Aytoun in Scotland, situated near Thorndykes. 1.3. Reyner Franceys of Osgodby and Brampton. 1.3. Reyner Franceys. 1.4. Adam Franceys, of whom -  (The family of Francey most anciently in post-Conquest England were seated in Cliburn Tailbois, adjoining Cliburn Hervey, which was held by the de Vesci family. The Franceys were very closely connected to these Tailbois, who can be traced to Domfront, dep. Orne. (Recherches, 250). 1. Adam de Franceys, in all likelihood the Adam Franceys whose name appears among the witnesses to a charter of David, Baron of Quikiswde (Quixwood), in favor of the church of Coldingham ...... about the year 1188. 1.1. Hugh Franceys. 1.1.1. Robert Franceys (the family of Hugh Franceys became, through his son Adam, the de Vernons,* and through his son Robert, the de Cliburns (F.W Ragg, CW xxviii, 179-272); sp. Elizabeth Tailbois, d. o. Ivo Tailebois (Dugdale, MS. 3N20) — evidently a cadet of the Cliburn Tailbois, he was Chamberlain to Robert de Vipont, Lord of Westmorland, in the time of King John, and in 1206 obtained the Royal license to marry the widow of William Bardolph, Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of William Fitz William, Lord of Cokedale in Northumberland.  1.1.1.1. John Franceys of Cliburn (cousin of Lucas Tailbois). 1.1.1.1.1. Robert Franceys of Cliburn (second-cousin of William Tailbois), sp. Beatrice, daughter of Robert Le Boteler of Newby. 1.1.1.1.1.1. Robert Franceys of Cliburn (third-cousin of Henry Tailbois) (1" Gilberto de Umfrevill, Comiti de Angus," ob. ante 13 Oct 1307, sp. Elizabeth Comyn, d. o. Sir Alexander Comyn, and Elizabeth de Quincy.  1.1. Robert de Umfrevill, sp. Lucy de Kyme, daughter of Sir Philip de Kyme and Joan Bigod. The Kyme family held a moiety in Bilborough, Notts, and medieval lawsuits suggest that Herbert de Bilborough, father of the wife of Robert Heriz II. may have been a Kyme. 1.1.2. Elizabeth de Umfreville, sp. Gilbert de Boroughdon (CP Vol I (146-150); AR: Line 121d [30-31], Line 224 (30-32); MCS: Line 1 [1]; SGM: Kathleen Much (English Baronies,  I. J. Sanders, 1960, p 73). A daughter of Richard de Emeldon, whom I detail elsewhere (he clearly stemmed from Adam de Franceys, as above, father of Hugh Franceys), came to hold the moiety of Boroughdon that was held by the Ogle family. 1.1.2.1. Alianore de Umfreville, sp. Henry Tailbois. 1.2.1.1.1. Walter Tailbois, sp. Margaret Deincourt. Walter Tailbois in 1386 made an exchange with Robert de Ogle by which he received the second moiety of Hurworth for his lands in Hepple, thus putting an end to the divided lordship in both places. The second moiety had descended with half of Hepple in the Chartenay family. Margaret Deincourt was a descendant of William Briwere II. and Beatrice de Vaux, the parents of the wife of Ivo II, de Heriz, son of Robert II., as above. 1.1.2.1.1. Walter Tailbois, Sheriff of Lincoln, who espoused Alice Stafford, her first husband being Edmund Cheney, parents of Anne Cheyney, who espoused John de Willoughby, parents of John Willoughby, 1st baron Broke, who espoused Blanche Champernowne. It is obviously the case that the Francey family of Devonshire, associated with the Champernownes and the Harris of Cornworthy, stem from the Franceys of Cliburn. 1.2.1..1.1.1. Elizabeth Tailbois, sp. Robert Franceys of Cliburn). 1.1.1.1.1.1. 1. John Franceys of Cliburn, sp heiress of Walter de Boulton. 1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1. Robert Franceys of Cliburn, sp. heiress of Chartenay. 1.1.1.1.1.1. 1.1.1. Robert Franceys of Cliburn, sp. Elizabeth Tailbois* "A branch of the first Barons of Kendal remained seated at Cliburn, named from them Cliburn-Talebois; but after the time of Henry V. we no further meet with the name of Talebois. It ended in a daughter, Elizabeth, married to Robert Franceys of Cliburn." — Nicolson and Burn's Westmorland. *Her sister, Eleanor Tailbois, espoused Hugh Tilney of Boston; their daughter, Agnes Tilney, espoused Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk; parents of William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham, whose daughter, Anne Howard espoused William Paulet, 3rd. Marq. Winchester. *Her brother, William Tailbois, for the line did in fact not end at this time with Elizabeth Tailbois, espoused Elizabeth Bonville, d. o. William de Bonville, Sheriff of Devon, sister of Margaret Bonville, who espoused William de Courtnay, Earl of Devon. The son of William Tailbois & Elizabeth Bonville, Sir Robert Tailbois, espoused Elizabeth Heron, d. o. Sir John Heron & Elizabeth Ogle, who espoused (2) Sir John Middleton. They were the parents of Gilbert Talboys, who, in 1529, was made Baron of Tailbois of Kyme, in the County of Lincoln. The wife of this Gilbert, Lord Talboys, was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Blount, by whom he had issue George and Robert, who died without issue, and a daughter, Elizabeth, who married first, Thomas Wimbust, Esq.; and secondly, Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, but had no issue by either. Vincent Harris of Essex married (1) Sir John's grandaughter.

lxxiv. DAME CLEMENCIA: Dame Clemencia Frankeys, sp. Roger de Vesci. At some time between Domesday and the Lindsey Survey of 1115-1118 Gilbert Tison lost his tenancy-in-chief over all his Domesday lands. Clear evidence is lacking, but it has been suggested by Stapleton that he probably lost it due to siding with Robert earl of Northumberland in his rebellion of 1095. The tenancy-in-chief of all of Gilbert Tison's manors in the East Riding and Nottinghamshire, Swinton in the West Riding, and South Ferriby in Lincolnshire came to Nigel d'Aubigny, becoming a part of the Mowbray fee through Nigel's son, Roger de Mowbray, although Gilbert Tison's heirs general or descendents held under-tenancies in almost all of these. Gilbert Tison had died definitely before 1130, with some slight evidence that he died no later than 1124. Gilbert's heir was Adam Tison, and in a notification to Roger, Archbishop of York, dated between 1154 and 1163, of the gift to Nostell priory of land in Swinton, we learn that Adam's daughter was Avice and her husband is Henry Hose. Adam Tison had probably died by 1159 as from this year payments for the lands in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire were being made by Adam's son and heir, William. Between 1138 and 1143, William Tyson confirmed to St. Peter's York (the Dean and Chapter of York Minster) the gift of a moiety (half) of the church of Bubwith, which was founded in his fee, together with 1 carucate of land there. In 1166 William held 15 knights' fees of Roger de Mowbray, and he was dead before Michaelmas 1180, leaving four daughters as heiresses, by his wife, Alice. Manor of Brind with Gribthorpe. Gribthorpe is also listed in Kirkby's Inquest as soke of the manor of Newsolme and was in the Mortemer fee, held by John de Vesci. In the late thirteenth century. John Mowbray acquired a group of Vescy manors based on Newsholme, including the manors of Thornton, Gribthorpe and Brind with appurtenances in Loftsome, Wressle, Bubwith and Holme upon Spalding Moor. They were held in dower by Clemence (de Frankeys), widow of the bastard William's legitimate brother John (d.s.p. 1295). In 1335 John de Mowbray's son and heir, John (II), agreed to lease those manors from Clemence at £92 a year for her life, and at her death in 1343 it was said that she had a yearly farm of £92 for her life from the manors and that Mowbray held them in fee.

lxxv. THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, VOL. XVII., MCMIII. THE VESCY FAMILY OF BRAMPTON-EN-LE-MORTHEN: 'The pedigree of this family, entered in St. George's Visitation of 1612-13, apparently lays claim to a legitimate descent from the old baronial family of Vescy - quartering Tison (Tesson) in armorial coat, i.e. Vert three lions rampant argent, and Brampton, Gules two bars argent in chiefs three mullets of the last. The baronial family of Vesci owned land at Rotherham, which is close to Brampton and Tickhill, where we find these Vescys undoubtedly settled in 1322, twenty-five years after the death of William de Vesci, presumed to be the last legitimate heir, who in right of his grandmother, Margaret, a daughter of William, King of Scotland, was in 1291 one of the competitors for the Scottish Crown, and only seven years later than the Battle of Stirling, which proved fatal to his son William de Vesci, who undoubtedly possessed a portion of his estates, but was presumed to be base-born, because at the Inquisition held at Lincoln after his death in 1315, his father's heir was found to be Gilbert de Aton.'

lxxvi. 1. Ranulf FitzAnsketil, 'the Moneyer' of Vains, noted in charters of St. Wandrille. 1.1. Richard FitzRanulf. 1.1.1. John FitzRichard - 'Monoculus', so called from a faulty latin translation. 1.1.1.1. Eustace FitzJohn, lord of Knaresborough, later lord of Halton, Constable of Chester, obit. 1157, sp. Beatrice de Vescy, d. o. Yvo de Vescy of Alnot, and Alda, d. o. Willam Tison, lord of Alnwick & Malton. 1.1.1.1.1. William de Vescy of Alnwick, Sheriff of Northumberland & Lancashire, sp. Burga de Stuteville, d. o. Robert de Stuteville, Sheriff of Yorkshire. 1.1.1.1.1.1. Eustace de Vescy of Alnwick , sp. (1193) Margaret, d. o. William the Lion, King of Scots. 1.1.1.1.1.1.1. William de Vescy of Alnwick, sp. Isabel de Longespee, d. o. William Plantagenet Longespee,* 1st Earl of Salisbury; m (2) Agnes de Ferrers, obit. 11/5/1290, d. o. William de Ferrers, 5th Earl of Derby. *See anon for connection to the wife of Richard de Emeldon. 1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1. John de Vesci of Alnwick, sp. (1279) Isabelle de Brienne* (Beaumont), d. o. Louis de Brienne of Acre, Viscount de Beaumont (Dugd. Bar., ii., 52). *Held the manor of Bolton Percy for life. Her Inq. p. m. was taken in the 8th Edward III., when Eustachia, daughter of Peter de Percy, was found to be next heir to the said manor, and of the age of twenty-two years and more (Perot/MS.). 1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2. William de Vescy, Lord of Alnwick, 19/9/1249-19/7/1297, sp . Dame Isabel de Periton, d. o. Adam de Periton (Cal. Oen., i., 402; ii., 558). She presented Bubwith (a Tison manor at Domesday) to Richard Frankeys; a benefice confirmed by her daughter-in-law, Clemencia; 'Ricardi avus meus et Johannes pater meus.' 1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1. Roger de Vescy, sp. Clemencia Franceys, d. o. John Franceys, son of Richard Franceys of Bubwith, great-grandson of Reyner Franceys of Brampton , i.e. Reyner de Osgodby, as above. 1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.2. William de Vesci, Lord of Kildare, dsp Bannockburn 24/6/1314. 1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.3. Juliana de Vescy, sp. Sir Richard de Vernon of Haddon and Harlaston (CP III 45; VCH Bucks, iv., 90). 1.1.1.1.1.2. Warine de Vesci.1.1.1.1.1.2.1. Margerie de Vescy. 1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1. William de Aton ('Grant by William de Aton woth the consent of Gilbert, his son and heir, to Robert, son of Robert son of Alan, of land in Barlby ......... as his father held it' - Chart. Selby, fol. 112d, 1185-1195; his testibus: Radulfus Foliot, archidioconio de Hereford. William de Aton gave to Hugh de Langthwaite in respect of his marriage to Alice his daughter rents in Barlby (EYC ibid.). 1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.1. Gilbert de Aton (Knapton; de feodo de Vescy v car. terrae. Gilbertus de Aton tenet xv bov., Willelmus le Colevill xv bov; Cal. Rot. Chart., 135). Gilbert was also known as Gilbert de Barlby, who held half a fee of the Bishop of Durham in 1166. The family took their name fron Ayton in Pickering (EYC, vol. 12, p. 321). 1.1.1.1.2. Margaret de Vesci, sp. Sir Patrick de Riddele (to whom the Frankeys family of Aton appear as witnesses) 1.1.1.1.3. Richard FitzEustace, lord of Halton, Constable of Chester, obit 1163, ancestor of families of Lacy, Clavering and Eure.

lxxvii. 'Now that this Roger actually lived in 1322, there was abundant proof in the Charters (Append. A), and we may fairly assume, from a statement found on the back of a will (Append. B), evidently written by William Vescy in 1605, taken in conjunction with the Charters and the Heralds' Visitation, that his wife, if not a daughter, was at least the eventual heir of Reyner le Franceys ( probably a dau. of Reyner's son, Adam - M.S) because two of the Charters, now burnt, in which however her name is given as Clemence Francys, are grants of land at Brampton ''from John le Frankeys, son of Richard le Frankys, of Brampton en-le-Morthen, to Roger le Vescy and Clemence his wife.of the same place," with dates 1323 and 1324 respectively. Hunter also refers in his South Yorkshire to a grant to Hugh Vescy of lands formerly held by Reyner le Frankeys.'

lxxviii. A "Clemence de Vescy" was in 1337 found to be one of the executors of the will of her mother-in-law, Isabel de Vescy, widow of John, Baron de Vescy, who died in 1289. By this marriage ....... St. George's Visitation credits Roger le Vescy with a son and heir of the same name, Roger II, who by his wife Alice, the daughter and heir of Walter de Brampton (Append. A ii), was the father of Hugh Vescy, who marrying Elizabeth, daughter and heir of (Append. E) Hugh Twittle — probably Totehill — had a son and heir named John.

lxxix. The position in the Visitation pedigree of Roger II and Hugh must however be reversed, as it is in the pedigree quoted in Appendix B, in consideration of the incontestable facts obtained from the Charters, especially from one of them dated 1348, which is a grant of land "from Roger le Vescy, of Brampton-en-le-Morthen, to Hugh, my son and heir, and to Matilda his wife " (Append. C).

lxxx. It is of course possible, though not probable, that there was another Roger, father of Hugh, and son of Roger and Clemence, and that the Charters between the years 1322 and 1348 allude to two men of the same name. But this does not help us, for in that case the heralds have omitted a generation in Roger Vescy, the son of Hugh and father to John. This Roger II seems to have been in possession of the estate in 1379, as he paid 4l. for his lands in Brampton to Richard the Second's Poll Tax (Append. D). If John I, who succeeded his father Roger, be identical with John I (Append. F) of St. George's Visitation, he cannot hare been the son of Hugh Vescy, as it asserts, because one of the Charters which have perished, dated 1436, described him as "John, the son of Roger."

lxxxi. The former suggestion, therefore, which is confirined by the pedigree in Appendix B, is plainly the correct one, namely that Roger le Vescy, who was living from the year 1322 to that of 1348, married Clemence, the daughter and heir of John le Franceys, of Brampton, or at any rate the eventual heir of Reyner le Franceys, was succeeded about 1348 by his son and heir Hugh, and that he, by his marriage with Matilda, who might well be a daughter of Hugh Totehill — the Hugh Twittle of the Visitation, for the dates make this quite possible (Append. E) — had a son Roger, who owned the estate from the year 1379 to that of 1428, and was the father of John I and William (Append. D). That this John succeeded his father Roger, and was possessed of the estate from the year 1436 to 1450, is proveS not only by the Charters now destroyed, but also by one in the Woolley Collection (Append. F). The Heralds give him to wife Anne, the daughter and heir of John Constantine, by whom, they say, he t)ecame the father of Robert his heir, who by his marriage with Ellen, the daughter of Nicholas Bosvile of Conisbrough, had issue John Vescy his successor, who marrying Joan, the daughter of Hugh Revel of Shirland, co. Derby, was the father of Thomas his heir.

lxxxii. In the pedigree already cited however (Append. B), John I (Append. F) was not succeeded by Robert, but by his son, John H, and he it was who was succeeded by his s6n Robert, which facts are corroborated by the only two charters which existed, dated 1474 and 1475 respectively, and by a bond of 1474, "from John Vescy of Brampton to Robert, his son and heir," as well as by a charter in the Woolley Collection (Append. G). In the same pedigree this Robert, living from 1474 to 1484, is stated to have been the father of Thomas, his successor, thus contradicting the heralds' assertion that the father of Thomas was John II. This discrepancy between the two pedigrees, however, can be entirely removed by again reversing the order of father and son, thus making John II not only the son of John I, which was accomplished by the first transposition, but also the father and predecessor of Robert, instead of his son and successor, and this will at once place Robert in his probably correct position of father to Thomas Vescy, who was presumably born after 1485, as he is not mentioned by name in the deed which gives the names of his three sisters (Append. J). With him ends the discrepancy between the two pedigrees. The amended pedigree, which is in accordance with the one in Appendix B, and is supported by the charters.

lxxxiii. ANNANDALE AND FRANCEYS: Chalmer refers to "Robert de Brus obtaining the grant of Annandale," and goes on to state, "As the charters of King David established a tenure by the sword, we may easily suppose that Bruce brought with him into the Annandale knights and yeomen from Yorkshire, as indeed might be shown by tracing to their origin some respectable families of Dumfrieshire," so that it is not unreasonable to suppose that this Robert Fraunceys or one of his sons may have been an original settler with Bruce in the Annandale, and particularly so as you find a feudality existing, to which reference has already been made, according to the Scotch Records circa 1218, wherein it is stated "that Roger, son of William Franciscus, quitclaims to Sir Robert de Brus, Lord of Annandale, land which the grantee held of him in the territory of Annan, towards Weremundebi, for the excambion of land in the territory of Moffat, which William Franciscus, the grantee's father, formerly held of Sir Robert de Brus."

LXXXIV. In this same epoch Roger French (Francisco) is a witness to a grant of Robert de Brus, Lord of Annandale, to William de Heneville. The grant is described as thirty five acres of the grantors demesne in the ville of Moffet, lying between the land of Sir Patrick, Earl of Dunbar, on one side, and the meadow of Sir Humphry de Kirkepatric on the other. This reference to the Earl of Dunbar recalls an agreement made on the nth of November, 1218, "between" (the first) "P"(atrick), " Earl of Dunbar, and C "(hristina?), "the Countess, and Sir R"(obert) "de Brus " (probably son of William de Brus), wherein the considera- tion is that Sir Robert shall pay the money to the said earl and his said mother, C, the countess. In another charter, circa 1218, there is a resignation made to Robert de Brus where the name of William Franceis appears among the witnesses.

lxxxv. (Retracing our steps, in the reign of King William the Lyon a charter of interest in the "Liber Sancte Marie de Melros" is that of William de Hauccestestun, Richard, his brother, and others, conveying land in the territory of Innerwick (in Haddingtonshire) to the church of St. Mary of Melrose. Here, again, among the witnesses, apparently, is the name of the same, William le Franceis. Three other charters without dates are found in the reign of this same king, in which the grantor was Jocelin, Bishop of Glasgow. He was consecrated on the 1st of June, 1175, and died the 17th of March, 1199. These charters were in favor of the churches of Saint Mirini de Passelet and Saint Jacobus de Passelet, and all were witnessed by " Wilelmus Francigena, capellanus Glasguensis").

lxxxvi. The reference at this period to the possessions of Earl Patrick of Dunbar at Moffat in the Annandale and the relationship of his countess to Robert de Brus may account for the after feudal relations between the Dunbars and Frenches; and probably the first recorded mention of the name, appearing as a witness to a charter made by a member of the Dunbar family, was that of William Franke de Pitcokyr of which the following is an abstract, found in the cartulary of the Abbey of Coldstream, edited by Rev. Charles Rogers. *Pitcokyr gave at an earlier period the surname to a family which were vassals of the earls of Dunbar, but the reference to this place in this charter is the first instance the author has found wherein it is identified with the surname of Franke

lxxxvii. "Mariota, Lady of Hume, formerly spouse of Sir Patrick Edeger, in her lawful widowhood, has granted and quit-claimed all her right within the vill of Laynail and without it, namely, of the ' Northtun,' with all its pertinents, to God and the Blessed Mary of Caldestrem, and the nuns there serving God, as freely as any widow in the kingdom of Scotland in her viduity could grant or give, for a certain sum of money paid to her in her urgent necessity." Witnesses : " Domino Villelmo, vicario de Assinden, tunc magistro de Caldstrem; Villelmo Franke de Petcokyr; Malcolmo de Haukyrstun; Villelmo de Ardros, capellano; Thoma de Derchester; Alano Vyte de Derchester; et aliis."

lxxxviii. Mariota, Lady of Hume, is recorded as the second wife of William de Hume, great-grandson of Cospatrick, third of this name, Earl of Dunbar. He was a son of William de Hume, who, after his lands, assumed his surname. Mariota afterwards, prior to the year 1284, married Sir Patrick Edgar. By the foregoing charter it appears that Mariota was then the widow of Sir Patrick Edgar; and, judging on the basis of the chronological rotation of this abbey's charters, it must have been made some time prior to the year 1289, the date of the death of Patrick, Earl of Dunbar, who is mentioned in the succeeding charter. This is earlier than existing records of the Frenches of Thornydykes ; and, from the fact that the Lairds of that place had possessions in Petcoks in after years, it is suggestive that William Franke may have been an early member of the same family tree. On the 28th of August, 1 300-1, the records show that William Fraunceys was a valet to Lord Patrick (8th), Earl of March ; and on the 18th of September of the same year Lord William le Fraunceys was a knight of the son of the Earl of Dunbar.

lxxxix. 1200: In another charter made in favor of the church of St. Mary of Melrose, circa 1200, by Hugh de Normanville and Alina, his wife, among the witnesses is the name of William le Franceis. 1214-49: Alan Franco is a witness to a grant by John de Crawfurd to the church of Newbottle of a portion of his land of Crawfurd, for the souls of his sovereign lord Alexander, King of Scots, and William, Malcolm, and David, his predecessors, etc. Not dated, but temp. Alexander II. 1232: Willielmus Francus (Franco) is one of the witnesses whose name is attached to a charter of John de Normanville. 1291: Among the citizens of Berwick who took the oath of allegiance to King Edward I. on the 3d of June, 1 29 1, was Henricus Franceys. 1296: The name of Sir William Fraunceys, knight, is found several times about this period. One of this name swore fealty in the year 1296. 1302: There is also an agreement made in 1302 with Sir Rauf de Mantone, Sir Richard Siward, and the Council, in which Sir William Fraunceys arranged to keep the castle of Kirkintilloch until Christmas. Among his twenty- eight men at arms he had Sir Henry de Pinkney. 1306-9: James Fraunces, in the reign of King Robert I., held some feudatory rights over the lands of Burtries in the barony of Cunynghame. 1312: King Edward II. of England, then at -York, appointed the following plenipotentiaries to treat of a peace with King Robert Bruce, which at that time was not accomplished, namely: William, Bishop of St. Andrews, David, conte d'Asceles (Athole), Patrick de Dunbar, conte de la Marche, Alexander de Abernethy, Adam de Gordon, Gerard Salveyn, and our dear clerks Meistre Robert de Pykeryng and Meistre Johan Franceys, canons of the church of St. Peter of York. 1317: Maria Fraunceys had her right of dower in all lands at Paxton, near Berwick-on-Tweed, forfeited by John de Cheseholme. 1321-22: King Robert Bruce (reign, 1306 to 1329) grants a charter to William Franceis of the 20l. land of Sproustoun in Roxburghshire, and the same king granted the barony of Sproustoun to his son, Robert Bruce. After the decease of this natural son the king granted the land of Sproustoun to William Francis. This latter charter was in the sixteenth year of his reign (1321-22). 1335. Adam Frensh was among the Scotch patriots who were pardoned by King Edward III., at Berwick, on the 10th of October. Adam Frensh is very possibly the true ancestor of Frenche Thorndykes; he is a viable alternative to a descent devolving from his English cousins. 1335-36. Among the Scotch men at arms was Johannes Frances. 1335-36. In the account of this year of John de Stryvelyn, Viscount of Edinburgh, a yearly rent came from the land of William le Frenshe, of Craumond, in the viscounty of Edinburgh. 1337. Among the persons who contributed to the bridge at Berwick-on-the-Tweed were Richard Fraunceys and John Fraunceys, they giving both a certain yearly rental from tenements in the ville of Berwicke.

xc. JESMOND: The connection of Robert Bruce the elder with the township was but slight, he was but a life-lord of a third of the manor by virtue of his wife's title to dower thereout. (Christiana de Ireby,* d. o. William de Ireby, and niece of Eva de Ireby, married to Robert de Avenel, first married Thomas de Lascelles. By him she is said to have had a daughter, Erminia,* married to John de Seton; they havig issue, Christopher de Seton, married to a sister of Robert Bruce, and John de Seton (Archaeologia Aeliana, 3rd ser. 1 (1904): 30–106; John de Seton confirmed a grant by Christiana’s father, William of Ireby, to Lanercost Priory on 3 May 1273 (Lanercost Cart., no. 305). That Ermina was the mother of Christopher de Seton, see IPM of Robert de Clifford, CIPM, Vol. 5, Edward II, pp. 300-301, No.533: Calendar of Inquistions Post Mortem Vol. V Edward II, pp. 300-301, 1908: 'Writ, 28 July, 8 Edw. II. Cumberland. Inq. Tuesday before the Decollation of St. John, 8 Edw. II. Skelton. A third part held of the king in chief by service of 27 d. for cornage, which Sir John de Penreth holds for life by the said Sir Robert's demise, besides the dower of Ermina de Seton, who was the mother of Christopher de Seton, the reversion whereof pertains to the said Sir Robert's heir. Carleton by Penreht, alias Penreth, 11s. rent and a mill, held of the king in chief, service unspecified. He had no other lands &c. in the county. Roger his son, aged 14 on the feast of St. Agnes, second last past, is his next heir.'

ixc. Philip de Mowbray had married Thomas de Lascelle's aunt, Galiana. Christiana de Ireby married, secondly, Adam de Jesmond (Gesmuth),* Sheriff of Newcastle; marrying, thirdly, Robert Bruce the elder. After the treaty of Kenilworth, 1268, Robert Hilton mortgaged his lands to Robert Bruce the younger (William Fraunceys a tenant of his in Sprouston); Adam de Jesmond witnessed that grant, his name immediately following that of Sir John de Vescy, chief lord of that fee. Robert Bruce the elder was well known to Walter de Hemingbrough, who eulogised him thus: he "was all his life renowned, witty, wealthy, and liberal" (Hemingbrough, vol. ii., p. 70). Robert Bruce the elder was buried at Guisboro', near his father, "with great reverence." * His arms: Barry of six argent and azure, in chief three torteaux, only slightly differenced from the arms of de Grey, who had a Northumberland branch of the family. Adam de Jesmond served under William de Grey on the 5th. Crusade. The Trewicks, cousins and heirs of Adam de Jesmond, sealed in 1365 with a shield bearing three bars, and in chief three torteaux. The adoption of the early Grey coat was by blood or feudal service, or both.

iixc. When the wapentake of Sadberge was granted by Richard the First to Bishop Pudsey, the services of certain holders of knights' fees therein were included by express mention, probably with a view to prevent the claims to the important military services of Brus and Baliol which, after all, were pertinaciously laid by the succeeding Bishops of Durham.

iiixc. RICHARD DE HEMELDON. He Mayor of Newcastle as early as 1307, lord of the entire manor of Jesmond in 1333. His daughter, Jane de Hemeldon, married Alan de Clavering (quarterly or and gules, a bend sable; 'the bend sable may have been adopted to evidence the descent of the Claverings from the Tisons' (Arch. Aeliana, p. 107). Jane married, secondly, John de Stryvelyn. (see below, 1335-36. In the account of this year of John de Stryvelyn, Viscount of Edinburgh, a yearly rent came from the land of William le Frenshe (alias Franceys), of Craumond, in the viscounty of Edinburgh. Richard Emeldon married Christiana de Mowbray*, obit. 25/12/1362, who married, secondly, William de Plumpton; whose arms were derived from the Yorkshire Percys; the Plumptons being their tenants there (Arch. Aeliana, 132).*It is widely thought that the father of Christiana de Mowbray, the second wife of Sir William de Plumpton, was John I, Lord Mowbray (b. 4 September 1286). Lord Mowbray was descended from King Henry II through his natural son William Longespee, Earl of Salisbury. For Lord Mowbray's line of descent from King Henry II, see Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry (2004), pp. 528-530. John de Mowbray, the father, was the son of Roger, Lord Mowbray. He is said to have been born 4 September 1286, and was made a knight on 22 May 1306 (CP 9: 377). He married Aline de Braose in 1298 (CP 9: 379). The baronial John de Mowbrays, father and son, became an enduring presence at a high level in Northumberland and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. From 1308 to 1319, the elder John, Lord Mowbray, was regularly summoned for service against the Scots (CP 9: 378). On 23 March 1314/15, King Edward II appointed him captain and keeper of Newcastle and the County of Northumberland. (Rotuli Scotiae 1: 136). This appointment followed the defeat of the English forces by the Scots at Bannockburn in June 1314 which resulted in destructive incursions by the Scots into Northumberland and Newcastle, which, in conjunction with prolonged rains, gave rise to fear and famine. As captain and keeper, John, Lord Mowbray, would have had frequent and continuing contact with its leading merchants and civic figures, including John Scot and especially Richard de Emeldon, who served as Newcastle's mayor during virtually all of the years during which Mowbray was involved in Scotland and in the North of England. Roger, Lord Mowbray, married Rohese de Clare, daughter of Sir Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, and Maud de Lacy. Aline de Braose was the daughter of Sir William de Braose, Lord of Bramber and Gower. Her sister, Joan de Braose, ob. ante 23/6/1324; md (1) James de Bohun bef 1301, and (2) Sir Richard Foliot.* To repeat: John Mowbray acquired a group of Vescy manors based on Newsholme, including the manors of Thornton, Gribthorpe and Brind with appurtenances in Loftsome, Wressle, Bubwith and Holme upon Spalding Moor. They were held in dower by Clemence (de Frankeys). Richard de Emeldon is most likely a close relative of Clemence. Agnes de Emeldon, another daughter of Richard, married Peter Graper, MP. for Newcastle, who inherited Richard de Emeldon's tenement called Helmeldun, in Ellingham and Abberwick, in 1358 (MS. Claud.); their daughter, Matilda m. William de Strother. Richard de Emeldon, obit. 1333 (Cal. Inq. pm, vol. vii), made a bequest for a foundation of a chantry for the repose of his soul, in the church of St. Nicholas, Dunbar, which was placed nnder the patronage of the mayor of Newcastle, assisted by the council and assent of the guild of the Blessed Trinity in that town.

ivxc. William de Emeldon, 'a relation of the mayor of Newcastle' - Edward III. bestowed the prebend upon William de Emeldon 17 Feb. 1352, William de Emeldon was ordered to resign the Collectorship of Roxburgshire, and of the Forests of Selkirk, Ettrick, and Peebles, to Coupland ; and 20 Feb. in the same year, the Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer were directed to permit him to levy, collect, and receive the feefarm rents, proceeds, and profits of Roxburgshire.

vxc. 1. Gospatric of Dunbar of Bolton, Bassenthwaite and Derwentwater, co. Cumbs. [2] witness (together with his half-brother Alan) to a charter of King David of Scots, 16 Aug 1139 (Durham, Misc. Charter 57; SP III: 244, cites Raine's North Durham, Ap. Nos. xix, xx) 1.1. Waldeve fitz Gospatric record from the Pipe Rolls, 32 Hen. III (1186): ' Waldeve son of Gospatric renders account of 40s. for a disseizin. He has paid it into the treasury and is quit. '(VCH I:359 (5), extract from Pipe Roll 32 Hen. II, Roll 7, mem. 1d) granted the church of Bassenthwaite, co. Cumbs. to the monks of Jedburgh (SP III: 244-5, 2). 1.1.1. Christiana, sp. Duncan de Lascelles (Sir Thomas de Lascelles witnessed a 1241 charter of Robert de Brus (Lind. Cart., no. 41). Sir Thomas de Lascelles witnessed an agreement between Lanercost Priory and Roald son of Alan and his wife Isabel, 20 Aug. 1252 (Lanercost Cart., no. 268). It seems most likely that Thomas was an heir, perhaps a son, of Duncan de Lascelles and Christiana daughter of Waltheof son of Gospatrick. 1.1.2. Galiena 'filia Waldevi', coheir of her fatherher lands included Inverkeithing and Balmeny cf. SP III: 245, sp. Philip de Mowbray.

ivc. APPENDIX TO FRANCEYS AND VESCY: A (i) About twenty charters of various dates, from 1322 to 1348, relating to Roger le Vescy were, till lately, in the writer's possession. They were mostly grants of land in Brampton and Treeton. One, dated 1348, was a grant of land from Roger le Vescy, "Hugoni filio et heredi meo et Matildore uxori ejus." (ii) There were also several charters relating to various families living in the neighbourhood at this time, which may well find a place here. They were for the most part grants of land in and about Brampton-en-le-Morthen and Treeton, both in the parish of Brampton. The following list was made before they were destroyed : — 1. To Robert son of Reyner de Brampton— 1296. 2. To Roger le Vescy, by Isabella daughter of Hugh de Brampton, bearing dates 1326, 1332, and 1337. 3. To Roger le Vescy, by Hugh son of Isabel de Brampton, from 1326 to 1331. 4. To Hugh le Vescy, of Brampton-en-le-Morthen, by Isabel daughter of Robert de Brampton — 1369. (N.B. — In these charters no mention is made of a Walter de Brampton, whose daughter and heir Alice, the heralds assert, was married to Roger Vescy II, whose name first appears ten years after the grant of land was made to his father Hugh, by Isabel, the daughter of Robert de Brampton, though it is possible they were her near relations.) B. A verbatim copy of the statement written on the back of a parchment copy of Robert Vescy's will, which was dated 1558, and which, being evidently in the handwriting of his grandson William, must have been written in the year 1605: — "This is the will of Robert Vescy, of Brampton-en-le-Morthen, who married the daughter and heir of Tyndal, of Tickhill, in this county, and had issue William, who was the father of William, the writer. The said Robert was the son of Thomas, the son of Robert, the son of John, who was the son of John, whose father was Roger the second, the son of Hugh, who was the son of Roger the first, which Roger had married the daughter and heir of Reyner le Franceys, of Brampton-en-le-Morthen."  C. There were fully thirty charters of various dates, from 1348 to 1375, relating to Hugh Vescy, several of which were grants of land to him and to Matilda his wife. A charter in the Wolley Collection, British Museum (v. 26), dated at Brampton, Wednesday after the Conversion of St. Paul, 42 Edward IH (24 Jan., 1368-9), is a grant by Isabel daughter of Hugh de Treeton, to Hugh Vescy, of Morthing, of seven acres of land in Mylne Rydding. • Considering that Brampton is in the parish of Treeton, it is possible that Hugh de Treeton and Hugh de Brampton were one and the same person (cf. A ii, 3, 4}. Hunter in his South Yorkshire^ vol. ii, page 179, quotes a charter for which he gives no authority, which is a grant of land from John de Toychill (? Totehill) (cf. E) to Hugh de Vescy, of Brampton, and Matilda his wife. The date he assigns to it is "Monday next after the Feast of All Saints, 1253." This date is impossible, for it is about 100 years too soon, and it is very improbable that there existed another Hugh Vescy and Matilda his wife. It is evidently a misprint for 1353. D. The first of the charters connected with the possession of the lands at Brampton by Roger II was dated 1399, and the last was in 1428. In a deed of entail both John and William were named as his sons. There is, however, proof to be found among those who paid the Poll Tax of 2 Richard II ( Yorkshire Poll Tax, page 32a), that he and his servant Thomas (probably a relative) both paid 41/. for lands in Brampton in the year 1379-80, by which we may assume that his father was then dead. Other names appear in the same Poll Tax list which may belong to this family, and which, although they find no place in this pedigree, may be worth recording — Will: Vysce and Cicely his wife, in Whiston; Will; Wescy and Magota his wife, in Conisbro'; John Wesci, in Barnbro*; and Robert and Dionisia Vesci, in Tickhill. E. The following paid the same tax: — Will: and Cicely de Totehill, in Barnbro', and John and Elizabeth Totehill, in Stainton. In York- shire Archceological Journal xii, 115, we find that Hugh de Totehill made a grant of lands in Brampton-in-Morthing to Michael Pigot, Rector of Wath, 1323, and that Hugh de Totehill, son of John de Totehill, granted to Roger de Lokyngton and olhers his Manor of Brampton-in-Morthyng, in 1377. F. There were about twenty charters, etc., from 1436 to 1450, which proved the possession of the estate by John de Vesci I. In one of these he was described as the son of Roger, and there exists also in the Woolley Collection in the British Museum (v. 29) one dated 28 April, 20 Henry VI (1442), being a release by Joan widow of William Archer (cf. A ii, 7), of Tykhill, to John Vescy, of all right in lands which he (Vescy) had of the grant of her husband in Brampton in-Morthing and Woodhouse Brampton. Seal : A cinquefoil. G. Woolley Charters (v. 28) in British Museum. Copy made, 13 Jan., 1 640- 1. Grant by Robert Laghton, of Laghton, to John Vescy, of Morthing, and Robert Vescy, of Brampton, his son and heir, of seven messuages and a cottage with a garden adjoining, and seven bovates of land and meadow lying separately in the ville and fields of Brampton- in-the-Morthing, and which descended to him by inheritance on the death of Robert Laghton, his father, . which his father held jointly with William Mirfin, rector of Wickersley, of the grant of Roger Vescy. To hold to John Vescy and Robert Vescy and the heirs male of Robert, with remainders to Catherine, Joan and Alice, daughters of Robert, in fee. Witnesses, John Laghton, John Scarcliffe, Henry Dolfyn (all of Brampton), and John Yole and Robert Wright, of Morthinge. Dated at Brampton, 2 March, 2 Rich. Ill (1484-5).

iiic. Treeton Church, The Church dedicated to St. Helen, and built in the 13th century, consists of a nave, with side aisles and chancel, a south porch and aisle. The latter, which terminates at the east end with an altar, is called the Brampton Quire, and is the burial-place of the two families of Vescy and Lord. The left side is devoted to the Vescys, and apparently consists of two large vaults, constructed end to end, the further one of which extends under the altar to the outside wall, though some of the family lie in the chancel and other parts of the church.

iic. MOCCAS: Returning now to other descendants of the Fresnels in England: Walter de Fresnes, who held three knights' fees in Herefordshire, is of unknown parentage, but seemingly of the family of Fresnel. It can be speculated that he was most likely a son of Richard Fresnel, son of William Fresnel, as above, who attests three charters of Robert Earl of Leicester, temp. Stephen, and who was confined to England by the loss of the honor of Breteuil (University of Birmingham, Midland History, p. 11, 1987). Richard Fresnel married Emmeline de l'Aigle, daughter of Richer, Baron de l'Aigle. He was the son of Gilbert de l'Aigle, who held the honour of Pevensey in 1106 of the Count of Mortagne, and who was overlord of Odo de Fraxineto's son in Pevensey. Gilbert de l'Aigle was a son of Judith le Gois d'Avranches, daughter of Richard de Gois d'Avranches, lord of Creully, cousin, as stated, of William d'Avranches, whose daughter married William Paynel. Gilbert de l'Aigle's wife was Julienne de la Perche, daughter of Geoffrey, Count of Perche; a son of Adelaide de Bellême, grandaughter of Guillaume I. de Bellême. [The Beaumont family of Maine were also connected to the de l'Aigles; Richard de Beaumont, Viscount of Maine, marrying one of that ilk after 1194. DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM FRESNEL:1. William I. Fresnel, married daughter of Roger de Tosny (charte de Conches).1.1. Richard Fresnel.1.1.1. William II. Fresnel (eldest son). 1.1.1.1. Richard II. Fresnel, sp. Emma de Laigle. She was a member of the de Laigle/Mortagne alliance, an example of "foedus inter consobinos heredes" in which inheritance passed down "lines of cousins" - she being the likely mother of Walter Frene explains the close association of the English Frenes with the Mortagnes; the superior lords in the alliance. These de Laigles were cousins of the wife of the King of Scotland; who was grandson of David I. King of Scotland. 1.1.1.1.1. William III. Fresnel, about whom nothing is known. 1.1.1.1.2. Simon Fresnel, of the Chambray branch, later to marry into the Harcourts. 1.1.I.I.3. Robert Fresnel, signatory with the family of de Vaux, 1160-4. 1.1.1.1.4. Richard Fresnel, about whom nothing is known (who could be synonomous with Richard de Veims, as above). 1.1.1.1.5. Walter Fresnel of Herefordshire, ancestor of the Frames. 1.1.1.1.6. Matthew Fresnel, sp. Gundred Paynel, niece of Gervase & Jordan Paynel.

ic. DESCENDANTS OF FULBERT DE L'AIGLE: 1. Fulbert de l'Aigle, sp. unknown. 1.1. Seigneur Engenulf de l'Aigle, 2nd. Baron de l'Aigle, sp. Richvaride. 1.1.1 Berthe de l’Aigle, sp. Henry de Ferrers.* 1.1.2. Richer de l'Aigle, 3rd Baron de l'Aigle, sp. Judith le Gois d'Avranches. 1.1.2.1. Gilbert de l'Aigle, 4th Baron de l'Aigle; Seigneur du Perche, sp. Juliana du Perche, daughter of Geoffrey, Count of Mortagne, obit. ante 10/1132. Juliana's sister, Margaret du Perche, sp. Henry de Beaumont, a younger son of Roger de Beaumont, son of Onfroi de Vieilles, brother of Radulphus de Beaumont. 1.1.2.1.1. Richer II. de l'Aigle, 5th Baron de l'Aigle, held Crepon, arr. Bayeux [H. de F. 709a], sp. Beatrix; bu. Chaise-Dieu, "où l'on voyait leurs tombeaux." 1.1.2.1.2. ---- de l'Aigle, sp. William de Ferte-Arnaud, better known under the name William de Ferrières; became vidame of Chartres c. 1115 by his marriage with Elisabeth, daughter of Guerric. 1.1.2.1.1.1. Emmeline de l'Aigle, sp. Richard de Ferte-Fresnel, brother of Matthew de Ferte-Fresnel, sp. Gundred Paynel [niece of Gervase & Jordan], parents of William de Ferte-Fresnel, sp. Margaret de Briwiere, dau. William de Briwiere II. & Beatrice de Vaux.** 1.1.2.1.1.2. Lucy de l'Aigle, sp. Richard I de Beaumont, Viscount of Maine* (Cokayne, C.P.); issue: Ermengarde de Beaumont, sp. William "the lion", king of Scotland, and Constance de Beaumont, sp. Roger IV. de Tosny, son of Ralph V. de Tosny [lord of Flamstead, Herts.] and Margaret de Beaumont, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl Leicester [without foundation called "Bossu"], the son of Robert de Beaumont, 1st. Earl Leicester, eldest son of Roger de Beaumont, son of Onfroi de Vieilles, brother of Radulphus de Beaumont. *Carte No. 247-254, St. Andre-en-Gouffern, founded by the Talvas family, and supported by their hommines, c. 1194, "Richard, vicomte de Beaumont, atteste que Herbert dé La Porte, Ameline, sa femme, et Gilles, leur fils , ainsi que Drocon, frère dudit Herbert, ont donné à l'abbaye sept sommes, de vin à prendre tous lés ans dans le clos du vignoble de ....... La Ferté. Il déclare en outre que ce même La Ferté a donné quelques pièces de terre à ladite abbaye." This charter clearly affirms a connection between the families of Ferte-Fresnel and de la Porte; similarly - No. 248-255, "Herbert de La Porte confirme la vente d'un quartier de vigne situé dans le clos La Ferté ....... par Raoul de La Vallée et Odeline, sa femme." GERMAIN-DE-LA-COUDRE, Election of Mans, near Beaumont, held by the family of Fresne; Herbert de la Porte held the tithes of l' Eglise of S. Germain-de-la-Coudre [Cartul. l'Egli. Mans. Cenomania MS.]. 1.1.2.1.1.3. Isabella de l'Aigle, sp. William de Courcy. 1.1.2.1.1.4. Richer III. de l'Aigle, 6th Baron of de l'Aigle, obit. 1176, sp. Odeline de Beaumont de Sainte-Suzanne le Mans, lady of Crepon, bu. church "des religieuses tomb Chaise-Dieu." 1.1.2.1.1.4.1 Gilbert II. de l'Aigle, 7th Baron de L'Aigle, last lord of Pevensey, obit. 1231, sp. Isabel de Warenne Plantagenet, widow of Robert de Lacy, obit. ante 30/11/1234. (n.b Of the Fresnes - 'villam de Bellysme, castrum et villam de Fresney' - "Jean de Bellisme, ou Belmeis , mort moine à Clairvaux, Jean Bellesmains, ....... floris dans le 12 siecle. Quelques-uns ont cru qu'il étoit de la maison de Beleme, & fils de Guillaume dit Talvas, comte d'Alençon" (Jean François, Bibliothèque générale); that is, Jean de Bellisme, or Belmeis, who died a monk at Clairvaux, lived in the twelth- century. Some believed him to be of the house of Beleme, & son of Guillaume Talvas, count d' Alençon. The logic of this ascertion seems sound - Belmeis seems a natural contraction of Bellesmeius, by which name he was also known. He became treasurer of York in 1152, bishop of Poitiers from 1162 to 1181, and archbish. of Lyon from 1181 to 1193. Guillaume III. Talvas was the son of Robert II. de Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury, and Agnes of Ponthieu). *Father of Robert de Ferrers, Earl Derbys. **Probable parents of first wife of Ivo de Heriz of Notts.

c. 'In the important survey taken, in the reign of Henry III., of the Knights' Fees in certain counties in England and their tenure, commonly styled the 'Testa de Nevil,' the heirs of Thos. De Freigne were found seized, in 1277, of half a fee in 'Parva Covarne.' In that county, at the same period, Hugh de Freigne was seized of Sutton and Masham, half a fee in the same county, and, yet more, of half a fee in Moccas, also in that county, as recorded in the same survey. In further corroboration of their tenure here being, as alleged, of ancient grant, Walter de Freigne was certified, in 1166, as holding three Knights' Fees 'of his Barony in the county of Herefordshire; while Alured de Freigne, a younger member of the house, was on the same occasion recorded as holding the third part of a Knight's Fee. The above Hugh of Moccas was evidently the descendant of Walter of 1166; and in 1277, after doing suit before the Earl Marshal at Worcester, his military service of forty days was by the King transferred to be performed in West Wales, under his Majesty's brother, Edmund, Earl of Lancaster; and in 1291 the same individual had a charter for free warren in his lands at Moccas and Sutton, in two years after which he had a royal license to castellate his manor house at Moccas. The armorials assigned to him, in the Roll of Knights serving King Edward I. in his wars, are described as 'de argent et de azure les bendes endentes.' In 1302, Gerard de Freigne was sent Ambassador to the court of Holland and Zealand. Another Sir Walter Freigne, probably a son of Sir Hugh, served in these wars with him; and having married Alice, the heiress of Alexandre le Secular, about the year 1291, acquired with her the manor of Marden, also in Herefordshire. In 1305, he was returned as Knight of the Shire for Hereford, at the Parliament of Carlisle, and immediately after obtained a royal order for his expenses in attending same. He was also returned Knight of the Shire to the Parliament of Northampton, in the year 1307; to that of London in 1311; to that of Westminster in 1313; and to the Great Council, convened by general proclamation to be present at the latter place, in 1324: while a William le Freigne, who was knighted in 1306, was returned Representative for Herefordshire in 1309. In 1316, the Lordship of Moccas was vested in John de Freigne, the son of Henry de Freigne, who in 1329 obtained the Royal License for holding a fair and market there. The memoir has thus long attached itself to Herefordshire, in belief that the line thus far illustrated may be considered common to all the numerous branches that subsequently diverted from it, as well in England as in Ireland and Scotland, and that it was about this period that the migration took place which founded in Ireland a sect of the highest influence and respectability, which has given a tribe to Galway, Parliamentary representatives to every county in which they have settled, and has been in two instances ennobled in the Peerage. A few events, however, of more than family interest, connecting subsequently with the house of Moccas, may not be irrelevant, occurring, as they chiefly do, while the connection between the Irish settler and his English ancestry was morally and politically maintained. In 1337 (10 Edward III.) took place the celebrated tournament of Dunstable, where, on the roll of the knights who tilted there, appears the name of 'Monsieur Hugh de Freigne.' There is reason to believe he was a near relative of John of 1316 and 1329. [Perhaps his cousin, a son of Sir Walter de Freigne, who was of the Warenne household - "Walterus de Frenes qui est de familia comitis Warrenn" (Record Series, 21-24, 1962), "who in 1295 had free warren in Sutton St. Nicholas (and) enjoyed the protection of John de Warenne to go to Scotland" (Lord Rennell, Valley on the march: a history of a group of manors on the Herefordshire, pp. 145-6, 1958). In 1334, he had been appointed Seneschal of Cardigan for the term of his life; and was, in the year 1336, summoned to Parliament by express writ, as one of the Barons of the Realm. He it was who married Alice, daughter and heiress of Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, then a widow; and in her right he claimed and assumed the title of Earl of Lincoln. He at the same time obtained livery of the Castle of Buelt, in Wales, which had been granted to her former husband, Eubulo le Strange, a younger son of John, Baron Strange, of Knockyn. It having been, however, represented to King Edward that this Hugh had obtained his said lady by her abduction from the Castle of Bolingbroke (probably owing to some court jealousy, with possibly a desire on the part of the King to increase his possessions), the royal indignation directed a seizure of all their lands, goods, and chattels, and a further order for their personal arrest; immediately after which, and most probably affected by his sovereign's displeasure, Hugh died, leaving no issue by her. In 1348, John Freyne, the son and heir of John Freigne, became seized of Moccas, Marden, etc., as on his father's recent decease. At the last period, a Robert Frensh was seized of other lands in Herefordshire, on whose decease, in 1370, the custody of his estate was committed in wardship, 'durante minoritate heredis.' This record is one of the many that, even at this early date, evince the transition from Freyne to French. In 1376, Richard de Freigne was Lord of Sutton and Moccas, after which the records of their inheritance there cease; the Lordship of that fine residence having passed by a female to the Vaughans of Bridwardine, and from thence similarly to the Cornwalls, in whose right it is held by Sir Velters Cornwall, Baronet. It stands in a delightful situation on the southern bank of the Wye, within ten miles of Hereford. Other individuals of the name of Freyne (or French) are traceable by territorial and historic notices in Norfolk, from 1209; in Kent, from 1270; in Yorkshire, from before 1276; in Sussex, from 1278; in Buckingham, from 1279; in Northamptonshire, from 1313; in Shropshire, from 1323; in Essex [where they gave name to the 'Manor of Franches'], from 1351; in Somersetshire, from 1360; in Dorsetshire, from 1399; in Berkshire, from 1422; in Worcestershire, from 1446; in Bedfordshire, from 1461; and in Oxfordshire, Devonshire, Cornwall, Surrey, and Somersetshire, from the time of Queen Elizabeth, as also in Scotland to the present time. There are also memorials extant of 'Frenches' at sundry periods in London, Bristol, Oxford, Cambridge, Exeter, and in Calais, to which this allusion is made only as an indication of the great and influential extent to which the name has branched' (A. D. Weld French, ibid.).

ci. SOLLERS NENE: To the above can be added: 'Eustachia Le Poer, the eldest daughter, as I believe, of Baldwin le Poer, married * * * * de Solariis, and had by him a son John de Solariis, or else her husband himself was John de Solariis. The former is the statement on Record, the latter much more probable on chronological grounds. Eustachia's husband, whatever his name, seems to have enfeoffed a Tenant in his share of Neen, viz. one Jordan de Alneto. Hence a Feodary of about the year 1210, gives Jordan de Alneto, Ranulf de Solers, and Engeram de Fraxino, as each holding one-fourth of a Knight's-fee in the Honor of Richard's Castle. At the Inquisition of Overs Hundred (November 1274) each of the three Feoffees of Neen were on the Jury, viz. William de Clifford, Hugh de Frene, and Roger de Solars. They also occur on a local Jury in August 1278, and the Feodary of 1284 gives them as holding Neen Solers by one knight's-fee under Edmund de Mortimer, who held under Robert de Mortimer. I must now return to speak of the other daughters of Baldwin le Poer, and their descendants: Petronilla Le Poer, probably the second of these daughters, married * * * de Fraxino, or de Frene. Her son (or, as I think, her husband) Ingeram de Fraxino, occurs under the dates of 1203, 1210 and 1221. Ingeram's successor was Hugh de Fraxino, the same, I imagine, as he who, in 1243, held two hides in Sutton St. Nicholas (afterwards called Sutton Frene) and Marden, both members of the Honour of Kington, and situated in Herefordshire. These he held by half a knight's-fee. He also held half a knight's-fee in Moccas, of the Earl of Hereford, and of the same honour of Kington. Like William de Esse, his Coparcener in Neen, this Hugh de Femes, as he is written, was sued by Richard de Harlegh in Easter Term 1250, for one carucate, less five aeres, in Nene. Like William de Esse, he pleaded his tenure in Coparcenery, and showed that Richard, son of William de Solers, the third Coparcener, and a necessary party to the Suit, was under age. (I take this Hugh de Frene to be synonomous with the one named above - M.S). Elena Le Poer, presumed to have been youngest daughter of the "Childe Baldwin," married ------ de Solariis. Her son, or husband, Ranulph de Solariis has occurred above under dates of 1210 and 1221. The son and heir of Ranulph de Solariis was named William. He was called William fitz Rauulph, to distinguish him, I presume, from two cotemporaries of his name. He was dead in 1250, and his son Richard, then a Minor, was the third Coparcener on whose account Richard de Harley's Suit of that year was postponed. Roger de Solariis, his heir, I take to have been his younger brother. In 1272, John de Arundel prosecuted Hugh de Frene and Roger de Sollers for disseizing him of common-pasture in three carucates in Sollers Nene' [Robert William Eyton, Antiquities of Shropshire, pp. 290-299, 1857]. The following table may help to clarify the most probable line of descent from from Walter de Fresnes; it also shows the continuing relationship between the families of Bellesme and FitzOsbern, and the continuing position of the Fresnes within it. Any number of degrees of cousinship may be adduced from it; a worthwile thing, perhaps, in that from such analysis an idea of who sat at the same feasting table may be gained; their conversations about future marriage alliances; their hopes and fears may be imagined: For without such imagination, genealogy can become an arid and meaningless catalogue of unexplained events; one which simply states who begat who. The aim of any history, even a small one as this, should be to stir interest and appreciation, for without that all study of the past is dead and labour lost.

cii. AN EXTENDED FAMILY: 1. Roger Marmion, sp. dau. Urse d'Abitot, see previous. 1.1. Robert Marmion, sp. Millicent de Rethel, daughter of Gervais, Count of Rethel, and Isabel of Namur. 1.1.1. Robert de Marmion, sp. Maud de Beauchamp, dau. William de Beauchamp, sp. Maud de Braose,* issue: Geoffrey de Marmion. 1.2. Albreda de Marmion, sp. Walter de Cormeilles; a descendant of Ansfrid de Cormeilles, who held land in Hereford under William FitzOsbern, who founded the Abbey of Cormeilles. Cormeilles is near to the Crispin caput of Lisieux. Walter de Cormeilles held under the Laceys, and was in some way related to "Ranulfi Poer vicecomitis de Hereford" - Fasti Ecclesiae, vol. viii. 1.2.1. Albreda de Cormeilles, sp. Johannes le Brun. 1.2.2. Sibilla de Cormeilles, sp. Hugh Giffard, issue: [1] Walter Giffard, Archbishop of York. (2) Margaret Giffard, sp. William Devereux. 1.2.3. Margaret de Cormeilles, sp. Hugh le Poer. 1.2.3.1 dau., sp. Simon de Solariis - Taylor in his MS. collections for Herefordshire, mentions "Rogerius de Bruge. This," says he, "was I believe first owner of Bruge (Brugge-upon-Wye, now called Bridge Solers), but it being devolved into the family of Solers, it had that addition from them." 1.2.3.2. Baldwin le Poer, sp. unknown. 1.2.3.2.1. Elena le Poer, sp. Radulphus de Solariis (son of 1.2.3.1.). 1.2.3.2.2. Eustachia le Poer, sp. Johannes le Poer (son of 1.2.3.1.). 1.2.3.2.3. Petronilla le Poer, sp. Ingeram de Fraxino, fl. 1203-1221; probable son of Walter de Fresnes. 1.2.3.2.3.1 Hugh de Fraxino; in 1243 held two hides in Sutton Frene. 1.2.3.2.3.1.1. Sir Hugh de Freigne; c. 1277 was seized of Sutton and Masham, half a fee, and of half a fee in Moccas.1.2.3.2.3.1.1.1. Sir Walter Freigne, probably a son of Sir Hugh, sp. Alice, heiress of Alexandre le Secular. 1.2.3.2.3.1.1.1.1. Hugh de Freigne, sp. unknown. 1.2.3.2.3.1.1.1.1.1. Humphrey de Frayne, sp. Arabella Harley, heiress of Charles Harley. Millicent de Rethel, sp. [2] Richard de Camville; issue: [1] Isabel de Camville, sp. Robert de Harcourt,** son of Ives de Harcourt, son of Wlliam de Harcourt, sp. Agnes de Ambroise, son of Robert the Strong de Harcourt; [2] William de Camville, sp. Albreda de Marmion, daughter of Geoffrey Marmion (see 1.1.1. - Close Rolls, 1227-1231, p. 14). *William de Braose, of Briouze, sp. Eve de Boissey (married firstly Anchetil de Harcourt, father of Robert the Strong de Harcourt); issue: Philip de Braose, Lord of Briouze and Bramber, sp. Aenor de Totnes, dau. of Juhel de Totnes; their issue: Maud de Braose, sp. Sir William Beauchamp, son of Sir Walter de Beauchamp and Emmeline d'Abitot, dau. Urse d'Abitot. ** Robert de Harcourt and Isabel de Camville had issue: Alice de Harcourt, sp. Waleran de Newbourg, Earl of Warwick, son of Roger de Beaumont, Earl of Warwick, sp. Gundred de Warenne; son of Henry de Beaumont, sp. Margaret de Perche; this line tracing, as shown previously, to Onfroi de Vieilles, brother of Radulphus de Beaumont.

ciii. THE HARLEYS: Sir Robert de Harley, obit. 1349, Sheriff of Herefordshire, a man of Sir John de Lacy (whose daughter, Joan, married Sir John's son, Gilbert de Lacy), who was the son of Walter de Lacey and Margaret de Braose, daughter of William Braose of Abergavenny. Sir Robert married Margaret de Brampton, the King's Ward. She was the daughter of Brian de Brampton, obit. 28/12/1294, and Eleanor de Hereford, daughter of Robert de Hereford, of Harley, Shropshire. The manor of Harley at Domesday consisted of the parishes of Harley, Danus, Rowley, and Blakeway. Margaret de Brampton's sister, Elizabeth de Brampton, was the wife of Edmund de Cornwall, son of Richard Plantagenet, Count of Poitou, and first Earl of Cornwall; a son of King John. Brian de Brampton was the son of John de Brampton and Maud, widow of Roger de Mortimer, and daughter of William de Braose and Eva, daughter of William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, and Isabel, daughter of Richard Strongbow and Eva, dau. of Dormach Mac Morough, King of Leinster. Strongbow was the son of Gilbert de Clare, a direct descendant of 'Duke' Richard I. and the Duchess Gunnor. William de Braose was the son of Reginald de Braose and Grisold de Briwere, dau. of William, lord of Torbay. Reginald was the son of Phillip de Braose and Berta, daughter of Walter, Earl of Hereford, and Sibil de Newmarche, dau. of Bernard, Lord of Brecon, and Nesta, princess of South Wales. Phillip was the grandson of William de Braose I., close kinsman of Odo de Fraxineto. William de Braose I. married Agnes, daughter of Waldron, Earl of St. Clare. Of the next generation of Sir Robert de Harley was Sir Charles de Harley, whether a son of Sir Robert, who had at least two other children by Eleanor de Hereford, or nephew, is difficult to determine. 'The statement from the O'Luinin collection cited by Hardiman seems more full than that of Burke. The former states "that Sir Herbert or Humphrey de Frayne [son of 'Monsieur Hugh de Freigne' by a first wife] married Arabella, daughter and heiress of Charles Harley, Knight, of Orniuch in Wales, and by her had issue, five sons and two daughters, viz., Christopher, Walter, Patrick, Nicholas, John, Mary, and Julia French; that from Christopher and Walter are descended the family of Ffrench in England, and from Patrick and Nicholas those of Ireland. John de Fregne, the fifth son of Sir Humphrey, is stated to have settled in Scotland, where he married Jane, a daughter of, a consideration of charter evidence would suggest, Thomas Lindsey, younger brother of James Lindsey, earl of Crawford; from whom are descended the family of Frenches in Scotland. 'D'Alton rather concludes, from the inferences of history and record, that the first who bore the name in Ireland was neither a Herbert nor a Humphrey, but a certain Fulco de Freyne, who is admittedly of the line (this implies, as I understand, of the Herefordshire line), and is the first who appears noticed in the Patent Rolls, in 1286, and then not in connection with Wexford, but what will be found much to confirm this opinion as Seneschal of Kilkenny.

civ. *LINDSEY AND BALLIOL - FITZOSBERN CONNECTION: The early ancestry of the Lindseys is contentious, yet a very well documented account of it is given by Alexander Crawford, Lindsay Crawford, Robert Lindsay, Colin Lindsay, James Stair Lindsay, and John Lindsay in 'Lives of the Lindsays', pp. 401-410, 1858, which I noew abridge: 'That the De Limesays, otherwise occasionally styled De Lindsays, of Normandy and England, were a younger branch of the De Toenys. The foundation charter of the Priory of Hertford by Randolph de Limesay, ante 1093, is witnessed by "Robertus de Stafford, nepos Domini" (Dugd.) ....... This Randdolph de Limesay's wife was Hawisa, daughter of William FitzOsborne (Clutterbuck, History Hertf. vol. ii. p 505), and Robert de Stafford's wife was Avice de Clare [Dugd. Monast. tom vi. p 231] ...... thus whether nepos implied nephew or cousin german the relationship was on the male side ....... and Randolph was a Toeny. Limesay was not Toeny property, but held of the Viscounts of Arques, and therefore most probably came through marriage of Randolph's father with the heiress [of Arques]* ....... Hugo de Limesay appears as Sire de Limesay in 1060 (Cart. S. Trin. du Mont de Rouen, ap. Coll. des Cartulaires de Fnmce, tom. iii. p. 433); and ancient pedigrees of the English Limesays derive their descent from a baron of that name contemporary with the Conquest [Harl MSS. 1555, fol 61]. I conclude therefore that Randolph was a son of Hugo, younger brother of Roger Sire de Toeny [who held near Freschenes - M.S]....... The names of Limesay and Lindsay were in practice frequently interchanged and applied to the same families and individuals ....... That the Lindsays of Scotland bore originally the same arms as the Limesays [see] Camden, Britannia, p. 610, edit. 1722 ....... That the religious sympathies of the two families (as likewise of the Toenys) were with the same Abbey of St. Alban's; while it may be added, that the Abbey of St. Evroul, to which Baldric de Lindsay granted lauds c. 1086, was the favourite monastery of the Toenys in Normandy ......... [In] Scotland, the families reunited themselves by marriage, and the Scottish Lindsays succeeded to one half of the Limesay inheritance in England through that alliance.' EARLY ARMORIAL BEARING: "To refer again to the lions, I think this bearing may have [been] first used to indicate the further descent from English royalty, when Roger de Toni or matched with Constance Beaumont, the grand-daughter of Henry I. Certainly the arms of Robert Thorn of St. Albans, their lineal descendant (see Harl. MS., several places, and Rymer's Foedera), are not a bad copy of the royal bearing; they are azure, a fess between three lions passant guardant or" (Senex, N&Q, P.137, 1861). (*The Arques family stem from Osbern de Bolbec and a sister of the Duchess Gunnor. It can be recalled that William FitzOsbern's grandfather was Gunnor's brother, and that William FitzOsbern married a daughter of Roger de Tosni. It was to this very tightly-knit 'ducal' cabal that the Fresnels were attached. When the so called laws of consanguinity are cited as preclusion to such close alliances, it is without knowledge of charter evidence that detail such alliances, and the realpolitik of the rich and powerful having one law for themselves (often aided by clerics who were related to them] and another for others, albeit that dispensations for close-kin marriages were often secured by bribes). I will commence an account of the Lindseys with Sir Walter de Lindsey, obit 1221, who held Lamberton. [He was the younger brother of Sir William Lindsey of Crawford]. His son was William Lindsey, obit. 1224-7, who married the heiress to the barony of Kendal. This branch of the Lindseys were very much connected in some way to the Balliols, as witnessed by their coat of arms - Gules, a voided escutcheon vair [Glover's Roll] - which is very similar to the arms borne by Balliol. This association was further strengthened by his son, William Lindsey II., marrying Ada, sister of John Balliol, King of Scots. Sir William Lindsey of Crawford, as above, had a son by that title and name who was steward to the Steward of Scotland. His son, Sir David Lindsey, held Byres and Barnweil. His son, also David, was Chamberlain to Alexander III. His son was Sir Alexander Lindsey, whose seal bore a fess chequey for Lindsay, and who was granted the Crawford lands once held by the Pinkenys.

cv. CONNECTIONS: 1. Sir William "le Hardi" Douglas, sp. (2) Eleanor of Louvaine, widow of William de Ferrers, son of William Ferrers, 5th. Earl Derbys., and great-grandson of Margaret de Beaumont, daughter of Robert, 3rd. Earl. Leicster. William de Ferrer's sister married into the family of Vyvian; intimately connected to the Harris family of Radford, Devon, descendants of the Notts. Heriz. 1.1. Sir Archibald Douglas, half-brother of Sir James Douglas; held Terregles in Dunfriesshire; sp. Beatrice Lindsey, daughter of Sir Alexander Lindsey of Crawford. 1.1.1. Sir William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas, sp. Margaret, sister and heiress of Thomas, Earl of Mar. 1.1.1.1. Sir James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas and Mar, sp. Isabel Stewart, daughter of King Robert II. 1.1.1.1.1.1 Sir Archibald the Grim Douglas [illigitimate], sp. Joanna de Moray, descendant of Friskin. 1. Alexander de lindsey, given the Crawford lands of 'Henrici de Pynkeney, fratris et heredis Roberti de Pynkenoy defuncti.' 1.1. David de Lindsey, 'Dominus de Crawford, filius et lucres quondam Domini Alexandri de Lyndessay.' 1.2. Beatrice Lindsey, sp. Sir Archibald Douglas. 1.1.1. Sir James de Lindsey, 'Jacobus de Lyndesay, filius David de Lyndesay, militis.' 1.1.1.1. Sir James de Lindsey of Crawford, "Jacobo de Lindesay, filio et haeredi quondam Jacobi de Lindesay, militis." Charter by Sir James Lindsay, the second, of Crawford, temp. Rob. II., confirming a donation of William de Moray, cited by Crawford, MS. Collections, Adv. Lib. 1.1.1.1.1. Euphemia de Lindsey, sp. Sir John Herries of Terregles, desc. of William Heriz, fl. 1059, of Notts. 1.1.1.2. Thomas de Lindsey, 'filio meo .... Jacobo de Lindesey.' 1.1.1.2.1. Jane Lindsey, sp. John de Fregne. 1.1.1.2.1.1. Robert French, the first Laird of Thornydykes. To repeat: Freskin. William Fresekyn "Sheriff of Invernaryn. Hugh Freskin of Duffus = dubh-uisg, meaning "dark water" or "black water." Walter de Moray; great-niece, Joanne de Moray, sp. Archibald, third Earl of Douglas = Dubh-glas, meaning "dark water." Freskin de Moray, sp. Johanna de Strathnavir. Helen de Moray, sp. Reginald de Cheyne. Christian Cheyne, sp. Alexander de Seton de Gordon. Many degrees of cousinship can be deduced from the above, and it may be the case, as was common to these times, that these relationships were based on the families involved being anciently related, and closely so, in ways now lost to us. That Sir James, the second, of Crawford died without male issue, leaving two daughters, coheiresses to his unentailed estates, — 1. Convention, 4 Feb. 1402-3, between 'Domina Mergareta de Lyndesay,' described as "una heredum et senior filia bone memorie quondam Domini Jacobi de Lyndisay, militis, Domini de Bouchan," and widow of the late Sir Thomas Colville, &c., and Sir Henry Preston of Fermartine, concerning the castle of Fyvie [Collections Hist. Aberd., p. 501]. 2. Charter by Sir John Herriesof Terreagles and Euphemia de Lindsay his wife, daughter of Sir James, selling to Sir Henry Preston and Dame Elizabeth their portion of Fermartine.

cvi. ROBERT FRAME: Fulco de Freyne was Seneschal in the County of Kilkenny (under Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, who married the daughter of King Edward the First). 'In 1302, not less than three Royal Letters of Credence were directed to him, as one of the Fideles of Ireland, concerning the state of Scotland and the services required for the war there." His son Fulco, and an Oliver de la Freyne, were in 1335 summoned, as magnates of Ireland, to attend the King's wars in Scotland, and were present at the Battle of Hallidown. [The Deeds of the Earls of Ormond confirm that: Fulco de Freigne was buried, as well as all related Freignes, in the Friary of Carrickbeg, near Carrick-on-Suir. Fulco died in 1349. Robert de Freigne was Seneschal to James, Earl of Ormond, c. 1380, being overseer to all the Earl's lands. In his own right, he received a grant of the manor of 'Chalagh' from Walter [de Sancto, i.e. Brito] Albini' In 1577, Robert Frame of Carrick-on-Suir was a noted tenant of the Earl of Ormond, showing a natural transmutation of Fresnes/Fresmes into Frame (A. D. Weld French, ibid.).

cvii. THE FRESNES OF THORNDYKES: Abridged from: SURNAMES OF FRANCUS, FRANCEIS, FRENCH, ETC., IN SCOTLAND, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE FRENCHES OF THORNYDYKES BY A. D. WELD FRENCH Author of the " Index Armorial," Fellow of the Society of Antiquitaries of Scotland, Member of the Scottish History Society and of the Committee on Heraldry of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. John de Fresne and Jane Lindsey had issue: 'Robert French, the first Laird of Thornydykes on record, received, according to Nisbet, a principal charter from George Dunbar, Earl of March, Lord of Annandale, 'upon his resignation in the Earles hands for a new infeftment to himself and his wife Elizabeth in conjunct fie and the heirs of their bodie, which failyeing to Adame French sone to Robert, and his heirs male, which failyeing to airs whatsomeever.' 'In which charter the Earle designes the said Robert French of Thorndyke Clarissimus consanguineus noster.' (Thornidicke, Thorne Dykes, Thornydyke, or Thorndie Castle or Tower in the district of Thornydykes was a place of defence. A later description gives it besides a manor house, gardens, orchards, dovecots, with estates in tenancy and service of free- holders, mills, mill lands, mill fees, etc. Its location was in the Merse, near the foot of the Lammermoor Hills, in what is now called the parish of Westruther; of old, it was near the religious houses of Wedderlie and Bassendean, in the extended parish of Home; at the Reformation, which began in 1560, it became part of the parish of Gordon. The site of this tower was to the south of Spottiswood, on the northern side of the road leading from Greenlaw to Lauder). Adam French, second Laird of Thornydykes, succeeded his father Robert in the reign of Robert III. [1390-1406]; and Nisbet makes the following allusion to the succession: "This appears by ane other charter upon resignatione of his mother Elizabeth French [who is surnamed French in this but not in the former] in favour of his [Robert's] son and his spouse, Jonet Rule, of the same contents with the former [charter] in the hands of the foresaid George, Earl of March, and Lord of Annandale and Man." In the time of Robert III. is a charter to Andrew French of the lands of Boudington, within the barony of Cunynghame. (THREE STARS OF STANE: This Andrew French is most likely a uncle of the second Laird of Thorndykes, mentioned in the following: "Charter by Robert, Steward of Scotland, Earl of Stratherne and Lord of Conynghame, to Alexander of Blare, his heirs or assignees, of the annualrent of four chalders of oatmeal and one pound of pepper, which Alan le Suche and William of Ferrare, Knights, were accustomed to receive from the lands of Stane and Buretres in Conynghame, then belonging to Andrew Fraunceys: To be held of the Steward and his heirs for giving a pair of gilt spurs, or twelve silver pennies, at Whitsunday yearly, if asked. Dated 10th December 1363.' He was succeeded in Conyngham by 'William Frawncies of le Stane,' who occurs in the charter of the Duke of Albany 24th July, 1417. The family of Frances was connected by intermarriages with the best in the district. It, however, failed in the male line in the beginning of the sixteenth century, when the heiress was married to a younger eon of the Earl of Eglintoun. William Montgomerie of Greenfield, third son of Hugh, first Earl of Eglintoun, married, in 1508, Elizabeth, only daughter and sole heiress of Robert Frances of Stane, with whom he got the barony of Stane, St. Bride's Kirk, and Bourtreehill. The arms of the Stane family, according to the seal of Robert Frances, appended to the contract of marriage between Montgomerie of Greenfield and his daughter, were a mascle between three stars' (William Frazer, Memorials of the Eglintons, 1859]. The three stars of the Stane family may allude to a familial connection to the family of Douglas; it may also be recalled that the same bearings were sported by the family of Fougeres in Yorkshire from the earliest of times). About this period Adam Gordon, William Baird, and Adam French became conspicuous among the border chieftains; for at a meeting held in 1398 between the Commissioners of the Scotch and English marches, appointed to arrange about border difficulties, prisoners, etc., an exception was made to the release of these persons. Robert French, third Laird of Thornydykes, was son of Adam French. He succeeded to the forfeited estates of his father, as it appears by a charter to him from King Robert III. of the lands of Thornydykes in the shire of Berwick, and Pitcokes in the shire of Edinburgh, located near Dunbar Castle, in the barony of Bele and earldom of March, and about seventeen miles from Thornydykes. His eldest son was Robert, who succeeded him; but the Frenches of Frenchland record for him a younger son, James, who is represented as their ancestor. Robert French, the fourth Laird of Thornydykes. On the 22d of October, 1478, 'the Lordis decretis that Johne Hume of Cralin, Robert Fransche of Thornydikis, Johne of Quhitsum, Alexander Hume, Patric Michel, James Fransche, and Jok Lawsoun, sail restore and deliver againe to Dene William Rothuen, chanoun of Driburgh, for twa horssis and twa sadillis, that thai spulzeit fra the said chanoun.' Robert French, fifth Laird of Thornydykes. 'On the 8th of March, 1490, in the action and cause pursued on behalf of our soverign lord and Archibald Boid in Smalem, against Thomas Rutherford, Robert Franche of Thornydike, and others, the lords of council decern and ordain, if it please the said Archibald, that the inquest be changed to a new day.' Adam French, sixth Laird of Thornydykes, had saisine of Thornydykes and Pitcox in 1494. Another record appears of him on the 16th of December, 1503, in the action and cause pursued on behalf of the king against Adam Franch of Thornydikes, and others serving upon a breive of inquest impetrate by Walter Haliburnton by the decease of William Haliburnton of Mertoun, upon land lying in the town of Merton and sheriffdom of Berwick, for their wilful error and unjust deliverance that the said lands were held in blenchferme. Their decreet is therefor held as of no avail, force, or effect in time to come. There is a certain amount of suspicion that this Adam French may have retired, and entered the church; for in the year 1526, as hereafter stated, he was succeeded in the estates of Thornydykes by Robert, the seventh Laird; and in this same year you find Sir Adam Frenche prebendary of the Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity. It very much appears that Chaplain Sir Adam Frenche, sixth laird of Thorndykes, was one and the same person as Chaplain Sir Adam Frame, who is often cited as one of the first ever with the surname Frame, who witnesses here he for the same Walter Haliburton, case previously noted, and this time recorded in the Protocol Book of James Young, 1485-1489 as Chaplain Sir Adam Frame: 'Instrument narrating that Humphrey Culquhone of Luss passed to the dwelling-house of Walter Haliburtone, in the town of Leith, and there made this statement: "You know that I have set that land in tack to you for an annualrent of ten merks, and it has been decreed by the lords of council that you ought to make me an annual payment, I finding pledges to keep you scatheless of the payment of any other annualrent furth of the foresaid land; I have found you John Burgun, burgess of Edinburgh, as a pledge, with whom you are content; and now I have lacked annually ten merks for the seven terms past from the date of the said decreet of the lords of council, extending to 35 merks, and for the lands of Kelloure and Mensklatemure five merks, extending in all to the sum of forty merks. "Of this sum of forty merks the said Humphrey asked payment from the said Walter, and when he could not have payment, as he asserted, he protested for remedy of law. Done in the said dwelling-house, 10 Feb 1488/9. Witnesses: William Maw, Humphrey Layng, Patrick McGregour, Humphrey Douglas, sirs Gilbert Stevinsone and Adam Frame, chaplains, and Patrick Barry, notary.' Children of the Sixth Laird. First, Robert French, who succeeds. Second, John French, who is referred to in the Regist. Secreti Sigilli as follows: "Ane lettre maid to Johnne Franche, bruthir to umquhile (deceased) Robert Franche of Thornydykis, his airis and assignais, ane or ma of the gift of the Releif of the landis of Thornydykis, and Petcokis with partis and pendiclis thairof, and all thair pertinentis, and of all vthir landis quhilkis pertenit to the said vmquhile Robert aucht and pertening to our souerane Lady for sesing gevin or to be gevin to Adam Franche, sone and air of the said umquhile Robert of the samyn. And als of the gift of the manage of the said Adam, sone and air foirsaid, and failzeing of him be deceis vn- marut the manage of ony vthir air or airis, male or female, of the said umquhile Robert that sal happin to succeid to him in his landis and heretage with all proffittis of the said manage, with power, etc. At Edinburgh the XXV. day of Januar, the yeir of God one thousand five hundred and forty-eight." Third, Alexander Frenche.* At Edinburgh, on the 20th of February, 1539, the name of Alexander Frenche appears among the witnesses to a charter of Jacobus Striveling de Keir, which was confirmed by the queen on the 18th of April, 1550. Fourth, George Franche. His name appears as a witness to the charter of the 8th of June, 1540. He was on the side of the Kers in the feud existing be- tween them and the Scotts, and was designed of Thornydykes on Dec. 3, 1549, in a summons at the instance of Walter Scott of Branxholme.

cviii. *CADDER: Alexander Frenche provides a link to the Frenche/Frame families of Cadder: Letter to Sir John Stirling of Keir, 1529: 'Ane Letter of Gift maid to Johne Striviling of Keir, knycht, Ms aires and assignais, ane or mair, of ye manage of Jonet Striviling, dochter and aire of umquhile Andro Striviling of Cadder, &c. failzeing, &c. with all profittis, &c. Apud Edinburgh xxii day of Julii ye zer forsaid.' (Privy Seal Record, Book viii. fol. 69). [The family of Stirlings of Cadder were a branch of the Comyn family]. Decreet in favour of Janet Stirling, Heiress of Cadder, Octauo Julii, Anno 1535. 8. July: 'heritor of ye landis and lardsehip of Gadder, aganis Johnne Striveling of ye Kere. Knycht, and James Striueling his soun:— That quhare ye said Johnne havand hir marriage, and ye dispositioun of hir ward landis, causit ane pretendit matrimony to be maid betuix ye said James and her' (Acts of the Lords of Council and Session, Book VI., folio 165.) The Stirlings of Calder or Cadder, whose name appears in the Ragman's Roll, 1279: John Striveling or Stirling of Craigbernard [Craigbarnet] is witness to a deed in 1468. Kincaid, Laird of Kincaid of Stirlingshire, for his valiant service in recovering of the Castle of Edinburgh from the English, in the time of Edward I., via made constable of the said castle, and his posterity enjoyed that office for a long period, carrying the castle in their armorial bearings in memory thereof to this diy. here is an old broad sword belonging to a branch of the family, upon which ire the arms, gules on a fesse ermine, between two mullets in-chief, or. The concentration of Frenche/Frame families in Cambusnethan strongly points to a shared ancestry: Cambusnethan Parish Communion Roll 1640 Part 4 - parish Netherton ...... William French/Margaret Bryce; John French/Marion French; James French/Isobel Morrison ....... parish Pather ...... Thomas Smellie/Marion Cleland; John Frame/Janet Smellie. (Smellie = Smillie?). Andrew Frame is mentioned in a testament here of 1596 (Register of Testaments for Hamilton and Campsie, the district including the parishes of Hamilton, Dalserf, Govan, Gorbals, East Kilbride, and Shotts, in the county of Lanarkshire; the parish of Campsie in the County of Sterlingshire; and Renfrew, in Renfrewshire (British Record Society, Scottish Section, 1898). Cambusnethan was also associated with the Lindseys: "Joannes Lyndesay curatus de Cambusnethane subscribes the testament of Lady Cambusnetbane", Aug. 21. 1552 (Com. Нес. of Glas).

cix. ASSOCIATIONS: What appears most evident is a long-standing association between the families of Brus, Hamilton, Lindsey, and Frenche, dating in England, it can be suggested, from the common Yorkshire links above descibed: In a testament dated 12/6/1564 [British Record Society, ibid.], Robert Frame is mentioned as being of Torrens, parish Kilbryde. (His spouse was Margaret Abercorne, possibly related to 'Lord, James erle of Abircorne'- an executor of James Hammiltoun of Garen, obit. 1610). "KILBRYDE is a great pariih lying betwixt the parishes of Avendale to the foutheaft, Blantyre [and Cambuflang to the north, Carmunock and Egleihome to the fouth. This baronie and paroch was given by King Robert Bruce, as ane part of the manage portion of his daughter Marjorie, to Walter the Great Stewart of Scotland (his steward was a Lindsey - M.S); and heth been alwayes reckoned fince as a part of the Principalitie; and the feverall families therein are faid to be old, yett I hear not of any writts older among them than from John Earle of Carrick, grandchild to King Robert, thereafter called Robert the Third. This great parish (anciently two) was called Kilbryde and Torrence, but long fince united in one, and now called the pariih of Kilbryde. In it ther is ane hanfome church, feated in a village of that name (Descriptions of the sheriffdoms of Lanark and Renfrew, William Hamilton, John Fullartoun, PP.7-19, 1831) ........ The castle of Dunrod was situated in the paiish of Innerkype, Renfrewshire, and appears to have been very early possessed by this branch of the Lindsay (Ure, History of Kilbryde). In a testament of 3/12/1603 [British Record Society, ibid.], James Frame is mentioned as being the late husband of Isobel Cooper in Dalserf: DALSERFE - 'It heth intirely belonged to the family of Hamilton fince the year 1312, that they got ane grant of it from King Robert Bruce, upon the Refignation of John Comyn; fince which tyme, there has much of it been given out by them to gentlemen of their name, defcended of their family' (Descriptions ibid.). Similarly, a testament from the same source, dated 18/4/1618, names a Andro Frame in Mylneburne, parish Dalserf: "Milbourn, alfo of the name of Hamilton, who heth a convenient houfe at the Altoun, not far from Deferfe. There are fome other finall heritors in this paroch, and all of them hold of the Dukes of Hamilton" (Descriptions ibid.). Also from the same source, a testament of 12/4/1676 names Jonet Frame as spouse of John Hamilton, in Meadowhead, parish Hamilton. "HAMILTON - This lordihip was anciently the propertie of the Kings of Scotland, there being feverall old charters be Alexander the Second and Alexander the Third, kings of Scotland, dated 'Apud caftrum noftrum de Cadichou,' call'd afterwards the caftle of Hamilton. The precife tyme when this lordship was given to the Duke of Hamilton his prediceflors is not clear; but there is ane chartor extent, granted by King Robert Bruce, in the 7th year of his reigne, 1314, to Sir Walter, the fone of Sir Gilbert de Hamilton, of this baronie and the tenendry of Adelwood, which formerly belonged to his father, Sir Gilbert, and heth, without any interruption, continued in that familie fince ...... This lordihip and baronie of Hamilton and Edelwood, togither with the baronies of Machanihyre [i.e Dalserf - M.S] Kinneil, Harbor (Larbert ?), Brunadie, Alcathie, Hamilton's Ferme and Coribaiket [Corsbasket] were all ereoled in one lordihip, to be call'd the lordihip of Hamilton in all tyme thereafter, in anno 1445" (Descriptions ibid.). John Hamilton of Haggs is executor in the test. of John Franche of Thowhill, 'maid at Muffilburgh ........ viij day of Sept. 1547).'

cx. THORNDYKES CONTINUED: Robert French, seventh Laird of Thornydykes, succeeded his father, Adam. 'Came in possession of the estates, according to Chancery Books, in 1526'; found among the barons and lairds of Berwickshire in 1530; on May 20, 1538, he is on an assize in apprising of lands in Graden, in Berwickshire; mentioned again on the 10th of April, 1546; and appears to have died before the 25th of January, 1548. Robert French married Anne Hume, a member of the patriotic, poetical, and religious family living at Polwarth, near by in the same shire. Her aunt, Margaret Hume, was lady abbess of North Berwick. Her brother, Patrick, the fifth baron of Polwarth, "left specimens of poetry which seem to have been popular in the court of James VI., to which he was attached. Children of the Seventh Laird, First, Adam French, his heir who succeeded. Second, Henry French, who evidently went to the north of Scotland very early in life; for he is found at Orkney on the 28th of October in the year 1544, and then among the many witnesses to a charter of Bishop Robert Reid to the cathedral church of Orkney, where it was dated. Third, Patrick French. His name appears among the witnesses to the marriage contract of the year 1549. He is mentioned again as a witness, with his son, James French, to a charter dated at the burgh of Haddington, on the 31st of March, 1568, of Patrick Cockburn, prebendary of Petcokkis, belonging to the Collegiate Church of Dunbar, wherein he grants in gratitude and in free farm to Alexander Cockburn, his own brother (sons of Cockburn of Langton, county Berwick), and Alisone Vaus, his wife, one acre of arable land in the said prebend, at Freirland, in the western part of the territory of Dunbar, one acre in the northern part of the prebend of Beltoun, as well as other land, including common of pasturage in the southern part of the village of Dunbar, in the constabulary of Haddington, in the viscounty of Edinburgh. Fourth, Peter French. On Nov. 13, 1552, "Queen Mary pardons Adam French," eighth "Laird of Thornydykes, James French, and Peter French, for the attacking and killing of William Halyburton of Gogar." Fifth, Hue French. About ten miles from Thorny- dykes, the ancestral home of the Frenches, was the Abbey of Dryburgh, which was particularly identified with the family of Erskines. Three of this name were here commendators, and probably John Erskine (who afterwards became Lord Erskine) held the same title. Hue French was in the service of this lord prior to the year 1565 (when he became Earl of Mar), during which period he had an annual income conferred upon him by John Menteith of Kers and Al- wath (with the consent of Robert Menteith, his father), out of the lands and barony of Alwath, in the county of Stirling. On the 19th of December, 1567, the chamberlain of Dryburgh Abbey reports "that Hue French remained there sick after my lord's departure." Apparently, he was a pensioner of Dryburgh Abbey, as a reference is made to the pension due him for the year 1573. Hue French died in the month of October of the year 1574; and his will appears to have been given up on the 25th of the preceding month, in the house of John Gillespy, within the burgh of Stirling, in the presence of John Gillespy, John Wilson, Patrick Bauchap, and John French, his brother's son. It confirms the royal patronage, refers to some nephews, nieces, and a half brother and sister. By this will he appoints Christopher Murray, Constable of Stirling Castle, and Adam French, Laird of Thornydykes, as his executors. Sixth, Alexander French, who appears as a witness, on July 2, 1567, to several tacks by John Lermonth, vicar of the parish church of Gogar, of the diocese of St. Andrews. He is mentioned in the year 1569 as one of the ex- ecutors of his brother Henry French, and is found again as a witness as late as the year 1573. Seventh, Robert French, who is called in the year 1569 brother german of Henry French, and is sup- posed to have been the minister who lived at this time in Berwickshire. There is a record of him at Eccles in 1567, at Lammas in 1571; and after the death of Sir Andrew Turnbull (of the Bedrule family) the vicar of Greenlaw, King James conferred upon him on April 23, 1573, that vicarage. Eighth, Jonet French, who is mentioned in the wills of her brothers Henry and Hue French. She mar- ried first Robert Watson of Yiflie, in Westruther, county Berwick, who appears to have died before February 5, 1546. He left a son of the same name, to whom his uncle Henry French refers as his sister's son. The record of the year 1546 shows 'that she was then married to Robert Cranstoun of Broxmouth,' in the parish of Dunbar, in Haddingtonshire. On Sept. 25, 1550, Janet French renounces her right of conquest and life rent of the third part of the lands of Iverlie, in the parish of Westruther, in favor of her son Robert Watson. Ninth, Margaret French, who married first George Nesbit of Raclewcht (near Thornydykes). The following is the agreement for the marriage: 'The auchtene day of May, in the yeir of God James fourty and nyne yeris, it is appoyntit aggreit contrakkit and finalie endit betuix thir honourable men and parteis, that ar to say Alexander Franche, Johnne Franche, brethir to vmquhile Robert Franche, lard of Thorniedikis, Robert Rankyn, Johnne Pacok, Johne Boyd, Archibald Burnle, Johnne Bell, and Margreit Franche on that ane part, and George Nesbit in the Raclewcht on that vther part, that the said George Nesbit godwilland sail compleit and fulfill the haly band of matrimony with the said Margreit Franche, in maner effect and forme as efter followis: That is for to say the saidis Alexander Franche and Johne Franche for thair partis of the completing of the said band of matrimony betuix the saidis George Nesbit and the said Margreit Franche bindis and oblissis thame thair airis executouris and assignayis conjunctlie and severalie, be the fathis and trewthis of thair bodeis and be the tennour of this present writting bindis thame for to content and pay the sowm of ane hundreth pundis of gud and vsuale.' Adam French, eighth Laird of Thornydykes, the eldest son, was a minor on the death of his father. John French, his uncle, had the gift of the relief of the estates, as well as that of his marriage. He succeeded to his inheritance before April, 1549. On the 1 8th of May of that year he is mentioned as Adam French of Thornydykes, and again on the 13th of November, 1552. On the 9th of December, 1552, the Register of Acts and Decreets shows that he was summoned in an action as the son and heir of his deceased father, Robert French. On the 8th of February, 1555-56, Queen Mary grants a charter to Adam Franche of Thornydikes, and Margaret Hoppringill, his spouse, of the lands of Thornydikes, with manor place, mills, etc., in Berwickshire, and of a tenandry of the land in the toun of Petcokkis, in the constabulary of Haddington, on the resignation thereof by the said Adam, personally, in the hands of the queen. 23d of February, 1582-83. Action at the instance of Margaret Hoppringill, relict of Adam Frenche of Thornydykis, cessioner and assignee donatrix in and to the ward lands of the mains of East Gordoun and mill of the same, lying in the sheriffdom of Berwick, against Cuthbert Cranstoun of Thirlstanemains. Children of the Eighth Laird. First, Robert French, who succeeded. Second, James French. He is mentioned in 1569 as the second son, and Hue French calls him in the year 1574 his nephew. He was appointed by his mother in 1582 as executor to her will. In 1583 he instituted proceedings against Andrew Home, abbot of Jedburgh, and died s.p. soon after his brother Robert. Third, John French. He was a nephew of Hue French, who was "Controller of Horse" for King James VI. On the 25th of September, 1574, he was present at Stirling at the making and giving up of this uncle's will. His name is mentioned again by his mother on the 19th of March, 1582; and possibly he may have been the Royal Palefrenier of this name who had the grants of escheats. One of these gifts of the crown came as late as the year 1588-89. Fourth, Alexander French, He succeeded as tutor or guardian of Thornidykes on the death of his brother John. He was a turbulent character, mixed up with the political troubles of the Earl of Bothwell, and committed other lawless acts, and finally came to an untimely end on March 13, 1612. One of his sisters appears to have married Wicht, and had a son, James Wicht. Fifth, Thomas French. He is mentioned as early as the year 1574. If judged by the many escheats and other marks of royal favours conferred upon him over a series of years, they would indicate he was a favorite with his sovereign. On Nov. 4, 1595, he was appointed to the "office of only keeper of his majesty's outher chamber door," with a yearly salary and allowance for his livery, which position he appears to have held for many years. Sixth, Margaret French, who is named in the will of her mother, Lady Thornydykes. Seventh, Christiane French, who is also mentioned in the will of her mother. Her name is also found on the nth of January, 1593, in the will of Margaret Trumbell, the first wife of Robert French, ninth Laird of Thornydykes, her brother. Eighth, Jonet French, who is referred to on the 25th of September, 1574, in the will of her uncle, Hue French. It can be noted that Adam French, eighth Laird of Thornydykes makes mention in a charter dated 29/3/1577 of his half-brother and sister, David and Janet Seton. Robert French, the ninth Laird of Thornydykes, succeeded his father, Adam French, and is stated to have entered heir after the death of his mother in 1583. He is referred to in the will of his uncle, Hue French, who died in 1574, and mentioned again as the son of the late Adam French on the 16th of December, 1578. He is called Robert French of Thornydykes, on Nov. 13, 1587; and in the will of his mother, Margaret Hoppringill, who died the 21st of March, 1582, she refers to him as her eldest son. 'He was juror on the service of Robert Lauder of that Ilk, on the 7th of April, 1584.' Robert French died in 1603, and appears to have been the last tenant of the king of the direct line of the Frenches of Thornydykes. He married prior to the 14th of June, 1589, as his first wife, Margaret, only daughter and heiress of the late William Turnbull, Lord of Bedreule, in the vis- county of Roxburgh. Her mother was Margaret, daughter of Sir John Home of Coldenknowes; and her uncle was James Home of Coldenknowes. She died the 20th of June, 1593. In her will of the nth of June of the same year it is found that her executors were "Robert Frensche of Thornidykis, hir spous, Williame Home in Bassindene, and Mr. Thomas Cranstoun of Morestoun." She refers also to "my sone, his appeirand air," who must have soon after died, and makes bequests to 'Alexander, Thomas, Barbara, Elizabethe, Agnes, and Issobell Cranstounes sones and dochteris lauchfull to the aforesaid Mr. Thomas Cranstoun.' The second wife of Robert French was Margaret, daughter of Mark Home of Hardiesmylne, and sister of William Home, of the same place. His wife survived him, as appears by a record of the 7th of February, 1605; and by this marriage he had all his surviving children: First, Adam French, his heir. Second, Jean French, who married John Cranston, brother of William, Lord Cranston, and succeeded with her sisters as heirs portioners of her father and her brother. Third, Alison French, who married, first, Thomas Cranston of Huntliewood, and, second, William Marjoribanks of Stainerig. Fourth, Margaret French, who married Robert Brownfield of Totrig, county Berwick. Adam French, tenth Laird of Thomydykes, son of Robert French, the ninth Laird, and Margaret Home, was born in the year 1599, and was baptized on the 12th of November, 1601. On the death of his father in 1603, being a minor, he became a ward of the crown. His uncle, James, not being able to dis- charge the administration of his nephew's affairs, made choice of their mutual friend and kinsman, Sir Johnne Home of North Berwick; and "King James VI. on the 3d of October, 1603, presented Sir John Home of North Berwick, with the gift of the ward and nonentry duties of the lands of Thornydikes, manor place, houses, etc., and of the lands of Petcoks, since the death of Robert Frenche of Thornydykes, and until the entry of the rightful heir, with the gift of the marriage of Adam Frensche, son and apparent heir to the said Robert." It appears, however, that Sir John Home held only nominally the position of donator; but the active duties were performed by James French until his decease, when he was suc- ceeded by his brother, John French. After his de- mise Sir John Home assumed the active duties of donator, as we ascertain by his sending Adam French to the school at Haddington, to be placed under the charge of William Bowrie, the schoolmaster of that place. At the time of the forcible abduction and marriage of Adam French, William Home of Hardiesmylne, his uncle on the maternal side, took him away from the house of William Bowrie, with the plausible excuse of visiting Margaret Haitlie, his "guidame and sisteris," but with the real intention of marrying him, and that without the consent of Sir John Home, the donator to the gift of his ward and marriage. From Haddington this uncle carried him to Rymmeltonelaw in the Merse, the dwelling- house of Alexander Cranstoun of Moristoun. From thence he was conveyed, by William Home, Alexander Cranstoun, John Cranstoun, brother of William Lord Cranstoun, and William Moffet, to the place of East Nesbit, and therefrom out of the realm of Scotland to the town of Berwick, in England, where he was secretly married, on Nov. 16, 1615, to Jean, daughter of Sir Patrick Chirnesyde of East Nisbet. In consequence of this abduction and marriage a trial ensued on Nov. 8, 1616, of which Pitcairn gives a long account. The parties interested were required to keep the peace under heavy penalties, and the marriage of Adam French to Jean Chirnesyde was eventually gifted by the king ; but there was no issue by it, and the young husband died in wardship in February, 1617, which brought to an end the ancient direct male line of the Frenches of Thornydykes. The estates of Thornydyke and Petcoke remained in the hands of the crown until the 26th of January, 1619, when they were given by a charter of King James to Adam Frenche of Frenchland, in Dumfriesshire; the pedigree of his family showing he was a descendant of Robert French, third Laird of Thornydyke, who died some time prior to the year 1478. This Adam French of Frenchland did not long retain possession of the estates; for in the year 1633 he conveyed them to George Brown (the second son of the Laird of Colston), who is afterwards called the Laird of Thornydyke, and the Frenches of Frenchland thereafter only designed themselves as lineal representatives of the Frenches of Thornydyke.'

cxi. A WELSH CONNECTION: 'Walterston (i.e. Walter's town), derives its name from Walter de Lacy, who held it soon after the Norman conquest. Walterston is a component part of the great manor of Ewyas Lacy, which was held after the Lacys by the Verdon family, of whom Theobald possessed it at the close of the thirteenth- century [Powell's History of Wales]. In this parish is situated Alterynnis, the ancient seat of the Cecil family. The name has undergone various alterations in its orthography. — At an early date it was written Sitsylt, afterwards Sicelt, Seycil, Seisel, Cicil, and at length Cecil. In the year 1015, Llewelyn ap Sitsylt (i.e. the son of Sitsylt), raised a great army against Aedan, who had obtained by force the principality of North Wales, and slew him, with his four sons, in battle. This Llewelyn was descended from the kings of Wales, by his mother's side, whose name was Trawst: she was daughter of Elise, second son of Anarawd, who was eldest son of Roderick the Great, who reigned over all Wales, from A. D. 843, to 876. In the year 1091, Robert Sitsylt, a descendant of that family, now excluded from the throne, was one of those who joined Fitzhamon in the [Welsh] expedition. He was rewarded with a portion of the conquered lands, and afterwards married the heiress of Alterynnis, by whom he acquired that property, together with large possessions in the county of Glocester. He had issue Sir James Sitsylt, baron of Beauport (since Beaupere), in Glamorganshire. James was succeeded by his son, John Sitsylt, who, after the death of his father, engaged in the same wars with Roger Earl of Hereford, and Constable of England. He married Maud, daughter of de Frene of Moccas [safely assumed to be Walter - M.S] in this county, and had issue, Eustace, who married Eleanor, daughter of Sir Walter Pembridge, knt. and had issue, two sons, Baldwyn and John, and four daughters, one of whom was wife of Sir Thomas Fitzneale. Sir Baldwyn was knighted by Henry II. and had issue by his first wife, who was daughter of Maurice de Brompton, five sons and two daughters, viz. Gerald, Eustace, Henry, John, Walter, Catherine, who married Hugh ap Meredith Muredake [Meurdac? - M.S] and Eleanor, who married Walter Wallis. By his second wife, Margery, daughter of Sir Stephen Radnor, knt. Baldwyn had also issue four sons, Stephen, Roger, Hugh, and David, and three daughters, of whom Mawde, the eldest, was a nun; Joan, the second, married John de Solers, and Ann, the third daughter, married Owen ap Meredyth. Baldwyn gave lands, now called Kingston Grange, together with freedom of common and pasture in his woods, &c. and other privileges, to the abbey of Dore. He joined with Henry II. in his wars against the Welsh, and was slain at the siege of the castle of Cardiff. Gerald, his eldest son succeeded, and married Mabel, daughter of Sir William Moigne, knt. and had issue three sons and three daughters: 1. Gerald, who died an infant; 2. Robert, who married and had children ; 3. Owen, who became a monk in the abbey of Dore; Catherine, who was first the wife of Sir Griffin ap Yoreford, next the wife of David ap Evan, and lastly the wife of Geffrey, son of Sir Walter Bret, knt. Ann, the second daughter of Gerald Sitsylt, was wedded to Robert, son of Richard Bromwich: and Ellen, the third daughter was wife of John, who according to Dr. Powell, was father of Sir John Abrahal, knt. but, according to other authorities, was son of Sir Richard Abrahal, knt. Robert, son of Gerald, succeeded his father, and married Alice, daughter of Sir Robert Tregoz, knt. by whom he had issue four sons, viz. 1. James, 2. Gerald, 3. Thomas, and 4. Baldwyn; also two daughters, Margaret and Elizabeth' [John Duncumb, Collections towards the history and antiquities of the county of Hereford, PP. 304-8, 1812].

cxii. CADDER AND CORSBASKET: When a later Thomas Frame married a Janet Hogg – the Hogg surname aappears in Cadder from as early as 1665; the Hogg coat of arms includes three boars' heads - it would seem most likely that Thomas married some degree of cousin who shared a common ancestry within the Fresne/Frenche family of Thornidikes and Frenchland. n.b. The Lindsay family held the castle of Corsbasket [Crossbasket], and land about, of the Hamiltons [Robinson's Ind. 125].

cxiii. THE WALLACES: The association of Fresne with Thornidikes and Frenchland seems significant. They shared this abode with the family of Wallace (Anglo-Norman Valens): Wallace of Asholme, Knaresdale, and Featherstone Castle, Northumberland, and also to that of French of Frenchland and Thorndykes, in Scotland - the arms of these Scottish Wallaces, quartering those of Lindsay of Craigie. This Wallace family held extensively in Northumberland - In 1550, Henry Wallace is enrolled in a MS. in the British Museum, as one of the gentlemen inhabiting the Huddle Marches in Northumberland. They seem strongly connected to the Fresnes/Frenche family - John Wallace, Esq. long resident at Bedcop House, Kent, and in Golden Square, baptised 26 March, 1733 [2nd son of Thomas Wallace, of Asholme and Brampton, and only brother to the attorney-general], was an eminent contractor In London, in the commission of the peace fur the co. of Middlesex, and treasurer to the New Westminster Lying-in Hospital He married 6 March, 1764, Elizabeth, only child of Robert French (son and heir of David French, of Frenchland, M.P. for the borough of New Galloway, in the Scotch parliament of 1702, and lineal representer of the Frenches of Frenchland and Thornidykes, in Annandale and the Merse), by Elizabeth, dau. of Christopher Hull, of Brampton.

cxiv. THE HAMILTONS OF MILNEBURNE: There was also an obviously strong connection between the 'later' Fresne/French family and the Hamiltons of Milnburne: February 9 -— Decreet pronounced Dec. 1668.— 'David French, as having comprised the estate of umquhil [deceased] Robert Hamilton of Milnburne, in anno 1667, and thereupon charged the Duke and Dutchess of Hamilton, superiors of the said lands, to infeft and sease him therein, — intents a summons for mails and duties against the tenants of Milneburne. At the calling of the action compears Mr. William Hamilton, advocate, and craves to be admitted for my Lord Belheaven, and his cautioners, who stand infeft in a part of the lands of Milnburne, ay and while the payment to them of the sum of 10,000 merks. He declared likewise that he compears for John Hamilton, bailie of Arran, and craved that he might be preferred to the lands wherein he stood infeft. In like manner compeared Sir George Lockhart, Mr. John Cuninghame, and Mr. John Harper, advocates, as procurators for the Duke and Dutchess of Hamilton, as superiors of the said lands, and for Mr. Robert Black of Silvertounhill, the donatar to the ward and non-entries of the said lands; and for clearing of the dispute underwritten, they produced the charge of horning given at the instance of the said David French, pursuer, together with an instrument upon the back of the same, bearing the said Duke to have offered to have obeyed the charge, upon such satisfaction of composition as is usual in such cases, if not, protested that any useless procedure therein might be void and null' (Mungo Ponton Brown, William Maxwell Morison, Supplement to the Dictionary of the decisions of the Court of Session, p. 450, 1836).

cxv. ARMS: 'On the arms of the seventeen families of French mentioned by Burke are quite a variety of armorial bearings, the dolphin and fleur-de-lis being most conspicuous, and the changes from these are doubtless somewhat owing to alliances with other families. Of the seventeen arms, eight have dolphins on escutcheons or as crests; three have fleurs-de-lis as crests or as part of the crest; one has a fleur-de-lis as crest, as well as on the escutcheon; while, on the latter, two have a lion rampant, two have a wolf, and two have boars' heads.

cxvi. HONOURS: Of the name and honours of the house, a few of may be here alluded to. *Pierre du Fresnay, ecuyer, was a celebrated hero of France in the fourteenth-century. Claud du Fresnes is mentioned by Anselm with distinction. Laine, in his 'Archives Genealogiques de France,' notices 'Seigneurs des Fresnes' as long settled in Artois, and afterwards amongst the nobility of Champagne and Picardy; while Caurcelles, in his genealogical work, records, as existing in later years, the following ennobled individuals of the surnames, De la Fresnaye,' Marquis de St. Aignan; du Fresne, Baron de Villiers; Fraine, Compte de la Villegentier, Baron, Pair de France,' etc. Nor has the name in that country been less promising in the walks of literature. In the sixteenth-century, Jean Vaquelin de la Fresnay was an eminent satiric poet; in the seventeenth- century, Charles du Cange du Fresne was a laborious writer and profound scholar; Charles Riviere du Fresney was the author of many dramatic works at the close of the same century, and the enumeration might be considerably increased if requisite' (A. D. Weld French, ibid.).

CONCLUSION: Conclusions are difficult in genealogy, for definitive answers to all that we seek are hidden from us by so many factors, yet I think it most reasonable to assume that the Frames of Scotland and the Freames of Gloucestershire derived from the family of Ferte-Fresnel, in one of the manners suggested.

c. Michael Stanhope 2009, 2010

contact:  michaelstanhope1@hotmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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