Rainald (Balliol) de Balliol (abt. 1060 - aft. 1121)

Born about 1060 in Bailleul-en-Gouffern, Orne, arrondisement Argentan, Normandie [uncertain]

Husband of Amieria (Montgomery) de Balliol — married 1086 in Bailleul, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

Problems/Questions Profile manager: John Atkinson [send private message]

Biography

Note: There are several families that are given the modern name of Balliol (or variations) but although they have the same name they are not at all related and originate from different areas of northern France, where there were thirteen villages named Bailleul.^[1]

Ancestry

Rainald de Balliol (de Bailleul or de Balgiole) was from Bailleul-en-Gouffern, Orne, arrondisement Argentan, in Normandie.^[2]

He is almost always listed as Rainaldus in primary sources, but as Renaud, Reynold or Reginald in secondary sources.

His parents are never named in any of the primary sources and those that name Guy (or Guido) de Bailleul and Mabel Talvas d'Alencon as his parents are confusing the Balliols from Picardy, to whom Rainald was not related. ^[3] It is also possible that neither Guy or his wife Mabel ever existed.

Birth date

Rainald's birth date is not known but given he was Sheriff of Shropshire by 1086 and survived until at least 1119 (see below), a rough birth date of around 1060 would be reasonable.

Some sources^[4] claim that he was at the Battle of Hastings, which would mean his birth date would have to be earlier and a Renaud de Bailleul does appear in the Dives Roll.^[5] However this is a much later list of the names of men supposed to be in the invasion of England, from 1866 and doesn't cite any sources and can't be considered reliable.

He may be one and the same as Pierre, Knight of Balliol and Fecamp who contributed one ship and twenty men-at-arms at Hastings, or he may be the brother or son of Pierre. Renard's descendants also included several Bishops of Lincoln." ^[4]

Sheriff of Shropshire

At some time between 1083 and 1086, Rainald was appointed Sheriff (or Vicecomes) of Shropshire. In 1083 Warin 'the Bald' the previous Sheriff was still alive signing the Charter for the foundation of Shrewsbury Abbey by Earl Roger de Montgomery on 24 February that year.^[6]

However by the Domesday survey of 1086 Rainald is definitely named as Vicecomes.

Marriage

At about the same time Rainald also married Warin's widow, Amieria, who was a kinswoman, perhaps a niece (nepta) of Roger de Montgomery.^[7] He also probably became guardian of her son Hugh, who was almost certainly a minor when his father died.^[8]

1086 Domesday Book Mention

"Renard de Bailleul, may have been mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. ^[4]

As a "Marcher Lord" (on the Welsh border or "marches"), Earl Robert Montgomery II was nearly as powerful as the Norman king, who ruled from far-away Winchester. ^[9]

As his Sheriff and nephew-in-law, Rainald de Bailol was a leading nobleman in north-west England in the 11th Century. ^[9]

Issue

Rainald de Bailleul and Aimera had two sons:^[7]

1. Rainald II, who probably succeeded his father in his Norman territories;
2. William, who died before 1144-1150. This is almost certainly not William de Knightley.

Research Notes

Knightley Manor

"Knightley is Cbenistelei in Domesday Book, and was then a manor of Earl Roger de Montgomery, and under him it was held by Rainald de Bailleul, the Norman baron of Bailleul en Gouffern. According to an honoured custom amongst the heralds and genealogists of earlier years the Domesday tenant Rainald was greeted as without doubt the ancestor of the Knightleys who were to succeed him. In an illuminated space he sat as 'Sir Rainald Knightley of Knightley' contentedly at the head of the many shielded pedigree which is the pride of the house, and in time gave his name in 1819 to Sir Rainald Knightley, the first and last peer of the name. But in our own day the stemfather, as the Germans have it, of a long genealogy holds place compared with which the presidency of a Central American republic is stability itself. Eyton's researches forced Rainald to take Bailleul for his surname in place of Knightley, and Mr. Round, with the French cartularies in hand, closes to Rainald the career of an ancestor by killing him off without issue and providing him a nephew Hamelin for next heir."^[10]

1. Guy-Bernard de Baliol, born in 1068 (aka Barnard). Bernard/Barnard inherited his father's titles and lands. Bernard supported King Stephen in the 1135-1154 AD civil war and was captured with him at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141 but escaped or was ransomed. He ended his days as lord of Bywell Castle in Northumberland and some say Sir Rainald also died there after 1086. Others say he died at Knightley Manor in Stratfordshire.

1. William / Willem born in 1075. William inherited the Manor of Knightley in Stratfordshire from his mother (it was a Montgomery fief but Rainald & Aimera ran it).

Sources

1. ↑ Beam, Amanda G. The political ambitions and influences of the Balliol dynasty, c. 1210-1364, [thesis] 2005.
2. ↑ Loyd, Lewis C. The origins of some Anglo-Norman families, edited by Charles Travis Clay & David C. Douglas, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing co., 1999. p. 11-12. Originally published as Vol CIII of The Publications of the Harleian Society, 1951.
3. ↑ http://earthfriendarts.tripod.com/Baliol.htm; cites: "Pedigrees of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants," Vol. III, by J. Orton Bock and Timothy Field Beard
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Summary history of the early Baliol (Bailleul) family. earthfriendsarts.tripod.com
5. ↑ Camp, Anthony J. My ancestors came with the Conqueror: Those who did and some of those who probably did not. Baltimore: Genealogical publishing company, 2008. Originally published by The Society of Genealogists, London, 1990.
6. ↑ Eyton, Antiquities of Shropshire, vol 7, p, 204
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Keats-Rohan, Katherine S.B., Domesday People: A prosopography of persons occurring in English documents 1066-1166 - Book 1 Domesday book., Rochester, New York: Boydell Press, 1999. p. 348.
8. ↑ Eyton, Antiquities of Shropshire, vol 7, p. 205.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1}
10. ↑ The Ancestor; a quarterly review of county and family history, heraldry and antiquities, pg 1-2 [1]

See also:

• http://earthfriendarts.tripod.com/Baliol.htm
• http://fabpedigree.com/s048/f098780.htm
• http://www.genealogieonline.nl/en/west-europese-adel/I51841.php
• http://www.afn.org/~lawson/d0002/g0000002.html#I3514
• http://www.archive.org/stream/ancestorquarterl02londuoft/ancestorquarterl02londuoft_djvu.txt