Reginald (Dunstanville) de Dunstanville (abt. 1110 - 1175)

Born about 1110 in Dunstanville, Kent, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1 Jul 1175 at about age 65 in Chertsey, Surrey, England

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Biography

Reginald fitz Roy, earl of Cornwall (d. 1175) was the illegitimate son of Henry I and Sibylla, apparently sometimes known as Lucia or Adela, daughter of Robert Corbet, who later married to Herbert fitz Herbert.^[1]

Reginald was only once called Rainaldus de Dunstanivilla, by the history writer Orderic Vitalis in 1137, and never in his own charters. Reginald later numbered members of the Dunstanville family among his intimates, but the nature of the link between him and them is never stated. He is named as son of King Henry by Orderic Vitalis and the Chronicle of Gervase names "fratre suo Reginaldo comite Cornubiæ" as one of the main supporters of Matilda. ^[2][3]

He is therefore a different person than the Reginald de Dunstanville who held considerable lands in Wiltshire, was older, and had different lands and children.

In 1140 a marriage was arranged between Reginald and a daughter of the Cornish baron William fitz Richard, lord of Cardinan, who had defected from Stephen, possibly Beatrice^[3]. They had 4 children, his legitimate son, Nicholas, predeceased him, and three legitimate daughters: Mathilda m. Robert (II), count of Meulan (d. c.1210), Lucy, the 2nd wife of Baldwin, earl of Devon, and Sara, who married the viscount of Limoges. Neither daughter divided the earldom, which was eventually granted to his illegitimate son Henry.^[2] Note that Medlands has 7 children and two illegitimate sons.^[3]

The DNB guesses his most probably date of death was 1 July 1175 at Reading, although other sources have a Dec. death. Probably died at Chertsey, Surrey and buried at Reading Abbey. ^[2][3]

He was a witness to the compromise between Stephen and Henry, 1153. Sheriff of Devon, 1173-75. He was in command, ex parte Regis, Oct 1173, against the rebellious Barons.

He died without legitimate male offspring, at Chertsey, Surrey, 1 July 1175. His Earldom reverted to the Crown.

Sources

1. ↑ Both Complete Peerage, XI, Appendix D, and Eyton, Antiquities of Shropshire vol.7, pp. 145, 148, 149, 157, say that Sibil was known by several names! The fact that Reinald had the same mother as Herbert fitz Herbert's children:
   • Reinald called Alice Corbet, the mother of William de Boterell his "matertera" (strict meaning would be maternal aunt, but such terms could be flexible).
   • Benedict of Peterborough says Herbert fitz Herbert was Rainald's brother, and also indicates that he shared a nepos (a younger blood relative) with both Reinald and his brother William, named Joel of Pomeroy (p.163, p.172, p.173). The shared connection to the Pomeroy family must also be through their mother, via Rohese de Pommery, sister of Reinald, who is believed to have married Henri de Pomery. Complete Peerage vol.11 App. D cites a charter of Rainald Earl of Cornwall which calls “Rohesia de Pomeria” his sister, citing the journal of the Royal Institute of Cornwall, vol. i, pp. 29-32). Keats-Rohan, Domesday Descendants p.642 also cites Bearman's charters of the Redvers family App. II, no. 15a.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} David Crouch,‘Reginald, earl of Cornwall (d. 1175)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2008
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLAND,%20Kings%201066-1603.htm#RenaudDunstanvilledied1175A

Also see:

• Visitation of Shropshire Page 133: Corbet.
• Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, by G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing 2000. pp. IV:315-6, XIV:259, III:429 as corrected by XIV:207.
• Newsgroup: soc.genealogy.medieval, at groups - google.com. Todd A Farmerie, 19 Aug 1996. Reginald Earl of Cornwall.
• Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, 7th Ed, Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Shippard Jr. 1999. pp 262-27, 50-26, 121-26.
• Newsgroup: soc.genealogy.medieval, at groups - google.com. Ronny Bodine (RBodine996), 16 Apr 1999.
• Newsgroup: soc.genealogy.medieval, at groups - google.com. Douglas Richardson, 25 Jan 1999.
• Wikipedia: Reginald de Dunstanville, 1st Earl of Cornwall.