Ermalina (Unknown) de Lacy (abt. 1040 - abt. 1090)

Born about 1040 in Saer, Normandy, France

Wife of Walter (Lacy) de Lacy — married 1068 in Saer,Normandy,,France

Descendants

Died about 1090 at about age 50 in England

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Kenneth Shelton [send private message]

The death and birth years are only very rough indications.

Disambiguation

This profile is primarily about the wife of Walter de Lacy. She has sometimes been equated (or confused) with with the following:

• Emmeline de Hesdin, who married to Ernulf de Hesdin.
• Emmeline, wife of Sir Gwyn ap Gwaithfoed.

All are also sometimes said by some sources to be a daughter of Dru de Ballon. Further distinctions and explanations can be found below under Research Notes.

Biography

Ermelina was the wife and widow of Walter de Lacy, who died in 1085.

The parents and origin or Ermelina are unknown. No medieval document has been found. Cawley speculates that she was the daughter of Dru de Ballon but this has not been confirmed.^[1] (See Research notes below.) Her date of birth is also unknown, but she had sons who were adults by 1086, and so 1040 has been given as a very rough indication.

Concerning her husband, as noted in his Oxford DNB biography, "Walter died on 27 March 1085, perhaps (as later family legend had it) falling off the scaffolding while inspecting the building works at another favoured church in Hereford, St Guthlac's."^[2]

Ermalina was recorded as a landholder in 1086 in the so-called Domesday book. In her study of this record, Keats-Rohan refers to Emma as "Mater Roberti De Lacy".^[3] This is because in the Domesday Book of 1086 the mother of Roger de Lacy is mentioned, but not named. Keats-Rohan notes that the name of the mother of Walter de Lacyis given as Emma and Emmelina in the Historia Et Cartularium Monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestriae.^[4] Keats-Rohan also cites a spurious Gloucester abbey charter but Emma is not mentioned by name in that charter.^[5]

In 1086 was tenant in chief together with her son in Slaughter near Salmonsbury. She was also a subtenant of her son Roger de Lacy in the village of Siddington near Cirencester in Gloucestershire.^[6]

Obviously she died after 1086.

Issue

Wikipedia shows Emma married to Walter de Lacy (1043-1085), with three sons, Roger, Hugh and Walter, and one daughter:^[7]

1. Roger was the heir to Weobley and Walter became Abbot of Gloucester Abbey. ^[7] Roger de Lacy Marcher Lord on the Welsh Border 1062–1120. Roger was the eldest son, who succeeded his father as second Baron de Lacy.
2. Hugh was the second of three sons of Walter and Emma. ^[7] Hugh (Lacy) de Lacy 1075-1114. Married Adeliza Talbot. When his brother Roger was exiled, he became the third Baron de Lacy.
3. Walter II was the third of three sons of Walter and Emma ^[7] Walter (Lacy) deLacy 1073–1140. Abbot of Gloucester, 1130-1139
4. Agnes. Walter and Emma also had a daughter who became a nun at St Mary's Abbey, Winchester. ^[7] Married Geworge Talbot. They had a daughter Sybil who married Pain St. John.

Research Notes

Married Ernulf de Hesdin?

Cawley believes that there are indications that Ermeline, widow of Walter de Lacy, could have also been Emmaline, wife of Arnoul de Hesdin. This is based on them having similar-seeming names, and also both families made donations to Gloucester St Peter. Cawley emphasises that this suggestion is speculative.^[8][1]

Daughter of Dru de Ballon?

Cawley notes that two sources indicate that the wife of Ernulf de Hesdin, or at least their grandson, was related to the Ballon family. If that is correct, the chronology suggests that she could be the daughter of Dru de Baladon.^[8] Furthermore he notes that Dru had a daughter named Emma. The Historia fundationis cum fundatoris genealogia of the priory of Abergavenny names “Emmam, Luciam et Beatriciam” as the three daughters of “Dru dominus de Baladun”

• The first source is a charter dated 14 Sep 1100 under which "Patricius" [Emmaline's grandson] donated "v hidas terræ de Westona" to Bath St Peter, for the souls of "…Hamelini et Winebaldi de Baalun…ac…Arnulfi de Hesding…et Warini clerici mei", witnessed by "Hamelinus et Winebaldus de Baalun…".^[8]
• The second source is a donation to Gloucester St Peter made by Emmeline's grandson "Patricius de Cadurcis" of land "apud Ameneye de feodo suo…[et] apud Ameneye Sancti Nicholai" to Gloucester St Peter, with the confirmation of "rege Henrico seniore"[849], read together with the donation to the same abbey of land "in Ameneye" made by "Wynebaldus de Balon…et Rogerius filius meus"[850]. ^[8]

It should also be noted that, if this is correct, her supposed brother Hamelin had a daughter who was also named Emmeline. ^[8]

Note that this proposal concerns the wife of Ernulf de Hesdin, who is quite likely NOT the same person as Ermeline the wife of Walter de Lacy.

Married a Welsh Prince?

Keep this or delete?

There is a Sir Dryw (Drew de) Baladon formerly Balun aka Balon, Ballon, Born about 1050, who was in Wales about 1100, and whose two daughters, including Ema, married Welsh princes after 1100. This Dryw would have been a generation later than Emmeline's father, and might be Emmeline's brother.

Source

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Cawley, Charles. Medieval Lands: A Prosopography of Medieval European Noble and Royal Families, Online at Foundation for Medieval Genealogy Website. Entry for Arnoul de Hesdin Accessed 9 March 2022.
2. ↑ C. P. Lewis, "Lacy, Walter (d. 1085)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
3. ↑ Keats-Rohan, Domesday People, p.296.
4. ↑ Historia Et Cartularium Monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestriae, volume 1:
   • Emma, the mother of Walter de Lacy, abbot, p.15
   • Her grant of Duntisbourne Abbots, Gloucestershire in 1085: Hermelina de Lacy, no relatives named: p.122; Ermelina, wife of Walter de Lacey p.224, p.227, p.258, p.351. This is also mentioned volume 2 p.127.
5. ↑ Regesta regum anglo-normannorum, volume 3, No.345,p.131.
6. ↑ Domesday maps and reference information:
   • PASE profile: http://domesday.pase.ac.uk/Domesday?op=5&personkey=47307
   • Open Domesday: https://opendomesday.org/name/roger-of-lacys-mother-emma/
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4} https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_de_Lacy,_Lord_of_Weobley_and_Ludlow
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4} Cawley, Charles. Medieval Lands: A Prosopography of Medieval European Noble and Royal Families, Online at Foundation for Medieval Genealogy Website. Entry for Emmeline, wife of Arnoul de Hesdin Accessed 9 March 2022.