Mellette (Peverel) le Strange (1050 - 1100)

Born 1050 in Norfolk, England

Died 1100 at about age 50 in Bretagne, France

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Research Notes

This person seems to result from a confusion of generations deriving from a story. But even according to that story, this wife of Guy Lestrange is wrong.

The possibility of naming the father of Riuallon (Ruald, Roland etc) is doubted by serious researchers since the 19th century. Eyton wrote:

We have only one account of the origin of this family, and that, though adopted, by Glover and Dugdale, is only a tradition, several details of which are demonstrably false. The Fitz-Warine Chronicle tells us that William Peverel (of Nottingham, of course) advertised through many lands a Tournament to be held at his Castle in the Peak, whereat he who acquitted himself best should have to wife Melette, Peverel's youngest niece, and with her the Lordship of Whittington in Shropshire ; — that to this Tournament came Guarine de Metz of Lorrain (eventually the Victor), also Owen Prince of Wales, and ten sons of John Duke of Brittany, and some others, whose existence seems more or less fabulous. After the Tournament, says the same authority, Guy, the youngest of the ten Brothers of Brittany, remained in England and conquered with the sword many fair lands, and he was called Guy le Estraunge, and from him came all the great Lords of England who have the surname of Estraunge." ^[1]

Note that in this story Mellette actually married Guarine (or Warin) from Metz in Lorraine, not Guy at all, who was from Brittany! Apparently Guarine and Guy have become confused in retellings, although they seem to have been clearly distinct in the original yarn.

Guarine's descendants were supposedly the Fitz-Warins who held the Peverel's castle of Whittington for many generations. However as Hamon Le Strange notes:

Eyton shows that William Peverel of Whittington was succeeded, not by his nieces, but by his sisters, and that none of them was ever wife of Guarin de Metz^[2]

The myth itself contains definite errors, but it is encouraging to know that a link to the aristocracy Brittany does seem to be confirmed from real primary records, even if the details are now forever lost or dubious. Eyton says that the story must have must have taken place "between 1187 (when Owen Gwyned succeeded to the sceptre of North Wales) and 1147 (when the last William Peverel, who was Lord of Whittington, died)" and this is incompatible with a person in this generation.

So this legend might partly be a memory of a later generation, where we do find at least one Guy. But this Guy was a descendant of Riuallon Le Strange, and could not be his father.

Sources

1. ↑ Rev. Eyton "Antiquities of Shropshire" Vol.3, p.123.
2. ↑ "Le Strange records : a chronicle of the early Le Stranges of Norfolk and the March of Wales A.D. 1100-1310, with the lines of Knockin and Blackmere continued to their extinction" p.3

Also see

• http://trees.ancestry.ca/tree/27413341/person/12541160548
• http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=12311418&pid=-83521318