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Giroldus FitzGerald (Tancarville) de Roumare (abt. 1035 - aft. 1085)

Seigneur Giroldus FitzGerald (Gerold I) "miles Christi, le Seneschal de Normandie et Châtelain de Neufmarché" de Roumare formerly Tancarville aka de la Ville Tancréde
Born about in Tancarville, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, Francemap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married 1047 [location unknown]
Husband of — married after 1067 [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died after after about age 50 in Roumare, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, Francemap [uncertain]
Profile last modified | Created 1 May 2012
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Gerold I (Tancarville) de Roumare is a member of the House of Tancarville.
"in the highest ranks of the Anglo-Norman aristocracy, the lords of Tancarville".[1]


SEIGNEUR GIROLDUS FitzGERALD (GEROLD I) "miles Christi" de la VILLE TANCRÉDE - SEIGNEUR de ROUMARE - le SENESCHAL de NORMANDIE et CHÂTELAIN de NEUFMARCHÉ


The name of Tancarville does not appear until the early twelfth century, first shown in a charter for Henry I in 1103. Among the barons who are mentioned as witnesses is Gerold's nephew, Earl "Willelmus de Tancarvilla".


Contents

Biography

One of the most useful ways in which William helped his favourites, however, was in providing them with rich or important wives. He gave Lucy of Bolingbroke, a great heiress, perhaps the daughter of Thorold, a post-Conquest sheriff of Lincoln, first to a steward, Ivo Taillebois, whose parentage is unknown, then to Roger FitzGerold, brother to Robert and son of Gerold; 'Miles Cristi', a seneschal, lord of Roumare (near Rouen) and castellan of Neufmarché, and finally to Ranulf le Meschin (i.e. the young) of Bricquessart, vicomte of Bayeux. He thus created families, one of which was to become earls of Lincoln, the other to inherit the earldom of Chester.

Robert son of Gerold, on his return from Wales, gave to the abbey of St. Mary of Bec the church of Clieve, Somersetshire, Roger son of Gerold being a witness; which gift was confirmed by William de Roumare, who describes the grantor as his predecessor.

Gerold was the grandfather of William de Roumare, earl of Lincoln.[2]

A charter of Henry V King of England records donations to Saint-Amand de Rouen including the donations by "Giroldus miles Christi" of "ecclesiam de Rolmare", with the consent of William I King of England, for the soul of "Emiciæ uxoris meæ", witnessed by "Osbernus de Novoforo"

"Geroud" donated the church of Roumare to the abbey of Saint-Amand Rouen, with the consent of "Robert his son and heir", for the soul of "his wife Albereda who died XII Kal Jun", by charter dated to before Aug 1067, witnessed by "…Radulfus frater Geroudi, Hugo broc, Osbertus de Novoforo, Hugo filius Baudrici, Rogerus de Monte goimerico…"

Châtelain de Neufmarché. Orderic Vitalis records that Guillaume Duke of Normandy expelled "Belvacenses" from "castrum…Novus-Mercatus" and granted it to "Geroldo dapifero", dated to c. 1061/66.

another charter that appears to be related to the above:

"…Gerald de Neufmarché…" (Giraldi di Novomercato), subscribed the charter dated Apr 1067 under which "Willelmus…dux Normannorum…Anglorum rex" confirmed rights to the abbey of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire.[3]

GERAUD (-after 1066). Dapifer. The Brevis Relatio de Origine Willelmi Conquestoris records that "Geraldo dapifero" contributed 40 ships towards the invasion of England in 1066.

This last recorded event is, I believe, key to the identification of the two Gerolds that Planché suggests below. We know at this moment, that we don't yet have the correct b. date for Gerold de Roumare (this profile), currently showing as abt. 1035, which would make him old enough to have donated the church recorded in the charter dated to bef. Aug 1067 on this profile, but not as likely to be yet of the means to have contributed 40 ships to the Conqueror.

The COUNTS of TANCARVILLE

  • by J.R. Planché

No identification of this noble Norman has yet been made by any of the commentators on the "Roman de Rou," in which alone we find such a personage included in the list of the followers of the Duke of Normandy. Mr. Taylor says, "M. le Prévost rather inconclusively observes that Ralph, William's guardian, was too old and his children too young to be engaged," and adds, "Ralph's age is hardly itself a competent contradiction to Wace's statement; for his charter giving the Church of Mireville to Jumièges shows that he was living in 1079. William, his son and successor as Chamberlain, so appears in 1082." I certainly do not share the opinion of Le Prévost, and am at a loss to know where he found that Ralph, the Chamberlain of Tancarville, was guardian to Duke William. I have just mentioned this Ralph as the supposed brother of Gerold de Roumare and uncle of the William de Roumare I believe to have been at Hastings. Ralph was hereditary chamberlain of Normandy; but which of his family had first exercised that office is at present unknown.

The small Church of St. George, in the village of that name in the forest of Roumare, first endowed by Duke William, was subsequently rebuilt by Ralph, who is styled by the Duke in his charter of confirmation, “Meus magister Aulaque et Camera mea princeps.” (“My major-domo or master of the household and first chamberlain.”) Ralph also had the church re-decorated, and confirmed the grant which his father, Geraldus, and his brothers had given to St. George. A brother of Ralph, named Giraldus, was also an officer of William's household; and it was "Coram Giraldo Dapifer meo" that William, while yet Duke of the Normans, ratified a convention between Hugh de Pavilly and the Canons of St. George, the witnesses being the same Giraldus and Robert his son.

Now we have here two Gerolds, one who simply styles himself "a soldier of Christ," and the other the Dapifer (steward or seneschal) of William, King of the English. We also find one of these Gerolds rejoicing in two wives, named Albreda and Emicia, and who has a son, Robert, by the first. The other Gerold had a wife named Helisendis. Whether they were both Gerolds of Roumare; how they were connected; which was the father of Roger de Roumare, and which of Ralph the Chamberlain, has yet to be distinctly proved. The names of Gerald, Robert, Ralph, and William were much too common at that period to be of themselves sufficient identification; but that the chamberlain of Tancarville or Tankerville mentioned by Wace was Ralph, the son of Gerold and father of William the Chamberlain, I think cannot reasonably be doubted.

Research Notes

Gerold is said to have had seven sons ...... I've only been able to identify six* at the moment and one (Gerold de Caus), is still conjectural ... Robert fitz Gerold, Roger fitz Gerold, Edward of Salisbury, Ralph fitz Gerold and Wido fitz Gerold. Gerold de Caus fits the timeframe of another son of Gerold de Roumare. He is Roger’s dapifer, and Gerold’s likely son Gilbert is the principle tenant in Bolingbroke, the lands of Roger’s wife, the Countess Lucy.

* Its looking more and more like the 7th son may well have been that of Osbern de Neufmarché ... more on this forthcoming ...

Sources

  1. Colonial England, 1066-1215, by J. C. Holt, p. 228
  2. Complete Peerage, new ed., vii 667.
  3. Cawley, citing: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, LXXVIII, p. 203.
  • Medieval Lands - OTHER NOBILITY in NORMANDY
  • Complete Peerage XI 373.
  • Le Prévost, A. (1840) Orderici Vitalis Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ (Paris) ("Orderic Vitalis (Prévost)"), Vol. II, Liber III, X, p. 113.
  • Dugdale Monasticon VI.2, Abbey of Saint-Amand, Rouen, p. 1101.
  • Round (1899) 87, p. 25.
  • Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum (1913), Vol. I, 6a, p. 2.
  • Brevis Relatio de Origine Willelmi Conquestoris, p. 22.
  • The Counts of TANCARVILLE: by J.R. Planché.
  • Early Yorkshire Charters, p. 473.
  • Oxfordshire. The history and antiquities.
  • Some observations upon the law of ancient demesne, Yeatman.
  • Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
  • Early Yorkshire Charters: Volume 9 - Lands of the Stuteville Fee edited by William Farrer, Charles Travis Clay p. 70/71




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Comments: 3

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I think the title sir is a bit anachronistic? Knight/milites just meant a kind of fighting man in this period (and was not even always used in a positive way)
posted by Andrew Lancaster
The weekend was rather busy for me John and I've just gotten a chance to look through my notes ... The statement about the 7 sons is in my research notes, but I can't determine where I got it. I have removed it as the beginning statement and will continue to investigate where I found it.
What is the source for the statement that "Gerold is said to have had seven sons"?
posted by John Atkinson