Individual Page

Person Info

• Name: Eva De MONTFORT
• Sex: F


Parents:

• Father:
  
• Simon I De MONTFORT, Seigneur Of Montfort L'Amau Birth: Abt 1026 in Montfort, Normandy, France Death: 25 Sep 1087
Mother:

• Agnes Of Evereux Birth: Abt 1030 in Normandy

Family:
Marriage:

• William Crespin, Vicount Of The Vexin on Before 1077 .^m1
  
• William Crespin, Vicount Of The Vexin Death: Before 1085

Children:

1. William Crespin Death: Abt 1100
2. Gilbert Crespin, Abbot Of Westminster Birth: Abt 1045 Death: 6 Dec 1117

Bibliography

Sources for birth and parent Information

father:

[Ref: Planche Conqueror&Companions v2p194]

conjectured to be sister or daughter of Simon MONTFORT [Ref: HenryII simon000 5/29/2012]

Sources with Inaccurate birth and parent Information

parents:

Amauri de Montfort (#14484) & Bertrade (#14485) [Ref: CP VII AppDp708]

Sources with Information about marriage to William Crespin, Vicount Of The Vexin

date:

before 1077 [Ref: Planche Conqueror&Companions v2p193],

child:

[Ref: HenryII simon000 5/29/2012, Keats-Rohan DP p503, Planche Conqueror&Companions v2p194]

Research Notes:
"de gente Francorum, claris natalibus progenita" (translation: of the race of the Franks, descended from illustrious natives") [Ref: HenryII simon000 5/29/2012]

conjectured sister or daughter of Simon. The suggestion that she was a daughter of Simon is chronologically improbable. [Ref: HenryII simon000 5/29/2012]

The following two items are the main pieces of evidence that there was a genealogical connection between the Crispins and the Montforts.
Describing events of ca. 1123, Orderic Vitalis makes a William Crispin a nepos of Amaury III de Montfort ["Amalricus comes, et nepos ejus: Guillelmus Crispinus" OV xii, 37 (4: 452)]. Although Prevost and Guery would identify the nepos as William Crispin II [OV 4: 452 n. 1, Guery (1901), 21], it seems more likely that this was in fact William Crispin III.
Miraculum quo B. Maria subvenit Guillelmo Crispino Seniori ... states that William Crispin III was linked by blood to the (unnamed) count of Anjou ["Iste Willelmus sanguinis propinquitate jungebatur comiti Andegavorum; ..." Miraculum ... Guillelmo Crispino ..., PL 150, 742]. The counts of Anjou contemporary with William Crispin III were Foulques IV, husband of Simon I de Montfort's daughter Bertrade, and Foulques V, son of Foulques IV and Bertrade. [Ref: HenryII simon000 5/29/2012]

The main members of the Crispin family who are of interest to us here are three consecutive generations of William Crispins. William Crispin I was one of William the Conqueror's captains in Normandy in 1054 ["Duces ejus, ... Willelmus Crispinus, ..." Wm. Malmes., Gesta Regum, c. 233 (2: 290)]. By his wife Eve, he was the father of (among others) William Crispin II, father by his wife Agnes of William Crispin III. There does not seem to be complete agreement on the chronology of these William Crispins. For example, in his genealogical table of the Crispins, Daniel Power states that William Crispin II died about 1100, and he places the floruit of William Crispin III as 1105-35 [Power (2004), 495]. On the other hand, Jean-Noel Mathieu states that William Crispin II was captured with duke Robert Curthose of Normandy at the Battle of Tinchebray in 1106 [Mathieu (1996), 19], and Guery would have William Crispin II living until about 1130 [Guery (1901), 22]. These three generations of William Crispins are documented by a charter of Joscelin Crispin (son of William Crispin III) in 1155 ["... ex dono primi Guillelmi Crispini, ... Ex dono Evae, uxoris ipsius, ... Ex dono Guillelmi Crispini secundi, filii dicti Guilelmi et Evae, ... Ex dono Agnetis uxoris ejusdem Guillelmi, ... Ex dono Guillelmi Crispini tertii, filii dicti Guillelmi secundi et Agnetis, ..." Poree (1901), 1: 656-7 (App. VI)] Much information on the Crispins also appears in the short work entitled Miraculum quo B. Maria subvenit Guillelmo Crispino Seniori - ubi de nobili Crispinorum genere agitur [PL 150: 735-744; excerpts in RHF 14: 268-270]. This source also states that William Crispin I was married to Eve, mentions their son Gilbert, abbot of Westminster, and states that Eve was "de gente Francorum, claris natalibus progenita" ["Iste Willelmus Crispinus habuit uxorem, nomine Evam, genere et moribus sibi competentem, de qua genuit Gislebertum, prudictum West Monasterii abbatem, et alios plures. Hec Eva de gente Francorum, claris natalibus progenita, ..." ibid., 741], and agrees in making William Crispin III a grandson of William Crispin I and Eve via William Crispin II ["Horum nepos de filio Willelmo tertius Willelmus Crispinus, ..." ibid., 742]. [Ref: HenryII simon000 5/29/2012]

These sources clearly suggest that William Crispin III was a descendant of the Montforts, but what was the exact link? The most common link suggested is that the wife of William Crispin I was a daughter of Simon I de Montfort [Anselme 6: 73, giving her name as Eve; Rhein (1910), 32, no name given]. As is pointed out by The Complete Peerage, Eve's son Gilbert Crispin, abbot of Westminster, was born about 1045, so if relationship comes through Eve, chronology almost certainly rules out the possibility that she was a daughter of Simon I de Montfort, and she would have to be a sister instead [Moriarty-Loyd-White, 708, note (a)]. In support of Eve as the connection, The Complete Peerage points out that she is called "de gente Francorum, claris natalibus progenita" (see above) [ibid.]. However, this does not specifically support a Montfort connection for Eve. Moreover, if she were a daughter of Simon's father Amaury I de Montfort, then that would make William Crispin III only a first cousin once-removed of Amaury III de Montfort. While the word nepos is occasionally applied to a person that distantly related, it usually means either "grandson" or "nephew", more often the latter.
Thus, the possibility that Orderic's nepos had its most common meaning of "nephew" should at least be considered. If true, this would make William Crispin III's mother Agnes a daughter of Simon I de Montfort. Although no conclusive proof regarding the parentage of Agnes seems to have been found, there have been conjectures about her parentage. Without mentioning any evidence, Poree and Guery (among many others) state that she was a daughter of Godefroy d'Etrepagny [Poree (1901), 1: 195 n. 2; Guery (1901), 21], and Prevost states that she was heiress of Etrepagny [OV 4: 452 n. 1]. However, this appears to be an effort to explain the family's connections to Etrepagny, which is probably unnecessary, since these connections seem to go back to William Crispin I [Mathieu (1996), 19-20 n. 19]. In a recent long paper on the counts of Dammartin, Mathieu states that William Crispin II's wife Agnes was "very probably" the same person as Agnes, granddaughter of Manasses (d. 1037), count of Dammartin, through the latter's daughter Eustachie [Mathieu (1996), 19-20]. In the early years of the twelfth century, the latter Agnes (Aweten) gave a donation to the priory of Rosny-sur-Seine, belonging to the abbey of Saint-Wandrille, for the soul of the husband Guillaume and another for her mother Eustachie [Mathieu (1996), 19 n. 18]. There does not seem to be any direct evidence that this husband Guillaume was the same person as William Crispin II, but in addition to the coincidence of a Guillaume marrying an Agnes, there is the onomastic clue that William Crispin II had a son named Manasses [Mathieu (1996), 19-20 n. 19].
Thus, if Mathieu's conjecture is wrong, then making Agnes a daughter of Simon I de Montfort would seem to be the simplest way to explain how William Crispin III was a nepos of Amaury III. Even if Mathieu's theory is correct, we could note that the identity of Eustachie's husband is unknown, and that Simon had a second wife whose identity is also unknown. Could Eustachie have been Simon's second wife? Although that possibility should not be accepted without further evidence, it seems difficult to rule out. [Ref: HenryII simon000 5/29/2012]



Pedigree of Eva De MONTFORT
                            /-----Amauri I
                   /-----William Count Of Hainault
          /-----Amauri III De MONTFORT
         |         \-----(Unk) Heiress Of Montfort And Epernon
 /-----Simon I De MONTFORT, Seigneur Of Montfort L'Amau
|        |         /-----Guilaume De Gommetz
|         \-----Bertrade De GOMMETZ
|                  \-----Alberade
Eva De MONTFORT
|                                                      /-----Ketil
|                                             /-----Hrolfr (Rollo) Duke Of Normandy
|                                    /-----William Longspee Duke Of Normandy
|                                   |        |         /-----Berenger Count Of Bayeux
|                                   |         \-----Poppa
|                                   |                 |         /-----Gurivant Count Of Rennes
|                                   |                  \-----(Unk Dau)
|                                   |                           \-----(Unk Dau) Heiress Of Brittany
|                           /-----Richard I The Fearless Duke Of Normandy
|                          |         \-----Espriota
|                  /-----Robert Count Of Evereux, Archbishop Of Rouen
|                 |        |         /-----(Unk) Forquelar Of Cirques
|                 |         \-----Gunnora
|         /-----Richard Count Of Evereux
|        |         \-----Herleva
 \-----Agnes Of Evereux
          \-----Godehildie



Descendants of Eva De MONTFORT

2nd generation


3rd generation