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From: "Peter Stewart" < >
Subject: Re: Parentage of [Saint] William, Archbishop of York (died 1154)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2006 04:20:11 GMT
References: <1161448831.029064.305820@m7g2000cwm.googlegroups.com>


"Douglas Richardson" < > wrote in message
news: ...

<snip>

> Lastly, and more importantly, there appears to be a brand new biography
> of Archbishop William in print called St. William of York, by Dr.
> Christopher Norton, published 2006. See the following weblink for
> price and ordering details:
>
> http://www.boydell.co.uk/03153174.HTM
>
> I haven't yet seen Dr. Norton's book. However, it appears from the
> synopsis of the book given at the Boydell Press website that Dr. Norton
> believes that Archbishop William was the "cousin" rather than nephew of
> King Stephen. If anyone has access to Dr. Norton's book, I'd be most
> grateful if they would post the pertinent information from the book
> concerning Archbishop William's parentage and ancestry. Also, does
> anyone know what the new DNB says about Archbishop William's parentage?

Norton follows Poole's conjecture that Herbert the Chamberlain was probably
an illegitimate son of Herbert II, count of Maine. He suggests that St
William's mother Emma was an illegitimate half-sister of King Stephen's
father, Count Stephen Henry of Blois, i.e. a daughter of Count Thibaud III.
(This negates the possibility, first put forward by Geoffrey White, that St
William's connection to King Roger II of Sicily came through a second wife
of Thibaud III named Gandrea, who may have been related to Roger's mother.)

Norton also suggests that John of Hexham was "stretching a point, but not
perhaps quite to the point of breaking" in his description of St William as
a kinsman of King Roger. Norton traces a few lines of fairly loose affinity,
but no blood link. White had considered that John might have been simply
mistaken about this, or even that "cognatus" could have meant a countyman,
indicating that both William and Roger were of Norman family background.

It seems possible to me that a real blood relationship came through Roger's
paternal grandmother Fressendis, whose family origins are not known (apart
from an almost certainly fictitious assertion that she was a daughter of
Duke Richard II of Normandy). I don't believe there is any solid argument
for a connection to the counts of Maine, and William's father Herbert may
have been a fairly humble Norman, connected by marriage to Roger II's
grandfather Tancred of Hauteville.

A connection of Emma to the counts of Blois seems more plausible to me,
accounting for St William's promotion as archbishop of York. Count Stephen
Henry was old enough to be her father well before his marriage to William
the Conqueror's daughter when he was perhaps aged over 30, and his father
had plenty of time to take an Italian wife (or one with Italian relatives)
named Gandrea between his repudiation of Gersende of Main in the late 1140s
and his marriage to Adela of Valois some time before 1061. I can't recall
any evidence subsequently presented that rules out the possibility raised by
White in 1932, but NB I haven't looked into this carefully.

Peter Stewart



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