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From: Richard Borthwick< >
Subject: Re: Identification of "William Malet"
Date: 18 Oct 1998 01:49:56 -0700
At 03:56 PM 17/10/98 -0700, you wrote:
>Myself, and many others, I'm sure, greatly appreciate the many in-
>depth comments and interpretations of the Lucy and Godiva scenarios.
>The charts provided by Kay Allen and Ken Finton were especially
>appreciated (after I assisted my printer a bit.) Part of my interest
>in these lines is because I've placed as ancestors, descendants of
>Lucy and 3d husband, Ranulph de Meschines, as well as descendants of
>Ealdyth, Godiva's granddaughter.
>
>To pose a question about the Malet line, I compiled a brief Ahnentafel
>on William Malet the MC Surety (also an ancestor through his daughter
>Hawise and both her husbands, Hugh Poyntz and Robert Muscegros).
>
> My sources were AR7 (7th Edition of Ancestral Roots of Certain
> American Colonists), BP (Burke's Peerage and Baronetage),
> Turton, and Wurts' MAGNA CHARTA (I'm looking forward to the
> 1999 publication of Farris and Richardson's MAGNA CHARTA book)
>
>1. William Malet of Curry Malet , the Magna Charta surety, m. Alice
>Bassett
>2. Gilbert Malet of Curry Malet (AR7, BP, and Wurts) [William in
>Turton]
>3. Alice Picot
>4. William Malet, d. 1169
>6. Ralph Picot
>8. Robert Malet of Curry Malet, Somerset, d. by 1156 (AR7:"thought [to
>be] gr. s. [of] William Malet, d. 1071")
>16. Gilbert Malet (BP and Wurts) [William with wife Helewise in
>Turton] [entry not in AR7.]
>32. William Malet (AR7, BP, and Wurts) [Robert in Turton] In co
>Lincoln bef 1066; was granted the Barony of Eye, Suffolk. and d. 1071.
>BP and Wurts says 32 and 33 had a daughter Beatrice (m. William de
>Arches) and 2 sons: (a) Robert, Lord Malet, Great Chamberlain, Lord of
>Eye in Suffolk 1086, then banished and disinherited after 1105; and
>(b) Gilbert.
>33. Hesilia Crispin (BP, Wurts and Turton), living 1086
>
>My primary question is: Taking into account probable inaccuracies in
>my limited secondary sources, is the William Malet who d. 1071 and
>shown as #32 above the same person as the one called simply "William
>Malet" in the recent multiple postings? These postings, of course,
>had the following about "William Malet":
>
> (a) His mother was probably an English woman and probably closely
> related to Godiva.
> (b) Had sons Robert and Durand; a daughter who m. Torold of
> Lincoln (father of Lucy who 3m. Ranulf de Meschines) and a
> daughter who m. Alfred of Lincoln.
> (c) Note that Keats-Rohan Note 5 [Sept 25 posting by KHF333]
>mentions
> "Robert" Malet' s having a sister "Beatrice."
>
>Is the marriage of #32 to Helsilia Crispin generally accepted by
>contemporary scholars?
>
>(I would, of course, also appreciate any critique of the compiled
>Ahnentafel.)
>
>( )
>
(A) William Malet and Esilia his wife are both named by Robert Malet as his
parents in his foundation charter for Eye Priory (given before 1105)[1].
William is said in Domesday Book to have died in about 1071 subjugating the
natives in the Fens. Though Miles Crispin a monk at Bec in 1120s & 30s in
his *Miraculum de nobili genere Crispini* thought Esilia Crispin was the
mother of William Malet. The general consensus is that Miles got it wrong [2].
(B) There is no known genealogical connection between the Somerset Malets
and and the Suffolk lot. Sanders entertains (solely on onomastic grounds)
the possibility (and that is all he entertains) of a relationship between
the two families. The earliest known Somerset Malet is Robert i.e your #8. [3]
(C) It is thought that Robert Malet son of William & Esilia and the Domesday
lord of Eye was master chamberlain to Henry I since he attests as
chamberlain in a notification of 13 Feb 1104/05. There is no indication that
his father William Malet held that post, though William fitz Ralph (de
Tancarville) held that office in Normandy in the reigns of Williams I & II. [4]
(D) Beatrice (to whom you refer) dau. of Esilia and William Malet and sister
of Lucy's mother m. viscount William of Arques (d.about 1090), lord of
Folkestone, Kent [5].
(E) Dr Keats-Rohan has a genealogical table entitled 'Suggested
Relationships of the Malet Family [6] and this (and the genealogical
material in the body of the paper) should be read (as K-R suggests, 36
note153) alongside the essay by Green which is full of interesting things [7].
[1] K Keats-Rohan "Domesday Book and the Malets: Patrimony and the Private
Histories of Public Lives" in *Nottingham Medieval Studies* xli (1997), 18.
[2] ibid., 21-22.
[3] I J Sanders *English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent,
1066-1327*, 38 & note 7; cf. (if applicable - I haven't checked) Keats-Rohan
ibid., 13 note 4.
[4] CP X: Appendix, 47-51.
[5] ibid., 48 (Table I); Keats-Rohan ibid., 48-49, 53; Sanders ibid., 45.
[6] Keats-Rohan ibid., 53.
[7] J Green "Lords of the Norman Vexin" in *War and Government in the Middle
Ages: Essays in honour of J O Prestwich* (Boydell & Brewer/Barnes &
Noble:Bury St Edmunds, 1984) edited by J Gillingham and J C Holt, 47-62.
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