This research is the result of wanting to fix Hamon I de Mascy in time and place for further study. The original thought was that checking him against his parents was all that needed be done, but it turned out to be a lot more complicated, and more interesting. The conclusions reached are that Hamon I de Mascy is not the child of Muriel de Burgo De Copello (de Conteville Burgh), and that Muriel was never married to William de la Ferté-Macé.
The master profile on Geni contributed no material under the source tab. The overview discussion is basically a compilation of three web sites, Wikipedia, WorldConnect Rootsweb, and Massey Family Genealogy by Karen Massey. The statement “Research Notes: The ‘Miss de Conteville’ in several sources may have been Muriel de Conteville” is not found anywhere in source documents. Without looking too hard, one can find verbatim reproductions of this and other statements on Geni throughout the online community of family trees.
The Geni overview makes reference to the Medieval Lands website, a site recognized as a source of information on Norman Nobility, that I myself use, and states “the primary source which confirms her parentage and marriage has not yet been identified”, then proceeds to conclude that she “m. GUILLAUME Seigneur de la Ferté-Macé “, and all subsequent sections then provide weak at best sources that intend to substantiate the conclusion of the first section. Note that in the same section in Medieval Lands, the overview on which the identity of Muriel depends, Emma, Muriel’s sister is not spoken of at all. We know, from other primary sources, [fn. 1] that Emma de Conteville is the daughter of Herluin de Conteville, Vicomte de Conteville and Herleva de Falaise. She married Richard le Goz, Vicomte d'Avranches, son of Thurston le Goz, Vicomte d'Hiemes. Children of Emma de Conteville and Richard le Goz, Vicomte d'Avranches include Judith d'Avranches, Hélisende d'Avranches, Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester b. c 1047, d. 27 Jul 1101, and Margaret d'Avranches b. c 1054. This is hugely important due to role that Hugh d'Avranches (Hugh Lupus), 1st Earl of Chester plays in the origins of the Mascy lineage at Dunham.
Muriel de Burgo was the daughter of Herluin de Conteville, Vicomte de Conteville and Herleva de Falaise. [fn. 2] She married Eudo de Capello, Vicomte de la Côtentin. She was buried at Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England. [fn. 3]. As to whom she did marry, “Muriel married Eudes al Chapel”. [fn. 4] And another; Muriel, she married either William, Count of La Ferté-Macé, or, more probably (my emphasis), Eudo de Capello, Viscount of the Côtentin (it is possible that she had an unnamed sister who married William, Count of La Ferté-Macé…) [fn. 5]
The historical timing that offers much of the source material cited here is the context of 1066, the Norman conquest of England and the Battle of Hastings. It was during this period that the chroniclers William of Malmesbury, William of Portieres, William Jumièges and Orderic Vitalis, and a century later Robert “Master” Wace, all provided contemporary history.
William of Malmesbury (Gesta Regum, p. 333) expressly states that Herluin and Herleva were married before Duke Robert's death in 1035; but Odo, who was their eldest son, was perhaps not born before 1036. Odo's younger brother was Robert of Mortain [q. v.], and he had also two sisters: Muriel, who married Odo cum Capello (Wace, 6026), and another who married the Sire de la Ferté (my emphasis) (Taylor, Translation of Wace, p. 237; Stapleton, Rot. Scacc. Norm. i. p. lxxix). [fn. 6]
Again, from The Conqueror and his Companions by J. R. Planché, when identifying first William’s half-brothers Odo Bishop of Bayeux and Robert Count of Mortain, both were some years younger than William, his mother, Herleva, having married Herluin de Conteville, by whom she had, besides the above sons, two daughters, one named Emma, wife of Richard, Viscount of the Avranches, and mother by him of Hugh, Earl of Chester, and the other named Muriel, who became the wife of Eudo de Capello, or al Chapel. A sister also of Muriel married the Lord of Ferté Mace, whose son William is called in a charter, nephew of Bishop Odo. [fn. 7]
And again, a sister of Odo bishop of Bayeux, and of Muriel, the wife of Eudo cum Capella mentioned before, married the lord of Ferté Mace, as we learn from Mr. Stapleton, and probably assisted at the conquest. [fn. 8]
continued...
