Problems with trying to reconstruct family lines from so early a date include sketchiness of documentation, fluidity of nomenclature (particularly appellations, which were not yet fixed surnames), and excessive dependence on the same few names.
Traditionally the Camville family has been said to have come from Canville-les-Deux-Eglises, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, Arrondissement de Rouen, Canton de Doudeville; but it has not thus far been possible to identify any structures or vestiges of structures from the period circa the Norman Conquest.
Another possibility is Canville-la-Rocque, Région Basse-Normandie, Département Manche, Arrondissement Coutances, Canton La Haye-du-Puits. Often confused with Canville-les-Deux-Églises. Features the Chateau d'Olonde, most of which dates from the 16th century but the oldest parts of which have been dated back to about the 12th.
Most interesting, particularly in connection with the occasional spelling of the family name as "Canoville" or "Canouville", is Canouville, Région Haute-Normandie, Département Seine-Maritime, Arrondissement Dieppe, Canton Cany-Barville. Bears traces of habitation back to Gallo-Roman times (approx. 2d to 7th centuries AD), including a small theater. The last physical traces of a fortification dating to probably the 11th century vanished early in the 19th century.
The first member of the family explicitly referred to by name is Albérède de Bayeux, of whom Guillaume (William) de Jumieges wrote that Raoul d'Ivry "[a]ccepit autem mulierem quamdam, vocabulo Erembergam vel Alberedam speciosam valde, natam in quadam villa Calcivii territorii, quae dicitur Canvilla." ("He married a wife, called Eremberga or Albereda, (very beautiful?), born in a place in the Chalk (Caux) territory which is called Canville.") A later, gossipy account by Orderic Vitalis included tales that she had built the tower of Ivry-la-battaile, that she had had the architect (one Lanfred) killed to prevent him from completing a similar construction elsewhere, and that she attempted to expel her husband from the castle and was in turn killed by him.
"Le Sire de Canouville", referred to in other lists as "Gautier de Canouville", is given credit in the Falaise roll for providing material aid and support to William of Normandy in his conquest of England. This does not necessarily mean that he crossed the Channel and took the field at Hastings - he may merely have supplied money, men, materiel, and a son or two (or three or more). This Gautier, Sire de Canville might be him.
The Dives plaque includes no clearly identifiable Canvilles or Canouvilles, but does include two names with an appellation that shows up in the Domesday Book holding lands that were very soon identified as Camville holdings: Guillaume "Puignant" and Richard "Puignant". (The Battle Abbey Roll compilation explicitly states that Richard "Puignant" *was* a Camville.) These might be sons of the Sire de Canouville, or a son and a grandson, or related in some other combination. Guillaume does not appear in the Domesday Book, bur Richard does, along with a probable brother Robert "Puignant" and a couple of sub-tenants (more brothers?) William and Walter (the latter with an appellation "de Conovill" witnessing the foundation charter of Robert Malet to Eye Priory [1086-87]). Guillaume de Camville Richard "Puignant" de Camville Unknown Profile William de Camville Walter de Camville
One place where reconstruction attempts always run aground is on the assumption (and you know what assumptions make of people!) that there was one and only one family line, with one and only one founding member. Manifestly, this is not the case here. So which line derives from which Camville/Puignant?
