Robert 1er "Grandbois" d’Estouteville

Curator Note This person had many aliases, among them: Robert "Estout Le Danois" d'Estouteville (de Verdun), Robert Stoutrvilla, Grandbois, Grand de Bord, Guerin-de-Boeuf, Grondeboe, Grondeboef, Frontdeboeuf

ESTOUTEVILLE. There are few great Houses of the Kingdom which have had no particular fable from their origin. We said that this Ci, which takes its own from the Castle of this name, located in the Bailiwick of Caux, one league from Fécamp, in the Parish of Valmont, descended from the country of Hungary & the Kings of this Province, & named GEISA, who was unfaithful, being able to have no wife but stillborn children, was advised, by a holy personage, to be baptized with his wife, & that God would give them a long posterity. For this purpose they went to Rome, where they became Christians & received baptism; but returning to their country, they were driven out by their subjects who were idolaters, and forced to withdraw in France, where they settled in the Province of Normandy, and built a Castle there which they named Estouteville, a word which included all the Cities which they had abandoned by embracing the Christian faith & leaving their old errors . Here is the fable of this extinct House, one of the oldest & most illustrious in the country of Caux, & here is its true history. The first known, and of which Orderic Vital speaks, is

I. ROBERT, 1st of the name, Sire D'ESTOUTEVILLE, nicknamed Grandbois, included in the list of Knights who accompanied their Duke GUILLAUME to conquer the Year- England in 1066. He witnessed a donation charter made at the Abbey of Saint-Evroult Pan 1080. His wife was Jeanne de Tallebot, daughter of Hue, Baron de Cleuville, & Marie de Meulan, of whom:…

De La Chesnaye Des Bois, Aubert, and Jacques Badier. Dictionary of the Nobility: Containing the Genealogies, the History and the Chronology of the Noble Families of France. Vol. 7, A Paris, 1863.

Medieval France Encyclopedia

ESTOUTEVILLE

The Estoutevilles were a great seigneurial family whose senior line was based at Vallemont in the Caux district of eastern Normandy. They claimed descent from a legendary Viking ancestor, Stoot (or Estout) the Dane. Robert I d’Estouteville participated in the Norman conquest of England, and his several sons by a second, Saxon, wife produced the English Stutevill families.

The main line of the Estoutevilles, in Normandy, survived until the 18th century, being loyal to the French crown after royal acquisition of Normandy in 1204. Jean II, lord of Estouteville, was captured by the English at Agincourt in 1415 and lost his lands in the subsequent English conquest of Normandy. His elder son, Louis, however, profited from the French reconquest and regained the family lands, while Jean’s younger son, Guillaume (1403–1483), held several bishoprics and abbacies, became archbishop of Rouen and a cardinal, and was a major figure at the papal court for several decades.

The family produced prominent cadet lines, the most important being the lords of Torcy, descended from Estout, a younger son of Jean I, lord of Estouteville (d.1259). Estout’s son, Jean, married the daughter of a constable of France and sired a large and influential family. Their oldest son, Colart (a diminutive of Nicolas), had a military career that spanned half a century (1364–1415), and he became a royal chamberlain and councilor as well as serving fourteen years as seneschal of Toulouse. Among the younger sons were Thomas, bishop of Beauvais; Guillaume, bishop of Évreux and then Auxerre; Jean, lord of Charlesmesnil, a prominent member of the Marmouset party at the French court under Charles VI; Estout, abbot of Cérisy; and Jeannet the younger, lord of Villebon and a member of the royal household. A large number of adult Estoutevilles were active in public life toward the end of the 14th century, but many of them died in the period 1396–1416 and the family never again enjoyed so much influence.

John Bell Henneman, Jr. ______________________________

From fmg MEDLANDS

SEIGNEURS d’ESTOUTEVILLE

According to Le Prévost, this family originated in "Etouteville-sur-Mer, canton d’Yerville"[240], situated in the Pays de Caux about 30 kilometers north-west of Rouen. This family has been studied by Gabriel de la Morandière[241]. He appears to clarify adequately the relationship between the Estouteville family in Normandy and the Stuteville family in England. However, his account of the descent of the various branches of the English Stuteville family is confused and contradictory (see UNTITLED ENGLISH NOBILITY P-S).

[Three] siblings, parents not known:

1. ROBERT [I] d’Estouteville (-after 1106). The Liber Vitæ of Durham names "Robertus de Stuteville, Beatrix uxor eius, Robertus, Graulfus, Willelmus filii eorum, Emma Robertus…" and in a later passage the same names with the last two replaced by "Emme uxor Rodberti, Rodbertus filius eius…"[242]. Domesday Descendants suggests that these entries refer to Robert [I] d’Estouteville and his family[243]. Orderic Vitalis quotes a charter, dated to [1066/89], witnessed by "…Rodbertus de Stotavilla…"[244]. A charter of King Henry II records donations to York St Mary, including the donation of land in “Edelyngthorp…Harton…et decimas de dominio suo de Cukewald et Honingham, Kirkeby, Buttercram et Strayngham et Langtuna et…in Cucewald” by “Robertus de Stutavilla”, as well as land "in Mitona" by "Robertus de Maisnil et Robertus de Stutaville"[245]. Orderic Vitalis names "…Rodbertum de Stotavilla…" among the supporters of Robert III Duke of Normandy in 1105, among those who were captured at the battle of Tinchebrai in 1106, and who were condemned to life imprisonment[246].

m BEATRICE, daughter of ---. The Liber Vitæ of Durham names "Robertus de Stuteville, Beatrix uxor eius, Robertus, Graulfus, Willelmus filii eorum, Emma Robertus…"[247]. Domesday Descendants suggests that these entries refer to Robert [I] de Stuteville and his family[248].

Morandière states that "Robert I le vieux d’Estouteville et son autre sœur Amaurie ont épousé Blanche et Alain, enfants de Guéthénoc Sire de Rieux" (who he says was descended from a younger son of Alain I Duke of Brittany, who died in 907) but cites no primary source on which the information is based[249]. It is not impossible that "Blanche" was an error for "Beatrice", but no other corroboration has yet been found for her alleged parentage. Morandière’s work does not appear convincing in relation to the early generations of the Estouteville family and it is suggested that the information should be treated with caution. Robert [I] & his wife had four children:

a) EMMA d’Estouteville (-bur Ouche Saint-Evroul). The Liber Vitæ of Durham names "Robertus de Stuteville, Beatrix uxor eius, Robertus, Graulfus, Willelmus filii eorum, Emma Robertus…" and in a later passage the same names with the last two replaced by "Emme uxor Rodberti, Rodbertus filius eius…"[250]. The chronology of her marriages suggests that she must have been considerably older than her brother Robert, maybe born from an earlier marriage of their father. Orderic Vitalis records that Robert de Grantmesnil, son of “Hugo de Grentemaisnilio” and his wife, married secondly “Emmam Rodberti de Stotevilla filiam”[251]. The chronology of these families suggests that Emma must have been Robert’s first wife not his second. La Roque states that “une généalogie de la maison d’Estouteville” names Errand’s wife as “Emme et la comprend entre ceux du sang...[de] Robert d’Estouteville”, suggesting that she was the same person who later married “Hugues de Grentesmesnil”[252]. The passage is somewhat garbled and in any case La Roque does not provide a citation reference to the source in question or quote it in his “Preuves”. It is suggested that, until further documentation comes to light, this supposed marriage of Errand should be treated with caution. Orderic Vitalis records that Robert de Grantmesnil died “Kal Jun” 38 years after his father and was buried at Ouche “cum duabus uxoribus suis: Agnete et Emma”[253]. [

m firstly ERRAND Seigneur d'Harcourt, son of ANSCHETIL d’Harcourt & his wife --- (-after 1078).] m [secondly] as his [first] wife, ROBERT de Grantmesnil, son of HUGUES de Grantmesnil & his wife Adelise de Beaumont-sur-Oise ([before 1060]-1 Jun [1136], bur Ouche Saint-Evroul).

b) ROBERT [II] d’Estouteville (-after Aug 1138). The Liber Vitæ of Durham names "Robertus de Stuteville, Beatrix uxor eius, Robertus, Graulfus, Willelmus filii eorum…"[254]. Domesday Descendants suggests that these entries refer to Robert [I] de Stuteville and his family[255].

c) RALPH d’Estouteville . The Liber Vitæ of Durham names "Robertus de Stuteville, Beatrix uxor eius, Robertus, Graulfus, Willelmus filii eorum…"[256]. Domesday Descendants suggests that these entries refer to Robert [I] de Stuteville and his family[257].

d) WILLIAM d’Estouteville . The Liber Vitæ of Durham names "Robertus de Stuteville, Beatrix uxor eius, Robertus, Graulfus, Willelmus filii eorum…"[258]. Domesday Descendants suggests that these entries refer to Robert [I] de Stuteville and his family[259].

2. [MATHILDE d’Estouteville (-after [1101]). Morandière states that "Maude d’Estouteville, femme de Gilbert Talebot" was granted the fief of Shrewsbury confiscated from Robert de Montgommery (dated to [1101]), adding that she was the sister of Robert [I] d’Estouteville[260]. The reference to the transfer of the Montgomery fief of Shrewsbury to the Talbot family is evidently anachronistic. No other reference has been found to Mathilde and her supposed husband. Until further corroboration comes to light, it is suggested that this information should be treated with caution.

m GILBERT Talbot, son of --- (-after [1101]).]

3. [AMAURIE d’Estouteville . Morandière states that "Robert I le vieux d’Estouteville et son autre sœur Amaurie ont épousé Blanche et Alain, enfants de Guéthénoc Sire de Rieux" (who he says was descended from a younger son of Alain I Duke of Brittany, who died in 907) but cites no primary source on which the information is based[261].

m ALAIN Seigneur de Rieux, son of GUETHENOC Seigneur de Rieux & his wife ---.]

Estouteville receives its share of conquest in the provinces north of the Humber; and this choice alone indicates what it is worth. For a prince like William could only hand over to a man of confidence, at once head and hand, those marches attacked relentlessly by the wild and indomitable Pict and Scot . These territories are in the same state as formerly Neustria, and Estouteville begins again the pioneering and decommissioning of Estout.

But even because of this uneducated misery, these provinces were not worthy of being subjected to the cadaster ordered by the Conqueror. So, by the most unjust chance, Estouteville, being more than anyone worth the trouble, is not honored, does not appear in the Domesday book, that register so curiously named the Book of the Day of the Lord, that is to say, the Last Judgment ... of the Saxons. That is why we will know only later, and approximately, the lands he receives. Robert d'Estouteville had first married his daughter Emma to what was the largest family in Normandy, after the Duke, to Errand or Enguerrand de Harcourt, a son of Anchetil and Eve de Boessey-the-Châtel, which Errand, after having made several noble and valorous actions in the conquest, finally returned to his Chateau de Harcourt in 1078.

Estouteville therefore remarried his daughter in a family, where he no longer found this birth, but a great political importance, to Robert de Grentemaisnil, widower himself of the daughter of the Viscount of Bayeux. After Emma, he will marry in third marriage the daughter of the viscount of Maine, will die without children in 1126, and will be buried with his first two wives.

An inattentive reading of Orderic Vital caused Father Anselme to commit a confusion reproduced by many genealogies, between the two Robert d'Estouteville, father and son, the one taken at Dives, and the one taken at Tinchebray.

So the Estouteville are completely dispossessed: their property, located in the north of England, logically pass to the main artisan of the victory of Tinchebray, at Néel d'Aubigny, who took the Duke. It is a Breiton, who came with the Conqueror, also committed to the guard of the March of Scotland; thus rounded, he is made count of Northumberland (2).

Grondeboeuf had moreover, on the borders of Wales, the county of Shrewsbury, recently confiscated on Bellême, and which the King had to give him to try to detach him from his brother. This great fief is attributed to Maude d'Estouteville, wife of Gilbert Talebot (3), and will henceforth, until today, the principal title of this illustrious house, at any time so considerable in the history of England. Esoutville's sister and brother-in-law collect his remains,

By a curious crossover, the barony of Cleuville had just passed, but in a better way, by marriage, from Talebot to Estouteville.

Robert I, the old d'Estouteville, and his other sister Amâurie, married Blanche and Alain, children of Guéthénoc, Sire de Rieux. This double alliance, given by old genealogies of this house, was certainly not invented by gloriole. For the Rieux had rather to look down on the Estouteville, coming from the sovereign race of Brittany, "by a younger son of the Duke Alain the Great, founder of the castle of Rieux, died in 907. The Sire of Rieux had come at the beginning of the eleventh century, at the court of Féeamp, bring the daughter of his Due fiancée to that of Normandy , hence probably these relations with the Estouteville Alain Sire de Rieux is a historical figure involved in the affairs and wars of Brittany in the middle of the eleventh century This house, long celebrated in the splendor of its province and France, bore azure with 10 bests d'or. Between Emma d'Estouteville, wife of Errand d'Harcourt around 1078, but still young by the age of her brothers-in-law Grentemaisnil, and Robert II the young d'Estouteville born after 1080, there is a big space; Grondeboeuf must have had other children. Willelmus de Stutevilla, witness in 1118 of a charter of the abbey of Bec (1), can only be a cadet of Robert I or Robert II. He later, though young, was married before the Tinchebray disaster.

      …mansion was located three leagues from Vaimont in digging into the land; we still recognize the motte and the important plate  This "Barony of Cleuville" was called the "Franc-fief Tallebot", because of its great privileges, because the vassals of the said fief are exempt from watch, coustumes, fouages and panages by all the circuit of the metes (limits) of Normandy, cities, forests, crosses and steps (i).   Feudal feuds had had the good fortune of always finding themselves in hands capable of maintaining these franchises.  The arms of this house were: bandaged Argent and Gules of 10 pieces. They are generally confused with those,  better known, that a branch took in the thirteenth century by marrying the daughter of one of the little princes of Wales, whom the famous Talbot wore, and whom they still wear.

Robert I was jailed in England, stripped of English possessions and died in prison after Trenchbrai, his body returned to Valmont by Robert III his grandson

Although not a prisoner, Robert the Younger is enveloped in the confiscation of his father, since Cleuville passes to the favorite of the King, Count de Meuille. But the Grentemaisnil are very much in favor; the King's policy is as lenient as it is skillful. Jehanne Talebot dies very well , leaving a son; and they married Robert II d'Estouteville, "Erneburge, daughter and heiress of Baldric, a great Saxon lord (a great saxon thane)" (i). It is both a matter of ruin and the hope, it is hoped, of a man who is well worth it, without disturbing those who enjoy his remains, and by assuring Norman bitterness one of the rare Saxon heritages which have escaped him. Robert II marries his daughter, Alix d'Estroutville, to Hugues-le-Pauvre, thus nicknamed that, suddenly , provided and stripped of the county of Bedford. Hugues is the son of that great Count de Meuvent , said the Prud'homme

        …and the Sire d'Estouteville, who is in his 70s, no doubt finding himself there , enjoying peace, "remains accustomed to it" with his 6 younger sons, children of Saxon Erneburge, Robert, Richard, Osmond, Patrick, Jean and Eustache.  (a) They are given to us by the English genealogies, with the exception of Eustache only the P. Anselme knows, and says with Richard, "settled in England. We arrange them according to the order they seem to hold according to their posterity. The English genealogies do not know either Nicholas or his posterity, the Estouteville of France.  Henceforth the Sires of Stoutville are undoubtedly the "chastellenie of Vallemont,

De La Morandière, Gabriel. History of the House of Estouteville in Normandy. A Paris, 1903.

“We follow the Sire d'Estouteville with this account by one of his companions: His affairs put in order, his seigneuries engaged for cash, he descends in Italy with the Normans and the English, receives the Pope's blessing, and the winter gently spent with the relatives and friends of Apulia, embarks at Brindes, the Holy Day of Pasques (Easter) 1097, crosses the Balkans, admires from a distance the superb Byzantine, The Greek Emperor takes revenge on his fear by delivering these Paladins to the treacheries of his Turkish chamberlain. Then, fighting hunger, thirst, burning deserts, things more terrible than the miscreants for a man of the low plains; nightmares, and leaving many companions to eagles and jackals, he arrives at the Holy Places, "with anguish totes", heard mass on Christmas Eve in Bethlehem, "shines the palms in Jericho New Year’s Day, " (Easter 1099); finally entered Jerusalem on July 15, inundated with tears of holy joy and singing with the King-Prophet: "Adovàbimus in loco ubi s téter uni" pedes ejus. "

But finally, after five years full of everything man can suffer harder, feel higher, do more glorious, you have to throw yourself into reality and go home. However, all kinds of worries await at the cottage each of these Ulysses. Those of the political order alone are known to us; the situation is worse than before: the duke Robert who, there, had flourished, under a ray of glory, in prowess and courtesy of a real knight, finds himself more lamentable of insufficiency; for he no longer had to do with the brutal Guillaume-le-Rioux, killed in the hunt, but with the clever Henri-Beau-Clerc, who had become king of England. He drags on, five years, miserably tossed between irreducibly hostiles of his brother and his Barons. Normandy falls into the most awful disorder; the clergy, intelligent and friend of the order, indicate to the people where the salvation can come from: King Henry conceded to England the Great Charter; he gently and liberally took over the firm government of his father. But that even made him the enemy of Norman feudalism. She throws her crazy united duke fitted with descent from England; the easily victorious King begins by striking, then caressing. This time, with the advances of fortune united with all the superiorities, one does not resist any more: Yves de Grentemaisnil, another brother-in-law of Emma d'Estouteville, marries the niece of the Count of Meulent favorite of the King; their goods are returned to them; and this example leads to the defection of the majority of the Barons.

The Pope, who does not want to allow the Anglo-Norman monarchy to weaken; and to continue the Crusades, gives the last blow, inviting the king from England "to come to the aid of his desolate homeland". The King arrives as graceful as capable, promising liberties as in England, greeted by all the friends of the order.

In the other party, to the material weakness is added the discredit of the chief and the soldiers: all the lost people, the incorrigible artisans of disorder, play their game there; and against Duke Robert, who has already been criticized enough for his conduct, mystical slanders are exploited: God abandons him, it is said, for having preferred the delights of France to the perilous crown of Jerusalem. Yet it is in this bad company, in this cause defeated in advance, that the d’Estouteville are bent on ... sed vicia Çaloni ... And they must be praised, in addition to the fidelity still honorable, for a merit of which they were certainly not aware, but that gives the continuation of the history, and that it authorizes in spite of the anachronism, to call patriotic. This descent of the King of England to Normandy is in fact the revenge of Hastings, the prelude which we will see occurring for three and a half centuries; and from the first to the last shock, the d’Estouteville are there, facing the Englishman.

So, while king Henri begins his easy conquest by Basse Normandie, "Robert d'Estouteville, brave and powerful man, held Duke Robert's party strongly, and commanded his men and his places in the Pays de Caux. The terms of Order Vital (1), "familias au munitiones curabat," are significant: familias is the old Roman word expressing all domesticity, which has become all of the Master's vassalage; munition & the broad sense of any means of defense, fortifications, earthworks, even paths and roads. Thus in favor of d’Estouteville, by the combined effect of his own capacity, successive usurpations , the delegation of the Prince, and the force of things and places are restored, according to the political state, the general powers of the old Counts, the surveillance, the handling, and above all, in a very warlike State, the command of all that escaped from the feudal and still Fiscal state, in the region: men, places, finances. It is then, presumably, that ends there the taking possession, tacit or legal, of the public domain of Valmont and its merger with the small fief of Estouteville; while also the castle stands.

The Le Grand Guïllàume would certainly not have allowed such a construction to be made. A constant threat, in suspicious hands, to a place of importation of Fécamp; or else he would have been overthrown, like so many others. Now, on the contrary, nature itself seems to impose on the possessor of Valmont his political role. Its château-fort successor, according to the present conditions, of the old Câtelier, like the Sire du Comte, makes the center of the line of defense which, with Arques and Tanearvillé, orders the three; ports of Fécamp, Dieppe and Harfleur, and covers the coast.

Of this fortress, there remains the centerpiece, the keep. Imagination makes this word the symbol of feudalism, and with good reason; because the Middle Ages knew how to realize there, in the powerfully picturesque and subtly complicated way which is proper to it, two of the ideas which most strongly haunted these hard heads: the need to shelter the dear and precious objects, and the desire to assert highly its power and independence. There was especially a tremendous hatching of dungeons during these troubles before and after William the Conqueror; but the Princes razed them as long as they could; and he does remained hardly standing than those who belonged to the Overlord, or who, although particular domains, made by their situation a service of public utility. Protected by this reason, then by chance, left alone of his contemporaries in the region, the keep of Valmont stands, still intact, its rectangular mass, roughly constructed, as it must have been in this time of troubles and miseries where there was no law to embellish, with no other research than stone buttresses of size, remarkable however by an ancient and strong air. We recognize there all the characteristics of the Norman keep of the eleventh century, which Violette-le-Duc (2) considers as the type of this military architecture.

In the shelter of these strong walls, the Sire d'Estouteville was celebrating, with his own, la Pasque de l’an 1105, when a strange event occurred... the chaplain gave communion to the lord and his men; arrived at a certain knight, he could not raise his arm to present the host to him, and the knight, blushing and terrified like all the assistants, had to advance to the chalice and take, as he could, the host with his lips. Obeying this sign, he distributed all his goods to the poor, and was indeed killed in the first battle after Pasques. The chaplain himself told this to Orderic Vital, as an omen of the misfortunes into which the house of d’Estouteville threw itself, despite the warning from heaven.

Shortly after, in fact, while success crowned the skillful efforts of King Henri to bring about a peaceful submission, which, installed in Caën, he saw coming all to himself, that "few people of first order, other than the counts of Bellesme and Mortain and the Sire d'Estouteville, still held for the duke Robert ", two madmen have the crazy audacity to go, very close to the King, to ambush with 140 knights, in the fortified abbey of Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives. They are "Rodbertus Juvenis (the young) de Stotevilla" and Raynauld de Varennes, son of the Earl of Surrey, one of the greatest lords of England. Orderic Vital qualifies them as "tirones", recruits, which, for this ardent time of life where one does not linger in childhood, indicates very young people. The Abbot, in agreement with them, called him King, who, appearing at dawn without distrust, was assailed on all sides and riddled from the top of the walls of lines and insults. Furious he storms and sets the abbey on fire. "Raynauld and Robert, young knights full of bravery, are taken, some burned, the rest flees ... Just punishment for these perfidious who had made the divine house a cave of thieves.

"This ambush, infuriating hatred, precipitates the denouncement. The King besieged supporters of his brother in the castle of Tinchebray, near Domfort; the Duke comes to their aid: “He has with him Robert d'Estouteville and other lords with their troops, fewer distinguished knights, but more foot soldiers than his brother; The King of France sent reinforcements to him. Henri, as the last attempt at conciliation, made the strange offer to take charge of the entire administration of the duchy, leaving Robert the enjoyment of half without pain or worry. It would have been his business, but not that of his Barons; we must fight. The King, always attentive to satisfy God and men, made a vow to rebuild the abbey of Dives, and gave freedom to (the young) d'Estouteville and his companions in captivity. The Grentemaisnils and the parents of the other prisoners, who are in his army, respond to this magnanimity with fidelity and valor, and, on the evening of September 28, 1106, this victory bulletin leaves for England: "Divine mercy has put in our hands the Duke of Normandy, Robert de Stotevillale, “the old”, and others up to 400 knights and 10,000 soldiers, and Normandy (3).

Some were later released. "But Robert d'Estouteville (the old) and others were sent to England and condemned to a perpetual prison, until there dead; what their fault deserved. Henri remained flexible towards them, and, although pressed "by the prayers, the promises and the gifts of many, he never wanted to be touched."(4)

D'Estouteville bore the pain of his influence and his efforts in the Caux for Robert, but also its ugly alliance with Count Bellesme type of feudal tyrant, species Bluebeard, bane of the Clergy, which also betrayed them in combat. in sum this party Norman-French had public opinion against him. "The noise of the King's victory filled religious people with joy, says Orderic Vital; the men without loyalty and the partisans of the crime groaned that a yoke should be imposed on their untamed forehead. "

Thus ended sadly in the condemnation and destruction, prisoner on the land he had conquered, that (the old) Baron Grondeboeuf unfortunate who of the most famous adventures of the world. But reprobation is a matter of politics of the moment and above all of success. The historical truth is revealed by the state that English historians make of this "famous" victory of Tinchebray, their first step on the ground of France. This is enough to honor the vanquished. Grudge did not, moreover, pursue him in death. He was brought back to Valmont, and later buried in the Abbey; first, it seems, with (by) his grandson, in the founders' chapel; then in the sixteenth century "the high tomb representing Robert d'Estouteville, who was born in the quest of Hierusalem" was carried behind the choir, where it was still in 1646; since it is no longer mentioned (5).

As after Hastings, confiscation is the consequence of defeat; it is the logic of war. Nowadays, it is restricted to the domination of the provinces and the peoples, as much by the softening of manners as by the consolidation of private property. But to eleventh century, it is still very precarious. The Roman conception that there was, in the provinces, only one sole owner, the People- King, and that all individuals were only owners, was refreshed, in favor of the Duke-King, by the conquests of Normandy and England, very personal enterprises, of which he shared the benefits to its employees. Master of all lands, he concedes and resumes, claiming to be served in proportion to what he has given. There is no shortage of causes of forfeiture , just or not, with these ungovernable people. Just open the Peerages, to see the striking confiscation without ceases the great vassals. Le Suzerain is much more comfortable than in any other country in applying the feudal principle: that the Barony is the hereditary pay of the (Peerage) service, that is to say of the war and parliament service; it does not come up against previous rights; we built from scratch, on a clean slate. Conditions which seem entirely to the advantage of Royalty, but have in reality made the lasting strength of the English nobility, by impressing strongly on the minds the idea, a modern transformation of the feudal principle, that Aristocracy is a function and not an honorary distinction.(6)

So the d’Estouteville are entirely dispossessed: their goods, located in the North of England, logically pass to the main craftsman of the victory of Tinchebray, to Néel d'Aubigny, who took the Duke. It is a Breton, who came with the Conqueror, also committed to guarding the March of Scotland; thus rounded, he is made count of Northumberland.(7)

Grondeboeuf had moreover, on the borders of Wales, the county of Shrewsbury, recently confiscated on Bellesme, and which the King had to give him in an attempt to detach him from his brother. This great fiefdom is attributed to Maude d'Estouteville, wife of Gilbert Talebot (8), and will from now on, until today, be the main title of this illustrious house, at all times so significant in the history of England. D'Estouteville’s sister and brother-in-law collect his remains.

By a curious crossover, the barony of Cleuville had just passed, but in a better way, by marriage, from the Talebot to the d'Estouteville.

There is an imbroglio there where the possession, on dates which seem contradictory, become entangled , of this fief by these two houses and by that of de Meulent, and the marriages of the first two d'Estouteville’s. It will surprise those alone who do not know how rare and uncertain the documents on these old times are. The princes of scholarship in the seventeenth century, Duchesne, Le Laboureur, Bigot, Machault, fought against this difficulty; La Roque, after procrastinating, saw the solution is the hereditary pay of the Peerage service, that is to say of the war and parliament service; it does not come up against previous rights; we built from scratch, on a clean slate. Conditions which seem entirely to the advantage of Royalty but have in reality made the lasting strength of the English nobility, by impressing strongly on the minds the idea, a modern transformation of the feudal principle, that Aristocracy is a function and not an honorary distinction. Robert I (the old) man of d’Estouteville, and his other sister Amâurie, married Blanche and Alain, children of Guéthénoc, Sire de Rieux. This double alliance, given by old genealogies of this house, was certainly not invented by vainglory. Because the Rieux should rather look down on the d’Estouteville, being from the sovereign race of Brittany, "by a younger son of Duke Alain the Great, founder of the castle of Rieux, died in 907. The Sire de Rieux had come at the beginning of the eleventh century, at the court of Fécamp, bringing the daughter of his Duke fiancée to that of Normandy; hence probably these relations with the d’Estouteville. Alain Sire de Rieux is a historical figure mixed with the affairs and wars of Brittany in the middle of the eleventh century. This house, famous for a long time in the splendor’s of its province and of France, carried azure to 10 bezants of gold.

Between Emma d'Estouteville, wife of Errand d'Harcourt around 1078, but very young then according to the age of his brothers-in-law Grentemaisnil, and Robert II the young of d’Estouteville born after 1080, there is a big space; Grondeboeuf must have had other children. Willelmus de Stutevilla, witness in 1118 of a charter of the Abbey of Bec (9), can only be a cadet of Robert I or Robert II.

The latter, however young he was, was married before the Tinchebray disaster. We were anxious to conclude a good and practical affair, to secure, it was believed, an enormous territorial enlargement. Because "Jehanne Talebot”, heiress of the eldest of the nicknamed Talebot, barons of Cleuville", brings was this land, their original domain, whose movement, "both cities and castles, extended into 46 parishes (10)," and whose chief; the home, was located about three leagues from Valmont by sinking into the land; we can still recognize the clod and the important base. This "barony of Cleuville” was called the franc-fief Tallebot, because of its great privileges, for reason that the vassals of the said fief are free of lookouts, customs, excavations and breading throughout the “circuit of dishes” (limits) of Normandy, cities, forests, cross and steps (11) ”. It was obviously one of those rare domains which, exempted, at a given time, by the importance and the know-how of their masters, from the charges imposed by the Roman administration, and then from the subject-feudal states, had the good fortune to always find themselves in hands capable of maintaining these franchises. From the grandfather of this Jehanne, Richard Talebot or Tallebot or of Tallebot (the English simplified in Talbot), companion of his neighbor Grondeboeuf at Hastings, descended from numerous cadets, remained in Normandy or established in England like Maude's husband; we will find them again and will see a second and probably a third alliance between other Robert and other Jehanne, in the middle of the thirteenth century; hence these confusions and uncertainties. The coats of arms of this house were: bandaged silver and gules of 10 pieces. We generally confused them with those, better known, that a branch took in the thirteenth century by marrying the daughter of one of the little princes of Wales, who wore the famous Talbot, and whom they still carry (12).

Although not a prisoner, Robert “the younger” is enveloped in the confiscation of his father, since Cleuville passes to the favorite of the King, the Count of Meulent. But the Grentemaisnil are very much in favor; the King's policy is as lenient as it is skillful. Jehanne Talebot dies in time, leaving a son; and Robert II d'Estouteville was married to Erneburge, daughter and heiress of Baldric, a great Saxon lord (a great Saxon thane)"(13). It is both recovering from ruin and winning, we hope, a man who is worth it, without disturbing those who enjoy his spoils, and by ensuring to Norman harshness one of the rare Saxon heritages which have escaped him.

The new Sire d'Estouteville obtains even more: For Valmont, one should not think of having him back, with an attentive and authoritarian Prince, who feels its importance and intends to re-enter the public domain. But Estouteville-en-Caux is a part of its heritage, which we believe to be able, without inconvenience, to leave as a lodging on Norman soil, to a man whose entire fortune is in England. It is probable that he built the castle (Valmont) there, of which we still find the important motte; and the memory has been preserved, in an old document, "from that time when the Sire d'Estouteville resided at the Estouteville chateau in the sergeant des Baons, Viscount of Yvetot (14).

He founded even during these years of calm, a priory, the date, 1116, is precisely indicated by the error, confusing the first foundation with Abbey Valmont, sometimes attributed to this second foundation that time impossible. Not very rich elsewhere in Normandy, Robert does things small: as early as 1246, Archbishop Eudes Rigaud complained of the misery of this priory, the little fervor and residence of the monks, which must be three, and are usually only two. With its all English relations, d'Estouteville puts its foundation under the dependence of the English abbey of Lewes, daughter of Cluny (15). However, these people were not of a temper to be stopped more by gratitude than by fear. In this same year 1116, the leader of their party, the son of Robert Curtehouse, Guillaume Clinton, arrives at the age to claim the freedom of his father and the duchy. Immediately Robert d'Estouteville rejects the fray. We fight for twelve years, until the death of this “valiant legitimate prince of the Normans”, as Orderic Vital says, who is not, however, of this party; nothing is achieved, despite the help of the king of France, the energetic Louis-le-Grôs. But this time again, loyalty is expensive in d'Estouteville. He was taken, probably in 1124, at Bourg-Théroulde, “with eighty knights, who expiate a long time, tears in their eyes, in the prisons of the King, their temerity(16)."

This new prison and confiscation ends in 1135 (17), when the archbishop of Rouen imposed on the dying King Henri the general pardon.” … Bibliography (1) Lib. XI, ch, xiii. (2) Dictionary of Architecture, Verbo: Dungeon. (3) Collection of Historians of France, XIII, 60. (4) Ord. Vital, 1. XI, ch. xx andxxi. Mathieu Paris, trad. Huillard, I, 25 5. An inactive reading of Ord. Vital made Father Anselme commit a confusion reproduced by many genealogies, between the two Robert d'Estouteville, father and son, the one taken at Dives and the one taken at Tinchebray. (5) Various memoirs on the graves of Valmont Abbey, printed and Mss. (Archives of Valmont; papers of Mr. Bomot, current owner of the abbey, etc.) (6) See the Peerages, and in particular the exhibition of that of Nicolas I, pages m, n, 619. (7) Bank's Dormant Peerage, I, 174. Dugdale, Baronage of England. I, 118, 22,455. (8) This information, unknown to English genealogies, is given to us by the Mss. Of M. Bigot (Bibl. of Rouen), a great scholar of the seventeenth century, who was particularly interested, his land of Sommesnil coming under Cleuville. (9) Neustria Pia (10) Valmont Archives. (11) La Roque, Hist. d'Harcourt, IV, 123 (12) On this whole issue of Rieux-Talbot-Cleuville, various Peerages, in particular Nicolas, II, 632, Dugdale, and Banks aux Genealogies Talbot and Stutville. Le P Anselme, Généalogie Talbot, VII, p. 86, Montfort Méulent, VI, 73. Archives of Valmont. Mss. Bigot, Bibliot de Rouen. Memoirs of Duchesne Machaut, Le Laboureur. Histoire d'Harcourt, I, 528, IV, 1223 and randomly, D. Lobineau, Histoire de Bretagne, I, 97. D'Argentré, Hist. of Brittany. Titles Office, blue Talbot, Rieux, etc. Bib. Nat., Mss. Funds fr. 20,232, 20,229, f ° 91, and various Genealogies. (13) Marriage unknown to French genealogies. Bank's dormant Peerage, I, 174, and other peerages. (14) Bib. from Rouen, Mss. Bigot, III, p. 110. (15) Abbé Cochet, The Churches of the district of Yvetot. Liber visitationum by Eudes Rigaud. (16) Ord. Vital, Mb. XII. (17) Le Laboureur, cited by La Roque. Hist. of Harcourt

De La Morandière, Gabriel. History of the House of Estouteville in Normandy. A Paris, 1903, pg. 24-34.

________________________________________________________________________________ Resources

Cawley, Charles. “NORMANDY ARQUES, AUMÂLE, CAUX, ROUEN, EU.” Medieval Lands, 10 Oct. 2019, http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/''.

De La Chesnaye Des Bois, Aubert, and Jacques Badier. Dictionary of the Nobility: Containing the Genealogies, the History and the Chronology of the Noble Families of France. Vol. 7, A Paris, , 1863. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5424928x/f265.item.texteImage''

De La Morandière, Gabriel. History of the House of Estouteville in Normandy. A Paris, 1903. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5608689r/f118.item.texteImage.zoom''

“Family Tree of Alain Foullon.” Geneanet, https://en.geneanet.org/profil/foullon''.

Hermantrude. “Elmore and Its Derivations.” Notes and Queries, vol. 6, 1 Nov. 1870, pp. 231–290., https://books.google.com/books?id=YC217MX35oIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false''.

Pattou, Etienne. “Estouteville.” Racines Et Histoire, http://racineshistoire.free.fr/LGN''. _______________________________________________ _____________________________________________

“Base De Données Généalogique.” Roglo, roglo.eu/roglo.

Robert d'Estouteville robert/d estouteville/8/Robert d'Estouteville Grondeboeuf lord of Estouteville (Robert de Stutevilla) (Robert of Stotevilla) (Robert I of Estouteville)

Participate in the conquest of England, crusader Died after 1106 Buried after 1106 - Priory, Valmont (Seine-Maritime) Spouses and children Married to Beatrice N , with Robert † 1138 / Emma † 1125 Graulfus Guillaume Relationships May be parents: Roger de Verdun

Notes

Attention - On 15 ii 2013 I transferred Roger de Verdun from "certain parent" to "possible parent" because there is no proof of this filiation that our references are passed over in silence! - On 16 ii 2013 I disconnected the union with Jeanne de Talbot and removed the cited sources! JC de Vaugiraud

Chronological benchmarks " Robert 1er Sire d'Estouteville, Grondeboeuf (wrongly nicknamed Granbois by Father Anselme after Gabriel de La Morandière), is included in the list of Knights who accompanied their Duke William to the conquest of England in 1066. He witnessed a donation charter made to the Abbey of Saint-Evroult in 1080. He was Crusader in 1097. In 1106, he was at the battle of Tinchebray, companion of Robert III Courteheuse, Duke of Normandy. was Jeanne Talbot (Tallebot) daughter of Hue, Baron de Cleuville and Marie de Meulan. "Initial data entry - not sourced. " The Conqueror and His Companions by JR Planché, Somerset Herald. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1874, Chapter X: Robert Bertram, Hugh de Port, William de Colombieres , Robert d'Estouteville , William Peveral. " Initial entries on the record. Before the Estouteville

For Gabriel de La Morandière the family of Estouteville would descend from a Stoot, Estout (big powerful ox in Danish), a Norman from the time of Rollo who would have given his name to the fief then to the family who would descend from it! ESS and Medieval genealogy do not accept any hypothesis because there is no proof! Divergence on the places which gave their names to the patronym

Estouteville-en-Véxin (Seine-Maritime), near Buchy. Discarded by Gabriel de La Morandière because it would seem that the Estouteville family did not take possession of fiefs in this parish until the thirteenth century (cadet fiefs at the beginning of the century, main fief at the end of the century)! Estouteville-en-Caux aka Estouteville-sur-Mer (Seine-Maritime), near Yvetot. Discarded by Gabriel de La Morandière because Farin proved that the ancient tombs presented as being of Estouteville were in fact tombs of Tonneville!

Estouteville; a place now disappeared from Valmont (Seine-Maritime). Estouteville = Stutevilla = the villa of Estout, the "Chef-Moi", land on the parish of Valmont, very close to the fief of Valmont, the latter having absorbed it in fine! This is the hypothesis adopted by Gabriel de La Morandière. Notice on Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (Reported by JP de Palmas in 2011)

According to Le Prévost, this family originated in "Etouteville-sur-Mer, canton d´Yerville" [1219], located in the Pays de Caux about 30 kilometers north-west of Rouen. This family has been studied by Gabriel de la Morandière [1220]. He appears to clarify adequately the relationship between the Estouteville family in Normandy and the Stuteville family in England. However, his account of the descent of the various branches of the English Stuteville family is confused and contradictory (see the document UNTITLED ENGLISH NOBILITY PS).

Robert [I] d´Estouteville (-after 1106). "The Liber Vitæ of Durham names "Robertus de Stuteville, Beatrix uxor eius, Robertus, Graulfus, Willelmus filii eorum, Emma Robertus…" and in a later passage the same names with the last two replaced by "Emme uxor Rodberti, Rodbertus filius eius… "[1221]. Domesday Descendants suggests that these entries refer to Robert [I] d´Estouteville and his family [1222]. Orderic Vitalis quotes a charter, dated to [1066/89], witnessed by "… Rodbertus de Stotavilla…" [1223]. A charter of King Henry II records donations to York St Mary, including the donation of land in “Edelyngthorp… Harton… et decimas de dominio suo de Cukewald et Honingham, Kirkeby, Buttercram et Strayngham et Langtuna et… in Cucewald” by “Robertus de Stutavilla ”, as well as land" in Mitona "by" Robertus de Maisnil and Robertus de Stutaville "[1224]..

m Beatrice ,daughter of ---. The Liber Vitæ of Durham names "Robertus de Stuteville, Beatrix uxor eius, Robertus, Graulfus, Willelmus filii eorum, Emma Robertus…" [1226]. Domesday Descendants suggests that these entries refer to Robert [I] de Stuteville and his family [1227]. Morandière states that "Robert I the old man from Estouteville and his other sister Amaurie married Blanche and Alain, children of Guéthénoc Sire de Rieux" (who he says was descended from a younger son of Alain I Duke of Brittany, who died in 907 ) but cites no primary source on which the information is based [1228]. It is not impossible that "Blanche" was an error for "Beatrice", but no other corroboration has yet been found for her alleged parentage. Morandière´s work does not appear convincing in relation to the early generations of the Estouteville family and it is suggested that the information should be treated with caution. Robert [I] & his wife had four children."

[1221] Liber Vitæ ecclesiæ Dunelmensis (London, Surtees Society, 1841) (" Durham Liber Vitæ "), folio 44, p. 60, and folio 47b, p. 68. [1222] Domesday Descendants, p. 723. [ 1223] Orderic Vitalis (Prévost), Vol. II, Liber V, XII, p. 399. [1224] Dugdale Monasticon III, York St Mary, V, p. 548. [1225] Orderic Vitalis (Prévost), Vol. IV , Liber XI, XX, p. 226 and 231, and XXI, p. 234. [1226] Durham Liber Vitæ, folio 44, p. 60. [1227] Domesday Descendants, p. 723. [1228] Morandière (1903) , p. 31.

Sources and bibliography (Most recent)

History of the Maison d'Estouteville in Normandy , by Gabriel de La Morandière, Paris, 1903. Torcy-le-Grand and his lords , by Marcel Boudet, Rouen, 1950. Europäische Stammtafeln , Band XIII, T. 103-110, by Detlev Schwennicke, 1990. Foundation for Medieval Genealogy - Normandy nobility, chapter 7, Caux, B Seigneurs d'Estouteville , February 2013. Sources: - individual: JP de Palmas ( FMG ) 2011, JC de Vaugiraud (ESS XIII, T. 103 + Medieval genealogy, Estouteville) 16 ii 2013 - family, burial: JC de Vaugiraud (ESS XIII, T. 103 + Medieval genealogy , Estouteville) 16 ii 2013 - death: JC de Vaugiraud (Medieval genealogy) 16 ii 2013

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Additional Curator's Notes by Maria:

Alternate spellings that are accepted

• de Estoteville
• d'Estouteville
• d'Estoutevielle
• de Stuteville
• Estoteville, but not until post-Norman era
• Stuteville, but not until post-Norman era

  ---

Robert I Granbois was one of the knights accompanying William the Conqueror in the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Governor of the Castle of Ambriegravères 1056. He was a witness to a confirmation charter of William son of Fulk de Querneville at the Abbey of Saint-Evroult before 1089, He took the Cross in 1097 and was the companion of Robert III Courteheuse, Duke of Normandy in the battle of Tichebray, of 1106.

J.R. Planché, Somerset Herald, The Conqueror and His Companions (Tinsley Brothers, London 1874

reproduced in: http://genealogy.patp.us/conq/index.shm'').

2 http://geneweb.inria.fr/roglo''.

The primary source for the existence of this person is difficult to track down. His story (and that of his family), apparently from the Battle Abbey Roll and some accounts of Norman lineages (note: although it looks impressive, the Battle Abbey Roll is a rather discredited source) is related at:

http://www.1066.co.nz/library/battle_abbey_roll2/chap00.ht''

Estuteuille: This name, which is included in Wace's account of the Conqueror's companions, appears a second time on the Roll as Front-de-Boeuf.

"The Sire d'Estoteville of the Roman de Rou was in all probability Robert, surnamed Frontdeboeuf, Granteboef, or, according to the French antiquaries, Grandbois; but whether he was of Estouteville-sur-Cailly or Estouteville-sur-Mer may be an open question. There was a knightly family deriving its name from the former, one of whom, Nicholas, great-great-grandson of Robert, married Gunnor de Gant, the daughter of Hugh IV. de Gournay, in the twelfth century, and received with her in dower the manors of Beddingfield and Kimberley in Norfolk, which remained for many generations in the family. This Estouteville was formerly a mouvance or dependency on the fief of La Ferte-en-Brai, of which the Gournays were the lords, and it is therefore likely that Robert d'Estouteville followed Hugh II de Gournay to England in the invading army.

"Some 10 or 11 years previous to the Conquest, he was governor of the Castle of Ambrieres, and stoutly defended it against Geoffrey Martel until relieved by the approach of Duke William. He could therefore not have been very young even at that time—say between 20 and 30—and in 1066 he would have been between 30 and 40. Of his exploits at Senlac we hear nothing, and his name does not appear in Domesday, so we are ignorant of the reward, if any, which he received for his services. The latest mention of him is by Orderic, who records him as a witness to a confirmation charter of the Dean of Evreux to the Abbey of Ouche before the year 1089."—J. R. Planche.

Dugdale asserts that he was taken prisoner at the battle of Tinchebrai in 1106, when he would have been nearly eighty years of age; but evidently confuses him with his son of the same name. Of this second Robert, Orderic speaks "as a brave and powerful baron, who was a strong partisan of the Duke" (Robert Courtheuse), "and superintended his troops and fortresses in the Pays de Caux."

He also says (817) that d'Estouteville was slain fighting against Henry I. at Tinchebrai, and not, as other authorities aver, sent over to England to suffer the doom of life-long captivity. In either case, the whole of his possessions—which apparently included Roger de Moubray's former barony—were forfeited, and granted to the King's favorite, Nigel de Albini.

His wife Erneburga, a Yorkshire heiress, whose father, Hugh, the son of Baldric, had been a great Saxon thane, brought him, three sons,; Robert III.; Osmund, who died at Joppa in Palestine; and Patrick (omitted by Dugdale), to whom he gave the lordship of Skipwith in the East Riding.