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the King in capite by Robert the Marshal. The descent of the manor of Gare cannot be traced; it may have been merged in Lavington; however, families of the name of Gayer bore a fleur de lis and a chief for their arms, who not unlikely took their appellation from this place. By the Pipe Roll of 1131, it appears that Henry de la Mare paid for lands in Wilts and Oxon, on account of his brother Robert, then deceased. This Henry, we have before seen reason to suppose, was son of the William de Mara of Domesday, and was certainly ancestor, probably father, of Peter, Robert, and perhaps others of the name recorded in the Liber Niger. The lands for which payment was made in Wilts, were doubtless these owned by Peter, and equally doubtless came to Henry, from his presumed father, William. Was Robert the Marshal the father then of William-in fact, was that another title, and are we hereby furnished with the Christian name of Normannus? Who inherited the office of marshal? The office descending to Henry from his father, was that of veltrarius-keeper or master of the (royal) hounds. But Sir Ralph de Broc, temp. Henry II., it is said, held the office of marshal of the King's servants (or rather meretrices) in trust for Robert Testard; and so it seems did his son, Sir Robert de Broc, or else on his own account, for he styles himself, in a deed, "Marescallus Angliæ." This family of De Broc, at an early period, were landowners in Sussex, Surrey, and Hants, bore fleurs de lis for their arms, and one at least bore the Christian name of Elias: the family of Croc, with whom they intermarried, also bore fleurs de lis, in the person of more than one member, used the name of Elias, and were of importance in the twelfth century in Hants. In the Pipe Roll of 1131, we find, in Surrey and Oxon, the names of Robert Testard 2 and Robert FitzWalter. Two coats of Fitz-Walter, of Bucks, are, on a bend three fleurs de lis, and the same over all a shield quarterly. The

1 There is a document called the "Tabula Eliensis" (from its having been originally kept in Ely Cathedral), of the time of the Conqueror, viz. A.D. 1087, containing the names, portraits, and armorial bearings of several Norman knights. A facsimile is engraven in Bentham's History of Ely, where its authenticity and history are discussed. In the list occurs the name of "Robertus Normannus Marescalis," a remarkable testimony to the correctness of the theories of the text: the arms assigned are a lion rampant; but, either the armorial bearings are of more recent introduction, or, if any were there originally, they must have been obliterated and renovated incorrectly, for many of them were certainly first borne by the families to whom they are assigned, a long time after the Conquest.

2 This name and family are derived from William Teste Hardie, Duke of Burgundy, son of Raineld, who married Adeliza, daughter of Richard, second Duke of Normandy.-(Hozier's Armorial de France, tome i. reg. 3.)

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latter coat, with different colours, was the arms of "Monsieur de Bray," of Oxfordshire, according to a roll of arms temp. Edward III. The manors of Ockley, Water-pirie, and Wormenhall, in Bucks and Oxon, temp. Domesday, were held by Robert," or Robert Fitz-Walter; these manors were acquired by Sir William Fitz-Ellis, before mentioned, in marriage with Emma, grand-daughter of Lupellus de Brai, who is mentioned in the Pipe Roll of 31 Henry I. It would seem therefore, that the arms mentioned belonged to these families, and that he married a heiress of Fitz-Walter, and took her arms. If so, might it not have been the Robert Fitz-Walter of the Pipe Roll 31 Henry I.; and did not Robert Testard marry another, and in that way acquire the office of marshal; and therefore are not the Robert Fitz-Walter and Robert le Marshal of Domesday the same person? There is indeed a fact recorded in the Testa de Nevill which would lead to that conclusion, as well as another, viz., that Normannus or Le Mare and they were identical. Henry de la Mare is there recorded to have held lands, doubtless by inheritance, in Oxon, "per serjantiam custodiendi meretrices sequentes curiam domini regis," the precise nature of the office held by the Testards; and in Wilts (by mistake for Dorsetshire) he held lands in Winterburn by the service of being marshal of the King; and in Parva-Winterburn, William Fitz-Walter is said to hold half a knight's fee. Now, by Domesday, it appears that William de Dalmari, or De la Mare, "a servant of the

2

2 Ibid. p. 143.

8 Ibid. p. 165.

1 Pages 107-115. The family of Damory, or Damer, is derived from this William Delmari, and his presumed descendant Gilbert d'Aumari, who held lands in Somersetshire, 15 Henry II. (Lodge's (Archdale's) Irish Peerage, and Dugdale's Baronage), without any evidence being given of the connection. The arms of the latter's family were barry nebulee of six, over all a bend. These are substantially the arms of the Bassetts. 6 Edward II., Nicholas Damory was owner of the manors of Bochenhall and Blechendon, co. Oxon. These, at the Domesday Survey, were held by "Gilbert "Basset. Robert de Amar and Philip de Hampton were witnesses to the foundation charter of Osney Abbey, by Robert D'Oilly, A.D. 1129 (Dugdale's Monasticon). This Robert de Amar was doubtless the Robert de la Mare of the Pipe Roll, 1131, whose lands were accounted for by his brother Henry, he being then recently deceased, and probably left a heiress, married to Gilbert Basset, the Gilbert D'Amory of 15 Henry II. Robert Damari, and Robert his son, with Gilbert Basset, were witnesses to a charter dated 3 Henry III. (Kennett's Parochial Antiquities). A.D. 1140, Robert de Gay owned the manor and church of Hampton-Gay, co. Oxon. A bend between six fleurs de lis, for Hampton of Oxon, is quartered by Gournay (Records of the House of Gournay). Helias de Jay held one knight's fee in Salop, of Geffrey de Vere, 1166 (Liber Niger). The family of Jay bore three leopards' heads jessant de lis. These facts may serve as clues to investigation that would undoubtedly elucidate the whole subject.

King," held a manor and other lands at Winterburne, as did also one John." Now, we find a John Fitz-Walter in the Pipe Roll of 31 Henry I., paying for his manor of Etton, in Bucks. This might probably be the same, son of Robert Fitz-Walter, of Domesday, and father of Robert Fitz-Walter of the Pipe Roll, and ancestor of the William of the Testa de Nevill.

There is another Fitz-Walter mentioned in Domesday, who appears of the same family, and whose descent will still further elucidate our subject. This was Ralph Fitz-Walter, whose name occurs frequently under the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk; as also does that of Ralph de Bellofago, or Beaufoy, who was the same person or his son. A William de Beaufoy, or Bellfou, occurs also in Berks and Dorset. Ralph was sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, temp. Henry I., whose daughter and heir, Agnes, married Hubert de Rye, who was living 1146. Agatha, eldest daughter and coheir of Fulke de Beaufoy, married, at the end of the twelfth century, Robert Aguillon, whose eldest daughter and coheir married Robert de Cokefield. To both these families are assigned a fleur de lis for a coat of arms; and to Beaufelde, gules a fleur de lis ermine. Assuming this latter to be synonymous with Beaufoy, it is pretty clear that this armorial device was inherited by Cokefield from Aguillon, and by Aguillon from Beaufoy. Here then would be strong presumption of the

1 Another William de Beaufoy was Chaplain and Chancellor to William I., and also Bishop of Thetford or Norwich, and died circa 1091. From the period of death, this might seem to be brother of Ralph Fitz-Walter alias Beaufoy; but if this family and Auberville were identical, as supposed (vide post), this could not be. Ralph Fitz-Walter was probably lord of Beaufoy by marriage, as, according to Du Chesne, his son and heir, Richard 'seigneur de Beaufoy" makes a charter, A.D. 1081, in the lifetime of his father, but probably after his mother's death. If so, the bishop might have been uncle of Richard's mother.

Unfortunately the accounts of the early Norman Beaufoys are confused and contradictory. The English translator of Ordericus Vitalis, in a note, vol. iv. p. 134, says, "that Richard Beaufou, Bishop of Avranches, in 1134, is supposed to be grandson of Richard Beaufou, of Beaufou, in Calvados, who married Emma, daughter of Ralph Earl of Ivry, and had by her two sons, Robert and Humphrey." The account in the Dictionary of Dubois (from William of Jumièges), is at variance with this, in giving (certainly incorrectly) Emma of Bayeux as wife to Richard, living 1081. Otherwise it may be substantially correct, it being there stated that Ralph was sire of Beaufoy, 1066; Richard, his son and heir, 1081, who had three daughters and three sons-Richard, the bishop; William, the second, a knight, in the service of William Rufus; and Robert, the eldest, who, with his two sons, William and Richard, became monks of Bec, leaving his daughter Emma heiress of Beaufou, who married Robert Baynel, who took the name and arms of Beaufoy, and whose family, in the thirteenth century, ended in coheiresses.

two Fitz-Walters of Domesday being of one family. But in the same document we find 66 a Ralph," whose descent being traced, there is much reason to believe the same individual as Ralph Fitz-Walter. This is he who had Wiston and other manors in Sussex, and whose descendants, the Westons, bore leopards' faces, and the Morleys (from William Fitz-Ralph, his son, who had a manor of that name) three leopards' faces jessant de lis. In that county we find a Fulke de Morley, temp. Stephen, and a Walter de Morley, 1166. We here meet with a correspondence of names and arms and dates; for the William Belfoy was doubtless son of Ralph Fitz-Walter, and the same relationship subsisted between the Sussex proprietors, which would (the hypothesis being correct) make Ralph Fitz-Walter, like his presumed relative and probable brother, a father of adult sons, mentioned with himself in Domesday. To strengthen the presumption indulged, the three other daughters and coheirs of Fulke de Beaufoy, probably son of Fulke de Morley, married into the Sussex families of Poynings, Fitz-Bernard, and Sackville. And it may be added here, that "Gaufridus Alisius," probably brother of the "William Alisius" of Domesday, was witness along with "Gulielmus de Belfay and Robertus frater ejus," to a charter of Robert de Belesme, son of Roger Earl of Shrewsbury, A.D. 1092.1

Before, however, we proceed further, we must not omit to notice those direct circumstances which justify the belief some time ago indulged, that the William de Mara and William Alis of Domesday were identical. We have a coat of the De la Mares of Essex, with three fleurs de lis on a bend. A Geoffry de la Mare went to the Holy Land in 1096, with Robert Duke of Normandy, who very probably was the Geoffry Alis who has just occurred as a witness in Normandy, in 1092. The name of Elias occurs frequently in the De la Mare family, as early at least as the time of

1 It is not improbable that the family of Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, is descended from the Beaufoys. The Bosvilles were certainly their ancestors, male or female (Collectanea Top. et Gen. vii. 199); and there are many reasons for believing Bosville, Bovill, and Beaufoy, identical. There is a William de Beovill, in the Domesday for Suffolk, who may be the same person as the William de Beaufoy of that record. The manor of Burgh, in Norfolk, from which they probably took their name, was held (it does not appear by whom) of the Bishop of Thetford; and a branch of the family, if not the original stock, bore three fleurs de lis ermine (Vis. Linc. 1564-92; Harl. MSS. 1550, p. 122). Bloomfield, in his History of Norfolk (fol. ed. v. 1228), says that Reyner de Burgh, by a coheiress of Pouchard, was father of Hubert Earl of Kent (of whom, however, a different and totally erroneous origin is usually given); and this Reyner was son of Sir William de Burgh (ib. p. 1506). Elias de Bouvill held one hide and a half of land in Gloucestershire, 1166 (Liber Niger).

King John (in Yorkshire, along with Elias de Waddsworth'). William de la Mare occurs in this county in the Pipe Roll for 1131, and was, doubtless, the same William de Mara who occurs as witness to the before-mentioned charter of John, son of Gilbert le Marshal. Now, as during the whole of these inquiries we are constantly reminded of the variety of designations employed to signify the same person in the early Norman reigns, we might expect to find the Alises variously styled, and, failing their indication by one name, look for it in another.2 In many cases, as we have seen, identity has been evident; but unsafe conclusions would be arrived at, if, in succeeding generations, the same identity were to be presumed; for it was often confined to

1 Rot. Cur. Regis.

2 There are a great many circumstances connected with the family of Pontedelarche, or Punchardon, which make it extremely probable that it is the same as that of William Alis. The town of Pontdelarche, formerly of much importance, is nearly opposite to Alisay, on the other side of the river Seine. From the latter, the venerable bridge of many arches, which gave name to the town, and now in course of reconstruction-the fine and beautifully decorated old church, towering above the ancient and clustering houses around, and the sombre and wide-stretching forest of Louviers in the distance, constitute a somewhat striking picture; whilst from the heights of Pontdelarche, the straggling embowered village of Alisay, with its conspicuous church, forms a pleasing feature in the rich and extensive valley through which the Seine here pursues its fertilising course.

By a pedigree of the family of Grey, formerly Croy, of Croy in Picardy, in Baker's Northamptonshire (i. 658), Rainold or Arnold de Croy, lord of Eaton, co. Bucks, who died 1097, is said to have married Joan, daughter of James, and sister and heir of Walter, lord of Pontdelarche, whose son and heir, Henry de Croy, succeeded him in that lordship. M. D'Anisy, however, in his Récherches sur le Domesday, discredits this origin of the English family of Grey, and derives them from a parish of that name in the arrondissement of Bayeux. But that need not invalidate the statement about the family of Pontdelarch, concerning whom M. D'Anisy states he possesses more particulars, and seems inclined, with the Abbé de la Rue, to identify with the family of De Archis, or Arcubus, but, it seems, unsuccessfully. If they abbreviated their name in any way, it was probably to Pont; for there was a Sir Elyas de Pont, a prisoner, kept at Norwich, temp. John (Rot. Lit. Pat. p. 656), but no other circumstance of identity with this name has been found. The arms of the town of Pontdelarche are a bridge with three arches in chief, and in base three fleurs de lis; this, at all events, indicates a connection with the Alises. Further, the name of its last lord, Walter, is that of William Alis's (presumed) grandfather, who might be brother of James. The first of the name to be found in England is Sir William de Pontdelarche, who, with another Norman knight, Sir William Dauncy, founded, in 1106, the religious house of St. Saviour's, Southwark (Manning and Bray's Surrey). The family of Dauncy bore three bars wavy, which were the bearings of the family of Ales of

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