Lucy of Bolingbroke

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Introduction

Lucy of Bolingbroke or Lucia Thoroldsdottir of Lincoln (died circa 1136) was an Anglo-Norman heiress in central England and, later in life, countess of Chester as the wife of her third husband Ranulf de Meschines. She survived Ranulph to become a widow for the third time and in 1130, according to the "pipe roll", paid 500 marks to King Henry I for a license to remain unmarried for 5 years. Her ancestry has been the subject of a good deal of historical debate and raises some questions about the relations between the Normans and English around the time of the Conquest. On a more technical point, it raises questions about dates given for birth, marriages and death in several sources.

Her local connexion with Chester is, beside becoming Countess of Chester, that she has been associated with the foundation of at least one church in Chester, and is linked to the pre-Norman Earls of Chester/Mercia. Her family is sometimes associated with the "death" of Harold II and therefore has a link to Chester via the legend associated with the Hermitage.

Lucy was, according to what may be the best estimate, born on the 23 May 1074 at Spalding, Lincolnshire and died in 1136 (aged 61–62) at Chester. The birthdate used here is not the only one given: online sources range from before 1059 to 1079, which would have her first marriage at ages from about 9 to possibly over 30, and her third marriage (c1098), by which she had children, at an age from around 20 to over 40. The consequences of this variation in estimates of her age can be odd, as one source says of her: "Later, when she was in her seventies, she was required to pay a large sum of money not to have to marry for five years."

First Husband

John Speed's depiction of Castle Howe.

Lucy's first marriage was to Ivo Taillebois: it took place "around 1088", when Lucy was, using the given birthdate, about 14. As was the convention at the time, Ivo took over her lands as husband, and seems in addition to have been granted estates and extensive authority in Westmorland and Cumberland. Ivo Taillebois (probably brother of Ralph Taillebois, a sheriff of Bedfordshire who was dead by 1086), was a prominent administrator throughout the reign of William I (1066-1087) and well into that of William II. He was also involved in the defeat of Hereward the Wake - another character who attracted a lot of later myth and dubious ancestry, some of which is also associated with Chester.

Ivo possibly built Castle Howe, a motte and bailey castle in Kendal of which the motte survives, with a 1788 obelisk on top.

Ivo died in 1094. He appears to have been twice married since he was ancestor of the English family surnamed "of Lancaster" or Taillebois, who descended from the somewhat enigmatic thegn Eldred of Workington, alive in 1086. In 1093 he can be seen to have had a daughter Beatrice, then married to Ribald of Richmond who was the illegitimate son of Odo, Count of Penthièvre. She was dead in 1121, when Ivo's widow Lucy was married to her third husband. Lucy and Beatrice, probably widow of Eldred before marriage to Ribald, were contemporaries, so Lucy must have been Ivo's second wife. According to a likely version of events, Lucy was the daughter of Ivo's predecessor as sheriff of Lincoln, Thorold/Turold, who was possibly a Norman living in England before 1066.

As should already be apparent the Anglo-Saxon/Norman "aristocracy" was quite small. This means that it is often easy to find a connexion between any two members (examples are given above). However, it will turn out that some of the connexions made by historians are, at least probably, spurious.

The White Ship sinks. Lucy's son got off just before it sailed: Richard of Avranches didn't, and drowned.

Second Husband

The second marriage was to one Roger de Roumare or Roger fitz Gerold, with whom she had one son, William de Roumare, born c. 1096 (future Earl of Lincoln), who inherited some of her land. Peter of Blois' supposed Continuation of the Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland/Crowland records the death of Ivo (1094 in Kendal) and his burial at the priory of Spalding, and the remarriage of his widow "hardly had one month elapsed after his death" with "Roger Fitz-Gerold, Baron of Kendal, the son [of] Gerald de Romar". It is possible that Peter's association with the continuation is spurious. Roger, however, appears to be dead by July 1098.

"R filius Geroldi" donated property to St Mary´s, York by charter dated to 1094/98, witnessed by "L. sua uxor et suus frater Wido…" ("L his wife.."). This would have been Roger the son of (fitz) Gerold. "L" is presumably Lucy. Curiously, the York abbey was originally a church dedicated in 1055 to the same St Olave (c. 995 – 29 July 1030) as the church of that name in Chester.

In 1120 Lucy's son William de Roumare was supposed to have crossed the Channel with William the Aetheling (the son of Henry I, often known as William Adelin) in the White Ship but disembarked shortly before it sailed. Another disembarkee was Stephen of Blois, the future king. Thus, the two avoided drowning in the subsequent sinking of the ship, which took the life of almost all abord, including Richard of Avranches the 2nd Earl of Chester. William Adelin's death left the succession to his father uncertain. After King Henry died in 1135, William's sister Empress Matilda and cousin Stephen of Blois waged a long war for the English throne in what is known as "The Anarchy".

William de Roumare, may have built an early version of Bolingbroke Castle as a motte and bailey castle with wet ditch to replace an earlier earthwork defence structure which overlooked the village of Bolingbroke. In the early 13th century, a new castle was constructed at the present site by Ranulf de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester following his return in 1220 from the Fifth Crusade. Later, John of Gaunt, son of Edward III, acquired the castle through his wife, Blanche of Lancaster. In 1367, it was the birthplace of John's son, Henry, known as Henry Bolingbroke, who became King Henry IV of England after his capture and deposition of Richard II (see Royal Treasure).

Third Husband

"Before 1101", she was married to Ranulf de Meschines, her last and longest marriage. Such a marriage would require royal patronage and the exact date of it is important given that Henry I only became king in August 1100 in what might be considered "unplanned circumstances" following the "accidental" death of William (II) Rufus (2 August 1100) in a hunting accident. Following the White Ship disaster of 1120, Ranulf became the Earl of Chester in what were again "unplanned circumstances". A son Ranulph De Gernon, succeeded his father to the earldom of Chester (in 1129). A daughter, Alice, married Richard de Clare the supposed first Earl of Hereford, although no contemporary reference to him, including the record of his death, calls him by any title. Lucy is named as wife of Ranulf by Orderic Vitalis, who also names her first husband, but does not give her origin. Orderic is considered a generally reliable source.

The arms on the Suspension Bridge at Chester have the names of the Earls out of order (if we read left to right) and while de Meschines (1120-1129) arms are usually given as a red lion on gold, de Gernon (1129-1153) had a silver lion on red. It seems that Countess Lucy sows confusion wherever she goes.

According to Cronne (see reference below), Ranulph De Gernon was born in 1099 which probably places the marriage of Lucy to Ranulf de Meschines in the reign of William (II) Rufus. Other historians give a later birthdate for De Gernon, possibly 1101 which makes it possible that it was Henry I who sanctioned the marriage. The relations between brothers William II and Henry I were complicated - at times they even went to war against each other. Many conspiracy theories have been put forward suggesting that William II was killed deliberately and that the future Henry I was involved. Others note that "hunting was a risky activity and such accidents were common". While not central to the subject of this article, the fact that Lucy was a very valuable wife would shed some light on the relationship between Ranulf de Meschines and whichever king sanctioned the marriage.

Ranulf's marriage brought him the lordship of Appleby in Cumberland, previously held by Lucy's second husband (Roger fitzGerold, de Roumare). He promptly constructed Appleby Castle. Originally this would have been an earth ringwork and bailey fortress. The square stone keep of Appleby is one of the best preserved examples of its type and was added in 1170 (by Hugh de Morville). It is known as "Caesar's Tower" - this is similar to the Agricola Tower at Chester Castle neither of which had anything to do with the Romans. Ranulf ceded Appleby to the crown when he became earl of Chester. Ranulf had been awarded the Lordship of Carlisle by Henry I and served the English king as a kind of semi-independent governor in Cumberland and Westmorland, though he lacked the formal status of being called such. “Ranulfus Meschines” donated property to Wetherall Priory, Cumberland (which he founded in 1106), by undated charter, witnessesed by "uxore mea Lucia, Willielmo fratre meo…" (my wife Lucy and brother William...). The mother-house of the priory was the same St Mary's Abbey in York to which Lucy's former husband had given land.

According to a charter [RRAN iii, 180] of Henry Duke of Normandy (later Henry II King of England) issued in favour of her son Ranulph De Gernon, Earl of Chester and dated 1153, Countess Lucy was the niece of Robert Malet of Eye and of Alan of Lincoln, as well as kinswoman of Thorold "the Sheriff". It is chronologically must unlikely that Alan of Lincoln was Lucy's uncle, but that Robert Malet was is possible.

A manuscript recording the foundation of the Spalding monastery records that “Yvo Talboys” married "Thoroldo…hærede Lucia" who, after the death of Ivo, married (in turn) "Rogerum filium Geroldi" and "comitem Cestriæ Ranulphum". Obviously, given that Ranulf only gained Chester in 1120, this document dates from well after the supposed foundation date of Spalding.

Ancestry

Although there is much confusion about Lucy's ancestry in earlier writings, recent historians tend to believe that she was the daughter of Thorold, sheriff of Lincoln, by a daughter of William Malet (died 1071). The name of this daughter is unknown. Lucy inherited a huge group of estates centred on Spalding in Lincolnshire, probably inherited from both the Lincoln family of Thorold and the Malet family. This group of estates have come to be called the "Honour of Bolingbroke".

Saxon Earls of Chester and Sheriffs

"Hugh Lupus, Earle of Chester, sitting in his parliament with the barons and abbots of that Countie Palatine". Engraving in 1718 edition of William Dugdale's "Monasticon Anglicanum". Hugh's "Wolf's Head" coat of arms can be seen on the wall together with many others despite the fact that arms did not come into use until many years later. The architectural style is also completely wrong.

The last Saxon Earls of Chester/Mercia tend to be underplayed in national history as it is commonly understood. Harold and Wessex get all the limelight, with Edwin and Morcar sometimes having a mention for their role in the Battle of Fulford prior to the better-known Battle of Stamford Bridge - buying the time needed for Harold to march north with his troops. Leofric's long "cold war" with Harold's father is hardly mentioned as interest turns towards his wife Godiva. There are many reasons for the confusion which has arisen: records are mis-copied or absent, monks forge or elaborate on histories (for entertainment or profit), the history is biased towards Wessex or the French, and mistakes or assumptions get made. One particular issue is that "brother" and "sister" (and perhaps even "uncle") might mean in-laws, and "cousin" and "kinsman" might be very loosely used.

The Norman Conquest also marked a distinct watershed in the terminology used in royal charters. Where the Latin of England had used dux for earl, in Normandy that was already used for the duke, a title of higher rank, and so Latin comes was used instead for earls in England as well as for counts in Normandy. The English rank of thegn had long been expressed in Latin diplomas as minister, the distinct role of cynges þegen as minister regis, "king’s thegn", but this too was rejected by the writers of King William’s charters. The rank of thegn was equated with the French word baron, "worthy man", and as a body of men barones occupy the space once occupied by thegns in the address-clauses of writ-charters, while baro regis is the nearest expression to the later usage tenant-in-chief.

In Cheshire Hugh of Avranches had as his next level of government a number of barons.

Before the Conquest the shire reeve (scirgerefa) was generally overshadowed by the ealdormen, later known as earls, who were the king’s officers in the shires, each holding several, in a few cases many, shires. After the Conquest, the role of earls was rapidly reduced, though King William experimented (as in Cheshire) with giving great powers to an earl in a single shire. The language actually associated the earl, comes, with a shire, now Latinized as comitatus ‘county’, which in official documents replaced less transparent words such as prouincia or regio, found in pre-Conquest diplomas. The majority of shires were left with no earl to preside alongside the bishop in the shire court, and his place was taken by the sheriff, now Latinized as uicecomes, etymologically ‘earl’s deputy’ but in practice by analogy with the Norman visconte. His role quickly became more visible.

In Chester the duties of the earl's reeve are obscure. In particular, it is uncertain how they related to those of another representative of the earl, mentioned much more often: the sheriff of the city. The earliest reference to the sheriff of Chester, sometimes said to be the first for any English borough, was in the 1120s in Ranulf de Meschines's charter granting jurisdiction over the summer fair to St. Werburgh's abbey, in which provision was made for the amount received in fines by the monks to be deducted from the farm which the city sheriff rendered to the earl's chamberlains.

The role of Thorold, "sheriff of Lincoln", like his ancestry, is not at all clear. He appears to have been a major Lincolnshire landholder prior to the Conquest although he may have been a Norman. He is often said to be the father, or grandfather, of Lucy. That Normans were present in England prior to the Conquest is well-known. Edward the Confessor's mother Emma, was a Norman, he went into exile in Normandy from 1016 (aged 8) to 1041, when the Vikings took over England and, when he became king in 1042, Edward brought Norman advisers and supporters back to England with him. Soon after his return, as a sort of celebration of Norman culture, Edward began the building of a great Norman style church on the north bank of the Thames which would become Westminster Abbey (the present building is post-1245).

William Malet

It is with William Malet that the issues over Lucy's ancestry start. The Malet Castle at Graville Sainte Honorine had an important strategic location, at the mouth of the Seine between Le Havre and Harfleur. It has now fallen into the sea. Almost at once any research runs into difficulties, as the Wikipedia entry for Abbaye de Graville (apparently based on a French guidebook) states:

  • "the Abbey was founded in the 11th century, supposedly in 1203, by Guillaume Mallet, a companion of William the Conqueror, right after his return from the battle of Hastings." (clearly there is an error here somewhere)

Malet was a Norman but his mother was said to be English. The partial source for this is the Carmen de Hastingæ Prœlio by Guy d’Amiens which mentions that a person who was part Norman and part English was charged with the temporary burial of the body of King Harold II after the battle of Hastings - but does not name the person ("quidam partim Normannus et Anglus compatit/competit Heraldi"). The Carmen was written within months of the coronation of William I. In another work, Orderic Vitalis (1075-1142) names Guillaume Malet as this person. There is other evidence that Malet was present at Hastings, for example, the contemporary chronicler William of Poitiers recorded that Malet was present at the battle.

The Hermitage at Chester in 2014. According to a local legend Harold survived the Battle of Hastings and eventually became a hermit living here. The evidence to support this is somewhat dubious.

The burial of Harold is not without associated myth and legend. According to some histories is body could only be identified by "certain marks" known only to his concubine. It appears to have been hacked-about a bit after death. As written in the "Carmen of Hastingae Proelio" by Bishop Guy of Amiens, shortly after 1066:

  • "Now the victor, joyful France almost ruled the field; already she was seeking the spoils of war when the duke sighted the king far off on the steeps of the hill, fiercely hewing to pieces the Normans who were besetting him. He [William] called Eustace [of Boulogne] to him ... Hugh, the noble heir of Ponthieu, escorted these two ... fourth was Giffard, known by his father's surname: these four bore arms for the destruction of the king... The first, cleaving his [Harold's] breast through the shield with his point, drenched the earth with a gushing torrent of blood; the second smote off his head below the protection of the helmet and the third pierced the inwards of his belly with his lance; the fourth hewed off his thigh and bore away the severed limb: the ground held the body thus destroyed." (the reference to his "thigh" being cut off may be a euphemism)

William of Poitiers' "Gesta Guillelmi" (circa A.D.1075) reports that after the battle, Harold's body was brought into William's camp, and that Duke William had the remains buried on the shoreline (by William Malet):

  • The two brothers of the King were found near him and Harold himself, stripped of all badges of honour, could not be identified by his face but only by certain marks on his body. His corpse was brought into the Duke's camp, and William gave it for burial to William, surnamed Malet, and not to Harold's mother, who offered for the body of her beloved son its weight in gold. For the Duke thought it unseemly to receive money for such merchandise, and equally he considered it wrong that Harold should be buried as his mother wished, since so many men lay unburied because of his avarice. They said in jest that he who had guarded the coast with such insensate zeal should be buried by the seashore.

A legend states that William placed a stone on the grave with the epitaph:

  • "By command of the Duke, you rest here a King, O Harold, that you may be guardian still of the shore and sea".

How much of this is true can never be known. It may be that Harold's body was so mutilated that the soon-to-be William I was embarrassed to hand it over to his mother (even if he discounted the cost in gold of the missing parts). It may also be, according to the legend of the Hermitage at Chester, that this was not Harold at all. In any event this burial of "Harold" was only temporary and the body was later re-buried at Harold's Abbey at Waltham. According to some accounts the grave at Waltham Abbey turned out to be empty.

William Malet accompanied King William at the reduction of Nottingham and York in 1068, for which he was rewarded with the shreivalty of land in that county, some say as the Sheriff of York. The following year he was besieged in the castle of York by Edgar Ætheling, the Saxon prince, and was only saved from surrender by the timely arrival of the Conqueror. In the same year Malet was attacked by the Danes under King Sweyn II (and Edgar again), who captured the city of York with great slaughter and took William Malet, his wife and children, prisoners, but their lives were spared "for the sake of their ransoms". A consequence of these rebellions was the so-called "Harrying of the North" which is said to have caused enormous destruction in Cheshire, which up to that time had not yet fallen to the Normans.

The medieval sources are divided on where and how Malet died, as are historians as regards how these sources should be interpreted. According to one version he became a monk at Bec (France), in another he died "in a marsh", probably a reference to the Fens. William Malet's son Robert Malet was granted the "Honour of Eye", in Suffolk, that included holdings in 8 counties, but the bulk of his holdings were in Suffolk and Norfolk (East Anglia). He held this property at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, and was one of the largest landholders in England at that time. Robert was apparently banished from England (or simply left) after the death of William Ⅰ (he may have backed Robert of Normandy in the power struggles that followed the Conqueror's death). Robert Malet reappeared in the public record three days after the death of William II in 1100, as a witness to Henry I's coronation charter. He must have been with Henry at the time of William's death, or rushed from Normandy when word came. In any case, Malet soon regained his office as Sheriff of Suffolk, and his honour of Eye. Some sources claim that a Robert Malet died at the Battle of Tinchebrai (28 September 1106), though there is no specific evidence linking this to Robert Malet of Suffolk. His son (or possibly brother) William Malet was banished.

Ælfgar as depicted in a roundel from the Guthlac Roll depicting various benefactors to St Guthlac's shrine at Crowland, including King Æthelbald of Mercia, Abbot Thurketel and Earl Ælfgar.

Spalding

In further support of the proposal that William Malet's mother was English, the Domesday Book implies that William held Alkborough in Lincolnshire before the conquest ("William Malet had 5 carucates of land to the geld in Alkborough"). Interestingly, the former Alkborough Benedictine Priory Cell was founded before 1052, when it is recorded as being given by its founder, Thorold, High Sheriff of Lincolnshire, to Spalding Priory. According to some sources Spalding Priory was founded in 1052, by Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his wife, Godiva, Countess of Leicester and was itself as a cell of Croyland/Crowland Abbey. According to Ingulph's Croyland Chronicle, Spalding was supported by Leofric's eldest son. Ælfgar.

  • "In the year of our Lord 1058 Algar the brave earl of Leicester was outlawed a second time on which he again repaired to Griffin king of the Welch and hiring a Norwegian fleet recovered his earldom by force. He was a friend and benefactor to our monastery and favourably and graciously confirmed all the gifts of his forefathers to our house while he added certain special provisions for the support of our convent and of our brethren at Spaldyng.

This does fit with the standard version of history based on the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. In that Ælfgar was exiled while he was Earl of East Anglia back in 1055 and indeed, again in 1058 when he was Earl of Mercia. It appears that in both cases he hired a foreign fleet to persuade Edward the Confessor to restore his position.

Alkborough was a small priory, being a cell of only three monks, a secular chaplain, and a prior. The cell was dependent on Spalding Priory from 1052 to 1074, then its staffing levels were reduced, until 1220, when it ceased to exist as a monastic house and was abandoned.

Other sources have Spalding itself being founded in 1051 by "Thorold of Buckenhale", sheriff of Lincoln, and have a very extreme view of the relationship between Ivo Tailbois (Lucy's first husband) and Spalding. The mention of Thorold of Buckenhale as founder of Spalding occurs for the first time in the work of Orderic Vitalis, who visited the abbey and may have been shown forged documents. The History of the County of Lincoln: Volume 2, ed. William Page (London, 1906) states that Ivo:

  • "apparently married the heiress of Spalding, and came to live in the neighbourhood. If the chronicle of Crowland may be believed, he seems to have had his full share of that Norman arrogance which marred the first days of the Conquest, and despised the monks of Spalding because of their Saxon blood. 'By the instigation of the devil,' says Ingulf, he was roused to such an extremity of hatred and fury against them that he did everything he could think of to annoy and vex them; and being his near neighbours they were indeed very much at his mercy. He would lame their cattle, kill their swine, and browbeat all their tenants and servants in his manorial courts, until at length, worn out by the hardships of their position, after vain efforts to propitiate his servants with gifts, the brethren of Spalding returned to the mother house, taking with them all their movable property."

Annalist Peter of Blois, is even more scathing, and states that Ivo's:

  • "only daughter, who had been nobly espoused, died before her father; for that evil shoots should not fix deep roots in the world, the accursed lineage of that wicked man perished by the axe of the Almighty, which cut off all his issue."

Blois even accuses Ivo of resorting to "witchcraft":

  • "In the year following died Ivo Taillebois who had always been a most bitter enemy to Croyland and had proved in every place its stoutest foe as well as a sacrilegious spoliator of all the monasteries and the churches of Christ. He was so much given to magic that during the siege of the Isle of Ely he even induced the most victorious king and conqueror of the English, reluctant as he was, to place a certain sorceress at the head of the army and by his false promises made him believe that his adversaries could not resist her charms and direful incantations."

This is completely at odds with the supposed burial of Tailbois at Spalding. As is discussed below an explanation might be found in that the first part of the Chronicle of Crowland is a 14th century forgery. Until the first quarter of the nineteenth century was past, a history purporting to have been written by Ingulf, who became the first Norman abbot in 1087, from the muniments of the house and the materials of his predecessors was accepted as a genuine and valuable chronicle. Curiously for a Norman appointee, Ingulf was an Englishman.

The Monks also had problems with what appears to be the family of Lucy's second husband:

  • "For William de Romar and the abbat of Angers who at that time were great in the land and had through many prayers and great gifts and by means of evil suggestions moved them against the abbot and the house of Croyland, so much so that did not seem to them that they had gained a full and complete victory over the chancellor and his party, so long as the abbey of Croyland over which he had appointed his brother to be abbot should remain in peace and free from spoliation. Indeed, William de Romar strained every nerve to add to his barony and to the possessions of the prior of Spalding the seat of the before named monastery..."

It has been proposed by Keats-Rohan that the father of William Malet was one of the men who accompanied Emma of Normandy to England for her marriage to King Æthelred the Unready. Emma of Normandy is referred to as Ælfgifu in royal documents.

A counter-argument to Malet being half-English is based on the "De nobili genere Crispinorum" which mentions "Esiliam, matrem Willelmi Malet" (Esilia the mother of William Malet. However, the wife of her supposed son Guillaume Malet is recorded in a later primary source with the same name so it is possible that the De nobili genere confuses Guillaume’s mother with his wife. Miraculum de nobili genere Crispini also states that William died as a monk in Bec. As Keats-Rohan notes, Domesday Book "clearly indicates that William went on campaign "in the Fens" sometime c.1071 and met his death there". It actually only refers to "a morass", but that is generally taken as the Fens. The 1071 campaign in the Fens was when Hereward the Wake was joined by a small army led by Morcar, the former Saxon Earl of Northumbria and one of the sons of Ælfgar. Curiously, Hereward has been proposed as the brother of Ælfgar, though without any supporting evidence, which would make him Morcar's uncle. However, if Hereward was another son of Leofric and Godiva one might expect there would be better evidence. In fact the Crowland Chronicle makes it evident that Hereward (it calls him Heward) is the offspring of a different Leofric. Morcar was eventually taken and imprisoned, but Hereward is said to have escaped with some of his followers into the wild fenland and to have continued his resistance. This escape is noted in all the earliest surviving sources. Much of the rest of what has been written about Hereward, including his being the son of the Earl of Mercia seems to be "Robin Hood" style myth and legend.

Relations to Ælfgar

This family tree of the Kings of England from Edgar the Pacific to Harold, shows how the Earls of Chester inter-married with the Welsh and English Kings. The chart also shows the possible candidates for the mysterious Ælfgyfa in the Bayeux Tapestry.

Things get more murky when it is stated that Malet was the brother of Ælgifu, wife of Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia (and, therefore, daughter-in-law of Leofric and Lady Godiva) as stated in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Some sources suggest that Malet was related to Harold II, but that is very tenuous. In early 1066 Harold had married Edith of Mercia a daughter of Ælfgar by Ælgifu. So if Malet was the brother of Ælgifu he was the uncle of Ælfgar's off-spring Edith, Edwin and Morcar, but no blood-relation to Harold, although would, if the relation were indeed true, be uncle to his wife. Putting some of these supposed relationships together would turn the Anglo-Norman conflict in the Fens into a very complicated family affair - it would make for great historical fiction.

Ælgifu herself sits in the muddle of another historical mystery as she is one of the candidates for the mysterious Ælfgyva (it means "elf-gift") in the Bayeux tapestry. No one knows who she is or why she is depicted on the tapestry and there were a plethora of women called Ælfgyva/Ælfgifu (or something similar) amongst the women of 11th century England. For a further discussion see the page on the Polychronicon.

Chester bookseller and publisher Seacome (writing his guide to Chester in 1828) confuses matters further when he describes St Mary on the Hill as follows, and claims that Lucy is another of Ælfgar's children (and hence Harold II's sister-in-law):

  • "Anciently called Ecclesia Sanctae Maria de Castello and Ecclesia Sanctre Maria super Montem but now St Mary's on the Hill stands at the upper end of Castle street at the extreme verge of the liberties of the city being only separated from the county by the Castle ditch which forms the boundary of the churchyard. Although the precise date of the foundation of this church cannot now be ascertained, yet it is not improbable that it was one of those founded early in the 12th century by Lucy sister of Edwin Earl of Mercia and widow of Randle de Meschines Earl of Chester a lady remarkable as a benefactress to the "holy church" even in that church erecting and endowing age. At all events St Mary's was gifted to the Abbey of St Werburgh by Randle Gernons Earl of Chester son of the above named lady in one of those fits of compunction which usually followed the acts of violence into which his turbulence and ambition frequently led him. Shortly after the dissolution the Dean and Chapter of St Werburgh obtained a grant from the Crown of the Rectory of St Mary's which was surrendered by Dean Cliffs in 1550 to Sir R Cotton in the manner described in a former part of this work, by whose agent it was sold for £100 to John Brereton Esq of Wettenhall, by whose heirs it was again sold to the Wilbrahams of Dorfold, from whom it passed by marriage to the Hills of Hough in Wybunbury, from whom it was purchased by Earl Grosvenor the present patron "

So now we have several possible relations between Ælfgar and William Malet/Lucy:

  • Lucy is the daughter of Ælfgar, as stated by Seacome;
  • Malet is the "brother" of Godiva, Ælfgar's mother. This is stated on many websites, none of which give a source;
  • Lucy is the daughter of Thorold, who marries an unknown daughter or grand-daughter of Malet, as concluded by Keats-Rohan;
  • Thorold is the "brother" of Godiva, as stated in a charter of Crowland Abbey;
  • Malet was the "brother" of Ælgifu, wife of Ælfgar, as stated in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Lucy as the daughter of Ælfgar (Leofric's son and Earl of Mercia)

The same Lucy simply cannot have been the daughter of Ælfgar and the wife of Ranulf de Meschines, as stated by Seacome. Ælfgar died in 1059, some fifteen years before "Lucy" was born (in most versions). One source for this confusion appears to be Ingulph's Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland now simply called the Croyland Chronicle which records that William I King of England arranged the marriage of "Ivo Taillebois" and "Lucia sister of Edwin and Morcar". The first section of the chronicle is now known to be a later forgery from the 14th century, and given that William I died in 1087 it is difficult to see how he could have arranged a marriage in 1088. It might be considered that William did try to arrange a marriage between the actual sister of Edwin and Morcar (Harold's widow, Edith of Mercia) and Taillebois but this seems extremely unlikely. Another source for this same "fact" is a genealogia fundatoris of Coventry Abbey which made Lucy a daughter of Earl "Algar" (Ælfgar) and sister and heiress of earls Edwin and Morcar. Historians consider this genealogia fundatoris a dubious document which can only be dated to the time of King John. The Peterborough Chronicle also made Lucy the daughter of "Algar" - but the text dates from reconstruction from other documents after a fire in 1131. All of these "errors" may well stem from the same source and a desire to link Lucy back to the pre-Norman English aristocracy. Many of the modern writers on Lucy do not seem to be aware of these potential difficulties.

Malet as the "brother" of Godiva (Leofric's wife)

Making Malet the actual brother of Godiva makes no sense as Malet is undoubtedly a Norman. The option that he is her brother-in-law remains, but this would require that Godiva had a sister who was the unidentified "English wife". This is likely to have been recorded somewhere if it were true. Many sites report that he married Hesilia (Helise or Elisee) Crispin de Brionne, a great-grand daughter (dubious) of Rollo, 1st Duke of Normandy, but Hesilia is plainly Norman. Keats-Rohan suggests that his wife is being confused with his mother.

Lucy as the daughter of Thorold (Sheriff of Lincoln)

A revealing phrase from the Register of Spalding Priory reads: "mortuo quia dicto Thoraldo relicta sibi herede Lucia predicta" [at his death Thorold left an heir, the aforesaid Lucy]. This suggests that Lucy is the daughter of Thorold. Keats-Rohan (see links below) concludes that this is probably the case.

Thorold as the "brother" of Godiva (Leofric's wife)

A charter of Crowland Abbey, now thought to be spurious, described Thorold of Bucknall, perhaps the same as Lucy's probable father Thorold of Lincoln, as a brother of Godgifu (better known as Lady Godiva), wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia:

  • "I Thorold of Bukenhale in presence of my most noble lord Leofric earl of Leicester and his most noble countess the lady Godiva my sister with the consent and good will of my lord and kinsman the earl Algar their eldest son and heir have given and delivered unto God and Saint Guthlac at Croyland into the hands of Wulgat lord abbat of the said monas tery of Croyland for the foundation of a cell of the monks of Croyland in honor of Saint Mary the Mother of God and ever a Virgin in the vill of Spalding..."

The same charter contradicted itself on the matter, proceeding to style Godgifu's son (by Leofric), Ælfgar, as Thorold's cognatus (cousin).

Malet as the "brother" of Ælgifu (Ælfgar's wife)

According to Wikipedia "Ælfgar is believed to have married Ælgifu, believed to be the sister of William Malet, Lord of Eye". For this to be literally true Ælfgar's wife would have had to be part (half) Norman. It is also worth noting that the "Honor of Eye" was only created after the Norman Conquest. As is stated in the analysis of Eye Priory Cartulary and Charters edited by Vivien Brown:

  • "To try to investigate further into the parentage of Countess Lucy is to enter a minefield into which many have stepped without reaching satisfactory conclusions"

Some websites go even further than the above, even to the point of absurdity. One has Godiva married first to "Guérard (MALET) de GRAVILLE" and only later to "Leofric III " le Grand" de MERCIE", "Comte de Mercie" (who is also the father of Hereward the Wake). Her parents are given as "Thorod de Bukenhale De Coventry", born about 969 and Edith Malet. No sources are given. "Find a Grave" somewhat cautiously suggests that she was "probably" related to "the old English earls of Mercia" but is unable to provide any evidence, and states her burial place to be Chester Cathedral, which is believably likely.

The best guess of the more academic historians is that Thorold was Lucy's father and he married an un-named daughter of the Malet family. Her wealth came from both of these parental lines. She appears to be related to the House of Leofric, but how exactly has not been confirmed.

Conclusions

Ingulph's Chronicle. is a 14th Century forgery. It formed the basis for much of what was written on Lucy. Leofric and "Algar" as well as Harold Godwinson are mentioned as witnessing a charter of 1032 on page 119. Harold would have been about ten years old.

What looks at first like an interesting connexion between Harold II (of Hastings fame), William Malet (who buried him), St Johns, the House of Leofic and the Earls of Chester via Countess Lucy turns out to be full of holes.

The story of Countess Lucy illustrates how historians, particularly medieval and Victorian ones, had a tendency either to "join the dots" so as to form a picture, and sometimes add some new "dots" to suit their world-view. It is fairly certain that Countess Lucy was the wife of Ranulf de Meschines and the mother of Ranulph De Gernon and that she paid Henry I to avoid having to marry a third time. Once one starts digging into the detail things become a lot more murky. With almost anyone involved in Lucy's ancestry being claimed as the in-law, sibling, parent or child of Leofric, Godiva or Ælfgar. Many "ancestry" sites make particularly outrageous claims and in some cases point to other "ancestry" sites as their only supporting evidence.

That the Norman William Malet had English connexions and was involved in the burial of Harold seems well supported. No firm connexion can be established between William Malet and the House of Leofric, such as would be needed to show that he was a relative, of Harold if only by marriage, and give Harold an further connexion with St Johns (apart from the legend that he lived in the Hermitage next to it) - a church which was apparently enriched by Leofric and Godiva (Harold's wife's grand-parents), and even became a Norman Cathedral. Little is known of the extent of Leofric and Godiva's liberality or of the style and magnitude of their church restoration but Ormerod on the authority of the Werburgh MS (the Chester Chronicle) and William of Malmesbury asserts that St John's, then a collegiate church, was repaired and its endowments and privileges considerably increased. It was a Norman Cathedral from 1075 to 1102 (Harold would have been c.52 in 1075), and would be a very strange place for an Anglo-Saxon king turned hermit to take up residence in his last years.

There does appear to be a possible connexion between the Anglo-Saxon Earls of Mercia and Spalding and hence with Lucy. However it is not at all clear what exactly this connexion is. The evidence of forgery in charters and other documents is such that little can be trusted. Many early writers and book sources take these forged works on face value.

If Lucy was a blood relative of the House of Leofric then one person well-placed to benefit would be her grandson Hugh de Kevelioc. Hugh's mother Maud of Gloucester was the daughter of Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester (c. 1090 – 31 October 1147), the probably eldest bastard son of Henry I and a major player in the civil war known as The Anarchy. On this basis Hugh has ancestral links to both the English/Mercian and Norman rulership. This just possibly explains the origin of two Chester legends that both touch on the Angevin legitimacy:

  • If Harold II didn't die at Hastings (but lived on at Chester) the Angevin claim to the English throne might be slightly weakened as the succession to Henry II had passed through William's grand-daughter Matilda,
  • More importantly, if the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V had become the hermit of Godstall Lane (in Chester) - he was the first husband of William's grand-daughter Matilda - this would would have bastardized the king, Henry II as her husband would still be alive when Matilda (the mother of Henry II) married Geoffrey of Anjou. In reality, Emperor Henry almost certainly died in 1125.

It is not known exactly when these legends first appeared, but in the Revolt of 1173 the rebellion against King Henry II of England by three of his sons, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their rebel supporters, Hugh de Kevelioc was on the rebel side. The tale about Harold seem to have been existent in the time of Ranulf Higden (c.1280 - c.1363) as it is mentioned in the Polychronicon. Gerald of Wales who was at Chester in 1198 and believed almost anything he was told, also, and earlier, mentions both the tales of "Henry, a Roman emperor" and Harold in his description of his visit, and writes:

  • Chester boasts of being the burial-place of Henry, a Roman emperor, who, after having imprisoned his carnal and spiritual father, pope Paschal, gave himself up to penitence; and, becoming a voluntary exile in this country, ended his days in solitary retirement. It is also asserted, that the remains of Harold are here deposited. He was the last of the Saxon kings in England, and as a punishment for his perjury, was defeated in the battle of Hastings, fought against the Normans. Having received many wounds, and lost his left eye by an arrow in that engagement, he is said to have escaped to these parts, where, in holy conversation, leading the life of an anchorite, and being a constant attendant at one of the churches of this city, he is believed to have terminated his days happily. The truth of these two circumstances was declared (and not before known) by the dying confession of each party.

In summary, while much has been written on Lucy it consists of a few established facts, a number of dubious speculations mixed in with what appear to be impossible events and in-between these often conflicting or unsupported statements. As noted above, wherever Lucy goes she leaves confusion behind.

Sources and Links

Related Pages

Online

Wikitree

Wikitree is one of the better "ancestry" sites and sections of it are well curated with academic references.

Others

Some of these references appear to be directly or indirectly based on Ingulph's Chronicle and other works now known to be forgeries:

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