Goisfrid du Bec, le Mareschal

Born: abt 1042

Cheddar, [parish], Somerset, England

Died: 1086

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Birth: 1042 in Bec-Aux-Couchois, Normandy, France ALIA: Goisfried Death: AFT 1086 ALIA: Geoffroi ALIA: Geoffrey ALIA: Godric ALIA: William

Father: Rollo FitzCrispin de Bec Marshal b: ABT 1000 in Bec-Aux-Couchois, Normandy, France

Marriage 1 Lesceline

Children

   Has Children Geoffroi de Bec

Marriage 2 Emma de Solabis b: ABT 1042

Children

   Has Children Lord of Hopton Ketelborn b: ABT 1060

Goisfrid was awarded a large number of properties in England, particularly in Hertforshire, and became a great baron following the Conquest. He is thought to be a progenitor of the English families of de Bec, and FitzWilliam and connected to the Marshalls. Many of Goisfrid's estates appear to have fallen into the hands of others in the period after the Domesday Book, probably because Goisfrid, like others of the de Bec family, supported Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, successively against his brothers, King William Rufus and King Henry I. This may explain why much of the property of the FitzWilliams appears to have been obtained through their wives. The origins of the FitzWilliam family are controversial, with some sources showing them as Norman or Flemish and others Anglo-Saxon or Scandinavian. William, son of Ketleborn's son Godric, for example, appears in the sources as "William FtizGodric" and as "William de Clairfait," sometimes as "William FitzGodric de Clairfait." It is significant that the armorial bearings of the de Bec/Cripsin family and those of the FitzWilliams are the same: Lozengy, argent and gules. In the absence of a definitive, comprehensive scholarly study of the matter, this is another subject about which reasonable minds may differ. A detailed argument for Goisfrid de Bec as the Conquest era progenitor of the FitzWilliam family is made by Stacey Grimaldi, F.S.A in Miscellaneous Writings Prose and Poetry From Printed & Manuscript Sources, London: privately printed (1874), pp. 56-76 and in Miscellaneous Writings From Printed & Manuscript Sources, London: privately printed (1881), pp. 349-357. See also Sylvanus Urban, The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle, Vol. CII (102), London: J.B. Nichols and Son (1832), pp. 29-30. Lesceline appears to be the mother of Goisfrid's children except for Ketelborn, whose mother was probably Emma de Solabis.

According to The Battle Abbey Roll, by the Duchess of Cleveland (1889), Vol I, p. 271(Clarenay/Fitzwilliam): "Clerenay, or Clarvays, as it is more correctly spelt in Duchesne's copy, from Clerfai, Clarefay, or Clairfait, near Avesnes." See also The Roll of the Battle Abbey, by John Bernard Burke, Esq., July 10, 1818, mentioning Clarenay as a participant on the Norman side at the Battle of Hastings. URL: http://www.redhill.net.nz/mke%20p/HISTORY/Books/Rolls/battleroll.htm. Clarenay is also mentioned by Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland, Vol. III, p. 3 (1807) as a participant at Hastings.

From History of Worksop by Edwin Eddison, Londo, Longman & Co. (1854), p. 260: "On [Roger] de Busli's death, Rufus granted the Honour [of Tickhill] to DeBelesme, a Kinsman of de Busli, who, however, by espousing the cause of Curthose, forfeited it to the Crown. William de Clairfait or Fitz-Godric (married to Albreda de Lizours) held it in the time of Stephen, in conjunction with the Earl of Eu, who claimed by descent from Beatrix a sister of de Busli." Note: William FitzGodric' holding at Tickhill probably was either a tenancy held from the de Buslis or, less likely, a de Lisoures holding.

From The Norman People, Henry S. King & Co., London: 1874, p.244: "Fitzwilliam. This family has been supposed, erroneously, to be of Anglo-Saxon origin. It was of Flemish origin, and derived its original name of De Clarfai from Clerfai, Clarefay, or Clarfait, near Avesnes...... The chief seat of this family was Plumptre, Notts, and from it descended the Fitzwilliams of Sprotboro, the Earls of Southampton, Viscounts Fitzwilliam, and Earls Fitzwilliam."

The following information has been supplied by Mr. W. Paley Balidon, F.S.A., who has made a special study of the Yorkshire FitzWilliams. For a well-documented pedigree of the main line down to the death of Sir John FitzWilliam of Emley in 1417, see "Baildon and the Baildons." "The family of FitzWilliam, notwithstanding the Norman form of the name, is certainly of Anglian or Scandinavian descent. The story of William FitzGodric, cousin to Edward the Confessor, and his son William FitzWilliam, "Ambassador at the court of William, Duke of Normandy," and Marshal of the Norman army at Hastings, is obviously mythical, as is the story of the Conqueror's scarf, even if the scarf is seen today. [Bridges, "Northants", says that the first William FitzWilliam was a "natural son to the Conqueror"!] William, son of Godric is , however, a real person, but he flourished a century and more after the Conquest. Godric's father was named Ketelborn; in a lawsuit in 1211 he is said to have been seised of land at Hopton, not far from Emley, on the day of the death of Henry I, 1 Dec 1135. Godric was probably born about 1110-1115; there is no direct record of him."

According to The Yorkshire Archeaological and Topographical Journal, Yorkshire Archeaological and Topographical Society, London: Bradbury, Agnew, and Co. (1882), p. 128 (Emley) fn. 55: "Emley, formerly Elmeley, a township, also a parish. In domesday Book "Ameleia," 3 carucates in the soke of king Eward's lordship of Wakefield, which was retained by the crown in 1086, but shortly afterwards granted with its privileges to William de Warenne, earl of Surrey and Lord of Conisburgh. There are no further particulars about Emley, and the names of those who held the land are not given, but this place was the original patrimony of the family of Fitzwilliam, and there can be not doubt had descended to them from the days of king Edward the Confessor, when a Godric lived who had been a great landowner herabout and in Notts. Some of Godric' lands were long afterwards in the family of Fitzwilliam, descended from William fitz Godric fitz ketill (bert), who in 3 Henry III. (1219) claimed an acre of land in Hopton, against Alex. de Crevequer. (Coll. Top. et Gen. I., 146.) Emley though a manor, continued to be held of the manor of Wakefield."

Source: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mercer_jo...