William lll "le Belward" of Malpas

Please see Darrell Wolcott: The "Malpas" Family in Cheshire; http://www.ancientwalesstudies.org/id152.html. (Steven Ferry, April 19, 2020.)

William III ap William II ap Sir William was born around 1090. His mother was Tangwystl of Chester base born daughter of Hugh "the fat", Earl of Chester.

His wife was his cousin Mabel, daughter of Robert-fitz-Hugh, also a base born child of Hugh "Lupus" d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester

Their son Richard was born around 1120.

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notes

From THE "MALPAS" FAMILY IN CHESHIRE By Darrell Wolcott     

in 1071 Hugh the Fat, aka Hugh Lupus [d'Avranches], was made the Earl of Chester. Sir William of Malpas was then about 40 years old and had 3 sons yet minors; we suggest he continued to serve his new Norman lord just as he had served the Saxon Earls and now held Malpas as a tenant of Earl Hugh. About 1085, Earl Hugh settled the Lordship of Malpas (mostly a landlord's income stream, not actual possession of land) on his base son Robert-fitz-Hugh. To mitigate this intrusion on the Baron of Malpas, Hugh gave one of his base daughters (Tanglust) as wife to William II, the eldest son of Sir William of Malpas.

The two families (Robert fitz Hugh and the son of Sir William) continued their cordial relationship into the next generation, when a daughter (Mabel) of Robert married William III of Malpas [8]:

• [8] Refer to the following Appendix for the citations from which we extracted the marriage of William II to a base daughter of Earl Hugh the Fat; the marriage of William III to Mabel, daughter of Robert fitz Hugh is cited in Ormerod's History of Cheshire, vol 2, p. 628

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From http://cybergata.com/roots/7454.htm

Mabella married William le Belward Baron of Malpas, son of John le Belward and Unknown 727.,752 (William le Belward Baron of Malpas died after 4 Aug 1112.)

~George Ormerod's The History of County Palatine and City of Chester, Vol II, pp. 598, 628, Mabelal, daughter and coheir of Robert fitz Hugh, baron of Malpas. She married William le Belward. 598, 713

• Robert Fitz-Hugh, whose name appears as a witness to the foundation charter of St. Werburgh's Abbey at Chester in 1093, had two daughters, Letitia and Mabilla*, who in course of time, became his heirs, and the latter of whom afterwards married William le Belward, of Malpas, son of John le Belward, who was living in the time of William Rufus, and is believed to have been one of the five knights mentioned in the Domesday as holding their lands of the Norman baron. To this, the Lady Mabilla* conveyed her moiety of the Malpas barony, and from this marriage sprang the house of Egerton. ~County Families of Lancashire & Cheshire, pg. 119
• The name of William le Belward's wife is given as both Letitia and Mabilla in difference sources. This source refers to her as Mabilla. Collins's Peerage of England as well as The Baronetage of England, refers to her as Letititia, both using Sir William Dugdale and Mr. Erdeswicke as sources. She is called Mabel in George Ormerod's The History of County Palatine and City of Chester, Vol II, pg. 628

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Robert fitz Hugh had two daughters, Letitia the wife of Richard Patric; and Mabilia, the wife of William Belward. William Belward is the Cheshire knight mentioned by Camden, "each of whose sons took different surnames, while their sons, in turn, also took different surnames from their fathers. They altered their names in respect to habitation, to Egerton, Cotgrave and Overton ; in respect to color, to Gough, which is red ; in respect to learning, to Ken-clarke (a knowing clerk or learned man) : in respect to quality, to Goodman ; in respect to stature, to Little : and in respect to the Christian name of one of them, to Richardson, though all were descended from William Belwards." [Remaines, p. 141] "Who would conceived, without good proof," asks Sir Edward Dering, "that Malpas, Gough, Golborne, Egerton, Goodman, Cotgrave, Weston, Little, Kenclerke, and Richardson, were all in short time issue of William Belward?" [Lower's Curiosities of Heraldry, App. p. 305]

Yet there is one name left off this list, that of Cholmondeley.

~The Battle Abbey Roll, Vol. II, p. 54

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References

1. Peter Cotgreave. The barony of Malpas in the twelfth century. Transactions, Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 2008, 157.2. https://www.hslc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/157-2-Cotgreave.pdf Page 13. “The Belwards.”