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Birth:          ABT 1038 Hesdin, Pas-de-Calais, France
Death:          AFT 1091 Toddington, Bedfordshire, England

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_fitz_Flaad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernulf_de_Hesdin
Ernulf de Hesdin (died 1097), also transcribed as Arnulf and Ernulphe, was a French 
knight who took part in the Norman conquest of England and became a major 
landholder under William the Conqueror and William Rufus, featuring prominently in 
Domesday Book. He was disgraced as a suspected rebel and died while taking part in 
the First Crusade as part of the army of Robert Curthose.
Origins[edit]

As his sobriquet implies, Ernulf was probably born in the first half of the 11th century 
in the County of Hesdin, historically part of Picardy or Artois and centred at that time 
on Vieil-Hesdin, then a flourishing fortified town known as Hesdin[1] on the bank of 
the Canche river, about 6 km from modern Hesdin. His family were minor landholders, 
vassals of the Counts of Hesdin,[2] whose overlord was the Count of Flanders, 
through acquisition by marriage of the County of Artois circa 898.

The first Count of Hesdin who is definitely known through chronicles was Alulf I, who 
flourished around 1000.[3] Around the middle of the century, there was another count 
of the same name, known as Alulf II, and he was followed by Walter I, who was 
contemporary with the Norman conquest of England[4] and was noted for his piety.[5] 
Walter's successor, Engelram, was count from 1072–1100,[6] Engelram and his wife, 
Matilda,[7] emulated and continued the work of Walter and immediately set about 
rebuilding the monastery at Auchy-lès-Hesdin, which had been destroyed by the 
Normans. They made it a priory of the Abbey of Saint Bertin at Saint-Omer. Ernulf must 
have come to maturity under the rule of Walter I but he had close links with Engelram 
and they appear at a number of points as allies and as benefactors of religious 
establishments.

Little is known of Ernulf's family, except that he had a brother called Ilbod, who is 
listed in Domesday as an important landholder in Essex and Oxfordshire.[8]

Career[edit]

An enigmatic figure[edit]

Considerable interest developed in Ernulf after Robert William Eyton, a pioneering 
historian of Shropshire, showed in the 1850s that, through the marriage of his 
daughter, Avelina, to Alan fitz Flaad, Ernulf was an ancestor of the Stewart Kings of 
Scotland as well as the FitzAlan, Earls of Arundel. A letter to the Herald and 
Genealogist journal in 1866 then posed the question: "Who was Arnulph de 
Hesding?"[9] However, the author then ably summarised what had become known of 
Ernulf's property holdings and offspring without adding anything to the biography. In a 
reply, Eyton himself opened up more areas for genealogical research but, as he 
confessed at the outset,[10] did not try to answer the question posed. Henry Barkly 
remarked in 1888 that "despite all researches, Ernulph de Hesding still remains one of 
the most mysterious personages in Domesday."[11] This remains true. A great deal is 
known of Ernulf's landholdings, including details of some of his numerous benefactions 
to monasteries, but biographical detail is absent, and an outline of his life has to be 
guessed from other information and legend.

A Companion of the Conqueror?[edit]

Little certain is known of Ernulf's early career. The idea that he was part of William 
the Conqueror's invasion force goes back several centuries. In 1791 Collinson's 
History of Somerset quoted the Domesday entry for Weston, near Bath, then stated:
When this Ernulf de Hesding, who was one of the Conqueror's attendants, died, or 
how he parted with his estate, does not appear; but about the latter end of the reign 
of king William Rufus, these hides in Weston are found to be the property of Patrick 
de Cadurcis, or Chaworth....[12]
Although the property details are scrupulously cited, the author produced no authority 
for his biographical assertion. Ernulf is listed as a Companions of William the 
Conqueror in the late 19th-century version of the Battle Abbey Roll posted by Léopold 
Victor Delisle in the church at Dives-sur-Mer, where he is called Arnoul de Hesdin.[13] 
However, the list has no authority, being a collation of lists from a tradition that was 
not even claimed to stem from Battle Abbey until the 16th century.[14] It is likely 
Arnulf served William the Conqueror with some distinction at some stage during the 
Norman conquest of England (and entirely plausible that this included the Battle of 
Hastings), as it would otherwise be difficult to account for his great wealth and power 
at the time of Domesday Book. The Liber Monasterii de Hyda, the chronicle and 
cartulary of Hyde Abbey, was to describe him in later life as statura procerus, industria 
summus, possessionibus suffultus[15] – "tall in stature, outstanding in activity, well-
supported by possessions" – which accords with a successful military career. The 
Domesday survey found Ernulf a tenant-in-chief in ten counties[16] and lord of other 
estates under other great tenants-in-chief. However, there is no direct evidence of 
what won him such fortune. It is known that he sometimes attended court. In 1081 his 
gift of an estate to Gloucester Abbey was witnessed at Salisbury by the Conqueror 
himself, Queen Matilda, Princes Robert and Henry, the two archbishops, two further 
bishops, and other dignitaries:[17] signalling great prestige.

With Rufus[edit]

Ernulf's good fortune continued into the reign of William Rufus (1089–1100). He seems 
to have been at the royal court on occasion and is recorded as a witness to important 
royal charters. On 27 January 1091 at Dover he witnessed the king's confirmation of 
John of Tours as the first Bishop of Bath and Wells.[18] Probably later that year he 
was at Hastings to witness royal confirmation of St Osmund's establishment of 
Salisbury Cathedral as a collegiate church of secular clergy.[19]

The Normandy Campaign[edit]

Ernulf was involved in the king's attempts to conquer Normandy, which was largely 
under the rule of the Conqueror's eldest son, Robert Curthose. In 1093 William 
negotiated with Robert I, Count of Flanders, Ernulf's overlord, in preparation for a 
military expedition to Normandy.[20] Robert was sympathetic, as he had long preferred 
an English alliance to facing the threat of a powerful Normandy. However, he died 
shortly afterwards, and was succeeded by his son, Robert II, who was less inclined to 
offer practical support. Engelram and his vassals, including Ernulf, mobilised for war 
and it seems that part of their preparations involved religious donations, primarily to 
the Priory of St George, very near Hesdin. Count Robert gladly agreed to guarantee 
these gifts during the coming conflict and permitted the priory to be made subject to 
Anchin Abbey.[21][22] William's invasion fleet was delayed until March 1094[23] and 
his campaign was then stalled by the intervention of King Philip I of France on 
Robert's side.[24] William bought of Philip but by the autumn, hostilities had petered 
out inconclusively. Threatened by the appearance of his brother Henry in England, 
William made for home.[25] Ernulf accompanied him on the return journey, stopping at 
Hesdin. There he confirmed and perhaps extended his grants to the Prior of St 
George, including all the fiefs he held under Engelram at Hesdin.[2]

A final crisis?[edit]
In 1095 the king was challenged by a baronial revolt, initiated by Robert de Mowbray, 
the Earl of Northumbria.[26] The revolt was not widely supported and was over by the 
end of the year. However, Ernulf was one of those accused of involvement in the plot 
– unjustly according to the Hyde chronicle.[15] The main group of participants were 
brought to trial by combat at Salisbury in January 1097[27] and some received brutal 
justice, William II, Count of Eu, being castrated and blinded.

According to the semi-legendary account of the Liber de Hyda, Ernulf was represented 
in the ordeal by his own champion who defeated the king's representative.[15] 
However, Ernulf was so disgusted at the accusation that he renounced all his lands in 
England and left the country for ever. Later that year Ernulf enlisted in the First 
Crusade and met his end during the Siege of Antioch.[28] Facing death, he refused 
the aid of a doctor, saying: "No doctor can reach me except he for whom I have 
undertaken this pilgrimage."

Landholder[edit]

Although Ernulf's lands, like those of the great territorial magnates, were widely 
dispersed, a distribution maps show a marked concentration running south west along 
the Cotswolds, through Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, then continuing to the 
Mendip Hills in Somerset and across to central Wiltshire.[29] This gave him a 
significant presence at both ends of the medieval English wool trade.

Some of the estates where Ernulf claimed to be tenant-in-chief were disputed. 
Notably, he was in contention with the Church over at least two holdings. At Pewsey, 
where he retained the land himself, his land was claimed by Hyde Abbey.[30] At 
Potterne, where he sublet, the Osmund, the Bishop of Salisbury, was the claimant.[31] 
In each case the land had been held by a vassal of the ecclesiastical authorities 
before 1066, but either some subsequent tenant or Ernulf himself had contrived to 
separate it and present it as held directly from the king. At Malmesbury there seems to 
have been some dispute with the king himself, as Ernulf was said to have accepted 
his messuage there "incautiously".

The following tables were extracted from the raw data for Open Domesday at the 
University of Hull website.[32] The reference numbers represent the Phillimore number 
with a county prefix, giving a unique alphanumeric reference for each holding. The T. 
R. E. or Tempore Regis Eduardi values represent the Domesday estimate of an estates 
worth "in the time of King Edward", that is on the eve of the Norman conquest. All 
values are converted into pounds, with fractions decimalised.

Tenant-in-chief and manorial lord[edit]

Domesday found Ernulf with about 52 holdings as tenant-in-chief and just under half of 
these he retained also as lord. These included the important manors of Chipping 
Norton, where he seems to have built a motte and bailey castle at Chipping Norton,[2] 
subsequently replaced by his FitzAlan descendants with a more substantial 
stronghold.[33] The value of these estates varied greatly, although some were 
apparently the focus of considerable development. Newbury, Berkshire was an 
embryonic commercial centre and had risen greatly in value since 1066. However, 
agriculture could produce very good returns and some rural settlements were large. 
Kempsford in Gloucestershire incorporated in its very high value of £66 6s. 8d. seven 
Gloucester burgesses, but the bulk of the income came from the 62 village 
households[34] and agricultural resources, including four mills, ample pasture and 
dairying, which produced sheep's cheese. However, Ruislip, not far from the capital 
had seen a fall in value since 1066, although its 53 households included four French 
colonists,[35] possibly among Ernulf's own retainers, and its woodland provided food 
for 1500 pigs.

Tenant-in-chief but subinfeudated[edit]

At Domesday Ernulf was subinfeudating 28 estates to other landholders. Some of 
these were of French, probably Norman, origin, like the Robert who held five of his 
Wiltshire estates, probably forming a fairly compact portfolio. Others were of Anglo-
Saxon or Norse origin, like Estrild, the widow of the former sheriff, and Thorkil – both 
also Wiltshire tenants.

Manorial lord and vassal[edit]

Ernulf also held estates as a tenant and vassal, but only of the very greatest 
landholders, including Odo, Earl of Kent, who was the Bishop of Bayeux and the king's 
estranged half-brother. Such landholdings created a reciprocal personal bond between 
himself and these other magnates, and this political advantage may explain the 
majority of the transactions. Only two, Chelsfield and Barton Hartshorn, were of much 
economic value.


Urban holdings[edit]

Ernulf was recorded as holder of substantial urban property. He had seven houses at 
Gloucester and no less than 51 household sites at Newbury, his own manor. Here the 
value of the manor had risen from only £9 at the time of Edward the Confessor to £24 
at Domesday, which seems to be connected with the growth of the town as a centre 
of trade under Ernulf's control.[37]

A lost inheritance?[edit]

Barkly, commenting on the account of Ernulf's last year in the Liber de Hyda, points 
out: "This entire renunciation of his lands, however, can hardly be reconciled with the 
known facts."[11] However, he did accept that the descent of Ernulf's lands is not 
fully understood. Emmelina, his wife, and Avelina, his daughter, continued to confirm 
his grants and, thirty years after his death, his son and namesake still held some of the 
same manors. A substantial proportion of his estates passed to Patrick de Cadurcis, 
possibly his son-in-law. There are doubts about exactly how Patrick de Cadurcis came 
into the picture and whether his wife, Matilda, really was Ernulf's daughter.[38] The 
Shropshire historian, Robert William Eyton points out that:
The various fees in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and elsewhere, which formed the 
Domesday Barony of Emulf de Hesding, are found in 1165 to be divided among 
coparceners. A third of this fief, or thereabouts, was then vested in the 
representatives of Alan Fitz Flaald.[39]
These FitzAlan lands were inherited from Ernulf through his daughter, Avelina. It is not 
impossible that some of his lands were seized by William Rufus and later restored.[40] 
Despite some outstanding issues, however, it seems that a large proportion of Ernulf's 
estates passed through the normal channels of inheritance and it is unlikely his family 
were ever left landless by a grand gesture.

Religious benefactions[edit]

Ernulf was generous in his grants to a number of Benedictine monasteries. When in 
1080 William I confirmed a number of his own gifts to Preaux Abbey in the Diocese of 
Lisieux,[41] he used the opportunity to confirm grants by some of his barons. Ernulf 
had donated the church at Newbury, together with the priest's house, a hide of land 
and the tithes.[42] On 2 February 1081 Ernulf gave the manor of Linkenholt to 
Gloucester Abbey, witnessed by the king, queen, two princes and church hierarchy.
[17] The manor was duly recorded as belonging to Gloucester Abbey, and Ernulf's 
grant attested again, in Domesday Book.[43]

When in 1094 Enulf confirmed the grant of his estates at Hesdin to St George's priory, 
he crossed the Channel and went to Chipping Norton, where he confirmed a series of 
further gifts to the priory.[2] These included the churches at Chipping Norton, Weston, 
near Bath, and Easton Piercy near Kington St Michael, as well as two chapels in Bath. 
At Newbury he gave a curtilage, which the priest was to hold for an annual payment of 
half a mark of gold to the priory, although it would pass to the priory in its entirety on 
his death.

To Cluny Abbey, which had been the monastery most closely associated with the 
Gregorian Reform movement, Ernulf gave three manors: Tixover, Manton and Offord. 
These were confirmed by Henry I about 1131.[44][45]

Marriage and family[edit]

Ernulf's wife was called Emmelina, a diminutive form of Emma, as is confirmed by 
numerous grants they made together to monasteries, for example the grant of the 
manor of Combe in Hampshire to Bec Abbey.[46]

Issue[edit]

There is still some doubt about the children of Ernulf and Emmelina.
Ernulf de Hesdin, a son and namesake, was one of Ernulf senior's heirs. He was 
hanged on the orders of King Stephen in 1138, after he and his nephew, William 
FitzAlan, held Shrewsbury for Empress Matilda in the opening stages of the Anarchy.
[39]
William is named, along with his sister Ava, as consenting to Ernulf's gifts to St 
George's Priory at Hesdin.[2] He may have inherited estates in France. He was still 
alive in 1125 as he was named in that year as witness to a grant that Henry I made to 
Cluny Abbey.[47]
Avelina, known to be in this case a diminutive of Ava, married Alan fitz Flaad, a 
Breton adventurer who became an important landholder through the favour of Henry I. 
Alan's wife was long held to be the daughter of Warin, an earlier Norman Sheriff of 
Shropshire, but Avelina's existence and significance were proved by Eyton,[39] whose 
work was validated by J. Horace Round.[48] Avelina's second husband was Robert 
fitz Walter,[49] Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, as shown in a grant, dated no earlier 
than 1126, in of their church at Chipping Norton to Gloucester Abbey.[50] Two sons of 
Avelina and Alan are noted for their dynastic importance.
William FitzAlan was heir to Alan's lands in England and from him were descended the 
FitzAlan Earls of Arundel.
Walter fitz Alan, became 1st hereditary High Steward of Scotland and ancestor of the 
House of Stuart who became the reigning dynasty first of Scotland and later of 
England and Ireland too.[51]
Matilda married Patrick de Cadurcis, Anglicised as Chaworth. His family was traced to 
castle near Le Mans by Round,[38] who remained doubtful whether Matilda really was 
a daughter of Ernulf and Emmelina. However, the couple inherited a substantial part of 
Ernulf's Domesday estates. In the early 12th century the couple gave a church at 
Toddington, Bedfordshire to the Abbey of St Pierre de la Couture.[52] They named 
Ernulf de Hesdin as one of the spiritual beneficiaries, but referred to him one who held 
their estates before them, rather than specifying him as Matilda's father.
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I02688

Parents
DE HESDIN Gerard (ABT 1015 - )
----- ----- ()

Siblings
DE HESDIN Ernulf (Arnulf) (ABT 1038 - AFT 1091)

Marriage To DE NORMANDY Emmelina (ABT 1040 - )
    m.  

Notes


Children by DE NORMANDY Emmelina ABT 1040 - 
DE HESDIN Matilda (ABT 1065 - AFT 1133)
DE HESDIN Avelina (1081 - )

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