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Birth:          ABT 1051 Noron-l'Abbaye, Normandy
Death:          ABT 1112 Wemme, Shropshire, England

Notes
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I05455
ID: I05455 William Pantulf , of Wemme 

William Pantolf was one of the most important tenants-in-chief of Roger, Earl of 
Montgomery, at the end of the eleventh century. His lands in England passed in 1112 
to his second son Robert... [Ref: Sanders p94] 

Shropshire and the Domesday Book in 1086 
William Pantulf' s Shropshire Land Holdings 
William Pantulf or Pantoul, also known as the Baron Wem, takes his name from one of 
the Norman domains of Roger Montgomery being his knight (see above) and probably 
a kinsman of Earl Roger. He also held Noron in Calvados. He was one of the Chief 
Officers in the administration of the Earldom of Shrewsbury for Earl Roger. He was at 
the Battle of Hastings and received large grants. Dissatisfied , however, he made a 
trip to Sicily in 1077, and was offered, if he would remain, three towns in southern 
Italy by fellow Norman, Robert Guiscard, the Duke of Salerno, who ruled most of 
southern Italy. He returned to Normandy but incurred the wrath of the wife of Earl 
Roger. William was later accused of her murder, but reinstated. He was an under-
tenant to Earl Roger. 
(His English estates/manors/land included:) Alkington, Aston (Wem), Bayston, Beslow, 
Bratton, Buttery, Coton, Cross Hill, Dawley, Edstastone, Eyton-upon-the-Weald-Moors, 
Hartcourt, Hinstock, Horton, Lawley, Ledwyche, Little Sutton, Market Drayton, 
Middleton, Norton, Sleapa, Wem, Wolverley [Ref: 
http://www.genealogyweb.com/Shropshire.htm] 

Chapter 2, The Pantulfs, Barons of Web 
The Pantulfs, like the Corbets, were a Norman family that first came to England 
sometime during the reign of William the conqueror. Unlike the Corbets, however, the 
Pantulfs' Norman origins can be based on something more than legend. During the 
period 1027-35, a William Pantulf appears together with Roger de Montgomery, and 
the surviving evidence suggests that the Pantulfs were vassals of the house of 
Montgomery in the area around Sées.[1] Because Roger apparently wanted nothing to 
do with William the Bastard's foolhardy schemes of conquest, the son or grandson of 
William Pantulf, who was also called William, may not have been with the Normans at 
Hastings.[2] By 1071, however, Roger de Montgomery had taken renewed interest in 
his duke's activities, and William Pantulf, the first baron of Wem, was firmly 
established as one of Earl Roger's lieutenants in Shropshire.[3] In spite of his 
substantial holdings in England, William Pantulf spent much of his time on the 
Continent. In 1073, perhaps as a result of his new riches, William made an enormous 
grant to the Norman abbey of Saint Évroul. According to Ordericus, William and his 
wife, Lesceline, gave the abbey the churches of Saint Peter and Saint Cyr at Noron, 
some woodland, all or part of seven manors, a mill and the tithes from 1 1/2 additional 
mills, the church of Emiéville, forty marks for the monks of Saint Évroul to use to build 
a cell at Noron, and whatever his retainers might choose to give or sell to Saint 
Évroul, so long as this did not deprive William of the service his men owed him. "in 
addition William granted to St. Peter of Noron all the churches and tithes of all his 
lands in England or Normandy, and in any place where he might acquire fees; and the 
tithe of all his possessions, namely horses, cows, cheese, and everything from which 
he could give tithe."[4] From the behavior of the monks following this donation, it 
would appear that they could scarcely believe their good fortune; Ordericus says that 
immediately after William Pantulf made this grant, the abbot and prior of Saint Évroul 
took William with them to Bellême to find Roger de Montgomery so that he could ratify 
William's gifts without delay.[5] 
Although it has been suggested that many of the Norman lords who so generously 
endowed monasteries in the eleventh century did so in order to use these monasteries 
as "depots of credit,"[6] I think it is clear that William Pantulf's motives were of a 
higher order. At the time when he made this grant, the monks of Saint Évroul gave 
William "£16 of Rouen money" to enable him to go on a pilgrimage of Saint Giles (and 
while I am unable to determine which Saint Giles Ordericus intended, the sum involved 
indicates that William planned to travel some considerable distance).[7] Moreover, it is 
clear that William was a friend of Robert de Grentmaisnil (the former abbot of Saint 
Évroul and then abbot of Saint Euphemia in Apulia) as well as a friend of Ammot 
Mainier of saint Évroul, and in 1077 William met Abbot Robert at a council of William 
the Conqueror and returned with him to Apulia.[8] If Ordericus is to be believed - he 
was, after all, very kindly disposed towards William as a result of his grant to Saint 
Évroul - William Pantulf received what amounted to a royal welcome when he arrived 
in Italy. According to Ordericus, Robert Guiscard "welcomed William with honour, 
promised him many things and, knowing his worth, tried to retain him in his service. He 
made him sit beside him at a dinner on Easter day, and promised him three cities if he 
would remain with him in Italy."[9] If Robert Guiscard did make William such an offer, 
then William may well have had second thoughts about having refused it, for shortly 
after he returned to Normandy, he found himself in a perilous situation. In December 
1077 or 1078, the countess Mabel de Bellême was murdered by a knight named Hugh 
d'igle, and Mabel's husband, Earl Roger de Montgomery, believed that William was 
responsible for the murder. Earl Roger's belief was based on the fact that Mabel had 
deprived William of his castle of Peray, and it was well known that "there had been 
bitter animosity between them for a long time because of the injustice." Therefore, 
says Ordericus, "a suspicion arose that she had perished by his scheming, especially 
as Hugh and William were close friends and in frequent communications with one 
another."[10] 
As a result of this suspicion, Earl Roger and his family seized all of William's lands and 
demanded that he be killed. To escape the earl and his relatives, William took his wife 
and children and sought refuge at Saint Évroul, "and remained there for a long time in 
fear and trembling, under the protection of the monks." William's offers to submit to a 
trial and clear himself were refused, and after a long delay the matter was at last 
referred to the king. A royal court finally decided that William should submit to the 
ordeal of the hot iron. 
(Start quote) This was duly carried out. He carried the glowing iron in his bare hand, 
and by the will of God remained unscorched, for which the clergy and all the people 
praised God with a loud voice. His enemies, eager for his blood, stood looking on 
ready armed, so that if the accused were found guilty by the ordeal of fire they might 
forthwith punish him by cutting off his guilty head.[11] (End quote) 
The monks of Saint Évroul were understandably delighted at the happy outcome of the 
ordeal, and in return for their help, William gave them four precious alter frontals 
which he had brought back from Apulia. 
Earl Roger was presumably less pleased by William's acquittal, but it would appear 
that he was forced to return William's confiscated lands after the ordeal, for in 
Domesday Book William is listed as holding twenty-nine manors of Earl Roger in 
Shropshire, one of which - Wem - became the _caput_ of the Pantulf barony.[12] It 
was probably in the following year that Roger confirmed "everything that . . . William 
Pantulf . . . [has] given to Saint-Évroul in England and Normandy up to the present 
day," and William was present with the earl to witness this charter.[13] 
After the death of William the Conqueror, William made another visit to Apulia, and on 
his return he brought with him the relics of the body of the holy confessor of Christ, 
Saint Nicholas. William gave these relics (a tooth and a part of the saint's tomb) to the 
monks at Noron, and he later gave the monks his English manor of _Traditon_ (Market 
Drayton in Shropshire), together with the mill, church, and tithes of six dependent 
villages.[14] It would appear that the installation of the relics at Saint Nicholas at 
Noron was a great event. The abbots of Saint Évroul and Sées were there, and the 
relics were received "with great devotion and joy" and were placed in a silver casket 
which William had donated. Once the new relics had been installed, William laid the 
foundation for the new church at Noron and gave the monks twenty marks of silver to 
pay for its completion.[15] 
In 1098 Robert de Bellême, the son of Roger de Montgomery and Mabel de Bellême, 
became earl of Shrewsbury, and it seems clear that he still blamed William for his 
mother's death, for upon his succession William was deprived of all of the lands he 
had held of Earl Roger.[16] Four years later, Earl Robert rebelled against the king, and 
when Henry I began marching with this [sic: his] army against the rebel earl, William 
offered his services to Robert, but his offer was rejected. 
(Start quote) Being thus rejected with disdain, William Pantulf went over to the king, 
who, having already proved his vigour of mind, received him graciously. He gave him 
the command of two hundred men, and entrusted to him the custody of Stafford castle, 
in the same neighbourhood. This knight proved Robert de Bellême's worst enemy, 
never ceasing from persecuting him both by his counsels and his arms till his ruin was 
completed.[17] (End quote) 
According to Ordericus, it was largely through the efforts of William Pantulf that the 
castle of Bridgnorth (which was being held by Roger Corbet) was pursuaded to 
surrender. When the king threatened to hang everyone in the town if Bridgnorth did 
not surrender within three days, the townsmen 
(Start quote) sought a conference with William Pantulf, who was a neighbor of theirs, 
that they might hear what he advised. The knight undertook to negotiate between the 
garrison and the king, and in a persuasive language recommended them to surrender 
the fortress to their lawful king. . . . The townsmen, having taken into consideration 
what was for the common good, agreed to this, and submitted to the royal pleasure 
rather than risk their lives by further resitance."[18] (End quote) 
As a result of his actions against Robert de Bellême, William was given most of the 
lands he had lost through disinheritance, and the king apparently gave him additional 
lands as well.[19] 
The next surviving records concerning William Pantulf relate to a charter in favor of 
Saint Évroul in 1112. At that time William and his wife, Lesceline, confirmed to the 
monks all of the donations which they had previously made, and three of their sons - 
Philip, Ivo, and Arnulf - witnessed the charter. William seems to have died shortly after 
confirming his grants and was buried in the church he founded at Noron.[20] 
According to Ordericus, William Pantulf 
(Start quote) lived long, respecting the clergy and being kind to the poor, to whom he 
was a liberal in alms; he was firm in prosperity and adversity, put down all his enemies, 
and exercised great power through his wealth and possessions. He gave sixty marks 
of silver towards building the new church at St. Évroul, undertaking a work of great 
beauty to the honour of God, which death prevented him from completing. His sons 
succeeded to his estates, Philip in Normandy, Robert in England, but they failed of 
prosecuting their father's enterprise with equal spirit.[21] 
[1] _Recueil des actes des ducs de Normandie, 911-1066_, ed. Marie Fauroux, pp. 
214-16, no. 74. _Chartes de l'abbaye de Jumiêges_ed. J. J. Vernier, vol. 1: no. xiii. 
The early Pantulfs are discussed as an example of the wide-ranging interests of 
certain Norman families in David C. Douglas, _The Norman Achievement: 1050-1100_, 
pp. 116-17. 
[2] That William Pantulf's name is not even to be found in Leland's "Battle Roll of 
Hastings" (John Leland, ed. _Antiquarii de Rebus Brittanicis Collectanea_ 1:206-9) 
might seem to offer fairly conclusive proof that the Pantulfs were not at Hastings, for 
Leland seems to have included the names of virtually every family which had come to 
England by Henry II's reign. I suspect, however, that the omission of the Pantulfs from 
such lists is due not to the certainty of their absence at Hastings, but rather to the 
fact that the senior line of the family ends in 1233 and the cadet lines die out by the 
end of the thirteenth century. Thus there were no Pantulfs living in Leland's day to 
claim a Hastings connection. 
[3] Ordericus Vitalis, _The Ecclesiastical History_, trans, and ed. Marjorie Chibnall, 
2:262-63. 
[4] Ibid., 3:154-59. Most of the lands mentioned, like Noron, were situated near 
Falaise and Sées where, it would appear, the Pantulfs held most of their lands. 
[5] Ibid., 3:157-58. 
[6] David C. Douglas, _William the Conqueror_, p. 114. 
[7] Ordericus, _History_ (Chibnall), 3:156-57. The most probable _Saint Giles_, of 
course, is Saint-Gilles in Languedoc. 
[8] Ibid., 3:158-61. 
[9] bid., 3:160-61. 
[10] Ibid., For comments on the date of the murder, see Chibnall's remarks on 3:160, 
n. 1. 
[11] bid., 3:160-63. 
[12] _Domesday_, 1:252-60. 
[13] Ordericus, _History_ (Chibnall), 3:140-43. 
[14] bid., 3:162-63. 
[15] Ibid., 4:71-72. 
[16] Ordericus Vitalis, _The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy_, ed. 
Thomas forester, 3:334. 
[17] Ibid. 
[18] Ibid., 3:334-35. 
[19] R. W. Eyton, _Antiquities of Shropshire_, 8:46. 
[20] Ordericus, _History_ (Chibnall), 3:162-63; 4:72-73. 
[21] Ibid., 3:162-63. [Ref: Barons of the Welsh Frontier pp. 23-26 (footnotes p168)] 

Regards, 
Curt

Parents
PANTULF Guillaume (William) (ABT 1020 - AFT 1086)
----- ----- ()

Siblings
PANTULF Guillaume (William) (ABT 1051 - ABT 1112)

Marriage To ----- Lesceline (1055 - )
    m.  

Notes


Children by ----- Lesceline 1055 - 
PANTULF Robert (ABT 1080 - 18 Oct 1130)

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