Individual

Go to List of Family Names Go to List of People < Previous Next >

DE NOVAVILLA [DE NEVILLE] Richard (Teutonicus)
Birth:          ABT 1020 Neuvile-sur-Tocque, Normandy
Death:          AFT 1066 Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England

Notes
familysearch.org
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I11927
Held in Normandy, the fief of Neuville-sur-Tocque
Reported cousin to William the Conqueror on maternal side
fourth son of Baldric Teutonicus (some say also known as)
Called Richard de Nova Villa
founded Horncastle, Lincolnshire

-----------------------

The following addition information is supplied in a post-em by Curt Hofemann, 
curt_hofemann AT yahoo.com:

FWIW:

had fief of Neuville sur Tocque in Normandy

Gilbert Neville, b c1035, came to England as an admiral in William the Conqueror's 
fleet.... The father of Gilbert is supposedly Richard Teutonicus D'Novavilla., b c1000 
in Neuville, Normandy. Richard's father was supposedly Baldricus Teutonius or Baldric 
the German. [Ref: Kenneh Harper Finton 21 Dec 2000 message to Gen-
Medieval/soc.genealogy.medieval]

From the book "De Nova Villa" by Henry J Swallow, pub jointly in 1885 by Andrew 
Reid of Newcastle upon Tyne and Griffith, Farran and Co of London, pp 2 and 3:

"Richard de Nova Villa was cousin to the Conqueror on his mother's side. The name 
and parentage of his wife remain in obscurity; but it is known that he left four sons, 
Gilbert, Robert, Richard and Ralph. From Gilbert descended the houses of 
Westmorland, Warwick, Latimer and Abergavenny.

"'Gilbertus Normanus' commonly called the _Admiral_, is placed at the head of the 
Nevill pedigree by all the early genealogists. Leland styles him the Conqueror's 
Admiral, on the authority of a 'roulle of the genealogie of the Erles of Westmoreland'. 
Henry Drummond--into whose work Stapleton's researches into the Norman ancestry of 
the Nevills were incorporated--considered Leland's information as a mere family 
fabrication, introduced towards the close of the 15th century. Whether the device of 
the ship on the seal of Henry de Nevill (date circ. 1200) supports the tradition, or 
whether the tradition arose from the seal, is a matter on which opinions differ. Foulk 
d'Anou, the uncle of Gilbert, certainly furnished forty ships for the invasion of England. 
There is no other evidence to support Leland's assertion that Gilbert himself was 
Admiral.

"'From a passage in Odericus Vitalis it is clear that the Norman family of Nevill issued 
from a Teutonic stock, some members of which offered their services to Richard, 
second duke of Normandy, and are known to have held high office, contracted 
important alliances, and possessed large fiefs in England _previous_ to the Conquest. 
Baldric Tuetonicus was Lord of Bacqueville en Caux, and _Archearius_ under Duke 
William. He married a niece of Gilbert Comte de Brionne, grandson of Duke Richard I., 
and Regent of Normandy in 1040.'"

"'The fourth son of Baldric was called Richard de Nova Villa [*], or De Neuville, from 
his fief of Neuville sur Tocque, in the department of the Orne, the arrondissement of 
Argenton, and the Canton of Gacé. Hawisia, sister of Richard de Nova Villa, married 
Robert Fitz Erneis, who fought and fell at Hastings.'--_Vide Planché's Norman 
Ancestry of the Nevills, a paper read at Durham in 1865, and published in the British 
Archaeological Journal, Vol XXII, p.279_."

Swallow adds a footnote:
"[*] The name of Richard de Nevill is given by M. Leopold de Lisle in his catalogue of 
the companions of the Conqueror, and by the Vicomte de Magny in his book, entitled 
_La Nobiliare de Normandie_. The name of Ralph occurs in the _Clamores in 
Westreding, co Lincoln_. Ralph Nevill held Thorpe of Turold, Abbot of Peterborough, 
but the name is omitted by Sir Henry Ellis in his _Introduction and Indexes to 
Domesday_. De Nove Villa _is_ found in the Roll of Battle Abbey, and in other lists of 
doubtful authority, but Odericus Vitalis makes no mention of the presence of any Nevill 
at the battle of Hastings, nor does Wace in his _Roman de Rou_; but that some of the 
brothers, sons, or nephews of the elder Richard de Nova Villa, of not Richard himself, 
were present at the battle is very probable."

Obviously this has to be contrasted with Ethel Stokes' article in CP (Vol IX, pp502a to 
502d) where much of Swallow's words have to be consigned to the waste-paper 
basket. But Swallow himself put the weakest parts in quotes and seems to be very 
well aware that there was little evidence for any of it. Swallow's problem was that he 
was writing with the protection of the Bergavenny Nevilles and obviously hoped to sell 
copies around the various Nevill families so he could not throw out the old fables too 
violently. [Ref: Tim Powys-Lybbe 22 Dec 2000 message to Gen-
Medieval/soc.genealogy.medieval]

(RICHARD DE NEVIL) was the fourth son of Baldric the German, and so called from 
his fief of Neuville-sur-Tocque, in the department of the Orne, the arrondissement of 
Argentan, and the canton of Gacé. The name of his wife is as yet unknown to us, but 
she bore to him four sons, Gilbert, Robert, Richard, and Ralph. Gilbert, apparently the 
eldest, is the "Gilbert Normanus" traditionally said not only to have come over with the 
Conqueror, but to have been the admiral of his fleet.

This assertion, apparently first made towards the close of the fifteenth century, is 
reported by Leland on the authority, as he tells us, of "a roulle of the genealogie of 
the Erles of Westmoreland," but giving us no idea of the date of that roll or the 
authorities from which it was compiled. At best it can only be looked upon as a family 
tradition supported, as Mr. Drummond appears to think, by the device of a ship which 
is to be seen on the seal of his grand-nephew Henry de Neville, preserved in the 
Duchy of Lancaster Office, and the date of which would be between 1199 and 1216.

My experience in these matters induces me to draw an inference from this fact directly 
opposed to that of Mr. Drummond. It is my belief, founded on the many analogous 
examples I have met with in the course of a tolerably long period passed in such 
investigations, that the tradition of Gilbert de Neville having been an admiral has 
actually arisen from the appearance of this ship, which, so far from indicating any 
such office, is nothing more than a device alluding to the family name; Nef, in the old 
French language signifying a ship, and, therefore, picturing the first syllable of 
Nefville, as we find Muscæ (flies) upon the old seals of the Muscamps, and hosts of 
similar and much farther-fetched canting devices.

Nearly all the strange stories and bold assertions to be met with in the works of early 
historical writers are found upon examination to have originated in an attempt to 
account for such concetti, and if Gilbert's uncle did really contribute so large a 
contingent as forty ships to the invading fleet, the supposition in the present instance 
seems a very natural one. Monsieur Leopold de Lisle, one of the ablest antiquaries in 
France, has in a recently compiled catalogue which has been cut in the stone of the 
western wall of the Church of Dives, introduced a Richard de Neuville amongst the 
followers of William, but no Gilbert; but neither by him nor by the Viscount de Magny, 
who has printed the list with some additions in his " Nobiliaire de Normandie," is any 
authority quoted in support of the statement, and they have probably so distinguished 
him from observing that the first of the name, and who was a contemporary of Duke 
William, was Richard de Novavilla, the father of Gilbert; but this Richard had also a 
son named Richard, and that some of the sons or nephews of the elder Richard were 
present at Hastings is very probable.

The name of Nevil, it has been confidently asserted, does not appear in Domesday. 
Like many other confident assertions, it is untrue. Dugdale, who states this, and those 
who have followed him, have overlooked the name of Ralph Nevil, who held Thorpe of 
Turold, Abbot of Peterborough. Sir Henry Ellis has also omitted the name in his 
"Introduction " and indexes. It occurs however in the Clamores in Westriding, county 
Lincoln, and if Ralph the bishop's man be identical with the Ralph Nevil of Thorpe, as 
there is reason to believe, he was tenant of several other lands at the time of the 
survey, and we have seen that the youngest brother of Gilbert was named Ralph.

Be this however as it may, it is no disparagement to the family of Nevil to hesitate, in 
the absence of positive authority, to number their direct ancestor amongst the leaders 
of that famous host; for many of the greatest men in Normandy set down in the 
catalogues as having fought at Senlac are now known to have first set foot in 
England after Duke William had secured the crown.

Gilbert, the traditionary admiral, was the direct progenitor of Isabella de Neville, wife 
of Robert Fitz Maldred, Lord of Raby, and sole heir to her brother, the Henry de 
Neville before mentioned.

From her son Geoffrey Fitz Maldred, who assumed his mother's name but retained his 
father's arms, sprang the magnificent tree the branches of which are truly said to have 
overshadowed the land. This Saxon line of Nevil has given to England two queens, a 
Princess of Wales, a mother of two kings, a Duke of Bedford, a Marquis of Montacute, 
Earls of Northumberland, Westmoreland, Salisbury, Kent, Warwick, and Montacute; 
Barons Nevil, Furnival, Latimer, Fauconberg, Montacute, and Abergavenny; 
Duchesses of Norfolk, Exeter, York, Buckingham, Warwick, Clarence, and Bedford; a 
Marchioness of Dorset; Countesses of Northumberland, Westmoreland, Arundel, 
Worcester, Derby, Oxford, Suffolk, Rutland, Exeter, Bridgewater, and Norwich; 
Baronesses de Ros, Dacre, Scrope, Dovercourt, Mountjoy, Spencer, Fitz Hugh, 
Harrington, Hastings, Comyn, Willoughby de Broke, Hunsdon, Cobham, Strange, 
Montacute, and Lucas; nine Knights of the Garter, two Lord High Chancellors, two 
Archbishops of York, a Bishop of Salisbury, of Exeter, and of Durham.

I regret that the nature and limits of this work debar me from particular notice of many 
members of this wonderful family, the above remarkable list of illustrious descendants 
being of itself a departure from the rule I have generally observed of confining my 
annotations to the origin and actions of the actual companions and contemporaries of 
the Conqueror. Memoirs of "the Peacock of the North" and "the King-maker" would 
alone demand a volume for their illustration; and it is unnecessary to point out the 
impossibility of doing similar justice to the many distinguished descendants of other 
families whose ancestors are recorded to have been present with Duke William at 
Hastings, and would have equal claims on my consideration. [Ref: RICHARD DE 
NEVIL, The Conqueror and His Companions, by J.R. Planché, Somerset Herald. 
London: Tinsley Brothers, 1874 http://www.patpnyc.com/conq/nevil.shtml]

note: caveat emptor - Planché's work is purported by modern genealogists to be 
riddled with errors... Curt

Regards,
Curt

Note:
I forgot to add his name was: Richard de Neuville (not Neville) being Seigneur de 
Neuville sur Tocque. Spelling 'Neville' is English & he wasn't.

Regards,
Curt (who is apparently a nit-picker to be avoided) ;>)

Parents
TEUTONICUS Baldricus (ABT  969 - )
DE BRIONNE Aubree (ABT 1000 - )

Siblings
DE NOVAVILLA [DE NEVILLE] Richard (Teutonicus) (ABT 1020 - AFT 1066)
DE BASQUERVILLE Nicholas (ABT 1035 - )

Marriage To ----- ----- () m. Notes Children by ----- -----
DE NEVILLE Gilbert ("the Admiral") (ABT 1042 - AFT 1118) DE NEVILLE Ralph (ABT 1050 - AFT 1086)
Produced by Fzip 1.7 6/20/2017