Baron William Malet & Lady Heselia Crispin

2161508544. Baron William Malet & 2161508545. Lady Heselia Crispin

~1020, William, ‘Sire de Graville,’ born in Normandy.

~1025, Heselia Crispin born in Normandy, France, d/o §§Castellan Gilbert Crispin of Tillieres in the Vexin.

4/3/1043, Edward the Confessor, became King of England.

[––William & Heselia––]

~1043, William married Heselia.

Bef. 1066, William associated with Earl Harold Godwinson of England. (S) The Normans, Crouch, 2006, P87.

1/5/1066, Harold Godwinson elected King of England.

3/20/1066, Haley’s comet appeard in the sky at its closest point to earth, and was interpreted as an evil omen.
9/1066, King Harald of Norway defeated the English in battle near York.

10/14/1066, William and son Robert participated in the Battle of Hastings. When the battle was over, Duke William entrusted William Malet to attend to the burial of the dead English King.

10/25/1066, William the Conqueror crowned King of England.

1068, King William travelled through England building castles. Nottingham was assigned to William Peverel, Warwick to Henry de Beaumont, and William Malet appointed Sheriff of York. [Record of Odericus: ‘William surveyed the most unaccessible points in the country, and selecting suitable spots, fortified them against the enemy’s incusions.’]

1068, King William returned to Normandy [which provided the opportunity for rebellion.]

1/1069, William serving under Robert Fitz-Richard and William of Ghent, with 500 picked knights had to fight off a local revolt, headed by Edgar the Atheling. Robert Fitz-Richard and many of his men were killed and it was only by the timely arrival of King William that the City was saved.

2/1069, Robert Fitz-Richard murdered at Durham. William appointed castellan of York.

2-4/1069, Back in England, King William devastated York and burned the countryside.

9/21/1069 at a siege of York, William, his wife and 2 of his children were captured by a combined force of Danes and English under Sweyn of Denmark, supported by Earls Waltheof and Gospatric and the Northumbrians. William, the governor of York, lost all of his land holdings in Yorkshire. [The Danes are said to have had 240 ships. The Normans to have lost 3000. The cathedral was burnt. At this time the ‘locals’ likely supported the Danes.]

1069, King William again marched north and defeated the invaders.

12/25/1069, William celebrated Christmas in the ruins of York.

1069-70, William was named Sheriff of Suffolk. William given the largest fife in East Anglia including lands in Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex. William built his home called Castle Mound, at Eye, Suffolk.

~1071, William died fighting “Hereward the Wake” in the Fens, near Ely Cathedral [in the middle of the Malet holdings]. (S) The Domesday Book: “... He went into the marsh ... he went on the King’s service, where he died.”

[––Heselia––]

1085, Elesia holding lands in dower in Suffolk. [Hesilia, ‘Mother of Robert Malet’, is recorded in Domesday multiple times.]

Elesia died.

(S) Notices of an English Branch of the Malet Family, Arthur Malet, 1885, PP22-23, App’s C1-C2 & PP1-17, App’s A1-A10. (S) Battle Conference, 1996, P122ff. (S) Domesday York, Is78, Palliser, P3.

Family notes:

·         1040, King Henry besieged and destroyed the Norman outpost of Tillieres-sur-Avre [land of Duke William], held by Gilbert Crispin for Blois.

·         William and his brother Durand held lands in Lincolnshire, England, during the reign of Edward the Confessor, and through the reign of Harold right up to the conquest, in addition to those in Normandy. These Lincolnshire holdings, all in the Danelaw, probably came from William and Durand’s mother. After the conquest William’s English holdings were greatly increased, again, principally in the Danelaw, as English lands were taken from their Saxon owners and handed over to Norman Barons.

·         The Malet Castle at Graville Sainte Honorine had an important strategic location at the mouth of the Seine.

·         The Malet Coat of Arms can be seen on the Bayeux tapestry.

·         The Abbey church in which some of the Malets are buried is in the town of Le Havre, France.

Children of William and Heselia:
i. Robert Malet, born ~1045 in France.

Robert married Elisee De Brionne.

By 1066, Robert a witness in a charter of William, Count of the Normans, to the Abbey of Jumieges.

1071, Robert named Sheriff of Suffolk, succeeding his father William. The bulk Robert’s properties were in Suffolk and Norfolk, and comprised land in 137 parishes in that county, as well as 35 in Yorkshire, 22 in Norfolk, 6 in Lincolnshire, 4 in Essex, 2 in Nottinghamshire, 1 in Rutland, and 1 in Surrey. The size of individual holdings ranged from a few acres to entire parishes, and the total land area is estimated to have been at least 75,000 acres, of which 47,000 were located in Suffolk, making Robert the second largest landowner there, behind only the Abbot of Bury St. Edmunds.

1075, Robert was responsible for suppressing the rebellion of Ralph, Earl of Norfolk.

1076-83, Robert Malet grante to the priory of Eye the church of Eye and all the churches in the neighbouring town of Dunwich. (S) Cyclopedia of Education, V5, 1913, P259.

Robert was appointed to the office of “Great Chamberlain of England”. It’s possible he may have been the first Great Chamberlain of England, a title which passed to his relative Aubrey (Alberic) II de Vere upon his death.

Bef. 1086, Robert responsible for establishing Eye park as a hunting preserve, one of only four such parks mentioned in the Suffolk Domesday book.

1086, Robert listed in the Domesday survey. He had inherited most of his father’s estates in Suffolk, Yorks, Norfolk, Surrey, Notts, Rutland, Lincoln, Cheshire, and Essex.

1087, Robert was responsible for establishing the Benedictine priory of St. Peter.

Aft. 1087, [and after the death of William I] Robert was deprived of the Honour of Eye and was banished from the kingdom. [probably by William I’s son Rufus.]

1100, Henry, youngest s/o William I, became King; Robert Malet was there to witness his first Charter.

1104, in London, Robert Malet attested a writ of Queen Matilda.

9/28/1106, Robert died at the battle of Tinchebrae, France; the decisive battle in which Henry, King of England, defeated his brother Robert, Duke of Normandy.

Child: William Malet, born ~1070 in Eye, Suffolk, England. 1096, William was one of Duke Robert's companions in the first Crusade. 1110, William was banished from England by Henry I for participation in the rebellion of Helias, Earl of Mayne.

ii. Gilbert Malet (1080754272), born ~1050 in France.

iii. Beatrice Malet, born ~1055 in France.

~1080, Beatrice married William De Arches.

[Beatrice’s grant in aid to the village of Radingfield a source of the early family information.]