Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd edition, (Salt Lake City, Utah, 2013), volume IV, page 561; and
(2)
G. H. White, ed., The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom Extant, Extinct, or Dormant, 2nd edition, volume XI (1949), pages 464-465.
134503953Beatrice de Mandeville is the daughter of 269007906William de Mandeville and 269007907Margareta, as explained below. 134503953Beatrice was born circa 1105.1
Problem:Resolved Who is 134503953Beatrice's father?
An undated manuscript from Tintern Abbey mentions "Willielmo de Mandevill, et fuit mater Gaufridi filii comitis Essexiæ." 2 Therefore, we know that Geoffrey de Mandeville was the son of 269007906William de Mandeville.
A manuscript written circa 1204 by a monk at Walden Abbey describes Geoffrey de Mandeville at great length, and within this chronicle the monk mentions "sororem suam nomine Beatricem." 3 Therefore, we know that 134503953Beatrice was a sister of Geoffrey.
Considering these two records together, one can conclude that 134503953Beatrice was a daughter of 269007906William de Mandeville.
Separately, in a manuscript written by a Walden Abbey monk less than 20 years after 134503953Beatrice's death, the monk explicitly describes 134503953Beatrice's father as "patris sui Willelmi uidelicet de Mandeuilla." 4
Problem:Resolved Who is 134503953Beatrice's mother?
134503953Beatrice's mother is generally believed to be 269007907Margareta: Douglas Richardson repeats this claim in his book Royal Ancestry (volume IV, pages 560-561), and so does the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (hereafter abbreviated FMG) on its webpage "England Earls 1138-1142" (chapter 5, section A).
However, as explained below, this conclusion wasn't reached without some difficulties and disagreements.
Describing Margaret in relation to 134503953Beatrice's father 269007906William, the FMG webpage includes the following statement:
MARGUERITE, daughter of EUDES de Rie, dapifer, of Colchester, Essex & his wife Rohese ---. The Genealogia Fundatoris of Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire names "Margareta" as daughter of "Eudoni dapifero Regis Normanniæ", adding that she married "Willielmo de Mandavill" by whom she was mother of "Gaufridi filii comitis Essexiæ et iure matris Normanniæ dapifer"[671]. According to the Complete Peerage, this genealogy is "probably erroneous" but it does not explain the basis for the doubts[672].
This statement doesn't make sense to me, since Complete Peeragedoes explain the doubt. In Complete Peerage, 2nd edition, volume V, page 114, footnote (b) we read:
In 1142 the Empress gave to Geoffrey, Earl of Essex, "totam terram que fuit
Eudonis Dapiferi in Normannia et Dapiferatum ipsius. Et hec reddo ei ut rectum
suum ut habeat et teneat hereditabiliter ita ne ponatur inde in placitum versus
aliquem. Et si dominus meus Comes Andegavie et ego voluerimus Comes Gaufredus
accipiet pro dominiis et terris quas habet eschaetis et pro servicio militum quod habet
totam terram que fuit Eudonis Dapiferi in Anglia sicut tenuit ea die qua fuit et
vivus et mortuus quia hoc est rectum suum." (G. de Mandeville, p. 167). Round
(op. cit., p. 173) considers that "the fact that this [Eudo's] fief escheated to the Crown
[Pipe Roll, 31 Hen. I], instead of passing to the Mandevilles with the Dapifer's
alleged daughter, is directly opposed to a story [viz., "the received statement that
Geoffrey was maternally a grandson of the Dapifer, whose daughter and heiress
Margaret had married his father William"] which has no foundation of its own."
This statement is taken from a Genealogia Fundatoris of Tintern (Monasticon, vol. v,
p. 269, from a transcript formerly in Cotton MSS., Vitell., F4):— "Rohesia una
sororum Walteri [Giffard] ... conjuncta in matrimonio Ricardo filio Comitis Gisleberti ... Predicta Rohesia supervixit et renupta Eudoni Dapifero Regis Normannie ... Margareta filia eorum nupta fuit Willelmo de Mandevill' et fuit mater Gaufridi
filii Comitis Essexie et jure matris Normannie dapiferi [Rohese, wife of Richard fitz
Gilbert, is here confused, as Sir F. Madden noticed long ago, with her da., Rohese,
wife of Eudo Dapifer]." It appears to be the only authority for the paternity (and
even for the name) of the wife of William de Mandeville. Round concludes that
the relationship between Eoun and Geoffrey was "probably collateral instead of
lineal." Eoun had two brothers, and at least one sister, each of whom left male
issue existing in 1142; so that Geoffrey's claim, if founded merely on collateral
representation, was small. Still, it seems almost certain that Eoun died s.p.
As you can see, Complete Peerage in turn refers to Round's book Geoffrey de Mandeville, which elaborates further (on page 173):
These are followed by a new
grant, namely, "totam terram quæ fuit Eudonis Dapiferi in
Normannia et Dapiferatum ipsius," with a conditional
proposal that Geoffrey should also, in exchange for the
grants he had already received, obtain that portion of the
Dapifer’s fief which lay in England. The large estate
which this successful minister had accumulated in the
service of the Conqueror and his sons had escheated to
the Crown at his death, and is entered accordingly in the
Pipe-Roll of 31 Hen. I. This has an important bearing on
the noteworthy admission in the charter that Geoffrey is
to receive the Dapifer’s fief not as a gift, but as his right
("rectum suum"). This expression is referred to by Mr.
Eyton in his MSS., as placing beyond doubt the received
statement that Geoffrey was maternally a grandson of the
Dapifer, whose daughter and heiress Margaret had married
his father William. But this statement is taken from
Dugdale, who derived it solely from the Historia Fundationis
of St. John's Abbey, Colchester, a notoriously inaccurate
and untrustworthy document printed in the Monasticon.
The fact this this fief escheated to the Crown, instead of
passing to the Mandevills with the Dapifer's alleged
daughter, is directly opposed to a story which has no foundation of its own.11 The clause certainly favors the belief that a relationship existed, but it was probably collateral, instead of lineal.
As you can see, without an explanation for why 538015814Eudo Dapifer's property failed to follow 269007907Margareta, the hypothesis that 134503953Beatrice's mother was 269007907Margareta becomes rather doubtful. Fortunately, though, C. W. Hollister's article "The Misfortunes of the
Mandevilles" (History, volume 58, issue 192, pages 18-28) offers an evidence-based explanation:
[269007906William de Mandeville] appears only once in a chronicle of the period,
but in a position of considerable historical interest: Orderic Vitalis identifies
him as keeper of the Tower of London in 1100-1 and guardian of the Tower’s
fitst known political prisoner, Ranulf Flambard bishop of Durham.6 In
February 1101 Flambard escaped from the Tower and fled to Normandy,
serving there as the chief organizer of Robert Curthose's invasion of 1101,
which nearly cost Henry I his newly won crown.7
We know that in the aftermath of this invasion Henry I punished several
barons who had chosen the wrong side, but the chroniclers tell us nothing
of William de Mandeville’s fate. His career can be reconstructed, however,
from an analysis of the charter evidence, with results that differ markedly
from the conclusions of Round. William’s troubles after Flambard's escape
cast light on Henry I’s baronial policy, and place the behavior of Round’s
great anti-hero, Geoffrey II, in a new perspective.
Henry I was by no means prepared to forgive William de Mandeville his
behavior in 1101. In a notification to the chief men of Essex and Hertfordshire (1103-5, probably 1103), the king granted to Eudo Dapifer, a trusted
official and royal favourite, the three Mandeville manors of Sawbridgeworth
[co. Herts.] and Great Waltham and Saffron Walden [co. Essex] until such
time as William de Mandeville paid Eudo £2,210 3s. which William had owed
as a debt to the king.8 Henry I had evidently seized the three manors as a
pledge for William de Mandeville’s debt and was now making a gift of the
lien to Eudo. The most striking thing about this arrangement is that the
value of the three manors, and the debt, are both extraordinarily high.
6 Orderic Vitalis, Historia Ecclesiastica, ed. A. le Prévost (Paris, 1838-55), IV, 108. 7 See my article, 'The Anglo-Norman Civil War: 1101', E.H.R., forthcoming. 8Cartularium Monasterii S. Johannis Baptiste de Colecestria, ed. S . A. Moore (Roxburghe Club, London, 1897), 1: 22; Reg. II, no. 661: Donec Willelmus de Magnauilla ei
insimul det licencia mea et imperio ipsi Eudoni dico MM. et CC. libras et x libras et iii solidos
quas michi debet de debito suo. Quia ego dedi eas omnes predicto Eudoni. Cf. a similar royal
lien in Eariy Yorkshire Charters, II, ed. W. Farrer (Edinburgh, 1915), pp. 326-9.
Hollister's analysis thus addresses some of the doubt expressed by Round and in Complete Peerage, so we can accept the Genealogia Fundatoris record with more confidence, including that 134503953Beatrice's mother was 269007907Margareta.
134503953Beatrice was a patron of Walden Abbey, which is fortunate for us since she's mentioned several times in an account of the abbey's history written circa 1204 (i.e., not long after 134503953Beatrice's lifetime). Of her marital history, one of the abbey's monks wrote:
In illis itaque diebus sororem suam nomine Beatricem in Normania Hugoni Talebot matronam nuptam, diurtio prius facto, in Angliam transtulit, eamque Willelmo de Say, ferocis animi uiro et bellicoso [...] 3
At that time he [Geoffrey de Mandevillestan] brought over to England his sister Beatrice, who had been married in Normandy to Hugh Talbot but was now divorced, and joined her in a marriage contract to William de Say, a man of fierce, warlike temperament [...] 3
134503952William de Say's marriage to 134503953Beatrice is also attested elsewhere in the monk's account4 and in later charters involving 134503953Beatrice.5,6 His account also describes 134503953Beatrice's inheritance of the estate of her nephew William:
Fama igitur longe lateque citius uolans mortemque comitis Willelmi
per uniuersum Anglie regnum in breui diuulgans, ad aures Beatricis de
Say, eiusdem comitis amite, sororis scilicet patris illius, peruenit.
Quoniam autem comes iste Willelmus ex Hawisia filia comitis de
Albemarle quam cum tota patris sui hereditate iam pridem duxerat
uxorem, nullum post se reliquerat heredem, predicta Beatrix totam
patris sui Willelmi uidelicet de Mandeuilla sibi de iure uendicabat
hereditatem.
Hec itaque nobilis matrona, ut longe superius dictum est, lege
coniugali Willelmo de Say extitit copulata, de quo duos suscepit
filios, Willelmum scilicet et Galfredum. Horum primogenitus,
uidelicet Willelmus, multo iam tempore transacto obierat, qui
tamen ex uxore sibi desponsata duas tantum reliquerat filias, quarum
primogenitam, nomine Beatricem, Galfredus quidam filius Petri
duxerat in uxorem. Willelmus uero de Boclanda, frater illius,
alteram, nomine Matildem, cum tota earundem hæreditate
ditissima inter eas partienda.
Prædicta itaque Beatrix,
matronarum nobilissima, in senectute uergens, eratque jam
ætate matura, ideoque filium suum Galfridum de Say quem
unicum habebat, virum scilicet magnum et militarem vice
sua ad regem transmisit Richardum, qui accersito priore
nostro domino Reginaldo cum monachis duobus, associatis
etiam sibi totius baroniæ illius capitaneis, pervenit ad regem
apud Cantuariam jam aliquandiu commorantem. Advenit
etiam Galfridus filius Petri jam antea nominatus cum suis,
asserens illam baroniam ad filiam Willielmi de Say prædictæ Beatricis primogeniti, hæreditario jure spectare, quam
ipse up supradictum est, duxerat uxorem. Attamen Galfridus Say magnorum virorum fretus pariterque suffultus
auxilio, apud regem obtinuit, cui etiam vice matris suæ
tota hæreditas illa concessa est authoritate regia, necnon et
scriptis authenticis regio sigillo signatis confirmata. Hæc
autem concessio seu confirmatio non adeo absolute vel sola
prece, et non absque precio facta est, immo mediante septem
millium marcarum conventione fixis terminis solvendarum,
sub rata etiam magnorum fidejussione uirorum. Sed quoniam
talis conventionis tantæque pecuniæ persolvendæ in promptu
non aderant fidejussores, baroniæ illius seisina Galfrido prædicto nondum plenarie est collata, in brevi tamen ei plenius confederenda, &c.4
Rumour flying swiftly far and wide soon spread news of Earl William's
death throughout the whole kingdom of England, and this reached the
ears of Beatrice de Say, aunt of the same earl, being his father's sister.
Since, however, Earl William had left behind him no heir by Hawisia,
daughter of the count of Aumale, whom he had some time before taken
as his wife along with the whole of her inheritance from her father, this
Beatrice claimed for herself as her right the whole of the inheritance of
her father, William de Mandeville.
This noble lady, as has been previously stated, was united in the
bonds of marriage with William de Say. By him she had two sons,
William and Geoffrey. The elder of these, William, had died long
before, leaving, by the wife espoused to him, only two daughters. The
elder of these, called Beatrice, was married to a certain Geoffrey
fitz Peter; the younger, called Matilda, was married to William of
Buckland, Geoffrey’s brother. With the marriages went the whole of
the considerable fortune inherited by these ladies as co-heirs of their
father.
This Beatrice, then, the most noble of ladies, who was now reaching a
ripe old age, sent to King Richard in her place her only surviving son
Geoffrey de Say, a fine knightly man. He summoned our prior, Dom
Reginald, with two monks, and accompanied by the chief men in the
whole of that barony came to the king at Canterbury where he had been
staying for some time. Geoffrey fitz Peter, whom I have already
mentioned, also arrived with his men, asserting that that barony
belonged by hereditary right to the lady whom he had married (as
previously mentioned), the daughter of William de Say, the elder son of
Beatrice. But Geoffrey de Say, relying upon and supported by the
assistance of influential men, won his case before the king, and the whole
of that inheritance was bestowed by royal authority upon him instead of
his mother, and was furthermore confirmed by authentic documents
authenticated by the royal seal. But this grant with its confirmation was
not made unconditionally as a favour, or without financial cost. Indeed,
it was conditional on an agreement to pay seven thousand marks at fixed
terms on an approved surety of influential men. But as guarantors to
this agreement for the payment of so large a sum of money were not
readily available, the seisin of that barony was not yet fully conferred
upon the said Geoffrey de Say, but was to be conferred upon him more
fully within a short time. But leaving this aside for a while, let us pass on
to matters which seem to be of concern to us.4
Most impressive, though, is this obituary (of sorts) that the monk wrote for 134503953Beatrice:
Soror itaque comitis Galfridi, fundatoris scilicet nostri, materque Galfredi de Say, nomine et opere Beatrix,
forma mulierum Deo devotarum, decus matronarum, ecclesiam beati Jacobi de Waldena
abbatem et monachos affectu quodam singulari pre omnibus diligebat,
manu etiam larga caritatis ministra muneribus magnis et sepe datis
honorabat. Hec est illa cuius indeficienti beneficio fundamenta ecclesie
nostre, claustri officinarumque locata sunt ampliora, parietes erecticum
tectis suis desuper impositis, uasa argentea in ministerio altaris
consecrata, cum uestimentis sacerdotalibus, necnon et aliis multis et
pretiosis ornamentis paulatim ut potuit, ecclesie contulit. In libris uero
faciendis, se quibuslibet operibus promouendis multam denariorum
massam expendit. Ad nos autem—et frequentius—in festiuitatibus
sanctorum uenit, ut monachos simul omnes, quos etiam filios nominauit, uideret, uoces Deo canentium aure propius captaret omnes
pariter abunde reficeret, pane corpora confirmans, uino corda letificans.
In domo igitur sua apud Rikelinges ubi manebat, misericordie
operibus uacabat, esurientes reficiendo, algentes uestiendo, debiles
quoque et infirmos, necessariis transmissis, uisitando. Talibus inten-
dens etate iam matura, uiribus etiam corporis destituta, peruenit ad
extrema. Mente igitur sana cor, renes, omniaque anime saluti nociua
diligenter perscrutans, lingua insuper famulante scrutata perturbans
preuenit faciem Domini in confessione. Sua omnia quomodo et quibus
uoluit Cristiano more disponendo legauit. Viatico deinde ore et corde
reuerenter accepto expirauit. Corpus uero illius digno cum honore ad
nos translatum; et ut memoria beneficiorum eius fratrum cordibus
crebrius offeratur, in capitulo nostro sepulture commendatum est.7
Beatrice, the sister of Earl Geoffrey our founder and mother of
Geoffrey de Say, by name and by deed one who was blessed, was a
model among women who are devoted to God, and an ornament
amongst ladies. She loved the monastery of the Blessed James of
Walden and its abbot and monks above all else with an extraordinary
affection, dispensing charity with a generous hand, and she honoured
them with gifts which were large and frequently bestowed. It was
through her unfailing benevolence that the foundations of our church,
cloister, and domestic buildings were enlarged, that walls were erected
with roofed buildings built upon them; and little by little she bestowed
upon the church, as she was able, silver vessels consecrated to the
service of the altar as well as sacerdotal vestments, and many other
precious ornaments besides. Indeed, she spent a large sum of money on
having books made and in promoting all sorts of workmanship. She
visited us especially during festivals of the saints in order to see all the
monks together whom she also called her sons, and to hear from close at
hand their voices singing to God. She would provide generous
refreshments for all alike, giving them bread to strengthen their bodies
and wine to cheer their hearts. In her house at Rickling where she
dwelt she found time for works of charity, for feeding the hungry and
for clothing those who were cold, for visiting also the weak and infirm
and sending them the necessities of life. She was still attending to such
things even in her old age when she had lost her strength of body and
approached the end of her life. With a sound mind she diligently
searched her heart, her inmost thoughts, and everything harmful to the
salvation of her soul; and speaking as a servant she came before the face
of the Lord in confession, in fear and trembling. She bequeathed and
disposed of all her possessions as and how she wished in a Christian
manner. And then, receiving the last sacrament reverently with her lips
and with her heart, she died. Her body was brought to us with fitting
honour, and so that the memory of her benevolence might be more
frequently impressed upon the hearts of the brethren, it was committed for burial in our chapter-house.7
134503953Beatrice was alive in 1185,1 and the monk's account seems to have been written circa 1204, so she must have died sometime between. The monk's account indicates that she was buried at Walden Abbey, which no longer exists, although Audley End House now stands on basically the same location. A 2002 archaeology report describes the skeletal remains of a man that were discovered just beyond the southern wall of the Audley End House (i.e., around coordinates N52.0205 E0.2208),8 so perhaps 134503953Beatrice is buried somewhere closeby.
Sources Cited:
1: John Horace Round, ed., Rotuli de Dominabus et Pueris et Puellis de XII Comitatibus [1185] (London, 1913), page 76.
2: Sir William Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum [...], Volume V, page 269, number III
3: J. W. Binns et al., The Book of the Foundation of Walden Monastery (Clarendon Press, 1999), pages 14-17
4: ibid., page 86-89. However, a portion of the Latin text is copied instead from: Sir William Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum [...], Volume IV (London, 1846), page 145, Lib. III, cap. 1.
5: Sir William Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum [...], Volume IV (London, 1846), page 149, charter number VI. Notice these phrases: "Beatricia de Say [...] pro anima Galfridi comitis Essexiæ, fratris mei, et Willielmi de Say, sponsi mei, et Willielmi filii mei."
6: ibid., page 150, charter number IX. Notice these phrases: "Beatricia de Say [...] pro anima domini mei Willielmi de Say, et Williel. de Say filii mei [...] pro anima Gaufridi comitis fratris mei."
7: Binns, op. cit., pages 122-125. However, a small portion of the Latin text is copied instead from: Sir William Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum [...], Volume IV (London, 1846), page 146, cap. 9.
