The history of the d’Aumale family cannot be understood without a backward glance at their ancestors and their links to the royal families of France, England and even Scotland through the noble families of those kingdoms.
Before 1066 the East Riding of Yorkshire contained many scattered estates, built up piecemeal over the Anglo-Saxon period, and it was not until after the harrying of the North that it was consolidated by William the Conqueror. William granted all of Holderness (except for the church lands) as a single holding to his companion Drogo de la Beuvrière, along with many estates in Lincolnshire and manors elsewhere in England. Drogo was a Fleming, who probably came from the village of Labeuvrière near Béthune, an excellent soldier and a relative of Matilda of Flanders, the Conqueror’s wife. It is said that Drogo’s wife suffered a violent death at the hands of her husband, at which point he fled back to Flanders, as by 1087 King William had granted Holderness to Odo, Count de Champagne. Odo was a count in title alone, as his uncle had seized his lands after the death of his father in c1047, leaving him dispossessed and seeking refuge at the then Duke’s court in Normandy. He subsequently married William’s sister, Adelaide (or Adeliza) of Normandy, for whose support he received the “island of Holderness” and lands in Lincolnshire.
It was Adelaide who brought to the marriage the title of d’Aumale. Aumale was frontier town, often changing hands between Normandy and France until its final capture by the French in 1204, when the d’Aumale title was also confiscated. Despite this, the d’Aumale title was passed down through the generations, only coming to an end in England in 1293 with the death of Isabel d’Aumale, the widow of William III de Forz, who had outlived her daughter Aveline. With Aveline’s death in 1274 the title of Lord of Holderness also came to end, when the vast lands associated with it reverted to the Crown.
One of the more colourful characters to hold the title of Count d’Aumale was the son of Stephen d’Aumale, William le Gros, so named after his great size which grew so vast that he could no longer ride a horse. He received the further title of Earl of York from King Stephen as a reward for his services at the Battle of the Standard. It was undoubtedly this ambitious great nephew of the Conqueror who influenced his sister Agnes to marry Adam I de Brus, first son and heir of Robert I de Brus and inheritor of large estates in Yorkshire. Adam I de Brus died while his son and heir Adam II de Brus was still underage, which no doubt suited the manipulative and exploitative William, who acquired the wardship of his nephew, though it should rightly have gone to the boy’s mother, William’s sister. This “acquisitive and aggressive magnate”, not content with his own already large inheritance, appropriated some of the de Brus lands, including Danby in Eskdale with its associated castle at Castleton, and gained control of the wapentake of Langbaurgh where the de Brus lands were centred. He also seized lands at Scarborough, founding the castle, and took over the castle at Pickering and the manor at Howden, the latter move earning him excommunication from the bishop of Durham and his growing power the sobriquet of “more truly the king beyond the Humber” than King Stephen. In later life William went on the found the abbeys of Thornton and Vaudey in Lincolnshire and Meaux in Holderness, the latter to absolve himself of his vow to go to Jerusalem, which owing to his age and weight he was unable to fulfil.
The de Brus and the d’Aumale families were linked when the sons of Robert I de Brus took as brides members of the d’Aumale family. Robert II de Brus of the Scottish (Annandale) line married Eufemia, niece of William le Gros, whereas Adam de Brus I of the Yorkshire (Skelton) line married Agnes d’Aumale, sister of William le Gros.
1st Generation |
1. Robert the Magnificent of NORMANDY, Duke of Normandy, born June 1000, died July 1035, had children by Herleva UNKNOWN (daughter of Fulbert UNKNOWN) born c1003 Falaise, Normandy, died c1050.
Children:
1.1. William I of ENGLAND
1.2. Adelaide (Adeliza) of NORMANDY
2nd Generation |
1.1. William I of ENGLAND and William II of Normandy, born c1028 Falaise, Normandy, France, died September 1087 Rouen, Normandy, France, buried Caen, Normandy, France.
1.2. Adelaide (Adeliza) of NORMANDY Countess d’Aumale, born c1030, married 1st count Enguerrand II de PONTHIEU (son of Hugh(es) II de PONTHIEU and Berthe ?CAPET?) married 2nd Lambert II de LENS (son of Eustace I de BOULOGNE and Maude de LEUVEN) died 1054 Lille, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France, married 3rd Eudes (Odo) III de CHAMPAGNE (son of Etienne (Stephen) II de TROYES and Adele UNKNOWN) Count of Champagne, Count of Meaux, Lord of Holderness.
Children of Adelaide (Adeliza) of NORMANDY and Eudes (Odo) de CHAMPAGNE:
1.2.1. Stephen d’AUMALE
3rd Generation |
1.2.1. Stephen d’AUMALE Count d’Aumale, Lord of Holderness, born c1079 Aumale, Normandy, France, died 1127, married Hawise of MORTIMER (daughter of Ralph of MORTIMER).
Children:
1.2.1.1. William d’AUMALE
1.2.1.2. Agnes d’AUMALE
1.2.1.3. Enguerrand (Ingelram) d’AUMALE
4th Generation |
1.2.1.1. William d’AUMALE “William le Gros”, Count d’Aumale, Lord of Holderness, Earl of York, born August 1127, died August 1179, buried Thornton Abbey, Lincolnshire, married Cicely FITZDUNCAN (daughter of William FITZDUNCAN and Alice de RUMILLY).
Children:
1.2.1.1.1. Hawise d’AUMALE
1.2.1.2. Agnes d’AUMALE born possibly 1115, died after 1170, married 1st Adam I de BRUS, Lord of Skelton, Lord of Cleveland (son of Robert de BRUS and Agnes UNKNOWN) born c1105, Skelton, North Riding, died c1143 Skelton, North Riding, married 2nd William de ROUMARE II.
See de Brus / Bruce
1.2.1.3. Enguerrand (Ingelram) d’AUMALE married Unknown UNKNOWN.
Children:
1.2.1.3.1. Eufamia d’AUMALE
5th Generation |
1.2.1.1.1. Hawise d’AUMALE Countess d’Aumale, died March 1214 married 1st 1180 William de MANDEVILLE (son of Geoffrey de MANDEVILLE and Rohese de VERE) Earl of Essex, Count d’Aumale, died 14 November 1189, married 2nd William de FORZ I died 1195, married 3rd Baldwin de BETHUNE (son of Robert V de BETHUNE and Alice de SAINT-POL) knight, born c1158, died 1212 Burstwick, East Riding.
Children of Hawise d’AUMALE and William de FORZ I:
1.2.1.1.1.1. William II de FORZ
1.2.1.3.1. Eufamia d’AUMALE born c1130 Carrick, Argyleshire, Scotland, married Robert II de BRUS, 2nd Lord of Annandale.
See de Brus / Bruce
6th Generation |
1.2.1.1.1.1. William II de FORZ Count d’Aumale, born c1193, married Aveline de MONFICHET (daughter of Richard de MONTFICHET).
Children:
1.2.1.1.1.1.1. William III de FORZ
7th Generation |
1.2.1.1.1.1.1. William III de FORZ Count d’Aumale, born before 1216, died 1260, married 1st Christiana of GALLOWAY (daughter of Alan of GALLOWAY and Margaret of HUNTINGDON) married 2nd Isabel de REDVERS (daughter of Baldwin de REDVERS and Amice de CLARE) died 1293.
Children of William III de FORZ and Isabel de REDVERS:
1.2.1.1.1.1.1.1. Thomas de FORZ
1.2.1.1.1.1.1.2. William de FORZ
1.2.1.1.1.1.1.3. Edward de FORZ
1.2.1.1.1.1.1.4. Aveline de FORZ
1.2.1.1.1.1.1.5. (Child) de FORZ
1.2.1.1.1.1.1.6. (Child) de FORZ
8th Generation |
1.2.1.1.1.1.1.4. Aveline de FORZ Countess of Aumale, born 20 January 1259, died 10 November 1274, buried Westminster Abbey, married 8 April 1269 Westminster Abbey Edmund CROUCHBACK (son of Henry III of ENGLAND and Eleanor de PROVENCE).
Biographical details available on request.
Sources:
The Brus Family in England and Scotland, 1100-1295, Ruth Margaret Blakely: http://books.google.fr/books/about/The_Brus_Family_in_England_and_Scotland.html?id=_c95jpY_joAC&redir_esc=y
The Bruses of Skelton and William d’Aumale, Ruth M. Blakely: Yorkshire Archealogical Journal, volume 73, 2001
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_de_Brus,_1st_Lord_of_Annandale
The History and Antiquities of the Seigniory of Holderness vol. 1, George Poulson: http://books.google.fr/books/about/The_History_and_Antiquities_of_the_Seign.html?id=33ggAQAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y
The Victoria History of the Counties of England, volume 5, University of London
The Lords of Holderness 1086-1260, Barbara English
Conquest, Anarchy and Lordship, 1066-1154, Paul Dalton: https://books.google.fr/books?id=Nog9_GJqFZQC&printsec=frontcover&hl=fr#v=onepage&q&f=false
The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543, edited by Lucy Toulmin Smith: https://archive.org/details/itineraryofjohnl01lelauoft
Yorkshire Lay Subsidy 1297, edited by William Brown: http://books2.scholarsportal.info/viewdoc.html?id=/ebooks/oca3/8/recordseries16yorkuoft&siteLang=en
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counts_and_Dukes_of_Aumale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_le_Gros,_1st_Earl_of_Albemarle