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From: Mary Stewart Kyritsis <>
Subject: J.H. Round article - 2
Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 16:29:45 +0300


Continuing the article ... and beginning the bits about the Cromwell
family.

THE ORIGIN OF THE STEWARTS
============================
By J. Horace Round, taken from "Studies in Peerage and Family History,
Westminster, Archibald Constable and Co., Ltd., 1901, pages 115-146

Part 2

It will have been observed that "Float filius Alani dapiferi" is assumed
above to have been the brother, not a son, of the crusader. This
assumption is based upon the facts that the crusader's gift at Mezuoit
was 'conceded' by his brother 'Fledald,' who was, therefore, his heir at
the time, and that his office of "dapifer" at Dol was afterwards held --
a fact hitherto unsuspected -- by descendants of Alan fitz Flaald. The
crusader, it must therefore be inferred, left no heir.

The sudden rise of Alan fitz Flaald and his evident enjoyment of Henry's
favour from the early years of the reign, were thought by Mr. Eyton to
be due to his (fabulous) Scottish origin. But it might, with some
probability, be suggested that his Breton origin accounts for the
facts. When Henry was besieged in Mont St. Michel, he is known to have
had Breton followers ("aggregatis Britonibus") and, after his surrender,
"per Britanniam transiit, Britonibus qui sibi solummodo adminiculum
contulerant, gratias reddidit" (Ordericus)* [* Elsewhere, Orderic
observes that Henry, "dum esset junior ... ut externus, exterorum, id
est Francorum et _Britonum_ auxilia quaerere coactus est."]. Dol was
his nearest town in Britanny, and Alan may thus, like Richard de
Reviers, have served him across the sea, when he was but a younger son.

It would seem, indeed, although the fact has been hitherto overlooked,
that a group of families whom Henry had known when lord of the Cotentin
were endowed by him when king with fiefs in England. In addition to
Alan fitz Flaald, founder of the house of Stewart, and to Richard de
Reviers, ancestor of the earls of Devon* [*He is found, seemingly, in
Domesday, holding a single lordship], the Hayes of Haye-du-Puits were
given the Honour of Halnaker (Sussex), the Aubignys, afterwards earls of
Arundel, obtained from him a fief in Norfolk; the two St. John brothers,
from St. Jean-le-Thomas, were granted lands in Oxfordshire and Sussex,
and founded another famous house* [*See my paper on "The Families of St.
John and of Port" in _Genealogist_, July 1899, p. 1. And compare p. 66
above]; while the family of Paynel also, sprung from the Cotentin, owed
to Henry lands in England.

Among the documents calendered in my volume are Papal bulls to the abbey
of St. Florent, ranging from 1146 to 1187 (Nos. 1124-9), which suggest
that Alan's son William, who acquired by marriage Clun castle, must have
bestowed its church of St. George, with all its dependent churches, on
Monmouth Priory, a fact hitherto unsuspected. Mr Eyton thought that the
gift of this church to Wenlock Priory by his widow (_tem._ Ric. I)
represents the first occasion on which it is mentioned.

Alan fitz Flaald has hitherto been credited with two well-known sons,
William and Walter, ancestors respectively of the Fitzalans and the
Stewarts* [*A third son, "Simon", is claimed as the ancestor of the
Boyds, and is assigned to him, with William and Walter, in Mr. Lindsay's
great Stewart pedigree, the standard authority on the subject. But
although a Simon 'brother' of Walter occurs as a witness in the Paisley
cartulary, his name is very low on the list, and he may have been only a
uterine or even a bastard brother. The Empress Maud's bastard brothers
are styled her 'brothers' in her charters, nor was this unusual.]. He
had, however, another son, who needs to be specially dealt with. This
was Jordan, his heir in Britanny, and, apparently, at Burton in
England. Mr. Eyton knew of his existence, but could state little about
him. In No. 1220 we find him, as a "valiant and illustrious man,"
making restitution to Marmoutier in 1130, with his wife Mary and his
sons Jordan and Alan. In the same year we detect him entered on the
English Pipe Roll in several places, though one of the entries suggests
his Breton connection* [* Rot. Pip. 31 Hen. I., p. 11]. He may safely
be identified with that "Jordanus dapifer" who witnessed a charter to
Mont St. Michel in 1128-29 (No. 722); and consequently he held the
family office. We find him also in a St. Florent charter,*
[*_Lobineau_, II. 232] and in one of Marmoutier* [*_Ibid_ 146]. Of his
sons, Jordan restored to the priory of St. Florent at Sele the mill at
Burton given it by Alan fitz Flaald* [*"Jordanus filius Jordani filius
Alani hominibus suis de Burt[ona]. Sciatis me reddidisse monachis S.
Florentii de Salmur molendinum de Burt[ona] sicut habuerunt tempore
Alani filii Flealdi et tempore Jordani patris mei" (original charter at
Magdalen College)], but was, probably, soon succeeded by his brother
Alan, who confirmed to a priory of Marmoutier (No. 1221) another gift of
his grandfather, Alan fitz Flaald, at Burton, mentioning his wife Joan
and his son Jordan* [*It was either this Jordan or his grandfather who,
as "Jordanus filius Alani siniscalli," confirmed a gift to Combourg (MS.
lat. 5441 (3) 437)]. This Alan, who meets us also, as his father's son,
in a Savigny charter (No. 824), is identical with that "Alanum filium
quondam Jordani Dolensem senescallum," who confirmed the grant of his
grandfather Alan (fitz Flaald) at Cuguen, and himself added the church
of Tronquet* [*MS. lat. 12,878, fo. 248d., and _Lobineau_, II. 310]
about 1160* [*The gift is wrongly assigned in _Gallia Christiana_
(XIV.1074) to 1133-1147, as being made before Hugh archbishop of Tours.
The prelate was Hugh "archbishop" of Dol, whose date was 1155-1161
(_Ibid_. 1050).] We have further in No. 1013 the confirmation by
Alexander III of his gifts to the abbey of Tiron, including the church
of Sharrington and three others in England. He attested a charter of
the lord of Dol in 1145* [*_Lobineau_, II. 147] and, in or about 1165, a
royal charter at Winchester concerning a release by his
fellow-countryman Geoffrey son of Oliver de Dinan* [*_Mon. Ang.,_ VI.
486]. He also leads the list of witnesses in a dispute about the abbey
of Vieuville (in the parish of Epiniac) in 1167, as "Alanus filius
Jordani dapifer."* [*_Lobineau_, II. 308; MS. lat. 5476, fol. 98d]. His
wife Joan and daughter Olive were benefactors to the abbey of Vieuville
for his soul.* [*"Johanna uxor Alani dapiferi de Dolo et filia ipsius
Oliva." _Lobineau_, II. 310; MS. lat. 5476, fo. 91.]

With this clue we return to England, and detect the heiress of the
Stewards of Dol in that Olive, daughter of Alan "filius Jordani," who in
1227 was impleaded by one of her Breton tenants -- his father Iwan had
been enfeoffed by her own father Alan -- at Sharrington, Norfolk. The
record of the suit gives us the name of Alan's mother, Mary, mentioned
as we have seen, in No. 1220.* [* _Bracton's Note-book_, III. 620.
Compare 'Feet of Fines' (Pipe Roll Society), II. 160.]

In the middle, therefore, of the 12th century, this family flourished
simultaneously in Scotland, England, and Britanny.

A short pedigree will make the descent clear [NOTE by Mary Kyritsis:
this is a drop-down chart, which is nearly impossible to duplicate in
ASCII. I have modified it to something which I hope will be readable,
as it is worth sharing, it makes the relationships spoken of very
clear.]

FIRST GENERATION
1. ALAN, Dapifer (Dolensis)

SECOND GENERATION
2. ALAN, son of #1, Dapifer Dolensis occurs in Britanny ante 1080 and
in 1086; a leader in
first Crusade 1097
3. FLAALD, son of #1, occurs at Monmouth 1101 or 1102 'frater' (et
'filius') Alani Dapiferi
4. RHIWALLON, son of #1, Monk of St. Florent

THIRD GENERATION
5. ALAN Fitz Flaald, son of #3, Founder of Sporle Priory

FOURTH GENERATION
6. JORDAN Fitz Alan, son of #5, occurs 1129-30, Benefactor of Sele
Priory. Occurs
also in Britanny as "Dapifer" (Dolensis).
7. WILLIAM Fitz Alan, son of #5, Founder of Haughmond Priory ob. [died]
1160,
(? Benefactor of Monmouth Priory)
8. WALTER Fitz Alan, son of #5, "Dapifer Regis Scotiae" ob. 1177,
Founder of Paisley
Abbey

FIFTH GENERATION
9. ALAN Fitz Jordan, son of #6, Dapifer Dolensis, Founder of Tronquet
1155-1161,
living 1167* [* Among the obits at Dol we find that of another
daughter of Alan fitz
Jordan: "Kal. Sept. obiit Aelicia uxor G[uillelmi] Espine filia
Alani Jordanis quae
dedit episcopo et capitulo Dol ... pratum senescalli,", etc.
(Gaigneres' Transcript of
Cartulary, MS. lat. 5211 C). A charter of her husband William
Spina, son of Hamo,
confirms the donations made to Vieuville "de feodo Aeliz uxoris mee
filie Alani
Dolensis senescalli ... concedente Alano filio nostro" (MS. lat.
5476, fo. 85). His
father Hamo Spina occurs immediately after "Alan filius Jordanis
dapifer" in the above
letter of 1167 (_Ib._ fo. 98d). As we read of "Gaufridus Spina
Doli senescallus"
(_Ib._ fo. 91d) it would seem that the Dol office was inherited by
the Spina family,
and the English estates by the other daughter.]
10. JORDAN Fitz Jordan, son of #6
11. ALAN Fitz Alan, son of #7, ob. infans
12. WILLIAM Fitz Alan, son of #7, _a quo _Fitz Alan, Earl of Arundel
13. ALAN The Steward, son of #8, "Senescallus Regis Scotiae"

A chronological difficulty is created by Mr. Eyton's statement that Alan
fitz Flaald was "dead ante 1114", for his son (it will be seen) the
Steward of Scotland lived till 1177. It is desirable, therefore, to
examine his authority for this date. Dugdale was acquainted with a
confirmation by Sybil, lady of Wolston (Warwickshire), of a gift by her
mother Adeliza to Burton Abbey of land in Wolston. In his _History of
Warwickshire_ (p. 33) he held that she was probably a daughter of Alan
fitz Flaald, because Alan was "enfeoft of this Lordship" before her.
Mr. Eyton accepted Dugdale's conclusion, and therefore identified her
mother 'Adeliza' as that 'Avelina' de Hesdin, whom he had so skilfully
shown to be the wife of Alan. Further, as the land _ex hypethesi_
belonged to Alan himself, and yet was given by her, she must, he held,
have been a widow at the time of the gift; and as the abbey was already
in possession at least as early as 1114, Alan, he concluded, must have
been dead before that date.* [*_History of Shropshire_, VII, 221-223,
228]. These conclusions created difficulties, but, on Mr. Eyton's great
authority, they have been duly accepted.* [*_Burton Cartulary_, Ed.
Wrottesley (Salt Arch. Collections, 1884), pp. 32, 33.] Yet the whole
edifice rests on Dugdale's careless reading of a document in the Burton
Cartulary.* [*_Ibid_. p. 33 _bis_]. That document does not connect Alan
fitz Flaald with Wolston.

The facts are these. In Domesday the three Warwickshire manors of
Church Lawford, Wolston, and Stretton-on-Dunsmore are entered together
(fo. 239) as held of Earl Roger (of Shrewsbury) by that 'Rainaldus',
whom the historian of Shropshire so brilliantly identifies with Renaud
de Bailleul* [*_History of Shropshire_, VII. 206 et seq.]. We find him,
accordingly as "Rainaldus de Bailoul,"* [* See my Calendar, p. 202]
confirming in No. 578 the gifts at Wolston and Church Lawford of his own
under-tenant, a certain Hubert Baldran. Another of the charters in my
Calendar (No. 579) proves that this Hubert (not Alan fitz Flaald), was
the father of Sybil, lady of 'Wlfrichestone' (Wolston), from whom we
started. Thus Adeliza, mother of Sybil, and wife of Hubert Baldran, was
quite distinct from "Avelina" wife of Alan fitz Flaald, with whom Mr.
Eyton rashly identified her.* [*She has been even further promoted in
the British Museum Catalogue of Stowe MSS., where, in the abstract of
the original deed (Stowe charter 103), she is strangely identified with
queen Adeliza, widow of Henry I.] Alan may have lived, and probably
did, beyond 1114; and his gift at Stretton to Burton Abbey was made
after he was placed in the shoes (as Mr. Eyton has shown) of Renaud de
Bailleul.

We have thus seen how a single charter may prove of great importance,
not only in establishing the true facts, but in demolishing erroneous
conclusions with the corollaries based thereon.

Within the last few weeks there has unexpectedly been revived that view
of the origin of the Stewarts which had long, one thought, been
abandoned. As the whole story is most curious, and has, moreover, an
important moral, I propose to discuss it in some detail. The pedigree
of the Stuarts "of Hartley Mauduit," who hold a baronetcy dating from
1660, began in _Burke's Peerage_, so recently as last year, with Sir
Nicholas Stuart the first baronet, "son of Simeon Stuart, Esq." But
now, in this year of grace 1900, --

"A more thorough revision than usual has been possible ... To the
laborious researches and experienced counsel of my brother, Mr. H.
Farnham Burke, Somerset Herald, the genealogical and heraldic value of
this work is much indebted and is gratefully acknowledged _(sic)_."

The "laborious researches" of Somerset Herald have indeed developed the
Stuart pedigree, thanks to those "invaluable documents the Heralds'
Visitations, documents of high authority and value."* [* Preface to
Burke's _Landed Gentry_, Ed. 1898.]

"The illustrious ancestry of this family is given fully in the
Visitations of Cambridge _(sic)_, 1575 and 1619, in which is traced
their descent from the Royal Stuarts.
"ANDREW STUART, younger son of Alexander Stuart, 2nd son of Walter
Stuart, seneschal of Scotland, great-grandson of Walter, 1st high
steward of Scotland, grandson of Banquo Lord of Lochaber. He m. the
daughter of James Bethe, and had an only son.
"ALEXANDER STUART, to whom Charles VI of France granted an honourable
augmentation of his arms."

And so the pedigree proceeds through another eight generations down to
the first baronet.

Dear old 'Banquo,' "whom we miss"!* [*_Macbeth_] What a pleasure it is
to welcome him back among us once more, and to know that he, and not
Flaald, was the founder of the house of Stuart on the unimpeachable
authority of the Heralds and their 'Visitations'! It is true that,
according to the "Royal Lineage"* [*_Burke's Peerage_, 1900, pp.
cliii-cliv] contained in the same volume, it was not descended from
Banquo at all, and that the "above Alexander Stuart, 2nd son of Walter
Stuart", had no existence; but these are details with the editor,
doubtless, will see to in his next edition. It is also true that the
new pedigree would at once make Sir Simeon Stuart heir-male of "the
Royal Stuarts", an honour foolishly claimed by sundry Scottish
families.* [*see p. 89 above.] Let us hope that Somerset Herald will
inform Lyon King of Arms that his "laborious researches" have decided
this long-contested question.

But, seriously speaking, what is the origin of the new descent, which,
this year, makes its appearance in _Burke's Peerage_? Well, the story
is, or ought to be, familiar to all genealogists. For, owing to Oliver
Cromwell's mother having been a member of this family, his Stuart
descent was alluded to by Carlyle, which has given genealogists the
opportunity of making merry at his expense. The alleged descent was,
for several years, discussed in the recognised organ of genealogical
research;* [*_The Genealogist_ (N.S.) vols. I (1884), II, III, VIII, X
(1893)] but of this discussion Somerset Herald is, no doubt, ignorant.
So far back, indeed, as 1878 the very interesting heraldic glass of
which I am enabled to give an illustration was exhibited to the
Archaeological Institute, and that well-known Scottish authority, Mr.
Joseph Bain,* [*Editor of the 'Calendar of documents relating to
Scotland,' the 'Hamilton Papers,' the 'Calendar of letters and papers
referring to the Borders,' etc. etc.] discussed the whole story thereon
before it. He then observed of the alleged grant by "Charles VI of
France," to which Somerset Herald appeals:

"In M. Michel's _Les Ecossais en France_, published in 1862, he gives a
drawing of this very design, and the text of the asserted grant by
Charles VI of France in the fifth year of his reign, conferring the
strange coat of arms on Sir Alexander Stuart on account of the merits of
his father Andrew ... M. Michel says that 'it is enough to cast the eye
on these pretended letters of concession, to recognise the patois of an
Englishman little familiar with the language spoken at Paris at the end
of the fourteenth century, and to doubt the fact asserted by the writer'
-- an opinion which will be shared by anyone moderately versed in Old
French."* [*_Archaeological Journal, XXXV, 302-3, 399].

The alleged grant only exists in the form of a transcript in a private
MS. of the 16th century;* [*Add. MS 15,644] but we shall see below that
not only deeds, but even sealed deeds, were among the fabrications of
those who concocted false pedigrees.* [*See the paper on "Our English
Hapsburgs".]

============================

The next part, Round-3, continues briefly into the family of Oliver
Cromwell's mother. However, it is only in passing, and the reference to
the periodical _The Genealogist_, New Series, and the article in Volume
X, should be followed up for anyone who wants the whole story. Most of
what Mr Round has to say is about heraldry and its abuse.

Mary
Kifissia, Greece

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