A previously unnoticed granddaughter of King Harold II
For some years, researchers had noted a peculiar epitaph for one William D'Eyncourt, preserved in Lincoln cathedral records, attesting that the aforesaid William was regia styrpe progenitus (of royal stock) and was raised in the court of King William II Rufus.
The epitaph goes on to name William's father, Walter D'Eyncourt, lord of Blankney, and his kinsman, the bishop Remigius. Charter evidence also shows that William had two younger brothers, Ralph and Walter, and that his mother was named Matilda.
Matilda it seems was an heiress of some manors and lands in Cambs., Suffolk, and Norfolk all formerly belonged to Alain Rufus of Brittany, a companion of William the Conqueror. So here's where it gets interesting.
Alain Rufus and his brother, Alain Noir (their father was evidently not a man possessed of great imagination) were members of the tippy-top of Breton society. Their nephew Alain of Richmond married the heiress to Brittany and *his* granddaughter was Constance who married Geoffrey, son of Henry II. The Alains also were cousins of Alain IV of Brittany who was married to the Conqueror's daughter Constance and who's illegitimate son Brien FitzCount was a prominent supporter of the Empress Maude.
Alain Rufus was involved in quite the scandal, when he attacked the abbey of Wilton and abducted Gunhilda, the daughter of King Harold Godwinsson by his lover, Edith Swan's Neck. Shortly after her father was killed in 1066, Gunhilda's brothers and sister Gytha fled the country. Gunhilda was perhaps too young to leave her mother, and stayed behind. She was sent to Wilton and was seemingly educated there (archbishop Anselm mentions in one of his letters that she wrote to him herself). A few years later, Alain Rufus liberated her from Wilton and Gunhilda never went back.
In 1093, Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, wrote to Gunhilda shortly after the death of Alain Rufus, pleading with her to return to her nunnery. He wrote, "You were the daughter of the king and queen [here Anselm was presumably being polite when he refers to her mother as Harold's queen]. Where are they? They are worms and dust. Their exalted rank, their pleasures, their riches, neither preserved them nor went with them. You loved Count Alain Rufus and he loved you. Where is he now? Where has your beloved gone? ... He does not care now for your love in which he delighted while he lived..." Anselm then goes on to scold her for taking up with her dead lover's brother, Alain Noir: "...if you are joined with him, God may condemn him with you by eternal death."
As discussed by Richard Sharpe, author of "King Harold's Daughter" (Haskins Society Journal 19, 2008), the simplest explanation for all this is that Matilda, wife of Walter Deincourt, was a daughter of Alain Rufus and Gunhilda. As her mother was believed to a nun and her parent's relationship was highly irregular, Matilda was likely not considered legitimate. However, her father or her uncle may have made arrangements for her to inherit some of his property. If we assume a date of about 1070 for the start of Gunhilda and Alain Rufus' liaison, Matilda could very well have been old enough to be married by the mid-1090s and the mother of a young son who's rank and parentage entitled him to be brought up in the court of William II in the late 1090s. Her younger son, Ralph, inherited his father's barony and produced a line of D'Eyncourts.
The epitaph goes on to name William's father, Walter D'Eyncourt, lord of Blankney, and his kinsman, the bishop Remigius. Charter evidence also shows that William had two younger brothers, Ralph and Walter, and that his mother was named Matilda.
Matilda it seems was an heiress of some manors and lands in Cambs., Suffolk, and Norfolk all formerly belonged to Alain Rufus of Brittany, a companion of William the Conqueror. So here's where it gets interesting.
Alain Rufus and his brother, Alain Noir (their father was evidently not a man possessed of great imagination) were members of the tippy-top of Breton society. Their nephew Alain of Richmond married the heiress to Brittany and *his* granddaughter was Constance who married Geoffrey, son of Henry II. The Alains also were cousins of Alain IV of Brittany who was married to the Conqueror's daughter Constance and who's illegitimate son Brien FitzCount was a prominent supporter of the Empress Maude.
Alain Rufus was involved in quite the scandal, when he attacked the abbey of Wilton and abducted Gunhilda, the daughter of King Harold Godwinsson by his lover, Edith Swan's Neck. Shortly after her father was killed in 1066, Gunhilda's brothers and sister Gytha fled the country. Gunhilda was perhaps too young to leave her mother, and stayed behind. She was sent to Wilton and was seemingly educated there (archbishop Anselm mentions in one of his letters that she wrote to him herself). A few years later, Alain Rufus liberated her from Wilton and Gunhilda never went back.
In 1093, Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, wrote to Gunhilda shortly after the death of Alain Rufus, pleading with her to return to her nunnery. He wrote, "You were the daughter of the king and queen [here Anselm was presumably being polite when he refers to her mother as Harold's queen]. Where are they? They are worms and dust. Their exalted rank, their pleasures, their riches, neither preserved them nor went with them. You loved Count Alain Rufus and he loved you. Where is he now? Where has your beloved gone? ... He does not care now for your love in which he delighted while he lived..." Anselm then goes on to scold her for taking up with her dead lover's brother, Alain Noir: "...if you are joined with him, God may condemn him with you by eternal death."
As discussed by Richard Sharpe, author of "King Harold's Daughter" (Haskins Society Journal 19, 2008), the simplest explanation for all this is that Matilda, wife of Walter Deincourt, was a daughter of Alain Rufus and Gunhilda. As her mother was believed to a nun and her parent's relationship was highly irregular, Matilda was likely not considered legitimate. However, her father or her uncle may have made arrangements for her to inherit some of his property. If we assume a date of about 1070 for the start of Gunhilda and Alain Rufus' liaison, Matilda could very well have been old enough to be married by the mid-1090s and the mother of a young son who's rank and parentage entitled him to be brought up in the court of William II in the late 1090s. Her younger son, Ralph, inherited his father's barony and produced a line of D'Eyncourts.