302 



Erlestokc and its Manor Lords. 



and their name from Mandeville, near Trevieres, in the Bessin 1 

 (Calvados), while M. Delisle, the great French authority, thinks 

 that the two families had nothing in common but the name. 2 The 

 Norman property of the Essex family was certainly situated in 

 the neighbourhood of Mandeville, near Trevieres, and was chiefly 

 confined to the diocese of Bayeux, for the " land of Chambois," 

 near Argentan, was not acquired until the time of the third Earl 

 of Essex, to whom it was given by Philip, Earl of Flanders. 3 The 

 chief seat of the Erlestoke family was at Olonde, near Ourville, in 

 the diocese of Coutances and their property was chiefly confined 

 to that neighbourhood. Here there are several places of the name 

 of Magneville, but none of them can be connected with the family 

 in any special manner. The most important of them is that near 

 Valognes, which M. Delisle shows to have been a part of the 

 possessions of the Bertrans of Briquebec from the eleventh to the 

 fourteenth century. 4 



The Essex family is the first to appear in England in the person 

 of Geoffrey de Mandeville, a follower of the Conqueror, who, as a 

 reward for his services in 1066, received large grants of land in 

 different parts of the country, but chiefly in the eastern counties. 

 Details of his family are preserved in a deed of gift to the Monastery 

 of Hurley, where he mentions Leceline, his wife, and Athelais, his 

 first wife, " the mother of my sons," and at the end of which he in- 

 vokes " all my sons " to maintain the integrity of his charter. 5 The 

 witnesses include his wife and two others of his name, William 

 and Richard, but of " all his sons " William de Mandeville is the 

 only one heard of in history. He was Constable of the Tower of 

 London in 1101 6 and was succeeded in that office by his son 

 Geoffrey, who was created Earl of Essex by King Stephen in 1140. 7 



1 Botuli Scaccarii Normannice, vol. II., p. clxxxviii. 



2 Rotuli Scaccarii Normannice Fragmentum, p. 20. 



3 Ibid, p. 41. 

 4 Ibid, p. 21. 

 6 Madox, Formulare Anglicanum, No. 397. 

 6 Ordericus Vitalis, Bohn, III., 280. 

 1 Bound, Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 38. 



