Zoe’s Comments (group member since Jul 07, 2013)

Zoe’s comments from the Ask Carol McGrath group.

The family connections between the main actors of this period were extraordinarily close.

Not only were Harthacnut and King Edward the Confessor first cousins of Duke Robert II of Normandy (the Conqueror's father) and of Duke Alan III of Brittany and of Count Eozen, Alan Rufus's father, but the connections extend much further.

The clique of double-second-cousins of Alan and his siblings included William the Conqueror and his sister Adelaide, Judith of Flanders who married Tostig Godwinson, Duke William I of Burgundy, Guy of Brionne and Burgundy (who contested the Duchy of Normandy), and Alberada of Buonalbergo who was Robert Guiscard’s first wife.

Since the words in Alan's epitaph were carefully chosen for their breadth and depth of meanings, the term "preceptor" merits scrutiny.

According to Wikipedia, its primary meaning is "a teacher responsible to uphold a certain law or tradition, a precept".

During the 11th century and the later middle ages, a preceptor was a regional commander of an order of monastic knights, such as the Knights Hospitaller (also known as the Knights of Saint John), founded in 1023 and still active; and the Knights Templar, officially endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church around 1129 and lavishly funded by the Breton sovereign house.

Perhaps, then, Alan had taken religious vows - like his brothers Robert of York and Richard of Bayeux - but in a military context.

In faint support of this, at least one of Alan's men, "Hervey of Spain", along with several other of Duke William's soldiers, had served in the Reconquista in Spain.

But wait, there's more. "Musically, the title preceptor usually refers to a monk responsible for making music in a monastery. He trained the monks in the traditions of plainchant for daily services and prayers."

At the universities of Harvard, Cambridge, and Oxford, all of which hail back to religious foundations in Alan's time, "preceptors" are faculty members teaching courses in expository writing, music, mathematics, languages, and the life sciences.

The Bretons were well-known for their literary and musical talents, and for their early interest in the natural sciences.

It may be that Alan's family and friends had all of these meanings in mind when they chose to remember him as "preceptor".

Here's why Count Alan Rufus's epitaph describes him as of royal lineage: according to an 11th century collection of Angevin genealogies, he is in direct male line descent from King Alan I of Brittany, as follows: Alan I, Pascweten, Judicael Berenger (aka Juhel Beranger), Conan I, Geoffrey I, Eozen I, Alan Rufus.

Alan I was a younger son of Count Ridoredh of Vannes. Thus this line descends from the old Welsh Kingdom of Gwynedd, where the Cantiorix Inscription (a stone grave marker) of the late 400s is the oldest known document to name the kingdom; it describes Cantiorix's cousin Maglos as a Magistrate.

Count Alan's epitaph described him as "Preceptor", administrator and teacher of the law; perhaps legal practice was a family tradition?

Keats-Rohan suggests that it was in 1069 that Alan's brother Brian retired for Brittany. This may have been after the Battle of Stafford.

Following Brian's victory over Harold's sons and the Irish in southwest England, word came that the Welsh had combined with Eadric the Wild and a host of English rebels. In response, William marched the royal army west and Brian hastened north to join him.

Eadric retreated, but the Welsh and the other rebels fought very stoutly, and many were killed or wounded on both sides.

So it's very plausible that it was at the Battle of Stafford that Brian received his debilitating battle injuries.

Had Harold cultivated the Welsh and been supported by Welsh archers at Hastings, perhaps the result would have been quite different?

Puzzling over Edith Swannesha's (aka Edeva the Fair's) ancestry, I observed that several personages were described as related to Edward the Confessor, though I have not discovered how.

Harold Godwinson evidently had an eye for the strategic marriage: in 1066, Ealdgyth of Mercia, sister of Edwin and Morcar, certainly fit the bill.

During the reign of Edward the Confessor, who better to marry than a relative of the King? Once Edward was dead, such a wife was expendable. Harold's policy of purging of Norman and Breton influence would have required discarding a wife with such connections.

After the Conquest, however, the surviving family of King Edward would have been valuable to such as Alan. Edward's mother Emma of Normandy was Eozen's maternal aunt, making Eozen Edward's first cousin and Alan a first cousin once removed of the Confessor's.

In this scenario, that would make Alan a relative (perhaps a second cousin?) of Edeva's.

There are so many possibilities for why Alan took Gunhild under his wing!

As mentioned elsewhere, Trevor Foulds is cited by Richard Sharpe as suggesting that Matilda d'Aincourt was Princess Matilda, daughter of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders. This Matilda is identified in several contemporary documents, but was overlooked by Orderic Vitalis.

Alan was a favourite of Queen Matilda's (as of other high-born ladies). According to the Register of the Honour of Richmond, it was the Queen who advised the King to hand over Edwin's and Morcar's Yorkshire lands to Alan.

So, in Foulds's scenario, the royal princess Matilda who married Walter d'Aincourt was a natural recipient of Alan's largesse: he owed it to her mother. The connection was strengthened by the fact that Walter was a close associate of Alan's in commerce and in the royal court. Perhaps Walter met his wife because of their common friendship with Alan?

The "Original folios" (e.g. http://www.domesdaymap.co.uk/book/ham...) of the Counties in the Domesday Books make interesting reading (even when one's Latin is largely limited to words familiar in modern English).

The landowners are listed, as expected, starting with King William, then proceeding through Archbishops, Bishops and such, then the leading Counts and other high-ranking officials, with Canons listed either below the Bishops or among the Counts.

Count Alan is often listed among the first three Counts, with (Robert) the Count of Mortain and "Count Roger".

In the main text for Hertfordshire, the first par refers to King Edward the Confessor, then the brief second par names Count Alan.

This hints at a pun on "Alan Rufus" ("Red Deer"), for the "Hert" in Hertford means a Red Deer stag more than five years old.

In Hampshire, where Alan had only a few properties (all near the coast), his name is listed first among the lay tenants-in-chief, while Archbishop Thomas of York is listed fourth in the entire list (third among the clerics); the Bishop of Winton is listed second (just after King William) and the Monks of Winton are listed third.

Carol wrote: "Oh I think that is arguable. There will be all sorts of claims there, Zoe. After all the world is round..."

Although the Earth is round, each location is unique. Part of Brittany's uniqueness is that 7/8 of the Earth's continental landmass is in the hemisphere centred on South-East Brittany, so there are more options for landfall within 20000 km from there than if one were to start anywhere else.

Now, if I were an oceanic creature, the centre of my Water Hemisphere would be near the Chatham Islands in the Pacific.

Other definitions of centrality exist, of course: e.g. the furthest point from an ocean is called the continental pole of inaccessibility, and that is in far north-west China, near the border with Kazakhstan. That used to be Tocharian territory, so that location also has a link with the Alans. (Smile.) But then, they travelled far and wide.

Brittany is the centre of the world. To be precise, the centre of the Land Hemisphere is in Brittany, near its South-East coast: somewhere around St Nazaire or Nantes.

Speaking of Bretons, Keats-Rohan's (2012) article, Domesday People Revisited, states that the sire of the illustrious Montmorency family had given name Hervey - so they're Breton too!

Zoe wrote: "According to Wilmart's reading, the painting in the Register of the Honour of Richmond of William conceding The Land of Count Alan, states that this occurred in relation to the Siege of York (in 1069)..."

York (according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History... from the Norse Jórvík meaning "horse bay") had been the Roman legionary fortress Eboracum - according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eboracum, probably after the Common Brythonic word Eborakon, meaning "place of the yew trees".

The same article cites evidence that the surname "Ivry" (of a family related by marriage to Alan's) derives from "Eborakon".

The content of Alan's speech before King William II at St-Calais' trial shows that Collins' comment that Alan (he thought Fergant) was so courageous that he had no fear of William the Conqueror, fits Alan Rufus to a tee.

So I'd still really like to know what Alan did during the Harrying which was conducted from (late?) Dec 1069 to Jan 1070.

To reiterate, did he participate in the awful destruction and killings of civilians, to his shame? (But if so, what is the evidence? And is this consistent with his character, as documented in 1088 when he was always urging leniency?)

Or, as I prefer to imagine, was he busy elsewhere (where? doing what?), learnt what was happening, then stepped in to stop it? Is this why Gunnhild loved him?

According to Wilmart's reading, the painting in the Register of the Honour of Richmond of William conceding The Land of Count Alan, states that this occurred in relation to the Siege of York (in 1069 [or perhaps 1068?]). Judging by the picture, it was in the Castle just after its recapture from the Danes. The writing on the painting also states that this was when Earl Edwin's lands in "Eborakshire" (Yorkshire) were given to Alan. So, it was before the Harrying, not as a consequence of it or of Edwin's later rebellion.

It's a fair guess, then, that in 1069 [or 1068?] Alan defeated Edwin, and also participated in recapturing York.

The sheer number of knights depicted as occupying the background and wearing Alan's colours suggests that, at least in the mind of the painter, he provided the bulk of the forces for the battles.

In answer to the question of why two brothers were both named Alan, in Domesday People Revisited (http://www.academia.edu/2039901/Domes... [sic]) Keats-Rohan says, on page 16, in clearing up an historian's confusion between two sisters, both named Matilda Chesneduit:

"The doubling of a name within a family was common into the early modern period, even if both survived infancy".

Newbury, Berkshire (5 miles north of Highclere Castle) is 4 miles south of Chieveley, Berkshire, where my second cousin Peter Kitchen's matrilineal ancestor Betty Piper lived in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

Before she married Moses Piper (a shepherd/labourer of Chieveley), Betty was Elizabeth Bennet. Living a short ride across the county boundary from Jane Austen, was she the (undisguised) model for the main character in Pride and Prejudice?

Peter told me that Betty was a widow before she married Moses. We don't know her first husband's name, but perhaps I may fancy he was a Darcy Williams?

Curiously, we do have Williams's in another branch of the family, and a Darcy Tweed. [Edit of 13 Nov 2014: Darcy was a decorated hero due to his clever actions at Mont Saint-Quentin in the Second Battle of the Somme in WW1, capturing two machine guns and numerous German troops, thus saving many allied lives.]

The similarity of placenames (Cheveley, Cambridgeshire compared to Chieveley, Berkshire) is also very curious.

Well, coincidences are everywhere.

Goodness, Alan seems to have been continually travelling all over England, Brittany, Anjou, Maine and Normandy. Such a busy gentleman!

Since he conducted so much business in Wiltshire, his association with Gunnhild is unsurprising.

I wonder if his brother Brian had been making tours and donations (as Earl of Cornwall, etc) in Wilton and Downton before his incapacity, then Alan acted in his stead? It would be the Breton thing to do.

According to http://seattletimes.com/html/travel/2... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highcle..., the TV series "Downton Abbey" is filmed at Highclere Castle in Hampshire, the home of the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon, about 5 miles south of Newbury, Berkshire.

There is a real Downton, in Wiltshire, and Alan made donations to the religious community there.

Again from Wikipedia:

"Manor House in Downton is probably the longest-inhabited house in the South of England, used as a religious house from its construction around 850 until the Reformation.

King John is said to have had a palace in Downton on one of the islands by the Moot. When the palace was taken down, it was believed the stone was used in the construction called New Court House."

From Wikipedia: "St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough":

"Saint Michael's Abbey is a Benedictine abbey in Farnborough, Hampshire, England. The small community is known for the quality of its liturgy, which is sung in Latin and Gregorian Chant, its pipe organ, and its liturgical publishing and printing. It is also the national shrine of St Joseph.

The Abbey was founded in 1881 by the Empress Eugénie (1826–1920) as a mausoleum for her late husband Napoleon III (1808–1873), and their son the Prince Imperial (1856–1879), both of whom rest in the Imperial Crypt, along with Eugénie herself, all in granite sarcophagi provided by Queen Victoria."

Quoting the Wikipedia article on Wilmart:

"Dom Andre Wilmart, O.S.B. [Order of Saint Benedict: he was a monk] (1876 - Paris, April 21, 1941) was the Benedictine medieval scholar and liturgist of St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough.

He was a Corresponding Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America from 1928.

He is responsible for the name and the works of John of Fécamp being recovered.

His bibliography includes more than 375 books and articles."

Alan escorted St-Calais from Durham to Salisbury for the trial, which was delayed by a couple of months. After the trial, St-Calais was placed under arrest in Wilton Abbey. When released, Alan escorted him to the port (which port? [Edit of 13 Nov 2014: it was Southampton]) whence St-Calais was sent to Normandy for exile. St-Calais became an important adviser to Robert Curthose for a few years, but in 1091 regained favour with William II and returned to England to resume his post as Bishop of Durham.

A couple of years after that, Alan passed away. Wilmart doesn't give a cause or a place, but wrote that it seems that Alan died "unexpectedly and in remarkable circumstances". A lot of latitude there for authorial imagination!

Wilmart gets the year of Alan's death wrong: 1089 instead of 1093, though he does puzzle over "Count Alan", without adding a "Niger", signing documents on and after 1091.