Friday, August 15, 2014

11c.1.b King Henry II his mistress Ida de Toesny- parents of William Longspee

King Henry II followed in this father's footsteps and had several mistresses, including our great grrandmother Ida de Teosny.






Tracing the background of her parents who were noblemen in the country, and who were supporters and part of the force of King William at the Conquest.  All were of French origin.

The de Beaumont's

Of interest is Roger de Beaumont, Margaret's father.  He  again became our great grandfather twice!

Sir Robert de Beaumont [f], Earl of Leicester, Justiciar of England, Knight, b 1104, Beaumont, Leicestershire, England, d 5 Apr 1168. He md Amice de Montfort aft Nov 1120, daughter of Ralph de Gael de Montford.
Children of Robert de Beaumont and Amice de Montfort were:


  • Sir Robert de BeaumontEarl of Leicester, b 1121. m Petronilla Pernel De Grandmesnil  and they had a daughter  Margaret de Beaumont who is our 22 great grandmother.
  • Isabel de Beaumont b abt 1123, Leicestershire, England, d aft May 1188. She md Sir Simon de St. LizEarl of Northampton, abt 1137, son of Simon de St. LizEarl of Huntingdon and Northampton, and Maud of Huntingdon.
  • Margaret de Beaumont b 1125, Leicestershire, England, d aft 1185. She md Sir Ralph V de ToeniLord of Flamstead, aft 1155, son of Sir Roger III de ToeniLord of Flamstead, and Ida of Hainault.  They had a daughter Countess Ia de Toesni  who is our 23 great grandmother
  • Hawise de Beaumont b abt 1128, Leicestershire, England, d 24 Apr 1197. She md Sir William Fitz RobertEarl of Gloucester, abt 1150, son of Sir Robert de CaenEarl of Gloucester, and Maud Fitz Hamon.

By now you will realise just how complex our lineage is!!!

Sir Robert's father was another Sir Robert

Sir Robert de Beaumont [e], Earl of Leicester, Count of Meulan, b abt 1049, Pontaudemer, Normandy, France, d 5 Jun 1118, Leicestershire, England. He md Isabel de Vermandois 1096, daughter of Hugh MagnusDuke of France and Burgundy, Marquis of Orleans, Count of Amiens, Chaumont, Paris, Valois, and Vermandois, and Adelaide de Vermandois.


Elizabeth of Vermandois, or Elisabeth or Isabel de Vermandois (c. 1085 – c. 1148), was the third daughter of Hugh Magnus and Adelaide of Vermandois, and as such represented both the Capetian line of her paternal grandfather Henry I of France, and the Carolingian ancestry of her maternal grandfather Herbert IV of Vermandois. As the wife of two Anglo-Norman magnates, Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester and William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey, she is the ancestress of hundreds of well-known families down to the present time




Children of Robert de Beaumont and Isabel de Vermandois were:

  • Adeline de Beaumont b abt 1099, of Leicestershire, England. She md Hugh de Montfortaka Hugh de Gant, abt 1112, son of Sir Gilbert de Gant and Alice de Montfort.
  • Sir Robert de BeaumontEarl of Leicester, Justiciar of England, b 1104.      Our lineage
  • Sir Waleran de BeaumontEarl of Worcester, b 1104. 
  • Isabel de Beaumont b abt 1112, Leicestershire, England, d aft 1172. She md Gilbert Fitz Gilbert de Clare bef 1130, Tonbridge, Kent, England, son of Sir Gilbert Fitz RichardEarl of Clare, and Adelize/Alice de Clermont.
  • Maud de Beaumont b abt 1115, Leicestershire, England, d aft 1189; md William de Lovel.


And the de Vermandois family were members of the Royal Family of France

Ida de Toesny was the daughter of  Sir Ralph de Toeni from Flamstead and his wife Margaret de Beaumont.
The de Toesni (Toesny) Family

Raoul II of Tosny participated in the Norman Conquest in 1066, and was rewarded with domains in England, most notably the two baronies of Flamstead (Hertfordshire) and Wrethamthorpe (Norfolk). Three other family members were also rewarded : Raoul's brother Robert de Stafford, Robert de Beauvoir and his son BĂ©ranger, belonging to a collateral branch.

However, it seems that on the whole the Tosnys did not play an important role in England. In the Duchy of Normandy, they were particularly active during the troubles which followed William I's death (1087) and the subsequent conflict between Empress Mathilda and Stephen (1135–1144). Nevertheless, the 12th century gives the impression of a decline in the Tosny family fortunes in comparison to some of the neighbouring houses in eastern Normandy, such as the houses of Beaumont-Meulan, Montfort and Harcourt.


In 1204 Roger IV of Tosny lost his continental fiefdoms as a result of his support for John and thus the family had to withdraw to England to begin again. In 1309, its male line became extinct.


Like all Norman barons, the Tosnys had fiefdoms scattered throughout Normandy and England. In 1077, a marriage between Raoul II and Isabelle de Montfort allowed the Tosnys to direct the châtellenie of Nogent-le-Roi, which they held onto until around 1200. The family possessions thus stretched as far as the border of the duchy of Normandy.


 Nevertheless, the heart of their continental lands was centred around Conches-en-Ouche. Part of their fiefdoms was let out to a small clientele of vassals.


The family made grants to abbeys, notably to those they had founded themselves (the Saint-Pierre de Castillon monastery c.1035). After 1066, as Lucien Musset remarks, the Tosnys showed themselves especially liberal to their English fiefdoms but avoided diminishing their Norman lands.




Family of Raoul II

Robert de Teoni  who built Stafford Castle, then William ordered he change his name to Robert de Stafford, was his brother.

His second son, Raoul IV de Conches, was his surviving heir. He married Alice of Huntingdon, daughter of Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, and Judith of Lens.               She was King William's niece!


His daughter Godehilde married Baldwin I of Jerusalem and Sir Robert de Beaumont


Baldwin I of Jerusalem, formerly Baldwin I of Edessa, born Baldwin of Boulogne (French: Baudouin de Boulogne), 1058? – 2 April 1118, was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, who became the first Count of Edessa and then the second ruler and first titled King of Jerusalem. He was the brother of Godfrey of Bouillon, who was the first ruler of the crusader state of Jerusalem, although Godfrey refused the title of 'king' which Baldwin accepted.


Family of Raoul IV de Conches, Ralph de Tosny


Ralph de Tosny (born before 1080, died 1126) was a Norman nobleman. He was the second son of another Ralph Tosny and a daughter of William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford. His elder brother, Roger de Tosny, died about 15 May 1091.

Ralph left at least three sons and two daughters. Margaret Isobel Tosny married Walter de Clifford of Clifford Castle, while his baronies were inherited by his second son, Roger de Tosny.


Ralph assumed his father's castles of Conches, Tosny, Portes and Acquigny in Normandy and Clifford with the honour of Flamstead in England soon after his father's death in March 1102. In 1103 he married Alice Waltheof, the daughter of Waltheof II, Earl of Northumbria and Huntington who had an income of £613 per annum. This made him one of the most powerful barons in England and Normandy.

Later life

He was a staunch royalist and on 28 September 1106 he fought for King Henry I at the key Battle of Tinchebray.




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