Emma
d'Avranches
formerly Conteville aka de Conteville
Born about in Conteville, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France
Ancestors 
Daughter of Herluin (Conteville) de Conteville
[uncertain]
and Herlève (Falaise) de Mortain
[uncertain]
Sister of
Guillaume (Normandie) de Normandie [half], Eudes (Bayeux) of Bayeux, Robert (Conteville) of Mortain, Adelais (Normandie) de Lens [half], Unknown (Conteville) de Conteville [half], Rohesia Conteville [half] and Raoul (Conteville) FitzHerluin [half]
Wife of
Richard (Avranches) d'Avranches
— married
1044 [location unknown]
Descendants 
Mother of
Judith (Avranches) de l'Aigle, Turstin d' Avranches, Margaret (Avranches) le Meschin, Albreda (Avranches) de Moels, Guimond (De Abrincis) Avranches, Guillaume (De La Ferté Macé) Ferté-Macé, Helisende (Avranches) Eu and Isabelle (Avranches) Corbeil
Died
at about age 74
in Avranches, Manche, Basse-Normandie
Profile last modified
| Created 8 Apr 2011
This page has been accessed 21,019 times.
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Contents |
Biography
Enter known and documented facts about Emma de Conteville here
Research Notes
Did she marry Richard le Goz?
Cockayne states that Hugh d'Avranches was the son of Richard le Goz, Vicomte d'Avranches, and that his mother was Emma de Conteville. [1]
Was Emma a daughter of Herluin de Conteville?
Cawley observes that a manuscript relating to St Werburgh’s Chester records that “Hugo Lupus filius ducis Britanniæ et nepos Gulielmi magni ex sorore” transformed the foundation into a monastery and states that this suggests that the mother of Hugues may have been a uterine sister of King William, and therefore daughter of Herluin de Conteville. However, no indication has been in other primary sources which supports the contention that Hugues was the son of a duke of Brittany. It is assumed therefore that both lines of his parentage have been romanticised in this document to improve his status and reputation. [2]
Reflecting this more recent thinking, C. P. Lewis, writing in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, refers to Hugh's mother as "an unknown mother formerly identified on the basis of unsatisfactory evidence as Emma, supposedly a half-sister of William the Conqueror. [3]
Keats-Rohan thinks there is other evidence which makes it very likely that the wife of Richard and mother of Hugh was a half sister of William the Conqueror. She mentions that the source we have for her name Emma is Dugdale, who is also the source for her parents being Herleve and Herluin. It is because Dugdale is not a medieval source that her name, and her parents, are considered uncertain.[4]
Based on this, the link to Emma Conteville as the mother of Hugh d'Avranches has been disconnected.
She is not listed by Cawley (2006) or Wikipedia as a daughter of these parents.
Sources
- ↑ G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume III, pages 164-165. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage. Cited by Darryl Lundy. The Peerage: Hugh Avaranches of Chester Last edited 15 January 2017. Accessed November 14, 2017. jhd
- ↑ Charles Cawley. Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Medieval Lands Database. Earls of Chester Accessed November 13, 2017 jhd
- ↑ C. P. Lewis.Avranches, Hugh d', first earl of Chester (d. 1101) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Article available on subscription basis only. Article credits C. P. Lewis, ‘The formation of the honor of Chester, 1066–1100’, Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society, 71 (1991), 37–68 [G. Barraclough issue, The earldom of Chester and its charters, ed. A. T. Thacker] · C. P. Lewis, ‘Gruffudd ap Cynan and the Normans’, Gruffudd ap Cynan: a collaborative biography, ed. K. L. Maund (1996), 61–77 · Ordericus Vitalis, Eccl. hist. · A. Farley, ed., Domesday Book, 2 vols. (1783) · D. Bates, William the Conqueror (1989) · F. Barlow, William Rufus (1983) · L. Musset, ‘Les origines et le patrimoine de l'abbaye de Saint-Sever’, La Normandie bénédictine au temps de Guillaume le conquérant, ed. J. Daoust (1969), 357–67 · C. P. Lewis, ‘The early earls of Norman England’, Anglo-Norman Studies, 13 (1990), 207–23 · G. Barraclough, ed., The charters of the Anglo-Norman earls of Chester, c.1071–1237, Lancashire and Cheshire RS, 126 (1988), 23 [no. 13]. Cited by Gordon Banks. [http://www.gordonbanks.com/gordon/family/2nd_Site/geb-p/p301.htm Gordon Banks Family Site. Accessed October 4, 2018 jhd
- ↑ Keats-Rohan, Domesday People, p. 258
See also:
- Harleian Society. The Visitation of Cheshire in the Year 1580, The Publicatons of The Harleian Society (London: The Society, 1882) Vol. 18, Page 4: "The Genealogy of the Earles of Chester. [Harl. 1424, fo. 3. Harl. 1505, fo. 2.]"
- Yeatman, John Pym. The Early Genealogical History of the House of Arundel (Mitchell and Hughes, London, 1882) Page 38: "Ermenhilde (Emma), sister of William the Conqueror"
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C > Conteville | D > d'Avranches > Emma (Conteville) d'Avranches
Without further evidence that there was in fact a woman named Emma who did any of the things attributed to her, should we add "Uncertain Existence" to her credits?
More generally I can't follow the logic of disconnecting her from her son, but not her husband. I think the comment I just added from Keats-Rohan also put a different spin on it: it seems to be mainly her name and other details which are doubted. There is no competing theory or disproof. Don't we then keep the attachment but mark things as uncertain?
edited by Andrew Lancaster
However Peter Stewart in a discussion on gen.medieval, points out that if Hugh was the son of Emma de Conteville (or another half-sister of William the Conqueror) then the marriage of Hugh's son Richard, and Matilda, the daughter of Stephen, Count of Blois and Adela, William the Conqueror's youngest daughter, would be a marriage of second cousins, so well within prohibited consanguinity, but there were no objections to that marriage taking place. He also cites a David Douglas publication from 1944 which states the same thing https://groups.google.com/g/soc.genealogy.medieval/c/wgrfjBvtAnw/m/bO_Iss4TKz4J
Also the Addenda volume of The Complete Peerage, vo. 14, p. 170 removes all reference to Emma being the daughter of Herluin de Conteville, and Herleve.
I think these sources represent good grounds for removing Herluin and Herleve as Emma's parents.
Ancestry is a poor source for pre-1500 profiles anyway.
Birthdate 30 Apr 1029
Cokayne, 1st edn, p. 222 calls her Emma and gives her parentage. He may have taken this from Planche, Vol. 2, p. 19. Planche doesn't say where he got it from.