Reginald (Dunstanville) de Dunstanville (abt. 1054 - abt. 1140)

Born about 1054 in Normandy, France

Descendants

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NOTE: Note that there is another man with the same name, Reginald de Dunstanville, who was an illegitimate son of King Henry I.

Biography

The anchorpoint for this profile is the Reginald or Rainald who was the father of two sons, Robert (d.s.p. 1167) and Alan, who was father of the next in line after the death of his uncle Robert, Walter.

See for example the notes of Chris Phillips on this:^[1]

The reconstruction of the Dunstanville family in the early 12th century is difficult, but the earliest genealogically firm ground comes with two brothers: Robert de Dunstanville, also known as Robert son of Reynold, and Alan de Dunstanville. Robert first appears as a witness to several charters of the Empress Matilda, in and around 1141, and was dead by 1168; Alan appears at more or less the same time, and was dead by 1156.

The sons, and the evidence:

• Robert was Reginald's heir, and apparently appears in a charter of the empress Mathilda in 1141 as "Robert fitz Reginald" (son of Reginald), and if this is the right person that proves the exact relationship.^[2] (But if this is the only record of the relationship then perhaps we should maintain some doubt.) He was dead without issue by 1167. The Pipe Roll of 1168 names Walter as the heir.^[3]
• Alan seems to have pre-deceased Robert, and was dead by 1156, when Walter started paying the taxes. Walter also started paying his uncles taxes about 1168. Wombridge Priory's cartulary names him as Alan's son and heir. A French charter of 1166-1169 names Robert the "avunculus" of two brothers Walter and Alan.^[4] Eyton (p.273) says:

"Alan seems to have held 8 Knights' Fees in the Honour of Arundel, by favour of King Henry I, and before 1135. Though thereby questioning a high authority, I hesitate not to say that he was also Lord of Idsall, which he probably acquired by a similar patronage."

William Farrer thought the father of Reginald was probably Robert de Dunstanville.^[5] Robert gave the church of Burpham to Lewes Priory and this was confirmed by Ralph archbishop of Canterbury in the year 1121, as can be seen in Ancient Charters (Pipe Roll Society, Round ed.), p.12. Farrer:

The record of these gifts was evidently drawn up in the reign of Stephen [reigned 1135-1154], and in this reference to the gift of the church of Burpham, as in other entries, the chronicler has added the name of the then tenant of the fee. Alan de Dunstanvill was at that time the lord of some part of Burpham, and Barpham, wherefore the chronicler records : 'Ecclesiam de Bercham quam dedit nobis Robertus de Dunestanvilla, de feodo Alani nepotis sui, qui postea concessit redditum xx solidorum.'^[6]

Mr. Eyton, the great historian of Shropshire,[...] fell into error in translating the nepos of the before cited record as 'nephew,' where 'grandson' should have been used.^[7]

Nevertheless, Keats-Rohan still thinks the Robert might be Reginald's brother rather than father or son, ^[8]and that does seem possible. Note that nepos can also mean "great nephew", or "great grandson".^[9] This flexibility of the word might give a better way to piece the puzzle together?? See Research notes.

According to Round and Farrer, "Rainald or Reginald de Dunstanvill gave to Lewes the church of Winterburne, Wilts.". This was confirmed in the time of King Stephen, along with the grants of Robert (the one who Keats-Rohan thinks is his brother).^[10]

A critical record for his death is that after Reginald died his widow Adeliza de Insula granted Polton, Wiltshire, to Tewkesbury abbey for the soul of her husband Reginald de Dunstanville.^[11] Eyton thought this had to be before 1124.^[12] The version published in the Regesta regum anglo-normannorum is however dated more accurately to 1114.^[13] This creates a problem when we try to explain some later records...

Farrer does not consider the records about Adeliza as a widow, and says Reginald "is alleged to have been present at the court of John bishop of Bath on 30 June, 1121".^[14]

Indeed many authors also think Reginald was alive in 1130, and registered in the Pipe Rolls of that time. Only Eyton takes the record of Reginald's widow seriously enough to suggest that this record must be the king's illegitimate son.^[12]

Chris Phillips proposes that this problem of Adeliza being a widow by 1114 can be solved if there were two different Reginalds. In other words the husband of Adeliza is not the father of Robert and Alan.^[1]

Keats-Rohan, on the other hand, explicitly argues that there is no evidence to justify two Reginald's and proposed to resolve the problem by ignoring some records:^[8]

His widow outlived him for many years, but the accepted date of 1114 and/or the significance of her grant of Pottern to Tewkesbury abbey for his soul have to be rejected.

Research notes

It is not certain how many men there were with this name in the early 12th century. There were at least two:^[1]

1. Reginald de Dunstanville, who was an illegitimate son of King Henry I. This is NOT the subject of this article. (He probably was related though.)
2. Reynold, the father of Robert and Alan. This IS the subject of this article.
3. Reynold, who married Adeliza de Insula, the heir of the Wiltshire Domesday tenant Humphrey de Insula. This MIGHT BE the subject of this article. Chris Phillips says he was dead by 1114, but Farrer for example, seems to doubt that.^[1]
4. One of these three appears in the 1130/31 Pipe Roll for Wiltshire and Surrey. Gundred, sister of Rainald de Dunstanville, is also mentioned under Wiltshire, both among those whose Danegeld was pardoned. Note that also mentioned in Wiltshire was "Adeliz de Dunestanvilla" who was pledge for "Thierry son of Roger the godson".

Options in the literature:

• 2=4. 3 not discussed. Farrer believe the father of Robert and Alan was still alive for the Pipe Roll in 1130. He does not explain the earlier record of his widow.^[5]
• 2=4, but NOT 3. Phillips explicitly argues that the father of Alan and Robert was not the Rainald who married Adeliza.^[1] This implies there were two Reginalds.
• 2=3, but NOT 4 (1=4). This is Eyton's scheme. Phillips finds it chronologically difficult to believe in this option, although it seems possible.^[12]
• 2=3=4. Sanders and Keats-Rohan say that Reginald the father of Robert and Alan died before 1110.^[15][8] This ignores that Adeliza was a widow before 1124.

Before Reginald there were two brothers, named Walter and Robert.^[5] Farrer writes that "Walter de Dunstanvill and Robert his brother attested a writ of William Rufus, of the period 1094-1098, addressed to the barons and lieges of Shropshire.^[16]

This Robert probably later attested writs of Henry I in 1110, 1111^[17], and 1096/1000.^[18] Apart from his grants of Burpham, mentioned above, Robert (or his younger relative?) also granted the chapel of Greatem, and the church of Barcombe in the Warenne fief.^[19]

Dilemma: (a) Alan the son of Reginald is a "nepos" of Robert, (b) Alan's father Reginald was probably alive in 1121, and 1130, (c) the husband of Adeliza was dead long before the Pipe Roll of 1130. Possibility: two generations of Reginald. Three versions:

• Nepos = grandson of brother. Robert was brother of Reginald husband of Adeliza, and Adeliza had a son Reginald, who was father of Alan.
• Nepos = grandson. Robert was brother of Reginald husband of Adeliza, but Robert himself was father of Reginald the father of Alan.
• Nepos = great grandson. Robert was father of this husband of Adeliza, who was father of the Reginald of 1130, who was father of Alan.

In favour of the first (or perhaps third) options: Eyton (pp.270-271) reports a record in the Lewes cartulary which indicates that Adeliza had a son referred to as Reinald de Insula, when he witnessed the charter of his apparent half-brother Walter de Pinkeny. Notably, this involved Walter's grant of Winterbourne, which Reinald de Dunstanville is later registered as granting. The document can also be found in the modern edition of the cartulary of Lewes.^[20]

This record would answer Keats-Rohan's remark that there is no evidence to justify two Reginalds.^[8]

Loyd concluded that this family came from Dénestanville on the lower Seine area, arr. Dieppe, cant. Longueville (modern postcode 76590):^[21]

Walter de Dunstanville occurs on the Pipe Rolls from 1156 onwards [in England]. Between 1156 and 1164 Walter de Donestanvilla gave the church of Vaudreville to Longueville priory [in France]. [P. Le Cacheux, Chartes du Prieuré de Longueville, no. 12.]

An account of his family is given by Farrer. [Honors and Knights' Fees, iii, 37 et seq.; and cf. Ancestor, xi, 56.^[22]]

Vaudreville, now amalgamated with Longueville, and Dénestanville are contiguous. In 1861 there was a large motte on the banks of the Seine, then in course of demolition. [Cochet, Rép. arch. . . . de la Seine-Inf., col. 50.]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Chris Phillips:
   • Some corrections and additions to the Complete Peerage: Volume 11: Henry I's Illegitimate Children, https://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/cp/henryisillegitimate.shtml
   • "Domeday correction" remark for p.441 de Dunstanvilla, Rainald, in Keats-Rohan's Domesday Descendants, https://fmg.ac/projects/domesday-corrections/descendants-301-600
   • 2000 discussion on SGM forum: https://groups.google.com/g/soc.genealogy.medieval/c/iYEg6lpXuJw
2. ↑ Eyton, Shropshire, vol.2 p. 271.
3. ↑ Pipe Roll 1168 p.18
4. ↑ See https://www.unicaen.fr/scripta/acte/6964, which is a grant to Monkford Farleigh, of Cutiford (apparently Codford). Is there any source naming Alan and Robert as brothers? Could they be e.g. cousins?
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Farrer, Honors and Knights' Fees, III, p.37ff
6. ↑ Farrer cites Monasticon Anglicanum, vol.5 p.14 (Lewes); Dugdale's Monasticon (ed. 1661), ii. 908.
7. ↑ Farrer cites Round ed., Ancient Charters, p.15, which is apparently the original source of this observation.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3} Keats-Rohan, "De Dunstanvilla, Rainald", in Domesday Descendants, pp.441-2
9. ↑ See for example Peter Stewart's comment on SGM.
10. ↑ Farrer cites Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. 5. p.14 (Lewes); and Round ed., Calendar of Documents in France, p.509. Also see explanation by Round at Ancient Charters, pp.15-16.
11. ↑ Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. 2, p.66
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1 12.2} Eyton, Antiquities of Shropshire, vol.2, pp.268-283
13. ↑ Regesta regum anglo-normannorum, charter 1069
14. ↑ He cites his "Itinerary of Hen. I, n.441." Keats-Rohan feels quite certain this is him and cites the Cartularies of Bath, 49.
15. ↑ Sanders, "Castle Combe", in English Baronies, p.28
16. ↑ Farrer cites Round ed., Calendar of Documents in France, n.1234.
17. ↑ Farrer cite's his Itinerary of Henry I, nos. 250, 316, with dates of 1110 and 1114. Sanders cites Regesta regum anglo-normannorum, vol. 2, nos. 956 and 973, which gives dates of 1110 and 1111.
18. ↑ Round ed., Calendar of Documents in France, n.1235.
19. ↑ Monasticon Anglicanum, vol.5 p.14 (Lewes). See explanation by Round at Ancient Charters, p.15.
20. ↑ Budgen, W. & Salzman, L.F. [eds] I943. The Wiltshire, Devonshire and Dorsetshire portion of the Lewes Chartulary with London and Essex Documents from the Surrey Portion. SRS supplement. charter 45, p.26
21. ↑ Loyd, Anglo-Norman families, pp.38-39
22. ↑ Ancestor, vol 11, p. 56.