Ancestral Trails 2016 » Richard I GRENVILLE (1095-> 1142)

Personal data Richard I GRENVILLE 

• He was born in the year 1095 in Corbeil-Essonnes, Essonne, Île-de-France, France.
• Title: Lord of Neath
• He died after 1142.
• A child of HAMON DAPIFER de CREVEQUER and MAUD de CORBEIL

Household of Richard I GRENVILLE

He had a relationship with Isabel GIFFARD.

Child(ren):

1. Richard II GRENVILLE  1119-1147 

Notes about Richard I GRENVILLE

Sir Richard I de Grenville (d.post 1142) (alias de Grainvilla, de Greinvill, etc.) was one of the Twelve Knights of Glamorgan who served under his elder brother Robert FitzHamon (d.1107) in the conquest of Glamorgan in Wales. He obtained from FitzHamon the lordship of Neath in which he built Neath Castle and in 1129 founded Neath Abbey. He is by tradition the founder and ancestor of the prominent Westcountry Grenville family of Stowe in the parish of Kilkhampton in Cornwall and of Bideford in Devon, the later head of which family was John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath (1628-1701). The surname of his supposed descendants the Westcountry Grenville family was spelled by tradition "Grenville" until 1661 when it was altered to "Granville".

He was one of three (or four) known sons of Hamo Dapifer (died circa 1100) Sheriff of Kent, an Anglo-Norman royal official under both King William the Conqueror (1066-1087) and his son King William Rufus (1087-1100).

As his reward for his services during the conquest of Glamorgan his brother Robert FitzHamon allotted him the lordship of Neath, where Richard built Neath Castle. He is styled in one Glamorgan charter as "Constable of the Earl of Gloucester", thus of Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester (d.1147), his brother's son-in-law and heir.

In 1129 Richard de Grenville founded Neath Abbey within his lordship as a daughter-house of the Benedictine Savigny Abbey near the village of Savigny-le-Vieux in western Normandy. To it he donated many of his lands, both in Wales and in Devon which he held from the Honour of Gloucester, including Littleham, near Bideford in North Devon.

Richard de Grenville is thought to have married twice:

Firstly, according to Ordericus Vitalis (died c.1142), to Isabel Giffard, the only daughter of Walter Giffard, 1st Earl of Buckingham (d.1102) and Lord of Longueville in Normandy, co-heiress with her aunt Rohesia (wife of Richard FitzGilbert, Lord of Clare) of the great possessions and lordships of the Giffard family. By Isabel Giffard he is said to have had progeny of five sons:
Richard II de Grenville (d.1147), eldest son and heir, who died on a crusade. He married Adelina de Beaumont, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester and Count of Meulan (1040/50-1118) by his wife Elizabeth daughter of Hugh the Great, Earl of Vermandois, son of King Henry of France and widow of Hugh Montfort.
William de Corbeil (c.1070-1136), Archbishop of Canterbury (1123-1136). Little is known of William's true parentage, but Granville (1895) supposes him to have been a son of Richard I de Grenville due to his appellation "de Corbeil", which French manor near Paris was supposedly a possession of that family.
Robert de Grenville, 3rd son, a witness to the charter of Neath Abbey
Gerard de Grenville, 4th son, who held lands in Buckinghamshire comprising three knights' fees from of Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham.
Ralph de Grenville, 5th son, who was a witness to a grant in favour of the Abbey of St. Stephen's, Caen, by Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Arundel and Salop, the brother of Sybill the wife of Robert FitzHamon. His son was Sir Eustace de Grenville was Constable of the Tower of London in 1214 and was a benefactor to Nutley Abbey.

Secondly Richard I de Grenville married a certain "Constance", mentioned as his wife in his foundation charter of Neath Abbey, who acted jointly with him in the founding, which suggested to Round that she may have been a native-born Welsh lady and the heiress of Neath. Granville (1895) suggested she was the daughter of Caradoc ap Arthur, Lord of Glyn Nedd.

No surviving charter of his mentions any children and the fact that the lordship and castle of Neath escheated to the overlord the Earl of Gloucester and Lord of Glamorgan, the son-in-law and heir of Robert FitzHamon, suggested to Round that he left no children to inherit his possessions. Likewise, he held a few manors in Devon from the feudal barony of Gloucester, one of these being Naissa (Ash Reigny) which was re-granted after his death by the overlord to the de Reigny family. This evidence of no descent of the lands of the Westcountry Grenville family from Richard I de Grenville's lands suggested to Round that the latter family was not in fact descended from the lord of Neath, as the family pedigrees and tradition suggest.

Despite the opinion of Round that no evidence exists to prove that Richard de Grenville left progeny, he is firmly established by tradition, by various pedigrees and indeed by a royal warrant of King Charles II, as the founder and ancestor of the prominent Westcountry Grenville family of Stowe in the parish of Kilkhampton in Devon and of Bideford in Devon, created in 1661 Earl of Bath, after which date the family changed the spelling of their name to "Granville".

According to Round, Richard I de Grenville died after June 1142. This deduction follows from his last being recorded as having signed (as Richard de Greinvill) a charter dated "probably June 1142" as a sworn pledge giver to Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester in his treaty of alliance with Miles Earl of Hereford.

Richard de Grenville is known to have held seven knight's fees from the Honour of Gloucester, either granted to him by his brother FitzHamon or the latter's son-in-law and heir Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester (1100-1147). Round supposes instead that the Grenvilles of Bideford and Stowe were descended from a certain "Robert de Grenville" (alias de Grainville, de Grainavilla, etc.) who was a junior witness to Richard's foundation charter of Neath Abbey and who in the 1166 Cartae Baronum return was listed as holding one knight's fee from the Earl of Gloucester, feudal baron of Gloucester. Robert's familial relationship, if any, to Richard is unknown.
SOURCE: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_de_Grenville

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Timeline Richard I GRENVILLE

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