Norman French families in England (Anglo-Normans) in the 11th-14th c

My initial guess on what brought the Gherardini to Italy was either a ship or a horse, but I could be wrong.

Ok, Ok, Ok! Thanks for the many laughs ... Geni humor!!! ... And you're ALL giving me fitz ... uh, fits! Har!
So ... They lived in Florence. I like to think they had always been there. What's not to like??? I seem to remember reading about the sons of Noah, who each went their own way, to some place different ... maybe that's how they got there! Undoubtedly by horse; they WERE smart, well educated, savvy, and foxy! Seems some things never change! Oh, and gorgeous!
Kitty, San Diego, CA

Oh my, Kitty. Now you have *me* am yearning for handsome Florentian ancestors with Italianized names. Wilsonelli? Actually, I did find one line of ancestors that were Italian court musicians in the medieval English court--they came from Venice to London in (as I remember) the 1500s: the Bassano family who married into the Lanier family (see http://www.alisabassano.com/ if you're interested). My only claim to a drop of Italian blood.

Now, can we get back to those smart, well-educated and foxy Anglo Normans. I know Erica has always had a romantic spot in her heart for those knights in armor. I don't know how they got across the English Channel with all that chain mail --even their horses had armor!

And Shmuel, maybe they too had some ninja tricks up their armored sleeves.

William was a cruel and cunning bastard/conqueror, from all accounts. And his henchmen were pretty ruthless. But they had such lovely French names! And all of their daughters were named Adeliza, Alais, Adelaide or Alice.

I'm just fascinated by the Norman women in 11th century Britain. They seemed to have some fortitude. I keep finding interesting tidbits in the research. Lucy of Bolingbroke, who seems to be the apex of 11th century Anglo Norman relationships with her 3 husbands, all of whom died, apparently used her great wealth to purchase her liberation from any further married life: "The 1130 pipe roll informs us that Lucy had paid King Henry I 500 marks after her last husband's death for the right not to have to remarry." You go, girl!

Another cool woman was Isabelle de Montfort who married into the Tosny family: "Orderic Vitalis says she was "generous, daring and gay" but "in war she rode armed as a knight among the knights".

Hi Pam : A number of my tree have just such connections. In fact i think half of England ,Scotland and Wales does! At one point in time England almost lost English because either Henry 2nd or 1st. hated the English language and felt only French should be spoked,and for awhile English was almost non existent !There use to be program on tv that discussed the evolution of English from the past to present. very interesting.

Pam, still here...change of plan. leaving tomorrow, so you will have to wait til then to mess up the de Clare tree : ) My daughter's name is Claire, must be a karmic thing..
Sure am getting tired of the names Adeliza and Rohese...

Margaret.
It was a sign, an omen. Just go with it.
"See" you when you get back.

Great work Pam!

Thanks, Sherry! Since you pulled this old thread up, I'll mention that all of this has now moved to the Projects space on Geni. If you go to http://www.geni.com/projects/Norman-families-of-Normandy-France-and... you will see a list of all the Norman and Anglo-Norman projects started thus far.

Adelaide, Adele, Ada, Alix, Adelais, Adelheid, Alice, and Alicia
Anglo-Norman families: Earls of Chester
Anglo-Norman families: Earls of Norfolk (Bigod)
Anglo-Norman families: Seigneurs of Tosny (de Tosny / Toeni / Toni)
Battle of Hastings
Boone and de Bohun Family Project
Earls of Arundel
Early Normans c.790-1066
Extraordinary Women of the Middle Ages
FitzAlan Family
Henry I 's children
High Sheriff of Lancashire
Knights Templar
Les Ducs de Normandie 911-1106
Ludlow Family
Magna Carta Sureties and Witnesses
Normans in Medieval Italy
Plantagenets
The Domesday Book: England in 1085
The Problem with Adelais / Adela / Alix :^) -- a common name for 10th-11th c women
The Third Crusade
The Visitation of Norfolk in 1563
The d'Aubigny and de Albini families of Norman England, Lords of Arundel and Belvoir
The de Ros family, from Scottish Kings to English Gentry
Wreck of the White Ship (la Blanche-Nef) 1120
bassett
de Bohun

Join some! It's a great way to find new related profiles and also to add profiles to a collection to help organize them.

I'm not so sure about the Normans. Their treatment of the Anglo-Saxons can best be described as an ethnic cleansing. Like the Romans before them their society was highly male dominated.

Have you ever heard of a conquering group that didn't end up doing that. As bad as it is and was it's a unfortunate fact of life. They've been doing it since the beginning of of time and still are. every group thinks their way is the only way!

You're both right. As I've studied the middle ages, I've discovered just how brutal a period it really was. No concept of human rights existed, it seems--so the ones who could grab the power took advantage of every ounce of it. It was not always about upper classes being brutal to the peasants (though there is plenty of that)--I've just been studying today about an uprising that took place in 1400 by a handful of barons who wanted to restore the deposed Richard II to the throne of England. Called the Epiphany Rising. When their coup failed, they fled to the west of England, and there posses of townspeople found them and beheaded many of them. These were Earls and Dukes deemed traitors to the king and therefore killed by the mobs of people (under the approval of those nobles loyal to the king, of course).

According to Homer Worthington Brainard in his book about the Scovell (Scoville) family, we are descended from a Ralphe de Scoville who came to England with William the Conqueror. It is thought that Ralphe came from a village called Escoville in Normandy. In 1194 he was a Knight of England in both the civil and military sense. It is believed that he also may have been a Crusader-Knight in the Third Crusade (1189-1192).

I do have more info on Ralphe de Scoville but am not sure if this is what you envision being posted on this site.

Thanks Pam. I wasn'trying to be right just make appoint. Don't blame a group of people for what some did. Look at Germany . Some people still think all German's are bad and were little Hitlers., which is ridiculous! On the other hand. In Lithuania, at least one of the ones I use to work with hated all Jews because they were able to get out of her country more easily then she was. You would say while checking policies, oh here's a name how do you pronounce it,? she would say, No that person is a Jew not from my country. I 'd say I didn't ask you that I asked how to peonouse it. Then she'd say a needle was left in my mouth, not by a dential assitant but by a Jew. There's a lot of that going around. It's everywhere. here too!