Sir Ranulph de Glanville

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ⁹⁹⁶
Ranulph de Glanville, Lord Chief Justice of England, and Earl of Suffolk, married Bertha, daughter of Lord Theobald de Valoins, Baron of Parham in Suffolk.

By this marriage Lord de Glanville left issue: William de Glanville, second Earl of Suffolk, Osbert de Glanville, Matilda de Glanville, Amabella de Glanville, and Helwisa de Glanville.

~ Records of the Anglo-Norman House of Glanville from A.D. 1050 to 1880 p. 45

• From Gen-Medieval Archives: From GEN-MEDIEVAL-L Archives. ¹⁹³
From: Richard Borthwick <rgbor@cyllene.uwa.edu.au>
Subject: Re: Glanville line dead-ends before it really begins....
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2000 21:14:56 -0700

Ranulph de Ganville (d.1190) was justiciar of England (but not earl of Sussex). His father was Hervey de Glanville (d.>1166), of Bawdsey and his mother was Mabel. His wife was Bertha dau. of Theobald de Valognes, of Parham Suffolk. Hervey's precise ancestry is problematic but is thought that he was the son of Robert (d.about 1150) son of Roger son of Robert noted in the Domesday survey.

Ranulph had three daughters and co-heirs: Matilda wife of William d'Auberville, Amabilla wife of Ralph de Aderne and Helewise wife of Robert fitz Ralph, of Middleham, Yorks.

References:
Mortimer, R "The Family of Rannulf de Glanville" Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research LIV (1981) 1-16; S J
Bailey "Ranulf de Glanvill and his Children" Cambridge Law Journal (1957) 163-182
ibid. "Ranulf de Glanville in Yorkshire" (1958) 178-198; West, F J The Justiciarship in England 1066-1232 (Cambridge U P, 1966) 54;
DNB VII:1292-1294;
K S B Keats-Rohan Domesday People: A Prosopography of Persons occurring in English Documents, 1066-1166. (The Boydell Press: Woodbridge, 1999) I:376;
G Paget An Official Genealogical and Heraldic Baronage of England 3 vols. (Manuscript, pre-1957, in the Principal Probate Registry, Somerset House, Strand, London), fam. no.11;
VCH Yorks NR I:218-219, 274, 378.

• From Gen-Medieval Archives: Glanville . ¹⁹³
From: <rphair@my-deja.com>
Subject: Glanville line dead-ends before it really begins....
Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 04:11:58 GMT

Kevan Barton and Kay Allen asked about Ranulf de Glanville's ancestry.

Ranulf de Glanville, appointed justiciar by king Henry II sometime during 1179-1180 [1], was never created an earl. His family's lands were in Norfolk and Suffolk counties and were of only minor importance[2]. Very little is known about his ancestry.

His father was Hervey de Glanville who was living 1148-53 and, perhaps, was still alive in 1166 or later [2]. Hervey was born in the 1090s or earlier, as implied by his speech at a local court [2]. Using an unspecified source, Mortimer claimed Hervey married Mabel -- [3].

Mortimer thought Hervey was the son of Robert de Glanville (alive c.1140) based upon two Coxford priory records [3]. The first one was an agreement dated by Mortimer, without explanation, as probably 1171 [4]; Hervey's confirmation of that agreement was the second record. Other records indicate Ranulf had probably succeeded before 1166 [2,6].

Mortimer's assumption that Robert was identical to the Robert who appears in charters of 1140-5 and c.1150 with his father Roger de Glanville [2] is chronologically implausible -- Roger, according to Mortimer's version, would have been Ranulf de Glanville's great- grandfather and at least 90 years old in 1140. The latter charter, if Mortimer's interpretation is accepted, would have had the unlikely situation of Ranulf (long before he was prominent) appearing in the witness list after his father but before his great-grandfather and grandfather. A more tenable identification of the Roger in these charters would be Hervey's brother Roger who had a son Robert [5,3].

An earlier Ranulf de Glanville and his successor Hervey de Glanville were benefactor and witness of Robert Malet's Eye priory during its foundation period 1086-1105/6 [6]. Their names and the observation that the justiciar and his father were witnesses of charters for the priory, suggests there might be a connection between the justiciar's family and these earlier Glanvilles.

The other Glanville family in 12th- and 13th-century east Anglia were descendants of William de Glanville who founded Bromholm priory in 1113 [3,7]. William and his descendants held some of the estates which had formerly been held by Robert de Glanville, a Domesday tenant of Robert Malet. Its not known whether Robert had any children, but it seems likely that William was a relative. Hervey with his son Ranulf (the future justiciar) witnessed a few charters for this other Glanville family, but the relationship, if any, between these two families has not been determined.

For more information about Ranulf's wife and 3 daughters see my 21 Feb 1999 posting "Ranulf de Glanville" (in which #6 Roger should have been numbered #8 and #8 Robert should have been #16).

[1] F. West, "The justiciarship in England 1066-1232", 1966, pp.53, 55-6.

[2] "Liber Eliensis", ed. E. O. Blake, 1962, no.133 and pp.408-9; H.M. Cam, English Historical Review 39:568-571 (1924); "Red book of the exchequer", ed. H. Hall, 1:365, 393, 396 (1896); "The Crawford collection", ed. A.S. Napier and W.H. Stevenson, 1895, no.16 and p.152; Norfolk Record Soc.(NRS), 2:no.161 (1932), ed. J.R. West.

[3] R. Mortimer, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, 54:1-16 (1981).

[4] Cf. D. Knowles, et al., "The heads of religious houses", 1972, p.161.

[5] S.J. Bailey, Cambridge Law Journal 10:84-103 (1948).

[6] "Eye priory cartulary and charters", ed. V. Brown, 1:nos.1,15,23,73, 346; 2:58 (1992-4).

[7] W. Farrer, "Honors and knights' fees", 3:424; J.S. Falls, Mediaeval Studies 40:312-327 (1978); NRS 3:212-3.

Ray Phair

• Background Information. ⁹⁹⁶
~ Records of the Anglo-Norman House of Glanville from A.D. 1050 to 1880 p. 179, Sir Ranulph de Glanville, Feudal Baron of Benhall, Leiston Baudsey and Richmond Castle, was Earl of Suffolk, Lord Chief Justice of England 1189, Sheriff of many Counties and Dapifer to Henry II. He captured William the Lion, King of Scotland, and founded & endowed Leiston Abbey, Buttley Priory and Somersham Hospital. Sir Ranulph was the author of the "Antient Laws and Customs of England." He was chief Minister to Henry II, an Ambassador to France & Wales, and joined the Crusades and died before the walls of Acra in 1191.

Sir Ranulph de Glanville married Bertha, daughter of Theobald de Valoins, Baron of Parham, Suffulk, who descended from Peter de Valoins and Alreda his wife.

Ranulph married Bertha de Valoins, daughter of Theobald de Valoins Baron of Parham and Unknown.