Heys.-Fellow of Trinity Coll. Cambridge; Members' Prize for Bachelors in 1791; Craven scholar, 1787; a Barrister-at-Law. *Cottrel.-Barrister-at-Law. *Lockhart -M.P. for Oxford City. Mellish, mi.-Elton.-- Reid.-*Freeman, mi.-Rector of Milton near Cambridge. *Jones. *Grover.-Fellow of Eton; senior Bachelor's prize in 1793. *Lord Stopford.-Earl of Courtown. Fourth Form. Marsh. -West. Scott.-Rector of Wootton Courtney. Bell.- Pye. Smith. -Woodbridge. Lloyd.-Rector of St. Dunstan's. Marshall.-Rector of Kingston in Jamaica. Street. -Son of a banker at Bath. Mr. Stopford.-Second son of the Earl of Harrison.- -Knott. Courtown. Astley.Sir Jacob Astley, Bart. Skinner.- -Western.- -Leicester, mi. Brogden.- -Burgh.-Deverel. Lord Clifton.-Earl of Darnley. *Pigot. Gen. Sir George Pigot, Bart. Stichall. A clergyman in London. Michelson.-An Esquire near Reading. Fennel. Went upon the stage. Smith.-Late Paymaster of the Navy; a writer in the Microcosm, and author of some ingenious works. Plumptre. *Parker.-Colonel of the Cheshire Militia. Power. An Irish gentleman. Douglas.-Canon of Salisbury. Mr. Evans.-Earl of Carbery. Herne.- -Tilson, mi.Beedell, ma. Sneyd. Mr. Bathurst.-Son of the Earl Bathurst. Mr. Watson.-Lord Sondes. Davis. Sawbridge. Son of Alderman Sawbridge. *Smith. Advocate-general of Bengal, and M. P. for Lincoln; Bachelor's prize in 1794 and 1795; Browne's medal for the Latin Ode in 1791; Battie's scholar in 1791; a writer in the Microcosm. Spencer.- -Beedell, mi. Noverre.-Son of the ballet-master at the Opera. *Abbot.-Assistant at Eton. Hunter. Packington.-Sir Herbert P., Bart. Sykes. Sir Francis Sykes, Bart. *Woodcock.-Canon of Christchurch. Freere.-Ambassador to Spain; the Members' prize in 1792; a writer in the Microcosm. *Mr. Clive.-Son of Lord Clive. Read. Second Remove, fourth Form. Sir George Wombwell, Bart. Mr. Lamb.-Eldest son of Lord Melbourne. Prebendary of Southwell; a writer in the Microcosm. Spragg. -Boone. Sykes, mi.-Son of Sir Francis Sykes, Bart. Crawford.-Barrister-at-Law. *Moore.-Rector of Wrotham; Preb. of Canterbury; son of the Archbishop. Becket.-Leader.-Snow. Third Remove, fourth Form. Lord Henry Spencer.-Son of the Duke of Marlborough; a writer in the Microcosm. 1832.] Tenants in Chief of Domesday Book. Clark.-Lieut. in the Navy. Mr. Bligh.-General B. son of the Earl of Waller, mi.-A descendant of the Poet. *Arden-Son of an ingenious Poet, the Grey. Sir George G. brother of Earl Grey. Bridges.-Eldest son of Sir Brooke B. Bart. Hart.-Vicar of Ringwood. *Luke.-Fellow of Sidney Sussex College. Palmer.-Sir Palmer, Bart. Cropley. Hankey. A banker in London. Walpole.--Adams.--Plummer.--Trigg. Baker. Sir George Baker, Bart. Lord Downe.-Earl of Moray. Oliver. A clergyman at Leicester. *Mr. Wesley. The Duke of Wellington. *Mr. Wesley.-Prebendary of Durham. *Moore, mi.-Son of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Hazlewood. *Ansou.-Gen. Sir George Anson. Concannon.- -Lucy.- -Careless. Langley.- -North.- -Prior, ma. Prior, mi.. -Whitmore. 25 THESE remarks of your Reviewer (Nov. Magazine, p. 427) induce me to send you, earlier than I had intended, some particulars of a foreign family, members of which shine eminently as Tenants in Capite in the great Book of Domesday and afterwards appear, though at long intervals, in the pages of English history. Previously, however, to my submitting the statement purposed, you must allow a few words of defence, on the neglect of Antiquaries here noticed. Imperfect as the execution of my wishes must have been, I have for some time past given occasional attention to the subject, and have wished to give to the antiquarian and historical world, memorials of the Domesday Tenants in Capite, and their descendants in the male line; but sadly few are the records of those who lived eight hundred years since; and small is the proportion, even of those few records, which is of a public nature; for I cannot call one to mind between the Domesday Survey in 1085, and the Pipe Rolls in 11.29, a period of 60 years; during which time most, if not all of the Conqueror's soldiers, must have shaken off their mortal coil. The con sequence of this is, that our only information must be obtained from some accidental and very rare recital in a subsequent record; or in the Chronicles and annals of religious houses; or in private charters (or the enralment thereof, as the Cartæ Antiquæ at the Tower of London), the latter being chiefly grants of lands by various persons to religious houses-and of these, how few afford more information, than that some person whose name and lands are specified in Domesday, did at some unknown period, by a deed or charter without a date, grant some portion of those lands to another. To these impediments in the way of ascertaining the biography of the Norman Invaders, must be added the difficulty arising from the objects of our research being foreigners. It has not occurred to me to discover that the Norman archives and pedigrees have been investigated; and it appears remarkable that whilst some of our ancient nobility have expended much time and money in tracing a descent from one of the Conqueror's chieftains, they should have made no attempt to ascertain who this chieftain was; as if it were either uninteresting, or impossible, to trace the existence of an ancestor for a single year before the date of 1066; when in all probability the antiquaries and genealogists of Normandy could give evidence in some cases of an ancestry of Princes or Nobles for generations earlier. That such is the case in some instances 1 now proceed to show. Amongst the Domesday tenants in capite, will be found the following GOISFRIDUS DE BECH, GOISFRIDUS MARESCAL, MILO CRISPIN, TURSTINUS FILIUS ROLF; and I shall be enabled, through the aid of the documents and pedigree of a foreign family, to communicate some particulars regarding them which are unknown to the English antiquary. The document affording the greater part of the ensuing information, is a genealogy of the Italian family of GRIMALDI, Sovereign princes of a small principality named Monaco, situated at the confines of France and Genoa. The manuscript was compiled in 1430 by Nicholas Grimaldi, Seigneur of Seminare in Naples, a nobleman very well skilled in historical matters. In 1647 the then reigning Prince of Monaco published it in a small folio, having employed his secretary, Venasques, for twenty years in collecting further proofs, and in making additions to it. Of the great attention which foreign Nobles give to the preservation of their descent, in comparison with the English Nobles, some estimate may be formed by a perusal of that which has come to my knowledge respecting this family; doubtless much more is unknown, than is known to me. Independently of the ancient charters and "tresors" of the Grimaldi family, they compiled in 1333 a list of the names, and the descent, from some noted ancestor, of every Grimaldi then living. In 1433 the family pedigree was fully and skilfully compiled and deduced from the remotest periods of which there are records, by the Nicholas Grimaldi already mentioned. In 1554 a compilation of the names, and the descent, from some noted ancestor, of all the Grimaldis then living, was again made. In 1630 an "albero general," or complete pedigree of the whole family, was made, in which each descent of every branch was confirmed by citing legal documents. In 1634 a third compilation of the names and descent of every Grimaldi then living, of this family, was made; and in 1647 the Prince of Monaco having completed the pedigree, upon which his secretary had been for twenty years employed, printed and published it. The family pedigree is set out in too many English as well as foreign histories to require minute notice here. It appears by Anderson's Royal Genealogies, that the sixth in descent from Pharamond King of the Franks, was named Grimoald or Grimbald; which Skynner, the etymologist, derives from Grim, anger; and Bald, power. He was Duke of Brabant, and slain in 658. His son, the King of Mentz, died wishout issue, when the name was used by the Duke's great nephew, a brother of the renowned Charles Martel. This second of the name was Duke of Brabant, and slain in 714, and from his time the surname was hereditary. It is partly for the purpose of mentioning this unusually early instance of an hereditary family name, that I have travelled so far back, when my material inquiries are connected with a period much later. The fourth in descent from this last named Duke, was the first Prince of Monaco, and one of the principal Commanders of the army of the Emperor Otho I. in his wars with Louis IV. of France; by the strength of his own arm he freed the Emperor from being made captive, in return for which, and other services, 1832.] Genealogy of the Barons of Bec. Otho granted to him, in 920, the castle and territories of Monaco, to hold in sovereignty; and from this ancestor has this principality descended in lineal succession, unto the present day; for, though revolutionized in 1792, and sold by the French republic to a citizen of Paris, yet it was, by the definitive treaty of peace of 1814, restored to the Grimaldi family. The descent was in 1715 continued by a female of the family, who became sovereign 27 Princess, and transmitted the title, and name and arms, to her children, by her husband James Leoner Goyon De Matignon, but foreign jurists have considered the principality as a male fief, and that it belongs to the nearest male heirs, who are perhaps the Marquisses Grimaldi of Genoa. The following genealogical table of the persons noticed in this communication, will assist much in clearly comprehending the detail. Grimaldus I. Prince of Monaco;Crispina, daughter of Rollo Gilbert Crespin, Milo Crispin. William Crespin, III. HERLUIN was the canonized founder of the very celebrated Abbey of Bec in Normandy, lying within the district of the Barony of Bec. He died in 1078, aged 84 years. Grants of land, and possessions to this Abbey, from our Norman sovereigns, and their Norman followers, are frequently met with, especially from the Crispin family. IV. GILBERT CRISPIN,* Baron of Bec, Governor and Lord of the Castle of Thillieres, Constable of Normandy, and Marshal of the Army of the Duke of Normandy in 1041, relinquished *Dugdale, in his Baronage, deduces the descent of the Clare family from a Gilbert Crispin, Earl of Brion in Normandy; whose son, Richard Fitz-Gilbert, accompanied the Conqueror. This Gilbert Crispin is stated to have been the son of Geoffrey, the natural son of Richard Duke of Normandy.. Heloise, dau. of the Turstin. A Goisfrid' de Bec, other- the surname of Grimaldi, and assumed V. and VI. ODO and ROGER. No particulars are known to me of these brothers, excepting that in a charter of Herluin, after describing himself as Herluinus filius Ansgoti," he adds, "adstantibus et laudantibus fratribus meis Odone et Rogero." 66 VII. ROLLO or RAUF; he was the father of Goisfrid de Bec, otherwise Goisfrid the Marshal, and of Turstin; called in Domesday Book "filius Rolf." VIII. WILLIAM CRISPIN, Baron of Bec, was a celebrated hero in the battle of Mortimer, in the year 1059. He married a daughter of Simon Earl of Montfort, and was a witness to William the Conqueror's foundation charter of the Abbey of Saint Stephen of Caen, in Normandy. He acquired great glory for his valour in the battle of Hastings, and it is concluded survived that victory, as his name is in one of the copies of the Battle Abbey Roll; but it is difficult to account for his not appearing amongst the great tenants of the Conqueror in Domesday Book, as his younger brother, Milo, had very numerous possessions granted to him. He had issue William Crispin, Baron of Bec, from whom was a long succession of Barons of the same title, residing in Normandy, and having great hereditary offices in that Duchy, under the Dukes. Some of his descendants also appear in our English records as holding lands in England under the Plantagenet dynasty. Dugdale, in his Baronage, whilst writing of Milo Crispin, adds, "of this family I presume was William Crispin, one of the Conqueror's chief commanders in the war against Henry King of France.” Some further particulars of his life are given by Dugdale, which I refer to rather than transcribe, on account of your space; but it is evident that, as neither Dugdale nor any other historian mentions William Crispin's parentage, it was unknown; this concluding paragraph in the Baronage greatly corroborates the foreign genealogy. "AM that I shall say farther of him is, that he (William Crispin) gave to the Abbey of Bec, in Normandy, the Church of Droecourt, with the lands and tythes thereto belonging, as also [to] the Lordship of Tilla in the diocese of Lisieux." It is evident that the Abbey of Bec was thus endowed, because it was founded by William Crispin's uncle, Herluin; and it appears by the pedigree that the Lordship of Tilla (Tilleres) in Normandy, was amongst the possessions of Gilbert Crispin his father. IX. GILBERT CRISPIN, the second son of Gilbert Crispin, Baron of Bec, was Seigneur of the Norman fief of Thilleres, and one of the warriors at the battle of Hastings, but not a Tenant in Capite of the Conqueror, or (as far as these researches have extended) a grantee of lands as sub-tenant; but he is mentioned in the "Chronicle of Normandy" as "Le Seigneur de Tilleres," together with his brother "Guillaume Crespin," amongst the companions of William the Conqueror, in 1066. The circumstance of thus describing Gilbert Crespin by his Lordship of Tilleres, affords evidence of the difficulty, if not impossibility, of identify ing many of the Norman tenants and their families at this period, since, as in the case of the Seigneur de Tilleres, probably no document, excepting a private pedigree or charter, exists to show the family which held such. estate at the time of the Conquest. Indeed, nothing can be more fatal to correct genealogy than the foreign practice of naming individuals solely by fiefs or seigneuries, which were constantly changing owners; and the preceding proprietors of which, frequently continued the use of the title of the Lordship, after it had been transferred to some new purchaser, so that various persons existed at the same period, using the same designation. No industry can, under such circumstancee, prevent the biography of one party being occasionally confused with that of another. Of the Battle Abbey Roll, a minute investigation respecting this family proves Camden's assertion, that "whosoever considereth it well shall find it to be forged;" for only one, out of the five Knights of this house who accompanied the Conqueror, is therein named, although three of them were Tenants in Chief in Domesday; and the individual who was planted by the Monks in the Roll, was one who does not appear to have been a Chief Tenant of the Conqueror, and therefore probably had a less share of danger or honour on the eventful day of the battle of Hastings, than either of his brothers or cousins, who had lands granted to them by the King. X. Of MILO CRISPIN, a great Captain, favoured warrior, and Tenant in Capite of the Norman, I have no material particulars in addition to the biography in Dugdale's Baronage (title Crispin), and in Dr. Lipscomb's History of Buckinghamshire; excepting the important fact of his descent, already set forth, and to a knowledge of which neither of these historians could have any reasonable means of attaining. The circumstance of Milo being son to the Baron of Bec, who was the brother of the founder of the renowned Abbey of that name, readily accounts for the large grants which are mentioned by Dugdale and Dr. Lipscomb to have been made by him and his widow to that religious house. Milo's possessions are enumerated in Domesday, and comprised the honour of Wallingford and 88 Lordships. He died without issue in 1106, forty years after the battle of Hast |