Family Conflict in Ducal Normandy, C. 1025-1135
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Family conflict in ducal Normandy, c. 1025-1135 Catherine Hammond This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 6 June 2013 Declarations 1. Candidate’s declarations: I, Catherine Hammond, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 80,000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student in September 2009, and as a candidate for the degree of PhD in May 2010; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2009 and 2013. Date Signature of candidate 2. Supervisor’s declaration: I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of PhD in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date Signature of supervisor 3. Permission for electronic publication: In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the electronic publication of this thesis: Embargo on both all of printed copy and electronic copy for the same fixed period of five years on the following ground(s): Publication would preclude future publication Date Signature of candidate Signature of supervisor Abstract This thesis focuses on conflict within families in Normandy, c. 1025 to 1135. Despite the occurrence of several acute struggles within the ducal house during this period, and a number of lesser known but significant disputes within aristocratic families, this topic has attracted little attention from historians. Kin conflict was cast by medieval commentators as a paradox, and indeed, it is often still regarded in these terms today: the family was a bastion of solidarity, and its members the very individuals to whom one turned for support in the face of an external threat, so for a family group to turn against itself was aberrant and abhorrent. In this thesis, I draw on significant narrative and documentary evidence to consider the practice and perception of family discord. When considered in its broader setting, it emerges that kin disputes were an expected and accepted part of Norman society at this time. I begin by introducing the topic, justifying my approach, considering the relevant historiography, and providing an overview of the sources. In chapter one, I examine the representations of family and conflict in a range of primary sources to glean contemporary views. In chapters two and three, I focus on the practice of conflict within the ducal family, considering the causes of disputes, and then the place of internal ducal dissension in the Norman world. Chapter four analyses the same issues in relation to discord within aristocratic families, before chapter five explores family disputes which arose from patronage of the Church. In the conclusion, I consider the Norman example within its comparative contemporary milieu and ponder the broader themes of family conflict. i ii Contents Abstract i Acknowledgements v Abbreviations vii Note xi Introduction 1 Chapter One: Representations of family and conflict 17 Chapter Two: The emergence of ducal family conflict 53 Chapter Three: The place of ducal family conflict in Norman political society 91 Chapter Four: Aristocratic family conflict 127 Chapter Five: Family conflict in disputed monastic patronage 165 Conclusion 201 Bibliography 205 iii iv Acknowledgements I would not have got very far down this road alone; support from a number of people and organisations has sustained me, physically and mentally, over the last few years. A doctoral award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council made this research possible, for which I remain very grateful. The AHRC, the Society for the Study of French History and the School of History at St Andrews all contributed towards research trips to France, and the award of a Muriel Brown postgraduate student bursary allowed me to attend the Battle conference in Bayeux in July 2012. Financial support from the AHRC, the School of History and the SSFH also enabled me to attend and present papers at a number of other conferences. I benefitted greatly from these experiences, and I record my thanks to these bodies. I should also like to thank the staff at the bibliothèque nationale in Paris, and at the archives in Caen, Rouen and Evreux, for assistance with my manuscript research. Kimberley Knight and Eilidh and Iain Harris were willing hosts and drivers before and after my late-night and early-morning journeys to and from France. Pierre Bauduin helped arrange accommodation in Caen, Elma Brenner advised on Rouen, and Marie Brogly, Roberta Cimino and Justine Firnhaber-Baker on Paris. I am also appreciative of the opportunity provided me by the International Medieval Society of Paris to present my research to them. The department of Mediaeval History at St Andrews has proved an excellent environment in which to study. The energy, expertise and warmth of staff and postgraduates alike create a lively and strong community. I should like to thank Rob Bartlett, James Palmer and Elina Screen, all of whom offered advice on various academic problems; Dorothy Christie and Audrey Wishart have always been friendly and helpful in the office. Peter Maxwell-Stuart has provided assistance with Latin translations, for which I am grateful. I’ve enjoyed chewing the academic fat with my two fellow ‘French’ historians, Matt McHaffie and Ed Roberts, often over a glass of red of a summer’s evening; Matt has also helped me puzzle over some tricky Latin. I thank my office-mates, the Ladies, and latterly, Gentleman, of Room 3, who have been sterling companions in academia and in life. Berenike Walburg, you are gone but not forgotten and certainly missed. A number of academics have offered advice and encouragement, and have been happy to share with me their thoughts and work in progress. I should like to thank Richard Allen, David Bates, Stephen Church, Kirsten Fenton, George Garnett, Bill Miller, Dan Power, Thomas Roche, Kathleen Thompson, Elisabeth van Houts, Lorna Walker and Steve White; Mark Hagger has been particularly generous with his time, his expertise, and his cartularies. The greatest academic debt I owe to my supervisor, John Hudson, who has overseen this project with a characteristically subtle yet expert guiding hand, and provided support, encouragement and cheer over the last few years, often over a cup of tea and occasionally over a pint of dubious orange cider. v My interest in medieval history began, as is probably quite typical, with childhood trips to castles, and my parents raised me to be always curious, thoughtful and interested in the world around. I hope they have not taken my choice of thesis topic too much to heart. My grandfather encouraged my historical interests; it may not be Alexander, but I like to think he would be proud nonetheless. My brother Jim has helped me to see the wood for the trees while we have both been living in Scotland, sometimes literally. My mother has read the entire thesis in draft and greatly improved it with her suggestions, questions and challenges, and continues to be my greatest source of inspiration. vi Abbreviations Abbayes caennaises Les actes de Guillaume le Conquérant et de la reine Mathilde pour les abbayes caennaises, ed. L. Musset (Caen, 1967) AD Archives départementales ADC Archives départementales du Calvados ADE Archives départementales de l’Eure ADSM Archives départementales de la Seine-Maritime AN Annales de Normandie ANS Anglo-Norman Studies ASC Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, tr. G. N. Garmonsway (2nd ed.; London, 1954) Bates, Normandy D. Bates, Normandy before 1066 (London, 1982) Bayeux Antiquus cartularius ecclesiae Baiocensis (livre noir), ed. V. Bourrienne (Rouen, 1902) BES Bibliothèque de l’évêché de Sées BM Bibliothèque municipale BNF Bibliothèque nationale de France BR ‘Brevis relatio de Guillelmo nobilissimo comite Normannorum, written by a monk of Battle Abbey’, ed. and tr. E. M. C. van Houts, in History and Family Traditions in England and the Continent, 1000-1200 (Aldershot, 1999), VII Charters and Custumals Charters and Custumals of the Abbey of Holy Trinity, Caen: Part 2, the French Estates, ed. J. Walmsley (Oxford, 1994) Consuetudines ‘Consuetudines et justicie’, in Haskins, Institutions, appendix D Crouch and Thompson D. Crouch and K. Thompson, eds, Normandy and its Neighbours, 900-1250: Essays for David Bates (Turnhout, 2011) DOW De obitu Willelmi, in GND II, 184-91 vii Dudo Dudo of Saint-Quentin, De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum, tr. E. Christiansen (Woodbridge, 1998) EHD English Historical Documents EHR English Historical Review EME Early Medieval Europe Garnett and Hudson G. S. Garnett and J.