Early Life
William FitzGodric was born c. 1140, to
Godric FitzKetelborn. He occurs in the Pipe Rolls from 1169 and was dead in 1194.
From
Baildon1:
A clumsy and impossible invention of Elizabethan times makes William FitzGodric a cousin to Edward the Confessor, sends his son, William Fitzwilliam, to Normandy on an embassy to Duke William, and brings him back to fight agsinst his kith and kin at Hastings, the Marshal of the Conqueror's army, and the pitifullest kind of traitor. For his gallant conduct in slaying his countrymen, the Conqueror is said to have given him a scarf from his own arm, which scarf is still preserved at Milton, where it is used at all family christenings, with great pomp and ceremony.
The most casual comparison of dates is sufficient to disprove the story, while the fact that in the numerous FitzWilliam wills of the 15th and 16th centuries no reference is made to what would have been, if it existed, a most precious heirloom, is strong negative evidence that the scarf was then unknown.
This clumsy invention is evidenced in
Stemmata2, for example. There may also be echoes of this tale in
this descent stored at the National Archives.
Family Life
William married
Aubrey de Lisours, daughter and heir of
Robert de Lisours. From
Baildon1:
He [William] must have been considerably younger than his wife, but dowagers of fairly mature age have married young men even in our times. She was, at any rate, not too old to bear him a son...
The lady thus described as 'the mother of John the Constable' [i.e. William's wife] is a very well known person, Aubrey, daughter and heiress of Robert de Lisours. Robert was the son of Fulk de Lisours, the Domesday tenant, who held several manors under Roger de Busli, including Sprotborough, Adwick-le-Street, and Billingley, near Barnsley.
Robert de Lisours married Aubrey, Latinised as Albreda, de Lacy, concerning whom a serious error has got into print. Robert de Lacy or Lasey, lord of Pontefract, son of Ilbert, the Domesday tenant, had four children, Ilbert II, Henry, Walter and Aubrey. Ilbert, the eldest son, died without issue, it is believed about 1140/1 ; he was an adherent of King Stephen, and was probably killed at the Battle of Lincoln, February 2, 1140/1, or died soon afterwards, a prisoner of war. The next brother, Henry, after an interval of some years, was restored to his brother's possessions; he married Aubrey, daughter of Eustace de Vesci, and died in 1187, leaving an only child, Robert II, who died without issue about 1193-4. Walter, the third brother, was killed at the Battle of the Standard in 1138. Aubrey, the sister, married Robert de Lisours.
Hunter made a most unfortunate blunder, and confused her with her sister-in-law. He says that Robert de Lisours "made an illustrious marriage with the widow of Henry de Laci, the lord of Pontefract, grandson of Ilbert de Laci, founder of tbe castle and honour of Pontefract. She had one son when Lizours took her to wife, namely, Robert de Laci, who died in 1193, and was the last of tbe old line of Laci .... By the widow ot Laci, Robert de Lizours had one daughter only, who was thus half-sister, ex parte matris, to the last of the Lacis, and who lived to be his heir, as well as the heir of tbe paternal line. Her name was Albreda. Tbe birth of this great lady may be referred to about the vear 1130.". Five years after Hunter had printed this statement he himself demonstrated its incorrectness; but the mischief was done, and the error has found its way into numerous works.
Footnotes
[1] Baildon and the Baildons, a History of a Yorkshire Manor and Family, by W Paley Baildon, Volume 1, page 344
[2] Stemmata Robertson et Durdin, by Herbert Robertson, London 1893-95, page 156
- The Visitations of the North, part 2, page 94 has a somewhat unreliable pedigree of the FitzWilliams from this point down.
Abt 1140 - 1194 (~ 28 years)