Research Notes:
"Nele d'Aubigny, yr. s. of Roger and br. of William, [Testibus . . . Willelmo de Albineyo pincerna et Nigello de Albineyo fratre suo . . . (Round, Calendar, no. 5)] was from the early part of Henry I's reign one of the most frequent members of the King's entourage. After the battle of Tinchebrai in 1106 the King granted him the English lands of Robert de Stuteville, a supporter of Robert Curthose. During the Norman rebellion of 1119 Nele, with his brother William, remained faithful to Henry I and fought for him at the victory over the French King at Bremule on 20 Aug. [Orderic, vol. iv, pp. 346, 357.] In 1123, with Robert the King's son, he was in command of the forces of
the Cotentin at the taking of the castle of Montfort-sur-Risle. [Orderic, vol. iv, p. 443] At some date unknown he had a grant of Montbrai and the other forfeited lands in Normandy of Robert de Mowbray (Montbrai), Earl of Northumberland whose former wife he married. He held Bazoches-au-Houlme of the Count of Eu, [Round, Calendar, no. 595. Bazoches-au-Houlme, dep. Orne, arr. Argentan, canton Putanges ; the site of the castle was distinguishable in 1835 (Mem. Soc. Antiq. Norm., vol. ix, p. 478). In 1154 John, Count of Eu, released to Roger de Mowbray the rent due to him, and the lands were thereafter held directly of the duchy (Round, loc cit).] and Masham, Yorks, of Count Stephen of Brittany, the lord of Richmond. [Charter of Alan, Earl of Richmond (printed in Cal. Patent Rolls, 1441-46, p. 76, from inspeximus), confirming Masham to Roger de Mowbray to hold by the service of one knight, as Nele d'Aubigny, Roger's father, held it of Count Stephen, Alan's father.] He founded the priory of Hurst in Axholme, Lines, as a cell of Nostell, [Dugdale, Mon., vol. vi, p. 101.] and gave Aldburgh, near Masham, Yorks, to Pontigny. [Fountains Chartul., ed. Lancaster, p. 14 ; cf. Dugdale, Mon., vol. v, p. 309.] He m., firstly, after 1107, Maud, sometime wife of Robert (de Mpwbray), Earl of Northumberland, [The marriage of Robert and Maud was annulled on the ground of consanguinity; see a letter from Paschal II to Saint Anselm of the year 1107 (Rec. des Hist, de France, vol. xv, p. 39 ; Migne, Pair. Lat., vol. 163, no. 238). The exact nature of the impediment is unknown, but the Mowbrays and the family of the Earls of Chester came from the same part of Normandy.] sister of Gilbert and da. of Richer de Laigle, by Judith, sister of Hugh, Earl of Chester, [Orderic, vol. iii, pp. 198, 406, 409-410.] whom he afterwards repudiated.[Verum, defuncto Gisleberto de Aquila, fratre ejus, vafer occasionem divortii exquisivit, eamque, quia consanguinei sui conjunx fuerat repudiavit (Orderic, vol. iii, p. 410). The fact of her union with Robert de Mowbray would be a canonical impediment, notwithstanding the invalidity of the marriage. The nature of the kindred between Robert and Nele is unknown ; it has been suggested that Nele's mother, Amice, was a sister of Roger de Mowbray, Robert's father, but no sound evidence has been produced to support such a- conjecture. Maud is probably the Mathildis de Aquila who appears on the Pipe Roll of 1130 under Dorset and Staffs (ed. Hunter, pp. 16, 76).] He m., 2ndly, in June 1118, at the King's instance, Gundred, sister of Hugh and da. of Gerard de Gournay, by Edith, da. of William (de Warenne), first Earl of Surrey. [William of Jumieges, bk. viii, c. 8 ; Orderic, vol. iv, pp. 317-318.] He d. 21 or 26 Nov. 1129. The date of Gundred's death is not known." [1]
Nele d'Aubigny "witnessed a charter of Henry I for Saint Stephen's, Caen, in 1129
(Farrer, Itinerary, no. 595 A), and was dead when the Pipe Roll of 31 Hen. I was made
up at Michaelmas 1130 (Pipe Roll, 31 Hen. I, ed. Hunter, p. 24). The day of his death is given as 21 Nov. in an obituary of Durham Cathedral, printed as an appendix to the Liber Vita (Surtees Soc, vol. xiii, p. 147), and as 26 Nov. in Obits in a Latin Bible preserved in Lincoln Cathedral (Bradshaw and Wordsworth, Lincoln Cathedral Statutes, vol. ii, p. ccxlii). Robert de Torigni in his continuation of William of Jumieges (bk. viii, c. 8) says that Nele became a monk at Le Bee, and Robert himself had become a monk there shortly before. On the other hand, the Nomina monachorum Becci, printed by Poree (Hist, de I'abbaye du Bee, vol. i, pp. 629 et seq) from Vatican MS. Regin. 499, shows only one monk named Nigellus (at p. 633) professed during the abbacy of Boso (1124-1136). The names are in chronological order, and this one is sixth out of 195 professed during these twelve years; it cannot therefore be Nele d'Aubigny. There is probably some confusion with Gerard de Gournay, Nele's father-in-law, whom in the same passage Robert mentions as being a monk at Le Bee. At some time during the continuance of his first marriage, apparently in anticipation of death, he made a will leaving everything to his "lord and brother " William, whom he earnestly desired to see that his gifts to the abbeys of Le Bee, St. Albans (where he had arranged to be buried), St. Pancras (Lewes), St. Mary of York and St. Germain of Selby, &c, were respected, as well as various restitutions he had made to churches and private persons (Whitby Chartidary, Surtees Soc, vol. ii, p. 680; Historians of Church of York—-Rolls Ser.—vol. iii, p. 54). A deed of restitution to St. Peter's hospital, York, is on record, witnessed by "Th." the Archbishop (presumably Thomas II, June 1109-Feb. 1113/4), R. Bishop of Durham, and Math' conjuge mea, i.e. Maud, Nele's first wife (Idem, p. 53)." [2]
Gundred, widow of Nele d'Aubigny, "is said to have been still living in Oct. 1155 (Dugdale, Mon., vol. v, p. 353, col. 2). She was a benefactress of Byland and Rievaulx Abbeys, of St. Peter's hospital, York (Dugdale, Mon., passim), and of Whitby Abbey (Add. MS. 4715, fo. 178; Farrer MS.)." [3]
[1] George E. Cokayne, H. A. Doubleday, Howard de Walden, eds., The Complete Peerage, rev., Vol. 9, Moels to Nuneham (London: St. Catherine Press, 1936), 367-369.
[2] George E. Cokayne, H. A. Doubleday, Howard de Walden, eds., The Complete Peerage, rev., Vol. 9, Moels to Nuneham (London: St. Catherine Press, 1936), 369.
[3] George E. Cokayne, H. A. Doubleday, Howard de Walden, eds., The Complete Peerage, rev., Vol. 9, Moels to Nuneham (London: St. Catherine Press, 1936), 369.