"Ego Gaufridus de Mandeuile ... confirmavi mercatam terre quam Aaliz mater mea eis diuisit in Hugato, sic[?ut] Ernulfus de Mandeuile pater meus eis assignavit."[724]
Then we have a charter which thus carries us a step further:—
"Ego Galfridus de Mandeuilla filius Galfridi de Mandeuillâ concessi Domino Galfrido patri meo, filio Arnulfi de Mandeuillâ," etc., etc.[725]
Among the witnesses to this last charter are Robert de Mandeville, and Ralph his brother, and Hugh de Mandeville. Lastly, we have a charter of Ralph de Mandeville, to which the first witness is "Galfridus de Mandauilla frater meus."[726]
We have now established this pedigree:—
GEOFFREY, = Roese
EARL OF ESSEX, | de Vere.
d. 1144. |
+--------+
|
Ernulf = Aaliz.
de Mandeville, |
son and heir |
(disinherited). |
|
+-------------+---------+
| |
Geoffrey Ralph
de Mandeville. de Mandeville.
|
Geoffrey
de Mandeville.
A further charter (Harl. Cart., 54, I. 44) can now be fitted into this pedigree. It is a notification by Adam de Port, to the Bishop of Lincoln, etc., of his grant of the church of "Hattele." The witnesses are: "Hernaldo de Mandeville et domina Alicia uxore sua, domina Matiltide uxore dicti Adæ de Port, Henrico de Port, fratre ejusdem, Galfrido de Mandeville," etc.[727] Here we have a clue to the parentage of Ernulf's wife.
Passing to the reign of Henry III., we find Kingham then still in possession of the family.[728] In Wiltshire they are found yet later, Worth being still held by them in 1292-93 (21 Edw. I).[729]
The importance of the existence of Ernulf and his heirs is seen when we come to deal with the fate of the earldom of Essex. That Ernulf was "exiled" even for a time becomes a remarkable fact, when we remember that he might have found shelter from the king among the followers of the Empress in the west. But he and his father had offended a power greater than the king. The Empress could not shield him from the vengeance of the outraged Church. It is, I think, in his doings at Ramsey, and in the penalties he had thus incurred, that we must seek the reason of his being, as we shall find, so strangely passed over, in favour of his younger brother Geoffrey, who had not partaken of his guilt.
To another charter, hitherto unknown, we owe our knowledge of the fact that Geoffrey was recognized as his father's heir, by the Empress, on his death. Instructive as its contents would doubtless be, it is known to us only from the following note, made by one who had inspected its transcript in the lost volume of the Great Coucher:—