| Notes |
- Rohese Giffard (sometimes Rose, or Rohais; died after 1113) was a Norman noblewoman in the late 11th and early 12th century.
Early life
Giffard was the daughter of Walter Giffard. Her maternal grandfather was Gerard Fleitel. Walter Giffard was the lord of Longueville-sur-Scie in upper Normandy.
Marriage
Giffard was the wife of Richard fitzGilbert, the son of Gilbert, Count of Brionne. Domesday Book records him as the eighth richest landowner in England, with lands centered on two locations – lands in Kent and Surrey grouped around Tonbridge and lands in Essex and Suffolk grouped around Clare.
Their children were
1. Roger,
2. Gilbert,
3. Walter,
4. Robert,
5. Richard,
6. Godfrey,
7. Rohese (or Rohais), and
8. Adelisa.
Roger received the Norman lands after Richard fitzGilbert's death, Gilbert received his father's English lands, Walter was given a Welsh lordship by King Henry I of England, and Robert was given lands around London by King Henry I. Richard became a monk at Bec Abbey and was later abbot of Ely Abbey. The last son, Godfrey, is known only from his burial at Clare. Rohais married Eudo Dapifer and Adelisa married Walter Tirel.
A daughter of Richard, who is unnamed, is said to have married Ralph de Fougères, but it is not known whether this refers to another marriage for either Rohais or Adelisa or if this is a third daughter. Some of the children were born before 1066, as a gift to Jumièges Abbey in 1066 mentions the souls of their children.
Landowner
Giffard occurs in Domesday Book as a landowner in her own right. Richard died between 1085 and 1087, as his son Gilbert witnesses a charter of King William II of England in that year. Rohese survived him and was still alive in 1113, when she gave a gift to St Neot's Priory which had been founded as a dependent priory of Bec on Rohese's own manor of Eynesbury. Rohese's descendants eventually were the heirs to the lands held by her father, receiving half the honour of Long Crendon in Buckinghamshire in the reign of King Richard I of England (r. 1189–1199).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohese_Giffard
------------------------------------------------------------------
“Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial & Medieval Families,” Douglas Richardson (2013):
“RICHARD FITZ GILBERT, of Bienfaite and Orbec, Normandy, lord of Clare, Suffolk, Tonbridge, Kent, Standon, Hertfordshire, Blechingley, Surrey, etc., son of Gilbert Fitz Godfrey, Count of Brionne, born about 1030-35.
He married ROHESE (or ROHAIS, ROHAID, ROAXIDIS) GIFFARD, daughter of Walter Giffard, of Longueville-sur-Scie (Seine-Maritime), Normandy, Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire, etc., by Agnes, daughter of Gerard Flaitel (or Fleitel).
They had six sons,
1. Roger,
2. Gilbert,
3. Walter,
4. Richard [Abbot of Ely],
5. Robert, and
6. Godfrey,
and four daughters,
7. Rohese,
8. Alice (wife of Walter Tirel), and
9. Avice.
He was among those consulted about the proposed invasion of England in the assembly at Bonneville-sur-Touques in 1066, but there is no direct evidence of his personal participation at Hastings or in the campaign. Nevertheless, he was a significant figure soon afterwards and occurs as a witness of royal charters throughout the reign of King William the Conqueror. He was rewarded with no fewer than 176 lordships, which consisted of two concentrations of lands, one in Kent and Surrey, and the other in Suffolk and Essex. His holdings at Tonbridge, Kent and Clare, Suffolk were both given motte and bailey castles. During the king's absence, he served as Joint Chief Justiciar. He played a leading role in suppressing the rebellion of Roger de Breteuil, Earl of Hereford and Ralph de Gael in 1075 or 1076. In 1078 or 1079 he and his wife, Rohese, sent to Bec Abbey for a colony of monks to replenish the vacant convent at Neotsbury, Huntingdonshire. Sometime before 1086 he granted the monks of Bec his manors of Tooting and Streatham, and land in Horsham (in Walton-on-Thames), all in Surrey. Sometime before 1090 he confirmed to the monks of Bec two thirds of his demesne tithes and one villain in Standon, Hertfordshire; and two thirds of his demesne tithes in Blechingley, Chivington, Woodmansteme, Tolworth, Chipstead, Betchworth, and Walton Leigh, Surrey and houses in Southwark, Surrey and Tonbridge, Kent.
*************
RICHARD FITZ GILBERT died about 1090, and was buried at St. Neots, Huntingdonshire. His widow, Rohese, was still living in 1113, when she granted the whole of her manor of Eynesbury, Huntingdonshire to St. Neot's Priory, Huntingdonshire.
Children of Richard Fitz Gilbert, by Rohese Giffard:
i. GILBERT FITZ RICHARD [see next].
ii. ROBERT FITZ RICHARD, of Little Dunmow, Essex, married MAUD DE SENLIS [see FITZ WALTER 4]
iii. ROHESE (or ROSE) FITZ RICHARD, married EUDES THE STEWARD (or EUDES FITZ HUB) of Colchester, Essex [see SAY 2].
iv. AVICE FITZ RICHARD, married RAOUL [I] DE FOUGÈRES, seigneur of Fougères [see FOUGÈRES 2].”
|
1034 - 1113 (78 years)
[3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] 
