Pernelle DE GRANDMESNIL

Filiation controversée. Certaines sources comme ES III / 4 700 la fontfille de Hugues. CP dit que ceci est faux.

In fact, Pernel's father was called William, as shown by a charter forSt-Evroult discovered by David Crouch [The Beaumont Twins, p.91, citingthe Cartulary of St-Evroult, ii, fo 33v]. However, the argument that her grandfather is likely to have been Robert, the eldest son of Hugh deGrandmesnil, still seems sound. To some extent it is supported by thefollowing evidence.

In 1157, Henry II confirmed gifts made to the hospital of Falaise by William de Grentmesnil and others [Cal. Docs France, no 1157]. By an undated charter (perhaps from 1160 or later), one Beatrix de Rye gave landto the abbey of St Jean of Falaise, for the well-being of her mother Emma and of her brother William de Grentemesnil [Lechaude d'Anisy, Extrait des Chartes ... dans les archives du Calvados, vol.1, p.232, no 9 (1834)]. It seems likely that this Beatrix was a daughter of Robert de Grandmesnil by his second wife, Emma d'Estouteville, particularly as the name Beatrix occurs in the Estouteville family, and was possibly borne by Emma's mother [C.T. Clay, ed., Early Yorkshire Charters, vol.9, p.2 (1952)]. If so, this would confirm that Robert also had a son William, who would probably be Pernel's father.

Note that K.S.B. Keats-Rohan [Domesday People I, p.263 (1999)] states that Pernel's father William was the son of Robert by Emma d'Estouteville, but no evidence is cited for the relationship.

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