The "family of Tancarville" was of Norman stock, of likely Scandinavian descent, originating in the Pays de Caux, from that of the Viking Tancredus (fr. Tancrède), companion of Rollo, in the conquest of northern France. Tancrède's progeny remaining closely tied to the royal family, becoming the hereditary Chamberlains of Normandie and of England, as well as many other crown offices. This family was known as "in the highest ranks of the Anglo-Norman aristocracy, the lords of Tancarville".[1]
The Normans, or Norsemen, raided the shores of England and France, from their homes in Scandinavia. The most prominent of these Norsemen was Hrólf, the Viking. whose name was Latinized to "Rollo" ... Tancredus was with Hrólf and his followers, when they seized in northern France, the area that would become "Normandie". Their possession of these lands were formalized, by the 'Treaty of St Clair-sur-Epte', between Charles III of France and Rollo, in the year 911.
The name of Tancarville does not appear until the early twelfth century, first shown in a charter for Henry I in 1103, among the barons who are mentioned as witnesses is Raoul's son, "Willelmus de Tancarvilla".[2] It was only after this that the name of Tancarville is used and the castle appeared for the time in texts. Prior to this, the family members would have been styled: de la Ville Tancrède or Tancardi Villa.
Tancreds' lands are first shown for him in 912[4] and it is likely that not much more than the Manor House (la Ancien Manoir) and some, if not all of the structure(s) along the length of Rabel's Fossé, existed in the first two generations.
Although the Tancarville are close to power, they have very little land in England. For Kathleen Thompson, it is because they are part of the Normans who "find no interest in the English affair".[17] On the other hand, they hold ninety fiefs in Normandy.[18]
Around 1316, the house of Melun, by Jean Ier, Viscount de Melun and lord of Montreuil-Bellay, allied itself with the Tancarville, of which Jeanne de Tancarville was the last heiress.[19]
The first coat of arms met with for this family, as found in the Armorial général de France, described as the "Arms of the Chamberlains de Normandie"
From the "Histoire du château et des sires de Tancarville", we[who?] find these arms shown, but with no clue as to who may have borne them, or if the charges in orle represent "mackles" (the rowel of a spur), or "estoiles" (a star).
Arms taken from the seal of Sir William de Tancarville V c. 1283 - from the "Histoire du château et des sires de Tancarville"
Seal of Lord Robert de Tancarville c. 1297 - Again from the "Histoire du château et des sires de Tancarville" - The Mackle, described as the "Rowel of a Spur", fits appropriately for this family, infamous in its Knightly accomplishments.
..
"From the beginning of the 12th century, Tancarville castle was the seat of one of the most powerful lineages of the Pays de Caux during the ducal epoch, in that of the Chamberlains of Normandy. This family, grand officers of the crown, were already landowners in the Lillebonne region towards the middle of the 11th century ..."
The castle was located on the extremity of a triangular spur, detached from the hillsides of the Seine. A large deep ditch separated it from the plateau. From the ducal epoch remains an enormous motte* with the ruins of a large 15th-century tower (the "Grosse-tour"), possibly some parts of masonry visible in the toothing stones at the south-eastern angle of the tower, and finally an imposing 12th-century residential tower known as the "Tour-carrée" (square tower), which stands at the north-western angle of the enceinte. Looking at the rest of the ensemble, the essential medieval sections are of reconstruction from the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries. - Jacques Le Maho
Bibliography - A Deville, Histoire du château et des sires de Tancarville, Rouen, 1834; J. Mesqui, Châteaux-forts et fortifications en France, Paris, 1997, p. 370-372.
No identification of this noble Norman has yet been made by any of the commentators on the "Roman de Rou," in which alone we find such a personage included in the list of the followers of the Duke of Normandy. Mr. Taylor says, "M. le Prévost rather inconclusively observes that Ralph, William's guardian, was too old and his children too young to be engaged," and adds, "Ralph's age is hardly itself a competent contradiction to Wace's statement; for his charter giving the Church of Mireville to Jumièges shows that he was living in 1079. William, his son and successor as Chamberlain, so appears in 1082." I certainly do not share the opinion of Le Prévost, and am at a loss to know where he found that Ralph, the Chamberlain of Tancarville, was guardian to Duke William. I have just mentioned this Ralph as the supposed brother of Gerold de Roumare and uncle of the William de Roumare I believe to have been at Hastings. Ralph was hereditary chamberlain of Normandy; but which of his family had first exercised that office is at present unknown.
The small Church of St. George, in the village of that name in the forest of Roumare, first endowed by Duke William, was subsequently rebuilt by Ralph, who is styled by the Duke in his charter of confirmation, "Meus magister Aulaque et Camera mea princeps." ("My major-domo or master of the household and first chamberlain.") Ralph also had the church re-decorated, and confirmed the grant which his father, Geraldus, and his brothers had given to St. George. A brother of Ralph, named Giraldus, was also an officer of William's household; and it was "Coram Giraldo Dapifer meo" that William, while yet Duke of the Normans, ratified a convention between Hugh de Pavilly and the Canons of St. George, the witnesses being the same Giraldus and Robert his son.
Now we have here two Gerolds, one who simply styles himself "a soldier of Christ," and the other the Dapifer (steward or seneschal) of William, King of the English. We also find one of these Gerolds rejoicing in two wives, named Albreda and Emicia, and who has a son, Robert, by the first. The other Gerold had a wife named Helisendis. Whether they were both Gerolds of Roumare; how they were connected; which was the father of Roger de Roumare, and which of Ralph the Chamberlain, has yet to be distinctly proved. The names of Gerald, Robert, Ralph, and William were much too common at that period to be of themselves sufficient identification; but that the chamberlain of Tancarville or Tankerville mentioned by Wace was Ralph, the son of Gerold and father of William the Chamberlain, I think cannot reasonably be doubted.
In the eleventh century, it was a stronghold lordship which depended Raoul de Tancarville, guardian of Duke William the Conqueror, future king of England. The fact that Raoul was chamberlain of Normandy, and this function has remained in the family, reinforces a simple corroboration of the hereditary nature of this title. The seal shown here is for Robert de Tancarville le Chamberlain, almost 300 years later.
"Known as ‘William the Bastard’ to his contemporaries, his illegitimacy shaped his career when he was young. As a youth he was placed—apparently a common practice in Norse society—for his protection and education in the skills of knighthood, under the guardianship of the Tancarville family living near the river Seine in Normandy. It is from this role that members of the Tancarville family took the name ‘Chamberlain’ and continued to manage the affairs of William and his heir's beyond his invasion of England through several generations."
Guillaume chamberlain confirmed the donation to the abbey of St Georges de Bocherville by Raoul, chief chamberlain of William I King of England, and his sons Raoul, Nigel and Guillaume, and their mother Avicia, with the consent of his sons Rabel and Robert and Lucy, recorded in a charter of Henry I King of England dated 1114.[citation needed]
The small Church of St. George, in the village of that name in the forest of Roumare ... was rebuilt by Ralph, who is styled by the Duke in his charter of confirmation, "Meus magister Aulaque et Camera mea princeps".... Ralph also had the church re-decorated, and confirmed the grant which his father, Geraldus, and his brothers had given to St. George. Ralph's brother, Giraldus (de Roumare), was also an officer of William's household; and it was "Coram Giraldo Dapifer meo" that William, while yet Duke of the Normans, ratified a convention between Hugh de Pavilly and the Canons of St. George, the witnesses being the same Giraldus and Robert his son.
Aumary d'Abetot, an appellation derived from the lands of St. Jean d'Abetot, canton of Calbose, arrondissement of Havre, the lordship of which belonged to the family of Tancarville, as appears from the charter of formation of the college of St. George de Bosherville, to which Ralph Fitz Gerald, in 1050, gave the church and tithes of Abetot for the support of the monks of that college, which was made an abbey in 1124.
This Ralph Fitz Gerald, who is the Chamberlain of Tancarville, was the elder brother of Aumary d'Abetot. Their father being the Gerold who was the husband of Helisendis (not Gerold of Roumare, husband of Albreda), and who probably, as Sire de Tankerville, held the hereditary office of chamberlain to the Dukes of Normandy, which we find his son Ralph and his grandson William enjoying in succession*.
"Rabel fils de Guillaume, chambellan de Tancarville, qui avait épousé Agnès, héritière des biens du fondateur de ce prieuré" confirmed the foundation of the priory of Sainte-Barbe and its possession of all its lands "de la Dive", by charter dated 1128
Henry I King of England confirmed an earlier donation to the abbey of Sainte-Barbe by "Odo Stigandus", at the request of "Guillelmi camerarii de Tancarvilla [...nepos supradicti Odonis Stigandi] et Rabelli filii sui", by charter dated 1129
Henry II King of England confirmed the possessions of the priory of Sainte-Barbe-en-Auge, including donations by "Rabelli Camerarii...Willelmus camerarius pater eius...Willelmi Camerarii filii Rabelli", by charter dated to 1185/89.
"Guillaume Chambellan de Tancarville" donated land "à Iz" to the priory of Sainte-Barbe, at the request of "Alix sa femme", by undated charter witnessed by "Guillaume de Séran, frère de la dite Alix".