General Notes

Nele; closely associated with Henry I, who made over to him following his victory of Tinchebrai 1106 the possessions in England of Robert de Stuteville, a follower of Henry's defeated elder brother Robert, Duke of Normandy; married 1st after 1107 (but later repudiated) Maud, formerly wife of Robert de Mowbray (originally Mon(t)brai in Normandy), Earl of Northumberland, her marriage to the latter having been declared null due to their kinship (Robert, it has been suggested, may have been 1st cousin to Nele through the latter's mother, sister of Roger de Mowbray, father of Robert); married 2nd June 1118 Gundred, daughter of Gerard de Gournay by Edith, daughter of William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, and died 21/26 Nov 1129.  [Burke's Peerage]

Note: I do not currently know what the relationship was between Maud and Robert de Mowbray which caused their marriage to be nullified.

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Mowbray, Montbrai: Manche, arr. St-Lo, cant. Percy.

The second family of Mowbray was descended from Nigel d'Aubigny who married the former wife of Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, and who was granted the lands in Normandy which the Earl had forfeited.  In the Second half of the twelth century Nigel de Mowbray was holding Montbrai.  A description of the castle was given by Gerville.  [Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families]

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Nele d'Aubigny (son of Roger and Amice), d. 21/26 Nov 1129, who was granted the English lands of Robert de Stuteville after the battle of Tinchebral, 1106.  (Nele had m. (1) Maud de Laigle, former wife of Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria, whose surname "Mowbray" was taken by his son by Gundred.).  [Magna Charta Sureties]

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The Mowbrays, Dukes of Norfolk, were from an ancient period a great baronial family and made a succession of fortunate alliances. The family was founded by Nigel de Albini, brother of William de Albini, from whom the ancient Earls of Arundel descended. The Albinis, who were maternally from the house of Mowbray, came into England with the Conqueror and obtained large possessions after the victory of Hastings. Nigel's grants lay in the cos. of Bucks, Bedford, Warwick, and Leicester, and comprised several extensive lordships. In the reign of Rufus, he was bow-bearer to the king; and, being girt with the sword of knighthood by King Henry I, had, of that monarch's gifts, the manor of Egmanton with divers parks in the forest of Sherwood, which lordship, however, he transferred to his particular friend, Robert Davil. But when King Henry had further experience of his great valour and military skill, he augmented his royal bounty and conferred upon him the vavasories of Camville and Wyville, which gracious mark of favour so attached Albini to the interests of his sovereign, that he espoused with the most devoted zeal the cause of Henry against his brother, Robert Curthose, and, taking a conspicuous part at the battles of Tenerchebray, he there slew the horse of Curthose and brought the prince himself to the king, for which eminent service Henry conferred upon him the lands of Robert, Baron of Frontebeof, named Stuteville, in England, which Frontebeof had forfeited in behalf of Curthose. After which, King Henry besieging a castle in Normandy, this gallant Sir Nigil first entered the breech, sword in hand, and delivered up the fortress to the king, which achievement was remunerated by a royal grant of the forfeited lands of his maternal uncle, Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, both in Normandy and England; as also his castles, with the castle of Bayeux and its appurtenances, so that he had no less than 120 knights' fees in Normandy and as many in England, thus becoming one of the most powerful persons of the period in which he lived. Sir Nigil de Albini m. 1st, Maud, dau. of Richard de Aquila, by permission of Pope Paschall, her husband, Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, before-mentioned, being then alive and in prison for rebellion against William Rufus; from this lady he was, however, divorced, on account of consanguinity, and by her he had no issue. He m. 2ndly, in 1118, Gundred, dau. of Gerald de Gorney, by the special advice of King Henry I, and had two son, Roger, his successor, and Henry, who had the lordship and barony of Camho, and was ancestor of the Albinis, feudal lords of that place. This great feudal baron d. at an advanced age and was buried with his ancestor in the abbey of Bec, in Normandy. He was s. by his elder son, Roger de Mowbray. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 386, Mowbray, Earls of Nottingham, Dukes of Norfolk, Earls-Marshal, Earls of Warren and Surrey]