General Notes

Son of William Malet I and Asa. [Falaise Roll, Table XIII]

Robert Malet was the Domesday tenant-in-chief holding the barony of Graville-Sainte-Honorine. In 1212-20 Matthew de Buletot held land in Buletot of the lord of Graville. The ditches of the castle of the Malets below the priory of Graville were visible in 1870. [Anglo-Norman Families, p. 56]

Eldest son, succeeded his father, William, and was among the greatest landowners of England. With the honor of Eye, he held over 221 manors in Suffolk alone. He was lord great chamberlain to Henry I and lost his life and fortune in the battle of Tinchebrai, where he espoused the cause of Duke Robert. [Falaise Roll, p. 43]

Bro. of William Malet II; slain in the battle of Tinchebrai in 1106. He gave to the abbey of Bec abt 1070 "a mill at Mesnil-Joscelyn, an acre of land and the path leading to this mill with the consent of Gilbert Crispin II. [Falaise Roll, p. 196a]

By a charter temp. William I Robert Malet confirmed to Eye priory among the gifts of his men those of Hugh de Avilers, namely, 2/3 of the tithes of Brome, Suffolk, and of Shelfhanger, Norfolk. There is reason to believe that Conteville (Seine-Inf., arr. Neufchatel, cant. Aumale) was a fief of Robert Malet and that it was from this palace that his Suffolk under-tenant took his name. [Anglo-Norman Families, p. 9]

In 1086 Robert de Clavilla was an under-tenant of Robert Malet in Suffolk. In the Registers of Philip Augustus, Matthew de Buletot held 1 fee in Claville and elsewhere of the lord of Graville (Malet). The prior of Graville, a Malet foundation, was patron of the church of Claville. [Anglo-Norman Families, p. 29]

In 1086 William de Malavill' or Smalavill' was an under-tenant of Robert Malet in Suffolk. In the Registers of Philip Augustus William de Esmalevilla held 1 fee at 'Esmalevilla' of the lord of 'Gerarvilla' which is in Graville-Sainte-Honorine by Le Havre, the caput of the Malet barony in Normandy. [Anglo-Norman Families, p. 40]

Built the Castle of Eye in Suffolk. He, Roger Bigod, and Ralph Wader met Sweyn when he sailed up the Orwell in 1069 and defeated him near Ipswich. A few years later Suffolk was called to arms again under Robert Malet to resist its own earl. [Victoria History of Suffolk, p. 165]

William Malet and Esilia his wife are both named by Robert Malet as his parents in his foundation charter for Eye Priory (given before 1105) [Keats-Rohan, "Domesday Book and the Malets: Patrimony and the Private Histories of Public Lives" in *Nottingham Medieval Studies* xli (1997), 18].
   It is thought that Robert Malet son of William and Esilia and the Domesday lord of Eye was master chamberlain to Henry I since he attests as chamberlain in a notification of 13 Feb 1104/5. There is no indication that his father William Malet held that post, though William fitz Ralph (de Tancarville) held that office Normandy in the reigns of Williams I & II. [CP X: Appendix, 47-51] [Richard Borthwick <rgbor@cyllene.uwa.edu.au]

Son of William I Malet and Hesilia Crispin; m. Elisee de Brionne; first Great Chamberlain of England and once considered to have been banished from England by Henry I, but more likely died in possession of his estates. Father of:
1. William II Malet who was banished to Normandy
2. Ernest of Graville, Normandy
[Nigel Barker <nigel@a61aw.demon.co.uk]

b. 1041, d. 1071; son of Durand Malet; m. Elisie Hesilia Crispin. [Charles Dohogne <dtiman@sbcglobal.net, 9 Jul 2003]