General Notes

REFN: 7616AN
From RootsWeb/Horrocks: Sheriff of York, Sire De Graville. He was Sieur
De Es trepagny and the Count of the Vexin. He accompanied William the
Conqueror to England in 1066.
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Jim Weber: William Malet, of Granville, Norman dy; also held lands in
Lincs before 1066 (possibly by virtue of his mother's putative status of
Englishwoman); granted the feudal Barony of Eye, Suffolk, following the
Conquest, in which he was one of William I's chief lieutenants, being
allegedly given the task by William of burying Harold's body after
H astings; Sheriff of Yorks 1068; married Hesilia Crispin (living 10 86),
gggda u of Rollo The Dane, Duke of Normandy, and died c 1071. [Burke's
Peerage]
Ac cording to Crispin and Macary, "William (Guillaume) Malet De Graville
stands out as one of the most imposing figures at the Conquest. There can
be no doub t about his presence there, which is subscribed to by William
of Poitiers, Gu y of Amiens, Orderic Vital, and all the historians of this
epoch. So much has been placed on record concerning him that just a few
facts of his life will be recited here. He was probably descended from
Gerard, a Scandinavian prince and companion of Duke Rollo, which gave the
name of the fief of Gerardville or Graville, near Havre. Robert, the
eldest son, occurs in a document of abou t 990 in Normandy. On his
mother's siDe William Malet was of Anglo-Saxon orig in, for she was
probably the daughter of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and Godwa o r Godgifu,
the supposed sister of Thorold the Sheriff in the time of Edward t he
Confessor, and therefoe the aunt of Edwin and Morcar, Earls of
Northumbe rland. He was nearly killed in the battle of Hastings but was
rescued by the sire De Montfort and William of Vieuxpont, and was
appointed by William the C onqueror to take charge of the body of Harold,
a statement that has been disp uted. The consensus of opinion favors it,
and it is most logical if William M alet's mother was as stated the sister
of Algar II., 7th Earl of Mercia, who was the father of Alditha, wife of
Harold. He accompanied King William at the reduction of Nottingham and
York in 1068, for which he was rewarded with the shreivalty of land in
that county. Gilbert De Gand and Robert Fitz Richard w ere also commanders
in this expedition. The following year he was besieged in the castle of
York by Edgar, the Saxon prince, and was only saved from surre nder by the
timely arrival of the Conqueror. In the same year he was attacked by the
Danes, who captured the city of York with great slaughter and took
William Malet, his wife and children, prisoners, but their lives were
spared, as was that of Gilbert De Gand, for the sake of their ransoms.
There is evid ence that he was slain in this year, but it is uncertain and
the date of his death is unknown. An entry in Domesday that "William
Malet was seized of this place (Cidestan, Co. Suffolk), where he
proceeded on the King' s service whe re he died," would indicate that his
death occurred during the compilation of that book. He was witness to a
charter of King William to the church of St. Martin-le- Grand, in London,
and is there styled "princeps," which title, how ever, was honorary and
not hereditary, having ceased with his death."
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William Malet, or Guillaume, as he may ha ve been called, "Sire de
Graville", came from Graville Sainte Honorine betwee n Le Havre and
Harfleur, in what is today the French province of Normandy. He is said to
have had a Norman father and a Saxon (read English) mother, and h ad some
sort of assoc iation with King Harold of England before the conquest.
William, through his Saxon mother, may actually have been related to King
Harold, and also to the well known Lady Godiva. It is also possible that
Will iam and Harold were both God fathers of Duke William of Normandy's
daughter, Abela.
The Malet Castle at Graville Sainte Honor