Raoul "l'Angevin" d'Angers, d'Anjou

excerpted from The Battle Abbey Roll: With Some Account of the Norman Lineages, Volume 3, edited by Catherine Lucy Wilhelmina Powlett, Duchess of Cleveland (London: John Murray, 1889) pp. 162-164 [available on Google Books]:

Trisoun, for Tesson or Taisson, the Norman-French for badger: Tisoun in Leland's list . An r has been either substituted or mistaken for an e in the spelling of this name.

The Tessons, Lords of Cinglais, one of the most powerful houses of Normandy, are by some derived from Botho, a kinsman of Rollo; by others from the Counts of Anjou; and according to Des Bois, were first seated near Angouleme (from whence their Gothic origin may be inferred), and distinguished by feats of arms against the Saracens in the eighth century. "They obtained their sirname, the badger, from their peculiar talent of burrowing or fixing their claws wherever they could gain possession; a significant, if not a noble epithet . 'La-Roche-Tesson,'—it was also a common saying—'holds one third of broad Normandy: one third of Normandy belongs to La-Roche-Tesson.' ".—Sir Francis Palgrave.

Their castle of La-Roche-Tesson was near St . Lo: and their forest of Cinglais was among the most celebrated in the Duchy. When, in 1047, the Norman and French armies encountered at Val-e's-dunes, near Cinglais, the lord of the fief appeared on the field with a great following, but held aloof from either party. "Raol Tesson de Cingueleiz saw the Normans and French advancing, and beheld William's force increasing. He stood on one side afar off, having six score knights and six in his troop, all with lances raised, and trimmed with silk tokens" (called guimples, no doubt their ladies' colours). "The King and Duke William spoke together: each armed, and with helmet laced. They divided their troops, and arranged their order of battle, each holding in his hand a baton; and when the King saw Raol Tesson with his people standing far off from the others, he was unable to discover on whose side he was, or what he intended to do. 'Sire,' said William, 'I believe those men will aid me: for the name of their lord is Raol Tesson, and he has no cause of quarrel or anger against me.' Much was then said and done, the whole of which I never heard: and Raol Tesson still stood hesitating whether he should hold with William.

"On the one hand the Viscounts besought him and made him great promises: and he had before pledged himself, and sworn upon the saints of Bayeux to smite William wherever he should find him. But all his men besought and advised him for his good, not to make war upon his lawful lord, nor to fail of his duty to him in any manner. . . . They said William was his natural lord; that he could not deny being his man; that he should remember having done him homage before his father and his barons; and that the man who would fight against his lord had no right to fief or barony. "' That I cannot dispute,' said Raol, 'you say well, and we will do even so.' So he spurred his horse from among the people with whom he stood, crying Tur aie,* and ordering his men to rest where they were, went to speak with

[* Thor-aide, the old Scandinavian eri de guerre, once in general use among the Northmen, which was exchanged for Dtx-aie (Dieu-aide), their war-cry at the battle of Hastings.]

Duke William. He came spurring over the plain, and struck his lord with his glove, and said laughingly to him, 'What I have sworn to do that I perform: I had sworn to smite you as soon as I should find you: and as I would not perjure myself, I have now struck you to acquit myself of my oath : and henceforth I will do you no wrong or felony.' Then the Duke said, ' Thanks to thee!' and Raol went his way back to his men."— Wace.

This Ralph Tesson, the founder of the Abbey of Fontenay, was the father of Ralph II., who married a cousin-german of the Conqueror's, and was present at Hastings, where he, and old Roger Marmion, " carried themselves as barons ought, and afterwards received a rich guerdon for their service." No such guerdon, however, appears to have been offered to Ralph, whose name is not written in Domesday; but we there find a Gilbert Tison or Tesson, holding a barony in York, Notts, and Lincoln. It is conjectured that Ralph II. was either slain in the battle, or died before 1086: when his eldest son, Ralph III., inherited the great fief of La-Roche-Tesson : and that Gilbert was his second son, who then received or succeeded to the English possessions that rewarded his services. "Gilbert has been called Lord of Malton and Alnwick (Reg. of Alnwick Priory); and though the former was Crown land at the date of the Survey, 'it is not improbable,' as Mr. Stapleton remarks, 'that the defence of. Alnwick Castle in the turbulent district N. of Tyne was undertaken by this great military officer, and that he made it the caput of his barony:' and that 'the influence of Roger de Mowbray, the Earl of Northumberland, may have, in that case, drawn him in to share in the rebellion (1095) which ended in the expulsion from their seigneuries of many Norman barons, whom the chroniclers omit to name.'

"There is no doubt this barony was escheated about this time, and divided by William Rufus between Nigel de Albini and Ivo de Vesci. Under Henry I., Gilbert could never regain his estates, but he continued to hold a large share of them as tenant to the grantees, one of whom (Ivo), it is not improbable, was his son-in-law or brother-in-law."—A. S. Ellis.

Dugdale makes Ivo de Vesci's wife Alda, the daughter and heiress of William Tyson, and granddaughter of Gilbert Tyson, who fell fighting on Harold's side at Hastings. But in this case the son would never have been allowed to inherit: and the statement that the Tysons were Saxon, although it has been generally accepted, seems to be no longer tenable. Neither could Ivo have received his bride and his barony at the hand of the Conqueror, since, as a matter of fact, he never obtained Alnwick until the following reign.

Gilbert survived till about 1131, and left at least two sons, Adam and Richard. "Adam Tison, who succeeded to his father, gave to Selby Abbey, with consent of Emma his wife and William his son, Atoncroft on Spalding Moor, and to the Knights Hospitallers his manor of Winkburne. He was also a benefactor to the Priories of RufTord and Thurgarton. William was living 1166 (Liber Niger), when he held his inheritance as seventeen knight's fees; fifteen of Roger de Montgomeri and two of William de Vesci. He seems to have left daughters and co-heirs, represented by Constable and Belver.

"The other son, Richard Tyson, had from his father, it is said, the manor of Shilbottel, in Northumberland and other lands (two knight's fees of the barony of Alnwick, 1166). He founded the chapel of the nuns at Gayzance, dedicated to St. Wilfrid, and witnessed the foundation charter of Alnwick Abbey by his feudal lord, Eustace FitzJohn. The Hiltons are descended from the daughter and heiress of his grandson German Tyson, but Tysons still exist, derived from one of the younger sons."—A. S. Ellis.

"M. le Prevost speaks of an opulent family existing in France, that claims descent from the Norman Lords of Cingueleiz."—-J. R. Planche.