USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. I > Part 48
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In the Gentleman's Magazine, London, 1832, Part I., pp. 26-30, appears the following :
"TENANTS IN CHIEF OF DOMESDAY BOOK."
"Amongst the Domesday tenants in capite, will be found the following: "Goisfridus de Bech, Goisfridus Marescal, Milo Crispin, Turstinus Filius Rolf; and I shall be enabled, through the aid of the documents and pedigree of a foreign family, to communicate some particulars regarding them which are unknown to the English antiquary.
"The document affording the greater part of the ensuing information, is a genealogy of the Italian family of Grimaldi, sovereign princes of a small principality named Monaco, situated at the confines of France and Genoa. The manuscript was compiled in 1430 by Nicholas Grimaldi, Seigneur of Seminare in Naples, a nobleman very well skilled in historical matters. In 1647 the then reigning Prince of Monaco published it in a small folio, having employed his secretary, Venasques, for twenty years in collecting further proofs, and in making additions to it.
"The family pedigree is set out in too many English as well as foreign histories to require minute notice here. It appears by Anderson's Royal Genealogies, that the sixth in descent from Pharamond, King of the Franks, was named Grimoald or Grimbald; which Skynner, the etymologist, derives from Grim, anger; and Bald, power. He was Duke of Brabant, and slain in 658. His son, the King of Mentz, died without issue, when the name was used by the Duke's great-nephew, a brother of the renowned Charles Martel. The second of the name was Duke of Brabant and slain in 714, and from his time the surname was hereditary. The fourth in descent from this last named Duke, was the first Prince of Monaco, and one
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of the principal Commanders of the army of the Emperor Otho I., in his wars with Louis IV., of France; by the strength of his own arm he freed the Emperor from being made cap- tive, in return for which, and other services, Otho granted to him, in 920, the castle and territories of Monaco, to hold in sovereignty; and from this ancestor has this principality descended in lineal succession, unto the present day; for, though revolutionized in 1792, and sold by the French republic to a citizen of Paris, yet it was, by the definite treaty of peace of 1814, restored to the Grimaldi family. The descent was in 1715 continued by a female of the family, who became sovereign Princess, and transmitted the title, and name and arms, to her children, by her husband James Leoner Goyon De Matignon, but foreign jurists have considered the principality as a male fief, and that it belongs to the nearest male heirs, who are, perhaps, the Marquisses Grimaldi, of Genoa."
The following genealogical table of the persons noticed in this communication, will assist in clearly comprehending the detail :
GRIMALDUS I., Prince of Monaco, flourished, 920. I.
CRISPINA, daughter of Rollo, Duke of Normandy.
GUIDO, Prince of Monaco, ancestor of the Prince now living, 1831.
GIBALLINUS, a celebrated warrior in the wars against the Saracens.
HELOISE, dau. of the Count of Guynes and Boulogne.
CRISPINUS, Baron of Bec, fl. 1000. II.
Herluin, Abbot of Bec, born 994, died 1078. III.
GILBERT CRISPIN, Baron of Bec, Constable of Nor- mandy, and Marshal of the Army, Flour- ished in 1041. IV.
Odo, V.
Roger, VI.
ROLLO, or RAUF, VII.
1
WILLIAM CRISPIN, Baron of Bec, Fought at Battle of Hastings. VIII.
GILBERT CRISPIN, Lord of Thillieres, Fought at the battle of Hastings. IX.
MILO CRISPIN, a Domesday Tenant in Capite. s. p. X.
Godsfrid' de Bec, otherwise, Goisfrid' Mareshal'. A Domes- day Tenant in Capite. XI.
1 Turstin, a Domesday Tenant in Capite. XII.
"II. Crispinus, surnamed Ansgothus, on account of his maternal descent from the Goths, settled in Normandy, his mother's country, where he became possessed of the Barony of Bec, in the district of Caux. He married Heloise, the daughter of Rodulph, Count of Guynes and Boulogne, by Rosella, daughter to the Count St. Paul. Of this marriage there was issue, Herluin, Gilbert, Odo, Roger, and Ralph or Rollo.
"III. Herluin was the canonized founder of the very celebrated Abbey of Bec in Nor- mandy, lying within the district of the Barony of Bec. He died in 1078, aged 84 years. Grants of land, and possessions to this Abbey, from our Norman sovereigns, and their Nor- man followers, are frequently met with, especially from the Crispin family.
"IV. Gilbert Crispin, Baron of Bec, Governor and Lord of the Castle of Thillieres, Con- stable of Normandy, and Marshal of the Army of the Duke of Normandy in 1041, relinquish- ed the surname of Grimaldi, and assumed that of Crispin from his father, which later he transmitted to his posterity. He had issue, three sons, William Crispin, Baron of Bec; Gil- bert Crispin, Lord of Thillieres; and Milo Crispin; all warriors at the battle of Hastings. Dugdale, in his Baronage, deduces the descent of the Clare family from a Gilbert Crispin, Earl of Brion in Normandy; whose son, Richard Fitz-Gilbert, accompanied the Conqueror. This Gilbert Crispin is stated to have been the son of Geoffrey (Godfrey), the natural son of Richard, Duke of Normandy.
"V. & VI. Odo and Roger. No particulars are known to me of these brothers, excepting that in a charter of Herluin, after describing himself as 'Herluinus filius Ansgoti,' he adds. 'adstantibus et laudantibus fratribus meis Odone et Rogero.'
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"VII. Rollo or Rauf; he was the father of Goisfrid de Bec, otherwise Goisfrid the Mar- shal, and of Turstin; called in Domesday Book 'filius Rolf.'
"VIII. William Crispin, Baron of Bec, was a celebrated hero in the battle of Morti- mer, in the year 1059. He married a daughter of Simon, Earl of Montfort, and was a wit- ness to William the Conqueror's foundation charter of the Abbey of Saint Stephen of Caen, in Normandy. He acquired great glory for his valour in the battle of Hastings, and it is concluded survived that victory, as his name is in one of the copies of the Battle Abbey Roll; but it is difficult to account for his not appearing amongst the great tenants of the Conqueror in Domesday Book, as his younger brother, Milo, had very numerous possessions granted to him. He had issue, William Crispin, Baron of Bec, from whom was a long successions of Barons of the same title, residing in Normandy, and having great hereditary offices in that Duchy, under the Dukes. Some of his descendants also appear in our English records as holding lands in England under the Plantagenet Dynasty.
"Dugdale, in his Baronage, whilst writing of Milo Crispin, adds, 'of this family I pre- sume was William Crispin, one of the Conqueror's chief commanders in the war against Henry, King of France.' Some further particulars of his life are given by Dugdale, which I refer to rather than transcribe, on account of space; but it is evident that, as neither Dugdale nor any other historian mentions William Crispin's parentage, it was unknown; this conclud- ing paragraph in the Baronage greatly corroborates the foreign genealogy.
"'All that I shall say further of him is, that he ( William Crispin), gave to the Abbey of Bec, in Normandy, the Church of Droecourt, with the lands and tithes thereto belonging, as also (to) the Lordship of Tilla in the diocese of Lisieux.'
"It is evident that the Abbey of Bec was thus endowed, because it was founded by Will- iam Crispin's uncle, Herluin; and it appears by the pedigree that the Lordship of Tilla (Thillieres) in Normandy, was amongst the possessions of Gilbert Crispin, his father.
"IX. Gilbert Crispin, the second son of Gilbert Crispin, Baron of Bec, was Seigneur of the Norman fief of Thillieres, and one of the warriors at the battle of Hastings, but not a Tenant in Capite of the Conqueror, or (as far as these researches have extended) a grantee of lands as subtenant, but he is mentioned in the 'Chronicle of Normandy' as 'Le Seigneur de Tilleres,' together with his brother 'Guillaume Crespin,' amongst the companions of Will- iam the Conqueror, in 1066.
"The circumstances of thus describing Gilbert Crispin by his Lordship of Tilleres, affords evidence of the difficulty, if not impossibility, of identifying many of the Norman tenants, and their families at this period, since, as in the case of the Seigneur de Tilleres, probably no document, excepting a private pedigree or charter, exists to show the family which held such estate at the time of the Conquest. Indeed, nothing can be more fatal to correct genealogy than the foreign practice of naming individuals solely by fief or seigneuries, which were con- stantly changing owners; and the preceding proprietors of which, frequently continued the use of the title of the Lordship, after it had been transferred to some new purchaser, so that various persons existed at the same period, using the same designation. No industry can, under such circumstances, prevent the biography of one party being occasionally confused with that of another.
"Of the Battle Abbey Roll, a minute investigation respecting this family proves Camden's assertion that 'whosoever considereth it well shall find it forged;' for only one out of the five Knights of this house who accompanied the Conqueror, is therein named, although three of them were Tenants in Chief in Domesday; and the individual who was planted by the Monks in the Roll, was one who does not appear to have been a Chief Tenant of the Con- queror, and therefore probably had a less share of danger or honour on the eventful day of the battle of Hastings, than either of his brothers or cousins, who had lands granted to them by the King.
"X. Of Milo Crispin, a great Captain, favoured warrior, and Tenant in Capite of the Norman, I have no material particulars in addition to the biography in Dugdale's Baronage (title Crispin), and in Dr. Lipscomb's History of Buckinghamshire; excepting the important fact of his descent, already set forth, and to a knowledge of which neither of these historians could have any reasonable means of attaining. The circumstance of Milo being son to the Baron of Bec, who was the brother of the founder of the renowned Abbey of that name, readily accounts for the large grants which are mentioned by Dugdale and Dr. Lipscomb to have been made by him and his widow to that religious house.
"Milo's possessions are enumerated in Domesday, and comprised the honour of Walling- ford and 88 Lordships. He died without issue in 1106, forty years after the battle of Hast- ings. There are other instances in Dugdale, showing great longevity in these Norman war- riors.
"XI. Goisfrid' de Bec, otherwise Goisfrid the Marshall. This warrior fought at Hastings, and is named in Domesday under both titles, appearing consequently as two dis- tinct Tenants in Capite. There were no means by which the editors of the printed volumes of that survey could have known the fact of such two names applying to one person : and, as Dugdale was ignorant that the Crespin family were the same as the baronial family of Bec, he makes no mention of Goisfrid, under his account of the Crispins. (There was a Flemish family of the name of Bec, eminent at the time of the Conquest, holding Evesby and other manors; they were not related to the Barons of Bec, of Bec in Normandy). The varied appellation given to Goisfrid in Domesday, has many similar examples, and is easily account-
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ed for; that survey was made by inquisitions held in the various counties where the lands were situated, and since Goisfrid de Bec was the Conqueror's Marshal, there would be noth- ing extraordinary in his being designated as Goisfrid the Marescal in Hampshire, whilst in Herefordshire he was called Goisfrid de Bec.
"Goisfrid was brother of Turstin de Bec, and son of Rollo or Ralf, the brother of Gil- bert, Baron of Bec, Constable of Normandy, and Marshal of the Army of the Dukes of Nor- mandy in 1041 ; an office which seems to have been hereditary (see the Clare pedigree in Dug- dale's Baronage), like many or all of the Norman offices of honour. Goisfrid de Bec, I therefore presume, succeeded his uncle as Marshal, and was the person designated as Gois- frid the Marshal, in Domesday; and I am further led to the conclusion that he possessed this high post, since his brother Turstin was Standard-bearer to the Conqueror at Hastings, and they were relations of the Invader.
"Turstinus Filius Rolf, is thus mentioned in Domesday as a Tenant in Capite, a descent which is in accordance with the ancient Grimaldi pedigree, where he is called son of Rollo or Ralf; and the agreement which is found here, and in many other instances, between the English records, especially Domesday, and this ancient pedigree, compiled 400 years ago-a time when Domesday was unknown to foreigners, and a reference to, or knowledge of our records was impossible,-is positive proof of the correctness of the pedigree in such instances, and presumptive evidence of its general accuracy.
"Turstin was (as well as his first cousin William Crispin) Baron of Bec. It was cus- tomary on the Continent for many members of the same family to take the same feudal title at one time; in the same way that in England we have often several joint tenants of the same manor, who are all Lords or Ladies of that manor. He fought at the battle of Hast- ings, and held the high office of Standard-bearer, in which capacity he is depicted in the Bayeux tapestry, near the Conqueror. In Dr. Meyrick's History of Ancient Armour, is an account of Turstin, translated from Wace's Metrical History of Normandy, in the Royal Library, stating that the hereditary Standard-bearer of Normandy having declined to carry the Conqueror's gonfanon, William
" 'Then called a Knight Who had great prowess, Toustainz fitz Rou the Fair was his name, In the fields near Bec was his house. To him he delivered the gonfanon, And he knew how most suitably To carry it willingly, well and handsomely, Bowing most profoundly.'
"Thurstan who came in with the Conqueror, is stated in Dugdale's usage of bearing arms, to have been father of Ralph Basset, from whom the ennobled family of Basset was descended, but the account of this family given in the Baronage, is at variance with such a statement, and the foreign pedigree is silent on this head.
"I shall conclude with a few lines respecting the arms of this family. It must be well known to your readers that Mr. Henniker, in a letter addressed to the Society of Antiquaries in 1788, endeavored to prove the use of arms coeval with the Conquest, by means of some Norman tiles with armorial blazonings. He was unable to assign an owner to the tile No. 13, containing a shield Lozengy, 3, 2, and I. It is to me a probable presumption that it belonged to a member of this family, who was one of the Conqueror's Chieftains. The same appropria- tion may, I think, be made of the unascertained shield in Westminster Abbey, of the reign of Henry III .; viz., Argent and Gules; for the terms Lozengy and Mascally, or mascally voided, are often used in ancient rolls as synonymous.
"The length to which this memoir has extended, compels me to defer to another number a notice of some of this family who have been connected with English history, or driven by foreign revolutions to preserve their name and lineage upon the hospitable soil of Britain. S. G."
William Crispin appears to have been born about 1610, though the place and exact date of his birth are uncertain. The first mention of the name found in published public documents is in the "Calendar of State Papers," Domestic Series ; on March 3, 1634-5, the officers of customs at Kingston-upon-Hull advised the gov- ernor and others of the Company of Merchant Adventurers that the "Adventures," William Crispin, master, was lading in their port with woolen cloths for Amster- dam, contrary to the late proclamation, but these documents throw no light on any further happenings in the matter.
(The "Calendar" has an abstract of a letter, dated Holborn, September 2, 1635, from John Crispin to Secretary Edward Nicholas, in which he expresses hope that Nicholas's
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respects toward the late affair concerning Kingston-upon-Hull will not be forgotten, and says that because of hurting his mare, and for various causes, he could not prosecute the delin- quents, and entreats Nicholas to be his mediator; but there is nothing to show whether or not this letter has any connection with the advice of the customs officers of March 3, as the name Crispin and place Kingston-upon-Hull may be only a coincidence.)
For fourteen years after this the name does not occur in the "Calendar," and then there is a warrant from Colonels Deane and Blake to the Navy Commission- ers, dated April 3, 1649, for William Crispin, late purser on the "Recovery," to be entered on the "Truelove." On August 6, 1650, the Admiralty Commissioners wrote to Colonel Deane that six new frigates were to be supplied with officers, and sent the petition and certificates of William Crispin for a purser's place in one of them ; they instructed Deane, that if he found the papers correct, to return Crispin as fit to be employed, but to remember that they thought Thomas Phillips should be purser of the first of the frigates. ( It is not entirely certain that this William Crispin, the purser, was the same as the captain of the "Adventure ;" having already been master of a merchant-ship, he should have been able to obtain a higher office in the navy, especially if there is any truth in the story that he had been in the army. But his circumstances at the time, of which we are ignorant, might have induced him to accept the post of purser ).
In 1652 William Crispin commanded the "Hope" in the service of the Common- wealth. At that time there were very few regular naval officers or regular naval vessels ; when occasion arose to form a naval force, merchant-ships were impressed and equipped as men-of-war; army officers were generally assigned to them as admirals, captains and lieutenants in command of the soldiers who fought the ships, the navigation and command of the crew being in command of the master. On the other hand, it sometimes happened that, as many of these merchant-ships were already well armed and had a master and crew capable of fighting as well as handling the ship, the master was made captain, retaining full command of both fighting and navigation. William Crispin's captaincy was one of this latter kind. The "Calendar" has one letter written by William Crispin while in command of the "Hope" to J. Turner, November 19, 1652, saying that he mustered Captain Lawson's men on the "Fairfax," and found more landsmen and boys than upon any of the state's ships for the last ten years; that he discharged eighteen and signed their tickets, and sent down one hundred and eighty men to the "Fairfax" in the "Hope," but when they arrived and saw the landsmen, one hundred would not go, but went to other ships. This letter shows that Crispin and the other naval officers were preparing for the more important events of the following year; it also implies that Crispin had been in the service of the state for at least ten years before this date.
In May, 1653, an expedition was sent against the Dutch, under Col. Richard Deane and Col. George Monk, generals and admirals of the Parliament. The fleet in this expedition consisted of three squadrons, the first, or squadron of the red flag, contained thirty-eight ships, under the direct command of Deane and Monk ; the second, or white, thirty-three ships, under Vice-Adm. William Penn; and the third, or blue squadron, thirty-four ships, under Rear-Adm. John Lawson. Capt. Crispin commanded the "Assistance," frigate, one hundred and eighty men and forty guns, in Penn's squadron. This fleet on the 2d and 3d of June, 1653, took or destroyed between twenty and thirty Dutch ships-of-war, took thirteen hundred and fifty prisoners, and pursued the Dutch to their own harbors.
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After this engagement the "Assistance" spent the remainder of the year cruising, conveying merchantmen, and preying on the Dutch commerce, as evidenced by the following abstracts of letters in the Calendar:
"Aug. 9th, 1653, William Crispin 'Assistance' between the shore and the 'Whittaker' to the Navy Commissioners. Being ordered by the General to bring his ship to Deptford for repairs, he asks orders for masts and other stores.
"Sep. 2, 1653, Captain William Crispin, 'Assistance,' Hole Haven to Admiralty Commis- sioners. Has received the remainder of his victuals and stores, and will sail to-night for the Downs; the 'Sapphire' and 'Hector' sail to-morrow.
"Oct. 5, 1653, Capt. William Crispin, 'Assistance,' off Plymouth, to Admiralty Commission- ers. Sailed from Isle of Wight with the 'Hector,' 'Nightingale' and sixty-five merchant vessels, and meeting the 'Pearl,' sent her with orders to Captain Sparling (of the "President") and the captain of the 'Hopewell,' pink, to join him, but they declined, being bound for Guernsey and Jersey with some money, then to carry defective guns to Portsmouth or the Thames, and then for St. Malo. Parted with the fleet off Ushant, and took a ship of Middleburg, with hoops from Newhaven bound to Nantes, and the 'Nightingale' took her consort; a pink be- longing to Delft has come in with the prizes and to get a supply of men and provisions, when he will put to sea again.
"Oct. 12, 1653, Captain John Humphrey, 'Nightingale,' to Admiralty Commissioners. Has been cruising at sea with Captain Crispin of the 'Assistance.' Took a prize from Rotterdam, and had a dispute with some men-of-war from Brest for two hours, but as there were fourteen or fifteen of them, sailed towards Falmouth for assistance; intends to follow them, and then go for Ireland.
"Oct. 22, 1653, Captain William Crispin, 'Assistance,' Falmouth, to Robert Blackborne. Victualled and tallowed his ships for five months, and has been plying eastward by order of the Generals. Put into Falmouth and received some more men; hearing there are some Dutch men-of-war about the Land's End, intends plying that way. Of the forty men pressed by Capt. Mills, all but four are landsmen, and taken from their callings in the field, to the prejudice of the country. He suffers the seamen to be cleared on feeing the constables. Has sent Captains Humphreys and Sparling their instructions for sailing to Ireland."
The next year Oliver Cromwell, who was then Protector, decided to send an expedition against the Spanish possessions in the West Indies, which was dispatch- ed secretly because England was at peace with Spain. A fleet of thirty-eight ships was sent out under Admiral Penn, with Gen. Venables in command of the soldiers. The fleet was divided into three squadrons, one directly under Penn, one under Vice-Admiral Goodson, and one under Rear-Admiral Dakins. Capt. William Crispin commanded the "Laurel," one hundred and sixty seamen, thirty soldiers and forty guns, which belonged to Penn's squadron. On Wednesday, December 20, 1654, fifteen ships, some from each squadron, under Rear-Adm. Dakins, sailed from Spithead. The "Laurel" probably was one of these, for the "Calendar" has a letter from Capt. Crispin, dated on the "Laurel," off the Lizard, December 26, 1654, to the Admiralty Commissioners, saying that he was ordered by Rear-Adm. Dakins to lie out, so as to speak with any ship homeward bound, and informing them that the major-general and all the remainder on board the squadron were well and only wanted the "Indian" which was not yet joined. The remainder of the fleet sailed on the 26th. The expedition arrived in sight of Barbadoes, Janu- ary 29, 1654-5, and having put in there, made their plans and preparations ; the leaders decided to first attack Hispaniola, and the fleet sailed from Barbadoes, March 31, 1655 ; they sighted the port of St. Domingo, April 13, and landed the soldiers the same day. Capt. Crispin sailed along the shore to make observations. The journal of the expedition, April 24, says, "Letters at eleven o'clock at night, came from General Venables and the rear-admiral (on shore, the latter in com- mand of a party of sailors on land service). The general intimated that the army was just on the point to march, and that they intended that evening, or next morn- ing betimes, to be at the landing place discovered by Captain Crispin, to the north-
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ward of the Fort Jeronimo, in a little sandy bay." Some days of fighting resulted in failure, and it was then determined to try Jamaica. The fleet sailed for that island Friday, May 4, 1655, and on the 10th anchored in Jamaica harbor, except Capt. Crispin's ship, the "Laurel," which again cruised about outside. The same day the attack was made; the Spaniards made little opposition, and on the 17th formally surrendered. (The account of Captain Crispin by his great-grandson, already mentioned, gives a story of this engagement which appears to be entirely without foundation. It is to the effect that, the fleet having arrived before St. Jago, the then capital of Jamaica, William Crispin fired the first and third shots, the latter striking the flag-staff and felling it, whereupon the Spaniards surrender- ed; and that on the return of the expedition to England, its commander, Adm. Penn, was granted an addition of three balls to his coat-of-arms, in recognition of the three shots). A few days later it was decided that, on account of scarcity of provisions, part of the fleet should return to England, three ships go to New Eng- land to procure supplies, and fifteen stay at Jamaica. On Monday, June 25, the ships selected to go home set sail, Penn's being one of them. Penn went with her, leaving Vice-Admiral Goodson in command at Jamaica. The "Laurel" was one of those that remained, and, although Crispin and some of the other captains ex- pressed a desire to leave, Crispin appears to have stayed with his ship.
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