Hamon (or
Hamelin) de Château-du-Loir Hamon (or
Hamelin) de Château-du-LoirHamon appears in two charters of Hughes III, count of Maine, one in about 1013 ["S. Haimonis de super Litus" Cart. Château-du-Loir, 2 (#3)] and another in 1014 ["Signum Hameli de Leido Castello" Cart. S.-Victeur, 6 (#4); Cart. Château-du-Loir, 2 (#4)]. He was apparently the Haimo miles who signed an agreement between bishop Avesgaud of Le Mans (his brother-in-law) and the monks of the abbey of La Couture on 19 June 1028 ["Signum Haimonis, militis" Cart. Château-du-Loir, 2 (#5)]. He was succeeded by his son Gervaise I in 1031.
Date of Birth: Unknown.
Place of
Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: 15 January 1031.
["1031. Obiit Haimo pater
Gervasii archiepiscopi." Annales Remenses et
Colonienses, MGH SS 16: 731; "nec pretermittatur
ille patris mei Haimonis XVIII kalendas februarii accidens"
Act. Pont. Cenom., c. 31, 371; 15 Jan: "Ipso
die, Haimo obiit de Castro Lit." Nec. Mans, 10]
Place of Death: Unknown.
Father:
NN, son of Rorans.
[Cart. Château-du-Loir, 8-9
(#22)]
Mother: Unknown.
Spouse: m. 1006 or earlier, Hildeburge de
Bellême, d. 27 October 1024, daughter of Yves de Bellême.
The testament of Gervaise, archbishop of Reims, dated
before 1047, named, among others, his father Haimon, mother
Hyldeburge, and his mother's brother, bishop Avesgaud of Le Mans
["Ego Gervasius, sancte Cenomannensis ecclesie, ...
Annualis avunculi mei domini Avesgaudi, episcopi, ... sororis
ejus, matris quippe mee Hyldeburge: nec pretermittatur ille
patris mei Haimonis" Act. Pont. Cenom., c. 31,
367-72].
Children:
The foundation charter of the priory of
Saint-Jean-de-la-Motte between 1031 and 1036 mentions bishop
Avesgaud, the dominus Gervaise and his brothers
Avesgaud, Guillaume, and Robert ["... necnon domino meo
assistente Gervasio, fratribusque ipsius: Avisgaudo, Guillelmo,
Roberto, ..." Act. Pont. Cenom. c. 30, 362;
the charter evidently dates after the death of Hamon in 1031, but
before the death of bishop Avesgaud in 1036], and Guillaume and
Robert are mentioned as brothers of Gervaise on other occasions.
Gervaise I, b. Chateau-du-Loir, 2 Feb.
1007, d. Reims, 4 July 1067, lord of Château-du-Loir, 1031-1067,
bishop of Le Mans, 1036-1055, archbishop of Reims, 1055-1067.
[Birth: "MVII. Natus fuit
Gervasius IV Nonas Februarias apud Castrum Lidi." Ex
chronico Remensi, RHF 10: 271; "1007. Hoc anno
natus fuit Gervasius archiepiscopus futurs Remorum." Annales
Remenses et Colonienses, MGH SS 16: 731] The foundation
charter for the priory of Saint-Jean-de-la-Motte indicates that
Gervaise succeeded his father at some time before he became
bishop of Le Mans. He succeeded his uncle Avesgaud as bishop of
Le Mans in 1036, and was promoted to archbishop of Reims on 15
October 1055 ["1055. Hic primus est annus Gervasii
archiepiscopi." Annales Remenses et Colonienses,
MGH SS 16: 731; see below for 15 October]. [Death: "1066.
Decessit Gervasius." Annales Remenses et
Colonienses, MGH SS 16: 731; 4 July [1067]: "obiit
Cenomannensium ecclesie antistes Gervasius, necnon eciam
Remensium ecclesie post archiepiscopus." Nec. Mans,
151; "... Anno episcopatus domini Gervasii duodecimo
nondum finito, sed in ipsius idibus octobris si viveret finiendo,
III calendas julii, festivitate SS. Petri et Pauli, ad vesperam,
aggravatus infirmitate qua post VI die mortuus est, prædictus
domnus Gervasius archiepiscopus, ..." Cart.
Château-du-Loir, 13 (#26), from the obituary of Reims; the fact
that Gervaise was in his twelfth year as archbishop shows that
1067 is correct]
Avesgaud, fl. 1031×1036.
Avesgaud is known only from the foundation
charter of Saint-Jean-de-la-Motte [see above].
Guillaume, fl. 1031×1036, living 31
May 1040.
He was present at the foundation of
Trinité de Vendôme on 31 May 1040, and witnessed several
charters on that date ["S. Guillelmi fratris Gervasii
episcopi" Cart. Trinité de Vendôme, 60 (#35), 69
(#36), 84 (#38), 93 (#40); Cart. Château-du-Loir 5-6 (#13,
#15)].
Robert, fl.
1031×1036-1065, prob. d. bef. 1067;
m. Elizabeth.
Rotrude,
m. (1) NN;
m. (2) Guy I de Laval.
A charter of about 1100, reviewing earlier
transactions, states that Hamelin/Hamon gave up the church of
Busse (Comburniacus) to Guy de Laval, as a marriage
portion with his daughter, and to Gaudin the Old of Malincorne
[the church] of Arthezé (Artisiacus) ["Hamelinus
autem redonavit ecclesiam de Comburniaco Widdoni de Valle, cum
filia sua in maritagio, et Waldino Vetulo de Malicornant illam de
Artisiaco." Cart. S.-Aubin, 1: 373 (#327); Cart.
Château-du-Loir 6 (#16)]. A charter of about 1050 has as
witnesses, Rotrudis, wife of Wido de Valle (i.e., Guy de Laval)
and her son Gualterius, filius Rotrudis. Since this
Gualter/Walter is called a son of Rotrude rather than Gui, he was
evidently the son of an earlier marriage [Cart. Château-du-Loir
7 (#18)].
Supposed daughter (uncertain):
Hildeburge, m. Gaudin
I de Malincorne.
Hildeburge is given as a daughter of Hamon
by Europäische Stammtafeln, the primary documentation
being uncertain [ES 13: 68]. It is possible that this claim is a
result of jumping to conclusions about the statement that Hamon
gave the church of Arthezé to Gaudin [see under Rotrude above].
Falsely attributed
spouse: Godehilde de
Bellême.
White erroneously makes Hildeburge's sister
Godehilde the wife of Hamon [White (1940): 75-6, 98]. See the
pages of Yves de Bellême and Hildeburge for more details.
Supposed father
(probably falsely attributed): Hamon, lord of Creuilly and Thorigny.
[e.g., RFC2, 247-8, from which the claim
has been widely spread on the internet] I have not seen the claim
given in a credible source.
Falsely attributed
father: Adam de
Château-du-Loir.
A charter of 1080×1094, which mentions
Adam de Château-du-Loir and his son Hamelin, had been formerly
misdated to ca. 1030, with the result that the Adam of the
charter was misidentified as the father of the present
Hamelin/Hamon [Cart. Château-du-Loir, 26-7 (#51)]. In fact, this
Adam de Château-du-Loir was the present Hamon's grandson, son of
his son Robert.
Act. Pont. Cenom. = Busson & Ledru, eds., Actus Pontificum Cenomannis in urbe Degentium (Archives Historiques du Maine 2, Le Mans, 1902).
Cart. Château-du-Loir = Eugène Vallée, Cartulaire de Château-du-Loir (Archives Historiques du Maine 6, Le Mans, 1905).
Cart. S.-Aubin = Bertrand de Broussillon, Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint-Aubin d'Angers, 3 vols. (Angers, 1903).
Cart. S.-Victeur = Paul de Farcy, ed., Cartulaire de Saint-Victeur au Mans (Paris, 1895).
Cart. Trinité de Vendôme = Charles Métais, Cartulaire de l'abbaye cardinale de la Trinité de Vendôme, 5 vols. (Paris, 1893-1904).
ES = Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln (neue Folge), (Marburg, 1980-present).
MGH SS = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores series.
Nec. Mans = Busson & Ledru, Nécrologe-obituaire de la Cathédrale du Mans (Archives Historiques du Maine 7, Le Mans, 1906)
RFC2 = Roderick Stuart, Royalty for Commoners (2nd ed., Baltimore, 1992).
RHF = Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France.
White (1940) = Geoffrey H. White, "The First House of Bellême", Trans. Royal Hist. Soc. ser. 4, 22 (1940): 67-99.
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 7 July 2005.
Revision uploaded 24 January 2011 (added death date and other details).