Hugh de Grandmesnil

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Hugh de Grandmesnil (1032 – February 22, 1098), also known as Hugh or Hugo de Grentmesnil or Grentemesnil, was a commander at the Battle of Hastings. Following the conquest William I of England gave De Grandmesnil a 100 manors for his services, sixty-five of them in Leicestershire. He was appointed sheriff of the county of Leicester and Governor of Hampshire. Hugh's possessions are listed in some detail in the Domesday book ^[1].

He married the beautiful Adeliza, daughter of Ivo, Count of Beaumont-sur-l'Oise, with whom he inherited Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, and three lordships in Warwickshire. Together they had five sons and as many daughters—namely, Robert, William, Hugh, Ivo, and Aubrey; Adeline, Hawise, Rohais, Matilda, and Agnes.

Baron Grandmesnil was at the heart of Anglo-French politics. In 1067 Hugh joined with William Fitz Osbern and Bishop Odo in the government of England, during the King's absence in Normandy. He also was one of the Norman nobles who interceded with the Conqueror in favour of Williams' son Robert Courtheuse, and effected a temporary reconciliation.

Adelize wife of Hugh de Grandmesnil died at Rouen in 1087, and was buried in the Chapter House of St. Evroult.

In 1094, Hugh de Grentmesnil was again in England, and, worn out with age and infirmity, finding his end approaching, assumed, in accordance with the common practice of the period, the habit of a monk, and expired six days after he had taken to his bed, February 22, in the city of Leicester. His body, preserved in salt and sewn up in the hide of an ox, was conveyed to Normandy by two monks of St. Evroult, and buried by the Abbot Roger on the south side of the Chapter House, near the tomb of Abbot Mainer. His eldest son, Robert, inherited his Normandy lands in the Ouch valley, while his son Ivo inherited the Honour of Leicester.