Ivo Taillebois (1036–1094) was a powerful Norman nobleman in 11th century England.
Taillebois was among the followers of Duke William of Normandy who invaded England in 1066 and is listed on the Battle Abbey Roll. He shared in the distribution of lands among the Norman Barons, and received the lordship of Kendal as his allotment of the spoils. It consisted of a large portion of Northern Lancashire and Southern Westmorland.
His centre of power appears to have been in Lincolnshire, where he probably became High Sheriff of Lincolnshire after the downfall of Merleswein in 1068. He married Lucy, probable daughter of Turold, the Sheriff of Lincolnshire before the conquest.[1] and subsequently Countess of Chester, from whom he received all her ancient family domains, making him one of the most influential nobles in England at the time. In 1071 King William, with Taillebois leading his army, besieged the Isle of Ely where the rebel leader Hereward the Wake was based. Hereward escaped capture during the siege but was caught and imprisoned; Taillebois dissuaded William from freeing him.
Taillebois had at least two daughters: Lucy who married Ranulph le Meschin, Earl of Chester, and Beatrix, probably his only legitimate child, who married Ribald of Middleham, son of Eudo of Penthièvre. According to the annalist Peter of Blois, Taillebois and his wife Lucy's "only daughter, who had been nobly espoused, died before her father; for that evil shoots should not fix deep roots in the world, the accursed lineage of that wicked man perished by the axe of the Almighty, which cut off all his issue".
Taillebois is sometimes represented in modern texts as being brother to Fulk, Count of Anjou, France. More contemporaneously, he was said to be an ancestor of William Lancaster who is one of the earliest known users of the surname Lancaster.
The name Taillebose or Taillebois, means "cut bush" in French, but the reasons for using this name are not known. The town Taillebois in the arrondisement of Argentan, Lower Normandy, may have been associated with people using this surname; a noble French family with this name lived in the area. A note in the cartulary of La Trinite de Vendôme mentions a copy of the grant of the church and patronage of Cristot by Ives Taillebois to the abbey. The placename may have been derived from a personal name, a view supported by Hector de la Ferrière-Percy when writing his Histoire du Canton d'Athis, Orne, et de ses Communes (1858 p. 297). According to him the Norman Taillebois family, who he believes to be that of Ivo Taillebois in England, were based in Briouze, just to the south of Taillebois, from at least the 11th century. Because there was a Taillebois family in France, it is possible that the Taillebois individuals in England arrived at different times and were perhaps only distantly related.
Other men using this name in England during this period include:
Ivo Taillebois appears as a character in Charles Kingsley's novel Hereward the Wake. He is also a major character in Marcus Pitcaithly's Hereward trilogy.