Reginald de Dunstanville, 1st Earl of Cornwall

Reginald de Dunstanville (c. 1110 – 1 July 1175) (alias Reginald FitzRoy, Rainald, etc., French: Renaud de Donstanville or de Dénestanville), was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and an illegitimate son of King Henry I (1100-1135). He became Earl of Cornwall and High Sheriff of Devon. The title Baron de Dunstanville was created in 1797 for Francis Basset of Tehidy in Cornwall.

Origins

Reginald was born in Dénestanville in the Duchy of Normandy, an illegitimate son of King Henry I (1100-1135) by his mistress Sybilla Corbet, a daughter and co-heiress of Sir Robert Corbet lord of the manor of Alcester, Warwickshire, who was at some time the wife of "Herbert the King's Chamberlain". Reginald's sister was Rohesia, wife of Henry de Pomeroy (died c.1135), feudal baron of Berry Pomeroy in Devon.

Career

Reginald was invested with the Earldom of Cornwall by his first cousin (by blood) King Stephen (1135-1154), son of Henry I's sister Adela, Countess of Blois. He later supported Stephen's enemy and claimant of the English throne, the Empress Matilda, only legitimate daughter of Henry I, and thus by order of Stephen he forfeited his lands and honours. In about 1173 he granted a charter to his free burgesses of Truro in Cornwall, and addressed his meetings at Truro to "All men both Cornish and English" suggesting a differentiation of nations. He served as High Sheriff of Devon from 1173-1174.

Marriage & progeny

He married Mabel FitzRichard, daughter of William FitzRichard, a substantial landholder in Cornwall, by whom he had the following progeny:

• Nicholas de Dunstanville (1136–1175).
• Hawyse (or Denise) de Dunstanville (1138–21 April 1162), wife of Richard de Redvers, 2nd Earl of Devon.
• Maud FitzRoy de Dunstanville of Cornwall (b. 1143, Dunstanville, Kent, England), wife of Sir Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan.
• Ursula de Dunstanville (b. 1145), wife of Walter de Dunstanville, Lord Castlecomb.
• Sarah de Dunstanville (b. 1147), wife of Ademar V, Viscount of Limoges.
• Reginald de Dunstanville (b. c. 1152).
• Joan FitzRoy (b. c. 1150), wife of Ralph de Valletort, feudal baron of Trematon in Cornwall.

Illegitimate progeny

He also had illegitimate children by his mistress Beatrice de Vaux (also known as de Valle), later the wife of William Brewer:

• Henry FitzCount (d. 1222), Sheriff of Cornwall and Earl of Cornwall.
• William FitzCount.

Death & burial

He died at Chertsey, Surrey, and was buried in Reading Abbey.

Sources

• Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis, Lines: 50-26, 121-26, 124A-29, 143-27, 177-7, 262-27.