MANDEVILLE/Earldom of Essex deascent

[Todd A. Farmerie]

The two most recent editions of the Weis books (MCS4 and ARCC7) show
Geoffrey Fitz Piers, Earl of Essex as son of Maud de Mandeville, daughter
of Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex. I suspect that the derivation
of this claim is a misreading of a table in CP, vol. 5 (Essex), where the
parents of Fitz Piers, Piers and Maud (as well as Maud's other husband),
are placed under the horizontal line connecting the children of Geoffrey
de Mandeville, but without a verticle connection to that line. (In other
words, they were tucked in there for the sake of spacial layout, without
intending to suggest a relationship.)

The accepted and documented descent of the Earldom of Essex to Geoffrey
Fitz Piers runs through his first wife, Beatrice de Say, who was
granddaughter of Beatrice, sister of Geoffrey de Mandeville. That this
descent was the determining factor in the grant of Essex to Geoffrey Fitz
Piers can be seen from the passing of Essex to de Bohun following the
death of the sons of Geoffrey Fitz Piers and Beatrice de Say, bypassing
Geoffrey's heir male, John Fitz Geoffrey, son by his second wife Avelina
de Clare. Were there a "better" descent from Mandeville through the mother
of Geoffrey Fitz Piers, then John Fitz Geoffrey surely would have been the
heir. Based on this, I do not think Maud, mother of Geoffrey Fitz Piers
could have been daughter of Geoffrey de Mandeville.

I am interested in any references that anyone may have to this possible
connection which do not rely on CP, or, if I simply missed it, a statement
anywhere in CP that specifically names Maud as a member of the de
Mandeville clan. In the absence of these, I think we must reject this
statement in the two Weis works.

Todd