Notes on the surnames of Francus, Franceis, French, etc. in Scotland

12 NOTES ON THE SURNAMES.
Charter No. i, that of Rannulfus Francus, is ex-
ceedingly interesting, as locating a family. By it
it will be observed that he had sons, as well as a
daughter of marriageable age, to whom he gives the
land which he held in fee of this abbey. This seems
to imply that he had other possessions of which the
abbey were not overlords ; and, as there is nothing
thus far discovered to the contrary, it is inferred
that he held his other possessions directly from King
Stephen of England.
Mr. Dolbet fixes the date of this charter of Ran-
nulfas Francus from 1 147 to 1 153, at which period
Hugo was abbot.
The remaining charters to this and other abbeys
of the Cotentin, where the surname of Franceis
appears, are arranged by abbeys chronologically.
Charters numbered two and three in favor of the
Abbey of Saint-Sauveur were made by members of
Anglo-Norman families who are particularly identi-
fied with what may be called the Valognes district
of the Cotentin. The records confirm that the early
Franceis of the Cotentin were from this district ;
and there is nothing in the Magni Rotuli Scaccarii
Normanniae to show that Willielmus Franceis and
Rogerus Franceis, with records respectively of the
years 1180 and 1 195, were of any other location than
this district, the latter Christian names, as already
stated in the preface to my " Index Armorial," appear-
ing in Scotland after the confiscation of Normandy,