Notices of the Ellises of England, Scotland, and Ireland, from the conquest to the present time

24
King," held a manor and other lands at Winterbume, as did also
one " John." Now, we find a John Fitz-Walter in the Pipe Roll
of 31 Henry I., paying for his manor of Etton, in Bucks. This
might probably be the same, son of Robert Fitz- Walter, of
Domesday, and father of Robert Fitz-Walter of the Pipe Roll,
and ancestor of the William of the Testa de Nevill.
There is another Fitz-Walter mentioned in Domesday, who
appears of the same family, and whose descent will still further
elucidate o\ir subject. This was Ralph Fitz-Walter, whose name
occurs frequently under the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk ;
as also does that of Ralph de Bellofago, or Beaufoy, who was
the same person or his son. A William de Beaufoy, 1 or Bellfou,
occurs also in Berks and Dorset. Ralph was sheriff of Norfolk
and Suffolk, temp. Henry I., whose daughter and heir, Agnes,
married Hubert de Rye, who was living 1146. Agatha, eldest
daughter and coheir of Fulke de Beaufov, married, at the end of
the twelfth century, Robert Aguillon, whose eldest daughter and
coheir married Robert de Cokefield. To both these families
are assigned a fleur de lis for a coat of arms ; and to Beaufelde,
gules a fleur de lis ermine. Assuming this latter to be synony-
mous with Beaufoy, it is pretty clear that this armorial de-
vice was inherited by Cokefield from Aguillon, and by Aguillon
from Beaufoy. Here then would be strong presumption of the
1 Another William de Beaufoy was Chaplain and Chancellor to William I.,
and also Bishop of Thetford or Norwich, and died circa 1091. From the
period of death, this might seem to be brother of Ralph Fitz-Walter alias
Beaufoy ; but if this family and Auberville were identical, as supposed
(vide post), this could not be. Ralph Fitz-Walter was probably lord of
Beaufoy by marriage, as, according to Du Chesne, his son and heir, Richard
" seigneur de Beaufoy " makes a charter, a.d. 1081, in the lifetime of his
father, but probably after his mother's death. If so, the bishop might
have been uncle of Richard's mother.
Unfortunately the accounts of the early Norman Beaufoys are confused
and contradictory. The English translator of Ordericus Vitalis, in a note,
vol. iv. p. 134, says, " that Richard Beaufou, Bishop of Avranches, in 1134,
is supposed to be grandson of Richard Beaufou, of Beaufou, in Cal-
vados, who married Emma, daughter of Ralph Earl of Ivry, and had by
her two sons, Robert and Humphrey." The account in the Dictionary of
Dubois (from William of Jumicges), is at variance with this, in giving
(certainly incorrectly) Emma of Bayeux as wife to Richard, living 1081.
Otherwise it may be substantially correct, it being there stated that
Ralph was sire of Beaufoy, 1066 ; Richard, his son and heir, 1081, who
had three daughters and three sons — Richard, the bishop ; William, the
second, a knight, in the service of William Rufus; and Robert, the eldest,
who, with his two sons, William and Richard, became monks of Bee, leaving
his daughter Emma heiress of Beaufou, who married Robert Baynel, who
took the name aitfl arms of Beaufoy, and whose family, in the thirteenth
century, ended in coheiresses.