The Flemish Families

The Shields (on the right) from the top, down: The Stewart Monarch's of Scotland; The Count of Boulogne, and his second son from Lens; Advocate of Boulogne (House of Bethune), Saher de Quincy; Count of St. Pol, Count of Hesdin; Count of Vermandois, Walter the Steward of Scotland; Count of Guines, Duke of Brittany; Lord of Alost, Erskine of Scotland.

From the Bayeux Tapestry (left), the Battle of Hasting's and the Death of King Harold: With the news of Harold's death, the Saxon army disintegrated. After a day of fierce fighting, the Normans showed no mercy to the dying and wounded, slaughtering them were they lay. Those unable to escape and hide in the forests were pursued and cut down by cavalry.

One group fled towards Malhosse pursued by Eustace of Boulogne and 50 cavalry in the fading light. In near darkness and unfamiliar with the terrain, they rode straight into a steep gully and Saxon ambush. Eustace, uninjured in the initial attack, was about to order a retreat when struck by an axe between the shoulder blades, unable to see his attacker. He died shortly after being taken back to the battlefield. William himself arrived to take command of the situation and beat off the attack before returning to the battlefield. This action, however, took place too late to change the course of the battle, which had already been won.
 

Alost: Baldwin of Alost and his younger brother, Gilbert de Ghent, companion of the Conqueror, were sons of Ralph of Alsot and cadets of Guines.  Gilbert de Ghent, Earl of Lincoln, was father of Walter de Lindsay, ancestor of the Scottish family of Lindsay.

Bethune: Hereditary Advocates of Bethune.  A son of Robert IV de Bethune went to Scotland with David I and Maud his wife, and founded the Beaton family. A cadet of Bethune was Roger de Insula, hereditary castellain of Lille, ancestor of the Lords Lyle.

Boulogne: Count Eustace I of Boulogne married Maud de Louvain, grandaughter of the last male heir of Charlemagne, and kinswomen of Robert de Bruce.  Their eldest son, Eustace II, was William the Conqueror’s most powerful ally at the Battle of Hastings.  Two of Eustace II’s three sons, Godfrey de Bouillon and Baldwin de Boulogne, became first and second Kings of Jerusalem. 

His great-niece, Maud (granddaughter of his brother Lambert) became Queen of Scotland.  His heir, Count Eustace III, married Princess Mary of Scotland, sister of Maud’s husband, David I;  their daughter and heiress, Countess Matilda of Boulogne, married Stephen of Blois and became Queen of England. Thereby, these marriages opened the door for the Flemish nobles settling in Scotland.

Hesdin: Arnulf de Hesdin, companion of the Conqueror, was brother of Count Enguerrand.  Arnulf’s elder son, Walter, succeeded to the Hesdin countship on Enguerrand’s death;  his younger son, William, took the Hesdin arms to Scotland as William de Graham.  Arnulf’s daughter, Avelina de Hesdin, became the wife of Alan Fitz-Flaad, and was the mother of Walter, ancestor of the Stuarts.

Lens: Count Lambert de Lens was the second son of Eustace I of Boulogne.  His sons by an unnamed first wife were Seier and Walter;  by his second wife, Adele, sister of William I, the Conqueror, he had Judith, married to the last Saxon nobleman, Waltheof of Northumberland, and by Domesday the richest woman in England. 

Maud, her elder daughter, inherited her great possessions and married, first, Simon de Senlis, a cadet of Vermandois, and second, David I of Scotland.  From Lambert’s sons, Seier and Walter, descended the Scottish families of Seton/Seaton, Oliphant, Fleming and their cadets;  from his granddaughter’s first marriage came the English Seatons;  from her second sprang the Kings of Scotland.

St. Pol: Family name Comines, cousins of Hesdin and Guines, kinsmen of Boulogne.  William, grandson of Robert de Comines, companion of the Conqueror, took the wheatsheaf emblem of the comte to Scotland with King David and Queen Maud, and founded the Comyn family there.