The Norman family of Tosny - pronounced Tony appear only briefly in England's history, as a family they were all gone (in name at least) by the beginning of the 14th century. Their lands, as was the norm, can be found forming part of the estates of other medieval lords who married Tosny daughters and heiresses. This family's descent is complicated and confusing partly because the direct male line was either named Roger or Ralph also there were two, maybe three men with the same name living at the same time!
Tosny coat of arms (the maunch gules or a red sleeve)
My ancestral line ends with Godehode de Tosny who received one manor on her marriage, that of Brinkley in Cambridgeshire, to William Mohun. This manor was held in 1086 by Judith of Lens and passed to Godehode through her mother Adalize the daughter of Waltheof the Anglo-Saxon Earl of Northumbria and the aforementioned Judith, the niece of William the Conqueror.
Godehode's brother was one of the many Ralph de Tosny, he died in 1157. Alice de Tosny, who is the subject of this blog today was Ralph's descendant, she was born on the 26th April in 1284.
Godehode's brother was one of the many Ralph de Tosny, he died in 1157. Alice de Tosny, who is the subject of this blog today was Ralph's descendant, she was born on the 26th April in 1284.
Castle at Conches-en-Ouche Normandy. Part of the orginal estates of the Tosny family in the 10th century
We will, of course, never know the real Alice, we can only guess how she managed her life and coped with what it threw at her. What we do know is that Alice and women like her were not as subservient as history has lead us to believe. These women had influence, control and power and many were not afraid to use it, however, throughout history, women's lives have been viewed by the gender-based functions they performed - that is a wife, a mother, a widow and sometimes an heiress. Alice de Tosny was all of these things, she fits perfectly into this view of a medieval woman.
Firstly, we see Alice as an heiress, she was a high ranking English noblewoman who lived during the reign of Edward I. At the beginning of the 14th century, Alice was wealthy in her own right, she had received the Tosny estates when her brother Robert died in 1309 without issue. This inheritance, as we have seen, had its roots at the beginning of the 12th century with the marriage of Adalize, one of two heiresses and daughters of the Earl of Northumberland and his Norman wife Judith of Lens, to Ralph de Tosny.
Firstly, we see Alice as an heiress, she was a high ranking English noblewoman who lived during the reign of Edward I. At the beginning of the 14th century, Alice was wealthy in her own right, she had received the Tosny estates when her brother Robert died in 1309 without issue. This inheritance, as we have seen, had its roots at the beginning of the 12th century with the marriage of Adalize, one of two heiresses and daughters of the Earl of Northumberland and his Norman wife Judith of Lens, to Ralph de Tosny.
Medieval Childbirth
Alice was a wife three times and a widow twice. Her first husband was Thomas Leybourne who had died in 1307 with whom she had a daughter Juliana (she too would become an heiress - the manor of Leybourne in Kent passed to Juliana on the death of her paternal grandfather William Leybourne in 1310.) Alice continued to hold her Tosny lands herself but on her marriage to Guy de Beauchamp the Earl of Warwick, it became part of the Beauchamp estate. With Beauchamp Alice had seven children and after his death in 1315 she married her third husband William de la Zouche with whom she had two children.
In totally Alice was the mother of ten children.
In totally Alice was the mother of ten children.
 Guy Beauchamp 10th Earl of Warwick |  Thomas Beauchamp 11th Earl of Warwick |
The majority of the Tosny lands and manors passed to her eldest son Thomas de Beauchamp, the 11th Earl of Warwick on Alice's death in 1325.
Eventually and for hardly any time at all, Alice's inheritance ended as it had begun, held by heiresses - Isabel and Anne Neville, the daughters of Anne Beauchamp the wife of Richard Neville. What happened to it after that is a story for another day.
A second set of sisters, Isabel and Elizabeth, the daughters of Alice and Guy de Beauchamp, received two of the Tosny manors that of Whittlesford and Brinkley.
The subject of the heiress has not been covered fully enough. More often than not the heiress is usually talked about as part of her family where the main focus of attention are the eldest sons and their children. If she is discussed at it is what she brought to the family she married into.
Eventually and for hardly any time at all, Alice's inheritance ended as it had begun, held by heiresses - Isabel and Anne Neville, the daughters of Anne Beauchamp the wife of Richard Neville. What happened to it after that is a story for another day.
A second set of sisters, Isabel and Elizabeth, the daughters of Alice and Guy de Beauchamp, received two of the Tosny manors that of Whittlesford and Brinkley.
The subject of the heiress has not been covered fully enough. More often than not the heiress is usually talked about as part of her family where the main focus of attention are the eldest sons and their children. If she is discussed at it is what she brought to the family she married into.
Naturally, there are no visual representations of Alice, however you can see the Tosny coat of arms (the maunch gules or a red sleeve) quartered in that of Guy de Beauchamp's.
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