NOTE: While this paper contains various historical facts, these are interspersed
with non-sourced opinions and beliefs. Where a specific source led us to posit data beyond that cited therein, that
source is mentioned in the text.
Our first encounter with this family is with a William Malet who was present at Hasting in 1066, at the camp
of William the Conqueror. It is recorded that this man was assigned the task of seeing to the burial of Harold Godwinson.
According
to the Malet family history, William Malet's father was already living in England many years before Hastings, having married
"a noted Saxon lady related to the family of Lady Godiva". One assumes that as an adult, William Malet joined the army
of William the Conqueror either at Hastings or shortly before in Normandy.
GENERATION I:
Based upon
later descendants, we would date the birth of the senior Malet, father of William, to c. 995. We believe that "noted
Saxon lady" he married was the daughter of Thored II, the widow of Morcar son of Arngrim, a lady who was pregnant when Morcar
was slain in 1015. We think the senior Malet married her either shortly before, or soon after, she gave birth to a daughter
named Aelgifu. And that this lady subsequently gave birth to William Malet. Thus, both chidren were raised from
birth in the Malet household. Thored II was a brother of Earl Aelfhelm, the father of Lady Godiva, so the lady who was
wife to both Morcar and the senior Malet was Godiva's first cousin.
About 1036, this half-sister
of William Malet (Aelgufu daughter of Morcan) married Aelfgar of Mercia, son of Earl Leofric III. Our construction of
these marriages and resulting children is based upon the Malet Family's claim that:
"Ealdgyth, the daughter
of Aelfgar and wife of Harold Godwinson, was the neice of William Malet through Aelgifu"
Since Aelgifu was the
daughter of Morcan, she must have been only a half-sister of William Malet through her mother. But the two half-siblings
had been raised as sister and brother from birth, so it is natural for the Malet family to consider a daughter of Aelgifu
to be the niece of William Malet.
GENERATION 2:
William Malet was born
c. 1018 to the young widow of Morcar. His role at the battle of Hastings has already been noted. He married a
Norman lady whose name is known, but who is not relevant to our interest in the Malet family. They had at least two
children:
a. Robert Malet,
born c. 1045 who is cited as the uncle of Lady Lucy of Chester
b. Beatrice Malet,
born c. 1050, who married Thored IV of Lincoln
GENERATION 3:
Beatrice Malet of Spaulding,
Lincolnshire, about 1068, married the Sheriff of Lincoln, Thored IV the son of Thored III and a nephew of Lady Godiva.
They were the parents of a daughter, Lucy.
GENERATION 4:
Lady Lucy of Chester was
born c. 1070. As her third husband, she married Ranulf I, the 3rd Earl of Chester. These is a charter which names
two uncles of Lucy as Robert Malet and Hugh of Lincoln. By our construction, the first man was a brother of Lucy's mother,
while the other was a brother of Lucy's father.
The Malet family claims
Lucy was also related to Lady Godiva, who we identify as a sister of her grandfather, Thored III.
