that his great alliances show that he knew how to maintain the status of his house in the eyes of its feudal rivals; and that death found him a very old and frail man painfully making his way to the distant spot where his Redeemer's body had lain.

There is, however, something more to say after all for Hugh IV. A curious proof exists that he had one characteristic, at all events, of the family beloved by Anselm,—a respect for letters. Here is an epistle to him from Baron de Clermont, the same, it is supposed, who was Constable of France about 1170. We translate from a MS. "Histoire des Seigneurs de Gournay," itself indebted for this document to the celebrated genealogist Duchesne.

"Raoul by the Grace of God, Count of Clermont, to Hugh Lord of Gournay, to whom he wishes that he may choose with the simplicity of the dove that which is better. Knowing that the ardour of friendship renders almost possible things even impossible, that the advantage one ought to draw from the possibility of things is to execute what is demanded one from the others, I have not hesitated to address to you this letter, to you, and your ecclesiastics. I have at Clermont, a Master who has taught there during this year, who is still actually employed in conducting the public schools. This person excited by the regulation of your town, and by the desire of meriting your friendship, wishes

me to obtain for him the object of his desires. He is well versed in the knowledge of authors, and in the science of philosophy, very accomplished as to the manner of teaching grammar and the different arts, sufficiently instructed in the Holy Scriptures, and, what is the principal thing, well-regulated conduct. Wherefore, I beg of you to accord to him, next year, the management and instruction of your town, all obstacles being removed, and this is what I ask,-at the instance of you and your clergy."*

Surely, this singular and valuable letter says a good deal for Hugh IV. That some schools already existed at Gournay is proved from its whole tone-indeed, from its being written at all; and Raoul shows that the reputation of his friend in such matters had reached the ears of the protégé on whose behalf he is writing. These Lords of Gournay, then, were not the illiterate and ferocious warriors that some people assume all the old barons to have been, but were wise enough to respect knowledge, and honest enough to propagate it. Let Hugh IV., as an offset to his faults, have the credit of representing this tendency of the family in the twelfth century.

One word now on his immediate relations, and we leave him to rest with his forefathers in the pleasant Norman land.

* Supplement to Record, p. 747, 8.

By his second wife, Melisandra de Coucy, Hugh de Gournay, whom we call the Fourth, had issue

1. GERARD, who died before his father, we believe in 1151.

2. HUGH V., his successor, whom we treat of in the next chapter.

3. GUNNORA, married to Nicholas de Stuteville. This lady received in marriage from her father the manors of Bedingham and Kimberley, in Norfolk.* The Stutevilles, de Stotevilles, or d'Etoutevilles long flourished both in France and England; the French line ending in an heiress, who married, in 1534, Francis de Bourbon, a Prince of the Blood. Eleven Stutevilles of the senior branch were barons of England successively, from the Conquest to 1266; and five of a junior one flourished between the days of the first Richard and the first Edward.† Kimberley, given en dot to Gunnora de Stuteville née Gournay, passed, after several generations, to the Fastolfs, and from them to the present noble family of Wodehouse of Kimberley, several centuries ago.

Hugh's beautiful sister, Gundreda-la belle Gondrée, wedded to Nigel d'Albini-lived chiefly in the north of England, and was a great friend of the Church. It was

* Blomefield's "Norfolk," in voc.; Close Rolls, 8 John, ap. Record, p. 93.

† Nicolas' "Peerage," by Courthope.

at her request that her son, Roger de Mowbray, founded that Abbey of Byland, the noble ruins of which still keep her memory green. She survived her husband (who died a monk, in Bec) for several years.

Melisandra de Coucy also survived her husband, but it is not exactly known how long.

Her nephew, Hugh Talbot, whom Hugh IV. had placed in the Castle of Plessis, as we have seen above, lived long enough to see the vanity of his earlier and stormier days, and died a monk, like Neil d'Albini. He was a younger brother of the Geoffrey Talbot so active in the cause of the Empress Maud, and was the direct lineal ancestor of

"that great Alcides of the field, Valiant John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury,"

who had the Gournay blood in his veins.

CHAPTER V.

HUGH V., THE FRIEND OF COEUR-DE-LION.

T

HE Hugh whom we have just lost sight of as a grey-headed pilgrim, seeking in extreme

old age the Holy Land, was followed in the pedigree by another Hugh, sprung (as we know) from his second marriage with Melisandra de Coucy. The new baron (Hugh V.) first makes his appearance, as usual, witnessing a paternal charter, that by which Hugh IV. and Melisandra founded the priory at Clair-Ruissel.* He was then called Hugh Junior in the family documents; and one thinks of him as a gallant young chevalier-half Gournay, half Coucy— drawn towards war by both bloods, but with a kindly side for letters as Gournay, and for song as Coucy. It was just the combination for a friend of Richard and a Crusader against Saladin; and we are justified in placing this baron among the most distinguished men of his line. The great trunk-line of the house of Record, where it is given.