joyed the hereditary dignity of
chamberlain to the Norman dukes; but at what period it was conferred
upon them, is lost in the obscurity of early history. Ralph de
Tancarville, who founded the abbey of St. Georges de Bocherville, about
the year 1050,[192] is styled in the _Neustria Pia_, under the account
of that monastry, as "Tancardi-Villae Toparcha, praefectus haereditarius
cubiculo Guillelmi secundi." In 1066, the name of the _Count of
Tancarville_[193] is enumerated among those who attended the Conqueror
into England. The chamberlain of Tancarville is recorded both by
Ordericus Vitalis and Masseville, in the list of Norman knights that
distinguished themselves in the wars of Philip-Augustus. William of
Tancarville, the same chieftain, probably, or his immediate predecessor,
had previously suffered himself to be seduced by the arts of Eleanor,
queen of Henry II. to join in the conspiracy of the sons of that
monarch, against their father: he subsequently signalized his valor,
when the banners of the lion-hearted Richard were unfurled upon the
plains of Palestine. In 1197, Ralph of Tancarville was one of the
witnesses to the treaty of exchange, already more than once mentioned in
this work, made between the sovereign and the archbishop of Rouen, in
consequence of the building of Chateau Gaillard; and when, eight years
afterwards, Philip, having become undisputed master of Normandy,
conciliated the favor of the clergy by important concessions, the
signature and seal of the chamberlain of Tancarville were attached to
the instrument.--The task were easy, by multiplying quotations from
Masseville and the early chroniclers, to extend to a great length the
instances in which the noblemen of the house of Tancarville acted a
prominent part in Norman history. It will be sufficient, upon the
present occasion, to adduce two circumstances, as indisputable proofs of
their importance. The name of Tancarville is found among the seventy-two
members of the nobility, who, in the beginning of the fourteenth
century, were summoned to the Norman exchequer; and, in the same
century, in the year 1320, after Philip VI. upon his accession to the
throne of France, had received at Amiens the homage of Edward III. for
the dukedom of Aquitaine and earldom of Ponthieu, the Count of
Tancarville was selected for the important office of ambassador to
England, in conjunction with the Duke of Bourbon and the Earl of
Harcourt, to obtain from the monarch