Note 9 — PART II HISTORICAL STUDIES (continued 2)

Lastly, we come to the parentage of Walter Tirel himself. Mr Freeman wrote that this was 'undoubted', that 'Walter was one of a family of ten, seemingly the youngest of eight sons' of Fulc, Dean of Evreux, and that 'he became, by whatever means, Lord of Poix in Ponthieu and of Achères by the Seine' (W. Rufus, II, 322, 673).9 But the mystery of his rise is not lessened by the fact that, as Mr Freeman put it, most accounts 'connect him with France rather than with Normandy'. Closer investigation suggests that Orderic in no way identifies the Walter Tirel of 1100 with the son of Dean Fulc, and shows indeed that his French editors had specially declared the two to be distinct. In short, Walter had nothing to do with Dean Fulc or with Normandy, but was, as categorically stated, a Frenchman, the third of his name who occurs as Lord of Poix. Père Anselme identifies him with the second (who occurs in 1069), but he is probably identical with the third, who occurs in an agreement with the Count of Amiens, 1087, and who, with his wife 'Adelice', founded the Priory of St Denis de Poix,10 and built the Abbey of St Pierre de Sélincourt. It was he who was father of Hugh the Crusader.11