The House of Tosny was an important noble family in 10th and 11th century Normandy, though it did not include any comtes or vicomtes. Its founder was Raoul I of Tosny.
Origin
The earliest account of the origin of the Tosny family is that of the late-11th century Acta Archiepiscoporum Rotomagensium, which refers to a 'powerful man', Raoul, son of Hugh de Calvacamp, of illustrious stock, and brother of Hugh, Archbishop of Rouen, active from 942 to 989. He had formerly been a monk at St. Denis, suggesting a French origin for the family. The Archbishop gave Raoul lands at Tosny, taken from the church's holdings. They formed part of this new elite which appeared around dukes Richard I and Richard II at the turn of the 10th to 11th century, and by the early 12th-century, this French family had been given a Norman pedigree, chronicler Orderic Vitalis writing in an interpolation into the Gesta Normanorum Ducum of William of Jumièges that Roger de Tosny, then Lord of Tosny and Conches, was “de stirpe Malahulcii qui Rollonis ducis patruus...” split off lands from his cathedral's lands and gave them to his brother Raoul I of Tosny. They also received grants of land from the dukes of Normandy, notably Richard II. The house of Tosny probably acquired part of its fortune from foreign adventures. Raoul I, who in 991 witnessed an accord between Duke Richard I and the Anglo-Saxon king Ethelred II, fought in the County of Apulia as part of the Norman conquest of southern Italy, while the chroniclers report the somewhat legendary exploits of Roger I in Hispania during the first quarter of the 11th century. His wife, Godehildis/Gotelina, was linked to a miracle at Sainte-Foy de Conques.
Expansion and Decline
, grandson of Roger I, was at the court of William the Conqueror, and was the Norman standard bearer in 1054. For his participation in the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, he was rewarded with domains there, most notably the two baronies of Flamstead and Wrethamthorpe. Three other family members were also rewarded: Raoul's brother Robert de Stafford, and also Robert de Todeni of Belvoir and his son Béranger, who belonged to a collateral branch. In the Duchy of Normandy, the 1077 marriage between Raoul II and Isabelle de Montfort allowed the Tosnys to direct the châtellenie of Nogent-le-Roi, which they held onto until around 1200. The family possessions thus stretched as far as the border of the duchy of Normandy. They were particularly active during the troubles which followed William I's death and the subsequent conflict between Empress Mathilda and Stephen. After 1066, as Lucien Musset remarks, the Tosnys showed themselves especially liberal to their English fiefdoms but avoided diminishing their Norman lands. Orderic Vitalis mentions four main castles in their Norman barony in 1119: Conches-en-Ouche, Tosny, Portes, Acquigny. According to the 1172 state of its fiefdoms, the "honneur" amounted to 50 or 51 knights' fiefs. The lands were mostly found in Haute-Normandie, more precisely between Risle and Iton. The vast forêt de Conches formed its centre. It also had scattered domains in the Eure valley, the Seine valley, in Vexin Normand, in Pays de Caux and Talou around Blainville-Crevon, Mortemer, Dieppe and Yerville. Many of these lands were let out to vassals, notably les Clères. In spite of these extensive holdings, the 12th century gives the impression of a decline in the Tosny family fortunes in comparison to some of the neighbouring houses in eastern Normandy. In 1204 Roger IV of Tosny lost his continental fiefdoms as a result of his support for John and thus the family had to withdraw to England. In addition to their barony of Flamstead in Hertfordshire, they captured Pain's Castle in Elfael. In 1309, the male line of the Tosnys became extinct, and their English lands passed to their sole heiress, Alice de Toeni, Countess of Warwick.
