{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Short description|11th- and 12th-century Anglo-Norman nobleman}} '''Nigel Fossard''' (sometimes '''Niel Fossard''';<ref name=VCHHinderwell>Page (ed.) "Parishes: Hinderwell" ''History of the County of York: North Riding: Volume 2''</ref> died after 1120) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman who held the honour of Mulgrave in Yorkshire and by virtue of that is considered the feudal baron of Mulgrave.
==Life== [[File:Old Mulgrave Castle - geograph.org.uk - 1626010.jpg|right|thumb|Ruins of Mulgrave Castle, assumed built by Fossard]] Fossard came from the western part of Normandy.<ref name=DP>Keats-Rohan ''Domesday People'' pp. 302–303</ref>
Fossard held lands of Robert, Count of Mortain in the Domesday survey of 1086.<ref name=Sanders66/> In all, Fossard held 58 carucates and 6 bovates of land in Yorkshire from Robert, which before the Norman Conquest had been owned by Ligulf.<ref name=Williams67>Williams ''English and the Norman Conquest'' p. 67</ref> Throughout all three ridings of Yorkshire, Fossard's holdings amounted to over 500 carucates. His landholdings were only in Yorkshire, however. Fossard and another tenant of Robert of Mortain, Richard de Sourdeval, held the majority of the count's lands in Yorkshire.<ref name=DNB>Walker "Fossard family" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref> Although the count was a large landholder in Yorkshire, his two tenants effectively controlled all his lands and this weakened the comital power in the county.<ref name=Blakely130>Blakely ''Brus Family'' p. 130</ref>
When Robert of Mortain rebelled and lost in 1088, Fossard became a tenant-in-chief of the King.<ref name=DNB/> His holding of the honour of Mulgrave in Yorkshire means he is considered a feudal baron of Mulgrave.<ref name=Sanders66>Sanders ''English Baronies'' p. 66</ref> Under King Henry I of England, Fossard worked to concentrate his holdings around Lythe Castle, an act that was encouraged by the king in order to secure royal authority in Yorkshire.<ref name=DNB/> Because his lands were all in Yorkshire, it is likely that Fossard spent most of his time in that county.<ref name=Dalton68>Dalton ''Conquest, Anarchy and Lordship'' p. 68</ref>
Fossard gave gifts to St Mary's Abbey in York,<ref name=DP/> including lands and churches. He also gave a church to Ramsey Abbey.<ref name=DNB/> In the charter for this gift, he mentions himself, his wife, who is unnamed, and his son and heir – also unnamed.<ref name=Charters330>Farrer (ed.) ''Early Yorkshire Charters Volume 2'' pp. 330–331</ref> It also mentions King William the Conqueror, the queen Matilda of Flanders, and the king and queen's eldest son, Robert Curthose.<ref name=Prayers198/> For all the people listed, Fossard sought "fraternity" with the monastery.<ref name=Prayers198>Marritt "Prayers for the King" ''Anglo-Norman Studies'' p. 198</ref> This relationship was, according to the historian Janet Burton, "a spiritual union with the community" of the monastic house, effectively making them like a member of the community.<ref name=Burton207>Burton ''Monastic Order in Yorkshire'' p. 207</ref>
The name of Fossard's wife is not known.<ref name=Charters325/> Fossard's heir was his son Robert Fossard. He also had a daughter, Gertrude, who married first Robert de Meinil and then Jordan Paynel. The Walter Fossard who attested Nigel's charter giving lands to St Mary's may have also been Nigel's son.<ref name=DP/> Fossard died likely after 1120, and perhaps as late as 1128.<ref name=DP/> He witnessed a charter of Thurstan, the Archbishop of York that is dated to between 1114 and 1128.<ref name=Charters325>Farrer (ed.) ''Early Yorkshire Charters Volume 2'' pp. 325–327</ref> In 1129, his lands were controlled by the king, and his heir had to pay a fine to recover his inheritance.<ref name=DP/> Why the lands were in the king's control is not recorded.<ref name=Charters325/>
==Citations== {{reflist|40em}}
==References== {{refbegin|60em}} * {{cite book |author=Blakely, Ruth M. |title=The Brus Family in England and Scotland 1100–1295 |year=2005 |publisher=Boydell Press |location=Woodbridge, UK |isbn=1-84383-152-X}} * {{cite book |author=Burton, Janet |title=The Monastic Order in Yorkshire, 1069-1215 |author-link=Janet Burton |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=0-521-55229-X}} * {{cite book |author=Dalton, Paul |title=Conquest, Anarchy and Lordship: Yorkshire, 1066-1154 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1994 |isbn=0-521-52464-4}} * {{cite book |editor=Farrer, William |title=Early Yorkshire Charters Volume 2 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=2013 |orig-year=1915 |edition=Reprint |isbn=978-1-108-05824-7}} * {{cite book |author=Keats-Rohan, K. S. B. |title=Domesday People: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents, 1066–1166: Domesday Book |authorlink=Katharine Keats-Rohan |publisher=Boydell Press |location=Ipswich, UK |year=1999 |isbn=0-85115-722-X}} * {{cite encyclopedia |author=Marritt, Stephen |title=Prayers for the King and Royal Titles in Anglo-Norman Charters |encyclopedia=Anglo-Norman Studies XXXII: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2009 |editor=Lewis, C. P. |publisher=Boydell Press |location=Woodbridge, UK |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-84383-563-9 |pages=184–202}} * {{cite encyclopedia |editor=Page, William |title=Parishes: Hinderwell |encyclopedia=A History of the County of York: North Riding: Volume 2 |editor-link=William Page (historian) |location=London |year=1923 |pages=365–371 |publisher=British History Online |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol2/pp365-371 |accessdate=30 March 2022}} * {{cite book |author=Sanders, I. J. |title=English Baronies: A Study of Their Origin and Descent 1086–1327 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=1960 |oclc=931660}} * {{cite encyclopedia |author=Walker, John |title=Fossard family |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |year=2004 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/54505 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/54505 |publisher=Oxford University Press|url-access=subscription }} {{ODNBsub}} * {{cite book |author=Williams, Ann |title=The English and the Norman Conquest |authorlink=Ann Williams (historian) |publisher=Boydell Press |location=Ipswich |year=2000 |isbn=0-85115-708-4}} {{refend}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fossard, Nigel}} Category:Anglo-Normans Category:1120s deaths Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Year of death uncertain Category:English feudal barons