Bertram de Verdun

Bertram de Verdun was the name of several members of the Norman family of Verdun, native of Avranchin.

For the historian Mark Hagger, the Verdun family lived lavishly in Normandy where they were minor land holders, and after the Norman conquest of England they were granted land in England.

Bertram I de Verdun is said to be one of the knights of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings (1066). In Domesday Book (1086), Bertram de Verdun holds the land and the manor of Farnham Royal in Buckinghamshire, held before by princess Goda of England. Some historians say Bertram was probably a son (or nephew) of Godfrey III, Duke of Lower Lorraine. This view has been given added support by the work of historian Beryl Platts, which provides compelling arguments about the Flemish origins of previously supposed Norman families including that of de Verdun.

In Domesday Book, Bertram is said to have been in Normandy for William II's business, "duc est transmare in servicio regis", and appears in two charts of William de Saint-Calais, bishop of Durham, and King's chief advisor. Bertram's wife's name is unknown, but his son and heir was Bertram II de Verdun (? – c. 1129/30). His son continued to amass land in England, and by 1128 also had been granted land in Staffordshire and Leicestershire. Hagger suggests that he also had assumed an administrative position for Henry I, and was possibly sheriff of Yorkshire in 1100.

Bertram II's grandson was Bertram III de Verdun, one of the familiares of king Henry II. His parents are Norman de Verdun, son of Bertram II, and Lesceline de Clinton, daughter of Geoffrey de Clinton, chamberlain of king Henry I. Bertram would, in the course of his life, hold very high office. He married Maud the daughter of Robert de Ferrers 2nd Earl of Derby. Maud was a minor and it is unlikely that the marriage was ever consummated; in any event she died young without children. Soon after, Bertram married Rohese de Salford who gave her husband eight children.

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