Ernulf de Hesdin
| Ernulf de Hesdin | |
|---|---|
| Born | Unknown Probably Hesdin. |
| Died | 1097-8 Antioch |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Medieval soldier and landholder. |
| Years active | c. 1066–1097 |
Ernulf de Hesdin (died 1097), also transcribed as Arnulf and Ernulphe, was a French knight who took part in the Norman conquest of England and became a major landholder under William the Conqueror and William Rufus, featuring prominently in Domesday Book. He was disgraced as a suspected rebel and died while taking part in the First Crusade.
As his sobriquet implies, Ernulf was probably born in the first half of the 11th century in the County of Hesdin, historically part of Picardy or Artois and centred at that time on Vieil-Hesdin, then a flourishing fortified town known as Hesdin on the bank of the Canche river, about 6 km from modern Hesdin. His family were minor landholders, vassals of the Counts of Hesdin, whose overlord was the Count of Flanders, through acquisition by marriage of the County of Artois circa 898.
The first Count of Hesdin who is definitely known through chronicles was Alulf I, who flourished around 1000. Around the middle of the century, there was another count of the same name, known as Alulf II, and he was followed by Walter I, who was contemporary with the Norman conquest of England and was noted for his piety. Walter's successor, Engelram, was count from 1072–1100, Engelram and his wife, Matilda, emulated and continued the work of Walter and immediately set about rebuilding the monastery at Auchy-lès-Hesdin, which had been destroyed by the Normans. They made it a priory of the Abbey of Saint Bertin at Saint-Omer. Ernulf must have come to maturity under the rule of Walter I but he had close links with Engelram and they appear at a number of points as allies and as benefactors of religious establishments.
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