Hascouf Musard

The pedigree of this family starts with Roald, a Breton noble living c. 1000, father of Hasculph, viscount of Nantes, Bretagne, c. 1050, whose four sons came to England at the conquest in the train of Alain Le Roux of Brittany, later earl of Richmond; Hanscouf Musard, the eldest, possessed of the great barony of Staveley in Derbyshire as well as lands in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire ; Hugh, the next son, held in Lincolnshire of the countess Judith, and in 1086 Saxeby in Leicestershire was held partly by him; Enisand, the third bother, held vast possessions in Yorkshire of Alain Le Roux, with the feudal dignity of constable of Richmond. The seat of his seigniory was at Burton near Richmond.

His grandson, Roald, founded Easby priory in 1152, whose son Alan, constable of Richmond, witnessed a charter of duke Conan of Bretagne, temp. Henry II. From this branch of the family descend the marquesses Conyngham, barons Londesborough and baronets Burton, as well as John Wycliffe, the great reformer, and the de Rupierres. Ruald, the fourth son, was surnamed Abode, and held three lordships in capite in Devonshire in 1086. His son Ruald was the father of Alan Fitz Ruald; married lady Alis de Dodbroke, through whom he acquired extensive estates. From him descended Theobald Roualt, who became seated in France, temp. Edward II, as sire de Boismenard, from whom descended Joachim Rouault, marshal of France. He died in 1478 and his posterity became settled in England, during the reign of Charles I, and were the ancestors of the barons of Northwick. Lechaude d'Anisy and de Sainte-Marie, in their Recherches-sur-le-Domesday, derived the family from the Musards, who were lords of Sauxelles and Issoudun-sur-Creuse in La Marche, but the Brittany descent fits in better with the surrounding circumstances, since they appear to have been vassals of count Alain Le Roux. --(This name appears on the Falaise Roll).