According to the Metcalfe Society a Lady out of the House Taillebois was married to WILLIAM FILS MALDRED and the mother of WILLIAM MEDECALFE DE DENT. Thus she was also an ancestor of JANE METCALFE, the paternal grandmother of DAVID WALKER.

Although it cannot be said exactly, in which way William's mother was connected to the House of de Taillebois, it seems to be likely that she was an offspring of IVO DE TAILLEBOIS' only daughter, BEATRIX, who was married to RIBALD OF MIDDLEHAM, because some of their children and grandchildren continued to bear occasionally the name Taillebois.

IVO DE TAILLEBOIS (bef 1035 - 1094/7) was a Norman nobleman and according to A. P. Brysdon a captain of Angevin soldiers, who arrived in England in 1066 with Duke William of Normandy commonly known as 'William the Conqueror'. The Roll of Dives-sur-Mer and the Battle Abbey Roll include the name of him, and also that of Guillaume (William) de Taillebois and Raoul (Ralph) de Taillebois, presumably his kin.

Domesday Book records William Taillebois holding West Ashby and Alford in Lincolnshire. It also records that Peter de Valognes and Ralph Taillebois took Welbury in Hertfordshire from "Ilbert [who] put it in his manor of Lilley while he was sheriff" and it also mentions "Azelina wife of Ralph Taillebois” holding half a hide of land in Soulbury in Cottesloe Hundred from the king in Buckinghamshire. Besides he held several properties in Bedfordshire. Ralph and his wife had a daughter,                                               Bayeux Tapestry, scene depicting Duke William of Normandy, showing his face to encourage his troops
who "... holds in Hunsdon 4 hides of the fief of Hugh de Beauchamp … Ralph Taillebois took it from Stanstead Abbots and attached it to this manor” in Braughing Hundred in Hertfordshire (Sources: Domesday Translations, Lincolnshire, LXVI, pp. 955-6, Hertfordshire, I, p. 370 and XLIII, p. 393; Buckinghamshire, LIIII, p. 420, Bedfordshire, LV, p. 586). 

Accounts are not clear cut as to where IVO DE TAILLEBOIS originated from or who his parents were, because many records related to him are vague or lost. Some ancient pedigrees and early sources, such as the Gesta Herewarde, however, represent him as being the "left-hand" (illegitimate) brother to Fulk IV, Count
of Anjou, France (picture). Provided that it is true, then Ivo was either a son of Geoffrey II, Count of Gâtinais or of ERMENGARDE OF ANJOU, daughter of Count FULK III. OF ANJOU and HILDEGARDE DE HAUTE-LORRAINE DE SUNDGAU.

The Gesta Herewarde is a Middle Latin text, which describes mainly the local resistance under Hereward the Wake (1035/36 - c. 1072), "last of the English", against the Norman conquest of England. The manuscript was written by the monk and historian Richard of Ely (died 1107), who was hisself a son of Richard de Clare and a grandson of Gilbert, Count of Brionne in Normandy. Both were companions of William the Conqueror and, like Richard of Ely, a comtemporary of IVO DE TAILLEBOIS. The Gesta Herewarde is said to be based upon interviews with companions of Hereward, who were still alive, and an earlier Old English work, badly damaged, written by Leofric, a priest of Hereward the Wake's household. This manuscript shall report, in addition to the description of the rebellion against the Normans, details about the person, IVO DE TAILLEBOIS, who, according to remarks in the manuscript, shall have "begun his life as bastard child" of ERMENGARDE OF ANJOU and a "low born" parent. This low-born man is said to have been Reinfrid de Taillebois, a soldier of William the Conquerer and first prior of Whitby Abbey. He became a monk and travelled to Streoneshalh, which was then known as Prestebi or Hwitebi (the "white settlement" in Old Norse). He approached William de Percy who gave him the ruined monastery of St. Peter with two carucates of land, to found a new monastery. Serlo de Percy, the founder's brother, joined Reinfrid at the new monastery which followed the Benedictine rule. Reinfrid, still ruled for many years before being killed in an accident. He was buried at St Peter at Hackness.
NOTE:   The surname "Taillebois" could indicate that Reinfrid may have originated from a place named like that. It is a small hamlet in the Normandy, namely in Saint-Gervais de Briouze, Calvados. A noble French family with this name is said to have been lived in Briouze, just to the south of Taillebois, since the 11th century. Interestingly Taillebois is only about 12.5 miles (~20 km) away from Fallaise (photo), where William the Conquerer was born 1027.

Assuming that informations supplied by the Gesta Herewarde are more or less correct, then IVO DE TAILLEBOIS was born latest by 1035, because ERMENGARDE OF ANJOU is said to have married about that time. To be precise due to the fact that her birth year can not be determined with certainty, but only that her parents were married by about 1000, she was probably born between 1000 and about 1018, which in turn results in a period of about 1016-1035 for the year of birth of IVO DE TAILLEBOIS.

What else is actually known about the Norman, IVO DE TAILLEBOIS?

A contemporary writer, Ingulph de Croydon, described Ivo like this: "All the people in his domains were very careful to appear humble before Taillebois, and never to address him without bending one knee to the earth, but though they were anxious to render him all homage, he made no return of goodwill. On the contrary he vexed, tormented, and imprisoned them, and loaded them with daily cruelties; his truly diabolical spirit loved evil for evil's sake. He would often set his dogs to pursue other men's cattle, would scatter the animals far and wide, drown them in the lakes, maim them in various ways, and make them unfit for service by breaking their limbs or backs. Ivo was not only absolved, but praised for all he had done in extortion, pillage, and murder."

IVO DE TAILLEBOIS provided Duke William of Normandy with ships, horses, men, and supplies for the invasion of England, in return for land taken from conquered Saxon lords. Before sailing to England, William and his knights heard Mass in the church at Dives-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, and a plaque there that lists William's companions in the invasion includes IO DE TAILLEBOIS. The Norman Conquest, estimated at 12,000-men strong, proved victorious at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. In that battle, and subsequently, Ivo appears to have served William as a loyal and effective fighter.

In 1070, King William appointed a Norman abbot for Peterborough Abbey in place of the Saxon Abbot Turold. At this, Hereward the Wake and his followers revolted against King William, sacked Peterborough Abbey, and then fled to the Isle of Ely in Cambridgeshire, where a large number of refugees gathered round Hereward. The following passage is from a 13th-century manuscript: "AD 1071. The Earls Edwin, Morcar and Siward with Egelwin, Bishop of Durham, associated themselves with many thousand disaffected persons and rebels against William the First. ... finally [they] seek a place of refuge in the Isle of Ely. There, under the leadership of Hereward the Wake, they make frequent sallies and do much damage ..."
In 1071, King William, with Ivo leading his army, besieged the Isle, and in the course of the siege, Hereward shot an arrow through William's shield, pinning it to his breast. Ivo is credited with having saved William'slife. Later, Hereward escaped capture during the siege but was caught and imprisoned. Taillebois dissuaded William from freeing him. The Gesta Herewarde, tells about him: "A proud man was Ivo Taillebois, as he rode next morning out of Spalding town, with hawk on fist, and hound at heel, and a dozen men-at-arms at his back, who would, on due or undue cause shown, hunt men while he hunted game. An adventurer from Anjou, brutal, ignorant, and profligate, low-born, too (for his own men whispered, behind his back, that he was no more than his name hinted, a wood-cutter's son), he still had his deserts. Valiant he was, cunning, and skilled in war. He and his troop of Angevine ruttiers had fought like tigers by William's side, at Hastings; and he had been rewarded with many a manor, which had been Earl Algar's, and should now have been Earl Edwin's, or Morcar's, or, it may be, Hereward's own."
Shortly before 1086, IVO succeeded Ralph de Taillebois as High Sheriff of Bedfordshire.

Ivo's chief abode, however, seems to have been in Lincolnshire, where he probably became High Sheriff of Lincolnshire before 1068. As Earl of Holland, he possessed there a large estate, namely the extensive honor of Bolingbroke, which he held in the name of his wife. In the Domesday Book he appears as a tenant-in-chief also holding Bourne and many of its manors. The Domesday Book records, "Tallboys, Ivo also called 'cut-bush'. Married Lucy. In charge of siege of Hereward the Wake at Ely, 1069. Steward to William II. Holdings in Lincs. and Norfolk."

Later he received many grants of lands in different parts of England, too. He was "enfeoffed ... of the whole of Ewecross wapentake, the later lordship of Burton in Lonsdale, and of the later barony of Kendal along with the south-western portion of Cumberland which came to be described as the barony of Copeland ..." He held in the north-west of England, close to Scotland, the manor of Morland and Kirby Lonsdale and Casterton. Possibly in return for his service as a royal steward these lands were granted to him by William II Rufus and included portions of the escheated fiefs of Roger de Poitou, Hereward the Wake, and GOSPATRIC OF ALLERDALE, EARL OF NORTHUMBRIA.
NOTE: The photo shows ruins of the Kendal castle. It is thought to have been originally a wooden motte-and-bailey structure built by the Normans sometime during the early 1100s. It "was probably constructed by the men of Ivo Taillebois (Ivor Woodcutter***), from Caen in Normandy, who was one of [the] region's first barons. A more permanent, stone structure was put up later and new buildings were added at different periods during the castle's history." 
***Remark: It should be mentioned that the translation of "Taillebois" is not quite right as it goes back to the French expression "taille du bois", which means as much as "woodsize". The French translation of "woodcutter" is rather "bûcheron".
Besides there is, however, a suggestion that the original Taillebois family could have been a branch of the De Bois family, also resident in Normandy in those days, because both families were supposed to have very similar coats of arms.

Ivo attested several charters for William the Conqueror before 1086, including the Abbey of St. Armand and the Abbey of St. Peter, Ghent, and several for William II Rufus including the Abbey of St. Florent, Saumur and the Abbey of St. Mary, La Sauve Majeure.

[1090–1097] He granted to St. Mary's York, of half his demesne of Kirkby Stephen and half of the church of that vill, two bovates of land in Winton, the churches of Kirkby Kendal, Heversham, Kirkby Lonsdale, the vill of Hutton Roof, the church of Beetham, land of Haverbrack, the church of Burton in Kendal with one carucate of land, and the church of Clapham with one carucate of land [ex Registro Abb. S. Mariae Ebor. fol. 124]. 

IVO DE TAILLEBOIS died around 1094. Most of his possessions in Lincolnshire returned to his widow and were held in the end to her third husband, Ranulph de Meschines, Earl of Carlisle. The barony of Kendal, however, lack of legitimate heirs, went back to the crown and then came into the hands of Nigel de Albini, Lord of Mowbray, whose son Roger de Mowbray passed it on to WILLIAM DE LANCASTER under the rule of Stephen. An ancient transcript of a charter is preserved at Levens Hall, by which Roger de Mowbray (c. 1120–1188) grants to William son of Gilbert, in fee and inheritance, "all my land of Lonsdale, and of Kendal, and Horton in Ribblesdale, to hold by the service of 4 knights" (Reg of Deeds at Levens Hall f79, Lancs Pipe Reg 389).
 
"One interesting fact concerning the Tail- [De] Bois family is that they were among the first in this country to employ a coat of arms. ... These arms were used by an English family named "de Bois". Argent, two bars, gules; ... canton, gules, lion of England. This type of lion which was not only popular, but used by the Angevin Kings, from at least the time of Richard Lionheart. This symbol entered Lancaster shields about the same time." 

The blazonry attributed to William de Lancaster I and several of his main line descendants: "Argent (silver), two bars gules (red), and on a canton of the second, a lion, passant guardant, or (gold)"

According to an early document, WILLIAM DE LANCASTER (died about 1170) shall have been referred to as William de Tailboys when he was younger. For that reason his earliest ancestors are said to be both IVO DE TAILLEBOIS and an English man named ELDRED. But the exact nature of the relationship is unclear and indeed controversial. An undated manuscript (Dugdale, Monasticon III, York St Mary Abbey, XX, Ex Libro Feod. milit. pence Remem. Regis in Scncc., p. 553), however, relating to Cockersand Abbey, Lancashire records that IVO DE TAILLEBOIS "had" ELDRED ("Ivo Tailbot genuit Elthredum”), which basically means nothing else than that he was his father.

Although it is accepted in the meantime that IVO DE TAILLEBOIS' had only one legitimate child, a daughter, this statement does not exclude the fact, however, that ELDRED was also his child, but born out of wedlock. Finally, it was not uncommon at that time to have illegitimate children. One only thinks of William the Conqueror himself. So why should IVO DE TAILLEBOIS not have had a "bastard child" as illegitimate children were called back then?

A father-son-relationship would at least explain why Eldred respectively his offspring came later into possession of the lands which formerly belonged to IVO DE TAILLEBOIS. This is an undoubted fact, because WILLIAM DE LANCASTER and his relatives appear in contemporary documents relating mainly to what is now the modern county of Cumbria, especially Copeland in western Cumberland, Furness in the Lake District, the Barony of Kendal, which became part of Westmorland, and various areas such as Barton between Kendal and Ullswater, also in Westmorland. Much of this area was not yet permanently part of England, then.

Regarding the Metcalfe family it is very interesting to know that the manors of Workington and Lamplugh in Cumberland were given by WILLIAM DE LANCASTER, in exchange for Middleton in Lonsdale, to Gospatric, son of Orme, brother-in-law of Waldeve, Lord of Allerdale (Magna Britannia Vol. IV, Cumberland). WILLIAM MEDCALFE DE DENT again held land in Middleton, Lonsdale, at least on the ridge of Calf top, which was ultimately the eponym of the Metcalfe family.

All in all, one can only say with certainty that IVO DE TAILLEBOIS was married at least twice.
I.   A book of fees records that Ivo de Tailbois held the “baroniam de Hephall cum uxore sua … filia Will de Bardulf”, previously held by the latter, granted by William I, King of England. (Dugdale Monasticon III, York St Mary Abbey, XX). II.  
II.  And in addition a manuscript concerning the foundation of Spalding monastery records that "Yvo Talboys" married "Thoroldo … hærede Lucia" who, after the death of Ivo, married "Rogerum filium Geroldi" and "comitem Cestriæ Ranulphum". Besides Ingulph's Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland records that "the only daughter of Ivo Taillebois … [and] his wife the lady Lucia "married "a husband of noble rank", but "died before her father."

Assuming that this statement is true, the daughter is likely to be BEATRIX, who, was married to RIBALD OF MIDDLEHAM. He was called son-in-law in a charter of Ivo de Taillebois [Monasticon Anglicanum, new ed., 3:553].
A mid-15th century manuscript lists his children, namely "Radulphum, Heruey … dictum Tailbois, Raynaldum … dictum Taylboys, Willelmum … dictum Tailbois" as the sons of "Ribaldus frater comitis" and his wife "Beatrix uxor Ribaldi". Beatrix was dead by latest 1121 at the time of a gift to St Mary's by Ribald and their son Ralph (Radulphum) de Taillebois, who was married to a member of the 'de Brus' family, later closely allied to the 'de Lancasters'. The statement, "... dead by latest 1121 ...", does not contradict the statement that she actually died before her father means before c.1094.
NOTE:   Some say that Beatrix was a daughter out of his first marriage. Whether this is true or is not true cannot be clarified at this point.

Ivo's wife, LUCY is assumed to be the daughter of Turold (Thorold) of Angiers, Sheriff of Lincolnshire and a daughter of WILLIAM MALET de Grandville, Normandy. A charter, dated 1153, of Henri Duke of Normandy (later Henry II King of England) to her son Ranulf Earl of Chester identifies her as "the niece of Robert Malet of Eye and of Alan of Lincoln, as well as kinswoman of Thorold the Sheriff".
After Ivo's death she married Roger FitzGerold, Baron of Kendal, by whom she was the mother of William de Roumare, Earl of Lincoln. She married thirdly Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester and was the mother of four children including Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester.