Life History

Other facts

Notes

• Mellete figures in the le Strange legend as part of an epic French prose tale, the "Romance of Fouke le fitz Warine."  This was written by an unknown author in traditional troubadour style of the 13th century, (1200s).  It follows the ever-popular story of a wrongly-declared outlaw and his romantic life and his faithful sweetheart, a favorite theme of American westerns of the 20th century.
  
  These stories draw on real or legendary character and tell the story in the lifestyle and culture of their present day.
  
  Most sources have no wife for Guy.  The name of Mellette may have been "borrowed" in Le Strange family legend/tradition, sue to the association with Brittany, the original home of the Strange (Extraneus) line transplanted to Norfolk a few years before the conquest of Britain by William the Conqueror (a Norman, with some associations with Brittany).
  
  Mellette was the damsel whose hand Guy won in a tournament in the time of William the Conqueror.  It is likely that this name was projected back when the story was told with Guy Le Strange in focus, as this was the style of medieval tales.  Stories of old characters were told in "modern" focus and format, using their medieval Norman or Frankish feudal culture as the context for the stories.
  
  The Le Strange Website, focusing on the history and lineage of the Hunstanton Le Strange family, does not report any ancestors before Roland.  That is, they do not include the legendary forbears we are discussing here.  They mention nothing about the legend of Guy or his father Hoel (Howell).  Other genealogies and some histories refer to Guy, who was a real person, attempting to separate him from the romance of legend that developed around him in the stories of his grandson descendant.
  
  Guy is said in legend to be from Metz.  A 12th century romance portrays him as the son of the Duke of Brittany, like his father also, associated in seemingly unhistorical fancy with Hoel V of Brittany.
  
  Guy's wife Mellette may be a true figure, so I have made her his wife.  Sources, however, report his parents as Hoel (Howell) and Hawsie or Hawise.  The bulk of the following presentation of the legend comes from the Le Strange Family Genealogy on the Hart Family Web Site, whose Corbet-Le Strange genealogy I have used as one basis for the family lines of this period.
  
  The character Mellette first appears in a story set in the story of Guy and Fulk, in the 11th century A.D.  That Mellette features as the outlaw's grandmother.  In her youth, Mellette was united with her husband Guy of Metz, who otherwise was known in France from whence he came, as Guarine or Warine de Metz.  This may be Guy Le strange or a melange of characters for the medieval romance story purposes.
  
  The chapter conveys how the Le Strange family was founded, prior to the Warines (Warrens, Guarines), when Mellette, a beautiful damsel has a jousting tournament arranged for by her wealthy uncle, William Peverel. This was held in the time of William the Conqueror, in 1083 at his Castle Peveril (Peverel) in the Peak of Derbyshire England, and this is where she was expected to find a suitable husband, to which she replied:
  
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  "Sire, no knight is there in all the world that I would take for the sake of riches and the honour of this land but if ever I take such a one he shall be handsome and courteous and accomplished and the most valiant of his order in all Christendom. Of riches I make no account, for truly can I say that he is rich who has that which his heart desires."
  --  from: Mellette, "The Romance of Fouk le fitz Warine"
  ------------------------------------
  
  Ultimately, Guy, with his life spared, victoriously claimed his wife, Mellette, who had already expressed her interest in him by sending over her glove. (All these aspects of the story reflect the culture and practice of the later high Norman period, as commented earlier, from the 1200s and later, not the 1000s and 1100s of the LeStrange family in focus).  The story continues... "..... Guy remained in England, and conquered, by the force of his sword, many beautiful lands, and so was named Guy le Strange ...."
  For more information see the "http://www.renderplus.com/hartgen/index.htm"
  --  Our Folk -- Hart family Web Site
  
  A few sources name Guy's wife Mary.  No source I have seen has a maiden name for Guy's wife.  No historical documentation is available.

Sources

• 1. Our Folk, Albert D Hart
  • http://www.renderplus.com/hartgen/htm/le-strange.htm
• 2. Senderling Genealogy
  • Name: Name: http://www.freemarket-phone.com/dat111.htm;;
• 3. Le Strange GeneaNet
  • M Berger, http://gw.geneanet.org/index.php3?b=mberger256&lang=en;p=roland;n=le+strange
• 4. World Family Tree Vol. 14
  • Pedigree #3302
• 5. Strange Genealogy
  • http://thor.genserv.net/sub/strub/fam_162.htm
• 6. Le Strange GeneaNet
• 7. Our Folk, Albert D Hart