Ivo Taillebois

Ivo Taillebois (d 1094) was a powerful Norman nobleman, sheriff and Tenant-in-chief in 11th century England.

Ivo Taillebois was a Norman most probably from Taillebois, now a small hamlet in Saint-Gervais de Briouze, Calvados. He sold land at Villers to the Abbey of Saint-Étienne, Caen and donated a church of Christot in Calvados. The latter diploma was attested by his brother Robert. Another brother, Ralph Taillebois, was High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Ivo succeeded him as sheriff after Ralph's death shortly before 1086.

In 1071 King William, with Taillebois leading his army, besieged the Isle of Ely where the rebel leader Hereward the Wake was based. Hereward escaped capture during the siege but was caught and imprisoned; Taillebois dissuaded William from freeing him.

His power base appears to have been in Lincolnshire, where he probably became High Sheriff of Lincolnshire before 1068. He married Lucy, daughter of Turold, the Sheriff of Lincolnshire before the conquest, later Countess of Chester, in whose name he held the extensive honor of Bolingbroke in Lincolnshire. In the Domesday Book he appears as a tenant-in-chief also holding Bourne and many of its manors. William Rufus further endowed him with the lands of Ribblesdale and Lonsdale in Cumbria on the border with Scotland, possibly for his service as a royal steward. He was also granted the Barony of Kendal by William Rufus, consisting of a sizable portion of Westmorland.

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.

Taillebois had at least two daughters: By his first wife, whose name is not known, he had:

• Beatrix de Taillebois-Hephall ( b. unknown-d. ca. 1120), who married Ribald, brother of count Alan Rufus.

With his second wife Lucy, they had:

• a daughter who married Eldred of Lancaster.

Ivo's widow Lucy married Roger Fitz-Gerold, Baron of Kendal, by whom she was the mother of William de Roumare, Earl of Lincoln. Lucy married thirdly Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester and was the mother of four children including Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester.

• Ivo Taillebois appears as a character in Charles Kingsley's novel Hereward the Wake.
• He is also a major character in Marcus Pitcaithly's Hereward trilogy.
• He also appears as a character in the James Wilde novels Hereward and its sequel Hereward: The Devil's Army.