It will be perceived from the following table, that in the story, the three Williams, sons of Count Geoffrey, have been made into one; and that the sisters, Alix and Elaine, are fictitious characters.
The House of Lusignan begins about A.D. 900, with Hugues I., surnamed _Le Veneur_. Eighth in descent from him we find--
Bourgogne, daughter of Geoffroy de Rançon.
Mahaud, daughter of Wulgrain III., Count of Angoulême.
2. GEOFFROY, COUNT DE LA MARCHE, living 1210. [Character imaginary.] _Married_--
(B) Clémence, daughter of Hugues Viscount de Châtelhérault. [Character imaginary.]
Hugues X., le Brun: _killed_ at Massoura, 1249. _Married_--
Isabelle, Countess of Angoulême, and widow of John King of England; _mar._ 1217-21; _died_ 1246.
[From this marriage sprang the House of Valence, Earls of Pembroke, famous in English history.]
_Issue of Count Geoffroy and Eustacie_:--
1. GUILLAUME, surnamed _à la grande dent_, _died_ issueless before 1250. _Married_--
UMBERGE, daughter of the Viscount de Limoges. [Character imaginary.]
2. GUILLAUME, Lord of Mairevant. _Married_--
4. GUY, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon: _crowned_ King of Jerusalem, Sept. 1186; _died Sept._, 1193-6. [See the previous article.]
(A) ESCHINE, daughter of Beaudouin d'Ibellin, Lord of Rames; _died_ 1193. [Character imaginary.]
(B) ISABEL I., Queen of Jerusalem. [See last article.]
6. RAOUL d'Issoudun, _d._ 1218-9. _Married_, before Aug. 31, 1199.
Alice, Countess of Eu: living Sept. 19, 1119.
_Issue of Guillaume Lord of Mairevant_:--
1. VALENCE, _mar._ Hugues, Lord of Parthenay.
2. Elise, or Aline, _mar._ Bartholomé, Lord de La Haye.
Alix I., Queen of Jerusalem. [See last article]
4. Bourgogne, _mar._ Gaultier de Montbelliard.
5. HÉLOÏSE, _mar._ (1) Eudes de Dampierre; (2) Rupin, Prince of Antioch.
[For issue of Amaury and Queen Isabel, see last article.]
Society was divided in the twelfth century into four ranks only,--nobles, clergy, bourgeoisie, and villeins. Two of these,--nobles and villeins--were kept as distinct as caste ever kept classes in India, though of course with some differences of detail. All titled persons, knights, and landed proprietors, belonged to the nobility. The clergy were recruited from nobility and bourgeoisie--rarely from the villein class. The bourgeoisie were free men, without land, and usually with some trade or profession; and were despised by the nobles, as men who had lifted themselves above their station, and presumed to vie with their betters. The villeins were always serfs, saleable with the land on which they lived, bound to the service of its owner, disposable at his pleasure, and esteemed by him very little superior to cattle. Education was restricted to clergy and noble women, with a few exceptions among the male nobility; but as a rule, a lay gentleman who could read a book, or write anything beyond his signature, was rarely to be seen.