Sir Gervais Jocelyn

Sir Gervais Jocelyn seems to be a fictitious character,
A Knight of the Crusades, and the only mention of him, to date, is in the book
'In Search of England'
by H. V. Morton

The Joslin research records do show our surname JOSCELIN as Knights in the Crusades, but NO Gervais.
If Gervais was a figment of 'Morton's' imagination, It then becomes difficult to sort fact from fiction
in his book, as his account of being in an English Churchyard at the end of his journey in Warwickshire,
and the church having many Jocelyn inscriptions is untrue. No Jocelyn inscriptions have been found
in this area. Unfortunately for us Henry V. Morton died in 1979 at the age of 87 years, so we can't ask him.

Great St Mary Church at Sawbridgeworth in Hertfordshire (then click on family tree) has the only known collection of
JOCELYN inscriptions and Hatchments (see volume 2 Joslin inscriptions) that have survived to the present day.
They would have been in place in the 1920's when 'Morton' was making his grand tour of England.
Did he wish the history of Warwick Castle and Kenilworth to add the romance of the Crusades by adding;
Sir GERVAIS JOCELYN to the ending of his book, we may never know
Henry Vollam Morton was very familiar with the Kenilworth and Warwick area as this is where
he grew up and worked on the 'Birmingham Gazette and Express' in journalism.

Another clue to the doubt of Sir Gervais JOCELYN is that at the time of the Crusades the surname
JOCELYN was better known as GOSCELIN or GOISLAN and then JOCELIN and the Knights JOSCELIN I, II, & III
But all the visible inscription spellings at Sawbridgeworth are JOCELYN, as would be seen and probably used by Morton

The Medieval Crusades to the Holy Land started in 1096 and lasted for 250 years
They are covered in fine detail on a great website

While on the subject of Joslin's and the Crusades, a visit to Cressing Temple is a 'must'
Situated between Witham and Braintree in Essex, England we find the remains of the Medieval farm of the Knights Templar,
Little has changed in the barns that are about 700 years old and the site is well over a 1000 years old.
More about Cressing and our Society Visit can be found on this website and at www.cressingtemple.org.uk
and my other page on Cressing shows the Joslin connections to this very special place in England


Averil Snodgrass & Bill Joscelyne	Part of the vast Cressing Temple Complex	Knights Templar	inside the Barns

Below is a link to the people who have contacted me in their search for Sir Gervais Jocelyn

THIS PAGE IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION and is not in date order

From John & Barbara rekab@paradise.net.nz
Thu 27/11/2003

Sir Gervais Jocelyn 1066

Good morning Peter from New Zealand.

As you will see from the link below, I have a keen interest in the writings of H V Morton.

In the last chapter of one of his books, In Search of England,
he meets a vicar in a churchyard and during their conversations the vicar mentions an association with one Sir Gervais Jocelyn,
who claimed the manor of this village in 1066. Unfortunately there is no mention of a name for this village.

A compatriot of mine is keen to try and trace this village and its name. The only other clues that I have are as follows:
The people of this village hated those from Spennithorpe,
the village maybe in Warwickshire as we believe this is where HV Morton finished his journey and Sir Gervais went on the third crusade.

The only Spennithorpe we can trace is up north so does not fit into this scenario, is there another Spennithorpe,
perhaps just a small village with a manor house.

If you can put any light on this quandary I would be most interested.

I traced you through a Google Search under 'Sir Gervais Jocelyn'

Many thanks for any help you can give.

John from Wanganui, New Zealand

For all information about HV Morton and his work go to
www.nzcal.com/hp/hvmorton

From Kim Maskery kmdl06044@blueyonder.co.uk
Thu 30/10/2003

Having read H V Morton's "In Search Of England", many times,
I suddenly realised that he does not name the location of the church at which he ends his travelogue.
This may have been deliberate on his part, either because it was not actually the end of his journey or because
he wanted to give an air of anonymity to this place which typified the England for which he searched.
In any case, almost the only clue to the identity of the place is in the reference to the Jocelyn family who are represented
in effigies within the church and to the monument to Sir Gervais.
I note, with interest, that there is a request for help in finding this monument in your Aug 1996 publication
but could not find any further mention of the subject on your website.
I am assuming you already know about this literary connection and can shed some light upon the matter.

Regards

Richard Maskery

From: Ben Joscelyne benandmary@btinternet.com
Sent: 01 October 2004 17:48
To: Bill Joscelyne; Nick and Brenda Joscelyne; Peter and Margaret Joslin; Averil Snodgrass

Subject: Fw: Sir Gervais Jocelyn and HV Mortons 1927 Book

Bob Walker has asked me to send this further message onto you Bill. ( and I am also sending to Brenda, Peter and Averil)
This seems a very plausible conclusion.
Would you like to write a piece for the Journal about Bob Walker's thoughts as you originally posed the query? Let me know please.
I have acknowledged to Bob of course. Yours, Ben.

----- Original Message -----

From: "Bob Walker"

To: "Ben Joscelyne" <benandmary@btinternet.com>
Sent: 30 September 2004 12:02
Subject: RE: Sir Gervais Jocelyn and HV Mortons 1927 Book
Hello again.
Thought you might be interested in this...I'm currently reading a biography of HV Morton. Turns out that in 1918 while in the army he wrote and performed in a play which was put on in the town of Sawbridgeworth in Herts...... I'm now 90 per cent sure that the church mentioned in his book is the church in Sawbridgeworth where many of the Jocelyns were buried but NOT Gervais (I am almost sure that Gervais was an invention of Morton's. I suspect he did this to embroider the truth or to protect the identity of the Vicar who somewhat criticises his own parishioners in the book..... Perhaps you could pass this information/theory on to Bill Joscelyne? Regards, Bob Walker.

----Original Message-----

From: Ben Joscelyne [mailto:benandmary@btinternet.com]

Sent: 09 September 2004 12:20

To: Bob Walker

Cc: Peter and Margaret Joslin; Nick and Brenda Joscelyne; Bill Joscelyne; Averil Snodgrass
Subject: Sir Gervais Jocelyn and HV Mortons 1927 Book
Dear Bob
Thanks for your further e-mail following which I have spoken to three of our Josselin Society members but without any positive lead.
Perusing our old Society Journals, I found that our current Vice President, Bill Joscelyne, posed the same question as you back in 1996
and again only last year. I have spoken to him but he has not had any response. Bill mentioned that Morton's book said that on page 270
he notes a visit to Kenilworth Church and then the reference to Sir Gervais comes on page 273 when he talks about the memorial and that
Gervais raised a local party to go on the 3rd Crusade. Bill said that he had visited two churches in Kenilworth
(assuming that was the church referred to) and the local reference library, also he wrote to a local historian, all without success.

Our Journal Editor recently wrote two articles about the Crusades involving 3 Joscelin's but she did not come across your Knight in her researches'.
The Joscelin's were Joscelin de Courtenay (nephew of Baldwin 11 of Jerusalem and also Count of Edessa), and his son (1113 -1159)
and grandson. The latter two were born and brought up in the East. These were before the 3rd Crusade which was 1188-92.
If you are going to pursue this perhaps you might try the Society of Genealogists or the Royal College of Arms. Naturally,
if you do discover anything we should be pleased to hear.
Good hunting. Yours, Ben.

From: Michael McMahon michael.mcmahon@homecall.co.uk
Sent: 03 October 2005 12:18
To: PeterJoslin@btinternet.com
Subject: HV Morton

Dear Mr Joslin
Many thanks for your help on the telephone. I am fascinated to find that HV Morton's 'Sir Gervais' might very well not have existed!
I must say that the ending of his book has always struck me as being too good to be literally true - even though it has a kind of poetic truth.

I would be very grateful for anything you might have on the search for Sir Gervais, if we are to re-trace HV Morton's steps 'In Search of England', I'll have to decide where the journey finishes. The last place to be named in the book is Kenilworth, but the Jocelyn story is not tied to a named place.
Best wishes
Michael McMahon

Link back to Home Page