My recent research has found a potentially fascinating Percy/Flemish connection. I found some Percy like heraldry in Sorrento which I was following up on when I discovered the very same, but from an area in Flanders where my description in the Percy heraldry section focuses. That is, in the Bethune, Lille and now Neufvilles region. Bethune and Lille reside in France and Neufvilles in current Belgium. The three towns form a triangle within an 80km radius, but more interesting is that in the early 10th and 11th centuries they were all part of what we know as Flanders (Flemish).

This is what I found!

Arms of Robert d’Autre. Lord of St Gobert residing in Neufvilles, place of Espernay.

Robert d’Autre, Lord of St Gobert, residing in Neufvilles, place of Espernay.

There is recent DNA evidence from the exact area, which is common to some ancient Percy descendants including that of Jocelyn de Louvain who hails from the very same region.

It would be fascinating to discover that the origin of Percy was some way related to the later marriage of Agnes de Percy and Joceline de Louvain so keeping it in the family!