Modern genealogists disagree with the Scottish Origin of the Stewarts and claim that they were originally a French family, Counts of Dol in Brittany, and the Boyds were also Norman, a branch of the famous chivalrous family of Bayard.

The Counts of Dol and Dinan

The "Seneschals of Dol" are stated by the author of "The Norman People" to have been descended from the old Armorican Counts of Dol and Dinan, a race whose origin is lost in the mists of antiquity. They are generally believed to have been the descendants and representatives of the ancient patriarchal rulers of Armorica in the time of Julius Caesar. Their principality embraced a tract of over 5000 square miles of country running from St. Malo on the coast, to the central hills of Brittany---and that numerous barons were dependent on them.

According to the Breton/Norman version, his paternal great-grandfather was Hamo, Count of Dol & Viscount of De Dinan of Bretagne circa 980.

For more information about the Counts of Dol and the antecedents of Alan and Robert link to Larry Boyd's site.

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Combourg Castle
Ancestral Home of the Counts of Dol
Dol, Brittany, France

Here is the family tree in brief:

 The Counts of Dol & De Dinan (de Dinant) of Bretagne (Brittany)
Ancestors of the Stewarts, Boyds & Fitzallens

Frogerins (Frogerious) Count of Dol, circa 570 A.D.
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Count Loiescan, Frogerins successor
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Rivallon (Rywallon) Count of Dol, circa 710 A.D.
Called 'Tyrannus' which may mean he was not Count of Dol by hereditary
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Salomon "Protector" and Count of Dol circa 810 A.D.
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Rivallon, Alan, Guigan } all three witnessed a charter by Salomon, King of Bretagne in circa 868 A.D.
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Alan Count of Dol circa 919 A.D.
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Salonionas (Soloniouse) Count of Dol circa 930 A.D.
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Ewarin Count of Dol circa 950 A.D.(wife was an heiress De Dinan)
Till Ewarin we only have the Counts of Dinan without knowing whether there is any genetic link,
afterwards the genetic link becomes recorded.
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Three Sons of Ewarin

1. Alan Count of Dol
   Alan & Gotselein De Dinan witnessed a charter of BERTHA, mother of Duke Conan II
   circa 980 A.D. Viscount of De Dinan. Alan succeeded his father as Count of Dol and was in turn succeeded by his brother Hamo I
2. Gotselein de Dinan
3. Hamo Count of Dol &Viscount of De Dinan circa 980 succeeding his brother

Six Sons of Hamo

1. Hamo II
   (they were ancestors of the Viscounts of Dinan and the Barons De Dinant of England by writ 1294 A.D.)
2. Juahoen (Junkeneus) Archbishop of Dol circa 1000 A.D.
3. Rivallon Seneschal of Dol
4. Gotselein De Dinan (Gosclein)
5. Salomon (Lord of Guarplic) ancestor of the Breton family of Du Guesclein
6. Guienoc
   Ancestors of Dinan Archbishop, Ancestor of Lord of Garplic & the Barons De of Dol
   c 1000 the later counts Dinan of England A.D. of Dol.

1. Alan Seneschal of Dol in 1079 A.D.
2. Rivallon
3. Flaad (Flahald, Flaud, Fleda/das, Flathald, Flaald or Falud)

Son of Flaad

Alan Fitz-Flaad
Baron of Oswaldestre (now Oswestry) in Salop (now Shropshire), and Mileham, England and was one of the Army of William, Duke of Normandy when he invaded and conquered England in 1066.
Ancestors of the Boyds, Earls of Kilmarnock, Scotland:
The Stewarts, Kings and Queens of Scotland, England and Ireland:
The Fitz Allans, Earls of Arundel in England.

He was Sherriff of Shropshire and married Margaret, daughter of Fergus, Earl of Galloway.

(Alternatively, other histories show he married Avelina de Hesdin daughter of Arnulf de Hesding in Picardy, descended from the counts of Hesdin in Flanders. Walter, his elder son, must have gone back to Hesding, where he eventually inherited the “comté”; Avelina succeeded to her father’s English possessions; she became the wife of Alan Fitz Flaald and, by him, ancestress of the Scottish Stewart kings.

Beryl PLATTS, “Origins of Heraldry”, 1980; “Scottish Hazard” Vol,I, 1985,
Vol.II, 1990, Procter Press, London.
J.Arnold FLEMING, “Flemish Influence in Britain”, 1930, Jackson, Wylie &
Co, Glasgow)

Four of the Five Sons of Alan

1. William Fitz-Alan
   Ancestor of the earls of Arundel.
2. Walter Fitz-Alan
   Ancestor of Royal Stewarts Scotland.
3. Simon Fitz-Alan
   Ancestor of the Boyds
   
4. Adam Fitz-Alan

The alternative genealogy given by J. H. Round that does not include Simon or Adam as a son of Alan, but adds another son, Jordan, the Seneschal of Dol:

ALAIN, son of ---.  A noble in Brittany.  Hereditary Seneschal of Dol.  1045.  m ---.  The name of Alain's wife is not known.  Alain & his wife had three children: 

a)    ALAIN (-[1097]).  Hereditary Seneschal of Dol.  "Alain steward of Dol" was present at the capture of Nikaia in 1097 (Orderic Vitalis, Vol. V, Book IX, p. 59, the editor in footnote 2 stating, incorrectly it would seem, that he was the great nephew rather than nephew of Hugh Earl of Chester).  He died on the First Crusade.

b)     FLAAD (-[1106]).  Seneschal of Dol.  Lived on the Welsh border from [1101].  m ---.  The name of Flaad's wife is not known.  Flaad & his wife had one child: 

ALAN FitzFlaad (-before 1114).  He was recruited by Henry I King of England early in his reign ( Domesday Descendants, p. 886).  He established a religious community in 1110, possibly on the site of the later Abbey of Haughmond in Shropshire later founded by his son William FitzAlan ( Domesday Descendants, p. 121).  m as her first husband, AVELINE de Hesdin, daughter of ARNOULD de Hesdin [en Picardie] & his wife Emmeline --- (-after 1126).  She married secondly Robert FitzWalter of Caen ( Domesday Descendants, p. 515)..  Alan & his wife had three children: 

1)   WALTER FitzAlan (-1177).  1st High Steward of Scotland.   

-    HIGH STEWARDS of SCOTLAND. 

2)    WILLIAM FitzAlan (-1160).   

-      EARLS of ARUNDEL. 

3)   JORDAN .  Hereditary Steward of Dol.  m MARIE, daughter of ---.  Jordan & his wife had two children: 

(i)  JORDAN . 

(ii)   ALAN .  Hereditary Steward of Dol.  m JOAN, daughter of ---.  Alan & his wife had three children: 

I.  JORDAN

II.  OLIVE  Heiress of Tuxford, Nottinghamshire.  m firstly ROBERT de St John Seigneur de Saint Jean-le-Thomas.  m secondly ([1200]) ROGER de Montbegon,. 

III.   ALICE  Heiress of lands in Brittany.  m GUILLAUME Epine,.  Hereditary Steward of Dol. 

c)    RIVALLON  Monk at St Florent, Saumur.

The link here to an excerpt from J. H. Round here discussing this section of the Stewart/Boyd genealogy. He thinks that Simon may have been either a stepson or an illegitimate son of Alan and gives.

 

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Combourg Castle
Ancestral Home of the Counts of Dol

Originally built in 1016, it's current form owes more to extensions and renovations in later times.

A Brief History of Brittany to 1341

Dol de Bretagne

Dinan

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