LOVELL family name orginates from the meaning the "Wolf" Robert, cousin to William the Conqueror was named Robert De Percevil. His nickname was the wolf, spelled Luvel, which was later spelled Lovell Origins of the Lovells The progenitor of the Lovell family was Robert, Lord of Breherval, etc., in Normandy where he held the Castle of Yvery by the service of three knights' fees. It has been said that he was a younger son of Eudes, Duke of Brittany. He accompanied William the Conqueror into England in 1066 and was rewarded with the lordships of Kary and Harpetre in County Somerset. Returning to Normandy, he fell seriously ill and became a monk at the abbey of Bec, where he died soon afterward about 1083. He left three sons, of which the eldest, Ascelin Gouel de Perceval, was his successor. Like his father, Ascelin Gouel de Perceval held a distinguished place in the Norman army and for his service was granted a number of manors, including Weston and Stawell, in Somerset. He has been described as a man of violent temper who acquired the surname Lupus or the Wolf. Odericus Vitalis wrote about the long and extraordinary dispute that Ascelin had with the Earl of Bretevil in Normandy who besieged Ascelin in the castle of Breherval for two months with a powerful army commanded by the ablest captains of the day. Ascelin withstood the siege until it was lifted and with his victory retained rights to the castle and won the hand of the Earl of Bretevil's only daughter. Although she was illegitimate, when the earl's legitimate issue failed to produce heirs, King Henry I favored her with part of her father's estates and named her husband Ascelin, Earl of Yvery in Normandy in 1119. Ascelin died soon afterward, leaving seven sons and a daughter who married Radulfus Rufus, a Norman nobleman. Three of the sons have been identified: Robert, William and John de Perceval.
