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Geoffrey de Mandeville is never referred to as 'fitz Geoffrey' in the contemporary documents; he had adopted the surname of his great grand-uncle Geoffrey de Mandeville and is styled thus in all his own charters as well as royal documents. 'Fitz' is a corrupt reading of the Latin 'filius' as it was abbreviated in most texts. It means 'son of' X or Y. If a family had adopted a surname, they generally did not use 'filius', but a few aristocratic families in the 12th century made it a family practice. The Clares routinely employed it. Geoffrey's first father-in-law, Robert fitz Walter, was a member of that extended family which included Richard fitz Gilbert 'Strongbow', earl of Pembroke.
In the documents, the 'fitz' always stands alone, in lower case, separate from the father's or mother's name; only in more recent times do we see it joined to a name (such as FitzGerald) when a surname has been created. Illegitimacy was not implied by the use of 'fitz' in documents of this period. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dearagon (talk • contribs) 00:36, 20 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
