various claims were made for gerald's antecedents: that his father or his grandfather was a saxon or florentine baron; that his mother was one gwladys ferch ryall, or "princess" gwladys ferch gruffydd of gwynedd, or "princess" gwladys ferch rhiwallon ap cynfyn of powys; that gerald's grandfather was one "dominus otherus", a tuscan nobleman descended from a duke of florence named cosmo or cosimo/cosimus "gherardini". the foregoing claims are erroneous. pursuant to domesday, gerald's mother was beatrice, not gwladys ferch gruffydd or gwladys ferch rhiwallon; the latter, in fact, was gerald's mother-in-law. it's unlikely the conqueror would have granted walter lands in berkshire, buckinghamshire, hampshire, surrey, and middlesex, let alone entrusted him with a strategic military fortress, had walter not been a norman and proven trustworthy. the domesday survey records that walter held some 22 estates from the king as tenant-in-chief.