The Tosnys were French rather than Norman in origin. The earliest member of the family of whom we can form any impression was a certain Ralph of Tosny, a vassal of Duke Richard II of Normandy in the early eleventh century. For reasons of which we know nothing he fell out with his lord and was sent into exile. He next turns up in southern Italy where he was taken into the service of some Apulian rebels against the authority of the Byzantine emperor. He was fighting in Italy about 1020. That is the last we hear of him.222

Seigneur of Tosni & Conches. In 1013 or 1014 RICHARD II, Duke of Normandy founded the castle of Tillieres and gave partial custody of it to Ralph and his son, ROGER. About 1015 he went to Apulia and was present at the siege of Salerno. The name and parentage of Ralph's wife is not known, but it is possible that she belonged to a collateral branch of the Ducal house of Normandy - for some contemporary sources indicate that Ralph's son, ROGER, descended from an alleged uncle of ROLLO, the founder of the house of Normandy.