The precise history of Aubry de Mello is difficult to trace due to the large number of nobility of the same name in both France and England at the time.
Shortly after the death of Renaud II, Louis VII the Younger, King of France, assumed direct control over the county of Dammartin.
This is indicated by a charter dated 1176, under which King Louis VII exchanged property with Paris Hôtel-Dieu and had later returned the castle and grange of Dammartin to Alberic II (postquam vero Alberico predictum castrum cum predicta grangia reddidimus).
Mathieu suggests that he was the king's candidate and belonged to the Dammartin line in order to prevail over challenges from other claimants.
He bases this on the charter dated March 1187, under which Henry II of England granted manerium de Norton to comiti Alberico de Dammartin et Reginaldo filio suo, as the same property had been granted to other members of the English Dammartin family by his predecessor Henry Beauclerc.