History |
REMARKS:
Was with William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings
BIOGRAPHY
Robert was born about 1046, the son of Roger \'Barbatus\' de Beaumont, sire de Beaumont et de Pont-Audemer, and Adeline de Meulan. When very young he accompanied Duke William of Normandy to England and distinguished himself at the Battle of Hastings, and received large grants of lands in the county of Warwick, with smaller holdings in the counties of Leicester and Wiltshire.
On 14 July 1080 as Robert de Bellomonte he witnessed the foundation charter of Lessay, and next year he inherited from his mother\'s family the comté of Meulan. After the death of William the Conqueror he adhered to his son William II Rufus and was high in favour at his court. He quarrelled with Duke Robert Curthose of Normandy about the castellanship of Brionne, in consequence of the exchange of Brionne for Ivry made by his father.
He was imprisoned but was released at the intervention of his father Roger, who eventually succeeded in obtaining Brionne in fee. He succeeded to the greater part of his father\'s lands in Normandy, including Beaumont, Pont-Audemer, Vatteville and Brionne. This paternal inheritance, added to his French county and his great possessions in counties Warwick and Leicester, made him one of the most powerful vassals of the Crown.
In 1096 Robert married Elisabeth de Vermandois, daughter of Hugues I Magnus, comte de Vermandois et de Valois, and Adelaide, comtesse de Vermandois et de Valois. They had six children of whom two sons and a daughter would have progeny.
Robert became one of the chief lay ministers of William Rufus, with whom he sided against Duke Robert Curthose in 1098, and when William invaded the French Vexin in 1097 he received William\'s troops in his fortresses of the comté of Meulan.
After the death of William Rufus he became one of the chief advisers of Henry I. On the death of Ives de Grandmesnil on crusade, Robert retained his estates, which Ives had mortgaged to him about 1102. Thereby he acquired one-quarter of the town of Leicester, the whole of which was later granted to him by the king. Robert thus added largely to his already vast possessions.
In 1104 he was one of the Norman barons who adhered to Henry on his arrival in Normandy. He was present in the king\'s army in the victory over Robert Curthose at Tenchebrai on 28 September 1106. In 1110 he was besieged at Meulan by Louis VI, king of France, who took the castle by storm, but in the following year he retaliated by a raid on Paris, which he plundered.
After obtaining the whole town of Leicester he is said to have become earl of Leicester, but being already count of Meulan, he was never so styled. [1] |
History |
Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester (c.?1040/1050 – 5 June 1118), also known as Robert of Meulan, Count of Meulan, was a powerful Norman nobleman, one of the companions of William the Conqueror during the Norman Conquest of England, and was revered as one of the wisest men of his age. Chroniclers spoke highly of his eloquence, his learning, and three kings of England valued his counsel. He was granted considerable lands in the Midlands by William and Henry I and made the Earl of Leicester.[1] [2] |