Ancestral Trails 2016 » ROBERT de BEAUMONT I (1049-1118)

Personal data ROBERT de BEAUMONT I 

• He was born in the year 1049 in Beaumont-le-Roger, Normandy, France.
• Title: Count de Meulan, 1st Earl of Leicester
• (Known as) : Robert of Meulan.
• (Military) in the year 1066 in Battle of Hastings.
• (Event) in the year 1066 in Battle of Hastings: Companion of William the Conqueror.
• He died on June 5, 1118 in Prieux, Normandy, France, he was 69 years old.
• He is buried in the year 1118 in Abbey of Prieux, Normandy, France.
• A child of ROGER de BEAUMONT and ADELIZA de MEULAN

Household of ROBERT de BEAUMONT I

He is married to ISABEL ELIZABETH de VERMANDOIS.

They got married in the year 1096 at France, he was 47 years old.

Child(ren):

1. Emma BEAUMONT  1102-????
2. Hugh BEAUMONT  ± 1106-????
3. Aubrey BEAUMONT  1109-????
4. Alice BEAUMONT  1105-1191 
5. ISABELLE BEAUMONT  1102-1147 
6. ROBERT III BEAUMONT  1104-1168 
7. WALERAN BEAUMONT  1104-1166 
8. ADELINE BEAUMONT  1114-1178 
9. Amicia de BEAUMONT  1097-????
10. ELEANOR BEAUMONT  1100-1157 
11. Maud BEAUMONT  

Notes about ROBERT de BEAUMONT I

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.

Robert was born between 1040-1050, the eldest son of Roger de Beaumont (1015-1094) by his wife Adeline of Meulan (died 1081), a daughter of Waleran III, Count de Meulan, and was an older brother of Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick (c. 1050-1119)

Robert de Beaumont was one of only about 15 of the Proven Companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, as well as a cousin of William, and was leader of the infantry on the right wing of the Norman army, as evidenced in the following near contemporary account by William of Poitiers: 'A certain Norman, Robert, son of Roger of Beaumont, being nephew and heir to Henry, Count of Meulan, through Henry's sister Adeline, found himself that day in battle for the first time. He was as yet but a young man and he performed feats of valour worthy of perpetual remembrance. At the head of a troop which he commanded on the right wing he attacked with the utmost bravery and success".

His service earned him the grant of more than 91 English manors confiscated from the defeated English, as listed in the Domesday Book of 1086.

When his mother died in 1081, Robert inherited the title of Count of Meulan in Normandy, and the title Viscount Ivry and Lord of Norton. He paid homage to King Philip I of France for these estates and sat as a French Peer in the Parliament held at Poissy.

He and his brother Henry were members of the Royal hunting party in the New Forest in Hampshire when King William II Rufus (1087-1100) was shot dead accidentally by an arrow on 2 August 1100. He pledged allegiance to William II's brother, King Henry I (1100-1135), who created him Earl of Leicester in 1107.

On the death of William Rufus, William, Count of Évreux and Ralph de Conches made an incursion into Robert's Norman estates, on the pretence they had suffered injury through some advice that Robert had given to the king; their raid was successful and they collected a vast booty.

During the English phase of the Investiture Controversy, he was excommunicated by Pope Paschal II on 26 March 1105 for advising King Henry to continue selecting the bishops of his realm in opposition to the canons of the church. Sometime in 1106, Henry succeeded in having Anselm, the exiled archbishop of Canterbury, revoke this excommunication. Anselm's (somewhat presumptuous) act was ultimately ratified by Paschal.

According to Henry of Huntingdon, Robert died of shame after "a certain earl carried off the lady he had espoused, either by some intrigue or by force and stratagem." He was the last surviving Norman nobleman to have fought in the Battle of Hastings.

Family
In 1096, he married Elizabeth (or Isabel) de Vermandois, daughter of Hugh Magnus (1053-1101) a younger son of the French king and Adelaide, Countess of Vermandois (1050-1120). After his death Elizabeth remarried in 1118 to William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey. He had the following progeny:

Waleran IV de Beaumont, Count of Meulan, 1st Earl of Worcester (b. 1104), eldest twin and heir.
Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester & Earl of Hereford (b. 1104), twin
Hugh de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Bedford (born c. 1106)
Emma de Beaumont (born 1102)
Adeline de Beaumont, married twice: Hugh IV of Montfort-sur-Risle; Richard de Granville of Bideford (died 1147)
Aubree de Beaumont, married Hugh II of Châteauneuf-Thimerais.
Agnes de Beaumont, a nun
Maud de Beaumont, married William Lovel (born c. 1102)
Isabel de Beaumont, a mistress of King Henry I. Married twice: Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke; Hervé de Montmorency, Constable of Ireland
SOURCE: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_de_Beaumont,_1st_Earl_of_Leicester

He was also Seigneur of Beaumont, Pont-Audemer, Brionne, and Vatteville, in Normandy upon succession to his father. He accompanied Duke William to England, and distinguished himself at the battle of Hastings, whereupon he received large grants of lands in Warwickshire, with smaller holdings in Leicester, Northants, and Wiltshire. In 1080, he witnessed a foundation charter as Robert de Bellomonte, and the following year he inherited from his mother's family, the Comte of Meulan. After the Conqueror's death, Robert was an adherent of William Rufus, in whose court he was in high favor. With his holdings in Normandy and vast possessions in Warwick and Leicester, he was one of the most powerful vassals of the Crown. When William Rufus invaded the French Vexin in 1097, he received his troops in his fortresses from the Count of Meulan. After Rufus' death, Robert became of the chief advisors of Henry I, and upon the death, on Crusade, of Ives de Grandmesnil, Robert retained his very extensive estates, which Ives had mortgaged to him around 1102. He was present with the King's army at Tinchebrai 28 Sep 1106, and in 1110 he was besieged at Meulan by Louis VI, who took the castle by storm, whereupon the following year Robert retaliated by plundering Paris. He was buried at the Abbey of Preux with his ancestors. While he is said to have been Earl of Leicester, there is disagreement that he did, in fact, acquire the earldom.
SOURCE: www.geneajourney.com

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Timeline ROBERT de BEAUMONT I

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