Bellême (noble family)

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Bellême was a noble family that existed in Normandy and Maine from the 10th to the end of the 11th centuries . If one includes the descendants in the female line who bore the name Bellême but belonged to the Montgommery family, the family only reached the height of their power in the 12th century.

history

As with the Tosny family , the historian Lucien Musset suspects that the Bellême family originated from the French heartland and not from the Norman nobility. Ancestor was Yves de Creil, who was wealthy on the Oise in the 10th century . Based on a presumption by J. Boussard, Gérard Louise has proven that her homeland was the county of Maine and here the Saosnois .

From the turn of the millennium, the family succeeded in establishing some members as Bishop of Le Mans (Sigefroi I. de Bellême, Avesgaud de Bellême) or Bishop of Sées (Sigefroi II. De Bellême, Yves de Bellême), some of whom their diocese robbed to provide for their relatives. In the 11th century, the Lords of Bellême thus owned an extensive area along the borders of Normandy and Maine. They created a quasi-independent principality by implementing a rocking policy between their more powerful neighbors (Normandy, Maine, but also Blois and Anjou ). At the beginning of the 11th century, Guillaume I de Bellême fought against Count Herbert I of Maine , and in 1027 he revolted against the Norman Duke Robert I.

Extension of the Seigneurie Bellême around 1050

From 1050, due to the marriage between the heiress Mabile de Bellême and a confidante of Duke Wilhelm II , Roger II. De Montgommery , a time of peace with Normandy followed, but no clashes with neighboring lords, such as the Giroie family and the counts excluded from Mortagne . The lords of Bellême reached the height of their power under Robert de Bellême , Mabile's son, who is also known as Robert de Montgommery.

The Norman historian Wilhelm von Jumièges and Ordericus Vitalis describe several family members as cruel and devious, which has given the family a negative reputation overall. The most famous episode is the mutilation of Guillaume Giroie by Guillaume II. Talvas de Bellême . Guillaume Giroie, a vassal of Bellêmes, was invited to the second wedding of his liege lord; after his arrival in Alençon he was arrested and mutilated: his eyes were gouged out, his nose and ears cut off, and he was emasculated. Guillaume Talvas was not present at this action (he was on the hunt), but was the commissioner of this action.

Ordericus Vitalis also commemorates the violent death of many family members, as if to prove that bad Christians are always punished: Robert I was slain, his brother Arnoul was strangled (after stealing a pig), Mabile de Bellême was beheaded, Robert II. Spent the last at least 15 years of his life in prison.

In later times, historians darkened the image of the family by giving the relatives telling nicknames: Guillaume II. Talvas was called "the cruel" (le Cruel), Mabile de Bellême "the poisoner" (l'Empoisonneuse), Robert II. "The devil" (le Diable). Even the nickname "Talvas", which was worn by several family members, can be understood derogatory: Following Gérard Louise, it comes from talevassier , which should be understood as a robber baron. Only Yves de Bellême, the Bishop of Sées, seems to have found favor in the eyes of posterity.

Nevertheless, Lucien Musset writes: "It would be unfair to judge the family solely on the basis of the very partial statements of Ordericus Vitalis and to see their relatives only as warlords, castle builders and cruel people"; elsewhere Musset refers to their effective administrative and judicial measures.

Master list (extract)

The beginning of the tribe list consists of three fragments, whereby it is conceivable that Sigefridus, Fulcuich and Yves de Creil are three brothers due to the traditional family relationships between the bishops of Le Mans.

  1. Sigefridus, † 1002, 969 Bishop of Le Mans , uncle of Bishop Avesgaud of Le Mans.
    1. Albéric, Seigneur de Sarcé et de Coulongé ; ∞ Hileardis
      1. Hugues de Genest ; ∞Agnès
      2. Herbert de la Milesse ; ∞ Adelise
        1. Aubry, testified in 1091
      3. Robert de la Milesse

  2. Fulcuich, † probably before 997/1008; ∞ Rothais, † probably before 997/1008
    1. Billeheudis
    2. Eremburgis
    3. Ives, nephew of Bishop Sigefridus of Le Mans

  3. Ives de Creil (de Credulio), founds Notre-Dame-de-Bellême; ∞ Godehildis, sister of Liegeart
    1. Guillaume, "princeps" de Bellême (Belisama) around 1000 Seigneur de Saosnois; ∞ Mathilde, Dame de Condé-sur-Noireau (perhaps from the Rolloniden family ), † probably 1033
      1. Guillaume I. Talvas, † probably 1031, "princeps" de Bellême, Sire d ' Alençon , built the cathedral front ; ∞ Mathilde
        1. Foulques, X probably 1030/31
        2. Guérin (Warinus), murdered 1026, around 1020 Seigneur de Domfront
          1. Adeliz; ∞ Rotrou I, Vice Count of Châteaudun , 1058 Count of Mortagne , † probably 1080 ( House of Châteaudun )
          2. (illegitimate, mother unknown) Raoul, 1050 attested
        3. Robert I, 1031 Sire de Bellême, murdered in prison in 1033
          1. (illegitimate, mother unknown) Guérin
          2. (illegitimate, mother unknown) Guillaume, Seigneur de Contilly
        4. Guillaume II. Talvas , † after 1055, 1033 Sire d'Alençon, founded Saint-Martin de Sées; ∞ I Hildeburge, daughter of Arnoul; ∞ II Haberge, daughter of Raoul IV. De Beaumont, Vice Count of Maine , widow of Tesselin de Montrevault
          1. (I) Arnoul, murdered
          2. (I) Mabile de Bellême , † murdered 1082, Dame d'Alençon, de Sées , 1070 Dame de Bellême et du Saosnois, built La Roche-Mabile ; ∞ Roger II. De Montgommery , Viscount du Hiémois , † 1094/95 ( House of Montgommery )
          3. (illegitimate, mother unknown) Olivier du Mesle , Seigneur de Courtomer
            1. Robert Oison, attested in 1089
              1. Enguerrand Oison; ∞ NN, Dame du Ferrières - offspring
            2. Guillaume Oison
            3. Raoul
            4. Hugues, spiritually
        5. Benoît, spiritually in Fleury
        6. (illegitimate, mother unknown) Sifridus, captain of Le Mêle-sur-Sarthe , then Seigneur d ' Escures , du Bouillon , de La Chapelle-près-Sées et de Congé
      2. Ivo , 1033/70 Sire de Bellême et Seigneur de Saosnois, † 1070, 1035/70 Bishop of Sées
      3. Robert, † before 1068
    2. Ives, † 1030, 1005 Abbot of Fleury
    3. Avesgaud (Avejot), † 1036, 1002 Bishop of Le Mans , Count Gilduin of Breteuil is referred to as his avunculus (see House of Le Puiset )
    4. Hildeburgis; ∞ Aimon, Seigneur de Château-du-Loir et de Coëmont (Cohémon), † probably after 1030
    5. Godehildis; ∞ I Albert de La Ferté-en-Beauce ; ∞ II Raoul II, Vice-Count of Maine , testified in 967/97
      1. (I) NN
        1. Arnoul de Bellême , 1018 Chancellor of France , 1023/52 Archbishop of Tours

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gérard Louise, "La seigneurie de Bellême (Xe-XIIe siècle)", in le Pays Bas-Normand , n ° 199 à 202, 1990-1991, vol.1 p.270-279 et vol.2 p.121- 129
  2. ↑ Interpolations Ordericus Vitalis in the Gesta Normannorum Ducum des Wilhelm von Jumièges
  3. ↑ Gérard Louise, opt. cit. , vol. 2, p.142-144
  4. ↑ Il serait injuste de ne juger cette famille qu'en s'appuyant sur les propos très partiaux d'Orderic Vital et de ne voir en ses représentants que des chefs de guerre, des constructeurs de châteaux-forts et des hommes cruels , Lucien Musset , "Administration et justice dans une grande baronnie normande au XIe siècle: les terres des Bellême sous Roger II et Robert", in Lucien Musset, Jean-Michel Bouvris, Jean-Marie Maillefer, Autour du pouvoir ducal normand Xe-XIIe siècles, Cahiers des Annales de Normandie n ° 17, Caen, 1985, p.143

literature

  • Gérard Louise: La seigneurie de Bellême (Xe-XIIe siècle). In: Le Pays Bas-Normand , n ° 199 à 202, 1990–1991, 2 volumes, 429 et 351 p.
  • François Neveux : La Normandie des ducs aux rois (Xe-XIIe siècle). Ouest-France Université, Rennes 1998, ISBN 2-7373-0985-9 .
  • Detlev Schwennicke: European Family Tables , Volume III.4 (1989), Plate 636