Robert I. (Meulan)

Robert de Beaumont (* between 1040 and 1050 ; † June 5, 1118 ) was one of the most powerful nobles in both states as Count of Meulan (in France) and 1st Earl of Leicester (in England). Chroniclers describe him as an eloquent and educated man whose advice was valued by three English kings .

Life

Robert de Beaumont was the eldest son of Roger de Beaumont and Adeline de Meulan, daughter of Count Galéran III. von Meulan , and the older brother of Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick . In 1066 he accompanied William the Conqueror to the conquest of England , where his services brought him more than 91 possessions. At the Battle of Hastings he was the commander of the infantry on the right wing.

When his maternal uncle Hugo III. von Meulan died in 1081, he inherited the county of Meulan in Normandy as well as the title of Vice Count of Ivry and Lord Norton. He paid homage to the French king Philip I and sat as a French nobleman in the parliament that met in Poissy .

He and his brother Henry were participants in the royal hunting party in the New Forest, in which King William II was killed on August 2, 1100 under suspicious circumstances. He then paid homage to his brother Henry I , who appointed him Earl of Leicester in 1107 .

After the death of Wilhelm II, William , Count of Évreux , and Ralph de Conches invaded Robert's Norman possessions with great success, on the pretext that they had suffered injustice through advice he had given the king.

In 1096 Robert de Beaumont married Elisabeth von Vermandois , who was only 9 or 11 years old at the time , daughter of Hugo von Vermandois and Adelheid von Vermandois, with whom he (from 1102) had three sons and six daughters, including Beaumont, who was born in 1104- Twins Waleran de Beaumont , 1st Earl of Worcester , and Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester , as well as Hugh de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Bedford and Isabel de Beaumont, the future lover of King Henry I

The marriage broke up after 15 to 20 years, Robert and Elisabeth separated or were even divorced. Elisabeth entered into a relationship with William de Warenne , who later became the 2nd Earl of Surrey , who kidnapped her in 1115.

According to the chronicler Heinrich von Huntingdon , Robert died of shame in 1118 after "a certain count had kidnapped his wife either through intrigue or by violence and cunning" - after Robert's death, Elisabeth and William could then marry.

progeny

Robert and Elisabeth's children were:

• Emma de Beaumont (b.1102); as a child she was betrothed to Amaury, nephew of Wilhelm Graf von Évreux , but the marriage was not concluded; it is not known whether she died young or went to the monastery.
• Waleran de Beaumont , 1st Earl of Worcester , Earl of Meulan (* 1104) - descendants
• Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (1104–1168) - descendants, including his granddaughter Isabel of Gloucester , the first wife of King John Ohneland .
• Hugh de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Bedford (* around 1106 ), who lost his county again - descendants
• Adeline de Beaumont (* around 1107),

1. ⚭ Hugo IV, 4th lord of Montfort-sur-Risle ( Ghent House )
2. ⚭ Richard de Granville of Bideford († 1147)

• Aubrée (or Alberée) de Beaumont (* around 1109), ⚭ Hugo II of Châteauneuf-en-Thimerais (perhaps a son of Hugo I of Châteauneuf-en-Thimerais and Mabille de Montgomerie, the second daughter of Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury )
• Matilda de Beaumont (* around 1111), ⚭ William Lovel, Louvel or Lupel, son of Ascelin Goel, lord of Ivry.
• Isabel de Beaumont (* around 1113), the mistress of Henry I ;

1. ⚭ Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke (the parents of Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke , who led the invasion of Ireland in 1170);
2. ⚭ Hervé de Montmorency, Constable of Ireland (this marriage is not guaranteed) ( ancestral list of the Montmorency ); Isabel de Beaumont had (at least) one daughter from her relationship with King Henry

• Agnes de Beaumont (* around 1115), ⚭ Guillaume, Sire de Say.

literature

• Edward Thomas Beaumont: The Beaumonts in History. AD 850-1850 . Oxford 1929.
• John Horace Round : Beaumont, Robert de (d. 1118) . In: Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 4, Oxford University Press, 1885.

Web links

• The Conqueror and His Companions: Robert de Beaumont

predecessor	Office	successor
Hugo III	Count of Meulan 1081–1118	Galéran IV.
New title created	Earl of Leicester 1107-1118	Robert II