Robert Malet

Robert Malet († after February 13, 1105), Lord of Graville (now part of Le Havre ) and Eye ( Suffolk ), was an Anglo-Norman baron and is best known as the first to be appointed Master Chamberlain of England.

Life

Robert Malet was the eldest son and heir to Guillaume Malet and Esilia, daughter of Gilbert Crispin. He was already an adult when he followed his father - presumably in 1071 - to England, where he became his inheritance. The Norman family property was in the Pays de Caux and the Pays de Caen with the main castle Graville. The English property was spread over eight counties, 80% of them in Suffolk , including the important Honor of Eye - in England he was one of the noblemen with the most extensive estates. The Domesday Book attributes 221 estates in Suffolk, 32 in Yorkshire , 8 in Lincolnshire , 3 in Essex , 2 in Nottinghamshire and one in Hampshire .

In 1075 Robert was in the army of William de Warenne and Richard de Bienfaite , who suppressed the uprising of Ralph de Gaël in East Anglia during the Revolt of the Counts . After the rebels who had holed up in Norwich Castle surrendered, William the Conqueror gave him the supreme command. In 1080 he served as a sheriff in Suffolk.

After Wilhelm II ascended the throne , he fell out of favor and the Honor of Eye was even confiscated. It is likely that he had supported Robert Curthose , the Duke of Normandy and the king's older brother, particularly during the uprising of 1088. The Honor of Eye, confiscated between 1087 and 1094, was given to Roger Poitevin , a son of Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury . Until the end of Wilhelm II's reign, Robert Malet no longer appears in the sources. Presumably he had returned to Robert Curhose in Normandy. After his departure for the First Crusade in 1096, he entered the service of Heinrich Beauclerk , the younger brother of the king and the duke. Heinrich succeeded William II as King of England in 1100, Robert Malet took part in the coronation, signed the corresponding certificate and shortly afterwards received the Honor of Eye back.

He remained a close confidante of the King and his Chamberlain (Chamberlain) until 1105, during which time he was appointed the first official Master Chamberlain of England. He was a witness to many royal documents until February 1105, according to which there is no longer any trace of him.

Between 1100 and 1105 he completed the creation of Eye Priory, which he had begun during the reign of the conqueror but which had been suspended by the confiscation of his property in England.

family

Information on his wives and offspring is sparse. A deed of donation from the Abbey of Saint-Taurin in Évreux mentions Robert Malet and his wife Emeline, while another poorly preserved document mentions a Maud (Matilda). After his death, his property went to Guillaume (II.) Malet, who is usually considered his brother, but could also be his son. The English property was probably confiscated by Henry I in 1110, who gave it to his nephew Stephan von Blois in 1113 , who was to become his successor on the throne in 1135.

literature

• Charles Warren Hollister , Henry I and Robert Malet , in: Viator , Volume 4, 1973, pp. 115-122.
• CP Lewis, The King and Eye: A Study in Anglo-Norman Politics , in: The English Historical Review , Vol. 104, No. 412 (July 1989), pp. 569-589.
• PR Newman, The Yorkshire Domesday Clamores and the 'Lost Fee' of William Malet , in Anglo-Normans Studies XXII: Proceedings of the Battle Conference, 1999 , ed. by Christopher Harper-Bill, Boydell & Brewer, 2000, pp. 216-218. ISBN 0851157963 .
• Cyril Hart, William Malet and his Family , in: Anglo-Norman Studies XIX: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1996 , ed. by Christopher Harper-Bill, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 1997, pp. 123-166. ISBN 0851157076 .
• KSB Keats-Rohan , Domesday Book and the Malets: patrimony and the private history of public lives , in: Nottingham Medieval Studies , Volume 41, 1997, pp. 13–56.
• CP Lewis, “Malet, Robert (fl. 1066–1105)”, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press, 2004 ( online, accessed November 2008 ).

Web link

• Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Malet ( online )