Robert II de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester was born in 1104 at Leicester, Leicestershire, England. He was the son of Robert I de Beaumont-le-Roger, 1st Earl of Leicester and Isabel de Vermandois. 2nd Earl of Leicester at England between 5 June 1118 and 1168.2,3 Robert II de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester married Amice de Montfort, daughter of seigneur de Montfort Ralph de Gaël, after 25 November 1120 at Brittany, France.4 Robert II de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester was knighted in 1122. The Charter to Salisbury, by King Henry I. In attendance 5 Earls: Chester, Gloucester, Surry, Leicester, and Warwick. On 8 September 1131 at Northampton, England.5 He was one of the 5 Earls who witnessed the Charter to Salisbury granted at the Northampton Council of Henry I on 8 September 1131 at Northampton, England.5 He was a staunch adherant of Henry I before 1135. He witnessed the death of Henri I "Beauclerc", roi d' Angleterre on 1 December 1135 at Castle of Lihun, Rouen, Normandy.6,7 Robert II de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester was appointed Justiciar of England on the accession of Henry II to the throne in 1155.8 Justiciar of England between 1155 and 1168.8 He died in 1168 at England at age 64 years.

--------------------

https://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLISH%20NOBILITY%20MEDIEVAL.htm#...

ROBERT de Beaumont "le Bossu" (1104-5 Apr 1168, bur [Sainte-Marie de Pré]). Twin with Waléran. He and his twin brother were brought up at the court of Henry I King of England[1733]. He succeeded his father in 1118 as Earl of Leicester. He supported King Stephen during the civil war with Empress Matilda. Henry Duke of Normandy restored property to "Rodberto filio comitis Legrec…Rodberti comitis" held by "patris sui…sicut comes Rodbertus de Mellend avus suus…Willelmus de Britolio", and granted him the property of "Willelmus de Pasci in Anglia et in Normannia" by charter dated to [Jan/Aug] 1153, witnessed by "…Guarino filio Geraldi, Henrico duo fratre…"[1734]. He became Steward of England and Normandy under King Henry II in 1154, and acted as Viceroy during the king's absence from England Dec 1158 to 25 Jan 1163 and again in 1165[1735]. Robert of Torigny records the death in 1168 of "Robertus comes Leecestriæ"[1736]. The necrology of the abbey of Saint-Denis records the death "Non Apr" of "Robertus comes Leecestrie"[1737]. The necrology of Saint-Nicaise de Meulan records the death of "Robertus comes Leicestrie", undated but among other deaths listed in early April[1738]. The necrology of Lyre monastery records the death "5 Apr" of "Robertus comes Legrecestriæ"[1739]. m (after 25 Nov 1120) AMICE de Gaël, heiress of Breteuil, daughter of RAOUL Seigneur de Gaël et de Montfort & his wife --- (-31 Aug [1168 or after]). She is named by Orderic Vitalis, who also names her father and specifies that her marriage was arranged by Henry I King of England after she had been betrothed to his deceased son Richard[1740]. She is said to have become a nun at Nuneaton after her husband's death[1741]. The necrology of the abbey of Saint-Denis records the death "II Kal Sep" of "Amicia comitissa Leecestre"[1742]. The necrology of Lyre monastery records the death "31 Aug" of "Robertus comes Leicestriæ, Amicia comitissa"[1743]. Earl Robert & his wife had four children:

a) ISABELLE de Beaumont (-after 1188). Robert of Torigny refers to the wife of "Symone comite Huntedoniæ" as "filia Roberti comitis Legecestriæ" but does not name her[1744]. "R. comes Legrecestrie" granted tithes to "Isabele comitisse de Norhamtone sororis mee" by charter dated to the middle of the reign of King Henry II[1745]. "I. comitissa Northamptonie" donated land at Groby to Nuneaton priory, for the souls of "patris mei et fratris mei R. comitis Legrecestrie" by charter dated to the middle of the reign of King Henry II[1746]. It is likely that Isabelle was the eldest child as she gave birth to her own first child in [1138]. Her second marriage is confirmed by charter dated 1187 under which “Gervasius Paganellus” donated property to Tykford Priory, with the consent of “uxoris meæ Isabellæ comitissæ de Norhamton”, which names “Fulcodius Paganellus avus meus et Radulfus Paganellus pater meus”, witnessed by “Simone comite Northamptoniæ, Isabella comitissa matre eius”[1747]. “G. Painel”, considering the proposal of “Radulfi Painel patris mei”, founded Dudley priory, for the salvation of “Isabellæ uxoris meæ et Roberti filii mei”, by undated charter (dated by Dugdale to "before 1161")[1748]. m firstly (before 1138) SIMON de Senlis, son of SIMON de Senlis Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton & his wife Matilda [Matilda] of Huntingdon (-Aug 1153, bur St Andrew's Priory). He was restored as Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton [before 1141]. m secondly GERVASE Paynell Baron of Dudley, Worcestershire, son of RALPH Paynell & his wife --- (-1194[1749]).

b) ROBERT de Beaumont "ès Blanchemains" (-Durazzo 1190). Robert of Torigny records the death in 1168 of "Robertus comes Leecestriæ" and the succession of "filium Robertum"[1750]. He succeeded his father in 1168 as Earl of Leicester. - see below.

c) HAVISE de Beaumont (-24 Apr or 25 May 1197). The Chronica de Fundatoribus et Fundatione of Tewkesbury Abbey records that “comes Willielmus” married “Hawisia filia comitis Leicestriæ”[1751]. The Obituary of Lyre records the death 25 May of “Hawis comitissa Gloecestræ”[1752]. The Annals of Tewkesbury record the death “VIII Kal Mai” in 1197 of “Hawisa comitissa Glocestriæ”[1753]. The necrology of Lyre monastery records the death "25 May" of "Hawis comitissa Gloecestræ"[1754]. m ([1150]%29 WILLIAM FitzRobert Earl of Gloucester, son of ROBERT Fitzroy Earl of Gloucester & his wife Mabel [Matilda or Sibylle] FitzRobert (23 Nov [1112]-23 Nov 1183, bur Keynsham Abbey, Somerset),

d) MARGUERITE de Beaumont ([1125]-after 1185). Robert of Torigny refers to the wife of "Radulfus de Toene" as "filia Roberti comitis Leccestriæ" but does not name her[1755]. The 1163/64 Pipe Roll records "Margareta uxor Rad de Toeni" making payment "de Suppl de Welcumesto" in Essex/Hertfordshire[1756]. The Rotuli de Dominabus of 1185 records “Margareta de Tony…lx annorum” and her land “in Welcumestowe"[1757]. m (after 1155) RAOUL [V] de Tosny, son of ROGER [III] Seigneur de Tosny & his wife Gertrude [Ida] de Hainaut (-1162).

Sources

• [1734] Gurney (1858), Supplement, 63, p. 756.
• [1735] Testa de Nevill, Part I, p. 19.
• [1736] Red Book Exchequer, Part II, Inquisitiones…Regis Johannis…anno regno XII et XIII…de servitiis militum, p. 477.
• [1737] Gurney (1845), p. 176, quoting Close Rolls, 16 John, p. 172.
• [1738] Luard, H. R. (ed.) (1866) Annales Monastici Vol. III, Annales Prioratus de Dunstaplia, Annales Monasterii de Bermundeseia (London), Annales de Dunstaplia, p. 42.
• [1739] Gurney (1845), p. 141, quoting Neustria Pia, p. 891, article Belozanne.
• [1740] Gurney (1858), Supplement, 63, p. 756.
• [1741] Gurney (1845), p. 146, quoting Vitis Calthorpiana, Harl. 970, MS British Museum.
• [1742] Gurney (1845), p. 176, quoting Close Rolls, 16 John, p. 172.
• [1743] Gurney (1845), p. 146, quoting Vitis Calthorpiana, Harl. 970, MS British Museum.
• [1744] Patent Rolls Henry III 1215-1225 (1901), p. 37.
• [1745] Rotuli de Oblatis et Finibus, 17/18 John, p. 596.
• [1746] Maclean, J. (ed.) (1883) The Lives of the Berkeleys by John Smyth (Gloucester) ("Berkeleys Lives"), Vol. I, p. 98.
• [1747] Testa de Nevill, Part I, p. 378.
• [1748] Inquisitions Post Mortem, Vol. II, Edward I, 772, p. 468.
• [1749] Sayles, G. O. (ed.) Select Cases in the Court of King´s Bench, Vol. III, Edw I (Selden Society, vol. LVIII, 1939), p. cxv (entry e), summary of content available at <http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetail...>(25 Jun 2008). [Margaret Schooling]
• [1750] Heley Chadwyck-Healey, C. E. and Landon, L. (1923) Somersetshire Pleas, Roll no. 1205, p. 97 footnote 1, citing Calendar of Charter Rolls, Vol. I, p. 305, and Hundred Rolls, Vol. II, p. 133. [Margaret Schooling]
• [1751] Somersetshire Pleas (1923), Roll no. 1205, pp. 96-7, [41 end, Henry III Vol. 36 500 (O62)]. [Margaret Schooling]
• [1752] Paris Notre-Dame, Tome I, XIII, p. 428.
• [1753] Paris Notre-Dame, Tome I, XIII, p. 428.
• [1754] Paris Notre-Dame, Tome I, XIII, p. 428.
• [1755] Paris Notre-Dame, Tome I, XIII, p. 428.
• [1756] Willelmi Gemmetencis Historiæ (Du Chesne, 1619), Liber VIII, XXXVII, p. 312.
• [1757] Orderic Vitalis (Prévost), Vol. III, Liber VIII, IX, p. 320.

--------------------

Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (1104 – 5 April 1168) was Justiciar of England 1155-1168.

The surname "de Beaumont" is given him by genealogists. The only known contemporary surname applied to him is "Robert son of Count Robert". Henry Knighton, the fourteenth-century chronicler notes him as Robert "Le Bossu" (meaning "Robert the Hunchback" in French).

Early Life and Education

Robert was an English nobleman of Norman-French ancestry. He was the son of Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan and 1st Earl of Leicester and Elizabeth de Vermandois. He was the twin brother of Waleran de Beaumont. There is no knowing whether they were identical or fraternal twins, but the fact that they are remarked on by contemporaries as twins indicates that they probably were in fact identical.

The two brothers, Robert and Waleran, were adopted into the royal household shortly after their father's death in June 1118 (upon which Robert inherited his father's second titles of Earl of Leicester). Their lands on either side of the Channel were committed to a group of guardians, led by their stepfather, William earl of Warenne or Surrey. They accompanied King Henry I to Normandy, to meet with Pope Callixtus II in 1119, when the king incited them to debate philosophy with the cardinals. Both twins were literate, and Abingdon Abbey later claimed to have been Robert's school, but though this is possible, its account is not entirely trustworthy. A surviving treatise on astronomy (British Library ms Royal E xxv) carries a dedication "to Earl Robert of Leicester, that man of affairs and profound learning, most accomplished in matters of law" who can only be this Robert. On his death he left his own psalter to the abbey he founded at Leicester, which was still in its library in the late fifteenth century. The existence of this indicates that like many noblemen of his day, Robert followed the canonical hours in his chapel.

Career at the Norman Court

In 1120 Robert was declared of age and inherited most of his father's lands in England, while his twin brother took the French lands. However in 1121, royal favour brought Robert the great Norman honors of Breteuil and Pacy-sur-Eure, with his marriage to Amice de Montfort, daughter of a Breton intruder the king had forced on the honor after the forfeiture of the Breteuil family in 1119. Robert spent a good deal of his time and resources over the next decade integrating the troublesome and independent barons of Breteuil into the greater complex of his estates. He did not join in his brother's great Norman rebellion against King Henry I in 1123-4. He appears fitfully at the royal court despite his brother's imprisonment until 1129. Thereafter the twins were frequently to be found together at Henry I's court.

Robert held lands throughout the country. In the 1120s and 1130s he tried to rationalise his estates in Leicestershire. Leicestershire estates of the See of Lincoln and the Earl of Chester were seized by force. This enhanced the integrity of Robert's block of estates in the central midlands, bounded by Nuneaton, Loughborough, Melton Mowbray and Market Harborough.

In 1135, the twins were present at King Henry's deathbed. Robert's actions in the succession period are unknown, but he clearly supported his brother's decision to join the court of the new king Stephen before Easter 1136. During the first two years of the reign Robert is found in Normandy fighting rival claimants for his honor of Breteuil. Military action allowed him to add the castle of Pont St-Pierre to his Norman estates in June 1136 at the expense of one of his rivals. From the end of 1137 Robert and his brother were increasingly caught up in the politics of the court of King Stephen in England, where Waleran secured an ascendancy which lasted till the beginning of 1141. Robert participated in his brother's political coup against the king's justiciar, Roger of Salisbury (the Bishop of Salisbury).

Civil War in England

The outbreak of civil war in England in September 1139 brought Robert into conflict with Earl Robert of Gloucester, the bastard son of Henry I and principal sponsor of the Empress Matilda. His port of Wareham and estates in Dorset were seized by Gloucester in the first campaign of the war. In that campaign the king awarded Robert the city and castle of Hereford as a bid to establish the earl as his lieutenant in Herefordshire, which was in revolt. It is disputed by scholars whether this was an award of a second county to Earl Robert. Probably in late 1139, Earl Robert refounded his father's collegiate church of St Mary de Castro in Leicester as a major Augustinian abbey on the meadows outside the town's north gate, annexing the college's considerable endowment to the abbey.

The battle of Lincoln on 2 February 1141 saw the capture and imprisonment of King Stephen. Although Count Waleran valiantly continued the royalist fight in England into the summer, he eventually capitulated to the Empress and crossed back to Normandy to make his peace with the Empress's husband, Geoffrey of Anjou. Earl Robert had been in Normandy] since 1140 attempting to stem the Angevin invasion, and negotiated the terms of his brother's surrender. He quit Normandy soon after and his Norman estates were confiscated and used to reward Norman followers of the Empress. Earl Robert remained on his estates in England for the remainder of King Stephen's reign. Although he was a nominal supporter of the king, there seems to have been little contact between him and Stephen, who did not confirm the foundation of Leicester Abbey till 1153. Earl Robert's principal activity between 1141 and 1149 was his private war with Ranulf II, Earl of Chester. Though details are obscure it seems clear enough that he waged a dogged war with his rival that in the end secured him control of northern Leicestershire and the strategic Chester castle of Mountsorrel. When Earl Robert of Gloucester died in 1147, Robert of Leicester led the movement among the greater earls of England to negotiate private treaties to establish peace in their areas, a process hastened by the Empress's departure to Normandy, and complete by 1149. During this time the earl also exercised supervision over his twin brother's earldom of Worcester, and in 1151 he intervened to frustrate the king's attempts to seize the city.

Earl Robert and Henry Plantagenet

The arrival in England of Duke Henry, son of the Empress Mathilda, in January 1153 was a great opportunity for Earl Robert. He was probably in negotiation with Henry in that spring and reached an agreement by which he would defect to him by May 1153, when the duke restored his Norman estates to the earl. The duke celebrated his Pentecost court at Leicester in June 1153, and he and the earl were constantly in company till the peace settlement between the duke and the king at Winchester in November 1153. Earl Robert crossed with the duke to Normandy in January 1154 and resumed his Norman castles and honors. As part of the settlement his claim to be chief steward of England and Normandy was recognised by Henry.

Earl Robert began his career as chief justiciar of England probably as soon as Duke Henry succeeded as King Henry II in October 1154.[1] The office gave the earl supervision of the administration and legal process in England whether the king was present or absent in the realm. He appears in that capacity in numerous administrative acts, and had a junior colleague in the post in Richard de Luci, another former servant of King Stephen. The earl filled the office for nearly fourteen years until his death,[1] and earned the respect of the emerging Angevin bureaucracy in England. His opinion was quoted by learned clerics, and his own learning was highly commended.

He died on 5 April 1168,[1] probably at his Northamptonshire castle of Brackley, for his entrails were buried at the hospital in the town. He was received as a canon of Leicester on his deathbed, and buried to the north of the high altar of the great abbey he had founded and built. He left a written testament of which his son the third earl was an executor, as we learn in a reference dating to 1174.

Church Patronage

In addition to the abbey of St. Mary de Pré, in Leicester, the earl founded in England the Cistercian abbey of Garendon in 1133, the Fontevraldine priory at Nuneaton between 1155 and 1160, the priory of Luffield, and the hospital of Brackley. He refounded the collegiate church of St Mary de Castro as a dependency of Leicester abbey around 1164, after suppressing it in 1139. Around 1139 he refounded the collegiate church of Wareham as a priory of his abbey of Lyre, in Normandy. His principal Norman foundations were the priory of Le Désert in the forest of Breteuil and a major hospital in Breteuil itself. He was a generous benefactor of the Benedictine abbey of Lyre, the oldest monastic house in the honor of Breteuil.

Family and children

He married after 1120 Amice de Montfort, daughter of Ralph, senior of Gael and Montfort. They had four children:

  1. Hawise de Beaumont, who married William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester;

2. Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester;
3. Isabel, who married:
1. Simon II of St Liz, 4th Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton;
2. Gervase Paynel of Dudley.
4. Margaret, who married Ralph V de Toeni
Literary references

He is a minor character in The Holy Thief, and Brother Cadfael's Penance, of the Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Powicke Handbook of British Chronology p. 69

References

   * D. Crouch, The Beaumont Twins: the Roots and Branches of Power in the Twelfth Century (Cambridge, 1986).

* D. Crouch, The Reign of King Stephen, 1135-1154 (London, 2000).
* E. King, "Mountsorrel and its region in King Stephen's Reign", Huntington Library Quarterly, 44 (1980), 1-10.
* Leicester Abbey, ed. J. Storey, J. Bourne and R. Buckley (Leicester, 2006).
* Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde Handbook of British Chronology 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961
* British Library ms Royal E xxv.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_de_Beaumont,_2nd_Earl_of_Leicester

From http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/NORMAN%20NOBILITY.htm#Walerandied1166B

WALERAN de Beaumont, son of ROBERT de Beaumont-le-Roger Comte de Meulan, Earl of Leicester & his wife Elisabeth de Vermandois [Capet] (1104-Préaux 9/10 Apr 1166, bur Préaux, monastery of Saint-Pierre). His parentage is recorded by Orderic Vitalis, who specifies that he was the twin of his brother Robert[2193]. He succeeded his father as Comte de Meulan, and to his fiefs in Normandy. He and his twin brother were brought up at the court of Henry I King of England[2194]. He rebelled against King Henry, with his brothers-in-law Hugues de Montfort, Hugues de Châteauneuf and Guillaume Louvel[2195], but was captured at the siege of Vatteville 26 Mar 1124. The king confiscated his lands and held him in prison for five years, successively at Rouen, Bridgenorth and Wallingford, until 1129. After the accession of King Stephen in 1135, Waléran supported the king who created him Earl of Worcester in 1138. However, he fled at the battle of Lincoln 2 Feb 1141 and came to an agreement with Geoffroy Comte d'Anjou who gave him the castle of Montfort-sur-Risle. "Gualeran comes Mellensis" confirmed his foundation of a chapel "at Watteville before the gates of his castle" by charter dated [1154/55], witnessed by his sons Robert and Gualeran and his wife Agnes[2196]. Robert of Torigny records that "Gualerannus comes Mellenti" became "monachus Pratelli" in 1166[2197].

Betrothed to (Easter 1136) MATHILDE de Blois, daughter of STEPHEN King of England & his wife Mathilde Ctss de Boulogne ([1133/34]-before 1141, bur Priory of Holy Trinity, Aldgate Without, London). Daughter of King Stephen, Orderic Vitalis records her betrothal when she was "two years old" but does not name her[2198]. The Chronicon Valassense names "comes Mellenti Gualerannus" and "uxore sua regis Stephani familia"[2199]. William of Newburgh records her burial, together with that of her brother Baudouin, as "children of King Stephen and Queen" and wife of "comitis de Medlint", quoting the records of Holy Trinity[2200].

m (1141) AGNES de Montfort, daughter of AMAURY [III] de Montfort Comte d'Evreux & his second wife Agnès de Garlande (-15 Dec 1181). Robert of Torigny refers to the wife of "Gualerannus comes Mellenti" as "sorore Simonis comitis Ebroicensis" but does not name her[2201]. "G comes Mellenti et A comitissa uxor mea" donated property to Notre-Dame de la Trappe by undated charter[2202]. Her brother gave her Gournay-sur-Marne as her marriage portion[2203]. "Agnes comitissa Mell." donated property "haia de Lintot" to the monastery of Montvilliers for the soul of "Almarici comitis ebroicensis patris mei…[et]…comitis Mell. Gual. domini mei…et Roberti filii mei" by undated charter[2204]. "Gualeran comes Mellensis" confirmed his foundation of a chapel "at Watteville before the gates of his castle" by charter dated [1154/55], witnessed by his sons Robert and Gualeran and his wife Agnes[2205].

Comte Waléran & his wife had nine children

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beaumont, Robert de, Earl of Leicester 1104-1168, justiciary of England, was son of the preceding, and a twin with his brother Waleran [see Beaumont, Waleran de]. He seems, however, to have been deemed the younger, and is spoken of as postnatus in the Testa de Nevill. He is stated to have been born in 1104 (Ord. Vit. xi. 6) when his father was advanced in years, a date fatal to the story in the Abingdon Chronicle (ii. 229), that he had been at the Benedictine monastery there as a boy, regis Willelmi tempore (ie. ante 1099). At his father's death (1118) he succeeded to his English fiefs (Ord. Vit. xii. 33), being apparently considered the younger of the twins, and Henry, in gratitude for his father's services, brought him up, with his brother, in the royal household, and gave him to wife Amicia, daughter of Ralph (de Wader), earl of Norfolk, by Emma, daughter of William (Fitz-Osbern), earl of Hereford, with the fief of Bréteuil for her dower (ib.). The twins accompanied Henry to Normandy, and to his interview with Pope Calixtus at Gisors (November 1119), where they are said to have astounded the cardinals by their learning. They were also present at his death-bed, 1 Dec. 1135 (ib. xiii. 19). In the anarchy that followed, war broke out between Robert and his hereditary foe, Roger de Toesny (ib. xiii. 22), whom he eventually captured by his brother's assistance. In December 1137 the twins returned to England with Stephen, as his chief advisers, and Robert began preparing for his great foundation, his Norman possessions being overrun (ib. xiii. 36) in his absence (1138), till he came to terms with Roger de Toesny (ib. xiii. 38). In June 1139 he took, with his brother, the lead in seizing the bishops of Salisbury and Lincoln at Oxford (ib. xiii. 40), and on the outbreak of civil war was despatched with him, by Stephen, to escort the empress to Bristol (October 1139), and is said (but this is doubtful) to have received a grant of Hereford. He secured his interests with the Angevin party (ib. xiii. 43) after Stephen's defeat (2 Feb. 1141), and then devoted himself to raising, in the outskirts of Leicester, the noble abbey of St. Mary de Pré (de Pratis) for canons regular of the Austin order. Having bestowed on it rich endowments, including those of his father's foundation, he had it consecrated in 1143 by the bishop of Lincoln, whom he had contrived to reconcile. In 1152 he was still in Stephen's confidence, and exerted his influence to save his brother (Gervase, i. 148), but on Henry landing in 1153 he supplied him freely with means for his struggle (ib. i. 152), and attending him, shortly after his coronation (December 1154) was rewarded with his lasting confidence, and with the post of chief justiciar, in which capacity (capitalis justicia) he first appears 13 Jan. 1155 (Cart. Ant. W.), and again in 1156 (Rot. Pip. 2 Hen. II). He was now in the closest attendance on the court, and on the queen joining the king in Normandy (December 1158) he was left in charge of the kingdom, in a vice-regal capacity, till the king's return 25 Jan. 1163, Richard de Luci [qv.], when in England, being associated with him in the government. He was present at the famous council of Clarendon (13-28 Jan. 1164), and his name heads the list of lay signatures to the constitutions (MS. Cott. Claud. B. fo. 26), to which he is said, by his friendly influence, to have procured Becket's assent (Gervase, i. 177). As with his father, in the question of investitures he loyally upheld the claims of the crown, while maintaining to the church and churchmen devotion even greater than his father's. In the great crisis at the council of Northampton (October 1164) he strove, with the Earl of Cornwall, to reconcile the primate with the king, pleading hard with Becket when they visited him (12 Oct.) at his house. The following day they were commissioned to pronounce to him the sentence of the court; but when Leicester, as chief justiciary, commenced his address, he was at once cut short by the primate, who rejected his jurisdiction (Gervase, i. 185; Rog. Hov. i. 222, 228; Materials, ii. 393, &c.). Early the next year (1165) he was again, on the king's departure, left in charge of the kingdom, and, on the Archbishop of Cologne arriving as an envoy from the emperor, refused to greet him on the ground that he was a schismatic (R. Dic. i. 318). He appears to have accompanied Henry to Normandy in the spring of 1166, but leaving him, returned to his post before October, and retained it till his death, which took place in 1168 (Rog. Hov. i. 269; Ann. Wav.; Chron. Mailros.). It is said, in a chronicle of St. Mary de Pré (Mon. Ang. ut infra), that he himself became a canon regular of that abbey, and resided there fifteen years, till his death, when he was buried on the south side of the choir; but it is obvious that he cannot thus have entered the abbey. This earl was known as le Bossu (to distinguish him from his successors), and also, possibly, as le Goozen (Mon. Ang. 1830, vi. 467). He founded, in addition to St. Mary de Pré, the abbey of Garendon (Ann. Wav. 233), the monastery of Nuneaton, the priory of Lusfield, and the hospital of Brackley (wrongly attributed by Dugdale to his father), and was a liberal benefactor to many other houses (see Dugdale). His charter confirming to his burgesses of Leicester their merchant-gild and customs is preserved at Leicester, and printed on p. 404 of the Appendix to the eighth report on Historical MSS., and copies of his charters of wood and pasture are printed in Mr. Thompson's essay (pp. 42-84). He is also said to have remitted the gavel-pence impost, but the story, though accepted by Mr. Thompson (p. 60) and Mr. Jeaffreson (Appendix to 8th Report, ut supra, pp. 404, 406-7), is probably false.

Monarch Henry II

Preceded by The Earl of Leicester

Born 1104

Died April 5, 1168

Brackley

Nationality Norman-French

Spouse(s) Amice de Montfort

Relations Waleran de Beaumont, twin brother

Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan and 1st Earl of Leicester & Elizabeth de Vermandois, parents

Children Hawise, Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester, Isabel, Margaret

Robert Fitzhamon (died March 1107), or Robert FitzHamon, Sieur de Creully in the Calvados region and Torigny in the Manche region of Normandy, was Lord of Gloucester and the Norman conqueror of Glamorgan, southern Wales.

As a kinsman of the Conqueror and one of the few Anglo-Norman barons to remain loyal to the two successive kings William Rufus and Henry I of England, he was a prominent figure in England and Normandy.

Not much is known about his earlier life, or his precise relationship to William I of England.

Robert Fitzhamon (died March 1107), or Robert FitzHamon, Sieur de Creully in the Calvados region and Torigny in the Manche region of Normandy, was Lord of Gloucester and the Norman conqueror of Glamorgan, southern Wales.

As a kinsman of the Conqueror and one of the few Anglo-Norman barons to remain loyal to the two successive kings William Rufus and Henry I of England, he was a prominent figure in England and Normandy.

Not much is known about his earlier life, or his precise relationship to William I of England.

Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (1104 – 5 April 1168) was Justiciar of England 1155-1168.

The surname "de Beaumont" is given him by genealogists. The only known contemporary surname applied to him is "Robert son of Count Robert". Henry Knighton, the fourteenth-century chronicler notes him as Robert "Le Bossu" (meaning "Robert the Hunchback" in French).

Early Life and Education

Robert was an English nobleman of Norman-French ancestry. He was the son of Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan and 1st Earl of Leicester and Elizabeth de Vermandois. He was the twin brother of Waleran de Beaumont. There is no knowing whether they were identical or fraternal twins, but the fact that they are remarked on by contemporaries as twins indicates that they probably were in fact identical.

The two brothers, Robert and Waleran, were adopted into the royal household shortly after their father's death in June 1118 (upon which Robert inherited his father's second titles of Earl of Leicester). Their lands on either side of the Channel were committed to a group of guardians, led by their stepfather, William earl of Warenne or Surrey. They accompanied King Henry I to Normandy, to meet with Pope Callixtus II in 1119, when the king incited them to debate philosophy with the cardinals. Both twins were literate, and Abingdon Abbey later claimed to have been Robert's school, but though this is possible, its account is not entirely trustworthy. A surviving treatise on astronomy (British Library ms Royal E xxv) carries a dedication "to Earl Robert of Leicester, that man of affairs and profound learning, most accomplished in matters of law" who can only be this Robert. On his death he left his own psalter to the abbey he founded at Leicester, which was still in its library in the late fifteenth century. The existence of this indicates that like many noblemen of his day, Robert followed the canonical hours in his chapel.

[edit]Career at the Norman Court

In 1120 Robert was declared of age and inherited most of his father's lands in England, while his twin brother took the French lands. However in 1121, royal favour brought Robert the great Norman honors of Breteuil and Pacy-sur-Eure, with his marriage to Amice de Montfort, daughter of a Breton intruder the king had forced on the honor after the forfeiture of the Breteuil family in 1119. Robert spent a good deal of his time and resources over the next decade integrating the troublesome and independent barons of Breteuil into the greater complex of his estates. He did not join in his brother's great Norman rebellion against King Henry I in 1123-4. He appears fitfully at the royal court despite his brother's imprisonment until 1129. Thereafter the twins were frequently to be found together at Henry I's court.

Robert held lands throughout the country. In the 1120s and 1130s he tried to rationalise his estates in Leicestershire. Leicestershire estates of the See of Lincoln and the Earl of Chester were seized by force. This enhanced the integrity of Robert's block of estates in the central midlands, bounded by Nuneaton, Loughborough, Melton Mowbray and Market Harborough.

In 1135, the twins were present at King Henry's deathbed. Robert's actions in the succession period are unknown, but he clearly supported his brother's decision to join the court of the new king Stephen before Easter 1136. During the first two years of the reign Robert is found in Normandy fighting rival claimants for his honor of Breteuil. Military action allowed him to add the castle of Pont St-Pierre to his Norman estates in June 1136 at the expense of one of his rivals. From the end of 1137 Robert and his brother were increasingly caught up in the politics of the court of King Stephen in England, where Waleran secured an ascendancy which lasted till the beginning of 1141. Robert participated in his brother's political coup against the king's justiciar, Roger of Salisbury (the Bishop of Salisbury).

[edit]Civil War in England

The outbreak of civil war in England in September 1139 brought Robert into conflict with Earl Robert of Gloucester, the bastard son of Henry I and principal sponsor of the Empress Matilda. His port of Wareham and estates in Dorset were seized by Gloucester in the first campaign of the war. In that campaign the king awarded Robert the city and castle of Hereford as a bid to establish the earl as his lieutenant in Herefordshire, which was in revolt. It is disputed by scholars whether this was an award of a second county to Earl Robert. Probably in late 1139, Earl Robert refounded his father's collegiate church of St Mary de Castro in Leicester as a major Augustinian abbey on the meadows outside the town's north gate, annexing the college's considerable endowment to the abbey.

The battle of Lincoln on 2 February 1141 saw the capture and imprisonment of King Stephen. Although Count Waleran valiantly continued the royalist fight in England into the summer, he eventually capitulated to the Empress and crossed back to Normandy to make his peace with the Empress's husband, Geoffrey of Anjou. Earl Robert had been in Normandy] since 1140 attempting to stem the Angevin invasion, and negotiated the terms of his brother's surrender. He quit Normandy soon after and his Norman estates were confiscated and used to reward Norman followers of the Empress. Earl Robert remained on his estates in England for the remainder of King Stephen's reign. Although he was a nominal supporter of the king, there seems to have been little contact between him and Stephen, who did not confirm the foundation of Leicester Abbey till 1153. Earl Robert's principal activity between 1141 and 1149 was his private war with Ranulf II, Earl of Chester. Though details are obscure it seems clear enough that he waged a dogged war with his rival that in the end secured him control of northern Leicestershire and the strategic Chester castle of Mountsorrel. When Earl Robert of Gloucester died in 1147, Robert of Leicester led the movement among the greater earls of England to negotiate private treaties to establish peace in their areas, a process hastened by the Empress's departure to Normandy, and complete by 1149. During this time the earl also exercised supervision over his twin brother's earldom of Worcester, and in 1151 he intervened to frustrate the king's attempts to seize the city.

[edit]Earl Robert and Henry Plantagenet

The arrival in England of Duke Henry, son of the Empress Mathilda, in January 1153 was a great opportunity for Earl Robert. He was probably in negotiation with Henry in that spring and reached an agreement by which he would defect to him by May 1153, when the duke restored his Norman estates to the earl. The duke celebrated his Pentecost court at Leicester in June 1153, and he and the earl were constantly in company till the peace settlement between the duke and the king at Winchester in November 1153. Earl Robert crossed with the duke to Normandy in January 1154 and resumed his Norman castles and honors. As part of the settlement his claim to be chief steward of England and Normandy was recognised by Henry.

Earl Robert began his career as chief justiciar of England probably as soon as Duke Henry succeeded as King Henry II in October 1154.[1] The office gave the earl supervision of the administration and legal process in England whether the king was present or absent in the realm. He appears in that capacity in numerous administrative acts, and had a junior colleague in the post in Richard de Lucy, another former servant of King Stephen. The earl filled the office for nearly fourteen years until his death,[1] and earned the respect of the emerging Angevin bureaucracy in England. His opinion was quoted by learned clerics, and his own learning was highly commended.

He died on 5 April 1168,[1] probably at his Northamptonshire castle of Brackley, for his entrails were buried at the hospital in the town. He was received as a canon of Leicester on his deathbed, and buried to the north of the high altar of the great abbey he had founded and built. He left a written testament of which his son the third earl was an executor, as we learn in a reference dating to 1174.

[edit]Church Patronage

In addition to the abbey of St. Mary de Pré, in Leicester, the earl founded in England the Cistercian abbey of Garendon in 1133, the Fontevraldine priory at Nuneaton between 1155 and 1160, the priory of Luffield, and the hospital of Brackley. He refounded the collegiate church of St Mary de Castro as a dependency of Leicester abbey around 1164, after suppressing it in 1139. Around 1139 he refounded the collegiate church of Wareham as a priory of his abbey of Lyre, in Normandy. His principal Norman foundations were the priory of Le Désert in the forest of Breteuil and a major hospital in Breteuil itself. He was a generous benefactor of the Benedictine abbey of Lyre, the oldest monastic house in the honor of Breteuil.

Family and children

He married after 1120 Amice de Montfort, daughter of Ralph, senior of Gael or Montfort. They had four children:

Hawise, who married William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester;

Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester;

Isabel, who married with:

Simon II of St Liz, 4th Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton;

Gervase Paynel of Dudley.

Margaret, who married Ralph V de Toeni

Robert II de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester, married Amice de Montfort, daughter of seigneur de Montfort Ralph de Gaël, after 25 November 1120 in Brittany, France.

Robert was knighted in 1122.

Robert was one of the 5 Earls who witnessed the Charter to Salisbury granted at the Northampton Council of King Henry I on 8 September 1131 in Northampton.

Robert witnessed the death of King Henri I on 1 December 1135 at Castle of Lihun, Rouen, Normandy.

He was appointed Justiciar of England on the accession of Henry II to the throne in 1155. He was Justiciar between 1155 and 1168.

Robert died in 1168 in England at the age of 64 years.

See "My Lines"

( http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cousin/html/p373.htm#i6994 )

from Compiler: R. B. Stewart, Evans, GA

( http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cousin/html/index.htm )

Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (1104 – 5 April 1168) was Justiciar of England 1155-1168.

The surname "de Beaumont" is given him by genealogists. The only known contemporary surname applied to him is "Robert son of Count Robert". Henry Knighton, the fourteenth-century chronicler notes him as Robert "Le Bossu" (meaning "Robert the Hunchback" in French).

Early Life and Education

Robert was an English nobleman of Norman-French ancestry. He was the son of Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan and 1st Earl of Leicester and Elizabeth de Vermandois. He was the twin brother of Waleran de Beaumont. There is no knowing whether they were identical or fraternal twins, but the fact that they are remarked on by contemporaries as twins indicates that they probably were in fact identical.

The two brothers, Robert and Waleran, were adopted into the royal household shortly after their father's death in June 1118 (upon which Robert inherited his father's second titles of Earl of Leicester). Their lands on either side of the Channel were committed to a group of guardians, led by their stepfather, William earl of Warenne or Surrey. They accompanied King Henry I to Normandy, to meet with Pope Callixtus II in 1119, when the king incited them to debate philosophy with the cardinals. Both twins were literate, and Abingdon Abbey later claimed to have been Robert's school, but though this is possible, its account is not entirely trustworthy. A surviving treatise on astronomy (British Library ms Royal E xxv) carries a dedication "to Earl Robert of Leicester, that man of affairs and profound learning, most accomplished in matters of law" who can only be this Robert. On his death he left his own psalter to the abbey he founded at Leicester, which was still in its library in the late fifteenth century. The existence of this indicates that like many noblemen of his day, Robert followed the canonical hours in his chapel.

Career at the Norman Court

In 1120 Robert was declared of age and inherited most of his father's lands in England, while his twin brother took the French lands. However in 1121, royal favour brought Robert the great Norman honors of Breteuil and Pacy-sur-Eure, with his marriage to Amice de Montfort, daughter of a Breton intruder the king had forced on the honor after the forfeiture of the Breteuil family in 1119. Robert spent a good deal of his time and resources over the next decade integrating the troublesome and independent barons of Breteuil into the greater complex of his estates. He did not join in his brother's great Norman rebellion against King Henry I in 1123-4. He appears fitfully at the royal court despite his brother's imprisonment until 1129. Thereafter the twins were frequently to be found together at Henry I's court.

Robert held lands throughout the country. In the 1120s and 1130s he tried to rationalise his estates in Leicestershire. Leicestershire estates of the See of Lincoln and the Earl of Chester were seized by force. This enhanced the integrity of Robert's block of estates in the central midlands, bounded by Nuneaton, Loughborough, Melton Mowbray and Market Harborough.

In 1135, the twins were present at King Henry's deathbed. Robert's actions in the succession period are unknown, but he clearly supported his brother's decision to join the court of the new king Stephen before Easter 1136. During the first two years of the reign Robert is found in Normandy fighting rival claimants for his honor of Breteuil. Military action allowed him to add the castle of Pont St-Pierre to his Norman estates in June 1136 at the expense of one of his rivals. From the end of 1137 Robert and his brother were increasingly caught up in the politics of the court of King Stephen in England, where Waleran secured an ascendancy which lasted till the beginning of 1141. Robert participated in his brother's political coup against the king's justiciar, Roger of Salisbury (the Bishop of Salisbury).

Civil War in England

The outbreak of civil war in England in September 1139 brought Robert into conflict with Earl Robert of Gloucester, the bastard son of Henry I and principal sponsor of the Empress Matilda. His port of Wareham and estates in Dorset were seized by Gloucester in the first campaign of the war. In that campaign the king awarded Robert the city and castle of Hereford as a bid to establish the earl as his lieutenant in Herefordshire, which was in revolt. It is disputed by scholars whether this was an award of a second county to Earl Robert. Probably in late 1139, Earl Robert refounded his father's collegiate church of St Mary de Castro in Leicester as a major Augustinian abbey on the meadows outside the town's north gate, annexing the college's considerable endowment to the abbey.

The battle of Lincoln on 2 February 1141 saw the capture and imprisonment of King Stephen. Although Count Waleran valiantly continued the royalist fight in England into the summer, he eventually capitulated to the Empress and crossed back to Normandy to make his peace with the Empress's husband, Geoffrey of Anjou. Earl Robert had been in Normandy] since 1140 attempting to stem the Angevin invasion, and negotiated the terms of his brother's surrender. He quit Normandy soon after and his Norman estates were confiscated and used to reward Norman followers of the Empress. Earl Robert remained on his estates in England for the remainder of King Stephen's reign. Although he was a nominal supporter of the king, there seems to have been little contact between him and Stephen, who did not confirm the foundation of Leicester Abbey till 1153. Earl Robert's principal activity between 1141 and 1149 was his private war with Ranulf II, Earl of Chester. Though details are obscure it seems clear enough that he waged a dogged war with his rival that in the end secured him control of northern Leicestershire and the strategic Chester castle of Mountsorrel. When Earl Robert of Gloucester died in 1147, Robert of Leicester led the movement among the greater earls of England to negotiate private treaties to establish peace in their areas, a process hastened by the Empress's departure to Normandy, and complete by 1149. During this time the earl also exercised supervision over his twin brother's earldom of Worcester, and in 1151 he intervened to frustrate the king's attempts to seize the city.

Earl Robert and Henry Plantagenet

The arrival in England of Duke Henry, son of the Empress Mathilda, in January 1153 was a great opportunity for Earl Robert. He was probably in negotiation with Henry in that spring and reached an agreement by which he would defect to him by May 1153, when the duke restored his Norman estates to the earl. The duke celebrated his Pentecost court at Leicester in June 1153, and he and the earl were constantly in company till the peace settlement between the duke and the king at Winchester in November 1153. Earl Robert crossed with the duke to Normandy in January 1154 and resumed his Norman castles and honors. As part of the settlement his claim to be chief steward of England and Normandy was recognised by Henry.

Earl Robert began his career as chief justiciar of England probably as soon as Duke Henry succeeded as King Henry II in October 1154.[1] The office gave the earl supervision of the administration and legal process in England whether the king was present or absent in the realm. He appears in that capacity in numerous administrative acts, and had a junior colleague in the post in Richard de Luci, another former servant of King Stephen. The earl filled the office for nearly fourteen years until his death,[1] and earned the respect of the emerging Angevin bureaucracy in England. His opinion was quoted by learned clerics, and his own learning was highly commended.

He died on 5 April 1168,[1] probably at his Northamptonshire castle of Brackley, for his entrails were buried at the hospital in the town. He was received as a canon of Leicester on his deathbed, and buried to the north of the high altar of the great abbey he had founded and built. He left a written testament of which his son the third earl was an executor, as we learn in a reference dating to 1174.

Church Patronage

In addition to the abbey of St. Mary de Pré, in Leicester, the earl founded in England the Cistercian abbey of Garendon in 1133, the Fontevraldine priory at Nuneaton between 1155 and 1160, the priory of Luffield, and the hospital of Brackley. He refounded the collegiate church of St Mary de Castro as a dependency of Leicester abbey around 1164, after suppressing it in 1139. Around 1139 he refounded the collegiate church of Wareham as a priory of his abbey of Lyre, in Normandy. His principal Norman foundations were the priory of Le Désert in the forest of Breteuil and a major hospital in Breteuil itself. He was a generous benefactor of the Benedictine abbey of Lyre, the oldest monastic house in the honor of Breteuil.

Family and children

He married after 1120 Amice de Montfort, daughter of Ralph, senior of Gael and Montfort. They had four children:

  1. Hawise de Beaumont, who married William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester;

2. Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester;
3. Isabel, who married with:
1. Simon II of St Liz, 4th Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton;
2. Gervase Paynel of Dudley.
4. Margaret, who married Ralph V de Toeni
Source: Wikipedia

Adopted into the royal household of Henry I after his father's death

-Was Justiciar of England

Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (1104 – 5 April 1168) was Justiciar of England 1155-1168.

The surname "de Beaumont" is given him by genealogists. The only known contemporary surname applied to him is "Robert son of Count Robert". Henry Knighton, the fourteenth-century chronicler notes him as Robert "Le Bossu" (meaning "Robert the Hunchback" in French).

Early Life and Education

Robert was an English nobleman of Norman-French ancestry. He was the son of Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan and 1st Earl of Leicester and Elizabeth de Vermandois. He was the twin brother of Waleran de Beaumont. There is no knowing whether they were identical or fraternal twins, but the fact that they are remarked on by contemporaries as twins indicates that they probably were in fact identical.

The two brothers, Robert and Waleran, were adopted into the royal household shortly after their father's death in June 1118 (upon which Robert inherited his father's second titles of Earl of Leicester). Their lands on either side of the Channel were committed to a group of guardians, led by their stepfather, William earl of Warenne or Surrey. They accompanied King Henry I to Normandy, to meet with Pope Callixtus II in 1119, when the king incited them to debate philosophy with the cardinals. Both twins were literate, and Abingdon Abbey later claimed to have been Robert's school, but though this is possible, its account is not entirely trustworthy. A surviving treatise on astronomy (British Library ms Royal E xxv) carries a dedication "to Earl Robert of Leicester, that man of affairs and profound learning, most accomplished in matters of law" who can only be this Robert. On his death he left his own psalter to the abbey he founded at Leicester, which was still in its library in the late fifteenth century. The existence of this indicates that like many noblemen of his day, Robert followed the canonical hours in his chapel.

Career at the Norman Court

In 1120 Robert was declared of age and inherited most of his father's lands in England, while his twin brother took the French lands. However in 1121, royal favour brought Robert the great Norman honors of Breteuil and Pacy-sur-Eure, with his marriage to Amice de Montfort, daughter of a Breton intruder the king had forced on the honor after the forfeiture of the Breteuil family in 1119. Robert spent a good deal of his time and resources over the next decade integrating the troublesome and independent barons of Breteuil into the greater complex of his estates. He did not join in his brother's great Norman rebellion against King Henry I in 1123-4. He appears fitfully at the royal court despite his brother's imprisonment until 1129. Thereafter the twins were frequently to be found together at Henry I's court.

Robert held lands throughout the country. In the 1120s and 1130s he tried to rationalise his estates in Leicestershire. Leicestershire estates of the See of Lincoln and the Earl of Chester were seized by force. This enhanced the integrity of Robert's block of estates in the central midlands, bounded by Nuneaton, Loughborough, Melton Mowbray and Market Harborough.

In 1135, the twins were present at King Henry's deathbed. Robert's actions in the succession period are unknown, but he clearly supported his brother's decision to join the court of the new king Stephen before Easter 1136. During the first two years of the reign Robert is found in Normandy fighting rival claimants for his honor of Breteuil. Military action allowed him to add the castle of Pont St-Pierre to his Norman estates in June 1136 at the expense of one of his rivals. From the end of 1137 Robert and his brother were increasingly caught up in the politics of the court of King Stephen in England, where Waleran secured an ascendancy which lasted till the beginning of 1141. Robert participated in his brother's political coup against the king's justiciar, Roger of Salisbury (the Bishop of Salisbury).

Civil War in England

The outbreak of civil war in England in September 1139 brought Robert into conflict with Earl Robert of Gloucester, the bastard son of Henry I and principal sponsor of the Empress Matilda. His port of Wareham and estates in Dorset were seized by Gloucester in the first campaign of the war. In that campaign the king awarded Robert the city and castle of Hereford as a bid to establish the earl as his lieutenant in Herefordshire, which was in revolt. It is disputed by scholars whether this was an award of a second county to Earl Robert. Probably in late 1139, Earl Robert refounded his father's collegiate church of St Mary de Castro in Leicester as a major Augustinian abbey on the meadows outside the town's north gate, annexing the college's considerable endowment to the abbey.

The battle of Lincoln on 2 February 1141 saw the capture and imprisonment of King Stephen. Although Count Waleran valiantly continued the royalist fight in England into the summer, he eventually capitulated to the Empress and crossed back to Normandy to make his peace with the Empress's husband, Geoffrey of Anjou. Earl Robert had been in Normandy] since 1140 attempting to stem the Angevin invasion, and negotiated the terms of his brother's surrender. He quit Normandy soon after and his Norman estates were confiscated and used to reward Norman followers of the Empress. Earl Robert remained on his estates in England for the remainder of King Stephen's reign. Although he was a nominal supporter of the king, there seems to have been little contact between him and Stephen, who did not confirm the foundation of Leicester Abbey till 1153. Earl Robert's principal activity between 1141 and 1149 was his private war with Ranulf II, Earl of Chester. Though details are obscure it seems clear enough that he waged a dogged war with his rival that in the end secured him control of northern Leicestershire and the strategic Chester castle of Mountsorrel. When Earl Robert of Gloucester died in 1147, Robert of Leicester led the movement among the greater earls of England to negotiate private treaties to establish peace in their areas, a process hastened by the Empress's departure to Normandy, and complete by 1149. During this time the earl also exercised supervision over his twin brother's earldom of Worcester, and in 1151 he intervened to frustrate the king's attempts to seize the city.

Earl Robert and Henry Plantagenet

The arrival in England of Duke Henry, son of the Empress Mathilda, in January 1153 was a great opportunity for Earl Robert. He was probably in negotiation with Henry in that spring and reached an agreement by which he would defect to him by May 1153, when the duke restored his Norman estates to the earl. The duke celebrated his Pentecost court at Leicester in June 1153, and he and the earl were constantly in company till the peace settlement between the duke and the king at Winchester in November 1153. Earl Robert crossed with the duke to Normandy in January 1154 and resumed his Norman castles and honors. As part of the settlement his claim to be chief steward of England and Normandy was recognised by Henry.

Earl Robert began his career as chief justiciar of England probably as soon as Duke Henry succeeded as King Henry II in October 1154.[1] The office gave the earl supervision of the administration and legal process in England whether the king was present or absent in the realm. He appears in that capacity in numerous administrative acts, and had a junior colleague in the post in Richard de Lucy, another former servant of King Stephen. The earl filled the office for nearly fourteen years until his death,[1] and earned the respect of the emerging Angevin bureaucracy in England. His opinion was quoted by learned clerics, and his own learning was highly commended.

He died on 5 April 1168,[1] probably at his Northamptonshire castle of Brackley, for his entrails were buried at the hospital in the town. He was received as a canon of Leicester on his deathbed, and buried to the north of the high altar of the great abbey he had founded and built. He left a written testament of which his son the third earl was an executor, as we learn in a reference dating to 1174.

Church Patronage

In addition to the abbey of St. Mary de Pré, in Leicester, the earl founded in England the Cistercian abbey of Garendon in 1133, the Fontevraldine priory at Nuneaton between 1155 and 1160, the priory of Luffield, and the hospital of Brackley. He refounded the collegiate church of St Mary de Castro as a dependency of Leicester abbey around 1164, after suppressing it in 1139. Around 1139 he refounded the collegiate church of Wareham as a priory of his abbey of Lyre, in Normandy. His principal Norman foundations were the priory of Le Désert in the forest of Breteuil and a major hospital in Breteuil itself. He was a generous benefactor of the Benedictine abbey of Lyre, the oldest monastic house in the honor of Breteuil.

Family and children

He married after 1120 Amice de Montfort, daughter of Ralph, senior of Gael or Montfort. They had four children:

Hawise de Beaumont, who married William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester;

Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester;

Isabel, who married with:

Simon II of St Liz, 4th Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton;

Gervase Paynel of Dudley.

Margaret, who married Ralph V de Toeni

links

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_de_Beaumont,_2nd_Earl_of_Leicester
• http://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/bb4ae/beaumont01.php#earl2

  ---

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_de_Beaumont,_2nd_Earl_of_Leicester

Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2007) Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester Chief Justiciar of England In office October 1155 – 5 April 1168 Monarch Henry II Preceded by Roger, Bishop of Salisbury Succeeded by Richard de Luci Lord High Steward In office 1154–1168 Monarch Henry II Succeeded by The Earl of Leicester Personal details Born 1104 Died 5 April 1168 Brackley Nationality Norman-French Spouse(s) Amice de Gael Relations Waleran de Beaumont, twin brother Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan and 1st Earl of Leicester, and Elizabeth de Vermandois, parents Children Hawise, Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester, Isabel, Margaret Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (1104 – 5 April 1168) was Justiciar of England 1155–1168.

The surname "de Beaumont" is given him by genealogists. The only known contemporary surname applied to him is "Robert son of Count Robert". Henry Knighton, the fourteenth-century chronicler notes him as Robert "Le Bossu" (meaning "Robert the Hunchback" in French).

Contents [hide] 1 Early life and education 2 Career at the Norman court 3 Civil war in England 4 Earl Robert and Henry Plantagenet 5 Church patronage 6 Family and children 7 Literary references 8 Notes 9 References Early life and education[edit] Robert was an English nobleman of Norman-French ancestry. He was the son of Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan and 1st Earl of Leicester, and Elizabeth de Vermandois, and the twin brother of Waleran de Beaumont. It is not known whether they were identical or fraternal twins, but the fact that they are remarked on by contemporaries as twins indicates that they were probably identical.

The two brothers, Robert and Waleran, were adopted into the royal household shortly after their father's death in June 1118 (upon which Robert inherited his father's second titles of Earl of Leicester). Their lands on either side of the Channel were committed to a group of guardians, led by their stepfather, William, Earl of Warenne or Surrey. They accompanied King Henry I to Normandy, to meet with Pope Callixtus II in 1119, when the king incited them to debate philosophy with the cardinals. Both twins were literate, and Abingdon Abbey later claimed to have been Robert's school, but though this is possible, its account is not entirely trustworthy. A surviving treatise on astronomy (British Library ms Royal E xxv) carries a dedication "to Earl Robert of Leicester, that man of affairs and profound learning, most accomplished in matters of law" who can only be this Robert. On his death he left his own psalter to the abbey he founded at Leicester, which was still in its library in the late fifteenth century. The existence of this indicates that like many noblemen of his day, Robert followed the canonical hours in his chapel.

Career at the Norman court[edit] In 1120 Robert was declared of age and inherited most of his father's lands in England, while his twin brother took the French lands. However in 1121, royal favour brought Robert the great Norman honors of Breteuil and Pacy-sur-Eure, with his marriage to Amice de Gael, daughter of a Breton intruder the king had forced on the honor after the forfeiture of the Breteuil family in 1119. Robert spent a good deal of his time and resources over the next decade integrating the troublesome and independent barons of Breteuil into the greater complex of his estates. He did not join in his brother's great Norman rebellion against King Henry I in 1123–24. He appears fitfully at the royal court despite his brother's imprisonment until 1129. Thereafter the twins were frequently to be found together at Henry I's court.

Robert held lands throughout the country. In the 1120s and 1130s he tried to rationalise his estates in Leicestershire. Leicestershire estates of the See of Lincoln and the Earl of Chester were seized by force. This enhanced the integrity of Robert's block of estates in the central midlands, bounded by Nuneaton, Loughborough, Melton Mowbray and Market Harborough.

In 1135, the twins were present at King Henry's deathbed. Robert's actions in the succession period are unknown, but he clearly supported his brother's decision to join the court of the new king Stephen before Easter 1136. During the first two years of the reign Robert is found in Normandy fighting rival claimants for his honor of Breteuil. Military action allowed him to add the castle of Pont St-Pierre to his Norman estates in June 1136 at the expense of one of his rivals. From the end of 1137 Robert and his brother were increasingly caught up in the politics of the court of King Stephen in England, where Waleran secured an ascendancy which lasted till the beginning of 1141. Robert participated in his brother's political coup against the king's justiciar, Roger of Salisbury (the Bishop of Salisbury).

Civil war in England[edit] The outbreak of civil war in England in September 1139 brought Robert into conflict with Earl Robert of Gloucester, the bastard son of Henry I and principal sponsor of the Empress Matilda. His port of Wareham and estates in Dorset were seized by Gloucester in the first campaign of the war. In that campaign the king awarded Robert the city and castle of Hereford as a bid to establish the earl as his lieutenant in Herefordshire, which was in revolt. It is disputed by scholars whether this was an award of a second county to Earl Robert. Probably in late 1139, Earl Robert refounded his father's collegiate church of St Mary de Castro in Leicester as a major Augustinian abbey on the meadows outside the town's north gate, annexing the college's considerable endowment to the abbey.

The battle of Lincoln on 2 February 1141 saw the capture and imprisonment of King Stephen. Although Count Waleran valiantly continued the royalist fight in England into the summer, he eventually capitulated to the Empress and crossed back to Normandy to make his peace with the Empress's husband, Geoffrey of Anjou. Earl Robert had been in Normandy since 1140 attempting to stem the Angevin invasion, and negotiated the terms of his brother's surrender. He quit Normandy soon after and his Norman estates were confiscated and used to reward Norman followers of the Empress. Earl Robert remained on his estates in England for the remainder of King Stephen's reign. Although he was a nominal supporter of the king, there seems to have been little contact between him and Stephen, who did not confirm the foundation of Leicester Abbey till 1153. Earl Robert's principal activity between 1141 and 1149 was his private war with Ranulf II, Earl of Chester. Though details are obscure it seems clear enough that he waged a dogged war with his rival that in the end secured him control of northern Leicestershire and the strategic Chester castle of Mountsorrel. When Earl Robert of Gloucester died in 1147, Robert of Leicester led the movement among the greater earls of England to negotiate private treaties to establish peace in their areas, a process hastened by the Empress's departure to Normandy, and complete by 1149. During this time the earl also exercised supervision over his twin brother's earldom of Worcester, and in 1151 he intervened to frustrate the king's attempts to seize the city.

Earl Robert and Henry Plantagenet[edit] The arrival in England of Duke Henry, son of the Empress Mathilda, in January 1153 was a great opportunity for Earl Robert. He was probably in negotiation with Henry in that spring and reached an agreement by which he would defect to him by May 1153, when the duke restored his Norman estates to the earl. The duke celebrated his Pentecost court at Leicester in June 1153, and he and the earl were constantly in company till the peace settlement between the duke and the king at Winchester in November 1153. Earl Robert crossed with the duke to Normandy in January 1154 and resumed his Norman castles and honors. As part of the settlement his claim to be chief steward of England and Normandy was recognised by Henry.

Earl Robert began his career as chief justiciar of England probably as soon as Duke Henry succeeded as King Henry II in October 1154.[1] The office gave the earl supervision of the administration and legal process in England whether the king was present or absent in the realm. He appears in that capacity in numerous administrative acts, and had a junior colleague in the post in Richard de Luci, another former servant of King Stephen. The earl filled the office for nearly fourteen years until his death,[1] and earned the respect of the emerging Angevin bureaucracy in England. His opinion was quoted by learned clerics, and his own learning was highly commended.

He died on 5 April 1168,[1] probably at his Northamptonshire castle of Brackley, for his entrails were buried at the hospital in the town. He was received as a canon of Leicester on his deathbed, and buried to the north of the high altar of the great abbey he had founded and built. He left a written testament of which his son the third earl was an executor, as we learn in a reference dating to 1174.

Church patronage[edit] Robert founded and patronised many religious establishments. He founded Leicester Abbey and Garendon Abbeyin Leicestershire, the Fontevraldine Nuneaton Priory in Warwickshire, Luffield Abbey in Buckinghamshire, and the hospital of Brackley, Northamptonshire. He refounded the collegiate church of St Mary de Castro, Leicester, as a dependency of Leicester abbey around 1164, after suppressing it in 1139. Around 1139 he refounded the collegiate church of Wareham as a priory of his abbey of Lyre, in Normandy. His principal Norman foundations were the priory of Le Désert in the forest of Breteuil and a major hospital in Breteuil itself. He was a generous benefactor of the Benedictine abbey of Lyre, the oldest monastic house in the honor of Breteuil. He also donated land in Old Dalby, Leicestershire to the Knights Hospitallers who used it to found Dalby Preceptory.

Family and children[edit] He married after 1120 Amice de Montfort, daughter of Raoul II de Montfort, himself a son of Ralph de Gael, Earl of East Anglia. Both families had lost their English inheritances through rebellion in 1075. They had four children:

Hawise de Beaumont, who married William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester and had descendants. Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester who married Petronilla de Grandmesnil and had descendants. Isabel, who married: Simon de St. Liz, Earl of Huntingdon and had descendants. Margaret, who married Ralph V de Toeni and had descendants. Literary references[edit] He is a major character in The Holy Thief and a minor character in Brother Cadfael's Penance, of the Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters.

Notes[edit] ^ Jump up to: a b c Powicke Handbook of British Chronology p. 69 References[edit] Portal icon Normandy portal D. Crouch, The Beaumont Twins: the Roots and Branches of Power in the Twelfth Century (Cambridge, 1986). D. Crouch, The Reign of King Stephen, 1135-1154 (London, 2000). E. King, "Mountsorrel and its region in King Stephen's Reign", Huntington Library Quarterly, 44 (1980), 1-10. Leicester Abbey, ed. J. Storey, J. Bourne and R. Buckley (Leicester, 2006). Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde Handbook of British Chronology 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961 British Library ms Royal E xxv. Political offices Preceded by — Lord High Steward 1154–1168 Succeeded by The Earl of Leicester Preceded by Roger, Bishop of Salisbury Held the office without the title Chief Justiciar 1154–1168 Succeeded by Richard de Luci Peerage of England Preceded by Robert de Beaumont Earl of Leicester 1118–1168 Succeeded by Robert Blanchemains

ROBERT, Second Earl of Leicester, Justice of England

"Robert, Earl of Leicester, son of Robert and the younger twin of brother Waleran. The twins were brought up at the court of with great care on account of the Kings's gratitude to their father. They accompanied Henry I when he interviewed Pope Calixtus at Gisors, Nov 1119 where they were famous for the extent of their learning. Both brothers were present at the deathbed of King Henry. In the anarchy which followed King Stephen's accession, Robert engaged in private warfare with his hereditary enemy, Roger de Tosny [Toeni], whom he captured with Waleran's assistance. In 1137 the twins returned to England with King Stephen. Meanwhile, during Robert's absence in England, his possessions in Normandy were overrun until he came to terms with Roger de Tosny (Toeni). In 1139 the two brothers took a leading part in the seizing of the bishops of Salisbury and at Oxford. About this time King Stephen gave Robert the town and castle of Hereford along with other possessions. However, the Empress Maud, King Stephen's rival, had made Miles of Gloucester Earl of Hereford. After the defeat of King Stephen in 1141, Robert appears to have made a truce with the Angevin party in Normandy. In 1143 the future King Henry II, the son of The Empress Maud, restored Robert's lands to him and granted him the Stewardship of England and Normandy in order to secure Robert's (and Robert's son and heir) support for his claim to the crown. Robert was with King Henry II at the siege of Thorigny, Oct 1154, and later attended Henry's Coronation in Dec 1156. After Henry's accession, Robert continued to rise in royal favor and was made Justiciar in 1155. He acted in The King's absence from England from 1158 to 1164 as Viceroy. He was present at the Council of Clerendon, 13-28 Jan 1163/64, and was the first to attest to the "Constitutions" to which he secured the assent of Thomas a Becket. He worked to reconcile Henry II and the archbishop during their famous dispute. In 1165, Robert again acted a Viceroy when the King left England. In the spring of 1165, he went to Normandy with the King, but was back in England after Nov 1167 when he retained the Justiciarship until his death two years later. Robert married, sometime after Nov 1120, Amice, daughter of Ralph, Seigneur of Gael and Montfort in Brittany, who was the son of Ralph, Earl of Norfolk by Emma, daughter of William Fitz Osbern. With his marriage to Amice, he acquired a large part of the Fitz Osbern inheritance in Normandy and England. He died 5 Apr 1168, and was buried in Leicester Abbey. Amice survied him and is said to have entered a convent at Nuneaton. He was kinighted in 1122, and was Justiciar of England, 1155-1168. Besides their son Robert, Amice and Robert had three daughters, Isabel who married, first Simon de Liz II, Earl of Huntingdon, and second, Gervase Paynel; Hawise who married William, Earl of Gloucester; and Margaret who married Ralph de Tonsy (Toeni), sometime after 1155. Source: ~Cokayne's Complete Peerage, 2nd Edition, (Leicester), Vol. VII, pp. 527-530

(This memorial was created by the 22nd great-granddaughter of Robert, Earl of Leicester, Audrey DeCamp Hoffman.)"