The Conqueror and His
Companions
by J.R. Planché,
Of Roger, Count de Beaumont, it is unanimously
recorded that he was the noblest, the wealthiest, and the most valiant seigneur
of
We have already heard of his first
great exploit, when, as a young man, in the early years of Duke William, he
defeated the turbulent Roger de Toeni, who with his
two sons were slain in that sanguinary conflict (vide p. 19, ante). Towards the
invading fleet he contributed, according to
In that memorable battle he is said to
have given proof of courage and intelligence beyond his years, and promise of
the high reputation he would eventually obtain, and which won for him the
surname of Prudhomme. "A certain Norman young
soldier," writes William of Poitou, "son of
Roger de Bellomont, and nephew and heir of Hugh,
Count of Meulent, by Adelina,
his sister, making his first onset in that fight, did what deserves lasting
fame, boldly charging and breaking in upon the enemy with the troops he
commanded in the right wing of the army."
His services were rewarded by ninety
manors in Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Wiltshire, and Northamptonshire.
In 1080 he, with his brother Henry, afterwards Earl of Warwick, were amongst
the barons who exerted themselves to reconcile King William to his son Robert
Court-heuse, and in 1081 he subscribed a charter of
confirmation in favor of the Abbey of Fécamp. This
was the last document he signed in the name of Beaumont, for his mother dying
in year, he thenceforth wrote himself Comte de Meulent,
and did homage to Philip I, King of France, for the lands to which he succeeded
in that kingdom, and in 1082 sat as a Peer of France in a parliament held by
the said King at Poissy.
On the death of the Conqueror, the
Comte de Meulent and his brother sided with William
Rufus; their father, Roger de Beaumont, leaving also the ducal court and
retiring to his estates. The late King had given the
The monks of Bec
now found it necessary to patch up their quarrels with the Count, who behaved
generously on the occasion, confirming their privileges and those also of the
Abbey of Préaux, of Jumiéges,
and St. Vaudrille, remitting certain imports due to
him from the wine-growers of Mantes. I mention these circumstances, which have
no interest for the general reader, only to notice a singular condition the
Count attached to the franchise, namely, that the masters of all boats passing
the Castles of Meulent and Mantes should play on the
flageolet as they shot the bridges!
On the departure of Robert Court-heuse for the Crusades, William Rufus, to whom he had
confided the government of
The incidents and results of this
campaign are not sufficiently connected with the personal history of Robert de Meulent to require notice here. He was one of the royal
hunting party in the
Under the reign of the new King he retained
the favor and influence he had enjoyed during those of the two Williams, and
commanded the English army, which achieved the conquest of Normandy by Henry I
in 1106, who acknowledged himself indebted for it to the advice and valor of
the Earl of Leicester, to which dignity Robert de Meulent
had been advanced by him at some period not distinctly ascertained, but most
probably in the first year of his reign.
Orderic Vital gives the following account of
the mode by which he obtained the earldom: -- "The town of
This great warrior and able man is said
to have died of sorrow and mortification, caused by the infidelity of his
second wife Elizabeth, otherwise Isabella, daughter of Hugh the Great, Comte de
Vermandois and of Chaumont in the Vexin.
He had married -- the date at present unknown -- Godechilde
de Conches, daughter of Roger de Toeni, Seigneur de
Conches, but had separated from her before 1096, as in that year she, who could
not then have been seventeen, became the wife of Baldwin, son of Eustace de Boulogne, who was King of Jerusalem after the decease of
his brother Godfrey. Robert de Meulent, then being
between fifty and sixty, and without issue, sought the hand of Elizabeth de Vermandois, who was in the bloom of youth, and was accepted
by the lady; but Ivo, Bishop of Châtres,
forbade the marriage on the ground of consanguinity; the Count of Vemandois and the Count of Meulent
being both great-grandsons of Gautier II, surnamed "Le Blanc," Count
of the Vexin. A dispensation was obtained, however,
from the Pope, on condition that Count Hugh should take the Cross, and the
marriage was celebrated on the eve of his departure for the
The issue of Robert de Meulent by his second wife was a daughter named Emma, born,
according to Orderic, in 1102; two sons (twins), baptised Waleran and Robert, born
in 1104; a third son, known as Hugh the Poor, afterwards Earl of Bedford, and
three other daughters, Adeline, Amicia, and Albreda, all of whom must have been born after 1104, when
their father, then Earl of Leicester, was well stricken in years. Orderic, indeed, says he had five daughters, the fifth
being named Isabel, after her mother.
All these children being born in
wedlock, were of course in the eyes of the law legitimate, but William de
Warren, Earl of Warren and Surrey, second of that name, son of the mysterious Gundred, had supplanted the Earl of Leicester for some
years in the affections of his wife, and her ultimate desertion of him for his
young rival affected his mind, and hurried him to the grave, June 5, 1118.
Henry of Huntingdon, in his
"Letter to Walter," gives the following account of his last moments:
-- "I will mention the Earl of
"Upon this the ministers of the
Lord answered, 'Your hereditary estates and the lands which you have justly
obtained are enough for your sons; restore the rest, or else you devote your
soul to perdition.'
"The Earl replied, 'My sons shall
have all. I leave it to them to act mercifully, that I may obtain mercy.'"
"Assuming the monastic habit, he
then breathed his last, and was buried near his father at Préaux,
his heart being sent to the monastery of Brackley in Northamptonshire, which he had founded, and there preserved
in salt.
William of Malmesbury
says of him, that his advice was regarded as though the oracle of God had been
consulted; that he was the persuader of peace, the dissuader of strife, and
capable of speedily bringing about whatever he desired by the power of his
eloquence; that he possessed such mighty influence in England as to change by
his single example the long established modes of dress and diet. Limiting
himself on the score of his health to one meal a day, in imitation of Alexius,
Emperor of Constantinople, the custom was adopted
generally by the nobility. In law, he was the supporter of justice; in war, the
insurer of victory; urging his lord the King to enforce the statutes
vigorously, he himself not only respecting those existing, but proposing new.
Ever loyal to his sovereign, he was the stern avenger of treason in others.
It is a relief to read such a character
of a man in these darkest days of feudalism, imperfect civilization, and
demoralizing superstition.
A word or two respecting his children:
The twins, Waleran
and Robert, were carefully brought up by King Henry I from the time of their
father's death, "for the King loved him much, because in the beginning of
his reign he had greatly aided and encouraged him." On their arriving at
the proper age they received knighthood at his hands, and Waleran
was put in possession of all his father's domains in
Isabel became,
according to the chronique scandaleuse
of that day, one of the many mistresses of Henry I, and subsequently married
Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Pembroke. What became of Emma, the eldest born, we
know not. According to Orderic she was betrothed,
when only a year old, to Aumari, nephew of William,
Count of Evreux, but from some impediment which occurred the marriage never took place. She probably died in
infancy, or entered a convent. The author of "L'Art
de Vérifier les Dates," besides Hugh, Earl of