| Notes |
- 1st Lord of Bellomont He was a powerful English and French nobleman, revered as one of the wisest men of his age. Chroniclers speak highly of his eloquence, his learning, and three kings of England valued his counsel.
He was the eldest son of Roger de Beaumont and Adeline of Meulan, and an older brother of Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick. He accompanied William the Conqueror to England in 1066, where his service earned him more than 91 lordships and manors. When his mother died in 1081, Robert inherited the title of Count of Meulan. In 1100 Robert was with William Rufus in the New Forest when the latter died under sudden and violent circumstances. He then pledged alligience to William Rufus' brother, Henry I of England, who created him Earl of Leicester in 1107.
In 1096 he married Isabella de Vermandois, daughter of Hugh Magnus and a scion of the French royal family. According to Henry of Huntingdon, Robert died of shame after "a certain earl carried off the lady he had espoused, either by some intrigue or by force and stratagem." His wife Isabella remarried in 1118 to William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey. (Wikipedia)
ROBERT DE BELLOMONT, first Earl of Leicester after the Conquest, although he did not receive such title until 1103, temp. Henry I; of kin to the Conqueror who recognized his gallant conduct at the battle of Hastings; received nearly one hundred lordships in the Counties of Warwick, Leicester, Wilts, Northampton and Gloucester; died 18 Henry I; married Isabel, or Elizabeth, daughter of Hugh, Earl of Vermandois. (Fenwick Allied Ancestry, page 90-91)
|
1050 - 1118 (68 years)