Alberee De Beaumont

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 15785

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• Name: Barbatus or La Barbe
• Reference Number: 15770

Notes:

Roger de Beaumont-le-Roger (c. 1015 - 29 November 1094) was son of Humphrey de Vielles (himself a great-nephew of the Duchess Gunnora of Normandy) and his wife Albreda de la Haye Auberie. Roger de Beaumont, Lord of Beaumont-le-Roger and Pont-Audemer, Viscount of Hiesmes, was thus a second cousin once removed of the Conqueror.

Life

Roger was nicknamed Barbatus or La Barbe because he wore a moustache and beard while the Normans usually were clean shaven. This peculiarity is recognized in the thirty-second panel of the Bayeux Tapestry where he is depicted sitting at a feast with Duke William on his left hand, Odo, brother of William and Bishop of Bayeux, in the centre.
Planché tells us that "he was the noblest, the wealthiest, and the most valiant seigneur of Normandy, and the greatest and most trusted friend of the Danish family." There is an explanation for this - as an older cousin who had never rebelled against the young Duke, he was part of the kinship group of noblemen that William relied upon in governing Normandy and fighting off frequent rebellion and invasions. The historian Frank McLynn notes that William relied on relatives descended via his mother (namely his half-brothers and brothers-in-law) and on relatives descended from the Duchess Gunnora's sisters, since his own paternal kin had proved unreliable.
Wace, the 12th century historian, says that "at the time of the invasion of England, Roger was summoned to the great council at Lillebonne, on account of his wisdom; but that he did not join in the expedition as he was too far advanced in years." Although Roger could not fight, he did not hesitate in contributing his share of the cost, for he provided at his own expense sixty vessels for the conveyance of the troops across the channel. Furthermore, his eldest son and heir fought bravely at Hastings as noted in several contemporary records. As a result, Roger's elder sons were awarded rich lands in England, and both eventually were made English earls by the sons of the Conqueror.
[edit]Family and children

He married circa 1048 or earlier Adeline of Meulan (ca. 1014-1020 - 1081), daughter of Waleran III, Count de Meulan and Oda de Conteville, and sister and heiress of a childless Count of Meulan. Meulan eventually passed to their elder son who became Count of Meulan in 1081. Their surviving children were:
Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester, Count of Meulan (b ca 1049 - 1118) who succeeded his father in the major part of his lands, and who fought in his first battle at Hastings.
Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick, overshadowed by his elder brother, but who established a more enduring line of Beaumont earls at Warwick Castle.
William de Beaumont (not mentioned in most sources).
Alberee de Beaumont, Abbess of Eton.
[edit]Roger de Beaumont in Literature

Roger de Beaumont appears as a minor character (the overlord of the secondary hero) in Georgette Heyer's historical novel The Conqueror. His family appears little in the book, but reference is made to Roger's wife and daughters and his eldest son.

Roger — Adeline of Meulan. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 15771

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 15782

Notes:

Humphrey (or Onfroi or Umfrid) of Vieilles[1] (died c. 1050) was the first holder of the "grand honneur" of Beaumont-le-Roger, one of the most important groups of domains in eastern Normandy[2] and the founder of the House of Beaumont.
His early life and origins are the subject of much discussion. He was the grandson of Torf (or Turolf), who some historians identify with Turstin le Riche, the father-in-law of Robert the Dane, and by others with an ancestor of the lords of Harcourt[3]. Whichever is the better hypothesis, we can be sure Humphrey descended from a Scandinavian Viking family.
Besides Beaumont-le-Roger, he had lands dispersed through the whole of Normandy, in Cotentin, in Hiémois, in the Pays d'Auge, in Basse Seine (Vatteville-la-Rue), in Évrecin (Normanville) and in Vexin normand (Bouafles). These lands originated in the favour of the dukes Richard II and Robert II, from confiscated church lands. The "honneur" of Beaumont was, for example, constituted from the remains of the lands of the abbey of Bernay[4]. On the other hand, the possessions around Pont-Audemer came to him by family inheritance.
In 1034, he 'founded' (or, rather, restored) the monastery at Préaux, a few kilometres from Pont-Audemer, with monks from the Saint-Wandrille.
During the minority of Duke William the Bastard, Roger I of Tosny, holder of the "honneur" of Conches, attacked Humphrey's domains. But around 1040, Humphrey's son, Roger de Beumont, met and defeated Roger in battle, during which Roger was killed.
[edit]Family and descendants

His known children:
Robert, the elder, assassinated by Roger de Clères[5]?;
Roger de Beaumont, known as le Barbu († 1094), who succeeded his father.
Two other possible children?:
Guillaume de Beaumont, monk at the abbaye Saint-Pierre de Préaux
Dumelme de Vieilles, monk at the abbaye Saint-Léger de Préaux.
[edit]Notes and references

^ Vieilles is the name of a former village, now merged with Beaumont-le-Roger
^ Pierre Bauduin, La première Normandie (Xe-XIe siècles), Presses Universitaires de Caen, 2004, p.216-217. Among the other grands honneurs of the Pays d'Ouche, were those of Breteuil and of Conches
^ William of Jumièges reports that this Turolf was the brother of Turquetil, the first lord of Harcourt, and the uncle of Ansketil de Harcourt. The archaeologist Jacques Le Maho supports Torf's identification with Turstin
^ Veronica Gazeau, Monachisme et aristocratie au XIe siècle : l'exemple de la famille de Beaumont,, PhD thesis, University of Caen, 1986-1987 (dactyl.), p.67-73. The abbot of Bernay, Raoul, parent of Humphrey, would have entrusted to him between 1027 and 1040, part of the heritage of his monastery. Like other lords of the beginning of the 11th century, like the family of Bellême, he increased the family's power by recovering or winning of ecclesiastical lands
^ Orderic Vitalis, History of Normandy, Éd. Guizot, 1826, vol. III, livre VIII, p. 373. Charpillon et Caresme, Dictionnaire historique des communes de l'Eure, vol I, 1879, art. Beaumont-le-Roger
[edit]Sources

(French) Pierre Bauduin, La première Normandie (Xe-XIe siècles), Presses Universitaires de Caen, 2004
(French) Véronique Gazeau, Monachisme et aristocratie au XIe siècle : l'exemple de la famille de Beaumont, doctoral thesis, Université de Caen, 1986-1987 (dactyl.)
Seigneurs de Beaumont-le-Roger on Medieval Lands

Humphrey — Albreda De La Haye Auberie. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 15783

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 15772