Sir Robert de Montgomery "de Bellêsme" Knight, comte d'Alençon

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information: ¹⁴¹
Robert de Bellême, Earl of Shrewsbury, elder brother and heir being 2^nd but 1^st surviving son and heir of the 1^st Earl by his 1^st wife, was born probably between 1052 and 1056 and baptized at St. Martin of Sées. As a child he was at Sées with his elder brother Roger attesting a charter for St. Martin of Sées. Most likely, after Roger's death, he attested a charter for St. Aubin of Angers, 1060/62. After the death of his great-uncle Yves Bishop of Sées, in 1070, he accompanied his parents to Bellême, which had devolved on his mother. In 1073 he served in the Conqueror's invasion of Maine and was knighted by the King at the siege of Fresnay-le-Vicomte. Probably he was now of age and began to act independently of his father, and about 1077, he joined the party of Robert Curthose.

Upon his mother's death, 2 Dec 1079, Robert succeeded her in France as Lord of Bellême, and either then or on his father's remarriage, he succeeded to the Norman lordships of Alençon and Domfront. In 1086, he is found holding his court of justice at Bellême. In September 1087, he was on his way to the King's court, when he heard of William's death, and turning back he expelled the King's officers from Alençon, Belléme and his other castles. He then conspired with the Conqueror's half-brothers and other nobles to dethrone William II in favor of Robert Curthose. Crossing to England, he joined the other rebel leaders, who were besieged in Rochester Castle. In June 1088, they were forced to surrender. He was soon reconciled to the King, and returning to Normandy with Prince Henry, he was arrested when he landed by Duke Robert and imprisoned at Neuilly-l'Evêque. His father soon obtained his release.

The Duke seems to have appointed Robert one of his Stewards. In 1090, Robert supported the Duke against the Norman rebels who favored William Rufus. In 1092, his town of Dornfront revolted and called in Prince Henry, thus depriving Robert of one of his strongest castles. It was probably also in 1092 that he took a leading part in the successful siege of the castle of Breval by the King of France and the Duke of Normandy. In 1094, he made private war on his hereditary enemy Robert Géré, the lord of St. Céneri.

Once Robert's father died in 1094, he succeeded to all Roger's possessions in Normandy. When William Rufus invaded France in 1097 Robert was his "princeps militiae," and built for him the original castle at Gisors. In 1097, 1098 and 1099, he was at war with Hélie Count of Maine. After the death of his brother Hugh in 1098, Robert obtained Hugh's Earldom and lands in England and Wales from the King on payment of a relief of £3000 and thus became Earl of Shropshire or Shrewsbury. He also bought for a large sum, the honor of Blythe and all the land of his kinsman, Roger de Busli. He built the castle of Bridgnorth on the Severn, carried on the war against the Welsh and built a castle at "Caroclove" in Wales.

Roger was in Normandy when William Rufus was killed, and hastening to England, he did homage to Henry I, who confirmed him in the possession of his lands and dignities. In October 1100, by the death of his father-in-law, he became Count of Ponthieu. In 1101 with other nobles, he stirred up Robert of Normandy to invade England. When the Duke arrived in the autumn, he deserted Henry to join Robert, but the Royal brothers came to an agreement. I n 1102 Henry I summoned Robert de Bellême to his court to answer 45 accusations. The Earl fled and fortified his castles, and he devastated Staffordshire with a force of Normans and Welsh. The King took his castles of Arundel, Blythe, and Bridgnorth and besieged him in Shrewsbury, while he incited the Duke of Normandy to take up arms against Robert in the Duchy. Finally Robert surrendered and was given a safe-conduct to the sea, but he was deprived of all his honors and lands in England and Wales. Thereby the Earldom of Shrewsbury became extinct.

Robert retired to Normandy, where in 1103 he defeated the ducal army on the road from Exmes to Sées. In the early summer of 1104, he made peace with the Duke. About 1105, he was at war with Rotrou, Count of Perche, who had claimed a share of the great Bellême inheritance and who defeated him. In the autumn of 1105 he attacked Henry's supporters in Normandy. However, before Christmas he went to England to treat with the King, but returned to Normandy without reconciling. When Henry invaded Normandy in the early autumn of 1106, Robert adhered to the Duke. He commanded the rear division at the Battle of Tinchebrai, 28 September, but fled when the front division was badly cut up. Failing in an attempt to seduce the Count of Maine from his alliance with Henry, Robert made peace with the King on advantageous terms. On 17 May 1110, he was with Henry at Dover, when a treaty was made there with the Count of Flanders; but in 1111 he took a leading part in the plot to restore Normandy to Duke Robert's son William Clito. In 1112, he rebelled and aided the Count of Anjou against the King.

Later in that 1112, the King of France sent Robert as Ambassador to Henry, to demand the release of Duke Robert, but the King seized him. He was tried on 4 Nov 1112 at Bonneville-sur-Touque on various charges, and was condemned in the King's court to the most rigorous imprisonment. He was confined at Cherbourg, and all his honors, lands and castles were forfeited. In July 1113, the King took him to England, where he was imprisoned in Wareham Castle, Dorset. He then disappears from history; but he was still living and presumably in Wareham Castle at Michaelmas, 1130, when the Pipe Roll records payments under Dorset and Wiltshire of £18.5.0 for the maintenance, and 40 shillings for the clothes, of Robert de Bellême. Before 1092, Robert expelled the Canons from St. Leonard of Bellême and gave the church to the Abbot of Marmoutier, who replaced them by monks and a prior William. As Earl of Shrewsbury he gave the church of Catford to the abbey of St. Mary la Sauve Majure (diocese of Bordeaux), so that, as a canon died, a monk might receive his prebend.

Robert married, before 9 September 1087, Agnes, eldest daughter and coheir of Gui I, comté de Ponthieu, by Ada. Agnes, who was sole heir to her father's comté, was treated cruelly by her husband, who kept her shut up for a long time in his castle at Bellême. She escaped by the help of a faithful chamberlain, took refuge with Adela Countess of Blois and retired to Ponthieu, and never returned to her husband. She was living on 6 October 1100, but died probably not very long afterwards. Robert died 8 May, not earlier than 1131, almost certainly in Wareham Castle and was presumably buried at Wareham.

~Cockayne's Complete Peerage, (Shrewsbury), Vol. XI, pp. 689-696

• Web Reference: Charles Cawley's Medieval Lands, Robert de Montgommery "de Bellême" . ³⁷⁶
Guillaume of Jumièges names "quinque filios et quatuor filias...Robertus et Hugo, Rogerius Pictavinus, Philippus et Arnulfus, Emma, Mathildis, Mabilia et Sibylla" as the children of "Willelmus Talavatius...filiam suam...Mabiliam" and "Rogerium de Monte-Gummeri" Robert is referred to as his mother's "first-born son" by Orderic Vitalis, who says his "name is now a byword for his cruelty to the wretched peasantry" [Orderic Vitalis (Prévost), Vol. II, Liber III, III, p. 47]. Robert witnessed a charter for Saint Martin de Sées with his brother Roger, and a charter for Saint Aubin of Angers in (1060/62) without Roger, suggesting that the latter had died by then [CP XI 690].

He succeeded his mother in 1079 as Sire de Bellême et d'Alençon. He rebelled against William II King of England in 1088, crossed to England but was besieged at Rochester Castle and in Jun 1088 forced to surrender.

He succeeded his father in 1094 in all his possessions in Normandy. He succeeded his younger brother in 1098 as Earl of Shrewsbury after a payment of £3000. He succeeded his father-in-law in Oct 1100 as Comte de Ponthieu. He rebelled against Henry I King of England in 1102, was deprived of all his honours and estates in England, and retired to Normandy.

He fought with Robert Duke of Normandy against his brother Henry I King of England at the battle of Tinchebrai in 1106, escaping by flight after the Duke's forces were defeated.

He helped Helias de Saint-Saens protect Guillaume, son of Robert "Curthose" ex-Duke of Normandy, after Henry I King of England ordered the arrest of the boy. He was arrested in 1112, imprisoned at Cherbourg and all his lands and honours forfeited. He was imprisoned at Wareham Castle, Dorset from Jul 1113 and was still there in Nov 1130. He married Agnes de Ponthieu, daughter of Gui comt de Ponthieu and his wife Ada. She was treated cruelly by her husband and imprisoned in the castle of Bellême, from where she escaped, took refuge with Adela Ctss de Blois, and retired to Ponthieu [Orderic Vitalis, Vol. IV, Book VIII, p. 301].

Robert married Agnes Comtesse de Ponthieu, daughter of Gui I Comte de Ponthieu and Adila, before Sep 1101.¹⁴¹ (Agnes Comtesse de Ponthieu was born about 1065 and died after 6 Oct 1100 in Ponthieu, Picardie.)