Agatha de Beaufo

  Information about this person:

• From Gen-Medieval Archives: The Aguillon and the Ecstasy . ¹⁹³
From: "Chris Phillips" <cgp100@cgp100.dabsol.co.uk>
Subject: Re: The Aguillon and the Ecstasy
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 22:30:48 +0100

I have some notes on the Aguillons from Paget's Baronage. Unfortunately, I have mainly noted what relates to the "first" Robert (the one with 4 daughters), and have made only brief notes of the rest. However, Paget does state a relationship between this Robert and the younger one, the father-in-law of Hugh Bardolf.

Paget says that the younger Robert's father was a second cousin of the elder Robert [but perhaps this is slightly wrong - see below]. The common ancestor is said to be Manasser Aguillon, living 1156, who had a son and heir William (I noted that he says a lot more about this William, but I didn't copy it). William had a grandson William (again, I didn't note the intervening generation), who died shortly before 3 Oct 1244, when his son Robert did homage and had livery [citing Rot. Fin. 28 Henry III, m.2]. This Robert was the younger of the Roberts we've been discussing, says Paget.

Going back to Manasser, Paget says he had a second son Manasser, living 1172, and that the younger Manasser had a third son Richard, who married Ela de Frivill or Freville, by whom he had a son Robert. Richard and Robert appear as witnesses in 1201 [citing Cal. Docs. France i no 1403]. Paget says that this son Robert was the elder one we've been discussing.

Paget gives further details of the "elder" Robert's career, from 1203 to 1227, and says he married Agatha, dau and coheir of Fulk Beaufoy [citing Blomefield's History of Norfolk], and says he had 4 daughters by her (repeating some of the errors about the daughters, that we've discussed here before). He adds that Robert married secondly Alice, widow of John de Wahull (d.1217) [citing Bracton's Notebook, no 1182] and daughter of William de Munchensi, and that Robert was still living 1232.

Having said that, we know that the mother of the "elder" Robert's 4 daughters was not in fact Agatha de Beaufo, but Margery, daughter of William de Fresney. Also that at least two of these daughters gave birth to their heirs around 1240. And that C.J. Phillips in his History of the Sackville Family makes Agatha de Beaufo the mother of Robert, not his wife.

So could it be that there are two Roberts here - the first who was active by 1203 and married Agatha de Beaufo, and the second who married Margery de Fresney and died around 1249 leaving 4 daughters and a widow Alice "de Merley/Marley"? Perhaps this Alice is the same one mentioned above, in any case.

On the question of which of the "younger" Robert's wives was the mother of Isabel, the wife of Hugh Bardolf, Paget agrees with what's been said here before. He says that Robert married Margaret of Savoy "after 13 June 1269", and that Isabel was born 25 March 1258. Again, frustratingly, I haven't noted down what his authority is for these statements.
Obviously I'll have to make another trip to the British Library to fill in some of the gaps some time!

Chris Phillips

Agatha married Robert de Aguillon, son of Richard de Aguillon and Ela de Freville. (Robert de Aguillon was born in 1175 in Sussex, England and died after 1232 in Sussex, England ¹⁹³.)