Richard de Vernon seigneur de Redvers (or Reviers, Rivers, or Latinised to de Ripariis ("from the river-banks")) (fl.c. 1066 – 8 September 1107), 1st feudal baron of Plympton in Devon, [1] was a Norman nobleman who may have been one of the companions of William the Conqueror during the Norman conquest of England from 1066.[ citation needed ] His origins are obscure, but after acting as one of the principal supporters of Henry I in his struggle against his brother Robert Curthose for control of the English throne, de Redvers was rewarded with estates that made him one of the richest magnates in the country. He was once thought to have been created the first Earl of Devon, but this theory is now discounted in favour of his son Baldwin.
Little is known for certain of the Redvers family before Richard. In his Baronage of England (1675–6), William Dugdale wrongly identified Richard de Redvers with Richard the son of Baldwin FitzGilbert (also known as Baldwin de Meules) who was sheriff of Devon under William the Conqueror. This error was still being repeated in the late 19th century. [2] In around 1890 The Complete Peerage advanced the alternative theory that Richard de Redvers was the son of William de Vernon, [3] but later research has cast doubt on this too, suggesting that all that can be said is that his father may have been Baldwin, one of three brothers named Redvers in Normandy in 1060; the other brothers being William, and Richard, who died in that year. [4] Similarly nothing is known of Richard's early life. The Norman poet Wace, writing c. 1170, mentions a "sire de Reviers" as one of those who accompanied William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, [5] but it is not known if this was Richard de Reviers.
The first clear references to Richard start to appear in the mid-1080s. In the Domesday Book (1086) he is recorded as holding one manor, that of Mosterton in Dorset which he may have been given for serving in William the Conqueror's army of 1066. [6] Mortestorne (as Mosterton was then known) was held by Almer before 1066. It had arable land, a mill, 30 acres of meadow and a large area of woodland and was valued at £12. [7]
According to Wace, in 1089 de Redvers was in the service of Robert Curthose, but was allowed to join his younger brother Henry's retinue at Henry's request. William the Conqueror had bequeathed Normandy to his eldest son Robert, but Henry had bought parts of it from him—including the Cotentin where Néhou, the de Redvers principal possession, was located. Since de Redvers also owned land in the Vexin which was retained by Robert, he had two lords, and evidently chose to support the one under whom his main property lay. From 1090 when Henry fell out with both his older brothers, Richard de Redvers was unswerving in his support of Henry, so much so that he was mentioned by both Orderic Vitalis and William of Jumièges in their chronicles. [8]
Richard's manor at Mosterton does not appear in the Redvers family records after about 1090 and it may therefore have been forfeited due to his support of Henry against William Rufus. [9] The manor passed to the Blount family which held it until the end of the 14th century. [7]
When William Rufus died suddenly in 1100 and Henry became king, Richard de Redvers quickly became one of his most trusted advisers. He witnessed more than 20 of Henry's charters and royal writs, in several different places, and sometimes as the only witness. After Richard's death his loyalty was remarked upon by Anselm of Canterbury. [10]
His continued allegiance resulted in Henry awarding him several large grants of land, most importantly the large Honour of Plympton (or feudal barony of Plympton) in Devon (part of which was the so-called Honour of Christchurch in Hampshire (now in Dorset), which was not technically a barony [11] ) and also the Lordship of the Isle of Wight with caput at Carisbrooke Castle. In addition to these he still held his estates in Normandy in the Cotentin (at Néhou) and Vexin (at Vernon) and he had also acquired the manors of Crowell in Oxfordshire and Woolley in Berkshire on his marriage. [12]
After the grants from the king, Richard's Devon estates probably consisted of around 180 Domesday manors, including Tiverton and Honiton, as well as the boroughs of Exeter and Plympton. The honour of Christchurch consisted of many widely scattered manors in several counties. He held virtually all of the Isle of Wight (the exceptions being two manors held by the bishop of Winchester), [13] and the island remained in his family until 1293 when King Edward I bought it (together with other manors including Vauxhall, South Lambeth, in Surrey), from Isabel de Forz, 8th Countess of Devon (1237–1293), sister and heiress of Baldwin de Redvers, 7th Earl of Devon (1236–1262), shortly before her death. [14]
According to Robert Bearman, Richard de Redvers can confidently be rated among the twelve wealthiest barons of the time, with estates worth well over £750. [15] It is notable, however, that less than one third of the value of the estates that the king bestowed on him were from ancient demesne (and hence deprived the king of income); the majority were from escheats, including the Isle of Wight which the king had confiscated after Roger de Breteul's failed Revolt of the Earls in 1075. [16] It was probably in the king's interest to have the Isle of Wight under control of someone trustworthy as it was a prime target for further attack from abroad. [17]
Some early documents suggest that Richard de Redvers was created the first Earl of Devon by Henry I. These documents include (1), the Chronicles of Ford Abbey, which have been shown to be unreliable in several matters relating to the de Redvers family; [18] (2), the Cartulary of Twynham, which apparently follows (3), the rubric appended by a later scribe to a charter issued by Richard himself; and (4), a copy of a charter issued by Richard's wife after his death, in which it is assumed that the transcriber has added the word "comitis" ("earl"); significantly the original charter is lost. [3]
Set against these few documents is the abundant charter evidence that Richard never styled himself earl, nor did any of his children or grandchildren call him such, and neither did his wife after his death call herself Countess. [3] Despite this, for many years the discrepancies caused disagreement over the numbering of the Devon earls. [19] However, since the early 20th century the matter appears to be settled, and it is now accepted that the first Earl of Devon was Richard's son, Baldwin. [20]
Richard may have had a brother named Hugh. [21] Some time after 1086, possibly around 1094, he married Adelina (or Adeliz), a daughter of William Peverel of Nottingham [10] and his wife Adeline de Lancastre dame de Loders et d'Ouvelay. They had five children:
Richard de Redvers died on 8 September 1107 and was buried in the Abbey of Montebourg in Normandy, of which he was deemed the founder. [24] It has been said that the top of his stone coffin with the word "Fundator" (founder) carved on it was found and preserved by a M. de Gerville. [25] Richard's wife, Adeliz, lived on until c. 1160. [26]
Earl of Devon is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of England. It was possessed first by the Redvers family, and later by the Courtenay family. It is not to be confused with the title of Earl of Devonshire, which is held by the Duke of Devonshire, although the letters patent for the creation of the latter peerages used the same Latin words, Comes Devon(iae). It was a re-invention, if not an actual continuation, of the pre-Conquest office of Ealdorman of Devon.
Baldwin de Redvers, 1st Earl of Devon, feudal baron of Plympton in Devon, was the son of Richard de Redvers and his wife Adeline Peverel.
William de Redvers, 5th Earl of Devon, of Tiverton Castle and Plympton Castle, both in Devon, was feudal baron of Plympton in Devon.
Baldwin de Redvers, 6th Earl of Devon, feudal baron of Plympton in Devon and Lord of the Isle of Wight, was the son of Baldwin de Redvers and Margaret FitzGerold and grandson of William de Redvers, 5th Earl of Devon.
Richard de Redvers, 2nd Earl of Devon was Earl of Devon from 1155 until his death and was feudal baron of Plympton in Devon. He married Denise, one of the daughters and coheiresses of Reginald, Earl of Cornwall. He was High Sheriff of Devon from 1154 to 1157. He was the son of Baldwin de Redvers, 1st Earl of Devon and brother of William de Reviers, 5th Earl of Devon.
Baldwin de Redvers, 7th Earl of Devon, feudal baron of Plympton in Devon and Lord of the Isle of Wight, was the son of Baldwin de Redvers, 6th Earl of Devon and Amice de Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford. He succeeded his father at the age of ten.
The Lord of the Isle of Wight was a feudal title, at times hereditary and at others by royal appointment in the Kingdom of England, before the development of an extensive peerage system.
Umberleigh is a former large manor within the historic hundred of (North) Tawton, but today a small village in North Devon in England. It used to be an ecclesiastical parish, but following the building of the church at Atherington it became a part of that parish. It forms however a part of the civil parish of Chittlehampton, which is mostly located on the east side of the River Taw.
Baldwin FitzGilbert was a Norman magnate and one of the 52 Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of King William the Conqueror, of whom he held the largest fiefdom in Devon, comprising 176 holdings or manors. He was feudal baron of Okehampton, seated at Okehampton Castle in Devon.
Isabel de Forz was the eldest daughter of Baldwin de Redvers, 6th Earl of Devon (1217–1245). On the death of her brother Baldwin de Redvers, 7th Earl of Devon, in 1262, without children, she inherited suo jure the earldom and also the feudal barony of Plympton in Devon, and the lordship of the Isle of Wight. After the early death of her husband and her brother, before she was thirty years old, she inherited their estates and became one of the richest women in England, living mainly in Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight, which she held from the king as tenant-in-chief.
Carisbrooke Priory was an alien priory, a dependency of Lyre Abbey in Normandy. The priory was situated on rising ground on the outskirts of Carisbrooke close to Newport on the Isle of Wight. This priory was dissolved in around 1415.
St James Priory, Exeter was a priory in Devon, England.
Milton Damerel is a village, parish and former manor in north Devon, England. Situated in the political division of Torridge, on the river Waldon, it covers 7 square miles (18 km2). It contains many tiny hamlets including Whitebeare, Strawberry Bank, East Wonford and West Wonford. The parish has a population of about 450. The village is situated about 5 miles (8.0 km) from Holsworthy, 13.081 miles (21.052 km) from Bideford and 22.642 miles (36.439 km) from Barnstaple. The A388 is the main road through the parish.
The feudal barony of Okehampton was a very large feudal barony, the largest mediaeval fiefdom in the county of Devon, England, whose caput was Okehampton Castle and manor. It was one of eight feudal baronies in Devonshire which existed during the mediaeval era.
The Domesday Book of 1086 lists in the following order the tenants-in-chief in Devonshire of King William the Conqueror:
The feudal barony of Plympton was a large feudal barony in the county of Devon, England, whose caput was Plympton Castle and manor, Plympton. It was one of eight feudal baronies in Devonshire which existed during the medieval era. It included the so-called Honour of Christchurch in Hampshire, which was not however technically a barony. The de Redvers family, first holders of the barony, were also Lords of the Isle of Wight, which lordship was not inherited by the Courtenays, as was the barony of Plympton, as it had been sold to the king by the last in the line Isabel de Redvers, 8th Countess of Devon (1237–1293).
Thuborough in the parish of Sutcombe, Devon, England, is an historic estate, formerly a seat of a branch of the Prideaux family, also seated at Orcharton, Modbury; Adeston, Holbeton; Soldon, Holsworthy; Netherton, Farway; Ashburton; Nutwell, Woodbury; Ford Abbey, Thorncombe, all in Devon and at Prideaux Place, Padstow and Prideaux Castle, Luxulyan, in Cornwall. The present mansion house, comprising "Thuborough House" and "Thuborough Barton", the north-east block, is a grade II listed building.
Robert Bastard (fl.1086) was a Norman warrior who assisted in the 1066 Norman Conquest of England under King William the Conqueror. He was subsequently rewarded with landholdings in Devonshire and is one of the Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of that monarch, with a holding of 10 manors or estates held in chief, 8 of which he held in demesne, i.e. under his own management without tenants. He had at least one further holding as a mesne tenant, at Goosewell, Plymstock parish, Plympton hundred, held from William of Poilley, a Norman tenant-in-chief from Poilley in Normandy, most of whose 21 landholdings were later granted by King Henry I (1100–1135) to his trusted supporter Richard de Redvers, feudal baron of Plympton in Devon.
Geoffrey de Mandeville was the Sheriff of Devon, England between 1100 and 1116 and also baron of Marshwood in Dorset. Marshwood is near the border of Devon and Dorset, 5.5 miles north-east of Lyme Regis.
Hubert de Vaux, also known as Hubert de Vallibus, was a prominent 12th-century English noble.