Robert de Todeni, also known as Robert of Belvoir was an Anglo-Norman nobleman who held lands in England after the Norman Conquest.
Robert held lands in Guerny and Vesly in Normandy. He belonged to a branch of the Tosny family that originated near Eure in Normandy. [1] [2] His exact relation to the Tosny family is unclear, but it has been suggested that he was a younger brother of Roger I of Tosny. He had a (probably elder) brother named Berengar Hespina and a sister named Bertha, who married Guy I of Laval. [3]
In the Domesday Book of 1086, Robert is listed as the lord of Belvoir. [1] This lordship is considered a feudal barony, making Robert the first baron of Belvoir. [4] Robert's property was mostly concentrated in Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, but he also had significant property in Gloucestershire and Suffolk, and overall his property was spread over twelve shires.
Some of these lands had been held prior to the Conquest by Thorgautr Lagr, Oswulf son of Frani and others. [3] Robert's son Berengar was given Thorgautr's lands in Oxfordshire and Nottinghamshire, which he may have held from his father. [5] Robert also had lands in Northamptonshire, located south of Rockingham, and he might have been the first castellan of Rockingham Castle. [6]
Robert and his wife founded Belvoir Priory, [1] sometime between 1076 and 1088 as a priory of St Albans Abbey. [7] The choice to make Belvoir a dependent priory of St Albans may have been because Oswulf, previous owner of some of his lands, had also given lands to St Albans. [8]
Robert married Adelais. They had three sons, Berengar, William, and Geoffrey, as well as three daughters, Albreda, Adelisa, and Agnes. Berengar inherited the Norman lands and William inherited the English lands. All three sons died without offspring, leaving their sisters as the eventual heiresses. Albreda, the eldest daughter, married Robert de Insula and died before 1129 without issue. [1] Adelisa married Roger Bigod, [9] and died after August 1127. [4] Agnes, the youngest, married first Ralph de Beaufour and second Hubert de Ryes. Belvoir eventually went to Cecilia Bigod, the youngest daughter of Adelisa and Roger and the Norman lands went to Hugh Bigod, her brother. [1] Agnes is not recorded as having inherited any of lands connected with the barony of Belvoir. [4] The historian Judith Green speculates that because Berengar did not inherit any of the English lands, he may have been the son of an earlier marriage of Robert. [10]
Robert died around 1093, [1] although some older sources give a date of 1088. [4] He was buried at Belvoir Priory, [11] according to the priory's own history. [12]
Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk (1095–1177) was the second son of Roger Bigod, sheriff of Norfolk and royal advisor, and Adeliza, daughter of Robert de Todeni.
Broughton is a village and civil parish in northern Oxfordshire, England, about 2+1⁄2 miles (4 km) southwest of Banbury. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 286.
de Lacy is the surname of an old Norman family which originated from Lassy, Calvados. The family took part in the Norman Conquest of England and the later Norman invasion of Ireland. The name is first recorded for Hugh de Lacy (1020–1085). His sons, Walter and Ilbert, left Normandy and travelled to England with William the Conqueror. The awards of land by the Conqueror to the de Lacy sons led to two distinct branches of the family: the northern branch, centred on Blackburnshire and west Yorkshire was held by Ilbert's descendants; the southern branch of Marcher Lords, centred on Herefordshire and Shropshire, was held by Walter's descendants.
The House of Tosny was an important noble family in 10th and 11th century Normandy, though it did not include any comtes or vicomtes. Its founder was Raoul I of Tosny.
Urse d'Abetot was a Norman who followed King William I to England, and became Sheriff of Worcestershire and a royal official under him and Kings William II and Henry I. He was a native of Normandy and moved to England shortly after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, and was appointed sheriff in about 1069. Little is known of his family in Normandy, who were not prominent, but he probably got his name from the village Abetot. Although Urse's lord in Normandy was present at the Battle of Hastings, there is no evidence that Urse took part in the invasion of England in 1066.
Richard Basset was a royal judge and sheriff during the reign of King Henry I of England. His father was also a royal justice. In about 1122 Basset married the eventual heiress of another justice; the marriage settlement has survived. In 1129–30 Basset was co-sheriff of eleven counties. Basset and his wife founded a monastic house in 1125 from their lands, which before the donation were equivalent to 15 knight's fees.
Pain fitzJohn was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and administrator, one of King Henry I of England's "new men", who owed their positions and wealth to the king.
Geoffrey Ridel was a landholder and royal justice during the reign of King Henry I of England.
Roger de Valognes was an Anglo-Norman nobleman who held lands around Benington in Hertfordshire, a tenure that made Roger the feudal baron of Benington. In 1136 he was a supporter of King Stephen of England's seizure of the English throne from Matilda, the daughter of the previous king, Henry I. Roger built Benington Castle and gave lands to Binham Priory in the early part of Stephen's reign, but was dead by 1142. His barony passed to his first two sons in succession and his third son became a royal official in Scotland.
William de Chesney was a medieval Anglo-Norman nobleman and sheriff. The son of a landholder in Norfolk, William inherited after the death of his two elder brothers. He was the founder of Sibton Abbey, as well as a benefactor of other monasteries in England. In 1157, Chesney acquired the honour of Blythburgh, and was sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk during the 1150s and 1160s. On Chesney's death in 1174, he left three unmarried daughters as his heirs.
Walter de Lacy was a Norman nobleman who went to England after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. He received lands in Herefordshire and Shropshire, and served King William I of England by leading military forces during 1075. He died in 1085 and one son inherited his lands. Another son became an abbot.
Hugh de Cressy was an Anglo-Norman administrator and nobleman. Little is known of his ancestry and he first served two brothers of King Henry II of England before becoming a royal official. He was rewarded with a marriage to an heiress for his service to the king. In England he often served as a royal justice and witnessed documents, which showed his closeness to the king. On the continent, he recruited mercenaries for the royal army and was named constable of the castle of Rouen in the royal lands in France. He died in 1189 after giving lands to various monasteries before his death.
William de Courcy, feudal baron of Stoke Courcy in Somerset, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman.
William Meschin was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and baron. The brother of the earl of Chester, Meschin participated in the First Crusade. After returning to England, he acquired lands both from King Henry I of England and by his marriage to an heiress.
Robert fitzRoger was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk and Northumberland. He was a son of Roger fitzRichard and Adelisa de Vere. FitzRoger owed some of his early offices to William Longchamp, but continued in royal service even after the fall of Longchamp. His marriage to an heiress brought him more lands, which were extensive enough for him to be ranked as a baron. FitzRoger founded Langley Abbey in Norfolk in 1195.
William Paynel was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and baron. Son of a Domesday landholder, William inherited his father's lands in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Normandy after the death of an older brother during their father's lifetime. After the death of King Henry I of England, Paynel supported Henry's daughter Matilda in her attempts to take the throne from her cousin Stephen, who had seized it. Matilda entrusted Nottingham Castle to Paynel's custody, although he lost it within two years when it was captured by a supporter of Stephen's. Paynel also founded two religious houses - one in England and one in Normandy. After Paynel's death around 1146, his lands were split between two sons.
William Pantulf was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and Baron of Wem. He was born in Hiémois, a county of Normandy, where his family had lived since around 1030. Pantulf held lands in Shropshire following the Norman Conquest of England. A vassal of Roger of Montgomery, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Pantulf was accused of murdering Roger's wife but proved his innocence of the charge by a trial by ordeal. When Roger's son Robert of Belleme rebelled against King Henry I of England, Pantulf did not take part and sided with the king. Upon his death, which most likely occurred in 1112, William's eldest son Philip inherited his Norman lands, and his second son Robert received the English lands.
Rohese Giffard was a Norman noblewoman in the late 11th and early 12th century. The daughter of a Norman noble, she was the wife of another Norman noble, Richard fitzGilbert, who was one of the ten wealthiest landholders there after the Norman Conquest. Rohese is mentioned in Domesday Book as a landholder in her own right, something uncommon for women. She and Richard had a number of children, and she lived on past his death around 1086, until at least 1113 when she is recorded giving lands to a monastery. Her descendants eventually inherited her father's lands, although this did not occur until the reign of King Richard I of England.
Hugh de Beauchamp was a Norman who held lands in England after the Norman Conquest.
The Domesday Book of 1086 AD lists King William the Conqueror's tenants-in-chief in Snotinghscire (Nottinghamshire), following the Norman Conquest of England: