General Notes

Robert de Montgomery, eldest son, sometimes called "Robert of Belesme,"the town in Perche in Normandy where he had great possessions. He had thegreat inheritance of his father and mother in Normandy, was Count ofBelesme and Alencon and in England was Earl of Arundel and Shrewsbury andother manors of his father. It is impossible to do full justice to thecharacter and life of Robert in these notes. He was knighted by KingWilliam at the seige of Fresney in 1073 in recognition of his valorousand chivalrous conduct during the seige. He was between 45 and 50 in1098, when at his brother's death he succeeded to the inheritance. He wasthe oldest, but for some reason his brother Hugh succeeded. He took thepart of Robert of Normandy, eldest son of William I, against King HenryI, and because of his rebellion against Henry he was forced to forfeithis possessions in England when retiring into Normandy, and continuinghis turbulent practices there he was seized, imprisoned, and the nextyear brought over to England, where he was confined at the Castle ofWarham in the County of Dorset and starved himself to death. He wasaccounted the richest and most wicked man of the age he lived in. Ifwanting in the wisdom and prudence of his father, he probably surpassedhim in boldness and valour. A true soldier, he was everready to facedanger and adventure and apparently never happy unless in the turmoil andhorrors of war. This ended the House of Montgomery in England as a powerit had been earlier.