General Notes

On Leicester, Earldom of [Burke's Peerage, p. 1671]:

Robert de Beaumont, a companion in arms of William I (The Conqueror) at Hastings was granted after the Conquest much land in the Midlands of England, but most of it was in Warwickshire rather than Leicestershire. Indeed his younger brother became Earl of Warwick.  Robert also held territory in Normandy and is usually referred to as Count of Meulan.  He was a leading political figure in the reigns of William II and Henry I and on the death of one Ives de Grandmesnil in the First Crusade, the funds for campaigning in which Ives had raised from Robert on the security of his estates, [Robert] came into full possession of them, including a sizeable part of Leicester.  The rest of the town was granted him by Henry I and it is possible that he became Earl of Leicester.  His son, another Robert, certainly called himself Earl of Leicester.