General Notes

Shrewsbury, Earldom of: Under the system then prevailing the Earldom passed to an elder brother, Robert de Belleme, who constructed Bridgnorth Castle and continued the family policy of harrying the Welsh.  He rebelled against Henry I and in 1102 was deprived of the Earldom of Shrewsbury/Shropshire, together with his English and Welsh estates. [Burke's Peerage, p. 2604]

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According to Winston Churchill in "A History of  the English Speaking People", the Montgomeries (a very great house of Norman England) sided with Robert, Duke of Normandy, against his brother Henry I, in the war of succession after William Rufus, William The Conqueror's designated heir for England was killed in a hunting accident [in which Henry I was involved--some think more than an "accident"].  Henry I destroyed the power of the Montgomeries starting in September, 1100.  He captured Robert in Normandy in the battle at Tinchebrai and combined England and Normandy again.

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EARLDOM OF ARUNDEL (III)

EARLDOM OF SHREWSBURY (III)

ROBERT (DE BELL ME), EARL OF SHREWSBURY, elder brother and heir being 2nd but 1st surviving son and heir of the 1st Earl by his ist wife, was born probably between between 1052 and 1056 and baptised at St. Martin of SÈes. As a child he was at SÈes with his elder brother Roger attesting a charter for St. Martin of SÈes; and, probably after Roger's death, he attested a charter for St. Aubin of Angers (1060-62). After the death of his great-uncle Yves Bishop of SÈes in 1070, he accompanied his parents to BellÍme, which had devolved on his mother. In 1073 he served in the Conqueror's invasion of Maine and was knighted by the King at the siege of Fresnay-le-Vicomte. Probably he was now of age and began to act independently of his father; and about 1077 he joined the party of Robert Curthose. On his mother's death, 2 December 1079, he succeeded her in France as Lord of BellÍme; and either then or on his father's remarriage he succeeded to the Norman lordships of AlenÁon and Domfront. In 1086 he is found holding his court of justice at BellÍme. In September 1087 he was on his way to the King's court, when he heard of William's death; and turning back he expelled the King's officers from AlenÁon, BellÈme and his other castles. He then conspired with the Conqueror's halfbrothers and other nobles to dethrone William II in favour of Robert Curthose. Crossing to England, he joined the other rebel leaders, who were besieged in Rochester Castle; and in June 1088 they were forced to surrender. He was soon reconciled to the King and returning to Normandy with Prince Henry, he was arrested when he landed by Duke Robert and imprisoned at Neuilly-l'EvÍque; but his father soon obtained his release. The Duke seems to have appointed Robert one of his Stewards. In 1090 Robert supported the Duke against the Norman rebels who favoured William Rufus.[a] In 1092 his town of Dornfront revolted and called in Prince Henry, thus depriving Robert of one of his strongest castles. It was probably also in 1092 that he took a leading part in the successful siege of the castle of Breval by the King of France and the Duke of Normandy. In 1094 he made private war on his hereditary enemy Robert GÈrÈ, the lord of St. CÈneri. On his father's death in 1094. he succeeded to all Roger's possessions in Normandy. When William Rufus invaded France in 1097 Robert was his "princeps militiae," and built for him the original castle at Gisors. In 1097, 1098 and 1099 he was at war with HÈlie Count of Maine. After the death of his brother Hugh in 1098, Robert obtained Hugh's Earldom and lands in England and Wales from the King on payment of a relief of £3000 and thus became EARL OF SHROPSHIRE or SHREWSBURY. He also bought for a large sum, the honor of Blythe and all the land of his kinsman, Roger de Busli. He built the castle of Bridgnorth on the Severn, carried on the war against the Welsh and built a castle at "Caroclove" in Wales. He was in Normandy when William Rufus was killed; and hastening to England he did homage to Henry I, who confirmed him in the possession of his lands and dignities. In October 1100 by the death of his father-in-law he became Count of Ponthieu. In 1101 with other nobles, he stirred up Robert of Normandy to invade England; and when the Duke arrived in the autumn he deserted Henry to join him; but the Royal brothers came to an agreement. In 1102 Henry I summoned Robert de BellÍme to his court to answer 45 accusations; but the Earl fled and fortified his castles; and he devastated Staffordshire with a force of Normans and Welsh. The King took his castles of Arundel, Blythe, and Bridgnorth and besieged him in Shrewsbury, while he incited the Duke of Normandy to take up arms against Robert in the Duchy. Finally Robert surrendered and was given a safe-conduct to the sea; but he was deprived of all his honours and lands in England and Wales. Thereby the Earldom of Shrewsbury became extinct. Robert retired to Normandy, where in 1103 he defeated the ducal army on the road from Exmes to SÈes; but in the early summer of 1104 he made peace with the Duke. About 1105 he was at war with Rotrou, Count of Perche, who had claimed a share of the great BellÍme inheritance and who defeated him. In the autumn of 1105 he attacked Henry's supporters in Normandy. However, before Christmas he went to England to treat with the King; but he returned to Normandy unreconciled. When Henry invaded Normandy in the early autumn of 1106, Robert adhered to the Duke. He commanded the rear division at the Battle of Tinchebrai, 28 September, but fled when the front division was badly cut up. Failing in an attempt to seduce the Count of Maine from his alliance with Henry, Robert made peace with the King on advantageous terms. On 17 May 1110 he was with Henry at Dover, when a treaty was made there with the Count of Flanders; but in 1111 he took a leading part in the plot to restore Normandy to Duke Robert's son William Clito, and in 1112 he rebelled and aided the Count of Anjou against the King. Later in that year the King of France sent him as Ambassador to Henry, to demand the release of Duke Robert, but the King seized him. He was tried on 4 November 1112 at Bonneville-sur-Touque on various charges, and was condemned in the King's court to the most rigorous imprisonment. He was confined at Cherbourg, and all his honours, lands and castles were forfeited. In July 1113 the King took him to England, where he was imprisoned in Wareham Castle, Dorset. He then disappears from history; but he was still living and presumably in Wareham Castle at Michaelmas 1130, when the Pipe Roll records payments under Dorset and Wiltshire of £18.5.0 for the maintenance, and 40 shillings for the clothes, of Robert de BellÍme. Before 1092 Robert expelled the Canons from St. Leonard of BellÍme and gave the church to the Abbot of Marmoutier, who replaced them by monks and a prior William. As Earl of Shrewsbury he gave the church of Catford to the abbey of St. Mary la Sauve Majure (diocese of Bordeaux), so that, as a canon died, a monk might receive his prebend.

He married before 9 September 1087, Agnes, 1st daughter and coheir of Guy I, COUNT OF PONTHIEU, by Ada. Agnes, who was sole heir to her father's comtÈ, was treated cruelly by her husband, who kept her shut up for a long time in his castle at BellÍme. She escaped by the help of a faithful chamberlain, took refuge with Adela Countess of Blois and retired to Ponthieu; whence she never returned to her husband. She was living on 6 October 1100, but died probably not very long afterwards. Robert died 8 May, not earlier than 1131, almost certainly in Wareham Castle and was presumably buried at Wareham.[f]  [Complete Peerage XI:689-96, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

[a] On 3 November 1090 he took part in crushing the rebellion in Rouen. He built castles at Fourches and Ch‚teau-Gontier. Being attacked by Hugh de Grandmesnil and other barons, after fierce fighting, in which Robert was aided by his brothers Roger and Arnulf, he appealed for help to the Duke, who came in force and besieged Courcy; until the landing of Rufus with an English army caused him to raise the siege (Orderic, Vol. iii, pp. 352, 356, 358, 361-66).

[f] Probably secretly, in a nameless grave. All the authorities agree in denouncing Robert as lawless, faithless and wicked; and above all they insist on his inhuman cruelty.