Robert de Bellême

Robert de Bellême (c. 1056– after 1130), seigneur de Bellême (or Belèsme), seigneur de Montgomery, viscount of the Hiémois, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury and Count of Ponthieu, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman, and one of the most prominent figures in the competition for the succession to England and Normandy between the sons of William the Conqueror. He was a member of the powerful House of Bellême.

Robert became notorious for his alleged cruelty. The chronicler Orderic Vitalis calls him "Grasping and cruel, an implacable persecutor of the Church of God and the poor... unequalled for his iniquity in the whole Christian era." The stories of his brutality may have inspired the legend of Robert the Devil.

Robert was the oldest surviving son of Roger of Montgomery, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and Mabel de Bellême, born probably between 1052 and 1056. In 1070 after the death of his great-uncle Yves Bishop of Sées his parents brought him to Bellême, which at that time became his mother's inheritance, and as the oldest surviving son it would eventually be his.

In 1073 when the Conqueror invaded Maine, Robert was knighted by William at the siege of Fresnai castle. By now probably of age and independent of his father he took part in the 1077 revolt of the young Robert Curthose against Duke William. When Robert's mother, Mabel, was killed c. 1079, Robert inherited her vast estates. But at this point Duke William took the added precaution of garrisoning the Bellême castles with his own soldiers, which was his ducal right. On hearing the news of William the Conqueror's death in 1087, Robert's first act was to expel the ducal garrisons from all his castles.

At the end of 1087 Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy was told of a plot to place him on the throne of England in his brother William II's place, a plot that Duke Robert enthusiastically approved and supported. Robert de Bellême, his brother Hugh de Montgomery and a third brother, either Roger or Arnulf, participated in this rebellion. The main conspirators, however, were Odo of Bayeux, Eustace III, Count of Boulogne, Robert de Mowbray, Geoffrey de Montbray, Earl Roger de Montgomery and other disaffected Magnates. The next year in the Rebellion of 1088, beginning at Easter the rebels burned and wasted the king's properties and those of his followers. At some point Roger of Montgomery detached himself from supporting Robert Curthose through negotiations with the king. Finally Robert de Bellême was among the rebels who found themselves defending Rochester Castle. When William Rufus blockaded the town and built two counter-castles, the garrison began negotiating for surrender under honourable terms, being allowed to keep their lands and serve the king. This Rufus refused; he was furious and had initially wanted the traitors hanged 'or by some other form of execution utterly removed from the face of the earth.' Roger of Montgomery and other great barons interceded with the King, Earl Roger on behalf of his sons, until finally in July a semi-honorable surrender was negotiated between the king and the rebels. Rufus, albeit reluctantly, guaranteed the rebels life and limb and gave them safe conduct.

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