An early Beaumont gift to Montebourg abbey

In a piece on 10 March 2021 I introduced William "the Monk," who was the maternal uncle of several twelfth century men called Beaumont.  More recently I have done pieces about him and these 12th, and 13th, century Beaumonts who were benefactors to Montebourg abbey.

In this piece we go back further, perhaps to the late 11th century.

Gift of share in mill of "Aldubvilla"

A certain William de Bello monte gave the abbey a share of a mill at a place called "Aldulvilla" or "Aldubvilla." 

.........Et dimidiu' molendini de aldul-villa qd dedit Will de bello mo'te pdce abbattie 

... and a half share in the mill of Audouville given by William de Bello monte to the aforesaid abbey

The charter and the timing of the gift

There is no known surviving record of the charter making this gift, assuming there was ever such a charter. The gift is mentioned in a confirmation charter apparently dating from 1107.

That charter is no. 141 in the Montebourg cartulary, BN Fr Lat 10087. The text of it is also available in print in various places, including Gallia Christiana Volume xi, Instrumenta, cols 232-3;  Bearman's Redvers Charters at pp.57-9; and Stapleton's House of Vernon pp.88-90.

It is a charter of Richard de Redvers or Reviers, and King Henry I was a witness. It looks like a document combining several others. Some of the gifts confirmed are referred to as gifts in the time of William the Conqueror, who had died in 1087. I do not find it clear whether William de Beaumont's gift is one of those, as seems to be suggested by van Torhoudt (reference below). I see that as depending on the general authenticity of the copy document as transcribed into the cartulary and whether a sentence "haec omnia dedit primus rex Willielmus" (King William I gives all these) refers to the items listed before or after those words.

So I can do no better than say that the gift by William de Beaumont can have been no later than 1107. It seems to me that the gift must have come out of lands Richard de Reviers controlled by then, but that it is not necessary to assume that he controlled them at the time of William's gift. Richard de Reviers had supported Henry I (Henri Beauclerc) in the Cotentin before he became king of England, and had been extensively rewarded.

The location of this mill

Saint-Martin - d'Audouville, near Lestre. This is the location suggested by Thomas Stapleton in his "House of Vernon," p.83.  I agree. It is on a stream and there was certainly a mill at later dates. It is only about 5 kms from Montebourg. 

In his book on the Redvers Charters at page 57, Robert Bearman identified this Aldubvilla as “probably Audeville-la-Hubert” but with respect, I think that was a mistake in two respects-

a. I think he meant Audouville-la-Hubert, about 16 kms from Montebourg.

b. that is the identification of a place (Aldulfivilla) the church of which was initially given in the early eleventh century to Robert the elder brother of Roger of Beaumont-le-Roger (ancestor of earls of Leicester etc), and after Robert's death to Saint-Wandrille abbey (Scripta Database no.1572).

The donor

I have not seen any connection to the Beaumont-le-Roger people.

Thomas Stapleton suggested someone from Beaumont-le-Richard. I have not seen this connection either.

Wouldn't it seem plausible to speculate that the donor of this mill was somehow connected to those Beaumonts a generation or two later who were related to William the monk, and who are known to have been benefactors to Montebourg, giving property etc not many miles away?

(Incidentally, amongst the witnesses to the 1107 charter was Richard de Ansgerville*, identified elsewhere as William the Monk's father. * "Angervill" very clear in Cartulary. Blank in Gallia Christiana copy.)

Against this theory - so far I have seen no further confirmations eg by the later Beaumonts mentioning this mill at Audouville. Had the abbey known it was their ancestor who gave it, perhaps they would have asked them to confirm that.

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A very useful source for anything to do with the early history of Montebourg, is the article by Eric van Torhoudt on what he calls the Enigma of the origins of Montebourg Abbey, published in 2009 in Cahier des Annales de Normandie and available online at Persee. 

At p.332 Eric van Torhoudt refers to "trois notices attribuées à Guillaume de Beaumont, Guillaume de Tancarville et Gautier Broc confirmées par le roi Guillaume Ier." What Walter Broc gave was at Gatteville on the NE point of the Cotentin, adacent to William the monk's Néville-sur-mer. It strikes me that the other donor, referred to as William Camerarius in the actual text, might not be the well-known chamberlain of Tancarville. His gift was at "Waldinvill" (perhaps Vauville, Cotentin, I am not at all sure).

A charter of Richard de Ansgervill is set out in the cartulary as no. 140, i.e. immediately before the one under discussion, but it does not mention Audouville.

EMB 13 May 2021