Robert de Bellomonte, 1086
The Devon Beaumont family presumably descended from the Robert who is shown in Domesday Book as a tenant at Shirwell and elsewhere in Devon as a tenant of Baldwin the sheriff, lord of Okehampton. The "Exon" Domesday Book supplies Robert's family name, Bello monte, whilst the Exchequer DB, calling him plain Robert, adds that he had a couple of houses in Barnstaple.
Baldwin the sheriff (of Devon) means Baldwin son of count Gilbert of Brionne. Count Gilbert was killed in some troubles in 1040 and I believe Baldwin was brought up in Flanders. His mother, I believe, was a relation of the Count of Flanders and thus closely related both to William the Conqueror's wife and to the wife of king Harold's brother Tostig Godwinson.
There is reason for supposing that Baldwin's own wife was a sister of Guy of Burgundy (who had been banished from Normandy), and that through her right - perhaps more strictly through that lady's mother, countess Adelisa, a member of the Norman ducal family, Baldwin controlled the old castle of Hulmus (now called Isle-Marie) in the Cotentin marshes.
I hasten to say that Baldwin had other interests and lands as well, but there is considerable evidence that his followers into Devon did include men from the Cotentin, these including a man called Rogo son of Nigel, four of whose grandchildren were called Beaumont if the suggested chart in my 10 March 2021 piece is correct.
Keats-Rohan (Domesday People p.374) stated that Robert was from Beaumont-Hague, but I ask that consideration be given to the place called Beaumont which is between Cosqueville and Hacouville in the NE part of the Cotentin (see 10 March article), Robert was perhaps a younger son in the family there who might have had no lands had he stayed at home.
From Robert no family tree as such can be constructed but Thomas de Bellomonte mentioned in 1166, was his successor both in place and in feudal tenure.
Thomas de Bellomonte, 1166
In the returns of 1166 Thomas de Bellomonte is shown holding four knights fees of the then lord of Okehampton (Baldwin's successor, Robert, a son of king Henry) (Red Book of the Exchequer p.252). Thomas's lands included Shirwell. Four knights fees means he was a person of some power and influence locally.
He is perhaps the Thomas de Beaumont who had three brothers - Philip, Juhel, and Godfrey, who I have mentioned in earlier notes (see 10 March 2021). These were nephews of William "the Monk."
Also this Thomas might well be the one who with his wife Adeliza has been mentioned in another earlier piece (30 January 2021) as witnessing a charter of Oliver de Tracy. Oliver was involved with the Barnstaple honour, so the fact that Robert de Beaumont (above) had had houses in that town is perhaps significant. Shirwell is much nearer to Barnstaple than it is to Okehampton.
I think we have two contemporary men of the same name. One of these Thomases was at some stage the heir of his uncle William the Monk (see my piece of 10 March 2021) to property in Normandy and also in England but I think that is a different Thomas from the holder at Shirwell. [4 Nov.2021: this is to be revised. They may well be one and the same. There will be a later article]
Thomas de Bellomonte (the Devon one, I guess) attested a charter or agreement done in London at the house of the bishop-elect of Winchester in about 1173 (English Episcopal Acta Vol. 8 no.139). The bishop-elect (Richard of Ilchester) was a man with West Country connections.
Thomas is also mentioned in the Pipe Rolls in the 1170s, in a Devon context.
He may or may not be the Thomas de Bellomonte who was an official in the Cotentin in the time of kings Richard and John (until 1204). I think that is not the Devon man.
I think the Devon Thomas or a successor of the same name lived until 1198 when his heir was his brother, called Richard. In 1198, in a case referenced to Devon, a day was given to Richard de Bellomonte and Rohahisie de Bellomonte in regard to her dower claim (Curia Regis Rolls 7 p.342; in the appendix dealing with the time of Richard I). Later evidence shows that Rose was Thomas' widow and that Richard was his brother. I will come to them in a later piece.
Joel de Bellomonte, 1162
This was the name of one of the brothers of the Cotentin Thomas. It is quite an unusual name. A Joel de Bellomonte was third lay witness to a charter, in favour of St.Nicholas, Exeter, given by Robert son of King Henry with the consent of his wife Matilda de Abrinco [Avranches] in 1162 (Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, vol.1 (1834), p.382) (Domesday Descendants p.317). Matilda was the heiress of the Okehampton barony. This attestation somewhat implies Joel being the then tenant of the barony, in which case given the date, he looks like being the predecessor of Thomas of 1166. But the evidence of legal proceedings in the 1220s (this is for a subsequent article) leaves this is as very unclear.
Other comments
The account in E.T. Beaumont, The Beaumonts in History (pages 56-61), of Devon Beaumonts at the period I have covered in this article and a bit later, is all wrong!
Part of the problem is the muddle about South Tawton (see my piece of 1 February 2021 about that).
Unfortunately ETB has been widely copied. To some extent his work was based on that of old Devon historians and antiquaries, and ETB himself should be blamed less than those more recently who have copied him indiscriminately.
EMB
2 May 2021
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