The first Whitley Charters (3) - two more Beaumonts

These discoveries arise from looking rather superficially at what can been seen about associates of the people concerned in the Whitley charters, including the witnesses - men who knew each other personally.

Swillington, and Hugh de Bellomonte

"Lord" William of Swillington attested both the grant by Thomas de Dransfeld to earl John de Lacy and the latter's grant to John Muncebote (Charter no.3) in the date range 1232-1240. 

It seems there was some "history" involving John Muncebote, the Beaumonts, and people called Swillington. I would not be surprised if they were all related one to another, maybe by marriage. 

John Muncebote had been accused of wounding a man back in 1218-1219 (see later in this series of articles), and that man was called Hugh of Swillington (son of Henry). 

Another case from 1218-1219 has a William of Swillington (son of Henry) answering for the chattels of a certain Hugh [de] Beaumont.  Maud, wife of one Robert of Thorpe, brought a complaint against Hugh for the death of her husband. Hugh was outlawed. William son of Henry of Swillington had received Hugh's chattels, valued at five shillings (Doris M Stenton (Ed.), Rolls of Justices in Eyre for Yorkshire, Selden Society vol. 56 (1937) no. 632. From a note I made many years ago which I have not been able to check as can't find this book online).

Woodlesford, and Thomas de Bellomonte

John de Wridlesford (?the name is from Woodlesford between Leeds and Pontefract) witnesses both charter no. 3 and no.4, and I have other references to him.

Perhaps in his old age John seems to have given a charter giving his body to Kirkstall Abbey, and this was witnessed by a certain Thomas, described as the heir of William de Bellomonte (Kirkstall Coucher Book, Thoresby Society vol.8, 1904, pp. 281-2). 

John of Wridlesford had property at Fixby near Huddersfield which he granted to Michael of Briestwistle (the name of a place which is, or is near, Lower Whitley) in marriage with his sister (Dodsworth MS 155 fo.156). Impliedly that property was later owned by the Beaumonts. Michael was another witness to the Kirkstall charter just mentioned.

Unique references?

These mentions of Hugh and Thomas may be unique. Certainly I don't think they are mentioned in any of the other notes I have. 

Support for theory?

The name Thomas has been used in the family again and again, and I am tempted to think this little bit of information lends support to my theory that William, the man we think of as the first Yorkshire Beaumont, came from the family holding lands at Pyrton, Oxfordshire and Staining, Lancashire (as in my piece on 27 February 2021). 

But one new piece of evidence can change everything!

EMB 18 July 2021

The first Whitley Charters (2) - the texts

Following on from the previous.

Here is all I know of the text of the two main charters. I have made translations into English based on R.H. Beaumont's summary, which is entirely consistent with Dodsworth's summaries. (*1) 

The main charter (no. 3) (DD/WBD/IX/1)

Know present and future that I John de Laci earl of Lincoln and Constable of Chester grant & by this my present charter confirm to John Mouncebot and his heirs or to an assignee namely William de Bellomonte, if the same wishes to assign to him, and to his heirs, all the land that I have purchased [or which I had, which I obtained etc] from Thomas de Dranffeld in the vill of Witteley with the capital messuage and all liberties and easements in the vill or outside it and with all appurtenant services, rents, wardships, escheats and reliefs of freemen and rustics belonging to the said land …. to have and to hold to him and his heirs, or his assignee namely the aforesaid William de Bellomonte, from me and my heirs in perpetuity. Rendering therefor annually to me and my heirs two white gloves at Easter. And know that the said John and his heirs acquit me and my heirs versus the heirs of Peter de Birkethwate (*2) 10 shillings each year at the feast of Saint Martin, and versus William de Draneffeld and his heirs of a pound of cumin at the same season, and that the said John does the forinsec service as much as pertains to the said land to me and my heirs..... and I will warrant title to the said John Muntebot and his heirs and assigns and their heirs. In witness whereof my seal is hereby affixed…. Witnesses lord Adam de Neirford (*2), lord Robert de Stapilton, lord Richard Grammatico, lord William de Swillington (*2), lord Adam de Preston, John de Wridelsford (*4). Not dated but must be 1232 x 1240.

(*1  In the case of no.3 only also consistent with a summary understood to be based on information given to Sir William Dugdale in the 1660s, and the West Yorkshire Archives catalogue).

From Surtees Society Vol. xxxvi for 1859 (Dugdale's
Visitation of the County of York, 1665-1666, page 254

(*2 not Birpheit, Hairford, Sumlington as in the West Yorks Archive Catalogue. I have a number of other references to Adam of Narford between about 1220 and 1250, including one as the Earl's steward. Sometimes his name is mis-read as Hartford or similar)

The final charter (no. 4)

Know present and future that I John Mucenbote constitute William de Beumunt as my heir for my land of Witelei with all all appurtenances as the charter of the lord Earl testifies if I die without an heir of my body by a wife (*3). Witnesses John de Wridelesford (*4). R de Bestun (*5),  R de Lasie(?),  Alan de Wirkelei “and others”…. No date ….

I don't of course know if this William de Beaumont is the one who appears from the 1190s in the circle of Earl John de Lacy's father. It is quite possible, but he would be about 60 years old or more. 

(*3   si devixero sine herede de corpore meo de sponsa. Rendered by RHB as si devixero sine herede de corpores de Sponsa, and in G.W. Tomlinson's note (YAJ 8 502) as if he died without an heir of his body by his wife.  The unusual word "devixero" seems to connote a future end of life, and that is clearly what others have taken it to mean).

(*4 I have several references to John of Wridlesford from about 1230 to 1250).

(*5 There are several connections between people called Beston or Beeston with the early Beaumonts, including rather interestingly that a William de Beston's coat of arms appears in Galloways Roll next to that of William Beaumont, hinting that they were comrades-in-arms in the military operations in southern Scotland in 1300).

Source material for the above translations is

For both documents

- RHB's 1796 Family Tree (Box 1-157 in this Archive)

- Text[s] either written by Roger Dodsworth in August 1629 when he visited Whitley Hall then the home of Sir Richard Beaumont (the well known character we know as Black Dick), and/or at a different date when he visited the house of Richard Beaumont Esq (Castle Hall, Mirfield), or copied by Dodsworth or others from such notes.... (Bodleian Library Dodsworth MS 133 fo.114v and fo.122, and Dodsworth MS 155 fo.151v).  

And also for charter no. 3

- Surtees Society Vol. xxxvi for 1859 (Dugdale's Visitation of the County of York, 1665-1666), pp.253-254. It was on 2nd April 1666 at Halifax that certain aspects of the pedigree of Beaumont of Whitley were presented to William Dugdale, and since this charter is printed where it is, I have assumed that it was part of such information.

- the online catalogue of West Yorkshire Archives.

EMB 18 July 2021

The first Whitley Charters (1) - Introduction

This is the first of perhaps several notes replacing two articles I put up in December 2020 and deleted today.

They needed to be completely re-written in the light of some of the information in the Dodsworth Manuscripts, that is Bodleian Library Dodsworth MS 133 and MS 155, copies of a lot of which that Library kindly sent me not long ago.

Not that what I put before was wrong, if you have read it. But that with the aid of the Dodsworth transcripts I am a lot closer to the original situation and would like to focus on what Dodsworth and also R H Beaumont wrote, on the basis that both of them actually saw the original deeds and that RHB had also seen Dodsworth's transcripts, copies of which I have also now been fortunate enough to see.

RHB's notes of this, here from his 1796 Family Tree (Box 1-157 in this Archive), are extremely accurate when compared to what is in the Dodsworth MSS

The story goes that between 1232 and 1240 (**) a person called John Muncebot obtained a grant of Whitley and assigned it over to William de Beaumont. But in some published books - and inevitably copied on various websites - John's name is Montbegon. 

** It is useful to keep in mind that the date has to be between about 1232, when John de Lacy became Earl of Lincoln, and 1240 when he died. In the published catalogue charter no 3 below (DD/WBD/IX/1) is dated "twelfth century" in error.

Ideally I should have gone to Wakefield and look at the original charter in West Yorkshire Archives (DD/WBD/IX/1), the primary source of the story. 

However, in the online catalogue, the name is Muncebot. Similarly in other reliable copies, the earliest known being that done in 1629 by Roger Dodsworth, who gives the name in different spellings such as Mouncebot, Montebot, and Mucenbote. We also have it in the handwriting of R.H. Beaumont, the Antiquary, writing in 1796, a man who must have seen not only the original but also Dodsworth's copies. 

The story is told in four charters.

1. A transfer by William de Dranfeld to his brother Thomas, of his interest in Whitley. The original charter is DD/WBD/IX/2.  Copies by Dodsworth at MS 133 fo. 117v and 155 fo. 153.

2. Sale by this Thomas to the lord, John de Lacy, earl of Lincoln and Constable of Chester. The original is DD/WBD/IX/3. Copies by Dodsworth at MS 133 fo.121/121v and 155 fo. 151v.

3. The grant by the Earl to the mysterious John, with authority to make it over to an assignee, specifically to William de Beaumont, if he so wished. The original charter is DD/WBD/IX/1. Copies by Dodsworth at MS 133 fo.114v and MS 155 fo. 151v, the witnesses being the same as to No.2, suggesting done on same occasion. Summary in a mixture of English and Latin also by R H Beaumont in the 1796 family tree (above). The variations to the name appear to be Muncebote, Mouncebot, Montebot.

4. A grant by the mysterious John expressly making William de Bellomonte his heir if he should have no heir by his wife.  Copies by Dodsworth at MS 133 fo.122 and MS 155 fo. 151v. In this case the original charter seems not to be in the WYAS catalogue, suggesting that it has either not survived to the present day, or perhaps that it is written or endorsed on another document. The witnesses include one person in common with the previous. RHB knew about this document, as he quoted its unusual wording:-

si devixero sine herede de corpores de Sponsa (top of image above)

We can see that the name is NOT Montbegon in the Dodsworth transcripts, nor in R H Beaumont's notes, nor in the modern catalogue record. Later I might look at some other copies or transcripts, which I think are all derived from one of the above, and consider who first suggested Montbegon and why, and whether there was ever a John de Montbegon or a John Muncebote.

I'd also like to say some things about the (feudal) service by which this property was held, and maybe whether it is safe to assume that it is the very place where Whitley Hall was to be built. 

EMB 15 July 2021

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.

.........................

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

13th century Beaumonts in the Montebourg cartulary

In a piece on 10 March 2021 I said some stuff about this family in the c12, so this follows on.

Naming patterns and some other circumstantial evidence suggests that a Cotentin-connected Beaumont extended family had activities and properties on both sides of the English channel throughout the twelfth century. The Loss of Normandy in 1204 split some families of course and I think this was one such.

A notable event in this family was the gift of property at Néville-sur-mer to make a sub-priory of Montebourg abbey. This is known to have happened, or to have started, in the year 1163.

The principal donor then was "William the monk," whose gifts were confirmed or consented to by his nephew Thomas de Beaumont, as shown in copy charters in the Montebourg cartulary.

Thomas in fact was one of four brothers, the others being called Philip, Juhel, and Godfrey.

Earlier this year I obtained a complete copy of the Montebourg cartulary (MS Lat 10087) from the Gallica website of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (warm thanks to them). It is a pdf file consisting of about 180 images where each image shows a left and a right page (copying a book, in fact). 

It is of course a manuscript record, not all in the same handwriting, and I must confess I cannot read all of it. Of course, it is nearly all in latin, with words severely abbreviated, a real test to my "O level" latin skills. Pages and individual items - eg transcripts or summaries of the (presumably now lost) original charters - are numbered with reasonable consistency.

Items 422 ff, on page 139 ff, on image 75 ff, are a long series of copy documents stating the original gifts by William the monk, and confirmations by various Beaumonts - Thomas, Philip, Peter, William, and Robert.

(Number 45 on page 27-28 / image 19 is a copy charter of Richard bishop of Coutances, in which the original gift by William the Monk is confirmed, and I think it is from this act that the date of this, 1163, is known)

No 453 on page 144, on Image 78, sets out a charter of a Ric[hard] de Bellomonte, knight ("miles") describing him as lord of Néville [-sur-mer] and dated August 1281.

Nos 462 and 463 on page 147 (image 79) are two charters of a Juhel de Bellomonte, also stated to be a knight ("miles") of which one has a Philip de Bellomonte for a witness, and the other is dated 1269.

At about page 250 (image 133) the system changes, and the continuation of the cartulary appears to be a place-by-place review of where the abbey owned property. Thus on page 278ff (image 146ff) we are again given details of the charters relating to Néville-sur-mer, these to some extent repeating information already given, and making clear that the places in respect of which the Beaumonts were confirming gifts to the abbey included several other settlements in the NE part of the Cotentin such as Cosqueville and Varouville.

No family tree can be attempted but clearly the twelfth century family continued for several generations as shown by these charters. Other evidence exists too, of which I just mention a couple of things;-

In 1247 both a Williermo de Bellomonte and an Icello (given as Juhel) de Bellomonte are named in context of a local enquiry into the value of a whale which had been caught at Quettehou (near Barfleur) (Cartulaire Normand No. 465 p.77). 

A knight called Juhel was lord of Beaumont-Hague in the NW part of the Cotentin in the time of St.Louis (Mem.Soc. Nat. Academ. Cherbourg 1879 p.120)....It means Louis IX whose reign was 1226-1270.

Several Beaumonts - Ricardus, Juhellus, Johanna, Philippus, Guillelmus, Petrus, another Petrus, and Thomas - were remembered by Montebourg abbey with the days on which (but not the years) they died (Historiens de France, Vol. 23, pp. 553-556).

Many writers including the nineteenth century Saint-Pierre-Eglise historian Louis Drouet have noted that this Beaumont family came to an end by about 1330 with an heiress - called Thomasse - who married Raoul de Argouges.

EMB 12 May 2021

The Beaumonts of Devon 1198-1294 (and a bit on Dorsington)

.........Continued

 Richard de Bellomonte, 1198

Again there may be two of the name. In a Devon context, Richard began disputes with his brother Thomas' widow Rose in about 1198.  Rose remarried, to a certain Simon Buzun. In fact, before Thomas, she had been the wife of a Stephen Flameng. The source for these facts is mainly the Curia Regis Rolls, and Pipe Rolls, volumes which I saw years ago in Southampton University Library (my thanks to them!) many of which don't seem to be available online, making it hard to check references.

When Normandy was lost in 1204, families which had been able to operate both sides of the English Channel, had to choose one side or the other, or divide their family. So this may be the Richard de Bellomonte whose former land in Hague (NW part of Cotentin) was regranted by king Philip-Augustus in 1207 (Cartulaire Normand, ed. L. Delisle, no. 161 p.26 and p.292 - printed in Mem. Soc. Antiquaires Normandie, volume 16 (1852). References in the Pipe Rolls to Richard again in a Devon context make me think that this is a man who would have lost any lands that he had south of the channel. 

But since a family called Beaumont continued in the Cotentin long after 1204 I suppose they are different people (though likely to be related to one another).

A Richard de Bellomonte occurs at Fareham (Hampshire) in 1208, mentioned in the Bishop of Winchester's Pipe Roll. I would guess-identify this as Richard Beaumont of Devon and/or of the Cotentin.

There are a number of references to Richard and this Devon family in the early c13 in context of litigation such as dower claims.

Richard would seem to have died by about 1221 leaving a son called Philip and a widow named Alice, who was not Philip's mother.

Philip de Bellomonte, 1220

The son of Richard, and nephew of Thomas.

From Bracton's Note Book 2 pp.160-1 (dated 1222):-

....... manerio de Cuntebiria unde dicit quod de secta ilia fuit Thomas de Bello Monte seisitus avunculus suus [of Philip is meant] ut de feodo et iure tempore Ricardi Regis etc. et de ipso Thoma descendit secta ilia Ricardo fratri suo eo quod Thomas obiit sine herede de se ita quod Roeisia uxor eiusdem Thome tenuit hundredum illud cum secta ilia predicta tota uita sua nomine dotis toto tempore Johannis Regis et descendit ius illius secte eidem Philippo ut filio et heredi suo 

 .... manor of Countisbury [in the hundred of Shirwell] of which he said his uncle Thomas de Beaumont was seised in the time of king Richard [1189-1199], and that from the said Thomas the suit descended to Richard his brother since Thomas had no heirs of his [body] [and that] Rose the wife of the said Thomas held the hundred with the suit all her life all the time of king John [1199-1216] and thus the suit descended to the said Philip as son and heir

In the Curia Regis Rolls there are numerous reports of Philip and other Beaumonts who may be his relatives. Philip litigated with his stepmother, Alice. Bracton’s Notebook no.977 vol.3 p.27) [my very loose translation]:- Philip recovers Shirwell because his father Richard never held it (because Rose had it), and thus Alice's claim to have it in dower should fail.

The names of the family members in the records of the litigation seem to show that this Philip is not the same as the contemporary namesake at Pirton, Oxfordshire. Nevertheless I see them as likely to be related somehow. It seems that the author[s] of Victoria County History (Oxfordshire) (Volume 8 pp.138-178; see the text of footnote 198 there) assumed there was but one Philip, in Oxfordshire and Devon, and I must respectfully disagree.

Philip (of Devon) had a tenant called William de Bellomonte, whose father's name was Joel. Timing seems too long for that to have been the Joel mentioned in the previous piece.

In 1229 Philip appears to have been sent overseas in the royal service. The name appears twice on a list of such men issued at Portsmouth (Patent Rolls 1225-1232 p.311).  This is consistent with there being two of them, Devon and Pirton!

Nothing is known of Philip's marriage etc but the Devon family continued.

Dorsington

A complication exists in that there were people called Beaumont at Dorsington (between Stratford on Avon and Evesham).  One representative of that family in King John's reign was also called Philip, so there were in fact three of them!

They were not all exact contemporaries but I'm reminded how Winnie the Pooh counted Woozles - each time he walked around the tree, he was following one more set of footprints than before! 

14 May 2021. I am removing most of the rest of this Dorsington section from here as I plan to write a piece especially on the Dorsington people.

In terms of chronology, Philip of Dorsington could, I think, be a younger brother either of (a) Thomas and Richard, of Devon, or (b) Thomas of Pyrton (for whom, see my 27 February 2021 contribution).

Back to Devon.

Philip de Bellomonte, 1238

Possibly the same as the previous (Devon) Philip. When asked - in 1238 - to show by what warrant he held the hundred of Shirwell, Philippus de Beumond said quod nullum alium warantum habet nisi ex antiquum tenura et ex questu regi... (Book of Fees p.1369) ... he says he has no warrant except ancient tenure from the conquest of the kingdom. In other words he had no actual charters or title deeds to prove his ownership. 

Meantime some of what he held appears to have transferred from the Okehampton to the Plympton honour.

In 1242 Philip de Bellomonte was one of four local worthies who were mandated to deal, at their own expense, with problems caused by the “king’s enemies” on Lundy island (Cal.Pat.R. Henry 3 vol. 3 p. 292). 

There are further references to Philip down to about the 1260s, when it would appear that he must have died.

At this sort of date E.T. Beaumont's account in "The Beaumonts in History" starts to become useful (from page 61), but treat with care!.

Richard de Beaumont, from the 1270s to 1294

There are several primary references to Richard (assumed to be Philip's son, evidence being somewhat uncertain, except for tenure of Sherwell).

In 1284-1285 Ricardus Beaumund held two fees in Shirwell of Hugh de Courtenay [i.e. of Okehampton] and one fee also in Shirwell of Isabella de Fortibus countess of Aumale [that means, of the Plympton honour] (Feudal Aids 1 p.335)..... a further half fee held by Richard of the Okehampton honour in Brittecote and Smythepath was held from Richard by Hugh le Pigh (Feudal Aids 1 p.337).

The IPM taken on 23 January 22 Edward I (1294) shows that Richard was holding "Schirewill" for three fees viz two fees held of the heir of Hugh de Courtenay (i.e the Okehampton honour) and one from the countess Isabella (i.e. the Plympton honour), and "Esford" for a further fee from Okehampton and likewise "Langcars" for a further fee.. Richard had died on Tuesday the eve of Epiphany .. his heir was his son Philip, aged 22 years (Cal. IPM 3 no.187, p.111). The origins and background of the Plympton fee are not understood but the total of four fees held from Okehampton tallies with the information above.

I leave this account here, as the fourteenth century is not my baby.

Further on

"The Beaumonts" are supposed to have owned the estate of Youlston, near Shirwell, Barnstaple, from the reign of Henry II [earlier I would say] until [sometime when] a Beaumont heiress married a Chichester, ancestor of Francis, the round the world aviator and yachtsman (according to Western Morning News, 25 March 1987). 

The Youlston estate was offered for sale in 1993 for £700,000 when it was said to comprise a manor house and 165 acres of parkland. I got the selling agents to send me the sale particulars at the time. 

But I didn't buy it!

The "Listing Particulars" of this old house on the Historic England website today fall into the trap of saying that the early c12 holder was "Roceline de Beaumont" and that he had his chief dwelling there. That is the old red herring which I covered in my piece about South Tawton on February 1, 2021.

EMB 3 May 2021

The Beaumonts of Devon 1086-1198

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