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Richard de Belmeis I
Richard de Belmeis I (or de Beaumais) (died 1127) was a medieval cleric, administrator, judge and politician. Beginning as a minor landowner and steward in Shropshire, he became Henry I's chief agent in the Welsh Marches and in 1108 was appointed Bishop of London. He founded St Osyth's Priory in Essex and was succeeded by a considerable dynasty of clerical politicians and landowners.
Richard's toponymic byname is given in modern accounts as de Belmeis. Occasionally the form de Beaumais is encountered. This is based on the modern spelling of the village from which his family perhaps originated: Beaumais-sur-Dive, which is east of Falaise, in the Calvados region of Normandy. The attribution is now regarded as not fully proven. It is made up of two very common French toponym elements, meaning “attractive estate”: there is a village called Aubermesnil-Beaumais elsewhere in Normandy.
Whatever the form of his name, Richard is easily confused with his namesake and nephew, Richard de Belmeis II, who was also a 12th-century Bishop of London. Tout refers to Richard I by the surname Rufus, which creates further confusion. His epitaph shows that he was called Rufus, but the name, in the form Ruffus, is now generally reserved for an Archdeacon of Essex a brother of Richard Belmeis II and thus another nephew of Richard Belmeis I. A further, later, Richard Ruffus may have been a son of the archdeacon. The family tree below attempts to clarify the relationships, which are still not beyond doubt.
Richard's background seems to lie in the lower reaches of the Norman landowning class. He is thought to be the Richard whom the Domesday enquiry found holding the very small manor of Meadowley, due west of Bridgnorth in Shropshire. This he held as a tenant of Helgot, who held it of Roger Montgomery, the great territorial magnate who dominated the Welsh Marches. Meadowley was 6 ploughlands in extent and was populated by just five families: 3 slaves and 2 bordars. However, there were evidently signs of revival in Richard's hands. In Edward the Confessor's time it had been worth 30 shillings, but it had sunk to only 2 shillings by the time Richard acquired it, since when it had risen again to 11 shillings. Richard also held three hides worth of land as a tenant of Helgot at Preen, to the north-west of Meadowley. Here he let a hide to Godebold, a priest who was a crony of Earl Roger. Godebold at this time was much wealthier than Richard and held a large number of properties that had been intended as prebends of the collegiate church of St Alkmund in Shrewsbury.
Richard seems to have become steward of Earl Roger and appears as a witness in charters, both genuine and spurious, granted by Roger and his son, Hugh to Shrewsbury Abbey, and in one is described as dapifer for Shropshire. Richard also seems to have been employed in Sussex, where the Montgomery earls had substantial holdings.
Richard seems to have avoided entanglement in the revolt of Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury, and consequently emerged in Henry I's favour. Probably in autumn 1102, Henry ordered “Richard de Belmes”, Robert of Falaise and all the barons of Sussex to secure for Ralph de Luffa, the Bishop of Chichester, lands near the town of Chichester. It seems, therefore, that Richard was not in Shropshire at that time, but in Sussex. He was probably sent to Shrewsbury late in 1102, after Henry had dealt with Robert of Bellême's Welsh allies, imprisoning Iorwerth ap Bleddyn, a powerful Welsh leader who had played a prominent but equivocal part in events. Henry continued to treat Shropshire as a marcher lordship but was determined not to install another earl who might threaten the monarchy. Probably at Christmas, Henry ordered Richard to help secure some land for the Abbey of Saint-Remi, which had a daughter house at Lapley Priory in Staffordshire and estates in Shropshire. This would indicate that he was fully in charge of Shropshire by the end of the year. However, the sequence of events is not certain.
Henry allowed Richard to take effective control of the county as a royal agent. He was described by Ordericus Vitalis as the vicecomes or “viscount” of Shropshire, a term sometimes translated as Viceroy. It is possible that he was addressed on occasion as the Sheriff of Shropshire. He had a reputation as an expert on legal matters. Hence he served as the justiciar for the king at Shrewsbury, where his brief also included oversight of Welsh affairs. He was given substantial holdings in the county to support him in appropriate style. The priest Godebold had been succeeded by a son, Robert, and it seems likely that he had supported the rebels, as his estates were turned over to Richard. Other estates he acquired were Tong and Donington, both of which had been retained as demesne by the Montgomery earls themselves. Despite his focus on Shropshire, the king seems to have continued regarding Richard as a Sussex magnate: as late as 1107 he heads a list of Sussex notables informed of the king's confirmation of the right of Chichester Cathedral to hold a fair in the town.
As Henry's viceroy, Richard made a considerable impact on the county. On occasion he convened and presided over ecclesiastical synods: Even after he became Bishop of London, he had no obvious authority for doing this, as Shropshire fell within the Diocese of Lichfield. His decisions at assemblies at Wistanstow in 1110 and Castle Holdgate in 1115 greatly increased the powers and privileges of Wenlock Priory by recognising it as the mother church of an extensive parish and made it an important force in the region. Richard granted his land at Preen to Wenlock Priory and this was later used to found a daughter house.
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Richard de Belmeis I
Richard de Belmeis I (or de Beaumais) (died 1127) was a medieval cleric, administrator, judge and politician. Beginning as a minor landowner and steward in Shropshire, he became Henry I's chief agent in the Welsh Marches and in 1108 was appointed Bishop of London. He founded St Osyth's Priory in Essex and was succeeded by a considerable dynasty of clerical politicians and landowners.
Richard's toponymic byname is given in modern accounts as de Belmeis. Occasionally the form de Beaumais is encountered. This is based on the modern spelling of the village from which his family perhaps originated: Beaumais-sur-Dive, which is east of Falaise, in the Calvados region of Normandy. The attribution is now regarded as not fully proven. It is made up of two very common French toponym elements, meaning “attractive estate”: there is a village called Aubermesnil-Beaumais elsewhere in Normandy.
Whatever the form of his name, Richard is easily confused with his namesake and nephew, Richard de Belmeis II, who was also a 12th-century Bishop of London. Tout refers to Richard I by the surname Rufus, which creates further confusion. His epitaph shows that he was called Rufus, but the name, in the form Ruffus, is now generally reserved for an Archdeacon of Essex a brother of Richard Belmeis II and thus another nephew of Richard Belmeis I. A further, later, Richard Ruffus may have been a son of the archdeacon. The family tree below attempts to clarify the relationships, which are still not beyond doubt.
Richard's background seems to lie in the lower reaches of the Norman landowning class. He is thought to be the Richard whom the Domesday enquiry found holding the very small manor of Meadowley, due west of Bridgnorth in Shropshire. This he held as a tenant of Helgot, who held it of Roger Montgomery, the great territorial magnate who dominated the Welsh Marches. Meadowley was 6 ploughlands in extent and was populated by just five families: 3 slaves and 2 bordars. However, there were evidently signs of revival in Richard's hands. In Edward the Confessor's time it had been worth 30 shillings, but it had sunk to only 2 shillings by the time Richard acquired it, since when it had risen again to 11 shillings. Richard also held three hides worth of land as a tenant of Helgot at Preen, to the north-west of Meadowley. Here he let a hide to Godebold, a priest who was a crony of Earl Roger. Godebold at this time was much wealthier than Richard and held a large number of properties that had been intended as prebends of the collegiate church of St Alkmund in Shrewsbury.
Richard seems to have become steward of Earl Roger and appears as a witness in charters, both genuine and spurious, granted by Roger and his son, Hugh to Shrewsbury Abbey, and in one is described as dapifer for Shropshire. Richard also seems to have been employed in Sussex, where the Montgomery earls had substantial holdings.
Richard seems to have avoided entanglement in the revolt of Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury, and consequently emerged in Henry I's favour. Probably in autumn 1102, Henry ordered “Richard de Belmes”, Robert of Falaise and all the barons of Sussex to secure for Ralph de Luffa, the Bishop of Chichester, lands near the town of Chichester. It seems, therefore, that Richard was not in Shropshire at that time, but in Sussex. He was probably sent to Shrewsbury late in 1102, after Henry had dealt with Robert of Bellême's Welsh allies, imprisoning Iorwerth ap Bleddyn, a powerful Welsh leader who had played a prominent but equivocal part in events. Henry continued to treat Shropshire as a marcher lordship but was determined not to install another earl who might threaten the monarchy. Probably at Christmas, Henry ordered Richard to help secure some land for the Abbey of Saint-Remi, which had a daughter house at Lapley Priory in Staffordshire and estates in Shropshire. This would indicate that he was fully in charge of Shropshire by the end of the year. However, the sequence of events is not certain.
Henry allowed Richard to take effective control of the county as a royal agent. He was described by Ordericus Vitalis as the vicecomes or “viscount” of Shropshire, a term sometimes translated as Viceroy. It is possible that he was addressed on occasion as the Sheriff of Shropshire. He had a reputation as an expert on legal matters. Hence he served as the justiciar for the king at Shrewsbury, where his brief also included oversight of Welsh affairs. He was given substantial holdings in the county to support him in appropriate style. The priest Godebold had been succeeded by a son, Robert, and it seems likely that he had supported the rebels, as his estates were turned over to Richard. Other estates he acquired were Tong and Donington, both of which had been retained as demesne by the Montgomery earls themselves. Despite his focus on Shropshire, the king seems to have continued regarding Richard as a Sussex magnate: as late as 1107 he heads a list of Sussex notables informed of the king's confirmation of the right of Chichester Cathedral to hold a fair in the town.
As Henry's viceroy, Richard made a considerable impact on the county. On occasion he convened and presided over ecclesiastical synods: Even after he became Bishop of London, he had no obvious authority for doing this, as Shropshire fell within the Diocese of Lichfield. His decisions at assemblies at Wistanstow in 1110 and Castle Holdgate in 1115 greatly increased the powers and privileges of Wenlock Priory by recognising it as the mother church of an extensive parish and made it an important force in the region. Richard granted his land at Preen to Wenlock Priory and this was later used to found a daughter house.