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Birth:          ABT 1050 of Mortaigne, S. Mnch, France
Death:          8 May 1131 Warham Castle, Dorsetshire, England
Cause of Death: as a prisoner

Notes
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~edburton/fam03992.htm
also COunt of Ponthieu, Alencon and Montreuil
exiled from England 1102 by Henry I and lost his English lands
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_of_Bell%C3%AAme,_3rd_Earl_of_Shrewsbury
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.
Early life[edit]

Robert was the oldest surviving son of Roger of Montgomery, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury 
and Mabel de Bellême, born probably between 1052 and 1056.[1] 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.[a][2]

In 1073 when the Conqueror invaded Maine, Robert was knighted by William at the 
siege of Fresnai castle.[3] 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.[b][2] 
When Robert's mother, Mabel, was killed c.?1079, Robert inherited her vast estates.
[4] But at this point Duke William took the added precaution of garrisoning the 
Bellême castles with his own soldiers, which was his ducal right.[5] 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.[5]

Rebellion of 1088[edit]

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.[6] Robert de Bellême, his brother Hugh de 
Montgomery and a third brother, either Roger or Arnulf, participated in this rebellion.[7] 
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.[6] 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.[8] At 
some point Roger of Montgomery detached himself from supporting Robert Curthose 
through negotiations with the king.[9] Finally Robert de Bellême was among the rebels 
who found themselves defending Rochester Castle.[10] 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.[10] 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.'[11] 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.[10] Rufus, albeit reluctantly, guaranteed 
the rebels life and limb and gave them safe conduct.[12]

Return to Normandy[edit]

Coincidentally Robert sailed back to Normandy in the company of Count Henry (later 
king Henry I), who had not been part a of the conspiracy against his brother William 
Rufus.[13] However well they got along on the voyage, they were destined to become 
bitter enemies.[13] One thing more they shared in common was the extreme resentment 
by Odo, Bishop of Bayeux who, banished from England, had returned to Normandy 
ahead of Henry and Robert.[5] Henry at just 20 years of age was now Odo's overlord, 
which Odo strongly resented, and Robert de Bellême was a powerful and dangerous 
disruptive force in Normandy now free to do as he would.[5] Odo, who held great sway 
over Duke Robert, convinced him that both Henry and his travel companion Robert de 
Bellême were now conspiring with William Rufus against the duke.[5] Both Henry and 
Robert were seized as they disembarked and, both placed in the Bishop's custody, 
were imprisoned; Henry at Bayeux and Robert at Neuilly-ll'Evêque, now Neuilly-la-
Forêt.[5]

On hearing his son was imprisoned Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury 
immediately went to Normandy and put all his castles in a state of readiness against 
the duke.[14] At this point the Montgomery family was in a state of rebellion against 
Robert Curthose.[15] Bishop Odo now instigated Duke Robert to take all the castles of 
Robert de Bellême by force and the duke gathered an army and proceeded against 
them. Duke Robert first attacked Ballon and after losses on both sides, the castle 
surrendered.[16] Moving on to the castle of Saint-Céneri where the family of Robert de 
Bellême was residing, Robert Quarrel had been told by Earl Roger to resist the duke at 
all costs and this was done until the provisions eventually failed.[17] Duke Robert was 
so enraged at such resistance he blinded Robert Quarrel and mutilated the castle 
defenders.[17] At this point the duke lost interest in attempting to capture any more of 
Robert de Bellême's castles, he dissolved the forces and returned to Rouen.[17] Earl 
Roger sent peace envoys to the duke and convinced him to release his son Robert 
which the fickle duke finally did.[18] The price of his son's release, however, was the 
castle of Saint-Céneri which Duke Robert gave to Robert Giroie as castellan. The 
Giroies had long held the castle until, as punishment for their rebellion in the 1060s, 
William the Conqueror gave this castle and other Giroie lands to Roger de 
Montgomery, who as a member of the Bellême family was also considered their 
nemesis.[15]

By 1090 Robert was back in Robert Curthose's good graces, Orderic Vitalis calling him 
a "principal councilor" to duke Robert.[19] He supported Curthose in putting down a 
revolt by the citizens of Rouen, in 1090,[20] and took considerable numbers of the 
citizens captive throwing them into dungeons.[21] According to Robert of Torigni in 
1092 the inhabitants of Domfront, long a Bellême-Montgomery stronghold, invited 
Henry, the duke's younger brother to take possession of Domfront.[22] Apparently they 
had grown weary of Robert's oppressive and abusive style of lordship.[22] No 
explanation was offered for what happened to Robert de Bellême's garrison contingent 
or who exactly facilitated the bloodless takeover.[22] In addition Robert de Bellême 
had requested that same year to hold Bellême of the French crown instead of the 
Duke of Normandy.[20]

In 1094 Robert's father, earl Roger, died.[23] Robert's younger brother Hugh of 
Montgomery, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury inherited the English lands and titles, while 
Robert inherited his father's Norman properties, which included good part of central 
and southern Normandy, in part adjacent to the Bellême territories he had already 
inherited from his mother.[24]

William Rufus (1096–1100)[edit]

In 1096, Duke Robert took up the cross on the First Crusade and left the custody of 
the duchy to his brother William Rufus, King of England. Robert Bellême regained the 
favour of Rufus and both he and his brothers were in his service on several 
occasions.[20] In 1098 he captured Elias I, Count of Maine for Rufus, a significant 
feat.[25]

In 1098 Robert's younger brother Hugh died, and Robert inherited, on payment of 
£3,000 in relief, the English properties that had been their father's, including the Rape 
of Arundel and the Earldom of Shrewsbury.[26] Robert had also acquired the 
countship of Ponthieu jure uxoris and the honour of Tickhill; all of which combined 
made him the wealthiest magnate in both England and Normandy.[26]

In August 1100 at the death of Rufus, Henry I seized the English throne before his 
brother Robert Curthose could claim it.[27] While Robert rushed to England to pay 
homage to Henry, he and his brothers must have seen this as the end of royal favour 
for the Montgomery's.[28]

Anglo-Norman Civil War 1101[edit]

Duke Robert returned from the First Crusade in triumph.[29] According to Orderic, 
Curthose was being encouraged to attack Henry by his barons but he remained 
indecisive until Ranulf Flambard, having escaped from the Tower of London, fled to 
Normandy where he appears to have influenced Duke Robert to go ahead with his 
invasion of England and depose his brother Henry.[30] Robert de Bellême was one of 
the great magnates who joined Robert Curthose's 1101 invasion of England, along 
with his brothers Roger the Poitevin and Arnulf of Montgomery and his nephew 
William, Count of Mortain.[31] This invasion, however, which aimed to depose Henry I, 
ended bloodlessly in the Treaty of Alton which called for amnesty for the participants 
but allowed traitors to be punished.[32] It quickly became evident that Henry I had no 
intentions of abiding by the treaty of Alton; 'Soothe them with promises' advised 
Robert Count of Meulan just before the battle, then they can be 'driven into exile'.[33]

Henry I took a year compiling charges against Robert and his brothers and Robert's 
unlicensed castle building and specifically Bridgnorth Castle may have been the last 
straw for Henry.[34] Henry had a series of charges drawn up against Robert in 1102, 
and when Robert refused to answer for them, gathered his forces and besieged and 
captured Robert's English castles.[35] Robert lost his English lands and titles (as did 
his brothers), was banished from England, and returned to Normandy.[36]

In 1105 he was warring with Rotrou III, Count of Perche over a large portion of his 
Bellême lands and lost.[36] That same year he attacked a force of Henry's supporters, 
then went to England before Christmas to attempt make peace with King Henry but he 
returned to Normandy empty handed.[36]

Battle of Tinchebrai and after[edit]

In 1106 Robert was one of Curthose's commanders at the Battle of Tinchebrai 
commanding the rear division and, when the battle turned in Henry's favour, he and 
most of those with him avoided capture by fleeing the field.[36] With Normandy now 
under Henry's rule, Robert de Bellême submitted and was allowed to retain his Norman 
fiefs and his office as viscount of the Hiémois.[37]

But Henry was still wary of Robert and placed his followers in key positions in 
Normandy.[38] In the rebellion of 1110–12 barons on the frontier of Normandy were 
disgruntled over Henry's policies and especially his attempt to take custody of William 
Clito, son of Robert Curthose.[38] According to Orderic, Robert played a central role in 
this rebellion after the death of Elias I, Count of Maine in July 1110.[38] In 1112 
Robert was sent as an envoy of the French king to Henry I at his court at Bonneville 
to negotiate the release of Robert Curthose, whereas Henry seized Robert and 
imprisoned him.[39] Apparently Henry had charges already prepared; failing to attend 
Henry at his court after being summoned three times, of failing to render accounts, 
and of acting against his lord's interests.[40] Technically Robert may have been guilty 
but arguably it was not safe for him to attend Henry, he may have regarded the 
revenues as gifts and it is also arguable whether the charge of acting against Henry's 
interests warranted the severity of the punishment.[40] In addition Robert was under 
the king's protection as an emissary sent to negotiate Robert Curthose's release.[41] 
This gave the act international implications but at the time Louis VI of France and 
Henry I were intriguing against each other so the breach of protocol went 
unpunished.[41] But with Robert's imprisonment the rebellion against Henry collapsed.
[38] Robert spent the rest of his life as a prisoner; the exact date of his death is not 
known.[42]

His character[edit]

Orderic Vitalis portrays Robert de Bellême as a villain, especially when compared to 
Henry I, whose misdemeanours the chronicler felt were excusable. Orderic calls 
Robert "Grasping and cruel, an implacable persecutor of the Church of God and the 
poor... unequalled for his iniquity in the whole Christian era."[43] To quote David C. 
Douglas "Ordericus, if credulous, was neither malicious nor a liar; and these accounts 
concerned people of whom he had special knowledge" [referring to the Bellême-
Montgomery family].[44] But, he may have been strongly biased against Robert de 
Bellême and his treatment of that magnate belies a moral interpretation of his actions.
[43] The basis for Orderic's animosity towards Robert and his de Bellême predecessors 
was the longstanding and bitter feud between the Giroie family, patrons of Orderic's 
Abbey of Saint-Evroul, and the de Bellême family.[45] William Talvas (de Bellême), 
Robert's grandfather, had blinded and mutilated William fitz Giroie.[c][46] He did at 
times appropriate church properties and was not a major donor to any ecclesiastical 
house. But Robert's attitudes toward the church are typical of many of his 
contemporaries; certainly no worse than the secular rulers and other magnates of his 
day.[47] The assessment of William II Rufus by R.W. Southern could well apply to 
Robert de Bellême as well: "His life was given over to military designs, and to the 
raising of money to make them possible; for everything that did not minister to those 
ends he showed a supreme contempt".[47]

According to William Hunt in the Dictionary of National Biography, various stories of 
his brutality were circulated after his death, possibly inspiring the legend of Robert the 
Devil, a sadistically cruel Norman knight fathered by Satan himself. In Maine "his 
abiding works are pointed to as the works of Robert the Devil, a surname that has 
been transferred from him to the father of the Conqueror."[48]

Family and children[edit]

Robert married Agnes of Ponthieu, before 9 Sep 1087, and they had one child:[49]
William III of Ponthieu, who via his mother inherited the county of Ponthieu.[23]

Fictional references[edit]

Robert appears as the principal antagonist throughout George Shipway's The Palladin 
(1973), a fictionalized account of the life of Walter Tirel.

He is also portrayed in The Wild Hunt (1990) by Elizabeth Chadwick.

Parents
DE MONTGOMERY Roger II (ABT 1024 - 27 Jul 1094)
TALVAS (DE ALENCON) Mabel (ABT 1024 - 2 Dec 1079)

Siblings
DE MONTGOMERY Maude (Matilda) (ABT 1041 - ABT 1085)
DE BELLEME (DE ALENCON) (MONTGOMERY) Robert II "Talvas" (ABT 1050 - 8 May 1131)
MONTGOMERY Roger "the Poitevin" (ABT 1054 - 1123)
DE MONTGOMERY Hugh (ABT 1055 - 31 Jul 1098)
DE MONTGOMERY Sibyl (ABT 1058 - 1107)
DE MONTGOMERY Arnulph (ABT 1066 - ABT 1120)

Marriage To DE PONTHIEU Agnes (ABT 1060 - 1103)
    m. BEF 9 Sep 1087 

Notes

Parents
____ Guy I (ABT 1032 - 13 Oct 1100)
OF AMIENS Ada (ABT 1036 - Mar 1066)

Children by DE PONTHIEU Agnes ABT 1060 - 1103
OF PONTHIEU William (Guillaume) III "Talvas" (ABT 1090 - 1172)

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