House of Bellême also referred to as the Family of Bellême was an important seigneurial family during the 10th through the 12th centuries. Members of this family held the important castles of

Bellême Bellême () is a commune in the Orne department in northwestern France. The musicologist Guillaume André Villoteau (1759–1839) was born in Bellême, as was Aristide Boucicaut (1810-1877), owner of ''Le'' ''Bon Marché'', the world's first de ...

, Alençon, Domfront and

Sées Sées () is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France. It lies on the river Orne from its source and north-by-northeast of Alençon. Sées station has rail connections to Argentan, Caen and Le Mans. Name The town's name deriv ...

as well as extensive lands in France, Normandy and Maine.

Rapid rise to prominence

The first known progenitor of this family is Yves de Bellême who was probably the son of

Yves de Creil Ives I de Creil was ''regis balistarius'' to the King of France, in the 10th century.Geoffrey H. White was certain that Yves de Creil and Yves de Bellême, though often confused, were not one and the same person. While the French writers accepted th ...

,Yves de Criel and Yves de Bellême are confused by several sources and thought to be the same person by some. Yves de Criel, who was instrumental in saving young Richard I of Normandy would not chronologically be possible to be the same as Yves de Bellême, the subject of this article, who died c. 1005. Geoffrey White believed Yves de Criel was probably the father of Yves de Bellême, which was also accepted by all the French writers, but was of the opinion it should not be stated as fact as it was by Prentout. See: Geoffrey H. White, The First House of Bellême, ''TRHS'', Vol. 22 (1940), pp. 70-71.Geoffrey H. White, The First House of Bellême, ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'', Fourth Series, Vol. 22 (1940), p. 73 The ''

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