Robert de Todeni, also known as Robert of Belvoir was an Anglo-Norman nobleman who held lands in England after the
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
.
Background
Robert held lands in Guerny and Vesly in Normandy. He belonged to a branch of the
Tosny family that originated near
Eure
Eure ( ; ; or ) is a department in the administrative region of Normandy, northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2021, Eure had a population of 598,934.[Roger I of Tosny
Roger I of Tosny or Roger of Hispania (died c. 1040) was a Norman nobleman of the House of Tosny who took part in the Reconquista of Iberia.
Career
Roger was the son of Raoul I of Tosny, seigneur de Conches. In 1013, Roger and his father guarde ...]
. He had a (probably elder) brother named Berengar Hespina and a sister named Bertha, who married Guy I of Laval.
Life
In the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
of 1086, Robert is listed as the lord of
Belvoir.
[ This lordship is considered a ]feudal barony
A feudal baron is a vassal holding a heritable fief called a ''barony'', comprising a specific portion of land, granted by an overlord in return for allegiance and service. Following the end of European feudalism, feudal baronies have largely bee ...
, making Robert the first baron of Belvoir.[ Robert's property was mostly concentrated in ]Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
and Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
, but he also had significant property in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...
and Suffolk
Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
, and overall his property was spread over twelve shires.
Some of these lands had been held prior to the Conquest by Thorgautr Lagr, Oswulf son of Frani and others.Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
and Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
, which he may have held from his father.[Fleming ''Kings & Lords'' p. 167 and footnote120] Robert also had lands in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...
, located south of Rockingham, and he might have been the first castellan
A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...
of Rockingham Castle.[Green ''Aristocracy of Norman England'' pp. 86–87]
Robert and his wife founded Belvoir Priory,[ sometime between 1076 and 1088 as a ]priory
A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...
of St Albans Abbey.[Knowles, et al. ''Heads of Religious Houses'' p. 85] The choice to make Belvoir a dependent priory of St Albans may have been because Oswulf, previous owner of some of his lands, had also given lands to St Albans.[Green ''Aristocracy of Norman England'' p. 397]
Family and Descendance
Robert married Adelais. They had three sons, Berengar, William, and Geoffrey, as well as three daughters, Albreda, Adelisa, and Agnes. Berengar inherited the Norman lands and William inherited the English lands. All three sons died without offspring, leaving their sisters as the eventual heiresses. Albreda, the eldest daughter, married Robert de Insula and died before 1129 without issue.[ Adelisa married Roger Bigod,][Keats-Roham ''Domesday People'' pp. 396–398] and died after August 1127.[ Agnes, the youngest, married first Ralph de Beaufour and second Hubert de Ryes. Belvoir eventually went to Cecilia Bigod, the youngest daughter of Adelisa and Roger and the Norman lands went to Hugh Bigod, her brother.][ Agnes is not recorded as having inherited any of lands connected with the barony of Belvoir.][ The historian Judith Green speculates that because Berengar did not inherit any of the English lands, he may have been the son of an earlier marriage of Robert.][Green ''Aristocracy of Norman England'' pp. 374–375 footnote 63]
Robert died around 1093,[ although some older sources give a date of 1088.][Sanders ''English Baronies'' p. 12] He was buried at Belvoir Priory,[Fleming ''Kings & Lords'' pp. 172–173] according to the priory's own history.[Green ''Aristocracy of Norman England'' p. 425]
Citations
References
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External links
Robert of Tosny's holdings in Open Domesday Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Todeni, Robert de
1090s deaths
Normans in England
English feudal barons