Robert Malet (c. 1050 – by 1130) was a Norman- English baron and a close advisor of Henry I.

Early life

Malet was the son of William Malet, and inherited his father's great honour of Eye in 1071. This made him one of the dozen or so greatest landholders in England. According to 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 ...

he held 221 manors in

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 ...

, 32 in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, eight in

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 ...

, three in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, two in

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 ...

, and one in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, 1086 He also inherited the family property in

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

Public life

From 1070 to 1080, Malet was High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, and helped suppress the rebellion of Ralph Wader. Afterwards, he appeared frequently at King

William I William I may refer to: Kings * William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I, King of England * William I of Sicily (died 1166) * William I of Scotland (died 1214), known as William the Lion * William I of the Netherlands and Luxembour ...

's court. All changed with the accession of William II. By 1094 Malet's English lands had been taken away from him. The reasons are unknown, and no more is known of Malet's activities during William II's reign. Most likely he was in Normandy, and it may be that his falling out with William II was due to his preference for Duke Robert of Normandy in the rivalry between the two brothers. Malet reappeared in the public record three days after the death of William II in 1100, as a witness to Henry I's coronation charter. He must have been with Henry at the time of William's death, or rushed from Normandy when word came. In any case, Malet soon regained his office as Sheriff of Suffolk, and his honour of Eye. It was thought that Malet had some quarrel with the king, and again lost his lands, on the basis of some statements by

Orderic Vitalis Orderic Vitalis (; 16 February 1075 – ) was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England.Hollister ''Henry I'' p. 6 Working out of ...

, but most historians now think Orderic confused Malet with his successor, William Malet. However it appears that Robert Malet remained in the king's confidence and held his lands until his death. Some sources claim that a Robert Malet died at the battle of Tinchebrai (28 September 1106), though there is no specific evidence linking this to Robert Malet of Suffolk. Until some time before 1130, Malet was appointed

Lord Great Chamberlain The Lord Great Chamberlain of England is the sixth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State, ranking beneath the Lord Privy Seal but above the Lord High Constable of England, Lord High Constable. The office of Lo ...

(or Master Chamberlain), the first person to hold this position. Little is known about the role attached at the time to this title or what it entailed. It is possible, however, that the position succeeded that of a ''Lord High Steward''. While the rest of the financial responsibilities of the parent job were separated from that job and were given under the newly-formed title of

Lord High Treasurer The Lord High Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Acts of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third-highest-ranked Great Officer of State in England, below the Lord H ...

in 1126. So perhaps Malet became ''Lord Great Chamberlain'' in 1126 when the job of Lord High Treasurer seems to have been formed.

References

Sources

* Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis, Line 234A-25 * C. Warren Hollister, "Henry I and Robert Malet", ''Viator'', Vol. 4, 1973, pp. 115–22 * Cyril Hart, "William Malet and His Family", ''Anglo-Norman Studies XIX: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1996'', ed. Christopher Harper-Bill, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 1997, pp. 123–66 * C.P. Lewis, "The King and Eye: A Study in Anglo-Norman Politics", ''English Historical Review'', vol. 104, 1989, pp. 569–87 {{DEFAULTSORT:Malet, Robert 11th-century births Anglo-Normans Norman warriors People from Eye, Suffolk High sheriffs of Norfolk High sheriffs of Suffolk 12th-century deaths