40 LEICESTER. Mr. Blanche] "the first EARL OK LEICESTER under the Wurman dyn«»ly."{») He is not, however, generally included among those considered to have been entitled to such Earldom. He d. 1071.] Earldom. RoBBRi he BEAt?M03fT,( b ) otherwise Belmont, or dp, T 1 1PT 1 I5EU.OMnNT,(( s. of Roger DE I5BAUMOST, SkIuNKUH DK Posr.WDKMKli, ' by Adelina, sister of Hugh, and da. of Wuleran, each of them C'OSITB dk Mki'i.an.C) was b. about 1010 ; accompanied the Conqueror in his invasion of England, and tho' very young distinguished himself greatly at the battle of Hastings^) in 1006, receiving soon afterwards 90 Lordships (in Warwickshire, Leicestershire, &c), as a reward. On the death of his mother in 10SI he (being heir to her br., Hugh)* WM acknowledged as Cumtk DK Mklt.an or Mei.i.knt, and (lid homage accordingly to the King of France, sitting in 1UM> as a lVer of France in a Pari, at Poissy. He was also Seigneur de Beaumont, Pontaudemer, Brionue, &e., in Normandy, and was in command, 28 Sep. 1100, of the English army which established the King's rule there. He was rewarded by Henry L about 1107 with a grant(f) of the county of Leicester (including the Wardcnship of the Castle and tho Royal desmesnes within aud about the city") and is generallv considered (tho' perhaps erroneously) to have become EARL OF LE1CKSTEK.(«) His first wife is said to (») See an article by J. R. Planche " On the genealogy and armorial ensigns of the Anglo-Norman Earls of Leicester," read at the Leicester Congress, ISO-, and printed in the "Collectanea JLvthecologica," (Ito., 1S71), vol. ii, pp. 81-41. Ti.is, which corrects "the contradictions and discrepancies which abound " in the account of these Earls, by John Nichols, in his " Leicestershire," has been mainly followed in the article in the text. See also Plaudit's " Conqueror and Ids Companions," sub " Beaumont." ( u ) See articles on " Beaumont, Robert de. Count of Meulan," and on hia son and grandson (Earls of Leicester) in the " Nat. Biajr." by Mr. J. Horace Round, who, however, does not attribute the Earldom of Leicester to the first mentioned Robert. ( c ) He was br. to Henry, Seigneur de Neufbourg, cr. Earl of Warwick by William It (d) " Meulan or Meident [is not, as is often said, in Normandy, but] is a town and Conitc ou the Seine, between St. Germain en-Laye and Vernon : both town and Cointc arc divided by that river into two portions, the one in the Vexiu franfais, the other in the pays de Pincerais." Ex. inform., G. W. Watson. (°) The Beaumont who in the " Roman dc Ron " is described as being present at the battle of Hastings was Roger Beaumont, i.e., "Rogier li Veil, cil de Belmont Assalt Engleis el primier front." The name, however, hi the MS. of Wace (in the Brit, litis.) is " Robert," and in spite of the assertion of Wace to the contrary, it seems that Roger de Beaumont remained in Normandy at that date as President of the Council. Mr. Planche conjectures that the epithet " li Veil," tho' not appropriate to the then age of young Robert, stands for "de Vielles," inasmuch as Humphrey de Vicllcs (i of Thorold do Pontaudeuier) was father of Roger ami grandfather of Robert de Beaumont, ( r ) The story of this grant is thus told by Ordericus Vitalis, who after stating that the town of Leicester had then four masters, viz. (1) the King (2) the Bishop of Lincoln (3) " Earl Simon " [i.e., Simon (de Saint Liz), Earl of Northampton], and (•!) "Ito, son of Hugh" [i.e., of Hugh de Grentmesnil], relates how that the said Ivo, being in disgrace at Court, pledged his share (apparently by far the largest one) to the Count of Meulan who never restored the same (as had been promised) to the said Ivo's son and heir, and who subsequently, by favour of the King, contrived to get the tcholc of Leicester into his own hands. («) In no charter apparently is he called Burl of Leicester. As " Robertus, Comes Mcllenti," he with Elizabeth, his wife, and their sons, Walerau, Robert, and Hugh, confirms the grant of Roger de Beaumont, his father, to the Church of St. Mary at Bee in Pontaudemer. (Registres (te la Chaiubre des Ooraptes— La Roque, Histoire de Harcourt, preuves. pp. 1,335, 1,610, aud suppl.) Ex, inform. G. W. Watson, who adds, however, that "in an inspeximus by one of the Edwards his charter is quoted as calling himself Count of Mellent and Leicester, which double title appears very suspicions." Mr. J. Horace Round in the - Nat, Bioi/r." (sub " Beaumont "), says of him that tho' " distinctly stated by Orderic to have been cr. Earl of Leicester (' hide
