Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 04.djvu/186

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Belleman
182
Bellême

Fauconberg [see under Belasyse, John]. Bellasis was twice married, first on 17 Sept. 1829, to Frances, only surviving child and heir of William Lycett, of Stafford, who died without leaving issue on 27 Dec. 1832; and secondly, on 21 Oct. 1836, to Eliza Jane, only daughter of William Garnett, of Quernmore Park and Bleasdale Tower, Lancashire, high sheriff in 1843, by whom he left ten children. Both the eldest of his four sons, Richard Garnett, and the youngest of them, Henry Lewis, are priests, his second son, Edward, being Lancaster herald, and the third son, William, a merchant. Of his six daughters three became nuns, one married Mr. Lewin Bowring, formerly of the Indian Civil Service, a son of Sir John Bowring, while another became the wife of Dr. Charlton, M.D. and D.C.L., of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

[Garside's In Memoriam notice in the Tablet, 1 Feb. 1873, p. 138; Law Times, 1 March 1873, p. 334; Serjeant Bellasis's Manuscript Autobiography.]

C. K.


BELLEMAN or BELMAIN, JOHN (fl. 1553), was, according to Fuller, the French tutor of Edward VI. The prince appears to have commenced his studies under his instructor in his seventh year (1534). Belleman seems, however, to have been retained in the royal service till the close of Edward's reign, for there is still extant in the British Museum a manuscript translation into French of the second Prayer-book of Edward VI, written by Belleman, with a dedicatory epistle to his former pupil. This preface is dated 18 April 1553 from the royal palace of Sheen. In the same collection of manuscripts there is also to be found a translation of Basil the Great's letter to St. Gregory on the solitary life. This work Belleman, in a somewhat curious preface, dedicates to the Lady Elizabeth, with the assurance that it is rendered from the original Greek. This introductory letter contains a rather sharp attack on the phonetic principle of French orthography then coming into vogue, though its author seems perfectly willing to adopt a well-considered reformed method of spelling; and indeed he pronounces his intention of writing a treatise on the subject. There does not seem to be any means of ascertaining the date of this translation, but it is probably earlier than the French version of the Prayer-book.

[Tanner's Bibl. Brit. 94; Fuller's Church History, edit. 1655. p. 422; MSS. Biblioth. Reg. in British Museum, 20 A, xiv. and 16 E 1.]

T. A. A.


BELLÊME, ROBERT of (fl. 1098), Earl of Shrewsbury, sometimes called Talvas, was the eldest son of Roger, lord of Montgomery in Normandy, of Arundel and Chichester, earl of Shrewsbury, and founder and lord of Montgomery in Wales, and of Mabel, daughter and heiress of William Talvas, lord of Bellême, Séez, Alençon, and many other castles in Normandy and Maine. He was knighted by the Conqueror before the walls of Fresnay in 1073. In the revolt of Robert, the king's eldest son, in 1077, he and many other young Norman nobles upheld his cause against the king. After the battle of Gerberoi, Roger of Shrewsbury and the other lords who had sons or relations among the rebels begged the king to pardon them. William at length agreed to do so, and received Robert of Belleme and the rest of the rebel party in peace. On the death of his mother, the Countess Mabel, who was slain in 1082, Robert succeeded to the wide estates she inherited from her father. As long as the Conqueror lived he and other Norman lords were compelled to receive garrisons from into their castles. This disabled them from disturbing the peace of the duchy. Robert in 1087 was on his way to visit the king, and had gone as far as Brionne when he heard of the Conqueror's death. He at once turned back, and turned the ducal garrisons out of his castles. He forced as many of his neighbours as were weaker than he was to receive garrisons from him, and if any refused to do so he destroyed their castles (Oderic, Eccles. Hist., 664 B). When, in 1088, Robert of Normandy heard that the larger part of the barons of England had rebelled against Rufus, and that his uncle, Bishop Odo, was holding Rochester on his behalf against the king, he sent over Robert and Eustace of Boulogne to reinforce the rebels, Robert joined in the defence of Rochester, When the castle fell, he and his companions were allowed to come forth with their horses and arms. They were, however, exposed to the jeers of the English who composed the greater part of the king's host, and whose loyalty had given him the victory (ib. 669 A). The surrender of Rochester probably took place in May 1088. In the course of the summer Robert and William II were fully reconciled. During the visit of Henry, the king's brother, to England, Robert made alliance with him, and returned with him to Normandy in the autumn. Duke Robert thought their friendship boded him no good. Accordingly he sent an armed force to the coast, and had both Robert and Henry taken prisoners as soon as they landed. Robert he sent to be kept by Bishop Odo, at Neuilly. When the Earl of Shrewsbury heard of his son's imprisonment, he came over to Nor-