this, indeed he was excommunicated (Anselmi Epist. iv. 99; Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 82). Eadmer (94) complains that he disliked the English and prevented their promotion in the church. He is said to have introduced, after Alexios Comnenos, the fashion of a single meal a day in the place of the Saxon profuseness. His benefactions to the church were small, but at Leicester he rebuilt St. Mary's as a foundation for secular canons (Mon. Ang. vi. 467). The charter by which he confirmed to his 'merchants' of Leicester their guild and customs will be found in Mr. Thompson's 'Essay on Municipal History,' but the story of his abolishing trial by duel is, though accepted, probably unfounded. He had married, late in life (1096-7), Elizabeth (or Ysabel), daughter of Hugh the Great of Vermandois (or of Crépy) and niece of Philip of France (Ord. Vit. ix. 4). She married, at his death, William de Warrenne, having had by him, with five daughters, three sons (Ord. Vit. xi. 2), Robert and Waleran [see Beaumont, Robert de, 1104-1168; and Beaumont, Waleran de, 1104-1166], and Hugh, 'cognomento Pauper,' who received the earldom of Bedford from Stephen (Gest. Steph. p. 74).
[Ordericus Vitalis, lib. viii.; Henry of Huntingdon (Rolls series); William of Malmesbury; Monasticon Anglicanum; Nichols's History of Leicester (1797), pp. 22-3; Thompson's History of Leicester (pp. 27-31), and Essay on Municipal History (pp. 38-40); Third Report on the Dignity of a Peer (p. 133); Planché's The Conqueror and his Companions (i. 203-16); Freeman's Norman Conquest (v. 151, 828), and William Rufas.]
BEAUMONT, ROBERT de, Earl of Leicester (1104–1168), justiciary of England, was son of the preceding, and a twin with his brother Waleran [see Beaumont, Waleran de]. He seems, however, to have
been deemed the younger, and is spoken of
as postnatus in the 'Testa de Nevill.' He is
stated to have been born in 1104 (Ord. Vit.
xi. 6) when his father was advanced in years,
a date fatal to the story in the 'Abingdon
Chronicle' (ii. 229), that he had been at the
Benedictine monastery there as a boy, 'regis
Willelmi tempore' (i.e. ante 1099). At his
father's death (1118) he succeeded to his
English fiefs (Ord. Vit. xii. 33), being apparently considered the younger of the twins,
and Henry, in gratitude for his father's services, brought him up, with his brother, in
the royal household, and gave him to wife
Amicia, daughter of Ralph (de Wader), earl
of Norfolk, by Emma, daughter of William
(Fitz-Osbern), earl of Hereford, with the
fief of Bréteuil for her dower (ib.) The
twins accompanied Henry to Normandy,
and to his interview with Pope Calixtus at
Gisors (November 1119), where they are
said to have astounded the cardinals by their
learning. They were also present at his
death-bed, 1 Dec. 1135 (ib. xiii. 19). In
the anarchy that followed, war broke out
between Robert and his hereditary foe, Roger
de Toesny (ib. xiii. 22), whom he eventually
captured by his brother's assistance. In
December 1137 the twins returned to England with Stephen, as his chief advisers, and
Robert began preparing for his great foundation, his Norman possessions being overrun
(ib. xiii. 36) in his absence (1138), till he
came to terms with Roger de Toesny (ib.
xiii. 38). In June 1139 he took, with his
brother, the lead in seizing the bishops of
Salisbury and Lincoln at Oxford (ib. xiii. 40),
and on the outbreak of civil war was despatched with him, by Stephen, to escort
the empress to Bristol (October 1139), and
is said (but this is doubtful) to have received
a grant of Hereford. He secured his interests with the Angevin party (ib. xiii. 43)
after Stephen's defeat (2 Feb. 1141), and then
devoted himself to raising, in the outskirts
of Leicester, the noble abbey of St. Mary
de Pré ('de Pratis') for canons regular of
the Austin order. Having bestowed on it
rich endowments, including those of his
father's foundation, he had it consecrated in
1143 by the bishop of Lincoln, whom he had
contrived to reconcile. In 1152 he was still
in Stephen's confidence, and exerted his influence to save his brother (Gervase, i. 148),
but on Henry landing in 1163 he supplied
him freely with means for his struggle (ib.
i. 152), and attending him, shortly after his
coronation (December 1154) was rewarded
with his lasting confidence, and with the
post of chief justiciar, in which capacity
('capitalis justicia') he first appears 13 Jan.
1155 (Cart. Ant. W.), and again in 1156
(Rot. Pip. 2 Hen. II). He was now in the
closest attendance on the court, and on the
queen joining the king in Normandy (December 1158) he was left in charge of the
kingdom, in a vice-regal capacity, till the
king's return 25 Jan. 1163, Richard de Luci
[q. v.], when in England, being associated
with him in the government. He was present at the famous council of Clarendon
(13-28 Jan. 1164), and his name heads the
list of lay signatures to the 'constitutions'
(MS. Cott. Claud. B. fo. 26), to which he is
said, by his friendly influence, to have procured Becket's assent (Gervase, i. 177). As
with his father, in the question of investitures he loyally upheld the claims of the
crown, while maintaining to the church and
