Richard de Belmeis I (or de Beaumais) (died 1127) was a medieval cleric, administrator, judge and politician. Beginning as a minor landowner and steward in Shropshire, he became Henry I's chief agent in the Welsh Marches and in 1108 was appointed Bishop of London. He founded St Osyth's Priory in Essex and was succeeded by a considerable dynasty of clerical politicians and landowners.
Identity Richard's toponymic byname is given in modern accounts as de Belmeis. Occasionally the form de Beaumais is encountered. This is based on the modern spelling of the village from which his family perhaps originated: Beaumais-sur-Dive, which is east of Falaise, in the Calvados region of Normandy.British History Online Bishops of London accessed on 28 October 2007 The attribution is now regarded as not fully proven.J.F.A. Mason: Oxford DNB article It is made up of two very common French toponym elements, meaning “attractive estate”: there is a village called Aubermesnil-Beaumais elsewhere in Normandy.
Whatever the form of his name, Richard is easily confused with his namesake and nephew, Richard de Belmeis II, who was also a 12th-century Bishop of London. Tout refers to Richard I by the surname Rufus,T.F. Tout: DNB article which creates further confusion. His epitaph shows that he was called Rufus, but the name, in the form Ruffus, is now generally reserved for an Archdeacon of Essex a brother of Richard Belmeis II and thus another nephew of Richard Belmeis I. A further, later, Richard Ruffus may have been a son of the archdeacon. The family tree below attempts to clarify the relationships, which are still not beyond doubt.
Background and early life
Richard's background seems to lie in the lower reaches of the Norman landowning class. He is thought to be the Richard whom the Domesday enquiry found holding the very small manor of Meadowley, due west of Bridgnorth in Shropshire.Eyton, Volume 1, p.149 This he held as a tenant of Helgot, who held it of Roger Montgomery, the great territorial magnate who dominated the Welsh Marches. Meadowley was 6 ploughlands in extent and was populated by just five families: 3 slaves and 2 bordars.Palmer and Slater, p.13 However, there were evidently signs of revival in Richard's hands. In Edward the Confessor's time it had been worth 30 shillings, but it had sunk to only 2 shillings by the time Richard acquired it, since when it had risen again to 11 shillings. Richard also held three hides worth of land as a tenant of Helgot at Preen, to the north-west of Meadowley. Here he let a hide to Godebold, a priest who was a crony of Earl Roger.Owen and Blakeway, p.263 Godebold at this time was much wealthier than Richard and held a large number of properties that had been intended as prebends of the collegiate church of St Alkmund in Shrewsbury.
Richard seems to have become steward of Earl Roger and appears as a witness in charters, both genuine and spurious, granted by Roger and his son, Hugh to Shrewsbury Abbey,Eyton, Volume 2, p.193 and in one is described as dapifer for Shropshire. Richard also seems to have been employed in Sussex, where the Montgomery earls had substantial holdings.
Viceroy of Shropshire
Richard seems to have avoided entanglement in the revolt of Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury, and consequently emerged in Henry I's favour. Probably in autumn 1102, Henry ordered “Richard de Belmes”, Robert of Falaise and all the barons of Sussex to secure for Ralph de Luffa, the Bishop of Chichester, lands near the town of Chichester.Eyton, Volume 2, p.194Johnson and Cronne, p. 26, no. 614 It seems, therefore, that Richard was not in Shropshire at that time, but in Sussex. He was probably sent to Shrewsbury late in 1102, after Henry had dealt with Robert of Bellême's Welsh allies, imprisoning Iorwerth ap Bleddyn, a powerful Welsh leader who had played a prominent but equivocal part in events. Henry continued to treat Shropshire as a marcher lordship but was determined not to install another earl who might threaten the monarchy.Lloyd, p.414 Probably at Christmas, Henry ordered Richard to help secure some land for the Abbey of Saint-Remi,Johnson and Cronne, p. 27, no. 618 which had a daughter house at Lapley Priory in Staffordshire and estates in Shropshire. This would indicate that he was fully in charge of Shropshire by the end of the year. However, the sequence of events is not certain.
Henry allowed Richard to take effective control of the county as a royal agent. He was described by Ordericus Vitalis as the vicecomes or “viscount” of Shropshire,Ordericus Vitalis, ed. Forester, p.417 a term sometimes translated as Viceroy.Eyton, Volume 2, p.192 It is possible that he was addressed on occasion as the Sheriff of Shropshire. He had a reputation as an expert on legal matters.Williams English and the Norman Conquest p. 157 Hence he served as the justiciar for the king at Shrewsbury, where his brief also included oversight of Welsh affairs.Crouch Reign of King Stephen p. 55 He was given substantial holdings in the county to support him in appropriate style. The priest Godebold had been succeeded by a son, Robert, and it seems likely that he had supported the rebels, as his estates were turned over to Richard.Owen and Blakeway, p.264 Other estates he acquired were Tong and Donington, both of which had been retained as demesne by the Montgomery earls themselves. Despite his focus on Shropshire, the king seems to have continued regarding Richard as a Sussex magnate: as late as 1107 he heads a list of Sussex notables informed of the king's confirmation of the right of Chichester Cathedral to hold a fair in the town.Johnson and Cronne, p. 64, no. 810
As Henry's viceroy, Richard made a considerable impact on the county. On occasion he convened and presided over ecclesiastical synods: Even after he became Bishop of London, he had no obvious authority for doing this, as Shropshire fell within the Diocese of Lichfield. His decisions at assemblies at Wistanstow in 1110 and Castle Holdgate in 1115Latin text in Eyton, Volume 3, p.232-4 greatly increased the powers and privileges of Wenlock Priory by recognising it as the mother church of an extensive parishM J Angold, G C Baugh, Marjorie M Chibnall, D C Cox, D T W Price, Margaret Tomlinson and B S Trinder. “Houses of Cluniac monks: Abbey, later Priory, of Wenlock” in Gaydon and Pugh, p.38-47 and made it an important force in the region. Richard granted his land at Preen to Wenlock Priory and this was later used to found a daughter house.M J Angold, G C Baugh, Marjorie M Chibnall, D C Cox, D T W Price, Margaret Tomlinson and B S Trinder. “Houses of Cluniac monks: Priory of Preen” in Gaydon and Pugh, p.38-47
Bishop of London
Election and consecration
Richard was elected to the see of London and invested with its temporalities on 24 May 1108.Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 258 The date is known from Eadmer, the contemporary historian and biographer of Anselm, who places Richard's election at Pentecost:Eadmer, ed. Rule, p.196 24 May in that year, according to the Julian Calendar, in which Easter was on 5 April. The king's confirmation affirms that he is granted “the see of London with the lands and men pertaining to it, and the castle of Stortford.”Johnson and Cronne, p. 80, no. 881 Shortly afterwards, Henry restored to the canons of St Paul's a range of judicial powers and privileges they had enjoyed in the reign of Edward the Confessor.Johnson and Cronne, p. 83, no. 899
It appears that he had so far been ordained only as a deacon. Ordination as a priest was required before Richard could proceed to ordination as a bishop. Eadmer makes clear that he was ordained as a priest with many others by Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury, at his manor of Mortlake. Anselm had only recently returned from a long exile after he and the king came to a resolution of their Investiture Controversy, and it seems that there was a backlog of ordinations. Eadmer does not give a date as such but says that Anselm carried out these ordinations during jejunio quarti mensis - the “fast of the fourth months,” i.e. the Ember Days, which were the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday following Pentecost. Eyton reasoned that the ordination would therefore have been on 27, 29 or 30 May. However, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicani gives the probable date as 14 June 1108, nevertheless citing Eadmer as evidence.
Richard was fairly typical of the men made bishops, even after Henry had made substantial concessions to the Church. Citing Richard as an example, Poole comments: “Piety in matters of religion was seldom the primary qualification in the election of bishops; the continued to be normally men of affairs, administrators, chosen for their experience in conducting the king's business.” What followed made clear that Richard was essentially a royal nominee, not really known, much less congenial, to Anselm and the supporters of Gregorian Reform. Eadmer says that the king went to embark for Normandy and waited until he received a blessing from Anselm, who then became very ill and was confined to his quarters.Eadmer, ed. Rule, p.197 The king then sent William Giffard, the Bishop of Winchester and William Warelwast, the Bishop of Exeter, who had taken opposite sides in the investiture dispute, to urging Anselm to look after his son and the kingdom and to make sure that Richard was soon ordained bishop at Chichester. The reason he gave was that Richard was a man of great ability for whom he had important business in the far west of the country. Anselm did expedite Richard's consecration as a bishop, which took place on 26 July 1108. However, he demurred at using Chichester Cathedral, preferring instead to use his own chapel at Pagham, assisted by the bishops of Winchester, Chichester and Exeter, together with Roger of Salisbury, the Bishop of Salisbury.Eadmer, ed. Rule, p.198
Primacy dispute
One of Richard's concerns was to promote the interests of the Archdiocese of Canterbury, of which his own see formed a part. A dispute over the primacy between Canterbury and York had already dragged on for some years. Anselm had been granted a personal primacy over the whole English church by the Papacy. However, Thomas, archbishop-elect of York since May 1108 had used various stratagems to delay his own consecration, as it was clear Anselm was near to death. In May 1109, Anselm died and at Pentecost the king convened his court in London,Eadmer, ed. Rule, p.207 where the bishops demanded that Thomas accept consecration. This was a unanimous call, including even Samson, the Bishop of Worcester,Eadmer, ed. Rule, p.208 who was Thomas's father. Accordingly, Thomas was brought to consecration at St Paul's, Richard's seat, on 27 June. Seven bishops were scheduled to take part: Richard himself, William Giffard of Winchester, Ralph d'Escures, the Bishop of Rochester, Herbert de Losinga, the Bishop of Norwich, Ralph of Chichester, Ranulf Flambard, the Bishop of Durham, and Hervey le Breton,Eadmer, ed. Rule, p.210 the king's confessor, currently unable to fulfil his role as Bishop of Bangor but a bishop nevertheless. However, Richard refused to participate until Thomas had made a written profession of subordination. According to Eadmer, this was a comprehensive surrender of the primacy to Canterbury:
However, doubt was to return later about the wording. Once the required formalities had been carried out, Richard pronounced himself satisfied and the consecration went ahead, with Thomas subsequently receiving a pallium from the Papal legate.