Yves I
(Ivo) de Bellême Yves I
(Ivo) de BellêmeYves was the first known lord of Bellême, south of Normandy, a powerful lordship during the late tenth and eleventh centuries which eventually passed to heiresses in the late eleventh century. He was succeeded at some time after 1005 by his son Guillaume, and his son Yves II also became lord of Bellême (in succession to Guillaume's son Robert). As discussed below in the Commentary section, the origin of this family is a difficult problem which has not yet been definitively settled.
Date of Birth: Unknown.
Place of
Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: After 1005.
[White (1940): 73-4, pointing out that Yves gave Magny-le-Désert
to Gauzlin, abbot of Fleury (citing Vita Gauzlini, with
a brief quote of the relevant passage, p. 73, n. 8), who did not
become abbot until 1005.]
Place of Death: Unknown.
Father:
Uncertain.
Mother: Uncertain.
[see Commentary section]
Spouse:
Godehilde, living 1005, survived her husband.
[Cart. Marmoutier,
1-3, where Ivo names his wife Godehildis in a charter, and after
Ivo's death, his charter is confirmed by Willelmus and his mother
Godehildis.]
Children:
The chronology of the children of Yves and Godehilde is somewhat
uncertain, because much of what is known comes from charters
which can only be dated to within certain ranges.
Guillaume (William), d. after 1027,
lord of Bellême, after 1005-after 1027.
[Cart. Marmoutier 1-3, where Guillaume
confirmed a charter of his deceased father along with his mother
Godehilde. According to Guillaume de Jumièges (GND vi, 4; vol.
2, pp. 48-51), he fought against duke Robert of Normandy, placing
his death after the accession of that duke.]
Avesgaud, d. 27 October [Nec. Verdun, 289] ca. 1036,
bishop of Le Mans, ca. 1004-ca. 1036.
[Act. Pont. Cenom. 356-7, n., where Ivo and Godehildis are named as the
parents of Avesgaud]
Yves II, lord of Bellême, probably in
the 1040's.
[Cart. Marmoutier 4, where it is
stated that Robert, son and successor of Guillaume as lord of
Bellême, was in turn succeeded by his uncle Yves (Post
mortem autem Rotberti, filii Wilelmi, Ivo suus avunculus,
succeedens heriditati dedit, pro anima sui nepotis Rotberti ...).
The usually overlooked succession of Yves II was pointed out in
Thompson (1985): 217-9, who would place the rule of Yves over the
lordship in the 1040's.]
Hildeburge, m. Hamon, lord of Château-du-Loir.
[Act. Pont. Cenom. 357 calls her the eldest sister of Avesgaud. See also
ibid., 369, where the parents of bishop Gervais are given as
Haimon and Hildeburgis, and ibid, 371, where it is stated that
Gervais's mother Hildeburge was a sister of Avesgaud. For the
erroneous alleged marriage of Hildeburge to "Aubert le
Riche" given by White (1940): 75-6, 98, see the page on Hildeburge.]
Godehilde.
[Act. Pont. Cenom. 357 calls her the younger sister of Avesgaud. There
does not seem to be any good evidence for a marriage of
Godehilde. White (1940): 75-6, 98, errs in making Godehilde
(rather than Hildeburge) the wife of Hamon de Château-du-Loir. The editor of Act. Pont. Cenom. (p. 357, n.6) suggested the tentative identification
that Godehilde was the same person as a certain Godehilde who was
wife of Raoul, viscount of Le Mans, but Keats-Rohan (1994), 16
pointed out that this identification is not chronologically
feasible. ES 3.4: 636 has Godehilde marrying first Albert de la
Ferté-en-Beauce and second a viscount of Maine, but this appears
to be just an unwise (and also chronologically invalid) attempt
to "fix" the error of White mentioned above, combined
with the Beaumont error.]
Probable brother or
brother-in-law: Seifrid,
d. 16 February of an unknown year [Nec.
Mans 39], bishop of Le Mans, ca.
971-1004.
[Act. Pont. Cenom. 355, where Avesgaud is called a "nepos"
of Seifrid, which probably means "nephew" in this case.
See the Commentary section for more on the possible relationship
of Seifrid and Yves.]
Much has been written regarding the parentage of Yves de Bellême, but there is still no definitive solution to this problem.
Supposed father (unlikely): Yves de Creil, fl. 945 (living 981?).
Supposed mother (unlikely): Geile, living 981.
The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis mentions a certain
"Ivo de Credolio regis balistarius" [OV 3:
306] who was earlier called the father of Guillaume de Bellême
in an addition by Orderic Vitalis to the Gesta
Normannorum Ducum of Guillaume de Jumièges [GND iv, 4 (vol.
1, pp. 104-5)]. This Yves de Creil (Ivo de Credulio) has
then been plausibly identified with a certain Yves who had a wife
Geile and son Yves [see White (1940): 68-73], but no direct
evidence has been found for a connection of these individuals
with the lords of Bellême. Since it is not chronologically
plausible for this Yves de Creil to be the father of Guillaume de
Bellême, those who accept Orderic's account as having some
foundation have instead added a generation by placing Yves de
Creil as the father of Yves de Bellême, although White, who
accepted this scenario, was careful to call the link probable
rather than proven [White (1940): 71, 98]. Since this theory has
as its only support a noncontemporary source which is evidently
false in the statement it gives, is not supported by a later
statement by the same author (Orderic, who omitted the supposed
connection to Guillaume de Bellême in his ecclesiastical
history), and other indications seem to place the origins of the
Bellême closer to home (see in particular the three papers of
Keats-Rohan in the bibliography), this scenario seems unlikely.
Most recent discussions of the origin of Yves de Bellême have centered on the fact that his son bishop Avesgaud of Le Mans was a nepos (here almost certainly meaning "nephew") of his predecessor Seifrid, who was in turn an avunculus of a another Yves/Ivo, son of Fulcoin, grantor of the foundation charter of Abbayette (996×1004), in which Ivo granted the charter "... cum consensu et uoluntate meorum parentum, duarum uidelicet sororum mearum: Billehendis atque Erenburgis, necnon duorum auunculorum: Seinfredi episcopi et Guillelmi, atque cognatorum: Guillelmi clerici, Roberti Sutsardi rursusque Guillelmi laici... pro salute anime meae atque patris mei Fulconii et matris mee Rothais et omnium meorum parentum ..." (... with the consent and will of my relatives, viz., two of my sisters Billehendis and Erenburgis, and also two uncles, bishop Senfridus and Guillelmus, and relatives Guillelmus clericus, Robertus[,] Sutsardus, and finally Guillelmus laicus ... for the health of my soul and of my father Fulconus and my mother Rothais and all of my relatives ...) [Keats-Rohan (1994), 24]. Although it is certain that Yves de Bellême and Yves son of Fulcoin were different individuals, their careless identification as the same individual has led some to the following false parentage for Yves de Bellême:
Falsely attributed
father: Fulcoin.
Falsely attributed mother: Rothais.
(While most of the standard
sources have avoided this error, it can be occasionally found in
internet genealogies.)
As has been pointed out before [e.g., White (1940): 91-5], the fact that Yves de Bellême was not among those consenting to the Abbayette charter makes it difficult (but not decisively so) to make Yves de Bellême a full brother of bishop Seifrid, since if the latter had some interest in the property which required his consent, then it is likely that the former did also. Thus, White (1940): 91-5, makes Seifrid a brother of Godehilde, wife of Yves. Keats-Rohan (1996, 1997), setting aside an earlier opinion that Yves and Seifird might have been full brothers [Keats-Rohan (1994): 14], suggested that they were in fact uterine brothers (which would get rid of the difficulty mentioned above), and conjectured that the parents of Yves de Bellême may have been as follows:
Proposed father (very
conjectural): Hervé,
count of Mortagne.
Proposed mother (very conjectural):
[Hildeburge], daughter of Raoul
II, viscount of Le Mans.
These proposed relationships are a part of a lengthy discussion
which takes place across the three papers of Keats-Rohan cited
below, but no direct evidence can be cited in support of either
of these relationships, and in fact some of the relationships
which lead up to these suggestions are themselves conjectural.
There is no direct evidence that Raoul II had a daughter named
Hildeburge (whose name is itself a conjecture for onomastic
reasons), nor that Hervé was married to a daughter of Raoul.
Although these conjectures form a good stimulus for further
research, they cannot be accepted without further evidence.
Act. Pont. Cenom. = Busson & Ledru, eds., Actus Pontificum Cenomannis in urbe Degentium (Archives Historiques du Maine 2, Le Mans, 1902).
Cart. Marmoutier = M. Barret, ed., Cartulaire de Marmoutier pour le Perche (Mortagne, 1894).
ES = Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln (neue Folge), (Marburg, 1980-present).
GND = Guillaume de Jumièges, Gesta Normannorum Ducum, as edited in Elisabeth van Houts, ed. & trans., The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni, 2 vols., (Oxford, 1992). Citation is by book and chapter of Guillaume's work, followed by the volume and page number of the edition by van Houts.
Keats-Rohan (1994) = K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, "Two Studies in North French Prosopography", Journal of Medieval History 20 (1994): 3-37.
Keats-Rohan (1996) = K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, "Politique et Parentèle: Les comtes, vicomtes et évèques du Maine c. 940-1050", Francia 23 (1996): 13-30.
Keats-Rohan (1997) = K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, "'Un vassal sans histoire'?: Count Hugh II (c.940/955-992) and the origins of Angevin overlordship in Maine", in K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, ed., Family Trees and the Roots of Politics (Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1997): 189-210.
Nec. Mans = Busson & Ledru, Nécrologe-obituaire de la Cathédrale du Mans (Archives Historiques du Maine 7, Le Mans, 1906).
Nec. Verdun = Ch. Aimond, "Le Nécrologe de la Cathédrale de Verdun", Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft für lothringisches Geschichte und Altertumskunde/Annuaire de la Société d'Histoire et Archéologie Lorraine 21.2 (1909), 132-314.
OV = Marjorie Chibnall, ed. & trans., The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, 6 vols. (Oxford, 1969-80).
Thompson (1985) = Kathleen Thompson, "Family and influence to the south of Normandy in the eleventh century: the lordship of Bellême", Journal of Medieval History 11 (1985): 215-226.
White (1940) = Geoffrey H. White, "The First House of Bellême", Trans. Royal Hist. Soc. ser. 4, 22 (1940): 67-99.
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
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