Roger de Breteuil, 2nd Earl of Hereford (1056 – after 1087), succeeded in 1071 to the earldom of Hereford and the English estate of his father, William Fitz-Osbern. He is known to history for his role in the

Revolt of the Earls The Revolt of the Earls in 1075 was a rebellion of three earls against William I of England (William the Conqueror). It was the last serious act of resistance against William in the Norman Conquest. Cause The revolt was caused by the king's refu ...

Revolt of the Earls

Roger did not keep on good terms with

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

, and in 1075, disregarding William's prohibition, Roger married his sister Emma to Ralph Guader, Earl of Norfolk. Immediately afterwards, the two earls rebelled. Roger, who was to bring his force from the west to join forces with those of the Earl of Norfolk, was held in check at the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

by the

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

fyrd A fyrd () was a type of early Anglo-Saxon army that was mobilised from freemen or paid men to defend their Shire's lords estate, or from selected representatives to join a royal expedition. Service in the fyrd was usually of short duration and ...

, which the English Bishop Wulfstan, Walter de Lacy, and other Normans. Roger had been as close 'as a son' to Archbishop

Lanfranc Lanfranc, OSB (1005 1010 – 24 May 1089) was a celebrated Italian jurist who renounced his career to become a Benedictine monk at Bec in Normandy. He served successively as prior of Bec Abbey and abbot of St Stephen in Normandy and then ...

of Canterbury, who sent him a number of missives deploring him to cease his actions; these were ignored, and Roger was excommunicated.

Trial, sentence, and reprieve

On the collapse of their rebellion uprising, Roger was tried for treasonPlacita Anglo-Normannica lectronic resource: Law Cases from William I to Richard I — Preserved in Historical Records (London: S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1879) p11 before the Great Council, for his role in the

. Roger was deprived of his lands and earldom in 1075, and sentenced to perpetual imprisonment. Ralph Breton and

Waltheof, 1st Earl of Northumberland Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria ( enm, Wallef, on, Valþjóf) (died 31 May 1076) was the last of the Anglo-Saxon earls and the only English aristocrat to be executed during the reign of William I. Early life Waltheof was the second son of Siw ...

were charged as co-conspirators. Roger was released with other political prisoners when William I died in 1087.

Family

Though Roger is not known to have married, he left two sons, Reginald and Roger. Living during the reign of

Henry I of England Henry I (c. 1068 – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in ...

, they were described as young men of great promise, but nonetheless were excluded from succeeding to Roger's lands. This has led to disagreement among scholars as to whether or not they were of legitimate birth. Reginald fitz Count, son of Earl Roger, would marry Emmeline de Ballon, the daughter and heiress of

Hamelin de Ballon Hamelin de Ballon (or Baalun, Baalan, Balun, Balodun, Balon, etc.) (born ca. 1060, died 5 March 1105/6) was an early Norman Baron and the first Baron Abergavenny and Lord of Over Gwent and Abergavenny; he also served William Rufus.J. Horace Ro ...

, whose inherited land he held in her right. Their descendants, using the de Ballon surname were lords of Much Marcle.J. Horace Round, "The Family of Ballon and the Conquest of South Wales", ''Studies in Peerage and Family History'' (1901), pp. 181-215.

References

*Remfry. P.M., ''The Herefordshire Beacon and the Families of King Harold II and the Earls of Hereford and Worcester'' ()

Revolt of the Earls

Trial, sentence, and reprieve

Family

References

See also