Baldwin de Redvers, 1st Earl of Devon (died 4 June 1155),
feudal baron of Plympton in
Devon
Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
, was the son of
Richard de Redvers and his wife Adeline Peverel.
He was one of the first to rebel against
King Stephen, and was the only first rank
magnate
The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...
never to accept the new king. He seized
Exeter
Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...
, and was a pirate out of
Carisbrooke, but he was driven out of England to
Anjou, where he joined the
Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda (10 September 1167), also known as Empress Maud, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter and heir of Henry I, king of England and ruler of Normandy, she went to ...
. She made him Earl of Devon after she established herself in England, probably in early 1141.
He founded several monasteries, notably those of
Quarr Abbey
Quarr Abbey (French language, French: ''Abbaye Notre-Dame de Quarr'') is a monastery between the villages of Binstead and Fishbourne, Isle of Wight, Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight in southern England. The name is pronounced as "Kwor" (r ...
(1131), in the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
, a
priory at Breamore,
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
, and the
Priory of St James, at
Exeter
Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...
. Some monastic chronicles call his father also Earl of Devon, but no contemporary record uses the title, including the monastic charters.
Family and children
He married Adelize de Baalun (d. ).
[Bearman, R. (1994).''Charters of The Redvers Family and the Earldom of Devon 1090–1217''. p. 9.] They had children:
#
Richard de Redvers, 2nd Earl of Devon. Married Denise de Dunstanville, the daughter of Reginald the first Earl of Cornwall.
# Henry de Redvers
#
William de Redvers, 5th Earl of Devon. Married Mabel de Beaumont.
# Matilda de Redvers, married to Anschetil de Greye.
# Maud de Redvers, married Ralph de Avenel.
# Alice de Redvers, married Roger II de Nonant.
# Hawise de Redvers, by 1147
married Robert FitzRobert, Castellan of Gloucester. Robert was an illegitimate son of
Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester
Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester (c. 1090 – 31 October 1147 David Crouch, 'Robert, first earl of Gloucester (b. c. 1090, d. 1147)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200Retrieved 1 ...
.
# Eva de Redvers, married Robert d' Oyly.
Between 1151 and his death in 1155, Baldwin married Lucy de Clare. Lucy was assumed to have been the widow of
Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Hertford and a daughter of Ranulf earl of Chester.
However, Gilbert de Clare died unmarried and without issue in 1152. One source states that Lucy was the daughter of
Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare and Adelisa of Chester. They were the parents of Gilbert de Clare, who died in 1152. Therefore, Lucy was a sister of Gilbert de Clare. A charter mentioning her late brother Gilbert de Clare, and her late husband Baldwin was given shortly after Baldwin's death.
[Keats-Rohan,K.S.B. (2002).''Domesday Descendants: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents 1066–1166 : II Pipe Rolls to Cartae Baronum''.p. 658 and 245.]
The name ''de Redvers'' can also be found as ''de Reviers'' or ''Revières''.
Footnotes
References
*Frederick Lewis Weis ''Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700''; Line 50-27
*
*Charles Mosley, editor-in-chief ''Burke's Peerage and Baronetage'', 106th edition, 1999, Page: 832
*Robert Bearman, 'Revières, Baldwin de, earl of Devon (c.1095–1155)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devon, Baldwin de Redvers, 1st Earl of
1155 deaths
Anglo-Normans
1
Norman warriors
Peers created by Empress Matilda
Redvers, Baldwin de, 1st Earl of Devon
B
Year of birth unknown