Hugh de Beauchamp (sheriff)

Hugh de Beauchamp (sometimes Hugh of Beauchamp;[1] died after 1101) was a Norman who held lands in England after the Norman Conquest.

This article is about the 11th century sheriff. For the 12th century Lord of Abergavenny, see Hugh de Beauchamp.
Hugh (Hugues) de Beauchamp (de Beaucamp)
Sheriff of Buckinghamshire
In office
before 1089 – after 1095
Personal details
SpouseMatilda
ChildrenSimon, Robert

Background

Hugh may have been from Beauchamps in Normandy[2] or perhaps from Calvados.[3] No connection has been established between Hugh and Walter de Beauchamp, founder of the Beauchamp family which later acquired the Earldom of Warwick.[4]

Career

Hugh was a tenant-in-chief with lands in Bedfordshire.[2] His landholdings in Bedfordshire have been considered to have made him the first feudal baron of Bedford.[5] At the time of the Domesday Book he held 43 manors in Bedfordshire and additional landholdings in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.[6] The core of Hugh's lands were those held before the Conquest by Eskil of Ware and men sworn to Eskil, with additional lands coming from thegns and sokemen in the county.[7]

Hugh witnessed a charter of King William the Conqueror, which can only be dated to sometime between 1070 and 1089, where he is named as "sheriff", but it is unclear whether he was sheriff of Buckinghamshire[8] or of Bedfordshire. Judith A. Green argues that it is more likely that he was sheriff of Buckinghamshire.[9] Frank Barlow also assigns that office to Hugh in the early part of the reign of King William II.[1] Katharine Keats-Rohan, however, claims that he was sheriff of Bedfordshire.[2] Hugh also appears in the reign of William II as the sheriff of Buckinghamshire on a charter dating to between 1087 and 1095 as well as a charter from 1087.[8]

Death and legacy

Hugh lived into the reign of King Henry I, as Henry's queen, Matilda, gave a manor to Hugh. This grant can only be dated to sometime between 1100 and 1118.[6] Hugh in March 1101 was also a surety for Henry in a treaty between the new king and Robert II, Count of Flanders.[10]

Hugh married Matilda. She was probably the daughter and heiress of Ralf Tallebosc (or Ralph Taillebois), who was sheriff of Buckinghamshire prior to Hugh. Hugh probably had two sons – Simon and Robert. Simon was probably the elder son.[11] Matilda is named as Simon's mother in a document dating to around 1124 to 1130.[12]

Citations
  1. Barlow William Rufus p. 62
  2. Keats-Rohan Domesday People p. 260
  3. Loyd Origins Anglo-Norman Families pp. 20–21
  4. Chambers and Fowler "Beauchamps" Bedford Historical Record Society p. 1
  5. Sanders English Baronies p. 10
  6. Chambers and Fowler "Beauchamps" Bedford Historical Record Society p. 2
  7. Fleming Kings & Lords p. 118
  8. Green English Sheriffs p. 28
  9. Green English Sheriffs p. 25
  10. Green Henry I p. 62
  11. Faulkner "Beauchamp, de, family" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  12. Chambers and Fowler "Beauchamps" Bedord Historical Record Society p. 3

References
  • Barlow, Frank (2000). William Rufus (Second ed.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08291-6.
  • Chambers, C. Gore; Fowler, G. H. (1913). "The Beauchamps, Barons of Bedford". Bedford Historical Record Society. 1: 1–24.
  • Faulkner, Kathryn (2004). "Beauchamp, de, family (per. c.1080–c.1265)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/54497. Retrieved 18 January 2017. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  • Fleming, Robin (2004). Kings & Lords in Conquest England (Reprint ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-52694-9.
  • Green, Judith A. (1990). English Sheriffs to 1154. Public Record Office Handbooks Number 24. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN 0-11-440236-1.
  • Green, Judith A. (2006). Henry I: King of England and Duke of Normandy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-74452-2.
  • Keats-Rohan, K. S. B. (1999). Domesday People: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents, 1066–1166: Domesday Book. Ipswich, UK: Boydell Press. ISBN 0-85115-722-X.
  • Loyd, Lewis Christopher (1975) [1951]. The Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families (Reprint ed.). Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8063-0649-1.
  • Sanders, I. J. (1960). English Baronies: A Study of Their Origin and Descent 1086–1327. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. OCLC 931660.

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