Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury
Robert of Bellem, Earl of Shrewsbury  | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1052 | 
| Died | after 1130 (aged 77–78) Wareham, Dorset  | 
| Noble family | House of Bellême | 
| Spouse(s) | Agnes of Ponthieu | 
| Father | Roger of Montgomery, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury | 
| Mother | Mabel de Bellême | 
Robert de Bellême (c. 1052 – after 1130), seigneur de Bellême (or Belèsme), seigneur de Montgomery, viscount of the Hiémois, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury and Count of Ponthieu, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman, and one of the most prominent figures in the competition for the succession to England and Normandy between the sons of William the Conqueror. He was a member of the powerful House of Bellême.
Robert became notorious for his alleged cruelty. Referring to his activities in the rebellion against Henry I of 1110–1112, the chronicler Orderic Vitalis, in Book XI of his Historia Ecclesiastica, calls Robert "grasping and cruel, an implacable persecutor of the Church of God and the poor ... unequalled for his iniquity in the whole Christian era", as well as "the tyrant who had disturbed the land and was preparing to add still worse crimes to his many offences of plundering and burning". The stories of his brutality may have inspired the legend of Robert the Devil.