Richard De Redvers

by Tim Marshall

Richard was born in Normandy in 1107. He accompanied William the Conquer to England in 1066. He was a keen supporter of Henry I (William's youngest son) in his struggle against his brother Robert for control of the English throne after Henry's elder brother, Willaim II (Rufus) met a sticky end in the New Forest. He quickly became one of his most trusted advisers and witnessed more than 20 of Henry's charters and royal writs,

Amongst many other rewards Henry bestowed on him were large tracts of land in Devon and Hampshire and the Lordship of the Isle of Wight.

There is also reference to Richard in the Doomsday book owning land in Dorset. He already owned estates in Normandy and had acquired the manors in Oxfordshire and Berkshire. By now he was one of the richest men in England worth over £750. This equates to several hundred million pounds in today's money.

He married Adeliza (sometimes referred to as "Adelina" or Adeliz) around 1090 (the exact date is not known) and had five children.

The Lordship of the Isle of Wight remained in his lineal descendance through a series of De Redvers (of which at least four were called Baldwin) until his great, great, great granddaughter Isabell de Fortibus sold it to Edward 1 in 1293.

Richard de Redvers died on 8 September 1107 and was buried in the Abbey of Montebourg in Normandy, of which he was deemed the founder.

The second name which Richard used, spelled in various ways, is derived from modern Reviers (postcode 14470), which lies between the North Sea and Caen. Thomas Stapleton noted that the family "had its local surname from the village of Réviers, Rethvers, Redvers, Reveriae, Riveriae, situate in the Bessin between the rivers Seule and Mue near their confluence".

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