Baldwin FITZGILBERT

- 1090

• Name	Baldwin FITZGILBERT
  Gender	Male
  Death	1090
  Notes	Baldwin FitzGilbert (died 1090) (alias Baldwin the Sheriff, Baldwin of Exeter, Baldwin de Meulles/Moels and Baldwin du Sap) was an Anglo-Norman magnate and one of the 52 Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of King William the Conqueror. He was originally from Meulles or nearby Le Sap, in Calvados, Normandy. He was a younger son of Gilbert, Count of Brionne and Count of Eu, in Normandy. Together with his eldest brother Richard FitzGilbert, in 1066 Baldwin accompanied William Duke of Normandy in the Norman Conquest of England.[2] Following William the Conqueror's successful siege of the Saxon city of Exeter, that king appointed Baldwin castellan of the newly built Rougemont Castle in Exeter, a royal castle, and appointed him hereditary Sheriff of Devon, which position he held until his death. Exeter Castle was thenceforth the official seat of the Sheriff of Devon. King William I also granted him the very large feudal barony of Okehampton in Devon, at the caput of which he built Okehampton Castle.[3][4] Baldwin's fiefdom in Devon was the largest in that county,[5] listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as comprising 176 holdings, mostly manors or estates, except the first two listed holdings which consisted of groups of houses in Exeter and Barnstaple.[6] He is listed in the Domesday Book as "Baldvinus Vicecomes", literally translated as "Baldwin the Viscount", a Norman title signifying deputy to the Count of Devon, another Norman title called in the Anglo-Saxon language "Earl of Devon", which office was almost synonymous with the Sheriff of Devon, an Anglo-Saxon office, for which reason Baldwin is commonly known as "Baldwin the Sheriff".[7] These landholdings comprised the feudal barony of Okehampton, later held by the Courtenay family, later also feudal barons of Plympton and Earls of Devon. Marriage & progeny He married twice, firstly to Albreda and secondly to Emma. He had three sons, all of whom died childless, and one, possibly two, daughters:[8] Richard FitzBaldwin, eldest son and heir. William FitzBaldwin Robert FitzBaldwin Adeliza FitzBaldwin, her father's ultimate sole heiress. Matilda FitzBaldwin (uncertain). She married William fitzWimund, who is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as holding land at Dolton, Devon in North Tawton Hundred, from his father-in-law Baldwin.[9] Baldwin died in 1090. Following the deaths of his three sons without heirs, his daughter Adeliza was his ultimate sole heiress.
  Person ID	I672075739	Johnson & Hanson
  Last Modified	14 Dec 2015

  
  

  Father	Gilbert DE BRIONNE, Count of Brionne,   b. 1000, Duchy of Normandy d. 1040, France (Age 40 years)
  Family ID	F565995874	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos		Arms of Baldwin FitzGilbert Attributed arms of Baldwin FitzGilbert (d.1090): Chequy or and azure, over-all two bars argent according to Pole (d.1635)[1]
  		Okehampton Castle Moat Surviving motte and ruins of keep of Okehampton Castle, built by Baldwin FitzGilbert and caput of his feudal barony of Okehampton