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DE VIPONT [DE VIEUXPONT] Robert
Birth:          ABT 1164 Brougham Castle, Westmorland, England
Death:          1227 

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_de_Vieuxpont
Robert de Vieuxpont (died 1227/8) (alias Vipont, also Veteripont Latinized to de 
Vetere Ponte ("from the Old Bridge")) was an Anglo-Norman landowner and 
administrator in the north of England.
Origins[edit]

He was born the younger son of William de Vieuxpont and his wife Maud de Morville.

Career[edit]

He entered royal service and was initially employed in Normandy as a paymaster of 
troops and director of military works, including those on Rouen Castle. He was 
rewarded in February 1203 by being given custody of Appleby Castle and Brough 
Castle, to which the lordship of Westmorland was added a month later, together with 
the office of Sheriff of Westmorland, to be held in perpetuity by his heirs.

After returning from Normandy with King John in late 1203 Vieuxpont became 
increasingly involved in northern administration. In October 1204 he became High 
Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests including control of 
Nottingham Castle, an important power base and store of the royal treasury. In 1206 
he was a justice and assessor of tallage in the northern counties, in 1207 he was 
given custody of the See of York, and in April 1208 custody of the See of Durham. 
From 1210 to 1216 he was Sheriff of Devon and from 1210-1213 Sheriff of Wiltshire. 
He was highly trusted by King John, who put in his care both his treasury, his son 
Richard and his niece Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany. In 1216 he was also entrusted 
with the custody of Cumberland Castle and Carlisle Castle and from 1217 to 1222 was 
appointed made Sheriff of Cumberland. He successfully defended his extensive 
landholdings from Scottish depredation, and built Brougham Castle in the process.

Marriage and children[edit]

In 1213 he married Idonea de Builli, the daughter of John de Builli, a descendant of 
Roger de Busli, which match brought him more land and honours. By Idonea he had 
children:
John Vipont (died 1242), who left children: John Vipont (died 1241)
Robert de Vieuxpont (died 1264), who died from wounds received at the Battle of 
Lewes (1264) fighting on the side of Simon de Montfort. Following the defeat of de 
Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265 and the return of King Henry III to power, 
Robert II's estate was seized by the Crown, but was later returned as part of a 
settlement with the reform leaders, and the Vieuxpont inheritance was divided in 
moieties between the daughters and co-heiresses of Robert II, Isabella and Idonea. 
On the death of Idonea Vipont her moiety was regained by Isabella's husband Roger 
de Clifford, who thenceforth held one of the greatest northern lordships, ancestor of 
Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford (c. 1274 – 1314), Feudal baron of Skipton.

Christiana Vipont, whom her father married off to his ward Thomas de Greystoke, son 
and heir of William de Greystoke, baron of Greystoke in Cumberland.

Death[edit]

In 1227 he bequeathed his body and his estate at Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, to 
the Knights Templar, and died at some time before 1 February 1228.

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I07526
Thanks to Curt Hofemann for the following information:

Robert de VIPONT, of Appleby

Lord of Appleby, Westmoreland. Sheriff of Caen in Normandy, and of many English 
counties, and for 24 years Sheriff of Westmoreland [Ref: Watney p1011]

1203-4: custody of Appleby and Brough, co Westmorland, was granted for the service 
of 4 knights fees. [Ref: Sanders p103] entrusted with the education and custody of 
the King's son, Richard, afterwards Earl of Cornwall [Ref: Watney p. 1011] had the 
custody of the castles of Windsor, Bowes, Salisbury, and Carlisle [Ref: Watney p. 
1011] Robert de VIPONT, of Appleby, Westmorland ( - 1228) m. Idonea de BUILLI ( - ? 
1240) dau. & heir of John de Builli by Cecily de Bussy [Ref: Richard Borthwick 12 Mar 
1998 msg to SGM citing: Sanders 1963, 103-04, 133] Robert de Veteri Ponte has 
Thomas son of William son of Randulf and his land in ward (custodia) by King John; 
and to the same Thomas he married his daughter; and his land is worth 50£ a year. 
[Ref: Patricia Junkin 11 Jan 2004 msg to SGM citing: Victoria History of the Counties 
of England: Cumberland]

VETERI PONTE, ROBERT DE. Just. Itin. 1218. 
The ancestor of Robert de Veteri Ponte (Vieuxpont, or Vipont) was of the same name, 
and flourished in the reign of the Conqueror. Being killed in battle in 1085, another 
Robert, supposed to be his son, is introduced in 1107, 7 Henry I., as present at the 
raising of the siege of Antioch. In the same reign, 31 Henry I.(4-496), a William de 
Vipont occurs in a contest for certain lands in Devonshire, to be determined by battle. 
Whether he was the son of Robert is not stated; but in 4 John, as full possession of 
the lordship of Vipont in Normandy was given to him, as his brother Robert had when 
he went into France after the war. Of the last-mentioned Robert it is said that in 5 
Henry II., 1159, he paid twenty marks to have a trial of his lands in Devonshire; and 
that in 12 Henry II., 1166, he had eight knights' fees of the honour of Totness. So far 
the story is told from Dugdale's Baronage, (vol. i. p. 347). But when he proceeds to 
relate of this same Robert the facts that apply to Robert de Veteri Ponte, the subject 
of this notice, some doubt may be entertained whether they are not different 
individuals; inasmuch as, considering that the death of the latter did not occur till 
1228, the interval appears too long from 1159, when he was old enough to contest the 
possession of his lands, to warrant a presumption that they were identical.
Be this as it may, there is no doubt that this Robert held an office in the Treasury at 
the beginning of the reign of King John, and probably at the end of that of Richard I. 
The Rotulus Cancellarius of 3 John makes him account for several ferms in 
Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire, for the 9 and 10 Richard I. In 2 John he 
obtained the custody of the land and heir of Richard de Scirington, in 
Buckinghamshire(1-497); and in the same year the necessaries for the queen and her 
company, at Marlborough, were ordered to be provided "per testimonium Roberti de 
Veteri Ponte." Similar entries are recorded in 3 and 5 John.(2-497) From this time the 
rolls contain numerous orders to him to pay money from the treasury, showing his 
connection with that department. They evidence also his continual attendance on the 
king, and that prisoners taken in the French war were in his custody.(3-497)
That his services were at this time highly appreciated by his royal master, ample proof 
is given by the grant he received, in 4 John, of the castles of Appleby and Burgh, with 
the barony of the former, including divers manors and castles, among which was 
Brougham Castle. To these was added the sheriffwick of the county of Westmoreland
(4-497), which remained in his family long after the male branch of it became extinct. 
In 5 John the castle of Bowes, in Richmondshire, was committed to him, and was 
delivered to his nephew Eudo to keep(5-497); and various other evidences are 
recorded of the favour which he then enjoyed. In that year, also, the bailiwick of 
Caen, in Normandy, was committed to his charge, as that of Rouen had been in the 
previous year.(1-498) In the following year he was appointed constable of Nottingham 
Castle, with the sheriffalty of that county and of Derby(2-498), in which he continued 
till 11 John.
Up to this period he does not appear to have acted in a judicial capacity: but in 8 
John, Mr. Hunter introduces him into his list of justiciers before whom fines were 
acknowledged. As his name does not occur in any of the fines of the counties hitherto 
published, it is uncertain whether they were levied at Westminster or in the country. It 
is not improbable that he performed this duty in one of his journeys with the king, who 
frequently was himself present on these occasions. This, however, was the sole year 
in John's reign in which he is so noticed. During the remainder of it, he was actively 
engaged in many responsible and important trusts.
In 9 John, he had the custody of the bishoprick of Durham; and had a patent of 
approval and confirmation of the sale he had made of the woods, and the terms on 
which he had let the lands, of the Archbishop of York.(3-498) From 12 to 17 John, he 
held the sheriffalty of Devonshire; and from 12 to 15 John, that of Wiltshire. He 
accompanied the king to Ireland and Wales in 12 John(4-498); and adhered to him 
both during the interdict, and in his subsequent wars against the barons.(5-497) The 
king's son, Richard, was committed to his charge, to be taken to his father(6-498); 
and in 17 John he was entrusted with the custody of the castles of Carlisle and 
Durham, together with the county of Cumberland, and all the manors on the Tyne and 
the Tees(7-498); and, with Brian de Insula and Geoffrey de Luci, was appointed the 
king's lieutenant of all the castles and other royal possessions in Yorkshire.(1-499)
The first notice under the reign of Henry III. is a grant to him of the manor of 
Hardingesthorn in Northamptonshire, which belonged to his brother Yvo, who had 
joined the insurgent barons(2-499): a grant probably made with a view to its ulterior 
restoration to his brother. He was among the loyal barons at the siege of the castle of 
Montsorel, and assisted in the relief of Lincoln(3-499); receiving in reward the forfeited 
possessions of several of the rebels. In 3 Henry III. he was made Sheriff of 
Cumberland; and was also selected as one of the justices itinerant in the counties of 
York and Northumberland; and again performed the same duty in 10 Hen. III. in 
Yorkshire. Dugdale adds that fines were levied before him in the following year. Roger 
de Wendover states that he was one of the barons who continued to plunder after the 
termination of the war with Louis of France; and that after some resistance, he was 
obliged, in 1224, to deliver up to the king the castles !
he had in his custody.(4-499) The above appointments, however, as justice itinerant, 
with several instances of favours and employments conferred upon him about the 
same time, manifest no great animosity on the part of the government. Thus, in 7 
Henry III., 1222, five bucks and fifteen does were given to him from the forest of Clive 
for his park at Isenden; two years afterwards, his debts to the king were respited from 
February to Michaelmas; and in the ensuing May, the quinzime of Westmoreland and 
of the bishoprick of Carlisle was directed to be collected under his conduct.(5-499)
He died in 12 Henry III., previous to March 2, 1228, leaving his wife surviving, who 
was Idonea, the daughter of John de Builly, Lord of Tickhill, and who lived till 
October, 1242. By her he had a son named John, a minor at his father's death, who 
died a few months before his mother, leaving a son Robert, on whose death, without 
male issue, in 49 Henry III., at the battle of Evesham, his possessions, though seized 
by the king, were regranted to his two daughters, one of whom, Isabel, married Roger 
de Clifford, a justice itinerant in this reign, ancestor of the present Baroness de 
Clifford, and of Lord Clifford of Chudleigh; and the other, Idonea, married first Roger 
de Leyburn, and secondly John de Cromwell.(1-500)

(4-496) Dugdale places this fact in the reign of Stephen, quoting Rot. Pip. 5 Steph. 
That record, however, has been subsequently proved to belong to 31 Henry I. See 
ante, vol. i. p. 76.
(1-497) Rot. de Oblatis, 2 John, 129.
(2-497) Rot. de Liber. 2 John, 7. 15.; Rot. Cancell. 3 John, 306.
(3-497) Rot. Pat. 4 John, 9. 12, 13, 14, 15. 21. 23.
(4-497) Rot. Pat. 4 John, 25. 27. 
(5-497) Rot. de Liber. 5 John, 63.
(1-498) Rot Pat. 4 John, 26., 5 John, 33. 
(2-498) Ibid. 6 John, 46.
(3-498) Ibid. 9 John, 76. 81. 
(4-498) Rot. Misae, 141-231.
(5-498) Roger de Wendover, iii. 237. 301. 
(6-498) Rot. Pat . 15 John, 104. 
(7-498) Rot. Claus. i. 225.; Rot. Pat. 152. 163.
(1-499) Roger de Wendover, iii. 353. 
(2-499) Rot. Claus. 1 Henry III., i. 299.
(3-499) Roger de Wendover, iv. 15. 19. 
(4-499) Ibid. 34. 93.
(5-499) Rot. Claus. i. 518., ii. 15. 75.
(1-500) Dugdale's Baron. i. 347.; Nicolas's Synopsis. [Ref: Edward Foss, _Judges of 
England_, II:495-500]

******

VIEUXPONT or VIPONT (de Veteri Ponte), ROBERT de (d. 1228), baron of 
Westmorland, was son of William de Vieuxpont, who was lord of Hardingstone, near 
Northampton, in 1199, and also held Alston and other places in Cumberland by grant 
of William, king of Scotland. His mother was Matilda, who is said by Dugdale to have 
been the daughter of Hugh de Morville of Oswaldkirk (_Baronage_, i. 348, but 
compare _ib._ p. 612); she was perhaps connected with the house of Thomas 
FitzGospatric (see _Monasticon_, v. 870). Robert was of the house of Robert de 
Vieuxpont of Vieuxpont in Auge, or Eu, Normandy, who was sent by William the 
Conqueror to defend La Flèche in 1073 and was killed in the war against the Viscount 
Hubert in 1085 (Orderic, pp. 533, 649). William, Robert's father, was the brother of 
another Robert, lord of Courville and Chailloué, near Vieuxpont, and perhaps the 
Robert de Vieuxpont who in 1168 held eight knights' fees of the honour of Totnes, 
Devon (_Liber Niger_, i. 125; Dugdale makes this Robert the same with the Robert 
who died in 1228, which seems unlikely). On 15 June 1202 John ordered the 
seneschal of Normandy to give William possession of the lands of his brother Robert in 
Normandy (_Rot. Norm._ p. 49).
Robert the younger has been supposed to have held some office in the treasury under 
Richard I (Foss). Like other men of rank at the time, he was no doubt a good man of 
business, and had many money transactions with the crown, accounting in 1197 for 
the ferm of the honour of Tickhill in the West Riding. He was with John in Normandy in 
1201, and paid him 20_l_. and a palfrey to have the custody of the lands of Richard of 
Scirinton, or Sherrington, Buckinghamshire (_Rot. de Oblatis. 106), and had custody 
of Guy of Chatillon, afterwards count of St. Pol. In August 1202 he was present at the 
relief of Mirebeau, and received charge of several prisoners, whom he afterwards at 
the king's order delivered to Hugh de Gurnay (_Rot. Pat._ p. 15). When Arthur (1187- 
1203) of Brittany was removed from Falaise in 1203, John committed him to Robert's 
custody at Rouen (Ralph Coggeshall, p. 143). As a reward for his services the king in 
1202 gave him the castles of Appleby and Burgh, with the whole bailiwick of 
Westmoreland during pleasure, and in 1203 by another grant gave him the above to 
hold to him and his heirs by his then wife, thus passing over to him the barony of 
Westmoreland or Appleby. He further gave him the castles of Bowes and Richmond, 
Yorkshire, and sold to him for a hundred marks the custody of the heirs, land, and 
widow of Hugh Gernegan, remitting to him a debt of the same amount (_Rot. de 
Liberate_, p. 66). In that year he was also bailiff of Caen and the Rumois, and the 
king by a writ addressed to John Marshal ordered that he should have the lordship of 
Vieuxpont beforetime held by Robert [his uncle], then deceased (_Rot. Pat._; _Rot. de 
Liberate_; Stapleton). He had the custodv of Nottingham Castle, and in 7 and 8 John 
(May 1205-May 1207) was custos of the counties of Nottingham and Derby, and sheriff 
in 9 and 10 John (1207-9). From 12 to 17 John (1210-16) he was sheriff of Devonshire, 
and in 12 John (1210-11) was joint, and in 13 and 14 John (1211-13) sole, sheriff of 
Wiltshire (_Deputy-Keeper of Public Records_, 31st Rep. pp. 279, 324, 356). He 
acted as a judge, for fines were levied before him in 1200. In 1208 he received the 
custody of the bishopric of Durham. The king gave him many marks of his favour; he 
was with John at Carrickfergus and Dublin in 1210, and, along with his brother Ivo, is 
reckoned among his evil counsellors in the list given by Roger of Wendover under 
1211. He took part in the war against the Welsh, and in 1212 caused the young Rhys 
ap Maelgon to be hanged at Shrewsbury (Caradoc, ed. Powel, p. 233). In 1213 he 
received livery of all the lands of his late father-in-law, John de Builli or Buisli (d. 
1212), lord of the honour of Tickhill, and gave the king four palfreys that he might 
have a fair at his lordship of Bawtry in the West Riding during four days in Whitsun 
week (_Rot. de Oblatis_, p. 495).
Vieuxpont did not join the confederate barons in 1214, and was among those who, 
after the confederates were received in London on 24 May 1215, were forced by 
threats to desert the king, though he still belonged to his party, and was soon active 
in supporting him. He received from John the custody of the castle of Carlisle and of 
the county of Cumberland, held the castle of Durham, had grants of the lands of the 
insurgents, and in 1216 was one of three lords appointed by the king to hold the 
castles and all else that belonged to the crown in Yorkshire (_Cal. Rot. Pat. pp. 
152,163; Rog. Wend. sub an.) In compliance with a summons from William Marshal (d. 
1219), as regent for Henry III, he joined the Earl of Chester at the siege of Mountsorrel 
Castle in April 1217, and on 20 May took part in the battle of Lincoln. His brother Ivo 
being on the side of the king's enemies, a writ was issued to the sheriff of 
Northamptonshire on the 12th to put Robert in possession of Hardin!
gstone and the rest of Ivo's lands. He was one of the witnesses of the treaty of 
Lambeth on 11 Sept., and is said to have been among the barons who, contrary to the 
orders of the government, kept possession of the castles and lands of the magnates of 
the other side (Matt. Paris, _Chronica Majora, iii. 33); but his relations with the 
government during the next few years seem to have been friendly. He was sheriff of 
Cumberland and a justice itinerant for Northumberland and Yorkshire in 1219 (Foss). A 
case was pending in the king's court between him and the Countess of Eu in 1220, in 
which year he attended the second coronation of the king on 17 May (_Royal 
Letters_, i. 112, 118). He appears to have disobeyed the order for the surrender of the 
royal castles, and in 1223 joined the Earl of Chester [see Blundevill, Randulph de] and 
the malcontents, but made submission with the rest of the party at Northampton, and 
on 30 Dec. surrendered the castles that he held. He was one of the witnesses to the 
reissue of the Great Charter on 11 Feb. 1225, was collector of the fifteenth in 
Westmoreland and the bishopric of Carlisle, and had the custody of the castles of 
Nottingham, Bolsover, and the Peak. In 1226 he was again a justice itinerant for 
Northumberland and Yorkshire, and fines were levied before him in 1227 (Foss). He 
died in 1228, being then in debt to the crown over 1,997_l_. (Dugdale, Baronage).
He gave lands at Rockley in Wiltshire to the Templars (_Monasticon_, vi. 834), and, 
by a charter dated 24 April 1210, Reagill and Milbourne Grange in Westmoreland to 
the Præmonstratensian abbey of Hepp or Shap in that county (_ib._ p. 869). His wife 
Idonea, who was daughter of John de Builly, and died in 1241, confirmed a donation 
made by her father, and gave a further grant, to the priory of Blythe, Nottinghamshire 
(_ib._ iv. 623), granted her manor of Sandbeck in the West Riding to the Cistercian 
abbey of Roche (_ib._ v. 503-4), where she desired to be buried, and near which she 
appears to have resided in widowhood, and founded a chantry in the New Temple, 
London, for the souls of herself and her husband. His son John, a minor at the time of 
his father's death, died in 1242, leaving a son, Robert de Vipont, who joined the party 
of Simon de Montfort (Wykes), and died in 1265, being apparently slain in the battle of 
Evesham, leaving two daughters coheiresses: Isabella, who married Roger de Clifford, 
and Idónea, who married Roger, son of Roger de Leybourne.
[Stapleton's Rot. Normann. Scacc., Observations, i. (R. Soc. Antiqq.); Dugdale's 
Baronage; Foss's Judges; Rot. Litt. Pat., Rot. Litt. Claus., Rot. de Oblatis, Rot. 
Normano., Rot. de Liberate (these five ed. Hardy), Excerpt, e rot. finium, ed. Roberts, 
Thirty-first Rep. of Dep. K????? of Records (these seven Record Publ.); Rog. Wend. 
(Engl. Hist. Soc.); R. Coggeshall, Matt. Parie's Chronica Majora, Royal Letters, Hen. 
III (all three Rolls Ser.)] W. H.* [Ref: DNB, Editor, Sidney Lee, MacMillan Co, London 
& Smith, Elder & Co., NY, 1909, vol. xx, pp. 304-5]

* The Rev. William Hunt, D.Litt., author of this article.

*****

Research note 1: Robert who married Idonea de Busli/Builly and perhaps Hellen of 
Allerston [Ref: Patricia Junkin 4 Jan 2003 msg to SGM] Research note 2: In 1214 
Robert de Veteriponte [iv] has "livery" of the honour of Tickhill and this Robert was 
the son of William and Maud de Morville and grandson of Maude, Lady of Curveville. 
He had married Idonea de Busli. 1244, June. Alice, Countess of Eu, grants to others 
lands in Tykehill (Tickhill south of Doncaster) which she held "by reason of the heirs" 
of John de Vet. 1272 Ivo de V. [a], uncle to named Robert, confirms grant of his 
mother, Maude, Lady of Curveville, of demesne in Castillon. Maude (as on the seal, 
not Mary, as in the extract), lady of Curveville, and widow of Robert de Vieux-Pont, by 
deed without a date confirmed a grant of the demesne of Castillon, holden of her son 
Ivo de Vieuxpont. There is a seal dated 1272 of a Lady of Curveville namely Isabel de 
Rochfort. [Ref: Patricia Junkin 29 May 2003 msg to SGM] Note: this indicates Robert's 
ancestry as:
Robert Vipont/Veteriponte m. Idonea Busli. Robert was son of William Veteriponte & 
Maud de Moreville. William was son of Robert de Vieux-Pont & Maud, Lady of 
Curveville (who also had a son Ivo & possibly a dau Isabel who married a de Rochfort)

Note: I have the Dugdale article in MS Word, but have not vetted it enough to offer it 
here. Per the above articles it is at best, erroneous in several aspects. If you want it 
(warts & all), let me know.

Regards,
Curt

NOTE: In an update, 30 May 2003, Patricia Junkin stated that William Veteriponte, b. 
c1110, m. 1) Emma St. Hilarie & 2) Maud Morville. My source (see my notes under 
William de Vipont, b. c1110) indicate that that William m. 1) Emma St. Hilary & 2) Maud 
de St. Andrew based on several documents of the period (and did not have a son 
named Robert). Therefore I have placed the William who m. Maud de Morveville as 
son of William & Emma St. Hilary. The dates seem to work out well in this scheme, 
satisfying all sources.

Parents
DE VIPONT [DE VIEUXPONT] William (ABT 1140 - 1202)
DE MORVILLE Maud (ABT 1140 - )

Siblings
DE VIPONT [DE VIEUXPONT] Robert (ABT 1164 - 1227)

Marriage To DE BUSLI Idonea (ABT 1175 - Oct 1242) m. Notes Parents DE BUSLI John (1145 - 1213) DE BUSSEY Cecily (ABT 1150 - ) Children by DE BUSLI Idonea ABT 1175 - Oct 1242
DE VIPONT Christian (ABT 1203 - ) DE VIPONT John (1210 - 1241)
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