Robert Bastard (fl.1086) (also known as Robert le Bastard, Latinised as Rotbertus / Robertus Bastardus[1]) was a Norman warrior who assisted in the 1066 Norman Conquest of England under King William the Conqueror. He was subsequently rewarded with landholdings in Devonshire and is one of the Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of that monarch,[2] with a holding of 10 manors or estates held in chief, 8 of which he held in demesne, i.e. under his own management without tenants. He had at least one[3] further holding as a mesne tenant, at Goosewell, Plymstock parish, Plympton hundred, held from William of Poilley, a Norman tenant-in-chief from Poilley in Normandy, most of whose 21 landholdings were later granted by King Henry I (1100–1135) to his trusted supporter Richard de Redvers (died 1107), feudal baron of Plympton[4] in Devon.
The last 5 of Robert's holdings in-chief listed in the Domesday Book had all been held by the Saxon Alwin before the Norman Conquest. Soon after 1086 Robert's overlord became Richard I de Redvers, feudal baron of Plympton,[5] the king having granted him large estates in Devon and elsewhere, thus Robert Bastard was in effect demoted from the high status of a tenant-in-chief.
His origins are unknown but he is assumed to have been a Norman. His one tenancy from William of Poilley, a Norman tenant-in-chief from Poilley, appears to be his only recorded connection to any locality in Normandy. His surname "Bastard" indicates that, like his duke and king William the Bastard, he was of illegitimate birth.
- ^ Genitive case: Roberti Bastardi
- ^ Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, Part 2 (Notes), Chapter 29
- ^ Where he is named merely as "Robert", but identified as Robert Bastard due to the known subsequent descent of the estate concerned, namely Goosewell (Thorn)
- ^ Thorn, Part 2, Notes, Chapter 21
- ^ Thorn, Part 2, Notes, Chapter 21