Roger of Montgomery, first earl of Shrewbury, created one of the most powerful and strategically important lordships in post-Conquest England. The son of a Norman vicomte, he first appears in the army of Duke William in 1051-2. Probably only a few years younger than the duke, thereafter he enjoyed William's special confidence. In the early 1050s he greatly increased his estates by marrying the forceful Mabel, heiress to the extensive lordship of Bellême. Although closely involved in planning the invasion of 1066, Roger remained in the duchy to help the administration of the Duchess Matilda. It was only the later romances of Wace that put him at Hastings, a tribute to his subsequent fame and reputation. In 1067, however, he accompanied William to England where he received huge estates in Sussex and Shropshire. By the end of 1074, he was titled earl of Shrewsbury. His administration of his Marcher lands provide an insight in how the Conquest was secured. Roger had a more or less free hand. Before 1066, there had been no crown lands or royal thegns in Shropshire; by 1086, apart from Roger, there were only five other lay tenants-in-chief in the whole county. To support him, Roger gave out land to men already his vassals in Normandy with whom he set about building castles (as at Shrewsbury and Montgomery) and extending his power into Wales. Orderic Vitalis, whose father, Odelerius, was Roger's chaplain, described the earl as wise and prudent, 'a lover of justice, who always enjoyed the company of learned and sober men.' His English subjects were as unimpressed as they were unfavoured. The citizens of Shrewsbury complained that they still had to pay the same level of geld after the castle had been built as before, perhaps because of the loss of houses incurred in its construction, let alone the forced labour. Roger's rule was effective and ruthless: his authority based on ties of personal allegiance; a network of castles; successful protection from the Welsh; and brute force. In many ways he remained a conquereor and exploiter rather than a settler. But he left his mark on the Marches, in his castle mounds and the perpetuation of his name in the Welsh town and county of Montgomery. As J. LePatourel wrote, Roger's career 'shows what was possible in Norman society during the eleventh century.' [Who's Who in Early Medieval England, Christopher Tyerman, Shepheard-Walwyn, Ltd., London, 1996]
A great patron of monasticism, he became a monk in his newly founded Abbey of Shrewsbury just before he died in 1094. His Norman inheritance passed to his eldest surviving son, Robert of Bellême, and the title and the English lands went to Robert's younger brother, Hugh. Upon the latter's death in 1098, the title went to Robert. [Encyclopaedia Britannica CD '97]
Information recieved from John Luddy Burke Jr.
