How to interprete Thomas Wright's History of Essex
de Beauchamp and the relation to other families of the region
The Flow of my History pages - Thomas Wright - Henry II
13 May 2026 - After hits on my Little Henny page I noticed that I had not extracted information on Great Henny. The access of the History of Essex on Google Play is not easy to navigate and transcription is time-consuming.
Background to "The account of the Conquest"
The quote about (44) Robert Malet having estates confiscated and the chamberlainship being given to Alberic de Vere. This also seems to contradict what he says about Alberic de Vere (35) [half sister to William]. Wright also says that de Vere's daughter Poesia (Rhose) first married Pagan de Beauchamp and THEN Geofrey de Mandeville.
I think that it can be noted that Thomas Wright while being a respected Georgian historian is not renown as an expert on the Norman Conquest.
A Perspective on Thomas Wright - 1831/36
Having spent a fair amount of time dissecting Thomas Wright's History and Topography
The County of Essex" - Ancient and Modern, I am developing more and more respect.
My first description of him was that he was a "Victorian Historian" when in fact he was "Georgian", 1714 to 1830–1837. He wrote in the reign of William IV before the Victorian era. Victoria was crowned Queen in 1837.
His rather "rambling" style (my words) is proabably a little unfair as he is a tremendous source of information. Seeing the book was written over a number of years, 1831 to 1836, it is not surprising that there is change in style from section to section and some repetition. I initally thught that he was overly influenced by the current inhabitants of the region that he was documenting. In most cases this was not an issue as the residents at the time of his writing were often far removed from the history at that time. This was not the case with Belchamp Walter.
It is interesting to compare the accounts from
The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5 - UK Genealogy Archives. This account makes no attempt to include the families from before modern times.
The account of the Conquest
Having started with Belchamp Walter, as Thomas Wright came up in a search for its history, I then expanded the
disection of H & T of the County of Essex to include neighbouring villages. This led me to delve deeper into Thomas'book and I find that he actually documents and confirms some of my conclusions about the Conquest.
The earlier pages of Thomas' book describe the people who either "came over with the Conqueror" or those that he
"honoured". I was never sure what the role of Aubrey de Vere was in all this. Thomas tells me that he was given the
land after it was "confiscated" from Robert Malet.
Top
A transcript of Thomas' text:
On the history and origins of the Malets
"
Robert Malet was the son of William Malet, who being at the battle of Hastings , and witnessing the fall of the unfortunate Harold, was commissioned to see him decently buried.
Both William and this Robert, his son, enjoyed immense estates; the latter having, besides his possessions in this county, thirty-two lordships in Yorkshire, and two hundred and twenty-one in Suffolk, his chief residence being at Eye, in that county; he had also, besides these, many other possessions.
He was advanced to the office of great chamberlain in the first year of King Henry the First; but, in the following year, taking part with Robert Curthose, he was banished the kingdom, his estates confiscated, and his high office of great chamberlain given to Alberic de Vere.
"
William's half-sister, Beatrix de Vere.
"
Alberic de Vere, who married Beatrix, half-sister to King William; he was the founder of the noble family
of the Veres, earls of Oxford.
Alberic is supposed to have taken his surname from Vere, a town in Zealand, where the family he belonged to had estates.
He accompanied William as one of his chiefs. His sons by Beatrix were Alberic, Geofrey, Roger, Robert, and William; he had also a daughter, named Poesia, married to Pagan de Beauchamp, and afterwards to Geofrey de Mandeville, the first earl of Essex of that name.
This family of de Vere is justly reckoned one of the most ancient and illustrious in the world, and which continued longest crowned with honour and riches, having produced a succession of twenty earls of the same name and lineage, from the year 1137 to 1703.
Besides the office of lord high chamberlain, and the earldom of Oxford, hereditary dignities in this family, some of them discharged the offices of portreve of London, of chief justice, chancellor, high-admiral,
lord high-steward, and constable of England.
William de Vere, son of the first earl, was bishop of Hereford in 1186.
Several renowned warriors and generals, and four knights of the order of the garter , have also arisen
from this family.
The ninth earl, Robert, was the first that was honoured with the title of marquis in this kingdom, being created marquis of Dublin and duke of Ireland by King Richard the Second.
"
The Wikpedia entries for the Malets make no mention of de Vere and the confiscation. However, there is a
note that Orderic Vitalis confused the two Malets. The Wikipedia entry for William Malet does mention
William of Poitiers in respect to having been given King Harold's (or someones son??) weight in gold for bringing him
to William the Conqueror at the battle field of Hastings.
Thomas Wright and the History of Belchamp Walter
The fact that Thomas Wright researched and wrote his history of Essex in 1831/36 has to reflect that he may
have been influenced by the ownership of the estate, farm land and the Hall at the time.
Thomas Wright was contemporary with the reign of William IV and the extended Georgian era.
Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837