{{short description|12th-century Anglo-Norman nobleman}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:Lancaster Priory glass 12.jpg|thumb|Roger the Poitevin depicted in stained glass in [[Lancaster Priory]]]] '''Roger the Poitevin''' or '''Roger de Poitou''' (mid-1060s – before 1140)<ref name="Mason">{{cite ODNB|last=Mason|first=J. F. A.|title=Roger de Montgomery|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23953/23954?back=,2042,23953|year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/23954 |access-date=7 June 2011}}</ref> was an [[Anglo-Normans|Anglo-Norman]] aristocrat possessing large holdings both in [[Kingdom of England|England]] and through his marriage in [[Kingdom of France|France]] during the early 12th century.
He was the third son of [[Roger of Montgomery, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury]] and [[Mabel de Bellême]]. The appellation "the Poitevin" was for his marriage to an heiress from [[Poitou]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nelson|first1=Christopher; Harper-Bill, Christopher J.; Holdsworth, Janet L.|title=Studies in medieval history: presented to R. Allen Brown|date=1989|publisher=Boydell Press|location=Wolfeboro, N.H., USA|isbn=9780851155128|page=194}}</ref>
Roger acquired a great lordship in England, with lands in [[Salford (hundred)|Salfordshire]], [[Essex]], [[Suffolk]], [[Nottinghamshire]], [[Derbyshire]], [[Lincolnshire]], [[Hampshire]], and [[North Yorkshire]].<ref>Roger of Poitou is associated with 632 places after the Conquest [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/name/468450/roger-of-poitou/ Open Domesday, The first free online copy of Domesday Book]. Accessed March 2012.{{dead link|date=May 2024}}</ref> The principal part of the lordship was in what was then called ''inter Mersam et Ripam'', that is, "between the [[Mersey]] and the [[River Ribble|Ribble]]"<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Morris|editor-first=John |title=Domesday Book: Cheshire|year=1978|publisher=Phillimore & Co.|pages=R1:1–45}}</ref> and is now divided between [[Lancashire]], [[Merseyside]], and [[Greater Manchester]]. After 1090, he also assumed the title 1st [[Lord of Bowland]].
Before 1086, he had married Almodis, daughter of Count Aldebert II of [[County of Marche|La Marche]] in Poitou,{{sfn|Keats-Rohan|1993|loc=Table IV}} and sister and presumptive heiress of Count [[Boso III]] who was childless and unmarried.
==Roger's lordship extends beyond the Ribble as far as Cumberland== Around 1091, Roger's brother-in-law Boso died, but Roger was apparently preoccupied with Norman and English affairs, and his wife's uncle Odo became count of La Marche.<ref name="Chandler 1989 1–14">{{cite journal|last=Chandler|first=Victoria|title=The Last of the Montgomerys: Roger the Poitevin and Arnulf|journal=Historical Research|year=1989|volume=62|issue=147|pages=1–14|doi=10.1111/j.1468-2281.1989.tb01075.x}}</ref>
In 1092, Roger acquired a large part of what is now northern Lancashire. These grants gave Roger effective control of all the lands north of the River Ribble to the [[River Lune]], which formed a natural border between the secure Norman lands in England and the strongly contested Scottish frontier lands in [[Cumberland]].
Due to long established lines of communication across [[Morecambe Bay]], Roger also assumed authority over the regions of [[Furness]] and [[Cartmel]]; these remained a part of Lancashire until as recently as 1974. The expansion of Roger's lands followed his support of [[William II of England|King William II Rufus]]'s invasion of Cumbria in 1092, where [[Dolfin of Carlisle]] ruled, possibly as a vassal of Scottish King [[Malcolm Canmore]]. Dolfin was driven out and the Anglo-Scottish border was established north of [[Carlisle, Cumbria|Carlisle]]. Roger also acquired the great [[English feudal barony|honour]] of [[Eye, Suffolk|Eye]] centered in [[Suffolk]].<ref name=Lewis>{{cite journal|last=Lewis|first=C.P.|title=The King and Eye: A Study in Anglo-Norman Politics|journal=The English Historical Review|date=July 1989|volume=104|issue=412|pages=569–589|doi=10.1093/ehr/civ.ccccxii.569}}</ref>
==1088 and after== In 1088, he led a military force with [[Alan Rufus]] and [[Odo, Count of Champagne|Odo of Champagne]] against [[William de St-Calais]], Bishop of Durham, at the request of William Rufus when the bishop was implicated in a revolt against the king; Roger also negotiated with the bishop on the king's behalf before the bishop went to trial.<ref name="Mason"/>
Roger's father Roger de Montgomery died in 1094. That same year, Rufus sent Roger to hold the castle at [[Argentan]] in Normandy, but Roger surrendered it to [[Philip I of France]] on the first day of the siege; Roger and his men were held for ransom and purchased their freedom.<ref name="Chandler 1989 1–14" />
Although Philip I was an ally of [[Robert Curthose]], it is thought that this action was less a betrayal of Rufus and more a result of Roger's dual vassalage between the King of England and the King of France.<ref name="Mason"/> Roger did not lose his English lands as a result of this action but held no position in Rufus's government from this point.<ref name=Lewis /> Roger continued to be loyal to Rufus but in 1102 joined his brothers' failed rebellion against [[Henry I of England]] in favor of Robert Curthose. As a result Roger de Poitou lost his English holdings. The King put those in [[Craven in the Domesday Book|Craven]] into the governance of [[Robert de Romille]].<ref name= Dalton>{{cite book |title= Conquest, Anarchy a & Lordship: Yorkshire 1066-1154|last= Dalton|first=Paul |year=1994 |publisher= Cambridge University Press|location=UK |isbn= 0521524644}}</ref>
Roger then went to his wife's holdings in Poitou. Almodis's uncle Odo was ousted as count of La Marche in 1104, and subsequently the sons of Roger and Almodis are styled as count. In 1109, Roger was permitted to briefly return to England to the court of Henry I,<ref name="Mason"/> although he did not recover his earlier English holdings. After around 1109, Roger appears to have either lost interest in governing in La Marche, or lost the political power itself as he is only seen once in the documents of La Marche as his wife and sons held the authority in the region.<ref name="Chandler 1989 1–14"/>
==Offspring== The children of Roger and Almodis include: * Aldebert IV of La Marche * Boso IV of La Marche * Odo II of La Marche * Ponse of La Marche, who married [[Wulgrin II of Angoulême]] * Avise of Lancaster, who married William "the Younger" Peverel
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== *{{cite journal |first=K. S. B. |last=Keats-Rohan |title=Errata: The Prosopograhy of Post-Conquest England: Four Case Studies |journal=Medieval Prosopography |volume= 14| issue = 2 (Autumn) |year=1993 |pages=159–164 }}
==Further reading== * Cokayne, G. E. (1887–98) ''Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom''. 8 vols. (which vol.?); pp. IV & Appendix I, pp. 762–65
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roger The Poitevin}} [[Category:12th-century deaths]] [[Category:Anglo-Normans]] [[Category:People from Lancashire]] [[Category:Younger sons of earls]] [[Category:Year of birth unknown]] [[Category:Clan Montgomery]]