Urse D'Abetot - Death and Legacy

Death and Legacy

Urse died some time in 1108. Little is known of his wife, Alice, whose death is unrecorded. Urse was succeeded as sheriff by his son Roger d'Abetot, who was exiled in about 1110 and forfeited the office of sheriff. Roger's successor, Osbert d'Abetot, was probably Urse's brother. Urse also had a daughter, probably named Emmeline, who married Walter de Beauchamp. Walter succeeded to Urse's lands after Roger's exile. A charter for Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey may indicate that Urse had a second son, named Robert. Urse may also have had another daughter, who married Robert Marmion, as some of Urse's estates went to Marmion's family and others to the Beauchamps.

Urse earned a reputation for extortion and financial exactions. During the reign of William II, he was considered second only to the king's minister Ranulf Flambard in his rapacity. The first mention of his exactions is in Hemming's Cartulary. Further details were given by the medieval chroniclers William of Malmesbury and Gerald of Wales, both of whom relate Ealdred's curse. His exactions were also mentioned in Domesday Book, where an entry in the survey for Gloucestershire noted that his oppression prevented the inhabitants of Sodbury so much that they were unable to pay their customary rents. He intimidated the monks of the Worcester cathedral chapter into granting him a lease of two of their estates, Greenhill and Eastbury. Urse was one of a new breed of royal official, one who was not opposed to royal power but rather welcomed it, as it helped his own position.

Through his daughter, he is an ancestor of the Beauchamp family of Elmley in Worcestershire, a scion of which, William de Beauchamp, became Earl of Warwick. It is likely that the Beauchamp family's symbol, a bear, derives from their relationship to Urse.