Baldwin de Redvers, 1st Earl of Devon

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There is a disagreement about whether Richard de Redvers was Earl of Devon. For those who think he was, the numbers of the medieval earls must be one greater.

Baldwin de Redvers, 1st Earl of Devon(? – 4 June 1155), was the son of Richard de Redvers and his wife Adeline Peverel.

He was one of the first to rebel against King Stephen. He seized Exeter, and was a pirate out of Carisbrooke, but he was driven out of England to Anjou, where he joined the Empress Matilda. She made him Earl of Devon after she established herself in England, probably in early 1141.

He founded several monasteries, notably those of Quarr Abbey (1131), in the Isle of Wight, and the Priory of St. James, at Exeter. Some monastic chronicles call his father also Earl of Devon, but no contemporary record uses the title, including the monastic charters.

[edit] Family and children

He was married to Adelise Baluun (d. aft. 1155) and had children:

  1. Richard de Redvers, 2nd Earl of Devon.
  2. Henry de Reviers
  3. William de Redvers, 5th Earl of Devon.
  4. Eva (of Devon) de Reviers, married to Anschetil (of Thurlock) Grey.
  5. Maud, married Ralph de Avenel.
Preceded by:
New creation
Earl of Devon
1141-1155
Succeeded by:
Richard de Redvers, 2nd Earl of Devon