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Cecily Bigod
1093-1135
Belvoir Castle
Cecily's Belvoir was built by her grandfather, Robert de Todeni, and looked nothing like the grand castle you see today. Her castle was built in 1067. It was in ruins by 1464. In 1528 a Tudor style manor house was built on the site. It was razed by Parliamentarians in 1649. A new large family home designed by John Webb was built in 1654.
1730 drawing of the third castle, designed by John Webb:
Model of the John Webb castle:
In 1799 the current Gothic Revival castle was built on those foundations.
You would think to pronounce the name as "bell-vwar" but at one point the locals all hated the French with such intensity that they started pronouncing it "bee-ver". So down through the centuries this hilltop castle has been pronounced that way.
Quote from belvoircastle.com:
"The land at Belvoir was a gift from William the Conqueror to the family’s first recorded ancestor Robert de Todeni. One of his Norman barons, Robert de Todeni was William’s Standard Bearer in the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Todeni began building the first Castle here in 1067. It was built to a typically Norman motte-and-bailey design. With a timber framed fortress in an enclosed courtyard, it took full advantage of the site’s defensive position high up on the ridge. Todeni also founded a priory at the foot of the Castle, where he was buried on his death in 1088.
By 1464, the Wars of the Roses had taken their toll on the first castle, and it was more or less in ruins."
Family
Both the de Toeni family and the d'Aubigny family names are spelled differently in various documents. This is probably due to translations from Latin to English to French and then back again. Cecily's father was Roger Bigod, 1st Earl of East Anglia.. Her mother, Adeliza de Toeni, had inherited the castle from her father, Robert (the man who built it).
Cecily married William "Brito" d'Aubigny. His parents were Main d'Aubigny Seigneur de Saint-Aubin-d'Aubigné and Adela "Adeliza" De Bohun. The De Bohun family is also connected to us through a later ancestor, Humphrey de Bohun 1276-1322.
Her sister Maud married a man named William "Pincerna" d'Aubigny.
Brito and Cecily had 4 sons and a daughter. We trace our line through their son Ralph de Albini Brito. He died in Acre, Israel during the Third Crusade (1191).
Names with * can be found in existing Tales.
Cecily Bigod
This Tale
Lord Robert le Strange
Rebecca Bradley
Zadock Barnard
https://www.deadfamilytales.com/post/1830-zadock-barnard-green-county-il
Louisa L Ferguson
Naola Florence Edwards
Ezra Revis
There is a wonderful documentary on the building of the current castle and how it looks today. I found it on the Roku app (they have their own Roku channel). It is in a series called, " Phil Spencer's Stately Homes". Season 2 (2018) Episode 2 Belvoir Castle.
My goal in all of the Dead Family Tales is to present stories that would have been told around a kitchen table or campfire during family gatherings.
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