Robert Malet
Robert Malet (c. 1050 – by 1130) was a Norman-English baron and a close advisor of Henry I.
Early life
Malet was the son of
Public life
From 1070 to 1080, Malet was
Malet reappeared in the public record three days after the death of William II in 1100, as a witness to Henry I's coronation charter. He must have been with Henry at the time of William's death, or rushed from Normandy when word came. In any case, Malet soon regained his office as Sheriff of Suffolk, and his honour of Eye.
It was thought that Malet had some quarrel with the king, and again lost his lands, on the basis of some statements by Orderic Vitalis, but most historians now think Orderic confused Malet with his successor, William Malet. However it appears that Robert Malet remained in the king's confidence and held his lands until his death.
Some sources claim that a Robert Malet died at the
Until some time before 1130, Malet was appointed Lord Great Chamberlain (or Master Chamberlain), the first person to hold this position. Little is known about the role attached at the time to this title or what it entailed. It is possible, however, that the position succeeded that of a Lord High Steward. While the rest of the financial responsibilities of the parent job were separated from that job and were given under the newly-formed title of Lord High Treasurer in 1126. So perhaps Malet became Lord Great Chamberlain in 1126 when the job of Lord High Treasurer seems to have been formed.
References
- Domesday book, 1086
- Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis, Line 234A-25
- C. Warren Hollister, "Henry I and Robert Malet", Viator, Vol. 4, 1973, pp. 115–22
- Cyril Hart, "William Malet and His Family", Anglo-Norman Studies XIX: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1996, ed. Christopher Harper-Bill, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 1997, pp. 123–66
- C.P. Lewis, "The King and Eye: A Study in Anglo-Norman Politics", English Historical Review, vol. 104, 1989, pp. 569–87