BEAUMONT, BELMONT or BELLOMONT, the name of a Norman and English family, taken from Beaumont-le-Roger in Normandy. In the Ilth century Roger de Beaumont, a kinsman of the dukes of Normandy, married a daughter of Waleran, count of Meulan, and their son, ROBERT DE BEAUMONT (died became count of Meulan or Mellent about 1080. Before this date, however, he had fought at Hastings, and had added large estates in Warwickshire to the Norman fiefs of Beaumont and Pont Audemer, which he received when his father entered the abbey of St. Peter at Preaux. It was during the reigns of William II. and Henry I. that the count rose to eminence, and under the latter monarch he became "the first among the counsellors of the king." A "strenuous and sagacious man," he rendered valuable service to both kings in their Norman wars, and Henry I. was largely indebted to him for the English crown. Henry of Hunting don describes him as "the wisest man between this and Jerusalem." He seems to have been a man of independent character, for he assisted Anselm against William Rufus, although he supported Henry I. in his quarrel with Pope Paschal II. When Robert died in 1118 his lands appear to have been divided between his twin sons, Robert and Waleran, while a third son, Hugh, became earl of Bedford in 1138.