View source for Humphrey with the Beard

{{Short description|Norman soldier and nobleman}}
'''Humphrey with the Beard''' (died before 1113) was a [[Normans|Norman]] soldier and nobleman, the earliest known ancestor of the de Bohun family, later prominent in England as [[Earl of Hereford|Earls of Hereford]] and [[Earl of Essex|Earls of Essex]].
[[File:Map DeBohunFamily Origin Normandy.svg|thumb|Map showing location of the manor of ''Bohun'' (now ''Bohon'') in [[Normandy]], origin of the English de Bohun family]]
His epithet, "with the beard" (''cum barba''), was a distinguishing one in eleventh-century Normandy, where the custom was to shave the face and back of the head. It is first recorded in a later chronicle of [[Llanthony Prima]], edited by [[William Dugdale]] in the ''[[Monasticon Anglicanum]]'' (VI.134):<br />
:''Dominus Humfredus de Bohun, cum barba, qui prius venit cum Willielmo Conquestore in Angliam de Normannia, cognatus dicti Conquestoris. . .'' ("Lord Humphrey de Bohun, with the beard, who first came with William the Conqueror to England from Normandy, a relative of the said Conqueror").<ref>Melville M. Bigelow, "The Bohun Wills," ''[[American Historical Review]]'', '''1''':3 (1896), 414–15.</ref>
As is stated by [[Wace]] in the ''[[Roman de Rou]]'', Humphrey derived from "Bohun" in Normandy: ''De Bohun le Vieil Onfrei'' ("from Bohun the old Humphrey").<ref>Planche, quoting [[Roman de Rou]], line 13,583</ref>  Today this holding comprises two communes, [[Saint-André-de-Bohon]] and [[Saint-Georges-de-Bohon]].  He donated a plough and garden to the nuns of the [[Abbaye Saint-Amand]] at [[Rouen]]. The charter was witnessed by [[William the Conqueror|William, Duke of Normandy]] as ''Comes'' ("Count"), placing the gift before the 1066 [[Norman conquest of England]].  He later donated the church of Saint-Georges-de-Bohon to the [[Marmoutier Abbey (Tours)|Abbey of Marmoutier]].  After the conquest, he received lands in England including his seat at the manor of [[Tatterford]] in [[Norfolk]], as recorded in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086.
His donation to Abbaye Saint-Amand indicates he had been married three times, but the names of his wives are unknown. He had three sons and two daughters, including:
*Robert de Bohun, eldest son, who died unmarried and predeceased his father.
*Richard de Bohun, 2nd son, and progenitor in the female line of the Bohuns of [[Midhurst]].
*[[Humphrey I de Bohun]] (died c.1123), youngest son, who by convention according to [[James Planché|Planché]] is given the first ordinal number because by his marriage he was "the founder of the fortunes of his family".<ref name=Planche>[[James Robinson Planché|J. R. Planché]], ''The Conqueror and his Companions'' (London, 1874), II, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gUALAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA63 63–66].</ref>
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
==Sources==
*Graeme White, "Bohun, Humphrey (III) de (b. before 1144, d. 1181)," ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, 2004, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2774, accessed 20 December 2009.]
[[Category:11th-century Normans]]
[[Category:Norman warriors]]
[[Category:Bohun family]]