Biography of Robert Ros 1236-1285

Archaeologia Volume V32 1847 Appendix. 5th March, 1846. William Bromet, Esq., M.D., F.S.A., exhibited Rubbings from an incised memorial in Bottesford Church, originally at Belvoir Priory, in Leicestershire, and a sepulchral Brass in the chapel of Eton College.

The first is a Slab, commemorative of Robert de Roos, of Hamlake, who died 1285, and [his former wife] Isabella de Albini, his wife, heiress of Belvoir, who died 1301. It was removed to Bottesford at the dissolution of the neighbouring Priory. The inscription, into the text of which three armorial escucheons are introduced in a singular manner, records the interment of the heart of De Roos. The heraldic peculiarities exbibited by these escucheons are remarkable; the bearings are - 1, de Roos impaling de Albini; 2, de Albini dimidiated with de Roos; 3, de Roos quartering Badlesmere, with a blank impalement. Robert de Roos left a son, [his son] William, who had livery of his father's lands, but, as Dr. Bromet was disposed to conclude, did not become possessed of the honours and lands of Belvoir until the death of his mother. He was succeeded, in 1316, by his son [his grandson] William, who received immediate livery of the whole inheritance, and married [his granddaughter-in-law] Margery, sister and co-heir of Giles de Badlesmere. Dr. Bromet supposed that their great-grandson, John de Roos, who succeeded in 1384 and died in 1393 without issue, caused this memorial to his ancestors to be placed in the church of Belvoir. He noticed the singular marshalling of the bearing of Isabella, on the dexter side of the second escucheon, which may have arisen from her having retained possession of the honours of her parental barony of Belvoir, after the decease of her husband, as shewn by various documents cited by Dr. Bromet. That barony was also much more important than that of de Roos, and the bearing may on this account have been placed on the more honourable side of the escutcheon. The third escutcheon with the blank impalement may possibly be regarded as a shield of expectation ( according to the term used in Spain ), and attributed to John de Roos, who does not appear to have been married; it is obviously to be assigned to a date later than the demise of Margery de Badlesmere, in 1363, as until that event her arms could not with propriety have been quartered with those of de Roos.