Guillaume II Talvas

Guillaume Talvas was the son of Guillaume Belleme and Matilda of Conde sur Noirot . Initially, he ruled the Bellem lands as the governor of his brother, Bishop Si Yves Bellem, until his death. After this, Guillaume inherited as lord Bellem, Alanson and Domfron .

Chronicles of the Duchy of Normandy, Guillaume Jumiège and Orderik Vitaly, described several members of the family as insidious and deceptive personalities. If Guillaume Talvas was, along with other Bellems, an insidious and self-serving man, then in lies and cruelty he surpassed them all. He married Hildeburg, the daughter of a nobleman Arnulf, and, according to the Order of Vitaly, Guillaume strangled her on the way to church, as she loved God and refused to participate in the deceitful acts of Guillaume. The second similar incident known from historical sources occurred at the celebration of the second wedding of Guillaume, to which he invited his vassal Guillaume Giraud. Suspecting nothing, he arrived at the wedding, but was immediately captured by the soldiers of Talvas, and then imprisoned and tortured. He was terribly mutilated and blinded before being released. Guillaume Giraud miraculously survived and the rest of his life he spent as a monk in Beck Abbey .

After the notorious incident with Guillaume Giraud, his relatives plundered Bellemov’s possessions as a result of the fact that Talvas did not want to accept the battle. In turn, the son of Talvas condemned by all, Arnulf, overthrew him and expelled him from his former possessions. He wandered until he found shelter with the Montgomery family, as Roger Montgomery agreed to marry Talvas's daughter Mabel Belle in exchange for land that the exile lost. As a result, Mabel inherited the main possessions of her father and married the heir to the most influential family at that time in Normandy . Subsequently, her husband Roger became the first Earl of Shrewsbury .

After the death of his son Arnulf in 1049, references to Guillaume disappear from sources. It is only known that in 1052 he confirmed the transfer of his former possessions to Roger Montgomery.

• Ordericus Vitalis . The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy, Trans. Thomas Forester, Vol. II (Henry G. Bohn, London, 1854), pp. 194-5
• Neveux F. La Normandie, des ducs aux rois (Xe-XIIe siècle). - Rennes, Ouest-France, 1998
• Poole A. L. From Domesday Book to Magna Carta 1087-1216. - Oxford, 1956, ISBN 978-0-19-821707-7