The Redvers Tombstone in the Priory Church

This is an updated version of the article by David Eels with the same title that appeared in the April 2004 newsletter

The de Redvers family, who obtained their numerous estates in England through the generosity of Henry I, held Christchurch from c 1100 to 1293. Six members of the family are known to have been buried in Christchurch Priory.

One of these tombstones is still in the Priory Church and I believe that it is the only extant tombstone in England of any member of the family. It is the tombstone of the third Baldwin out of the five Baldwins who appear in the Redvers pedigree. He was the only son of the aged William de Redvers, the 5th Earl of Devon, and he predeceased his father by a year. By January 1200 Earl William had two daughters only, both of whom were still under ten years of age, and they were betrothed to royal favourites. A royal charter dated April 28th of that year confirms Joan’s betrothal to Hubert de Burgh and lists some of the lands that Hubert will hold after the Earl’s death unless a son is born to Earl William’s wife. Baldwin, therefore, was born after April 28th 1200 and as he died on 1st September 1216 it is impossible for him to have been any more than sixteen years of age. He had been married to Margaret the daughter and heir of Warin FitzGerold who was King John’s chamberlain and whose name appears in the introduction to Magna Carta. Margaret was old enough to have lived with her husband for she bore him a son who was to become the 6th Earl of Devon. It seems quite likely that the child was born posthumously, but it is not recorded when he came of age and did homage for his lands; all we know is that he was knighted by the king and created Earl of Devon on Christmas Day 1239.

The tombstone is under the carpet in front of the high altar in the Quire. Visitors had the opportunity to view it in 1994 when the carpet was removed. It is set into the top step by the altar rail with its worn Latin inscription on the riser. Spread over two lines it reads “Baldewin Fili Willi Comitis Devonie” which translates as “Baldwin son of William Earl of Devon”. In 1994 I noticed that the stone had a diagonal crack across it which probably occurred when the tombstone was moved during the 15th century rebuilding of the Quire and the alterations to its crypt.

It should be noted that I do not count the magnificent tomb in Westiminster Abbey of Baldwin's great-grand daughter Aveline as a de Redvers tomb because she never bore the family name; she was born a de Fors and died a Plantagenet as she married Henry III's second son.

David Eels