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Mabel was the daughter of the notoriously cruel, William I Talvas and the heiress of her father’s estates, inheriting on his death in 1060. She also inherited the remainder of the Bellême honour in 1070 at the death of her uncle Yves, Bishop of Séez and Lord of Bellême. When her father was exiled she accompanied him and they were taken in by the Montgomery family. Between 1050-1054 she married Roger II de Montgomery, later 1st Earl of Shrewsbury. Roger II de Montgomery was already a favourite of Duke William and marriage to Mabel increased his fortunes even further.

Her husband Roger had not participated in the Norman conquest of England, but joined the king in England in 1067 and was rewarded with the earldom of Shrewsbury and a number of estates to the point that he was one of the largest landholders in the Domesday Book. They were a super-rich couple.

Orderic Vitalis describes Mabel as: “small, very talkative, ready enough to do evil, shrewd and jocular, extremely cruel and daring.” But why did she have such a negative reputation?

Her family had a feud with the Giroie family, and she obtained part of the estates of Arnold de Echauffour, the son of William fitz Giroie by convincing Duke William to confiscate his lands. In 1063, however, Arnold was forgiven by the Duke, and was about to have his lands restored. To stop this, Mabel plotted to kill Arnold. She she tried to poison his wine but he refused to drink. However, her husband’s brother, refreshing himself after a long ride, drank the wine, and died instead. She later bribed Arnold’s chamberlain and gave him the poison, and this time she succeeded.

Mabel was hostile to most of the clergy. In an incident in 1064, she deliberately stretched the limited resources of the abbey of Saint-Evroul by visiting it for long periods with a large retinue of her soldiers. When she was rebuked by Theodoric, the abbot, for her callousness, she retorted that the next time she would arrive with an even larger group. The abbot predicted that if she did not repent of her evilness she would suffer great pains and that very evening she apparently did. She left the abbey in great haste as well as in great pain and did not abuse their hospitality again.

This did not deter her in her wickedness, and she caused many nobles to lose their lands. In 1077 she took the hereditary lands of Hugh Bunel by force.

Two years later while coming out of her bath, she was killed by some men who had crept into the castle. Hugh had enlisted the help of his three brothers, gained entry to the castle of Bures and cut off her head with his sword. The murderers were pursued but escaped by destroying a bridge behind them. Mabel’s murder occurred on 2 December 1079 and she was buried three days later at Troarn.

Her Epitaph – apparently bowing to the partiality of her friends rather than Mabel’s merits:

Sprung from the noble and the brave,
Here Mabel finds a narrow grave.
But, above all woman’s glory,
Fills a page in famous story.
Commanding, eloquent, and wise,
And prompt to daring enterprise;
Though slight her form, her soul was great,
And, proudly swelling in her state,
Rich dress, and pomp, and retinue,
Lent it their grace and honours due.
The border’s guard, the country’s shield,
Both love and fear her might revealed,
Till Hugh, revengeful, gained her bower,
In dark December’s midnight hour.
Then saw the Dive’s o’erflowing stream
The ruthless murderer’s poignard gleam.
Now friends, some moments kindly spare,
For her soul’s rest to breathe a prayer!

Her Son – the Devil!

Mabel’s son, Robert de Bellême, continued the family tradition. Orderic described him as: ‘Grasping and cruel, an implacable persecutor of the Church of God and the poor… unequalled for his iniquity in the whole Christian era’ and ‘the tyrant who had disturbed the land and was preparing to add still worse crimes to his many offences of plundering and burning’.

The legend of Robert ‘the Devil’, fathered by Satan, is based on him, so he probably took after his notorious mother.

There is a great novel about her exploits by J P Reedman, part of her Medieval Babes series: Poisoned Chalice