Amice of Beaumont
Overview
Biography
Amice/Amicia of Beaumont was the daughter of Robert de Beaumont, third earl of Leicester, and Petronille de Grandmesnil. She married Simon II/ III de Montfort (died 1180). Their children were Simon III/IV, Guy, and perhaps a daughter, Petronilla.1 After the death without issue of her brother, Robert, she inherited the rights to Leicester, while her younger sister Margaret, married to Saer de Quincy, inherited Brackley, Northamptonshire. Although Amice and her husband became Countess and Earl of Leicester in 1204, they held only the title, but could not claim the estate because Simon was a subject of the French monarchy. It was not until their grandson, Simon V, who married Eleanor, sister of king Henry III, that the property was restored to the title. Amice’s father had been involved in the revolt of prince Henry against his father, Henry II, had fled to his castle at Breteuil in Normany in 1173 but lost it to king Henry in a siege. The king seized his lands and titles and imprisoned him for more than three years (late 1173 to early 1177), before he restored them.