Robert de Belesme, son of Roger de Montgomery, who succeeded his brother Hugh the Red in the earldom of Shrewsbury, united with the party who wished to seat Robert, duke of Normandy, on the throne, in lieu of Henry the First; and on the coronation of that monarch, openly rebelled against his authority, placing the castle under the command of Roger de Corbet, and garrisoning it with 80 soldiers. Henry immediately marched for Shrewsbury at the head of 60,000 men, and threatening, if the town was not delivered up to him in three days, to hang all he should find therein, Robert surrendered, and sent the keys to the king by Ralph, abbot of Seez, imploring his clemency: this was granted, but Robert was banished to Normandy, his immense estates forfeited, and the splendour of his baronial house for ever extinguished. Henry then took the government of the town into his own hands, and granted the inhabitants their first charter.—The restless disposition of Robert however still incited him to fresh acts of rebellion, but being taken prisoner, he was brought over to England, and being sentenced to perpetual imprisonment, he at length died a miserable death in Wareham castle. In 1116, the nobility of the realm did homage to William, Henry’s son, at Shrewsbury, and swore allegiance to his father. The conquest of Wales had always been a leading object in the politics of England, not only from the desire of more extensive dominion, but as a means of preventing in future the devastation and misery which the animosity of a warlike and injured people had occasioned on the English borders. The utility likewise of employing in foreign enterprises a martial nobility, inclined the Norman princes to encourage, by every incitement of advantage and honour, the dangerous designs of subduing or of making settlements in Wales. The consequence of the attacks of the rapacious Norman barons on the Welsh was, that Shrewsbury was continually subject to the ravages and injuries of the contending parties. Besides this, its natural strength and situation on the borders, or as they were then termed the Marches of Wales, rendered it extremely eligible for the rendezvous of the army employed in the Principality, and it was therefore frequently honoured with the presence of those who swayed the sceptre of Britain. During the struggles between Stephen and the empress Maud, William Fitz Alan, governor of the castle of Shrewsbury, espoused the cause of the latter, and being joined by several noblemen and gentlemen in these parts, left his castle in the care of a deputy, from whom he exacted an oath that he would not deliver up his charge to the king. Stephen having taken the castle, and hanged several of the garrison for the obstinacy of their defence, Alan was forced to fly, leaving his castle and estates in the possession of the king; but on the accession of Henry II. he was restored to all his honours and estates, for his faithful adherence to the fortunes of the family.