Robert de Auberville (de Albervilla, in Latin), of Iham (Higham, in Icklesham) and Iden, Sussex, representative of a wealthy Norman family in Kent and Sussex, was a Justiciar in Kent, Constable of Hastings Castle, and Keeper of the Coast to King Henry III of England. Origins The de Auberville family was seated at Westenhanger, near Stanford, Kent. William de Auberville the elder, King's Justiciar (son of Hugh de Auberville (the elder) and his wife Wynanc), married Matilda (Maud), eldest daughter of Ranulf de Glanville (Chief Justiciar of England to King Henry II) and his wife Bertha de Valoines. (Bertha's sister was the wife of Hervey Walter, and mother of Archbishop Hubert Walter.) William de Auberville (the elder) was associated with the foundation or patronage of various religious houses including the Augustinian Canons Regular of Butley Abbey (1171) and the Premonstratensians of Leiston Abbey (1182) in Suffolk, both founded by Ranulf, and by his own founding, c. 1192, of West Langdon Abbey in Kent, as from Leiston Abbey, assisted by the priors of both Suffolk houses. The Langdon foundation was confirmed by Simon de Averenches, Lord of Folkestone (died c. 1203) who, as his fee-lord, refers to "the charter of my revered knight William de Auberville". William died c. 1195, and his heirs became wards of Hubert Walter. William's principal heir was his son Hugh (the younger), who inherited from him, but there was also a son William and a daughter Emma. Hugh de Auberville the younger, together with Robert his brother, were c. 1199-1205 witnesses to a charter of John of Eu, a son of John, Count of Eu, confirming to the Cistercian abbey of Robertsbridge in Sussex their tenements, liberties and customs in his fee of the Rape of Hastings. Hugh died c. 1212, whereupon William Briwere paid 1000 marks for custody of his lands, his heirs and their marriages. The inheritance descended through Hugh's son William de Auberville the younger (died by 1248) to William's daughter Joan, who married Nicholas de Crioll. Robert de Auberville maintained connections with Robertsbridge Abbey, married the heiress of another of its patron families, and became settled at the western edge of Romney Marsh. Robertsbridge was originally founded in 1176 in the parish of Salehurst by Alvred de St. Martin, Sheriff of the Rape of Hastings, whose wife was Alice d'Aubigny, widow of John, Count of Eu. Marriage The Sheriff of Sussex was