Robert Spencer of Spencer Combe

Sir Robert Spencer (died before 1510) "of Spencer Combe" in the parish of Crediton, Devon, was the husband of Eleanor Beaufort (1431–1501), the daughter of Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (1406–1455), KG, and was father to two daughters and co-heiresses who made notable marriages. Origins The origins of Spencer are unclear. The Devon historian Tristram Risdon (died 1640), quoting his source "Vincent upon Brooke and Mills", suggested he was lord of the manor of Spencer Combe in the parish of Crediton, Devon, which his ancestor Richard Spencer had inherited by marriage to Alice Hody, daughter of William Hody of Combe Lancells, whose own family had inherited it from the Lancells family. However Risdon's contemporary Sir William Pole (died 1635) makes no mention of Sir Robert at Spencer Combe, and states that the estate descended via the heiress Jone Spencer to the Giffard family. His origin at Spencer Combe is however traditional, and is given thus in most published pedigrees and rolls of arms. The American genealogist Douglas Richardson suggests that Sir Robert Spencer was in fact the son and heir of John Spencer, Esquire, MP for Dorset, of Frampton in Dorset, Ashbury in Devon and Brompton Ralph in Somerset, by his wife Jone. Career Little if anything is known about the career of Sir Robert Spencer, other than Risdon's statement that he was "Captain of the castle of Homet and Thomeline in Normandy". Due to his wife's inheritance of the manor and advowson of Hazelbury Bryan in Dorset, Spencer made presentations to the rectory in 1493 and 1496.