Robert I, Duke of Normandy
Robert I | |
---|---|
Duke of Normandy | |
Reign | 1027–1035 |
Predecessor | Richard III |
Successor | William II |
Born | 22 June 1000 Duchy of Normandy |
Died | 1, 2, or 3 July 1035 Nicaea |
Partner | Herleva |
Issue | |
House | Normandy |
Father | Richard II, Duke of Normandy |
Mother | Judith of Brittany |
Robert I of Normandy (22 June 1000 – July 1035), also known as Robert the Magnificent and
Name
Robert is generally enumerated as Robert I of Normandy (French: Robert Ier de Normandie), although he is sometimes considered Robert II with his ancestor Rollo listed as Robert I. He is also known as Robert the Generous (Robert le Libéral), Robert the Magnificent (Robert le Magnifique), and Robert the Devil (Robert le Diable). The last is sometimes reckoned a misnomer, as he is not called Robert the Devil in surviving contemporary accounts and the name seems to have been a conflation of the historical figure with a separate fictional one during the late Middle Ages.[1]
Life
Early life
Robert was the son of
Reign
When Richard III died a year later, there were suspicions that Robert had something to do with his death. Although nothing could be proven, Robert had the most to gain.[4] The civil war Robert I had brought against his brother Richard III was still causing instability in the duchy. Private wars raged between neighbouring barons, which resulted in a new aristocracy arising in Normandy during Robert's reign.[4]
It was also during this time that many of the lesser nobility left Normandy to seek their fortunes in southern Italy and elsewhere.
Robert also attacked another powerful churchman, his cousin Hugo III d'Ivry, Bishop of Bayeux, banishing him from Normandy for an extended period of time.[6] Robert also seized a number of church properties belonging to the Abbey of Fecamp.[7]
Despite his domestic troubles, Robert decided to intervene in the civil war in Flanders between Baldwin V, Count of Flanders and his father Baldwin IV, whom the younger Baldwin had driven out of Flanders.[8] Baldwin V, supported by king Robert II of France, his father-in-law, was persuaded to make peace with his father in 1030 when Duke Robert promised the elder Baldwin his considerable military support.[8] Robert gave shelter to Henry I of France against his mother, Queen Constance, who favoured her younger son Robert to succeed to the French throne after his father Robert II.[9] For his help Henry I rewarded Robert with the French Vexin.[9]
In the early 1030s,
Pilgrimage & death
Robert's attitude towards the Church had changed noticeably certainly since reinstating his uncle's position as Archbishop of Rouen.[13] In his attempt to reconcile his differences with the Church, he restored property that he or his vassals had confiscated, and by 1034 had returned all the properties he had earlier taken from the abbey of Fecamp.[14]
After making his son William his heir, he set out on pilgrimage to Jerusalem.[15] According to the Gesta Normannorum Ducum he travelled by way of Constantinople, reached Jerusalem, fell seriously ill and died[a] on the return journey at Nicaea on 2 July 1035.[15] His son William, aged about eight, succeeded him.[16]
According to the historian William of Malmesbury, decades later his son William sent a mission to Constantinople and Nicaea, charging it with bringing his father's body back to Normandy for burial.[17] Permission was granted but, having travelled as far as Apulia (Italy) on the return journey, the envoys learned that William himself had meanwhile died.[17] They then decided to re-inter Robert's body in Italy.[17]
Family
By his mistress or concubine, Herleva of Falaise,[18][19] he was father of:
- William the Conqueror (c. 1028–1087).[20]
By Herleva or possibly another concubine,[b][21] he was the father of:
- Odo II of Champagne.[23]
Notes
- ^ It was reported by William of Malmesbury (Gesta regum Anglorum, Vol. i, pp. 211–12) and Wace (pt. iii, II, 3212–14) that Robert died of poisoning. William of Malmsebury pointed to a Ralph Mowin as the instigator. See: The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni, Ed. & Trans. Elizabeth M.C. Van Houts, Vol. I (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992), pp. 84–5, n. 2. However, it was common in Normandy during the eleventh century to attribute any sudden and unexplained death to poisoning. See: David C. Douglas, William the Conqueror (University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1964), p. 411
- William, Count of Eu(calling them 'uterine' brothers). Based on this she concludes Adelaide was a daughter of Duke Robert by a different concubine. Kathleen Thompson ["Being the Ducal Sister: The Role of Adelaide of Aumale", Normandy and Its Neighbors, Brepols, (2011) p. 63] cites the same passage in GND as did Elisabeth Van Houts, specifically GND II, 270–2, but gives a different opinion. She noted that Robert de Torigni stated here she was the uterine sister of Duke William "so we might perhaps conclude that she shared both mother and father with the Conqueror." But as Torigni wrote a century after Adelaide's birth and in that same sentence in the GND made a genealogical error, she concludes that the identity of Adelaide's mother remains an open question.
References
- ^ François Neveux, A Brief History of the Normans, trans. Howard Curtis (Constable & Robinson, Ltd. London, 2008), p. 97 & n. 5.
- ^ The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumieges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni, Vol. II, Books V-VIII, ed. Elisabeth M.C. Van Houts (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1995), pp. 40–1
- ^ David Crouch, The Normans, The History of a Dynasty (Hambledon Continuum, London, New York, 2002), p. 46
- ^ a b c David C. Douglas, William the Conqueror (University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1964), p. 32
- ^ David Crouch, The Normans, The History of a Dynasty (Hambledon Continuum, London, New York, 2002), p. 48
- ^ François Neveux. A Brief History of The Normans (Constable & Robbinson, Ltd, London, 2008), p. 100
- ^ David Crouch, The Normans, The History of a Dynasty (Hambledon Continuum, London, New York, 2002), p. 49
- ^ a b David Crouch, The Normans, The History of a Dynasty (Hambledon Continuum, London, New York, 2002), pp. 49–50
- ^ a b Elisabeth M C Van Houts, The Normans in Europe (Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York, 2000), p. 185
- ^ a b c David Crouch, The Normans, The History of a Dynasty (Hambledon Continuum, London, New York, 2002), p. 50
- ^ Christopher Harper-Bill; Elisabeth van Houts, A Companion to the Anglo-Norman World (Boydell Press, Woodbridge, UK, 2003), p. 31
- ^ The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni, Ed. & Trans. Elizabeth M.C. Van Houts, Vol. I (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992), pp. 78–80
- ^ François Neveux. A Brief History of The Normans (Constable & Robbinson, Ltd, London, 2008), p. 102
- ^ François Neveux. A Brief History of The Normans (Constable & Robbinson, Ltd, London, 2008), p. 103
- ^ a b The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni, Ed. & Trans. Elizabeth M.C. Van Houts, Vol. I (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992), pp. 80–5
- ^ François Neveux, A Brief History of the Normans, trans. Howard Curtis (Constable & Robinson, Ltd. London, 2008), p. 110
- ^ a b c William M. Aird, Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy: C. 1050–1134 (Boydell Press, Woodbridge, UK, 2008), p. 159 n. 38
- ^ The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni, Ed. & Trans. Elizabeth M.C. Van Houts, Vol. I (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992), p. lxxv
- ^ "William I | Biography, Reign, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ David C. Douglas, William the Conqueror (University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1964), p. 15, passim
- ^ David C. Douglas, William the Conqueror (University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1964), pp. 380–1 noting she may or may not be Herleva's daughter but probably is
- ^ George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant Extinct or Dormant, Vol. I, ed. Vicary Gibbs (The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., London, 1910), p. 351
- ^ David C. Douglas, William the Conqueror (University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1964), p. 380