1,2

Physically, William is described as very tall and fat. His wife is said to have measured 4 feet 2.   Matilda Of Flanders bore him many children. While William's childhood was difficult and frought with dangers,  his adult family life was turbulent ( though it is said that he and Matilda shared true love). It included hand to hand field combat with his son Curthose who wounded him. Another son, William Rufus (his favorite), also sustained injuries. Odo, his half brother and supporter at Hastings was thrown in jail for five years for some crime never fully revealed to us.Matilda and William  had many children among whom are Adela of Blois and Richard I Beauclerc, King of England,  from each of which we can claim descent.

"Matilda had first eschewed William ìWhen William was in his early twenties he asked Count Baldwin V of Flanders for his daughter Matilda's hand in marriage. But Matilda was already in love with an Englishman named Brihtric. She supposedly proclaimed that she would rather become a nun than the wife of a bastard, which made William so angry that he attacked her in the street as she left church one day. He slapped her, tore her clothes, threw her to the ground, and rode off. Not an auspicious start to a marriage, yet William and Matilda did eventually marry, and they seem to have been quite happy together. They must have been an odd couple to behold, since William was tall and reportedly grew very fat later in life, while Matilda was short -- almost a dwarf -- and slender. They had at least four sons and five daughters. The pope objected to William and Matilda's marriage because they were distant cousins. For a while they (and everyone else in Normandy) were excommunicated, but after several years they were admitted back into the Church through intervention of a new bishop and in return for building two abbeys î.English royal History
 

Notes on William the Conqueror
 
 

1,7

This younger son became duke when his brother died, in whose death he may be implicated. Robert contested the duchy with his elder brother Richard III, legally the heir, until the latter's opportune death a few years later. "Robert contributed to the restoration of Henry (Henry I) King of France (against Henry's rebellious brother and mother)  to his throne,and received from the gratitude of that monarch, (territory of ) the  Vexin, as an additional to his patrimonial domains. In the 8th year of his reign, curiosity or devotion induced him to undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where the fatiges of the journey and the heat of the climate so impaired his consitution he died on his way home.Some sources call him Robert I the Magnificent" ³ He also intervened in the affairs of Flanders, supported Edward the Confessor, then in exile at Robert's court, and sponsored monastic reform in Normandy. Before he left for his fateful trip to the holy land, he had his vassals together and had them swear fealty to his son William; Throughout his childhood the young duke William was in danger of his life.

On a hill overlooking Rouen stands this ruin, the principal castle of Robert the Devil, also
known as Robert the Robert the Magnificent

From The making of the Duchy of Normandy.  The founders, the work of the first Dukes (933-1035) "Richard II (996-1026)
Richard III (1026-1027) and Robert the Magnificent (1027-1035)

                                                       Before his death Richard II chose to divide the Duchy between his two sons Richard and Robert. But the younger,
                                                       Robert, was quick to rebel against his brother who died under suspicious circumstances. Robert assumed power, but
                                                       soon entered into conflict with the main lay and ecclesiastical lords of the Duchy, the Richardides. His uncles, Robert,
                                                       Archbishop of Rouen and Count Evreux, and Hugh, Bishop of Bayeux, were his main adversaries and they were
                                                       supported by the King of France, Robert the Pious.

              Robert also had to resist the insubordinate tendencies which were to occur at each of the periods of weakness of ducal power. The rebel
              house of the lords of Bellême, neighbouring Maine, entered the scene. They were an example of a noble house established on the threshold
              of a great principality which tended to act independently, a tendency that the Dukes of Normandy would prove themselves able to juggle, not
              without diffic ulty, in order to keep the Duchy's frontiers as they had been inherited from the first dukes.

              From 1031, however, Robert stabilised the situation and was able to profit from a dynastic crisis to take control of the former French Vexin,
              from Mantes to Pontoise, a territory that the Dukes of Normandy and the Kings of France would continually dispute.

              In addition to the interventions henceforth common in Flanders, against the Count of Blois or in Brittany, Robert conducted the first great
              maritime expedition to England to reinstate the sons of Aethelred and Emma, Edward and Alfred, exiled in Rouen and brought up at the court
              of Richard II. The storm dispersed their ships before they could reach the English coast.

              Tempted by the prospect of despoiling church wealth at the beginning of his reign, Duke Robert quickly returned to
              the traditional politics of the Dukes of Normandy to the benefit of Saint-Wandrille, Jumièges, Fécamp, or
              Mont-Saint-Michel. To these he added the foundation of the abbey of Cerisy.

              With this action, political preoccupations did not exclude genuine piety which led the Duke to undertake the great
              Jerusalem pilgrimage when he had only just re-established his authority. Duke Robert died en route, at Nicea, in
              1035, aged 25. After a reign of less than 10 years, he left a minor, William, the offspring of his concubine Arlette de
              Falaise."
 

According to ES Volme III/4 Tafel 694B
Harlette/Herleva/Henriette married Herluin Vicomte de Conteville,and they had three (perhaps four) children
> 1.Odo, Earl of Kent, Regent of England, Bishop of Bayeux
> 2.Robert, Count of Mortain, Earl of Cornwall
> 3.Emma married Richard Le Goz, Vicomte d'Avranches
> and the next child is maried under (II) presuming her to be by the second
> wife of Herluin de Conteville, but not certain
> an unnamed daughter who married Guillaume, Seigneur de La Ferte-Mace"
SGM post from Leo Van de Pas
Subject: Re: Lady Godiva⁹

Robert II The Devil,Duke Of Normandy 6th had for mistress  Herleva (Arlette)^10,11,3,
 

Notes on the life of Robert Duke of Normandy 6th

3 Herleva (Arlette).^10,11,3  Born ca 1012/ABT 1003, in Falaise,Calvados,Normandy,France.^12,13 Died abt 1050^3,14 Buried in Abbey Of St Grestain, France.³ Alias/AKA: Henriette, Harlette, Herleve (Arletta) Of FALAISE.^15,16

"According to legend, Robert and Arlette met when they were both in their late teens. Robert was riding his horse one day when he saw the lovely Arlette washing her clothes in a river. (According to another story, Arlette was dancing beside a road when Robert first spied her.) Instantly smitten, the duke sent one of his servants to summon Arlette to his castle. She agreed to become Robert's mistress, but insisted on living with him openly rather than conducting the affair in secrecy. Their son William was born within a year of their first meeting...." ⁵ Their daughter Adeliza a few years later. In 1031 William's father Robert married Estrith (Margaret) Of Denmark, only to divorce that wife the following year. As for Arlette, after her relationship with William's father ended, she married a viscount  of Conteville (Herluin) with whom she had many children, including a son , Odo of Bayeux,  who would fight with William at Hastings, become one of William's most  trusted advisors and be thrown in jail by him for five years for some infraction that is not understood. William's full sister Adelaide (Adeliza) grew up to marry three counts. William was referred to as a bastard, but noone dared to say this in his precense.

"According to ES Volume II Tafel 79, Robert the Devil, Duke of Normandy had two children by Harlette (here called Henriette)
> 1.William the Conqueror
> 2.Adelaide/Adela who died circa 1081/84
> she married (1) Enguerrand II Count of Ponthieu
> she married (2) Lambert de Boulogne, Count of Lens
> she married (3) Eudes III Count of Champagne

According to ES Volme III/4 Tafel 694B
Harlette/Herleva/Henriette married Herluin Vicomte de Conteville,and they had three (perhaps four) children
> 1.Odo, Earl of Kent, Regent of England, Bishop of Bayeux
> 2.Robert, Count of Mortain, Earl of Cornwall
> 3.Emma married Richard Le Goz, Vicomte d'Avranches
> and the next child is maried under (II) presuming her to be by the second
> wife of Herluin de Conteville, but not certain
> an unnamed daughter who married Guillaume, Seigneur de La Ferte-Mace"
SGM post from Leo Van de Pas
Subject: Re: Lady Godiva⁹

Stevens/Southworth Data Base cites :
"Weis' "Ancestral Roots. . ." (121:23), (121E:22), (130:23). She was the mother of William the Conquerer (illigitimate). AKA Herleve.
Cokayne's "Complete Peerage" (Chester, p.164). Stuart's "Royalty for Commoners" (160:32), for her marriage to HERLUIN. "¹⁴
See to The Complete Peerage vol.XIIp1,Appendix K.³
 
 

17,3

The Norse Sagas celebrate him and his line, but they were written long after the subjects they describe. Rolf Ganger is not in fact the same as the Rollo who is the first of the Normans, who in fact was probably Danish. The Harald Harfager's Saga reads:  "Rolf Ganger's son was William, father to Richard, and grandfather to another Richard, who was the father of Robert Longspear, and grandfather of William the Bastard, from whom all the following English kings are descended."¹⁸
 

From The making of the Duchy of Normandy.  The founders, the work of the first Dukes (933-1035) "Richard II (996-1026)

                                         On his death in 996 Richard I left a domain which had been at peace for 30 years to a child. This rule by a minor opened up the
                                         way to a general revolt of the peasantry. This uprising was, however, not directed against the power of the descendants of
                                         Rollo. On the contrary it showed that Normandy was part of the development of feudal society at its outset. The peasants were
                                         trying to throw off the growing pressures and demands of the aristocracy.

                                         Simultaneously, troubles in the Hiémois territories, a central region of Normandy, were a traditional attempt by a member of
                                         the ruling families, William of Exmes, to take power. The two rebellions were contained by the tutors of the young Richard. The
                                         counter-measures against the peasants were particularly bloody.

                                         This troubled period enabled the Danish Vikings to use Normandy as a base for new raids into England. King Aethelred called
                                         upon the aid of Richard II and their alliance was sealed by a marriage. Emma, sister of Richard married Aethelred in 1002.

              This marriage gave rise to a political situation with major consequences. On the death of Aethelred, the Norman princess Emma married the
              Dane, Cnut, who in 1016 defeated the heirs of Aethelred. She was to be the mother of the last Danish king of England, Harthacnut (1040-2).
              The sons of Emma and Aethelred took refuge at Richard's court. Prince Edward was brought up at the court of the Duke of Normandy and
              was surrounded by Norman companions. After Edward succeeded to the throne of England in 1042, the Normans became directly involved in
              the affairs of the English kingdom.

                                                      In France, Richard II conducted himself as a loyal vassal of King Robert the Pious. He took part with him in expeditions
                                                      into Burgundy (1003 and 1005) and into Flanders (1006). In exchange for which he obtained the support of the king in
                                                      his own wars against Fulk Nerra, Count of Anjou or Eudes of Blois, against whom he did not hesitate to use Viking
                                                      mercenaries. Maine and Brittany were frontier zones in which Richard II was obliged to take an interest. Here too,
                                                      marriage was an instrument of diplomacy. Richard II married Judith, sister of Geoffrey, the Count of Rennes, who
                                                      married Havoise, Richard's sister. Judith was to be the first Christian princess, as a legitimate wife of a Duke of
                                                      Normandy, to produce an heir outside the practice of concubinage 'in the manner of the Danes'.

              Beside this Richard II turned his duchy into one of the richest and most stable principalities of the French kingdom. He was the first to
              exchange the title of Count of Rouen for that of Duke. Richard re-used much of the Carolingian administrative mechanism and pursued a
              reform of the Church, as a pillar of ducal power. As early as 1001 he called upon the services of the Italian reformer William of Volpiano to
              restore the Abbey of Fécamp where the Dukes had their palace and had chosen to be buried."

5 Judith Of Brittany.¹⁹  Born abt 0982.³ Died in 1017 ³

6 Fulbert .^20,21,22 Acceded: Falaix.³ AKA  Fulbert TANNER/FURRIER//FULBERT OF FALAISE.²³

Fulbert is often shown to have produced children with  Duxia, sometimes shown as Doda **³.

7 Duxia (Dubious if even existent Mother) Caution  Appears historically unfounded. Not shown at Henry I Ancestry Table; Unverified. sometimes given name Doda.²⁴ .²⁵
 
 

3,26

"Richard I or the fearless as he became known, married a French princess but maintained a mistress (named Gunnor) on the side. ...Gunnor was from an important Danish family and eventually married him on the princess's death. This meeting with Gunnor is steeped in French folklore"²⁹. Gunnor bore many children to Richard I.
 

Harald Harfager's Saga:"Rolf Ganger's son was William, father to Richard, and grandfather to another Richard, who was the father of Robert Longspear, and grandfather of William the Bastard, from whom all the following English kings are descended."¹⁸

New Note: "Richard I or the fearless as he became known, married a French princess but maintained a mistress on the side. She was known as Gunnor. Gunnor ....eventually married him on the princess's death. This meeting with Gunnor is steeped in French folklore"²⁹. Gunnor bore many children to Richard I.

From The making of the Duchy of Normandy.  The founders, the work of the first Dukes (933-1035)
             "The death of William Longsword left the Principality of the Counts of Rouen at risk. William's son, Richard was a minor. The competing
              ambitions of the Carolingian King Louis IV and the Duke of the Franks, Hugh the Great held sway over Normandy while uprisings took place
              under the influence of the recent arrival of the new Scandinavian settlers.

              Between 945 and 947, the young Richard I managed to take back control of his father's land. He entered a preferential alliance with Duke
              Hugh. In 960 this alliance was reinforced by the marriage of Richard and Emma, daughter of Hugh. Furthermore, in 987, the Count of Rouen
              supported the dynastic change which was taking place; this saw his brother-in-law, Hugh Capet, succeed to the throne of France.

              Although the grandson of the Viking Rollo supported the throne, he barely needed to concern himself with its protection. Instead he applied
              himself to containing the pressures on his frontiers applied by his powerful neighbours, the Counts of Blois and Tours, and the Counts of
              Anjou. Richard was able to take advantage of the conflicts between the pretenders to the domination of the Duchy of Brittany. He was,
              however, still recruiting bands of Viking mercenaries and even in 991 had to sign an accord with King Aethelred undertaking to refrain from
              offering hinterland bases for sorties against England.

              Finally, Richard undertook the reorganisation of the Duchy under his own authority. He drew on his family which was derived from Christian
              marriages or concubinages recognised by Scandinavian law. He himself was the son of a Breton concubine, Sprota, and his princely heirs
              were born of the Danish Gonnor rather than of his Christian wife Emma. This large number of descendants formed a new aristocracy, the
              Richardides, to whom all key positions were given.

              Despite failing to live the life expected of a Christian prince and the fact that he did not hesitate to give the position of Archbishop of Rouen to
              his younger brother Robert, Richard also drew on the support of the church. He restored the abbeys of Saint-Wandrille (960) and Fécamp
              (990), established a monastic community at Mont-Saint-Michel (966) and at the end of his reign undertook the re-establishment of the
              ecclesiastical hierarchy at Lisieux, Sées, and Avranches (989-990). The Archbishopric of Coutances, which had been deserted since the
              Viking invasions, was re-appointed, but with the bishop residing in Rouen. Cotentin still escaped to some extent the ducal peace and the
              progress of re-christianisation."
9 Gunnor.^3,30  Born in 0936. Gunnor died in 1031.³ Scandinavian name was spelled Gunnvor; her Frankish name was Albereda-de Crepon Was A Name Given To Her Brother and is in no way her own surname. All of her siblings  appear also  to be direct to us, though evaluation of the pedigrees remains under study.

Gunnor is often found , along with her sisters Senfria (Seinfreda), Wevie, Awelina (Duvelina) and brother Herfast (Arfast) de Crepon linked as children the Danish King Harald II Bluetooth. In fact, their  father is CLEARLY UNKNOWN.
For discussion on Gunnor and her family see Todd A Farmerie's Robert de Torigny and the family of Gunnor, Duchess of Normandy at URL provided in footnote³¹ Regarding Gunnor, Wevie and Avelina, they often appear as daughters to Harald Bluetooth, but this is an unfounded ascendancy and is refuted.Their father is unknown by name, but they are known to be of a Norman family of Danish origin.
 
 

"When Richard was out hunting, he stayed on the property of one of his subjects. It was normal in that period for the husband to offer his wife for the lords comfort. (This time the hunter's) quick thinking wife introduced her sister Gunnor to Richard. They immediately fell in love and were soon meeting on a regular basis....(and had many children including )....Richard II who followed his father and was known as the Good. Emma, who eventually married Aethelred the Unready and Canute, who in turn became kings of England. Grandson's to Richard I and Gunnor were Richard III who followed his father as Duke of Normandy then by his younger brother Robert I the magnificent"²⁹.
 

"(Her Scandinavian name was spelled Gunnvor; her Frankish name was Albereda.)
 
 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the the old tale of how it is that Richard met Gunnor, and Rogert de Torigni's autographed redaction below indicates she was a sister to Wevie.
Posted by Todd A. Farmerie
From Gesta Normannorum Ducum, Rogert de Torigni's autographed redaction (trans. van Houts):

"Because we have refered to Countess Gunnor on account of Roger de Montgomery's mother, her niece, I should like to write down the story as reported by people of old of how Gunnor cane to be Duke Richard's wife. One day when Duke Richard was told of the celebrated beauty of the wife of one of his foresters, who lived at a place called Equiqueville near the town of Arques, he deliberately went hunting there in order to see for himself whether the report he had learned from several folk was true. While staying in the forester's house, the duke was so struck by the beauty of his wife's face that he summoned his host to bring his wife, called Sainsfrida, that night to his bedchamber. Very sadly the man told this to Sainsfrida, a wise woman, who comforted him by saying that she would send in her place her sister Gunnor, a virgin even more beautiful than her. And thus it happened. Once the duke perceived the trick he was delighted that he had not committed the sin of adultery with another man's wife. . . ."

Apart from Sainsfrida, Gunnor had two sisters, Wevia and Duvelina. The latter (Duvelina)*, with the help of the countess, who was a very wise woman, married Turulf of Pont-Audemer. He was the son of someone called Torf, after whom several towns are called Tourville to the present day. Turulf's brother was Turketil, father of Ansketil of Harcourt. Turulf had by his wife Humphrey of Vieilles, father of Roger of Beaumont. The third of Countess Gunnor's sisters (Wevia)* married Osbern de Bolbec, by whom she bore the first Walter Giffard, and then Godfrey, father of William of Arques. . . ."

* The original manuscript, of which several copies survive, did not further identify these sisters, other than as "the latter" and "the third". This resulted in a certain degree of confusion, since Duvelina is actually named third, but had already been described as "the latter". However, in Robert's autographed copy, he has specifically inserted their names, which removes all ambiguity. Thus we have Sainsfrida married to the unnamed forester of (St. Vaast d')Equiqueville, Wevia married to Osbern de Bolbec, and Duvelina married to Turulf de Pont-Audemer."
Above from http://shell.rmi.net/~ve6gil/tree/nti02115.html//The Family of Gilbert W. Rogers The Family of Gilbert W. Rogers
 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

10 Conan I** The Crooked, Duke Of Brittany.^32,33,3  Conan I** The Crooked, Duke Of Brittany died in 0992.³ Occupation: Acceded 990? And Count Of Rennes.³ Description: Historical. Alias/AKA: Royal05626 Conan Of Rennes//98. Conan I, duke of Brittany.^34,32

27th G Grandfather to FDR, 22nd G Grandfather to George Washington, 28th G Grandfather to us Swopes.

Conan I** The Crooked, Duke Of Brittany married Ermengarde** OF ANJOU^33,35.

11 Ermengarde** OF ANJOU.^33,35 Description: Historical.

There are "two different Ermengardes of Anjou in different generations. The Ermengarde who m. Conan I was dau. of Geoffrey I
Grisegonelle and Adele of Vermandois, and sister of Fulk III Nerra. The Ermengarde who m. 1st Geoffrey Ferreol and m. 2nd Robert I was a dau. of Fulk III and a neice of the former Ermendarde. [See ES iii, 116.] The wife of Geoffrey of Bretagne and mother of Eudes of Penthrieve was Hawise of Normandy, normal daughter of Richard Duke of Normandy. [See ES ii, 75, rev. in iii(1).]

Geoffrey I=Adele
|
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<----
| |
Fulk III=Hildegarde Ermengarde=Conan I
| |
Geoffrey Ferreol=(1)Ermengarde(2)=Robert I Geoffrey=Hawise
|
Eudes
 

Alan B. Wilson
abwilson@uclink2.berkeley.edu"³⁶
From: Alan B. Wilson (abwilson@uclink2.berkeley.edu)
Subject: Re: Ermengarde d'Anjou
Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.medieval
Date 8/31/98
 
 

37,38,39,40,18

From The Makings of the Duchy of Normandy: The founders, the work of the first Dukes (933-1035) :
 "William Longsword succeeded Rollo in 933. He was the son of one of Rollo's Frankish Christian concubines, Popa, the (purported)daughter of the vanquished Count of Bayeux, and was himself, therefore, an example of the rapid assimilation of the conquerors. In 933, William managed to take back Cotentin and Avranchin from the Bretons. King Ralph (923-936)  helped him in this enterprise and in exchange received the homage due from a vassal. However, it was the Count of Rouen who actually held the power in the vanquished territories.

"At the same time William needed to confirm his control over the Irish-Norwegian elements established in Cotentin and Bessin. It would appear that the rebels were keen to retain their peaceful roots, and the Scandinavian traditions of organisation based on a land holding free of the control of a political authority. They were thus ill-disposed to enter into the bonds of dependency which were developing in Frankish society and which the new count did not hesitate to turn to his own advantage.

 "In the Frankish kingdom William became involved in the conflicts facing the leaders of the aristocracy and the Carolingian King Louis IV (936-954) under the gaze of the powerful king of Germany, Otto. The Count of Rouen played on the competition between the two authorities to which, in theory, he was answerable, the King of France,  and his direct overlord Hugh the Great, heir to the prerogatives of the Marquis of Neustria, Duke of the Franks. In general William allied himself with Hugh the Great, but in 940 he provisionally changed sides and obtained from Louis IV the renewal of the concession granted to Rollo. In 942 he was killed in an ambush set by the Count of Flanders who was hostile to  the rise in Norman power.

"From the second generation, William Longsword had been the first authentically Christian Norman prince, notably supporting the restoration of the abbey of Jumièges. He won the hand in marriage of the daughter of the Count of Vermandois and thus entered into the society of the most powerful lords of the kingdom."
 

17 Sprota  (Adela) OF SENLIS.^44,45,46  Born in Normandy Or Bourgogne, France.^45,47 Sprota** (Adela) died abt 0936 in Normandy,France.^45,48 Description: Historical. Alias/AKA: Royal03013 AKA Espriota AKA Sprota (Sprote) De Berengaria Or BOUGOGNE.⁴⁵

Her marriage to Bernard the Dane comes from source⁴⁹ only.
"Folklore surrounds how Robert met and fell in love with Arletta. Her real name was Herleva but became known as Arletta later. The story goes that in 1027 Robert was returning to his castle in Falaise when he set eyes upon a girl washing her clothes in the river nearby. When Robert saw her, he was immediately attracted by her beauty. Both would have been about 17 or 18 at the time. Unable to get her out of his mind, he sent a messenger to her to arrange a meeting. Expecting her to readily agree, it must of come as a shock when she refused unless she came in broad daylight, mounted, and through the main gate. When Robert was informed, he agreed. Within one year a baby boy was born and was named William. The William who would later be known as the Conqueror and King William of England. Never would the father named Fulbert, a leather Tanner, have thought that he would have a daughter who would bear a son that would later become the King of England"²⁹.

18 Unknown Father To Gunnor, Wevie, Avelina and Herfast. Description: Historical.

This family group is reliant on contemporaneous sources noted on each card entered. About this unknown father, we do know this was a Norman family with Danish origins.
Todd A Farmerie, in his discussion of Robert de Torigny and the family of Gunnor, Duchess of Normandy⁵⁰ writes
"The parentage of Gunnor and her siblings is unknown. While some sources call her father Herfastus, this was in fact the name of her brother. She has also been claimed as daughter of the Danish royal family, but there is no evidence for this, and the context of her coming to the attention of Richard I and the family's subsequent rise to power militates against her being a royal daughter. Douglas argued (in a 1944 English Historical Review article on the family of William Fitz Osbern), based on the donations of brother Arfast to the monastery of St. Pere, that the root of the family was in the Cotetin region of Normandy, but van Houts has suggested that the Cotetin land was granted to Arfast, rather than inherited by him. Thus we are left with the more ambiguous statements of Torigny and others that she was a member of a Norman family of Danish origins.
The only known brother of Gunnor was Arfast/Herfast, of whom we gain what little insight we have from a trial of heretics conducted by King Robert II of France. Arfast testified that he had pretended "⁵⁰

The sisters Gunnor, Wevie and Avelina, often appear as daughters to Harald Bluetooth, but this is an unfounded ascendancy and is refuted. The father of Gunnor Wevie, Avelina and her brother Herfast is Unknown, but they are known to be a Norman family of Danish origin as noted above.
 
 
 
 

There is an old tale of how it is that Richard met Gunnor, and Rogert de Torigni's autographed redaction indicates she was a sister to Wevie. See Gunnor's Card.
"The following descent, in "record format," is based primarily on K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, "Aspects of Robert of Torigny's genealogies revisited," Nottingham Medieval Studies, xxxvii (1993). It represents, especially for the early generations, a substantial revision of what may be found in
"Complete Peerage" or "Europaische Stammtafeln" (both of which are surely more reliable than Crispen & Macary).
1. Osbern de Bolbec.
He married Wevie de Crepon, sister of Gunnor, concubine of Richard I, count of Normandy. They had the following children:
2 i. Josceline de Ponteaudemer
3 ii. Walter Giffard
4 iii. Geoffrey d'Arques Viscount
5 iv. ? de Bolbec"⁵¹
 
 
 
 

Todd A. Farmerie
From Gesta Normannorum Ducum, Rogert de Torigni's autographed redaction (trans. van Houts):

"Because we have refered to Countess Gunnor on account of Roger de Montgomery's mother, her niece, I should like to write down the story as reported by people of old of how Gunnor came to be Duke Richard's wife. One day when Duke Richard was told of the celebrated beauty of the wife of one of his foresters, who lived at a place called Equiqueville near the town of Arques, he deliberately went hunting there in order to see for himself whether the report he had learned from several folk was true. While staying in the forester's house, the duke was so struck by the beauty of his wife's face that he summoned his host to bring his wife, called Sainsfrida, that night to his bedchamber. Very sadly the man told this to Sainsfrida, a wise woman, who comforted him by saying that she would send in her place her sister Gunnor, a virgin even more beautiful than her. And thus it happened. Once the duke perceived the trick he was delighted that he had not committed the sin of adultery with another man's wife. . . ."

Apart from Sainsfrida, Gunnor had two sisters, Wevia and Duvelina. The latter (Duvelina)*, with the help of the countess, who was a very wise woman, married Turulf of Pont-Audemer. He was the son of someone called Torf, after whom several towns are called Tourville to the present day. Turulf's brother was Turketil, father of Ansketil of Harcourt. Turulf had by his wife Humphrey of Vieilles, father of Roger of Beaumont. The third of Countess Gunnor's sisters (Wevia)* married Osbern de Bolbec, by whom she bore the first Walter Giffard, and then Godfrey, father of William of Arques. . . ."

* The original manuscript, of which several copies survive, did not further identify these sisters, other than as "the latter" and "the third". This resulted in a certain degree of confusion, since Duvelina is actually named third, but had already been described as "the latter". However, in Robert's autographed copy, he has specifically inserted their names, which removes all ambiguity. Thus we have Sainsfrida married to the unnamed forester of (St. Vaast d')Equiqueville, Wevia married to Osbern de Bolbec, and Duvelina married to Turulf de Pont-Audemer."
Above from http://shell.rmi.net/~ve6gil/tree/nti02115.html /The Family of Gilbert W. Rogers
 
 

The Long Island Geneology company, providing Geneological Data for sale and located at http://longislandgenealogy.com/unplugged.html, shows her ascendancy to Gorm the Old perpetuating an ascendancy for this family group not in keeping with contemporaneous documents and study of historians.
http://longislandgenealogy.com/bristow/fam01635.htm

20 Juhel Berengar**Count of Rennes.⁵² Description: Source asterisks this name-Questions regarding his placement?

22 Geoffrey I**Grisegonelle Of Anjou, Seneschal Of France.^33,53,54,3  Died on 21 Jul 0987.^55,56  Acceded: 960 "Received in requital of his gallant services against the Emperor Otto, a grant from King Robert, of the dignified office of Seneschal of France. Count of Anjou.".³ AKA: Called grisgonelle, or "Greygown".¹⁴  Geoffrey Graymantle//Geoffrey_I (C of Anjou).⁵⁷

Stevens/Southworth Data Base states
"Weis" "Ancestral Roots. . ." (39:21), (118:20). Called grisgonelle, or "Greygown".

ES iii, 49; ii, 189 [rev. in iii(1)]; and iii, 116and 433.

His second wife was the mother of his first wife. "¹⁴

"Received in requital of his gallant services against the Emperor Otto, a grant from King Robert, of the dignified office of Seneschal of France. Count of Anjou."³

SGM Post
" The mother of Adela of Vermandois was Adelaide of Burgundy who was later to marry her son-in-law, Geoffrey Greymantle.
The *approximate* dates of the marriages are (all from ES):
950 Robert of Meaux and Troyes m. Adelaide of Burgundy
965 Geoffrey Greymantle m. Adele of Vermandois
967 Lambert of Chalon-sur-Saone m. Adelaide of Burgundy
979 Geoffrey Greymantle m. Adelaide of Burgundy
In addition to ES iii, 49 see ii, 189 [rev. in iii(1)], and iii, 116 and 433."
From: Alan B. Wilson (abwilson@uclink2.berkeley.edu)
Subject: Re: Wives of Geoffrey I of Anjou
Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.medieval
Dated 4/19/97
In response to post:
ES II, 49 seems to have Adelaide as the daughter of Giselbert of Chalons etc, marrying first Robert, then Lambert (d.979), then Geoffrey; and Adela marrying Lambert (d.978) then Geoffrey."⁵⁸

In 0965 Geoffrey I**Grisegonelle Of Anjou, Seneschal Of France married Adelais**(Adele/Adela of Troyes) Of Vermandois^33,59,60.^61,14

23 Adelais**(Adele/Adela of Troyes) Of Vermandois.^33,59,60  Born in 0950.³ Died in 0974³⁶ AKA  Adela of Troyes.^62,63

"It is widely recorded that the parents of FULK III THE BLACK (NERRA) were GEOFFREY GREYMANTLE (GRISGONELLE) OF ANJOU and ADELAIDE (ADELE) OF VERMANDOIS. However, consider the following:

"When Adele became pregnant with Fulk [III] in 970 after a decade and a half without issue, we can imagine much surprise at Angers. Even greater probably was the surprise about a year after Fulk Nerra was born when Adele again became pregnant and gave birth to a second son, this one named Geoffrey. Thus, after bearing her first child in her teens, Adele gave birth to two additional children in her early thirties. All that can be said is that the pattern is unusual. ..... Adele, whatever her feelings may have been about pregnancy and childbirth -- both of which were not without great danger in the MIddle Ages -- surely was relieved of the worry that her husband, in a panic to produce a male heir, would put her aside and take a new wife. Fulk's sister (see genealogy 6) had little time to get to
know her little brother since she was sent off to Rennes as the wife of Conan before her sibling was a year old. As later events would show, either she formed a close attachment to Fulk during the year they spent together atAngers or her loyalty to her patrilineage was very strong." --- Bernard S Bachrach, *Fulk Nerra, the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040*,
Berkeley CA (Univ of Calif Pr) 1993, p 11
Does anyone know if this state of affairs has ever been seriously taken to cast doubt on the paternity of Fulk III? On the other hand, one could conceivably (no pun intended) question Fulk's maternity. Bachrach says futher on p 11: "Fulk's early years were somewhat hectic. His sister left for Rennes before his first birthday, and not long after, his mother was again pregnant. The timing of this pregnancy may well permit the inference that Adele either did not nurse Fulk or was not regularly involved in the nursing for very long."
Bachrach goes on to note that Adele later "took ill, either as a result of childbirth or shortly thereafter" [presumably involving a third pregnancy in her 30s -- or was this an aftereffect of the birth of Geoffrey?], and "was dead by the spring of 974".
sited by notes:
From: Gordon Fisher (gfisher@SHENTEL.NET)
Subject: parents of FULK III NERRA (THE BLACK)?
Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.medieval
Date 3/30/97³⁶
 

" The mother of Adela of Vermandois was Adelaide of Burgundy who was later to marry her son-in-law, Geoffrey Greymantle.
The *approximate* dates of the marriages are (all from ES):
950 Robert of Meaux and Troyes m. Adelaide of Burgundy
965 Geoffrey Greymantle m. Adele of Vermandois
967 Lambert of Chalon-sur-Saone m. Adelaide of Burgundy
979 Geoffrey Greymantle m. Adelaide of Burgundy
In addition to ES iii, 49 see ii, 189 [rev. in iii(1)], and iii, 116 and 433."
From: Alan B. Wilson (abwilson@uclink2.berkeley.edu)
Subject: Re: Wives of Geoffrey I of Anjou
Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.medieval
Dated 4/19/97
In response to post:
ES II, 49 seems to have Adelaide as the daughter of Giselbert of Chalons etc, marrying first Robert, then Lambert (d.979), then Geoffrey; and Adela marrying Lambert (d.978) then Geoffrey."⁵⁸

William was only a child when he inherited the duchy of Normandy. His father had died on return from pilgrimage to the holy land leaving William to the care of gaurdians forced to fear of their lives for his protection.  His was a sad childhood hounded by would be killers and necessary, precipitous changes of locale.  Although William's father got an oath of protection for his young son from his vassals before departing for his fateful trip to the holy land, once the father was dead, the barons frequently sought to harm the young duke. His gaurdian Gilbert de Brionne was murdered, his uncle Osbern killed while protecting William from kidnapperswho had invaded the boy's bedroom , and William's tutor Thurold was murdered as well. William's  uncle Walter (a brother to the William who saved him from the kidnappers) moved him around alot , frequently waking him in the middle of night to change location. At age 15 William was knighted and when about twenty he went to war against his cousin Guy of Burgundy to defend his inheritance, whom he defeated with the help of French king Henri I, forcing the rebels to swear allegiance to him. Apparantly William was always fighting, he even fought with Henri I and the "boy became a a ruthless, powerful, and greatly feared conqueror"⁵. In 1051 he visited King Edward the Confessor of England with whom he shared a convoluted kinship in the far distant past. Edward was celibate and childless, and promised to make William his heir---William said.

Then too there is the visit in 1063 or 4 to William in Normandy  by Harold Godwinnison,  brother in law and trusted advisor to king Edward of England and the 2nd most powerful man of the realm.  The circumstances of his arrival there are unclear: he either went as emmisary of the king or was blown off course and landed there. In any case, at that time he was not apparantly easily allowed to leave, and William forced him to swear on holy relics to support William's claim to the throne on Edward's death. William also understood Harold to promise marriage to William's sister Agatha (never accomplished) . Harold had become the senior earl on his fatherís death, and increasingly took over the administration and government of England, whilst Edward The Confessor involved himself more in church affairs, particularly the work with Westminster Abbey. By 1064 , Harold  was designated ìDuke of the Englishî,  tantamount to heir apparent, but it did not imply succesion absolutely.
There were others who looked at the heirless king Edward and believed themselves rightful claimants by blood, but the Edward had yet to name a succesor at the time he took to his death bed. The king did not support the claim of the young Edward the Aetheling, and it very questionable indeed that he ever would have supported William.
In 1066 it is purported that the king whispered "to Harold"  with a dying breath. Whether or not the king did name him, Harold was a logical choice for England. His powerful position, his relationship to Edward and his esteem among his peers all recommended him to the kingship, and  the Witan (royal advisors representative of all the realm) supported the choice.

Letters from an angry William passed to Harold across the channel. Reminders of promises extracted were forbodingly referred to.  Harold , now King Harold II anticipated William's invasion, and for months sat with his army on England's southern coast (see the norman invasion of England). When the season for crossing had passed, he sent his army back to their fields and families. Almost immediately he heard of the invasion to the north by forces of his brother Tostig and Harold III Hardraade of Norway, who claimed the throne. He rushed off and defeated them at Stamford Bridge (1066). No sooner done with this danger, he learned of William's landing to the south with an astounding number of ships and warriors accompanied by an unprecedented and deadly cargo: their War Horses.  He rushed off to meet this 2nd invading army of his brief reign, and was killed in the battle of Hastings,  struck with an arrow through the eye, his body dismembered on the field. The Duke of Normandy, now 38, with a horrendous childhood behind him, had raised the Norman army that conquered England and was the first of its long line of Norman kings.
William introduced the act of Beheading to England and he brutally subjugated England. Among those who suffered was the man his wife first refused him for, named Brihtric, who was thrown into a dungeon where he died.⁵King William confiscated land, firstly by largely killing the English ruling classes in battles. He  claimed possessions of anyone who had fought against him at Hastings saying Harold was a usurper. "The property of some 5,000 Anglo Saxon landowners was distributed to 200 Normans. Within that number a dozen of William's relatives held a quarter of the country's wealth. ..When faced by insurrection in the north, under Edgar Atheling and Malcolm Cranmore, King of Scotland, he  followed his victory with an unparallelled act of cold blooded vengeance. In a scorched earth campaign he put to fire and sword all the country from the Ouse to the Tyne. It is said that 100,000 people (were)  killed and ...30 years later Yorkshire  (was) largely a barren wasteland"SWAN HILL GENEALOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY
"The Norman conquest of England was completed by 1072 aided by the establishment of feaudalism under which his followers were granted land in return for pledges of service and loyalty. King William (the Conquerer) was noted for his efficient if harsh rule. His administration relied upon Norman and other foreign personnell, especially Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury.".³  In 1085 , in an effort to judge the monies due to him, he started the Domesday Book, describing the England he ruled and so providing understanding of the England he controlled and the lands and their holders within it.
 

William was " still frequenting battlefields in his early sixties.He was constantly ridiculed for being a 'fat man' and was said to be 'lying in' and in the summer of 1087 William went off to the ancient equivalent of a weight loss clinic in Rouen, France. Here he planned to lessen his very substantial girth with a strict diet of herbs and medications.  On the way, though, He engaged in retaliation against an invading French garrison at the border town of Mantes.  He won the battle but lost his life as a result of the celebration. His horse, shying from an ember of the ruins, caused William to be thrown against the pommel of his saddle so violently that his intestines burst. Five weeks later, -- on September 9, 1087 -- England's conqueror died from peritonitis. Within minutes of his death, the servants stole everything from his residence - including his clothes - and left his swollen, lifeless body lying naked on the floor.  An obscure knight named Herluin discovered the body and , at his own expense (apparantly he was not a wealthy man), he arranged for the body to be prepared for the funeral and transported to the abbey of St. Stephen in Caen.
The funeral was disrupted by the outbreak of a fire on a blistering hot day. After extinguishing the fire, the pallbearers tried to cram the king's bloated corpse into a too-small sarcophagus, as the body's abdominal abscess had swollen as a result of the heat. They pushed and pushed, and pulled and pulled, and finally pushed on the stomach. The body exploded, leaking pus and putrefecation all over the royal garb and creating a horrible smell that sent mourners running for the exits. Over the ensuing centuries William's tomb was twice desecrated by French rebels, (once being in 1562 when the Huguenots threw his bones all over the courtyard) -- an ignoble end for one of history's greatest conquerors." ⁵
 

A Very fine, brief and immensely interesting description of the time, lifestyle, customs and eventsl surronding the Battle of Hastings -William of Normandy's conquest of England-by William of Malmesbury is had at the Britannia web site. The greatly revealing  Laws of William the Conquerer are also  viewable at the Britannia web site. They include among other entries such laws as:  *I prohibit the sale of any man by another outside the country on pain of a fine to be paid in full to me.
* I also forbid that anyone shall be slain or hanged for any fault, but let his eyes be put out and let him be castrated. And this command shall not be violated under pain of a fine in full to me.

"Robert was known as the Saint or the Devil depending on whose side you had been on in the Norman civil war and whether or not you believed he had been
responsible for the poisoning of his brother Richard to become the sixth Duke of Normandy.

The unrest continued with some nobles leaving the Duchy to establish a new kingdom in Southern Italy while others pressurised the church with the
monastic records filled with complaints against them. Robert the Dukeís uncle and Archbishop of Rouen since 989 was besieged at Evreux and forced into
exile where he laid the Duchy under an Interdict. The Duke was also at war with Alan III of Britanny, his cousin. The situation couldnít continue and Robert
was recalled and helped to make peace between his two nephews at Mont St Michel in 1030.

The dukeís cousin Edward the Confessor, the son of Robertís aunt Emma, was living in exile in Normandy after his father Aethelred had lost his throne to
the Dane Canute in 1016. In an attempt to help Edward win back the English throne the two of them in 1029 set off with a naval fleet from Fécamp bound for
the Sussex coast. They were met by bad weather, however and Wace wrote ëthey could neither land nor return to Normandy, so they came to the Island of
Gersuií This was the only recorded time that a Norman duke was to set foot on Jersey. They ëwere detained many daysí hoping for the winds to change and
when the didnít abandoned the project and left for Mont St Michel.

The Duke when about seventeen had met a tanners daughter from Falaise called Herleve who had a child called William in 1028. She must have been a
remarkable girl for she was married off to Herluin, Vicomte de Conteville and was to give birth to the famous Odo Bishop of Bayeux and Robert Count of
Mortain who was to become one of the largest landowners in England. But her son William was also made the heir to the Duchy.

In 1031 the young King Henry I of France fell out with his mother Constance and fled to Rouen where Robert provided him with refuge. In thanks Henry gave
the Duke part of the Vexin to control and also gave permission for the right of William to accede.

Having finally brought peace and assured the accession Robert then surprised everybody by announcing he was going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem
following the example of the likes of Fulk of Anjou in 1002 and Geoffrey of Britanny in 1008. Wace describes the great treasure that Robert presented to the
Holy Sepulchre in what could have been seen as an act of penitence for the death of his brother. On his return journey Robert was taken ill in the city of
Nicaea in Bythinia and died. It is claimed by William of Malmesbury that he was poisoned by an official called Ralph Mowin which could have been seen as
poetic justice. "
Back to Robert  , Duke of Normandy VI Entry

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