Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

Robert Fitz Hamon

Male


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  • Name Robert Fitz Hamon 
    Gender Male 
    Person ID I6921  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Family Sybil de Montgomery 
    Children 
     1. Mabel Fitz Robert,   b. of Gloucestershire, England Find all individuals with events at this location
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F2803  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. “Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial & Medieval Families,” Douglas Richardson (2013):
      “ROBERT FITZ ROY, in right of his wife, of Gloucester, Bristol, Tewkesbury, and Cardiff, seigneur of Creully in Calvados, and Torigny in Manche, Normandy, illegitimate son, probably born about 1090. He witnessed charters of his father the king from about April 1113. He fought at the Battle of Brémulé in 1119, where his father, King Henry I, defeated King Louis VI of France. He married before 1122 MABEL FITZ ROBERT, daughter and heiress of Robert Fitz Hamon, of Gloucester, Bristol, Tewkesbury, and Cardiff, seigneur of Creully in Calvados, and Torigny in Manche, Normandy, hereditary Governor of Caen, by Sybil, daughter of Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury. They had six sons, William [Earl of Gloucester], Philip, Hamon, Roger [Bishop of Worcester], Richard [seigneur of Creully], and Robert, and two daughters, Maud and Mabel. By an unknown mistress, he also had an illegitimate son, Richard [Bishop of Bayeux]. He was created Earl of Gloucester between June and September 1122. In 1123 he brought a force to assist in the capture of Brionne Castle, which was held by rebellious Norman barons. In 1126 he had the custody of his uncle, Robert, Duke of Normandy, as a prisoner at Bristol, and later at Cardiff. The same year he secured a working relationship with the Welsh-dominated church of south Wales, under its aggressive bishop, Urban. In 1127 he did homage to the Empress Maud, recognizing her as his father's successor in the kingdom. In 1130 he sanctioned the foundation of Neath Abbey. In 1133, following the death of Richard, Bishop of Bayeux, he was sent by his father to Bayeux to enquire as to the fees and services due to the see by its barons, knights, and vavasours. He was present at his father's death at Lions-le-Forêt in Dec. 1135, and had 60,000 livres from him, apparently as executor. On Stephen's subsequent accession to the English throne and his recognition as Duke by the Normans, Robert gave up Falaise to his agents, but removed his father's treasure. In March 1136 he returned to England, and after Easter did homage for his English lands. About this time or in the following year he founded St. James's Priory at Bristol. In 1137 he accompanied Stephen to Normandy, but they quarrelled, and next year his English and Welsh estates were forfeited. Thereupon he prepared for war with Stephen and took up the cause of his half-sister, Maud, in Normandy. In Sept. 1139 he landed in England with Maud and took her to Arundel Castle, and became her commander-in-chief in the civil war that ensued. His first significant campaign, once the empress was established in England, was directed at the city of Worcester, which he sacked 7 November 1139. In May 1140 he was delegated by his sister to negotiate at Bath with the king' envoys, but nothing came of the meeting. Later in 1140 he and the Earl of Warwick led a successful raid on Nottingham. In 1141 he and his son-in-law, Ranulph, Earl of Chester, recruited a large army, including a force of Welsh under the kings of Glamorgan and Gwynedd. Their army encountered the king's army near Lincoln and dispersed it, capturing the king himself. The king was removed to Gloucester and then to Bristol, Earl Robert's principal English castle. He subsequently accompanied Maud in her progress to Winchester and London, and when the citizens drove her out, he fled with her to Oxford. He was captured at Stockbridge 14 Sept. 1141, and taken prisoner to Rochester. Shortly afterwards, he was exchanged for King Stephen. In June 1142 Maud sent him over to her husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, to urge him to invade England; Geoffrey declined to help until he had conquered Normandy, whereupon Robert joined him in the campaign. Sometime between 1141-3, probably in June 1142, he signed a treaty friendship with Miles, Earl of Hereford, by which the two men agreed to support each other, especially in the war between King Stephen and Empress Maud. In 1143 he defeated King Stephen at Wilton. In 1144 he blockaded Malmesbury, Stephen refusing to battle; but Maud's party was so much reduced that Stephen was able to take Faringdon, which Robert had fortified. He witnessed a charter of Henry d'Oilly in the period, 1144-47. In the spring of 1147 he took Henry, Maud's son, back to Wareham and sent him over to Anjou. In his last year, probably on his deathbed, he made moves to assist the Cistercians, who were attempting to set up a house in upland Glamorgan; the resultant abbey of Margam counted him as its founder. ROBERT FITZ ROY, 1st Earl of Gloucester, died at Bristol 31 October 1147, and was buried in the Priory church of St. James, BristoL His widow, Mabel, Countess of Gloucester, died 29 Sept. 1157.
      Banks Genealogical Hist. of Divers Fams of the Ancient Peerage of England (1826): 301-305. Guizot Hist. des Ducs de Normandie par Guillaume de Jumiège (1826): 284-286 (Guillaume de Jumièges, Histoire des Normands, Liv. VIII, Chap. XXIX). D'Anisy Extrait des Chartes, et autres Actes Normands ou Anglo-Normands 1 (1834): 3-4 (charter of Roger de Creully, son of Richard, son of the Earl of Gloucester). Thorpe Florentii Wigorniensis Monachi Chronicon ex Chronicis 1 (1848): 109 (Chronicle of Florence of Worcester: sub A.D. 1138: Philip [de] Gai styled "kinsman" of Robert, Earl of Gloucester [quendam comitis cognatum Philippum Gal nuncupatum]). Orderici Vitalis Ecclesiasticæ Historicæ Lbri Tredecim 5 (1855): 112-113 ([Christian], wife of William Fitz Alan, styled "kinswoman" of Robert, Earl of Gloucester [neptem Rodberti comitis Gloucestræ]). Arch. Cambrensis 3rd Ser. 8 (1862): 274 (13th Cent. Chronicle sub A.D. 1147: "Fundata est Abbatia de Margan a Roberto Comite Gloucestriæ qui constuxit castrum et turrim et Prioratum bead Jacobi Bristolliæ, qui comes eodem anno obiit et sepultus est in dicto prioratu."), 274 (sub A.D. 1157: "Obiit Mabilia Comitissa Gloucestriæ."). Luard Annales Monastici 1 (Rolls Ser. 36) (1864): 47 (Tewkesbury Annals sub A.D. 1147: "Illustris comes Gloecestriæ Robertus oblit."), 48 (Tewkesbury Annals sub A.D. 1157: "Mabilia comitissa Gloucestriæ obiit"). Hart Historia et Cartularium Monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestriæ 2 (Rolls Ser.) (1865): 10-11 (charter of Robert Fitz Roy, "counsul” of Gloucester dated 1139-47), 50 (charter of M[abel] Countess of Gloucester and her son, Earl William). Delisle Rouleaux des Morts du IXe au XVe Siècle (1866): 328-329. Handbook to the Cathedrals of England: Western Division (1874): 213-214. Arch. Cambnensis 4th Ser. 14 (1883): 7-63 ("Earl Robert was one of the greatest soldiers and most prudent, or perhaps astute, statesmen of his day."). Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France 23 (1894): 580 (Notæ Monasterii Montis Sancti Michaelis: "29 Sept. [Obiit] Mabilia comitissa."), 581 (Notæ Monasterii Montis Sancti Michaelis: "31 Oct. [Obiit] Robertus comes."). Revue Catholique de Normandie 5 (1895): 550-554. Two Cartularies of the Augustinian Priory of Bruton & Cluniac Priory of Montacute (Somerset Rec. Soc. 8) (1894): 183-184 (two undated charters of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, son of the king, both of which name his wife, Countess Mabel). Round Cal. of Docs. Preserved in France 1 (1899): 504 (Nigel Fitz William, owner of lands at Fécamp, styled "kinsman" [nepos] of Robert, Earl of Gloucester in charter dated c.1128) [see also VCH Middlesex 2 (1911): 400; Davis Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum 1066-1154 2 (1956): 221, 362]. Salter Eynsham Cartulary 1 (Oxford Hist. Soc. 49) (1907): 75. D.N.B. 16 (1909): 1242-1244 (biog. of Robert, Earl of Gloucester). C.P. 5 (1926): 683-686 (sub Gloucester); 11 (1949): Appendix D, 105-121. Sanders English Baronies (1960): 6. R. B. Patterson William of Maltnesbury's Robert of Gloucester: a Re-evaluation of the Historia Novella,' American Hist. Rev. 70 (1964-5): 983-997. Davis King Stephen (1967): 134 ("Robert fitz Roy or Robert de Caen, so called because he was the illegitimate son of Henry I by (probably) Sibyl daughter of Robert Corbet burgess of Caen, was created earl of Gloucester between June and September 1120 (Round, Geoffry de Mandeville 420 ff). On Henry I's death he at first hoped to raise Theobald Count of Blois to the throne, but eventually recognized Stephen as king in April 1136. After much hesitation he 'defied' Stephen after 22 May 1138, and from then until his death (31 October 1147) was the principal supporter of the empress Matilda."). Patterson Earldom of Gloucester Charters (1973). Coss Langley Cartulary (Dugdale Soc. 32) (1980): 11 (charter of Robert, Earl of Gloucester dated 1122-35). D. Crouch, 'Robert, earl of Gloucester, and the daughter of Zelophehad,' Jour. of Medieval Hist. 11(1985): 227-243. Green Government of Henry I (1986). Winter Descs. of Charlemagne (800-1400) (1987): XII.658, XIII.1001-XIII.1005, X111.1179. Caenegem English Lawsuits from William I to Richard II (Selden Soc. 106) (1990): 191, 194-195, 249-250; 2 (Selden Soc. 107) (1991): 420-421, 600-601. Chibnall Empress Matilda (1991). Clanchy From Memory to Written Rec., England 1066-1307 (1993): 54-55. Reedy Basset Charters c.1120 to 1250 (Pubs. Pipe Roll Soc. n.s. 50) (1995): 25-26 (charter dated 1146-7 of Empress Maud daughter of King Henry I and her son, Henry; charter witnessed by Robert, Earl of Gloucester, and Robert Fitz Roy). Crouch 'Robert of Gloucester' Mother & Sexual Politics in Norman Oxfordshire,' Fryde & Greenway Handbook of British Chronology (1996): 35. BIHR 72 (1999): 323-333. Crouch Reign of King Stephen, 1135-1154 (2000): 215 (Philip de Gay styled "kinsman" of Robert, Earl of Gloucester [quendam comitis cognatum Philippum Gal nuncupatum]). Hollister Henry I (2003). Johns Noblewomen, Aristocracy & Power in the 12th Cent. Anglo-Norman Realm (2003): 94-95. Jour. of Medieval Hist. 29 (2003): 129-151. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004) (biog. of Robert, first earl of Gloucester: "Robert of Gloucester was one of the great aristocrats of his age. Between 1121 and his death he was rarely rivalled in England for power, wealth, and politial influence. He was a consummate creature of the royal court, a great man of business, affable, and courtly."). Green Henry I, King of England & Duke of Normandy (2006): Appendix I, Chart 2 (chart). Stacy Charters & Custumals of Shaftesbury Abbey, 1089-1216 (2006): xii. University of Toronto Deed Research Project, #00810095 (agreement between Robert, Earl of Gloucester and Miles, Earl of Hereford dated 1141-43) (available at http://res.deeds.utoronto.ca:49838/research).
      Children of Robert Fitz Roy, by Mabel Fitz Robert:
      i. WILLIAM FITZ ROBERT, Earl of Gloucester [see next].
      ii. ROBERT FITZ ROBERT, of Conarton, Cornwell, married HAWISE DE REDVERS [see CHAMPERNOUN 4].
      iii. MAUD OF GLOUCESTER, married RANULPH DE GERNONS, 2nd Earl of Chester [see CHESTER 4].
      iv. MABEL OF GLOUCESTER, married GRUFFUDD AB IVOR BACH, of Senghenydd, Glamorgan. They had one son, Rhys. At an unknown date, he granted Awenet to Brother Meiler for a hermitage or abbey. In the period, c. 1150-53, Earl William of Gloucester gave confirmation of this grant to Margam Abbey. About 1179 he granted land at Leckwith to Margam Abbey. Patterson Earldom of Gloucester Charters (1973): 115. Clark Carter et alia Munimenta qua ad Dominium de Glamorgan 3 (1891): 102 (confirmation charter of William, Earl of Gloucester), 112-113 (charter of Gruffudd ab Ivor Bach dated c.1179; which names his deceased mother, Nesta; charter witnessed by his "kinsman" [nepote] Ivor Peredeu).”