Richard I
"Sans Peur" ("the Fearless") Richard I
"Sans Peur" ("the Fearless")A minor at the assassination of his father William in 942, it was largely during Richard's long period of rule that what eventually became the duchy of Normandy evolved from what was essentially a pirate principality into a feudal state. Richard is described by such a wide range of words (comes, marchio, consul, princeps, dux) by various sources (sometimes of dubious authority) that it would be difficult to argue that there is a specific "title" by which he should be called [see Helmerichs 1997]. Richard was succeeded by his son Richard II in 996.
Date of Birth: uncertain, but still a boy at the death of his
father in 942.
Place of
Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: 21 November 996.
[Dudo iv, 57 (p. 173: year only); GND iv, 20 (vol.
1, pp. 134-5: year only); Ex Obituario Gemmeticensi,
RHF 23, 422 (21 Nov.); Notæ Monasterii Montis Sancti
Micaelis, RHF 23, 570 (21 Nov.); see also Douglas (1950)]
Place of Death: Fécamp.
[Dudo iv, 57 (pp. 171-3); GND iv, 20 (vol. 1, pp.
134-5)]
Father:
Guillaume (William)
I, d. 17 December 942, princeps
Nortmannorum.
[Flodoard's Annals, s.a. 960, MGH SS 3:
405, van Houts (2000), 51]
Mother:
Sprota.
[GND iii, 2 (vol. 1, pp. 78-9)]
Spouses:
m. (1) 960 [Flodoard's Annals, s.a. 960 (MGH SS 3, 405)], Emma of France, still alive 966 [GND 1: 129, n. 6, citing Fauroux (1961), #3], d.s.p. [Dudo iv, 85 (p. 163); GND iv, 18 (vol. 1, pp. 128-9)], daughter of Hughes le Grand, duke of France. [Flodoard's Annals, s.a. 960 (MGH SS 3: 405); GND iv, 10, 18 (vol. 1, pp. 116-7, 128-9)]
m. (2) [GND iv, 18 (vol. 1, pp. 128-9): not long after Emma's death], Gunnor [Dudo iv, 125 (p. 163)], d. 4 or 8 January 1031 [Chron. Rothomag. RHF 10: 324 (year only); Ex Obituario Gemmeticensi, RHF 23, 417 (4 Jan.); Notæ Monasterii Montis Sancti Micaelis, RHF 23, 576 (8 Jan.)]. Robert de Torigny, in his additions to GND, stated that she was first Richard's mistress, and that the marriage occurred after the birth of the children. [GND (Rob. Tor.) viii, 36 (vol. 2, pp. 266-9)]
Children:
by Gunnor:
Dudo iv, 125 (p. 164) indicates that there were five sons and
three daughters of this union, without listing them. Of the
children, Guillaume de Jumièges names Richard, Robert, and
Mauger, and all three of the daughters, including their marriages
[GND iv, 18 (vol. 1, pp. 128-131)].
Richard II, d. 23 August 1026, duke of Normandy.
Robert, d. 1037, archbishop of Rouen and count of Évreux.
Mauger, died after 1033, count of
Corbeil.
Robertus Danus, d. bef. 985×989.
[See the note by Elisabeth van Houts in GND
1: 130 (she cites Fauroux (1961), 22 and Obit. Sens 2: 193)]
son
One additional son of Richard and Gunnor is needed to make the
total come to five.
Emma of Normandy, d. 1052;
m. (1) Æthelred
II "the Unready", d.
23 April 1016, king of England;
m. (2) Knud/Canute, d. 1035, king of England,
Denmark and Norway.
Hawise, d. 1034, m. Geoffrey I,
duke of Bretagne (Brittany).
Mathilde, d. bef. 1005, m. Eudes
II, count of Blois.
by unknown
mistress(es):
Dudo [iv, 125 (p. 163)] states that Richard had two sons (named
as Geoffrey and Guillaume) and two daughters (unnamed) by other
mistresses. The fact that the number of daughters matches the
additional daughters who can be established from other sources is
probably a coincidence.
Godefroy/Geoffrey, count of Eu and
Brionne.
Guillaume, count of Eu, prob. d. bef.
1040 [see Douglas (1946), 137-8].
Robert, count of Avranches.
That count Robert was an illegitimate son of Richard was proposed
by Douglas (1946). The arguments given in Potts (1992) seem to
place this attribution beyond any reasonable doubt. The key
pieces of evidence given by Potts are the statement of Vita
Gauzlini that Robert's son Richard was a nephew of Richard
II, and a charter of William the Conqueror referring to Robert as
brother of Richard II.
Béatrix, abbess of Montvilliers in
1035, earlier m. Ebles, viscount of Turenne
[From The Miracles of Sainte-Foy, with
translated excerpts in van Houts (2000), 215-7]
(probable) daughter, m. Gulbert,
advocate of St. Valéry-en-Caux.
The main primary source is OV vi, 8 [vol. 3, pp. 252-3]:
"Gulbertus cognomento Aduocatus de Sancto Gualerico filiam
Ricardi ducis uxorem duxit ex qua Bernardum patrem Gualteri de
Sancto Gualerico et Ricardum de Hugeuilla genuit. Ricardus autem
duci Normanniæ auunculo uidelicet suo diu militauit, cuius dono
nobilem Adam Herluini senis de Hugleuilla relictam cum toto
patrimonio eius accepit." The "duke Richard" whose
daughter married Gulbert has been variously identified, e.g., as
Richard I [e.g., Searle (1988), 100, 289], Richard II [e.g.,
Stasser (1990), 56], and even Richard III [e.g., Douglas (1964),
65]. Although Searle did not explicitly state her reason for
making Richard I the father of Gulbert's wife, it seems clear
that it was based on chronological considerations, for she cites
a charter of 1025 [Faroux no. 34] which was attested by Richard
son of Gulbert, which seems to rule out that Richard's mother
could be a daughter of any Norman duke later than Richard I. The
chronology of other members of the family also fits well with
Richard I as Gulbert's father-in-law. The matter has been
confused somewhat by two other references, one in the ninth book
of Orderic's Ecclesiastical History, in a list of those joining
Robert Curthose on Crusade in 1096 ["... Gualterius
comes de Sancto Gualerico Ricardi iunioris ducis Normannorum ex
filia nomine Papia nepos, ...", OV, 5: 34-5], and the
other in Robert de Torigny's Chronicle under the year 1026
["Mortuo Ricardo secundo duce Normannorum, filio primi
Ricardi, successit ei filius eius Ricardus tercius. Hic
genuit Nicolaum postea abbatem Sancti Audoeni et duas filias,
Papiam videlicet uxorem Walteri de Sancto Walerico, et Aeliz,
uxorem Ranulfi vicecomitis de Baiocis.", Chr. Rob.
Tor., MGH SS 6: 478]. It seems difficult to reconcile all three
accounts without having marriages between the families in three
succesive generations, which would give highly unlikely
first-cousin marriages in two successive generations. It seems
likely that at least one of the three accounts is confused (most
likely Orderic's second account). Since the accounts could well
be describing more than one marriage between the two families,
the name of Gulbert's wife is unclear. The above contradictions
(which make it possible that it is Orderic's first account that
is confused), and the fact that there is no known contemporary
proof for the relationship, is why the link is listed as
"probable" above. Given the lack of a detailed
discussion in the secondary sources mentioning this link, a more
detailed study would be desirable. (In September 2002, there was
a thread entitled "Reginald de St. Valery and His
Descendants" in the soc.genealogy.medieval/GEN-MEDIEVAL
internet newsgroup/mailing list, in which some of the postings
discussed this matter, including one by Todd Farmerie that
discussed the above chronological considerations.)
See Commentary for supposed additional children.
Falsely attributed children:
Muriella, m. Tancred de
Hauteville.
Fredesende, m. Tancred de
Hauteville.
These two women are sometimes also given as children of Richard II. ES 2, 79 places them as children of Richard I. See the page of Richard II for a discussion of why they should not be placed as daughters of either one of these Norman leaders.
Chr. Rob. Tor. = L. C. Bethemann, ed., Roberti de Monte Chronica (a continuation by Robert de Torigny of the chronicle of Sigebert de Gembloux), MGH SS 6, 476-535.
Douglas (1946) = David Douglas, "The Earliest Norman Counts", EHR 61 (1946), 129-156.
Douglas (1950) = David Douglas, "Some Problems of Early Norman Chronology", EHR 65 (1950), 289-303.
Douglas (1964) = David C. Douglas, William the Conqueror (University of California Press, Berkeley & Los Angeles, 1964).
Dudo = Eric Christiansen, ed. & trans., Dudo of St. Quentin, History of the Normans (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1998). Citation is by book and chapter of Dudo's work, with the page number in parentheses.
ES = Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln (neue Folge), (Marburg, 1980-present).
Fauroux (1961) = Marie Fauroux, Recueil des actes des ducs de Normandie de 911 à 1066 (Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie 36, Caen, 1961).
Flodoard' Annals = Flodoard, Annales, MGH SS 3: 363-408.
GND = Guillaume de Jumièges, Gesta Normannorum Ducum, as edited in Elisabeth van Houts, ed. & trans., The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni, 2 vols., (Oxford, 1992). Citation is by book and chapter of Guillaume's work, with the volume and page number of the edition by van Houts in parentheses. Unless otherwise stated, references are to Guillaume's work, and not to later additions by such authors as Orderic Vitalis and Robert de Torigny.
GND (Rob. Tor.) = Additions to GND by Robert de Torigny.
Helmerichs (1997) = Robert Helmerichs, "Princeps, Comes, Dux Normannorum: Early Rollonid Designators and their Significance", Haskins Society Journal 9 (1997), 57-77.
MGH SS = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores series.
Obit. Sens = Obituaires de la Province de Sens (2 vols. in 3, Paris, 1902-6).
OV = Marjorie Chibnall, ed. & trans., The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, 6 vols. (Oxford, 1969-80).
Potts (1992) = Cassandra Potts, "The Earliest Norman Counts Revisited: The Lords of Mortain", The Haskins Society Journal 4 (1992), 23-35.
RHF = Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France.
Searle (1988) = Eleanor Searle, Predatory Kinship and the Creation of Norman Power, 840-1066 (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1988).
Stasser (1990) = Thierry Stasser, "'Mathilde, Fille du Comte Richard': Essai d'identification", Annales de Normandie 40 (1990), 49-64.
van Houts (2000) = Elisabeth van Houts, ed. & trans., The Normans in Europe (Manchester & New York, 2000) [gives English translations of many of the primary sources relevant to early Norman history]
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 8 February 2004