Richard I, Duke of Normandy
| Richard I "the Fearless" | |
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| Richard the Fearless as part of the Six Dukes of Normandy statue in the town square of Falaise. | |
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| Reign | 17 December 942 – 20 November 996 (53 years, 339 days) |
| Predecessor | William I |
| Successor | Richard II |
| Spouse | Emma of France Gunnor |
| Issue | |
| Richard II of Normandy Robert II (Archbishop of Rouen) Mauger Robert Danus Willam? Emma of Normandy Maud of Normandy Hawise of Normandy Geoffrey, Count of Eu (illegitimate) William, Count of Eu (illegitimate) Beatrice of Normandy (illegitimate) Robert (illegitimate) Papia (illegitimate) |
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| Father | William I, Duke of Normandy |
| Mother | Sprota |
| Born | 28 August 933 Fécamp Normandy, France |
| Died | 20 November 996 Fécamp Normandy, France |
Richard I of Normandy (933-996), also known as Richard the Fearless (French, Sans Peur), was the Duke of Normandy from 942 to 996[1]. He was called dux by Dudo of Saint-Quentin, who Richard commissioned to write his De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum (Concerning the Customs and Deeds of the First Dukes of the Normans), but this use of the word dux may have been in the context of a war leader and not a title.[2][a] If he didn’t introduce feudalism into Normandy he greatly expanded it. By the end of his reign most important landholders held their lands in feudal tenure.[3]
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[edit] Birth
He was born to William I of Normandy, princeps[4] or ruler of Normandy, and Sprota[1]. He was about 10 years old when his father was killed on 17 December 942[1]. His mother was a Breton concubine captured in war and bound to William by a Danish marriage.[5] William was told of the birth of a son after the battle with Riouf and other viking rebels, but his existence was kept secret until a few years later when William Longsword first met his son Richard. After kissing the boy and declaring him his heir, William sent Richard to be raised in Bayeux.[6] After William was killed, Sprota became the wife of Esperleng, a wealthy miller; Rodulf of Ivry was their son and Richard's half-brother.[7]
[edit] Life
When his father died, Louis IV of France seized Normandy, installed the boy Richard in his father's office, then placed him in the care of the count of Ponthieu.[8] The king then split the lands, giving lands in lower Normandy to Hugh the Great. Louis kept Richard in confinement at Lâon,[9] but he escaped with the assistance of Osmond de Centville, Bernard de Senlis (who had been a companion of Rollo of Normandy), Ivo de Bellèsme, and Bernard the Dane[10] (ancestor of families of Harcourt and Beaumont).[b]
In 946, Richard agreed to "commend" himself to Hugh, Count of Paris. He then allied himself with the Norman and Viking leaders, drove Louis out of Rouen, and took back Normandy by 947.[11]
In 962 Theobald I, Count of Blois attacked Rouen, Richard’s stronghold, but his army was defeated by the Normans and retreated never having crossed the Siene.[12][13] Lothair king of the West Franks stepped in to prevent any further war between the two.[14]
Afterwards and until his death in 996 Richard concentrated on Normandy itself and had less dealings in Frankish politics and petty wars. He built up the Norman Empire not by expansion, but by stabilizing and uniting his followers into a cohesive and formidable principality.[15]
Richard used marriage to build strong alliances . His marriage to Emma connected him to the Capet family. His wife Gunnor, from a rival Viking group in the Cotentin, formed an alliance to that group, while her sisters form the core group that was to provide loyal followers to him and his successors.[16] His daughters provided valuable marriage alliances with powerful neighboring counts as well as to the king of England.[16]
He also built on his relationship with the church, restoring their lands and insured the great monasteries flourished. His reign was marked by an extended period of peace and tranquility.[16][17]
[edit] Marriages
His first marriage (960) was to Emma, daughter of Hugh "The Great" of France,[1][18] and Hedwiga de Sachsen.[18] They were betrothed when both were very young. She died after 19 March 968, with no issue.[1]
According to Robert of Torigni, not long after Emma's death, Duke Richard went out hunting and stopped at the house of a local forester. He became enamoured of the forester's wife, Seinfreda, but she being a virtuous woman, suggested he court her unmarried sister, Gunnor, instead. Gunnor became his mistress, and her family rose to prominence. Her brother, Herefast de Crepon, may have been involved in a controversial heresy trial. Gunnor was, like Richard, of Norse descent, being a Dane by blood. Richard finally married her to legitimize their children:[c]
- Richard II "the Good", Duke of Normandy[1]
- Geoffrey, Count of Eu[1][19]
- Robert, Archbishop of Rouen, Count of Evreux[1]
- Mauger, Earl of Corbeil[1]
- Emma of Normandy, wife of two kings of England[1]
- Maud of Normandy, wife of Odo II of Blois, Count of Blois, Champagne and Chartres[1]
- Hawise of Normandy m. Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany[1]
[edit] Mistresses
Richard was known to have had several other mistresses and produced children with many of them. Known children are:
- William, Count of Eu (ca. 972-26 January 1057/58)[19], m. Leseline de Turqueville (d. 26 January 1057/58).
- Beatrice of Normandy, Abbess of Montvilliers d.1034 m. Ebles of Turenne[1] (d.1030 (divorced)
- "Papia" [d]
[edit] Other claims
The two wives of Tancred of Hauteville were claimed to be daughters of 'Richard of Normandy' (either I or II), although sources are late and considered untrustworthy.[20]
[edit] Death
He died in Fecamp, France on 20 November 996.[23]
[edit] Depictions in Fiction
The Little Duke, a Victorian Juvenile novel by Charlotte Mary Yonge is a fictionalized account of Richard's boyhood and early struggles.
[edit] Genealogy
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II: Die Ausserdeutschen Staaten Die Regierenden Häuser der Übrigen Staaten Europas(Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 79
- ^ Eleanor Searle, Predatory Kinship and the Creation of Norman Power, 840-1066 (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1988), pp. 125-6
- ^ Emily Zack Tabuteau, 'Ownership and Tenure in Eleventh-Century Normandy', The American Journal of Legal History, Vol. 21, No. 2, (Apr., 1977), p. 99
- ^ The Annals of Flodoard of Reims; 916-966, ed. & trans. Steven Fanning and Bernard S. Bachrach (University of Toronto Press, 2011), p. 32
- ^ The Normans in Europe, ed. & trans. Elisabeth van Houts (Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 47 n. 77
- ^ Eleanor Searle, Predatory Kinship and the Creation of Norman Power, 840-1066 (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1988), p. 95
- ^ Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band III Teilband 4, Das Feudale Frankreich und Sien Einfluss auf des Mittelalters (Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1989), Tafel 694A
- ^ Pierre Riché, The Carolingians; A Family who Forged Europe, trans. Michael Idomir Allen (University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1993) pp. 262-3
- ^ Eleanor Searle, Predatory Kinship and the Creation of Norman Power, 840-1066 (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1988), p. 80
- ^ The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumieges, Orderic Vatalis, and Robert of Torigni, Vol. I, ed. & trans. Elisabeth M.C. van Houts (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992) pp. 103, 105
- ^ Eleanor Searle, Predatory Kinship and the Creation of Norman Power, 840-1066 (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1988), pp. 85-6
- ^ Eleanor Searle, Predatory Kinship and the Creation of Norman Power, 840-1066 (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1988), p. 86
- ^ The Annals of Flodoard of Reims; 916-966, ed. & trans. Steven Fanning and Bernard S. Bachrach (University of Toronto Press, 2011), p. 66
- ^ Pierre Riché, The Carolingians; A Family who Forged Europe, trans. Michael Idomir Allen (University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1993), p. 265
- ^ Eleanor Searle, Predatory Kinship and the Creation of Norman Power, 840-1066 (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1988), p. 89
- ^ a b c A Companion to the Anglo-Norman World, ed. Christopher Harper-Bill, Elisabeth Van Houts (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 2007), p. 27
- ^ François Neveux. A Brief History of The Normans (Constable & Robbinson, Ltd, London, 2008), pp. 73. 74
- ^ a b Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II: Die Ausserdeutschen Staaten Die Regierenden Häuser der Übrigen Staaten Europas(Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 10
- ^ a b David Douglas, 'The Earliest Norman Counts', The English Historical Review, Vol.61, No. 240 (May, 1946), p. 140
- ^ http://sbaldw.home.mindspring.com/hproject/prov/richa001.htm
- ^ Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II: Die Ausserdeutschen Staaten Die Regierenden Häuser der Übrigen Staaten Europas(Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 205
- ^ Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II: Die Ausserdeutschen Staaten Die Regierenden Häuser der Übrigen Staaten Europas(Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 204
- ^ François Neveux. A Brief History of The Normans (Constable & Robbinson, Ltd, London, 2008), p. 74
[edit] Notes
- ^ For different meanings of Latin word dux (pl. ducum) see Wikipedia “Dux”.
- ^ Follow the links to these two families for more on Bernard the Dane as progenitor.
- ^ See the article by Todd A. Farmerie: Robert de Torigny and the family of Gunnor, Duchess of Normandy .
- ^ See Stuart Baldwin, Henry Project: Richard "Sans peur" for theories on Papia as well as Fressenda and Muriella.
[edit] External links
| French nobility | ||
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| Preceded by William I |
Duke of Normandy 942–996 |
Succeeded by Richard II |
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