Robert Fitzhamon
Encyclopedia
Robert Fitzhamon or Robert FitzHamon, Sieur de Creully in the Calvados
region and Torigny in the Manche
region of Normandy
, was Lord of Gloucester
and the Norman conqueror
of Glamorgan
, southern Wales
. He became the leader of Glamorgan in 1075.
As a kinsman of the Conqueror
and one of the few Anglo-Norman
barons to remain loyal to the two successive kings William Rufus and Henry I of England
, he was a prominent figure in England and Normandy.
Not much is known about his earlier life, or his precise relationship to William I of England
.
, Normandy) was the son of Haimo
the Sheriff of Kent and grandson of Haimo Dentatus ('The Toothy', i.e., probably buck-toothed). His grand-father held the lordships of Torigny, Creully, Mézy, and Evrecy in Normandy, but following his death at the Battle of Val-ès-Dunes
in 1047, the family might have lost these lordships.
Robert probably did not fight at Hastings
, and does not appear in the Domesday Book
, although some relatives may. He first comes to prominence as a supporter of William Rufus
during the Rebellion of 1088
. After the revolt failed he was rewarded with great estates in Gloucestershire
and elsewhere. Some of these had belonged to the late Queen Matilda
, and were supposed to be inherited by Rufus's younger brother Henry (the future Henry I
); nevertheless Fitzhamon remained on good terms with Henry.
The chronology of Fitzhamon's conquest of Glamorgan is uncertain, but it probably took place in the decades after he received Gloucester.
, which dates from the 16th century, in which the Welsh Prince Iestyn ap Gwrgan (Jestin), prince or Lord of Glamorgan, supposedly called in the assistance of Robert Fitzhamon. Fitzhamon defeated the prince of South Wales Rhys ap Tewdwr
in battle in 1090. With his Norman knights as reward he then took possession of Glamorgan, and "the French came into Dyned and Ceredigion, which they have still retained, and fortified the castles, and seized upon all the land of the Britons." Iestyn did not profit long by his involvement with the Normans. He was soon defeated and his lands taken in 1091.
Whether there is any truth in the legend or not Robert Fitzhamon seems to have seized control of the lowlands of Glamorgan and Gwynllwg
sometime from around 1089 to 1094. His key strongholds were Cardiff Castle
, which already may have been built, on the site of an old Roman fort, new castles at Newport
, and at Kenfig
. His descendants would inherit these castles and lands.
Rhys's daughter Nest became the mistress of King Henry I of England
and allegedly was mother of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester
who married Mabel, Fitzhamon's daughter and heiress and thus had legitimacy both among the Welsh and the Norman barons. (Robert of Caen's mother is however unknown to historians and genealogists).
in 1092. The abbey's dimensions are almost the same as Westminster Abbey
. The first abbot was Giraldus, Abbot of Cranborne (d. 1110) who died before the abbey was consecrated in October 1121. The abbey was apparently built under the influence of his wife Sybil de Montgomery. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=40269, said to be a beautiful and religious woman like her sisters.
In any case Fitzhamon proved as loyal to Henry I
as he had been to his predecessor, remaining on Henry's side in the several open conflicts with Henry's brother Robert Curthose. He was one of the three barons who negotiated the 1101 truce between Henry I and Robert Curthose.
In 1105 he went to Normandy and was captured while fighting near his ancestral estates near Bayeux
. This was one of the reasons Henry crossed the channel with a substantial force later that year. Fitzhamon was freed, and joined Henry's campaign, which proceeded to besiege Falaise
. There Fitzhamon was severely injured in the head; although he lived two more years he was never the same mentally. He was buried in the Chapter House at Tewkesbury Abbey
, which he had founded and considerably enriched during his lifetime.
, by whom he is said to have had four daughters. His eldest daughter Mabel inherited his great estates and married Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester
around 1107. Fitzhamon's Gloucestershire property thus became the nucleus of the Earldom of Gloucester
later given to his son-in-law. Fitzhamon is sometimes called Earl of Gloucester, but was never so created formally.
Another daughter Isabella (or Hawisa) is said to have been married to a count from Brittany, but no further details exist. His widow and two other daughters (unnamed) are reported to have entered a convent.
Robert Fitzhamon's great granddaughter Isabel of Gloucester
married John of England
.
Calvados
The French department of Calvados is part of the region of Basse-Normandie in Normandy. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the English Channel coast...
region and Torigny in the Manche
Manche
Manche is a French department in Normandy named after La Manche , which is the French name for the English Channel.- History :Manche is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
region of Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, was Lord of Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
and the Norman conqueror
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
of Glamorgan
Glamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
, southern Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. He became the leader of Glamorgan in 1075.
As a kinsman of the Conqueror
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
and one of the few Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
barons to remain loyal to the two successive kings William Rufus and Henry I of England
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
, he was a prominent figure in England and Normandy.
Not much is known about his earlier life, or his precise relationship to William I of England
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
.
Parentage and ancestry
Robert FitzHamon (born c. 1045-1055, d. March 1107 FalaiseFalaise, Calvados
Falaise is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.-History:The town was the birthplace of William I the Conqueror, first of the Norman Kings of England. The Château de Falaise , which overlooks the town from a high crag, was formerly the seat of...
, Normandy) was the son of Haimo
Haimo (dapifer)
Haimo or Hamo was an Anglo-Norman royal official under both King William I of England and King William II of England. He held the office of dapifer, or seneschal, as well as the office of Sheriff of Kent.Haimo was the son of Haimo Dentatus, a Norman lord who held Torigny-sur-Vire near Manche in...
the Sheriff of Kent and grandson of Haimo Dentatus ('The Toothy', i.e., probably buck-toothed). His grand-father held the lordships of Torigny, Creully, Mézy, and Evrecy in Normandy, but following his death at the Battle of Val-ès-Dunes
Battle of Val-ès-Dunes
The Battle of Val-ès-Dunes was fought in 1047 by the combined forces of William, Duke of Normandy and King Henry I of France against the forces of several rebel Norman barons, led by Gui of Burgundy , the son of Reginald I, Count of Burgundy....
in 1047, the family might have lost these lordships.
Career in England and Wales
Few details of Robert's career prior to 1087 are available.Robert probably did not fight at Hastings
Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...
, and does not appear in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
, although some relatives may. He first comes to prominence as a supporter of William Rufus
William II of England
William II , the third son of William I of England, was King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales...
during the Rebellion of 1088
Rebellion of 1088
The Rebellion of 1088 occurred after the death of William the Conqueror and concerned the division of lands in the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy between his two sons William Rufus and Robert Curthose...
. After the revolt failed he was rewarded with great estates in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
and elsewhere. Some of these had belonged to the late Queen Matilda
Matilda of Flanders
Matilda of Flanders was the wife of William the Conqueror and, as such, Queen consort of the Kingdom of England. She bore William nine/ten children, including two kings, William II and Henry I.-Marriage:...
, and were supposed to be inherited by Rufus's younger brother Henry (the future Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
); nevertheless Fitzhamon remained on good terms with Henry.
The chronology of Fitzhamon's conquest of Glamorgan is uncertain, but it probably took place in the decades after he received Gloucester.
The Twelve Knights of Glamorgan
One explanation is the legend of the Twelve Knights of GlamorganTwelve Knights of Glamorgan
Twelve Knights of Glamorgan were the legendary followers of Robert FitzHamon, the Norman conqueror of Glamorgan. They are figures in early Welsh history....
, which dates from the 16th century, in which the Welsh Prince Iestyn ap Gwrgan (Jestin), prince or Lord of Glamorgan, supposedly called in the assistance of Robert Fitzhamon. Fitzhamon defeated the prince of South Wales Rhys ap Tewdwr
Rhys ap Tewdwr
Rhys ap Tewdwr was a Prince of Deheubarth in south-west Wales and member of the Dinefwr dynasty, a branch descended from Rhodri the Great...
in battle in 1090. With his Norman knights as reward he then took possession of Glamorgan, and "the French came into Dyned and Ceredigion, which they have still retained, and fortified the castles, and seized upon all the land of the Britons." Iestyn did not profit long by his involvement with the Normans. He was soon defeated and his lands taken in 1091.
Whether there is any truth in the legend or not Robert Fitzhamon seems to have seized control of the lowlands of Glamorgan and Gwynllwg
Gwynllwg
Gwynllŵg was a kingdom of mediæval Wales and later a Norman lordship and then a cantref.-Location:It was named after Gwynllyw, its 5th century or 6th century ruler and consisted of the coastal plain stretching between the Rhymney and Usk rivers, together with the hills to the north...
sometime from around 1089 to 1094. His key strongholds were Cardiff Castle
Cardiff Castle
Cardiff Castle is a medieval castle and Victorian architecture Gothic revival mansion, transformed from a Norman keep erected over a Roman fort in the Castle Quarter of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The Castle is a Grade I Listed Building.-The Roman fort:...
, which already may have been built, on the site of an old Roman fort, new castles at Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
, and at Kenfig
Kenfig
Kenfig is a village and former borough in Bridgend, Wales.The borough contributed with other Glamorgan towns to sending a member of parliament to Westminster until the Reform Act of 1832...
. His descendants would inherit these castles and lands.
Rhys's daughter Nest became the mistress of King Henry I of England
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
and allegedly was mother of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester
Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester
Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester was an illegitimate son of King Henry I of England. He was called "Rufus" and occasionally "de Caen", he is also known as Robert "the Consul"...
who married Mabel, Fitzhamon's daughter and heiress and thus had legitimacy both among the Welsh and the Norman barons. (Robert of Caen's mother is however unknown to historians and genealogists).
Founder of Tewkesbury Abbey (1092)
He also refounded Tewkesbury AbbeyTewkesbury Abbey
The Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Tewkesbury in the English county of Gloucestershire is the second largest parish church in the country and a former Benedictine monastery.-History:...
in 1092. The abbey's dimensions are almost the same as Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
. The first abbot was Giraldus, Abbot of Cranborne (d. 1110) who died before the abbey was consecrated in October 1121. The abbey was apparently built under the influence of his wife Sybil de Montgomery. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=40269, said to be a beautiful and religious woman like her sisters.
Fitzhamon and His Kings
Legend has it that Robert had ominous dreams in the days before Rufus' fatal hunting expedition, which postponed but did not prevent the outing. He was one of the first to gather in tears around Rufus' corpse, and he used his cloak to cover the late king's body on its journey to be buried in Winchester. How much of these stories are the invention of later days is unknown.In any case Fitzhamon proved as loyal to Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
as he had been to his predecessor, remaining on Henry's side in the several open conflicts with Henry's brother Robert Curthose. He was one of the three barons who negotiated the 1101 truce between Henry I and Robert Curthose.
In 1105 he went to Normandy and was captured while fighting near his ancestral estates near Bayeux
Bayeux
Bayeux is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France.Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England.-Administration:Bayeux is a sub-prefecture of Calvados...
. This was one of the reasons Henry crossed the channel with a substantial force later that year. Fitzhamon was freed, and joined Henry's campaign, which proceeded to besiege Falaise
Falaise, Calvados
Falaise is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.-History:The town was the birthplace of William I the Conqueror, first of the Norman Kings of England. The Château de Falaise , which overlooks the town from a high crag, was formerly the seat of...
. There Fitzhamon was severely injured in the head; although he lived two more years he was never the same mentally. He was buried in the Chapter House at Tewkesbury Abbey
Tewkesbury Abbey
The Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Tewkesbury in the English county of Gloucestershire is the second largest parish church in the country and a former Benedictine monastery.-History:...
, which he had founded and considerably enriched during his lifetime.
Marriage and children
Fitzhamon married Sybil de Montgomery around 1087 to 1090, apparently the youngest daughter of Roger of Montgomery, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury by his first wife Mabel Talvas, daughter of William I TalvasWilliam I Talvas
William I Talvas , seigneur of Alençon. He was a son of William of Bellême and Mathilde of Condé-sur-Noireau.He assumed the Bellême estates upon the murder of his brother Robert, by the Sor family in revenge for the deaths of their father and brothers...
, by whom he is said to have had four daughters. His eldest daughter Mabel inherited his great estates and married Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester
Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester
Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester was an illegitimate son of King Henry I of England. He was called "Rufus" and occasionally "de Caen", he is also known as Robert "the Consul"...
around 1107. Fitzhamon's Gloucestershire property thus became the nucleus of the Earldom of Gloucester
Earl of Gloucester
The title of Earl of Gloucester was created several times in the Peerage of England. A fictional earl is also a character in William Shakespeare's play King Lear. See also Duke of Gloucester.-Earls of Gloucester, 1st Creation :...
later given to his son-in-law. Fitzhamon is sometimes called Earl of Gloucester, but was never so created formally.
Another daughter Isabella (or Hawisa) is said to have been married to a count from Brittany, but no further details exist. His widow and two other daughters (unnamed) are reported to have entered a convent.
Robert Fitzhamon's great granddaughter Isabel of Gloucester
Isabel of Gloucester
Isabel of Gloucester was the first wife of King John of England. This historical figure is known by an exceptionally large number of alternative names: Hadwisa, Hawisia, Hawise, Joan, Eleanor, Avise and Avisa....
married John of England
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
.