Family of Robert I * + and Herleva * + of FALAISE

Husband:	Robert I * + (1000-1035)
Wife:	Herleva * + of FALAISE (1003-1078)
Children:	Adelaide + of NORMANDY (1026-1090)
	William I* + of NORMANDY (1027-1087)
	Nigelus + of PLUMPTON (1034- )
	Emma + of CONTEVILLE (1043-1068)
	Adelaide + of CRECY (1048-1104)
Status:	Never Married
Marriage

Husband: Robert I * +

Wife: Herleva * + of FALAISE

Name:	Herleva * + of FALAISE
Sex:	Female
Father:	Fulbert + of FALAISE (978-1017)
Mother:	Doda + MCMALCOM (980- )
Birth	9 Jun 1003	Falaise, Bassee-Normandie, France
Death	23 Apr 1078 (age 74)	Grestain, Eure, Haute-Normandy, France
Burial		Abbey of Grestain

Child 1: Adelaide + of NORMANDY

Child 2: William I* + of NORMANDY

Child 3: Nigelus + of PLUMPTON

Name:	Nigelus + of PLUMPTON
Sex:	Male
Spouse:	Maria + ALB (c. 1035- )
Birth	1034	Normandy, France

Child 4: Emma + of CONTEVILLE

Name:	Emma + of CONTEVILLE
Sex:	Female
Spouse:	Richard + of GOZ (1025-1066)
Birth	1043	Conteville, Calvados, Basse-Normandy, France
Death	1068 (age 24-25)	Avranches, Normandy, France

Child 5: Adelaide + of CRECY

Note on Husband: Robert I * +

Robert the Magnificent (22 June 1000 – 3 July 1035), also called Robert the Devil was the Duke of Normandy from 1027 until his death. Owing to uncertainty over the numbering of the Dukes of Normandy he is usually called Robert I, but sometimes Robert II with his ancestor Rollo as Robert I. He was the son of Richard II of Normandy and Judith, daughter of Conan I of Rennes. He was the father of William the Conqueror.

 

When his father died, his elder brother Richard succeeded, whilst he became Count of Hiémois. When Richard died a year later, there were great suspicions that Robert had Richard murdered, hence his other nickname, "the Devil". He is sometimes identified with the legendary Robert the Devil.

 

Robert aided King Henry I of France against Henry's rebellious brother and mother, and for his help he was given the territory of the Vexin. He also intervened in the affairs of Flanders, supported his cousin Edward the Confessor, who was then in exile at Robert's court, and sponsored monastic reform in Normandy.

 

By his mistress, Herleva of Falaise, he was father of the future William I of England (1028–1087). He also had an illegitimate daughter, but the only chronicler to explicitly address the issue, Robert of Torigny, contradicts himself, once indicating that she had a distinct mother from William, elsewhere stating that they shared the same mother. This daughter, Adelaide of Normandy (1030 – c. 1083), married three times: to Enguerrand II, Count of Ponthieu, Lambert II, Count of Lens, and Odo II of Champagne.

 

After making his illegitimate son William his heir, he set out on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. According to the Gesta Normannorum Ducum he travelled by way of Constantinople, reached Jerusalem, and died on the return journey at Nicaea on 2 July 1035. Some sources attribute his death to poison and date it to 1 or 3 July. His son William, aged about eight, succeeded him.

 

According to the historian William of Malmesbury, William sent a mission to Constantinople and Nicaea, charging it with bringing his father's body back to be buried in Normandy. Permission was granted, but, having travelled as far as Apulia (Italy) on the return journey, the envoys learned that William himself had meanwhile died. They then decided to re-inter Robert's body in Italy.

Note on Wife: Herleva * + of FALAISE

Herleva (c. 1003 – c. 1050) also known as Herleve,[1] Arlette,[2] Arletta[3] and Arlotte,[4] was the mother of William I of England. She had two other sons, Odo of Bayeux and Robert, Count of Mortain, who became prominent in William's realm.

 

The background of Herleva and the circumstances of William's birth are shrouded in mystery. The written evidence dates from a generation or two later, and is not entirely consistent. The most commonly accepted version says that she was the daughter of a tanner named Fulbert from the town of Falaise, in Normandy. Translation being somewhat uncertain, Fulbert may instead have been a furrier, embalmer, apothecary, or a person who laid out corpses for burial.[5]

 

It is argued by some that Herleva's father was not a tanner but rather a member of the burgher class.[6] The idea is supported by the fact that her brothers appear in a later document as attestors for an under-age William. Also, the Count of Flanders later accepted Herleva as a proper guardian for his own daughter. Both facts would be nearly impossible if Herleva's father (and therefore her brothers) was a tanner, which would place his standing as little more than a peasant.

 

Orderic Vitalis described Herleva's father Fulbert as being the Duke's Chamberlain (cubicularii ducis).[7][8]

 

[edit] Relationship with Robert the MagnificentAccording to one legend, still recounted by tour guides at Falaise, it all started when Robert, the young Duke of Normandy saw Herleva from the roof of his castle tower. The walkway on the roof still looks down on the dyeing trenches cut into stone in the courtyard below, which can be seen to this day from the tower ramparts above. The traditional way of dyeing leather or garments was for individuals to trample barefoot on the garments which were awash in the dyeing liquid in these trenches. Herleva, legend goes, seeing the Duke on his ramparts above, raised her skirts perhaps a bit more than necessary in order to attract the Duke's eye. The latter was immediately smitten and ordered her brought in (as was customary for any woman that caught the Duke's eye) through the back door. Herleva refused, saying she would only enter the Duke's castle on horseback through the front gate, and not as an ordinary commoner. The Duke, filled with lust, could only agree. In a few days, Herleva, dressed in the finest her father could provide, and sitting on a white horse, rode proudly through the front gate, her head held high. This gave Herleva a semi-official status as the Duke's mistress.[citation needed]

 

She later gave birth to his son, William, in 1027 or 1028, and probably a daughter, Adelaide, in 1030.

 

[edit] Marriage to Herluin de ContevilleHerleva later married Herluin de Conteville in 1031. Some accounts however, maintain that Robert always loved her, but the gap in their social status made marriage impossible, so, to give her a good life, he married her off to one of his favourite noblemen.[citation needed]

 

Another source suggests that Herleva did not marry Herluin until after Robert died because there is no record of Robert ensuing another relationship, whereas Herluin married another woman, Fredesendis, by the time he founded the abbey of Grestain.[9]

 

From her marriage to Herluin she had two sons: Odo, who later became Bishop of Bayeux, and Robert, who became Count of Mortain. Both became prominent during William's reign. They also had at least two daughters, Emma, who married Richard LeGoz (de Averanches), and a daughter of unknown name who married William, lord of la Ferté-Macé.[10]

 

[edit] DeathAccording to Robert of Torigni, Herleva was buried at the abbey of Grestain, which was founded by Herluin and their son Robert around 1050. This would put Herleva in her forties around the time of her death. However, David C. Douglas suggests that Herleva probably died before Herluin founded the abbey because her name does not appear on the list of benefactors, whereas the name of Herluin's second wife, Fredesendis, does.[11]