General Notes

Name Suffix:<NSFX> 3rd Duke Of Normandy
From Rosamond McKitterick, "The Frankish Kingdoms under th
e Carolingians 751-987", London & NY (Longman) 1983, pp. 23
8-239:
"When in 942 WILLIAM was murdered at the instigation of COU
NT ARNULF OF FLANDERS, his son Richard, still a minor, succ
eeded him. LOUIS IV and HUGH THE GREAT each tried to siez
e Normandy, and LOUIS took charge of Richard. He then ensco
nced himself at Rouen and HUGH took Bayeux, which still ha
d a Scandinavian leader called Sictric. Richard escaped fro
m his custody at Laon, retook Rouen, and called on anothe
r Viking leader, Harald of the Bassin, for help. The Norman
s under Richard were able to re-establish their autonomy an
d from 947 Richard governed in relative peace. In 965 he sw
ore allegiance to the Carolingian king Lothar [son of LOUI
S IV] at Gisors. Richard's official marriage was to Emma, d
aughter of HUGH THE GREAT; they had no children, but by hi
s common-law wife GUNNOR, a
Dane, he had many. RICHARD II, son of GUNNOR and Richard I
, succeeded his father in 996, another son Robert was archb
ishop of Rouen from 989 to 1037 and EMMA their daughter bec
ame queen of England on her marriage to AETHELREAD, a posit
ion she maintained after his death in 1016 by marrying Knut
. GUNNOR's nephews and other relatives furthermore formed t
he core of the new aristocracy which developed in the cours
e of the eleventh century. Unfortunately we know little abo
ut the internal organization and history of Normandy unti
l the reign of RICHARD II."
From "Predatory Kinship and the Creation of Norman Power, 8
40-1066"
by Eleanor Searle, University of California Press, 1988:
"The Acknowledged Children of Richard I: Sons. The most rev
ealing evidence of the prestige and power of Richard and hi
s successor is to be found in the endowments and marriage
s of their children. The wife whose Norseness and high stat
us made her an acceptable equal in the eyes of his chieftai
ns was a woman whose children commanded paternal recognitio
n, for they would have powerful maternal kinsmen upon whos
e loyalty they could call. Even so, it is remarkable that D
udo, with GUNNOR at his side, tells the reader only the num
ber of children she bore Richard: five boys and three girls
. He does not give their names, and Richard's sons defy ful
l identification. RICHARD II was certainly GUNNOR's son, a
s was his virtual co-ruler, Robert, archbishop of Rouen. Ch
arters identify their relationship clearly, but they do no
t identify any of her husband's other sons as GUNNOR's...."
"Richard I and his new settler -in-laws of the 960s were th
e winners who lasted. In becoming so they learned (and taug
ht) two principles of
success that marked them off from the Franks. They learne
d the value of a strong centralizing chieftain who could a
t least freeze the status quo once his own local chieftain
s had taken what they wanted. The more successful he was, t
he more chiefs attached themselves to him for just this: wi
th his warranty, backed by his chieftains, their defeated e
nemies could not recover by violence what had been taken fr
om them by violence. Thus were the Norman dukes 'settlers o
f quarrels.' Fearlessness was the necessary quality in suc
h a corrdinating chieftain, and Richard I, who has no encom
iast of his deeds, has at least this sobriquet, "the Fearle
ss" Those who were great fighters and the ruthlessly, selec
tively violent, were the great centralizers among the threa
tened and rapacious Norse."
During the minority of his (WILLIAM LONG-SWORD) successor
, Duke Richard, KING LOUIS IV, who was making an expeditio
n into Normandy, was captured by the inhabitants of Rouen a
nd handed over to HUGH THE GREAT. From this time onwards th
e dukes of Normandy began to enter into relations with th
e dukes of France; and in 958 Duke Richard married HUGH TH
E GREAT's daughter. He died in 996. (Succeeded by RICHARD I
I.)
Source: Tim