General Notes

1  BIRT
2  DATE ABT. 965
bk&q p 732 [SD4]
FIMA says Richard II's mother was Emma, daughter of Hugh the Great and Hed
wig.
p 24 "In 1015 his son RICHARD II styled himself duke and patrician, assert
ing his right to control the Church and appoint counts inferior to him.
p 36 "Twenty-four years after the event, William of Jumieges described t
he uprising of the peasants in Normandy on the accession of Duke RICHA
RD II (1026).  He described it as a sworn conspiracy against peace in t
he land.  The use of the words automatically designated the rebels as perv
erse and in revolt against the natural order of things, because the conspi
racy was based on an agreement between equals, sealed by oath--itself a su
bversive practice because an oath was sacred--and because it aimed to bre
ak the peace, which was the divinely appointed order of things.  The rebel
lion started in a large number of conventicles (a common term for heritic
al sects and used quite deliverately here).  The peasants wanted to li
ve as they pleased, without superior control; they also insisted that th
ey should not be taxed for access to forest and rivers.  Theirs was essent
ially a protest against new forms of taxation.  Delegates held a general a
ssembly in the centre of the principality, whereupon the young duke instru
cted his maternal uncle to supress the revolt and put an end to their asse
mbly.  The participants were capture dand sent back to their villages muti
lated and useless, with their hands and feet cut off.  This was effecti
ve and the Norman peasants 'returned to their ploughs' and fulfilled the
ir true social function, working for the benefit of others."  Also p 83
ASC pp 148, 157 "(year 1013) Then king SWEIN . . . was for some time wi
th the fleet that was on the Thames, and his lady went over the sea to h
er brother RICHARD . . . The king went . . . over the sea to Richard, a
nd was there with him until the favourable time of Swein's death."