General Notes

Robert Fitz Harding, feudal Lord of Berkeley; granted by Henry II 1153/4 the castle of Berkeley, Glos, founder 1141 of Abbey of St Augustine, Bristol.  [Burke's Peerage]

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Robert FitzHardinge obtained for his fidelity to King Henry II the Castle of Berkeley, wrested from Roger de Berkeley, or Dursley, a partisan of Stephen, and thereby became one of the feudal barons of the realm. He married Eva, niece of William the Conqueror, and founded the monastery of St. Augustine, at Bristol, in the year 1140, and was buried there in 1170. He was s. by his eldest son, Maurice de Berkeley. [John Burke, History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. I., R. Bentley, London, 1834-1838, p. 469, Berkeley, of Spetchley]

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HOLDERS of the CASTLE of BERKELEY (IV)

Robert Fitz Harding, who "may bee called Rober the Devout," son of Harding (d), said to have been a merchant of Bristol, and of great wealth and influence, received from Henry of Anjou, in 1153 or 1154, shortly before his accession as Henry II, a grant (among others) of the Castle and "herness " of Berkeley (as above mentioned) which was confirmed by the said Henry when King, probably in 1155 the first year of his reign, whereby he the said Robert (doubtless) became feudal L.ORD OF BERKELEY. In 1168 he entetained Dermot Mae Murrough, King of Leinster, on his arrival, at Bristol, to solicit succour from Henry II. He founded, in 1141, the Abbey of St. Augustine, at Bristol, of which he afterwards became a canon.

He married Eve (c). He died 5 February 1170/1, aged about 75. His wife, who founded a priory of nuns on St. Michael's hill, Bristol, whereof she died Prioress, 12 March 1170, was buried with her husband.  [Complete Peerage II:124-25, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

(d) The parentage of this Harding (living c 1125) has been long and hotly disputed.  He has been termed "son of the King of Denmark" (as in the petition of 1661), "Mayor of Bristol", and so forth.  The view now generally accepted is that he was the son of Eadnoth (killed 1068), "Staller" to King Harold and to Edward the Confessor.  E.A. Freeman pronounces this descent "in the highest degree probable."  Eyton (in his "Shropshire") devoted much attention to the subject.

(c) She is alleged to have been sister of Durand, daughter of Sir Estmond, by Godiva, his wife, a pedigree which J. H. Round denounces as "obviously absurd".