General Notes

Fought at Battle of Hastings. [Ancestral Roots]

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EARLDOM of CORNWALL

Robert, Count of Mortain in Normandy, one of the two sons of Herluin de Conteville, by Herleve, mother of William the Conqueror, was b. about 1031.  About 1050 he received, from his uterine brother, William, then Duke of Normandy, the comte of Mortain, and was thenceforth known as Count of Mortain.  He accompanied William in the invasion of England, where he was in command of the chivalry of the Cotentin at the battle of Hastings, 1066.  His share of the spoil was one of the greatest, as, with the exception of the lands of the King and the Church, he received nearly the whole of the county of Cornwall, and is, consequently, usually considered Earl of Cornwall, though only known as Comes Moritoniensis.  At the time of Domesday, he was possessed of 797 manors in various counties, besides the borough of Pevensey in Sussex, etc.  In 1069 he, with Robert, Count of Eu, defeated the Danes in the parts of Lindsey, with great slaughter.  He joined his brother, the Earl of Kent in 1088 in a rebellion against William II in favour of his brother Robert Courthose, but was subsequently pardoned.  He m. 1stly, before 1066, Maud, daughter of Robert de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, by his 1st wife, Mabel, daughter and heir of William Talvas (5th son of William de Belleme, Seigneur of Alencon and Belleme).  She was buried in the Abbey of Grestain.  He m. 2ndly, Almodis.  He d. 8 Dec 1090, and was buried with his 1st wife.  [Complete Peerage III:427-8 as corrected by XIV:207]