General Notes

1  NAME Robert I "the Devil" of /Normandy/
2  SOUR S033320
3  DATA
4  TEXT Date of Import: Jan 17, 2001
1  BIRT
2  DATE 999
2  PLAC Normandy, France
2  SOUR S033320
3  DATA
4  TEXT Date of Import: Jan 17, 2001
1  DEAT
2  DATE 22 JUL 1035
2  PLAC Nicaea, Bithynia, Turkey
2  SOUR S033320
3  DATA
4  TEXT Date of Import: Jan 17, 2001


[De La Pole.FTW]

Sources: RC 89, 131; Kraentzler 1156, 1218, 1241, 1264, 1265, 1342, 1350;
Coe; Dukes; AF; K & Q of Britain; Norr; A. Roots 121, 121E, 130; France,
Vol. 1 (1868), by M. Guizot and Madame Guizot de Witt; AIS; Davis.
Roots: Robert I, Duke of Normandy. Married (Danish wife) Arlette (or
Herleve). Left issue by this mistress.
K: Robert I "le Magnifique ou le Diable." Count d'Hieme. Duke of Normandy.
In line 1350 he calls him erroneously calls him Richard I.
Robert was called both "The Magnificent" and also "Robert the
Devil," because of his "reckless and violent deeds of audacity, whether in
private life or in warlike expeditions." In 1034 or 1035, after a "fair life
from the political point of view, but one full of turbulence and moral
irregularity" he undertook a pilgrimage, barefoot, to Jerusalem "to expiate his
sins..." The Norman prelates and barons urged him not to go because they
believed he might die on the pilgrimage (they were right) and he had no
successor. Robert, therefore, named his bastard son, William, as his successor
and prevailed upon King Henry I of France to sanction the arrangement--a
decision the king was later to regret.
Guizot says Robert I was the fifth in succession from Rollo, the first ruler
of Normandy. William was named after William Longsword, the son and successor
of Rollo. So the Norman reign went from Rollo, to William Longsword, Richard I,
Richard II, Richard III, Robert I and William, who would become William the
Conqueror and, subsequently, William I, King of England.
Richard III and Robert I were sons of Richard II, according to a chart in
Butler.
Robert instructed Herluin (another spelling) de Conteville to marry his
mistress, Harlette, if he failed to return from the Crusade. Herluin did so,
and they had children.
Dukes says Robert's last years were marked by signs of "eccentricity, if not
unsoundness of mind."
AIS: Robert, Duke of Normandy, born about 995, Normandy, France; died 2 July
1035, Nicaea, Turkey.
Davis: Robert I, the Magnificent, Duke of Normandy 1027-1035.