Robert de Mortaigne

• General Notes
  • 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]
    
    Title: Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 106th Edition, Charles Mosley Editor-in-Chief, 1999
    Page: cxiv
    Title: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, 7th Edition, by Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Shippard Jr., 1999
    Page: 121-26
    
    Title: Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, by G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2000
    Page: III:427-8
    
    ---
    
    Robert, Count of Mortain
    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    
    Robert, Count of Mortain (d. 1095) was a half-brother of William the Conqueror, and became a great landholder in both England and Normandy.
    
    He was the son of William the Conqueror's mother Herleva, and Herluin de Conteville. Odo, Bishop of Bayeux was his older full brother. He was probably born around 1040, but perhaps a few years earlier.
    
    Around 1055 Duke William was consolidating his hold on the duchy, and having disposessed the count of Mortain, gave the county to Robert. Mortain was a frontier territory, bordering on Brittany and Maine, and Robert contributed to the defense of the duchy by constructing castles at the town of Mortain, and at St. Hilaire-du-Harcouet, le Tilleul, and Tinchebrai.
    
    During the next decade Robert was a close counselor of his half-brother, appearing frequently at his court, including the councils at which the invasion of England was planned. He surely fought at the Battle of Hastings, though his chronicles of the time are not specific, however he contributed a significant part of the invasion fleet.
    
    After the conquest, Robert obtained a large holding in England, including the strategic Rape of Pevensey in Sussex, and other lands guarding London, including Berkhamsted, Lambeth and Bermondsey. In 1072 he was entrusted with Cornwall after the previous ruler returned home to Brittany, though probably was never formally made an earl. Nevertheless, he was the second greatest lay magnate in England.
    
    Robert seems to have been uninterested in English politics -- some say he lacked the cleverness for it -- and he spent most of the remainder of William I's reign in Normandy. He remained loyal to his half-blood brother William to the end, even when his full-blooded brother Odo of Bayeux rebelled and was imprisoned. At the dying duke's bedside he successfully argued for Odo's release.
    
    Odo seems to have pushed him into action, for Robert took part in the Rebellion of 1088 which attempted to replace William Rufus with Robert Curthose. After Pevensey surrendered and the rebellion failed, Rufus pardoned Robert, while Odo was exiled to Normandy. Their differing treatment may reflect contemporary assessment of Robert's lack of initiative.
    
    He married Matilda, daughter of Roger of Montgomery, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, and was succeeded by their son William, Count of Mortain.
    
    

Click here for details of Robert's family with Maud de Montgomery

¹ http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=michaelrneuman&id=I012358&style=TABLE
Sources/Citations http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=tamer&id=I5235&style=TABLE, http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=michaelrneuman&id=I008309

---

This page is within a frameset. View the entire genealogy report of de Mortaigne families, or surname index of de Mortaigne pedigrees or report summary de Mortaigne heritage from 'The Skaggs-Files'.
Genealogy Search.

---

Copyright © 2007 GenoPro Inc. All rights reserved.