Robert Fitzhamon

Robert Fitzhamon (also: Robert FitzHamon ; † March 1107 ), Lord of Creully (today's Calvados department , Normandy ), was Lord of Gloucester and the conqueror of Glamorgan . As a relative of William the Conqueror , he was one of the few Anglo-Norman nobles, loyal to his two successors Wilhelm II. And Henry I stood. His family owned the lordships of Torigny , Creully, Mézy and Évrecy in Normandy.

Relatives and ancestors

Robert Fitzhamon is seen as a relative of William the Conqueror, although the exact relationship is not known. He is the name of the son of a Hamon (English) or Aymon (French). In Burke's Peerage he is referred to as the alleged grandson of Hamo Dentatus .

Rise in England

Robert is not mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086). He appears for the first time during the uprising of 1088 as a follower of King William II. After the failure of the rebellion, he was rewarded with extensive property, especially in Gloucestershire .

When the Welsh prince Iestyn ap Gwrgan of Glamorgan asked the Normans for help against Rhys ap Tewdwr of Deheubarth , Robert Fitzhamon beat Rhys, but then took over Glamorgan himself, and also invaded Dyfed and Ceredigion . Robert Fitzhamon built Cardiff Castle in 1091 on what had previously been a Roman fortress.

Rhys daughter Nest ferch Rhys became the mistress of Henry I and the mother of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester , who in turn married Mabel, Fitzhamon's daughter and heiress.

Tewkesbury Abbey

In 1092 he founded Tewkesbury Abbey , the dimensions of which roughly correspond to those of Westminster Abbey . The first abbot was Giraldus (Gerald), Abbot of Cranborn , who died in 1110, years before the monastery could be consecrated in 1121. The construction of the abbey was evidently under the influence of Robert's wife Sibylle.

Robert and Heinrich I.

Robert FitzHamon was loyal to the kings Wilhelm II and Henry I, even when the latter had to defend himself against his brother, Duke Robert of Normandy .

In 1105 he went to Normandy, where he was taken prisoner near Bayeux - one of the reasons why Henry I crossed the English Channel in the same year . FitzHamon was freed and joined Heinrich's campaign. In 1106 he suffered a serious head injury at the Battle of Tinchebrai , from which he eventually died. He was buried at Tewkesbury Abbey.

Marriage and children

Robert FitzHamon married Sibylle around 1087/90, apparently the youngest daughter of Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury , and his first wife Mabile de Bellême . The couple is said to have had four daughters who were minors when their father died. Therefore, Henry I first moved in Robert Fitzhamon's lands. Finally he married the eldest daughter Mabel around 1119 to his illegitimate son Robert and raised him to Earl of Gloucester in 1121, so that FitzHamon's possession in Gloucestershire became the core of the county of Gloucester. FitzHamon is therefore sometimes called the Earl of Gloucester, although he wasn't.

literature

• C. Warren Hollister: Henry I. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven 2001, ISBN 0-300-08858-2 .
• Lynn Nelson: The Normans in South Wales, 1070-1171. University of Texas Press, Austin and London 1966, Chapter 5, pp. 94-110 ( online ).

Web links

• Cardiff Castle
• Norman invasion of South Wales
• Tewkesbury Abbey
• Lord of Bristol Robert FitzHamon as Lord of Bristol.

Footnotes

1. ↑ HRH The Duke of Gloucester ( Memento of September 14, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Cardiff Castle ( Memento of the original from December 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ^ William F. Skene: The Four Ancient Books of Wales. 1868. Chapter VI. Manau Gododin and the Picts
4. ↑ Houses of Benedictine monks: The abbey of Tewkesbury . In: William Page (Ed.): A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 2. 1907, pp. 61–66 ( online )
5. ^ David Walker: Medieval Wales . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990, ISBN 0-521-31153-5 , p. 40.