Richard I, Duke of Normandy

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Richard I "the Fearless"

Richard the Fearless as part of the Six Dukes of Normandy statue in the town square of Falaise.
Duke of Normandy
Predecessor	William I
Successor	Richard II

Born	28 August 933 Fécamp Normandy, France
Died	20 November 996 Fécamp Normandy, France

Richard I of Normandy (born 28 August 933, in Fécamp Normandy, France died 20 November 996, in Fécamp) was the Duke of Normandy from 942 to 996; he is considered the first to actually have held that title. He was called Richard the Fearless (French, Sans Peur).

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[edit] Birth

He was born to William I of Normandy, ruler of Normandy, and Sprota. He was still a boy of around 10 years of age when his father died on 17 December 942. His mother was a Breton concubine captured in war and bound to William by a Danish marriage. After William died, Sprota became the wife of Esperleng, a wealthy miller; Rodulf of Ivry was their son and Richard's half-brother.

[edit] Life

Richard was still a boy when his father died, and so he was powerless to stop Louis IV of France when he seized Normandy and split the lands, giving lands in lower Normandy to Hugh the Great. Louis kept him in confinement in his youth at Lâon, but he escaped with the assistance of Osmond de Centville, Bernard de Senlis (who had been a companion of Rollo of Normandy), Ivo de Bellèsme, and Bernard the Dane (ancestor of families of Harcourt and Beaumont).
In 946, Richard agreed to "commend" himself to Hugh, Count of Paris. He then allied himself with the Norman and Viking leaders, drove Louis out of Rouen, and took back Normandy by 947. The rest of his reign was mainly peaceful, apart from conflict with Theobald I, Count of Blois marked by the restoration of Church lands and monasteries.
Richard cemented his alliance with Hugh, marrying his daughter Emma. When Hugh died, Richard became vassal to his son Hugh Capet who became king in 987. Although married to Emma, they produced no offspring, his children being the product of a relationship with Gonnor, a woman of Danish origin who gave him a heir, Richard.^[1]
He later quarrelled with Ethelred II of England regarding Danish invasions of England because Normandy had been buying up much of the stolen booty.
Richard was bilingual, having been well educated at Bayeux. He was more partial to his Danish subjects than to the Franks. During his reign, Normandy became completely Gallicized and Christianized. He introduced the feudal system and Normandy became one of the most thoroughly feudalized states on the continent. He carried out a major reorganization of the Norman military system, based on heavy cavalry.

[edit] Marriages

He married 1st (960) Emma (not to be confused with Emma of France), daughter of Hugh "The Great" of France, and Hedwiga de Sachsen. They were betrothed when both were very young. She died 19 Mar 968, with no issue.

Richard & his children

According to Robert of Torigni, not long after Emma's death, Duke Richard went out hunting and stopped at the house of a local forester. He became enamoured of the forester's wife, Seinfreda, but she being a virtuous woman, suggested he court her unmarried sister, Gunnor, instead. Gunnor became his mistress, and her family rose to prominence. Her brother, Herefast de Crepon, may have been involved in a controversial heresy trial. Gunnor was, like Richard, of Norse descent, being a Dane by blood. Richard finally married her to legitimize their children:

Richard II "the Good", Duke of Normandy (996), died 1026.
Robert, Archbishop of Rouen, Count of Evreux, died 1037.
Mauger, Earl of Corbeil, died after 1033
Robert Danus, died between 985 and 989
another son
Emma of Normandy (c.985-1052) wife of two kings of England.
Maud of Normandy, wife of Odo II of Blois, Count of Blois, Champagne and Chartres
Hawise of Normandy (b. ca. 978), d. 21 February 1034. m. Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany
Orielda of France (c.936-1031)

[edit] Mistresses

Richard was known to have had several other mistresses and produced children with many of them. Known children are:

Geoffrey, Count of Eu, (b. ca. 970)
William, Count of Eu (ca. 972-26 January 1057/58)^[2] m. Leseline de Turqueville (d. 26 January 1057/58).
Beatrice of Normandy, Abbess of Montvilliers d.1034 m. Ebles of Turenne (d.1030 (divorced)
Robert
"Papia" m. Gilbert de St Valery (based on a claim his wife as a daughter of "Richard of Normandy" -- the only Richard who chronologically fits is Richard I. Name is not confirmed in any source. ref)

[edit] Possible other children

Late chroniclers claimed that two of the De Hautevilles of Naples/Sicily were nephews of "Duke Richard". As the two were children of Tancred of Hauteville by different mothers, this would mean that both of Tancred's wives had been sisters of a Duke Richard, and by chronology, of Richard II, although this is not backed up by contemporary source. If true, Richard would have had at least two more illegitimate children:

Fressenda (ca. 995-ca. 1057)
Muriella

[edit] Death

He died in Fecamp, France on 20 November 996 of natural causes.

[edit] Depictions in Fiction

The Little Duke, a Victorian Juvenile novel by Charlotte Mary Yonge is a fictionalized account of Richard's boyhood and early struggles.

[edit] Genealogy

Diagram based on the information found on Wikipedia

Father of Richard II