Robert Curthose

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1054
• Alternate death: 10 Feb 1134, Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales
• Alternate death: 11 Feb 1134, Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales

Notes:

Duke of Normandy. Eldest child of William the Conqueror.

"Orderic Vitalis describes Robert as 'talkative...with a clear, cheerful voice and a fluent tongue. Round-faced, short and stout, he was commonly nicknamed Gambaron ("Fat Legs") and Curta Ocrea ("Short Boots")' [Ordericus Vitalis, Eccl. hist., 2.356], and it is Curthose, the Norman-French version of the latter name, as used by Wace, that has become attached to Robert's name." [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]

"Probably in 1078, when Robert would have been about twenty-five, Rufus eighteen, and Henry ten, they were with their father at L'Aigle, on the south-east frontier of Normandy, when he was about to attack one of his neighbours. The two younger sons were lodging with the king in the house of the merchant Gunher, while Robert, who had his own household, was quartered on another burgess. Rufus and Henry paid Robert a visit, went upstairs, began to play dice, 'as soldiers do', made a great commotion and then urinated on the heads of Robert and his friends. Robert dashed upstairs to punish his juniors, and the brawl was so fierce that it brought the king onto the scene. He restored order and forced them to make friends. But Robert had lost face, and the following night he and his companions decamped and made for Rouen, probably about one day's forced march away, where they tried to seize the keep. When they failed and the king ordered their arrest, they fled from Normandy. In the following year both Rufus and his father were wounded when they attempted to expel Robert from the fortified town of Gerberoi, where he was living as a robber baron, and, since the father's wound was inflicted by Robert himself, this incident probably determined Rufus's future." [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry on William Rufus]

"Robert was still estranged in September 1087 when his father lay on his deathbed. William had made no explicit arrangements for the succession beyond the designation of Robert as his heir in Normandy. The De obitu Willelmi, a not altogether reliable source which is largely copied from Carolingian exemplars, suggests that the Conqueror intended to disinherit Robert completely and was only persuaded against this course by the archbishop of Rouen. Robert himself may have expected to succeed his father in all the latter's lands, but ducal practice, dating back to the time of Robert's great-grandfather, Duke Richard (II), indicated that all sons should have some share in the inheritance. In the event William Rufus was dispatched to rule England with a letter addressed to Archbishop Lanfranc, and Robert was summoned from Abbeville to succeed only in Normandy." [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]

Robert married Sibyl of Conversano in Sep 1100 in Italy. Sibyl (daughter of Goffredo of Conversano) died in 1103. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"The death by drowning of William Atheling, King Henry's only legitimate son, on 25 November 1120 transformed William Clito's fortunes. He was now the obvious male heir to England and Normandy, and a significant party of Norman aristocrats adopted his cause. Henry's problems became worse, as his son William Atheling had been betrothed to Matilda of Anjou, daughter of Count Fulk V of Anjou and Fulk wanted her dowry, several castles and towns in Maine, returned, which Henry refused. Fulk in turn betrothed his daughter Sibylla to William Clito giving him the county of Maine, between Normandy and Anjou, as her dowry. King Henry astutely appealed to canon law, however, and the marriage was eventually annulled in August 1124 on the grounds that the couple were within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity." [Wikipedia]

William married Sibyl of Anjou in 1123. Sibyl (daughter of Fulk V, King of Jerusalem and Eremburge de la Flèche) was born in 1112; died in 1165. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Joanna of Montferrat in 1127. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]