Richard I, Leader of the Normans of Rouen

Notes:

Also known as Richard the Fearless; Richard Sans Peur. Called in retrospect "Duke of Normandy," a title he did not use.

From The Henry Project: "Richard is described by such a wide range of words (comes, marchio, consul, princeps, dux) by various sources (sometimes of dubious authority) that it would be difficult to argue that there is a specific 'title' by which he should be called."

Family/Spouse: Gunnor. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Hawise of Normandy died on 21 Feb 1034.
2. Emma of Normandy, Queen Consort of England; Queen Consort of Denmark and Norway
3. Robert II, Archbishop of Rouen died in 1037.
4. Richard II died on 23 Aug 1026 in Fécamp, Normandy, France.

Family/Spouse: (Unknown mistress or mistresses of Richard I). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Béatrix of Normandy died on 18 Jan 1035.
2. Godfrey fitz Richard was born about 970 in of Brionne, Eure, Normandy, France; died in 1015.
3. Guillaume I was born between 975 and 980; died before 2 Jan 1040.
4. Papia was born about 980 in of Normandy, France.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 17 Dec 942, Picquigny, Picardy, France

Notes:

William "Longsword".

Says The Henry Project about his birth "overseas": "[I].e., not on the European mainland, and therefore possibly in Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, or one of the islands held by Vikings (Orkneys, Hebrides, Man, etc.), all plausible places for the son of a Viking to be born."

Assassinated, possibly by or at the instigation of Arnulf/Arnulph/Arnoul "The Old", Count of Flanders.

Guillaume married Sprota. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Sporta; Sprota de Senlis; Espriota de Bretagne; Sprota de St. Lis (most of these are probably apocryphal).

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 929
• Alternate death: 931

Notes:

Also called Robert (baptized); Robert I Duke of Normandy (retrospectively); Hrolfr (Old Norse) (disputed); Rouf (his fellow Normans); Rodulf, Rodulfus, Radulf, Radulfus (Frankish); Raoul (French); Rolf Ragnvaldsson (various modern genealogists and peerage-indexers).

Rollo married Poppa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Poppa of Bayeux.

"A wife or mistress of Rollo of Normandy, and mother of Rollo's son and successor William 'Longsword', her name is reported only by the often unreliable Dudo and by sources depending on him ... The only certain fact that is known about her comes from the contemporary (or nearly so) Planctus of her son William, which states (without naming her) that she was a Christian, and that her son William was born overseas." [The Henry Project, citation details below]

Peter Stewart, 25 Jun 2010, on soc.genealogy.medieval:

I'm inclined to believe that William's Christian mother named "Poppa" was invented by Dudo—it's very curious that this name is otherwise unexampled for a Frankish noblewoman of the time, but had recently been made famous by Widukind of Corvey as the name of the cleric who had baptised Harald I and converted the Danes (Rollo's people according to Dudo). "Poppa" was said to have been taken at the capture of Bayeux, a daughter of Count Brenger: however, the latter's son (Judical) Brenger was later one of the foresworn leaders of the Breton rebellion against William with no suggestion that he was the Norman ruler's uncle.

Further, according to Dudo the sister of William was described as a "girl" ca 936, but her father Rollo had been purportedly free to marry a Carolingian princess named Gisla as part of the settlement when the Normans were converted to Christianity, so that if Adela/Gerloc had been born after that time she and William could not have had the same mother unless she was never regarded as Rollo's canonical wife. Yet, according to Dudo, William was born to Poppa at Rouen, where the Normans were settled after the conversion, and the stain of bastardy is not in any way imputed to him.