Robert Fitzhamon

Robert Fitzhamon (also: Robert Fitzhamon; † March 1107 ), Lord of Creully (Calvados, Normandy ), was Lord of Gloucester and conqueror of Glamorgan. As a relative of William the Conqueror, he was one of the few Anglo-Norman nobles who were loyal to his two successors William II and Henry I.. His family owned the reigns 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 named after the son of Hamon (English ) or Aymon (French ). In Burke 's Peerage he is referred to as an alleged grandson of Hamo Dentatus.

Rise in England

Robert is not mentioned in the Domesday Book ( 1086 ). It occurs for the first time during the uprising of 1088 as a follower of King William II of which was rewarded after the failure of the rebellion with extensive land ownership, especially in Gloucestershire.

As the Welsh Prince Iestyn ap Gwrgan of Glamorgan the Normans asked for help against Rhys ap Tewdwr of Deheubarth, suggested Robert Fitzhamon Rhys, then took over but of Glamorgan, and penetrated in Dyfed and Ceredigion. Robert Fitzhamon built in 1091 Cardiff Castle at a point where previously a Roman fortress had stood.

Rhys 's daughter Nest ferch Rhys was the mistress of Henry I and the mother of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, who had married Mabel, daughter and heiress Fitzhamons.

Tewkesbury Abbey

In 1092 he founded Tewkesbury Abbey, the dimensions of a similar strength Westminster Abbey. The first abbot was Giraldus (Gerald ), Abbot of Cranborn, who died in 1110, therefore years before the monastery was consecrated in 1121. The construction of the Abbey was obviously under the influence of Robert's wife Sibyl.

Robert and Henry I.

Robert Fitzhamon remained loyal to the kings William II and Henry I, as the latter had to be against his brother, Duke Robert of Normandy, set to fight back.

In 1105 he went to Normandy, where he was taken near Bayeux in captivity - one of the reasons why Henry I even crossed the English Channel in the same year. Fitzhamon was free, Heinrichs joined campaign, which was continued with the siege of Falaise. Here Robert was severely wounded in the head, not fatal, since the injury he survived two years. He was buried in Tewkesbury Abbey.

Marriage and children

Robert Fitzhamon married around 1087/90 Sibylle, 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, including Mabel, the eldest, who married in 1119 to Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, so that FitzHamons property in Gloucestershire at the heart of Gloucester County was. Fitzhamon is therefore also sometimes called Earl of Gloucester, though he was not there.