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Birth:          1090 of Gloucestershire, England
Death:          29 Sep 1157 Bristol, Gloucestershire, England

Notes
also known as Mabel Fitz Robert
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabel_FitzRobert,_Countess_of_Gloucester
Mabel FitzRobert, Countess of Gloucester (1090 – 29 September 1157[1]) was an 
Anglo-Norman noblewoman, and a wealthy heiress who brought the lordship of 
Gloucester, among other prestigious honours to her husband, Robert, 1st Earl of 
Gloucester upon their marriage. He was the illegitimate son of King Henry I of 
England.

Her father was Robert Fitzhamon, Lord of Gloucester and Glamorgan. As she was the 
eldest daughter of four, and her younger sisters had become nuns, Mabel inherited all 
of his honours and properties upon his death in 1107.

As Countess of Gloucester, Mabel was significant politically and she exercised an 
important administrative role in the lordship.[2]
Family[edit]

Mabel was born in Gloucestershire, England c1090 or later, the eldest of the four 
daughters of Robert FitzHamon, Lord of Gloucester and Glamorgan, and his wife, Sybil 
de Montgomery. Her three younger sisters, Hawise, Cecile and Amice[3] all became 
nuns, making Mabel the sole heiress to her father's lordships and vast estates in 
England, Wales, and Normandy.

Her paternal grandfather was Hamon, Sheriff of Kent, and her maternal grandparents 
were Roger de Montgomery, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and Mabel Talvas of Belleme.

In March 1107, her father died in Normandy, leaving his lordships and estates to 
Mabel. Her mother married secondly Jean, Sire de Raimes.[4]


 


Cardiff Castle in Wales, was one of the properties Mabel brought her husband, Robert 
upon their marriage
Marriage[edit]

In 1107, Mabel married Robert of Caen,(also called FitzRoy and FitzEdith), an 
illegitimate son of King Henry I (not by his mistress Sybil Corbet - other sources say 
Robert's mother was of the Gai family of Oxfordshire). Their marriage is recorded by 
Orderic Vitalis who also names her parents.[5] He would later become an important 
figure during the turbulent period in English history known as The Anarchy which 
occurred in the reign of King Stephen of England. Throughout the civil war, he was a 
loyal supporter of his half-sister Empress Matilda who would make him the chief 
commander of her army. He had originally sworn fealty to King Stephen, but after 
quarrelling with him in 1137, his English and Welsh possessions were forfeited, and 
thus he joined forces with Matilda.[6]

Countess of Gloucester[edit]

Mabel brought to her husband the honours of Gloucester in England, Glamorgan in 
Wales, Sainte-Scholasse-sur-Sarthe, Evrecy and Creully in Normandy. By right of his 
wife, he became the 2nd Lord of Glamorgan, and gained possession of her father's 
castle of Cardiff in Wales. In August 1122, he was created 1st Earl of Gloucester; 
henceforth, Mabel was styled as Countess of Gloucester.

As countess, Mabel exercised a prominent administrative role in the Gloucester 
lordship.[7] Her political importance was evident when she was made responsible for 
seeing that her husband upheld his side of the agreement in the treaty he made with 
Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford.[8] She also witnessed four of Robert's 
charters; as well as giving her personal consent for his foundation of the Abbey of 
Margam, whose endowment came from her own lands.[9] Later, after Robert's death, 
Mabel assumed control of the honour of Gloucester's Norman lands on behalf of her 
eldest son William.[10]

Issue[edit]

Together Robert and Mabel had at least eight children:
William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester (23 November 1112- 23 November 1183), 
married Hawise de Beaumont by whom he had five children, including Isabella of 
Gloucester, the first wife of King John of England, and Amice FitzRobert, Countess of 
Gloucester.
Roger, Bishop of Worcester (died 9 August 1179)
Hamon FitzRobert, (died 1159), killed in the Siege of Toulouse.
Robert FitzRobert of Ilchester (died before 1157), married Hawise de Redvers, by 
whom he had a daughter Mabel who in her turn married Jordan de Cambernon.
Richard FitzRobert, Sire de Creully (died 1175), inherited the seigneury of Creully from 
Mabel, and became the ancestor of the Sires de Creully. He married the daughter of 
Hughes de Montfort by whom he had five children.
Philip FitzRobert, (died after 1147), Castellan of Cricklade. He took part in the Second 
Crusade.
Maud FitzRobert (died 29 July 1190), married Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester by 
whom she had three children.
Mabel FitzRobert, married Aubrey de Vere

Robert also sired an illegitimate son, Richard, Bishop of Bayeux by Isabel de Douvres.

Death[edit]

Mabel's husband died on 31 October 1147. Mabel herself died on 29 September 1157 
in Bristol at the age of sixty-seven years.

Parents
FITZ HAMON Robert (ABT 1064 - 10 Mar 1107)
DE MONTGOMERY Sibyl (ABT 1058 - 1107)

Siblings
FITZ HAMON Maud (Mabel) (Sibyl) (1090 - 29 Sep 1157)

Marriage To DE CAEN Robert "The King's Son" (1090 - 31 Oct 1147)
    m.  

Notes

Parents
____ Henry I "Beauclerc" (1070 - 1 Dec 1135)
----- ----- (concubine) ()

Children by DE CAEN Robert "The King's Son" 1090 - 31 Oct 1147
FITZ ROBERT William "Mafonache" (ABT 23 Nov 1116 - 23 Nov 1183)
OF GLOUCESTER Christiana (ABT 1118 - )
FITZ ROBERT Maud (1120 - 29 Jul 1189)

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