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Birth:          ABT 1064 Astrenville, Normandy
Death:          10 Mar 1107 Wales

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fitzhamon
Robert Fitzhamon (died March 1107), or Robert FitzHamon, Seigneur de Creully in the 
Calvados region and Torigny in the Manche region of Normandy, was the first Norman 
feudal baron of Gloucester and the Norman conqueror of Glamorgan, southern Wales. 
He became Lord of Glamorgan in 1075.

As a kinsman of the Conqueror and one of the few Anglo-Norman barons to remain 
loyal to the two successive kings William Rufus and Henry I of England, he was a 
prominent figure in England and Normandy.

Not much is known about his earlier life, or his precise relationship to William I of 
England.
Parentage and ancestry[edit]

Robert FitzHamon (born c. 1045-1055, d. March 1107 Falaise, Normandy) was, as the 
prefix Fitz (fils de, "son of") suggests, the son of Hamo Dapifer the Sheriff of Kent and 
grandson of Hamon Dentatus ('The Betoothed or Toothy', i.e., probably buck-toothed). 
His grandfather held the lordships of Torigny, Creully, Mézy, and Evrecy in Normandy, 
but following his death at the Battle of Val-ès-Dunes in 1047, the family might have 
lost these lordships.

Career in England and Wales[edit]

Few details of Robert's career prior to 1087 are available. Robert probably did not 
fight at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, and does not appear in the Domesday Book of 
1086, although some of his relatives are listed therein. He first comes to prominence in 
surviving records as a supporter of King William Rufus (1087-1100) during the 
Rebellion of 1088. After the revolt was defeated he was granted as a reward by King 
William Rufus the feudal barony of Gloucester[3] consisting of over two hundred 
manors in Gloucestershire and other counties. Some of these had belonged to the late 
Queen Matilda, consort of William the Conqueror and mother of William Rufus, and 
had been seized by her from the great Saxon thane Brictric son of Algar, apparently as 
a punishment for his having refused her romantic advances in his youth.[4] They had 
been destined as the inheritance of Rufus's younger brother Henry (the future King 
Henry I); nevertheless Fitzhamon remained on good terms with Henry.

Conquest of Glamorgan[edit]

The chronology of Fitzhamon's conquest of Glamorgan is uncertain, but it probably 
took place in the decades after he received the feudal barony of Gloucester.

The Twelve Knights of Glamorgan[edit]

One explanation is the legend of the Twelve Knights of Glamorgan, which dates from 
the 16th century, in which the Welsh Prince Iestyn ap Gwrgan (Jestin), prince or Lord 
of Glamorgan, supposedly called in the assistance of Robert Fitzhamon. Fitzhamon 
defeated the prince of South Wales Rhys ap Tewdwr in battle in 1090. With his 
Norman knights as reward he then took possession of Glamorgan, and "the French 
came into Dyfed and Ceredigion, which they have still retained, and fortified the 
castles, and seized upon all the land of the Britons." Iestyn did not profit long by his 
involvement with the Normans. He was soon defeated and his lands taken in 1091.

Whether there is any truth in the legend or not Robert Fitzhamon seems to have 
seized control of the lowlands of Glamorgan and Gwynllwg sometime from around 1089 
to 1094. His key strongholds were Cardiff Castle, which already may have been built, 
on the site of an old Roman fort, new castles at Newport, and at Kenfig. His 
descendants would inherit these castles and lands.

Rhys's daughter Nest became the mistress of King Henry I of England and allegedly 
was mother of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester who married Mabel, Fitzhamon's daughter 
and heiress and thus had legitimacy both among the Welsh and the Norman barons.[5] 
(Robert of Caen's mother is however unknown to historians and genealogists).

Founder of Tewkesbury Abbey (1092)[edit]

He also refounded Tewkesbury Abbey in 1092. The abbey's dimensions are almost the 
same as Westminster Abbey. The first abbot was Giraldus, Abbot of Cranborne (d. 
1110) who died before the abbey was consecrated in October 1121. The abbey was 
apparently built under the influence of his wife Sybil de Montgomery. [3], said to be a 
beautiful and religious woman like her sisters.

Fitzhamon and His Kings[edit]

Legend has it that Robert had ominous dreams in the days before Rufus' fatal hunting 
expedition, which postponed but did not prevent the outing. He was one of the first to 
gather in tears around Rufus' corpse, and he used his cloak to cover the late king's 
body on its journey to be buried in Winchester. How much of these stories are the 
invention of later days is unknown.

In any case Fitzhamon proved as loyal to Henry I as he had been to his predecessor, 
remaining on Henry's side in the several open conflicts with Henry's brother Robert 
Curthose. He was one of the three barons who negotiated the 1101 truce between 
Henry I and Robert Curthose.

In 1105 he went to Normandy and was captured while fighting near his ancestral 
estates near Bayeux. This was one of the reasons Henry crossed the channel with a 
substantial force later that year. Fitzhamon was freed, and joined Henry's campaign, 
which proceeded to besiege Falaise. There Fitzhamon was severely injured in the 
head; although he lived two more years he was never the same mentally. He was 
buried in the Chapter House at Tewkesbury Abbey, which he had founded and 
considerably enriched during his lifetime.

Marriage and progeny[edit]

Fitzhamon married Sybil de Montgomery around 1087 to 1090, apparently the youngest 
daughter of Roger of Montgomery, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury by his first wife Mabel 
Talvas, daughter of William I Talvas. She survived her husband and is said to have 
entered a convent with two of her daughters. By his wife he is said to have had four 
daughters including:
Mabel FitzHamon, eldest daughter, who inherited his great estates and in about 1107 
married Robert de Caen, 1st Earl of Gloucester, a natural son of King Henry I (1100-
1135). Fitzhamon's huge land-holdings in several counties formed the feudal barony of 
Gloucester[6] which was inherited by his son-in-law Robert de Caen, who in 1122 was 
created 1st Earl of Gloucester.[7] Fitzhamon is sometimes called Earl of Gloucester, 
but was never so created formally. Robert Fitzhamon's great-granddaughter Isabel of 
Gloucester married King John (1199-1216).
Isabella (or Hawisa) FitzHamon, said to have married a count from Brittany, but no 
further details exist.

1860 Depiction at Kilkhampton[edit]

An imaginary depiction of Robert FitzHamon (d.1107) and Richard I de Grenville 
(d.post 1142), whose 17th century descendants turned into FitzHamon's brother, [8]) is 
contained within one of the two Granville windows by Clayton and Bell[9] erected in 
1860 by descendants of the latter within the Granville Chapel of the Church of St 
James the Great, Kilkhampton, Cornwall. The seat of the Grenville family ("Granville" 
after 1661 when elevated to the Earldom of Bath[10]) was Stowe within the parish of 
Kilkhampton. Below the left-hand figure is inscribed: "Rob. FitzHamon Earl of 
Corboyle", with attributed arms under showing: Azure, a lion rampant guardant or 
impaling Azure, a lion rampant or a bordure of the last. The right hand figure is of 
Richard de Granville, the younger brother of Robert FitzHamon and one of the Twelve 
Knights of Glamorgan who followed his brother in effecting the conquest of 
Glamorgan. He holds in his hands the church of his foundation of Neath Abbey, 
Glamorgan. Below is inscribed: "Ric. de Granville Earl of Corboyle" with attributed 
arms under showing: Gules, three clarions or (the arms of the Grenvilles' later overlord 
and Robert FitzHamon's heir in the feudal barony of Gloucester,[11] Richard de Clare, 
Earl of Gloucester, which arms were later adopted by the Grenvilles[12]) with an 
inescutcheon of pretence of Gules, three lions passant argent. The Granvilles claimed 
in the 17th century to have been the heirs male of Robert FitzHamon (who left only a 
daughter as his sole heiress) in his supposed Earldom of Corboil.[13] The windows 
were erected in 1860 by the heirs of the Grenville family: George Granville 
Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland KG (1786-1861); John Alexander 
Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath (1831–1896); George Granville Francis Egerton, 2nd 
Earl of Ellesmere (1823–1862); Lord John Thynne (1798-1881), DD, Canon of 
Westminster, a younger son of Thomas Thynne, 2nd Marquess of Bath (1765-1837), 
KG[14]

Parents
DAPIFER Hamo (ABT 1030 - ABT 1100)
----- ----- ()

Siblings
FITZ HAMON Robert (ABT 1064 - 10 Mar 1107)

Marriage To DE MONTGOMERY Sibyl (ABT 1058 - 1107)
    m.  

Notes

Parents
DE MONTGOMERY Roger II (ABT 1024 - 27 Jul 1094)
TALVAS (DE ALENCON) Mabel (ABT 1024 - 2 Dec 1079)

Children by DE MONTGOMERY Sibyl ABT 1058 - 1107
FITZ HAMON Maud (Mabel) (Sibyl) (1090 - 29 Sep 1157)

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