Editing Robert Fitzhamon

{{Short description|12th-century Norman noble}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2023}}
{{infobox noble
| name = Robert FitzHamon
| image = RobertFitzHamon BodleianMS TopGloucD2.JPG
| caption = ''Robert Filius Haymonis et Sibilla uxor eius'' ("Robert son of Hamon (d.1107) and Sibilla (de Montgomery) his wife"). They are shown jointly giving the church building of [[Tewkesbury Abbey]], of which they were founders. He wears a tabard showing [[attributed arms]] of: ''Azure, a lion rampant guardant or''. Underneath below his wife is shown a shield of: quarterly 1 & 4: ''Azure, a lion rampant guardant or''; 2&3: ''Gules a cross or'' (Oddo and Doddo, Dukes of Mercia, Saxon founders of Tewkesbury Abbey<ref>Sir Charles Isham's "Registrum Theokusburiæ" gives a full-page illustration of these noble brothers, "par nobile fratrum," as Dr. Hayman calls them, in which they are termed "duo duces Marciorum et primi fundatores Theokusburiæ" i.e., two Earls of the Marches and first founders of Tewkesbury. Each knight is in armour, and bears in his hand a model of a church. Both are supporting a shield (affixed to a pomegranate tree) bearing the arms of the Abbey, which the blazoning on their own coats repeats.(Massé, H. J. L. J., The Abbey Church of Tewkesbury with some Account of the Priory Church of Deerhurst Gloucestershire (Bell's Cathedrals)) original illustration as shown on folio 8 verso, Bodleian Library Manuscript: Top. Gloucester, d. 2, Founders' and benefectors' book of Tewkesbury Abbey [http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/medieval/mss/top/glouc/d/002.htm]</ref>)impaling: ''Gules, a lion rampant or''. Bodleian Library Manuscript: Top. Gloucester, d. 2, Founders' and benefectors' book of Tewkesbury Abbey, made in Tewkesbury c.1500-1525
| CoA = 
| tenure = 
| predecessor = 
| noble family = 
| issue = [[Mabel FitzRobert, Countess of Gloucester]]<br>Hawisa
| father = [[Hamo Dapifer]]
| mother = 
| spouse = Sybil de Montgomery (Sybil de Montgomerie)
| successor = 
| birth_date = {{circa|1045-1055}}
| birth_place = 
| death_date = March 1107
| death_place = 
}}

'''Robert Fitzhamon''' (c.1045–1055 – March 1107), or Robert FitzHamon (literally, "Robert, son of Hamon"), Seigneur de [[Creully]] in the [[Calvados (department)|Calvados]] region and [[Torigni-sur-Vire|Torigny]] in the [[Manche]] region of [[Normandy]], was the first Norman [[Feudal barony of Gloucester|feudal baron of Gloucester]] and the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman conqueror]] of [[Glamorgan]], southern [[Wales]]. He became [[Lord of Glamorgan]] in 1075.

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

==Life==
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2021}}
===Parentage and ancestry===
Robert FitzHamon, probably born in the 1040s or 1050s, was 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. He is said to have been a relative of William the Conqueror, but the nature of the relationship is unknown.

==Career in England and Wales==
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 II of England|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 [[English feudal barony|feudal barony of Gloucester]]<ref>Sanders, I.J., English Baronies, Oxford, 1960, p.6, Barony of Gloucester</ref> consisting of over two hundred [[Manorialism|manor]]s in [[Gloucestershire]] and other counties. Some of these had belonged to the late Queen [[Matilda of Flanders|Matilda]], consort of [[William the Conqueror]] and mother of William Rufus, and had been seized by her from the great [[Saxon]] [[Thegn|thane]] [[Brictric son of Algar]], apparently as a punishment for his having refused her romantic advances in his youth.<ref>According to the account by the ''Continuator of [[Wace]]'' and others, quoted in Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, part 2 (notes), 24,21, quoting "Freeman, E.A., [[The History of the Norman Conquest of England]], 6 vols., Oxford, 1867–1879, vol. 4, Appendix, note 0"</ref> They had been 
destined as the inheritance of Rufus's younger brother Henry (the future King [[Henry I of England|Henry I]]); nevertheless Fitzhamon remained on good terms with Henry.

==Conquest of Glamorgan==
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2021}}
The chronology of Robert's conquest of Glamorgan is uncertain, but it probably took place in the decades after he received the feudal barony of Gloucester.  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 and his Norman knights and defeated the prince of South Wales [[Rhys ap Tewdwr]] in battle in 1090. As reward Robert 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, Wales|Newport]], and at [[Kenfig]]. His descendants would inherit these castles and lands.

==Founder of Tewkesbury Abbey (1092)==
Robert FitzHamon 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 Robert's wife, [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=40269 Sybil de Montgomery (or de Montgomerie)].

==Fitzhamon and his kings==
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2021}}
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, Hampshire|Winchester]]. How much of these stories are the invention of later days is unknown.  In any case Fitzhamon proved as loyal to [[Henry I of England|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, Calvados|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==
Between 1087 and 1090, Robert Fitzhamon married Sybil, apparently the youngest daughter of [[Roger of Montgomery, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury]] by his first wife, [[Mabel de Bellême|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, Robert Fitzhamon is said to have had four daughters including:
*[[Mabel FitzRobert, Countess of Gloucester|Mabel]], eldest daughter, who inherited his great estates and in 1119 married [[Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester|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 [[English feudal barony|feudal barony of Gloucester]]<ref>Sanders, p. 6</ref> which was inherited by his son-in-law Robert de Caen, who, in 1122, was created 1st [[Earl of Gloucester]].<ref>Sanders, p. 6</ref>  Robert Fitzhamon's great-granddaughter, [[Isabel of Gloucester]] married King [[John of England|John]] (1199-1216).
*Isabella (or Hawisa), said to have married a count from Brittany, but no further details exist.

==1860 Depiction at Kilkhampton==
[[File:RobertFitzHamon &RichardDeGrenville 1860Window Kilkhampton.JPG|thumb|left|200px|1860 imaginary depiction of Robert FitzHamon (d. 1107) (left) and his younger brother [[Richard I de Grenville]] (d. post 1142) (right), Church of St James the Great, [[Kilkhampton]], Cornwall]]

A depiction of Robert FitzHamon (d. 1107) and [[Richard I de Grenville]] (d. post 1142) is contained within one of the two Granville windows by [[Clayton and Bell]]<ref>Church Guidebook, St James the Great Kilkhampton, 2012, p.11</ref> erected in 1860 by descendants of the latter within the Granville Chapel of the Church of St James the Great, [[Kilkhampton]], [[Cornwall]]. The Granvilles claimed in the 17th century to have been the heirs male of Robert FitzHamon to a non-existent Earldom of Corboil, a connection without historical foundation.<ref>[[J. Horace Round|Round, J. Horace]], Family Origins and Other Studies, London, 1930, The Granvilles and the Monks, pp.130-169</ref>  The seat of the Grenville family ("Granville" after 1661 when elevated to the [[Earl of Bath|Earldom of Bath]]<ref>[[J. Horace Round|Round, J. Horace]], Family Origins and Other Studies, London, 1930, The Granvilles and the Monks, pp.130-169</ref>) was [[Stowe, Kilkhampton|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 windows were erected in 1860 by the heirs of the Grenville family.<ref>Per brass plaque below easternmost window</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* C. Warren Hollister, ''Henry I''
* Lynn Nelson, [http://www.ku.edu/carrie/texts/carrie_books/nelson/5.html The Normans in South Wales, 1070-1171] (see especially pp.&nbsp;94–110 in chapter 5)
* [http://www.castlewales.com/glam_rum.html Norman invasion of South Wales]
* [http://www.britannia.com/travel/tours/glstour7.html Tour of the Abbey]
* [http://www.antiquefairs.co.uk/a-history-of-bristol.html Lord of Bristol] refers to Robert Fitzhamon as Lord of Bristol, which town and castle became important to his son-in-law.
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/fab/fab008.htm Robert of Caen, son-in-law is said here to be grandson of a Welsh prince] but most other sources say that his mother was an unnamed woman of Caen.
* Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis, Lines: 63–26, 124A-26, 125–26, 185–1.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzhamon, Robert}}
[[Category:11th-century births]]
[[Category:1107 deaths]]
[[Category:11th-century English nobility]]
[[Category:12th-century English nobility]]
[[Category:Anglo-Normans in Wales]]
[[Category:Norman warriors]]
[[Category:History of Glamorgan]]
[[Category:People from Calvados (department)]]
[[Category:Burials at Tewkesbury Abbey]]
[[Category:Lords of Glamorgan]]