CONTEVILLE Robert

Abt 1031 - 1095  (64 years)

• Name	CONTEVILLE Robert
  Birth	Abt 1031	Normandie, France
  Gender	Male
  Death	09 Dec 1095
  Notes	Disambiguation Two profiles appear to be duplicates but are being kept separate: Robert de Conteville, born 1031, a documented real person. Robert de Montaigne, born 1040, who appears to be part of a fictional genealogy created in the 17th century and widely disseminated. Caution is advised to keep fictional details from encroaching on the real Robert. Biography Robert was the half-brother of King William I and full brother to Bishop Odo, being the second son of Herleva, a former concubine of Robert (II), Duke of Normandy, and her husband, Herluin de Conteville. Herluin, who is of obscure origin, was created a Vicomte shortly after his marriage, c.1030. Robert was probably brought up in the company of Duke William, of whom he was always to be a loyal supporter. His reward was the county of Mortain, close to the Norman frontier with Brittany and Maine, a region both strategically vital for Normandy's interests and politically sensitive. Little is known of Robert's activities before the conquest: he witnessed only ten ducal acta, considerably fewer than either Roger de Montgomery or William fitz Osbern; and he only once appears as a ducal judge, when he was ordered, with Maurilius, archbishop of Rouen, and the bishops of Lisieux and Évreux, to hear a case brought by the abbey of St Magloire-de-Lehon. Keats-Rohan, however, reports (p.371) that: His work in the region [of Mortain] was of critical importance in achieving harmony both with west Normans and their eastern counterparts and between the Normans and the Bretons; his diplomatic successes were later to provide a model for Henry I. England As Keats-Rohan mentions (p.372): "He accompanied his brother on the expedition of 1066 and is one of the few known to have fought at Hastings." In 1066 the Brevis relatio records that he provided 120 ships for his brother's invasion fleet, more than any other magnate, and both Orderic Vitalis and William of Poitiers (though not William of Jumièges) attest his importance and refer to his presence at his brother's invasion councils. He is depicted in the Bayeux tapestry seated with his brothers at dinner, and according to a suspect charter in favor of Mont-St Michel, he carried St Michael's standard at the battle of Hastings. In 1069 Robert, with Robert, count of Eu, destroyed the Danish forces in Lindsey. In the following few years he witnessed a number of royal acta and also heard three cases in the royal curia, including the Ely land pleas. His itinerary, however, is uncertain, though he was certainly in England for at least part of 1068 and 1069, and perhaps also in the early 1070s; and he may have acted as justiciar for his brother in 1071. Thereafter charter evidence suggests that he spent most of his time in Normandy. Concerning his lands in England, Keats-Rohan explains that: He was given one of the important defensive Rapes of Sussex at Pevensey, where he built a castle. He received extensive holdings throughout the country, with a notable predominance in the south-west, where some of his holdings in Cornwall came to him as a result of the withdrawal c.1069/70 of Count Brien of Brittany. brother of Alan Rufus. Sanders explains how Robert's Cornish possessions, which made up most of the county, were a feudal barony with its caput at Launceston. Eventually the possessors were Earls of Cornwall, but the lands switched owners many times over the generations. Robert was never called an Earl of Cornwall although he had similar powers to the future Earls of Cornwall. Robert's own son William, a rebel who fought at Tinchebrai, lost the family possessions, in the next generation. Marriages and children In addition to a son, William, there were at least three daughters from his first marriage to Matilda. Emma married Guillaume (IV), count of Toulouse (who died, perhaps in 1093, in the Holy Land) and their young daughter, Phillippa, married Sanchez-Ramiro, king of Aragon, in 1086. Agnes married André de Vitré, and the third daughter married Gui (II) fitz Haimon de Laval. These last two marriages were clearly intended to reinforce Robert's interests in the south-west of Normandy. Another daughter, Sybil, became abbess of Notre Dame de Saintes. Keats-Rohan (p.372) reports that he married... 1. Matilda (died about 1084), daughter of Roger de Montgomery, and Mabel de Bellême, by whom he had: William Emma, wife of William, Count of Toulouse Agnes, wife of André I de Vitré (a tenant of the count in Cornwall) Denise, wife of Guy II de Laval 2. Almodis, by whom he had issue, "although apparently none survived into adulthood". The modern ODNB article by Brian Golding reports as follows: Almodis was most probably a daughter of Almodis of La Marche and her husband, Pons, count of Toulouse. She was associated with Robert in grants to the abbeys of Mont-St Michel and St Albans. Their son, Robert, died young. Death Although Grestain abbey tradition records Robert's death, and his burial next to his first wife in the abbey, in 1090, he did not die until 1095, perhaps on 9 December as stated on the obit roll of St. Evroult, Mortain. He was succeeded by his eldest son, William, who is not known to have married and who first appears as a witness of acta from the 1080s.[citation needed] Sources Cockayne et al., Complete Peerage, 2nd ed., vol. 3, under "Cornwall", pp. 427-428. K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, Domesday People, under "Robert Comes De Moritonie", pp. 371-372. D. Richardson, Royal Ancestry, vol. 5, under "Line A from Charlemagne" 11, pp. 490-491. I.J. Sanders (1960) English Baronies, under "Berkhamstead", p.14; under "Launceston", p. 60; under "Pevensey", p. 136. Brian Golding 'Robert Count of Mortain d 1095 ' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004 online editition Requires subscription but free with many UK library cards. Also see... Frederick Lewis Weis, "Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists," 7th Ed. Text b. 1030 d 1095. half brother of Wm.the Conqueror m. Maud de Montgomery. W.H. Turton, "The Plantagenet Ancestry." 2011, (not available to see online) Roderick W. Stuart, "Royalty for Commoners." Searching 4th edition on Ancestry. No information found https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert,_Count_of_Mortain
  Person ID	I60101	Freeman-Smith
  Last Modified	27 Jan 2026

  
  

  Father	CONTEVILLE Herluin,   b. Abt 03 Sep 1001, Conteville, Eure, Normandy, France d. 01 May 1072, Mortain, Manche, Basse-Normandie, France (Age 70 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Mother	FALAISE Herlève,   b. Abt 1003, Falaise, Normandie, France d. Abt 1055, Mortain, Normandie, France (Age 52 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Marriage	Abt 1030
  Family ID	F26682	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	MONTGOMERY Maud,   b. 1041, St Germain de Montgomery, Calvados, Normandy, France d. 1107, Abbey St Grestain, Normandy, France (Age 66 years)
  Children	1. MORTAIN Agnes,   b. Abt 1056, Normandy, France d. Abt 1115, Mortagne, Normandy, France (Age 59 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
  Family ID	F26681	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	27 Jan 2026