Robert, Count of Mortain
Encyclopedia
Robert, Count of Mortain, 1st Earl of Cornwall (died 1095) was a Norman nobleman and the half-brother of William I of England
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...

. Robert was the son of Herluin de Conteville
Herluin de Conteville
Herluin de Conteville , also sometimes listed as Herlevin or Herlwin of Conteville, was the stepfather of William the Conqueror, and the father of Odo of Bayeux and Robert, Count of Mortain, both of whom became prominent during William's reign.-Conteville and Sainte-Marie Eglise:No contemporary...

 and Herleva of Falaise
Herleva
Herleva also known as Herleve, Arlette, Arletta and Arlotte, was the mother of William I of England. She had two other sons, Odo of Bayeux and Robert, Count of Mortain, who became prominent in William's realm....

 (who was also William's mother) and was full brother to Odo of Bayeux. The exact year of Robert's birth is unknown (perhaps ca. 1038), although it is generally thought that Odo was the elder of the two, and that Robert was probably not more than a year or so younger than his sibling: there is considerable doubt about the year of Odo's birth.

Count of Mortain

His name first appears in or about the year 1049 when he was made Count of Mortain in the Cotentin
Cotentin Peninsula
The Cotentin Peninsula, also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy, forming part of the north-western coast of France. It juts out north-westwards into the English Channel, towards Great Britain...

, in place of one William Warlenc, who had been banished by Duke William on suspicion of treason. The suspicion is that this William Warlenc was a grandson of Duke Richard
Richard I of Normandy
Richard I of Normandy , also known as Richard the Fearless , was the Duke of Normandy from 942 to 996; he is considered the first to have held that title.-Birth:He was born to William I of Normandy, ruler of Normandy, and Sprota...

 I and therefore a potential rival to William the Bastard.

Five years later Robert was to be found supporting William against the French King Henri I
Henry I of France
Henry I was King of France from 1031 to his death. The royal demesne of France reached its smallest size during his reign, and for this reason he is often seen as emblematic of the weakness of the early Capetians...

's invasion of Normandy, although he does not appear to have taken part in the famous victory of the battle of Mortemer
Mortemer, Seine-Maritime
Mortemer is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-Geography:A small forestry and farming village situated in the valley of the river Eaulne in the Pays de Bray, some southeast of Dieppe at the junction of the D7, D36 and the D929 roads...

. He was however present at the council of Lillebonne in 1066, held to discuss the Duke's planned conquest of England when Robert agreed to contribute 120 ships to the invasion fleet. Robert in all probability fought at Hastings, yet he is not one of the proven Companions of William the Conqueror
Companions of William the Conqueror
William the Conqueror had men of diverse standing and origins in France, under his command at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, along with others completing his Norman conquest of England until after the Harrying of the North and before the Anarchy....

, as he was not recorded as having been such by contemporary chroniclers, who made notice of only 15 out of the many hundreds undoubtedly there. Later sources however do place him at William's side at the Battle of Hastings
Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...

 where he commanded a company of knights from the Cotentin, although he seems to have played no heroic role at the battle. When granting the monastery of St Michael's Mount
St Michael's Mount
St Michael's Mount is a tidal island located off the Mount's Bay coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is a civil parish and is united with the town of Marazion by a man-made causeway of granite setts, passable between mid-tide and low water....

 to the Norman monastery on the Mont-Saint-Michel Robert recorded that he had fought under the banner of St Michael ("habens in bello Sancti Michaelis vexillum").

Lands granted by William the Conqueror

Robert's contribution to the success of the invasion was clearly regarded as highly significant by William who awarded him a large share of the consequent spoil. He was granted the rape of Pevensey
Pevensey
Pevensey is a village and civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. The main village is located 5 miles north-east of Eastbourne, one mile inland from Pevensey Bay. The settlement of Pevensey Bay forms part of the parish.-Geography:The village of Pevensey is located on...

 in Sussex and a total of 549 manors scattered across the country; 54 in Sussex, 75 in Devon, 49 in Dorset, 29 in Buckinghamshire, 13 in Hertfordshire, 10 in Suffolk, 99 in Northamptonshire, 196 in Yorkshire, and 24 in other counties. However the greatest concentration of his landed wealth was in Cornwall
Earl of Cornwall
The title of Earl of Cornwall was created several times in the Peerage of England before 1337, when it was superseded by the title Duke of Cornwall, which became attached to heirs-apparent to the throne.-Earl of Cornwall:...

 (where he held a further 248 manors at the time of the compilation of the Domesday Book, together with the castles of Launceston
Launceston Castle
Launceston Castle is located in the town of Launceston, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. .-Early history:The castle is a Norman motte and bailey earthwork castle raised by Robert, Count of Mortain, half-brother of William the Conqueror shortly after the Norman conquest, possibly as early as 1067...

 and Trematon
Trematon Castle
Trematon Castle is situated near Saltash in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is similar in style to the later Restormel Castle, with a 12th century keep. Trematon Castle overlooks Plymouth Sound and was built probably by Robert, Count of Mortain on the ruins of an earlier Roman fort: it is a...

) although these Cornish estates were not granted to him until after 1072 when Brian of Brittany
Brian of Brittany
Brian of Brittany in English, or Brien de Bretagne in French, was a Breton noble who fought for William I of England. He was born in about 1042, the second son of Odo, Count of Penthièvre...

 decided to return home. His position of authority in the south west has therefore led many to consider him as the Earl of Cornwall, although it appears uncertain whether he was formally created as such.

Later life

His one public act after the conquest took place in 1069, when together with his cousin and namesake Robert of Eu, he led an army against a force of Danes who had landed at the mouth of the Humber and laid siege to York. As the Norman forces approached the Danes decided to retreat to the Fens where they fancied they would be safe. The two Roberts however surprised the Danes whilst they were being entertained by the disaffected natives and ""pursued them with great slaughter to their very ships"".

After that there is little mention of Robert (who may well have spent much of his time in Normandy) until he appears at the deathbed of William I in 1087 pleading for the release of his brother Odo who had been imprisoned for revolt earlier in 1082. It is said that William was reluctant to accede to the request, believing that Odo was an incorrigible rogue. As it happens William was right, for as soon as the Conqueror was dead, Odo was soon fomenting a revolt against the Conqueror's successor to the English throne William Rufus, and promoting the claims of Rufus' elder brother and rival Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy. Odo persuaded his brother to join in the rebellion which proved a failure. But whilst Odo was exiled to Normandy by William Rufus, Robert of Mortain was excused punishment and pardoned, most probably because his extensive English estates meant that it was worthwhile for the king to gain his support.

Family life, character and death

Nothing is known of Robert's life afterwards; it seems that he died sometime between the accession of William Rufus and the year 1103, by which time his son William, Count of Mortain
William, Count of Mortain
William de Mortaigne, Count of Mortain, Earl of Cornwall was the son of Robert, Count of Mortain, the half-brother of William I of England...

 had most certainly succeeded him, most probably sometime around the year 1095.

Robert was married to Matilda, daughter of Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury
Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury
Roger de Montgomerie , also known as Roger the Great de Montgomery, was the first Earl of Shrewsbury. His father was also Roger de Montgomerie, and was a relative, probably a grandnephew, of the Duchess Gunnor, wife of Duke Richard I of Normandy...

, and by her left a son, the aforementioned William of Mortain, and three daughters; Agnes who married André de Vitry, Denise, married in 1078 to Guy, 3rd Sire de La Val; and Emma of Mortain, the wife of William IV of Toulouse
William IV of Toulouse
William IV of Toulouse was Count of Toulouse, Margrave of Provence, and Duke of Narbonne from 1061 to 1094. He succeeded his father Pons of Toulouse upon his death in 1061. His mother was Almodis de la Marche, but she was kidnapped by and subsequently married to Ramon Berenguer I, Count of...

.

"He is described by William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. C. Warren Hollister so ranks him among the most talented generation of writers of history since Bede, "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in the literature of classical,...

 as a man of a heavy, sluggish disposition, but no foul crimes are laid to his charge. He had evidently the courage of his race, and his conduct as a commander is unassociated with any act of cruelty. Scandal has not been busy with his name as a husband. No discords are known to have disturbed his domestic felicity.
"

Portrayals on screen

On screen, Robert has been portrayed by Gordon Whiting in the two-part BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 TV play Conquest (1966), part of the series Theatre 625
Theatre 625
Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line...

, and by Richard Ireson in the TV drama Blood Royal: William the Conqueror (1990).
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