Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester was an illegitimate son of King Henry I of England.
He was the half-brother of the Empress Matilda, and her chief military supporter during the
civil war known as The Anarchy, in which she vied with Stephen of Blois for the throne
of England.
Early life Robert was probably the eldest of Henry's
many illegitimate children.
He was born before his father's accession to the English throne, either during the reign
of his grandfather William the Conqueror or his uncle William Rufus.
He is sometimes and erroneously designated as a son of Nest, daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr,
last king of Deheubarth, although his mother has been identified as a member of "the Gay
or Gayt family of north Oxfordshire", possibly a daughter of Rainald Gay of Hampton Gay and
Northbrook Gay in Oxfordshire.
Rainald had known issue Robert Gaay of Hampton and Stephen Gay of Northbrook.
A number of Oxfordshire women feature as the mothers of Robert's siblings.
He may have been a native of Caen or he may have been only Constable and Governor of that
city, jure uxoris.
His father had contracted him in marriage to Mabel FitzHamon, daughter and heir of Robert
Fitzhamon, but the marriage was not solemnized until June 1119 at Lisieux.
His wife brought him the substantial honours of Gloucester in England and Glamorgan in
Wales, and the honours of Sainte-Scholasse-sur-Sarthe and Évrecy in Normandy, as well as Creully.
After the White Ship disaster late in 1120, and probably because of this marriage, in
1121 or 1122 his father created him Earl of Gloucester.
Family Robert of Caen and his wife Mabel FitzHamon
had seven children: William FitzRobert: succeeded his father as
2nd Earl of Gloucester Roger FitzRobert: Bishop of Worcester
Hamon FitzRobert: killed at the siege of Toulouse.
Philip FitzRobert: lord of Cricklade Matilda FitzRobert: married in 1141 Ranulf
de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester.
Mabel FitzRobert: married Aubrey de Vere Richard FitzRobert: succeeded his mother as
Sire de Creully.
Robert of Caen had four illegitimate children: Richard FitzRobert: Bishop of Bayeux [mother:
Isabel de Douvres, sister of Richard de Douvres, bishop of Bayeux]
Robert FitzRobert: Castellan of Gloucester, married in 1147 Hawise de Reviers, had daughter
Mabel FitzRobert Mabel FitzRobert: married Gruffud, Lord of
Senghenydd, son of Ifor Bach.
This couple were ancestors of Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the U.S.A.
Father of Thomas Relationship with King Stephen
There is evidence in the contemporary source, the Gesta Stephani, that Robert was proposed
by some as a candidate for the throne, but his illegitimacy ruled him out:
"Among others came Robert, Earl of Gloucester, son of King Henry, but a bastard, a man of
proved talent and admirable wisdom.
When he was advised, as the story went, to claim the throne on his father's death, deterred
by sounder advice he by no means assented, saying it was fairer to yield it to his sister's
son, than presumptuously to arrogate it to himself."
This suggestion cannot have led to any idea that he and Stephen were rivals for the Crown,
as Geoffrey of Monmouth in 1136 referred to Robert as one of the 'pillars' of the new
King's rule.
The capture of King Stephen at the Battle of Lincoln on 2 February 1141 gave the Empress
Matilda the upper hand in her battle for the throne, but by alienating the citizens of
London she failed to be crowned Queen.
Her forces were defeated at the Rout of Winchester on 14 September 1141, and Robert of Gloucester
was captured nearby at Stockbridge.
The two prisoners, King Stephen and Robert of Gloucester, were then exchanged, but by
freeing Stephen, the Empress Matilda had given up her best chance of becoming queen.
She later returned to France, where she died in 1167, though her son succeeded Stephen
as King Henry II in 1154.
Robert of Gloucester died in 1147 at Bristol Castle, where he had previously imprisoned
King Stephen, and was buried at St James' Priory, Bristol, which he had founded.
In popular culture Robert of Gloucester is a figure in many of
the novels by Ellis Peters in the Cadfael Chronicles.
The series of twenty novels is set in the years of the competition between King Stephen
and Empress Maud, also called the Anarchy.
He is seen in the novels as a strong moderating force to his half-sister, and crucial to building
support for her in England to begin her quest for the crown in earnest.
His efforts to gain the crown for his sister by capturing King Stephen and her own actions
in London are part of the plot in The Pilgrim of Hate.
His capture by Stephen's wife Queen Mathilda is in the background of the plot of An Excellent
Mystery.
The exchange of the imprisoned Robert for the imprisoned Stephen is in the background
of the plot of The Raven in the Foregate.
Robert's travels to persuade his brother-in-law to aid his wife Empress Maud militarily in
England is in the background of the novel The Rose Rent.
His return to England when Empress Maud is trapped in Oxford Castle figures in The Hermit
of Eyton Forest.
Robert's return to England with his young nephew Henry, years later the king succeeding
Stephen, is in the background of the plot of The Confession of Brother Haluin, as the
battles begin anew with Robert's military guidance.
Robert's success in the Battle of Wilton leads to the death of a fictional character, part
of the plot of The Potter's Field.
The In the last novel, he is a father who can disagree with then forgive his son Philip.
In that last novel, Brother Cadfael, the Welsh monk who fought under English lords and ends
his life in a Benedictine monastery in England, speculates on the possibly different path
for England if the first son of old King Henry, the illegitimate Robert of Gloucester, had
been recognised and accepted.
In Wales of that era, a son was not illegitimate if recognized by his father, and to many in
the novels, Robert of Gloucester seemed the best of the contenders to succeed his father.
Instead, he used his strength to fight for his half-sister.
Footnotes
Sources J. Bradbury, Stephen and Matilda: The Civil
War of 1139–53 D. Crouch, "Robert of Gloucester's Mother
and Sexual Politics in Norman Oxfordshire", Historical Research, 72 323–332.
D. Crouch, 'Robert, earl of Gloucester and the daughter of Zelophehad,' Journal of Medieval
History, 11, 227–43.
D. Crouch, The Reign of King Stephen, 1135–1154.
C. Given-Wilson & A. Curteis.
The Royal Bastards of Medieval England The Personnel of the Norman Cathedrals during
the Ducal Period, 911–1204, ed.
David S. Spear Earldom of Gloucester Charters, ed.
R.B.
Patterson R.B.
Patterson, 'William of Malmesbury's Robert of Gloucester: a re-evaluation of the Historia
Novella,' American Historical Review, 70, 983–97.
K. Thompson, 'Affairs of State: the illegitimate children of Henry I,' Journal of Medieval
History, 29, 129–151.
W.M.M.
Picken, 'The Descent of the Devon Family of Willington from Robert Earl of Gloucester'
in 'A Medieval Cornish Miscellany', Ed.
O.J.
Padel.