Birthdate listed as 1580
Richard was still a boy when his father died, and so he was powerless to stop Louis IV of France when he seized Normandy. Richard escaped from his prison at Laon, allied himself with Norman and Viking leaders, drove Louis out of Rouen, and took back Normandy by 947.
He was first married to Emma of Paris (Duchess of Normandy) in 960. She died after 966, with no issue.
According to Robert of Torigny, not long after Emma's death, Duke Richard went out hunting and stopped at the house of a local forester. He became enamoured of the forester's wife, Seinfreda, but she being a virtuous woman, suggested he court her unmarried sister, Gunnor, instead. Gunnor became his bride, and her family rose to prominence. Her brother, Herefast de Crepon, was involved in a controversial trial involving the Cathars. She was, like Richard, of Norse descent, being a Dane by blood. Richard finally married her to legitimate their children. He died in Fecamp, France on November 20, 996 of natural causes.
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Richard I of Normandy (c. 935 - November 20, 996) was the Duke of Normandy from 942 to 996; he is considered the first to actually have held that title. He was called Richard the Fearless (French, Sans Peur). He was born to William I of Normandy, ruler of Normandy, and Sprota of Senlis. He was born probably between 932 and 935; he was still a boy when his father died in 942. His mother was a Breton concubine captured in war and bound to William by a Danish marriage. After William died, Sprota became the wife of Esperleng, a wealthy miller.
More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_I_of_Normandy
Richard was reportedly son to either Theodore, Count of Ardennes or Boso, Count of Metz by his wife Richilde the Frank. Either of the two men may have been his paternal uncle. Richard was brother or possibly first cousin to Richilde, second wife of Charles the Bald.
The duchy was entrusted upon him by king Charles the Bald, his brother-in-law, in 887. The lands of Burgundy initially comprised the counties of Autun, Macon, Chalon-sur-Sane, Langres, Nevers, Auxerre and Sens, but in the following centuries, the duchy would expand far beyond these counties.
Richard married Adelaide of Auxerre in 888. She was daughter to Conrad II, Count of Auxerre and Ermentrude of Alsace. They had several sons and daughters including:
Rudolph, Duke of Burgundy.
Hugh, Duke of Burgundy.
Ermengarde of Burgundy. Married to Gilbert of Chalon, Duke of Burgundy.
Willa of Burgundy. Married first to Hugh, Count of Vienne and secondly to Boso, Count of Arles.
Adelaide of Burgundy. Married to Regnier II, Count of Hainaut.
Richilde of Burgundy. Married to Litaud I, Count of Macon.
wife of Henry I the Fowler, King of the East Franks and the first ruler of the Ottonian or Liudolfing dynasty. Their son, Otto, succeeded his father as Otto I the Great.
Our knowledge of Mathilda's life comes largely from brief mentions in the Res Gestae Saxonicae (Deeds of the Saxons) of the monastic historian Widukind of Corvey, and from two sacred biographies (the vita antiquior and vita posterior) written, respectively, in c. 974 and c. 1003. Mathilda was the daughter of the Westfalian count Dietrich and his wife Reinhild, and her biographers traced her ancestry back to the famed eighth and ninth-century Saxon hero, Widukind. As a young girl, she was sent to the convent of Herford, where her reputation for beauty and virtue is said to have attracted the attention of Duke Otto of Saxony, who betrothed her to his son, Henry. They were married in 909 and had three sons and two daughters:
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry I, Duke of Bavaria
Bruno I, Archbishop of Cologne
Gerberga of Saxony, wife of (1) Duke Giselbert of Lotharingia and (2) King Louis IV of France
Hedwig, wife of the West Frankish duke Hugh the Great
After her husband's death in 936, Mathilda remained at the court of her son Otto, until a cabal of royal advisors is reported to have accused her of weakening the royal treasury in order to pay for her charitable activities. After a brief exile at the Westfalian monastery of Enger, Mathilda was brought back to court at the urging of Otto I's first wife, the Anglo-Saxon princess Eadgyth.
Mathilda was celebrated for her devotion to prayer and almsgiving; her first biographer depicted her (in a passage indebted to the sixth-century vita of the Frankish queen Radegund by Venantius Fortunatus) leaving her husband's side in the middle of the night and sneaking off to church to pray. Mathilda founded many religious institutions, including the canonry of Quedlinburg, a center of Ottonian ecclesiastical and secular life and the burial place of Mathilda and her husband, and the convent of Nordhausen, likely the source of at least one of her vitae. She was later canonized.
Richeza of Lotharingia (born between 995 and 1000), died March 21, 1063 in Saalfeld) was the Queen of Poland as the wife of King Mieszko II. She was the daughter of the Count Palatine Ezzo of Lotharingia (Ezzonen) and Mathilde of Saxony (daughter of emperor Otto II and Theophanu). Her mother, Mathilde of Saxony, was the sister of Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor. She became a nun after 7 September 1047 and is buried in Cologne.
Richard II, known as Richard The Good, (in French, "le Bon"), was the son and heir of Richard I the Fearless and the Duchess Gunnora. Succeeded his father as Duke of Normandy in 996. Richard held his own against a peasant insurrection, and helped Robert II of France against the duchy of Burgundy. He also repelled an English attack on the Cotentin Peninsula that was led by the Ethelred II of England. He pursued a reform of the Norman monasteries.
Richard attempted to improve relations with England through his sister's marriage to King Ethelred, but she was strongly disliked by the English. However, this connection later gave his grandson, William the Conqueror, his claim to the throne of England.
He married 1st (996) Judith of Brittany (982-1017), daughter of Conan I, Duke of Brittany, He married 2nd Poppa, Traditionally, Richard married 3rd Astrid (Estritha), daughter of Sweyn Forkbeard, King of England, Denmark, & Norway, and Gunhilde of Poland. This is extremely unlikely, however, given the political situation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_II_of_Normandy
Richard III (997 - 1027) was the eldest son of Richard II, who died in 1027, and left the Duchy of Normandy to his eldest son. Although the eldest son, Richard died mysteriously soon after his father, leaving the duchy to his younger brother Robert II, sixth duke of Normandy and direct ancestor of the present-day British royal family. Richard reigned for a few months and never really had any effect on the Duchy of Normandy. He had children from two unknown mistresses. His wife was Adela, (or Alix) Countess of Contenance (1009-June 5, 1063), second daughter of Robert II of France and Constance of Arles.
Children: Alice of Normandy , Agnes d'Evreux
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_III_of_Normandy