Knight, Earl of Cornwall, Count of Ponthieu, Lieutenant of Guienne, Privy Councillor and Joint Guardian of England, 2nd son.
Born at Wincester Castle, knighted by his brother, King Henry III 02 Feb 1225, granted the honour of Launceston, Cornwall 1225, and the honour of Berkhamstead in Hertfordshire in 1229.
Firstly, husband of Isabel Marshal, daughter of Sir William Marshall, 4th Earl of Pembroke and Isabnel FitzGilbert., widow of Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Gloucester, who died 1230. Married at Fawley, Buckinghamshire on 30 March 1231. They were the parents of three sons and one daughter:
John of Cornwall, died as an infant
Isabella of Cornwall, died as an infant
Henry of Almain, murdered by his cousins, Guy & Simon de Montfort
Nicholas of Cornwall, died as an infant
Secondly, husband of Sanchia of Provence, daughter of Raymond Beregner V, Count of Provence and Beatrice of Savoy. Married 23 Nov 1243 at Westminter Abbey. They were the parents of two sons:
Unknown son who died one month old
Edmond of Cornwall
Thirdly, husband of Beatrice de Falkenburg, daughter of Deitrich II de Falkenburg and Berta, daughter of Waltram of Limburg. They had no children.
Also, father of several children by an unknown mistress, including:
John of Cornwall who would marry Joan FitzAlan
Walter of Cornwall
Philip of Cornwall, clerk in the church
1232 - fought in Wales against Llyywelyn ap Iowerth
1233 - had successfuly driven off Llywelyn and secured Radnor Castle
1237 - openly rebuked his brother, the King Henry III for his greed and maladministration
1237 - embassy to Emperor Frederick
1240 - wife Isabel died
1240 - left for the crusades in the Holy Land
1241 - negotiated treaty with the sultan of Krak, releasing many French from captivity
1243 - married Sanchia of Provence, the sister of his brother's wife
1243 - demounced all his rights in Ireland and Gascony, abandoning the title of Count of Ponthieu
1244 - granted the honour of Bradninch, Devon
1250 - Joint Ambassador to France and to Pope Innocent IV
1257 - elected King of the Romans, styled King of Almain, Jan 13rd, crowned at Aachen Jan 1259
1259 - failed to establish authority in Germany and returned to England
1261 - wife Sanchia died
1263 - achieved a temporary truce between the barons and his brother
1264 - taken prisoner at the Battle of Lewes May 14
1265 - released and lands restored after the Battle of Evesham Aug 04
1629 - married Beatrice de Falkenburg
1270 - purchased the honour of Tremarton, Cornwall
1272 - April 2 or 3 - Richard died testate, buried with Sanchia
1277 - Oct 17 - Beatrice died, buried at Friars Minors, Oxford
Richard would raise his voice three times in protest against his brother, Henry the king's policies or his choices, and each time, Richard would receive generous gifts in order to placate and silence him. When his first wife, Isabel was on her deathbed, she asked to be buried next to her first husband at Tewkesbury, Gilbert de Clare. Richard had her interred at Beaulieu Abbey but sent her heart to Tewkesbury.
Richard fought in no battles but managed to negotiate for the release of prisoners and the burials of Crusaders killed at a battle in Gaza in 1239, and fortified Ascalon, which had been demolished by Saladin. On his return from the Holy Land, Richard visited his sister Isabella, the empress of Frederick II and met Sanchia (Cynthia) who he made his second wife.
On 27 May 1257 the archbishop of Cologne himself crowned Richard "King of the Romans" in Aachen, but only after large sums of money were paid to those who opposed him. and his title never meant much.
He founded Hailes Abbey by 1246, Burnham Abbey in Buckinghamshire in 1263, and the Grashaus, Aachen in 1266, fought with Henry against Simon de Montfort in the Second Barons' War (1264–67). After the defeat at the Battle of Lewes, Richard hid in a windmill, but was found and imprisoned until September of 1265.
Richard's third wife, Beatrice, was sixteen and one of the most beautiful woman of the era. They had no children, and she died at 24 in 1277 buried before the high altar at the Church of the Grey Friars in Oxford.
In December 1271, he had a stroke when his right side became paralyzed and he lost the ability to speak. On 2 April 1272, Richard died at Berkhamsted Castle in Hertfordshire, buried next to Sanchia of Provence and Henry of Almain, his son by his first wife, at Hailes Abbey. Richard was succeeded by Edmund, son of his second wife Sanchia, and Rudolph I as the King of the Romans.
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