Ancestral Glimpses » William I "Longsword" FitzRobert (891-942)

Personal data William I "Longsword" FitzRobert 


Household of William I "Longsword" FitzRobert

He is married to Sprota de Bretagne.

They got married about 932 at Normandy, FRANCE.

Sprota was a Breton concubine captured in war & bound to William by a Danish marriage. After William died she became the wife of Esperieng, a wealthy miller.

Child(ren):



Notes about William I "Longsword" FitzRobert

Vilhjalm 'Langaspjót' Hrólfsson
http://www.friesian.com/flanders.htm#norman
http://genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00020058&tree=LEO

(Old Norse) Guillaume 'Longue-Épée' de Normandie (French)
Parents: Rollo (Gange-Hrolfr) and Poppa
1. Wife: Sprota de Senlis
Child: Richard 'Sans-Peur'
2. Wife: Luitgardis de Vermandois

NOTE
 Vilhjalm 'Langaspjót' Hrólfsson is the most correct name as it is known that William spoke Old Norse. French name is the alternative: Guillaume 'Longue-Épée' de Normandie. He was NOT a duke, his son Richard was the first to use that title.

LINKS
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/NORMANDY.htm#RobertIdied928
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Ier_de_Normandie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_I_of_Normandy
 MEDIEVAL LANDS GUILLAUME (Rouen [900/05] - murdered Pequigny 17 Dec 942, bur. ---, transferred [1064] to Rouen Cathedral[47]). Guillaume de Jumièges names "Guillaume et…Gerloc" as children of Rollo and Poppa[48]. However, the Planctus for William Longsword[49], composed shortly after the murder of Guillaume, states that he had a Christian mother of overseas origin.
Dudo of Saint-Quentin states that he was born in Rouen and, in a later passage, describes him as a "young man" one year before his father's death[50]. His father chose him as heir one year before his death[51]. Guillaume de Jumièges records that he was born before his father's marriage to Gisela and his remarriage with Popa after Gisela's death[52]. Flodoard records that "filius Rollonis" did homage to ex-king Charles III "le Simple" at "castellum…Auga" in 927[53]. He succeeded his father in [928/33] as GUILLAUME I "Longuespee" Comte [de Normandie].
Flodoard names "Willelmus princeps Nortmannorum" in 933[54]. He quelled a rebellion by the Viking chief Riulf after the latter besieged Rouen[55]. In return for swearing allegiance to Raoul King of France, he appears to have been granted rights to further territory along the coast in 933, maybe the Cotentin and Avranchin. If this is correct, it would have created rivalry with the dukes of Brittany.
Dudo of Saint-Quentin describes Comte Guillaume's invasion of Brittany shortly after his accession to quell a rebellion against him, and his defeat of the rebels at Bayeux[56]. Responding to raids by Comte Guillaume, Arnoul I Count of Flanders invaded Ponthieu and in 939 captured Montreuil from Herluin Comte de Ponthieu, although it was recaptured by Comte Guillaume's forces. In 939, Guillaume joined the alliance against Louis IV King of France which was led by Otto I "der Große" King of Germany who raided Frankish territory. Comte Guillaume, however, met King Louis at Amiens, receiving a confirmation of the grant of his lands in Normandy. Guillaume de Jumièges records that Guillaume was tricked into a meeting on the river Seine at Pecquigny by Arnoul Count of Flanders to settle their dispute over the castle of Montreuil, but was murdered on Count Arnoul's orders, recording his death on 17 Dec[57].
The Annalibus Rotomagensibus record that "Willermus dux Normannorum filius Rollonis" was killed "943 XVI Kal Jan"[58]. Orderic Vitalis implies that the transfer of his body to Rouen Cathedral took place after the "the ninth year" in office of Archbishop Maurilius, who had succeeded Mauger de Normandie[59], which would date the event to [1064].
md. firstly SPROTA, dau. of ---. Guillaume de Jumièges records that Guillaume md. "une très-noble jeune fille Sprota…selon l'usage des Danois"[60]. From Brittany. It is possible that Sprota was Count Guillaume's concubine rather than wife, particularly as no reference has been found to a dissolution of any marriage before she md. Esperleng. She md. Esperleng de Pîtres, by whom she had Rodulf [Raoul] Comte d'Ivry.
md. secondly ([940]) as her first husband, LUITGARDIS de Vermandois, dau. of HERIBERT II Comte de Vermandois & his wife Adela [Capet] (bef. 925 - 14 Nov aft. 985, bur. Chartres, Abbaye de Saint-Père). Rodulfus Glauber refers to the wife of Comte Guillaume as "sororem [Heribertum Trecorum comitem]", specifying that she was childless by her first husband, when recording her second marriage to "Tetbaldus"[61]. Guillaume de Jumièges records the marriage of Guillaume and the dau. of Heribert, specifying that it was arranged by Hugues "le Grand"[62]. The source which confirms her name has not yet been identified. She md. secondly Thibaut I Comte de Blois. "Hugonis ducis, Odonis comitis, Hugonis sanctæ Bituricensis archipræsulis, Letgardis comitissæ, Bertæ comitissæ, Gauzfridi vicecomitis…" subscribed the charter dated 985 under which "Robertus" donated property to "Sancti Petri Carnotensis", on the advice of "Odonem, simul cum sua matre Ledgarde, pariterque dominam meam Bertam, ipsius æque coniugem"[63]. The necrology of Chartres cathedral records the death "XVIII Kal Dec" of "Letgardis comitissa"[64].

Guillaume & his first wife had one child:
a) RICHARD (Fécamp [932] - 20 Nov 996, bur. Fécamp). Guillaume de Jumièges names Richard as son of Guillaume and Sprota, recording that news of his birth was brought to his father when he was returning from his victory against the rebels led by "Riulf"[65]. After the death of Richard's father, Louis IV "d'Outremer" King of the West Franks briefly controlled Rouen, and kept Richard prisoner, before the latter was able to escape, whereupon he succeeded as RICHARD I "Sans Peur" Comte [de Normandie].
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WIKIPEDIA (Eng) William I Longsword (French: Guillaume Longue-Épée, Latin: Willermus Longa Spata, Scandinavian: Vilhjálmr Langaspjót; 893 – 17 Dec 942) was count of Normandy from his father's death until his own assassination. The title dux (duke) was not in use at the time and has been applied to early Norman rulers retroactively; William actually used the title comes (count).
Little is known about his early years. He was born in Bayeux or Rouen to Rollo and his wife Poppa. All that is known of Poppa is that she was a Christian, and the dau. to Berengar of Rennes, the previous lord of Brittania Nova, which eventually became western Normandy. According to the William's planctus, he was bapt. a Christian.
William succeeded Rollo sometime around 927. It appears that he faced a rebellion early in his reign, from Normans who felt he had become too Gallicized. Subsequent years are obscure. In 939 William became involved in a war with Arnulf I of Flanders, which soon became intertwined with the other conflicts troubling the reign of Louis IV. He was killed by followers of Arnulf while at a meeting to settle their conflict. His son Richard the Fearless, child of his first wife, Sprota, succeeded him. William also left a widow, Liègard (Liutgard), who died in 985.
WIKIPEDIA (fr.) Guillaume Ier de Normandie (av. 910-942), dit Guillaume « Longue-Épée »[1], est le fils naturel de Rollon et de Poppa de Bayeux. Il est considéré comme étant le deuxième duc de Normandie, bien que ce titre n'existe pas encore à cette époque. Il est avant tout jarl des Normands de la Seine.
Le successeur de Rollon
Un poème[2] écrit peu après la mort de Guillaume Longue-Épée révèle qu'il est né outre-mer, d'une mère chrétienne et d'un père encore païen. Ce dernier, Rollon, n'était pas à ce moment le jarl de la future Normandie. C'était encore un chef viking qui parcourait les mers à la recherche de quelque terre à piller.
Une fois Rollon installé par le roi Charles le Simple en Normandie (911), Guillaume devenait l'héritier naturel de ce territoire. Dudon de Saint-Quentin explique que vers 927 Rollon n'était plus en état de gouverner[3]. Une assemblée de Normands et de Bretons élit Guillaume à leur tête. À peine élu, il se recommande au roi Charles le Simple.
Il est assez difficile de brosser un portrait du nouveau jarl des Normands de la Seine. En effet, le récit de Dudon de Saint-Quentin, notre principal informateur, tend parfois à l'hagiographie. Néanmoins, il est indiscutable que Guillaume fut un vrai chrétien à la différence de son père. Après 935, il épousa chrétiennement Liégarde, fille d'Herbert II, comte de Vermandois. Le jarl fit différentes donations aux chanoines du Mont-Saint-Michel et restaura l'abbaye de Jumièges dans laquelle il songea à se retirer.
Le principat de Guillaume correspond à une consolidation de la jeune Normandie. Dudon présente le jarl comme un restaurateur de la paix et de l'ordre. Beaucoup plus récemment, Lucien Musset le décrit comme le « principal artisan de la réussite normande. C'est à lui qu'on doit attribuer le succès définitif de la greffe scandinave sur le tronc romano-franc, qui permit à l'État fondé en 911 de traverser victorieusement la crise générale que connut dans les années 940 le monde scandinave d'Occident »[4]. Guillaume et les Bretons [modifier]
Vers 931, la Bretagne, occupée par les Normands de la Loire, traversait une période délicate. Les Bretons se révoltèrent contre les occupants. Guillaume Longue Épée (appuyé par les Normands de la Loire ?) envahit la Bretagne. Les chefs bretons Alain « Barbe-Torte » et Juhel Bérenger de Rennes furent battus. Le premier fuit outre-Manche ; l'autre se réconcilia avec le Normand.
Mais quelles sont les conséquences de la victoire de Guillaume ? Dudon de Saint-Quentin répète à l'envi que Guillaume Longue Épée était « duc des Normands et des Bretons ». D'ailleurs, on a retrouvé au Mont-Saint-Michel une pièce qui le désigne comme duc des Bretons. Ces derniers apparaissent à plusieurs reprises dans l'entourage du jarl[5]. Comme si la Bretagne faisait désormais partie des terres sous la domination de Guillaume. Plutôt qu'une conquête, Musset suggère un protectorat de la Normandie sur la Bretagne.
En 933, Guillaume rendit hommage au roi Raoul pour « la terre des Bretons située sur le rivage de la mer ». Il ne s'agit pas de la Bretagne car le souverain n'avait plus aucun droit sur ce territoire. Les historiens traduisent habituellement cette concession par le Cotentin et l'Avranchin, régions cédées aux Bretons par un roi carolingien soixante-six ans plus tôt. En 933, la Normandie avait ainsi quasiment atteint son extension définitive.
Toutefois, Karl-Ferdinand Werner[6] prévient que nous n'avons aucune preuve que le deuxième jarl de Rouen maîtrisait effectivement ces confins occidentaux. La concession du roi Raoul - formelle car il ne contrôlait pas lui-même cette partie de la Normandie - invitait surtout Guillaume à soumettre les Bretons du Cotentin et ainsi à les intégrer à son royaume par l'intermédiaire de l'hommage du jarl.
La révolte de Rioulf Vers 934, Guillaume se trouva confronté à une révolte de Normands commandés par Rioulf (Herjólfr). L'origine géographique de la rébellion reste incertaine. Guillaume de Jumièges parle de « l'intérieur de la Normandie »[7]. Le chroniqueur du XIIe siècle Orderic Vital écrit que Rioulf venait de l'Évrecin alors que Lucien Musset pense que les Normands révoltés partaient de l'ouest[8]. Étaient reprochés au jarl son origine franque (par sa mère) et sa politique trop favorable aux Francs. Rioulf conduisit les révoltés jusque sous les murs de Rouen mais Guillaume sortit de la ville et écrasa les adversaires.
L'épisode n'a pas manqué d'être interprété par les historiens. Ils y voient la révolte de Vikings établis dans l'ouest ou au milieu de la Normandie et peu soumis à l'autorité des jarls de Rouen. Bref, cet événement conforterait la thèse d'une Normandie imparfaitement contrôlée par le descendant de Rollon. Rioulf serait l'exemple d'un de ces chefs de bande viking, indépendant du pouvoir de Rouen[9].
Le guet-apens de Picquigny Avec Arnoul de Flandre, Herbert II de Vermandois et Hugues le Grand, Guillaume faisait partie du petit groupe de princes qui joua un rôle prépondérant dans le nord du royaume. Tantôt alliés, tantôt ennemis, ils soutinrent ou s'opposèrent au roi.
Dans les années 935/40, le jarl épousa chrétiennement Liutgarde de Vermandois, fille d'Herbert II, comte de Vermandois. En 936, selon Dudon de Saint-Quentin, le soutien normand se révèla décisif pour rétablir sur le trône de Francie le prétendant carolingien Louis d'Outremer. Par contre, en 940, Guillaume prit le parti du duc des Francs Hugues le Grand et de Herbert II de Vermandois contre le roi et Arnoul de Flandre. Ils les assista aux sièges de Reims et de Laon, jusqu'à l'obtention d'un accord avec Louis d'Outremer.
L'état des relations entre la Normandie et la Flandre était changeant. En 925, alors que Rollon était encore le jarl des Normands, Arnoul Ier avait pris la forteresse d'Eu mais en 939, Guillaume et lui prêtèrent serment ensemble au roi Otton de Germanie contre le roi des Francs. En 938/939, Herluin, comte de Montreuil, ayant perdu sa ville de Montreuil-sur-Mer, prise par Arnoul Ier, comte de Flandre (et d'Artois), en appela à Guillaume Longue-Épée. Les Normands finirent par intervenir. Selon Richer et Dudon de Saint-Quentin, le jarl de Rouen y combattit personnellement. Montreuil fut reprise en 939. Ayant récupéré son bien, Herluin rendit hommage de fidélité à Guillaume pour le Ponthieu. Les Normands contrôlèrent ainsi la Picardie maritime et contrarièrent de cette façon l'expansion de la principauté flamande vers le sud. La statue funéraire de Guillaume Longue Épée, dans la cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen
L'affaire de Montreuil explique peut-être la fin tragique de Guillaume Longue Épée. Le 17 décembre 942, ce dernier est invité par Arnoul de Flandre à une entrevue, manigancée par les principaux princes francs, hostiles à la montée en puissance de la Normandie, au prétexte d'un accord, dans un lieu nommé Picquigny. À peine la paix signée par les deux princes, sur une île de la Somme, il est traîtreusement assassiné, vraisemblablement par Baudoin, fils du comte de Cambrai, sur ordre d'Arnoul Ier.
Ses fidèles récupérèrent son corps. On retrouva sur lui une clef, clef ouvrant un coffre renfermant une bure, la bure des moines. Son tombeau se trouve en la cathédrale de Rouen.
Famille et descendance Parents :
* Rollon, premier jarl des Normands de Rouen * Popa, fille de Bérenger II de Neustrie ou de Guy de Senlis
Femmes :
* Liégarde, fille Herbert II, comte de Vermandois. Mariage chrétien, sans descendance. Veuve, elle se remarie avec Thibaud le Tricheur, comte de Blois * Sprota, bretonne épousée more danico ("à la manière danoise"), mariée ensuite à Esperlenc.
Sœur :
* Gerloc (Adèle), épouse de Guillaume Tête d'Étoupe, comte de Poitou.
Enfants :
* Richard Ier de Normandie
Notes et références
1. ↑ nommé Viljâlmr Langaspjôt dans les sagas scandinaves 2. ↑ La Complainte de Guillaume Longue Épée 3. ↑ Pour l'historien anglais D. C. Douglas, Rollon était probablement mort. C. D. Douglas, « Rollo of Normandy », The English Historical Review, vol. 57, n°228, oct. 1942, p434-435. 4. ↑ Lucien Musset, « Naissance de la Normandie », Michel de Bouärd (dir.), Histoire de la Normandie, Privat, Toulouse, 1970, p.109 5. ↑ Pour faire reconnaître son fils Richard Ier de Normandie, Guillaume « appela auprès de lui tous les chefs normands et bretons ». Guillaume de Jumièges, Histoire des Normands, Livre III, éd. Guizot, 1826, p.71. Lorsque Guillaume fut assassiné, les chefs bretons Alain « Barbe-Torte » et Juhel Bérenger de Rennes l'accompagnaient 6. ↑ Karl-Ferdinand Werner, « Quelques observations au sujet des débuts du duché de Normandie. Droits privés et institutions régionales », in Droit privé et Institutions régionales. Études historiques offertes à Jean Yver, Paris, PUF, 1976, p.701 7. ↑ Guillaume de Jumièges, ibid, p.62 8. ↑ Lucien Musset, ibid, p.109 9. ↑ Pierre Bauduin, la Première Normandie (Xe-XIe siècle), Presses Universitaires de Caen, 2002, p.80
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Vilhelm I av Normandie, også kalt for Vilhelm Langsverd, fransk Guillaume Longue Épée (død 17. desember 942), var jarl av Normandie og sønn av vikinghøvdingen Rollo.
Det er få opplysninger om Vilhelms første år. Den noe tvilsomme kilden Dudo av Saint-Quentin, som skrev Gesta Normannorum (Normannernes historie), forteller at hans mor het «Poppa», at hun var av frankisk opprinnelse, og datter av en ellers ukjent hertug Bérenger. Et Planctus (sørgedikt) skrevet kort tid etter at Vilhelm Langsverd døde nevner ikke morens navn, men at hun var kristen og ble mor av en hedning, til Vilhelm som ble født oversjøisk. En annen kilde bestrider at moren var datter av Bérenger, men isteden var en Papia (Poppa) av Senlis, født i 848.
De noe uklare kildene mener at Vilhelm ikke ble født i Normandie, og da er mulighetene mange: de britiske øyer, Irland, og Norge, eller på en av norrøne øyene som Orknøyene, Hebridene, og Man. Selv om det ikke er urimelig er det ikke sannsynlig om opplysningen om en frankisk mor er riktig. Gange-Rolf var i Normandie på slutten av 880-tallet, og selv om han fortsatt var ute og seilte, synes det som om han har bosatt seg for godt i Normandie etter år 900, omtrent på den tiden som Vilhelm kanskje ble født.
I henhold til sørgediktet ble han døpt som kristen, og han fikk også et frankisk navn, noe som ville ha vært usannsynlig i de norrøne områdene, men tillegget om dåpen kan være en anakronistisk antagelse av poeten.
Vilhelm Langsverd var sønn av Rollo som grunnla et dynasti som skulle ende opp med å erobre England i 1066. På Vilhelms dager var det lite som tydet på dette. Hans jarldømme, som han arvet fra faren rundt 928 (Rollo dør ca 932), besto av et skjørt område sentrert rundt Rouen og neppe lengre vest elven Seine.
Vilhelm kommer inn fra historiens mørke på slutten av 930-tallet. Tilsynelatende hadde han i følge Dudo klart å slå ned et opprør fra normanniske og norrøne bosetningen som mislikte hans føydale tilnærming: En norrøn leder ved navn Riulf (Rolf?) gjør opprør ved å hevde at Vilhelm er blitt for frankisk, at hans hensikt er å berike seg selv og sin ætt og frankiske venner på bekostning av andre. Riulf sender bud om at han krever «alt land opp til Risle». Vilhelm svarer at han ikke kan gi Riulf landet, men tilbyr Riulf medstyre, om enn i navnet. Riulf svarer med å flytte hæren mot Rouen, krysser Seine og slår leir utenfor byen. Vilhelm tilbyr da Riulf land, «ikke bare opp til Risle, men alt hele vegen til Seine». Riulf lukter feighet og avslår tilbudet. Istedenfor for å møte Riulf i åpen kamp overfaller Vilhelm leirplassen i et regelrett snikangrep, dreper for fote og driver Riulf og resten på flukt.
I 939 er Vilhelm involvert i en krig med Arnulf I av Flandern som angikk det frankiske kongedømmet. Vilhelm støttet den frankiske kong Ludvig IV (936-954), sønn av Karl den enfoldige, på en tid da Ludvig var i vanskeligheter. I desember 942 da Vilhelms forhold til kongen var på sitt beste kalte Arnulf på en fredskonferanse med Vilhelm. Under fredssamtalene ble Vilhelm drept av tilhengere av Arnulf, kanskje på befaling av Arnulf selv.
Det forræderiske mordet må ha vært et sjokk på Vilhelms tilhengere. Sørgediktet ble diktet kort tid etter hans død av en ukjent poet, og selv om diktet har overlevd i to utgaver, begge ødelagte og usammenhengende, preget av hagiografi i sitt innhold, men er uansett en viktig kilde for tidlig normannisk historie. Det er det aller første, kjente skrift skrevet om normannere fra deres egen synsvinkel.
Vilhelms sønn Rikard I av Normandie etterfulgte ham som jarl i Normandie.

 William, surnamed Longa Spatha, Long sword, Duke of Normandy, had been carefully educated by the priests. His height was majestic, his features beautiful, his complexion being pure and delicate as a maiden's, his strength gigantic. He md. Adela, dau. of Hubert. Count of Senlis. (Kin of Mellcene Thurman Smith, p. 278)
Notes for William "Longsword" of Normandy Duke of Normandy Per Weis' Ancestral Roots . . . (121E:19): "WILLIAM I, "Longsword", b. ca. 891, prob. Rouen, ca. 927 succ. to Duchy of Normandy, ca. 930 the Bretons rebelled, he subdued them, taking Brittany, the Channel Islands, the Contentin, and the Averanchin; killed in treacherous ambush 17 Dec 942 by servants of THEOBALD OF BLOIS and ARNULF OF FLANDERS 17 Dec 942. ... He md. (1) (Danish wife) SPROTA, a Breton; md. (2) LUITGARDE DE VERMANDOIS ..., n.i., killed 942 by LOUIS, son of CHARLES III "the Simple:, dau. HERBERT II, Count of Vermandois and Troyes. " Also mentioned (49:19).

Stuart's Royalty for Commoners"(166:34).
It is interesting to note that THEOBALD later md. William's widow, LUITGARDE and that ARNULF md. LUITGARDE's sister, ALIX.
Per Rosamond McKitterick's, The Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians 751-987, London & NY (Longman) 1983, p. 238: "William Longsword, ROLLO's son and successor, was the principal architect of Normandy's development. He md. the dau. of HERBERT OF VERMANDOIS but his children were born of a Breton concubine. William had supported LOUIS IV and attempted to establish his protection over Brittany, gaining at least the Cotentin and Avranchin in 933. There remains some doubt about William's claim to the whole Breton peninsula. When in 942 William was murdered at the instigation of COUNT ARNULF OF FLANDERS, his son Richard, still a minor, succeeded him."
[source unrecorded]: ROLLO died in 927, and was succeeded by his son William "Long Sword" born of his union 'more danico' with POPPA, dau. of COUNT BERENGER; he showed some attachment to the Scandinavian language, for he sent his son William to Bayeux to learn Norse. The first two dukes also displayed a certain fidelity to the Carolingian dynasty of France, and in 936 William "Long-Sword" did homage to LOUIS IV d'Outremer. He died 17 Dec 942, assassinated by the COUNT OF FLANDERS.
Quoted from the book, Life in a Medieval Castle by Joseph and Frances Gies. "William Longsword, ancestor of William the Conqueror, on succeeding his father as Duke of Normandy in 927, committed himself into the King's hands," according to the chronicler Richer, and "promised him fealty and confirmed it with an oath." http://genealogy.wikia.com/wiki/William_Longsword,_2nd_Duke_of_Normandy_(893-942) 
http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/documents/planctus/planctus/Sources.html

thePeerage.com. William I 'Longsword' de Normandie, 2nd Duc de Normandie1 (M) b. ca. 900, d. 17 Dec 942. William I 'Longsword' de Normandie, 2nd Duc de Normandie was the son of Robert of Norway Ragnvaldsson, 1st Duc de Normandie and Poppa of Normandy de Valois.1 He was born ca. 900. He md. Luitgarda de Vermandois in 935.1 He died on 17 Dec 942 murdered.1 He gained the title of 2nd Duc de Normandie in 932.1 Children of William I 'Longsword' de Normandie, 2nd Duc de Normandie and Sprota of Senlis: Raoul d'Ivry Richard I de Normandie, 3rd Duc de Normandie+ b. 933, d. 20 Nov 996

Citations
Royal Genealogies Website (ROYAL92.GED), online. Hereinafter cited as Royal Genealogies Website.
http://jliptrap.us/gen/Charlemagne.htm
Sprota de Vermandois md. Duke Guillaume "Longue Epee" (William Longsword) (900-942) son of Duke Rollo Rognvaldsson and Duchess Poppa de Valois
http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/documents/planctus/planctus/index.html 
The Planctus William Longsword was the son of Rollo, founder of the Rollonid dynasty that would become dukes of Normandy and aft. 1066, kings of England. In William's day, however, the Rollonid principality was still a fragile entity centered around Rouen and, in terms of Realpolitik, not extending far west of the Seine. Most of William's career was spent in relative obscurity, but in the late 930s he suddenly emerged onto the stage of Frankish royal politics, first because of his war with Arnulf of Flanders, and then because of his support for King Louis IV (d'Outremer) at a time when Louis' star seemed to be fading. In Dec 942, at the peak of his good relations with Louis, Arnulf called for a peace conference with William; there, William was murdered (traditionally, Arnulf is said to have arranged the murder; some day I will argue that he did not). A Planctus (mourning poem) was composed probably shortly after; Jules Lair suggests plausibly if not definitively that it was in 943. (Catalog references: Chevalier 10576; Walther 10205; Schaller & Ewald Könsgen 8813; Yearley L81.) This poem, although it survives only in corrupt and incomplete versions and is largely hagiographic in content, nevertheless is a critical source for early Norman history. It is by far the earliest work written about the Normans from a Norman point of view, and some historical nuggets can be gleaned from it. ---------------------------
Jarl de los normandos del Sena. Un poema escrito poco después de que muriera Guillermo I pone de manifiesto que éste nació en ultramar, de una madre cristiana y de un padre que era, todavía, pagano. Éste último Rollon no era, en aquel momento el Jarl de la futura Normandía. Era todavía un jefe vikingo que recorría los mares a la búsqueda de algunas tierras susceptibles de ser saqueadas.
Una vez instalado por Carlos el Simple en Normandía (911), Guillermo pasó a ser el heredero natural de este territorio.

(French Wikipedia states: A poem written shortly after the death of William Longsword revealed him to have been born overseas to a Christian mother and a father who was still a pagan. The latter was Rollo, who was not at the time yet the Jarl of future Normandy. He was still a Viking chief who traveled the seas in search of lands to plunder.)
William succeeded Rollo sometime around 927.
(French Wikipedia states: Once King Rollo had been installed in Normandy by Charles the simple in 911, Guillaume became the natural heir of the territory. Duda of St-Quentin said that Rollo was no longer able to govern in 927. A meeting of Normans and Bretons elected William as their head. At his election he was recommended by King Charles the Simple.)
It appears that he faced a rebellion early in his reign, from Normans who felt he had become too Gallicized. Subsequent years are obscure.
(French Wikipedia states: It is quite difficult to paint a portrait of the new Jarl of the Normans of the Seine. Indeed, the story painted by Dudo of St-Quentin, our main informant, sometimes has a tendency to be a hagiography. However, it is undeniable that William was a real Christian, unlike his father. Aft. 935 he md. Liegard Christian, dau. of Herbert II, Comte de Vermandois. The Jarl made various donations to the canons of Mont-St-Michel and restored the Abbey Jumieges, in which he thought of retiring.)
(William as prince represented the consolidation of the newly-created Normandy. Dudo called this Jarl a restorer of peace and order. Much more recently, Lucien Musset described him as a "principal architect of the success of Normandy. To him we must attribute the ultimate success of this Scandinavian graft on the trunk of Roman France, which allowed the state to be founded in 911 that successfully crossed the general crisis that gripped in 940 both Scandinavia and the world of the West.")
(Around 931, Brittany was occupied by Normans from the Loire, and going through a difficult period. The Bretons rebelled against their occupiers. William Longsword, perhaps supported by the Normans of the Loire, invaded Brittany. The Breton chiefs Alan Barbetorte and Juhel Berenger of Rennes were defeated. Alan fled across the Channel while Juhel Berenger reconciled with the Normans.)
(But what were the consequences of William's victory? Dudo of St-Quentin repeated that William Longsword was the "Duke of the Normans and the Bretons." Moreover, Mont-Saint-Michel wrote a peace that described him as the Duke of Brittany. The entourage of the Jarl appears repeatedly as if Brittany were already a part of the lands under William's rule. Rather than a conquest, Musset suggests that Brittany was a Norman protectorate.)
(In 933, William paid tribute to King Raoul for "the land of the Bretons located on the shore of the sea." This was not Brittany, because the sovereign had no further claim on that territory. Historians usually consider this the concession by Cotentin and Avranches, areas ceded to the Bretons by a Carolingian king 66 years earlier. In 933, Normandy had almost reached its maximum extension.)
(However, Karl Ferdinand Werner warned that we have no evidence that the second Duke of Normandy actually mastered his western borders. The charter of King Raoul - for a land not under his formal control in Normandy - William especially invited to submit Cotentin and Brittany, and to integrate them into his kingdom through the tribute of the Jarl.)
(In 934, William faced a revolt led by a Norman named Rioulf, or Herjolfr. The geographic start of this rebellion remains uncertain. William Jumieges spoke of it being "inside Normandy." A writer of the 12th century Orderic Vitalis wrote of Rioulf's rebellion that it began in Evrecin, while Lucien Musset thinks the rebels were from beyond the Norman west. The Jarl appeared to have gone over too much to his Frankish origins through his mother and his policy seemed too favorable to the Franks. Rioulf led rebels under the walls of Rouen, but William left the city and crushed his opponents.)
(The episode did not fail to be interpreted by historians. They saw the revolt of the Vikings settled in the west or middle of Normandy, and considered them resistant to the authority of the Jarls of Rouen. In short, this event would consolidate the position of Normandy, imperfectly controlled by the descendants of Rollo. Rioulf was an example of one of the Viking ringleaders that were independent of Rouen.)
In 939 William became involved in a war with Arnulf I of Flanders, which soon became intertwined with the other conflicts troubling the reign of Louis IV.
He was killed by followers of Arnulf while at a meeting to settle their conflict. His son Richard the Fearless, child of his first wife, Sprota, succeeded him. William also left a widow, Liègard (Liutgard), who died in 985.

French Wikipedia section on the Ambush of Picquigny
Along with Arnulf of Flanders, Herbert II of Vermandois, and Hugh the Great, William was among the small group of princes who played a leading role in the northern kingdom. Sometimes as allies, sometimes as enemies, they supported and opposed the King.
In the year 935/940, the Jarl md. Christian Liutgard of Vermandois, dau. of Herbert II, Comte de Vermandois. In 936, according to Dudo of St-Quentin, this support proved decisive for Normandy during the reign of the Carolingian pretender to Francia Louis d'Outremer. In 940, William joined the Duke of Franks Hugh the Great and Herbert II of Vermandois against the King and Arnulf of Flanders. They occupied Rheims and Laon until they could get an agreement with Louis d'Outremer.
The state of relations between Normandy and Flanders was changing. In 925, while Rollo was still the Jarl of Normandy, Arnulf I had taken the fortress of Eu, but in 939, William took an oath to Otto, King of All Germany, against the King of the Franks. In 938/939, Herluin, Comte de Montreuil, having lost the city of Montreuil-sur-Mer to Arnulf I, Comte de Flandres (and Artois) appealed to William Longsword. The Normans finally intervened. According to Richer and Dudo of St-Quentin, the Duke of Normandy fought there personally. Montreuil was restored in 939. Having recovered his property, Herluin praised the loyalty of William de Ponthieu. The Normans controlled maritime Picardie and thwarted the expansion of Flandres to the south.
The situation in Montreuil serves as the background of the tragic death of William Longsword. On 17 Dec 942, he was requested by Arnulf of Flanders, the main Frankish prince hostile to the rise of Normandy, to meet on the pretext of working out a peace treaty in a place called Picquigny. Just as the treaty was signed by the two princes on an island in the Somme River, he was treacherously murdered, presumably by Baldwin, son of the Comte de Cambrai, on orders from Arnold I.
His followers recovered his body. They found on him a key for opening a chest containing a hair-shirt, a garment for monks. His tomb is in the Cathedral of Rouen.

Family and Children:
His parents were Rollo, first Norman Jarl of Rouen, and Poppa, dau. of Berengar II of Neustria or Guy of Senlis.
Wives
Liegard, dau. of Herbert II, Comte de Vermandois. Christian marriage, childless. Widowed, she md. Theobold the Cheater, Comte de Blois
Sprot of Brittany, md. "more danico" (in the Danish style). Later she md. Esperlenc.
Sister
Gerloc (Adele), wife of William the Towhead, Comte de Poitou

Children
Richard I of Normandy

William Longsword Duke of Normandy
born 876 Normandie, Neustria died 942 France
father:
Rollo "the Dane"(Hrolf the Ganger) Rognaldsson Duke of Normandy
born 846 died 932
mother:
Papia de Senlis
born 848
siblings:
Adáele (Gerloc) of Normandy
born abt. 897 Normandie, Neustria died aft. 14 Oct 942
children:
Raoul Count of Bayeux & Ivry
spouse (2nd):
Espriota de Bretagne
born abt. 910 md. abt. 932 Normandy, France
children:
Richard I Duke of Normandy
born 933 died 996
biographical and/or anecdotal: 2nd Duke of Normandy from 927 to 943, was also Duke of Aquitaine and died in 942, slain by Arnulf of Flanders with whom he had in good faith gone to confer. First wife *Ledgarde Duchess of Normandy
William I* (2nd Duke de Normandy) [314] abt. 893 - 17 Dec 942

* TITLE: 2nd Duke de Normandy * BIRTH: abt. 893 , Normandy,France * DEATH: 17 Dec 942 , France
Father: Rolf* RAGNVALDSSON Mother: Poppa* DE VALOIS
Family 1 : Espriota* DE ST. LIZ BALL
http://www.afn.org/~lawson/d0004/g0000070.html#I1954
1. +Richard I** DE NORMANDY 2. Rodulf D'Ivry, Count of IVRY 3. +Adela* OF NORMANDY
Family 2 : Ledgarde* of VERMANDOIS
* MARRIAGE: abt. 935 1. +Odo Eudes I* BLOIS
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William I Longsword (French: Guillaume Longue-Épée, Latin: Willermus Longa Spata, Scandinavian: Vilhjálmr Langaspjót) (893 – 17 Dec 942) was the second Duke of Normandy from his father's death until his own assassination. The title dux (duke) was not in use at the time and has been applied to early Norman rulers retroactively; William actually used the title comes (count).

Biography
 Little is known about his early years. He was born in Bayeux or Rouen to Rollo and his wife Poppa. All that is known of Poppa is that she was a Christian, and the dau. to Berengar of Rennes, the previous lord of Brittania Nova, which eventually became western Normandy. According to the William's planctus, he was bapt. a Christian.

He was born say 892, "overseas" (not on the European mainland, and therefore possibly in Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, or one of the islands held by Vikings, such as the Orkneys, Hebrides, Man, etc.--all plausible places for the son of a Viking to be born.
He subdued a rebellion by the Bretons, which gained him Brittany, the Channel Islands, the Contentin, and the Averanchin, in 930.
He is often given the anachronistic title of "duke of Normandy" though no contemporary source gives him even the title of count.
He was killed on 17 Dec 942 in France in a treacherous ambush by Theodore of Blois and Arnulf of Flanders.
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cousin/html/p320.htm#i5199 from Compiler: R. B. Stewart, Evans, GA http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cousin/html/index.htm
William I, Duke of Normandy from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

DEATH: A treacherous ambush by servants of Theobald of Blois and Arnulf of Flanders.
Occupation: Count of Normandy

William I, "Longsword", b. ca. 891 probably Rouen, ca. 927 succeeded to Duchy of Normandy, ca. 930 the Bretons rebelled, he subdued them, taking Brittany, the Channel Islands, the Contentin, and the Averanchin; killed in treacherous ambush 17 Dec 942 by servants of Theobald of Blois and Arnulf of Flanders. He md. (1) (Danish wife) Sprota, a Breton; md. (2) Luitgarde de Vermandois, n.i. [no issue], killed 942 by Louis, son of Charles III "the Simple", daughter of Herbert II, Count of Vermandois and Troyes. [Ancestral Roots]Note: There is an apparent error in Luitgarde's death date of 942. I think the clause ", killed 942 by Louis, son of Charles III "the simple" belongs to William's death and not to Luitgarde's, even though she is the subject of the sentence before and after the clause. I am going to remove the death date as a sourced alternative. It is an obvious error.

Note: Assassinated by Arnulf/Arnulph/Arnoul "The Old", Count of Flanders, in 942, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1961 ed., Vol. 16, pg. 493, Article: NORMANDY

Also known as Guillaume I "Longue Epbee" or "Longue-Épée" Duke Of NORMANDY
2nd Duke de Normandie

"The territory handed over to the authority of Count Robert (Rollo) was not to have a destiny of any certainty. It could have been the same as that of the Normans installed on the Loire in the same period, who were finally eliminated from the area bet. 937 and 939. Rollo's successors managed, however, to establish themselves as the dominant princes of this kingdom. William Longsword succeeded Rollo in 933. He was the son of one of Rollo's Frankish Christian concubines, Popa, the dau. of the vanquished Count of Bayeux, and was himself, therefore, an example of the rapid assimilation of the conquerors. In 933, William managed to take back Cotentin and Avranchin from the Bretons. King Ralph (923-936) helped him in this enterprise and in exchange received the homage due from a vassal. However, it was the Count of Rouen who actually held the power in the vanquished territories. At the same time William needed to confirm his control over the Irish-Norwegian elements established in Cotentin and Bessin. It would appear that the rebels were keen to retain their peaceful roots, and the Scandinavian traditions of organization based on a land holding free of the control of a political authority. They were thus ill-disposed to enter into the bonds of dependency which were developing in Frankish society and which the new count did not hesitate to turn to his own advantage. In the Frankish kingdom William became involved in the conflicts facing the leaders of the aristocracy and the Carolingian King Louis IV (936-954) under the gaze of the powerful king of Germany, Otto. The Count of Rouen played on the competition between the two authorities to which, in theory, he was answerable, the King of France, and his direct overlord Hugh the Great, heir to the prerogatives of the Marquis of Neustria, Duke of the Franks. In general William allied himself with Hugh the Great, but in 940 he provisionally changed sides and obtained from Louis IV the renewal of the concession granted to Rollo. In 942 he was killed in an ambush set by the Count of Flanders who was hostile to the rise in Norman power. From the second generation, William Longsword had been the first authentically Christian Norman prince, notably supporting the restoration of the abbey of Jumièges. He won the hand in marriage of the dau. of the Count of Vermandois and thus entered into the society of the most powerful lords of the kingdom."
Ref: http://ancestoranecdotes.blogspot.com/2010/07/rollo-rolf-aka-robert-i-duke-of.html
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Ier_de_Normandie
 Murdered by servants of Theobald de Blois and Arnulf of FlandersWilliam I Longsword (French: Guillaume Longue-Épée, Latin: Willermus Longa Spata, Old Norse: Vilhjálmr Langaspjót) (ca. 900 – 942) was the second "Duke of Normandy" until his assassination.[1] The title duke (dux) was not in use at the time and has been retrospectively applied to early Norman rulers.[2][3] William was known at the time by the title count (comes) of Rouen[4] although Flodoard, always detailed about titles, consistently referred to both Rollo and his son William as princeps (chieftains) of the Norse.[5]

Birth
 William was born 'overseas'[6][a] to Rollo, while he was still a pagan, and his Christian wife Poppa of Bayeux.[7][8] Dudo of Saint-Quentin in his panegyric of the Norman dukes describes Poppa as the dau. of a count Beranger, the dominant prince of that region.[9] In the 11th century Annales Rouennaises (Annals of Rouen), she is called the dau. of Guy, Count of Senlis,[10] otherwise unknown to history.[b] Despite the uncertainty of her parentage she was undoubtedly a member of the Frankish aristocracy.[11] According to the William's planctus, he was bapt. a Christian probably at the same time as his father,[12] which Orderic Vitalis stated was in 912 and by Franco, Archbishop of Rouen[13][14]

Life
 William succeeded Rollo (who was still alive) in 927[15] and, early in his reign, faced a rebellion from Normans[16] who felt he had become too Gallicised and too soft.[17] According to Orderic Vitalis, the leader was Riouf of Evreux.[17][18][19] At the time of this rebellion William sent his pregnant wife Sprota to Fécamp where their son Richard was born.[20] In 933, William I Longsword recognized Raoul as King of Western Francia, who was struggling to assert his authority in Northern France. In turn Raoul gave him lordship over much of the lands of the Bretons including Avranches and the Cotentin.[21][22] Resistance to the Normans was led by Alan Wrybeard, Duke of Brittany and Count Berenger of Rennes but ended shortly with Alan fleeing to England and Beranger seeking reconciliation.[23] In 935, William contracted a marriage between his sister Adela (Gerloc was her Norse name) and William, count of Poitou with the approval of Hugh the Great.[24] At the same time William md. Luitgarde,[1] dau. of count Herbert II of Vermandois whose dowry gave him the lands of Longueville, Coudres and Illiers l'Eveque.[19] In addition to supporting king Raoul, he was now a loyal ally of his father-in-law, Herbert II, both of whom his father Rollo had opposed.[25] William Longsword attacked Flanders in 939 whereas Arnulf I, Count of Flanders and Louis IV, King of France retaliated by attacking Normandy. Arnulf captured the castle of Montreuil-sur-Mer expelling Herluin, Count of Ponthieu, who, along with William Longsword took it back.[26][27] For his part in attacking and destroying several estates belonging to Arnulf, William was excommunicated.[28]
The funerary monument of William Longsword is in the cathedral of Rouen, France. The monument is from the XIVth century. William met with king Louis IV in 940 and pledged loyalty for which he was confirmed in lands that had been given his father, Rollo.[29] Three years later William Longsword was ambushed and killed by followers of Arnulf on 17 Dec 942 at Picquigny on the Somme while at peace conference to settle their differences.[27][30]
William I Longsword (French 893 – 17 Dec 942) was the second Duke of Normandy from his father's death until his own assassination. The title dux (duke) was not in use at the time and has been applied to early Norman rulers retroactively; William actually used the title comes (count). Little is known about his early years. He was born in Bayeux or Rouen to Rollo and his wife Poppa. All that is known of Poppa is that she was a Christian, and the daughter to Berengar of Rennes, the previous lord of Brittania Nova, which eventually became western Normandy. According to the William's planctus, he was bapt. a Christian. William succeeded Rollo sometime around 927. It appears that he faced a rebellion early in his reign, from Normans who felt he had become too Gallicised . Subsequent years are obscure. In 939 William became involved in a war with Arnulf I of Flanders, which soon became intertwined with the other conflicts troubling the reign of Louis IV . He was killed by followers of Arnulf while at a meeting to settle their conflict. His son Richard the Fearless, child of his first wife, Sprota, succeeded him. William also left a widow, Liègard (Liutgard), who died in 985.
http://www.celtic-casimir.com/webtree/3/3648.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_I,_Duke_of_Normandy
 William was born 'overseas'[a][6] to the Viking Rollo, while he was still a pagan, and his Christian wife Poppa of Bayeux.[7][8] Dudo of Saint-Quentin in his panegyric of the Norman dukes describes Poppa as the dau. of a count Beranger, the dominant prince of that region.[9] In the 11th century Annales Rouennaises (Annals of Rouen), she is called the dau. of Guy, Count of Senlis,[10] otherwise unknown to history.[b] Despite the uncertainty of her parentage she was undoubtedly a member of the Frankish aristocracy.[11] According to the William's planctus, he was bapt. a Christian probably at the same time as his father,[12] which Orderic Vitalis stated was in 912 and by Franco, Archbishop of Rouen[13]
William succeeded Rollo (who was still alive) in 927[14] and, early in his reign, faced a rebellion from Normans[15] who felt he had become too Gallicized and too soft.[16] According to Orderic Vitalis, the leader was Riouf of Evreux.[16][17][18] At the time of this rebellion William sent his pregnant wife Sprota to Fécamp where their son Richard was born.[19]
In 933, William I Longsword recognized Raoul as King of Western Francia, who was struggling to assert his authority in Northern France. In turn Raoul gave him lordship over much of the lands of the Bretons including Avranches and the Cotentin.[20][21] Resistance to the Normans was led by Alan Wrybeard, Duke of Brittany and Count Berenger of Rennes but ended shortly with Alan fleeing to England and Beranger seeking reconciliation.[22]
In 935, William contracted a marriage between his sister Adela (Gerloc was her Norse name) and William, count of Poitou with the approval of Hugh the Great.[23] At the same time William married Luitgarde,[1] dau. of count Herbert II of Vermandois whose dowry gave him the lands of Longueville, Coudres and Illiers l'Eveque.[18] In addition to supporting king Raoul, he was now a loyal ally of his father-in-law, Herbert II, both of whom his father Rollo had opposed.[24]
William Longsword attacked Flanders in 939 and Arnulf I, Count of Flanders, and Louis IV, King of France, retaliated by attacking Normandy. Arnulf captured the castle of Montreuil-sur-Mer expelling Herluin, Count of Ponthieu. Herluin and William Longsword cooperated to retake the castle.[25][26] William was excommunicated for his actions in attacking and destroying several estates belonging to Arnulf.[27]
William pledged his loyalty to King Louis IV when they met in 940 and, in return, he was confirmed in lands that had been given to his father, Rollo.[28] Almost three years later, on 17 Dec 942 at Picquigny on the Somme, William Longsword was ambushed and killed by followers of Arnulf while at a peace conference to settle their differences.[18][26] He had no children with his wife Luitgarde.[29] After William's death she md. Theobald I, Count of Blois and had at least three children with him.[29]
William fathered his son, Richard the Fearless, with Sprota[c] who was a Breton captive and his concubine.[30] Richard succeeded him.[29]
Guillaume Longue Épeé. Ermordet 17 Dec 942. Jarl der Normannen.
Vilhjalm (Longsword) Hrolfsson, (Longue-Épée)

Vilhjalm 'Langaspjót' Hrólfsson (Old Norse) Guillaume 'Longue-Épée' de Normandie (French)
Parents: Rollo (Gange-Hrolfr) & Poppa
1. Wife: Sprota de Senlis
Child: Richard 'Sans-Peur' 2.
Wife: Luitgardis de Vermandois

Note:
 Vilhjalm 'Langaspjót' Hrólfsson is the most correct name as it is known that William here spoke Old Norse. French name is the alternative: Guillaume 'Longue-Épée' de Normandie. He was NOT a duke, his son Richard was the first to use that title.

Links:
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/NORMANDY.htm#RobertIdied928
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Ier_de_Normandie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_I_of_Normandy
MEDIEVAL LANDS GUILLAUME (Rouen [900/05]-murdered Pequigny 17 Dec 942, bur ---, transferred [1064] to Rouen Cathedral[47]). Guillaume de Jumièges names "Guillaume et…Gerloc" as children of Rollo and Poppa[48]. However, the Planctus for William Longsword[49], composed shortly after the murder of Guillaume, states that he had a Christian mother of overseas origin.
Dudo of Saint-Quentin states that he was born in Rouen and, in a later passage, describes him as a "young man" one year before his father's death[50]. His father chose him as heir one year before his death[51]. Guillaume de Jumièges records that he was born before his father's marriage to Gisela and his remarriage with Popa after Gisela's death[52]. Flodoard records that "filius Rollonis" did homage to ex-king Charles III "le Simple" at "castellum…Auga" in 927[53]. He succeeded his father in [928/33] as GUILLAUME I "Longuespee" Comte [de Normandie].
Flodoard names "Willelmus princeps Nortmannorum" in 933[54]. He quelled a rebellion by the Viking chief Riulf after the latter besieged Rouen[55]. In return for swearing allegiance to Raoul King of France, he appears to have been granted rights to further territory along the coast in 933, maybe the Cotentin and Avranchin. If this is correct, it would have created rivalry with the dukes of Brittany.
Dudo of Saint-Quentin describes Comte Guillaume's invasion of Brittany shortly after his accession to quell a rebellion against him, and his defeat of the rebels at Bayeux[56]. Responding to raids by Comte Guillaume, Arnoul I Count of Flanders invaded Ponthieu and in 939 captured Montreuil from Herluin Comte de Ponthieu, although it was recaptured by Comte Guillaume's forces. In 939, Guillaume joined the alliance against Louis IV King of France which was led by Otto I "der Große" King of Germany who raided Frankish territory. Comte Guillaume, however, met King Louis at Amiens, receiving a confirmation of the grant of his lands in Normandy. Guillaume de Jumièges records that Guillaume was tricked into a meeting on the river Seine at Pecquigny by Arnoul Count of Flanders to settle their dispute over the castle of Montreuil, but was murdered on Count Arnoul's orders, recording his death on 17 Dec[57].
The Annalibus Rotomagensibus record that "Willermus dux Normannorum filius Rollonis" was killed "943 XVI Kal Jan"[58]. Orderic Vitalis implies that the transfer of his body to Rouen Cathedral took place after the "the ninth year" in office of Archbishop Maurilius, who had succeeded Mauger de Normandie[59], which would date the event to [1064]. [m] firstly SPROTA, daughter of ---. Guillaume de Jumièges records that Guillaume married "une très-noble jeune fille Sprota…selon l'usage des Danois"[60]. From Brittany. It is possible that Sprota was Count Guillaume's concubine rather than wife, particularly as no reference has been found to a dissolution of any marriage before she married Esperleng. She married Esperleng de Pîtres, by whom she had Rodulf [Raoul] Comte d'Ivry.
m secondly ([940]) as her first husband, LUITGARDIS de Vermandois, daughter of HERIBERT II Comte de Vermandois & his wife Adela [Capet] (before 925-14 Nov after 985, bur Chartres, Abbaye de Saint-Père). Rodulfus Glauber refers to the wife of Comte Guillaume as "sororem [Heribertum Trecorum comitem]", specifying that she was childless by her first husband, when recording her second marriage to "Tetbaldus"[61]. Guillaume de Jumièges records the marriage of Guillaume and the daughter of Heribert, specifying that it was arranged by Hugues "le Grand"[62]. The source which confirms her name has not yet been identified. She married secondly Thibaut I Comte de Blois. "Hugonis ducis, Odonis comitis, Hugonis sanctæ Bituricensis archipræsulis, Letgardis comitissæ, Bertæ comitissæ, Gauzfridi vicecomitis…" subscribed the charter dated 985 under which "Robertus" donated property to "Sancti Petri Carnotensis", on the advice of "Odonem, simul cum sua matre Ledgarde, pariterque dominam meam Bertam, ipsius æque coniugem"[63]. The necrology of Chartres cathedral records the death "XVIII Kal Dec" of "Letgardis comitissa"[64].
Guillaume & his first wife had one child:
a) RICHARD (Fécamp [932]-20 Nov 996, bur Fécamp). Guillaume de Jumièges names Richard as son of Guillaume and Sprota, recording that news of his birth was brought to his father when he was returning from his victory against the rebels led by "Riulf"[65]. After the death of Richard's father, Louis IV "d'Outremer" King of the West Franks briefly controlled Rouen, and kept Richard prisoner, before the latter was able to escape, whereupon he succeeded as RICHARD I "Sans Peur" Comte [de Normandie].
------------------------------ WIKIPEDIA (Eng) William I Longsword (French: Guillaume Longue-Épée, Latin: Willermus Longa Spata, Scandinavian: Vilhjálmr Langaspjót; 893 – 17 December 942) was count of Normandy from his father's death until his own assassination. The title dux (duke) was not in use at the time and has been applied to early Norman rulers retroactively; William actually used the title comes (count).
Little is known about his early years. He was born in Bayeux or Rouen to Rollo and his wife Poppa. All that is known of Poppa is that she was a Christian, and the daughter to Berengar of Rennes, the previous lord of Brittania Nova, which eventually became western Normandy. According to the William's planctus, he was baptised a Christian.
William succeeded Rollo sometime around 927. It appears that he faced a rebellion early in his reign, from Normans who felt he had become too Gallicised. Subsequent years are obscure. In 939 William became involved in a war with Arnulf I of Flanders, which soon became intertwined with the other conflicts troubling the reign of Louis IV. He was killed by followers of Arnulf while at a meeting to settle their conflict. His son Richard the Fearless, child of his first wife, Sprota, succeeded him. William also left a widow, Liègard (Liutgard), who died in 985.
WIKIPEDIA (fr.) Guillaume Ier de Normandie (av. 910-942), dit Guillaume « Longue-Épée »[1], est le fils naturel de Rollon et de Poppa de Bayeux. Il est considéré comme étant le deuxième duc de Normandie, bien que ce titre n'existe pas encore à cette époque. Il est avant tout jarl des Normands de la Seine.
Le successeur de Rollon Un poème[2] écrit peu après la mort de Guillaume Longue-Épée révèle qu'il est né outre-mer, d'une mère chrétienne et d'un père encore païen. Ce dernier, Rollon, n'était pas à ce moment le jarl de la future Normandie. C'était encore un chef viking qui parcourait les mers à la recherche de quelque terre à piller.
Une fois Rollon installé par le roi Charles le Simple en Normandie (911), Guillaume devenait l'héritier naturel de ce territoire. Dudon de Saint-Quentin explique que vers 927 Rollon n'était plus en état de gouverner[3]. Une assemblée de Normands et de Bretons élit Guillaume à leur tête. À peine élu, il se recommande au roi Charles le Simple.
Il est assez difficile de brosser un portrait du nouveau jarl des Normands de la Seine. En effet, le récit de Dudon de Saint-Quentin, notre principal informateur, tend parfois à l'hagiographie. Néanmoins, il est indiscutable que Guillaume fut un vrai chrétien à la différence de son père. Après 935, il épousa chrétiennement Liégarde, fille d'Herbert II, comte de Vermandois. Le jarl fit différentes donations aux chanoines du Mont-Saint-Michel et restaura l'abbaye de Jumièges dans laquelle il songea à se retirer.
Le principat de Guillaume correspond à une consolidation de la jeune Normandie. Dudon présente le jarl comme un restaurateur de la paix et de l'ordre. Beaucoup plus récemment, Lucien Musset le décrit comme le « principal artisan de la réussite normande. C'est à lui qu'on doit attribuer le succès définitif de la greffe scandinave sur le tronc romano-franc, qui permit à l'État fondé en 911 de traverser victorieusement la crise générale que connut dans les années 940 le monde scandinave d'Occident »[4]. Guillaume et les Bretons [modifier]
Vers 931, la Bretagne, occupée par les Normands de la Loire, traversait une période délicate. Les Bretons se révoltèrent contre les occupants. Guillaume Longue Épée (appuyé par les Normands de la Loire ?) envahit la Bretagne. Les chefs bretons Alain « Barbe-Torte » et Juhel Bérenger de Rennes furent battus. Le premier fuit outre-Manche ; l'autre se réconcilia avec le Normand.
Mais quelles sont les conséquences de la victoire de Guillaume ? Dudon de Saint-Quentin répète à l'envi que Guillaume Longue Épée était « duc des Normands et des Bretons ». D'ailleurs, on a retrouvé au Mont-Saint-Michel une pièce qui le désigne comme duc des Bretons. Ces derniers apparaissent à plusieurs reprises dans l'entourage du jarl[5]. Comme si la Bretagne faisait désormais partie des terres sous la domination de Guillaume. Plutôt qu'une conquête, Musset suggère un protectorat de la Normandie sur la Bretagne.
En 933, Guillaume rendit hommage au roi Raoul pour « la terre des Bretons située sur le rivage de la mer ». Il ne s'agit pas de la Bretagne car le souverain n'avait plus aucun droit sur ce territoire. Les historiens traduisent habituellement cette concession par le Cotentin et l'Avranchin, régions cédées aux Bretons par un roi carolingien soixante-six ans plus tôt. En 933, la Normandie avait ainsi quasiment atteint son extension définitive.
Toutefois, Karl-Ferdinand Werner[6] prévient que nous n'avons aucune preuve que le deuxième jarl de Rouen maîtrisait effectivement ces confins occidentaux. La concession du roi Raoul - formelle car il ne contrôlait pas lui-même cette partie de la Normandie - invitait surtout Guillaume à soumettre les Bretons du Cotentin et ainsi à les intégrer à son royaume par l'intermédiaire de l'hommage du jarl.
La révolte de Rioulf Vers 934, Guillaume se trouva confronté à une révolte de Normands commandés par Rioulf (Herjólfr). L'origine géographique de la rébellion reste incertaine. Guillaume de Jumièges parle de « l'intérieur de la Normandie »[7]. Le chroniqueur du XIIe siècle Orderic Vital écrit que Rioulf venait de l'Évrecin alors que Lucien Musset pense que les Normands révoltés partaient de l'ouest[8]. Étaient reprochés au jarl son origine franque (par sa mère) et sa politique trop favorable aux Francs. Rioulf conduisit les révoltés jusque sous les murs de Rouen mais Guillaume sortit de la ville et écrasa les adversaires.
L'épisode n'a pas manqué d'être interprété par les historiens. Ils y voient la révolte de Vikings établis dans l'ouest ou au milieu de la Normandie et peu soumis à l'autorité des jarls de Rouen. Bref, cet événement conforterait la thèse d'une Normandie imparfaitement contrôlée par le descendant de Rollon. Rioulf serait l'exemple d'un de ces chefs de bande viking, indépendant du pouvoir de Rouen[9].
Le guet-apens de Picquigny Avec Arnoul de Flandre, Herbert II de Vermandois et Hugues le Grand, Guillaume faisait partie du petit groupe de princes qui joua un rôle prépondérant dans le nord du royaume. Tantôt alliés, tantôt ennemis, ils soutinrent ou s'opposèrent au roi.
Dans les années 935/40, le jarl épousa chrétiennement Liutgarde de Vermandois, fille d'Herbert II, comte de Vermandois. En 936, selon Dudon de Saint-Quentin, le soutien normand se révèla décisif pour rétablir sur le trône de Francie le prétendant carolingien Louis d'Outremer. Par contre, en 940, Guillaume prit le parti du duc des Francs Hugues le Grand et de Herbert II de Vermandois contre le roi et Arnoul de Flandre. Ils les assista aux sièges de Reims et de Laon, jusqu'à l'obtention d'un accord avec Louis d'Outremer.
L'état des relations entre la Normandie et la Flandre était changeant. En 925, alors que Rollon était encore le jarl des Normands, Arnoul Ier avait pris la forteresse d'Eu mais en 939, Guillaume et lui prêtèrent serment ensemble au roi Otton de Germanie contre le roi des Francs. En 938/939, Herluin, comte de Montreuil, ayant perdu sa ville de Montreuil-sur-Mer, prise par Arnoul Ier, comte de Flandre (et d'Artois), en appela à Guillaume Longue-Épée. Les Normands finirent par intervenir. Selon Richer et Dudon de Saint-Quentin, le jarl de Rouen y combattit personnellement. Montreuil fut reprise en 939. Ayant récupéré son bien, Herluin rendit hommage de fidélité à Guillaume pour le Ponthieu. Les Normands contrôlèrent ainsi la Picardie maritime et contrarièrent de cette façon l'expansion de la principauté flamande vers le sud. La statue funéraire de Guillaume Longue Épée, dans la cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen
L'affaire de Montreuil explique peut-être la fin tragique de Guillaume Longue Épée. Le 17 décembre 942, ce dernier est invité par Arnoul de Flandre à une entrevue, manigancée par les principaux princes francs, hostiles à la montée en puissance de la Normandie, au prétexte d'un accord, dans un lieu nommé Picquigny. À peine la paix signée par les deux princes, sur une île de la Somme, il est traîtreusement assassiné, vraisemblablement par Baudoin, fils du comte de Cambrai, sur ordre d'Arnoul Ier.
Ses fidèles récupérèrent son corps. On retrouva sur lui une clef, clef ouvrant un coffre renfermant une bure, la bure des moines. Son tombeau se trouve en la cathédrale de Rouen.
Famille et descendance Parents :
Rollon, premier jarl des Normands de Rouen * Popa, fille de Bérenger II de Neustrie ou de Guy de Senlis
Femmes :
Liégarde, fille Herbert II, comte de Vermandois. Mariage chrétien, sans descendance. Veuve, elle se remarie avec Thibaud le Tricheur, comte de Blois * Sprota, bretonne épousée more danico ("à la manière danoise"), mariée ensuite à Esperlenc.
Sœur :
Gerloc (Adèle), épouse de Guillaume Tête d'Étoupe, comte de Poitou.
Enfants :
Richard Ier de Normandie
Notes et références
1. ↑ nommé Viljâlmr Langaspjôt dans les sagas scandinaves 2. ↑ La Complainte de Guillaume Longue Épée 3. ↑ Pour l'historien anglais D. C. Douglas, Rollon était probablement mort. C. D. Douglas, « Rollo of Normandy », The English Historical Review, vol. 57, n°228, oct. 1942, p434-435. 4. ↑ Lucien Musset, « Naissance de la Normandie », Michel de Bouärd (dir.), Histoire de la Normandie, Privat, Toulouse, 1970, p.109 5. ↑ Pour faire reconnaître son fils Richard Ier de Normandie, Guillaume « appela auprès de lui tous les chefs normands et bretons ». Guillaume de Jumièges, Histoire des Normands, Livre III, éd. Guizot, 1826, p.71. Lorsque Guillaume fut assassiné, les chefs bretons Alain « Barbe-Torte » et Juhel Bérenger de Rennes l'accompagnaient 6. ↑ Karl-Ferdinand Werner, « Quelques observations au sujet des débuts du duché de Normandie. Droits privés et institutions régionales », in Droit privé et Institutions régionales. Études historiques offertes à Jean Yver, Paris, PUF, 1976, p.701 7. ↑ Guillaume de Jumièges, ibid, p.62 8. ↑ Lucien Musset, ibid, p.109 9. ↑ Pierre Bauduin, la Première Normandie (Xe-XIe siècle), Presses Universitaires de Caen, 2002, p.80 ---------------------------------------------------- Vilhelm I av Normandie, også kalt for Vilhelm Langsverd, fransk Guillaume Longue Épée (død 17. desember 942), var jarl av Normandie og sønn av vikinghøvdingen Rollo.
Det er få opplysninger om Vilhelms første år. Den noe tvilsomme kilden Dudo av Saint-Quentin, som skrev Gesta Normannorum (Normannernes historie), forteller at hans mor het «Poppa», at hun var av frankisk opprinnelse, og datter av en ellers ukjent hertug Bérenger. Et Planctus (sørgedikt) skrevet kort tid etter at Vilhelm Langsverd døde nevner ikke morens navn, men at hun var kristen og ble mor av en hedning, til Vilhelm som ble født oversjøisk. En annen kilde bestrider at moren var datter av Bérenger, men isteden var en Papia (Poppa) av Senlis, født i 848.
De noe uklare kildene mener at Vilhelm ikke ble født i Normandie, og da er mulighetene mange: de britiske øyer, Irland, og Norge, eller på en av norrøne øyene som Orknøyene, Hebridene, og Man. Selv om det ikke er urimelig er det ikke sannsynlig om opplysningen om en frankisk mor er riktig. Gange-Rolf var i Normandie på slutten av 880-tallet, og selv om han fortsatt var ute og seilte, synes det som om han har bosatt seg for godt i Normandie etter år 900, omtrent på den tiden som Vilhelm kanskje ble født.
I henhold til sørgediktet ble han døpt som kristen, og han fikk også et frankisk navn, noe som ville ha vært usannsynlig i de norrøne områdene, men tillegget om dåpen kan være en anakronistisk antagelse av poeten.
Vilhelm Langsverd var sønn av Rollo som grunnla et dynasti som skulle ende opp med å erobre England i 1066. På Vilhelms dager var det lite som tydet på dette. Hans jarldømme, som han arvet fra faren rundt 928 (Rollo dør ca 932), besto av et skjørt område sentrert rundt Rouen og neppe lengre vest elven Seine.
Vilhelm kommer inn fra historiens mørke på slutten av 930-tallet. Tilsynelatende hadde han i følge Dudo klart å slå ned et opprør fra normanniske og norrøne bosetningen som mislikte hans føydale tilnærming: En norrøn leder ved navn Riulf (Rolf?) gjør opprør ved å hevde at Vilhelm er blitt for frankisk, at hans hensikt er å berike seg selv og sin ætt og frankiske venner på bekostning av andre. Riulf sender bud om at han krever «alt land opp til Risle». Vilhelm svarer at han ikke kan gi Riulf landet, men tilbyr Riulf medstyre, om enn i navnet. Riulf svarer med å flytte hæren mot Rouen, krysser Seine og slår leir utenfor byen. Vilhelm tilbyr da Riulf land, «ikke bare opp til Risle, men alt hele vegen til Seine». Riulf lukter feighet og avslår tilbudet. Istedenfor for å møte Riulf i åpen kamp overfaller Vilhelm leirplassen i et regelrett snikangrep, dreper for fote og driver Riulf og resten på flukt.
I 939 er Vilhelm involvert i en krig med Arnulf I av Flandern som angikk det frankiske kongedømmet. Vilhelm støttet den frankiske kong Ludvig IV (936-954), sønn av Karl den enfoldige, på en tid da Ludvig var i vanskeligheter. I desember 942 da Vilhelms forhold til kongen var på sitt beste kalte Arnulf på en fredskonferanse med Vilhelm. Under fredssamtalene ble Vilhelm drept av tilhengere av Arnulf, kanskje på befaling av Arnulf selv.
Det forræderiske mordet må ha vært et sjokk på Vilhelms tilhengere. Sørgediktet ble diktet kort tid etter hans død av en ukjent poet, og selv om diktet har overlevd i to utgaver, begge ødelagte og usammenhengende, preget av hagiografi i sitt innhold, men er uansett en viktig kilde for tidlig normannisk historie. Det er det aller første, kjente skrift skrevet om normannere fra deres egen synsvinkel.
Vilhelms sønn Rikard I av Normandie etterfulgte ham som jarl i Normandie. -------------------- William, surnamed Longa Spatha, Long sword, Duke of Normandy, had been carefully educated by the priests. His height was majestic, his features beautiful, his complexion being pure and delicate as a maiden's, his strength gigantic. He married Adela, daughter of Hubert. Count of Senlis. (Kin of Mellcene Thurman Smith, page 278) -------------------- Notes for William "Longsword" Of Normandy Duke Of Normandy Per Weis' "Ancestral Roots . . ." (121E:19): "WILLIAM I, "Longsword", b. ca. 891, prob. Rouen, ca. 927 succ. to Duchy of Normandy, ca. 930 the Bretons rebelled, he subdued them, taking Brittany, the Channel Islands, the Contentin, and the Averanchin; killed in treacherous ambush 17 Dec. 942 by servants of THEOBALD OF BLOIS (RIN 1645) and ARNULF OF FLANDERS (RIN 2173) 17 dec 942. ... He m. (1) (Danish wife) SPROTA, a Breton; m. (2) LUITGARDE DE VERMANDOIS ..., n.i., killed 942 by LOUIS, s. of CHARLES III "the Simple:, dau. HERBERT II, Count of Vermandois and Troyes. " Also mentioned (49:19).
Stuart's "Royalty For Commoners" (166:34).
It is interesting to note that THEOBALD later married William's widow, LUITGARDE and that ARNULF married LUITGARDE's sister, ALIX.
Per Rosamond McKitterick's, "The Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians 751-987", London & NY (Longman) 1983, p 238: "William Longsword, ROLLO's son and successor, was the principal architect of Normandy's development. He married the daughter of HERBERT OF VERMANDOIS but his children were born of a Breton concubine. William had supported LOUIS IV (RIN 1617) and attempted to establish his protection over Brittany, gaining at least the Cotentin and Avranchin in 933. There remains some doubt about William's claim to the whole Breton peninsula. When in 942 William was murdered at the instigation of COUNT ARNULF OF FLANDERS, his son Richard, still a minor, succeeded him."
[source unrecorded]: ROLLO died in 927, and was succeeded by his son William "Long Sword" born of his union 'more danico' with POPPA, daughter of COUNT BERENGER; he showed some attachment to the Scandinavian language, for he sent his son William to Bayeux to learn Norse. The first two dukes also displayed a certain fidelity to the Carolingian dynasty of France, and in 936 William "Long-Sword" did homage to LOUIS IV d'Outremer. He died on 17th of December 942, assassinated by the COUNT OF FLANDERS. ---------------------- Quoted from the book, "Life in a Medieval Castle" by Joseph and Frances Gies. "William Longsword, ancestor of William the Conqueror, on succeeding his father as Duke of Normandy in 927, "committed him self into the King's hands," according to the chronicler Richer, and "promised him fealty and confirmed it with an oath." -------------------- http://genealogy.wikia.com/wiki/William_Longsword,_2nd_Duke_of_Normandy_(893-942) http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/documents/planctus/planctus/Sources.html
[S03660] thePeerage.com. William I 'Longsword' de Normandie, 2nd Duc de Normandie1 (M) b. circa 900, d. 17 December 942, #104762 Pedigree Last Edited=15 Jun 2003 William I 'Longsword' de Normandie, 2nd Duc de Normandie was the son of Robert of Norway Ragnvaldsson, 1st Duc de Normandie and Poppa of Normandy de Valois.1 He was born circa 900. He married Luitgarda de Vermandois in 935.1 He died on 17 December 942 murdered.1 He gained the title of 2nd Duc de Normandie in 932.1 Children of William I 'Longsword' de Normandie, 2nd Duc de Normandie and Sprota of Senlis: Raoul d'Ivry Richard I de Normandie, 3rd Duc de Normandie+ b. 933, d. 20 Nov 996 Citations [S106] Royal Genealogies Website (ROYAL92.GED), online . Hereinafter cited as Royal Genealogies Website.
http://jliptrap.us/gen/Charlemagne.htm
Sprota de Vermandois married Duke Guillaume "Longue Epee" (William Longsword) (900-942) son of Duke Rollo Rognvaldsson and Duchess Poppa de Valois http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/documents/planctus/planctus/index.html The Planctus William Longsword was the son of Rollo, founder of the Rollonid dynasty that would become dukes of Normandy and after 1066, kings of England. In William's day, however, the Rollonid principality was still a fragile entity centered around Rouen and, in terms of Realpolitik, not extending far west of the Seine. Most of William's career was spent in relative obscurity, but in the late 930s he suddenly emerged onto the stage of Frankish royal politics, first because of his war with Arnulf of Flanders, and then because of his support for King Louis IV (d'Outremer) at a time when Louis' star seemed to be fading. In December 942, at the peak of his good relations with Louis, Arnulf called for a peace conference with William; there, William was murdered (traditionally, Arnulf is said to have arranged the murder; some day I will argue that he did not). A Planctus (mourning poem) was composed probably shortly after; Jules Lair suggests plausibly if not definitively that it was in 943. (Catalog references: Chevalier 10576; Walther 10205; Schaller & Ewald Könsgen 8813; Yearley L81.) This poem, although it survives only in corrupt and incomplete versions and is largely hagiographic in content, nevertheless is a critical source for early Norman history. It is by far the earliest work written about the Normans from a Norman point of view, and some historical nuggets can be gleaned from it. --------------------------- Jarl de los normandos del Sena. Un poema escrito poco después de que muriera Guillermo I pone de manifiesto que éste nació en ultramar, de una madre cristiana y de un padre que era, todavía, pagano. Éste último Rollon no era, en aquel momento el Jarl de la futura Normandía. Era todavía un jefe vikingo que recorría los mares a la búsqueda de algunas tierras susceptibles de ser saqueadas.
Una vez instalado por Carlos el Simple en Normandía (911), Guillermo pasó a ser el heredero natural de este territorio. ---------------
(French Wikipedia states: A poem written shortly after the death of William Longsword revealed him to have been born overseas to a Christian mother and a father who was still a pagan. The latter was Rollo, who was not at the time yet the Jarl of future Normandy. He was still a Viking chief who traveled the seas in search of lands to plunder.)
William succeeded Rollo sometime around 927.
(French Wikipedia states: Once King Rollo had been installed in Normandy by Charles the simple in 911, Guillaume became the natural heir of the territory. Duda of St-Quentin said that Rollo was no longer able to govern in 927. A meeting of Normans and Bretons elected William as their head. At his election he was recommended by King Charles the Simple.)
It appears that he faced a rebellion early in his reign, from Normans who felt he had become too Gallicised. Subsequent years are obscure.
(French Wikipedia states: It is quite difficult to paint a portrait of the new Jarl of the Normans of the Seine. Indeed, the story painted by Dudo of St-Quentin, our main informant, sometimes has a tendency to be a hagiography. However, it is undeniable that William was a real Christian, unlike his father. After 935 he married Liegard Christian, daughter of Herbert II, Comte de Vermandois. The Jarl made various donations to the canons of Mont-St-Michel and restored the Abbey Jumieges, in which he thought of retiring.)
(William as prince represented the consolidation of the newly-created Normandy. Dudo called this Jarl a restorer of peace and order. Much more recently, Lucien Musset described him as a "principal architect of the success of Normandy. To him we must attribute the ultimate success of this Scandinavian graft on the trunk of Roman France, which allowed the state to be founded in 911 that successfully crossed the general crisis that gripped in 940 both Scandinavia and the world of the West.")
(Around 931, Brittany was occupied by Normans from the Loire, and going through a difficult period. The Bretons rebelled against their occupiers. William Longsword, perhaps supported by the Normans of the Loire, invaded Brittany. The Breton chiefs Alan Barbetorte and Juhel Berenger of Rennes were defeated. Alan fled across the Channel while Juhel Berenger reconciled with the Normans.)
(But what were the consequences of William's victory? Dudo of St-Quentin repeated that William Longsword was the "Duke of the Normans and the Bretons." Moreover, Mont-Saint-Michel wrote a peace that described him as the Duke of Brittany. The entourage of the Jarl appears repeatedly as if Brittany were already a part of the lands under William's rule. Rather than a conquest, Musset suggests that Brittany was a Norman protectorate.)
(In 933, William paid tribute to King Raoul for "the land of the Bretons located on the shore of the sea." This was not Brittany, because the sovereign had no further claim on that territory. Historians usually consider this the concession by Cotentin and Avranches, areas ceded to the Bretons by a Carolingian king 66 years earlier. In 933, Normandy had almost reached its maximum extension.)
(However, Karl Ferdinand Werner warned that we have no evidence that the second Duke of Normandy actually mastered his western borders. The charter of King Raoul - for a land not under his formal control in Normandy - William especially invited to submit Cotentin and Brittany, and to integrate them into his kingdom through the tribute of the Jarl.)
(In 934, William faced a revolt led by a Norman named Rioulf, or Herjolfr. The geographic start of this rebellion remains uncertain. William Jumieges spoke of it being "inside Normandy." A writer of the12th century Orderic Vitalis wrote of Rioulf's rebellion that it began in Evrecin, while Lucien Musset thinks the rebels were from beyond the Norman west. The Jarl appeared to have gone over too much to his Frankish origins through his mother and his policy seemed too favorable to the Franks. Rioulf led rebels under the walls of Rouen, but William left the city and crushed his opponents.)
(The episode did not fail to be interpreted by historians. They saw the revolt of the Vikings settled in the west or middle of Normandy, and considered them resistant to the authority of the Jarls of Rouen. In short, this event would consolidate the position of Normandy, imperfectly controlled by the descendants of Rollo. Rioulf was an example of one of the Viking ringleaders that were independent of Rouen.)
In 939 William became involved in a war with Arnulf I of Flanders, which soon became intertwined with the other conflicts troubling the reign of Louis IV.
He was killed by followers of Arnulf while at a meeting to settle their conflict. His son Richard the Fearless, child of his first wife, Sprota, succeeded him. William also left a widow, Liègard (Liutgard), who died in 985.
French Wikipedia section on the Ambush of Picquigny
Along with Arnulf of Flanders, Herbert II of Vermandois, and Hugh the Great, William was among the small group of princes who played a leading role in the northern kingdom. Sometimes as allies, sometimes as enemies, they supported and opposed the King.
In the year 935/940, the Jarl married Christian Liutgard of Vermandois, daughter of Herbert II, Comte de Vermandois. In 936, according to Dudo of St-Quentin, this support proved decisive for Normandy during the reign of the Carolingian pretender to Francia Louis d'Outremer. In 940, William joined the Duke of Franks Hugh the Great and Herbert II of Vermandois against the King and Arnulf of Flanders. They occupied Rheims and Laon until they could get an agreement with Louis d'Outremer.
The state of relations between Normandy and Flanders was changing. In 925, while Rollo was still the Jarl of Normandy, Arnulf I had taken the fortress of Eu, but in 939, William took an oath to Otto, King of All Germany, against the King of the Franks. In 938/939, Herluin, Comte de Montreuil, having lost the city of Montreuil-sur-Mer to Arnulf I, Comte de Flandres (and Artois) appealed to William Longsword. The Normans finally intervened. According to Richer and Dudo of St-Quentin, the Duke of Normandy fought there personally. Montreuil was restored in 939. Having recovered his property, Herluin praised the loyalty of William de Ponthieu. The Normans controlled maritime Picardie and thwarted the expansion of Flandres to the south.
The situation in Montreuil serves as the background of the tragic death of William Longsword. On December 17, 942, he was requested by Arnulf of Flanders, the main Frankish prince hostile to the rise of Normandy, to meet on the pretext of working out a peace treaty in a place called Picquigny. Just as the treaty was signed by the two princes on an island in the Somme River, he was treacherously murdered, presumably by Baldwin, son of the Comte de Cambrai, on orders from Arnold I.
His followers recovered his body. They found on him a key for opening a chest containing a hair-shirt, a garment for monnks. His tomb is in the Cathedral of Rouen.
Family and Children:
His parents were Rollo, first Norman Jarl of Rouen, and Poppa, daughter of Berengar II of Neustria or Guy of Senlis
Wives
Liegard, daughter of Herbert II, Comte de Vermandois. Christian marriage, childless. Widowed, she married Theobold the Cheater, Comte de Blois
Sprot of Brittany, married "more danico" (in the Danish style). Later she married Esperlenc.
Sister
Gerloc (Adele), wife of William the Towhead, Comte de Poitou (OUR ANCESTOR)
Children
Richard I of Normandy --------------------
William Longsword Duke of Normandy born 0876 Normandie, Neustria died 0942 France
father:
Rollo "the Dane"(Hrolf the Ganger) Rognaldsson Duke of Normandy born 0846 died 0932
mother:
Papia de Senlis born 0848
siblings:
Adáele (Gerloc) of Normandy born Abt 0897 Of, Normandie, Neustria died Aft 14 Oct 0942
children:
Raoul Count of Bayeux & Ivry spouse (2nd):
Espriota de Bretagne born abt 0910 married Abt 932 Of, Normandy, France
children:
Richard I Duke of Normandy born 0933 died 0996
biographical and/or anecdotal: 2nd Duke of Normandy from 927 to 943, was also Duke of Aquitaine and died in 942, slain by Arnulf of Flanders with whom he had in good faith gone to confer. First wife *Ledgarde Duchess of Normandy -------------------- William I* (2nd Duke de Normandy) [314] ABT 0893 - 17 Dec 0942
TITLE: 2nd Duke de Normandy * BIRTH: ABT 0893, Normandy,France * DEATH: 17 Dec 0942, France
Father: Rolf* RAGNVALDSSON Mother: Poppa* DE VALOIS
Family 1 : Espriota* DE ST. LIZ BALL
http://www.afn.org/~lawson/d0004/g0000070.html#I1954
1. +Richard I** DE NORMANDY 2. Rodulf D'Ivry, Count of IVRY 3. +Adela* OF NORMANDY Family 2 : Ledgarde* OF VERMANDOIS
MARRIAGE: ABT 0935
1. +Odo Eudes I* BLOIS
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William I Longsword (French: Guillaume Longue-Épée, Latin: Willermus Longa Spata, Scandinavian: Vilhjálmr Langaspjót) (893 – 17 December 942) was the second Duke of Normandy from his father's death until his own assassination. The title dux (duke) was not in use at the time and has been applied to early Norman rulers retroactively; William actually used the title comes (count).
Biography Little is known about his early years. He was born in Bayeux or Rouen to Rollo and his wife Poppa. All that is known of Poppa is that she was a Christian, and the daughter to Berengar of Rennes, the previous lord of Brittania Nova, which eventually became western Normandy. According to the William's planctus, he was baptised a Christian.
William succeeded Rollo sometime around 927. It appears that he faced a rebellion early in his reign, from Normans who felt he had become too Gallicised. Subsequent years are obscure. In 939 William became involved in a war with Arnulf I of Flanders, which soon became intertwined with the other conflicts troubling the reign of Louis IV.
He was killed by followers of Arnulf while at a meeting to settle their conflict. His son Richard the Fearless, child of his first wife, Sprota, succeeded him. William also left a widow, Liègard (Liutgard), who died in 985.
William Longsword -------------------- (from Wikipedia)
William Longsword (in French, Guillaume Longue-Épée, in old scandinavian languages, Viljâlmr Langaspjôt) (born 893, in Normandy, France died December 17, 942, in Normandy) was jarl (ruler) of Normandy. He is considered as the second duke of Normandy, even if this title did not exist at the time. Little is known about his early years. He was born in Bayeux or Rouen. His parents were Rollo and Poppa. All that is known of Poppa is that she was a Christian, and the daughter to Berengar of Rennes, the previous lord of what (Brittania Nova) became Normandy. According to the Planctus, he was baptized a Christian. William succeeded Rollo sometime around 928. It appears that he faced a rebellion early in his reign, from Normans who felt he had become too Frankified. The following years are obscure. In 939 William became involved in a war with Arnulf I of Flanders, which soon became intertwined with the other conflicts of the reign of Louis IV of France. He was killed by followers of Arnulf while at a meeting to settle their conflict. His son Richard I of Normandy succeeded him.

-- MERGED NOTE ------------

FHL Magna Charta 942 D2wj p.194
2nd Duke of Normandy, and also Duke of Aquitaine, d. 942, slain by Arnulf of Flanders with whom he had in good faith gone to confer. His wife was his cousin Espriota, dau. of Hubert, Count of Senlis.

Burial: Rouen Cathedral, France Note: aka Guillaume DESCENDANT OF CHARLEMAGNE AND THE ANCIENT SCANDINAVIAN KINGS SON OF ROLLO THE DANE ANCESTOR OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR DUKE OF NORMANDY William was killed on orders of Arnold (Arnulf), Count of Flanders, grand-son of Alfred the Great of England. Notes by Larry Overmire, unless noted otherwise. Please credit if used elsewhere. Sources: 1) The English Royal Family, Website http://www.compapp.dcu.ie/~humphrys/FamTree/Royal/ 2) Doug Bingham Website http://www.pa.uky.edu/~shapere/dkbingham/d0008/g0000058.html 3) Alice Ann Fesmire Database http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=afesmire&id=I18474 4) David Hunter Brown Database http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=davidhunterbrown&id=I3883 5) Kel Cunard Database http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:1352117&id=I00671 6) Robert Davenport Database http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=davenport&id=I9693 7) Cynthia Smithdeal Database http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=csmithd&id=I14677 8) Jim Weber Database http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I00379 9) Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, 7th Edition, by Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee ShippardJr., 1999 Page: 121e-19

FHL The Magna Charta Barons, p. 194: 2nd Duke of Normandy; Duke of Aquitaine; died 942, slain by Arnulf of Flanders, with whom he had gone in good faith to confer. His wife was his cousin Espriota, dau. of Hubert (Count of Senlis) who was murdered.

William Longsword: His Life in Medieval Age and His American Descendants
Posted on November 10, 2016
He was the illegitimate son of Henry II and Ida de Tony and lived from about 1167 to 1226. This post has a complete list of the American gateway ancestors that descend from him.

He is not as well known as other servants and descendants of royalty, like William Marshal, the greatest knight. But William Longespée was the half-brother to three kings and served two of them. He also served his half-nephew Henry III.

Above, William Marshall is considered the “Greatest Knight.” William Longespee or Longsword is related to him by marriage and served next to him. (Source: Asbridge)

Above, William Longespee or Longsword was in Richard I’s coronation ceremony. William was Richard I’s illegitimate half-brother. (Source: Ramsay)

Above, William was in the Battle of Bovines. (Source: Ramsay)

Source: Wikipedia
BASICS ABOUT WILLIAM’S LIFE
William Longsword was born around 1167, illegitimate son of Henry II Plantagenet and his mistress Ida. Douglas Richardson in Plantagenet Ancestry says that he was therefore the half-brother of three kings: Young Henry, the joint-king with Henry II; Richard I; and John. Henry II was their father.
The French version of his name is Longespée. Long = Long, and Espée = Épée = sword.
William was about the same age as King John and was a reputed military commander; he was a close friend to John and spent many hours at the gaming table with him.
William Longsword was also related to William Marshall, “the greatest knight.” Walter of Salisbury produced daughter Sybil, and she married John Marshall. They had William Marshall.
Walter of Salisbury had Patrick (d. 1168), and Patrick had William, Earl of Salisbury. This earl had Ela the heiress, and she married William Longsword.
Using arrows as links in a chain from one generation to the next, it works out like this: Walter of Salisbury → Patrick Earl of Salisbury (d. 1168) → William Earl of Salisbury (d. 1196) → Ela the heiress m. William Longsword.
Walter → Sybil m. John Marshall → William Marshall.
As the name implies, William Longsword was a distinguished knight who had fought in Normandy through the 1190s alongside King Richard Lionheart. He was a leading military commander. He won numerous knightly tournaments.
In 1191 he was granted the manor of Kirton, Lincolnshire by his brother King Richard I.
The William Earl of Salisbury died in 1196, while Longsword was betrothed to Ela, then six years old and the heiress.
Before Sep 1197 he married Ela. She was born around 1191 (they consummated marriage much later).
Longsword was titled Earl of Salisbury and duly assumed control of the prestigious Wiltshire lordship.
During King John’s reign Longsword served alongside Marshall. His career paralleled Marshall’s.
He participated in the progress at Richard’s coronation and anointing on September 3, 1189. Members of the procession: the lesser clergy and the Holy Water, Cross, Tapers and Thurible; the abbots and bishops;
William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury was on the right (from the front view), carrying the Rod Virga; Robert of Beaumont III, Early of Leicester carried the Sword of State.
In the center was John, Earl of Mortain and Gloucester, carrying the Sword of State “curtana.” On the left was the greatest knight, William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, carrying the Scepter. David Earl of Huntingdon carried another Sword of State.
Six barons carried the chequer board with regalia and robes.
William of Mandeville Earl of Essex and Earl of Aumale had the honor of carrying the crown.
Reginald bishop of Bath; Richard was in the center under a canopy of silk supported by lances by four barons of the Cinque Ports; and on the left was Hugh bishop of Durham.
In 1199 he participated in his brother King John’s coronation.
In 1200 he witnessed William the Lion, King of Scotland’s homage to King John at Lincoln.
In 1202 Longsword and William Marshall defended the royal castle of Arques in eastern Normandy. In June they expend a lot of money, 1,600 Angevin pounds, drawn from the crown treasury, building up its fortifications and strengthening its garrison.
When the French King Philip Augustus marched on the castle in July, Marshall and Longsword pull back westward. They launch skirmishing attacks on French forces invading Arques. Sound strategy, but the King Philip’s forces are too numerous to be defeated.
In 1204 he escorted Llywellyn ap Iorwerth, Prince of North Wales, to the king.
Then King John of England captured the Duke of Brittany, Arthur, son of Geoffrey, son of Henry II (Henry II’s grandson) and other nobles. Marshall and Longsword withdrew to Rouen, France, and enjoyed a lavish feast in celebration. Much expensive wine flowed.
Arthur disappeared; he was probably killed, maybe by King John in a drunken rage. He was never heard of again. King John’s reign is deteriorating.
In 1203 nobles were defecting to the Capetian side (Capet is the family name of France’s kings). But a defense of John’s meager realm in France was mounted. Longsword was ordered to hold the western frontier against the Bretons. But the French prevailed, and Normandy was lost.
In 1205 King John prepares for an invasion of France. One fleet would beach on the Norman coast and reconquer the duchy from the west, and another fleet land at Poitou. William Longsword commanded the latter force.
He was in the escort of King William the Lion, King of Scotland, to meet King John at York, in 1206.
Over a dispute about appointing the archbishop of Canterbury. Pope Innocent III preferred Stephen Langton, but John was suspicious of him. In March 1208 England was placed under papal interdict. Church bells remained silent; no burials on consecrated grounds; no Sunday Mass.
He led an embassy to the prelates and princes of Germany on behalf of the King’s nephew Otto, King of the Romans, in 1209.
In 1212 Ela initiated a suit in the king’s court against Ela kinsman, Henry de Bohun, for the barony of Trowbridge, Wiltshire, Henry chief fief. The king took control of the honor.
The first great naval victory for England took place on May 30, 1213. William Longsword commanded five hundred ships that crossed the channel and raided the Norman coast. The Earl of Salisbury reached the Flanders coast and found a French fleet of about 1700 ships being fitted out with supplies and purposed to invade England, though the fleet was poorly guarded. Salisbury and his men destroyed the fleet after taking valuables.
In early spring of 1213, Pope Innocent authorized Captian Philip Augustus to invade England and depose John. William Longsword and William Marshall were called to defend the realm. They marshaled a large army.
However, after a meeting with the papal legate on May 15 near Dover, peace was restored. Stephen Langton was appointed archbishop. King Philip was angry because he had spent 60,000 marks (a mark was two-thirds of a pound) preparing for war. John swore his allegiance to Innocent as his liege-lord and promised to send 1,000 marks annually. The interdict was lifted.
In 1214, he was marshal of the King of England and commanded forces that recovered nearly all of Flanders for the Count.
In late 1213 and early 1214, John planned to invade France to reclaim his territory he had lost to King Philip. William Longsword was to lead the attack from the north, through Normandy. He mustered the ranks of England’s northern allied. The King invaded Aquitaine. William Marshall remained behind to protect against a Welsh counterattack.
On July 27, a pitched battle took place at Bouvine, just south of Lille in northeastern France. At first John’s armies succeeded. Near Bouvines the English rallied around the Earl of Salisbury’s blue banners with yellow lions rampant on them.
From the left the Earl of Salisbury led the cavalry charge, but instead of going straight ahead, he swung to the right to attack the count of Dreux’s position.
However, the Capetians gained the upper hand. Longsword was taken captive, as were the Counts of Boulogne and Flanders (two of England’s established trading partners).
In October John returned to England broken and broke.
Eventually William Longsword was ransomed.
The barons pushed for concessions from the king. The royal coffers were empty and he had been humiliated in France, with no victories to boast of. But William Marshall and the king’s half-brother, William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, remained loyal to their king.
John was so weak and the barons so rebellious they issued the Great Charter or Magna Carta, but John wouldn’t sign it at first.
Three weeks into May, and Longsword made a dash for London, on behalf of the king, while the rebel barons did too, but they got there first. The rich city favored the rebels. Guards loyal to the rebels manned the gates, while the rebels ordered clerks to issue invitations to all earls, barons and knights loyal to John to join the rebels.
On 15 June 1215, no one signed the first version of the Magna Carta, but it was affixed with King John’s great seal. William Marshall was given a prominent position in the text, along with William Longsword.
Further, John was so weak by corruption and bad dealings with his subjects that barons encouraged the King of France Philip’s son Prince Louis to invade England and take the crown. Prince Louis landed in Kent on May 22, 1216. Instead of meeting him in a battle, John retreated. He wasn’t sure his mercenaries would support him, since many of them were French.
So which side would Longsword support? The Capetians (the French) or John the corrupt? Longsword deserted John on pragmatic grounds. He calculated that John’s days were done. Also, one chronicler says that during Longsword’s captivity after the Battle of Bouvine, John seduced Longsword’s wife, Ela of Salisbury. No confirmation. William Marshall’s son, William II or the younger,, also defected.
John gathered forces to confront Prince Louis, but John caught a fever and died on October 18, 1216. So now whom would Longsword support? The king’s son Henry? Most considered the king’s cause to be hopeless. William Marshall still supported the king’s son. Now what about Longsword?
A coronation was hurriedly arranged on October 28, 1216: the nine-year-old is now King Henry III.
Marshall and the papal legate (a kind of ambassador) updated the Magna Carta in Henry III’s name on November 12, 1216, to entice the rebellious nobles to return to the royalist side—Henry III’s cause. Marshall was following the course of reconciliation, not revenge.
William Longsword returned to the royalist side, his desertion over. Wise move. It’s better to fight for King and country than foreign invaders.
Prince Louis divided his army and laid siege to the town Lincoln. This was Marshall’s chance to even the sides, since Louis outnumbered the English and their allies.
On May 20, 1217, the battle was joined. William Marshall led the charge on Louis’s troops. Longsword was with him.
Longsword was wounded. During the charge, a baron, one of King John’s former knights who now sided with Louis, struck Longsword with a “savage” lance-blow to his body, but his armor protected him. William Marshall rode up and struck the baron between the shoulders and almost knocked him to the ground. The baron crawled away to a house and hid out in an upper room. William Longsword was in the thick of the victory.
The royalist side routed the rebel barons. Prince Louis abandoned his plan to take the English crown. The Battle of Lincoln was yet another turning point in English history.
In 1217 he was granted the manor of Aldbourne, Wiltshire, by the king.
In 1222 he gave the manor of Heythrop, Gloucester to mons and brethren of the Carthusian order and assigned part of the revenue to build the monastery.
Henry III reign was established.
In 1223, Richard, Earl of Cornwall, Henry III’s younger brother, led an expedition to relieve Gascony, but the Earl of Salisbury led him. Salisbury found that he couldn’t take Poitous in a single campaign, but he did secure Gascony.
On February 16 and 16, 1225, orders were sent out to every county sheriff to observe the charters and resurvey the royal forests and raise taxes.
On 7 Mar 1225/6 he died at Salisbury Castle, Wiltshire and was buried in Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire.
William m. Ela of Salisbury and had these  children.
William Longespee m. Idoine de Camville
Stephen Longespee m. Emeline de Ridelisford
Richard Longespee
Nicholas Longespee by mistress he had these children:
Ida Longespee m. (1) Ralph de Somery and (2) William de Beauchamp
Mary Longespee m. unknown
Isabel Longespee m. William de Vescy
Ela Longespee m. (1) Thomas Newburgh of Warwick and (2) Philip Basset
Ida Longespee m. Walter Fitzwalter
These five lists of gateway ancestors overlap, but they prove what a key figure William Longespee is for them and their descendants.
I. William → Stephen
These gateway ancestors are descendants of Stephen:
Robert Abell
Barbara Aubrey
John Barclay
John Baynard
Dorothy Beresford
John Bevan
Essex Beville
William Bladen
Elizabeth Bosvile
Thomas Bressy
Obadiah Bruen
Elizabeth, Martha, and Peter Bulkley
Stephen Bull
Charles Calvert
Leger Codd
Humphrey Davie
Edward Digges
Robert Drake
Rowland Ellis
Agatha, Alice, Eleanor, Jane, and Martha Eltonhead
John Fenwick
Henry Fleete
Thomas Gerard
Muriel Gurdon
Mary Gye
Elizabeth and John Harleston
Warham Horsmanden
Patrick Houston
Anne Humphrey
Olive Ingolsby
Mary Launce
Nathaniel Littleton
Thomas Lloyd
Gabriel, Roger, and Sarah Ludlow
Thomas Lunsford
Oliver Manwaring
John and Margaret Nelson
Philip and Thomas Nelson
Thomas Owsley
John Oxenbridge
Herbert Pelham
William and Elizabeth Pole
Henry and William Randolph
George Reade
Thomas Rudyard
Elizabeth St. John
Katherine St. Leger
Richard Saltonstall
Mary Johanna Somerset
John Stockman
Rose Stoughton
James Taylor
Samuel and William Torrey
John and Lawrence Washington
Olive Welby
John West
Hawte Wyatt
Amy Wyllys
II. William → Nicholas →
These gateway ancestors descend from Nicholas:
Robert Abell
Barbara Aubrey
John Barclay
John Baynard
Dorothy Beresford
John Bevan
Essex Beville
William Bladen
Elizabeth Bosvile
Thomas Bressy
Obadiah Bruen
Elizabeth, Martha, and Peter Bulkley
Stephen Bull, Charles Calvert, St. Ledger Codd,
Humphrey Davie
Edward Digges
Robert Drake
Rowland Ellis
Agatha, Alice, and Eleanor, Jane, Martha Eltonhead
John Fenwick
Henry Fleete
Thomas Gerard
Muriel Gurdon
Mary Gye
Elizabeth and John Harleston
Warham Horsmansden
Patrick Houston
Anne Humphrey
Olive Ingolsby
Mary Launce
Nathaniel Littleton
Thomas Lloyd
Gabriel, Roger, and Sarah Ludlow
Thomas Lunsford
Olivier Manwaring
John and Margaret Nelson
Philip and Thomas Nelson
Thomas Owsley
John Oxenbridge
Robert Pelham
William and Elizabeth Pole
Henry and William Randolph
George Reade
Thomas Rudyard
Elizabeth St. John
Katherine St. Leger
Richard Saltonstall
Mary Johanna Somerset
John Stockman
Rose Stoughton
James Taylor
Samuel and William Torrey
John and Lawrence Washington
Olive Welby
John West
Hawte Wyatt
Amy Wyllys
III. William → Ida m. (1) Ralph de Somery and (2) William de Beauchamp
These gateway ancestors descend from Ida:
Robert Abell
Dannett Abney
Samuel Argall
William Asfordby
Walter Aston
Barbara Aubrey
Charles Barham
Audrey Barlow
Marmaduke Beckwith
Dorothy Beresford
John Bevan
Essex Beville
Joseph Bickley
William Bladen
George and Nehemiah Blakiston
Joseph Bolles
Thomas Booth
Elizabeth Bosvile
George, Giles and Robert Brent
Edward Bromfield
Nathaniel Browne
Stephen Bull
Nathaniel Burrough
Elizabeth, John, and Thomas Butler
Charles and Leonard Calvert
Edward Carleton
Kenelm Cheseldine
Grace Chetwode
Jeremy Clarke
William Clopton (our direct line)

Leger Codd
Henry Corbin
James Cudworth
Francis Dade
Humphrey Davie
Frances, Jane, and Katherine Deighton
Anne Derebaugh
Edward Digges
George Elkington
John Fenwick
Henry Filmer
Henry Fleete
Edward Foliot
William Goddard
Muriel Gurdon
Katherine Hamby
Warham Horsmanden
Anne Humphrey
Edmund Jennings
Edmund, Edward, Richard, and Matthew Kemp
Mary Launce
Hannah, Samuel, and Sarah Levis
Thomas Ligon
Nathaniel Littleton
Thomas Lloyd
Anne Lovelace
Henry, Jane, Nicholas, and Vincent Lowe
Percival Lowell
Gabriel, Roger, and Sarah Ludlow
Thomas Lunsford
Anne, Elizabeth and John Mansfield
Anne and Katherine Marbury
Elizabeth Marshall
Anne Mauleverer
Richard More
Joseph and Mary Need
John and Margaret Nelson
Philip and Thomas Nelson
Thomas Owsley
John Oxenbridge
Herbert Pelham
Henry and William Randolph
George Reade
Elizabeth St. John
Katherine St. Leger
Richard Saltonstall
Diana and Grey Skipwith
Mary Johanna Somerset
John Stockman
Rose Stoughton
Samuel and William Torrey
Margaret Touteville
Jemima Waldegrave
Olive Wleby
John West
Hawte Wyatt
Amy Wyllys
IV. William → Ida
These gateway ancestors descend from Ida:
Robert Abell
Dannett Abney
Elizabeth Alsop
William Asfordby
Walter Aston
Christopher Batt
Henry, Thomas, and William Batte
Essex Beville
William Bladen
George and Nehemiah Blakiston
Thomas Booth
Elizabeth Bosvile
Mary Bourchier
George and Robert Brent
Thomas Bressey
Edward Bromfield
Nathaniel Browne
Obadiah Bruen
Stephen Bull
Elizabeth, John and Thomas Butler
Charles Calvert
Edward Carleton
Kenelm Cheseldine
Grace Chetwode
Jeremy Clarke
Matthew Clarkson
Leger Codd
Henry Corbin
Francis Dade
Humphrey Davie
Frances, Jane, and Katherine Deighton
Edward Digges
Thomas Dudley
William Farrer
John Fenwick
John Fisher
Muriel Gurdon
Katherine Hamby
Elizabeth and John Harleston
Warham Horsmanden
Anne Humphrey
Mary Launce
Hannah, Samuel and Sarah Levis
Nathaniel Littleton
Henry, Jane, and Nicholas Lowe
Symon Lynde
Agnes Mackworth
Roger and Thomas Mallory
Anne, Elizabeth, and John Mansfield
Anne and Katherine Marbury
Anne Mauleverer
Richard More
Joseph and Mary Need
John and Margaret Nelson
Philip and Thomas Nelson
Ellen Newton
Thomas Owsley
John Oxenbridge
Herbert Pelham
Robert Peyton
George Reade
Thomas Rudyard
Katherine St. Leger
Richard Saltonstall
William Skepper
Diana and Grey Skipwith
Mary Johanna Somerset
John Stratton
James Taylor
Samuel and William Torrey
Margaret Touteville
Olive Welby
John West
Thomas Yale
V. William → William → Ela
These gateway ancestors descend from William’s granddaughter Ela:
Robert Abell
Dannett Abney
Elizaberth Alsop
William Asfordby
Barbara Aubrey
Charles Barnes
Dorothy Beresford
Richard and William Bernard
John Bevan
William Bladen
George and Nehemiah Blakiston
Thomas Booth
Elizabeth Bosvile
George, Giles, and Robert Brent
Thomas Bressey
Nathaniel Browne
Charles Calvert
Edward Carleton
Grace Chetwode
Leger Codd
James Cudworth
Francis Dade
Humphrey Davie
Frances, Jane, and Katherine Deighton
Edward Digges
Robert Drake
Thomas Dudley
William Farrer
John Fenwick
Henry Fleete
Edward Foliot
Muriel Gurdon
Elizabeth and John Harleston
Edmund Hawes
Warham Horsmandem
Mary Launce
Hannah, Samuel, and Sarah Levis
Thomas Ligon
Nathaniel Littleton
Thomas Lloyd
Henry, Jane, and Nicholas Lowe
Percival Lowell
Thomas Lunsford
Agnes Mackworth
Anne, Elizabeth and John Mansfield
Anne and Katherine Marbury
Anne Mauleverer
Richard More
Jhn and Margaret Nelson
Philip and Thomas Nelson
Thomas Owsley
Robert Peyton
Henry and William Randolph
George Reade
William Rodney
Thomas Rudyard
Katherine St. Leger
Richard Saltonstall
William Skepper
Mary Johanna Somerset
Samuel and William Torrey
Margaret Toutevile
Olive Welby
Hawte Wyatt
Amy Wyllys
Those five lists prove that the wealthy and the aristocrats stuck together and intermarried over the generations.
RELATED
Henry II
King John
Edward I
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Royal gateway ancestors of the Northeast
Royal gateway ancestors of the Middle Colonies
Royal gateway ancestors of Virginia
William Clopton and Our Royal Heritage (royal gateway ancestor)

SOURCES
Thomas Asbridge, the Greatest Knight: the Remarkable Life of William Marshall, the Power behind Five English Thrones (New York: Ecco, an Imprint of HarperCollins, 2104).
Dan Jones, the Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England(New York: 2014).
James H. Ramsay, the Angevin Empire or the Three Reigns of Henry II, Richard I, and John (A.D. 1154-1216), (London: Swan Sonnenschein and New York: Macmillan, 1903)
Richardson, Douglas, Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd ed.,vol. 2, (privately published, 2011)

FHL The Magna Charta Barons, p 194: 2nd Duke of Normandy; Duke ofAquitaine; died 942, slain by Arnulf of Flanders, with whom he had gone in goodfaith to confer. His wife was his cousin Espriota, dau. of Hubert(Count of Senlis) who was murdered.

Roots states William Longsword (Longaspatha), second Duke of Normandy, 917 - 943, and Duke of Aquitaine. He captured Britanny, cotentin, the channel Islands and the Avranchin. Annexing them to his kingdom. He was slain by Arnulf of Flanders. RC states William I "Longsword", Duke of Normandy, murdered 17 Dec 943 in France. Roots also states William I, "longsword", born ca 930, probable Rouen. Succeeded to Duchy of Normandy about 927. In about 930 the Bretons rebelled. He subdued them, taking Brittany, the Channel Islands, Contentin and the Averanchin. Killed in a treacherous ambush 17 Dec 942 by servants of Theobald of Blois and Arnulf of Flanders.

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Timeline William I "Longsword" FitzRobert

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Ancestors (and descendant) of William I FitzRobert


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    About the surname FitzRobert


    The Ancestral Glimpses publication was prepared by .contact the author
    When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin:
    Dae Powell, "Ancestral Glimpses", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/ancestral-glimpses/I27608.php : accessed May 25, 2024), "William I "Longsword" FitzRobert (891-942)".