Richard, Count of Évreux

Richard d'Evreux
Spouse(s)	Godechildis
Noble family	House of Normandy
Father	Robert II, Archbishop of Rouen, Count of Évreux
Mother	Harleve of Rouen
Died	1067
Buried	Fontenelle Abbey, Monastery of Saint-Wandrille

Richard, Count of Évreux (died 1067) was a powerful member of the Norman aristocracy during the early and later reign of William, Duke of Normandy.

Life

Richard was the eldest son of Robert II Archbishop of Rouen and Count of Évreux and Herleva.^[1] Richard, son of the Archbishop Robert, donated a mill at Evreux to the abbey of Jumièges by charter dated [26 Mar 1038/14 Apr 1039]. He is mentioned in a charter of King William I confirming Richard as having been a benefactor to that abbey.^[2] Richard and his wife, Godechildis, founded Saint-Sauveur d´Evreux.^[3] He, as Count of Evreux, donated the church of Gravigny to Sainte-Trinité de Rouen, dated [1052/66]. Richard donated the tithe of a town to the abbey of Saint-Taurin.^[4]

Some scholars report him as taking part in the battle of Hastings on 14 Oct 1066, but it is unlikely due to his advanced age and death the next year. His son, William, was one of the few known Companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.^[5] William contributed 80 ships to the invasion of England in 1066 as Count of Évreux.^[6] Richard died in 1067.^[1]

Family

Richard married after 1040, Godechildis, widow of Roger de Conches who is also known as Roger I of Tosny. ^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Richard and Godechildis had the following issue:

• William, Count of Évreux († 1118), succeeded his father as Count of Évreux.^[1]
• Godehildis, nun at St. Sauveur, Évreux^[7]
• Agnes, married Simon I de Montfort^{[lower-alpha 2][1]}

Notes

1. de Jumièges records the marriage of the widow of "Roger du Ternois" and "Richard comte d'Evreux et fils de Robert l'archevêque". The Miracles of Sainte-Foy recount her being cured of a serious illness by miracle, when she was still married to her first husband. Henry I King of England confirmed the foundation of Conches by "Rogerius senior de Toenio et filius eius Radulphus senex et Radulphus juvenis filius prædicti Radulphi senis et Rogerius filius Radulphi juvenis", quoting the donation by "Godehildis comitissa Ebroicæ civitatis, quondam uxor Rogerii de Totteneio" with the consent of "seniore meo comite Richardo", dated to [1130][1878]. "Richardus, archipræsulis Roberti filius…et uxor mea Godehyldis" founded Saint-Sauveur d´Evreux, in which "Godehylde filia mea" became a nun, by undated charter[1879]. See:The Normans in Europe, ed. & trans. Elisabeth van Houts (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 215
2. Orderic Vitalis says that Ralph de Tosny "carried… away by night" his uterine sister Agnes and gave her in marriage to Simon I de Montfort, receiving in return Simon's daughter Isabel as his wife. In other passages Orderic names her and specifies that she was the daughter of Richard and sister of Guillaume. She married as his third wife, Simon Seigneur de Montfort-l'Amaury, son of Amaury Seigneur de Montfort & his wife Bertrade.

References

1. Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 79
2. J. Horace Round, Calendar of Documents preserved in France, Vol. I (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1899), p. 54
3. David Bates, Normandy before 1066 (London; New York: Longman, 1982), p. 115
4. Cassandra Potts, Monastic revival and regional identity in early Normandy (Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press, 1997), p. 68
5. George Edward Cokayne, The complete peerage; or, a history of the House of lords and all its members from the earliest times, Volume XII, Part 1, ed. Geoffrey H. White (London: The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., 1953), Appendix L, pp. 47-8
6. Elisabeth M.C.van Houts, 'The Ship List of William the Conqueror', Anglo-Norman Studies X; Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1987, ed. R. Allen Brown (Woodbridge UK: The Boydell Press, 1988), p. 179
7. Eleanor Searle, Predatory Kinship and the Creation of Norman Power, 840-1066 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988, p. 262