Robert FitzHarding (abt. 1095 - 1170)

Born about 1095 in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Eve (FitzEstmond) de Berkeley — married 1119 in England

Descendants

Died 5 Feb 1170 at about age 75 in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England

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Biography

Robert Fitzharding (abt 1095-1170) was a citizen of Bristol with English ancestry, who became a feudal baron under King Henry II. He was an important figure during "The Anarchy" in the 12th century. He lived a relatively long life for the 12th century and built the family's political and financial position from tolerated Anglo-Saxon gentry to trusted supporters of the new Angevin king. His family was based mainly in southwestern England and he was himself a burgess in the city of Bristol, Gloucestershire.

He is given the nickname of Robert 'the Devout'. In 1141 he founded the Abbey of St. Augustine, at Bristol.

As Keats-Rohan summarizes some evidence for the way in which an alliance between Robert and the future king was documented in about 1153, possibly in a short time.

• He joined the party of Duke Henry the future king Henry II, in 1153 "in a charter in which he occurs with his son Henry, his brother Jordan, and his nephews Jordan and David".^[1]
• 1153-54 Duke Henry confirmed the dower of Robert's daughter Aldeva, given to her by her husband Nigel fitz Arthur.^[2]
• "Soon afterwards he was granted the lordship of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, from which Roger III of Berkeley was displaced.^[3] According to both Complete Peerage and Sanders, he thereby became a feudal baron in 1155, confirmed by King Henry II. (This is the beginning of the Berkeley feudal barony, as defined by Sanders. The previous holders continued to hold their rest of their barony, which Sanders refers to as Dursley.)

As pointed out by Patterson (p.110) these agreements were also connected to marriages whereby the heirs of both the Berkeleys and the FitzHardings, married daughters from the other family.

Notes

Robert Fitz-Harding, adhering to the Princess Maud and her son, Henry I, was rewarded by him with the manor of Berthone in Gloucester, as also 100 pounds per annum for lands in Berkeley, and afterwards the whole lordship of Berkeley and Berkeley-Hernessee, thereunto belonging to Roger de Berkeley, owner of Dursley, was then divested for taking part with King Stephen.

By his wife Eva, daughter and heir of Estmond and his wife Godiva, had five sons--Henry, Maurice, Robert, Nicholas and Thomas--and dying Feb. 5, 1170-71. He with his wife lies buried in the choir of St. Augustine's Abbey near Bristol, now the Cathedral, which he founded in 1148, and being styled "Canonicus.

Keats-Rohan has an entry for him under "Filius Harding, Robert".

Sources

1. ↑ Regesta regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066-1154, Vol.3, charter 309, p.118
2. ↑ Regesta regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066-1154, Vol.3, charter 306, p.115
3. ↑ Regesta regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066-1154, Vol.3, charter 310, p.117

• G.E. Cokayne et al. The Complete Peerage, 2nd ed. volume II, pp. 124-125.
• Keats-Rohan, Domesday Descendants, pp.904-5.
• R. Patterson, "Robert fitz Harding of Bristol", Haskins Society Journal 1 (1989).
• Sanders, I.J. (1960) English Baronies, p.13
• Williams, The English and the Norman Conquest, 119-20;

See also

Any of these worth keeping?

• Tim Powys-Lybbe (e-mail address), Re: longest living male line in England or SCotland in "Smyth's "Lives of the Berkeleys"," newsgroup message 2003-06-03 15:31:36 PST, p. 21: "Robert the first", "And may be [sic] called Robert the Devout"
• The Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage of the British Empire", "The Earl of Berkeley", pp 70-71 (1882).
• Stolp Line on RootsWeb
• The Plantagenet Ancestry, by William Henry Turton, 1968 Page: 120
• Smyth, John. The Berkeley Manuscripts (J. Bellows, Gloucester, 1883-85) Page 2-
• Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society (Gloucester, England, 1878) Vol. 4, Page 197
• Burke's "Peerage and Baronetage", pp 232-233.
• "http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Berkeley" Categories: BEO-BES | History of England and Wales
• Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 106th Edition, Charles Mosley Editor-in-Chief, 1999, Page: 254
• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Wickwire, Arthur Manley. Genealogy of the Wickware Family (Curtiss-Way Co., New York and Meriden, 1909) Page 20
• L. G. Pine, editor, Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 17th edition, (London, England: Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1952), page 1441.
• C.B., LL.D., Ulster King of Arms Sir Bernard Burke, B:xP, pg. 43.
• Collections for a parochial history of Barrow Gurney by Wadmore, J. A. W; Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. Northern Branch Publication date 1897 Page 1 ff