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Birth:          23 Aug  963 
Death:          28 Aug 1026 Fecamp, France

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_II,_Duke_of_Normandy
Richard II (23 August 963 – 28 August 1026), called the Good (French: Le Bon), was 
the eldest son and heir of Richard I the Fearless and Gunnora.[1][2] He was a Norman 
nobleman of the House of Normandy.
Life[edit]

Richard succeeded his father as Duke of Normandy in 996.[1] During his minority, the 
first five years of his reign, his regent was Count Rodulf of Ivry, his uncle, who 
wielded the power and put down a peasant insurrection at the beginning of Richard's 
reign.[3]

Richard had deep religious interests and found he had much in common with Robert II 
of France, who he helped militarily against the duchy of Burgundy.[3] He forged a 
marriage alliance with Brittany by marrying his sister Hawise to Geoffrey I, Duke of 
Brittany and by his own marriage to Geoffrey's sister, Judith of Brittany.[3]

In 1000-1001, Richard repelled an English attack on the Cotentin Peninsula that was 
led by Ethelred II of England.[4] Ethelred had given orders that Richard be captured, 
bound and brought to England.[5] But the English had not been prepared for the rapid 
response of the Norman cavalry and were utterly defeated.[6]

Richard attempted to improve relations with England through his sister Emma of 
Normandy's marriage to King Ethelred.[4] This marriage was significant in that it later 
gave his grandson, William the Conqueror, the basis of his claim to the throne of 
England.[7] The improved relations proved to be beneficial to Ethelred when in 1013 
Sweyn Forkbeard invaded England. Emma with her two sons Edward and Alfred fled to 
Normandy followed shortly thereafter by her husband king Ethelred.[7] Soon after the 
death of Ethelred, Cnut, King of England forced Emma to marry him while Richard was 
forced to recognize the new regime as his sister was again Queen.[4] Richard had 
contacts with Scandinavian Vikings throughout his reign. He employed Viking 
mercenaries and concluded a treaty with Sweyn Forkbeard who was en route to 
England.[8]

Richard II commissioned his clerk and confessor, Dudo of Saint-Quentin, to portray his 
ducal ancestors as morally upright Christian leaders who built Normandy despite the 
treachery of their overlords and neighboring principalities.[9] It was clearly a work of 
propaganda designed to legitimize the Norman settlement, and while it contains 
numerous historically unreliable legends, as respects the reigns of his father and 
grandfather, Richard I and William I it is basically reliable.[10]

In 1025 and 1026 Richard confirmed gifts of his great-grandfather Rollo to Saint-Ouen 
at Rouen.[11] His other numerous grants to monastic houses tends to indicate the 
areas over which Richard had ducal control, namely Caen, the Éverecin, the Cotentin, 
the Pays de Caux and Rouen.[12]

Richard II died 28 Aug 1026.[1] his eldest son, Richard becoming the new Duke.


 


 Richard II (right), with the Abbot of Mont Saint-Michel (middle) and Lothair of France 
(left)
Marriages and children[edit]

He married firstly, c.1000, Judith (982–1017), daughter of Conan I of Brittany,[13][14] 
by whom he had the following issue:
Richard (c. 1002/4), duke of Normandy[1]
Alice of Normandy (c. 1003/5), married Renaud I, Count of Burgundy[1]
Robert (c. 1005/7), duke of Normandy[1]
William (c. 1007/9), monk at Fécamp, d. 1025, buried at Fécamp Abbey[1][15]
Eleanor (c. 1011/3), married to Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders
Matilda (c. 1013/5), nun at Fecamp, d. 1033. She died young and unmarried.[16]

Secondly he married Poppa of Envermeu, by whom he had the following issue:
Mauger (c. 1019), Archbishop of Rouen
William (c. 1020/5), count of Arques

Parents
____ Richard I "the Fearless" (28 Aug  933 - 20 Nov  996)
DE CREPON Gunnora (ABT  942 - 5 Jan 1031)

Siblings
____ Richard II "the Good" (23 Aug  963 - 28 Aug 1026)
____ Robert (ABT  964 - 1037)
____ Mauger ( 974 - 1040)
____ Avicia (Hawise) (ABT  977 - 21 Feb 1034)
OF NORMANDY Beatrice (ABT  980 - 18 Jan 1035)

Marriage To OF EMVERMEU Poppa (Papia) (ABT  970 - AFT 1024)
    m. ABT  990 

Notes

Parents
----- ----- ()
OF ENVERMEU Richeldis ()

Children by OF EMVERMEU Poppa (Papia) ABT  970 - AFT 1024
OF NORMANDY Fredesende (Fredestina) (ABT  995 - 1057)

Marriage To OF BRITTANY (RENNES) Judith ( 982 - 1017)
    m. ABT  995 

Notes

Parents
____ Conan I "Le Tort" (ABT  950 - 27 Jun  992)
D'ANJOU Ermengarde-Gerberga (ABT  956 - ABT 1024)

Children by OF BRITTANY (RENNES) Judith  982 - 1017
____ Robert II "the Magnificent" (ABT  998 - 2 Jul 1035)
OF NORMANDY Elena (ABT 1001 - )
OF NORMANDY Richard III (ABT 1003 - 6 Aug 1028)
DE NORMANDIE Adelais (Judith) or Alice Adelaide (ABT 1003 - AFT 1 Jul 1037)
____ Mauger (ABT 1005 - 1047)
OF NORMANDY Judith (Eleanor) (1010 - 1071)

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