Robert of Mortain, the
son of Herluin of Conteville and Herleva
of Falaise, was
born in about 1038. Herleva was also the mother of William
of Normandy, Richard
Fitz Gilbert and
Odo of Bayeux.
In 1048 William
of Normandy had a dispute with William of Warling. William began
to doubt the loyalty of William of Warling and gave his land in Mortain
to Robert.
When William
the Conqueror decided
to invade England in 1066, he invited his three half-brothers, Robert,
Richard
Fitz Gilbert and
Odo of Bayeux
to join him. One Norman chronicler claims that Robert of Mortain contributed
120 ships to William's invasion fleet.
After his coronation in
1066, William
the Conqueror claimed
that all the land in England now
belonged to him. William retained about a fifth of this land for his
own use. The rest
was distributed to those men who had helped him defeat Harold
at the Battle
of Hastings.
Robert
of Mortain was granted
manors in Cornwall (248), Yorkshire (196), Northamptonshire (99),
Devon (75), Sussex (54), Dorset (49) and Buckinghamshire (29). He
also had manors in ten other counties. His 793 manors made him the
second largest landowner in England.
In exchange for this land.
Robert had to promise to provide the king with sixty knights. In order
to supply these knights, barons divided their land up into smaller
units called manors. These manors were then passed on to men who promised
to serve as knights when the king needed them.
Robert
Curthose, William's eldest son, was expected to become king of
England when his father died. However, William preferred
