unsteady hands of his seven-year-old illegitimate son, William, the future conqueror of
England.
Robert Curthose, William the Conqueror’s eldest son, was twice designated heir of all
his father’s dominions, but he destroyed that prospect through open rebellion. In exile
when his father died in 1087, Robert nevertheless became duke of Normandy. A weak
and prodigal ruler, he attempted unsuccessfully in 1088 to overthrow his brother William
II Rufus, who had inherited the kingdom of England. In 1096, he joined the First
Crusade, pledging the duchy to William Rufus for a loan of 10,000 marks of silver. When
he returned in 1100, his youngest brother, Henry, had succeeded Rufus in England.
Robert made another unsuccessful attempt to gain the English crown in 1101, then
returned to Normandy, only to lose the duchy to Henry 1 in 1106 at the Battle of
Tinchebrai. Imprisoned by his brother in Cardiff, Wales, Robert Curthose died in 1134.
Cassandra Potts
[See also: HENRY I; NORMANDY (genealogical table); WILLIAM I THE
CONQUERER; WILLIAM II RUFUS]
Bates, David. Normandy Before 1066. London: Longman, 1982.
David, Charles W. Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1920.
Douglas, David C. “Rollo of Normandy.” English Historical Review 57 (1942):417–36.
——. William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact upon England. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1964.
Searle, Eleanor. Predatory Kinship and the Creation of Norman Power, 840–1066. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1988.
ROBERT II THE PIOUS
(972–1031). King of France (r. 987–1031). The son of Hugh Capet, Robert II was the sec
ond king in the Capetian line. He was crowned at Orléans in December 987 and reigned
jointly with his father until Hugh’s death in 996. At that point, he left his first wife,
Susanna of Denmark, and married his cousin Bertha, a recent widow of the count of
Blois. This ill-advised move aroused the hostility of his father’s allies, especially the
count of Anjou, Foulques Nerra, and Pope Gregory V, who condemned the incestuous
union and excommunicated the king. Robert resisted, apparently from passionate love for
Bertha, until sometime between 999 and 1001, when she was repudiated. He
subsequently married Constance of Arles ca. 1005, and the couple had three sons, Hugh
(joint king 1017–25), Henry (his successor), and Robert (later duke of Burgundy).
Trends appearing under Hugh Capet became more pronounced in his son’s long reign.
Royal authority and prestige among the lay aristocracy continued to decline, and late in
the reign one disgruntled bishop even spoke of the king’s impotence (imbecillitas). On
the other hand, by the mid-1010s Robert’s reputation for piety had gained him such
strong support among ecclesiastics that even places that had resisted his father’s
accession accepted his hereditary claim to the throne, acknowledging the failure of the
Carolingian line. His renowned piety (he was the first Capétian reputed to have healing
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