Richard I the Fearless

Richard I 'the Fearless' (932-996), Duke of Normandy, succeeded at ten, was held half-captive by the King of France, and escaped; the stuff of the duchy's founding legend, told with relish by the house chronicler Dudo. In more than fifty years of rule he turned Rollo's war-band settlement into a functioning Norman state, tied to the church of Rouen and to the new Capetian kings. Great-grandfather of William the Conqueror; our line runs through his children Richard II, Emma's siblings and Gunnor's daughters alike.