Robert Fitzharding
d. 1170
Vitals
Family
About
Robert Fitzharding was a rich burgess of Bristol, a moneylender and reeve descended, it was said, from the kings of Denmark and the old English lords of the town; he backed the Empress Matilda with his fortune, and for it Henry the Second gave him the feudal barony of Berkeley. He rebuilt the castle, and his descendants hold it to this day - the oldest family seat in England continuously occupied by one family, and the place where Edward the Second was murdered in 1327.
Research notes
✓ ROBERT FitzHARDING (c.1095-1170), portreeve of BRISTOL, 1st feudal Baron of BERKELEY, founder of the Berkeley dynasty; m. Eva; father of Maurice (our line). DOCUMENTED FLOOR of the wired Berkeleys: his father Harding of Bristol and the traditional descent from the kings of Denmark/the Anglo-Saxon house are note-only, not hardened. Source: Landed Families of Britain and Ireland no.583 (Berkeley of Stoke Gifford) + CP 'Berkeley'; web-confirmed & read 7 Aug 2026; contested rungs note-only.