Robert of Gloucester
d. 1147
Vitals
Family
About
Robert of Gloucester was the natural son of Henry I, openly acknowledged by his father and created Earl of Gloucester, a title that is a royal dukedom today. He was the great soldier of the civil war known as the Anarchy, carrying the cause of his half-sister the Empress Matilda for a decade; he was captured and exchanged, prisoner for prisoner, against King Stephen himself; and he was the patron to whom Geoffrey of Monmouth dedicated his history. His mother has never been identified. He is the single step through which this family reaches the crown of England, and the illegitimacy is recorded here rather than tidied away, because a descent is worth only as much as the honesty of its weakest rung.
Research notes
✓ DOCUMENTED (Entered 23 Jul 2026 under the relaxed rule (standard, undisputed peerage/royal account; provenance so noted).): ROBERT 'OF CAEN', 1ST EARL OF GLOUCESTER (c.1090-1147) - ACKNOWLEDGED SON OF KING HENRY I, created Earl of Gloucester by his father; born outside the King's marriage, his mother UNIDENTIFIED (both facts noted for completeness; the blood descends through him regardless, and this pedigree is a record of blood, not of succession). The EMPRESS MATILDA'S half-brother and military champion through the Anarchy - captured at Winchester 1141 and EXCHANGED FOR KING STEPHEN himself, prisoner for prisoner, king for earl; patron of William of Malmesbury and of GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH (the History, and so Arthur as we have him, was dedicated to this ancestor); bur. St James's Priory, Bristol, his own foundation. m. MABEL FITZHAMON, dau. and heiress of Robert FitzHamon, conqueror of Glamorgan (note-only), who brought him Gloucester, Glamorgan and Caerdydd. Direct ancestor. Added 23 Jul 2026.