X-Nico

Patricia Shakesby

She currently lives in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, and has written a play called The Lady of the Abbey, based on the life of the wife of Robert Fitzhamon who founded Tewkesbury Abbey.

Robert Fitzhamon

One explanation is the legend of the Twelve Knights of Glamorgan, which dates from the 16th century, in which the Welsh Prince Iestyn ap Gwrgan (Jestin), prince or Lord of Glamorgan, supposedly called in the assistance of Robert Fitzhamon.

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His eldest daughter Mabel inherited his great estates and married Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester around 1107.

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Robert Fitzhamon (died March 1107), or Robert FitzHamon, Sieur de Creully in the Calvados region and Torigny in the Manche region of Normandy, was Lord of Gloucester and the Norman conqueror of Glamorgan, southern Wales.

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Rhys's daughter Nest became the mistress of King Henry I of England and allegedly was mother of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester who married Mabel, Fitzhamon's daughter and heiress and thus had legitimacy both among the Welsh and the Norman barons.

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His key strongholds were Cardiff Castle, which already may have been built, on the site of an old Roman fort, new castles at Newport, and at Kenfig.

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Fitzhamon was freed, and joined Henry's campaign, which proceeded to besiege Falaise.

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Fitzhamon's Gloucestershire property thus became the nucleus of the Earldom of Gloucester later given to his son-in-law.

Coity Castle

Coity Castle in Glamorgan, Wales is a Norman castle built by Sir Payn "the Demon" de Turberville (fl. 1126), one of the legendary Twelve Knights of Glamorgan supposed to have conquered Glamorgan under the leadership of Robert FitzHamon (d.1107), Lord of Gloucester.

see also