| Roger de Toeni I, Standard Bearer of Normandy and Lord Of
Conches, Aquitaine, and Toeni "The Spaniard" was born 990 in Guerny,
Eure département, Haute-Normandie région, France. He died
May 1040 and was buried in Chapter House, Abbey of St. Paul, Conches, Normandy.
He married (1) Godheut (Godehilde) de Borrell, daughter of Raymond de Borrel
the Count of Barcelona and Ermensinde de Carcassonne. He married (2) Estephania
de Barcelona Queen of Navarre. (Godheut de Borrell's older sister.) (3)
Adelaide of Barcelona
Roger de Toeni was a typical leader among the Norman nobles, proud of his connection with the Dukes of Normandy, contemptuous of the base-born Duke William, quarrelsome among his peers, ready to engage in far distant expeditions for fame or booty, and careless of the sufferings of others. He was a powerful and haughty man, and a hereditary banner-bearer of all Normandy. He built a fortress at Vieux-Conches (about a mile west of the present town of Conches), the remains of which are to be seen today, and there the family resided until 1204. In 1035 he founded the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul at Chatillon, and that of Conches, which he endowed with his manor of Dieppe. Between 1035 to 1035 he was sent by Henry I of France to the aid of Ferdinand, King of Castile and Leon. He was the first to carry Norman arms into the Spanish Peninsula. He gained a reputation for cruelty and invincibility in Spain, and there also found a wife, Godehildes, or Goodchild, daughter of Raymond Borrell, Count of Barcelona, and his wife Ermensenda. Roger and Godehildes' children were Helbert, Elinance, Ralph, Robert (who received Stafford Castle in England from William the Conqueror, became the ancestor of the Stafford family, and owned 81 manors in Stafford, 26 in Warwick, and others, amounting to 131 in all), and Adelina or Adeliza m) William FitzOsborne. When Roger returned to Normandy, he was furious to learn that the boy William had succeeded his father in the Duchy, declaring that a bastard ought not to rule over him and other Normans. Accordingly he rebelled and ravaged the lands of his neighbors, particularly those of Humphrey de Vieilles; whose son Roger de Beaumont marched against him. In the battle which followed, Roger de Toeni and two of his sons, Helbert and Elinance were slain while resisting William's claims. After Roger's death, Godehildes married Richard, Count of Évreux, grandson of Richard I, Duke of Normandy.
Child of Roger de Toni is: Robert de Toni, (Robert de Stafford) born 1039 in Normandy; married Avice
de Clare. |
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